1

What are bills made of?

Unlike other currencies, dollar bills are not made of paper or plastic. U.S. dollar bills are made from a special fabric blend composed of 75% cotton and 25% linen. This mix makes the bills extremely durable and resistant, and they can be folded about 4000 times before tearing.

2

What bills are valid?

Any U.S. dollar bill that was legally printed is valid, no matter how old, as American currency does not have an expiration date. While some bills might not be accepted by businesses of foreign exchange services due to their condition or if they are a discontinued version of the bill, the bills themselves are still valid, and American banks will accept them, though they might take them out of circulation.

3

American leaders

Five bills have a depiction of an American president. The exceptions are the $10 bill, with Alexander Hamilton on the front, and the $100 bill, with Benjamin Franklin. The $1 bill, depicting George Washington, is extremely symbolic: several elements are repeated 13 times as a nod to the thirteen colonies, and it showcases the Bald Eagle and the Eye of Providence as a sign of God watching over America.

4

A change in size

Did you know that dollar bills used to be so big that they were nicknamed "horse blankets"? Original dollar bills were 7.4 × 3.1 inches. In 1929, the Treasury Department reduced the size of bills to 6.14 × 2.61 inches to reduce production costs and materials. Old bills, though still valid, are worth much more as collector items.

5

Uniformity

Besides their value and design, all dollar bills have the same size (6.14 × 2.61 inches), color, and weight (1 gram) , which sets American currency apart from other countries where bills of different values are differentiated by size, color, or both. Why doesn’t the U.S. implement differences among bills? The cost of adapting vending machines, bank drawers, and ATMs to new bill sizes would cost billions of dollars.

6

Hard to copy

Originally, dollars were not green, but black. As time passed, green ink was favored, as it was cheap and did not fade as much as black. The new color also prevented people from using black-and-white cameras to create counterfeit money. Currently, dollar bills are predominantly green, but newer versions also include extra colors, such as pink, orange, or purple.

7

A $100,000 bill?

Have you ever seen a $500 or 1,000 dollar bill? What about a $100,000? Up until 1945, the U.S. Treasury printed $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000, and $100,000 notes , in addition to the values currently in use. These higher-value notes were mainly intended for bank and government use, but were sought by criminals as they made it easier to hide large amounts of money. Even though they were officially discontinued in 1969, these notes are still valid, though rare, and they have a high worth as collector's items.

8

No numbers

Unlike bills, American coins have different sizes and colors related to their value. Originally, gold, silver, and copper were used for coins, but modern coins are made of copper, zinc, or nickel. Besides their size and design, the value of each coin is printed in letters, not in numbers , alongside depictions of American presidents.

9

Liberty for all (the coins)

By law, all American coins must include six specific details : the word ‘Liberty’, the name of our country, the national motto "In God We Trust", the oldest American motto "E Pluribus Unum", the value of the coin, and the year. Each coin also includes a mint mark that shows where it was made: "P" for Philadelphia, "D" for Denver, "S" for San Francisco, and "W" for West Point.

10

A global currency

The American dollar is one of the most powerful currencies in the world, acting as a backbone for international trade and finances. It is estimated that two-thirds of the physical dollars in circulation are outside American territory. Besides the U.S. and its territories, eight sovereign nations have the U.S. dollar as their official currency, with several more accepting it as legal tender.

1

Igloo City, Alaska

Image: Tim Oun

Igloo City in Cantwell, Alaska, is a massive, unfinished hotel built in the 1970s that never opened due to building code issues . Despite multiple owners and redevelopment plans, it remained abandoned and eventually deteriorated too much to renovate.

Now a roadside oddity between Fairbanks and Anchorage, its giant igloo shape continues to draw curious visitors.

2

Spectre Set, Alabama

Image: Dan Meyers

The abandoned film set of Spectre from Big Fish still stands on a private island along the Alabama River. Originally built for the 2003 movie, the town was left behind after filming and has slowly decayed.

Fires and flooding destroyed much of it, but a few buildings, spooky trees, and crumbling columns remain, giving the site a haunting atmosphere.

3

Dogpatch USA, Arkansas

Image: Matt Gross

Dogpatch USA, a hillbilly-themed park in Arkansas based on the Li’l Abner comic strip , opened in 1968 but never met visitor expectations. With low-key attractions and rustic charm, it struggled to draw crowds and ultimately closed in 1993.

Attempts to sell the land largely failed, and parts of the park still stand abandoned. While some parcels have been sold over the years, most of the site remains a curiosity for urban explorers.

4

Gibraltar, Delaware

Image: Johannes Beilharz

Hidden behind a stone wall in Wilmington, Delaware, Gibraltar is a crumbling 1840s mansion surrounded by beautifully restored gardens . While the house itself is abandoned, ivy-covered, and slowly decaying, the gardens remain vibrant and full of life.

5

Atlanta Prison Farm, Georgia

Image: Dan Meyers

The Atlanta Prison Farm has sat abandoned for over 25 years , now covered in graffiti and fast-growing kudzu. Though there's talk of turning it into a regional park, disagreements between counties have stalled any concrete progress.

6

Custer Ghost Town, Idaho

Image: Ruth Durbin

Custer, Idaho, was born from the 1870s gold rush, and later grew after a fire destroyed the nearby town of Bonanza. As mining dried up, the once-busy one-street town was abandoned, leaving behind rusted equipment and relics like a bullet-riddled poker table.

Thanks to its designation as a historic site in 1981, parts of Custer have been restored. Summer visitors can tour cabins, a schoolhouse, and the old saloon.

7

Cairo, Illinois

Image: Steffen Lemmerzahl

At the southern tip of Illinois, Cairo once thrived as a key port town during the steamboat era and later as a railroad hub. But as industry shifted and economic opportunities dwindled, the city entered a long period of decline.

Today, Cairo is eerily quiet. Its historic downtown is filled with crumbling buildings and boarded-up windows , and decay is spreading into nearby neighborhoods.

8

Knightridge Space Observatory, Indiana

Image: Daniel Gregoire

Hidden in the woods near Bloomington, Indiana, the Knightridge Space Observatory was built in the 1930s for early astronomers . Its wooden dome once held a four-ton telescope, but city growth and light pollution made it obsolete.

Abandoned since the 1960s, the building was left to decay, with its dome rusted shut, the floors unstable, and the telescope relocated. It has since been demolished due to safety concerns.

9

Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Kentucky

Image: Dan Meyers

Waverly Hills Sanatorium opened in the early 1900s to treat tuberculosis patients with rest, fresh air, and isolation . As the epidemic grew, the facility expanded to hold hundreds of patients, including children.

After closing in 1961, it became a nursing home but was shut down in 1982. Today, Waverly Hills is famous as a haunted attraction, drawing ghost hunters and tourists from around the world.

10

Jazzland, Louisiana

Image: Dmitry Lakhno

Jazzland was a theme park in New Orleans that opened in 2000. After major investments, it reopened in 2003 as Six Flags New Orleans. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the park was submerged, with murky floodwaters destroying roughly 80% of the property. Rides were wrecked, stands overturned, and only the Batman coaster survived on higher ground .

Deemed too costly to repair, the park was abandoned and now draws curious urban explorers.

11

St. Mary's College, Maryland

Image: Pavel Neznanov

Built in 1868, St. Mary’s College trained young men for the priesthood until declining enrollment forced its closure in 1972. The abandoned campus, soon nicknamed "Hell House," became a hotspot for ghost stories, local legends, and thrill-seekers.

12

Yellow Creek Nuclear Power Plant, Mississippi

Image: Lukáš Lehotský

Yellow Creek was one of 17 nuclear plants planned by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in the late 1970s, but construction was halted before completion. The cooling tower base and nearby processing building were left abandoned .

Originally intended to process nuclear fuel components, the site now stands as a vast, unfinished shell.

1

Skydiving accident survivor

Image: Eun-Kwang Bae

Jordan Hatmaker was not an expert, but she had done enough skydiving jumps to recognize when something was wrong. On November 14, 2021, she jumped from a height of 4,100 meters and deployed her parachute. But a series of unfortunate malfunctions led to the chutes opening at the very last moment—and in a disastrous way—causing her to crash land.

Although Jordan survived, she suffered a spinal injury, broke her shin, completely shattered her ankle, and was paralyzed from the waist down. The doctors couldn’t tell if she would ever walk again. Yet, just three months after the accident, she defied expectations and began walking. Since then, she’s even climbed Mount Everest base camp.

2

Survived being frozen for 6 hours

Image: Jared Erondu

Imagine being frozen solid for a full six hours. Almost anybody who has been in a similar situation, even for a much shorter time, has experienced serious consequences or even death. But not Jean Hilliard, who slipped in the ice in the harsh Minnesota winter, knocked herself unconscious and remained frozen for six hours until a friend discovered her.

After her friend took her to the hospital, doctors had trouble inserting an IV cannula because her arm was frozen solid. But, after thawing her with heat pads, Jean came back to life and her body returned to its normal state. Her extremities took a bit longer to come around; her toes, especially, were numb for some time. Remarkably, Jean recovered quickly and has experienced no lasting physical effects from that fateful December night frozen in the ice.

3

Survived a self-amputation

Image: Justin Luebke

If you have seen the film 127 Hours then you’ll recognize this story: Aron Ralston was hiking in a remote Utah canyon when a boulder fell, trapping his arm . With no one around to hear his cries for help and his water supply dwindling, Aron made the excruciating decision to sever his arm below the elbow using a dull multitool.

After freeing himself, Ralston rappelled down a 65-foot cliff and hiked several miles through the rugged terrain before being discovered by a search and rescue helicopter.

4

Military jet crash survivor

Image: Albert Stoynov

David Steeves, a U.S. Air Force lieutenant, was ordered to fly a Lockheed T-33A trainer jet from an Air Force base near San Francisco to Craig Air Force Base near Selma, Alabama, on May 9, 1957. Shortly after takeoff, Steeves and the jet disappeared without a trace, and he was declared dead after an extensive search yielded no results. After the incident, during the height of the Cold War, Steeves faced unfounded accusations of defecting and giving the trainer jet to the USSR.

However, Steeves appeared out of the Sierra Nevada the following July. He claimed that after an explosion in the jet, he had ejected and parachuted to safety. For two weeks, he survived without food until he discovered a ranger’s cabin in Kings Canyon National Park, where he found fishhooks, beans, and a canned ham to sustain himself.

5

Rode off a cliff in her vehicle

Image: Fabian Quintero

In a scene straight out of a movie, Angela Hernandez swerved to avoid hitting a small animal on the road and accidentally drove her SUV off a cliff. Her vehicle tumbled about 200 feet to a desolate, rocky beach.

Despite suffering a brain hemorrhage, fractured ribs, a broken collarbone, ruptured blood vessels in both eyes, and a collapsed lung, Hernandez managed to pull herself out of the sinking car. She walked for days until hikers stumbled across her wrecked Jeep and scoured the beach. Eventually, they found Hernandez crumpled up, sleeping on some rocks. After surviving seven harrowing days, she was finally rescued.

6

Three-year-old survives 2 days in the wilderness

Image: Jeremy McKnight

Three-year-old Ryker Webb was playing with his dog when he decided to take a walk on his own and wandered off. After his disappearance, a massive search was launched, and for two days the search team made no progress. Then, a family visiting their remote cabin in the middle of the wilderness heard the faint cries of a little boy coming from behind a shed.

Ryker was found tucked into a lawnmower bag. He was dressed in a light blue onesie that had been covered in dirt. After they called the police, the family was shocked to learn about the massive search that had been going on. The little boy survived two days in Montana wilderness, in near-freezing temperatures in an area, that according to locals, is heavily populated with bears and mountain lions.

7

Saved his family from a plane crash

Image: Gianluca Bei

Saving oneself from a plane crash is an extraordinary feat in itself. But saving an entire family as well is exponentially harder. On August 13, 2011, Donald Evans and his family were flying to their new home in Anvik, Alaska, aboard a Cessna plane when tragedy struck. The plane crashed into the mountains, killing the pilot and another passenger, and leaving Donald and his family— including his pregnant wife—badly injured .

Despite his own injuries, Donald managed to keep his family alive until the National Guard arrived by helicopter to rescue them. Amazingly, every member of the family survived, including their unborn daughter.

8

Quicksand survivor

Image: Sumner Mahaffey

Quicksand is a threat much more present in child stories than in real life but it does exist, as Ryan Osmun discovered in the worst possible way. While hiking in Utah’s Zion National Park he and his girlfriend tried to cross an innocent-looking pond that turned out to be quicksand.

After managing to save his girlfriend, Ryan sank into the sandy bottom to no avail. He had to wait for long hours until help arrived at the scene, just in time to save his life with a pulley system to yank him out of the ordeal.

9

Surviving the Desert

Image: Max Templeton

At 72 years old, Ann Rodgers spent nine days lost in the Arizona desert keeping herself alive thanks to skills acquired at a survival course and her own knowledge of nature. After getting lost on a distant dirt road and running out of gas, she left her car and started wandering the desert.

Had she stayed in her car, police would have found her 3 days later. Despite this misstep, Ann managed to survive. After 9 days, a helicopter found her thanks to a large "HELP" sign she had crafted out of rocks and took her to the hospital, where she made a full recovery.

10

Lost in the woods with poor eyesight

Image: Jeremy Bishop

Being lost in the woods is a bad thing as it is. But being lost in the woods with very bad eyesight and no glasses is much worse. This is exactly what happened to Marcus Mazzaferri at Yosemite National Park when he tried to traverse a river by foot, slipped on a rock, and was pulled by the rapids.

Marcus was able to reach a river bank and wandered through the woods, challenged by cold and darkness, without his much-needed glasses. He hiked using deer tracks, which he was barely able to see, as his only guide. Eventually, he was able to contact a plow crew near the river and was saved.