15 Crazy And Ridiculous Facts That Sound Completely Fake But Are Actually True

6. There’s a 250-year-old Great Banyan tree in India that is bigger than an average Wal-Mart.

This gigantic banyan tree is located in Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden in Howrah, near Kolkata, India. The botanical garden consists of numerous exotic plants collected from five continents, but the 250-year-old tree is what grabs most people’s attention. It’s not the age of the tree but the size that puts the visitors in awe. The tree survived two cyclones, however, its main trunk was so damaged that it had to be cut off in 1925. It still survives today without the main trunk but as a clonal colony. Today, the giant spans an astonishing 3.5 square acres of land, which is 156,000 square feet. An average Wal-Mart in the United States is roughly 105,000 square feet. That’s crazy!

7. Abraham Lincoln was a skilled wrestler.

Born on February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was not only the 16th President of the United States but also an accomplished wrestler. He was a dignified leader who helped free slaves and guide America through the Civil War. Before he entered the world of politics, he was a fighter of a different kind. He was 6 feet, 4 inches tall and had long limbs, which indeed helped him become a skilled wrestler. His long limbs allowed him to grab his opponent and lock them in a knot. He had extraordinary strength that made it very difficult for his opponents. Overall, he fought in around 300 matches and only lost once. During one of the matches, he beat his opponent with a single toss and went on to challenge the crowd that was gathered to watch the fight. He shouted to the crowd:

“I’m the big buck of this lick. If any of you want to try it, come on and whet your horns.”

No one from the crowd dared to enter the ring and face him. His extreme strength and skill earned him an “Outstanding American” honor in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Honest Abe was also known to talk smack in the ring.

8. A con artist named Victor Lustig sold the Eiffel Tower, nearly twice.

We are all familiar with scam artists who pull crazy stunts on us to steal money or information. Victor Lustig would probably be considered one of the smoothest con men in history. In fact, Michael Jackson may have probably seen some form of inspiration from him to write the song, “Smooth Criminal”. One of the most impressive stunts that he managed to pull off was convincing scrap metal dealers to place bids on the Eiffel Tower. The bulb inside his head started burning after reading an article about the high maintenance repair costs to tackle rusting issues on the tower.

Lustig approached one of the biggest scrap metal dealers in the city. He cooked up a story that he was a government director who was assigned to discreetly sell the rusted metals. To further convince him, Lustig rented limousines and gave tours. The dealer was so convinced that he paid $20,000 in cash and an additional $50,000 to bribe Lustig in order to get the bid to the deal. Once Lustig received the money, he fled the city to Austria, before the public was aware of the successful scam. To his luck, the dealer was too embarrassed to report the story to authorities. Thinking that he could get away with the crazy stunt again, Lustig returned to Paris and approached several other dealers. After some of them refused, Lustig decided to slip away again, since he feared that one of them might inform the authorities. He then fled to the United States, where he was eventually apprehended.

9. The world’s youngest mother was a 5-year-old named Lina Medina.

Born in 1933, in Ticrapo, Peru, Lina Medina became the youngest mother in history after giving birth at the age of five. The circumstances surrounding her pregnancy are still unknown. It all began when her parents started noticing her stomach growing. Initially thinking that it was an abdominal tumor, they took her to a doctor, who confirmed that she was pregnant. Her father was soon arrested on suspicion but had to be released due to the lack of evidence. Her son lived to the age of 40, until a bone marrow disease took his life. Lina is still alive today but refuses to talk to anyone about her story.

If you are interested in reading the complete story about Lina Medina, click here.

10. The grandsons of the 10th president of the United States are still alive.

It sounds totally impossible, doesn’t it? The 10th president’s amazing trivia was first reported by the website Mental Floss. It is interesting to hear such stories, especially of someone who was born in 1790 and has living grandchildren in the 21st century. John Tyler took office in 1841 and had 15 children of his own. One of them, who was born in 1853, became a father to Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Jr. in 1924 and Harrison Ruffin Tyler in 1928. The New York magazine was able to conduct a live interview with Harrison in early 2012. When the interviewer asked Harrison to explain how this happened, he responded:

Well, he was a good man! [laughs] Both my grandfather — the president — and my father, were married twice. And they had children by their first wives. And their first wives died, and they married again and had more children. And my father was 75 when I was born, his father was 63 when he was born. John Tyler had fifteen children — eight by his first wife, seven by his second wife — so it does get very confusing. I really do not know — it’s amazing how families drift apart. When I was a child, I did know most of the descendents, but as you get more generations down the line, it’s hard to keep track of everybody.

The story was also confirmed by Snopes to be true.