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Since its opening in 1937, more than 1,200 people have jumped to their death from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. Of those who have taken the 250-foot drop, only 23 are know to have survived.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was erected by King Nebuchadnezzar for his wife, Amytis, in 562 B.C. It had a series of five terraces of glazed brick, each 50 feet above the next, and were connected by a winding stairway. A pumping device supplied water so that gardens could be irrigated by fountains.

The world's largest indoor lake is in the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada. The lake has 4 working submarines that people can take rides in.

Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum is the most frequently visited museum in the United States.

The height of the 984-foot-tall Eiffel Tower varies, depending on the temperature, by as much as 6 inches.

The world's largest mall is the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada. It takes up 5.3 million square feet of space and contains over 800 stores and restaurants, a dolphin show, an amusement park, the world's largest indoor lake complete with 4 working submarines, 26 movie theaters, 26 movie theaters, and a NHL sized ice arena.

Specializing in showing only newsreels, the Embassy Theatre opened in New York City in November 1929. It proved to be popular for a time, and was the first theater of its kind.

The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum was opened to the public on August 10, 1962, Hoover's 88th birthday. More than 2,200 researchers from every state in the country and a dozen foreign countries have utilized the library's seven million pages of documentary holdings.

The world's first iron bridge, built at Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, England in 1782, was the product of three generations of Darbys: Abraham Darby I developed the use of coke; his son manufactured cast iron; and his grandson built the bridge.

Stonehenge was built over a period of centuries, from about 2800 B.C. to 1550 B.C.

The historic Windsor Castle in Britain has more than its fair share of ghosts, according to the United Kingdom-based Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena. The ghosts include some royal ones, including King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I, King Charles I, and King George III (“Mad” King George). King Henry is supposed to haunt the cloisters near the Deanery with ghostly groans and the sound of dragging footsteps.

The world's first roller-skating rink, Belgravia Skating Rink, was opened to the public in Great Britain on August 2, 1875.

Supplied with individual headsets, tourists to Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion, can listen to an audio tour presentation. The Graceland presentation is offered in a choice of languages: English, Spanish, Japanese, German, Italian, Dutch, French, and Portuguese.

The Hollywood sign was first erected in 1923. Conceived as a real estate ad, it originally read Hollywoodland. The sign stands 50 feet tall, stretches 450 feet across, weighs 450,000 pounds.

Surprisingly, there was a time that the Vatican owned shares of the Watergate complex in Washington D.C., the Pan American building in Paris, and the Hilton hotel in Rome.

The home tour of Graceland, Elvis Presley's opulent mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, consists of the living and music rooms, Elvis's parents' bedroom, the kitchen, the TV, dining, and pool rooms, and “jungle” den in the main house. Behind the house, the tour takes in Elvis's racquetball building and his original business office. A tour highlight for fans is "The King's" trophy building, filled with his enormous collection of gold records and awards, and an extensive display of mementos, stage costumes, jewelry, and photographs. Flash photos at Graceland are no longer allowed. Over the years, the flashing has caused deterioration of the colors and fabrics in the rooms, as well as the oils in the paintings.

Suspension of the construction of the Washington Monument, at the 153-foot level, was forced by the anti-Catholic, Know-Nothing movement, which was offended by Pope Pius IX's gift of a block of marble from Rome's Temple of Concord. The suspension lasted 26 years. Work resumed in 1880 and the monument was completed in 1888.

In olden times in America, an outhouse could be built as far as 150 feet away from the house.

In one Czechoslovakian church there is a chandelier made of human bones. The ceiling is festooned with the remains of former worshipers.

In size, materials, and human labor, the Great Wall of China is the largest construction project ever undertaken by man. Enough stone was used in the 1,700-year project to build an 8-foot wall girdling the globe at the equator. The Great Wall snakes its way over more than one-twentieth of Earth's circumference.

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