Diabetes is a condition wherein the body is unable to regulate itself, either by producing insufficient amounts of insulin or proving resistant to insulin. It has a laundry list of horrible side effects, not limited to amputations and blindness, and numbers are at an all-time high. Although linked to obesity, diabetes affects people of all body types, many who barely have enough to eat.

According to the International Diabetes Federation, around 382 million people in the world are afflicted, a number they estimate will rise to 592 million by 2035. While medications and careful health management can greatly prolong life, in places like sub-Saharan Africa where such resources are limited, 75 percent of diabetes deaths occur in people under the age of 60.

10 Whiskey

Diabetes mellitus literally means “sweet urine,” as those with the disease tend to pass a great deal of sugar when they pee. Before modern testing methods, doctors would actually taste a patient’s urine if they suspected the person had diabetes. Luckily, those days have passed, but bizarrely enough, people continue to drink the urine of diabetics.

James Gilpin of London produces “Gilpin Family Whiskey,” which takes the urine of elderly diabetes patients and filters it, then adds it to mash. The sugar in the urine begins the fermentation process, and within a few weeks, a perfectly serviceable whiskey is produced—though Gilpin claims it is better if aged awhile in the bottle. Gilpin Family Whiskey is not sold; rather, it is freely distributed as a “public health statement.”

9 Wilford Brimley

If anyone could be considered the “face” of diabetes, it would be Wilford Brimley. Known for his portrayals of gruff, stodgy old men, Brimley has been in dozens of films, including The Natural, Cocoon, and The Firm, along with commercials for Quaker Oats. Since developing diabetes in 1979, Brimley has been a tireless advocate for those with the disease, visiting hospitals and counseling the sick.

He has also served as the spokesman for Liberty Medical, which delivers diabetes supplies to your door. Bizarrely enough, Brimley has invited a great deal of controversy from his other hobbies—among other pursuits, he loves attending cockfights and has fought to keep the vicious bloodsport from being banned.

8 Animals

Humans aren’t the only animals that can suffer from diabetes. Unfortunately, our furry friends can get it as well. Male cats and female dogs are more likely to develop the condition than their counterparts. Diabetes in animals has many of the same causes as it does in humans— namely, genetics, diet, and lack of exercise. Owners tend to “baby” their pets, showering them with treats and table scraps. Likewise, most animals no longer have a job to do; they lounge around the house and maybe take a jaunt around the block once in a while.

While chubby cats and dogs might amuse on YouTube, their chances of diabetes skyrocket with every extra tick of the scale. Like humans, they need insulin to maintain their health. There are both oral and injectable insulin medications available for animals, but dogs typically don’t respond to oral insulin. Small dogs usually need around two shots a day, while larger ones can usually get by on one. And as you can imagine, this can get very, very expensive.

7 Blindness

Another one of the awful symptoms of diabetes is damage to the capillaries and blood vessels of the eyes. Those affected can suffer from blurry vision or outright blindness. Conditions like cataracts and glaucoma are exacerbated by diabetes, but the most common issue is diabetic retinopathy. Retinopathy occurs in four increasingly destructive stages, wherein the blood vessels that supply the retina become swollen and blocked.

As it progresses, the walls of the vessels become extremely thin, and can eventually begin leaking. This will initially manifest itself as something like floating spots in your field of vision, but can get far worse in the case of a bad leak. According to the American Diabetes Association, 28.5 percent of diabetics age 40 and over suffer from some form of retinopathy.

6 Insulin

The peptide hormone insulin was not discovered until 1921. Prior to this, developing Type I diabetes was essentially a death sentence, and hospitals had wards full of languishing children. Insulin was first isolated at the University of Toronto by a collaborative team led by scientist Frederick Banting. The first person to be administered the insulin—which they derived from an ox—was a 14-year-old named Leonard Thompson, who was dying in Toronto General Hospital. He received his first shot on January 11, 1922.

Unfortunately, the insulin they used was impure. They gave Thompson an improved batch 12 days later, and his health immediately improved. They then went on to give insulin to dozens of dying children and stood back to watch the miracle of their discovery take root. The following year, Banting was granted the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Banting and his team could have potentially made billions from insulin, but they had the greater good in mind when they sold the patent to the University of Toronto for a half dollar.

5 History

Diabetes has plagued humankind for thousands of years, and was described in ancient Egyptian manuscripts dating back to 1550 B.C. Not surprisingly, the disease was somewhat rare in the past. While the pyramids were being cobbled together, there weren’t any 24-hour doughnut franchises, and most people survived on a subsistence diet. Those who did manifest the familiar symptoms probably had Type I diabetes (which only makes up about 10 percent of cases today).

Doctors in India also recognized diabetes during this era. They called it “madhumeha”—honey urine—and recorded that it would attract ants. The link between diabetes and the pancreas was not established until 1889, when physicians Oscar Minkowski and Joseph von Mering became interested in just how the pancreas fit into the digestive process. The men removed a dog’s pancreas, and a few days later clouds of flies were found feeding on the dog’s urine, which was rich in sugar.

4 Types

There are at least three different types of diabetes, and possibly several more yet unclassified. Type I diabetes is particularly insidious, as it typically manifests in young children and is unrelated to lifestyle. Type II is generally linked to poor health choices, like overeating, lack of exercise, and prolonged stress. Pregnant women may develop the third type, gestational diabetes, which can be harmful to both the mother and the child. Gestational diabetes tends to clear up or greatly improve after birth.

In recent years, scientists have also begun suggesting that Alzheimer’s disease may actually be a form of diabetes. They assert that the brain, along with the rest of the body, becomes resistant to insulin, and develops the protein plaques that essentially destroy cognition. While the link between diabetes and Alzheimer’s has not been fully realized, it is recognized that those with diabetes have at least double the chances of developing dementia later in life.

3 Diet

The link between sugar consumption and diabetes is fairly well established; studies indicate that sugar affects the liver and pancreas in ways that other foods do not, eventually serving to make the make the body resistant to insulin. One source of sugar in our diets that people often don’t consider is the consumption of beverages.

Iced tea, fruit juice, and particularly soda contain massive amounts of the stuff—one 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola contains an astonishing 39 grams of sugar, more than a Snickers bar. Considering many people will indulge in three or four cans a day without batting an eye, the toll on the body can be huge.

Other foods may also play a part in the development of the disease. Nitrates (which are also carcinogenic) may affect the DNA and promote diseases linked with aging, including diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s. Nitrates are found everywhere, especially in cured meats, bacon, cheese, and beer.

2 Coma

Those with severe diabetes must frequently check their blood sugar levels. Should they become too high (hyperglycemia) or fall too low (hypoglycemia), you run the risk of falling into a diabetic coma. Luckily, other symptoms, like increased thirst, fever, and headache, tend to manifest themselves first and allow the person to seek help before becoming unconscious.

Prior to the 1970s, when blood glucose meters were invented, this tended to happen quite frequently. Diabetic comas are particularly dangerous to people living alone who may go undiscovered. If left untreated, it can cause permanent brain damage, even death. Tragically enough, diabetic motorists can also be responsible for more than their fair share of car accidents, as drops in glucose can bring on sudden disorientation and vision problems.

1 Amputations

Diabetes, as we’ve mentioned, comes with a laundry list of complications. One of the worst is a condition called diabetic neuropathy, which is damage to the blood vessels that supply the nerves. This presents itself as a numb, painful, tingling sensation, particularly in the feet. Often, diabetics also suffer from peripheral arterial diseases, which restricts blood-flow to the feet.

These conditions in conjunction are a recipe for disaster—the skin becomes dry and sensitive, and is more likely to develop ulcers. The lack of circulation makes infection difficult to fight off, and even with prompt medical treatment, amputation is often necessary. In the United States alone, approximately 65,700 lower-limb amputations were performed in 2006 as a result of diabetes.

Mike Devlin is an aspiring novelist.

Today, cars take up a significant part of our lives. They help us get from point A to point B with relative convenience and provide us with a freedom and independence that public transportation is mostly incapable of providing.

However, today’s cars are more or less uniform in terms of their style and features. So it is always fascinating to look back and see what might have been if the more curious automobile-related inventions of yesteryear had actually caught on.

10 Charvolant

The Charvolant (aka the kite-carriage) was a carriage pulled solely by kites. It was invented in the 19th century by English schoolteacher George Pocock who had a great interest in kites and their ability to lift small items, light loads, and even people.

The Charvolant could hold several passengers and move at a fairly fast speed, depending on the pace and the type of wind present. Several reports of kite-carriages traveling around England circulated shortly after the bizarre invention and attracted considerable attention from the press and the public.

Pocock believed that Charvolants were the most pleasurable, safe type of travel and could be used for naval and military purposes as well as for crossing rivers. However, not everyone was of the same opinion. Critics stated that using wind for travel was not feasible because it is fickle and changeable, not to mention that it would suit only those who wanted to go in the direction toward which the wind was blowing.

9 Horsey Horseless

Back in the early years of the US auto industry, horse-drawn carriages and automobiles shared the roads. But the cars scared horses, resulting in dangerous situations. Nonetheless, a solution was soon proposed by Uriah Smith, a member of a strict Protestant sect known as the Seventh-day Adventists.

Smith had designed a car that had a big wooden horse head stuck on the front of it. As an added bonus, the hollow head of the horse also served as a fuel tank.

Smith’s logic was simple: If a car looked like a horse, other horses wouldn’t be scared of it. By the time the horse could discover its error, the strange automobile would be long gone and the horse would have no reason to grow frantic. Unsurprisingly, the Horsey Horseless did not take off. It is unclear if it was ever even produced.

8 Routefinder

The Routefinder was an early satellite navigation system that showed UK automobile drivers the roads they were traveling down, the mileage covered, and the end point of their journey. The curious device consisted of a little map scroll inside a watch which was to be manually scrolled as the driver moved along the route. Several scrolls could be fitted into the watch for a trip.

The disadvantages of the Routefinder included a limited number of available journeys, the inability of the system to respond to changes of direction, and no warning of roadwork or traffic ahead. The Routefinder never took off since automobile drivers were scarce in Britain at that time.

7 Running Boards

Back in the day, if you didn’t want your dog riding inside your car, it could ride “safely” on a running board attached to the car. Some were simple running board–based boxes and shields while others, such as the Bird Dog’s Palace, were sturdy external steel enclosures.

The latter were quite elaborate. They came in several sizes and included a barred door that could be released without the driver leaving his seat and an oilcloth cover that could be unrolled and buttoned into place if the weather got bad.

The most terrifying and dangerous pet carrier must have been the dog sack, an actual canvas sack that (thankfully) had a head hole and was hooked and clamped to the side of the car.

6 Wrist-Twist Steering System

In 1965, Ford engineers came up with the Wrist-Twist steering system which replaced one large steering wheel with two small handheld wheels that were twisted like dials. The new system promised a more comfortable ride, a better view of the road, and easier parallel parking.

It was said that the steering effort required by the Wrist-Twist was only a fraction of the effort required by a regular steering wheel. This was because only the forearm, wrist, and hands were involved as opposed to the full arm, torso, and the neck involved in standard steering.

Adaptation to this new kind of steering was said to be instantaneous. It is worth mentioning that the man who engineered the Wrist-Twist was actually a missile engineer who knew nothing about cars.

5 Water Mobile

The water mobile (aka the Vacationer) was an amphibious luxury cruiser proposed by industrial designer Robert Zeidman. His interest in amphibious vehicles came from wartime service. Unsurprisingly, the water mobile was to be targeted toward ex-GIs who could finally have their own amphibious crafts.

The six-wheeled water mobile could turn into a yacht or a trailer, thus providing the best of both roads and water. It was supposed to be 10 meters (34 ft) long and could house up to six people.

Amenities included a stove, shower, dishwasher, sink, oven, fridge, freezer, and bathroom. A bunk could also be built into the driving compartment for those drivers who wished to hire a paid chauffeur-pilot.

4 Glare-Proof Glasses

Glare-proof glasses were cone-shaped shields fastened onto regular spectacle frames. Holes were cut in the middle of the 2.5-centimeter (1 in) shields to give the wearer visibility.

Glare-proof glasses eliminated headlight glare from approaching cars. When meeting an oncoming car, the driver would simply turn his head slightly to the right, which would automatically cut off the glare from the car lights and allow the driver to focus on the side of the road.

This helped drivers to avoid road accidents. But the same could not be said for drivers who, upon sighting individuals adorned in these ridiculous glasses, would burst into a fit of laughter and possibly lose control of the wheel!

3 Pedestrian Safety Devices

Pedestrian safety devices were placed in front of early cars to catch pedestrians who had been hit by cars. They were patterned after the cowcatcher device, which was invented in 1838. That device was attached to the front of a train to clear obstacles off the track.

Pedestrian safety devices varied in both their form and their precise function. Some, such as the Protector, were made in the form of seats so that a pedestrian who had been hit would be scooped up from the street and propped up onto the seat.

Others, such as the Man-Catcher, rolled a fallen pedestrian in front of the vehicle until the vehicle could be brought to a stop. This saved the pedestrian from being crushed to death.

2 Fifth-Wheel Parking

Most people hate parallel parking and avoid it at all costs. Thus, it is a shame that fifth-wheel parking, a system invented by Brooks Walker in the 1950s, never took off. Fifth-wheel parking was a system that was supposed to ease the difficulty of parallel parking. It used a hydraulic pump and the car’s spare tire, fitted underneath the car, to guide the car in and out of parking spaces with ease.

Walker’s first prototype was created on his own Packard Cavalier sedan, and he demonstrated his fifth-wheel parking at numerous auto shows in 1953. The big car companies were not enthused, however, and the next 20 years saw Walker fitting and modifying different cars to further develop his system.

His ultimate goal was to create a system that could be applied to any car with no changes to its basic structure. As we know today from our continued struggle with parallel parking, his system was never implemented.

1 Ford’s Soybean Car

In the 1940s, Henry Ford experimented with making plastic parts for automobiles. These experiments eventually resulted in what became known as the Soybean Car or, more recently, the Hemp Car.

The frame of Ford’s Soybean Car was made of tubular steel and had 14 plastic panels attached to it. The exact ingredients of the plastic panels are unknown, but it is believed that they were made from a chemical formula that included ingredients such as soybeans, wheat, hemp, flax, and ramie.

The Soybean Car was designed for a number of reasons. First, Ford wanted to engage in a project that combined industry with agriculture. Second, there was a shortage of metal at the time due to the ongoing world war and Ford hoped that his new plastic materials would eventually replace the traditional metals used in cars. Finally, Ford claimed that plastic panels made the car safer than traditional steel cars.

In 1941, Ford unveiled the Soybean Car at the annual community festival called Dearborn Days. By that time, however, America’s entry into World War II had suspended all auto production. When the war ended, an abundance of cheap metal quickly ended the appeal of the plastic car.

Laura is a student from Ireland in love with books, writing, coffee, and cats.

Sexual relations between humans and animals is actually legal in some countries. In others, it is a gray area and is neither legal nor illegal. However, centuries ago, bestiality was considered a grievous offense and commanded the death penalty.

Lots of people have been hanged for bestiality. However, not all were guilty. Some were hanged for flimsy reasons, such as looking like a baby animal. Others were found guilty even though the evidence was clearly flawed.

10 George Spencer

In 1642, George Spencer of New Haven, Connecticut, was executed for impregnating a sow. Spencer wasn’t caught in the act; he only became a suspect because the piglet the sow birthed looked like him.

The sow was owned by John Wakeman, who complained to a magistrate that his pig had birthed an abnormal piglet. The piglet was hairless and very soft. Its head was reddish-white, just like the head of a human child. Its ears, neck, mouth, chin and nose also resembled that of a human child. It also had one single eye protruding from the middle of its forehead.

Spencer had protruding eyes, just like the piglet. He also used to work for the former owner of the sow. So he became the suspect. Spencer appeared before the local magistrate, Stephen Goodyear, and denied any illicit relationship with the sow. However, Goodyear was already convinced that Spencer was the father of the piglet and would not take no for an answer.

Spencer continued denying any illicit relationship until Goodyear quoted Proverbs 28:13: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

Believing he would be freed if he accepted guilt, Spencer agreed that he fathered the piglet. He later retracted his confession when he realized that the lie was not going to set him free. However, it was too late. He was sentenced to death by hanging.

Spencer was hanged on April 8, 1642. While awaiting execution, the accused sow was brought to the gallows and slaughtered right in his presence. Interestingly, Spencer retracted his earlier denial and confessed that he truly got the sow pregnant. Spencer claimed guilt, not because he did it but because that was what people wanted to hear.^[1]

9 Thomas Hogg

Like Spencer, Thomas Hogg was accused of impregnating a sow because her piglet looked like him. However, he (barely) managed to escape the hangman’s noose. We know this list is about people that were executed, but Hogg’s story is so interesting we couldn’t leave it out.

During the winter of 1645–1646, Margaret Lamberton of New Haven, Connecticut, discovered that her sow had birthed two abnormal piglets. The first was unusually white, and the other had an abnormally bulging right eye and a humanlike head.

Lamberton went to the town’s doctor with the piglets. There, she concluded that the piglets were part human. The suspect was none other than Thomas Hogg, who helped her care for the sow. He had a bulging right eye and was pale and white, just like the piglets. Lamberton was further convinced that Hogg was the father because he was prone to walking around with his privates on display.

In truth, Hogg was innocent. His pale look was caused by Graves’ disease. He unwittingly exposed his genitals because he suffered from an inguinal hernia. He always wore a steel gadget to stop his penis from entering into his body. This device often cut through his breeches, exposing his privates.

Hogg denied impregnating the sow. To prove Hogg truly fathered the piglet, Theophilus Eaton, the governor of New Haven, took Hogg to the sty in which the sow lived. He observed that the sow quickly turned lustful the moment Hogg touched her. To confirm Hogg was guilty, he made Hogg touch another sow in another sty. The sow did not flinch.

Hogg continued to deny the paternity claims and was finally acquitted because there were no witnesses. He would have been hanged like Spencer if he had confessed that he’d fathered the piglet. Hogg was not totally free, though. He was found guilty of displaying his privates and stealing food from Lamberton. He was sentenced to whipping and hard labor.^[2]

8 Thomas Granger

In 1642, Thomas Granger was executed in Plymouth for having sex with several animals, including a turkey. Granger was having sex with a mare when he was caught by another servant, who reported him to the authorities. Granger confessed that he had been having sex with several other animals besides the mare.

Then came the problem of determining the animals Granger had been copulating with. Authorities concluded that he had done it with a cow, a turkey, two goats, two calves, and five sheep. He was sentenced to death by hanging. Just before Granger was executed, the accused animals were marched to the gallows and slaughtered while he watched.^[3]

7 Claudine De Culam

Sometime in 1601, a French court sentenced 16-year-old Claudine de Culam to death after she was found guilty of having sex with a dog. Claudine denied any sexual relation with the dog, but the court had an ingenious way of finding the truth.

Prosecutors took Claudine and the dog to a room just outside the courtroom. Inside, Claudine was ordered to undress. The dog jumped on her immediately and attempted to mate with her. Prosecutors mentioned that the dog would have had its way with her if they had not stopped it. They believed this was enough evidence that Claudine and the dog had been engaging in an illicit relationship.

Claudine and the dog were stangled before their corpses were burned. Their ashes were then sprinkled around.^[4]

6 John Taylor

On December 5, 1774, John Taylor (aka John Philip Snyder) was hanged in Burlington, New Jersey, for bestiality and murder. On October 2, 1774, Orpha Emlay, who employed Taylor as a farmhand, caught him having sex with one of her cows. Emlay shouted, attracting the attention of Taylor.

Taylor grabbed a knife and hammer and went after Emlay, who quickly fled. He caught her, crushed her head with the hammer, and cut her throat. Taylor was hanged with Peter Galwin, who either raped or attempted to rape four girls. The crowd was so angry with the men that they tried to kill them before they could be hanged.^[5]

5 Jacques Ferron

Now, we are back to France. Sometime in 1750, Frenchman Jacques Ferron was found guilty of having sex with a jenny (a female donkey). As you should have noticed from the previous entries, the animals involved in bestiality charges are usually executed along with the accused. However, only Ferron received the death sentence this time.

The citizens of Vanvres wrote to the magistrate, claiming that the jenny was of good behavior and had been an unwitting victim. In the letter, which was signed by the local parish priest, the jenny was said to be well-known for her gentle and honest behavior. Unfortunately, the same could not be said of Ferron, who was hanged.^[6]

4 Benjamin Goad

In 1674, 17-year-old Benjamin Goad (or Gourd) was hanged for bestiality in Massachusetts. He was caught having sex with a mare. Goad confessed that he’d been having sex with the horse for a year. No one could vouch for the mare’s behavior this time, and it was slaughtered while Goad watched. Goad himself was executed soon after.

However, we remember the execution for something else. It was the first time a sermon would be delivered at an execution. The sermon was given by the local parish priest, Samuel Danforth, who had known Goad since birth. Danforth said Goad’s execution was justified because sins like masturbation, prostitution, adultery, fornication, and bestiality were the reasons God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.^[7]

3 Walter Robinson

In 1654, 15-year-old Walter Robinson was hanged for bestiality in New Haven, Connecticut. Robinson worked as a shepherd. He was grazing his flock when a fisherman (some sources say a sailor) caught him having sex with his dog.^[8]

Robinson fled when he realized the fisherman had seen him. The fisherman shouted after him and promised that he would be executed. Robinson was later arrested. He initially denied the charge but later agreed that he had sex with the dog but said he did not fully penetrate her.

The fact that he only partially penetrated the dog would not save him from death, and he was sentenced to be hanged. Before his execution, he watched the dog stabbed to death. He and the dog were buried in the same grave.

2 William Potter

By now, you’ve probably noticed that New Haven, Connecticut, has a long history of hanging people for bestiality. William Potter was added to the long list in 1662, after his son caught him having sex with a sow. Ironically, Potter was among the people who founded New Haven.

Potter’s case was particularly of interest because he was thought to be morally and religiously upright. Besides helping in founding the colony, he also attended John Davenport’s church, which had the strictest rules for membership in the whole of New England.^[9]

Potter initially denied the charge of bestiality but later admitted that he really had sex with the sow. He confessed that he had been having sex with animals since he was 11. He said he tried suppressing the urge and once once hanged a dog because he almost had sex with it. But the urge took hold of him, and it continued for over 50 years before he was caught.

John Davenport’s church was so disgusted with the charges that they held a “Solemn Day of Humiliation on this Occasion” to cleanse the church of Potter’s sins. Potter cried as he was taken to the gallows for execution. Before he was hanged, several cows, sheep, and sows he was suspected to have copulated with were slaughtered while he watched.

1 John Farrell And Gideon Washburn

In 1796, John Farrell was sentenced to death by hanging in Massachusetts after he was caught having sex with an unnamed wild animal. Three years later, Gideon Washburn was sentenced to death by hanging in Connecticut for having sex with two mares and a cow.

The sentencing of both men surprised historians for two reasons. First, both men were in their eighties. People accused of bestiality were usually much younger. Also, no state in the Colonies/US had hanged anyone for bestiality for over a century. (Remember, John Taylor also murdered someone.) So what happened?

Historians Doron Ben-Atar and Richard Brown noted that the men were sentenced to death by hanging because of the uncertainty that followed the Revolutionary War. The US was a new and confused nation at the time. Religious teachings and beliefs were being questioned, and some people thought religion was under threat. The Puritans, who imposed many of the earlier bestiality sentences, continued to do so to show that they were in charge. However, solace came Farell’s way when Governor Sam Adams pardoned him. Washburn was also saved from the gallows when he died a few days before his scheduled execution.^[10]

In the past, the use of coins was much more varied. They were used for commerce, of course, but also for purposes of social exclusion or for healing. They could even be used to express love.

10Spintriae

Spintriae were erotic Roman coins minted from bronze or brass in the early first century. One side depicted a sexual act, while the other side depicted a Roman numeral from I to XVI.

The most common theory suggests they were used for admission into brothels. The picture side depicted the pleasures on offer, and the number side stated the chamber where these pleasures were to be provided. Alternatively, the numeral could have depicted the price of the sexual act, eliminating language barriers. Spintriae were used instead of ordinary coins to circumvent the law that bringing currency bearing the emperor’s image into a brothel was treason.

However, some claim that it is unlikely that spintriae were used as brothel tokens for numerous reasons, such as their appearance in bathhouses but never in the ruins of actual brothels. Perhaps they were tokens in a game whose rules are unknown to us.

9Angel Coin

From the Middle Ages to the early 18th century, it was believed that scrofula (a disease of the lymph nodes) could be treated, and sometimes even cured, by a monarch touching the infection. Of course, monarchs did not actually want to touch victims of the disease. Thus was born the alternative practice of a monarch touching a gold coin that could be later pressed to the infected area.

Coins became known as “touch pieces.” Gold coins known as an “angel” were the most typical choice. The reverse side of an angel coin depicted the archangel Michael standing over a defeated Satan, symbolizing the triumph of good over evil.

In 1714, George I, who regarded touch pieces as a Catholic superstition, abolished the ceremony.

8Leaden Hearts

Leaden Hearts were love tokens crafted by British convicts moved to Australia and Tasmania during the late 18th and the early 19th century. Most sentences were to last 7–14 years, so convicts wanted to leave some sort of forget-me-not to their loved ones.

Leaden hearts were made by smoothing a coin on one or both sides. The coin was then engraved with a message of affection meant for the convict’s loved ones. The engraving work was done with a series of small pin pricks and often included the names of the convict and their loved one, the length of separation, as well as phrases and rhymes of separation.

7Hobo Nickels

Coins have always been favored as an artistic medium. In 1913, for example, the Buffalo nickel became extremely popular among coin carvers. It provided a larger and thicker canvas to work on than before, so more detailed pieces could be created. Buffalo nickels were also cheaper to work on than quarters.

Carving and selling Buffalo nickels became a common occupation within the transient community and was an especially useful means of extra income during the Great Depression. The carved Buffalo Nickels became known as hobo nickels due to the widespread belief that hobos started carving them on long train rides.

6Hard Times Tokens

Hard-times tokens were minted privately from 1832–1844 as unofficial currency, meant to alleviate the shortage of coinage during the American economic depression of 1837–1844.

They were divided into three main categories. The first consisted of political propaganda, mostly for and against Andrew Jackson and his vice president, Martin van Buren. For example, one quoted van Buren’s inaugural speech as “I follow in the footsteps of my illustrious predecessor” and portrayed a running jackass (representing Jackson) leaving hoof prints behind.

The second category of hard-times tokens consisted of store tokens featuring advertisements. The third were cent look-alikes. Practically all were similar in size and composition to the large cents that they were meant to replace.

5Church Penny

During the 18th and 19th centuries, some churches in the northeastern United States commissioned special coin tokens to be used in churches only. These were issued to stop counterfeit copper coins, as well as extremely worn coins, from getting into the collection plates. Once the church had bought these tokens, it would sell them on to parishioners, who could then donate them without the fear of upsetting the church.

The First Presbyterian Church of Albany, for example, issued 1,000 such tokens in early 1790. Each was engraved with a circle of scallops and the motto “Church Penny.” The reverse side of the coin was blank.

4French Trezains

Trezains were 13 coins carved specifically for marriage in France from around the 16th century and possibly earlier. Even though carved with symbols of love such as double flaming hearts and handshakes, they were considered legitimate currency by merchants.

The groom gave the bride trezains as symbolic compensation for the goods or the land she brought to the union. During the wedding, the trezains were blessed by a Catholic priest. The total number of the coins represented Jesus and His twelve apostles. Between one to three coins were given to the priest, while the others were meant to be kept as a keepsake by the newlywed couple. However, they were almost always spent in times of hardship.

3Holey Dollar

Almost immediately after the colony of New South Wales was founded in 1788, it ran into coinage difficulties. Foreign coins were common, but the majority left the colony through trade. Lachlan Macquarie, the governor of the new colony, soon came up with a creative solution.

In 1812, Macquarie imported 40,000 Spanish reales and had the convicted forger William Henshall cut out the center of each. The result both doubled the number of coins available and prevented their export.

The coins were counterstamped and brought into circulation in 1814. Eventually, the outer ring came to be known as the holey dollar and the center as the dump. In 1822, they were replaced with sterling coinage.

2Saudi Arabian Bullion Coins

Saudi Arabian bullion coins were minted in Philadelphia by the United States Mint in 1945 and 1947. At the time, the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco) was set up in Saudi Arabia by four American oil companies. Each year, Aramco had to pay $3 million in royalties to the Saudi government. The contract specified that the payment had to be made in gold. At the time, the dollar was governed by a gold standard, and for some time, the Saudis accepted payment in United States currency. However, by 1945, they insisted for payments in gold.

Aramco, faced with the prospect of either a cut-off of much of Middle Eastern oil or the increase in the price of oil, turned to the United States government for help. As a solution, the American government minted 91,210 large gold discs bearing the Great Seal’s eagle. The Saudi Arabian bullion coins thus looked like coins, and they were used as coins, yet they weren’t technically coins.

The coins were shipped off to Saudi Arabia, and most were later melted down into bullion.

1Leper Colony Coins

Back in the day, leprosy was believed to be contagious and was one of the most feared diseases in the world. Victims were often forced to leave their homes and spend the rest of their lives in colonies known as Lazaretos.

These isolated sanatoriums surrounded hospitals for contagious diseases. But people still feared that leprosy could be transmitted through money, so special currency was developed specifically for leper colonies.

Leper colony coins started in early 20th-century Colombia and then spread to other countries and regions such as the Philippines, Japan, and Panama. At some point, these special leper coins also existed in Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Korea, Nigeria, Thailand, and Venezuela.

+Further Reading

Money, coins, treasure! We’ve covered them all before and here are a few from the archives you’ll definitely love:

10 Of The Most Intriguing Coins Of All Time
10 Real-Life Hidden Treasures You Could Still Find
10 Strange Forms Of Ancient Currency
10 Mysterious Lost Treasures of the World

Laura is a student from Ireland in love with books, writing, coffee, and cats.

Plenty of petrified people are unearthed every year. Despite this overpopulation, the fascination with the dried-out dead remains. It is not hard to see why. Mummies offer unexpected markings and ailments. They also appear to move and cluster together in bizarre imitations of a living society.

Sometimes, all that remains are mummified pieces. Even these lonesome fragments can reveal bizarre traditions about love, death, and living cocktail drinkers who must kiss amputated toes.

10 The Hun Warrior

In 1993, a girl found a grave. Alena Kypchakova, then 12, found a collapsed grotto near the rural Kam-Tytugem settlement in Siberia. Inside were the remains of a Hun warrior and his weapons.

Around 1,700 years ago, the man was wrapped in fur and placed on a wooden bed. Next to him was a bow that originally was nearly as tall as a modern man. Pieces of birch arrows revealed that the shafts were marked either white or black, possibly for quick selection during a hunt. They originally came with iron tips and bull horn pieces.

According to ancient Chinese literature, the horn carvings produced a whistle when the arrow shot through the air. This was meant to scare the enemy and distract deer from fleeing. Try as they might, researchers failed to reproduce the effect.^[1]

The mummified archer is kept at a relatively unknown museum because locals refused all attempts by bigger institutions to acquire him for their collections. Located in Kokorya, the museum is now managed by Alena Kypchakova, who found the body as a child.

9 Pygmy Woolly Mammoth

The “island effect” is when a large species turns smaller to adapt to an island environment. The woolly mammoth was one of them. However, rumors circulated about the existence of mammoths that were naturally tiny and not because of island evolution. In particular, people reported finding the bones of these animals, adults and infants, on Kotelny Island in Siberia.

In 2018, scientists headed over to the island and found the first official remains. The unique carcass had yellow fur which soon earned it the name “golden mammoth.” There was a big problem, though. The body was in an inaccessible area. Not much can be proven until its recovery.

The surrounding permafrost did give it a date—between 22,000 and 50,000 years ago. It appears to be an adult about 2 meters (6.6 ft) tall. Normal-sized mammoths measured around 5 meters (16.4 ft) tall. The age of the animal provided the first real hope of a dwarf mammoth species. During that time, Kotelny Island was attached to the mainland, which removed the “island effect” as an explanation for the small adult.^[2]

8 Greenland Surprise

Finding heart disease, atherosclerosis in particular, in mummies is nothing new. However, when researchers wheeled five bodies from Greenland into the scan room, they expected healthy tickers. The mummies belonged to 16th-century Inuits, four adults and a child.

Atherosclerosis narrows the arteries in older people, and these were young adults (plus junior). The condition is also associated with high-cholesterol foods such as pork, beef, and dairy. The Inuit group would have dined on marine mammals and fish. The latter is packed with omega-3 fatty acids, a heart health tonic.

The 2019 study was done at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. During the CT scans, atherosclerosis showed up in three of the adults. Considering their ages and diet, this was surprising. However, there was no mistake. The mummies were exceptionally well-preserved. Even their blood vessels were intact. When the disease showed up in their arteries, the results were fairly conclusive.

These are the first cases of atherosclerosis from Greenland mummies, although their condition remains mysterious. A likely cause could be that they inhaled too much smoke from indoor hearths.^[3]

7 Unique Thigh Tattoo

In recent years, the British Museum obtained the body of a woman. Her mummified remains were found in 2014 in northern Sudan on the banks of the Nile River. When researchers examined the body, they found a tattoo on her inner thigh.

To make the faded design clearer, they zapped it with infrared imaging. They found something recognizable but unique. The tattoo’s unusual look was due to stacked ancient Greek letters. It read “Mixaha,” the name of the archangel Michael.

The monogram was familiar. Archaeologists had found it before on church artifacts and mosaics. However, this was the first time it showed up on a human body. The religious-flavored tattoo might have been a protection charm, or perhaps she wanted it because her faith was important to her.

The ink was around 1,300 years old, which also made it the first body art found from this time period. Although not the oldest tattoo in history, the Sudanese woman’s symbol remains a rare find.^[4]

6 Earliest European Autopsy

In 2013, researchers examined a gruesome relic. The partial mummy consisted of shoulders, a neck, and a head. The man’s death expression was disturbing, almost like a permanent scream.

Scientists thought it was preserved during the 1400s or 1500s, but analysis placed it between AD 1200 and AD 1280. This made it Europe’s oldest preserved human autopsy. It also placed the body right in the middle of what many considered Europe’s most backward time for science.

However, the mummy was prepared by experienced hands and surprisingly advanced techniques. The ancient doctor mixed lime, beeswax, and red cinnabar mercury. The potion was injected into the veins to preserve the body and add a touch of color to the circulatory system. The back of the skull and brain were also skillfully removed.^[5]

This went against the prevailing view that human dissection in the Middle Ages was a “cut up and throw away” affair. This man was possibly even preserved for future use in medical education.

5 Embalmed Human Hearts

France is known for romance, but things went a little too far during the 16th and 17th centuries. During this time, it was considered romantic to be buried with the heart of one’s husband or wife.

In 2015, a group of mummified hearts was found under a convent. The Convent of the Jacobins in Rennes was also home to a large cemetery dating back to said centuries. One lead coffin contained a woman from the elite class, which adhered to this macabre tradition.

Lady Louise de Quengo died in 1656. While her remarkable state of preservation was noteworthy, the best find inside the coffin was a lead urn. Shaped like a valentine’s heart, it contained the real heart of her husband.

Soon, a look through more elite vaults produced four similar urns. The hearts were cleaned and scanned. The images gave researchers a good view of the 400-year-old heart valves, chambers, and arteries. Apart from a healthy organ and another that was too damaged for information, the remaining three showed signs of atherosclerosis.^[6]

4 The Mummified Hand

In Hungary, the village Nyarlorinc has an ancient graveyard. Around 540 people were buried there between the 12th and 16th centuries. When researchers paged through old photos of excavations, they found the mummified hand of a baby.

Curious as to why only one limb mummified, the remains were analyzed. The infant’s copper levels were astronomical. After digging through the cemetery’s artifacts, both the source of the copper and preservation was identified as a coin that fit inside the baby’s hand.

This revealed an unknown way of mummification, but the coin also reflected a known tradition. When a child died before it was baptized, the youngster was buried in a jar with a coin to pay St. John the Baptist to perform the ceremony. That way, the baby could go to Heaven.

The Nyarlorinc child was indeed buried in a jar. Oddly, this tradition was never recorded in Hungary before. A deeper mystery was the coin’s date—between 1858 and 1862. It meant that the baby was buried at Nyarlorinc 150 years after the cemetery was abandoned.^[7]

3 Human Toe Cocktail

Bars are known for alcoholic creativity. However, one cocktail is hard to beat. To order the sourtoe cocktail, one must travel to Yukon territory in Canada. The next step is to find the Sourdough Saloon in Dawson City.

Ask for this particular drink, and the bartender fills a tumbler with spirit (often whiskey). The final ingredient—a mummified human toe—is then plonked inside.

The drink comes with one rule. Your lips must touch the toe. When that happens, the saloon hands over a certificate. So far, over 100,000 people have earned their certificates.

The drink’s history is just as weird. It was born in 1973 after an entrepreneur found the frostbitten toe of a rum smuggler. The digit had been kept in the smuggler’s shack since the 1920s and was around 50 years old upon discovery.

The entrepreneur started the drink as a way in which people could prove themselves as worthy Yukoners. The original toe was swallowed in 1980, but several frostbitten toes have taken its place since.^[8]

2 Double Mystery Solved

Rosalia Lombardo is among the most famous mummies in the world. When pneumonia killed the two-year-old in 1920, her father commissioned Alfredo Salafia to embalm her. This procedure went so well that Rosalia still appears to be napping.

Along with thousands of others, her body was interred in the Capuchin Catacombs under Sicily’s Capuchin Convent. The rest of the corpses were prepared by monks and dried out naturally. Rosalia’s perfect looks came from a long-lost embalming recipe that nobody could crack. For decades, the pretty girl also creeped people out because she appeared to open and close her eyes.^[9]

In 2009, anthropologists tackled both mysteries. One of Salafia’s handwritten manuscripts was found, and it revealed the ingredients. He used glycerin, formalin, zinc sulfate, chloride, and a blend of alcohol and salicylic acid. He simply injected the combined fluid into Rosalia.

The creepy eye thing is an optical illusion. She was mummified with her eyes slightly open. Nearby windows cast enough light to highlight her blue eyes. But as the day shifts and shadows change, viewers are tricked into seeing closed lids.

1 Club Dead

Rosalia is not the only tourist attraction in the Capuchin Catacombs. There are thousands more bodies. Although they are not so well-preserved, the mummies belonged to what researchers called “Club Dead.” It would appear that only the elite, dressed in their best, could hope to be buried there.

Creepily, nobody was buried. Instead, the dead were arranged in poses or hung on the walls. Corpses were dressed in their best uniforms, ball gowns, and religious robes. People were separated according to gender, age, and career. In the hall of professionals, several physicians and lawyers hung from wall hooks. In the nursery, children were in their cribs.^[10]

The subterranean world was maintained by monks who were paid by relatives to change the dead’s clothes and keep them clean. Today, most of the mummies have fallen into disrepair, but their doll-like desperation to act alive remains tangible. The Club Dead collection is part of a greater mystery. Sicily once had a strong tradition of drying out their loved ones. Experts still do not know why.

The eyes may be said to be the windows of the soul, but a look at our eyes also sheds some interesting light upon diverse facets of human biology. In this list, our discoveries take us through a surprising story about the history of the blue eye mutation, lesser-known facts about eye color and disease correlations, hidden blind spots, and why we can shed three different types of tears.

10Blue-Eyed People Have A Common Ancestor

Blue-eyed humans make up a significant percentage of the population in certain areas of Europe, Eurasia, and the lands inhabited by the diaspora of these populations. Despite a range in distribution, scientists have determined that blue-eyed individuals can be traced back to a single common ancestor who would have resided in the Baltic Sea region 6,000–10,000 years ago.

Prior to a peculiar genetic change, all humans had brown eyes. A team led by Hans Eiberg from the University of Copenhagen discovered that blue-eyed humans were created by a genetic mutation on the OCA2 gene, which specifically cuts down melanin production in the iris. If the genetic effects went all the way, we would be seeing albinos rather than light-eyed individuals.

Eiberg was the original identifier of OCA2 as the gene responsible for eye color, continuing research begun in 1996. The study compared people from across Eurasia and determined just how specific were the roots of the wide-ranging mutation.

9Men And Women Exhibit Differences In Visual Perception

Men and women appear to see differently, according to some rather interesting scientific investigations. According to research by Israel Abramov and his team from CUNY’s Brooklyn and Hunter Colleges, men are more sensitive to detail and motion, whereas women excel to a greater degree when it comes to picking up the nuances of color. The study included a comparison of male and female vision with a request to describe different colors as they were shown. Men were found to require a longer color wavelength and also exhibited reduced sensitivity to slight differences between shades.

However, male volunteers exceeded the capabilities of females when it came to rapidly moving images. Males could better identify rapidly shifting images composed of colored bars compared to the women, who experienced a greater challenge at this particular task. Abramov explained that these factors are linked to thalamic neurons within the primary visual cortex, which are influenced during development by the presence of androgens.

Research at the University of Bristol indicated another difference in male versus female visual activity patterns, this time in the area of how men and women use their eyes. Men tended to fix their gaze on an individual’s face or other point of focus, whereas women would tend to shift their gaze at different parts of an image when asked to look at still images.

8Eye Color, Facial Morphology And Trust

Eye color appears to be linked to morphology and human perceptions of trustworthiness, according to a recent study in Europe. In January 2013, Karel Kleisner and her colleagues from Charles University in the Czech Republic published research identifying some fascinating biological and sociological relationships. When facial structure and eye color were compared, it was found that brown-eyed men typically possessed broader chins, larger mouths and noses, and closer eyebrows with increased prominence. In contrast, blue-eyed men had “finer” features, with narrower, more downturned mouths, longer chins, smaller eyes, and widely spaced eyebrows. The faces of these men were generally more angular in appearance.

Interestingly, public perceptions of trustworthiness from all audience members tested showed that these blue-eyed men with correspondingly different faces were less likely to garner trust from subjects. However, the few men with blue eyes who had less typical, broad faces garnered more trust. Women’s facial structures and eye colors did not seem to affect observer perception of trustworthiness, suggesting that human females may be judged according to different factors than the ones to which males are subject.

7Eye Color And Macular Degeneration

Nature does not guarantee equality when it comes to disease and genetics. Certain afflictions are biologically biased tendencies that can relate to ethnicity and distinct physiological traits. Macular degeneration is one such condition. Coming in wet and dry forms, macular degeneration sees cone cells in the central part of the eye responsible for central vision suffer damage. This leads to a loss of visual capabilities in the middle of the visual fields, although peripheral sight is maintained. Studies and observation suggest that the color of the eye and related physiological considerations play a role in macular degeneration incidence.

Blue-eyed and green-eyed individuals, especially those of British, Scandinavian, or German descent, are more prone to developing this disease compared to darker individuals who may come from nationalities with a higher number of brown-eyed individuals.

According to optometrists, those with lighter eyes such as blue eyes or lighter irises have less melanin to shield the eye and are thus more prone to macular degeneration. Macular degeneration affects women to a significantly greater degree than men. With the lightest human eyes being found in the Caucasian race, it is no surprise that these people are the most likely to experience macular degeneration. A diet rich in antioxidants and nutrients to limit free radical damage, along with the use of sunglasses, is frequently recommended to potentially reduce macular degeneration incidence.

6Cataract Risk Trends And Eye Color

Although it is tempting to assume we are all the same, seemingly superficial traits can directly affect our health predispositions in sometimes counterintuitive ways. People with light eyes tend to have light skin that burns easily in sunlight, yet scientific findings published following research in Sydney, Australia, indicate an increased incidence of certain cataracts in individuals with dark eyes at a rate of 2.5-fold. It appears that those with dark eyes are simply significantly more vulnerable to this form of harmful change over time than light-eyed humans.

Robert Cumming, PhD, points out that a certain type of cataract was significantly more likely to develop in darker-eyed individuals than those with blue or hazel eyes. Sunlight was identified as a potential factor through speculation that dark eye colors absorb sunlight in the same way black surfaces do. While sunlight may be a factor, increased cataract risks were found even in those who were not spending an inordinate amount of time in the sun. This might suggest that internal factors are also at play.

5Tears Are Very Diverse

Even the apparently simple things in nature are not as straightforward as they might seem. For example, consider human tears. Tears serve a range of purposes and form distinct types to meet different needs. Tears originate in the lacrimal glands, formed with an outer layer of oil to prevent evaporation, with a middle aqueous layer carrying nutrients and salt to the cornea. The innermost mucous layer brings essential moisture to the eyes. Tears are produced for different reasons, according to the directions our brain provides.

Basal tears have nothing to do with emotion; they coat your eyes each second with moisture. Other tears are formed in response to physical pain or as soon as the presence of foreign objects is detected. Such tears have a chemical makeup suited to providing healing effects. Finally, we have the most familiar form of tears, the emotional tears, which are a response to sadness, stress, or even extreme emotions of a positive nature such as joy. Emotional tears contain hormones that may help rid the body of chemical effects from emotions as they build up.

4Brown-Eyed People May Have Faster Reaction Times

Human reaction times and certain task performance patterns vary in studies sorting participants by dark and light eye colors. While one might ask whether the differences are directly linked to eye color, or whether a separate factor linked with eye color is at work, a scientific study involving 44 male and 82 females of Caucasian descent showed clear relationships. When tested, individuals with dark eyes exhibited statistically significant reductions in reaction times to simple stimulus trials. Complex reaction time tests indicated similar trends, even though the findings were not statistically significant.

According to the research, darker iris colors seem to indicate reductions in reaction times with tasks involving speed of response without accuracy. Blue-eyed individuals may experience great success in tasks requiring longer-term thinking, such as game strategy. Commentary by Barry Wasserman, MD, notes that while differences are slight, there may be multiple correlations that directly involve eye color as well as interrelated traits. Melanin levels in the brain could relate to melanin levels in the eyes, influencing diverse responses. Light sensitivity may also be a factor in human reactions.

3The Cornea Is Bloodless But Sensitive

Standing out as an oddball among other parts of the human body, the cornea is completely without blood vessels. Instead, the cornea receives nutrients from the tear ducts at the front and the aqueous humor from the rear. The cornea is extremely sensitive, with massive concentrations of nerve cells and an ability to protect the eye and refract light for proper vision. A perfectly clear and functional cornea is thus essential for good vision, and the need for clarity lies behind the otherwise odd lack of blood vessels, unparalleled elsewhere in the human body.

Despite the lack of blood vessels, the cornea is highly innervated. Any type of injury may not only cause long-term damage—it will be extremely painful. Damage to the surface of the cornea is not the only cause for concern. Inside the cornea, the endothelium regulates fluid flow in and out of the stoma of the eye. If the endothelial cells are lost or damaged, fluid buildup may lead to serious damage in what is known as corneal edema.

2Cataracts Reflect Aging, Not Disease

Cataracts are feared for their ability to impair vision and appear with less notice than we might expect. And rightly so are they feared, for cataracts are the leading cause of blindness worldwide. However, cataracts are not so much a disease as an aging process.

The lens of the eye is mostly protein and water, allowing for clear and vision-enabling processing of light waves. As human beings get on in years, proteins clump together, clouding and eventually leading to significant impairments of normal vision.

Increased susceptibility to glare as well as reduced vision may indicate cataract formation, which is interestingly capable of occurring in younger people even though aging is a central predisposing factor. Scientific investigation and healthy living inquiry points to nutrition as an important factor for consideration. A 10-year study looked at female health professionals and found that higher vitamin E levels in the diet, together with carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, significantly reduced cataract occurrence risks.

1Optic Nerve Attachments Create Blind Spots

We may think we have perfect vision, but every human has a blind spot in each eye where the optic nerve attaches. Known more technically as Cranial Nerve II, the extension of the ganglions from the retina acts in a manner more similar to brain tissue than eye tissue. While each optic nerve enables sight and communication between the eye and brain, its necessary attachment zone creates a full blind spot in each eye, near the center. It is simply not possible for rods and cones to be present where the optic nerve head is located.

To compensate, the blind spot in one eye will correspond to a section of the opposite eye’s retina that is seeing correctly. Therefore, we experience uninterrupted vision. The existence of these blind spots and our compensation for their effects show how subjective our perception of reality can be as our brains fool us for our own good.

Christopher Stephens is a researcher and writer based in British Columbia, Canada. He completed his M.Sc. In Environment and Management and enjoys writing about health, science, and environmental studies. An experienced naturalist, he leads world-class birdwatching tours for Pacific Rainforest Adventure Tours in B.C.

Human skeletons can be strange, even in the most normal of positions. Ancient bones have a particular knack for dropping jaws and not just their own. Societies who lived long ago sometimes buried their dead in strange ways for reasons that defy even what the experts know of their culture. But enigmatic skeletons are not the only ones found at odd angles. Victims of feuds, murder, and failed rebellions make a tragic return, while double graves reveal people with unexpected gestures and placements.

10 Hand Holding Men

The bubonic plague that swept through London was something out of a nightmare. The 1348 wave slaughtered more than half of the population. Nearly 50,000 victims received hasty burials in Smithfield.

One grave held two men holding hands; their heads turned to look to the right. Another skull was also found with the pair. The men were aged in their 40s and arranged in identical positions, with one man’s left hand holding the right of his companion. They died sometime in the early 15th century, meaning they were born after the horrors of 1348, but since they were interred in a plague field, it appears they did not survive the later waves that continued to cull London’s citizens.

While the grave had been dug with care, no remnants of coffins or burial cloth were found. If they were placed directly in the ground, it is possible that the hand holding might be accidental. Who they were, why they faced the same way or how the older man received a defensive arm fracture remains a mystery. The extra skull appears to be from an older grave disturbed by gravediggers.

9The Gender Bender

The Corded Ware culture was a Stone Age people who buried their dead according to gender. When men died, the grave was filled with weapons and tools, and the body was placed facing west. Women went into the afterlife with domestic ware while looking into the opposite direction.

In 2011, researchers found a Corded Ware man outside of Prague. When he died about 5,000 years ago, his community arranged the grave, and him, as a woman. Resting on his left side, the caveman faced east, and household jugs and pots kept him company. Considering that his people, who lived from 2,800-2,500 B.C., were very strict about funeral rites, this is unlikely to be a blunder on their part.

The archaeologists who discovered the strange skeleton believe it could signify the earliest discovery in the Czech Republic of somebody with a different sexual orientation and that it was accepted by the community. Skeptic scholars say that identification of a skeleton’s gender (by looking at pelvic differences) is about 90 percent accurate but not infallible.

8Feuds In The Desert

Over the course of 20 years, archaeologists studied 170 bodies in the Sonoran Desert. They were all laid to rest between 2100 B.C. and A.D. 50. Throughout the ages, burial customs in the Sonoran changed little. The dead were respectfully placed on their side in a curled-up position. The final resting place was then decorated with shells, crystals, bone tools, and pipes of stone.

Eight of the graves, found near the Mexican-US border, did not fit any known tradition. The skeletons were in awkward poses, almost looking disrespectfully discarded. Some died violently. There were broken bones, and one woman’s head had been set alight. A younger man was found with four apparent arrowheads inside him.

There were no ritual or preventative measures such as heavy stones or dismemberment that might have explained the corpses as victims of witch hunts or sacrifices. The way that the brutal treatment continued after death indicated the funeral was not a happy one. Researchers believe the desecration was reserved for victims of blood feuds.

7Beshtasheni

Recently, an ancient cemetery called Beshtasheni turned up two headless corpses and a head without a body. The graveyard consisted of 16 graves left behind by Late Bronze Age and early Iron Age tribes in southeastern Georgia. A young couple occupied a double tomb. The man was aged between 19-25, and the woman was around 23-25 years old. Their headless skeletons were in the fetal position. Resting on her right side, similar to her partner, the probable cause of the woman’s death came in the painful form of two bronze arrowheads. One had struck her in the leg and the other lodged close to the heart.

Their heads were never found, but another showed up in its own grave. The girl it once belonged to was around 17-25 when she died. Her skull was displayed on a plate and surrounded by offerings of ceramics, beads, and metal objects. Nearly all the tombs contained such a wealth of artifacts that it surprised even the experts. It remains unclear whether the missing body parts were intentionally removed before burial, or somehow not available due to some misfortune.

6 Cylon’s Men

When developers began digging outside of Athens, the idea was to start clearing the land for new cultural centers. Instead, some human bones rose to the surface. After all were dusted and cleared, a tragic sight met the living. Eighty men, nearly half of them shackled, were sitting in neat rows. The majority were healthy, young individuals in the prime of their lives. Two vases unearthed from the mass grave allowed researchers to date the site to 650-625 B.C. The date range placed the group in a volatile era for Athens.

One notable event occurred in 632 B.C. An Olympic champion called Cylon dreamed of taking over the city. To accomplish this, he raised an army, but when the people of Athens failed to join his rebellion, Cylon and his men were trapped inside a temple and massacred. There is no better evidence that these were Cylon’s followers, other than the time bracket being right and the shackles. The creepy, unearthly collection of skeletons is rare, though. Not many remains from the lower social classes have ever been found, and these make for a rich haul to study.

5 The Murdered Pict

Excavations in Scotland delivered an unexpected skeleton in a cave. The man was on his back and cross-legged. Beach stones weighed down his limbs. Found in the Black Isle, Ross-shire, the presence of human remains was surprising. They also found fireplaces and rubble from iron-working dating back to the time when he died.

Finding a burial inside what was probably a smithing workshop is a mystery to archaeologists. When forensic anthropologists took over, they made a grisly discovery. The 1,400-year-old man was murdered sometime between A.D. 430-630, also known as Scotland’s Pictish era. The attack he suffered was methodical and vicious. An object with a circular cross section was smashed into the right side of his face, shattering the teeth. A second swing, bearing traces of the same weapon, broke his jaw from the left. As he toppled down, a brutal blow was delivered to the back of his head. Once on the ground, a final thrust pierced his skull from one side to the other. It is unknown why he was killed, but he was buried with care, inside a dark alcove. A recent reconstruction of his face showed that he was young and handsome.

4Dark Side Of The Etruscans

The Etruscan civilization remains one of the most fascinating cultures. Peaking around 900 B.C., they were advanced and artistic. From them, the French learned about wine making and the Romans how to built roads. Their grave goods and art revealed an eclectic, good-natured people who respected their women. One skeleton brings a little-known aspect about the Etruscans to the fore—that they also had a cruel side.

In Tuscany, archaeologists found an Etruscan burial with a 20-30-year-old man inside. He was still in the chains he had died in 2,500 years ago, leaving one arm awkwardly twisted. Iron around his neck and ankles weighed almost five pounds. The shackles were a complex system designed to prevent normal walking. The metal collar was once attached to a wooden object (now gone) that ran behind the neck. Also long since degraded, were leather or material cords that connected the punishing device from his neck to the feet. This first-ever Etruscan grave with a shackled person was unexpectedly found in a necropolis containing normal burials.

3The Yamal Four

When scientists opened medieval graves in the Yamal peninsula, they found something odd. The archaeological site Yur-Yakha III is an 11th-century cemetery where four graves defied the norm. Unique for the time, the skeletons were crouching in a fetal-like fold. There are no similar graves on the peninsula. Other sites produced bodies in extended positions, which was normal for Yamal’s medieval period.

Between the man and three women existed an abnormal amount of serious physical ailments. Just some of the conditions included shoulder dislocation, dental abnormalities, sinusitis, and lower spinal trauma caused by giving birth. The women were young, in their late teens or early twenties and the man around 50. His state was particularly diseased—and scorched. He had hyperostosis, a condition where bone tissue cannot stop growing, and as a child, he experienced more illness and starvation. After death, his body had been briefly set on fire. Enough to burn soft tissue but not the bones. There is no record of such a ritual or sacrifice from the region, which deepens the puzzle even more.

2Sacrificial Twist

Along Peru’s north coast, ancient prisoners-of-war could look forward to one fate. During gory ceremonies, such men were sacrificed. Recently, researchers encountered a different version when they found six skeletons near the city of Chiclayo. Found at a temple in Pucalá, they had clearly been sacrificed.

Surprisingly, the remains belonged to healthy young women. They were killed around A.D. 850, and their bodies arranged in odd positions. Four were piled into one grave. The other two were on sloping platforms, feet in the air. Also breaking with tradition is that it appears to have been a private event held within the temple. Sacrifice was often public, but the women apparently died behind high walls obscuring the ritual. They were buried beneath the floor of the mud-brick complex, but unlike other north-south Moche burials, they were aligned in an east-west line. The only thing they had in common with their male counterparts was that the bodies lacked several ribs. This fits with a known purification ritual of sacrificed individuals being left outside so vultures could consume their organs.

1The Mesolithic Half-Burial

During the Mesolithic, hunter-gatherers never remained in one location for long. When nine skeletons were found just 50 miles north of Berlin, archaeologists excitedly realized they were looking at one of the earliest permanent cemeteries in Europe. It was used between 6400-500 B.C., and the oddest resident was a man who had been buried upright. Not only does he stand in a vertical grave but he was only partially covered up.

After the young man died, about 7,000 years ago, he was placed in a standing position with his back against the wall of the five-foot pit. To steady the body, the hole was filled with sand to above knee level. The most bizarre behavior was that his community left him there, half exposed, until the upper body disintegrated from decay, and predators had a good nibble on his arms. Only then was the tomb completed. The strange sight was filled up and sealed by lighting a fire on top. Since the skeleton was respectfully surrounded with grave goods, researchers believe the unique funeral was not a form of punishment.

Ten curious questions you never thought to ask, and their answers:

Q: If a smoker goes in to a coma for long enough, do they wake up without a craving to smoke?
A: It takes around 8 days for nicotine to completely leave the bloodstream, taking with it the physical craving. If a person is in a coma for longer, they would not have cravings for nicotine when they wake up, though they may still feel the effects of the habitual nature of smoking.

Q: What is the temperature at the tip of a burning cigarette?
A: 1292 Fahrenheit (700 celsius) when the smoker inhales. It is cooler between puffs.

Q: When will the world end?
A: Unless a major catastrophe occurs beforehand, in 4.4 billion years the sun will cease to provide heat and light.

Q: If you fell out of a space ship and held your breath, how long would it take you to die?
A: Holding your breath in space is likely to damage your lungs. You have about 15 seconds before your pass out and die in Space, due to lack of Oxygen.

Q: What are the average wages of a porn star?
A: From 50 – 1,500 dollars per scene. Women generally earn more than men, and successful stars can earn six figure salaries.

Q: In which countries is prostitution legal?
A: Parts of Australia, Parts of the USA, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and a number of other nations. For a more complete list (in case you are planning your vacation) try this Wikipedia article.

Q: What country is Timbuktu in?
A: Timbuktu is in Mali, West Africa

Q: How much does a mail order bride cost?
A: $5,000 is about the overall going rate

Q: Who invented the drinks can?
A: Ermal Fraze of Dayton, Ohio, invented it in 1963. It us US Patent 3,349,949

Q: If you tied buttered toast to the back of a cat and dropped it from a height, what would happen?
A: The cat would land on its feet as they can twist in mid-air to ensure they land feet down. Toast only has mythical power to land butter side down.

When it comes to lawsuits concerning the food industry, someone has to be in the wrong. Often, we’ll find that a company is trying to deceive its customers, but in some cases, the customers themselves can make some pretty outlandish claims.

While it’s true that most lawsuits are pretty straightforward, a select few of them stood out and made headlines across the world. Some were justified class-action lawsuits, while others just seem like feeble attempts at suing the food industry for something they weren’t responsible for. Here are ten utterly ridiculous, absurd, and astonishing lawsuits that involved the food industry.

10 The Amount Of Ginger In Canada Dry

Ginger ale is often used to remedy common stomachaches and fevers because of the carbonation and, of course, the (naturally medicinal) ginger. Yet, in 2018, Julie Fletcher noticed a lack of the word “ginger” in Canada Dry’s list of ingredients and filed a federal lawsuit. The stated ingredients used to make Canada Dry are: carbonated water, high-fructose corn syrup, citric acid, sodium benzoate, natural flavors, and caramel color. According to her lawyer, Michael J. DeBenedictis, Fletcher believed that Canada Dry was using ginger root in their soda and thus believed that it would be a healthier alternative than regular sodas.

The company’s argument was that ginger is used in the process to make the “natural flavoring” that is listed in the ingredients. One factor that may have confused Fletcher further was a Canada Dry commercial that was aired back in 2011 which depicts a farmer and a crop of ginger. It certainly doesn’t help if the label says “Made from Real Ginger,” either.

A similar lawsuit against Dr Pepper (which makes Canada Dry) was filed in Missouri. Lab tests revealed that Canada Dry did not contain any ginger. The company argued that just because the lab tests couldn’t detect ginger doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. That suit was ultimately dismissed at the request of the plaintiff.^[1]

9 Popeyes Sued By Customer After He Choked On Their Food

Usually, when someone chokes on their food, it’s because they ate it too fast or were negligent in making sure it was chewed thoroughly before swallowing. Apparently, this was not the case when a man from Mississippi filed a lawsuit against Popeyes. His complaint? He had to eat a large piece of fried chicken with his hands because of the fact that he didn’t get a knife with his drive-thru order, which ultimately made him choke on his food.

According to Paul Newton Jr., the man who sued Popeyes for this injustice, he only received a spork when the incident occurred late 2015. He ordered two chicken breasts with red beans and rice, a biscuit, and a soft drink. As with any order, the food came with napkins, packets of salt and pepper, and a spork. While driving back to his office, he started eating his food by using his spork to eat his beans and rice. Since he didn’t have a plastic knife with his food, he resorted to eating the chicken with his bare hands, which was (according to him) why he started to severely choke on his meal.

In addition to suing Popeyes for not including a plastic knife with his meal, Newtown also sought financial compensation for his pain and suffering and medical expenses since they had to perform emergency surgery to remove the piece of chicken from his throat. In the end, however, Newton dropped the suit.^[2]

8 McDonald’s Sued For Millions Over Two Slices Of Cheese

In 2018, two Florida residents filed a $5 million lawsuit against the fast food giant, claiming that they’ve been charging customers up to $1 extra for pieces of cheese on their hamburgers that they didn’t ask for or receive. Leonard Werner was the one who realized that McDonald’s was charging him extra for a Quarter Pounder with Cheese while still giving him a cheese-less hamburger, as he requested.

According to Werner, the McDonald’s app menu includes a cheese-less Quarter Pounder, but their actual restaurant menus don’t. This means that up to 25 million customers may have been overcharged, and if the judge sides with the plaintiffs in this case, they could all be eligible to receive $10 and a free sandwich. Yet, McDonald’s is confident that won’t happen. In their opinion, the case is “without legal merit.”^[3]

7 Fruitless Froot Loops

Back in 2009, a man by the name of Roy Werbel made headlines when he tried to sue Kellogg’s for their dastardly marketing that led him to believe there was actual, nutritious fruit in Froot Loops. The case got dismissed without prejudice because of the fact that Werbel had not successfully served Kellogg’s. It wasn’t long before he came back to start things up again and make sure that he served Kellogg’s correctly. Yet, Werbel still faced bigger problems with the lawsuit than just serving the defendant the right way . . .

Two federal judges made some valid points in the previous lawsuit. First of all, the word “Froot” cannot be interpreted as suggesting that there’s real fruit in the cereal. “Froot” isn’t real, and real fruit cannot come in the form of “loops.” There have been at least four cases made against Kellogg’s about Froot Loops (counting Werbel’s twice) over this same false assumption.^[4]

6 Greek Yogurt That Isn’t Greek Enough

The makers of Chobani Greek Yogurt found themselves in hot water back in 2014 when two men sued them, claiming that there was absolutely nothing Greek about their products. According to them, Chobani’s Greek Yogurt is about as nutritious as a fudge ice cream bar. This is actually true, considering the fact that it shares the same amount of sugar (16 grams) as a Nestle Fudge ice cream bar. They also argued that none of Chobani’s products are even made in Greece and that they create further confusion among customers by placing a “0%” on their label without actually elaborating on what it represents.

The two men who filed the class-action lawsuit are Barry Stoltz from Scarsdale and Allan Chang from Queens. They sought an unspecified amount of compensation for damages after being tricked into believing that the “0%” on the label meant that there are zero calories/sugar. (The “0%” actually means that the product is nonfat.) Chobani did hit back at Stoltz and Chang, saying that the word “Greek” on their yogurt products simply refers to the way they make their yogurt, not where it’s from. They also pointed out that they’d managed to get a similar suit dismissed in California.^[5]

5 The ‘Fast Food Made Me Fat!’ Lawsuit

In 2002, a 56-year-old man from New York named Caesar Barber filed a class-action lawsuit against multiple fast food companies, including KFC, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s, for jeopardizing his health with their unhealthy food. Barber’s lawsuit claims that the fast food restaurants, where he says he used to eat at four to five times a week (even after suffering a severe heart attack), did not properly disclose all the ingredients in their food to him. In an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America, he said that “they never explained to him what he was eating.”

According to Barber’s lawyer, Samuel Hirsch, the fast food industry has the responsibility to warn their customers of the dangers of consuming their food. It is Barber’s opinion that the fast food companies involved caused him to sustain serious injuries, including two heart attacks, and made him diabetic. A spokesperson for the food industry could hardly believe that Barber made his legal argument with a straight face. While some nutrition advocates and doctor’s groups insist that the food industry should take some responsibility for the obesity epidemic, Barber’s lawsuit was the first known legal action to claim that the fast food industry knowingly contributed to the obesity problem in the United States.^[6] A judge threw Barber’s case out in 2003.

4 The ‘There’s Sugar In Jelly Beans?’ Lawsuit

In 2017, a woman from California filed suit against the makers of Jelly Belly jelly beans for tricking her into believing that one of their products was free of sugar. Her name is Jessica Gomez, and her complaint is about Jelly Belly’s Sport Beans, which are marketed as an exercise supplement containing carbs, vitamins, and electrolytes.^[7] The problem is that the ingredients list does not specify sugar as an ingredient but instead uses the phrase “evaporated cane juice.”

Gomez’s class-action lawsuit claims that the wording used on the label is in violation of the state’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act, Unfair Business Practices Law, and False Advertising Law and that it is designed to intentionally confuse customers who are health-conscious. Jelly Belly called the case “nonsense” in a notion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying that no reasonable customer would miss the amount of sugar content listed on their product’s “Nutrition Facts” panel. However, the Food and Drug Administration is on Gomez’s side; in 2016, they stated that the term “juice” shouldn’t be used unless it’s referring to that of a fruit or vegetable.

3 Krispy Kreme’s Falsely Advertised Ingredients

A man from Los Angeles filed a lawsuit against Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in 2016, claiming that they’d falsely advertised the ingredients of their fruit-filled and maple-glazed doughnuts. Jason Saidian sought $5 million in damages from the pastry chain for the nonexistence of the “premium ingredients” advertised in their products. According to Saidian, Krispy Kreme conducts “false and misleading business practices” because of the fact that their “Chocolate Iced Raspberry Filled,” “Glazed Raspberry Filled,” “Maple Bar,” and “Glazed Blueberry Cake” doughnuts don’t actually contain any real raspberries, maple, or blueberries.^[8]

Saidian said that he felt cheated because the company had used real fruit in other items, like the “Glazed Lemon Filled” and “Glazed Strawberry Filled” doughnuts. He also said that if he had known that the other doughnuts did not contain any actual maple syrup, raspberries or blueberries, he wouldn’t have bothered to purchase them. The case was voluntarily dismissed in 2017.

2 The ‘Nutella Isn’t A Health Food?’ Lawsuit

In 2012, the makers of Nutella, Ferrero USA, lost a class-action lawsuit against a parent who claimed that she was fooled into thinking that it was good for her kids. As part of the settlement, any US citizen who purchased a bottle of Nutella between January 1, 2008, and February 3, 2012, can file a claim. (California residents had different dates, specifically between August 1, 2009, and January 23, 2012.) Customers had until July 5, 2012, to file claims for up to five jars of Nutella, and they could expect to receive $4 back per jar, for a maximum compensation of $20 per household.

Athena Hohenberg, the Californian parent who proposed the class-action lawsuit, said that she fed her four-year-old daughter Nutella after she saw the advertisements which suggested that the spread was part of a healthy breakfast. She was shocked to find out that Nutella was, in fact, practically a candy bar. The lawsuit certainly underwent some degree of ridicule across the Internet, but the makers of Nutella agreed that their marketing campaign was misleading. Ever since then, Nutella has changed their labels and advertisements to better inform their customers of the chocolate spread’s contents.^[9]

1 Subway’s Footlongs Come Up Short

Back in 2013, a teen from Australia took a photo of his Subway footlong sandwich next to a tape measure, in which the sandwich only measured up to 28 centimeters (11 in) instead of the promised 30 centimeters (12 in) usually portrayed in the media. His post sparked public outrage and went viral, which led to a class-action lawsuit. In 2016, Subway settled and promised to make sure that their bread rolls would be at least 12 inches to ensure more uniformity in their bread. The suing attorneys were just about to make $520,000 in fees, when the director for the center for Class Action Fairness at the Competitive Enterprise Institute objected to the settlement. According to him, the class in the class-action lawsuit received “negligible to no relief.”

The judge involved with the case agreed that the settlement didn’t benefit anyone but the attorneys involved. Ultimately, the settlement got thrown out in 2017. This was because of a few key facts that made the case quite weak. In the first place, the majority of the bread that was being sold at Subway restaurants was at least 12 inches long, and anything that didn’t reach that length only missed it by a quarter of an inch. Also, all the raw dough sticks used to bake the bread sold at Subway restaurants weigh exactly the same. Due to the natural process involved with baking the bread, the final results could leave some loaves slightly shorter and wider than others. Lastly, the amount of meat and cheese included with each and every sandwich is standardized, which means that a sandwich that is slightly shorter than 12 inches still contains the same amount of meat and cheeses as it would have if it measured up to 12 inches.^[10]

You can follow me on Twitter @JustThatChickXD.

Naked yoga is a thing. Who knew? Why in the world would someone want to do yoga naked? According to proponents of this unorthodox form of exercise, naked yoga boosts self-esteem, improves body image, and enhances the mind-body connection. While that may sound lovely, you may want to think twice if you have the urge to practice your downward dog pose au naturel. Because apparently, getting arrested while doing naked yoga is also a thing. Again, who knew?

There are so many questions to be asked. Why yoga in the buff? What makes a person think, “I’d like to take off my clothes and do yoga in public?” Is this a new phenomenon, or have news outlets just begun to cover naked yoga in the last ten years? Are we going to continue to see this open-air practice, or is naked yoga in public just a fad? It’s a mystery. But it’s definitely a thing.

Related: 10 Trends Hipsters Wrongly Think They Invented

10 West Covina, California

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

The first documented case of this bizarre behavior seems to have occurred in a suburb of Los Angeles County at Cortez Park. The park boasts a spacious greenway featuring baseball and football fields, a picnic gazebo, and children’s play structures.

On the morning of February 17, 2013, police responded to several 911 calls reporting that an unnamed woman had been seen taking off her clothing in the park. By the time officers arrived on the scene, the woman was fully nude and had begun practicing yoga. The female suspect was later identified as Eleanor Ferrer, 19. She was arrested on suspicion of indecent exposure. No information was given regarding Ferrer’s state of mind at the time of her arrest.^[1]

9 Ocala, Florida

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

With Florida in the title, who knows where this one will lead? On July 10, 2014, a woman was arrested after she was found doing naked yoga on a highway in Marion County, Florida. According to witnesses, the woman was wearing nothing but her panties and had begun doing yoga exercises in the middle of Sanchez Street, just a few blocks from a middle school. Police responded to 911 reports at approximately 3:40 pm that day. Witnesses also reported that the suspect appeared to be intoxicated.

The suspect, identified as Michelle Rene Cernak, 51, had been driving a Chevy GMC pickup truck, which she parked but left running. She exited the truck, stripped off her clothes, and began doing yoga in the middle of the street about ten feet away.

Unfortunately for Cernak, police searched her truck and found quite a lot of drugs, which could account for the naked yoga. To be clear, Cernak was not charged at the time of her arrest for doing naked yoga, but she was charged with several counts of felony drug possession.^[2]

8 Laconia, New Hampshire

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

In May 2016, Ginger Pierro decided to do some topless yoga on the beach at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. She was approached by police officers who advised her that they had had several complaints about her doing “nude yoga.” According to police, they asked her several times to put on a top or cover herself, and she refused. She was arrested and charged with violating a Laconia ordinance that requires women to cover their breasts while in public.

Pierro, along with two other defendants who were arrested that same weekend for baring their breasts in public, appealed their convictions. In 2019, the New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld their convictions, finding that the ordinance did not discriminate against women. It turns out that Pierro and the other defendants were part of the “Free the Nipple” movement that seeks to make it legal for women to go topless in places where men are permitted to go shirtless.^[3]

7 Aurora, Colorado

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

On June 5, 2017, at about 6:45 am, Aurora police received a 911 call from a concerned citizen who reported that a naked man was in the street doing yoga. An officer reportedly responded promptly to the call but was unable to find anyone fitting that description. However, the officer did locate a pile of men’s clothing outside a nearby business.

The items reportedly found included a pair of pants, a shirt, socks, underwear, and a pair of Nikes. According to the responding officer, the items recovered were “tagged as evidence.” The open case was filed under indecent exposure, and the police released a report later in the day indicating that there was a “naked yoga enthusiast on the loose.”^[4]

6 Jacksonville, Florida

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

On July 11, 2017, Jesse Negron, 33, was arrested and charged with indecent exposure. Police were flagged down on a street near Negron’s home to respond to a report that someone was running around naked. Witnesses told police and reporters that the man had been dancing and doing yoga in the middle of the street.

Negron’s neighbors were very concerned about his behavior given that there were children in the neighborhood. One neighbor described him as “a character” and believed he meant well, adding that he was a “good landscaper.” (Nope, not going there.) The arresting officer stated that Negron did not appear to be intoxicated and had no history of mental health issues. Florida again—must be the heat!^[5]

5 Haverhill, Massachusetts

In July 2018, a Massachusetts man, Eric M. Stagno, 34, was charged with indecent exposure, lewdness, and disorderly conduct after he was arrested at a Planet Fitness in nearby Plaistow, New Hampshire. Witnesses reported that Stagno entered the gym and took his clothes off at the front desk, leaving them in a pile there before he walked back and forth across the gym. He settled on some yoga mats and began doing “yoga-type poses.”

It’s better not to imagine what sort of poses he was doing. In Stagno’s defense, when confronted by police officers, he reportedly told them that he thought Planet Fitness was supposed to be a “judgment-free zone,” citing the gym’s slogan, which would obviously allow him to exercise in the nude.^[6]

4 Portland, Oregon

In July 2020, a Black Lives Matter protester who received the moniker “Naked Athena” was photographed at a protest wearing only a knit beanie and face mask as she faced off with a line of police. The photographs received national attention and depicted her doing various yoga poses.

Although the woman was never identified or arrested, she spoke with several press outlets anonymously. She called herself “Jen” and reported that she believed being naked and doing yoga poses would show police how vulnerable people were. Huh? Okay. Maybe? She called nakedness her “expression,” and the poses, she said, were in response to being shot with rubber balls on her feet.^[7]

3 Leicester, England

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

If you thought this trend was just a crazy American thing, think again. A man convicted of four counts of indecent exposure was ordered by a judge to be detained in a psychiatric hospital in September 2021. In a bizarre report, the man, while wearing a rabbit mask, exposed himself to a group of firefighters after they intervened when they saw him harassing a woman on the street. On another occasion, the man allegedly was seen doing yoga naked near the clock tower in the center of town. Onlookers apparently included families with children.

The man was identified as David Rosen, 51, and appeared before a judge who noted that Rosen had a long history of psychiatric issues and hoped he would get the help he needed.^[8]

2 Knoxville, Tennessee

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

On December 8, 2021, a Knoxville woman was arrested after taking off her clothes and doing yoga in front of a business located on North Broadway. Witnesses reported that the woman also prevented employees at John Bailey Insurance from leaving the building by lying in front of the door.

By the time police arrived on the scene at 5 pm, the suspect, Lisa Breeden, 47, was found in the parking lot outside the business and had put her clothes back on. According to a report filed by police, Breeden “was unsteady on her feet, had slurred speech, had bloodshot watery eyes, and nodded off multiple times while officers tried to speak with her.” The reason for her yoga antics was not clear.

Breeden was charged with disorderly conduct.^[9]

1 Bali, Indonesia

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

In May 2022, Alina Fazleeva, a Russian yoga influencer, ran into some trouble after doing a nude photo shoot comprised of various yoga poses in front of a sacred tree in Bali. The tree, a 700-year-old weeping paper bark known as Kayu Putih, is located inside the Babakan Temple grounds.

Fazleeva reportedly has thousands of Instagram followers. After posting one of the images to her account, locals became enraged over the nude photo. Fazleeva found herself faced with the prospect of a six-year jail sentence and a possible $100,000 fine for violating local pornography laws. The photo was quickly deleted by Fazleeva, and she issued a public apology. The yoga influencer was ultimately deported and banned from entering Bali for six months.^[10]