Ever since humanity’s beginnings, we have had a fascination with what is going on “next door.” Back then, we went looking over the hill or in a nearby cave, while now we venture toward our neighboring planets. The scope of our exploration has changed, but our ambition remains the same. And, of course, none of the collective knowledge that we now have about the world around us would be possible without courageous explorers who braved the unknown in search of answers and adventure. The following 10 badass explorers put Indiana Jones to shame.

10 Badass Explorers

10 Douglas Mawson

Douglas Mawson is considered to be one of the key explorers during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. In fact, Mawson was a part of the famed Nimrod Expedition, led by Ernest Shackleton, that was the first to try and reach the South Pole.

In 1911, Mawson was put in charge of his own team called the Australasian Antarctic Expedition. The entire endeavor would last over a year. When it was finally time to journey to the South Pole, a team was put together, comprised of Mawson, British officer Belgrave Ninnis, and Swiss champion skier Xavier Mertz. Their goal was to journey over to Scott’s base and link the two regions. Their trek became doomed about 35 days in when Ninnis fell into a crevasse, taking most of the food and dogs with him. Now, Mawson and Mertz were left with just 10 days of food and 35 days until the nearest base.

The two were forced to eat the remaining dogs and walk back. The bad food and the terrible conditions soon took the life of Mertz. Convinced he wouldn’t make it back, Mawson kept taking scientific notes. He journeyed through the snow, only bolstered by the idea of seeing his fiance again. At one point, he fell down in a crevasse (later named Mertz Glacier), survived, and climbed back up. Two weeks later, he found a cache of supplies in a snow cairn. The provisions lasted him until he made it back to his base three months later.

9 Neel

Alexandra David-Neel had an itch to explore ever since she was little, when she lived in Brussels. At one point, when she was 18, she climbed on her bicycle and rode it all the way to Spain. As a woman, she tried to marry and settle down, but it just wasn’t for her. In 1911, she left her husband, Philippe Neel, and went on a journey through Asia.

She first went to India, staying in Sikkim where she absorbed the culture. She learned the Tibetan language, started practicing yoga, and became the first European woman to meet the Dalai Lama. She even adopted a 14‑year‑old monk named Aphur Yongden. She then visited the forbidden city of Lhasa in Tibet, which was mostly off‑limits to foreigners, especially women. For this, she got kicked out of Sikkim by the British ambassador.

By this point, she had fallen completely in love with Tibet, and going back to Europe wasn’t an option. Instead, she and Yongden went to Japan. There, they met a Buddhist monk who told them he went to Lhasa by disguising himself as a Chinese physician. David‑Neel and Yongden decided to try the same strategy, so they embarked on a 2,000‑mile journey to Lhasa.

In 1923, authorities discovered the duo traveling toward Tibet, and they were sent back. So they tried again in 1924. This time they had a clever ruse: They pretended to be Buddhist pilgrims. In order to pass as a Tibetan woman, David‑Neel had to darken her skin every day. The trick worked and David‑Neel spent two months in Lhasa before returning to Europe and writing about her exploits abroad.

8 Kit Carson

Kit Carson was the prototypical frontiersman of his day, despite the fact that he looked and acted nothing like you would expect. He was clean‑shaven and well groomed, had an unassuming manner, but showed implacable courage when the need arose. He was known for being a man of his word and maintained friendly relationships with various Native American tribes, even taking native wives on two separate occasions.

Most of his fame was attained after 1842, when John C. Fremont hired him as a guide. Fremont was a politician who would go on to become the first presidential candidate for the newly formed Republican party. Before this, he led several expeditions into the American West and used Carson as guide for all of them. Afterward, Fremont would speak highly of Carson in his reports, which is what gained him the image of an American folk hero who would go on to appear in numerous Western novels.

While on such a journey, the Mexican‑American War broke out and Fremont decided to join the Bear Flag Revolt. His group lent assistance to the American settlers in the area, and Carson was the one who led them into battle. After a victory, Fremont asked Carson to return to Washington to deliver the news of their success. He only made it as far as New Mexico before being recruited again, this time by General Stephen Kearny, who required his services as a guide in order to defeat the Mexican forces.

7 John Colter

Colter’s early fame came when he took part in one of the most famous expeditions of all time, alongside Lewis and Clark. Although he was an integral part of the expedition, as one of the best scouts and hunters in the group, Colter never actually got to see the journey to the finish. He was honorably discharged two months early in order to join up with two fur trappers and travel up the Missouri.

This partnership didn’t last long, but Colter soon found himself working with another fur trapper called Manuel Lisa. It was during this time that Colter became the first man of European descent to explore Yellowstone. He gave firsthand descriptions of the thermal lakes and geysers present there, but nobody believed him that such a place existed. One of the geyser basins he visited is still known as Colter’s Hell (pictured above) even though it’s inactive today.

One famous incident became known as Colter’s Run. In 1809, while trapping with John Potts, a fellow Lewis and Clark alumnus, the duo were attacked by members of the Blackfoot tribe. Potts was killed by a hail of arrows while trying to escape. Colter was captured, stripped naked, and told to run, forced to take part in a perverted game of “cat and mouse.” Against all odds, Colter managed to outrun the Blackfeet and survived for a week in the wilderness, until he reached an American settlement, despite being naked and having no food or equipment.

6 Tenzing Norgay

On May 29, 1953, Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary made history by becoming the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Of course, since Tenzing was “only” a Sherpa guide, most of the fame went to Hillary. Sherpa Tenzing became well known and respected in his homeland of Nepal and in India, but remained a relatively obscure figure in the West.

By the time the expedition took place, Tenzing was already an experienced mountaineer. This marked his seventh time attempting to climb Everest, each time getting a little closer to the top.

On this expedition, Hillary and Tenzing weren’t the first team to attempt to reach the summit. John Hunt, the man in charge of the expedition, initially directed two other climbers, Charles Evans and Tom Bourdillon, to make the first attempt. They made it to within 90 vertical meters (300 ft) of the summit before being forced to turn back due to an error with Evans’s oxygen system.

Next came Hillary’s turn. He insisted on having Tenzing as his partner because he had actually saved Hillary’s life earlier in the expedition when Hillary fell into a crevasse. Tenzing had been walking behind him and had the presence of mind to thrust his axe into the ice and grab onto the rope, which was tied around Hillary’s waist. He managed to save Hillary, just before his body smashed into the icy depths of the crevasse.

5 Zheng He

A 14th‑century Chinese explorer during the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He has the distinction of being the only eunuch on this list. He was active during a time when China was greatly expanding its knowledge of the world due to thriving trade relations with neighboring cultures. It was decided that improving trade relations, as well as securing Chinese dominance over the Indian Ocean, was a top priority. A giant armada was assembled, captained by Zheng He, who had risen to the rank of admiral by then.

The size of the Ming Armada was something unparalleled up until that point. It was comprised of huge junks with nine masts, surrounded by dozens of smaller transport ships, patrol boats, and water tankers. The largest ships in the flotilla were over 120 meters (400 ft) in length. In total, the armada had a crew of 27,000 people, both sailors and soldiers. The boats were loaded with prized Chinese silk and porcelain, and went from port to port, establishing trade routes for valued goods such as spices, pearls, and ivory.

In total, Zheng He undertook seven expeditions between 1405 and his death in 1433. The first three expeditions were all to India. The fourth crossed the Arabian Sea into Persia and the last four made it all the way to Africa. In the wake of the Treasure Fleet, as it came to be known, dozens of states sent tributes back to China.

4 Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca

In 1526, the Spanish were looking to take expeditions into the New World. After a year of securing funds, the expedition was ready to set sail. A man named Panfilo de Narvaez commanded a crew of 600, most of them soldiers. His objective was to establish a base in Florida and develop two new towns, protected by military garrisons. Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was second in command, appointed treasurer to ensure that the Spanish Crown received its cut of the wealth accumulated during the trip.

Unfortunately, there would be no wealth because the Narvaez expedition would turn out to be a complete disaster. Before even reaching Florida, one ship—along with all the men and supplies onboard—was lost to a storm. Eventually, about 400 men reached what is now Tampa Bay in March 1528. However, between more storms and violent Native Americans, only 80 men made it out of Florida. By this time, Narvaez was dead and de Vaca was in charge.

Over the next eight years, the expedition would make its way to the Gulf Coast, with its members becoming the first Europeans to cross Texas. Starvation and disease took their toll and only four members of the expedition would ever get to return to Spain. During the expedition, de Vaca assimilated with Native American culture and became sensitive to the plight of the native people. When he returned home, he wrote of his adventures in La Relación and urged for better treatment of the indigenous people.

3 Hugh Glass

Glass was an explorer and frontiersman, a fur trapper by trade. In 1822, he would become part of an expedition called “Ashley’s Hundred” comprised of General William Ashley and 99 other men, who were traveling along the Missouri River on a fur trading mission.

In August 1823, Glass was walking through the woods when he came upon a grizzly bear and her cubs. She promptly attacked him before Glass had time to fire his rifle, so the two started wrestling. Eventually, Glass grabbed his knife and managed to gain the upper hand, defeating the bear, but sustaining serious injuries and losing consciousness.

He wasn’t expected to last long, so two other men stayed behind with Glass to bury him while the rest of the expedition carried on. There was just one problem—Glass wouldn’t die. Eventually, the two men decided that if they ever wanted to catch up, they had to leave Glass behind. They did just that. They planned to tell everyone that Glass was dead and buried. This also meant that they took his rifle, equipment, and all the supplies, because they wouldn’t bury those with a dead man.

Eventually, Glass woke up—severely injured, abandoned, and with no equipment. He set his own broken leg and let maggots infest his wounds so they would eat his dead flesh. He survived mostly on roots and berries. Over the next six weeks, Glass undertook a 320‑kilometer (200 mi) journey in order to reach Fort Kiowa, the nearest American settlement.

2 Jedediah Smith

As Hugh Glass showed, early 19th‑century America was a wild and untamed place, where only the brave and fierce would prosper. It was a time of discovery in a land of mystery, and the famed mountain men were the ones who faced the unknown in order to reveal new trails and passages and unlock more secrets of this New World.

Jedediah Smith has a resume very similar to that of Glass. He, too, was a fur trader, a trapper, and an explorer who was employed by the aforementioned General William Ashley. Like Glass, Smith also fought off a grizzly and had to have one of his ears sewn back onto his head afterward.

He also took part in numerous important expeditions throughout the frontier and helped explore many regions in Colorado, Utah, California, and Oregon. Most notably, he found the South Pass through the Rockies which, in reality, was actually a rediscovery, since the Astor Expedition had already found it.

Smith would go on to have a far more lucrative career than Glass, though, primarily highlighted by his ability to survive Native American attacks. In fact, it was his actions during one such attack by the Arikara tribe that brought him to the attention of General Ashley. Smith volunteered and successfully managed to return with reinforcements after his group was attacked in an Arikara village; for this Ashley appointed him captain. Later on, Ashley would make him a partner and even sell him his stock in the company after retirement.

1 Fridtjof Nansen

Fridtjof Nansen was a Norwegian explorer who initially gained fame by leading the first team that crossed Greenland’s interior. Afterward, he was famed for his North Pole expedition. Later in life, he studied oceanography and eventually became a commissioner for the League of Nations.

Right off the bat, Nansen’s idea of exploration was different from everybody else’s. For his journey across Greenland, Nansen wanted to use a small team and specially designed, lightweight equipment so that the supplies could be hauled by members of the expedition without the aid of animals or machines.

He also wanted to start from the east and head west while everyone else did exactly the opposite. The west was inhabited—if you ran into trouble you could head back. The east wasn’t inhabited. You had no choice but to go forward.

Even though everyone said that this was basically a suicide mission, Nansen and five others went on the trip and successfully crossed Greenland in two months. Afterward, Nansen started planning his next, even more dangerous adventure. This time he wanted to reach the North Pole but, again, in a manner most other explorers deemed suicidal. His plan was to take advantage of the natural currents of the Arctic Ocean by letting his ship intentionally freeze in the pack ice and then drift away toward the pole.

The Fram set sail on June 24, 1893. It returned three years later. Despite several false starts, a walrus attack, and Nansen getting lost while heading toward the North Pole and being declared dead, Fram returned to Norway triumphant, having established a new farthest‑north record.

When you wonder about the twisted imagination behind the war, the question that keeps historians awake is: what exact plans Hitler would have rolled out if the Nazis had actually won? Below we break down ten of the most bizarre, horrifying, and oddly specific schemes that were drafted, ready to reshape the world in a fascist image.

How These Plans Hitler Would Have Implemented

10. Returning American Land To The Natives

Although the Nazis were ruthless white supremacists, they oddly showed a degree of acceptance toward Native Americans.

They forged ties with the American Indian Federation, turning the group into fervent Nazi sympathizers. Some members, like the self‑styled “Chief Red Cloud,” even plastered swastikas on their clothing and denounced Jews as “children of Satan,” claiming they controlled the Indian service.

“Chief Red Cloud” was, in fact, a fabricated identity adopted by Portland attorney Elwood A. Towner, a Native American; the genuine Chief Red Cloud died in 1909 and had no connection to Hitler.

The Nazis proclaimed that Native Americans were Aryans, dispatching undercover propaganda agents to the United States to incite a revolt against the government. In exchange, they vowed to return the ancestral lands to the Indigenous peoples.

Whether the promises were genuine or not, many listeners took them seriously. “Chief Red Cloud” (Towner) claimed he could mobilize an army of 750,000 Native Americans ready to fight for Hitler, promising that as soon as a Nazi force set foot on American soil, they would help tear the United States apart.

9. A Giant Space Mirror

One of the strangest Nazi schemes involved a colossal mirror placed in orbit, spanning about 1.6 kilometers (roughly one mile) in diameter and hovering 35,900 kilometers (22,300 miles) above Earth.

The concept resembled a malicious child using a magnifying glass to scorch ants: whenever the Nazis felt offended, they would tilt the mirror to reflect the Sun’s rays onto an adversary’s city, turning the beam into a searing weapon capable of igniting anything it struck.

The design even called for a full‑scale space station within the mirror, housing a crew that would survive on food and oxygen harvested from a cultivated pumpkin crop.

Modern scholars doubt the feasibility of such a weapon, yet the mastermind Hermann Oberth was so confident that after the war he attempted to persuade the Americans to construct it. Had he secured more time, the Nazis might have completed the mirror, casting a terrifying glare over the planet.

8. The Greater East Asia Co‑Prosperity Sphere

Japan, as Germany’s Axis partner, drafted its own sweeping blueprint: the Greater East Asia Co‑Prosperity Sphere. Under this plan, Japan would dominate every region east of the 70th meridian, encompassing most of India and everything beyond.

The sphere’s name sounded benevolent, yet it concealed a brutal agenda. Conquered peoples would be molded into “leaders of their people,” essentially serving as puppets for Japanese rule.

Japan already began rolling out the scheme, presenting it as liberation from Western imperialism under the slogan “Asia for Asiatics.” In reality, the peoples of Asia would be forced to accept Japanese authority.

Japanese would become the official language throughout the Eastern Hemisphere, with teachers dispatched to every school to provide “the guidance of Japanese culture” to young minds. Even Australia and New Zealand would fall under Japanese control, and Hitler believed this would mean the end of every white person living there.

7. A Great Wall Of Baby‑Makers

To counter the looming Japanese bloc, the Nazis envisioned a “living wall” of German colonists stationed along the eastern border, tasked with reproducing at a feverish rate.

Any veteran who had served twelve years in the Nazi army would be dispatched to this frontier, given a farm and a rifle, and ordered to produce as many children as possible.

These soldiers were required to marry local women—German spouses were forbidden—so that the offspring would blend German and local bloodlines, creating a new generation of half‑German children. Hitler demanded each frontline veteran father at least seven children to bolster the population.

6. Pitting America And England Against Each Other

Publicly, Hitler insisted he had no intention of invading the United States, calling the notion “as fantastic as the invasion of the Moon.” He blamed “warmongers” for inflating fear for profit.

Privately, however, he expressed a deep‑seated hatred for Americanism, describing it as “half Judaized, half Negrified.” He believed the United States would eventually turn against Great Britain.

Hitler imagined that once America entered the war, it would seize the chance to assault Britain. He claimed that England and America would eventually go to war with each other, each harboring the greatest possible hatred, and that one of the two nations would have to disappear.

If Britain fell first, Hitler said the United States would face the full might of the Third Reich. Conversely, if America remained standing after Europe’s defeat, the Nazis would force a direct confrontation.

5. Enslaving Eastern Europe

Beyond the Holocaust, the Nazis had a monstrous blueprint for the Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe, known as Generalplan Ost, aimed at eradicating their culture and populations.

The first wave targeted leaders: Soviet elites and cultural figures were systematically liquidated to prevent any sense of national pride from surviving.

Had the Nazis conquered Russia, they planned to deport 31 million Slavs to Siberia for forced labor, while a slave‑trade system modeled after American slavery would dispatch many more. To replace them, ten million ethnic Germans would be settled to create racially pure families.

Overall, within thirty years, the regime intended to deport or murder about 50 million people, effectively wiping out nearly every Eastern European.

4. Shooting Gandhi

In 1938, Hitler advised the British foreign minister to “shoot Gandhi,” and if that proved insufficient, to eliminate a dozen leading members of the Indian Congress.

Hitler regarded Indians as a “lower race” destined for Aryan domination, and he believed that, should the Nazis seize world power, Gandhi’s non‑violent resistance would be crushed.

During the war, Subhas Chandra Bose sought Hitler’s support for an Indian revolt against the British, rallying thousands. However, Hitler’s deep‑seated prejudices meant he never deployed Bose’s forces.

Instead, Bose allied with Japan, and India was slated to become part of the Greater East Asia Co‑Prosperity Sphere. If the Nazis later overran Japan, Hitler’s earlier declaration indicated that India would face harsh Aryan rule.

3. Enslaving All British Men

As Britain resisted, Hitler’s admiration for the English spirit waned, giving way to a desire to devastate their lives.

Under Nazi rule, every able‑bodied male aged 17‑45 would be transferred to continental Europe for forced labor, while women and children would remain at home until the boys turned seventeen.

All personal property would be confiscated, and any resistance would be met with immediate execution.

Heinrich Himmler even contemplated a more extreme measure: exterminating 80 percent of the British population as soon as the nation fell.

2. Letting Muslims Rule The Middle East

Surprisingly, Hitler expressed a preference for Islam over Christianity, declaring that the Mohammedan faith would have been more compatible with Nazi Germany.

Initially, he promised the Middle East to Italy, but later aligned with Haj Amin al‑Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who shared enemies: the British, Jews, and Communists.

Al‑Husseini sought to lead a fascist uprising against the British, but Hitler instructed him to wait until the war with the USSR concluded. Nonetheless, they collaborated on a death squad targeting Jews in Palestine.

When the Nazis faced defeat, Hitler blamed the loss on insufficient cooperation with Muslim allies, lamenting that he could have “emancipated the Moslem countries.” Had the Nazis triumphed, the Middle East would have become a region where fascism and Islam co‑ruled.

1. Converting Eastern Europe Into Jehovah’s Witnesses

While the Nazis were not planning to make the entire empire Muslim, Heinrich Himmler envisioned converting Eastern Europe to Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Although the regime murdered tens of thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses in concentration camps, Himmler admired the group’s fanatic work ethic combined with pacifism, believing it could be harnessed for Germany’s benefit.

He ordered Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner to promote the religion throughout Eastern Europe, hoping the Witnesses’ dedication would strengthen the Nazi state while their pacifist stance would curb violent resistance.

Thus, under a victorious Nazi world order, the continent would have endured slavery, genocide, and advanced weapons, alongside a surprising prevalence of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The bewildering world around us got a little less bewildering recently. So far, 2018 has been a good year for solving mysteries that had haunted us for decades, centuries, and even millennia. More and more of the unknown becomes known with each passing day.

10 Mysteries Conundrums Overview

10 Who Was Joseph Chandler?

Back in 2002, a 76‑year‑old resident of Eastlake, Ohio, named Joseph Chandler took his own life. At first glance the case seemed straightforward—an elderly man, a tragic end, and that was that. However, when officials tried to trace his next‑of‑kin, they hit a puzzling snag: the man who died was not the real Joseph Newton Chandler III, whose actual death occurred back in 1945 when he was merely eight years old.

This identity conundrum lingered for sixteen years until June 2018, when investigators finally announced that the deceased was in fact Robert Ivan Nichols. By deploying genealogical sleuthing and DNA analysis, they located Nichols’s surviving son and confirmed his true name.

Robert Nichols had served as a decorated World War II Navy sailor. After the war he settled into a seemingly ordinary existence—married, three children, and a drafting job at General Electric. Yet in 1964 he vanished from his family’s life, promising they would learn the reason “in due time.” By 1978 he resurfaced under the alias Joseph Chandler, complete with a fabricated birth certificate, Social Security card, and employment record. The fourteen‑year gap between his disappearance and re‑emergence remains shrouded in mystery.

Those who knew him as Joseph described a quirky, solitary intellect who always kept a suitcase ready for a sudden departure and would disappear for days or weeks without warning. Authorities still piece together his earlier years, suspecting a darker motive for his disappearance. One popular theory even links him to the Zodiac Killer, though no definitive proof has emerged.

9 What Did The Spanish King Say To His General?

Ferdinand II of Aragon, a pivotal figure in Spanish history, helped drive the Reconquista, wed Isabella I, and backed Columbus’s maiden voyage. Recently, Spain’s intelligence service cracked a half‑millennium‑old cipher that Ferdinand employed to correspond with his general, Gonzalo de Córdoba, during the war with France over the Kingdom of Naples.

The encrypted letters traveled roughly fifteen days between the monarch and his commander, prompting the use of a secret code to safeguard the messages should they fall into enemy hands.

The cipher comprised 237 combined letters and 88 unique symbols, each real character built from two to six of these symbols and written without any spacing between words. Historians stared at the tangled script for centuries. After the letters were displayed at the Army Museum in Toledo, professional codebreakers from Spain’s National Intelligence Center were summoned. After six months of painstaking work, they decoded four letters, and hope remains that the remaining correspondence will eventually be deciphered.

8 Why Is Tracy Melting Fast?

In Greenland, two neighboring glaciers—Tracy and Heilprin—drain into the Inglefield Gulf. Though they sit side by side, Tracy is shedding ice at nearly four times the rate of Heilprin.

Human observers have sporadically monitored the pair for 120 years. Over that span, Tracy has retreated more than 15 km (9.5 mi) upstream, while Heilprin has only withdrawn about 4 km (2.5 mi). The stark contrast baffled scientists for decades.

NASA’s Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) campaign, launched in 2015, finally illuminated the cause. Oceanic measurements revealed a warm water plume coursing beneath Tracy, whereas a much cooler flow lies in front of Heilprin. Additionally, Tracy’s grounding line reaches roughly 600 m (2,000 ft) below sea level, compared with Heilprin’s 350 m (1,100 ft). Since the upper ocean layer around Greenland is colder than the deeper water that originates further south, Tracy’s deeper immersion subjects it to more warm water, accelerating its melt rate.

7 What Happened To Louise Pietrewicz?

Louise Pietrewicz vanished 51 years ago from a farming community on Long Island, and only now have investigators uncovered her remains, offering a glimpse into her final moments.

In 1967, 38‑year‑old Louise ran off with her boyfriend, police officer William Boken. Trapped in an abusive marriage, she emptied her savings, Boken quit his job, and the pair disappeared together. The case faded from public memory, and no one was ever charged.

A deep‑dive by the Suffolk Times last year revived interest, prompting a woman to step forward. She turned out to be Boken’s ex‑wife, who claimed that he had hidden a body beneath the basement of their former Southold home. Using ground‑penetrating radar, police located skeletal remains packed in a burlap sack. DNA testing matched the remains to Louise’s daughter, confirming her identity. Autopsy revealed she had been shot, most likely by Boken, who died in 1982. The ex‑wife’s tip finally solved the long‑standing mystery.

6 Where Did The Embrithopods Come From?

The newest fossil find of the extinct mammalian order Embrithopoda finally clarifies the group’s origins.

When the dinosaurs vanished, a vacuum opened that was quickly filled by large mammals, among them Embrithopoda—relatives of modern elephants. The most famous member, Arsinoitherium, resembled a massive rhino with two enormous horns perched above its nose.

Excavators in a Moroccan quarry uncovered 55‑million‑year‑old remains of a new genus named Stylolophus. This pushes the earliest known embrithopod fossils back by seven million years, settling a debate over whether the order began in Africa or the Middle East. Prior to this, the oldest specimens dated to 48 million years and were scattered across northern Africa and Turkey. The Moroccan discovery supports the view that embrithopods originated in Africa, prompting some paleontologists to reclassify them within the broader Afrotheria clade, which includes elephants, tenrecs, sea cows, aardvarks, and hyraxes.

5 Who Was Lyle Stevik?

In 2001, a young man in his twenties checked into a motel in Amanda Park, Washington, under the alias Lyle Stevik. He hanged himself, and his body was discovered a few days later. Despite extensive efforts, authorities could not determine his true identity, leaving Lyle Stevik an enduring enigma.

The mystery captured the imagination of the online community, spawning countless theories. Some linked his suicide, which occurred shortly after the September 11 attacks, to the tragedy itself—speculating he might have been a would‑be hijacker who backed out, a planner wracked with guilt, a spy, or a cult member. The lack of concrete evidence allowed these wild conjectures to flourish.

In May 2018, the DNA Doe Project—a nonprofit that uses genealogy databases to identify unknown decedents—finally solved the case. By cross‑referencing DNA profiles, they uncovered his real identity, though police have kept his actual name private to protect his family’s privacy. The truth turned out to be far less sensational: Lyle was simply a troubled youth who ran away from home and chose to end his life.

4 Why Is The Great Pyramid Lopsided?

The Egyptian pyramids have long been hailed as engineering marvels, sparking theories of alien assistance. Yet the Great Pyramid of Giza isn’t perfectly symmetrical; its western side is marginally longer than the eastern side, giving it a subtle tilt.

Surprisingly, this irregularity escaped detection until 2016. Researchers from Ancient Egypt Research Associates (AERA) and the Glen Dash Research Foundation conducted a detailed survey to map the pyramid’s original base. Since the outer white‑limestone casing had been stripped away, they searched for the faint markings that indicated where the original stones sat.

By pinpointing 84 reference points, they applied linear regression to calculate side lengths. The measurements showed the north, south, and east faces ranged from 230.295 m to 230.373 m (755.561–755.817 ft), while the west face measured slightly longer at 230.378 m to 230.436 m (755.833–756.024 ft). This minor construction slip explains the pyramid’s slight lopsidedness—still impressive, but a reminder that even ancient builders made tiny errors.

3 What Killed The Unluckiest Man In Pompeii?

Recent excavations at the ancient Roman city of Pompeii uncovered a skeleton that quickly went viral as the “unluckiest man in the world.” The initial impression suggested a massive 270‑kg (595‑lb) stone block had slammed into his upper body, apparently decapitating him.

Further study, however, revised his cause of death. Archaeologists found the missing upper portions of the skeleton intact and concluded that he died from asphyxiation caused by the pyroclastic flow, not from a crushing stone. The body lay atop a Bourbon‑era tunnel that collapsed, causing his skull, thorax, and upper limbs to fall about a meter (3.3 ft) below the rest of his remains. Aside from a few fractures, his skull remained whole and even retained most of its teeth, contradicting the earlier “decapitated by boulder” narrative.

Researchers continue to investigate how the skeleton ended up in that peculiar position. One hypothesis suggests the stone block might have been a doorjamb that fell over the body after the tunnel collapsed, but the exact timing remains uncertain.

2 What Causes The Lightning Of Jupiter?

For centuries, scholars theorized that Jupiter generated lightning, but it wasn’t until Voyager 1’s 1979 flyby that the phenomenon was confirmed. Subsequent questions lingered about how Jovian lightning differed from Earth’s.

The Juno spacecraft’s Microwave Radiometer (MWR) finally answered many of those queries. It recorded 377 lightning discharges that, unlike earlier observations limited to the kilohertz range, spanned megahertz and gigahertz frequencies—mirroring Earth’s lightning spectrum. This clarified that previous discrepancies stemmed from insufficient instrumentation rather than an exotic Jovian mechanism.

Nonetheless, Jupiter’s lightning displays a distinct pattern. JPL scientist Shannon Brown describes it as “inside‑out” compared to Earth: storms concentrate near the poles and are virtually absent at the equator. The contrast arises from how each planet acquires heat. Earth receives most of its energy from the Sun, warming the equator and fostering moist, rising air that fuels thunderstorms. Jupiter, however, gets 25 times less solar energy, leading to a relatively stable equatorial atmosphere where warm air does not rise, while its poles, receiving enough internal heat, host vigorous lightning activity.

1 When Did Our Testicles Descend?

A recent study in PLOS Biology tackles the evolutionary origins of descended testicles, asking whether early mammals possessed this trait or acquired it later.

Today, members of the Afrotheria clade—such as elephants, hyraxes, and sea cows—exhibit “testicondy,” meaning their testes remain tucked inside the abdomen. Scientists wondered if this was a primitive condition or a derived reversal.

Because soft tissue rarely fossilizes, researchers from the Max Planck Institute examined the genetic record instead. They focused on two genes, INSL3 and RXFP2, known to drive testicular descent before birth. Analyzing the genomes of 71 mammals, they discovered that four Afrotherian species with testicondy still carried non‑functional copies of these genes.

By counting mutations accumulated in these defunct genes, the team estimated their loss occurred between 23 and 83 million years ago. Since the Afrotherian lineage split from other mammals around 100 million years ago, the inference is that the earliest Afrotherians possessed descended testes. Consequently, early mammals likely shared this trait, and the abdominal retention seen in modern Afrotherians evolved independently on at least four separate occasions.

When most people hear the word “bribery,” they picture shady deals and dark alleys. Yet, as we’ll see, the phrase 10 bribes put can also describe moments where a little cash (or a favor) turned the tide for good. From a father’s desperate act in Auschwitz to a pork board’s clever marketing ploy, these ten stories prove that not every bribe is a villainous plot.

10 Bribes Put: A Quick Overview

10 Geddy Lee’s Parents Were at Auschwitz, Where His Father Bribed Guards to Give Gifts to His Mother

For a generation of rock fans, Rush stands as Canada’s proudest musical export, and its front‑man Geddy Lee is celebrated for his soaring vocals and inventive songwriting. Yet behind the fame lies a poignant family saga: Lee’s parents, both Polish teens, were swept up by World War II and shipped to Auschwitz just after they met, barely twelve years old.

The Nazis kept men and women apart in the camps, allowing only brief, supervised glimpses of each other. In that harsh environment, Lee’s father managed to bribe the guards, slipping them small sums so his wife could receive essential items—most notably a pair of shoes—helping her survive the brutal winter.

Eventually the couple were separated and sent to different camps. When the war ended, Lee’s father tracked down his wife at Bergen‑Belsen, where they were able to marry amid the chaos of a displaced‑persons camp. The pair later emigrated to Canada, where they raised a family that would include the future rock icon.

While we can’t quantify the exact impact of those clandestine payments, it’s clear that Lee’s father’s willingness to grease the wheels of a ruthless system provided a sliver of humanity for his wife during an unimaginable ordeal.

9 Kevin Bacon Bribes Wedding DJs to Not Play Footloose

Kevin Bacon, the actor who birthed the famous “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game, also earned a reputation for a very specific musical aversion. His breakout role in the 1984 film Footloose paired him forever with Kenny Loggins’ upbeat anthem, a song that still gets people on their feet.

Decades later, Bacon grew weary of the constant reminder. He confessed to slipping a crisp $20 bill to wedding DJs, urging them to skip the Footloose track whenever he’s in the room. The modest bribe spares him the embarrassment of being forced into an impromptu dance routine at someone else’s celebration.

This tiny, yet telling, payment illustrates how a simple cash incentive can steer a cultural moment away from an unwanted spotlight, keeping Bacon’s feet—and the dance floor—just where he wants them.

8 NY Transit Authorities Were Bribed $40,000 by French Connection Director William Friedkin

When William Friedkin set out to film the 1971 classic The French Connection, he envisioned a high‑octane car chase that would become cinema legend. The chase, which sees a police detective careening through New York traffic at breakneck speeds, was filmed without any official permits.

To keep the authorities from shutting down production, Friedkin slipped a $40,000 payoff—plus an all‑expenses‑paid ticket to Jamaica—to a NY Transit official who could look the other way. The bribe, a sizable chunk of the movie’s budget, ensured that the daring subway‑train sequence could be captured without legal interference.

The result? One of the most celebrated chase scenes in film history, proving that a well‑timed bribe can help bring a visionary—and illegal—idea to the silver screen.

7 Antoine Augustin Parmentier Let Thieves Bribe His Potato Guards to Popularize the Food

In the late 1700s, potatoes were shunned across Europe, dismissed as mere livestock feed. French pharmacist‑agriculturalist Antoine Augustin Parmentier saw untapped potential in the humble tuber and set out to change public perception.

Parmentier’s strategy was delightfully mischievous: he hired armed guards to protect his potato plots—making the crop appear valuable—while simultaneously paying those guards to accept bribes from thieves, allowing the thieves to “steal” the potatoes. The forbidden‑fruit allure of something you’re told you can’t have sparked curiosity, and soon the public was clamoring for the once‑scorned vegetable.

Thanks to this clever ruse, potatoes transitioned from an animal‑feed stigma to a staple of the French diet, illustrating how a well‑orchestrated bribery scheme can reshape culinary habits.

6 Cops in Thailand are Bribed to Not Accept Bribes

Corruption is a global challenge, and Thailand’s traffic police have long been notorious for accepting cash to look the other way. Drivers routinely slip officers a few extra baht to sidestep fines, turning bribery into a routine part of daily commutes.

The problem grew so severe that the Thai government, in 2014, launched a counter‑measure: it began offering police officers up to 10,000 Thai baht (about $280) as an incentive not to accept bribes. The policy, aimed at curbing the entrenched culture, turned the tables by rewarding officers for integrity rather than punishing misconduct.

While the long‑term impact remains debated, the move underscores a paradoxical approach—using money to discourage the very act of taking money.

5 Simon and Garfunkel’s First Single Aired on Radio Thanks to the Payola System

Before they became folk‑rock legends, Simon & Garfunkel were teenage hopefuls with a single titled “Hey, Schoolgirl.” The track needed airplay to launch their career, but radio stations were guarded by the infamous payola practice—bribing DJs to spin a record.

Their label slipped DJ Alan Freed a $200 envelope, prompting him to play the song on his nightly show. The exposure catapulted the duo into regular rotation, igniting a career that would eventually sell tens of millions of albums.

4 George Washington Bribed Voters with Booze

Political bribery isn’t a modern invention; even America’s first president, George Washington, understood the power of a good drink. In his early campaigns, Washington distributed roughly 144 gallons of assorted spirits to sway voters.

After a previous loss, he turned to taverns, offering a half‑gallon of liquor for each vote secured. The generous libations helped him clinch his election, demonstrating how a splash of alcohol could tip the scales in early American politics.

While today such tactics would be illegal, Washington’s approach highlights a time when a well‑timed toast could be as persuasive as a well‑crafted speech.

3 Lincoln Bribed Congressmen with Patronage to Support Anti‑Slavery

Abraham Lincoln, revered for emancipating the slaves, also leaned on the age‑old political practice of patronage—offering coveted jobs and favors to secure legislative backing. Though not a direct cash payment, these appointments functioned as bribes to advance his anti‑slavery agenda.

Lincoln promised lucrative posts and influential positions to congressmen who pledged support for his policies. By weaving a network of favors, he gathered the necessary political capital to push through critical reforms, showing that even the most celebrated leaders sometimes employ behind‑the‑scenes incentives.

2 The Bacon Memes Were the Result Of Pork Industry Bribes

If you recall the early 2000s internet craze, bacon memes dominated timelines, turning the salty strip into a cultural obsession. While it seemed organic, the surge was orchestrated by the pork industry, which saw a dip in demand after the health‑food boom of the 1980s.

The Pork Board launched a covert campaign, paying restaurant chains and food‑bloggers to showcase bacon‑laden dishes. Their low‑cost, high‑flavor strategy birthed products like the Baconator and even novelty items like bacon‑scented soap, flooding the market with pork‑centric content.

The result was a wave of meme‑fuelled enthusiasm that turned bacon into a pop‑culture icon, all thanks to strategic bribes that turned a struggling commodity into a viral sensation.

1 England Spent $200 Million in Bribes to Keep Spain Out of WWII

During the Second World War, the United Kingdom faced a delicate diplomatic puzzle: keeping Spain neutral. Though officially non‑aligned, Spain’s leadership flirted with the Axis powers, threatening to tip the balance.

To ensure Spain stayed on the sidelines, British officials funneled roughly $200 million through Swiss accounts, offering cash incentives that discouraged Franco’s regime from joining Hitler. Some accounts suggest the money helped fund anti‑pro‑Nazi operatives, while others claim it simply bought silence.

Regardless of the exact mechanisms, the massive payout illustrates how a state can employ bribery on a grand scale to shape the course of global conflict.

If you’ve ever marveled at a cat perched on a bookshelf or sniffed a dog’s enthusiastic greeting, you’ve only scratched the surface of what the animal kingdom can do. Below, we break down 10 remarkable facts about animals, translating their super‑human abilities into human‑scale comparisons that will leave you awestruck.

10 Remarkable Facts Overview

10 Cats Jumping

Imagine strolling past a cat that’s just claimed the top of a tall bookcase. Most felines can spring straight up to five times their own height from a standstill. For a person standing six feet tall, that translates into a vertical leap of roughly thirty feet – enough to vault onto the roof of a three‑story building in a single bound. This astonishing feat showcases the cat’s built‑in spring‑loaded muscles and flexible spine, turning everyday furniture into a personal gym.

9 Ants’ Carrying Power

Ants might be tiny, but their strength is colossal. Depending on the species, an ant can lug between ten and fifty times its own body mass. Scale that up to a 180‑pound human, and you’d be hoisting anywhere from 1,800 to a staggering 9,000 pounds. On the low end, that’s comparable to a massive Clydesdale horse; on the high end, it’s the weight of three Volkswagen Beetles stacked together. Such raw power illustrates the efficiency of their exoskeletons and muscle fibers.

8 A Monarch Butterfly’s Journey

The monarch may look delicate, yet it undertakes a marathon migration each season. North American monarchs travel up to 3,000 miles from the United States to their winter refuge in Mexico, all while sporting a modest four‑inch wingspan. If we compare that distance to a human stride—about 32 inches, eight times the butterfly’s wing length—a person would need to walk roughly 24,000 miles to match the monarch’s trek. That’s just a few hundred miles shy of circling the globe along the equator.

7 A Cats’ Purr

Most feline purrs are a gentle, soothing hum, but the record‑breaking loudest purr belongs to an English cat named Smokey, measured at a thunderous 86.3 dB. To put that into perspective, a normal human breath registers around 10 dB, while everyday conversation hovers near 60 dB. Sounds in the 80‑90 dB range include hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, and power tools—so Smokey’s purr could easily compete with the din of a busy workshop.

6 Breeding Like Rabbits

Start with a single pregnant doe, and you quickly enter exponential territory. Rabbits average six kits per litter and can conceive again almost immediately after giving birth. Over a typical seven‑year breeding span, a lone mother could theoretically be responsible for about 95 billion offspring when you count each generation. If humans enjoyed a comparable reproductive rate—assuming a fertile window from ages 18 to 45, roughly nine times longer—we’d be looking at an eye‑popping 855 billion descendants.

5 An Elephant’s Trunk

The elephant’s trunk is a marvel of engineering. Containing roughly 100,000 individual muscles, it functions as a versatile tool for picking up tiny objects, spraying water, and even creating intricate social gestures. By contrast, humans rely on just 34 muscles to control the fingers and thumb—only 17 of which reside in the hand itself. This massive muscular difference underscores why an elephant can delicately pluck a blade of grass yet also lift several gallons of water with ease.

4 The Chicken’s Egg

At first glance, the notion of a modest‑sized bird producing a relatively large egg seems puzzling. The Rhode Island Red, a common chicken breed, weighs about 6.5 pounds when fully grown, while its average egg tips the scales at roughly 2.25 ounces. Scale that proportion up to a 150‑pound human, and you end up with a 3.25‑pound newborn—essentially a tiny human baby. Though the comparison is a bit uncomfortable, it highlights the impressive reproductive efficiency of chickens.

3 The Lion’s Share

Lions must seize their meals whenever opportunity strikes, so they’ve evolved the capacity to consume massive amounts in a single sitting. A typical 300‑pound male can devour up to 90 pounds of meat at once—nearly a third of its own body weight. Imagine a 200‑pound human wolfing down 60 pounds of chicken fingers and fries in one go; the sheer volume underscores the lion’s powerful digestive system and predatory prowess.

2 Parrot’s Speech

Parrots are renowned for their ability to imitate human language, but the African Grey takes it to the next level. The celebrated bird Alex could correctly name over 50 objects and colors, and in his later years he even began grasping basic counting concepts—showing not just mimicry but true comprehension. By comparison, most human toddlers start using a comparable vocabulary around age two and only begin to understand numerical concepts by age three.

1 A Dog’s Nose

Dogs possess an olfactory system that dwarfs our own. With roughly 300 million scent receptors—compared to a human’s modest six million—dogs can distinguish odors at a sensitivity estimated to be at least 10,000 times greater than ours. To visualize that advantage, consider that a human can see a candle’s glow from about 30 miles away on a dark night; if our vision matched a dog’s sniffing acuity, we could spot that same light from 30,000 miles—essentially spanning the distance between Bangor, Maine and Los Angeles, California ten times over.

We’ve already covered a few animal trials, but there are many more cases worth mentioning. Far from being an oddity, trying animals for crimes was a solemn and frequent affair, especially in medieval Europe. It was also legally important, persuading people that everything was under control—its control. And of course punishing “theft” whatever the species helped to prop up the notion of property. This roundup of 10 animals put on trial showcases the most absurd, unsettling, and downright bizarre courtroom dramas ever recorded.

10 Animals Put on Trial

When, during the Napoleonic Wars, some English found a monkey on a beach, they were immediately suspicious. Its appearance followed the wreckage of a French ship nearby and this was the only survivor, washed to shore on debris, soaked through and miserable‑looking. Having never seen a Frenchman (only propagandist caricatures with claws and tails), they took this monkey to be one. It also didn’t help that, as the French ship’s mascot, it was dressed as a human sailor. After a hasty trial right there on the beach, they found it guilty of espionage, sentenced it to death, and hanged it from the mast of a fishing boat. This was extrajudicial– mob law—unlike the others on this list. But unfortunately it wasn’t uncommon. Although frowned upon, people often took the law in their own hands when it came to punishing animals. 

Disturbingly in this case, there may be more to the tale. According to one theory, it wasn’t a monkey they hanged but a child employed as a “powder monkey” for priming the cannons with gunpowder. Whatever the case, the people of Hartlepool are still known as “monkey hangers” today—although they’ve come to embrace the name. In fact, their football team’s mascot is a monkey called H’Angus. And in 2002 a mayoral candidate dressed as the monkey promised free bananas for school children (and won).

9 Termites

When the Portuguese invaded Brazil they took their insanity with them, embarrassing themselves in front of the natives by charging some termites with vandalism. Ironically, the plaintiffs were Franciscan friars—that is, followers of a man who five centuries earlier preached sharing and kinship with animals. Still, they sought to excommunicate the termites for eating their food and furniture.

It was actually the defense lawyer that most resembled Saint Francis, arguing that the termites had, like all of God’s creatures, a clear right to sustenance. He even claimed their industriousness put the idle grey friars to shame. Besides, he said, the termites were on the land first.

In January 1713, the trial finally ended with a “compromise”. The cloister of friars would set up a reservation where the termites could live undisturbed. The decision was announced to the termite mounds: “No sooner was the order of the prelatic judge promulgated by being read officially before the hills of the termites than they all came out and marched in columns to the place assigned.” Naturally, this was interpreted as proof of their submission to God.

8 Weevils

After ravaging some vineyards in a hamlet in France, weevils were personas non grata. But they had a good lawyer. The trial concluded, in the spring of 1546, with the judge ordering locals to beg for mercy from God, who, being the “supreme author of all that exists” had created the earth for all of his creatures. The hamlet also held three masses “in solemn procession with songs and supplications round the vineyards.” And it seems to have worked—for a time.

Forty years later, the weevils returned and were put on trial again. This second case, brought before “the prince‑bishop of Maurienne, … the reverend lord his vicar‑general and official”, and recorded on 29 folia with a very long title in Latin, lasted for several months. Again it was argued the people were guilty for incurring God’s wrath, since the weevils had the right to eat plants. The defense even pointed out it was “absurd and unreasonable” to apply human laws to insects. But the counsel for the plaintiffs, on the other hand, the local vine‑growers, claimed the weevils were subject to man.

The case was adjourned repeatedly while each side considered the case. Eventually, the weevils’ legal team countered that even if they are subject to man, that doesn’t give us the right to punish them—especially with excommunication. That was God’s job. Two and a half months after the trial began, the people were ordered to set aside some land for the weevils, fenced off so they could live in peace. But it didn’t work. One month later, the case was back in court. The plaintiffs begged the judge to order the weevils to return to their enclosure under threat of excommunication. Meanwhile, the defense team said the enclosure was too barren with not enough food for the animals. Again, the case was adjourned numerous times and it wasn’t for another month and a half that a verdict was finally reached. What it was, however, we won’t ever know because the final page of the court records was eaten by weevils.

7 Cows

Because of their size, weight, and temper, cows were frequently charged with attacks. In 1314, for instance, a bull escaped from a farm in France and gored a man to death. Then it was captured by the Count of Valois’s men, imprisoned, and sentenced to hang. But since the Count had no jurisdiction in Moisy, the sentence was overturned (sadly after the bull had been killed).

There are numerous other examples of murderous cows being hanged. However, given the value of cows and bulls, they (like horses) were typically confiscated instead. In 12th‑century Burgundy it was actually written into law that “if an ox or a horse commit one or several homicides, it shall not be condemned to death, but shall be taken by the Seignior [feudal lord] within whose jurisdiction the deed was perpetrated”, who would sell it and keep the profits. “But if other beasts or Jews do it,” the law continued, “they shall be hanged by the hind feet.”

As a rule, executed animals—even the organic grass‑fed cows of the pre‑industrial world—were never eaten as meat. Once an animal “had become the peer of man in blood‑guiltiness and in judicial punishment,” it was felt that eating it “would savour of anthropophagy”, or cannibalism. So they’d usually get buried with human criminals. There were exceptions, though. One example is a cow killed in Ghent, Belgium, in 1578; its flesh was sold to a butcher in order to compensate the victim. But her head was impaled near the gallows.

6 Dogs

Dogs were different to livestock; they were already treated as people. Like women and serfs, they were even included in the weregild (insurance payable by their killers to their owners). In Old Germanic law, dogs (as well as cats and cocks) could even be witnesses in court if, for example, they were the only ones present when their owner’s house was burglarized. In this case, the homeowner would bring their dog to court, along with three straws from the roof thatch to symbolize the house.

Having sex with them, however, was—to Christian sensibilities—as bad as having sex with a Jew. In fact, when a Parisian man was burned alive for “coition with a Jewess,” or “sodomy,” the court said it was “precisely the same as if a man should copulate with a dog.” (Naturally, the woman was burned alive too.) Examples are many, but one stands out: In 1606 a Chartres man was sentenced to hang for sodomizing a dog, but he ran away before they could do it. So while authorities killed the victim with a knock on the head, they hanged a portrait of the rapist instead.

But dogs weren’t always sentenced to death. Sometimes they were simply imprisoned. This was the case in 1712 when a drummer’s dog bit a councilor in the leg; instead of execution, it was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment in the Narrenkötterlein, an iron cage over the marketplace.

5 Donkeys

Just like humans, animals were entitled to appeals. One donkey sentenced to hang, for example, was saved by appeal to a higher court and her sentence was commuted to a knock on the head.

Appeals could even lead to acquittal. In 1750 a donkey condemned for seducing her rapist was acquitted when the Vanvres parish priest delivered a certificate attesting to her good character. He and other parishioners of good standing, it read, were “willing to bear witness that she is in word and deed and in all her habits of life a most honest creature.”

Another donkey, or a mule rather, was not so popular. Raped by a man, it was sentenced to burn at Montpelier in 1565. Worse, because it was “vicious and inclined to kick” (vitiosus et calcitrosus, according to court records), the executioner took it upon himself to cut off its feet before burning—an extra‑judicial mutilation for which he was presumably scolded. Courts didn’t like their hired thugs adding anything to the sentence.

4 Rats

Even as recently as the 19th century, rats were served a “writ of ejectment [or] … letter of advice … to induce them to quit any house.” And, because there was a good chance the rats wouldn’t read it, it was rubbed in grease to attract their attention. One such letter, from Maine, even expresses sympathy for the rats, advising them to leave 1 Seaview Street for 6 Incubator Street, where they could live in a cellar full of vegetables or a barn full of grain. It finished by advising the rats that if they didn’t leave, they’d be killed off with poison.

Centuries earlier, in the 1500s, rats were summoned to court for eating all the barley in Autun, a French province. The court knew they wouldn’t come and planned to punish the rodents accordingly. However, as their defense lawyer pointed out, there were too many rats in Autun for a single summons to suffice; it could never be seen by all the rats. The judge reluctantly agreed and ordered a second summons “to be published from the pulpits of all the parishes” in the province. Then, when they still failed to come, their defense lawyer argued that the cats on the route made the journey too dangerous for the rats. This meant they had “the right of appeal and [could] refuse to obey the writ”.

3 Caterpillars

In 1659, five Italian communes brought a complaint against caterpillars for devastating their crops. The summons were nailed to trees in the forests. And, while they didn’t show up for the trial, the caterpillars were conceded in court to have the same right “to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as man—as long as theirs didn’t infringe on the latter’s.

Talking of charismatic insects, even bees were put on trial. In 864, the Council of Worms (i.e. the Rhineland city, not the species) sentenced a hive to be suffocated for stinging a human to death. This was to be done as soon as possible, before it could produce any honey—which, on account of the “murder”, would be “demoniacally tainted” and unfit for Christian consumption.

2 Slugs

For devastating crops in 1487, the slugs of Autun were “generously forewarned” by three days of public processions—during which they were ordered to leave “under penalty of being accursed.” As crazy as it sounds, the same thing happened the following year at Beaujeu; slugs were warned three times that if they didn’t get out of the province, they would be excommunicated. Whether slugs even considered themselves members of the Church was irrelevant. Excommunication served an important legal purpose for ecclesiastical courts: it made an animal free game to kill.

Even snails were prosecuted, in 1487, 1500, 1543, and 1596—all in France. But it’s unknown how they were punished.

1 Pigs

Pigs were among the most commonly prosecuted animals. One reason for this was the way they roamed around the towns unattended, munching on whatever they found—including consecrated wafers and children. There are numerous examples of the latter, for which the pigs were usually hanged. In 1567, for example, “a sow with a black snout” was hanged from a tree for devouring a four‑month‑old child’s head, left hand, and upper chest. In another case, the plaintiff made a special point of the fact that a pig killed and ate a child “although it was Friday”, which, because it violated the Catholics’ proscription of meat, was a seriously aggravating factor.

Sometimes the punishment was “an eye for an eye”. In 1386, a pig that tore the face and arms off a child was sentenced to hang after being “mangled and maimed in the head and forelegs”. It was even dressed as a man for the occasion. Another particularly grisly punishment for pigs was getting buried alive. More popular, however, was burning them alive—although in this some judges were merciful, ordering they only be “slightly singed” before strangling them to death and throwing their corpses on the fire.

Like dogs, cows, and other animals, pigs were often jailed before they were executed, sometimes for weeks on end and in the same jails as humans.

10 things you might think are harmless actually nudge you closer to the inevitable one‑way street we call death. From the instant you take your first breath, countless everyday actions stack up, some quietly raising your odds of an early exit. While you shouldn’t obsess over every risk, knowing the hidden culprits can help you make smarter choices.

10 Things You Might Not Expect to Threaten Your Life

You’ve probably heard the classic mantra that diet, exercise, and weight matter for longevity. What many overlook is that the very silhouette of your body can tip the scales toward an earlier grave. Your physical shape isn’t just a fashion statement; it’s a health signal.

Scientists differentiate between pear‑shaped and apple‑shaped figures. Surprisingly, an overweight individual with a pear‑shaped distribution (more weight on hips and thighs) tends to fare better than a “normal‑weight” person whose belly carries most of the load. In other words, where you store fat matters more than the number on the scale.

If your waistline bulges while your hips stay slim, you’re courting a higher chance of dying from a host of conditions. Traditional metrics like BMI often miss this nuance, meaning a slim‑looking person with a high waist‑to‑hip ratio could be less healthy than someone with a higher BMI but a more favorable fat distribution.

Research involving over 15,000 participants showed that people with a high waist‑to‑hip ratio who weren’t technically overweight faced up to twice the mortality risk compared with those classified as overweight or obese but with a healthier fat pattern. Abdominal fat is tightly linked to type‑2 diabetes, several cancers, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and even dementia.

9 A Lack of Friends Puts You at a Higher Risk of Death

Good news for the social butterflies: your buddies are secretly acting as life‑extending sidekicks. Bad news for the introverts and the chronically solitary—loneliness can be deadlier than many well‑known hazards, even rivaling obesity, high blood pressure, and smoking.

One landmark study equated the health toll of chronic social isolation to smoking the equivalent of 15 cigarettes a day. The impact? A potential 15‑year reduction in lifespan. Isolated individuals also face a 50% higher chance of dementia, a 29% boost in heart‑disease risk, and a 32% surge in stroke likelihood.

If you consider yourself socially well‑connected, you’re in the minority. Roughly a third of adults over 45 report feeling lonely, and about a quarter of those older than 65 meet the clinical definition of social isolation, meaning they lack meaningful connections despite any surrounding crowd.

8 Losing a Spouse Increases Your Risk of Death

The heartbreak of losing a partner isn’t just emotional—it can spill over into the physical realm. When a spouse passes, the surviving partner often experiences a cascade of health setbacks that can accelerate mortality.

A massive cohort of over 370,000 elderly couples tracked across nearly a decade revealed that the death of one partner spikes the surviving spouse’s odds of dying from any cause. The risk spikes for specific ailments too, including various cancers and infections.

Age matters as well. Younger widowers are especially vulnerable: men under 65 who lose a spouse are 70% more likely to die within a year compared to their married peers, while women face a 27% heightened risk. The emotional shock, combined with lifestyle disruptions, seems to take a tangible toll.

7 More Than 11 Moles on Your Arm Raises Your Skin Cancer Risk

Doctors have long urged people to monitor any unusual moles, but the sheer number of moles can also be a warning flag. While most of us sport a handful of spots, having a cluster—especially on a single arm—correlates with heightened skin‑cancer risk.

Studies indicate that if you count more than 11 moles on your right arm, you’re statistically more likely to develop skin cancer. It’s a simple self‑check that could prompt earlier dermatologic surveillance.

The risk escalates with total mole count. Over 50 ordinary moles across your body raises concern, and hitting the 100‑mole mark can quintuple your odds of melanoma. Sunscreen, regular skin exams, and mole monitoring become crucial at those thresholds.

6 Couples Without Kids Have Higher Mortality Rates

Choosing a child‑free lifestyle is on the rise—about 44% of adults aged 18‑49 say they likely won’t have children. While the decision is personal, research hints that childless couples may face a shorter average lifespan.

Women without offspring have exhibited a four‑fold increase in mortality compared to mothers. Some of this may stem from underlying health issues that also affect fertility, but the correlation remains notable.

A Danish investigation of 21,000 couples seeking IVF—who were unable to conceive for medical reasons—found only 316 deaths over 11 years, yet the death rate was statistically higher than in fertile counterparts. Though causation isn’t proven, the pattern suggests parenthood may confer some longevity advantage.

5 Diet Soda Has Been Linked to Increased Risk of Stroke and Death in Women

The soft‑drink market is a behemoth, raking in $221.6 billion in 2020. For those looking to dodge sugar, diet sodas seem like a guilt‑free alternative, pulling in over $4 billion annually. Yet the artificial sweeteners they contain may carry hidden dangers.

Large‑scale research involving 80,000 post‑menopausal women (ages 50‑79) over 12 years found that those sipping two or more diet drinks daily faced a 23% higher stroke risk, a 29% increase in coronary heart disease, and a 16% rise in overall mortality. The danger amplified for women who were obese or of African‑American descent.

While the studies stop short of establishing direct causation, the consistent association nudges health‑conscious readers toward water, herbal teas, or other non‑sweetened beverages as safer hydration choices.

4 Tall, Thin Men Are at Higher Risk of Collapsed Lung

Tall, lanky physiques are often idolized as the epitome of health and attractiveness, but that stereotype hides a medical quirk. Men who are both tall and underweight are predisposed to pneumothorax—a sudden lung collapse caused by air leaking into the chest cavity.

Data show that men aged 20‑40 with this body type have a markedly higher incidence of the condition. When height outpaces weight gain, the delicate lung tissue can become vulnerable, especially during rapid growth spurts.

Clinics, such as Edmonton’s Chest Medicine Centre, report that roughly half of their pneumothorax patients fit the tall‑thin profile, underscoring the need for awareness even among seemingly fit individuals.

3 Taller People Are at Greater Risk of Cancer

Being tall isn’t just a conversation starter—it also carries a subtle health drawback. Large population studies tracking nearly 1.3 million women over many years revealed that each additional 10 cm (about 4 inches) of height raises overall cancer risk by roughly 10%.

Specific cancers show distinct height‑related increases: a 5 cm (2‑inch) height boost translates to a 10% higher chance of kidney cancer, an 8% rise for ovarian cancer, a 4% uptick for prostate cancer, and a 5% increase for colorectal cancer. The pattern suggests that growth‑related biological factors may influence tumor development.

2 Toxoplasmosis Significantly Increases Your Risk of Traffic Accidents

Toxoplasma gondii—better known as the cat‑loving parasite—has been a staple of internet curiosity for years. While it famously dulls rodents’ fear of felines, it also subtly tweaks human behavior.

Beyond the usual health chatter, recent analyses highlight that infected individuals experience slower reaction times, making them 2.65 times more likely to be involved in traffic accidents. Roughly 30‑60% of the global population carries the parasite, meaning a sizable fraction could be affected.

Interestingly, the longer someone has lived with the infection, the lower the accident risk appears to become, hinting at possible adaptation. Still, a quick reminder: cleaning your cat’s litter box might just be a safer habit than you thought.

1 People Who Didn’t Get the Covid Vaccine Are at Higher Risk of Traffic Accidents

The COVID‑19 vaccine sparked fierce debate, but a surprising side effect has emerged from recent data: unvaccinated drivers seem to crash more often than their vaccinated peers.

Researchers examined over 11.2 million people across a month‑long window. Sixteen percent of the cohort hadn’t received the shot, yet they accounted for 25% of the 6,682 reported traffic accidents—a 72% higher relative risk. Even after adjusting for age, gender, location, and socioeconomic status, the unvaccinated still faced a 48% elevated crash likelihood.

While the study can’t pinpoint a direct causal link, the authors suspect psychological factors—such as a general distrust of public‑health guidance—might translate into riskier driving habits, including ignoring traffic rules and taking more chances behind the wheel.

Most speeches follow an entirely conventional pattern. They are often self‑congratulatory, bombastic, and, let’s face it, boring. However, it pays to listen closely because there are times when even an ordinary speech can take a sudden turn and leave the audience wondering whether they heard correctly. Some speakers, given an opportunity to have their say, make the most of it and decide to use their time at the podium to “put the boot in,” which, if you’re unfamiliar with the expression, essentially means to cruelly, mercilessly attack someone.

10 Charles Spencer At Princess Diana’s Funeral

When Earl Spencer rose to address his sister’s funeral, he managed a calm demeanor— as calm as anyone could be with half the world watching. He opened by reflecting on the shock of Princess Diana’s death and the sorrow felt by those who knew her, a seemingly conventional and uncontroversial start. He praised her compassion, sense of duty, and “natural nobility,” a subtle hint that something more was coming, especially since Diana’s in‑laws—who many presumed possessed an “unnatural” nobility—were seated in the front row, and millions of eyes were fixed on their reactions.

For the next five minutes, the family had to nod solemnly while he delivered a genteel yet cutting rebuke. He warned, “Genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum,” without specifying who those opponents were, leaving the audience to fill in the blanks. He pledged to protect her sons, declaring, “We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you to tearful despair.”

He wrapped up with, “I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative and loving way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men, so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned.” Ouch.

9 David Trimble’s Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech

In 1998, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to John Hume and David Trimble for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland. Hume represented the Catholic Social Democratic and Labour Party, while Trimble led the Protestant Ulster Unionist Party; both worked tirelessly on the Good Friday Agreement.

One might expect a Nobel laureate to speak in soothing tones about unity, acceptance, and tolerance. Instead, Trimble’s acceptance was surprisingly grumpy. He opened with, “It is a truth universally understood that there is no such thing as a free lunch. That being so, John and I are obliged to sing for our supper. In short some expect us to speak …”—a rather churlish remark considering he’d just shared a million‑dollar prize.

The speech concluded on a bleak note: “But common sense dictates that I cannot forever convince society that real peace is at hand if there is not a beginning to the decommissioning of weapons … Any further delay will reinforce dark doubts about whether Sinn Féin are drinking from the clear stream of democracy, or is still drinking from the dark stream of fascism. It cannot forever face both ways.” Trimble’s remarks sparked anger at home, especially after he later labeled Southern Ireland a “pathetic, sectarian State.”

8 Frederick Douglass On The Fourth Of July

Frederick Douglass, a former slave turned political activist and public speaker, played a pivotal role in the abolitionist movement during the Civil War and continued championing civil rights until his death in 1895.

On July 5, 1852, he famously asked, “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?” and delivered a searing answer: “[It is] a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass‑fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings… are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.”

That raw, unflinching critique still resonates. After the abolition of slavery, Douglass kept campaigning for civil rights, dying of a heart attack on his way home from a women’s suffragist meeting. His Fourth of July address received a rousing reception, was repeated often, and remains his most celebrated speech.

7 Noel Botham On The Death Of Hughie Green

Noel Botham, a journalist and biographer with a knack for sensationalism, was asked to speak at the 1997 funeral of popular TV presenter Hughie Green. He seized the moment as a publicity opportunity.

Standing before Green’s family—including his children and grandchildren—Botham aired Green’s four mistresses and numerous love children, claiming the deceased had approved of the incendiary speech. Though he didn’t name the most famous love child at the funeral, he later accepted £100,000 from a newspaper to reveal that it was Paula Yates, former wife of Live Aid organiser Bob Geldof.

The revelation devastated Yates, who never recovered from the emotional blow, and many believe the scandal contributed to her tragic death from a heroin overdose in 2000.

6 Nikita Khrushchev On Josef Stalin

When newly appointed Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev addressed the 20th Congress of the Communist Party in 1956, the audience was understandably nervous. The Congress was the first since Joseph Stalin’s death, and no one knew what to expect.

Defying expectations, Khrushchev delivered a closed‑session “Secret Speech” denouncing Stalin’s crimes, imprisonment, torture, and execution of party members. He declared, “Stalin acted not through persuasion, explanation, and patient cooperation with people, but by imposing his concepts and demanding absolute submission to his opinion. Whoever opposed this concept… was doomed to removal from the leading collective and to subsequent moral and physical annihilation.”

Khrushchev also warned about the perils of a “cult of the individual,” noting that Stalin had conflated loyalty to the party with loyalty to the leader, punishing anyone who dared disagree. He added, “Stalin originated the concept ‘enemy of the people.’ This term automatically rendered it unnecessary to prove ideological errors; it enabled the most cruel repression against anyone suspected of hostile intent….”

The audience sat stunned, too frightened to move or applaud. Though delivered behind closed doors, the speech eventually leaked, marking the official end of Stalinism.

5 Ann Widdecombe On Michael Howard

In 1997, British political circles were well aware of the strained relationship between prisons minister Ann Widdecombe and her boss, Michael Howard. Known for her blunt, plain‑spoken style, Widdecombe clashed with Howard over the sacking of the head of the prison service, drawing a packed House of Commons eager for drama.

Widdecombe described the sacking as “unjustly conceived, brutally executed, and dubiously defended,” a relatively mild parliamentary phrasing. Howard retaliated with a smear campaign, insinuating an affair between Widdecombe and the dismissed prison chief. Widdecombe, who famously proclaimed herself a spinster and virgin, was incensed.

The two appeared on a news program where Howard was challenged 14 times about the sacking, yet he refused to answer. The following week, another Commons showdown saw Widdecombe allege at least three instances of Howard deliberately misleading Parliament. She spoke for 45 minutes, famously ending with the line that there was “something of the night” about Michael Howard—a phrase that haunted his brief political career. Howard later attempted a Conservative Party leadership bid, finishing last in the vote.

4 Nellie McClung On Universal Suffrage

Nellie McClung, a Canadian suffragist, began her political activism with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, campaigning against alcohol abuse. In 1912, she co‑founded the Political Equality League.

McClung and fellow activists staged a mock parliament to satirize arguments against women’s voting rights. She mocked a speech by Manitoba’s premier Rodmond Roblin, who claimed “Man has a higher destiny than politics,” insisting his duty was to care for his family and that he couldn’t earn money if he bothered with public affairs.

The performance sparked uproarious laughter among women who recognized the absurdity of the anti‑suffrage arguments. Despite appeals, Roblin refused to support women’s voting. In 1915, after Roblin’s government collapsed, McClung agreed to speak in support of Tobias Norris in exchange for his backing on women’s suffrage. She declared, “I am not here to beg a favour but to obtain simple justice. Have we not brains to think? Hands to work? Hearts to feel? And lives to live? Do we not bear our part in citizenship? Do we not help to build the empire? Give us our due!” Norris’s party won, and women secured full suffrage.

3 Alexander The Great To His Army

Alexander the Great, an extraordinary military commander, had led his army undefeated for a decade. On the eve of the Battle of the Hydaspes in India, he learned his troops were uneasy about the daunting odds.

True to his leadership style, Alexander confronted the issue directly. He began with a conciliatory tone: “I observe, gentlemen, that when I would lead you on a new venture you no longer follow me with your old spirit. I have asked you to meet me that we may come to a decision together: are we, upon my advice, to go forward, or, upon yours, to turn back?” Silence followed.

He then recounted their ten‑year achievements, highlighting conquered lands, before probing their courage: “Are you afraid that a few natives who may still be left will offer opposition? Come, come! These natives either surrender without a blow or are caught on the run—or leave their country undefended for your taking.” More uncomfortable silence.

Finally, Alexander concluded, “I could not have blamed you for being the first to lose heart if I, your commander, had not shared in your exhausting marches and your perilous campaigns; it would have been natural enough if you had done all the work merely for others to reap the reward. But it is not so. You and I, gentlemen, have shared the labor and shared the danger, and the rewards are for us all. The conquered territory belongs to you … whoever wishes to return home will be allowed to go, either with me or without me. I will make those who stay the envy of those who return.” The army stayed, and they won—Alexander’s final great conquest.

2 Geoffrey Howe’s Resignation Speech

Geoffrey Howe, once a loyal finance minister under Margaret Thatcher, found himself increasingly sidelined after several disagreements with the Prime Minister.

Known for his mild‑mannered demeanor—one opponent likened his political attacks to “being savaged by a dead sheep”—Howe’s 1990 resignation speech shocked colleagues. He began conventionally, summarising his long parliamentary and cabinet career, then shifted to a pointed critique of Thatcher’s approach to the European Union and her tyrannical meeting style.

He likened her leadership to sending opening batsmen to the crease only to discover their bats were broken before the first ball—a vivid metaphor for her disregard of cabinet counsel. This speech ignited a fracture within the Conservative Party; aware that a leadership challenge loomed, Thatcher resigned shortly thereafter.

1 Ferenc Gyurcsany And The Oszod Speech

Ferenc Gyurcsany’s mother likely taught him that honesty is the best policy—most of the time. Yet, when the Hungarian prime minister addressed his party in a closed session in 2006, he perhaps forgot the adage about discretion and valor.

Gyurcsany began conventionally but soon veered into dangerous honesty. He admitted, “We have f—ed it up. Not a little but a lot. No European country has done something as bone‑headed as we have. It can be explained. We have obviously lied throughout the past one and a half to two years. It was perfectly clear that what we were saying was not true.” He continued, “We did not do anything for four years. Nothing. You cannot mention any significant government measures that we can be proud of …”

He concluded prophetically: “Divine providence, the abundance of cash in the world economy, and hundreds of tricks, which you do not have to be aware of publicly, have helped us to survive this. This cannot go on. Cannot.” A leaked tape sparked street riots among citizens feeling betrayed, leading to a landslide electoral defeat for his party. Nonetheless, Gyurcsany survived politically, even weathering a no‑confidence vote on his leadership. Perhaps, after all, honesty does pay.

The era of the 18th and 19th centuries birthed a dazzling array of societies, from gentleman’s clubs like White’s to niche interest groups that gathered around a table. Among them, the most memorable were the dining clubs—places where fine fare, lively debate, and a dash of scandal mixed together. This list of 10 historical dining clubs will make you wonder why anyone ever trusted the menu.

Why 10 Historical Dining Clubs Fascinate Food Lovers

Each of these societies combined a love of cuisine with a peculiar set of rules, rituals, or obsessions that turned ordinary meals into legendary spectacles. From sea‑creature banquets to secret rites in abandoned abbeys, the clubs below illustrate how far a group will go to impress its members – and sometimes, to horrify its outsiders.

10 Ichthyophagous Club

The Ichthyophagous Club, a short‑lived New York phenomenon, convened from 1880 to 1887 with a single, daring mission: to consume as many exotic marine species as possible in one grand annual feast. Its founders boasted that countless oceanic delicacies went uneaten, and they sought to change that by turning the sea’s oddities into a culinary showcase.

Membership was limited to fishing connoisseurs—though not the rough‑and‑ready fishermen deemed too low‑brow—alongside food enthusiasts, journalists, and literary types. Their inaugural dinner, chronicled by The New York Times, featured moonfish prepared Spanish‑style, sea‑robin, and a crisp lettuce salad, setting a high bar for future menus.

By the third year the club’s palate had taken a daring turn: dolphin steaks, lamprey eels (teeth intact) breaded and fried, and dogfish shark croquettes graced the table. The final banquet showcased fifteen different sea creatures, ranging from familiar salmon to a braised terrapin. Dolphin proved a tough sell, while alligator steak delighted diners and starfish soup became an unexpected hit. The club even composed its own anthem, praising the ocean’s bounty and the bravery of those willing to sample it. In the end, the Ichthyophagous Club faded away—perhaps because its members simply could not stomach the prospect of more fishy fare.

9 The Glutton Club

Far from a simple overeating society, the Glutton Club gathered under the auspices of a young Charles Darwin, whose curiosity extended well beyond natural selection to the realm of culinary experimentation. Its purpose was to sample “strange flesh,” a pursuit that made even the most adventurous palate wince.

The club’s early menus featured a parade of avian delicacies—hawk, bittern, and other game birds—before an especially tough, stringy owl forced the members to pivot toward meatier fare. Darwin’s own travels contributed to the club’s menu, with armadillo and several unidentified creatures appearing on the plate, underscoring the club’s mantra that nothing was off‑limits.

One memorable evening, as the diners savored a rare bird, Darwin abruptly leapt from his seat, realizing the meal’s provenance. He salvaged the remnants for scientific study, turning a gastronomic experience into a field‑work opportunity. The Glutton Club’s appetite for the unusual left a lasting impression on culinary history, even if it never became a mainstream institution.

8 The Bullingdon Club

The Bullingdon Club earned its notoriety not through the food it served, but through the caliber of its members and the raucous behavior that accompanied their banquets. Founded in the 18th century, the club admitted only Oxford undergraduates of substantial wealth and powerful connections—those who could buy their way out of any trouble.

Its reputation grew around extravagant feasts, prodigious alcohol consumption, and a litany of outrages: vandalizing university property, abusing kitchen staff, harassing waitresses, and staging bizarre, sometimes illegal, dining rituals. The club’s excesses reached a modern headline when a British prime minister’s initiation ritual—rumored to involve a pig’s mouth, an open zipper, and an intimate anatomical reference—sparked widespread media attention.

Although the Bullingdon Club persists today, its membership has dwindled, largely due to the negative publicity surrounding such scandals. The once‑glamorous institution now serves as a cautionary tale of how privilege and excess can corrupt even the most refined dining traditions.

7 The Beaver Club

Established in Canada in 1785, the Beaver Club reserved its membership for seasoned fur traders who had survived the brutal winters of the Northwest Territories. To qualify, aspirants needed to have overwintered in the harsh frontier and to be deemed upstanding citizens by their peers.

The club convened bi‑weekly, but its hallmark was an annual banquet that all members were expected to attend unless excused by illness or business. The gatherings were regimented affairs: members wore their ornate club medals, recounted tales of perilous voyages, and raised toasts to “the fur trade in all its branches.” The centerpiece of the feast was pemmican—dried buffalo meat blended with berries and rendered fat—served on silver platters in a lavish dining hall, a stark contrast to the rugged meals the traders endured in the wilderness.

At the banquet’s close, the hardened men would sit on the floor in a single line, mimicking a massive canoe, and row an imaginary boat while chanting masculine songs. This theatrical finale reinforced their camaraderie and celebrated the collective spirit that had carried them through countless hardships.

6 The Club

In 1764, literary giant Samuel Johnson and painter Joshua Reynolds founded a modest dining society for artistic and literary gentlemen. Their aim was simple: provide a venue for good food, even better conversation, and a steady supply of brandy and cigars. The original roster comprised fewer than a dozen “good fellows,” each eager to indulge in hearty meals and stimulating discourse.

The club adopted the motto Esto perpetua (“Let it be perpetual”), a phrase whose meaning remains somewhat obscure. Meetings took place in the Turk’s Head Tavern on Soho’s bustling streets, where members enjoyed a generous supper followed by lively debate and generous libations. Over time, the club’s membership swelled, much to the chagrin of its founders, who grew increasingly irritated by the influx of politicians—an addition they felt dulled the culinary experience.

Despite the growing numbers, the club persisted as a hub for artistic exchange, maintaining its reputation for sumptuous fare and spirited conversation well into the later 18th century.

5 The Explorers Club

Founded in 1904 in New York, the Explorers Club gathered adventurers with a shared mission: to promote exploration and conservation while indulging in truly exotic cuisine. Its membership roster reads like a hall of fame, featuring the first climbers of Everest, lunar walkers, and deep‑sea divers.

The club’s collection of curiosities includes a “Yeti scalp” and the skeletal remains of a four‑tusked elephant. Its annual banquet pushes culinary boundaries, offering dishes such as tarantula and big‑game meats prepared by world‑class chefs. In 1951, the club sparked controversy when it served a frozen specimen believed to be woolly mammoth meat from Alaska. Subsequent DNA testing revealed the meat was actually from a green sea turtle, turning the sensational story into a cautionary tale about scientific verification.

Today, the Explorers Club continues its tradition of extraordinary feasts, though mammoth meat has been retired from the menu. The club remains a testament to the intersection of daring exploration and daring dining.

4 Princeton Eating Clubs

Princeton University boasts a unique social landscape defined by its eleven eating clubs, each operating under a rigorous selection process known as “Bicker.” The first official club, Ivy, was established in 1879, setting a precedent for exclusive dining societies on campus.

Prospective members undergo ten one‑on‑one interviews covering a wide range of topics, after which the entire club—often exceeding a hundred members—votes on the candidate. Admission requires a unanimous vote, a demanding hurdle that underscores the clubs’ elite status.

The clubs originated when a cadre of affluent undergraduates, dissatisfied with the modest campus food options, rented rooms in Ivy Hall, hired a private cook and waitress, and even installed a billiard table for post‑meal entertainment. Today, the “Bicker” process persists, maintaining the clubs’ reputation for exclusivity and camaraderie.

3 The Divan Club

Established in 1744 by John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, and Sir Francis Dashwood, the Divan Club catered to a very specific clientele: only those who had traveled to the Ottoman Empire could join. The name “Divan” derives from the Turkish term for a council of rulers, reflecting the club’s aim to provide a forum for members to recount their Eastern experiences.

After a sumptuous dinner, members raised a toast to “The Harem,” celebrating the exotic allure of their travels. However, the club’s stringent entry criteria proved its downfall; within two years, the membership pool had dwindled to the point where the society could no longer sustain itself and quietly dissolved.

The Divan Club’s brief existence illustrates how exclusivity, while alluring, can also become a fatal flaw when the pool of qualified participants is too narrow.

2 The Beefsteak Club

During the 18th and 19th centuries, several societies adopted the moniker Beefsteak Club, using the steak as a symbol of patriotism and Whig‑party liberalism. The first incarnation, founded in 1705, was officially titled The Sublime Society of Beef Steaks and quickly attracted a roster that included royalty, politicians, and cultural luminaries.

Members convened weekly, donning blue coats and buff waistcoats adorned with brass buttons emblazoned “Beef and Liberty.” The menu was simple yet indulgent: steak accompanied by baked potatoes and generous pours of port. Over time, additional Beefsteak Clubs emerged, each with its own customs, but all upheld the ideals of liberty and the reverence for a well‑cooked cut of meat.

Although the original clubs faded in the 19th century, a revival in 1966 re‑established the tradition, and the society has met continuously ever since, preserving its historic blend of culinary pleasure and political camaraderie.

1 The Hellfire Club

Mid‑18th‑century England saw the rise of the Hellfire Club—officially the Order of the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe—founded by Sir Francis Dashwood, who also co‑created the Divan Club. Dashwood purchased a Cistercian abbey to serve as the club’s headquarters, using the imposing setting to stage mock‑religious ceremonies that ridiculed the Catholic Church.

Twice a year, members gathered in elaborate attire—a hybrid of beret and clown hat bearing the motto “Love and Friendship”—to enjoy opulent dinners while inviting lively, often scandalous, female companions described as “lawful wives” for the night. One notorious episode involved smuggling a baboon dressed as a devil into the chapel, where the animal was released during a ritual, causing chaos as it leapt onto Lord Sandwich, who then theatrically confessed his sins.

When Dashwood became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1762, he recognized that the club’s antics might not sit well with the public. He consequently disbanded the Hellfire Club, stripping the abbey of any trace of its existence. The legend, however, lives on as a vivid illustration of the era’s blend of aristocratic excess and irreverent humor.

Mankind has been creating boats for about 8,000 years now. The earliest boats were either rafts or canoes and obviously pretty simple in their construction and function. If you’ve ever seen a modern super-yacht or aircraft carrier you know how significantly the times have changed. But the path from ancient raft of reeds strapped together up to your modern aircraft carriers is far from a straight line. There have been a number of curious twists and turns along the way.

10. SS Baychimo

You may not have heard of the SS Baychimo but it’s one of the most unusual ships in all of naval history. The thing that makes it unusual is the fact that, as of right now, no one even knows where it is.

Launched in 1914 by the Hudson Bay Company, the SS Baychimo was originally named Ångermanelfven after a river in Sweden, where it was built. It was a massive vessel that weighed 1,322 tons and was over 200 feet long. It was used throughout the Arctic of Canada to deliver provisions after the war. Prior to that it made runs from Sweden to Germany.

In 1931 it got trapped in the ice off the coast of Alaska. The crew left the ship and walked to the nearest town. Later, as the weather grew worse, storms ravaged it and at one point the temperature went from -60 all the way up to zero. When the crew went to check on the ship trapped in the ice they discovered it no longer was trapped. It just wasn’t there anymore.

Over the next several decades the ship was sighted again and again, sailing as a ghost ship across the ocean. It was last seen in 1969, nearly 40 years after it had been set loose to do its own thing.

Because it’s been so long since it’s been seen most people assume it sank some time ago, but no wreckage has ever been found and the path it managed to wander through the oceans was one that spanned hundreds of miles. So it’s entirely possible that it’s still out there somewhere. 

9. Project Habakkuk

During the Second World War, the British planned to create an aircraft carrier unlike any that had ever been seen before. Called Project Habakkuk, it wasn’t a vessel created from steel or wood; it was to be a 2,000 foot long vessel made from a substance called pykrete. Pykrete is what happens when you mix wood pulp into water and then freeze it. The result is even stronger than concrete. Bullets ricochet right off it. The entire vessel would be one giant, dirty ice cube.

While Habakkuk never came to fruition for the British in the war, a test version of it was constructed in Canada. Set into Lake Patricia in Alberta, Canada, the scale model was 60 feet long and weighed 1,000 tons. A 1-horsepower motor was used to keep it frozen. The project was eventually abandoned due to numerous impracticalities.

8. The FLIP Buoy 

The Floating Instrument Platform, or FLIP, is what happens when you want to have both a boat and a buoy at the same time and can’t decide between the two. It’s a research vessel on which scientists will spend weeks at a time doing studies on the open water. And while in motion it’s a ship that’s over 355 feet long, when it’s ready to do work the ballast tanks fill with water down three hundred feet of its entire length, causing it to flip forward at a right angle until only the habitable end is sticking up out of the water.

With three hundred feet of vessel under the water and just the last 50 ft floating above, it’s able to weather nearly any kind of rough seas without a risk of flipping over or sinking. The length of the vessel is well below the water that is disturbed by surface waves, so it’s simply bobs calmly on top of the water.

When the research is done, compressed air is forced into the ballast, the water drains out, and the boat flips back into position so that it can sail home again.

7.  The Plongeur Submarine

The French Plongeur submarine has a special place in history. It was the first submarine that was able to propel itself through mechanical power. First launched in 1863, you can imagine how terrifying it must have been at that time to trust a machine to take you under the water and somehow keep you alive.

Earlier subs had been powered by human energy — crews pedaling to keep the ship moving like an underwater bicycle. The Plongeur had a compressed air-powered engine and was far larger than anything before it. At 140 feet long, the ship also contained 23 tanks of compressed air which took up 403 cubic feet of space. 

The Plongeur made several successful journeys before it was decommissioned, mostly out of fears of its unstable design, it’s limited air supply, and the fact that technology improved enough to make better vessels 

6. Camel Supply 

If you’ve ever wondered how camels travel the world, then wonder no longer. The tale of the USS Supply, the most uncreatively named supply ship in US Naval history, can answer that question for you. 

In 1855, US Secretary of War Jefferson Davis crafted a mission to acquire camels so that the US Army could have a camel division. The goal was to have camels to navigate deserts in Mexico. The thinking was clearly that since camels were adapted to desert climates in the Middle East, they could handle desert climates in North America just as easily and give soldiers an upper hand. 

A 60 foot long camel barn was constructed on the USS Supply. By 1865 the ship had reached the Middle East and was loaded down with 33 camels from different regions of the Middle East to see which would adapt best to life in North America. 

It took 87 days to get back to America and inexplicably, despite leaving with 33 camels, they arrived home with 34 since a new one had been born along the way. Camels adapt well to ocean travel. A second trip brought back 41 camels.

The USS Supply had proven its worth as a camel carrier, but the camels themselves ended up being a failure as they adapted poorly to combat, they smelled terrible, and they had rather unpleasant attitudes if they didn’t like the person who was handling them. 

5. The Hughes Glomar Explorer

While the idea of a covert spy ship doesn’t seem that unusual, the Hughes Glomar Explorer was the CIA‘s clever attempt to retrieve a sunken Soviet vessel without anyone having any idea what was going on. The plan was for it to sneak in and snag a Soviet nuclear sub and then take off again without any outward sign that anything that ever happened.

The Explorer was originally built after a Soviet ballistic missile nuclear sub sank at the height of the Cold War. The Soviets were unable to determine exactly where the sub had gone down so they couldn’t salvage it themselves. Then the US Navy discovered it. 

The top secret construction of the vessel proved to be one of the strangest missions the CIA has ever conducted. The final product was so large it couldn’t even fit down the Panama Canal. The front and back ends of the ship were meant to bob and weave on waves while the center remained stable. The reason for that was it was essentially one of those giant claw machines you see in supermarkets. The plan was to grasp the sunken submarine some 17,000 feet below the surface of the ocean and make off with it. The ball bearings were apparently the size of bowling balls. 

Even more impressive than the construction was the fact that this all had to be done super secretly. Obviously the Soviets would not have approved if word got out, so the CIA came up with a cover story. Billionaire Howard Hughes designed the ship so he could farm manganese nodules at the bottom of the ocean. Front companies were set up and stories were leaked to the press. 

The ruse worked for a time, but the claw apparatus broke and then the cover story was blown. They never actually managed to retrieve the sub, but it was an impressive effort. 

4. USS Wolverine 

Most everyone knows what an aircraft carrier looks like. They’re the largest vessels on the sea and weigh upwards of 40,000 tons. It’s hard to imagine, then, that there was a second kind of aircraft carrier designed for use in freshwater. The Great Lakes had their own aircraft carriers, including the USS Wolverine. It was originally a side paddlewheel steamer that transported people from Cleveland to Buffalo. 

The Navy purchased the vessel in 1942 and set it up as a freshwater training aircraft carrier in the Great Lakes. It had none of the armaments that a normal carrier is outfitted with, and was smaller than a modern carrier, but it saw extensive use as a training vessel for pilots. In fact, over 17,000 pilots trained to land and take off from the Wolverine during the Second World War. 

3. HMS Zubian

During the First World War the Royal British Navy had two Tribal-Class warships known as the HMS Zulu and the HMS Nubian. Both vessels were badly damaged in 1916 but not destroyed. So, in a feat of naval ingenuity, the front of the Zulu was welded onto the back of the Nubian to create a brand new vessel – the HMS Zubian.

Despite being a Frankensten vessel, the Zubian saw extensive service during the war and proved its worth more than once. It even managed to sink a German U-Boat in 1918. The threat of submarines was so great the Navy couldn’t afford to lose any ships if they could avoid it, and forging a new ship from two old ones was more cost-effective and faster than starting from scratch.

2. Baron of Renfrew

We live in what some people call a disposable culture these days. Everything from razors to coffee pods are designed to be used and tossed out. That seems normal to us, but the idea of a 304 foot long wooden ship, the largest wooden ship ever built, being built to be tossed out still seems a little odd.

The Baron of Renfrew was built as a single use vessel. It was a little bit of a scam, meant to ship timber from the New World to Europe. The ship itself would be taken apart when it got where it was going and the wood that was used in its construction would be tax exempt because it was part of the ship, as opposed to the cargo. Things didn’t go quite as planned and the ship started taking on water. Timber washed up on shore in France, having almost reached its destination.

1. Ramform Titan

When you need to measure seismic activity or do surveys at sea the Ramform Titan is the ship on which to do it. Shaped like a giant wedge of cheese, the Titan has an insanely powerful engine that produces 26.4 megawatts of power. For some perspective, a giant wind turbine produces about two megawatts of power, which is enough to power about 400 average homes. So the engine here could power over 5,000 homes.

The massive design is meant to be stable in any weather, so crews could safely work even in the middle of a storm at sea. The vessel is capable of running survey streams behind it, 24 in total, that can span well over 100 kilometers in length. In fact, in 2015 they ran 129.6 kilometers of streamers during a survey, breaking a world record.