David Wallechinsky - The Book of Lists

This takes more effort than the first three, but it’s a good choice in some circumstances, i.e., bones. Make sure the ground you put something into is sturdy and dry. If you put something into wet ground, wrap it in plastic first. That’ll save you lots of time and headache later, if you need to get the thing you put into the ground out of the ground. The Ground = No. 4.

Savant syndrome is a rare condition in which people suffering from mental retardation, autism or schizophrenia nonetheless possess an unusual ability in a single field, most often relating to music, art or numbers.

Although his vocabulary was limited to fewer than 100 words, Blind Tom could play more than 5,000 pieces on the piano, an instrument he had mastered as a four-year-old slave on a Georgia plantation. At the age of 11, he performed at the White House for President James Buchanan. He learned each piece after hearing it only once; his repertoire included Mozart, Beethoven, Bach and Verdi.

Clemons, who has an IQ of 40, lives in a home for the developmentally disabled in Boulder, Colorado. An exceptionally talented sculptor, he has sold hundreds of pieces, including one for $45,000. Many buyers have purchased his work unaware that it was created by a mentally handicapped artist.

Known as the Bronx Calendar Twins, they first attracted national attention when they were featured in a 1966 Life magazine article. The brothers can give the day of the week for any date over a period of 80,000 years. They can also recall, in detail, the weather for any day of their lives.

Born in Africa, Fuller was taken to Virginia as a slave in 1724. He was a calculating wonder who could easily multiply nine-digit numbers. At the age of 78, Fuller, who was never able to learn to read or write, was asked, ‘How many seconds has a man lived who is 70 years, 17 days and 12 hours old?’ Ninety seconds later he gave the answer — 2,210,500,800. Informed that he was wrong, Fuller corrected his interrogator by pointing out that the man had forgotten to include leap years.

Like many prodigious savants, Leslie is blind, was born prematurely and possesses an extraordinary memory. He sings and plays the piano and has appeared on numerous television shows, including 60 Minutes and Donahue . He has also been the subject of two films, An Island of Genius and the Emmy-winning The Woman Who Willed a Miracle .

Lerman, who was diagnosed as autistic at the age of 3, has a tested IQ of 53. He began drawing at 10, shortly after the death of his maternal grandfather, Burt Markowitz, who had always insisted that Jonathan had promise. His charcoal drawings, which critics have compared to the works of George Grosz and Francis Bacon, sell for $500 to $1200. A book of his artwork, Jonathan Lerman : The Drawings of a Boy with Autism , was published in 2002.

A mathematical savant, Peek, who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, was the inspiration for the character played by Dustin Hoffman in the 1988 Academy Award-winning film Rain Man . His true story is told in the book The Real Rain Man (1997).

Born in Iran, Pillault is unable to talk, walk or feed himself. He discovered painting in 1993, using his hands, since he can’t use his fingers functionally. His paintings, featuring striking, ethereal figures, have been exhibited in France, Italy, Japan and the US. He is also a member of several artists’ societies.

At the age of three, he was diagnosed with Asperger’s disorder, a condition similar to autism. Savage is a professional jazz musician, who leads his own trio, has performed at jazz festivals throughout the US and Canada, and recorded three CDs. He was described as ‘amazing’ by jazz legend Dave Brubeck. Savage is also prodigious in mathematics — he is learning advanced algebra at the age of 11 — and geography — he represented New Hampshire in the US National Geography Bee in 2004.

Wawro, who is autistic and moderately retarded, started drawing at the age of three. He held his first exhibition in Edinburgh, Scotland, when he was 17. Most of his works are landscapes and seascapes based on images that he has seen just once in books or on television. Wawro can remember where and when he drew each picture. He was the subject of the documentary With Eyes Wide Open (1983).

Although Wiltshire, who lives in London, has the IQ of someone half his age, he is able to glance briefly at a building and then draw it in exquisite detail. Wiltshire has produced three books of drawings, one of which, Floating Cities , was a number-one bestseller in Great Britain.

Note : The best book on savant syndrome is Extraordinary People by Darold Treffert, MD. It is also worth noting that there exists a school — Hope University, in Anaheim, California — devoted solely to educating gifted, developmentally-challenged adults.

Selected by Paul Sieveking, co-editor of the Fortean Times .

The Fortean Times , the Journal of Strange Phenomena, is a monthly magazine of news, reviews and research on all types of unusual phenomena and experiences. It was named after philosopher Charles Fort (1874–1932), who thought that data that did not fit the scientific norm should not be excluded or ignored by the scientific community. (To subscribe, write to Fortean Times, PO Box 2409, London NW5 4NP, United Kingdom.)

Margaret Bell, who kept bees in Leintwardine, about seven miles from her home in Ludlow, Wales, died in June 1994. Soon after her funeral, mourners were astonished to see hundreds of bees settle on the corner of the street opposite the house where Mrs Bell had lived for 26 years. The bees stayed for about an hour before buzzing off over the rooftops. The local press ran a photograph of the bees, hanging on the wall in a cluster.

On December 11, 2002 two motorists called police to report seeing a car veering off the A3 trunk road with headlights blazing at Burpham in Surrey. A thorough search uncovered a car concealed in dense undergrowth and the long-dead driver nearby. It turned out that the crash had happened five months earlier when the driver, Christopher Chandler, had been reported missing by his brother.

An irregular-shaped hole, about 10 ft by 7 ft with 2 ft vertical sides, was found on remote farmland near Grand Coulee, Washington State, in October 1984. It had not been there a month earlier. ‘Dribblings’ of earth and stones led to a three-ton, grass-covered earth divot 75 ft away. It was almost as if the divot had been removed with a ‘gigantic cookie cutter’, except that roots dangled intact from the vertical sides of both hole and displaced slab. There were no clues such as vehicle tracks and a seismic cause was thought very unlikely, although there had been a mild quake 20 miles away a week before the hole’s discovery.

Laura Buxton released a helium-filled balloon during celebrations for her grandparents’ gold wedding anniversary in Blurton, Staffordshire, in June 2001. Attached to the balloon was her name and address and a note asking the finder to write back. Ten days later she received a reply. The balloon had been found by another Laura Buxton in the garden hedge of her home in Pewsey, Wiltshire, 140 miles away. Both Lauras were aged 10 and both had three-year-old black Labradors, a guinea pig and a rabbit. ‘I hope we can become best friends,’ said the Staffordshire Laura.