The name of a town or where it’s located is often of little concern to the people who live there, unless it happens to be pretty awesome or unusual. In those cases, a town has two options: ignore it, or capitalize on it.

10 Vulcan, Alberta

Vulcan is a small town in Canada with between 1,000 and 2,000 residents. The town was named after the Roman god of fire, not pointy-eared aliens.

And then Star Trek arrived. After the show became a global phenomenon, Vulcan decided to get itself some of that sweet nerd money. Since then, the town has developed Star Trek fever, building a giant Enterprise and a Star Trek walk of fame. Even people from the show took note. Leonard Nimoy wanted one of the earlier Star Trek films to be screened in Vulcan, and when it was discovered that Vulcan didn’t have a theater, they flew hundreds of Vulcan residents to the premiere. The town even holds an annual Spock day.

9 (The Town With A Name Too Long For The Title)

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, shortened to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll for incredibly obvious reasons, is a small town in Wales, where almost every town has a name that long and unpronounceable.

However, Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, holds the unique distinction of having one of the longest names in all of Europe. So surely it has some sort of meaning to the people who live there, right? Well, actually it doesn’t. The name was conceived as a publicity stunt to entice more visitors. After changing its name, tourism exploded. It now holds a number of records, including longest town name in Britain, longest domain name (which they’re offering to sell), and longest train station name.

Because who needs history when you can just make stuff up?

8 Muff, County Donegal

Muff is a small town in Ireland, and just to clarify for those of you who don’t get the joke yet, “muff” is a colloquial term for a lady’s nether regions. As the story goes, a man spying an opportunity for mischief founded the Muff Diving Club. And boy did it pay off. Today, the Muff Diving Club is now the most popular one in the entirety of Ireland.

The club has drawn attention from men’s interest magazines, and its Cafepress site sells more T-shirts to people who’ve never heard of the town than to actual members.

7 Ballycastle, Ballymoney, And More

Though you’ve probably never heard of any of these towns, your eyes would probably leap out of your head if you visited them. That’s because the area is one of main shooting locations for the Game of Thrones series.

The towns in the local area have seen their tourism rates go from one lost traveler looking for water to hundreds of people looking to get a perfect picture of Westeros. The Northern Ireland tourist board itself has jumped on the GOT bandwagon and used the series as a promotional point for their entire country.

6 Springfield, Vermont

With a population of just under 10,000 and a name that’s shared by many other towns, Springfield isn’t going to be your first stop on a tour across America. However, it shares its name with a rather famous fictional town full of yellow-skinned people. Please don’t be racist in the comments; we meant the Simpsons.

When The Simpsons Movie was released, Fox arranged for the film premiere in a town called Springfield. Since there are so many towns with that name, a competition was held—a competition won by Springfield, Vermont. In order to win, they filmed a local talk show host running around the town dressed as Homer Simpson. Hosting the event netted the town thousands of dollars in tourism money.

5 Halfway, Oregon

Halfway is a small town that advertises itself as a scenic outdoor escape for people who either love nature or hate technology. However, most people know the town by its other name: “Half.com.”

In the ‘90s Internet boom, Halfway sold the naming rights to its town to an Internet company in return for thousands of dollars and some computers for its local school. The town is the first officially recognized dot-com town in America. However, many residents weren’t happy with this change. According to a report by the New York Times, one resident went on record saying that it was “the most controversial issue ever to hit this town.”

4Hell, Michigan

There are a number of places on Earth called Hell, though it’s likely that Hell, Michigan has taken the most advantage of its name. For example, Red Robin restaurants offered customers a free cup of chili if Hell froze over. A number of movies were filmed in the town, purely to say that their film was shot on location in Hell.

The most notable is Santa’s Slay, a film starring the wrestler Goldberg as a homicidal Santa Claus. (Okay, no one’s filmed a winner there yet.) The town also celebrates Halloween—big time. Because if you can’t celebrate Halloween in Hell, where can you celebrate it?

3 Aberdeen, Washington

Aberdeen, Washington is a town famous for giving us some of the finest grunge, rock, and metal acts in music. Nirvana, Metal Church, and The Melvins are some notable examples. The town is also the hometown of wrestler Daniel Bryan, if that’s your thing.

However, it took the town several years to take note of one of its most famous residents, Mr. Kurt Cobain. The words “Come As You Are” are now written on the town’s welcoming sign, in homage to him.

When this happened, the Cobain family basically said the equivalent of “Meh, it’s about time.”

2 Hobbiton, New Zealand

When they filmed the Lord Of The Rings movies, they actually built a full-sized Hobbiton set, which they were actually going to destroy until someone pointed out that maybe people would pay to see it. And boy do they. Today, the set is one of the biggest tourism draws in the whole of New Zealand.

Fans of the film the world over visit Hobbiton, the Green Dragon Inn, and according to the official website, newborn baby lambs. New Zealand’s official tourism board, much like Ireland’s, offers fantasy fans a chance to see everything they loved from their favorite series. Overall, the country saw a 40 percent boost in tourism, which was almost entirely due to the buzz generated by the movies.

1Fucking, Austria

Fucking, Austria is the exception that proves the rule. While every other place on this list has accepted or otherwise decided to tolerate their weird name, this town hasn’t—though it hasn’t stopped their town from making tons of money in tourism.

The town’s residents constantly receive prank phone calls, and the town’s sign was stolen so much they had to install a concrete one. Tourists would also keep trying to have intercourse in front of the sign, much to the annoyance of residents. According to Snopes, the town’s signs also have a smaller sign beneath saying “please, not so fast.” Make of that what you will.

Despite the residents despising the tourism, they’ve certainly benefited from it. Western tourists love the town, and tour buses filled with dozens of tourists are a common sight. However, despite these tourists bringing lots of money to the town, residents insist that it’s unwanted—to the point they don’t even sell postcards with their name on them, even though they are one of the most requested items in local shops.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony has become one of the most anticipated events in the music industry. The annual awards ceremony inducts new members into the esteemed Rock Hall while also honoring past artists who have made a significant impact on rock music and other related musical genres, such as pop and rhythm and blues.

Artists are eligible to be inducted 25 years after their first recording. Some of them were inducted for their work with one specific band, while others were selected based on their overall career as a musician. While countless musicians have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame once, there are also a select few artists who have made the cut more than once. Here are ten such artists who have been enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on multiple occasions—first, as members of a band/musical group or duo before induction as solo artists.

Related: Top 10 Performances In Rock Music History

10 Jeff Beck

As one of the rare Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members to have been inducted as a recording artist who did not sing, guitarist extraordinaire Jeff Beck was first inducted into the Rock and Hall of Fame in 1992 as a member of The Yardbirds. Beck succeeded another renowned guitarist/future recording artist, Eric Clapton, and the Yardbirds proceeded to record several well-known tracks that would become hits, including “Shapes of Things” and “Heart Full of Soul.”

By the 1970s, Beck had formed a jazz/rock fusion—largely instrumental—band that would later catapult him into the Rock and Roll HOF as a second-time inductee in 2009, this time as a solo artist. While most recall Beck’s solo career for the track “People Get Ready” with Rod Stewart, Beck also received a total of eight Grammy Awards from 1985 to 2010—eight of them for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.^[1]

9 Lou Reed

Before his Hall of Fame induction as a solo artist, the late Lou Reed was first inducted in 1996 as a member of The Velvet Underground. Even though the recordings of The Velvet Underground would initially go unnoticed by most of the public, the band would later be recognized as one of the frontrunners of the punk rock music scene.

As a solo artist, Reed’s tracks “Walk on The Wild Side,” “Sweet Jane,” “No Money Down,” and “Dirty Blvd” were—and still are in many cases—heavily played on mainstream rock and classic rock radio stations. Reed was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist two years after his death in 2013 and is often referred to as the Godfather of Punk Rock.^[2]

8 Paul Simon

Paul Simon was first inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 as one-half of the Simon and Garfunkel duo with Art Garfunkel. Before breaking up, this folk-rock duo had earned four Grammy awards, producing several memorable hit singles, including “Mrs. Robinson,” “Sound of Silence,” “Cecilia,” and “My Little Town.” Simon then pursued a solo career as Garfunkel pursued an acting career and a solo recording career of his own..

Simon’s ensuing solo career proved to be far more commercially successful than Garfunkel’s, as Simon recorded several hit singles, including “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” “Mother and Child Reunion,” “Late in The Evening,” and “You Can Call Me Al.” From 1968 (Record of the Year: Mrs. Robinson) to 1987 (Record of the Year: Graceland), Simon earned ten Grammy Awards. Simon’s accomplishments once again earned him induction into the Rock and Roll HOF in 2001 as a solo artist^[3]

7 Paul McCartney

As one of the most influential and recognizable pop/rock figures, Paul McCartney was first inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988—along with his three bandmates—as a member of The Beatles. Among McCartney’s accomplishments as a member of the Fab Four are the composition of 71 Beatles tracks, including the following hit singles: “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Eight Days A Week,” “Lady Madonna,” “Let It Be,” and “The Long and Winding Road.”

After enjoying the most successful solo career of all the former members of The Beatles, McCartney became the second member of The Beatles to earn Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction as a solo artist in 1999. For all practical purposes, McCartney’s accomplishments as a solo artist include his time as the front man for Wings. During his Wings’ tenure, six McCartney and Wings singles reached the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 charts, including “My Love,” “Silly Love Songs,” and “Band on the Run.” The remaining two McCartney singles to hit #1 were duets with Stevie Wonder (“Ebony and Ivory”) and Michael Jackson (“Say Say Say”).^[4]

6 Michael Jackson

Buoyed by four consecutive number one singles to debut a career: “I Want You Back,” “ABC,” “The Love You Save,” and “I’ll Be There”—becoming the first pop group to do so—the late Michael Jackson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 as a member of The Jackson 5, along with siblings Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon, Tito, and Randy.

Of Michael Jackson’s many musical achievements, his late 1982 album Thriller is what he is most remembered for. Said Album earned a total of eight Grammy Awards, produced seven Top Ten hits –including the title track, “Billie Jean,” and “Beat It”—and sat atop the Billboard album chart for thirty-seven weeks. By the time the proverbial dust had settled, Jackson had achieved 13 #1 singles and 17 additional Top 10 singles on his way to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction as a solo artist in 2001.^[5]

5 John Lennon

As a member of the Fab Four, the late John Lennon penned a total of 73 tracks—two more than Paul McCartney. This included several which featured him singing lead vocals: “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Ticket to Ride,” “Come Together,” and “Revolution.” Lennon was, of course, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr as a member of The Beatles in 1988.

However, John Lennon became the first member of The Beatles to be inducted into the HOF as a solo artist. While Lennon never achieved the overall solo success as Paul McCartney due to his unfortunate death in 1980, we can only ask, “What if?” Lennon was very successful in a relatively short period of time. To his credit, John has earned seven Top Ten albums, including three number one albums: Imagine, Double Fantasy, and Walls and Bridges. Lennon was also no slouch as a singles artist, sporting eight Billboard Top Ten singles, including two chart-toppers: “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night” and “(Just Like) Starting Over.”^[6]

4 Curtis Mayfield

Prior to embarking upon a solo career, Curtis Mayfield was a member of The Impressions, a successful and influential Chicago-based soul/R&B group. The Impressions were relatively successful with the pop music audience, with 13 Top 40 hits, including “It’s All Right” (which peaked at #4) and “People Get Ready” (later covered by Jeff Beck with Rod Stewart). However, the band enjoyed greater success as a Billboard R&B singles chart act with a total of 17 Top Ten R&B singles from 1958 to 1975, including #1 hits (the aforementioned) “It’s All Right,” “We’re a Winner,” and “Finally Got Myself Together (I’m A Changed Man).” Mayfield was inducted with the group into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, with Tracy Chapman performing the induction.

After leaving The Impressions in 1970 to pursue a solo career, Mayfield produced several charted R&B singles from 1971 to 1982 but is best known for two Billboard Top Ten Pop hits, “Superfly” and “Freddie’s Dead” (the theme from Superfly). In 1990, Mayfield was paralyzed in an accident while performing on stage and sadly, passed away in 1999—the same year he was inducted into the Rock and Roll HOF.^[7]

3 George Harrison

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in ’88 with the other members of The Beatles, George Harrison is easily recognizable as the lead vocalist on The Beatles’ hits: “Something,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Taxman,” and “Here Comes the Sun.” He was also widely acclaimed as the band’s lead guitarist.

Harrison’s solo career began with a bang, with several top-selling albums and singles from 1970 to 1981, with “My Sweet Lord” as arguably his most recognizable hit. Following a sustained period of little to no music chart action, Harrison’s 1987 Cloud Nine album, which spawned several pop/rock radio hits, provided a return to chart prominence for him. That album, coupled with his contributions to the supergroup The Traveling Wilburys, helped push him across the finish line into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction as a solo artist in 2004, three years after his untimely death.^[8]

2 Peter Gabriel

Though the band would not achieve commercial stardom until years after his departure, Peter Gabriel was one of the founding members and lead vocalist of the progressive rock band Genesis for many years. And Gabriel was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a band member in 2010. Nevertheless, the band’s classic track “Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” is perhaps the best known of the Gabriel/Genesis era songs.

On the strength of well-known rock radio hits, “Solsbury Hill,” “Biko,” “Games Without Frontiers,” and “Shock the Monkey,” Gabriel established a presence as a solo artist. His 1986 album So and 1992’s Us spawned several pop and rock radio hits, including “Sledgehammer,” “Big Time,” “In Your Eyes,” and “Steam.” In 2014, Gabriel was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist.^[9]

1 Eric Clapton

Cutting right to the chase, Eric Clapton holds the distinction as the only artist to be enshrined three times. Before he was inducted into the Rock and Roll of Fame as a solo artist in 2000, Clapton was inducted into Rock Hall both as a member of The Yardbirds (1992) and Cream (1993). While they were not all members of The Yardbirds at the same time, The Yardbirds featured legendary guitarists Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Clapton.

A cursory glance of Clapton’s Billboard chart history reveals 16 Top 10 albums and 3 number one albums. Also, Clapton earned 6 Top 10 pop hits, including “I Shot the Sheriff,” his only #1 pop hit. Once Billboard began compiling a Mainstream Rock tracks chart in ’81, Clapton began topping the charts with several tracks, including “Forever Man.”^[10]

Becoming famous is a dream for many. Some work towards it for years, others achieve it by accident. But what if you were to become internationally famous without ever knowing or even being around to enjoy the benefits of your notoriety? Here are ten people who only hit the big time after their death. Who knows, it could still happen to you.

Top 10 Famous People Who Never Existed

10 Joyce Carol Vincent

Debt collectors made a gruesome discovery after breaking into a flat in North London. A decomposing skeleton lay on the sofa surrounded by half wrapped Christmas gifts. Dental records confirmed the deceased as Joyce Carol Vincent, aged 38. Shockingly, she had been dead for three years and in that time, no one had reported her missing.

Joyce’s lonely death garnered just a few headlines. Film-maker Carol Morley spotted the story in an old newspaper while travelling on the London Underground and wanted to know more. There was little information about Joyce, so Morley began to place posters around London and in the back of cabs, appealing for anyone who had known her to come forward.

Morley met up with a series of friends and ex-lovers who described Joyce as clever and ambitious but above all else – secretive. They spoke of her successful career in finance and friends in the music industry. After an abusive relationship, she retreated from the world until her body was found in January 2006. Morley contacted Joyce’s family, but they all refused to talk.

Morley used these interviews to make a haunting documentary about Joyce called “Dreams of a Life”.

The film was praised by reviewers and earned two nominations at the 2011 British Independent Film Awards.

9 Nick Drake

Nick Drake was an English singer songwriter who released his first album as a student in 1969. Shy and awkward, he struggled with depression and rarely played live.

Aged 26, he died from an overdose in his childhood bedroom and that could have been the last anyone heard of Nick Drake.

But in 1999, his track “Pink Moon” was used in a Volkswagen commercial and within weeks had entered the Billboard Hot 100. A new generation of fans discovered Drake’s music and began to download his three albums. The record company who had stopped releasing his music after Drake’s death produced a remix album, and sales quickly overtook the 4,000 albums Drake had originally sold in his lifetime.

8 Adrienne Shelly

“Waitress” is an uplifting Broadway musical, but audiences may be unaware of the tragedy behind it.

Actress Adrienne Shelly wrote, directed and starred in the original 2007 film about Jenna, a pregnant waitress at Joe’s Pie Diner.

Just months before the film’s release, Shelly was found dead at her New York office, hanging from a shower rail. Construction worker Diego Pillco later confessed to killing Shelly and staging her suicide after the two had argued about noise from building works.

Had she lived a few days longer, Shelly would have learned that “Waitress” was to open the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The small budget film became a cult hit and took $23 million at the box office.

In 2013, a musical version was planned with songs by Sara Bareilles. The show opened on Broadway in 2016 and can still be seen in theatres all over the world today.

7 Michelle McNamara

Michelle McNamara was a journalist with one obsession – to identify a long forgotten serial killer who had roamed free in California for decades. Michelle blogged about her search and named him “The Golden State Killer” in a bid to get the cold case back into the news. Over many years, she contacted retired detectives and the online sleuthers to research his crimes and signed a book deal in 2013.

In 2016, Michelle died from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. Her husband, actor Patton Oswalt was determined that her life’s work should not go to waste and along with crime writer Billy Jensen, sifted through hundreds of boxes of her notes to finish the book.

It was called “I’ll Be Gone in The Dark” – a phrase which the killer had whispered to one of his victims and was published in 2018. Just one month later – Joseph D’Angelo, a former police officer, was arrested and confirmed as the Golden State Killer.

Michelle’s first and only book became a New York Times best seller and was followed by an HBO documentary of the same name. It told the victims’ stories and that of Michelle with her words providing the narrative.

6 Jonathan Larson

Playwright Billy Aronson wanted to make a modern version of Puccini’s opera, La bohème. He needed a songwriter, and found Jonathan Larson, an aspiring composer working as a New York waiter who began to write hundreds of songs for the project.

Over seven years, Larson crafted a ground-breaking musical called “Rent” set in New York’s Lower East Side during the 1980s AIDS crisis. Through its 42 rock songs, it told the story of a group of gay and trans artists struggling with addiction and homophobia.

On 25 January 1996, the show was ready to open in an off-Broadway theatre. Hours after the final dress rehearsal, Larson was taken ill and later died from an aortic aneurysm, aged 35.

The shocked cast carried on and the hit show moved to Broadway later that year.

After his death, Larson won 3 Tony Awards and a Pulitzer. The show ran for 12 years and was made into a film in 2005.

5 Vivian Maier

John Maloof was bargain hunting at a Chicago auction in 2007. He paid $380 for the contents of a repossessed storage unit containing hundreds of negatives. Intrigued, Maloof developed the pictures and discovered haunting and candid shots of street life from the 1950s and 60s by an unknown artist.

Maloof turned detective and soon found the photographer was Vivian Maier. He discovered a woman who had lived a solitary life working as a nanny and roaming the streets of Chicago for hours with her camera. Maloof posted the photos online and the fascinating portraits went viral. People wanted to know more about the gifted artist, but Vivian was self-taught and obsessively hid her talent.

Vivian left over 100,000 negatives – all undeveloped and piled in boxes as she moved between nannying jobs. She died penniless and alone in 2009, just as her discarded photos were being seen for the first time.

Today, Vivian’s photographs sell for thousands and have been exhibited globally.

4 Kitty Genovese

Kitty Genovese was walking home from her New York bar job late one night when she was attacked and stabbed by a man named Winston Moseley. Her screams alerted a neighbour who shouted to leave her alone and Moseley ran off.

No one rushed to Kitty’s help or called police as she lay wounded, yards from her apartment. Moseley crept back to the scene and killed her.

It was 1964, and Kitty’s murder made little impact in crime ridden New York. By chance, police arrested Moseley for robbery a few weeks later and he confessed to the killing.

Following a conversation with police about the case, the New York Times ran a story with the sensational title:

“37 Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call Police.”

The article wrongly stated that neighbours had simply watched from their windows as Kitty was murdered, and the public were shocked that so many had ignored her. Psychologists began studying the reasons behind the witnesses’ behaviour and named it “The Bystander Effect”. This describes a situation when several people witness a crime, but they all do nothing as they assume someone else will.

In 2004, journalists decided to re-investigate and found that only two neighbours had failed to help Kitty while many more had rushed to her side—one even held her as she died.

For years, Kitty Genovese’s name was linked to an uncaring society. In 1968 the publicity behind it helped launch the 911 emergency phone system in place today.

3 Stieg Larsson

Stieg Larsson was a Swedish journalist who specialized in attacking Right-wing political groups.

It was a stressful lifestyle and Larsson, a heavy smoker, was frequently targeted by his political opponents.

In 2002, he began writing fiction in his spare time and created a series called “The Millennium Trilogy” comprising The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005), The Girl Who Played with Fire (2006), and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest (2007).

In 2004 his books were accepted by a Swedish publisher, with the possibility of a film deal. Days later, a broken elevator forced Larsson to walk seven floors up to his office where he collapsed and died from a heart attack.

Larsson’s dark thrillers about a computer hacker and a journalist have now sold 80 million copies worldwide and been made into successful films.

Larsson’s death has become as complicated as his novels. His family are now embroiled in a legal battle with his partner over the rights to his unfinished fourth novel, found stored on a laptop.

2 Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka was born in Prague in 1883 and by 1907 he was working as an insurance agent by day and an author at night. A few of his essays were published but he was so consumed by anxiety that he burned most of his work.

In 1917, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and continued to write short stories from his hospital bed. Just before his death, he ordered a friend, Max Brod to destroy all his remaining papers. Instead, Brod chose to share his works with the world, and Kafka’s twisted psychological thrillers have now become classics.

The word “Kafkaesque” meaning a nightmarish situation from which there can be no escape, has entered the dictionary as a result of the stories that Kafka never wanted anyone to read.

1 Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh is a world-famous post-Impressionist. In 1990, his painting “Portrait of Dr Gachet” sold at auction for $82.5 million, but during his troubled lifetime, he remained unknown.

As a young man who couldn’t settle in education, he drifted around Europe taking various jobs. He had always sketched and painted but was mainly self-taught and began to create works based on nature, using intense colours and texture. One of his most famous pieces, “Starry Night” was inspired by his time in a mental hospital.

The last two years of his life were spent in the South of France where he gained a growing respect among the art world but despite this, he officially sold just one painting in his lifetime. He would often trade paintings with other artists in return for food and paint.

After years of ill health and poverty, he shot himself in 1890. His brother’s wife inherited his work, and she began to exhibit some of the 2,000 paintings.

He is now regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 19th century.

10 Tips for Success in Everything

About The Author: I am a true crime addict and lover of words.

Becoming the President of the United States isn’t easy. Some people devote years to the pursuit and never make the grade like Lyndon LaRouche, who ran for President 8 times and never succeeded. Others show up once and inexplicably win the day. And while being President is impressive all on its own, a number of Presidents also had other remarkable claims to fame they could make that have followed them throughout history. 

10. Lincoln is the Only President Who Holds a Patent

Around 25% of people in surveys will identify Benjamin Franklin as a past president, despite the fact he never was. But Franklin was a prominent inventor. When you take him out of the presidential pool, the number of actual inventors who have been President shrinks considerably. In fact, only one president has ever had a patent granted in their name, and that was Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln was elected in 1861, but some years earlier, in 1849, he was granted a patent for a device that could be used to buoy vessels over shoals. Patent No. 6,469 was Lincoln’s only patent and came about thanks to a stint working as a ferryman who had to deal with the hassle of getting a vessel over shoals. He ended up stranded twice when his boats ran aground. 

The invention was essentially airbags for a boat. The inflatable devices could be lowered on the sides of a boat, inflated, and used to get the boat over the shoals and back in the water again. Apparently, it was never actually built and there is some doubt about whether it would even work.

9. Teddy Roosevelt is the Only President Confirmed to Have a Tattoo (Sort Of)

Word is that 30% of Americans have tattoos as of 2019. That means, statistically, about 13 Presidents should have had tattoos. Of course, no one was likely to have tattoos back in Washington’s day, but surely at least one President had a tattoo, right? Well, yes. Just one. At least after a fashion.

Though rumors about that both Roosevelts were inked along with Polk, Eisenhower, and even Andrew Jackson, there is only one confirmed presidential tattoo and that belonged to the most hardcore man to ever hold the office: Teddy Roosevelt. 

You can Google it right now and discover no end of articles that claim Roosevelt had his family crest tattooed on his chest. Turns out, that’s not true. It started as a joke in an old humor magazine from 1912. They included doctored photos of a fully tatted-up Roosevelt to sell the joke. 

In fact, Roosevelt did have a kind of tattoo on his chest, but it wasn’t intentional. Ever the man’s man, apparently the President had run afoul of some gunpowder when he was 13 and given himself a gunpowder tattoo across his chest. That’s what you call it when you fire a weapon and hot gunpowder blows back across your flesh, burning its way into you, leaving a permanent reminder. 

8. Martin Van Buren Was the Only President Who Spoke English as a Second Language

Most American Presidents only speak English. That said, there have been a handful of bilingual Presidents over the years as well. A number of early Presidents like John Adams and James Monroe were fluent in French. Both Roosevelts could speak German to some degree, as could Bill Clinton. A few even spoke Latin. But Martin Van Buren was not just the only one who spoke Dutch, he was the only one for whom English was his second language.  

Van Buren’s family was Dutch and though he was born in Kinderhook, New York, he grew up speaking his family’s native tongue and learned English later. His father owned a tavern which, at the time, was essentially the hub of political activity in any given community. People would get together, have a drink, and talk politics, so he would have been exposed from an early age. 

7. Woodrow Wilson Was the Only President With a PhD

When you wade into the waters of “who was the smartest President” you’re going to find a lot of answers and probably a lot of insults. Intelligence, of course, is not as easy to measure as some might think. But we can, at least, compare how educated and accomplished the Presidents were to see how they stack up to one another. And while many had diverse careers and educations and practiced law and other such things, only one President has ever attained a PhD.

Woodrow Wilson, who served from 1913 to 1921, had earned a PhD from Johns Hopkins University. His area of speciality was Political Science, which seems fitting.

A number of Presidents had degrees, but they didn’t stick around for advanced one. Washington earned a surveyor’s license from college but didn’t do a Bachelor’s. Lincoln, Van Buren, Jackson, Fillmore, Taylor, and Cleveland never attended college at all. Truman, McKinley, Monroe and Harrison attended colleges but never finished out their degrees. 

6. James Buchanan Was the Only Bachelor President

We take it for granted these days that a President has a First Lady. When a woman gets elected, if she’s married, it’s likely her husband will be called the First Gentleman. James Buchanan is the only President so far who has thrown this tradition for a bit of a loop as he was the only President ever elected as a bachelor.

He had been engaged years before taking office, but he broke off that engagement shortly before the wedding. During his time in office, he had a “sort of” First Lady in the form of his niece, Harriet Lane. It’s said that she performed many of the same functions as other First Ladies and she became fairly well-liked as a result. 

5. President Tyler is the Only President to Not Be Buried Under an American Flag

When a President dies, the funeral is typically a big deal. A state funeral is held and people will come from all across the country to pay their respects. When George H. W. Bush died in 2018, world leaders attended and a day of mourning was held. President Bush’s casket, draped with the American flag, was on display during the proceedings. It was similar to every presidential funeral before it with the notable exception of one. 

When John Tyler died, he was the only President in history to be laid to rest under a flag that did not belong to the country he represented. Instead, he was buried under the Confederate flag. There’s a reason Tyler is generally considered one of the worst Presidents in history. 

Tyler is buried at the Hollywood Cemetery, which, despite the name, is located in Richmond, Virginia. His was the only funeral not to be officially recognized in Washington DC. Confederate President Jefferson Davis made the funeral a spectacle and included the Confederate flag across the President’s casket. 

4. Rutherford Hayes is the Only President Revered in Paraguay

You can’t shake a stick without hitting something that was named in honor of Presidents Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt and so on. Schools, bridges, parks, roads, you name it. There’s no end to the things named for some of those most iconic Presidents all across the country. But what about beyond the US borders?

One president stands head and shoulders above the others when it comes to appreciation on foreign soil.Rutherford B. Hayes is a legend unto himself in the country of Paraguay. Unlike in America, where just short of nothing is named after Hayes. Paraguay offers up a river, a province, a town and even a soccer team all named in honor of the one-term president.

The reason for the Paraguayan love of Hayes dates back to 1877. After Paraguay had gone to war with Brazil and Argentina, the country had lost huge amounts of land to the other nations. When Argentina tried to claim a chunk of wilderness space, the two countries agreed to forgo an actual war in favor of neutral, third party arbitration. This was before the UN existed, so the countries asked the USA to determine who got the land. President Hayes decided in favor of Paraguay, making him a local hero for years to come. 

3. James Madison was a Tiny Man

You may think of a President as a larger than life character. It helps that some Presidents really were incredibly large. Abe Lincoln was 6-foot-4. Lyndon Johnson and Donald Trump were both about 6-foot-3. But if Lincoln is the tallest (he was), then one of those 46 men has to be the shortest. The smallest President in history was James Madison and appreciating just how slight a man he was takes a bit of time. He was short statured and also alleged to be incredibly light as well.

Official records indicate Madison was 5-foot-4. His weight seemed to hover somewhere around 100 pounds. That would generally be considered underweight for someone of that height. It was also said he was so soft spoken it was hard to hear him when he made speeches. 

2. Ronald Reagan Was the Only President to Wear a Nazi Uniform (in a movie)

In contemporary history, you’d be hard pressed to find a more deservedly hated group than the Nazis. They were terrible in pretty much every conceivable way. Since the end of the war, and even before actually, they’ve also been firmly enshrined in pop culture. They’re almost perfect villains and can be thwarted by any hero without risk of offending people by using them as foils in a story because they’re so terrible no one doesn’t want to see them destroyed. That’s why Captain America has been punching out Nazis since the early 1940s and literally hundreds of films have been made showing other heroes doing the same.

The task of playing a Nazi on film has to be at least a little daunting for actors who don’t want people associating them with hatred but, if we all understand it’s fiction, what’s the harm, right? And maybe that’s why the only President in American history to ever wear a Nazi uniform, at least that we know of, was the one who was acting in a movie. Ronald Reagan once dressed as a Nazi for the movie Desperate Journey back in 1942. 

1. Grover Cleveland is the Only President Who Worked As An Executioner

No one’s first job is ever President. You have to do a lot to get to that point. In fact, you can’t even be President unless you’re 35. So that means every President likely had a handful of jobs before they got to where they were. Some were senators or congressmen, some were lawyers or business people. And Grover Cleveland? He was an executioner.

Before he took office, Cleveland was a lawman in New York. He worked as the sheriff of Erie County and that job also involved doing double duty as the county executioner. The chosen method at the time, and this was in the mid-1800s, was hanging.

During his tenure as sheriff/hangman, Cleveland was responsible for putting two men to death. Both were murderers and both were hung by Cleveland publicly. 

Cleveland was not the only president to take another’s life – many were soldiers before they took office and fought in battles that saw large losses of life. Some, like Andrew Jackson, fought duels. Cleveland was just the only one to do so presumably with a black sack over his head in an official capacity.

They say everyone has one thing they’re good at. The same can be said for countries, too. There’s a country out there that has the most of something, the least of something, the biggest, the smallest, you name it. Now, no one said the things these countries are famous for have to be good or desirable, but that’s irrelevant. Sometimes your claim to fame is just really weird or unexpected.

10. The US Has the Most Extreme Weather

The United States is famous for a lot of things and there’s no doubt that people from all over the world want to go there. Before Covid, the United States was welcoming over 160 million tourists per year. More than one million immigrants arrive every year as well. So we can all agree America has a lot of appeal to people abroad.

It’s somewhat surprising then that America can also lay claim to the worst weather in the world. That’s not in the sense that it rains too much, that’s in the sense that it has the most devastatingly terrible weather. The US gets more tornadoes than anywhere else on Earth. Over 1,000 per year touch down in America. And that’s just for the start. 

Factor in the floods, the droughts, the hurricanes, heat waves and blizzards and nowhere else can offer up such extreme weather diversity. It’s been called “high impact weather” and the US just has an abundance of it. 

9. Suriname is the Greenest Country

Green is a real buzzword in the modern world, not as a color but a concept. Green energy, going green, green spaces, they’re all desirable things. After chopping down an incalculable number of trees, people started believing they were worth keeping around and supporting and the struggle between those who want to keep things green and those who don’t really care so much continues.

In terms of just open, beautiful green space, there are a lot of countries that can certainly boast of their forests and jungles. But of all the countries in all the world, no place is quite as green as Suriname, the small South American country that is 94% rainforest. 

Because of all the forests and the relatively small population of just over 600,000, the country is considered carbon negative with its trees offsetting any dangerous emissions from pollution. It was the first of two countries in the world to hit this status in 2021 and one of only 10 in the world that can make that claim. 

8. Sweden Has the Most Islands 

There are many famous islands in the world from Bali to Ibiza to Hawaii but, for all the islands dotting the oceans of the world, not many of us stop to consider where you can find more of them than anywhere else. 

People love to vacation in the Caribbean and it can lay claim to over 700 tropical destinations. Greece is known for its islands and there are over 6,000 of them. Indonesia has around 18,000 islands. But if you really want to go island hopping, you need to look a little further north. Sweden takes the crown for the most islands in the world with 267,750 of them. 

The whole Nordic region is so saturated with islands it’s amazing anyone ever got out to sea past them all. Norway has 239,057 and Finland has 178,947. In fact, if you want to visit the most island-rich nation that isn’t in Northern Europe you have to go to Canada which can claim 52,455. 

It’s worth noting that figures don’t always add up the same. Ten different websites might give you ten different answers about how many islands Sweden has precisely, but even when a site drops Sweden’s total down to around 220,000, they’re still head and shoulders above every other nation. 

7. Iceland Has No Mosquitoes

Iceland is the Land of Fire and Ice thanks to its glaciers and volcanoes. It’s known for its Viking history and Skyr yogurt. One lesser known claim to fame but one that no other populated country in the world shares and that’s mosquitoes. Iceland has no mosquitoes. The only other place on Earth where you won’t find mosquitos is Antarctica, and at least it has the excuse of being a secluded, frozen desert at the bottom of the world. Iceland has other countries all around it, all of which do, in fact, have mosquitos.

Mosquitos are actually the deadliest creature in the world, responsible for over 800,000 deaths per year. But Iceland is such a unique country that the little bloodsuckers haven’t managed to gain a foothold. In other northern climates, mosquitos can still thrive. You can find them in Norway, Scotland, Russia, Canada and even Greenland. In the winter, the pupa hibernate beneath the ice and are revived when the land thaws. But Iceland’s climate bounces around so the winter may experience sudden thaws and then freezes again and again. This causes mosquitoes to emerge and then quickly die. It’s also speculated that the chemical composition of Icelandic soil is inhospitable to mosquito life. 

6. Papua New Guinea Has the Most Languages

Language can be very fluid. Some languages die out completely when the people who spoke it all vanish from the world and fewer may have a chance at resurrection one day. Some languages are only spoken by a handful of people and others are made up to add some flavor to a work of fiction and end up being a whole, speakable language with people learning it all around the world. Currently, there are over 7,000 spoken languages on Earth.

It’d be impossible for someone to learn all of those languages and very difficult to even experience all of them firsthand. But your best bet if you ever wanted to try would be to start in Papua New Guinea which is the most linguistically diverse country on Earth. 

Though most people speak English and a handful of other languages, there are speakers of Native languages throughout the nation and those total somewhere around 850. Indonesia comes in second with just over 700 spoken languages. The United States is 5th with 328 spoken languages.

There is fear that many of those languages will soon be lost as younger generations stick to just the “main” languages but, for now at least, Papua New Guinea remains the most diverse of all lands

5. Ireland Consumes More Calories Per Day Than Any Other Nation

It’s no big secret that a lot of people in the world are maybe not as healthy as they should be. People in America are notorious for not getting enough exercise. Nearly a quarter of Americans eat out more than once a week. Based on research from 2018, the average American is consuming 3,782 calories per day 

But despite America being the focus of so many statistics and articles about unhealthy living, it’s not the country that takes the title for consuming the most calories per capita per day. That honor goes to Ireland. The per capita intake of calories in the Emerald Isle is 3,885. It may only be the difference of eating two celery stalks, but it counts. 

4. Iceland is the Only Country With Near Total Internet

It’s time to head back to Iceland which has more than just a lack of mosquitoes going for it. Turns out, if you like to live your life online, then Iceland is the place to be.

Data on this issue is complicated at the best of times and seems to vary from source to source. It can also mean different things. How many people use the internet compared to what percentage of people use the internet compared to what percentage of people could use the internet. And based on that last one, a question of access, Iceland is the most connected nation in the world. According to statistics, the entire population of Iceland has access to the internet. 

The widespread internet in Iceland was thanks to the government’s plan to introduce high-speed fiber internet to everywhere in the country, rural and otherwise, by 2020 in the hopes of ensuring 99.9% of homes were connected. By 2019 they were working on plans to connect the final 1,500 houses in the country that were without it. 

3. Bhutan Converts More CO2 Than it Produces

We saw earlier that Suriname is the greenest nation, and it’s also carbon negative but there is one country in the world that beat Suriname to the punch when it comes to being carbon negative and converting more CO2 than it produces and that is Bhutan.

Not only is Bhutan carbon negative, compared to other nations it’s incredibly efficient and clean. In fact, the country is able to remove three times as much CO2 from the atmosphere as it produces. 

Of course, Bhutan’s secret is less about having amazing technology or a remarkable approach to pollution management than it is about circumstance. The country has a lot of green space with about 70% of it covered in forest and plants. The population is very low at around 750,000 and, arguably the biggest piece of the puzzle, it’s very underdeveloped compared to other nations. Most of the population works in agriculture, there aren’t tons of cars driving around and huge cities burning oil.

All of these factors together ensured that, for years, Bhutan was the world’s only carbon negative country. 

2. The Czech Republic is the Most Non-Religious 

In 2012, there were around 1.1 billion people in the world who considered themselves unaffiliated with any religion. That’s about 16% of the population. That wasn’t to say they had no spiritual beliefs at all, they just didn’t claim to be connected to any established religion. Around the world, only six countries had a majority of religiously unaffiliated citizens. Most of those countries were found in Asia and included China, Hong Kong, Japan and North Korea. Europe rounded out the six with Estonia and then the most irreligious country on Earth – the Czech Republic. According to research for Pew, 76% of the population in the Czech Republic are not affiliated with a religion. 

What is meant by being irreligious is, of course, a little hard to figure out. Based on the numbers five years later, it was down to 72% but only 25% of those claimed to be totally atheist. A total of 46% of those who answered gave the vague answer of their religion being “nothing in particular.”

1. The US is the Biggest Oil Producer in the World

The world has run on oil for a very long time and the only thing bigger than the oil industry itself is the money tied up in it. Wars are fought over it and, without fuel, the economy would grind to a halt. Until we master and fully implement better alternatives across the board, it’s an integral part of how the world works. And for all the turmoil caused by oil in the Middle East and natural gas in Russia and even oil sands up in Canada, it’s the United States that actually ranks as the world’s biggest oil producer.

While Saudi Arabia is able to churn out 11 million barrels of oil per day, the United States was producing 16.6 million per day in 2021 according to BP. Alternate data from the US Energy Information Administration actually boosts those numbers to 18.98 million barrels per day. That means the United States produces 20% of all the oil in the entire world.  On the flip side, the US consumes 21% of the world’s oil.