1

The Battle of Los Angeles (1942)

On the night of February 24th, 1942, a few months after the Pearl Harbor attack, sentinels identified what they thought was an aircraft near Culver City, which prompted them to fire over 1,440 anti-aircraft shells into the sky.

The enemy was never identified, and no bombs were dropped, although the chaos caused by the shooting resulted in five civilian casualties. The event was later reported as a false alarm, but to this day no one knows what caused the uproar , though some theories suggest it was a weather balloon, a tray bird, or a weather phenomenon.

2

The Great Molasses Flood (1919)

We’ve heard about disasters caused by heavy rains, overflowing rivers, and mudslides, but how often are they caused by syrup? For Bostonians, it was at least once, on January 15, 1919. A 50-foot-tall and 90-foot-wide steel tank owned by the United States Industrial Alcohol Company burst , releasing 2.3 million gallons of molasses into the streets.

A wave of molasses from 25 to 40 feet high swept through Boston's North End, toppling buildings and infrastructure , taking the lives of 21 people and several animals, and injuring at least 150 people. The cleaning efforts took weeks to remove the residue from the street, and a lawsuit against the company resulted in reforms in engineering, building codes, and safety certification.

3

The sliced bread ban (1943)

Pre-sliced bread is one of the comforts of modern life we take for granted now, but there was a time when it was banned as part of the war effort. On January 18, 1943, the American government decided to ban the sale of sliced bread to reduce the use of steel (used for slicing machines) and wax paper (used for wrapping the bread).

The measure was not only unpopular but also ineffective, as it didn’t make a real difference in wax paper and steel savings . The seemingly easy task of slicing bread by hand caused an uproar across the country, and bread sales dropped, forcing the government to lift the ban only two months after.

4

The Ohio "Toledo War" (1835)

Border disputes among states are not uncommon in American history, usually settled in court and unlikely to result in a military standoff. But sometimes they do, as in 1835, when Ohio and Michigan (then still a territory) quarreled over the Toledo Strip, a 468-square-mile piece of land with critical access to Lake Erie . Official boundary demarcations were vague, so control over the area was asserted by constructing roads and collecting taxes in the case of Michigan, and by involving Congress and creating demarcation lines in the case of Ohio.

National intervention proved necessary when both governors mobilized their militias, and President Jackson mediated in the dispute. The Toledo Strip was given to Ohio, but in turn, Michigan was granted statehood , and the Upper Peninsula was added to its territory. While the conflict was luckily bloodless, it’s at the root of the historic rivalry between Michigan and Ohio.

5

The Salem tomato trials (1820)

Although Salem, Massachusetts, is famous for its witch trials, this particular case takes us to Salem, New Jersey. In 1820, tomatoes had already been popularized worldwide, but some people still had reservations because they were rumored to be poisonous . Robert Gibbon Johnson, a wealthy local farmer, decided to dispel the stigma and sponsored competitions for the largest tomato grown, which sparked an uproar and drew in the local courts.

According to the story, Johnson arrived at court with a basket full of tomatoes and proceeded to eat them all in front of the crowd. As he didn’t die or become violently ill, it was proven that tomatoes were safe for consumption.

6

The Battle of Athens (1946)

The Greek city of Athens claims to be the birthplace of democracy, but Athens, Tennessee, has also done its part to ensure the safeguarding of democratic values. In the 1940s, McMinn County in Tennessee was part of a criminal network involving politicians and law enforcement, who randomly detained citizens under false charges to collect fines. The system was dependent on rigged elections, so when armed deputies locked themselves with the ballot boxes in the county jail during the August 1, 1946 elections, the people of Athens and Etowah took matters into their hands.

Around 200 veterans, recently returned from WWII, raided the National Guard Armory for guns and ammunition, and laid siege to the jail. After a gunfight that lasted through the night, they breached the entry using dynamite and secured the ballot boxes , which were then counted in public, resulting in a landslide victory for the opposition. All the firearms were then cleaned and quickly returned to the armory, and no criminal charges were raised against the veterans on account of their righteous intentions.

7

The pig war (1859)

The U.S. and the U.K. have gone to war more than once, but only one time was a pig the cause of the conflict. In 1859, the San Juan Islands (now part of Washington state) were a disputed territory between America and the U.K. as a result of vague wording in the 1846 Oregon Treaty. The diplomatic dispute quickly turned into real conflict when an American farmer in one of the islands shot a pig that regularly dug into his garden.

As it turned out, the pig belonged to an employee of the British Hudson's Bay Company. Although the farmer offered to pay for the animal , its owner demanded higher compensation, and British authorities threatened to arrest the farmer . This caused the American settlers to petition for military protection, and both countries mobilized troops into the area. The conflict was resolved through international mediation 12 years later in favor of the United States, with the pig as the only casualty.

8

The child mailing system (1913)

The railroad and the establishment of a national postal system did wonders for communication in America, but sometimes it led to controversial and potentially dangerous situations, such as the child mailing system. In 1913, the U.S. Post Office Department launched a parcel post service for packages up to 11 pounds. The content of the parcels was not clearly delimited, and people started using it to send for small children , as it was cheaper than paying for a train ticket.

Children as small as 8-month-olds were mailed (although unwrapped) with postage stamps attached to their clothes and under the care of railroad workers. The system was short-lived, as the Postmaster General banned the mailing of children as soon as he learned about it, claiming they didn’t count as "harmless live animals".

9

Project Acoustic Kitty (1960s)

At the height of the Cold War, espionage had turned into an art form, with agencies on both sides of the conflict resorting to all kinds of methods to gather sensitive information, including the development of technological gadgets and the recruitment of non-human agents . "Project Acoustic Kitty" was one of the CIA’s attempts, aiming to infiltrate the Kremlin and the Soviet embassies with the help of surgically modified cats.

The cats underwent surgery to implant a microphone into their ear canal and a transmitter into their body, allowing them to record and transmit sound from their surroundings. The cats would then be released near the target location, hoping to pick up conversations between Soviet diplomats and office workers. According to some sources, the first mission ended abruptly when the cat in question was struck by a taxi, but CIA former officials claim that the project never prospered due to the difficulty in training the cats.

10

The Year Without a Summer (1816)

In 1816, North America (as well as part of Europe) experienced freezing cold temperatures during Spring and Summer, all thanks to an Indonesian volcano. In April 1815, the Indonesian Mount Tambora experienced a massive volcanic explosion, releasing millions of tons of ash, dust, and sulfur dioxide across the world , which created a shield in the stratosphere, blocking sunlight.

In America, the event manifested as a fog that was not dispersed by rain or wind, and the lack of sunlight resulted in frost and snow during late Spring and early Summer, especially across New England. While the low temperatures themselves were not as taxing on the population, they were detrimental to the crops and livestock, creating food shortages and causing thousands of families to relocate to different regions of the country to escape famine and poverty.

1

Arizona skips Daylight Saving Time

Image: Christoph von Gellhorn

This is partly true because most of the state doesn’t bother with Daylight Saving Time . They stopped changing the clocks back in 1967. The exception is the Navajo Nation, which stretches into Utah and New Mexico and keeps DST so all its communities stay on the same schedule. Now, as for the smaller Hopi reservation, inside the Navajo Nation, it sticks with Arizona time… Yes, quite confusing if you’re not a local.

2

Georgia isn’t really the Peach State

Image: Jessica Furtney

Georgia loves its peaches, sure, but the state’s top fruit money-maker is actually blueberries . In recent years, blueberries have brought in several times more cash for farmers than peaches. Meanwhile, California grows far more peaches than Georgia ever has. The nickname stuck from the old days when Georgia peaches were famous for their flavor, not their volume. So while the pride is real, the peaches aren’t quite the powerhouse people may think.

3

Nevada didn’t record the hottest US temperature

Image: tommao wang

You probably think of Nevada’s desert heat as unmatched, but the all-time record belongs to California’s Death Valley . In July 1913, it hit a mind-melting 134 degrees Fahrenheit, the hottest temperature not only in America but the hottest ever recorded on Earth!

4

Minnesota doesn’t have the most lakes

Image: Tom Conway

Minnesota proudly calls itself the "Land of 10,000 Lakes," but that’s selling itself short… The real number is closer to 12,000. However, Alaska wins this battle . The state has more than 3 million lakes over five acres in size. In fact, Alaska contains over 40 percent of the nation’s surface water. If you love fishing, kayaking, or just staring at a quiet stretch of water, the true lake capital of America is far up north.

5

Pineapples aren’t native to Hawaii

Image: Christian Joudrey

Pineapples are everywhere in Hawaiian imagery, but the plant actually comes from South America , mainly Paraguay and southern Brazil. Spanish explorers likely brought them to Hawaii in the 1500s after spreading them across the Pacific to places like the Philippines and Guam. Hawaii’s climate turned out to be perfect for growing them and by the 1900s, the islands were producing so many pineapples that the fruit became a symbol of Hawaii itself.

6

Maine isn’t the country’s easternmost point

Image: Chris Henry

If you’re a Geography geek, you’ll love this one. You might picture Maine’s rocky coast as the eastern tip of America, but the actual easternmost point is thousands of miles away, on Alaska’s Semisopochnoi Island in the Aleutians. How is that possible? Well, that’s because it crosses the 180th meridian, putting it in the Eastern Hemisphere. That means part of Alaska technically sits farther east than anywhere in Maine.

7

The biggest US earthquake didn’t happen in California

Image: Lala Miklós

California has suffered some big earthquakes in its history, but the most powerful earthquake in America struck Alaska in 1964 . It hit Prince William Sound with a magnitude of 9.2. It was so strong it shook the ground for four and a half minutes and triggered massive tsunamis. In today’s dollars, the damage would total more than $2 billion. Alaska sits on a collision zone of tectonic plates, making it one of the world’s most seismically active regions.

8

The Everglades isn’t America’s biggest swamp

Image: Joshua J. Cotten

A lot of people picture the Florida Everglades when they think of swamps, but technically, the Everglades isn’t a swamp at all. The real title of the largest swamp in the United States goes to Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin , which spans about 1.4 million acres. This swamp has a vast mix of cypress forests, bayous, and marshes, and it’s more than twice as productive as the Everglades when it comes to wildlife and plant life.

9

Big cities aren’t always capitals

Image: Mackenzie Cruz

It surprises people how often the biggest city isn’t the state capital . New York City? Not the capital… Albany is. Chicago? Nope, that honor goes to Springfield. Pennsylvania’s capital isn’t Philly or Pittsburgh, it’s Harrisburg. Even California’s capital isn’t L.A. or San Francisco, it’s actually Sacramento. Out of fifty states, only seventeen have their most populous city as the capital.

10

Alaska isn’t divided into counties

Image: Rod Long

Alaska likes to do things its own way. Instead of counties, it’s split into boroughs , and a massive area known as the Unorganized Borough has no local government at all. People out there don’t pay property taxes, but that freedom comes with challenges, limited services, fewer job options, and tough living conditions.

1

A renovation project saved thousands of lives on 9/11

On September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., killing 189 people. Few people know this part: the death toll could have been much higher. But there was a renovation project underway at the time of the attacks.

The Pentagon’s five-sided structure is divided into five "wedges," and workers had been renovating them one at a time. Flight 77 struck the wedge that had just been completed. Of the 4,500 people who normally worked in that section, only about 800 had moved back in. Without the reinforced construction and the incomplete occupancy, experts believe the casualties would have been catastrophically higher.

2

The Cold War and the hot dog stand

In the middle of the Pentagon’s five-acre center courtyard once stood a modest hot dog stand. According to a Cold War legend (one still retold by official Pentagon tour guides on every public tour), between the 60s and the 80s, Soviet satellite images tracked large groups of high-ranking military officials converging on that small building at the same time every day.

Soviet intelligence reportedly concluded the structure must be the entrance to some underground bunker in America. In reality, all it did was sell lunch. In 2006, the original stand was torn down, and a sandwich shop was built in its place.

3

Its construction began on September 11th, exactly 60 years before the attack

Builders broke ground on the Pentagon on September 11, 1941. That was exactly 60 years to the day before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that would strike the same building.

Construction had been ordered by Army Brigadier General Brehon Somervell, who wanted a permanent headquarters for the Defense Department to replace its then-17 scattered offices across Washington, D.C.

The project was extraordinarily ambitious: plans called for the world’s largest office building to be completed in just 16 months. In the end, the conception, design, and construction of the entire Pentagon building took a total of 15 months.

4

The same person oversaw its construction and the Manhattan Project

Colonel Leslie Groves of the Army Corps of Engineers took charge of Pentagon construction in August 1941. He worked six days a week and drove his team relentlessly, at one point employing more than 15,000 workers around the clock.

When the Pentagon was finished in January 1943, Groves was assigned to lead the Manhattan Project, America’s secret program to build the atomic bomb . His deputy, Captain Robert Furman, followed him into the Manhattan Project as chief of foreign intelligence. Together, the men who built the world’s largest office building went on to produce the weapon that ended World War II.

5

Why is it shaped like that?

The Pentagon’s iconic five-sided shape was the consequence of a geographic accident. The original site selected for the building, near Arlington Cemetery, **happened to be bordered on five sides by roads. **Architects designed the structure to fit those boundaries, producing a pentagonal floor plan. Then President Franklin D. Roosevelt intervened: worried the massive building would obstruct the view of Washington, D.C. from Arlington, he ordered the site moved to its current location along the Potomac River. But the five-sided design had already been drawn up, and nobody changed it.

6

It was the first desegregated building in Virginia

When the Pentagon was designed in 1941, segregation was the law in Virginia. Original plans called for doubled bathroom facilities: separate ones for Black and white employees, as required by Virginia statute. But President Roosevelt had signed Executive Order 8802 in June 1941, prohibiting racial discrimination in federal employment and government contracting.

As a federal building, the Pentagon was exempt from Virginia law. It became the only building in the state where segregation was not enforced. A fully desegregated federal workplace that opened in 1943. The doubled bathrooms were built anyway, as the plans were too far along to revise, but were never used as separately designated spaces.

7

Its construction was surprisingly frugal and incredibly fast

Ground broke on September 11, 1941, and construction finished on January 15, 1943, just 16 months later. More than 15,000 workers were on site around the clock. Wartime office shortages were so severe that employees moved into completed wings before the rest of the building was finished. Steel was too scarce to use extensively, so builders relied almost entirely on reinforced concrete. The 689,000 tons of sand and gravel required came directly from the nearby Potomac River, cutting transportation costs. The project was budgeted at $35 million, but the final bill was $63 million, which would translate to over $900 million in today’s dollars.

8

You can walk between its farthest points in only 7 minutes

The Pentagon is the world’s largest low-rise office building: 6.5 million square feet of space, which is three times the total floor area of the Empire State Building. Each of its five outer walls is 921 feet long. It has 7,754 windows and 17.5 miles of corridors. Approximately 26,000 military and civilian employees report for work there every day.

Despite that scale, the building’s concentric ring design is so efficient that it takes only about seven minutes to walk between its two farthest points.

9

The man who secretly lived inside its walls

During construction, Colonel Groves drove his deputy, Captain Robert Furman, so relentlessly that Furman rarely left the building. To cope, Furman had contractors build him a small, windowless apartment hidden inside the walls of the Army’s Ordnance Division. In this private room, he could sleep and shower without leaving the premises.

When construction ended and personnel dispersed, knowledge of the hidden room was never passed on to building management. Months later, when Furman returned to Washington on Manhattan Project intelligence business, he found the apartment undiscovered and exactly as he’d left it.

For over a year, he would slip back to the Pentagon, pop open a wall panel, spend the night, and emerge in the morning with his suitcase. He was finally caught in 1943 and forced to surrender the keys. It was never disclosed whether the secret apartment was maintained or eventually absorbed back into the official floor plans.

10

It houses over 30 restaurants, including everyone's favorite chains

The Pentagon feeds roughly 26,000 people a day, and its dining options read less like a military headquarters and more like a mall food court. The main Concourse Food Court, which opened in September 2009 and seats 875 people, is the largest of several dining areas.

Confirmed chains currently inside the building include McDonald’s, Five Guys, Subway, Popeyes, Starbucks (multiple locations), Dunkin’ (two locations), Panera Bread, Taco Bell, Panda Express, Baskin-Robbins, Potbelly, Jamba Juice, and Moe’s Southwest Grill, among others. The building also houses a CVS pharmacy, a florist, a jeweler, and a dry cleaner. In the summer of 2024, Potbelly became the first restaurant to open in the center courtyard. Yes, the very spot where the legendary Cold War hot dog stand once stood.