Fun Facts That Are

Tama was a stray calico cat near Kishi Station in Japan when the railway was about to close. The company made her stationmaster in 2007, paying her salary in cat food. Over 8 years she was promoted 4 more times - ending as the company's third-highest executive. She drew 55,000 extra riders in her first year alone and saved the line. When she died in 2015, thousands attended her funeral.

Geena Davis picked up a bow at 41 after watching the 1996 Olympics. She had no background in competitive sports. She practiced up to six hours a day. Two years later, she made the semifinals of the U.S. Olympic trials for Sydney 2000. About 300 women competed for a team spot.

Simon the cat was smuggled onto the Royal Navy frigate HMS Amethyst as a stray kitten in 1948. In 1949, Chinese forces fired on the ship and Simon took four pieces of shrapnel. He kept hunting rats and visiting sick sailors through 100 days trapped on the Yangtze River. The Navy awarded him the Dickin Medal - the highest honor any animal can receive. He died before the ceremony.

Dashrath Manjhi carved a road through a rocky hill in Bihar, India, using only a hammer and chisel - alone - for 22 years. When he finished in 1982, the journey from his village to the nearest town dropped from 55 km to 15 km. He started because his wife, Falguni, died in 1959 after a fall on the ridge path left her unable to reach a doctor in time. The road is still used today.

Sergeant Reckless was a Mongolian mare bought for $250 by US Marines in 1952. During one day of battle in 1953, she made 51 solo trips hauling ammunition to the front lines, covering over 35 miles under fire. She was formally promoted to Staff Sergeant by the Commandant of the Marine Corps - with a 1,700-Marine parade in her honor.

When conservationist Lawrence Anthony died, two herds of wild elephants he had rescued walked 12 miles to his home. They stood there for two days. They had not visited in 18 months. Nobody called them. Nobody changed their feeding route. Nobody can explain how they knew. They came back on the anniversary of his death. Every year.

Gustave Eiffel built a secret apartment at the top of his tower - 906 feet above Paris - with a piano, sitting room, and three small desks for science. Paris's wealthy offered him fortunes to rent it for a single night. He refused every offer. On September 10, 1889, Thomas Edison climbed up and gifted him a phonograph. The apartment still exists, with wax figures of Eiffel, Edison, and his daughter Claire inside.

Kowloon Walled City crammed 33,000 people into just 6.4 acres - one city block. That made it the densest place in recorded human history. About 300 towers rose 14 storeys high, packed so close that sunlight never reached the alleys. Neither Britain nor China governed it, so residents built their own unlicensed economy. It was demolished in 1993-1994. The site is now a park.

The Statue of Liberty's torch has been closed since July 30, 1916 - and will never reopen. German saboteurs detonated roughly 2 million pounds of explosives at a New Jersey depot. The blast hit like an earthquake up to magnitude 5.5, lodging shrapnel in the copper skin and cracking the torch arm's iron frame. Only a handful of NPS staff have been up there since.

Sears sold up to 75,000 complete houses by mail-order between 1908 and 1940. You picked a model for $360 to $2,890, and a railroad boxcar arrived with 30,000 pre-cut pieces, 750 pounds of nails, 27 gallons of paint, and a 75-page manual. An estimated 70% are still standing, built by the company that later failed to adapt to e-commerce.

Paul McCartney was offered the entire Beatles song catalog for $40 million in the early 1980s and passed - telling his attorney it was too pricey. He had personally advised Michael Jackson about the value of music publishing rights just months earlier. Jackson bought the catalog for $47.5 million in 1985. It is now worth $1.2 billion.

Christ the Redeemer towers over Rio de Janeiro with its arms outstretched. Lightning strikes it 3 to 5 times every year. A 2014 storm blew the tip off the right thumb. The church keeps a stock of original soapstone to repair each strike.