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TIL the only instance of a kid dying from poisoned Halloween candy was when it was given to him by his own father. The father took out a $40,000 life insurance policy on his son beforehand. He gave the tainted candy to four other kids to set up the story that a local madman had poisoned the kids.

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Wke5B TIL About "Event 201" a high-level pandemic exercise held on October 18, 2019, in New York, NY by Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which simulated the World wide impact of a Corona-virus pandemic
R7RJQ TIL The water speed record is one of the deadliest competitions with an 85% fatality rate. The current record of 317 MPH was set in 1978 by an Australian, Ken Warby, using a vessel built in his backyard with an engine purchased for $69.
5ZQB TIL that Galveston, Texas was ruled by French pirates between 1816 and 1821
Y7ZWG TIL that Alexei Nikolaevich, son of the last Russian tsar and heir to the throne, had a severe case of hemophilia inherited from his mother, which in turn she had acquired through the line of her maternal grandmother Victoria of the United Kingdom.
d8x0K TIL - In Germany there exists the only tree in the world with its own mailing address. The "matchmaking" tree receives about 1,000 letters per year from singles looking for love. Anyone can take letters from the tree and respond. It is estimated the tree is responsible for over 100 marriages.