It’s easy to look at the life of a celebrity and assume that everything is great. With all that fame and money, it should be easy to make your problems go away. But the reality is that celebrities are real people, and no amount of money can enable them to change what’s in their past. They may be on top of the world now, but for the following ten celebrities, things didn’t always look so rosy.

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10 Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron is widely regarded as one of the most talented people in Hollywood. Renowned for her ability to transform herself, Theron’s performance as Aileen Wournos earned her both an Oscar and a well-deserved place in cinematic history. But if her past had been slightly different, we may never have heard of the feisty South African we have all come to know and love.

Theron grew up on a farm with her parents, who were locked in a loveless marriage. Her father was a drunk, and although Theron says he never physically abused her, he did abuse her mother. One night, an aunt called her to warn that her father was coming home in a particularly bad mood. He soon showed up with his brother threatening to shoot Charlize and her mother. There was a lot of arguing and commotion, until he began shooting through her door into her bedroom, at which point her mother killed him with a handgun and shot his brother. Fortunately, prosecutors ruled that the mother had acted in self-defense, and Theron has gone on to achieve great things in life.^[1]

9 Pierce Brosnan

Pierce Brosnan’s hardships pretty much started at the very beginning. Born into a poor family in rural Ireland, he was swiftly abandoned by his father, who he would only go on to meet once. His mother was forced to send him to live with his grandparents while she worked as a nurse in England, then his aunt and uncle, and then onto a boarding house. His mother visited twice a year until he could move to England at age 11, at which point he became the focus of school bullies.

In 1980, Brosnan married Cassandra Harris and adopted the 3 children of her late-husband, adding one more to the mix for good measure. But in 1991, Cassandra died in his arms after a 4 year battle with ovarian cancer, which would later go on to take the life of their 41 year old daughter Charlotte in 2013. By then, he had become estranged from his son Chris, who had a major drug problem resulting in fights, thefts, and 2 drunk-driving crashes in 2 years. The crashes may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, as Brosnan had already narrowly avoided losing his son Sean at 13, after Sean’s cousin drunkenly drove off a 200 foot cliff.

Despite all this, Brosnan doesn’t expect any sympathy, saying that while his childhood may have been “unconventional”, it was his normal.^[2]

8 Kelsey Grammer

Kelsey Grammer’s troubles started early in life, with his parents splitting up when he was just two years old. His mother’s parents took them in, and helped raise Kelsey until he was 12, when his grandfather died of cancer. The following year, his father was murdered by a home intruder who had started a fire, all in front of his new family.

Then in 1975, Grammer’s 18 year old sister Karen was abducted, raped, and murdered by four men who left her for dead. Sadly, Karen had enough strength to make it to a nearby house, where bloody handprints revealed she was attempting to ring the door. The house was empty. Kelsey identified his sister’s body one week later. 2 years later, both of his half-brothers died in a scuba diving accident.

Shockingly, Grammer has appeared at the parole hearings of the last remaining member of the gang who killed his sister. In 2014, he spoke directly to the killer at the hearing, stating “You could not have come to a better person in the world than me to advocate for someone who has made some bad choices. I accept your apology. I forgive you. However, I cannot give your release my endorsement. To give that a blessing would be a betrayal of my sister’s life.”^[3]

7 Nicki Minaj

Love her or loathe her, there’s no denying that Niki Minaj has built a pretty successful career for herself. With triple platinum, number one albums, a litany of awards, and a net worth of over $100 million, things could certainly be worse. But according to Minaj, it’s the fact that things were worse than inspired her to work so hard.

Throughout her childhood, Minaj had to contend with her abusive, drug-addicted father, who would regularly beat her mother, punch holes in the walls, get arrested, and sell their possessions for drug money. At one point, he attempted to kill her mother by lighting the house on fire. Despite all this, the pair are still together, and dad apparently isn’t too happy when she tells that story. To this, she says “It’s the price you pay when you abuse drugs and alcohol. Maybe one day your daughter will be famous and talk to every magazine about it, so think about that, dads out there who want to be crazy.”^[4]

6 Kevin Spacey

Nothing in your past can give you licence to abuse a child, not even a history of being abused as a child. So while most of us may struggle to find any sympathy for alleged-pedophile Kevin Spacey, it is worth noting that he was apparently a victim of such abuse himself. That doesn’t excuse or justify his behavior, but it could help explain it.

According to his estranged brother Randy Fowler, Spacey’s father physically and sexually abused the boys throughout their childhood. To make matters worse, their mother apparently knew, but turned a blind eye to the whole situation. She later wrote a letter claiming that both she and the father had also been abused as children, again offering a potential psychological explanation.

But on top of the physical and sexual abuse, Spacey’s father was a white supremacist Nazi who went so far as to maintain a Hitler mustache. Interestingly, even after he himself was accused of assault, Spacey denied his brothers claims were true. Randy, meanwhile, has opted not to have children for fear of passing on the “predator gene”, a decision that is probably for the best.^[5]

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5 Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson was born in Neptune City, New Jersey, in 1937. His mother was 17 when she gave birth to him, and had been working as a showgirl when she got pregnant. Although she was married, she soon found out that her husband was already married, and was left alone with her child. There were also some doubts as to whether the real father was the married man, her stage manager, or another unknown man.

Apart from that, Nicholson had a pretty normal upbringing, one that could hardly be described as “tragic” by any stretch of the imagination. But in 1974, Nicholson’s childhood was retroactively changed forever when it was revealed that his late-sister was in fact his mother. The people who had raised him as their own were in fact his grandparents, and his other sister was his aunt. By then, his birth mother and adoptive mother had both passed.

Nicholson’s story is far from the only one of its kind, with plenty of families pulling the same trick for young, unmarried mothers. And it seems he harbors no ill-will towards those involved in the lie, stating “I’d say it was a pretty dramatic event, but it wasn’t what I’d call traumatizing… After all, by the time I found out who my mother was, I was pretty well psychologically formed. As a matter of fact, it made quite a few things clearer to me. If anything, I felt grateful.”^[6]

4 Terrence Howard

As we have seen from the other examples, the simple fact of being related to somebody makes us much more likely to let them get away with doing some pretty terrible things. Most people like to believe that there is good in those around us, even if they are flawed human beings. So when someone definitively decides to cut ties with their own flesh and blood, they usually have good reasons.

Terrence Howard suffered physical abuse not only at the hands of his father, but his mother as well. When he was two, he witnessed his father stab a man to death, for which he was convicted of manslaughter. His mother raised him until his father was released, at which point they divorced, and he was sent to live with his grandparents. At age 16, Howard had himself legally emancipated, moved to New York, and lived off welfare while he tried to make it as an actor. While that was undoubtedly one of the hardest decisions he will ever make, it seems it was the right one.^[7]

3 Jim Carrey

Carrey’s life started out pretty normal, with his accountant father providing the family with a decent middle-class life. Unfortunately, Carrey’s father lost his job, forcing the comedian to drop out of school and start working as a janitor to help support the family. Things were quite bad, with the entire family forced to live in a van at one point. Carrey even got this ridiculous notion that he could supplement his janitor’s wage by performing stand-up comedy on the side.

Obviously, things worked out for Carrey, and his comedy career took off quite quickly. But he would encounter trouble again years later, when he broke up with his girlfriend Cathriona White, who took her life just days later. A note on her iPad accused Carrey of ruining her life by introducing her to drugs, abusing her, and giving her a number of STDs.

It was soon discovered that White had married another man while dating Carrey, apparently for a green card. The husband and White’s mother then launched a wrongful death lawsuit, accusing the actor of driving White to suicide. It was later revealed that White had faked STD tests to make it look like she was clean before she met Carrey, and infected afterwards. After years of legal battles, Carrey was cleared of all charges.^[8]

2 Oprah

Oprah is probably the most famous example of a celebrity overcoming their past and achieving success. Worth anywhere between two and four billion dollars, she is one of the most recognisable and influential people in the world. This alone would be impressive enough, but the fact that she built her success on a foundation of severe abuse is what makes her such an inspiration to so many people.

For years, young Oprah was sent back and forth between her parents’ homes, moving to one of the most impoverished and dangerous Milwaukee ghettos at age 6. Her mother worked various jobs to make ends meet, and was rarely able to take care of Oprah. By age 9, a number of trusted family-friends took advantage of her mother’s absenteeism and began an extensive period of sexual abuse.

At 12, she was able to spend a few happy years living with her father, but was eventually sent back to her mother, where the abuse resumed. She also suffered a lot of physical abuse from various family members, and was once whipped by her grandmother for getting blood on her dress, which was a result of being whipped for playing with water. Eventually, she went to live with her father for good, and credits him with helping her become the woman she is today.^[9]

1 Britney Spears

Everybody knows that Britney Spears has been through some very rough times. We came perilously close to losing a generational icon, but Britney has shown there is no brink you can’t be brought back from. She got the help she needed, and has now resumed her rightful role as Queen of Pop. But while most of us will remember the drama of 2007, not everyone is familiar with her early years, which were arguably worse.

Growing up, Britney’s family was apparently so poor that her abusive, alcoholic father would apparently go out hunting for rabbit or squirrel to feed the family. While Britney denies that ever happened, the reality is they were poor. Rather than getting a job, Lynn Spears decided the best way to get rich quick was off the back of her daughter’s vocals. Unfortunately for Britney, it worked, and she became the sole breadwinner to a family of 5.

At 13, she was drinking. At 14, she was having sex, and was allowed to have boys stay over. Her mother also set her up with an 18 year old for PR purposes. At 15, she was doing drugs. Then her career skyrocketed, the meltdown happened, and she had to be placed under conservatorship. But despite the fact that her father was an abusive alcoholic who once held a reported at knifepoint for 4 hours, he was deemed a more suitable guardian than Lynn, who apparently has little contact with Britney these days.

For all her fame, money, and success, not many of us would want to trade places with Britney. But while her story may be unenviable, it is ultimately a happy one. The tale of the star who stared death in the face only to bonk him with an umbrella is one that will be told for decades to come.^[10]

Top 10 Celebrities with Strange Physical Deformities

No one enjoys commercials interrupting their program, especially when you see the same one repeat over and over again. It is always the same product or service as if you forgot, pitched to you by the same faces: Think of Flo from Progressive. Then overnight, these familiar women or men disappear from the screen. Though alleviating, you question their whereabouts considering you’ve only seen them a billion times in the past year. The following ten are spokesmen you may recognize with quite the colorful background or rap sheet.

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10 “Trivago Guy”

The “Trivago Guy” who lends hotel advice to weary travelers displays a demeanor as a friendly, approachable, everyday Joe and frankly, he very well may be. One notable aspect from the commercials, however, is Tim Williams’ signature disheveled, rough-and-tumble appearance. A laid back, non-caring look as if he just rolled out of bed after a rough night in Vegas. Ironically, Williams may not be acting at all. In April 2019, the pitchman was found by Houston police passed out behind the wheel of a car in the middle of traffic. Now that is how to party! Following a field sobriety test, Williams was charged with misdemeanor DUI with bail set at $100. Being fortunate to maintain his job, Williams cleaned up his image for future commercial appearances looking more polished, yet not letting go of his signature facial stubble.^[1]

9 Mike Lindell’s “MyPillow”

Before Mike Lindell became a multimillionaire, he spent his life broke due to failed business ventures, all the while battling a serious cocaine addiction. In 2004, the idea for MyPillow came to him “in a dream.” In the moments that he wasn’t dedicating his time creating the perfect pillow, Lindell took up crack cocaine as his favorite pastime. This “hard-core addiction”, as he put it, led to the loss of his house and his wife divorcing him. At times he would be awake for a full two weeks smoking crack. Nevertheless, he continued working on the project simply because he believed the idea was a message from God. On the evening of January 16, 2009, Lindell prayed, “God, I want to wake up in the morning and never have that desire again.” As luck or faith would have it, he did just that and his journey on the road to sobriety began. By 2011, MyPillow was finally getting media attention and by the end of the year, he went from having 5 employees to 500. As of today, he has 1,500 employees, sold 30 million pillows and current revenue of $300 million a year.^[2]

8 “Allstate” Dean Winters

With an impressive resume with credits such as John Wick and 30 Rock, you can easily recognize Dean Winters as the crazed pitchman in Allstate insurance commercials. His life behind the camera, however, nearly came to an end in 2009, when his heart stopped beating en route to the hospital. The Allstate spokesman whose character causes mayhem wherever he goes contracted a bacterial infection subsequently causing cardiac arrest due to septic shock. After flat- lining for “around four-and-a-half minutes,” doctors at Lenox Hill hospital in New York miraculously “brought him back to life.” After three weeks in the ICU, Winters was discharged only to develop gangrene soon after. Over the next year, he underwent multiple skin grafts, 10 operations and had to have half of a thumb and two toes amputated. As one can imagine, it wasn’t his best year, perhaps even worse than 2020 – for him. Today the actor has fully recovered and has found a new appreciation for life with a career that has yet to slow down.^[3]

7 “Billy Mays Here!”

Billy Mays was a superstar in the infomercial world, pitching items such as OxiClean. The energy he expelled to audiences was exuberant enough to keep ones attention in the wee hours of the morning. Sadly, the liveliness he exemplified burnt out at age 50 on June 28, 2009 with questions still remaining as to why. Many speculate that it was the result of a head injury he sustained as a passenger on a US Airways flight the day prior to his death. According to reports, the plane hit the runway extremely hard upon landing resulting in one of the tires to blow out. The force of the impact caused baggage and other items from the overhead compartment to fly out, some striking Mays in the head. Following the incident, Mays recounted the events to a local TV reporter describing his injury jokingly stating, “I got a hard head.” That evening, he told his family that he wasn’t feeling well and retired to his bedroom. Mays was found dead in his bed the next morning. Although rumors continue to circulate as to the exact cause of death, what is known is that he had heart disease as well as a history of cocaine use. Whether or not these two contributed to his untimely demise, you be the Judge.^[4]

6 “Sham Wow Guy”

Vince Offer, known as the spiky-haired “Sham Wow Guy” was known for his “schticky” jokes and sexual innuendos. With tremendous success, however, came a life of nonstop partying to the extent that would make Charlie Sheen proud. All of the exuberance would come to a sudden halt in 2009 after a 12-hour drinking binge with a prostitute. At some point in the evening, the lovely couple got into a fight leading to the woman biting Offer’s tongue, refusing to let go. Eventually, he was freed from the grips of her teeth only after plummeting her in the face with his fists as if he was channeling Mike Tyson. The romantic evening came to an end in the back of a police car with both parties being charged for aggravated battery. Surprisingly, Offer had a comeback four years after his infamous sex scandal slugfest. Determined to clean up his act, he began pitching a new product: a six-in-one kitchen cleaner named the “InVinceable.” These days, Offer is remaking himself and cutting back to only an “occasional glass of wine.”^[5]

10 Pop Culture And Historical Events That Started Off As Jokes

5 The Heart Attack Grill

They say any publicity is good publicity, but what about when someone dies in your establishment? That is what happened at The Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas when 52-year-old John Alleman, spokesman for the restaurant, dropped dead of a heart attack. The Heart Attack Grill (HAG) is famous for serving unhealthy dishes such as its “Quadruple Bypass Burger” and “Flatliner Fries” served to you by staff dressed in nurse’s and doctor’s uniforms. Alleman was a fixture at the HAG with his face on menus, appearing in commercials and even receiving his own “Patient John” clothing line. Interestingly enough, Alleman’s death comes one year after another patron died while eating the 6,000-calorie “Triple Bypass Burger.” As he clenched his chest gasping for air, patrons believed it was a publicity stunt. Like many people these days, they stood around with their cell phones filming him take his last breath. If that weren’t enough, a woman suffered a similar incident two months later while eating a “Double Bypass Burger.” The first HAG opened in Chandler, Arizona in 2008 but closed its doors in 2011 after the death of its 29-year-old 575-pound spokesman Blair River. In closing, if you’re ever in Vegas and you want to gamble with your arteries instead of money, HAG is the place to be. Oh yea, and if you weigh over 350 pounds, your meal is free!^[6]

4 Redenbacher

Popcorn icon Orville Redenbacher, known for his Red Bow tie and cheerful commercials, had his first buttery taste of success in 1971. That year, Chicago’s department store, Marshall Fields became the only retailer carrying his product. Soon after, Redenbacher’s gourmet popcorn and wholesome image were seen in stores throughout the country. For a gentle and genuine man reminiscent of a grandfather, Redenbacher met an unflattering end in the Jacuzzi of his condominium. When his lifeless body was discovered floating in 1995 medical examiners were bewildered, questioning if there was foul play. Then again, he was 88-years-old and upon autopsy, it was reported that he had a heart attack and subsequently drowned. Today, Redenbacher remains the leading brand among microwave popcorns.^[7]

3 Colonel Sanders

Colonel Sanders, one of the most iconic figures in franchise history had quite an interesting life before his success with KFC. In 1932, Sanders was operating a service station across the street from another. To promote his business, Sanders painted advertisements on overpasses and on the side of barns. This advertising strategy angered Matt Stewart, the owner of the other service station, leading him to paint over Sanders’ signage. When Sanders became aware of this, he and two of his employees confronted Stewart. Moments later a gunfight ensued leading to the death of one of Sanders’ men who had been shot through the heart. Sanders immediately returned fire wounding Stewart bringing an end to the carnage. Sanders and his surviving employee were cleared by authorities while Stewart on the other hand was convicted but appealed. Nevertheless, Stewart would ultimately be shot and killed in another altercation a few years later. Upon hearing the news of his death, the kind-hearted Colonel offered Stewarts daughter, Ona Mae, his sincere condolences as well as financial support. Ironically, the two would become dear friends for the remainder of his life. In addition, Ona Mae went on to manage Sanders’ Café in 1940 and became a partner in the KFC franchise.^[8

2 Judith Barsi

Her name may not come to mind, but Judith Barsi had an impressive list of credits in the short years she was alive. Appearing in several films including, Jaws: The Revenge, the majority of Bari’s work was in over 50 commercials throughout the 1980s. The little starlet was on the rise when her life was violently taken by the hand of her own father, József Barsi. On July 25, 1988, 10-year-old Judith was asleep in her bed when József, in an alcohol-induced rage, shot her in the head. He then murdered his wife, Maria Virovacz, in the hallway of the home. József spent the next two days in the house before pouring gasoline on their bodies, setting them ablaze and ultimately shooting himself in the head. Though it’s been three decades, the current owners of the home believe Judiths presence remains. Soon after the Bernal family moved in, they began feeling a constant dark presence and noticed cold spots for no explicable reason. In addition, the Bernal’s daughter, Gaby, began suffering horrific nightmares while sleeping in the same bedroom where Judith was murdered. The garage door would open and close by itself at all hours of the day and footsteps would roam the halls at night. Whether or not you’re a skeptic in the paranormal, the Bernal family undoubtedly believes the little pitchgirls spirit walks the halls of the house, unable to let go of the past.^[9]

1 Jared From Subway

Let’s not pretend that we didn’t see this infamous pervert making the list. Jared Fogle, the onetime sole spokesman for Subway and a sex-crazed 38-year-old whose true appetite was not footlong subs but minors. Following a raid at his home in 2015, the FBI recovered around 400 child pornography videos that included children as young as 6. Following a lengthy interrogation, Fogle admitted to traveling across state lines to pay minors for sex. In addition, he would often pay underage prostitutes to find kids for him. Before his sentencing, Fogle stated to the court that “he will learn from his recent experience and won’t commit these crimes again.” In the end, the former mascot of Subway was ordered to pay $1.4 million in total restitution to 14 victims and sentenced to 15 years in prison.^[10]

10 Iconic Mascots And Their Surprising Backstories

Restaurants serve as a comfortable place for people from all walks of life to grab a bite to eat or try expanding their palette. American advertising would be almost unrecognizable without the bold logos of various fast food chains emblazing signs and billboards, enticing customers to order a familiar and comforting salty meal. Aside from the chains, many cities rely on the buzz that unique restaurants within their limits have to offer tourists, attracting them in droves to try the newest trends in culinary fare.

However, not all eateries are as we predict, and many familiar chains and locations bear dark and disturbing pasts that are often hushed in the public eye. Here are ten such restaurants that have been historically riddled with controversy.

Related: 10 Businesses Too Big to Fail That Totally Flopped

10 Waffle House

Waffle House is a staple road-trip chain for residents of the Southern U.S., and their hearty breakfast and diner fare make them a popular choice for travelers on the go or those looking to grab a late-night meal. However, Waffle House is also notorious due to the incredibly high rate of violent crime that has happened in their restaurants, with a particular trend toward robberies and murders.

One such instance occurred in 2018, when on April 22 at a Waffle House in Nashville, Tennessee, a man named Travis Reinking pulled up to the restaurant, took out an assault rifle, and began to fatally shoot patrons standing outside its doors. He then entered the restaurant and opened fire in the dining room filled with patrons. The entirety of the attack was caught on surveillance footage, and Reinking was only subdued when a brave patron tackled him to the ground and wrestled away the gun, causing him to flee. While he was eventually captured and brought to justice, four people lost their lives in the attack, and two were seriously injured.

This is one of over seven shooting incidents in Waffle Houses across the United States within the past five years, making it a household name in terms of dangerous places to dine.^[1]

9 Heart Attack Grill

Located in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Heart Attack Grill is a novelty restaurant whose claim to fame is its monstrously large portions and the high salt, fat, and caloric value of its menu items. Offering immense burgers stacked with up to eight patties and containing nearly 20,000 calories each, Heart Attack’s menu is rounded out with sides of fries cooked in pure lard, the ever-present alcoholic drinks, and what they proudly call “butterfat” milkshakes.

The restaurant hasn’t been shy of controversy since its opening, with many saying that it glorifies obesity, especially due to its policy that those who weigh in at 350 pounds (163.3 kilograms) or more before their meal eat for free. The restaurant’s name comes from what they boast as what may result from eating their food, with servers cheekily dressed like nurses in case of “emergency.” However, this tongue-in-cheek humor loses its appeal when one learns that people have suffered heart attacks right in their dining room while chowing down on one of their “bypass burgers.”

In February 2013, 52-year-old restaurant patron John Alleman had just made it out the front door to wait for the bus after indulging in one of the restaurant’s burgers when he suddenly collapsed to the ground and passed away from what officials declared a heart attack.

To make things worse, this was not the first time that a customer had suffered heart issues as a result of the restaurant’s food, with two separate incidents the previous year sending patrons to the emergency room in serious condition. Restaurant spokesman Jon Basso’s response to pleas from medical agencies to shut down the restaurant was to acquire one of these customer’s cremated remains and display them at the restaurant as a sort of badge of honor.^[2]

8 Domino’s Pizza

Domino’s Pizza may be a familiar and beloved pizza delivery chain to customers across North America, but the chain has a dark side that few know of. Back in the ’80s, the marketing team at Domino’s decided to create a mascot to fit the brand’s advertising campaign. They came up with the Noid, a sort of man-rabbit hybrid with signature buck teeth. The introduction of this character proved a great success for the business, shooting sales up to levels competitive with rival Pizza Hut. Still, its runtime was quickly cut short when an incident a few years later brought a stain upon the Noid’s name.

At noontime on January 30, 1989, a man by the name of Kenneth Noid burst through the doors at Domino’s in Chamblee, Georgia, wielding a .357 revolver. Demanding $100,000 in ransom money, Noid took two employees hostage, resulting in a standoff that lasted over five hours. Noid felt that the company’s popular commercials were intended as a personal insult to him.

Nobody was hurt in the incident, and while Noid was brought before courts, he was acquitted of all charges by reason of insanity. This caused a media frenzy, turning the profitable Noid into a PR crisis. To make matters worse, Kenneth Noid would commit suicide years later, still convinced that the mascot was intended to insult him. Following this, Domino’s pulled the character, desperately trying to avoid the association between their pizza and violent crime.

To further this, Domino’s drivers have been known to fall victim to set-up robberies, with an incident in 2022 in Detroit resulting in the murder of a delivery driver.^[3]

7 Arby’s

When biting into a tasty roast beef sandwich, the last thing a customer would expect (or want) to find is a human finger! However, in one such instance at an Arby’s in Michigan, a 14-year-old boy was biting into a Junior Roast Beef when he struck something tough and fleshy. It turned out to be the bottom of an employee’s finger, who had failed to report that they’d accidentally sliced it off in the store’s meat slicer. The Atlanta spokesman for Arby’s apologized, describing the situation as “unfortunate.” However, despite the circumstances, the chain was allowed to continue serving the public after a thorough cleanup.

This is not the first time, unfortunately, that Arby’s has come under fire for human body pieces being found within their food. In an earlier, separate incident, a man from Tipp City, Ohio, sued his local Arby’s after biting into a sandwich and finding a piece of flesh that was described to be “about three-fourths of an inch long.” In a similar manner to the previous case, the restaurant manager had sliced the skin off of his finger when chopping lettuce and failed to throw out the container that it fell into.

The company representatives continued to stand behind their employees in this instance, stating that the manager “did destroy product that was in and around the slicer immediately, and did everything that he thought was appropriate to do.” Clearly, all Arby’s customers should take a close look at the meat in their sandwich before delving in.^[4]

6 Comet Ping Pong

This next case may seem familiar, especially for those who have heard the term “Pizzagate.” In 2016, during the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election, a wave of posts by alt-right extremists flooded social media, falsely claiming that Comet Ping Pong, a pizzeria located in Washington, D.C., was conspiring with Hillary Clinton in running a child sex trafficking ring and that it was a meeting ground for satanic rituals. This resulted in numerous people publicly denouncing the pizzeria, and the restaurant owner’s personal information was leaked online. As the buzz surrounding the place escalated, the tensions did as well.

Fueled by conspiracy theories, a man named Edgar M. Welch drove six hours to the pizza place, determined to see the truth for himself. He burst into the store to “save the victims” of these rings, toting an AR-15-style assault rifle and a handgun and fired off a round into the busy restaurant.

Miraculously, nobody was hurt, and despite trying to argue that he was simply trying to save enslaved children, Mr. Welch was charged with four counts, including carrying a gun without a license and assault with a deadly weapon. The pizza joint never lived down the swirl of rumors, which demonstrates just how far online hate campaigns can go and the real-life damage they can potentially incite.^[5]

5 Adamson BBQ, Toronto

When one thinks back to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, thoughts of sold-out toilet paper and mandatory masking come to mind. There’s nothing that incites panic like a pandemic, and most businesses were more than willing to comply with restrictions put in place surrounding social distancing. That is, except for one Toronto barbecue joint called Adamson BBQ.

The owner of the location, Adam Skelly, refused to close the joint to in-person dining during the restrictions despite the risks that posed to the public. Skelly received repeated summons from the government to close operations, which he refused, reopening the next day after Toronto Public Health came to shut down the joint. It took the organization having to padlock the doors shut for the restaurant to finally cease operation. This is after Skelly was charged nine times for bylaw violations, with his bill at the end totaling $ 187,000 in fines.

It later came out that Adamson BBQ had been actively operating without a business license for four years, had a history of skirting public health code violations, and owed roughly $ 50,000 in unpaid rent. Despite his restaurant finally being shut down and himself being arrested, Skelly continued to post anti-lockdown propaganda to the restaurant’s Instagram. He filed a constitutional challenge against the city for the pandemic restrictions.

Rumors swirl that he may be planning a comeback, with the restaurant’s Instagram bio reading, “No more BBQ, V2 coming soon.” With his track record, it would be unsurprising if he follows through, but diners be warned: This is a man willing to cut corners to prove a point.^[6]

4 Subway

Subway, known as the largest chain restaurant in the United States in terms of the number of locations, is also known to have a somewhat spotty past. The greatest scandal is one well known, and Subway has had a hard time living it down in the years since. Seeking to brand itself as a healthy alternative to fast food, Subway was delighted to learn that Jared Fogle, a man from Indiana, had embarked on a weight-loss journey in which he subsisted solely on Subway sandwiches for a year.

Fogle’s plan worked remarkably well, causing him to lose 245 pounds (111 kilograms) in that timeframe. Subway hammed him up in the media, declaring him a spokesman and the face of their healthy eating campaign. However, this would soon turn rotten. After a woman in 2014 accused Fogle of attempting to send her child pornography, his house was raided by police. Fogle pleaded guilty to possession and distribution of child porn and traveling to other states to have sex with a minor. He is still serving his 15-year sentence. Clearly, Subway failed to vet their spokesman.

Something further smelled fishy with Subway, or perhaps not. Dubbed TunaGate, Nilma Amin of Colorado sued Subway, claiming that their tuna subs partially or wholly lack tuna at all. She cited a study done by a marine biologist who found that upon extracting DNA, “there were no detectable tuna DNA sequences whatsoever” within the tuna at Subway.

What’s more, after Subway outright denied these allegations, a federal judge found that the case could go ahead regardless. This is not the first time that Subway’s products have been under the microscope either, with a Canadian investigative consumer program conducting a further DNA study, which found that Subway chicken, when tested, is only half meat, with the other half being soy. Clearly, Subway needs to be more authentic, quite literally.^[7]

3 Don Diego

Jumping across the pond, the town of Sutton-Coldfield in Birmingham, England, was shocked when the owner of the tapas bar, Don Diego, was arrested and charged with attempted murder. Ahmet Dincer was paranoid, believing that two of his employees, Carlos Tirado and Monica Lopes, were plotting a revolt to take down his restaurant.

The two had quit recently amid protest after failing to receive their wages. So, out of what Dincer called revenge, he called them to a meeting in his office, where he proceeded to bash Tirado with a baseball bat, sprayed him with CS spray, and shot at him with an air pistol. The attack was so aggressive that CCTV video showed the bat snapping in half.

Tirado managed to fend him off by throwing a chair and wine bottles, and the two fled to the restaurant next door. Upon being arrested, Dincer refuted claims that he intended to kill the pair, saying, “Let’s not cheat anyone here; if I wanted to kill them both, I could have.” Apparently, since he had not brought a gun, Dincer felt that the attack did not show an intent to kill.

Dincer had also poured accelerant over the grounds of the restaurant after the attack, attempting to light the place ablaze but ultimately failed to do so. He was charged with two counts of attempted arson, as well as attempted wounding with intent. Be careful who you work for at restaurants, folks.^[8]

2 Denny’s

At Denny’s, you might seek a stack of fat, tasty pancakes, but alongside them, you might encounter… racism? Denny’s has had a problematic past when it comes to discrimination in their restaurants. In the ’90s, complaints were launched by thousands of customers across California Denny’s, claiming civil rights violations. Thirty-two of them sued the chain, citing a “discriminatory corporate culture.”

In one particular instance, a group of Black students at a San Jose Denny’s were asked to prepay for their orders and pay a cover fee before sitting down. However, they brought classmates with them who were white, and they were not asked to do the same. Further, a 13-year-old girl was denied the well-known free birthday meal at another California Denny’s. Even when she presented her baptismal certificate to prove her age, the chain declined to provide her the meal.

A final lawsuit occurred when a group of Black secret service agents went to Denny’s with their white colleagues and were seated separately and ended up waiting an extra hour for their meal than their white counterparts. The men angrily got up and left before filing a complaint. With this and the previous allegations, they were racking up the complaints. With 32 people launching suits across the country, Denny’s was forced to pay out $54 million in settlement funds. Since then, Denny’s has done a major upheaval of its diversity policies, considering the stain this left.^[9]

1 El Parian Restaurants

The final series of restaurants that harbor an untoward past are the El Parian Mexican Restaurants—a brand local to Minnesota—that was shut down due to being revealed as drug fronts, as well as covers for an elaborate money laundering scheme.

In true Breaking Bad fashion, owner Aldo Escoto and two co-defendants were charged with not only possession and distribution of illegal substances, but the three also used the restaurants to harbor and staff undocumented immigrants. Apparently, these Honduran civilians “were willing to work long hours for multiple days at a time,” which made them attractive employees for the pair.

The whole operation of the restaurants was said to have been paid for with illegal drug money, according to a federal indictment, which was therefore used as a cover to flush through illegally earned cash. The workers were paid only in cash, and Escoto even purchased properties for them to live in order to continue the scheme.

According to the indictment, drugs were also sold and dealt directly out of these restaurants at the same time. The good news in all of this, however, is that the stores were sold to new owners upon the trio’s arrest. So, if you run into an El Parian, you won’t have to worry about finding any secret spice in your tacos.^[10]

A lot of media tend to view news and history through the lens of countries and their big, powerful cities. Though that makes sense from the standpoint of simplicity, too often, it leaves out the ground-level turmoil that boils up in small towns and villages.

We know about the Boston Tea Party, but what about Grey’s Raid at Fairhaven? We all remember the Alamo, but how many remember Gonzalez and Goliad?

Sometimes, small towns play host to the biggest calamities, tragedies, and misfortunes to ever occur. As such, a lot of little places have developed large reputations for darkness and horror. Here are ten of the darkest, small settlements whose dubious pasts place them in the history books right next to their big-city cousins.

Related: Top 10 Ghost Towns Inside Or Near Famous Cities

10 Burke, Idaho

Today, Burke, Idaho, is an abandoned ghost town. Most of its buildings still stand, though dilapidation is slowly taking hold as the decades go by. Founded in 1887 as a prosperous mining settlement, Burke began its life strong but was rapidly overpowered by violence and natural disasters.

Within just four years of its founding, Burke was the site of a deadly avalanche, a shootout between miners and mine owners, and an accidental mine explosion. By 1892, the governor of Idaho had declared martial law in Burke and sent hundreds of soldiers to restore peace. It was short-lived. Over the next two decades, Burke was subject to a deadly hotel fire, another mine explosion (this one intentional and malicious), another fatal avalanche, another fire, a flood, and one last fire. If anywhere on Earth is cursed, it’s Burke.

9 Liberty & Independence, New Jersey

Liberty and Independence are two small, neighboring towns in New Jersey that are unremarkable for the most part. A road that snakes through them both, aptly named Shades of Death Road, earns them a spot on this list.

The road earned its name through a series of dark and violent incidents that occurred along its length, running the whole gamut of human suffering. The site was home to a deadly malaria outbreak, a string of lethal wild cat attacks on travelers, repeated robberies and murders by highwaymen, the lynching of said highwaymen, three unrelated brutal murders (including a beheading), and an above-average amount of fatal car accidents. And that doesn’t even include the various paranormal sightings along the road and neighboring Ghost Lake.

8 Pripyat, Ukraine

Pripyat may not be a household name in America, but its neighbor Chernobyl definitely is. Though Pripyat swelled to almost 50,000 residents at its peak, pushing past the boundary of a small town, it now spends every day with a total population of zero.

Pripyat was a functioning city for 16 years before it was hastily abandoned during the nearby Chernobyl disaster. After 16 years of habitation, it has now spent 35 years as an irradiated, decaying ghost town. One of the most famous photos meant to highlight the tragedy of Chernobyl is actually from Pripyat; it shows the Pripyat Amusement Park and, in particular, its towering Ferris wheel, now blanketed in rust and standing eerily still. As the whole population was evacuated in only two days, the ruined city buildings still hold much of their former contents—schoolbooks sit open on desks and sheets still lay on their beds, half thrown off in haste.

7 Attica, New York

Attica is a tiny town just a short drive from Buffalo in upstate New York. In its 210-year history, hardly anything of note has occurred in the quaint little country town. That is, aside from some of the most notorious torture of prisoners in U.S. history and its single bloodiest prison riot.

The Attica Correctional Facility is a maximum-security prison famous, in part, for housing some of the most high-profile criminals in U.S. history, including Mark David Chapman, Joel Rifkin, and Son of Sam. The facility is also famous for its mistreatment of its prisoners, including overcrowding, over-liberal use of solitary confinement, and race-based punishment from guards. This led to the Attica Uprising in 1971, a mass prisoner rebellion that ended in over 40 people (almost all of them prisoners) dead.

6 Elaine, Arkansas

Elaine, Arkansas, is one of those tiny towns that nonetheless play a big role in revealing the systemic issues that plague America. Even now, its population is less than 700, so it’s easy to imagine how small and deceptively sleepy it must have seemed in 1919 before it became the site of one of the worst racial conflicts in U.S. history: the Elaine Massacre.

In 1919, dozens of sites across the U.S. saw racial violence during what came to be known as the Red Summer. The most violent of these incidents was the massacre in Elaine, which claimed the lives of an estimated 100 to 240 local black farmers. The attack was carried out by a combination of local white mobs, the KKK, and federal soldiers. Immediately following the incident, the Arkansas state government began to cover it up, though luckily, the truth eventually found its way out. It has left the town with a permanently scarred reputation.

5 Centralia, Pennsylvania

Centralia, Pennsylvania, used to be home to over 1,000 residents. As of 2017, it had five. The town isn’t haunted by any murders or massacres. Even its acquisition from the Indigenous population was peaceful by American standards. Instead, Centralia is nearly abandoned and nicknamed “Hell on Earth” for one reason: the whole town is on fire and has been for 59 years.

In May 1962, local firefighters were hired to clean up the town dump as they always had: by setting it on fire. Except that this time, the fire didn’t die out. A passage beneath the dump connected to the labyrinthine network of coal mines beneath the town. The fire spread and, fueled by the immeasurable quantities of natural gas in the tunnels, burned and burned. It took 30 years for the majority of Centralia’s residents to evacuate the city, as sinkholes, open flames, and toxic gas clouds slowly engulfed the town, leaving it the fuming wasteland it is today.

4 Oradour-sur-Glane, France

Most towns on this list have histories built partially on murder; it’s a common inciting incident for ghost myths and dubious reputations. Rarely, however, are towns famous for the murder of the entire town in one incident. Yet that’s precisely what happened to the country village of Oradour-sur-Glane in France.

In 1944, the leader of a Nazi SS regiment received potential intel that a fellow Nazi officer had been taken prisoner and executed by the local French resistance. In retaliation, the regiment carried out one of the most violent mass executions in history at Oradour-sur-Glane. After a few hours, 643 civilians, most of them women and children, were dead. The city was razed, and, in deference to the slain, it was never rebuilt, forever standing as a monument to the massacre.

3 Pine Ridge, South Dakota

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota has been a black spot on America’s record ever since 1890 when it was the site of the infamous Wounded Knee Massacre.

Leading up to the attack, local white settlers and army men became increasingly alarmed at Indigenous activity in the area. Their newly-formed Ghost Dance movement was seen as a precursor to war, and so the U.S. Army attempted to relocate local Lakota people and disarm them. Tensions were too high, the disarmament went tragically awry, and by the end of the day on December 29, 1890, 250 to 300 Lakota men, women, and children lay dead at the hands of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment. The incident has since become a symbol of past government-Indigenous relations, a rallying cry for Indigenous rights movements, and a dark stain in American history books.

2 Sharpsburg, Maryland

Sharpsburg, Maryland, is a village of only 700 with 281 years of almost exclusively peaceful history. There is almost nothing of note to say about the little village except for one fact: in 1862, it was the site of the single bloodiest day in American history, the Battle of Antietam.

On September 17, 1862, Union and Confederate forces met in Sharpsburg and battled from 5:30 am to 5:30 pm. In those 12 hours, more than 22,000 American soldiers died. No other day in the country’s history produced as many casualties, even in World War II, and that has made Sharpsburg famous in the most ghoulish of ways.

1 Salem, Massachusetts

No list of towns with dark, bloody histories would be complete without the most famous haunted town in America: Salem, Massachusetts (more precisely, Salem Village). Salem’s bloody and spooky reputation has made it a modern mecca for Halloween lovers and fans of the occult. But unlike Halloween, the events in Salem between 1692 and 1693 were not the fun, playful kind of dark. They were the malicious, insidious, please-take-a-lesson-from-this kind of dark.

The Salem witch trials were the deadliest witch hunt in U.S. history. In a little over a year, Massachusetts executed more alleged witches and conspirators than it had in the preceding century. At least 25 people died due to the trials and all of them, needless to say, were innocent of witchcraft. The incident has forever linked the town of Salem (and to a lesser extent neighboring Danvers, the modern-day location of Salem Village) to the dangers of religious extremism, unchecked groupthink, and the subversion of due process.