Independence Day: America’s birthday, the most terrifying 24 hours of the year for dogs, and the day that American presidents are most likely to kick the bucket.
That’s right. The Fourth of July has the strange distinction of being the day that three presidents died. Two of them—John Adams and Thomas Jefferson—passed just five hours apart in 1826. The third, James Monroe, died exactly five years later. The fact that the men were all founding fathers, and served as the second, third and fifth U.S. presidents makes the coincidence even more odd. (The fourth president, James Madison, died on June 28, 1836. Imagine if he’d held on for six days!)