Thanks to the internet, learning new things can be a lot more fun than just flipping through the pages of an old textbook. Facts are fresh and plentiful and accompanied by informative images. Hopefully, you can enjoy these fun facts, and find them interesting to read.
Have you ever heard about Ellen Sadler, the girl who slept for nine years? Well in 1871, at the age of just 11 years old, Ellen fell asleep one day and didn't wake up for almost a decade. Ellen often was criticized for falling asleep in the middle of the day, but little did her family know that was the least of their worries. Ellen was fed soup through two of her missing front teeth, and although she experienced bladder accidents, never had a bowel movement during her sleep. Ellen is thought to have experienced a severe case of narcolepsy, but as her mother was using her sleeping body as an attraction, it is likely she maintained the facade of sleep long after actually waking up. Ellen would eventually go on to live a semi-normal life, albeit with some difficulties.
Read about her, and plenty of other interesting things in this gallery of facts that are fun to read.
1
Before freezing to death, people tend to remove their clothes. This is called “paradoxical disrobing,” a phenomenon frequently seen in cases of lethal hypothermia.
2
Thomas Fuller, an African sold into slavery in 1724 at the age of 14, was sometimes known as the “Virginia Calculator” for his extraordinary ability to solve complex math problems in his head.
3
Daisy and Violet Hilton were conjoined pygopagus twins born in February of 1908, in Brighton, England. They lived until the age of 60, but were taken advantage of by their mother and later “owner” for much of their lives.
4
The Poison Garden at the Alnwick Garden in Northumberland, England, is the deadliest garden in the world with more than 100 plants that could kill someone.
6
George Aldrich is a smeller for NASA, and smells objects before they are placed into a spacecraft to make sure their odors won’t interfere with, or distract the astronauts in any way.
8
Houses in Norway covered in moss to help retain heat, as first engineered by the Vikings.
9
A man who spent 25 years isolated from the world reveals the inside of the astonishing caves he created.
10
“Mad honey” is a type of honey made by bees that feed on the pollen of rhododendron flowers. It can make people hallucinate because it contains a substance called grayanotoxin, found in certain types of rhododendron plants.
12
Tunnel originally created by an ancient giant sloth.
13
Scot Angus Barbieri lost 276 pounds after not eating at all for 382 days.
14
Jack The Baboon Operated A Railway, Earned A Salary, And Never Made Mistakes.
15
In the second half of the 1970s in Russia there was talk of a man, Nikolai Lukich Machulyak, who took care of a polar bear and its cubs by feeding them meat and condensed milk.
16
The houses of Haid Al-Jazil have been built atop a massive rock block 150 meters high and enjoy a wide 360-degree view of the Wadi Dawan valley, in the middle of the desert, on the Incense Route.
17
On the 28th March 1871, 11-year-old Ellen Sadler went to bed and did not wake up for 9 years. She had 2 missing teeth; so milk, port wine, and gruel were poured into her mouth, which was clamped shut. It appears that she suffered from severe narcolepsy, but as her mother was making money showing off her sleeping body, it is likely they kept up the act long after Ellen woke up.
18
How women’s bathing suits changed from 1875 to 1927.
19
The oldest surviving diving suit from the 18th century. This suit is made of cowskin and was waterproofed using a mixture of mutton tallow, tar, and pitch.
20
“Brain” shaped expanses of white sandstone. These rocks are called "brain rocks" and are found in Arizona.
21
This island is located in Lake Victoria between Uganda and Kenya. The island measures only half a hectare and is inhabited by 400 people.
22
Michel Lotito: The man who ate 18 bicycles, 15 supermarket trolleys, seven TV sets, six chandeliers, two beds, a pair of skis, and a Cessna light aircraft.
23
The Moray Terraces, located in Peru are an archaeological site that sheds light on the innovative agricultural practices of the ancient Incas.
24
In 1958, Bob Timm and John Cook, two pilots from Las Vegas, set out to break the record for the longest continuous flight. They did so, and flew for over 64 days. The record still stands.
25
Meteora is a breathtaking complex of Eastern Orthodox monasteries built atop massive rock pillars. Formed over 60 million years ago, these sandstone and conglomerate pillars rise sharply from the plains of Thessaly, creating a stunning landscape.
26
A 20 meter wide band of holes, known as the "Mysterious Nazca Holes," is an archaeological site located in the Nazca region of Peru.
