The legendary William Shakespeare was an ingenious dramatist, but most of his plays were actually based on existing material, such as old stories and historical events. Shakespeare would significantly restructure stories and add characters. His brilliant stage adaptations based on actual history helped to make him a literary icon. Some of these are derived from the biographies of historical figures who were obviously real people, such as Richard III, while others are derived from folklore that has been largely accepted as fact-based. From Hamlet to King Lear, these are 10 Shakespearian plays based on real-life events.

Related: Top 10 Weird Things That Happen in English Renaissance Plays

10 Hamlet

Shakespeare frequently wrote about royalty, but not everyone is aware that Hamlet was based on a Viking prince, believed by many to have actually existed. He is featured in the chronicle of Denmark’s kings by historian Saxo Grammaticus titled Deeds of the Danes, written around 1200, roughly 400 years before Shakespeare penned The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, between 1599 and 1601. The timeless and enormously popular play follows the struggles of the young prince compelled by the ghost of his father to avenge his murder. Hamlet learns that the killer was his uncle, Claudius, who married Hamlet’s mother and has become the new king.

The basic story of the real prince, whose name was Amleth, is very similar to the play; however, Amleth did not die the same way as Hamlet. In reality, he set fire to his uncle’s hall and succeeded him as king. He was later killed in battle by his successor to the throne. The story was originally passed down through oral tradition in various cultures. However, Shakespeare likely drew his inspiration from a previous play on stage in England around the time.^[1]

9 Richard III

While the actual existence of some kings and queens that William Shakespeare wrote about may be questioned, we know that the title character of Richard III, penned between 1592 and 1593, was a real 15th-century British monarch. However, there can be very different versions of historical events, especially when political agendas are involved.

The real-life Richard III has a reputation for being a ruthlessly ambitious fiend who likely had his own nephews killed so that he could seize the throne. Many people have argued that he has been characterized this way due to propaganda spread by his enemies at the time, especially those loyal to Henry Tudor, who succeeded him as king when he defeated and killed Richard in battle.

However, the effectiveness of the biographical play Richard III in shaping this image of him over the centuries should not be underestimated. Shakespeare tended to write about the Tudor dynasty in a very sympathetic light, presumably because one of them, Queen Elizabeth I, was a big supporter of his work, and her grandfather was Henry Tudor.

Today, there are still plenty of people who believe Richard was a villain who committed unthinkable crimes, but others, like members of the outspoken Richard III Society, reject this depiction of him. The 2022 film The Lost King, about the discovery of Richard III’s remains after more than 500 years, presents the Shakespearian portrait of the king and the opposing viewpoint of his supporters.^[2]

8 Macbeth

First known as The Tragedy of Macbeth, this thrilling Scottish play filled with treachery, drama, suspense, and, of course, the supernatural was written between 1606 and 1607. It depicts real historical figures but is also an example of how Shakespeare sometimes took significant liberties with history. One of the most glaring differences between history and the play is that in real life, Macbeth killed King Duncan on the battlefield instead of the assassination, aided by Lady Macbeth, at the castle of Dunsinane as in Shakespeare’s version.

In the play, Macbeth is prompted to do away with the current monarch based on a prophecy by three witches that he, himself, is destined to be king. As the Royal Shakespeare Company says, “madness born of ambition sets in, and he and his wife seize power by all possible means, leading to murderous consequences.” The historical Macbeth, whose reign lasted notably longer than that of his fictional counterpart, also had a much stronger claim to the throne.^[3]

7 Timon of Athens

Probably written between 1606 and 1608, Timon of Athens is a satiric tragedy that is based on a true story from antiquity that centers on a wealthy nobleman who is known for his contempt of mankind. In this play, possibly co-written by Thomas Middleton, Timon starts out as an extremely generous character who becomes disillusioned with humanity after he goes into debt due to spending lavishly on others. He then sees the companions he thought were his friends turn their backs on him.

Timon reacts by holding a banquet for these insincere people, during which he serves only hot water and stones. After cursing Athens, he leaves society behind, retreating to the wilderness. Later, when Athens is about to be invaded, Timon gives some of the gold that he has discovered to the enemies of the city. Timon was represented in the works of many famous writers, including the historian Plutarch.^[4]

6 Antony and Cleopatra

As with the other real-life people he wrote about, William Shakespeare helped to make tragic lovers Antony and Cleopatra famous with his theatrical adaptation of their story. The passionate love affair between Julius Caesar’s prominent general, Marc Antony, and Caesar’s mistress, Egyptian queen Cleopatra, offers plenty of romance and drama, making it well suited for the stage.

Shakespeare based his play on Plutarch’s The Life of Antony. Though it seems clear that Plutarch was trying to be fair in this biography, his extremely negative portrait of Cleopatra indicates bias. According to Rebecca King of the Washington University in St. Louis podcast Hold That Thought, Plutarch’s depiction “betrays his Roman sensibilities.”

Shakespeare played up the romanticism of Cleopatra’s suicide, which heightens the emotional impact on the audience. While Cleopatra did believe that she would be reunited with Marc Antony in the afterlife, it was the indignities she faced as a high-profile prisoner that appear to be Cleopatra’s biggest motivation for wanting to kill herself.^[5]

5 King Lear

The five-act Shakespearian tragedy King Lear, written between 1605 and 1606, is a family saga that concerns the rivalry of an aging monarch’s daughters, competing for their father’s favor as he is dividing his kingdom among them. Since the size of the bequests depends on how much love each has for Lear, Regan and Goneril both make a great show of affection for him through moving but insincere speeches. Cordelia, the only daughter who truly loves him, refuses to play this game but does remain loyal, while her sisters turn against Lear, who subsequently goes mad.

With King Lear’s intrigue and high drama, the tale may seem like the product of a colorful imagination, but it is based on the story of an ancient British king. Sometimes known as Leir of Britain, his biography has been recounted in various historical texts, including the second edition of The Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande by Raphael Holinshed, which seems to have been a major source for Shakespeare. While there is disagreement on how much of the story is true, numerous scholars believe it is rooted in fact. Parts of the play that Shakespeare invented included the king’s madness and the character of his faithful court jester.^[6]

4 Henry VIII

Henry VIII is one of Shakespeare’s lesser works, and part of the problem may have been a conflict of interest while writing this play about the family of Elizabeth I. His characterization of Elizabeth’s mother, Anne Boleyn (Anne Bullen in the play), who was often vilified, was actually very sympathetic in this version of the story, which is also filled with political intrigue. Though Elizabeth had been dead for 10 years when William Shakespeare collaborated on this project with John Fletcher in 1613, he probably still felt indebted to her for supporting his career so much.

The play follows the eventful courtship between Anne and Henry VIII and what would turn out to be their famously ill-fated marriage after he divorced his first wife. At the end of the play, “Anne gives birth to Princess Elizabeth who the Archbishop prophecies will become great.”^[7]

3 Coriolanus

In addition to being amazingly talented, Shakespeare was also surprisingly diverse in his subject matter, working in a wide range of genres. Though his romantic plays and melodramas may be the most celebrated today, he also wrote about war, particularly in Coriolanus, which is sometimes labeled “Shakespeare’s war play.” According to Roman tradition, there was a distinguished military leader-turned-Roman politician, Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus, who historian Plutarch wrote about in Parallel Lives.

Coriolanus, noted for its gritty battleground scenes, is set during the forging of Rome’s republic, a time of deep division between the upper and lower classes. In the play, we see the aristocratic Coriolanus lose his bid for the highest elected office when he cannot hide his contempt for the ordinary people. He is subsequently banished from the city. Though he plans revenge, Coriolanus ultimately decides to spare the city and ushers in a time of peace, but like many of the historical figures Shakespeare chose to write about, he met with a tragic fate.^[8]

2 Cymbeline

Set in ancient Britain, prior to the Roman conquest, Shakespeare’s play Cymbeline is taken from the story of a real historical figure, King Cunobeline. He was a powerful Celtic ruler whose domain included part of Essex and later Kent. Cunobeline reigned during a prosperous time in Britain and was on very good terms with the Roman Empire, even choosing to pay tribute to Rome, though he could have avoided it.

According to Raphael Holinshed’s 1587 Chronicles, the king’s oldest son, Guiderius, ceased this practice of paying tribute to Rome, which sparked the wrath of Emperor Claudius, leading him to invade Britain. In Shakespeare’s version, written between 1608 and 1610, which is a big departure from the historical tale, it is Cymbeline himself who refuses to pay tribute.

Cymbeline was also inspired by a story by Giovanni Boccaccio called Decameron, about a man who bets on his wife’s fidelity. In Shakespeare’s play, this plotline involves Cymbeline’s daughter, Imogen, and her husband, Postumus. After their secret wedding, Cymbeline banishes Postumus to Rome, where he accepts a wager on Imogen’s fidelity to him. The man he bets against is Giacomo, who intends to seduce her himself. This Shakespearian play actually has a happy ending for the romantic couple and for the kingdom.^[9]

1 Othello

With its compelling exploration of such topics as love, jealousy, revenge, and interracial marriage, it’s no wonder the five-act tragedy Othello, written in 1603, remains one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. Following the controversial elopement of Venetian lady Desdemona to Othello, a military commander of Moorish heritage, the soldier, lago, plots revenge against Othello when he is passed over for the promotion of lieutenant in favor of Cassio. Lago’s evil plan is to convince Othello that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. When he comes to believe his bride has been unfaithful, Othello goes mad and smothers her to death. Later, learning about the lie, he kills himself.

For a long time, it was assumed that the plot of Othello was taken from a novel by Italian author Giraldi Cinthio. However, in the late 19th century, a thrilling discovery was made that this passionate crime drama was based on a true story.

According to an 1898 article in the Ann Arbor Argus, Shakespeare was thought to have used information that he received from the Venetian embassy in London as inspiration for his play. One major difference between truth and fiction is that the real Othello didn’t actually murder Desdemona (whose real name was Palma), but he did brutally beat her.^[10]

In the 1950s, there was a real danger afoot. The Communists, as our brave senators warned us, had infiltrated the governments of the democratic world. And they’d brought with them their most powerful weapon: the gays.

As Senator Kenneth Wherry told the American people, “Only the most naive could believe that the Communists’ fifth column in the United States would neglect to propagate and use homosexuals to gain their treacherous ends.” We needed a device that could weed out these wily gays from their patriotic hetero peers. Our mission was clear: we needed a real-life, fully functioning gaydar.

The best minds in the world got to work. And they didn’t stop in America in the 1950s—in many parts of the world, our best and brightest are to working to build one today.

10 The Hoey Committee’s Investigative Techniques

In 1950, the best and brightest minds of the US Senate were organized into a special task force called the Hoey Committee. Their mission: to identify and root out the insidious gays hiding throughout America.

It would not, as they quickly learned, be as easy as they imagined. Senator Margaret Smith, during a meeting with America’s top medical minds, disappointedly asked: “There is no quick test like an X-ray that discloses these things?”

To her heartbreak, the surgeon general explained that homosexuality didn’t show up on most X-rays. He, at least, was answering their questions. Most medical experts, for some reason, rambled on with some nonsense about sexuality being “complicated” and “fluid” and refused to hand over the machine the senators apparently hoped would make all gay men in America start glowing with a neon red light.

After two years of research, though, the Hoey Committee identified some foolproof facts about homosexuals. Gay men, they announced, could be identified through a few key clues: They were unmarried, they “seldom refuse to talk about themselves,” and they tended to have what the council called “prissy habits.”

They started a complex system for tracking, eliminating, and destroying the lives of gay men, often crushing them so fully that they drove them to suicide.

And not a moment too soon. As their report warned, gay was contagious: “One homosexual can pollute a government office.”^[1]

9 The Canadian Government’s Fruit Machine

North of the border, the Canadians were hard at work on a special machine that they were convinced could identify any gay man. They called it the “Fruit Machine,” which, in the 1960s, was something you could name a machine, and nobody would say anything. In fact, the government would pay you $10,000, and everything would be fine.

It was a gigantic device, described by those who have seen it as looking “like something out of science fiction.”^[2] It had multiple cameras, giant steel girders, and a special screen designed to project gay porn.

A suspected homosexual would be called into the security official’s office and told: “We have evidence that you may be a homosexual. What do you have to say about this?”

If they denied it, the Fruit Machine would be their judge. They would be strapped in and shown a series of mundane images which, every now and then, would be livened up with the odd picture of gay porn. While they watched, the researchers would measure their pulse, skin reflexes, breathing, and pupillary response.

If your pupils expanded on the sight of gay porn, it meant that the pictures of naked men excited you. Or that the photo was a bit too dark for you. Or maybe that you were surprised. Or probably really nothing at all, since most tests showed that the Fruit Machine was wildly ineffective.

Still, the Canadian government was nothing if not cautious. Even if the machine didn’t work, they forced everyone who failed its test to resign from their jobs, thereby saving Canada from the horrors of having homosexuals walk through its streets leading normal, healthy lives.

8 The US Park Police’s Pervert Records

The United States Park Police played a special role in America’s mission to weed homosexuals out of government. They were put on a special task force when the government received some prized intel providing an insight into the mind of the homosexual man: Gay guys love parks.

The Park Police were expanded, with countless more officers brought on to help them with their missions, including weeding out “sex perverts.” Parks, the government had learned, were “popular cruising spots for gay men.” They needed a team to watch them.

One group of Park Police spent 12 hours, from dusk to dawn, staring at the bathroom in Lafayette Park and placing bets on whether or not the visitors were gay. In their report to Congress, they declared: “I do not believe a half a dozen legitimate persons go in there to answer Nature’s call.”^[3]

Thanks to their tireless work, the US government came to an important conclusion: Pretty well anyone who goes to the bathroom in a public park can be assumed to be a homosexual. And they took that intel seriously, even firing a CIA employee on the charge that he’d been spotted “hanging around the men’s room in Lafayette Park.”

7 J. Edgar Hoover’s Sex Deviates Program

J. Edgar Hoover personally pushed the FBI into leading what he called the “Sex Deviates” program. For decades, they would stop wasting so much time tracking down organized crime and domestic terrorists and, instead, focus their resources on America’s real threat: the gay menace.

Any person accused of being a closeted homosexual, on the FBI’s orders, was to be immediately reported to the chief of investigations.^[4] The FBI would take over from there, and they would put every resource at their disposal to work. FBI agents would follow men to their homes, keep tabs on which bars and restaurants they ate at, and have professional psychologists examine detailed records of their habits, searching for those telltale patterns of gayness.

Then they’d strike. Some eager FBI agents would pull the suspected homosexuals in early, while they were still just loitering outside those notorious park bathrooms. The truly diligent, though, would wait until they were the middle of what they called “an act of perversion” and until they’d gotten really good photographs of the act before bringing them in.

It was hard work, or work that made them hard, or one of those two—but it had to be done. Nobody understood that more than J. Edgar Hoover. After all, if the rumors about Hoover are true, he had an unfortunate habit of showing up at homosexual orgies—clear proof that those contagious gays had been coughing all over him.

6 The Gulf Cooperation Council Homosexuality Test

The quest for a foolproof way to spot gays didn’t end with the 1950s, and it wasn’t limited to the United States. Decades later, in 2013, Kuwait’s director of public health, Yousuf Mindkar, took up the cause himself.

Mindkar promised his people that he would introduce sweeping reforms to improve the nation’s gaydar, declaring to the world: “We will take stricter measures that will help us detect gays.”

His plan was to revise Kuwait’s visa stipulations to require doctors to certify any incoming visitors as heterosexual before letting them into the country.^[5] Mindkar wasn’t entirely clear on how the doctors would test their patients for homosexuality, but he was confident that it would be a simple procedure. He assured the press that any doctor in any country would be able to run a thorough test for the telltale physical markings of homosexuality.

Mindkar backed down because of criticism in the international community. FIFA expressed concern that his plan might bar some fans from watching the 2022 World Cup. The concern was echoed by many in the US, who suggested that the plan would bar everyone who likes soccer from entering Kuwait and then high-fived each other.

5 The Malaysian Guide To Spotting A Gay

A 2018 issue of Sinar Harian, a Malaysian newspaper, came with a helpful checklist to teach readers “how to spot a gay.”^[6]

The article came with a checklist of the classic telltale markings of homosexuality. Gay men, it explained, love beards. They also love branded clothing, are close to the family, and like to go to the gym. But once in the gym, it warned, the homosexual male will not exercise. Instead, he will merely ogle the other men, his eyes lighting up with joy whenever he spots a particularly handsome one.

Lesbians, it said, could be detected through their venomous attitudes toward men. Toward women, the article explained, lesbians are open and carefree. They will hold each other’s hands and hug each other openly. But they behave very differently around men. Lesbians, the article explained, hate men. What little joy they get out of life, they get from belittling them.

4 The Scientific Study Into Gay Faces

In 2008, Nicholas Rule and Nalini Ambady of Tufts University conducted an experiment into one of the great questions that have plagued scientists for centuries: Do gay people have gay faces?^[7]

They took pictures of heterosexual and homosexual people, carefully chosen to eliminate the effect of what they called “self-presentation.” They even Photoshopped out their hair and pasted them onto white backgrounds, trying to leave nothing but their cheekbones and eyebrows as hints into their sexuality. Then they showed the pictures to a group of 90 people and asked them to guess which faces were gay.

The participants, Rule and Ambady claimed, got the right answer more often than not, thereby proving that everyone can tell you’re gay just by looking at you (even if they don’t realize it). Apparently, you’re not fooling anybody, and you might as well drop the act.

3 Stanford University’s Gaydar Machine

In 2017, Stanford professor Michael Kosinski took spotting gay people by looking at their faces into the next era. He turned that idea into what he claims is a working “gaydar” machine.

Kosinski and his coauthor, Yilun Wang, had a facial recognition program scan 75,000 online dating profiles, organized into groups of “gay” and “straight.” Their AI was programmed to identify patterns in “gay facial features,” searching for the unique quirks that unite all gay men. Then they pitted their machine against humans to see who was better at identifying homosexuals.

The humans weren’t much better at telling if someone was gay by looking at their face than a coin flip, which sort of ruins the entire point of the study in that last entry, but anyway, the point is that the machine got it right 81 percent of the time for gay men and 74 percent for lesbians.^[8] Finally, they had created an effective gaydar.

Or, at least, it was an effective gaydar when it looked at people’s Tinder profile pictures. When they tried using it on pictures that people hadn’t put up on dating apps, it was significantly less effective. Still, they had finally developed a machine that could identify the sexuality of people who are actively and deliberately trying to make their orientations as visible as possible.

2 The Attempt To Isolate The Gay Gene

During the 2015 conference of the American Society of Human Genetics, a University of California researcher named Tuck Ngun made a bold declaration to the world: He had isolated the gay gene.^[9]

Specifically, Ngun had found “methylation marks” that he believed could be connected to homosexuality. His study had looked at 37 pairs of identical male twins that consisted of one homosexual brother and one heterosexual brother and identified five methylation marks that he claimed were clear biological indicators of homosexuality.

Sort of. The scientific community wasn’t exactly supportive. They pointed out that he looked at 6,000 methylation marks in just 37 sets of twins, which made it pretty much inevitable that he’d be able to find some kind of pattern between them, just by the sheer law of averages. And in this case, Ngun hadn’t even found a particularly good pattern—even in his test subjects, the “gay gene” he’d identified only showed up in 67 percent of the time.

1 Penile Plethysmograph

Some devices that have been employed as gaydars still see fairly widespread use today, like the penile plethysmograph. The Czechoslovakian Army once used it to determine if men claiming to be gay to avoid being drafted were telling the truth.

Here’s how it works: first, a scientist attaches a device shaped like a thin strip of metal to the penis. Then he puts on a variety of gay pornography (or whatever else they’re attempting to determine the subject’s response to) and uses the device to measure how erect the man gets looking at each image.

Admittedly, there are probably easier ways to figure out someone’s sexuality—like, for example, if a man attaches a thin strip of metal to people’s penises, shows them gay porn, and then takes careful notes on how erect they get, it might be a clue that he himself is gay—but somehow, this one has caught on and is still used in various scientific studies today.

It has been hailed as the most accurate sexuality test known to man—and with good cause. This test has proven to be an accurate determinant of a man’s sexual preferences 32 percent of the time,^[10] making it the most effective, proven way to tell somebody’s sexuality—other than flipping a coin.

There are times when we would all like to have superpowers. For most of us, this has to remain an idle daydream. However, there are people walking among us who already have totally legitimate and totally cool superhuman powers.

And who knows, perhaps these are the tip of the iceberg. There may be lots of them, living in the shadows or hiding in plain sight, waiting for their chance to save (or destroy) the planet! Here are ten real-life people with honest-to-goodness superpowers.

10 The Real-Life Batman

As a baby, Daniel Kish developed retinoblastoma, a cancer which affects the eyes. He had to have both eyes removed before he reached his first birthday. In order to navigate his environment, Kish developed his own echolocation system, using the same techniques that bats use to fly in the dark. In fact, he has been referred to as “the real-life Batman.”

As he moved around, Kish would make clicking noises with his tongue. He realized that every surface had its own sound. He could recognize a tree, for example, because the trunk produces a different echo than the branches and the leaves.^[1]

By listening to the echoes from his clicking, Daniel Kish is able to build a 3-D image in his mind of the objects around him. It is thought that the clicking noises activate the visual functions of the brain, which enhance spatial and depth perceptions. Kish says that he can often find his way out of a concert hall quicker than a sighted person because he can identify the exit from a long distance away. If he is in a noisy place, he just increases the volume of his clicking sounds.

9 The Real-Life Mr. Freeze

Like all good superheroes, Wim Hof discovered his superpowers by accident. When he was 17, he was walking along a frozen canal in his home city of Amsterdam when he felt a powerful urge to jump in. So he did. He soon discovered that he has superhuman ability to withstand the cold, which has led him to claim 26 world records.

He tried to climb Everest in a pair of shorts. Although he made it through the Death Zone unharmed, he was forced to turn back, not by the temperature but by a foot injury. Hof has run barefoot marathons in the snow and broken his own record for ice submergence four times.

Researchers studying Wim Hof’s remarkable abilities have discovered that he is able to override the stress responses in his brain through breathing and meditation techniques. When he is exposed to extreme cold, his brain releases opioids and cannabinoids into his body, inhibiting the signals that register cold and pain. What is not yet clear is how this breathing affects other physical and biological processes, such as Hof’s superhuman ability to resist frostbite, which should be unaffected by his breathing technique.^[2]

8 The Real-Life Flash

Dean Karnazes can run forever. He is one of the most remarkable endurance athletes on the planet. He once ran nonstop for 563 kilometers (350 mi) over three days. He ran nonstop across Death Valley and even ran to the South Pole. Even among ultra-endurance athletes, Dean Karnazes is a superhuman.

Most runners are limited by their body’s lactate threshold. The body breaks down glucose for energy, producing lactate as a by-product. When you reach your lactate threshold, the body is no longer able to convert the lactate quickly enough, leading to an acid buildup in the muscles and a burning pain runners call “hitting the wall.” Running beyond your lactate threshold will lead to muscle fatigue, breathlessness, and a racing heart, until eventually you collapse in a sweating, gasping heap.

Dean Karnazes does not have a lactate threshold, which means that, theoretically, he can run forever.

Karnazes has never experienced any form of cramp or muscle ache, even during runs that last more than 160 kilometers (100 mi). The only thing that stops him is his need for sleep, and he has even sometimes experienced bouts of “sleep running,” where he was able to keep on moving while nodding off.^[3]

7 The Real-Life Spider-Man

Nicknamed the “French Spiderman,” Alain Robert is one of the best climbers on Earth. He is famous for his free solo-climbing exploits up skyscrapers, without the use of ropes or safety harness. The only “equipment” that he carries is a bag of chalk dust. Robert has climbed over 160 skyscrapers, including the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the Taipei 101 in Taiwan, and the Lloyd’s building in London.^[4]

Robert was arrested in October 2018 after scaling the Salesforce Tower in London. He climbed the 202-meter (662 ft) tower without safety equipment, while a crowd gathered below to watch him. Though he reached the top safely, he was soon arrested “on suspicion of causing public nuisance.”

Following a court hearing after the stunt, which only took around 45 minutes to complete, Robert was banned from climbing any building in the UK, which seems a shame. But, then again, the world is full of friendly neighborhoods with tall buildings.

6 The Real-Life Professor X

The actress Marilu Henner has superhuman mental powers. She has Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM), an extremely rare condition which allows her total recall of basically every single moment of her life. Fewer than 100 people with the condition have been documented worldwide. Though HSAM would make life easier in many ways (imagine never having to wonder where you put your car keys), there are some disadvantages, too. People with HSAM are more likely to have anxiety disorders and suffer from depression or OCD.

Marilu Henner can recall the month, day, and time of every event that has happened in her life and can also recall things that were on the news or happened to other people. She first became aware of her ability at the age of six.

MRI tests have revealed that people with HSAM have larger temporal lobes and caudate nuclei than normal, but researchers are not sure whether this is the cause or the result of living with the condition. Whatever the cause, Henner has found living with HSAM pretty useful at times, particularly when learning lines.^[5]

5 The Real-Life Elastigirl

Javier Botet is a Spanish actor with a peculiar gift. His extremely long limbs and lean body give him the look of a human skeleton. When he made a screen test in 2013, many people assumed that they were watching a puppet because Botet was able to move his limbs in very unexpected and disturbing ways. Botet suffers from Marfan syndrome, which results in hyperflexibility.

His condition has allowed him to carve out a career in horror movies, where he has appeared as aliens, lepers, monsters, and mummies, as well as the urban folklore-inspired Slender Man. He first noticed the condition as a child and liked to fold his arms and legs into unusual shapes.^[6] (Well, we all need a hobby.)

Marfan syndrome is a rare genetic disorder, resulting in extreme height and slenderness as well as hyperflexibility. It can also cause heart defects and blindness. For the moment, however, Javier Botet is using this elastic powers to conquer Hollywood.

4 The Real-Life Overseer

An unnamed family from Connecticut has been the center of much study by genetic scientists due to their unusually high bone density. Just like Bruce Willis in Unbreakable, the family has a genetic mutation that means their bones never break.

No one in the family has ever had a fracture, and it is thought that they have the strongest bones on the planet, which is impressive. It appears that the condition is genetic. Scientists tested 20 members of the family, with just under half of them being found to have extra dense bones. It is hoped that by studying the DNA of those family members with the condition, researchers will be able to more fully understand the factors affecting bone density, which could lead to treatments for osteoporosis.^[7]

The condition means that the Connecticut family will never need a plaster cast, though they may find themselves spending a lot of money on plastic ponchos. (That’s an Unbreakable joke.)

3 The Real-Life Invisible Woman

It is a universally accepted truth that we all have a unique set of fingerprints. Even identical twins differ when it comes to the minute whorls and loops on a set of dabs. Modern technology has made use of this unique property when it comes to things like cybersecurity, which must make Cheryl Maynard feel pretty invisible.^[8]

Fingerprints are usually fully formed even before we are born. People with adermatoglyphia, however, are born with no fingerprints. (In the picture above, Cheryl’s finger is compared with a normal one.) It is believed that there are only four extended families in the world with this condition, caused by a genetic mutation.

The condition has left Cheryl Maynard feeling pretty invisible. Having no fingerprints has even made it difficult for her to get jobs. However, if she fancied a career as a criminal, she would have a head start.

2 The Real-Life Vision

In 1972, when Veronica Seider claimed to be able to see small objects 1.6 kilometers (1 mi) away, no one believed her. However, eyesight is pretty easy to test, so it soon became clear that Seider’s vision was truly exceptional. She was soon listed by Guinness World Records with eyesight 20 times more powerful than normal human beings.

Not only is she able to distinguish people and objects from 1.6 kilometers (1 mi) away, but she is also able to judge distance and position, which can be useful. And she can distinguish the individual colors that make up the color on a television set. Not so useful.^[9]

1 The Real-Life Deadpool

Okay, well maybe this isn’t exactly like Deadpool, but a woman identified only as “SM” has a condition known as Urbach-Wiethe, which has damaged parts of her brain. As a result, she feels no fear. At all. Totally fearless.

The condition manifested first as a complete lack of fear from all external stimuli—such as the large, venomous spiders and snakes she picked up as a child. Once, when she was being held up at knifepoint, her attacker was so unnerved by her lack of fear that he let her go.

Like all superheroes, however, SM does have one weakness. After a barrage of tests where she had shown no fear responses, she was exposed to carbon dioxide and suddenly had a panic attack. Neurologists studying her brain hypothesized that impending suffocation finally produced a fear response where no other stimuli could. However, when the test was repeated, SM did not show any anxiety until the gas started to take effect, proving that her response had been a physical reaction to suffocation rather than a psychological manifestation of fear.^[10]

It could be worse. She could be afraid of cows.

Ward Hazell is a writer who travels, and an occasional travel writer.

Sci-fi gives us the strangest, most memorable places in all of fiction. Whether it’s the sky-high city of The Empire Strikes Back, the gritty streets of Blade Runner, or the desert kingdoms of Dune, sci-fi always immerses its fans into incredibly unique worlds. It seems a shame that these places are just made-up—no matter how hard you wish, you’ll never end up on Gallifrey or aboard Serenity.

But if you know where to look, you’ll find plenty of real-life places that look like they were dreamed up by George Lucas or Philip K. Dick. There’s the apocalyptic Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the Arctic, the flying saucer–shaped Buzludzha Monument in Bulgaria, and the depressing dystopia of the Tower of David. And then there are the following places, some creepy, some gorgeous, some downright weird, and all looking ripped straight out of a sci-fi story.

10New York’s Floating Cities

From the Nautilus to Snowpiercer, sci-fi has long loved tricked-out vehicles. They’re moving cities, sustaining life wherever they go, and while they don’t exist (yet), a couple of ships off the coast of New York City are the next best thing.

More Silent Running than Waterworld, the Science Barge is operated by the NY Sun Works, a group dedicated to building sustainable greenhouses. Drifting in the Hudson River, the ship is a farm on the water. Totally self-sustaining, it relies on wind and solar energy for its power, vegetable oil for its heat, and rainwater for its crops. So when the apocalypse starts, this is the place you want to be, especially if you’re a salad fan.

A much scarier ship is floating near the Bronx in Long Island Sound. Resembling a fortress made of oversized Legos, the Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center is the world’s largest prison ship, housing 800 felons in medium to maximum security. Built to relieve overcrowding on Rikers Island, this $161 million vessel boasts 100 cells, a law library, and a basketball court on top of the ship.

9The Glow-In-The-Dark Highway

We’re always trying to build the car of the future. Strangely, none of us think about road on which this car will drive—none of us but Daan Roosegaarde. This Dutch artist figured it was time to advance highway technology. Inspired by bioluminescent jellyfish, Roosegaarde created the world’s first glow-in-the-dark road.

Working with the civic engineering firm Heijmans, Roosegaarde converted Highway N329 in Oss into a radiant roadway. The road’s paint is made from photo-luminizing powder, which captures sunlight during the day and lets off a light-green glow at night. When you drive in the dark, the stripes along the road take the place of streetlights. Roosegaarde hopes this 500-meter (1,600 ft) stretch of highway outside Amsterdam will save energy, and he wants other countries to follow his lead.

However, Roosegaarde isn’t anywhere near finished with his project. Next, he wants to use his glow-in-the-dark powder to create weather symbols that show up on the street. For example, he might paint a snowflake that lights up when the weather gets cold, warning drivers about snowfall or ice on the roads. Right now, these icons are still in the development phase, but if the paint on N329 can stand up to the daily onslaught of cars, perhaps Roosegaarde’s powder will revolutionize the way we drive at night.

8Gardens By The Bay

Judging by box office numbers and online movie reviews, it seems there are two kinds of people in the world: those who loved Avatar and those who hated it with every fiber of their being. But regardless of your opinion on the storytelling of James Cameron’s space epic, Pandora looks like a lovely place to visit—if you wipe out those rhino monsters and wolf creatures, anyway. Unfortunately, Pandora doesn’t actually exist, a sad reality that left some film fans with suicidal thoughts.

While those people probably need counseling, less hardcore fans can satisfy their Avatar obsession with a trip to the Gardens by the Bay. Located in central Singapore, this amazing park is the closest thing we have to a luminescent alien forest, thanks to the 18 supertrees that dominate the landscape. These artificial giants measure 25–50 meters (80–160 ft), and while they don’t sport any vegetation of their own, they’re covered in 200 different species of ferns and flowers. Eleven of these steel trees contain photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight into energy for the rest of the park. The trees also collect their own rainwater, are interconnected with bridges, and light up in the dark.

Elsewhere in the park are the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome, enormous biomes that house over 200,000 different plants, including olive groves, baobabs, and fynbos. These modern-day arks are climate-controlled and generate their own power by processing horticultural waste in steam turbines. Looking at pictures of Gardens by the Bay, you get not only an Avatar-vibe but a sense of technology and nature merging in the best possible way.

7The National Radio Quiet Zone

The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope is truly a special piece of equipment. Located in the eastern half of West Virginia, this telescope is the size of the Washington Monument, weighs 8 million kilograms (17 million lb), and takes up 8,000 square meters (2 acres) of land. This observatory wasn’t made for stargazing. Instead, Green Bank tunes into the music of the universe. A radio telescope, this giant wiry dish listens to radio waves from faraway stars and galaxies.

By the time extraterrestrial energy reaches the Earth, it’s weaker than a snowflake tumbling to the ground. To pick up these faint frequencies, the telescope is extremely sensitive. Anything that generates radio waves is either banned from the Green Bank base or highly controlled. Even the cafeteria microwave is kept inside a special, shielded cage.

Scientists took extra steps to block outside electronic pollution. In 1958, the Federal Communications Commission declared the 34,000 square kilometers (13,000 sq mi) surrounding Green Bank to be a “National Radio Quiet Zone.” Roughly the size of Connecticut and Massachusetts combined, the Quiet Zone is a huge chunk of land almost completely free of cell phones and Wi-Fi. All power lines are buried 1.2 meters (4 ft) below the ground, people use dial-up telephones and ham radios, and every radio station but one (which broadcasts at a low frequency) is banned. There’s even a group of radio wave police who arm themselves with antennas and track down any rogue interference.

Blocking 21st-century technology from the region is getting harder and harder, but for now, the National Radio Quiet Zone is a throwback to a 1950s way of life—with a sci-fi space dish at the center.

6The Soviet Lightning Machine

Hidden away in the forests outside Moscow is a strange collection of tubes, coils, and wires. It looks abandoned now, but gigantic gadgets such as this were built to make lightning—a lot of lightning.

The Soviets built this Marx generator decades ago, and it’s said to have produced as much power as all other generators in Russia. That’s more power than every nuclear, thermoelectric, and hydroelectric plant combined, though Marx generators can only run for a small fraction of a second at a time.

The Russians used the crazy contraption to test materials’ resistance to lightning strikes. For example, they once reportedly shocked a Sukhoi Superjet.

5Rjukan, Norway

For over a century, the citizens of Rjukan lived in the dark. Founded in the early 1900s by Sam Eyde, the village was built for people working in his Norsk Hydro factories. Rjukan is totally surrounded by mountains, so from mid-September to early March, the town was completely covered by gloomy shadow.

The locals weren’t pleased with their situation, but there wasn’t much they could do about it. Sam Eyde tried to compensate by building a cable car to carry people to the top of the mountain. During those dismal months, it was the only way anyone could spend a few minutes basking in the sunlight. After all, you couldn’t actually bring sunlight into the valley—at least not until Martin Anderson showed up.

A traveling artist, Anderson built three solar-powered heliostats on top of the mountain. Sitting 450 meters (1,500 ft) above Rjukan, these computer-operated mirrors track the Sun as it travels across the sky and reflect the light down into the town square, creating 600 square meters (6,500 sq ft) of beautiful light for Rjukan’s sunlight-starved citizens.

Rjukan isn’t the only town that relies on mirrors for sunlight. Viganella, Italy uses a single steel mirror to warm its town, but while it captures more sunlight, it isn’t as strong as Rjukan’s sci-fi heliostats.

4Hong Kong’s AI Metro

With an on-time record of 99.9 percent, the Hong Kong subway is the best in the world. Its success is thanks to a computer program created by Hong Kong engineer Andy Chun. Using a special algorithm, his program quickly calculates the best way to keep the trains running, and it’s way more efficient than any feeble-minded human.

Each week, 10,000 workers keep the tracks in tip-top shape. Night after night, they descend into the tunnels after the trains stop running, and they only have a few hours to carry out 2,600 engineering jobs per week. Before the computer program came along, experts had to hurriedly plan who would go where and do what, and it took far too long. Then Chun’s program changed everything.

After interviewing numerous engineering experts, Chun transformed their wisdom into a series of rules for his AI. Before the repair teams get busy, the AI pores over a model of the subway system and identifies what needs to be done. Next, it compares solutions against one another until it finds the best way to accomplish everything neatly and quickly. It even knows to check its plans against city regulations to make sure everything is safe and legal.

Chun’s AI is so effective that it cuts out two days’ worth of planning a week and gives workers an extra 30 minutes each night to fix up the tracks, saving the metro $800,000 per week. With a program this efficient, it might not be long before computers are running the subway entirely—and as sci-fi fans know, that’s probably not going to end well.

3The Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex

Take a road trip across North Dakota, and you’ll see whole stretches of vast, grassy nothing. But pass through the sleepy little town of Nekoma, and you’ll spot something incredibly bizarre and totally alien rising up out of the ground: a giant concrete pyramid.

While it’s missing the pointy top we associate with Egyptian pyramids, this obelisk makes up for its flat roof with four creepy eyes. There are two circles on each side of the pyramid, one inside the other, almost like a pupil inside an iris. And if you drive up closer, you’ll find the pyramid is surrounded with checkpoints and buildings such as an office, a church, and a gym. But chances are good that you won’t pay too much attention to this abandoned community. You’ll probably just stare at the pyramid. What is this thing, and what is it doing in the middle of nowhere?

The focal point of the Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, this misplaced monolith was constructed back in the 1970s. Costing a whopping $6 billion, this concrete pyramid was made for one purpose—to watch out for incoming Soviet missiles. Those creepy eyes on all four sides of the pyramid were radars watching the skies for sneak attacks. And if the Russians ever did launch a nuke, officials inside the pyramid would shoot it down with one of their Spartan anti-ballistic missiles.

In addition to silos all over the complex, a massive labyrinth of tunnels ran under the pyramid itself. And in true bureaucratic fashion, the Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex was operational for less than a year. After it opened in April 1975, the government started worrying about safety issues, so in February 1976, they flooded the tunnels and shut the whole thing down. So, that was $6 billion down the drain.

The pyramid was later bought for $530,000 by the Spring Creek Hutterite Colony, an Amish-like community of pacifists.

2Americana, Sao Paulo

Alternative history is one of the biggest sci-fi subgenres. These stories deal with the big “what ifs” of history. Take for example Philip K. Dick’s novel The Man in High Castle, which asks, “What if the Nazis had won World War II?” Similarly, quite a few wonder, “What would’ve happened if the Confederacy had won the Civil War?” Well, if you’re curious, you can head on down to Americana, Sao Paulo and find out.

After Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, sore losers in the South weren’t crazy about rejoining the US. Sensing their frustration, Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil invited irate Southerners to pack up their bags and move even further south. Ten thousand people accepted his offer, and while most eventually went back home, 40 percent stayed in Brazil and established the town of Americana.

Nicknamed the “Confederados,” these immigrants set up a surreal little world of good old Southern values. They built Baptist churches, flew the Stars and Bars, and ate biscuits and black-eyed peas. And when they weren’t using forced labor to work their new cotton plantations, they were throwing antebellum balls and singing old-fashioned Southern ballads.

While the town has toned down its Dixieland vibe, the Confederados’ descendants still speak fluent English and throw an annual festival where people dress up in Southern costumes, have grand parties, and unfurl the Confederate flag—all in the middle of Brazil.

1Monkey Island

From Doctor Moreau to King Kong to Jurassic Park, islands have always had a special place in science fiction. These little land masses are perfect for creating weird worlds and strange situations that wouldn’t happen on the mainland. But while you probably won’t find a real-world island populated with polar bears, magical wells, and time travel, quite a few in the ocean have their own mysterious stories.

Take Monkey Island for example. Deep in the jungles of Liberia, in the middle of the Farmington River, is an island populated with over 60 chimpanzees. Surrounded by water, these apes spend their days hidden in the trees but rush down to the beach whenever white-clad workers show up with food and medicine.

The story of Monkey Island (chimps aren’t monkeys, but it’s a local nickname) starts back in 1974, when the New York Blood Center opened a research facility in Liberia. Named “Vilab,” the facility was dedicated to curing deadly diseases. That meant infecting over 100 apes with viruses like hepatitis because chimps are the only non-human species susceptible to the illness.

The facility closed down in 2005 thanks to changing attitudes toward animal testing, raising the question of where the infected chimps were going to go. That’s where Monkey Island came in. The apes were placed on an island where they would spend the rest of their lives in relative comfort.

Today, the chimps are cared for by local teams working with the New York Blood Center. Most of the animals are completely healthy and show no signs of plotting a revolution.

If you want to keep up with Nolan’s writing, you can friend/follow him on Facebook or email him here.

Cartoons are a cornerstone of any memorable childhood and even young adulthood, many of us being molded by the shows we consumed in our formative years. Whether it was geared exclusively for kids or not, the world of animation can have an immense impact on people. This means that cartoons, much like any other form of media, can stir up a slew of different emotions, both positive and negative. These are just a few notable examples of cartoons that, for one reason or another, garnered real-life controversy. 

10. The Simpsons – Apu Controversy (2017)

The Simpsons have never been strangers to controversy, often touching on political and social subjects that sparked some intense reactions. However, their biggest controversy arrived in 2017, sparked by a documentary spearheaded by comedian Hari Kondabolu. The Trouble with Apu, written by Kondabolu and directed by Michael Melamedoff, presents the argument that Apu has hurt the perception of Indian people within pop culture. 

Kondabolu maintained that while the character is quite funny and likable, he perpetuates harmful stereotypes and has inspired racially motivated bullying. His biggest demerit against the character had a lot to do with his voice actor, Hank Azaria, a Sephardic Jewish man. The documentary even goes as far as to describe Azaria’s performance as a form of brownface, an offensive practice used by 1900s minstrel shows in the United States. 

Following the documentary’s release, the backlash against Apu reached a fever pitch, leading to the character being quietly retired. While the character still appears in the background with the rest of Springfield’s silent denizens, he no longer receives any dedicated attention. This also resulted in the rest of Springfield’s people of color – like Carl Carlson and Dr. Hibbert – being recast with African American voice actors. The show referenced the debacle in the Season 29 episode, No Good Read Goes Unpunished. A discussion between Marge and Lisa regarding a fictitious book’s problematic content eventually switches to a fourth wall-break reference to Apu’s erasure. 

9. South Park – Muhammad Depiction (2001)

Since it arrived in the 1990s, South Park and controversy have gone together like peanut butter and chocolate. Simply put, in the eyes of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, nothing is off limits, with everything from religion to HIV to abortion to social justice receiving a comedic dissection at some point. 

One of the show’s biggest controversies occurred during its fifth season back in 2001, specifically in the Super Best Friends episode from season 5. The episode sees the boys contend with a new cult known as Blaintology, run by real-life magician David Blaine. The situation leads Stan to turn to Jesus Christ for help who, needing assistance, brings in the Super Best Friends for help. The super team is a Justice League-style super team comprised of Buddha, Moses, Joseph Smith, Krishna, Laozi, and a humorous parody of Aquaman known as Sea Man. However, amongst the ensemble is also Muhammad the prophet of the Muslim faith, who is given fire powers for comedic effect. 

Several years after this episode’s airdate, the reaction to depictions of Muhammad only increased in intensity, resulting in immense pushback against South Park and its creators. The show opted to tackle this pushback in future episodes, first poking fun at it in the two-part Cartoon Wars episode in their tenth season. There were also the show’s 200th and 201st episodes in which a censored Muhammad played a major role during both episodes’ events. 

8. Family Guy – Down Syndrome Joke (2010)

Whether you love it dearly or simply can’t stand it, there is no denying the pop-cultural impact of Family Guy. The brainchild of Seth MacFarlane, inspired by the likes of The Simpsons and other sitcoms, has left a mark on our collective consciousness. From its irreverent humor to its outlandish cutaway gags, the show has established its identity and struck a chord with millions.

However, any show that’s rolled the dice as much as Family Guy has, is eventually going to tick off the wrong people. Case in point, the controversy that was sparked by a one-off character featured in the season 8 episode titled Extra Large Medium. In the episode’s b-plot, Chris scores a date with his crush, a girl from his school named Ellen. As we eventually learn, Ellen has Down Syndrome which the show takes many jabs at during Stewie’s performance of a song titled Down Syndrome Girl. 

This alone might be viewed negatively but matters were compounded when Ellen notes that her mother is the former Governor of Alaska, a not-so-subtle jab at Sarah Palin. Needless to say, Palin and her family were not thrilled after seeing this animated mockery in prime time. Palin’s daughter Bristol even took to Facebook to criticize the episode’s treatment of the genetic disorder as her brother, Trig, has Down Syndrome. While the effects on the show itself were minimal, it does go to show what can happen when you offend someone in a very public and powerful position. 

7. The Boondocks – BET Criticism (2006)

When it comes to having your finger on the pulse, The Boondocks never failed to use its biting satire to tackle several social and political topics. Aaron McGruder’s series struck a chord with many, whether it was during its days as a syndicated comic strip or its four-season run on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block. From critiquing stables of black culture like rap music and soul food to even tackling Barack Obama’s rise to prominence in the late 2000s, there was little The Boondocks wouldn’t cover.

However, one of their more controversial outings was when McGruder and his team opted to tackle Black Entertainment Television, AKA BET. Even as far back as the series’ unaired pilot episode, the network was a target of ridicule, criticized for its perpetuation of harmful black stereotypes. In the episode The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show, BET is shown to be run at the behest of a cartoonishly evil villain looking to make the black population dumber. Nowhere is this better illustrated than when BET offers a reality show to Uncle Ruckus, the series’ resident Uncle Tom. The whole episode is a scathing yet hysterical takedown of the network, leading to real-life pushback from those within BET. So much so that this episode, as well as another season 2 episode, The Hunger Strike, weren’t aired on Adult Swim. 

6. SpongeBob SquarePants – SpongeBob as a ‘Gay Icon’ (2020)

Few modern cartoons have had a cultural impact on the same level as Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants. Built just as much for adults as it was for young kids, the show has been a mainstay of children’s programming since it arrived in 1999. However, for a cartoon that’s attained acclaim as widespread as possible, it’s to be expected it would garner some controversy at some point.

The Krusty Krab’s resident fry cook got thrust into a socio-political spotlight back in 2020 when Nickelodeon was running a campaign for that year’s Pride Month.  The social media campaign showcased various characters from across the network’s programming who were a part of the LGBTQ+ community. This included the likes of Korra from The Legend of Korra who was confirmed to be a lesbian in the series finale. However, this rainbow-adorned lineup also included SpongeBob, causing ample confusion amongst online commentators who saw this as confirmation of his sexuality.

SpongeBob’s sexual orientation has been the subject of humor and discussion online for years, often citing occasionally flirty interactions with his neighbor Squidward. As the campaign received retweets and comments by the thousands, many mainstream news sources were quick to pick up the story. Soon enough the online discourse surrounding everyone’s favorite yellow sponge turned ugly, with countless bigoted commentators lambasting the decision online. 

5. The Powerpuff Girls: “See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey” (2002)

Despite its sugary exterior, Craig McCracken’s The Powerpuff Girls was one of the more subversive and creative cartoons to emerge from the late ’90s. Balancing kid-friendly designs with gruesome, and frequently bodily, violence, the series quickly gained an impressively widespread appeal to both boys and girls. This eclectic blend of heart, charm, and brutal violence turned the show into a merchandising juggernaut, generating countless toys, t-shirts, and even an airplane courtesy of Delta Airlines back in 2000.

However, that doesn’t mean that the Powerpuff Girls weren’t safe from controversy, somehow managing to have one of their episodes banned from television. See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey, the 18th episode of the fifth season, was a rather unique episode, telling its story largely through the use of rock opera-style songs. The episode sees Blossom, Butters, and Bubblecup overwhelmed by the villains of Townsville and seeking a way to bring harmonious peace to all. This leads to a singing Gnome, voiced by Jess Harnell, granting the girl’s wish in exchange for them giving up their superpowers. The Gnome soon has Townsville under his spell, indeed promising the girls their desired peaceful existence but also robbing everyone of their free will

These ideas of cults, free will-versus-harmony, and even the episode’s religious-leaning imagery led to the episode being banned in the United States and other countries as well. 

4. Pokemon – Epilepsy Incident (1997)

In the 1990s, few franchises blew the lid off pop culture quite like Pokémon, creating a phenomenon that’s lasted til today and is still going strong. From the original video games to the trading card game to the manga to the various animated shows and movies, there are few mediums Pokémon hasn’t touched. 

However, there was a time when Pokémon’s future on American airwaves was nearly in doubt, all due to one episode. Electric Soldier Porygon saw Ash and the gang sucked into cyberspace to contend with one of Team Rocket’s evil schemes. This adventure teams the gang up with a digital Pokemon named Porygon who helps them traverse the digital world. Along the way, their escapades lead to an explosion which causes a frantic strobe effect that lasts for an extended few seconds. This strobe effect, upon the episode’s original airdate back in December 1997, ended up causing over 600 of the show’s young viewers to experience seizures. 

This resulted in a slew of hospitalizations and a tidal wave of bad press for the Pokemon brand itself. The incident resulted in the anime series going on hiatus for four months and the episode itself being yanked from public circulation for years.

3. Rick and Morty – McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce Riots (2017)

Fandoms truly are the best of times and the worst of times, regardless of whatever its inhabitants are obsessed with, be it a book series or a long-running anime. However, if one were to seek out a prime example of a fandom that completely lost the plot, you’d have to look no further than Rick & Morty. The irreverent and visually unique animated series, created by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, struck a chord with Adult Swim fans after its debut in 2013. With its blunt sense of humor and memorable characters, the show quickly took on a life of its own, for better and for worse.

The worst arrived at the beginning of the show’s third season when Rick referenced a discontinued McDonald’s dipping condiment known as Szechuan Sauce. Made as a tie-in for the Disney movie Mulan, the sauce was only around for a brief time before joining the likes of the McDLT and Arch Deluxe in fast food obscurity. However, following the reference, fans of the show took to the interwebs to demand McDonald’s bring back the sauce. In a surprising twist, McDonald’s granted fans’ wishes, bringing back Szechuan sauce, albeit in limited quantity, in late 2017. 

However, it seems McDonald’s didn’t quite anticipate just how popular the sauce’s resurgence would be, leading to a slew of disappointed fans who discovered the sauce had already sold out. This led to fights, outbursts, and clips of socially oblivious fans going viral, turning Rick & Morty fans into overnight pariahs.

2. Arthur – Same-Sex Marriage Episode (2019)

As children’s animation has evolved, the types of topics and subject matters deemed appropriate to talk about have evolved as necessary. This means more shows willing to dedicate episodes to the likes of race, drug use, mental health issues, and even sexuality as well. It’s an important endeavor to expose children to evolving norms and make sure they have all the information they need to form their perspectives. 

However, no matter how far society may come, there will always be people who see the discussion of sexual minorities as offensive or harmful. A prime example of these unfortunate backlashes came about in 2019 when the long-running Arthur animated series tackled gay marriage. The episode sees Arthur’s teacher, Mr. Ratburn tie the knot with Patrick, a local chocolatier who works in the neighborhood. The whole thing is very funny and charming, showcasing a lovely portrayal of a same-sex couple that young kids can understand. 

Unfortunately, the episode was not without its detractors, with two PBS affiliates in Alabama and Arkansas opting not to air the episode at all. Additionally, a fundamentalist organization, One Million Moms, started a petition that garnered at least 13,000 signatures calling for the episode to be removed from further airings which it never was.

1. Beavis & Butthead – Link to real deaths (1990s)

In the 1990s, adult animation was in the midst of a true boom period, especially in the wake of shows like The Simpsons. All over television, the landscape was soon awash with countless series looking to push the envelope in terms of style and humor. Nowhere is this revolution better exemplified than through the escapades of Mike Judge’s Beavis & Butthead. The cornerstone of MTV’s Liquid Television block certainly left a sizable mark on many with the buffoonish duo quickly becking mascots of the decade. However, as the series’ presence on prime-time television grew, so did their reach and, in turn, the amount of impressionable eyes watching them. 

Most infamously, the show was marked as the cause of an unfortunate real-life death that occurred in 1993. Austin Messner, a 5-year-old boy living in Moraine, Ohio, set fire to his family’s mobile home which claimed the life of his younger sister, Jessica. Austin’s mother later claimed he was inspired to do this after watching Beavis and Butthead playing with fire in a then-recent episode. This led to any fire imagery being cut from episodes and the show itself being slapped with a disclaimer, as well as being bumped to a late-night time slot. 

Later on, however, it was revealed that the family’s mobile home didn’t even have cable, thus making the mother’s claim highly dubious. Over 30 years later, the whole incident still stands out as the most noteworthy instance of a cartoon sparking real-life controversy.

It probably won’t come as a surprise that script writers, directors, producers and even actors take some creative liberties recreating real life scenarios in the name of art (or rather, entertainment).

On this list Tony and Jonna Mendez, former CIA agents and Chiefs of Disguise, Jack Barsky, former KGB Agent turned American Intelligence, Peter Earnest, the founding executive director of the International Spy Museum and 35 year CIA veteran and William Colby, former Director of Central Intelligence, review some popular movie scenes that are more art than accurate.

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10 Quick change

In this scene from Mission Impossible III, unlikely hero, Ethan Hawkes, uses the quick change methodology to disguise his identity. And he does it well, seamlessly transitioning into a cassock and posing as a priest.

According to Jonna Mendez, however, disguising an agent as a religious figure, media or peace corps is off limits. These vulnerable vocations need to be protected from the scrutiny they might be subjected to if they were suspected of harboring agents.

Believe it or not, one of the movie quick changes Jonna approves of happens in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when April goes from librarian-type to naughty school girl while moving through a crowd; the bigger the crowd the more forgiving they are and the easier it is to change your appearance with small tweaks and layering.^[1]

9 Gadgets

If there’s one thing we all look forward to when a James Bond film is released it’s to see the crazy and clever gadgets Q has dreamed up in his workshop. The clip above shows the “gadget room” in the movie Kingsman and according to Dr Vince Houghton, most of them are either fictional or behind the times.

During his career as an intelligence officer, Jack Barsky mostly made use of everyday ordinary items. He recalls passing messages in film cannisters and finding a passport and money hidden in a rusty oil can.

Pens are a popular spy movie gadget and although, in real life, they aren’t necessarily used as weapons, Jonna Mendez does remember instances where a pen was used to secrete a camera and even an L-pill (lethal pill used by agents who are captured and choose to commit suicide rather than be subjected to torture). And yes, sadly, L-pills are entirely real and have been used in several instances.^[2]

8 What not to wear

When you think of the Matrix costumes, most likely you think leather and PVC. Who could forget Neo’s full-length leather jacket or Trinity’s PVC catsuit?

What do our real-life spies think of their outfits, though?

“I’ve never met a KGB officer in a leather jacket,” Jack Barsky, former KGB. “The whole point of being a spy is that you don’t want to look like one.”

To William Colby, former Director of Central Intelligence or America’s top spy, a real spy has to be ”a gray man who has a hard time catching the eye of a waiter in a restaurant.”

And Jonna Mendez agrees. When reviewing a clip from Avengers 1998 in which Uma Thurman sports yet another PVC catsuit, Jonna asks why they are so popular in movies… And then answers her own question with “because women look so good in them. At least Hollywood women do.” Most real agents, men and women, she continues, would not be caught dead in them.^[3]

7 Masks

The Mission Impossible franchise is well-known for its mind blowing masks – which, according to our experts, are a result of CGI and clever camera angles rather than latex. Because although real life masks can change a lot about a person’s face including gender and ethnicity, not even the Chief of Disguise at the CIA can guarantee animation. Masks are also additive; this means you can, for example, add bulk to a small nose, but you can’t hide a big nose with a small one.

During his tenure at the CIA, Tony Mendez made masks and disguises to allow CIA officers to slip past the watchful eyes of the KGB, meet foreign agents and collect secrets cached in dead drops without being detected by counterspies. He even helped a black CIA officer meet an Asian diplomat in a city under martial law and Soviet surveillance. He asked a Hollywood makeup artist he knew to send him some masks and transformed the case officer and the envoy into Caucasian gentlemen. They met undeterred by roadblocks and checkpoints.^[4]

6 Self-defense

When reviewing this clip from Iron Man 2, Jack Barsky remarks that although he was greatly impressed with the acting, the Black Widow’s self-defense techniques were considerably more aggressive than anything he was ever trained in. Which says a lot considering he used to work for the KGB!

Jack continues by explaining that although agents are trained in self-defense in case they find themselves in a dark alley confronted by an unsavory character who wishes to harm them (which seems likely due to the nature of the job), most agents are not as proficient in hand to hand combat as Hollywood would have you believe. Their purpose, after all, is to fly under the radar and gather intelligence rather than drawing attention to themselves by starting a fist fight.^[5]

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5 Cultural customs

In this scene from Inglourious Basterds, the British soldier gives himself away by counting incorrectly on his hand. Europeans start with the thumb. Within a split second the German soldier realizes the man is European.

Jonna Mendez remarks that it is incumbent on the spy to learn not only the language but also the customs, mannerisms and procedures of the country/area within which they operate. “And sometimes,” she says, “once you’ve outed yourself there is no way out and you have to live with the consequences.”^[6]

4 Crowds

Following on from the example above, blending into the crowd is the safest way for a spy to “disappear”. But even doing little things differently to those around you can help those on the lookout spot you. During this scene from Casino Royale, the man in the crowd is called out for having his hand to his ear, touching his earpiece.

Jonna Mendez’ team at the CIA came up with a no hands/body harness-type system to prevent exactly this. She also made it her life’s work to understand how fashion influences people’s conclusion about those around them in order to help her colleagues and other agents “blend in”.

Uniforms are also often used to help agents blend in, and although the CIA doesn’t have stores of uniforms, they can arrange pretty much anything.^[7]

3 Documents

We all know this scene from Bourne Identity or any other spy movie – identity documents stored in a safe place just waiting for the right person to find and use them.

In reality, though, these kinds of documents are far too valuable to leave lying around just “in case” someone needs them. According to our experts, aliases are specifically created for specific agents and are very closely controlled by intelligence agencies. Putting together alternate identities is painstaking and meticulous.

Together with identity documents and passports, agents are also provided with pocket litter—those little pieces of paper, pictures and random stuffs we all collect in our purses or billfolds. They work hand in hand with the all-important cover story, which is also the next entry.^[8]

2 Cover story

“Spies are people too,” says Jack Barsky. To help them do their jobs, they need believable back stories. Something they can identify with and talk about spontaneously and believably, either as an individual or as a group.

Argo is the real-life story of how Tony Mendez helped to create the escape plan, the false identities and the brilliant disguises that let six Americans escape revolutionary Tehran, where they had been held hostage, in 1980.

The movie, starring Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez, won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2013 and both Tony and Jonna Mendez were heavily involved in the making of it. The cover story, a Hollywood location scouting team, had to be something that Tony and his team could easily talk about.^[9]

1 Sexpionage

The movie Red Sparrow is based upon the book of the same name by Jason Matthews, a former CIA operative, and explores the idea of the seduction methodology which is mostly associated with Germans (males called Romeos) and Russians (females called Swallows).

All of our experts agree that the art of seduction does play a role in espionage today and that it’s not that far-fetched to think the Americans use it too.

“I think sexpionage, that’s reality. I’d be surprised if there are any major intelligence services that aren’t in some way recruiting women to do dirty work,” says Jack Barsky.

But, unlike the one in the movie, it’s highly unlikely the CIA has a school of seduction.

At least, that’s what Jonna Mendez says…^[10]

10 Rogue Spies In History

There are some terribly unsettling things that happen every day that we’re not aware of until it is splashed on the front page of the newspaper or make the rounds as a viral social media post. Some of these things have been happening since before any of us were born and still have the potential to make our hair stand on end. On this list are just a few unbelievably creepy incidents that will haunt your nightmares for a good long while.

10 Eerie Last Words Of People Who Then Vanished Without A Trace

10 Woman stuck in chair for months

On 16 February 2017, an Ohio church volunteer placed a call to 911. He told the operator that a 75-year-old woman he had been caring for for over a decade was not acting herself and seemingly refused to get out of a specific chair at her home.

However, police were not prepared for the horrific scene that awaited them when they arrived at Barbara Foster’s home in Springfield Township. Barbara, who at that point weighed 550 pounds, was found literally molded to her chair as her skin had begun attaching itself to the fabric. It seemed that she had been trapped in the chair for at least a year, and as emergency personnel removed her from the house Barbara’s bones started breaking because they were extremely frail.

From the sight and smell of the house, it was clear that Barbara Foster was a hoarder, with the smell becoming so strong that it reached the sidewalk before Barbara was rescued.

Barbara’s left leg was amputated soon after she arrived at the hospital. But unfortunately, after a month-long stay in the hospital, the former teacher and animal lover died in March 2017.^[1]

9 Suicide forest is eerily silent

The fact that Aokigahara is a popular destination for both hikers and those who want to end their own lives is terrifying enough. In fact, it is the world’s second most common destination for suicides behind The Golden Gate Bridge. But the creep factor of this dark, dense forest doesn’t stop there.

It is not surprising that many believe Aokigahara to be haunted by the people who never leave it. Some also believe that there is a bird demon called Tengu that roams the forest. Tengu and various ghosts have been blamed for the fact all signs of human life vanish about a mile into the forest.

But perhaps the eeriest thing about the ‘suicide forest’ is that despite the number of hikers and hopeless looking for a solution, the place is completely silent. This has been attributed to the density of the foliage and trees as well as the presence of a lava floor. To test the theory some visitors to the forest have let out loud screams only to have them swallowed up in the thick atmosphere.^[2]

8 Infestation by the thousands

In October 2007, Brian and Susan Trost bought their dream home in Weldon Spring, Missouri. To their horror and dismay, the couple soon began seeing brown recluse spiders everywhere in their home. Once, when Susan was taking a shower, one of the spiders fell from the ceiling and almost landed on her. She dodged it just in time and it washed down the shower drain.

The Trosts filed a claim with their insurance company and lodged a complaint against the home’s previous owner. This was after they had tried to deal with the problem by employing exterminators to spray behind the drywall and put down pesticide in the attic. These measures did not help at all and by 2012, the house was literally oozing spiders. The population of spiders were estimated to be around 5,000. The Trosts were forced to move and their home went into foreclosure.

In 2014 the house had been vacant for two years, but only of people. The brown recluse spiders continued to overrun the property.^[3]

7 The voices won’t stop

Children often invent imaginary friends to deal with feelings of loneliness or simply to enjoy a fantasy world of their own. They ‘see and hear’ their imaginary friends with an enthusiasm that most adults will never understand.

Unfortunately, however, the voices that children attribute to their invisible friends often become far too real. It is estimated that at least 1 in 12 children persistently hear voices in their head. In 2018, 21-year-old Laura Moulding told the BBC that she had been hearing voices since she was three years old. The voices surround her almost constantly and are a mixture of male, female, adults, and children.

As a toddler, she heard a lion and bear from a beloved TV programme calling to her: “I’m coming to get you.” They repeated this over and over until Laura was terrified. By the time she was fifteen, her auditory hallucinations had become too much for Laura and her mother took her to a doctor. At this point, Laura was self-harming to try and block out the pain of the voices telling her that she was useless, no good and that no one loved her.

Laura Moulding was eventually diagnosed with severe depression that included psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, disturbing thoughts, and a lack of self-awareness.^[4]

6 Where is Pedro Alonso López?

In 1980, Pedro Alonso López was arrested for trying to lure a 12-year-old girl away while she was browsing through a market in Ecuador. This incident took place mere days after a mass grave of 53 young girls was uncovered in the area. After being taken into custody, López confessed to the murders of 300 girls. His MO was to pose as a salesman who had become lost and needed assistance to get back to his office. He would then lure young girls away from their distracted families and proceed to rape and murder them. He told police he committed the murders to ensure the girls could go to heaven.

Shockingly, this monster received a mere 16-year prison sentence and was released in 1994 after serving 14. An hour after being released, López was arrested again for illegal immigration and deported to Colombia. Here he was convicted of a murder he committed 20 years prior. However, he was declared insane and spent some time in a mental asylum before being released again in 1998.

In 2020, no one knows López’s whereabouts. He could be continuing his murderous streak unabated anywhere in the world. Rumors that he had died in a vigilante style killing have yet to be confirmed.^[5]

10 Weirdly Disgusting And Creepy Facts About You

5 The stone baby

In 1955, 26-year-old Zahra Aboutalib went into labor and suffered for 48 hours before being rushed to a local hospital in Morocco. Upon her arrival Zahra witnessed another woman dying in excruciating pain while giving birth and this frightened her so much that she fled back home.

When, after a while, her labor pains ceased, Zahra carried on with her life. She never gave birth and never suffered a miscarriage. She adopted three children and eventually became a grandmother. 46 years after her terrifying experience at the hospital, Zahra felt intense pain once more. Doctors took an ultrasound scan of her belly and found a mass. An MRI scan revealed the mass to be her unborn baby.

It was discovered that Zahra’s pregnancy had been ectopic with the fetus growing from the fallopian tube and into her stomach. Because the baby was never born, it basically calcified inside Zahra’s body and was removed during a four-hour procedure. Zahra Aboutalib became known as the woman who gave birth to a stone baby when she was over 70 years old.^[6]

4 Starvation led to cannibalism

Photo credit: Don Hurlbert, Smithsonian

In 2013 a grisly new discovery was made as part of ongoing research into the Jamestown Colony. While recent excavations have led to the discovery of animal carcasses consumed during the harsh winter of 1609, newly discovered bones told a horrifying tale of human dismemberment and cannibalization. The bones belonged to a 14-year-old English girl.

The bones revealed that the girl had been struck by an object to the head at least four times, which led to her skull being split in two. She also had a penetrating wound to her left temple which is believed to have been made by a knife for the purpose of removing her brain and the flesh from her face for consumption.

While experts agree that the young girl was dismembered to be eaten, it remains to be discovered whether multiple people cut her into pieces or whether one person was responsible for the dark act.^[7]

3 I don’t want to work for Mickey anymore

There are a multitude of conspiracy theories and dark rumors that swirl around Disney Enterprises Inc. These include hidden details of evil in Disney movies, including that Frozen is simply a distraction from Walt Disney’s frozen head. You know, the head that is currently stored underneath the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland? When people Google “frozen” or “Disney frozen” it now displays results about the movie and not the host of conspiracies about Walt’s wish to be cryogenically frozen after death.

Sometimes though, real twisted events make these theories seem just the tiniest bit plausible. For instance, in 2010 two Disneyland Paris employees killed themselves. One of the employees was a restaurant manager at Disneyland and had a wife and four children. After the 37-year-old committed suicide, a note was found scratched on a wall in his house: “I don’t want to work for Mickey anymore.”

The other employee had thrown himself in front of a train a month earlier.

The suicides have been attributed to a less than ideal working environment under new management which has been making employees miserable.^[8]

2 Don’t look behind the walls

In 2015, a family from Schuylkill County wanted to add some insulation behind the walls of a room in their Auburn house. They were not prepared for what they found behind the layers of drywall: several dead animal carcasses wrapped in newspapers dating back to the 30s and 40s.

Kajia Bretzuis confirmed that they had made one or two animal discoveries since 2012, but nothing at the scale of the new discovery, and that the home inspection before they moved in didn’t reveal any of the horror behind the walls. Removing the carcasses, half-used spices, and other items from behind the walls have depleted the family’s savings as the insurance didn’t cover any of it.

The family, looking for answers, sent some of the artifacts and animal remains to an expert in Kutztown who told them that the items were placed inside the walls as part of a Dutch magic ritual to heal diseases. The Brezuis’s have since started a Go Fund Me account to raise money to tear out more walls to ensure there aren’t any more animal remains tucked inside.^[9]

1 Serial killer lair

In March 2014, Catrina McGhaw signed a lease on a North County ranch house. Her landlady was Sandra Travis. A few months after moving in, Catrina was watching a documentary on serial killers with a friend when they both suddenly sat up straight and looked at each other in alarm. The house being featured in various crime scene photos on the tv screen was the very one they were sitting in.

The house Catrina was living in previously belonged to serial killer Maury Travis, son of her landlady, Sandra Travis. Maury had built several torture chambers in the basement of the house and kept corpses there.

Catrina immediately went to Sandra and demanded she be let out of the lease. Sandra was unwilling to release Catrina from the lease until the St. Louis Housing Authority intervened. Only then did she agree to rescind the contract.

Maury Travis killed himself before he could be charged with the murders of at least 17 women.^[10]

10 Scary Holes With Deadly Pasts

Often, facts are stranger than fiction. In fact, sometimes real-life stories are more terrifying than those in horror movies. Some are equal parts horrifying and tragic. All of them serve to remind us yet again that there is true darkness to be found in our world, far beyond what our imaginations could ever conjure up.

See Also: 10 Creepy Facts About Cadavers

10 Child of rage

The story of Beth Thomas is as heartbreaking as it is frightening. She was a beautiful little girl with striking blue eyes who lost her mother when she was a year old. Beth and her brother, Jonathan, were left with their biological father, who sexually abused them. She was only 19 months old and Jonathan seven months when they were taken away by child protective services. The little boy had been left in his cot all day, every day, leaving him with an oddly shaped head.

The siblings were adopted by a childless couple who soon realized all wasn’t well with Beth. By the time she was six, a documentary had been made about the young girl and her extremely worrying and violent behavior. In the documentary, released in 1990, Beth talks about her adoptive parents’ habit of locking her in her room to prevent her from stabbing them to death. She also talks about how she herself had sexually abused her younger brother, tortured the family dog, and killed baby birds she had found in a nest. At one point Beth even smashed Jonathan’s head into a concrete floor, trying to kill him.

Beth was diagnosed with RAD (reactive attachment disorder), which left her unable to form any attachment to a caregiver. Her adoptive parents, Tim and Julie eventually turned to controversial therapist Connell Watkins who offered to help them. Within a year, Beth’s symptoms improved to the extent that she could show remorse for her actions towards her brother.

Years later, Beth Thomas has turned her situation around. She is a qualified nurse and has published a book with the help of her second adoptive mother, Nancy.^[1]

9 Horror on Chichijima

On 2 September 1944, 20-year-old George H.W. Bush was piloting the U.S. Navy’s Avenger aircraft. He and eight other airmen were on their way to the island of Chichijima, which forms part of Japan’s Bonin Islands, to attack a radio tower. Japanese soldiers on the island shot the aircraft down, along with the aircrafts of his comrades; all of them landing in the water. Bush made sure to drop the four bombs he had in the plane before he bailed out over the water.

All his comrades were captured, tortured, and executed by means of decapitation or stabbing. Japanese Lt. Gen. Yoshio Tachibana ordered that four of the corpses be cooked and their livers and thighs eaten alongside vegetables and drenched in soy sauce.

Bush, who had avoided capture, floated in the water on a life raft for hours and was eventually rescued by an American submarine.

The Japanese officers responsible for the horrific cannibal incident on Chichijima were later found guilty of and executed for war crimes during trails held in Guam.

George H.W. Bush went on to become the 41st president of the United States between 1989 and 1993.^[2]

8 The porthole murder

Eileen Isabella Ronnie Gibson, better known as Gay Gibson, was an English actress who was rumored to have had a heart condition and would often ‘go blue’ at the lips and faint during play rehearsals.

Gibson appeared in a production of Golden Boy by Clifford Odets in South Africa in 1947. When the play wrapped, she boarded the Durban Castle which was headed from SA back to England. It didn’t take long for one of the cruise ships’ stewards to notice the beautiful 21-year-old actress. According to James Camb’s later claims, he and Gibson were intimate in her first-class cabin before both the steward and stewardess buttons sounded, and a night watchman arrived. Camb was found inside the cabin, but Gibson had vanished.

Camb’s story about Gibson’s fate changed several times, but he insisted that Gibson had had a fit during (consensual) sex and died. He later admitted that he had panicked when he realized she was dead and pushed her body through the ship’s porthole. He vehemently denied murdering her saying that he only got rid of the body because he was afraid of losing his job and his family.

Despite all his changing stories and denials, Camb was convicted of Gay Gibson’s murder and handed the death sentence. Soon after, however, the death penalty was suspended for all crimes in Britain and Camb served only 11 years for the crime. Up until his death in 1979, he denied murdering Gibson.

Gay Gibson’s body was never found.^[3]

7 Demon in disguise

35-year-old Danielle Harkins seemed to be a run-of-the-mill, harried but kind teacher who had a great relationship with her students. She taught at the Lealman and Asian Neighborhood Family Center in St. Petersburg, Florida and was going through a divorce and custody battle over her two young children.

Soon after her divorce was finalized in 2012, Harkins began acting strangely. She developed a fanatical interest in religion, in particular angels and demons, and pitched up at a fellow teacher’s house one day telling her ‘you’re okay’ and ‘you don’t have any demons.’

On 9 June 2012, Danielle Harkins got a group of her students to join her in creating a small ‘bonfire’ near the St. Petersburg Pier. The students thought that their teacher had planned a campfire evening for them and were completely shocked when she started accusing them of being infested with demons and demanding they be exorcised.

Confused and shaken up they half-heartedly followed her instructions to dance around the fire while chanting but drew the line when Harkins told them to cut each other in order to ‘free their demons.’ Infuriated by their refusal, Harkins doused one of the young people’s hands in perfume and set them alight. She slashed another student with a broken bottle and cauterized the wounds with a key she had heated in the fire. She forced several others to cut themselves and similarly ‘close’ the wounds, to keep the demons out.

It took a few days for the students to speak up about the incident and even after Harkins was arrested the students weren’t terribly forthcoming with information on what had happened. Harkins, too, refused to provide any details.

She was released from prison after serving only 6 months.^[4]

6 Pool of blood

Returning to their posts after a mellow and relaxing school holiday, teachers at Riverwood Primary School in Sydney’s southwest were expecting to have a lazy first day back. Nothing could have prepared them for what they stumbled upon when they entered the school’s cubby house that day, however.

On the floor was a pool of blood, later established to be human and being more than a litre’s worth. Police noted that whoever’s blood it was would have needed extensive medical treatment because of the extreme blood loss. Despite an extensive search of the surrounding and extending areas, no victim was found. There was also no blood splatter or trail leading to or from the cubby.

The lack of a victim was extremely strange considering the school was enclosed with a 2-metre high barbed wired fence and it would have been impossible for the injured person to scale it.

Tests later showed that the victim was male. The case remains unsolved.^[5]

See Also: 10 Weirdly Disgusting And Creepy Facts About You

5 Halloween prop that wasn’t

Residents of the Marine del Rey apartment building in Los Angeles were amazed to see a very realistic-looking Halloween prop on one of their neighbors’ balconies in October 2009. The prop consisted of a figure slumped over a chair and what looked like bedding draped over the railing.

However, when deputies were called to the building a few days later, residents were beyond shocked when they realized the ‘Halloween decoration’ they’d been gawking at that week, was in fact the decomposing body of 75-year-old Mostafa Mahmoud Zayed. Zayed had committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a shotgun. A suicide note was found near the corpse.

Zayed had lived in the building for 34 years and was a structural engineer who had worked on high-rise buildings in downtown Los Angeles.^[6]

4 Isle of Bute terror

Six-year-old Alesha MacPhail was visiting her grandparents on the Isle of Bute in 2018 when the unthinkable happened. 16-year-old Aaron Campbell crept into the family’s home, looking to steal cannabis. When he saw the little girl sleeping, all thoughts of the drug escaped his mind. Instead he abducted her, carried her to an abandoned hotel and raped her. He then applied pressure to her face and neck until she stopped breathing.

Alesha’s body was found within 3 hours of her being reported missing on 2 July 2018. A post-mortem revealed the little girl had suffered 117 injuries. Campbell was arrested two days later.

After initially denying that he had anything to do with the horrific crime, Campbell confessed that once he had laid eyes on Alesha, he couldn’t stop thinking about killing her. During his trial he also claimed that in the year preceding the murder, he constantly thought about killing or raping someone.

Campbell was amused that it took police two days to arrest him and said it took great restraint on his part to keep from laughing during the trial. While confessing to the murder, he even told authorities that he was ‘quite satisfied with the murder.’

He was handed a 27-year sentence, which was reduced by 3 years in 2019.^[7]

3 The Fresno case

On 20 January 2016, a dead man was found in a burning home in central Fresno. The Fresno police department’s public information officer, Lt. Joe Gomez, reported at the time that 51-year-old local activist, John Lang, was found with stab wounds to his abdomen and upper back. Later, a spokesperson for the Fresno County sheriff refuted these claims, saying that Gomez had released incorrect information and that John Lang had three self-inflicted stab wounds to his chest only and had started the fire in a suicide mission.

Five days before Lang’s body was discovered in the blazing house, he left a Facebook message for ABC30 reporter, Corin Hoggard, stating “Corrupt Fresno cops are going to try and kill me this weekend, possibly tonight. This is no joke.” On his own social media accounts, he posted several rants about the Fresno Police Department and County Sheriff’s Office being corrupt. Lang followed this up with videos of a security camera outside his house which he claimed was being used by police officers to watch him. Lang also believed that his car was being tracked.

Several websites and forums have since claimed that Lang may have been truthful in his claims that he feared the police would kill him, expressing doubt about the ‘bungling’ of the information that Lt. Gomez originally provided. Some are also convinced that there are several corrupt police officers in the Fresno police department who would have done anything to silence Lang.^[8]

2 Left alone for hours

On 16 November 2015, 25-year-old Racqual Thompson and her 21-year-old boyfriend, Cornell Malone, left her four children unattended in their northeast Houston apartment to get pizza and visit Malone’s brother. They returned after midnight to the sound of the children (all under the age of five) crying.

Entering the kitchen, they found their oven range overturned. When Malone picked up the range, the youngest child, 19-month old J’Zyra, fell out of it. She had been severely burned. It was revealed that one of the children had put J’Zyra inside the oven and then turned it on. The kids panicked when the toddler started crying and kicking the door from inside, but it was too late by the time Thompson and Malone arrived home. Thompson attempted CPR on her daughter, but the infant had already died.

Thompson and Malone both faced two years in prison on charges of child endangerment. At the time of her court appearance, Thompson was eight months pregnant with her fifth child.^[9]

1 The girl on Church Hill

On 12 June 1977, George Childs and his son were driving down Holicong Road in Buckingham Township when he spotted an object in the underbrush of a steep rise known as Church Hill.

He drove across the railroad tracks and headed up the hill to get a closer look. He and his son then made the terrifying discovery of the naked body of a woman lying face down about 10 feet down the slope. They continued driving on to the next house and asked that the owner call the police.

15 minutes later the area was swamped with police officers. A team of officers and paramedics were tasked with turning the body over, and it was only then that the true extent of the crime was revealed. 20-year-old Shaun Eileen Ritterson had been eviscerated, with nearly all her lower organs removed. Her insides had been washed out and stuffed with a towel. She had bruising at the back of her scalp, indicating that she had been struck with a heavy object and had multiple stab wounds to her chest.

At the time, detectives thought the viciousness of the murder may have been part of a dark ritual or even to tear out an unborn child.

The young woman’s uncle, Harry Ritterson, was initially suspected of her murder and many family members also believed that he was the murderer. However, he was never charged, and no other suspects were ever identified.

Shaun Ritterson’s murder remains a mystery.^[10]

See Also: 10 Creepy And Surreal Moments Caught On Video

It’s not unusual for actors to play characters that differ in age from themselves. The pattern of older men playing across from much younger women appears to have been a popular choice since the Golden Age of Hollywood and hasn’t stopped since then. Although sometimes an age difference is necessary for the plot of a film, in a lot of cases, there’s no logical reason for such a large age difference between leading actors. And some of these age gaps make up feel uncomfortable watching the film as if we are supposed to simply ignore it.

Whether necessary or not, here are 10 of the largest real-life age gaps between on-screen partners

Related: 10 Shocking Weight Transformations By Actors For Films

10 Gerard Butler & Emmy Rossum: Phantom of the Opera

The 2004 film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage show saw then-17-year-old Emmy Rossum earn a Golden Globe nomination for her role opposite 33-year-old Gerard Butler. A 16-year age gap isn’t crazy, but since the leading lady was yet to turn 18, it makes the film a bit weird to watch.

The age difference of the leading couple could have been even greater if the original choice of lead, Hugh Jackman (35 at the time), wasn’t already committed to Van Helsing. Katie Holmes was an option for the role of Christine, as was Anne Hathaway. Both would’ve still left a notable age gap (Holmes was 25 at the time while Hathaway was 21) but not as significant as the final casting.^[1]

9 Gene Kelly & Debbie Reynolds: Singin’ in the Rain

Singin’ in the Rain was Debbie Reynolds’s first starring role—at only the age of 19—and would later be known as her highest-profile film. Alongside seasoned actors Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor, it is now often considered the greatest musical film ever made.

Gene Kelly, who also directed and choreographed the film, was 40 when he played alongside teenage Reynolds. Despite being a grueling process, Reynolds later stated, “Singin’ in the Rain and childbirth were the two hardest things I ever had to do in my life.” She always had respect for her experienced scene partner and director, who she said “made me a star…[and] taught me how to dance and how to work hard and be dedicated.”^[2]

8 Bing Crosby & Rosemary Clooney: White Christmas

White Christmas was the most successful film of 1954 and the highest-grossing musical at that time. The legendary cast saw Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye play opposite on-screen sisters Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen.

The success of the song “White Christmas,” originally from Holiday Inn back in 1942, led to the creation of White Christmas, with Crosby as the leading man once again. Clooney, only 26 at the time of filming, was only a year older than Marjorie Reynolds when she played Crosby’s leading lady in Holiday Inn 12 years before. Crosby, in comparison, was 51 in 1954, giving a 25-year age gap between him and Clooney. Interestingly, although Clooney played the elder of the two sisters, she was actually seven years younger than Vera-Ellen.^[3]

7 Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall: To Have and Have Not

Lauren Bacall was a model prior to the film To Have and Have Not when the wife of the director Howard Hawks saw her on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar. After a screen test, the unknown actress had a contract. In the 19-year-old’s film debut, Bacall’s originally small role was revised into the leading lady of To Have and Have Not. The new star played opposite established actor Humphrey Bogart, who was 45 at the time.

Although the film was often compared to Casablanca in unfavorable terms, the film launched the career of Bacall, which would see her at minimum be nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Grammy, Emmy, and Tony. Bogart and Bacall went on to make three more movies together, including Key Largo in 1948. The 26-year age gap seemed to be no problem for the couple, who married in May 1945, seven months after the film’s release. It was Bogart’s third marriage. The pair had two children together and remained married until Bogart’s death in 1957.^[4]

6 Michael Douglas & Gwyneth Paltrow: A Perfect Murder

A remake of the 1958 Hitchcock classic Dial M for Murder, the 1998 film saw 53-year-old Michael Douglas opposite Gwyneth Paltrow, aged 25 at the time. The 28-year age gap is deliberate, a suggestive reason behind Paltrow’s character Emily’s affair with painter David. It’s hard to believe there are less than 30 years between the leading couple, with one critic stating, “Douglas looks every one of his 54 years and then some. Gwyneth Paltrow is 25 and could pass for much younger.”

Hitchcock’s original film also saw an age difference, although not so large. With a 22-year age gap, Ray Milland played retired tennis player Tony across from Grace Kelly’s socialite Margot. A Perfect Murder didn’t quite live up to its predecessor, with one critic noting the film “has inexplicably managed to eliminate almost everything worthwhile about Dial M for Murder, leaving behind the nearly-unwatchable wreckage of a would-be ’90s thriller.” Another acknowledged the age difference, stating that Douglas should “hang up his spurs when it comes to playing a romantic lead with women in their twenties.”^[5]

5 Fred Astaire & Audrey Hepburn: Funny Face

Another classic from the Golden Age of Hollywood, Funny Face saw the union of legends Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn. Although not a financial success at the time, it has since been regarded as a masterpiece. Despite being three decades younger than Astaire, 27-year-old Hepburn insisted on him as her leading man.

Astaire had previously announced his retirement in 1946 but returned to the cinema in 1948 in Easter Parade. However, it wasn’t until 1981, 24 years after Funny Face, that Astaire was in his final film, Ghost Story.^[6]

4 Sean Penn & Emma Stone: Gangster Squad

Looking at Stone’s filmography, it appears that she is a popular choice for directors to play opposite older men. This includes Magic in the Moonlight, playing opposite Colin Firth (53), Irrational Man with Joaquin Phoenix (40), and Birdman alongside Edward Norton (45). But it’s in Gangster Squad that we see Stone’s oldest on-screen partner.

Penn played gangster boss Mickey Cohen in the 2013 action thriller. At age 54, he was nearly 30 years older than 25-year-old Stone at the time of the film’s shooting. But it is perhaps that Penn appears older than he is that makes the on-screen couple so shocking to see. What hits harder is that Stone is only three years older than Penn’s own daughter, Dylan.^[7]

3 Liam Neeson & Olivia Wilde: Third Person

Unlike many films on this list, Third Person is a relatively unknown film, having had a limited release in 2014. Nevertheless, the cast list is fairly star-studded, including Mila Kunis, Adrien Brody, Kim Basinger, Olivia Wilde, and Liam Neeson.

It’s the latter two of these stars we see in an on-off romantic relationship. Here, 61-year-old Neeson plays Michael, who recently separated from his wife and remains involved with his lover, played by 29-year-old Wilde. Although a noticeable age gap is necessary for the plot, with 32 years between the on-screen couple, the desired effect could have still been achieved with a much smaller age difference. While the pair provide what is needed from them, unfortunately, the film was given negative reviews from critics and has a score of only 25% on Rotten Tomatoes.^[8]

2 Sean Connery & Catherine Zeta-Jones: Entrapment

As a former James Bond, Sean Connery was no strange to younger, beautiful on-screen romantic partners. But at the age of 68, Connery played opposite then-30-year-old Catherine Zeta-Jones in the 1999 heist film.

The nearly 40-year age gap between the two is never noted in the film, seemingly unimportant to the plot. Only seven years later, in 2006, Connery announced his retirement from acting, while Zeta-Jones has taken several breaks from the screen since the late 2000s. Obviously, this age gap didn’t bother Zeta-Jones as she married Michael Douglas, who is 25 years her senior.^[9]

1 James Mason & Sue Lyon: Lolita

Based on Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel of the same name, the age difference in Lolita is the most disturbing—but also crucial to the plot of the film. With an age gap of 39 years, 53-year-old James Mason plays across Sue Lyon, who was only 14 at the start of filming.

In the unsettling plot involving hebephilia with Mason’s character Humbert and his stepdaughter, the film actually increased the age from the novel where the titular character is only 12. With the filming grossing $9.25 million (on a budget of $2 million) and Lyon winning a Golden Globe for her role, Lolita was undoubtedly a commercial success. There’s something about actually seeing the disturbing relationship on screen that makes the story all the more unsettling than simply reading it on the page of Nabokov’s novel. However, due to Lyon’s age, an of-age body double was used for the more explicit scenes—I would hope so!^[10]

One of the most successful films in the last year has been the superhero film Captain Marvel, staring Brie Larson. Captain Marvel, whose real name is Carol Danvers, is one of the latest to take the stage in the Marvel Universe. [Name] started out her career as an Air Force pilot before uncovering her true mission: saving the planet from an alien invasion.

SEE ALSO: 10 Insane Facts About Marvel Comics

Early in 2019, right around the release of the film in theaters on International Women’s Day, the United States Air Force, with their advertising agency of record GSD&M, ran an award-winning campaign highlighting this parallel by letting Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers be a face for female fighter pilots serving in the Air Force. A relationship between the military branch and filmmakers already existed, as they worked closer together to ensure that Carol Danvers accurately represented the female pilots that serve in the military.

All of this happened behind-the-scenes, however, so I felt inspired to take it a step further and introduce 10 women of the U.S. Military who actually could have been Captain Marvel. It’s interesting to think that something so out-of-this-world as the sci-fi world of Marvel could have such powerful ties to our own world.

10 Marie Rossi

Number 10 on this list is Major Marie Rossi. She served as a pilot in the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army. While she wasn’t in the Air Force necessarily, she was a hero of the skies. She served during Operation Desert Storm in the early nineties as a helicopter pilot. Her mission was to transport fuel and ammunition as support for a ground attack.

She made the ultimate sacrifice on March 1, 1991 when her helicopter crashed. Despite the tragedy, she left behind a legacy as being one of the first female soldiers to actively be a part of an air assault in enemy territory. She now rests in Arlington Cemetery, Virginia.

Though she may not have had supernatural abilities, she was as super as one can be, and her sacrifice and services are revered and remembered.^[1]

9 Dora Strother

Lieutenant Colonel Dora Daugherty Strother earned a spot on this list for her successes during her time as a WASP: Woman Airforce Service Pilot. The WASPs were a group of female pilots serving during World War II—a time when women were not supposed to be in the Armed Forces at all, really, let alone flying these planes.

But that’s what Lt. Colonel Strother did—she was the first to fly the B-29 Superfortress, a massive, cutting-edge bomber that was designed to drop atomic bombs on the enemy. Men refused to fly it, saying it was too dangerous, but she didn’t let the aircraft (or the patriarchy) intimidate her. She went on to fly this beast, proving that it wasn’t dangerous and “even a woman could fly it.”. She spent a significant portion of her career training pilots after that.

She was a little before Captain Marvel’s time, but nevertheless, she was making waves.^[2]

8 Elaine Harmon

Elaine Harmon was also before Captain Marvel’s time and also a WASP. What’s remarkable about her is not so much her service during World War II—which is without question worth our respect—but more so what she did in death. She, or rather he family, made it possible for female World War II pilots to be buried in Arlington Cemetery, something they were denied for decades.

Harmon passed away in 2015 at the age of 95. As a veteran and pioneer for both women and for the advancement of the war effort, she deserved a place in Arlington Cemetery. It’s worth noting that this isn’t the only fight for recognition and honor the WASPs have had. It took thirty years to even be recognized as veterans, with that posthumously being declared in 1977.

Now they and their families were fighting again, and Elaine Harmon was the face of that change. In May of 2016, then-President Barack Obama allowed WASPs to be buried in Arlington Cemetery, and it was then that Elaine Harmon accomplished her final mission. Carol would probably be proud.^[3]

7 Martha McSally

Martha McSally is a name all of us in the U.S. would probably do well to learn. She is currently serving as a Republican Senator in Congress representing Arizona, but before that, she served as a Colonel in the United States Air Force for 26 years, and definitely would have made a great Captain Marvel.

While military and Congressional service alone is remarkable, she did even more than that. Senator McSally holds a spot in history as the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat and to command a squadron in combat.

She paved the way for women during her military service, but her fight went beyond the battlefield in what she calls “the burka battle.” Its official name is actually McSally v. Rumsfeld. Donald Rumsfeld was the Secretary of Defense in the early 2000s when McSally filed a suit against him for the military’s policies regarding female servicemembers’ dress code and treatment in Saudi Arabia. They were required to dress head-to-toe, ride in the backseat, etc. and she argued that it “abandons our American values that we all raised our right hand to die for.” She ultimately got the policy changed.

Just like the fictional superhero, the very-real McSally is leading the fight on and off the battlefield, in the air and on Capitol Hill.^[4]

6 Janet Wolfenbarger

Talk about firsts. General Janet Wolfenbarger served in the United States Air Force for over thirty years before retiring in 2015. Before she left, though, she definitely left her mark.

Gen. Wolfenbarger was a member of the first United States Air Force Academy class to include women when she enrolled in 1976. After years of service, including as Command of Materiel, a very, for lack of a better word, badass position, she was promoted to Four-Star General—the first woman in history to do so.

I can’t help but think if Carol hadn’t gotten her crazy powers, her grit might have gotten her to this position.^[5]

5 Jacquelyn S. Parker

Major Jacquelyn S. “Jackie” Parker went down in history as the first female pilot to fly an F-16. She was a pilot during the 1980s, so women had been piloting aircraft for some time now, but what makes this so outstanding is that the aircraft in question is an F-16. Any unit beginning with the letter “F” is a fighter jet. All aircraft have these designations, so “B-52” is a bomber, the C-35 is a cargo jet, and the A-10 is an attack aircraft.

When Major Parker flew that fighter jet in 1988, she might not have been in combat, but she took a major step in the fight for female equality in the military. It’s because of her that just a handful of years later, some of the other women on this list—fighter pilots—got to man the cockpit themselves in battle.^[6]

4 Jacquelyn Cochran

This woman is a record-breaker. As much as we all love to love the heroes on the silver screen, we can’t ignore the feats accomplished by Jacquelyn Cochran of the Women Air Force Service Pilots. This WASP earned her wings in 1932 and went on to break 73 records before she passed in 1980.

Her most remarkable feats include, but are certainly not limited to: being the first woman to break the sound barrier in 1953, breaking Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound) in 1964, being the first female to fly a bomber across the Atlantic Ocean, and as a consequence of that latter feat, helped found the WASPs in the first place.

Without her, Carol Danvers may have never been able to fly at all, and never would have gotten her crazy powers, and never would have saved the planet. Remarkable how this all comes together.^[7]

3 Heather Penney

Lieutenant Heather “Lucky” Penney is probably one of the greatest heroes on this list, if not in the United States. Her story comes from September 11, 2001. She was stationed at Andrews Air Force Base where she served as a fighter pilot in the Air National Guard. Women had only recently been granted the right to train for and join Combat Aviation, and she jumped at the chance.

During a typical morning briefing, the attack on the World Trade Center happened, and she was called to duty. They had no time to prepare their F-16s, so they embarked unarmed. The plan was essentially to locate Flight 93—whose target is assumed to have been the White House, the Capitol, or maybe a second hit on the Pentagon—and ram into it, bringing it down. It was nothing less than a suicide mission, and Lt. Penney didn’t let it stop her.

Whether fortunately or unfortunately, Penney and her team didn’t have to fulfill the mission, as the plane crashed in Pennsylvania, thanks to the unbelievable heroism of passengers on that Boeing 747.

Regardless of the tie to some blockbuster, or even a lack thereof, her story needs to be told and remembered. Every story from that day should not be forgotten. ^[8]

2 Nicole Malachowski

Kind of like actress Brie Larson, Nicole Malachowski is a performer, but she didn’t perform on a Hollywood set. She performed in the air as the nation’s first female Thunderbird. The Thunderbirds are the Air Force’s team of pilots who put the branch’s remarkable, groundbreaking aviation technology on display through air shows across the country. For decades, women merely worked behind the scenes as mechanics, until fighter pilot and United States Air Force Academy graduate Nicole Malachowski came to the cockpit.

Her talent speaks for itself. She earned her pilots license before she earned her drivers license. She went to the Academy and earned a place as an instructor and flight commander, serving in three F-15E Strike Eagle fighter squadrons.

If anyone knows how to fly a plane, it’s her.^[9]

1 Jeanne Leavitt

One of the most famous—if not the most famous pilot on this list—is Brigadier General Jeanne Leavitt. As the role model for Brie Larson as she prepared to play Captain Marvel, as well as the creators of the film, Jeanne Leavitt knows a little something about being an Air Force pilot.

In 1993, she became the first female fighter pilot. She had hundreds of flying hours, but in 1992 when she was given the choice of aircraft, she was denied any combat aircraft (bombers, fighters etc.). In 1993, the ban was lifted, and she was the first woman to jump in, flying an F-15.

She has now accumulated over 3,000 hours of flight time and serves as the commander of the Air Force Recruiting Services in San Antonio, TX.

This woman literally was Captain Marvel’s idol.^[10]