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TIL that Jules Verne's Mysterious Island was based on Frisland, an island that appeared on maps from the 16th to the 18th century. Frisland was a hoax contrived by a pair of brothers who devised a culture reminiscent of the societies of Gulliver's Travels.

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9Y89p TIL: That after a plane crash that wiped out almost the entire Russian National Hockey team in 1950, Stalin's son feared his fathers reaction and recruited new team in one day and his father did not even notice
EgDmp TIL about Hiranyakashipu. A asura king from Hindu mythology who was blessed to be unkillable by deva, human or animal, at day or night, indoors or outdoors, on earth or space or by any weapon. He was killed by an incarnation of Vishnu who managed to kill him without violating his blessing.
m1ENx TIL that panthers aren't actually a species of big cat, but just a term for a black jaguar or leopard
5YKKn TIL of King's Lomatia, whose entire species consists of 500 identical clones in a 1.2 km area of Tasmania. The 44 thousand year old clonal colony “doesn’t do sex” and is dying out despite conservation attempts.
mRpM TIL “Chimney Sweeps” were originally enslaved children who would shimmy up a chimney with a cleaning brush - and oftentimes they would get stuck in the process and die. The deaths were so common that brick masons developed a technique to open chimneys and extract bodies quickly.