Vote up the pop culture facts that blow your mind.
Most people know basic pop culture facts, like which movies have been hits, or what TV shows will be the subject of watercooler chatter. But what about the deep cuts, the truly weird facts about pop culture that most people don’t know? This list has them covered.
These surprising historical facts may not stretch back centuries, but they unearth fascinating stories about popular franchises, artists, and shows. What’s the unforeseen origin story of one of the most quintessentially 1980s fashion trends? What was up with Frank Sinatra’s superstition surrounding dimes? And what on earth does Pokémon have to do with the Vatican?
Like unexpected historical facts, these and other under-the-radar nuggets from pop culture history show there’s always something new to discover - even about some of the most recognizable names and titles in our world.
After His Son Was Kidnapped, Frank Sinatra Always Kept 10 Dimes In His Pocket
Whispers and rumors have long circulated that crooner Frank Sinatra maintained links to the Mafia throughout his life, though he always denied those allegations. Despite rumors of his criminal connections, Sinatra was, on at least one occasion, the victim of a crime.
On December 8, 1963, his 19-year-old son Frank Jr. was kidnapped. Taking after his famous father, Frank Jr. was hoping to build a career as a singer. He was getting ready to perform in Lake Tahoe when a group of kidnappers entered his dressing room and abducted him. They then demanded a $240,000 ransom.
The senior Sinatra alerted the FBI and paid the ransom. The kidnappers released his son. Days later, however, the FBI tracked down and arrested the three men involved in the abduction scheme.
The trauma of this event seemed to have impacted Sinatra Sr. in a unique way the rest of his life. Because he communicated with the kidnappers from pay phones, he allegedly always kept 10 dimes in his pocket, so he'd be ready to make an emergency phone call whenever necessary. (He passed in 1998, when public pay phones were still a thing.)
A Stuntman Was Nearly Stabbed In The Heart On The Set Of 'Dexter'
In Dexter, a popular Showtime drama that ran from 2006 to 2013, a forensic technician is a serial killer who hunts down murderers. Unsurprisingly, the show featured a lot of fake blood.
A stunt that went wrong during filming nearly spilled real blood, too.
Stuntman Jeff Chase was playing a soon-to-be-murder victim on the show in 2008. Jimmy Smits, one of the stars that season, was supposed to pick up a prop knife and “stab” Chase in the heart. However, when they were rehearsing the scene, Smits mistakenly picked up a real knife, not the prop.
For the scene, I was bound in Saran Wrap, duct tape over my mouth. I couldn't say a thing as I saw Jimmy grab at the knife. He picked up the real one by pure mistake. It was a mean looking knife.
I heard fellow actor Michael C. Hall yelling at Jimmy to stop - but it was too late. I felt the thud in my chest. I didn't have on a metal breast plate like a lot of actors do in a scene like that.
Instead I had a piece of acrylic clear plastic about the size of a Post-It note over my heart. It was a quarter of an inch thick and not attached. In eight out of 10 takes with a prop knife, Jimmy had missed the plastic. But by a miracle, an act of God, the knife landed at the very edge of the plastic.
Had Smits missed, Chase may not have lived to tell the tale.
Fans Of The New England Patriots Credit Michael Jackson's Family With Saving The Team
The New England Patriots very nearly became the St. Louis Patriots - and many fans credit the Jackson 5 with preventing that from happening, albeit in an incredibly roundabout way.
The team's original owners were the Sullivan family. By the 1980s, the family was strapped for cash and hoped to make some money by promoting the Jackson 5 reunion tour in 1984. Unfortunately, the tour was a disaster, costing the Sullivans tens of millions of dollars. They slipped into bankruptcy, which forced them to sell their assets related to the Patriots.
Businessman Robert Kraft, a longtime Patriots fan, snapped up the team's stadium. Part of that deal included the lease that guaranteed the Patriots would play at his stadium until at least 2001.
After changing hands, the team itself came into the possession of another businessman, James Orthwein, in 1992. He wanted to move the Patriots to St. Louis, but Kraft's lease made that impossible. Instead, Orthwein ultimately sold the controlling shares of the team to Kraft, who saw to it that the Patriots remained in New England. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The Camera Wasn't On The First Time The Bridge In 'The Good, The Bad And The Ugly' Exploded
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) has long been heralded as a masterpiece “spaghetti Western” - a western made by the Italian movie industry - that follows a group of three unlikely gunslingers on the hunt to find gold. In one of its most dramatic moments, two of the men blow up a bridge, thinking the act will bring them closer to finding the gold.
The explosion almost didn't make it on screen. Just before director Sergio Leone could call, “Action!” another crew member beat him to the punch - and the person in charge of detonating the explosives hit the switch before the cameras were recording.
The goof-up proved incredibly costly, as the entire bridge had to be rebuilt and refitted with new explosives. The ballooning production costs from the bridge kerfuffle cut into the film's box office gross.
Led Zeppelin Turned Down Woodstock To Avoid Being Typecast
Woodstock, a music festival in upstate New York in 1969, has become synonymous with 1960s and '70s music. After all, some of the era's signature artists performed there, including Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Joan Baez, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.
But one popular group wasn't at Woodstock, because they turned down the chance. Led Zeppelin was offered a spot at the festival, but manager Peter Grant didn't want the band to share a billing with others. Instead, he arranged to have them perform in Asbury Park, NJ.
Led Zeppelin wasn't the only act that opted against performing at Woodstock. The Byrds, Joni Mitchell, and The Doors all declined as well.
The Sweatshirt Jennifer Beals Wore In 'Flashdance' Was Created By Accident
Flashdance - which follows a young woman's attempts to become a professional dancer - was a hugely popular hit in the early 1980s. It was so influential, in fact, that it even shaped women's fashion. Remember those oversized, off-the-shoulder sweatshirts that appear in nearly every mid- to late-'80s movie or TV show? It all started in Flashdance when Jennifer Beals wore one.
It was based on a fashion accident. I had my favorite sweatshirt in high school, and I put it in the dryer for too long and at really high heat. So the neck part shrunk, and I couldn't get my head through it, so I just cut out the hole. And I wore it to a wardrobe fitting for Flashdance, and Adrian Lyne, the director, really loved it, and Michael Kaplan, the costume designer, loved it, so he made a much better version of it for the film.
