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TIL when Catholics were persecuted in England in the 1500s, priests holding secret masses would hide from search parties in “priest holes,” secret chambers within the house. As searches could last week, sometimes the priests starved or asphyxiated.

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OoQb1 TIL that a man attempted to kill president Andrew Jackson, but both of his guns misfired and upon this the president himself took out the attacker with his cane.
loE9B TIL that in 1666, the entire English village of Eyam, when contaminated with the bubonic plague, agreed to quarantine itself, essentially sentencing themselves to death, instead of fleeing to other villages. They did it to stop the disease from spreading. Some 260 villagers died.
R5xYl TIL that in the 1750s, doctors used tobacco enemas, believing they could cure various diseases. When the practice was debunked, the phrase “blowing smoke up your ass” was born.
Lob9 TIL The first Playboy Mansion became a student dormitory after the company donated it to the Art Institute of Chicago. The building was renamed Hefner Hall.
j6d9v TIL that in America in 1940, the top 100 boy names were used to name 74% of all baby boys born while the top 100 names of 2021 were only used for 36%. In fact, just 250 boy names were used to name 86% of all babies boys born in 1940. Today, the top 250 boy names, only account for 55%