Thanks to Netflix, COVID-19 stay-at-home orders are a little more bearable. On March 20, 2020, the uber-popular streaming service released Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness, and the world hunkered down for its next binge-watch.

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Tiger King features Joe Exotic, founder of Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park (aka, G.W. Zoo), who is now serving 22 years for a murder-for-hire scheme. He was also found guilty of falsifying wildlife records and for violating the Endangered Species Act at his private roadside zoo, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Western District of Oklahoma.^[1]

A record-breaking 34.3 million people viewed the show over the first ten days and were rewarded with a one-of-a-kind true crime story.^[2] The seven-part series featured exotic animal abuse, arson, suicide, maiming, death threats, copyright infringement, missing persons, cults, polygamy, embezzlement, and even a gubernatorial run. Each new episode delivered yet another mind-blowing revelation. Fans experienced whiplash with one bizarre turn of events after another and soon found themselves taking sides: Should Joe Exotic be in prison, or not?

Here, we highlight just eight of Tiger King’s most remarkable stories. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

8 Joe Exotic Is a Gay Polygamist

Fifty-seven-year-old Joseph Schreibvogel, aka Joe Exotic, is an openly gay, gun-wielding polygamist who sports a horseshoe mustache, bleach-blonde mullet, and a giant chip on his shoulder.

Joe’s love life has been complicated and extensive, and the show highlighted a dramatic portion of it: his double-marriage to employees John Finlay and Travis Maldonado. In 2014, the “thruple,” donning matching pink shirts and boutonnieres, celebrated an unofficial wedding ceremony with zoo colleagues and live animals.

It was 2003 when Joe hired 19-year-old John Finlay for his zoo and roadshow. Finlay said Joe Exotic taught him what love was all about. He expressed his devotion to his boss/lover with a variety of tattoos, including below-the-belt ink that read, “Privately Owned by Joe Exotic.” On-screen interviews always featured Finlay with no shirt and few teeth (aka, “meth mouth”). After the show aired, Finlay admitted that he wasn’t thrilled with the way he came across in the series. “I was portrayed as a drugged-out hillbilly and that was not me then,” he stated. “At that time, I was four to five years clean.”

Less than a year after their unconventional wedding ceremony, Finlay decided he wanted out of the relationship. He ran off with a woman who also worked for the zoo. The couple, who spent three years together, share a child. Today, he’s engaged to Stormey Sanders, who he met online. He works as a welder, and his fiancee moderates a Facebook page called “The Truth About John Finlay.”

Travis Maldonado came to the G.W. Zoo from Southern California in 2013. The show briefly touched on the 19-year-old’s struggle with drug addiction. Arguably, the most shocking moment in the Tiger King series was Maldonado’s accidental suicide in the zoo’s gift shop in 2017. Episode 5 features CCTV footage of Joe Exotic’s campaign manager, Joshua Dial, witnessing the shooting. Maldanado wanted to prove to Dial that his Ruger pistol wouldn’t fire without its ammunition clip. He removed the magazine but not the bullet in the chamber. He fired the gun and was killed instantly.

“I was sitting in the chair you know, looking at him when he put the gun to his head,” Dial said. “It’s not like in the movies. I knew he was dead the second he pulled the trigger but at the same time I didn’t, you know? I thought it was a joke. Because, you know, Travis was a jokester. He was a prankster. He liked to play pranks on people.”

7 Joe Exotic Had Five Husbands in All

Before marrying Finlay and Maldonado, Joe Exotic had two other husbands. In the late 1980s, he met 19-year-old Brian Rhyne in a gay cowboy bar in Texas. Brian, who was with Joe when he opened the zoo, died of complications from HIV in 2001.

A year later, Joe Exotic met second husband J.C. Hartpence, 24, with whom he developed a traveling tiger/magic show. The pair soon found that they had different visions for the business, and their relationship turned ugly. Joe threatened to feed his husband to the tigers, and Hartpence reportedly held two guns to Joe’s head while he slept. Hartpence is currently serving a life sentence for murder. He is also a convicted pedophile.^[3]

Two months after Maldonado died, Joe Exotic married 22-year-old Dillon Passage and changed his surname to Maldonado-Passage. Despite Joe’s incarceration, the pair remain married.^[4]

6 Carole Baskin is Crazy…Like a Fox

Joe Exotic has made a lot of enemies, but his No. 1 nemesis was — and always will be — “Carole Fucking Baskin.” Baskin, 58, is the founder of Big Cat Rescue, an animal sanctuary in Tampa, Florida that works to end the breeding and exploitation of privately owned big cats in the US. Her current (third) husband, Howard Baskin, has christened her the “Mother Theresa of cats.”^[5]

Private exotic animal owners criticize Baskin for doing the same thing they’re doing but with a bigger profit margin. While Joe Exotic and the like purchase and breed cats at their own expense, Baskin gets her cats for free by “rescuing” them from offenders. And while zookeepers pay their workers (albeit dismally), Baskin’s labor is all volunteer. She claims that the Joe Exotic types create the problems, and she fixes them. But her sanctuary, along with her huge social media presence, appears to be making Baskin a very wealthy woman.^[6]

With the help of PETA, Baskin effectively shut down Joe Exotic’s roadshow. The roadshow involved taking tiger cubs to shopping malls, where Joe made tens of thousands of dollars by charging fans to pet the cubs. Baskin used her online presence to target zookeepers and exotic animal owners, and her efforts negatively impacted their bottom line.

Joe pushed back on his internet show. He informed animal rights activists that they would “stop breathing” before they shut him down. He repeatedly threatened Baskin’s life, even airing footage of himself shooting mannequins and blow-up dolls in her likeness. For Baskin’s birthday, Joe had her mailbox stuffed with venomous snakes.

But Baskin had deeper pockets and a farther reach than her nemesis, and she continued to make his life miserable. And now, while Joe sits in jail, Baskin continues to profit from her “charity” work.

5 Did Don Lewis Disappear, or Was He Fed to the Tigers?

By episode three of Tiger King, we discover that the real Baskin drama involves neither her charity work nor being in Joe Exotic’s crosshairs. What viewers really want to know is: WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO HER SECOND HUSBAND?!

In January 1981, after feuding with her allegedly abusive first husband, Baskin was tearfully roaming the dark streets when married millionaire Don Lewis spotted her from his car. On his third attempt to pick her up, he offered to let her keep his pistol aimed at him while they drove around together. (Yeah, weird.) They kicked off their long-term extramarital affair that night, eventually divorced their respective spouses, and wed in 1991.

In 1992, Baskin and her new husband founded Wildlife on Easy Street, a bed and breakfast that offered tourists the opportunity to sleep with exotic cats in rented cabins. The couple purchased and bred a lot of big cats–the very thing that Baskin fights today. Eventually, the couple’s visions diverged: Lewis wanted to keep breeding; Baskin wanted to turn the B&B into a big cat sanctuary.

In June 1997, Lewis filed a restraining order against Baskin, claiming that she possessed multiple firearms and threatened to kill him. The restraining order was rejected. On August 18, 1997, Don Lewis disappeared. His body has never been found, and the missing person case remains open.

However, after five years, a missing person can be declared dead. So, five years and one day after Lewis’ disappearance, Baskin did just that. As the executor of his estate, she inherited somewhere between $5 million and $10 million. Oddly, Lewis’s will specified, in highly unusual language, that Baskin would get everything in the event of his death “or disappearance.” Chilling.^[7]

There is no evidence that Baskin killed Lewis or was involved in his disappearance. But the Tiger King series certainly raises questions about her innocence. Joe Exotic, along with Lewis’s former wife and daughters, speculates that Baskin murdered Lewis, put his body through the meat grinder, and fed him to the tigers. The zookeeper even published a music video entitled “Here Kitty-Kitty” that features Baskin’s doppelganger feeding raw meat–meant to be Lewis’s remains–to caged tigers. Theories like this make for great TV. And Joe Exotic knows it:

“Me and Carole made money off each other,” he bragged. “We became popular off of each other because I was her number one most-wanted cub abuser that she could make money off of, and she was my number one murdered-her husband-and-fed-him-to-the-tigers and crazy bitch out there that I could make music videos and shit about.”

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4 Zoo Staffers Ate What the Big Cats Ate

It’s expensive to feed hundreds of big cats, alligators, bears, and other exotic animals every day. Joe Exotic claimed it cost him about a quarter of a million dollars a year to feed his extensive collection. And that’s with his extreme cost-cutting approach of using roadkill, dead farm animals, and other donated fodder.

The G.W. Zoo relied most heavily on regular truckloads of expired meat from Walmart. Packages of pork, beef, and chicken spilled out of 18-wheelers to sustain not only the cats but, it seems, the workers as well. Joe Exotic’s employees lived on-site and earned “$128 per week,” according to zookeeper Erik Cowie. The employees got first pick of the expired meat, which was often all they had to eat. The castoff food was also used to make the pizza that was sold to zoo customers!

3 Being Mauled By a Tiger Is Apparently No Big Deal

Zoo staffer Kelci “Saff” Saffery was introduced in episode one, but it wasn’t until episode two that we noticed he was missing an arm. (Note: There has been much controversy and discussion about whether Saff goes by “he” or “she.”)

The show begins with chaos, a 911 call, and a bleeding Saff lying on the ground next to a tiger cage. Joe quickly donned his medical bomber jacket and informed customers that “an employee stuck their arm through the cage and a tiger tore his arm off.” He offered refunds and rain checks and fretted over how he would ever recover financially.

Saff, meanwhile, was rushed to the hospital. His hand was still working but the prognosis was grim. The surgeon proposed two years of reconstructive surgery or amputation. Saff opted for the amputation and returned to work the following week.

When asked why he would return to a job that took his arm, he said, “Our mission is to give these animals a fighting chance. If I stay in the hospital, the media wins.”

Subsequently, footage of the attack was shown to prospective employees. “There was a time and place where we had to use it as a safety video,” Saff said. “We didn’t have any further of a conversation than this should be the one thing people see before they decide if this is a career move they want to make.^[8]

2 To Be Honest, Joe Exotic Is No Stranger Than His Peers

Tiger King focused on Joe Exotic but also introduced other nefarious zookeepers who are every bit as bizarre as the star.

Take Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, for example, who owns Myrtle Beach Safari.^[9] Antle has a lot of big cats … and a lot of women. (Wives? Girlfriends? Harem?) Teenagers and twenty-somethings, aka “apprentices,” flock to him to gain experience working with exotic animals. He grooms them, they sleep with him. A bond is established, and the women stay for years. Like a cult.

The show featured one such apprentice who worked under Antle for eight years. She joined the “cohesive family unit” hoping to practice yoga and train animals. Instead, she worked twelve hours a day–every day–in exchange for $100 a week, roach-infested accommodations, and an unsolicited breast augmentation.

Like Joe Exotic, Doc Antle makes a lot of money charging people for up-close encounters with tiger cubs and other exotic animals (prices range from $100 to $539). Unfortunately, no one knows for sure what happens to most of the cubs when they become too big to cuddle. Baskin says he euthanizes them. Antle admits nothing.

In Miami, there’s Mario Tabraue. In 1987, Tabraue was arrested on racketeering and narcotics charges. He was allegedly the kingpin of a $75 million illegal drug operation in South Florida and was accused of using a machete to dismember the body of a federal informant who had been murdered by his own men. In 1987, Tabraue was sentenced to 100 years behind bars but, because he turned informant for federal authorities, was released after serving 12 years.^[10] (Tiger King included clips from Scarface in honor of Tabraue, who is said to be the inspiration for Tony Montana.)

Since his release, Tabraue has devoted his energy to his Miami zoo, the Zoological Wildlife Foundation. Children under 18 can enjoy an hour-long sloth encounter for $35, while a “special wildlife encounter” costs $700 per person. While he continues to come under harsh criticism for owning exotic animals, the murderous drug lord appears to be the sanest zookeeper of the bunch.^[11]

Then there’s Jeff Lowe. Lowe came along to rescue Joe Exotic when his zoo was going under. He and his wife Lauren took Joe’s tiger cubs to Las Vegas to make money and “get girls.” In Lowe’s words: “A little pussy gets you a lot of pussy.” He bragged about orgies, swinging, and the hot new nanny he hired for his pregnant wife. (She could stand in while Lauren got her body back in shape.) “If you’re gonna bring in one, why bring in one that’s not enjoyable to look at?”

Lowe entered the scene as an angel investor but soon moved to co-ownership of the G.W. Zoo. Before long, he was the sole owner. (The series interviews featured a lot of talk about how he “stole the zoo from Joe.”) The zoo continues to run, and ticket prices range from $15 for general admission to $175 for VIP tours.^[12]

1 Everyone On Tiger King Has Terrible Taste in Clothes

John Reinke is the dedicated zoo manager with prosthetic legs. Not your typical fake appendages, mind you. Reinke’s are covered in graphic art. Like his colleague John Finlay, who opts to go shirtless to show off his tattoos, Reinke rarely covers his legs with pants. (Note: While one might think that zoo manager with no legs suffered a tiger encounter, Reinke’s legs were lost to a ziplining accident.)

For someone who claims he’s not a cult leader, Doc Antle sure does dress like one. He strolls around in breezy tunics, sandals, ponytail, and soul patch. Antle dresses his associates (harem) as well. He dons them in costumey tigerstripe unitards and tacky club clothes to lure in customers. Handling big cats is difficult enough when wearing practical clothing!

Jeff Lowe is quite the spectacle, too. The supposed millionaire is stuck in a gone-bye era. When he’s not trying too hard in head-to-toe Harley Davidson gear he’s sporting dated Ed Hardy-style apparel and ripped jeans that are way too young for him.

Rick Kirkham is the chain-smoking, coffee-guzzling, Crocodile Dundee of documentary filmmaking. Full stop.

Predictably enough, it’s nothing but animal print for Carole Baskin. But even though Baskin is a multi-millionaire, she’s not investing in high-end fashion. At her big cat sanctuary, she might pair a pink leopard caftan with a crown of flowers, giving off a hippie vibe. When she lobbies to protect big cats, she flaunts an outfit of cheetah print and pearls. “It’s almost a uniform,” she explained. “When I got in to talk with a legislator, if I go in there dressed head-to-toe in cat prints, people remember, ‘Oh, that’s the person that’s going to be all over my case about why cats need to be protected.” It’s a wonder her husband Howard is able to find her among her home decor, which includes furniture, vases, wall hangings, towels, and more in an array of big-cat patterns.
Joe Exotic has a pretty extensive (albeit terrible) fashion range. His blonde mullet, undyed ‘stache, and tattooed eyeliner are ever-present, but his outfits run the gamut from cowboy to priest to king (or, perhaps, queen?). A glimpse of his closet reveals an entire row of fringed leather jackets but also has plenty of flannel and an even better supply of sequins. Joe always covers his ‘do with a hat and almost always dons a firearm and bullets as part of his ensemble.^[13]

As they say: You can’t make this stuff up. In one season, Tiger King generated more television entertainment than anyone could have anticipated. Now, fans sit back and wait for answers to the big questions. Will the big cat zoos be shut down? Will Carole Baskin be reinvestigated for Don Lewis’s disappearance? Will Joe Exotic be pardoned? Stay tuned.

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To most, the Philistines were nothing more than characters in Bible stories. They were the army that sent Goliath to fight David, the nation that dominated Israel during the time of Samson, and not much more than that. They are, to most of us, nothing more than a religious story, accepted or rejected on faith.

Recently, though, archaeologists have started unearthing little pieces of their lives. The Philistines, we’ve learned, were real people—and they played a much bigger role in history than we could have realized.

10 They Were The ‘Sea Peoples’ Who Terrorized Egypt

In the 12th century BC, Egypt was terrorized by an army known only as the “Sea Peoples.” They were an unknown group from an unknown land, raiding the coasts of the Mediterranean on massive warships.

Egypt was powerless against this unknown army at their shores. This was a time when Egypt was at the height of its power, but they had no idea how to hold off the Sea Peoples. “They came boldly sailing in their warships from the midst of the sea,” Ramses II wrote, “none being able to withstand them.”

It’s one of the greatest mysteries in history, and there’s still a lot we don’t know about these people. Thanks to records left in the tombs of the pharaohs, though, we do know a few things. The Sea Peoples were made up of multiple tribes, one of which were called the “Peleset”—an Egyptian word that most agree means “Philistines.”

The Philistines, then, were more than just bullies picking on Israel. There were world-conquerors from another land, and they dominated the entire Mediterranean.

9 They Had Superior Technology

We actually know what the Philistines looked like. The Egyptians carved images of them, along with the other Sea Peoples, in their temples, and it’s easy to pick out the Philistines. They wore tall, feathered headdresses, and they definitely stand out.

They also had technologies the Egyptians had never seen. The Sea Peoples’ ships were beyond anything the Egyptians had ever encountered, and they were early pioneers in archery and iron.

The equipment they brought with them altered the development of the world. They came from a place that had built its equipment separately from the Egyptians and the Canaanites, and they brought their technology into the area. When those technologies mingled, it led to some major breakthroughs.

8 They May Have Been Greek

Nobody knows for sure where the Philistines came from. We know that they showed up, seemingly out of thin air, in the 12th century and that they were incredibly powerful and well-equipped. Our best guess is that they came from Greece, specifically Mycenae. Archaeologists have found Philistine artwork, and in the words of one archaeologist, it gives “overwhelming evidence” that they came from Mycenae.

A lot of their pottery has survived, and it’s very different from what their neighbors in Canaan made. Instead, it seems to be drawn from Mycenaen traditions, suggesting that they developed their culture in Greece. That Greek influence is especially present in their oldest artifact. As the Philistines stayed in Canaan, their art changed and became more like their neighbors’.

Not everyone is convinced that the Philistines were Greek, but we’ll know for sure soon enough. Historians are running DNA tests on Philistine skeletons discovered in Ashkelon, and the results will reveal the truth.

7 They Helped Egypt Conquer The Middle East

One of the most famous Egyptian artifacts is called the Merneptah Stele. It’s famous because it’s one of the few artifacts that mention Israel by name—but it tells far more than that.

Pharaoh Merneptah had the mention inscribed to boast that he had conquered the Middle East. “Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe,” he declares. “Israel is laid waste.” All of his neighbors, he boasts, are now under Egyptian rule. Under his sword, Merneptah claims, all lands are united and pacified.

It’s a huge moment in Egyptian history, but according to historian Eric Cline, Merneptah is probably just taking credit for the work of the Philistines and the Sea Peoples. In the year the stele was engraved, the Sea Peoples were wreaking havoc in the Middle East. They slaughtered thousands of people in every one of the countries Merneptah claims to have pacified.

Egypt could handle the Philistines’ raids a little better than their neighbors. All they had to do was march into the lands that the Sea Peoples had destroyed and claim the smoldering remains.

6 They Helped Israel Take Canaan

Egypt wasn’t the only country that took advantage of the devastation wrought by the Sea Peoples. At the same time, Israel went to war with Canaan. This was, in the Bible, the moment that the Israelites reach the Promised Land.

According to Cline’s theory, the Israelites might just owe that victory to the Philistines. Cline believes that the Israelites arrived in Canaan shortly after Merneptah conquered it. The Israelites would have still been recovering from the raids of the Sea Peoples and the pillaging of the Egyptians—and those raids wouldn’t have stopped.

After Merneptah’s victory, the Sea Peoples continued their attacks. They were too much for Egypt to handle, and shortly after conquering Canaan, they lost control of it. The Israelites would have arrived shortly after Canaan lost Egyptian protection and at a time when they, too, were at their weakest.

If Cline is right, the Israelites owe one of their greatest victories to the nation that would become their greatest enemy.

5 They Brought Opium To Israel

The Philistines brought more than just weapons with them; they brought plants, too. There are at least 70 plant species that didn’t appear in Israel until the 12th century BC, and every indication suggests that the Philistines brought them there.

Some of those plants are things that, today, seem inseparable from our concept of Israel. According to a report by Bar-Ilan University, sycamores, coriander, cumin, and bay trees were all brought into the area by the Philistines. Before they arrived, not a single one was there.

The Philistines also brought opium. By the 12th century BC, people knew what effect opium could have. The Philistines knew what it was—and there’s every reason to believe they made use of it.

4 Ramses III Crushed Them

The Sea Peoples wreaked havoc on Egypt during the reigns of Ramses II and Merneptah—but they would meet their match in Ramses III.

The Philistines and the other Sea Peoples united together in an assault on Egypt, determined, according to an inscription Ramses III left in a temple, to burn Egypt to the ground. “They came with fire prepared before them, forward to Egypt,” Ramses III wrote. “Their hearts were confident, full of their plans.”

Ramses III blocked off the rivers with enough warships to form a wall and filled the coast with soldiers. He personally marched to the front lines and fought with his men. The Sea Peoples were crushed. “Those who reached my boundary,” Ramses III boasted, “their seed is not; their heart and their soul are finished forever and ever.”

3 The Egyptians Cut Off Their Genitals

Ramses III didn’t stop at killing the Philistines. These people had tormented his nation for years. He mutilated their bodies in the worst ways imaginable.

Egyptian soldiers were ordered to count the dead by chopping off their hands, their heads, and even their genitals. Their body parts were taken to the pharaoh and measured and counted by his advisors. This, to Ramses III, was a great victory. He even had pictures carved into the walls of his temples that show his men presenting him with piles of severed penises.

It was more than just dehumanizing. According to the Egyptian religion, mutilating the dead Sea Peoples meant that they had no chance of surviving the afterlife. The Egyptians truly hated these people. They weren’t satisfied to stop at killing their mortal bodies. They destroyed their immortal souls as well.

2 The Egyptians Enslaved Them

After holding off the Sea Peoples’ attack, the Egyptians marched into their lands and crushed them. “I have taken away their land and their boundaries,” Ramses III wrote. “They are added to mine.”

The Philistines became subjects of the pharaoh. “I settled them in strongholds bound in my name,” Ramses III wrote. “I taxed them all, in clothing and grain from the store-houses and granaries each year.” Paying taxes, though, was likely a lucky fate for a Philistine. The drawings on Egypt’s walls show many more being dragged off in chains to slavery.

The strong houses, it’s believed, were in modern Palestine. The Egyptians put the Philistines right next to Israel. Over the next centuries, these neighbors would squabble and fight in wars that would define the future history of the Jews. In that moment, a conflict began that still echoes today.

1 They Brought The World Into A Dark Age

The Philistines’ new home was in the center of a trading hub. Over the next few years, they would gain some independence from Egypt, and their squabbles and battles with their neighbors would spark one of the most significant moments in human history.

The Philistines are believed to have cut off the supply of tin that was being traded around the Mediterranean. This was more than just a minor inconvenience: That tin was the key to making bronze, and this was the Bronze Age.

Over the next 200 years, the Philistines plunged their neighbors into a dark age. Major empires, including the Canaanites, the Hittites, Cyprus, and Mycenae, all collapsed. The Middle East was plunged into one of the darkest periods of human history.

Those who survived made the switch from bronze to iron. A new age of iron had dawned, brought on, in a large part, by a nation that, until recently, we knew almost nothing about.

Egyptology’s quiet years seem to be over. More dazzling finds from the extinct culture have risen in recent months than in the last few decades. Tiny socks, a new sphinx, large ruins, and tombs are among the most exciting discoveries that reveal more about the ancient Egyptians.

Additional finds also unravel the deeper nuances of the civilization. They provide glimpses at challenges, unexpected connections, and tantalizing clues to mysteries.

10 The Sandstone Sphinx

Near the town of Aswan stands an old temple. Called Kom Ombo, it has been the subject of study for years.

In 2018, archaeologists had to drain groundwater from the pharaonic ruins. During the process, an enigmatic statue rose into view—a sandstone sphinx. Compared to the more famous one at Giza, the 38-centimeter-high (15 in) creature was a miniature.

Nevertheless, the discovery was remarkable. It added more flavor to the temple’s past and, despite thousands of years, was in mint condition. Two months before the statue made its appearance, two sandstone reliefs showing King Ptolemy V were found in the same part of the building. This placed the sphinx in the Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BC), although its purpose remains unknown.

Sphinxes were important. Sometimes, they were used as tomb guardians, and they often depicted the face of a real pharaoh. Archaeologists are fervently hoping that the sandstone sphinx is a portrait of one of the royal Ptolemies. If future studies can confirm this, the statue’s remarkably undamaged facial features could provide a direct glimpse at a lost pharaoh.^[1]

9 Massive Ritual Structure

Founded around 3100 BC, the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis is located around 20 kilometers (12 mi) south of modern-day Cairo. It was the home of King Menes, who merged Upper and Lower Egypt into a single, powerful entity. Part of Memphis can be found in the modern-day town of Mit Rahina.

In 2018, archaeologists worked at Mit Rahina when they unearthed something remarkable. Though a little shy on the details, the find was described to the press as a massive building that was most likely a residential block occupied during the time of Memphis.

In addition to the Egyptian building, the team also found another attached to the block. However, the second structure was not entirely native. It contained a big Roman bath and a room. According to the archaeologists, the chamber was most probably used for religious ceremonies.^[2]

8 A Priest Graveyard

The site of Tuna el-Gebel is no stranger to ancient discoveries. This makes the 2018 appearance of a large cemetery even more amazing. The subterranean graveyard was 2,300 years old and west of the Nile River. Experts estimate it could take five years to fully excavate all the burial shafts.

Thus far, 40 sarcophagi, or stone coffins, were recovered and many contained priests. This particular group worshiped the god Thoth, said to have brought the skill of writing to mankind.

The mummified remains of one man suggested that he was a high priest. Inside the richly packed coffin, one item stood out. He wore an amulet with writing. Once deciphered, the hieroglyphics translated into a quirky-sounding “Happy New Year.”

Apart from a vast collection of ceramics, jewelry, and charms, the graveyard also yielded more than 1,000 shabti statues. These tiny figures are believed to be the helpers of the dead, doing the deceased’s career duties in the afterlife.^[3]

7 The Dakhleh Cases

At Dakhleh Oasis rests the remains of 1,087 ancient Egyptians. When researchers investigated the bodies in 2018, six cases showed cancer. They included a child with leukemia, a man with rectal tumors, and several others who might have contracted the cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV).

Although cancer is nothing new—even HPV developed before humans—it was interesting to compare notes. Similar to today, HPV is prevalent in young adults in their twenties and thirties. This was also the case at the oasis cemetery.

Though the disease could not be genetically confirmed, the age group and bone lesions suggested that HPV behaved the same among ancient populations. Statistics also suggested that the chances of developing cancer today in Western societies was around 100 times more than when these individuals were buried (3,000–1,500 years ago).

Nothing in the culture’s vast records proves that ancient Egyptians had a solid concept of cancer. They probably knew something was terribly wrong but had no specific treatment other than caring for visible symptoms, such as skin ulcers and pain.^[4]

6 The Striped Sock

This ancient artifact looks like it was knitted a week ago. Complete with stripes that remain popular today, this sock once belonged to an Egyptian child. It was woven around AD 300, which was also about the time that somebody no longer had any use for it. (The sock was found in an ancient rubbish dump.)

However, to the British Museum, it was incredibly precious. Experts wanted to dive into the dye and weaving techniques used to make the garment. However, all available techniques demanded destruction of a section or the whole sock. Only in 2018 did the museum pioneer an imaging tool that was noninvasive.

Using the scan, they found that the stripes’ colors came from three natural dyes. Madder was used for producing red, woad for blue, and weld for yellow. The scan also gave a good preliminary understanding of the weaving techniques used.

The obsession with this tiny sock’s manufacturing secrets may seem odd, but there is a reason. Ancient Egyptians are considered to be the ones who invented the knitted sock, and the infant’s garment could shed more light on their craft.^[5]

5 Village With Silos

Long before the pharaohs and the construction of the pyramids, a village stood along Egypt’s Nile River. Discovered in 2018, it turned out to be one of the most ancient ever to resurface on the Nile Delta.

The age of the village is just one remarkable thing. Apart from beating the invention of Egyptian royalty and pyramids, the nameless location also existed over 2,000 years before somebody scratched the first hieroglyphics.

The 7,000-year-old settlement also yielded ruins that included the remains of deep storage silos. They contained a massive number of plants and animal bones. Finding out more about these scraps could lead to the understanding of how farming developed in Egypt.

With this village situated around 140 kilometers (87 mi) north of modern-day Cairo, a mystery surrounds the reason why the site was ultimately abandoned. The village clearly enjoyed successful habitation for almost 2,000 years but emptied around two centuries after Egypt was unified by an unknown pharaoh.^[6]

4 The Black Sarcophagus

In 2018, a black granite sarcophagus hit the news big-time. Found in Alexandria, it weighed 30 tons and required help from the Egyptian military to remove its lid. Scholars thought that they would find an important individual, possibly even Alexander the Great.

However, three mummies inside drifted in a mysterious red goop. The latter turned out to be modern sewage water that had destroyed and mixed with mummy parts.

The next guess suggested that the trio were soldiers. One skull showed arrow wounds, and there were no elite grave goods. The military officer theory crashed when one body turned out to be a young woman. With the exception of royal leaders, women were not a part of the ancient Egyptian military.

All the bodies dated to the early Ptolemaic period, which began in 323 BC. They appeared to have been buried at different times. One man showed signs of having survived trepanation (ancient skull surgery). This is a rare sight among Egyptian remains. The mystery surrounding the identities of the three mummies has not yet been solved.^[7]

3 The Lost Oasis

The site of Bir Umm Tineidba, which was found in the Egyptian desert of Elkab, was once thought to be an archaeological blank. Yale researchers arrived in 2018 with cutting-edge technology, and the story changed.

Bir Umm Tineidba was once an ancient hub where people left graffiti, art, tombs, and buildings. The rock art dated to an age before hieroglyphics (about 3300 BC) and showed exceptional examples of early Egyptian drawings. The images resembled those from the Nile Valley, suggesting that the two populations had mixed. The possible discovery of hybrid groups could change how archaeologists view Egypt’s evolution into a state.

Among several burial mounds, the most noteworthy belonged to a young Egyptian woman. Her elite grave goods showed that the site also had connections with the Red Sea region. To the south of the rock art and graves stood an unknown Roman settlement. Consisting of over a dozen ruins, it dated to AD 400–600.

Its presence also filled in another blank in the region. But this time, it was about similar Roman sites in the desert. More studies at Bir Umm Tineidba also promise to reveal more on how the region transitioned from the Late Antique to the Early Islamic Period.^[8]

2 Unraveling Mummification Mystery

Experts know a lot about the ancient Egyptians. However, nobody alive today knows how to turn somebody into a mummy.

In 2018, scholars caught a big break. At the Saqqara necropolis in the Nile Delta, excavations unearthed an embalming workshop. Five mummies were inside the workshop, and an additional 35 were found in an adjoining burial shaft. Those in the shaft dated from 664–404 BC. They revealed that mummification was not a social equalizer. The elite got better treatment.

But it was the tools left behind in the workshop that caused the most excitement. Researchers already know that embalming took 70 days, starting with washing the body, removing the organs, and drying the corpse in salt for 40 days. Before being wrapped in linen, the body was treated with oils.^[9]

The type, quantity, and order in which the oils were used is where modern understanding of mummification hits the wall. Incredibly, the workshop had labeled measuring cups with the mysterious oils. Future chemical testing will identify exactly what substances were used and perhaps help solve the mystery of the process.

1 Pits With Severed Hands

Not every ancient Egyptian find is a golden mask or a beautifully painted mural. Sometimes, discoveries are downright gruesome. In 2017, Egyptologists working at royal ruins in Avaris found four pits, two of which were located in what some believe was once the throne room. Together, the shafts contained 16 human hands chopped off 3,600 years ago.

The entire batch consisted of right hands, and their exceptionally large sizes showed that the victims were all men. The creepy sight confirmed a practice already seen in hieroglyphics—hacking off an undesirable party’s hand in exchange for a reward. Experts believe that Egyptian noblemen “bought” enemy hands from their own soldiers with gold and then ritually buried the body parts.

Though it is hard to say to whom the hands belonged, a strong clue is the historical level in which they were found. It dated back to the time when the Egyptian army finally expelled the Hyksos, a foreign nation that conquered Egypt in 1650 BC. If not Hyksos hands, the horrific amputations might have been punishment for Egyptian soldiers who revolted while fighting the Hyksos.^[10]

When we think of the East side of the Cold War, many of us likely imagine KGB officers and discreet agents working out of Moscow. However, while often overlooked by comparison, the Stasi of East Germany (officially the State Security Service of the German Democratic Republic) was without a doubt one of the most brutal secret police agencies in recent history.

From imprisoning political opponents and closely watching every citizen of East Germany to sending “sleeper” agents to live secret lives in various places in the West, the Stasi remains an organization of deep interest to those who study such repressive groups.

Here are 10 things we learned about the Stasi’s activities after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. These revelations show just how brutal and harsh an organization it really was. The Stasi was certainly on a par with equivalent agencies working out of Moscow.

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10 They Were Part Of One Of The Most Repressive Regimes In History

Without a doubt, the Stasi was a repressive secret police agency. They monitored each of their nation’s citizens closely and constantly. They also took decisive action against anyone who went against the accepted ideology. This even necessitated men keeping their hair a certain length. In some cases, people had to wear government-approved clothing.^[1]

What’s more, the Stasi was far from discreet about its actions. They often made it crystal clear that they were watching every citizen, especially the ones who had proven themselves to be “enemies” of the communist state.

The Stasi often used wiretaps and steamed open personal mail. In some cases, they drilled holes into the rooms of their citizens to spy directly on them.

Even more chilling for those living under the East German regime, it is thought that the Stasi had around 200,000 informants on their books. Each was willing—or forced—to keep close tabs on his neighbors and even his family.

9 The Stasi Files Conspiracy

At this point, it is probably worth examining how we gained knowledge about the Stasi. This is largely due to their secret files.

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, high-ranking Stasi agents issued orders to destroy the mountain of paperwork at their headquarters. These files contained multiple things previously withheld from the public arena—including the names of informants, details of secret trials, and the Stasi’s dealings with the West.^[2]

The paper shredding occurred almost immediately. Although around 45 million pages were shredded, activists managed to storm the headquarters before all the files were destroyed. They discovered 600 million pieces of paper in over 15,000 bags. Many of the documents had been torn by hand to destroy as much as possible.

Initially, there was discussion of what to do with the files. However, two years after Germany reunified, it was decided that a special task force would be set up. Their job was to piece together the files, page by page, in order to make the revelations public. For as much as we now know of the Stasi’s activities, it is likely that a considerable amount was lost and will likely remain secret.

8 The Arrests Of Political Opponents

The Stasi especially kept close tabs on political opponents of the East German government. Although many people were arrested and imprisoned, most were interrogated and confined at Hohenschonhausen prison. As we might imagine, conditions were far from luxurious.

Decades later, one former political prisoner recounted how he had been locked in a “small cell” with small windows. These windows “only told you whether it was light or dark outside.” He regularly underwent brutal interrogations designed to mentally weaken him. Like all such prisoners, he was also forced to wear an “ill-fitting blue tracksuit” to further demoralize him.^[3]

All this was designed to mentally exhaust the political prisoners so that they would sign confessions. Most often, they were unaware of the charges of which they were accused and only found out on the day of their sentencing.

7 The Plan To ‘Rebrand’ The Stasi

As the 1980s wore on, it became clearer that the communist experiment was failing. In response, the East German authorities began to look at ways to “rebrand” the Ministry for State Security. They opted to become the Office for National Security.

In reality, this was a last attempt to hand the power of a unified Germany to the Stasi under another name. Legislation was even passed to allow this at roughly the same time that Stasi agents were destroying the files of their activities.^[4]

However, there was a huge public outcry at the potential move. Combined with the discovery of the destroyed files, this led to the move being blocked. Soon after, the Stasi was broken up.

It is an intriguing thought as to what might have happened if the attempted rebranding had succeeded. Perhaps we only need to look at the decades that have followed the breakup of the Soviet Union. To some, Russia is still a nation being led by the same dictatorship that ruled during the Cold War.

6 They Helped To Train Castro’s Cuban Communists

Although we might expect a kinship between two communist nations such as East Germany and Cuba, it still came as a shock when records revealed a much deeper relationship. It came to light that there was a more intricate connection between the Stasi and its Cuban equivalent, the Ministry of the Interior (MININT).

The discovery was made by a Cuban exile and one-time prisoner of the Stasi. He found that the Stasi had trained Cuban security officers to act with their population in the same way that the East German authorities did. This Cuban exile stated that MININT’s activities were “almost a copy” of the Stasi’s own brutal methods.^[5]

Much of this export of ideas took place during the 1970s and ’80s. It involved activities such as using LSD with interrogations, bugging the hotel rooms of tourists, and other security and spying methods. The Stasi also exported hardware and computers to make keeping tabs on Cuban citizens easier.

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5 They Had ‘Sleeper’ Agents In The West For Years

We now know of Cold War activities on both sides of the divide. Perhaps it won’t come as a surprise to discover that the Stasi had “sleeper” agents planted in various places in the West. For all intents and purposes, these agents led normal Western lives and shared in the respective ideology.^[6]

They reported all the activities occurring in the West. In some cases, they even influenced these events. Many worked their way up to important positions in government or industry.

Perhaps the best example is the case of Gunter Guillaume. He managed to become the secretary of Willy Brandt, the West German chancellor.

Guillaume regularly reported to Stasi headquarters about Brandt’s activities. Guillaume also told of other goings-on inside the West German government. When he was discovered to be a Stasi agent, it led to Brandt’s public downfall.

4 The Disinformation About HIV/AIDS

Today, it is well established that disinformation is purposely released to the general public. This is often done by certain governments to influence public thinking.

Much the same was true with the Stasi when they had power. Perhaps one of the most outrageous claims came during the initial outbreak of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the early 1980s.^[7]

The mission—known as Operation INFEKTION—even involved the KGB. Aided by the Stasi, the KGB was the chief driver behind the propaganda. According to the main notion of this fake news, HIV/AIDS was created by the United States government as a biological weapon to target certain parts of the population. The creation supposedly took place at Fort Detrick in Maryland.

Although the claims were completely untrue, many millions of people—both in the East and the West—took them as fact. What’s more, these conspiracies persist in some circles today.

3 They Planned To Assist The Communists In North Vietnam

In 1972, when direct US involvement was nearing its end in the Vietnam War, it was revealed that the Stasi had been looking at ways to actively assist the North Vietnamese communists against the United States. Most of this support was to be intelligence training for the North Vietnamese troops. In reality, contact had been taking place between North Vietnam and East Germany since the late 1950s.^[8]

The plans were never fully realized. However, the Stasi managed to import intelligence procedures similar to the North Vietnamese mindset. In reality, the Vietnam War was a wider conflict of ideologies. Other communist nations also offered discreet support to the North Vietnamese communist regime.

2 The Sandoz Chemical Spill Conspiracy

Without a doubt, one of the most intriguing revelations about the Stasi’s activities are the claims of their involvement in the Sandoz chemical spill of 1986. Supposedly, this was an attempt to take the world’s attention away from the recent Chernobyl disaster. The claims surfaced shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall during a German television documentary.^[9]

It was stated that the Stasi was behind several “chemical accidents” along the River Rhine. A fire at the Sandoz factory got the most attention. The cause of the fire has still not been established.

The warehouse contained over 1,300 tons of agrochemical products when it ignited. The fire was the cause of huge environmental damage in the months that followed.

There is still debate as to whether the claims are accurate. The television program makers stated that their source was a former CIA agent.

1 They Made Active Attempts To Turn Western Nations Against Each Other

We have already mentioned how the Stasi was involved in disinformation missions regarding the HIV/AIDS outbreak. However, the organization was also active in attempts to turn Western nations against one another.

This was particularly true with the United States. Among Stasi agents, the relevant unit was known as Division X. Its only purpose was to provide information for smear campaigns. This could be photographs, state secrets, and even recordings of conversations.

Perhaps the best example occurred in 1975. Stasi agents secretly recorded talks between Helmut Kohl and Kurt Biedenkopf, two high-ranking West German politicians. The Stasi “leaked” the recording to the media while claiming that it had been made by US agents. It looked like the United States was secretly spying on allied nations.

Remarkably, West German citizens believed that the recording had been made by US intelligence. In part, this was due to increasing distrust of the United States throughout Europe at the time. It is arguably one of the most successful Stasi propaganda missions.^[10]

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About The Author: Marcus Lowth—writer at Me Time For The Mind—https://www.metimeforthemind.com/
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