A mason in 1700s Jerusalem left his wooden ladder behind after doing some work on a church, and now it can’t be moved without the agreement & permission of six different Christian leaders.
100 Mind-Blowing Wooden Facts
The world’s oldest wooden wheel has been around for more than 5,000 years. It was found in 2002, approximately 12 miles south of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and is now housed in the city’s museum. Radiocarbon dating was used to determine the wheel’s age, which is somewhere between 5,100 and 5,350 years old.
Ice pops were invented by an 11-year-old by accident. In 1905, an 11-year-old boy named Frank Epperson left soda powder and water outside overnight with its wooden stirrer still in the cup. The mixture had frozen in the chilly nighttime weather, and so the Epsicle was born. He sold the treat around his neighbourhood and a nearby amusement park and even patented the recipe. Years later, he changed the name to Popsicle because that’s what his kids called their pop’s concoction.
Ancient Egyptians slept on pillows made of stone. The Ancient Egyptians used wooden or stone headrests as pillows. They believed it helped with body vigour, blood circulation, and warding away demons.
70% of the world’s toys are made in China. Other countries like Japan only produce 19% of goods that are shipped internationally. Most manufactured toys are made from materials such as traditional plastics to wooden toys.
There’s an apartment inside the Eiffel Tower. When Gustave Eiffel designed the tower, he added a hidden apartment on the third level—but he never lived there, nor did anybody. Instead, Eiffel used this space to entertain guests such as Thomas Edison. Though it wasn’t big, the apartment was decorated with wallpaper, furnished with wooden cabinets, and even had a grand piano. Nowadays, you can get a peek at the unique space through a window if you ride up the tower.
Before alarm clocks, there were human alarms. Knocker-Uppers originated in Britain during the Industrial Revolution. When people needed to wake up and get to work, a knocker-upper’s job was to take a wooden stick and knock on the door to wake them up.
An 11-year-old accidentally invented ice pops. In 1905, young Frank Epperson left water and soda powder outside overnight with a wooden stirrer in the cup. When he discovered the mixture had frozen, the “Epsicle” was born.
In 1905, an 11-year-old boy invented ice pops. 11-year-old Frank Epperson left out a wooden stirrer in a cup of water and soda pop overnight. When he discovered it was frozen the next morning, he also discovered the very first ice pop.
The world’s first computer mouse was wooden, not plastic.
In September 2007, a guy named Kevin Shelley broke 46 wooden toilet seats with his head in one minute to create a world record.
The Halifax Gibbet. The Halifax Gibbet was a Yorkshire invention and was essentially a large axe attached to a wooden block, 200 years ahead of the guillotine’s adoption in Revolutionary France. The town of Halifax adopted it to punish even lowly crimes like petty theft, and it remained in use until the mid-17th century. It inspired another device – the maiden – first used in Scotland during Mary Queen of Scots‘ reign.
The oldest prosthetic. In 1997, an excavation near the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes revealed the oldest prosthesis ever discovered: an engraved wooden toe, fitted to the right foot of an Egyptian noblewoman who lived 3,000 years ago. The ‘Cairo toe’ was practical, modified over time to accommodate the woman’s gait. But it was also designed with aesthetics in mind, intended to be worn in open-toe sandals, not concealed.
There is an accident called London’s Beer Flood which occurred in London in 1814. What happened was that a 22-foot tall wooden vat of fermenting beer burst, killing 8 people and injuring several others.
In 1932, wooden bills were temporarily made and used in Tenino, Washington because there was a major cash shortage at the time and wood was readily available.