The story collection · 30 true stories
True stories that sound made up
Reality is often stranger than fiction. Explore extraordinary real events, make your prediction, and reveal what actually happened.
Choose a story. Read the setup, predict A, B or C, then discover the answer, the deeper context and the source.
- Animals & Nature
Beavers in the Wilderness
These beavers needed a way into hard-to-reach wilderness.Make your prediction - Human Absurdity
Lawn Chair Larry
In 1982, Californian truck driver Larry Walters attached 42 helium-filled weather balloons to an aluminium lawn chair.Make your prediction - Espionage & Deception
CIA Dead-Rat Drops
During the Cold War, the CIA experimented with hollowing out dead rats so agents could hide money, messages or film inside them.Make your prediction - Animals & Nature
Wombat Cubes
Wombats are famous for producing droppings with flat faces and distinct corners.Make your prediction - Bizarre History
Oregon’s Beached Whale
An eight-ton whale carcass needed a dramatic solution.Make your prediction - Crime, Scams & Capers
Pepsi’s Harrier Jet
A 1990s Pepsi advert jokingly offered customers a military Harrier jet for 7,000,000 Pepsi Points.Make your prediction - Survival & Endurance
Juliane Koepcke
She fell thousands of feet into the Amazon—and woke up alive.Make your prediction - Animals & Nature
Inky the Octopus
Staff at New Zealand's National Aquarium arrived to discover that an octopus named Inky had disappeared.Make your prediction - Animals & Nature
Clever Hans
In the early 1900s, a horse called Clever Hans appeared able to solve arithmetic.Make your prediction - Space & Aviation
Apollo 12’s Lightning Strikes
Just 36 seconds after Apollo 12 launched for the Moon, lightning struck the rocket.Make your prediction - Inventions & Discoveries
The Post-it Note
3M scientist Spencer Silver created an unusual adhesive.Make your prediction - Survival / Aviation
The Gimli Glider
In 1983, an Air Canada Boeing 767 ran completely out of fuel at 41,000 feet.Make your prediction - Espionage & Deception
Project AZORIAN
In the 1970s, billionaire Howard Hughes appeared to build an enormous ship for deep-sea mining.Make your prediction - Crime, Scams & Capers
The Eiffel Tower Offer
A conman offered the Eiffel Tower. One dealer believed him.Make your prediction - Sport / Human Feats
The 1904 Olympic Marathon
During the 1904 Olympic marathon, Thomas Hicks was exhausted, dehydrated and struggling to continue.Make your prediction - Inventions & Discoveries
Bubble Wrap’s First Job
In 1957, two inventors sealed sheets of plastic together and trapped pockets of air between them.Make your prediction - Engineering & Disasters
Lake Peigneur
In 1980, drilling was taking place on shallow Lake Peigneur in Louisiana.Make your prediction - Space / Engineering
Hubble’s Blurry Images
NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990.Make your prediction - Engineering & Disasters
The Leaning Tower of Pisa
By 1990, engineers feared the Leaning Tower of Pisa could eventually become unstable.Make your prediction - Science & Medicine
Pigeons and Paintings
Researchers trained pigeons using paintings by Monet and Picasso.Make your prediction - Bizarre History
Australia’s Emu Problem
Around 20,000 emus were wrecking farms. Help was requested.Make your prediction - Science & Medicine
Bumblebees and Wooden Balls
Researchers gave bumblebees a clear route to food.Make your prediction - Space / Survival
Apollo 13’s Filter Problem
After an oxygen-tank explosion crippled Apollo 13, the astronauts used their lunar module as a lifeboat.Make your prediction - Espionage & Deception
The Hollow Nickel
A dropped nickel split open. Something was hidden inside.Make your prediction - Survival & Endurance
Ada Blackjack
In 1921, Ada Blackjack joined four men on an expedition to remote Wrangel Island in the Arctic.Make your prediction - Engineering & Disasters
Hoover Dam’s Concrete
Hoover Dam contains an enormous mass of concrete.Make your prediction - Espionage & Deception
The Ghost Army
Near the end of the Second World War, a secret American unit of around 1,100 men needed German forces to believe that tens of thousands of Allied troops were gathering somewhere else.Make your prediction - Engineering & Disasters
Sydney Opera House’s Roof
Sydney Opera House's spectacular roof shells created an enormous engineering problem.Make your prediction - Sport / Human Feats
The Forgotten Olympic Events
For decades, the Olympic Games awarded real competitive medals in events that have completely vanished from today's programme.Make your prediction - Inventions & Discoveries
The Slinky’s First Job
During the Second World War, engineer Richard James was experimenting with springs.Make your prediction
120 fact-checked stories are available in Wildly True.
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