This is our weird but true facts category. These may be a little odd and a little strange, but they are all most definitely true facts! If you are looking for weird fun facts then start scrolling!
Archaeologists found “chewing gum” in western Sweden believed to be 9,000 years old, made of resin sweetened with honey, and the tooth marks showed it had been chewed on by a stone-age teenager. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://apnews.com/749119838d8f7f04689315c9cf728e5d
Millennials between the ages of 18-34 are more likely to live with their parents instead of a spouse/partner. This is the first time this has been true of this age demographic since record-keeping began in the 1880s. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials#Peter_Pan_generation
In 1975, the mummified body of bank robber Elmer McCurdy was found in an amusement park by a TV crew. It had been mistaken for a wax mannequin, and was only found out after a man moved it and its arm fell off, exposing human bone. Elmer died in 1911. – WTF Fun Facts
The Ethiopian calendar is ~7 years behind the Gregorian calendar due to them having a 13th month of either 5 or 6 days (in the case of a leap year). They celebrated the new millennium on Sept. 12, 2007. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://theculturetrip.com/africa/ethiopia/articles/why-is-the-ethiopian-calendar-7-years-behind/
Napoléon Bonaparte’s penis was removed from his dead body during autopsy, displayed at a museum, and eventually sold for $2,700 in the 1970s. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/napoleon-s-penis-size-confirmed-channel-4-documentary-calls-the-artifact-very-small-9235101.html
In Welsh, the word for week is wythnos, which literally means “eight-nights”. Historically, the week started and ended with night. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-day_week
According to new findings, in one ancient South American culture, some babies wore burial headgear made from other children’s skulls. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/21/americas/ecuador-infants-heads-intl-hnk-scli/index.html
Mary Shelley’s favorite keepsake was her dead husband and poet Percy Shelly’s heart. After the death of her husband, the Frankenstein author carried his heart with her in a silken shroud for almost 30 years until she died in 1851. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/65624/mary-shelleys-favorite-keepsake-her-dead-husbands-heart
Galeanthropy is a mental condition of thinking that one has become a cat, which is usually manifested in the adoption of feline mannerisms and habits. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/galeanthropy
Ducks can keep their eyes open underwater due to a transparent third, sideways eyelid called a nictating membrane or haw. All birds have it and even humans have a vestigial remnant called the plica semilunaris. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nictitating_membrane
The band Chumbawamba holds the world record for the longest album title at 156 words and 857 characters long for 2008 album “The Boy Bands Have Won…” – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/74213-longest-title-of-a-music-album/
Around New Year and before Lent, those in Bulgarian kukeri costumes walk and dance through villages to scare away evil spirits with their costumes and the sound of their bells. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukeri
The popular idiom “over and out” from TV and movies makes no sense in actual radio communications because “over” means you want a reply and “out” means you do not expect a reply. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/over_and_out
The Nilotic peoples Nuer, Dinka, and Atuot of South Sudan occasionally sacrifice a cucumber instead of an ox. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://brill.com/previewpdf/journals/jra/22/1/article-p47_4.xml
In the 1920’s, Hugo Gernsback invented The Isolator which was a helmet aimed to improve concentration by blocking out noise and narrowing the users field of view. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.thevintagenews.com/2015/12/22/the-isolator-an-invention-from-1925-designed-to-improve-work-productivity/
A popular additive to many perfumes, Ambergris, comes from the intestines of sperm whales. When it’s fresh, not surprisingly, it smells like crap, but then later begins to smell sweet and ‘earthy’. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/whale-poop-perfume-ambergris-why-its-expensive-2019-1
There are 12 copies of the Gutenberg Bible which were printed on vellum. Each of these copy’s required ~170 calf hides. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.bl.uk/treasures/gutenberg/vellum.html
A new microbe called a hemimastigote was found in Nova Scotia. The Hemimastix kukwesjijk is not a plant, animal, fungus, or protozoa. It constitutes an entirely new kingdom, a new branch on the tree of life. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-a-newfound-kingdom-means-for-the-tree-of-life/