10 Most Bizarre Ways To Become Famous

9. Dave McPherson

Speed Ryan Beitz
© Bettmann/CORBIS

Back in July 1955, when Disneyland in Anaheim, California first opened to the public, Dave McPherson was only twenty-two, a college student from Long Beach. When watching the opening festivities on television, McPherson impulsively decided that he wanted to be the first normal person in line to get in.

Getting on his motorcycle around midnight, our Dave made the ten mile trip to the site and, walking up to a deserted ticket booth, started the very first line. When the booth opened, several hours later, McPherson purchased a ticket and became the very first person to enter Disneyland on the very first day that it opened.

In honour of this status, Dave was rewarded with a lifetime pass to Disney resorts and parks, of which there are now many: and even today, sixty years later, he continues to receive them.

Dave McPherson is now a Disney celebrity, ranking up there with heads of state, foreign dignitaries, movie stars and rock legends. He’s also fairly well known in certain circles for writing published Christian polemic in the very specific area of rapture-debunking. Which is nice.

Contributor
Contributor

Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.