Archives: Facts

Custom post type for facts

People used to think birds transformed into different species in winter.

  • Eurasian Blackcap bird
Eurasian Blackcap bird
Credit: SGR Photography/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Sarah Anne Lloyd
July 10, 2025

Love it?

It took a long time for scientists to fully wrap their heads around bird migration, and ancient scholars had some wild ideas about what happened to birds in the winter. The Greek philosopher Aristotle, who was among the first to scientifically study bird migration, came up with a few theories, including one that seems especially wacky today: He suggested that some birds transformed into entirely different bird species with the season.

Aristotle carefully observed the natural world before drawing any conclusions, so the idea, while woefully misguided, wasn’t completely out of left field. Greece is a summer home to some birds and a winter home to others, so while some departed to Africa for the warmer climate at the start of winter, others arrived from Northern Europe. The philosopher noted two pairings of birds that followed this pattern: Robins arrived in Greece right around the time that redstarts, another red-breasted songbird, departed. Similarly, garden warblers spend their winters in Africa, while Eurasian blackcaps, their close relative, seek warmth in the Mediterranean. But after seeing the two birds replace one another each year, he concluded that they changed bodies, not locations. He even claimed to have seen a bird mid-transition, although modern experts believe he likely saw a bird that was molting.

Aristotle’s logic seemed to check out to the general public, and the view that birds change species was commonly held for centuries. To his credit, Aristotle correctly figured that some birds, such as cranes, do simply fly somewhere else during the colder months.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

Some scholars thought swallows hibernated underwater.

Aristotle had another theory for some birds’ wintertime whereabouts: hibernation. He suggested some swallows did migrate short distances, but others hid in the hollows of trees. This idea didn’t take hold right away, but after Aristotle’s work was translated in the mid-13th century, some naturalists and academics ran with it — and built on it. German philosopher Albertus Magnus wrote in 1258 CE that swallows also may stop breathing during hibernation. Two centuries later, Swedish archbishop and influential writer Olaus Magnus got especially creative: In autumn, he wrote, swallows gather by lakes and rivers, dive in headfirst, and immerse themselves in mud at the bottom until springtime. This theory was taken seriously enough that 18th-century surgeon John Hunter even tested it by confining 20 swallows at the end of autumn and providing them with an artificial pond.

Iceland and Britain engaged in a series of conflicts known as the Cod Wars.

  • British fishing operation
British fishing operation
Credit: PA Images/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Michael Nordine
February 14, 2024

Love it?

Iceland currently ranks as the most peaceful country in the world, but its history isn’t entirely free of strife. Beginning in the 1950s, the Nordic country engaged in a series of conflicts with the U.K., known as the Cod Wars. The mostly bloodless back-and-forth involved fishing rights in the North Atlantic, as British ships had been drifting ever closer to Iceland for centuries in search of their oceanic quarry — an encroachment the smaller nation reluctantly tolerated for a time. That ended when Iceland expanded its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in 1958, forcing the United Kingdom’s trawlers to stay out of Icelandic waters.

Rather than comply, Britain began having warships escort its trawlers. While most of the confrontations that followed amounted to little more than saber-rattling — vessels ramming one another, warning shots being fired into the crisp, cold air — what the U.K. called “the first casualty of the cod war” occurred in 1975 when a fisherman from Grimsby, England, was injured by a cable that an Icelandic trawler severed. It was actually the second casualty, however, as an Icelandic engineer was killed in 1973. It was also the last: The resulting diplomatic talks ended with the U.K. accepting Iceland’s 200-mile EEZ, bringing the decades-long conflict to an end.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

There’s an app in Iceland that prevents people from dating their relatives.

With a population of around just 376,000, nearly 60% of which is clustered in or near the capital city of Reykjavík, Iceland is not a large country. It’s also a historically homogenous one, which is why Sad Engineers Studios created the Íslendinga-App to prevent people from accidentally dating distant relatives. Drawing on a database with more than 1,200 years of genealogical information, it allows users to bump their phones and see if they might be (kissing) cousins — a feature known as “Sifjaspellsspillir,” or “Incest Spoiler.” The app’s slogan, fittingly enough, is “Bump the app before you bump in bed.”

The “Guinness Book of Records” was created to settle arguments in pubs.

  • Guinness Book of Records
Guinness Book of Records
Credit: Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Bennett Kleinman
June 30, 2025

Love it?

In 1954, Hugh Beaver, the managing director of the Guinness Brewery, began research on a new book of records meant to help settle pub arguments. The idea stemmed from a bird hunting expedition Beaver took in 1951, during which he and other guests debated about the fastest game bird. Unable to find an answer in any extant reference work, Beaver eventually decided to create his own record book to answer such questions. He hired researchers Norris and Ross McWhirter to work at his new company, Guinness Superlatives, which began operations on November 30, 1954. The McWhirter brothers (the twin sons of a newspaper editor) worked tirelessly to research various facts before finally putting pen to paper, and after more than three months of 90-hour workweeks, the record book was ready for publication.

The first issue of the Guinness Book of Records (now named Guinness World Records) was published on August 27, 1955. Initially, the book was intended as promotional material for the Guinness Brewery, so 1,000 copies — which were laminated to protect against potential beer spillage — were distributed to local British pubs. However, the book proved to be so popular that Beaver changed his tack and began selling it to the public. An additional 50,000 copies were printed, and by Christmas of 1955, the Guinness Book of Records achieved bestseller status in the United Kingdom. The company released the first U.S. edition in September the following year, and by 1964, the book had sold more than a million copies worldwide.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

The Guinness Brewery signed a 9,000-year lease in 1759.

The Guinness Brewery has been located in Dublin, Ireland, since 1759, and is likely to remain there for many more years. That’s because on December 31, 1759, founder Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease to convert a brewery at St. James’s Gate in Dublin into a 4-acre brewery of his very own. At the time, lengthy leases were common in Europe, ensuring businesses could be run by families for several generations. Guinness ponied up a down payment of £100 and agreed to pay an annual rent of £45 each year. By the 1770s, Guinness had perfected brewing the stout beer that the company is now known for, and the brewery ceased production on less popular ales by 1799. In the centuries that followed, the brewery expanded to cover 50 acres of land, thus nullifying the original lease — which can be seen on display at the Guinness factory today.

Blackbeard’s ship sunk off the coast of North Carolina.

  • Illustration of Blackbeard
Illustration of Blackbeard
Credit: PBL Collection/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Timothy Ott
June 26, 2025

Love it?

Perhaps the most famous of the characters who defined the golden age of piracy, Blackbeard (born under the name Edward Teach or possibly Thatch) earned his moniker for the prominent coal-black bush that overtook his jawline and neck. Prone to braiding this growth into pigtails, tied with colorful ribbons, he also tucked lighted fuses under the brim of his hat, producing a supernatural haze of smoke to accompany his fierce gaze. 

Unsurprisingly, Blackbeard struck terror into the hearts of sailors as he guided the crew of the Queen Anne’s Revenge through the Caribbean for a brief period of the early 18th century, plundering the valuables and useful crew members of other vessels as he pleased. The fearsome captain even managed to blockade the port of Charleston, South Carolina, in May 1718 to obtain a desired chest of medicine. But for all his mastery of the high seas, the acclaimed pirate wasn’t immune to navigational blunder: Shortly after the blockade, the Queen Anne’s Revenge was grounded on a sandbar in what is now the Beaufort Inlet off the coast of North Carolina, forcing the captain and his men to abandon ship before it was completely swallowed up by the waves.

Or perhaps the ship was wrecked on purpose? A fellow captain who traveled with Blackbeard indicated as much, suggesting the pirate wanted to break up a company that had swollen to more than 300 men, and later examinations revealed the Queen Anne’s Revenge was in poor shape by the time it was abandoned. At any rate, Blackbeard himself didn’t survive for much longer, as he was killed in battle in November 1718. Yet his fame endured, thanks in part to the rollicking adventures featured in the 1952 movie Blackbeard the Pirate. A half-century later, Blackbeard enjoyed a revival with the discovery of the Queen Anne’s Revenge wreckage in its watery grave, proving that certain swashbuckling legends are simply too compelling to wash away.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

Many pirate stereotypes are myths.

Recent research has suggested that Blackbeard's menacing demeanor may have been an act, and the captain was actually a well-bred young man. It's yet another revelation that pokes holes in the widespread — if generally understood to be exaggerated — image of pirate behavior.  For example, pirates rarely actually buried their treasure, a concept popularized by Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel Treasure Island, as they were far more likely to spend the spoils of plundering on rum and gambling at the nearest port. They also never made people "walk the plank," another Treasure Island fantasy, with unwanted captives either simply tossed overboard or marooned on a deserted island. And it's unlikely these individuals walked around growling, "Arrr, matey"; that touch can be credited to actor Robert Newton, who portrayed Blackbeard and Treasure Island's Long John Silver on the big and small screens in the 1950s. But not all that has survived from buccaneer lore is fiction: The display of a skull-and-crossbones flag, aka the Jolly Roger, was indeed a verified component of 18th-century pirate vessels, although there were multiple variations of this ominous design.

In the Victorian era, bridesmaids often wore white.

  • Victorian-era wedding party
Victorian-era wedding party
Credit: Old Paper Studios/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Sarah Anne Lloyd
June 26, 2025

Love it?

There are few wedding guest gaffes more serious than wearing white. In Western culture, that color is traditionally reserved for the bride, so even the plainest white dress can be considered upstaging. And yet, in England’s Victorian era, when etiquette was of the utmost importance, bridesmaids often wore white, thanks to the influence of the queen herself.

Queen Victoria is often credited with popularizing the white wedding dress in the Western world, after wearing one for her 1840 nuptials when she married Prince Albert. But it wasn’t just Victoria who wore white — her bridesmaids did too, in dresses the monarch helped design.

That said, the queen didn’t invent the idea of the white gown for brides: White, especially with silver, was a popular color choice among those wealthy enough to buy an impractical dress for the occasion. But Victoria’s wedding fashion, combined with the burgeoning Industrial Revolution lowering the price of many garments, the advent of photography, and the emergence of women’s magazines, made both white gowns and white bridesmaids dresses popular across class lines. In the following decades, bridesmaids often dressed in a less-extravagant version of the bride’s outfit, complete with a (shorter) veil. 

Over time, new, vibrant dyes came on the market at prices that non-wealthy people could afford, and brides were eager to add these new hues to their wedding party. By the 1940s, white was traditionally reserved for the bride, and most bridesmaids were wearing other colors.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

White wedding dresses used to represent wealth, not purity.

Even before the trend went mainstream, white and silver dresses were a common choice among wealthy brides in the 18th century, but the colors had nothing to do with purity and everything to do with extravagance. Light-colored dresses were costly and impossible to keep clean, so wearing one signaled money and status. As white dresses became affordable to more brides, the association with purity was retroactively applied by women’s magazines. In 1849, an article in Godey’s Lady’s Book claimed that white dresses were “an emblem of the purity and innocence of girlhood, and the unsullied heart she now yields to the chosen one.”

There was an onion craze on the stock market in the 1950s.

  • Floor traders at the Chicago Board of Trade
Floor traders at the Chicago Board of Trade
Credit: From Original Negative/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Michael Nordine
June 30, 2025

Love it?

You can buy and sell all sorts of commodities on the stock market, from gold and oil to soybeans and cattle. One thing you can’t trade, however, is the humble onion, and there’s a good reason for it: The vegetable was once the subject of a stock market scam. It took place in 1955, when onion futures became the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s most traded commodity and two investors saw a get-rich-quick scheme in the making. Sam Siegel and Vincent Kosuga bought 30 million pounds of onions, a full 98% of Chicago’s stock, as well as onion futures. They then set a plan in motion to short sell the vegetables, which is when investors buy a stock they think (and hope) will decrease in value, sell it on the open market, and then buy it again for the lower price. They then profit from the difference between the sale price and purchase price.

Siegel and Kosuga didn’t just think that onion prices would drop — they knew it. They flooded the market with their massive inventory, dropping the price from $2.75 a bag to just 10 cents a bag. They made millions but bankrupted countless farmers in the process, leading to congressional hearings and the 1958 passage of the Onion Futures Act, which made it illegal to trade the pungent allium on the stock market. To this day, onions are the only banned agricultural trading commodity in the United States — not that anyone’s tearing up over it.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

The London Stock Exchange was the largest stock exchange until World War I.

Founded in 1801, the London Stock Exchange is among the oldest in the world. It also used to be the largest in terms of market capitalization, a position it held until World War I. As it became clear that war was going to break out in Europe, a financial crisis forced the LSE to stay shut for five months beginning in July 1914. That crisis extended far beyond England, of course — around 50 countries experienced bank runs and stock market slumps. The New York Stock Exchange also closed for about four months, finally reopening on November 28, and eclipsed the LSE by the end of the war to become the world’s largest stock exchange. It still holds that title today, though London remains the biggest in Europe. 

Joan of Arc inspired the bob haircut.

  • Joan of Arc, 1429
Joan of Arc, 1429
Credit: ClassicStock/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Rachel Gresh
June 30, 2025

Love it?

A 15th-century teenage war heroine may be an unlikely fashion muse, yet the French martyr Joan of Arc inspired the bob haircut that was trendy throughout the 20th century. Joan first decided to crop her hair and don men’s clothing to hide from danger during a journey to see Charles VII, the dauphin of France, believing she had received divine guidance that would help save France during the Hundred Years’ War against England. At just age 17, she helped lead her country to victory at the Siege of Orléans in 1429, for which she became famous. She is often depicted in knight’s armor with a cropped, pageboy-style hairdo in scenes from the battle. 

The French heroine returned to the spotlight when the Catholic Church canonized her as St. Joan of Arc in the early 20th century. Influenced by Joan’s popularity, renowned Paris hairdresser Antoni Cierplikowski cut the first “bob” hairdo in 1909, citing Joan as his inspiration. The cut transformed the idea of cropped hair for women, making it a fashionable look for glamorous Hollywood stars — albeit controversial, especially at first. Long hair had long been seen as a symbol of femininity, and it was considered rebellious and even scandalous to expose the nape of the neck. Famous ballroom dancer Irene Castle was among the first to adopt the look, cropping her tresses in 1915. Actress Louise “Lulu” Brooks further popularized the style in the 1929 silent film Pandora’s Box, which made the “Lulu bob” world famous. Jazz Age “flappers” also adopted the new ’do, emphasizing their break from societal norms. Bobs continued their reign throughout the 20th century, as seen on some of the most influential women of the era, from actresses Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn to First Lady Jackie Kennedy.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

Barbers doubled as surgeons in medieval Europe.

Cutting hair and performing surgery were considered similar crafts during the Middle Ages, both requiring a steady hand with a blade. In 1540, King Henry VIII of England even issued a decree ordering the Company of the Barbers and the Fellowship of Surgeons to form one unified trade guild, the Company of Barber-Surgeons, considered masters in medicine and grooming. Barbers began assisting with medical procedures that required blades, especially bloodletting, after the 14th-century bubonic plague dramatically decreased the number of qualified surgeons throughout Europe. Eventually, barber-surgeons performed dental extractions, minor surgeries, and even amputations. The profession was especially common in France, where Ambroise Paré — often regarded as the father of modern surgery — began his career as a barber-surgeon.

Johnny Appleseed was a real person.

  • Drawing of Johnny Appleseed, 1862
Drawing of Johnny Appleseed, 1862
Credit: Library of Congress/ Corbis Historical via Getty Images
Author Timothy Ott
June 30, 2025

Love it?

According to legend, Johnny Appleseed wandered the Midwestern frontier in the 1800s with a tin pot on his head and nothing on his feet, scattering apple seeds from a sack and winning over settlers and Indigenous peoples alike with his joie de vivre. It all sounds too far-fetched to be real, but unlike Paul Bunyan — another celebrated frontiersman said to have wielded his axe in a similar time and place — Johnny Appleseed’s legend is rooted in truth.

Though there are few established facts from his lifetime, historians believe Johnny Appleseed was born John Chapman in Massachusetts a few months before the opening shots of the American Revolution, and he relocated to Western Pennsylvania in the 1790s. By the early 1800s, he was living a nomadic life throughout Ohio that consisted of planting nurseries, trading seeds and saplings with settlers, and preaching the word of the New Church, a Christian denomination inspired by the writings of Swedish scientist Emanuel Swedenborg. 

Along the way, he picked up his famous nickname, while making an impression on communities with his alleged refusal to harm other living creatures and his strange garb; witnesses claimed he wore a cloth sack with holes cut out for his arms and head. After moving into Indiana in the 1830s, Chapman died from what was most likely pneumonia around Fort Wayne in 1845.

The combination of the unusual lifestyle and clear eccentricities made Chapman’s story ripe for exaggeration. W.D. Haley’s article “Johnny Appleseed: A Pioneer Hero” in the November 1871 edition of Harper’s Monthly Magazine championed him as a kinder and gentler frontiersman who easily bridged the worlds of the Natives and settlers, while poems such as Lydia Maria Child’s “Apple-Seed John” from 1881 painted its subject as a saintly figure who walked the earth solely to grow food for the good of humankind. By the time Disney included a segment on Johnny Appleseed in 1948’s Melody Time, the image of the barefoot, tin pot-hatted do-gooder was here to stay.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

Johnny Appleseed's apples were mostly grown for hard cider.

Among the seedier elements of Johnny Appleseed's story that were whitewashed for general audiences is the fact that his crops were primarily grown for alcoholic cider instead of eating. This was partly due to the biological nature of apple seeds: Many trees grown from seedlings will produce inedible apples, as opposed to the juicy varieties we enjoy today that spring from the horticultural process of grafting. There were also nutritional benefits to drinking cider, as sanitary drinking water was often absent from frontier life. However, even in Appleseed's heyday there was a temperance movement afoot that sought to dissuade farmers from turning their wares into alcoholic cider. Not surprisingly, this pressure worked to only limited effect, and yet the widespread hard cider craze perpetuated by Appleseed's dealings fizzled out in the years after his death, as the combination of a vanishing frontier and the influx of German immigrants helped point drinking-inclined Americans toward beer instead.

Richard Nixon helped fund his first political campaign by playing poker.

  • Nixon standing behind mic
Nixon standing behind mic
Credit: Everett Collection Inc/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Bennett Kleinman
June 30, 2025

Love it?

Before he was president, Richard Nixon was such a prolific poker player that he amassed enough winnings to help fund his very first political campaign. In January 1944, Nixon was stationed in the South Pacific while serving in the U.S. Navy, and it was during this time that he became something of a card shark, though it’s rumored he had no idea how to even play poker upon his arrival at the base. Nixon quickly took an interest in learning the game and spent hours studying strategy before putting his money at risk. His hard work proved fruitful, and the future president raked in around $40 to $50 each night (roughly $700 to $876 today). One fellow serviceman noted that he once saw Nixon “bluff a lieutenant commander out of $1,500 with a pair of deuces.” 

Nixon continued to win big before returning stateside in July. Upon arriving home, he claimed to have won $8,000 (around $140,000 today) from his various poker exploits, though some estimates put the winnings closer to $6,800. Either way, the number was quite substantial. In 1946, Nixon decided to enter the world of politics and run for Congress in California’s 12th District. A political newcomer, he turned to his poker savings as a way to jump-start his campaign, using the winnings to fund approximately 20% of its total costs. This choice paid off, as Nixon easily coasted to victory over incumbent Jerry Voorhis, marking the beginning of his political climb.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

FDR and Nixon are the only people to appear on a major presidential ticket five times.

In the history of U.S. presidential elections, two candidates have appeared on a national major party ticket on five separate occasions: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Richard Nixon. FDR first ran on the Democratic ticket in 1920 as the vice presidential candidate, though he and presidential nominee James M. Cox ultimately came up short. Twelve years later, Roosevelt was nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate, and went on to win his first of four consecutive elections — the most of any U.S. president. Nixon, for his part, appeared on his first national ticket as a Republican in 1952, serving as the vice presidential nominee alongside Dwight D. Eisenhower. He successfully won two terms as vice president before unsuccessfully running for president against John F. Kennedy in 1960. He was nominated for president again in 1968, winning that election as well as his reelection campaign in 1972.

John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe all died on July 4.

  • Adams, Jefferson & Monroe
Adams, Jefferson & Monroe
Library of Congress/ Unsplash
Author Adam Levine
June 30, 2025

Love it?

Since 1777, the Fourth of July has been celebrated as the day the United States of America formally broke from Great Britain and became an independent nation. It’s a pretty stunning coincidence, then, that the day of the nation’s birth is also marked by the deaths of three separate founding fathers and early U.S. presidents: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Monroe. More unlikely still, Adams and Jefferson died just hours apart on the exact same day: July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of American independence. 

The fact that America’s second, third, and fifth presidents all died on the same day has sparked a certain degree of speculation. In eulogies for Jefferson, mourners suggested he had willed himself to survive through illness until reaching the significant 50th-anniversary milestone of the nation’s independence. (According to various people who were with him when he died, on the night of July 3 Jefferson said, “Is it the Fourth?” or a similar phrase.) Statesman Daniel Webster suggested divine intervention had played a role in the timing, to signal to the world that the United States was favored by heavenly providence. Others have offered a more sinister theory: that doctors deliberately prolonged Jefferson’s life until July Fourth and even had a hand in determining Adams’ final day, making sure that it fell on the historically significant date. Whatever the explanation, the coincidence has become woven into the history and mythology of the birth of the United States.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

John Adams’ last words were “Thomas Jefferson survives.”

Throughout their political careers, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were close political colleagues, and sometimes fierce rivals. The two men met at the Continental Congress in 1775 and worked together on the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence. Their shared commitment to American independence sparked a close friendship, but that friendship was tested by the different visions the two men had for the future of the United States. Jefferson was an ardent defender of states’ rights, while Adams believed that the nation should be led by a strong central government. This fundamental disagreement in their politics led to a falling out, and after Jefferson defeated Adams in the presidential election of 1800, the two founding fathers didn’t speak to each other for 11 years. The tension lasted for the rest of their lives, though they were able to rekindle their friendship and begin speaking again. When Adams died on July 4, 1826, his last words were reported to be, “Thomas Jefferson survives.” Ironically, though Adams didn’t know it, Jefferson had died just hours earlier that same day.

x