30 Interesting Random Facts That Are Sure to Wow Any Room – Part 119

Even though the Pied Piper of Hamelin is just a story/myth, the town of Hamelin's records state that many children disappeared from the town around the time of the story. The town chronicle even wrote in 1384 "It is 100 since our children left."

2. Singapore's crime rate is so low that many shops do not even bother to close the door when they close at night.

3. In 1938, Henry Ford was awarded Nazi Germany's Grand Cross of the German Eagle. That is the medal awarded to foreigners sympathetic to Nazism.

4. In 1959, Martin Luther King Jr. made an impromptu stop at the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation to meet with tribal leaders with whom he was "fascinated" by. This visit would later lead Dr. King to speak out against the government's treatment, both past, and present, of Native Americans.

5. Wolf packs exist to prevent loss of killed meat to ravens and other birds. When one wolf kills a moose, 47% of it is lost to the birds while a pack of six loses only 17%. One research team witnessed a lone single wolf killing 11 moose, which weakened the notion that wolves hunt in packs because of difficulty.

The Tesla Model X has a “Bioweapon Defense Mode” that purifies the air within the vehicle and keeps all harmful particles out in the event of an apocalyptic event.

7. From at least the 14th century, belief in a flat Earth among the educated was almost nonexistent.

8. The canaries sent down into mines to detect gas weren't sacrificed but placed in a device to revive them when they succumbed to the dangerous gases.

9. When scientists injected mouse pups with human glial cells, within a year the human brain cells integrated and replaced over half of the natural cells. The mice developed supercharged intelligence- scoring much higher on cognitive and memory tests than their unaltered kin.

10. On his deathbed in 1936, King George V's doctor issued the final notice “The King’s life is moving peacefully towards its close" and then proceeded to inject him with 750mg of morphine and 1000mg of cocaine, enough to kill him twice over.

The U.S briefly banned sliced bread in 1943. During this time, a letter appeared in The New York Times from a distraught housewife saying, in part: "I should like to let you know how important sliced bread is to the morale and saneness of a household."

12. Despite Octopi and Squid being colorblind, they can see color by changing the shape of their pupils to accept specific wavelengths.

13. In 1994, R&B singer R Kelly married fellow R&B singer Aaliyah when she was only 15 years old. The marriage was annulled later that year and they both agreed to never speak of it again.

14. Thomas Jefferson purchased a thermometer a few days before signing The Declaration of Independence. He noted that it was 76 degrees on Signing Day in Philadelphia.

15. The first sitting member of Congress to be assassinated was an Arkansas Congressman named James M. Hinds who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in 1868. Despite identifying his killer by name before his death, the assassin was never arrested or charged with a crime.

Punch and Judy was a popular puppet show from the 1600s. In the show, Punch usually ends up killing his baby, his wife, a policeman, the devil and a variety of other characters by beating them with his ‘slapstick’. The phrase “pleased as punch” comes from Punch’s gleeful self-satisfaction.

17. Since Dunkaroos were discontinued in the United States in 2012, they are being smuggled into the country by Canadians who have been nicknamed ‘Smugglaroos.’

18. When poisonous frogs are fed zoo diets they lose their poisons. The wide variety of food in the wild supplies them with the chemicals for making poison.

19. Dr. Jack Kevorkian, also known as "Dr. Death", successfully researched transfusing blood from corpses into living patients. He presented his findings to the Pentagon as a means to help save lives in Vietnam. However, he was denied funds to continue his research and his process was never adopted.

20. The actor who played 'The Hulk' in the original 1970's TV series, Lou Ferrigno, has been voicing the character for decades, including every appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up to Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).

English actor Daniel Day-Lewis was so convincing as a killer in “Gangs of New York” that the mom of his 10-year-old co-star for “There Will Be Blood” saw the movie, and didn't want her son acting alongside him anymore. The studio sent her “The Age of Innocence” to reassure her Day-Lewis wasn't actually bad.

22. In 1825, the panda was given its name by a French zoologist. 76 years later, the name was lent to a black and white bear that was mistakenly thought to be a close relative. The giant panda’s name stuck, and the original panda became the lesser or red panda.

23. During World War 2, an American soldier named John R. Fox died by calling an Artillery strike on himself. When a stunned soldier told him there was little chance of him surviving, he replied with "Fire it."

24. A school bus driver and 26 children were abducted as part of a failed ransom plot in 1976. They were buried alive in the back of a moving van. The driver, with help from some of the older kids, managed to open a trapdoor and free everyone inside.

25. There are 13 secret green shelters dotting the streets of London that were built back in 1875. They can only be accessed by London cab drivers.