1,001 Facts that Will Scare the S#*t Out of You
Page 31
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995
FACT : Actor Rudolph Valentino’s dog reportedly haunts his former owner’s gravesite. Looking for his goddamn dinner.
Varla Ventura, The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts & Strange Stories (Weiser, 2008).
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996
FACT : In August 2007, more than 75,000 Elvis fans descended on Graceland to commemorate the thirtiest anniversary of the singer’s death. Most of them even fatter and on more drugs than Elvis was when he died.
Varla Ventura, The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts & Strange Stories (Weiser, 2008).
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997
FACT : The longest case of hiccups on record lasted sixty-nine years. That’s one patient hiccuper. I think I’d leap off a bridge after 69 hours.
Katharine Kenah, The Bizarre Body (School Specialty Publishing, 2004).
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998
FACT : An iceberg spotted by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1956 was roughly the size of Belgium. And probably a lot more interesting.
Barbara Seuling, Earth Is Like a Giant Magnet: And Other Freaky Facts About Planets, Oceans, and Volcanoes (Coughlan Publishing, 2007).
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999
FACT : Queen Isabella of Spain lived to be fifty years old, but bathed just twice in her lifetime. She was so dirty, even the flies refused to land on her. Even dirt wouldn’t stick to her. When she walked past a pigpen, all the pigs would hold their noses.
eBizarre, www.ebizarre.com.
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1000
FACT : In the past ten years the “naked recreation and travel” industry has grown 233 percent. And that’s just the erections.
eBizarre, www.ebizarre.com.
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1001
FACT : Until the late 1800s, Turkish women suspected of committing adultery were put in bags with live cats and tossed into the ocean. Getting rid of the cats was just an added bonus.
Varla Ventura, The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts & Strange Stories. Weiser, 2008.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1 Are You Gonna Eat That? The Ugly Truth about Food and Drink
Chapter 2 Every Little Thing We Do Is Tragic Human (Mis)Behaviors
Chapter 3 Totally Gross Anatomy The Human Body Exposed
Chapter 4 Was It Bad for You, Too? Everything You Never Wanted to Know about Sex and Love
Chapter 5 Will You Survive the 9-to-5? More Reasons to Hate Your Job, Your Boss, and Your Idiot Coworkers
Chapter 6 We Be Illin’ The Sickening Truth about Your Health
Chapter 7 “And in My Spare Time, I Enjoy Dying” Bad News about the Things You Do for Fun—or Used To
Chapter 8 Let Me Hear Your Potty Talk The Straight Poop on Going to the Bathroom
Chapter 9 The Price of Vice Fifty More Reasons Not to Smoke, Drink, or Do Drugs
Chapter 10 You Have the Right to Remain Shocked Things You Shouldn’t Know about Crime and Punishment
Chapter 11 When It Rains, It Pours A S#*tstorm of Scary Facts about the Weather
Chapter 12 You Animals! Beastly Tales of Creatures That Outnumber Us
Chapter 13 The Fruited Plain Frightening Facts about America and Americans
Chapter 14 Open Wide and Say, “Oh S#*t!” Bad Medicine. Really, Really, Really Bad
Chapter 15 They Did What?! Not-So-Proud Moments in World History
Chapter 16 Buggin’ Out Insect Facts That Will Give You the Creepy-Crawlies
Chapter 17 Foreign Objects Strange Facts about Faraway Places Where People Talk Funny
Chapter 18 Do You Believe? Facts and Claims about Aliens, Ghosts, the Olsen Twins, and Other Realms of the Unexplained
Chapter 19 We’re Toast Bad News about Our World and Why We’re All Headed the Way of the Dodo
Chapter 20 What the—?! The Worst of the Worst and the Weirdest of the Weird