Elmer J. McCurdy (1880-1911) was an American bank and train robber who was killed in a shoot-out with police after robbing a Katy Train in Oklahoma in October 1911. His unclaimed mummified corpse was then put on display at an Oklahoma funeral home and then sold by the undertaker to a traveling carnival and exhibited as a sideshow curiosity during the 1920s through the 1960s. After changing ownership several times, McCurdy's remains eventually wound up at The Pike amusement zone in Long Beach, California where they were discovered by the production crew of the television show The Six Million Dollar Man on December 8, 1976. During the filming of an episode at The Pike, a prop man moved what was thought to be a wax mannequin that was hanging from a gallows. When the mannequin's arm broke off, a human bone and muscle tissue were visible and police were called. The mummified corpse was taken to the Los Angeles coroner's office, identified and confirmed that the body was Elmer McCurdy. In April 1977, Elmer McCurdy's body was buried 66 years after his death at the Summit View Cemetery in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

One of the deadliest battles ever fought in Canada and one of the bloodiest battles of the Anglo-American War of 1812 took place on July 25, 1814 at Lundy's Lane in Niagara Falls, Ontario. A total of 7500 Americans and Canadians fought for six hours. At the end, 1,500 casualties including 258 killed.

The largest highway system in the world is National Highway System (NHS) in the United States. National Highway System, including the Interstate Highway System (which is also known as the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways) and other roads serving major airports, ports, rail or truck terminals, railway stations, pipeline terminals and other strategic transport facilities is a network of strategic highways within the United States. According to urban legend, the Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight and flat. These straight and flat sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies. There is no evidence of this rule being included in any Interstate legislation.

Bessie Coleman, known as "Queen Bess, Daredevil Aviator," was the first African-American woman aviator. She received her pilot's certificate in 1921 in France and learned stunt-flying there. Bessie died in a flying accident in 1926 before she was able to achieve her goal of opening her own flight school. She was honored in 1995 by the U.S. Postal Service with a Black Heritage commemorative stamp.

The oldest city in North America is St. Augustine, Florida, United States. The city was established by the Spanish settlers in 1565.

The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.

The microwave was invented after a researcher Dr. Percy Spencer walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sports games (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day after the Major League all-stars Game.

The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.

The oldest genetically intact human skeleton ever found in the Americas is the skeleton of a teenage girl named by the dive team 'Naia' (after a water nymph from Greek mythology). The remains were found surrounded by a variety of extinct animals more than 40 meters (130 feet) below sea level in Hoyo Negro, a deep pit within the Sac Actun cave system on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. DNA was extracted from the skeleton's wisdom tooth and dated. The skeleton was found to be 13,000 years old, and analyses found it belonged to an Asian-derived lineage that occurs only in America (haplogroup D, subhaplogroup D1).

More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.

The expression "to get fired" comes from Item 6 of the Laws of Mendip Miners: "If any man... do pick or steale any lead or ore to the value of xiiid (=13 pence), the Lord or his Officer may arrest all his lead and Oare House or hearthes with his Grooves and Workes and keep them in forfeit... and shall take the person that hath soe affeended and bring him where his house or worke and all his tooles and instruments are... and put him into his house or worke and set fire in all together about him and banish him..." Fired indeed!
Alternative: Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them would burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired."

On May 9, 1960, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approves the world’s first commercially produced birth-control pill, granting greater reproductive freedom to American women.

Indigenous peoples of the United States are the Pre-Columbian peoples of North, Central and South America and their descendants. They are commonly known as Native Americans or American Indians and Alaska Natives. There are 573 American Indian Tribes* in US, and they all have different cultures, customs, languages and way of life. There is no single Native American language.
*In July 2018 the United States' Federal Register issued an official list of 573 tribes that are Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs.

At any given moment, there are 1,800 thunderstorms happening somewhere on Earth. This amounts to 16 million storms each year! We know the cloud conditions that produce lightning, but we cannot forecast the location or time of a lightning strike.