WTF Fun Fact 12556 – Halley’s Anti-Comet Pill

Where there’s fear, there are people willing to take advantage of it for their own gain.

Hundreds of years ago, comets could be a terrifying phenomenon. It looked like the sky was falling, so it’s not surprising that people have long interpreted them as harbingers of doom.

1910 was the first year that people really knew to expect the comet and could convey that to a larger global population. There were still people who remembered seeing it in 1834.

But we still didn’t entirely understand the nature of comets, so people were more susceptible to rumors about their dangers. While they’re all false, some researchers and commentators were happy to propagate rumors that Halley’s Comet had a tail made of a toxic substance that would contaminate the earth.

It was visible to the naked eye beginning on April 15th disappearing on July 5th. But some people weren’t excited to catch a glimpse because they thought it would bring about the end of the world.

The warning from a handful of scientists was rooted in real concerns. It was a close pass, and a previous comet (named Morehouse) had just been studied closely, and scientists found the fail emitted a toxic gas called cyanogen. But that’s no reason to blow it up into a rumor that a high-speed comet full of poison was headed straight for earth.

Famous scientists were asked to debunk the rumor but had a hard time admitting it was entirely impossible (which people needed to hear in order to chill out). Of course, the press coverage of cherry-picked remarks only made the story bigger and the fear worse.

Reactions ranged from hysteria to people selling all of their possessions to others drinking themselves to death in preparation for the end of the world. Some people caulked their windows and did their best to seal every hole in their homes to prevent the entrance of the supposed toxic gas.

In the panic, some charlatans decided to sell an easy cure in the form of a pill. Of course, it was a sugar pill and had no medicinal value, but they failed to mention that part. There was also an anti-Halley’s comet elixir. It’s unclear how much money people make from these quack remedies for problems that didn’t exist but clearly enough to pay for advertising space.

In the end, Halley’s comet passed without incident – and it was barely visible in the night sky. WTF fun fact

Source: “Halley’s Comet, Covid-19, and the history of ‘miracle’ anti-comet remedies” — Discover Magazine

WTF Fun Fact 12555 – The London Bridge of Arizona

London Bridge is falling down
Falling down, falling down
London Bridge is falling down
My fair lady

Did you sing this song as a kid? We sure did, although we had no idea just how many more verses it had – there are lines about building it up with iron bars as well as gold and silver, but in the end, the bridge was simply taken down and replaced.

Originally built in the 1830s, it spanned the River Thames in London, England. But by 1968, it was up for sale. We can’t really relate to the desire to buy an old bridge that’s falling down, but apparently, millionaires can. American entrepreneur and chainsaw manufacturer Robert P. McCulloch (who also inherited a fortune from his grandfather) decided to buy the bridge to serve as a tourist attraction in the new community he was planning in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. He paid $2.5 million (but there wasn’t exactly a bidding war over it).

And what millionaires want, they tend to get. He bought the bridge, had it dismantled, and transported it to Arizona on a cargo ship. After sailing through the Panama Canal, it landed in Long Beach, California, and was trucked to Lake Havasu City. There, it was reassembled and opened in October 1971.

But you don’t have to worry about using a crumbling old bridge if you visit it. The masonry from the old bridge simply forms the outer structure of the new “London Bridge,” which includes reinforced concrete. It now connects an island in the Colorado River with the main part of Lake Havasu City.

Now, when we say it connects an island, we don’t mean that a bridge was needed there. In fact, a canal was dug to create the island after the bridge was built. But it had the intended effect. Interest in buying land in the area increased, and it did indeed become a tourist destination (and it still is to this day). –  WTF fun fact

Source: “Arizona’s London Bridge: A Brief History” — Arizona Highways

WTF Fun Fact 12554 – The 3500-Year-Old Mom Joke

Ancient Babylonians, they’re just like us! Ok, maybe not exactly, but it turns out they liked a good joke and even managed to record some on clay tablets. In 1976, archaeologist J.J. van Dijk found one such tablet in Iraq, and it contained a significant discovery – the first recorded “yo mama” joke.

Judging by the handwriting, van Dijk believes it was a student’s writing (which makes sense – but imagine having to sneak a clay tablet behind your back to pass notes in class!). The student inscribed 6 “riddles” on the tablet, though pieces were broken off.

Sadly, the jokes aren’t funny today, but it’s not surprising that you lose a little something in translation over 3500 years. What we do find amusing is that the 6th joke is a lewd joke about moms.

The rest don’t make much sense. For example:

In your mouth and your teeth, constantly stared at you, the measuring vessel of your lord. What is it? Beer.

See? Not funny. And neither is this one, although it gives us some indication that people have always enjoyed insulting politicians as well:

He gouged out the eye. It is not the fate of a dead man. He cut the throat: A dead man. Who is it?
A governor.

Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for, the actual “joke” (or at least the part that’s left):

…of your mother is by the one who has intercourse with her.
What/who is it?

Sadly, there’s no punchline left on the tablet. But instead of being disappointed, we’re just amused that insulting mothers has been the go-to insult for so very long. Apparently, it’s something we’re all very sensitive about. WTF fun fact

Source: “3,500-Year-Old Jokes Have Something to Say About Yo Mama” — Discover Magazine

WTF Fun Fact 12553 – The World’s Most Stolen Painting

It may be one of the most important paintings in Western history, ushering in the era known as the Renaissance, but Jan van Eyck’s masterpiece Adoration of the Mystic Lamb also has a more dubious honor. It’s the world’s most stolen painting.

Perhaps the most impressive part is that the altarpiece weighs over 2 tons – that’s 4000 pounds! That’s more than a rhinoceros (albeit less aggressive). It also measures 14.5 by 11.5 feet.

Also known as the Ghent Altarpiece, Adoration of the Mystic Lamb has 12 panels depicting everything from the Annunciation, Adam and Eve, the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, and Jesus himself. But the central theme is an incredibly detailed rendering of pilgrims gathered to honor the Lamb of God.

In 2010, Noah Charney, who authored the book Stealing the Mystic Lamb: the True Story of the World’s Most Coveted Masterpiece, explained the painting’s importance to NPR:

“It’s the first great oil painting — it influenced oil painting for centuries to come. It’s the first great panel painting of the Renaissance, a forerunner to artistic realism. The monumentality of it and the complexity of it fascinated people from the moment it was painted.”

The altarpiece was initially designed to go in the cathedral of St. Bavo in Ghent. And that’s where it stayed for a century.

But in 1566, Calvinist militants set out to destroy the piece. When Catholic guards discovered the plot, they disassembled it and hid it in the cathedral tower. It survived the planned attack, but in 1794 four panels were stolen during the Napoleonic Wars and put on display in the Louvre.

After Napoleon’s defeat in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo, France sent the painting back to Ghent. But in 1816, a vicar at the cathedral reportedly stole the wing panels, which eventually ended up in the Berlin museum. But in 1919, one condition in the Treaty of Versailles was returning those panels to Ghent.

In 1934, thieves broke into the cathedral and stole the lower-left panel, which has still not been recovered. What’s on display in Ghent currently is a copy of that panel.

Unsurprisingly, the Nazis (known to pilfer priceless art) stole the painting during WWII as it was being transported to the Vatican. They were convinced it held a clue to a mystical treasure map that would help them find the relics of Christ’s passion. Yet it ended up stored away in an Austrian salt mine. The mine was rigged with explosives, but the Allies managed to take the mine, dismantle the bombs, and save all the priceless works of art hidden inside.

More intrigue surrounds the painting, and there were many more attempts to steal it. But today, it’s back in Ghent (though one panel – Righteous Judges – is still a replica since it’s never been located) and on display. –  WTF fun fact

Source: “The Most Stolen Work of Art” — Encyclopedia Britannica

WTF Fun Fact 12552 – Mithridates’ Poison Plan

King Mithridates VI of Pontus (aka Mithridates the Great) ruled what is now eastern Turkey from 120-63 BCE. The ruled while the Roman Empire was in its prime, but was its sworn enemy. His goal was to build his own empire, which required taking parts of Rome.In fact, according to the ancient writer Plutarch, in 88 BCE, Mithridates’ armies slaughtered 150,000 Roman and Italian noncombatants in one day in his quest for land.

More recently, Mthridates VI has been referred to as The Poison King. His predecessor Mithridates V had been assassinated with poison and he became obsessed with studying toxicology. There is plenty of proof of this, but what we’re not entirely sure about is the story that he microdosed an elixer of toxins to build up an immunity to poisons in case someone tried to assassinate him.

Ancient writers attest to the story, but modern historians aren’t so sure. Still, historians admit that there are enough sources with stories of some of his public attempts to ingest poison that it’s partly true.

It’s also likely that he conducted experiments on potential poison remedies by using prisoners as his subjects.

Ancient writer Pliny the Elder wrote that Mithridites VI created his own elixer made up of toxins he thought would make him immune to poisoning. It became known mithridate (or mithridatium).

But if the legends are true, all of these plans backfired on the king. Eventually, Rome came for him and on the eve of his capture, he did try to poison himself with the lethal dose of poison he kept hidden in his sword’s hilt. But it didn’t work. Some believe that it was because he shared it with his daughters (who both died) and there wasn’t enough left for him. But this only adds to the theory that he may have, in some way, made himself immune to poison. Of course, he didn’t save the recipe.

In the end, Mithridates VI convinced a servent to slay him with a sword to avoid being captured by the Romans. And there’s really no antidote for that. –  WTF fun fact

Source: “Mithridates’ Poison Elixir: Fact or Fiction?” – World History Encyclopedia

WTF Fun Fact 12551 – The Six-Sided Book

A 16th-century book with a single binding is constructed so that it can be read in 6 different ways and contains six different texts. All six books are religious and were first printed in Germany in the 1550s and 1570s. Each book has its own tiny clasp closure.

Erik Kwakkel, a medieval book historian at The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, first discovered a type of book he dubbed a “Siamese twin” about eight years ago.

“The binding is called “dos-à-dos” (back to back), a type almost exclusively produced in the 16th and 17th centuries. They are like Siamese twins in that they present two different entities joint at their backs: each part has one board for itself, while a third is shared between the two. Their contents show why this was done: you will often find two complementary devotional works in them, such as a prayerbook and a Psalter, or the Bible’s Old and New Testament. Reading the one text you can flip the “book” to consult the other,” he wrote.

Check it out:

From the Folger Library

But when he posted about the 6-sided book, the oddity was picked up by a wide range of news sources. It’s an incredible piece of technology (a word we now reserve mainly for electronic capabilities).

It’s incredible what you can find in library archives!

The book was discovered in the National Library of Sweden. It is also referred to as a dos-à-dos, and Kwakkel states:

“Not only is it a rather old one (it was bound in the late 16th century), but it contains not two but six books, all neatly hidden inside a single binding (see this motionless pic to admire it). They are all devotional texts printed in Germany during the 1550s and 1570s (including Martin Luther, Der kleine Catechismus) and each one is closed with its own tiny clasp. While it may have been difficult to keep track of a particular text’s location, a book you can open in six different ways is quite the display of craftsmanship.” –  WTF fun fact

Source: “A Medieval Book That Opens Six Different Ways, Revealing Six Different Books in One” — Open Culture

WTF Fun Fact 12550 – Magical Gladiator Blood

It’s not hard to find references to the drinking of gladiator blood in ancient sources. However, it was most often used to treat what ancient medical writers called “The Sacred Disease,” which we now believe is epilepsy. Some thought it was brought on by the gods, while others argued for a more natural cause.

Of course, there’s no truth to the claim, but epilepsy held an important place in ancient medicine because it stumped doctors for centuries. It could come on suddenly, making it even more mysterious.

And when diseases are misunderstood, their potential cures are likely to get pretty interesting.

In their 2003 article, “Between horror and hope: gladiator’s blood as a cure for epileptics in ancient medicine,” scholars Ferdinand Peter Moog and Axel Karenberg state that not only was gladiator blood a potential cure for this disease but a gladiator’s liver would be consumed as well. AND that the tradition may have continued in some places up into recent times!

“Between the first and the sixth century a single theological and several medical authors reported on the consumption of gladiator’s blood or liver to cure epileptics…
…the magical use of gladiators’ blood continued for centuries. After the prohibition of gladiatorial combat in about 400 AD, an executed individual (particularly had he been beheaded) became the “legitimate” successor to the gladiator.
Occasional indications in early modern textbooks on medicine as well as reports in the popular literature of the 19th and early 20th century document the existence of this ancient magical practice until modern times. Spontaneous recovery of some forms of epilepsy may be responsible for the illusion of therapeutic effectiveness and for the confirming statements by physicians who have commented on this cure.”

As the authors state, the condition we now know as epilepsy got better on its own in some people. But if they had the “gladiator treatment” and did get better, it simply strengthened doctors’ resolve to keep using it.

But why gladiator blood? According to Dr. Lydia Kang, MD, author of the book, Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything:

“They stemmed from this magical idea that young, healthy males had energy. If you could harness that energy right at the point of death, you could ingest some of this healthfulness. In other words: you are what you eat.” –  WTF fun fact

Source: “Gladiator Blood and Liquid Gold: Good for What Ails You?” — MedPage Today

WTF Fun Fact 12548 – The Biltmore McDonald’s

The Vanderbilt family became the wealthiest people in America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But by the third generation, they were doing more spending than saving (or working), and their fortunes soon vanished. One of their weaknesses came in the form of building wildly expensive real estate, including the Biltmore Estate.

The Biltmore is a French Renaissance-style chateau and the largest private home in America. George Vanderbilt commissioned it after he visited Asheville, North Carolina in 1888 and fell in love with the Blue Ridge Mountains. Construction began in 1889 and hosted Vanderbilt’s first guests on Christmas Eve, 1895.

Biltmore spans a stunning 175,000 square feet and was designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt. It has The 250-rooms, including 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces. Across the way, you’ll find 75 acres of gardens designed by the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.

And just down the street, you can get a Big Mac.

That’s right. The Biltmore is now a bit of a tourist trap, and what was once a village housing the staff is now basically a strip mall for anyone who is less-than-impressed by the glamorous home itself (or, you know, can’t go a day without fast food).

When McDonald’s bought the space, the Biltmore Village Historic Resources Commission was less than pleased to see something so unglamorous taint the home and its surroundings. But what can you do?

Well, for starters, you can pretty much force McDonald’s to renovate their McBuildings into something more fitting of the atmosphere. After it was built in 2000, it was almost immediately renovated to become…a fancy McDonald’s.

According to Atlas Obscura,

“The Biltmore McDonald’s octagonal dining room features tables of red oak, wrought iron railings, and luminous chandeliers under a sweeping pressed-tin ceiling, with every wood feature boasting a handsome finish. A baby grand player piano sits in the corner, churning out disembodied tunes you might hear at a fanciful gala, while a gold-leaf mantled fireplace forms the base of a giant stone chimney. And while the food is sourced and prepared as it would be at any McDonald’s, the staff who makes it maintain a strict dress code of slacks and a bow-tie. It’s fast-food meets forced-fanciful.”

So if you like to slurp your milkshake in style, now you know where to go. –  WTF fun fact

Source: “Biltmore McDonald’s” — Atlas Obscura

WTF Fun Fact 12547 – Caligula’s Equine Obsession

There’s not a lot of love in the history books for the madman/Roman emperor Caligula. Much of what we know about him comes from ancient historians Suetonius and Cassius Dio, who weren’t big fans.

If you look up Caligula’s horse Incitatus (and he does have his own Wikipedia page!), you’ll see stories about how the emperor decided he had so little respect for the Roman Senate that he installed the horse as a senator and even made him consul. (A Roman consul is a senator elected to the executive office for a 1-year term.)

And while that may have been one of Caligula’s half-baked plans, he was assassinated before it became a reality.

Not everyone believes this was a real plan, however. Some historians think it was simply the result of a one-off remark the emperor made about his senators being “asses.” But one thing is likely, and that’s Caligula’s love for his horse. It’s possible that he even held parties in Incitatus’ grand stable where the horse served as “host.”

Interestingly, Caligula’s horse comes up in the “Rights of Great Britain Asserted against the Claims of America,” the British response to the American Declaration of Independence. Believing the ancient historians’ accounts that the horse did become consul, the author uses it as an example of what happens when a state goes rogue:

The extension of the right of electing Magistrates to the people at large, was the principal cause of the fall of freedom in Old Rome. The prejudices and fears of the rabble were the steps by which ambitious men ascended to a power, which they converted into tyranny over their foolish Constituents…the grandsons of voters who placed Marius, Cinna, and Caesar at the head of the State, were employed by Caligula in raising his horse to the Consulship.

True or not, the story of Caligula’s horse serves as a pretty striking talking point, especially for anyone who wants to call a politician an “ass.”

–  WTF fun fact

Source: “Mythbusting Ancient Rome – Caligula’s Horse” — The Conversation