Stories have to be bound by logic. Life does not. Authors usually draw upon interesting personalities for inspiration. For these ten people, the writers did not do them justice. As fantastical as many of the characters in the literary canon are, they cannot compare to the absurdity of the following ten people behind notable creations.

Top 10 Mysterious People Who Should Have Movies Made About Them

10 Alfredo Balli Trevino

Thomas Harris stumbled upon his muse on accident.^[1] Harris’ magazine initially deployed him to interview Monterey Prison inmate Dykes Askew Simmons. Simmons told Harris that he would have died in a botched escape attempt if not for Dr. Alfredo Balli Trevino’s generous help. As Harris questioned Trevino, the surgeon eloquently spoke on psychoanalysis’ merits. Harris, convinced Trevino was an employee, was shocked to learn that Trevino was a fellow prisoner with a gory background.

One does not inspire the most infamous criminal in history without being somewhat evil. In 1959, Trevino severed his lover Jesus Castillo Rangel’s throat with a scalpel. Trevino’s ability to navigate both educated articulacy and gruesome instincts inspired the suave cannibal turned serial killer Hannibal Lecter. For a depraved maniac, the actual Hannibal was relatively swell.

If you ignore the murder, Trevino used his surgical prowess for good. Out of prison, Trevino mostly treated elderly and poor patients. He never charged for his services. His patients commended him, “as a good guy.”^[2] Trevino spent his last years tending to those who needed his help the most.

9 Daniel Ruettiger

Unlike other entries on the list, Daniel Ruettiger never had an alter ego. As the titular underdog in the 1993 biographical football movie Rudy, “Rudy” has become shorthand for anybody who strives towards their dreams no matter the obstacles. The real Rudy put up a few of those obstacles himself.

When one becomes an emblem of athletic perseverance, they can slap their name on any item remotely associated with sports. Rudy exploited this to become a con-artist. The previously pure symbol of endurance branded his image on the “Rudy Nutrition” line of sports drinks.^[3] His attempt as a salesman was less triumphant than his career at Notre Dame. Failing to capture any audience, the company artificially inflated the penny stock’s value by defrauding investors with misleading statements. Allegedly, they illicitly profited $11 million.^[4] The scheme was exposed in 2008. “Rudy Nutrition” went out of business shortly afterward.

8 Dennis Ketcham

Dennis Ketcham never lived the idealistic childhood of his cartoon counterpart.^[5] Inspired by his son’s antics, Hank created Dennis the Menace, the mischievous scamp and eternal tormentor of neighbor Mr. Wilson. Naming his most famous creation after his child drove a wedge in the family. His mother, Alice, turned to alcohol. His father receded into his work at the expense of the same child he was depicting.

In 1959, Hank and Alice divorced. Later that year, Alice accidentally overdosed at 41. Hank coped with the loss by marrying Jo Anne Stevens. The family moved to Geneva. As Dennis struggled in Swiss boarding schools, his father sent him back to the United States. Hank stayed in Europe.

In 1966, Dennis joined the Marine Corps. After fighting in Vietnam, Dennis suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. For the rest of his life, he meandered through menial jobs. The only time Dennis ever spoke to his father again was to ask for some of the money made off his name.

7 Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie

Charles Dickens’ most iconic character exists because he had dyslexia. In a fog, Dickens ambled about a cemetery. On Ebenezer Scroggie’s tombstone, read the inscription, “Meal Man,” referring to his career distributing milled corn. With his poor eyesight, Dickens thought it said “Mean Man.”^[6] Shocked that anybody could be so callously remembered, Dickens envisioned an old curmudgeon who died unloved. Barely altering his protagonist’s name, this led to the grouchy miser Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.

Curiously, the real Ebenezer Scroggie was nothing like his yuletide namesake. Whereas Scrooge was a stingy prude, Scroggie was a freewheeling bachelor who scandalized his peers. Scroggie got into trouble with the Church of Scotland after impregnating a servant in a graveyard. A General Assembly of the church was forced to stop after Scroggie grabbed a countess’ butt. No wonder the Muppets did not reenact this version of the story. However, Scroggie’s biggest claim to fame was giving William Smellie the concept for a book storing all the world’s information. Smellie turned that idea into the first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.^[7]

6 John Maher

In J. M. Barrie’s 1904 play Peter Pan, the single-minded Captain Hook is plagued by Tick-Tock the Crocodile, an omnipresent reminder of his encroaching mortality. The character is a whimsical reminder that death can come at any moment. Reverend John Maher knew this misfortune too well.

No one in the small village of Brede would have second guessed the parson. The only notable thing about the man was that he had a hook instead of a left hand. A convincing backstory of a carriage accident was good enough to deter any nagging questions. He spent his days honoring the Lord. That is until a former partner drove him insane.

The reverend lived a hidden life.^[8] Before leading Sunday services, Maher was pirate captain in the West Indies with a cohort named Smith. The two had a falling out. Maher abandoned Smith on a Caribbean island. After being rescued, Smith vowed to hunt down the man who left him for dead. Ultimately, Smith confronted Maher by threatening to reveal the reverend’s secrets. Maher was driven mad with guilt. J.M. Barrie lightened this story of blackmail into the bumbling duo of Captain Hook and Smee.

10 Bizarre People Behind Everyday Words

5 Sam Sheppard

The Fugitive stresses that Dr. Richard Kimble was truly innocent. In both the 1960’s television series and the 1993 movie starring Harrison Ford, the physician desperately tried to clear his name after being wrongfully accused of murdering his wife. The real mysterious death of Marilyn Reese Sheppard, wife of neurosurgeon Sam Sheppard, is much more ambiguous. This section will not discuss whether Sheppard got away with slaying his spouse in 1954. Instead, it will focus on his life once acquitted.^[9]

If one wanted to convince the public they were good husband material, it would not be the best idea to immediately marry a relative of the Nazi High Command. One week after being released from prison, Sheppard married German born Adriane Tabbenjohanns. Notably, Tabbenjohanns’ half-sister was Joseph Goebbels’ wife. Even Nazis have standards. When two of Sheppard’s patients died in surgery, Adriane divorced him.

Sheppard eased his depression with alcohol and a quixotic enterprise as a professional wrestler. Playing into his reputation, Sheppard performed for over 40 matches under the name “The Killer.” There he met his last wife, the 19-year-old daughter of his wrestling coach. It was a brief marriage. At 46, Dr. Sam Sheppard died of liver failure.

4 William Hickman

In the late 1920’s, William Hickman’s crime spree scandalized America. Hickman’s sociopathic tendencies were evident since he tortured animals as a child. Gradually, he upgraded to robbing gas stations and drug stores across the country. Along the way, he likely killed a girl in Wisconsin and his partner’s grandfather in California. His nationwide crime wave culminated in the depraved kidnapping of 12-year-old Marion Parker.^[10]

Hickman ransomed prominent banker Perry Parker $1,500 for his daughter’s safe return. Despite their correspondence’s guarantees, Marion was already strangled with a towel. At the drop site, Hickman positioned the corpse to look like she was still alive. By the time the horrified father discovered Marion’s real condition, Hickman was gone.

This needlessly cruel image stuck with author Ayn Rand. Dubbing Hickman a “superman,” Rand admired that somebody could function with such little compassion.^[11] Ayn Rand most directly referenced William Hickman for Danny Renaham in the 1928 novella The Little Street. To a lesser degree, Hickman’s philosophy informed staunch individualistic figures such as The Fountainhead’s industrial titan Howard Roark or Atlas Shrugged’s strong-willed John Galt. In his own demented way, Hickman certainly did whatever he wanted.

3 Robert Leroy Ripley

Robert Leroy Ripley’s name is synonymous with the surreal. His life reflected his bizarre proclivities. Famed for his “Believe It or Not!” cartoon series, Ripley traversed the world collecting oddities. Financed by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, his travels to more than 200 countries netted him fascinating encounters with strange locals. He stored the relics from his adventures on his own private island. Shrunken heads, a menagerie teeming with exotic animals, and antiquities decorated his house. The centerpiece of his collection was a dried out whale penis and a particularly thorough assortment of erotica. He used those to entertain his self-described “harem” of women. He tended to have three to four live-in girlfriends at a time.^[12]

Ripley found great success with the ladies despite not being conventionally attractive. The most notable trait of the balding artist was his protruding teeth. His jagged dentures made it impossible to properly pronounce some letters. In the 1930’s, the Warner Brothers’ character Egghead shared this inability. Appearing in the cartoon, “Believe It or Else” Egghead donned Ripley’s trademark suit and spats combo and repeated the catchphrase “I don’t believe it.” Egghead, a more inept hunter than his inspiration, eventually morphed into Elmer Fudd.^[13]

2 Jean Ross

Fame alluded Jean Ross in life. She found it in fiction. Outside of a few movie cameos, her success as entertainer was limited to a small gig as a cabaret singer in the Weimar republic. One of the prominent political writers who saw her perform was Christopher Isherwood, who used her as the model for his 1937 novella Sally Bowles.

Transformed by multiple adaptations, Bowles one consistent trait is that she is a sexually adventurous singer of middling talent. Reworked on stage and screen, Sally Bowles is most closely associated with Liza Minnelli’s Oscar worthy portrayal in Bob Fosse’s 1972 film Cabaret. She inspired the similarly glamorous libertine Holly Golightly in Breakfast of Tiffany’s. These versions pigeonholed Ross as simpleminded.

Ross was no ditz. Fleeing Germany following the rise of Nazism, Ross became a leftist journalist for the British publication The Daily Worker.^[14] Novelist George Orwell accused Ross and her husband Claud Cockburn of being secret propagandist. While Cockburn notoriously fabricated stories to promote Stalin’s regime as member of Comintern, Ross tenure as a war correspondent was marked by tales of the human loss. Embedded with Republican defenders, Ross witnessed nine aerial bombardments of the Spanish Civil War firsthand. The literary versions turned Ross into a star, but undermined her even more impressive real history as a brash investigator.

1 John Chapman

As a fixture of American folklore, the specifics surrounding Johnny Appleseed depend on the speaker. One universal feature of the pot adorned arborist’s tall tale is his communion with nature. This seemingly bizarre feature is the story’s most accurate part.

John Chapman was not motivated by an urge to promote botany. He was more infused by a mix of drunken bluster and divine calling. The apples he distributed over the Midwestern United States were planted to claim land and ferment for a stable source of booze.^[15] In an alcoholic daze, he entertained local children by sticking pins in his feet and walking on hot coals. Inebriation helped him brazen into the wilderness unafraid of the natural lurkers like rattlesnakes or black bears. Nature was not always as kind. In his twenties, Chapman removed a chunk of his brain after a horse kicked him in the head

This lobotomized state might explain how he started talking to angels. Along with each bundle of apples, Chapman carried the message of the Church of Swedenborg. Like founder Emanuel Swedenborg, Chapman remained celibate, except for having what he called “spiritual intercourse” with angels.^[16] Disney cut the part when Johnny Appleseed has drunken sex with ghosts.

10 New Facts About Famous People And Places

About The Author: The greatest fictional character Nate Yungman ever wrote was his social media persona. If you want to read more of his thoughts, you can follow him on Twitter, @nateyungman. If you had a question or comment, you can send him an email at [email protected].

Area 51 is not the only secret base in Nevada. Other deserts have ancient ships filled with treasure, vanishing monoliths and eternal songs.

10 Unsolved Desert Mysteries

10 A Huge Happy Cat

The Nazca Desert in Peru achieved infamy decades ago when massive geoglyphs were discovered on the ground. The ancient images include animals, birds, and geometric patterns. In 2020, a new geoglyph turned up. For cat lovers, the Cute Factor of the latest picture was a welcome change.

Etched into a cliff, the feline measures 37-meter (120-feet) long. The cat’s pose is relaxed and shows the animal resting on its back, almost as if begging for a belly scratch. The adorable theme is not the only thing that sets it apart from the other geoglyphs. Anyone who is familiar with the Nazca Lines will quickly notice that, compared to the others, the cat’s lines are more simple.

Age could explain why the cat does not have the complexity and straight lines that other Nazca art is known for. Clocking in at 2,000 years old, the kitty is the oldest geoglyph in the area. Perhaps, as one of the earliest attempts, the results were a bit wobbly. But as generations practised the unusual desert creations, they refined their skills and produced masterpieces that still defy our understanding.

9 Ice Filled With Life

Ice is not supposed to grow in the desert. But under the right circumstances, like high altitudes and extremely dry land, fields of jagged ice spring up in deserts all over the world. Called “penitentes,” they look like upright blades that often grow as tall as a person.

In 2019, samples were removed from an ice field in Chile’s Atacama Desert. Some of the samples contained red patches. This was a stunning moment. In other parts of the world, red ice points to the presence of living microbes. This was something that had never been found inside penitentes before.

After a few tests, the microbes were identified as snow algae. They were related to species of algae that flourish inside alpine and polar ice. But how the organisms got inside the ice blades standing in the middle of the desert is a mystery.

8 An Endless Song (Sort Of)

In 1982, the band Toto produced their hit “Africa.” Almost 40 years later, somebody decided that the song should play in the desert. Forever. That someone was Max Siedentopf, a Namibian-German artist. As a rabid fan of the song, he had listened to “Africa” more than 400 times (by his own estimate).

Depending on one’s view, he created a piece of art or gave the desert a notorious earworm. But either way, he kept the location a secret. At his chosen spot, he placed several speakers and an MP3 player on white pedestals and hooked them up to a solar-powered battery system.

Somewhere in the Namid Desert, this song is playing on an endless loop. Well, that is the perfect scenario anyway. The artist never protected the installation from the harsh desert environment apart from using durable equipment. Siedentopf himself admitted that the desert would probably strangle the song sooner rather than later.

7 The Most Isolated Tree

By the 1970s, the Tree of Tenere had stood in Niger’s Sahara desert for nearly 300 years. As the only tree around for 402 kilometres (250 miles), the acacia was used by ancient travellers as a landmark and it also featured on military maps from the 1930s.

The lonesome tree was born when the Sahara was greener and looked less like a desert. It died in 1973. The way the tree was killed infuriated many people. A drunk driver had been following an old caravan route when he ploughed into the Tree of Tenere.

The trunk of the tree is now displayed at the Niger National Museum. By way of remembrance, a metal monument was placed at the spot where the acacia had once stood.

6 1.8 Billion Trees

The Sahara desert had everyone fooled. From Joe on the ground to scientists, most people believed that the Sahara was nothing but ripples of sand and maybe a lizard. But nothing escapes the eye of artificial intelligence and satellites.

In 2020, a study used AI and NASA satellites to count trees in the desert. Incredibly, the project discovered more than 1.8 billion shrubs and trees hiding in the west of the Sahara. What makes the discovery so remarkable is the fact that they were inside a relatively small area. All told, the sneaky foliage covered an area of just 1.3 million square kilometres (501,933 square miles).

5 A Space Invader Called Witherspoon

In 1990, pilots with the National Guard flew over the Alvord Desert in Oregon. At one point they looked down and saw something that would enthral the world. Down below, carved into the earth, was a massive symbol. It contained a square, circles, and petals. This arrangement was later identified as a Hindu symbol called Sri Yantra.

One of the most popular theories blamed aliens. But when the truth dawned, it involved a different kind of space invader. Indeed, when a man called Bill Witherspoon carved the image he never had permission to “decorate” what was a protected wilderness area.

Witherspoon refused to abandon his desert art. He promptly paid the $100 fine and then created more giant images (this time on a private ranch where he had permission). Not everyone was a fan of the carvings. Complaints ranged from environmental concerns to fears that Witherspoon was using the symbols to summon dark spirits.

4 A Place Called Slab City

Camp Dunlap was a training base for Marines that was shut down after World War II. Squatters soon moved in and raised shacks on the concrete slabs of the base which also had a grid of streets. In no time, Slab City was born.

Located in California’s Colorado Desert, the inhabitants often portray themselves as the last free people in America. If freedom is based on taxes, then that may well be true. The taxman is not particularly interested in Slab City.

Other inhabitants include survivalists and adventurers. But those who arrive by choice is only one half of the story. Many families lose everything and have nowhere else to go except a squatter camp in the desert. Life is not easy. There is no running water, plumbing or hospitals. Did someone steal your wallet? Tough beans. The Slab City Police Department does not exist.

Slab City does not officially exist either.

3 The Utah Monolith

In 2020, wildlife officials flew over a remote part of Utah. The helicopter’s mission was to find and count bighorn sheep. Instead, the crew noticed something shiny down below. Intrigued by the reflective object, the helicopter landed nearby. What they found was a bizarre metal rectangle standing upright in a ravine.

This was no ancient artefact. But besides being new, what made the whole thing so odd was that someone had made the effort to plant the 3-meter (10-feet) pillar in bedrock, in the middle of nowhere, for seemingly no reason.

Fearing that sightseers would trample ancient sites or get lost in the desert, authorities kept the location a secret. But somebody found it. Roughly a week after the monolith was discovered, it disappeared.

2 A Ship Filled With Gold

In 1533, a ship called the Bom Jesus set sail from Portugal and vanished. Besides the loss of her entire crew, the ship also disappeared with a cargo of gold coins which, by today’s standards, was worth $12.5 million.

Nearly 500 years later, in 2016, miners stumbled upon the remains of the shipwreck. It was inside a dry lagoon in the Namibian desert. They alerted archaeologists who confirmed the identity of the vessel. After six days of excavations, the gold was recovered.

Media outlets lost their minds over the precious coins. But the archaeologists? They were more excited about the human bones, clothing, and pottery that were also discovered. Almost nothing is known about the daily lives of sailors who lived centuries ago. Since such artefacts can tell us more, they are, in a historical sense, more valuable than gold.

1 Area 6

Area 51 needs no introduction. But the base is not the only secretive zone in the Nevada desert. Meet Area 6; a smaller complex with hangars and a 1.6 kilometre (1 mile) long landing strip.

Airspace is restricted and the entire place is fenced off. About 19 kilometres (12 miles) separate Area 6 from Area 51 and the airstrip is used by both Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. Beyond that, the facts get hazy.

When the departments were pressed for answers, an official spokesperson admitted to a short clue, saying that “They come here to test their own sensors.” Investigators also found the license application of the contractor who had built the airstrip. The paperwork described the facility as a place where unmanned vehicles are created and tested.

Based on that, some have suggested that Area 6 holds MQ-9 Reaper planes. These are drones that specialize in reconnaissance missions. Area 6 could be where new technology related to the planes are tested and the surrounding landscape is also perfect for dry runs of actual missions.

10 Hidden Secrets Of The Sahara Desert

Among the pop, dance, and rap tunes of the past year, viewers of MTV may have noticed a slightly different beat in the download charts. “Running Up That Hill” was originally released in 1985 by Kate Bush. Newly popularized through its inclusion on Netflix’s Stranger Things, it reentered the charts and cast a retrospective look on an outstanding but seldom spoken about performer: Kate Bush.

Part of this may be due to the fact that despite her achievements, Bush has retracted from the limelight. A recluse for 35 years, she is notoriously secretive. She does not appear in interviews unless she has something to promote, which is rare. However, she has an untouchable legacy that spans not just music but technology and wider artistic mediums.

Related: Top 10 Iconic Moments From The History Of Music

10 She Shared a Dance Teacher with David Bowie

David Bowie was a huge influence on Kate Bush’s work, and if you can’t hear it musically, then you can see it in her evocative dance routines and expression. While Bowie is not known as a dancer, his theatrical stylings were due to the tutelage of Lindsay Kemp, a dancer, mime artist, and choreographer.

Kemp grew up in the industrial north of England, spending time in Liverpool and South Shields. Before completing a dance scholarship, he first had to do military service before studying under the famous mime artist Marcel Marceau. Bowie saw him perform in Covent Garden when he was 19. They would go on to have a relationship and collaborate on many of his most famous characters, such as Ziggy Stardust.

When Bush took up dance lessons with Kemp, he believed her to be a timid mouse that came alive when performing. The track “Moving” from her first album was dedicated to him. Kemp returned home one night to find she had pushed a copy under his door upon its release.^[1]

9 Her Collaborations Have Been as Eccentric as Her Music

In today’s release schedule, it is hard to find a track that does not have a collaboration somewhere. The names of rappers and producers often trail after the main artist in most pieces. However, Kate Bush rarely did collaborations, but when she did, they were exceptionally well chosen.

Her most famous was with Peter Gabriel, former frontman of the progressive rock band Genesis and most well-known for his hit single “Sledgehammer.” She often did live tracks with him, and “The Man with the Child in His Eyes” is their most well-known duet.

However, Kate Bush was not opposed to a comedy routine either. One track had her singing the song “Do Bears…” with Rowan Atkinson, known to many as Mr. Bean. A verse included the line, “He’s an utter creep, and he drives me around the bend. To alleviate the boredom, I sleep with his friends.”

One of her most poignant and leftfield collaborations is with actor Stephen Fry. On her tenth studio album 50 Words for Snow, the final track holds the same title. In it, Fry and Bush recite the word snow in a myriad of different languages.^[2]

8 “Wuthering Heights” Was Written About the Film Adaptation, Not the Book

Kate Bush’s first single was the dramatic ballad “Wuthering Heights.” Written at the tender age of eighteen, it was composed in March 1977 and then released a year later in 1978. It made her the first woman in British chart history to reach number one with a self-penned track.

Many people assume Bush wrote the song after reading the book by Emily Bronte. This was not the case, as she took inspiration from the television adaptation. Created by the British Broadcasting Corporation, it was on screens in 1978. Only after watching this did Bush write the song, then finish off the novel.^[3]

7 Bush’s Impactful Use of the First Synthesizers

Sampling is so endemic in modern songwriting and production that it seems strange to think of a time when it was not used. The first commercial device that allowed people to play recorded sounds was the Fairlight CMI. Developed by Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie, it was released in 1979 and was seized upon by the most forward-thinking artists of the time.

Kate Bush collaborator Peter Gabriel was the first person in the UK to get one. Hard Rockers Bad Company had the next, which was often rented out to Hans Zimmer for his cinematic scores. By Bush’s third studio album, Never For Ever, she had begun experimenting with recorded sounds on the Fairlight as a major compositional tool. You can hear it clearly on the single “Babooshka,” with the sound of breaking glass, which she and Gabriel recorded in a local parking lot.^[4]

6 Her Team Ushered in the Microphone Headset

Microphone headsets are an important piece of technology. Now we use them routinely for online communications and gaming. Before that, they were the domain of Madonna and Britney Spears, who looked cool in the late ’90s, dancing around with them attached to their heads.

The Tour of Life was Bush’s only live tour to date and the amount of time, effort, and production show why she never attempted another for 35 years. Blending dance, poetry, music, and even magic, it was a cavalcade of everything Kate Bush. So taxing was her performance that it was not uncommon for her to collapse in exhaustion afterward.

Featuring songs from her first two albums, Bush quickly realized the limitations of having to stand in front of or hold a microphone. The sound engineer, Martin Fisher, decided to fashion one that was attached to a coat hanger and wrapped around her head. Thus, the microphone headset was born.^[5]

5 She Was Banned by UK TV for Killing Actors…in a Video

There have been some strange themes in Kate Bush’s songs, but none are as odd as the track “Experiment IV.” Created to promote her 1986 greatest hits album The Whole Story, it was about a military plot to create a sound so destructive it could kill. The video features a host of stars from British television, including Hugh Laurie, Dawn French, and Peter Vaughn. In the video, all suffer violent deaths that saw it banned by the BBC’s Top of the Pops show.

Part of this gruesome video may have been down to her fascination with the horror genre itself. Kate was a huge fan of macabre cinema, even penning the song “Hammer Horror” in homage to her favorite movie studio. The video did earn her a nomination for best concept video at the 1988 Grammy Awards.^[6]

4 She Broke Japan by Appearing on Their Version of X Factor

Far before American Idol and X Factor were known for bringing fledgling pop stars into the public consciousness, Kate Bush tried to experiment with this herself. The Japanese market was huge at the time but known as notoriously difficult to get a foothold in. She debuted at a Tokyo song contest to promote her tour and managed to come in second.

Most of the footage of this is only known to exist from UK news segments, though the audio is still available. In it, the video shows her sightseeing in Tokyo. It is known that she did a lot of promotional tours before the gig itself, which came off the back of her arduous Tour of Life. Named the 7th Tokyo Music Festival International Contest, she was head-to-head with fifteen other competitors from around the globe. The festival has an illustrious history, with winners from other years such as Dionne Warwick, Al Green, and Lionel Richie.^[7]

3 She Wrote Music for a Coca-Cola Fruit Drink

Fruitopia was a fruit-flavored soft drink introduced in the mid-1990s by Coca-Cola. Aimed at young adults, its purpose was to build on the trend of flavored tea drinks. With a $30 million marketing budget, it had names like Pink Lemonade Euphoria, Citrus Consciousness, and other psychedelic titles.

Why Kate Bush was chosen to do the music for not one advert, but all nine is a mystery. At this point, she was putting out less work and had almost vanished from the spotlight. The late ’80s dance craze that the marketing scene was jumping on was nothing to do with Kate Bush, and her style of music even less so. However, with a host of world musicians and instruments from around the globe, the sonic paintings she produced actually worked.^[8]

2 She Turned Down a Bond Theme

Moonraker was the eleventh James Bond film and the fourth for actor Roger Moore. Released in 1979, it hit cinemas at a time when Bond films were huge, but the quality of their plots was waning. Unfortunately, this also carried onto their theme tunes, with Moonraker being one of the less memorable hits.

Originally, the song was intended for Frank Sinatra. Why he could not do it is unknown. Then, Kate Bush was approached. Her excuse was that she was about to head out on tour, though it could have also been that it was not a great song. This meant it went to another classic crooner, Johnny Mathis. Considering it a substandard song, he also left the project. Finally, Shirly Bassey recorded the song at the last minute, making it her third James Bond theme.^[9]

1 The Sex Pistols Frontman Once Wrote a Song for Her About Parrots

The Sex Pistols and Kate Bush existed in the same space at the same time, but on the surface, their music could not be further apart. Yet dig deeper, and there are some very similar themes: most importantly, about British identity and how it manifests. Despite his punk attitude, the frontman of the Sex Pistols John Lydon had always been a huge Kate Bush fan.

In a 2009 documentary on the Queens of Pop, Lydon explained how it was Kate Bush who had asked for the collaboration. He then went away and created a track for her about the illegal parrot trade in Brazil. However, Kate told the frontman, “Not what I had in mind, John!” and promptly turned him down.^[10]

With fake news making tabloids practically obsolete, it is easy to become jaded and start being skeptical at the slightest strange news story, even if it’s only somewhat unbelievable. However, while there are a lot of fake or exaggerated stories going around, there will always be some crazy stories that are actually true. As they say, the truth is stranger than fiction…

10. Russians Claim Plankton Was Found Growing On The Outside Of The ISS

Recently, Russian Cosmonauts reported that a sea plankton, and one that isn’t found on Earth, was found growing on the outside of the International Space Station. While NASA initially reported that they hadn’t heard any such thing, the Americans and Russians do not always immediately share information, and it was later learned, after a spokesman from NASA said we were mainly testing near exhaust vents and such — and not on the windows where it was said to be found — that it was found by cosmonauts, by chance, during a routine spacewalk. 

The plankton growing on the ISS may sound unbelievable, but it is not the first organism to survive in space, or where it theoretically shouldn’t. Scientists have found so-called extremophiles of various sorts living things in places beneath the ocean, deep beneath the arctic ice, and even in space before, although it was the first time this type of particular plankton was found. The truth is that the ISS actually has a lot of polluting gases around it due to all of its activity, and needs some cleanup on the outside in general. Likely, the constant pollution (and even heat and chemicals coming off of the station, and the other activity around it) help extremophiles thrive in a place where most organisms couldn’t survive at all. 

9. Some Jellyfish Can Age Backwards, Then Forwards Again, Multiple Times In Their Life 

One jellyfish, dubbed the immortal jellyfish, is usually the size of about a pen tip, and can turn from a medusa back into a polyp, and then back again, although it can only do this so many times in life; no creature is truly immortal. However, more recently, scientists have found an even stranger regeneration method in something called the Moon Jellyfish. This jellyfish, when studied, did something similar (but even more bizarre) and scientists are not sure if it is using the same, or at least a similar, method. 

Essentially, a Chinese scientist took what appeared to be a dead Moon Jelly, and put it in a tank to see what would happen. Three months later, a polyp and then more emerged from the body, and they started growing into medusae. The original body seemed to finally sink to the tank bottom, but only after polyps from it had appeared in a reverted state, and grown back into medusae, the fully adult form of a jellyfish. He also found that when overfed or hurt, the Moon Jelly was forming calluses that then turned into polyps, from which multiple clones of the original jellyfish burst forth. While there is still a lot more studying to be done, the genetics of jellyfish are fascinating, and could likely help us in all kinds of medical applications if we could truly understand their DNA and how they function. 

8. Some People Have Extra Functioning Kidneys And Can Drink More 

Many people are convinced that they simply, genetically, can drink a lot more than their friends. For many people, this is just silly bragging, and what they actually have is an alcohol problem. However, science has shown that something strange really could potentially give you an edge on how much you can drink compared to others. Some people are actually born with extra kidneys due to a defect where they split off from the main ones while developing in the womb. Only about one in a million who have 1-2 of these extra kidneys actually have fully functioning ones, and if they aren’t fully functioning, they can be dangerous as they can cause urine flow backup. 

However, some do have fully functioning extra kidneys, which theoretically gives them a lot more ability to process toxins in general, although more studies are needed to see just how effective this is at helping the body neutralize toxins and especially process alcohol without getting as drunk or as poisoned as fast. Two brothers from Latvia may not have had formal studies done on their alcohol consumption abilities, likely as it would be hard to make such a study ethical for health reasons, but they have been confirmed to have extra functioning kidneys, and both have (anecdotally) drank their friends under the table their entire lives. 

7. Arthur Conan Doyle Turned Into A Paranormal Believing Nutcase Later In Life 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was knighted for his contributions to literature, and is considered one of the greatest literary giants of all time. He brought us Sherlock Holmes, considered to be the greatest fictional detective, and people were so attached to the character that when he killed him off, fans wore black armbands on the streets and were so upset that he decided to write him back to life. Sherlock Holmes is considered the most rational detective, always explaining away the spiritual explanations, and never allowing a  fact to be twisted to suit a theory. 

Unfortunately, while Sherlock Holmes may have been an incredibly rational (if fictitious) person, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was not. Doyle had a close friendship with Harry Houdini, a man who was known for his incredible abilities to escape from anything, and considering their respective careers, it would seem a close match for friendship. But things soon soured. Doyle became obsessed with the spiritual and occult, and lost a lot of reputation believing a hoax about fairies, which many may know as the Cottingley Fairies. On top of that, he started conducting seances, told Harry Houdini he believed he was using magic, and refused to believe that he was not, even after Houdini showed him some of his secret methods. This made it rather hard for the friendship to continue, and they remained mostly at odds after that. 

6. Doctors Used To Believe A Tobacco Enema Could Help Someone After Almost Drowning

First used as a holistic treatment by First Nations in the American continents, the practice of tobacco smoke enemas made its way to England, where it soon became a trendy treatment to save people who were half drowned. They would pull people out of the Thames, and then apply a tobacco smoke enema in an attempt to save them (normal resuscitation methods would then be used if the tobacco smoke enema failed). This method started to become so trendy that it moved into other parts of the medical field. 

Soon it had become a treatment du jour for everything from colds to cholera outbreaks. Unfortunately, it could also be dangerous for the practitioner performing the enema. If a bellows was used to perform the enema, and the practitioner inhaled at the wrong time, they could end up aspirating the cholera virus themselves — and get extremely sick — while trying to use a thoroughly ineffective medical “treatment” to help someone else. Once it was discovered that nicotine is actually bad for your heart, the tobacco enema fell out of fashion, and stopped being a method to “save” people from drowning. 

5. “Alice In Wonderland” Was A Satire On Modern Mathematics 

“Alice and Wonderland“ is one of the most well known stories of all time, partly because of the Disney cartoon, but the story of Alice going to a strange world where things don’t really make any sense has been popular in book form since the 1800s. As we know, in Alice the world has all sorts of anthropomorphic animals, and all the rules of physics seem to have mostly gone out the window. People and things change size a lot, and Alice is constantly upset at how little the world around her makes sense. Most people assume that the story is about drugs, was written on drugs, or some combination of both. 

However, the truth is far stranger, but makes sense once you hear it. The author, Lewis Carroll, was using a pseudonym. His real name was Charles Dodgson, and he was a mathematics professor at Oxford University. He didn’t use drugs, and didn’t really believe in using them either. He actually wrote the novel as a satire on modern mathematics. They were starting to use things like irrational numbers or imaginary numbers and he found the whole thing ridiculous, and offensive to his more conservative mathematical sensibilities. Using a fake name to protect his reputation worked almost too well, though, as the real message behind his novel ended up mostly lost to history. 

4. In Some Parts Of Northern Sweden, You Say Yes By Sucking Your Teeth 

In most parts of Sweden, people say yes with a simple “Ja” (pronounced “Yah”), which is just the Swedish word for yes. However, not everyone in Sweden actually says “Ja” in order to say yes, and in a move that confuses much of the world as well as the rest of Sweden, the nation’s Northerners have their own way of saying yes… where they aren’t really saying anything at all. More accurately, it could be said they are making a sort of sound that indicates yes. They draw in a sharp intake of breath through pursed lips, that sort of sounds like sucking your teeth. 

This slight sucking or slurping like sound, indicates yes without any other indicators necessary, although many will also accompany it with a shrug of the shoulders, which to some people makes even less sense for an answer in the affirmative. For those who are interviewed about this strange way of saying yes, they seem able to not take it too seriously, and understand why others find it amusing, but at the same time they also seriously argue that it is a more efficient way of saying yes. They feel it takes less energy, as it doesn’t require the vocal chords to get into the action to make the teeth sucking sound for yes. While it is arguably an efficient method, it is unlikely that the rest of Sweden, and especially the rest of the world, will be taking it up as a habit anytime soon. 

3. The United States Supreme Court Ruled Against Science: Tomatoes Are Vegetables

Many people are not aware of how controversial the simple tomato can really be. Back in 1893, a case came before the Supreme Court called Nix Vs. Hedden. A seller of produce named John Nix was being hit with a 10% tariff on his tomatoes, and was sick of paying the tax. Vegetables at the time were being hit with the tariff, but fruits were not. Knowing that botanically scientists consider the tomato a fruit, he decided to take his case all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. 

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court did not see things his way, and in the majority opinion, written by Justice Horace Gray, the Supreme Court opined that while botanically tomatoes may indeed be fruit for the purpose of scientific classification, that they were not used the way people used fruits. He pointed out that in terms of what we eat them with, and the general methods of preparation, it was for all intents and purposes used as a vegetable. This led the Supreme Court to argue with science not on the merits of taxonomy, but rather rule that science could take a flying leap because the United States wanted its tax revenue, and the spirit of the tariff law was to tax vegetable like products with that sweet, sweet 10% tax. 

2. High Heels Were Invented For Men, And Pink Was Meant For Boys 

Today, we typically think of high heels as entirely a footwear for women. Not only that, but high heels are also seen as an impractical choice, meant only to make yourself look taller, or look better in general, and not actually good for your feet, or useful for any real applications. However, the truth is that high heels were originally invented for Persian soldier (who were very much men) use while riding horses in the 15th century. Visiting Europeans actually brought the trend back home, and wore them both as a fashion statement and as a way to look taller and intimidate their rivals. 

As for the color pink, while many people think it should be entirely for women, this was made up in incredibly recent years, and caught on mostly in American and some other Western popular culture and mindsets. Before the early 1900s in America, there wasn’t even any conception that colors such as pink, or light blue, should be for boys or for girls. However, an early JCPenney catalog, that was trying to help influence early parents’ buying choices, suggested that light blue was the feminine color and should be for girls, and pink was a more masculine color that should be for boys. This did not catch on, obviously, as history ended up the other way around, but it shows that about 100 years ago, no one really thought either color meant anything about how masculine or feminine you were. 

1. Nuclear Bombs Have Been Tested Thousands Of Times Since Hiroshima And Nagasaki

Many people think of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as one of the most significant events in history. And it was, as it was the first and only time that atomic bombs have been deployed against an actual human population. However, the truth is that while they may have been only used on civilians once, they have been tested many, many times since then, by multiple different countries, and many of the bombs tested were much bigger than the ones used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This has released an incredible amount of radiation over the years, and it’s hard to calculate what effect it has had in totality on our planet. 

Eight nations have tested over 2,000 nuclear bombs, in about a dozen different test locations, since the day the bombs were dropped on two heavily populated Japanese cities. As can be imagined, the United States and Russia detonated many of these, but the Chinese also tested a significant number, as did the French, and the UK used Australia and its surrounding waters to test a lot of nuclear weapons. North Korea, Pakistan, and India have also all tested nuclear bombs, but can count the amount of launches on one hand, so their nuclear footprint is insignificant compared to the rest of the nuclear nations.

From Shakespearean tales of royal shenanigans to Stephen King’s modern-day masterpieces, the fertile minds of great writers have provided endless works of delicious fiction. But even the Bard on his best day would struggle to compete with the bottomless pit of bizarre, real-life stories.

As part of an ongoing series, Top Tenz presents our latest list of mind-boggling events that can only be filed under, ‘stranger than fiction.’

8. Standing Tall

The 1951 St. Louis Browns were a lousy team — and that’s being kind. They would lose 102 games, finishing dead last in the American League, and a whopping 46 games behind eventual World Series champs, the New York Yankees. The hapless Browns, however, did have a bonafide winner with their colorful owner, Bill Veeck, who once used a 3-foot 7-inch, 65-pound little person to bat in a Major League Baseball game. 

Among his many outstanding innovations and wacky promotions, Veeck (rhymes with ‘wreck’) had been an early proponent of integrating the professional game. As the owner of the Cleveland Indians, he signed the first black player in the American League, Larry Doby. He also made Negro Leagues legend, Satchel Paige, the oldest rookie ever as the two future Hall-of-Famers helped the Tribe win the 1948 World Series. But a messy divorce would later force Veeck to sell the team only to purchase the lowly Browns a few years later. 

The baseball maverick tried his best to field a competitive team in St. Louis, but the cross-town Cardinals were vastly superior in both talent and selling tickets. That’s when Veeck reached deep into his bag of tricks. On August 19, 1951, at Sportsman’s Park, he ordered Browns manager, Zack Taylor, to send a circus performer named Eddie Gaedel up to the plate to pinch-hit against the Detroit Tigers.

Sporting a child’s uniform with the number 1/8, Gaedel stepped into the batter’s box in the bottom of the first inning. Detroit pitcher, Bob Cain, did his best to locate the tiny strike zone but proceeded to walk the pint-sized player on four consecutive pitches. Before being replaced by a pinch-runner, the triumphant Gaedel received a well-deserved standing ovation from the sparse crowd. 

The following day, a furious American League President, Will Harridge, voided # 1/8’s contract and charged Veeck with making a mockery of the sport. Subsequently, all future deals had to be pre-approved by the Commissioner of Baseball. For those keeping score, Gaedel would later appear in another big league game — this time dressed up as a space alien when Veeck owned the Chicago White Sox. But that, dear readers, is another story.

7. Family Feud

Although an obscure Bosnian Serb would forever take the rap for starting WWI, one of the most famous monarchs in history lies at the epicenter of the war to end all wars. Britain’s Queen Victoria, who ruled for 63 years, is rightfully hailed as the “Grandmother of Europe.” As a result, several of her direct descendants would eventually become belligerents in the largest (and bloodiest) family feud in history. 

Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent ascended to the throne at the tender age of 18, following the death of her childless uncle, King William IV, in 1837. Word count restrictions prevent further explanation of the wonderfully complicated process of British royal succession. But suffice to say, she got lucky, and lots of peeps died for her to become Queen. 

Shortly after donning the crown, she kept with family traditions and married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The incestuous union produced no less than nine children, all of whom subsequently married into royal and noble families across Europe. 

Flash forward to July 28, 1914, when a 19-year-old Yugoslav nationalist named Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo. Although Queen Victoria had been dead for over 13 years, her grandchildren now ruled a substantial chunk of the planet. Sadly, they soon began to destroy it. Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II kicked things off by declaring war on his cousin, Tsar Nicolas II of Russia. A few days later, Britain’s George V joined the family fray that led to unprecedented carnage and the death of over one million soldiers.

6. Beached Boy

Quentin Tarantino’s latest film, Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood, mixes fact with fiction in his twisted love letter to Tinsletown. Oddly, the nostalgic romp asks the audience to frequently suspend all disbelief, including a scene in which a washed-up stuntman beats up martial arts legend Bruce Lee. Seriously? Fortunately, Tarantino doesn’t miss the mark with regards to Charles Manson rubbing shoulders with celebrities during the turbulent late 1960s. 

It’s not surprising that Beach Boys’ drummer and Hell-raiser, Dennis Wilson, would pick up a pair of young female hitchhikers and take them to his Sunset Boulevard abode. But when the girls turned out to be Manson followers Ella Jo Bailey and Patricia Krenwinkel, the “Good Vibrations” ran out when their cult leader arrived at the party.

Manson, along with 17 others of his congregation, soon moved into the party pad — setting the scene for Caligula-esque debauchery, featuring non-stop orgies and drug-induced revelry. Wilson later provided his new pal with coveted music industry connections such as The Byrds producer, Terry Melcher. In an interview with the Record Mirror in 1968, Wilson candidly expressed: “I told them [the girls] about our involvement with the Maharishi, and they told me they too had a guru, a guy named Charlie who’d recently come from jail after 12 years. He drifted into crime, but when I met him I found he had great musical ideas. We’re writing together now.”

Wilson even enlisted the help of his older brothers, Brian and Carl, to finance and produce a recording session with the charismatic singer/songwriter. One of those songs, the eerily-named “Cease To Exist,” was later retitled “Never Learn Not To Love” and released on the Beach Boys 20/20 album in February 1969 — less than six months before the grisly Tate-LaBianca murders.

Ultimately, success as a musician eluded Manson. He experienced a heated fallout with Wilson, who claimed the ex-con owed him over $100,000 (and the expense of multiple doctor visits to treat his raging gonorrhea). For his troubles, the drummer took sole credit as the song’s composer, leaving the false prophet to seek fame elsewhere.

5. Howard’s Huge Obsession

More than 40 years after his death, fascination with Howard Hughes remains strong as ever. His exploits as a record-setting aviator, businessman, and Hollywood lothario provide endless intrigue regarding one of the most enigmatic (and wealthiest) men of the 20th century. However, among all his extraordinary achievements, Hughes’ attempt at designing women’s undergarments would prove to be an abject failure. 

His obsession with the female anatomy reached dizzying heights during the making of his  movie, The Outlaw. Ostensibly, the film should have been a re-telling of wild, wild west icons Billy the Kid and Doc Holliday. But Hughes had a different vision in mind. The producer/director/studio boss made it all about boobs — specifically, the ones belonging to actress Jane Russell. 

Hughes had discovered Russell in 1940 as an unknown, 19-year-old, buxom brunette and immediately signed to her an exclusive seven-year contract. The mogul then cast his latest ingenue in the role of “Rio,” a sexy señorita caught in a love triangle between the two gunslingers. The infatuated filmmaker instructed his cinematographer, Gregg Toland (Citizen Kane), to feature Russell’s cleavage throughout the movie — and even constructed a crude garment with wires to further showcase her voluptuous figure. 

Naturally, the well-endowed Russell refused to wear the contraption. In her autobiography, the actress described the ham-handed design as “ridiculous and uncomfortable” and never wore it. Instead, she fooled her bosom-obsessed boss by simply padding her bra with tissue paper. “He could design planes,” she said. “But a Mister Playtex he wasn’t.”

4. Operation Mincemeat

“All warfare is based on deception.” — Sun Tzu

Before achieving world-wide acclaim as the author of the James Bond spy novels, Ian Fleming put his creative skills to work for British Intelligence during WWII. He’s credited with hatching an elaborate ruse, involving a corpse dressed to resemble an officer en route to delivering secret documents. The phantom messenger would later be dropped near the coastline and eventually find its way into enemy hands.  

With a wink and nod to their dark sense of humor, British military officials codenamed the plan, Operation Mincemeat. The subterfuge, designed to mislead the Germans with regards to the Allies’ intended attack on Sicily, revolved around a recently deceased Welsh vagrant named Glyndwr Michael. He would soon take on a new identity as Captain (Acting Major) William “Bill” Martin of the Royal Marines. Despite the dead man’s unremarkable life and grim demise, he would soon embark on an extraordinary adventure. 

On the morning of April 30, 1943, off the southwest coast of Spain, a local sardine fisherman made the gruesome discovery of the lifeless body floating in the water. The mysterious soldier with a black briefcase chained to his waist was quickly brought ashore and handed over to German spies stationed in the area. 

Later, the bogus documents found in the attaché case revealed “top secret” plans involving a large scale Allied invasion of Greece and Sardinia. The information eventually landed on the desk of Adolf Hitler, who reacted decisively while being thoroughly hoodwinked. The morbid scheme became one of the most bizarre chapters of WWII, punctuated by a cheeky message to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declaring, “Mincemeat swallowed. Rod, line and sinker.”

3. Feline Forces

Albert Schweitzer once said, “There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.” The astute observation by the renowned philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize winner might also include mention of how cats provided refuge from the misery of trench warfare during WWI.

Volumes have been written about the horrors and senseless carnage of the first world war. Weapons such as machine guns, mustard gas, and flamethrowers all contributed to the endless graveyard of “no man’s land.” But without question, the conflict would be defined by life in the trenches, which the Allies overcame with a secret weapon: cats.

From 1914 to 1918, an estimated 500,000 four-legged commandos were deployed in the trenches, where they hunted and killed disease-carrying rats and mice. Their duties also extended to ships at sea as well as serving as mascots. The practice dates back thousands of years to the ancient Egyptians, who worshipped the furry felines for their ability to keep naval vessels and royal palaces vermin-free.

So the next time your cat meows for attention or requires a fresh bowl of chow, be sure to not only accommodate their needs but thank them for their ancestors’ military service.  

2. No Rest For The Wicked

The murder of famed silent film director William Desmond Taylor had all the makings for a box office blockbuster. Glamour. Mystery. Greed. And even a few uninvited ghosts. 

On the morning of February 2, 1922, Taylor was found dead in his bungalow in Los Angeles. He had been shot in the back, most likely during the previous night, resulting in a massive police investigation of yet another roaring ’20s sensational crime that would dominate headlines for months. 

Several high-profile Hollywood players were questioned, including the director’s cocaine-addicted, erstwhile girlfriend, Mabel Normand. The popular leading actress, one of Taylor’s many lovers, had been the last person to see him alive on the evening of his death. After extensive interrogation, LAPD ruled her out as a suspect despite persistent accusations from muck-raking tabloids of the day.

Ultimately, authorities were unable to establish any credible leads or produce the murder weapon. Taylor’s family had his remains interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where the story takes its most shocking (and absurd) turn. A determined reporter named Florebel Muir orchestrated the kind of crazy publicity stunt that only could have occurred in La-La land.

Muir, the Hollywood correspondent of the New York Daily News, attempted to out scoop her rivals with a half-baked plan involving Taylor’s butler, Henry Peavey. Three days before Taylor’s murder, Peavey had been arrested for “social vagrancy” — and Muir hoped she could extract a murder confession out of him. She eventually hired a Chicago hoodlum named Al Weinshank to dress up as a ghost and hide near Taylor’s mausoleum at the cemetery. 

Late one night, after luring Peavey to the gravesite, the ghoulish gangster suddenly appeared in a white sheet and cried out, “I am the ghost of William Desmond Taylor! You murdered me! Confess, Peavy!” Not surprisingly, the butler only coughed up a hearty laugh before giving the conspirators a piece of his mind. As for the ghost, Weinshank later joined the real dead after being gunned down in the 1929 St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

1. Docked and Loaded 

The drug culture of the 1960s and 1970s affected all corners of society and eventually spilled over into the world of sports. In Major League baseball, pill-popping before games became as routine as the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner. Former Pittsburgh Pirates ace Dock Ellis claims he never played a game sober — and once even pitched a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD. 

Ellis made his MLB debut in 1968 as a hard-throwing right-hander. He quickly emerged as one of the most dominant pitchers in the game, leading the Pirates to five divisional titles and a World Series Championship in 1971. He became an outspoken advocate for racial equality at a time when athletes were discouraged from voicing their opinions. The all-star pitcher also became addicted to drugs and alcohol to help cope with the pressure of performing at the top level.

Along with coolers full of cold beer, amphetamines such as Benzedrine and Dexamyl (known as “Greenies” at the time) were an everyday staple in locker rooms throughout the league. On one memorable occasion, Ellis decided to drop acid on what he thought was an off-day while visiting friends in Southern California. However, while “higher than a Georgia Pine,” he learned that the Pirates had scheduled him to start the first game of a twi-night doubleheader against the San Diego later that evening. 

After rushing down to the stadium, he swallowed some more “greenies” to help balance his drug-fuelled trip. Ellis then walked out to the mound on June 12, 1970 and made baseball history. As the drugs took effect, he began hallucinating and struggled to focus. Pirate catcher, Jerry May, had to wear reflective tape on his fingers so Ellis could see his signals. In the end, it wasn’t pretty (he walked eight and hit a few batters) but Ellis shut down the Padres, 2-0. 

He would go on to play a total of 12 big league seasons in an injury-plagued career filled with many ups and downs. Ironically, he came to regret the rare milestone because it overshadowed his far more meaningful accomplishments outside the sport. After retiring in 1980, he entered a substance abuse rehab program and devoted his life to sobriety as well as helping other athletes fight addiction. He also became a spokesman for creating awareness about Sickle Cell disease (a condition he battled most of his life) and worked to raise money for medical research.