26Downtown Seattle
Downtown Seattle actually sits on top of the original city from the 1800s. It was rebuilt on top of approximately 20-foot high walled tunnels following a great fire, in order to prevent floods from high tide and sewage. You can go underground to see the original city remnants.
27. Treadmills were used as a form of punishment to torture prisoners in the 1800's. The treadmills operated by the prisoners powered grain mills (hence the name treadmill) and pump water. Prisoners were often forced to spend up to six hours a day on the wheel, which was the equivalent of climbing about 5,000 to 14,000 feet.
28. Lobsters were so plentiful in the 1800s that Massachusetts servants demanded a clause in their contracts to prevent being fed it more than 3 times a week.
29. The first person to cycle around the globe was Thomas Stevens. He did it on a penny-farthing (high wheeled bicycle) between 1884 and 1886, packing only socks, a spare shirt, a revolver and a raincoat that doubled as a tent and bedroll.
30. The 19th-century serial killer H.H. Holmes opened a hotel in the United States which he had designed and built specifically with murder in mind. It included soundproofed bedrooms, trap doors, walls lined with blowtorches and two incinerators.
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31Dummy Hoy
The baseball hand signals, such as safe and out, were invented by a 19th century deaf player named William “Dummy” Hoy so he could comprehend what was going on in his games.
32. In 1898, Nikola Tesla tricked an entire crowd into believing that they could control a toy boat by shouting commands at it. He had in fact invented radio control and was piloting the boat himself.
33. Chicago was raised over 4 feet with screw jacks in the 19th century in order to install the first sewer system in the United States.
34. In 1883, the body of a bear and Frank Devereaux were found dead beside each other with the ground around them thrashed for 20 square feet. It's believed that the man and bear fought to death.
35. Harvard's first black faculty member was a dentist named Dr. George Franklin Grant. He joined the Department of mechanical dentistry in 1871. Also as an inventor, he patented the wooden golf tee. Previously, golfers carried around buckets of sand, placing their balls on little piles as they went.
