Lawrence Leinengen of Glenboro, Manitoba trained his pet colony of Camponotus herculeanus to weave this rattan hat—a feat that occupied 37 generations of the preternaturally talented ants.

Did you know walrus whiskers make the finest shaving brushes? Neither did the three completely unrelated men who received these as gifts. The only other thing they had in common was an exceptionally rare and unfortunately fatal allergy to walrus whiskers.

Inspired by experiments in human-dolphin communication during the 1970s, and believing sharks to be just as intelligent, if not moreso, Maurice Easton of Yachats, Oregon embarked on an 11-minute-and-34-second-long investigation into shark-human communication that ended exactly as you might expect.

13 lanterns were made for the 13 signal towers along Jackie “Blackjack” Biggs’ moonshine smuggling trail in the valleys of Caldwell County, NC. The Prohis nabbed 12 of them, but Jackie got away with the last one. A century later, you can still get a little sip of his Brass Lantern Mash if you know who to ask.

Legend tells of the pleasure garden of Queen Nazanin-Zahra, which contained every flower in the known world. The punishment for anyone other than the queen looking on it was to have one’s eyes put out. One of the queen’s blinded, banished handmaidens was able to recreate from memory a small glimpse of it in this tapestry.

If you’ve already gazed into the eyes of this infernal portrait of the Dread Dutchess, we’re afraid it’s too late for you. Kindly warn the patrons at the next table.

Maxwell Lichten lost an unfortunate bet regarding the greater of a pound of feathers—measured in avoirdupois ounces—and a pound of gold—measured in troy ounces. He took small comfort resting his head that night on a pillow full of the finest feathers a pound of gold could buy.

Prince Ashra Ahil once met a girl of such beauty and grace, he commissioned 100 statues to be created and placed in each town in his kingdom in her honor. He was promised to the daughter of another kingdom, however, and to avoid insult, his father had them all destroyed. All save one, which the prince managed to hide aboard a ship sailing to a faraway land.

The last thing the Fremont Flashes Roller Derby Sisterhood did before the end of their last summer in town was to strap on these skates and race down all 1298 feet of the wooden flume that used to bring logs down from the old Harley lumbermill. Two days after the girls left, a hundred-year storm carried a flood down that same flume and wiped out what was left of downtown.

She walked with purpose and confidence, and it was an impressive rack of antlers, but Judith Massoquat's play to establish dominance over the small herd of deer that had taken up residence in her backyard ultimately failed, as all the rhinestones frankly made it difficult for the deer to take her seriously.