In 1976 an LA secretary named Jannene Swift officially married a 50 pound rock in a ceremony witnessed by more than 20 people.
49
There was a bear called Wojtek who was adopted by Polish soldiers during WW2. It carried ammunition, wrestled with soldiers, and drank beer.
40
Tickling was a form of torture used in ancient China on nobility because it left no mark and recovery was quick.
33
In the 1830s, a Greek prime minister tried to spread the potato in Greece but people weren't interested so he put armed guards in front of shipments of potatoes so people would think they were important. People then started stealing these potatoes so much that the crop spread to all of Greece.
29
Genghis Khan exempted the poor and clergy from taxes, encouraged literacy, and established free religion, leading many peoples to join his empire before they were even conquered.
28
Leonardo da Vinci was dyslexic, and he often wrote backwards.
77
The Grateful Dead were once called 'The Warlocks'.
34
In 1518, a "dancing plague" struck Strasbourg, Alsace, whereby hundreds of people danced fervently in the streets over the period of a month. Some suffered heart attacks or strokes, and many others died from sheer exhaustion. It remains unexplained.
19