In 1979, two families escaped East Germany in a homemade hot air balloon. They flew for 28 minutes at −8 °C (18 °F) with no shelter as the gondola was just a clothesline railing. They landed just 10km (6.2 mi) from the border. The escape was planned out over 1 and 1/2 years and took 3 attempts.
immigration
The owner and only resident
The owner and only resident of this ghost town Lucin, Utah is a former Prague University engineering student who at 24 escaped the Iron Curtain in 1984 using his DIY glider powered with a 600cc Trabant engine, and landed undetected at Vienna International Airport.
Svalbard, a Norwegian…
Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago with a population of 3 000, is the only visa-free zone in the world meaning that anybody may live and work there indefinitely regardless of country of citizenship.
A Dutch church performed services…
A Dutch church performed services continuously for 96 days, to stop the government from expelling an Armenian family. They relied on a medieval law that says authorities can’t enter a church while a religious service is being performed. The government let the family stay.
The Norwegian archipelago…
The Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard which is roughly the size of Ireland is an entirely visa-free zone, meaning anyone may live and work on Svalbard indefinitely regardless of country of citizenship.
Orestes Lorenzo, a Cuban fighter…
Orestes Lorenzo, a Cuban fighter pilot, defected to the US. He flew to Florida in a MiG-23 and requested his family join him, when his family were banned from leaving Cuba he raised money to buy a plane. He then flew back to Cuba, landed on a highway an bought his family back himself.
Melania Trump secured a ‘genius visa’…
Melania Trump secured a ‘genius visa’ for ‘extraordinary ability’ while dating Donald Trump.
Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the only…
Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the only region in the US where Finnish Americans make up a plurality of the population. Even the local English dialect is influenced by Finnish.
In Hidalgo, Mexico, there’s an…
In Hidalgo, Mexico, there’s an amusement park attraction that offers visitors a fake illegal border crossing experience.
Between 1907 and 1922, American…
Between 1907 and 1922, American-born women who married non-citizens automatically lost American citizenship. In 1917, hundreds of American women who had married German men were forced to register with the government as ‘enemy aliens’.
When the VOICE hotline was set up earlier this…
When the VOICE hotline was set up earlier this year for reporting criminal activity of illegal aliens, it was flooded with calls reporting space aliens and Bigfoot sightings.
A French man was able to successfully impersonate…
A French man was able to successfully impersonate an American family’s lost son for 3 and a half months before being caught and deported back to France.