15 Windfalls of Trivia That Gave Us New Hope This Week

Suppose, somewhere on this planet, there was a secret deposit of minerals worth $1 billion. It could be yours, but buying and developing the land would cost you your entire fortune. No one is trying to swindle you here — you came upon this knowledge totally through your own research. Should you risk it all and make a play for it?

Maybe not, based on one story we have for you. Hear about it below, as well as about one strong-smelling predecessor to the chicken nugget. 

1. Romell Broom

A death-row inmate facing lethal injection survived the scheduled execution because no one could locate a suitable vein. They never tried again successfully, and he died of natural causes years later. 

2. Theseus’ Band

When Fleetwood Mac broke up, their manager figured he still owned the rights to their name. He now sent on tour a band made up of totally different people, and called them Fleetwood Mac. 

3. My Ticket Now

When a convenience store owner realized he’d sold a customer a lottery ticket worth $5 million, he told the guy he’d won only $4,000, paid him and then locked him out of the store. The customer only learned the truth years later. 

4. The Mediterranean Diet

One study on this particular diet was called off halfway through. The diet looked so beneficial that the researchers thought it was unethical to deny it to the control group. 

5. Stupratore di biciclette

Police spotted a British man attempting sex with a bicycle in 2007. They put him on a registry, to protect bicycles everywhere. 

6. ‘A a a a a Very Good Song’ 

A song by this title, consisting of 10 minutes of silence, was released so it would be first alphabetically on people’s playlists, sparing them from hearing whatever their default track otherwise is every time they start their car. It sold decently well on iTunes in 2017.

7. La Operación

In the middle of the 20th century, around one-third of Puerto Rican women underwent sterilization. A lower population would improve the economy, said a government official. 

8. The Year of Free Beef

When Canada switched from driving on the left side of the road to driving on the right, the cows didn’t get the memo. They now got hit a lot by vehicles, leading to a beef surplus. 

9. Shitty Cocaine 

Georgia police arrested a Georgia Southern quarterback in 2019 after spotting cocaine on his car. Turned out, though, the stuff was just bird droppings. The officer behind the arrest resigned.

10. Leo and Jumbo

Pope Leo had a pet elephant, and doctors treated its constipation with a gold enema. This killed it. Its bones remain under the Vatican.  

11. Even Bad Boys Love Their Mammas 

An Australian took 30 diners hostage, seeking the release of a kidnapper from prison. The gunman’s mom came by in her nightgown, hit him on the head with her handbag and made him release everyone. 

12. Rule One

The more attractive you are, the less likely you are to turn to crime. Never mind the reason behind the correlation, just trust that this is an easy way to avoid a life of evil: Be more attractive.  

13. Heaven’s Bounty

Daniel Barringer sank his money into forming the Barringer Crater Company, to take control of a meteor impact site that he believed held $1 billion worth of iron ore. He never found any ore there. It seems the meteorite and any riches it held vaporized on impact. 

14. Fat Rings

Shortly before they unveiled the Chicken McNugget, McDonald’s started selling a side called Onion Nuggets. It didn’t take off. 

15. Happy Father’s Day

A pair of identical twin men in 2019 claimed that while a DNA test said one had fathered a child, it couldn’t prove which of them had, so neither of them should be on the hook for paying child support. A court ordered them both to pay child support.