Random Fact Sheet #284 – 40 Thrilling Random Facts That Will Leave You in Awe

Greg Burson, who voiced Bugs Bunny following the death of Mel Blanc, ended his career after he barricaded himself in his home and held a woman hostage. According to an officer he was so drunk they couldn't tell if he was trying to do one of his voices or just slurring his words.

27. In 1941, a little girl who was selling lemonade at her lemonade stand caused a polio outbreak. The health department found that she hadn't cleaned the cups customers used. She ended up getting polio along with her friends.

28. Benson rafts were huge rafts (up to 1000 feet long) that were made up of thousands of logs lashed together. These rafts were floated across 1100 miles of open ocean from the mouth of the Columbia River to San Diego as a cheaper alternative to sending the logs by rail.

29. In the 1960s, Paul Klipsch was found in his office, stripped down to his skivvies with the thermostat set too high. He was trying to determine why early calculators would quit when operated at high temperatures. He later sent a letter to the manufacturer, explaining the source of the problem.

30. The Latin phrase "annus horribilis" is used by world leaders to call the worst year in living memory. For Queen Elizabeth, it was 1992, the year when Windsor Castle caught fire, and Princess Diana and Prince Charles' marital problems became increasingly public.

The Joker character in Batman myth was based on a character in 'The Man Who Laughs', a 1928 movie about a man who is disfigured with a permanent grin. The movie is based on Victor Hugo's 1869 novel of the same name, meaning that the Joker's origins are 150 years old.

32. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’s story idea was initially rejected, as in the 1930s red noses were associated with alcoholism and drunkards. The author asked an illustrator friend to draw “cute reindeer,” and these drawings convinced management to support the idea.

33. Women in the Viking Age could own property, request a divorce and reclaim their dowries if their marriages ended.

34. After the 1980 Irpinia Earthquake hit Southern Italy, the corruption was so bad that only 1/4 of the 40 billion dollar rebuilding fund got spent on relief. The rest got distributed among politicians and the mafia.

35. There was an attempted plane bombing in 1985 where the bomb went off an hour early, while still in the airport. The perpetrators did not realize that Japan does not observe daylight saving time, so the bomb went off before it made it onboard.

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent not 1, not 5, but 21 hours, 36 minutes on the moon's surface, after a rest period that included seven hours of sleep.

37. An American Bullfrog named Rosie the Ribiter holds the record for longest frog jump with a leap of 21 feet and 5 inches, which was set in 1986. The prize for anybody to beat the record stands at $5000.

38. Humans often experience ‘illusions of control’ over events we cannot actually change. While psychologists in the past thought this meant we evolved to be deluded, some neuroscientists now think these false beliefs are our brain’s rational response to an uncertain and unpredictable world.

39. A rumor spread suggesting child actor Shirley Temple wore a wig. This led to fans on multiple occasions yanking at her hair to test the rumor. Temple's hair was in fact natural and she had to endure a nightly process in the setting of her curls, with weekly vinegar rinses that burned her eyes.

40. Former Spanish national team goalkeeper Iker Casillas was given money by his dad for lottery tickets every week but he used to spend it on himself. One day 14, his dad’s numbers came up and he lost his dad 1.1 million euros.