20 True Facts That Really Rattled Our Brain Cages

The “Riddle of the Sphinx” (1870) was the last major work of French writer and critic Jules Verne, who died in 1905. The book is set in an alternate history, where a fictional civilization, the Kaxares, destroyed itself through industrialization and overpopulation. The rest of the world then fell into a dark age, which lasted for thousands of years. When the Kaxares civilization is rediscovered, an expedition sets out to investigate the fate of the civilization. The expedition finds the Kaxares buried deep beneath the sand, and upon digging further, discover that the Kaxares had survived the cataclysm by living within the earth, in a subterranean city, which they named “Eblis.” 

This book is a collection of bizarre, often grotesque, facts, as well as strange historical incidents and tales of scientific achievement. Verne's interest in the subject of science and exploration was obvious throughout his writings, and many of his stories feature protagonists who enjoy this list of odd facts.