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TIL 7 years before the Philosopher’s stone, Neil Gaiman published a comic book about an English boy who finds out he’s a wizard on his 12th birthday and receivs an owl from a magical stranger.

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JoMB TIL Thomas Jefferson built a clock on the outside wall of his house with only an hour hand, as he believed an hour hand would be accurate enough for his slaves
nWr49 TIL The Red Hot Chili Peppers recorded their album Blood Sugar Sex Magik in the mansion Harry Houdini allegedly once lived in, as the band wanted to record in an unusual setting to enhance their creative output. Drummer Chad Smith was convinced the house was haunted and refused to stay in the house.
JYxy1 TIL it’s legal in the US for companies to sell or lease human bodies that have been “donated to science.” Many donated bodies have to be paid for by researchers, and funeral homes earn a kickback for every “donation.”
WW68 TIL “Walking Corpse Syndrome” is a mental condition in which sufferers believe they are missing internal organs, have no blood, or that they are dead outright. PET scans of a patient showed he exhibited brain activity similar to someone asleep or under anaesthesia
j6RpM TIL In 1938, Orson Welles on Halloween night, broadcast live an adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel War of the Worlds over the CBS Radio Network. The episode is famous for inciting a panic by convincing some members of the listening audience that a Martian invasion was really taking place.