The world can be a bleak place, yet the things that lift our spirits often have roots in sorrow. In fact, many of the most beloved bits of pop culture sprang from truly grim moments. Below we dive into ten heartbreaking incidents that, against all odds, sparked creations we now adore.

How 10 Tragic Events Shaped Pop Culture

10 Nuclear Fear Inspired “Do You Hear What I Hear?”

“Do You Hear What I Hear?” feels like a timeless Christmas classic, but it actually emerged during the feverish days of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Songwriters Noel Regney and Gloria Shayne Baker penned the gentle lullaby not merely to celebrate the holiday but to plead for peace while the world teetered on the brink of nuclear catastrophe.

During the thirteen‑day standoff, dread hung heavy over the airwaves. In the studio, the producer paused the session to flip on the radio, half‑expecting to hear the first reports of World War III. The tension was palpable.

Seeking a mental escape, Regney and Baker stepped outside for a stroll. They watched two mothers pushing strollers, their infants cooing innocently. That fleeting glimpse of pure vulnerability inspired the opening line: “Said the night wind to the little lamb.”

The song quickly became a staple of Christian holiday playlists, yet its message is universal—an urging to set aside differences and listen to the wind’s gentle counsel. The uneasy undertones of the era are woven into the lyrics, making it a hidden ode to the nuclear threat.

Many listeners assume the lyric about “a star, a star, dancing in the night with a tail as big as a kite” references the Bethlehem star, but it subtly hints at the missile trails that loomed overhead. Even today, Regney and Baker admit the song still brings tears to their eyes when they perform it.

9 A Cult Created the Super Bowl Halftime Show

Few spectacles inspire devotion like the Super Bowl, and the fanaticism of its fans can feel almost cult‑like. It turns out that, for the first three decades, the halftime entertainment itself was literally run by a cult‑inspired group.

Initially, the halftime slot featured local marching bands, jazz legends, and the occasional classic act. The only contemporary ensemble allowed on the stage was Up with People, a troupe whose songs championed global harmony and utopian ideals.

Up with People’s worldview was rooted in Moral Rearmament (MRA), a controversial movement founded in the late 1960s to counter liberal counterculture. The group received backing from corporate giants like Exxon, Halliburton, Pfizer, and General Electric.

MRA imposed strict controls on its members: grueling daily exercise, bans on any sexual activity, and harsh punishments for dissenters. Gay members were beaten, and anyone caught breaking the rules could be abandoned in a random city while on tour.

Despite this oppressive environment, Up with People performed at the Super Bowl four times, delivering over‑the‑top, kitschy productions. By 1986, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle grew weary of the routine and turned to mainstream pop stars to inject fresh energy into the halftime show.

In 1991, New Kids on the Block broke the mold as the first modern act to headline, and Michael Jackson’s 1993 performance turned the halftime slot into a cultural phenomenon—paving the way for wardrobe malfunctions, Left Shark, and countless viral moments.

8 Stephen Colbert Became A Comedian Because His Family Died

Stephen Colbert, now a household name thanks to The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and The Late Show, grew up amid personal tragedy that would shape his comedic voice.

On September 11, 1974, Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 crashed into a dense fog over North Carolina, killing 72 of the 82 passengers on board. The accident also claimed the lives of Colbert’s father and two of his brothers.

At ten years old, the youngest of eleven siblings, Stephen was the only child still living with his parents. He stepped up to help his mother navigate the overwhelming grief that followed.

While driving home from the funeral, Stephen saw his sister laughing so hard that she toppled from her seat. In that moment, he realized comedy’s power to dissolve despair, and he began to see humor as a lifeline.

Inspired by the music his brothers had left behind, Stephen devoted the next eight years to honing his craft, eventually becoming the beloved satirist we know today.

7 Nazi Experimentation Birthed ABBA

ABBA is synonymous with glittery disco hits and carefree dancing, yet one of its members, Anni‑Frid Lyngstad (Frida), entered the world because of a dark Nazi program during World II.

When Germany occupied Norway in 1940, the Nazis launched a scheme to produce as many “Aryan” children as possible with Norwegian women. This policy resulted in thousands of births, including Frida’s.

These children were often taken from their families and placed in re‑education centers where Nazi soldiers oversaw their daily lives—playing, eating, and being indoctrinated. As the war progressed, the program devolved into outright kidnapping; children were sent to orphanages, and those deemed “racially impure” faced execution.

After the war, the children were returned, but many mothers and infants faced social ostracism for their association with the occupiers. Frida, barely eighteen months old, and her mother were expelled from their hometown.

Relocating to Sweden, Frida grew up feeling isolated. By 1971, she met Benny Andersson, who invited her to join his newly forming band—ABBA—alongside Agnetha Faltskog and Björn Ullvaeus. The group would later dominate global charts, achieving a cultural impact the Nazis could never have imagined.

6 LEGO Rebuilt The Founder’s Life Brick By Brick

LEGOs have become a universal emblem of childhood, with over 400 billion bricks sold worldwide, spawning video games, movies, and theme parks.

Yet behind the bright plastic lies a saga of personal and financial catastrophes that shaped founder Ole Kirk Christiansen’s destiny.

In the early 1900s, Christiansen worked as a village carpenter, crafting furniture, ladders, and stools. In 1924, his son inadvertently ignited a pile of wood chips, setting the workshop and the family home ablaze.

The fire left Christiansen penniless and homeless. Undeterred, he pressed on, only to confront two more calamities: the 1929 Wall Street crash that sparked a global depression, and the 1932 death of his wife.

These blows forced him to downsize dramatically, laying off most of his staff. A social worker suggested he abandon furniture and pivot to toys—a cheaper, lighter‑weight product that could lift his spirits.

Christiansen struggled for years, barely breaking even and even filing for bankruptcy before his brothers bailed him out. During the German occupation of Denmark in the 1940s, his factory burned once more.

Resource constraints pushed him to replace wood with plastic, a decision that enabled mass production of interlocking bricks—laying the foundation for the LEGO empire we know today.

5 Robert Kennedy’s Assassination Changed Hip‑Hop

The 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy reshaped American politics, but its ripple effect reached the nascent world of hip‑hop in a surprisingly indirect way.

During Kennedy’s campaign, Michael Viner served as an aide and befriended former football star Rosey Grier, who was part of the candidate’s security detail. Grier famously wrestled Sirhan Sirhan’s gun away during the shooting.

After Kennedy’s death, both men found themselves unemployed and turned to the film industry. Grier acted in the B‑movie “The Thing with Two Heads,” while Viner produced its soundtrack, scoring a modest hit with “Bongo Rock.”

Buoyed by that success, Viner formed the Incredible Bongo Band and, as a surf‑rock aficionado, had them record a cover of Bert Weedon’s “Apache.”

The band’s version became the unofficial anthem of hip‑hop when DJ Kool Herc used it at block parties, pioneering the art of turntablism with the first recorded scratch. From there, countless artists—from Afrika Bambaataa to Kanye West—sampled the track, cementing its place in music history.

4 The Chestburster Scene In Alien Killed Its Creator

The infamous chest‑burster moment in Ridley Scott’s Alien remains one of cinema’s most shocking sequences, but its origin story is as tragic as the scene itself.

Screenwriter Dan O’Bannon drew directly from his own battle with Crohn’s disease. While sharing a fast‑food meal with concept artist Chris Foss, he described the sensation of a relentless beast gnawing inside his gut.

Later, O’Bannon confided to H.R. Giger, the film’s visual designer, that he wished his internal agony could simply exit through his stomach. Their conversation fused into the visceral chest‑burster reveal.

Ironically, O’Bannon’s health woes went undiagnosed for years. He endured chronic stomach pain without proper treatment, and by the time he sought help, the disease had taken a fatal toll.

In 2009, at age 63, O’Bannon succumbed to Crohn’s disease—the very condition that inspired one of the most terrifying moments in sci‑fi horror.

3 The Lord Of The Rings Exists Due To Two World Wars

J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic saga, The Lord of the Rings, may read like pure fantasy, yet its roots are tangled in the cataclysms of both World War I and World War II.

The First World War’s unprecedented devastation directly informed the narrative. For instance, Gandalf’s iconic “You shall not pass!” mirrors the battle cry “They shall not pass!” shouted during the Battle of Verdun. Moreover, Tolkien’s bond with fellow trench‑mates inspired characters such as Samwise Gamgee.

During the war, Tolkien entrusted early drafts of Middle‑Earth to three school friends who also served on the front lines. When two of those comrades perished at the Somme, Tolkien felt compelled to finish the tale in their honor.

The Second World War later rekindled his motivation. As his son Christopher was stationed in South Africa, Tolkien mailed fragments of his story to keep the younger man occupied, reigniting his own creative spark.

Initially, Tolkien aimed to publish the saga as a single, massive tome exceeding 1,000 pages—a daunting prospect for post‑war readers with limited disposable income.

Paper shortages during World II forced his publisher to split the work into three volumes, making the books more affordable and ultimately ensuring the series’ monumental success.

2 Darth Vader Is Luke Skywalker’s Dad Because Of Cancer

The line “I am your father” from Star Wars remains one of cinema’s most quoted moments, yet its inclusion was not part of George Lucas’s original blueprint.

After the triumph of the first film, Lucas handed the sequel’s script to Leigh Brackett, who was battling a terminal cancer diagnosis. Despite her limited time, Brackett delivered a draft that reshaped the saga.

Her version imagined Darth Vader as a ruler of a steel citadel guarded by demons, gargoyles, and a lava moat—ideas that later filtered into the franchise’s visual language.

When Brackett passed away, Lucas rewrote the screenplay himself, adding iconic scenes like Han Solo’s carbon‑freeze and the introduction of Boba Fett.

Crucially, Lucas altered the narrative to make the conflict a familial showdown, turning the space opera into a galaxy‑wide family drama that has resonated for generations.

1 Freddy Krueger Is Based On A Bizarre True Story

Wes Craven’s 1984 horror classic A Nightmare on Elm Street introduced the world to the terrifying Freddy Krueger, a villain born from a chilling real‑life phenomenon.

Craven drew inspiration from several sources—a schoolyard bully, a disfigured homeless man, and the song “Dream Weaver.” Yet the darkest seed was an article in the Los Angeles Times about the aftermath of the Cambodian genocide.

Refugees who escaped the Khmer Rouge carried deep psychological trauma to California. Their nightmares grew so severe that even perfectly healthy individuals sometimes died in their sleep, a condition later identified as Sudden Unexpected Death Syndrome (SUDS).

In Los Angeles, three Cambodian refugees succumbed to SUDS, a tragedy sensationalized by the local press. Across Southeast Asia, the syndrome claimed hundreds of lives between 1982 and 1990.Craven wove this haunting reality into his film, turning the inexplicable deaths into a nightmarish cinematic experience that still haunts audiences today.

If you found this roundup as unsettling as a nightmare, feel free to reach out with questions or comments. For more spooky insights, follow the author on Twitter.

Zombies have haunted pop culture for generations, drawing viewers in with their chilling aura and relentless chase of the living. From early literary tales to blockbuster cinema and binge‑worthy series, these reanimated beings have constantly morphed, each iteration delivering a fresh spin on the horror genre. Over the years, the zombie archetype has mirrored society’s anxieties and obsessions, evolving to match the fears of each era. Whether they shuffle slowly or sprint ferociously, every zombie type provides a distinct viewpoint on the undead phenomenon.

Top 10 Zombies: A Quick Overview

10 Classic Zombies (Night of the Living Dead, 1968)

The quintessential lumbering, flesh‑devouring zombies that dominate classic horror were first cemented by George A. Romero’s groundbreaking 1968 masterpiece Night of the Living Dead. This film forged the template for zombie traits that would dominate the genre for decades: hordes of reanimated corpses driven by an insatiable hunger for human flesh, only halted by a decisive blow to the brain, usually a gunshot. Their gait is deliberately slow, their mental faculties minimal, making them a terrifying yet oddly tractable menace.

Romero’s creation didn’t just scare audiences; it also whispered political commentary. Debuting amid a period of intense social upheaval, scholars frequently decode the film as a critique of contemporary issues such as racial tension, the Vietnam conflict, and the erosion of societal order. The movie’s bleak atmosphere and underlying messages resonated with the turbulent climate of its time.

The central figure, Ben—portrayed by Duane Jones, an African‑American actor—steps up as an unlikely hero, a daring casting decision given the era’s racial climate. The film’s chilling finale sees Ben survive the onslaught only to be mistakenly shot by a posse of armed white men who assume he’s one of the undead, a stark allegory for racial violence and injustice.

9 Rage Zombies (28 Days Later, 2002)

Danny Boyle’s acclaimed 2002 thriller 28 Days Later reinvented the zombie mythos by introducing the “rage virus.” Unlike the traditional shuffling dead, the infected in this film are ferociously swift, aggressive, and driven by a blood‑thirst that makes them a terrifyingly fast threat.

The rage virus spreads through bodily fluids, turning victims into rabid, murderous maniacs within seconds of exposure. This heightened speed and ferocity injected fresh intensity into the genre, presenting a foe that’s not just relentless but also physically overpowering and alarmingly rapid.

The virus’s origin—a botched scientific experiment where activists inadvertently release infected chimpanzees from a lab—anchors the horror in a plausible, contemporary fear of biotechnology gone awry. Its influence ripples through later works such as World War Z and the Resident Evil franchise, cementing speed and savagery as defining traits of modern undead.

8 Voodoo Zombies (White Zombie, 1932)

The notion of “voodoo” zombies stems from Haitian folklore, where a sorcerer known as a bokor can reanimate the dead and bind them as slaves. This tradition blends African, Catholic, and indigenous Taíno elements into a syncretic Vodou religion. Unlike the flesh‑eating monsters of later cinema, voodoo zombies are portrayed as lifeless vessels stripped of free will, serving the whims of the bokor who raised them.

Victor Halperin’s 1932 film White Zombie is widely recognized as the first full‑length zombie movie, introducing American audiences to the voodoo variant. Starring Bela Lugosi as the malevolent bokor Murder Legendre, the plot follows a young woman forced into zombification to fulfill a jealous plantation owner’s desires. The film emphasized themes of mind control and enslavement rather than cannibalistic hunger.

While White Zombie brought the voodoo concept into mainstream horror, it often did so through a distorted, exoticized lens that misrepresented Haitian Vodou practices, perpetuating stereotypes. Despite these inaccuracies, the voodoo zombie has endured as an iconic figure, influencing countless books, movies, and television shows.

7 Viral Zombies (Resident Evil, 1996)

The viral zombies of the Resident Evil franchise stand among the most recognizable undead in pop culture, thanks to their terrifying origin and sprawling universe. Unlike the rage‑infected who remain alive, Resident Evil zombies are reanimated corpses infected by a bioweapon—the infamous T‑virus—engineered by the nefarious Umbrella Corporation.

The T‑virus was originally intended as a medical breakthrough to rejuvenate dead cells and extend human lifespan, but it quickly mutated into a weapon of bioterrorism, turning humans into mindless, flesh‑eating monsters. These zombies are marked by grotesque decay and an unyielding drive to spread the infection.

What makes the T‑virus zombies especially chilling is the blend of plausible genetic manipulation with outright horror. In the Resident Evil lore, the virus not only revives dead tissue but also induces mutations that enhance physical abilities, spawning a menagerie of monsters and mutants. Its rapid mutation rate renders containment nearly impossible, spreading via bites, scratches, and even airborne particles. The franchise’s impact stretches beyond video games into movies, novels, and comics, profoundly shaping modern zombie perception.

6 Reanimated Corpses (Pet Sematary, 1983)

Stephen King’s 1983 novel Pet Sematary, later adapted into a 1989 film, delves into the dark side of resurrection. The story follows Dr. Louis Creed and his family after they relocate to a rural Maine home, where a mysterious burial ground—known locally as the “Pet Sematary”—has the eerie ability to bring buried animals back to life.

The resurrection portrayed is far from gentle; it is malevolent and twisted, returning the dead as violent, dangerous entities. The reanimated beings in Pet Sematary are driven by an unseen, sinister force that warps their personalities. Unlike classic zombies that arise from ambiguous scientific or supernatural causes, these corpses emerge from a supernatural source.

Creed first discovers the burial ground’s power when his daughter’s cat, Church, is killed. Despite his skepticism, he buries the cat in the pet cemetery at a neighbor’s suggestion, and Church returns—only to exhibit aggression, emit a foul odor, and display clear signs of corruption. This foreshadows the later, more tragic use of the ground when Creed’s son, Gage, dies in an accident; burying Gage there yields an even more horrific, violence‑prone entity, escalating the story’s terror.

5 Plant Zombies (The Last of Us, 2013)

The critically acclaimed 2013 video game The Last of Us, crafted by Naughty Dog, reimagines zombies through the lens of a fungal infection. The game introduces the Cordyceps Brain Infection (CBI), a mutated strain of the real‑world Cordyceps fungus that normally infects insects.

In the game’s universe, this fungus infects humans, transforming them into grotesque, zombie‑like creatures. The infection spreads via spore inhalation and bites, prompting rapid and terrifying metamorphoses. Players encounter various stages of mutation, from agile Runners and stealthy Stalkers to the advanced Clickers and massive Bloaters.

The “plant zombies,” especially Clickers, stand out for their innovation: the fungus consumes their faces, rendering them blind and forcing them to navigate using echolocation‑like clicks. This auditory navigation mirrors real‑world bat behavior, adding a unique horror layer where silence becomes a survival tactic. The game earned praise for its storytelling, character depth, and the originality of its infected adversaries, later expanded in a sequel and an HBO series.

4 Nazi Zombies (Dead Snow, 2009)

The Norwegian horror‑comedy Dead Snow (2009) injects a chilling twist into the zombie genre by featuring Nazi zombies. Directed by Tommy Wirkola, the film follows a group of medical students on a ski trip who unintentionally awaken a battalion of Nazi soldiers buried in the snow during World War II.

These undead Nazis are not mindless; they possess a distinct purpose and retain a degree of military discipline, employing strategic tactics inherited from their former ranks. Their combination of undead durability and calculated cunning sets them apart from traditional aimless hordes. Led by their former commander, they orchestrate coordinated assaults against the living.

The militaristic organization distinguishes them within zombie lore, where most depictions feature wandering, mindless crowds. By intertwining historical atrocities with undead horror, the film heightens the terror, using the Nazi element to amplify the evil. Dead Snow has cultivated a cult following, celebrated for its originality, dark humor, and inventive take on the undead.

3 Alien Zombies (Plan 9 from Outer Space, 1959)

Ed Wood’s 1959 cult classic Plan 9 from Outer Space places alien zombies at the heart of its off‑beat plot. Frequently dubbed one of the worst movies ever made, it showcases extraterrestrials who resurrect the dead to prevent humanity from creating a doomsday weapon that could annihilate the universe.

Fearing that human technological advancement will trigger interstellar catastrophe, the aliens employ a power that reanimates corpses, assembling an army of zombies to serve their cause. This daring blend of science‑fiction and horror was pioneering, despite the film’s notoriously low budget and clumsy execution.

The reanimated bodies in the film resemble classic zombies: slow, mindless, and obedient to alien commands. However, the extraterrestrial control element distinguishes them, portrayed through rudimentary special effects—ray guns and visible strings—underscoring the film’s infamous reputation. Despite its flaws, Plan 9 has earned a devoted cult following, celebrated for its unintentional comedy and ambitious, if flawed, storytelling.

2 Robot Zombies (Call of Duty: Black Ops, 2010)

The popular first‑person shooter series Call of Duty, especially its Black Ops installments, pushes the zombie concept further by introducing robot zombies. These undead foes appear in the franchise’s wildly popular Zombies mode, which debuted in World at War and has become a staple in subsequent titles.

Robot zombies blend reanimated corpses with mechanical enhancements, creating adversaries that are both resilient and deadly. This hybrid nature adds a new layer of complexity, intertwining biological horror with sci‑fi elements, and reflects the series’ overarching themes of experimentation and the military‑industrial complex.

For example, the “Origins” map in Black Ops II features “Panzer Soldats”—undead soldiers encased in mechanized suits—posing a formidable challenge. These robotic undead are woven into the storyline, often tied to dark experiments conducted by the game’s antagonists, enhancing both narrative depth and gameplay intensity.

1 Humanoid Zombies (I Am Legend, 2007)

The 2007 film I Am Legend, directed by Francis Lawrence and based on Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel, presents zombies as the result of a genetically re‑engineered measles virus. Originally designed as a cancer cure, the virus mutates, sparking a global pandemic that wipes out most of humanity.

The infected transform into aggressive, nocturnal creatures known as Darkseekers. Unlike classic zombies, Darkseekers retain certain human traits, such as coordinated attacks and a severe aversion to sunlight, forcing them to dwell in darkness.

Protagonist Dr. Robert Neville (Will Smith), a virologist immune to the virus, dedicates his life to finding a cure while navigating a desolate New York City. He conducts experiments on infected rats and captured Darkseekers in his home laboratory, exploring themes of isolation, hope, and ethical dilemmas in scientific research. The Darkseekers, though monstrous, also evoke sympathy as victims of humanity’s hubristic technological pursuits, blending horror with sci‑fi elements reminiscent of vampires.

When you think of China, you probably picture towering skylines, ancient dynasties, and a booming economy. Yet beneath the glitter lies a tapestry of truly odd customs and practices. In this roundup of 10 bizarre aspects of Chinese culture, we’ll peel back the layers to reveal the quirkiest, most eyebrow‑raising traditions that still shape daily life in the world’s most populous nation.

Exploring the 10 Bizarre Aspects of China

1 Prison Body Doubles

Even the ultra‑wealthy can’t always dodge the law, but in China they’ve found a loophole that sounds like something out of a spy novel. The practice, known as “ding zui” (literally “substitute criminal”), lets a rich offender hire a look‑alike—or even a complete stranger—to stand trial and serve the sentence. One infamous case involved 20‑year‑old Hu Bin, who killed a man while drag‑racing in 2009. He was sentenced to three years, yet the person who actually sat in the courtroom and did the time looked nothing like Hu. The surrogate served the whole sentence and walked free, leaving the original culprit to enjoy a clean record and a hefty payday.

2 Smog‑Induced Air Pollution

China’s rapid industrialization and car boom have turned many cities into hazy cloudscapes. In Beijing, the smog can thicken to the point where skyscrapers vanish and flights are cancelled. The World Health Organization flags 20 ppm as the safe limit for PM2.5 particles, yet the global average hovers around 71 ppm. Beijing routinely spikes past 500 ppm and has even hit a staggering 775 ppm. Residents are forced to wear surgical masks just to step outside, and “cancer villages”—communities plagued by lung disease—are emerging near factories, underscoring the urgent need for cleaner air.

3 Ghost Cities and Empty Malls

China’s massive population has driven a real‑estate frenzy, but the supply has far outstripped demand. Towering skyscrapers and sprawling suburbs sit eerily empty, earning the moniker “ghost cities.” The most notorious example is the New South China Mall, the world’s largest shopping center by floor area, which has remained about 99 % vacant since its 2005 opening. These deserted megastructures create a post‑apocalyptic skyline, a stark reminder that not every development translates into thriving communities.

4 Dogs: From Cuisine to Luxury Pets

China’s relationship with dogs is a paradox. While the country gave the world beloved breeds like the chow, pug, and shih tzu, it also harbored a long‑standing tradition of dog meat consumption (gǒu ròu). Recent years have seen a shift: activists rescue dogs from markets, and a burgeoning middle class now treats pets as status symbols. In 2011, a Chinese oil magnate splurged 10 million yuan (about $1.5 million) on a red Tibetan Mastiff named Hong Dong, highlighting the dramatic cultural pivot from food to luxury companion.

5 Facekinis and the Pursuit of Pale Skin

While many cultures idolize a sun‑kissed glow, China celebrates porcelain‑white skin—a historic sign of wealth and indoor leisure. To protect their complexion, Chinese beachgoers have embraced the “facekini,” a full‑head mask that shields the face while leaving the eyes, nose, and mouth exposed. Brightly patterned and available in every hue, these masks have become a staple on the shoreline, allowing sun‑sensitive revelers to splash about without losing their coveted pallor.

6 Traditional Medicine and Animal‑Based Remedies

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) hinges on the flow of qi through meridians, but some of its remedies raise eyebrows worldwide. Bear bile, harvested from live bears confined in cramped “crush cages,” is touted as a cure‑all for everything from headaches to vision problems. The extraction process involves inserting a catheter into the bear’s abdomen, forcing the animal to wear an iron vest to prevent removal. Rhino horn, another prized ingredient, is similarly prized despite scientific evidence showing it’s merely keratin—no more effective than human nails.

7 One‑Time‑Zone Rule

Spanning 3,123 miles, China could comfortably sit in five time zones. Yet since the Communist takeover in 1949, the entire nation has been forced onto a single standard: Beijing Time (UTC+8). This political move aims to foster unity, but in far‑western regions the sun often doesn’t rise until after 10 a.m., prompting locals to follow an unofficial “local time” to stay in sync with daylight. Hong Kong and Macau, meanwhile, retain their own time zones.

8 Baijiu, PBR, and the Price of a Can

Alcohol runs deep in Chinese culture, but the Communist era once suppressed its consumption. Today, baijiu—a potent grain spirit—has exploded in popularity, even reaching Western markets where some describe its taste as “paint‑thinner.” Meanwhile, the once‑budget American beer Pabst Blue Ribbon, a dollar‑a‑can staple in the U.S., commands roughly 300 yuan (about $46) in China, illustrating the stark price disparity and the country’s appetite for exotic imports.

9 Ghost Marriages

While many societies offer coins to the dead, China has a literal take‑on the concept: ghost marriages. In these ceremonies, a living woman may be wed to a deceased man, obliging her to live with his family and remain celibate until she joins him in the afterlife. Sometimes strangers’ bodies are paired together, creating a morbid market where female corpses fetch up to 50,000 yuan (around $8,153). The practice primarily benefits the male lineage, preserving family continuity even beyond death.

10 Boy Eggs

China’s culinary daring knows no bounds, but perhaps nothing tops the Zhejiang province’s “boy eggs.” These hard‑boiled eggs are soaked—not in water—but in the urine of elementary‑school boys, preferably under ten years old. After a lengthy simmer in the urine‑infused brine, the eggs are said to taste fresh and salty while promising health perks like heat‑stroke resistance, joint‑pain relief, and improved blood circulation.

From legal loopholes to culinary curiosities, the ten bizarre aspects explored above illustrate how China’s vastness breeds both astonishing innovation and bewildering tradition. Whether you’re a traveler, a student of culture, or simply curious, these quirks remind us that the world’s largest nation still harbors secrets worth discovering.

Teaching is a thankless gig, and when you add the chaos of 10 crazy teachers to the mix, it becomes a full‑blown circus. After years of study, educators must juggle restless kids, thin paychecks, and endless paperwork—ingredients that can drive anyone to the brink. Unsurprisingly, writers love to spotlight this madness, turning teachers into larger‑than‑life characters who make learning feel like an extreme sport.

Fiction has handed us a parade of wildly unhinged educators, each with quirks that range from bizarre teaching methods to outright villainy. Some wield strange hobbies as classroom tools, while others impose tyrannical regimes on their pupils. Their antics often leave students scarred—physically, mentally, or both—yet on screen these lunatics become the stuff of legend, offering viewers a deliciously twisted glimpse into what happens when education goes off the rails.

10 Professor Trelawney

“Colorful” barely scratches the surface when describing Hogwarts’ very own Sybill Trelawney. As the Divination professor, she reads tea leaves, palms, and stars, essentially serving as a glorified fortune‑teller. You can bet she spends her nights gazing at constellations, hoping to catch a glimpse of destiny.

Her appearance screams “crazy cat lady”: tangled hair, thick spectacles, and a wardrobe that looks like it survived a tornado. Add to that her habit of muttering eerie predictions and delivering ominous prophecies with zero regard for her students’ feelings. Trelawney drifts through her own mystic fog, completely absorbed in a world only she can see.

9 Mr. Crocker

While Mr. Crocker’s madness surfaces outside the classroom in The Fairly OddParents, his teaching style is no less unsettling. He delights in handing out failing grades, keeping a secret stash of “F” slips ready for any occasion. Whether a student excels or flunks, Crocker seems to revel in their misery.

His true obsession lies with fairy godparents. He shouts about their existence at anyone who will listen, concocting ever‑more ridiculous schemes to capture these magical beings. Though his theories prove correct—fairies do exist—his unhinged demeanor and over‑the‑top antics fail to convince anyone else.

8 Ms. Frizzle

Ms. Frizzle may not be cruel, but she certainly courts danger like a hobby. An endless well of energy, she swaps the sterile classroom for daily field trips aboard the iconic Magic School Bus. While that sounds thrilling, each excursion is a high‑risk adventure.

From dodging dinosaurs in the Jurassic era to swimming through a human bloodstream, her lessons thrust students into life‑or‑death scenarios. Yet Ms. Frizzle merely chuckles at each peril, showing little concern for the potential fatal outcomes. It’s the kind of reckless enthusiasm no parent would feel comfortable entrusting to their child.

7 Ms. Bitters

In the twisted universe of Invader Zim, Ms. Bitters looms as a spectral figure. She drifts in and out of shadows, resembling a lanky vulture more than a teacher, making any classroom feel like a haunted house.

Her disdain for children is palpable; she openly wishes for their gruesome demise. Rumors suggest she descends from a race of flesh‑eating insects, a theory reinforced by the bugs crawling over her face. In nightmares, she transforms into a monstrous bug queen that devours kids, terrifying even the alien tyrant Zim himself.

6 Walter White

Even teachers aren’t immune to life’s hardships, as Walter White discovers in Breaking Bad. Teaching chemistry at J.P. Wynne High, he’s constantly plagued by disrespectful students and mounting financial woes. A terminal cancer diagnosis pushes him over the edge.

When he learns a former pupil has entered the drug trade, Walt leverages his chemistry genius to produce premium crystal meth. The dangerous business forces him into ever‑more ruthless actions, morphing the mild‑mannered teacher into a feared drug kingpin.

5 Jin Kuwana

Bullying can corrupt teachers as well. In Lost Judgment, Yu Kitakata brushes off relentless torment in his classroom, leading a vulnerable student to a suicide attempt and coma. Kitakata’s negligence lands him a disgraceful firing.

Adopting the alias Jin Kuwana, he becomes a vengeful vigilante, ruthlessly targeting bullies and anyone complicit in their cruelty. He even aids parents in torturing and killing tormentors, blackmailing the comatose student’s attackers to further his brutal crusade.

4 Ra’s al Ghul

Immortal warrior Ra’s al Ghul leads an elite cadre of fighters, teaching them hand‑to‑hand combat, ninjutsu, and deception. In some continuities, he’s even Batman’s mentor, offering centuries‑old wisdom to his pupils.

However, his vision of a better world involves mass genocide—purging humanity to restore planetary purity. He indoctrinates his students with this twisted ideology, forming a doomsday cult of lethal assassins. The Lazarus Pit extends his youth, but also strips away any remaining sanity.

3 Miss Trunchbull

Straight from Roald Dahl’s imagination, Miss Trunchbull embodies pure cruelty. As headmistress of Crunchem Hall Elementary, she despises children, denying any recollection of her own childhood.

Her punishments are both horrific and cartoonish: forcing a chubby boy to devour an entire chocolate cake, or swinging a girl by her pigtails like a hammer throw. These acts are baseless, driven solely by spite, turning her school into a nightmare.

2 Darth Sidious

The Sith Lord Darth Sidious stands at the pinnacle of evil, seeking galactic domination through the Dark Side. He slaughters dissenters, enslaves the weak, and revels in his sadistic conquests, laughing maniacally at each atrocity.

Sidious trains multiple apprentices, feeding them Dark Side secrets while manipulating their fears. He plants loyalty from a young age, only to discard them once they’ve outlived their usefulness, epitomizing ruthless self‑interest.

1 Everyone at James K. Polk Middle School

In the chaotic world of Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide, James K. Polk Middle School is a hotbed of lunacy. The staff includes a woodshop teacher who severed his own hand, a science teacher conducting explosive experiments, and a gym coach who delights in watching kids injure each other.

These eccentric educators turn ordinary lessons into horror shows, ensuring students never forget the experience—though perhaps for all the wrong reasons. Still, one could argue that learning to survive such madness is a valuable life skill.

Books, movies, music and all sorts of pop culture can entertain, inspire, and educate. Yet, 10 times popular culture has also cast a dark shadow, prompting lethal acts ranging from copycat murders to full‑blown wars. Below we count down the most infamous examples where art crossed the line into bloodshed.

Why 10 Times Popular Culture Can Be Lethal

When a story captures the imagination, it can also ignite dangerous impulses. Whether through stirring prose, provocative cinema, or sensational news, the influence of popular works sometimes spills over into real‑world violence. Below, each entry shows how a cultural phenomenon helped ignite tragedy.

10 Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, widely hailed as the most powerful American book of its era, tells the harrowing tale of a Kentucky slave named Uncle Tom. After the Shelby family falls into debt, Tom is sold to the brutal Simon Legree, who beats him to death when Tom refuses to reveal the whereabouts of two runaway slaves. The work became a bestseller both at home and abroad, spawning dozens of translations and even influencing the abolition of serfdom in Russia.

In the United States, the novel ignited fierce debate. Northern readers were moved toward abolitionism, while Southern voices churned out a flood of “Anti‑Tom” literature that romanticized slavery. Within nine years of its publication, the nation found itself on the brink of civil war, and when Stowe met President Lincoln, the president allegedly dubbed her “the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.”

9 The Clansman and Birth of a Nation

Decades after Stowe’s masterpiece, Southern author Thomas Dixon, incensed by a stage adaptation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, penned The Clansman. The book painted white Southerners as victims and portrayed the Ku Klux Klan as heroic defenders during the turbulent Reconstruction era. Though the original Klan had been largely suppressed, Dixon’s novel found massive success and inspired D.W. Griffith’s film Birth of a Nation.

Birth of a Nation sparked immediate controversy and was even banned in some cities, yet its most lethal legacy arrived shortly after its 1915 release: it helped resurrect the Klan. A cross‑burning ceremony on Georgia’s Stone Mountain marked the rebirth of the organization, now rebranded as the “Invisible Empire” with sophisticated public‑relations tactics to hide its criminality. The revived Klan persisted through the twentieth century, committing countless murders along the way.

8 Nazi Propaganda Films

Between the world wars, German actress‑turned‑director Leni Riefenstahl was commissioned to capture the 1934 Nuremberg rally for the Nazi Party. The resulting documentary, Triumph of the Will, is praised for its cinematic brilliance yet condemned for glorifying a murderous regime. Riefenstahl later directed Olympia, a stylized chronicle of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, while the Nazis also produced lesser‑known films, including a dramatized sinking of the Titanic that blamed British greed.

The impact of these films was profound: they seduced German audiences into enthusiastic support for Hitler’s agenda. Young Germans, raised on a steady diet of Nazi propaganda across print, radio, and cinema, became the most fervent soldiers of the regime, marching to their deaths and taking millions of lives with them.

The video clip above showcases Olympia. Notably, it features an Olympic salute performed around the 16‑minute mark—an gesture later abandoned after 1948 because it resembled the Nazi “Heil Hitler” salute, despite predating Hitler by at least two decades.

7 The Secret Agent

Joseph Conrad’s Victorian‑era thriller The Secret Agent delves into the machinations of Russian anarchists plotting terrorist acts on British soil. Decades later, the novel fell into the hands of Theodore Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber, a brilliant yet disturbed Polish‑American who identified strongly with the book’s “Professor” character, sharing his disdain for mainstream society and willingness to employ violence for change.

Kaczynski launched a campaign of bombings targeting individuals linked to modern technology—a personal crusade against the very progress he loathed. He even used Conrad’s own name as an alias to evade capture, ultimately killing three people and wounding over a dozen between 1975 and 1998. Ironically, Conrad had written the novel as a satire of terrorism, a nuance completely missed by Kaczynski.

6 The Sorrows of Young Werther

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s debut novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, follows a cultured, artistic young man who falls hopelessly in love with his friend Charlotte. When Charlotte marries another, Werther cannot bear the anguish and ultimately ends his own life, using a pistol identical to the one described in the narrative.

The book became an instant bestseller across Europe, igniting “Werther fever” as young men copied the protagonist’s attire. More disturbingly, the novel sparked a wave of suicides among impressionable youths, many of whom were found with copies of the book and the same model of pistol. Today, the “Werther effect” denotes media‑induced suicide contagion, a term coined to describe this very phenomenon.

5 War of the Worlds

H.G. Wells’s classic science‑fiction tale, War of the Worlds, dramatizes an invasion of Earth by hostile Martians. The aliens nearly conquer the planet before being defeated by Earth’s bacteria, to which they have no immunity. In 1938, Orson Welles adapted the story for a radio drama, relocating the action to New Jersey and presenting it as a breaking news bulletin.

The broadcast’s realistic style convinced many listeners that an actual Martian invasion was underway. Years later, a Spanish‑language version aired in Quito, Ecuador, where the panic escalated into a riot outside the radio station. A fire broke out, claiming several lives—including the narrator’s girlfriend—demonstrating how a fictional tale could provoke deadly real‑world chaos.

4 A Clockwork Orange

Anthony Burgess’s novel A Clockwork Orange emerged from his experiences teaching in Britain’s Asian colonies before returning home in 1961. He observed a burgeoning youth counterculture and crafted a story about a violent teenage gang that enjoys classical music, drugs, and gruesome crimes. The novel’s protagonist, Alex, eventually undergoes state‑mandated brainwashing that forces him into passivity.

After the book’s modest sales, Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation brought the story to mainstream audiences. Though Kubrick softened some of the novel’s most graphic scenes, the movie still ignited controversy, with several British crimes being linked—however tenuously—to the film. In at least one case, a young murderer explicitly cited A Clockwork Orange as inspiration, prompting Kubrick to withdraw the film from circulation after receiving death threats.

3 Natural Born Killers

Oliver Stone’s 1994 film Natural Born Killers stars Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as a murderous couple on a violent cross‑country rampage, while Robert Downey Jr. portrays a sensationalist reporter who glorifies their crimes. From the outset, the film drew fire for its graphic, unrelenting depiction of brutality.

Beyond the gore, the movie has been implicated in inspiring real‑world copycat killings. An Oklahoma teen couple murdered a businessman and left another paralyzed after binge‑watching the film while on acid. In France, a pair of criminals killed three police officers and a cab driver, leaving a poster of the film in their hideout. Perhaps most chillingly, a Texas teenager confessed that he decapitated a classmate to become “famous, like the natural born killers.”

2 Taxi Driver

Martin Scorsese’s 1976 classic Taxi Driver follows a sleepless Vietnam veteran, played by Robert De Niro, who works as a nocturnal cab driver in New York City. As the film progresses, the protagonist spirals into madness, plotting violent attacks against a pimp and even a presidential candidate.

The film’s unsettling atmosphere captivated a disturbed viewer named John Hinckley Jr., who became obsessed with the film’s co‑star, a very young Jodie Foster. Hinckley sent her letters and eventually convinced himself that assassinating President Ronald Reagan would win her affection. In 1981, he fired six shots at Reagan outside a Washington hotel; while the president survived, Press Secretary James Brady was left permanently paralyzed, and his death was later ruled a homicide decades afterward.

1 The Novels of Yukio Mishima

Yukio Mishima’s tumultuous life and dramatic death illustrate a writer who became ensnared by his own artistic vision. Growing up as a closeted gay man in pre‑ and post‑World War II Japan, Mishima endured familial abuse and was deemed unfit for military service, fostering a deep self‑loathing. He perceived post‑war Japan as shallow, materialistic, and bereft of cultural depth, a sentiment echoing throughout his novels, which mourned the loss of a traditional Japanese identity.

Convinced that Japan needed to return to its samurai roots, Mishima immersed himself in bushido, the warrior code, and gathered a small cadre of like‑minded followers. After completing his final tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility, the group stormed the Tokyo Military Headquarters. Mishima delivered a fiery address urging soldiers to abandon the democratic constitution, only to be mocked by the crowd. He then entered the building’s interior and performed seppuku—ritual suicide—mirroring the samurai tradition he so revered.

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About The Author: I am a simple man on a continuous journey of self‑education, hopefully helping others do the same. “It doesn’t matter how smart you are, unless you stop and think.”

Human history is riddled with dark, grim chapters that demand our respect. Yet tucked between those shadows are ten pop culture marvels that sprouted from pure prankster spirit, later turning the world on its head. Let’s dive into the funny origins that rewrote entertainment, politics, and even science.

10 Pop Culture Moments That Began as Jokes

In the early 1980s, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird found themselves stuck in a creative rut. While Laird was glued to the television, Eastman idly doodled a goofy turtle wielding nunchucks and a mask. The absurd sketch was so outlandish that he showed it to Laird, who burst out laughing.

Laird, convinced of the sheer silliness, grabbed a pen and sketched his own version. The two kept trying to outdo each other until they produced four distinct, crime‑fighting reptiles. When Laird finally declared, “This is the dumbest thing ever,” the duo decided to turn the ridiculous idea into a real comic.

The debut issue of the Ninja Turtles needed a storyline as ludicrous as its heroes. The creators settled on a lazy parody of the era’s hottest comics, stitching together the most over‑the‑top elements they could find.

Each adjective in the title paid homage to a beloved superhero trope: “Teenage” echoed Jack Kirby’s youthful energy, “Mutant” nodded to the X‑Men, and “Ninja” borrowed from Frank Miller’s samurai series Ronin. Even the Foot Clan was a wink at Daredevil’s nemesis, The Hand.

Eastman plunked $1,000 of his uncle’s cash into self‑publishing a 42‑page comic that started as a night of goofing around. That modest venture exploded into a franchise of animated series, video games, blockbuster movies, and endless merchandise.

From a scribble on a napkin to a multi‑billion‑dollar empire, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles prove that a dumb joke can become cultural gold.

9 The Duck That Laid The Golden Egg

By 1983, George Lucas rode a wave of unprecedented success: American Graffiti, the Star Wars saga, and Raiders of the Lost Ark had cemented his reputation as a cinematic wizard.

Yet even a legend can trip over a gag. Lucas, granted carte blanche to chase his whims, set his sights on a live‑action adaptation of a beloved Marvel duck. The result? Howard the Duck, a film now infamous as one of the worst comedies ever produced.

Because it was the first Marvel property to hit the big screen, the studio assumed the movie would be a smash. Lucas hired the seasoned duo Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck—writers who helped craft his earlier hit American Graffiti—to bring the feathered hero to life.

Unfortunately, the film’s oddball humor, cringeworthy duck puns, and blatant sexism turned audiences away. In the United States, it recouped only $16 million of its $37 million budget, marking a spectacular flop.

Facing a financial hole, Lucas was forced to liquidate assets. One of those was the fledgling computer‑animation division of his company, which Steve Jobs snapped up.

Jobs turned that acquisition into Pixar Studios, birthing classics like Toy Story, Up, and Finding Nemo. In a strange twist of fate, a terrible duck movie indirectly gave birth to the most beloved animation studio of the modern era.

8 ‘The Ostrich’ Stuck Its Head In The Underground

Lou Reed embodied leather‑clad New York cool, a voice for a generation that sang about heroin, S&M, and gender‑bending. Yet his earliest foray into pop culture began as a corporate novelty.

During the mid‑1960s, Reed worked as the in‑house songwriter for the tiny Pickwick Records label. Pickwick’s survival hinged on churning out cheap knock‑off singles that rode the fads of the day.

Reed’s talent for mimicry soon gave way to outright absurdism. After dabbling in hot‑rod anthems and surf‑song pastiches, he released a bizarre dance‑craze track titled “The Ostrich,” a song that was as ridiculous as it was memorable.

While “The Ostrich” never topped the charts, its creation led to a pivotal partnership. Pickwick hired a young Welsh musician named John Cale, and the two would later form The Velvet Underground—one of the most influential rock groups in history.

7 The Novelty Record That Launched Gangsta Rap

In the 1980s, the California Raisin Advisory Board rolled out a Claymation commercial featuring animated raisins dancing to a parody of Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through The Grapevine.” The joke? Raisins, after all, are dried grapes.

The commercial’s goofy premise struck a chord, sparking a cultural craze. The Raisins spawned toys, a Saturday morning cartoon, video games, and a string of albums, turning a simple joke into a massive merchandising juggernaut.

Priority Records, a modest LA label struggling for hits, rode the wave of Raisin‑induced cash. The sudden influx of money let them sign more daring acts.

Enter N.W.A., the antithesis of the wholesome Raisins. With Priority’s backing, N.W.A.’s raw, confrontational sound exploded onto the scene.

Their 1988 album Straight Outta Compton catapulted gangsta rap into the mainstream, reshaping the musical landscape forever.

6 Susanna Salter Won An Election On A Prank

Long before women earned the national right to vote, Susanna Salter made history in 1887 when the tiny Quaker town of Argonia, Kansas, elected her as the United States’ first female mayor.

Her quiet administration helped pave the way for a wave of women holding mayoral offices across the western frontier after the Civil War. Ironically, Salter’s victory hinged on a prank gone awry.

Salter’s political pedigree was solid: her father, Oliver Kinsey, had been Argonia’s first mayor, and her husband served as city clerk. She also held a law background, drafted town ordinances, and led the local Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, which selected male candidates for office.

A group of twenty men, uneasy with a woman wielding so much influence, fabricated a ballot that mirrored the WCTU’s list but swapped Salter in for mayor, assuming no one would vote for a woman.

The prank backfired spectacularly. When Salter cast her vote, she discovered her name on the ballot and, to everyone’s shock, secured a two‑thirds majority, cementing her place in history.

5 A Sexist Joke Discovered The Cosmos

Edward C. Pickering, overseeing astronomers at Harvard, once flippantly remarked that a calculation was “so easy my Scotch maid could do better.” The comment, meant as a jab, unintentionally highlighted the brilliance of his housekeeper, Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming.

Pickering’s jest was taken seriously, prompting him to call Fleming into the lab. She quickly proved herself, delivering razor‑sharp calculations that eclipsed her male peers.

Impressed, Pickering began hiring women almost exclusively, both for their talent and the cost savings of lower wages. This unconventional staffing choice birthed a group later dubbed “Pickering’s Harem.”

Fleming’s work shone brightest when she identified the Horsehead Nebula, a discovery that would become iconic in astronomical circles.

Other members of the cohort—Annie Jump Cannon, who devised a stellar classification system still in use, and Henrietta Swan Leavitt, whose data underpinned Edwin Hubble’s measurements of galactic distances—helped map the universe in ways that still resonate today.

4 Wristwatches Started Out As A ‘Silly‑Ass Fad’

Today, a gleaming Rolex is a status symbol, but at the turn of the 20th century, wristwatches were the equivalent of a flashy fidget spinner—an odd novelty rather than a sign of prestige.

Originally, men kept timepieces tucked in their pockets; wearing one on the wrist was deemed effeminate. When Europeans briefly embraced the trend, The New York Times dismissed it in 1916 as a “silly‑ass fad.”

Vaudeville performers soon adopted wristwatches as light‑hearted props, but the true turning point came during World I. Coordinated artillery strikes required soldiers to act in perfect synchrony, and fumbling for a pocket watch cost precious seconds.

To gain a tactical edge, troops strapped their pocket watches to leather straps on their wrists, shaving off crucial moments on the battlefield.

After the war, returning soldiers kept the practice, prompting luxury brands like Cartier to design wristwatches inspired by the military models. What began as a joke evolved into an emblem of elegance and power.

3 A Prank Might Have Killed Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh’s tragic death is often portrayed as a self‑inflicted suicide, fitting the archetype of the tormented genius.

However, Pulitzer‑winning biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith argue that the painter’s demise was the accidental result of a prank gone horribly wrong.

Van Gogh’s social circle included a rowdy group of teenagers who delighted in teasing him. Among them, René Secretan, the younger brother of a quiet friend, was notorious for harmless tricks—salt in coffee, a snake hidden in a paint box.

René also liked to brandish a malfunctioning pistol while dressed as the flamboyant Buffalo Bill, a habit that would prove fatal.

According to Naifeh and Smith, one night René’s prop misfired, sending a bullet straight into van Gogh’s abdomen. The painter lingered for 29 hours before succumbing to the wound.

Although the theory sparked fierce debate, several pieces of evidence back it: van Gogh left no suicide note, and forensic analysis in 2014 noted the wound’s angle and lack of black‑powder burns, suggesting someone else fired the gun.

Handgun expert Dr. Vincent Di Maio concluded, “It is my opinion that, in all medical probability, the wound incurred by van Gogh was not self‑inflicted.”

2 The Butt That Killed Thousands

Mooning—exposing one’s rear—has always been a low‑brow gag, but in AD 66 it turned deadly during a volatile period for the Jewish population under Roman rule.

Amid heightened religious tension around the Passover holidays, a Roman soldier decided to flash his own backside at a crowd of devout pilgrims.

The insult ignited a furious reaction; the pilgrims hurled rocks at the soldier, prompting the Roman garrison to call for reinforcements. The ensuing chaos caused a massive stampede that claimed the lives of over 10,000 people, marking a grim prelude to the First Jewish–Roman War.

1 The Party Was Lit At Le Bal Des Ardents

Some events start as jokes and end as tragedy; others begin as tragedy and become jokes with time. The 14th‑century French celebration known as Le Bal des Ardents (the “Ball of the Burning Men”) perfectly illustrates the former.

During the 1300s, French weddings were often light‑hearted affairs where pranks were expected. King Charles VI thought it would be amusing to mock his queen’s lady‑in‑waiting, Catherine de Fastaverin, by staging a costume dance where participants dressed as wild apes, their outfits coated in hemp, linen, and tar.

The prank, more a display of folly than wit, turned disastrous when Charles’s brother arrived late, heavily intoxicated, and stumbled in brandishing a torch. The flame ignited the tar‑coated costumes, setting several men ablaze.

Four of the costumed revelers died instantly, their injuries so severe that their genitals were reportedly torn away by the fire. Charles narrowly escaped death by diving into his aunt’s skirt.

This horrific episode further destabilized Charles, who already suffered from mental illness. The incident tarnished his reputation, fuelling political unrest that eventually spiraled into two decades of civil war over the French throne.

If you enjoyed the article, you can write to the author at [email protected]. If you want to see what the author thinks is funny, you can follow him on Twitter @NateYungman. Hopefully, his jokes don’t cause any civil wars.

Exploring 10 ways culture, we may experience delusions (strong beliefs that conflict with rational evidence or reality) when our brains try to understand the distress we associate with mental illness. Many of us think that delusions are as individualized as our fingerprints. But the truth is that our brains shape our delusions from the technologies and cultures of our time.

10 Cultural Influences

Our cultures provide the background material to understand and tell our stories, including the narrative for our delusions. The people who treat us—whether doctors, priests, or shamans—also help to form our delusions by defining the symptoms of mental illness.

“We might think of the culture as possessing a ‘symptom repertoire’—a range of physical symptoms available to the unconscious mind for the physical expression of psychological conflict,” medical historian Edward Shorter explained to the New York Times. “In some epochs, convulsions, the sudden inability to speak, or terrible leg pain may loom prominently in the repertoire. In other epochs, patients may draw chiefly upon such symptoms as abdominal pain, false estimates of body weight, and enervating weakness as metaphors for conveying psychic stress.”

For example, some Southeast Asian men may suffer from koro, the belief that their genitals are shrinking, even though there’s nothing wrong physically. In the Middle East, individuals with zar are believed to be possessed by spirits, which may cause attacks of shouting, laughing, and singing as part of their feelings of detachment.

Our mass delusions are influenced the same way. For example, repressed nuns suffered many mass delusions from the 15th to the 19th centuries. When combined with popular beliefs in demons, strict religious discipline often triggered hysterical fits in these women, including swearing, exposing and rubbing their genitals, and thrusting their hips as though having intercourse. Priests claimed to exorcise the demons, although some nuns were jailed or burned at the stake.

From the 18th through the early 20th centuries, extreme working conditions caused abnormal movements, convulsions, and neurological symptoms for groups of workers in Western factories.

As the 20th century progressed, mass delusions switched more to anxiety symptoms over environmental and war-related fears. After poison gas killed 90,000 people in World War I, Americans became obsessed with the fear of gas. In the early 1930s, dozens of people in rural Virginia were convinced that someone had sprayed harmful gas in their homes at night. After serious investigation, authorities found that the real sources ranged from passing flatulence to chimney flues that had stopped up.

Fear of anthrax after the 9/11 terror attacks also sparked many false alarms in the US population. For example, one student and teacher claimed to have chemical burns on their forearms after they opened a letter in October 2001. However, nothing unusual was found in the envelope.

10 Ways Culture

The way societies frame reality, from superstition to scientific discourse, creates a fertile ground for delusional narratives to flourish.

9 Technological Influences

Although the loneliness, alienation, and other anxieties that cause delusions aren’t new, the way they’re expressed varies over time to mirror cultural changes, including technology. Before the late 19th century, delusions of being controlled or persecuted usually centered on witchcraft and the supernatural. That changed when new technologies such as the telegraph, telephone, radio, TV, electricity, X‑rays, lasers, and the Internet became popular.

People don’t usually go back in time with their delusions unless an earlier era is fixed in their minds for some reason. So delusions today are mainly about being controlled or persecuted through computers and the Internet, not through radio waves as in the 1940s.

One 2010 study showed that prolonged Internet use can trigger unexpected psychotic episodes. In three separate cases, women 30–50 years old with no serious psych issues developed delusions and hallucinations from using the Internet many hours every day. Each woman had been unhappy in a previous intimate relationship but was now involved in a strictly online relationship with a man. Over time, these women lost touch with reality. One of them believed she could feel her online love physically touching her, even though she’d never met him in person. All of the women required antipsychotic medications to stop their delusions and return to normal functioning.

In another case, a man was convinced that his computer was used to implant thoughts in his head and to poison him through his keyboard.

Long ago, new materials were the technologies of their time. For example, the glass delusion gained steam in Europe until it became especially popular in the 1600s. It seemed to start with French king Charles VI, who was paranoid about betrayal and assassination. At times he would have spells where he wouldn’t move. Convinced he was made of glass, he was afraid he would break. He also wrapped his body in blankets to stop his buttocks from shattering. Some psychologists believe this represents a fear of fragility or social humiliation. In a rare case from the 1960s, a young man in the Netherlands told the BBC that people looked through him like glass in a window. “You (don’t see the glass in the window). But it is there,” said the man. “That’s me. I’m there, and I’m not there. Like the glass in the window.”

8 Media And Entertainment Influences

Whether or not the 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast by Orson Welles actually caused the panic and mass delusion that’s been alleged over the years, we have seen delusions shaped by topics in the media or entertainment.

In 2008, the first case of climate‑change delusion was reported by doctors in Australia. Believing the world faced almost certain eco‑destruction, their patient, a 17‑year‑old, wouldn’t drink water because he felt guilty that doing so would kill millions of people. Immediately, there was a public outcry, with some people accusing the media of causing this young man’s delusion by sensationalizing climate change. One blog ran the headline “Al Gore Is Literally Driving People Crazy.” But we’ve already seen that people’s delusions are a way to express their anxieties using stories that reflect the times in which they live.

Entertainment also fuels a lot of delusions. Some people believe they’re characters in computer games. Others are convinced they have romantic relationships with or are being persecuted by popular stars.

The Truman Show Delusion (TSD), named after an American movie about a man who finds out that his entire life is a reality TV show, narrates old anxieties of persecution and control in a modern story. With so much of our lives recorded without our knowledge or permission, and so many people who want to be on reality shows, some people now have delusions that they’re starring in their own reality shows.

“[Patients feel] as though their family perhaps were reading from a script, there were cameras everywhere at all times, they had no privacy,” psychiatrist Dr. Joel Gold told NPR. “And this was obviously—for most—very, very disturbing. For a small minority, there was an excitement about it, that they were the most famous person on Earth. But eventually, even for those people, it became unbearable.”

Gold notes that TSD is unusual in at least one important way. While most delusions are focused on one unreal area of life, such as alien abduction, TSD encompasses the patient’s whole world. Nothing is real to them.

7 The Export Of America’s Delusions

Ethan Watters argues in his book Crazy Like Us that the US has exported its approach toward mental illness to other countries. That happens even when American definitions of illness don’t fit the other culture’s symptoms.

Although one antibiotic may cure the same bacterial infection anywhere in the world, that approach may not work when treating mental illness. Watters questions if we’re helping or harming patients if we don’t recognize the different customs that define our delusions and treat them accordingly.

“This does not mean that these illnesses and the pain associated with them are not real, or that sufferers deliberately shape their symptoms to fit a certain cultural niche,” writes Watters. “It means that a mental illness is an illness of the mind and cannot be understood without understanding the ideas, habits, and predispositions—the idiosyncratic cultural trappings—of the mind that is its host.”

After the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka, American psych experts rushed to help. They assumed the Sri Lankans would exhibit symptoms of post‑traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But that was at odds with the native culture. “It was not the nightmares or flashbacks that most of the population was concerned with,” trauma expert Gaithri Fernando told the New York Times. “The deepest psychological wounds for Sri Lankans were not on the PTSD checklists; they were the loss of or the disturbance of one’s role in the group.”

Where Americans saw damage to the mind, Sri Lankans saw damage to their social groups. American psychology professor Ken Miller observed similar results in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Guatemala. PTSD symptoms didn’t fit the war‑related trauma that occurred in those countries. To export American psychiatry to certain countries, developed or not, may be as much of a cultural mismatch as sending Namibian witch doctors to treat American patients after the 9/11 terror attacks.

If anxiety about changes in the world produces delusions for some people, are American psychiatrists making the problem worse by insisting on changing the way other cultures define and cope with their stressors? As we’ll talk about shortly, American ideas of psychiatry don’t always equate to better treatments and outcomes for patients. They’re not always done in the best interests of the patient, either.

6 The Doctors Who Diagnose Us Are Also Delusional

Some doctors may believe that they evaluate and treat mental illness objectively. That’s especially true of some US practitioners, who believe that other countries have cultural delusions but US doctors treat real brain diseases with a scientific approach.

However, US doctors are just as culture‑bound and delusional in their approach to mental illness as everyone else. With all their expensive machines to view the brain and medications to alter brain chemistry, they simply don’t recognize it. As Ethan Watters writes, “All mental illnesses, including depression, PTSD and even schizophrenia, can be every bit as influenced by cultural beliefs and expectations today as hysterical‑leg paralysis or the vapors or zar or any other mental illness ever experienced in the history of human madness.”

As we saw with Sri Lanka, Western doctors think they understand what life events trigger mental illness, and they’re convinced that they know how to treat it. Some American doctors also believe that it’s good to talk about personal traumas, analyze them, and vent emotionally. There’s a belief that we’re mentally fragile. But many cultures, including some in more developed countries like Australia, simply don’t share those views, which can make American treatments ineffective at best.

That’s not to say that the US hasn’t made any advances in treatment that would help patients in other countries. But it often seems that US doctors have closed their minds to alternative methods of dealing with mental illness.

5 Better Outcomes In The Developing World

Beginning in the early 1970s, the World Health Organization (WHO) conducted three international studies of schizophrenia patients that lasted about 30 years in total. The results showed that the relapse rate for schizophrenics in Europe and the US was as much as 67 percent higher when compared to developing countries.

That led to widespread debate as to what happened. One theory is that schizophrenia patients are treated more kindly and are better kept within social groups in some developing countries. Anthropologist Juli McGruder studied schizophrenics and their families in Zanzibar, where people with delusions are believed to be possessed by spirits. “Muslim and Swahili spirits are not exorcised in the Christian sense of casting out demons,” McGruder told the New York Times. “Rather they are coaxed with food and goods, feted with song and dance. They are placated, settled, reduced in malfeasance.” The patient is seen as having a temporary illness, not a new identity. When the illness goes into remission, the patient can function in society again, at least for a while.

Meanwhile, Western cultures value control over self and circumstances to such a degree that mental illness directly opposes that view. Unlike developing countries that accept spirit possession, family members in Western cultures expect their loved ones to get better through force of will. Patients feel more isolated and are less likely to go back to work. Their mental illness is often seen as permanent.

Some researchers believe that the WHO studies were conducted incorrectly. They also feel that the outlook for schizophrenia patients in developing countries has worsened considerably in recent years. They’re calling for new research.

Other studies show that different medication usage accounted for the outcomes in the WHO studies. Those researchers concluded that limiting the use of antipsychotic drugs works better in the long run for schizophrenia patients in all countries.

Even so, none of the studies appeared to show that Western medicine produced clearly better results for their schizophrenia patients.

4 The Sale Of Mental Illness

At least one reason the US is so intent on exporting its definitions and treatments of mental illness, including delusions, is drug‑company profits. One of the best examples happened in Japan at the turn of the 21st century, when drug companies convinced the Japanese public that they suffered from mild depression, which was called kokoro no kaze, or “cold of the soul.” Of course, drug companies provided expensive antidepressants as the cure.

Until then, the Japanese medical community had only dealt with major depressive disorders. With a suicide rate double that of the US, Japan obviously had mental health problems. The average length of a hospitalization for mental illness was around 390 days, far more than the US average of under 10 days. Officially, mild depression didn’t exist in Japan. But after the drug companies rolled out their media campaign, doctor visits for depression surged almost 50 percent in just four years.

“I could take you all over the world, and you would have no difficulty recognizing severely depressed people in completely different settings,” psychiatry professor Arthur Kleinman told the New York Times. “But mild depression is a totally different kettle of fish. It allows us to relabel as depression an enormous number of things.” It’s hard to know where moodiness ends and depression begins. So it’s quite possible that the Japanese began to define conditions that weren’t even diseases as mild depression. They were told repeatedly that drugs were the cure.

One 39‑year‑old man, Naoya Mitake, was put on different rounds of antidepressants for about two years to treat insomnia and fatigue. He had been convinced by drug‑company educational campaigns that his feelings had a chemical basis that could only be treated by drugs. But it never completely worked for him. Then he accidentally found his own cure: fasting.

As Japanese psychiatrist Yutaka Ono explained to the New York Times, “[The drug companies] ran a very intense campaign about mild depression where a beautiful young lady comes out all smiles and says, ‘I went to a doctor and now I’m happy.’ You know, depression is not that easy. And if it is that easy, it might not be depression.”

Still, antidepressant sales quintupled in Japan between 1998 and 2003, shortly after the marketing campaigns began.

3 Our Relationship With Our Delusions

Stanford anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann examined the way patients with psychotic disorders interacted with the voices (auditory hallucinations) they heard as part of their conditions. In the US, voices were characterized as threatening and harsh. In Ghana and India, the voices were often considered benign, even playful.

Luhrmann thinks that American doctors should pay more attention to both auditory hallucinations and cultural differences in psychiatric diseases. “Our work found that people with serious psychotic disorder in different cultures have different voice‑hearing experiences,” she said. “That suggests that the way people pay attention to their voices alters what they hear their voices say. That may have clinical implications.”

In a study of 60 adults with schizophrenia—20 each from Ghana, India, and the US—Luhrmann found that people in all three countries heard good and bad voices, whispering, and an unidentified source of hissing. However, the striking difference came in the interpretations of their experiences. All the US patients had negative experiences that they considered to be brain disease symptoms. They viewed voices as a hateful, violent bombardment. It often felt like war to them.

About half of the Indian patients heard relatives advising them to complete tasks. Sometimes, they interpreted the voices as playful or entertaining. Most of them did not describe their hallucinations as part of a brain disease. The same was true for the Ghanaian patients. In their culture, it’s believed that spirits can talk, so they didn’t characterize voices as a psych problem. Half of them reported their experiences in a positive manner. Plus, 80 percent thought they had heard from God.

Luhrmann believes these different reactions reflect the patients’ cultures. Americans value independence, individuality, and control, but Ghanaians and Indians define themselves through their relationships with other people. This suggests beneficial new approaches to treating schizophrenia, such as naming patients’ voices and forging relationships with them.

“The problem is not hearing voices,” Dr. Marius Romme, founder of advocacy group Intervoice, told The Atlantic, “but the inability to cope with the experience.” Romme’s colleague, Dr. Dirk Corstens, also believes we must limit the medication prescribed for patients with psychosis because it often does more harm than good.

2 A Dispute About Chemical Imbalance

Drugs to treat psychosis are some of the best‑selling medications in the US. However, evidence continues to show that these drugs are not treating a chemical imbalance that causes mental illness. In fact, the first drugs prescribed for mental illness—Thorazine, Miltown, and Marsilid—were actually developed to combat infections. When they were found to quiet mental symptoms, researchers observed that they also affected brain chemistry. The drugs weren’t created to treat abnormal brain chemistry. The theory of chemical imbalance was created to explain the use of the drugs. Decades of additional research have failed to confirm the chemical imbalance hypothesis with different classes of drugs to treat mental illness.

Even so, the more important question is whether the drugs work. By reviewing the published results of clinical trials to treat depression, Irving Kirsch, a UK psychologist, initially found that placebos worked about 82 percent as well as antidepressant medications. But his most important finding was that drug companies can bury the results of tests they don’t like. So they can keep testing until they get the results they want to publicize. Kirsch concluded that the drugs showed no significant clinical difference than placebos in treatment. Even though there was a small statistical difference, it just wasn’t enough to matter in terms of actual treatment.

He also found that drugs that weren’t antidepressants—such as sedatives, thyroid hormones, stimulants, opiates, and even certain herbal remedies—did just as good a job in relieving depression symptoms as antidepressants. When he looked at high doses of placebos that had side effects, he observed the same results. So he concluded that the presence of side effects may make patients believe that drugs are doing a better job for them than placebos without side effects.

Kirsch’s study is just one review of a complex topic, and no one should decline medication because of it. But it raises questions about the efficacy of medication, and others should conduct further research on the subject.

1 The Eventual Fading Away Of Our Delusions

In Western society, we’re often convinced that our scientific approach to mental illness makes us more sophisticated than the mental health practitioners from other cultures and times. This arrogance leads us to look at earlier treatments with a mixture of ridicule and sadness.

We now have the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), known as the “Bible of psychiatry.” It lists symptoms of disorders that are considered to be psychiatric illnesses in the US. So, in a way, it defines what our society views as normal and abnormal behavior—what can let us roam free and what can put us on medication or even get us locked up.

However, the DSM isn’t as objective as we’d like to believe. US psychiatrist Daniel Carlat explains that psychiatrists have received the most money from drug companies for many years because “our diagnoses are subjective and expandable, and we have few rational reasons for choosing one treatment over another.” Carlat also says that he makes 80 percent more per hour by prescribing drugs rather than talk therapy, so he only prescribes drugs.

“Patients often view psychiatrists as wizards of neurotransmitters,” he says, “who can choose just the right medication for whatever chemical imbalance is at play. This exaggerated conception of our capabilities has been encouraged by drug companies, by psychiatrists ourselves, and by our patients’ understandable hopes for cures.”

Psychiatrists ask patients about their symptoms to see if they match any conditions in the DSM. The more matches, the more drugs that may be prescribed. It’s a way of labeling patients that makes us feel cared for and makes money for the medical community. But according to Carlat, that doesn’t necessarily mean he has any idea what he’s doing.

If that’s the way our culture is defining delusions, we can only hope they will fade away sooner rather than later. It also raises the question of how future generations will view our delusions and the doctors who treated them.

Misinformation has been a constant companion of humanity—whether it’s a harmless rumor or a full‑blown urban legend, it spreads like wildfire. One day a quirky claim pops up, the next it’s plastered across social feeds, and before you know it, more people have heard the false version than the factual one. Once that story is out there, pulling it back in is a near‑impossible feat. All we can really do is shine a light on the truth.

10 common pop Myths Overview

10 Tang Was Not Made For Astronauts

Back in the 1960s, the orange‑flavored powdered drink Tang became inseparably linked with NASA’s space missions. The connection wasn’t because the beverage was engineered for orbit; it was a clever marketing push that painted Tang as a space‑age staple while still being sold on grocery shelves.

Astronauts did sip Tang up there, but the drink wasn’t born out of a desire to feed crews. Its powdered form simply made it convenient for the limited storage conditions of a spacecraft.

Introduced to the market in 1959, Tang never really captured the public’s imagination. Even in orbit the drink fell flat—Buzz Aldrin famously called it “sucks”—and water in space, due to the way it’s processed, also tastes pretty awful.

In 1960, a NASA official saw Tang’s potential and began purchasing it in bulk, referring to it only as “orange crystals.” After John Glenn carried a few packets aloft, General Mills seized the moment, shouting from the rooftops that Tang was the astronaut drink, even though the company never claimed to have invented it for space.

The marketing campaign subtly suggested NASA had created Tang, and General Mills never corrected that misconception, letting the myth linger for decades.

9 Hobbits Were Never Described as Having Big Feet

When we think of Tolkien’s Middle‑earth, the first thing that comes to mind is the tiny, shoe‑less folk with hair‑covered feet. Yet many fans picture Hobbits with oversized, comical feet—a notion that never appears in Tolkien’s own prose.

Tolkien did describe their soles as leathery and covered in hair because they never wore shoes, but he never called them gigantic. His own illustrations never featured exaggerated foot size either.

The myth of big feet began when 1970s fantasy artists, notably the Hildebrand Brothers, took artistic liberties and gave Hobbits disproportionately large feet in their drawings. Those images became the first visual exposure many readers had, cementing the false belief that Hobbits naturally possess giant feet.

8 Chinese Checkers Has Nothing To Do With China

Board‑gaming enthusiasts often assume Chinese Checkers hails from the Middle Kingdom, but the game’s lineage is far more tangled. Its surge in American popularity during the 1930s masks a European origin.

The game actually evolved from the German‑created Halma, which itself was a spin‑off of an American pastime from the late 1800s. Pressman Co. later slapped an Oriental‑themed package on the game, branding it “Chinese” to add exotic flair and boost sales.

7 Garfield Was Never Meant to be Funny

If you’ve ever rolled your eyes at a Garfield strip, you’re not alone. Creator Jim Davis openly admits that the comic wasn’t crafted for laughs. Instead, it was built as a licensing goldmine.

In a 1982 interview, Davis explained that while other comic animals—like Snoopy—were gaining popularity, cats were largely absent from the syndication scene. He saw a lucrative opening for a cat that could be merchandised to the moon and back.

Davis deliberately kept the jokes simple and repetitive, focusing less on humor and more on building a brand. He reportedly spent as much as 60 hours a week on promotion and licensing, compared to 14 hours actually drawing the comic.

That commercial focus explains why Garfield’s face adorns everything from T‑shirts to coffee mugs and even a pizza joint in Kuala Lumpur—because the creator’s aim was profit, not punchlines.

6 The Star Trek Theme Song Actually Has Lyrics

The iconic opening of the original Star Trek series is widely recognized as a soaring instrumental. Yet, many viewers don’t realize that the piece originally came with a set of lyrics penned by series creator Gene Roddenberry.

Composer Alexander Courage crafted the memorable melody, and his contract entitled him to royalties each time the theme aired. When the deal was renegotiated a year later, Roddenberry secured the right to add lyrics, which he did—though they were never used on the show.

Those unused words granted Roddenberry co‑authorship, meaning he earned half the royalties. He reportedly told Courage, “I need to make money somewhere else, because the profits from Star Trek aren’t going to cover it,” cementing the business‑first mindset behind the famous tune.

5 Solo Cup Lines Are Not For Measuring Alcohol

College parties often feature the classic red Solo cup, and a persistent myth claims the faint lines printed inside the cup indicate specific drink volumes—12 oz for beer, 5 oz for wine, and 1 oz for a shot.

Solo’s manufacturers have clarified that those lines are not measurement guides. They are simply a by‑product of the cup‑forming process, serving a functional purpose unrelated to beverage quantities.

Beyond that, why would anyone bother measuring their wine or beer in a disposable plastic cup when a proper glass or shot glass exists? The lines are decorative, not a built‑in bartender.

4 Back to the Future Was Never Supposed to Have a Sequel

The 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future wrapped up with Doc Brown soaring in his time‑traveling DeLorean, hinting at future adventures. However, that “to‑be‑continued” moment was originally a tongue‑in‑cheek joke, not a genuine setup for sequels.

Producers never intended a follow‑up; the ending was meant as a playful nod. When the film became a massive hit, studio executives retrofitted the ending, adding a “to be continued” banner to the theatrical prints, forcing a sequel that was never part of the original plan.

3 Schrodinger’s Cat Metaphor Was Not Meant to Be Serious

Schrödinger’s famed feline thought experiment is often presented as a literal paradox: a cat locked in a box is simultaneously alive and dead until observed. Physicists use it to illustrate quantum superposition, but the original intent was more tongue‑in‑cheek.

Erwin Schrödinger himself recognized the absurdity of the scenario. He deliberately chose a cat—a creature most people love—to highlight how ridiculous it would be to let an observer decide reality’s state, thereby critiquing the prevailing interpretations of quantum mechanics.

2 Seinfeld’s Festivus Was a Real Event in One Writer’s Home

Fans of Seinfeld instantly picture the aluminum pole, the “airing of grievances,” and the “feats of strength.” While the show treated Festivus as a fictional holiday, its roots are very real.

Writer Dan O’Keefe based the episode on a genuine family tradition his father forced upon them. The original Festivus was even more chaotic than the sitcom version, lacking a set date, official rituals, or any formal structure.

1 Bram Stoker Didn’t Intend for Dracula to Be a Work of Fiction

When The Blair Witch Project claimed to be a true story, audiences were spooked. Bram Stoker’s Dracula, though a classic of horror fiction, was originally marketed by the author as a factual account.

Stoker told his editor that the characters Jonathan and Mina Harker were real acquaintances who recounted their terrifying experiences, hoping the “true story” angle would boost sales.

His editor balked, noting the novel appeared shortly after the Jack the Ripper murders and that a supernatural tale presented as fact would be hard to sell. Consequently, Stoker was forced to cut over a hundred pages, including the opening that framed the narrative as a true account.

Some elements Stoker incorporated were based on real events, such as the ship Demeter—modeled after an actual vessel named Dmitri that wrecked while transporting cargo, with crew members reporting a mysterious black dog near a cemetery.

Whether Stoker’s claim of truth was a genuine belief, a marketing ploy, or a playful tease remains a mystery lost to history.

When you think about the frenzy of cancel culture, you probably picture Twitter storms, public apologies, and careers rattled by a single ill‑chosen tweet. Yet, the reality is that many glaring injustices still roam free, untouched by the digital mobs. Below, we explore the top 10 things that cancel culture somehow missed, ranging from trophy‑hunting in the Arctic to the grim world of puppy mills. Buckle up – it’s a wild ride through the side of society that refuses to be “canceled.”

Why These top 10 things Matter

10 Polar Bear Killings

Imagine a majestic polar bear already battling disappearing sea ice, dwindling prey, and a warming climate. Now picture trophy hunters trekking into the Arctic to shoot them for sport and profit. Fewer than 25,000 polar bears remain in the wild, and the United States listed them as endangered in 2008. Yet, the grim reality persists: hunting continues, and the practice is legal in places you’d never expect.

Surprisingly, the country where this barbaric activity remains permissible isn’t Russia or a remote Siberian outpost – it’s Canada. The nation boasts pristine air, universal health care, and, oddly enough, a legal framework that still allows polar bear killing. The financial lure is huge: a single bear skin can fetch tens of thousands of dollars, turning hunters into wealthy, yet morally bankrupt, individuals.

Freedom of Information releases reveal that from 2007 to 2016, roughly 9,000 polar bears were killed by hunters across the Arctic. Since 1960, more than 50,000 bears have been taken – a number double the current wild population. The statistics paint a stark picture of a species teetering on the brink, yet the hunt endures.

In short, polar bear killings epitomize a grotesque clash between profit and preservation, a cruelty that cancel culture has somehow ignored.

9 Seal Beatings

Canada, famed for its maple syrup and polite citizens, also hosts the world’s largest commercial seal hunt – a brutal, centuries‑old tradition that still thrives today. The primary target is the harp seal, arguably the planet’s cutest marine mammal, yet up to 97% of those killed are pups under three months old.

The hunt takes place on icy floes off the east coast, mainly in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the so‑called “Front” near Newfoundland. Fishermen, seeking extra income, wield wooden clubs, hakapiks (large ice‑pick‑like clubs), and firearms to harvest the seals for their fur and oil.

Approximately 6,000 fishermen participate each season, and the Humane Society estimates that over the past five years, more than one million seals have been clubbed, stabbed, or shot. The practice not only decimates seal populations but also compounds the species’ vulnerability as climate change melts the very ice they depend on.

International outrage has prompted a well‑funded disinformation campaign by the Canadian government, attempting to downplay the cruelty. The question remains: will Canada ever stop turning baby seals into trophies?

8 Sea Turtle Eyeglass Frames

“Comfort and refinement go hand in hand,” proclaims Maison Bonnet, a French luxury eyewear maker. Their marketing touts harmony, craftsmanship, and elegance, yet the company’s flagship product – eyeglass frames made from sea turtle shells – tells a far darker story.

The frames are crafted from the carapace of sea turtles, a practice that, while legal in a few locales, fuels poaching worldwide. Maison Bonnet boasts an illustrious clientele, including former French presidents François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac, but the turtles themselves never get to enjoy that refinement.

Because the trade remains legal in certain regions, illegal poachers target turtles in places like Florida, shipping thousands to Asian markets where a single shell can command up to $10,000. Over the years, this demand has led to the deaths of millions of turtles, all for the sake of frivolous accessories like glasses, combs, guitar picks, and cheap jewelry.

Maison Bonnet insists its process “totally respects the natural cycle of the sea turtles,” yet the reality is a stark contradiction: turtles are slaughtered, their shells harvested, and then turned into luxury items that never needed to exist.

7 Ivory Products

The global outcry against ivory – driven by the desperate plight of elephants – suggests that the trade is confined to under‑developed nations with weak enforcement. In a twist, one of the biggest markets fueling illegal ivory is Japan, a highly developed, law‑abiding country.

In Japan, a traditional seal called a “hanko” is used in place of a signature for everything from banking to contracts. Collectors prize hanko made from ivory, especially those carved from the central, flawless part of an elephant’s tusk. This seemingly innocuous demand creates a lucrative market for poached ivory.

Japanese law technically requires ivory to be registered and proven to be “harvested” before the 1989 ban. In practice, the verification process is lax: sellers often provide no concrete evidence of when or where the tusks were obtained, opening the door for illicit ivory to flow legally into the market.

Thus, a seemingly harmless cultural practice inadvertently sustains a multi‑million‑dollar black market, pushing endangered species ever closer to extinction.

6 Animal Products in Perfume

When you spritz on a favorite fragrance, you might be coating yourself in a blend of botanicals – or, more disturbingly, animal secretions. The perfume industry still relies heavily on ingredients harvested from living creatures.

Take civet, a small, cat‑like animal native to Africa and Asia. Its perineal glands produce a thick, buttery paste that smells foul at full strength but, when diluted, yields a sweet, floral note prized by perfumers. Civets are kept in captivity, their glands repeatedly harvested, often leading to severe suffering.

Another classic note comes from beaver castoreum – the secretion from a beaver’s castor sacs. After the animal is killed, the sacs are smoked or sun‑dried, producing a rich, leathery aroma that has been a staple in high‑end fragrances for decades.

Even the hyrax, a small African mammal resembling a large guinea pig, contributes to perfumery. Its petrified excrement, known as “African stone” or hyraceum, forms over centuries and is ground into a powder used for its musky scent. Unlike civet or beaver, this material does not require the animal’s death, but the process is still ethically murky.

These animal‑derived ingredients have historically flavored iconic scents like Miss Dior and Chanel No. 5, and they continue to be used in many contemporary fragrances, keeping the debate over cruelty alive.

5 Bone China

Bone china, the delicate, translucent porcelain often associated with fine dining, is actually a composite of animal bone ash – typically 30‑50% of the material. The bone ash provides exceptional strength, chip resistance, and a luminous whiteness that pure porcelain lacks.

Developed in early‑19th‑century England, bone china quickly became synonymous with British craftsmanship. Most manufacturers source the bones from cattle, though some also use pig bone, prompting certain Middle Eastern producers to create halal‑certified versions that use only cow bone.

Supporters argue that bone china simply utilizes waste from animals already slaughtered for meat, making it a responsible use of resources. Critics counter that the product is an unnecessary luxury that forces vegetarians and those avoiding animal products to either forgo fine china or compromise their principles.

Adding a grim twist, rare instances of human bone ash have been discovered in some pieces, a macabre reminder that the line between acceptable and abhorrent can be disturbingly thin.

4 Industrial Cattle Production

While a vocal minority pushes for a world without meat, the majority still consumes animal protein. However, the methods behind much of today’s beef and pork supply raise serious ethical and environmental concerns.

American livestock farms are notorious for mass‑administering antibiotics to keep animals alive in cramped, unsanitary conditions. Roughly 13.6 million kilograms of antibiotics are used annually in U.S. livestock – nearly four times the amount prescribed for humans – fueling the rise of antibiotic‑resistant bacteria.

Beyond drug use, the sheer scale of meat consumption is staggering: an estimated six million animals are slaughtered every hour. Over a lifetime, the average American will eat the equivalent of 11 cows, 27 pigs, and a mind‑boggling 2,400 chickens.

The environmental toll is equally alarming. Animal agriculture accounts for about 18% of global greenhouse‑gas emissions, with cattle alone releasing 150 billion gallons of methane each day – a gas 25‑100 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat.

3 Industrial Poultry Production

The United States produces a staggering 44 billion pounds of chicken each year, feeding a nation obsessed with cheap protein. Yet, the industrial methods used to achieve this volume are far from humane.

Chickens are reared in densely packed coops, often without sunlight, where they are force‑fed to accelerate growth. Their rapid development leads to severe health issues: compromised joints, heart, lungs, and legs.

After slaughter, U.S. processors rinse the birds in chlorine to eliminate bacterial contamination – a practice banned in many countries. This has sparked international backlash, with the United Kingdom, among others, protesting the import of U.S. poultry and demanding stricter safety standards.

The combination of cramped living conditions, forced growth, and chemical rinsing makes industrial poultry production a prime candidate for cancel culture’s scrutiny.

2 Fur Farms

For millennia, humans have crafted clothing from animal pelts, but the modern fur industry has taken cruelty to a new level with fur farms. These facilities raise foxes and minks in tiny cages solely to harvest their coats.

Animals are over‑bred to produce oversized pelts, resulting in health problems like obesity‑induced eye conditions where lashes scratch the cornea. The cramped conditions are so severe that a one‑year‑old Arctic fox barely fits inside its wire cage.

Estimates suggest tens of millions of foxes and minks are killed each year on these farms. In a world that has largely outlawed the commercial killing of dogs and cats, the existence of fur farms for fashion’s sake appears especially grotesque.

1 Puppy Mills

The Sato Project, a nonprofit based in Puerto Rico, works tirelessly to rescue stray dogs from the island’s overcrowded streets, saving thousands each year. Their mission highlights a stark contrast to the grim reality of puppy mills across the United States.

There are an estimated 10,000 commercial breeding facilities in the U.S. that prioritize profit over puppy health, cramming dogs into tiny cages, neglecting veterinary care, and breeding for specific looks rather than temperament.

While laws regulate breeders who sell to pet stores or through certain online platforms, black‑market operations remain largely unchecked, allowing these mills to continue unabated.

The only real solution lies in consumer choice: stop demanding designer breeds, adopt shelter dogs, and pressure legislators to enforce stricter standards. Until then, puppy mills will persist as a dark underbelly of the pet industry.

You might think cancel culture is a relatively new invention. Social media, particularly Twitter, seems to be obsessed with trying to get conservative people banished from their fields of work. These social media pile‑ons often have no effect. Some celebrities have successfully manipulated cancel culture for personal gain and used their online notoriety as a way to play the victim.

But cancel culture existed long before the internet was born and “progressives” took the helm. For years, people have used spurn and blacklists to attack those who dare to rock the boat of public opinion. Throughout history, people have been “canceled” because of their gender, the color of their skin, or because they disagreed with the powers that be. Often they faced much worse than an online hate mob or being dropped from Netflix. They were thrown out of their homes, fire‑bombed, even burned at the stake. From historical rewritings to Hollywood blacklists, the trend of cancel culture has a rich and varied past. Here are ten notable examples.

Top 10 Historical Overview

10 Ostracism In Ancient Athens

Some of the earliest known examples of people being canceled date back over two thousand years. In the 5th century B.C., the Ancient Greeks used to practice ostracism, where wrongdoers were sent into exile by popular vote. Cleisthenes – the “father of Athenian democracy” – is widely regarded to have created the punishment.

Every year, the people of Athens would be asked if they wanted to ostracize anyone. If they voted in favor, they would meet in the public agora to hold an election. Under the watchful eye of the council, citizens would etch the name of the person they wanted to be thrown out of the city into a shard of broken pottery. Each fragment was known as ‘ostrakon’ – from which the word ostracism was born.

The shards were collected in an urn and counted. It took at least 6000 total votes for the process to be valid. Athenian officials would then sort the shards into piles, and whoever received the most votes was banished from the city. They were given ten days to prepare themselves and warned that they would be killed if they tried to return. The punishment would last for ten years, after which they would be allowed back into Athens.

Records suggest that around thirteen men were ostracized from Athens between 487 and 416 B.C. Some of those were pardoned and returned to the city before they had served their full decade, like Xanthippus and Aristides who were let back in to help fight the Persians in 479 B.C.

One of the most notable people to be kicked out of Athens was renowned politician Themistocles. It is said that Themistocles’ power went to his head and that he was ostracized to curb his arrogance. As the historian Plutarch explained, ostracism “was not a penalty, but a way of pacifying and alleviating that jealousy which delights to humble the eminent, breathing out its malice into this disfranchisement.”

9 Michael Servetus, The Theologian Burned By Protestants For Heresy

Born in Spain, Michael Servetus was one of the most controversial religious teachers of the 16th century. He was an outspoken critic of the Church who developed his own theories about the Holy Trinity and astrology. But his ideas outraged both Catholics and Protestants and he was forced to publish them in secret.

Like people today who dare to disagree with public opinion, Servetus received a barrage of hate. But the theologian’s fate was far more severe than a digital slap on the wrist or a bike‑lock to the head. When a French inquisitor discovered his letters, Servetus was accused of heresy, forcing him to flee. He escaped Catholic France and ended up in Calvinist Geneva where, in 1553, he was captured and burned at the stake for his non‑protestant ideas.

8 The Hollywood Blacklist

The Hollywood Blacklist was the cancel culture of the 1940s and 50s. During the Second World War, the US had teamed up with the communist Soviet Union to fight the national socialists. But after the war ended, anti‑communist views began to spread across the states. People feared that pro‑Soviets were infiltrating the US media to push global socialism.

It reached such a furor that Hollywood began banning workers who were rumored to have far‑left political views. In 1947, the HUAC started to look into the influence of communism on the film industry. Ten workers who refused to give evidence to the committee were thrown out of their jobs and each served a short jail sentence. The HUAC continued its paranoid investigation through the 50s, blacklisting workers who they suspected of subversion.

But perhaps the HUAC had ulterior motives. In the 1940s, lawyer Wendell Willkie showed that certain US politicians were using communist paranoia as a ploy to target Jews. Although they claimed to be motivated by patriotism, Willkie proved that some investigators seemed to be far more interested in starting an anti‑Semitic witch hunt in Hollywood. My how the worm has turned!

7 Percy Julian, The Black Chemist Scrubbed From History

For years, people tried to erase the legacy of Percy Julian. The Alabama‑born chemist faced multiple setbacks throughout his life due to his skin color. Even though his pioneering work saved numerous people’s lives, Julian is still a relatively unknown figure in US history.

Educated at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, in 1923 he became the first African American to earn a master’s degree in chemistry from Harvard University. However, Harvard refused to let him study for a PhD on racial grounds, so he completed his doctorate in Vienna.

Julian then returned to the US and tried to pursue a career in academia, but again racial prejudice stopped him from progressing. So he moved to the business world where he pioneered new uses for soybean chemicals. One chemical helped produce fire‑retardant foam in fire extinguishers and saved the lives of thousands of soldiers during the Second World War. He also found a way to create artificial hormones. Due to his research, ludicrously expensive drugs suddenly became affordable for millions of people.

Julian’s work meant he could move his family to a better‑off suburb in Illinois, but they were despised by many of their white neighbors. They faced several attacks – including arson and someone firebombing their house – but Julian and his wife refused to move. By the time he died from liver cancer, aged 76, he was a millionaire.

6 Lise Meitner, The Female Nuclear Physicist Pushed Out And Persecuted

Lise Meitner was a pioneer of nuclear physics. She should have made history as one of the first two people to explain the process of nuclear fission. But the Austrian trailblazer was never given the credit that people say she deserved. In 1945, when her collaborator Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize, Meitner’s contribution was sadly overlooked by the judges.

Besides her gender, it was the threat of the Nazi Party that ultimately led to Meitner being canceled. When Hitler’s regime annexed Austria in 1938, Jewish‑born Meitner left Vienna and moved to Stockholm. There, one historian wrote, she was given “laboratory space but no collaborators, equipment, or technical support, not even her own set of keys.” She had to meet with Hahn in secret to continue their work exploring the behavior of uranium.

5 Ignaz Semmelweis, Hand‑Washing Pioneer Committed To An Asylum

Ignaz Semmelweis should have been a medical hero, but his colleagues’ pride got in the way. The Hungarian doctor was the first person to advocate that people wash their hands.

During the 1840s, Semmelweis decided to explore the unusually high number of women dying from childbed fever. He studied two maternity wards at the General Hospital in Vienna. One ward was run by doctors and medical students; the other was staffed by midwives. Semmelweis quickly discovered that the death rate on the first ward was five times higher than that on the second ward. But, for a long time, he was unable to explain the disparity.

It turned out the key difference was that the doctors were carrying out autopsies. Semmelweis theorized that students were getting tiny pieces of corpses stuck to their hands, which then infected the pregnant women on the ward. Of course, we now understand that disease is spread by germs and not by pieces of dead bodies, but pathogens were barely understood at the time.

On Semmelweis’ orders, medical staff began washing their hands with chlorine and the death rate soon fell. The Hungarian scientist should have become the founding father of modern hygiene. But he did not.

You see, people at the hospital were not impressed by Semmelweis’ discovery. They thought it made them seem guilty of infecting women on the ward. Certain accounts also suggest that Semmelweis was a difficult man to work with. In the end, his colleagues hit back and he was kicked out of the hospital. By 1865, he had been sent to a mental asylum where he was beaten and, in a sad twist of irony, probably died of infection.

4 The Victorians And Their Wild Cancel Culture

Cancel culture in the 1800s was brutal, far worse than the online pile‑ons of today. Respected Victorians spent much of their lives locked in feuds. Some of them put an enormous amount of energy into trying to destroy each other’s reputation. Oscar Wilde often clashed with the Marquess of Queensberry, once publicly smearing him as a “foul thing” who “assailed” the world of academia.

Thomas Edison’s supporters wanted to cancel his rival George Westinghouse. They tried to make sure that his reputation would always be associated with the murder of animals. They used Westinghouse’s invention of alternating current to kill dogs, horses, even an elephant, hoping they could smear the entrepreneur.

But perhaps the worst was paleontologist Richard Owen. Owen had a long‑standing rivalry with fellow dinosaur expert Gideon Mantell. When Mantell took his own life in 1852, Owen somehow got hold of his spine. He had it pickled and displayed it at the Royal College of Surgeons in London.

3 Galileo Galilei, Dared To Disagree With The Church

Galileo Galilei is an eminent figure in scientific history. Although he started out studying medicine, he soon changed fields and became an expert in maths and physics. Throughout his life, he looked into the speed of falling objects, mechanics, and pendulums.

But, apart from his iconic mention in Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, Galilei is probably best remembered for his contribution to astronomy. In 1609, he created a telescope and began studying the Solar System. The Italian professor was one of the first people to suggest that the Earth orbited around the Sun.

Unfortunately, not being content to simply publish his additions to the already well‑established Church‑accepted Copernican theory, Galileo declared it proved the Church and Bible wrong. Galilei was convicted of heresy and died under house arrest in his villa near Florence.

2 Cultural Imperialism, The Canceling Of Entire Cultures

Most of the time, when people talk about cancel culture, they are referring to something that might have an impact on one person or a handful of people. But, as several historians have pointed out, there are numerous examples of entire cultures being canceled.

European colonizers were notorious for destroying the cultures of the countries they took over. When Britain colonized India, they erased much of the existing heritage and imprinted their cultural dominance. The British colonizers often claimed that they were “civilizing” the natives. The same rhetoric was used by German officials who set about to “Prussify” the Slavic people of Eastern Europe. It was also mirrored by the European empires in their treatment of Native Americans.

1 Alan Turing, The Computer Scientists Persecuted For Being A Homosexual

Born in London, Alan Turing is remembered as one of the fathers of modern computing. His work at Bletchley Park played a pivotal role in Britain’s victory during the Second World War. As part of the Government Code and Cypher School, he used statistics and logic to decode secret Nazi messages sent using the Enigma machines. Historians say that his ground‑breaking work saved more military lives than anyone else in the history of warfare.

But Turing had a deep secret. He was gay at a time when homosexuality was outlawed. Under Britain’s oppressive sexuality laws, the great mathematician was sentenced to a year of estrogen injections. British intelligence started to grow suspicious of his work, solely because he was gay. He died of potassium cyanide poisoning in 1954. An inquest found that he had administered the poison himself.

1 German Book Burnings

Myth: The National Socialists (Nazis) burned books. Truth: it was university students and it occurred on exactly two occasions in 1933. Effectively the German Students Union which supported the principles of national Socialism organised protests against the Institute of Sex Research which was studying transgenderism and even performing transexual operations (the famous Lily Elbe was a victim of one of their early surgeries in fact). The students destroyed all of the literature of the group and other “un‑German” materials in a public book burning.

Today’s book burnings are mostly (though not always, as the feminists burning anti‑feminist books in the above picture illustrates) digital cancellations of “un‑progressives” but the perpetrators and principles remain the same. Young angry extremist students of our time may be more discreet, but the outcome is not.

It is somewhat ironic that the institute and its leader, Magnus Hirschfeld, were supporters of cultural Marxism, the theories and principles of which are now firmly entrenched in and form the backbone of much of the education in our universities—the source of cancel culture.

Interestingly book burnings had also happened 120 years earlier in the 1817 German celebrations in Wartburg for the 300th anniversary of protestant Martin Luther’s posting of his anti‑Catholic “95 theses” in the 16th century.