“Where facts are few, experts are many.”
– Donald R. Gannon
Some of these may be outdated, but interesting nonetheless.
Twisted Facts
Donkeys roam the streets of Oatman, Arizona, by Kathy Alexander.
More people are killed by donkeys annually than are killed in plane crashes.
On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year.
Butterflies taste with their feet.
In 1994, electromagnetic interference (EMI) from a nearby cellular telephone captivated the power of a wheelchair at a scenic vista in Colorado, sending the passenger over a cliff.
More people working in advertising died on the job in 1996 than those who died while working in petroleum refining.
Babies are born without kneecaps. They don’t appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age.
A cockroach will live nine days without its head before starving.
On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.
Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.
Elephants are the only mammals that can’t jump.
Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
It’s possible to lead a cow upstairs…but not downstairs.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
Main Library at Indiana University.
The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because engineers failed to consider the weight of all the books that would occupy the building when it was built.
Four sunken nuclear submarines sit at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. One, a Russian sub resting in deep water off of Bermuda, holds 16 live nuclear warheads. Scientists and oceanographers are unsure what the impact of the escaping plutonium will have but warn that corrosion could create the proper chemical environment for a massive nuclear chain reaction.
“There is nothing as deceptive as an obvious fact.” — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A dentist invented the electric chair.
All polar bears are left-handed.
St. Augustine, Florida Alligator Farm by Kathy Alexander.
A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.
TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one keyboard row.
“Go.” is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
The average human eats eight spiders in their lifetime at night.
A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours.
In the 1890s, more than 30 people were axed, hanged, burned, and mobbed to death in the United States for practicing witchcraft.
Cat’s urine glows under a black light.
In 1970, a group of people was arrested at Highgate cemetery for intent to harm…a vampire! The vampire is still rumored to be around today.
Prisoners in a California jail were so spooked by an Ouija board they made that Priests were called in to cast out the demons. The convicts had summoned up spirits, including a woman who told them how she was murdered.
The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.
Poltergeist Curse.
Unusual deaths have plagued the cast of the Poltergeist trilogy of films, including 12-year-old actress Heather O’Rourke, who died of septic shock. The theory is that the set was cursed by evil.
On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.
The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
After complaining about the smell in their room, a couple staying in a hotel in the United States discovered the body of a murdered girl under their bed.
It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
Ants always fall over on their right side when intoxicated.
The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds, which ranks it #1 among animals with the most taste buds.
Starfish have no brains.
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
“He who trains his tongue to quote the learned sages will be known far and wide as a smart ass.” — Howard Kandel
Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
The average secretary’s left-hand does 56% of the typing.
There are more chickens than people in the world.
It is generally agreed that “Hello” is an appropriate greeting because if you entered a room and said “Goodbye,” it could confuse many people. — Dolph Sharp
Wizard of Oz.
The name Oz in the Wizard of Oz was created when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N and O-Z; hence, “Oz.”
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
In most advertisements, including newspapers, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.
In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
Why don’t sheep shrink when it rains? – Unknown
It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
UFO by By KCE Gleghorn, courtesy Digital Artworks
Suppose the government does not know about aliens. Why does Title 14, Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations, implemented on July 16, 1969, make it illegal for U.S. citizens to contact extraterrestrials or their vehicles?
A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
Over 50% of the people worldwide have never made or received a telephone call.
Nearly a third of all bottled drinking water purchased in the U.S. is contaminated with bacteria.
Homely criminals get 50% longer jail sentences than good-looking criminals.
Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
In every episode of Seinfeld, there is a Superman somewhere.
Practical politics consists of ignoring facts. – Henry Adams
A shrimp’s heart is in its head.
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history without a full moon.
In a study of 200,000 ostriches over 80 years, no one reported a single case of an ostrich burying its head in the sand.
Donald Duck’s comics were banned in Finland because he doesn’t wear pants.
If you keep a Goldfish in the darkroom, it will eventually turn white.
A snail can sleep for three years.
The average life span of a major league baseball is seven pitches.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our noses and ears never stop growing.
The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar and England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.
A duck’s quack doesn’t echo, and no one knows why.
A polar bear’s skin is black. Its fur is not white but clear.
Almonds are members of the peach family.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the world’s nuclear weapons combined.
Horses and rats can’t vomit.
Accidental deaths caused by Physicians per year are 120,000.
The termites of the world outweigh humans 10:1.
In 1982, a Chicago woman who was walking down the street burst into flames for no apparent reason.
The legend of Loch Ness in Scotland is 1,500 years old. The last reported sighting was in 1998, when it was filmed swimming across the loch.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
A rhinoceros horn is made of compacted hair.
In 1975, a Bedfordshire family was shocked when a massive chunk of ice fell from the sky straight through their roof. No explanation has ever been found…
The 1970s Amityville films, about a house full of ghostly activity, were based on a true story.
Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
Daniel Boone blazed the Kentucky Frontier.
Daniel Boone detested coonskin caps, and he never wore them.
If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months, and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.
Americans, on average, eat 18 acres of pizza every day.
A young girl in America bet her friends she could spend the night in a cemetery. They found her in the morning dead in the arms of a statue.
If the Chinese population walked past you in a single file, the line would never end because of the reproduction rate.
It is impossible to lick your elbow.
Over 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow.
On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.
John Wilkes Booth’s brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln’s son.
Pennsylvania Mountains
The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
A few ounces of chocolate is enough to kill a small size dog. Chocolate affects a dog’s heart and nervous system.
In World War II, British pilots were issued playing cards. If captured, they could be soaked in water and unfolded to reveal a map for escape.
Most lipstick contains fish scales.
Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
Eskimos use refrigerators to keep food FROM freezing.
Males, on average, think about sex every seven seconds.
The average chocolate bar has eight insect legs in it.
A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.
When opossums are playing ‘possum,’ they are not “playing.” They pass out from sheer terror.
Money isn’t made out of paper. It’s made out of cotton.
A rat can last longer without water than a camel.
Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks, or it will digest itself.
A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom to the top.
The 57 on the Heinz ketchup bottle represents the number of varieties of pickles the company once had.
Catching mice without a hunting license is illegal in Cleveland, Ohio.
San Francisco Cable Car.
The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.
The dot over the letter i is called a title.
The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
In the 1940s, the FCC assigned television Channel 1 to mobile services (two-way radios in taxicabs, for instance) but did not Pre-number the other channel assignments. Your TV set has channels two and up but no channel 1.
The only 15-letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year’s supply of footballs.
Compiled and edited by Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated March 2025.
Also See:
Off Beat Roadside Attractions, Trivia, & More
United States Trivia, Fun Facts & Firsts
Presidential Trivia, Fun Facts, and Firsts
See Sources.