› added 8 years ago

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TIL The ‘Irish Giant’ Charles Byrne was so afraid that the surgeon John Hunter wanted his body dissection and display, he arranged to be buried at sea. Hunter snatched Byrne’s cadaver on the way to the burial, reduced Byrne’s body to its skeleton and put it in his museum where it still remains

BroJd TIL in 1857, a woman named Hannah Crafts escaped her owner by dressing up as a man and pretending to be white. She later wrote a book called The Bondwoman's Narrative, but didn't publish it. It was found years later in a New Jersey attic and was finally authenticated and published in 2002.
9wypm TIL in 2017 a couple survived a wildfire in California by jumping into a neighbors pool and staying submerged for 6 hours. They came up for air only when they needed to, using wet t-shirts to shield their faces from falling embers.
WkbL4 TIL the longest jury deliberations lasted 4 1/2 months after 6 months of testimony in the McClure vs City of Long Beach trial. Jurors drank before testimony, took unauthorized vacations, and even lied about an illness to see a horse race.
VBpWG TIL about Roman politicians Saturninus and Glaucia who allegedly had a political opponent, Gaius Memmius, beaten to death in front of the voters. This caused civil unrest within Roman aristocracy and an angry mob brutally killed the duo among their alleged conspirators.
d8DPj TIL there was a funded study on impact of piracy on sales which results were withheld by EU presumably due to finding no negative impact