Just about everyone reading this has likely heard of psychological maladies like obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia. Conditions such as anxiety disorders and depression are everyday terms. However, there are some strange mental illnesses that you’ve probably never heard of.

Some of these are location-specific and only affect people visiting a place. Others affect anybody but are just as weird. Imagine a disorder that makes a person believe they do not exist, that their house is a clone, or that they are outside their own bodies. You might be surprised that some of these disorders even exist.

10 Jerusalem Syndrome

Jerusalem syndrome is a mental disorder that affects tourists who visit Jerusalem. Sufferers believe they are Biblical characters or are somehow related or affiliated to Jesus.

In one instance, an Irish woman went to a hospital, claiming she was about to give birth to Baby Jesus, even though she wasn’t pregnant. Another man from Canada thought he was Samson and tried to destroy a wall. An Austrian man asked chefs at the hotel in which he was staying to prepare him the Last Supper.

There have also been reports of tourists thinking they are Biblical characters like King Solomon. Others suddenly start giving sermons or just shout on the streets. One notorious case involved a British man who planned to get himself killed by Satan in order to trigger the end of the world.

The syndrome affects about 50 tourists every year, but those are just the ones that are documented. Authorities believe that many more cases actually occur. Interestingly, most sufferers recover from the disorder the moment they leave Jerusalem.^[1]

9 Stendhal Syndrome

Stendhal syndrome (also called Florence syndrome or hyperkulturemia) is a psychosomatic disorder that can affect people visiting art galleries. Sufferers become so overwhelmed by the beauty of the exhibited artworks that they suddenly develop symptoms.

Their hearts beat faster, and they become dizzy and confused. Some behave like lunatics, hallucinate, or even faint. Some sufferers do not need to be in an art gallery for the syndrome to occur. They will exhibit the symptoms when they are in any beautiful environment.

Stendhal syndrome was first noted by author Henri-Marie Beyle (who wrote under the pseudonym “Stendhal”) in his 1817 book Naples and Florence: A Journey from Milan to Reggio. Beyle wrote that he became so overwhelmed by the beautiful ceiling frescoes at the Santa Croce Cathedral in Florence, Italy, that he exhibited some symptoms of the disorder now named after him.^[2]

8 Fregoli Delusion

The Fregoli delusion is a psychological disorder that makes a person believe that other people are actually the same person in disguise. Someone with the Fregoli delusion will say that the differences in others’ clothing and looks are just an elaborate disguise to make the sufferer think the others aren’t the same person.

The disorder is named after Leopoldo Fregoli, an Italian actor known for doing many impersonations. It was first observed in an unnamed patient who believed everybody was one of two actresses called Sarah Bernhardt and Robine. The patient was so convinced that she attacked a stranger she believed was Robine.

It is very difficult or even impossible to convince people exhibiting the Fregoli delusion that they are suffering from a disorder. One ten-year-old sufferer believed everybody he saw was his father in disguise. When somebody pointed out that the nurse could not be his father because she was a woman, he said his father was clever enough to disguise himself and claimed that the doctors could not detect it.^[3]

7 Clinical Lycanthropy

Clinical lycanthropy is a mental disorder that makes people think they are turning into animals, most notably wolves. To adjust to their supposed transformation, clinical lycanthropy sufferers will usually grunt like animals and attempt using their fingers like claws. They will complain of hair growing on their arms and will sometimes mistake their reflection in a mirror for an animal’s.

The first case report was published in 1852, when a man thought he had turned into a werewolf. He believed he was covered in hair and had grown sharp, wolf-like teeth. Both were untrue. He insisted on eating raw meat but did not eat it when it was served because he only wanted rotten meat.

Thankfully, clinical lycanthropy is rare. Only 13 cases of people believing they are wolves have been reported since 1850. However, it jumps to 56 when we consider other cases involving people who thought they’d turned into other animals. Doctors believe some cases have been missed, since psychiatrists will misdiagnose clinical lycanthropy as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or psychotic depression.^[4]

6 Cotard Delusion

Cotard delusion is a mental disorder that makes sufferers think they are dead. They’ll believe they are not in control of their bodies and may even assume they are already rotting. However, some sufferers know they are alive but will wrongly believe that some parts of their bodies are dead or do not even exist.

Cotard delusion is often caused by a traumatic incident like an accident or fainting. Sufferers believe they actually died during the incident. And they will often believe they cannot die again since they are already dead. The disorder was first observed in an unnamed Frenchwoman only identified as Mademoiselle X (depicted above).

In 1880, Mademoiselle X visited Doctor Jules Cotard and complained that she thought she was dead. Doctor Cotard took interest in her disorder and studied it extensively. He called her condition “the Delirium of Negation,” but it would later take his name. Mademoiselle X ultimately died of starvation, as she refused to eat due to the false belief that she did not have a stomach, nervous system, or torso.^[5]

5 Folie A Deux

Folie a deux (French for “madness of two”) is a psychological condition in which the delusions of one person essentially spread to others. Folie a deux can also be called “folie a trois” when it affects three people, “folie a quatre” when it affects four people, or “folie en famille” when it affects an entire family.

Folie a deux was first documented in the 19th century, when a couple named Michael and Margaret thought someone was sneaking into their home and wearing their shoes. They believed this so much that they started convincing themselves that somebody was truly sneaking in.

In another case, three sisters believed some parts of the Bible were wrong and that God wanted them to live in a house that belonged to somebody else. They were arrested after vandalizing the home and held in a cell, where they stripped themselves naked and sang worship songs.

In one recent case that happened in 2016, a couple fled town with their three children over the erroneous belief that somebody was trying to kill them. Two of the three children also believed the story, making it a folie a quatre.^[6]

4 Reduplicative Paramnesia

Reduplicative paramnesia is a rare mental disorder that makes sufferers think their house or another building has been cloned. Sometimes, they believe their house has been disguised to look like another building. Many sufferers believe the hospital in which they are receiving treatment is actually their disguised home.

Sometimes, sufferers wrongly assume something has been taken away from their homes and taken somewhere else. One woman who had a temporal lobe stroke suffered from the disorder after her discharge from the hospital. She claimed that some furniture had been taken from her home to the hospital.^[7]

3 Factitious Disorder

Factitious disorder (aka factitious disorder imposed on self or Munchausen syndrome) motivates people to fake illnesses. Sufferers will often go to extreme lengths to make people think they are truly sick. They will readily add foreign substances like blood to their urine samples and add heat to a thermometer to make people think they have a fever.

In extreme cases, sufferers will injure themselves and even undergo surgery for nonexistent conditions. They usually understand that they’re not sick, but they don’t understand why they are pretending to be sick. Even when they do, they just cannot stop pretending to be sick, even when challenged with evidence proving they’re not ill.

Factitious disorder imposed on another (also referred to as Munchausen syndrome by proxy) is a subcategory of factitious disorder. It involves a person claiming another person is sick. Most of the time, it is usually a parent saying a child is sick. This is just as dangerous, since the parent could injure the child just to prove they are truly sick.^[8]

2 Delusional Parasitosis

Delusional parasitosis is a mental disorder that makes a person think their skin is infected with parasites and animals like lice, fleas, worms, and spiders.

Sufferers will usually scratch their skin until they become injured. More desperate patients will use dangerous substances on their skin just to get rid of the creatures. They’ll even take skin and hair samples and put them under microscopic slides before presenting them to the doctor.

Those affected are so convinced of their delusion that they will confidently explain how the creatures entered their bodies. In some instances, they will even claim that the parasites have crept from their bodies and into their homes.

Delusional parasitosis often affects elderly people and is more common in women than men. It is usually the result of an underlying illness, like an anxiety disorder that makes the sufferer afraid of getting sick. In rarer instances, it is caused by other conditions like schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Sometimes, it is just the sufferer being paranoid or could be the result of drug abuse or alcohol withdrawal.^[9] Delusional parasitosis can sometimes become folie a deux when a person believes they are suffering from the disorder because their partner is suffering from it. The situation is worsened when the partner reinforces their belief that the nonexistent creatures are really there.

1 Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder

Sufferers of depersonalization-derealization disorder (aka depersonalization disorder) think they are outside their bodies. It can also occur when a person believes the things they see around them do not really exist. Sometimes, they even think their memory does not belong to them.

Some sufferers believe they are floating above their bodies. Others understand they are inside their bodies but will usually consider themselves as more robot than human, since they assume they do not have any control over their actions. They will usually feel that their heads are covered with soft materials like cotton and assume their body parts are bigger or smaller than they appear.

Depersonalization-derealization disorder is more common in people who’ve been through traumatic experiences and can last anywhere from hours to months. Sufferers often have troubled relationships, since they are usually more concerned about their supposed nonexistence than with interacting with their families and friends. They will frequently check themselves and the things around them to confirm that they truly exist.^[10]

Caves have served as homes, storage sites, and sacred spaces throughout history. This makes them rich and rewarding hunting grounds for archaeologists. Far from yielding just the occasional odd fossil, caves hold tough-to-crack ancient mysteries, reveal unknown behaviors from the hominid clan, and are sometimes home to the rarest and oldest artifacts. Even legends are found in them.

10 The Rhino Cave Ritual

A cave in Botswana has yielded intriguing artifacts that could have been used in the world’s oldest ritual. First examined in the 1990s, Rhino Cave produced over 100 spearheads in bright colors. Also inside was a python carved from rock. The stone reptile measures 6 meters (20 ft) by 2 meters (6.5 ft) and rests on a crushed wall. Some of the cracks in the cavern were stuffed with quartz chips.

The site clearly held great importance for the San people who used it. The weapon points were delivered, often from a great distance away, and then burned during what researchers believe was python worship practiced around 70,000 years ago, smashing the previous oldest-known rites by 30,000 years. Other scientists feel that more research is needed and even argue that there was no ritual. Yet, throughout the Tsodilo Hills, home to Rhino Cave, rock art shows the San engaged in acts resembling the ceremony. The handling of the spearheads and quartz flakes is previously unknown behavior documented for the first time in Rhino Cave.

9 The Liang Bua Teeth

A case of hobbit murder might be afoot. Ever since the diminutive hominid Homo floresiensis was documented in 2003, scientists have pondered why they swirled down the extinction drain. Now, a toothy find could clinch the case. Two human molars turned up in 2010 and 2011, respectively, in the Liang Bua cave on Flores. This is the same cave where the only known hobbit remains were excavated years before. The Homo sapiens snappers slightly postdate the hobbits’ final bow, which experts claim happened 50,000 years ago.

Humans already lived in Southeast Asia by then, making an overlap of the two species possible. They might even have interbred or competed for food—although the 1-meter-tall (3 ft) hobbits hardly qualified as opponents. Most likely, the humans obliterated their smaller cousins. There is additional evidence that the arrival of hunter-gatherers wiped out more than H. floresiensis. Several animal species also disappeared from the island around the same time.

8 Earliest Winery

The world’s oldest shoe is a perfectly preserved moccasin, despite its 5,500 years. It also led to the world’s earliest winery near the village of Areni. Returning in 2007 to the Armenian cave where the footwear was unearthed, archaeologists found equipment for producing ancient alcohol. There were dried vines, vats for trampling grapes by foot, storage containers for fermenting the juice, and tasting cups. The complete production line is over six millennia old.

The large-scale factory indicates that the grape was domesticated earlier than thought, which is not impossible, considering the location. DNA studies have traced the beginnings of winemaking back to Armenia and surrounding countries. The prehistoric winemakers left their shoes and equipment but no clue as to who they were. Apparently, they kept their dead involved. A cemetery surrounds the site, with drinking vessels around and even inside the graves.

7 Witchcraft Island

An island near Sweden is wrapped with legends of the dark arts. Removing a rock from Bla Jungfrun will guarantee lifelong bad luck, and the island is best avoided on Easter, because that’s when the witches arrive for some Devil worship.

These ancient beliefs may hold a grain of truth. You might not be cursed for life for stealing a stone or witness a holiday witch convention, but some people once took rituals seriously on Bla Jungfrun. Archaeologists visited the uninhabited island in 2014 and were astonished to find that 9,000 years ago, Stone Age ritualistic activity was rife.

People traveled there specifically to partake in these rituals, and two caves in particular were adapted for this purpose. One contains an altar-type construction to perhaps prepare religious offerings. A fireplace lies in the other, beneath a large hollow hacked from one of the walls. The entrance to this cave offers a theater view of below. Researchers speculate that, together, the blazing fire and the hollow being enlarged was an act viewed by audiences for some unknown reason.

6 Cave Of Games

The Promontory culture, forerunner to the Apache and Navajo nations, settled in a cave near Utah’s Great Salt Lake. During excavations in the 1930s and 2010s, an aspect of this mysterious people came to life in magnificent numbers: They loved gambling. Hundreds of gambling aids showed that the Promontory competed with guessing, chance, and physical prowess.

Women’s games consisted mostly of what were essentially dice matches, using split canes marked with burns and playing for low-risk wagers between them. Even so, these were social times, avidly followed by the men, who placed bets. Male games ranged from domestic recreation (such as seeing who could shoot a dart first through a moving hoop) to interactively forging bonds with other tribes.

The Promontory flourished in the late 1200s, while their neighbors faced drought and famine. Gambling while sharing feasts with their neighbors likely created better relations and prevented raids. The rich variety of Promontory games is unmatched in Western North America and could have been the key to their success as a peaceful culture.

5 Hellenistic Petra

The ancient capital of the Nabataeans has a canyon cave complex known as Little Petra, not far from the more well-known Petra. This second site served as a getaway for wealthier citizens. In the main chamber and a connecting compartment awaited a discovery that still shocks scholars since its find in 2007. Wall paintings may not sound like much, but the quality and rarity of these 2,000-year-old Hellenistic scenes shook everyone.

There are no complete artworks bearing this style, leaving almost nothing of the color and composition of the great masterpieces to study. Little Petra’s paintings could change that. Restoration took three years, but what emerged was an exceptional slice of this lost style. Exquisite realism allowed the identification of plants, birds, and insects. Children play flutes, collect fruit, and shoo birds away. The extensive range of colors were made even more luxurious with the addition of gold leaf and glazes. The wall paintings are now considered the best examples of Nabataean art and are the only figurative paintings that survive at Petra.

4 The Lupercal

The Lupercal (or Lupercale) is part of Rome’s intricate past, where legend and history often overlap. It is the city’s most sacred site, since it involves the twin brothers Romulus and Remus. Said to be the founders of Rome, the children were supposedly raised by a she-wolf in a cave known as the Lupercal. In 2007, an Italian team of archaeologists located a cavern 16 meters (52 ft) under the Palatine Hill. Part of it had already collapsed, and the fragility of the site prevented a full-scale excavation, but endoscopes and scanners revealed details about the inside of the grotto.

Decorated with marble and seashells, a round space measures 8 meters (26 ft) high, with a diameter of 7.5 meters (24 ft). The best evidence that this is the Lupercal comes from its location as well as a white eagle insignia within the vault. Emperor Augustus, who died in AD 14, is said to have restored the holy site, situated near his palace, and added such an eagle. Indeed, this grotto lies beneath the ruins of where Augustus once lived.

3 Neanderthal Builders

Neanderthal achievements aren’t bad for a hominid still viewed by many as brainless animals. They produced stone tools, glue, clothing, and jewelry, They used fire and shelters, and there’s evidence that their dead were buried with ritual. Their greatest and most mysterious act came to light in the 1990s. Cave explorers were 300 meters (984 ft) into the Bruniquel cave in France when they stumbled upon strange formations. Almost 400 stalagmites had been used as building material to construct walls. The most extraordinary are two ring-shaped walls, the biggest running 7 meters (23 ft) across and 40 centimters (16 in) high in places.

Building occurred 175,000 years ago, and Neanderthals were the only human branch that lived in Europe during that time. This unique display proves once again that they were more intelligent than is generally accepted. The walls were erected in a place of total darkness, which might explain scorch marks found on the inside, as if hearths burned within. Researchers still don’t know the exact purpose of the stalagmite structures or if building underground was something that Neanderthals normally did.

2 Buddha’s Life

In 2007, an international team archaeologists was restoring murals at a Nepalese monastery and asked the locals about ancient art in the area. The kingdom of Mustang, once a part of Tibet, has managed to keep its Tibetan and Buddhist heritage unscathed throughout history. This interested the team very much. A shepherd recalled something he’d seen as a child and led them to a cave. After scaling a 3,400-meter (11,200 ft) height to reach the site, the researchers received the treat of a lifetime.

Inside the cavern were 55 untouched paintings showing the life of Buddha. The scenes were full of color and were done by skilled artisans showing a strong Indian influence, rather than Tibetan. At the same time that the 12th- to 14th-century works were discovered, another religious treasure, ancient Tibetan manuscripts, were found in nearby caves. It’s possible that the area was a Buddhist school or retreat. The exact location of the paintings is being kept secret to prevent looters from making off with the rare collection.

1 Egypt’s Lost Fleet

Wall carvings discovered at an Egyptian temple in the 19th century showed cargo ships returning from a legendary land called Punt. In 2004, archaeologists found the missing fleet. Eight caves near the Red Sea held the remains of equipment, ships, and a harbor community. Incredibly, the vessels were built to be assembled like puzzles, something nobody had ever done before. From the harbor oasis, Mersa Gawasis, great sea voyages were launched.

When a 20-meter (66 ft) replica was made, the dubious-looking ship was essentially a giant hull without a frame and made from immensely thick wood. Sailing on the Red Sea for weeks, it performed with agility, surfed out a storm, and reached 16 kilometers per hour (10 mph). Perhaps more tantalizing than proving that ancient Egypt was a phenomenal maritime nation is the link between Mersa Gawasis and the mythical Punt. Among the artifacts were stones inscribed with factual-sounding accounts of sailing to Punt.

The harbor was abandoned after four centuries, and everything was sealed up in caves. After 4,000 years, the historic rediscovery includes some of the oldest seafaring ships.

I am very excited to announce, on this first day of the new decade, that we are launching our YouTube Channel today. You may recall in the past that we had a channel with a number of videos that were outsourced for production. They are not longer available and from today the channel will be exclusively videos produced by me.

The first video I decided to make was the Top 10 Incredible Smells That Will Blow Your Mind as it merges a number of things I am particularly interested in (scent, the macabre and bizarre, and science). It is also a list I wrote and it seemed appropriate that I should use my own writing as the starter script. The video diverges from the original list in many ways: new entry, changed order, re-wording. I am narrating the list, so you’ll finally all get to hear my New Zealand accent! In keeping with my usual style, there is some disturbing footage and content.

I would appreciate any feedback on the video as it is my first attempt to create a YouTube video and I have put an enormous amount of work into it—so bear that in mind when critiquing: be honest but gentle! Please also go the YouTube channel and subscribe. There will be one new video a week until my skills develop and I can produce a video more rapidly.

The narration was recorded in a professional studio and everything else was done at home by me using Final Cut Pro. I’m happy to answer any questions in the comments, either here, or on YouTube.

Each year, certain news stories stand out from the rest. From mysterious diseases to strange happenings, a handful of unfortunate people are singled out to be named in a series of bizarre tales. These cases are entirely out of the ordinary, leading us to believe that, at least in the medical field, nothing is absolutely impossible.

10 A Puzzling Seizure

In 2008, a 25-year-old German man was on a ski trip with a friend when he became trapped by an avalanche and knocked unconscious. On top of a broken hip and ruptured spleen, the incident left him with small muscle spasms that plagued him whenever he moved.

In part, this was caused by the oxygen deprivation he had experienced beneath the snow. But an avalanche is not easy to survive, and he was a lucky survivor. Soon, he was on the road to recovery.

But the story didn’t end there. Several weeks later, he made a startling discovery. Whenever he tried to solve sudoku puzzles, seizures would develop in his left arm. Strangely, they immediately disappeared when he stopped solving the puzzles.

After doctors scanned his brain, they found that the seizures were triggered by strenuous activity in the right central parietal cortex, a part of the brain that deals with processing visuospatial information. Whenever the man’s 3-D imagination was activated, such as by imagining three-dimensional numbers while solving sudoku, the seizures would result.

The reason? While buried beneath the snow, he suffered from hypoxia, a condition where the brain and tissue do not get enough oxygen. This led to the death of the inhibitory fibers in his brain, which resulted in overactivation in the cortex whenever he used it.

The good news was that physical therapy was able to lessen the muscle spasms, improving his quality of life. The bad news was that the man had no choice but to give up sudoku, his favorite pastime.

9 Teeth In The Brain

A four-month-old child was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor. Doctors first became concerned when his head grew faster than normal, and scans concluded that there was a mass in his brain. But strangely, the scans also showed something else—something small, bony, and very, very odd. After it was removed during surgery, the tumor was revealed to contain—you guessed it—several fully grown teeth!

As strange as the condition was, it already had a name: craniopharyngioma. However, this was the first time that teeth had actually been found in one.

While this case was one of a kind, teeth in other growths have definitely been heard of. Teratomas, a different kind of tumor, are capable of forming bone, hair, teeth, and horrifyingly, whole fingers and limbs. Reportedly, one woman had a lump containing a head, eye, and organs, while bones were found in another.

Although it can be terrifying to imagine body parts growing from a tumor, it isn’t all that hard to explain. Tumors are masses of uncontrollably dividing cells. Somewhere along the line, those cells do things they aren’t supposed to, such as recreate a bloody, partially formed human. While not all teratomas resemble props from a horror movie, they are still fascinating to behold and study.

8 Potato Contraceptive

In 2014, a young woman from Colombia was hospitalized after experiencing intense abdominal pains. The cause? It was nothing more alarming than a potato. For two weeks, it had grown roots inside her vagina after she placed it there as a contraceptive. Luckily, she was successfully treated.

At first, this story may seem comical, maybe even unbelievable. It isn’t every day that nurses find roots growing out of vaginas, and anyone can see that a simple root vegetable isn’t going to prevent a pregnancy.

But there is a darker, much sadder part to the story. The woman’s own mother told her to do it—not as a joke or cruel prank but as genuine advice. People from less developed countries aren’t privileged with a good education.

Despite the fact that there are laws requiring sex education in Latin American schools, they are rarely implemented. Due to this lack of knowledge, young people in South America and elsewhere engage in unsafe sex practices.

This furthers the spread of disease, sexual abuse, unwanted pregnancies, millions of unwanted children, and generations of ignorance. Potato contraceptives are just one of the milder effects of this education gap.

7 Death From Peppers

Ghost peppers are one of the hottest in the world, so hot that they can be used to make grenades and even guns that cause temporary blindness. They are off the charts on the hotness scale, zeroing in on over one million Scoville heat units. And yet, we still can’t help but eat them.

In 2016, one man from California learned the hard way why this pepper was named the way it was. Challenged to a contest, he was able to devour a hamburger topped with a ghost pepper puree. (Keep in mind that a single seed can cause a horrific burning sensation that lasts up to a whopping half hour).

After drinking six glasses of water, the man couldn’t stop vomiting and was rushed to the emergency room with severe chest and stomach pain. All that retching resulted in a collapsed lung and a 2.5-centimeter (1-in) hole torn in his esophagus.

Death from a pepper isn’t very heroic, but a torn esophagus is downright gruesome. Without treatment, death from infection is a certain outcome. Fortunately, the man was hospitalized for 23 days and sent home with a gastric tube. It’s safe to assume that he’ll keep a wide berth around peppers from now on.

6 A Different Kind Of Pregnancy

Although Daljinder Kaur had been trying to have a child for years, the path had been fraught with difficulties. For someone who longed to be a mother, it was a heartbreaking reality. But this wasn’t the 20th century. Instead, it was 2013, during an age where science can make anything happen.

One of these advancements was in vitro fertilization. The eggs are collected from ovaries and fertilized by sperm in a lab. Then the fertilized eggs are implanted into the uterus.

This method is used to combat infertility or other complications that make the process difficult. Although Kaur was frail and the fertilization took three tries to be successful, she was finally able to conceive her first child after two years: a healthy baby boy.

At the present age, this may not seem so strange. After all, in vitro fertilization isn’t the only method used to help couples become parents. But Daljinder Kaur isn’t your typical mother: She is 70 years old. Her husband is 79 years old, and they have been married for 46 years.

In fact, she may be the oldest person ever to give birth. Breakthroughs in medicine and medical procedures have helped more and more people in unprecedented ways. Who knows what they’ll bring in the far future?

5 The Author Who Couldn’t Read

On July 31, 2001, Howard Engel woke up and began to read the morning newspaper. Or tried to. As he described it:

[It] looked the way it always did. [ . . . ] The only difference was that I could no longer read what they said. The letters, I could tell, were the familiar 26 I had grown up with. Only now, when I brought them into focus, they looked like Cyrillic one moment and Korean the next.

He could still read clocks and think and see clearly. But whenever he tried to read a book, the words would become undecipherable. It turned out to be the result of a stroke in the visual part of the brain.

Losing the ability to read would be debilitating for many, but Engel had it worse. He made his living by writing detective novels. He did realize that he could still write as perfectly and as soundly as before. But if he tried to read back what he had written, it was like reading foreign text. Numbers also muddled him but to a lesser extent.

This disorder is known as alexia sine agraphia. “Alexia” is the loss of the ability to read, while “sine agraphia” means that the person still has the ability to write. Even after immediately writing a word, those affected are still unable to retain what it means. This shows that there is a breakdown in communication between certain areas in the brain.

Although Engel never quite recovered, he was able to compensate by learning a new way to read words. It wasn’t easy. The process was long and frustrating, but he was eventually able to decipher certain words and get better over time.

He even managed to go back to writing and publishing more books. It seemed that he had transformed into his alter ego, the detective Benny Cooperman, and set out to solve his own mystery.

4 Green Skin

“Green with envy” is a common phrase, but you wouldn’t want to be stuck with this man’s condition. In China in 2013, He Yong mysteriously turned a shade of green and was checked into a hospital. What caused his skin to develop such a sickly hue? Was it some kind of dye? A vitamin deficiency? The result of a radioactive accident that had morphed him into some kind of mutant?

Actually, it was from something much milder—snails.

It turned out that He Yong had been devouring a plate of snails every day. More specifically, it was the parasites within the snails that were causing his skin and even the whites of his eyes to turn green. The parasites were liver flukes, which blocked the flow of bile from his liver.

Luckily, he was successfully treated, although he’ll be sure to properly cook his food before eating it.

3 Botched Surgery

In 2005, 59-year-old Rita Talbert checked in for her thyroid surgery in Virginia. However, when she woke up a week later, she was in pain and could barely recognize herself in the mirror. Her flesh appeared to have melted away, and her mouth, chin, and nose were horrifically disfigured.

It turned out that she had accidentally suffered second- and third-degree burns during her operation. The idea of it sounds bizarre. After all, hospitals are supposed to be the safest places in which you could end up, and the operating room should have been monitored by constant surveillance. And how does someone spontaneously combust during a surgery?

Actually, this type of surgical accident is far more common than you might think. Surgical fires happen to 550–650 patients a year, and 20–30 of them suffer painful, mutilating burns.

But how exactly does it happen?

Surgeons and anesthesiologists use instruments that have heat, oxygen, and fuel, which are the ideal tools to start a fire. A lapse in communication between the surgeon and assistants could result in this potentially fatal mistake.

2 Frostbite From Air Dusters

Huffing, or inhaling the fumes from aerosols to get high, is a dangerous act that is commonly seen in teenagers. Of those it kills, 22 percent are first time users, whether through sudden cardiac arrest, car accidents, or suffocation.

But it affects adults, too. In 2015, a 40-year-old man was rushed to the hospital with frostbite after huffing three cans of air duster in four hours. His airways were blocked by severe swelling, and his neck also turned red and swelled with oozing blisters.

Air dusters are common household products that are used to clean electronics. It is believed that the compressed air and a compound called 1,1-Difluoroethane caused the frostbite and swelling.

Although the man was able to get better with the help of hospital treatment, others aren’t so lucky. Around 22.9 million Americans have experimented with inhalants. This includes children as young as 12 years old.

1 Blindness From Cell Phones

Blindness is caused by many factors. But for two women in the United Kingdom, they became temporarily blind from something totally unexpected: their smartphones.

One of the women had trouble seeing out of one of her eyes. She had been viewing her phone while lying on her bed in a dark room. It happened multiple times a week for a year. One eye was unaffected. The other would only be able to see faint outlines of objects, although it would return to normal the following day.

The other woman would be unable to see out of one eye when she got out of bed in the morning, although it went away after 15 minutes. This occurred for six months.

The cases are linked in one way. Both of these women used their cell phones for several minutes before sleeping while lying down on their beds. While it seems alarming, the temporary blindness may have a simple cause.

Doctors hypothesized that one of their eyes had been unknowingly blocked by their pillow, leaving the other eye to view their phone. As a result, one became adjusted to the dark while the other became adjusted to the light. When the phone was turned off, the light-adapted eye struggled to adapt to the sudden darkness, leading to the feeling of being blind.

The Shaolin are a historically secretive people. From their humble beginnings in the Henan providence of China, their culture has continued to push the limits of the human mind, body, and spirit.

After a terrible fire in 1929, much of their scarcely recorded history was lost. But a monk named Jin Jing Zhong compiled decades of living knowledge. With blessings from the head of Shaolin, the Training Methods of the 72 Arts of Shaolin was created. You might question how many of these were real, but they’re all fascinating.

10Pulling Out Nails
Bo Ding Gong

Drive a nail into a plank of wood, then remove it with three fingers. A student will practice this for months. If one can remove the nail easily with the thumb, forefinger, and middle finger, then one can progress to removing the nail with the thumb, ring, and pinky finger. Immeasurable strength from even the weakest appendages is a true axiom of Shaolin training. Every finger on both hands must be trained to produce large bursts of strength as well as matching muscular endurance.

Over time, the nails are driven deeper into the wood. When this becomes easy, the wood is dampened before the nails are inserted, and they are allowed to rust. An advanced student in this technique would train by removing rusted nails driven in to the hilt with two fingers, or perhaps one. The fingers of the student must possess the strength to depress the wood itself to successfully remove the nail. Upon mastery, the fingers will be strengthened enough to take on more difficult techniques, such as the Diamond Finger.

9Striking With Foot
Zu She Gong

If someone has ever told you to “go and kick rocks,” it probably was not in a pleasant way. That exact activity, however, is step one to this Shaolin discipline. Anyone who has, accidentally or otherwise, lost the inertia battle to a heavy object knows the toe-shattering pain it can cause. Zu she gong belongs to the hard force of yang, and students will begin training this technique by kicking small rocks like soccer balls—in bare feet.

The purpose of this mastery is to develop the strength and resilience of one’s foot, until kicking a pillow would feel the same as kicking a boulder. In combat, it is said in Shaolin texts that one will be able to kick an opponent as far as the stones one trains with. Such a hardened, developed kick to the lower portion of the body immediately shatters the opponent’s balance. A kick such as this to the head could easily be deadly.

8Skill Of Light Body
Jin Shen Shu

Though the “Skill of Light Body” has become a popular mythos in martial arts films, it is a very real Shaolin practice. Shaolin testaments make reference to men of 100 “jins,” or 50 kilograms (110 lb) resting on branches like butterflies or bees—even gliding like sparrows. This is a truly fascinating practice of Shaolin, complete with a very unique and seemingly impossible training routine.

The training begins with a massive clay bowl filled with water and a student walking along the rim carrying a weighted backpack, perhaps with lead soaked with pigs blood. Students will walk along the rim of this bowl every day for hours. On the 21st day of each month, a “calabash-sized” dipper of water is removed. Additionally, more iron (or bloody lead) is added to the backpack. While the water initially prevents the bowl from tipping and swaying, it becomes increasingly difficult and awkward for the student to navigate the circumference without falling in, out, or over.

The apprentice must continue this until the backpack weighs a total of 5 JINS (2.5kg), and the bowl is entirely empty. When the student can master this, the process is repeated, the large clay bowl is replaced with a large wicker basket filled with iron chips. More weight is added to the backpack, and one must repeat the training until the basket is entirely empty.

These are just the first two steps. Advanced training methods include walking across grass without crumpling it. Further training is exclusive knowledge passed orally through generations. In 2014, a monk managed to run atop a lake on sinking plywood planks for over 385 feet (118m)

7Skill Of A Golden Cicada
Men Dan Gong

The Skill of a Golden Cicada is also widely known as “The Iron Crotch,” and it is not fun.

Initial training beings with intense meditation, aimed to clear the mind of all distain and anxiety for the literal torture to follow. A benchmark, albeit strange, of this mental training is being able to spontaneously summon an erection during meditation—but by concentrating qi to the base of the navel, not by having inappropriate thoughts (hopefully).

From here, the de-sensitivity training beings. One must flick one’s own testicles. Thousands of times. When this is no longer painful, the training upgrades to more extreme methods, which can involve rolling pins, punches, kicks and even blows from weapons directly into the crotch. Some monks even tie ropes around their testicles, pulling great stone weights across fields to master this skill. With careful healing and massage therapy to the tissue, damage to reproductive health can be reduced but inevitably not prevented.

As odd it is may seem, this technique can be combined with the broader family of iron techniques to strengthen all weak points of the body. This can render a monk’s external surface uniformly resilient to strikes. The strength to accomplish the Skill of a Golden Cicada is truly something to behold.

6Method That Reveals The Truth
Jie Di Gong

At its core, this technique is a series of difficult evasive and tactical tumbles. Falling face down upon a stone floor without flinching, somersaults that contort and warp the spine, and even maneuvers that “bounce” the student off the ground are steps on the road to mastery. When one has mastered these “eighteen somersaults” one may progress on to an additional 64 more complicated (and dangerous) tumbling techniques.

Great masters who have perfected this technique can do an uncountable number of somersaults in an uncountable number of ways. Not only does is this said to strengthen Qi, but skin, bones and muscles grow stronger as well.

5Ringing Round A Tree
Bao Shu Gong

A student will require an unusual training partner for this study—a fully grown tree.

The exercise is simple enough; wrap one’s arms around the tree, and pull until your energy is entirely expended. After the first year, progress will begin to show. The first step to mastery is the ability to shake loose a few leaves of the tree. Another year of the student shaking leaves from the tree must pass—the same intensity, without stopping. The student must continue throughout their life with this practice, only reaching mastery once they have completely uprooted the tree

Even the small trees used for this training requires immense, constant force over the course of years to loosen the roots. If a master of this practice ever clasps his opponent as he does the tree—fatal injury can occur easily.

4Iron Head
Tie Tou Gong

There is a reason head-butting is forbidden in sports such as mixed martial arts—the risk of traumatic brain injuries. The iconic Shaolin “Iron Head,” however not only recommends these sort of blows but prescribes them as a regular training regimen. Students strengthen the frontal bones, temporal bones, and top of the skull to a near superhuman rigidity, rivaling that of stone.

The objective is fairly basic: Knock objects into your head, and your head into objects slowly and gradually over years to strengthen the bones in the skull. With dozens of micro fractures, combined with healing and repetition, the bones reshape to the pressure, and can become incredibly resilient. However, this can take dozens of years of daily practice to achieve, each time with the risk of permanent injury.

The first basic training regimen recommended in the methodology of the Shaolin involves wrapping one’s head in silk and gently banging the head against a stone wall. After one year, the student will remove a few layers of silk and continue the process for a minimum of 100 days; after that, the silk is removed completely. From here, students will practice with more extreme methods, such as knocking their skulls together for hours, cracking frozen blocks atop their heads, and even sleeping in headstand positions. Specific exercises and techniques to strengthen the temples, mouth, and eyes follow this technique as well.

In a rare example, a Shaolin monk has held an electric drill to his temple for 10 seconds and emerged unscathed.

3The Iron Bull Technique
tie Niu Gong

Training for the iron bull technique, at the most basic level begins with scraping one’s own stomach. Daily and nightly, with the fingers and palms at first, and blades. This is done during training and rest alike. After sufficient skin hardening, one proceeds to strikes to the core and continue knife-scraping the stomach and obliques.

When blows no longer render pain, hammers are used. Wooden at first, gradually upgrading into iron. A monk will stand motionless as fellow students deliver full force blows to the stomach with iron hammers—this will continue for quite some time. There are more advanced training methods, such as “knocking a bell,” where a monk will absorb blows from a log battering-ram weighing hundreds of kilograms.

It is said masters of this technique will be able to endure strikes, cuts, slashes, and even stabs to the stomach without a single scratch—even the ability to withstand blows “delivered by the Immortals” themselves.

2One Finger Of Chan Meditation
Yi Zhi Chan Gong

After 40 years of intense Shaolin training and meditation, Xi Hei Zi would wander the country, visiting every monastery in the northern and southern provinces, and no man was able to overcome him. The legend claims it is due to this technique.

At the very beginning when Xi Hei Zi started training, he hung a weight from a tree branch on a path that he traveled each day. Each time he passed the weight, he would thrust his finger into it—from the maximum possible distance, his fingertips just barely grazing the surface. The weight would swing. After years of this, and constant meditation, he discovered that when thrust his finger, even if he did not physically touch the weight, it would swing.

After this, he would meditate, while striking his fingers at lamps. At first, the flame would only sway, but he would practice for hours nonetheless. Soon, he could extinguish the flame. He would place paper shades around the lamp, and is said to have been able to pierce the paper and extinguish the flame from a distance. After 10 years of this training, he replaced the paper shades with glass ones. When he could extinguish the flame without breaking the glass, his aim was attained.

1Diamond Finger
Ya Zhi Jin Gang Fa

As a young man, the monk Hal-Tank visited Chicago, where he demonstrated his skill: a handstand—his entire body weight—atop one index finger. The weak muscles in the index finger should crumple, and the bones should snap under the strain. This is quite an amazing feat for a young man, but what truly makes this feat incredible is when the monk was documented performing this skill over 50 years later. Nearly 90 years of age, the legendary monk Hal-Tank was able to replicate his incredible one-finger handstand—his Diamond Finger. His poise is breathtakingly peaceful during the act—deep in meditation, he balances unflinchingly atop his fingertip.

Until his death in 1989, he was still the only man able to perform this technique. Though he is now deceased, this legendary monk provided a rare, documented demonstration of Shaolin skill and a fascinating glimpse into the world of Shaolin.

Richard is a freelance television and film producer based in Los Angeles, California.

A wise man once said that time keeps on slippin’ (slippin’) into the future. On the other hand, he may have had that backwards and time is heading into the past. Or you could believe those who think time is cyclical and the present and the past are the same thing. For practical purposes it probably doesn’t matter.

If your mind is occupied by time, though, you may be interested to know some more about the timeline we’re on and where all manner of significant moments sit in relation to others. The human mind has a tricky way of understanding time and that means some things are often closer, or much further away, than you think. 

10. We Are Closer to The Jetsons Vision of the Future Than When It Aired

Once upon a time, one of the most well-known visions of the future came to us as The Jetsons, a sort of future answer to the prehistoric world of The Flintstones. The cartoon premiered in 1962 and promised a fantastic world of the future with flying cards, space stations and sentient, robot servants. Is that future still in the cards? Maybe, but the dates seem off.

The makers of the Jetsons decided to pick a nice, round number for their future world. It took place 100 years in the future. Except, because it was 1962, that means the show takes place in 2062. And that means we currently live in a world closer to the fictional Jetsons than the real year it was produced.

Of course, we still have a few years to catch up with George and Judy, but it looks like their predictions might be a little off base. 

9. T. Rexes Are Closer in Time to Us Than They Are to Stegosaurus

Thanks to movies like Jurassic Park, people have a somewhat jumbled perception of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs roamed the earth for about 165 million years. Primitive human ancestors only go back about 300,000 years. Dinosaurs had a hell of a long time and that means there were plenty that never met each other and had tens of millions of years between them. 

This difference is best exemplified by comparing three separate creatures – humans, Tyrannosaurus rexes and the stegosaurus. They all existed together in Jurassic Park, but it wasn’t even close in nature. Stegosaurus were the only of the three of us that actually lived in the Jurassic era. They were dragging their thagomizers around 144 million years ago. The T. rex, on the other hand, was in the Cretaceous period and that ended 65 million years ago. At best, there were 77 million years before those two animals. And between us and the T. rex is just 65 million. So we are actually closer, even though it’s a pretty loose definition of close. 

8. Less Time Separates Nirvana From Woodstock Than Separates Nirvana From Today

Nirvana was one of the seminal bands of the 90s and is credited as being possibly the biggest band of the Grunge Movement that came out of the 80s and early 90s. The tragic story of Kurt Cobain’s rise and death is widely known, and he still has legions of fans to this day.

One thing guaranteed to make any Nirvana fan feel a little blue these days relates to just where that band sits in music history now. Nirvana, as a band, was closer to being part of Woodstock in 1969 than they are to being part of today’s music scene.

The band got together in 1987. By 1991 they were internationally renowned thanks to the release of Smells Like Teen Spirit. Three short years later the band was torn apart with the apparent suicide of Cobain. Depending on when you come across this, that was 29 years ago.

When the band formed in 1987, they were only 18 years removed from that epic concert of peace, love and rock n roll known as Woodstock.

7. The Diomede Islands Are Less Than 3 Miles But 21 Hours Apart

If you’re not a geography buff, you may not know about the Diomede Islands. There are two of them, cleverly named Big Diomede and Little Diomede. Only three miles separate the two islands so you can take a boat trip pretty easily from one to the other. Big Diomede is off the eastern tip of Russia. Little Diomede is just in American waters. There’s also one notable thing in that three-mile stretch that separates them and that’s the International Date Line.

Because the IDL is right there, when it’s noon on Big Diomede, it’s three pm the previous day on Little Diomede. A full 21 hours passes, going back in time, as you travel from Big to Little. Or you could go the opposite way and leap into the future by almost a day. 

There’s actually a town on Little Diomede and 83 people call it home. When they wake up in the morning, they can literally see Russia from their front doors. .

6. Cleopatra Lived Closer to the Present Than the Pyramids’ Construction

The Egyptian Empire was one of the most well known in human history and also one of the most influential. The pyramids still stand to this day and the history of Egypt with its pharaohs, mythology and beliefs is widely known. In terms of historical figures it also has its share who have lived beyond their years in our collective memories. Few have held our imaginations like Cleopatra. 

Cleopatra was famously a lover of Julius Caesar and she was also Egypt’s last ruler before it fell into Roman control. She and her husband Marc Antony committed suicide and thus ended the Egyptian Empire.

One of the more remarkable aspects of Cleopatra’s reign is when it occurred in a historical context. Her death took place in 30 BC, so let’s say for the sake of simplicity it was about 2,050 years ago. The pyramids were built by 2490 BC. The Great Pyramid was built around 2580 BC. That means Cleopatra was closer in time to man landing on the moon than she was to the construction of the pyramids in the land she ruled. That also means Jesus Christ, who lived not too far off from Cleopatra, is also closer to computers, TikTok and McNuggets than he was to the pyramids.

5. The Average UK Child Spends Less Time Outside Than An Inmate

For most people their chief concern relating to time is how they spend it because a lot of us feel like we don’t have enough. You need time to get work done, time to get where you’re going, time to unwind, time to figure things out. But how much time is normal? 

In 2016, a poll in the UK determined that a remarkable 75% of children spent less time outside than your average prison inmate. You can see how this would be somewhat shocking news since inmates are literally in prison and children are not.

The survey covered 2,000 parents. Aside from 75% of the kids not even spending an hour a day outside, which is what convicts get, 20% weren’t going out at all on any kind of regular basis. So a sort of self-imposed solitary confinement for them. This followed conclusions from government research suggesting that one in nine kids had not been in any kind of green space like a park, a forest or a beach in over a year, not even for a minute. 

So why were kids staying indoors? There were at least three things blamed which included a lack of places for kids to play, the allure of electronics in the house, and parents’ fears about letting their kids outside. 

4. The Center of the Earth is 2.5 Years Younger Than the Outside

Gravity and time make strange bedfellows in the sense that gravity causes time to slow down a bit. Because of how this works, according to Einstein, the core of the earth has a stronger gravitational effect than the surface which is further from that gravity well.

The result of Earth’s own gravity wonking up time is that, even though the exterior and interior formed at the same time, the interior is about 2.5 years younger because time flows slower there. Good news for King Kong and the residents of Hollow Earth!

It’s not just earth that works this way, of course. Any planetary body will suffer the same effect. The sun, for instance, was calculated to have a core 40,000 years younger than the surface. 

3. Time Flies Slower on the Space Station Than On Earth

One of the big problems with time, as Einstein once discovered, is relativity. As in, time is relative. Most of us, in our day to day lives on Earth, don’t see this. All our clocks are pretty consistent. But what about folks who aren’t on Earth?

If you head up to the space station, you will notice in no way that time flows differently. In much the same way that time flows differently in the center of the earth, it flows differently out there in orbit around the earth. Because of the space station’s velocity in space, astronauts on board age 0.007 seconds less than people on Earth. 

Astronaut Scott Kelly, who has a twin, spent 11 months on board the space station. When he returned to earth he pointed out that he was now technically younger than his twin, having shaved a whopping 13 milliseconds of his time in the universe. It’s not a lot, but it’s something.

2. Woolly Mammoths Still Existed When the Pyramids Were Built

Prehistory, or what many people think of as prehistory, is actually very confusing to many people. This is due in part because schools teach very little about ancient history and mostly focus on local history. Americans, for instance, are mostly taught the history of their own country which has only existed since 1776. Sure, you can take more specialized history in later years of school, but that eliminates a vast number of students who will never take those classes.

If schools had taught more history about wooly mammoths, fewer people would be surprised to learn that, while the Egyptians were busy enjoying the Great Pyramid of Giza, there were mammoths stomping around the northern hemisphere, happy as you please. 

Most mammoths were gone by about 10,000 years ago. But most is not all. Way up in the Arctic, in a place called Wrangel Island, mammoths stayed around until 1650 BC. That’s a long time ago to us, but the pyramids were already 1,000 years old at that point. 

1. The Guillotine Was Still in Use the Year Star Wars Came Out

What time period comes to mind when you think of the guillotine? For most of us it’s probably the French Revolution when the execution device rose to infamy even as it fell on the heads of many an aristocrat. As you may recall, near the end of the 1700s both King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lost their heads.

As with many methods of execution like hanging and the electric chair, the guillotine was phased out over time in favor of executions considered more humane. But the timeframe in which that happened is something many people seem surprised to learn.

The guillotine far outlived the French Revolution. It also made it through the entire next century, withstood two World Wars, and even most of the age of disco. The final criminal to die by guillotine in France was a man named Hamida Djanboudi. He had killed his ex and was sentenced to die.

Djanboudi was executed on September 10, 1977. The very next day was the French premiere of Star Wars. So, after its introduction in 1789, the guillotine managed to far outlive its victims before being retired at the age of 188.

Optical illusions are like magicians. They make you question everything your eyes tell you. They’re not just pictures—they’re more like windows into how our brains process information. Get ready for these ten mind-boggling optical illusions to blow your mind. By the time you’re done with this list, you’ll be scratching your head and marveling at the power of your own mind.

Related: Top 10 Simple Things That Mess With The Mind

10 The Vanishing Dots

Imagine a grid of evenly spaced dots on a black background. Simple, right? But when you stare at this grid, something incredible happens – the dots seem to vanish into thin air! It’s like they’re playing a game of hide and seek with your brain.

This optical illusion, the Hermann Grid, occurs because of how your eyes and brain work together. Your eyes have cells that detect contrast. When you focus on one dot, the surrounding dots’ contrast decreases, making them disappear. Your brain is essentially trying to fill in the gaps, and that’s when the magic happens.

What’s truly fascinating about the Hermann Grid illusion is that scientists use it to study visual processing in our brains. Researchers have found that certain cells in the visual cortex, called end-stopped cells, play a crucial role in creating this illusion. These cells are responsible for detecting the edges and boundaries of objects. When you focus on a dot in the grid, these end-stopped cells become activated. They ultimately enhance the illusion of vanishing dots. So it’s not just a simple disappearing act. It’s a glimpse into the intricate workings of our visual system.

9 The Rotating Snakes

Have you ever wished you could witness the snakes dancing without the fear of being bitten? This optical illusion won’t give you a front-row seat to a reptilian tango. But it will make you believe you’re watching snakes slither and twist right before your eyes.

Known as the rotating snake, this mind-boggling image consists of seemingly rotating snakes on a static background. But here’s the kicker—the snakes aren’t actually moving at all! It’s all in your head.

The rotating snake illusion is a prime example of how patterns and contrasts can fool our brains. It’s not just about the snakes. This illusion can appear in various forms, like wheels appearing to spin backward or stationary objects seeming to move. Scientists believe this illusion occurs because our brains are hardwired to detect motion. When they encounter patterns that mimic motion, they fill in the gaps, creating the illusion of movement.

8 The Impossible Triangle

Imagine an object that seems to defy the laws of geometry. That’s what you get with the impossible triangle. Also known as the Penrose Triangle or Tri-bar, this optical illusion presents a three-dimensional triangular figure. It looks like it could never exist in the real world. Each segment appears to connect seamlessly, forming a never-ending loop.

The Penrose Triangle, created by the mathematician Roger Penrose, is a masterpiece of optical art. It continues to intrigue mathematicians and artists alike. What’s remarkable is that this object can be drawn on a flat surface, and it looks plausible when viewed from a specific angle. However, when you try to construct it in three dimensions, you hit a brick wall—it defies the laws of physics.

7 The Ames Room

Welcome to the world of the Ames Room. This mind-bending optical illusion is a specially constructed room that messes with your sense of perspective. When looking into the Ames Room through a peephole, it appears to be a perfectly normal, rectangular space. But when people walk inside, they magically change size, growing or shrinking depending on their position within the room.

The Ames Room is actually cleverly designed with distorted angles and proportions. It fools your brain into perceiving a three-dimensional space that doesn’t exist. The Ames Room is not just a party trick. It has real applications in film and entertainment.

Filmmakers have used this optical illusion to create scenes where characters appear to change size. Remember those scenes in The Lord of the Rings when Gandalf and Frodo looked like they were vastly different sizes? That’s the magic of the Ames Room at work.

6 The Floating Cube Illusion

Imagine a cube that seems to levitate in mid-air, hovering mysteriously before your eyes. This optical illusion challenges your depth perception and your sense of reality. When you look at the cube, it appears to pop out from the background or even rotate without any logical explanation.

Want the truth? The cube is a two-dimensional image cleverly designed to create the illusion of depth and movement. Your brain fills in the missing pieces, making it appear as though the cube is defying the laws of physics.

The floating cube illusion is really all about perspective and shading. The clever use of light and shadow creates the perception of a three-dimensional object where none exists. Artists and designers have used similar techniques to create stunning 3D artworks on flat surfaces, giving the illusion of depth and dimension.

5 The Café Wall Illusion

Have you ever wondered how a simple pattern of black and white tiles could make you question your sense of lines and angles? That’s the magic of the café wall illusion.

Imagine a wall adorned with alternating rows of black and white tiles. At first glance, the lines forming the rows appear slanted. However, when you measure them carefully, you’ll find they are perfectly straight. This optical illusion is an example of how our brains interpret patterns and contrast. It makes us see things that aren’t really there.

The café wall illusion, first discovered in the 1970s, is a striking example of the Gestalt principles of visual perception. It tricks our brains by using contrasting colors and patterns that create the illusion of slanted lines. The horizontal lines are interrupted by alternating rows of black and white squares, which create the misperception of slanting lines. This illusion reminds us that our minds seek patterns and relationships in the visual world. Sometimes leading us to see things that aren’t there.

4 The Ambiguous Cylinder Illusion

Cylinders are pretty straightforward, right? Not when they’re in the world of optical illusions! The ambiguous cylinder illusion challenges your perception by presenting cylinders that look like a mix of squares and circles.

When you view these shapes from different angles, your brain can’t decide whether they’re round or square. In reality, the shapes are cylindrical. But your brain’s interpretation creates the illusion of a shape-shifting object that leaves you questioning the nature of reality. The ambiguous cylinder illusion was first created by Kokichi Sugihara, a Japanese mathematician and artist. Through it, we see the power of perspective and how our brains interpret visual cues.

3 The Blivet

Imagine a bizarre, three-pronged object that seems to defy logic and geometry. This optical illusion, known as the Blivet, presents an impossible object. It has three cylindrical prongs when viewed from one angle but only two when viewed from another. It’s as though the object is constantly morphing and changing shape right before your eyes.

The Blivet is a prime example of how optical illusions can challenge our understanding of the physical world, leaving us in awe of the power of perception. The Blivet, also known as the impossible fork, was first popularized by the artist M.C. Escher.

This illusion plays with our perception of depth and perspective. The Blivet reminds us that our brains constantly interpret visual cues to create a coherent picture of the world. Still, those cues can sometimes lead us to perceive the impossible as possible.

2 The Hollow Face Illusion

What if I told you that a concave object could appear convex? That’s what happens in the hollow face illusion.

Imagine a mask with a hollowed-out, concave face. When you look at it, the face protrudes outward like a regular convex face. Your brain interprets the face based on familiar expectations, assuming it’s convex even though it’s not. This illusion demonstrates how our brain’s prior knowledge and expectations can override what our eyes see.

This leads to a mind-bending experience. The hollow face illusion is a striking example of how our brains use context and prior knowledge to make sense of the world. This phenomenon is not limited to faces; it can also occur with other objects.

1 The Spinning Dancer

Last but not least, we have the Spinning Dancer, a mesmerizing optical illusion that challenges your perception of motion. At first glance, you might see a silhouette of a dancer spinning either clockwise or counterclockwise. Some people see her spinning one way, while others see the opposite. This illusion is a reminder of how our brains interpret visual cues differently. It gives us a taste of the complex inner workings of our visual system.

The Spinning Dancer illusion is often used to illustrate the concept of multistable perception. This means that our brains can perceive the same visual stimulus in multiple ways, and we can switch between these perceptions based on our focus and attention.

When you look at the dancer, your brain processes the image in a way that makes her appear to spin in one direction. But with a shift in your attention, you can make her reverse direction. This phenomenon highlights how our brains constantly interpret and reinterpret the visual world around us.

Space is full of mysteries and when you try to solve one mystery, the other one arises and then the chain goes on. All space lovers have many thoughts in their mind like; Do aliens exist and where are they and how they look, how advanced they are and so on. Today we are not going to talk here about aliens but we are going to discuss some of the popular space theories that are going to blow your mind.

10. Planet Nine

We all know that there are only 8 planets in our Solar System, but is it true? Because scientists believe that there is also a 9th planet in our Solar System. I am not talking about Pluto, scientists believe that there is a 9th planet hiding behind Neptune and orbiting our sun in 7,400 years. It is believed that Planet Nine is around 10 times bigger than earth and it is hiding a lot of mysteries inside it, but unfortunately we haven’t found it yet and probably we will find it soon if it exists.

9. Universe is A Computer Simulation

This may sound weird but there are very minimal chances that we exist. What? Yes, you heard it right. Some scientists believe that we are just a simulation game in someone’s computer, maybe in the computer of an advanced civilization. When you see around you, you will see that we all work similar like a character does in a game, same tasks, limitations and boundaries. So, question your existence because maybe we all are just pre-programmed characters. Sounds crazy, right?

 8. Time is Running Out

This is a crazy hypothesis that states that Time is running slow in comparison to the initial years of our universe. Whenever you see a distant object, you are looking in the past of that object because light takes time to reach us. So, according to this, time moved faster in the past then now and there might be a day when time slows down so much that it stops and everything also stops with time. Moreover it is just a hypothesis.

7. The Multiverse

I think it is the most interesting topic for everyone. Is there another universe? Are there other people just like me in other universes? How many universes are there? How can we travel to the multiverse? Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer to any of these questions but some scientists believe that the multiverse exists, and some believe that our universe is also just a part of a big universe where many universes just like ours exist. Sounds hard but our universe may not be the only one.

6. Big Rip

We all know that our universe is expanding faster than the speed of light. And everything has to come to an end one day. Also our universe will come to an end one day. While some scientists believe that our universe will keep expanding until it starts breaking in pieces and ends. Means the expansion will be the reason for the end of our universe but that would take billions of years.

5.  Dark Matter

If you combine the masses of all the stars, asteroids, comets, planets and every single object in this universe then it would be only 5% mass of the universe. But the question is, what contains the rest 95% mass. The answer is Dark matter. Many scientists believe that the empty space is really not empty, it contains Dark matter. We have not understood Dark matter yet and we don’t know anything about its existence and properties but we know that it is present everywhere and maybe Dark matter is responsible for the continuous expansion of our universe.

4. Earth will become Venus

That’s true not only due to global warming but due to a lot of factors. Venus is very similar to Earth in mass, size and some other factors. It is also thought that Venus was like Earth millions of years ago but now it is no less than Burning hell. After 1 billion years from now the Sun would become 10% hotter and Earth’s average temperature would reach around 47 degree Celsius that would evaporate all the water on earth and all life on earth will become extinct.

3. The White Holes

White holes are the super massive hypothetical structures that throw out everything. White Holes are opposite to the black holes. Black holes eat everything coming into its way and not even light can escape it and the gravity is so strong at the centre of black hole that even space time stops there. But White holes are completely opposite to black holes and are known to throw everything out from it. No one knows whether they exist or not but the topic of White holes is very interesting.

2. What would happen if you fall in a Black Hole?

If you fall into a Black Hole, then nothing worse can happen. The gravity at Black Hole is so high that even light can’t escape it. And you can only see a black hole when it is swallowing any star or any other body as the light makes a circle around the event horizon of a Black Hole. When you will start falling in a Black Hole then you will become slim like a noodle. Yes you will become lean like a noodle and as you will reach the centre of a Black Hole the Space time will be stopped. It would be very painful and just pray that you never fall into a Black hole.

1. What was there before the Big Bang?

We know that before the Big Bang there was only a singularity. And after that all the matter burst out from that point and today we have the continuously expanding universe. Most of the scientists believe this theory. But some scientists say that the Big Bang was not the beginning of our universe, it was the ending of the older Universe. Yes, it is believed that the multiverse exists and if the Big Bang was the ending of the older Universe. So the mystery of the beginning of our universe is still unsolved.