› added 2 years ago

472

TIL London is technically a forest

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via reddit.com

b9oYj TIL: in 2004, police discovered a fully equipped movie theater the Paris Catacombs. It was equipped with a giant cinema screen, seats for the audience, projection equipment, film reels of recent thrillers and film noir classics, a fully stocked bar, and a complete restaurant with tables and chairs.
R5vX6 TIL that the violin music in De Beers Diamond commercials from the 90s was created for the commercial and expanded into an orchestral piece and not the other way around
6E4NZ TIL Colorado teen Erik Jensen received more time in prison for failing to intervene in a murder than the actual murderer did
D10lY TIL that Denis Vrain-Lucas made hundreds of thousands of francs by forging letters written by historical figures. It took fifteen years for him to be caught, even though his letters (many supposedly by ancient Romans or Biblical figures) were all in modern French, and written on watermarked paper.
bppa TIL a botched embalming job on Pope Pius XII (died 1958) caused his body to rapidly decompose while laying in state. The Vatican Swiss guards guarding the body had to be changed every 10 minutes because the awful smell caused some of them to pass out.