12 Bizarre Facts That Make Us Question Everything We Thought We Knew

 The world is a deeply strange place, and these weird facts prove it. These aren’t run-of-the-mill, recycled facts that pop up every now and again. Instead, this list digs deep to uncover truly wild history facts and facts about the present that are 100% true and still relatively unknown. 

Some of the bizarre things we learned include odd facts about fellow members of the animal kingdom, the disorienting reality of time in the North and South Poles, and why Long Island should probably think about adopting a new name for the most ridiculous, and most unexpected, reason possible. Many of these facts will amaze, some will disgust - but all of these unexpected facts will surprise.

Here are 12 Bizarre Facts That Make Us Question Everything We Thought We Knew

1-      The Modern Safety Pin Was Invented To Repay A Debt

Necessity is the mother of invention. Engineer Walter Hunt knew that from experience. Born in New York in 1796, Hunt spent his whole life inventing. One of Hunt's most impactful inventions was also one of his smallest: the safety pin. 

Indeed, Hunt developed the safety pin out of necessity. He was $15 in debt - no small sum in the 19th century - and mulling over how he could create something to pay the bills. While twisting a wire, he landed on a new idea: a pin that folds into itself and can be clasped. And so the modern safety pin was born. 

Versions of a safety pin had existed since the ancient world. Known as fibulae, they were pins that could be fastened. Yet Hunt built on the earlier fibulae by adding a spring to pins, which would make for a more secure, tighter fastener. 

Though the safety pin would go on to become a household staple, Hunt did not see the bulk of his invention's worth. He had sold the rights to it for $400.

2-      When They Need To Vomit, Frogs Throw Up Their Whole Stomach - And Then Eat It Again

Some frogs do quality control on the food they consume in an interesting way: by vomiting their entire stomach if they suspect they've eaten something toxic. They will then quickly clean the stomach to purge it of toxicity before swallowing it back down. 

This isn't a particularly drawn-out process. Researchers have noted that it takes a frog as little as .3 seconds to throw up, clean the stomach, and reclaim it. 

3-      Lobsters Never Stop Growing, But Contrary To Myth, Aren't Immortal

Despite rumors that lobsters can live forever, these crustaceans live for a few decades. Female lobsters generally outlive males - the oldest recorded female lobster lived to the ripe old age of 72.

Even though lobsters are mere mortals, their bodies keep growing right up until the time of their passing. Lobsters can get surprisingly large. The largest weighed in at a whopping 44 pounds when fishermen caught it in Nova Scotia in 1977. 

How exactly do lobsters grow? Because lobsters have an exoskeleton, they go through periods of molting. Each molting allows the lobster to grow larger. After shedding its shell, a lobster will then consume it to recapture precious nutrients that would have.

4-      The 'Man Of The Hole,' The Last Member Of An Indigenous Brazilian Tribe, Died In 2022

An individual known simply as the “Man of the Hole” was the last survivor of his tribe in the Brazilian Amazon. Over the course of several decades, ranchers and miners encroaching in the area murdered members of his community. By the late 1990s, he had become the last survivor.

The man earned his nickname because he dug and kept holes, though researchers still don't know what function these holes had or their significance to the man. 

Officials with Funai, an Indigenous agency in Brazil, discovered that the man had passed

5-      The World's Oldest Message In A Bottle Was Found 132 Years After It Was Launched

Messages in a bottle have long captured the imagination because they represent human communication across time and space. 

But messages in a bottle are not only the stuff of fiction. Over the course of millennia, people have been putting messages into bottles and sending them out to sea. The earliest instance seems to have happened in 310 BCE when Greek philosopher Theophrastus put a message-filled bottle into the ocean to track the flow of the Mediterranean Sea. 

Because they are dependent on the whims of the sea, messages in a bottle simply drift along until someone finds them. Some have drifted longer than others. 

The oldest-known message in a bottle was apparently at sea for 132 years before it was discovered. It originated on the Paula, a German ship traveling in the Indian Ocean in 1886. 

Whoever had thrown the message overboard had likely done so intentionally. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, German vessels participated in an ongoing experiment to track ocean currents. The message in the bottle contained a request that whoever found the bottle should note where it was discovered and send it back to Germany.

6- The North And South Poles Have No Time Zones

The time zones that keep the world running are a modern invention. When people could travel and communicate over long distances via railroads, steamships, and telegraphs, a need grew for a coordinated time system around the world. 

In 1878, Sir Sandford Fleming put forward the idea of dividing the world into 24 time zones based on lines of longitude. The zones are separated by hours, but some regions adopt more precise sub-zones of half-hours.

Because time zones mirror the earth's longitude lines, there are two places where time zones fill no purpose at all: the North Pole and South Pole, where all longitude lines come together. 

The poles' positioning means they get long, disorienting spells of daylight or darkness, making it feel like no time passes at all. As science writer Katie Weeman explained in Scientific American:

What we think of as a single day, flanked by sunrise and sunset, happens just once per year round the North Pole. So I can't help but wonder: Does a single day up North last for months? Is a year just a day long? The [ship the] Polarstern was engulfed by darkness in October after a three-week-long sunset - just as the other pole saw the first bits of a three-week sunrise after months of black.

7- John Cummings Swallowed 38 Knives During His Lifetime - And A Piece Of One Killed Him

Everyone has a party trick, but John Cummings's party trick was riskier compared to most: He swallowed knives. A sailor by trade, Cummings allegedly first became interested in swallowing knives when he witnessed a performer do it in France in 1799. Cummings wanted to try it out for himself and managed to swallow four knives in one sitting. He went on to periodically swallow knives.

In 1805, he swallowed 20 knives - but unlike previous times, he didn't pass them. Instead, he became ill and consulted a physician. Over the course of the next few years, Cummings would cough up or pass fragments of knives. After health issues, he perished in 1809. 

An autopsy revealed that a small piece of a knife had finally done him in by puncturing some of his organs. 

8- In 1985, The Supreme Court Ruled Long Island Isn't Actually An Island

Jutting out from New York City, Long Island packs a punch for its relatively small size. Thanks to the density of its population around New York City, Long Island - which technically includes Brooklyn and Queens - would be the 13th most populous state in the country if it ever won statehood. 

Long Island's name is a misnomer, at least according to the United States Supreme Court. In 1985, the court ruled that Long Island cannot be considered an island at all. Instead, it should be considered a peninsula that is part of mainland New York. 

The reasoning behind the decision considered who had jurisdiction over the strip of land. If it was an island, the federal government would claim rights to its surrounding sound; if it was a peninsula, then the sound belonged to the state of New York. The state went so far as to argue that the East River, which separates Manhattan from Long Island, is a tidal strait, thereby making Long Island a peninsula. 

9- NASA Never Invented A Space Pen - Or Even Tried

It's a good story: NASA scientists demonstrated ingenuity when they engineered a special “space pen” that astronauts could use in space, a zero-gravity environment. After all, how else would astronauts be able to take notes or write things down if gravity couldn't pull the ink to the point of their pens?

Alas, good stories aren't always true. NASA scientists didn't invent the space pen.

Nevertheless, there is a grain of truth in the story. NASA scientists did consider which writing utensils would be useful and appropriate for astronauts. They ruled out pencils, because they feared broken lead could create problems on the spacecraft.

Rather than developing its own space-friendly pen, NASA reached out to the Fisher Pen Company, a Chicago-based manufacturer developing a pen that could be used in zero gravity. As Fisher spokesperson Gabriel Reyes told Reuters:

NASA was not involved at all in the development of the pen. It was [Fisher Pen Company founder] Paul C. Fisher's personal commitment to create a pen that would work in zero gravity. He spent over $1 million and about 10 years developing the pressurized ink cartridge that allows the pens to function in zero gravity and extreme conditions.

The pen made its NASA debut in 1968 when astronauts put it to use on the Apollo 7 flight.

10- Walt Disney Banned Alfred Hitchcock From Filming At Disneyland

Despite its sunny slogan, “the happiest place on earth,” Disneyland hasn't always been open to everyone. 

Fresh off his success on Psycho, director Alfred Hitchcock was already planning another film: The Blind Man, which would star Hollywood legend James Stewart. In one critical scene, Stewart's character would be part of a chase in an amusement park that was clearly based on Disneyland.

When Disney heard of Hitchcock's plans, according to John Russell Tyler’s book Hitch: The Life and Times of Alfred Hitchcock, he "promptly made a statement that in no circumstances would Hitchcock, maker of that disgusting movie Psycho, be allowed to shoot a foot of film in Disneyland.”

11- An Indian Monk Self-Immolated In Athens In 19 BCE

Self-immolation, or the act of lighting oneself on fire, has a political history. In 1963, for example, Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc self-immolated in Saigon to protest the South Vietnamese government. The history of self-immolation goes back millennia. One case of self-immolation even dates to 19 BCE, when a man from South Asia burned himself alive in Athens.

According to ancient writers, Zarmanochegas (or Zarmarus) came to Athens from Barygaza, a city now known as Bharuch in western India. His reasons for coming to Athens likely had to do with the fact that Roman Emperor Augustus was visiting the city, and emissaries gathered there for business. Both Augustus and Zarmanochegas were initiated into an Athenian mystery cult, and the man from Barygaza opted to self-immolate. 

As the ancient historian Cassius Dio recounted:

One of the Indians, Zarmarus, for some reason wished to die - either because, being of the caste of sages, he was on this account moved by ambition, or, in accordance with the traditional custom of the Indians, because of old age, or because he wished to make a display for the benefit of Augustus and the Athenians (for Augustus had reached Athens)… he was therefore initiated into the mysteries of the two goddesses, which were held out of season on account, they say, of Augustus, who also was an initiate, and he then threw himself alive into the fire.

12- TV Remote Controls Are Called 'Clickers' Because Of The Sound The First Ones Made

Quick, what's the name of the device people hold in their hand to switch the television channel? Though the correct answer is “remote control,” some people use an entirely different name for this small box: a clicker. 

Contemporary remotes don't make clicking noises, so where did this nickname come from? 

Remote controls for radios pre-dated similar devices for television. But by the 1950s, television manufacturers were devising easier ways for customers to switch the channel, rather than standing up and turning the dial. 

In 1956, Zenith Electronics inventor Robert Adler designed a remote control that communicated with its corresponding television via ultrasonic sound. The controller made a clicking sound that was outside the range of human hearing. Nonetheless, it gave the device its nickname.