Carrying Legacies: 40 Intriguing Items Held Close by People

Ninjas used to carry crickets or cicadas to disguise their sound when needed.

27. Digby Tatham-Warter, a British Army officer, often carried an umbrella into battle during World War II. He once disabled a German armored car by poking the driver in the eye with it.

28. British police cars carry a teddy bear to console children after an accident.

29. Pablo Picasso carried a revolver loaded with blanks, which he would fire at whoever asked him what his work "meant."

30. First aid training is mandatory in Germany if you wish to obtain a driver's license, and every vehicle has to carry a first aid kit.

Theodore Roosevelt's daughter, Alice, had a pet snake named Emily Spinach. She liked to carry it around the White House in her purse and take it out at unexpected moments.

32. Longyearbyen, Norway, is the world's northernmost settlement with a population greater than 1,000. It has a ban on cats, a monthly alcohol purchase limit, and a requirement to carry a rifle while outside for protection from polar bears.

33. In silkworm farms in 16th-century Italy, delicate silkworm eggs were incubated by women who carried them in small bags next to their skin, sometimes between their breasts.

34. During Charles Manson's trial, the judge began carrying a revolver under his robe after Manson charged at him with a pencil.

35. Aretha Franklin required that she be paid in cash prior to any music performance, and she often carried the money in a bag on stage during the show.

Until 1971, the Government of Canada assigned all Inuit people a number in lieu of a surname and issued each a leather disc with the number that had to be carried at all times or sewn into clothing.

37. Canada's 8th largest national park, Wapusk National Park (11,475 square kilometers), doesn't allow tourists, and all researchers must carry a shotgun when visiting due to the risk of polar bear attacks.

38. Gladiators in Ancient Rome used to carry out product placements in the arena, and this was included in an early script for Gladiator (2000) but was removed out of fears that it would be viewed as anachronistic.

39. British officer Jack Churchill, who entered battle with a longbow, bagpipes, and a Scottish broadsword, made the last known kill with a bow and arrow in World War II.

40. The Boeing 747 can carry an extra engine on its wing. Airlines used to use this capability regularly, when engines were less reliable, to deliver replacements to their stranded planes.