The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts and Strange Stories (51 page)

QUIET VIOLET

It was once against the law in France to utter the name of Napoleon's favorite flower (the violet) in public.

FISHY LAWS

Don't get a fish drunk in Oklahoma; you could go to jail. No catching whales either; that's against the law too. (Oklahoma is landlocked.)

BEE LAWFUL

No bees are allowed to fly in Kirkland, Illinois.

WATERING HOLE

The ancient Code of Hammurabi in Babylon specified that a merchant could be put to death for diluting beer.

THE LAWFUL CURE

Seventeenth-century lawyers are credited with the discovery of St. John's wort as a treatment for depression.

ELEPHANT PROHIBITION

Elephants can't drink beer in Natchez, Mississippi.

YOU CAN BURN THE FLAG!