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35 Random Bits of Trivia We Dredged Up From the Old Abandoned Quarry

Ya’ll got your tetanus shot?

35 Random Bits of Trivia We Dredged Up From the Old Abandoned Quarry

May 08, 2024

Yup, we’ve been spending a lot of time down at the old abandoned quarry. And for good reason! People have dumped all kinds of cool things in there over the decades. Guns, knives, swords. We even found someone’s bone collection!

Anyway, here’s some of the more fascinating stuff we pulled up from the murky depths…

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

35

Warner Bros. canceled 'Home Alone' because they didn't want to spend $14.7 million on it. CRACKED.COM 21st Century Fox continued the production, and it be- came the highest grossing movie of 1990 at $476 million worldwide. It was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. — Source

34

The dragons in Game of Thrones are actually wyverns. CRACKED.COM The difference between a wyvern and a dragon is that a wyvern has 2 legs and a dragon has 4 legs. They also happen to be make-believe, so it doesn't really matter. — Source

33

The first Roman fire brigade was created to be a very lucrative, paid service. CRACKED.COM The firefighters did nothing while a price was negotiat- ed. Failing to reach a deal, the structure was allowed to burn to the ground after which an offer was made to purchase it for a fraction of its value. — Source

32

As of 2012, there is still an active witch-hunting unit in Saudi Arabia. GRACKED COM In 2009, 118 people were charged with witchcraft and by 2011 there were 9 bureaus in the country to combat sorcery. They have even accused the US of having sorcerers. — Source

31

Sightings of the mysterious Spring-Heeled Jack stretch from 1837 to 1904. A MYSTERY OF MYSTERIES CRACKED.COM Jack was a boogeyman that was said to ring resi- dents of Londons' door- bells dressed as a bear, a ghost or a devil and scratch them with metal claws before leaping away with unnatural agility. — Source

30

Joseph Smith was killed by an angry mob while incarcerated. CRACKED.COM A local had exposed Smith's practice of polyga- my implying that he used his religion as a pretext to seduce and marry unas- suming women, including the wives of some of his closest associates. — Source

29

Ernest Hemingway hunted German U-boats in the Caribbean during WWII. CRACKED COM Hemingway used his fish- ing boat named after his ex-wife (Pilar) to hunt Ger- mans, armed only with Thomson machine guns and hand grenades. Не was given unlimited gasoline by the US government. — Source

28

Coca Cola is responsible for Santa Claus being depicted as fat. CRACKED.COM In 1863, cartoonist Thomas Nast began drawing Santa with a huge stomach, but his jolly weight problem wasn't cemented in pop culture until the 1930s with Coke's advertisements. — Source

27

The Roman Empire mined so much silver that at peak production they were mining 220 tons per year. Scottsdale Silver in Loo They Olive us CRACKED.COM This was 5 to 10 times larger than the com- bined amount of silver available to Medieval Europe and the Ab- basid Caliphate around 800 A.D. — Source

26

A Polish pianist had his grand piano confiscated at JFK Airport. CRACKED.COM Krystian Zimerman was go- ing to play at Carnegie Hall shortly after 9/11 but his Steinway grand piano was confiscated and later de- stroyed because the glue smelled like explosives. — Source

25

A woman named Alice Pike tried to use a fake million dollar bill at Wal-Mart. WAL MART GUARANTEED PRAIT ER CRACKED.COM Pike claimed she thought the bill was real. When told that the United States Treasury does not make $1 million bills, she said, You can't keep up with the U.S. Treasury. — Source

24

A teenage girl of the Xhosa people in Africa convinced her entire tribe to kill all their cattle. CRACKED.COM She claimed it would bring about a cataclysm destroying English colo- nizers. Tens of thousands died in the subsequent famine, and the English were unharmed. — Source

23

The Sega Master System and Genesis are still produced under license and being sold in Brazil. 16-BIT I F - F FOREA BRAVE SEEK MEDA DRIVE SEGA CRACKED.COM The old systems routinely outsell modern game con- soles, due to high tariffs making imported consoles very expensive. Almost half of all Sega Master Sys- tems ever sold were sold in Brazil. — Source

22

Russians pose in front of a toxic lake for their Instagram pictures. GRACKED.COM Called the Siberian Mal- dives, the lake is a beauti- ful turquoise color which is reminiscent of Caribbean waters. The lake's color is due to hazardous toxic waste runoff from a local power plant. — Source

21

Restaurants often serve a fish called Escolar, disguised to be Tuna on the menu. CRACKED.COM Eating too much of this fish, more than 6 ounces, will cause explosive, oily, uncontrollable orange di- arrhea. Accidents can also happen while pass- ing gas. — Source

20

The average person in the Middle Ages had teeth that were in a very good condition. With a diet high in calcium via dairy, high in vegeta- bles and cereals, and low in foods that cause decay, they ate the way most modern dentists would recommend for good teeth. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

19

Left-brain vs. Right-brain dominance is a myth. 10110011001010110 001001001101001 110101100100011 10101010010000 10110011001010 0010010011010 11010110010001 1010101001000 010110011001010 001001001 11010 110101 1001000 1010101001000 10110011001010 Lateralization is unique in every individual and re- searchers cannot find any evidence that one side of the brain or other works by itself for functions of our personalities. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

18

The individual animal with the most human kills ever was a tiger called the Champawat Tiger. Champawat, from North- ern India, adjusted its hunting strategy to kill people after a tooth injury left it unable to hunt nor- mal prey and was shot af- ter an estimated 436 kills. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

17

11-year-old Grace Bedell sent Lincoln a letter encouraging him to grow a beard. Bedell wrote, All the la- dies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you... By the time of his inauguration, Lincoln had a full beard. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

16

Bumblebee bites on plant leaves stimulate early flowering. Scientists compared bumble bee-bitten plants and unbitten plants. Bit- ten plants bloomed in 17 days and the unbitten took an average of 33 days to bloom. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

15

Chocolate milk was invented by an Irishman while visiting Jamaica in the 1680s. Locals mixed cocoa with water which Hans Sloane found nauseating. So in- stead he mixed it with milk to make it more pleasant, and brought the recipe to England, where it was sold as medicine. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

14

Kraft Dinner is the most popular grocery item in Canada. Packaged in Quebec, Kraft Dinner has been called the de facto na- tional dish of Canada. Са- nadians purchase 1.7 mil- lion of the 7 million boxes sold globally each week. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

13

The inventor of the stop sign never learned how to drive. William Phelps Eno also gave us the ре- destrian crosswalk, the traffic circle, the one-way street, the taxi stand, and pedes- trian safety islands. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

12

The language you grow up speaking determines how quickly you will learn to count. FE BA ELL Z ЖЕФ Chinese speaking children to learn to count to 100 an entire year earlier than their English speaking counterparts. But can they see why kids love the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch? CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

11

Marilyn Monroe was discovered while working on a Radioplane assembly line. In 1945, Army photogra- pher David Conover saw a young Monroe and thought she had potential to be a model. Не photographed her working on the OQ-3 model, which led to a screen test, her first break. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

10

Serial killer Marcel Petiot joined the police force and was assigned his own case. After his crimes were dis- covered, Petiot grew a beard and joined the po- lice using the alias Captain Valeri. Не was searching for himself until someone recognized him, months later. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

9

Insane Clown Posse was once on a Disney-owned record label. On the scheduled day of release for their record The Great Milenko how- ever, Disney recalled all 100,000 shipped units upon discovering the graphic nature of the al- bum's lyrical content. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

8

San Francisco had a riot after the news of the end of World War II. The San Francisco victory riots of 1945 was a night of uncontrolled looting and rioting that involved thou- sands of drunken soldiers and sailors, leading to 11 dead and 1,000 injured. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

7

The footprints of a very fast, very ancient human were found in Australia. 20,000 year-old fossilized human footprints were dis- covered which indicate the man who made them was running at the speed of a modern Olympic sprinter, barefoot, in sand. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

6

The leading cause of death for military personnel are accidents. The average worker's fatal- ity rate is 3.6, with policing being 11.1 and structural iron and steel working at 46.4. Fishing is the most dangerous occupation in America with 128.9 deaths per 100,000 people. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

5

Jimi Hendrix's entire mainstream career lasted just 4 years. Hendrix altered the course of popular mu- sic before his career ended abruptly with his death in 1970, at the age of 27. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

4

Blue-collar workers generally do more advanced math than their white-collar peers. LX lim f(sth)-Fis ovo) fnx=5 míu h-o h una fd Less than a quarter of U.S. workers report us- ing math any more complicated than ba- sic fractions and per- centages during the course of their jobs. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

3

Retired NYC subway cars are shipped out to the Atlantic Ocean to make artificial reefs. A The NYC Subway still oper- ates several train cars con- structed in 1964 in regular service. This specific mod- el owes its longevity to its superior durability, crafts- manship and structural quality. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

2

A child could regrow a fingertip if it was chopped off. If a child loses their fingertip, it may sometimes grow back with the nail, bone and all, though with- out a fingerprint. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

1

Elvis Presley was a natural blond. Не began dyeing his hair black from a very young age. Only one picture of him exists with his true hair color, which is framed on the wall of Graceland. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

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