Fun Facts That Are

In 1965, four-year-old Roger Lausier was drowning at a beach in Salem, Massachusetts when a woman named Alice Blaise pulled him out of the water. Nine years later, Roger was on an inflatable raft when he heard a woman scream that her husband was drowning. He paddled out and kept the man afloat until help arrived. The man was Bob Blaise. Alice's husband. Same beach. Same family. Nine years apart.

In 1989, a man bought a painting for $4 at a flea market. He wanted the frame. When he took it apart, he found a folded document hidden behind the canvas — an original 1776 print of the Declaration of Independence, one of only 26 known to survive. It sold at Sotheby's for $2.42 million.

When the towers fell on September 11, the Coast Guard put out one call on marine radio: all available boats. Ferry captains turned mid-route. Tugboat operators dropped everything. Fishing boats, private yachts, dinner cruises - hundreds showed up. In nine hours, they evacuated nearly 500,000 people by water. The largest maritime evacuation in history. Larger than Dunkirk, which took nine days.

When a child in Igiugig, Alaska needed emergency evacuation and the runway lights failed, a neighbor made 32 phone calls. Within minutes, the entire village showed up in their pajamas, drove every vehicle to the airstrip, and lined them along the runway with headlights blazing. The medevac pilot landed safely. The child made it to Anchorage.

A man on a unicycle was hit by a double-decker bus in London and dragged under the front wheel. Within seconds, around 100 bystanders surrounded the 12-tonne bus and physically lifted it off the ground to free him. The whole thing was caught on video. He spent a month in hospital but survived. The man was on a unicycle. A hundred strangers lifted a bus.

In 1998, Jo Ann Altsman had a heart attack alone in her vacation trailer. Her 150-pound pig Lulu squeezed through the dog door, cutting her belly, and lay down in the middle of the road. Cars drove around her. She kept going back to check on Jo Ann, then back to the road. A driver finally stopped. Lulu led him to the trailer. Doctors said 15 more minutes and Jo Ann likely would have died. Lulu later died of a heart attack herself.

In 2017, marine biologist Nan Hauser was diving in the Cook Islands when a 50,000-pound humpback whale began pushing her. For 10 minutes it tucked her under its fin and nudged her toward her boat. She thought it was trying to kill her. Then she saw the 15-foot tiger shark below. The whale had been shielding her the whole time. 28 years studying whales. It had never happened. Caught on camera.

Austin Appelbee was 13 when his family's kayak flipped off Western Australia. His mother told him to swim for shore. He swam two hours with a life jacket. When it slowed him, he took it off. He swam two more hours without one. He reached shore and sprinted another mile to find a phone. His family was found 14 km out after 10 hours. Everyone survived.

During Hurricane Harvey, a woman in Houston went into labor. Floodwater surrounded her home. Neighbors waded into waist-deep water and formed a human chain so she could use them as guardrails to reach a flatbed truck waiting on higher ground. The truck drove her to the hospital. She gave birth safely. A neighborhood of strangers became a delivery room.

A 5-year-old boy in Michigan spent over a year in foster care. When his adoption day came, he invited his entire kindergarten class to the courthouse. Every one showed up holding handmade heart signs. Each classmate told the judge why they loved Michael. When the judge asked how he felt, he turned to his new father and said: "I love my daddy." Then they slammed the gavel together.

During the 2022 Buffalo blizzard, Jay Withey knocked on 10 doors begging for shelter. All 10 said no. He smashed a window at Pine Hill School and guided 24 stranded strangers inside. He found cereal in the cafeteria and gym mats for beds. Before leaving, he left a note: "I'm terribly sorry about the window. I had to save everyone. Merry Christmas, Jay." Police put out a call to find him. Not to arrest him. To thank him.

In 1991, Sony and Nintendo were building a console together. Then Nintendo secretly cut a deal with Philips and announced it the morning after Sony revealed their partnership at CES. Sony engineer Ken Kutaragi pushed to build a console anyway. Sony's president backed him. Nintendo tried to humiliate Sony. Sony answered with PlayStation.