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TIL In 1835 The New York Sun published a series of articles claiming that there were bat-like humanoids living on the moon. The stories were entirely fictional, but they fooled some readers at the time.

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x4w5 TIL that after Union troops executed his sons and placed their severed heads on the gate-posts of his home, Jack Hinson, who was previously neutral, went on a one-man killing spree and sniped dozens of Union soldiers, at ranges up to ½ mile+, with a custom-made Kentucky Long Rifle.
jNwjX TIL That in 1938, at the age of the 19, the eventual founder of Red Lobster Bill Darden opened a diner named the Green Frog and defied the laws of the southern state Georgia by refusing to segregate customers based on race.
R88j TIL that cattle farmers feed their cows magnets to prevent metal objects that they eat while grazing from tearing up their intestines.
9KkD TIL that one of the world’s lightest solids, aerogel was created as the result of a bet between two scientists to see who could remove the liquid from jellies without shrinkage.
1vB4 TIL Near the end of WWII, after viewing films of Nazi concentration camps, many German prisoners in the U.S. formally burned their uniforms and volunteered to fight in the war against Japan.