33 Extraordinary Random Facts For People Who Like Awesome Facts – Part 148

On Sep 11, 1857, a group of Mormon militiamen persuaded a band of passing emigrants to march down a trail in Mountain Meadows, Utah. Under the pretense of protection and following the orders of their local Church leaders, these militiamen proceeded to execute 120 men, women, and children.

27. An ex-Marine named Jason Thomas saved two police officers who were stuck in the rubble of the World Trade Center during 9/11, with the help of another ex-Marine David Karnes. When his mom told him about the attack, Thomas retrieved his Marine uniform and sped to Ground Zero without hesitation.

28. You technically could stop a hurricane by shooting at it, if you had approximately 5000 machine guns firing constantly into the wind for 24 hours straight.

29. The territory of Nevada was rushing to become a state in time for the 1864 presidential election. After writing a state constitution with only days to spare, they sent all 16,543 words of it to Congress via telegram. Transmission took 2 full days and cost $4,303.27 (over $67,000 today.)

30. In 2008, Phoenix, Arizona reported itself to be the kidnapping capital of the US, with almost one kidnapping every single day. They received millions in federal funds and the report turned out to be a lie.

The Powerball drawing on March 30, 2005, produced 110 2nd-prize winners. The total payout was $19.4 million, 89 of them receiving $100,000 each, while the other 21 received $500,000 each. All 110 winners had played numbers from fortune cookies made by Wonton Food Inc.

32. Manta rays have the largest brains of any fish with specially developed areas for learning, problem-solving, and communicating; they might even recognize themselves in mirrors, a sign of self-awareness.

33. Iron Man started filming before the script was finished. As a result, most of the dialogue in the movie is improvised because the director felt that it would make the movie feel more natural.