39 Myths and Counterintuitive Facts That Would Have Gotten Away With It If It Wasn’t for Us Meddling Kids

40 Random Bits of Pop-Culture Trivia Assigned to You by the Trivia Distribution System

42 Random Bits of Trivia You’ll Have to Body Check Into Your Over-Stuffed Brain and Slam Your Skull Shut Before They Bury You Alive

12 Trivia Tidbits to Sprinkle on Your Brainpan As A Garnish

40 Generous Bits of Trivia That Usually Charge An Arm and A Leg for This Kind of Info

30 Bits of Trivia You’d Better Consume Quick Before They’re Cancelled by Netflix

From ‘you should know’ to ‘now you know’ in one easy step

30 Bits of Trivia You’d Better Consume Quick Before They’re Cancelled by Netflix

November 22, 2023

Like previously classified UFO documents, the Random Fact Agency recently made these facts public. We were first on the scene. Our random fact correspondent camped out all night to be the first microphone in the RFA rep’s face, and we’re happy to report that they got these goods firsthand.

Click right here to get the best of Cracked sent to your inbox.

30

A molasses flood killed 21 people. The Great Molasses Flood wasn't some medieval, pseudo-mythical event - it happened in Boston in 1919. 2.3 million gallons of molasses burst from a tank, and the almost- biblical flood swallowed everything in its path. 21 people died and 150 were injured. CRACKED.COM — Source

29

A video game lets you steal art for real (or at least NFTs). The Crypto Doctrine is as close as a game can get to art theft, in that you can steal actual NFTs, for real. It's only fitting that the NFTs were made without the consent of the original artists. CRACKED.COM — Source

28

It was believed that murdered corpses bled in the presence of their killers. This belief that victims oozed cries of revenge didn't fully die out until the early 1800s. Cruentation, as the phenomenon was called, was even weighted more heavily than actual evidence of murder. CRACKED.COM — Source

27

Making Gizmo work was a nightmare. Gizmo was supposed to be in just about 25 minutes of Gremlins, but then Steven Spielberg decided at the last minute that the fuzzball had to have a bigger part. So the puppeteers were left to improvise with a severely limited puppet that wasn't really made for basic stuff, like making it walk. CRACKED.COM — Source

26

AMY KLOBUCHAR RAISED $17,000 FROM EX-BOYFRIENDS. During a 2020 Democratic Presidential Debate, the Minnesota Senator claimed to have raised significant money from exes during her first Senate run. I'd like to point out it is not an expanding base, she joked. CRACKED.COM — Source

25

ULYSSES S. GRANT WAS A NEVER NUDE. When he was in his 60s, the former President of the United States bragged that no one had seen him naked since he was a child. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

FORT WAYNE, INDIANA, HAD A MAYOR NAMED HARRY BAALS. The man with snicker-worthy name was a four-term mayor. (Yes, it was pronounced like that.) City leaders unfortunately turned down the popular idea to name a government center after him. CRACKED.COM — Source

23

DAVID BRODERICK IS THE ONLY SITTING SENATOR TO DIE IN A DUEL. In-party fighting led Broderick being challenged on his antislavery values. Не fired prematurely, and his opponent shot him the chest. Не died three days later. CRACKED.COM — Source

22

Benjamin Franklin tried to do away with the letter С. No, he didn't have a grudge against that particular letter - he wanted to introduce a more phonetic alphabet, dropping unnecessary letters like С, which could be replaced with К or S, depending on the sirkumstanses. No one was interested. CRACKED COM — Source

21

CRACKED THE FIRST COMPUTER PROGRAMMER WAS A WOMAN. Ada Lovelace, born in 1815, is credited with writing the first algorithm designed to be carried out by a machine, making her the world's first computer programmer. — Source

20

CRACKED CHILDREN HAVE MORE TASTE BUDS THAN ADULTS. On average, adults have about 10,000 taste buds, but children have around 30,000. This is why children can be more sensitive to strong flavors and spices than adults. — Source

19

CRACKED WOMEN HAVE A BETTER SENSE OF SMELL THAN MEN. Research has shown that women have a more sensitive olfactory system, which allows them to detect fainter odors and distinguish between similar scents more easily than men. — Source

18

The Nobel Prize

CRACKED THE FIRST PERSON TO WIN TWO NOBEL PRIZES WAS A WOMAN. Marie Curie, born in Poland in 1867, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for her work on radioactivity, and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911 for her discovery of two new elements, polonium and radium. — Source

17

CRACKED BABIES CAN CRAWL ALMOST IMMEDIATELY AFTER BIRTH. Newborn babies have a reflex called the stepping reflex, which causes them to move their legs as if they are taking steps. Although they cannot walk yet, they can crawl and even walk with some assistance. — Source

16

CRACKED 25 25 25 WOMEN'S HEARTS BEAT FASTER THAN MEN'S. On average, a woman's heart beats 8-10 times per minute faster than a man's. This is thought to be because women have smaller hearts that need to pump blood more efficiently. — Source

15

Harriet Tubman was the first woman to lead a military operation in the U.S. As a result of her actions, more than 700 people escaped slavery. She was never paid for her military actions. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

14

Shaq only made one three-pointer in his entire career. An important lesson in playing to your strengths. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

13

Hans Münch was known as the humane Nazi. Не secretly helped inmates escape from Auschwitz and was acquitted of war crimes. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

12

After being refused by the War Office, Mary Seacole used her own money to serve as a nurse during the Crimean War. Due to racism, she almost forgotten to history, compared to her contemporary Nightingale. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

11

Florence Nightingale was a pioneering medical statistician. Her work in statistics saved lives, and her data visualization was ground-breaking. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

10

George Cowan was shot three times (once in the head), crawled to make coffee, crawled across Yellowstone, crossed a river... ...was burnt in a forest fire, thrown from a carriage, and his bed broke while receiving care. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

9

Vidal Sassoon (yes, the hairstylist) was the youngest member of an anti-fascist group. Sassoon was only 17 when he joined Group 43, which physically broke up fascist meetings. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

8

С. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien both went to a party dressed as polar bears. It wasn't a costume party. They were just eccentric. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

7

Beyoncé's lyric mentioning Red Lobster caused their sales to increase by 33% 27% NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

6

Deep beneath a Siberian impact crater, there are trillions of carats of diamonds. The Popigai crater, about 100 kilometers wide, lies above enough diamonds to supply all the world's diamond needs for the next three millennia. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

5

Moscow's metro dogs actually use the subway system to travel through the city. Some of them just live in the subway, but some use it to take short trips through city, and some take long trips and work the subway crowds for treats. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

4

Until 2011, beer was officially considered a soft drink in the Russian Federation. Before that, anything with less than 10% alcohol was classified as foodstuff, and classifying beer as alcoholic gave the government more control over it. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

3

One time, the Russian Air Force bombed a river to break the ice that blocked its flow. 25 Ice on the Sukhona River created a dam which could have made the river overflow, endangering thousands -- so it was bombed every hour until it broke. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

2

During the 1930s, weekends were abolished in Russia (and the whole USSR). The new calendar had days of rest scattered kind of randomly, and those days were different for different groups of workers. The scheme was nixed in 1940. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

1

You could completely fit Pluto within Russia's borders (but Pluto's area is greater). Russia is about 6,000 kilometers wide and 3,000 kilometers high, and Pluto has a diameter of 2,370 kilometers - - so, in 2D, it could fit inside Russia. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

Science & History

5 of the Oldest Board Games in the World

Science & History

5 Parts of Life We’re Stuck With Because the King Ordered It

Trivia & Jokes

44 Random Bits of Trivia We Shucked Out of the Smartest Clams in the Ocean

Movies & TV

25 Trivia Tidbits About ‘Galaxy Quest’ on Its 25th Anniversary

Movies & TV

The Five Craziest Musician Cameos on Sitcoms

Movies & TV

21 of the Best Wordless Gags in Comedy History

VIRAL ON CRACKED

1

The 5 Most Spectacular Landscapes on Earth (That Murder You)

2

20 Jokes That Become Funnier When They’re Explained

3

The 22 Most Pointless Arguments We’ve All Wasted Time On

4

Actors Who Got Some Strange Responses From The Public

5

44 Random Bits of Trivia We Shucked Out of the Smartest Clams in the Ocean