In 1799, a boy found a 17lb. rock in a creek in North Carolina and used it as a doorstop. It was actually gold.
34
During the Black Plague, it was thought that bad smells were the cause of the plague. "Plague Doctors" therefore wore masks with long beak-like noses stuffed with flowers or smoke to hide the smells.
19
Alligator snapping turtles can live for over 150 years. Scientists know this because some of the turtles had musket balls in their stomachs.
271
Al Capone's armored limousine, after being seized by the feds, was later used to protect Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), 32nd President of the US, after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
20
Pineapples were such a status symbol in 18th century England that you could rent one for the evening to take to a party.
25
Astronomer Percival Lowell believed that he was the first person to observe canals on Venus, but because of a faulty adjustment of the eyepiece on his telescope, he was in fact looking at the blood vessels in his own eye.
4