16. Tempest Over a Teapot

Sometimes the government comes to their senses just in time. In this case, they did not end up giving $500,000 in federal grant money to a teapot museum in Sparta, North Carolina. Yes, you read that correctly — there used to be a 30,000 square-foot museum in Nowheresville, NC, devoted entirely to teapots; however, the museum closed its doors in 2010 before federal money was handed over to such a worthy enterprise.