Every 3 years, Ypres Belgium has a cat parade called Kattenstoet, culminating in stuffed animals being thrown from the bell tower. It originates from the middle ages, where they threw live feral cats from the tower on “Cats Wednesday”. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/11/world/what-in-the-world/belgium-cat-thrown-tower-ypres.html
In the first two years of WWI, a broken leg meant an 80% chance of dying. Then the Thomas splint was introduced and reduced the rate of mortality down to 20%. – WTF Fun Facts
In 1724, a Scottish woman was sentenced to be hanged, but she survived and the court ruled she couldn’t be prosecuted further. She was given the nickname ‘Half-Hangit Maggie’ and lived for another 40 years. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/d/maggiedickson.html
During WW2, superstitious sailors in the navies would get a pig and a chicken tattooed on their feet to protect them from drowning. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.tattoodo.com/a/a-maritime-classic-the-pig-and-rooster-tattoo-5023
During WWII, the Allied’s considered having a gardener inject estrogen into carrots to be eaten by Adolf Hitler in order to alter his hormones so he would become more feminine and less aggressive. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/bizarre-plans-allies-turn-hitler-1815901
17-year-old English soldier Leonard Knight’s life was saved by his pocket Bible when it stopped a German bullet during WWI. The bullet penetrated through to the last ~50 pages. – WTF Fun Facts
The wheel was not man’s first significant invention. Others predate the wheel by thousands of years including sewing needles, woven cloth, rope, basket weaving, boats and even the flute. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/a-salute-to-the-wheel-31805121/
Blue jeans originated in Genoa, Italy some 500 years ago. ‘Bleu de Genes’ were worn by fishermen and navy sailors because they could roll them up to prevent them getting wet and because they were easy to remove if they ever fell overboard. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.italymagazine.com/italy/liguria/genoa-girds-battle-over-jeans
The failure of the 1986 film “Howard the Duck” meant George Lucas had to sell some assets of Lucasfilm, including a computer-animated company Graphics Group to Steve Jobs. That company would go on to become Pixar. – WTF Fun Facts