Post * gMnmL — Curious Curator

› added 6 years ago

91

TIL that Benjamin Franklin predicted the time of death of a fellow almanac publisher in his own almanac. When the date came and passed with nothing happening, Franklin published the obituary anyway, and insisted that the still-alive man was actually being impersonated by someone else.

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R7eNw TIL comic, actor and comedian Carl Reiner was an avid wrestling fan since the 1950s. Late wrestler later turned manager Freddie Blassie appeared as himself on the Dick Van Dyke show which Reiner created a decade after his noted wrestling fandom began.

0w4Ky TIL that the song 'Unchained Melody' is the theme song to a little known prison movie called 'Unchained', hence the title. The film flopped although it was nominated one academy award — for best original song.

5ROQ TIL that during WWII, the Gestapo’s most wanted person was New Zealand born Allied agent Nancy Wake. Among her numerous exploits, she killed an SS soldier with her bare hands, to prevent him from raising the alarm during an undercover raid.

0wVvN TIL in 1869, George Hull hired people to make a stone statue of a man, bury it, then later pretend to discover an ancient giant. The hoax was so lucrative that P.T. Barnum offered $50,000. The owner declined. Barnum had a replica made and said he had the real giant and the owner had the fake.

WkEX9 TIL that in the middle of the Great Depression, a man placed an offer in an Ohio newspaper, saying: If you’re in trouble, write me. Many people sent him desperate letters, needing things like shoes, a coat, mercy, food, and to save their family from despair. And back came checks, under a pseudonym.