Swamps aren’t just for Hollywood anacondas. They’re perfect history pockets. Their general inaccessibility allows artifacts, bodies, and even cities to await discovery without being damaged or looted. The physical conditions of marshlands can sometimes slow down deterioration, taking snapshots of the past that would otherwise have been lost.

10Swamp Ghost

Months after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, US bombers raided the Japanese at Simpson Harbor, Papua New Guinea. One plane made a second run after its bomb bay malfunctioned. Even though it worked the second time, a hot fight ensued between her crew and the enemy. The Flying Fortress managed to not explode in a spectacular fashion, but she never made it back to base. Badly whipped, she belly landed in a deep swamp.

Her crew stumbled to safety a few days later, bringing with them a tale of survival and a fresh dose of malaria. The war bird was only rediscovered in 1972, and its haunting appearance quickly earned her the name “Swamp Ghost.” Roughly three more decades would pass before conservation efforts freed the bomber in 2006. Today, Swamp Ghost enjoys a much better home at the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor.

9The Hidden Community

The Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia and North Carolina was once runaway central. Fleeing Native Americans, wanted whites, and escaped slaves saw freedom inside the near-inaccessible environment. They received it for 10 generations. At one point, they numbered in their thousands. Then the elusive inhabitants of the swamp just disappeared.

Artifacts show they were self-sufficient and innovative, building cabins, weapons and tools, even clay pipes. They honored chiefs and followed an Africanized religion. One Dismal Swamp maroon, called Charlie, was later tracked down in Canada. He added that labor was communal and described how they made their own furniture and musical instruments. Why they vanished remains unclear. All archaeological evidence of this survivor community ends after the Civil War. One theory suggests that after the war, they blended back into society as free people.

8Ancient Floor Game

A swamp in Mexico holds an artificial island that is 5,000 years old. Mostly made of discarded clam shells, it grew to such a size that the fisher folk who created it started using it as a food processing station. To prevent the shells from cutting their feet to ribbons, they laid clay floors. Holes in the platforms fit the pattern of wooden racks, perhaps used to dry fish.

The site of Tlacuachero also has other head-scratching holes nobody can fully explain. These oddities are arranged in ovals, are smaller, and dent specific areas of the floors. Decorated clay disks found at Tlacuachero hint that the workers could have played some sort of floor board game. If true, it could be the oldest clue to how the ancients amused themselves in the Americas.

7The Windover Cemetery

In 1982, a peat pond in Florida revealed 168 bodies. They weren’t freakishly preserved like other bog corpses, but about half were found to still have their brains. They’re old. The Windover site was used by a hunter-gatherer community to bury their dead 3,500 years before the Pyramids.

The discovery clarified a few misconceptions about prehistoric people, if only about this bunch. Finely woven shrouds proved they weren’t figures running around in crude animal skins. Some walked this Earth for 70-plus years, and their tools were also incredibly sophisticated. They ate well, didn’t move around like hunter-gatherers usually did, and (unlike most ancient cemeteries) the Windover group had little evidence of violent deaths. If you wanted peace, plenty, and a ripe old age thousands of years ago, this was apparently the place to be.

6Houses On Stilts

Once upon a time, a village of stilt homes perched above water until fire destroyed it. After the settlement collapsed into the river below, it became frozen in time for 3,000 years. When rediscovered in the East Anglian Fens, the site was heralded as historic. Not only are the roundhouses the best preserved Bronze Age homes in Britain, but archaeologists are getting a good look at what their domestic life looked like—and it’s not what they thought.

The wooden huts yielded goods bearing a sophistication never before credited to this era: rich textiles, intricate jewelry, crockery, and a carpentry excellence that included a timber palisade around the houses. Remarkably, even the footprints of the prehistoric villagers remained preserved at the site.

5The Bridge Battle

In a zombie-movie moment, a human arm was found sticking from a riverbank. Soon, more human remains were unearthed in the Tollense Valley, Germany. Their wounds and numbers were horrifying. At the 10 percent mark of the investigation, 130 skeletons were already dug out of the marshy soil. Archaeologists realized that they were standing on an epic battlefield.

Thousands took up arms, and the slain changed the story about Europe’s Bronze Age men. Most researchers favored the idea that they were peaceful and focused on trading. However, this battle unearthed professional fighters and warfare on a scale never before seen in the area. The Tollense skeletons may even be the earliest example of direct conflict between warriors with weapons. The deadly confrontation probably sparked when both sides wanted control of the river’s bridge where the fighting started.

4Istanbul’s True Age

Archaeologists were delighted to discover 30 ships from the Byzantine era in Istanbul. During excavations, they stumbled on an even greater treasure: the city’s real age. At the heart of Istanbul, an ancient swamp revealed a grave that knocked its age back by a whopping 6,000 years.

Previously, the history books pinned Istanbul’s beginnings at around 700 BC. What appeared to be a family burial, two adults, and two kids, dated back to the Neolithic era when people first started to live in permanent locations. Traces of houses and tools nearby proved that there was a settlement, one that was almost certainly the earliest roots of the great Turkish city.

3The Fallen Russians

In 1983, Ilya Prokoviev found boots protruding from a swamp. What turned out to be an accidental discovery of a fallen World War II Russian soldier became a lifelong passion for Prokoviev, a former army officer himself. Together with volunteers, he scours known battlefields for his comrades—four million of them who are still considered missing in action on the Eastern Front. They don’t have to look very hard. The dead are everywhere, sometimes only covered by leaves.

Despite hardships, the diggers are committed. Some have been killed by explosives. Others cannot forget the mass graves that they have seen. All race against looters who strip bodies of their valuables and dignity. But thanks to their ongoing efforts, half a million soldiers have been returned to their families for burial.

2Paestum

During a relaxing swamp stroll, it might come as a surprise to see a huge Greek temple–especially in the middle of mosquito-infested nowhere. Imagine finding three together, all remarkably intact.

This is the last footprint of Paestum, a settlement that once thrived in the south of Naples. Dedicated to the goddesses Hera and Athena, they were constructed in the sixth and fifth centuries BC by the Greeks. The sacred sites were the only buildings to survive when the Romans destroyed the colony of Poseidonia and replaced it with their own city, Paestum. The next few centuries saw Paestum slide into obscurity and malarial marshes before being abandoned.

Rediscovered in the 18th century, the temples changed architectural history. At first considered primitive against later Roman styles, scholars now promote Paestum as evidence that the Greek Dorian style conceived classical Roman architecture.

1Atlantis In Spain

Atlantis has been found everywhere, so why not in a marsh, too?

In yet another claim that the mythical city is real, a team of US archaeologists and geologists point to southern Spain. Their high tech surveillance show that something is definitely there. Submerged in the marshlands of the Dona Ana Park, it’s big and multi-ringed just like the ancient metropolis. It’s not just the shape of the strange formation that makes this particular Atlantis more credible to the researchers. About 150 miles away, they found what they called “memorial cities” and believe the ruins are remnants of Atlantean hands who built them in the image of their lost home.

Silicon, one of the most important elements of recent times, is a vital component of high-powered integrated circuits and plasma-assisted lasers. Throughout history, the brittle, metal-like solid has been put to a multitude of fascinating uses, even prior to its discovery in 1824 (some sources say 1823). As the eighth most abundant element in the universe by mass, it accounts for a significant portion of the world we live in.

Today, we interact with silicon at so many points in our lives—from admiring a glittering gemstone to applying sealant to our bathrooms. We may not understand its full potential at present, but the range of remarkable properties offered by silicon means that it is likely to be at the forefront of any technological advances.

After all, as Bill Gates once said, “There will always be ignorance, and ignorance leads to fear. But with time, people will come to accept their silicon masters.”

10 Semiconductors And Microprocessors

Semiconductors have revolutionized the modern world. Every time we use an electronic appliance, browse the web, or glance at our smartphones, we rely on semiconductors to perform a function. The device on which you are currently reading this article uses sophisticated semiconductors in its microprocessor and transistors, most probably made from silicon.

There are several notable atomic properties that make silicon a vital ingredient for state-of-the-art computing. It’s no coincidence that the Santa Clara Valley—the pioneering technological hub of the US—has been branded “Silicon Valley.” An enormous number of lucrative companies and budding start-ups—including Intel, Apple, Facebook, and Uber—depend on silicon chips and microprocessors.

Due to the intrinsic electron structure of the atoms, pure silicon crystals are strong insulators of electricity. Only a tiny amount of current is able to flow through. However, when another element is added into the mix in small doses, silicon changes properties from an insulator to a partial conductor of current—an actual “semi-conductor.” This process is known as doping.^[1]

The simplest example of a semiconductor is a diode, a component found in circuits that conducts electricity in one direction and blocks it in the other. These are commonly used to make appliances like valves or radios. The semiconducting transistors found in microprocessors are essentially a more complex form of three-way diode.

9 Plant Growth

Silicon is the second most abundant element in the crust of the Earth. Oxygen is first. Our soil is naturally rich in silicon, and a number of broadleaf plants and grasses are able to absorb it into their tissues. Unlike minerals like phosphorus and nitrogen, silicon is not essential for plants to survive. However, for reasons that scientists are trying to determine, it has been observed to provide various benefits for some flora.

Silicon is said to be especially positive when plants face stress. Through absorption, plants improve their ability to withstand droughts and are able to survive longer stretches of time without water before wilting.

Moreover, in rice and wheat, silicon can improve the strength of the stem. Without it, they become weakened and may be damaged by the weather. In some cases, it has been found to make plants more resilient to attacks from fungal pathogens, too.

That said, silicon is only beneficial in moderation. Excess levels have been shown to impair and damage flowers in sunflowers and some species of daisy.^[2]

8 Medical Silicone

Besides pure silicon, there are a number of other prolific silicon-based substances. Outside of its original form, silicon takes on a whole host of different properties. Naturally, it is a hard and brittle substance that behaves similar to a metal. Mixed with carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, the element can be synthesized into the highly flexible rubber silicone.

Valued for its high versatility and excellent resistance to temperature and chemicals, silicone rubber has been put to a broad array of uses. From the 1960s onward, the material has rapidly become a popular choice for aerospace, electrical, and industrial manufacturers. The medical industry has also found a number of applications, including hearing aids, drainage tubing, and balloon catheters.^[3]

Beyond rubber, silicone has also risen to prominence as a medical tool for its use in breast enlargements. Implants filled with silicone gel are inserted into the breasts to enhance their shape and size.

The option of saline solution implants is also available. However, the silicone ones are less likely to deflate or wrinkle and, in many cases, have been reported to give a more natural feel. Strange to think that a substance used as a sealant for airplanes is also a key component of cosmetic surgery.

7 Communicating With Extraterrestrials

When Apollo 11 landed on the Moon in July 1969, the astronauts left behind a US flag, a commemorative plaque, and a small silicon disk around the size of a fifty-cent coin. Engraved on that disk are 73 bespoke messages, each one from the leader of a different country. Among the names included on the disk are Richard Nixon, Pope Paul VI, Queen Elizabeth II, Haile Selassie I, and Pierre Trudeau, father of the current Canadian prime minister.

To fit, the lettering had to be reduced 200 times until it was barely visible and smaller than the head of a pin. Also on the disk are the names of several historical US leaders and an inscription at the top that said, “Goodwill messages from around the world brought to the Moon by the astronauts of Apollo 11.”^[4]

Temperatures on the Moon can fluctuate between 121 degrees Celsius (250 °F) and -173 degrees Celsius (-280 °F), so the disk material needed to be able to endure temperatures from both extremes. The statements were etched on the disk via a process used to build integrated circuits.

6 Silly Putty

Rubber became scarce during World War II. The material was a pivotal asset for the Allied forces, who relied on rubber for the manufacture of gas masks, boots, and truck tires. Japan’s tactical 1942 invasion of Indonesia had entirely isolated the Allies from their rubber supply. They needed to react sharply or face defeat.

Scientists were sent scrambling to come up with a useful artificial substitute. In the process, American chemist Earl Warrick (who was later involved in the invention of silicone rubber) stumbled across an odd substance after he mixed silicone oil and boric acid. In another part of the country, James Wright, an engineer for General Electric, had made the same discovery independent of Warrick.

Their accidental creation was not a suitable alternative for rubber. Instead, they had produced a non-Newtonian fluid. When hit with a large burst of force, the fluid acts like a hard solid. Handle it delicately, and it oozes and flows like a liquid. Similar effects have been observed in custard, paint, and ketchup.

Unfortunately, despite the novelty putty becoming an enormous success, neither man made much money from it. Instead, businessman Peter Hodgson bought the production rights and earned millions, whereas Warrick, who patented the invention, got a dollar.^[5]

5 Opals

Popular among a number of high-profile historical leaders, the vibrant opal fetches its brilliant dazzle from the oxygen-rich compound silica. The gemstones are formed from tiny amorphous spheres of silica packed tightly together.

These spheres have a remarkable ability to refract passing light—an occurrence named “opalescence”—which lends opals their unique rainbowlike shimmer. The exact colors and wavelengths refracted depend on the internal structure of the silica.

Their striking appearance has made opals one of the most desirable gemstones throughout history and garnered several powerful advocates. Roman senator Nonius was sent into exile after he refused to sell a high-value opal to Mark Anthony. Queen Victoria and her daughters wore them often to great acclaim and gifted them to newlywed friends.

Around the turn of the 19th century, Napoleon Bonaparte gave his wife Josephine a spectacular crimson opal known as the “Burning of Troy” for its deep fiery hue.

In fact, Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder described opals as being superior to all other gemstones:

There is in them a softer fire than the ruby, there is the brilliant purple of the amethyst, and the sea green of the emerald—all shining together in incredible union. Some by their splendor rival the colors of the painters, others the flame of burning sulfur or of fire quickened by oil.^[6]

4 Terracotta Army

The Terracotta Army and quantum physics are a lot more closely linked than you might imagine. The two seemingly disparate subjects are connected by a synthetic pigment known as Han purple, an ancient coloring made from barium copper silicate.

Although its use petered out around AD 220, the vivid pigment rose to popularity around the time of the Zhou dynasty in China. Some traces remain in the terracotta sculptures at Qin Shi Huang’s resting place.

At extremely low temperatures, the silicon-based Han purple behaves in a rare and fascinating manner. As explained by physicists from Stanford University, any magnetic waves traveling through are stripped of one of their dimensions. Han purple actually transforms the three-dimensional into the two-dimensional. Some researchers believe that studies into the substance could be applied to the development of quantum computers.^[7]

So how did an ancient Chinese dynasty gain access to such a scientifically complex color? The theory is they created it accidentally as a by-product while making glass.

3 Diatoms

Encased in a silicon-based shell, the term “diatom” refers to a broad family of algae that lives in waters across the globe. The unicellular organisms have found themselves at the center of numerous studies due to their fascinating biological structure.

Each one is cocooned in a specialized cell wall known as a frustule that is made of silica, the same substance from which opals are formed. These highly embellished cases have earned diatoms the fitting title of “jewels of the sea.”

The frustule is not actually one continuous wall. Instead, it is formed of two differently sized overlapping halves—the larger epitheca and the smaller hypotheca. When a diatom reproduces, these two halves break apart. The separated silica halves go on to form new frustules by producing a second half-shell, which is usually smaller than the original.

Over time, diatoms become progressively smaller as they divide and multiply. Some have been known to decrease in size by 60 percent in a matter of months. To prevent the species from shrinking into oblivion, diatoms produce growth spores that restore them to their original size.^[8]

2 The Roundest Object In The World

At the Australian Centre for Precision Optics in Sydney sits the roundest object in the world. The sphere is engineered to a phenomenal level of precision. If it was the size of the Earth, the difference between the lowest valley and the highest peak would be just 14 meters (46 ft). The raw materials alone cost an eye-watering one million euros. And it is made of pure silicon.

Engineers from the Avogadro Project created the supersmooth sphere to help determine a fundamental unit of measure. Since 1889, the kilogram has been defined by a small cylinder of platinum and iridium locked deep in a vault under Paris. This object is officially known as the International Prototype Kilogram, nicknamed “Big K.”^[9]

However, for reasons that experts are unable to agree on, the mass of Big K has varied over the past 130 years and therefore needs to be replaced by a more reliable alternative.

The silicon sphere was one of the proposed successors to Big K. However, it was snubbed in favor of a different definition. Instead, on May 20, 2019, the kilogram will be redefined by a sophisticated instrument known as a watt balance.

1 A Design For Life?

Silicon-based life. Is the idea a far-fetched myth that exists only in the imagined worlds of science fiction, or is it a tangible possibility?

All life as we know it is built on the element carbon. Its properties make it the perfect building block for terrestrial life: It is abundant, it is an essential ingredient for a multitude of complex molecules, and each carbon atom has four electrons in its outer shell. All those properties are true of silicon as well.

That said, there are some fundamental differences between the two elements. The long molecular chains formed by silicon are much less stable than their carbon-based counterparts, and the chemical relationship between silicon and oxygen suggests that traditional respiration would be nearly impossible.^[10]

Due to the intrinsic properties of the atoms, it is highly unlikely that silicon-based life could thrive on Earth. But we should not rule out the possibility altogether. Could there be silicon creatures dwelling in some distant recess of the cosmos? For now, the mystery remains.

Benjamin Thomas is a writer from Britain.

One culture’s trash is another one’s treasure. That’s the belief held by scientists who practice garbology, the study of trash. Garbage is something that all civilizations create.

By studying the waste left behind, scholars have been able to make some interesting discoveries regarding our ancestors. While garbology is unlikely to yield any priceless artifacts, many archaeologists feel that it offers the most genuine glimpse into the day-to-day life of older cultures.

10 Ancient Dolphin Hunters

The term for an old dumpsite of domestic waste is “midden.” After studying a 6,000-year-old midden on Pedro Gonzalez Island off the coast of Panama, archaeologists discovered that the island’s first inhabitants were dolphin eaters. This discovery marks a first for a Central American civilization, although similar practices have been encountered in Japan and Mexico.

Although 8 percent of the mammal waste found in the midden was from dolphins, archaeologists are still trying to determine if the islanders were hunters or simply scavengers who targeted beached animals. So far, archaeologists have been unable to find any spears or nets, although one dolphin skull had a puncture wound from a blunt object.

Archaeologist Richard Cooke speculated that the islanders could have taken advantage of the U-shaped entrance to the Gulf of Panama and “herded” dolphins onto the beach using canoes.

9 World’s Oldest Turtle Shells

Poking around a landfill near the Polish town of Poreba, paleobiologist Tomasz Sulej stumbled upon the oldest turtle fossil in the world. The 215-million-year-old shell is not only noteworthy for its age but also for the excellent condition in which it was found.

The region containing the dumpsite has been called the Polish Jurassic Highland thanks to its impressive number of fossils from that time period. Scientists have recovered hundreds of fossils there belonging to dinosaurs, fish, and turtles, including two completely new species of dinosaur and turtle, respectively.

Scientists are hopeful that these new turtle finds will help us piece together the still-elusive origins of this ancient reptile. The fossils included intact shells along with pieces of vertebrae and limbs. The next goal for Sulej is to find a skull.

8 Historical Terraforming

Artificial islands are a common sight nowadays, particularly in Dubai and China. However, the Calusa tribe was doing something similar in Florida hundreds of years ago.

The Calusa were known to be avid shell collectors. Over time, their favorite pastime led to giant middens made of countless discarded shells. While studying Mound Key, one such midden comprised of hundreds of millions of shells, anthropologists made an interesting discovery—the Calusa were purposely moving shell middens together to create an artificial island in Estero Bay.

While performing radiocarbon dating tests on the midden’s core, scientists found that the composition wasn’t getting older as they went deeper, as would be normal in a midden. Instead, they found older material on top of newer waste which led them to conclude that the Calusa deposited older middens on top of the mound to alter the landscape.

7 Archaic Dog Burials

The Indian Knoll in Kentucky is one of the largest shell middens in the United States. Since its discovery in 1915, archaeologists have recovered over 50,000 artifacts including weapons, tools, bannerstones, jewelry, animal bones, and over 1,200 people who were buried at the site.

Most of the artifacts come from the Late Archaic period between 3000 BC and 1000 BC. This region in the Ohio Valley has always been bountiful, so many settlers and nomads came through the area, leading to the eventual formation of the midden over thousands of years.

The most interesting aspect of Indian Knoll is the presence of dog burials. So far, 23 prehistoric dogs were recovered from the midden, showing that humans and dogs enjoyed a unique partnership even 5,000 years ago. Some of the dogs were buried alone, while others were buried alongside their masters.

6 George Washington’s Personal Garbage Dump

Mount Vernon, George Washington’s plantation house in Virginia, remains one of the most notable historic landmarks of early America. One of the biggest troves of information regarding the first president of the United States turned out to be a trash pile in the yard next to the house.

Known as the South Grove Midden, this garbage dump was a creation of convenience. A depression in the yard was close enough to the mansion and the kitchen that it became the most accessible spot to throw away household-related refuse.

Most of the dated items recovered from the midden were dumped there between 1735 and 1765. This was when Washington’s father, Augustine, was in charge of the household, then his half-brother Lawrence, and finally, George himself.

Archaeologists have recovered hundreds of items belonging to George Washington and his family that were typical of an 18th-century wealthy family (and their slaves): broken tableware, food scraps, cups, pipes, bottles, decorations, clothing accessories, chamber pots, and coins.

5 Mysterious Amazonian Civilization

Several recently discovered middens in the Bolivian savanna called Llanos de Moxos have provided signs for the existence of the earliest known humans in the western Amazon, dating all the way back to the early Holocene Epoch. Hunter-gatherers settled in the region 10,000 years ago and left behind middens containing bone tools, bits of pottery, burnt earth fragments, and pieces of human skulls.

Seasonal floods kept the middens hidden until now as they were constantly reburied under alluvial sediments. This has led scientists to speculate that there are likely more middens and other preserved hunter-gatherer sites in the area yet to be discovered.

So far, the earliest signs of human activity in the area belonged to the pre-Columbian “Earthmovers” of the late Holocene, but these new discoveries have pushed back the date by thousands of years.

4 Prehistoric Sea Lion

New Zealand was once home to a newly discovered species of sea lion. According to researchers at the University of Otago, it disappeared in a rare extinction-replacement event in which it was replaced with the modern-day New Zealand sea lion.

This challenges previously held beliefs that the current sea lion is merely a remnant from a once-thriving population. New evidence suggests that the now-extinct sea lion dominated the southwestern Pacific region and prevented the other species from expanding from the subantarctic region. This all changed 500–700 years ago when the first Polynesians began settling in the region and started hunting the sea lion to extinction.

Researchers based their findings on sea lion remains found in several middens which suggested that the animal was an important resource for early settlers.

3 America’s First Chocolate Drink

A thousand years ago, Pueblo Bonito was one of the largest pueblos in North America. Due to its size, it also created massive trash heaps which turned out to be a huge boon for modern-day archaeologists. So far, excavations of the middens near Pueblo Bonito have yielded over 200,000 artifacts. The most intriguing were clay jars which looked unlike any other Pueblo pottery and have divided experts over their manufacture and purpose.

Anthropologist Patricia Crown found proof that the mysterious cylinders were used for drinking chocolate. Using mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography, scientists examined shards of the jars and found traces of a cacao biomarker called theobromine.

Since cacao trees were almost 2,000 kilometers (1,200 mi) away, the chocolate was evidence of an extensive trading network that also helped to bring maize, corn, and beans to Southwest America. Given the rarity of the ingredients, experts believe that the jars were only used by the elite or during important rituals. Researchers hope the answer still awaits them hidden in the midden.

2 Wine Of The Negev

Around 1,400 years ago, the Negev region in modern-day Israel was renowned for its wine, which was noted in historical documents as the finest wine in the Byzantine Empire. Sadly, the ancient vine was lost centuries ago and all modern Negev wine comes from European varieties. Fortunately for oenophiles everywhere, researchers at the University of Haifa recently discovered discarded charred grape seeds in middens near the ancient city of Halutza.

By examining other items found in the trash piles like coins and pottery, archaeologists were able to date the grape seeds to the sixth and seventh centuries AD, a time when the city was thriving and Negev wine was the talk of the world. Researchers remain hopeful that the seeds were native to the region and can be used to reproduce the taste and bring back the true wine of the Negev.

1 Ichthyosaur-Eating Giant Kraken

One of the most puzzling middens ever found comes from Nevada and is 228 million years old. It consists mostly of ichthyosaur fossils belonging to at least nine specimens arranged in an unnatural manner. Paleontologist Mark McMenamin offers an explanation for the source of the prehistoric midden—a giant kraken.

According to his hypothesis, the squid-like creatures were around 30 meters (98 ft) long so that they could prey on the ichthyosaurs, which could reach around half that size. McMenamin rejects previous attempts at explaining the midden as a natural phenomenon. He argues that different levels of exposure to seawater suggest that the animals didn’t die all at once.

McMenamin attributes the odd arrangement of bones to the kraken’s propensity for picking up items and rearranging its environment, a trait shared by modern cephalopods. Suffice it to say that others disagree with McMenamin’s hypothesis, and the ichthyosaur midden remains a mystery.

Slavery stretches back as long as human civilization (or perhaps even longer) and stretches forward to the 21st century (the current slave population is somewhere north of 20 million). Runaways, known as “maroons,” have set up fascinating communities known for their unique cultures and dogged military resistance. They’ve also been prone to hardship, and even in modern times, their history has been defined by hostile relations with national governments and a struggle for land rights.

10Cimarrones, Panama

The presence of Cimarrones in the Panamanian isthmus was first recorded in the 1520s, when slaves slipped away from convoys traveling between ports on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. In the 1550s, a ship carrying a Mandinko slave named Bayano was wrecked off the coast, and Bayano was then elected “King of the Blacks.” He spent the next five years harrying the Spaniards by preying on mule convoys carrying gold and silver. The Spanish eventually realized they couldn’t defeat the Cimarrones on their own terrain and instead settled on treachery. At a supposed peace negotiation, they poisoned several of Bayano’s followers. The king himself was exiled to Peru and later Spain.

Shortly thereafter, in 1572, the Cimarrones proved crucial allies in the privateering ventures of Sir Francis Drake. A group of 30 maroons guided Drake’s forces through the jungle, enabling him to ambush multiple mule trains, making off with much booty. The unnerved Spanish consequently launched several expeditions against the Cimarron settlements before coming to an agreement whereby the Cimarrones received a blanket pardon and their own self-governing settlement. In return, they were compelled to send back any future fugitive slaves and couldn’t ally with foreign powers.

9Siddis Of India

While the history of East African slaves in India may go back to 628, they first arrived in large numbers in the 12th century. They were employed mainly in military roles, and in the 15th century, an Abyssinian briefly reigned as a sultan in Bengal. Malik Ambar was later a respected prime minister and mercenary general in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

One particular group of Abyssinian Siddis came into control of Janjira in the 1490s, either seizing it in their own right or being appointed governors by a local ruler. Supposedly, they Trojan-horsed their way in, with their leader disguising himself as a merchant and then smuggling soldiers into the fortress in boxes. They quickly became the chief naval power on the northwest Indian coast, enriching themselves as mercenaries and pirates and through transporting hajj pilgrims.

Over the following two centuries, they operated in a loose alliance with the Mughals and fended off Portuguese, Dutch, English, and Maratha attacks before finally being defeated by the British in 1760 and accepting British suzerainty in the 19th century.

8Black Cherokee

Actually, there are no black Cherokee. This is the opinion of the Cherokee themselves; they implemented a requirement of proven descent from a “Cherokee by blood” to claim citizenship and suffrage in 1983, but this was ruled unconstitutional by the nation’s Supreme Court in 2006. Unperturbed, they simply amended the constitution via a referendum. This amendment was upheld by the Supreme Court and expelled 3,000 freedmen. These are the descendants of the Cherokee slaves integrated into the tribe by law at the conclusion of the American Civil War, and the decision cuts them off from food aid and medical services.

Early in their history the Cherokee were known to accept escaped slaves into their tribe. But contact with the United States (particularly the Southern United States) and the Cherokee’s subsequent assimilation saw them adopt white racial prejudices. The richer Cherokee also employed African slaves and sided with the Confederacy—Cherokee Brigadier-General Stand Watie was among the last Confederate officers to surrender.

The Cherokee Freedmen Controversy, as it has come to be known, is a fascinating issue that blends questions of tribal sovereignty, civil rights, the distribution of federal aid, voter turnout (only 8,700 of 35,000 eligible voters took part in the referendum), and the desire to paint over a slave-owning past. The timing of the decision, just before a narrowly decided election for principal chief, also raises eyebrows.

7Bushinengues, Suriname, And French Guiana

In Suriname, the sugar plantations were overwhelmingly situated on rivers, with slaves easily able to flee into the surrounding forest and swamp. Over time, they organized themselves into tribes who regularly raided plantations in search of weapons, ammunition, women, and food, with such success that most signed treaties with the Dutch by the 1760s.

That decade also saw the rise of the belligerent Boni maroons, who carried out a concerted guerrilla war for 30 years. The Boni ultimately migrated into French Guiana and only signed a treaty with the Europeans in the 1860s, after a century of intermittent warfare. Back in Suriname, the maroon population grew substantially, and the six tribes today make up 10 percent of the country’s population. In doing so, they have often resisted the modernization and resettlement attempts of the central government and military, culminating in a six-year guerrilla war from 1986–1992. More recent years have seen them try to assert their land rights in the face of mining and hydroelectric projects.

6Jamaican Maroons

The Jamaican Maroons have their genesis in the Spanish abandonment of the island in 1655, wherein many slaves fled into the mountainous interior as the British occupied Jamaica. Here, they coalesced into two groups, the Leeward (in the west) and Windward (in the east) tribes.

Over the following several decades, relations with the British remained tense. The British resented the harboring of runaways and undermining of their authority. Regular slave rebellions further destabilized the situation, as did the growth of the Maroon population and consequent demand for land. This boiled over into open conflict in the 1720s, but the Maroons proved skilled in guerrilla warfare, using the terrain to their advantage.

In 1739, they came to a negotiated peace with the British. This stipulated that the Maroons would capture and return runaways and defend Jamaica against foreign invasion. In return, their freedom and land rights were recognized, and they were allowed to govern themselves.

Peace was maintained until 1795. Spooked by the slave revolt in Haiti, the belligerent British governor elected to punish one maroon group, Trelawney Town, for minor infractions. Though no other maroon communities came to their aid, Trelawney’s 300 maroons (and a few hundred runaways) held out against 10-to-1 odds for eight months. When finally defeated by sheer weight of numbers and an intensive fort-building program (plus, the British brought in hunting dogs), some 500 maroons were deported to Nova Scotia. Unused to the climate and farming conditions, they quickly grew restless and were sent to newly established Sierra Leone.

5Fort Mose, Florida

In 1693, King Charles II of Spain (otherwise known for being ridiculously inbred), issued an edict granting freedom to fugitive slaves seeking refuge in St. Augustine, the capital of Spanish Florida. This weakened their English rivals (the runaways came from the Carolinas) and strengthened themselves by marshalling the ex-slaves’ support and military power. The importance of defending sparsely populated Florida is reflected in the preconditions a fugitive had to accept: to protect St. Augustine, swear loyalty to Spain, and convert to Catholicism.

The British grew increasingly incensed, sending agents to demand the return of their property and initiating a series of raids and counter-raids. This occurred especially during Queen Anne’s War (1702–1713), the American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession. When these proved insufficient, Georgia was established to serve as a slave-free buffer state.

In 1738, the increasingly assertive freedmen were given their own autonomous settlement at Fort Mose, the first of its kind. Its population soon numbered 100. The following year, hostilities with England resumed in the War of Jenkin’s Ear, and the English, after suppressing a rebellion of their own slaves, attacked Florida. As a result, the freedmen were forced to withdraw from Fort Mose to play a pivotal role in defending St. Augustine, serving under black officers and receiving pay equal to their Spanish comrades. Fort Mose was then retaken in a devastating surprise attack that forced the British invaders to withdraw.

In the long run, however, the British attained Florida in 1763 at the conclusion of the French and Indian (or Seven Years’) War. The freed black community evacuated to Cuba.

4Palmares, Brazil

Palmares was founded in 1605, allegedly by an Angolan princess who escaped slavery. It came to consist of 10 large settlements and up to 30,000 people. This number is roughly equal to the population of British North America at the same time and was ruled over by a “great lord” or king, governed according to a mishmash of central African customs. By the 1630s, the ruler was Ganga Zumba, and Palmares continued to flourish in the face of Portuguese and Dutch pressure.

An eyewitness to a Dutch expedition in 1645 described the towns of New and Old Palmares as being surrounded by stakes and gates sealed by fallen trees. It had a range of buildings including churches, smithies, and fountains.

The constant strife, however, took its toll on Ganga Zumba. In 1678, he agreed to a treaty with the Portuguese, obliging him to stop accepting fugitive slaves and acknowledge Portuguese suzerainty. This compromise was rejected by Ganga Zumba’s military commander or nephew Zumbi, who chose resistance. Zumba died, possibly of poison, shortly thereafter. Zumbi then managed to fend off six consecutive Portuguese attacks from 1680–1686 before Palmares finally fell in 1694 and was destroyed in its entirety.

Despite the defeat of Palmares, maroon communities known as quilombos remained widespread in Brazil. Some 700 are identified today. Since the 1980s, they’ve been steadily working to attain legal title to their lands.

3Great Dismal Swamp Maroons

The charmingly named Great Dismal Swamp of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina consisted of 3,200 kilometers (2,000 mi) of tangling vegetation over marshy ground with an array of bears, snakes, and wildcats. Its apparently inhospitable nature meant it was largely left alone by early European settlers and served as a haven for escaped slaves from the late 1600s through to the Civil War. Having established themselves on small patches of higher ground in the swamp’s interior, the maroon population soon grew to anywhere between a few hundred and 2,000.

However, by the latter decades of the 18th century, the tides of economic progress affected even the isolated and foreboding Great Dismal Swamp in the form of roads, timber companies, and a canal. Perhaps surprisingly, the maroons were partially integrated into this wider economy and found work on lumber operations, construction gangs, and as mule-drivers. In doing so, they worked alongside slaves, some of whom stayed in the swamp after purchasing their freedom.

In the Civil War, the two sides competed for control of the Great Dismal Canal, which was eventually secured by the Union with help from black troops. Later campaigns in the area saw the maroons provide provisions and scouts for the Union troops and launched guerrilla campaigns into North Carolina. Following emancipation and the close of the war, the swamp was largely abandoned.

2Miskito Sambu, Nicaragua

In either 1641 or 1652, a Portuguese slave ship sank off the Mosquito Coast in Central America, but a sizeable number made it ashore. Here, they were integrated into the local Miskito, forming their own distinct ethnic sub-group. The Miskito Sambu (or Zambos), and eventually rose to command the tribe and the coast.

They also struck up an enduring connection with England, partly because a Miskito chief had sent his son, Oldman, to visit England during the reign of King Charles. They adopted the institution of monarchy and were ruled over by a series of kings with firmly British names, like Peter, Edward, Robert, George, Andrew, and even a Prince Wellington. The first of these, King Jeremy (first attested in the last decade of the 17th century) was at least part African, and so were his successors.

The affinity with Britain was confirmed by an official treaty of friendship and alliance in 1740 as well as the British establishment of a protectorate over the coast. It was in this guise that the Miskito harried Spanish territory with some success during the American Revolutionary War, but Britain’s ultimate defeat compelled them to withdraw from the protectorate in 1787. Following the independence of Spain’s colonies, both Honduras and Nicaragua asserted loose control over the Miskito, and Nicaragua annexed the place outright in 1894. The Miskito, many of whom are English-speaking and Protestant, have sometimes had troublesome relations with their new governments, and fought against the Sandinista government in the 1980s. In doing so, they teamed up with the Contras, who are famous for receiving illegal funding from Ronald Reagan.

1Black Seminoles

As we have seen, Florida was an attractive destination for many runaway slaves, but not all settled under Spanish authority. Instead, some established their own communities among the Seminole. Here, they lived in their own towns but gave the Seminole an annual tribute and served as translators in negotiations with Europeans.

Eventually, however, tensions with America over runaway slaves resulted in open conflict. Future president Andrew Jackson invaded in the First Seminole War (1817–1818), and Spain ceded Florida to the United States. This also saw a small group of black Seminoles flee the area to settle on Andros Island in the Bahamas, where their community endures to this day. Despite their initial victory, the Americans remained covetous of Seminole land, and their demand that the Seminole move west of the Mississippi River triggered the Second Seminole War (1835–1842). The maroons were a key factor in the dogged resistance encountered by the US Army, stirring up one of the largest slave revolts in US history.

Nevertheless, the Americans emerged victorious (though it cost the lives of 2,000 soldiers and up to $60 million), partly by exacerbating divisions between the black and Indian Seminole. Most were deported to Indian Territory. Dissatisfaction with conditions here led several hundred black Seminoles to take up a Mexican offer to serve as border guards in 1849. Most of these were enticed back in 1870 to serve as Indian Scouts for the US Army, setting up a unit that would last until 1912 and win four Medals of Honor.

However, the US government reneged on a promise to give them land, mainly due to disputes over whether black Seminoles were entitled to Indian land. Some returned to Mexico as squatters, and others re-joined their compatriots in the Indian Territory, which became Oklahoma.

Finally, following the disbandment of the Scouts in 1912, the 200–300 remaining black Seminoles settled in Brackettville, Texas next to the fort they’d been stationed in. Unfortunately, as with the Cherokee, the black Seminoles have subsequently faced questions over their right to claim Seminole citizenship and the benefits it entitles and have been involved in bitter legal disputes.

Tyler Parsons is a socially maladjusted degenerate loafer struggling with the lack of meaning (or even noticeable emotion) in his life. Email him or look him up on Facebook.

4chan was once a discussion board site that celebrated anime, but because users could post and upload content anonymously, it soon morphed into a counter-culture hub for edgy political groups, controversial subcultures, organized pranks, hackers, and even pornography. It’s a place where some users feel free to post whatever they want with little repercussions—you know, like the golden olden days of Internet free speech (the ’90s and early ’00s).

But while 4chan users have proven to be capable of some pretty dark stuff, some go to incredible lengths for causes they believe in. At times, parts of the 4chan community have banded together to perform amazing feats.

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10 4chan Solves a 25 Year Old Math Problem

4chan began as a place for anime fans to geek out, and parts of it still remain dedicated to anime fandom. A popular anime called the Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi posed a problem that fans puzzled over. The series featured time travel, and the episodes were not in chronological order. Some fans wondered what would be the best order to watch them in, but others took it a step further and wondered how many variations of episode orders it would take to watch the series in every possible variation.

One anonymous user posted an answer: 93,884,313,611. Along with it, they posted a mathematical proof of how they reached that number. Unknowingly, they had proposed an answer for a 25 year old mathematics problem about superpermutations. In this case, the permutation would be a single order to watch the episodes in, and a superpermutation would be all possible sets of orders strung together.^[1]

It wasn’t written up to the standards of the mathematical community, and the 4chan proof stayed mostly under the radar for years until science fiction writer Greg Egan proposed a different proof for superpermutations. Interest in the 4chan proof was revived, and it was eventually independently verified by two mathematicians. Recognized at last, the 4chan proof was hailed as a great accomplishment in the fields of pure mathematics.^[2]

9 4chan Exposes an Animal Abuser

A Youtube user known as “Timmy” uploaded a video of two disguised teenagers taking a cat into a bathroom and torturing it. The video made its way to 4chan, which apparently has a soft spot for justice . . . and cats. Enough users were angered that the community began dissecting the video for any clues as to “Timmy’s” identity.

The found a link to another account on another site connected to an Oklahoma zip code. Guessing that this other Youtube account was connected to “Timmy’s” actual name, they connected more dots to find the Facebook account of a teenager: Kenny Glen. Soon, they had contact info for him, his parents, and the local sheriff. Two days later, Glenn was arrested. The cat, which was still alive, was taken to a veterinarian.^[3]

This isn’t the only time 4chan exposed cat abusers, either. When a British man found his cat in his trashcan, he checked his CCTV camera’s footage to find that a woman had chucked it into the bin. He posted the footage on Youtube, where it was soon found by 4chan, which launched a campaign to find and doxx the woman. When they discovered the abuser was one Mary Bale, 4chan did not stop with doxxing her, but caused such an uproar that she was forced into hiding after receiving death threats.^[4]

8 The Bike Lock Basher

Emotions run high at political rallies. Throw in a protest, and you have a recipe for people getting out of control. That’s exactly what happened at a rally for President Trump in Berkeley, California in 2017. Things got so heated that one member of the extremist group ANTIFA (and Berkeley college professor) was filmed beating several rally-goers with a U shaped bicycle lock.^[5]

Enter 4chan.

Some of its users on the /pol/ message board, which dedicates itself to political incorrectness, were eager to bring the bike locker basher to justice. After scouring the video for clues to his identity and linking them to social media accounts, they began a doxxing campaign for college professor Eric Clanton.^[6] They tipped off police, who later arrested him on charges including suspicion of assault with a weapon that was not a firearm and assault causing great bodily injury. He eventually pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to three years of probation.

7 Fighting ISIS with Ducks

Sometimes the best way to fight the bad guys is to make them look like idiots. 4chan went to war with ISIS, or at least the terrorists group’s online presence. They took ISIS propaganda pictures and photoshopped toy duck heads on all their fighters. Given that ISIS has a large propaganda arm on the internet, the “create the duck state” was a way to deweaponize their actions.

The duck-headed ISIS fighters were quickly picked up by reddit, another online forum, and spread to Twitter and other social media sites. How effective the duck state was in thwarting the business of ISIS is up for debate, but it certainly made them look foolish to a good portion of the internet. (And probably ruffled a few feathers of the terrorists behind the propaganda that was being spread across the internet.)^[7]

6 Lettuce Gate

One Burger King employee thought it would be a great idea to play a malicious prank on his customers by standing in two lettuce containers with his shoes on, right on top of the lettuce. Then, he had the even better idea of posting it on 4chan. The site is well known for less-than-wholesome pranks, but in this instance, the community took offence at some guy possibly getting a lot of innocent fast food customers sick.

“Lettuce Guy” had not stripped the GPS data from the picture he’d posted, which made it easy to locate him. Within 15 minutes, they’d found the exact location of the Burger King franchise where the incident happened. While 4chan could not identify the person from his shoes, calls and emails to the branch and media resulted in a quick vanquishing of the Lettuce Guy’s job. He was fired along with three other employees. The lettuce was tossed out, and dozens of Burger King customers were potentially saved from a nasty case of diarrhea.^[8]

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5 Katawa Shoujo

4chan made an erotic visual novel about dating girls with disabilities. Given what 4chan is usually known for, and how “erotic visual novel about dating girls with disabilities” sounds, it surprised many to learn that Katawara Shoujo, the name of the visual novel, was reportedly extremely good. (By visual novel standards.)

The Japanese style visual novel is like a choose your own adventure video game, with story telling dependent on the player’s choices. It may be best to get the “erotic” part out of the way first, as the game does have sex scenes, but the girls are not bumbling, inept people in need of constant guidance and help. Quite the contrary, in fact.

While the female characters do have disabilities, they have long come to terms with them before meeting the player in the story. They are living their lives quite well without him. In some cases, so well that the main character’s presence can become a burden. They are treated not as “disabled people,” but as people—ones who happen to have a disability. By most accounts, and despite its questionable medium, Katawara Shoujo was a very good take on people with disabilities.^[9]

4 4chan Identifies the Portland Shooter

The Trump 2020 Cruise Rally formed a caravan that entered downtown Portland Oregon at the same time as the nightly Black Lives Matter protests. The two groups clashed, and the violence resulted in the point blank cold blooded shooting of Aaron J. Danielson, who had entered with the Trump rally, by an unknown assailant.^[10]

When 4chan heard about a Trump supporter being shot to death, it got to sleuthing who had killed him. Hours after the internet hunt began, the community produced evidence that ANTIFA member Michael Reinoehl was the murderer, and sent their evidence to police. Reinoehl also confessed to the crime after giving an interview associated with Vice.

Shortly after the interim Reinoehl was confronted by law enforcement and shot multiple times. Police say that he was killed after firing a handgun. A witness, though, gives a different version of events, saying that police did not give any commands or warnings before opening fire.^[11]

3 Pool’s Closed

Habbo (formerly Habbo Hotel) is a game where characters engage in an online community centered around virtual “hotels.” At one point, reports were circulating that the moderators were arbitrarily banning dark-skinned avatars from the pool area.^[12] Responding to the alleged racist actions of the mods was 4chan.

They organized what became known as the “Pool’s Closed” raid. 4chan users entered the game and created a black-skinned avatar wearing a suit and an afro. The raiders surrounded the pool area, preventing it from being accessed, and spammed phrases that would get past the game’s filters such as “Pool’s Closed due to fail and AIDS,” which resulted in the “Pool’s Closed” meme being born. For the next few years on the anniversary of the first raid, some users would return to recreate the avatar and cause mischief.

2 Heist of the Century

Actor Shia Lebouf, in one feat of internet activism, created a livefeed camera in New York intended to be played throughout the Trump presidency. People could look into it and chant “He Will Not Divide Us.” But soon trolls began figuring out the identity of protesters and harassing them, Lebouf was arrested, and the livestream was shut down after the museum hosting it had enough of the disturbances. Lebouf moved the project to yet another museum, where it was likewise shut down after gunshots were reported in the area.

So Lebouf created another livestream, this one of a HWNDU flag waving in the air. The stream only allowed viewers to see the flag and the sky, so there was little anyone could do to interrupt the stream this time. But 4chan proved that “little” does not mean “nothing.”^[13]

Users of 4chan studied the flight trails in the daytime sky behind the flag and compared them to flight plans. At night, they studied star patterns. They crossed that with a tweet Lebouf sent from Tennessee, and narrowed the flag’s location down to an area small enough to search with a man on the ground.

A local user drove around the area honking his car horn while others listened to the livestream for the sound of the horn. In the dead of night, the flag’s location was discovered. The local user went to the field, took down the flag, and raised a Trump hat in its place. As for the fate of Lebouf’s flag, it currently hangs in the dude’s basement.^[14]

1 4chan Calls in an Airstrike

This one will probably never be verified due to its connection with military intelligence, nor would the Russian military ever admit that it used 4chan as a source of information. (If it did indeed use them at all.) The finer details likewise shift depending on who’s telling the tale, but the pieces fit together well enough for it to have more credence than the average internet urban legend.

A Twitter user calling himself Ivan Siderenko posted a video from Syrian rebels asking if anyone could help him find the location where the video was shot. Certain 4chan users answered the call. A subgroup of the notorious /pol/ calling itself /sg/ (for Syria General) began using the background of the rebel’s video to narrow down the location of the training base. By using other videos of the same location, they managed to locate several of its landmarks on Google Maps.^[15]

4chan’s information was passed to Ivan Siderenko, who posted it to the Russian Ministry of Defense’s Twitter account. There is no evidence that the Ministry of Defense paid any attention to Siderenko’s tweet, but, whether by coincidence or design, airstrikes were carried out in the vicinity soon after.^[16]

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About The Author: Mike writes lists in his ever-dwindling free time.

Many people were horrified at Adolf Hitler’s actions during World War II. Teenagers were no exception. Young people all around the world wanted to do anything they could to stop Hitler’s slaughter. The following 10 extraordinary teens risked their lives to fight Nazi ideology and save the persecuted.

10 Jack Lucas

Fourteen-year-old Jack Lucas was eager to go to war. He lied about his age and forged his mother’s signature on the enlistment papers. Lucas managed to qualify as a sharpshooter in the Marines. However, it did not take too long for the officers to realize that Lucas was underage. They threatened to send him home, but Lucas told them that he would just reenlist with the army. The Marines gave him a safe job: driving a transport truck in Hawaii.

Three years passed, and Lucas did not see combat. He worried that he never would. So Lucas stowed away on a ship bound for Iwo Jima and was soon fighting Japanese soldiers. Two grenades dropped into his trench. Lucas told his fellow Marines to run for it, and he dove on the grenades. One exploded.^[1]

Lucas barely survived the blast. He needed to have 26 operations to his repair his injuries. Even after his surgeries, Lucas still had more than 200 pieces of shrapnel embedded in his body. He was discharged from the Marines and awarded the Medal of Honor.

9 Zinaida Martynovna Portnova

Zinaida Portnova was 15 when the German army invaded Belarus. Her grandmother had an argument with one of the soldiers, and he hit her. This incident left Portnova with a deep hatred of the Nazis, and she joined an underground resistance movement.

Portnova began distributing Soviet propaganda, collecting weapons for Soviet troops, and reporting German troop movements. Within a year, she had learned how to use weapons and explosives. Portnova helped blow up several buildings, which killed over 100 Germans.

She started to work as a kitchen aide and poisoned food meant for German troops.^[2] Portnova immediately became a suspect. She proclaimed her innocence and ate some of the poisoned food. Portnova was released when she did not become sick.

However, she became extremely ill on her way home and barely recovered. When Portnova did not return to work, the Germans realized that she was the one who had poisoned them. They began to search for her.

Portnova became a scout and was captured on one of her missions. During her interrogation, she grabbed the Nazi officer’s gun and shot him and the other two soldiers. Although Portnova tried to escape, she was captured, tortured, and executed. She was 17.

8 Stefania Podgorska

Sixteen-year-old Stefania Podgorska (pictured above, right) went to work for a Jewish family, the Diamants, after her father died. She became close with the Diamants and moved in with them. Unfortunately, Hitler soon invaded Poland and the Diamants were forced into a ghetto.

Podgorska returned to her family’s home after her mother and brother were sent to work camps. She had to care for her six-year-old sister. The siblings were poor, and they had to sell clothes to feed themselves.

However, when Podgorska found out that people in the ghetto were going to die, she knew that she needed to help them. She offered to house several Jewish people—including Max Diamant, the son of her former employers. Podgorska was soon harboring 13 Jewish people.^[3]

She found a job at a factory and used the money to rent a bigger house. But it was still difficult to support 15 people. Podgorska started knitting sweaters for money and food, which she often had to buy on the black market. She lived in constant fear that someone would learn her secret, so she stopped talking to anyone outside her home.

German soldiers came into her home, and they told Podgorska that she had to leave the house within two hours. She refused to leave. Podgorska knew that if she left, all 13 Jewish people would die. Fortunately, the German soldiers never returned.

Eight months later, the Soviet army came and liberated Podgorska’s city. All the Jewish people were finally free after two and a half years of hiding. Max Diamant proposed to Podgorska. The two married and moved to the United States.

7 Simone Segouin

Eighteen-year-old Simone Segouin was determined to help rid France of the German army. She joined the French Resistance and started to hinder Nazis wherever she could. Her first mission was to steal a bicycle from a German soldier. She succeeded. The bike was repainted, and Segouin used it to deliver messages.

She soon took on more difficult missions. Her lieutenant asked her to help him blow up a bridge. Segouin was given a gun and ordered to guard the area against Germans. She did not have to fire a shot, but her lieutenant admired her bravery.^[4] So Segouin was permitted to do more dangerous jobs.

She joined her fellow resistance members when they blew up bridges and derailed trains. By the end of the war, Segouin had become a soldier. She fought in the battle to liberate Chartres, her hometown, and helped capture 25 German soldiers. Segouin joined the French troops in their march to Paris and helped liberate the French capital as well.

She was promoted to lieutenant and awarded the Croix de guerre for her heroism.

6 Bernard Bouveret

Bernard Bouveret was 16 when he joined the Swiss Secret Service. At first, he just passed mail and informed on German soldiers’ movements. However, he soon became a smuggler. He and 14 others transported grenades, gunpowder, microfilm, and people to Switzerland where they would be safe.

It was a dangerous job that needed to be done at night. However, there was a curfew between 11:00 PM and 5:00 AM. The German soldiers would shoot anyone they saw during this time. In fact, one of Bouveret’s friends was gunned down during a mission.

Nevertheless, Bouveret and his group continued to deliver fugitives to the Swiss border where they were housed with host families. These families helped the fugitives get deeper into Switzerland, where they could be housed in internment camps. Bouveret and his group saved hundreds of people.^[5]

Unfortunately, Bouveret was caught by the Germans in 1943. He was sent to Dachau concentration camp, where he remained until he was freed by the Allies in 1945.

5 Charlotte Sorkine

At 17, Charlotte Sorkine was the youngest member of her resistance group. She created thousands of false papers for people who were persecuted by the Nazis and led groups of wanted people out of the country. Sorkine helped her father escape the country. However, she decided to stay. She wanted to do everything she could to help fight the German soldiers.

After Marianne Cohn was arrested, tortured, and killed by the Nazis, Sorkine took on her duties. She helped bring dozens of children to Switzerland, where they would be safe. Sorkine continued to make papers and bring people to safety until many members of her resistance group were arrested.

Then she joined a different resistance group that focused on combat. Sorkine obtained and transported weapons, planted explosives in places where German soldiers met, and took an active part in the liberation of Paris.^[6]

After the war, Sorkine was given many awards for her actions, including the Medaille de la Resistance and the Croix du combattant volontaire de la Resistance.

4 Sonia Butt

Seventeen-year-old Sonia Butt joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force the day she became eligible for service. Within two years, she drew the attention of the Special Operations Executive, which was looking for potential female spies.

She parachuted into northern France to act as a go-between for Allied troops and the French Resistance. Butt was also responsible for finding out new information. She had to dine with German officers and flirt with them for information.

Butt was a specialist in explosives, and she used the intel she gained to blow up bridges and German convoys. After her unit’s weapons officer was killed, she took over his duties and trained new recruits in both weapons and explosives.^[7]

Her job had many dangers. She was ambushed by Germans on her way to deliver a message. They knocked her off her bicycle and questioned her. The soldiers beat her until she bled, and then they raped her. They left her bleeding on the ground, and she took shelter in a nearby barn. The next day, she delivered the information that she was carrying and returned the same way she had come.

After the war, Butt was awarded an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire). She married a fellow agent, and the pair moved to Canada.

3 Masha Bruskina

Seventeen-year-old Masha Bruskina was a member of the Minsk resistance. She volunteered at a hospital that took care of injured soldiers from the Red Army. Bruskina did more than care for the wounded. She helped soldiers escape by getting them civilian clothes and false identity papers.

One of her patients reported her to the Germans. Bruskina was captured and tortured for several days, but she refused to give up the names of other members of her group. She was sentenced to be publicly hanged.^[8]

Bruskina was paraded through the streets, but she walked calmly to her death. When she was placed on the stool, she turned her back to the crowd. This angered the executioners as they wanted her to stand with her face to the crowd. They tried to force her to turn around, but they were unsuccessful.

They kicked the stool away from her. Bruskina’s body hung for three days before the Germans allowed the town to bury her.

2 Truus Oversteegen

Truus Oversteegen’s entire family disagreed with Nazi ideology, so they helped Jewish people and political refugees illegally cross the border between Germany and the Netherlands. Sixteen-year-old Truus (pictured above, right) was eager to do more. When a member of the Dutch resistance asked her to join, she jumped at the chance. Oversteegen started with simple missions—distributing illegal newspapers, handing out leaflets, and procuring aid for refugees.

But Oversteegen soon took on more serious jobs. She entered concentration camps, provided false papers, and extracted Jewish children. Oversteegen and her fellow resistance members then found hiding places for the children.^[9]

Oversteegen was asked to join the armed resistance, and she accepted. She was given military training and taught how to shoot. Her first job was to flirt with German soldiers and lead them into the woods. There, they would be shot by fellow resistance members. Soon Oversteegen was shooting soldiers and blowing up bridges.

Her actions angered the Germans, who offered 50,000 guilders (more than $150,000 today) for her capture. She was never caught.

1 Adolfo Kaminsky

Adolfo Kaminsky dropped out of school at 13 to help support his family. He worked for a clothes dyer—similar to a modern-day dry cleaner. Kaminsky spent hours learning how to remove stains from fabric, and he developed a love of chemistry. He started to read chemistry books and perform experiments at home. He also spent weekends working for a chemist at a dairy.

The Nazis invaded his country when he was 16. Kaminsky and his family narrowly avoided a stay at a concentration camp. They had to go underground to survive.

Kaminsky’s father sent him to pick up false papers from a Jewish resistance group. When Kaminsky arrived, he was told that the group was struggling to remove a blue dye from the documents. He told them to use lactic acid, a trick he had learned at the dairy. It worked, and Kaminsky was asked to join the resistance.

By his 19th birthday, Kaminsky had saved the lives of thousands of people by making false documents: ID cards that did not say Jew, foreign passports, and train tickets.^[10] He never took a cent for his work. He just wanted to help disadvantaged people. Kaminsky continued his work after World War II by supplying fake documents to needy people all over the world.

There are some actors who have done some amazing things over the years, playing incredible roles, doing their own stunts, or just cranking out a lot of movies over their lifetime. As with anything else in the world, if you can be the only person to have ever done something, that unique status can be considered pretty cool. It’s doubtful any actors set out to accomplish these specific goals, but inevitably there’s always going to be one person who is the only person to have done a thing, at least until someone else does it, assuming that’s at all possible. For now, these are the only actors who have achieved these remarkable accomplishments.

10. Anthony Daniels is the Only Actor in all 9 Star Wars Movies

The very first Star Wars movie came out in the year 1977. It was followed by two sequels in the early ’80s. The prequel trilogy premiered in 1999. The sequel trilogy began in 2015 and the final film, Rise of Skywalker, came out in 2019. That means the Star Wars film saga has been going for 42 years. And in that time, across 9 feature films in the central storyline, only one actor appeared in every single one – Anthony Daniels.

Anthony Daniels plays C-3PO, and he’s literally the man inside the suit.  When he first got the role, he assumed it was going to be a one and done kind of deal until the producers came back to him with an idea for a sequel and then another sequel. He went on to play C-3PO in the Rogue one movie, and he’s voiced him in several animated projects, and even appeared on The Muppets at C-3PO. He lent his voice to Star Wars rides at Disney World, and has done commercials and other promotional projects in character as well.

9. Sylvester Stallone Is The Only Actor To Have a Number One Movie Six Decades in a Row

Sylvester Stallone has been a versatile force in Hollywood for decades now. On screen, some of his early roles made audiences think he was sort of a big, dumb muscle man. But it’s worth remembering he was the writer behind Rocky and won an Academy Award for that. He’s actually done quite a bit of writing work over the years in addition to his acting. 

While not all of his movies have been award winners, they are often very popular. Because of that, and because of the length of his career, Sylvester Stallone is actually the only actor who’s had a number one movie in each of six different decades. 

The movie Rocky premiered in 1976 and made $225 million at the box office. Not a big deal today but adjusted for inflation that’s over $1 billion, so definitely a hit.

In the ’80s Stallone made a killing and more than one film hit number one including both Rocky and Rambo films. In the ’90s he scored big with the movie Cliffhanger and then later with Demolition Man and Cop Land.

The 2001 movie Driven topped the box office, giving him his first hit of the new millennium. In 2010 he released The Expendables, which spawned another franchise and also hit number one, and finally in 2021 he clinched the sixth decade when Suicide Squad, in which he plays King Shark, hit number one, and he’s added to that with 2023’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. 

8. Oscar Isaac is the Only Actor to Have the Marvel Triple Crown

Being in a comic book movie is a rite of passage these days. Very few actors of renown have not appeared in a movie for either Marvel or DC at this point. There are a couple of actors who have had some crossover and appeared in both Marvel and DC properties. Ryan Reynolds has been Deadpool in Marvel as well as the Green Lantern for DC. Chris Evans played the Human Torch as well as Captain America. But Oscar Isaac is the only actor who has tripled down on Marvel.

While the MCU is the juggernaut of the Marvel universe, it’s not the only place to get movies based on Marvel characters. Because of various contracts and rights issues over the years, Marvel has been split up in some unusual ways. Sony has the rights to Spider-Man and his associated characters. For a long time Fox had the rights to the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, although those now belong to Disney. And the rest falls under the Disney and Marvel merger that created the MCU.

Oscar Isaac joined the MCU when he played Moon Knight on the Disney Plus series. Prior to that he was in the Fox Marvel movies when he played Apocalypse in the X-Men franchise. In 2023, Isaac finished his Marvel domination by playing Spider-Man 2099 in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (after a post-credits cameo as the character in Into the Spider-Verse). 

7. Will Smith Had 8 Consecutive Films Gross Over $100 Million

There are plenty of ways to define success as an actor, but for many people, especially the people who are getting paid by movies, box office is the be all and the end all. Some stars are generally understood to be bankable. That means that you can count on them to make a lot of money because of how popular they are. For a good deal of time, one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood was Will Smith. 

As a leading man Will Smith has pulled in over $6.5 billion at the box office in his career. That makes him the 9th most profitable leading man in Hollywood. But he does hold a distinction no one else has, and that’s starring in 8 films in a row that all grossed over $100 million domestically. If you go international, he actually had 10 in a row top $150 million.

When top movies make over $1 billion these days, that doesn’t sound like a lot. But for an actor to do 8 in a row is unheard of. Actors often shake up their routine with smaller movies that don’t make as much money, or they’ll just find themselves in a dud that bombs at the box office. 

6. Jonathan Freeman Voiced Jafar in Aladdin the Movie and on Broadway

There have been occasions in the past when an actor has played the same character on screen as they have played on stage, or vice versa. Jonathan Freeman seems to be the only actor who has transitioned a character from an animated film onto the stage.

Freeman was the voice of Jafar in the original Aladdin movie back in 1992. When the cartoon was adapted to Broadway, he played the character on stage giving it a little more authenticity since the voice was exactly the same.

Freeman has voiced Jafar in more than one animated film, as well as video games and theme park rides. All told, Freeman had been voicing the character for about 30 years in various media. 

5. Bernard Hill Is the Only Actor To Star in More Than One Film That Won 11 Oscars 

Every once in a while a movie comes out that is so beloved across the board that, when award season shows up, it seems to sweep nearly every category. Both Ben Hur and Titanic received multiple Academy Award nominations when they were released, with Ben Hur getting 12 of a potential 15 nominations and Titanic getting 14 of a potential 17. And even with all those nominations, scoring wins for most of this is no easy task.

All told, only three films have won 11 Oscars and none have won more. The two previously mentioned and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. And Bernard Hill is the only actor to have starred in more than one.

Hill played the character of King Theoden in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He also played Captain Edward J. Smith in Titanic. You certainly can’t attribute the overwhelming success of both films to Hill alone, but the fact remains no other actor has been in as many highly awarded films to date.

4. Tom Hanks is the Only Actor In the Army Rangers Hall of Fame 

Back in the year 2013 actor Tom Hanks was voted the most trusted person in America. This was based solely on the persona that he has in movies. People like Tom Hanks because he seems like a good guy. The effects the characters he plays in movies has on people goes far beyond just convincing everyone he’s trustworthy. Nothing serves as a better example of this than the fact that the Army Rangers inducted Tom Hanks into their Hall of Fame strictly because of his work in movies. He’s the only actor who has ever been inducted to the Army Ranger Hall of fame.

Hanks received the honor as a result of his work in the film Saving Private Ryan, as well as for his commitment to honoring those who served in war. 

3. Kelsey Grammer Was Emmy Nominated for Playing the Same Character on Three Shows

If comic book movies have taught us anything it’s that actors love seeing crossovers with characters from other films. But comic books didn’t hold exclusive rights to this idea. Over the years, TV shows have flirted with crossovers to keep audiences interested and sometimes your favorite characters would appear on someone else’s show for an episode or two.

In the history of television, Kelsey Grammer is the only actor who has been nominated for his portrayal of one character but on three different shows. Grammer made a career out of playing Dr. Frasier Crane, a psychiatrist who first appeared frequenting the bar Cheers back in the 1980s. That was where Grammer received his first Emmy nomination.

Crane was such a hit that NBC gave him his own show. On Frasier, Grammer went on to receive more Emmy nominations and while it seems like it should end there, it doesn’t. He also did a guest spot on the NBC show Wings where he played the doctor and that was also nominated for an Emmy.

2. John Cazale is the Only Actor Whose Entire Filmography Was Nominated for Best Picture

If you use award nominations as a metric for the talent of an actor, then an actor who has been in nothing but movies nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards might be considered one of the best actors ever. Most of the actors that are considered the best in the world, those who have received multiple awards for their skill over the years, can’t claim to have been in nothing but Best Picture nominees. In fact, only one actor can make that claim. His name is John Cazale.

John Cazale starred in 5 movies over 7 years. That was the full length of his career. But if an actor was only going to work for that long on so few films, then they could make no better choices than Cazale did. He starred in The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather II, Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter. Both Godfathers and The Deer Hunter won Best Picture while The Conversation and Dog Day Afternoon were nominated.

In addition to only starring in Best Picture nominees, Cazale is the only actor whose entire filmography was chosen by the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant.

Cazale had been diagnosed with cancer while filming The Deer Hunter and passed away before it was released.

1. James Dean Is The Only Actor To Get More Than One Posthumous Oscar Nomination

Getting a posthumous Oscar nomination is not as rare as you might think. A fair number of actors and filmmakers have received nominations after they unfortunately passed away, and 16 of them actually ended up winning. Heath Ledger from The Dark Knight is one of the most famous cases of this happening. 

The first actor to ever receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination was James Dean. As famous as James Dean is, and his legacy lives on today, nearly 70 years after his death, it’s surprising to remember that Dean only starred in three movies.

Not only was Dean the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for his work in the movie East of Eden, he became the only actor in history to be nominated for two Academy Awards posthumously when he was nominated the following year for the film Giant.

People talk about the value of a dollar a lot, and these days that usually includes lamenting how a dollar isn’t worth much at all. Things are expensive and they keep getting more expensive because the powers that be know we can’t not have food or fuel or Netflix. But that doesn’t mean a buck is totally useless. Throughout history, a single dollar has been enough for some remarkable purchases.

10. Coke Sold Their Bottling Rights For a Buck

Coca-Cola sold 25 bottles in its first year of operations and now sells about 1.9 billion bottles per day. If the world population in 2023 is 8.045 billion, that means about 1 in 4 people buy a Coke every day. In dollars and cents, the Coca-Cola company makes about $45 billion per year.

With all of those big numbers floating around, it’s kind of remarkable to learn that the rights to bottle the stuff were sold for a buck. Back in 1888, Asa Candler bought the rights to the Coke formula, improved it, and began selling concentrated syrup. For a long while Coke, and most sodas, were sold this way. The syrup would be mixed with soda water on site, at a soda fountain, in front of the customer. Candler was convinced this was how Coke should be enjoyed.

While he expanded his syrup production, a pair of lawyers approached him about the idea of bottling the stuff. Candler thought the idea was dumb. The lawyers eventually convinced him to try it so they signed a contract for bottling rights. Candler, so convinced the idea was dumb, sold them the rights for a single dollar. A dollar he didn’t even bother to collect.

9. The Patent for Insulin Was Sold for A Dollar

It’s been argued that insulin has saved literally tens of millions of lives since its discovery. It’s arguably one of the greatest medical advances in history. Back in 1923 when Sir Frederick Banting discovered it, he understood the value and importance of it. But he also devoted so much of his life to it for a reason, he wanted to save lives.

Because Banting was concerned with the value of insulin to society as a whole rather than its value to him as an individual, he didn’t sell it for a fortune or patent it to keep it a secret for himself. He thought a doctor profiting off of medicine was unethical. Banting is quoted to have said “insulin belongs to the world, not to me.”

Banting wouldn’t even put his name on the patent for insulin and, instead, his two coworkers, James Collip and Charles Best, were issued the patent. Like Banting, they were not looking to profit, so they sold the patent to the University of Toronto for $1.

Sadly, the altruism expressed by the creators of insulin hasn’t made it to the present day and many kinds of insulin are still very expensive, but things arguably could have been worse.

8. Bombardier Sold Stake in One of Their Planes to a Boeing Competitor for $1

There’s a lot more drama in the world of jet manufacturing than you may realize. So, to set the stage here, know that Boeing, an American company, competes with Airbus in Europe and Bombardier in Canada. All three technically compete with one another but Canada and Europe teamed up to stick it to Boeing in a trade deal.

Bombardier made the CSeries of jets. The US Commerce Department backed Boeing by threatening the Canadian company with a 300% tariff, which would kill their ability to sell the jet. But Bombardier worked a deal with Airbus in which Airbus got a 50.01% stake in the CSeries production and it only cost them $1.

Why the great deal? Airbus would assume massive risk and CSeries would be manufactured in Alabama as a means of skirting the 300% tariff since the jets would be produced in America. Eventually the tariff ruling was overturned and Boeing didn’t appeal, but Airbus took a larger stake in the jet’s production and Bombardier dropped out completely. 

7. James Cameron Sold the Rights to The Terminator Script for a Buck

James Cameron has become an iconic filmmaker over the years with some of the most popular films in history under his belt. This includes Titanic, Avatar and the Terminator franchise. Terminator was the movie that really put Cameron on the map back in the day and it set the stage for everything that was to come. It also proved no one has as much faith in James Cameron as James Cameron.

Cameron had only directed the movie Piranha II: The Spawning before Terminator and, if you haven’t heard of it, it was not a popular flick. So he hadn’t proved himself in the eyes of Hollywood by any means. But he was convinced Terminator was a winner and, more importantly, he needed to direct it. To convince the studio to let him take the reins, he sold the script for just $1 on the condition he could also direct. 

Keep in mind, many studios liked the script and offered big money for it, but none wanted him as director. So he rolled the dice and bet on himself. Despite the fact it worked out and Cameron has made two of the highest grossing films of all time now, he still regrets that decision.

6. Stephen King Sells the Film Rights for His Short Stories for $1

If you add up all the movies, TV shows, short films and anthology entries based on Stephen King’s works, you’ll end up with close to 100 of them. People love adapting his work to the screen and sometimes the results are great, sometimes not. King himself seems to be open to almost anyone and everyone trying their best, though. 

If you’re a new filmmaker, like a student, you can buy the rights to one of dozens of King’s short stories for just $1. There are some strings attached, including that you have a year to do it, you can’t distribute it without his permission, and you have to let him see it when it’s done. 

Some filmmakers have gone on to big success after taking King up on his offer, but none more popular than Frank Darabont. Darabont, you may recall, was the showrunner for the first season of The Walking Dead. He also directed The Green Mile, The Mist, and The Shawshank Redemption, all based on King stories. 

5. Houses in Detroit Were Going For a Buck a Piece Around 2010

If you know little about Detroit, Michigan, it used to be the hub of the automotive industry in America. For a time the city was doing incredibly well until the industry fell apart and Detroit’s entire economy tanked. The city had to file an $18 billion bankruptcy. The population went from two million to 700,000 and unemployment skyrocketed. 

That huge population drop left many homes in Detroit empty and there are entire streets and even neighborhoods that are still like ghost towns. The housing crisis made things even worse and back around 2010 houses were practically being given away. The median house price was $25,200. While some houses could be purchased for under $100, some went for the bargain basement price of just $1.

Were these $1 homes good? No. Useable? Not really. Many look like horror movie props, all burned out, broken and rotten. But there’s land to use and the potential to make something better out of it, and that’s enough for some people.

It’s not just Detroit that tried to unload its trash properties, either. St. Louis also offered a $1 home program, though they had some stricter rules about buying them. 

4. The Inventor of Chocolate Chip Cookies Sold the Recipe For a Buck

It’s odd to think that every ubiquitous and common food item we all know and love had to have once been invented by someone. Chocolate chip cookies, for instance, didn’t exist officially until the 1930s. The recipe was first published by Ruth Graves Wakefield as “Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie,” named for the tourist lodge that was once a tollhouse that she and her husband owned. 

In 1939, she sold the rights to both the Toll House name and the cookie recipe to Nestle. Her price? $1. Rumor has it she also got a lifetime supply of chocolate and did consulting work for them, which sweetened the deal in more ways than one. Also, they apparently neglected to actually hand over that $1. 

3. You Can Sell an Academy Award But the Academy Has the Right to Buy it First for $1

In the world of Hollywood, an Academy Award is the most prestigious prize you can win for some reason or other. Regardless of how it got that reputation, people still hold that little gold man in high regard. Historically, of course, not everyone has cared about them that much. Three people even turned down their Academy Awards. 

For those who choose to keep them, if they lose their luster over the years there may be a temptation to sell the thing. There is some bronze and gold in the statuette and its overall value is estimated at around $400. Of course there is more value in one as a collectible. Orson Welles’ Academy Award for Citizen Kane once sold at auction for over $860,000. 

In an effort to prevent the trade in Oscars from continuing, the Academy has instituted a rule that any recipient who wants to sell their award has to give the Academy the right to buy it first at a price of $1. This even extends beyond death so that if a family member inherits the award, they’re bound by the same conditions which seems legally questionable, but here we are. 

2. DuPont Built a Nuclear Site to Produce Plutonium in WWII for One Dollar

During World War II, America put the pedal to the metal to produce nuclear weapons and the Manhattan Project was the program that oversaw it. Knowing how to make a nuclear weapon is one thing, but building it is another. The project needed facilities able to handle that scale of work. They enlisted the DuPont company for their expertise in building and operating large-scale manufacturing, despite the fact they were not a weapons manufacturer at all. 

DuPont had already been accused of making chemical weapons in WWI. They eventually agreed to work on reactor production and ended up being the main contractor for all the plutonium work related to the project. But in an effort to escape the scrutiny they’d faced in the previous war, they set their price for helping at $1. That way no one could accuse them of profiteering and instead recognize that they were simply doing a patriotic duty. 

1. NPR Bought the Radio Rights to Star Wars for $1

The Star Wars franchise, which includes movies, shows, books, merchandise and all of that, has an estimated value of about $70 billion. It made George Lucas a very rich man, and it continued to make Disney even richer. But every so often George Lucas proved he wasn’t always about the money, like when it came to the Star Wars radio drama.

Way back in 1983, NPR wanted to turn Star Wars into a radio drama. No one had really been doing radio dramas since the 1950s and they wanted to revive the format with something exciting. The USC theater program asked George Lucas for the rights to the movie and Lucas, a graduate of the school and fan of their NPR station, gave it to them for just $1. 

Mark Hamill reprised his role as Luke Skywalker and Anthony Daniels returned as C-3PO. They hired a novelist to adapt a highly visual movie into a radio show and included entirely new scenes to flesh it out since the actual movie only has 30 minutes of dialogue and they were making 13 half hour episodes.

In 1983 they produced Empire Strikes Back and, many years later in 1996, they finally did Return of the Jedi. Each script was purchased for the same $1 deal.

We all know that our cat can jump high and our dog can smell well, but sometimes it’s hard to appreciate just how amazing their abilities really are. Putting the numbers into a human context can help us appreciate the superhuman capabilities of some of the animals we share our world with.

See Also: Top 10 Real Superpowers You Can Learn

10 Cats Jumping

Walking into your cat perched on top of a bookcase might be an everyday occurrence, and it can also make us forget just how amazing their jumping capability is. Most cats can make a vertical jump from a standstill to five times their own height. For the average, 6 foot-tall human, that means executing a standstill jump and clearing 30 feet. In other terms, that would make us capable of jumping to the roof of a 3-story building.^[10]

9 Ants’ Carrying Power

Depending on the species of ant, these tiny creatures can carry anywhere from 10 to 50 times their own weight. While that might not sound impressive when you’re looking at such small creatures carrying leaves, blow that up to human proportions and it become truly astounding. If humans had the same muscle control and strength as an ant, that would mean an average, 180-pound man could carry anywhere between 1,800 and 9,000 pounds. And what do those numbers mean? On the low end, 1,800 pounds is about the same as a Clydesdale horse. And 9,000 pounds is about the same as three Volkswagen Beetles.^[9]

8 A Monarch Butterfly’s Journey

The monarch butterfly might look delicate, but the North American monarch makes an epic journey every spring and fall. These hardy creatures travel up to 3,000 miles from their summer homes in the northern part of the United States to their winter home in Mexico. And all with a wing span of about 4 inches. To put this in human terms, the average stride of an adult is 32 inches. That’s 8 times the wing span of a butterfly, meaning a human would need to walk 24,000 miles to experience the length of the butterfly’s journey. That’s only a couple of hundred miles short of walking around the world at the equator.^[8]

7 A Cats’ Purr

Most cats purr at a soft, comforting level, but the world’s record for the loudest purr is held by an English cat named Smokey. His purr has been recorded at a whopping 86.3 dB. To put this in perspective, a human breathes at about 10dB, and a normal speaking voice will register at about 60dB. Noises around 80-90dB that we’re more familiar with include hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, and many hand power tools.^[7]

6 Breeding Like Rabbits

Start with one pregnant female rabbit. Keeping in mind that an average litter size for rabbits is 6 babies and a new mother can become pregnant again almost immediately after giving birth, the exponential estimate for rabbits produced not only from her but from her babies, and her babies’ babies, is astronomical. In the 7-year breeding lifespan of a rabbit, that means a single mother can – mathematically – be responsible for 95 billion little rabbits. For the sake of simple math, let’s say the human female’s fertile years are between the ages of 18 and 45 – 9 times the length of a rabbit’s. If we could reproduce like them, that would mean a staggering 855,000,000,000 offspring.^[6]

5 An Elephant’s Trunk

An elephant uses his trunk like the ultimate multi-purpose tool. Not only can they pick things up with it, but it can manipulate objects and store several gallons of water. Bulbous appendages on the end of their trunks give them the fine motor skills needed to pick up and manipulate the smallest of objects. An elephant has roughly 100,000 muscles in their trunk alone that allows them this fine control. In comparison, the human body contains 34 muscles that control the fingers and thumb; only 17 of these are in the hand itself.^[5]

4The Chicken’s Egg

Firstly, it doesn’t seem possible that an egg comes out of a relatively small bird. The Rhode Island Red, a common breed of chicken, weighs about 6.5 pounds at maturity. The size of the eggs vary, but they’re known for producing above average sized brown eggs – this means usually around 2.25 oz. Proportionately, this is the same as a 150 pound woman giving birth to a 3.25 pound baby. Still painful, but it doesn’t make a chicken’s life look quite so bad.^[4]

3The Lion’s Share

In the wild, lions have to take their meals when they can get them. This means they need the ability to take full advantage of a major kill; in one sitting, an average, 300 pound male lion can consume up to 90 pounds of meat. That’s almost a third of their entire body weight, and it’s also like a 200 pound man eating 60 pounds of chicken fingers and french fries for dinner.^[3]

2 Parrot’s Speech

All types of parrots have the capability to mimic and pronounce human speech, although that capability varies both between species and within individual members of each species. The African Grey parrot is one of the most prolific talkers, with some outstanding representatives. One bird in particular, named Alex, could correctly identify more than 50 objects and colors by name. At the end of his life, he was beginning to learn how to count and demonstrate that he not only knew the sequence of numbers, but that he understood what they meant. In comparison, the average human toddler will be about 2 years old when they start to use as many words, and will be about 3 before they understand the concept of numbers such as age.^[2]

1 A Dog’s Nose

A dog’s nose is extremely sensitive, with its 300 million olfactory receptors compared to our measly 6 million. From their nose to their brain, their sense of smell works differently than ours, allowing them to separate different smells and process that information independently – resulting in a sense that is estimated to be (at least) 10,000 times better than ours. From search and rescue dogs to drug dogs, they’ve shown time and time again that they can use their amazing sense of smell to save countless lives. But how much better does that make their smell than ours? Since smell is difficult to measure, we’ll make a visual comparison. The human eye can detect a light source no brighter than a candle at 30 miles on a dark night. If our vision was as acute as a dog’s sense of smell, we would be able to see it 30,000 miles away. That’s the distance between Bangor, Maine and Los Angeles, California – 10 times.^[1]

After World War II, an estimated 2.5 million East Germans fled to West Germany. East Germany had lost a sixth of its population, and the government wanted to stop their people from leaving. They closed the border between the countries and erected the Berlin Wall.

Soldiers patrolled the barrier, and they were ordered to shoot anyone who tried to escape. The Wall was largely effective, although many people still risked death or imprisonment trying to escape. The following people each made extraordinarily brave escapes over, under, around, or through the Berlin Wall.

10 Peter Strelzyk And Gunter Wetzel

Coworkers Peter Strelzyk and Gunter Wetzel wanted to escape East Germany. However, they could not think of a safe way to freedom. Wetzel’s sister visited, and she brought an American magazine that had an article on hot-air balloons. Wetzel thought that he could create a balloon to get over the border.

He told Strelzyk his idea, and the duo made plans to escape via balloon. After learning how to create a balloon from textbooks, they started designing their escape vehicle. Their first two attempts were failures, so they began to lose hope in their creations.

They considered giving up, but the government had become suspicious. They had no choice but to continue. Fortunately, their third attempt was successful. The coworkers waited until midnight to gather their wives and children onto the highest nearby hill.

The families huddled into the basket of the untested balloon. It floated into the air, and they began to fly toward West Germany. As they approached the border, searchlights turned on them. Luckily, the lights could not reach them.^[1]

The flame on their burner went out. They tried to restart it, but they had run out of gas. The balloon soared downward, and it crashed to the ground. The families did not know what country they had landed in. They started walking and came across policemen, who confirmed that they had reached West Germany.

9 Harry Deterling

Harry Deterling had wanted to escape East Germany since the wall was erected. Deterling was a known critic of the government, and they had threatened to send him to a work camp. He knew he needed to escape soon.

Deterling, a train engineer, heard a rumor that the train rails still connected East Berlin to West Berlin. However, they were going to be dismantled soon. He asked his train’s stoker, Harmut Lichy, to help him and his relatives escape. Lichy agreed, and the pair began to plan their escape.

Deterling chose a route that would bring him close to the border. He told his family and friends that he was escaping, and 24 of them joined him on the train. As Deterling approached the train’s designated stop, he did not slow down. Instead, he hit the throttle.^[2]

The train raced past the stop and thundered down an abandoned stretch of track. The East German guards were too startled to fire a shot. As the train approached the barriers, Deterling and Lichy took refuge in the coal reserve while everyone else threw themselves on the floor.

The train crashed through the barriers and skidded to a halt in West Germany. None of the passengers was harmed in their escape attempt.

8 Horst Klein

Horst Klein was an outspoken anti-communist, which angered the East German government. He was banned from appearing in circuses, which was devastating for the professional trapeze artist. Klein decided to escape.

He chose to flee via the power cables that linked the city. Klein climbed an electricity pole and leaped onto the big porcelain insulator on the cable. He was terrified. Klein knew that if he touched the tower and the cable at the same time, he would be turned to ashes.

He eased himself onto the cable and slid 64 meters (210 ft) to another insulator. Klein jumped to a second tower and looked down. Beneath him were two East German guards, who patrolled the area. Fortunately, he was above the beams of their searchlights.

Klein slid a further 27 meters (90 ft), and then he began to unravel a rope that he had coiled around his chest. He threw the rope across the cable and tried to lower himself onto the western side. Unfortunately, his hands had numbed in the outdoor cold of -14 degrees Celsius (7 °F). Klein missed the rope and fell 12 meters (40 ft). He managed to land a few feet inside the western border.^[3]

Klein’s fall knocked him unconscious for three hours. When he awoke, he yelled for help. A woman heard him and called the police, who brought Klein to the hospital. He was in reasonable health aside from his two broken arms.

7 Joachim Neumann

Joachim Neumann, a civil engineering student, never cared for the marching and shooting drills that students had to do. He often played hooky. After he and his fellow students were forced to sign a document agreeing to defend the state at any time using weapons, Neumann decided to escape to the West.

He borrowed a Swiss passport from a fellow student. The student gave him a few bits of Swiss paraphernalia—a movie ticket, change, and transportation tickets—to convince the guards that Neumann was from Switzerland.

It did not occur to him that he could not speak with a Swiss accent until he was standing in front of the East German guards. He decided to pretend to be an arrogant Swiss tourist. The guards tried to make small talk, but Neumann responded by sticking his nose in the air and harrumphing. He refused to utter a word, and the guards gave up and waved him through into West Berlin.

Neumann had escaped. However, he had left his girlfriend and friends behind. He had promised to help free them, and he intended to keep his promise. Neumann asked fellow students to help him dig a tunnel to East Berlin. They spent five months digging the tunnel before they reached the other side. Within two days, they helped 57 people escape, including Neumann’s girlfriend.^[4]

6 Hubert Hohlbein

Hubert Hohlbein had spent a lot of time in West Berlin before the Wall was built, and he missed the life he once had. He and two of his friends began to plan an escape. They bought diving suits and spent three months training in the waters around Berlin. The friends escaped one at a time. They were worried that three people would be noticed in the water. Hohlbein was the last to go.

He waited until midnight, and then he silently crept into a river that divided the two Berlins. Hohlbein’s diving suit had a lead belt that helped him stay deep in the water. He tried to stay hidden in the water and used a snorkel to breathe.

Hohlbein only surfaced to make sure that he was traveling in the right direction. He kept his eyes on a bridge in West Berlin. Once, a light from the border soldiers lit up the lake, but they did not notice Hohlbein.^[5] After an hour and a half, he reached the other side. He went to the bridge, where he was congratulated on his escape by Western police.

Hohlbein was determined to help his family escape East Germany. He joined Joachim Neumann and helped dig the tunnel that allowed 57 people to escape. Hohlbein’s mother was among the group.

5 Heinz Meixner

Austrian Heinz Meixner worked in East Berlin. There, he met Margarete Thorau at a ball. The pair fell in love and planned to marry. However, her government would not allow her to leave. He began working on an escape plan to free his girlfriend and her mother.

Meixner was allowed to leave the city whenever he wanted. He borrowed a scooter from a friend and measured the height of the barrier between the cities. It was 90 centimeters (35 in) high. Meixner began to look for a car that could drive under the barrier.

He could not find one. Instead, he rented a small sports car and dismantled the windshield. The car was now 7.5 centimeters (3 in) lower than the barrier. His girlfriend hid in a tiny space behind the driver’s seat. Her body was covered by the car’s retracted roof. Her mother was hidden in the trunk, covered with 30 bricks in case the soldiers opened fire.

Meixner drove to the Wall. The guard was suspicious because the car lacked a windshield, and he directed Meixner to the customs section. Instead, Meixner hit the gas and ducked his head. He raced under the barriers that separated the city. The car flew into West Berlin. When Meixner hit the brakes, he left skid marks that were 29 meters (96 ft) long.^[6]

4 Wolfgang Engels

Wolfgang Engels had worked as a soldier while the Berlin Wall was built. He soon started to reject the teachings of his country and decided to take the first chance to escape. His chance came soon. Engels befriended a group of army drivers, and he allowed them to drive his vehicle. In return, the soldiers showed him their vehicle—an armored personnel carrier—and they showed him how it worked.

Engels was confident that he could drive one. He waited until the crew went to lunch, and then he stole the tank. The city was full of military traffic, and he went unnoticed. Engels approached the Berlin Wall. He leaned out of the vehicle and offered bystanders a ride to the West. No one joined him.

Engels revved the engine and sped into the wall. He did not make it through. He climbed out of the tank and was shot by a border guard, twice. Stray rounds came close to West German police, who returned fire.

A group of men left a nearby bar and formed a human ladder to save the injured Engels. They brought him inside the bar until paramedics came and brought Engels to a hospital. He spent three weeks recovering from a collapsed lung.^[7]

3 Detlef Alexander Tiede And Ingrid Ruske

Ingrid Ruske fell in love with Horst Fischer. The couple could not imagine a future in East Germany, and they decided to escape to the West. Fischer went to Poland to get forged papers.

Ruske and her longtime friend Detlef Tiede soon followed Fischer. When Fischer did not meet the pair, they suspected that their plans had been revealed. They were afraid to return to East Germany because they believed that the police were waiting for them.

The pair bought a toy pistol and booked a flight to Berlin. Shortly before landing, Tiede took a Polish stewardess as a hostage.^[8] He demanded the plane fly into West Germany. When they landed, Tiede let himself be arrested without resistance. Ruske was soon taken into custody.

As the plane had landed in the American sector of Berlin, they were both tried by an American court. Tiede was sentenced to nine months in prison. However, the case against Ruske was terminated as she had been deprived of a lawyer for two months.

They found out that Fischer had been caught by the East German police. He had been sentenced to eight years in prison. However, West Germany intervened and he was released the following year.

2 Peter Dobler

Peter Dobler was an assistant physician at a hospital. He was talented, but he could not advance in his career because he had criticized the government. After Dobler’s marriage ended, he realized that he had nothing left in East Germany.

He spent the next two years plotting his escape. Dobler decided to swim across the Baltic Sea. He practiced swimming for hours, he studied the stars, and he memorized sea maps. Dobler was certain that he could make it to West Germany.

He put on his diving suit and brought a little bundle of supplies—painkillers, chocolate, tape, and a compass. Dobler also brought appetite suppressants, which had a similar effect as Ecstasy. He took one every four hours.

He spent the next 24 hours swimming 48 kilometers (30 mi) to West Germany. Aside from the occasional searchlight beam, Dobler’s journey went without incident.^[9] He spotted a boat near the West German border, and the owner helped him board it. Dobler was exhausted and thirsty, but he had made it to West Germany.

1 Holger Bethke And Michael Becker

Michael Becker discovered a West German magazine that featured a family who had escaped with pulleys and a steel cable. Becker decided to escape in the same way. He found a partner in Holger Bethke, whose older brother, Ingo, had escaped East Germany on an air mattress several years earlier.

Bethke and Becker began perfecting their escape plan. They practiced archery and using their zip line in a park. They told onlookers that they were training for the circus. Bethke found the perfect place for the duo to escape. Two tall houses flanked the narrow border between the cities.

They dressed as electricians and sneaked into the attic of one of the houses. They waited until Bethke’s brother contacted them with a message on a smuggled children’s walkie-talkie. Then Bethke walked over to a window and shot an arrow that flew over the border.

A steel cable was attached to the arrow. Bethke’s brother picked up the arrow and tied the rope to the bumper of his car. Bethke tied his side around a chimney. He had designed a metal pulley that could slide down the rope.^[10] He snapped the pulley over the rope, grabbed the handles, and jumped. Bethke traveled 50 meters (165 ft) over the Berlin border. Both he and Becker easily made it to West Berlin.

Later, the Bethke brothers learned how to fly an airplane, and they rescued their younger brother, Egbert, from East Germany.