20 Obscure Facts That Came In The Nick Of Time

Michael Douglas changed his name to Michael Keaton when he moved to LA.
20 Obscure Facts That Came In The Nick Of Time

We enjoy this list of interesting facts because they are interesting. But they are also important in ways we do not often consider. If you find the subject matter dull and dreary, you may skip to the end of this list. There is a section with a few links that may interest you more. Otherwise, read on. Some of these facts are silly. Some are serious. We have not tried to arrange them in any particular order. The sequence we chose has been determined by random chance, as it happens. This list includes both well-known and obscure facts, some of which are disputed, and some of which are unlikely to be disputed. We include a number of statistics, although they are only interesting because they are numbers, which makes them memorable. There are lots of people who enjoy this list of interesting facts because they like to read about interesting facts. There are many more who would never read it. This is not a criticism of either group.

There are a lot of cows in Wales.

There is one castle for every 5,200 people in Wales. CRACKED COM There are more than 600 castles in Wales, more per square mile than anywhere in the world. Some have been lived in continuously for a thousand years, while others are romantic ruins.

Wales.com

An FBI agent infiltrated the NYC mob.

One FBI agent infiltrated the Italian mafia for five years. CRACKED.COM Joseph Pistone infiltrated one of the five big fami- lies of the Italian Mafia in New York. The operation lasted from 1976 to 1981 and led to over 200 in- dictments and over 100 convictions.

Maclean's

Michael Douglas changed his name to Michael Keaton.

Michael Keaton's real name is Michael Douglas. ON ree CRACKED.COM Keaton had to change his name when he arrived in LA, per the Screen Actors Guild rules, so he flipped through a phone book. Не selected 'K' in the book and stopped at 'Keaton.'

Post Gazette

There was a friendly fire incident between F-15s and US Army helicopters.

2 USAF F-15s shot down 2 US Army Black Hawk helicopters in 1994. FF 026 GRAGKED.COM The friendly-fire incident, which killed all 26 helicop- ter passengers, is attribut- ed to a chain of errors, from the general heading up the Operation Provide Comfort Task Force all the way down.

National Interest

An Olympic fencer died during a match.

Kevlar was added to fencing uniforms after a death in 1982. CRACKED.COM Kevlar is used in top level uniform pieces following the death of Vladimir Smirnov at the 1982 World Championships in Rome, in which a broken blade went through his mask and pierced his brain.

First Post

A “Disco Demolition” night turned into a riot.

The White Sox held a Disco Demolition Night attended by 50,000 people, which turned into a riot. adidas STEREO 8 IS - Cotillion KRRFTWERK ! THE RA - - - GRAN - - - - Cherry Loc STER 1 CRACKED.COM The promotion, held in 1979, was an effort to boost atten- dance and was connected to prior Disco Nights, al- though those didn't usually end in fans rushing the field after a bunch of records were blown up.

EDM

Sheep farts grounded a Singapore Airlines cargo plane.

A Singapore Airlines cargo plane had to make an emergency landing because of sheep farts. CRACKED.COM The flatulence from the 2,186 sheep on- board allegedly trig- gered the plane's smoke detector, a claim in which the air- line denies.

Huffington post

Drinking and bathing in blood was a “cure” to leprosy in ancient Greece.

It was believed in Ancient Greece that leprosy could be cured by bathing in children's blood. GRAGKED.COM Virgin blood was another cure, both to bathe in and consume, as it was tied to puri- ty. After a while, the blood of dogs and corpses started to be- come popular when (somehow) virgin and/or toddler blood just wasn't doing the trick.

NCBI

Clams make pearls due to irritants.

Pearls are created when an irritant enters a mollusc's shell. CRACKED COM The mollusc secretes ara- gonite and conchiolin that creates nacre (aka mother of pearl) which encases the irritant (such as a parasite, sand, or other debris).

NHM

A first edition collector used his reputation to sell forgeries.

Thomas Wise used his reputation as a legit collector of first editions to create and sell forgeries. CRACKED.COM Wise was a keen collector of first editions in original con- dition dating back to Elizabe- than era and given an honor- ary М.А. by University of Ох- ford. Не created and sold forgeries of nearly 300 works of English authors.

Britannica 

One Virginian town is closer to the capitals of 9 other states than Richmond.

Wheeler, Virginia is closer to the capital of 9 other states than it is to its own state capital. Herlb Cardina GRAGKED.COM It is the southwestern- most populated place in Virginia, at the very tip of Virginia's west stretching arm, 411 miles away from Rich- mond.

NationalMap

A feral boy raised by wolves lived among humans for the last few decades of his life.

A boy raised by wolves lived among other humans in the 19th century. CRACKED COM Dina Sanichar was a feral child, born in 1861, and dis- covered by a group of hunt- ers among wolves in a cave in India. Не went on to live among other humans for over twenty years, but never learned to speak.

India Today

The only IMAX in LA couldn’t meet the demands to show ‘Fantasia/2000.’

Disney built a temporary theater just to show 'Fantasia/2000.' FANTASIA 2000 CRACKED.COM When the only IMAX theater in Central L.A. couldn't meet the demands of Disney to showcase the very first ani- mated IMAX movie, Fanta- sia/2000, Disney spent $4 million to build a theater to show it.

LA Times

Centipedes always have an odd number of leg pairs.

No species of centipede has exactly 100 legs. GRACKED.COM Despite the name, centi- pedes can have a vary- ing number of legs, ranging from 30 to 382. Centipedes always have an odd number of pairs of legs.

Emporia

Italian cowboys showed up Buffalo Bill and his troupe.

Italian cowboys challenged Buffalo Bill when his troupe toured in Italy. CRACKED.COM The Butteri, led by Au- gusto Imperiali, chal- lenged his troupe in 1890 when they came around - and won, proving far more expe- rience.

Rome Central

The Colorado River does not flow into the ocean.

The Colorado River has not flowed into the ocean since 1998. GRACKED.COM The Colorado originates in the Rocky mountains and tra- verses seven US states be- fore reaching Mexico, where it is supposed to flow on- wards to the Sea of Cortez. Instead, the river is dammed at the US-Mexico border.

The Guardian

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