Coconuts, the National Hobo Convention, and a cat.

March 11, 2014 9:35 PM

(USAFilter) Beatlemania was ignited in the U.S. by a teenage Marylander. And some other facts about your home state.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering (46 comments total)

*thinks about the one million strange things located inside The Garden State that this could be before clicking*

oh it's the Napoleon Penis guy.
posted by The Whelk at 9:39 PM on March 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

also, RE: Maine 40k for one acre is pretty pricey, I'm pretty sure they'll just give you chunks of north Waldo country for like, an interesting looking parrot.

why is Rob Ford depicted in the ad for the alien brothel?
posted by The Whelk at 9:48 PM on March 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

I expected poor old WV to get the shaft once again, but I had forgotten about Mothman. Mothman is pretty cool.
posted by rifflesby at 10:02 PM on March 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

I thought Lewis the terrorizing cat from Connecticut looked a lot like Lux, so I wanted to find out more. The link for 'Lewis' leads to 'frozen dead guy' though.
posted by unliteral at 10:17 PM on March 11, 2014

Ooh! Marsha Albert was not the first. Link to broken cited article.
posted by unliteral at 10:42 PM on March 11, 2014

Metropolis is actually located in Delaware, rather than New York City

What's this? I thought Metropolis was Chicago. It's on a large lake! Sufjan Stevens wrote a great song about Superman on his album Illinois!

Is this just a lie that Midwesterners tell themselves? I honestly thought the issue was settled.
posted by foobaz at 10:42 PM on March 11, 2014

Yessss, the Winooski dome! Previously on MeFi.
posted by en forme de poire at 10:53 PM on March 11, 2014

We have to give Chicago Metropolis otherwise they'll never stop whining.

But I think in like, DC continuity they're all huge east coast cities? But like Newark? Star City is supposed to be Seattle right?

See this is why I liked Marvel, everyone just lived in the metro NYC area and we worked with it. I can get around that. Don't go inventing fictional island cities in Maryland
posted by The Whelk at 10:54 PM on March 11, 2014

There's a place called Phantom Town? Holy shit, there's a place called Phantom Town.
posted by brundlefly at 11:18 PM on March 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

I lived not far from SHADES OF DEATH ROAD

#actualNewJersey
posted by The Whelk at 11:19 PM on March 11, 2014

They measured "perfect flatness" on a scale of 1 with the IHOP pancake testing as 0.957 and Kansas scoring a 0.997.

Well that's disappointing. Soon to be published peer reviewed-science estimates six states are flatter than Kansas. And it's been suggested that pretty much all 50 states are flatter than a pancake as the original paper defined, so the original study says more about pancakes than any particular state. Moreover, every Kansan knows this 'science of flattness' study already and tires of the confirmation bias. So I challenge every bit of 'weirdest thing you never knew about your home state.'

Besides, Kansas it isn't the terrain that makes the place boring, its the fact that pretty much nothing grows there naturally that makes it boring.
posted by pwnguin at 11:39 PM on March 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

Metropolis is actually located in Delaware, rather than New York City

What's this? I thought Metropolis was Chicago. It's on a large lake! Sufjan Stevens wrote a great song about Superman yt on his album Illinois!

As a former Delawarean I am bummed that this is the One Weird Fact about my home state. Aside from spawning weird crossovers between Superman and Fight Club in my brain.

Don't they know that R. Crumb is (sort of) from Delaware?
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 11:57 PM on March 11, 2014

Don't go inventing fictional island cities in Maryland

Also please don't tell me you just called Delaware "Maryland."
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 11:58 PM on March 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

The White Horse Tavern is the best you can do for RI? No Mercy Brown? Buddy Cianci? Burning the Gaspee? Declaring independence 2 months early? Joining the Union last, after months of hilarious parlimentarian shenanigans? Oh, HuffPo, how little you tried to show how odd Little Rhody is!

I always assumed Metropolis was the nicer parts of NYC while Gotham was the part people could afford to live in.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:47 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

...the original study says more about pancakes than any particular state.

Yeah, the expression 'flat as a pancake' only makes sense if you're talking about your actual proper pancakes, which are very flat indeed.

If the accompanying photo is anything to go by, these scientists measured the flatness of some sort of enormous, craggy drop scone - no wonder Kansas came out flatter!

Based on no evidence whatsoever, I bet the mismatch between the phrase and the foodstuff is due to American pancakes being Scottish in origin, not English (cf. fried chicken).
posted by jack_mo at 4:32 AM on March 12, 2014

Well at least now we know how many holes it takes to fill Marsha Albert's... Oh forget it.

Some of these I had heard about (mostly throught the 'Weird {state or location} books) but there were some that make me wish I didn't have so much work to do today because I can see the rabbit hole forming in front of me.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 5:48 AM on March 12, 2014

I'm also disappointed with the Delaware fact. There is no city in Delaware large enough to be Metropolis. And there are plenty of other weird facts about Delaware they could have used. We were the last state to abolish the whipping post!
posted by interplanetjanet at 6:08 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

That is nowhere near the weirdest thing about Connecticut. Actually, and ironically, the weirdest thing about Connecticut is that it has statistic proof of having the single most normal person in the country live there - here's the story.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:10 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

What exactly is "satanic" about Mothman? I have it on good authority he's a Unitarian.
posted by Foosnark at 6:14 AM on March 12, 2014 [3 favorites]

I knew a few of these, including the two states I have the most ties to, Georgia and Texas. Some of them were good, but others were not nearly the weirdest thing or not especially unique to that state (Minnesota in particular) or not very obscure (they did make a big movie about Mothman, for example). But I was most disappointed in the choice for Illinois; they picked the fact that a fast food joint in Matoon has the same not very original name as a national chain, and totally missed out on Matoon's Mad Gasser!
posted by TedW at 6:22 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]

The Texas one was a little silly; I think it's pretty common knowledge that the Legislature never reads any of the legislation on principle.

Another weird RI fact: E.A. Poe once got drunk here! Well, several times. And I suppose that could be pretty much claimed by any Eastern coastal state from VA to MA, but, still....
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:32 AM on March 12, 2014

What exactly is "satanic" about Mothman? I have it on good authority he's a Unitarian.

Some of my Appalachian relatives would insist that Unitarians are probably satanists.
posted by thivaia at 6:32 AM on March 12, 2014

I always assumed Metropolis was the nicer parts of NYC while Gotham was the part people could afford to live in.

Traditionally Metropolis is NYC in the daytime; Gotham City is NYC at night.

The Wyoming town built around a disused airport (with runways repurposed as main streets) was interesting. And I liked very much that unlike almost every other similar site, it actually gave some links to support the stuff it was claiming.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:52 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

At first, I was smug. When I was a kid here in NJ, grade 4 or 5 was the year we learned all about our wonderful state. So I assumed that this Buzzfeed fact would have to do with Coats and Clark thread or Jenny Jump or something similarly obscure to the rest of the country, but old hat to me.

I certainly didn't expect Napoleon's penis.



(TWSS)
posted by kimberussell at 7:05 AM on March 12, 2014

I certainly didn't expect Napoleon's penis.

NOBODY expects Napoleon's penis! Its chief weapon is surprise....
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:07 AM on March 12, 2014 [8 favorites]

Damn it, EmpressCallipygos! I was dithering out of shame at formulating that joke, and I gave in to temptation only to find myself scooped. So shame and scooping! It's like a rollercoaster of pure emotion!
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:09 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

Kentucky also maintains is also the world's leading producer of bourbon, producing 95 percent of its supply.

I was confused about this since I thought that bourbon was name protected, but apparently one can produce bourbon anywhere in the US. The more you know!
posted by invitapriore at 7:16 AM on March 12, 2014

oh New Mexico, you had a awesome opportunity there and TOTALLY BLEW IT
posted by xbonesgt at 7:16 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]

There's a place called Phantom Town? Holy shit, there's a place called Phantom Town

Actually, it's Phantom Ranch, and I guess there's sort of a town down there, but everyone there just calls it Phantom Ranch. The postcards I sent from the little post office down there arrived before postcards I've sent from major cities in the same country as the recipient, so the mules are more efficient than you might think. Phantom Ranch itself is quite a place. Here you are at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and there's air conditioning, ice cream, and flush toilets. You can even get a steak if you're willing to shell out $40 for it.

What exactly is "satanic" about Mothman? I have it on good authority he's a Unitarian.

Well, his two primary interests seem to be harassing teenagers having sex in cars and knocking down bridges, which is relatively out of character for the Unitarians I know, but I probably shouldn't stereotype. He did skulk around an abandoned munitions plant, and if he were in the midst of an abstract protest about its removal, that would definitely fit in with my Unitarian stereotypes.
posted by Copronymus at 7:56 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

Paramore is a fake band?
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 8:12 AM on March 12, 2014

I knew about the dome. And I have heard that the facts about lobster (which I had heard were about Maine) is overstated. As always I wish there was an actual list of sources cites.

I bet I could send a coconut from my post office.....
posted by jessamyn at 8:16 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

Weirdest thing about Nebraska? I couldn't even pick the weirdest thing about Omaha. After all, this is a city where:

-- The former city hospital was once a brothel, donated on her death by a notorious madame.
-- A series of locally made commercials for bread featured a fictional trucker named C.W. McCall, which helped ignite the trucker craze of the 70s and eventually led to the film Convoy; C.W. McCall himself, despite never existing, managed to get at least 12 songs onto the country charts.
-- We once had our own baseball farm team, the Dodgers. They were an actual minor league version of the Dodgers, and were, in fact, formerly the Saint Paul Saints.
-- There is a human scalp in our downtown library. It belonged to Englishman William Thompson who had been attacked by Cheyenne. He survived and traveled with his scalp for a while, showing it off in bars, but eventually sent it to an Omaha doctor who tried, unsuccessfully, to sew it back on.
-- Peter Fonda once put a fake bomb and called in a bomb threat to the local Greyhound station when he went to college here.

Jesus, I could go on forever like this.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 8:34 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

Nebraska is responsible for C.W. McCall's "Convoy"? I'm glad I know what state to blame for what was possibly my most poorly received karaoke selection ever.
posted by invitapriore at 8:39 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

jessamyn, you have a lovely bunch of coconuts? Do you stand them all in a row?

The Florida brain in the bog one was interesting. I was figuring on a Flagler thing or the Miami Circle.
posted by tilde at 8:46 AM on March 12, 2014

The public library in Dover, Delaware used to have the skull of Patty Cannon, notorious murderer, slave trader, and kidnapper. But they found it embarrassing and sent it to the Smithsonian.
posted by interplanetjanet at 9:21 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

HA! Empress C, I was trying to come up with a better CT weird fact, and that one is beautiful. The man lives in my town, too.
posted by dlugoczaj at 10:20 AM on March 12, 2014

The man lives in my town, too.

Same town where I was also born, incidentally.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:39 AM on March 12, 2014

The Unclaimed Baggage Store is kind of cool, but it’s weirdly in the middle of nowhere.
posted by bongo_x at 11:21 AM on March 12, 2014

Another weird RI fact: E.A. Poe once got drunk here! Well, several times. And I suppose that could be pretty much claimed by any Eastern coastal state from VA to MA, but, still....

Once, years ago, before the interstate highways were built, we were driving up the east coast and chanced to stay at an old colonial-era inn. I don't remember the name of the place now, but it was quite famous because there, in a small lodging room on the second floor, sat the only bed within several hundred miles that they're pretty sure George Washington never slept in.
 
posted by Herodios at 11:33 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]

I was trying to come up with a better CT weird fact




What about all that hamburger all over the highway in Mystic?
 
posted by Herodios at 11:35 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

You can mail a coconut from places that aren't Hawaii. I successfully sent one from Nashville, after hearing about it somewhere on the internets. You'll get weird looks at the post office but as long as the postage and the address are properly affixed and legible, you'll be good to go. They don't even have to be green coconuts.

Perhaps Hawaii's claim, then, can be that it has the only Royal Palace of any American states?
posted by nicodine at 12:21 PM on March 12, 2014

Besides, Kansas it isn't the terrain that makes the place boring, its the fact that pretty much nothing grows there naturally that makes it boring.

Wait, I thought Boring was in Oregon?
posted by Mooseli at 2:33 PM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I'd heard the lobster thing as being about Maine as well, but I think the important thing missing in this story is that it was not because were so many lobsters, but that lobsters were considered a mark of poverty, and people only ate them if forced. (I am that way as well: not being interested in eating any arthropod)
posted by MtDewd at 3:04 PM on March 12, 2014

Also lobster meat is *still* really hard to ship or preserve so in the past they just packed in salt which was ...less tasty.

Like there's no point in ordering lobster outside of a lobster catching region cause it's not going to be any good cause it has to be caught, killed, and eaten really quickly ( and of course you want soft shells which is even less transportable.)
posted by The Whelk at 3:30 PM on March 12, 2014

Actually, it's Phantom Ranch, and I guess there's sort of a town down there, but everyone there just calls it Phantom Ranch. . . . Phantom Ranch itself is quite a place.

Absolutely agreed, however the mules are also walking shit factories. The trail from Phantom Ranch to the south rim of the Grand Canyon is a greenish brown, as opposed to the red surrounding the place. The reason why is mule dung. With boots on it was fine. When I had sandals on after I had exited onto the south rim and walked back down to look at something, it was gross.

The mules have a legitimate purpose, but it is easy to get grumpy with them when sharing a trail.
posted by Hactar at 10:58 AM on March 13, 2014

Everybody poops.
posted by bongo_x at 11:53 AM on March 13, 2014