Fact Cards

6791. The Hermit of Jersey's Reef-In 1961, Alphonse Le Gastelois of Jersey in the British Isles was wrongly accused of child assault and became the target of community outrage. Fearing violence, he fled to the remote reef of Les Écréhous, where he lived in isolation for 14 years. The true predator, Edward Paisnel, later known as the

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6792. Elvis' Coffin Photo Scandal-After Elvis Presley's death in 1977, his cousin quietly accepted $18,000 from the National Enquirer to take a secret photograph of the singer's body in its open casket. The tabloid splashed the image across its cover, and the issue sold a record 6.7 million copies. The controversial scoop remains the magazine's all-time best-seller.

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6793. PS4 Scanned as Fruit-In 2019, a 19-year-old man in Montbéliard, France, tricked a self-serve checkout by weighing and scanning a PlayStation 4 as a piece of fruit. The console, worth €340, rang up as only €9, and he later resold it for €100. Emboldened, he tried the stunt again the next day, was caught, and received a four-month prison sentence.

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6794. Arnold's Hidden Laser Power Pack-While filming The Terminator in 1984, the crew used a prototype laser sight that required 10,000 volts just to activate. To make it work on screen, technicians hid a bulky battery inside Arnold Schwarzenegger's jacket. Wires ran up his sleeve to power the device, creating the iconic glowing weapon effect without digital tricks.

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6795. The Zong Massacre Insurance Trial-In 1781, the crew of the British slave ship Zong deliberately threw 142 enslaved Africans overboard, claiming there was not enough drinking water to keep them alive. The ship's owners later sought compensation from insurers, treating the people as lost cargo. A lengthy court battle followed, with the claim first denied, then granted, appealed, and ultimately rejected.

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6796. Old Colonizers Leading New Enemies-During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-48, both India and Pakistan relied heavily on British officers to command their newly independent armies. Many of these men had served side by side under the British Raj and even knew each other personally.

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6797. Japan's Courtesans Set the Trends-In Edo-era Japan, the oiran courtesans were far more than sex workers; they were highly trained in poetry, music, and the tea ceremony. Their elaborate hairstyles and richly decorated kimonos defined the height of fashion, inspiring women across the country to copy their look. As cultural elites, they held influence not just in pleasure houses but in shaping Japan's style and taste.

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6798. Dick Van Dyke's Cockney Disaster-In Disney's Mary Poppins (1964), Dick Van Dyke played Bert the chimney sweep with what became one of cinema's most infamous accents. Van Dyke later admitted his Cockney was

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6799. Sarah McLachlan's Stalker Lawsuit-In the early 1990s, Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan faced a bizarre lawsuit from an obsessive fan who claimed her hit song “Possession” was based on his letters. The case was complicated by his admission that he was a stalker and his real motive was to see her in court. Before the trial began, he died in an apparent suicide, and the case was dismissed.

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6800. Brosnan's Bond Tuxedo Ban-While playing James Bond in the 1990s, Pierce Brosnan's contract included a peculiar restriction: he couldn't wear a tuxedo in any other film. The rule was meant to protect the 007 image and keep the iconic look exclusive to the franchise. As a result, in The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), he attends a formal ball with his shirt unbuttoned and bow tie untied to avoid the Bond silhouette.

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37 COMMENTS

  1. Would you mind if I started to post these facts on iFunny? I really think people would love them and I would of course credit and link your website.

    1094
  2. Your page (re)numbering makes it almost impossible to find something on your site. The search option doesn’t seem very helpful.. I tried to search for Harris Rosen or Fact #62 after seeing it on Bored Panda, but had to do a brute force search to find this page…

    1096
  3. I just went through all the facts pages. A few things I’ve noticed:
    1. #451-#470 (pgs 46 & 47) have images that are broken.
    2. #841-#1140 (pgs 85-114) are complete duplicates of earlier pages.

    11
    • Thank you for your valuable feedback. Last night we implemented a new page numbering system for our fact cards. I really messed up with facts #451-#470 which I have fixed now. I have fixed the other problem too.

      10
  4. Just stumbled onto your site via an Imgur post. Cool stuff.

    Re. one of the citations above: “The oldest D20 dice was uncovered in Egypt…”

    One “die,” many “dice.” The headline in the source given had it right; “Ancient d20 die emerges from the ashes of time.”

    Credibility is always enhanced by proper grammar.

    18
  5. I really enjoy your site. I visit it regularly at this period of my life to use up time, while entertaining myself, and increase my awareness of life through the amazing insights into stories behind what we often overlook. It is almost therapeutic I would think! For one thing, I feel grateful not to be one of the warped personalities you often report on, but on the other hand, I feel sorry for the suffering that is really behind so many people you note through our shared history, who have the apparency of many successes, but are in fact imperfect and suffering souls like all of us, on the road to something better we hope eh?

    5
    • History gives us an opportunity to look into the mistake our ancestors made, but also the feats they achieved. The lives they suffered, so that the future generations could have the freedom. I am happy to have been part of such an important part of your life, Stuart.

      6
  6. I’m sure it’s like asking a magician how his tricks are done, but I would love to know the workings of the research you have to go through to find/verify everything I’ve read on your site. To say they are entertaining would be an insult. I read several pages daily. I have found them to be fascinating, educational, informative, and downright important.

    When I was a child and went on long road trips with my parents, my Mom would would bring a box of Trivial Pursuit cards to read and ask questions to pass the time for everyone in the car…My Wife now reads these to our kids on our vacations.

    Do you take fact submissions, or do you rely on your own people to research and present them to your team/site? The only thing I can say about your site, is some click ads could be modified or even done away with. Political opinion polls, etc…I would sooner see and ad for shaving cream that some of those useless and probably biased ads (not you, just the people conducting them) But, I love what you do and am so glad that your site exists!

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    • Thank you Ryan. It’s the readers like you who keep us going. It gives us immense pleasure to know that you love reading facts on our site. We do take submissions. About 10% of our facts come from submissions. You too can submit facts by filling out this form Contact Us. The ads are what keeps the servers running. We don’t take any donations, use patreon or sell merch on our site so ads are how we generate income. Though, we will take your advice to tone down the ads (we can’t really see what kind of ad our readers see as it’s decided by Google).

      7
  7. 1454: She wasn’t found “shortly” after, which might imply that 911 had tried to help and just didn’t arrive in time; she was found HOURS after.

    1182
  8. Each of these pages of facts should have its own page for commenting instead of many fact pages and only one place to comment. I’d also delete my post about each fact having its own page since the aforementioned idea is better, but I can’t.

    1270
  9. I love this website I use it all the time and it allows me to attain info that I have been able to use irl all the time. Keep up the great work!

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  10. Also Rickinator for 610 killing bears is not a good thing due to most species of bears being endangered it is just a fact/statistic

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  11. Your fact card is WRONG! You state Queen Elizabeth II is related to George Washington (which is correct), however, then you all say “Their last living common ancestor is Augustine Warner, Sr. who died in XX.”

    That’s incorrect! i am related to both Col. Augustine Warner, Sr. and George Washington and I’m very much alive as are my family members and 1 uncle and his 2 sons.

    1

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