We have plenty of things living on and in us. Most of the organisms that reside on or in us are not only perfectly natural but perfectly healthy as well. From the bacteria and fungi that dwell on our skin to the microflora that call our gut home, most of these creatures actually help us to protect ourselves, to survive, and to perform the basic necessary bodily functions of the human organism.

Occasionally, we’re reminded of the damage that can be done by something growing in our bodies, like when a terrifying flesh-eating microbe decides to eat away at us. Other times, small, unseen organisms can hijack our minds and alter our behaviors and even our perceptions. But beyond the usual pathogens, sometimes the organisms that grow on or in us are actually visible (or at least their effects are). Here are ten cases of infestations that actually took place inside people’s bodies.

10 The Hand

Barnacles are crustaceans that inhabit marine waters. Around 850 species of barnacles are largely immobile and don’t do much at all; think of the kind you see attached to the hulls of ships. These barnacles contain an extremely strong adhesive paste that they use, almost like cement, to attach themselves to things in such a way that it requires tremendous force to remove them. Other species of barnacles are internal parasites that infect other crustaceans and can seriously threaten ocean life from time to time.

A man named Chris Johnson would one day end up seeing a doctor about a strange growth in his hand that had become seriously concerning. Not knowing what the growth was, the doctors took samples, which they tested. They never expected that they would find barnacles growing inside the man’s hand—but that’s exactly what happened.^[1] Both the doctors and Johnson himself were terrified.

9 The Lung

In another absolutely bonkers case of living things growing inside someone, a Boston man named Ron Sveden was having some severe chest problems in 2010. Already suffering from emphysema, Ron resigned himself to his fate, believing that he had cancer. Once one of his lungs collapsed, though, enough was enough, and Ron went in to see the doctors to diagnose him with the appropriate lung cancer.^[2]

But that isn’t what happened. Doctors took the appropriate X-rays and indeed found a growth inside Mr. Sveden’s lung, but it wasn’t a clump of cancerous cells like they were expecting—it was the humble beginnings of a pea plant. Months prior, Ron had been eating, doctors hypothesized, when he must have taken a pea down the wrong tube and into his lung. The pain that ensued was from the pea being lodged inside his lung, but it didn’t stop there. The pea began to sprout and actually grow, infesting the inside of Mr. Sveden’s body.

8 Fir Tree

A very similar and slightly crazier incident hails from Russia in 2009. Yet again, an individual was pained in their chest, specifically their lungs, and something was removed. What exactly was that? The humble beginnings of a growing fir tree, which was apparently 5 centimeters (2 in) long. The doctors who performed the operation said that they were 100-percent certain that a tumor in the man’s lungs was cancer, but when they went to open him up, a sprouting fir tree was what was found inside.^[3]

While no one aside from the surgeons and the patient verified the claim, considering the story of Ron Sveden in the United States, it’s very possible the men were telling the truth. Seeds sprout without sunlight, and plants only really need light to photosynthesize once leaves begin to grow.

7 Maggots

Next on the list is an extremely unusual case of maggot infestation, one that ended up being most definitely a good thing. Pham Quang Lanh was a 28-year-old laborer working as a guest worker in Malaysia, outside of his native Vietnam, when he an iron bar fell off a building and onto his head in 2015. Fortunately, Lanh survived the injury, at least in the short term, thanks to surgery and a titanium plate that doctors were able to implant into his head.^[4]

But the story doesn’t end there. Lanh was in pain, and the site where the plate was inserted was swelling and generally not looking good. However, thinking it only a minor infection, he didn’t seek treatment. His family decided to take a closer look, and that’s when they discovered live maggots eating away at Lanh’s head.

In an unusual twist, while the man did, in fact, have a maggot infestation in his head, he also had a very bad infection—the kind that eats flesh, leading to necrosis of the skin cells, which can ultimately be lethal. But Pham Quang Lanh survived long enough to have the site treated because the maggots were eating away at the necrotic tissue that developed from the infection, which means the maggot infestation ultimately saved the man’s life. Talk about disgusting luck.

6 More Maggots

Believe it or not, the stroke of luck that Lanh had isn’t exactly unusual. Maggots can be very, very efficient nasty-bacteria-eating machines and can devour infections for our benefit.^[5] Not only is this reality, but it’s medicine, as doctors are willing to employ maggots when other options have run out. This almost sounds like some bizarre quack medical practice out of the Middle Ages, one that might have been used to (wrongly) fend off the Black Death, but no, this is current, modern-day medicine.

In 2012, a team of doctors at a hospital turned to maggots for a man named Waclaw Tyszkiewicz, who was suffering badly from an infection in his foot that was quickly spreading up his leg. The infection as such that amputation was the only choice—aside from literally dumping maggots on the infection site; and that’s exactly what they did. Once a week for three weeks, 800 maggots were applied for 36 hours, after which the area was doused in hydrogen peroxide, and guess what: It worked. While Waclaw still lost a toe in the ordeal, he managed to keep everything else and heal up nicely. Thanks to maggots, he was able to keep walking.

5 Morgellons

Morgellons disease is an odd one. A part of the problem in understanding this unusual skin disease is that different studies have drawn radically different conclusions over time, leading to a lot of confusion pertaining to what’s actually going on with the poor people who suffer from this extremely rare condition.^[6] Most of the symptoms are pretty common and shared with other diseases and syndromes, such as depression, fatigue, and skin rashes, but some of them stand out as downright mortifying: People with Morgellons disease begin to feel like insects are crawling inside their skin or like there is movement inside them beneath the skin.

From there, it just gets even more terrifying, as fibers actually begin to appear under the skin. The fibers are long and stringy, often black, and many of them have been tested and turned out to be cotton. Medical science doesn’t know for sure why this happens to some people (mental illness has been blamed), but it does.

4 Bird Mites

Bird mites are tiny, eight-legged, parasitic creatures that live on the blood of warm-blooded hosts—and they also sometimes make their way inside a person and decide to call them home. They sometimes dig into the noses of humans, too.

The most terrifying thing about bird mites is their symptoms, the main one being feeling like insects are crawling underneath your skin, which is to be expected. But bird mite infestation also causes severe psychological anguish as well as the usual depression.^[7] Fortunately, such mites can’t complete their life cycle inside human beings alone and thus must travel back into birds (where they come from) in order to do so.

3 Scabies

Scabies are awful for anyone to get—tiny mites infect the skin and cause the host organism extreme discomfort. Even worse, by the time a person infected with scabies notices any symptoms, it’s already too late, and they’ve become an infestation, as there is an incubation period of several weeks. Scabies can be treated most times with the simple application of a topical ointment, but sometimes, due to just the nature of these little critters, they can spread like crazy and wreak havoc.

One such instance was something straight out of a Stephen King book or movie. An infestation of scabies went absolutely crazy and even ended up being fatal.^[8] The outbreak took place, tragically, in a memory care facility, a place where people are kept when they have impairments such as dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. Between 2013 and 2016, the SouthTowne Memory Care facility in Eugene, Oregon, had an outbreak that it would ultimately be sued for mismanaging, one which infected at least a few dozen people.

The painful, unceasing itching that scabies causes is absolutely mortifying. One 83-year-old woman named Pat Lancaster had left the facility but ultimately ended up dying a few months later. Between the time she left and the time she died, she had gone to the hospital, where doctors were shocked to see her condition so poor, with scabies so deeply embedded. They treated her and were able to remove the external scabies with ointments, but the mites had gone deep inside her, and she ended up dying from them. She was found having scratched massive chunks of skin off in a terrifying fashion. Scabies is no joke—it can kill you and should be taken very seriously. Two others also died in the outbreak.

2 Cockroach

Did you know that sometimes, cockroaches actually crawl inside people? They do, and the ear is a likely place of entry. When cockroaches are afraid, usually of weather changes or a perceived predator, they hide, sometimes inside your ear hole. They make themselves at home, and even more terrifyingly, sometimes, they’ll choose your ear as a perfect spot to lay their eggs. The fact that they generally can only go forward and not backward means that they probably won’t come out on their own.

In one terrifying situation, a woman from Florida named Katie Holley was sleeping one night in 2018 when she felt something seemingly cold slide into her left ear canal. Attempting to solve the problem and thinking the object was inanimate, she put a Q-tip into her ear and tried to figure out what it was—and that’s when she felt it move.^[9] That’s when things got even more awful: She removed the Q-tip to find what appeared to be legs on it.

It would take Katie a full nine days to get every piece of the roach out of her ear. She initially went to the emergency room, where most of the cockroach was removed, but then a week went by, and something just wasn’t quite right with her ear. After an uncomfortable several days, she decided to follow up with her doctor, who looked inside her ear, only to find more of the roach. Her doctor then removed the remainder, and her nightmare was finally over.

1 Super Gonorrhea

Just the name itself sounds absolutely horrifying: “super gonorrhea.” Super gonorrhea is an extremely antibiotic-resistant strain of the regular gonorrhea bacterium which is currently untreatable and spreading around the world slowly but surely. Unlike some other STIs, super gonorrhea is also transmittable through oral sex, making it a bacterium that’s relatively opportunistic.

In what has been called the worst case of super gonorrhea so far, a British man caught the bacterium after sleeping with a woman while on a trip to Southeast Asia in 2018. It was so bad that UK health officials attempted to track down his other sex partners themselves to warn them. Antibiotics failed to treat the disease, leading officials to worry what lies in the future when it comes to combating these critters that might infest and parasitize us. The complete inability to treat this man’s case with the go-to antibiotics was a first.^[10]

Genes determine almost all of our physical and nonphysical features. We inherit all of our genes from our parents, but they’re not always for the better. Some are bad, and we would have been better off without them.

People have ended up with severe and life-threatening conditions simply due to inheriting the wrong genes. We’re not talking about ailments like Down syndrome; we mean unbelievable conditions you would have never imagined could be linked to your genes.

10 Violence Genes

Variants of the MAOA gene and the cadherin 13 (CDH13) gene are referred to as “warrior genes” because they are linked with violent behavior. A 2014 study by Finnish researchers revealed that criminals with the genes were responsible for between five and ten percent of all crimes committed in Finland.

If that wasn’t scary enough, people with these warrior genes are 13 times more likely to become repeat offenders than those without the genes. The 900 convicts involved in the study were responsible for a total of 1,154 murders, attempted murders, manslaughters, and violent assaults.

However, having the warrior genes by no means guarantees that one will become violent. In fact, researchers noted that most of the people with the genes will never take to crime. They also added that the effects of the genes can be suppressed with proper upbringing. Some researchers think the MAOA and CDH13 genes cannot be blamed for violent acts committed by people, since half of the Finnish population probably has them.^[1]

9 Suicide Gene

Scientists have discovered a link between depression, suicide, and the RGS2 gene. A 2011 study led by John Mann of the New York State Psychiatric Institute revealed that one variant of the RGS2 gene could cause depression, while another variant could make people more prone to suicide.

Researchers believe the RGS2 gene could explain why generations of the same family sometimes commit suicide. There are suspicions that the suicide variant could be present in the family of famous writer Ernest Hemingway (pictured center above with his family), who committed suicide in 1961 after attempting suicide earlier the same year. Hemingway’s father also committed suicide in 1928, and so did Hemingway’s granddaughter and two of his siblings.

The study involved 412 people suffering from serious depression. Of that group, 154 had attempted suicide sometime in the past. The study revealed that 43 percent of the 154 people had aggressively suicidal variants of the RGS2, while one fifth had copies of a less suicidal variant.

While Mann agreed that detection of the gene could be used an in indicator of someone’s risk of suicide, he added that the study was inconclusive and mentioned that further research was required to reach a definite conclusion.^[2]

8 Trauma Gene

Researchers have discovered that parents could transfer the effects of traumatic experiences they’ve suffered to their offspring through their genes. This has been observed in descendants of slaves, survivors of the Holocaust, and veterans of the Vietnam War, who have genetically transferred post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to their offspring.

The research was led by Dr. Rachel Yehuda of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in Manhattan. Dr. Yehuda explained that when people experience a deeply traumatic event, it can actually alter their genes. These changes are passed down to descendants.

A Jew herself, Dr. Yehuda sampled several Jewish neighbors who were descendants of the Holocaust survivors as part of the study. She discovered their hormones closely resembled those of PTSD-afflicted veterans of the Vietnam war. Also, the amygdala—the part of the brain responsible for processing emotions—was overly active like those of Vietnam veterans.

Descendants of black slaves also suffer from similar problems. In fact, sociologist Dr. Joy DeGruy even coined the term “Post Traumatic Slave Disorder” to refer to the effects of slavery in the genes of the descendants of black slaves.^[3]

7 Infidelity Gene

The DRD4 gene is responsible for regulating the dopamine levels in our bodies. Dopamine is a chemical released in the brain and is associated with things like motivation and sexual satisfaction. Our bodies consider it a sort of reward, which is why it is usually released when we engage in fun behaviors like gambling, drinking, and sex.

A 2010 study led by Justin Garcia of Binghamton University, New York, has revealed that a variant of the DRD4 gene could actually make people more prone to cheating on their partners. Garcia and his team reached this conclusion after studying 181 young people. The researchers discovered that people with the gene were more likely to engage in infidelity and one-night stands.

However, Garcia says that unfaithful partners should not consider the presence of the gene variant an excuse for their philandering behavior. He also added that having this variant of the DRD4 gene does not guarantee that a person will cheat.^[4]

6 Death Genes

Series of studies on both humans and animals indicate that females live longer than males. In humans, the life expectancy of men and women differs by five to six years on average, with the women lasting longer. Research has revealed that this is caused by genes referred to as the “Mother’s Curse.”

The Mother’s Curse is called such it is in the mitochondrial DNA, which comes from the mother. Both sexes actually inherit the genes, but they are unfavorable to males, since they make them age faster and die earlier than women. However, the genes have no effects on females, who will pass them to their own offspring.^[5]

5 Back Pain Genes

In 2018, researchers revealed the discovery of three genes linked to chronic back pain after a study involving 29,000 suffering from the condition. The group was part of a larger set of 158,000 Europeans involved in the study.

One is the SOX5 gene, which is the most dominant of the three genes. It is actively involved in our embryonic development. Interestingly, lab rats involved in an earlier study were left with skeletal defects after the gene was deactivated in their bodies.

As for the two other genes, one is involved in the development of our spinal cord, while the other is linked to intervertebral disc herniation (aka “slipped disc”), a medical condition that can cause back pain.^[6] The intervertebral discs are the principal joints between the vertebrae of the spinal column.

4 Pessimistic Gene

A team of researchers led by Rebecca M. Todd of the University of British Columbia have discovered that being pessimistic or just having negative thoughts could all be in the genes. The gene responsible is the ADRA2B gene, which is one of the many genes responsible for our emotions.

However, the ADRA2B gene must be missing some amino acids to cause the pessimistic behavior. People with the missing amino acids are more likely to notice negative events more readily than they observe positive or neutral events. For instance, they will notice the criminal-like character in a street faster than they notice a group of playful children.

The pessimistic ADRA2B gene was discovered during a study involving 200 people. The group were shown two words in quick succession and asked to pay attention to the second word. Most people saw the first word but often had problems recognizing the second word.^[7]

However, people with the pessimistic ADRA2B gene often recognized the second word whenever it was a more emotion-evoking word, like “rape” or “orgasm.” Some researchers, like Ahmad R. Hariri of Duke University, believe the existence of a pessimistic gene is a fallacy. He says pessimistic behavior is not linked to a single gene but several.

3 The Lung Problem Gene

The Vikings suffered from severe intestinal worm infestations. This is evident in poop samples recovered from ancient Viking latrines in modern Denmark. The worms often secreted dangerous enzymes called proteases, which can damage crucial internal organs, including the liver and lungs.

The immune systems of the Vikings prevented any damage due to a mutation in the alpha-1-antitrypsin (A1AT) gene. The regular A1AT gene protects our organs from proteases produced by our immune system. However, the mutated version also protects the Vikings from proteases secreted by the worms.

Without the regular or mutated A1AT genes, proteases would damage the lungs, causing health conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema. However, researchers from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine have observed that many Viking descendants—who number over 300 million today—suffer from lung problems like emphysema.

Research revealed that the descendants of the Vikings are at a higher risk of lung problems because the mutated A1AT genes they inherited from their ancestors do not offer the same amount of protection against the proteases created by the immune system. Of course, the risk of a Viking descendant developing lung problems becomes higher if the person is a smoker.^[8]

2 Sleeplessness Genes

A study involving 113,006 people revealed the existence of seven genes that could cause insomnia. Interestingly, some of these genes were already known to cause other unfavorable conditions, like depression, anxiety disorders, and restless legs syndrome (RLS), which can all lead to insomnia. It’s little wonder that people with insomnia often suffer from one or more of these conditions at the same time.

One of the genes is the MEIS1 gene, which is also associated with RLS and periodic limb movements of sleep (PLMS). RLS sufferers often have the urge to move their legs, leading to sleeplessness and fatigue. PLMS is similar, except that sufferers move their limbs in their sleep without waking. However, they are often left tired the next day.^[9]

1 Talking Gene

It is commonly held that women talk more than men. This claim is backed by research, which shows that women say around 20,000 words per day, while men say just 7,000. Women also pick up languages faster than men and learn to speak and read younger.

A study conducted by the University of Maryland School of Medicine indicates that this could all be in the genes. The researchers pinpointed the FOXP2 gene, which is one of the many genes responsible for speech in humans. The FOXP2 gene secretes a special protein in the brain. Researchers have linked that protein to the generally more talkative nature of women.

The study involved a small sample group of just ten children: five male and five female. A check on their brains revealed girls had 30 percent more of the protein made by the gene than boys. However, while the researchers agree that their study is a good start, they consider it inconclusive since it involved a small sample group.^[10]

As many of you would have heard by now, the universe is huge. So insanely huge that if we were to take a break from our mundane lives and just think about the sheer scale of things out there, we’d likely go crazy. That’s the reason most of us don’t bother with anything outside our immediate surroundings, as our brains are simply not equipped to handle thinking about stuff like that.

If we did think about it, as many people – like scientists, astronomers and stoned college students – do, we’d realize that the universe is full of scary things you’d probably never put in a children’s book. If we ventured into its darkest corners, we’d find it hiding many fascinating – and concerning—mysteries we’re yet to uncover.

10 The Higgs Boson Doomsday

We have a lot of doomsday scenarios going around, depending on where you are in the world. Many cultures believe that the end of the world would be dramatic, which is cool by us as long as we get to see some cool visuals.

The most dangerous and plausible doomsday scenarios, however, come from actual scientists themselves, the Higgs Boson Doomsday being one of them. Many of them – including Stephen Hawking – believe it could happen, or is already happening. It’d start with a bubble filled with fluctuating Higgs energy, which should remain consistent for the universe to stay stable. The bubble would spread like the vacuum, fundamentally reprogramming – and in some cases, disintegrating – atoms as it goes.

Some scientists think that it has already started, and the bubble may be on our way from the dark parts of the universe soon. Though others say that it’s well into the future, and we may be long gone before it makes its way here.^[1]

9 Galactic Cannibalism

Galactic cannibalism is the last type of cannibalism we want to hear about, even if general cannibalism is pretty gross, too. Just the idea that there are some bigger galaxies out there gobbling up other, smaller ones, and the possibility it may happen to us, is quite scary. There’s nothing to worry about, though, as it’s not going to happen in the near future. Many other galaxies out there, however, are currently being eaten up by a bigger one just because it had nothing better to do that day.

It’s not that far away from us, either. Andromeda – the galaxy most familiar to the layman and a part of our Local Group –actually devoured a sister galaxy of the Milky Way around two billion years ago. It’s also expected to do that with the Milky Way in around 4.5 billion years, but by that time humans would hopefully have developed travel between galaxies, or would have long died out. Whoever decides to stay, though, would be subjected to one hell of a light show.^[2]

8 The Outcast Supermassive Black Hole

If we knew about all the massive things going on in the universe, our lives may start to look a bit tiny. Some of those things, though, are so massive that they truly demonstrate how insignificant we actually are. One of them is a supermassive blackhole ejected from its galaxy.

Scientists calculated that it would have taken the same amount of energy as 100 million supernovas to throw a black hole into space. It’s not just any black hole either, but by far the biggest black hole on the move we’ve ever recorded. The energy came from the merger of two black holes at the center of the galaxy, because of course that’s a thing that keeps happening in space, too.^[3]

7 Rogue Black Holes

Out of all the things that can potentially go rogue, a black hole seems to be the worst. Black holes, as we all know, are super dense parts of space with unimaginably-high gravitational fields, so much so that even light can’t escape them. They eat up everything in their gravitational field, which is why it’s a good idea to stay away from them.

It’s a problem, though, when it starts moving. You see, much like everything else in the universe, black holes can find their own motion trajectories. In some instances, they start moving at immense speeds, eating up everything in their path.
It’s not a distant phenomenon, either; a black hole as big as Jupiter is currently dashing across the Milky Way. It was earlier assumed to be stationary, though according to some recent research, it’s really not.^[4]

6 Zombie Stars

Whatever is alive has to die at some point, something that applies to everything in the universe. The death of stars – as you may remember from science class – is one of the most interesting phenomena in the known universe. Every star we see in the sky is already dead and the light hasn’t reached us yet, or will die at some point in the future, including our sun. That’s the natural way of things, except when they decide to not do that.

In rare cases, stars may die and come back to life like nothing happened, something that baffles us as well as the scientists. They recently discovered zombie stars that should have died in their supernova stages but somehow survived, and are now hurtling across space with a renewed sense of life and adventure. We don’t quite understand them, which is why we hope they stay away from us.^[5]

5 The Galaxies Without Dark Matter

If you’ve spent your fair share of time on the internet and science forums, you’d know that the visible universe is a tiny fraction of the whole thing. An overwhelming majority of it is made up of something called dark matter. We could have come up with a more scientific name, but as we know absolutely nothing about it, ‘dark’ matter is the most accurate description of what we think it is. We know that it permeates through everything, and huge swathes of the universe are made up of it, though that’s about it.

Even more mysterious, however, is the galaxy without any dark matter. It was earlier postulated that whatever dark matter is, the universe needs it to keep things together. The galaxy, along with others like it, proves that dark matter isn’t essential to keep galaxies glued together, further deepening the mystery of the whole thing.^[6]

4 The Triple Galaxy Collision

No matter how boring our lives are, we can take some comfort in the fact that something interesting is going on in the universe at all times. From massive shows of light to dying stars, it’s certainly not a boring place. Some of those events, though, are so mind-bogglingly humungous that we’d rather get bored on a lazy afternoon here on Earth than find ourselves anywhere near them.

One of them is the rare collision of three galaxies, like the one we observed in 2007. While two galaxies collide with each other more often that we’d think, it’s rare to see three of them do it. What looks like just a blob of light in the photos is three massive clusters of stars merging with each other, all the while forming stars at a rapid rate (around 200 solar masses per year at the center).^[7]

3 The Mystery Of The Biggest Black Hole Ever Found

There are quite a few things in the universe we don’t understand, which is cool, as we can’t know everything. It’s a real setback, though, when we think we have figured something out, only to later find out that we hadn’t figured it out at all. Case in point; the brightest and biggest black hole found in the early universe.

It’s at the center of a quasar (bright huge thing with a black hole at its center) scientists only recently discovered. Known as SDSS J0100+2802, it’s as bright as 420 trillion Suns, and by far the most massive quasar we have ever discovered. We don’t know how it formed, as nothing in the early phase of the universe should have got so big, which also makes it the most mysterious black hole we know of.^[8]

2 The Coldest Place In The Universe

The universe is quite a cold place, as the heat of the stars is only enough to affect a tiny part of it. We know that it’s cold, though we don’t know the extent of how cold it can get. According to some scientists, the absolute coldest place in the known universe is the Boomerang Nebula (a nebula being a giant mass of gas and dust in space).^[9]

It’s so cold – clocking in at -457.87F on an average – that scientists have been trying to understand exactly what happened to it for a while now. And as per a recent study, there’s a perfectly good explanation for it. Apparently, it was ejected out after a star threw itself into another bigger star going through the last stages of its life, causing most of its matter to be ejected out as a cold burst. While it’s still quite a bit away from us to be of any danger, it’s one place we should all agree to never explore in case we do figure out interstellar travel.

1 Strange Matter

For something named as inconspicuously as ‘strange matter’, you wouldn’t think that it’d mean much. It sounds like something scientists came up with when they couldn’t explain something and wanted to keep it for later. Look it up online, though, and you’d realize it’s by far one of the weirdest parts of theoretical physics.^[10]

In essence, strange matter – which may contain a lot of types of particles – isn’t like anything we have seen before. You see, usual matter is made up of atoms with a nucleus, which contains the protons and neutrons. They’re in turn made up of quarks, which stay neatly packed in, give everything around us their unique properties. In strange matter, though, the quarks run free, with seemingly no boundaries or rules on what they’re supposed to do. It’s a completely different type of matter, and scarily, could turn everything it comes in contact with to its own properties. Yes, a tiny lump of strange matter anywhere in the universe could be on its way here now, completely changing – and essentially destroying—the very nature of matter around it.

Fortunately, strange matter hasn’t been proven to exist anywhere in the universe, so it’s only on paper for now. Unfortunately and more recently, though, scientists did find something very similar to what they think strange matter would be like.

31 October might seem like the perfect time to watch Friday the 13th or A Nightmare on Elm Street. Perhaps a slasher film like Haunt or Prom Night will suffice to make the evening a little spookier, especially if it happens to be dark and stormy outside. However, if you want a Halloween night with a difference, you should consider lining up one or more of the movies on this list. Not only are they underrated, they are chockful of thrills, chills and scares, just the way the scariest night of the year should be.
(Potential spoilers ahead)

The Compendium Of 113 Halloween Horrors

10 Session 9

There is something inherently creepy about a mental hospital. And even more so when it is an abandoned one. Session 9 ramps up the terror as tension rises between the employees of an asbestos cleaning crew after they were hired to clear out an abandoned asylum with a terrifying past.

The hospital scenes were filmed at the real-life Danvers State Mental Hospital in Massachusetts, which housed up to 4,000 patients and where doctors engaged in techniques such as lobotomization and repressed memory therapy. The building was soon overcrowded enough for some patients to be moved to the subterranean tunnels.^[1]

There is a scene of extreme nyctophobia (fear of the dark), that is incredibly unsettling as well as creepy recordings of a patient suffering from multiple personality disorder. All in all, Session 9 is a great option for a Halloween movie fest.

9 Goodnight Mommy

There are gory, over-the-top horrors and then there are psychological horrors that creep under your skin and stay with you for a good long time after you’ve watched it. Before Hereditary and The Babadook spooked the pants off people came the not-often mentioned Austrian horror film, Goodnight Mommy.

Imagine coming home to your twin boys and they don’t recognize you. And imagine this happening after you had reconstructive surgery and your face is wrapped in bandages. Additionally you’re not as loving, caring, and interested in your boys’ beetle catching activities as you used to be, and they soon suspect that you’re not their mother at all.

This is the core of Goodnight Mommy with the story ticking over at a steady pace while an uneasy tension builds after twin boys tie up their mother when they become convinced that she’s an imposter with a bandaged face. While she is tied up, they start torturing her for answers…^[2]

Throw in a killer twist and there you go, another great movie to watch on the creepiest night of the year.

8 Grave Encounters

Who hasn’t dreamed of being part of a ghost hunting team that descents on creepy buildings in the dead of night in search of beings from the other side, and finally getting indisputable proof of the paranormal? After watching Grave Encounters, I suspect most would let go of this fantasy in a heartbeat.

In this Canadian found footage horror, the crew of a paranormal reality TV show work up the courage to lock themselves in a rumored-to-be haunted psychiatric hospital in order to film the next episode. Little do they know what awaits them in the dark and that that specific episode would end up being their last.

Sure, the characters subtly mock their real-life counterparts, but there are sufficient scares to keep you hooked. Do you dare enter the abandoned Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital this Halloween?^[3]

7 Dark Skies

Dimension Films has produced some gems over the years, one of which is the underappreciated Dark Skies featuring Keri Russell and Josh Hamilton. Fans of The Fourth Kind will delight in this low-key sci-fi horror that had viewers taking to Twitter to let people know how terrified they were while watching it.^[4]

There are weird missing food incidents, bird incidents and worst of all a young boy who starts dreaming about a terrifying being. The rest of the boy’s family start experiencing seizures, unexplained bruises and periods of stupor, causing the rest of the neighborhood to start looking at them askance. The ending also makes for one of the most riveting horror movie twists in recent history.

If you’re a sci-fi horror fan, this one might be right up your alley.

6 Pet

Pet is a slow burn horror about a loner who falls in love and eventually becomes obsessed with a beautiful waitress. Seth spends his days as an employee in an animal shelter and as his obsession with the waitress, Holly, grows. It seems almost inevitable that he would take out his frustration at failing to win her over on the defenceless animals. However, he remains relatively kind to them while putting a devious plan into motion.

After her kidnaps her and locks her in a cage below the animal shelter, Seth and Holly begin a power struggle that is not only memorable but leads to a most unpredictable twist. Just as you think you know what’s coming, the film takes a different direction.

As with most horror films, this particular one is not for everyone, but if you’re looking for a horror with a difference, this might just be the movie for you.^[5]

Top 10 Brutal Unsolved Halloween Murders

5 The Loved Ones

Her name was Lola but she was definitely not a showgirl. She was, however, insane. In The Loved Ones, Robin McLeavy makes a terrifying impression as a loner, Lola, who is turned down by her crush when she asks him to accompany her to prom. From here onwards, the movie is dominated by fear and sheer terror as her crush, Brent, is drugged and kidnapped, waking up tied to a chair at Lola’s dinner table. Lola and her father are waiting at the table and the house is decorated as though a prom would be starting any minute.

The best part of the film is McLeavy’s performance. She puts the meaning of menace into each of her scenes and the overall horror roller coaster ride that the film forces you on is enough to make even the hardiest horror fan a little queasy.^[6] If ever there was an anti-prom movie, this would be it.

4 Hush

Slasher films are either good, or terrible (here’s looking at you, Scream 4). And then once in a while a movie comes along that stays with you for a long time because of the excellent storytelling, acting and overall portrayal of true terror. Hush is a prime example of this. It follows the story of a deaf woman being stalked by a killer in her own home.

It is 82 minutes of simmering tension and terror without any unnecessary jump scares or loud music cues to alert you that something scary is about to happen. There is a clever nod to Stephen King and the ensuing cat-and-mouse game that follows (more cat than mouse for a while there) is a fascinating way of telling a home invasion story that never falls flat. There are quite a few surprises in this film that make it a worthwhile inclusion for any Halloween movie marathon.^[7]

3 It Comes At Night

A forest becomes a refuge for a family who is trying to outrun a contagious disease that has spread across the world. This is the core story of the post-apocalyptic horror It Comes At Night, taken from writer-director Trey Edward Shults’ real life experience with his dad’s death after a life of addiction.

The movie has both a shocking intro and ending, but the middle part fluctuates between family drama, violence, coming-of-age and the all-encompassing knowledge that sometimes humans are the biggest monsters out there. There are no ghosts, zombies or werewolves lurking in the dark, but there are humans who are just ‘slightly off’ and add to the terror of the biggest pandemic the world has ever seen.

Seeing as how the Covid-19 pandemic still has a strangle hold on the world, this movie won’t serve to take your mind off things per se, but it definitely is one of the best and most underrated horror movies of recent times.^[8]

2 One Hour Photo

Robin Williams was well-known and well-loved for his comedic roles in movies such as Mrs. Doubtfire, Jumanji, and Fathers’ Day. When the 2002 film, One Hour Photo was released, fans saw a whole new side of Williams as he portrayed the role of Sy Parrish, a lonely technician, who becomes obsessed with a family.

In the movie, Williams is the opposite of his usual kooky self. His character is compelling and intense as he stalks the family and tries to become a part of their lives. When his illusion of what he deems to be the perfect family is shattered after an affair is revealed, his character becomes even more deranged.

This movie, too, is not going to be to everyone’s taste and is fairly disturbing in its subject matter, especially so for those who are used to seeing Williams in a light-hearted role.^[9]

1 A Dark Song

A mother’s grief can be an all-consuming fire, leading her to do the unexpected and even macabre. This is the message from A Dark Song, the movie that portrays a mother who wants to engage in a gruelling rite that lasts for months to be able to summon her guardian angel. Upon doing so, she wants to use the wish the angel grants her to be able to speak to her deceased 7-year-old son.

The rite comprises of ‘exercises’ in which the mother, Sophia, must face off against angels and demons. The irritable occultist helping her eventually accuses her of not being honest about her true motives for conjuring up her guardian angel, after which he tries to ‘re-birth’ her.
This Irish-British independent movie is dark, true to its title, and makes heavy use of occultic themes throughout. A true contender for one of the best horror movies of the 2010s and a great choice for Halloween night.^[10]

10 Non-Horror Movies That Will Scare You Silly This Halloween

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution states that an organism will evolve and develop desirable variations and characteristics to ensure its survival. Disease-causing organisms like viruses and bacteria are living true to this theory by evolving and mutating to resist our drugs, vaccines, treatments, and immune systems.

Of course, their quest for survival isn’t in our best interests. But to them, they’re only trying to exist, nothing personal. We would have done the same if we were in their shoes.

10 HIV

There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is the most common and is further classified into four groups: M, N, O, and P. Group M is the most common of all HIV strains and is further classified into subtypes A, B, C, D, F, G, H, J, and K. All these subtypes are genetically different and will readily merge to form new hybrids called circulating recombinant forms (CRFs). Eighty-nine of these CRFs have been identified so far.

This means that people already infected with HIV are still at risk of reinfection, either at the type, group, or subtype level. When they get reinfected, the two strains of HIV merge and create a new strain that could develop drug resistance. This is called dual infection, although coinfection or superinfection could be used, depending on the means of transmission. However, they all mean the same thing.

As if things couldn’t get worse, these hybrid CRFs are still capable of merging with other strains of HIV to create newer and more dangerous hybrids. One of these identified CRFs (called CRF19) is rampant in Cuba, where it was formed by the combination of the A, D, and G subtypes of HIV-1 Group M. CRF19 becomes AIDS within three years as compared to the 10–15 years it would normally take.^[1]

9 Guinea Worm

Since 1986, former US President Jimmy Carter has been on a mission to eradicate guinea worm, a terrible ailment that always ends with a worm of over 1 meter (3.3 ft) in length slowly leaving the body within a torturous span of one month. Only 11 cases of guinea worm infection were reported in 2016, a far cry from the over 3.5 million cases reported in 1986 when Carter began his anti–guinea worm campaign.

If Carter is successful, guinea worm would be the second disease to be eradicated by humans (after smallpox) and the first to be eradicated without vaccines. However, guinea worms are not giving up without a fight.

How? They’re finding new hosts: dogs.

In Chad, one of the last countries still battling guinea worm, incidences of guinea worm infection in dogs have been documented since 2012. About 600 dogs were known to be infected in 2016, although the real figure will definitely be higher. It is difficult to monitor these dogs because they are allowed to roam freely. This unlimited freedom also makes it difficult to keep them away from water, which is what guinea worms need to reproduce.

Adult guinea worms create a burning sensation in infected people, which forces them to seek a source of water to “cool” the pain. The worm then lays its larvae in this water. The larvae are swallowed by small aquatic organisms, which themselves are swallowed by humans who drink this contaminated water.

These larvae grow into adults in the human body, and the cycle continues. No one knows how these dogs are getting these guinea worms, but it has been proposed that it might be from contaminated fish.^[2]

8 Bubonic Plague

The Black Death was a pandemic that spread through Europe in the 14th century, killing about 25 million people or up to one-third of the total European population. It was caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium that is transmitted from infected rodents to humans by fleas. The Yersinia pestis bacterium causes any of the bubonic, pneumonic, or septicemic plague in humans.^[3]

As scary as it sounds, Yersinia pestis is still very much around. It is currently present in 25 countries, including Madagascar (which faced a mild epidemic between August 1 and November 22, 2017).

The scarier part of the plague is that it is becoming drug resistant. As of 2017, at least 10 common antibiotics are no longer effective in treating the disease. The resistance is believed to have been caused by the exchange of genes between Yersinia pestis and other bacteria like E. coli, Klebsiella, and Salmonella, which are all found in food.

7 Polio

Polio used to be one of the biggest killers of young children. When it does not kill, it causes lifelong paralysis. However, it has suffered severe blows in recent years, thanks to vaccination. Normally, young children are given oral doses of a weakened strain of the polio virus which allows their bodies to build immunity against the stronger and natural polio.

Now it has been observed that this weakened polio, which usually leaves the bodies of children through their excrement, can regain its potency, mutate, and infect children. This mutated polio is deadlier than the natural polio. Worse yet, vaccination does not work against this type of polio.

As a result, children already vaccinated against polio are not immune to this new mutated polio, which is caused by the same vaccine used to immunize them. During one outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 47 percent of the infected 445 children died even though they had already been vaccinated.^[4]

6 Ebola

Most people heard of Ebola for the first time between 2014 and 2016 when it swept through West Africa. This period—which lasted from March 23, 2014, to January 13, 2016—remains Ebola’s deadliest run ever. It killed at least 11,315 people, five times more than the casualties in all its epidemics since it was discovered in 1976. This figure is even on the low side and is believed to be considerably higher.

The 2014 Ebola outbreak actually started in December 2013 when it claimed the life of a two-year-old child in Guinea.^[5] By March 2014, it was already in Liberia. From there, it spread to Sierra Leone and a few other neighboring countries. During this period, it infected over 28,000 people, which is 100 times more than the number of people infected in earlier Ebola epidemics.

According to two different teams of virologists who studied the epidemic, it was deadlier because it involved a mutant strain of the original Ebola virus. The mutant is called A82V and was recorded as the virus responsible for over 90 percent of all infections.

Researchers believe that the A82V mutant was destroyed with the epidemic because it was poor at jumping to nonhuman hosts like the fruit bats believed to transmit Ebola to humans.

5 Gonorrhea

Data released from 77 countries shows that gonorrhea is rapidly becoming 100 percent resistant to drugs. These days, azithromycin, the major drug used in gonorrhea treatment, fails 81 percent of the time. Other drugs like the extended-spectrum cephalosporins (ESCs), which are the orally ingested cefixime or the injected ceftriaxone, fail 66 percent of the time.

The United Kingdom is one country facing a drug-resistant gonorrhea epidemic.^[6] This mutated strain of gonorrhea, which they call “super gonorrhea,” is totally resistant to azithromycin and could soon be to ceftriaxone as well. Investigations by the BBC revealed that gonorrhea may have become resistant to azithromycin because infected people were taking it alone rather than in combination with ceftriaxone as per UK healthcare guidelines.

4 Cholera

Cholera is caused by the consumption of food or water contaminated with the Vibrio cholerae bacterium. In most cases, it causes mild diarrhea and an infected person might not even know he has it. In the most serious cases, the disease causes severe dehydration, vomiting, and diarrhea that could kill the infected person within hours.

Haiti suffered a devastating cholera epidemic 10 months after the catastrophic January 2010 earthquake. The epidemic killed 9,200 people. However, some international organizations like Doctors Without Borders believe that this figure should be considerably higher because most cholera-related deaths went unreported. In some regions, only 10 percent of deaths were reported.

The Haiti cholera outbreak was caused by a mutated strain called “altered El Tor.”^[7] It is deadlier than regular cholera and has been likened to the deadly cholera of the 1800s. Altered El Tor underwent three mutations that allowed it to bypass the body’s early warning system. It was first observed in 2000 and has been traced to Nepal.

3 Syphilis

Syphilis is also called the “great imitator” because its symptoms often resemble those of other diseases. It is spread through sexual contact, although it can also be transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy.

Researchers have discovered that Nichols and Street Strain 14 (SS14), the two main strains of syphilis, are mutating. As a result, they are developing resistance to common antibiotics like penicillin and macrolides that are often used for treatment.

The mutation is more prevalent in SS14. In one analysis, about 90 percent of SS14 samples were drug resistant versus 25 percent for the Nichols strain. This newfound resistance is allowing syphilis to make a comeback.^[8]

Since 2013, there has been a 15 percent increase in syphilis cases. The good news is that syphilis can still be treated by most antibiotics, although the disease could become resistant to these drugs over time.

2 Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is one ailment that is undergoing a serious mutation. Two new forms of tuberculosis have been identified: multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB).

MDR-TB is resistant to isoniazid and rifampicin, the two most powerful drugs used in the treatment of tuberculosis. Meanwhile, XDR-TB, a more potent version of MDR-TB, is resistant to isoniazid, rifampicin, and several other drugs.

About 580,000 cases of MDR-TB were reported in 2015. Of this figure, 55,100 (9.5 percent) were XDR-TB cases. XDR-TB has been reported in 117 countries, which means that it’s slowly becoming a global problem.

It is speculated that tuberculosis became drug resistant because infected people were not storing or taking their drugs properly. Tuberculosis is treated with a six-month regimen that must not be interrupted. Any form of interruption allows the ailment to develop a resistance to drugs.^[9]

1 Cancer

Cancer has been known to evolve and mutate since the 1970s. This mutation allows cancer to become drug resistant, to expel drugs from the body, and to repair cells already damaged by these drugs. Researchers believe that this mutation is caused by cancer cells that are not destroyed during treatment.

One form of cancer known to mutate is prostate cancer, which requires testosterone (the male hormone) for development. One method of treatment is to starve the body of testosterone, but this stopped working when prostate cancer cells learned to use other molecules in place of testosterone. When this happens, it becomes castrate-resistant prostate cancer, which is often fatal.

Lung and colorectal cancers are also capable of mutating. Their cells become resistant to radiation and chemotherapy regimens, leaving them untreatable.

One proposed method of curing these mutant cancers is by “individual specific therapy,” which is a treatment unique to an individual. However, this method is not foolproof.

One of the first drugs created for “individual specific therapy” was Herceptin, which sticks to the HER2 protein to destroy breast cancer cells.^[10] However, the cancer mutated and started destroying the parts of the HER2 protein that Herceptin stuck to. Most of the time, the body responds by creating HER3 cells. This compounded the problem because Herceptin could not stick to HER3.

Weed remains a firm favorite of recreational smokers. Not considered as damaging as drugs whipped up in a seedy laboratory, marijuana hides behind a “natural” look. However, this leafy habit can induce some hair-raising side effects.

From heart attacks and shrinking brains to first psychotic episodes and the loss of happiness, pot may not be the safe herb that many believe it to be. Marijuana is also behind several medical mysteries and, ironically, could be the answer to another rampant—and more deadly—drug crisis.

10 The Heart Attack Lollipop

In 2019, a medical report revealed how dangerous weed lollipops could be. The patient involved was an elderly man, aged 70, who had smoked a little marijuana in his youth. Seeking comfort from his insomnia and osteoarthritis, he decided to try edible marijuana. In this case, a lollipop.

As cute as the treat sounds, there is a huge difference between the normal kind and the THC-containing kind. The patient’s lollipop packed a staggering 90 milligrams of THC, more than 12 times the amount in a joint.^[1]

Instead of bringing sweet dreams, the active ingredient triggered terrifying hallucinations. The man had a history of heart disease, and the experience blended stress hormones, a heightened pulse, blood pressure, and anxiety, which led to a heart attack.

The lollipop was designed for multiple servings. Lick. Get high. Put it away for another time. Repeat until the psychoactive snack is done. Eating it in a single sitting was not a good idea, but at least the man survived.

9 The Sperm Question

The weed debate is alive and well in the men’s health department. Mainly, one question is difficult to settle: Does smoking marijuana boost or lower sperm count?

In 2015, a Denmark study found that enjoying a buzz more than once a week dropped the count by 30 percent. A more recent study used volunteers from a Massachusetts hospital. Around 665 men received fertility evaluations from 2000 to 2017. Part of this required answering a questionnaire.

One section was all about drugs and drinks. Only around 55 percent admitted to going the green route in their lifetimes, while 11 percent ticked the box “currently smoking.” Surprisingly, their semen samples produced higher counts than men who said they never touched the drug. For every year the men also did not pick up a joint, their sperm count saw a slight increase.^[2]

The debate is far from over because the studies’ results are so mercurial. However, for now, it appears that low usage might boost sperm numbers—might—and heavy use causes lower production.

8 Lower Pain Tolerance

In Colorado, doctors noticed that some trauma patients needed a higher dose of painkillers. Closer inspection revealed that many were regular marijuana users. This was unusual. In the past, the drug was also a remedy for pain.

To discover what was going on, researchers analyzed trauma cases from Colorado and Texas. They involved 260 individuals, all victims of serious car accidents in 2016. Around 54 patients had a recent encounter with weed, and 16 admitted to daily use. Illegal street drugs, including cocaine and amphetamines, also turned up in 9 percent.^[3]

People who were drug free managed on a daily dose of 5.6 milligrams of opioid medications. Those who only used weed needed 7.6 milligrams to numb pain. Another Colorado study considered how well burn patients handled pain. The findings were similar—heavy weed smokers needed substantially more opioids than non-using patients.

The implications could mean longer recovery and hospital stays as well as special narcotic treatments for marijuana users.

7 It Weakens Muscle Control

Most “green” studies focus on the drug’s psychotropic effects, including altered emotions and hallucinations. In 2015, Spanish researchers wondered about another side effect—impaired motor skills. Some people struggle to swallow, breathe, or speak properly.

To find out why, the team turned to mice and synthetic marijuana compounds. The idea was to see how the psychoactive compounds influenced nerve cells called motor neurons, which are then responsible for muscle movement.

The nerve cells that posed an interest in this particular study resided in the tongue. These motor neurons order muscle contraction during speech, swallowing, and breathing. Tests on the mice showed that the psychoactive ingredients interfered with communication between neurons, making them less active. This resulted in muscle weakness.^[4]

Ironically, the Spanish researchers believe it could explain why patients with neurodegenerative disease (like multiple sclerosis) report relief during marijuana use. Although the reason is not entirely clear, it could have something to do with the reduced activity of the neurons.

6 Teenagers And Depression

If it may be said, the good news is that smoking weed as a teenager cannot, as a rule, induce depression. That persistent darkness comes later. An international survey gathered data on depressed adults in the United Kingdom and the United States. It was a blanket review of 11 other studies that followed thousands of adolescents (who used cannabis) into adulthood.

When compared with non-users, they showed increased suicide attempts, anxiety, and clinical depression. After crunching the numbers, the statistics showed the tragic echo of weed in later life. Researchers identified over 460,000 adults who might have avoided depression had they never smoked as kids.

The main reason why adolescents are so vulnerable is the fact that their brains are still developing. A lot of receptors grow during this time and are sensitive to change. The actual depression could grow from the receptors that normally produce the feel-good juice serotonin but instead hold onto the psychoactive ingredient THC.^[5]

5 It Shrinks The Brain

In 2014, researchers in Texas rustled up 48 people with munchies. These adults were in a special study to see what could be gleaned from long-term users. Each had a chronic history with weed and had used it at least three times a day for a decade. The volunteers performed cognitive challenges while having their brains scanned. The results were not promising.

On average, the tests showed a lower IQ than non-users. A part of the brain had also shrunk. Called the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), this region regulates decision-making, increased neural connectivity, and addiction. This is also the center that makes rewards feel so good.

Since it is nature’s way to motivate people to discover what sustains them, a loss in OFC volume might not be the best thing. Remarkably, the study found that the brain attempted to compensate by increasing the connections between other regions. The brain’s structural integrity also improves. However, after about six years of marijuana use, this special connectivity declines again.^[6]

4 Fading Effect Bias

The human mind has a fascinating mechanism called the “fading effect bias.” Researchers liken it to an emotional immune system. It fades feelings linked to memories but erases the negative faster than the good ones. The purpose could be to boost mental health. If humans held onto every bad emotion, the burden would become too overwhelming.

In 2018, a study found something disturbing. Heavy marijuana use seemed to block the bias. As a result, volunteers who picked up pot at least four times a week held onto more negative vibes surrounding their memories. They also described their happy memories in general terms rather than as a specific event—for example, as a holiday rather than snorkeling in Hawaii.

Interestingly, both traits are also seen in people who suffer from depression. As with many marijuana studies, finding a definite answer can be tricky. The study identified a link between the drug and depression and found that it made a happy bias a bit wobbly. How this works step-by-step remains unknown.^[7]

3 Mysterious Syndrome

Violent nausea and upset stomach. Vertigo. Severe stomach cramps. Symptoms that only go away with a hot shower or bath. This mysterious illness was not officially linked to cannabis until 2004 when it was named cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS).

The condition remains poorly understood, mainly because so many users do not connect their symptoms with weed. Even medical professionals cannot always recognize the condition, and it remains unclear what compounds in marijuana might be causing the syndrome.^[8]

However, in 2018, a large survey determined that long-term use was a trigger. The most surprising finding was how common CHS really was. Contrary to previous beliefs that the condition was rare, new estimates point to two million cases in the United States alone.

There is no known cure other than waving goodbye to the drug. CHS completely disappears once a person stops their green habit, but it returns again with renewed use.

2 The Psychosis Link

Pot has a dark side. Growing evidence shows that the drug is connected to people experiencing psychosis for the first time. Psychotic conditions are characterized by the inability to separate reality from delusion. This includes hearing and seeing things that are not real.

Heavy marijuana users are four times more at risk of developing schizophrenia, a disorder that affects mental clarity. Average users also face twice the chance of getting a psychotic disorder than somebody who never smoked.

The main link between psychosis and weed is the plant’s “high” chemical, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Researchers believe this occurs because THC mimics psychotic symptoms, which could open the door to the real monsters.

When THC was tested on healthy individuals, they displayed psychotic traits. Meanwhile, patients with schizophrenia developed more severe symptoms. Additional factors make users a high-risk population for psychosis—certain genes, the strength of the weed strain, the use of synthetic cannabinoids, a paranoid personality, childhood trauma, and the start of smoking as teenagers.^[9]

1 The Opioid Solution

In the United States, over 130 people die every day from an opioid overdose. Opioids hide in painkillers, heroin, and a synthetic version called fentanyl. Related misuse, criminal activity, and medical care put an annual burden of $78.5 billion on the US government.

In 2018, two studies provided evidence that legal marijuana was behind a dramatic drop in opioid abuse and prescriptions. States that legalized recreational cannabis, as opposed to medical-only marijuana laws, saw the greatest decline in opioids. The two studies drove home what was already known in 2014 when researchers reported a 25 percent lower overdose rate in states with medical weed.

Those fighting opioids from a scientific and medical point of view hope to one day implement more marijuana dispensaries. Not all lawmakers are peachy with the idea. Weed is not perfect. But at the end of the day, it might be the best alternative in a crisis with few to no other options.^[10]

Underwater diving isn’t just a recreational activity, it’s an important trade with many industrial applications. Commercial divers are fearless professionals who work in dangerous environments. Most divers specialize in one type of underwater work, with the big bucks going to those who aren’t afraid to take on significant health and safety risks. Here’s a list of some of the most fascinating (and often disgusting) jobs that commercial divers perform.

10 Underwater Welding

The idea of welding metals together underwater seems almost impossible, but it’s one of the more useful trades a commercial diver can pick up. The technique for joining metals together underwater dates to the 1930s and is most often used to repair submerged structures like bridges, ships, and pipelines.

There are two basic types of underwater welding: dry and wet. Dry welding, the more common version, requires a hyperbaric chamber which creates a seal around the welding area. Water is pumped out of the chamber by hoses, then replaced with a gaseous mixture including helium and oxygen. Offshore jobs like oil rigs often employ “habitat welding,” where the gas-filled chamber is large enough to fit one or more divers. Helium and oxygen are pumped in while toxic welding gases are pumped out to create a dry, breathable workspace.

Wet welding is considered much riskier because salt water is a very effective conductor of electricity. Wet welders often use a technique called shielded metal arc welding, which protects them from being electrocuted by generating a layer of gaseous bubbles around the welding area. Even with proper safety procedures, both wet and dry welders face hazards like electrocution, explosions, and drowning. Not a job for the faint of lung.

9 Sewer Diving

Sewer systems for major cities have a lot of moving parts. Hundreds of pipes and pumps are required to flush away the daily waste of humanity, and you better believe they get clogged up with all manner of unmentionables. That’s when you call the sewer diver. Julio Cu Camara has been plumbing the depths of Mexico City’s sewers for almost four decades to maintain the elaborate drainage system that keeps the city clean. Working in a hermetically sealed three-centimeter-thick dive suit, Cu takes weekly plunges into the black water to perform routine maintenance of motor parts.

Julio can repair pumps in a day that would take two weeks to fix otherwise. Oh, and did we mention he does it completely blind? “Black water” isn’t just an expression. The sewers of Mexico City are so full of human and chemical waste that no light has been able to illuminate the foul depths. Cu is getting up in years, so he’s been training a replacement to take over his important job when he retires. Along with the unimaginable stench, the next sewer diver of Mexico City will have to get used to finding the occasional dead horse or pig floating in the sewers without wondering “who flushed that?”

8 Aqueduct Repair

New York City’s water supply comes from reservoirs in the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains, which connect to the metropolis by massive tunnels like the 85-mile Delaware Aqueduct. The city noticed leaks in the aqueduct in the late 1980s and eventually hired a Seattle diving firm to investigate. In February of 2008, a team of divers was dispatched to the bowels of the aqueduct, where they lived for two weeks in a sealed and pressurized chamber complete with sleeping quarters, toilets, and even a Nerf basketball hoop. The chamber itself was had to be pressurized with 97% helium and 3% oxygen so the divers could easily transition into the high-pressure underwater shaft without risking decompression sickness (a.k.a. “the bends”).

Divers working 24-hour shifts were lowered 700 feet into the shaft to inspect the structure and take measurements for repair equipment. Later that year, the city sent divers into the aqueduct again for nearly a month to fix the valves at the bottom of the shaft. The divers who lived in the saturated chambers had to be gradually weaned off helium over the course of a week to reacclimate them to surface air. Diver Chris Hackworthy said one of the biggest challenges was communicating in the helium environment, which made everyone sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks. Helium also dulls tastebuds, so the crew ate a lot of Tabasco and jalapeños during their underground deployment. Better hope that bathroom had some fans in it, since they probably didn’t pack any Febreze.

7 Nuclear Diving

Nuclear power plants need a lot of water to keep running, both to generate electricity and to manage hazardous waste. When their water infrastructure needs maintenance, plant managers turn to nuclear divers. A lot of what divers do for nuclear plants is “mudwork,” low-risk tasks like cleaning intake pipes in the lakes that supply the plant’s water. These pipes can get clogged with debris from the lake, including schools of fish who mistake the plant’s heat for warm spawning water. Cleaning fish guts out of giant pipes might be gross, but it doesn’t put divers at risk of radiation exposure. However, they do closely monitor their radiation doses when performing riskier tasks like repairing the underwater carts that move spent fuel rods from reactors to the pools where they are stored.

During longer dives in high-radiation environments, divers sometimes find their dosimeter creeping up beyond the acceptable maximum. When this happens, the plant managers must decide whether they’re going to send someone else in or grant an extension allowing the diver to exceed the legal exposure limit. As most nuclear divers will tell you, the big worry isn’t one-time exposures but small doses over long periods, which can have unpredictable effects on human health. As one spouse of a diver said in a Popular Science article: “Who wants a glowing husband?”

6 Discovering Lost Civilizations

No one has yet located the fabled city of Atlantis, but underwater divers have turned up some incredible archaeological finds. Most people would think of shipwrecks as the main target of underwater archaeology, but that’s just one of many types of sites excavated by divers. Coastlines are always changing, and some areas that were once dry thousands of years ago are now underwater. These submerged sites include Neolithic villages like Atlit-Yam in Israel and more recent seaside settlements like the colonial Jamaican town of Port Royal. In 2020, a group of archaeologists surveyed the area off the coast of Murujuga in northwestern Australia and found 269 stone artifacts with the help of scuba divers. Radiocarbon dating showed that these specimens were between 7,000 and 8,500 years old. Most appeared to be tools for scraping and cutting, though one is believed to be a grindstone used to crush seeds into bread flour. This site was the first one over 5,000 years old to be discovered in the tropics, proving that stone tools can survive on warmer seafloors despite the threats of algae and natural disasters. Underwater archaeology projects show us that bits of the past can be found in every nook and cranny of our planet.

5 Finding Drugs

People hide drugs in a lot of crazy places, but most don’t have the gumption to keep their stash in the ocean. In 2020, a group of volunteer divers surveying an artificial reef off Florida’s Treasure Coast came across a square package floating in the water. When they opened it, they found a kilogram of uncut cocaine, which they turned over to the Coast Guard. This isn’t the first time someone has found drugs off the Treasure Coast. In fact, locals have a nickname for the floating packages: “square groupers.” They are believed to be the product of drug dealers tossing their wares into the ocean when they’re in danger of being caught. An even larger underwater cache of coke was found by the Greek coast guard in April of 2021. Following a DEA tip, coast guard divers found 46.7 kilograms (about 103 pounds) of cocaine in a waterproof bag hidden behind a grate in the hull of a cargo ship arriving from Brazil. Twenty-three crew members were arrested for the drug trafficking attempt. No word on whether local fish started swimming faster.

4 Cleaning Oil Spills

The British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was one of the worst ocean contaminations in American history. Along with commercial fishermen and residents of the Gulf Coast, some of the most severely affected victims were the divers called in to clean up the spill. Despite the large amounts of carcinogenic crude oil floating in the ocean, commercial divers dispatched for this job were assured by BP’s health and safety specialists that they didn’t need extra protective gear. Cleanup crews worked up to 20 hours a day in contaminated waters, and some divers started getting sick before the job was even over. The crude oil itself was one source of contamination, but it’s also likely the dispersants used by the divers to clean it up exposed them to hazardous chemicals. This brand of dispersant has been banned for years in the United Kingdom due to its negative health effects. Since the spill, nearly all the divers have experienced health problems and at least two have committed suicide as a result. A group of around 700 commercial divers started a class action suit against BP in 2010 which has yet to be resolved.

3 Exploring Icebergs

You might have heard of cave diving, but how about diving in a floating ice cave? That’s what professional cave diver Jill Heinerth and her team did in 2019, marking the first ever dive into the crack of an iceberg. During the descent, Heinerth and her diving companion were pelted by falling isopods, a type of cold-water crustacean which she described as “horror story material.” Things got even more spooky when they attempted to leave and found their entrance blocked up with massive chunks of ice that had fallen off the iceberg. The two divers eventually made a hole in the barrier big enough to swim back through, but the terrors didn’t end there.

On the next dive, a strong current started pulling the divers into the iceberg, almost like it was trying to suck them into its freezing belly. Rather than fight the current, they let it take them away from the exit hole and towards another light source that looked like an alternate way out. When Heinerth surfaced, she found their boat was nowhere in sight, having been pulled away by the same current that sucked them into the iceberg. Eventually the crew in the boat found the divers and they cheated death once again.

On the third dive, Heinerth took two other divers with her into the iceberg. After descending into the crevasse, she realized almost immediately that the current was too strong and gestured to her companions to leave. Only once again, they couldn’t leave. After dragging themselves against the current towards the exit, they found themselves unable to get back up the crevasse due to water pouring in. Heinerth came up with the plan of scaling the crevasse wall using tiny holes in the glacier as handholds. After climbing 130 vertical feet of ice, the solemn diver had only one thing to say to her crew: “the cave tried to keep us today.”

2 Sewage Diving

If the story about the sewer divers was too much for you, go ahead and skip this one.

Now that everyone with weak stomachs has scrolled past, those of you left are probably wondering why this list item exists if we already covered sewer diving. That’s because there’s an even worse job than diving in sewer water: diving in liquefied, undiluted poop. Rather than sewer systems, professionals like Austrian diver Gregor Ulrich work in wastewater treatment plants, where they are sent into digestion towers filled with sewage sludge.

At facilities like the Winterthur waste treatment plant, towers are designed to process the sludge using aerobic bacteria fed by compressed air blowers and then moved to larger anaerobic towers where it generates methane gas. This creates a highly flammable environment for the divers who routinely maintain these towers and gas levels must be closely monitored to prevent explosion. Not to mention the fact that the sludge is kept around 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 Fahrenheit) for maximum ick factor. Ulrich says it feels a lot like wallowing in warm mud, and he prefers it to diving in cold water. His bosses must be happy he feels that way, since having divers saves the plant a huge amount of money compared to having to shut down operations and empty the tower out every time it needs to be cleaned.

1 Searching for Lost Cheese

In a 2005 story that could be titled À la recherche du fromage perdu (In Search Of Lost Cheese), a French-Canadian cheesemaker called in professional divers to find 800 kg (about 1763 pounds) of cheese that he had dropped in a lake. Luc Boivin of La Fromagerie Boivin in the Saguenay region of Quebec left the dairy stash underwater on purpose because he thought aging it in a lake would impart a unique flavor. Apparently, he didn’t secure it well enough, because a year later there was no cheese to be found. A team of professional divers combed the Saguenay Fjord using high-tech tracking equipment, but eventually the search had to be called off. Boivin feared if he kept paying for search teams, he would lose more money than the 50,000 Canadian dollars the cheese was worth.

The cheesemaker had been inspired to employ this unorthodox aging technique after a fisherman found a block of his cheese in the lake which Boivin said was the best he’d ever tasted. Maybe it was so good the divers took it and didn’t tell anyone. And hey, they deserve a treat. You’ve seen some of the stuff they deal with at work.

Finally, 2021 is in the rear-view mirror. Most of us enter a new year hoping for bigger and better things. Worldwide, countries are hoping for an end to Covid-19 and a boost in the global economy.

Well, don’t get your hopes up.

According to several mediums and psychics, even long-dead ones, 2022 won’t be a year to look forward to—for basically anyone. Read on for some of the most disastrous and truly strange predictions made about the next 12 months.

Related: 10 Hilarious Historic Predictions Of Life In The 2000s

10 Royal Calamity

The British monarchy has had a tough couple of years with scandals popping up all over the place. Queen Elizabeth has had to put out fires left, right, and center—and then her husband died, leaving her to cope on her own.

While she probably sighed in relief at the prospect of a new year and new opportunities, things are seemingly not going to be much better in 2022. If fortune-teller, Jemima Packington, is to be believed, that is.

Packington has predicted vaguely that 2022 will bring even more scandals and “misery” to the royal family—after tossing a handful of asparagus in the air and interpreting how they landed. The “Mystic Veg” has previously predicted the Harry and Meghan drama and Boris Johnson becoming PM. So now, just one word—Andrew.

She also tosses the asparagus for sports-related predictions and has predicted that Croatia will win the FIFA World Cup this year and that Man Utd will take the Premier League title.^[1]

9 A Dire Year

Many believe that Nostradamus correctly predicted the Great Fire of London, the rise of Adolf Hitler, and the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. The French physician, philosopher, and seer allegedly told his secretary, “Tomorrow at sunrise, I shall no longer be here” on July 1, 1566. He was found dead the following morning.

Before his death, however, Nostradamus wrote down several thousand prophesies. Some believe that a few were aimed at 2022. One prophecy says, “The sudden death of the first character / It will bring about a change and may place another character in the kingdom.” Many have speculated that this could allude to North Koran dictator Kim-Jong Un, especially considering the long-running rumors about his deteriorating health.

In the third quatrain of Nostradamus’s Centuria III, he wrote, “Towards middy extreme siccity / In the depths of Asia they will say earthquake.” This is said to forecast a massive earthquake in Japan sometime in 2022.

According to Nostradamus believers, he also predicted that the EU will fall and that the migration crisis will worsen in 2022. The following prophecy, “The Moon in the full of night over the high mountain / The new sage with a lone brain sees it: By his disciples invited to be immortal, Eyes to the south. Hands in bosoms, bodies in the fire,” is said to predict the rise of AI in the coming months of the new year. I guess all we can do is wait and see…^[2]

8 Life in 100 years

A century ago, English author W.L. George made several predictions about what the world would look like by the time it reached 2022. For example, he said that commercial flying would be commonplace a hundred years on from 1922 and that coal would not yet be exhausted. George also noted that many buildings that had been standing since before he was born would be preserved by 2022. Also, this year would see a large number of women occupy seats in Congress even if it is unlikely that they will have achieved equality with men.

The author also predicted that in 2022 trains would be traveling on glass plates and that anti-gravity screens would prevent planes from crashing to the ground.

Futurist R.F. Kellum made his own predictions, saying that cars would be common and that anyone who could afford to pay rent would be able to afford a car. He also claimed that suburbs would grow rapidly and extend as far as 100 miles from city centers.

Hugo Gernsback compiled a pamphlet of forecasts in 1965 in which he predicted that science would have perfected an injection by 2022 that would stop the growth of facial and leg hair—without affecting head hair. Finally, something useful!^[3]

7 Things Are Sort of Looking Up

Two days before New Year’s Eve, Peruvian shamans performed their traditional rituals just outside Lima. They also made several predictions for 2022, including that the coronavirus would be sticking around for a while yet—but in a milder form before “disappearing.” The shamans and a group of healers joined forces and made an offering to “Pachamama” (Mother Earth), requesting that the pandemic indeed ends in 2022.

One of the shamans predicted that 2022 would also bring more economic hardships around the world and to their own country. They mentioned the increasing tension between Russia and Ukraine and predicted that Russia would not be able to invade any territory in Ukraine.

Also getting into sports action, the shamans predicted that Peru would qualify for the Qatar World Cup.^[4]

6 I Hear Voices in My Head

Past life regression and soul therapist Nicolas Aujula has foreseen the Queen having a better year, despite several psychics predicting more scandal and drama for the royal family. However, Aujula has predicted a new virus emerging in 2022, which is not something anyone wants to hear at this point. He also foresaw the COVID pandemic, so here’s to crossing fingers (and toes if need be) that his new virus prediction doesn’t pan out.

Aujula said that his predictions have been told to him by a voice in his head. This voice apparently also said to him that an asteroid would head toward Earth sometime in 2022 but that the military would fire a missile at it and change its trajectory.

Furthermore, Aujula is concerned that evil cults will intensify their recruitment efforts and has said a public figure will get assassinated in the U.S. Among a horde of other predictions, Aujula has envisaged that a woman named “Jackie” will rise up quickly in the political arena and become world-famous.^[5]

5 Things Might Also Just Get Terrifying

Sometimes it’s not only people who offer a glimpse into the future, but inanimate objects also seem to have the ability to predict terrifying situations. The Old Moore’s Almanac has been published for nearly two and a half centuries and has “foreseen” the future since 1764.

For 2022 it has forecasted extreme weather events in Ireland, including an earthquake, landslide, and tsunami. The last time Ireland suffered significant tsunami damage was in 1755, following a massive earthquake in Portugal. In addition, the in-house psychic for the publication has included the prediction of a female Taoiseach in the next three years, with the start of the search for a suitable candidate happening this year.

In the 2021 publication was included the predictions that rapid Covid testing would assist in Ireland’s efforts to return to normalcy, extremely hot temperatures across Europe, and the much-publicized breakup of Alex Rodriquez and Jennifer Lopez.^[7]

4 Some Good News?

We all know 2021 was definitely not a happy-go-lucky kind of year. The heavy cloud of Covid-19 seemed to gain weight as the months dragged by. But now, Western astrologers have announced some good news in the form of an energetic shift in 2022 after Jupiter moved into the sign of Pisces in the final days of 2021.

According to Kirah Tabourn, an astrology educator, Jupiter is associated with healing and abundance. Its move into Pisces allows the planet to spread love and abundance on a global scale. Jupiter is set to move out of Pisces in May this year, but the optimistic effects of the initial move won’t be lost. Tabourn also believes that 2022 will see a rise in cults and spiritualism.^[7]

3 Random Predictions

Of course, predictions are about a lot more than just the royal family and natural disasters. Psychic Sonja Dover has predicted that Alec Baldwin, who was involved in a fatal accident on a movie set in 2021, will retire from acting in 2022. Also, the Netherlands will not be running to win the Eurovision Song Contest. Instead, it will be someone from either Croatia, Luxembourg, or Italy.

Skip and Sha’ron Leingang, a married couple that does combined psychic readings, have predicted that American politics will “explode” this October but that things will be even more chaotic in France. Skip says that the stock market will experience very anxious moments, but an upswing is not far behind.^[8]

2 Nova KIC 9832227

KIC 9832227 is a dull nova in the Cygnus constellation. According to astronomers, this nova will light up the night sky in the coming months. An Orthodox Jewish Rabbi believes this will herald the coming of the messiah.

It’s not the first time that an astrological event is believed to indicate the end of the world as we know it. In 2012, some believed that the end of the Mayan calendar had been reached and that Bolon Yokte K’Uh (one of the gods of the underworld) would be instrumental in ending the world. When this didn’t happen, U.S. evangelicals turned their eyes to the series of blood moons in 2015, which were predicted to initiate Armageddon. Whew! Glad we made it through that one!^[9]

1 Nope, Nope, Nope

Baba Vanga was a blind Bulgarian mystic and dubbed the “Nostradamus of the Balkans.” Despite having died 24 years ago, her predictions are still making headlines today. For 2022, she has apparently foreseen a string of misfortunes, including another pandemic that will arise from under the ice in Siberia due to climate change. This pandemic will spread fast and kill millions. Creepily, in August 2021, scientists discovered 15,000-year-old viruses still surviving inside glaciers.

A locust invasion from Africa will destroy cereal crops and lead to widespread famine, which in turn will cause a war to break out.

If that isn’t enough to make you run screaming for the hills, she also predicted that several cities worldwide will be hit by water shortages.

Lastly, Vanga predicted that 2022 would be the year during which humans contacted alien lifeforms. These aliens will arrive in asteroids, attack Earth, and take people hostage. Oh, goody!

It is believed that Baba Vanga lost her eyesight after being sucked into a tornado at the age of twelve. Shortly after this incident, she received her “second sight.” Among her predictions that came true were the 9/11 attacks, the rise of ISIS, and Brexit.^[10]

So, dear readers, take of this what you will. But I, for one, choose to focus on only the good for 2022!

If you have ever considered the purchase of a home, you have most likely run into a few different disclosures and rules regarding the residence. You may have wondered why the homeowner specifically mentioned something about where the home sits on the county flood plain line or outlined certain additions over the years. These are all good to know about your home in general, but the reason they have been so precisely noted is not that the homeowner thinks you care about the surrounding water levels, but because they are required by law to disclose the possible dangers of that particular property.

The purchase of something as significant as a house is one of the most important decisions you will make in your life. While the government tries it’s best to do everything in its power to make sure the transaction is fair and you are not buying a lemon of a home, a lot of issues slip through the cracks. Due to the age of laws, new developments, and sometimes honest discrepancies, home sellers do not always have to let you know of the potential risks of a building that you are seriously considering buying. The widely heard term, “Caveat Emptor,” is Latin and refers to the buyers need to diligently also take responsibility in making sure that everything regarding their potential purchase is disclosed. Caveat Emptor translates simply to, “Let the buyer beware.”

SEE ALSO: 10 Deadly Household Foods That Can Actually Kill You

10Radon

Radon is a toxic gas that results from the breakdown of natural radium in the soil. Radium is a byproduct of uranium and is short-lived as it releases harmlessly into the atmosphere. In large quantities though, radon is detrimental to our health and is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. Unfortunately, we cannot see or smell this odorless gas, and although it may be possible to guess as to areas with higher levels based upon the soil composition, it can only officially be detected with special equipment.

Radon is unique in that it is thought to be harmless at low levels in its natural state, but can build up over time. The foundations of homes and basements are the perfect grounds for toxic levels to collect. Interestingly, not all states require homeowners to even disclose that they may have a deadly gas infiltrating their abode. In fact, only thirty-seven states, as of 2017, require the disclosure during a real estate transaction.^[1]

9Lead-Based Paint

We have all heard of the dangers of lead and the warnings about your children eating paint. The warning does not come without reason, the poisonous lead that most paint consists of damages the nervous and reproductive system, as well as development and other areas of the body. Overall, lead paint is considered toxic, so toxic in fact that the government ruled that any home built before 1978 needs to disclose possible use of the stuff.

The seller disclosure is nationwide, however, with any disclosure, there are loopholes that you should look out for. Realize that, if the seller is unaware of lead-based paint that has been painted over before they lived there, then they obviously cannot disclose it. Very few people are going to regularly go around testing sections of paint around their home anyways. Because of this, it is recommended to assume that all older homes are likely to have lead-based paint whether the seller says so or not.

The other issue here is that the disclosure is only for homes before 1978. Paint could have been leftover and still used years later. Some states even continue to sell it off the shelf. For families with sensitivities, particularly those with young children, it may be best to have your walls and furniture tested regardless of the year or disclosure statement.^[2]

8Meth

In the last couple of decades, Meth has become a major issue affecting the poor and rich alike. Drugs and illegal use of substances will always be a problem among the populous, but meth has made its presence known as a particularly harmful substance due to its addictiveness and extremely harmful side effects. Studies have shown that a large number of the population over 12 have used meth at some point in their lives, with the average age of users being in their early twenties. Sadly, the large-scale use extends far beyond the original user. Meth also affects those who are around abusers, as well as the property in which it was used or created.

Deadly chemicals as a byproduct of cooking and use are known to cause everything from sinus problems to cancer. Always left behind when a home has been afflicted with meth use, one would assume that the presence of these toxins would be a mandatory disclosure. Oddly enough, when a residence had been the basis of such activities though, most states lack laws regarding.

Only approximately half the states in the United States are legally made to disclose whether or not a home was a known meth lab, and many of the stipulations only go back a certain number of years. While there are methods of decontamination, this does not mean that the place is safe, especially if you have small pets or children rummaging around in nooks and crannies. If a test does not do enough to ease your fears of a potential purchase, a quick chat with the neighbors will generally be enough to confirm or deny any rumors of methamphetamine.^[3]

7Infestations

Cockroaches, termites, mold, and bed bugs are all very real creatures that can bring down a home if not kept under control. Each of these pests begins as a small issue that, when left to thrive, can overtake a property to the point of condemnation. One would believe that a home seller would disclose such issues, or would be legally obligated to, however, there are a lot of desperate owners out there, along with a variety of different state laws that can be worked around.

Mold is one of the major issues that buyers know of and like to ask about. What most people do not realize though is that mold affects almost all homes to some degree or another. Unless you are allergic, you probably do not even know when it is there. Homeowners are obligated to disclose known issues like mold or pests, but they do not have to look for them. Some states are a little more sophisticated and require testing beforehand, but the laws do not specifically address a lot of important issues, such as a known infestation of bed bugs.^[4]

6Off-Site Problems

Depending on the state you are in, you may or may not have to disclose issues that stem from places other than your property. CIty wide or environmental type problems are usually well known enough and talked about that, if they exist, you will know. Most disclosure forms require buyers to tell sellers about existing problems that they know of, off-site issues are different though.

If your basement regularly floods due to the city water system having problems, then you may not be obliged to tell the buyer about it. The buyer is supposed to be asking about the surrounding area anyways, and a citywide issue a seller may not feel is their responsibility. Another such off-site problem that not everyone will think of is the disclosure of nuisance neighbors. Again, this is dependent on state laws, but a problematic neighbor could be the death of a real estate transaction. The discrepancies here arise from differences in opinion. One person may consider a specific habit an issue, while the practice may be normal to another. Loud parties, barking dogs, and trash collectors could mean nothing, or they could be the bane of a potential buyer’s existence. From this perspective, it is difficult to determine what then needs to be disclosed. Simple disputes over lawn length usually fall into the “no need” category, but a “habitual and obnoxious behavior” might.

If you are the type who likes their peace or often finds yourself in neighborly disagreements, consider visiting with those next door first before making any assumptions as to whether or not you wish to purchase the home.^[5]

5Essential Components

When buying a home, we assume it has all the required essentials. To be listed as a bedroom, for example, a certain number of doors and windows are expected to be there. It is also generally located directly on the listing whether or not the home has a garage, outbuildings, a basement, etc. One would think that any home they were buying then had essential home components too like a heating system, kitchen furnishings, vents, fans, etc., but this is not always the case.

The state of North Carolina, for example, does not require a seller to list any of the essential components of a home. Most people notice and ask about stoves or washers and dryers, but a missing water heater may be one of those overlooked but expensive replacements. In the south, a lack of air conditioning could be a major cause for concern, as could no heat in the northern states. Know your necessities before going into a deal to make sure you do not end up with a costly oversight simply because of an assumption.^[6]

4Asbestos

Like radon and lead-based paint, asbestos is a known material often used in homes and also known to cause adverse health problems. Used in a variety of materials from insulation to piping, asbestos fibers are dangerous when inhaled and can cause scar tissue to build up within the lungs. Besides the typical health problems of asbestos, it is also thought to have other deadly side effects, like cancer.

Despite the known problems, it was not until more recent years that the government finally stopped the use of asbestos building materials in many homes and buildings. The actual material is not banned, however, and is widely found and ignored or dealt with dependent upon the laws of the state.

Because asbestos is most dangerous when airborne, the laws do not go out of their way to make homeowners get rid of toxic materials. It is generally safe to assume that most buildings built within the last fifty years will have a form of asbestos hidden away in a remote location. To be on the safe side, always get the materials in your home tested before going in to do your remodeling. You never know what might be harmless or cancer-causing.^[7]

3Death

There is no doubt that superstitious or otherwise, a death in a house will affect a buyer’s idea of a potential home. Some people are thrilled with the idea of potential hauntings or ghost stories, and others will immediately shy away from the fact. Whether the death was peaceful or otherwise, with such a large emotional connection to historical circumstances, it would behoove a buyer to know whether or not a person died in their new home. Some states believe just that, but others see the other side. Reporting a death in the home could be seen as causing an unfair stigmatism against the seller, and is therefore not qualified as something that needs to be disclosed.

There are certain stipulations, of course. Depending on the state, the laws for disclosing serious crimes, such as violent murders, are a little more transparent. In some circumstances, for example, a peaceful death does not need to be talked about unless asked. In others, the admittance only needs to be made if the death happened within the last three years. The best way to ensure your home is not the scene of some grizzly murder of the past is a quick google search of the address.^[8]

2Sex Offenders

If deaths in the home do not put you at unease, a sex offender living right next door to your children certainly will. Not only does their presence presumably put your family at risk, but the idea of sharing a neighborhood with a known criminal could also put a bad taste in the mouths of potential buyers. Because of this, most states do require sex offenders to register their employment, school attendance, and address.

Although not all states require disclosure of nearby sex offenders to a real estate buyer, there are several cases where the jury was certainly in the buyers favor for lack of disclosure. As the sex offender registry is public knowledge, it is always best to check first if this is a concern of yours.^[9]

1Hauntings

Like an uncertain death disclosure, a haunting may or may not be a reason for a real estate transaction to go sour. There are those folks who specifically seek out spooky places and may even pay extra to be the owner of a home on the haunted registry. In most cases though, this is a small selling niche and is not the best route to go if you are in a hurry to get your home off the market.

To keep possible ghost chasers and superstitious folk from getting too involved in the sale of your home. Laws are surrounding what is known as a stigmatized property. A stigmatized property is one surrounded by rumor, good or bad. When selling a house, a bad reputation is not something that a seller wants. Ghoul disclosures are, therefore, not mandatory in all states. Unfortunately for the seller, you will most likely hear about it soon enough anyways through the gossip chain if you end up with a “haunted” dwelling.

As paranormal activity is rooted in people’s beliefs more than anything, the seller may or may not have to worry about a buyer finding out later on whether a house turned out to be haunted. In most cases, it is best to disclose the fact beforehand as the court rulings on such instances are not usually in the best interests of the non-disclosing seller.^[10]

About The Author: As a full-time freelancer and RVer, Sharon likes to spend her time traveling, looking up weird facts, and checking out the local hubs. Though she mainly writes web copy and SEO based articles, she enjoys the occasional humor and research writing.

You can find out more about her through her LinkedIn.

No matter whether you enjoy a classic cola, root beer, or lemon-lime soft drink or prefer a more specialized version such as a Cherry 7-Up or Code Red Mountain Dew, there is something unmistakably delicious about carbonated soft drinks. In fact, the global carbonated beverage market brought in a whopping $408.9 billion in 2019, with no slow down in site. Sodas still remain a popular drink of choice among Generations X and Y.

However, after reading these ten stories of tragic and scary accounts involving soda, you may never think of your favorite fizzy drink quite the same way.

Related: 10 Creative Ways To Enjoy Coffee Besides Drinking It

10 Mountain Dew

While the Mountain Dew we know today comes in 35 different flavors and is synonymous with “gamer fuel,” it was created for a much different purpose. Brothers Barney and Alley Hartman began bottling their lemon-lime creation in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1932. Its name was originally a slang term for mountain-made moonshine, and it was created to be a whiskey chaser.

In order to make moonshine, a fermentation process is needed, which creates alcohol in two forms: ethanol and methanol. Ethanol is the drinkable version, but methanol is toxic. The human body converts methanol into formaldehyde. The formaldehyde is then converted into formic acid, which essentially poisons the body’s cells. Racing fuel contains almost 100% methanol, creating the same inebriated feeling that ethanol gives through alcohol consumption. While methanol is extremely poisonous, it is cheap and easy to access in the form of racing fuel, which makes it luring to underage drinkers.

Four teenage boys at a party in January of 2016 created a deadly concoction called “Dewshine,” a mix of Mountain Dew and racing fuel. The teens created the mixture on purpose and drank it. Authorities were called to the home of sixteen-year-old Logan Stephenson on January 21, 2016, after he was found dead in his bed. Just a few minutes later, they were called to the home of his best friend, J.D. Byram, because he had begun having seizures. Byram died the following Monday.^[1]

9 Grape Soda

Something about the term “forbidden” or “off-limits” seems to promote an insatiable desire to explore, especially as children. Whether it’s a particular room in the house, an area in the neighborhood, or simply an adult’s favorite treat, we’ve all been guilty at one point or another of letting our curiosity get the better of us. However, for five-year-old Alexa Linboom, stealing her stepmother’s grape soda would cost her her life.

On January 1, 2012, Alexa stole “one or two grape drinks” from her stepmother Mary Vaughn and was forced to drink more than two liters of grape soda and water within a two-hour time frame as her punishment. The excessive amounts of fluid she ingested caused her sodium levels to drop and her brain to swell. Alexa began screaming in pain, and she later fell unconscious, but her father and stepmother waited several more hours before taking her to the hospital.

She was declared brain dead and removed from life support just two short days later. Her death was declared a homicide due to acute fluid/water intoxication. Both her father, Randall Vaughn, and her stepmother were sentenced to life in prison without parole.^[2]

8 7-Up

The Dominican Republic is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean and has become a popular tourist destination due to its beautiful beaches, endless recreational options, and rich culture. Surrounded by the Caribbean Sea on the south and the Atlantic Ocean on the north, it seems like the perfect place for a family vacation, romantic getaway, or beachfront wedding.

Awilda Montes had planned a romantic getaway to the Dominican Republic with her boyfriend in October of 2018. However, their stay at the Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville Resort quickly became anything but romantic. Montes had only been at the resort for a few hours when she decided to grab a bottle of 7-Up from the mini bar. Upon opening the bottle, she noticed there was no “fizz” but carefully proceeded to take a sip. She immediately tasted bleach which caused her entire mouth and tongue to burn, and she began spitting up blood.

While the resort claimed the incident was an “accidental mix-up” and tried to make things right with apology dinners, free nights, and couples massages, those “apologies” came with a price. The resort staff asked Montes to sign a disclaimer, which she refused. More disturbing is the fact that the three other Americans have also died at the same resort. A 41-year-old woman, Miranda Schaup-Werner, also died after drinking a beverage from the mini bar, and an engaged couple from Maryland were found dead in their room.^[3]

7 Diet Soda

Diet sodas have become popular options for those with diabetes or those looking to decrease their sugar intake as they are sweetened with things such as aspartame or sucralose instead of sugar. However, while the FDA has approved aspartame for human consumption, people who suffer from phenylketonuria (a rare genetic condition where the body cannot break down phenylalanine) need to avoid aspartame as it is highly toxic to their system. Allergic reactions to aspartame can cause a range of symptoms such as swelling of the lips, tongue, or throat, itching, swelling of the salivary glands, or skin eruptions.

Elizabeth Perkins suffers from phenylketonuria and spent three days in a coma after being served a diet soda at a local pub instead of the regular version of soda she specifically asked for. After the very first sip, she knew something was wrong. Suddenly the room went dark, and when she regained consciousness, she was in the hospital, and three days had passed. For most people, being served a diet soda versus a regular soda is a mere inconvenience. However, for someone like Perkins, this mistake could be the difference between life and death.^[4]

6 Pepsi

Sibling rivalry is all too familiar in households with more than one child, be it blood-related siblings, step-siblings, or even adopted children. Insults, teasing, bickering, and even stealing toys are common ways for siblings to compete with one another or for mom or dad’s attention. For most siblings, the rivalry will lessen as they grow older, and they may even become best friends. But for some, the competition will continue for the rest of their lives.

Two brothers in New Jersey were watching an NFC Championship game together when one of the brothers, Michael Charles, became angry that the San Fransico 49ers were losing and grabbed the last can of Pepsi. When Michael’s unnamed brother asked him not to take the soda, Michael began shouting expletives, picked up a pipe, and hit his brother in the head.

Michael and his brother continued the argument by stabbing each other with knives, leaving the scene completely covered in blood by the time officers arrived. Michael fled the scene, and the police were unable to locate him. Not only was this a violent, gruesome display of sibling rivalry taken too far, but sadly, their mother was present during the time the argument took place.^[5]

5 Coca-Cola

Soda consumption contributes to more than 180,000 preventable deaths each year. While we know that consuming soda or sugary drinks on a regular basis is not good for our health, there is something unmistakably satisfying about a cold sip of our favorite soft drink, especially on a hot day. However, for a 22-year-old man in Bejing, China, choosing to drink a refreshing bottle of Coca-Cola instead of water on a hot day was a deadly mistake.

An unnamed man in China drank a 1.5-liter bottle of Coca-Cola within 10 minutes on a hot day to try and cool off. Shortly after that, he began experiencing bloating and extreme abdominal pain due to trapped gas caused by the soda’s carbonation. He was treated in the emergency room, where a CT scan revealed that he did indeed have a build-up of gas. However, the gas was not only in his intestines but had also been pushed into his portal vein.

The portal vein is responsible for carrying blood from your gastrointestinal tract to your liver. Gas in your portal vein restricts blood flow to the liver, cuts off the much-needed oxygen supply sent to the liver in order for it to function properly, and in turn, causes the liver tissue to die. While the doctors tried to release the gas from his system and administer fluids and treatments to protect his dying liver, they were unsuccessful. He died from hepatic ischemia, also known as “shock liver,” due to a lack of oxygen.^[6]

4 Ginger Ale

An improvised explosive device or IED is one type of explosive weapon that can take almost any form and be activated in several different ways. The high-pressure blast from these types of explosions can cause damage to pressure-sensitive organs such as the lungs, ears, and abdomen, thermal burns to the skin and lungs, and direct body damage from shrapnel or debris sent into the air from the blast. Shelly Millsap suffered an axonal brain injury similar to that of a soldier after being hit by an IED. However, her life-altering injury was not sustained in combat but in her own kitchen.

On the morning of January 17, 2013, Millsap walked into her kitchen and past the kitchen sink when she heard a loud boom that knocked her to the ground. She had forgotten about the bottle of homemade ginger ale she had taken out of the refrigerator and left in the kitchen sink. The yeast and sugar fermenting inside essentially turned the bottle into a bomb that happened to explode just as she walked by. Even though her face was bleeding and she was screaming in pain, she managed to send a picture of her injury to her husband, Bob, to alert him of what had happened and then drove herself to the Victor Clinic for treatment.

The medical staff at the clinic was able to identify the severity of her injuries, and a nurse transported her to another medical clinic, where she was diagnosed with a broken nose. The next day, Millsap returned to work at the Wildwood Room, where she was a baker. However, when she returned to the Victor Clinic for a follow-up appointment six days later, the nurse practitioner who evaluated her became more concerned about the injury to her nose. As a precaution, she was ordered to go home, rest, and avoid working.

Nearly a week after her accident, the effects of the explosion came to light. Millsap’s memory began to fail, her right side became paralyzed, and she could hardly speak. She was taken in for an MRI, but the results showed nothing out of the ordinary. A neurologist who consulted her case diagnosed her with a traumatic brain injury. The Millsaps also received a second opinion which diagnosed her condition as an axonal brain injury that impaired her speech, short-term memory, and motor skills. One forgotten bottle of ginger ale completely changed Shelly Millsap’s life forever, and her journey will never be the same.^[7]

3 Sprite

The Sprite soft drink we have come to love was actually first developed in West Germany in 1959. It was part of the Fanta line of soft drinks and went by the name Clear Lemon Fanta. It wasn’t until two years later that it was introduced to the United States market. Today, Sprite is available in over 190 countries worldwide and comes in seventeen different versions. Its lemon-lime flavor has been marketed as a refreshing beverage option; however, drinking from a Sprite bottle cost one woman her life.

Sarah Jane Moss had been staying at her boyfriend Daniel Fairbrother’s house in January 2011 when she took a drink from a Sprite bottle that was stored on a kitchen shelf. Her face began to swell, and she began vomiting a foul-smelling black substance. Fairbrother’s mother took Moss to the hospital, and the medics were told that she had consumed fish tank fluid. They then instructed her to go home and increase her fluid intake.

Two days later, Moss’s symptoms began to worsen, and she was taken back to the hospital. She developed sores around her mouth and a red rash; she was vomiting blood and had difficulty speaking. When the doctors tested the Sprite bottle Moss drank from, they discovered incredibly high levels of alkaline. Moss had actually consumed cannabis fertilizer. Her condition continued to deteriorate over the course of the next six months, and her esophagus became as thin as a piece of string. She died on June 24, 2011, after several emergency surgeries, leaving behind her 4-year-old daughter.^[8]

2 Togito Cola

Asthma is a condition where a person’s airways react to specific triggers, leading to inflammation and swelling of the airways, making it difficult to breathe. Without treatment, an asthma attack can lead to asphyxiation. This was the cause of death for a 1young girl who simply wanted nothing more than to enjoy a soft drink.

On August 3, 2021, a 13-year-old girl in Chennai, India, purchased two bottles of Togito Cola ( a local soft drink available in certain parts of India) from a shop near her home. The girl had been diagnosed as asthmatic and was instructed not to consume anything cold. Therefore, when her older sister Ashwini witnessed her consuming the soft drink, she scolded her, but it was too late. The girl hurriedly gulped down the remaining soda before it could be taken away from her. She immediately started coughing and vomiting. Ashwini rushed to the church where their mother worked to tell her what had happened, but before they could make it back home, the girl collapsed. She was transported to the hospital but was declared dead on arrival.

The shop that sold the soda was shut down for a short time after the girl’s grandmother and neighbors stated the shopkeeper was known for selling expired products. And the food safety department temporarily closed the beverage company’s manufacturing plant.^[9]

1 7-Up (Again)

Methamphetamines are highly addictive stimulants that affect the body’s nervous system by increasing the amount of dopamine naturally produced in the brain. It is commonly referred to by street names such as meth, speed, crank, or ice and has become the second most popular illegal drug in the world. José María Soto Gastélum died from what was deemed a methamphetamine overdose in 2017; however, he had never used the substance.

On September 17, 2017, Gastélum purchased a 7-Up from a convenience store in Valle de Mexicali and later began experiencing symptoms. He was treated at the ISSSTECALI clinic, along with three others, for similar symptoms of nausea, vomiting, limb pains, labored breathing, and headaches. Toxicology reports indicated that Gastélum tested positive for methamphetamines in “high concentrations,” although he was not a substance user.

It was later discovered that 7-Up bottles sold in the Mexicali area had been laced with methamphetamines and put onto store shelves for sale. While none of the 7-Up products sold within the United States had been affected, over 77,000 containers were confiscated from a Mexican Pepsi Co bottling plant.^[10]