› added 3 years ago

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TIL the Coronation Chair used by English & British monarchs, since 1308, for their coronation ceremonies has graffiti on due to Westminster schoolboys and visitors carving their names on it during the 18th & 19th centuries. One tourist carving reads "P. Abbott slept in this chair 5-6 July 1800".

Read more westminster-abbey.org

via reddit.com

x6JY5 TIL that nearly 100 years ago researchers at Princeton University successfully turned a living cat into a functioning telephone. Using a series of electrodes, they captured the electrical signals from the cat's auditory nerves and converted them into sound waves.
9vB7 TIL There is a Japanese legend of a completely enclosed ship that washed ashore with a young woman inside that spoke a foreign language with a hairstyle that can’t be found in any literature.
lxyN TIL Blackbeard fell in a sneak attack by the Royal Navy. With only 19 crew members, he devastated one ship, boarded the other, and disarmed the Captain sent to hunt him. He was mid-killstroke when he had his throat slashed. Examination of his body revealed 5 gunshot wounds and over 20 sword wounds.
OGQZL TIL of monster Tony Accardo, who became the most powerful boss of the Chicago Outfit. Accardo was regarded as far more capable than Al Capone had ever been, and despite being involved in crime for over eight decades, he never spent more than a night in jail.
NX0lJ TIL of the 1866 shipwreck of the General Grant near New Zealand. Of the 83 on board only 15 survived the sinking and became castaways on Auckland Island. After nine months four of the survivors attempted to row for help and were never seen again. After 16 months the last survivors were rescued.