In 1918, a homing pigeon saved over 190 American soldiers by delivering a message to nearby support despite having been shot through the breast, blinded in one eye, covered in blood, and with a leg hanging on by just a tendon.
22
Andre the Giant had surgery, but the doctors couldn't figure out how much anaesthesia to use due to his size. Instead, they used Andre's claim that "it usually takes two liters of vodka just to make me feel warm inside" as their guide.
16
In 1958, a nuclear bomb was lost somewhere along the swampy coast of Georgia. Its whereabouts remain a mystery to this day.
29
At 15 years old, Jack Andraka invented a method of diagnosing pancreatic cancer, thus helping to save the lives of millions of people around the world. It is 168 times faster, 26,000 times cheaper, 400 times more sensitive, and has a 99% success rate.
15
If NYC were its own country, and the NYPD was its army, it would be the twentieth-best-funded army in the world, just behind Greece and just ahead of North Korea.
14
In 1974, prankster Porky Bickar was so into April Fools, he flew hundreds of tires into a dormant volcano in Alaska and set them on fire - fooling the local populace and coast guard into thinking the volcano was active.
30