1,001 Facts That Will Scare the S#*t Out of You: The Ultimate Bathroom Reader (118 page)

FACT :
In December 1966, the leg and foot of a ninety-two-year-old man was discovered in his Pennsylvania home and the rest of the body burned to a pile of ashes.
Authorities could find no evidence of how the fire started
, and no other place in the home was burned.
There’s only one logical explanation:

God smote him. Maybe he was Amish and secretly had a TV.

“Spontaneous Human Combustion,”
HowStuffWorks.com
,
www.science.howstuffworks.com
.

899

FACT :
Danish anatomist Thomas Bartholin reported
the first spontaneous human combustion
in 1663, describing a Parisian woman who “went up in ashes and smoke” in her sleep. Her straw bed was not hurt by the fire.
She probably just set herself on fire.

Living in 1663 would’ve sucked.

“Spontaneous Human Combustion,”
HowStuffWorks.com
,
www.science.howstuffworks.com
.

900

FACT :
In 1951, a widow in St. Petersburg, Florida was
found dead in a chair encircled by soot
.

Her head was burned to the size of a teacup. Every other part of her body was charred to ash, save her backbone and a portion of her left foot.
Spontaneous combustion is one of the most burning mysteries of our time, an incendiary topic which often leads to heated debate and flying sparks on both sides of the issue. Thank you. I’m here all week.

“Spontaneous Human Combustion,”
HowStuffWorks.com
,
www.science.howstuffworks.com
.

CHAPTER 19
We’re
Toast
Bad News about
Our World and
Why We’re All
Headed the Way
of the Dodo

901

FACT :
Every year approximately
500 meteorites
strike the Earth.

The trick is knowing where.

John S. Lewis, Physics and Chemistry of the Solar System, 2nd ed. (Academic Press, 2004).

902

FACT : The moon is moving away from Earth
at a rate of 3.8 centimeters per year.
We have a guy up there measuring it. You should see his ruler.

Neil F. Comins, Discovering the Essential Universe, 4th ed. (Macmillan, 2008).

903

FACT :
In 1908, an explosion 1,000 times stronger than the bombing of Hiroshima occurred near the Tunguska River in Russia,
most likely caused by a meteor or comet fragment
that burst prior to hitting Earth. The blast leveled 80 million trees in a matter of seconds.
They call it the Tunguska Event. A company picnic, prom, a pay-per-view boxing match—those are events.

A comet flattening a gazillion acres sounds a little more eventful.

David Wallechinsky, The New Book of Lists: The Original Compendium of Curious Information (Canongate U.S., 2005), 397.

“The Tunguska Event–100 Years Later,”
Nasa.com
,
www.science.nasa.gov
.

904

FACT :
Many of the gases that make up Earth’s atmosphere are
slowly leaking into space
. Hot gases evaporate away, chemical reactions and particle collisions eject atoms and molecules, and asteroids and comets blast out chunks of atmosphere.
My dogs slowly leak gas, too. You don’t hear anything, but you know it’s there, trust me.

Kevin J. Zahnle, David C. Catling, and Alfred T. Kamajian, “Our Planet’s Leaky Atmosphere,” Scientific American, May 2009,
www.scientificamerican.com
.

905

FACT:
In the future,
the depletion of hydrogen will dry out our oceans
and all but shut down geologic cycles that stabilize our planet’s climate. Life might continue, but only in the polar regions.
The polar bears are ready. Eating seals gets old after a while.

Kevin J. Zahnle, David C. Catling, and Alfred T. Kamajian, “Our Planet’s Leaky Atmosphere,” Scientific American, May 2009,
www.scientificamerican.com
.