Here are 25 Interesting Facts About Things That were Stolen.
1-5 Interesting Facts About Things That were Stolen
1. In 2008 a beach was stolen in Jamaica. The 500 truckloads of sand remain missing to this very day. – Source
2. In 1978, Charlie Chaplin’s body was stolen and held for a ransom of £400,000. His widow refused to pay ransom because “Charlie would have thought it ridiculous.” The body was found 11 weeks later. – Source
3. Mile marker 420 was removed by officials in Colorado and replaced with a 419.99 sign because the 420 mile marker was stolen so often. – Source
4. In 2003 a Boeing 727 was stolen from an Airport in Angola. Despite a worldwide search, neither the plane, nor the two men aboard were ever found. – Source
5. A man who entertained at restaurants played a stolen Stradivarius violin for over 50 years before confessing its true value to his wife on his deathbed – Source
6-10 Interesting Facts About Things That were Stolen
6. In 1987, a small 93 gram radioactive device was stolen from an abandoned hospital in Brazil. After being passed around, 4 people died, 112,000 people had to be examined and several houses had to be destroyed. It is considered one of the worst nuclear disasters ever. – Source
7. The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book that is most often stolen from Public Libraries. – Source
8. Bribes, kickbacks, stolen items, and money from illegal activities are all countable as taxable income in the US – Source
9. Mr. Rodgers car was once stolen, and then returned after the thief realized whose car it was. – Source
10. A .45 caliber handgun was stolen from President William Howard Taft and was then used in several murders. – Source
11-15 Interesting Facts About Things That were Stolen
11. When the Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911 the police arrested and questioned Pablo Picasso. – Source
12. There have been 18 incidences of theft or loss of highly enriched uranium and plutonium confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency in the last 12 years. – Source
13. LifeLock, an ID protection firm, ran a promotional in which its CEO was so confident in their services that he made his Social Security Number public. This resulted in him being the victim of identity theft 13 times, in addition to a $12 million company fine for false advertising. – Source
14. Selling stolen artifacts is the 3rd most profitable wing of the black market, after drugs and weapons. – Source
15. If you have bought or rented a movie on a DVD sometime in the last few years, you would have had to sit through the compulsory anti-piracy video at the beginning. Recently it was found that the music from that ad was actually stolen. – Source
16-20 Interesting Facts About Things That were Stolen
16. Intellectual property law doesn’t cover magic tricks. An original trick can be stolen from a magician and there’s nothing he can do about it. – Source
17. A US Army veteran, severely depressed after his wife filed divorce, both parents dead of cancer, his equipment stolen, income stopped, utilities cut off, house in foreclosure, stole a tank from the armory, went on a rampage on the streets destroying cars. He was finally shot and killed. – Source
18. Santa Anna’s prosthetic leg was stolen by the 4th Illinois Infantry and it is now on display at the Illinois State Military Museum. Later his second limb, a peg leg was stolen and reportedly used as a bat. Mexico has requested the leg’s return, but the museum refuses. – Source
19. There is a gang dubbed the “The Pink Panthers” who have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from banks and jewelers in crazy fashion (dressed in drag with prosthetics, fleeing in speed boats). They also once broke their leader out of a prison using machine gun fire and a rope ladder – Source
20. During a hunting expedition, Theodore Roosevelt’s boat was stolen by wanted men attempting to flee the country. Despite numbing temperatures and icy waters, he and his companions built a raft, took it down the river, and captured the thieves 3 days later. – Source
21-25 Interesting Facts About Things That were Stolen
21. There is a park with a statue of John Lennon in La Havana where a security guard is paid to sit next to the statue and put his glasses on and off if requested because they always get stolen/vandalized. – Source
22. The day before the United States began bombing Baghdad, nearly US$1 billion was stolen from the Central Bank of Iraq. This is considered the largest bank heist in history. – Source
23. German police were not able to bring a jewel theft case to trial because their DNA evidence matched two identical twins who each denied culpability. Both walked free – Source
24. After a rash of unexplained pay phone thefts, Malaysian authorities discovered that fisherman were using them as bait. – Source
25. An early version of Picasso’s The Weeping Woman was stolen from the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia with the ransom demanding an increase in funding to the arts. The painting was later found undamaged in a locker at a Melbourne train station and the thief was never apprehended. – Source
