24. Another Sinking
But that’s not all! After four years, again, she survived the sinking of the Titanic’s sister ship, the Britannic.
After several years off, she returned to work aboard ocean liners and worked on the seas until her retirement in 1950.
Can you even imagine that? It’s like having your breakfast poisoned, and then celebrating your survival with a nice big lunch buffet.
Talk about brave.
22. Clothes of the Creator
Professor Marvel is a charlatan, no doubt about it. The con artist was seedy. He took advantage of Dorothy in
The Wizard of Oz for his own gain and his tattered clothes communicated his dirty nature. However, unknown to the
costume designers at MGM, the clothes they had selected for the character originally belonged the
L. Frank Baum himself. Don’t know who Baum is? Oh, well he’s just the guy that wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
21. Waking Ancient Forces
Genghis Khan is known for his violent rampages throughout the Eurasian continent, and his direct descendant Tamerlane was no different.
On June 20, 1941, archaeologists from the Soviet Union uncovered his tomb,
which had a message waiting for them inscribed in it when they opened it:
“Whoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I.”
Two days later, the Nazis launched their invasion of the USSR with Operation Barbarossa.
20. Collapse Coincidence
The founding of Rome was based on the figure of Romulus, who established Roman traditions as their first king.
The first emperor of the Roman Empire was Augustus. When the Roman Empire collapsed, t
he emperor that watched it burn was Romulus Augustus. Yeah, maybe they should have avoided that combination of names.
19. Little Rulers
129 years after Napoleon Bonaparte was born, Adolph Hitler was born. Does that number seem arbitrary? Well,
129 years after Napoleon came to power, so did Hitler. Want more? How about 129 years after Napoleon attempted to invade Russian Territory,
Hitler tried to do the same thing. Had enough? We’re not done. 129 years after Napoleon finally fell from power and was defeated, so was Hitler.
18. Survivor Name
Williams is one of the most common names in the English language, and the name Hugh used to be rather common as well.
In 1660 and 1767, a ship sank in the Dover Straits, and each time the lone survivor was a man named Hugh Williams.
In 1820, the only survivor of a ship capsizing on the river Thames was a man named Hugh Williams.
And in 1940, a German mine sunk a ship, that saw only two men survive, a man and his nephew.
Surely they didn’t both have the same name, right? Wrong, they were both Hugh Williams.
