There are some houses that if the walls could speak, they would likely scream in horror. When a home becomes part of a serious murder investigation, it’s often not long before the murder memorabilia hunters come forward, ready to grab a piece of true crime history. Then, once bodies have been discovered on the site, the ghost hunters and creepy tours will follow shortly after.

SEE ALSO: 10 Abandoned Amusement Parks With Horrific Histories [Disturbing]

The following homes all made such an impact on those who live in the area and the loved ones of victims that there was no other option left but to tear them down to the ground. Not even demolishing them could completely erase their memories, of course. Locals still know what the sites were.

10 Fred And Rose West’s House

Fred and Rose West will go down in history as one of the worst serial killer duos. They lived at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester City, England, and what took place behind closed doors was so disturbing that the home has since been flattened. The sinister couple murdered at least 10 young women together between 1971 and 1987. (Fred killed more beforehand.) The victims were then dismembered and buried in either the cellar or the garden. The two even threatened their children that they, too, would “end up under the patio.”

Behind bars, Fred became depressed when Rose refused to reply to any of his letters, and he took his own life in prison. Initially, Rose denied any knowledge of the murders, but her web of lies soon fell apart, and she was sentenced to life for her involvement.

Two decades after the crimes, Gloucester City Council purchased the “House of Horrors,” as it had come to be called, knocked it down, and turned the former site into a public walkway. Still, nobody will forget in a hurry what happened at 25 Cromwell Street.^[1]

9 Jeffrey Dahmer’s Apartment

When police officers arrived at the apartment of Jeffrey Dahmer at the 900 block of North 25th Street Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, they had no idea they were about to uncover one of the grisliest crime scenes of all time. Dahmer gained his nickname “the Milwaukee Cannibal” after he lured 17 men and boys back to his apartment from 1978 to 1991 with the intention to kill them. Police discovered seven skulls, a human head, and two human hearts in the refrigerator, as well as an entire torso in the freezer, among other remains.

After the crazed cannibal was arrested, his neighbors wished to depart the building as quickly as possible. One explained, “It’s been a living hell. It’s like we’re on a museum tour or a zoo tour. People drive by day and night. I haven’t been eating. I haven’t been sleeping. All I know is I want to get the hell out of here.”^[2] The building was demolished in 1992, and the former site of the grisly murders has remained vacant ever since.

8 Ariel Castro’s House

Ariel Castro kidnapped three female victims on separate occasions between 2002 and 2004 when they were aged 14, 16, and 20 years old. He then held them captive at his home in Cleveland, Ohio. The young girls, who grew into women during their decade of hell, were kept in darkness, surrounded by boarded windows and with only a small hole providing any circulation. Castro repeatedly abused them and even fathered a daughter with one of his victims. She gave birth in a small inflatable swimming pool.

In 2013, one of the brave victims was able to escape when Castro failed to secure the “big inside door,” and she screamed a cry of help that alerted the neighbors. Castro was arrested that same evening, but he only lived out one month of his life sentence before he hanged himself with a bedsheet in prison. It took just one hour and 20 minutes for his former home to be demolished as spectators cheered from the street.^[3]

7 The Petit Family Home

The Petit Family home invasion is so disturbing that it became one of the most widely publicized crimes in the state of Connecticut’s history. In 2007, Dr. William Petit, his wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and their young daughters 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela suffered a brutal, random attack at their family home in Cheshire. Perpetrator Steven Hayes and his accomplice Joshua Komisarjevsky broke into the home, first striking William Petit with a baseball bat and then binding the other family members and forcing Jennifer to go with them to the bank and withdraw cash.^[4]

She was able to alert the bank teller of the situation, but the Petit family were failed by the responding police officers. As the mother and daughters were brutalized and murdered inside, the police still did not enter, instead focusing on setting up a perimeter around the home. William Petit was able to escape as the perpetrators torched the house. The remainder of the family home was torn down, and the lot is now a memorial garden for the family.

6 The Bloody Benders’ House

More than 140 years ago, one family committed such evil that they became known as the Bloody Benders. The Labette County, Kansas, family consisted of four people—John Bender, his wife Elvira, and their children John Jr. and Kate. (Some sources claim that Kate was actually John Jr.’s common-law wife.) From 1869 to 1872, he family would invite travelers into their home with the sole intention of smashing their skulls, cutting their throats, and stealing all their possessions. When members of the community noticed the rise in missing persons traveling through the area, they called a meeting.

A few days after that meeting, the Benders’ family home was abandoned, and locals discovered a terrible odor coming from inside. After a proper investigation, the bodies of their 11 victims were uncovered. However, other missing persons cases could tie the bloodthirsty family to as many as 21 murders. The since-demolished house is nowadays nothing more than a gravel road two hours southeast of Wichita. Ghost hunters will travel there just to soak up any sensation of its sinister history.^[5]

5 John Christie’s House

In London, 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill is not the same house as it once was. In 1978, the place was rebuilt so that the grisly memories of the previous building could be long forgotten. In the 1940s and early 1950s, serial killer John Christie hid the bodies of his victims around the house, including burying them in the garden, hiding them under the floorboards, or stuffing the corpses inside a wall in the kitchen. In 1953, he was arrested, and it was discovered that young women who had turned to him for help with unwanted pregnancies were murdered. It is believed more than eight vulnerable victims lost their lives to the sinister Christie.

Despite the rebuild, this might be a case where past evils haven’t moved on quite so quickly. The current owner confessed, “I think the place is cursed. I’ve had bad luck since I’ve been here. I’ve been here 40 years. My health’s gone. Everything’s gone.”^[6]

4 Ted Bundy’s House

Ted Bundy confessed to the murders of 30 young women and girls in seven states between 1974 and 1978. However, the real victim count is believed to be much higher, as he buried the corpses in several secluded areas. One location that became a killing spot for him was Emigration Canyon, Utah. The serial killer’s former rooming house has since been destroyed, leaving only a scatter of bricks. However, the sinister cellar is still intact, which encourages ghost hunters and other true crime fans who are chasing a creepy experience.^[7]

Bundy moved to Utah when he was accepted at the University of Utah Law School in August 1974. It’s believed he kidnapped and murdered eight victims aged between 16 and 18 during his time in the state. The surrounding area of Bundy’s cellar would have been the last place some of these women saw before their lives were stolen from them.

3 Anthony Sowell’s House

Two years after Anthony “the Cleveland Strangler” Sowell murdered 11 women between 2007 and 2009, his former home on Imperial Avenue in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Cleveland was demolished. The property was where the bodies of the victims were found in various states of decomposition. The hunt for more bodies left the home in crippling disrepair, and the city decided it was in the interest of public safety to tear it down for good. More than 50 people—including relatives of the victims—gathered outside the property to watch the demise of the death house.

The victims’ family members received the following hand-delivered letter from the city: “In order to prevent actions that would be disrespectful to the memory of your loved one, your family and our community; the demolition will be performed in such a way that no piece of the property will remain.”^[8]

2 Myra Hindley And Ian Brady’s House

Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are considered by many as the real faces of evil. In the early to mid-1960s, they killed five children aged between ten and 17. The bodies of three of the victims were discovered in graves on Saddleworth Moor, but the chilling couple never revealed where they placed the bodies of the other victims. Hindley died behind bars in 2002 and Brady in 2017, and they never allowed the relatives of the victims any peace—withholding information about the murders until the very end.

It’s no surprise that the home the Moors murderers shared on Wardle Brook Avenue in Hattersley, Cheshire, England—the same place where investigators found the body of their final victim—stayed empty for so many years after the couple was arrested. Nobody wanted to live in a property where two of the biggest monsters in Britain once slept peacefully at night. The property was pulled down in 1987, and the site has remained empty ever since.^[9]

1 Dr. H.H. Holmes’s Murder Castle

In 1885, Dr. H.H. Holmes moved to the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago and built his now-infamous murder castle. The labyrinth-like structure featured many different rooms—all with equally sinister ways to die. The rooms were soundproofed, and the many secret passages would leave his unsuspecting guests feeling disorientated. There were even trapdoors that would drop his victims into the basement where he could finish the job. Holmes murdered for financial gain; often selling the skeletons of his victims to medical research facilities.

The actual victim count has been guessed to be as high as 200, but Holmes only confessed to 27 murders. He was hanged at Moyamensing Prison in Philadelphia in 1896. In 1938, the murder castle was finally torn down, and a post office now stands in its place. Chicago tour guides still take groups to the former site of the murders, but the true horror that took place here can only really be imagined.^[10]

Cheish Merryweather is a true crime fan and an oddities fanatic. She can either be found at house parties telling everyone Charles Manson was only 5’2″ or at home reading true crime magazines.
Twitter: @thecheish

Few fictional works have had a more significant impact than Star Wars. This sci-fi fantasy franchise captures the imagination with its laser swords, space battles, engaging characters, and intriguing mythology. These qualities make it beloved by audiences of all ages. That said, they also make it ripe for parody.

Star Wars has seen countless spoofs across movies and TV series. Oddly enough, many of those parodies stem from animated shows. These works don’t have to worry about cheap sets or other production values; the only limit is the creator’s imagination. As such, virtually anything is fair game. They can recreate the films’ visuals to a tee or go in a radically different direction. That freedom opens new avenues for humor. As a result, these animated satires can be funnier than their live-action counterparts.

Related: 10 Clever Scientific References in Futurama

10 Family Guy

Arguably the most famous entry on the list, Family Guy has three TV episodes spoofing Star Wars. Each flick reenacts part of the original trilogy, with the show’s characters portraying the sci-fi icons. For instance, Peter Griffin is Han Solo, and Stewie is Darth Vader. That gimmick alone carries much of the humor.

Of course, the specials also stack on a gaggle of other jokes. These gags are all in Family Guy’s typical style of silly and dirty. Just look at the Battle of Hoth, where one of the Rebels stops mid-fight to go touch their “giant boob nipple gun.” The whole tale recreates these designs and tropes with loving detail while simultaneously poking fun at them.^[1]

9 The Fairly OddParents

Many kids probably wish their toys came to life, but The Fairly OddParents shows the Dark Side (sorry) of that dream. In the episode “Hard Copy,” Timmy’s fairy godparents leave for a doctor’s visit. The kid worries about not having anyone to grant his wishes, so Wanda conjures a magical copier to manifest anything he scans. Unfortunately, activating the Life Size mode brings forth a sci-fi invasion.

Scanning an action figure of Dark Laser from Space Wars, Timmy unwittingly unleashes the Darth Vader wannabe on his town. The villain swiftly scans the rest of the toys from his catalog, bringing the full wrath of his empire down on Dimsdale. Timmy must fight magic with magic. Not only do the lightsabers spring from his fairies’ wands, but he flies a Rebel Y-Wing in the shape of a star. This aesthetic makes the slick sci-fi stuff look farcically frilly, which goes hand-in-hand with the show’s theatrical irony.^[2]

8 The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius

Star Wars is a space opera with Shakespearean drama, so why not apply it to an actual Shakespeare play? The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius marries the two properties with entertaining results. “Out, Darn Spotlight” sees Jimmy’s school put on a production of Macbeth with an extraterrestrial edge. That’s not the only liberty taken, though.

The revised story concludes with Macbeth sword-fighting a space pirate. Thanks to Jimmy’s work with special effects, the duel unfolds with laser swords akin to lightsabers. The production values put most movies to shame, but the performers are still untrained kids. That fact inevitably leads to a few slip-ups, such as Jimmy accidentally losing his sword during the duel. The finished product somehow feels high-end and low-budget at the same time. Of course, children fumbling with advanced tech is par for the course with this series.^[3]

7 Rugrats

You might wonder how a show about babies could parody anything, but the eponymous Rugrats have active imaginations. They often use make-believe to rationalize the world around them. Thus, when the stars start falling, the babies embark on a space adventure to set things right.

“Falling Star” contains a slew of sci-fi references, but Star Wars is the primary target. It turns out the culprit of the collapsing stars is the bratty Angelica, decked out like Darth Vader. While there’s no lightsaber duel, the scenario does lead to an “I am your father” moment where she reveals herself as Tommy’s cousin. That absurdity born from naivete is what gives Rugrats its charm.^[4]

6 Pinky and the Brain

Being an animated skit show, both Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain thrive on satire. It’s not a stretch to see them come together to spoof the original Star Wars. Their approach, however, is essentially the precursor to Family Guy’s take. “Star Warners” recreates the original film as a TV special, with the show’s stars filling out the cast. Wakko is Luke Skywalker; Slappy Squirrel is Obi-Wan Kenobi; Pinky and the Brain are the two droids; the list goes on. However, seeing these cartoon animals embody the roles is even wilder.

That unpredictability extends to the jokes. The episode continues the humor found in these ’90s Warner Bros. shows. That means plenty of slapstick mixed with referential gags. A memorable example comes when the Empire tortures Princess Leia by having her listen to Ben Stein. These zingers help the shows spoof all of pop culture. Considering Star Wars is a cultural phenomenon, that style is oddly appropriate.^[5]

5 The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy

Despite its supernatural subject matter, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy has several Star Wars gags. The most blatant occurs in the episode “Brown Evil,” which involves Billy inadvertently baking an evil batch of brownies. Grim loves these pastries, but they also attract hordes of undead. This invasion draws monster hunter Hoss Delgado, who immediately zeroes in on Grim.

The resulting brawl is straight out of Star Wars. Hoss activates a green energy sword from his mechanized hand and slices the blade off Grim’s scythe. The Reaper then energizes what’s left of his staff, and the two fighters engage in a duel, complete with lightsaber sound effects. It ends when Grim slices off Hoss’s hand. Luckily, he still has a human hand and a heap of muscle. One punch knocks Grim’s head clean off. That mixture of gallows humor and gross-out gags is what Billy & Mandy does best.^[6]

4 Robot Chicken

Here’s a no-brainer. Robot Chicken lives to poke fun at pop culture. This stop-motion sketch show acts out iconic movies and TV shows using action figures and dolls. That alone would be amusing enough, but the creators also splice some self-aware irony into the scripts. Basically, they show how these scenes would play out if the characters were juvenile fools who questioned every concept.

Star Wars is a natural treasure trove for that type of nitpicking. Sure enough, Robot Chicken lays out limitless skits based on this space opera. These bits typically pick on pivotal scenes. Luke and the Emperor get into a “yo momma” fight; Obi-Wan gives a long-winded speech about the “high ground” after slicing off Anakin’s legs; Chewie accidentally rips off Lando’s head and reattaches it backward. These gags are just the tip of the iceberg. Nothing is sacred in this silly show.^[7]

3 Teen Titans

Going into the TV realm is a great excuse to lampoon pop culture’s most famous franchises. Teen Titans takes ample advantage of that in “Don’t Touch That Dial.” This episode involves geeky villain Control Freak constructing an advanced remote to travel into the city’s TV screen. To prevent his monopoly over the television realm, the Titans follow him into the televised dimension, making their way through countless recognizable IPs to catch the baddie.

This chase culminates in a sci-fi battle straight out of Star Wars. A “12th-Level Space Samurai,” Control Freak knocks aside the Darth Vader stand-in and takes his laser sword. Then, right on cue, he proclaims himself to be the hero’s father. Luckily, Beast Boy is a die-hard fan of this franchise. Although his attempted Jedi mind trick doesn’t work on the battle droids, he does pull off an ancient spell to trap Control Freak. Nerd knowledge saves the day thanks to the series’ trademark blend of tense action and wacky anime comedy.^[8]

2 Phineas and Ferb

Wish fulfillment can be both comforting and hilarious. Phineas and Ferb always strives to prove that. Its titular kids constantly get into elaborate misadventures from their backyard. However, one of their greatest journeys occurs in their crossover with Star Wars. Once again, the story goes through the classic plot of A New Hope, with the show’s characters filling in for the film’s cast. That prospect might seem stale at this point, but the humor practically writes itself.

The appeal stems from how well the series’ stars fit the movie archetypes. Petty sister Candace is a Stormtrooper, Perry the platypus’s secret agent antics make him a Rebel sp, and the deranged Dr. Doofenshmirtz is an incompetent Sith Lord responsible for the Death Star’s fatal flaw. In turn, having these silly figures inhabit the top spots alters the tale in chuckle-worthy ways, such as the Empire building a Sith-inator to turn people evil. That’s exactly the type of goofy spin that you’d expect from a bunch of kids.^[9]

1 Buzz Lightyear of Star Command

This joke has a big-screen precedent. Toy Story 2 depicts a fight between Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear and Evil Emperor Zurg. They melodramatically reenact their rivalry, which is all the funnier considering they’re both plastic toys. The cherry on top comes when Zurg proclaims that he’s Buzz’s father, to which Buzz responds by screaming “No!” in hammy fashion. That silly revelation makes things awkward in the spin-off show.

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command undoes this twist and uses it for a comedic callback. During the episode “Stranger Invasion,” the hero and villain once again fight for the fate of the universe. Zurg then distracts Buzz by repeating the movie’s reveal, which lets him get one over on the Space Ranger. He even mocks his enemy for being so gullible. Yep, the series parodies a parody. How fitting for this cheeky take on Buzz’s high-flying adventures.^[10]

Burying people has been a common way of dealing with the dead across the world and throughout history. However, there is much variety within burials.

Social, religious, and cultural norms often decide how individuals are placed, whether they have burial goods, and what they are buried in (e.g., stone tombs or wooden coffins). Even with all the different burials that have been found in the archaeological record, there are still some ancient burials that are unique and eye-catching.

10 Infant-Encircled Tomb

In Pachacamac, a site near modern-day Lima, Peru, a tomb was found containing roughly 80 individuals buried around AD 1000. They belonged to the Ychsma people, a pre-Incan population.

Half the individuals consisted of adults placed in fetal positions. Wrapped in textiles that are now mostly disintegrated, they had wooden or clay false heads lying on top of them.

The other half of the deceased consisted of infants arranged in a circle around the adults. The babies may have been sacrificed. They were all buried at the same time, and the Ychsma people had sacrificed infants in other burials. However, this is not certain as the skeletons don’t have visible evidence of it.

A large number of the adults had serious diseases, such as cancer or syphilis. They may have traveled to the site to be healed, a relatively common occurrence in pre-Columbian times. There were also skeletons of animals (such as guinea pigs, dogs, and alpacas or llamas) that had been sacrificed and placed in the tomb.^[1]

9 Skeleton Spiral

In modern-day Tlalpan, Mexico, archaeologists discovered a 2,400-year-old burial containing 10 individuals arranged in a spiral formation. Each individual had been placed on his or her side, with the legs pointed toward the center of the circle formed by the bodies. Their arms had been intertwined with those lying on either side.

Each skeleton was overlapping in other ways, too. For example, one individual’s head was placed on another person’s chest. The deceased consisted of people from all age groups, including an infant and an older child as well as young, middle-aged, and old adults.

Of the adults, two females and one male were identified. Two skeletons had skulls that had definitely been artificially modified. Some also had teeth that had been modified, a common practice at the time. The cause of death for these individuals is still unknown.^[2]

8 Standing Burials

In a Mesolithic cemetery just north of modern-day Berlin, a 7,000-year-old male skeleton was discovered. Besides Mesolithic cemeteries being exceedingly unusual in themselves, this man had also been buried standing up, making him even more conspicuous.

Initially, he had only been buried up to his knees, allowing the rest of his body to decay for a bit before it was interred. The man was buried with flint and bone tools and had been a hunter-gatherer with a physically undemanding life.

Similar burials have also been discovered in the cemetery known as Olenij Ostrov in what is now Karelia, Russia. The large cemetery contained four individuals who had also been buried in standing positions at approximately the same time. No further connection between the man from Germany and the people in Russia have been found yet.^[3]

7 Sacrificial Children

In Derbyshire, England, a mass grave was found that contained 300 soldiers from the Great Viking Army. Although this mass grave was not unusual, another grave next to it contained four individuals who were 8–18 years old. The children were placed back-to-back with a sheep’s jaw at their feet.

They were dated to the same time as the Vikings, and at least two of them had died from traumatic injuries. Their placement and potential cause of death has led researchers to believe that they may have been sacrificed to be buried with the fallen warriors.

This may have been part of a ritual for the children to accompany the dead soldiers in the afterlife. Although this is still conjecture, no similar grave has been found from this time in England.^[4]

6 The Speared Man

An Iron Age burial site found in what is now Pocklington, England, contained 75 burial chambers (aka barrows) with over 160 individuals. One of these burials contained a man in his late teens or early twenties who had been buried with his sword 2,500 years ago.

The distinctive part of his burial? After he had been placed in a crouched position in his grave, he had been stabbed with five spears. Four went down his spine while the fifth pierced his groin.^[5]

The spears were placed so that they would have been sticking out from his burial mound—to be seen for years after his death. Researchers believe that the man may have been a high-ranking warrior who was ritualistically speared to release his spirit.

5 The Bound Woman

In modern-day Plovdiv, Bulgaria, a medieval female burial from the 13th to 14th century was found in the ancient Thracian and Roman Nebet Tepe fortress. It differed from the other burials found there as the woman had been placed with her face down and her hands tied behind her back.^[6]

Although burials with people facing down have been found across the globe, it does not commonly include binding. The archaeologists who excavated her had never seen a similar burial in the area. They believe that it may have been a punishment for criminal activity, though that it is not a reaction to the vampire beliefs for which Bulgarian archaeology has received a lot of attention.

4 The ‘Great Death Pit’

During the excavations of Ur in the early 1900s, there were six burials found without tombs that were dubbed “death pits.” The most impressive of these is the Great Death Pit of Ur, a burial containing six males and 68 females.

The males were laid to rest at the entrance. Wearing helmets and holding weapons, they were believed to be guarding the pit. Most of the females were neatly placed in four rows along the northwest corner of the pit. Two groups of six women were also in rows along two of the other edges.

All the women were dressed in expensive clothing with headdresses made from gold, silver, and lapis lazuli. One of the women had a headdress and jewelry that was much more extravagant than the rest. These pieces resembled those of Puabi, a Sumerian queen. It is thus believed that the dead woman was a high-ranking person and that the rest of the deceased were sacrificed to go with her to the afterlife.

Whether this was a voluntary or forced sacrifice is unknown. Two skeletons, one male and one female, had premortem skull fractures. None of the others had any visible injuries. Researchers believe that the victims consumed poison to kill them. The two injured people may have also been clubbed on their heads.^[7]

3 Mass Infant Graves

Mass graves containing babies are unusual, but several ancient ones have been discovered. In Ashkelon, Israel, a collection of bones belonging to over 100 infants was discovered in a sewer from Roman times. The babies showed no signs of illness or deformation and may have been killed as a form of birth control.

A similar burial containing 97 infants was found in the Roman villa at Hambleden, England. These remains are theorized to have been babies born in a brothel who were thus unwanted. Alternatively, they may have been babies who were stillborn.^[8]

Another mass grave was found in a well in Athens, with remains dating from 165 BC to 150 BC. The location contained 450 infant skeletons, 150 dog skeletons, and one adult with severe physical deformities. Most of the infants were less than a week old. One-third had died from bacterial meningitis, and the rest had died from unknown causes. There was no evidence that their deaths were unnatural.

As babies were not considered to be real people until a ceremony performed 7–10 days after birth, it is possible that these babies had died before they were considered real humans and were thus disposed of in a simple way.

2 Multiple Skulls

On Efate Island, Vanuatu, a 3,000-year-old cemetery was excavated with over 50 skeletons exhumed. Each skeleton was missing its skull. It was common for the Lapita people who lived there to exhume a dead body once its flesh had rotted and remove the head. The head would be placed in a shrine or somewhere similar to pay respect to the deceased.

All the skeletons were facing the same (unspecified) direction except for four who were facing south. These four had isotope levels indicating that they had originated somewhere other than the island unlike the rest of the individuals buried there.

One of these immigrants was buried with three skulls (taken from the local people) on his chest. This burial was the only one that included skulls and most likely indicates that he was admired in some way.^[9]

1 Mixed Mummies

A study conducted on ancient burials on the British Isles found that there were at least 16 mummies created between 2200 BC and 700 BC. As this area of the world is cold and wet, which is not great for mummification, it is believed that they were created by being smoked over fires or intentionally buried in peat bogs.^[10]

Mummies are not that unusual as they have been found in many parts of the world. However, several of these mummies seem to have been made up of multiple people. It is possible that only certain body parts were preserved during the mummification process and that these parts were cobbled together to create complete mummies.

Growing up in the United States, you learn about all the big, quintessentially “American” sites and structures from a very early age. You’re told that they are important and given a vague explanation of why. Then you set about the task of never really thinking about them again.

That’s a shame because they can be quite fascinating—usually for reasons that they were never meant to be. Behind the stately columns and torches lies an entire world of weirdness hidden away from the public eye.

10 The Washington Mini Monument

The Washington Monument, the giant white obelisk in Washington, DC, was built in honor of the first US president, George Washington. You probably knew that. What you may not have known is that the monument has a forgotten baby brother.

Buried beneath an unassuming manhole right beside the famous landmark is a 3.7-meter-tall (12 ft) replica. Placed there in the 1880s, around the same time that the Washington Monument was finished, this shrunken clone served as a “Geodetic Control Point” for the National Geodetic Survey (NGS).^[1]

Officially named “Bench Mark A,” it was basically used as an exceptionally accurate starting point when making maps and planning railroad routes. However, due to its proximity to the monument, the NGS employees decided to dress it up a bit rather than use the standard plain metal rods.

Unfortunately, the miniature monument has sunk into DC’s marshy soil over the years. So it was given a proper burial. It was entombed in a brick chimney and sealed off from the world. It continues to sink about 0.5 millimeters (0.02 in) each year.

9 The Capitol’s Flag Factory

Aside from being your typical stately government building, the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, offers a special service: For a small fee, you can own an American flag that has been flown over the Capitol. So, if you wish to own a flag that is slightly more America-y than your neighbor’s, you’re welcome.

But before you reach for your wallet, there’s just one thing. The flag you receive will indeed have been flown over the Capitol, but only on one of three tiny, hidden flagpoles for 30 seconds.

Since its inception in 1937, the Capitol Flag Program (CFP) has supplied patriotic citizens with genuine “Capitol-flown” flags. However, when demand eventually outgrew supply, the CFP had to get creative. Rather than continue to sell the prominently displayed flags above the Capitol’s entrances, they just installed a bizarre “flag factory” on the roof.

Three unremarkable flagpoles, complete with a small service elevator and crew of workers, are used to fly as many flags for the state-mandated 30 seconds as possible each day. Security cameras have even been installed to prevent workers from flying the flags for a disgustingly disrespectful 29 seconds.^[2]

8 The Golden Gate Bridge-Boat-Tunnel Thing

While it isn’t a really a national monument, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge is still a world-famous symbol of American ingenuity. However, this bright orange engineering marvel came dangerously close to not existing. San Francisco almost built a tunnel instead. Stranger still, they almost built a tunnel designed by a man who had presumably no idea what a tunnel actually was.

When shopping around for ideas about how to span San Francisco Bay in the early 1930s, city officials were delivered an unusual proposal by local inventor Cleve F. Shaffer. His eccentric concept called for two bridges to be built—one from each shore—which would each connect to its own ship floating stationary in the bay. A tunnel would run between the ships, which would be raised and lowered to allow sea traffic in and out of the city.^[3]

Aside from the fever-dream design, the problems introduced by the plan were many. The narrow spiral ramps within the bridge-ships would create nightmarish traffic jams. In addition, the fact that most of the bridge was freely floating was a recipe for maritime disaster.

Tempted by the relatively low price tag, the city of San Francisco came bafflingly close to accepting this design before settling on their now world-famous suspension bridge.

7 The Supreme Basketball Court

The “Highest Court of the Land” is a title that has long been held by the US Supreme Court. It is well-deserved, albeit in a metaphorical sense. A more literal example would be the secret basketball court which sits just above the courtroom.

Once used as a storage area for journals and other legal documents, the fifth floor of the Washington, DC, Supreme Court building was converted into an all-purpose workout area for off-duty employees in the 1940s. At some point, the focus shifted to basketball and a slightly smaller-than-regulation basketball court was constructed.

In recent years, justices such as Byron White and William H. Rehnquist have shot hoops there to blow off steam. Sandra Day O’Connor used it to host women-only yoga classes. A weight-lifting area even caters to justices looking to strengthen their cores.^[4]

Unfortunately, this court is off-limits to the public. As it sits just above the courtroom on the fourth floor, there are strict rules in place. Signs warn visitors not to play when court is in session because squeaky sneakers can really blow your concentration when deciding the legal fate of millions.

6 The Disturbing Vision Behind the National Parks

Many people are aware that Theodore Roosevelt founded the US Forest Service and more or less created the concept of a “national park.” However, most people don’t know that he had help—from some of the most distressingly racist people on the planet. They saw national parks as an opportunity to prove the importance of racial purification.

These men were Madison Grant, Gifford Pinchot, and a handful of other aristocratic supporters of eugenics, the belief that some creatures—including humans—are genetically superior to others. They were fond of warning of the impending “race suicide” that America would face if it didn’t replenish its stock of white people and even suggested that certain people should be legally forbidden to reproduce.^[5]

However, they were also very vocal about the importance of wildlife conservation. When Roosevelt approached them for help in establishing the national parks, they saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

Essentially, their idea was to use the parks as a metaphor for human society—the noble bear and elk (white people) deprived of land and resources by weaker but more numerous species (nonwhites). Luckily, the message was lost in translation and now we just like looking at all the pretty trees.

5 Crazy Horse’s Ironic Insult

In 1948, sculptor Korczazk Ziolkowski began work on possibly the most ambitious statue in the world. Using the very mountains of South Dakota’s Black Hills, he planned to honor Native American folk hero Crazy Horse with a massive memorial, the largest on the planet. Unfortunately, he didn’t bother to consult any actual Native Americans before starting work.

Aside from the fact that Ziolkowski began unknowingly blowing apart a sacred mountain with no permission whatsoever, the statue itself has proven problematic as well. The plan calls for Crazy Horse, mounted on horseback, to be pointing dramatically across the land.

This is a reference to a folktale in which a white man asks, “Where are your lands now?” The legendary warrior replies, “My lands are where my dead lie buried.” It makes for a moving image. But there’s one small problem: It is unbelievably rude to point in Native American culture.^[6]

Needless to say, Native American spokesmen have been condemning the statue for decades, comparing it to a Mount Rushmore that features the presidents picking their noses. Luckily, the statue is not yet finished. Here’s hoping that someone takes over soon who is willing to actually speak to the people being honored.

4 The National Mall’s Dodged Bullet

The National Mall in Washington, DC, is absolutely packed with monuments to great Americans and moments in American history. The Washington Monument, the Smithsonian, and the Lincoln Memorial all call this long, grassy stretch home. However, in the early 1920s, it came dangerously close to adopting a new monument, seemingly praising one of the darkest moments in the nation’s history.

Having only been abolished half a century prior, slavery was still an extremely tender topic during the early years of the 20th century. This is exactly why the “Mammy Monument” was so baffling.

Proposed by North Carolina Congressman Charles Stedman in 1923, this statue featured a large slave woman holding a white infant. It was to be a memorial to slaves who “desired no change in their condition of life.”^[7]

Understandably, in an era in which many white Americans were still struggling to decide if freeing the slaves had been the right move, a monument to slaves that looked upon slavery “as the happy golden hours of their lives” might have been problematic.

Nevertheless, the Senate approved the proposal, nearly constructing the statue ironically close to the Lincoln Memorial. However, overwhelming backlash ultimately caused the project to be canceled.

3 Lincoln’s Cave Drawings

Speaking of the Lincoln Memorial, it isn’t immune to Hidden Historical Weirdness Syndrome (HHWS), either. Like other HHWS sufferers, Lincoln’s famous shrine hides its secrets well. Only a select few ever get to see it, but there is a man-made cavern full of modern cave paintings hiding just beneath Abe’s massive throne.

During the monument’s construction in the naturally swampy Washington, DC, terrain, workers had to dig down 12 meters (40 ft) to hit anything solid enough to build on. Then they poured several concrete pillars to support the weight of the memorial. This inadvertently created a huge artificial cave system beneath the structure. In the years following its 1922 completion, it even began growing stalactites.

But the truly bizarre bits are the cave drawings—charcoal graffiti left by bored workmen over 100 years ago. Perfectly preserved in their sealed tomb, intricate illustrations of dogs, horses, flapper girls, and men smoking pipes stare from the giant columns supporting Honest Abe.

Plastic sheets have been placed to protect a few of these drawings, but most are still exactly as they were left a century ago. Tentative plans are in place to open this otherworldly time capsule to the public in the near future.^[8]

2 The Roosevelt Geyser

Today, the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial sits on a quiet island in the Potomac River in Washington, DC. In honor of the 26th president’s love of nature and conservation, it largely consists of a simple park. However, upon Roosevelt’s death in 1919, proposals for a memorial began pouring in, and the current design was nowhere near the most likely.

At first, officials were drawn to a plan put forth by architect John Russell Pope. On the southern banks of DC’s tidal basin—home of the Jefferson Memorial—a fountain would be constructed in honor of Roosevelt’s spirit, which “sprang out of the deep sources of the nation’s history.” However, this would be no ordinary fountain. Larger than life, like Roosevelt himself, this fountain would blast water to a staggering 61 meters (200 ft), twice as tall as the Lincoln Memorial.^[9]

Obviously, the man-made geyser idea never saw the light of day. Not only did many agree that it was too soon to build a memorial to the only one-year-deceased president, but the irony wasn’t lost on the public. After all, was such a monumental waste of water really the best way to honor the greatest conservationist in history?

1 Lady Liberty’s Makeover

New York City’s Statue of Liberty is far and away the most powerful symbol of the United States. Instantly recognizable the world over, this (now) green behemoth has welcomed ships to NYC since 1886. But bizarrely, her iconic look was not her first one—she was originally a Muslim woman.

Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, the statue’s designer, had first planned to build the colossal statue/lighthouse for the opening of Egypt’s Suez Canal. She was to be a fellah (“Arab peasant”) clad in a simple Middle Eastern robe.

Entitled Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia, she would represent the Egyptians, her torch lighting the way for the rest of the world. However, after throwing obscene amounts of cash at the canal project itself, the Egyptian government passed on the costly—and entirely cosmetic—statue.

But Bartholdi was determined to bring his vision to life. So when the French government approached him to design a monument for the US for its centennial celebration, he jumped at the chance. After swapping her Muslim robe for a more Roman number and changing her official name to Liberty Enlightening the World, Bartholdi presented the United States with his now world-famous creation.^[10]

While box office disappointment is not necessarily a reflection on the quality of a motion picture, it is surprising to discover a really inspiring movie that initially failed to win over audiences. It is easy for films with a lot of heart to be labeled corny or overly sentimental, which can be one of the things that might prevent such a movie from being a hit. These are 10 films that flopped when they were originally released but still have the power to inspire those who are willing to give them a chance.

Related: 10 Real-Life, Romantic Love Stories from World War II

10 Slow Dancing in the Big City

The 1978 romantic drama Slow Dancing in the Big City is remembered as a huge flop. Overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles in order to achieve an ambition is a major theme that runs through this movie, which also involves the relationship between talented but ailing young ballerina on the cusp of fame, Sarah Gantz, and an earthy, out-of-shape newspaper columnist Lou Friedlander. So it’s no wonder publicity for the film compared it to Rocky, which was such an enormous hit just a few years earlier. The movie actually has many things in common with Rocky,” including the same director, John G. Avildsen, composer Bill Conti, and an underdog storyline.

Slow Dancing in the Big City turned out to be the failure that many people had expected the low-budget Rocky to be. The flaws of Slow Dancing in the Big City are apparent. Lou (Paul Sorvino) generally comes across as a doormat, and the inexperience of newcomer Anne Ditchburn, who plays Sarah, is obvious enough. Additionally, the scaled-back, unrefined style, which was so appealing in Rocky, did not work in this film. However, it is still very watchable and succeeds at inspiring audiences.

As Roger Ebert said, the movie: “cheerfully exists in the world of big hearts and brave tears and happy endings that make you blow your nose. It’s a classic of melodramatic overachievement.”^[1]

9 Author! Author!

Al Pacino received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance as playwright Ivan Travalian in the 1982 comedy Author! Author!, but the movie bombed with critics and audiences alike. The plot revolves around Ivan’s efforts to mount his latest play on Broadway while struggling as an unlikely single father to his blended family when his unfaithful wife Gloria (Tuesday Weld) suddenly leaves him and the children. Amid all the chaos, Ivan complicates things further by embarking on an affair with a free-spirited actress, Alice Detroit (Dyan Cannon).

The timing of its release was likely one of the things that hurt this movie at the box office since it was such a big year for blockbuster action flicks like First Blood and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, but Author! Author! is far from perfect. One problem is the lack of focus. With so much going on in the story, the audience is as distracted as Ivan himself would have been on a typical day. On the plus side, Pacino’s depiction of Ivan is an impressive and heartwarming departure from his most memorable characters. Ivan’s love and commitment to these otherwise unwanted kids come shining through, and we root for him to succeed as he juggles family life with the theater.^[2]

8 The Rewrite

Hugh Grant has starred in more than his fair share of romantic comedies, and the 2014 film The Rewrite is often labeled as such, but it only partially fits into this category. It is just as much an inspirational movie about comebacks and self-discovery. Grant plays a down-on-his-luck screenwriter, Keith Michaels, whose career started to flounder after penning one legendary hit film many years earlier.

Struggling to pay bills, he reluctantly moves cross country to take a teaching job at Binghamton University in New York, where he is a complete misfit and nearly gets fired for his unorthodox approach. However, Keith is surprised to find that he has a real calling to teach, and he must choose whether to keep the position or accept an opportunity to work in the film industry again.

There’s plenty of humor and a sweet romance between Keith and single mom Holly (Marisa Tomei), but inspiration is at the heart of the story, which is very much about soul searching and starting over in life. Despite being written and directed by Grant’s frequent collaborator Marc Lawrence and featuring an impressive supporting cast, The Rewrite was a major commercial disappointment that mostly drew lukewarm reviews, but when it comes to films that encourage us to explore new horizons, it definitely hits the mark.^[3]

7 Lost in Yonkers

The 1993 dramedy Lost in Yonkers, about a dysfunctional family in WWII-era Yonkers, New York, is based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning Neil Simon play and features critically acclaimed performances from Mercedes Ruehl and Irene Worth reprising their Tony-winning stage roles for the screen adaptation. However, all this was not enough to make it a hit at the box office. This film, which follows two adolescent brothers, Jay (Brad Stoll) and Arty (Mike Damus), who are left with their father’s eccentric family one summer, may have been too offbeat to achieve mainstream popularity, but that’s also part of its charm.

The movie, which memorably co-stars Richard Dreyfuss, centers on the boys’ childlike Aunt Bella, who dreams of a home and family of her own, only to be deterred by her tyrannical mother. Lost in Yonkers veers between farcical, poignant, heartbreaking, and ultimately inspiring as Bella finds independence.^[4]

6 Beautiful

Some of the most inspiring films feature storytelling, which manages to be soul-stirring but not overly sentimental. This is the case with the dramedy Beautiful, starring Minnie Driver as professional beauty pageant contestant Mona. Mona must come to terms with her role as a mother to her young daughter Vanessa (Hallie Eisenberg), mainly being brought up by her roommate Ruby (Joey Lauren Adams), posing as Vanessa’s mom so that Mona can be eligible to compete in the pageants.

However, when Ruby is arrested for a crime she didn’t commit, Mona is forced to take on real maternal responsibility for the little girl and, in so doing, begins to confront issues rooted in her own painful childhood. Though it failed to turn a profit when released in 2000, Beautiful succeeds at being a feel-good movie that powerfully communicates the importance of making family a top priority.^[5]

5 84 Charing Cross Road

The quirky but heartwarming 1987 film 84 Charing Cross Road, starring Anne Bancroft as brash, struggling New York writer Helene Hanff and Anthony Hopkins as her unlikely pen pal, reserved London bookseller Frank Doel, isn’t the type of movie that is expected to be a hit at the box office. It was also fairly predictable that the film would be embraced by critics, considering the impressive cast and critical acclaim of the source material, which was Hanff’s bestselling autobiographical book.

Both of these things came true, but one surprising benefit of watching 84 Charing Cross Road is how inspiring it turns out to be. Helene’s frequent requests for obscure, vintage books and Frank’s skill for obtaining these rare volumes bring them together. It’s very moving to see how these two people, who are so different from one another, form a meaningful long-distance relationship through written correspondence without ever meeting. Knowing this was based on a true story makes it even more inspiring.^[6]

4 Children of Men

Well-made dystopian dramas are often among the most inspiring films, which makes sense considering how easy it is to root for a character who’s trying to save the world. Based on a novel by P.D. James, the 2006 sci-fi action thriller Children of Men is set in a disastrous world where humans have lost the ability to reproduce. Clive Owen stars as Theo Faron, a one-time activist turned cynical bureaucrat, who agrees to take a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.

Julianne Moore plays Theo’s radical ex-girlfriend, Julian, who re-enters his life and compels him to join her in a mission to effect positive change. One of the most inspiring things about this movie is Theo’s transformation from someone who could be seen as symbolic of the growing pessimism in society into a hero who is fighting for the future of humanity.

Despite all the film has to offer in the way of exciting and thought-provoking entertainment, it was not a financial success but did earn plenty of critical acclaim. In a Time Magazone article about Children of Men, the publication praised the work of director Alfonso Cuarón and called the film “a cautious incantation for a hopeful future.”^[7]

3 Dominick and Eugene

The 1988 drama Dominick and Eugene is a raw but uplifting film about the complex relationship between medical student Eugene (Ray Liotta) and his intellectually challenged fraternal twin brother Nicky (Tom Hulce). Nicky is helping to put his brother through school by working as a garbage collector. To Eugene’s new girlfriend, Jennifer (Jamie Lee Curtis), it seems like he is taking advantage of Dominick, but Eugene plans to pay him back once he becomes a brain surgeon by supporting his brother for the rest of his life.

Eugene’s intention to go away for two years to complete an internship at Stanford and other changes threaten the twins’ closeness. Eventually, their bond strengthens through adversity and the exploration of a traumatic past. While it has received a lot of praise, especially for the actors’ performances, this inspiring film was not a financially lucrative project. However, Dominick and Eugene is now considered to be a cult classic.^[8]

2 It’s a Wonderful Life

Given its legacy as one of the greatest Christmas films of all time, a lot of movie fans would be shocked to learn that the now iconic It’s a Wonderful Life was a flop when it premiered in 1947. With its strongly conveyed themes of hope, faith, gratitude, and individual purpose, this fantasy drama is about the suicidal George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart), who gets a new lease on life after an angel shows him the valuable impact he’s had on his family and community. It is a prime example of how inspiring some originally unsuccessful films can turn out to be.

However, the film didn’t inspire much when it was first released besides mixed reviews from the critics. Financially, it didn’t even break even, but the picture did get nominated for five Oscars. As with many box office duds that go on to develop a cult following, It’s a Wonderful Life later gained popularity when it was shown on television, leading it to become a holiday tradition.^[9]

1 The Shawshank Redemption

Prison movies aren’t usually particularly inspiring, but The Shawshank Redemption, a 1994 drama starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, is one of the exceptions. A commercial flop when it was first released, this film, written by Stephen King and Frank Darabond and directed by Darabond, lives up to its tagline, “Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.” Robbins plays Andy Dufresne, falsely convicted of murdering his wife and her lover in 1947.

Instead of allowing himself to be eaten up by bitterness at his unjust circumstance, Andy’s positive attitude and compassion see him through the experience, which lasts for more than two decades. Nominated for seven Oscars and many other awards, the critical reception was mainly positive, with reviewers highly praising the movie, especially for its compellingly delivered message of hope and for the impressive performances. The film’s popularity has grown enormously with movie fans and is now considered a cult classic.^[10]

It is my birthday! This is the vanity post as promised. On the recent update, bassbait suggested a list of my favorite things, which appealed to me as it would hopefully also partly be a list of things people don’t know about me (another suggested list by witcharachne). So, aside from the obvious things that I love such as raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens (just kidding – I hate whiskers on kittens) here are ten of my favorite things.

The Winner: Top 10 Places You Don’t Want to Visit
The Runners Up: Everything on this list, Top 10 Clowns you don’t want to Mess With

It was tough picking between the clowns list and the places list, but the places list wins because it caused a bit of controversy. Shortly after it was published I got a call from a Canadian paper, based in one of the towns on the list (the one with the Asbestos Mine) – they seemed a little pissed that I had said you don’t want to visit their town. My favorite entry on the list is the Alnwick Poison Gardens, as it combines the bizarre and the forbidden – two of my favorite topics.

The Winner: Alfred Schnittke
The Runners Up: Charles Ives, Bach, Verdi

Alfred Schnittke was a Russian-German composer whose music I discovered when I was in Music school, as a teen. I first saw his Concerto Gross 2, and was blown away by the power and the unusual style. Interestingly, he has some similarities to Charles Ives with his use of pastiche and polytonality. The clip above is typical of his style. Schnittke died in 1998. I love Ives because his music is so unique and groundbreaking in its time. I especially love his Concorde Sonata, which I try (dismally) to play on the piano – I only have some success with one of the movements. And Bach I like because when he was writing there were no real rules to music, and, despite this, he managed to make music that will be remembered forever.

The Winner: Rorate Caeli
The Runners Up: Basenotes, eGullet, BBC News

I actually spend very little time on the web for entertainment – most of my web use is on Listverse (which I have not counted for this item as it is most obviously my favorite), with the rest of it being sites dealing with our accounts (marketing and advertising). So, for the runners up, I have listed the sites that I spend most time on when I do use the web for entertainment. As for the winning site, Rorate Caeli, I visit that every morning once – I skim the articles and read a few of the comments, if the article is of interest. It is a news website for traditionally minded Catholics, and, often, is first to come out with interesting or new articles from around the world. The writers are all very honest and they always seem to pick stories I find interesting. Incidentally, the Latin words “Rorate Caeli (or coeli)” are the first words of the Book of Isaias: “Rorate coeli desuper et nubes pluant justum” which means: “Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just”. The clip above is a Gregorian chant version of it.

The Winner: Marlon Brando
The Runners Up: Jared Leto, Christian Bale, Edward Norton, Leonardo DiCaprio, James Dean

Marlon Brando is widely considered the greatest movie actor of all time – he was so good that James Dean chased him about trying to get him to give him some training. Brando is absolutely amazing in a Streetcar Named Desire, and went from strength to strength throughout his career – no one will dispute his role in the Godfather was one of the best ever on film. As for my runners up, Jared Leto is good in everything – even the slightly boring film about the guy that killed John Lennon, Christian Bale has been amazing even as a kid in Empire of the Sun, DiCaprio is really an excellent actor even if you don’t like his personality or choice of films (namely, Titanic), James Dean is hard not to like, and Edward Norton is quirky but great.

The Winner: Bentley Mulsanne
The Runners Up: Chrysler 300C

It takes more than two months to make a Bentley Mulsanne, of which 50% is handcrafted. The Mulsanne was released this year and it replaces my previous favorite, the discontinued Bentley Arnage. Customers who can afford the $350,000 price tag have a choice of 114 paint colors, 21 carpet colors, nine wood veneers and 24 interior leather hides, and are able to specify a custom color scheme. I have always loved Bentley’s (the new models, not the old) and would love to own one one day. In the meantime, I am content with the runner up car, the Chrysler 300C, which is what I currently own.

The Winner: Lonestar Memories by Tauer
The Runners Up: Millesime Imperial By Creed, Attar Homage by Amouage

A website I really like reading is Basenotes – it is an online community of men and women who rate aftershaves and perfumes. Since I was a kid, I followed in my big brother’s footsteps by loving lots of different aftershaves – so this is a good way for me to learn about new ones. All three of the ones listed above are my favorites, and all three I discovered through Basenotes. Lonestar Memories is a love/hate aftershave – it is very strong and very masculine, but over the day it softens a lot. Millesime Imperial was the first one I bought on the list (which is why it is only a runner up) and it is a much fresher smell – more suited for going to the gym. Homage is the most expensive (at $350 for a tiny bottle) but it takes a field of roses to make. It is very possibly the nicest smelling aftershave in the world – but only my third favorite because it really takes a special occasion to wear it. It is typical of the new French-style perfumes coming from the Middle East with exotic ingredients.

The Winner: Anything by Michael Haneke
The Runners Up: All entries on this list

At present I am watching the films of Michael Haneke – an Austrian Director. I bought a box set of his DVDs recently because I saw the US remake (also by Haneke) of his original, Funny Games. As I go through the box set, I have not been disappointed at all by any of the movies. Code Unknown (starring Juliette Binoche) is my favorite, so far (it tells the story of several characters whose lives intertwine – a common theme for movies) though his most famous film is probably The Piano Teacher. If you haven’t seen anything by him, you definitely should. Here is the box set I bought if you want to buy it, and here is Code Unknown.

The Winner: X-Factor (UK)
The Runners Up: Great British Menu, Masterchef (UK), Glee, The Sarah Silverman Show

Wow – did I just confess that Glee is one of my favorite shows? The X-Factor is Simon Cowell’s British version of American Idol, and it has been running since 2004. It was the show that launched the career of Leona Lewis. I prefer the X-Factor to American Idol because the judges (and voting public) allow a much greater number of quirky people to get through the audition process, and when the contestants are chosen they all go to the judge’s houses for a bootcamp – so we get to see how Cowell and the other judges live. The selection of TV shows above is really about all I ever watch – I record what I want to see (or download it) and that is the only time I have the TV on. So this entry is not just my favorite TV shows, but my entire TV viewing at present. The clip above is my favorite auditionee this year – she is absolutely crazy! Note: in the X Factor the contestants audition in front of the judges and a huge audience.

The Winner: MGMTThe Runners Up: The Script, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, Muse

I can’t remember when I first heard MGMT but, the moment I did, I loved their sound. The music is so easy to sing along with, and very quirky and upbeat. If you haven’t heard them before be sure to listen to the clip above – they really are very good. I heard Arctic Monkeys and Muse on the UK show Top of the Pops, and liked them immediately, so I downloaded their albums. I tend to listen to the Muse more than Arctic Monkeys now, and think the last AM album was not very good, so I haven’t bothered to buy it. And for the record, I buy all my music at the iTunes store – I don’t download it free

The Winner: French Cheese
The Runners Up: Roast

I really surprised myself when I realized that there are only two foods that I go crazy for – the two listed above. I have always been a fan of French cheeses (my favorites being Roquefort – a salty blue vein – and Pont L’Eveque – a strong smelling, brie-like cheese). When I am dieting I can happily avoid anything (I haven’t eaten takeaways in six months) but the one thing I can’t resist is cheese and crackers. I always have some when I see it. As for roasts, when I have a day off my diet I always have a roast – usually chicken, beef, lamb, pork or veal, with all the usual trimmings of gravy, roast potatoes, pumpkin (or carrots), and a green vegetable (at present often Brussels Sprouts as they are in season). I have been known to have a roast every day of the week (perhaps the reason for my original need to diet!)

“What happened to your second wife?” an interviewer once asked Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

He was referring to Sara Northrup, the woman who’d been at Hubbard’s side while he developed Dianetics and who later divorced him in a messy, public scandal. The whole world had watched their divorce fill the headlines of every paper. But still, when the question came, Hubbard just smirked and told the interviewer: “I’d never had a second wife.”

It’s an incredibly brazen lie—and a sign of just how much damage Sara Northrup could do to him. Her life is a story that the Church of Scientology is still trying to cover up because the amount of suffering she endured at Hubbard’s hands is nothing short of heartbreaking.

10 She Met L. Ron Hubbard In A Sex Magick Cult

Sara Northrup’s life was difficult from the start. When she met Hubbard, she was living at the home of physicist and occultist Jack Parsons. Both she and Hubbard were members of Aleister Crowley’s sex magick cult.

Northrup’s life was already filled with sexual abuse. She’d been molested by her father from a young age, a trauma that likely explains why she was already sleeping with Jack Parsons by age 13. However, he wasn’t just twice her age, he was her sister’s husband.

When Hubbard showed up, he must have seemed like a savior. Granted, he was every bit as strange as Parsons was. In fact, the two worked together to summon a Babylonian goddess, believing they could bring her to life by chanting, dabbing runes with animal blood, and masturbating on magical tablets.

But Hubbard was a war hero, injured in battle, or so he claimed. He won Northrup over by spinning stories about his heroism that most of the cult members wrote off as “tall tales.” But the young Northrup bought into them completely.

“I believed everything he said,” Northrup later said. “It just never occurred to me he was a liar.”^[1]

9 She And Hubbard Stole Jack Parsons’s Life Savings

Jack Parsons believed in free love. Bound by his own principles, he couldn’t do a thing but watch as his new friend, L. Ron Hubbard, started sleeping with his girlfriend, Sara Northrup. Parsons had to pretend to be okay with every bit of it.

Other lodgers at his house, though, could tell just how angry it made him. “There [Hubbard] was, living off Parsons’s largesse and making out with his girlfriend right in front of him,” one would later recall. “The hostility was almost tangible.”

Still, when Hubbard proposed that the two start a business together, Jack Parsons readily agreed to give him $20,000 to get things off the ground. Perhaps he just wanted to keep up appearances and pretend like it didn’t bother him. Either way, he was the only one who was surprised when Hubbard and Northrup took off to Florida with the $20,000 and a brand-new yacht, bought with Parsons’s money.

“He has given away both his girl and his money,” Karl Germer, one of Parsons’s friends, reported in a letter to Aleister Crowley. “It is the ordinary confidence trick.”^[2]

Parsons tried to sue them but quickly dropped the case. He accepted a few dollars of payment and, in exchange, let Hubbard and Northrup keep the yacht. It was a bad deal for Parsons, but he didn’t have much choice. If he didn’t comply, he was warned, Hubbard and Northrup would let the world know that Parsons had had sex with Northrup when she was 13.

8 Hubbard Was Still Married To His First Wife When They Got Married

Sara Northrup married L. Ron Hubbard because he threatened to kill himself. He’d asked her multiple times already, but she had refused every time until he made it clear: If she said no, his death would be on her conscience forever.

What Hubbard hadn’t told her, though, was that he was already married. Thirteen years earlier in 1933, he’d married Polly Grubb. She was the mother of his two children, and in exchange, Hubbard had taken off to New York to cheat on her with other women.

At this point, the two were so estranged that they hadn’t seen each other in about two years. But they were still married at Hubbard’s insistence. Polly had repeatedly asked for a divorce, but he kept turning her down.

Hubbard only agreed to a divorce after he’d been married to Sara for a good year and a half. But he still kept his marriage to Polly a secret. Instead, he took Sara with him to Polly’s house without explaining a thing, which forced her to try to figure out why these people were so hostile toward her.

It was his son, L. Ron Jr., who told her. Sara was devastated. She rushed out of the house crying and tried to get onto the next ferry that would take her as far away from Hubbard as possible.^[3]

In the end, she didn’t leave. Her new husband begged and pleaded until she stayed.

7 L. Ron Hubbard Brutally Abused Her

L. Ron Hubbard started beating his wife during summer 1946. It began when Sara’s father died. Despite her complicated feelings toward the man, Sara was overwhelmed with grief and sadness.

To Hubbard, her sadness was nothing more than an annoyance. When she cried, he would beat and strangle her into silence, complaining that she’d distracted him from his work.

Hubbard was losing his mind. He wrote a letter to Veteran Affairs (VA), begging them to help him pay for psychiatric treatment. But the VA never responded, and Hubbard got increasingly worse.^[4]

One morning, he woke up his wife by pistol-whipping her across the face. She’d been smiling in her sleep, he told her, and he was sure it was because she was thinking of someone else. Northrup fled into the night, nearly escaping her abusive husband again. But once more, she came back.

She felt sorry for him because she knew he was losing his mind. She later said, “I kept thinking that he must be suffering or he wouldn’t act that way.”

Staying only made it worse. By the time Northrup really did file for divorce, she’d gone through what the divorce proceedings described as “repeated” and “systematic torture.” He strangled her regularly. He threw her out of a moving car. He once kept her awake for four days straight and then tried to force her to overdose on sleeping pills.

Some of those scars would never heal. On Christmas 1950, Hubbard broke into such a rage that he deliberately ruptured her left eardrum. Her hearing would be impaired for the rest of her life.

6 Hubbard Tried To Beat Her Into A Miscarriage

None of those beatings, though, could compare to what he tried to do to her when she got pregnant.

One night, after Hubbard had gone into one his mad rages, he threw his pregnant wife onto the ground. They would not bring a child into this world, he had decided, and he would make sure of it. L. Ron Hubbard tried to make his wife miscarry by repeatedly stomping on her stomach.

By some strange miracle, the child survived. But this was hardly the first time that Hubbard had tried to beat an unborn baby to death.

His eldest son, L. Ron Hubbard Jr., claims that, as a child, he had caught his father standing over his mother with a coat hanger in his hand. And Hubbard Jr. says that his own birth, nearly three months premature, was the result of a failed late-term abortion:

“I wasn’t born. This is what came out as a result of their attempt to abort me.”^[5]

Hubbard admitted to some of the abortions himself. In his private memoir, he wrote that he and Polly’s marriage had resulted in “five abortions and two children.”

5 He Reported Her To The FBI As A Communist

As Dianetics started to take off and Hubbard became worth a small fortune, his eye started to wander. As he’d done with his first wife, Hubbard started to cheat on Sara with a young woman: Barbara Klowden, his 20-year-old PR assistant.

Sara didn’t take it lying down. After Hubbard forced her to go on a double date with Klowden, Sara started a revenge affair with one of his employees, Miles Hollister.

But nobody could bite back as hard as L. Ron Hubbard. He wrote the FBI a letter reporting his wife and her lover as “active and dangerous” Communists, calling Hollister “outspokenly disloyal to the US.”

J. Edgar Hoover actually answered Hubbard’s letter and invited him to meet with an FBI agent—which Hubbard did. He told them that Hollister had brainwashed his wife and driven her insane. Then Hubbard went into a mad rant about how Dianetics could bring an end to communism and how people said he was crazy but he definitely wasn’t.

The agent nodded politely, quietly making a little note in his book that just read: “Mental case.”^[6]

They never tried to bring in Northrup or Hollister. Perhaps, in part, it was because this was hardly the first time that Hubbard had tried to turn someone in. The FBI’s dossiers were full of letters from L. Ron Hubbard, reporting every German person he saw as an undercover Nazi and a “menace to the state.”

4 Scientologists Tried To Brainwash Her Into Staying With Hubbard

In their own ways, Hubbard and Northrup tried to make the marriage work. Northrup went to a psychiatrist and tried to convince Hubbard to get treatment for the paranoid schizophrenia that was destroying his life. But he wouldn’t listen.

Hubbard told her that she was in league with devils. Then he put two of his men, Richard de Mille and Dave Williams, to work at brainwashing her. As John Sanborne, one of Hubbard’s former confidants, recalls:

“He made this stupid attempt to get Northrup brainwashed so she’d do what he said. He kept her sitting up in a chair, denying her sleep, trying to use Black Dianetic principles on her, repeating over and over again whatever he wanted her to do. Things like, ‘Be his wife, have a family that looks good, not have a divorce.’ ”^[7]

It didn’t work. Northrup still wanted a divorce. In the end, Hubbard told her that he didn’t want to be with her, either. He was just worried about his reputation. There was only way out.

“If you really love me,” Hubbard told her, “you should kill yourself.”

In November 1950, Sara Northrup tried to do just that. While L. Ron Hubbard was out, she downed a bottle of sleeping pills and lay down, hoping never to wake up again.

It didn’t work. She woke up alive in a hospital bed, registered under a fake name.

3 Hubbard Kidnapped Her Baby

It was 1:00 AM on February 24, 1951, when L. Ron Hubbard and two of his friends dragged Sara Northrup out of her bed, still dressed in her nightgown. Hubbard had taken her baby. “We have Alexis,” Hubbard told her, “and you’ll never see her alive unless you come with us.”^[8]

They threw Sara into the back of a car and drove her to Yuma, Arizona. Not long after, Hubbard had a change of heart. He kicked her out, forced her to go back home, and kept the baby with him.

She tried begging Hubbard to give her back the baby, but Hubbard refused time and time again. Then, out of the blue, he called her and told her the worst thing imaginable: Alexis was dead, and he had killed her.

“He had cut her into little pieces,” Sara says he told her, “and dropped the pieces in a river and that he had seen little arms and legs floating down the river and it was my fault. I’d done it because I’d left him.”

Hubbard was lying. But Sara must have felt unimaginable pain when he said it. A little while later, he sent her a letter. He admitted that Alexis was alive and tried to blackmail Sara into giving him full custody.

“My will is all changed. Alexis will get a fortune,” he wrote, “unless she goes to you as she would then get nothing.”

He signed his blackmail note: “Goodbye. I love you. Ron.”

2 Polly Hubbard Had Gone Through All The Same Things

Sara publicized everything on the advice of a lawyer, who told her that she couldn’t keep all of this a secret any longer. “Tell the truth,” he told her, “for the truth will bring back [your] baby, if alive.”

She filed for divorce, and the papers became filled with horror stories about the man who had tortured her and taken her baby. Yes, she’d put it off too long. But now, it was clear that there was no other way to ever see her child again.

Polly Hubbard, Ron’s first wife, contacted Sara for the first time after reading about the divorce. Every word written by Sara was terrifyingly familiar to Hubbard’s first wife. Polly wrote Sara a letter of complete support:

“If I can help in any way, I’d like to. You must get Alexis in your custody. Ron is not normal. I had hoped that you could straighten him out. Your charges sound fantastic to the average person. But I’ve been through it—the beatings, threats on my life, all the sadistic traits you charge—twelve years of it.”^[9]

“Please do believe,” she wrote. “I do so want to help you get Alexis.”

1 Sara Had To Absolve Hubbard Of All Guilt To Get Her Baby Back

In June 1951, Sara Northrup got to see her baby again. For months, Hubbard had been hiding their child in Cuba, but now they were back in Wichita. Ron was willing to talk.

He’d completely given into his paranoid delusions. There was no sense of reality for him. Sara had no choice but to play along. In her words:

“He told me that I was under the influence of this communist cell. And that they were dictating to me what to do, and that I was in a state of complete madness. I told him, ‘Yep, I think you’re right. The only thing I can do is to work through it and do whatever they say.’ ”

He made her sign a paper absolving him of all blame. It was the only way that he would give her back her child.

“The things I have said about L. Ron Hubbard in courts and the public prints have been grossly exaggerated or entirely false,” the paper said. “L. Ron Hubbard is a fine and brilliant man.” That was what he cared about—not his child and not his wife, just his reputation.

But all Sara cared about was getting her child back. She signed the papers, and in exchange, he drove her and Alexis to the airport.

Hubbard stopped the car a few feet away from the airfield. He’d had a last-second change of heart. Shaking his head, he told her: “I’m not going to let you go.”

Sara clutched her child, got out of the car, and ran. She left her suitcase and all her things behind. Alexis’s shoe fell off, but Sara didn’t stop. She just kept running toward the airplane, toward freedom, with her child in her arms for the first time in four months.

“It was the 19th of June,” Sara later said, “and it was the happiest day of my life.”^[10]

When adapting a sprawling, intricate book series like A Song of Ice and Fire into a TV show, it’s no surprise that some characters had to undergo significant changes. In Game of Thrones, many fan-favorite characters were reimagined, simplified, or had their storylines altered to fit the show’s demands.

These changes have sparked plenty of discussion among fans, especially when the show’s version of a character sharply diverged from George R.R. Martin’s original creation. Whether it’s the loss of certain character traits or entire plot arcs being cut, these differences reflect the creative challenges and decisions involved in bringing such a complex world to life on screen.

Related: 10 Real Historical Events That Inspired ‘Game of Thrones’

10 Sansa Stark

Sansa Stark’s journey in Game of Thrones is one of the most compelling, yet her character arc in the show significantly diverges from her portrayal in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. In the books, Sansa remains in the Vale under the tutelage of Petyr Baelish, learning the intricacies of court politics and manipulation. Her evolution is subtle and gradual, reflecting her growing understanding of the dangerous world she inhabits.

Sansa, operating under the alias Alayne Stone, becomes more adept at playing the game of thrones, carefully observing and learning from Littlefinger while still struggling with her identity and her past. This slower, more complex transformation allows readers to see Sansa as a multifaceted character, developing her strength and cunning over time.

In the TV adaptation, however, Sansa’s development is more accelerated and sometimes feels less nuanced. The showrunners condensed several of her storylines, notably merging her character with Jeyne Poole’s traumatic experiences with Ramsay Bolton—a plotline that does not occur in the books.

This change, while highlighting Sansa’s resilience and ultimate rise to power, also drew criticism for its handling of her agency and internal struggles. Despite these alterations, Sansa’s arc in the show still resonates with many fans, particularly in how she emerges as the Lady of Winterfell. This role showcases her growth into a strong, independent leader.^[1]

9 Tyrion Lannister

In the books, Tyrion Lannister is one of the most complex and multifaceted characters. He is a deeply intelligent, often cynical, and occasionally ruthless individual who, despite his sharp wit, struggles with self-loathing and a sense of being unloved by his family. In print, his physical appearance is much more striking and severe than what is depicted in the TV series.

In the novels, Tyrion is described as having mismatched eyes—one green and one black—and much more grotesque. He is a dwarf with a disproportionately large head, a prominent brow, and a mouth full of crooked teeth. After the Battle of the Blackwater, Tyrion suffers a serious injury that leaves him even more disfigured; his nose is almost entirely cut off, leaving him with a hideously scarred face.

In the HBO adaptation, however, Tyrion’s appearance is significantly toned down. Portrayed by Peter Dinklage, Tyrion is a handsome man with only minor facial scars after the battle, and his injury is reduced to a single visible scar across his cheek. Furthermore, after killing his father, Tywin Lannister, in the books, Tyrion’s character takes a darker turn. His journey across Essos is marked by bitterness, self-destruction, and a thirst for vengeance against those who wronged him.

This darker portrayal gives Tyrion more depth, showing a man grappling with the consequences of his actions and the bleakness of his reality. In contrast, the television show softened many of these darker aspects, focusing more on Tyrion’s cleverness and humor. While the show did capture Tyrion’s sharp tongue and strategic mind, it often reduced his character to comic relief, especially in the later seasons. His political blunders and questionable decisions in the final season also disappointed many fans who felt the show had strayed too far from the nuanced, morally ambiguous character in the books.^[2]

8 Euron Greyjoy

Euron Greyjoy on the screen is a far cry from the menacing, enigmatic figure depicted in Martin’s novels. In the books, Euron is a much more complex and terrifying character. Known as “Crow’s Eye” because of the eyepatch he wears in the books, he is a ruthless pirate and sorcerer who dabbles in dark magic, uses a variety of mystical artifacts, and exudes a mysterious, almost otherworldly aura.

His presence in the Iron Islands is marked by fear and awe as he returns from exile with a fleet of ships, a crew of fanatical followers, and a mysterious horn called Dragonbinder, which he claims can control dragons. Euron’s ambitions are grand, aiming not just for the Iron Throne but also to wield unimaginable power through arcane means. In print, he has a more elaborate backstory, including his travels to the ruins of Valyria and his claim of having a dragon egg.

In contrast, the show’s portrayal of Euron is much less nuanced and significantly less menacing. Rather than the dark, calculating sorcerer of the books, show-Euron comes across as a brash, over-the-top pirate with a penchant for violence and shock value. His character is reduced to being a swaggering, almost comical villain, more focused on personal gratification than on the grand, ominous schemes that define him in the novels.

Key elements of his character, such as his use of dark magic and the Dragonbinder horn, are entirely absent from the show. This simplified portrayal left many fans disappointed, as Euron in the TV series lacks the intricate, chilling presence that made him so compelling in the books.^[3]

7 Brienne of Tarth

Brienne of Tarth, one of the most beloved characters in Game of Thrones, is portrayed as a noble and skilled warrior who defies gender norms with her strength and honor. However, her storyline in the TV show significantly differs from her journey in the novels. In the books, Brienne’s character has a much more extensive and complex narrative.

After Jaime Lannister gives her his sword, Oathkeeper, she embarks on a lengthy and dangerous quest to find Sansa Stark. This journey leads her through various trials that test her loyalty, resolve, and sense of identity. It is filled with deep introspection and moral dilemmas, showcasing her internal struggle as well as her external battles.

In contrast, the show condenses much of Brienne’s storyline, focusing primarily on her relationship with Jaime, which the show depicts as more overtly romantic. Their relationship is complex and filled with mutual respect and unspoken feelings, but in the books, they part ways with unresolved tension.

While her knighting by Jaime in the final season of the show is a powerful moment, this knighting doesn’t occur in the books. Furthermore, the TV adaptation omits significant interactions she has with other characters, like her complex encounter with Lady Stoneheart, the resurrected Catelyn Stark, who commands her to kill Jaime.^[4]

6 Stannis Baratheon

Stannis Baratheon, a pivotal character in Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, is portrayed quite differently in the books compared to the show. In the books, Stannis is a rigid, duty-bound leader often perceived as cold and unyielding. However, his actions are driven by a strong sense of justice and responsibility, even when they conflict with his personal desires.

His unwavering commitment to what he sees as the rightful claim to the Iron Throne makes him a more complex and sympathetic character in the books. His use of Melisandre and her dark magic is also shown with more internal conflict, as he often questions the morality of his decisions and the true nature of her powers. The relationship between them is shown as deeply influential in the show, sometimes implying he is more swayed by her than in the books.

In contrast, the television series simplifies Stannis’s character, often reducing him to a stern, unlikable figure whose moral dilemmas are less explored. One of the most significant and controversial differences is his decision to sacrifice his daughter Shireen to the flames, a plot point that is hinted at but not executed in the books. This act, portrayed as a desperate measure to win the war, was seen by many viewers as a betrayal of his character’s complexity and the nuanced internal conflicts that define him in the novels.^[5]

5 Jeyne Westerling/Talisa Maegyr

In Martin’s books, Jeyne Westerling is the woman Robb Stark marries after a moment of vulnerability following the death of his brothers. Jeyne hails from a noble but minor Westerlands house that secretly serves the Lannisters, adding layers of political intrigue to her character and marriage to Robb.

Her relationship with Robb is largely driven by honor, as he marries her after sleeping with her, and she remains loyal to him despite the political complications. In the books, Jeyne’s story is tragic but understated—she does not attend the Red Wedding, and her fate remains uncertain as she is left behind at Riverrun under the watchful eye of the Lannisters.

In the HBO series, Jeyne Westerling’s character is replaced by Talisa Maegyr, a healer from Volantis who meets Robb on the battlefield. Talisa is a completely original creation for the show, embodying a more romantic and idealistic love story than the politically driven marriage in the books. The change from Jeyne to Talisa significantly alters the tone and depth of Robb’s storyline. Talisa is portrayed as more independent and strong-willed, contrasting with the more traditional and dutiful Jeyne.

This shift also simplifies the complex political machinations of the Westerling family and reduces the tension between Robb’s sense of duty and his personal desires. Talisa’s presence at the Red Wedding and her subsequent brutal death—along with her unborn child—intensifies the emotional impact of the scene, but it also diverges significantly from Martin’s narrative, leaving book fans with a very different interpretation of Robb’s downfall.^[6]

4 Doran Martell

Doran Martell is a master strategist in the novels, playing the long game with incredible patience and foresight. As the Prince of Dorne, he carefully plots to avenge his sister Elia’s brutal murder during Robert’s Rebellion. His character is deeply introspective, burdened by his responsibilities and the need to protect his people while seeking justice for his family. Doran’s plans are intricate, involving secret alliances and long-term schemes that gradually unfold throughout the books, showcasing his political acumen and deep sense of duty.

In contrast, the show reduces Doran Martell’s complexity, transforming him into a more passive and less influential figure. His screen time is limited, and his schemes are either glossed over or omitted entirely. He also has a complex political relationship with his daughter Arianne, a prominent character in the books but completely omitted from the show. In the show, Doran’s sudden death, orchestrated by Ellaria Sand and the Sand Snakes, deviates from the book’s narrative, where he is part of a larger political plot, and his death has significant consequences for the Martell family.^[7]

3 Asha Greyjoy/Yara Greyjoy

Asha Greyjoy, known as Yara in the television series, is a character who underwent notable changes in her transition from the books to the screen. In the novels, Asha is portrayed as a fierce and cunning leader who is deeply committed to her family and people. She commands respect among the Ironborn not just because of her lineage but also due to her proven abilities as a warrior and strategist.

Asha is also a key player in the Greyjoy succession struggle, using her intelligence and charisma to rally support for her claim to the Seastone Chair. Her character is rich with depth, balancing loyalty to her family with her desire for independence and power. In the show, while Yara retains much of Asha’s strength and leadership qualities, her character is somewhat simplified.

The television adaptation omits some of her more complex relationships and political maneuverings. For instance, in the books, Asha has a significant role in the Kingsmoot, where the Ironborn choose their new leader, and she presents a strong case for her rule, challenging traditional gender norms. In contrast, the show focuses more on her relationship with her brother Theon and her involvement in Daenerys Targaryen’s campaign. The show also depicts her as bisexual, with scenes showing her with both men and women. In the book, Asha is depicted as heterosexual with several male lovers.^[8]

2 Ser Barristan Selmy

Ser Barristan Selmy is a highly respected and legendary knight in the books, known for his unwavering honor and loyalty. After being dismissed from the Kingsguard by Joffrey Baratheon, Barristan seeks out Daenerys Targaryen in Essos and becomes one of her most trusted advisors.

In the novels, Barristan guides Daenerys through Meereen’s political landscape, offering wisdom in leadership and battle. He’s a formidable warrior and principled man, grappling with the moral complexities of serving a queen aiming to reclaim her throne. Barristan’s journey is rich and multifaceted, influencing key events in Daenerys’s court.

In contrast, the television adaptation cuts Barristan Selmy’s story short, killing him off unexpectedly in the fifth season. His death during a battle with the Sons of the Harpy shocked many fans, as it diverged significantly from his ongoing and important role in the books. This early demise deprived the show of a character who, in the source material, provides a crucial connection to the history and lore of Westeros.

Barristan’s impact on Daenerys’s decisions in Meereen is significant in the books, making his sudden exit in the show seem like a missed chance to explore his character’s depth. Killing him off early drew criticism from book readers who valued Martin’s careful crafting of Barristan’s narrative.^[9]

1 Lady Stoneheart

Lady Stoneheart, the resurrected and vengeful version of Catelyn Stark, is one of the most significant characters from the book and was completely omitted from the Game of Thrones TV adaptation. In the books, after Catelyn’s brutal murder at the Red Wedding, she is brought back to life by Beric Dondarrion, who sacrifices his own life to restore hers. However, she returns as a dark and twisted version of herself, consumed by a desire for revenge against those who betrayed her family.

Her appearance is described as ghastly, with her wounds from the Red Wedding still visible. Leading the Brotherhood Without Banners, Lady Stoneheart embarks on a ruthless campaign, hanging Freys, Lannisters, and anyone she believes had a hand in the massacre of her family. Her presence adds a layer of relentless vengeance and the supernatural to the story, making her one of the most feared and tragic figures in the books.

In contrast, the showrunners chose to exclude Lady Stoneheart entirely from the TV series, a decision that disappointed many fans of the books. This omission meant that viewers never saw the darker turn Catelyn’s character takes, nor the impact her vengeful actions have on the wider narrative.

The absence of Lady Stoneheart also significantly altered the arcs of several other characters, including Brienne of Tarth and Jaime Lannister, who have key interactions with her in the books. Without Lady Stoneheart, the show’s exploration of themes like resurrection, justice, and the haunting consequences of betrayal felt less complex and less tied to the Stark family’s sense of enduring tragedy.^[10]

In the 1950s, there was a real danger afoot. The Communists, as our brave senators warned us, had infiltrated the governments of the democratic world. And they’d brought with them their most powerful weapon: the gays.

As Senator Kenneth Wherry told the American people, “Only the most naive could believe that the Communists’ fifth column in the United States would neglect to propagate and use homosexuals to gain their treacherous ends.” We needed a device that could weed out these wily gays from their patriotic hetero peers. Our mission was clear: we needed a real-life, fully functioning gaydar.

The best minds in the world got to work. And they didn’t stop in America in the 1950s—in many parts of the world, our best and brightest are to working to build one today.

10 The Hoey Committee’s Investigative Techniques

In 1950, the best and brightest minds of the US Senate were organized into a special task force called the Hoey Committee. Their mission: to identify and root out the insidious gays hiding throughout America.

It would not, as they quickly learned, be as easy as they imagined. Senator Margaret Smith, during a meeting with America’s top medical minds, disappointedly asked: “There is no quick test like an X-ray that discloses these things?”

To her heartbreak, the surgeon general explained that homosexuality didn’t show up on most X-rays. He, at least, was answering their questions. Most medical experts, for some reason, rambled on with some nonsense about sexuality being “complicated” and “fluid” and refused to hand over the machine the senators apparently hoped would make all gay men in America start glowing with a neon red light.

After two years of research, though, the Hoey Committee identified some foolproof facts about homosexuals. Gay men, they announced, could be identified through a few key clues: They were unmarried, they “seldom refuse to talk about themselves,” and they tended to have what the council called “prissy habits.”

They started a complex system for tracking, eliminating, and destroying the lives of gay men, often crushing them so fully that they drove them to suicide.

And not a moment too soon. As their report warned, gay was contagious: “One homosexual can pollute a government office.”^[1]

9 The Canadian Government’s Fruit Machine

North of the border, the Canadians were hard at work on a special machine that they were convinced could identify any gay man. They called it the “Fruit Machine,” which, in the 1960s, was something you could name a machine, and nobody would say anything. In fact, the government would pay you $10,000, and everything would be fine.

It was a gigantic device, described by those who have seen it as looking “like something out of science fiction.”^[2] It had multiple cameras, giant steel girders, and a special screen designed to project gay porn.

A suspected homosexual would be called into the security official’s office and told: “We have evidence that you may be a homosexual. What do you have to say about this?”

If they denied it, the Fruit Machine would be their judge. They would be strapped in and shown a series of mundane images which, every now and then, would be livened up with the odd picture of gay porn. While they watched, the researchers would measure their pulse, skin reflexes, breathing, and pupillary response.

If your pupils expanded on the sight of gay porn, it meant that the pictures of naked men excited you. Or that the photo was a bit too dark for you. Or maybe that you were surprised. Or probably really nothing at all, since most tests showed that the Fruit Machine was wildly ineffective.

Still, the Canadian government was nothing if not cautious. Even if the machine didn’t work, they forced everyone who failed its test to resign from their jobs, thereby saving Canada from the horrors of having homosexuals walk through its streets leading normal, healthy lives.

8 The US Park Police’s Pervert Records

The United States Park Police played a special role in America’s mission to weed homosexuals out of government. They were put on a special task force when the government received some prized intel providing an insight into the mind of the homosexual man: Gay guys love parks.

The Park Police were expanded, with countless more officers brought on to help them with their missions, including weeding out “sex perverts.” Parks, the government had learned, were “popular cruising spots for gay men.” They needed a team to watch them.

One group of Park Police spent 12 hours, from dusk to dawn, staring at the bathroom in Lafayette Park and placing bets on whether or not the visitors were gay. In their report to Congress, they declared: “I do not believe a half a dozen legitimate persons go in there to answer Nature’s call.”^[3]

Thanks to their tireless work, the US government came to an important conclusion: Pretty well anyone who goes to the bathroom in a public park can be assumed to be a homosexual. And they took that intel seriously, even firing a CIA employee on the charge that he’d been spotted “hanging around the men’s room in Lafayette Park.”

7 J. Edgar Hoover’s Sex Deviates Program

J. Edgar Hoover personally pushed the FBI into leading what he called the “Sex Deviates” program. For decades, they would stop wasting so much time tracking down organized crime and domestic terrorists and, instead, focus their resources on America’s real threat: the gay menace.

Any person accused of being a closeted homosexual, on the FBI’s orders, was to be immediately reported to the chief of investigations.^[4] The FBI would take over from there, and they would put every resource at their disposal to work. FBI agents would follow men to their homes, keep tabs on which bars and restaurants they ate at, and have professional psychologists examine detailed records of their habits, searching for those telltale patterns of gayness.

Then they’d strike. Some eager FBI agents would pull the suspected homosexuals in early, while they were still just loitering outside those notorious park bathrooms. The truly diligent, though, would wait until they were the middle of what they called “an act of perversion” and until they’d gotten really good photographs of the act before bringing them in.

It was hard work, or work that made them hard, or one of those two—but it had to be done. Nobody understood that more than J. Edgar Hoover. After all, if the rumors about Hoover are true, he had an unfortunate habit of showing up at homosexual orgies—clear proof that those contagious gays had been coughing all over him.

6 The Gulf Cooperation Council Homosexuality Test

The quest for a foolproof way to spot gays didn’t end with the 1950s, and it wasn’t limited to the United States. Decades later, in 2013, Kuwait’s director of public health, Yousuf Mindkar, took up the cause himself.

Mindkar promised his people that he would introduce sweeping reforms to improve the nation’s gaydar, declaring to the world: “We will take stricter measures that will help us detect gays.”

His plan was to revise Kuwait’s visa stipulations to require doctors to certify any incoming visitors as heterosexual before letting them into the country.^[5] Mindkar wasn’t entirely clear on how the doctors would test their patients for homosexuality, but he was confident that it would be a simple procedure. He assured the press that any doctor in any country would be able to run a thorough test for the telltale physical markings of homosexuality.

Mindkar backed down because of criticism in the international community. FIFA expressed concern that his plan might bar some fans from watching the 2022 World Cup. The concern was echoed by many in the US, who suggested that the plan would bar everyone who likes soccer from entering Kuwait and then high-fived each other.

5 The Malaysian Guide To Spotting A Gay

A 2018 issue of Sinar Harian, a Malaysian newspaper, came with a helpful checklist to teach readers “how to spot a gay.”^[6]

The article came with a checklist of the classic telltale markings of homosexuality. Gay men, it explained, love beards. They also love branded clothing, are close to the family, and like to go to the gym. But once in the gym, it warned, the homosexual male will not exercise. Instead, he will merely ogle the other men, his eyes lighting up with joy whenever he spots a particularly handsome one.

Lesbians, it said, could be detected through their venomous attitudes toward men. Toward women, the article explained, lesbians are open and carefree. They will hold each other’s hands and hug each other openly. But they behave very differently around men. Lesbians, the article explained, hate men. What little joy they get out of life, they get from belittling them.

4 The Scientific Study Into Gay Faces

In 2008, Nicholas Rule and Nalini Ambady of Tufts University conducted an experiment into one of the great questions that have plagued scientists for centuries: Do gay people have gay faces?^[7]

They took pictures of heterosexual and homosexual people, carefully chosen to eliminate the effect of what they called “self-presentation.” They even Photoshopped out their hair and pasted them onto white backgrounds, trying to leave nothing but their cheekbones and eyebrows as hints into their sexuality. Then they showed the pictures to a group of 90 people and asked them to guess which faces were gay.

The participants, Rule and Ambady claimed, got the right answer more often than not, thereby proving that everyone can tell you’re gay just by looking at you (even if they don’t realize it). Apparently, you’re not fooling anybody, and you might as well drop the act.

3 Stanford University’s Gaydar Machine

In 2017, Stanford professor Michael Kosinski took spotting gay people by looking at their faces into the next era. He turned that idea into what he claims is a working “gaydar” machine.

Kosinski and his coauthor, Yilun Wang, had a facial recognition program scan 75,000 online dating profiles, organized into groups of “gay” and “straight.” Their AI was programmed to identify patterns in “gay facial features,” searching for the unique quirks that unite all gay men. Then they pitted their machine against humans to see who was better at identifying homosexuals.

The humans weren’t much better at telling if someone was gay by looking at their face than a coin flip, which sort of ruins the entire point of the study in that last entry, but anyway, the point is that the machine got it right 81 percent of the time for gay men and 74 percent for lesbians.^[8] Finally, they had created an effective gaydar.

Or, at least, it was an effective gaydar when it looked at people’s Tinder profile pictures. When they tried using it on pictures that people hadn’t put up on dating apps, it was significantly less effective. Still, they had finally developed a machine that could identify the sexuality of people who are actively and deliberately trying to make their orientations as visible as possible.

2 The Attempt To Isolate The Gay Gene

During the 2015 conference of the American Society of Human Genetics, a University of California researcher named Tuck Ngun made a bold declaration to the world: He had isolated the gay gene.^[9]

Specifically, Ngun had found “methylation marks” that he believed could be connected to homosexuality. His study had looked at 37 pairs of identical male twins that consisted of one homosexual brother and one heterosexual brother and identified five methylation marks that he claimed were clear biological indicators of homosexuality.

Sort of. The scientific community wasn’t exactly supportive. They pointed out that he looked at 6,000 methylation marks in just 37 sets of twins, which made it pretty much inevitable that he’d be able to find some kind of pattern between them, just by the sheer law of averages. And in this case, Ngun hadn’t even found a particularly good pattern—even in his test subjects, the “gay gene” he’d identified only showed up in 67 percent of the time.

1 Penile Plethysmograph

Some devices that have been employed as gaydars still see fairly widespread use today, like the penile plethysmograph. The Czechoslovakian Army once used it to determine if men claiming to be gay to avoid being drafted were telling the truth.

Here’s how it works: first, a scientist attaches a device shaped like a thin strip of metal to the penis. Then he puts on a variety of gay pornography (or whatever else they’re attempting to determine the subject’s response to) and uses the device to measure how erect the man gets looking at each image.

Admittedly, there are probably easier ways to figure out someone’s sexuality—like, for example, if a man attaches a thin strip of metal to people’s penises, shows them gay porn, and then takes careful notes on how erect they get, it might be a clue that he himself is gay—but somehow, this one has caught on and is still used in various scientific studies today.

It has been hailed as the most accurate sexuality test known to man—and with good cause. This test has proven to be an accurate determinant of a man’s sexual preferences 32 percent of the time,^[10] making it the most effective, proven way to tell somebody’s sexuality—other than flipping a coin.

Have you ever listened to a song and realized you had never really paid attention to the lyrics? This goes beyond simply mishearing the lyrics. Who hasn’t sung the wrong lyrics from time to time, right? This involves not truly understanding what the song is about. That’s how you end up singing something inappropriate at a bar mitzvah.

Here are some songs from musicals that will make you say “”Wait, THAT’S what that is about?”

Related: Top 10 Broadway Musicals You’ve Never Heard Of

10 “Edelweiss”–The Sound of Music

When The Sound of Music premiered on Broadway in 1959, the world instantly fell in love with Maria and the singing von Trapp kids. Nearly every song has entered the American vernacular—the titular opening, “Do Re Mi,” “So Long, Farewell,” and one kid-free tune: “Edelweiss.”

“Edelweiss” comes at a turning point in the show. Captain von Trapp has previously disapproved of his childrens’ singing, but when he hears his daughter playing the song, he’s moved. “Edelweiss” is meant to represent the Captain’s home country of Austria, as the edelweiss is a small white flower found in the Alps.

Over the years, rumors have spread that “Edelweiss” is an old Austrian folk tune or even the country’s national anthem. But Oscar Hammerstein II biographer Hugh Fordin says that even though “Edelweiss” was widely believed to be an old Austrian song, Hammerstein composed it for The Sound of Music.^[1]

9 “With You”–Pippin

From weddings to proposals, “With You” from Pippin has been used for years as a profession of love. On the surface, the lyrics do seem to point to a beautiful ballad meant for a loved one. Pippin claims his life would be “Twice as fair” if he could share his days with his girlfriend.

Except he’s not singing the song to his girlfriend. The scene is actually a huge orgy—Pippin weaves through women, comedically singing about “you” to dozens of women. The lyrics are meant to be humorously ironic, highlighting Pippin’s lack of commitment and genuine affection.

So unless you’re in an open marriage, probably leave this one out of the wedding reception.^[2]

8 “All You Wanna Do”–Six

There are thousands of songs with dark messages that are overlooked as such due to their poppy tempos or catchy refrains. Think about “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People, which is actually about a school shooter. Or “Hey Ya” by Outkast, which, despite its upbeat meter, is about how love never really lasts.

In 2020, “All You Wanna Do” from Six the musical went viral on TikTok. Six tells the story of the six wives of Henry XIII from their point of view. “All You Wanna Do” is sung by Katherine Howard, Henry’s fifth wife, and details the history of how they met. On TikTok, people danced to the groovy title lyrics as Katherine talks about how all men want to do is have sex with her. This is already kind of sad. But if you listen to the whole song and not just the danceable parts, it gets even darker.

Katherine relays her first romance with her tutor: “He was 23 / And I was 13 going on 30!” And it doesn’t get better from there. As Katherine sings about her past boyfriends, the song ends with, “All you wanna do, baby / Is touch me, when will enough be enough?”

I’m not sure the kids on TikTok can really relate to that on a personal level. At least, I hope not.^[3]

7 “Not While I’m Around”–Sweeney Todd

“Nothing’s gonna hurt you / Not while I’m around” are the opening lyrics of this song from Sweeney Todd. Young Toby is held by his surrogate mother, Mrs. Lovett, as he protectively lets her know that he will do whatever it takes to shelter her from harm.

Sounds sweet, right? Not really. Lurking in the background of the show is Sweeney Todd, the murderous barber. Toby doesn’t know it, but at the moment, Sweeney is on a rampage, ready to kill anyone in his path (Spoiler alert: including Mrs. Lovett and Toby. And himself.) The song is meant to be ironic and sad, showing Toby’s innocence in contrast to literally every single other character’s murderous rages.^[4]

6 “Hope”–Groundhog Day

While this song may not be as popular outside of the theater community as other songs on this list, it’s the perfect example of a song that is significant only within the show itself.

Based on the Bill Murray movie of the same name, Groundhog Day follows jaded reporter Phil as he is forced to relive February 2nd over and over and over again. Both the movie and musical are humorous but have darker themes lying beneath them. One of the most jarring parts of the plot is after Phil decides he is done sleeping around, eating whatever he wants, and generally being a menace with no repercussions. Instead, he opts to kill himself.

It doesn’t work. He wakes up the next day and tries to kill himself again. In the musical, this happens during the song “Hope.” With lyrics like “Never give up hope / Never let yourself be defeated,” it’s easy to read this as an optimistic anthem. In reality, each chorus of the song shows Phil finding a new way to commit suicide, from dropping a toaster in the bathtub to jumping off a building.

The song ends with “Hold on to your faith / You may wanna live / But baby don’t give up hope,” revealing Phil’s true meaning was to keep hoping one day the suicide will work.^[5]

5 “You Will Be Found”–Dear Evan Hansen

“Have you ever felt like nobody was there?” is the opening line of this song from the musical Dear Evan Hansen.

Apparently, a lot of Christians feel that way because as soon as Dear Evan Hansen premiered on Broadway in 2016, “You Will Be Found” became an instant religious classic. The song skyrocketed from theater kids’ playlists right into public thanks to performances from Brigham Young University’s acapella group and other religious congregations.

The message of “You Will Be Found” is right there in the title. “Even when the dark comes crashing through, when you need someone to carry you,” main character Evan Hansen sings an uplifting tune. Or is he?

The person Evan is singing about isn’t himself, but a boy named Connor who recently killed himself. Evan wishes that everyone could be found, but Connor never had someone care about him the way Evan describes. It’s a heartbreaking lament about suicide, not a cheery little ditty to sing at church.^[6]

4 “What I Did for Love”–A Chorus Line

One of the most influential Broadway musicals of all time (and the seventh-longest-running Broadway show ever), A Chorus Line is noted for its lack of plot. The show consists of a chorus line of dancers telling their stories to a casting director, each one hoping to be hired. Through song, monologue, and dance, each performer is given a moment to shine.

“What I Did For Love” has become a part of popular culture thanks to artists like Bing Crosby, Aretha Franklin, and Josh Groban recording the song for albums. Out of context, the song sounds sweet: “As we travel on / Love’s what we’ll remember.” But the refrain “I can’t regret / What I did for love” doesn’t refer to a person; rather, it’s meant to convey the performer’s passion for dance and her reaction if she could never dance again.

It’s a song of intense suffering as the dancer recalls how she has poured her entire life and career into something that could be taken from her at any time. Some have even interpreted the song’s lyrics to be referencing the casting couch, a euphemism for performing sexual acts in exchange for a job. This was especially rampant in the 1970s when the show premiered.

Either way—it’s not about romantic love.^[7]

3 “My Favorite Things”–The Sound of Music

Okay, this song is pretty straightforward. So why is it on this list? Well, people not very familiar with musical theater have probably still heard this song on the radio in December. For some reason, “My Favorite Things” has become associated with the holiday season. Anyone listening to the lyrics “Warm woolen mittens / Brown paper packages tied up with strings” and mention of sleigh bells might assume that within the show, it’s Christmas morning or Eve.

In reality, this isn’t the case. “My Favorite Things” is sung by governess Maria to her children after they are frightened by a thunderstorm. It’s a sweet song that has gained international acclaim, but it has nothing to do with winter or Christmas.^[8]

2 “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”–Gypsy

This song has been referenced in everything from The Simpsons to The Muppets” but rarely with the original intent of the song.

The main character of the musical Gypsy is a stage mother who, halfway through the show, learns her talented youngest daughter has eloped. In a fit of rage and mania, she sings “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” to express her desire to have her older daughter, Louise, become a star instead. The title and refrain are a pun on the stage mother’s name, Rose. Thus, “roses” represent rose flowers and happiness, but also herself. Everything will come up Rose’s way.

Despite the big, brass notes and fun lyrics, the song isn’t triumphant or as happy as it seems. Ethel Merman biographer Brian Kellow says that the song is often misunderstood, as it’s meant to be a “chilling illustration of blind ambition with megalomania.”^[9]

1 “Cabaret”–Cabaret

The titular song of this tour-de-force of a show is quite famous thanks to stars like Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, and Judi Dench’s recorded renditions. Within the show, the song is sung by Sally Bowles, a pregnant former cabaret star. Out of context, the lyrics seem to be praising the joys of humanity: “Life is a cabaret old chum, come to the cabaret!”

The song has been used in movies and TV shows for years, usually as a delightful little ditty. But that’s not what the song is about. Sally isn’t happy at all—she’s coming to terms with the rise of Nazism in her home city of Berlin. Rather than addressing the emerging politics of the 1930s, she makes a vow to live her life in ignorance, having fun wherever she can. This includes making sure she’s unattached to her baby’s father, so the song ends with her deciding to get an abortion. In some stagings, such as the most recent Broadway revival, this is depicted through Sally punching herself in the stomach multiple times.

Unsurprisingly, the Louis Armstrong version of the song chose to leave those lyrics out.^[10]