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TIL In 1869 an atheist built a 10-foot tall petrified man statue and buried it in Cardiff, New York, to sucker Christians into thinking it was a long lost Biblical giant. They paid to view. He got rich.

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BM5W TIL that in 1527 189 Swiss guards held off 20,000 Mercenaries so the pope at the time could escape. The pope managed to escape and later hired the 40 guards that survived to be his personal guards.
1Ko8 TIL H. L. Mencken when writing about the US Presidency predicted that “On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
AJaa TIL that one of the earliest stories featuring time travel is from a Japanese legend called Urashima Tarō. It is about a fisherman who stays in an undersea palace for 3 days,only to return home and find out that 300 years has passed.
68gw TIL that Tsar Peter III of Russia court-martialed and hanged a rat which had chewed the heads off his toy soldiers.
M74QW TIL that Japan has a town named "Usa" which many believed was deliberately named to promote goods as "Made in USA"