What are some mind-blowing facts that sound unreal but are actually true?
- The crime rate is so low in the Netherlands that they have closed 23 prisons since 2004 because they don’t have enough criminals to fill them
- Back in the 90’s Denzel Washington paid the fees for a young aspiring actor who couldn’t afford to go to Oxford’s summer theatre. That young actor was Chadwick Boseman (R.I.P). Chadwick publicly thanked Denzel at the AFI life achievement awards in 2019
- In 1963 a Turkish man was renovating his home. After knocking down a wall in his basement he found a tunnel. He followed the tunnel and discovered an ancient underground city called Derinkuyu which once had a population of 20000 people
- In 2009 an autistic artist named Stephen Wiltshire was able to draw the New York City skyline from memory with a pen after taking a helicopter ride for just 20 minutes
- Princess Diana was known for ignoring royal protocols. She would often ride the tube. At theme parks she would refuse preferential treatment and make William and Harry wait in line like everybody else
- The blue Nelson lake in New Zealand has the clearest body of water known to man with visibility in the lake of up to 260 feet
- The record for the biggest car theft of all time was 1000 Volvo cars. The cars were ordered and delivered then the invoice was ignored and to this day has still not been paid. The cars were ordered by and delivered to North Korea
- In 1963 the Bronx zoo opened an exhibition titled “the most dangerous animal in the world,” it was a mirror
- 2 muggers in New York City once tried to mug former heavyweight champion of the world Jack Dempsey (who was in his 60’s/70’s at the time). It ended as you might expect with both muggers unconscious. The dates and circumstances leading to the event are a bit uncertain although Dempsey did reference the incident in his book
- My personal favourite: In 1996 an avid birdwatcher in Devon, England spent a whole year hooting at owls and then recording their responses unaware that it was one of his neighbours pretending to be an owl and hooting back
- Blue Nelson lake (New Zealand)