Strange Twists of Luck

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. In December, 1733, Edward and Eliza Seward were shipwrecked. Luckily, they landed on Old Providence Island, because they found buried treasure there. Whose treasure did they find? Sir Henry Morgan Captain Kidd Edward Teach aka Blackbeard Major Stede Bonnet

2. Everyone knows the story of Wild Bill Hickok's "Dead Man's Hand". The day before his death, at the hands of sore loser Jack McCall, Hickok had been lucky enough to win a sum of money from McCall. Unluckily, on the next day, Hickok's usual chair facing the door was taken, and McCall shot him in the back. How much money had Jack McCall lost to Hickok? $10 $500 $200 $1,000

3. What was Wild Bill's "Dead Man's Hand"? Two black aces, two black eights, and the Queen of Hearts Three eights and two aces Four aces and one eight Pair of Queens, pair of Kings, and a one-eyed Jack

4. King Louis XV had the good luck to raise 600,000 francs with the receipts from the very first French lottery. Who persuaded the King to start a lottery in the first place? Giovani Giacomo Casanova Madame du Barry Marie Antoinette Cardinal De Rohan

5. King Henry VIII had a little gambling problem with the dice. He lost something he probably should not have been betting with in the first place. What was the King unlucky enough to lose? Bell of St. Paul's Cathedral Coronation crown of Anne Boleyn The hand of his daughter in marriage His ship the "Mary Rose"

6. On Aug. 8, 1840, a Mrs. Watts of Linville, Texas was left for dead by Chief Buffalo Hump and 500 Comanche warriors. What, luckily, saved her life and the lives of the residents of Linville, Texas that day? Mrs. Watts converted the Chief to Christianity Mrs. Watts' corset Mrs. Watts' flaming red-hair Her prize-winning biscuits and gravy

7. Something fell on Joseph Figlock as he was walking down a street in Detroit, Michigan in the 1930's. A year later, while walking down the same street, it happened again. Luckily, he survived both incidents, but exactly what was it that fell on Mr. Figlock twice? The neighborhood bar sign A baby A large potted fern Street light

8. In 1883, when Henry Ziegland's spurned sweetheart committed suicide, he was shot at by her vengeful brother. Luckily, the bullet missed him, but later the same bullet did kill Ziegland. In what year did her brother's bullet actually catch up with Ziegland? 1913 1900 1893 1923

9. Unluckily, what happened to the original manuscript of Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"? The cook spilled a pot of soup on it. It was stolen. He burned it. He lost it.

10. A prophet had predicted the Greek dramatist Aeschylus (525 BC-456 BC) would perish with a blow from Heaven. Unluckily, eventually it did happen. What actually struck poor old Aeschylus from above? A coconut fell on his head. A meteorite A tortoise A bolt of lightning