America Facts vs. Fiction

Flying devices take us all around the world and even into space, though the truth about them isn't always clear. Apollo 11 only made it home thanks to a pen, and Air Force One is a code name and not the actual name of the plane.

We think we know the truth about the birth of the United States, but there is a whole other story. Paul Revere wasn't alone on his midnight ride, and George Washington wasn't really our first president.

The roots of the United States can be traced to the first European settlers in North America. In truth, the Pilgrim Thanksgiving was actually about fasting, and the only witchcraft in Salem was done by a group of young girls.

We don't always know the truth behind what scares us. Our Halloween's traditions aren't all that ancient, and Edgar Allan Poe was not the madman that others have made him out to be.

We don't always know the truth behind the inventors who create the devices we use every day. For instance, Thomas Edison didn’t actually invent the light bulb, and Benjamin Franklin never "discovered" electricity.

With our greatest presidents, we have to differentiate between the man and the legend. For example, Franklin Roosevelt may have never had polio, and Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy don't have all that much in common.

There is more to the European explorers who discovered America than we have been told. Christopher Columbus never stepped foot in North American, while Hernan Cortes didn't defeat the Aztecs by himself.

A whole other story is behind the roads and bridges that cross the United States. A women was actually the driving force behind completing the Brooklyn Bridge, and Route 66 wasn't build from scratch.