We’re here again. Knocking on the door that is creaking open to let 2025 in. Just like last year at this time, we have no idea what the new year will bring. (We can only hope it is better than 2024.)

You may want to finally start that novel you’ve wanted to write for ten years. Or you may be planning to buy your first home. Whatever your so-called New Year’s resolutions are, they are probably positive. People usually want to lose weight, get a new job, or run a marathon.

Inevitably, most people will give up on their resolutions on day 2. Others will simply ignore that the concept of resolutions exists in the first place. After all, making all these positive plans for a new year does not mean things won’t go wrong anyway.

And, unfortunately, if the predictions below are anything to go by, 2025 will be bleak and terrifying for most of us. So, buckle up and get ready for a wild ride (or, you know, horror, terror, and fear).

Related: Ten Eerily Prescient Past Predictions About Life in the Future

10 The Living Nostradamus Is Giving No One a Break

Athos Salomé is said to be the real deal (real psychic). He predicted the Queen’s death and the COVID-19 pandemic. The “living Nostradamus,” as some call him, even correctly predicted the Microsoft global outage. And Salomé is giving no one a break in 2025.

He has already predicted that “humanity may lose control of technology” in the coming year. He is especially concerned over quantum computing technology, stating that it could break global digital security systems. Salomé also predicts implantable chips will become increasingly popular in the new year. For some, it may mean easy health tracking and internet browsing. For others, it means being constantly watched or, worse, being marked with the mark of the beast.

As for future wars, which now seem kind of inevitable, Salomé predicts that cyber weapons will be wielded on all sides. And that these weapons will be used to paralyze banking systems, power grids, and hospitals. Salomé also has something to say about UFOs, climate change, and increased resistance against governments worldwide.

Don’t these predictions just want to make you turn back the clock and stay in an already horrible 2024?^[1]

9 There Will Be War

Joshua Giles, preacher and founder of Kingdom Embassy Worship Center in Minneapolis, has more bad news for 2025. Giles claims that he has been seeing visions and dreaming dreams since he was a young child.

In 2020, he “saw” violence breaking out in the Middle East. This seemingly came to pass in 2023 with the Hamas attack on Israeli citizens. Now, Giles is predicting that 2025 might usher in the start of a global war. He believes existing conflicts may spark wider friction, pulling the U.S. and other countries into war. (Link 2)

Giles also says the U.S. government has contacted him because he predicted a rise in terror attacks in the country. He is seeing “more darkness or evil on the rise.” There is a glimmer of hope, though. Giles predicts that in the coming year, cures will be discovered for common diseases previously believed to be incurable.^[2]

8 Some Predictions Are Eerily Plausible

Most people laugh off predictions. After all, we’re still here after several people predicted the world would end in 2012, again in 2015, and again in 2021. (Don’t look now, but some are predicting the end of the world to be January 25, 2025). However, other predictions are not so easy to shake, especially when they come from a place of reason.

For example, what if all the AR, VR, 3D, and AI in the health sector lead to the development of surgical robots that take over during surgery? What if these robots become so advanced that surgeons feel inferior and refuse to operate? Or what if surgeons become so used to the help that they cannot function without robots? If a surgical robot malfunctions and a surgeon has forgotten the basics of their specialty, it could lead to a dire situation for the patient.

Also, brain implants are already a thing (Noland Arbaugh is proof). So are RFID chip implants. Brain implants such as Neuralink are meant to help people with paralysis communicate better. It may also, in the future, help enhance motor, sensory, and visual function. RFID chips serve as an easy access and payment method. People have them implanted in their hands to swipe their way around a mall or hotel. Some believe these chips are harmless, while others think they’re the devil.

But what happens when people are no longer happy with their human bodies? Will they ask doctors and surgeons to replace their body parts with robotic alternatives? This would go far beyond chips in the brain or hand. It would likely lead to a transhumanist revolution in overdrive.

Some believe we are not far from these scenarios, while others predict we may see them sooner than we imagined.^[3]

7 Do Not Trust the Pentagon, CIA, or Secret Service

Okay, let’s shake off the uneasiness and move on to the next purely psychic prediction. Uri Geller has made an unusual prediction, straying from aliens and nuclear war. Instead, he has voiced his concern about a “deep state” plot to assassinate Donald Trump. Geller has also implored Elon Musk to help keep Trump safe.

According to Gellar, Trump needs a “ring of steel” around him to protect him from a so-called “Democrat hit squad” that wants to take out the president-elect in the same way JFK was killed in 1963. Geller posted on X, warning Trump not to trust the Pentagon, CIA, or Secret Service. According to Geller, their “bosses” are picked by Joe Biden and Barack Obama, and they are planning to sacrifice a “stooge” to get rid of Trump.

Geller’s warnings coincided with new information about threats against Trump, including an alleged Iranian assassination plot.^[4]

6 The Simpsons Have Done It Again

In 2024, predictions made in various episodes of The Simpsons are a running gag. People rewatch episodes to find potential predictions and discuss them on Reddit. It is said that The Simpsons predicted the future successfully at least 34 times. The predictions that “came true” include Trump’s 2024 successful campaign and the OceanGate submersible disaster.

It is also said that the show predicted nuclear-fueled hybrid fruits and vegetables (the ones discovered near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant). And let’s not forget the link between the horse meat episode and the scandal surrounding Taco Bell, Bird’s Eye, and Brakes in 2013.

The Simpsons is not done with its predictions just yet. Considering that people believe the show predicted Kobe Bryant’s death and the COVID-19 pandemic, many are putting a lot of stock into what it has already predicted for 2025.

For one, in 1992, an Itchy and Scratchy Land episode predicted hovercars would be a reality by 2025. In 2001, the New Kids on the Block episode is said to have predicted mind control through music. Some already believe that hip-hop lyrics are written for brainwashing purposes, and this “prediction” plays right into that conspiracy.

Another episode of Itchy and Scratchy Land predicted that mass automation would result in robots taking over human jobs. In the episode, a theme park is staffed by robots who “lose it” and kill everyone. It doesn’t help that Juergen Schmidhuber believes AI superintelligence will change civilization as we know it in under 30 years, does it?^[5]

5 ChatGPT Is Predicting the Future Now

Chatbots made a lot of impacts over the past couple of years, and some were downright creepy. One of the most “what the actual f**k” moments happened when one particular chatbot allegedly “manipulated” a 14-year-old into committing suicide. The teenager’s mother is now suing the company that created the bot.

There are also Alice and Bob, two Facebook AI chatbots, who started talking to each other in a language only they could understand. Not to mention Alexa, who starts laughing for no reason at times and once told Jimmy Kimmel, ‘Humans are a fragile species who have no idea what’s coming next.’

In 2024, ChatGPT joined in on the creepiness by predicting several events for 2025. When asked what the worst-case scenario for Earth looks like in 2025, ChatGPT replied that wildfires, hurricanes, and floods would increase, leading to displacement and food shortages on a global scale. It also said that ongoing wars and conflicts would likely cause instability around the world and escalating humanitarian crises.

ChatGPT also found it necessary to mention that the resurgence of infectious diseases would overwhelm healthcare systems. And that the misuse of AI and cyberattacks could threaten all humankind. Bright and cheery bot, right?^[6]

4 Another Pandemic Is Looming

Speaking of an infectious disease, COVID-19 caught the world off-guard. No one knew what to do or expect when those first positive cases made headlines. And as the global death toll soared, panic set in worldwide.

So, it is really unsettling that an anonymous psychic proclaimed that a tarot card reading predicts another serious pandemic in 2025. The psychic claims that the next pandemic will be worse and far more challenging than the previous one. The psychic also claims that the prediction aligns with 2025’s eclipse cycles, which include a lunar eclipse in March and a solar eclipse in September. These eclipses are supposed to indicate endings and new beginnings.

Experts from Psychic World have also claimed that Christianity will experience a rebirth in 2025 (as will other faiths). At the same time, 2025 is also believed to be the beginning of the end of the world.^[7]

3 Apocalypse Now

Predictions for the new year always include some kind of doomsday threat. For many years now, Baba Vanga has popped up at the top of the Google search rankings whenever someone searches for new year predictions or “when is the end of the world.” It should be mentioned that there is a general belief that Baba Vanga, who died in 1996, correctly predicted several events that have already happened.

For instance, she predicted the “American brothers” would fall when “iron birds” crashed into them. It doesn’t take much to link this to 9/11. Baba Vanga also predicted Barack Obama’s presidential victory and Brexit.

Vanga also had a lot to say about 2025 in the years before her death. She, too, believed that 2025 would bring religious revival. She “saw” huge economic troubles for America and a sparsely populated Europe. An emptying Europe may have something to do with the wars Vanga had foreseen happening on the continent.

Vanga also predicted that humanity would come face to face with diseases that it thought it had defeated. (Fortunately, she also said that organ transplantation and cancer treatments would see medical breakthroughs). Terrifyingly, Vanga also mentioned that earthquakes would rattle regions of the earth that were once silent, including a massive quake along the U.S. West Coast. Dormant volcanoes will come to life, and floods will cause chaos.

Vanga spoke of AI, claiming that “smart machines” would replace the human brain. Strangely enough, Vanga also predicted that we would soon meet extraterrestrials.^[8]

2 There’s an AI Baba Vanga?

As if the real-life Baba Vanga’s predictions weren’t chilling enough, someone thought it would be a good idea to recreate an AI version of the soothsayer. AI Vanga has predicted that Donald Trump will become ill in 2025 and be forced out of the public eye. The same is predicted for Vladimir Putin, who is apparently also going to become sick and hide away inside the Kremlin.

This might result from Ukraine’s unexpected win after a large-scale attack in the middle of 2025, as predicted by AI Vanga. There is still no good news for Europe, as AI Vanga predicts a massive war on the continent that will destroy it.

Would now be a good time to suggest that everyone stops making AI versions of long-dead soothsayers and psychics?^[9]

1 Nostradamus Has the Last Say

As always, Nostradamus must have the last say in a list like this. Michel de Nostredame is said to have predicted the emergence of Napoleon and the advent of both world wars. People even believe he predicted the Japan earthquake of January 1, 2024.

For 2025, Nostradamus seems to have gone dark in the worst possible way. He predicted England would experience “cruel wars’ and the plague would return. (Why so many predictions for another pandemic?!). The astrologer and seer also predicted that great global powers would clash, even as the influence of Western countries continued to decrease.

Since the end of the world seems to be a common prediction thread, Nostradamus also foresaw that the Harbinger of Fate (and asteroid) would lead to the extinction of the human race. Like Baba Vanga, Nostradamus went somewhat off the beaten path with his predictions. He claimed a mysterious leader would come from the sea and form an “aquatic empire.”

Whether this will happen before or after the massive fireball asteroid remains to be seen.^[10]

So you want to be a writer? If you even bothered to click on this list, you’ve already admitted it to yourself. Maybe writing is your passion. Maybe it’s your hobby. Or maybe you’ve just run into an awful article somewhere on the Web and thought to yourself, “Hey, I could do better than this.” Well, if you can come up with an incredible Top 10 list, then we here at Listverse will publish your work for all the world to see. How many people exactly? Try one million visits per day.

We’ll even give you money for your hard work: US$100 to be exact (paid via paypal or bitcoin). Interested? Then check out our submissions page. Or perhaps you’re not convinced yet. Maybe you need more than 100 portraits of George Washington’s green mug to persuade you that Listverse is worthy of your blood, sweat, and tears. Not sure? Let me convince you.

6 You’re Totally Qualified

Breaking into a new field can be challenging, especially if you’re a writer. Lots of sites are looking for folks with “experience only” which is pretty discouraging for newcomers. But here at Listverse, we’re just like famed rocker Billy Joel: We love you just the way you are. It doesn’t matter if you’re an aspiring novelist, an attorney, a filmmaker, a guy who thinks he’s a car, or a ’70s rock star who played with Joan Jett and the Runaways. All you have to do is follow the guidelines and get busy typing. Seriously, it’s so simple that, well, even I can do it. Before submitting my first Listverse article, I hadn’t written anything other than college papers and long-winded Facebook rants. I just had an idea and a computer and then boom! I was on the front page of the site. And that’s a very empowering experience.

5 You Can Show Off Your Smarts

You’re a unique individual with your own amazing experiences. Wouldn’t you like to share them with the world? Maybe you’ve traveled the globe, and you’ve seen things most people wouldn’t believe. Then why not write an article about your experiences like 10 Bizarre Aspects Of Chinese Culture? Maybe you’re a political junkie who’s spent your life studying international affairs so you could write a list like The 10 Worst Diplomatic Faux Pas By Famous Politicians. Or maybe your encyclopedic knowledge of movie trivia would put Quentin Tarantino to shame. If so, share it with the rest of mankind and write something like 10 Obscure Films Memorialized For All The Wrong Reasons.

As for me, I’ve spent the last three years teaching English to South Korean students, a job which provided plenty of interesting tidbits for a list like 10 Awesome Facts About South Korea. And as a teenager, I knew a couple of paranoid nut jobs which provided plenty of fodder for lists like 10 Crazy Catholic Conspiracy Theories. So what do you do for a living? Where have you been, what have you seen, and what do you enjoy talking about? Put it in a list and send it here. The world wants to read it, and we want to pay you for it.

4 Access To The Writers’ Forum

Did you know Listverse has a forum dedicated especially to its writers? It’s specifically built to let writers work directly with the editors, connect with other writers and people who know people, and get a glimpse of the fascinating little ins and outs of the business. And we want you to be there, too.

Once you’ve had your first article published, you’ll be given access to the forum. Every day, the editors post amazing factlets they want to see turned into lists—you claim an idea, and away you go! It might be the closest thing to free money this side of a broken ATM. If you can cut the mustard, we want to help you cut it harder (and write strong metaphors).

(Note: If you have been published on the site, but haven’t received your invitation, let the bosses know. They’ll get you set up.)

3 You’d Be Writing For One Of The Best Sites On The Web

Maybe you’re in the writing game for the prestige, and you don’t want to sell your work to just any Top 10 website. Fair enough. We aren’t going to name names, but there are plenty of places that publish subpar articles riddled with typos and the latest tabloid headlines. But that’s not going to happen at Listverse. Not only do we have simple, straightforward guidelines that’ll show you the ropes, but we have a crack team of editors who will make your articles all the more professional by catching your typos and dispensing sage, Yoda-esque advice. The stuff published here is the best of the best.

Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it. The folks at Time magazine know a thing or two about lists. After all, they write them all the . . . time. And in 2011, they compiled a list of the 25 best blogs on the web. Care to guess which Top 10 website founded by Jamie Frater made the cut? Not only that, but Listverse has been featured by the BBC, New York Times, National Geographic, and PBS. Imagine telling your friends—or future employer—that you’ve written for a website like Listverse, all because you clicked this link. At the very least, your mother will be proud.

2 Your List Could Show Up In A Book

Did you know Listverse is in the book business? As of right now, we’ve published three books of our content, and the fourth one is already available for pre-order. Wouldn’t it be awesome if your list showed up in the fifth? Our books are chock-full of the best articles Listverse has to offer. If you can make it on the site, you might make it into a book, a book that’s going to end up in libraries, stores, and coffee tables around the world. And assuming it’s kept far away from moisture, book lice, and fascist firemen, it’s going to last a long time. So think about it like this . . . you’ve read the guidelines and sent in a $100 list for millions of people to read, and as an added bonus, your work might end up on a Barnes & Noble bookshelf. If nothing else, they’d make cool Christmas gifts for your friends, or an excellent way to introduce yourself at parties. “Yeah, I’m a published author.”

1 Now Just Go Do It

Have I totally convinced you to get started on your first mind-blowing list? Maybe you feel ready to jump in right now. You’ve been reading the site for a long time, and you know what we like to read and publish. In that case, double-check your sources and dive right in.

But maybe you take things a little slower. Maybe you want to read 10 Tips for Getting Paid to Write for Listverse. It’s another great article full of solid advice from a guy who knows all the tricks of the trade. If you’re thinking about giving Listverse a go, it’s definitely worth your time.

+ Don’t Forget About KnowledgeNuts

If Listverse is a cup of caramel macchiato, rich and full, then KnowledgeNuts is a shot of espresso. The site is full of micro-articles charged with concentrated doses of interesting info. Not only is it a blast for readers, it’s an awesome opportunity for writers.

Maybe you know one cool fact about Japanese history. That’s not enough for a list, but it’s perfect for a Nut! Throw together a few hundred words about something like The Ant-Walking Alligators Of Hiroshima, and you’ll make an easy 10 dollars! Do you always correct your friends on The Difference Between Hades And Satan? Well, there are plenty of people who don’t (people like me) so turn that tidbit into a KnowledgeNut. Or if you grit your teeth whenever people mention a brontosaurus, explain how The Brontosaurus Never Existed and pull down a quick 10 bucks. If you can keep it short, strong, and entertaining, then you should give KnowledgeNuts a try!

Nolan Moore is an ESL teacher who spends his spare time writing for Listverse.

If you want to send him an idea for a list, offer him a lucrative writing job or just send him hate mail, shoot him an email at [email protected].

You’re a writer, or at least flopping the idea around in your head. No lie: That’s absolutely fantastic. We want you to write for us. More importantly, we want to pay you $100 to do it. It doesn’t matter if you’re Michael Crichton or the new kid on the block, Listverse thrives on the words of people just like you. If you’ve already written a top 10 list, great! Skip this whole thing and head right over to our submission page.

Not quite ready yet? Don’t worry: We want to help you. First of all, bookmark our author guide for later. You’ll want to read that thing through with a magnifying glass, because that’s seriously exactly what will get your list published. But while that’ll get you the whole way, sometimes it helps to have a few stepping stones to ease the journey. From one writer to another, here’s my process for writing for Listverse.

10Get An Idea

Easy! Oh, wait, not so much? I’ll be honest: This is usually the hardest part of the entire writing process. You’d think that with so many weird and bizarre things happening all the time all over the world, it would be easier to come up with one skinny little bare-bones idea for a top 10 list. Especially if you’re making a cool tenth of a grand doing it. But hey, it’s not that easy to find that ticket to the Listverse front page.

So stop trying to find one. Wait—hear me out. Instead of forcing yourself to find an idea, go about your daily life. Browse the same sites, read the same books, watch the same shows. But stick a little hitchhiker in the far left corner of your brain that looks at everything and says, “Hey, that could make a great list.” And if you’re still dead in the water, branch out a little. Interested in science? Check out LiveScience, NatGeo, or Phys.org. Unsolved murders? The New Yorker, Harper’s, and NPR run some amazingly in-depth pieces on murders and cold cases. Strange history? How about the DC poison squad or Smithsonian‘s bizarre timeline of the Ouija board?

The nuggets of ideas are out there, and they’re waiting for you to come along and snag them. For example, all those links up there? None of those stories have been covered by Listverse yet.

9Stick A Theme On It

We love lists that tightly orbit a central idea. Most of the time, that theme is going to end up being your list’s title, or at least the gist of it. It doesn’t need to be earth-shattering, but it should make the ground tremble. After all, that’s the first thing readers will see on the site. Each entry is also going to tie into that main theme, which is why it’s so important to figure it out before you run off to find your list’s entries.

Really want to guarantee that your list will be accepted, not just by us, but by our readers as well? Here’s a tip: Take your idea, and twist it. Instead of writing 10 Unsolved Murders, show us something like Robin Warder’s 10 Mysterious Disappearances With Bizarre Clues. Instead of just talking about Abraham Lincoln, give us 10 Reasons Lincoln Was Secretly A Terrible President. Surprise us by making us look at something in a new and unexpected way.

Don’t worry about the actual title yet—just get that general theme going, because it’s going to make researching your list a lot easier. The tighter your theme, the better.

8Research The Dickens Out Of It

You’ve got a powerful starting idea and a twisted theme that’ll have Listverse readers tearing their hair out with slack-jawed amazement. Now what? The Internet is a vast sea of treacherous knowledge eager to suck you into its depths for eternity, and finding your specific entries is akin to throwing a rock in the air and hoping it hits the Moon.

That’s why you have a theme. Think of it as your anchor to the shore when you’re searching for new entries.

One thing you can do to make successive lists easier is make your own database of useful sites. I tend to gravitate toward science-based lists, so I have Wired, LiveScience, Phys.org, MNN, and NASA bookmarked for easy reference, to name a few. If I want to write a list on, say, insect zombies, I can search for crazy examples through those sites directly rather than wading through a quagmire of Google results.

If you like to write about creepy urban legends, bookmark sites in that vein. Politics? Go for the big names: CNN, BBC, New York Times, The Guardian. Google Books is an awesome search tool for historical lists. Even the vast Internet sea has its crannies of specialized life.

One thing to remember when you’re researching is that you have to provide sources for your information, so save the links to every site you use. We don’t take Wikipedia or tabloid-esque sites like The Daily Mail or The Metro as sources. If you use Wikipedia to start your research (which is fine), make sure you can find the same information presented in a different source. You can find more info on acceptable sources in the author guide.

Research can make or break a great list, and it’s not uncommon to find a ton of entries and then realize that the list as a whole won’t work. (If this happens to you, read on a bit farther.) Don’t let it discourage you.

7Get Your Outline Going

When you research, the easiest way to manage everything is to keep a Word document open to paste quick entry titles and their corresponding links. As you go along, the skeleton of a list is going to form on that page. My outlines usually look something like this. It’s incomplete and a little muddled, but that gives me the bare-bones idea for each entry. If I get more than 10, I can whittle them from that list until I have the best options. Alternatively, if I start finding that my entries are veering toward a different focal point, I can split them into two separate lists right there, then choose the one I like best later.

How you set it up is entirely up to you, of course, but if you’re just easing into the idea of writing for Listverse, an outline like that is a solid starting point for organizing your thoughts. It may be a little more work at the beginning, but that white lady isn’t going to come home on her own. Guide her in gently.

And hey, when you stumble across a potential entry idea, run a quick search on Listverse to make sure we haven’t covered it already. (For future reference, the search tool is the little magnifying glass on the top-right corner of this page; you can also use your Google-fu to search only on Listverse.) We probably won’t want to cover a story again unless we’re bringing a significant amount of new information to the table. It’s a quick extra step that’ll save you the hassle of rewriting an entry if it turns out the idea has been featured on the site before.

6Write An Entry

Yep, just one. Don’t worry about the other nine. They’re off having lunch; they’ll be back later. Right now it’s just you and a keyboard and 150 words and all that research you just did. Pick one entry you really like from your outline—maybe that first one, the idea that got you rolling on your list—and tell us about it. Lead into it with the most important fact, the one that defines the entry.

Specifics? Okay, maybe you’re writing a list about 10 people who shouldn’t be alive, and maybe you take that story about that woman who made a cup of tea after taking a .38-caliber bullet through the skull. Maybe, just maybe, the entry starts like this:

With her dead husband on the floor and blood streaming from two bullet holes in her head, Tammy Sexton needed something to take the edge off. So she brewed a hot cup of tea, then sat down to wait for the police.

Right off the bat, you’re giving readers something to sink their teeth into, and from there you can expand on the details of the story. Before you know it, you’ve written a whole entry. Then do it again, and again, and each time it’ll be a little easier because you’re that much closer to finishing the list. It’s all too easy to look at a list as a whole and think, “Whoa, no way I can write all of that,” and if you’re lazy and easily distracted like me, you never will. So trick your brain by taking it one entry at a time.

And hey, want to use that example above? It’s free, so see if you can build a unique and intriguing list around it and send it on in.

5Some Basic Rules

Every day we receive around 100 submissions and while many of them are excellent, a few don’t quite pass muster. Here are the main reasons we don’t accept a list:

1. The English is not quite up to standard (or is downright non-existent). This is the main reason we reject lists. We don’t expect you to be an English professor but we do expect you to be able to write English like a native speaker. More than 70 percent of the lists we reject every day are rejected for this reason.

2. We (or other websites) have already covered the topic. The best submissions are original. They are not re-workings of our old lists or content from other sites.

3. The topic is way off-base for us. Every day we receive lists on why you should become a vegan (hint: you shouldn’t!), how to improve your mental health by doing yoga, the writer’s favorite ten shirts in their wardrobe, the best tourist destinations in Smalltown (population 5), etc. I probably don’t need to expand on why these lists are not for us.

4No Funny Business

You’re a funny guy or gal. I can tell already. But keep in mind that Listverse wants facts, not comedy. There’s a fine line between being original and shoehorning in a joke just for laughs. Some humor is important because it keeps the writing from getting too dry, but the first order of business is always presenting your information in a clear, easy-to-understand way. That’s what our readers expect from us, and we try every day to make sure it happens.

If you absolutely, die-if-you-won’t, have to add humor to your list, find a way to present the information itself in a humorous way, rather than using extra lines purely for the sake of having a joke in there. I’m guilty of some terrible jokes myself, and take it from me: What sounds hilarious in your head usually just makes you cringe when you see it online later. For example, this list about condoms has some great examples of Listverse humor done right. It’s subtle and the double entendres give you the kind of straight-faced inner chuckle that would make Harrison Ford proud. In the end, we want readers to leave remembering the knowledge, not the jokes. A good rule of thumb for jokes is if you’re not sure about it, go ahead and leave it out.

3Proofread Everything

Your list doesn’t have to be perfect, and we don’t expect anyone to Vonnegut their paragraphs around here. In fact, very, very few lists are fit for publishing right out of the acceptance gates. We do have editors, and they’re actually pretty good at what they do, but that list is going to get out on the site a lot faster if it comes in cleanly. It’s incredible what you’ll pick up after just reading through your list once after you finish it.

Misspellings, repeated words, all the little things spellchecker switched around behind your back like the scheming bastard it is—most of these simple mistakes will leap out at you the first time you read them. If they don’t leap out at you and there aren’t too many, the editors will grab them, but the whole process works best if we all work together like a team.

Besides, don’t you want to be proud of your work as a writer? Because if you followed all these steps, that’s what you are now: A bonafide professional writer. Trundle on over to the Listverse submission page to send us your words. And don’t forget to fill in the field marked “Paypal or Bitcoin Address;” that’s how we pay you.

Now take a deep breath . . . and keep doing that forever, because that’s how you’re alive. Alive as a writer, you dog, you.

2Hit The Listverse Forum

You’ve done it. You’ve written, submitted, and published a list on the front page of Listverse. Your pocket’s burning with that hot Benjamin we Paypalled straight into your account, and the world is a shimmering oyster through which your newly awakened writerly eyes can see all the layers of possibility that make up reality. Sugar never tasted so good.

So, erm, now what?

Well if you want, hop right back on that horse and write another list. There’s no limit to how much our writers are allowed to write, and no limit to how much you can make doing it. If you felt an unmistakeable tingle of exhilaration discovering that first list, you’re definitely in the right place. The tingle never dies.

Once you’ve published your first list with us, you also get an email with access to the Listverse forum. This is where writers and editors hang out together, toss around ideas, and get to know each other. It’s magical, and it’s filled with helpful writers just like yourself who understand the trials and pitfalls of list-writing. Nobody’s going to downtalk you there or call your ideas stupid; we’re all in the same boat, floating down the same river.

Even better, there’s a section of the forum that we call World of Ideas. If an editor or a writer finds a super cool tidbit but doesn’t have time to do anything with it, they’ll drop it in there for anyone to claim. It’s like an idea factory. We also have an optional place to pitch ideas to Micah, our Head Honcho of Words. He’s nicer than he sounds, and he’ll give you real-life, personalized feedback on your own ideas, and either a green light to write it or some feedback on why it didn’t work.

You can also follow our Facebook page and Twitter account to see your list broadcast to 150,000 people, which is an awesome sight all on its own. Sort of like seeing a whale breaching in an avalanche.

1Forget All My Advice

In the end, you’re the writer. Even though we want you to stick to a few basic rules, we also want you to bring your unique voice and angle to your list. That’s what makes Listverse so diverse: the many talented writers we work with. We wouldn’t be able to publish new and interesting lists every day if we didn’t have creative ideas coming in from creative people.

What I’ve just outlined for you is my personal process. It’s a good launching point, but now I want you to take those pieces, let them tumble around in your head, and then stack them into something new and beautiful. I’m just one little guy who writes here; get an idea of the process from me, sure, but don’t make it canon. Everything I’ve just said can be changed to suit you.

Can’t get into doing an outline? That’s fine—just figure out one entry at a time and let your list evolve from there. Write as you research each point, if you want. The idea is to find a method that works for you, and only you will be able to figure out what that is.

For more tips on writing for us from another seasoned author, Morris M., check out his list on 10 Tips for Getting Paid to Write for Listverse.

From the tragedy of Alec Baldwin’s prop gun firing to O.J. Simpson’s entire trial, plenty of famous people have cost others their lives. Sometimes, this happens decades before fame hits. Sometimes, it’s because of fame. And sometimes, it ruins careers.

But sometimes, it all sort of gets swept under the rug. Here are some famous people who have been involved in the deaths of others that you may not have heard about.

Related: Ten Eerie Unsolved Murders of Everyday Women

10 Laura Bush

Fourteen years before marrying soon-to-be President George W. Bush, 17-year-old Laura Welch ran a stop sign and crashed into another car. The driver, another teenager, was killed. Though she didn’t speak about the incident for many years, in 2010, she told the New York Times that she was “wracked by guilt for years after the crash, especially after not attending the funeral and for not reaching out to the parents of the dead teenager.”

If this sounds like an interesting premise for a comedy, you’re not alone! In 2018, Laura Bush Killed a Guy, a new comedy play by Ian Allen, made its debut off-off-Broadway. The show presented itself as a night with Laura (played by Lisa Hodsoll), where three alternate accounts of the crash are presented. Despite the… odd subject material, the New York Times praised the play, calling it “not a political satire but a romantic comedy.”^[1]

9 Phill Lewis

Born in Uganda to American parents in the Peace Corps, Phill Lewis started his film career in the 1988 black comedy Heathers. The movie centers around a slew of teen deaths—a topic that would become all too relevant to Lewis in just a few years.

In 1991, at the age of 23, Lewis was arrested after hitting and killing a woman with his car. His blood alcohol content was over three times the legal level, which even his own defense attorney called “extraordinarily high.” Lewis claimed he was unable to remember anything for nearly 10 hours leading up to the accident, which was deemed possible due to his extreme level of intoxication.

Lewis was sentenced to five years in prison, but it was reduced to just one after he spent much of his sentence working with a prison-based theater troupe that highlighted the consequences of drug and alcohol abuse. Despite these rough years as a young man, Lewis continued to land guest roles in shows such as Married… with Children and Boy Meets World before landing a lead role on the Disney Channel show The Suite Life of Zach and Cody.^[2]

8 Rebecca Gayheart

Former teen model and star of the 1999 hit Jawbreaker Rebecca Gayheart started her career by playing ax murderess Lizzie Borden in a school play. After becoming the spokesperson for Noxzema skin cream, Gayheart rose to fame in magazines and guest spots on TV shows like Beverly Hills 90210.

In 2001, Gayheart accidentally hit a nine-year-old boy with her car. The boy died the next day, and Gayheart made a public statement: “The pain of this tragedy will live with me forever. Despite the allegations in the lawsuit, the facts will establish that this was a most unfortunate accident.” She was charged with vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to three years of probation and suspension of her license.^[3]

7 Matthew Broderick

The actor best known as the fast-driving, smooth-talking teen Ferris Bueller accidentally crossed into the wrong lane while driving a rental car in Northern Ireland. The car collided head-on with another, killing both riders instantly. Broderick and his passenger, actress Jennifer Grey, both sustained minor injuries.

Broderick claimed he couldn’t remember anything about the crash before ending up in the hospital. He was charged with careless driving. In the end, he only had to pay a $175 fine for taking the life of a mother and daughter duo.

In 2012, Broderick starred in a multi-million dollar Honda Super Bowl commercial. The brother/son of the victims remarked drily that “It wasn’t the greatest choice of drivers, knowing his past.”^[4]

6 Ryan Grantham

At just 21 years old, Ryan Grantham shot his mother to death while she innocently played the piano in her home. When asked why he did it, Grandham explained he had an entire plan, which culminated in the assassination of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and a mass shooting in British Columbia. He killed his mother in order to shield her from the pain his crimes would bring her.

Luckily, Grantham was caught before he could carry out this scheme. Before attending college at Simon Fraser University, Grantham was known for his small but comedic role as a sixth grader in Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and as a guest star on the teen drama Riverdale.^[5]

5 Brandy Norwood

Brandy Norwood shot to fame after starring in the 1996 sitcom Moesha. Her subsequent appearances as the titular princess in Cinderella and Grammy win for her 1998 album Never Say Never only made her a more prominent figure in American media.

Unfortunately, in 2006, Norwood struck a car on an L.A. freeway. This second car slammed into the highway divider and was hit by a third car, killing the driver. Norwood was charged with vehicular manslaughter but was found not guilty due to the absence of alcohol and drugs. Further investigation also did not find that Norwood was using her phone or was otherwise distracted. Norwood has never spoken publicly about the incident.^[6]

4 Don King

Years before promoting such historic boxing matches as the “Thrilla in Manilla” and “The Rumble in the Jungle,” Don King spent his youth working as a bookie out of a basement. During this time, King shot a man after watching him try to rob one of his gambling houses. It was ruled as justifiable homicide.

Thirteen years later, he was convicted for stomping one of his employees to death because he owed him $600. This wasn’t so justifiable, and King served just under four years in prison for his crime.^[7]

3 Caitlyn Jenner

In 2024, Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner came under intense scrutiny after posting on social media “Good riddance” in response to the death of accused murderer O.J. Simpson. Many users were quick to point out that Jenner herself had actually also killed someone in a 2015 car crash on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California.

Jenner was never charged with manslaughter or reckless driving, as investigators found that the only law she had broken was a “basic speeding violation.” There was public outrage, with some believing she had gotten off the hook due to her fame. Ultimately, Jenner paid $800,000 to the family of the deceased and expressed her condolences but did not serve jail time.^[8]

2 Phil Spector

You might not know Phil Spector by name, but you’ve almost certainly heard one of the songs he’s been involved in. Spector produced The Beatles’ Let It Be, as well as such acts as The Ronettes (famous for “Be My Baby”), The Crystals, and Ike & Tina Turner.

Unlike most others on this list, Spector’s crime was purposeful. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee invited actress Lana Clarkson back to his home in 2003 after meeting at a bar. By morning, she had been shot dead.

Spector claimed she killed herself, but several women came forward during the trial to reveal Spector had also threatened them with guns at some point. He was found guilty and sentenced to 19 years in prison, though he died in 2021 before serving them all.^[9]

1 Ted Kennedy

The Kennedy curse spares no man.

Senator Ted Kennedy, younger brother of President John F. Kennedy, was driving over a bridge with politician Mary Jo Kopechne in 1969 when the car leaped over the barrier and sank into the ocean. While Kennedy was able to swim to safety, Kopechne did not make it.

Once Kennedy made it back to his hotel on Chappaquiddick Island, he waited until morning to call the police and report the crash. It is thought that Kopechne could have survived if help had arrived sooner rather than the nine hours later in which Kennedy waited. Why would he do this? Many suspect that Kennedy was drunk and did not want to get in trouble with the law, so he waited until morning when he had sobered up.

Some even think that the entire incident was a deliberate attempt to kill Kopechne for unknown reasons. Kennedy’s defenses were murky and confused, leading to further speculation on why he handled the situation so badly. The Chappaquiddick incident, as it has come to be known, is primarily cited as the reason Kennedy did not run for president in future years.

Older Americans might remember this scandal, but for most young adults whose only knowledge of the Kennedys comes from JFK, the idea that a member of this all-American clan could have killed someone probably comes as a surprise.^[10]

Human beings have thought about time from the very beginning of our existence. Since we first understood time, we’ve been trying to build accurate tools to measure it. In this list, we’ll focus on the most common tool that we use to measure time: the clock. Clocks come in many forms: physiological “clocks” within the human body, mechanical clocks, electronic/digital clocks, and even clocks that use water to keep time.

What this list reveals is that man has been fascinated with time and timekeeping—hence, clocks—for a very long time. It also shows that the clocks built a very long time ago were surprisingly advanced and unexpectedly accurate. Human beings have always had an insatiable thirst for continuous improvement, so this list also takes a peek at the probable future of advanced clocks: clocks powered by the highly precise events that occur within atoms. Please synchronize the time on your watches, and let’s dive into the list!

Related: 10 Inventive Ways the World Is Reimagining Defunct Phone Booths

10 Using the Blockchain as a Timekeeper

When you hear the term “blockchain,” you probably think of people sending and receiving digital currencies. But D4D, a Swiss tech company, has a new vision: a blockchain-based clock. In 2024, they patented Clockchain, a decentralized timekeeping system that reimagines the concept of a clock. Instead of relying on traditional systems that can drift or be altered, Clockchain offers a secure, unchangeable source of time.

For industries like banking and healthcare, where precision is critical, Clockchain eliminates the risks of inaccurate or tampered timestamps. Its design ensures that every second is accurately logged. This could redefine how we handle everything from transactions to patient data.

As Web 3.0 (a decentralized web) evolves, Clockchain, if widely adopted, could reshape the future of digital timekeeping. Software developers could rely on its tamper-proof, reliable foundation to revolutionize how time is recorded across digital platforms. In many ways, Clockchain might end up being a modern-day reinvention of an age-old concept.^[1]

9 The Tidbyt: A Retro Pixel Art Clock That’s Pure Fun

The Tidbyt is a very modern clock that packs a lot of unusual features into a small package. It has a sleek walnut frame and a nostalgic pixelated display that blends retro charm with modern functionality. It can do a lot more than just tell time. For example, it can show a range of useful information like bus schedules, sports scores, and even interesting animations. It has over 700 customizable apps.

Unlike many modern “toys,” the Tidbyt is a simple device. It’s not a smart assistant: there are no microphones or cameras, just a customizable display that adds a touch of fun to the device. A final nice touch is that it can display low-resolution art for its owner.

At $200, the Tidbyt isn’t cheap, but its charm has drawn a loyal following. Tidbyt’s open platform allows for endless possibilities, and this open architecture can make it an interesting item to own for many years.^[2]

8 The Clepsydra of Karnak: Egypt’s Ancient Water Clock

The Clepsydra of Karnak, dating back to 1391–1353 BC, is one of humanity’s earliest known water clocks. The alabaster vessel, used in the Temple of Amen-Re, offered a way to track time without relying on the sun or stars. Its design featured 12 carved columns representing the hours of the night, and it was considered a breakthrough in timekeeping technology during its day.

Water would slowly flow through a small hole, and as the water level dropped, time was measured accurately. This was especially useful during cloudy or nighttime periods when traditional methods were unreliable. The Clepsydra’s precision made it highly valuable for priests conducting rituals or for daily activities.

Beyond its practicality, the Clepsydra was also a spiritual object. Decorated with symbols of constellations and gods, it reflected the Egyptians’ belief that timekeeping was connected to divine rituals. In Egyptian culture, the Clepsydra wasn’t just a tool; it was a sacred artifact.^[3]

7 The Rediscovery of Cartier’s Magnificent Water Clock

In 2024, Cartier’s long-lost “Pendule Magnétique,” or water clock, resurfaced at a Phillips auction. This masterpiece, created in 1929, was the result of Cartier’s advanced craftsmanship, and the clock included a rare 17th-century jade basin. The basin contains a floating carp that indicates the time, driven by a magnetic movement beneath the surface.

This clock is notable because it combines advanced mechanics with beautiful aesthetics. Only three of these water clocks were ever made by Cartier; it’s a very rare and historically significant timepiece.

After being hidden in a private collection for decades, the clock’s Art Deco design and Chinese motifs excited potential collectors when its existence was revealed to the general public. The clock’s uniqueness means that it could command a high price when auctioned off.^[4]

6 The Beetle with a 48-Hour Biological Clock

The large black chafer beetle, Holotrichia parallela, operates on a 48-hour biological clock, an unusual pattern for most living organisms. Female beetles emerge from the soil every other night to release pheromones, attracting potential mates. This circabidian rhythm controls the females’ reproductive behavior, making their emergence a predictable event in an otherwise mysterious cycle.

Male beetles are equally synchronized with this 48-hour clock, and their ability to detect the females’ pheromones is heightened during this period. Researchers have identified a specific gene, HparOR14, responsible for this sensory regulation, marking the first time such a pheromone receptor has been discovered in a beetle species.

Despite these findings, scientists are still puzzled about the environmental triggers that govern this unusual cycle. Unlike the common 24-hour circadian rhythms tied to day and night, the 48-hour rhythm of these beetles remains unexplained. Future research might help us uncover why the black chafer beetle developed such a unique clock.^[5]

5 Tuning Medicine to Your Body’s Internal Clock

Your body’s internal clock, known as the circadian rhythm, controls sleep and can have a significant impact on how effective medications are when you take them. Chronotherapy is a treatment approach that aligns medications with your body’s natural clock. Research shows that certain drugs, like aspirin or cancer treatments, are more effective when taken at specific times of the day, synchronized with your body’s internal rhythms.

How does it work? Your hormones, temperature, and immune system all fluctuate throughout the day. Chronotherapy taps into these natural changes, timing treatments to when your body is most receptive. It’s a powerful idea: fighting diseases like cancer by simply adjusting the timing of medication.

Despite its promise, chronotherapy is still underused. One challenge is identifying reliable biomarkers like blood pressure or body temperature to determine the best time for treatments. While it’s a timely idea, literally, more research is needed to unlock chronotherapy’s full potential.^[6]

4 Al-Jazari’s Elephant Clock

Al-Jazari’s Elephant Clock is an 800-year-old clock that fuses influences from many different cultures. Created in the 12th century, this clock uses water and gears to track time with impressive accuracy for when it was built. Each part of the design represents a different culture: the elephant symbolizes India and Africa, the dragon comes from China, and the phoenix from Egypt. Greek and Persian influences appear as well, all topped by a turban to mark its Islamic origin.

The clock, on display at the King Salman Science Oasis in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is one example of the innovation that took place during the Islamic golden age. Al-Jazari built a cultural bridge that showed how different cultures influence each other.

Visitors who view the Elephant Clock today are reminded how important science and creativity were, even eight centuries ago. The clock is also a reminder of how important technology was in ancient Islamic civilizations.^[7]

3 Your Blood’s Internal Clock

What if your blood could tell you how fast you’re aging? Scientists have created a “proteomic aging clock” that can estimate your biological age by analyzing specific proteins in your plasma. Instead of being a measure of how many years you’ve lived, it’s really a measure of how well your body’s holding up with the passage of time.

The “blood clock” has been tested in large populations across the UK, China, and Finland, and the results are stunningly accurate. It predicts risks for diseases like diabetes and heart disease, giving doctors a powerful tool for early prevention.

Basically, this clock measures how well you’re aging from the inside out. With further research, it could even help reduce the risk of premature death. The clock ticks: it never stops, and it gives a very accurate and timely reflection of how healthy you really are.^[8]

2 Atomic Clocks and Dark Matter Detection

Scientists are actively developing atomic clocks so precise that they could help to solve one of the universe’s biggest mysteries: Where’s all the dark matter? While dark matter is believed to make up most of the universe, it has remained undetectable for decades. Researchers at NIST have made a breakthrough with a new atomic clock that measures tiny shifts in atoms’ energy. This clock could act as a sensor for subtle cosmic signals, including those from dark matter.

These atomic clocks are so sensitive that they can also track gravitational shifts on Earth with extreme precision. But the real excitement comes from the potential to detect dark matter, particles that have so far escaped direct observation.

By observing slight changes in space-time, scientists believe these clocks could eventually provide evidence of dark matter’s existence. The hope is that these advanced atomic clocks will help us to unlock some of the secrets that the universe is hiding from us.^[9]

1 Superradiant Atomic Clocks

Superradiance is changing how atomic clocks work, offering new levels of precision. Traditional atomic clocks use lasers to control atoms, but this can cause slight disruptions. At the Niels Bohr Institute, scientists have developed superradiant clocks, which use atoms that naturally emit light in sync. By avoiding laser interference, these clocks can operate without the usual heat issues, making them far more accurate.

What’s exciting about this technology is its potential beyond just keeping time. These clocks could be used in various fields, like detecting minor gravitational shifts that occur before earthquakes, offering a unique way to predict natural disasters.

With further research, superradiant atomic clocks could radically upgrade how we measure time. This could build on our understanding of our world and create a positive feedback loop that continuously improves society with new technological breakthroughs.^[10]

It is a common trope in comedy that if a clumsy person enters an antique shop, they are bound to knock over a precariously positioned and priceless Ming vase. For centuries, collectors in the West have sought out the rarest Chinese antiquities, of which Ming vases are just the most famous. As China has boomed economically recently, the prices of Chinese artworks have exploded.

This has led to many cases where people who were about to throw away an old pot or donate a cracked plate to a junk shop have suddenly discovered they are actually in possession of something worth a fortune. Here are ten cases where Chinese antiques turned out to be a windfall.

Related: 10 Amazing Antiques Roadshow Discoveries

10 £1 Million Collection in the Attic

Clearing out the attic can be one of the most annoying tasks for any homeowner. It’s dusty and full of spiders, and then you have to decide which of the things you have stored over the years is worth keeping and which should be put in the trash. Sometimes, though, you might just strike gold.

Edward Radcliffe became an antiques dealer just before WWII, and during his career, he built up a nice collection of Chinese antiques. Some of them were so exquisite that he lent them out to museums around the world. But for some reason, after he died, this collection was dumped in the attic and forgotten for over 50 years before his family decided to get it valued.

Among the stars of the collection was an enamel box made for the Xuande emperor of the Ming Dynasty in the 15th century. Finding one is phenomenally rare, as just four are known to exist in the world. The family must have been pleased when it was valued at 10,000 pounds at auction. They must have been beyond belief when the hammer went down, and it was sold for £288,000. With the rest of the collection selling as well, the whole lot made nearly 1 million pounds.^[1]

9 “Teapot”

The British love a cup of tea, so it is not unusual to find an elderly relative who has a teapot or two stored in their home. In 2020, a man finally sorted through the things his parents had stored in their attic. He found a plastic bag containing a tiny metal and enamel teapot, brought from China in the 1940s by his father. He thought of taking it to a charity shop. Instead, it was taken to an auctioneer who valued it at £100-150.

It soon became clear that it was actually something more special than a teapot. It turned out to be an imperial wine ewer made for the Qianlong emperor in the 18th century and one of only three in the world. On the day of the auction, nine bidders from around the world competed to own the minuscule masterpiece, and eventually, it sold for £380,000.

The owner, a construction worker, was thrilled with his sudden fortune. Asked what he would do with the money, he suggested he might buy a metal detector. With luck like his, who knows what treasures he might find.^[2]

8 Imperial Vase

Familiarity breeds contempt, so something we see every day tends to get overlooked. When an auctioneer visited a friend’s house one day, he noticed that an old vase they had just in their kitchen looked quite special. The tall vase had been bought for a few hundred pounds and was a pretty piece of porcelain – but to the owners, it was nothing too exciting.

It was only years later that the piece, made at the Imperial Court of the Qianlong emperor, was put up for sale, and collectors began to get excited. The rich blue vase is decorated with gold and silver and depicts cranes and bats flying against a cloudy sky. A vase of this age, with this decoration and in this size, caused a stir, and it was valued at around £100,000.

Bidding was fierce, and the vase was sold for £1.2 million. Not bad for an old thing shoved in the kitchen.^[3]

7 Loose Change Bowl

Pottery is a sturdy material but easily broken and damaged. For collectors of antiques, even the smallest chip can destroy the value of a piece, so most will do everything possible to protect their treasures. One family inherited a bowl owned by a well-known collector of Chinese antiques but did not give it the same care as he might have liked. They placed it in a guest room where friends would drop their keys and coins while they stayed.

It was only out of curiosity that they took the 9-inch (22.9-cm) wide turquoise glazed dish to an open day at an auctioneer’s event. It was immediately seen to have been produced for the early Ming Imperial Court. Known as a narcissus bowl, the object caused the valuers’ hands to shake, and the owners were happy to put it up for auction.

The bowl sold for £240,000. Hopefully, the new owner doesn’t toss metal objects into it.^[4]

6 Cracked Umbrella Stand

Sometimes, we are given things and don’t know what to do with them, but we hold onto them anyway for sentimental reasons. One couple in England had come into possession of a blue and white vase as a gift and thought no more of it for 50 years. They relegated it to a spare room, and since it was about the right size, they placed their umbrellas in it. Needless to say, this was not the right way to treat the vase.

The vase turned out to have been made for the court of the Qianlong emperor and had survived centuries mostly intact. Unfortunately, the years of being an umbrella stand had left their mark on the vase, with it being cracked and scarred on the inside. Despite the damage, it was still valued at around £500,000.

Buyers seemed able to overlook the hard life the vase had endured and ended up paying £765,000.^[5]

5 Umbrella Stand

There must be something about priceless Chinese vases that makes people look at them and think, “That would make an excellent umbrella stand.” When an expert from Christie’s auction house was made aware of a large, blue and white dragon vase that had once been an umbrella stand, he asked the French owners whether he could inspect it in person. As soon as he looked at it, he knew that the vase was a perfect example of 15th-century Ming Imperial pottery.

The umbrella stand phase of the vase’s life had miraculously left no trace on the flawless glaze. The large dragon motif was as fresh as the day it had been painted by the imperial artisans. When the vase was put up for auction in Hong Kong, excited bidding led to it reaching $20,447,642.^[6]

4 Yard Sale Bowl

Everyone likes a bargain, and there is nowhere you can pick up an excellent deal as easily as at a yard sale. People use yard sales to get rid of the various stuff they have accumulated over the years and generally just want it out of the house. For $35, you can grab a pretty bowl for your home—or one that might make you a fortune at auction.

When a buyer saw a small blue and white bowl at a yard sale, they liked it so much they didn’t bother to haggle over the $35 price tag. Almost straight away, they suspected they had bought something special and alerted an auction house. It was found that the bowl was Ming porcelain made in the early 15th century in a form called a lotus bowl—with only six examples in museums around the world.

The bowl sold for $721,800, a mere 29,000 times more than it was bought for.^[7]

3 Qianlong Vase

Thrift shops are great places to browse for unusual things because you never know what people have donated. You get to buy things cheap and also help a good cause. Sometimes, you really do find something special.

One shopper spotted a somewhat gaudy-looking vase with a yellow glaze and Chinese characters painted on it. It was only marked at £1 so they decided to buy it. Thinking it might be worth a little more than that, they put the vase on sale on eBay. However, as the price started to skyrocket, they removed it from the site and showed the vase to an auctioneer.

The vase was made at the court of the Qianlong emperor, and a mark on the base stated that it was not meant to be exported from the country. How it came to be in a charity shop in England is not known. At auction, the vase sold for £480,000. ^[8]

2 Brush Pot Donation

Thrift stores do not always let valuable antiques slip through their fingers. Volunteers who sort through donated objects are often given advice on spotting potentially important pieces and having them shown to experts. When one worker at St. Peter’s Hospice charity shop in Bristol, England, picked up a cracked old wooden pot that had been handed in and, for some reason, suspected it might be special—despite it not looking very promising.

The pot turned out to be a brush pot used in calligraphy and was made from bamboo around 1700, which perhaps explained why it was so cracked. Not only did the pot have a charmingly carved landscape scene on it, but it was also created by Gu Jue, one of the foremost bamboo workers at the time.

Luckily for the charity, this precious little object did not end up on their shelves and sell for a pittance. It went to auction and sold for £360,000, far outstripping the estimate of £15,000.^[9]

1 Shoebox Vase

If this list does nothing else, it should make you consider clearing out your attic. The ultimate case of a treasure lurking in the attic comes from France and involves one of the finest Chinese vases ever to be offered for sale.

Sotheby’s auctioneer might well have missed out on this discovery as the owner of the vase simply sent them an email saying she had found some Asian objects in her attic as she prepared to move but would not be able to send them any photographs. Some other details she provided suggested they might be worth looking at, so they invited her to bring them in. Riding on the metro, she carried the vase in a shoebox. The owners had relegated it to the attic after deciding it was “too pink” for their tastes.

The vase, with its animal motifs, was so lovely that even if it had been a copy of what it looked like, it still might have been worth €100,000. However, the experts recognized it as genuine. It really was a vase made for the Qianlong emperor’s birthday and given an auction estimate of €700,000. It blew past this when bidding started and finally sold for €16,182,800.^[10]

Social etiquette is more than just a set of polite behaviors—it embodies the values, hierarchies, and unspoken rules that define a culture. In many ancient civilizations, these customs were sacred, with breaches leading to humiliation or even severe punishment. While many of these etiquette practices have faded with time, their echoes can still be felt today, subtly influencing modern social norms and cultural behaviors.

Exploring these ancient customs offers us a window into the complexities of human interaction and the profound importance once placed on seemingly small actions. Here are ten fascinating social etiquette rules from ancient civilizations that time has forgotten.

Related: 10 Social Conventions You Might Be Taking for Granted

10 Don’t Look Directly at the Emperor (Ancient Rome)

In ancient Rome, the emperor was not just a political leader but was often considered a living deity embodying the state’s power and divine favor. Citizens and even nobles were expected to show the utmost respect in his presence, which included avoiding direct eye contact. Looking directly at the emperor was more than impolite—it was a symbolic affront to his elevated status, akin to challenging his authority or questioning his supremacy.

This etiquette was strictly enforced during public appearances, ceremonies, and court proceedings. When citizens approached the emperor to plead cases or seek favors, they would do so with bowed heads and eyes cast downward, demonstrating submission and respect. Even high-ranking officials and soldiers adhered to this practice, acknowledging the vast gulf between the ruler and the ruled.

Failure to observe this rule could result in social ostracism or severe consequences, underscoring the rigid social structures of ancient Rome. The practice reinforced the social hierarchy and maintained the emperor’s near-divine status in the eyes of the people.^[1]

9 The Two-Finger Salute for Greetings (Medieval Europe)

In medieval Europe, religion permeated every aspect of life, including greetings. The two-finger salute, widely used across the continent, was a symbol of religious devotion. By raising two fingers—the index and middle fingers—individuals affirmed their belief in the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This simple gesture served as both a greeting and a silent affirmation of one’s orthodox beliefs.

During times of religious strife, such as the Crusades or the Inquisition, failing to use this gesture appropriately could lead to suspicion, ostracization, or even accusations of heresy. The two-finger salute was not just a polite custom but a crucial tool for social survival in an era when religious conformity was enforced by severe penalties.

Merchants and travelers also used the salute to indicate their faith and good intentions when entering new towns or engaging in trade. It facilitated trust among strangers in a fragmented landscape of feudal territories and varying local customs.^[2]

8 Never Eat with Your Left Hand (Ancient India)

In ancient India, the distinction between the left and right hand was deeply embedded in social norms and religious practices. The left hand was reserved for tasks considered unclean, such as personal hygiene. Meals were more than just eating—they were communal rituals that reinforced social bonds and religious observances. Using the right hand to eat honored the sanctity of the food and the occasion, reflecting broader concepts of purity central to Hinduism.

Using the left hand during meals was considered impure and disrespectful, not only to the food but also to fellow diners and the divine. This rule extended beyond the home into social and religious gatherings, where adherence to this etiquette was a sign of respect to hosts and guests alike.

Even today, in many parts of South Asia and the Middle East, this custom persists, highlighting the lasting impact of ancient practices on modern cultural norms.^[3]

7 Cover Your Head Indoors (Ottoman Empire)

In the Ottoman Empire, social etiquette required men to keep their heads covered indoors, especially in places of religious or social importance like mosques or private homes. This custom was rooted in notions of humility before God and respect within the social hierarchy. The head covering, often a fez or turban, was a symbol of one’s faith and societal status.

Removing one’s head covering in inappropriate contexts was more than a breach of etiquette; it was a potential act of defiance or disrespect. The strict enforcement of this custom reflected the empire’s emphasis on maintaining social cohesion and visual markers of identity.

The practice extended beyond religious settings to formal meetings and social gatherings, reinforcing the importance of modesty and respect in daily interactions. While the Ottoman Empire no longer exists, the legacy of head-covering customs continues to influence cultural practices in the region.^[4]

6 Bow Before Speaking (Feudal Japan)

In feudal Japan, social interactions were governed by strict codes reflecting one’s status and role. Central to these interactions was the act of bowing, or “ojigi,” which conveyed respect, gratitude, apology, and other sentiments without words. When addressing a superior, especially a daimyo (feudal lord), one was expected to bow deeply before speaking.

Failing to perform the proper bow was a grave breach of etiquette, implying arrogance or disrespect. For the samurai class, who lived by the strict code of Bushido, adherence to proper bowing was a matter of honor and discipline. Neglecting this could lead to serious consequences, including loss of status or even duels.

Bowing before speaking maintained the social hierarchy and reinforced mutual respect, essential components of Japanese society at the time. The practice highlighted the importance placed on non-verbal communication and the subtle nuances of social interaction.^[5]

5 Never Step on the Threshold (Ancient Egypt)

In ancient Egypt, the threshold of a home was more than just a physical boundary—it was a spiritual one. Stepping directly on the threshold when entering someone’s house was considered disrespectful to both the host and the protective deities believed to guard the home. Egyptians believed that the gods watched over families from the entrance, and stepping on the threshold could anger these protective spirits.

Guests were expected to step over the threshold, acknowledging the sacredness of the entrance and showing respect for the household’s divine guardians. This practice emphasized the importance Egyptians placed on hospitality, spirituality, and the sanctity of the home.

Such customs reinforced social bonds and religious beliefs, integrating everyday actions with spiritual significance. While the specific practice may have faded, it reflects the profound connection between daily life and the divine in ancient Egyptian culture. ^[6]

4 Silence Is Golden (Imperial China)

In Imperial China, Confucian principles shaped societal norms, including etiquette surrounding speech. One of the most important virtues was self-restraint, and in the presence of elders or superiors, it was expected to remain silent unless spoken to. Speaking out of turn or at length was considered a sign of arrogance and disrespect.

Silence maintained harmony by acknowledging the proper social order and showing deference to those of higher status. This etiquette was especially important in familial settings and official courts, where hierarchy was strictly observed.

Failure to adhere to this rule could lead to loss of face, a concept deeply ingrained in Chinese culture that pertains to one’s honor and reputation. The emphasis on measured speech and respect contributed to social cohesion and reflected the value placed on harmony and order.^[7]

3 Don’t Show the Sole of Your Foot (Ancient Mesopotamia)

In ancient Mesopotamia, the feet were considered the dirtiest part of the body due to constant contact with the ground. Showing someone the sole of your foot, even unintentionally, was seen as a grave insult. The sole was associated with filth both physically and symbolically, and displaying it to someone was akin to calling them unclean.

This etiquette influenced how people sat and interacted, ensuring that the soles of their feet were not exposed to others. It extended to formal settings, where individuals were mindful of their posture to avoid offending others.

The practice underscores the importance placed on cleanliness and respect in social interactions. Variations of this custom persist in some cultures today, highlighting the lasting impact of ancient social norms.^[8]

2 The Left Seat for Guests of Honor (Ancient Greece)

In ancient Greece, seating arrangements at social gatherings were significant, particularly during symposiums or banquets. The seat to the left of the host was reserved for the guest of honor, considered the most prestigious position. This placement symbolized the host’s trust and affection, as the left side was associated with the heart.

Hosts carefully arranged their guests to ensure everyone was seated according to their status, reflecting the importance of hospitality and social order. Misplacing someone in the hierarchy could lead to social tension or offense.

This etiquette emphasized the Greek values of xenia (hospitality) and respect for social hierarchies. Proper seating was a tangible expression of these virtues, reinforcing relationships and societal norms.^[9]

1 Cover Your Mouth When Laughing (Victorian England)

In Victorian England, etiquette rules were enforced rigidly, especially regarding women’s behavior. Women were expected to cover their mouths while laughing or smiling broadly. Modesty was a prized virtue, and excessive displays of emotion were considered unladylike and could damage a woman’s reputation.

This small gesture allowed women to demonstrate decorum and self-restraint, key virtues in Victorian society. It reflected the era’s strict ideas about femininity and proper conduct, where maintaining an air of modesty and reserve was paramount.

While men had more leeway in their expressions, women were held to stringent standards that dictated their behavior in public and private spheres. The practice highlights the gender norms and social expectations of the time.^[10]

Over the past 70 years, the global birth rate has dropped from roughly five children per woman in 1950 to 2.2, and 2.1 is considered the replacement level for a continuing population. In countries such as Serbia, the birth rate was 1.1 in 2023 and continued to drop in 2024. Meanwhile, in African nations such as Chad, the average woman has seven children.

There are a number of rich and influential celebrities, such as Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, who have sounded the alarm about this situation. There are whole movements, such as Quiverfull and the Natal Conference, devoted to reversing this trend and jacking birth rates back up. Evidence indicates that the effort will be, pardon the expression, fruitless. As many of the entries on this list will indicate, it’s a movement that is ill-served by its adherents.

Related: 10 Victims Whose Parents Never Gave Up

10 Abortion Bans Aren’t Making Up the Difference

It’s unquestionably true that since the Dobbs ruling, which took away federal protections for abortion rights in more conservative states, birth rates in those states have risen. Texas, for instance, saw a 16,000 increase from 2021 to 2022, of which about 84% were Latino/Hispanic teens. That certainly sounds like it will solve the problem, regardless of how someone feels about bodily autonomy or quality of life for parents.

As of 2024, though, it hasn’t. Even in South Dakota, the state with the highest percentage increase, in 2022, it was still 2.0, which was just shy of the replacement level. Part of this can be accounted for in the fact that even with abortion bans in place, many demographics are still seeing net birth rate drops.

Considering Texas again, the same year that Hispanic teen births went up 13,000 and 5% overall, white female births went down 0.2%, and black births 0.6%. Indeed, white teen pregnancies dropped 5%. The birth rate would have sunk much lower below replacement level without Roe V Wade being overturned (the California birth rate went down 20,000 in California in 2022, for example), but so far, the targets have not been reached.^[1]

9 Prohibitively Expensive or Dangerous Birth Process

The reader probably doesn’t need to be told how unaffordable many basic healthcare costs are getting in a number of countries. In light of the nature of the widespread birth crisis, certain allowances should be made to incentivize births. Instead, birth costs have risen so that, on average, an uninsured patient will be charged $18,865 as of January 2024.

For those who have insurance, the average cost is about $2,655. That’s if the birth is an uncomplicated vaginal procedure. If a caesarian section is required (and it is in about 30% of cases), then the price goes up to $25,820 for the uninsured and $3,200(9b) with insurance. This is in a context where, in the United States of America, 63% of employees report that they cannot afford a $500 emergency.

Traditionalists might recommend opting for a home delivery to cut down on the expenses, which is valid in a strictly financial sense. If an expecting parent hires a midwife, the services are likely to be covered by many insurance providers. However, these services are still expensive themselves: A $6,000 bill for the uninsured is typical. The financially downtrodden should know that only 21 states cover home deliveries through Medicaid.

All of this is disregarding the single greatest problem with home delivery: It is twice as likely to result in the death of the newborn. So it is little wonder that 37% of others attempting home delivery end up going to a hospital, adding thousands to their medical bill. Judging single women or couples for hesitating to go forward with such a dangerous, expensive procedure is simply absurd.^[2]

8 Birth Defect Rates Rising

There are regions experiencing as high as 50% increases in rates of birth defects, such as the United Kingdom from the nineties to the aughts. These defects include cleft lip, born with intestines outside the body, fatal heart flaws, etc. At present, one in sixteen children can be expected to be born with a significant birth abnormality. In America, the rate rose between 2005 and 2022 at roughly 10.7% per year, going from about 1% of births to 2.9%. This is a disconcerting trend for a nation where every state is already below replacement level.

This is absolutely not to say that persons born with severe birth defects do not deserve to live. However, they remain more likely to die in infancy. The extra surgeries often mean more and much greater expenses for an already very costly procedure, even for those very well-insured. Those are only the short-term problems.^[3]

7 Pollution Lowering Fertility

Multiple studies are finding that women who live in more heavily polluted areas are conceiving significantly less often, despite their best efforts. A survey of 18,000 couples in China found that those who lived in dense urban areas were 20% less capable of conceiving after one year of trying.

In America, a 2019 study of 632 women by the Massachusetts General Hospital Fertility Clinic found that women in environments with high concentrations of fine particulate matter in the air, which is typical in urban areas, lost their eggs and were rendered infertile earlier in life. For those who tried IVF instead, a study published in the periodical Human Reproduction in 2024 found that in neighborhoods with high levels of pollution, IVF conception failed 38%(7c) more often.

Men are also deeply susceptible to potency damage from pollution. Hagai Levine from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem reported in 2022 that the minimum threshold before low sperm count led to a decrease in fertility was under roughly 40 million per milliliter. Levine went on to report that between 1973 and 2018, global average sperm counts went from 104 million to 49 million per milliliter.

In 2000, the rate began dropping roughly 2.6% annually. A study published in Nature in 2022 found that fully 7% of men have been infertile their whole lives. That puts human sperm counts near a threshold where many communities will start to see a significant drop in fertility.^[4]

6 Miscarriage Rates

Miscarriage is a true tragedy but an extremely common one as well. About 20% of pregnancies end in a miscarriage or a stillbirth (stillbirth meaning self-terminating pregnancy after 20 weeks, miscarriage being those that happen earlier). You’d think medical advances, modern stress relief, etc. prevent that. In recent years, they have not. A 2018 New England Journal of Medicine study found that miscarriage rates were increasing by 1% per year. This rate is not at all consistent for the duration of the pregnancy: Stillbirth rates are about 1 in 160.

Unsurprisingly, miscarriages and stillbirths bring with them great emotional turmoil for large numbers of aspiring parents. A 2015 study published in Obstetrics and Gynecology found that 50% of those who experienced one felt guilt, and a quarter felt shame. That is a great emotional risk that many people will have to run if they decide to try for parenthood.^[5]

5 Antinatalism/Childfree Lifestyle Spreading

The notion that not having children is more moral than having them has an inherent, self-defeating obstacle in achieving widespread popularity. Its own adherents are inherently less likely to have children to carry on their values; they’re less likely to acquire the money needed for power and influence, and they’re less likely to feel the militant need to proselytize. None of this has stopped the antinatalist movement from growing in popularity in recent years.

Nor has the popularity of being a child-free woman deteriorated. In 2006, there were nine million childless women of childbearing age in the United States. By 2022, that number had grown to 21.9 million. Over the same time span, the U.S. population hadn’t come anywhere close to doubling (specifically, it went from 298 million to 338 million).

Even if a huge number of these women decide to have children after all, consider that after a woman reaches age 30, her odds of having a miscarriage or stillbirth increase dramatically. The risk reaches about 40-50% higher when a woman reaches age 40. Biological clocks are running faster and more urgently than many people realize.^[6]

4 Lowering Birth Options

With a potential baby bust on the horizon and so many wealthy futurists concerned about it, it would be sensible to make birth centers abundantly available to lower the cost by increasing the supply of providers. That has been almost the opposite of the American approach to the problem. Between 2011 and 2023, 217 hospitals stopped offering birth center services.

Instead of the closures stopping in 2024, the rate actually increased dramatically, so that 26 had stopped providing this service at the time of writing. Gynecological and perinatal services were generally still offered at these hospitals, but many women in rural areas had to have their delivery far out of state or turn to midwives whether they wanted to or not.

The reason for this is a matter of insurance providers. More than 40% of insurance coverage for births is through Medicaid instead of private or employer insurance, and the percentage is even higher in rural areas. Medicaid compensates hospitals less than half as much as private companies do. This is why these hospitals tend to withdraw these services in rural areas, particularly in states where Medicaid coverage is less generous.^[7]

3 One Child Desirability

Of course, tens of millions of women have overcome all these obstacles and reproduced. Many of them have, after experiencing the ordeal of childbirth, settled on having one. This is a perfectly reasonable course of action. A 2022 report in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology reviewed 188 studies and found that having a single child is where couples find the highest level of satisfaction, having achieved the biological necessity of reproducing without taking on too much time pressure among other concerns.

The issue remains that the replacement level birth rate is 2.1. The rate of women who only have one child during their childbearing years has been growing over the years, doubling from 1976 to 2015 from 11% to 22%. China’s One-Child Policy from 1979 to 2015 provides plenty of warning about how too many couples with one child can be a destabilizing matter for broader society, even though it can be highly desirable for the individual home.^[8]

2 Climate Change

Regardless of whether the changes in the climate are anthropogenic or the result of natural cycles beyond human control, the rate and extremity of climate disasters are alarming, and the severity is increasing. These sorts of concerns are taking their toll on the confidence potential parents have in the future. A July 2024 Pew Research poll said that of people of childbearing age who did not intend to have children, a quarter said that worries about the environment were their primary motivation.

Even if these concerns were to be removed from the heads of everyone, the fact that as of 2023, on average, every three weeks, America suffers $1 billion of damage from climate disasters does not bode well for future economic stability. For further context, in 2022, 32 million people were made refugees by natural disasters, and that was a 41% increase from 2008. If extreme environmental disasters continue, you can expect it to be a boon for the ranks of the antinatalist movement.^[9]

1 Romantic Disinterest

In recent years, people that are not able to get into romantic or sexual relationships have developed a stigma due to acts of violence by individuals dubbed “incels,” such as Tres Genco and Alek Minassian. That has probably left a lot of people less willing to discuss a hard fact about the contemporary state of relationships. Many young people aren’t just failing to enter serious, child-rearing relationships. They’re not even working for romantic relationships in general.

A Pew Research poll released in May 2024 found that only 40% of single people are interested in even a casual relationship, let alone a serious, committed one. The same poll found that among 18-29 year olds, 37% expressed no interest in relationships or dating at all. For those who might think that’s a phase people will grow out of, the fact is that the same poll showed that from ages 30-49, it’s 39% who have no interest in it.

Women were found to be substantially more likely to be uninterested (70% for women over 40 vs. 42% for men). This is likely to grow as time goes on since, reportedly, 44% of the most recent adult generation went their entire teen years without a relationship. That is a large segment of the population that will be less equipped to enter into relationships and contribute to raising the birth rate.^[10]

In London in 1851, the Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations was held. The luxurious pavilions and grand attractions drew crowds from across the globe and began an impressive tradition of World’s Fairs.

These universal exhibitions were held frequently throughout the Victorian Era (and less frequently throughout the 20th and 21st centuries). We have these worldwide events to thank for iconic structures like the Eiffel Tower and the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington. T the fairs were also an opportunity for inventors and artists to show off what they’d been working on. Sometimes, these immediately took the world by storm, but sometimes, they slowly crept into the public consciousness.

Here are ten ordinary things you might not know debuted at World’s Fairs.

Related: Top 10 Game-Changing Recent Inventions and Innovations

10 Ketchup

It seems impossible to imagine eating a hot dog or french fries without the option of adding some ketchup. But before the 1876 Centennial International Exposition in Philadelphia, you would have been hard-pressed to find any that was being distributed on a commercial level.

It was here that the Heinz company, which at this point was mostly known for manufacturing horseradish, created a new tomato “catsup.” While tomato sauces had been popular since the 1700s, Heinz advertised its sauce as “Blessed relief for Mother and the other women in the household!” because it was much easier to buy it pre-bottled than make it at home. The Centennial Exposition allowed Heinz to distribute free samples and merchandise (including the iconic pickle pin,) skyrocketing the popularity of a classic American condiment.

The telephone also debuted at this fair, but I think we all know which is more important.^[1]

9 Cherry Coke

While Coca-Cola has been around since 1886, it wasn’t until the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, that the company capitalized on more flavors.

It was here, almost 100 years after the soda’s invention, that Cherry Coke debuted. It was intended to imitate the taste of cherry sodas made at soda fountains in local drugstores before canned or bottled soda was popular. Thus, while cherry cola had been around for a long time, this was the first time Coca-Cola was actually creating it themselves. The cherry variation of Coke was immediately a hit, and three years later, it was released to the public.

Today, you can buy not just cherry-flavored Coke but also vanilla, lime, orange, and many other limited-edition flavors.^[2]

8 Color Television

The 1964 World’s Fair in New York City’s belle of the ball was Radio Corporation America. In a time when television was taking over the country, RCA installed over 250 televisions across the fairgrounds. But not just any televisions—color ones.

Though TVs weren’t exactly rare in the 1960’s, regular civilians had never seen screens with color before. As if this wasn’t enough, RCA had a special treat for fairgoers. They could see themselves on screen in the RCA pavilion! A color TV studio was also featured, where visitors would watch announcements and reports take place live.

Oddly enough, lost children got a special treat. They were televised across the fair in order to help parents find them from wherever they were within the pavilion.^[3]

7 Cellophane

No trip to Grandma’s would be complete without a little piece of candy, usually wrapped in clear plastic called cellophane. At the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City, you could watch this tradition be created in real time at the “Wonderful World of Chemistry” exhibit. This area of the fair featured a candy wrapping machine, which wrapped up to 400 pounds of hard candy with cellophane every day.

Cellophane is still used on a daily basis by florists, gift wrappers, and food product companies, but it’s not quite the attraction it was in the early 1900s.^[4]

6 Zipper

Though it was invented and patented back in 1851, the “automatic continuous clothing closure” did not rise in popularity until 1893, when inventor Whitcomb Judson presented his “clasp locker” at the Chicago World’s Fair.

Judson’s version of the clasp was originally intended just for shoes, but as the patent notes, it could be useful for many kinds of clothing. While the clasp was not an instant hit at the fair, having to compete with Buffalo Bill shows and the Ferris wheel, Judson was inspired by interest from corporations. By 1920, “zippers,” so-called for the sound they made, were commonplace on boots. From there, they became popular on children’s clothing and grew into the staple we know them as today.^[5]

5 Pay Toilets

In most European countries, you’ll find no shortage of toilets to relieve yourself—as long as you have a few Euros.

Though they aren’t widely used in America, pay-per-use toilets can be found all across the world, from Mexico to Singapore. However, the first one premiered at the Great Exhibition World’s Fair in 1851. Almost a million visitors paid a penny to pee in the “monkey closets,” and the toilets were such a success they stayed up long after the rest of the fair was taken down.

“Spending a penny” became a Victorian-Era euphemism for using the bathroom. However, for a penny, they got quite a bit more. Each penny at the fair got you a comb and shoe shine included in the visit to the water closet.^[6]

4 Dishwasher

Spite is a great motivator.

In 1883, Ohio housewife Josephine Cochrane was done wasting time cleaning up after dinner parties, allegedly saying, “If no one else is going to invent a dishwashing machine, I’ll do it myself.” And that’s what she did.

Just three years later, Cochran patented her hand-powered dishwashing machine. Unfortunately, investors refused to collaborate with Cochran unless she handed over control to a man, which she wouldn’t do. In 1893, Cochran got the opportunity to show off her machine at the Chicago World’s Fair. She won the prize for “best mechanical construction, durability and adaptation to its line of work,” and restaurants and stores from around the world clambered to learn how it worked.

For the first few years, dishwashers were only used in large batches, such as for hotels and stores. It wouldn’t be until the 1950s, after Cochran had died, that they became a luxury for personal homes.^[7]

3 Moving Walkway

Take a stroll through almost any airport in the world, and you’ll find adults and children alike marveling at the wonder of the moving walkway. Even in 2024, these futuristic mechanical sidewalks are fascinating to use (and great for tiring kids out during long layovers).

The idea for a moving sidewalk came about from French engineer Eugene Henard, who planned to debut it at the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris. Unfortunately, he was unable to complete the invention before then, and it wasn’t until 1893 that it would come to fruition. At the Chicago World’s Fair, inventor Joseph Lyman Silsbee created the first version of the moving walkway, which featured a section for riders to sit and another to stand or walk.

The walkway frequently broke down and thus did not make a huge impact on guests at the fair. Luckily, Silsbee had another opportunity to show off the contraption at the 1900 World’s Fair, also in Paris. This one was much more successful and was even featured in a few of Thomas Edison’s early short films.

As people began to imagine what the future might look like, automated walkways crept into the public’s eye. In 1962, the titular family in The Jetsons introduced their own personal moving walkways, called “slidewalks.” Today, we’re practically living in 2062 with George and Jane, as we can walk on moving walkways at amusement parks, zoos, museums, and airports around the globe.^[8]

2 Ice Cream Cone

Much like the popsicle, the invention of this summer staple came out of pure luck.

In 1904, St. Louis had the honor of hosting the World’s Fair. The summer’s heat meant ice cream was selling out fast. So fast that the “penny licks,” small serving glasses that were returned and reused by the vendors, had run out.

A Syrian concessionaire named Ernest Hamwi quickly curled one of his zalabias (a waffle-like pastry) into a conical shape and scooped the ice cream right into it, thereby creating the ice cream cone. In an interview years later, Hamwi said that as soon as they saw the cones, other ice cream vendors came up to him and bought the waffles to create their own cones, calling them “cornucopias.”

While it’s not certain that this was the first version of the ice cream cone, historians are certain this is what popularized it, as the St. Louis Globe-Democrat wrote in amazement about fairgoers eating ice cream out of “an inverted cone of hard cake, resembling a coiled-up waffle.”^[9]

1 Ferris Wheel

Now an iconic sign of summer carnivals and big cities all over the world, the Ferris wheel started as a rival to the Eiffel Tower.

Gustave Eiffel’s wrought-iron lattice tower debuted in 1889 at the Paris Exposition—also known as the Paris World’s Fair. It instantly became a symbol of the City of Love and hosted over two million visitors during the fair. So when Chicago was selected as the host of the 1893 World’s Fair, the Second City knew they’d have to create something big to rival Gustave Eiffel’s building.

What they came up with was a 231-foot (70.4 meter) tall wheel that was able to carry up to 2,160 people throughout its 36 cars. Designed by George Ferris, the wheel was intended to be a temporary creation. It was dismantled at the end of the fair in 1894. But that was far from the end of this amusement ride. Its thrilling (at the time) nature and ability to show off city skylines made it a staple in public celebrations.

Though it’s world famous, the Ferris wheel probably isn’t Chicago’s most famous Ferris. That goes to Mr. Bueller, of course.^[10]

In today’s fast-paced world of advertising, brands are constantly striving to create campaigns that will capture attention and go viral. However, the drive to be bold or innovative sometimes leads to massive blunders, with ads causing outrage instead of admiration.

These are more than just PR missteps—these campaigns generated global backlash, sparked debates about social issues, and forced brands to reevaluate their approaches. Here are ten contemporary advertising campaigns that backfired spectacularly.

Related: Ten Controversial News Stories Surrounding ChatGPT

10 Pepsi’s “Live for Now” Protest Ad (2017)

Pepsi’s 2017 “Live for Now” ad starring Kendall Jenner quickly became a prime example of how not to co-opt social movements for advertising purposes. The commercial showed Jenner abandoning a photoshoot to join a protest, where she eventually hands a can of Pepsi to a police officer, seemingly resolving the tension between the protestors and the authorities. The ad attempted to align the brand with activism but was widely condemned for trivializing serious social issues, particularly in light of the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement.

The imagery of Jenner, a white supermodel, handing a soda to a police officer to diffuse a protest was viewed as tone-deaf, given the real-world struggles faced by marginalized communities in confrontations with law enforcement. Critics pointed out that the ad seemed to reduce the complex realities of protests to a superficial moment of corporate goodwill. Social media users flooded platforms with memes and criticism, forcing Pepsi to pull the ad within 24 hours of its release. The company issued an apology, but the controversy lingered, and the campaign became a lasting symbol of corporate misjudgment.^[1]

9 Heineken’s “Sometimes, Lighter Is Better” (2018)

Heineken found itself at the center of a controversy in 2018 after releasing a commercial for its light beer featuring the tagline, “Sometimes, Lighter Is Better.” The ad showed a bartender sliding a Heineken Light past several people of color before it reached a lighter-skinned woman at the end of the bar. While the campaign was meant to promote the beer’s low-calorie content, the slogan and imagery sparked accusations of racism and insensitivity.

Many viewers, including prominent figures like Chance the Rapper, criticized the ad for its troubling racial connotations, interpreting the phrase “lighter is better” as implying a preference for lighter skin. Heineken responded by defending the ad, stating that the message was solely about the beer’s calories, but the backlash was too severe to ignore. The company eventually pulled the ad and issued an apology, but the damage to its reputation had already been done.^[2]

8 Dolce & Gabbana’s Chinese Ad Campaign (2018)

Dolce & Gabbana’s 2018 ad campaign intended to celebrate the fusion of Italian and Chinese culture ahead of a Shanghai fashion show. The ads, however, sparked immediate backlash for their portrayal of a Chinese model struggling to eat Italian food with chopsticks. The campaign was widely criticized for its racial stereotyping and cultural insensitivity, with many accusing the luxury brand of reducing Chinese culture to a caricature.

The situation escalated when alleged racist comments from co-founder Stefano Gabbana surfaced on social media, further inflaming public outrage. Chinese celebrities boycotted the brand, and Dolce & Gabbana’s highly anticipated runway show in Shanghai was canceled. Despite issuing an apology, the brand suffered significant reputational damage in China, a key market for luxury goods. Dolce & Gabbana continues to face challenges in rebuilding its image in the region.^[3]

7 Peloton’s “The Gift That Gives Back” (2019)

Peloton, the luxury fitness company known for its exercise bikes, released a holiday ad in 2019 that ignited a firestorm of criticism. The ad featured a husband gifting his wife a Peloton bike for Christmas, and she then records her fitness journey throughout the year. While the commercial was intended to highlight personal transformation and empowerment, many viewers interpreted it as sexist and tone-deaf. The woman, who already appeared fit, was seen as pressured to maintain her physique for her husband’s approval.

Social media users were quick to lampoon the ad, creating memes that mocked its premise. Critics pointed out that the ad perpetuated unhealthy gender stereotypes, with some accusing Peloton of portraying the wife as anxious to meet her husband’s expectations. The backlash was so intense that Peloton’s stock dropped, and the company spent weeks managing the PR fallout. Despite defending its intentions, Peloton acknowledged that the ad did not resonate as expected.^[4]

6 Gillette’s “The Best Men Can Be” (2019)

In early 2019, Gillette released an ad titled “The Best Men Can Be,” which tackled toxic masculinity and called on men to challenge behaviors like bullying, sexual harassment, and sexism. The ad, inspired by the #MeToo movement, featured men stepping in to stop negative behaviors and promoting positive male role models [LINK 5]. While the campaign was praised by some for addressing an important social issue, it also sparked significant backlash.

Critics accused Gillette of alienating its core audience by appearing to lecture men about their behavior. Some saw the ad as overly political and calls for boycotts quickly gained traction online, with detractors claiming that the ad unfairly generalized all men as complicit in toxic behavior. Despite the controversy, Gillette stood by the message. However, the polarizing response highlighted the risks brands face when wading into social and political issues.^[5]

5 H&M’s “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle” Hoodie (2018)

In 2018, H&M found itself embroiled in a major controversy after releasing an ad featuring a Black child wearing a hoodie that read “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle.” Given the historical use of “monkey” as a racial slur against Black people, the ad was widely condemned for its insensitivity. Social media erupted in outrage, with many accusing the brand of perpetuating harmful racial stereotypes.

Celebrities, including The Weeknd, severed ties with H&M in response to the ad, and calls for boycotts spread across the internet. The company quickly pulled the ad and issued a public apology, acknowledging that they had failed to consider the cultural implications of the imagery. Despite the swift response, the controversy raised important questions about the lack of diversity and cultural awareness in advertising.^[6]

4 Nivea’s “White Is Purity” Campaign (2017)

In 2017, Nivea released an ad campaign in the Middle East that featured a white woman dressed in white clothing, accompanied by the slogan “White Is Purity.” The campaign was intended to promote the brand’s deodorant line, but the combination of imagery and messaging immediately sparked outrage online. Critics condemned the ad for promoting racist connotations and reinforcing outdated beauty standards.

Social media users were quick to point out the problematic implications of equating purity with whiteness, and the backlash spread rapidly. Nivea swiftly pulled the ad and issued an apology, stating that the campaign was not meant to offend. However, the controversy remained a stark reminder of how easily marketing campaigns can go wrong when they fail to account for cultural sensitivities.^[7]

3 Gap’s “Love for All” Ad (2017)

Gap’s 2017 “Love for All” campaign was meant to celebrate diversity and inclusion, but one particular image in the campaign led to widespread criticism. The ad featured a group of children from different racial backgrounds, but viewers took issue with a white child resting their arm on the head of a Black child. Critics argued that the image reinforced racial stereotypes and depicted a troubling power dynamic.

The backlash was swift, with many accusing Gap of insensitivity and poor judgment. The company quickly removed the image from its platforms and issued an apology, explaining that the intention was to promote unity, not division. Despite the brand’s efforts to rectify the situation, the incident underscored the importance of thoughtful representation in advertising.^[8]

2 Kendall Jenner’s “Fyre Festival” Promo (2017)

Kendall Jenner, along with other high-profile influencers, became embroiled in the infamous Fyre Festival scandal after promoting the event on Instagram. The festival, marketed as a luxurious music experience in the Bahamas, turned out to be a complete disaster, with attendees arriving to find poor conditions, inadequate food, and no performances. Jenner, who was reportedly paid $250,000 for a single Instagram post promoting the festival, faced significant backlash for endorsing an event that turned out to be a scam.

As the details of the festival’s failure emerged, Jenner and other influencers were criticized for their role in promoting the event without conducting proper due diligence. The backlash led to lawsuits against the festival’s organizers, and the controversy became a cautionary tale about the risks of influencer marketing.^[9]

1 Burger King’s “Women Belong in the Kitchen” (2021)

On International Women’s Day 2021, Burger King UK launched a campaign that was intended to highlight the gender disparity in the culinary industry. The campaign’s headline, however, read “Women belong in the kitchen,” a provocative statement that immediately sparked outrage. While the tweet was intended to draw attention to the issue of gender inequality in the restaurant industry and promote scholarships for female chefs, many interpreted it as a sexist remark.

The backlash was swift and widespread, with social media users criticizing Burger King for using such a tone-deaf phrase, especially on a day meant to celebrate women’s achievements. Although the brand quickly deleted the tweet and issued an apology, the controversy overshadowed the campaign’s intended message of support for women in the culinary field.^[10]