Page 126 - History Facts

President John Tyler still has two living grandchildren. Tyler was born in 1790!

We may be on to the 21st century, but John Tyler, a president born in the 18th century still has two grandchildren alive. These grandchildren are named Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Jr. and Harrison Ruffin Tyler. 

Lyon was born in 1924 and Harrison was born in 1928. They are both the children of Lyon Gardiner Tyler. 

And if you’re saying to yourself, ‘so what?' consider that Abraham Lincoln, born in 1809, has no living descendants. John Tyler had many children. He had eight children with his first wife Leticia Christian Tyler: 5 daughters and 3 sons. Unfortunately, one of the daughters, Anne Tyler, died as an infant. 

With his second wife, Julia Gardiner Tyler, John Tyler had 7 children. One of those 7 children was Lyon Gardiner Tyler. Unfortunately for John Tyler, though he was successful in fathering many children, he was less successful as a president. 

Overall, historians consider Tyler a poor president. Still, Tyler’s name can still be found, especially in Virginia, where he was from. Several colleges, cities and roads carry his name. And, of course, Tyler lives on in his two living grandchildren. 

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A Nazi used tickle torture during the Holocaust!

A man named Heinz Heger was being kept in the Flossenberg concentration camp when he witnessed a very strange form of torture. One of the other men was being tickled with goose feathers. The man was naked and his feet, armpits, legs, and other parts of his body were tickled. 

The man initially bore the torture in silence, but he eventually began laughing, which then turned into sobbing. Heger would later describe the strange incident in his book The Men with the Pink Triangle. 

Surprisingly, tickle torture, though still uncommon, is not limited to this one example. In Europe, for example, a common torture was dipping a victims feet in salt water and having a goat lick the salt water off. When the salt water was completely licked off the process would be repeated. 

The victims' feet were constantly tickled by the goat’s tongue as a form of torture. Japan also has records of a torture called kusuguri-zeme, which is basically “merciless tickling.” 

Tickling has also been noted as a contributing form of abuse in victims being abused by their siblings. It’s amazing to realize that something that is used for fun can also be used for torture. Do you hate being tickled? 

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The Church of Scientology orchestrated the largest infiltration of the U.S. government!

Operation Snow White was a huge infiltration by the Church of Scientology of the U.S. government, foreign embassies, and private organizations. The goal of the operation was to eliminate all negative records of the Church of Scientology, and of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. 

The Church of Scientology teaches that people are eternal, spiritual beings that have since forgotten who they used to be. The church is fairly controversial with many refusing to accept it as an actual religion, rather considering it either a cult or a commercial organization. It is especially controversial due to instances of “harassment and abuse of civil courts.” 

Records of such instances were part of what the Church of Scientology sought to eliminate. Participants in the illegal infiltration tapped wires and stole documents from the government. 

Some of the higher ups in the Church of Scientology organization were charged with “obstructing justice, burglary of government offices, and theft of documents and government property” in the case United States v. Hubbard. Eleven higher ups pleaded guilty or were convicted and sentenced. 

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10,000 people constructed a 380 mile road in just one hour!

In 1909, Iowa experienced heavy rainfall, that combined with an increase in automobile use, created the need for a new road. Officials, as well as the community supported the creation of a new road. 

Governor Carroll was especially instrumental in convincing people along the proposed path of the road to support its construction. The result of this support raising was the creation of the River to River Road (RRR). The idea was to create a road that was 380 miles long, and, like the name says, that stretches from river to river. 

Up to the summer of 1910, preparations were made. This included preparing machinery and materials and gathering around 10,000 men to work on the road. 

They made repairs to all the bridges, so that when they began work, they’d be ready to finish it quickly. All the men, coordinated together began work in early summer. 

They began at 9 a.m. on a Saturday. The exact date is unknown, probably in May or June, but what is known is that the road was completed by 10 a.m. that very day. Street signs went up later that day! 

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During the 1909 World Fair in Seattle, a baby was given away in a raffle!

There were many things on display at the world fair in Seattle including the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exhibition in 1909. On the Pay Streak boardwalk there were numerous human exhibits. 

They actually brought down a group of Eskimos for fairgoers to observe. They also brought 50 Igorot people from the Philippines and made grass huts for them. They basically set up a little village for the Igorot people while fairgoers came to gawk at them. Fairgoers paid an extra 50 cents to see each human exhibit. 

Even more astonishing was one of the raffle prizes. One day during the fair, they had a number of raffle prizes. There was a one month old orphan named Ernest that was a raffle prize. He was “property of the Washington Children’s Home and Society,” according to the Seattle newspaper at the time. 

No one knows what happened to little Ernest after the fair. Incubators were new at the time and they were showcasing them at the fair, too. Instead of being simple and just showcasing the incubators, they had premature babies inside of them for fairgoers to get the full effect of what they could do. 

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