› added 4 years ago

289

TIL that the movies E.T. the Extra-terrestrial and Poltergeist were both inspired by an unproduced sci-fi horror film conceived by Steven Spielberg called Night Skies.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

M7G5A TIL that Steve Albini had no middle name, but on his birth certificate his father refused to leave the section blank, and thus put in "(None)". Thus technically he did have a middle name and his full name was Steve (None) Albini.
4W8b TIL during WW2, Krystyna Skarbek became a British spy and smuggled intelligence reports and anti-tanks guns from Hungary to the Allies. When she was arrested by Gestapo, she bit her tongue hard enough to bleed and convinced them she had tuberculosis, which made them release her.
p8nYe TIL: Alan Shepard pulled out a makeshift six-iron he smuggled on board Apollo 14 and hit two golf balls on the lunar surface, becoming the first -- and only -- person to play golf anywhere other than Earth.
WkP59 TIL that nearly all of China's state-level and federal-level leadership started off as engineers
KO616 TIL “Monster Mash” used low-budget sound effects for the recording: the sound of a coffin opening was made by a rusty nail being pulled out of a board; the sound of a cauldron bubbling was water being bubbled through a straw, and the chains rattling were simply chains being dropped on a tile floor.