Each US State is usually known for something.
South Dakota has Mount Rushmore, Arizona has the Grand Canyon, and Florida has, well, Florida
Man.
Needless to say, over its more than two-hundred-year period, the United States has cultivated a
rich and sometimes bizarre history.
More often than not, the weird and bizarre things are quickly forgotten in the history
books, so we're here to go through every US State and provide the bizarre things about
them.
Of course, we only do lists of 25, so this will most certainly be a two-parter.
Ready travel coast to coast in search of weird facts?
I'm Mike with List25 and Here are 25 Bizarre Facts About Each US State, Part 1.
25.
Alabama - Heaviest Member of Congress Senator Dixon Hall Lewis was an Alabama Democrat
and the heaviest member of Congress in history, weighing 500 pounds.
He served eight consecutive terms before dying in 1848.
The Senate made a special seat for him and his carriage had heavy duty springs installed.
24.
Alaska - Freakishly Large Produce With unusually long summer days, Alaskan farmers
can grow some crazy big produce.
In recent years, they've been able to produce a 35-pound broccoli, a 65-pound cantaloupe,
and a 135-pound cabbage.
23.
Arizona - Mystery Castle There's a castle built in Arizona near Phoenix
by a man named John Gulley.
What's perplexing about this castle is that he built the entire thing by himself over
the span of 15 years.
Moreover, he abandoned his wife and daughter to do it, and no one knows why.
Later, after his death, his wife and daughter were contacted by his lawyer saying they now
owned the castle.
It was the first they had heard from him since his disappearance.
22.
Arkansas - Dead Blackbirds On the last day of 2010, 1,000 blackbirds
fell out of the sky, dead, in Beebe, Arkansas.
Authorities had their theories of why it happened, from high winds to stress-related trauma,
but couldn't figure out anything conclusive.
21.
California - Emperor of the United States In 1859, San Francisco was home to the first
Emperor of the United States, Joshua Norton I, or so he claimed in the bulletin newspaper.
The editors published it as a joke.
Still, he paraded around the city pretending to be the Emperor, and many began to play
along, giving him free meals at restaurants and listening to his comical proclamations.
He even made his own currency.
20.
Colorado - Blucifer Denver International Airport had a 32-foot
blue Mustang sculpture installed in 2008.
Officially, its name is Blue Mustang, but locals have another name for him - Blucifer.
Why?
Well, first off, it killed its sculptor, Luis Jiménez, after part of it fell off
and severed his artery.
With its glowing red eyes and fierce demeanor, many believe its demon-possessed, and some
conspiracy theorists have claimed it's on top of a hidden bunker for the New World Order.
19.
Connecticut - Brains in Jars Once belonging to pioneering neurosurgeonÂ
Harvey Cushing, 550 human brains inside of jars were passed on and given to Yale University.
A custom-built room in their medical library was made to house the brains.
18.
Delaware - Raining Money A Delaware man's dying wish was for $10,000
to be dropped over the town of Lewes, Delaware, from a helicopter, and a year after his death,
they made it happen.
The money was made up of denominations of $5, $10, $20, and $50 dollars.
It literally rained money that day.
17.
Florida - Dwarf Tossing Oh, Florida, we all know you're full of weird
and crazy things.
In this case, Rep. Ritch Workman tried to have a 1989 law banning dwarf tossing in bars
repealed, saying it "limited employment options for little people."
16.
Georgia - Possum Drop On New Year's Eve, roughly 4,000 Georgians
head out to Tallapoosa to play games, listen to music, eat food, and watch a taxidermied
possum named Spencer drop from a building as a countdown for the new year.
This possum drop tradition was started in 2000 and has since blown up to be a huge event.
Take that, New York!
15.
Hawaii - Kamehameha Day Though the United States was born out of rebelling
against the English monarch King George III, leaving a lasting culture against monarchies,
Hawaii is the only state in the Union to have a holiday celebrating a monarch, King Kamehameha.
14.
Idaho - Name Mystery No one really knows where the word "Idaho"
comes from.
Before it was a state, it was called "The Colorado Territory."
Politician George M. Willing put forth the name "Idaho" saying it was a Native American
word for "gem of the mountains."
He admitted later that he made the whole thing up.
Because of that, Congress initially shot the name down, but later it became so popular
with the locals they decided to officially name it Idaho in 1863.
13.
Illinois - Devil Baby In Chicago, Hull House has long been rumored
to be haunted, but things took a turn toward the bizarre in 1913 when word spread about
the Devil Baby living there.
Locals from far and wide grew fascinated with this story of a baby that spoke all sorts
of profanities and had cloven hooves for feet.
People came to Hull House in droves to see it.
Even The Atlantic sent out a reporter to write about it.
12.
Indiana - Kokomo Hum In Kokomo, Indiana, some residents have complained
about a strange noise that gives them headaches.
Reports began in 1999 and described it as a low, persistent grumble that would only
go away if you left town.
Others had more extreme symptoms like diarrhea and nosebleeds.
Of the 45,000 residents, only a handful of residents have been "hearers" to the hum,
and scientists say they aren't imagining it.
Something, indeed, is out there making the noise.
11.
Iowa - James T. Kirk In Riverside, Iowa, there's a monument that
reads, "Future Birthplace of James T. Kirk - March 22nd, 2228."
When local Trekkie Steve Miller read Making of Star Trek in 1968, it said Kirk would be
born in a small town in Iowa but didn't specify which one.
Like a boss, Miller proposed making Riverside the town at a council meeting.
His motion passed unanimously.
Since then, the town radically became Star Trek themed, and in 2009, it was recognized
as Kirk's birthplace in the Star Trek remake film starring Chris Pine.
10.
Kansas - The Honking Tree In this state, on highway K-96 between theÂ
Bentley and Maize Road exit right outside Wichita, stands a tall tree considered a monument
by locals.
If you honk at it, you'll be granted good luck, or so they say.
Locals love the tree so much that when it was threatened to be torn down in the 90's,
they banded together to save it and won the fight.
Oh, and it also has its own Facebook page with thousands of followers.
9.
Kentucky - Moonbow We all know about rainbows, but an even more
rare phenomenon is a moonbow.
During full moons on clear nights, you can see the moonbow at Cumberland Falls on the
Cumberland River near Corbin.
8.
Louisiana - Nic Cage Tomb A Louisiana burial ground, famous for being
home to psychic Marie Laveau, also has another bizarre tomb built by Nicholas Cage himself.
Built in the shape of a pyramid, this white tomb has the inscription, "Omni Ab Uno" which
is Latin for "Everything From One."
No one knows why Cage built the tomb other than assuming that's where he wants to be
buried when he dies.
7.
Maine - North Pond Hermit In the 80's, Christopher Knight drove away
from home into the wilderness and never looked back.
For 27 years, he lived a solitary life in the woods, surviving mostly by stealing things
from local cabins nearby.
He built an entire campsite and never once purchased anything or spoke to anyone during
that time.
After years of larceny, he was finally caught and arrested in 2013.
6.
Maryland - Ouija The first Ouija board was created in an apartment
building that now stands as a 7-Eleven.
Elijah Bond and Helen Peters created the board and even asked it what it wanted to be called.
Bond grew such a close relationship with the board, his tombstone was made into one.
5.
Massachusetts - Gloucester Greasy Pole In Gloucester, locals grease up a 200-foot
horizontal pole extending from a pier with all kinds of slippery things, like banana
peels, axle grease, and Tabasco sauce, among other things, all in honor of Saint Peter.
The pole is roughly 25-feet above the ocean and contestants try to walk across it to reach
an Italian flag at the end.
Anyone who can successfully do it essentially gets bragging rights.
This act of madness has been going on since 1927.
4.
Michigan - Devil's Night It was 1983 in Detroit and juvenile delinquency
was rampant on the eve of Halloween, causing 650 major fires in the area.
This led to naming the night before Halloween, "Devil's Night."
Things reached a fever pitch in 1984 when firefighters had to put out 810 fires, and
officials sounded the alarm to clamp down on the practice.
Since then, government officials created "Angel's Night" with concerned Detroit residents patrolling
neighborhoods together to stanch out the problem.
3.
Minnesota - Three-Year-Old Mayor In the small town of Dorset, Minnesota, twenty-two
residents casted their ballots and elected a three-year-old boy named James Tufts as
their mayor.
Tufts philosophy on leadership boiled down to "being nice and no poopy talk," which,
in light of recent leaders, is pretty good advice.
2.
Mississippi - The Phantom Barber It was 1942 and residents of Pascagoula not
only had to worry about their boys fighting in World War II but also a strange and eerie
figure stalking the streets known as The Phantom Barber.
As their population soared due to war material manufacturing, a mysterious figure broke into
people's homes and cut pieces of their hair as they slept, hence the name.
Few clues were left behind, and to this day no one knows its identity.
1.
Missouri - Great Flood of 1993 During the Great Flood of 1993, 24-year-old
James Scott purposefully removed several sandbags from a levee, causing 14,000 acres of flooding
and destroying many buildings in West Quincy.
Why did he do it?
He wanted to strand his wife on the Missouri side of the border so he could stay in Illinois
and party with his friends.
Scott was convicted and received the maximum penalty of life in prison.
So, what are some bizarre facts from your hometown?
Let us know in the comments below, or tweet your answer to us @List25.
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