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Weird World Facts updated regularly.  If you have something you would like to include...  Just email me!

 It has been suggested by scholars that Chinese explorers came to North America over 5,000 years ago. They called the California coast Fu Sang or the land of the Fu Sang Tree. This legendary tree was supposed to be so large that it took over 20 men to circle it by holding hands. Could this reference be to the California Redwoods?

It has been calculated that in the last 3,500 years, there have only been 230 years of peace throughout the civilized world.  (Amazing!)

Ancient Egyptians and Chinese used slabs of stones as pillows.

Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the dead.

In ancient China, doctors could receive fees only if their patient was cured. If it deteriorated, they would have to pay the patient.

It is said in 200 BC, when the Greek city of Sparta was at the height of its power there were 20 slaves for every citizen.

In ancient Rome, a runaway slave was considered a criminal because he had stolen himself (i.e. the property of his master)!

Roman women especially enjoyed when their husbands went to war against Germany because the naturally-blond hair of Germans captured in battle would be used to make wigs!

The punishment of a Vestal Virgin who broke her oath of chastity was to be buried alive!

In early Rome, a father could legally execute any member of his household!

The Hundred Year War actually lasted for 116 years – from 1337 to 1453.

In the Fourteenth century physicians didn't know what caused the plague, but they knew it was contagious. As a result they wore an early kind of bio-protective suit which included a large beaked head piece. The beak of the head piece, which made them look like large birds, was filled with vinegar, sweet oils and other strong smelling compounds to counteract the stench of the dead and dying plague victims.

In the Middle Ages it was believed that the heart was the seat of intelligence not the brain.

Spider webs were used to cure warts during the Middle Ages.

In the Great Fire of London in 1666  half of London was burnt down but it was said that only 6 people were injured. (They didn't keep very good records back at that time.)

During the time of Peter the Great, any Russian man who wore a beard was required to pay a special tax.

Niagara Falls experienced a break of half an hour in 1848, when an ice jam blocked the source river.

In 1892, Italy raised the minimum age for marriage for girls to 12.

The shortest war in history was between Britain and Zanzibar during 1896. It lasted for 38 minutes.

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At the height of inflation in Germany in the early 1920s, one U.S. dollar was equal to 4 quintillion German marks.

 In May 1948, Mt Ruapehu and Mt Ngauruhoe, both in New Zealand, erupted simultaneously.

People have been wearing glasses for about 700 years.

The custom of shaking hands with the strangers originated to show that both the parties were unarmed.   Also, we shake with out right hand as the left hand was considered the "bathroom" hand.

The number of people over hundred increased from 4,000 in 1960 to 55,000 in 1995 in US alone.