The List Show

Every country has their obscure fact. / kolderal / Getty

In this episode of The List Show, we cover one fact about EVERY country in the United Nations—with Part 1 going up to the letter G.

Sailors in the early days of exploration may have believed that manatees were mermaids.

Unicorns, mermaids, vampires, and leprechauns are some of the most widely known mythical creatures, but where did these legendary beings come from?

One Florida town experienced a golf ball rain.

From beer floods to meat showers, history is full of peculiar—and putrid—disasters.

An exploding corpse, a 45-minute car chase, and a horse-related mishap that led to a century-long royal tradition. In this episode of The List Show, host Justin Dodd covers funerals gone wrong.

How many of these colors did you know about?

A vast vocabulary of words have been invented, borrowed, and accumulated over the centuries to describe almost every color and shade imaginable.

The great white is one of more than 500 shark species.

Whether you’re a ‘Jaws’ fanatic or just want to live every week like it’s Shark Week, you'll want to read up on these fascinating facts about sharks.

Movies have created some pretty pervasive myths and misconceptions.

In this episode of The List Show, Mental Floss editor-in-chief Erin McCarthy traces some of the most common myths we've gotten from movies.

The United States is host to a number of wild and weird urban legends.

From classics like the vanishing hitchhiker to creepy cryptids, ghostly vehicles, deadly curses, and some stuff you’ve probably seen on Facebook.

From acrophobia (the fear of heights) to zuigerphobia (the fear of vacuum cleaners), there are plenty of things to be scared of—rationally or otherwise.

In this episode of The List Show, episode, we're breaking out some favorite old-timey insults that people should definitely start using again.

You'll never look at time the same way again.

From prehistoric animals that lived much closer to us temporally than you might realize to the guillotine lasting way beyond the French Revolution, these facts are to mess with your perception of time.

Whether an entire town can’t stop dancing or people suddenly start worrying about minor marks on their windshields, these seemingly unbelievable events have had some surprising (and sometimes devastating) effects.

From a record-breaking mountain climber to a British adventurer who may have died searching for a city that doesn’t exist and beyond, these explorers have fates that are shrouded in mystery.

The toys on this list include "what were they thinking?" oddities—like a children's laboratory kit that included uranium—but also some seemingly innocuous recreational offerings.

These companies were accused (and sometimes convicted) of engaging in alleged pyramid schemes and other scams.

These facts will have you making this face.

We can’t promise you’ll ever feel the same way about pasta, pools, or your own face.

A small sampling of our 50+ regional dish selections

You probably know about Chicago's deep dish pizza and New York City's famous bagels, but what's the signature regional dish in Alabama? Or Idaho?

DEET might not exist without military research.

From bug spray to Epipens, you might be surprised to learn just how many items taking up shelf space in your home were originally developed for the front lines.

Researchers thought the site of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster was unable to support life. But a bunch of wolves, deer, wild boars, bears, and foxes disagreed.

Know how to respond the next time someone tells you the bogus origins of the phrase 'bring home the bacon.'

The stories behind these phrase origins are amazing. Too bad they’re not true—and too bad they’re often repeated as fact. Here’s the real scoop behind the expressions.

Most of this advice is hopelessly outdated.

From the dangers of being a “sexual vampire” to the best ways to charm your in-laws, here’s what relationship advice looked like in the past.

Megafauna like woolly mammoths dominated during the ice age.

From what causes ice ages and how many we’ve had, to the species that thrived and the ones that died, here’s what you need to know.

Which offbeat attraction do you want to visit?

Let’s take a roadtrip through the country, with stops at a self-flushing latrine, a collection of human brains, and much more.

There’s no better way to wrap up 2022 than by sharing a whopping 100 things we learned this year, from interesting AI developments to unintentional art heists—and, of course, the results of the 2022 Kids’ Mullet Championships.

1 Fact About Every Country in the United Nations: Part 1

The Origins of 13 Mythical Creatures

8 Weird Disasters from History

9 Funerals Gone Wrong

39 Colors You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

31 Fascinating Facts About Sharks

13 Lies Movies Taught Us

The Spookiest Urban Legend in All 50 States

41 Fascinating Phobias, Explained

16 Old-Timey Insults For Modern Conversations

17 Facts That Will Warp Your Sense of Time

7 of History’s Strangest Mass Hysteria Events

10 Explorers Who Vanished Without a Trace

7 Dangerous and Deadly Toys From History

7 Alleged Pyramid Schemes and Scams

15 Facts You’ll Wish You Had Never Learned

One Beloved Dish From Each U.S. State

9 Inventions That Came From the Military

11 Facts About the Animals of Chernobyl

12 Widely Repeated Phrase Origins, Debunked

20 Questionable Pieces of Old-Timey Relationship Advice

20 Cool Facts About the Ice Age

The Coolest Offbeat Attraction in All 50 States (and Washington, D.C.)

100 Things We Learned in 2022