Oddlets from United States.

What kind of inventor dies with $275.05, an unmarked grave, and no verified photograph β but a machine the world still uses 150 years later?

What kind of person collects boats but can't swim, collects cars but can't drive, and flies six continents while terrified of planes β and what cartoon character did he accidentally become?

What happens when a woman who holds thirty-six patents and hates cleaning drags a garden hose into her kitchen?

What happens when a blind composer in a Viking helmet stands on the same Manhattan corner for thirty years and becomes more famous silent than playing?

What kind of woman eats cold oatmeal for lunch, sleeps with a revolver tied to her hand, and gets a personal visit from J.P. Morgan asking for financial advice?

A grizzly attack left him with a silver-dollar-sized hole in his skull β and that bear ended up on the California state flag.

The FBI sent the fastest plane ever built to find him, and it was defeated by clouds.

She was in a taxi crash at seventy-five and discovered she could now sing a higher F than ever before. She did not sue. She sent cigars.

He shipped coal to Newcastle during a miners' strike and sold every piece at a premium.

He never let anyone watch him work.

Every child who has ever ridden the Haunted Mansion passed through her grief and never knew.

He built a small closet, filled it with the vomit of the dying, and sat inside breathing deeply β all to prove yellow fever wasn't contagious.