The lore surrounding leprechauns may have originated in Ireland. Still, whenever March rolls around in the United States, there seem to be little redheaded men wearing green all over the place. St. Patrick’s Day is obviously a huge holiday—and a big excuse to party—for many Americans. And it’s the one day every year when you absolutely must wear something green, lest you get pinched by everyone around you!

Between that and other leprechaun lore, including symbols of good luck and pots of gold at the end of the rainbow, leprechauns seem to be all over the place. They’ve been portrayed in television and movies, they wind up on the front of cereal boxes, and they are both lampooned and honored in a variety of ways by Irish-American descendants—and, more recently, their counterparts from pretty much every background.

But the story of leprechauns actually goes back way further than a springtime holiday, and it has far more interesting aspects to it than you ever realized. In this list, we’ll take a long look at ten fascinating facts about leprechauns. These were things you likely never knew about the myths surrounding these little guys, their origins, their history, and their legacy. Are you feelin’ lucky enough to read on?

Related: Top 10 Strange and Eerie Mysteries in Ireland

10 Leprechauns Settled Ireland?

According to legend, leprechauns were actually in Ireland long before the arrival of humans from the rest of the British Isles and elsewhere. See, leprechauns are not people like we are; instead, they are said to be fairies. These fairies are unique in their biological makeup and temperament, and they didn’t migrate to Ireland ages ago like humans did.

As the legend does, they supposedly originated from a family of what is called “Tuatha Dé Danann.” This family was composed of magical beings that existed to serve the goddess Danu. That goddess was a well-known Gaelic spirit who lorded over the land.

The leprechauns were created and then thrived in order to do her bidding, protect her land, and see after her assets and legacy on Earth. As such, they originated in Ireland far before people got to the island. When humans finally did discover the land and make a move to settle it, they were supposedly confronted by a group of leprechauns who had been there already, working hard at doing Danu’s bidding.

From the very start, then, leprechauns had more than just a whimsical aspect about them. They had the goddesses’ backing, and they had first rights to the region that would become known as Ireland!^[1]

9 Carlingford’s Leprechaun Evidence

In 1989, an Irish businessman claimed that he found rock-solid evidence of the presence of leprechauns. The evidence came after he’d heard a scream from deep down inside a wishing well, he asserted. When he went to investigate the source of the scream, he supposedly found gold coins, a tiny suit, and some bones—remnants of some very tiny creature that had perished down in the well.

Shocked, he quickly realized that the combination of that evidence could only point to one thing: the sure-fire presence of leprechauns! And like any good fairy hunter, he preserved the evidence he did find in a glass case to be put on display. You know, so any naysayers would be overcome with the cold, hard truth!

Then, he created an annual tradition in which others now go out and “hunt” for leprechauns in Carlingford. There is said to be a fairy cavern upon the side of a hilly incline where these leprechauns supposedly live. At the annual “leprechaun hunt,” visitors can go across the hills and find more than 100 scattered and hidden ceramic leprechauns.

The “hunter’s license” that this event requires costs a few pounds, so the businessman proved himself to be savvy enough to charge for the pleasure. But the event has become an annual celebration in Carlingford, with hunters from all over searching for leprechauns, gold bars, and more “proof” of the fairies’ existence in Ireland.^[2]

8 No Girls Allowed!

There are no female leprechauns. According to old books that have covered the stories of leprechauns going back centuries, there have only ever been male versions of the little species. Even going back to Fairy Legends and Traditions from the South of Ireland, published by author Thomas Crofton Croker way back in 1825, there are no mentions of female leprechauns existing in the mortal realm.

Some say that’s because leprechauns are actually male fairies who were previously banished from their fairy colonies and families for a variety of reasons. After banishment, they were ordered to carry out the rest of their whimsical lives as leprechauns in their male-only colony in present-day Ireland.

Other sources claim leprechauns weren’t banished from their fairy colonies because they did something wrong. Instead, lore holds these creatures were simply the unwanted male children of fairy communities. For a variety of reasons, they were discarded and sent off to live in their new land away from the community that was supposed to have raised them. Pretty depressing, right?

Either way, there are two ways for leprechauns to maintain and grow their population once they are sent off to their new living arrangements. They can either (a) mate with the females of other species to supposedly produce more leprechauns or (b) wait around patiently and rely on other banished fairies to maintain the population into the future. Regardless, this detail sure makes you look at leprechauns in a different (and even more sympathetic) light, doesn’t it?^[3]

7 Going Santa Style

We know leprechauns as wearing all green, but they weren’t always depicted that way. For centuries, leprechauns were said to have worn red. In all kinds of Irish written lore, they were described as being shoemakers with pots of gold hidden at the end of rainbows—which, yeah, we’re still on board with today—but their outfits were made up of bright red that allowed them to easily spot each other as opposed to the green we know today.

Take the author Samuel Lover’s 1831 work Legends and Stories of Ireland. In it, Lover writes that all leprechauns have a red square-cut coat that is laced with gold trimmings, as well as a bright red hat that goes along with large black buckles on their belts and shoes. That sounds a little more like Santa Claus than it does the modern leprechaun, doesn’t it?

And Lover was not alone in his description. Many other authors centuries ago described these mischievous and energetic little fairies in the exact same way: with three-cornered hats and bright red clothes. It wasn’t until Irish poet William Allingham—who died at the very end of the 19th century—wrote a memorable poem about leprechauns wearing green that the new look stuck.

A large part of that change could be to more closely associate leprechauns with Irish customs, colors, and traditions. After all, green began to be associated with everything to do with Ireland by the late 19th century, so it only makes sense that leprechauns would join that line. Or, if you’re more whimsical about it, perhaps you can believe they switched to green to better blend in with the grass along the Irish countryside!^[4]

6 The Dutch Have Leprechauns, Too!

Amazingly, leprechauns aren’t an Irish-only thing. Other societies around the world have similar tales and fables from their ancient past. The Hawaiians have the Menehune, for example. They believe these Menehune are tiny, secretive dwarf people who dwell high up in rainforest jungles and live quietly as best they can away from human encroachment.

But the Irish isn’t the only culture that believes tiny fairies or fairy-like people are dwelling about. In fact, one culture that believes this to be true is MUCH closer to Ireland than the Hawaiians!

In the Netherlands, there is said to be a race of gnomes known as “kabouters” who are very similar to the leprechauns that live in Ireland. These Holland-based gnomes are supposedly very tiny and very hairy. They tend to live underground, most often in holes that they’ve dug out in sloping hills. They tend to be solitary creatures, and they’re even a little bit vindictive!

Legend has it these kabouters like to spy on people, and if people spy on them, they come after the poor humans who dared to explore. Oh, and just like leprechauns (er, you know, leprechauns before their outfit switch), kabouters are always depicted as wearing little red suits with pointy red hats. Clearly, there are quite a few parallels!^[5]

5 Holding the Purse Strings

According to legend, the leprechauns are the bankers of the fairy world. Of course, their main work is making shoes. They are well-known among myth followers and even casual observers for their role in producing shoes. Those shoes, in turn, are sent off to all the other fairies of the world, and the leprechauns make their money and thrive in this little economy.

Sounds simple (and pretty popularly known at this point), right? And since fairies love to dance and romp so much, they always need new shoes from their shoemakers. Cha-ching! But what’s interesting is that leprechauns have other ways to make bank (literally) that go beyond just cobbling together footwear!

Leprechaun legends claim that these little red-haired men are the ones who quite tightly hold the purse strings in the fairy world. See, it’s no accident that leprechauns are often depicted as lucky and have those infamous pots of gold around them. That gold is said to be their bank stash, from which they can dole out money to other fairies in need.

The leprechauns guard their assets carefully and shrewdly, giving out a few coins here and there—always to be paid back in time. It all came to a head centuries ago, myths claim, when marauders from Denmark landed on Ireland hunting treasure. The leprechauns hid their pots of gold, avoided the aggressive Danes, and then circled the wagons to protect their pricey assets forever after!^[6]

4 The Smallest Leprechaun Colony Ever

In 1946, a man named Dick Fagan returned to Oregon after serving in World War II. He got a job as a reporter at the Oregon Journal and set out to cover local news, politics, and other events around the city of Portland.

That should have been the whole story, perhaps, but Fagan wasn’t interested in just being a news reporter. He also had a bit of a creative side to him. That came out one day a few years later when he noticed a tiny block of concrete in the city that used to be the foundation point for a light pole. With the light pole gone, some grass had sprung up, and Fagan got an idea.

He began writing newspaper columns about a supposed leprechaun named Patrick O’Toole, who lived in that cement-encircled grassy area in Portland. It was a very tiny spot, and O’Toole, Fagan explained in his columns, was a very tiny man. Obviously, the details were all made up, but Fagan ran with a whole story about O’Toole’s colony of fellow leprechauns. In time, the journalist even added flowers and other decorations near the cement outcropping—and he even made a sign for the site.

The whole story is goofy, but it proved to be a hit with the public. Over the next several decades, Portland residents responded positively to the supposed leprechaun tale. By 1976, it became an official city park despite its incredibly tiny size.

In the years since, other contributors have carried out Fagan’s goofy legacy with more leprechaun-related improvements. The city has moved the “park” a couple times to put together various construction projects, but the location—now officially known as Mill Ends Park—lives on well into the 21st century.^[7]

3 Don’t Fence ‘Em In!

In 1958, workers in Ireland were tasked with building a high fence to enclose a certain area of the hilly countryside. The task seemed simple enough, and the workers in question had done jobs like that plenty of times before. But there was one major problem: They believed the area they were enclosing was a spot where leprechauns tended to live.

Thus, they wanted to not build the tall fence, as it would trap those supposed leprechauns within an enclosed space and leave them unable to move to get food and water and generally live their fairytale lives. In total, more than 20 workers boycotted building the fence. They wanted the land around there not to be disturbed, dug up, or desecrated in any way because of the supposed leprechauns that called it home.

Then-president of Ireland Éamon de Valera was quickly put into a difficult spot when it came to whether or not the workers should be punished. Believers who argued the leprechauns really did live there noted that “the land is a fairy palace and must not be desecrated.” Of course, it’s possible that the workers simply chose not to build a fence on that day because they didn’t feel like working.

Thus, the leprechauns became a simple excuse for all that. But we prefer to believe that they really did know some leprechauns lived in the area—and their disobedience was thus all the more righteous in its brazen push.^[8]

2 The Law Loves Leprechauns!

Whenever surveys are taken about leprechauns across Ireland, the results consistently come back with about one-third of the population believing in them as being real. That number fluctuates a bit and has changed some over the years. And, of course, it’s certainly possible that survey respondents are simply trolling the survey takers when answering that they think leprechauns really do exist out there dug deep into the hillsides.

But still, there are so many Irish people who back leprechauns as being legitimate that it has left lawmakers in a bit of a bind when it comes to human (er, uh, fairy) rights! In 2009, 236 “surviving leprechauns” were granted protection in various human rights and legal manners under the European Habitats Directive. Yes, you read that right: European law actually does protect leprechauns just as it would for any other endangered species or rare habitat within its jurisdiction.

Specifically, the Slieve Foye mountain caverns were protected by the European Union when they were given heritage status that year. Those caverns are believed to contain at least 236 leprechauns who hide out in there and stay as far away from people as they possibly can. Of course, the law also very specifically protects real flora and fauna in those mountain caverns. But it’s definitely more fun to think about how the EU is looking out for its leprechaun citizens!^[9]

1 Leprechaunism Is a Disorder

Believe it or not, there is a very rare disorder that afflicts babies, and it is named after leprechauns. Also known as Donohue syndrome, this disorder has to do with insulin resistance. Basically, an extremely small percentage of infants suffer from insulin resistance after they are born. In turn, they find it extremely difficult to gain weight, and they suffer through exceedingly slow and perilous growth rates. The disorder forces them to suffer through extremely low muscle mass and growth through infancy, as well as dangerously low body fat levels.

The disorder is so rare that it has only been seen in the world a few dozen confirmed times. In fact, there are only about 50 known and legitimized cases of the disorder that have been listed in medical literature. So saying there’s a one-in-a-million shot for a baby to suffer through this is even understating it a bit.

Still, leprechaunism can seriously affect the endocrine system and make for life-threatening growth delays, so doctors take it very seriously when they see it. They have also tried to rename the syndrome to its Donohue moniker, too, as a way to walk back any potentially negative or offensive associations between these babies and leprechauns.^[10]

If you come up with a brilliant idea in this world, you have to know that someone else is probably going to try to steal it. That’s sad but realistic. In an effort to protect yourself, you can always try to copyright or trademark your idea before anyone else gets a chance to punk off your hard work. That way, if someone does, you can go to court to either stop them or sue for sweet, sweet cash.

If you’re not in the business of filing for trademarks, you may not be aware of just how many of them exist and what sorts of things have actually been trademarked. Some of them are more surprising than you’d think.

10. Superhero is a Trademark Owned by Both DC and Marvel

The superhero genre is about as big as it’s ever going to get and while the early 2020s have shown a small backlash against it, the fact remains that the bulk of the highest-grossing films of all time are superhero movies and both Marvel and DC have made close to $40 billion together at the box office. 

Most people consider Marvel and DC competitors and there has long been a rivalry between the companies which shared writers and artists back and forth over the years and had several notable characters who seemed like they were copied from the other company at one time or another.

There have been times when Marvel and DC worked together, however. Their universes have crossed over in comics several times now and you can see Hulk and Superman throw down in print if you’re so inclined. But the companies have also teamed up behind the scenes to trademark the term “superhero.”

Anyone in America using “superhero” or “super hero” or any derivative of those terms is at risk of a lawsuit because it’s jointly owned by both companies. Two companies holding the same trademark is not usual, of course, but it’s not been challenged, either. They came together on the deal because, since they’re in the same business, they realized neither would succeed against the other in trying to claim the term in general. Also, neither Marvel nor DC is consistent in enforcing their rights. Many companies use the terms willy-nilly with no consequence, but others have been shot down by lawyers at the discretion of the publishers. 

9. Darth Vader’s Breathing is a Trademark

Star Wars is a pop culture monster that started in the 1970s and has only gotten bigger. These days there are Star Wars movies, TV shows, animation, video games, action figures, Lego, and even Spaghetti-os. It’s everywhere. With all the money that Star Wars rakes in, the franchise has been valued at around $65 billion, you better believe things are secured with trademarks. 

The obvious stuff is trademarked like names and likenesses and all that good stuff but, with Star Wars, it goes deeper. A character like Darth Vader is more than just a cool-sounding name and a sinister costume. That’s why even Vader’s breathing has been trademarked. 

Defined as “the sound of rhythmic mechanical human breathing created by breathing through a scuba tank regulator,” Lucasfilm trademarked Vader’s distinctive sound so that no one else could try to sneak it into their own works without permission.

Trademarking a sound is not that unusual, as long as we’re talking about something distinctive. That “dun dun” sound from Law & Order, the roar of the MGM lion, and Tarzan’s unusual yell are all trademarked as well. 

8. Play-Doh’s Scent Is A Trademark

If a trademark can protect a sound, why not a smell? That’s what the makers of Play-Doh thought when they decided to trademark that distinctive odor that’s hard to describe as anything beyond “that Play-Doh smell.” Except they did have to describe it since that’s part of the process. 

According to the makers, the smell of Play-Doh can be described as “the combination of a sweet, slightly musky, vanilla-like fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, and the natural smell of a salted, wheat-based dough.” We’ll leave it to you to determine how accurate that is.

Hasbro trademarked the smell back in 2018, and it became one of several odors that enjoy such trademark protection. There are strawberry-scented toothbrushes, bubblegum-scented flip flops, and even a “flowery musk” smell in stores that sell electronics that are somehow also trademark-protected. 

7. Real Estate Agent and Realtor are Different as Realtor is a Trademarked Word

If you have ever bought or sold property, you probably needed the help of a real estate agent. They’re easy enough to find online and whatever town you’re in probably has plenty who are willing to help. Plenty of real estate agents. But maybe not as many Realtors. Because they’re not the same thing and only one is trademarked.

Even though most of us would use real estate agent and realtor interchangeably, Realtors sure don’t want you to do that. Realtor is a trademark of NAR, the National Association of Realtors. A real estate agent has to become a member, adhere to a code of ethics that they get tested on, and may then be able to access greater resources for their business. 

It’s also worth noting that Realtor is a proper noun and should always be capitalized, even though it rarely is. NAR puts a lot of effort into trying to maintain its trademark so it doesn’t become a generic term that loses meaning.

6. Pitbull Trademarked his “Eeeeeyoooo” Yell

If you’re a certain kind of person, you may be a fan of the music of Florida’s favorite son, Pitbull. Like Tarzan, Pitbull is known for a distinctive yell or “grito.” Pitbull managed to file for trademark protection for that yell, successfully arguing that the sound is so distinctly related to him that even if he’s not there and the sound was played, people who recognized it would immediately know it was his sound.

The yell, which was written out as EEEEEEEYOOOOOO for the benefit of the claim, was one of less than 40 distinctive sounds that have ever qualified for a trademark claim. That means Pitbull pulled off a fairly significant feat by getting it protected. 

5. Taco Tuesday Was a Trademark Until 2023

Tacos are popular and for damn good reason, they’re delicious. Taco Tuesday is an unofficial event enjoyed by people all over America and has even been immortalized in a LeBron James clip that became a meme in which the basketball player just yells the phrase out. It’s such a common phrase and an idea that it has its own Wikipedia page. 

Unbeknownst to much of the taco-loving public, the idea of having delicious tacos on a Tuesday was not just a spontaneous and alliterative idea at all. It was a carefully devised plan that was crafted by Taco John’s back in 1989, when they actually trademarked it. Who knew?

While the idea of Taco Tuesday has only really become a ubiquitous part of culture in the last 15 years or so, Taco John’s saw the writing on the wall and tried to capitalize. Unfortunately, it didn’t really work. After years of owning the trademark and seeing everyone and their uncle stomp all over it, they ended up giving it away after Taco Bell campaigned hard to make them free up the phrase under the idea it belonged to everyone due to common usage. But there was one holdout.

Taco John’s had the trademark in every state except New Jersey. Restaurateur Gregory Gregory (yes, that’s his actual name) was the New Jersey owner of the trademark and he held on for another three months after Taco John’s buckled. 

Ironically, Gregory doesn’t like tacos and had long stated he would never give up the trademark and planned to pass it on to his grandson. Perhaps something else motivated him to change his mind.

4. Grammy Trophies Are Made of a Trademark Alloy Called Grammium

Once every year the biggest names in music come together for the Grammy Awards so that people on the internet can celebrate when their favorite musician wins or lament how the Grammy’s are garbage and don’t matter if their favorite artist loses. You can set your watch by it!

For those who still do care about the awards, every winner gets the statue known as a Grammy to take home and put on the mantle or whatever it is people do with such things. The name of the award comes from the fact it’s designed to look like a tiny gramophone, something which probably means little to most of the fans of music in the modern world as no one has used one in decades. 

Like most awards statues, the Grammy appears to be gold, but that’s not the case. It’s made from a custom alloy cleverly named Grammium. The Grammy Association has trademarked the alloy to ensure no one else can use it to make Grammys, it seems. Or anything, really. 

The alloy is made of zinc and aluminum and then it’s coated in 24k gold after it’s been formed. The horn of the gramophone part is made of brass. There’s no actual dollar value associated with the trophy if you ever stumble on one and wonder if it’s worth pawning, but it’s been estimated that it costs around $15 to make one. 

3. Bubble Wrap is a Trademark

Everyone and their uncle knows bubble wrap at this point. It’s a sheet of plastic with little air pockets that snap when you pop them. People have used it to insulate packages for decades now. Less well-known is that bubble wrap is not a technical name by any means. Bubble wrap is the trademarked name of a “Cellular Cushioning Packaging Material which Contains Entrapped Bubbles of Air or Other Gases.”

The trademark was filed back in the 1960s but it became so ubiquitous as the name for that product and any product just like it that it is now considered a generic trademark. Things like Kleenex, aspirin, and jet ski have all lost the association with the original branding and if it becomes too commonplace, like it did with bubble wrap, the trademark is lost.

2. 7-Eleven Owns the Term Brainfreeze

Aside from being delightfully refreshing, a 7-Eleven Slurpee is also known for one very significant thing – pain. If you drink a Slurpee too fast the cold will invade your brain and make it feel like your mind is being shattered from the inside out. But that goes away in a minute and you can get back to drinking too fast.

Also known as brain freeze, a cold headache is caused by the rapid cooling of capillaries in your sinus area that causes vasoconstriction. For some people, it’s intensely painful but for many, it’s an oddly fun side effect, much the way hot sauce makes you uncomfortable for a moment before you go back for more.

For 7-Eleven, brain freeze was a great marketing tool. So much so that they trademarked the term. Even though both Slurpee and brain freeze have become almost generic terms for the things they describe, 7-Eleven owns them both. 

1. Billy Joel Trademarked Billy Joel, and Yoko Ono Owns John Lennon

If you’re a celebrity, your name is part of your fame. When someone says Tom Cruise or Jennifer Lawrence, you know right away who they mean. And maybe, for some celebrities, that means they really want to have full ownership over their name so no one can ever use it in any context without permission. Which brings us to Billy Joel trademarking his own name. The trademark covers pretty much everything from merchandise to print materials and music that may include his name.

Beyond trademarking your own name, there are circumstances in which you can lay claim to someone else’s. Yoko Ono owns the trademark to John Lennon and if you want to use his signature in anything, she’s the gatekeeper. Unlike Joel, who trademarked a standard typeset version of his name, Ono holds the trademark to Lennon’s signature, which can’t be reproduced on any retail product.

From Ancient Egypt to the Classical era to the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery, non-heteronormativity has long been a fact of nature. But only recently has sexual and gender conformity been so rejected by the mainstream; the earliest societies didn’t have to. As annoying as “wokeness” can be, it’s only undoing the work of the Hebrews — begun in the seventh century BC, and carried on by late Romans and the Holy Roman Empire. Before them, things were quite different. 

In any case, there’s nothing marginal about these 10 figures; you just didn’t know they were queer. 

10. Hercules

According to Plutarch, the legendary alpha had sex with innumerable men, including Jason, Adonis, and Hermes’ son Abderus. He even slept with Eurystheus, the mythical king for whom he performed the 12 Labors (which another lover, Iolaos, watched).

He had female lovers too, of course, like his first wife Megara (of Disney fame) — but, depending on the myth, he either killed her or gave her to Iolaos. There was also Omphale, Queen of Lydia, who he stayed with for three years — but only as her slave, and dressed as a woman. He even deflowered all 50 of King Thespios’s daughters (49 in a single night), but that was only at their father’s request.

That Hercules was gay is no revelation, it’s just at odds with the stereotype. For thousands of years, the homosexual demigod has cavorted with satyrs, wrestled with “snakes”, and, in one famous statue, had his dick grabbed by the warrior Diomedes. Now he’s set to appear as Marvel’s first gay superhero in The Eternals.

9. Hatshepsut

By Hatshepsut’s day, the species had forgotten its communal, matrilineal origins. Centralized patriarchy based on surplus production, trade, and male inheritance was now the established norm. This is why, when Hatshepsut’s father Thutmose I died, it was her two-year-old nephew who replaced him. It took Hatshepsut seven years as the toddler’s regent to prove herself worthy of the crown — and even then she had to man up.

Throughout her 20-year reign, “his Majesty” Hatshepsut was identified as a king not a queen. In statues, reliefs, and other depictions, her breasts were downplayed, her torso was androgynous, and her chin was corrected with a beard (a manly symbol of the pharaoh in general).

Interestingly, though, Hatshepsut’s sex was never completely erased — far from it. For one thing, the name Hatshepsut literally means “foremost of noblewomen”. She was also referred to as “the King herself”, presumably by choice. More likely she (or they) was what we define as non-binary. This was the view of German physician Magnus Hirschfield who, in 1914, saw Hatshepsut as a 3,000-year-old example of what he termed “sexual intermediacy”.

8. Achilles

In Madeline Miller’s viral bestseller The Song of Achilles, the hero is in love with Patroclus. But, as the author noted herself, this isn’t a new idea. Scholars have long wondered about Achilles’ sexuality. Centuries after his original appearance in Homer’s Iliad, Greeks such as Plato saw Achilles as Patroclus’s eromenos — that is, the young man’s adolescent lover. But this was just more acceptable to Greek sensibilities. In Miller’s novel, as in the Achilleid by the Roman poet Statius, as well as the Iliad itself, the two men are about the same age.

And while they weren’t explicitly presented as lovers in the Iliad, we can see where people got the idea. Achilles and Patroclus are inseparable. Achilles sings to him; they share a tent; and when Patroclus dies in battle Achilles is stricken, overcome with a vengeful fury against Hector, the man who “has slain him whom I loved so dearly”. Achilles also keeps Patroclus’s washed and dressed corpse in his tent. When he finally decides to burn the body, he puts a lock of his hair in its hands. Then, in Homer’s Odyssey, we’re told Achilles’s ashes were mixed with Patroclus’s.

Female lovers do appear in the tales, but Achilles never gets married. There’s even a hint of transgenderism — or transvestitism at least: as a youth he lived and dressed as a girl at the court of Lycomedes in Scyros.

7. Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc (pronouns he, him) isn’t the only transgender ever canonized by the Pope. Hilarion, Marinos, Smaragdos, Athanasios, and others were all assigned female at birth. Despite dying for his gender, though — at the hands of the Catholic Church, no less — Joan is the only one misgendered today.

In life he had short black hair and only ever dressed as a man, yet almost every depiction brings out his feminine features. Some of the best known paintings are completely imagined, portraying Joan in skirts, dresses, or feminized armor with long, strawberry blonde hair and sexualized make-up. The Suffragettes, likewise, seized on the knight as a symbol of the “womanly warrior”, evoking Joan in their fight for the vote (never mind that Joan was a monarchist).

In fact, he’s been used and abused in death just as much as in life. After leading a 10,000-strong army and ending the Hundred Years War (aged just 17), he was betrayed by the Frenchman he put on the throne. Apparently, the restored French nobility saw their young peasant savior, a popular military strategist, as an existential threat. So when the English captured Joan, they refused to pay a ransom, leaving the teenager to the mercy of the English king Henry VI. Being a heteronormative sort (despite his descent from the queer king Richard I), Henry denounced Joan’s cross-dressing and threw him to the Catholics.

At first, the Inquisition’s threat of the stake was enough for Joan to relent. But the “merciful” alternative was worse: life in a dungeon in women’s clothes on a diet of bread and water. Within days he returned to male dress. Defeated, the Inquisition sentenced him to death, urged on by the University of Paris, saying to Joan: “time and again you have relapsed, as a dog that returns to its vomit”. 

It wasn’t until the 20th century that his immolators made him a saint — reluctantly, cynically, under pressure from rebelling French Catholics, and even then they made him a woman.

6. Shakespeare

In 2020, researchers analyzing Shakespeare’s sonnets concluded the bard was bisexual. Having arranged his love songs into the order they were written, the scholars — two world renowned authorities on the playwright — were left in no doubt on this point. The sexual content of the sonnets “addressed to a male subject,” they said, shows he had affairs with men as well as women during his 34-year marriage to Anne Hathaway. 

In Sonnet 52, for instance, Shakespeare urges his male lover “To make some special instant special-blest,/By new unfolding his imprison’d pride” (an Elizabethan euphemism for “erection”). The men Shakespeare lusted after are mostly referred to as “Fair Lord” or “Fair Youth”, but other pet names do appear. In Sonnet 20, there’s the “master-mistress of my passion”; in Sonnet 26, the “Lord of my love”. There’s also plenty of gay, bisexual, and gender-bending characters in his plays. 

Another prominent Shakespeare scholar, however, Brian Vickers, says we can’t infer anything about the playwright’s sexuality from his creative literary works. In other words, separate the art from the artist. But, as Stanley Wells (one of the researchers on the sonnet study) points out, we know Shakespeare was writing about himself because he left us obvious clues. In Sonnet 135, for example, he puns on his first name Will 13 times. Besides, as Shakespeare scholar Arthur Freeman, puts it: “Why on earth would Shakespeare choose so often to impersonate a pathetically ageing, balding, lame and vulnerable bisexual suitor” unless it was “both genuine and cathartic?” After all, gay sex was illegal in England. He couldn’t have been more out of the closet without getting thrown in jail.

5. Zeus

Is God queer? Of course he is! In the Iliad, Zeus is so captivated by the young shepherd Ganymede that he swoops down to steal him away. Known as ‘The Rape of Ganymede’, this mythical scene appears in mosaics, frescoes, pottery, and sculptures from the classical world to the Renaissance.

In Roman versions, Jupiter appears as an eagle grasping the young Phrygian in his talons. As the poet Ovid put it, the king of the gods “snatched away the shepherd of Ilium, who even now … supplies [Jupiter, aka] Jove with nectar, to the annoyance of Juno [Jove’s wife].”

According to some, the abduction wasn’t sexual but purely spiritual in nature. Ganymede’s ascent, they said, represents the journey of the soul. This was clearly a stretch — but it was how gay Renaissance painters got away with their tender depictions. Michelangelo, for example, aged 57, gave a drawing of the scene to his 17-year-old lover Tommaso. By the eighteenth century, the pretense had been dropped; ‘The Rape of Ganymede’ was fully restored as a symbol of homosexuality and “Ganymede” became a name for male prostitutes.

4. Da Vinci

Da Vinci left few details about his personal life. He’d learned the importance of privacy. At the age of 23, amid a government crackdown, he was accused of having sex with a man. It’s unclear whether the artist was jailed but he seems to have turned in on himself (even though homosexuality was so common in Florence that “Florenzer” was slang for “gay man”).

All we really know of Leonardo’s private life comes from gossip and clues. Several decades after his death, for instance, the artist Gian Paolo Lomazzo imagined a meeting between da Vinci and the Greek sculptor Phidias, in which Phidias asks da Vinci about his young male assistant: “Did you perhaps play with him that ‘backside game’ that Florentines love so much?”, to which da Vinci enthuses that he did. Even da Vinci’s own notes (probed by Freud among others) suggest a love triangle with two male assistants: Salaí (“Little Devil”) and Master Francesco — both of whom were models for his paintings. It’s actually the subject of an opera. 

Salaí was a working class troublemaker who, despite his crude manners (stealing from guests, eating too much, etc.), stayed with da Vinci for 25 years, from 10 to 35 years old. The Milanese noble Master Francesco joined them halfway through this time aged around 13 or 14. For years the three went everywhere together until, eventually, Salaí left them in France. There may have been a falling out as he wasn’t there at da Vinci’s bedside when he died in 1519; also, Francesco inherited his master’s works while Salaí got only half a vineyard.

3. Caesar

Throughout his life, Julius Caesar was nicknamed the “Queen of Bithynia”. Apparently, at the age of 20 he had sex with Nicomedes IV. He’d only been sent there to secure the king’s help in the Roman army’s siege against Lesbos. But Caesar was so dazzled by the oriental court that he stayed on longer than expected. He also returned to the king just days after leaving, further adding fuel to the rumors.

Of course, bisexuality was normal for the Romans — but it was shameful for a man to be the bottom. Hence the young Caesar’s sexcapades were often brought up by his numerous political rivals. To list just a few: his co-consul Bibulus routinely referred to him as Bithynicam reginam in edicts; the poet Licinius Calvus mocked him in verses; and the politician Memmius publicly accused him of having served as the eastern king’s “cupbearer”. In fact, even his own soldiers jeered him for it.

But Cicero gave the most scathing remarks. A homosexual himself, he wrote a lurid account of Caesar being led to the bedchamber, where, on a golden couch arrayed in purple, “the virginity of the one sprung from Venus was lost in Bithynia.” Another time, in the Senate, while Caesar listed duties to the king, Cicero cried out: “No more of that, pray, for it is well known what he gave you, and what you gave him in turn.”

2. Paul

Was the founder of Christianity a closeted homosexual? Though he’s often portrayed as a gay-bashing misogynist, there seems to have been more to the man — like a passion for equality unusual for his time. In Galatians 3:28, for instance, he wrote: “In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free man, neither male nor female. In Christ, all of these are one.” Unlike Christ’s brother James, Paul envisioned an all-embracing faith extending far beyond conservative Judaism.

He was also raised in Bithynia, part of ancient Greece, where same-sex love was more free (and where Caesar was “Queen” to Nicomedes). Tellingly, a wife is never mentioned and, despite revisionists grasping at straws, Paul himself said he was single. He seems to have withdrawn into the exclusively male company of Timothy, Silas, and Luke.

According to Bishop John Shelby Spong (the author of Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism and a twice-married straight man himself), Paul was probably a “self-loathing and repressed gay male.” After all, it’s clear he was conflicted, but it’s never clear why. What, for instance, was the “thorn in his flesh”? And why, in his own words, was he such a “wretched man”?  For Spong, it was Paul’s desire for sex with men that prompted such outbursts as this. “Nothing else,” said the bishop, “could account for Paul’s self-judging rhetoric, his negative feeling toward his own body and his sense of being controlled by something he had no power to change.” 

1. Jesus

Jesus being gay explains a lot, not least why “praying the gay away” doesn’t work. While there’s no direct confirmation in scripture, neither is there any he was straight. There’s actually more to suggest he was gay. 

First, there’s his “friendship” with John — who, in John’s own words, was the “disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23). At the Last Supper, he leant “on Jesus’ bosom” in his “inner tunic”. He was also the only one of the twelve disciples present at Christ’s crucifixion, supporting Mary, who, according to Jesus’s dying wishes, would now become John’s mother. 

Such a reading isn’t new. All the way back in the Middle Ages, the queer saint Aelred of Rievaulx considered their relationship a “marriage”. Also, the presumably gay King James I (of King James Bible fame) defended his own “friendship” with the Earl of Buckingham by citing Christ’s “friendship” with John. Frederick the Great, meanwhile, the gay King of Prussia, called John Jesus’s “Ganymede” (after the Zeus myth outlined above). 

Second, Jesus was an unmarried rabbi. This was unusual, extremely unusual, even indecent. It remains so today. According to scripture, rabbis are practically obliged to get married — to “be fruitful and multiply”. So even if Jesus wasn’t homosexual, he was, by definition, queer: he challenged the hetero norms of his day.

Third, Jesus had no problem healing the young male lover of a Roman centurion. There’s also the mysterious episode in the Gospel of Mark where he “initiates” a young naked boy.

Critics of the idea that Jesus was gay will point to his romance with Mary Magdalene. But this, according to (heterosexual) Anglican priest Paul Oestreicher, is “the stuff of fiction, based on no biblical evidence”. Others say Jesus was beyond such things, “devoid of sexuality” — but, according to the Church itself, this amounts to a heresy: it suggests that Christ wasn’t human.

In the end it doesn’t really matter — except for the countless queer people burned in his name, beaten to death, or shamed by a Church that would shun its own prophet; Jesus’s own words remain the same either way.

The 1990s had a wide array of musical acts. The beginning of the decade saw the decline of hair bands and the entrance of grunge music, which would dominate until the mid-1990s. With the new millennium on the horizon, pop music was king. The Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and NSYNC controlled the charts.

But many of the most popular songs—songs that ruled the radio—had dark, somber stories behind them. Here’s a look at songs you know by heart but had no idea were written in the depths of despair.

Related: 10 Tragic Events That Created Iconic Pieces Of Pop Culture

9 “Under the Bridge”
Red Hot Chilli Peppers

The second single from the band’s 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik” peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. “Under the Bridge” is easily one of the most famous and beloved Chili Peppers songs, but its funky beat and catchy hook can easily mask the pain behind the lyrics.

Lead singer Anthony Kiedis wrote the song during a period of sobriety. He’d struggled through a heroin and cocaine addiction and penned the poem after a day of rehearsals where his bandmates were still smoking marijuana.

His feelings of loneliness made him reflect on his past drug use and darker days when he would buy drugs under a bridge in L.A., even though it was right in the middle of gang territory.^[1]

9 “No Rain”
Blind Melon

The uptempo, catchy track, complete with the iconic bee girl video, is full of happy vibes, right? Nope. Bass player Brad Smith wrote the breakthrough hit, but it definitely wasn’t coming from a place of happiness.

He wrote the song based on the perspective of his girlfriend at the time, who was depressed. Smith said that she slept during the day and complained when there was no rain. After penning the piece, he realized it wasn’t just about her—he shared the same feelings of despair.

The band was no stranger to depression. Their lead singer Shannon Hood struggled to cope with his own demons and died of a drug overdose in 1995.^[2]

8 “Zombie”
The Cranberries

The Irish rock band rose to fame in 1994 behind their debut album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? Smack dab amid grunge and Britpop, The Cranberries were unique. Lead vocalist Dolores O’Riordan’s melancholic voice, complete with lilts and yodels, exuded emotion, and the band’s catchy tunes easily landed them on the Billboard Hot 100. Their second studio album, No Need to Argue, featured the hit song “Zombie.”

O’Riordan penned the song following the IRA-linked bombing in England that killed two small boys in 1993. She made it clear to the band that she wanted the music to sound edgy and angry to express her frustration. The distorted guitars and hard drums appealed to audiences who were in the throes of a grunge renaissance. The song quickly gained airplay and made the album No Need to Argue the band’s best-selling one.^[3]

7 “Don’t Speak”
No Doubt

The ska-punk band from Orange County featured Gwen Stefani as the platinum blonde, red-lipped bombshell lead singer. By the time Tragic Kingdom was released in 1995, the band already had two albums under their belt, but neither had been big performers. Maybe that was because Stefani had a limited role in the writing process for the first two but took center stage on the band’s third album.

She penned “Don’t Speak” about her breakup with bassist Tony Kanal. Stefani had plans to marry Kanal, but he dashed those hopes when he ended their relationship. Stefani was devastated and put pen to paper to cope with her despair. The song about their breakup and how much it hurt Stefani played out again and again as the band gained more fans and had to answer questions about it in interviews. While it was brutal at the time, both Stefani and Kanal say it helped them cultivate the friendship they have today.^[4]

6 “3 AM”
Matchbox Twenty

Matchbox Twenty was all over the radio in the mid-1990s. Their songs were overplayed to the point of nausea. But while the band was mainstream darlings of radio, they also had a great talent in singer/songwriter Rob Thomas. His emotional deliveries, combined with touching lyrics, made for some superb performances.

While “3 AM” was an uptempo song, a close listen to the lyrics reveals Thomas’s heartbreaking truth. He wrote the song about his mother’s battle with cancer when he was only a teenager. In an episode of VH1’s Storytellers, Thomas tells the audience no one really knew it was about his mother but instead thought it was about a lost love.

Thomas described it as a “weird time” trying to care for himself and his mother and wondering why she was always tired and slept all the time.^[5]

5 “The Freshman”
The Verve Pipe

From the band’s second studio album Villians came one of their only hits. “The Freshman” was a slow, gentle, and moody song. It reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1997 and garnered a place in history for the band.

The lyrics, written by the singer Brian Vander Ark, tell the tale of a girl who has an abortion and is so distraught over it that she commits suicide. Part of the tale is autobiographical as Vander Ark says that both he and another guy were dating the same girl, and she got pregnant by one of them. No one knew who the father was, and the girl ended up getting an abortion. After that, he took a bit of poetic license and added the suicide part to build on the tragedy.^[6]

4 “Santa Monica”
Everclear

The alt band Everclear had a slew of hits in the 1990s, and their poppy, sunny song “Santa Monica” seems like any other feel-good tune until you take a closer listen. Written by frontman Art Alexakis, it’s inspired by traumatic events in his life.

When Alexakis was a teenager, his brother died of a heroin overdose, and just a short time later, his girlfriend committed suicide. Alexakis was so distraught that he jumped off the Santa Monica Pier, intending to kill himself.

Alexakis’s personal tragedies inspired many of the lyrics on Everclear’s albums. He dealt with his own drug addiction, abandonment from his father, and even a rape in his childhood through his music. While the videos and sounds are upbeat and sunny, the underlying dark themes were common on Everclear’s albums.^[7]

3 “Today”
Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins kind of squeaked through the 1990s as an “in the middle” band. They weren’t exactly grunge but weren’t pop or rock, just something in between. Known for songs with elaborate string sections and Billy Corgan’s unique vocals, The Smashing Pumpkins toured their way onto the charts.

“Today,” the second single from their 1993 album Siamese Dream, seems almost hopeful. With song lyrics like “Today is the greatest day I’ve ever known,” the song is far from the positive message first alluded to. In fact, Corgan wrote it during one of his darkest periods. A time when he regularly thought about killing himself.^[8]

2 ; “The Kids Aren’t Alright”
The Offspring

The California punk band was never known for its hard-hitting songwriting. In fact, they were more known for their catchy riffs, goofy music videos, and satirical take on white suburbia. With songs like “Why Don’t You Get a Job” and “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy),” The Offspring was looking for laughs instead of taking a stand.

That changed when it came to their third single released off their 1998 album, “Americana. “The Kids Aren’t Alright” is perhaps the closest thing to social commentary from the band. While the other songs are jokey and lighthearted, “The Kids Aren’t Alright” delves into the darker side of everyday America.

Written by lead singer Dexter Holland after a visit back to his hometown, he noticed many former friends and acquaintances were suffering and falling on hard times. There were suicides, drug addictions, and job losses that didn’t coincide with the sunny futures everyone talked about growing up. Holland wanted to highlight this illusion and show that kids were really struggling, even in America.^[9]

1 “Alive”
Pearl Jam

No ’90s list is complete without mentioning one of the surviving, iconic Seattle-based grunge bands. Pearl Jam was well known around their hometown, but it wasn’t until their debut album Ten came out in 1991 that they became a household name. Behind Eddie Vedder’s emotional deliveries, Pearl Jam topped the charts with hit after hit.

The debut single “Alive” almost seems like an uplifting song at first—until you dive into the lyrics. Written by Vedder, “Alive” tells the story of a young boy who finds out his father is actually his stepfather. His real father is dead. Based on Vedder’s own chaotic childhood, the song confronts this truth and how Vedder tries to deal with it.

These days, Vedder says the meaning of the song changed slightly. The “I’m still alive” chorus now has a positive spin—it’s a celebration—he is indeed still alive.^[10]

Death in itself isn’t that surprising. After all, all of us have to go one way or another. From car accidents to peacefully passing in your sleep to foolishly challenging a stronger person to a duel to the death, there’s no dearth of potential ways one may pass away. The ways we die are as numerous and varied as there are people on Earth, making death a rather common and widespread phenomenon. 

It is surprising, however, when people end up dying to everyday things that we never thought could be fatally dangerous. Most of these common things that could potentially kill you seem harmless on first look, until you look up the science and statistics behind them.

8. Air Fresheners

Air fresheners are so common around the world that they can easily go unnoticed in most backgrounds. They’re quite widely used during certain times of the year, too, especially in the colder countries where people tend to stay inside during the winters. 

What we don’t know, though, is that air fresheners could be giving us cancer. Limonene, a chemical found in quite a few types of air fresheners, can react with the air to form formaldehyde, which has been known as a carcinogen since at least 2011. According to one study conducted on six households in York, the amount of formaldehyde in the air of an average house may just be high enough to be a concern. Thankfully – as the same researchers noted – it could also be almost completely absorbed by certain types of houseplants (if we could keep them alive for more than one day, that is). 

7. Boredom

Boredom affects many people around the world. In fact, we’d bet that a whole chunk of the human population is sitting at home with nothing to do at this very moment. It’s a big enough problem that we spend a large part of our lives trying to do things so as to not get bored, though not big enough to get the sciences involved. That is, of course, until you look up the numbers.

One study found that workers who reported being bored at work were around 2.5 times more likely to die of a heart attack in their later years than the others. For perspective, smoking raises the chances of developing a heart disease by about two to four times. It may sound surprising, but if you consider that when you’re bored, you’re also less likely to make productive life choices and stay healthy, it makes perfect sense. 

6. Doing Nothing

You’d think that doing absolutely nothing would drastically reduce your chances of dying a premature death. It stands to reason that if you’re doing absolutely nothing at all, you’re not doing anything that could kill you. If we look at the science, though, that assumption doesn’t hold up.

Apparently, lack of physical activity could be causing as many deaths worldwide as smoking and obesity. It considerably raises the chances of getting a wide range of diseases, like breast cancer, Type 2 diabetes, colon cancer and coronary heart disease. That’s not it; if we could completely eradicate physical inactivity, the average life expectancy could be raised by 0.68 years. 

5. The Television

We have been around televisions long enough to make them safe to handle. Sure, the huge TV sets from a few decades ago could be a potential cause for injury, though we wouldn’t assume the same for the sleek and light televisions of today.

That assumption would be correct, except if you have a kid in the house. As per a study by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, around 11,000 children under 18 were sent to the emergency room for injuries from television sets tipping over between 2011-2013, usually along with other heavy furniture. More surprisingly, from 2000 to 2013, 279 people lost their lives to their TV sets.

4. Going To The Loo

If we asked you to guess the most dangerous places in an average household in terms of deaths per year, you’d probably pick the garage, or even the kitchen. While it’s true that both of those places are responsible for their fair share of casualties, they’re not the most dangerous. 

If the numbers are anything to go by, the bathroom is actually the most dangerous place in the house, and there are multiple ways it could kill you, too. According to one study by the Scripps Howard News Service, one American dies from drowning in their bathtub almost every day. For older people, simply slipping and falling down could be fatal. If that’s not enough, quite a few people die because of hot water burns, too, making you wonder if just not going to the bathroom unless you really need to is the safest bet after all. 

3. Drinking Water

Water is – without any exaggeration – the biggest driving factor behind the evolution of life on Earth. Almost every type of organism we know of is water-based – including us – which would lead you to assume that consuming any amount of it would be safe… or at least not fatal.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case, as it turns that drinking too much water could lead to some serious health problems, too. Too much water can dissolve the electrolytes in the blood stream – especially sodium. Sodium helps keep the balance of the fluids inside and outside the cell. If depleted too much, it can allow external fluids to enter the cells, which can prove to be fatal in the case of brain cells. 

2. Scarves

Clothing items and accessories are probably the last group of things you’d expect to cause injury, let alone outright death. After all, there are stringent safety checks that ensure comfort and safety, and – unless you’re bent on it – there aren’t many ways that you could use them to cause injury. There’s, of course, just one exception: scarves.

Scarves are – by far – the most dangerous of all items of clothing, apparent by just how many people die due to their scarves getting entangled in the wrong place at the wrong time. Quite a few of you may have heard of Isadora Duncan, a dancer from Nice, France, as well as only one of the many victims of the deadly scarf. She died due to her scarf getting stuck between the wheels of her car while she was driving. Then there’s the woman from India who died pretty much the same way, except it was an elevator instead of a car. These aren’t isolated cases, either, as there are many other people that have ended up paying with their life for merely wanting to look a bit more fabulous that particular day. It makes sense, too, as scarves are usually long and flowy, making them more prone to getting stuck in things like heavy machinery, or even cars; something most of us use on a regular basis. 

1. Lilies

Houseplants are, without a doubt, one of the cheapest and most sustainable ways to do up your house. It adds a hint of life to an otherwise dead space, which our modern concrete buildings tend to be despite our best efforts. They’re also quite good at keeping the air purified and free of harmful chemicals like carcinogens, and all they need to do all that is just exist in the same space as you.

Of course, as you’d have probably guessed, there are some houseplants that can cause irreparable harm if ingested or touched, too, and some can even kill you. Case in point: lilies. Almost all of the common lily varieties found in an average household can cause irritation, rashes, stomach issues and other reactions if ingested. Both lily of the valley and gloriosa lily, for some examples, can cause serious symptoms like shortness of breath, numbness of the mouth, paralysis, and even death.

It’s every entrepreneur’s hope that the business endeavors they undertake will be successful. No one likes being a failure and businesspeople especially like to succeed and make money off of their plans. While some entrepreneurs strike a chord with their customer base and get lucky, others seem to have the ability to make lightning strike twice, or even more often, and come up with multiple business ideas. Often these businesses are complementary and make sense but sometimes an entrepreneur will come up with businesses that are remarkably dissimilar such that you’d never guess the same person was behind each one.

10. The Founder of Atari Also Founded Chuck E. Cheese

Nolan Bushnell is clearly a guy who likes fun which seems to be the only common thread linking his two greatest business achievements. In 1972, Bushnell co-founded what can be considered the grandfather of the modern gaming world – Atari. Long before anyone had a PlayStation, an Xbox or even a Nintendo in their homes, they had the Atari 2600 and were playing extremely simple games like Asteroids and Pong. 

While introducing the concept of home console gaming seems like it should have been enough to keep anyone set for the rest of their lives, that was a long time ago and the industry was a lot different. So Bushnell had to keep working and his next big idea was something of a left turn. He was also the force behind Chuck E. Cheese which he developed at Atari.

Corporate overlords being what they are, the money men were not amused that Bushnell was making singing robots and otherwise wasting time and resources. He was actually kicked out of the company in 1978. Though he never made as big a splash again with his later work, his contributions to pop culture are certainly legendary and just a bit weird. 

9. Lee Byung-chul Founded Samsung But Started Out Running a Dry Goods Company

Samsung’s 2021 revenue was around $244 billion USD. They’re clearly one of the biggest electronics companies in the world and they make everything from phones to washing machines. This diverse approach is ingrained in the company as their origins are even more wide reaching thanks to the founder, Lee Byung-chul, and his dedication to selling pretty much anything. 

That multi-billion dollar empire started with $25 back in 1938 when the future founder opened a dry goods store to sell things like dried fish and other food. The company sold goods from in and around the city of Taegu and had about 40 employees.Because they sold dried food; the company did well during the Korean War in 1950 and branched out. They moved into sugar and then textiles. That worked too, so they expanded into insurance, retail and by the 1960s they were manufacturing electronics. They’d go on to manufacture ships, telecommunications, and pretty much anything else you can think of. 

The family still runs Samsung today, and the company is obviously most well known for its cell phones and electronics, but the company likely wouldn’t exist at all without dried fish and noodles nearly a century in the past.

8. The Founder of Domino’s Also Founded a Law School

We already saw the founder of Chuck E. Cheese was behind Atari and it turns out pizza guys just have a lot of diverse interests. Tom Monaghan, the man behind Domino’s, also started his own law school. He invested $50 million of his own cash in the school back in the late 1990s. The school’s mission? To educate lawyers with a Roman Catholic perspective. 

Monaghan actually divested himself of the pizza chain to devote himself to Catholic causes. He sold Domino’s for $1 billion, so he certainly had the resources to follow his dreams. And the school really was built and still exists today. It’s been sanctioned in the past for having low entrance standards and is considered one of the most conservative law schools in the country.

7. The Inventor of the Lava Lamp Founded a Nudist Resort

Did you ever have a lava lamp growing up? Or, you know, right now? They are very symbolic in most people’s minds of hippie counterculture and the 60s and 70s, though they enjoyed a retro resurgence once or twice since those times. 

Lava lamps were invented in 1963 by a British accountant named Edward Craven Walker. Walker was known for only one other thing in his life and that was his penchant for nudity. The man made underwater nude films.

Prior to inventing the lamp, Walker had made movies with names like “Eve on Skis” which featured naked people doing things naked. One movie was presented as an underwater ballet. Water and nudity really seemed to move him, so much so that after achieving some success with his movies he bought an entire club and founded his own nudist resort. He then tried to ban anyone from showing up if they were overweight. He was quoted as saying he was again “fat fogies” and they were not what naturism was about.

6. The Co-Founder of Paul Mitchell Also Founded Patron Tequila

Paul Mitchell, more correctly known as John Paul Mitchell Systems, is a hair care company dating back to 1980 with an annual revenue of about $1 billion. It’s safe to say Paul Mitchell is doing alright. 

The company was founded by two men – Paul Mitchell himself, and John Paul DeJoria. Mitchell passed away from cancer back in 1989 and Dejoria continued to run the company from then on but he also managed to diversify his portfolio. In addition to the world of hairspray and brushes, Dejoria is also the man behind Patron Tequila, the third best-selling tequila brand in America. That works out to over 3 million cases sold in 2021 alone. Of course, Dejoria doesn’t need to worry about that anymore since he sold the company in 2018 for over $5 billion. 

5. Avi Arad Invented the Skip It and Later was Behind Marvel Studios

Before Kevin Feige was the Man Behind the Curtain at Marvel creating the MCU and more or less printing money for the Walt Disney Corporation, there was another man who put Marvel up on the big screen and that was Avi Arad. He was the producer behind most of those non-MCU films from the ’90s and early 2000s like the X-Men, Blade, Daredevil, Punisher and so on. 

Before Arad was giving us the joy of Nic Cage as Ghost Rider, he worked in toys. Specifically, he worked for a company called Tiger Toys and was the inventor of one of the most popular toys in history, the Skip It. That was a little hoop you hooker around your ankle attached to a ball on a string that would spin around your ankle, forcing you to skip it, hence the name, with your other foot. Arad, along with two others, filed a patent for their version of it in 1990. It was hugely successful and so was Arad. For a time the man was considered basically the biggest toy designer in America. And some of his biggest toys were based on comic books. 

He was already executive producer of cartoons like the X-Men and stated his goal was to “exploit” the Marvel universe characters in toys, shows and films. And that’s how he ended up kicking off the world of Marvel movies. Arguably the MCU would not exist today without Arad and the Skip It. 

4. The Founder of Wikipedia Ran a Porn Site First

Wikipedia is so ubiquitous on the internet these days it’s essentially just what everyone thinks of when they need to know literally anything they don’t already know. It’s one of the top ten most visited sites on the internet and has been for ages. Just a random sampling shows that, in November 2021 alone, the site traffic reached 5.97 billion, making it the fourth most visited site online after Google, YouTube and Facebook.

Despite not generally being accepted as a “real” source for info, it’s a great starting point if nothing else and, according to Wikipedia itself, it has published over 57 million pages of information. 

The site was founded by Jimmy Wales back in 2001. But before that he had started a site known as Bomis which featured things like the “Bomis Babe Report” which featured galleries of half naked women, the Babe Engine which was a search engine for sexy women and, of course, Bomis Premium which was $2.95 per month and gave you access to X-rated content.

It was the money that Wales made from Bomis that allowed him to start Wikipedia and, in fact, Wikipedia was borrowing bandwidth from Bomis in its early years to stay active. He used money made from Bomis to pay to keep the servers online. So while Wikipedia may be a hub of knowledge today, it’s built on a foundation of soft core porn with a dash of hardcore on the side. 

3. The Founder of Toho Also Founded a Railway

Long before Godzilla was a multi-million dollar blockbuster franchise in America it was a multi-million dollar blockbuster franchise in Japan, but with less savvy special effects. Everyone knows the classic man-in-a-suit Godzilla and the Toho company still makes Godzilla movies the same way. 

Toho was founded by Ichizo Kobayashi in 1932 as the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater Co. Kobayashi was a man who dabbled in just about everything and, years before his company would create everyone’s favorite radioactive lizard, he was doing things like starting railroad companies and department stores. 

It was the railroad that inadvertently led to Godzilla, as Kobayashi wanted more customers on his trains so he devised a theater troupe to entertain people. The train theater evolved to normal theater and then later that turned into film. Later his company would not just create Godzilla but Akira Kurosawa’s legendary The Seven Samurai as well. 

2. Donald Duncan Made a Fortune in Yo-Yos and Parking Meters

Donald Duncan counts as a serious threat to the wallet because this man was all over the map with his business dealings and had success on multiple, disparate fronts. While he was once a franchise owner of a Good Humor Ice Cream, it’s not true that he invented the Eskimo Pie as some sources claim. That aside, he did make a name in yo-yos and parking meters. 

In 1946, Duncan Yo-Yos was making 3,600 yo-yos per hour. They sold 45 million in 1962. And when Duncan wasn’t keeping kids busy with a simple hobby, he was annoying their parents with parking fees. The Duncan Parking Meter Company was an idea he came up with years earlier and he managed to convince cities it would be a good way to make money. Though he sold the company in 1959, when he was still in charge, 80% of all parking meters in America were made by Duncan. 

1. Gavin McInnes Founded Vice Media and the Proud Boys

If you don’t know the name Gavin McInnes, that’s alright. His name tends to pop up most often in media circles in terms of his relationship with the media as he’s best known for being on both sides of that world.

McInnes founded Vice magazine in 1994, which grew into Vice Media, which is still very much a media company on the internet. The magazine was a sort of counterculture Canadian news magazine that was very much focused on the punk scene, or at least it filtered news through a sort of punk perspective. Vice Media is maybe best known in the mainstream for its documentary-style videos that were aired on HBO and covered a variety of topics. 

In more recent years, Vice Media has had to go on record to state they are no longer affiliated with McInnes because his other claim to fame is that he founded the Proud Boys. The Proud Boys are described as a neofascist white nationalist organization by Encyclopedia Britannica, and an extremist group with a violent agenda by the Anti-Defamation League.