One of the foundations for horror is helplessness. Murderous monsters and otherworldly threats are imposing enough, but the terror amplifies when you can’t stop them. That’s why so many horror games position players as victims. When you can’t rely on the usual offensive approach, you must find creative ways to escape before your assailant closes in. Not only does that approach breed suspense, but it leads to greater challenges. Sometimes, however, the shoe should be on the other foot.

A few games flip the horror script by letting you play as the killer. Controlling a masked maniac or mythical monster, you hunt down innocent civilians to satiate your bloodlust. NPCs and even other players exist solely as your victims, and you’re nigh impervious to their pitiful attacks. While this premise undermines the difficulty, it compensates through the sheer thrill of a power fantasy. It also offers a fresh perspective on cliched horror scenarios. These perks make it worth seeing things from the other side—as demented as it is.

Related: 10 Horror Video Games You Won’t Want to Play in the Dark

10 Texas Chainsaw Massacre

How fitting that this early example stems from one of the most notorious horror flicks ever made. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre focuses on an unsuspecting group of friends who stumble into a macabre ordeal. A simple pit stop brings them face-to-face with a family of cannibals. The most imposing of these killers is Leatherface, a silent giant with a chainsaw and a mask made of human skin. You’d think such grisly visuals would be too much for an old Atari game, but you’d be wrong.

The Texas Chainsaw tie-in has you play as Leatherface during a killing spree. Wielding his trusty chainsaw, he chases civilians around the screen. Colliding with these victims slices their heads off, leaving them in a mass of pixelated blood. That gameplay loop sounds simple, and that’s because it is. You control this iconic serial killer and do what he does best. The game gives you exactly what you ask for.

If old-school Atari is not your thing, the 2023 version of the game comes with more killers and better graphics.^[1]

9 The Happyhills Homicide

In the same retro vein is a pixelated indie title. The Happyhills Homicide introduces John Wade. This unfortunate school janitor’s grotesque appearance earns brutal treatment from both students and staff. After a fire leaves him scarred and homeless, this poor soul takes revenge on those who wronged him. Needless to say, this game makes you root for the killer. It’s not just a mindless massacre, though.

The game is a side-scrolling puzzle title. You must sneak into your victims’ homes to catch them unawares. This process involves studying the layout, using tools lying around, and bypassing obstacles. This preparation makes success all the more rewarding. Not to mention, the harebrained schemes have a sadistic perk: killing your targets in wonderfully elaborate ways. The game prioritizes patience and ingenuity with its sadistic showmanship. Revenge is a dish best served cold.^[2]

8 Dead by Daylight

This title sees you target other players. Dead by Daylight is a multiplayer adventure whose premise stems from horror archetypes. Each match sees several players control the Survivors. Working together, they must escape the arena that they’re trapped in. This process involves gathering materials, crafting tools, and fixing generators to power up the exit gates. The catch is the time crunch.

The final player controls the Killer. This masked maniac hunts down the Survivors and impales them on hooks. This unholy act sacrifices them to a mysterious being known as the “Entity.” If he accomplishes this terrible tribute before his victims escape, then he wins. Essentially, each side has to race against time to outfox the other. The gameplay loop is basic, but so are most horror scenarios.^[3]

7 Predator: Hunting Grounds

The formula of Dead by Daylight naturally spawned a few imitators. Predator: Hunting Grounds is one of them, but it’s a fitting match. The Predator movies are about extraterrestrial hunters systematically slaughtering characters in densely confusing settings. That premise lends itself naturally to this formula.

As before, players compete in a horrific game of cat and mouse. Four of them control elite spec ops soldiers. Together, they must complete military missions like recon or eliminating targets. Meanwhile, the remaining player goes after them as the Predator. Either side can kill the other, but the latter obviously has the advantage, thanks to alien stealth tech and durable biology. It can easily catch its quarry unawares like a superhuman assassin. The toughest troops look like lambs by comparison.^[4]

6 Friday the 13th

Another multiplayer movie tie-in uses Dead by Daylight as a template. Friday the 13th focuses on a masked murderer stalking a forest campground and offing the counselors. This survival title positions one player as Jason Voorhees, who proceeds to hunt down the others. His uncanny mobility and extrasensory abilities make him a skilled killer able to ward off any attack, but the others are far from defenseless.

The remaining players are camp counselors. Their in-house know-how can hinder Jason through careful planning. Specifically, they slow him down by setting traps or shooting projectiles. Those small delays buy enough time to either escape or last until the end of the session. Granted, the counselors can also kill him by replicating his childhood trauma involving his mother, but that feat is extremely difficult to pull off. Because of Jason’s otherwise invincible nature, most matches likely involve running for dear life.^[5]

5 Jaws Unleashed

It’s easy to see how Jaws made audiences afraid to enter the water. This film portrays a scenic island plagued by a massive shark. Its bloodthirsty nature is never satisfied, and its aquatic habitat makes it nearly impossible to see coming. Like the best horror monsters, this animal is truly overwhelming.

Jaws Unleashed shifts the perspective beneath the waves. Players control the enormous predator as it prowls the waters near Amity Island. Gameplay involves attacking swimmers, sinking boats, fending off hunters, and eating other animals. Along the way, you improve your stats and attacks to take on larger prey. That loop continues as the pitiful humans resort to increasingly drastic means to drive you out. Overcoming those attempts lets you secure your spot at the top of the food chain.^[6]

4 Vampyr

To be fair, this entry depends on your playstyle. Vampyr sees a blood-sucking plague ravage London in 1918. You play as a doctor trying to stop it. The twist is that you’re a vampire yourself, albeit of a higher tier. It’s here where the game’s choices come in.

The selfish path is easier, but it also leaves more bodies in its wake. As a doctor, you have a set number of patients. They may be innocent people, but a vampire simply sees them as a food source. Killing them and drinking their blood can satisfy your hunger. In fact, it’s practically required to level up your vampiric abilities. The downside is that it somewhat undermines the medical profession when your patients mysteriously die off. By the end, this doctor is a bigger menace than the plague.^[7]

3 Terminator: Resistance

The Terminator films are pillars of technological terror. They depict an apocalyptic future where machines reduce the planet to a nuclear wasteland and wage a ruthless war against the survivors. Terminator: Resistance positions you as one of those human survivors. You frequently fight the menacing mechs, and each encounter is a grueling struggle thanks to their impregnable armor and unparalleled precision. Fortunately, you can tip the odds in your favor.

The Infiltrator Mode DLC lets you become a Terminator. Specifically, you control an infiltrator unit to terminate a Resistance commander. Accomplishing this mission involves scouring the dilapidated Los Angeles streets and storming Tech-Com facilities. At the end of the day, though, you just mow down any humans foolish enough to stand in your way. That frightening efficiency makes you wonder how people can ever win out against robots.^[8]

2 Rebel without a Pulse

Zombies usually make convenient cannon fodder. Stubbs bucks that trend. The eponymous Rebel without a Pulse survives by killing humans. The goal of the game is to simply devour people’s brains. This cranial meal keeps the undead protagonist alive (so to speak). Granted, the humans don’t make this easy, as many of them are only too willing to blast Stubbs into oblivion. The zombie can defend himself with makeshift weapons and stolen vehicles, but there’s strength in numbers.

Stubbs can also infect his victims with the undead virus. Not only does this action turn them into zombies, but it makes them loyal to their deformed creator. Soon, Stubbs has a whole army of mindless followers. These legions are great for both combat and spreading the infection. The resulting snowball effect eventually topples the entire population. It’s no wonder why zombies are so good at the apocalypse.^[9]

1 Among Us

Among Us looks like the most innocent entry, but those looks lure you into a false sense of security. It’s yet another multiplayer title about a group of survivors in an enclosed environment. They must roam around this rundown base and keep it operational through teamwork. Of course, they also have a killer seeking to wipe them out. However, that familiar setup comes with a lethal caveat: The murderer is one of their own teammates.

Certain players are imposters. These guys resemble regular characters, but that’s how they get close enough to assassinate you. You must somehow discover who is genuine and who is a saboteur. Otherwise, your companions will gradually get knifed in the dark. It’s tough to rely on a team you can’t trust. On the upside, paranoia is a solid foundation for horror.^[10]

There is some scientific evidence of true psychic abilities. For example, social psychologist Daryl Bem ran experiments with over 1,000 subjects and found that eight of them showed clear-cut evidence of precognition or premonition.

Etzel Cardena, another parapsychology researcher, found that the Ganzfeld procedure provided evidence of true psychic powers as well. With the Ganzfeld procedure, participants sit in soundproof rooms while blindfolded. They are asked to talk about a film clip they’ve never watched. The snippet is either played in another room at the same time or shown to them afterward.

Then another set of people is asked to use the blindfolded partipants’ descriptions to accurately choose the clip from a group of film excerpts. Some people were able to choose the correct film clip based on the psychic’s description.

However, far more evidence shows that many so-called psychics are utter fakes who scheme to make you believe they have unusual powers. Check out these tricks that fake psychics play on you.

Top 10 Psychic Debunkings

10 They Keep You Talking

One of their biggest tricks is to keep you talking. The longer you chatter, the more information you may give to the fake psychic. They can use this to do your reading.

In the end, you will pay more (and not necessarily just financially). This is especially true for phone psychics as their services are often $3.99/minute or more.^[1]

9 They Ask For Personal Information

After most fake psychics talk to you for a while and make you feel comfortable, they will ask for your name, birth date, and address. They claim that this will help them to give you a proper reading.

In reality, fake psychics use this information to spam you with frightening demands like “you’re in danger, call immediately” or “I see that someone has cursed you, you need to call me now!”^[2]

The purpose is to get you to call about the message or physically come to their place of business. Then they try to keep you there for as long as possible. After all, time is money for them. If they were true psychics, they wouldn’t need any information from you at all.

8 Flattery And False Claims

The whole idea with fake psychics is to keep you coming back for more. One way they do this is by using flattery and false claims. The flattery is supposed to make you trust the psychic as a friend.

Once they feel you are comfortable, then they break out the false claims. For example: “You have a very interesting aura. I’d like to do an in-depth advanced reading on you. How does next Tuesday sound?”

If the psychic can keep you coming back and spending more money on “advanced” readings, they’ve successfully scammed you.^[3]

7 Past Lives As Famous People

Fake psychics may also say that you were a famous person—such as Cleopatra, Abraham Lincoln, Alexander the Great, or Helen of Troy—in a past life. Although the idea of having been someone famous in a past life might sound fun and interesting, rarely is such a claim true. Most likely, the psychic in question has told at least 20 other clients the same thing.^[4]

Beware of any psychic claiming that you were an important person in a past life. They are using flattery to keep you on the hook so that they can get more of your money. For the right price, they can help you find out more by regressing you to a past life using hypnosis. They have other ways to exploit this scheme as well.

6 They Make A Claim And Then Wait

A fake psychic will purposely make a generalized claim and then wait. This allows them to read your body language or elicit a response from you that will suggest that they are on the right track. When a psychic says something and then stops speaking while waiting for your response, this should be a red flag to you.^[5]

10 Psychics Who Claim To Communicate With Animals

5 They Give You Information That Might Be True For Anyone

Fake psychics will tell you something that could be true for anyone. For example, they might say, “I see that you’ve suffered a loss recently.”

Most people have experienced some kind of loss, whether it has to do with money, a loved one, a best friend, or a pet. This statement is so vague that it could apply to anyone.^[6]

Fake psychics love to give general and vague information because there’s no way they can lose. This claim could be true for anyone at any time in life, and they are counting on you to take the bait when they use this dirty trick.

4 Positive Claims With Just A Few Negatives

Obviously, it’s in a fake psychic’s best interests to tell you mostly positive information. If it was all bad news, you wouldn’t continue to use their services. However, fake psychics will throw in a few negative claims just to make their reading look genuine.^[7]

For example, they might say, “You recently lost an object that is very important to you.” Again, this could be anything. Maybe a month ago, you lost your car keys or an heirloom diary of an ancestor. The claim is so general that it allows you to mentally plug in anything to make it true. And that’s just what a fake psychic is hoping you will do.

3 They Look You Up Online

Just like everyone else, fake psychics look up people on social media to find out more about them. These days, nearly everyone is online, so finding out personal information about people is not that difficult.^[8]

Many fake psychics look you up online to discover facts that they can use during your reading. So if you’ve been posting on social media about publishing your book, for example, the psychic may say, “I see that you’re going to be a best-selling author.”

The Internet contains a wealth of personal information, and fake psychics use it to do your reading.

2 They Ask You Questions

If someone is a true psychic, they shouldn’t need to quiz you. Instead, they should be able to confidently reveal true information to you.

On the other hand, fake psychics ask a lot of questions. When a new acquaintance does this, you probably don’t think anything about responding with a “yes” or “no” or more information, especially if you’re just getting to know that person.^[9]

Fake psychics use the same technique. They want you to reveal information that they don’t have. If they can get you to give them more information without further thought on your part, they have won. They can then use the information to get more money and time out of you.

1 They Use Props

A real psychic doesn’t need to use “props.” So if you walk into her place of business and she is dressed like a gypsy with lots of bangle bracelets, a scarf on her head, and voluminous skirts, you may have made an appointment with a fake psychic.^[10]

However, these are not the only types of props used by fake psychics. You may see large crystals, books on psychic phenomena and psychic studies, or even natal charts posted on the wall.

Keep in mind, though, that some fake psychics are smart enough to look as normal as possible. After all, they don’t want to scare you away by presenting themselves as stereotypical scam artists. They may just have a table, a couple of chairs, and a deck of tarot cards, for example.

Regardless, props are unnecessary for a true psychic. She should be able to tell you what you need to know without anything other than the power of her mind.

10 Savage Psychic Slayings

About The Author: Regina Paul is an author and artist who lives in Seattle, Washington. Visit her website at https://www.reginapaul.com.

Government lockdowns have rekindled people’s interest in board games like never before. Folks worldwide are returning to their old games, throwing dice and flicking spinners to have a jolly good time.

That’s all well and good for the average tabletop gamer, but there’s a far more interesting aspect to the hobby. People have been pouring so much detail into board games over the years; some of them are nearly impossible to play in a reasonable amount of time.

This list features the board games with the longest legitimate playtimes, and they aren’t for the faint of heart. If you played any of these, share your experiences down in the comments and let everyone know how many hours you spent playing a board game.

Top 10 Best Board Games Of All Time

10 Risk

Of all the games on this list, Risk is probably the one that most people have played. The game is all about world domination, and it is a work of strategic art. Risk has been around since 1959, and it’s one of the best strategy games on the planet. Its success has influenced every strategy game on and off this list.

The average playtime for a standard game of Risk is listed at 120 minutes (2 hours), but most people don’t get to experience that. For most players, an average game of Risk will keep them in their seats playing the game for as much as eight hours if it’s filled out with six people playing the game.

Some playthroughs can take as much as 12 hours, and Risk is well-known for this. There was an episode of Seinfeld, where Kramer and Newman played the same game off and on for days, which many players like to do.

It’s not uncommon for players to set up a board, play for a couple of hours and leave. They return to continue playing the game over days or weeks, depending on their schedules.

9 7 Ages

Don’t be fooled by the title for this one; it’s going to take more than seven hours to get through 7 Ages. The game takes place across 6,000 years of history, with players representing dynasties that decide the fate of humanity. The game is broken down into seven distinct ages spread across the millennia.

On the surface, you might think of 7 Ages as a military strategy game, but that would be inaccurate. Instead, it’s a highly complex strategy game that puts the player in a position of power. They must guide a civilization through its development from start to finish.

That makes it intensely complicated, and as a result, you can expect to play it for at least 480 minutes (8 hours). The game board features the entire planet, broken up into equally-sized spaces spread across the continents.

Players will need to manage everything from their civilization’s economy and military expansion to scientific discovery and more. It’s a game that requires a great deal of attention, but playing through it and winning offers up an achievement that won’t be matched quickly by your friends.

8 Machiavelli

If you’ve ever read any of Machiavelli’s works, you know the man was all about the nuanced power relationships of Renaissance Italy. This game takes his example and converts it into an exceedingly intricate strategy game that four to eight players can play for an exceptionally long time.

Machiavelli goes to painstaking lengths to recreate the historical situation of Renaissance Italy, focusing on the shifting balance of power and struggles that existed at the time. The game features five major powers: the Kingdom of Naples, the Republics of Florence and Venice, the Papacy, and the Duchy of Milan.

There are also three foreign powers (Hapsburg Austria, Valois France, and the Ottoman Turks). All of them vie for control in the Italian peninsula. The game features everything from politics and rebellions to wars and assassinations, and it’s going to take most players at least 480 minutes (8 hours) to play.

There are different ways to play the game, so depending on how you decide to play it, you can limit or extend your gameplay. The average extended length of time most players enjoy is around 12 hours.

7 The Republic Of Rome

In one form or another, Roman history lasted for 2,210 years, but only 482 years covered the Republic. Fortunately, The Republic of Rome doesn’t take place throughout that entire run. Still, it does cover a good 250 years of Roman history for players to dive into playing the game.

The game pits players against one another as each takes control of a faction vying for dominance of the Roman Senate. They manage this by controlling powerful families who compete for military commands, state offices, new adherents, and economic concessions.

To win the game, the player must drive their faction to become the most powerful in Rome, but doing so requires them to maintain a balance, which is no easy task. The game requires confrontation and cooperation to succeed, making it particularly challenging to complete.

The average game length for The Republic of Rome is 300 minutes (5 hours), but many sessions have gone on for much longer. For most people, a standard playthrough runs around 10-12 hours. Like many strategy games, more experienced players can play extended gaming sessions.

6 2038: Tycoons Of The Asteroid Belt

While most long-play board games center around recreating battles from long ago, 2038: Tycoons of the Asteroid Belt is all about mining operations… in space! The game is an adaptation of the 18xx series of games, and it’s incredibly complex.

Players explore the asteroid belt to lay claims for various mining resources, which bring in money. The rounds are broken up to make this happen, so expect to trade stocks and move ships from mine to mine. Don’t forget to refuel your ships, or your mining operations will be limited!

Playing through this game (and any 18xx series game) will require an investment in time. You don’t play on a pre-printed map, as it is randomly generated when you set up each playthrough. This randomizes many factors in the game and makes it take an average of 360 minutes (6 hours) to play.

Of course, if you feel so inclined, you can add the Expansion Set, which adds another 240 minutes (4 Hours) of gameplay, and that’s just the average. Most players spend closer to 12 hours playing a single campaign of 2038: Tycoons Of The Asteroid Belt.

5 Paths Of Glory

Most war simulation games that take a lot of time to play center around the second World War, but Paths of Glory covers the Great War, otherwise known as World War I. The game places players into the role of the great rulers and generals who fought the campaigns, and it’s incredibly detailed.

The game comes with 316 die-cut counters, a large map sheet of Europe and the Near East, a 32-page rulebook, and more. Players take control of the monarchs and marshals who fought between 1914 and 1918 across all of Europe. Each side has its advantages and disadvantages, and it’s up to the players to make use of each.

The average gameplay length for Paths of Glory is around 480 minutes (8 hours). Still, it does have a relatively steep learning curve. It will take players quite some time to become comfortable with the game’s nuances, making initial playthroughs into long affairs.

As players become more comfortable with the game, it isn’t rare for a single playthrough to take twice the average length. Some players have spent more than 14 hours playing through a single round, so depending on your play style, it can take days to play through the game.

4 Europe Engulfed: WWII European Theatre Block Game

When it comes to detailed recreations of military combat, Europe Engulfed is one of the most complex. The game took 13 years of design and development to create. Despite featuring a fast-paced playthrough, it’s going to take an average of 720 minutes (12 hours) to play.

The game delves into the military conflict that engulfed Europe and Northern Africa during World War II. It doesn’t focus on a particular campaign — it focuses on all of them. It’s actually only one of two games in a series. Asia Engulfed features a 480-minute playthrough and covers the rest of WWII.

It is possible to limit your playthrough to only one campaign, but you need to play them all for the whole experience. The game’s description on the website puts it clearly enough, “The entire campaign is playable in a single 10-to-14 hour day once players become familiar with its elegant game systems.”

Europe Engulfed comes with dozens of dice and small wooden blocks, which represent units. Playthrough involves strategically moving them about the map while engaging with enemy units. The luck of the die determines the victor in this highly detailed recreation of WWII.

3 Axis & Allies

Axis & Allies is one of those games that can be over in a couple of hours, but it can also stretch on for 10+ if things get a little wonky. Of course, the first thing you’ll need to do is set up the board, which takes some time, as it represents WWII in 1942. Once all the players have placed all their infantry, armor, planes, and more on the board, play can begin.

The game’s playtime is listed at around 240 minutes (4 hours), which is a reasonable average for most players. The more you play the game, the faster you can get, but that can also work the other way around. Players often develop specific strategies. When they get good enough, you can sit around playing Axis & Allies for 10 or more hours.

The game is notoriously long for expert players, which is often a point of pride for them. You can find posts on Reddit of people describing games that took days to complete. One post described a 30-round playthrough that took eight hours a day for eight days (64 hours), and that’s just one of many similar posts.

Because it’s been around for more than 40 years, Axis & Allies has been significantly expanded. Some versions involve specific campaigns like Operation OVERLORD and the Pacific Theater. Each of these games has an average of a 4+ hour playthrough, making the franchise one of the longest board game series with the most entries.

2 The Campaign For North Africa—The Desert War 1940-43

When it comes to board games with the most extended average playtimes, the search begins and ends with The Campaign for North Africa. Military strategists don’t spend as much time planning real-world operations as they would sitting around a table playing this game, which can go on for weeks. Yes, weeks.

The game is so intricately detailed, it requires at least eight people just to play it. You can round it out with a couple more to the max of ten, but those folks better be patient because the average playtime is listed as 60,000 minutes. That’s a little more than 41.6 days. If you think that’s bad, it’s the average, and many games go on for much longer.

If you play the game correctly, you can expect to sit through 90,000 minutes of playtime, which equates to 62.5 days. If your gaming group meets once a week for three hours a session, it will take more than 10 years to play the game.

The Campaign for North Africa is so detailed, it is almost unreal. It comes with an incredibly thick rulebook, 1,600 cardboard chits, dozens of charts detailing morale, damage, mechanical failure, and other subjects, along with a 10-foot long map.

1 Monopoly—Longest Game Ever

If you’ve ever sat through an entire game of Monopoly without flipping the table, you know that a standard game can take anywhere from one to three hours. That’s typical for most people, but there have been Monopoly gaming sessions that have lasted much longer. One game stretched on for 70 days, but that’s hardly the norm.

Parker Brothers is well aware that its signature game takes some time to beat. So, the company decided to embrace it with Monopoly—Longest Game Ever in 2019.

The new version features 66 properties, which is three times the amount found in a regular Monopoly game. The rules are vastly different as well, and there is only one die, so no rolling doubles to keep moving. Worst of all, the only way to win is to own all 66 properties.

Declaring bankruptcy isn’t as easy in the Longest Game Ever edition, either. You can tear the bills along a dotted line to use them beyond their initial value, further prolonging the game. The average playtime isn’t listed on the Hasbro site for this game, and it’s unclear if anyone has subjected themselves to the horror it presents. Still, odds are, it can go on for months.

The 10 Most Offensive Board Games Ever Published

One of the most wonderful things about sport is that if you play most sports for long enough, your body will see the benefits. Even the doughiest of snot-bubbling kids will turn into a marble-hewn Greek god or goddess if they spend a decade or two performing at a high level, week-in-week-out on the field or court or wherever they play Ultimate Frisbee.

But there are many high-level sportspeople who simply do not end up looking like Muhammad Ali or Flo-Jo—some tippy-top-level sporting heroes and heroines just look…different. From an MMA bruiser who could strut her stuff on a catwalk in Paris to a Sumo wrestler who looked like he should be behind a desk at the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company (or if you live on the other side of the Atlantic, Wernham Hogg), these amazing guys and gals prove that you don’t need to look like a gym bunny to set the sporting world alight.

Young or old, big or small, sport can be for all.

Related: 10 Ways Sport Has Changed History

10 John Daly – Golf

He’s won accredited golf events all over the globe. He’s a PGA champion. He won the Open on the hallowed St. Andrews course, the spiritual home of golf. He’s nicknamed “Long John” due to his lengthy drives and never-ending backswing. John Daly is a legend. But wait, there’s more…

He’s also legendary for not looking like a bloke who could even give you directions to the nearest golf course. More Silver Bullet than Sand Hills Golf Club. And that’s the thing with John Daly—he doesn’t fit in. Golf has, for better or worse, a code of dress and conduct. It is a game associated with “the right sort.” Daly is not that sort—alcoholism, gambling, multiple marriages, conspiratorial politics, and legal issues are all a part of a laundry list of charges that any club committee would use to justify ejecting this loutish rube.

Thank goodness that none of that highfalutin’ crap matters when you’re as good at the game of golf as John Daly is. With a middle finger pointed at the “powers that be,” it’s fun to watch Long John smash a ball 300 yards down the fairway. What is viewed by some as loutishness is exactly what golf is often missing—entertainment.^[1]

9 Danny Craven – Australian Rules Football

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Soccer (or football according to most of the planet) is often called “the beautiful game.” Australian football…well, check out the video. Considering the hard-hitting nature of the game, Danny Craven’s career is all the more amazing—you’d expect that only people who are 203 centimeters (6’8″), made of concrete with a titanium skeleton, and fueled by plutonium could play this game. Danny Craven, who played for the St. Kilda Saints in the late ’80s and early ’90s, proved that this was not a prerequisite. Danny, you see, was just shy of 160 centimeters (5’3″). For most Aussie Rules players, it must have been like playing against a child. A hard, fast child who’d break your jaw if you messed with him.

Having broken his leg in 1989, Craven fought back to play for a further five years, ending his pro career with the Brisbane Bears in 1995. He went on to have a coaching career and now commentates for NIRS (the National Indigenous Radio Service).^[2]

3 Pavel Bojar (Takanoyama Shuntarō) – Sumo

Quite a few non-Japanese men have pursued the ancient sport of Sumo. Many, especially those from Mongolia, have done so with great success. Currently, there are also rikishi from Brazil, Bulgaria, and Georgia (the former Soviet state, not where Rick Grimes is from). The first non-Japanese Yokozuna (the top ranking in the sport) was Akebono Tarō (aka Chadwick Haheo Rown), who hailed from Hawaii.

Most of these foreign fighters share one thing in common—they look like sumo wrestlers. One guy stands out…unless it’s next to an opponent, who would surely be taller and wider and thus obscure your view of him.

Pavel Bojar from the Czech Republic fought in the top competitions from 2004 to 2014, a decade that saw him climb the ranks. By 2011, he’d made it to the Makkuchi (highest level), pitting his skills against some of the greatest wrestlers ever to play this holy Japanese sport. Not that you’d expect any of this when you look at him. Pavel looked more like a civil servant from a Monty Python sketch than a sumo wrestler.

He wasn’t half bad, mind you, scoring a great many wins against much larger, more experienced opponents. The strength he held in his (comparatively) tiny frame must have been immense to be able to sling 25+ stones worth (350 pounds) of sweaty flesh into the air (or onto unlucky front-row punters). Pavel, we salute you. Please don’t salute back—we doubt you have any discs left in your back.^[3]

7 Diana Nyad

There are a few amazing things about this lady. First, she has raised a good deal of money for charity, notably over $100,000 for victims of Hurricane Sandy back in 2013. Secondly, and most obviously, her achievements in long-distance swimming are exceptional, all without ever being recognized by an official sporting body.

She swam all the way around Manhattan Island in 1975, swam 102 miles in open water in 1979 (a World Record at the time, both for women and men), and, in 2013, swam for 52 hours from Cuba to Key West, Florida. Thirdly, she completed this (as of the writing of this article) unratified but nevertheless incredible oceanic feat at the age of 64…without a shark cage. To see this spry and healthy granny conquer the ocean with very little aid or respite is truly inspiring. This is probably why she does TED Talks…^[4]

6 Johanna Quaas – Gymnastics

Diana Nyad has achieved an incredible set of feats at a relatively advanced age. But she’s got nothing on our next entrant. Johanna Quaas is known as “Turn-Oma” (Gymnastics Grandma) in her native German. Perhaps, though, “Gymnastics Great-Grandma” would be more apt—Johanna is a Guinness World record holder for the oldest competitive gymnast.

At the ripe old age of 86 in 2012, she gained the record by competing in the Senior Games in the state of Saxony.

In 2016, she completed a long-standing dream by skydiving, completing a 2,926-meter (9,600-foot) jump with her tandem partner, former German gymnast and Olympic silver-medallist Eberhard Gienger. She is 96-years-old as of the writing of this article, still alive and very much still kicking. Probably kicking higher than any 96-year-old ever.^[5]

5 Peter Crouch – Football

Perfectly sculpted, bronzed, and svelte: these are terms associated with the world’s top soccer players—Cristiano Ronaldo being the perfect example (at least that’s what they tell me).

These are certainly not words one would use to describe former England striker Peter Crouch. In his pomp, “Crouchy” would score goals for fun, netting a career total of 22 goals in 42 international appearances alone—an incredible feat, especially when you consider that he looks like a cross between Roald Dahl’s Big Friendly Giant and a teenage extra from Channel 4 sitcom The Inbetweeners. Whenever he hoisted his lofty frame skyward to head an incoming ball, fans never knew if Crouch was about to score or snap along the weak spots on his lanky frame.

All kidding aside, common-or-garden football fans in Britain often focus more on the personality of Peter Crouch (he is funny, quick-witted, and the type of bloke that anybody would be glad to share a pint with) rather than his career highlights. He was an excellent footballer, very underrated, and undervalued as a goal-scorer.^[6]

4 Andrew Millward – Rugby Union

To look at the former COO of the Ospreys rugby team in South Wales, Andrew Millward, you may think: “Sure, I can believe that guy may have played a bit of rugby. Many years ago. For his village club.” And you’d be correct—he did. Then professionally for a bigger club. The problem is that Andrew Millward also looked like a “former” rugby player when he was an active rugby player. He’s always looked like a “former” rugby player. Maybe even from birth. This isn’t to say he wasn’t a good player; quite the contrary, he was excellent.

Joey Tribbiani from the sitcom Friends once explained to Ross Geller (who wanted to impress his English girlfriend by participating in a rugby match) that a “scrum is kind like a huddle.”

No. No, it is not.

A scrum in the sport of rugby is 16 extremely large men on two opposing sides interlocking and pushing against one another with all their might. It’s the closest we get to a medieval battle of shield walls in the modern era. The front row of players (two props and a hooker…stop giggling) is where all the “dark arts” occur. The different tactics, dirty tricks, and out-and-out violence that happens at the very front of a scrum are legendary, even outside the sport. Andrew was a warrior whose battlefield was this exact place, and he “kicked ass” at it. He was a tiny, nuggety rock, unmoved by larger, heavier opponents, leading to him becoming a folk legend at his former club, Neath RFC.^[7]

Oh, and just to answer the question that is bound to pop into your head: Rambo: First Blood is his favorite movie.

3 Donna Vano – Snowboarding

Extreme sports are among the most physically demanding and dangerous sports there are. From those nutbags who engage in free-climbing on sheer rockfaces or don wingsuits and fly through the air to 10-year-old kids on their razor scooters going up and down a halfpipe, there is a constant, far more acute threat of serious injury than in most other sports (excluding, arguably, combat sports). Snowboarding certainly hits the “Jesus wept; this is incredibly dangerous” mark on this continuum.

Donna Vano is right up there (both at the heights of her sport and, well, literally) at the ripe old age of 56! It’s like watching a “soccer mom” spin around on a plank of wood, a sight that usually requires at least three bottles of Chardonnay.

Donna has three Guinness World Records, and she has gathered the most gold medals in the U.S. America Snowboarding Association across all five disciplines. Extreme sport is a place where youth reigns supreme—except when your name is Donna Vano.^[8]

2 Bill Lee – Baseball

Hippies have kind of gotten a bad rap—lazy, pot-smoking, do-nothing dreamers—except when they choose to follow Charles Manson and want to hasten an apocalypse by murdering a bunch of people and trying to frame others, of course. But one guy who bucked both those trends was Bill Lee, the “Spaceman” of baseball. Bill Lee isn’t exactly the “All-American,” bubble-gum-chewing, square-jawed slugger. Instead, he was a left-handed “eephus” pitcher (which he dubbed the “Leephus pitch”) who praised Maoist China, advocated for population control, smoked his own body weight in weed, and once answered a question regarding mandatory drug testing with this corker:

“I’ve tried just about all of them, but I wouldn’t want to make it mandatory.”

So he was also a funny guy. His tenure as a pitcher for both the Boston Red Sox and the Montreal Expos in the ’70s was legendary: a great pitcher, compensating for his lack of fastball with an eclectic array of clever pitches. But he was most entertaining when spatting with anyone he deemed as out-of-line—fans, game officials, fellow or opposition players, and even coaches. This laid-back hippie was like a loosed pit bull when it was game time. One of baseball’s great characters, Lee may have been more at home at a commune in the Nevada desert. Luckily for sports fans, he could throw. Weirdly.^[9]

1 Rose Namajunas – MMA

There is an undue assumption still held about women in society—the “prettier” a woman is, the less likely she is to work. This assumption, although not without rubrical merit to an extent, has largely been dismissed in modern society. Further, there is a more stubborn assumption that the prettier a woman is, the less likely she is to be able to attain sporting excellence (especially in the more traditionally masculine combat sports). Rose “Thug Rose” Namajunas has smashed this stereotype.

Being possessed of, according to MMA/podcasting legend and elk meat connoisseur Joe Rogan, a “supermodel face,” one could expect that she could have made her living by being scantily clad and standing in front of a camera. But boy, oh boy, she didn’t go that route. Rose Namajunas is one of the most stone-cold, hard-working, ass-kicking fighters in the history of mixed martial arts. With an incredible drive, heart, and enough skill at striking to knock a water buffalo out cold, Thug Rose is perhaps the most dangerous natural beauty in the world. But don’t drool over her in her presence; she could crush you like an ant.^[10]

Playing dead seems like the last ditch effort of someone or something that has given up all hope. When you have no ideas left, just stay very still and hope the world passes you by. It’s not clever and it doesn’t take a lot of skill, but you’d be surprised at how effective it is. And it’s not just good for avoiding bear attacks. 

10. Moorland Hawker Dragonflies Play Dead to Avoid Mating

The Moorland Hawker dragonfly may not be a creature you’re familiar with, but it’s very common. You can find it all across the northern hemisphere through Europe, Asia and North America. The females of the species have also developed a unique self preservation technique that is at once clever and kind of sad, in human terms.

Insect mating is never a particularly romantic endeavor, so after hawker dragonflies have mated, it’s back business as usual. But in their world, consent doesn’t exist, and a male has no way of knowing if a female has already mated or not. Females, in an effort to prevent unwanted males, have perfected the playing dead defense.

A female obviously doesn’t need to mate twice, but a male that tries it could actually end up causing damage to her reproductive system. To fend this off, the female will flee from a male and then crash to the ground, lying on her back and remaining perfectly still. Since an upside down insect is almost always a dead insect, the male will conclude she’s dead and leave.

9. A Pet Pig Played Dead To Get Help For Her Owner

There’s ample evidence that pigs are highly intelligent, even more so than dogs, and on par with human toddlers. When a bond has been made between humans and a pet pig, it’s not surprising that a pig may have some clever skills up its sleeves when the need arises. We can train dogs to track drugs and alert humans who are having a seizure. A pig that plays dead to save a life seems entirely reasonable. 

Jo Ann Altsman had a heart attack back in 1998 and the only one home to help her was a pot-bellied pig named Lulu. The pig actually forced her way through a fence, tearing herself up in the process, and made her way to the street. There, she did the only thing a 150lb pig could do. She played dead in the middle of the road.

Eventually, someone stopped to see why there was a dead pig in the road. Lulu led the person back to the home and Altsman received medical attention. Apparently, had it taken even another 15 minutes, her doctor said she likely wouldn’t have made it. 

8. Male Nursery Web Spiders Play Dead to Trick Females 

Arachnophobia is a prominent fear for many people, and there’s not a lot of love lost between spiders and humans. And it’s no wonder when you look at how they treat one another. Take, for instance, the nursery web spider. The males of the species are deceitful and sneaky and far too crafty for their own good.

When it comes time to mate, the males have to get creative. In many spider species, the females will kill the males and they are typically much larger. Male nursery web spiders use tricks to get the job done, which can include giving the female a gift wrapped in silk to distract her. The problem is the gift may be a lie and inside will just be a seed she can’t eat or even the husk of something the male already ate. And he’ll also play dead to deceive her long enough to turn her back so he can sneak in and mate while he has the chance. 

About two-thirds of given gifts were real insects that the female could eat while the male mated with her. The last third were the trick gifts, which usually resulted in shorter mating periods since the female would realize she’d been duped. That led to the deadbeat male faking death, so it had a chance to try another round of mating. 

7. Cichlid Fish Play Dead to Dupe Prey

Typically, we think of playing dead as a method of escape. We’ve all likely heard that playing dead is a way to deal with a grizzly bear. Just do nothing and hope it loses interest. But sometimes playing dead is done for the exact opposite reason, as is the case with cichlid fish. 

A technique known as aggressive mimicry, the fish uses it to draw in others that would feed on its dead body. The fish literally lies still on the bottom, resting in the mud, and when smaller fish come to inspect the corpse, it snaps to life and eats them. 

6. Embryonic Sharks Play Dead After Sending Predatory Electrical Signals

The life of a shark can be a rough one. These predators are constantly on the hunt for food and they’re also in danger from humans as well as each other. Larger sharks are more than happy to prey on smaller ones and baby sharks are at great risk. This is such an everyday part of how a shark lives that their ability to avoid predators is pure instinct, part of their minds before they’re even born. We know this because there’s evidence of embryonic sharks playing dead to avoid danger. Even before they hit the water, they know to avoid predators. 

Sharks are able to sense electrical fields produced by other living things. They use this ability when they are adults to help them hunt. But when they’re still unborn, they can sense the electrical fields of potential predators and respond by limiting their movement and effectively playing dead to not give themselves away to something that might be interested in a snack. All of this happens within the confines of an egg still inside the mother shark. When the electrical signals are sensed, the embryonic shark will limit gill movements and wait the predators out.

5. Praying Mantis Will Play Dead to Avoid Cannibalism

The praying mantis is an infamous example of the dangers of mating in the animal kingdom. It’s a well-known example of the disparity between males and females in insects thanks to the habit females have of cannibalizing males after and sometimes even during mating. The males, as you can imagine, don’t like this and will try to avoid it if and when they can. 

In at least one species of mantis, around 60% of males end up eaten. The other 40%? They need to think fast. For some, the key is to trick the female into thinking her job is already done and that means playing dead. 

This can be seen in several different mantis species which also engage in the behavior to escape predators. They leap off trees, flatten themselves on the ground, and present themselves as corpses. 

4. Opossums Don’t Choose to Play Dead

Is any animal more famous for playing dead than the opossum? People literally call it “playing possum.” Ironically, of all the animals we’ve already covered that play dead, opossums are actually the least effective at it. Which isn’t to say they won’t effectively make you think they’re dead, it’s just that they’re not “playing,” strictly speaking. The reaction is not a voluntary one, so it’s less play and more affliction. 

The reason an opossum is said to play dead is what you think. It’s a defensive mechanism and comes into play when the opossum fears attack from a predator. The animal doesn’t have control over it and cannot make it start or stop on its own. It’s kind of like a sneeze or a muscle spasm that might strike you by surprise and you just endure it because your body is doing what it needs to do. 

The opossum will also release liquid from a gland that gives off a smell like rotten flesh to help complete the illusion. This can go on for four hours, too.

As an aside, though it’s called “playing possum,” if you’re talking about the North American marsupial, it is technically an opossum. A possum is actually a similar but different animal found in Australia.  

3. Young Fire Ants Fake Death Until They’re Older

When it comes to ants, there’s a real mixed bag out in the world. Some species are tiny and relatively harmless, while others are larger and potentially very dangerous. The bullet ant gets its name because when it stings you, it produces a pain likened to actually being shot by a gun. That’s pretty terrifying. Slightly less terrifying but still much maligned thanks to its sting is the fire ant. If you’ve never been stung by a fire ant, you can guess, based on the name, what you might be in for. Their sting is loaded with compounds that can cause minor skin irritation up to serious pain. 

Though the fire ant is equipped with clear defensive skills, just like most animals, the young ones are not as adept as the older members of the species. Young fire ants are not able to defend themselves against rival fire ants so they’ll just play dead to avoid a confrontation altogether.

The “attacking” ants may only show up and inspect the young ants, they don’t need to be fully aggressive. The young ants will curl up right away and as soon as the rivals leave, they uncurl and go about their day. Once they’re old enough, however, the fire ants will take on a more aggressive defense and fight these invaders rather than trying to trick them. 

2. A Deer Shot By a Hunter Attacked After the Man Thought it was Dead

Hunting, whether subsistence hunting or even trophy hunting, typically plays out the same way. Whether we agree with it or not, it involves a human tracking and killing an animal either for the sport of it or to feed themselves or their family and community. But that’s getting ahead of the story and implies the hunt went as planned, and that’s not always the case.

Thomas Alexander was hunting deer in Arkansas. He caught sight of a buck and fired, taking the deer down. Alexander left his hide and approached the deer to inspect his kill. So far, this is how most deer hunts go. But this was not like most deer hunts, and that deer that Alexander went to inspect was not dead. It just looked like it was. 

Incredibly, the deer was not dead. When Alexander approached, the deer got to its feet and attacked him. The buck must have had an impressive rack of antlers because Alexander suffered serious puncture wounds throughout his body. He was able to make a call to his wife, who then called emergency services, but unfortunately the man died shortly after. The deer was not found.

1. A Korean Business Lets People Pretend to be Dead

Maybe it seems too obvious that humans play dead as well, but when you stop to think about it, can you think of many cases in which this happens for a particular reason other than why an animal might do it? We’re told to play dead to avoid grizzly bears and, in horror movies, it’s sometimes a good way to avoid the killer.

In Daejeon, South Korea, there’s another reason for playing dead and it’s apparently to prevent suicides.  In a seminar called “Coffin Academy,” participants are charged $25 to spend four hours getting ready to die. They write letters to their loved ones, decide what should be written on their tombstones, and then spend some time resting in a coffin to get a feel for that final dirt nap.

The pretend death goes for 10 minutes of silence and stillness. According to at least one account of it, the coffin is actually nailed shut by staff to really hit the simulation home. Some feared that the experience, which many find therapeutic, might encourage people to want to commit suicide by presenting them with the idea that the afterlife is peaceful. The founder argues the opposite, suggesting that it shows how lonely it would be to people in a country with the highest suicide rate in OECD countries.

Your brain is almost always there when you need it, barring those occasions when you find yourself chemically altered, really tired or far too enamored with an attractive person you’re trying to impress. And while it’s a marvel of biology capable of doing incredible things, the fact is your brain is only human. If you try hard enough, you can play some tricks on it, which is doubly impressive since it’s the one helping you play the tricks in the first place. Let’s check out ten of the most impressive ones. 

10. Hanger Reflex Can Make Your Head Involuntarily Turn

Internet trends, memes, and viral videos come and go. Yesterday’s Ice Bucket Challenge becomes tomorrow’s Yanny/Laurel. And in May 2022 the coolest thing going, for about two weeks, was the Hanger Challenge. 

The premise was as simple as it was unbelievable. Put a wire hanger around your head and it’ll make your head turn whether you want it to or not. No one believed it was real, so everyone had to try for themselves and then post their own videos of the results. Thus, a viral trend was born as the number of videos exploded, fueled by general disbelief that the weird effect could at all be genuine. But it was! If you properly stretch a hanger around your head, it will, in fact, cause your head to involuntarily turn. For most people, anyway. 

Despite becoming trending in 2022, the phenomenon had been realized much earlier and was even written about in scientific papers back in 2015. It was even featured on Japanese TV as far back as 1995. You can safely assume it’s been a thing for as long as both hangers and heads have existed. It just never got this much press before. 

When the unilateral fronto-temporal region of your head is compressed, the movement is involuntary, but the exact reason why this happens isn’t entirely clear. Nonetheless, over 95% of people who were tested in a study felt sensation while just 4.2% seemed immune. 

9. Sunglasses Can Trick You Into Being Happier 

Do people in sunglasses seem happier to you than other people? It’s very possible they might be, and it’s not just because they look super cool. Sunglasses trick your brain into being happier.

The power of sunglasses is tied up in how human emotion works. You may have heard some people referred to as wearing their hearts on their sleeves, and maybe you yourself aren’t so great at hiding your emotions. The way we look and act can have an effect on how we feel, and the simple act of frowning can make you feel sad or even angry and aggressive. And, to be clear, you don’t have to be frowning because you’re sad or angry. Bright sun in your eyes will make you squint and frown and that gesture is enough to actually induce the negative emotions associated with frowning. 

Participants in a study who wore sunglasses reported being less angry and aggressive overall than those who were not wearing them. This seems to mesh with other research that suggests just the act of smiling releases stress-relieving chemicals. So if you find yourself feeling a little wound up on a sunny day, try slipping on the shades and trick your brain into thinking you’re happy. 

8. Placebo Sleep Can Trick You Into Feeling Rested

The CDC says one in three adults doesn’t get enough sleep. For that reason alone, finding a way to get more rest seems like a good idea. So what if you could just trick your brain into thinking you slept, even when you didn’t? Turns out, that’s an option, and it works.

Placebo sleep works like most any other placebo, when your mind constructs the illusion that something has happened, even when it hasn’t. Given the right stimuli, you can be convinced you’re well rested even if you’re not.

Researchers took two groups of people and explained the importance of REM sleep, then did a sleep study. They were told a good amount of REM sleep is between 20% and 25%. After a sleep study, one group was told they spent 28.7% of their time in REM sleep. The other group was told they’d only had 16.2% REM. Those were not true numbers. 

Those who were told they slept better did better on cognitive tests after the fact. Those who were told they slept worse performed worse compared to control groups. How any of them actually felt had no bearing at all. 

7. The Rubber Hand Illusion

You would hope that, above all else, your brain would at least be able to identify where your body parts are and what they feel like. Sadly, you can even trick it to fail at doing that with something called the Rubber Hand Illusion. 

The trick here is as simple as it is perplexing and can be done at home if you want. You need a fake hand of some kind; something as simple as a blown up rubber glove will do. Rest your right forearm on a table with your hand concealed from view in a box or behind cardboard. Put the hand in front of yourself lined up with your shoulder. You can use a towel to cover it below the wrist to help complete the illusion.. Your other hand can be under the table.

Have someone sit opposite you and use two paint brushes to stroke your concealed hand and the rubber hand in unison. Keep focused on the fake hand. If the stimulation is properly coordinated, most people begin to perceive the fake hand as their real hand. When the rubber hand is threatened, such as with a knife or needle, your brain will actually produce a response as though your real hand were about to be stabbed. 

6. The Nocebo Effect Can Make You Feel Pain or Sickness 

We’ve addressed placebos already, so let’s take it up a notch with the nocebo effect. This can actually make you feel pain and sickness for literally no reason at all, just by tricking your brain. In essence, it’s believing something bad will happen and then it does only because you think that way. 

An example of how this can work parallels the placebo effect and, actually, was half of what happened in the placebo sleep example. If you take a useless pill and a doctor tells you, it’ll make you feel great, and it does, that’s placebo. But if the doctor says it has horrible side effects and you start to feel sick, that’s the nocebo effect. It’s all your brain making up symptoms based on what it’s been told is happening, even if it’s not true. 

5. The Stopped Clock Illusion

Ever feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day? Well, you’re in luck, because there’s a way you can freeze time. Or at least trick your brain into thinking you did for a moment.

Quick eye movements can produce visual distortions known as saccadic suppression and it’s what prevents you from noticing your own eyes moving when you look in a mirror. At the same time, they also produce an illusion called chronostasis. Also called the stopped clock illusion, it’s what happens when you flick your eyes quickly to an analog clock on the wall and it seems like the second hand has stopped moving. It’s caused by rapid eye movements leaving a gap in visual input. Moving your eyes from your computer to a clock very quickly, for instance, means you don’t really focus on anything in between. To avoid a blur or a spot of darkness, your brain sort of holds that moment, just for a moment, and it makes it seem like the world has stopped, however briefly, in order to ensure a seamless transition. 

4. The Cutaneous Rabbit

If you’ve never had a rabbit run along your arm, now’s your big chance to experience the illusion of it without having to hunt down an actual rabbit. The Cutaneous Rabbit can trick your brain into thinking you’re being assaulted by rabbits. 

The method is simple. A subject lays out their arm and is subject to five quick, light taps on the wrist. Then five more in the middle of the forearm. Then five more near the elbow. The subject will feel them as a progression of taps from wrist to elbow, mimicking the feeling of a tiny rabbit hopping in 15 hops all the way up the arm. You can see examples of it in YouTube videos with mixed results. 

3. Seeing a Black and White Image in Full Color

Another popular trick that gained some steam on TikTok was finding color where there is none. Specifically, you can fool your brain into seeing a black and white image as full color if you focus on a central spot and the image is switched to a high contrast negative color image.

As you focus on the spot, the color receptors in your eyes begin to grow fatigued. Your cones perceive color with three cones, sensitive to wavelengths of blue, red, and green. Once the reverse color image is swapped back to black and white again, your eyes will perceive the colors that were lacking in the contrasted version. The illusion is quick, but for a moment you should perceive the black and white photo in full, true color. 

2. Out of Body VR 

Virtual reality can be used to trick you into having an out of body experience. It’s a bit like the rubber hand illusion, only this time it’s full body immersion. The VR environment needs to present you with a duplicate of yourself, and then all someone needs to do is poke you with a stick.

As one neuroscientist explained, your sense of self and body is constructed through a lot of sensory data. Sight is a big part of it, but what you can feel physically and also where you feel your body is oriented are relevant as well. When you trick the brain by showing it new information that doesn’t match up, it freaks out a little bit. In experiments, researchers were able to have participants look at virtual bodies being touched and actually feel themselves in that other, virtual body when sensations match up to what they were also feeling. At one point, when the virtual body was smashed with a hammer, the participants registered fear responses, including increased sweating and pulse as though they were experiencing the assault themselves.

In another experiment, participants were asked to enter a virtual body and sort of wear it as their own. Then their perspective was shifted so instead of being in the body they were looking at it. Afterward, all the participants who had left the body and looked at it noted a marked reduction in their fear of death. Researchers suspected in this case that leaving the body allowed participants to separate body from consciousness and lose some of the traditional fear of dying in the process. 

1. Distorted Body Image Can Reduce Pain

We know there’s a strong psychological component to pain, but just how strong may be surprising. Things like phantom limb syndrome or alien hand syndrome show that your brain’s perception of how your body actually is can be vastly different from reality, but still convince you it’s true. A distorted body image can actually affect how your mind perceives pain, even in chronic conditions, and it can be manipulated in some unusual ways.

In one study, patients with chronic arm pain were asked to look at the arm that hurt, perform a few movements, and then gauge the pain they felt after. They did this four times under different conditions. One was just normal, but the other three involved binoculars. They looked at the arm with no magnification, with increased magnification, and then through reversed binoculars so their arms looked tiny. Nothing else was different.

Participants reported that they felt greater pain when their arm was magnified. But when they looked through the backwards binoculars at a tiny arm, they felt less pain. More interesting was that this wasn’t just in their heads. Researchers measured inflammation after the experiment and there was less swelling after viewing the arm made to look tiny. So it wasn’t just perception, it had a real, physical effect on pain.