"What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" is one of the most well-known phrases in American history. Fortunately for us, though, it isn't the slightest bit true. Las Vegas is full of weird, wonderful, wacky stories that deserve to be told all over the world. Here are three weird facts about Las Vegas that you never would have expected.
It Has One of the Largest Mormon Populations on the Planet
While you wouldn't expect such a God-fearing group to call such a wild and sometimes scandalous place like Las Vegas "home," Las Vegas is actually the location of one of the biggest groups of Mormons in the world. If you know anything about the Mormon religion, you probably know that they are forbidden to gamble. So why did they choose to live here? Actually, the Mormons were in Vegas long before the casinos were, when they made a settlement there in 1855. This settlement ultimately collapsed, though, but the Mormons didn't disappear completely. When the infamous Las Vegas mobsters began running the casinos decades later, they purposely hired Mormons because they knew that they couldn't gamble themselves, and because they were compelled by their religion to be honest. For this reason, many of the casinos in Vegas are still run by Mormons today, which helps keep them on the straight and narrow (however much that is possible for a gambling joint).
It Almost Had a Moon-Walking Robot
In 2009, the world lost the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. It would have had a quirky, bizarre replica to remember him by, though, had his plans from 2005 not fallen through. In October of that year, Las Vegas began planning for a whole host of Michael Jackson concerts. Plans included solar-powered costumes that changed colors under stage lighting and one giant robot made in Jackson's likeness. The robot was reportedly expected to be 50 feet tall, and would "wander" back and forth across the Las Vegas desert, calling attention to the upcoming shows. Unfortunately, Jackson was experiencing an extreme downshift in popularity at the time due to legal battles and could not get the funding for the robot in the end. Eventually, even the plans for his Vegas concerts were canceled, and the world was left wondering what might have been.
Miracles Can Happen There
FedEx was the first delivery company to offer overnight delivery, but it was not always the best at getting funding. Frederick Smith founded the company in 1971 with a four million dollar inheritance and $80 million in loans. While the service itself was good, the cost of fuel was high, and within two years, the business was floundering. FedEx's funds fell to just $5,000 and it looked like it was all over. In an impulsive, desperate, last-minute attempt to save the company, Smith headed to Las Vegas and gambled all the company's money at the blackjack table - where he turned it into $27,000. This kept FedEx in business for another week and inspired everyone to try harder to make the company work. Without this rash decision and apparent thumbs-up from Fate, we probably wouldn't even know what FedEx was today. Instead, it is one of the biggest shipping companies in the world, all because what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas.