20 Times in History When Things Took An Unexpected Turn

In 1975, when Pink Floyd was completing "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," which was an exploration of their former bandmate Syd Barrett's mental decline, an overweight man with a shaved head and eyebrows entered the studio. He turned out to be Syd Barrett himself, who they had not seen in 7 years.

A zoo in Toledo, Ohio was created when a baby bear was donated to the city in 1900. The bear turned out to be an adult woodchuck.

During World War 1, a British soldier named Henry Tandey showed mercy to a wounded German infantryman, who later turned out to be Adolf Hitler.

Los Angeles was hit with a devastating and deadly series of intentionally set fires in the 1980s and 90s. They finally arrested the arsonist named John Leonard Orr, who turned out to be The Arson Inspector (also Fire Captain), who was charged with investigating the fires.

In 1969, an Italian man was charged with selling a product described as "grated Parmesan cheese". It later turned out to be grated umbrella handles.

In 2009, Irish Police went on the search for 'Prawo Jazdy', a serial driving offender wanted for 50 offenses for driving infractions. He not only gave police a different address each time, he also gave them a different alias. It turned out 'Prawo Jazdy' was Polish for 'driving license' and officers had taken this down during traffic stops instead of actual names.

There is a lake in Australia named lake disappointment. It is named such because explorer Frank Hann followed several freshwater rivers in the area and expected to find a large freshwater lake, but instead, it turned out to be a salt lake.

In 1964, a student researcher named Donald Rusk Currey cut down a tree for a research project. Unbeknownst to the student, the tree turned out to be the oldest living independent organism on the face of the earth at that time, a 5,000-year-old bristlecone tree.

In 1983, dozens of women and teenage girls started fainting in Palestine, creating a health crisis and accusations from both Israel and the Arab League of a chemical weapon attack. Turned out it was all a product of mass hysteria.

In 1961, 3 residents of an old people’s home in England died of heart attacks when they saw the grim reaper at their window, who turned out to be another resident of the home in a disguise.