1 Tragic Creation of Hildegart
Aurora Rodríguez Carballeira, a self-taught Spanish woman with no formal education, sought to create an ideal human being through her daughter, Hildegart, who was born in 1914. By age 2, Hildegart was reading, and by 8, she spoke four languages. She entered law school at 13 and became a professor at 18. However, when Hildegart attempted to run away at 19, her mother tragically killed her.
2. Ash Ketchum caught only 57 unique Pokémon throughout the cartoon series, which is roughly 7% of all the Pokémon available to him.
3. Navinder Sarao, an autistic man living in his parents’ London home, partially caused the 2010 Flash Crash, during which the US stock market temporarily lost $1 trillion in value. Over five years, Sarao profited $40 million by using custom algorithms to trick high-frequency traders.
4. Alanis Morissette was dropped by her record label after disappointing sales of her first two albums. However, her third album, Jagged Little Pill, became the 13th highest-selling album of all time worldwide.
5. At least nine of President Kennedy’s Secret Service agents were recovering from an all-night bender that ended at 5:00 AM on the day of his assassination.
6 Globetrotters’ Unexpected Loss
During a 1990 match against the Washington Generals, the Harlem Globetrotters lost track of the game and found themselves down by 12 points with just 2 minutes left. Forced to play conventional basketball, they rallied but couldn’t recover. The final buzzer left the crowd dumbfounded and disappointed, with some children in the stands even crying after the loss.
7. Canadian serial killer nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer confessed to her pastor that she had murdered four people between 2011 and 2013, and he kept his promise not to turn her in. She also told a lawyer, a priest, and a sponsor from Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous, none of whom came forward. Elizabeth went on to murder two more people before her arrest in 2016.
8. Because M. Night Shyamalan funded the movie ‘Split’ himself, Universal executives were unaware that it was a sequel to his film ‘Unbreakable’ until they first screened it. The executives were “completely flummoxed” since Unbreakable is a Disney movie. However, Shyamalan assured them it was fine because he had already obtained permission.
9. Kurt Lee, the first Chinese-American officer in the US Marine Corps, yelled orders in Mandarin Chinese during the Battle of Inchon in the Korean War to confuse the opposing Chinese troops.
10. Gibraltar applied for city status in 2022, lost the bid, but later became a city anyway after researchers discovered that Queen Victoria had granted it city status 180 years earlier, a fact that had been forgotten.
11 McDonald’s Million-Dollar Tragedy
The 1988 McDonald’s Million Dollar winner was Scotty Landret, a 13-year-old boy whose mother went on to claim the prize. She then squandered a significant portion, and her boyfriend stole what was left. He lost his mother 10 years later, no longer speaks to his sister, and was trimming trees for a living (as of 2018).
12. In 1998, a court sentenced John Ruffo, a convicted fraudster who orchestrated a $350 million bank scam, to 17 years in prison. The government set his bail at $10 million, and his family pledged their homes as collateral to cover it. Ruffo then disappeared, leading the government to seize the homes of his wife, mother, mother-in-law, and other relatives.
13. Borat’s first movie was banned in Kazakhstan, but when the second one was released, the country launched a tourism campaign around the catchphrase “Very Nice!“
14. During Hurricane Camille in 1969, rainfall in Virginia was so intense that birds drowned in trees, and people had to cup their hands around their faces to breathe. The weather service reported that it was likely the maximum rainfall that meteorologists calculate as theoretically possible.
15. In 1998, Circuit City created and launched a proprietary disposable DVD called DIVX, which was viewable for only 48 hours after the initial viewing unless an additional fee was paid. The product’s failure in just one year cost the company so much money that it is believed to have contributed to their eventual bankruptcy.
16 Million-Dollar ‘5th Grader’ Winners
Only two individuals have won $1 million on the Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? game. The first was a superintendent of Georgia public schools, and the other one was a Nobel Prize winner in physics.
17. The “microwave-safe” label on plastic containers only means they won’t melt or warp. It doesn’t guarantee that chemicals won’t leach into your food when heated.
18. Howard Hughes, a billionaire entrepreneur, once refused to leave a hotel room in Las Vegas. Instead, he decided to purchase the entire hotel. Hughes then expanded his holdings in the city, becoming the largest employer in Nevada. People credit him with significantly contributing to the modern transformation of Las Vegas.
19. In 1840, Abraham Lincoln and four other Illinois legislators jumped out of a window to prevent a quorum on a vote that would have eliminated the Illinois State Bank. It was reported that this wasn’t the first time Lincoln had used this tactic to block a vote.
20. In ancient Sparta, brides would have their hair cut short and be dressed in men’s clothing on their wedding night to appear less threatening to their grooms.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
21 Germany’s Paris Gun Legacy
During World War I, Germany built the Paris Gun, one of the longest and largest artillery guns ever made. The gun’s massive size led to significant wear and tear with each shot, necessitating the firing of shells in increasing diameters and in the correct order.
22. French pirate Olivier Levasseur allegedly tossed a necklace containing a 17-line cryptogram into a crowd moments before his execution, exclaiming, “Find my treasure, the one who may understand it!” Although the necklace has been lost, treasure hunters have since tried to decode the cryptogram, hoping it will lead to his hidden treasure.
23. Several elite Ivy League colleges in the United States, including those attended by many famous people, took nude photos of every incoming freshman from the 1940s to the 1970s. They conducted this practice to assess the prevalence and severity of rickets, scoliosis, and lordosis in the population.
24. Miyairi Norihiro, a contemporary Japanese swordsmith, achieved the distinction of being the youngest individual to earn the title of mukansa, a title exclusive to master swordsmiths. He also won the Masamune prize in 2010, awarded for the most outstanding sword, though none of his blades are recognized as ōwazamono, a category for exceptionally sharp swords, as his blades have never been tested on a cadaver or living person.
25. In U.S. politics, Republicans have consistently been associated with the color red and Democrats with blue only since the 2000 election, a choice made by The New York Times because “red begins with ‘r’, and Republican begins with ‘r’.“
RE: Fact #47 (Coolio’s Age in Gangsta’s Paradise) – Alice Cooper was 22 when he recorded “I’m 18”.
RE: Fact #37 (Voluntary Ear Muscle Rumbling) – I thought everyone knew how to do that.
RE: Fact #12 (John Ruffo’s Disappearance) – A $10 million bond and only a $25,000 reward? No wonder nobody’s trying to find him.