While most of us like to think about happy things like puppies and rainbows, there is darkness in the world. Creepy and disturbing things do exist, and while we may not like to think about them they are kind of fascinating. Prepare for the unexpected and start scrolling to learn about some of the creepiest facts we have come across this year.
Death By Vending Machine Is Surprisingly Real
Is there anything more frustrating than inserting some coins into a vending machine, making your selection, and watching in anticipation as the candy bar or bag of chips is dispensed, just to see it get stuck? Some people like to try and get it loose by buying something else to fall on it, while others opt for brute force and shake the vending machine. Shaking might seem like the best option but think again.
Each year, around 30 people who tried shaking vending machines find the machine falling forward on them and crushing them.
The Wildly Successful Tea Brand Has a Very Strange Backstory
Chances are if you live in North America you have seen the colorful boxes of tea brand Celestial Seasonings on your local grocery store's shelves. They are pretty hard to miss. What many people don't know is the history behind this brand and the book that was used to guide the entire brand and business practices. Co-founder Mo Siegel might seem like a regular guy, but he is a firm believer in 'The Urantia Book.'
'The Urantia Book' first became popular in 1955 when it was released. The book is a series of 'transmissions' from blue-eyed and blonde aliens who go to planets to make them pure. Yikes!
Your Father Might Not Be Who You Think He Is
Most people know who their parents are, or at least that's what they think. According to Scientia Professor of Evolutionary Ecology, Rob Brooks, while it is a common myth that around 9% to 30% of children are the offspring of someone other than the person they believe to be their father, the real number is somewhere around 1%-2%. And while that sounds like a tiny amount, remember that this is 1%-2% of the planet's entire population.
That means that around 10 million people alive today believe their biological father is someone else entirely. What a strange thought!
Teeth Don't Just Grow Inside Your Mouth
As John Mayer sang, 'Your body is a wonderland' and for women, it truly is, although this fact might not be considered wondrous by all. For some women, they are born with a dermoid cyst, which sounds like a normal cyst but it is not. These cysts are more like sacs and they can contain all sorts of goodies like hair, skin glands, and one more thing that should be found in a mouth.
That's right, these cysts can also have teeth growing inside of them. Can you imagine having a cyst with hair and teeth in your ovaries?
The WWI Zombie Attack
Are zombies real? We have been led to believe that they are not, and perhaps not in the way you see on AMC's 'The Walking Dead.' However, during World War I, the Germans decided to deploy chlorine gas around Ozoweic Fortress in Poland. The fort was known to be full of Russians, and as the gas got to work, the Germans put up barbed wire fences to protect the vicinity.
The Germans entered the fortress, and much to their dismay, they were greeted by around 60 Russians who while dying, decided to fight to the end and take the Germans out. The Russians looked like zombies from the gas, which terrified the Germans, who ran straight into their own barbed wire fences.
The Jameson Whiskey Family's Dark History
Jameson whiskey is some of the best on the market, and every bar has a bottle of it. However, the Jameson family is not without its own allegedly sordid past. In 1888, James Jameson set off on a grand adventure to the then, Belgian Congo. James had heard that cannibalism was still rampant around one trading post and wanted to find out for himself if it was true. According to a Sudanese translator, some strange events transpired.
James apparently decided to buy a 10-year old girl and have the locals treat her as they would any other person they had decided to eat, which was described in great detail by the translator. This account was supposedly covered up, so no one knows if it is true or not. But what if it is?
Hitler Was High on Methamphetamines
Now this one makes some sense. Apparently, Adolf Hitler's inconceivable actions during World War II were fueled by heavy drug use. Despite being held by his admirers as the epitome of health, he was actually being administered regular injections of methamphetamines, opiates, and various hormones by his personal doctor. This caused Hitler to appear in a constant state of euphoria, and he wasn't the only one - soldiers were given a similar treatment.
It turns out that German soldiers were no strangers to drugs on the battlefield, given Methamphetamines by medical officials.
There Is A Bit Of Truth Behind That Scene In The Exorcist
Horror movie aficionados know that no top ten list is complete with 'The Exorcist' on it, especially because of that one scene where Regan's head twists all the way around. The whole head twisting thing is a bit interesting though because a human's head can actually twist pretty far before it pops off entirely. A 360-degree twist is too far, but a 306-degree twist is apparently the maximum a human head can spin while someone is still alive.
The next time you are twisting your head, keep in mind that it can never be more than 306-degree if you want to actually keep your head on your body.
Zombies Really Do Exist
Zombies have been popular for a while. We have AMC's 'The Walking Dead' and all of the spinoffs, and movies like '28 Days Later' that show zombies in all of their bloody detail. In nature though, there is a fungus called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis that infects ants and essentially turns them into zombies. How does a fungus manipulate an ant though, does it tell the ant to do specific things like eat other ants?
In fact, the fungus does 'tell' infected ants in tropical ecosystems what to do. Typically, ants that are infected climb up high branches and latch on, in the hopes of spreading the fungus farther.
What's Really Killing the Whales
Animals pass away from natural causes all the time. It might be a blood clot or an accident like being scared to death by a clown that eventually causes a heart to stop beating. For whales though, dying from natural causes is not quite the way we think of it. Sure, there are accidents in the marine world, but whales, tend to pass away because of how their bodies age.
As whales age, they eventually lose the strength to swim up to the surface and get the air they need. This means that whales simply drown.
The Egg Substitute Nobody Really Wants To Use In Their Baking
Everybody loves enjoying a nice piece of delicious cake. Baking cakes and other items that call for eggs does take a bit of planning though. You need to make sure you have all of the ingredients on hand, otherwise, you might end up needing a substitute. There are vegan substitutes for eggs, but there is also a fluid found within human bodies that is also very close in protein structure to eggs.
That fluid is blood. It turns out that the protein structure in blood and eggs is very similar, and if you needed to, you could add a bit of blood instead of an egg.
Where Are The Six Missing United States Nuclear Missiles Hiding?
Nuclear war is no laughing matter, and the weapons that would initiate it are some of the most guarded in the entire world. You would think because they are so dangerous, that it would be almost impossible for one, let alone six, to go missing right? In the United States of America, there is a special term for a nuclear weapon that has gone missing - 'Broken Arrow.' To date, six nuclear missiles have failed to turn up.
The reason some are missing is that they accidentally been dropped by the vehicles transporting them in bodies of water, but two nuclear cores simply failed to show up at the delivery point. Now, that sounds a bit suspicious, doesn't it?
Being Under Anesthesia Does Not Always Mean You Feel Nothing
There is a common belief that getting surgery under anesthesia means that you won't feel any pain or remember being under. While we wish this was true, a lot of research has shown that this is not necessarily the case. For an unlucky few, they can either feel everything that is happening to them and cannot move, or they are aware of what is happening but forget what the pain felt like when they finally wake up.
We're not sure what is better, waking up from not enough anesthesia but not feeling anything, or feeling everything but not remembering it an hour later.
The First Chainsaws Were Made for This Terrifying Reason
The 1700s were a hard time for women, especially when it came to childbirth. The medical marvels we have now were not an option, and if a baby was in the wrong direction or stuck for some reason, doctors had to find creative ways to get it out. This is how the chainsaw was invented in Scotland. That's right, some Scottish doctors designed the first 12-inch chainsaw to assist in childbirth.
It is as grisly as it sounds. The first chainsaw was used to cut pelvic bone to help remove the baby during labor. The procedure was known as a symphysiotomy, and we are very glad medicine has changed since then.
The Dark History of Pediatric X-Rays
It may feel like X-Rays have been around forever, but they really haven't. X-rays by pediatricians became commonplace in the early 1900s. Pediatricians began x-raying kids and the first thing they noticed was that many children had broken bones that had not been treated or set correctly. This led them to believe in a bone disease which they had been unaware of prior to using x-ray technology, but this was not the issue.
Sadly, the reason so many kids had broken bones was that many of the children were victims of physical abuse in their homes and nobody realized how widespread it was.
Don't Ever Get Bugs in Your Eyes
Anyone who has left meat out in a garbage can uncovered knows that flies and gnats will swarm to it like it is the finest of feasts. These bugs like to lay eggs in rotting food, with meat being a particular favorite. Fresh meat is also an option, and for one boy in Arkansas, he, unfortunately, got to find this out firsthand after not swatting a gnat out of his eye quickly enough.
After finding his vision obscured by something dark, his parents brought him to the hospital, where much to everyone's horror, a maggot was removed from his eyeball. The gnat had decided his eye was home sweet home.
Babies In The United States Were Not Given This Until 1987
This fact is totally wild. Back in the 1980s, there was very little research done on whether or not infants could feel pain. It was believed that they could not because they did not react when pricked with a pin in one study. Thus, doctors did not administer any anesthesia when performing operations on them until 1987. All babies got before an operation was a muscle relaxant if they were lucky to keep them from moving too much.
This is no longer the case, and the American Academy of Pediatrics changed this practice in 1987 once anesthesia use was better understood in infants.
Locked In Syndrome Is Real
Can you imagine being in your body but unable to move or speak to let anyone know that you are conscious? It sounds like the makings of a medical horror movie because this does happen in real life. About 1 percent of people who have strokes and end up in a coma are actually conscious but unable to open their eyes and communicate easily. This is called Locked-In syndrome, and one notable case involved a man named Richard Marsh who appeared to not have any brain function after a stroke.
His doctor had been watching him when he decided to lift up his eyelids to see if there was movement. He could move his eyes enough for 'Yes' and 'No' answers, and his doctor was able to help him recover.
This Man Would Literally Eat Anything He Saw
Judging by this tale of a Frenchman named Tarrare, it would appear that you can eat anything if you put your mind to it. Tarrare was a man who was alive in the 1700s and was documented by a hospital for his insatiable appetite. He would eat beef, cats, dogs, and any other kind of 'meat' he came across until he was admitted to a hospital at the age of 26.
While at the hospital, staff caught him eating even worse things, such as corpses he came across, and potentially even a baby. There are a lot of theories behind his hunger, but polyphagia seems to be the most common one.
Airports Aren't as Safe as They'd Like You to Think
We have all stood in those long airport security lines as we wait to get our bags, our bodies, and anything else that doesn't look like a weapon searched. The Transportation Security Agency in the U.S. might seem like they are very rigorous in the searches but the reality is something far different, which undercover agents put to the test. They successfully smuggled weapons in their bags a whopping 95% of the time.
It would appear that removing your shoes, and standing for the pat-down isn't as effective as we are led to believe when it comes to airport security.
TV And Film Make It Look Like All Murders Are Solved
We all enjoy a good crime drama, and at the end of them, the crime is usually solved, especially if murder is involved. It is pretty rare that a movie or tv show focused on a murder that is not solved because audiences need a resolution. If you look at the statistics for how many murders are unsolved each year though, the percentage is actually pretty shocking in real life.
According to data shared by the FBI, roughly 40 percent of the murders that are reported to the police and investigated remain unsolved. If this was a test though that means 60 percent are solved which is still a pass right?
Little Mites Are Going Wild All Over Your Face At Night
When you think about your body, you tend to think of it as one giant mass with you in charge but that is far from the reality. Our bodies are kind of like ecosystems with bacteria, viruses, and all sorts of other 'living' things inside them and on the surface. On our faces, we have something called face mites that reside in pores next to hair follicles. They enjoy snacking on the sebum produced by the skin.
To make it even grosser, these little mites don't possess an exit for what they take in and often enjoy getting frisky on our faces at night.
This Man Really Did Have Knives for Hands
The history of the Spanish Conquistadors is a bloody and violent one. In Chile, there was an indigenous group known as the Mapuche and they did everything they could to fight the conquistadors and keep their land. In the Battle of Lagunillas way back in 1857, the Mapuche were defeated and as punishment, they had their noses and right hands removed. The leaders had their left hand removed as well.
One leader of the Mapuche, Galvarino did not let this stop him from fighting. Instead of leaving the war, he had knives attached to each arm and continued to fight for his people and land.
Do Chickens Really Run Around With Their Heads Cut Off?
It might sound like an old wive's tale, but some chickens do indeed run around after being beheaded. This is largely due to the fact that the nervous system and spinal cord have not been cut. One famous chicken, known as 'Mike the Headless Chicken' managed to beat the odds when his owners beheaded him and continued to live without a head. The owners were pretty surprised that Mike was able to wander around as normal.
Mike was kept in a crate for 24 hours but did not pass away, and eventually, the owners had to accept he was going to continue living. To keep him alive, an eyedropper was used to provide liquid feed.
Why The Maternal Mortality Rate Will Never Be Zero
Having children is a beautiful thing and most of the time everything is fine, but sometimes there can be complications. There is no country that has a maternal mortality rate of zero, and there likely never will be unless we start 'growing' babies in tanks as we see in science fiction movies. Modern medicine is amazing, but sometimes there are complications that occur that even doctors don't have any power over.
Childbirth will always have a higher mortality rate when compared to women who get pregnant and decide to not move forward with their pregnancies.
The Challenger Incident Was Even More Tragic Than We Thought
Every time a space shuttle is launched, the world holds its breath in anticipation. Space continues to be more accessible each year, but accidents can still happen, after all, it is the final frontier. In 1983, when the Space Shuttle Challenger launched everyone recognized how exciting this moment was until the shuttle began to break apart in the sky. Within a matter of seconds, it became one of NASA's greatest tragedies.
What makes what happened to the Challenger even more tragic is the fact that three of the air packs had been activated, which means that one or more of the crew was breathing until the shuttle hit the ocean.
Not That Many Missing Persons Are Actually Missing
Police officers are in a very unique position. They know about all of the crimes in their precinct and region, which means they have a very good idea of the statistics for specific cases, like missing persons. According to one police officer, about 30 percent of all missing persons who have police reports filed on them are sadly no longer living by the time the report is filed. That is a pretty staggering number.
In fact, it is further thought that the person or persons who file the missing person's report are often responsible for that person going missing in the first place.
One Of The Main Ingredients In Stained Glass Used To Be Kind of Gross
Old stained glass windows in Victorian homes and cathedrals are pretty spectacular, especially when the sun shines right through them and a cascade of rainbows hits the floor. Making stained glass isn't easy, but in the olden days, there was one special ingredient that really helped that glass colors stay true, especially those yellow tones. Can you guess what bodily fluid might have been used as an ingredient?
If you guessed urine, then a big congratulations to you! That's right, a bit of pee was used to make stained glass before other methods were found. javascript:void(0)
This Awful Material Is Everywhere And Nobody Can Avoid It
By now, we have all seen the damage that disposable plastic has done around the world. Plastic bottles can be seen washed up on beaches and tossed on the side of the road. Plastic is everywhere, but it is actually in the form of micro plastic. This means, that plastic particles not visible to the human eye are making their way into the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat.
It is a bit scary to think about all of those plastic particles floating around, but we only get one life so we have to enjoy it and not worry about the tiny things.
Mercury Compounds Is Surprisingly Lethal
Mercury or quicksilver as it was known in the olden days is a liquid metal element that has a silvery hue to it. The element is quite beautiful to look at, but it is one of the most hazardous substances to human health and the environment, especially in a vaporous form, or when it bioaccumulates in aquatic life, such as fish. Thus, it makes sense that a mercury compound might just be deadly.
That's right, next time you are in a lab, you may just want to avoid compounding mercury with certain elements. If you smell something sweet, it could mean a lethal dose is now in the air.
Why You Should Never Eat Polar Bear Liver Under Any Circumstances
First of all, polar bears are majestic creatures that should be left alone to roam the tundra and sun themselves on icebergs. Polar bear meat does not sound very tasty, and it's liver even less so. Some people do like to get creative with their palate though, and if polar bear liver is something you are interested in, you may want to think again. The liver contains a ton of Vitamin A.
Vitamin A is something humans need, but the quantity that is contained in a single polar bear's liver is enough to end the lives of 52 human adults. This would be more like the last supper, than a culinary adventure.
How A Camel's Body Conserves Water Is Similar To A Dehydrated Human
As desert animals, camels are biologically designed to conserve water and be able to survive in harsh desert climates. Those humps do hold water, but not like wells do. There is no water sloshing around inside of them. If a person wanted a quick drink, they wouldn't be able to tap into a hump like a keg of beer. One of the ways that camels conserve water is through their urine.
You won't see a camel with watery urine like dogs for example. Instead, it comes out like a thick syrup, just not the kind you want to put on pancakes.
The Human Body Is A Hospitable Host To More Than Just Parasites
It is all fun and games until a plant decides to take up residence in your body. There are not a lot of cases documented in which people have been found with plants growing inside of them, but it does happen. One man in Massachusetts, by the name of Ron Sveden, had been feeling unwell and presenting with cancer symptoms. After a quick x-ray, the culprit was found. A pea seed had taken root in his lung and started to grow.
In another instance, a Russian man named Artyom Sidorkin had also presented with symptoms similarly found with cancer. For him, he had a tiny fir tree growing in his lung. The moral here is to never inhale seeds.
Humans And Diamonds Are More Alike Than You Think
Modern science is pretty amazing. Diamonds are made of carbon and are considered to be one of the most expensive gemstones. For the diamond connoisseur, there is now the possibility to become shine bright like a literal diamond in the afterlife. Scientists have developed a method where human remains, which are mostly carbon like a diamond can be turned into a lab-grown diamond. This must be for people who want to be worn after their passing.
We suppose it might be nice to look down at a ring and think, 'Oh granny is looking particularly shiny today.'
Do Adults Actually Know What They Are Doing Like Kids Think?
Growing up, kids are led to believe that their parents have life figured out. They know how to cook, clean, do whatever mystery job they have and parent all at the same time. One of the biggest realizations for kids, as they grow up and become adults, is that nobody has any clue really. We are all doing our best to survive, live our best lives and somehow figure out what we want to be when we grow up.
Everyone has clueless moments, and being an adult isn't easy. We are all just playing the real-life version of the Game of Life.
Even a Public Defender Isn't Really Free
Crime dramas always show criminals being arrested and being read their Miranda rights in which it is explained that if they can't afford an attorney one will be provided. It sounds like that attorney should be free, since the whole 'if you can't afford one' line is in there but that isn't totally true. Yes, some public defenders are covered but that does not mean that you won't owe fines or some minimal legal fees.
To top it off, the 'free' lawyers often don't care if they win or lose the case because their main goal is to get a plea deal and close the case as soon as possible.
The Oh So Sweet Smell Of Death In A Hospital
Most people don't spend a lot of time around corpses unless they work in hospitals, medical schools, or funeral homes. Death is one of those subjects that people prefer to not talk about because it is something unknown and that can be scary. For people who do spend a lot of time around in settings where people are terminally ill, they often notice a somewhat sweet smell around people who are close to the end of their lives.
That sweet smell is actually their bodies already starting to decompose, even though they are still alive.
Body Decomposition Takes Much Longer Than We Thought
Some of us would like to live forever, but until scientists figure out the whole cloning thing or cryogenic freezing we still have finite lifespans. When a person passes away, their body begins to decompose but how long the tissues and skeleton take to decompose varies based on a few factors. The first is if a body is embalmed and placed in a coffin before being buried. The second is if a body is simply buried in the ground.
Bodies that are simply buried will have the tissues decompose in about a year, whereas the skeleton will take over a decade. A body in a coffin takes much longer, with the timeline being about 50 years or more.
How Hard Is It To Have An Earring Torn Out?
Men, women, and children like to gild themselves with earrings, and most of the time this is not a problem. It only becomes a problem when those earrings undergo so much force in an earlobe that they are painfully torn out. Movies make it look like this is easy to do, but it actually takes a lot of force to tear the skin, as earlobes are pretty thick compared to other areas.
Scientists measured the force of what it takes to tear an earring out and it is similar to the force used to crush a beer can after a long day.
The Oh So Natural Body Soap Nobody Should Bathe With
Soap is one of those items that make bathing fun. You can scrub a dub in the tub until you are squeaky clean, but not all soap-like substances are something you want to use. When human bodies are submerged in water and do not come to the surface the body fat turns into something a lot like soap. It's kind of gross to think about, and not something anyone would want to scoop up and try washing with.
We really hope nobody comes across this, but if you do, it is probably best to alert the authorities than trying to use it as a soap substitute.
A Tumor Might Appear To Be Slightly Humanoid On Closer Inspection
The human body is a marvel. It can grow a baby, mend broken bones and so much more. Some people have tumors that grow in their bodies, and while some can be malignant and lead to cancer a lot tend to be benign. Certain tumors can confuse doctors because they tend to have some very human traits that you might find with a fetus for example. Do you know what these are?
Some tumors have hair and teeth that end up growing on them. Can you imagine a doctor's face when they notice one of those on an X-ray? It is like an episode of 'Grey's Anatomy.