Sacks containing dead bodies or merely a torso were common finds in the early 20th century. In fact, a quick search through the archives of US and Australian newspapers shows evidence of hundreds of bodies having been found sacked and discarded.

Only a few different types of sacks were used to hold the bodies. But the most common bag was the gunnysack, also called a burlap bag. Cornsacks were also used. But the only difference between the gunnysack and the cornsack was the size of the bag and its original use before a body was placed in it.

There were a few cases of smaller bags being used where the murderer had to chop apart the body and fit it into four different bags, but that was a lot of work for one murder. Few killers were keen on putting in the effort of cleanup.

Most of the body sack cases were never solved. They were simply mentioned in two short sentences in a local newspaper. There were many instances of torsos being found. With nothing else to identify the bodies, the cases remained mysteries for all time.

10 A Floater

The number one rule to getting rid of a sacked body is to weigh it down before dumping it into a deep body of water. There is no telling how many murderers got away with their crimes by following this basic 101 tip. However, some murderers failed miserably at this most basic rule.

For example, James Moore of Texas was a different kind of special. In 1898, he grew jealous of his wife. While she slept one night, he took a hammer and bashed her skull in. After that, he proceeded to stab her with a knife numerous times before stuffing her into a sack.

Moore took his wife’s lifeless body to the Trinity River and threw her in. But he forgot to weigh down the sack, and she was soon found floating in the river. Moore was arrested and confessed to his crime.^[1]

9 Four Suspicious Sacks

Early one morning in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1902, a young man was on his way to work when he spotted two oddly shaped sacks at the back of the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons. As he walked on, he saw an even stranger sight. There was a body-shaped sack sitting on top of a dry goods box.

The young man telephoned the police, and shortly thereafter, the bicycle patrolmen arrived. They opened the sack sitting on the box and discovered a body. A look inside the dry goods box revealed a second body stuffed in a sack. When they went behind the school for doctors, two more bodies were discovered.^[2]

An investigation was made, but everyone already knew what was going on. The bodies were recognized as those who had recently been buried in nearby cemeteries and were going to be used by the doctors for dissection.

Seventeen arrests were made, including grave robbers, three doctors, an undertaker, the proprietor of one of the cemeteries, and three watchmen.

8 Half Sacked

In most cases where bodies were stuck inside sacks, the murderer would either fold the body up to make it fit or he would chop off a few of the limbs. However, in 1939, there was a murderer on the loose who just could not be bothered with either of those tasks.

In a private dam in Wycheproof Shire, Victoria, Australia, a body was discovered floating in the water in 1939. What was curious about this particular body was that its legs were in a sack that was tied to the victim’s hips. It was as if the murderer just said to heck with it and tossed the victim into the water half sacked.

There was no mention of any heavy objects in the sack to help weigh it down. Also, the victim had injuries to the head which suggested that the person had been murdered instead of committing suicide.^[3]

The identity of the man was not determined.

7 Who Knows And Who Cares?

Out of Montana came a story that was fairly typical of gruesome sack finds. It was 1910, and a chef who was out fishing found a sack containing bones along the bank of a river. The police were called to investigate. When they arrived, they saw the sack with a bone sticking out of it.

The police looked inside the bag and declared the contents to be “too dead to be recognizable.” It could have been a person, a dog, or a calf for all they cared.

Instead of having a professional identify the bones, the men buried the sack where they found it and went on with their day.^[4]

6 Laziness Or Lack Of Curiosity

For two weeks back in 1926, thousands of people crossed over the bridge in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia, and viewed the object floating in the water. No one was all that curious about it because it looked like a bag in the muddy water.

One day, however, a man noticed that the sack was floating higher than before. Upon taking a closer look at the object, he could see an ear and part of a head sticking out from it.

The police were called, and they fished the sack out of the water. Inside it, they found the bloated body of a man.

Although no follow-up on the case could be found in the newspapers, it is rather curious that no one bothered to investigate the bag. After all, this is the type of behavior we expect from modern-day citizens and not from the people of nearly 100 years ago.^[5]

5 No Missing Person Report

One of the few ways that the police of the early 20th century were able to name an unidentified body was through the missing persons reports. If someone in the local vicinity had been reported missing, it was either assumed that the body belonged to that person or relatives were brought in for further identification.

If no local person was reported missing and no one confessed to the murder, the discovered body would remain unnamed. Without any form of identification, the case would sit unsolved.

In 1929, a chaff bag washed up on the creek banks in Narrabri, New South Wales, Australia, after some recent floods. A rabbit trapper going about his business found the bag and opened it up.^[6]

Inside was the torso of a man. His head, hands, and legs had been hacked off so that the body could fit into the sack and to help prevent identification. It was estimated that the victim had been deceased for a little under three months.

The police inspector was mystified by the case. Not only did he have an unidentified body on his hands, but no one had been reported missing during the three-month time period.

4 Quite A Haul

Fishermen who fail to catch a fish are apt to catch a boot instead. At least that is what we see in the cartoons. Unfortunately, there have been more known instances of bodies being fished out of the water than shoes.

That was the case back in 1910 when a man was fishing at Tooradin, Victoria, Australia. He brought up a heavy sack from the depths of the water and saw a pale, clammy hand sticking out from the side of the sack. The top of the sack had been tied with a rope.

The victim was described as a well-dressed man who had been spotted walking around Tooradin the day before his body was discovered. The locals believed that he was a city man who had been camping by the river.

When the police went to the victim’s campsite, they discovered his clothing neatly arranged and nothing seemed out of place. Naturally, they concluded that the unnamed man had ended his own life in a rather bizarre fashion.^[7]

3 Where Is The Rest?

Many of the bodies dumped in lakes and rivers were mere torsos. In the early 1900s, there was no real way to identify these torsos unless they had a tattoo or a unique scar. Often, the torso cases remained unsolved and the rest of the body parts were never discovered.

For instance, in 1914, a sewn-up sack was removed from the Mohawk River in New York. In it was the nude torso of a woman. Her head, arms, and legs were removed. The police investigated the case, but without DNA technology, there was little chance they could identify the unmarked torso.

Again, in 1921, a torso was discovered in Rogers, Texas. This time, the torso was discovered by two fishermen who pulled a floating gunnysack out of the river. Inside the sack, they found a woman’s torso. Her head and legs had been removed, but her arms remained attached.^[8]

2 Hair Completely Cut Off

As two men were preparing to leave Lyon, France, one morning and head out to the country, they noticed a strange sack on the ground. Of course, they opened it and discovered the body of a woman. There was blood on her lips and nostrils, and it appeared that someone had cut off all her hair.

The authorities were alerted, and soon enough, the body was identified as that of Marie Servageon. Her husband was located, and he claimed that his wife had disappeared the previous day on June 13, 1908. He found her sudden disappearance rather odd but decided not to contact the police. He said he had hoped that she would return the next morning.^[9]

The police were fine with the husband’s seeming lack of concern over his wife’s disappearance. They assumed that she had been kidnapped and murdered by people unknown.

No further reports were made about the case. It appears that the husband was never charged for the murder and that the kidnappers were never discovered.

1 Sacked With Arms Sticking Out

Imagine waking up one morning to head out to the bathroom. You open the door, already expecting the stench on a warm, damp morning. But instead of the smell, you are greeted with a sight that you would not soon forget. In truth, it was something straight out of a horror movie.

It was summer 1910 when a horrifying discovery was made in Bonner, Montana. The body of a man was found inside an outhouse. The victim had been stuffed inside a gunnysack which was then sewn closed. Oddly enough, whoever sewed the victim into the bag had left the man’s arms sticking out of the sides of the bag at the seams.^[10]

While suicides in outhouses were fairly common in the early 1900s, it was doubtful that a man might sew himself up inside a bag, leaving his arms out, and then commit the terrible deed. For this reason, the police and investigators at the scene were near certain that this was a case of murder.

Elizabeth lives in the beautiful state of Massachusetts where she is currently involved in researching early American history. She writes and travels in her spare time.

The period soon after death can seem like a strange thing. During this time, the body undergoes various changes, shifting from living to being completely dead. While some of these changes—such as stiffening and changing color—are seen on crime TV shows, others seem a bit far-fetched for even the human body.

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Ways To Dispose Of Your Body After Death

Still, the things corpses can do are shocking and a bit creepy. From giving birth to an awareness that it’s dead, the changes that occur in the body after death seem almost too unrealistic to be true. The following list is not for the faint of heart—or stomach.

10 Move

Stories of dead bodies sitting straight up have been told for many years—yet the probability of such drastic movement occurring is slim to none. The body can, however, make slight movements after death. Though the movements do not resemble ones that a person would do while alive, they can still be startling for those around them.

Cadavers can do such things as twitch, move, and even clench muscles. This occurs because the body’s muscles are still receiving nerve signals to contract or even relax, causing the corpse to appear as if it is moving despite being dead.^[1] Once the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is depleted, the body will make its final movements, which can be seen in fingers clenching, hands moving, toes wiggling, and muscles twitching. Another factor in strange movements is how the person died. If there is excess calcium, a temperature change, or, in some cases, violent death or even electrocution, the body can demonstrate such movements.

This process normally occurs between the time of death and rigor mortis, so if anyone tells you they’ve seen a body sit up, they’re probably just trying to get a rise out of you.

9 Give Birth

Unfortunately, death does not have a moral compass, and anyone, even those who are pregnant, can fall victim to its embrace.

Giving birth while alive is a beautiful experience; giving birth after one has died is the complete opposite, especially for those dealing with the dead body. These “births” are referred to as “coffin births” due to them happening inside coffins. Basically, the pressure of gases building up within the deceased pushes the fetus out. The fetus has to be positioned in just the right (or wrong) way for this to occur.^[2]

Even though most of these cases of coffin birth occurred during times without the benefits of modern medicine, they still happen to this day. In January 2018, a woman in South Africa, who had died suddenly ten days prior, shocked people at the funeral home when they saw that she had given birth inside her coffin. The woman had been nine months pregnant at the time of her death, and all arrangements for her funeral had been made when the staff made the spine-chilling discovery that her body had expelled the fetus after death.

8 Eliminate

During the process of death, the body goes through various changes. One of these is the relaxation of every muscle, including those which control certain bodily functions, such as the elimination of urine and feces.

Postmortem elimination is due to the sphincter muscles in the body relaxing. As the brain dies, it no longer sends the signals to keep these muscles contracted, and the contents left in the bowels and bladder will end up being released. ^[3]

These bodily functions do not always happen after death; it depends on how you die and how much food and liquid are in your bladder and bowels before death. In the case of ill patients, there may not be as much food in their system due to the lack of appetite that can accompany illness. However, in cases of sudden death, bodies are more likely to release whatever was left in their system.

The process can take a few hours, though, so it’s best to let nature take its course on this one.

7 Make Noise

Most depictions of dead bodies moaning and groaning focus on zombies rather than the actual dead. However, while corpses aren’t likely to scream or yell, they are likely to make noises such as moans, groans, hisses, and grunts.^[4]

These bodies aren’t making this noise voluntarily, of course. When cadavers are moved after death, the air still left inside the windpipe will escape and vibrate the vocal cords, making noises similar to grunts and moans. These sounds have spurred the horror stories of dead bodies making noise, though the reality is less horrifying. The sounds can often happen when coroners or morticians are prepping or turning the body over; the air will escape, causing what appears similar to human sounds but are just the simple result of the rest of the lungs’ contents leaving.

Another way these noises can occur is when the gases in the body begin to build up. They can escape through the windpipe, causing squeaks, hisses, and sometimes lower groaning.

6 Illusions Of Growth

Even though someone has been ruled dead, it may take time for the body to fully cease functioning. Once the brain shuts down, the body follows, but some have claimed that though the body is no longer alive, the hair and nails continue to grow.

As horrifying as that sounds, the truth is that the hair and nails only appear to have grown. When a body dies, it no longer has a supply of oxygen, making it impossible for glucose, which stimulates nail and hair growth, to be produced. What actually occurs is that the skin around the nails and hair begins to retract due to dehydration, making it appear that the nails and hair have grown longer, when in reality, they’re the same as they were before death. This also applies to men with stubble and hair on their chest; as the skin shrinks, the hair looks more prominent, making it seem as if the body has developed more stubble after death.

Goosebumps after death due to contractions of the muscles in the skin can also impact how hair can appear.^[5] In some circumstances, it will give the effect that the hair has grown longer, but once the contractions end, the hair will return back to its normal state.

Those of you with hair, such as men with beards, shouldn’t worry. Funeral staff will moisturize bodies to decrease the look of dry skin.

5 Self-Digestion

After death, the body begins to decompose. It goes through a process in which it begins to digest itself—yes, essentially feeding on itself to aid in decomposition—through a process called autolysis. We still know very little about human decay, but the growth of forensic research facilities, or “body farms,” together with the availability and ever-decreasing cost of techniques such as DNA sequencing, now enables researchers to study the process in ways that were not possible just a few years ago.

Soon after the heart stops beating, cells become deprived of oxygen, and their acidity increases as the toxic by-products of chemical reactions begin to accumulate inside them. Enzymes start to digest cell membranes and then leak out as the cells break down. This usually starts in the liver, which is enriched in enzymes, and in the brain, which has high water content; eventually, though, all other tissues and organs begin to break down in this way. Damaged blood cells spill out of broken vessels and, aided by gravity, settle in the capillaries and small veins, discoloring the skin.

This is when the bacteria in our bodies come into play. Our bodies host huge numbers of bacteria, with by far, most residing in the gut, which is home to trillions of bacteria of hundreds or perhaps thousands of different species. Most internal organs are devoid of these microbes when we are alive. Soon after death, however, the immune system stops working, leaving them to spread throughout the body freely. This usually begins in the gut, at the junction between the small and large intestines. Left unchecked, our gut bacteria begin to digest the intestines and then the surrounding tissues from the inside out, using the chemical cocktail that leaks out of damaged cells as a food source.^[6]

4 Explode

Tall tales have been told of bodies exploding from the inside out. Though this may seem a bit far-fetched, it isn’t too far from the truth—in a way.

Spontaneous human combustion has been an explanation for many of these tales, but the reality is a bit different. When a body dies, its temperature usually drops. In some cases, the temperature actually increases, which is referred to as “postmortem hyperthermia.” This continuous increase in temperature can be caused by different things, from drugs to trauma to even signals in the brain before death. The body can continue to grow hotter, but the likelihood of actual combustion is low, as the temperature will begin to drop back down as the corpse goes into the regular stages of decomposition.

Still, there have been cases of bodies exploding—although spontaneous human combustion isn’t responsible. What happens is that, as a body begins to break down after death, the gases inside (the same ones that can cause moaning and groaning) have to escape. The gases’ continuous buildup can lead to an “explosion” of bodily remains.

This rarely happens. In January 2013, however, a corpse did explode in a mausoleum in Melbourne.^[7] Those visiting the mausoleum bore witness to the event—and the smell. The experience was enough to traumatize witnesses and ensure that better precautions were taken to avoid another such incident.

3 Appear Aroused

Responding to certain stimuli when alive is natural and occurs even in the most inopportune of times. While it can be embarrassing if the moment isn’t right, it’s nothing near as creepy as a dead man getting an erection.

Once the heart stops beating, all of the blood that was previously circulating begins to trickle down and collect at the lowest part of the body available. In some cases, depending on how the man died, such as those who have suffered a spinal injury or passed facedown, this can be in the genital area. The continuous pooling of blood is only natural, as is the reaction it causes in the dead man’s penis, referred to as priapism.^[8]

While this is uncommonly seen now, it can also happen with women. When a woman dies similarly, her labia can become enlarged, and her clitoris can swell.

2 Orgasm

Even though this sounds a lot like necrophilia, it thankfully isn’t. In corpses that no longer have oxygen pumping through them, this is unlikely ever to happen, but for those that are clinically dead but being used as beating-heart cadavers or as organ donors, the possibility of the body having an orgasm is there.

This isn’t done on purpose. Doctors who work with these bodies sometimes have to trigger parts of the spine electrically. In some cases, when the sacral nerve root in the base of one’s spine is stimulated, it causes a reflexive reaction by the autonomic nervous system. Again, this only works because the bodies are still receiving oxygen, despite being clinically dead. When the doctors trigger this part of the spine, the reflex it causes in the system can result in an orgasm.

However, because the body is clinically dead, no actual enjoyment or pleasure comes from this experience. The brain is no longer sending out signals, and while the body may react, it’s only doing so out of pure reflex.^[9]

1 Know They’re Dead

There are countless stories of those who have come back from near-death experiences and have given their interpretation of what they believe the afterlife is like. While many are left to wonder what happens after we die, scientists may have at least part of an answer.

Scientists have found that after death, the brain can retain some semblance of awareness. This means that after one has passed, they might actually be aware they’re dead. In a study of 2,060 cardiac arrest survivors who had been declared legally dead, meaning that they no longer had identifiable brain function, around 40 percent claimed they were still aware of their surroundings and conversations going on around them.^[10]

The period doesn’t seem to last long, research has found. As death is a process, the time between oxygen leaving the system and the brain sending its last signals can leave room for awareness. Scientists believe that there is an average time of 10–20 seconds of awareness after death. A severed head, for example, still produces EEG waves even after death, though a portion of these seconds have lead scientists to believe the brain enters a stage of unconsciousness.

Still, the idea that a body may be aware that it’s dead is nothing short of unsettling.

While most people know of the ancient Egyptian practice of mummification, the process can occur naturally. It’s rare, but every so often, a corpse will lay in the right conditions, and many years later, they’re found.

These naturally-occurring mummies have revealed numerous details about the lives these people led, and they are often thousands of years old. These ten mummies were found throughout the world, and they all had a story to tell.

Top 10 Remarkable Moments Involving Mummies

10 “Sleeping Beauty”

In 2018, a young woman’s body was found beneath a Russian reservoir, and it is believed she had been resting there for 2,000 years. The woman, who archaeologists have since dubbed “Sleeping Beauty,” was found with several interesting items, and she was wearing a silk skirt.

She held a pouch of pine nuts, and because her tomb was made entirely of stone, parts of her body didn’t decompose. Instead, it was mummified, leaving much of her corpse and her belongings for researchers to find.

Several high-value items were found within the tomb, including a beaded belt, a gemstone buckle, a Chinese-style mirror, and a make-up box. The scientists who worked on the site speculated that she might have been a young “Hun woman” who was likely a noblewoman.

Her remains were found along Yenisei River’s shoreline after a hydroelectric dam upriver caused a significant drop in water level. Archaeologist Dr. Marina Kilunovskaya, from St Petersburg’s Institute of History of Material Culture, explained that “The lower part of the body was especially well preserved. This is not a classic mummy—in this case, the burial was tightly closed with a stone lid, enabling a process of natural mummification.”^[1]

9 The Mummies Of Llullaillaco

Three children were found in a remarkably well-preserved mummified state atop the summit of Llullaillaco volcano in Argentina. The children have since been dubbed the “Maiden,” “Llullaillaco Boy,” and “Lightning Girl.” The Maiden was around 13-years-old while her companions were believed to be between four and five.

The children were the victims of human sacrifice and are around 500-years-old. What’s incredibly fascinating about these mummies is that evidence of their being drugged was found. This was done as part of a year-long series of ceremonies leading up to their sacrifice.

The discovery was made when scientists analyzed hair samples from the children. This revealed that they had been given coca leaves and beer. Additionally, their diet consisted of mostly vegetables, but shortly before their deaths, they ate the food of the elite.

The children’s bodies and clothing were incredibly well-preserved, thanks to the freezing temperatures and dry air found atop the mountain. While they aren’t the only Incan mummies found over the years, they are the most well-preserved.

This has helped archaeologists confirm historical accounts of human sacrifice by analyzing how the children were treated, how they died, and what they ate shortly before their deaths.^[2][3]

8 The Inuit Baby Of Qilakitsoq

In the 1980’s six women, a two-year-old boy, and a baby boy, were found when two brothers were hiking near the abandoned Inuit settlement, Qilakitsoq. They were found entirely by accident when they found a stack of rocks.

While the bodies were all mummified, the baby was, by far, the most interesting of the bodies. When he was first unearthed, it was believed to be a doll, but a closer look revealed the body to be that of a small child of around six-months-old.

An analysis of the body revealed that the child was buried alive — likely due to his mother’s death, leaving no one who could care for him. The bodies were found in two separate graves, which consisted of the corpses stacked atop one another, separated by animal skins.

The two-year-old boy was found to have Down’s Syndrome and was likely left to die of exposure due to his condition. This was a common practice among the Inuit at the time, as resources couldn’t be spent on anyone incapable of contributing food, clothing, or shelter.^[4]

7 Cashel Man

Bog bodies are corpses that have been discovered in peat bogs, which naturally mummify their bodies. The highly acidic water, low temperature, and minimal oxygen preserve bodies in various states. Some are skeletonized while others retain their skin and internal organs, though their bones are often partially dissolved.

Bog bodies have been found from a wide range of time periods across Europe, but the oldest one found to date is Cashel Man, who died around 4,000 years ago in 2000 B.C. The fleshed body showed signs of a violent demise, as his spine was shattered in two places, he had a broken arm, and was hit with an axe in his back several times.

Based on where he was found and the severity of his killing, Archaeologist Eamonn Kelly of the National Museum of Ireland believes that he was killed in the act of sacrifice. At the time of his death, it was common to sacrifice young men as a ritual connected with kingship.

Cashel Man was between 20 and 25-years old, and he was intentionally covered with peat following his death. He was found when a peat milling machine partially unearthed him in 2011 at Cashel bog.^[5][6]

6 The Ice Maiden

Between 1450 and 1480, a young girl of 12 to 15 was sacrificed as an offering to the Incan gods. Her body was found in 1995 atop Mount Ampato in southern Peru, where she was preserved via the freezing temperatures and dry air.

The body was entirely frozen when she was found, which preserved her body and her garments. Her skin, tissues, organs, blood, hair, and stomach contents were all well-preserved. This made it possible to analyze her in such a way as to offer up a rare glimpse into Incan culture during her lifetime.

A scan revealed that she ate a meal of vegetables about six to eight hours before her death. She was wrapped in a burial tapestry, and her head was adorned with a cap made from the feathers of a red macaw. She was fully clothed, and her garments suggest that she was from the capital city of Cusco.

An analysis of the body indicated she was killed by blunt trauma to the head, which was the normal means of sacrificing children at the time. You can see the Ice Maiden (also called “Momia Juanita”) at the Catholic University of Santa María’s Museum of Andean Sanctuaries in Arequipa, Peru, where she’s been displayed since 1996.^[7][8]

10 Intriguing Discoveries Found Inside Mummies

5 The Saltmen

Between 1993 and 2010, the remains of six men had been discovered in the Chehrabad salt mines of Iran. The men were killed when the mine shaft they were working in collapsed. Interestingly, the six men didn’t die at the same time. Three dated to sometime between 247 B.C. and 651 A.D. while the rest died sometime between 550 and 330 B.C.

The bodies were preserved, primarily due to the desiccating nature of the salt that entombed them. Their bodies were severely damaged by the collapses that killed them, but what remained was mummified and preserved. After testing the hair of a 1,700-year-old mummy, it was determined that one man had type B+ blood.

Another was found to have tapeworm eggs in his intestine. This suggests that the man ate raw or undercooked meat and is the oldest known evidence of an ancient intestinal parasite in Iran.

The bodies were found with three iron knives, a woolen half-trouser, a length of leather rope, pottery shards, a silver needle, a walnut, and a grindstone. The head and left shoe (with the leg inside) of Salt Man 1 is on display at the National Museum of Iran in Tehran.^[9][10]

4 Spirit Cave Man

The oldest human mummy found in North America was discovered in 1949 in Spirit Cave outside of Fallon, Nevada. Spirit Cave Man is believed to have died around 7430 B.C., making him the oldest naturally mummified corpse ever found at around 9,400 years old.

The body was found within the cave by employees working for the Nevada State Parks Commission while surveying potential archaeological sites at risk to guano mining. The body was wrapped in tule matting and was wearing moccasins. Before his death, which was likely due to a skull fracture or abscessed teeth, he was wrapped in a rabbit-skin blanket.

When the body was discovered, it was mistakenly identified as being between 1,500 and 2,000 years old due to how well the remains were preserved. It was deposited at the Nevada State Museum’s storage facility in Caston City, where it remained for half-a-century.^[11]

In 1997, the remains were analyzed using mass spectrometry, which indicated the body’s real age. By 2016, litigation resulted in the return of the remains to the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, which was found to be the ancestral family of Spirit Cave Man. Once reclaimed, the tribe reburied them in line with its customs.^[12]

3 Ginger

Mummification is often associated with ancient Egypt due to the advanced techniques developed by the civilization. That advancement took time, and before the process was fully developed, bodies were buried in such a way as to take advantage of the environment with the goal of preserving them.

A mummy found in 1896 is the first predynastic mummy found at Gebelein, Egypt. He is known as Gebelein Man, but due to the presence of red hair atop his head, he’s earned the nickname “Ginger.”

Ginger was between 18 and 21 at the time of his death (3351 to 3017 B.C.), which dates to the Late Predynastic period. His body was placed in the fetal position in a shallow grave, which kept it in contact with hot, dry sand. Sand in Egypt contains naturally occurring natron, allowing the absorption the body’s water, desiccating it.

This preserved him through natural mummification, though it’s possible he was buried in an effort to make this happen, as artificial mummification means were, as yet, undeveloped at the time.

An analysis of the body, which has been on display at the British Museum since 1900, indicated he had tattoos and was murdered. He was likely stabbed in the back by a flint or copper blade, measuring at least five inches in length.^[13][14]

2 Tollund Man

When he was found in 1950, Tollund Man’s features were so well preserved, he was believed to be a recent murder victim. In reality, he lived during the 4th century B.C. in Scandinavia. He is one of the most well-preserved bog bodies ever found.

Tollund Man was found in the Bjældskovdal peat bog under six feet (2 meters) of peat. He was found in the fetal position and was wearing a pointed sheepskin and wool cap, which was fastened under his chin. He was also wearing a hide belt and thong, but most interesting was the noose made of animal hide drawn tightly around his neck.

While much of Tollund Man’s body showed signs of decay despite his mummification, his head was remarkably undamaged. His facial features are striking, as few mummies are ever preserved well enough to make them out in such detail.

Tollund Man’s final meal consisted of porridge made from seeds and grains. He ate between 12 and 24 hours before his death by hanging, likely done for sacrificial purposes. He is on display at the Silkeborg Museum in Denmark, though only his head is original. The body wasn’t preserved in the 1950s, so it has been reconstructed for the museum’s display.^[15]

1 Ötzi

Ötzi “The Iceman” was found in the Ötzal Alps in 1991 and was dated between 3400 and 3100 B.C. Ötzi’s body has been preserved, thanks to the extreme cold, which helped scientists determine that he was likely murdered.

An arrowhead was found in his left shoulder, which would have proven fatal. Ötzi is the oldest natural human mummy ever found in Europe. Because he was so well preserved, he’s offered a great deal of insight into Chalcolithic Europe.

His stomach contents revealed the presence of ibex meat, which he likely dined on only hours before his death. His intestines revealed the presence of red deer, herb bread, and chamois meat. He also had a whipworm infestation and was sick months before his death.

Ötzi had 61 tattoos from head to foot at the time of his death. He was found with a cloak, coat, belt, leggings, a loincloth, and shoes — all made from different leathers. The complexity of the shoes, which were somewhat waterproof, suggests the existence of cobblers during the Copper Age.

Even more fascinating is Ötzi’a DNA, which revealed the existence of 19 genetic relatives via the presence of a rare mutation, G-L91. “The Iceman and those 19 share a common ancestor, who may have lived 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.”^[16][17]

10 Facts About Ancient Egyptian Mummies You Didn’t Know

People fork over huge sums of money to live in a place with a view over the water, whether it be the ocean, a bay, a lake, a lagoon, or a fjord. There is something inherently magical about waking up to the sun glittering over the sea or watching as thick mist rolls in over a lake.

But what if you’re gazing out at the water, feeling all kinds of peace, just to see a shadowy figure staring back at you? Or you hear someone humming a long-forgotten tune while you’re strolling along the shore, and you find yourself face to face with a red-eyed mermaid ready to stick sharp claws into your flesh.

Water mythology has been around for a very long time and centers around a slew of scary characters and fabled objects. On this list are just a few of these.

Related: Top 10 Cryptids You’ve Never Heard Of

10 Burning Ship of the Northumberland Strait

If you’re not familiar with Canadian topography, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia aren’t places you would likely recognize. Unless you’ve read L. M. Montgomery’s acclaimed Anne of Green Gables, that is.

However, the Northumberland Strait, located between PEI, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, has put Canada on the paranormal map, as opposed to the literary one.

In 1900, a group of sailors from Charlottetown spotted a ship sailing toward the shore. As the ship drew near, the sailors saw her masts crawling with crew members trying to escape an inferno on the deck. The sailors sprang into action, jumping into a rowboat and oaring toward the burning ship. Just before they reached it, the ship disappeared before their eyes.

This wasn’t the first sighting of the ship. Reports have been trickling in since 1786, and the legend of the burning schooner has served as inspiration for novels, articles, and songs. It even has its own dedicated Canadian postage stamp.

A couple in Glengarry also saw the ship one evening in 1950, fully rigged and engulfed in flames, sailing down the Northumberland Strait. Unlike most urban legends, there is no backstory to this phenomenon. No sinking or tragedy that could have given rise to this eerie story. Instead, those who live in the area just try to keep an eye out for the burning ship and cross their fingers against bad luck.^[1]

9 Flathead Lake Monster

Scotland is not the only place that boasts a water-dwelling monster. Flathead Lake in Montana falls within the boundary of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Flathead Reservation and is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi in the lower forty-eight states.

In 1889, the skipper of the U.S. Grant steamboat and several passengers spotted what seemed to be a huge log in the waters of Flathead Lake. As they approached the object, they realized it was a living creature. It was coming toward them and moving fast. One passenger fired at it with a rifle but missed. And so was born the legend of the Flathead Lake Monster.

Those who have encountered the monster describe it as a massive eel-shaped creature of up to forty feet (12.2 meters). Some say it looks like a giant sturgeon with a head like a bowling ball. There have been many more sightings over the years, and the monster has earned the nickname “Flessie.”

In a strange turn of events, a three-year-old boy who couldn’t swim was found soaking wet at the end of a dock at the lake in 2017. When he was asked what had happened to him, he said that he’d fallen into the lake and a monster had lifted him up and out to safety.^[2]

8 Miniwashitu

In 1921, curator Melvin Randolph Gilmore wrote about a creature named Miniwashitu. This mysterious being was allegedly seen in the Missouri River, glowing like fire and producing an unearthly sound. Soon people began believing that those who saw the beast in the daytime would become inflicted with insanity and unexplained physical pain.

The monster is said to have red hair and one eye in the middle of its forehead, with a horn protruding above it. Its backbone looks like a giant saw.

Even in modern times, Missouri locals still tell the story of the Miniwashitu. It is believed that the monster still lurks in the river and moves upstream during springtime. Sometimes it moves around in winter, breaking ice that has formed over the water.^[3]

7 Ashrays

There is more to Scotland than just unicorns and the Loch Ness Monster. Here you might just bump into what looks like an underwater ghost known as an Ashray. Ashrays cannot live on land and are only found beneath the water’s surface. They resemble the ghosts of humans, as they are entirely translucent, and the best time to look for them is, of course, in the dark of night as they are nocturnal creatures.

In English folklore exists the Asrai, which is supposed to be an aquatic fairy. Legend has it that a fisherman once captured an Asrai and put it in his boat. The Asrai pleaded with the fisherman in a language he could not understand, but the fisherman proceeded to tie wet weeds around the fairy, burning his hands in the process when he touched its skin. Eventually, the Asrai melted into a puddle of water. It is believed that these creatures perish if exposed to the sun for too long.

They are said to have green hair and a mermaid-like fishtail. They only come up to the surface once every hundred years to bathe in the moonlight.^[4]

6 Spiteful Mermaid

Most people have heard of the so-called “water babies” found in lakes and rivers in America. Urban legend says that ancient members of the Paiute Tribe would drown disabled babies in bodies of water, only for the babies to return in spirit form and cry out over the water when night falls.

Pyramid Lake in Nevada is not only one of the locations where the wail of water babies has been heard, but it is also where a brokenhearted mermaid is believed to have spoken a curse after her marriage to a Paiute Tribe member was frowned upon. She was banished from the land and, in turn, vowed revenge should any tribe members go anywhere near the lake. To this day, many Paiute members still believe that any bad luck suffered by the tribe can be attributed to the mermaid’s curse.

Perhaps the scariest part of Pyramid Lake is that it is the last remnant of the ancient Lake Lahontan, and it was also the deepest part. This means that no one really knows what lies in the sediments far below.^[5]

5 Ship of Death

In 1862, Leon Webber watched as a veil of mist enveloped the Platte River in Wyoming. He moved closer to the river’s edge and, out of curiosity, tossed a small stone at the mist. It instantly transformed into a ship covered in frost.

Webber could only stare as several sailors onboard, who were also covered in frost, closed ranks around an object lying on the deck. When they scattered, Webber saw that the object was the body of a young woman. Then with a shock, he realized he was looking at his own fiancé.

Trying to push the experience from his mind, Webber returned home a month later only to find that his fiancé had died on the very same day he’d seen the vision of her corpse.

Since then, the aptly nicknamed Ship of Death has been sighted every 25 years. Creepily, all the sightings are reported to have taken place in the middle of the day, when temperatures usually soar, which makes it somewhat more difficult to explain away the thick, rolling mist and the shadows some witnesses have seen form over the water.^[6]

4 Hafgufa

An Icelandic legend has it that a ginormous sea monster named Hafgufa once existed in the Greenland sea. The monster was said to be a massive fish whose top part resembled an island. Sightings of Hafgufa were rare, but a sailor once witnessed her belch and expel a huge amount of food which attracted thousands of fish. The fish crowded into Hafgufa’s mouth, and she swallowed them all in one go.

It is believed that Hafgufa was the mother of all sea monsters and ate anything she could catch, including ships, humans, and whales. Because she resembled an island, many sailors would mistake her nose and head, which she raised above the surface at low tide, for rocks.^[7]

3 The Octavius

In 1761, the Octavius docked in the port of London and took on cargo destined for China. The ship left London with a full crew on board, as well as the family of the captain. They made the trip safely to China, and once they took on cargo meant to be offloaded in Britain, the captain decided to sail the Northwest Passage. After entering the passage, the ship vanished without a trace.

Fast forward to 1775. The whaling ship, Herald, was sailing the waters of Greenland when her crew saw another ship a distance away. As they sailed closer to the ship, they saw that she was in bad shape. Some of the crew boarded the vessel to investigate and made a horrific discovery below deck. In the crew’s quarters, all 28 crew members of the Octavius were found in a frozen state. The captain was seated at his desk, frozen to his seat. Behind him were his wife and son, both frozen.

The Herald crew members were shocked and terrified. They grabbed the ship’s log and fled. In their haste, the book’s middle pages loosened and were lost. What remained of the writing in the logbook told the story of the ship becoming stuck in the Arctic ice near Barrow, Alaska. Fearing that the Octavius was cursed, the crew of the Herald simply let it drift off. It was never seen again and might still be floating in the open water somewhere, its unlucky passengers still onboard.^[8]

2 Lorelei

On the echoing rock, Lurlei, on the southern bank of the River Rhine, you might just spot Lorelei. German lore tells the story of a woman who had been betrayed by her lover. Her heart shattered, she drowned herself in the river and was reincarnated into a siren. The murmuring echo that emanates from Lurlei is said to be Lorelei’s song, calling men onto the rocks and their subsequent doom.

Heinrich Heine wrote a poem called “Die Lorelei” in 1824, which has since been set to music by several composers.

“The comb she holds is golden,
She sings a song as well
Whose melody binds an enthralling
And overpowering spell.
In his little boat, the boatman
Is seized with a savage woe,
He’d rather look up at the mountain
Than down at the rocks below…”^[9]

1 The Celtic Merrow

Ireland is steeped in folklore. Here you will hear tales of wailing banshees, mischievous leprechauns, and creepy fairies. It is also the place you’ll find the Celtic merrow who used to live in the Celtic seas according to legend.

A merrow is a mermaid with a magical cap that enables her to travel between the sea and the shore. When the merrow combed her soft hair, sailors and fishermen were entranced. The comb used was of the magical variety and a symbol of feminine power.

The merrow is said to be either male or female, with the difference being that the women were exceptionally beautiful, but the men were hideously ugly. The merrow men became bitter when the women looked toward human men for mates. They resorted to capturing sailors and keeping them imprisoned underwater in revenge.

Should a male human wish to keep one of the merrow women with him on land, he would need to take away her magical cap before she could enchant him by singing. Possessing her cap meant the man would eventually be able to persuade her to marry him as well. However, the couple’s wedded bliss would be short-lived, as the merrow woman would search until she found her cap and then drag her husband underneath the waves with her.^[10]

Average smartphone use has climbed so high that, as Vox reported in December 2020, when major tech companies like Facebook and Google tried to implement services to moderate daily use by their customers, the efforts were unsuccessful. If even the very entities that stand to profit from constant online engagement admit there is a problem, make efforts to correct it, and fail, then it seems likely that the problem isn’t going to at least endure if not exacerbate. So let’s try to get a more solid understanding of the nature of the harm excessive access to the internet through mobile phones is causing us.

We’re not talking about the social or psychological harm of phone addiction. We’re not even talking specifically about disrupted sleep patterns. We’re going to go body part by body part, describing the damage overuse of the mobile device does over time. As the old saying goes, let’s start from the top.

10. Pineal Gland

While the constant access to updates is well-known to have negative effects on a users’ ability to relax and fall asleep, many phones have more direct negative physical effects. The blue light that is the default on a smartphone screen mimics the color temperature of sunlight, and thus it subconsciously tells the pineal gland that the user is in daytime conditions, which blocks the flow of melatonin that induces a sleep state. Even for many people who can get the sleep needed anyway disrupting the chemical flow can induce tiredness during the day.

On the bright side, if you’ll pardon the expression, tests showed that very effective countermeasures exist for those who can’t kick the habit of using their smartphone in bed. An evaluation published by the American Academy of Optometry in March 2020 found that switching a smartphone to night mode for bedtime usage lowered the potency of the effects by about 93%. Additionally, an article on the subject by Cleveland Clinic reported that not using the smartphone as little as 30 minutes before bedtime offset the effects.

9. Temporal Lobes

Temporal lobes are involved in the control of involuntary biological processes, most notably the beating of a heart. Among epileptics, they are the portions of the brain that are malfunctioning during blackouts, chest pains, and other symptoms of a seizure. According to Economic Times, prolonged use of smartphones has been found to aggravate seizures. This is no trivial matter for epileptics, as there is roughly an annual 0.1% chance of becoming victim to Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy, and that’s among those that are otherwise healthy.

Fortunately, according to A. K. Sahani, the senior consultant for the Indian Spinal Injuries Center, keeping phone calls under an hour’s length significantly reduces the deleterious effects. Even for those who need to use the device for that long, using earpieces instead of holding the phone up to the head is a largely effective means of preventing the negative effects to the autonomous systems. For those who are not epileptic and think this is not advice that matters for them, bear in mind that a 2016 study reported by the Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences found evidence that prolonged exposure left mice more vulnerable to seizures, indicated even those who are not diagnosed epileptics can suffer similar damage.

8. Eyes

It turns out evidence indicates that the blue light of smartphone screens doesn’t only negatively affect the pineal gland, as you’ll soon see. Or perhaps as you may not see. In 2018, researchers at the University of Toledo tested exposing cells to the shorter wavelengths of blue light. The results were that those infused with retinal, a chemical released by the eyes, suffered damage that tissue without retinol in it did not. This could be disastrous for photoreceptor cells in the eyes, as damage to those cells is permanent.

The sort of damage it is postulated that smartphone blue light worsens is called macular degeneration. This condition is most prevalent among people above the age of 60. So for our older viewers that are hesitant to begin using a mobile device, Dr. Ajith Karunarathne just gave you a great medical excuse.

7. Ears

No it’s no surprise that pumping loud music directly into your ear canals is at the worst extremely risky for the quality of one’s hearing. However research from the University of Arkansas for Medical Services found that even if the volume is kept low, it can still damage hearing. As Dr. Allison Woodall explained, using a phone for over an hour a day can lessen a listener’s ability to hear sounds between 2,000 and 8,000 hertz (which includes a wide range of human speech) because of the electromagnetic waves emitted by the device rather than the strict sound waves.

As with other entries, there are solutions to those whose lifestyles make it infeasible to just decide to use a smartphone less. Woodall highly recommended the use of the hands free option or speaker phone to get the device away from the ear. Additionally, in 2021 Reuters reported that studies found that wireless bluetooth ear pieces lowered the electromagnetic exposure by as much as 1,000%, and that AirPods were an equally safe solution.

6. Teeth and Jaw

If the thought of a smartphone habit is making you anxious enough to grind your teeth, research by Tel Aviv University has given solid evidence that many if not most heavy smartphone users can relate. Tel Aviv University’s School of Dental Medicine was in an especially good position to test the hypothesis. There are many ultraorthodox Jews in Israel who use more basic cell phones without access to social media platforms, so it was a relatively easy matter to acquire a substantial study group of non-Smartphone users.

A study of 600 participants found that among smartphone users, 45% reported that they suffered from teeth grinding, compared to 14% among the orthodox, a more than 200% higher rate. Additionally, 29% of smartphone users reported that it was severe enough that they felt noticeable jaw pain while among the orthodox it was only 14%. In many cases, the harm was severe enough that joint damage occured in the jaw.

5. Neck

There was a particularly cutting meme in 2016 which portrayed a player of Pokemon Go suffering from a grotesquely elongated neck that a Pokemon rode on. Turns out that was probably more cruelly accurate than the artist intended. As reported by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy in 2014, when smartphone users look down to type out a text message, the forward tilt of their head shifts more strain to the top vertebrae. We’re talking substantially more strain here. A model published by The Guardian went into detail on the effects: Tilting down 15° adds 125% more strain then holding a head level. At 30°, it’s about 233% more. By a 60° tilt it is up by 400%. The degree of pain, numbness, and general dislocation this can lead to has been known to require surgery to correct. A study published by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found problems have set in for heavy users as early as adolescence or even in childhood.

Solutions for this have included switching more to old-fashioned audio calls over texting. Of course, we saw in entries such as #7 that holding the phone up to the user’s ear can have some negative effects too. For those who’d rather continue texting, there are a number of exercises that can be used to treat the effects. For example there’s “chest opening,” which involves clasping the hands behind the head and squeezing shoulder blades back for 10 to 20 seconds. There are also multiple yoga stretches that are productive treatments. It could be argued, though, that all this will use up the time that a smartphone user saves by texting. Still, better than pain or surgery.

4. Heart

It’s nothing new that mobile devices are not good for heart health, considering federally funded research into the subject began in 2010. The study surprisingly found that younger members of the control group tended to suffer the most extreme cases of heart arrhythmia, palpitations, flutters, and other conditions. The effects of smartphones have been so pronounced that they’ve been put forward that they have changed both the most common day of the week and the time of day for cardiac arrests.

We do wish to caution that the findings indicate that the effects are from behavioral changes instead of due to the electrical processes of the devices. A 2012 study by Annals of Medical and Health Science Research found that the electromagnetic processes of a smartphone do not significantly affect hearts. However, the US Food and Drug Administration recommends that anyone with a pacemaker keep it at least six inches from their smartphone at all times.

3. Elbow

As if Text Neck weren’t enough, by 2009 “Cell Phone Elbow” had become a commonly used nickname for the discomforts of heavy smartphone use. It was actually a rebranding of Cubital Tunnel Syndrome, which had been recorded in medical journals since at least 1958. How it works, or fails to work depending on how you look at it, is that holding up a smartphone for a prolonged period pinches the ulnar nerve in the forearm and at times moves it out of the proper position and into a place where it can be damaged. It’s similar to carpal tunnel syndrome though much less common before people began propping the arms up on their elbows to watch their smartphone screens at night.

Once again, for those who want to avoid surgical procedure Cubital Tunnel Release, exercises are there to come to the rescue. Popular Science suggests putting arm curls and overhead presses into a workout routine as a preventative measure. User who have already noticed mild pain or numbness should begin to heavily massage their forearm and outer forearm.

2. Wrist

If you were worried that people are becoming so weak that just the effort exerted to hold up a phone is becoming an issue for us, it’s not the act of holding up the phone that’s the problem. It’s swiping the fingers that we should worry about. The unusual ways that fingers move to scroll across sites on smartphones have been linked to conditions such as tendonitis, chronic pain, and even loss of use of the index finger and thumb, a malady nicknamed “trigger finger.” An October 2021 Washington Post article on the subject boosted the phrase “smartphone pinkie” for the impact of excessive phone use on the digits, but fortunately that doesn’t seem to have caught on.

John Hopkins University’s orthopedic surgeon Duc Nguyen’s suggested treatments included often changing position on how the smartphone was held, using handheld devices, or getting a pop socket to distribute the weight more evenly across the fingers. It should be mentioned, though, that Ventura Orthopedics surgeon Josh Gluck told Slate magazine that the fingers are not connected to the ulnar nerve, so looking out for the fingers and wrist doesn’t risk causing  more trouble with Cell Phone Elbow.

1. Sciatic Nerve

And now we have reached the end, both of the list and the rear. See, the sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the human body, and it runs from the lower spine down to the foot. Placing smartphones in back pants pockets has been determined to put unnatural pressure on the sciatic nerve, like a more direct version of the discomfort heavy smartphone use places on the ulnar nerve.

If you’re wondering why smartphones would cause this problem and not something like, say, a gun belt or a tool belt, well, those actually do as well. In all cases, a simple and effective treatment seems to be moving the problem device to the front. For those who are worried that a front pocket smartphone presents a risk to the sperm, don’t. In 2014 the University of Utah Health Hospitals and Clinics reported that mobile devices had at most an 8% effect on sperm counts, meaning more than enough healthy sperm that avoiding sciatic nerve problems were worth the tradeoff.