Political intrigue and espionage are nothing new. But in the days before high-tech spy gear, the work of spies looked far different than it does today. The lives of 15th- and 16th-century spies were filled with intrigue, backstabbing, and bizarre machinations, though, because the human race has not changed all that much.

10 William Parry

During the reign of Elizabeth I, being a Catholic was a dangerous thing. Many Catholics fled to the continent, and William Parry was sent to spy on them. He sent regular reports back to London, telling his queen who was harmless and who might be plotting against her from the relative safety of Paris.

His troubles began in 1580 when he was put on trial for allegedly assaulting a moneylender. The queen pardoned him from execution, but he was unable to sustain the lifestyle to which he had become accustomed. By 1583, he had decided to play both sides and wrote to a Roman cardinal of his intentions to serve the Catholic Church.

It was not a wise life choice. In 1585, Parry was hanged, drawn, and quartered for his part in a plot to kill the queen.

9 Isabella Hoppringle

Isabella Hoppringle was the 16th-century prioress of the convent at Coldstream, which sat on the border between England and Scotland. At the same time that she relied on the Scots to keep her convent safe, she was writing letters to agents of Henry VIII reporting on the Scottish army.

Her favored position with Scotland’s queen, Margaret, meant that Isabella was often in Glasgow and Stirling and that she was witness to troops being mustered and equipped. In 1523, the Lords of Council decided that the punishment for talking to the English would be the death penalty, and word had gotten out about the prioress’s messages. It was only when Margaret interceded that the lords called off an attack on the convent and made it clear that Isabella was safe only for as long as she was loyal.

Isabella—and her successor, Janet Hoppringle—continued their work for the English.

8 George Eliot

There were few things that got the attention of the Tudor monarchs faster than writing a book called Ten Reasons (to be a Catholic), which Jesuit priest Edmund Campion did in 1581.

The Earl of Leicester sent George Eliot, a known con artist, after the priest. Eliot was desperate to avoid a sentence for murder when he agreed to spy on the priest, collect the needed evidence, and ultimately arrest him. Eliot ingratiated himself into an Oxfordshire parish to keep an eye on the rogue priest, finally fetching the local magistrate to oversee the arrests.

Campion managed to hide until the owner of the house at which he was staying requested that he give a sermon in the middle of the night. He finished the sermon, but the members of the household had gathered to hear it and woke those who were looking for them. The priest was ultimately hanged, drawn, and quartered.

7 Bertrandon de la Broquiere

In 1432, Frenchman Bertrandon de la Broquiere embarked on a year-long espionage mission to Palestine for the Duke of Burgundy and was tasked with gathering any military information that would assist in mounting a Crusade against the Turks.

Bertrandon wrote that the Turks were disciplined but lacking in arms, and in retrospect, it seems as though he erred on the side of optimism. He also wrote of the helpful nature of those who cared for him while he was sick and painted many of the people he met as selfless humanitarians in spite of their different religions.

His story was an incredible one, filled with near misses, traveling in disguise, and even joining a Muslim caravan to Bursa. In the end, he optimistically reported back in favor of a victorious Crusade for the Christians, but no Crusade happened as a result of his intel.

6 Petrus Alamire

Petrus Alamire is not his real name. The pun on musical notes (A-la-mi-re) was given to a spy working for Henry VIII—a spy who also made a career as a musician and scribe.

Alamire was Bavarian, and his workshop produced some of the most beautifully illuminated manuscripts of the early 16th century. They were often gifted to members of the royal courts of Europe, who would then send for the mastermind who had created them. With unprecedented access to royal houses, Alamire collected intel that he passed on to other royals whom he wanted to keep indebted to him.

Alamire supplied a massive amount of information to Henry VIII, his biggest client, on the movement of Richard de la Pole, the last Yorkist with any claim to the throne. But Alamire was also passing information to Pole and never returned to the English court after his betrayal was uncovered.

5 Francis Walsingham

Francis Walsingham, well traveled and fluent in Italian and French, was the spymaster for Elizabeth I for 22 years. Walsingham had more than 50 agents working in Turkey and other countries across Europe, but Elizabeth’s biggest threat was not far from home.

Walsingham and his spies spent much of their careers gathering evidence of plots to overthrow Elizabeth and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots. Even after the conspirators in the so-called Babington plot were hanged, drawn, and quartered, Elizabeth still refused to sign Mary’s death warrant.

She finally signed on February 1, 1587. Walsingham oversaw Mary’s execution, the burning of her clothing, and the encasing of her body in lead (to ensure there would be no relics circulating). He also established a school for the spies under his control, where they were taught things like reading and writing coded messages.

4 Antony Standen

Antony Standen (aka “Pompeo Pellegrini”) was one of Francis Walsingham’s many spies. Based in Italy, Standen reported on the movements of the Spanish Armada, although he was living in exile because of his Catholic beliefs.

Moving from England to Scotland to France and finally landing in Tuscany, Standen was fortunate enough to get friendly with Tuscany’s ambassador to Spain. In 1587, Standen was officially on Walsingham’s payroll and began passing him regular information that ultimately allowed Sir Francis Drake to move on the Spanish fleet while at Cadiz.

Standen’s information helped to cripple the Spanish fleet. But by the time he finally returned to England in 1593, Walsingham was dead and Standen’s service was overlooked. Later, he attempted to help the Catholic Church regain a foothold in England and found himself in the Tower of London.

3 William Herle

In 1571, Philip II of Spain and Pope Pius V were in league with a Florentine banker named Roberto Ridolfi in an attempt to depose Elizabeth in favor of Mary. Ridolfi’s messenger, Charles Bailly, was arrested and sent to Marshalsea Prison. There, he met another prisoner, William Herle, who had been serving as a spy for Elizabeth I since around 1559.

Herle had been arrested for piracy in 1570 (and 1567) and was planted in Marshalsea to extract information from Bailly. After Bailly was put in isolation, Herle stepped in as a questionable, shady character who could get certain things accomplished.

Bailly began passing letters to his counterparts on the outside through Herle, who obligingly passed them along after he had copied them for his own employers. The unraveling of the plot changed the dynamic of the political spectrum in England and abroad.

2 William Stafford

To try to convince Elizabeth I to sign Mary’s death warrant, Francis Walsingham used all sorts of methods, including devising plots against Elizabeth’s life.

William Stafford, the younger brother of England’s French ambassador, was completely Walsingham’s man. In 1587, Stafford came forward with a bizarre assassination plot that he had uncovered. France’s ambassador, Chateauneuf, and his secretary had reportedly recruited Stafford to plant gunpowder under the queen’s bed to kill her.

Eventually, the French ambassador and his secretary were cleared of the accusations, and Walsingham concluded that Stafford had been using his position to extort money. Even so, Stafford remained in Walsingham’s service. It remained unclear if Walsingham was behind the whole setup or if Stafford had decided to give Elizabeth another reason to be wary of assassination attempts.

1 Madame de Sauve And The Flying Squadron

According to the memoirs of Pierre de Bourdeille, Catherine de’ Medici kept 86 (or 300) ladies-in-waiting to lure the men of the court into their beds to extract top secret information. Catherine then used the information from her “Flying Squadron” to secure her own position and that of her family.

The most notorious of these women was Charlotte de Beaune, Madame de Sauve. Catherine’s daughter, Marguerite, wrote extensively about Charlotte’s wooing of both Marguerite’s husband and her brother. Marguerite claimed that her mother had pitted the two men against each other with a maneuvering temptress in the middle, but the truth of Catherine’s manipulations of the men and women in her court is rather cloudy.

Mankind’s love of records left behind countless documents. Needless to say, some are so common that the very sight of them makes people regret going to the museum.

Then there are the secret codes and oaths, unique manuscripts, and caves marked with people’s fear. Text-obsessed scholars are talking in dead tongues and admit once again that the ancient Egyptians did some amazing things.

The world of rare words and pictures is a magnetic one. Sometimes, it’s even downright funny.

10 Oldest Near-Death Case

In 1740, a French doctor called Pierre-Jean du Monchaux described a curious case. An unconscious patient had recovered, only to describe a light so pure and white that the man was convinced he had stood with one shoe in Heaven. The case was included in the doctor’s book, Anecdotes de Medecine.

It might have gone unnoticed if not for Phillippe Charlier, who recently riffled through an antique shop. Ironically, he was also a French doctor. He found the book by chance and bought it for less than $1.

When he read about the case, Charlier realized he was looking at the world’s oldest report of a near-death experience. It was a time when people leaned on religion to explain such things, but the ancient physician stayed professional. He suggested a medical reason—too much blood rushing to the brain.

Monchaux’s assessment nearly matched modern explanations. Today, researchers think a lack of blood flow and oxygen to the brain cause the sensations of a near-death experience.^[1]

9 The Mysterious Devourer

In 2017, archaeologists took their shovels to a shrine-like building. The small structure stood at Zincirli in Turkey and soon yielded a pot. The stone vessel originally held cosmetics but was reused to display an incantation.

A story was carved over the surface, describing the capture of something called a “devourer” which was said to bring “fire” to its victims. The only way a person could recover was to use the devourer’s own blood.

The incantation did not specify how the blood was to be administered or the creature’s identity. Illustrations suggested that it was either a centipede or a scorpion. The “fire” sounds like a painful sting.

The author was a magician called Rahim, who carved the advice in Aramaic 2,800 years ago. This made it the oldest Aramaic incantation ever found. Archaeologists believe that the incantation was important enough to preserve after the magician’s lifetime because the inscription was already over a century old by the time the temple was built.^[2]

8 Dirty Bathroom Jokes

Ancient bathrooms with floor mosaics are rare. When one was found in 2018 in Turkey’s ancient city of Antiochia ad Cragum, it was a cause for celebration. However, the images were not beautifully rendered legends or geometric patterns. The tiny tiles told dirty jokes.

As Roman men visited the latrine around 1,800 years ago, they would have been amused by the antics of Narcissus and Ganymede. Both men belonged to real myths. Narcissus was in love with his own image. Ganymede was kidnapped by the god Zeus as a slave but also as a love interest.

The mosaics twisted the stories, first by giving Narcissus an ugly nose. Instead of admiring his reflection, he appeared to be fixated on his genitals. Ganymede’s scene was even more detailed. He was getting his private parts sponged clean by a heron. The type of sponge was usually reserved for cleaning toilets, and the bird represented Zeus.^[3]

The unusual theme stunned archaeologists but at least proved that bathroom humor is nothing new.

7 The Creswell Marks

The border of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire is marked by a limestone gorge. Called Creswell Crags, the site is historically significant. Apart from past discoveries of ancient remains, Creswell holds the only Ice Age art in Britain.

After years of investigations, the caves managed to deliver a big surprise in 2019. A tour group stumbled upon the country’s largest collection of apotropaic marks. The engravings had nothing do to with the Ice Age gallery. The latter were thousands of years older, while the newfound carvings were from medieval times until the 19th century.

Historians recognized several of the symbols. Also called witches’ marks, their purpose was to protect the living from bad supernatural influences. Among the most popular was “VV,” invoking the Virgin Mary. Others—like boxes, mazes, and diagonal stripes—captured whatever mysterious evil brought diseases and made the crops fail.^[4]

Dense clusters of symbols lined the ceilings and walls of the caves, a testament to the local people’s fear of the unknown.

6 The Nag Hammadi Library

Around 1,400 years ago, a jar was buried in Egypt. Containing 13 codices, the vessel was rediscovered in 1945 near the town of Nag Hammadi. The rolls contained Gnostic records of Jesus. The Gnostic tradition, an early and sometimes mystical branch of Christianity, is considered to be heretical by mainstream Christians. Most were traditionally penned in Coptic, a language that was spoken in Egypt for centuries.^[5]

In 2017, researchers in Texas found that one codex was different. Instead of Coptic scribbles, the text was Greek. This was exceptional. The work in question, the First Apocalypse of James, had never been recovered in ancient Greek before. The piece covered a conversation between Jesus and James, the latter taking instructions on how to continue teaching after Jesus’s death.

Another feature that set the scroll apart was little dots that divided the text into syllables. This rare technique is known from educational texts, which suggested the writer used the heretical gospel to teach Greek to students.

5 Unique Palimpsest

Centuries ago, writing material was expensive. Sometimes, an old manuscript would be scraped clean and inked with new information. These recycled documents are known as palimpsests.

In 2018, Dr. Eleonore Cellard assessed fragments containing Quran script. She noticed ghostly letters behind the eighth-century Arabic text and identified several Bible passages. Written in Coptic, they belonged to the Old Testament’s Book of Deuteronomy.

The find was extraordinary. Quran palimpsests are rare enough, but never before had a Christian document been erased to make space for the Islamic holy book. The writing style dated the Arabic text, but the Coptic was more difficult to place.^[6]

The fragility of the manuscript prevented carbon dating. Even if the document was strong enough, the technique can only date the paper and not the writing. Once again, the style was the only clue.

Unfortunately, it was a very broad one. The original Coptic was not written before the seventh century. Despite the dating issue, the palimpsest remains invaluable for its uniqueness.

4 Earliest Record Of Algol

The star Algol is actually a 3-in-1 deal. Officially discovered in 1669, the three suns move around each other, causing the “star” to dim and brighten. A papyrus studied in 2015 suggested that the ancient Egyptians discovered it first.

Called the Cairo Calendar, the document guided each day of the year, giving auspicious dates for ceremonies, forecasts, warnings, and even the activities of the gods. Previously, researchers felt the ancient calendar had a link to the heavens, but they never had any proof.

The study found that the calendar’s positive days matched Algol’s brightest days as well as those of the Moon. The appearances of one deity, Horus, also matched the star system’s 2,867-day cycle.

This strongly suggests that the ancient Egyptians were the first to follow Algol around 3,200 years ago. More remarkably, they did so without a telescope even though the system was almost 92.25 light-years away.^[7]

3 Unique Ninja Oath

In Japan, rumors of a written ninja oath persisted for almost 50 years. If true, this was a historic gem. Unlike movie ninjas, the real guys used stealth to gather intelligence and rarely used weapons. Most of their traditions and training were passed down verbally from master to student. A written document, especially an oath, would be a first.

In 2018, the piece finally surfaced. It was donated to a museum by the Kizu family, once a ninja clan from the town of Iga. The donated cache consisted of 130 ancient documents, but the oath was the most remarkable. Written by a man called Inosuke Kizu, he thanked his masters for the ninjutsu training and vowed to never reveal the secret knowledge. Not even to his immediate family.

The 300-year-old paper also captured the penalty of sharing ninja techniques with outsiders. The author accepted that his betrayal would cause his descendants to be tortured by the gods for generations. The letter was probably handed to his masters and returned to the Kizu family after his death.^[8]

2 Ferdinand’s Code

To safeguard military information from his enemies, King Ferdinand of Spain wrote in secret code. It was a little too effective. His correspondence with a commander named Gonzalo de Cordoba went undeciphered for 500 years.

Ferdinand sponsored Christopher Columbus’s trips to the Americas and fought several enemies. He recaptured Spain from the Moors in 1492 and battled France for the Mediterranean.

The letters promised interesting insights into the war king’s mind. Spain’s intelligence agency picked up the challenge. Ferdinand’s alphabet had 88 symbols, 237 letters, and six accompanying characters (such as numbers and triangles) that made each letter’s meaning more complex. In addition, the “language” ran continuously without breaks to indicate words.^[9]

In 2018, after six months, the agency cracked enough of the code to read four pieces of correspondence. They revealed details ranging from instructions on troop deployment in Italy to berating the commander for making decisions without Ferdinand’s approval. The breakthrough is a good step toward cracking the rest of the royal mail.

1 Extinct Language Spoken Again

A Cambridge academic loved ancient Babylonian so much that he decided to learn the language. Not just to read it but to speak it correctly. Babylonian went extinct around the time that Jesus was born.

Nearly 2,000 years of silence did not deter Dr. Martin Worthington, who already spoke Sumerian, Assyrian, English, Italian, and French. For over 20 years, he dove into ancient scripts and compiled a unique archive of research.

After gleaning correspondence, treaties, letters, and scientific reports written in Babylonian, Worthington arrived at a point where he could speak it. He was the first to admit that the project was not perfect. Although he could give a speech in the lost language, he was not fluent.

Worthington now teaches the language to Assyriology students, mainly to bring them closer to the ancient world they chose to study. Interestingly, if the two were to meet, ancient Babylonians might understand modern speakers because the language is related to Hebrew and Arabic, which replaced Babylonian as the Middle East’s dominant language.^[10]

The Philippines is truly an amazing country. As small as it is, this nation of nearly 100 million people has made its impact felt throughout history, from being the first democracy in Asia to fighting side by side with the US against the Japanese in World War II. Even with the current problems plaguing the country—such as the never-ending natural disasters and territorial tiffs with a certain superpower—the Philippines and its people continue to stand firm in the face of such adversities. Without further ado, here are some fascinating facts about one of the world’s most awesomely underrated places ever.

10 Manny Pacquiao Punches Crime Rates Down

Who hasn’t heard of Manny? The prized pugilist and the Philippines’ favorite son holds so much sway over his countrymen that he has been known to stop crime single-handedly. You see, whenever the Pacman has a fight, the entire country grinds to a halt. The people are either tucked away at their TV sets at home or in public places where the government has set up a free televised broadcast. The audience, of course, includes the criminals, which leads to very low or occasionally zero criminal activity during the fight.

Insurgents have also been known to drop their subversive activities just to watch him fight. In fact, Muslim rebels and government soldiers had an unprecedented moment of solidarity when they came together and watched Manny’s fight with Shane Mosley back in 2011. Whenever he wins, the whole country erupts into jubilation. His recent win over Brandon Rios gave a much-needed respite to his countrymen who were struck by Typhoon Haiyan.

9 Freemasons Fought The Spanish Empire

This was one conspiracy the Freemasons could not deny to have participated in, as several Filipino members figured prominently in the revolt against Spain in the late 18th century. Interestingly, it was the Spanish who first introduced Freemasonry to the Philippines in 1856, who were soon followed by other European nationalities. These lodges typically excluded the natives from joining and it was only in 1889 that an all-Filipino lodge was formed in Madrid. Filipinos who went overseas to study or avoid persecution joined Freemasonry mainly because it embodied the ideals of justice, freedom, and equality of all people.

The secrecy and connectedness among the lodges allowed the Filipino members to share and spread their liberal ideas. A number soon returned to the country and set up lodges everywhere, which alarmed the Spanish authorities and especially the friars who demanded complete obedience to the church. Those suspected to be Freemasons were persecuted mercilessly.

However, even the threat of torture and death did not stop the members from sharing their views for a democratic and just society. Soon, two schools of thought emerged within the confines of the lodge—one espoused peaceful reforms and reconciliation with Spain and was headed by Dr. Jose Rizal, and the other advocated violent revolution, which was led by Andres Bonifacio. Both had formed clandestine groups that closely followed the rituals of Freemasonry. When it became clear the Spanish were never going to implement peaceful reforms, Bonifacio and his group, the Katipunan, went ahead and openly revolted. Rizal—who had reservations about the revolution but tacitly supported it in the end—was later executed by Spanish authorities, which only served to inflame the revolutionaries even more.

8 A Dangerous Place For Journalists

Sadly, one of the most democratic places in the world also happens to be one of the most dangerous for journalists. In its 2013 report, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ranked the Philippines third on its Impunity Index, which is the number of unsolved journalist murders per population. The Philippines had a score of 0.580, or 55 journalists killed in a population of 94 million people. This score was bested only by Iraq and Somalia. It’s pretty surprising when you consider that the country isn’t even in a civil war, like Somalia, nor is it as insurgency-infected as Iraq.

Even sadder is the fact that journalists continue to be killed today with increasing impunity. In 2013 alone, the police documented three murders of journalists, although that number could be higher. To put the depressing icing on the depressing cake, the wheels of justice circle ever so slowly for the families of those journalists killed in the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre, which was one of the worst mass murders of media personnel in history.

7 A Gory Holy Week

As a predominantly Catholic country, the Philippines faithfully celebrates Holy Week every year. However, aside from the normal customs of observing Mass, some Filipinos also practice Catholic beliefs that have been mixed with local customs. One such tradition that stands out is the penitensiya, or asking for forgiveness. In a gory spectacle of religious fervor, some of the penitents whip themselves bloody in the back to reenact the same suffering that Jesus endured while walking to his execution site.

If whipping oneself wasn’t enough, a penitent can also opt for crucifixion. Yes, people have voluntarily crucified themselves, and some have repeatedly done so for years. The Holy Week has become something of a tourist attraction and is even officially endorsed by the government. However gruesome this looks to outsiders, the ritual is totally voluntary—there are even cases of foreigners who have willingly joined the festivities to be whipped and crucified.

6 A Happy People

Have you ever wondered why—even in the midst of natural disasters, government corruption, and crushing poverty—Filipinos can still afford to smile and crack a joke? It has something to do with the national psyche. Similar to the French joie de vivre—a phrase that expresses enjoyment of life—Filipinos have their bahala na attitude that espouses living life to the fullest without worrying about the present because it will be soon gone anyway.

This also means a tendency to possess a positive outlook towards the future. For Filipinos, it doesn’t matter if they’re sick, jobless, or just plain down on their luck, because sooner or later their lot will surely improve. That attitude can be easily seen in the aftermath of major disasters like Typhoon Haiyan, where survivors pass the time by playing basketball amidst the ruins. This unwavering optimism has led to Filipinos being consistently ranked as one of the world’s happiest nationalities.

5 The Early Chinese And Filipinos Were BFFs

The ongoing territorial conflict between China and the Philippines can be best described as a fight between David and Goliath, only right now David has no slingshot and Goliath has a lot of tanks and missiles. The best that the Philippines can do is hope and pray for divine intervention—or America.

However, this potential powder keg for World War III obscures the fact that the Chinese and Filipinos were once the best of friends. The earliest known recorded contact between the two groups was in 982 AD—almost 500 years before the arrival of Magellan—when a boatload of Filipino merchants anchored off Canton, China and sold their goods there. After that fateful encounter, the Chinese sailed their own ships towards the Islands to trade with the natives, while some stayed behind and intermarried with the local women. They also taught the natives their language and instructed them how to manufacture items such as gunpowder and jewelry.

The Chinese influence is still pretty evident on the Filipino way of life even today, with the nonchalant use of Chinese words and eating of Chinese cuisine. Now the question is, can the Philippines and China ever be the best of friends again?

4 The Philippine Flag

The Philippine flag holds the distinction of being one of the most unique in the world. What makes it so different is that one can know whether the country is in a state of war by the way the flag is flown. If the dominant color flown on top is red, that means the country is at war. Likewise, if it is blue, then the country is at peace.

The idea for the modern Philippine flag’s design came in 1897 from General Emilio Aguinaldo, the de facto leader of the insurrection against the Spanish and the first president of the First Philippine Republic. Aguinaldo had signed a truce with the Spanish and underwent a self-imposed exile in Hong Kong. He presented the design to Marcela Agoncillo, her daughter Lorenza, and a young girl named Delfina De Natividad, who also happened to be the niece of national hero/martyr Dr. Jose Rizal. Together, the three sewed the flag, which was first flown on May 28, 1898, when Aguinaldo returned to the country to resume hostilities against the Spanish.

Originally, the sun in the flag had a face, but this was scrapped in subsequent designs. The red and blue colors of the flag are rife with symbolism. Some historians have argued that the colors were influenced by the Cuban flag, where the people were also revolting against the Spanish, while others have asserted that the colors paid homage to the Americans who assisted in ending Spanish rule.

3 The People Power Revolution

Back in the 1980s, Filipinos were getting tired of the antics of President Ferdinand Marcos—and honestly, who wouldn’t be? He had imposed martial law, made himself dictator for life, his cronies sucked the national coffers dry, and his men killed those whom he perceived as threats to his regime. Worst of all, his wife Imelda flaunted their ill-gotten wealth so openly it was like a slap to the collective faces of their countrymen who had to live in crushing poverty while seeing their country burn right before their eyes.

That decades-long resentment finally culminated in a revolution that started on February 22, 1986 and ended three days later with the dictator and his family high-tailing it out of the country. The aptly named People Power Revolution involved more than a million Filipinos from all walks of life who gathered on a major street near the presidential palace to demand the ouster of Marcos and to protect the government officials and soldiers who openly defected from the regime. It was nothing short of a miracle as government soldiers sent to quell the rebellion refused to shoot and soon joined the crowd. Sensing that the end was near, Marcos and his family fled their home and went to exile in Hawaii to the joy of the people. That revolution had a profound effect on the world, as folks from other countries with oppressive regimes would go on to form their own people power revolutions.

2 An Aborted Invasion Against Malaysia

From more than 300 years of Spanish colonization to 40-plus years of American occupation, the Philippines unfortunately has been on the receiving end of a lot of foreign invasions. No one would ever expect a country that has historically defended itself from external aggression to plan an invasion of its own. But surprise, surprise—the Philippines actually almost carried out an invasion attempt against neighboring country Malaysia.

In the 1960s, President Ferdinand Marcos—who would later declare martial law and become dictator—sanctioned Operation Merdeka to retake nearby Sabah (North Borneo) from the Malaysians. That particular piece of resource-rich area had been a flashpoint of contention between the two countries for decades and Marcos decided it was high-time the Philippines took it back. He had his men recruit Muslims from the southern regions and trained them as commandos in the island fortress of Corregidor near Manila.

Non-payment of salaries and a refusal to fight their Muslim brethren later spurred the recruits to mutiny. To keep the failed project under wraps, government handlers killed all 150 recruits, save for one who managed to escape and spill the story to the media. Revelations about the plot worsened relations between the Philippines and Malaysia and later became the rallying point for a major rebellion for Muslim insurgents in the South.

1 The Longest Christmas Ever

Along with Holy Week, Christmas is another celebration that Filipinos love to observe. The Yuletide season usually begins in September and ends in January, making it the longest celebration of Christmas ever. During this time, public establishments and individual homes would already set up Christmas decorations and belt out Christmas jingles.

There are many religious activities within the Christmas season that Filipinos celebrate with wholehearted devotion. One very odd custom is the Simbang Gabi, or Night Mass, where Filipino Catholics attend nine services in a row leading up to Christmas Eve. If the person can attend all nine masses, then it is said that his wish will be granted. On Christmas Eve, Filipino families usually come together and celebrate Noche Buena, a large dinner not unlike Thanksgiving and where people gorge themselves on a smorgasbord of native food.

Christmas officially ends with the celebration of the Feast of the Three Kings on the first Sunday in January. Those who feel that Christmas is still too short need not despair, as festivals are a dime-a-dozen in the country. There’s already a religious festival just a few days after the end of Christmas.

Marc V. dedicates this list to the great people of the Philippines, especially to those hit by one of the strongest typhoons in history. Yes, the country is far from perfect, but he loves it anyway and knows that the future ahead remains bright for his countrymen, disasters be damned. Mabuhay!

Again, for a conversation about anything, please do drop him a line sometime.

The cold cubes in your soda deserve a hat tip. They are made of capable stuff, spawning mysterious feats like emerald green icebergs in Antarctica and ice volcanoes in space.

The frosty wonder can also move in nanoseconds, hide things for millions of years, and become the material of choice in a nuclear disaster. Ice is celebrated in a big way all over the world—from China to Norway, where festivals bring out the true splendor and weirdness of this natural wonder.

10 Long-Lasting Ice Pop

A hot day can melt an ice pop so fast that you end up licking your hand more than the snack. In 2018, a British firm announced the answer. They called it the world’s first “non-melting ice lolly.”

In truth, it does melt. To be more positive, it lasts hours longer than ordinary ones. The company, Bompas & Parr, is known for quirky foodstuffs like flavored fireworks. Their solution to the irritating ice pop drip was clever.

In World War II, Geoffrey Pyke invented pykrete, ice that contains wood pulp and sawdust. Pike envisioned that aircraft carriers could be build from the material. Winston Churchill supported him. But when the project cost too much and was shut down, Pike committed suicide. He could not have foreseen his invention’s influence on the non-melting lolly.

The pykrete inspired the snack’s main design for heat tolerance—strands of fruit fibers. Although it sounds simple, the ice pop took a year to develop and was rolled out to the public in apple flavor. Thanks to the fiber content, this ice pop is a little more chewy than ordinary ones.^[1]

9 The Giant Spinning Disk

In Maine, winter 2019 left a treat in the Presumpscot River. Near a bend in the river churned a disk of ice. It was hefty, measuring 100 meters (330 ft) in diameter.

Slowly spinning in a counterclockwise direction, the swirl was unusual but not unique. The right circumstances will spawn one right there and then. A large eddy, usually where a river kinks, traps pieces of ice.

The one in Maine probably began with ice fragments tracing the egg-like rotation of the eddy. As pieces kept arriving from upstream, the swirling and knocking against the shoreline crushed the ice together. It froze into a solid plate. As it kept turning with the eddy and chafed against the banks, the disk became circular.^[2]

Presumpscot River likely has produced similar ice wheels in the past, and in 1993, the same thing happened in North Dakota. The Sheyenne River produced a disk (smaller than the one in Maine) when ice collected at an eddy.

8 Destruction Of Larsen B

Larsen B was an ice shelf in Antarctica. Noteworthy for its stability, the structure was around 10,000 years old. In 2002, it collapsed within weeks. Around 3,250 square kilometers (1,250 mi²) of ice tumbled into the sea, the first time that this volume had vanished so quickly.

The only clue was a dramatic one. Over 2,000 lakes had sprung up all over the shelf during the months before. These meltwater lakes are normal for the summer season when ice melts and collect in basins. As one reservoir can hold over a million tons of water, researchers wondered if their combined weight caused Larsen B to break apart.

In 2016, the theory was tested. With melt season approaching, several basins on the McMurdo Ice Shelf were rigged with measuring equipment. The data showed that lakes filling with melt caused the shelf to bend.^[3]

McMurdo survived the season. But during a hypothetical test, the shelf “broke” when the lakes were slightly bigger and closer together. This was pretty much the smoking gun for Larsen B.

7 Frozen Mountain Range

Antarctica’s biggest mountain range is the Gamburtsevs. It’s about the same size as the European Alps, but nobody had ever seen the giant in the flesh, so to speak.

The whole thing is covered by a layer of ice as thick as 3,050 meters (10,000 ft). The frozen blanket is why the 100-million-year-old mountains look baby fresh. At that age, they should have been severely eroded. This natural process probably hit a pause button when ice enveloped the region, including the then-young Gamburtsevs.

During a four-week project that ended in 2009, scientists zipped over the range in planes. Radar measured everything below and revealed a stunning geography. The mountaintops were 2,700 meters (8,850 ft) above sea level. Deep valleys flowed with rivers and lakes.

Curiously, at certain points, the water flowed uphill. Heavy pressure from the ice overhead helped the liquid to move against gravity. At higher elevations, however, the water froze and provided the layer of ice that preserved the Gamburtsevs.^[4]

6 Fukushima’s Ice Wall

In 2011, an earthquake and tsunami wrecked a nuclear plant in Japan. The consequences continue to this day. One of the worst is water contamination. In 2017, the government devised a plan to stop radioactive water leaking from the Fukushima plant from reaching groundwater.

They constructed an underground wall made entirely of permafrost. Running 30 meters (100 ft) deep and 1.6 kilometers (1 mi) long, the project cost $320 million.^[5]

From the start, the ice barrier has had its critics. Soon, it became obvious that the wall slowed down the contamination, but it did not seal anything. Radioactivity continued to contaminate a frightening 500 tons of water every day. The good news was that about 300 could be pumped out to be purified. Before the ice wall was installed, the daily amount was worse.

However, the venture remains expensive. The permafrost hedge requires $9.5 million per year to maintain. For now, it remains the best solution for a plant so irradiated that not even robots can enter to clean up the uranium trapped inside.

5 Ice Volcano

Ceres is an odd duck. From the 1800s to modern times, astronomers changed its classification three times. It was discovered as a planet and then demoted to an asteroid before its recent upgrade to a dwarf planet.

This chameleon is noteworthy for something else—the first evidence of cryovolcanism. This occurs when volcanoes made of ice spew boiling salt water instead of hot lava. Scientists suspected that cryovolcanoes existed in the solar system, but they had never found one.

In 2016, NASA’S Dawn spacecraft investigated the 965-kilometer-wide (600 mi) Ceres. Of particular interest was Ahuna Mons, a massive mountain standing 3,962 meters (13,000 ft) tall and measuring 17.7 kilometers (11 mi) wide at the base.

Finding such a gargantuan cone on a small planet was weird. Even stranger, it stood alone. But the shape and the isolation were healthy signs of a volcano. (Only volcanic activity can create lone mountains.) To boot, Ahuna Mons was made entirely of ice. It even had a volcanic dome, flanks, and summit similar to Earth’s volcanoes. Everything points to Ahuna Mons being the first recorded cryovolcano.^[6]

4 Ice Instruments

The 2018 Ice Music Festival in Norway happened on a stage carved entirely from ice. Musicians also played instruments fashioned from the frozen waters of Lake Finse as well as a local glacier. Things like drums, woodwinds, guitars, trumpets, and harps are made to resemble—and sound like—the real things. The festival also created the world’s first ice double bass and saxophone with two openings.

As far as music goes, people are often surprised by how similar the ice instruments sound to traditional ones. The most notable difference is volume. The frosty pieces whistle, thump, and toot in softer tones. Musicians also face an unusual challenge. Playing with gloves hampers the quality of the music, so none are worn.

Handling an ice guitar in extremely cold conditions is enough to suck the feeling from anyone’s fingers. During a performance, musicians take turns to warm their hands or play.

The most mysterious fact about the ice instruments concerns their origins. When carved from natural ice, they produce musically accurate sounds. Instruments that come from artificial ice (the freezer type) have no acoustic properties.^[7]

3 The Harbin Festival

Every winter, China hosts a spectacular festival. The theme is all about ice. In 2019, 10 million visitors were expected to arrive at the 35th annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival.

For two months, people explored massive ice and snow sculptures. They included buildings like castles and the Colosseum constructed with giant ice bricks. However, the real magic happened at night. The replicas were lit from inside with different colors, giving a fantasy feel that almost distracted tourists from the extreme cold.

There was no chance for sightseers to get bored. The ice creations covered 743,000 square meters (8 million ft²) of the city of Harbin. Building the wonderland required around 113,000 cubic meters (4 million ft³) of material. This achievement was made within days by an army of workers in the thousands who carved the large blocks.

Apart from the icy architecture, the festival also hosted subzero swimming, mass weddings, and snow sculpture competitions.^[8]

2 Green Icebergs

The Southern Ocean has a lot of icebergs, but some of them are green. Impressively green. Scientists first boarded one in 1988 near East Antarctica. More surprising than the color was the clarity. The ice looked like solid glass without bubbles. This type of ice hails from ancient glaciers, but those are usually blue.

At first, the green wonders seemed like a quirk of nature. When researchers searched for the reason behind the hue, it became clear that the icebergs could play an important role in dispersing ocean nutrients. The green ice did not come from glaciers on land. Instead, they calved from the undersides of floating ice shelves.

A recent study found that the Amery Ice Shelf (where the 1988 iceberg was found) was packed with iron. The iron came from rocks crushed into a powder as glaciers snailed over them. Eventually, they end up in shelves and oxidize in seawater.^[9]

Iron oxide particles turn green when light shines through them. The icebergs probably disperse iron to phytoplankton, helping them survive in remote places where they normally could not.

1 Ice VII

In 2018, the world’s quickest ice was found inside diamonds. Discovered deep underground, Ice VII grows at over 1,600 kilometers per hour (1,000 mph).

Laboratory tests revealed a few characteristics about the speedy stuff. It formed when high pressure and temperatures were both present. The ice could also freeze almost all at once or work its way down from the surface.

The two variations confused scientists until they discovered that Ice VII does not freeze water in the usual way. Normally, heat must be reduced before a liquid can turn solid. This makes ice expand slowly as it cools its way into growth.

Ice VII first blooms inside molecule clusters. This bypasses the heat problem, allowing the ice to spread in nanoseconds. Whether it explodes all over the place or works downward from the surface depends on temperature differences between the water and ice crystals.^[10]

This type of ice could help to find extraterrestrial life, ironically by eliminating the dead worlds. The pressure needed to create Ice VII is several thousand atmospheres—too much to allow life. Any alien world with this kind of pressure is likely to be barren.

Statues and paintings of Jesus can get predictable. They stare, pray, suffer on the cross, or rest in a manger.

Upon closer inspection, some have bullet holes. Others hide mysterious messages. This being art, controversial interpretations are always going to be there. But one of them, the claim that Jesus was a victim of sexual violence, could have repercussions throughout the Catholic Church.

See Also: 10 Controversial Depictions Of Jesus

10 The Creepy Jesus Lamb

As history has proven, Jesus paintings are prone to botched restorations. When another masterpiece was cleaned and shown to the public in 2020, many thought it had happened again.

The painting was The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. It was created during the 15th century by two brothers who depicted Jesus as a sheep. Over time, the image turned hazy. A three-year project restored the artwork, and the result was freaky.

The lamb’s face was very humanoid. Although it disturbed visitors and even shocked the experts, this was not another screwup. During 1550, two different artists had changed the animal’s appearance to look more sheepish. But the original version was designed so that the humanlike face gazed almost directly at the viewer. Some critics did not appreciate the look and described the eyes as “overly confrontational.”^[1]

9 Lost Masterpiece Found In A Kitchen

In 2019, a French woman spring-cleaned before moving. Among the things she no longer wanted was a painting. The family heirloom was hanging above the kitchen hot plate and was rather depressing. It showed Jesus being shoved around by a crowd. Perhaps warned by instinct, she had it appraised. The decision made her $26.8 million richer.

The work belonged to 13th-century Renaissance master Cimabue. He had created it as part of a multi-paneled altarpiece. The Frenchwoman’s painting was called The Mocking of Christ and was the third panel to be found.^[2]

When the panel was slotted into place, the woodworm damage on the back matched the scars of the second painting in the series. Coincidentally, this was also the third piece to be discovered overall. There could be as many as five panels still out there. Whoever finds them can visit an auctioneer and retire with millions.

8 John The Baptist Was Once Painted Over Jesus

In the scheme of things, images of Christ might be seen as more important than those of John the Baptist. One 16th-century artist disagreed. His name is lost to time. For a long time, the person’s decision to erase Jesus in favor of John also went undiscovered.

However, the unknown artist created a masterpiece. The painting showed John clasping his hands together in prayer on the day of his beheading. Time did not treat the work well. In 2019, Northumbria University scanned the damaged canvas to start the restoration process.^[3]

When the X-ray was examined, the original painting emerged. It was a nativity scene. Nestled in a manger, Jesus was surrounded by an angel, a wise man, and possibly a shepherd. A stable-like building stood in the background.

The discovery added more questions to the painting’s murky past. The year that the nativity scene was painted and by whom remains unclear. Why it was covered up with John the Baptist is another head-scratcher that will probably never be answered.

7 A Black Jesus Was Shot

In 2019, a painting was being prepared for an exhibition in Sheffield. At one point, artist Lorna May Wadsworth saw a bullet hole in the canvas. The painting was based on The Last Supper, and real models were used by the artist to depict Jesus and his followers. For Jesus, Wadsworth used the Jamaican-born Tafari Hinds.

Experts identified the weapon as an air rifle. As the shot had been aimed at the image of Hinds, Wadsworth was asked if she thought the act was racially motivated. She replied that it was “too horrible to contemplate.”^[4]

Indeed, the whole thing upset her so badly that she almost pulled the painting from the exhibition. Only the realization that the vandal probably rooted for such a move stopped her.

Ironically, the bullet passed through Jesus’s right side where he had received the famous spear wound.

6 The Buttocks Time Capsule

In 2017, a wooden statue arrived in Madrid to be restored. The life-size Jesus had been carved during the 18th century. Back in the day, the larger pieces of religious art were hollow. This made them easier to move and less prone to cracking. However, this Jesus had cracked around the buttocks. During the restoration, a team member was surprised to find that the statue’s bum was a time capsule.

Somebody had stuffed two scrolls inside. In a careful hand, the writer named himself as Joaquin Minguez. He was the prior of the church where the statue had been kept in 1777. Minguez talked about everyday stuff. People had short fevers. They hunted and grew crops. Earthquakes shook the land. Curiously, Minguez also mentioned that the monks loved ball games and playing cards.^[5]

Most likely, Minguez created the scrolls for future generations. This way, they could glimpse the past and see his world. To honor the prior’s intentions, the team replaced the scrolls inside the statue. They also inserted their own letter that describes modern times.

5 The Last Supper Mistake

The Last Supper is one of the world’s most famous paintings. But despite being the center of movies, books, and countless studies, one mystery remains. What menu did Leonardo da Vinci have in mind when he painted his masterpiece? In 2016, a study revealed the likeliest menu.

Archaeologists dug deep into the Palestine cuisine of the time. They took into account that the dinner was informal and that Jesus adhered to Jewish customs. For good measure, the study drew on the Bible, Jewish scripts, historical records, and the eating habits of the first century AD.

As it turned out, da Vinci did not know what he was doing. He was a superb artist but was too caught up in painting the Eucharistic ritual to put the right food on the table.

Indeed, the table seems empty for 13 people about to chow down. The only plates contain insubstantial amounts of food. The real dinner would have included wine on the table. Unleavened bread, lamb, and a bean stew would have provided enough substance while olives, fish sauce, and dates would have added variety.^[6]

4 Nativity Family In Captivity

During the festive season in 2019, many dusted off their nativity figures and arranged them in the traditional way. The Claremont United Methodist Church did something different. Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were separated into individual cages.

Nothing about the display pointed a finger directly at US President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, but the message was clear. The Holy Family had also been immigrants. Had they crossed the US-Mexico border today, they might have been taken to different detention centers.^[7]

The decision to use the nativity scene as a silent protest was inspired by immigrant children. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, over 5,000 children had been separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border from mid-2017 to late 2019.

The community, both online and local, had mixed reactions. Some were insulted or angry. But a lot of people appreciated the point that the church was trying to make. No matter what, families should not be forced apart.

3 Mystery Of The Sphere

Leonardo da Vinci painted Salvator Mundi around AD 1500. The portrait showed Jesus holding a glass orb in his hand. For decades, experts were confused. The sphere lacked certain things. For one, the glass did not distort anything. The robes directly behind the ball looked the same as the rest of Christ’s clothing. In addition, the curved surface did not reflect light as might be expected.

Da Vinci was no fool. Taking liberties with the Last Supper’s menu can be excused. Perhaps the food was symbolic, or he lacked the resources to do research. But an orb was not something that he would have bumbled. There was a reason why this object did not distort or reflect anything.

Scholars debated their options. Some said that the master had deliberately painted the orb wrong. Other theories involved a hollow object or rock crystal. In 2020, the University of California found the answer. A 3-D computer rendering of the orb revealed that the hollow sphere was a match.^[8]

Far from making a blooper, the results once again proved that da Vinci was a talented scientist who perfectly understood optical properties in this case.

2 Da Vinci Struggled With A Masterpiece

Given Leonardo da Vinci’s reputation, it is hard to imagine that he wrestled with his paintings. In 2019, a scan proved that even legendary masters have their bad days. The painting involved was the world-famous The Virgin of the Rocks. The artwork shows Mary and baby Jesus being adored by an angel and John the Baptist.

True to da Vinci, the painting is a masterpiece. But when a London gallery scanned the surface with X-rays, a very different scene emerged. The garbled figures showed da Vinci’s indecision. He had changed their positions twice before he was satisfied. Had he chosen one of these, today’s Virgin would be very different.

In the earliest version, Christ and the angel were placed higher. The angel also holds Him in a much tighter embrace. Then da Vinci changed everything. This second attempt was close to the final painting, but there were significant differences. The angel had more hair, and Jesus looked at a different spot in the painting.^[9]

1 Jesus Might Have Been Sexually Abused

Sexual abuse has many faces. Some argue that forcibly stripping somebody naked also counts, even when nothing else happens. When researchers looked at crucifixion art, most showed that Jesus was humiliated in this way. The artists did not follow a baseless notion. The Romans really did turn prisoners out naked before executing them.

The researchers needed this connection between stripping and abuse to deal with a crisis. In the past, Catholic leaders had exhibited a lackluster response to survivors of sexual violence—especially when priests were the offenders. The struggle is ongoing. But if Jesus can be recognized as a victim, it could change the way that the Church deals with assaults.

During the 2019 study, male survivors were interviewed. Those who have never experienced this kind of trauma might easily dismiss the idea of stripping as sexual violence. After all, it’s not rape or even fondling.^[10]

In fact, when the victims were asked if forced nudity could be considered as abuse and Jesus as a victim, most were surprised at first. However, they eventually agreed and said that recognizing Jesus’s plight would give the Church more solidarity with survivors.

Despite a wealth of sophisticated experiments and contributions from some of the greatest intellects of our time, the search for dark matter continues. It might account for a quarter of the energy density in the universe, but to date, all attempts at direct detection have proved fruitless.

The enigmatic matter does not absorb or emit light. It also doesn’t interact with the three of the four fundamental forces of nature. These elusive properties make it almost impossible to pin down.

Researchers across the globe are itching to uncover the mysteries of dark matter—from the search for WIMPs at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to the University of Washington’s cutting-edge axion detector. While some theories predict the answer will be found in an extra hidden dimension, others prefer black holes and neutron stars.

Despite the lack of direct evidence, the vast majority of astrophysicists still believe that dark matter is out there. Cosmic phenomena like the rotation of galaxies cannot be explained through traditional physics unless a hidden form of matter is present.

10 Weakly Interactive Massive Particle (WIMP)

For decades, the most popular candidate for dark matter has been the weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP). The hypothetical particle was first dreamed up in the 1970s as an expansion of the traditional Standard Model of particle physics. The theory is that the cosmos is swarming with invisible, neutrally charged particles that came into being shortly after the big bang.

The idea of invisible particles is nothing particularly new. Scientists are already aware of the neutrino—the difficult-to-detect subatomic particle that races across galaxies with a mass fractionally above zero. In comparison, WIMPs are believed to be much heavier and more sluggish, trudging across the sky in dense clumps and intricate structures. That is, if they even exist at all.

Despite a large array of experiments, none of the attempts to find WIMPs have been successful. It was originally thought that the LHC in Geneva would be able to shed light on their existence. But almost a decade after it opened, no evidence has been found. Similarly, the highly sensitive tanks of liquid xenon buried deep under South Dakota discovered nothing in their search, either.^[1]

With scientists continually failing to detect these particles directly, hypotheses surrounding WIMPs are now cast in serious doubt. One astrophysicist writing for Forbes Magazine compared the persistent search to a “drunk looking for his lost keys beneath the lamppost.”

It would be an oversight to rule out WIMPs altogether. But it looks like scientists have to return to the drawing board and consider alternative theories of dark matter as well.

9 Massive Astrophysical Compact Halo Object (MACHO)

Another less exotic explanation for dark matter is the existence of massive astrophysical compact halo objects (MACHOs). These include black holes, neutron stars, and brown dwarfs—ultracompact stellar objects composed of regular matter. MACHOs cannot be detected using typical methods because they emit little or no radiation.

Instead, these muted giants are observed by studying light from distant stars through a process known as microlensing. Due to their immense mass, MACHOs bend and focus rays of light around themselves, which causes the rays to appear brighter.

The level of distortion depends on the mass of the MACHO. By observing the light, scientists are able to calculate the amount of hidden matter present. However, not enough MACHOs have been found lurking around to account for all the dark matter in the universe. As such, the search for another candidate continues.^[2]

8 Axion

Axions are predicted to be neutrally charged, slow-moving particles with a mass around a billion times lighter than an electron. Their interaction with light and other matter is relatively weak, which gives cosmologists confidence in their potential to make up dark matter. But it also makes them incredibly difficult to detect.

Only axions from a narrow range of masses are able to constitute dark matter. If they were much lighter or heavier, observations would have been made by now. This limited window of possibility means that the task of ruling the axion hypothesis in or out is relatively simple when compared to other candidates.

The latest attempt to detect axions began in April 2018 when astrophysicists at the University of Washington launched their Axion Dark Matter Experiment (ADMX). According to the theory, when axions pass through a magnetic field, they could be able to decay spontaneously into two photons (individual packets of light).

If axions from the Milky Way are constantly whizzing through the Earth unnoticed, then the ADMX’s highly powerful magnet would convert some of them into microwave photons. An incredibly sensitive detector is in place to pick up any photons produced, but so far, no evidence has been reported.^[3]

7 Gravitino

The gravitino hypothesis delves deep into the realms of theoretical physics. In the 1960s and 1970s, scientists developed the theory of supersymmetry to explain some of the gaps left by the Standard Model of particle physics.

Supersymmetry predicts that for each particle in the Standard model (e.g., electron, photon, Higgs), there should be a theoretical counterpart. These partner particles share similar properties to the originals except for some fundamental differences in their intrinsic angular momentum.

A separate theory predicts the existence of the graviton—a massless particle that mediates the force of gravity, similar to the photon mediating electromagnetism. Tying these two theories together is the gravitino—the hypothetical supersymmetric partner to the graviton that some physicists believe could constitute dark matter.^[4]

6 Kaluza-Klein Particles

Our universe is said to be comprised of four dimensions—three spatial dimensions plus time. However, for the last century, scientists have pondered whether more could exist.

Expanding Einstein’s groundbreaking theory of general relativity, theoreticians Theodor Kaluza and Oskar Klein predicted a hidden fifth dimension arching across the universe. First published in 1921, their model includes an array of hypothetical particles, the lightest of which is a possible candidate for dark matter.

Due to their interactive nature, the Kaluza-Klein (KK) particles are among only a handful of candidates that could be detected directly. Furthermore, when two KK particles come crashing together, they annihilate each other.

In the melee, particles like photons and neutrinos get fired out. They can be detected due to their distinctive energy patterns. The high-energy LHC continues to search for evidence of an extra dimension and KK particles. But so far, none has been reported.^[5]

5 Fuzzy Dark Matter

Fuzzy dark matter is a relative newcomer to the lineup of dark matter candidates. The theory first began to find traction around the turn of the century. Before that, only a few pockets of physicists were interested, and even then, they barely communicated with each other.

As such, fuzzy dark matter goes by several different names, each independently put forward by a different research team. Scalar field dark matter, ultra-light axion-like particle, wave dark matter, fluid dark matter, and repulsive dark matter are just a few.

Despite the plethora of names, the theories are all roughly the same. They postulate that dark matter is formed from an immense number of tiny particles with exceptionally low mass. At incredibly cold temperatures, the particles coalesce to form a bizarre type of matter known as a Bose-Einstein condensate. In condensate form, these particles have almost no energy and behave like one cohesive body.

The individual particles have almost no effects on their surroundings. En masse, however, they can distort rays of interstellar light. The amount of distortion depends on the mass of the dark matter particles. Therefore, scientists are able to search for fuzzy dark matter by examining archive data from observatories like the Very Long Baseline Array in New Mexico.^[6]

4 Self-Interacting Dark Matter

One of the key frustrations around dark matter is that it refuses to obey scientists’ predictions. According to computer-generated models, the substance should structure itself into something known as the “cusp distribution.” This theory predicts that dark matter can be found at the heart of a galaxy, some of it concentrated in a dense sphere and the rest lingering around as a vapor.

In reality, cosmologists have observed that dark matter behaves in almost the opposite way: It orbits around the edge of a galaxy in a far-off halo structure. This has been named the “core distribution.” From it, the “cusp-core” problem arises.^[7]

To explain the cusp-core discrepancies, scientists came up with the theory of self-interacting dark matter. This model proposes that, because it is so mysterious and difficult to understand, dark matter particles interact with each other through forces that physics is currently unable to explain.

However, not everyone is on board with this explanation. Another theory—dark matter heating—suggests that dark matter is propelled from the center of a galaxy by energy and wind created during the formation of stars.

3 Sterile Neutrinos

Neutrino research is one of the most fascinating areas of contemporary physics. In 2015, Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for demonstrating that neutrinos periodically change “flavor” on their journey across the universe.

Presently, there are only three known “flavors” of neutrino—electron, muon, and tau. All of them are far too speedy to make up dark matter. However, researchers at Fermilab in Illinois are pursuing a fourth flavor and potential dark matter candidate: the sterile neutrino.

Their MiniBooNE experiment scours through intense beams of particles in search of the elusive fourth flavor. The detector consists of a large spherical tank filled with over 800 tons of mineral oil. In 2018, MiniBooNE produced promising results that hint at the existence of sterile neutrinos.^[8] However, the MINOS+ experiment results reported in 2019 contradicted the 2018 study. Obviously, there is no consensus yet.

2 Dark Photons

As discussed previously, a photon acts as a single particle of light and mediates the electromagnetic force, one of the fundamental forces of nature. To explain the conundrum of dark matter, some experts have proposed the idea of dark photons—hypothetical force mediators similar to regular photons with extremely low mass.

In fact, some researchers believe that gravitational waves—celestial ripples in the fabric of space and time—could be the key to uncovering these miniscule particles. If dark photons are skulking around the universe, their distinctive signals could be picked up by highly sensitive gravitational wave detectors like LIGO and Virgo.

As scientists eagerly await the launch of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA)—the first space-based gravitational wave observatory—it seems that we are one step closer to finally pinning down dark matter.^[9]

1 Dark Matter Does Not Exist

As time rolls on, the lack of evidence for any of the candidates is causing some physicists to wonder if they have made a mistake. Perhaps dark matter does not exist at all. Maybe there is another explanation after all.

One of the most prominent dark matter skeptics is Israeli physicist Mordehai Milgrom, who first proposed his rival theory of Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) in the 1980s. In his maverick paper, Milgrom argues that the traditional physics laid out by Isaac Newton begins to fall apart on an extremely large scale.

If this is true, it completely alters current ideas about stars in the outer reaches of a galaxy. Under MOND, dark matter is not necessary to explain their unusual motion.^[10]

So, is dark matter an enormous blunder?

This would not be the first time that physicists have made a mistake on such a large scale. During the 19th century, there was a widely held belief that our universe was brimming with an invisible substance known as luminiferous ether.

For decades, it was thought that ether was needed for rays of light to propagate. Then the pivotal Michelson-Morley experiment of 1887 essentially disproved its existence. In reference to this, Milgrom has described dark matter as “our generation’s ether.”

Whether dark matter exists and in what form remains one of the great mysteries of modern science. Future evidence might show that all the theories listed here are completely wrong.

On the other hand, we could be within a hair’s breadth of a major breakthrough. With every new dark matter detector and every null result, we edge closer to finding the truth.

Through most of the known history of ancient Egypt, the population worshiped multiple gods, with private citizens free to worship whatever gods they saw fit within the privacy of their own home. Nevertheless, the comparatively brief period during which the country suddenly turned to monotheism in the form of Atenism is perhaps one of the most intriguing, and mysterious.

Just where did this strange and apparently alien religion come from? Why did it take hold with so little resistance? Why did it vanish so suddenly afterward? And why is it that arguably the most well-known pharaoh of ancient Egypt in our contemporary times, Tutankhamun, is seemingly at the middle of this strange time in one of the most glorious and far-reaching civilizations in all of known history? Here are ten intriguing facts about Aten, Atenism, and why its place in history is quite possibly very important.

10 It (Seemingly) Came Out Of Nowhere

Although we will come back to an intriguing aspect of just where such focus on Aten and Atenism came from later, it would appear that after over almost 2,000 years of steady, entrenched polytheism, such practices were simply wiped away when, in the fifth year of his reign, Pharaoh Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaten and introduced Atenism.^[1]

In his ninth year, instead of worshiping multiple gods, Akhenaten proclaimed Aten the one and only god. Furthermore, no image was to be made of this god, as it didn’t manifest and could not be “seen.” The only representation of Aten was the flat solar disk—essentially, the Sun.

What is even more interesting is the fact that despite some sparing mentions of Aten in old (even to the ancient Egyptians) writings confirm that it was a solar deity, it was not, as the ancient Egyptians would have understood it, a god. As we will examine later, the origins of this ideology were seemingly always underlying ancient Egyptian culture, although it very likely was only found in certain mystery schools of Heliopolis, whose far-reaching connections are as intriguing as they are entangling.

9 There Was No Apparent Resistance To The Change

Furthermore, as opposed to an expected resistance, such as an attempt to overthrow the pharaoh and his new religion, it would appear, at least from the historical records that remain of the period, that the entire population simply accepted the sweeping changes.^[2]

Despite ancient Egypt having a strong and well-trained army, there were seemingly no attempts whatsoever to overthrow Akhenaten. This was despite Akhenaten moving to a new capital, from Thebes to what is now called Amarna.

What maybe makes this even stranger is that Atenism disappeared so quickly after a period of around two decades. And, equally as suddenly, it was one of the successors to Akhenaten, perhaps one of the most famous pharaohs, who would restore the old ways of Amun-Ra. We will examine that particular pharaoh shortly.

8 The Similarities To Early Abrahamic Religions, Secret Societies, And The Freemasons

While this point could take up entire volumes in its own right, many of the apparent practices of Atenism, particularly as seemingly taught in the mystery schools at Heliopolis, seem to have been a precursor to the three main Abrahamic religions that would follow after, particularly very early Judaism and, in turn, Christianity.^[3]

These claims are perhaps even more convincing when we factor in the mysterious figure of Aper-El (also spelled Aperel), who served as Akhenaten’s chief minister and was, according to discoveries made in his tomb, very likely of early Hebrew/Israelite origin. In fact, the connections to early religions and more specific writings of the Old Testament are as intriguing as they are many.

In a similar vein, especially when we take the studies and investigations of numerous authors into account, much can be said for various secret societies and their customs and origins, perhaps not least the Knights Templar and, in turn, Freemasonry. And even within the teachings of Christianity and the Roman Church throughout Europe, during the thousands of years that followed the events we are discussing here, these secret teachings and discreet connections have continued.

7 The Attempts To Erase Atenism From Ancient Egyptian History

Following its disappearance from the collective psyche of ancient Egypt, there came an apparent attempt to erase all records of Atenism from history. Indeed, much of what we know of the period is from what little remains of it in Egyptian records (essentially what was overlooked or too inaccessible to destroy) or from surrounding civilizations’ records.

As mentioned in the introduction, perhaps the most famous, well-known, and easily recognizable of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs is a mystery himself. Of all the pharaohs during this period, despite being erased from history, his mummy was well-preserved and guarded as opposed to the desecration that was dished out upon the others.

Indeed, it appears that the pharaohs who followed went to great lengths to not only distance themselves from Atenism but, beginning with Horemheb, actively pursued anyone practicing or preaching such ideology, destroyed monuments, and erased inscriptions.^[4]

There has been much speculation as to the reason for this apparently delayed reaction, and it ranges from mundane claims of simple revolution to crazily outlandish assertions of extraterrestrial intervention. As we move into the second half of our list, we’ll see that the answer could have been somewhere in the middle, between those two extremes.

6 The Tutankhamun Connection

Before we get into the potential reasons for this intriguing but bizarre period in ancient Egyptian history, we should perhaps turn our attention back to the famous pharaoh whose reign came during the era but was nevertheless responsible for returning the religious focus back to the way it was before Akhenaten: Tutankhamun.^[5] He is arguably the most well-known of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs, certainly to us in the modern age.

Indeed, he would change his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun as a public display of his casting off Atenism. Even so, his name was still removed from official royal records along with the other rulers during this time. Of even further interest is the tomb which sits directly across from that Tutankhamun, only meters away: Tomb 55, also known as KV55.

5 The Mysterious Tomb 55

Quite possibly the most intriguing and mysterious aspect of Atenism is the discovery of the contents of what became known as Tomb 55.^[6] What is particularly strange about it is that it reportedly originally bore the seal of Tutankhamun. (This claim remains unverified.) Tut, of course, was buried nearby, and his tomb wasn’t discovered until a number of years later.

What is even more interesting about Tomb 55 is the notion that it was actually sealed to keep the mummy inside as opposed to keeping rogue thieves and robbers out. Given what we know of the beliefs of the time in curses and the vengeance of the gods, this is an interesting, if ominous detail. Furthermore, the body of the mummy had been purposely desecrated as well as appearing and being displayed as female, despite the fact it was discovered to be male.

4 Statues Of Sekhmet Suddenly Appear Everywhere

During his reign, Amonhotep III erected 600 statues of Sekhmet at the Temple of Mut.^[7] He around 730 statues constructed in total. Why was this?

What is perhaps interesting here is that this particular deity was associated with, among other things, disaster. This, according to some researchers, suggests that something very grave was taking place in ancient Egypt.

Incidentally, according to ancient Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet, the daughter of Ra, had attempted to destroy the world and had to be kept at bay by Ra. This might be very important. Our final points, which we collectively owe to the research and investigative skills of author Graham Phillips, may just provide the missing answers to what is surely the most mysterious period in “known” ancient Egyptian history.

3 A Coincidental Cataclysmic Disaster?

In his book Act Of God, author, researcher, and investigator Graham Phillips argues that the reason for these statues, and indeed the apparent submission of the entire nation in the face of this drastic change, was down to a cataclysmic disaster striking the nation, specifically a huge, and deadly, volcanic eruption from Mount Thera (aka Santorini), the effects of which would have been more than felt in the lands of Egypt.^[8]

Might this have been the reason for accepting such drastic change? Might the skies have darkened as a result of a massive volcanic explosion? Might this prove to be the reason why Akhenaten made the decision to worship Aten—the sun disc?

What is also interesting here is that many of the apparent plagues which hit ancient Egypt, at least according to legends and Biblical writings, could be satisfactorily explained as a consequence of such a natural disaster, including, but certainly not limited to, the darkening of the skies (or the Sun). As these plagues continued, and with the nation coming to the realization that worshiping Aten was not stopping such disasters, a quick conversion back to the old gods was seen as the only way to end the horror.

In short, and given what we know of ancient Egyptian ideology, culture, and thought, there was an unintentional manipulation of a naturally occurring but cataclysmic event that not only ushered in Atenism but then ushered it out again. Our last points, though, are perhaps most spine-tingling of all.

2 The Hyksos And The Exodus

As an intriguing aside to the equally intriguing affair is the presence of a mysterious group of people in the region, the Hyksos. This mysterious group, according to some researchers, were the early Hebrews of the Old Testament and, in turn, part of the apparent bloodline of Jesus. Indeed, some researchers even claim that Jesus may well have been, by family ties and bloodlines, a pharaoh in exile in Jerusalem by the time of His birth, whose wealthy family were very likely from the Heliopolis region. When coming of age, He was likely taught the same teachings as were taught in the mystery schools of the regions thousands of years before His own existence.

Coming back to ancient Egypt, however, it would appear that the Hyksos were also part of the Exodus, which, while historically believed to be a myth, could well have taken place off the back of the outlawing of Atenism. Much of the Old Testament has obvious connections to ancient Egyptian writings. And while history, the Bible, and even the movies claim that the Exodus led by Moses took place during the reign of Ramses II, there is evidence to suggest, much of which we have examined above, that it, in fact, took place a century previously, during the reign of Akhenaten.^[9]

To understand this, we return once again to Graham Phillips.

1 Was Thutmose The Real Moses?

Indeed, Phillips notes that Crown Prince Thutmose should, by rights, have been the next in line for the throne following Amenhotep III.^[10] However, instead, Akhenaten takes charge, and Thutmose seemingly disappears from the picture. (Most historians assume he died.) When we know that an inscription on a wine jar for Akhenaten describes him as the “the true King’s son,” this now begins to sound like the Moses and Ramses II story. Now note that the word “son” in ancient Egyptian is mose. The Greek version of this word, incidentally, is mosis.

If we also believe, then, that Thutmose had to go into exile due to Akhenaten perhaps conspiring to kill him for his rightful place on the throne as the “king’s true son,” and if we also accept that Thutmose had abandoned the “Thut” (“god”) part of his name, then the connections between Mose and Moses are strong.

Might it be, as speculative as this all is, that the three main Abrahamic religions of our contemporary age are directly connected to the religious ideology from the mystery schools of ancient Egypt, preserving, in a bizarre way, the thought process and spirituality of one of the greatest civilizations to ever grace the Earth?

Lakes are liminal spaces. The world divides between what is above and what is below. They can also be spooky places where waves behave oddly, and it is easy to imagine all manner of things concealed in the gloomy depths below.

While lakes may scare some people away, others actively go to them to search out the mysteries they hide. Here are 10 discoveries that might make you want to go lake diving.

10 Religious Site

Lake Titicaca is both the largest freshwater lake in South America and the highest navigable lake in the world. It has long been a focus for human interest, with many ancient cultures living beside it and including it in their mythologies.

For the Incas, the god Con Tiqui Viracocha rose from the waters of Lake Titicaca and brought the first humans with him. An island in the middle of the lake was also the supposed birthplace of the founder of the Incan royal line. Ruins of the Inca can be found all around the lake, but something older lurks within.

A temple measuring 200 meters (656 ft) by 50 meters (164 ft) was discovered in 2000 by archaeologists who dated it to around AD 500–1000, making it pre-Inca. Constructed by the Tiwanaku people, the temple is just one of their religious sites that’s been found.^[1]

In 2013, startlingly beautiful golden objects were brought to the surface along with ceramics and bones given to the Tiwanaku gods. One of the most interesting discoveries is an object showing an animal that is a hybrid of a llama and a puma.

9 Tiny Animals

Not all lakes are in pretty locations. Some are almost impossible to find without the latest technologies. Lake Mercer in Antarctica is buried under 1 kilometer (0.6 mi) of ice. It had not been touched by humans until 2018 when a group of researchers managed to bore a small hole down to the waters crushed under a glacier. What they discovered shocked the scientists—a tardigrade and the bodies of tiny creatures like crustaceans.

Tardigrades are famous for being able to survive intense pressures, a huge range of temperatures, and even the vacuum of outer space. But the one brought up from Lake Mercer was very much dead, an ex-tardigrade.

What was interesting about the remains found at the bottom of the lake was that they resembled species known to live on dry land. It seems that the creatures were trapped when climactic conditions changed. Researchers are still investigating the lake to see if any life-forms have managed to thrive in the utter blackness of conditions under the ice.^[2]

8 Mungo Man And Woman

While climate change created and preserved Lake Mercer, it spelled the doom of Lake Mungo in Australia. As the region became more arid, it caused the lake to shrink and become more alkaline before finally drying up entirely several thousand years ago.

In the dried mud of the lake bed, footprints from 20,000 years ago have been preserved. One group shows children and adolescents moving together. Another suggests hunters moving quickly—including a one-legged man who hopped quickly after the others.

Jim Bowler discovered two sets of human remains in Lake Mungo that date from around 40,000 years ago. Inventively called Mungo Man and Mungo Woman, they prove the length of time that indigenous Australians have lived in the country. Mungo Woman is also the earliest-recorded cremation found anywhere in the world.^[3]

The remains of Mungo Man and Woman were taken from their site of discovery for further study. But they have since been returned to representatives of the indigenous groups who claim them as ancestors.

7 Stone Animals

As Lake Mungo dried, it became more alkaline. Today, Lake Natron in Tanzania has also become highly alkaline, and the effects of this are intriguing and beautiful in a macabre way.

Since water flows into Lake Natron but only escapes by evaporation, salts build up in the water. The extreme conditions make it a troubling location in which to live. It is home to only a single species of fish, some algae, and flamingos that feed on the algae. Other creatures that try to make their home by the lake suffer a terrible fate—they are turned to stone.

At least that is what it looks like. Dead animals that fall into the water are fantastically preserved by the salts which leach into their flesh. If they are washed up on the shore, then the drying water coats them in another layer of salt that seems to turn their bodies to white statues. Photographer Nick Brandt spent several weeks collecting and capturing the images of the animals that Lake Natron itself had ensnared.^[4]

6 Gold

In 2015, a 16-year-old girl on holiday went for a swim in Lake Konig. About 1.8 meters (6 ft) beneath the surface, she noticed something glittering and dived to pick it up.

In this case, all that glitters was gold. She came up with a 500-gram (17.6 oz) bar of pure gold worth an estimated €16,000. As the lake was only 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) from Hitler’s former holiday home, rumors immediately spread of Nazi treasure.

Six months after she handed the gold to police to identify its owner, the police returned the gold to the girl. Under German law, if the original owner does not claim a lost object within six months, then its finder becomes its keeper.

Research had proved that the gold bar was not Nazi in origin. But whoever placed it in the lake had gone to the trouble of defacing the number on the bar, which would have made tracing its owner easier. How the gold bar came to be lying at the bottom of the lake in the first place will likely never be known.^[5]

5 A Forest And Cart

Detroit Lake was only formed in 1953 when a dam was built. The reservoir created by this has become a home to fish and other creatures but is directly on top of Old Detroit. Each year, as the water level falls and the banks of the lake are exposed, the stumps of trees cut down for use in the construction of the dam can be seen. However, the ghostly remains of the forest are not all that lurk in Detroit Lake.

In recent years, the lake has fallen to unprecedented low levels and hints of Old Detroit have emerged from their watery graves. In 2015, when the lake fell 44 meters (143 ft), a fully preserved 19th-century wagon was found sticking out of the mud.^[6]

Besides other remains of the town, which used to be home to 200 people, a strange octagonal pit was discovered. No one could say what exactly it was used for by the time that the lake refilled. Future archaeologists will just have to wait for another dry summer.

4 A Fortress?

Lake Van in Turkey is home to much archaeology—and possibly a monster according to local belief. But in 2017, it was announced that a castle had been found. It had been submerged for hundreds or thousands of years as the water level of the lake rose.

It was immediately and confidently stated in several articles that the cut stone walls of the building belonged to the Urartu civilization who lived in the area 3,000 years ago. One stone featured a carving of a lion, which supported the attribution of the site to the Urartu. But some took issue with the announcement.

The team of divers who discovered the site did not include any archaeologists, but they never claimed to have been experts. It was the press that made the initial jump to their having discovered a 3,000-year-old castle.^[7]

Also, the site had been known earlier. Others who had examined it felt that the site was probably only hundreds, rather than thousands, of years old. It is possible, though, that the walls discovered by the divers had been built by people who robbed stone from an ancient Urartu building. All that anyone can agree on conclusively is that more research is needed.

3 Tanks

The Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II saw huge numbers of tanks sweeping across Eastern Europe. Belarus suffered greatly from the battles that occurred there, and many places still bear the scars of the titanic struggle.

Among the human remains and craters that have been found by archaeologists, however, are a surprising number of startlingly well-preserved tanks lurking in the lakes, bogs, and mires. One family, the Yakushevs, have become experts in finding them and freeing them from the mud.^[8]

Despite being buried and sunk for decades, many of the tanks found by the Yakushevs have been restored to working order. In many cases, it is the anaerobic conditions in the mud which have saved the tanks as no oxygen can get at them to rust them to nothing.

Much can be learned about conditions on the battlefront from the tanks that are found. One Soviet T-34 was found painted in Nazi colors after having been captured by them and sent into battle against its Soviet builders.

2 The Nemi Ships

Lake Nemi in Italy is a very small lake that was hiding a very large secret. Local fishermen had always been aware that there were sunken ships in the water, and they often dived down to recover artifacts that could be sold to tourists.

Early attempts at underwater archaeology failed. But in 1927, Mussolini ordered that the lake be drained and the ships fully exposed. What was found were the remains of two vessels, each around 76 meters (250 ft) long and 21 meters (70 ft) wide. If that seems insanely large, it will not be surprising that they were built by the somewhat unhinged emperor Caligula.

The ships were magnificent floating palaces. The hulls were coated with lead and the decks with marble, mosaics, and gilding. Exactly why Caligula had these ships built and placed on such a small lake will likely never be known.^[9]

The two ships were destroyed in a fire during World War II. But archaeologists are still searching Lake Nemi to see if there are any other remains waiting to be found.

1 Sword

Although Monty Python and the Holy Grail tells us that “strange women lyin’ in ponds distributin’ swords is no basis for a system of government,” there were those who suggested that an eight-year-old Swedish-American girl had proved herself a real queen when she pulled an ancient sword from a lake.

Saga Vanecek was skipping stones across Lake Vidostern when she reached to pull what she thought was a stick from the mud. Instead, she found a handle and raised the sword while saying, “Daddy, I’ve found a sword.”

It was not just any sword. At 1,500 years old, it predated the Vikings. The 85-centimeter-long (33 in) weapon is now being restored. Archaeologists who searched the site for more artifacts recovered a brooch but do not yet know how the items ended up in the lake. More work is underway to see what else is waiting to be found.^[10]

For much of history, homosexuality has been hidden away—if not in closets then in the privacy of people’s homes. Because of social stigma or cruel punishment, people were unable to live their lives openly. Yet history is littered with people who have formed strong same-sex relationships, whether sexual or not. It may be that some of these couples simply shared a friendship of such intensity that we today find it impossible to imagine it not being sexual.

10Marcela Gracia Ibeas & Elisa Sanchez Loriga

It is said that in 1061 two men were married by a priest in a small chapel in Spain. Little is known about the two men, Pedro Diaz and Muno Vandilaz, but a gay wedding, also in Spain, in 1901 is far better documented.

Marcela Gracia Ibeas and Elisa Sanchez Loriga met while training to be teachers. Their friendship was intense enough to cause concern as Marcela’s parents sent her away to complete her studies and to separate the pair. After their training, however, they were placed in neighboring rural parishes. Here, they began to live together.

Elisa took to presenting herself as a man and using the identity of a dead cousin, calling herself Mario. It was in this guise that the pair married on June 8, 1901. The secret of their marriage did not remain secret for long. The revelation that a same-sex couple had married was reported widely. They were sacked, excommunicated, and arrest warrants put out for the pair. They fled, first to Portugal and then to Argentina. In Argentina, Elisa, under a false name, married a man to set up a home where Marcela could live with her. This marriage was never consummated, and the husband discovered the pair’s identity.

In 1909, the press announced Elisa’s suicide. What happened to Marcela is not known. Their marriage to each other was never officially annulled.

9James I & George Villiers

When Queen Elizabeth died without an heir in 1603, the English crown passed to her relative James, King of Scotland. Since Elizabeth had been such a strong ruler, people joked that after the reign of King Elizabeth, it was now the reign of Queen James.

James seems to have had several favorite male courtiers throughout his life. When he was young, it was with the Earl of Lennox, who one observer reported “the Duke of Lennox went about to draw the King to carnal lust.” Others followed, but it was with George Villiers that James would make the most lasting relationship. As James openly told his Privy Council:

“You may be sure that I love the Earl of Buckingham [James made Villiers Earl of Buckingham] more than anyone else, and more than you who are here assembled. I wish to speak in my own behalf and not to have it thought to be a defect, for Jesus Christ did the same, and therefore I cannot be blamed. Christ had John, and I have George.”

Their relationship was certainly profitable to Villiers, who gained power, lands, titles, and wealth. It was not so to the realm. He mismanaged many things and came to be hated. After James’s death, Villiers was stabbed to death. But it seems he made the king happy. As James wrote in a private letter:

“Praying God that I may have a joyful and comfortable meeting with you, and that we may make at this Christenmass a new marriage, ever to be kept thereafter; for God so love me, as I desire only to live in this world for your sake, and that I had rather live banished in any part of the earth with you, then live a sorrowful widow-life without you.”

8Pan Zhang & Wang Zhongxian

Wang Zhongxian was the ruler of Chu, a feudal state in modern China, sometime in the fourth or third century BC. Hearing of a beautiful young scholar called Pan Zhang, the ruler asked for copies of his writings. The two met and are said to have fallen immediately in love with each other.

The pair lived the rest of their lives together. They were described as being as close as husband and wife, sharing the same bed and blanket and “unbounded intimacy.” The two lovers died at the same time and were buried together on the Mount Luofu. Here, a tree was planted on their grave. As it grew, the branches and twigs came to join and merge together, which people saw as an embrace. Seeing this as a representation of Pan Zhang and Wang Zhongxian’s love, the locals called this the “Shared Pillow Tree.”

7James Buchanan & William Rufus King

When future president James Buchanan was a young man, he became engaged to the rich and attractive Anne Coleman. She broke off the engagement, and Buchanan never did marry. He did, however, enter into a relationship with Senator William Rufus King.

The two politicians shared a home in Washington for 10 years. For two bachelors, this may seem to be just a money-saving act of prudence. However, the two were closer than simple housemates. President Jackson colorfully referred to them as “Miss Nancy” and “Aunt Fancy.”

When the two were separated because King went to France to serve as the United States ambassador, Buchanan wrote to a friend:

“I am now ‘solitary and alone,’ having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them . . . [I] should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection.”

6Queen Anne & Sarah Churchill

Queen Anne was never supposed to be a queen. She was the younger daughter of a king who had two sons. However, the crown did fall to her, and when she came to the throne, she brought with her the great friend of her youth, Sarah Churchill.

Sarah and Anne had served together as ladies in waiting to the old Queen and developed the nicknames “Mrs Morley” (Anne) and “Mrs Freeman” (Sarah) for each other. Anne found Sarah was willing to speak bluntly to her and adored her frankness. Once Queen, she made Sarah’s husband a duke, and Sarah herself received several positions at court.

However, Sarah overstepped her mark. Queen Anne found her frankness irritating now. Sarah once told the Queen in public to “be quiet.” Things worsened when Sarah found that Anne was spending long periods alone with a younger woman—her own relative Abigail Masham. Soon, rumors abounded about the “Dark Deeds at Night” that the young Masham provided to the Queen. Sarah was fired from all her positions and left the country, only returning after Anne’s death.

5David & Jonathan

Oscar Wilde said, “‘The Love that dare not speak its name’ in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan . . . It is that deep, spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect.” He said this in a trial related to his alleged homosexuality. Is there any evidence in the Bible of a same-sex relationship between King David and Jonathan?

After David has slain Goliath, he takes the head to King Saul. When the king’s son Jonathan meets David. the pair form a bond. 1 Samuel 18:1 says “Jonathan became one in spirit with David and he loved him as himself.” The two exchange clothes and weapons and make a ‘covenant.’

King Saul becomes jealous of David. Jonathan helps David escape his father. As the two part, “David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most.” Jonathan is later killed in battle and David grieves for him. “Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women.”

4Emperor Ai Of Han

Emperor Ai ruled Han from 7–1 BC. Ai fell in love with a young retainer, Dong Xian, at court and would bequeath one of the most charming stories and phrases to history. Unfortunately, Ai’s desire for Dong would be the ruin of his beloved.

It is said that as soon as they saw each other, the Emperor was smitten. He showered his favorite with ever more titles. When a stranger at a feast marveled at such a young man having such power, the Emperor claimed that Dong was a sage. Those close to the Emperor told him that the state was being ruined on account of Dong, but the Emperor would do nothing.

It is said that once Dong fell asleep on the Emperor’s arm, not wanting to disturb his lover, the Emperor cut his sleeve off. This led to the phrase “passion of the cut sleeve” as a euphemism for homosexuality in Chinese.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given his fondness for Dong, Ai died without having produced an heir. On his death bed, he left the state to Dong Xian. This proved fatal for Dong, as he was soon relieved of all offices and banned from the palace. He committed suicide soon afterward.

3The Ladies Of Llangollen

Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby came from the English aristocracy in Ireland. They met in 1768 and began a secret and intense correspondence. In 1778, the pair fled their families to avoid arranged marriages or being forced into a convent. The two ladies slept rough in barns in their attempt to reach a boat for England.

This attempt failed. They were discovered and taken to their separate homes and banned from seeing each other. Only their obstinacy prevented them being parted forever. When their families saw there was no alternative, Eleanor and Sarah were allowed to leave. They moved to Wales and set up a retreat in Llangollen. There, despite their efforts to be private, they soon became “the two most celebrated virgins in Europe.” All the great celebrities of the day either visited them or wrote to them.

For 50 years, the two lived contentedly in their splendid isolation, kept company by a loyal housekeeper and visitors. Today, their home is a museum.

2Hadrian & Antinous

Homosexuality in the ancient world was not as universally approved of as some people would seem to believe. It was seen as unmanly for a male citizen to have too strong an infatuation with anyone, male or female, and disgraceful for a man to play the passive role in a homosexual relationship. Of course, rules are somewhat laxer when you are an emperor.

Hadrian discovered what many believe to have been the love of his life, Antinous, when the other was a boy. He took the handsome boy with him everywhere, leaving his wife at home. Hadrian was a restless administrator and traveled across the empire. It was while visiting Egypt that tragedy struck. Antinous mysteriously drowned in the Nile. Hadrian was beside himself with grief.

On the spot where he drowned, Hadrian constructed a new city, Antinopolis. He created a cult for the worship of the young man. Busts and statues of Antinous were raised throughout the empire. His face is one of the most recognizable from the ancient world, and copies of his image have been found from the corners of the empire.

1The Tyrannicides Of Athens

Upper-class Ancient Athenians tolerated a form of pedophilia that is shocking to us today. It was common for an older man to take a boy as his lover and introduce him into society. It was to be this practice which would give the Athenians their democracy, however.

Athens had tried democracy before but had fallen under the power of Hipparchus’s family. Hipparchus used his political position to try to force the pretty young boy Harmodius into being his lover. This upset not only the boy but his existing older lover Aristogeiton. The two lovers plotted together and at a religious sacrifice assassinated Hipparchus.

Hipparchus’s brother took sole control of the city and had the tyrannicides put to death. But when this last tyrant fell, Harmodius and Aristogeiton became symbols for Athens’s renewed democracy. A statue of the lovers was erected as a monument to freedom.

The traveling carnival, often known simply as a carnival, is largely held by historians to have originated from the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Carnivals developed a bad reputation from their outset, which continued long after. This was due to two things: The “unsavory diversions” that carnivals offered, such as “freak shows, games of chance, and burlesque,” and the frequently dishonest and scandalous business practices of workers, which included operating “rigged games” and bogus exhibits, exhibiting nude or “scantily clad women,” bribing local authorities, and fighting their local customers, or “clems.”

Despite this notoriety, carnivals were popular, a large part of their attraction being due to the rides they offered, many of the more popular ones that appear on this list. One is actually older than the origin of the carnival itself, and most were invented or further developed during the first half of the twentieth century.

Here are the intriguing origins of 10 popular carnival rides.

Related: Top 10 Deadliest Rides in the World

10 Roller Coaster

The precursor to the modern roller coaster was Russia’s ice slides: 600-foot-long (183-meter) ramps that sleds would rush down, full of riders who had climbed a 70-foot-tall (21-meter) tower for the privilege of taking the thrilling ride. At the end of the ride, the passengers would ride “down a parallel slide,” which would return them to the original starting point.

In 1784, Catherine the Great transformed this wintry pursuit into an all-year pastime when, by her orders, wheels and grooved tracks were added to the coasters so they could be ridden at her palace even during summer.

The French added another innovation to the ride in 1817 when Belleville Mountain in Paris became the first slide to lock cars onto tracks by their wheel axles. A third improvement was the introduction, by the city’s Aerial Walks, of “a system for pulling the cars back up for” additional rides.^[1]

9 Carousel

Thomas Bradshaw invented the first steam-powered carousel in 1861. The carousel itself is much older. The original merry-go-round, as the ride is also known, was built of wood. The horses that passengers rode were motionless, except, that is, for the live ones that powered the ride’s circular platform when people weren’t used for this purpose.

Frederick Savage’s “galloping mechanism” was introduced in 1870. It was an innovation to Bradshaw’s invention, in which the steam engine turned a drive shaft with a cog at the end of it. The cog then turned “an angled bevel gear fixed to an upright pole,” which moved “a ring gear in the canopy,” causing the carousel to spin around.

Savage also added a gear and offset the crank mechanism to the steam-powered horses, making them rise and fall at different times. Another innovation, also by Savage, resulted in the horses hanging at various heights. Finally, a related innovation, the pole’s extension through a hole in the platform, allowed the poles to move a little forward as the ride went faster.^[2]

8 Ferris Wheel

The Ferris wheel was created to represent American engineering at the 1893 World’s Fair. The ride, named for its inventor and builder, George Washington Gale Ferris, an engineer, was built on the principle of the bicycle wheel, with the “lower half suspended from the axle by the spoke rods running downward,” while the upper half of the wheel is supported by the lower half. The only difference is that the Ferris wheel “hangs by its axle, while a bicycle wheel rests on the ground with the weight applied downward on the axle.”

Ferris’s design gave great stability to his invention, which weighed 1,200 tons (1088 metric tons). Its safety was demonstrated by Ferris himself, who rode to the top of the wheel during a severe storm accompanied by winds of 100 miles per hour (161 km/h). Fifty cents was charged to ride the wheel, which was a hit from the moment it debuted, with riders declaring that they wouldn’t “take ten dollars for their experience.”^[3]

7 The Witching Waves

Jeffrey Stanton explains the origin of the Witching Waves ride in his article concerning Coney Island’s independent rides. At the outset of the automobile age, he says, people wanted to ride inside automobiles or even drive them, and it was to this intense desire that the Witching Waves catered.

The ride, invented in 1907 by Theophilus Van Kannel, first became available to the public at Coney Island three years later. The ride is a large oval course consisting of a flexible, stationary metal floor beneath which “hidden reciprocating levers” produce “a wave-like motion” that propels cars steered by their riders.

Actors ride the Witching Waves in the 1917 film Fatty in Coney Island, starring Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. Improbable antics ensue as the cars travel erratically, collide with one another, crash into an obstacle on the track, spill passengers, and make one rider nauseous.^[4]

6 The Whip

W.F. Mangrels was a manufacturer of carousels and other carnival rides, notably for those at Coney Island. In 1914, he invented the Whip, an open, horse-shoe-shaped car with a rounded front in which one to three passengers ride on a bench-style seat, a safety bar before them, as the cars follow a circular track while the arms attached to the cars periodically “whip” them back and forth.

Several Whip rides are still in use today, including the one at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown, Pennsylvania, manufactured in 1918, and Kennywood Park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, manufactured in 1926. Manufacturers continued to make several versions throughout the years; however, they are no longer in production.^[5]

5 Bumper Cars

Early in the 1920s, Max Stoehrer and his son Harold were granted a patent for an “Amusement Apparatus” that would eventually become their Dodgem cars after the inventors equipped the cars with “novel instrumentalities” that made it difficult to control with certainty by causing the vehicles to follow an irregular, undefined path and collide with other cars.

In effect, Stoehrer and his son offered riders the thrill of being in a series of safe car crashes. In partnership with Ralph Pratt, Stoehrer started a company to build a floor and roof for customers upon and under which to operate the cars they bought, adding improvements to their vehicles as they received additional patents in 1920, 1921, and 1923.^[6]

4 Tilt-a-Whirl

“A devilish contraption.” That’s how Richard Kautz, the author of The Science of Predictable Random Motion, describes Herbert Sellner’s 1926 invention, the Tilt-a-Whirl. In the ride, each of the cars is mounted on its own circular platform that moves evenly along a circular track with three identical hills.

Boring? The ride might be, Kautz concedes, if the cars were “rigidly attached to the platforms” rather than being “free to rotate about a central pivot point that allows chaos to creep into the machine.” As a result of this innovation, riders are whirled clockwise and then counterclockwise and reverse directions randomly, keeping passengers in suspense as to what will happen next and wishing they’d passed on having eaten a hot dog before boarding.^[7]

3 Bumper Boats

In a November 1997 article for Automobile Magazine, Seth Gussow brought readers up to speed on the 1930s origin of bumper boats. Not surprisingly, they were inspired by the Stoehrers’ bumper cars and were successful for a similar reason. As the Dodgem car had given many a first opportunity to “get behind the wheel of a car,” the boats gave many their first chance to operate a powerboat.

A partnership between the Dodgem Corporation and the Lusse Company operated like Pratt and Stoehrer in selling bumper cars. Two buildings valued at $27,500 were to be put up and mortgaged to the Philadelphia Toboggan Company PTC, and Dodgem was to supply fifty cars valued at $20,000. For the boat ride, PTC was apparently responsible for constructing a channel. Like the bumper cars, the bumper boats proved a smashing success.^[8]

2 Rotor

Owned and operated by its inventor, Ernst W. Hoffmeister, of Hamburg, Germany, the Rotor was built by Anton Schwarzkopf and debuted in 1955. According to Amusement Park Extravaganza, in the United States, due to a patent disagreement among the ride’s makers and operators, the Velare Brothers were assigned the rights to build portable Rotors.” The Anglo Rotor Corporation was assigned the rights to stationary models.

The ride uses centrifugal force to pin its occupants to the outsides of its wooden cylinder until the Rotor reaches its optimal speed. At this point, passengers are safely stuck to the wall, and the ride’s operator lowers the floor, leaving riders high up the wall. As the ride ends, the cylinder gradually slows to a stop, and riders slowly slide down the wall to land on the lowered floor.

The invention of the Rotor was part of the broader trend in the mid-20th century to develop new and thrilling amusement rides that would attract visitors with novel and intense experiences. The Rotor became popular for its ability to provide a thrilling ride experience that was different from traditional roller coasters and other amusement park attractions. Various versions are still found in carnivals today, under several names, including the Round-Up and the Gravitron.^[9]

1 Bounce House

Inspired by the inflatable tent covers he designed for tennis courts, American engineer John Scurlock, who was employed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration and taught at Tulane University, invented the inflatable tent design of the bounce house in 1958. While working on the court covers, he noticed his employees enjoyed jumping on the inflated surfaces. This observation inspired him to create an inflatable play structure specifically designed for jumping and bouncing.

Scurlock’s invention aimed to provide a unique and entertaining way for children to play and expend energy. Bounce houses quickly became popular at parties, fairs, and amusement parks, offering a safe environment where children could enjoy physical activity.

The safety of subsequent versions of his original design, created by others, was investigated after a Little Tikes Jump n’ Slide went airborne, reaching an altitude of 50 feet (15 meters) during high winds and injuring two children who “toppled out,” one falling on asphalt, the other on a parked car. Heavier, more durable houses are safe, Space Walk company executives say.

The Mayo Clinic, however, states that each year, children sustain injuries on trampolines and in bounce houses ranging from sprains and broken bones to traumatic head and neck injuries. It recommends a number of actions to prevent injuries, including supervising bounce house use at all times, allowing use only by children of the same size and age, ensuring that the bounce house is securely attached to the ground, and refraining from using a bounce house during high winds and storms.^[10]