1,001 Facts That Will Scare the S#*t Out of You: The Ultimate Bathroom Reader (112 page)

847

FACT :
According to Sharia (Islamic) law,
a girl should marry soon after puberty
to ensure that she is a virgin at her wedding; girls as young as nine or ten can be married off.
Their weddings are hideous, though; girls that age have absolutely no sense of style.

George Monger, Marriage Customs of the World: From Henna to Honeymoons (ABC-CLIO, 2004).

848

FACT :
Hindu Laws of Manu state that a man should ideally be
three times older
than his wife; by this standard, the wife of a twenty-four-year-old man should be eight years old.
No bride should have to plan her wedding around Brownie meetings.

George Monger, Marriage Customs of the World: From Henna to Honeymoons (ABC-CLIO, 2004).

849

FACT :
In Samoa, it was once custom for a virgin bride’s hymen
to be broken publicly
by the village chief.
Sometimes the chief was her dad. Awkward.

George Monger, Marriage Customs of the World: From Henna to Honeymoons (ABC-CLIO, 2004).

850

FACT :
Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia are working to build a golf course in the Emerald Triangle, an area where the three countries’ borders meet, with nine holes in each country. The only problem:
the region is covered with minefields
left over from the Vietnam War and other regional conflicts.
“What’s your handicap?” “Both legs below the knee and a hand.”

Brent W. Ritchie and Daryl Adair, Sport Tourism: Interrelationships, Impacts and Issues (Channel View Publications, 2004).

CHAPTER 18
Do You
Believe?

Facts and Claims
about Aliens, Ghosts,
the Olsen Twins,
and Other Realms
of the Unexplained

851

FACT :
U.S. citizens are not legally permitted
to come into contact with extraterrestrials
or their vehicles, according to Title 14, section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations, implemented in 1969.
Does that include sex? What if you weren’t aware of the law at the time?

Mary Bennett and David Percy, Dark Moon: Apollo and the Whistle-Blowers (Adventures Unlimited Press, 2001).

852

FACT :
In July 1947, the U.S. Army Air Forces announced that
they had recovered a flying saucer
that crashed near Roswell Air Army Field in New Mexico. Within hours, however, the Army dismissed the statement, claiming the flying saucer was a misidentified weather balloon.

Thomas J. Carey, Donald R. Schmitt, Witness to Roswell: Unmasking the 60-Year Cover-Up (Career Press, 2007), 27–29.

853

FACT :
Since 1947, the U.S. government has
changed its explanation of the Roswell crash four times
. It remains one of the most a controversial, highly publicized UFO incidents in history.
At least among the sixty-seven people who actually believe that shit.

Thomas J. Carey, Donald R. Schmitt, Witness to Roswell: Unmasking the 60-Year Cover-Up (Career Press, 2007), 27–29.

854

FACT :
Pine Bush, New York is known as the UFO capital of the East Coast, as many residents believe that
extraterrestrials have been frequenting their town for the last decade
. A support group was founded there in 1993 for locals who believe they’ve had encounters with these aliens.
”Hi, my name’s Leo and I’m an alien shagger.” (Group): “Hi, Leo.”

Chris Gethard, Mark Moran, and Mark Sceurman, Weird New York: Your Travel Guide to New York’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets (Sterling Publishing Company, 2005).

855

FACT :
Ten percent of Americans claim
they have seen a ghost
.
They probably just saw one of the Olsen twins or Joan Rivers.

John E. Mack and others, Unusual Personal Experiences: An Analysis of the Data from Three National Surveys Conducted by the Roper Organization (Bigelow Holding Corp., 1992).