The River Thames is the whole reason that London exists. Running through the city’s center, it has provided water and the opportunity to trade for millennia. But it turns out people have lived beside its banks for far longer than there has been a city there. Only now are we beginning to find out the full story of the river thanks to objects that are being retrieved from its waters. A new exhibition at the London Museum called “Secrets of the Thames” brings together some of the most spectacular finds from the river.

So, if you are ever lucky enough to get a license that allows you to join the mudlarks on the foreshore of the Thames, these are 10 things that might be waiting for you to pick up.

Related: Top 10 Greatest Archaeological Restorations

10 Waterloo Helmet

In 1868, the River Thames near Waterloo Bridge was being dredged to keep the water there navigable when one of the workers spotted a strange object in the ooze that was being pulled up. Once cleaned, it became clear that it was an important and ancient artifact. The Waterloo Helmet had been found.

The object resembled the stereotypical (and inaccurate) image of a Viking helmet with two horns protruding. It is made from bronze sheets riveted together and decorated with a flowing, hammered pattern. From the materials and the way it is decorated, it can be dated back to around 150-50 BC.

The purpose of the “helmet” is less clear. If anyone had worn it into battle, they would have been disappointed with the level of protection it offered—even the lightest blow would have damaged it or pierced the skull underneath. It is also oddly small and so could not have been easily worn. Likely, it was a ceremonial object and was placed into the Thames as a gift to the divine, known as a votive offering.^[1]

9 Gold Rings

One of the rarest and most exciting mudlarking finds must be spotting the glint of gold among the detritus on the river foreshore. Hundreds of gold rings have been found in the Thames over the years. This leads to questions about how these precious objects ended up in the water? Were people careless, or were they throwing them in on purpose?

Many of the rings were clearly romantic gifts. Known as posy rings, they date from the 13th century onward. They usually have a hidden message engraved onto the inside of the ring where only the giver and the wearer would know it was there. These have been found written in English, French, and Latin. One example with the message on the outside was found in the Thames, which says, in Medieval French, “For Love, So Sweet.”

So many have turned up in the river that some think they were placed there by lovers who wished the love the rings represented to be secure under the water. Others think they may have been hurled in by disappointed lovers after a break-up.^[2]

8 Axeheads

For millennia, the best material for making tools was stone. Flakes of flint were used for scraping while larger, knapped objects that functioned as knives and axeheads were made. Flint is relatively common in England, but people in the Stone Age occasionally worked with more exotic materials.

One axehead dating from 4000 BC was found in the Thames and was made from a green stone known as jadeite, which was not native to England. The stone it was made from must have been mined in Italy, and it reveals a trade network that operated thousands of years ago. Not only was the stone beautiful, but it had also been painstakingly polished for hundreds of hours to make it flawlessly smooth. This was a high-status object – and was clearly never meant to be used as an axe.

The axe must have been owned as an object that commanded respect. That it ended up in the Thames shows that this expensive item was probably placed in the river deliberately as part of some ritual.^[3]

7 Ancient Skulls

It is not only objects made by humans that end up in the river. Sometimes, the humans end up there too. It is tragically true that mudlarks occasionally stumble on the bodies of people who have committed suicide by drowning in the Thames. It is also true that human bones can be found on the foreshore—and sometimes, they are among the most ancient human remains found in Britain.

In 2019, part of the skull of a man was picked up from the riverbank. Human skulls have been found dating from the Roman, Saxon, and Medieval periods, but there was something special about this one. Radiocarbon dating showed it belonged to someone who lived 5,600 years ago.

The original owner of the skull was likely a farmer who worked the land around the Thames in the Neolithic Period. These people were the first to call London home, though they would not have called it London.^[4]

6 Hadrian’s Head

The Romans loved a statue. Museums around the world are full of gorgeous marble busts, friezes, and larger-than-life-sized sculptures. However, Bronze statues, also popular in antiquity, are far rarer. This is because bronze can be melted down again and cast into various other things when the statue is no longer wanted. In 1834, a bronze head of a statue modeled on the Roman Emperor Hadrian was pulled out of the Thames near London Bridge.

Londinium was the capital city of Roman Britain, and Roman finds are not uncommon, given that it was a major settlement for centuries. Nor is it unexpected that there would have been a statue of Hadrian in London. He visited Britain in his many travels and ordered the construction of his famous wall in the north of the country. But how did the head end in the Thames?

We do know that when an unpopular emperor was deposed, his statues were often pulled down, but Hadrian was and remained fairly popular. The head was fairly crudely lopped off its statue, so it was probably taken off by someone with anti-Roman feelings and thrown in the river as an insult.^[5]

5 Seax of Beagnoth

London remained an important settlement during the Anglo-Saxon period after the Romans left Britain. However, the Roman city was largely abandoned. We know there were wealthy and powerful Anglo-Saxons in the area – because we found one of their swords.

In 1857, a laborer called Henry J. Briggs was digging in one of the estuary sites of the Thames when he pulled up an Anglo-Saxon seax. The seax was a single-edged weapon about the size of a dagger or short sword and was a typical shape used by the Anglo-Saxons. This example of a seax was particularly impressive as it had complex decoration and a runic inscription, which was written with lengths of silver and copper.

The first inscription is the entire alphabet of runes, which might seem odd. Runes were often employed for magical purposes, so a blade with all the runes might be thought extra-enchanted. The second inscription gives the sword its name as it spells out Beagnoth—probably the name of the sword’s first owner or the person who made it.^[6]

4 Roman Lamp

You can mudlark on the Thames for years, finding only interesting scraps of historical artifacts, but finding significant objects is a matter of luck. One mudlark was incredibly lucky when he went down on the banks of the river one lunchtime and happened to spot what proved to be a perfectly preserved Roman oil lamp made in the 4th or 5th century. It was so perfect that his first thought was to throw it away because it looked like a modern replica.

The lamp is decorated with a leaping lion and various other symbols. Given the imagery on it, the lamp was made in North Africa before being imported to Britain. In the 5th century, the Roman Empire was beginning to collapse in the west, so the lamp was probably traded before the political turmoil of this period.^[7]

3 Doves Type

For years, mudlarkers around Hammersmith Bridge discovered little pieces of metal marked with letters that were clearly used in printing. It was strange that so many were found in one place. Had a whole printing press fallen into the Thames? No, but someone had been throwing the metal type into the river.

Around 1900, the Doves Press was set up by Thomas Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker. Together, they create a series of new typefaces they would use to print their books. They were beautiful examples modeled on 15th-century lettering. Unfortunately, the partnership behind the business was less harmonious, and arguments broke out about who owned the type. It was finally agreed that Cobden-Sanderson could use the type for the rest of his life, but then ownership would transfer to Walker. Cobden-Sanderson was not happy with even this—so he began to get rid of the type.

Each night, as he walked across Hammersmith Bridge, he would dump a load of the type into the water. Over 170 trips, he rid himself of the entire type, sure it could never be used again. In this, he was wrong, as enough has been recovered by mudlarks to recreate the lost Doves Type again.^[8]

2 1970s Mug?

One of the worst fears of a mudlark is that you might find something important but not recognize that it is something you should pick up. You can’t take everything you find; there’s simply too much on the foreshore, so you must be selective. I once almost left a Roman tile behind because I did not recognize the intricate pattern marked on it. Had I stumbled on a brown mug, I would have been tempted to leave it behind because it looked so modern. I might have thought, “This is a 1970s brown mug.”

Luckily, one mudlark was less judgemental than I was. When they collected the brown mug, they recognized it as important and took it to archaeologists to have it assessed. Despite its modernist style and perfect surface, the piece turned out to be a Roman wine cup that was at least 1,800 years old. When the cup was new, it would have had a second handle opposite the first.

It is rare for such a large piece of ceramic to be found nearly intact on the foreshore, as with each tide, objects are washed around by the water and collide with the rocks on the riverbed.^[9]

1 Battersea Shield

When building bridges across the Thames in the Victorian period, it was common to dredge up the riverbed to ensure there was nothing in the way—and this dredging pulled up large numbers of artifacts. One of the largest and most important objects ever found in the Thames was pulled up this way in 1857.

The Battersea Shield is the almost complete bronze covering of a shield made around the 2nd century BC. There would once have been a wooden shield attached behind it, but it rotted away long ago. On the front of the shield are three circles filled with curving decoration beaten out of the bronze. There are also smaller circles once filled with red enamel that would have glinted in the sun, though the enamel is broken today [LINK 10].

The shield must have been one of the most impressive items seen by people at the time it was made. And it was meant to impress because it would not have offered much protection in battle. Nor does it seem to have ever been used in battle, as there is no damage. It is most likely that the shield was just for ceremonial use and was eventually given to the river as an offering to the gods.^[10]

We’ve heard about governments taking people to court. But what about the government taking nonliving things to court? As it turns out, the United States has done just that—and more than a few times.

It is hilarious and sounds weird, since, obviously, nonliving things cannot commit crimes or run afoul of the law. Nevertheless, some inanimate objects have ended up as defendants in court, as the following ten courtroom farces illustrate.

10 United States v. 434 Main Street, Tewksbury, Massachusetts

United States v. 434 Main Street, Tewksbury, Massachusetts was a joint litigation in 2012 by the Tewksbury Police Department and the US Department of Justice against a motel owned by Russ Caswell. The motel was built by Caswell’s father in 1955 and is located at the address stated in the lawsuit.

The Tewksbury Police Department and the Justice Department were working together to seize the property under a civil forfeiture law that allows the government to seize properties that have been used for crime. The government has often abused the law in what is said to be synonymous with daylight robbery.

The reasons for abusing the law boil down to money. In this case, the Justice Department hoped to sell the motel for about $1.5 million, out of which the Tewksbury Police Department would have received 80 percent. The police department ganged up with the Justice Department to seize the property because the state of Massachusetts was unlikely to allow them to do so.

In court, the plaintiffs argued that drug dealers often used the motel. This is even though the number of drug deals that happened in the motel was insignificant, a whopping 15 between 1994 and 2008.

A Massachusetts district court later ruled that the US government could not seize the property, since there is no evidence that Caswell and his wife were involved in any of the drug deals that happened in the motel. Besides, the government and police never made any attempt to stop drug dealers from using the motel and never warned the Caswells of any consequences should the drug deals continue.^[1]

9 United States v. One Package Of Japanese Pessaries

In 1873, the US Congress passed the Comstock Act, which forbade the sale and distribution of sexual materials, including books and contraceptives. The act was controversial among women’s right activists who promoted the use contraceptives for birth control. The US government followed the act up with the Tariff Act of 1930 that empowered the US Customs to seize any contraceptive shipped into the country.

In January 1933, the US Customs seized a package containing some contraceptives. The package was intended for Hannah Stone, a physician working with the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau in New York. The bureau was owned by Margaret Sanger, a birth control activist, and was founded to distribute contraceptives to women. However, Sander fronted it as a research institution with interests in birth control.

Customs took the package to court instead of Stone. They claimed they did not need to charge Stone, since she had not received the package before it was intercepted. Sanger got two attorneys to defend the package in court. They argued that contraceptives were necessary to prevent diseases.

On December 10, 1935, a US district court ruled that Customs could not seize the package, since the Tariff Act did not apply to it. Customs took the case to the Court of Appeals, which, on December 7, 1936, ruled that physicians were exempted from the Tariff Act. The case was a landmark one, as it paved the way for physicians to sell contraceptives for birth control, unlike in the past, where they could only sell it to prevent or treat diseases.

8 United States v. Approximately 64,695 Pounds Of Shark Fins

In 2002, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) seized a US vessel transporting shark fins to Guatemala. The vessel, King Diamond II, had been contracted by Hong Kong-based Tai Loong Hong Marine Products, Ltd (TLH) to pick up some shark fins from fishing vessels on the high seas and ship them to Guatemala, where they were to be sold.

In court, the USCG argued that the ship violated the Shark Finning Prohibition Act, which forbade the sale of shark fins. The government initially named the ship as the defendant but later switched to naming the shark fins. The government argued that the King Diamond II qualified as a fishing vessel since it had aided another fishing vessel at sea. That made sense with the district court, which ruled that TLH forfeited the fins to the government.

TLH appealed the decision. It argued that the ship was not a fishing vessel, since it never assisted any fishing boat. Rather, it purchased shark fins from a fishing vessel. In 2008, the Court of Appeals sided with TLH, stating that the Magnuson Act that covered the Shark Finning Prohibition Act did not clearly explain what constituted a fishing vessel. And since the act never forbade the buying of shark fins, TLH had done nothing wrong.^[3]

7 United States v. One Solid Gold Object In The Form Of A Rooster

In July 1960, the US government issued an arrest warrant for a rooster—not a living one but a 6.4-kilogram (14 lb) rooster made of 18-carat gold. The rooster was exhibited in a glass display case at Nugget Casino, Sparks, Nevada. It had been sculpted in 1958 at the behest of the casino owner, Richard L. Graves, to advertise a fried chicken restaurant inside the casino.

The sculpture happened to have been commissioned at a time when the US needed more gold. Years earlier, the federal government had passed the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, which required Americans to surrender their gold to the Department of the Treasury. Secret Service agents met with Graves to inform him that he had violated the Gold Reserve Act but left him alone after confirming he’d received permission from the San Francisco Mint.

Things took a turn in July 1960, when federal agents arrested the rooster and sent it to a bank vault in California. The rooster appeared before a jury in July 1962, and Graves and the Treasury Department argued over whether it was an art or a tool of commerce.

The Treasury Department argued that the rooster was a tool of commerce since it was used for advertisement. Paul Laxalt, Graves’s attorney and future lieutenant governor, governor, and senator, argued that it was art. Laxalt won, and Graves got his golden rooster back. Had Laxalt lost, the rooster would have been melted down and added to the Federal Reserve.^[4]

6 United States v. One Tyrannosaurus Bataar Skeleton

In 2012, Heritage Auctions in Dallas was preparing to auction the bones of a Tyrannosaurus bataar (aka Tarbosaurus bataar) when the auction was suspended by a court order. The order was filed on behalf of the Mongolian government, which suspected the 70-million-year-old fossil had been illegally excavated from the country and shipped to the US. Under Mongolian law, the state owned all fossils dug from the country.

The US government arrested the dinosaur and took it to court. The primary suspect, Eric Prokopi, was not charged because there was no evidence to indicate he had illegally obtained the fossil. However, investigations revealed that Prokopi had illegally excavated the fossil from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and exported it to the US.

On October 17, 2012, Homeland Security agents searched Prokopi’s home, where they found another Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton. A delivery truck even arrived at Prokopi’s home with more fossils while the agents were still there. The US government charged Prokopi in another case named The United States of America v. Eric Prokopi.

Besides illegally excavating the fossils, Prokopi faced other charges for customs fraud, since he had lied to US Customs about the content of the package containing the dinosaur remains.^[5] He was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment. He could have received as many as 17 years, but the judge was lenient with him because he cooperated with investigators.

5 United States v. Forty Barrels & Twenty Kegs Of Coca-Cola

On October 20, 1909, US federal agents enforcing the Pure Food and Drug Act seized 40 barrels and 20 kegs of Coca-cola syrup as it was being transported from Atlanta, Georgia, to Chattanooga, Tennessee. The act had been passed to prevent anyone from selling dangerous foods to the public. Coca-Cola contained caffeine, a stimulant that the Department of Agriculture claimed was dangerous to the body.

The Coca-Cola Company and the government met in court in 1911. On the side of the government was Harvey Washington Wiley of the Department of Agriculture. Wiley argued that caffeine was poisonous. Wiley targeted Coca-Cola instead of tea or coffee, which contained more caffeine, because caffeine was not a natural ingredient of Coca-Cola and because the Coca-Cola Company marketed the drink to children.

The Coca-Cola Company contracted Harry Hollingworth to launch a study into the effects of caffeine on the body. Harry concluded that while Coca-Cola was a mild stimulant, it was not dangerous to the body. The US government lost the case after the judge determined that caffeine was a necessary ingredient in Coca-Cola. The US government appealed the decision and lost but later found victory in the Supreme Court in 1916. This made Coca-Cola reduce the caffeine content of its drink.^[6]

4 United States v. Thirty-Seven Photographs

In 1971, the US government took legal action against 37 obscene photographs that were brought into the country by Milton Luros on October 24, 1969. US Customs seized the photographs since they ran afoul of the law banning the importation of pornographic material.

Luros argued that the pictures were not pornographic material. While they could be classified as obscene, he only planned on adding them into a book detailing different sex positions. The court determined that the law banning the importation of obscene materials was unconstitutional and ruled that Customs return the photographs to Luros.^[7]

3 United States v. $124,700 In U.S. Currency

On May 28, 2003, Emiliano Gomez Gonzolez was driving along Interstate 80 in Nebraska when he was stopped for speeding. During questioning, the trooper realized that Gonzolez’s name was not the same as on the rental contract. A sniffer dog also barked at the vehicle. This culminated in the trooper searching the vehicle and finding $124,700 hidden inside a cooler. He promptly seized the money.

In 2006, Gonzolez’s business partners denied all charges of drug dealing in court. They claimed they had all contributed the money to buy a refrigerated truck they needed for a new business. Gonzalez had flown to Chicago to get the truck, but it had already been sold.

He could not return by air because he had purchased a one-way ticket, thinking he would drive the truck back. He did not use his name to rent the vehicle, either, but depended on someone else to rent it for him since he had no credit card.

The court determined that the money had nothing to do with drugs and ordered it returned to Gonzolez. An appeals court overturned this judgment, ruling that the police had the right to seize such huge amount from anyone.^[8]

2 United States v. Eight Thousand Eight Hundred And Fifty Dollars In United States Currency

On September 10, 1975, US Customs seized $8,850 from Mary Josephine Vasquez as she arrived from Canada at the Los Angeles airport. US law requires that anyone with more than $5,000 worth of currency on them declare it upon entering the US. Vasquez never did. When a Customs agent asked, she said she had less than $5,000 on her.

The Customs officer later discovered she had $8,850 on her and seized it. Customs initially thought Vasquez was involved in drugs but still held onto the money even after investigations revealed that she had nothing to do with drugs. They argued that she had deliberately lied to a Customs officer. In March 1977, the US Customs took legal action to make Vasquez forfeit the money to the government.

Vasquez tried making the court throw the lawsuit out on grounds that the 18 months that had lapsed between the time the money was seized and the lawsuit was filed violated due process. A district court stated that the time was normal considering the circumstances and ruled that the government could take the money. An appeals court reversed this decision.^[9]

1 United States v. One Lucite Ball Containing Lunar Material (One Moon Rock) And One Ten Inch By Fourteen Inch Wooden Plaque

On March 24, 2003, a US District court in Florida decided a case between the US government and 1.1 grams of Moon rock attached to a wooden plaque. The rock and plaque had been gifted to Honduras by President Nixon in 1973. The plaque was kept at Honduras’s presidential palace, where it went missing before reappearing in the US.

The plaque was in the possession of Alan Rosen, who had purchased it from retired Honduras colonel Roberto Argurcia Ugarte for $50,000. The colonel initially wanted $1 million but later settled for $50,000. This was even though specks of lunar dust had sold for ten times that amount around that time. The colonel stated that the rock and plaque were gifted to him after a coup in 1973.

Rosen paid $10,000 in cash, gave the colonel a refrigerated truck worth $15,000, and gave him another $10,000 in two $5,000 installments. He still owed the colonel $15,000 but did not pay, since he later lost the rock to the US government.

NASA had heard of the rock and launched an undercover operation to retrieve it. An agent posted an ad in a newspaper requesting for someone who wanted to sell Moon rocks. Rosen responded to the ad and proposed selling his rock for $5–10 million but settled for $5 million.

US Customs got involved in the sting operation, which culminated in a May 4, 1999, request by the Honduras government for the return of the plaque and rock. It was determined that the plaque and rock had been stolen between 1990 and 1994. The US government sued to retrieve the rock from Rosen and won.^[10]

Just like human babies, animals are keen to taste everything. After all, how can you know that a car tire is not your favorite snack unless you give it a shot? And with the constant growth of the human population, most animals are bound to encounter people or their belongings at some point.

Despite being unable to digest their snacks, some animals really develop a taste for inedible objects. In fact, certain animals consume so many inedible objects during their lifetime that they are believed to seek the items on purpose.

It should be no surprise that one of the most common duties for veterinarians is helping animals that have consumed something they cannot digest. Just about everything easy to reach and small enough for an animal to swallow has been found within the stomachs of various creatures. These are some of the most interesting examples.

10 Goose

In Illinois in 2017, a woman brought her six-month-old pilgrim goose to a local veterinarian. The woman explained that she always wore a cross-shaped necklace around her neck. But the necklace had attracted some unexpected attention while she was cleaning the barn.

Turns out that the sparkly cross was too intriguing for the goose to ignore. As the owner bent over to pick up something, the goose quickly snapped at the necklace—breaking it and swallowing the cross in the process.

After an X-ray was taken, the emergency that was nicknamed “The Holy Goose” was resolved by using an endoscope to retrieve the cross.^[1]

9 Whale

Due to the enormous size of whales and their proportionally massive mouths, swallowing something unintentionally is quite common for them. In 2010, marine mammal researchers found an unusually large amount of man-made debris in the stomach of one gray whale.

The 11-meter-long (37 ft) whale washed ashore in West Seattle. Its stomach contained more than 20 plastic bags, surgical gloves, duct tape, a golf ball, small towels, sweatpants, and various pieces of plastic.

Despite the abundance of debris, it only made up 1–2 percent of the total stomach contents. The rest was mostly algae. The whale’s death was likely unrelated to the inedible objects, but they indicated that the whale tried to feed in urban waterways.

John Calambokidis from the Cascadia Research Collective noted: “It’s not a very good testament to our stewardship of the marine environment.” The whale also had cuts on its head, which could have been caused by a boat propeller.

According to Cascadia:

Gray whales are filter feeders that typically feed on the bottom and suck in sediment in shallow waters and filter the contents to strain out the small organisms that live there. While debris has been found in the stomachs of some previous gray whales found dead in Puget Sound, this appeared to be a larger quantity than had ever been found previously.^[2]

8 Elephant

Jumbo the elephant was born in the 1860s on the border of modern-day Ethiopia and Sudan. The name “Jumbo” comes from the Swahili jumbe (“chief”). Tribesmen captured and sold the young elephant to an Italian animal dealer after slaughtering his mother for tusks.

At the time, most of the elephants seen in Europe and the US came from India. As an African elephant, Jumbo was significantly larger in comparison. This became his main selling point. Millions gathered to see the gigantic elephant when he arrived at the London Zoo. Thousands of children took turns riding the elephant. Even the children of Queen Victoria and a young Winston Churchill became fans of Jumbo.

However, by age 21, the famous elephant started having dangerous temper tantrums. Nobody quite understood what caused the issue, and the zoo could not risk the elephant harming anyone. Recent research with the latest technology reveals that Jumbo may have suffered an intense toothache from a monotonous diet.

When the Barnum & Bailey circus in America offered £2,000 for Jumbo—a huge sum at the time—the London Zoo was eager to accept. The purchase price was quickly recouped when roughly 20 million visitors came to view Jumbo in the US in the subsequent years until his death in 1885. The elephant died at age 24, tragically young for a member of a breed that can reach age 70 in the wild.

Taxidermist Carl Akeley made an interesting discovery while working to preserve the elephant’s skeleton and skin. Jumbo’s stomach contained 300 coins, a police whistle, and a bunch of keys. The coins were likely ride payments which the elephant had scooped up and swallowed.

The elephant’s skeleton, which weighed more than six tons and stood 4 meters (13 ft) tall, is held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Jumbo inspired a Hollywood film, Walt Disney’s 1941 Dumbo, and has become a descriptive term for jumbo shrimp, jumbo eggs, and the jumbo popcorn bucket.^[3]

7 Shark

Sharks are willing to take a bite out of anything they come across. This is especially true for tiger sharks, frequently referred to as the “trash cans of the ocean.” License plates, bottles, money, musical instruments, and even car tires have been found within their stomachs.

However, one of the most interesting objects ever found in a shark’s stomach came from a great white shark. The object was apparently found by French physician Guillaume Rondelet, who described more than 440 species of aquatic animals.

In 1554, he described the great white shark along with a story of one specimen that was found to have an entire suit of steel armor in its belly. Scientists are unsure how the “sea dog” managed to swallow the full set of armor. But thanks to Rondelet’s reputation in the scientific community, the story is believed to be true.

Animal classification according to their evolutionary relationships is a fairly recent development. Previously, animals were given scientific names based on the whim of the classifier. Before Darwin, it was assumed that all animals were divinely created and naming sharks “sea dogs” was acceptable.

Rondelet is considered to be the father of modern ichthyology as he was the first to describe marine animals with clearly defined anatomical principles. As he lived before Linnaeus, Rondelet did not use the Linnaean classification system.

Instead, Rondelet decided to name the great white shark Canis carcharias even though Canis was not the genus of the shark and carcharias was not the species. As Rondelet was the first to describe the animal, his chosen scientific name stuck around for centuries.

Linnaeus dropped the reference to dogs by naming the great white shark Squalus carcharias. Rondelet’s made-up name finally stopped being favored by the end of the 19th century. Today, the scientific name for the great white shark is Carcharodon carcharias.^[4]

6 Snake

Most people see snakes as nothing more than pests. Although the average individual might put himself in danger to rescue a cute and fluffy mammal, he would likely kill a snake or avoid it entirely.

One snake was lucky enough to receive help instead of a death sentence from a farmer. In 2014, a fully grown cat snake slithered into a hen coop in Uttara Kannada district in India.

The hungry reptile was looking for a hen or an egg to swallow and went for the first available target—a light bulb. After its long stay in the hen coop, the bulb smelled like birds and was probably mistaken for an egg. With the bulb wedged in its belly, the snake became immobile. It hid in a corner for the next two days.

The farmer realized that something weird was going on when chickens were hesitant to get back into the hen coop. He discovered the curled-up cat snake after a thorough inspection and immediately called local snake rescuers.

After realizing that the snake had swallowed a light bulb, rescuers spent four hours carefully pushing the bulb out. If the bulb had broken inside, the snake would have suffered internal injuries. Every time the snake became aggressive, the rescuers had to stop and let it calm down.^[5]

The snake was kept in captivity for the next two days to ensure its well-being. It was released back into the wild later.

5 Turtle

A green sea turtle in Thailand was affectionately called “Om Sin” (“Piggy Bank”) when vets removed 915 coins from her stomach and intestines. She had been eating coins that tourists threw into her pond for good luck.

It took four hours of surgery for the veterinarians to remove around 5 kilograms (11 lbs) of local and foreign currency. Vets from the Chulalongkorn University team could not imagine how the turtle even swallowed so many coins.

The vets had to anesthetize the 25-year-old turtle and cut her shell to operate on her stomach. “If we didn’t operate on her, then she wouldn’t have been able to eat or defecate and would have soon died,” said veterinarian Nantarika Chansue.

Although Om Sin was swimming and eating normally for a week, she died two weeks after the surgery. Vets stated that she was recovering well, and they planned to return her to the pond. Unfortunately, the turtle was found breathing too slowly and was taken into intensive care with a serious intestinal infection.^[6]

The turtle slipped into a coma and died the next day. Facebook updates of the situation received thousands of shares among the people of Thailand, who see turtles as symbols of longevity.

4 Ostrich

Ostriches mainly feed on grass, seeds, shrubs, insects, flowers, and fruits. And that is exactly what you would expect to find in the stomach of a dead ostrich. However, when one ostrich at London Zoo suddenly died around 1930, a postmortem examination revealed a surprising array of inedible objects.

The bizarre find compelled a photographer working at the London Zoo to take a picture and list the contents on the back of the photo. The ostrich had swallowed three handkerchiefs, a piece of a pencil, three cotton gloves, part of a bicycle valve, part of a metal comb, an alarm clock key, 1.8 meters (6 ft) of string, the wooden center of a spool, seven coins, several small pieces of metal, one piece of wood, and a 10-centimeter (4 in) nail.

Some argue that the great number of swallowed objects is a sad consequence of the bird’s urban existence, but there is another explanation. Ostriches have no teeth and ingest stones to help masticate their food in the gizzard. The bird likely swallowed the objects to help digest food. Sadly, swallowing the nail proved fatal, causing death by perforation.^[7]

3 Cod

Bjorn Frilund, a 64-year-old Norwegian man with a fishing hobby, found something highly unusual in one of the fish he caught. While gutting a large cod, he felt a big lump in its belly. At first, he found two semi-digested herrings. But the lump remained, and a further search revealed a hefty orange vibrator.

Although Frilund had a lot of fishing experience in the waters of his hometown of Eidsbygda, he had never heard of a fish swallowing a sex toy. The fisherman believes that the cod, weighing over 5 kilograms (11 lbs), mistook the vibrator for an octopus. Frilund said:

It was totally unexpected. I had never seen anything like this before. Fish eat all kinds of different things, and the dildo looks like what the fish eat. We have a kind of multicolored octopus in Norway. Maybe the cod thought this was one of these and ate it.^[8]

It is amazing that such an unlikely object was even there for the fish to swallow. Frilund speculated that it may have been thrown off a cruise ship and that his chances of winning the lottery are probably greater than the chances of catching a fish that has swallowed a sex toy.

2 Dog

Due to their close proximity to humans, dogs are primary candidates for inedible object consumption. They are by far the most likely animals to end up in a veterinarian’s office because of something they ate. Almost every common household object that can fit in a dog’s mouth has been found inside a dog.

In the year 2000, a six-month-old collie-Staffordshire Bull Terrier achieved something truly bewildering. The 45.7-centimeter-long (18 in) dog named Kyle swallowed a 38.1-centimeter-long (15 in) bread knife.

Kyle was taken to a vet in Leeds, UK, when he started vomiting. Amazingly, there was no sign of a foreign body according to the veterinary officer Dr. Ann Draper. It took an hour to remove the knife.

“It was only when it didn’t settle down that we decided to do an X-ray,” Draper explained. “The knife could have cut his internal organs to shreds at any time, and it’s a miracle he survived.”^[9]

This bizarre incident even resulted in a Guinness World Record for the longest solid object swallowed by a dog. After minor post-procedure swelling, the fortunate dog returned to living a normal life at home.

1 Squid

In 2013, a 0.9-meter-long (3 ft) squid was caught near Guangdong province and brought to the Jiaoling county fish market. A fishmonger was gutting the squid for a customer when his knife hit a 20-centimeter-long (8 in) live bomb.

The fishmonger, Mr. Huang, quickly notified the authorities about his surprising discovery. Police suggested that the aubergine-shaped bomb weighing around 1.4 kilograms (3 lbs) might have been dropped by a fighter jet.

Despite the explosive’s age and rusty exterior, it was still active and could have detonated. Police took the bomb to a safe location and performed a controlled explosion.

“This sort of squid lives close to the shore and normally makes a meal of small fish and prawns,” said Mr. Huang. “Perhaps he thought the bomb was his favorite food and gulped it down. He certainly had a big belly when he was caught.”^[10]

Under the headline, “Squid Eats Bomb,” Guangzhou Daily reminded its readers to be cautious and always call the police if they encounter explosives.

Witchcraft used to be everywhere. While there are still places today where the practice thrives, it’s not nearly as common as it used to be. What is still common, and surprisingly so, are objects and artifacts that claim magical properties, made by “witches” of the past and the present.

See Also: Top 10 Bizarre Coffins

While most people regard these as superstitious trinkets, others see them as genuine magical objects . . . sometimes malicious, sometimes neutral, but always fascinating—to readers here at least!

While some of these items have fallen out of favor, a few remain; some are even still made today. So, with that in mind, let’s dive into the world of witchcraft!

10 Witch Bottles

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Witch Bottle was a popular item for protecting the home from malicious witchcraft. The belief at the time was that a witch (or wizard, though they were not commonly believed to be evil) could send a spirit, be it their own or someone else’s, to terrorize a person and cause them great illness. So, how do you protect yourself against magic?

Apparently, with more magic. If you found yourself on the wrong side of a witch’s ire, you would set up this counter-magic device. The bare basics construction was really simple. You would pee in the bottle (or fill it with saltwater or wine if you’d already exhausted your daily supply) then add pins, needles, and nails, as well as some red threads and rosemary.

Once it was corked and sealed, you buried it somewhere on your property, and waited. The next time a spirit was sent to haunt you, the red thread in the bottle would draw it in, the pins and needles and nails would impale it, and the liquid would drown it. Then, if you had included rosemary, the rosemary would carry the now twice dead spirit away. As long as the bottle was buried and unbroken, your house was protected from most malicious spirits.^[1]

9 Frog Coffins

According to Finish legend, the frog coffin had many uses. Like the witch bottle, the frog coffin was often used as a counter-magical device to “reflect” evil magic back onto the caster, and as a healing charm. Unlike the witch bottle, however, frog coffins could also be a form of evil magic in and of themselves. It was also undeniably more gruesome than a witch bottle to make.

According to legend, you first had to catch a frog, as red as you could get. Then you were to carve a chunk of alder wood into a classic coffin, complete with lid. The next step varied depending on what the frog was actually for, but the final preparations invariably required that the frogs back legs be bound with red twine, and then the frog be placed on its back in the coffin. The lid was shut over the frog, and then 9 coffin nails were driven through the center of the lid from top to bottom, saving the place over the frog’s heart for last. PETA would be thrilled I’m sure.

The frog would then be buried in a church yard and a prayer said over it as you would at a human funeral (no “celebration of life” poems if you please). If all went as planned, and depending on the use you intended for the frog, you’d be saved from evil or inflict some yourself.^[2]

8 Raccoon Penis Bone

Appalachian magic is a peculiar thing patched together from several different cultures and a hefty helping of Christianity. This religious stew has led to some interesting magical practices, a personal favorite being the Raccoon Penis Bone.

When a raccoon dies, be it from old age, having been hunted, or struck by a car, the seeker of the magic bone must deflesh the animal—right down to the skeleton to retrieve the penis bone (baculum). The bone is then tossed into a boiling pot to strip off the hard to reach bits of flesh and fat. Once the bone is free of meat, it is dried. Then it’s life as a magical object begins. Among the most frequent uses is presenting it to a girl on a red ribbon (there’s that color again!) to be worn as a necklace: a declaration of love.

Other uses for it call for it to be buried under the porch of your crush’s house to make them love you, or placed between your bed and the floor to increase your libido and stamina. I believe it also helps with a stiff neck.^[3]

7Toad’s Bones

English folklore has it that, with patience, anyone can become a toad-witch (a very powerful witch with the power to cast the evil eye), but the path there is pretty disgusting and disturbing. There are two paths to toad-witchdom, and neither one is particularly pleasant. Both, however, require one particular item: a toad’s magic bones.

Option one requires you to catch a Natterjack Toad and kill it, then carry it in your bra (or jock-strap if you’re a gender-non-conforming witch) until it rots away clear through to its backbone. Once the toad is all but a skeleton, you take it to a river and hold it out over the water, whereupon Satan himself will appear and snatch you up. From that moment on, you are a toad witch, and can do all manner of black magic.

Option two was slightly less revolting, but no less gruesome. You are still required to catch and kill a Natterjack, but instead of carrying it in your bra, the toad should be buried in an ant hill (very common to find) so that the ants can strip away its flesh. When the toad is fully defleshed, you take it to a river and place each bone in the water one by one. If one of the bones floats, it is your magic bone, and its use will grant you great magical power.^[4]

6Black Cat Bone

My personal pick for worst and most horrific magical item on this list, the Black Cat Bone has a long history in both African and European black magic rituals. Having the ability to make you invisible, the black cat bone is reportedly an object of great power, but the method used to obtain it is horrific.

A black cat must be put, alive, into a pot of boiling water at exactly midnight. The cat is then boiled until all the meat falls off the bones and turns to shreds. The bones are strained from the stew, and each one in turn is placed into the mouth of the witch until the witch’s personal assistant informs them that they have become invisible.

The bone can also be used to attract a lost lover back into your arms, though I recommend against telling him the method you used to do that.^[5]

5 Gris-Gris Bags

Louisiana, particularly New Orleans, is known for witchcraft and voodoo. Among the many magical abjects made and sold there, the gris-gris, pronounced Gree Gree, is the most well known.

A gris-gris is made by taking a square of cloth and filling it with different objects. The number of ingredients varies from bag to bag, but is always either an odd number between 1 and 9, or 13. The particular ingredients also vary depending on the bags use, but common ingredients are small bones, gofer dust, colored stones, herbs, and spices.

The ingredients are laid out on the cloth square, which then has its corners drawn together to form a bag. The neck of the bag is tied shut or sometimes sewn, and the gris-gris is consecrated with salt, water, incense, and held briefly over a flame.

After that, the gris-gris is considered complete and active, and can be used for whatever it was built for, everything from luck with gambling to murder.^[6]

4 The Hand Of Glory

If you’re a fan of Harry Potter, you may already know a little about this particular object, once seen on the shelves at Borgin and Burkes. Although it seems completely made up, a number of these do exist, leftovers from mystical traditions in Europe in the 1800s or thereabouts.

A real hand of glory is made by first hanging a man for a crime, usually theft. Once he is dead, you cut off his hand, right or left, while he is still hanging. You then place the hand in a barrel filled with a mixture of salt and saltpeter (potassium nitrate), and leave it to dry. At the same time, fat from the hanged man is taken and made into a candle. When the hand is properly mummified, the candle is placed in it, turning the hand into a candle holder of sorts.

The candle, when lit, is said to put all occupants of the house in which it is lit to sleep, making it easy for the thief who holds the hand to ransack the home for valuables. The candle flame is also said to be impervious to water, only being able to be doused with blood or milk.

You won’t find one of these readily available at Walmart, but if you shop around online you might get lucky. The one pictured here is the genuine article from a museum.^[7]

3 Dried Cats

It seems like Europeans had a penchant for hiding strange objects in and around their home. Like the witch bottles, dried cats were thought to protect the home from evil, and they’re exactly what they sound like.

A cat, one of any size or color, would be killed and then posed in a way that suggests attack. The corpse was then carried to a barrel and packed in salt much like a hand of glory. When the cat was fully desiccated, it was taken out of the salt and into the house of the maker, where it would be sealed into a wall.

The cat was often also accompanied by a dried rat or bird. This ritual sacrifice and spell was thought to ward off not only witches and bad spirits, but also pests, sicknesses and bad luck. It also had the amazing ability to ward off Tinder (or Grindr) dates.

Dried cats can still be found in British homes and cottages to this day, some being found 400 years after being buried in the walls! No doubt some may have gotten there accidentally when a hasty builder wasn’t paying attention, but a number were genuinely intended for magical purposes.^[8]

2 Alder Horse

In addition to protecting their homes from witches, Europeans were concerned about the health and happiness of their horses.

When a new stable was built, a life sized horse was carved out of alder. The horse was given its own, smaller stable, and a basket to eat from. The basket would be filled with barley and mercury, and then a blanket made from the skirt of a new mother would be thrown over the horse (preferably after it had been removed from the woman). Finally, eyes would be painted on the horse using the new mother’s blood, and the entire miniature stable would be placed underground, the new stable for the real horses was built over it.

This practice was said to ensure the horses, like the alder horse, would always be warm, fed, happy and healthy.^[9]

1 Hidden Shoes

Like many other objects on this list, hidden shoes were used to deter evil, such as ghosts, demons, and witches. However, there was no special ritual for this object, you simply took your kid’s shoes and hid them in the nearest wall. According to experts, the reasoning behind this was that children were so innocent that placing their shoes in the walls created a barrier against evil.

One house, located in Western Creek, Tasmania, was found to have at least 40 shoes stashed in the walls, chimney, and attic. In addition to the shoes, there were also hats and toys said to serve the same purpose, and even a dried cat.

No records remain to tell us who lived there, but having gone to the trouble to hide so many anti-witch devices in the property, they must have been incredibly terrified . . . or incredibly cursed.^[10]

The quality of life that modern society has become accustomed to is dependent on various products and utilities. People tend to take these conveniences for granted as the average person has never had to go without them. What many people are unaware of is that these objects have a rich history of development through decades of expert craftsmanship and experimentation to get them to the standard that they are now. Overtime, the demands and needs of society are constantly shifting, thus meaning that the objects that society is reliant on must also change. The list that follows will skip the obvious immense advancements in technology such as phones or computers and instead focus on the inconspicuous objects that still hold significance in most people’s lives. Here are the top ten objects that have drastically changed throughout history.

Top 10 Fruits That Have Drastically Changed

10 Makeup

Makeup has played a very important role in various cultural cosmetic standards throughout history. The earliest record of the use of makeup was during the first Egyption dynasty in 3100-2907 BC. Men and women during this time would use skin care solutions and store them in clay containers called unguent jars. The people of Egypt would later develop dark green powders that women would use to decorate their eyes. These were created by powderized minerals such as antimony.

Makeup nowadays is much more instrinctly produced and widely utilized. There are many more ingredients involved in creating makeup that are both non harmful and much more effective in altering one’s appearance. For example, lipstick is now created by melting wax and oil together while later adding color pigments and a solvent solution.^[1]

9 Toilets

Everyone perceives toilets as a basic necessity in one’s home or public establishments. As a result, people fail to realize that the comfortable and more dignifying models that they utilize on a regular basis are actually recent innovations. For example, in Rome during 315 AD, public restrooms consisted of wooden seats with holes dug underneath them. There would be no barrier separating occupants and public restrooms housed up to 144 people.

Romans would view going to the restroom as a social interaction opportunity and used the time to chat with their friends or even complete strangers. It wouldn’t be until the 20th century where the toilet models that people have become accustomed to would begin to be invented. Around this time, toilets with flushable valves and water tanks resting on the top of the toilets themselves were available for the masses.^[2]

8 Shoes

Shoes are seen nowadays as a fashion staple as opposed to the necessity for function they were used for in the past. When shoes were first created, they needed to be durable and practical for the vigorous physical activities the wearer had to perform. For instance, the earliest discovered model of footwear was in the stone age, around 3300 B.C. The shoes were made from deerskin with a sole made from bearskin. For support they were also stuffed with hay.

With the limited tools that they had at their disposal, their shoes were quite the impressive feat of ingenuity. Overtime, as the masses stepped away from physical labour occupations shoes became methods of aesthetic expression. During the renaissance, a period of immense innovation, shoes were crafted from expensive materials and were used as status symbols.^[3]

7 Chainsaws

The invention of the chainsaw has had an immense impact on the trade industry. In the past, timber industries relied on sharp tools such as axes to chop down trees. This caused immense strain on workers overtime and even resulted in fatalities due to inaccurate swings causing trees to fall in unpredictable directions. In the 19th century, saws were used by Europeans to cut down trees more efficiently. Around this time, German doctors also used the earliest models of an “endless” revolving saw in medical procedures to cut through bones. These required the manual turning of a handle to keep the teeth of the saw moving.

The first electric chainsaw was invented in 1926 which was quite bulky and required two people to use. Finally in 1959, a chainsaw available for the wide public was produced which resembled the models used today.^[4]

6 Guns

Firearms have drastically impacted warfare, politics, and culture since their early inception. Around 850 AD, chinese alchemists utilized the explosive properties of gunpowder to create weapons that could project objects at a lethal velocity. This led to the creation of the earliest models of the cannons and grenades. Eventually, handheld firearms were invented which consisted of hollow bamboo tubes, packed with gunpowder and small projectiles. These were ineffective at long ranges so they were mostly used within close quarters.

As time progressed, other countries began using gunpowder for munition purposes. In the 13th century, major innovations of the firearm spread from Asia to Europe through the creation of flintlock firearms. Western contributions to the innovation of firearms really progressed when Americans first settled. American settlers used long rifles with twisted grooves in their barrels which caused the lead bullets to spin when fired. This resulted in a much straighter and accurate shot.^[5]

10 Obvious Lies That Changed The World

5 Eye Glasses

Eye glasses have gone through a number of developments throughout the course of history. Despite the fact that vision impairments are incredibly common, proper optical support has not been widely available for those in need until recently. Previous models of glasses were uncomfortable and unavailable to the mass public. As a result, many people experienced worsened eyesight and even blindness overtime. Romans first discovered the ability to utilize glass to view small texts or things at a distance. As a result, they created the first prototypes of glasses which were magnifying glasses in the shape of spheres. It wouldn’t be until the early 1700s that the familiar pair of glasses we see now came to exist.^[6]

4 Bikes

Bikes are one of the most cost effective and widely accessible methods of transportation used today. However, the durable and fast bikes owned by millions across the world presently are a result of years of constant innovation. The first reported model was created by a German inventor in the early 19th century who made a steerable two handed apparatus. It did not have a chain, brakes, or pedals; it was propelled using manual force from a rider’s legs. In the 1860s, French inventors began adding wheels, chains, and pedals to their bikes. These however were incredibly uncomfortable to use and were hard to control. Finally in 1885, bikes with equal sized wheels were available to the wide public that were much more fluid to control.^[7]

3 Sewing Machines

The production of clothing is an intricate and delicate process that requires competent equipment and workers to be done correctly. Before the creation of sewing machines, this process was much less efficient. Clothing was only made using hand sewing which was much slower and a skill trait that needed to be trained. In 1790, the first model of the sewing machine was designed which was powered by a hand crank.

This idea wouldn’t be brought to fruition until 1834 where an American innovator created the first functioning sewing machine. However, this creator believed that it would cause unemployment for many so he decided to avoid patenting his product. Alas, in 1851 sewing machines began finally being massively manufactured for clothing companies based on lost and found patents. These used threads from two different sources which avoided jams that made previous models unviable.^[8]

2 Lamps

Indoor lighting may seem like a very basic invention, but the modern lighting devices used in most homes have gone through a number of alterations throughout the years. The first lamps used were created around 70,000 BC. These were very primitive and involved a hollow rock being filled with a burnable material soaked in animal fat.

The biggest innovation for lamps happened in the 18th century when central burners were invented. Central burns had fuel sources tightly enclosed in metal. An adjustable metal tube was used to control the intensity of the fuel burning which in turn changed the brightness of the light. Modern electrical bulbs were introduced to the public in the 1870s from Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan inventing the first electric incandescent lamps.^[9]

1 Tractors

Finally, the last entry in our list is known for revolutionizing the agriculture industry and has significantly changed overtime. The invention of tractors drastically speedlined the process of farming by eliminating the need to manually plant, cultivate, and fertilize crops. The invention of the product itself was vital to supporting the exponentially growing population after the industrial revolution. Despite the ingenious applications of the original model of the tractor, it has still been tweaked throughout the years to make it even more efficient.

In 1897, the first factory dedicated to the production of steam powered tractors opened. These tractors were innovative for the time but were designed for off field driving as well. This made manufacturers have to sacrifice useful features such as larger plows for farming, thus making them less effective. In 1910, Henry Ford began producing gasoline powered tractors used exclusively for farming. These were much larger and had larger plows which in turn produced greater yields during harvesting seasons.^[10]

Top 10 Short-Lived Inventions That Changed The World

You’ve all experienced this sort of thing: you buy a box of pop-tarts for the morning, get home and go to bed. You hear a rattling sound from the kitchen and go downstairs to investigate only to find your tasty, frosted breakfast treat floating in mid air over an open portal to hell which has opened up on the linoleum flooring. Congratulations, you just purchased some haunted pop-tarts. Here’s a list of some less breakfast-y haunted and cursed objects.

Top 10 Creepy Cursed Objects

10 The Swansea Devil

How far would you go if you missed out on getting a job? Would you anonymously post one-star reviews about the company that snubbed you? Maybe you’d stalk and harass the guy or gal who got the job instead of you? Maybe you’d set a creepy carving of Satan opposite the company building with a curse that foretold the destruction of the place? Too far? Not for the snubbed architect in 1890’s Swansea, South Wales who was denied the chance to rebuild a church—that is exactly what he did.

The story goes that when famed architect Sir Arthur Blomfield beat a local architect for the contract to rebuild the ancient St Mary’s church in the centre of the town, the local man was incensed. A few years later he purchased an old row of cottages that stood opposite the new church, tore them down and built a large red brick building there, placing a statue of a smiling devil on its edifice. The aggrieved builder then placed a curse on the church, proclaiming that it would soon be destroyed and the devil would look upon the rubble and keep smiling. During the blitz, Swansea was targeted by the Luftwaffe, St. Mary’s took a direct hit, allowing the cure to be true. Now the Devil is a quirky landmark in Wales’ second city, peeping out at shoppers from a window at the Quadrant Shopping Centre.^[1]

9 Man Proposes, God Disposes

A bizarre, possibly supernaturally influenced suicide takes place on a college campus. What would you expect the note the victim left behind to say? Maybe ‘The voices told me to do it’. Perhaps ‘The Devil made me do it’? what about ‘The Polar Bears made me do it’?

This cursed painting, painted in 1864 by Edwin Henry Landseer, is often hidden from view by faculty at Royal Holloway, University of London in order for superstitious students to complete their exams. One tradition holds that anyone sitting directly in a sight line with the painting will fail their exam. Another legend states that one unlucky student locked eyes with one of the ravenous Polar Bears, went mad and committed suicide after scrawling the phrase ‘The Polar Bears made me do it’ on their exam paper. Even though the curse is unlikely to be ‘real’, nobody can doubt that trying to concentrate on an exam when two blood-thirsty bears tuck into a meal of frozen polar explorers is a tough ask.^[2]

8 Letta the Doll

A quick Google image search of ‘Real Annabelle haunted doll’ or ‘real Robert the haunted doll’ throws up the rather disappointing result of two, rather plain-looking kids’ toys. Their reputation is what terrifies, as well as their ascension to the top of horror pop culture. Letta, on the other hand, looks utterly monstrous.

Legend has it that this awful looking thing was made for a little gypsy boy over 200 years ago. Unfortunately, (probably in a fit of blind terror) the boy drowned, his soul becoming trapped forever inside the creepiest looking doll ever made. What are the chances, eh? Letta now resides in Australia, going on tours around the land down under with its owner, Kerry Walton.^[3]

7 The Chained Oak

This ancient Oak Tree near the village of Alton, Staffordshire, England is undoubtedly one of the scariest looking trees you’ll ever look at. Covered in huge, rusted chains, it looks as though the tree may have once roamed around the forest, picking off wanderers who dared disturb its arboreal realm before the villagers captured it and chained it to his current spot.

The ‘real’ legend is just as frightening. Legend has it that the Earl of Shrewsbury who lived at the grand estate of Alton Towers (now a pretty decent theme park) was travelling back home one evening when his carriage was stopped by a lone beggar woman. The grubby old lady asked the Earl for a penny and, when he rudely dismissed her, cursed the Earl, stating that for every branch that fell from the old oak tree, a member of his family would perish. That night, a great storm ripped one of the limbs from the tree and, by the morning, one of the Earl’s family members had passed away horribly. The frightened nobleman then ordered that the Oak be bound in chains so that no more branches could fall.^[4]

6 Any Sweater given to a Partner

It must be hard being a knitting enthusiast…is a sentence nobody ever said. When it comes to keeping a healthy, long-lasting relationship many knitters feel that they are plagued by a curse that mandates they keep their hobby and their hubby as far apart as possible! The notorious ‘Sweater Curse’ is the notion that when a knitter decides to craft a gift for their significant other as a gift they all but guarantee that the relationship will come to a premature end.

As opposed to suggesting some supernatural origin to this jinx, the knitters of the world are a rational bunch, putting this perceived phenomenon down to a host of rational possibilities like: Bad timing -it takes an age to knit a whole sweater, ample time for a crappy relationship to die. Last Shot—the knitter knows subconsciously that the relationship is nearly over and thus embarks on a grand a huge amount of work culminating in (in knitting terms) a grand gesture. There are, of course, myriad other reasons, but the rule of thumb remains—it you love him/her, for God’s sake, don’t knit them a sweater!^[5]

10 Haunted Asylums With Extremely Dark Pasts

5 Merlin’s Oak

Our second hexed Oak and second entry from Wales. This one is related to the wizard Merlin from the Arthurian legend (the original Welsh versions, though, not the silly French version with a sword in a stone that, somehow, has the English as the good guys!)

The town of Carmarthen is, according to the signs when you enter by road, the oldest town in Wales. So old, in fact, it’s very origins have been linked to Myrddin (Merlin), giving rise to the town’s name Caerfyddrin (The Fort of Merlin). A large oak once stood in the town, believed to have been planted by the wandering wizard. A prophesy accompanied the ancient tree: “When Merlin’s Oak comes tumbling down, Then shall fall Carmarthen town”. When the tree did finally get removed after years of decay, the very next year the town suffered a train derailment and some of the most severe flash flooding recorded. A branch taken from the tree is still displayed in the local museum (perhaps keeping this beautiful town from a fiery apocalypse!)^[6]

4 Okiku

Weird looking doll? Check. Religious undertone? Check. Haunting and/or possession? Check. Inanimate object that grows human hair? Wait, what?

This doll, according to legend, was owned by a little girl on the Japanese island of Hokkaido who, as you’d expect, died and now resides in her favorite toy. When her family moved away from Hokkaido they left the doll with the monks of the Mannenji Temple. Little ‘Okiku’ still resides there, her bizarre ability to grow her hair on full display to worshipers and visitors. Some even suggest that if you look into her half-open, dead porcelain mouth you can see that her teeth are growing too. *shiver*^[7]

3 The Woman From Lemb Statue

Whenever a rotund, faceless statuette is unearthed in Europe, people seem to instinctively assume it is a fertility goddess. It must be, right? Look at the bulging ‘stomach’ reminiscent of a pregnant belly. The wide hips. The lack of facial features, elongated neck….truth is, we don’t know for sure what the significance of many of these pre-written-history idols is. What we do know is if you touch the ‘Woman from Lemb’, you’ll probably die. And all your family will too.

In a similar vein to many mummy-borne curses, this artefact is purported to have caused the deaths of a whole heap of curious antiquarians and collectors. The strange stone idol is now displayed at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.^[8]

2 Haunted Ledger

A common element in tales of haunted or cursed objects is the consequences faced by the living for removing an artifact or item from its ‘rightful’ place, prompting supernatural forces to play havoc until it is returned. This usually involves a tomb, ancient temple or holy mountain. In the case of this haunted jewelry shop ledger, however, it seems all the spooky accountancy aid wanted was to be beside the seaside!

After the demolition of the ‘Shorland Fooks’ jewellers in the city of Brighton on England’s south coast, builder Tony Benyovits removed an old shop ledger book he had found hidden behind a brick wall. He took the interesting example of retail memorabilia back to his home in Maidstone, Kent (65 miles away). Soon enough, his family were being plagued by all manner of otherworldly phenomena: strange voices, ghostly apparitions and even strange images of people appearing in the family’s rug. One particularly uppity spirit informed Mr Benyovits’ daughter, Josephine, that the book needed to be returned to its hometown by the centenary of the first entry within its crumbling pages. Not wanted to anger these (I assume) long-dead jewelers, the family donated the book to Preston Manor—(reputedly) Brighton’s most haunted house—which is where it now resides.^[9]

1 Portrait of Delphine LaLaurie

The evils perpetrated by notorious New Orleans slave owner Delphine LaLaurie have been discussed many times on , quite rightly singling her out as one of history’s most evil women. It is no surprise, then, that the unspeakable crimes she committed have catapulted her into the realms of dark folklore and urban legend.

In the 1990’s, the residents of an apartment building which stands on the spot that LaLaurie’s infamous chamber of horrors once stood decided to pool their assets and brighten up the communal spaces with some nice new artworks. What better way could there be to achieve this goal than to commission local artist Ricardo Pustanio to paint them a portrait of a notable local celebrity. Who could this be? Louis Armstrong? Truman Capote? DJ Khaled…even though he wasn’t famous yet? No, they chose a lovely, cheery portrait of Madame Delphine LaLaurie. And, wouldn’t you know it, it turned out to be haunted! Cue a series of bone-chilling encounters with the ghost of LaLaurie, culminating in the portrait being taken down, covered up and stored away securely. Maybe pick a nicer subject for the communal art next time, perhaps a jolly picture of a smiling clown?^[10]

Top 10 Cursed And Haunted Household Items

About The Author: C.J. Phillips is an actor and writer living in rural West Wales. He is a little obsessed with lists.

As we all know, gold is a precious metal that society has cherished since the beginning. Initially, it was used only as a currency, a stable way to exchange goods and services. As time went on, things changed. Although money to an extent is backed by gold, it is more prominently known as a status symbol. In most cases, gold doesn’t make an item “better”, it is simply there for the sake of being there. While it makes sense to have gold jewelry, as it is a rather appealing, shiny color, there are many things it is added to just to raise the price. People buying these items just want the status that comes with having gold, as gold is closely related to luxury. To give some examples of these items, here are the top 10 most ridiculously expensive golden objects.

Top 10 Most Outrageously Expensive Everyday Objects

10 Gold Grill – $400

Starting off with a classic, the gold grill, a statement of wealth popular within the music industry. Grills became popular in the early 80’s, appearing in many rap/hip-hop music videos. This trend is still around today, although it is no longer as connected to rap as it once was. There are many shops/jewellers that can fit you with your own custom grills for around $400.

These are quite ridiculous though because they don’t really serve any purpose aside from status. In addition to their lack of function, they can also be quite bad for your teeth as the gold metals can be quite acidic and can harm your teeth. Repairing these ailments caused by grills will most likely end up costing more than the grills themself. So unless you have the spare cash to fix your teeth as well, you may want to avoid this one.^[1]

9 Gold Casket – $24,000

Up next is a 24k gold casket. A burial with this specific casket is known as the golden send off and has been used in the past with some famous celebrities. This casket is made with care and features an all around 24k gold plated appearance. Surprisingly, this item only costs $24,000, whereas some smaller things coming up are worth a lot more. It is a shame that anyone who uses this, won’t really get to experience it for themselves, but is more of a gesture to those at the funeral. Gone are the days of using just plain old wood for a casket and here are the days of golden everything!^[2]

8 Gold Clic Glasses – $75,000

Wipe your glasses for this one, because you sure are seeing the price right! At a humble $75,000 you can get your very own pair of sunglasses! Oh it should probably be said that they are also fully made out of gold – the majority of where its price comes from. While it may just seem like a blatant cash grab, there is actually a surprising amount of effort that goes into each and every one of these glasses. A skilled worker takes around 40 hours just to complete one, it’s safe to say that they are indeed mad with a bit of love and care. Though it probably doesn’t justify its price tag as you could still feel that effort if you just ask for some of your grandmother’s baking.^[3]

7 Golden BBQ Grill – $111,000

Heating things up, we have a golden grill! Unlike the previous “Grills”, this item actually has the capability to cook some food. Though what it does have in common with the grills is a price tag that doesn’t exactly correlate with what it actually does for you. You see, this gold grill actually costs around $111,000 US dollars. For that kind of money, you could buy thousands of grills that serve the same purpose.

With most gold items, this too only really serves as a status symbol, as you could get essentially the same grill for only a fraction of its cost. Maybe if it was completely autonomous and cooked your food for you, then it might justify its price, but as of right now it’s just made for the people who have a little too much money to spend.^[4]

6 Gold Shirt – $250,000

Continuing on we have an all gold shirt! Now gold is a very common component in jewelry but this is rather over the top. This shirt is a one of a kind piece commissioned by the Indian millionaire Datta Phuge, looking for the most luxurious status symbol. While other people go for nice cars or houses, this man’s true desire is gold. At a whopping 7 pounds, this highly impractical shirt cost him $250,000 and judging by any pictures of him, he is entirely proud of his decision.

It may seem like a complete waste of money, it’s actually not too bad, as you could easily sell the shirt for quite literally its weight in gold. It’s quite the awkward piece but it will definitely garner the attention of anyone who sees it.^[5]

10 Simple But Costly Math Errors In History

5 Gold Elizabeth Coin – $1M

Rolling its way in is the gold Elizabeth coin. The Canadian mint went above and beyond with this one, creating a massive, all gold coin, worth $1,000,000 at face value, but more to collectors. This was supposed to be a one of a kind mint, but due to its high popularity, 5 total have been made to satiate its demand. It’s original purpose was not to be sold, but a promotional piece to promote the mints new 1oz maple leaf coins. Instead, the promotional piece took the spotlight. This coin is so impressive that it even broke a record!

For obvious reasons this coin holds the honor of being the largest gold coin. Sadly, I don’t believe any stores will tender this coin, so the only way to spend it is to sell it. Though I’m sure any buyers are going to keep it safe on display for a while!^[6]

4 Golden Toilet Paper $1.3M

Now this next item is rather humorous, as it is toilet paper! Costing 1.3 million dollars per roll, this roll of toilet paper is not going to be replacing regular rolls anytime soon. Now surprisingly, the company who made it indeed does claim that it is safe to use, but you’d have to be a maniac not to put it on display! This takes luxury to a whole other level as this is a highly disposable piece, meaning that once you use it, it’s gone forever. With most gold items, they will at least last for 10+ years, as they should with such a high price, but this stands a part from the rest. This item is only meant for the insanely rich and should definitely not be something that you save for. But hey, at least it comes with a “free” bottle of champagne.^[7]

3 Bugatti Veyron Diamond Ltd – $2.9M

Next up is the Bugatti Veyron toy car. As you probably know, anything with Bugatti in its name is usually rather expensive, and this toy car keeps that trend going. At a measly $2.9 million dollars, this intricately detailed and beautiful miniature replica could be yours.

The grand price tag is due to two main reasons, the way it was made, and of course the material it’s made out of. The car is a 1/18th scale Bugatti Veyron, and its building process took around 2 months to complete. This is no factory production, rather it is an art piece where authenticity was paramount. In addition to the skillful craftsmanship, the car is also made of complete gold with some diamond accents, which definitely spike up the price quite a bit. This item may be for you if you are a billionaire, but probably isn’t the best Christmas gift for your kid.^[8]

2 1933 Double Eagle – $10M

Coming up next is the “$20” 1933 Double Eagle gold coin. At first it looks like any ordinary coin, but its true value comes from its rich history. The gold coin had its debut in 1933 and was originally supposed to be worth only $20; but due to laws that forbid the “hoarding of gold coin” saw to it that almost its entire supply be destroyed. Out of the roughly 500,000 coins that were minted, only around 13 remain today. Essentially, this was a banned coin and so its notoriety and scarcity are what contribute to its worth.

There is no set price to this coin, so it’s up to the buyer to determine what it’s worth, and so the most recent transaction for one of these coins is around $10 million dollars. Paying $10 million for $20 does not seem like a great deal, but to those who absolutely adore coin collecting, it may just be worth it. Though, to the common person looking for $20, they should probably just look for a job.^[9]

1 Gold iPhone 5 – $15M

This one doesn’t need too much explaining, it’s a gold iPhone! This item tests the limits of blinging out your tech, at a whopping 15 million dollars. This iPhone’s design is rather intricate, featuring a solid gold base with 100’s of small diamonds along the sides and on the Apple logo itself. Taking it one step farther, is an elusive black diamond, the centerpiece of this majestic device. Although this phone is rather old, being a 5, it still remains 1st as the world’s most expensive phone. At least now you can say you have a phone that works better than a $15 million dollar one.^[10]

10 Enigmatic Gold Artifacts

Two of the same exact objects. There is only one difference. One you can buy at Walmart for $2.97. The other sells for $632,369 at a 2018 auction. What is this object, you ask? A baseball. The only difference? A signature. Well, 11 signatures, to be exact, but we’ll get into that in a bit.

Autographs are some of the most sought-after pieces of memorabilia in the world. Sometimes they’ll cost you nothing, and other times millions. This is a list of the top ten highest-priced autographed objects ever sold, and you’ll be surprised who made the list and who didn’t.

Signatures like William Shakespeare’s don’t appear on the list because they’ve never “legally” been sold, even though the estimated value is $5 million. And John Hancock’s John Hancock didn’t even make the cut. A letter signed by him sold for $10,745, which isn’t even a fraction of the lowest-priced object on this list.

Here are the top ten most valuable signed objects ever sold.

Related: 10 Most Expensive Items Sold That Don’t Actually Exist

10 Ulysses First Edition–$460,500

Irish writer James Joyce wrote Ulysses after World War I, and it was published in 1922. The acclaimed novel follows protagonist Leopold Bloom through an ordinary day in Dublin. Perhaps the book’s most famous anecdote was the fact that it was banned even before it was published. Joyce sent copies of some chapters to New York, where it was deemed too obscene for the public audience—there were a few scenes where masturbation and sexual fantasies were depicted.

Although this did not deter Joyce’s readers. Ulysses became so popular that fans were paying fifty bucks a pop for a copy in the 1920s (around $800 today). Out of the one-hundred first-edition copies, Joyce only signed two. One of these sold at auction for $460,500 in 2002. Looks like the public grew even more excessively fond of Joyce’s salacious depictions over the years.^[1]

9 Hall of Fame Baseball–$632,369

The first and only baseball on the list. A baseball with not one but eleven signatures of the 25 original members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The list includes legends such as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, and Honus Wagner. The most expensive autographed baseball in the world almost doubled the previous record holder; a lowly Babe Ruth signed baseball that sold for $388,000 back in 2012.

The $632,369 ball sold in 2018 and was signed by the eleven Hall of Famers in 1939 at the first induction ceremony to celebrate the opening of the actual Hall of Fame building. Unfortunately, the other fourteen original members couldn’t make the ceremony because they weren’t alive.

Fun fact: The most expensive baseball ever sold was Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball, which broke the single-season record in 1998. Shortly after McGwire broke the record, comic book artist Todd Macfarlene purchased the ball for $3 million! The only reason it’s not on our list is that it’s not signed by McGwire.

Second fun fact: The St. Louis Cardinals originally offered the fan who caught the ball, Phil Ozersky, a signed bat, ball, and jersey for the ball. The fan only had one counteroffer—to meet McGwire. McGwire turned him down. A decision that made Ozersky a multi-millionaire.^[2]

8 Founding Father’s Signature–$722,500

Who has the most valuable signature on the Declaration of Independence? Ben Franklin? Thomas Jefferson? John Hancock? Fifty-six signatures. Some were presidents. Others have monuments and museums dedicated to them. One of their names is pretty much interchangeable with the word “signature.” Although, none of these men have a more valuable autograph than this man who signed the Declaration.

Button Gwinnett is his name. Button was a representative of Congress from Georgia and a Founding Father of the United States of America. He has the most sought-after signature out of any of the founding fathers, mainly because his autograph is the rarest of them all.

Only 51 are known to be in existence. In 2010, a Button Gwinnett signature sold for $722,500. After losing a 1777 election, he challenged the winner to a duel. Button died three days later after sustaining a fatal injury. I guess he should have cut his losses after the election.^[3]

7 John Lennon’s Double Fantasy–$850,000

Double Fantasy, an album by Beatles legend John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, was released on November 17, 1980. Thirty years later, a copy signed by Lennon sold for $850,000. At the time, this was the highest amount ever paid for a single record. It would later be broken by Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shoalin–only one copy was ever produced.

Was it Lennon’s most famous piece of work? No. Was it his greatest critically acclaimed album? Not even close. Did the copy belong to Mark David Chapman? Yes, it did. Mark David Chapman shot and murdered John Lennon on December 8, 1980, just hours after Lennon signed Chapman’s personal copy of Double Fantasy.^[4]

6 Babe Ruth’s Yankee Contract–$2,300,000

Babe Ruth—a name synonymous with America’s favorite pastime. A name when anyone hears it immediately thinks, “greatest baseball player of all time.” Babe Ruth—the Babe, the Sultan of Swat, the Great Bambino—was traded to the New York Yankees from the Boston Red Sox 102 years ago. You might think the Red Sox got back a haul of promising players, considering they just traded arguably the best baseball player of all time. Wrong.

The Red Sox traded The Babe for $100,000 so Harry Frazee, owner of the Red Sox, could help finance his Broadway musical No, No Nanette. Ninety-eight years later, the contract that Babe Ruth signed sold for over 20 times what the Yankees paid for the Bambino. Before the trade, the Red Sox had won five out of the first 15 World Series ever played. The Yankees had zero. After the trade, the Yankees won 27 World Series Titles. The Red Sox wouldn’t win another one for the next 86 years. This is the Curse of the Great Bambino.^[5]

5 “Reach Out to Asia” Fender Stratocaster–$2,700,000

When the “Reach Out to Asia” Fender Stratocaster sold for $2.7 million at a charity event in 2006, it was the most expensive guitar in the world. Kurt Cobain’s Martin 1959 D-18E sold for $6 million, and David Gilmour’s black Fender Stratocaster sold for $3.9 million in 2019.

This one-of-a-kind guitar was signed by 19 rock superstars, including Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Mick Jagger. Bryan Adams had the original idea for the guitar, and the proceeds from the auction went to the aid of the tsunami victims from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.^[6]

4 Einstein’s “God Letter” Letter–$2,892,500

After a four-minute bidding war over the phone, a letter written and signed by Albert Einstein 68 years ago sold for almost $2.9 million in 2018. This beat a previous record for a letter written by Einstein that sold for $2.1 million in 2002. That letter warned President Roosevelt of the possibility “of the construction of extremely powerful bombs” that led to the creation of the Manhattan Project.

The God Letter, written a year before Einstein’s death, illustrates his belief that there is no god who plays a role in normal everyday life. The mastermind behind the theory of relativity says he is proud to be a Jew in the letter but also declares that he was anything but enthralled with Judaism. The letter was written to Eric Gutkind, who wrote Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt a year before Einstein wrote his letter. It’s safe to say Einstein had quite a lot on his mind.^[7]

3 1864 Lincoln Letter–$3,400,000

A handwritten letter that Sotheby’s auction house proclaimed to be “arguably Lincoln’s most personal and powerful statement on God, slavery, and emancipation” sold for $3.4 million during a 2008 auction. The 16th president of the United States wrote this letter replying to a group of 195 children that petitioned that he free “all the little slave children in this country” from slavery.

Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation (the next item on this list) a year before this letter was written. Still, it wasn’t until the 13th Amendment of the Constitution was officially ratified in 1865, eight months after his assassination, that slavery was formally abolished throughout the country.^[8]

2 Robert Kennedy’s Copy of the Emancipation Proclamation–$3,778,500

In 1964, 101 years after Abraham Lincoln signed the document, Robert Kennedy bought a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation for $9,500. It’s one of forty-eight original signed copies. About half of these survive today. Fourteen are in public institutions, and the rest are privately owned. When it went on sale in 2010, experts estimated it would sell for around $1.5 million. It sold for $3,778,500.

The second-highest sale of an original copy of the Emancipation Proclamation went for a little over two million in 2012. The fact that John F. Kennedy’s brother owned this one definitely played a part in its record sale. Safe to say Bobby Kennedy’s investment wasn’t a bad one, although he never got to see the profits due to his assassination in 1968.^[9]

1 George Washington’s Act of Congress–$9,800,000

If you had $10,000,000, what would you buy? A 30,000-square-foot vacation home on a private island? A luxury superyacht? A 100-second spot for a Super Bowl commercial? A bidder at Christie’s New York salesroom spent just under ten million on George Washington’s personal copy of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Both of them were signed by Washington. When it was sold in 2012, it broke the record of any American book or document sold.

A new record was set just one year ago. There were a total of an estimated 500 printed copies of the original Constitution. Today, only 13 remain. One of these sold for $43.2 million in 2021, which broke the record for the most expensive document or book ever sold in auction. This was only a copy, of which copies were produced for delegates such as James Madison, Ben Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton. There wasn’t an original signature on it, which is why it doesn’t make the cut for this list. Still, $43.2 million is nothing to sneeze at.

Fun Fact: It was later known to the public that the successful bidder who purchased George Washginton’s Act of Congress was the non-profit Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union—the corporation that maintains the historic Mount Vernon estate in Virginia that was Washington’s home. You can imagine the absurd amount George Washington’s personally signed Constitution would sell for today if the Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union ever decided to sell.^[10]

You buy things usually for a singular purpose, but you could be missing out on hidden benefits. Here are the 10 best everyday objects you didn’t know had alternate uses.

10 Soda Pop Tab

Craving a cold can of soda? Just grip the tab, pull forward, push back, and you’re on your way to fizzy satisfaction. If you’ve noticed, your soda can tab not only moves forwards and backward but spins around, too. This is because it has a secondary purpose, one you may not be aware of. The larger hole on the tab lines up with the opening of your soda can. Take your straw and slip it through! The tab will keep the straw in place.

You can also use your soda can tab to add a hanger to photo frames. You may not be able to hang the heaviest frames; if you have something lighter, just screw the soda can tab in place through the smaller hole so the larger hole can catch the nail in the wall.

9 Frame Loops in Grocery Cart

Grocery carts are great for toting around your groceries, obviously, but their design has more purpose than simply carrying around your soon-to-be-dinner. When you pop out the seat usually reserved for more fragile products, your child, or your purse, you may notice that the front and back are made of metal loops. These loops are so you can hang your bags once you’ve gone through checkout. Hanging your bags means more space in your cart for heavier, bulkier items.

Outside of the practical, grocery carts are great for when you need to think outside the box. You can use them as planters, repurpose them for art, or even flip them on their backs for barricades. Then there’s the traditional grocery cart as a scooter alternative. That could be potentially dangerous, though, so scoot with caution.

8 Disposable Cup Plastic Lid

The lid of your fast food soft drink has a very clear purpose: keep your soda inside the cup. But should you want to take the lid off your soda—and we hope you’re not in motion—you can use the lid as a cup holder. The indented ring around the lid should perfectly fit the bottom of the cup. Now before you go throwing that lid away once you’re done with your drink, consider recycling it for something else instead.

You can string yarn through the center of the lid to prevent yarn from tangling while you’re knitting or crocheting. If you slide a popsicle stick through the lid, you can use it as a drip catch for melting popsicles. Disposable plastic lids also make good arts n’ craft supply holders. Simply tape the hole in the lid shut, and then place glitter, sequins, beads, or anything small that you could easily drop on the ground in them.

7 Dental Floss

Your dentist recommends it, and your teeth and gums thank you for it. Flossing your teeth helps remove food particles from between your teeth and improves your overall oral hygiene. And outside of being a part of your routine, dental floss serves many other purposes as well.

Floss is a very strong material, so anything you need a strong string for, look towards dental floss. You can hang things using it, use it as twine, sew buttons back on shirts if you’ve run out of thread, and even use it as a fishing line. You can use floss as emergency shoelaces, as a camping clothesline, and, for cheese lovers out there, cut through soft cheese. And because floss is so good at getting in between things, you can slide the floss between a baking tray and a stuck cookie to get it unstuck! The same goes for a photograph. If you need to remove a photograph that has gotten itself stuck to old photo album pages or a glass frame, carefully slip the floss between the photo and the surface to which it’s stuck.

6 Coffee Filters

A coffee filter’s job is quite the important one: filter out the coffee grounds and let the wonderful drink pour into the pot. If you’re a restaurant employee, you may also understand the usefulness of a coffee filter in another way. Coffee filters work great for shining glassware. If you need to buff out water stains but don’t have a microfiber cloth handy, reach for a coffee filter. They won’t leave a residue, either (unless you’ve used it one too many times). On the same note, you can clean your windows or other glass features in your home with coffee filters.

Wiping and cleaning aside, you can use a coffee filter at the bottom of a colander to catch smaller bits of food your colander holes may let through. If you place one at the bottom of a flowerpot, you can water your plants without worrying any of the dirt will escape through the hole. The filter will filter the water out and keep the dirt in. You can also place a coffee filter between plates to protect expensive china.

5 Baking Soda

Baking soda is so diverse in its uses it’s sometimes hard to pin down what people use it for mainly. Here are a few of its more popular applications: deodorizer, a leavening agent in baking, and volcano foam for science projects when you mix it with vinegar.

Because it is mildly abrasive but safe for consumption and contact, you can use baking soda for a myriad of other things, as well. If you have heartburn, baking soda can help! Dissolve no more than a teaspoon of baking soda in a full glass of cold water. Drink it slowly. The baking soda’s alkalinity will counteract the acid in your stomach. You can mix baking soda into a paste with a little less water and use it as toothpaste. The mixture should also whiten your teeth!

If you run out of deodorant, pat a little baking soda underneath your arms. It’ll capture bad odors in your refrigerator, why not in your armpits, too?

Need a little shine in your kitchen? Sprinkle some baking soda on stainless steel surfaces and with a sponge and some water, gently scrub the surfaces. Rinse, and it’ll leave sinks and countertops looking brand new.

Perhaps the most important alternate use to baking soda, however, is as a flame retardant. If you ever accidentally start a grease fire (oil catches on fire) while you’re cooking, do not pour water over it. Water will spread the fire! Instead, pour baking soda over it. Most chemical-free fire extinguishers contain baking soda; you have a key fire fighting ingredient in your cabinet already! Baking soda does not wholly replace a fire extinguisher’s usefulness, nor does it work for larger house fires.

4 Tongs

Tongs make cooking easier in more ways than one. Yes, it can reach into boiling pots of water and flip food on a tray and in a skillet—it is our extended kitchen claw—but it can also juice lemons. If you don’t have a juicer handy and are working with a particularly dry or hard lemon, place a lemon half in between the arms of the tong, and squeeze!

3 Swiffer

For anyone looking for an alternative to a mop, a Swiffer Sweeper may be just the thing for you. With disposable dry and wet pads that pick up dirt and clean up stains on hardwood floors and tile, it is a no muss-no fuss cleaning tool. But there’s no need to always look down at the floor. With a Swiffer, you can look up a little more. Just apply your floor mopping skills to your walls and ceilings. A Swiffer works as a great duster for those stubborn cobwebs on ceilings and walls. You can even give your walls a good scrub down with the Swiffer wet pads.

2 Eggs

How do you take your eggs, on a plate or in your hair? What—in your hair? That’s right. Eggs are not only for eating but for treating as well. Because of the nutrients and proteins in eggs, like lutein and albumin, eggs are great for your skin and hair. You can mix egg whites with water to create a face mask or combine the egg yolk with olive oil to make a hair conditioner. Just be careful not to rinse out the conditioner with hot water, or else you’ll end up with scrambled eggs in your hair.

If you’re left with eggshells, don’t be afraid to add them to the compost pile. You can also break up the shells and sprinkle them directly on the soil’s surface. This keeps snails and slugs away because of the rough texture. Go one step further with your eggs and save the water you boiled the eggs in to water your plants. Those nutrients won’t go to waste.

1 Nail Polish

A bottle of clear nail polish can go a long way while also giving your nails that natural-looking shine. If your tights are starting to rip or the edges of your clothes are fraying, apply some clear nail polish to prevent further damage. You can also cover the bottom of metal cans like shaving cream cans to keep it from rusting and coat jewelry with it to prevent it from turning green.

The genius who discovered these uses has certainly made our lives easier. The next time you need a quick alternative to sewing thread or toothpaste, just remember that you may already have the solution.

No matter your gender, sexual orientation, political views, or religion, there are objects in this world that our brains will, consciously or not, remind you of sex. Or at least something sexual. The technical term for this is arousal, but we also know it as “getting turned on.” Your heart rate increases, you might breathe slightly faster than you were a moment ago, and blood starts to flow to different places. Don’t get blindsided and wonder why you just got turned on the next time you smell a candle—when your brain sees things or simply thinks about things that remind you of a past sexual experience, it can happen. Here’s a list of ten everyday-ish objects that people get turned on by.  

10 Video Game Controllers 

Now with vibration intensity settings? O-okay. Sometime between the great toilet paper shortage of 2020 and now, many of us needed some new and old hobbies to keep us sane. Many men, women, and everyone in between, picked up the sticks (a controller) and played at least a few rounds of vids. Mid-game, your phone dings with a notification. You put the ‘roller in your lap and watch a hilarious Snapchat.

Meanwhile, your video game avatar is violently assaulted by a walking mushroom-like creature (see Goomba). This sends a vibrating jolt to the controller resting in your lap. Suddenly, for some completely unrelated reason, you remember to text your significant other that you’re coming over later. 

9 “I Voted” Sticker

By definition, this is not an everyday object. But to make my case, when is it a bad time to promote voting? Also, you should see this object every voting day. Now that my editor is happy:

Nothing gets a red-white-and-blue bleeding patriot going like catching a glimpse of someone’s “I Voted” sticker. See someone who fits your sexual orientation walk by with proof they performed their civic duty, and suddenly November’s never been so hot. You’re likely lying to yourself if you don’t get aroused when you go to Starbucks on election day and see that sticker-wearing girl or guy in their aura of superiority. Your mind goes straight to the Washington DC swamp gutter.

But seriously, it says a lot about a person if they display some form of caring about their community. It can be a highly desirable trait. It’s not weird that you seek someone who is informed and cares about our country’s direction. It’s what you’re looking for in a partner. The desire to be with someone based on that silly sticker, guess what, that’s you being turned on. 

8 Books

Sapiosexuality is a not uncommon trait that makes people sexually attracted to intelligence. What’s the stereotypical sign that someone is (probably) intelligent? Books. Books can be a huge turn-on. Now obviously, or rather, hopefully, no one is wandering around the public library because of the intense sexual rush it provides. But when we nervously enter a romantic interest’s abode for the first time, and we see some Maya Angelou, Mark Twain, or Tolkien sitting on the coffee table, it. Is. On. 

7 Laundry

I’ve recently come to terms with the daunting task of laundry; making it my enemy wasn’t helping anyone. Wait. Sorry no, doing laundry sucks. There is no reconciliation to doing laundry. It sucks. But, if it’s not ours, that’s a whole different story.

Whether it’s a massive pile or a neatly folded stack, our brains can’t help but associate our significant others’ butt-enhancing boxer briefs or their rustic granny panties with pleasant memories. While they may be currently standing at the door in 4 layers of puffy coats, those clothes on the floor across the room, they took those off at some point – think about it that way, and willy-nilly, you’re turned on.

6 Mirrors

No one should judge someone on what they get turned on by. If you happen to get excited when looking at yourself in a full-body mirror after a shower, more power to you. Is it narcissistic? Maybe, but not necessarily. It’s more likely just our natural reaction to seeing a naked body. Even if it’s our own body, the fact that we’re naked and looking at it can feel scandalous. The societal taboo of nakedness is a common source of arousing emotions. 

Then, of course, there’s the flipside. Many people suffer from poor body image. In which case, mirrors may have the opposite effect. Try to remember there is no one more critical, more judgmental of your flaws than yourself. No one has spent more time looking for imperfections, too big of pores, or different-sized eyes, than you. This isn’t about to become a lecture on the Power of Positive Thinking, but suffice it to say, ugly thoughts can lead to ugly people. Force yourself to find one aspect of your body you like. Make it a habit to appreciate it every time you look in a mirror, and this everyday object might start to turn you on.

5 Foam Rollers

Let’s just address now: it is not the elongated shape of foam rollers that turns people on. Or maybe it is, to each their own. Next, for anyone who doesn’t own a foam roller, you should know that it is very much an everyday object for the people who do own one. There are few better sensations than having that foam cushion apply gravity’s weight in pressure as it moves down your back towards the top of your butt. After a long day, it’s pure bliss. Sustained use of a foam roller helps relieve back pain, improves flexibility, and helps your muscles work more efficiently. You feel ready for anything.

As the Journal of Sports Physical Therapy puts it, foam rolling “probably [allows you to] perform your workouts with better, more efficient, and safer form.” Given the subject of the article you’re reading, you can probably guess specifically what kind of partner-based workouts you’d be inclined to try.

4 Shower Heads

No gimmicks or veiled personality traits here. Physical stimulation of sensitive areas on our body is how we usually imagine arousal taking place. And that’s what showerheads do; their potential to turn you on is as straightforward as you can imagine. Unfortunately for us, peasants whose bathrooms aren’t equipped with handheld showerheads, this may not apply.

Sexual arousal aside, handheld showerheads are just plain fun to play around with. And when you do encounter one, just remember, you have no one to blame but yourself when you end up spraying the entire bathroom because you turned it an inch in the wrong direction. Also, be mindful of water pressure. Ouch.

3 Candy

Forget erotic allusions to eating lollypops. Science has literally proven certain types of candy turn you on. Chocolate’s main ingredient, cocoa, is a vasodilator. Meaning it increases blood flow. While not as potent as your creepy uncle’s Viagra, cocoa makes it easier for blood to flow to certain areas of your body. But that’s not even the most obvious reason candy turns you on. Eating sweets releases serotonin and dopamine – our brain’s happy chemicals. Put yourself in the right setting, romantic partner optional, eat some chocolate, and yep, it happened again: turned on.

2 Glasses

Within the same realm as sapiosexuals, glasses can be a turn-on. While contradictory to the idea of animals choosing the most genetically fit mate to produce offspring, your declining eyesight matters not to some individuals. In fact, some prefer you in them because “you look like an intellectual,” according to your mom’s friend from yoga class. Glasses can change the way others perceive your facial features—an illusion, to be sure. If it’s an attractive illusion, sorry, but you’re turning people on.

Poor vision matters even less if we spot a slick pair of designer eyeglasses, possibly indicating a wealthy status or simply good taste in fashion. Both traits, when you spot them in the checkout line at Target, can make you as inappropriately excited as ever. 

1 Candles

Candles affect two of the senses that play a huge role in getting turned on, sight and smell. For vision, we have the dim flickers of candlelight. This dimming, for whatever reason, can set the right mood for two partners while they dine. A far more potent aspect of candles turning you on is the smell. Your smell can be one of the most powerful senses for stimulating memories. That, and there are certain smells that science has shown, turns us on.

While many of these smells are body odors, those are generally later-stage arousal-enhancing byproducts – you were turned on a while ago. That’s why you’re now 2 centimeters away from your partner’s face and in their embrace. But to get to that stage: candles. Vanilla, ginger, jasmine, Neroli, Sandalwood, the list goes on. Light up a wax embodiment of these smells, turn off overhead lights, and the stage is set for that 2-centimeter separation.