15 Trivia Tidbits for Saturday, October 26, 2024
Today, we’re going to tell you about the curious case of the dog that didn’t bark. You’ll also hear about hippos that aren’t quite as horrifying as they look and pigs that are more horrifying than you can imagine.
That’s because it’s spooky season, which means lots of death — death in the air, death in the dark and death from paranoia. And after death? Read on to hear what happens then, because it’s even scarier.
Least Scientific Drill
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When Albert Hoffman invented LSD, he wasn’t trying to create a hallucinogen. He was creating a drug to stimulate blood circulation. Five years after he first made it, he tried again and accidentally ingested some, and he got really high.
Unlikely Event of an Emergency
In 2005, a plane that took off from Cyprus failed to pressurize the cabin properly as it ascended into the air. Everyone passed out, and autopilot took the plane to Athens, where it circled the airport for an hour, the pilots still unconscious.
Clinical Lycanthropy
A Polish man named Jan Potocki is remembered as one of the first travel writers, writing several memoirs in the 18th century about his voyages to different countries. At the end of his life, he came to believe that he was a werewolf, so he killed himself with a silver bullet.
The Labyrinth
Ever get lost in a mall? One man in Australia went through a strange door in a shopping center, and it locked behind him. He never figured out how to navigate out of that stairwell. They found his body three weeks later.
The Hounds of Hell
When they were putting together Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” one sound engineer had the idea of recording his own Great Dane to create the song’s howl. He put the dog in a barn overnight with a tape recorder. The dog stayed silent. So, Jackson did the howl himself.
Epic
Here Piggy Piggy
A Canadian pig farmer killed at least 26 women, feeding all the bodies to his pigs. A fellow inmate finally killed him in prison this past May.
The Deeper Conspiracy
You’ve surely heard of subliminal advertising, which supposedly attracts viewers to images that are flashed for fractions of a second. But it doesn’t work, and the supposed scientist who unveiled the concept was just trying to drum up business for his marketing company.
All-Purpose Tune
Seemingly every Hollywood movie for the last few decades that depicts an Arabic setting will use the same musical instrument, called the duduk. Of course, all Arabic countries don’t have the same music, and in fact none of them have the duduk. The duduk is Armenian.
The Tree Sawed Back
Ecoterrorists have a trick to make lumberjacks fear trees. They hammer metal into a trunk. This way, any saw blade that goes through the tree will split, fly out and injure the logger.
The Death Paradox
If you die in a car crash, and you’re an organ donor, no one will ever receive your organs. The donor must die (i.e., experience brain death) while on a ventilator, or the organs will become unusable immediately. If you have a crash, your organs will only be viable for donation if you die later in a hospital.
Field Trip
A German train crashed into a second train in 1967, and this second train unfortunately happened to be a fuel tanker. The result was a fiery explosion, but a teacher aboard the first train did manage to carry 12 different children out and to safety.
Slumming It
The first music video ever played on MTV was famously “Video Killed the Radio Star.” That video happens to feature a young composer named Hans Zimmer, because he was there playing the synthesizer.
Blood Sweat
Hippos secrete a red oily substance on their skin. It moisturizes them, but it has the terrifying effect of making the animal look like it’s covered in blood.
And Tears
The 1963 Lesley Gore song “It’s My Party” was on an album called I'll Cry If I Want To. It was an album largely about crying. Other songs included “Judy’s Turn to Cry,” “Cry Me a River,” “Just Let Me Cry, “Cry and You Cry Alone,” “No More Tears (Left to Cry)” and “Cry.”
Screaming the Lord’s Name
A San Diego spa that secretly operated as a brothel made the questionable choice to set up shop right next to a church. Sounds of loud sex from the place disrupted Bible study sessions, leading church members to complain to police, who this month shut the spa down.