› added 1 year ago

55

TIL in 1998, a group that was aiming to save historic properties started renovating Ben Franklin's London home. In the process, they found a hidden, no-window room beneath his garden that had the remains of fifteen individuals.

Read more smithsonianmag.com

via reddit.com

x68Ao TIL John Tyler and his second wife (Julia Gardiner) had a Presidential male canary named Johnny Ty who died of a heart attack after they tried to breed it with another male canary
x6blB TIL that some members of the Sama-Banjau ethnic group intentionally rupture their ear drums at a young age in order to improve their ability to dive & hunt at sea. This allows them to dive for extended periods of time between varying depths without worrying about pain from water pressure changes
oRNBK TIL That John Adams, 2nd President of the United States, acted as the legal defense for the soldiers involved in the Boston massacre. None were charged with murder, and six were acquitted of all crimes.
R5mp6 TIL that a man awaiting a heart transplant survived 100 days on an artificial heart, placed in his chest just like a real one. The invention was created by a father-and-son plumbing duo and originally used normal materials from local hardware stores.
jNvAv TIL of Hakkōda Mountains incident where a unit of Imperial Japanese Army soldiers became lost in a blizzard on the Hakkōda Mountains, Japan. The 199 deaths during a single ascent make it the most lethal disaster in the modern history of mountain climbing. From the 11 survivors, 8 needed amputations.