When we think about altered states of consciousness, the mind usually drifts toward psychedelics or mystic rituals. Yet the reality is far more ordinary: 10 everyday activities can nudge the brain into new territories without a single pill. From the spin of a playground ride to the rhythm of a breath, these common actions can spark fresh moods, shift perception, and even produce gentle hallucinations.

10 Everyday Activities That Tweak Your Mind

10 Go-Rounds and Swings

Parents often cringe at the idea of “mind‑altering” fun for kids, fearing anything that sounds even vaguely psychedelic. Ironically, classic playground staples like merry‑go‑rounds and swings are precisely the sort of harmless play that can tip a child’s consciousness into an altered zone, much like the whirling dervishes of Sufi tradition.

The rapid spinning agitates the vestibular system inside the inner ear, where fluid‑filled canals constantly gauge balance and spatial orientation. When these canals are repeatedly stimulated, the brain’s sense of time, motion, and even visual stability can wobble, yielding mild dizziness or fleeting visual quirks.

Scholars such as Roger Caillois have long classified this kind of kinetic play as a normal, healthy category alongside competitive games and make‑believe. So while the ride may feel dizzying, it’s a perfectly natural part of childhood development.

9 Hula Hooping

It isn’t just kids who chase altered states through movement; adults have embraced the plastic hula hoop since the 1950s, turning it into a quasi‑spiritual practice. Anthropologists even describe the hoop’s resurgence as “akin to a religion,” with countless adults reporting profound, almost mystical experiences while simply twirling the circle around their waist.

The secret lies in the intense focus and repetitive, rhythmic motion required to keep the hoop aloft. This combination funnels the brain into a flow state—a deep absorption where self‑consciousness fades and the perception of time stretches or compresses, a phenomenon famously defined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Neuroscientifically, flow is linked to dopamine modulation and a quieting of the brain’s chatter centers. The result feels blissful, and Csikszentmihalyi dubbed it “the secret to happiness,” proving that a simple toy can indeed spark a subtle high.

8 Going for a Run

New runners often struggle to find motivation, yet seasoned distance athletes talk about a withdrawal‑like craving when they skip a session. This phenomenon, known as the runner’s high, mirrors the euphoric, pain‑dampening effects of powerful analgesics.

Early theories pointed to endogenous opioids—your body’s natural painkillers—as the culprit. More recent research, however, highlights endocannabinoids, especially anandamide, the so‑called “bliss molecule,” which spikes in the bloodstream during sustained aerobic effort.

Because endocannabinoids cross the blood‑brain barrier more readily than endorphins, they can directly tweak mood and perception, offering a drug‑like lift that feels both calming and invigorating.

7 Looking at (or Thinking About) Nature

Astronauts orbiting Earth often describe the “overview effect,” a sweeping emotional wave that makes them feel infinitesimally small against the planet’s grandeur. While most of us can’t float in space, we can still summon a comparable sense of awe by immersing ourselves in natural scenery.

Psychologists define awe as an emotion of vastness that forces the mind to expand its mental frameworks. It blends admiration, wonder, and a touch of humility, often reshaping how we view life itself.

Studies link awe to reduced depression and anxiety, as well as measurable drops in inflammatory markers. Whether it’s a mountain vista, a forest walk, or even a vivid mental image, awe is a readily accessible altered state.

6 Getting or Giving a Massage

Beyond loosening tight muscles, massage activates ancient neural pathways that usher the brain into a deep state of calm—far beyond the surface relief we usually expect. Interestingly, the therapist can slip into a meditative zone as well, creating a shared shift in consciousness.

Slow, gentle strokes engage C‑tactile afferents—specialized nerve fibers that love pleasant touch. These signals travel to the posterior insula and other brain regions tied to the parasympathetic nervous system, the body’s rest‑and‑digest hub.

The cascade lowers cortisol while boosting endorphins, dopamine, and oxytocin, producing a tranquil, trust‑filled state that feels markedly different from ordinary alertness.

5 Listening to Dance Music

Music, especially electronic dance beats, can trigger a neurochemical response similar to massage. Drumming and rhythmic percussion have powered trance rituals across cultures for millennia, and today’s EDM continues that legacy.

The repetitive pulse helps listeners slip into flow, while also syncing brainwave patterns—a process called brainwave entrainment. Faster tempos fire up beta waves for alertness; slower, steady beats coax alpha waves associated with relaxation.

Fans often report that extended exposure to looping beats warps their sense of time, blurs self‑awareness, and yields a deep immersion comparable to meditation or hypnosis.

4 Switching Lights On and Off

Raves and festivals pair thumping beats with strobing lights, amplifying the mind‑altering vibe. The underlying phenomenon, known as ganzflicker, can spark psychedelic‑like visual hallucinations when flickering patterns flash behind closed eyelids.

First documented by Jan E. Purkinje in 1819, the effect appears strongest at flicker frequencies of 8‑13 Hz—mirroring the brain’s natural alpha rhythm. These frequencies coax the visual cortex into generating internal imagery.

While the hallucinations are brief and harmless for most, they illustrate how simple light patterns can momentarily synchronize neural firing, producing vivid geometric shapes, colors, and even faces.

3 Going to Sleep

Sleep is the most obvious altered state we enter nightly, yet the true experience lies in the hypnagogic transition—the twilight zone between wakefulness and dream. In this half‑awake state, people often encounter vivid hallucinations, fleeting sounds, or strange sensations.

EEG studies show the brain shifts from high‑frequency beta waves to slower theta waves, while portions of the cortex stay active. These hypnagogic visions differ from the full‑blown dreams that follow.

Artists like Salvador Dalí used a “key‑drop” trick—holding a key as they drifted off, letting it fall to wake them at the edge of sleep—capturing the surreal images that surface during this liminal phase.

2 Feeling Hungry

Skipping meals might not launch you into a psychedelic trip, but fasting has long been a tool for shamans seeking altered consciousness. Even without additional rituals, prolonged hunger can heighten sensory perception and stir unusual emotional currents.

One explanation points to ketosis, where the body swaps glucose for ketone bodies as its primary fuel. This metabolic shift influences brain chemistry, especially during extended periods without food.

Combined with physiological stress, fasting can boost suggestibility and sensory acuity, sometimes producing hallucinations reminiscent of other high‑stress states. However, such practices carry health risks, and most people remain aware that the visions are not real.

1 Breathing

Breathing is the one activity we perform every second of every day, yet specific breathwork techniques can swiftly tip consciousness into a new gear—sometimes in as little as five minutes.

Box breathing, for instance, involves equal counts of inhaling, holding, exhaling, and holding again, stimulating the vagus nerve and activating the parasympathetic system, which calms anxiety.

More intense methods, like the Wim Hof technique, use rapid, deep breaths that lower carbon‑dioxide levels, temporarily altering blood pH. This can cause lightheadedness, tingling, and even psychedelic‑like sensations—though over‑doing it may lead to dizziness or fainting.

Musicians love alter egos, and pop music is full of them. They serve a range of functions, from making the music tell a story to providing a flamboyant persona unencumbered by stage fright for an otherwise shy performer to embody. Some of the best music explores notions of identity, which is why some artists just can’t resist adopting one. So sit back and tune in as we list ten famous sometimes musical alter egos!

ten famous sometimes: The Countdown Begins

10. Kiss

As always with these lists, there’s plenty of room to quibble about what an alter ego is. One could argue that any musician who uses a stage name, writes songs from the point of view of a character, or just says, “I’m a different person when I’m on stage,” is using an alter ego. Similarly, you may argue that a bit of grease paint does not an alter ego make.

But—iconic as their makeup may be—the sheer base ridiculousness that is Kiss’s on‑stage personas could not possibly constitute anything as conceptually lofty as an alter ego. Sure, each member of the group has a distinct character, and those characters even have names, but it’s still just a stage costume. I’d be inclined to agree if it weren’t for the fact that for almost twenty years now, Kiss has been openly discussing the prospect of the band continuing with none of its original members.

The idea may sound like defeatist talk from geriatric rockers whose ability to command a stage and belt out the hits is waning. Still, back in 2005, when the idea was first mooted, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were only in their 50s. For comparison, Mick Jagger was 79 when The Rolling Stones wrapped up their most recent tour.

Could perhaps The Demon, The Dame, The Starchild, and The Catman personas be bigger than Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley… and the other two?

The other two were originally Ace Frehley (The Starchild) and Peter Criss (The Catman). In the early ’80s, when Frehley and Criss were ousted from the band, their replacements—Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent—were given their own alter egos, the Fox and the Ankh Warrior (sometimes known as The Egyptian Warrior, simply The Warrior, or The Wiz for some reason). However, the current “other two” (Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer) have adopted the classic Starchild and Catman personas—setting Kiss up as a concept in and of itself with a stable set of characters played by an ever‑changing troupe of actors.

Then add in the decades‑long media series that cast Kiss as superheroes, including a comic book and the 1978 movie Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park. Or the time Kiss teamed up with Scooby‑Doo, and it only reinforces the idea that we’re talking about creations much bigger than four mortal men.

9. Chick (Mariah Carey)

This story is as simple as it is strange. In 1995, Mariah Carey wanted to make an alternative rock/punk album inspired by bands like Hole, Garbage, and Sleater‑Kinney. And that’s exactly what she did; Someone’s Ugly Daughter was recorded secretly during the sessions for her fifth album Daydream. Her plan was to release it under a pseudonym, certain the world would eventually work out she was behind it.

However, Sony Music replaced her vocals with another singer, suppressed any connection to Carey, and released it under a smaller subsidiary. They even changed the name of the “band” that Someone’s Ugly Daughter was credited to from Eel Tree to Chick, an uninspired ad man’s idea of what a riot‑grrrl band might be called. It sold 550 copies.

Someone’s Ugly Daughter remained forgotten for 25 years until Carey revealed its existence in her 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey. She didn’t name the project, but her online fan club, the Lambily (because, of course), tracked it down, and soon enough, copies were going for $800 on Amazon.

As much as it saddens me to say, I think Sony’s shenanigans were for the best. 1995 just wasn’t ready for a Mariah Carey alternative rock album. With lyrics like “I’m locked inside a closet, dripping like a faucet, twisted like a sausage,” Someone’s Ugly Daughter reads like a parody of ’90s alt‑rock. Nowadays, we’d read it for what it is, a goofy, loving parody. A self‑parody as well because she clearly related to the genre. But 1995 would’ve read Someone’s Ugly Daughter as a mocking salvo from an upstart diva in the interminable rock vs. pop authenticity wars.

Those Internet sleuths who uncovered the truth behind Someone’s Ugly Daughter also noted that the videos contained oblique Mariah Carey references, such as butterfly tattoos and a cameo by her dog, that would’ve been understood by those familiar with the MCU (Mariah Carey Universe).

8. Chris Gaines (Garth Brooks)

Speaking of ’90s alt‑rock alter ego projects by the least likely people you could imagine…

The irony of country music’s obsession with authenticity is that the concept of authenticity is so nebulous it’s basically meaningless. One person’s good old‑fashioned true country music is another person’s modern pop‑crossover pap. So it’s not surprising that Garth Brooks, the most bankable country music star of the ’90s, was either authentic country’s savior or its ruin, depending on who you spoke to.

While many country stars before and since have embodied that duality, none have done so with quite the same intensity. In a genre that conflates crossover success with inauthenticity, Brooks’s status as the number‑one‑selling solo artist in U.S. history (ahead of Elvis!) was bound to encourage detractors, especially as Garth Brooks gave his football‑stadium‑sized audiences exactly what they wanted, a football‑stadium‑sized rock show.

Meanwhile, his aw‑shucks schmaltz and dusty cowboy hat and boots image placed him comfortably in the country scene. Given that this “son of the south” image was his strongest link to the country scene, it remains one of the music world’s most enduring mysteries why he would change personas to… Chris Gaines, an Australian emo alt‑rocker.

Gaines’s look was a Halloween costume seemingly based on Goo Goo Dolls frontman Johnny Rzeznik, with shades of Elliott Smith thrown in. But it may also have been based on fellow country music star Keith Urban (which would explain the decision to make Gaines Australian, although Urban is from New Zealand, not Australia).

The plan was for Gaines to star in a movie called The Lamb. The movie never materialized; however, Gaines was still the subject of a VH1 Behind the Music mockumentary, which told his comically tragic, fictitious backstory, including a near‑fatal sex addiction (!?), his battle against a forest fire armed only with a garden hose, and the time he drove his car off a cliff, necessitating full facial reconstruction surgery.

Chris Gaines’s body of work was limited to an appearance on Saturday Night Live and a single album, The Life of Chris Gaines. Confusingly, the album was released as Chris Gaines’ Greatest Hits in some markets, but then, almost every aspect of the short‑lived Chris Gaines saga is confusing. I dare say those who lived through it have their doubts that it really happened.

7. Ruben and the Jets (Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention)

“Frank Zappa Fan Thinks You Just Haven’t Heard The Right Album,” declared The Onion back in 2004. With a discography running to 62 studio albums in his lifetime, an equal number of posthumous albums, and a style that fuses proto‑punk psychedelia, stately jazz‑fusion instrumentals, and novelty comedy tracks, Frank Zappa’s work is utterly impenetrable by all but the most dedicated fans. There may very well be a “right” Frank Zappa to get non‑fans hooked, but good luck finding it.

Cruising with Ruben and the Jets and its singles, however, achieved some radio success before it was revealed to be the work of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. The project was a tribute to ’50s rock ’n roll and Chicano doo‑wop, and therefore may just well be straightforward enough to be the “right” Frank Zappa album. Even if it was an installment in a series of albums with such titles as Lumpy Gravy, We’re Only In It for the Money, and Uncle Meat.

As time went on, Cruising with Ruben and the Jets’s legacy took a turn for the even stranger. Frank Zappa held a listening party at his Laurel Canyon home where he floated the idea of launching Ruben and the Jets as a real band; all he needed was a Chicano doo‑wop singer with the first name Ruben. Incredibly, the search for such a person was a short one.

Prolific performance artist, sculptor, and activist Rubén Guevara Jr. lived a previous life fronting the doo‑wop group The Apollo Brothers. Thus, under Guevara’s leadership, the fake band invented as “a last‑ditch attempt [by Frank Zappa] to get [his] cruddy music on the radio” became a real band that made two more albums, with Zappa only behind the boards for the first.

Sidenote: Rubén Guevara Jr. later developed his own alter ego. In 1990, he adopted the middle name Funkahuatl, a persona born of his experimental theatre works. Funkahuatl is the neo‑Chicano Aztec god of funk.

6. Sasha Fierce (Beyoncé)

Which iconic superstar shot to fame through the use of an alter ego, only to unceremoniously kill off said alter ego when they outgrew it? While David Bowie did it first with Ziggy Stardust, this isn’t that story. However, keep Ziggy Stardust in mind because the parallels between the alien rock messiah and Beyoncé’s Sasha Fierce are illuminating and help us understand both.

Ziggy and Sasha were both born of the necessity to perform songs with an energy to which their creators could not personally relate. Bowie wrote early songs as stories that needed a particular character to tell them, so he became that character to aid the narrative—an energy the man David Jones could not generate.

Beyoncé created Sasha Fierce as the free and sexy stage presence her songs needed since she herself was apparently shy. Sasha Fierce was B’s secret weapon right up until Beyoncé lifted the veil and told the world about her on her third album. I A…Sasha Fierce is a double album, in which the first disc represents the true Beyoncé and the second is devoted to Sasha and her sexy, extroverted bangers such as “Single Ladies” and “Diva.”

These two alter egos are similar in that they were born of a need to protect or obfuscate the true persona beneath, but the differences between Ziggy and Sasha are interesting reflections of the different societies and privilege strata in which they were presented. Both were killed when their creators became comfortable singing as themselves, yet when Bowie killed off Ziggy, it was simply a restless man moving on; but when Sasha Fierce had outlived her usefulness, her death was a thing of such poignancy that it shifted the conversations around race and gender in pop music.

In 2013, Beyoncé stated plainly to Allure magazine that she’d “killed” Sasha Fierce because she’d grown and was now able to “merge” with Sasha. Beyoncé’s 2013 self‑titled “visual album” was an almost violent repudiation of the dated Freudian binary that Sasha Fierce represented. The Washington Post described the album as “an exploration of gender and power and an unwavering look at black female sexual agency.” Beyoncé of 2013 and Beyoncé today does not need to distance herself from her sexuality with an alter ego, which forces us to confront the fact that disembodying her sexuality into an alter ego was her way of navigating a society that demands sexiness from women, all while punishing and suppressing their sexuality.

5. David Bowie (More Than Just Ziggy)

For all there is to say about Ziggy Stardust, Bowie’s most famous alter ego, most of it amounts to little more than head‑canon. Bowie said himself that “Ziggy, for me, was a very simplistic thing. What it seemed to be was an alien rock star, and for performance value, I dressed as him and acted him out—I left it at that. Other people reread him and contributed more information than I put into him.”

Ziggy’s story, well documented as it is, is mostly the creation of fans, with all the vagaries and contradictions that they imply (for instance, see the fan debates over whether or not Aladdin Sane is a separate, distinct character from Ziggy). And then there are the alter egos that fans may well have created out of whole cloth, such as Major Tom and Halloween Jack. Sure, these were characters in his songs, but those songs refer to them in the third person. Whether they were Bowie or Bowie was them is something we may never know.

Ziggy is so famous he overshadows an almost forgotten coterie of Bowie alter egos who deserve more attention. In 1995, Bowie went off the deep end to end all deep ends with the 75‑minute concept album Outside, subtitled The Diary of Nathan Adler or the Art‑Ritual Murder of Baby Grace Blue—A Non‑Linear Gothic Drama Hyper‑Cycle.

Outside takes place in a futuristic dystopia and features characters such as the sub‑titular Nathan Adler, a hardened gumshoe with a Chicago accent that only a native Londoner could conjure, and Baby Grace Blue, the 14‑year‑old girl at the center of the mystery. There is also Ramona A. Stone, an evil, haughty, green‑skinned art critic who dreams of “ape men with metal parts,” and Algeria Touchshriek, a mysterious junk shop owner and self‑described “broken man” and “reject from the world wide internet” (how one can be rejected from the Internet would be very useful information right now). And yes, they are all alter egos, as Bowie plays them all, even the teenage girl, in spoken‑word interludes peppered throughout.

Then there’s Bowie’s final alter ego, the rarely mentioned Blind Prophet. The videos for Bowie’s final two singles (the latter of which was famously released two days before his death) both feature Bowie blindfolded with buttons over his eyes. We’ll never know what the Blind Prophet saw as Bowie took that knowledge with him when he left us. Stories without denouements are like itches we can’t scratch—just another way his legacy is felt.

4. Roman Zolandski (Nicki Minaj)

“First thing’s first, I’ll eat your brains…” When Nicki Minaj appeared on Kanye West’s posse track “Monster,” she’d released just two singles, neither of which were successful in any way. Her debut album was two months away. But her verse on “Monster” set the world on fire. Without her, “Monster” would’ve plodded along as a series of disjointed guest verses, but when Minaj comes in about two‑thirds of the way through, “Monster” becomes a Nicki Minaj song…

Except for the fact that if you weren’t familiar with her, you might think you were listening to two rappers trading bars as her voice flits effortlessly between a violently camp growl and a hyperfeminine lilt. We’d learn later that the growl belonged to Roman Zolandski, a gay man from London with a British Afro‑Caribbean accent half the time, and sounds like Ludacris impersonating Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins the other half.

Nicki describes Roman as living inside her and saying the things she does not want to say, which makes him sound like a Sasha Fierce. But Nicki Minaj is not exactly a shrinking violet without him. Still, he and Nicki are inextricably linked; she also said that she’s asked him to leave, but he can’t. In 2014, Nicki Minaj declared that she was bored with him and that he died.

However, he returned a year later to participate in a developing beef with Miley Cyrus. Interestingly, Nicki Minaj does not change her appearance to play Roman, except for color themes and gestures that fans understand signify Roman; this further supports the view that he’s a presence inside her who emerges when needed.

His story has been retconned a little bit too. Nicki Minaj first described him as being “conspicuously female” but became canonically male shortly afterward. As well as changing gender, he’s also gone from being a violently angry id to a playful mischief‑maker. He has also gone from a Moscow borstal to an interdimensional fantasy battle battleground called the PinkSpace.

My personal theory is that he was once a tool that allowed a conflicted artist to be explicit and uninhibited, but when he was no longer needed, instead of killing him off, she rolled him into an ever‑expanding cast of alter egos (which now includes Roman’s mother, Martha). One day, we’ll discover the Rosetta Stone for understanding Nicki Minaj; until then, all we can do is enjoy the ride.

3. Orville Peck (Daniel Pitout)

Future generations of country music fans will look back at the history of the genre as having two eras, before Lil Nas X and after Lil Nas X. Before Lil Nas X, country stars could be booted from the genre simply for not looking the part. But after, Nas, a black, gay teenage Soundcloud rapper, just missed out on topping the Billboard country charts due to a widely panned attempt by Billboard to hold back the tide of progress; accepting a gay, South African country star hailing from the worlds of queercore punk and West End musical theater was not such a stretch. Lil Nas X walked so that Orville Peck could run.

Orville Peck is the alter ego of Daniel Pitout from the Canadian punk band Nü Sensae, and while alter egos have been one of the few constants of the music industry, I cannot think of any others quite like Orville Peck. Peck is a constructed persona that, rather than creating a wall of artifice between the artist and their music, brings them together and brings us, the audience, closer too. Orville Peck is a contradiction—a lie that reveals the truth.

Peck’s songs are remarkably earnest and conventional, just three chords and the truth. His music does not befit a Lil Nas X‑type debate over whether or not it’s “real” country. A more conventional strategy for avoiding such a debate may have been to create a southern‑fried yee‑hawing heterosexual alter ego. Still, Orville Peck has the exact same biography as Daniel Pitout: queerness, exotic origin, and all.

Orville Peck exposed that those authenticity debates are less debates than they are personal attacks, and attacks require a target. The bigots who would laugh at the gay cowboy just don’t find any satisfaction if they don’t know who the gay cowboy is. By depriving the naysayers of a target, Orville Peck can be more or less himself. In fact, his second album, Bronco, which came out after his identity was revealed, was markedly more slick and impersonal than his debut, released when his identity was still a mystery.

2. Billy Shears (Ringo Starr)

Although there’s a consensus that The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is the world’s first concept album, the concept of a concept album is pretty… well, fuzzy. So though we all agree that Sgt. Pepper’s is a concept album, we can’t all agree on what a concept album is. Some say that a concept album is one in which there are recurring themes across the songs, constituting an overarching concept. But by that definition, almost all albums that followed Sgt. Pepper’s are concept albums, as are several that came before it too. An album that is just a collection of songs with no connective tissue would be the exception these days.

While others maintain that a concept album tells a story. Though this interpretation is fuzzy by necessity, as music is just not the medium for coherent storytelling. An album that told a story would require a significant amount of interpretation. (There could be concept albums out there that we don’t know about because we haven’t interpreted the story correctly.)

If Sgt. Pepper’s is the latter, then only the first two songs (and reprise) support a clear narrative arc (John Lennon himself confirmed that the concept, beyond those two songs, is basically a confidence trick). The stomping title track features Paul McCartney as an MC introducing the titular band’s enigmatic lead singer Billy Shears, as Ringo takes up vocal duties on what became his signature song, “With a Little Help from My Friends.”

Over the past sixty‑plus years, every question that could possibly be asked about The Beatles has been asked. So we must assume that the unanswered questions simply do not have answers. Sgt. Pepper has been examined and dissected extensively. Yet, we know very little about the story of Billy Shears and his band beyond what’s in the lyrics.

A Broadway stage musical and a movie have both tried to flesh out the story, but these were unauthorized by the fab four. Though perhaps the most compelling theory is that it’s another arcane confession that Paul McCartney had died and been replaced with a look‑alike. The look‑alike: an Edinburgh orphan named William Shears Campbell.

1. Slim Shady (Eminem)

It’s often said that Slim Shady is Em’s crass, violent id, as if giving his puerile anger a name allowed him the freedom to express it. But like with Nicki Minaj’s Roman Zolandski, I find it hard to imagine that Eminem would’ve ever held anything back, with or without Slim. Still, from looking at Slim Shady’s dramatic introduction to the world on 1997’s Slim Shady EP, it’s clear that Slim was borne from necessity, a Hail Mary from a young man in a pretty desperate situation.

Eminem’s debut album Infinity, released a year before, had sold somewhere between 70 and a few hundred copies, depending on who you ask. Before Infinity, Eminem was working 60‑hour weeks at a minimum‑wage job to support his young daughter in a home that was robbed several times.

After Infinity, he was fired from his job and was raising his daughter in his mother’s mobile home. The Slim Shady EP begins with Slim shaking Eminem awake and forcing him to look in the mirror and confront himself. The Slim Shady persona may be violently evil, but he was a force for good in Eminem’s life. It’s hard to imagine an artist who owes their career to an alter ego more than Eminem.

The Slim Shady EP was a precursor to The Slim Shady LP, which was the last album he recorded as a non‑millionaire, and the last Eminem album not to hit number 1 on the Billboard charts. The LP made Eminem an overnight celebrity and household name. Eminem played off that meteoric rise to fame as a double‑edged sword, complaining in tracks such as “The Way I Am” and “Stan” about not just the pressures of fame but also the pressures of being a controversial figure linked to all manner of societal issues.

Memorably, “Stan” is about a crazed fan who commits a murder‑suicide when his fan letters are not returned. The moment when Em realizes he’s been put on that life‑and‑death pedestal, a position that he neither asked for nor is qualified for, is about as real as pop music gets. But his complaints have an air of humblebrag about them too. “I’ve created a monster ’cause no one wants to see Marshall no more. They want Shady, I’m chopped liver.”

It wasn’t just fame that Slim Shady gave Eminem; Eminem was in awe of the power Slim Shady had to make him the most controversial person in the world, a person ascribed with life and death power over a legion of young fans.

+ Bonus Track: @onionringsworldwide (Lorde)

@onionringsworldwide may not be a musical alter ego, but the fact that it was a secret persona that allowed an extremely famous person to act with freedom and anonymity means it very much belongs on this list. While other alter egos allow their creators the freedom to experiment with different genres or expose different elements of their psyches, @onionringsworldwide allowed Lorde the greatest freedom of all—the freedom to eat lots of onion rings and have really, really ridiculously complex opinions about them.

@onionringsworldwide was a mysterious Instagram account solely devoted to reviewing onion rings. The account was discovered in 2017 by an anonymous fan, who noticed that it followed no one and was followed only by Lorde and her associates. The fan passed the scoop on to a journalist at Newshub, who did the kind of investigative reporting that has not been seen since the days of Upton Sinclair to prove that Lorde was behind the account. The account went inactive soon afterward, and Lorde was forced to confirm that she was, in fact, the one behind the account.

We have known since 1996 that it’s dangerous for any famous musician to become associated with a food product. The Foo Fighters retired their hit “Big Me” due to fans pelting the band with Mentos when they played it—the video was a parody of the Mentos ads, you see. Perhaps not wanting to be pelted with onion rings on stage was her reason for keeping @onionringsworldwide a secret… Although Lorde does seem to be really, really into onion rings.

@onionringsworldwide returned in 2021… However, this author cannot confirm whether or not the account is still active, as I cannot make heads or tails of Instagram.

New discoveries keep turning the pages of our past upside down, and the latest batch of 10 archaeological finds proves just how thrilling the field can be. From tiny feline remains to ancient stone flakes that predate Homo, each revelation forces us to rethink what we thought we knew about ancient societies.

10 Archaeological Finds That Changed Our View of the Past

10 Bobcat Ceremonial Burial

While combing through the Illinois State Museum’s cache of Native American artifacts, anthropologist Angela Perri stumbled upon a box mislabeled “puppy.” Expecting dog bones from a Hopewell mound, she instead uncovered the skeleton of a tiny bobcat.

The find was remarkable for two reasons: it represents the sole known decorated wildcat burial in North America, and it is the only instance of a solitary animal interred in its own mound.

Because the feline was merely a kitten at death, many scholars argue it was raised as a pet. Inside the mound, a delicate necklace was discovered, which Perri interprets as the cat’s collar.

Zooarchaeologist Melinda Zeder, however, proposes a different view. She suggests the bobcat held a lofty symbolic role within the culture, perhaps serving as a living conduit to the natural world.

9 Roman Terror Weapons

A fresh excavation reveals that Romans may have wielded psychological warfare through whistling sling projectiles. They employed a staff sling known as a fustibalus, capable of hurling lemon‑sized stones great distances, but certain bullets uncovered at Burnswark Hill in Scotland feature a curious central drill.

The drilled holes would have demanded considerable effort for a one‑time weapon, prompting archaeologist John Reid to wonder about their purpose. His brother, an avid fisherman, recognized the similarity to hollowed‑out lures that emit a sharp whistle when cast.

When launched, the perforated stones produced a piercing whistling sound. Their modest size allowed soldiers to fire multiple bullets simultaneously, creating a stereo‑whistling barrage that amplified terror on the battlefield.

8 Celtic Hybrid Boneyard

For years scholars believed Iron Age Celtic mythos lacked hybrid monsters, but a recent gravesite in Dorset overturns that notion. The site, dubbed Duropolis, contains a “cemetery” of pits where animal skeletons were rearranged into fantastical hybrids.

Among the eerie creations are a cow sporting horse legs and a sheep bearing a bull’s head on its hindquarters. The most astonishing discovery involves a woman whose skeleton rests atop a layer of animal bones mirroring the arrangement of her own remains—her head lies on a “bed” of skulls, her legs perched on animal leg bones, and so forth.

Archaeologist Paul Cheetham interprets the assemblage as sacrificial. Initially used for food storage, each pit was repurposed: when a new pit was dug, a sacrifice was placed in the old one before burial, intertwining ritual and practicality.

7 Oldest Dress In The World

The Tarkhan Dress now holds the title of the world’s oldest woven garment, recovered from an Egyptian tomb and dated between 3400 BC and 3100 BC. Most ancient clothing fragments survive only up to 2,000 years because organic fibers and skins deteriorate quickly.

This dress showcases a V‑neck, narrow pleats, and tailored sleeves. Creases at the elbows and armpits indicate it was worn repeatedly rather than being a ceremonial drape.

While a handful of comparable‑age textiles exist, they are typically wrapped or draped garments. The Tarkhan Dress stands out as a bespoke fashion piece crafted by a specialist artisan for a wealthy individual, offering a rare glimpse into early Egyptian sartorial elegance.

6 Philadelphia’s History Down The Toilet

When work began in 2014 on Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution, crews uncovered a network of 18th‑century privies that once served both households and businesses. These cesspits were literally clogged with historical objects, and archaeologists have already retrieved over 82,000 artifacts.

At the time, privies doubled as garbage dumps, preserving everyday items that, while not as glamorous as jewelry, provide an authentic snapshot of ordinary colonial life. One especially intriguing pit belonged to Benjamin and Mary Humphreys, dug around the Revolution’s outset.

Inside, investigators found tobacco pipes, broken punch bowls, and empty liquor bottles. Historical records reveal that in 1783 Mary was arrested for operating a “disorderly house,” confirming the couple’s illegal tavern operation.

5 First Philistine Cemetery

The Philistines—often portrayed in biblical narratives as Israel’s arch‑enemies—have long puzzled scholars regarding their cultural habits. Previously thought to be a sea‑people of Aegean origin, they settled in five major cities forming the pentapolis of Philistia.

Although the Philistines vanished around the eighth century BC, archaeologists have now documented a massive cemetery containing over 150 graves and a trove of artifacts. Discovered three decades ago, the site has only recently been fully excavated, and while the skeletal remains await analysis, the burial goods already illuminate Philistine society.

The findings reveal a culture that embraced artistry: the dead were interred with jewelry, ornate jugs filled with perfumed oils or wine, and weaponry, suggesting that the Philistines were far more culturally sophisticated than the hostile image often portrayed.

4 Oldest Document Of Roman Britain

During the excavation for Bloomberg’s new European headquarters in London, workers unearthed the most extensive collection of Roman writing tablets ever found in Britain—around 400 tablets that include the earliest known reference to London, predating Tacitus’s Annals by half a century.

Among the tablets lies the oldest surviving document of Roman Britain, dated 8 January AD 57. It is an IOU, fittingly discovered in the City’s financial district, recording that Tibullus, a freedman of Venustus, owed Gratus, a freedman of Spurius, 105 denarii for delivered merchandise.

3 Buddha’s Skull Bone

Between 2007 and 2010, a team excavating a Buddhist temple in Nanjing uncovered a 1,000‑year‑old model stupa that housed the remains of several saints. The most astonishing artifact may be the parietal bone of the Buddha himself, carefully placed within the chest of the stupa.

Inscriptions explicitly identify the bone as belonging to Siddhartha Gautama, stating it was transferred to the temple after his cremation in India some 2,400 years earlier. The temple, destroyed by war about 1,400 years later, was rebuilt under Emperor Zhenzong of the Song dynasty, with the records even naming donors who funded the reconstruction.

While scholars cannot definitively confirm the bone’s authenticity, it has become a revered relic for Buddhists, who pilgrimage to view it. Its recent coverage in English-language media has only just unveiled this extraordinary find to a wider audience.

2 Untouched Mycenaean Tomb

A modest stone‑shaft excavation in Greece blossomed into one of the most significant discoveries of the past decade: an intact, 3,500‑year‑old tomb of a Mycenaean warrior. Though the individual remains unnamed, the lavish array of over 1,400 objects surrounding his remains signals considerable wealth and status.

The find enriches our scant knowledge of early Mycenaean Greece (circa 1500 BC) and contributes to ongoing research probing the cultural exchange between Mycenaean and Minoan societies.

Intriguingly, many of the warrior’s possessions—beads, combs, a mirror—are items traditionally associated with elite women. Moreover, a nearby burial just 90 metres away raises questions about why this particular warrior was interred alone, hinting at complex burial customs.

1 Oldest Stone Tools

Tool‑making marks a pivotal step in human evolution. While Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania long held the record for the oldest known tools—dating to 2.6 million years—archaeologists have now identified even older implements on the shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya.

These sharp stone flakes, dated to 3.3 million years ago, push the timeline back by an astonishing 700,000 years. Their existence suggests that tool‑making predates the emergence of the genus Homo, implicating earlier hominins in this technological leap.

Scientists suspect the likely makers were Kenyanthropus platyops, a fossil discovered in the same region in 1999. While some argue it represents a distinct genus, others classify it as a species of Australopithecus, underscoring the ongoing debate about our ancestors’ capabilities.