Well, That's Just More Silly Nonsense! Quiz

Answer: Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan is the man! Talk is he was 30 foot tall and weighed 30000 pounds. It took five storks to carry him to his parents when he was born. He and Babe the Blue Ox dug the Grand Canyon, scooped out the Great Lakes, and piled up some of the mountains. But wait a minute! Is that a tall tale? There are many giant statues of Bunyan and Babe, and both of them have grave sites, so...

Answer: His head

For hundreds of years in Ireland, Germany and Scotland folks said they saw a headless horseman with their own eyes. Then in 1820 an American writer named Washington Irving wrote a story about him called, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". What would a scientist or a doctor say about a man without a head riding around on a horse? They might say, "Balderdash!" Still, many people say they have seen this horseman, and lived to tell the tale.

Answer: Annie Oakley

Annie Oakley, born in 1860 in Ohio, USA, started hunting with a gun when she was 15, to put food on the table of her family. She wanted to train a unit of sharpshooter women to go fight in the World War, but people said that was a bunch of nonsense. She joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, and went all over the world winning shooting matches, and doing shooting tricks.

She was married to a sharpshooter too. The story goes she actually shot a cigarette right out of the mouth of a king! Would anyone dare to do that?

Answer: Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle is also called Devil's Triangle. It is off the coast of Florida, Puerto Rico and Bermuda. Ships and planes go into this area, only to disappear without a trace. Some Navy bombers, yachts, schooners, steamers and an entire Spanish fleet went poof! A few people think aliens are the cause.

Others believe there must be a scientific or weather explanation. Some say, "Hogwash! There is no such place!" What do you think?

Answer: Leprechaun

The leprechaun is an Irish fairy, of a sort who might use his magic to do you good, or he might be feeling nasty and make you sorry! He's short. He's got a beard, buckled shoes and sometimes smokes a pipe. Follow a rainbow, and there he'll be. Then capture him, and he'll want to give you something so you will set him free.

But be careful, he'll try to trick you. If he exists at all, that is.

Answer: Davy Crockett

Davy Crockett (1786-1836) was a real man, that's for sure. He loved to tell tall tales, like how he "kilt him a bear" when he was just three. He did kill Native Americans, but then he changed his mind and fought for their rights. He was a politician in Tennessee, then fought hard in Texas against the Mexican Army.

He died bravely at the Battle of the Alamo....maybe. Some who were there wrote that he was captured, or he surrendered. Yet another claimed he kilt dozens of soldiers all by himself. When it comes to "Davy, Davy Crockett", he was brave, and smart, but was he bigger than life? Yes? No?

Answer: Big John

In 1961 Jimmy Dean wrote a song called, "Big John". Big Bad John was a miner working deep underground. Well, one day a timber gave out, and the miners "started cryin'". Up stepped Big John and "with a mighty groan" "like a giant oak tree", he held up the mine until all the men got free, except one, and that was Big John. Can you think of some other super strong good guys? Whether he's made up, or he's real, there's a giant heart in a big, protective man.

Answer: Robin Hood

Robin Hood, or Robyn Hode as he was called way back when, was a clever, fun fellow who lived in old England. He hung out with a band of "merry men" who liked to shoot arrows, trick the local sheriff, and get into sword fights. There are long ago songs about them, but, there is no Maid Marian, no Friar Tuck, and no robbing the rich to give to the poor in those songs. Little John is in the old songs, and Robyn Hode did say he would share what he had with the poor.

But in truth, it is not certain that Robin Hood ever lived.

Answer: Mermaids

Mermaids are part woman, part fish, seen by many sailors on the sea. In fact, a lot of sailors say that when they fell overboard, a mermaid pushed them up to the surface, or carried them to shore. Hans Christian Andersen wrote just such a story! Yet no one has ever talked to a mermaid, or taken a picture.

They might be, if we thought about it, a dolphin, or a manatee. These gentle creatures are known to lift a drowning person up to air. The sailors will say, "Nonsense! It's a mermaid I tell you!" Well. What would you say to that?

Answer: Aliens

Aliens surely drew the giant earth drawings in Peru, which are so big you can only make them out from the air. There are monkeys, a spider, a whale and plants, in an area 37 miles long! One pelican is 1,000 feet. That's longer than three American football fields.

But why did aliens make drawings of our plants and animals, to be seen only from the sky? It must be a bunch of nonsense! Perhaps the Nazca people who lived there so long ago had a way, and a reason, to do it. We tried going up in a hot air balloon, made with the materials they would have had available long ago, but the crafts fell apart in minutes. We just haven't been able to figure it out, like many of the amazing mysteries on our planet.