In October 2020, Asbestos, a town in Canada changed its name to Val-des-Sources in hopes of improving the city’s image. The town was once the location of the world’s largest asbestos mine. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-us-canada-54608836
Sisa Gaber Abu Douh is an Egyptian woman who ,after the death of her husband, disguised herself as a man for 43 years in order to make a living shining shoes for her daughter and grandchildren. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://egyptindependent.com/upper-egypt-woman-raises-daughter-disguised-working-man-43-years/
New Zealand, Austria, Norway, and Switzerland have banned the practice of boiling lobsters alive. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.trillmag.com/64914/uncategorized/boiling-lobsters-alive-should-be-banned-says-british-veterinary-association/
The city of Wausau, Wisconsin had an ordinance banning the throwing of projectiles, including snowballs, on city property since 1962. The law was finally amended at the end of 2019 to exclude snowball fights. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/24/game-on-wisconsin-town-to-legalize-snowball-fights-after-50-year-ban
Children of the Moken tribe of Thailand have a technique to achieve perfect vision underwater. They constrict their pupils and change their lens shape, just like dolphins and seals. They use this ability to hunt for fish, clam and shells to eat. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160229-the-sea-nomad-children-who-see-like-dolphins
Cotton candy is called “candy floss” in the UK and India, “fairy floss” in Australia and Finland, “papa’s beard” in France, and “Grandma’s hair” in Greece. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://culinarylore.com/specialty-foods:cotton-candy-around-the-world/
The restaurant Wattana Panich in Bangkok has been cooking and serving “neua tuna” soup for 45 years using the leftover broth from the day before, a form of “perpetual stew”. – WTF Fun Facts
Portland’s famous Voodoo Doughnut served a Pepto Bismol coated doughnut sprinkled with Tums and a NyQuil doughnut laced with the cough medicine until they got in trouble with the FDA. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/1673135/the-secret-joojoo-behind-voodoo-doughnuts
A linguistic study found that winter workers in Antarctica started to develop a new accent. This is a result of them being isolated together and in regular contact with only each other for several months. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/linguists-hear-an-accent-begin/
1,100 ft. beneath the city of Detroit, Michigan lies a massive salt mine. Opened in 1910, it covers 1,500 acres and has over 100 miles of roads. – WTF Fun Facts
Su filindeu (meaning the threads of God) is one of the rarest, most difficult to make pastas in the world. For the past 300 years, only women from one Sardinian family in the town of Nuoro have known how to make it. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20161014-the-secret-behind-italys-rarest-pasta
The first person to die during the construction of the Hoover Dam was J.G. Tierney on December 20th, 1922. On the same day 14 years later, the last person died during the dam’s construction. It was J.G.’s son Patrick.–WTF Fun Facts
Most of the wasabi served outside of Japan is a mixture of horseradish, mustard, and food coloring. Real wasabi must be freshly grated as it only holds its strong flavor for ~15 minutes. – WTF Fun Facts
In 2019, Netflix leased the Paris Theatre, a single-screen theatre in Manhattan, to show their original movies. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/11/25/netflix-to-reopen-famed-paris-theatre-in-manhattan/
Francis Lee Smith spent 20 years building his dream house in Wyoming from reclaimed wood. What started as a one-story home grew into a multi-story tower. In 1992 he fell from the roof and died. Smith Mansion remained empty for nearly 30 years but was bought in 2020. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://cowboystatedaily.com/2020/02/02/wyomings-weird-and-wacky-smith-mansion-finally-sold/
Movile cave in Romania has been separated from the outside world for the past 5.5 million years. The atmosphere deep in the cave is like a different planet and more than 30 of the species found inside cannot be found anywhere else on Earth. – WTF Fun Facts
On the Indonesian island of Tana Toraja, if a baby dies before he starts teething, the family cuts a hole in a tree and places the dead child inside. The tree grows around the baby and absorbs it. – WTF Fun Facts
Ta’rof is Iranian cultural politeness in which the host offers something to the guest and the guest declines it repeatedly until eventually giving in, regardless of whether they want it or not. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.commisceo-global.com/blog/ta-rof-understanding-iranian-culture