Strange But True: Rock Climbing
By Lucie Winborne
An isolated Israeli city with a high rate of deafness created their own sign language as a way of communicating.
Pakistan was the first official Muslim nation in the world.
An emoji of a building underneath a pink heart originally symbolized an invitation to meet at a Japanese "love hotel," where rooms can be rented by the hour.
At many European operas, whistling actually means boo.
The Aetherius Society, a UFO religion, was founded by George King in 1955 after he claimed interplanetary sources instructed him to become "the Voice of Interplanetary Parliament."
Cats have more bones than humans.
According to several legends, if someone was bitten by a suspected vampire, he or she should drink the ashes of a burned vampire.
Rock climbing can improve emotional or attention problems, such as anxiety and ADHD.
First performed in 1999, the Sandpaper Ballet includes a musical number that sounds just like someone scratching sandpaper.
An EF-3 tornado near Pampa, Texas, was so strong that it drove a corn stalk into a car's radiator.
A mother admitted to attending her clique's "chickenpox party," a social gathering where parents expose unvaccinated children to the virus, even though her daughter had been vaccinated, because she feared rejection by the group if she didn't show up.
Nearly 90% of London's police officers don't carry firearms.
Before the invention of electricity, the only electromagnetic wavelengths present on Earth in any significant amount were those corresponding to the colors seen in a rainbow.
In 2005, former Washington, D.C., administrative law judge Roy Pearson Jr. sued his neighborhood dry cleaners for $67 million after a pair of his suit pants was accidentally sent to another location. (No, he didn't win.)
(c) 2026 King Features Synd., Inc.