Category: Fun Facts

Sesame Street celebrated its 40th anniversary back in 2009 by giving the spotlight to each Muppet for a day. One of the main focuses? Bert and Ernie’s relationship. For decades, viewers have debated the sexuality of the characters, who they feel seem to be more than just friends. Pop culture has fed into this rumor, […]

Herb Sukenik was a 73-year-old recluse living in the Mayflower Hotel when it was purchased by developers in 2004. Part of the job of the Zeckendorfs, the brothers who had purchased the property and several adjacent lots, was to buy out or relocate the residents of the top floors of the apartments. The leases of […]

Who says criminals don’t have morals? In August 2008, several men broke into a house in North Yorkshire, England. Amongst the items they stole was a laptop, on which they soon found images that they suspected were child pornography. The criminals turned themselves in and brought the laptop to the police, which led to the […]

Before the Indiana Jones franchise was known around the world, it was simply an idea—thought up by a guy who was on top of the world. It was shortly after the premiere of George Lucas’ first Star Wars movie in 1977, and he was brainstorming new project ideas. He met up with a longtime friend […]

During the Civil War, both sides saw a massive problem: diarrhea. The Confederacy was lacking in food supply, while the Union had plenty of food —with the exception of the siege in Chattanooga— but saw the effects of nutritional deficiency. Throughout the US Civil War, there were twice as many deaths due to disease, such […]

Kung Fu Panda was not only successful because it was a hit at the box office. It was also deemed to be an accurate depiction of Chinese architecture, myths, and culture that was done extremely well. The film upset many top filmmakers in China, but not because it was offensive. They wished that they had […]

After studying medicine at University of Edinburgh, James Barry made a name for himself as a top army surgeon in the early to mid-1800s. He worked all over the world, from Cape Town, South Africa, to Trinidad and Tobago. Barry was known as a bad-tempered, eccentric person by his colleagues, and he was often teased […]

In 2013, Chiquinho Scarpa, a wealthy businessman from Brazil, made a startling announcement on his Facebook page: he planned to bury his Bentley Continental Flying Spur underground. The reasoning he gave was that he wanted to be able to drive the car, worth $400,000, in the afterlife. He shared photos of his progress as he […]

President Calvin Coolidge was known as “Silent Cal”, for his quiet demeanor. However, for those in the White House, he was also known for his childish behavior and practical jokes. He would also often nap during the day and leave early from state dinners. One of his favorite pranks to play was calling for his […]

Kids are suspended from school for all sorts of reasons—fighting, talking back to a teacher, breaking the dress code. One boy in Italy made headlines in 2016 for a much simpler reason—he was suspended for selling snack foods at school. The boy, who was a 17-year-old student in Turin, would take orders from friends and […]