Our lives are filled with happy little accidents! Some of those happy little accidents don’t really change anything much, while others find their way into the pages of our history. Yeah, really! Take, for instance, these things created by accident – although they weren’t intended, we all know about them, use them, and adore them. So, ready to learn about these accidental inventions? Of course, you are!
So, some of these great things created by accident aren’t really tangible. For instance, the absolute banger of a song by Metallica called Nothing Else Matters was created during a phone call, or one of the most iconic scenes in The Godfather was also a complete fluke (we won’t tell you which one, though – let’s keep a bit of suspense here). However, for all these intangible things on our list, there are tons of other interesting stories about absolutely tangible, useful things created in the very same way. From actual things to accidental food inventions, we’re extremely glad that someone made those ‘mistakes’ way back when – because who could imagine their lives sans nachos or Worcestershire sauce?!
Alrighty then, time to check out our picks of things created by accident and read some cool facts about their stories of invention. Agreed? Scroll on down below, check out the submissions, vote for the accidental inventions that surprised you the most, and share this article with your friends!
#1 Viggo Mortensen Really Had To Block A Flying Blade
When another actor in The Fellowship of the Ring botched a throw and unintentionally hurled a real dagger at Viggo Mortensen’s face at high speed, Mortensen swung his sword and deflected the blow, giving his character another unintentional badass moment.
Image source: amazon.com, Brian Cronin
#2 Waffle Cones Were Invented When Cups Ran Out
Ernest A. Hamwi was selling a crisp, waffle-like pastry at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair directly next to an ice cream vendor who was out of cups. The ice cream dealer purchased his supply of cones, and thus everyone’s favorite dessert was born!
Image source: idfa.org
#3 Chocolate Chip Cookies Were The Result Of A Lack Of Baker’s Chocolate
When the owner of the Tollhouse Inn realized she was out of baker’s chocolate, she cut up chunks of sweetened chocolate. She mixed them into the cookie batter, anticipating the chocolate would melt and turn the cookies into chocolate ones. However, we all know how that ended!
Image source: Sushmita Sengupta
#4 ‘Star Trek’s’ Transporters Were Created Due To Budget Constraints
The crew was supposed to land the spacecraft or use shuttles every time, but that would have been too costly. Thanks to this cost-cutting idea, they not only had more money for special effects but also unintentionally produced one of the franchise’s most recognizable characteristics.
Image source: amazon.com, Brynna Cole
#5 Nachos Were Completely Improvised
In Piedras Negras, Mexico, Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya worked as the maître d’ at the Victory Club restaurant. He improvised by covering a platter of tostadas with grated cheese, running it through a salamander (a broiler that warms food from above), and topping it off with jalapenos when a group of ten military women crossed the border from Fort Duncan Army installation and wanted lunch. Iconic!
Image source: Laura
#6 Cheeseburgers Were Invented To Cover Mistakes
In the 1920s, a young cook named Lionel Sternberger burned a hamburger and covered the scorched area with a slice of cheese. Paul Little, the area’s chief of commerce of the Rite Spot cafe in Pasadena, California, said: “Instead of throwing it away, he concealed his error and served it to a customer, who was delighted.”
Image source: Hannah Rand
#7 The Line Up In ‘The Usual Suspects’ Was Supposed To Be Serious
Five crooks decide to commit a robbery together after meeting at a police lineup, according to the movie The Usual Suspects. In the lineup sequence, each character was required to stand up and say a line aloud. However, the DVD features claim that Benicio del Toro had horrible flatulence that day, which led everyone to collapse. After growing tired of the performers, director Brian Singer allowed the sequence to be included in the film.
Image source: amazon.com, Grant Hermanns
#8 Donkey Kong Was Supposed To Be The Hero, Not The Villain
Donkey Kong was Mario’s pet, and the game’s instruction manual makes it abundantly apparent that Mario’s mistreatment of him was the reason for Kong’s escape.
Image source: Rogerdahl, en.wikipedia.org
#9 Lord Sandys Of Worcester Asked Drug Store Owners To Come Up With Something Similar To An Indian Sauce
After returning from ruling Bengal, India, Lord Sandys of Worcester, England, was yearning for his favorite Indian sauce. He urged the owners of the drug business, John Lea and William Perrins, to think of something similar. Due to the fishy stench, the couple decided not to sell the excess mixture in their shop. They kept it in their cellar for two years before rediscovering it, bottling it, and selling it to clients.
Image source: Dimitri Torterat, Julia Tanevski
#10 The Hulk Is Green Because Marvel’s Printers Acted Up
The Hulk was initially intended to be gray to avoid suggesting any particular ethnic group. However, the issue was that the title character appeared to be a giant glop of clay with a different shade on each page when they initially read the first issue. Gray seems challenging to mess up, yet Marvel’s printers managed it!
Image source: amazon.com, hollandlitho.com
#11 Ms. Pac-Man Was Created By Hackers
Two MIT students modified a Pac-Man machine to develop the game Crazy Otto in 1982. Midway was so taken with it that they purchased it from the kids, replaced Otto with Pac-Man donning a bow, and created Ms. Pac-Man.
Image source: Kari Sullivan, Ben Reeves
#12 A Man Put Few Bottles Of Soda In The Freezer Resulting In A Frozen Slushy-Like Drink
Omar Knedilk, the proprietor of Dairy Queen, has a broken soda machine. So one day in the late 1950s, he placed a few soda bottles in the freezer, creating a drink similar to a frozen slushy. People adored it and began exceptionally requesting that frozen beverage. Before selling his product to convenience stores and 7-Eleven, he developed his machine to mix and freeze a flavor mix, water, and carbon dioxide.
Image source: Rob Lammle
#13 A Miscommunication Created The Doctor’s Beloved Scarf On ‘Doctor Who’
If you’ve never watched Doctor Who, it’s a time-traveling extraterrestrial show that takes place in a telephone house that flies through space. The main protagonist also used to wear a very long scarf that was created after a seamstress received many wool swatches from a show producer believing they were intended to be integrated into one item. Fortunately, Tom Baker, the fourth Doctor, adored the scarf; thus her error became part of the show’s canon.
Image source: amazon.com, Autumn Topping
#14 Jason Voorhees Wears A Hockey Mask To Save Time On Makeup
The creators of the second Friday the 13th movie opted to give Jason a face because he appears with a sack over his head, which they felt was too similar to the killer from The Town Who Feared Sundown. It would take a lot of labor for each photo, but his face would finally be revealed. The makeup crew simply applied a mask to the villain, so a horror icon was created!
Image source: amazon.com
#15 Daniel Craig’s Iconic Beach Shot In ‘Casino Royale’ Happened Thanks To A Sandbar
Daniel Craig plays a spy in the Bahamas in the first movie of the 007 remakes. Just as he was about to float away and watch a bad guy’s wife, he hit a sandbar and had to stand and wade through the sea awkwardly. Craig said of the seductive image, “[I] would be haunted by it for the rest of my life.”
Image source: amazon.com, Jill Clark
#16 A Reckless Driver Inspired The Line ‘I’m Walkin’ Here!’ In ‘Midnight Cowboy’
In Midnight Cowboy, Dustin Hoffman plays Ratso, a disabled con artist who conned Joe Buck, a small-town Texan who went to New York City to become a hustler. Ratso later helped Joe Buck become a gigolo. The famous scene had to be carefully timed to coincide with the “walk” signal because the filmmakers didn’t have the necessary licenses. A cab driver nearly drove them over after roughly 15 attempts failed. Hoffman’s response was to slam on the brakes and shout, “I’m walkin’ here!”
Image source: amazon.com, Brian Cronin
#17 A Metallica Hit Was Written While James Hetfield Was On The Phone
James Hetfield created the tremendously successful prom song “Nothing Else Matters” while on tour with his enormously successful metal band, Metallica. He allegedly played with one hand while holding the phone in the other and talking to his girlfriend.
Image source: Metallica, Joe DiVita
#18 The Nervous Mob Enforcer In ‘The Godfather’ Was Just Starstruck
In The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola required a strong, imposing actor to portray Luca Brasi, a mob enforcer working for Don Corleone. As luck would have it, the movie has billions of tough dudes. So here comes real mob enforcer Lenny Montana. He fumbled his lines because he was so anxious to share a scene with Marlon Brando, making Don Corleone seem more menacing than the muscleman towering over him.
Image source: amazon.com, Jack Whatley
#19 ‘Money For Nothing’ Was Based On An Actual Rant
The song “Money for Nothing” laments how unpleasant it is to be on MTV and was one of the first MTV mega-hits. Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler wrote the song while he was out shopping and overheard an employee of an electronics store complaining about bands on MTV. He replicated his tirade, laid them over some chords, and began cashing checks.
Image source: Dire Straits, Scott Drylie
#20 Back In 2000 BC, People Found Dried Grapes On Vines (Raisins)
People discovered dried grapes on plants circa 2000 BC. Before they were utilized for bartering, rewards at athletic events, or even medication, these raisins were used for ornamentation.
Image source: calraisins.org
#21 At Some Point, Raw Milk Was Exposed To Bacteria In Warm Climates Causing The Milk’s Fermentation Into A Creamy Yogurt
You’ve already taken a step toward making yogurt if you’ve ever left a milk carton outside for too long. At least, such is the widely held explanation behind the unintentional invention of yogurt. When raw milk was eventually exposed to bacteria in warm environments, the milk fermented into creamy yogurt.
Image source: sciencedirect.com
#22 Lara Croft’s Chest Was Caused By A Slip Of The Finger
When it came to altering Lara’s proportions for the original Tomb Raider game, one of the artists intended to boost the character’s bust by 50%, but by accidentally typing 150%, he created the gaming symbol that players all over the world drool over.
Image source: Jesse Schedeen
#23 The PlayStation Was Planned As An Add-On For The SNES
A new console developed by Sony and Nintendo, the SNES with an integrated CD-ROM drive, was unveiled at the 1991 Consumer Electronics Show. The following day, Nintendo canceled its agreement with PlayStation and teamed up with Phillips instead.
Image source: Paquitogio, en.wikipedia.org
#24 The Konami Code Was Left In ‘Gradius’ By Accident
One of the developers of the Gradius home version couldn’t win against his creation, leading to the creation of the famous code “Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start.” He built the code to grant himself a complete set of power-ups but neglected to remove it. His error is a blessing for everyone!
Image source: segaretro.org
#25 Beer Was Invented By Accident During Bread Making
Beer was first mentioned in history in Sumeria around the sixth century BC. Although no one can say for sure, most people think beer was created by mistake while preparing bread. According to author and beer consultant Horst Dornbusch, bread was likely baked outside in the rain, and that’s how beer was born.
Image source: Joel N. Shurkin
#26 ‘Space Invaders’ Was Supposed To Be Way Faster
Tomohiro Nishikado, a programmer, spent a year attempting to create a machine capable of running Space Invaders. Even after he was done, it wasn’t adequate. The intruders moved slowly at first and only accelerated to his desired speed when there were fewer visible invaders because they had been shot.
Image source: Bsivko, en.wikipedia.org
#27 A Drunken Extra Threw A Can At John Malkovich In ‘Being John Malkovich’
In the mind-bending movie, a puppeteer playing John Malkovich discovers a portal into the actor’s mind and starts taking money for 15 minutes inside his body. Things start to become strange when Malkovich himself enters his thoughts. He eventually finds himself on the New Jersey Turnpike when a set extra who had sneaked beer cries, “Think fast Malkovich!” before hurling a beer can in his direction. The take was so well received by the director Spike Jonze that he decided to use it.
Image source: amazon.com, Kirsten Acuna
#28 Beck’s ‘Loser’ Is A Bunch Of Nonsense Recorded In A Kitchen
As a joke, Beck’s biggest hit was recorded in the kitchen of his friend Carl. Following the freestyle recording, he started singing the lyric, “I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me,” and the rest is history.
Image source: AustinCityLimitsTV, Tyler Golsen
#29 The ‘Street Fighting Man’ Sound Was Caused By Recording On Cassette
Most of the “Street Fighting Man” tracking was done on a portable tape recorder in a hotel, leading to the entirely exaggerated sound. The song’s distorted sound was created when Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, and Brian Jones simultaneously recorded their parts (guitar, drums, and sitar) onto Richards’ mono cassette recorder.
Image source: The Rolling Stones, en.wikipedia.org
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