The town of Why, Arizona was originally to be named “Y” because two major highways, State Routes 85 and 86, originally intersected in a Y-intersection but the state requires at least 3 letters in its city names.
A group of women called “The 9 Nanas” kept a secret for decades that not even their husbands…
A group of women called “The 9 Nanas” kept a secret for decades that not even their husbands knew about. For 30 years, they met at 4am and anonymously paid bills and bought clothes for people in need. Each care package came with a homemade pound cake and a note that read “Somebody loves you”.
In 2008 there was a gamma ray burst, a violent cosmic explosion…
In 2008 there was a gamma ray burst, a violent cosmic explosion, 7.5 billion light years away, which is halfway across the visible universe, which could have been seen with a naked eye from the surface of the Earth. Anyone who saw it was looking billions of years into the past with their eyes.
Vietnam War POW Doug Hegdahl pretended to be illiterate to fool his…
Vietnam War POW Doug Hegdahl pretended to be illiterate to fool his captors, who believed him to be so stupid that they gave him almost free rein of the camp. He was able to secretly memorize the details of about 256 POWs to the tune of “Old MacDonald,” which he still remembers.
In 1975, two men got a marriage license in Colorado after the clerk couldn…
In 1975, two men got a marriage license in Colorado after the clerk couldn’t find a law against it. When they applied for a spouse’s visa, the U.S. government mailed a letter saying, “You have failed to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two f*ggots.” They took their case to court […]
In 1961 James Monaghan co founder of Domino’s pizza traded his 50% stake…
In 1961 James Monaghan co founder of Domino’s pizza traded his 50% stake in the company to his brother Tom for a used Volkswagen, Tom went on to sell his 97% for 1 billion.
There is a secret cemetery in France, where no flag is allowed to fly…
There is a secret cemetery in France, where no flag is allowed to fly, which holds the bodies of American soldiers convicted of heinous crimes during WWII.
Two paragliders were sucked into a thunderstorm during practice…
Two paragliders were sucked into a thunderstorm during practice. The updraft was so powerful that one pilot was sucked up to 19,000 feet and killed by a lightning strike. The pilot of the second glider passed out from the altitude, but woke up still airborne and covered in ice.
Marc Summers, the host of the zany (and very messy) Nickelodeon…
Marc Summers, the host of the zany (and very messy) Nickelodeon show ‘Double Dare’, suffered from OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) while hosting the show.
When McDonald’s set up its first restaurant in Soviet Russia, it had…
When McDonald’s set up its first restaurant in Soviet Russia, it had to teach workers how to smile and pretend to be cheerful. The Russian language has a unique proverb that is absent from other languages, “A smile without a reason is a sign of idiocy.”