50 More Facts About the 50 States - mental_floss on YouTube (Ep.44)

Hi, I'm John Green. Welcome to my salon. This is Mental Floss on YouTube. Once upon a time, we did a video with 50 facts about 50 states and people liked it

And it turns out that there are more facts about those same 50 states, so let's do it again

Last time we went alphabetically, but I'm going to mix it up and go in order of the state's admission into the U.S

Because that's what the state quarter system did, and I just cannot get enough of that adorable pelican on the Louisiana quarter

Anyway, that means we're going to start with Delaware. Wait, Delaware's a state? I thought it was just the biggest county in Maryland

The Delaware state wildlife animal has been the gray fox since 2010 when a fourth grade class started a letter writing campaign to state legislators as part of an English lesson

The letters I wrote in fourth grade English class were all to Jennifer Keene and they ended with do you like me, yes, no, maybe, and she always checked no

Pennsylvania contains the oldest zoo in the United States, the Philadelphia Zoo

It was chartered in 1859, but it didn't open until 1874 because of the pesky Civil War interfering

Now the zoo is best known for having had an episode of Ghost Hunters filmed there

but they also have over 1,300 animals. I don't know why all these zoos make such a big deal about all the animals they got

I mean, do any of them have a meerkat in a jar? New Jersey is home to the world's largest spoon collection, which has over 5,000 spoons

The capital of Georgia, Atlanta, was named Terminus, Thrasherville, and then Marthasville before citizens landed on Atlanta

Waterbury, Connecticut is home to the now-closed theme park, Holy Land, USA

The park's heydays were in the 60s and 70s when you could visit replications of Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and the Garden of Eden

Massachusetts had the first public beach in the United States, Revere Beach, as well as the first public park, the Boston Common

Maryland is known as the Free State because they heroically refuse to enforce prohibition

In 1923, Baltimore Sun editor Hamilton Owens wrote a satirical article claiming that Maryland should secede so they could continue to sell alcohol

The article was called the Maryland Free State and the nickname stuck, which reminds me, I wonder what's inside of my copy of Eugenia Price's Beauty from Ashes

Oh wait, it's liquor. Here's to you, Maryland. If you want to be a fortune teller in South Carolina, and who doesn't really, you need a permit

Well, I can be both a fortune teller and a South Carolinian? How lucky can one guy get

I'm just trying to alienate people from all the states. The classic American film Jumanji was filmed in Keene, New Hampshire

In the movie, the dad of Robin Williams' character owns a shoe company called Parrish Shoes

The crew left an advertisement for the fictional company on a building downtown and it still remains there today Which makes sense really because you know there quite a bit of Jumanji related tourism business In 2012 a tie cat named Hank came in third place in Virginia Senate election

What began as a promotion for animal rescue turned into a successful write-in campaign

Hank's campaign slogan was, Vote the humans out! Which is a nice slogan, although it wrongly implies that congresspeople are people

Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum was born in Chittanago, New York

The citizens are so proud that they have installed a yellow brick road downtown

There's also a festival every year called Ozstravaganza. If Indianapolis would like to start an Augustusstravaganza, I give you my permission

America's largest privately owned home is located in North Carolina. The Biltmore Estate is around 175,000 square feet, and it is still owned by, you guessed it, the Vanderbilts

During World War II, the house provided storage space for art from the National Gallery of Arts collection

But now, it's just a gigantic house that no one lives in. Of the original 13 colonies, Rhode Island was the last to become a state

But Bristol, Rhode Island has had an annual 4th of July celebration every year since 1785

making it the oldest yearly celebration of the holiday. Vermont has the most covered bridges per square mile of any state in the United States

Kentucky has both a state song and a state bluegrass song. Because, you know, Kentucky

The opening line to the Ballad of Davy Crockett is born on a mountaintop in Tennessee

Crockett was born in Tennessee, but in a river valley, not on a mountaintop

Furthermore, he did not kill a bear when he was only three. Ohio contains both the world's largest rubber stamp, which is 28 feet tall

and the world's largest basket, which is 192 feet tall. Pirates Jean and Pierre Lafitte smuggled goods into Louisiana during the early 1800s

defying the Embargo Act of 1807. But in 1814, the brothers helped Andrew Jackson win the Battle of New Orleans, so the government

pardoned the Lafitte's of all their crimes. And so I say to those of you entering the workforce, consider piracy

The Lost River of Indiana is about 85 miles long, but 23 of those miles are completely underground

In 1969, Hurricane Camille hit Mississippi and the intense storm divided an entire island

transforming Ship Island into West Ship Island and East Ship Island. The water in between has been dubbed the Camille Cut

The town of Normal, Illinois was the site of the first Steak and Shake restaurant famous

for having once employed me. Steak and Shake got its start when its founder, Gus Belt, decided to close his chicken restaurant

and turn it into a hamburger stand. Houses on the Magnolia River in Alabama have their mail delivered by boat

This means that Alabama contains the sole river route of the United States Postal Service It is also the only place where boat delivery occurs year round Menoplos writer Meredith is from New Hampshire so she would like you to know that Maine is the worst state in the Union But one good thing did happen there E White wrote Charlotte

Web. That's great, Meredith. We don't have to be worried about people from Maine being angry with us. It's not like all of them own axes

Kansas City, Missouri is second only to Rome for most fountains in one city. It's also

the only major city named for a state that it is not in. The name Arkansas derives from a term used by the Illini American Indian tribe

It means people of the south wind, which is actually how they described another tribe

But you know, the European settlers weren't that keen on, like, accurate translation. No matter where you go in the state of Michigan, you will be, at most, 85 miles away from a great lake

In 2012, a goat from Florida broke the world record for farthest distance skateboarded by a goat

Happy the goat skateboarded for 118 feet, which is literally further than I could skateboard

Texas is home to Selena Gomez. Meredith, can I please get a real fact about Texas

If Texans' dreams came true and they seceded, Texas would be the 40th largest country in the world

just smaller than Zambia and a bit bigger than Burma. Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States, was born in Iowa

making him the first president to be born west of the Mississippi. Mount Horeb, Wisconsin prides itself on being the troll capital of the world

I mean, there are statues of trolls all around town, and you can also visit places like the

Grumpy Troll Brewery and Restaurant. Wisconsin, where you can't have a restaurant without it also being a brewery

In 1953, the California grizzly bear became the official animal of the state

The last time a wild grizzly bear had actually lived in California? 1922

Minnesota has a state muffin, the blueberry muffin. Mark, does Indiana have a state muffin? No

We should really get on that before the other states pick all the good muffins and we're stuck with something disgusting like bran

The state with the most ghost towns is Oregon, and yet the ghost hunters spend all their time at the Philadelphia Zoo

Kansas is home to some of the most amazing fictional characters. Clark Kent, Sam and Dean Winchester, Dorothy and Toto, Mackenzie Zales

Polka High School in West Virginia once came in first place on ESPN's list of best high school mascots

They are the Pocah High School Dots. Boo. Nevada has the most mountain ranges of any state, which explains why its name came from

the Spanish word for snow-capped. I'd like to congratulate Nevada on getting through an entire Facts About States video

without a single mention of hookers or gambling. Kool-Aid was invented in Nebraska, presumably a large talking pitcher of the drink smashed

through a wall in Hastings, and then Edwin Perkins was just like, Oh hey I invented this English professor Kathie Lee Bates wrote the song America the Beautiful after taking a trip to Pike Peak in Colorado She got to the top of the peak and there was the Kool man and she said man this really

is a beautiful country. North Dakota is the state least visited by tourists

I'm sorry guys, at least you have fracking. The only reason South Dakota is not the least visited state is Mount Rushmore, which costs

less than one million dollars to build, but they won't sell it, even if you offered them like two million dollars

Loma, Montana experienced the biggest temperature shift within a 24 hour period that the United

States has ever seen. On January 15th 1972 the day started at negative 54 degrees Fahrenheit and climbed all the

way up to 49 degrees above Fahrenheit. A 103 degree difference. Pictionary was invented by a waiter from Seattle, Washington

He created the game with a $35,000 loan from his uncle and then success came when Nordstrom

quartered in Seattle, bought 167 copies. Idaho's Sun Valley was one of the first ski resorts

in the United States. In 1936, the resort built the first ever chairlift. Harry Longbow

went to Sundance Jail in Wyoming, and his story inspired the film Butch Cassidy and

the Sundance Kid, which means that we can thank Wyoming for the Sundance Film Festival

even though the festival takes place in Utah, where it has been going on since 1978 in Salt

Lake City. Of all the state quarters, they minted the fewest of Oklahoma's. While Florida's more

famous for its role in the 2000 election, New Mexico's election was even closer. Al Gore beat

George W. Bush by just 366 votes. It's illegal to damage a saguaro cactus in Arizona, and if you do

you face up to 25 years in prison. Alaska has a longer coastline than every other state combined

And lastly, I return to my salon to tell you that even though Hawaii Five-0 is a hugely popular television program, Hawaii does not actually have a statewide police force

attacking unicorns. I hate unicorns. But the reason that the unicorn is the animal of Scotland

is because King Robert III put the unicorn on Scotland's seal during the 1300s because it stood for purity and strength

But if they're so pure, how come their blood kept Voldemort alive and allowed him to go on his big killing spree

Anyway, thanks again for watching Metal Floss here on YouTube, and as we say in my hometown, don't forget to be on