Television has shaped global entertainment, providing viewers with countless hours of drama, laughter, and intrigue. From sitcoms that make us laugh until we cry to dramas that keep us on the edge of our seats, certain TV shows have transcended the small screen to become cultural phenomena. These series not only entertained millions but also set new benchmarks in storytelling, production, and character development. Here, we explore 10 amazing facts that reveal how some of the most popular television shows redefined the industry and captivated audiences worldwide.

Related: Top 10 Truly Terrible Television Series

10 The Cast’s Unbreakable Bond and Historic Pay Negotiation on Friends

One of the most amazing facts about Friends is the unity and solidarity of its cast. By the final two seasons, the six main actors—Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer—were each earning $1 million per episode, making them some of the highest-paid actors in television history. What makes this even more remarkable is that the cast insisted on negotiating their salaries as a group, ensuring equal pay for all.

Initially, the actors were offered different salaries based on individual popularity, but David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston advocated for equal pay, leading the entire cast to negotiate collectively. This united front set a precedent in Hollywood and became a symbol of their off-screen friendship and loyalty.

The show’s creators credit this camaraderie for the series’ success and longevity. Throughout its 10 seasons, Friends maintained a consistent cast dynamic that was beloved by fans worldwide. Their historic negotiation remains one of the greatest examples of camaraderie and teamwork in the entertainment industry. This unity translated on-screen, creating a believable and relatable group of friends who continue to resonate with audiences long after the final episode aired.^[1]

9 Revolutionizing Television Production with the Three-Camera Technique on I Love Lucy

An often unknown fact about I Love Lucy is how the show revolutionized the way sitcoms were filmed by pioneering the use of the three-camera technique. Desi Arnaz, who played Ricky Ricardo and was married to Lucille Ball, introduced this innovative filming method to capture the live performances of the show.

In the early 1950s, sitcoms were typically broadcast live or filmed using a single camera. Instead, Arnaz insisted on filming before a live studio audience with multiple cameras simultaneously capturing the action from different angles. This technique allowed for seamless editing, preserving the spontaneity of the performances while maintaining high production quality.

Moreover, I Love Lucy was one of the first sitcoms to be recorded on 35mm film, allowing for better preservation and syndication, which paved the way for future reruns. By being filmed in front of a live audience, the show’s creators could capture genuine laughter, adding an extra layer of authenticity to the comedic timing.

As a result, I Love Lucy became a pioneering force in the television industry, influencing the production style of countless sitcoms to come. Its success demonstrated the potential of multi-camera production, which remains the standard for many sitcoms today. Desi Arnaz’s vision transformed the sitcom landscape, making I Love Lucy a lasting legacy in television history.^[2]

8 The Global Cultural Impact of the Transformers Franchise

The Transformers’ incredible journey from a simple line of Japanese toy robots to becoming a globally recognized multimedia franchise spans decades. In the early 1980s, Hasbro licensed two transforming robot toy lines from Japan: Takara’s Diaclone and Microman series. To introduce these toys to the American market, Hasbro partnered with Marvel Comics to create a backstory and universe for them. Thus, the Transformers brand was born in 1984, along with a comic book series and an animated television show.

The Transformers TV show quickly became a cultural phenomenon, leading to the production of The Transformers: The Movie in 1986. The brand then expanded into comic books, animated series, video games, and the highly successful live-action film franchise directed by Michael Bay, which has grossed over $4 billion worldwide.

The most remarkable aspect is how Transformers has continuously reinvented itself to captivate multiple generations of fans while maintaining its core appeal: the epic battle between Autobots and Decepticons. The introduction of new characters and storylines in subsequent series, such as Beast Wars and Transformers: Prime, helped the franchise stay fresh and relevant.

Its enduring legacy and ability to transcend cultural barriers make Transformers one of the most influential toy lines and multimedia franchises in history. It continues to resonate with audiences worldwide, proving that the battle between good and evil robots never goes out of style.^[3]

7 Hugh Laurie’s Accent and Record-Breaking Salary on House M.D.

An amazing fact about House M.D. is how British actor Hugh Laurie convincingly portrayed the American character Dr. Gregory House and became one of the highest-paid actors in television history. Despite his native British accent, Laurie mastered an American accent so well that the show’s creator, David Shore, didn’t initially realize he was British during his audition. Laurie’s portrayal was so authentic that Bryan Singer, one of the show’s executive producers, called him “an incredible American actor.”

Laurie’s dedication to the role earned him critical acclaim and multiple awards. His sharp wit, complex character portrayal, and distinctive limp made Dr. House one of the most memorable characters in TV history. By the show’s final seasons, Laurie’s salary had skyrocketed to $700,000 per episode, making him one of the highest-paid actors in a television drama at the time.

His performance as the brilliant but misanthropic diagnostician became a defining aspect of the show, which ran for eight successful seasons. House M.D.’s global popularity helped redefine the medical drama genre and made Dr. Gregory House an unforgettable character. Laurie’s influence extended beyond the screen, as his impeccable American accent and sarcastic persona set a new standard for foreign actors taking on American roles.

Even after the show’s end, Hugh Laurie’s impact as Dr. Gregory House continues to be felt, as the character remains a touchstone for complex, flawed antiheroes in television dramas.^[4]

6 The Show’s Game-Changing Influence on Television Drama in The Sopranos

The most amazing fact about The Sopranos is how it revolutionized the television landscape, paving the way for modern TV dramas with complex antiheroes. Created by David Chase and premiering in 1999, the series followed mob boss Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, as he balanced his criminal empire with family life.

Before The Sopranos, television dramas rarely explored deeply flawed protagonists like Tony Soprano, who struggled with anxiety and depression while ruthlessly managing his crime organization. The show’s intricate storytelling, character development, and psychological depth set a new standard for TV dramas, influencing countless series that followed.

Moreover, The Sopranos was one of the first cable TV shows to gain mainstream popularity, proving that high-quality, mature storytelling could thrive on premium networks like HBO. It opened doors for other groundbreaking series such as The Wire, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad, which further explored morally ambiguous characters.

The series won 21 Primetime Emmy Awards and remains widely regarded as one of the greatest TV shows of all time. Its impact on the television industry is immeasurable, cementing its legacy as a game-changer and elevating the standards for serialized storytelling in ways that continue to influence modern television.^[5]

5 The Show’s Unmatched Longevity and Regeneration Concept on Doctor Who

The most amazing fact about Doctor Who is its unparalleled longevity, making it the longest-running science fiction TV series in the world. First airing in 1963, Doctor Who has continuously reinvented itself, staying relevant for over six decades.

A significant factor behind the show’s endurance is the ingenious concept of “regeneration,” introduced in 1966. When William Hartnell, the first actor to play the Doctor, had to step down due to health reasons, the producers decided to have the character transform into a new body, allowing a new actor to take over the role. This concept enabled the show to refresh itself with different actors while maintaining the central premise of an eccentric Time Lord traveling through time and space in the TARDIS.

To date, 14 actors have officially portrayed the Doctor in the main series, with each one bringing a unique flavor to the character. This ability to regenerate and adapt to changing times has allowed Doctor Who to resonate with multiple generations of fans, making it a cultural icon across the globe.

Beyond the regeneration concept, Doctor Who has also pioneered special effects, storytelling techniques, and innovative writing that have contributed to its unmatched longevity. The show’s remarkable ability to blend science fiction, adventure, and humor has ensured its lasting appeal and a loyal fan base that spans the world.^[6]

4 The Luke and Laura Wedding Phenomenon on General Hospital

TV’s soap opera General Hospital gave us the unparalleled spectacle of the “Luke and Laura” wedding episode. On November 17, 1981, over 30 million viewers tuned in to watch the wedding of Luke Spencer (played by Anthony Geary) and Laura Webber (played by Genie Francis), making it the highest-rated hour in American soap opera history.

The episode marked the culmination of a storyline that captivated audiences nationwide, turning the couple into cultural icons. Their romance, filled with drama, twists, and turns, captured viewers’ imaginations, and the wedding was treated like a major cultural event. It was attended by real-life celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor, who appeared on the show as Helena Cassadine and featured glamorous sets and costumes. The extraordinary viewership and media attention cemented General Hospital’s reputation as a pop culture phenomenon.

The popularity of the Luke and Laura storyline also propelled General Hospital to the forefront of daytime television, helping the show win the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series multiple times and securing its legacy as one of the most enduring soap operas in history. Luke and Laura’s relationship, though complicated, remains one of the most memorable in television history, embodying the dramatic highs and lows that make soap operas irresistible to their audiences.^[7]

3 G.I. Joe: The Action Figure That Became a Cultural Icon

G.I. Joe wasn’t just a toy; it was a revolution in the industry. Launched in 1964 by Hasbro, G.I. Joe, the “movable fighting man,” broke away from the idea of dolls being solely for girls. With its multiple articulation points and military theme, it became the first action figure designed to capture the imagination of boys. This innovation, along with a variety of figures and accessories, sparked the creation of the action figure industry as we know it today.

G.I. Joe’s influence extended beyond its initial design. The 1980s saw a reinvention with smaller, 3.75-inch figures. This shift, popularized by G.I. Joe, became the standard size for action figures like Star Wars and He-Man. The reinvented G.I. Joe also came with a rich backstory—an elite anti-terrorist team battling the evil Cobra. This narrative, along with accompanying comic books and a cartoon series, solidified G.I. Joe as a major cultural phenomenon.

From a simple toy line, G.I. Joe transformed into a global multimedia franchise. Its impact transcended playtime, proving that action figures could be the beginning of a cultural legacy.^[8]

2 Lynda Carter: Wonder Woman Takes Flight as a Feminist Icon

The Wonder Woman television series left its mark on pop culture in many ways, but perhaps the most amazing outcome is the enduring impact of Lynda Carter’s portrayal of the title character. Carter’s Diana Prince wasn’t just a superhero; she was a symbol of female empowerment who shattered stereotypes and inspired generations.

Premiering in 1975, the series showcased Wonder Woman’s strength and heroism, but Carter’s performance also imbued the character with compassion and elegance. She wasn’t just a warrior; she was a role model for young women who could be powerful and intelligent without sacrificing femininity. Carter’s iconic costume became instantly recognizable, forever linked to the image of Wonder Woman.

The success of the show and Carter’s portrayal proved that audiences craved strong female heroes. Wonder Woman paved the way for future characters like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Xena: Warrior Princess, ultimately leading to the critical and commercial success of the Wonder Woman film starring Gal Gadot. Lynda Carter’s legacy as Wonder Woman is more than just a television show; it’s a testament to the power of female representation in media.^[9]

1 Who Shot J.R.? A Cliffhanger Heard around the World

The Dallas television series had its fair share of dramatic moments, but nothing quite captured the global imagination like the “Who Shot J.R.?” cliffhanger. This ingenious marketing ploy transformed a night-time soap opera episode into a cultural phenomenon.

On March 21, 1980, the season 3 finale of Dallas ended with J.R. Ewing, the show’s conniving villain, being shot by an unseen assailant. The cliffhanger left viewers hanging for months, sparking a frenzy of speculation about the culprit. Newspapers ran polls, fans debated endlessly, and even oddsmakers offered bets on who pulled the trigger.

The anticipation reached a fever pitch by the time the new season premiered. An estimated 83 million Americans tuned in to learn the identity of the shooter, making it the most-watched television episode in U.S. history at that time. Globally, over 350 million people watched the reveal, solidifying Dallas as a pop culture juggernaut.

The “Who Shot J.R.?” storyline not only saved a struggling series but also revolutionized television. It demonstrated the power of cliffhangers to generate excitement and audience engagement, forever changing the way television shows are structured and marketed.^[10]

It’s been a while since a new Jason movie featured on the big screen or a green and red striped jersey brought terror to our dreams. While those horrors have been left behind in their own era, a host of new scary movies exist to keep us shivering. And as with most movies, the fan theories follow close behind. WARNING: spoilers ahead!

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Must-See Recent Genre-Defying Horrors

10The Cabin in the Woods

You would be forgiven for thinking of The Cabin in the Woods as the horror movie starring Thor and the hot doctor from Grey’s Anatomy. This popular horror film surprised audiences in 2011 with its fresh approach and massive plot twist at the end.

However, not all viewers were convinced that the twist at the end was all it seemed to be. A fan theory has it that Chris Hemsworth’s character, Curt Vaughan, was in on the plot from the beginning. Proof of this theory is presented in the fact that Curt is the one who gets the group of friends to go to the cabin. Curt is also the only one who doesn’t choose a summoning object down in the basement.

More ‘proof’ indicates that Curt knew his girlfriend Jules had to die first according to the rules, so he made sure to get her alone so the zombies could kill her. It is also thought that Curt would have been given the title of ‘hero’ if he played along with the Facility.^[1]

9The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974 classic horror is one of the creepiest movies on this list. The killer, Leatherface, dons a mask made of human skin and runs around with a chainsaw and an insatiable bloodlust. Not to mention the Leatherface character is based on real life murderer, Ed Gein.

As such, it has always been assumed that Leatherface is a man, but a Reddit fan theory has it that the crazy murderer might in fact be a woman. Proof of this is said to be the way the killer applies lipstick and blusher to another mask. Leatherface also goes mental when the freezer is tampered with and makes very high-pitched sounds for what is supposed to be an above-average sized man. It is also alleged that since Leatherface prepared the food and probably ‘decorated’ the creepy house depicted in the movie, he is probably a she.^[2]

8Halloween

The most recent Halloween movie was a huge box office hit in 2018. In it, Michael Myers allegedly crashes the bus he was being transferred in, to return to Haddonfield to kill a bunch of people. He also goes after Laurie Strode, who has turned her house into a fortress.

Eagle-eyed viewers were quick to notice something off about Laurie, however. While sitting in her truck, drinking, she waits for the bus to leave for the maximum-security prison. She then pitches up at a family dinner drunk and starts crying. A fan theory has it that is wasn’t fear causing her to react like that, but guilt. The theory goes that Laurie, and not Michael, was the one responsible for the bus crash. It is also said that her almost non-reaction to the news report on the crash is a further indication that she planned the whole thing. Why would she do such a thing? Well, because she had been waiting for her fight with Michael for 40 years and wasn’t about to be unprepared for when he arrived at her house.^[3]

7 Us

Michael Myers has also been tied to the popular 2019 horror movie Us. The sequel to Get Out has spawned quite a few fan theories including one that says Michael is a Tethered and was swapped with a clone and trapped for 60 years.

Not only has Jordan Peele, writer and director of US, referenced Halloween during several interviews about his movie, he also mentions the rabbits that feature in the film and how if you should put a rabbit brain in a human body, you’d end up with Michael Myers. What further gets the theory going, is that Michael doesn’t talk, but rather grunts much like the Tethered in Us. Also, in Halloween Resurrection it is revealed to viewers that a tunnel system runs under the Myers house linking to the basement and ultimately enabling the clone swapping.

Moreover, Michael’s psychiatrist, Dr Loomis, tracks him using a ‘Rabbit in Red’ matchbox and describes his patient as not having a soul. Which pretty much describes the Tethered.^[4]

6 Hereditary

Hereditary is arguably the most disturbing entry on this list. There is bleakness and gore and shock value all culminating in a terrifying reveal involving a demon king named Paimon.

Fans were quick to come up with theories involving aspects of the movie, such as linking it to Midsommer (another disturbing horror flick by Hereditary director: Ari Aster). The theory says that since both movies feature cults, they must play out in the same universe. Some fans are also convinced that the couple walking past Annie in Hereditary is the one and only Dani and Christian from Midsommar.

Another popular theory supported by many fans says that none of the horrifying things in the movie, such as Charlie’s decapitation, actually happened. Instead it was the manifestation of both Annie and Peter’s mental disorders.^[5]

5 A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place took what we knew about horror and turned it on its head. Featuring silent characters and monsters reminiscent of the Demogorgon in Stranger Things, this movie made for a unique cinematic experience. Many movie-goers reported feeling uneasy throughout the movie because of the ongoing silence.

In the movie, the monsters are extremely sensitive to noise and attack anyone that makes a sound (as is evident in the very disturbing scene with the little boy and the toy rocket). Hence the silent characters.

These monsters, if one goes by the newspaper clipping on the wall, came from outer space when a meteor hit Earth. However, some fans think that is only a red herring and the creatures are in fact biological weapons left over from WWIII. Others believe that the only way the creatures could have spread so fast if they did indeed crash in only one spot in Mexico, is with the help of the meteor impact. If they had crashed during the spore stage of their lifecycle the impact would have sent the spores flying to the upper atmosphere where they would have caught a ride to locations all over the US.^[6]

4 It Follows

When it comes to psychological horrors, It Follows is a great example of how to do it properly. Rated 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, most reviewers agree that this movie is truly frightening without trying too hard or relying on tired jump scares.

The plot of the movie centres around a curse in the form of a shape-shifting entity passed on to Jay Height after she has casual sex with a guy in the backseat of his car. She then must pass on the curse to another man, otherwise she will be killed by the entity that presents itself in the form of the loved ones of its victims. And so on and so forth.

A twisted theory appeared on Reddit that says the young people in the movie, running from the sinister shapeshifter, were kidnapped from different decades by demons and sent to Hell. On Earth, they had been replaced by changelings. This would mean the monster that follows Jay in the movie, is just another inhabitant of Hell. And the monster doesn’t choose its own form, but rather the victim determines its shape by what may have happened to them in the past such as abuse, rape, attempted murder etc. Since Jay has suffered a sexual assault, the monster chasing her takes the form of a naked woman.^[7]

3 The Babadook

The Babadook is yet another psychological horror that features a creepy kid and even creepier monster. When labor pains overtook Amelia, her husband drove her to the hospital only to get into an accident. Her husband didn’t make it and the movie follows Amelia’s struggle to cope with being a single parent. She reads a book about the Babadook to her son but starts feeling uneasy with the content, especially when her son claims that the Babadook haunts him at night. Amelia then tears up the book and throws it in the bin.

The book shows up on their doorstep, glued back together, and things take a turn for the worse in the household. It seems that the Babadook possesses Amelia with her voice changing during fits of rage. She also kills their dog and eventually goes after her son. When she vomits up black goo, it seems that the Babadook has lost, but instead it runs to the basement where it seems to be fed maggots by Amelia at the end of the movie.

A fan theory has it that the Babadook is a physical manifestation of Amelia’s hatred for her son, since she gave birth to him on the same day her husband died. When the Babadook is heard making weird noises in the movie, Amelia’s rage is evident, giving more weight to this theory. Another theory says that it is not rage, but Amelia’s intense grief that brings the Babadook to life.

A very popular theory claimed that the Babadook is gay, which was eventually acknowledged but not entirely confirmed by filmmaker Jennifer Kent.^[8]

2 Carrie

Carrie is a lesson on the consequences of bullying. And a very disturbing movie to boot. Carrie started out as Stephen King’s first published novel that spawned a film in 1976 and then a remake in 2013.

As with most Stephen King novels and movies, there are many theories surrounding the plot. In this case the main theory seems to be that Matilda, the main character in the novel of the same name by Roald Dahl, grows up to be Carrie.

After Miss Honey and Matilda move to Chamberlain, Maine, they change their names to Margaret and Carietta. Much like Carrie’s mother, Honey/Margaret becomes very religious which leads to Matilda/Carietta hiding away her telekinetic abilities. Which then leads to the start of the story of Carrie, according to theory. This would essentially mean that Matilda is the prequel to Carrie. More proof that these two stories take place in the same universe comes in the form of a car named Christine (another Stephen King title), which is a 1958 Plymouth Fury sold by Matilda’s father. The car caused the death of a passenger, leading to Matilda’s father being arrested and Miss Honey and Matilda’s move to Maine.^[9]

1 IT

The craziest theory by far, on this list anyway, is the one that connects Disney’s Mary Poppins and Stephen King’s IT. Considering that Mary Poppins is a sweet lady that flies around with an umbrella and IT is a killer clown, it might seem ridiculous. However, the theory points out that Poppins and IT share a similar power. They are able to tap into children’s innermost thoughts, whether it be for good or evil.

Both movies feature a young boy named Georgie. While Poppins returns to Cherry Tree Lane after 25 years and relies on children’s joy to keep her energy levels up, IT returns to Derry every 27 years and uses the fear of children to keep his power levels up. In both movies, the children’s encounters with IT and Poppins seem to fade from their minds. Not to mention, Poppins and IT both seem to like dancing. The final thread connecting these two movies comes during the scene where the characters in Mary Poppins grab balloons and float away. Since “floating” and “balloons” are synonymous with IT, the theory seems plausible to many viewers.^[10]

Most of our favorite websites and phone apps started off much differently than they appear today. If things had gone according to plan, you would be logging onto YouTube to find that date instead of Tinder or whatever app or website you currently use.

Want to plan a meet-up? You would think Instagram. Or, you just have a thing for comparing people’s photos? That would have been Facebook’s turf. How about if you wanted to know if the person you are about to call was available? You would use WhatsApp for that. The first version of WhatsApp did not even have instant messaging capability.

However, it appears that while the founders made their plans, fate often had other things in stock for them. Many founders watched as their initial plans flopped with only a small part of it becoming successful. Others like eBay, just watched them transform into some new products.

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Disturbing Facts About Facebook

10 YouTube Was A Dating Site

Today, YouTube is a hotbed of videos about almost anything. Curiously, it was intended as a platform to allow users meet prospective spouses at the time it launched in 2005. At the time, its founders, Jawed Karim, Steve Chen and Chad Hurley, wanted users to upload videos of them talking about what they wanted in a potential partner.

In keeping with their intentions, the founders used the slogan, “Tune in, Hook up” as the tagline of their website. No one uploaded any video though. Not even when the founders offered to give $20 to any woman who uploaded a video. The founders later decided to allow people upload videos about anything.

Jawed Karim, one of YouTube co-founders, broke the ice when he uploaded an 18-second video of himself at the zoo. As at the time of this writing, the video, titled “Me At The Zoo”, has over 79 million views with 3.8 million comments.^[1]

Related: 10 Disturbing Channels From The Weird Part Of YouTube

9 Instagram Was Created For Meet-ups

Instagram was founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in 2010. It was not the photo-sharing social media site, as we know it today. It was not even called Instagram. It was called Burbn—after bourbon whiskey.

The naming was deliberate. Systrom—who singlehandedly founded Burbn—loved bourbon whiskey and thought it was cool to name his product after it. Besides, the name was in keeping with its purpose. Burbn was built to plan meet-ups. Users could check in at any place they visited, make plans with friends to revisit the place in the future and later post photos of the meet-up.

Burbn soon flopped because it was just too complex to use. Meanwhile, Systrom noticed that users were often more interested in sharing photos of their meet-ups than in using the other features. He brought Mike Krieger on board and they both developed what would later become Instagram.

The duo planned Instagram as something in between Facebook and Hiptasmatic, which were the two top photo-sharing sites at the time. Hiptasmatic had good filters but terrible photo sharing capability. Facebook was the opposite. Instagram would have both.

Systrom did not forget the lesson he learned from the failure of Burbn either. He made sure Instagram was as simple as possible. To achieve this, they removed everything else from Burbn except the photo sharing, commenting and like tools. Now you know why Instagram has a clean and easy-to-use interface.^[2]

Related: 9 Sinister Facts About The Dark Side Of Instagram [WARNING: Disturbing]

8WhatsApp Was Supposed To Be A Phonebook With Attitude

WhatsApp founders, Jan Koum and Brian Acton did not know they had created a messaging app at the time they released the first version of WhatsApp in 2009. Two years earlier, the two future billionaires, resigned their jobs at Yahoo to tour South America. During that time, they applied for jobs at Facebook but did not make the cut.

In January 2009, Koum acquired an iPhone. Then he thought about creating an app that would allow people to have a status update beside their names. The idea was to allow people to send information to prospective callers about whatever was happening to them. The updates could be anything. Like the user’s location or “battery low” when the user’s phone was about to die.

Koum named the app WhatsApp because it sounded like What’s Up. However, it never gained traction and Koum even considering quitting for a while. WhatsApp only became a hit after Apple introduced push notifications in June 2009. Push notifications allowed users to receive an instant notification whenever someone changed their status.

Koum soon realized that WhatsApp users frequently updated their status to communicate with themselves as if it were an instant messenger. He returned to the drawing board and WhatsApp version 2.0 was released soon after.^[3]

Related: 10 Final Messages From People Facing Certain Death

7 Wikipedia Almost Showed Ads

Wikipedia is the online warehouse of information about everything under—and above—the sun. You will find almost everything there. Even other encyclopedias that have been around for centuries are no match for its repository of information.

Wikipedia owes its success to its users. It depends on people to create all of its content for free. But the lack of in-house writers does not mean Wikipedia does not have some overhead costs. It needs to pay its programmers, hosting and fund some other running costs. And how about those lawsuits that will often pop up here and there? You cannot avoid lawsuits when you run a website like Wikipedia.

This means Wikipedia needs to make money somehow. The founders, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, planned to generate money from paid adverts that would be displayed on the site. The sort of thing you see on almost every website today. Larry and Sanger hoped to make enough to cover salaries and hosting, even if they did not make a profit.

Fortunately for information seekers, Wikipedia went the non-profit route when Sanger left in 2002. Wales decided he would never show ads. He would raise money from donations instead.

The management of Wikipedia was taken off Bomis, which managed it at the time, and handed to the Wikimedia Foundation. The for-profit Bomis and the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation are both owned by Jimmy Wales. In keeping with its new intentions, the website switched its domain from the .com domain it used at the time to the .org it currently uses.^[4]

Related: Top 15 Funny and Bizarre Wikipedia Pages

6Ebay Was Created For Buying And Selling Pez Dispensers

Plans for what would later become eBay began sometime in 1994 when Pierre met his then-girlfriend and current wife, Pamela Wesley. Pamela was a collector of Pez dispensers. For the unaware, Pez is a brand of candy. The Pez dispenser is a small container that releases one candy at a time.

Pamela had complained to Pierre about her inability to find people wanting to sell their dispensers. Omidyar got some ideas and on Labor Day (September 4) 1995, launched a small shopping area on his personal website. Pamela and other Pez dispenser collectors used the mini site to meet dealers who were willing to sell their dispensers.

However, Pierre soon noticed that people were showing up to sell everything from dolls to household items. Five months later, Pierre’s shopping mini site was worth $3 billion with over 2 million users. The website had become so big that he had to move to its own dedicated domain we call eBay today.^[5]

Related: 10 Bizarre eBay Auctions

5 Facebook Was For Comparing Pictures

On October 28, 2003, Mark Zuckerberg launched a website he called Facemash. Considered the predecessor of Facebook, Facemash required users to click a button to determine which of the photos of two people was hotter.

To get his first users, Mark hacked into Harvard University’s database to steal photos used on students IDs. The website only lasted for a few days before the management of Harvard University shut it down. Mark was considered for expulsion but was saved when Harvard dropped charges.

Four months later, on February 4, 2004, Mark returned with a second website he called TheFacebook. It was almost like Facemash but with features to allow users meet new people. The photo comparison feature was also removed. Like Facemash, TheFacebook was initially limited to Harvard University students but gradually extended to other colleges, high schools and later, basically anyone.^[6]

Related: 10 Ways Facebook Makes You Smarter

4 Flickr Was Supposed To Include A Chat Room

Flickr was founded by couple, Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake in 2004. While the couple had always intended Flickr as the image sharing and hosting site as we know it today, it was not supposed to be all about photos. The original plans included a chat room.

Butterfield and Fake first unveiled what would later become Flickr at the O’Reilly Emerging Tech Conference, San Diego, on February 10, 2004. Flickr was still in development at the time. It was not even their main product. Their primary product was a virtual game titled “Game Neverending”. Flickr was their side project.

The couple later decided to focus on the photo sharing and hosting program when they discovered its potential. However, they removed the chat capability. Meanwhile, Game Neverending never got past the development stage.^[7]

Related: 10 Strange But Interesting Early Photography Fads

3 We Are Supposed To Send Tweets Via SMS

Twitter was called Twttr at the time it was founded in 2006. Twttr is pronounced “Twitter”, just like Twitter. It is the brainchild of Jack Dorsey even though Noah Glass, Biz Stone and Evan Williams would later step in as co-founders. Dorsey planned Twitter as a social media site that could only be updated via SMS.

Twitter would quickly run into problems with this model. Workers at Odeo—a podcasting business founded by Williams and Stone—who were beta testing the app, saw their phone bills increase by hundreds of dollars.

This was clearly due to the massive amount of text messages they sent. One employee spent over $400 on SMS in one month. Odeo even started picking up the SMS bills of workers that used the service. Twitter later switched to an all-web program at the time it launched, as the SMS model was clearly unsustainable.^[8]

Related: Top 10 Ridiculous Instances Of Censorship In Pop Culture

2 FaceTime Was To Allow Users To Make Phone Calls From Their Macs

In 2007, Roberto Garcia assembled some Apple staff to develop a program codenamed Venice. Venice was supposed to allow iPhone users to make voice calls from their Macs. However, the program soon stalled and the team moved to other things.

A year later, Garcia morphed Venice into Game kit, an iPhone program that allowed users to video chat while playing online games. He and his team were successful this time. Game kit itself was added to Apple’s social gaming app, Game Center, in 2009.

However, the video calling feature of the Apple Game Center (the former Game kit) was later spun-off to create the first version of FaceTime.^[9]

Related: Top 10 Most Important Apps Of The Decade

1 Amazon Only Sold Books

Amazon sells practically everything these days—from pins to houses (literally houses . . . not just building materials) and home appliances. Interestingly, Amazon had very humble beginnings. It was founded in 1995 to sell books. Just books and nothing else. The only thing it ever sold outside books were music CDs, but even those were considered a secondary product.

Amazon primarily sold books for three years until 1998 when Jeff Bezos started to expand. On August 5, 1998, the New York Times reported that Amazon had acquired Junglee Corporation, an ecommerce and software company that operated a price comparison website and online marketplace. Think of Junglee as the Amazon of 1998.

Amazon also acquired Planet All, an address book and social networking site with 1.5 million users. Amazon itself had 3.1 million users at the time. At the same time, Amazon revealed it would also allow third party vendors to advertise their goods on its site.^[10]

Related: Top 10 Bizarre Things You Can Buy on Amazon

From toy makers to airlines, many companies have dealt with financial troubles at some point in time. Included in this list are 10 companies that are so popular that you would not have expected them to have once been on the brink of bankruptcy.

Related : 10 Fascinating Histories of Iconic Products

10Fed Ex

The Founder and CEO of Fed Ex once saved the company with nothing but luck. Frederick Smith created the company with a combination of loans, inheritance money and funding. With the money, he purchased eight planes with which he shipped packages across the United States. No other business was operating this way at the time. Instead, their method of transportation was mostly trucks. This worked out for Smith, until jet fuel charges began to rise. Unable to cover the cost of fuel whilst maintaining the pricing strategy, Fed Ex was down millions of dollars. Smith had two choices: either he could file for bankruptcy, or he could take the final $5,000 in the company’s budget and use it to gamble in a Las Vegas casino. I’m sure you guessed which option he chose.

Within a week, he had $32,000, which was enough to refuel the planes and complete the deliveries. $24,000 was the amount needed to pay the oil companies for the jet fuel. Whilst Smith’s gamble had prevented the company from collapsing for only a week, the limited time allowed him to seek out additional funding and eventually grow the company into what it is today.^[1]

9 Lego

One of the most popular toy companies in recent years has not went without its troubles. It experienced a series of problems between 1998 and 2003. After the drop in profits and the threat of bankruptcy, a new CEO took over and paired up with George Lucas and his production company. This allowed them to produce Lego sets based on Indiana Jones and Star Wars. This decision likely saved the company. Instead of generic ‘pirate ship’ or ‘construction site’ sets, they moved on to make movie themed products. It is difficult to imagine that a toy company that went on to earn millions through their movie franchise alone was once on the brink of collapse. The company is now more successful than ever, meaning that we can all continue to accidentally stand on those tiny bricks and be in pain for years to come.^[2]

8 Sega

When Sega was in threat of bankruptcy in 2002, the then-President Isao Okawa donated all of his stock to the company, in order to save it. He was towards the end of his battle with cancer, which killed him shortly after his donation. Their troubles had been caused by the decision to end production on Dreamcast, their latest console. The release had been underwhelming, leaving them at a loss of 80 billion Yen. Okawa’s personal fortune of 85 billion yen made up for the hit that the company was about to take. If only Sega could convert Sonic coins to Yen – they would have solved their issues a lot sooner!^[3]

7 Apple

1997 was a terrible year for Apple. The iPod, which went on to become the company’s flagship product, had not been invented yet. Had an unexpected company not decided to invest in Apple, then we may never have had a convenient way to carry our music around with us. We may have had to do something else to distract ourselves on the commute. When Apple ran into some financial issues, Microsoft invested $150 million to save it from having to declare bankruptcy. Microsoft is the last company you would expect to save Apple, as they are their biggest competitor. It ultimately turned out to be a great business decision, as Microsoft made a huge profit off this investment.^[4]

6BMW

In 1948, BMW began to create luxury cars. This was a move away from their usual affordable automobiles, a huge risk for the company. After all, Mercedes-Benz dominated the luxury car market. In 1951, the BMW 501 was released and it was priced at 4 times the average wage of a citizen. Very few cars sold, leaving the company close to bankruptcy. The Quandt family, most notably Herbert Werner and Harald Quandt, German industrialists and the sons of members of the Nazi party, made a large investment in the company which saved it. This investment did not come free, however, as the family demanded a restructuring of the company, with new managers put in charge. Now, BMW is well known for making luxury cars, but had it not been for the job-losing decision to change the company’s focus, then they would not have the same great reputation.^[5]

5 Six Flags

Despite having a reputation for being a place of joy, Six Flags has went through some dark times. In June 2009, it filed for bankruptcy, after falling $2.4 billion in debt. On top of this, it had to pay $300 million to its stockholders in August of that year. With less than two months left to make up the money for these payments, Six Flags had no choice but to file for bankruptcy. It had had a relatively good year besides the debt, as it profited $275 million from the 25 million visitors so far that year. A few months later, the company returned thanks to its lawyers arranging a restructuring of the debt. It now continues business, with a series of theme parks and water parks across America. It sure was a “rollercoaster” of a journey.^[6]

4The Walt Disney Company

The early years of The Walt Disney Company was by no means a perfect fairy tale. Disney was at the brink of bankruptcy twice, once in 1920, when their financial backer went bankrupt himself and again in 1937. The creation of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ was a huge financial burden for the company. It was their first feature length film, but it required a $1.5 million investment from Walt Disney and a bank loan in order for it to be completed. Looking back, it was a huge risk, because had it failed, then Disney would not have become the household name that it is today. ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ went on to make $8 million at the box office, which is especially good considering how it was released during the Great Depression.^[7]

3 American Airlines

American Airlines once found its self in such a bad situation that it was removed from the New York Stock Exchange. The stock had fallen to 20 cents per share and in its entirety, the company was worth $90 million. It may seem like a lot of money, but ‘The Wall Street Journal’ put this into context by appropriately comparing it to “less than the typical list price of a new passenger jet.” The company has since returned to the New York Stock Exchange, with a value of $300 million. Had it not been for a large amount of investors buying the stock cheap, American Airlines may have went the same way as Eastern Airlines and Pan American World Airways. A partner for Pinnacle Investment Advisors purchased roughly $50,000 of shares in the airline, which resulted in a huge profit for him, after the company returned strong.^[8]

2 Tesla and SpaceX

It is incredibly difficult to believe that the company that once sent a car into space was once bankrupt. In the beginning, Elon Musk feared that his companies would fail. He was so sure of this, in fact, that he did not take money from investors. Instead, he opted to fund the company with his own money, which he had a substantial amount of due to the sale of his company PayPal for $1.5 billion in 2002. He continue to fund it until 2008, when the financial crisis almost destroyed Tesla and SpaceX. Without any other options, Musk shut down operations, being essentially bankrupt for a few hours. That is when, at the last minute, he secured a $50 million investment in time to save the company. Daimler invested in Tesla and SpaceX, despite themselves being in financial trouble. Whilst this money saved the companies from being closed down, it was not a permanent fix. He still had to work hard to ensure their continued existence. Musk is quoted as having said “we only narrowly survived … we actually closed the financing round on Christmas Eve 2008. It was the last hour of the last day that it was possible.” Only 10 years later, he had sent a car into orbit to the tune of ‘Starman’ by David Bowie.^[9]

1 Etch a Sketch

This children’s toy would not have been as iconic as it is today, had it not featured in a popular Pixar movie. Etch a Sketch was on the brink of bankruptcy in 1999, when the creators of Toy Story 2 approached them. The scene in question featured an Etch a Sketch for only 12 seconds, but this appearance revived the popularity of the product. It allowed the company time to seek financing, with which they moved production of the toy from Ohio to China. This cut down production costs and prolonged the life of the company. They were not the only product which appeared in Toy Story 2 (obviously, a movie about toys would be pretty dull without toys in it.) Barbie and Mr Potato Head were also written into the script, but neither of them were as reliant on this appearance as Etch a Sketch. Thanks to Toy Story 2, it was named one of the top toys of the century in 2008. Who knew that an appearance in third highest grossing movie of 1999 could make you so popular?

Etch a Sketch belongs at the top of this list because unlike the other companies featured, they produced something which was a typical household item. It did not need batteries or make any noise, so it became a popular gift for parents to buy. Had the business went bankrupt and the toy disappeared from shelves, it would still be remembered as a part of many people’s childhood memories. Few people would remember one of many airlines disappearing, or a production company who had only made one movie in the late 1930s. The escape from the brink of bankruptcy allowed Etch a Sketch to be exposed to many more generations of children, brightening their childhood with two dials and a hundred little lines.^[10]

Some fads hold on for decades—or at least as long as it takes us to realize that what we’re doing is dangerous. With the recent anti-vaccination movement, along with the relatively new fads of weight loss pills and e-cigarettes, there’s a whole list of mistakes we’ve made that, in the end, we find out we probably shouldn’t have.

10Skipping Vaccinations

The anti-vaccination movement somehow keeps attracting followers. Its advocates try to warn the public about vaccine side effects like seizures (which are extremely rare and have no lasting effects) and about the link between vaccines and autism (which is non-existent and based on a single discredited report). The movement helps no one. Instead, it’s making hundreds of people sick.

Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000. Nonetheless, the Center for Disease Control has identified 288 cases of the potentially deadly disease in 2014 across 18 different states. Most of the cases were contracted when unvaccinated individuals traveled overseas and were exposed to the disease before bringing it back. Among those hardest hit by the outbreak is the Amish community through unvaccinated missionaries.

Vaccines save lives. The last 20 years of vaccines have prevented an estimated 732,000 deaths.

9Wearing Muslin

Muslin is a versatile cotton fabric first made in the Middle East and popular in Europe since the 17th century. When the material came to France, it brought with it a deadly fashion trend.

Limitations had already been placed on fashion by sumptuary laws, which restricted what clothing French citizens could wear. Women started wearing light, sheer muslin dresses that harkened back to ancient Greece. The goal was to look like a Greek statue: pure, white, and marble. The muslin dresses were often worn over tights. They were also worn wet to accent the features of the body beneath.

While it might seem like a harmless, if somewhat immodest, display, it gave rise to what was popularly known as muslin disease. Women wore thin, wet clothes all year ’round, even in the winter. When influenza swept through Paris in 1803, it struck some 60,000 people each day, mostly women whose ability to fight off the disease was seriously compromised by their fashion choice.

8Asbestos

A huge number of buildings still contain asbestos, but the fire-resistant material is far from a new discovery. Asbestos was used as far back as 4000 B.C., when the slow-burning material appeared ideal for candle wicks. Early Egyptians used asbestos to wrap the bodies of their dead to prevent decay, and in ancient Greece, bodies placed on funeral pyres were wrapped with asbestos cloth to separate their ashes from the ashes of the fire.

Clay cooking pots were lined with asbestos in areas across Europe, and in ancient Rome, cloths made from asbestos could be cleaned just by throwing them into the fire. Charlemagne ordered tablecloths made of asbestos to keep them from catching fire during his parties, and knights in the Crusades flung burning tar from their catapults wrapped in—you guessed it—asbestos. Long thought to be a byproduct of a fiery lizard (an idea that was disproved by Marco Polo), asbestos was even the material of choice for sellers of holy relics. The unique properties of the material gave wood an ancient, weathered look that made it look a part of The Cross.

The dangers of asbestos have been known since the time of ancient Greece, when miners wore masks made of animal innards to keep from breathing the fibers. But in modern times, not till the 1970s and the emergence of mesothelioma did the asbestos industry shut down.

7E-Cigarettes

E-cigarettes give you the same nicotine hit as conventional cigarettes without the toxic tar. Even advocates who oppose vaping—believing it may discourage smokers from abandoning nicotine altogether—say it is better than smoking. However, users who think they can inhale a chemical for a nicotine high without suffering any effects are mistaken.

The vapor can contain chemicals like formaldehyde and acetone and can produce eye and respiratory irritants like propylene glycol. While the levels in secondhand vapor are less than those in secondhand smoke, they can still pose health risks. These risks increase when the e-cigarette is turned up higher.

Beyond the effects of inhaling the vapor, e-cigarettes present consumers with a concentrated, toxic chemical, and many have shown themselves incapable of using or storing it properly. In one month in 2014, poison control centers reported upward of 200 phone calls after children ingested the poison or got it on their skin. Pets are also at risk. Depending on the size of the dog, chewing a single cartridge can result in anything from seizures and cardiac arrest to death—all within 15 minutes. Users of e-cigarettes should keep cartridges out of the reach of children and pets, as they would alcohol or any other potentially dangerous substance.

6Dietary Supplements

Many swear by their vitamin C and calcium pills, but supplements touted as healthy sometimes turn out to be just the opposite.

In 2013, the Food and Drug Administration pulled several weight loss supplements from the market. They’d linked a stimulant called dimethylamlamine (DMAA) with 86 cases of psychiatric disorders, nervous system malfunction, and death. Even after the danger was documented, one company the FDA contacted refused to stop manufacturing the drug until the FDA visited them in person.

The FDA doesn’t review supplements before they hit the market. Bills have been put before Congress to make the agency do so, but for now, consumers must just trust the manufacturer. A supplement may be useless at best or contain deadly substances at worst.

5Radium Watches And Dials

Radium was first discovered in 1898 by Marie Curie. It naturally occurs when uranium decays, and purified radium has the property of glowing in the dark. For the public in the early 1900s, that glow was unique, and radium was used in the first glow-in-the-dark watches. Soldiers in trenches during World War I told time after sunset using the glow. And many industrial dials, such as on ship and airplane control panels, were coated with radium for easy reading.

Dial painters were mostly young women, and they were expected to paint about 250 watch dials every day. Many took to rolling the tips of their paint brushes between their lips. Others streaked their hair with radium to make themselves shine. Slowly, the girls fell ill. Teeth fell out, sores developed, and the bones in their faces rotted away.

In 1924, Harvard University and the US Radium Company investigated the effects of radium for the first time. The study concluded that the deaths of the young women in the plant had nothing to do with radium. But when the Consumers League of New Jersey got involved—with the help of some less-biased doctors—they found that radium is dangerous, and so were the working conditions at the factory. Turning off the lights revealed that the women were constantly covered in radium dust, glowing in the dark like their watch dials. Exposure was so great that when they breathed, they were breathing out radon gas.

4Mercury

The phrase “mad as a hatter” comes from the use of mercury in 19th-century hat-making. Originally, hatters separated fur from animal hides for felt using camel urine, as the urea’s chemical reaction pulled the hairs out of the skin. Later, people wondered why they were going through all the trouble of getting camel urine when they had plenty of their own readily available. So manufacturers shifted to human urine instead.

Over time, it appeared that syphilitic felt-makers consistently produced higher-quality felt. Those workers treated their disease with mercury, which entered their urine. When their urine hit animal skins, it reacted differently, fur came off more easily, and the skin took less damage. Felt-makers stopped using urine altogether and switched to mercury nitrate.

The process was banned in the United States in 1941—but not because of the risks, which had been known since 1874. Mercury was needed for weapons manufacturing, so the government appropriated it for wartime use.

3Cadmium Paint

Cadmium sulfide is a component of many yellow paints. It was hugely popular with the Impressionists and was a favorite of artists like Van Gogh, Monet, and Matisse. Long-term effects of cadmium-based paints weren’t known at the time, though, and now, more than a few Impressionist paintings are decaying because of the breakdown of the cadmium sulfide. Even after we realized the compound decays and changes color, we kept using it.

But while calcium sulfide can lead to paintings changing over time, some paints contain pure cadmium metal, which can be dangerous. Cadmium is a toxic carcinogen. McDonald’s was caught using cadmium paint on merchandise in 2010 and had to recall 12 million units of Shrek tie-ins.

2Carving Pumpkins

Halloween is loosely based on the Celtic holiday Samhain, the final harvest of the year traditionally observed on October 31. It prepared people for the long winter months, when bonfires were lit to protect the living from the spirits of the dead. Those massive bonfires turned into smaller fires and were made safer by lighting them within a turnip.

When the tradition crossed to North America, turnips were in short supply, but pumpkins weren’t. So the tradition expanded to lighting fires within pumpkins, and with carving the thick-skinned vegetable came danger. According to Consumer Reports, about one-third of Halloween-related injuries happen when carving pumpkins. These range from cuts to severed tendons.

A SUNY Upstate Medical University research team wanted to learn how badly different carving knives hurt people, but testing them on live humans seemed ethically questionable. So they removed hands from cadavers, and they used a hydraulic press and a variety of kitchen knives to see what kind of damage each would do. They tested the pressure needed to carve the pumpkin against the pressure needed to damage the hand. Blades marketed as pumpkin-cutting tools were generally less dangerous than standard kitchen knives, but care should still be taken to avoid making the night a bit more gruesome than planned.

1Skin Care

Beauty might be only skin deep, but that’s all it’s ever taken for the human race to do a lot of damage to themselves. For hundreds of years, we’ve been more concerned with the current beauty ideals than safety.

Our history of dangerous skin care products goes back at least to feudal Japan, whose lead- and mercury-based face paints created highly desired white complexions. Those powders and paints remained popular through the 18th century, when people finally got concerned about side effects like lead poisoning and neurological disorders.

That’s about the same time that the Western ideal changed. Once, pale skin was considered beautiful, as it meant an indoor lifestyle free from manual labor. With the Industrial Revolution, pale skin meant you were from the working class, confined to factories and mines. A tan, however, meant you had leisure time out in the country and were likely healthier than those subjected to cramped, polluted cities.

Tanned skin became much more desirable, and when Coco Chanel began the trend of sunbathing, the idea really took off. But we now know that about 90 percent of skin cancer cases are linked to prolonged sun exposure. The same exposure can age you prematurely, weaken your immune system, and damage your eyes.

Books, films, and all manner of popular culture can amuse, inspire, and enlighten. But sometimes pop culture has…darker consequences. Countless acts of lethal violence have been inspired by art, ranging from suicide epidemics and copycat killings to radio station riots and outright global war.

See Also: 10 Pop Culture Icons With Cleverly Hidden Insults

10 Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Uncle Tom’s Cabin is undeniably the most influential American novel ever written. The author, Harriet Beecher Stowe, came from a deeply religious abolitionist family. The book’s title character is a slave in Kentucky owned by the Shelby family. After the family falls into debt, Tom ends up in the possession of the vicious Simon Legree. When he refuses to tell the location of two runaways, his overseers beat him to death. The book was a best-seller in America and overseas, with dozens of translations produced. It even helped inspire the abolition of serfdom in Russia.

But in America it galvanized the anti-slavery and the pro-slavery factions. More northerners were converted to abolitionism. Southerners produced a voluminous “Anti-Tom” literature that romanticized slavery. Though many factors were at work, within 9 years of publication the Civil War had begun. When Stowe met President Lincoln, he supposedly called her “the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.”^[1]

9 The Clansman and Birth of a Nation

Decades later when Southerner Thomas Dixon saw a play based on Uncle Tom’s Cabin he was enraged. In response he wrote The Clansman, which depicted white Southerners as victims and the terrorist Ku Klux Klan as their courageous defenders in the turbulent post-Civil War period. The federal government had successfully suppressed the Klan and it seemed to be gone for good. But Dixon’s book was a success and inspired a film, Birth of a Nation, directed by D.W. Griffith. The movie was controversial from the beginning, even being banned in some cities.

Birth of a Nation’s deadly legacy was that it inspired a new incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan just months after release in 1915. After a cross-burning ceremony on Stone Mountain in Georgia the Klan was reborn. The original Klan had been secretive, calling itself “The Invisible Empire”. This new Klan used clever public relations to conceal their criminality. The organization went through many ups and downs and lingers on into the present day, murdering countless people along the way.^[2]

8 Nazi Propaganda Films

Leni Riefenstahl was a successful German actress and director between the world wars. For this reason she was chosen to film a Nazi party rally in Nuremberg. The resultant “documentary” was Triumph of the Will. In aesthetic terms it was a masterpiece, in moral terms it was horrific. Later she directed a film glamorizing the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Olympia. The Nazis produced lesser known films as well, with other directors. They even commissioned a film about the sinking of the Titanic which blamed the tragedy on the greed of British businessmen.

The effect of this propaganda was to seduce the German public into supporting the regime. From the Nazi perspective it was a resounding success. In fact the most fanatical supporters of the regime, those who fought to the bitter end, were Germany’s young people. They had been raised on a diet of Nazi propaganda in print, radio, and film. And so they marched to their deaths, taking millions with them.

The video clip above is of the film “Olympia”. Of particular note is the Olympic salute performed from around the 16:00 mark. This salute is no longer used because it looks too much like the “Heil Hitler” salute, but it pre-dated Hitler by at least twenty years. It was discontinued from the Olympics from 1948.^[3]

7 The Secret Agent

The Secret Agent is a political thriller of the Victorian era, written by the Polish-British author Joseph Conrad. Conrad, famous today for his colonial novella Heart of Darkness, was deeply interested in the evil side of human nature. The Secret Agent novel focuses on a group of Russian anarchists plotting terrorist attacks in Britain. Decades later this book would wind up in the hands of a young Polish-American, Theodore Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomer. Kaczynski was a brilliant but warped man and he deeply identified with one of the terrorist characters in the book, “The professor”.

He shared this character’s disdain for the mainstream of society, and willingness to use violence to change it. Kaczynski conducted a campaign of bombings targeting those associated with modern technology, which he despised. During this period he used Joseph Conrad’s name as an alias to evade capture. He ultimately killed three people and wounded over a dozen from 1975 to 1998. The fact that Conrad wrote the book to satirize terrorist violence was apparently lost on Kaczynski.^[4]

6 The Sorrows of Young Werther

The Sorrows of Young Werther was the first novel of the great German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Published in 1774, the story is about a young man named Werther yearning for the love of his friend Charlotte. Werther is cultured, artistic man and they have a deep bond. But Charlotte eventually marries another man. He cannot handle the pain any longer and so he ends his own life.

The book was an instant bestseller across Europe. “Werther fever” spread across the continent with young men imitating the title character’s clothing. But more disturbing was that the novel helped triggered a wave of young people taking their own lives. Some used pistols identical to what Werther used in the novel and several bodies were found with copies. The term “Werther effect” today signifies media-inspired suicide.^[5]

5 War of the Worlds

War of the Worlds is one of the classics of early science fiction, by British writer, H.G. Wells. It describes an invasion of earth by hostile Martians. These aliens nearly succeed in conquering the planet but are stopped by earthly bacteria to which they have no immunity. In 1938 the American Orson Welles adapted it into a radio drama, changing the setting from England to New Jersey.

The broadcast was so realistic it convinced many frightened listeners that the planet was actually being invaded. Some years later a Spanish version was broadcast in Quito, Ecuador. While the American audience was surely angered after learning the truth, in Quito the fiasco lead to rioting outside the radio station. A fire broke out and several people died, including the narrator’s girlfriend.^[6]

4 A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange began life as a novel by the British author Anthony Burgess. After spending years teaching in Britain’s Asian colonies, Burgess returned to the mother country in 1961. He found a changed society, the youth counterculture was emerging. A Clockwork Orange showed the dark side of this subculture, focusing on a bizarre gang of young criminals. They take narcotics, enjoy classical music, and commit grisly crimes. But in the end, they too become victims. Alex, the main character, is brainwashed into passivity through brutal psychological experiments.

After weak sales a film adaption by Stanley Kubrick gave the story mainstream exposure. Although Kubrick actually toned down some of the worst crimes in the novel, the movie version was still extremely controversial. A number of horrific crimes in Britain were linked to the film. Some of the connections were tenuous but in at least one case a young murderer explicitly claimed A Clockwork Orange was his inspiration. After getting death threats Kubrick pulled the film from circulation.^[7]

3 Natural Born Killers

Natural Born Killers was a 1994 film directed by Oliver Stone. The movie stars Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as a man and woman in love and on the run. They engage in a grisly multi-state killing spree as Robert Downey, Jr. plays the role of a low-life reporter who makes them famous. The film was controversial from the start for at least two reasons. One is the uninterrupted depiction of gratuitously gruesome violence.

The other reason was that it apparently played a role in inspiring multiple real life crimes. In one case a teen couple from Oklahoma murdered one businessman and paralyzed another. The previous night they had watched the film on loop while taking acid. A pair of French criminals killed three policeman and a cabbie. A poster from the film was found in their room. In one heartbreaking case a Texas boy said he decapitated his classmate to “be famous, like the natural born killers.”^[8]

2 Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver is a 1976 film by Martin Scorsese. It focuses on a Vietnam veteran played by Robert De Niro. He’s depressed, can’t sleep, and as the title indicates, working as a cab driver in New York. The movie shows him slowly descending into madness as he plans acts of violence against both a pimp and a presidential candidate. One moviegoer named John Hinckley, Jr. became entranced by the film, especially the performance of De Niro’s very young female co-star, Jodie Foster.

Hinckley became obsessed with Foster, sending her letters, and eventually convincing himself that to assassinate the president would win her affection. In 1981, Hinckley fired six shots at President Ronald Reagan outside a hotel in Washington. Reagan narrowly survived and his press secretary, James Brady was left permanently paralyzed. 33 years later Brady’s death was ruled a homicide by the D.C. medical examiner, his death having been caused by the gunshot wounds he sustained.^[9]

1 The Novels of Yukio Mishima

The strange life and stranger death of Yukio Mishima is a unique example of an author being seduced by his own artistic vision. Mishima grew up as a closeted gay man in Japan before and during the Second World War. He developed a deep sense of self-loathing due to his sexuality, his family’s abuse, and being declared unfit for service during the conflict. Mishima viewed post-war Japan as shallow, materialistic, and without culture. The central concern of his novels is Japan’s attempt to recover a lost identity.

He came to believe the solution to Japan’s identity crisis and his own was a return to the past. He devoted himself to the study of bushido, the warrior code of the long gone samurai. He gathered around himself a small group of like-minded followers. The day after finishing his last work, The Sea of Fertility, they entered Japan’s military headquarters in Tokyo. On the balcony he delivered a speech to the soldiers, calling for the end of Japan’s democratic constitution. He was met with ridicule. Mishima then went inside and stoically committed ritual suicide in the manner of the ancient samurai.^[10]

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About The Author: I am a simple man on a continuous journey of self-education, hopefully helping others do the same. “It doesn’t matter how smart you are, unless you stop and think.”

Some horror movies can only be watched once. Others should be watched a couple of times to get the maximum effect of their complex storylines. During the second or third viewing of some horror films, little details make themselves known that were missed the first time around. A lot of effort goes into making a successful horror film and these little details are a big part of it. Sometimes the details are in the background of the film itself and sometimes it is in the inspiration that led to the making of the movie. On this list are some, perhaps lesser known, facts that play eerily vital roles in making horror movies just a little bit creepier.

Beware though, potential spoilers ahead!

Top 10 Disturbing Movies You’ve Never Heard Of

10 Final Destination—2000

At the time, Final Destination was a breath of fresh air in the horror movie genre. There was no slasher or ghost element. Instead the killer was Death itself, stalking and taking the lives of those who managed to evade it the first time around. The beginning of the movie shows a plane crash that happens mid-air after the main character convinces his friends to disembark it. During the making of the movie the decision was made to use the song “Rocky Mountain High” by John Denver and play it before some of the characters’ deaths. Eerily, John Denver himself died in a plane crash in 1997 and his remains could only be identified by means of his fingerprints. His demise is reminiscent not only of the plane crash in the movie, but also the gruesomeness of the graphic death scenes.^[1]

9 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre—1974

Tobe Cooper is best known for being the director of the 1974 horror flick: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The movie introduced horror fans to the legendary Leatherface who instilled fear with his grotesque human skin mask and penchant for attacking people with a chainsaw. Strangely enough, it was ‘the most beautiful time of the year’ that inspired Cooper’s freaky villain. The director was Christmas shopping in 1972 and feeling most frustrated with the sheer amount of people out to buy last minute gifts, when he saw a rack of chainsaws in the hardware section. For just a moment he thought that a chainsaw would be an effective way to get through the crowd really quickly. And so, the horror movie seed was planted.^[2]

8 The Hills Have Eyes—1977

Writer and director of the gruesome film The Hills Have Eyes, Wes Craven, was inspired by the story of Sawney Bean who was said to have been the head of a Scottish clan that went around murdering and eating people during the Middle Ages. There was a lot of tension on set, especially during the filming of a terrifying rape scene. The cast and crew also experienced difficulties in dealing with extreme temperatures. However, the last straw was when Craven decided he wanted the baby in the movie to be murdered by one of the inbred cannibals. The crew put their foot down and threatened to abandon the project if Craven went through with trying to film a scene like that and the director eventually let the idea go.^[3]

7 Paranormal Activity – 2009

Paranormal Activity was filmed in just one week and since there was no real script to speak of, a lot of the scenes were improvised on the spot. The result was a movie that terrified audiences worldwide to the core, with many convinced that the footage was real and that the entity in the movie could reach out beyond the screen. People actually walked out during early screenings because they were too scared to sit and watch the whole film. Steven Spielberg was also intrigued by the movie and after his company acquired the film, he took home a DVD copy of the movie. After watching it, his bedroom door locked itself from the inside and Spielberg had to call a locksmith to get out. He was so terrified by this experience that he returned the DVD the next day after having tossed it into a garbage bag.^[4]

6 Cloverfield – 2008

While Godzilla was the main inspiration for the monster in Cloverfield, its design was unique. It was also a water creature with a huge tail but was covered in parasites and slightly clumsy on its feet. The reason for the clumsiness was the fact that Clover was still a baby monster. Filming included the ‘found footage’ style and the result made for an extremely immersive movie. However, the continuous movement was too much for some movie-goers and many had to run out and go vomit in the nearest bathroom. Others complained of intense migraines. Some even experienced a temporary loss of balance. This resulted in verbal and visual warnings being posted by theatres so that audiences knew what they were letting themselves in for.^[5]

10 Horror Houses That Really Existed

5 Insidious – 2010

Movie critics had mostly positive things to say about the horror movie, Insidious, which is quite a feat for a movie starring a kid in a coma, desperate parents and a red-faced demon. Some of the scenes are genuinely creepy and there isn’t an overuse of jump-scares. The dad eventually figures out what exactly is happening to his son and he enters a place called The Further to rescue him. All the scenes in The Further were shot in the Herald Examiner building in Los Angeles. This building has somewhat of a creepy past as it used to house the newspaper that was first in covering one of the most terrifying murders that ever happened in LA: the Black Dahlia killing in 1947.^[6]

4 The Ring – 2002

Whenever The Ring is mentioned in conversation, it is almost impossible to think of the movie without picturing a little girl with black hair hanging over her face, crawling out of a TV set. The cursed video tape is almost secondary in people’s minds as the creepy Samara left a lasting impression on audiences in 2002. Also featured throughout the movie is a splendid red Japanese maple tree that was in fact a prop built from steel tubing and plaster. The tree was named Lucille in honor of Lucille Ball (because of her red hair). After a while however, the cast and crew of The Ring began to feel like the tree was as cursed as the videotape in the movie. No matter where they put it up, the wind blew it down. They erected the tree three times and each time the wind picked up to more than 60 miles per hour and knocked it over.^[7]

3 Scream – 1996

While most horror movie buffs would scoff at Scream, saying they weren’t scared at all while watching it, the movie and its subsequent sequels spawned one of the most iconic and recognizable killers in movie history: Ghostface. Kevin Williamson, best known for creating Dawson’s Creek, wrote the entire screenplay in three days. The opening scene of the movie hit very close to home as Williamson explained to CNN in 1998. He was watching the Barbara Walters special on the Gainesville murders when he heard a noise coming from inside his house. Freaked out, he searched through the house to see what might have caused the noise and happened upon an open window in the living room. He hadn’t noticed the window being open even after two days of being home night and day. This really scared him. He fetched a big knife from the kitchen and phoned one of his friends. The friend, David Blanchard, started asking him about scary movies which inspired Williamson to write the opening scene to Scream early the next morning. The Ghostface killer was inspired by the Gainesville Ripper, Danny Rolling, who murdered five students in four days in August 1990.^[8]

2 Halloween—1978

Speaking of iconic killers in movies, Michael Myers is right up there with the best of them. Myers started his killing spree at the age of 6 when he murdered his older sister, Judith. His attention then turned to his other sister, Laurie, who managed to escape him right up until 2018 and presumably beyond. The murderous character was created by John Carpenter after he visited a psychiatric ward with some of his psychology classmates. One of the patients they observed was a teenage boy who would stare ahead of him blankly without speaking. Carpenter used this experience as inspiration while co-writing the script for the film. The movie became very controversial at the time of its release with many people accusing the producers of trying to encourage people to identify with Michael Myers.^[9]

1 Carrie – 1976

A list of horror movies, in whatever form, wouldn’t be complete without the inclusion of at least one adaptation of a classic Stephen King novel. Carrie was not only the first of King’s novels to be made into a movie, it was also his very first published horror story. (It was also John Travolta’s movie debut). Many were truly freaked out by Sissy Spacek’s portrayal of Carrie White, while others felt the really frightening moment was at the end of the film when Carrie’s arm shoots out from below the ground of her destroyed house during Sue Snell’s dream. Sue then wakes up screaming. Art director, Jack Fisk, buried Spacek in a pit under a board covered in pumice stones for the filming of the final scene after she insisted on doing the scene herself. Spacek went all out to ensure the red ‘blood’ stains on her prom dress stayed consistent by sleeping in the gown for the three days it took to shoot the prom scene. She also made sure to stay in character by isolating herself from the rest of the cast whenever they weren’t shooting.^[10]

10 Crazy Theories About Popular Horror Movies

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

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

Here are the intriguing origins of 10 popular carnival rides.

Related: Top 10 Deadliest Rides in the World

10 Roller Coaster

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

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

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

9 Carousel

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

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

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

8 Ferris Wheel

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

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

7 The Witching Waves

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

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

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

6 The Whip

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

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

5 Bumper Cars

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

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

4 Tilt-a-Whirl

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

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

3 Bumper Boats

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

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

2 Rotor

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

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

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

1 Bounce House

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

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

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

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

The internet is full of fad diets, and quick tips that are meant to help you lose weight, gain muscle, and get fit with the least amount of effort and complication possible. These one-size-fits-all approaches promise to make it easy for you, without any need to tailor them to your own needs. Unfortunately, most of these tips are rubbish, and the diets don’t work. The truth behind most of these myths is that you need to find a balanced approach that works for you instead of following fads. 

10. Myth: Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity

Non-celiac gluten sensitivity is a controversial issue among both doctors and the public. Some doctors are now diagnosing people with it in certain situations, but many medical researchers are still openly skeptical and think that we are going in the wrong direction. Now, this doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything going on, but medical researchers have long felt that the gluten itself being the cause may be nothing more than a gigantic red herring. 

See, in the medical world, doctors are told that when you hear hooves, you should think of horses, not zebras. This means you go for the most obvious answer first, instead of the more arcane one. There’s no biological reason to think that non-celiac gluten sensitivity would exist, so the likely answer is that it’s some additive in gluten products causing the problem. Researchers have studied something called FODMAPS, a group of four fermentable sugars often found in gluten products, and only 8% of people who kept using gluten but stopped using FODMAPs still had a problem. As for the other 8%? Many gluten products contain something called Amalyse Tripsin Inhibitors, which are also known to cause gut and bowel issues for some people. 

9. Myth: Carbohydrates And Fats Are Bad For You, But Protein Is Good 

We’ve all heard the claims many times: You should avoid carbohydrates as much as possible because they make you fat. Fat makes you fat, and protein is good because it makes you strong and gives you energy. Many of these beliefs are so widespread that people base entire fad diets around them, and millions then follow those diets. These diets have become so extreme that they often restrict or almost entirely remove one or more of these categories, which is not advisable. 

The truth is that all three are essential macronutrients, and all are an important part of a well-balanced diet. While it’s true some processed carbs aren’t very good for you, that doesn’t mean they are all bad or that you should toss out a macronutrient. As for fat, there is no proven link between the consumption of fat in and of itself and more health problems. Fat is also an essential macronutrient, you should just focus on eating healthy fats such as fish, natural peanut butter, coconut oil, and so on. And finally, there’s protein, which almost every diet will tell you is fine to just go to town on every day. The truth is protein’s main purpose is for muscle growth and repair, so if you aren’t being particularly active, you probably don’t need as much. Too much protein can cause kidney damage, and it should be treated with respect. 

8. Myth: People Who Are Extremely Overweight Can Lose Weight As Easily As The Next Guy 

It is quite common for people to look at those who are extremely overweight, and wonder why they don’t just lose some weight. Some people think that they don’t really try to lose weight at all, or only half-heartedly try on rare occasions. However, the truth is that many obese people are struggling hard to lose weight and have it harder than normal-sized people. Once you start to reach a certain level of overweight, hormonal changes can take place in your body which make it hard to get the weight back off. 

First, those who are extremely overweight can develop a resistance to an important hormone called Leptin. This hormone is very important for regulating how much fat your body creates and stores. When this hormone is not working properly your body will resist shedding fat, even when you are taking the right steps to lose weight. Secondly, the more weight you gain, the more likely you are to gain insulin resistance, making it harder to convince your body that it is okay to shed that extra fat. This doesn’t mean someone who has a lot of extra weight can’t achieve their goals, but it may be harder for them. 

7. Myth: Sodas With Sugar Substitutes Will Help You Lose Weight 

Sugar-free sodas are insanely popular and have become such a diet trend over the years that the versions of sodas like Coca-Cola that don’t have sugar have become more popular than their regular versions. People think of them as a great way to control their sugar cravings and lose weight, keeping that sweet tooth in check with none of the guilt. For a lot of people, it is an easy step and the first transition they take when trying to be a little bit healthier. 

However, the unfortunate reality is that the evidence doesn’t bear out that sugar-free sodas with sugar substitutes have any benefit when it comes to weight loss or controlling our sugar cravings. Now, this doesn’t mean that diabetics should go drinking sugared sodas, as they have a very good medical reason for using sugar substitutes. For everyone else, a review of 283 studies found no evidence at all that sugar-free sodas help with weight loss. You might think that getting rid of sugared sodas would help, but the problem is that the substitutes do not satisfy our cravings, and we just end up getting as much or more sugar from somewhere else. 

6. Myth: It’s Okay To Burn Lots Of Fat In A Short Time 

Crash diets will offer you a chance to lose all that extra weight that you’ve been wanting to get rid of in just a few months, or even weeks. What they claim seems like magic, and burns all that fat right off. Now, while the efficacy of these diets is also in question, the bigger problem is that even if the diets did work, they wouldn’t be safe for you to do. It is simply not medically advisable to lose lots of weight in a short amount of time. 

According to experts, you should not be losing more than one to two pounds of weight per week. This is a normal and healthy amount of weight loss if you have a good fitness plan. If you try to go faster than this, you can put yourself at risk of health complications. The issue is that to lose more than a couple of pounds a week, you are going to have to go extremely hard on the calorie deficit. This can lead to various problems including gallstones, a slowed metabolic rate, malnutrition, fatigue, and more. 

5. Myth: Preworkout Powder Is Important For Getting Massive Gains 

Pre-workout powder has been a big thing in the world of bodybuilding for a while, and top bodybuilders are often sponsored by particular brands. It’s become a heavily promoted product, and many now cannot imagine going without it. These powders are a mix of various things that vary from brand to brand including amino acids, vitamins, and the random stimulants you find in energy drinks. However, the one thing that they all contain in very large amounts, which is the most important part of all formulations, is caffeine. 

These powdered workout blends have so much caffeine that they have more than the average cup of coffee. And to make matters worse, like everything in the supplement category, there is no standardization and you do not know what you are getting when it comes to the rest of the blend from brand to brand. This doesn’t mean that pre-workout powder is not safe if you use it according to package instructions, and don’t mix it with too many other stimulant products, but it is not necessary and is not a replacement for a balanced diet. 

4. Myth: Need Potassium? Reach For A Banana 

Now, we want to be clear that we aren’t saying that bananas are low in potassium. They have a pretty large amount. However, most people think of bananas as the thing to reach for if you need a potassium boost but would be hard-pressed to tell you about other items that contain this essential electrolyte. This myth is so pervasive it has appeared in movies like Honey We Shrunk Ourselves, where a kid with a potassium problem who couldn’t find his medication saves his life with a banana. 

It is true that if you cannot find anything else with potassium on hand and you really need some a banana will help, but there are tons of options with higher amounts of it. Legumes, especially white beans, leafy greens, yams, many melons, and a plethora of other fruits and vegetables have significantly more potassium than a banana. While you may not have a lot of these on hand or know how to cook with them if you are not a big vegetable lover, you probably like at least a food item or two that is heavily tomato-based, These are another produce item with significantly more potassium than a banana and less sugar. 

3. Myth: Brown Rice Is Better For You Than White Rice 

Many people prefer white rice but wish they could tolerate brown rice more, as they know it is better for them. It has more vitamins, without the need to be enriched, and it has more fiber as well. On top of this, it is lower on the glycemic index. This makes it sound, on paper, like the far healthier option to consume regularly. However, there are some issues with brown rice that make it far more than a cut-and-dried decision. 

Now, since white rice is still a processed, enriched grain, it is not necessarily a good idea to eat it as your only or main source of carbohydrates, but brown rice may not necessarily be a great replacement either. Because it is processed less, brown rice has 80% more inorganic arsenic than white rice, which has caused concern among some public health experts. Even if we could get a handle on the arsenic problem, brown rice contains phytic acid, which many people have trouble digesting, and can stop your body from properly absorbing iron and zinc. 

2. Myth: Fad Dieting Will Help You Achieve Your Long-Term Weight Loss Goals 

This might sound like common sense, but statistics show that at any given time one in five Americans report being on some fad diet. These diets often involve severe caloric restriction, severe restrictions of various food groups, and other one-size-fits-all features that promise to make you shed those extra pounds and have the body you always dreamed of. Unfortunately, while one in five Americans are regularly on a diet of some type, these diets have been proven by scientific studies not to be effective for long-term weight loss — in fact, many people gain back more than they lose. 

That’s because most of these diets are either crash diets or too restrictive for the average person to stick with them long-term. They lose some weight temporarily, but rebound once they quit the diet, which they barely manage to keep up. These diets are designed in a way that, scientifically, they are very hard to sustain. The answer to long-term weight loss is finding a balanced, nutritious diet that works for your body, and also has tastes and textures that you can look forward to and not feel restricted by. 

1. Myth: Trying To Lose Weight Or Gain Muscle? Keep Your Eyes On The Scale 

When you’re trying to either lose weight, gain muscle, or both, it can be easy to slip into the (pretty unhealthy) habit of obsessing over what your scale says. Understandably, people want to see benchmarks of their success to keep them motivated, and the scale seems like an easy way to do so. Reality shows like The Biggest Loser have made losing just a handful of pounds a really big deal and left contestants feeling bad when they didn’t reach the artificial goal. 

However, the problem is that going by scale alone, especially looking at it regularly, can make things more frustrating than motivating. The issue is that your weight can vary from five to eight pounds every week, and sometimes every day based on a host of factors. This weight is mainly due to how much food and water is in your body (and yes, that includes your pee and poop). This weight can also be higher at certain times of the week. Studies have shown that Sunday is our highest weight point and that it goes down from there throughout the week, slowly creeping its way back up again nearer to Sunday.

When it comes to action movies, bigger is always better. For this reason, directors must seek out new and exciting ways to create massive explosions, car, plane and helicopter crashes as well as memorable over-the-top villains and swoon-worthy heroes. For instance, if you consider where the Fast & Furious franchise started and the direction it took after the fourth movie, it becomes fairly obvious that action movie fans love well… action. And a LOT of it.

With all that action on screen, there is bound to be some hidden and not-so-hidden behind-the-scenes details that sometimes find their way into the actual film. On this list are just a few, perhaps lesser known facts, that make action movies even more interesting.
Potential spoilers ahead.

10 Movies Based On Common Misconceptions

10 The Expendables—2010

Although the first movie in the Expendables franchise received lukewarm reviews in 2010, it became an instant hit with action movie fans and a massive commercial success. Starring big names such as Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li and Mickey Rourke, the plot entails a group of elite mercenaries who work together to overthrow a Latin American dictator.

Filming didn’t come without behind-the-scenes drama, however. Stallone reportedly suffered at least 14 injuries, including a neck fracture that left him with a metal plate in his neck. The injury reportedly happened during a fight scene with Steve Austin. And at one point, Austin was standing too close to a stunt explosion and his leg would have been blown clean off if it hadn’t been for the fact that he was standing next to a heavy-duty airbag which took most of the hit.^[1]

9 John Wick—2014

When John Wick exploded onto screens in 2014, fans couldn’t get enough of Keanu Reeves’ portrayal of Wick. The violent action flick scored a cool 87% on Rotten Tomatoes and people queued in long lines at movie theaters to see the character dubbed Baba Yaga or the ‘boogeyman’ in action. However, Baba Yaga isn’t actually a version of the boogeyman. Instead it is a mythical Russian witch who lures people into her home before eating them. She walks around on chicken legs, travels by means of a flying mortar and the hut she lives in is protected by a fence constructed of human bones.

Somehow, I don’t think John Wick would have had quite the same impact on fans if he had been running around on chicken legs.^[2]

8 Rise of the Planet of the Apes – 2011

Ceasar is arguably the most popular character in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The extremely intelligent and loyal chimpanzee suffers abuse inside an animal shelter alongside many other great apes. Eventually, during an uprising, the apes escape the shelter and its abusive staff and establish a new home in the forest.

The scene in which Ceasar says his first word, “no”, pays tribute to past films released in the 70s. Rise of the Planet of the Apes also brings the franchise together in the scene where a spaceship is launched. This ship is meant to recall Heston’s crew which had gone off on a mission in Planet of the Apes.

Furthermore, after the apes break free from their prison, four leaders appear in a single shot: Maurice, Ceasar, Buck and Rocket. Together they represent the four species of apes, namely: Bonobo, Chimpanzee, Gorilla and Orangutan.^[3]

7 Mad Max: Fury Road – 2015

This over-the-top post-apocalyptic movie scored big with fans worldwide, grossing almost 400 million. Producers have been champing at the bit to make the film since 1997, but every time they were about to get started, a stumbling block was thrown their way. In 2001, just as they were ready to begin filming, 9/11 happened. By the time they were ready again in 2003, the Iraq War thew a spanner in the works.

The movie was finally completed in 2013 and the premiere took place in May 2015. It was clear to see the effort that had gone into the making of the movie with more than 80% of the stunts and effects being real and not created with the help of CGI.

Fury Road also caused some controversy with people complaining about what they claimed to be a pro-feminist agenda pushed in the film. The complaint stemmed from the amount of screen time given to Charlize Theron’s character and the fact that Eve Ensler material was used. Ensler is the author of The Vagina Monologues. There was even a call for a boycott of the film by Men’s Rights Activists.^[4]

6 Interstellar—2014

Science fiction action film, Interstellar, was an absolute hit at the box office in 2014 and its ending left viewers gaping at the screen.

Any movie set in space requires a lot of research and the ideas that formed the core of Interstellar’s plot came from Dr. Kip Thorne, a theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate. He agreed that his ideas may be used but insisted that no content in the movie contradict the laws of science and that any scientific speculation would be provided by a scientist and not a screenwriter. This didn’t stop filmmaker, Christopher Nolan, from deciding that the characters should travel faster than the speed of light. It took Thorne a full two weeks to dissuade Nolan from that notion.^[5]

10 Shocking Weight Transformations By Actors For Films

5 Furious 7—2015

Furious 7 is the seventh instalment of the Fast & Furious franchise but will forever be known as the last film to feature the late Paul Walker. Walker was in the process of filming scenes for Furious 7 when he died in a car crash on 30 November 2013. James Wan directed the movie and it ended up grossing over 1.5 billion dollars worldwide, the highest-grossing franchise film in only two weeks.

What some may find surprising is that Paul Walker wasn’t the filmmakers’ first choice to play Brian O’Conner. Instead they considered Eminem, Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale before finally settling on Walker. After the release of Furious 7, it was revealed that Denzel Washington had been offered a role in the movie which he turned down. The role then went to Kurt Russell.^[6]

4 Baby Driver – 2017

Baby Driver is not your average paint-by-numbers action flick. Instead, it combines a killer soundtrack and an unexpected, partially hearing-impaired hero for a violent yet original thrill-ride that movie-goers loved.

Director, Edgar Wright, came up with the idea for Baby Driver in 1994 when he heard the song “Bellbottoms” by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosions. This same song can be heard during the opening sequence of the movie. He was further inspired by a lot of movies that featured car chases including The Italian Job, Vanishing Point, Smokey and the Bandit, and The Blues Brothers.

It also took at least 18 months to get clearance for the music tracks featured in the movie, before shooting could even start, beginning with popular duo Simon & Garfunkel.^[7]

3 The First Purge – 2018

Serving as a prequel to the previous three films in the franchise, The First Purge further explores the movement to push the crime rate in America below 1% for a year by allowing 12 hours of lawlessness. While this dystopian action horror movie is definitely not for the faint of heart and is referred to by many as a B-movie in disguise, it has somewhat of a cult following. The series to date has earned more than 300 million dollars and cost only 23 million to make.

James DeMonaco was involved in creating and directing all the Purge movies with the exception of The First Purge. When DeMonaco was a child, he became obsessed with the Manson murders and has admitted that the insane Manson cult still has an influence over everything that he writes.

Even with the absence of DeMonaco in The First Purge, there is still a lot of small details and symbolism included that fans may have missed the first time they watched the film. For instance, a poster for the 2018 Halloween movie can be seen during a scene in The First Purge, but this muddles up the timeline for the movie itself as the Purge was meant to have been established in 2017.

There is also a recurring blue motif in The First Purge that becomes almost overpowering once you notice it. It colors the New Founding Fathers of America’s campaign signs, flags and pins. There are mercenaries wearing blue hoodies and even bright blue contact lenses for Isaiah who is bathed in blue light and framed against blue walls.^[8]

2 6 Underground—2019

6 Underground made its debut on Netflix and stars Ryan Reynolds, Mélanie Laurent, Corey Hawkins and Dave Franco. Directed by Michael Bay, this film follows an American billionaire (played by Reynolds) who fakes his own death and forms a vigilante squad to take out terrorists and other violent criminals.

While the movie’s reviews weren’t all that great, most action fans love it. It was shot in Abu Dhabi and includes all the features that makes an action movie: loud explosions, car crashes and impossibly attractive people. In other words, a typical Michael Bay film.

It was Michael Bay’s first effort for Netflix and the streaming giant’s second most expensive film after Bright, starring Will Smith. The movie stars real-life UAE soldiers that stand in as extras and the military also provided aircraft for use in several scenes. The yacht seen in the film was rented from Shahid Khan, a Pakistani-American billionaire who owns Flex-N-Gate and the NFL team Jacksonville Jaguars.^[9]

1 Bad Boys for Life—2020

Fans of the Bad Boys movies waited patiently for 17 years for the third film to see the light of day. Bad Boys for Life was released early 2020 and grossed over 400 million dollars. It is also the highest-grossing movie released in January.

Michael Bay directed the first two Bad Boys movies, but the third was directed by Adil El Arbi and Billal Farrah, two young Belgian directors. Will Smith was co-producer alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Doug Belgrad. Bay had a small cameo as a wedding MC in the film which he directed himself using his well-known 360-degree camera angle. This scene creates a plot hole however, since Bay also had a cameo in the second movie in which he plays the driver of a car hijacked by Mike and Marcus.

It was also because of Michael Bay’s constant fighting with the studio during the first Bad Boys movie, that a sequel and consequent third film ever saw the light. Bay complained that he had to battle the studio to get a lot of creative choices approved. He also had multiple fights with the crew who tried to resist Bay’s unique scene cut method. This method was eventually imitated by other directors after the release of the first film.^[10]

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