Lost in the hubbub over Budweiser’s finger-pointing corn-syrup Super Bowl ad was an unprecedented spot from another beer company: Michelob became the first brand to air an ASMR-inspired commercial in such a high-profile setting.

ASMR is the newest sensation. Short for autonomous sensory meridian response, ASMR is an experience characterized by a tingling, sometimes static-like feeling that usually begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine. A soothing smash hit, ASMR has taken YouTube by storm even while the science behind it remains unsettled.

Now shhhhh. Relax. Unwind. Here are 10 softly spoken, glass-tapping facts about ASMR.

10 ASMR Is A Physical Response—Not Just An Emotional One

Often referred to as “the tingles,” ASMR is a response producing a localized shiver-esque sensation starting in the back or crown of the scalp and moving down the spine. Despite its newness—the term “ASMR” was coined a mere decade ago—studies show that the phenomenon is a physical reaction to stimuli as opposed to an emotional experience (for example, getting amped up by a song you enjoy).

One study was particularly telling. An experiment was conducted in which 110 participants viewed ASMR videos while connected to biological feedback machinery. After people with ASMR watched the videos, their heart rates slowed by an average of more than three beats per minute. What’s more, their skin conductance levels—a measure of physiological arousal—were significantly increased compared to those in a non-ASMR group.

In other words, ASMR is on one’s head rather than in it. Many swear by ASMR as a means of relaxation akin to “meditation with perks.” Additional scientific studies are currently being conducted to measure ASMR’s clinical potential to help alleviate a variety of ailments exacerbated by stress, including insomnia, depression, and anxiety disorders.^[1]

9 That Said, Nobody Really Knows Exactly What ASMR Is

The triggers that typically cause ASMR are well-known, including soft vocalizations like whispering and tongue clicking as well as calming hand gestures often incorporating gentle scratching and crinkling. However, exactly what is physically occurring in someone while experiencing ASMR remains unclear. Even ASMR University, a site dedicated to substantiating the effect via education and research, can thus far only explain how ASMR “might” work.^[2]

These explanations are often parsed to consider the specific ASMR trigger involved. For example, someone experiencing ASMR from a video depicting whispered words vocalized softly, slowly, and in a caring way may be experiencing a surge of endorphins typically associated with parent-infant bonding.

These endorphins then stimulate dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with desire and motivation, and can even bond with opioid receptors, creating mild euphoria without the need for prescription painkillers.

Another substance that comes into play with most ASMR experiences is oxytocin, a peptide hormone produced in the hypothalamus portion of the brain. Affectionately called the “cuddle hormone,” oxytocin facilitates comfort, relaxation, and decreased stress.

It also contributes to ASMR’s telltale tingles by increasing the sensitivity of endorphin receptors. Oxytocin and endorphins together are also known to diminish cortisol, a hormone released during chronic stress.

8 Whatever ASMR Is, It’s Huge—And It’s Diverse

Among the most popular ASMR artists—often shortened to ASMRtists—is the insistently named ASMR Darling. She has more than two million subscribers to her YouTube channel, with many of her individual videos garnering more than 30 million views. Other prominent ASMR YouTube forums, including FrivolousFox ASMR, Gibi ASMR, and the appropriately named Gentle Whispering ASMR, have over a million subscribers apiece.

But the title of Most Viewed ASMR video of all time is the “Crushing Crunchy & Soft Things by Car.” Featuring (you guessed it) a series of objects being backed over by an automobile, the video has generated an astounding 700 million views. Sorry, “Playing with 10000 Mini Magnetic Balls,” you’ll have to settle for a measly 54 million views.

Though ASMR videos certainly have tried-and-true themes that all prominent artists dabble in—tapping, microphone brushing, hand massage, and facial roleplays—content spans essentially anything that anyone could possibly find soothing. This includes eating, playing dominoes, typing, or just reading a book. A site called ASMR Academy lists more than 50 ASMR video ideas for aspiring artists.^[3]

There are even videos of people reacting to ASMR videos, one of which has been viewed over six million times.

7 ASMR Is A Real Moneymaker

The top ASMR artists are whispering all the way to the bank. The aforementioned Gibi ASMR earns nearly $500,000 per year in ad revenue—not too shabby for a 24-year-old whose real-world skills include scratching, tapping, and, for some reason, pretending to camp out in Japan.

Gibi is far from alone—and she’s far from the youngest YouTuber earning money fluttering hand over fist. In addition to more than a million YouTube subscribers, Makenna Kelly has nearly half a million followers on Instagram. Her ASMR star power earns her about $900 every day—not bad for a 13-year-old.

Along with online gamers, ASMRtists are among the first cyber-born niche to truly dispel the misconception that YouTube sensations can’t sufficiently monetize their stardom. In fact, many have blown that myth to smithereens.^[4]

It’s worth noting that the revenue made by many ASMRtists doesn’t come from online ad revenue alone. The personal nature of the experience leaves many viewers happy to donate to their favorite ASMRtists via PayPal or other online platforms. Some ASMR stars also sell albums (useful, for example, on an airplane with no Wi-Fi), and several sell or endorse trigger items such as signature brushes.

6 There’s Some Really Strange ASMR Stuff Out There

When a novel yet nascent practice like ASMR starts experimenting with other niches, the crossovers can be downright weird. A nod to ASMR’s often nerdgasmic fan base, many ASMRtists have produced sci-fi role play videos. Some mix sci-fi with profession role play—for example, a space travel agent. Here’s one that boldly goes where no ASMR content has gone before.^[5]

ASMR also is making inroads—sometimes via guerrilla marketing—into the online gaming community. ASMR trolling, as it is called, has occurred on a variety of interactive gaming platforms, including the widely popular Fortnite.

And what could be more disarming then whispering over warfare? Enter Call of Duty: ASMR. One online prankster who calls himself “Best in Class” makes a career out of ASMR trolling in various cyber settings, among other impression-based gags.

Some of the strangeness defies genre. Apparently, more than 60,000 people found a video featuring a woman petting an oversized stuffed pig tingle-worthy. And nothing says relaxation like a violent chiropractic adjustment.

Many more serious ASMRtists find such fringe content concerning. They fear that it hurts public perception of a cottage industry that could collapse in mockery if not nurtured correctly.

5 There’s An O.G. Of ASMR: Landscape Painter Bob Ross

The man credited with pioneering ASMR did so accidentally—and died 15 years before the phrase was even coined.

Over a period of about a decade starting in the mid-1980s, Bob Ross filmed more than 30 seasons of his half-hour program, The Joy of Painting. Attempting to appeal to aspiring amateur artists, the public television show taught a simplified painting technique. But thanks to Ross’s rhythmic, shush-shush brushstrokes, gently scraping palate knife, and soothing narration, people began watching more for joy than for painting.

The show was an unexpected smash hit for surprising reasons. (What other painting show aired more than 400 episodes?) Viewers reported an inexplicable, tingly, euphoric sensation, a sort of blissful zoning out while Ross crafted his trademark majestic mountains and “happy little trees.”^[6]

Many reported that the show even sent them off into a peaceful sleep. The paintings, many of which were strikingly similar from show to show, seemed secondary.

To this day, the frizzy-haired phenomenon—whose show only ended due to his death in 1995 from cancer at age 53—is helping people discover ASMR. As his shows are ubiquitous online, many people only realize that ASMR exists after watching The Joy of Painting. From there, they search for answers about the tingly, trancelike sensation it inspires.

4 Some ASMR Has Become Highly Sexualized

As it deals with the pleasure sensors of the brain, at least some correlation between ASMR and sexuality is inherent. Dr. Craig Richard, PhD, an ASMR researcher and founder of the aforementioned ASMR University, notes that the tingles caused by an ASMR video can make viewers feel they are fetishizing the person or object causing this pleasure.

“[ASMR] videos induce a sexual response, but it’s mostly due to the sexual stimuli, not the ASMR triggers,” he says. With conventional ASMR, it is believed that significant sexualization occurs infrequently. Craig says only about 10 percent of people report feeling aroused by ASMR.^[7]

Inevitably, though, some ASMR can become borderline porn. A niche segment known as “erotica ASMR” includes sexual imagery and behaviors combined with ASMR triggering behaviors and sounds designed to stimulate viewers’ brains while they stimulate, well, themselves.

For newcomers to ASMR, there are tells that typically reveal whether an ASMRtist is being intentionally sexual. Cleavage is often a big giveaway. One of the most popular erotica ASMR artists is Valeriya ASMR, a buxom blonde whose bosom is falling out all over the place as she teases viewers with feathers and not-so-subtle mouth sounds. Apparently, she’s quite effective as she’s amassed more than half a million subscribers on YouTube.

3 Hollywood is Getting In On It

What fad would be complete without a roster of actors, musicians, and other celebrities glomming onto it? You haven’t experienced the full brilliance of the modern-day James Dean that is Jake Gyllenhaal until you’ve seen him whisper about his day, play with an antique camera, and twist bubble wrap.^[8] And the ASMoscaR goes to . . . 

Some celebrity contributions to ASMR are, like the Super Bowl spot, sponsorship driven. The YouTube channel for fashion brand Miu Miu includes videos from a variety of actors who’ve created both individual and collaborative ASMR videos designed as 15-second ad spots.

Highlights include former Big Love sister-wife Chloe Sevigny whispering provocatively while wearing sparkly shoes and Ozark star Julia Garner having a whispered conversation with herself and then playing with a bow around her ankle.

Other prominent celebs are either fascinated with ASMR or producing their own videos. A-listers include Ashton Kutcher, Eva Longoria, and Russell Brand.

ASMR is starting to show up on the big screen, too.

In 2017, Battle of the Sexes, starring Emma Stone and Steve Carell depicting the legendary intergender 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, became the first major motion picture with a scene intentionally designed to induce ASMR. The scene features Stone at a hair salon with cameras and microphones focusing on hair touching, soft hand movements, gentle voices, and hypnotic scissor-snipping.

2 ASMR Isn’t Limited To Videos

Though ASMR was largely born and made popular via video, fancy microphones and other specialized equipment are not necessary to produce its effects. ASMR experiences in everyday settings are often what inspire popular YouTube content.

In fact, a sensory stimulation that video can’t replicate—touch—can be a highly effective ASMR trigger. Touch-centric ASMR generally involves the body’s more sensitive areas. As in the aforementioned movie scene, haircuts and ASMR go hand in h . . . well, scalp, and both the soles of the feet and palms of the hands can induce tingles atop one’s head.

Soothing hand motions and light flashes also can induce ASMR, and some feel that these visual triggers are more effective in person than on-screen. Something as banal as watching a child at play can produce a tingly trance.

In-person ASMR also is becoming trendy. One such live experience describes itself as an “intimately sized immersive theater performance, maintaining a one-to-one ratio between guides and guests.” One reviewer was less than impressed. Not surprisingly, ASMR providers are predominantly found in liberal-leaning, high-income areas like New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.^[9]

1 Many People Have No Idea What We’re Talking About

Unfortunately, a sizable minority of folks must toil through an entirely tingle-less existence. It’s become commonly accepted that many people are simply incapable of experiencing ASMR.

It is estimated that around 60 percent of people can experience ASMR—20 percent quite strongly, another 40 percent more mildly. That leaves a large portion of the population ASMR-incapable. As ASMR is a physical response rather than an emotional feeling, this tingle-less proclivity is seemingly as random among the greater populace as the inability to roll one’s tongue or wiggle one’s ears.

Though they may find a typically low-key, soothing ASMR video somewhat relaxing, this unresponsive subset stops short of any physical response. They might feel calmer but don’t feel tingles.^[10]

And considering some common ASMR content—including role-playing ranging from facial makeovers to bank tellers—many people who don’t experience ASMR might view it as just plain weird. One prominent British ASMR artist was mocked on a morning show, an incident whose backlash showed both the insensitivity of the host and the burgeoning popularity of ASMR.

Finally, some people are actually physically repulsed by ASMR. A tiny minority suffer from misophonia, also known as sound rage, and can be triggered into anger or panic by some ASMR sound effects.

Christopher Dale frequently writes on politics, society, and parenting. His work has appeared in NY Daily News, Daily Beast, and Salon, among other outlets. Follow him on Twitter at @ChrisDaleWriter.

We expect our doctors to be competent, ethical, and up to date. What we don’t understand is that these qualities sometimes conflict. For example, does a new surgical technique really work, or does the patient just think it does? The only way to tell is with a clinical trial—somebody is going to secretly get a fake surgery as a test control. Is that ethical?

That’s just one of the many controversies the doctors are hotly debating (out of public sight, for the most part).

10Doctors Can Be Deceived Or Make Mistakes

Medical journals help physicians stay up to date. Unfortunately, they sometimes contain papers written by drug company ghostwriters. For instance: In 2000, a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine praised Vioxx, a new pain reliever. The writers—some of whom later turned out to be connected with the company that made Vioxx—played down cardiac side effects. Does Vioxx sound familiar? It was taken off the market in 2004 for—you guessed it—causing cardiac problems.

Most medical treatment goes through clinical trials to make sure that it works and is safe. However, experts recently went back through some of those studies and found that over a third of them had mistakes. These ranged from relatively small stuff all the way up to recommending treatment for the wrong group of people. And that’s not all. A second look at the studies that led governments to stockpile flu-fighting agents Tamiflu and Relenza showed that these drugs probably aren’t as effective as researchers once believed. They might shorten your bout of flu by half a day, but there’s no evidence that they will prevent complications or keep you out of the hospital.

9Advance Directives Can Let Dementia Patients In For Risky Research

Doctors won’t treat you without your informed consent. So what if you’re unconscious? Hopefully, you’ve filled out an advance directive. You might even have a research advance directive on file, if you don’t mind taking a chance and possibly helping others in the future. It’s pretty basic—unless you come down with dementia.

Alzheimer’s has been studied for over 100 years, but we still don’t know much about it. Research is a priority, and some scientists do it with the help of an advance directive. The special research consent has to be signed before the patient gets dementia, and this doesn’t happen often. Some believe that requiring this consent blocks valuable research. Others aren’t at all comfortable with the idea, and they’ve got a point, too. Terrible things have happened during human experiments.

The Alzheimer’s Association takes the middle ground. They suggest enrolling everybody in research if there’s little risk, obtaining the surrogate’s consent for risky research with potential benefits, and requiring research consent for any risky research without likely benefits.

8Incidental Findings Can Ruin Your Life

Modern medicine has the most powerful tools in history. However, sometimes it’s possible to see too much. Say you go to the ER because you’re feeling depressed, and routine tests show a mass on your adrenal gland. It’s such a common finding, doctors call it “incidentaloma.” These tumors are usually benign, but the doctors won’t know for sure that it’s not cancer unless they do a lot of tests.

Cancer? Do all the tests!

So they do all the tests, and those come back benign, because that’s what incidentalomas usually are. However, now you have huge medical bills and are feeling emotionally overwhelmed, maybe even suicidal. You could just ask the doctor not to tell you about incidental findings. However, if it involves gene sequencing, the doctor might ignore your request. The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics tells its members to look for unrelated risky genes whenever they do genetic tests and to tell the patient about whatever they find. Medical technology can cause some expensive, heartbreaking problems. Nobody really knows how to handle the problem of incidental findings.

7Unethical Co-Branding

Co-branding can do wonderful things. For example, some credit card companies donate $100 to a medical center if new customers spend $500 within six months of being approved. Businesses, including hospitals, link their names with other companies for greater public visibility. It usually works out well for everybody. However, problems can come up if the hospitals don’t do their homework on potential business partners.

Some genetic screening companies, for example, avoid regulation by describing their tests as “recreational.” Some direct-to-consumer companies that provide cardiac screening are under attack by consumer groups for pushing tests that these groups claim will do more harm than good.

It’s a mixed bag. Even experts who oppose direct marketing to patients have to admit that there’s no solid evidence so far that it’s harmful as an educational tool. Beyond that, there’s a lot of controversy. So don’t automatically assume the name of a respected medical institution on something guarantees it’s just what the doctor ordered—think it through and read the fine print.

6You Could Wake Up During Surgery

As depressing as modern medicine can be, at least there’s anesthesia. Back in the day, surgery on a wide-awake patient was ghastly for everybody. Well, guess what? Today, one or two patients out of 1,000 wake up while they’re being operated on. Not surprisingly, up to 70 percent of them develop PTSD.

It happens when the general anesthesia is too light. The drugs are so powerful, that it’s a fine line between no pain and no vital signs. Anesthesiologists want to keep you alive and comfortable. Sometimes, they just can’t tell how much is enough, especially toward the end of a case, when your body has used up most of the anesthesia. Also, for certain high-risk surgeries, they have to go easy on the gas because you’re already in critical condition.

There can’t be any guarantees that you won’t wake up before they want you to. The good news is that, if you do, you’ll probably feel pressure, not pain. The pressure of instruments and strange hands deep inside your body, moving around—no wonder the PTSD rate is high.

5Doctors May Have Conflicts Of Interest

Everybody munches on freebies at the grocery store. Why shouldn’t doctors get free samples, too? Drug company reps offer them everything, from notepads to free pizza. Of course the physicians take some. Then they go on practicing medicine their own way. Probably. This isn’t a problem in itself—doctors have to eat and doodle just like the rest of us. Conflict of interest only gets serious when money and influence are at stake.

That happens a lot. Researchers say that 40 percent of the drug company directors they studied also held top posts at major academic medical centers. Those directors, on average, got well over $250,000 a year for their services. Then they went back to the medical center and ran its health care, research, and school their own way. Probably.

It also turns out that your medical care may be different—and possibly more expensive—if your doctor owns any labs and equipment or is a partner in a specialty hospital. Federal and state laws restrict self-referrals. In spite of that, it’s been shown that patients have more tests and more surgeries in areas where physicians own a lot of the local medical infrastructure.

4 No One Really Knows What Your Health Care Costs

When medical bills arrive, most people reach for their checkbook or maybe for the phone to call the insurance company (and possibly a bankruptcy lawyer). Would you believe the hospital might back off if you challenge the bill? Or that hospitals charge different prices depending on your insurance? They do this because nobody has a clue how much your visit actually costs. Don’t take our word for it. In 2004, the UC Davis Health System chief financial officer said, “There is no method to this madness. As we went through the years, we had these cockamamie formulas. We multiplied our costs to set our charges.”

Hospitals use a master price list called a “chargemaster.” Except in California, you don’t have the right to see one. Even if you do, it won’t make much sense. There’s no national standard for them, and everybody updates them differently. Your insurance company may get a discount of more than 50 percent off chargemaster prices. Uninsured? You’ll pay the full amount. Obamacare has caused a boom in medical billing specialists. But still no one is sure how to code your medical bill.

3Electronic Health Record Errors

Your medical records were once stored on paper. Doctors and hospitals have saved time, space, and money by switching over to the electronic health records. These wonderful software packages save lives, too, but nothing is perfect. Computer and human errors are also present. Even worse, contracts with the software companies are silencing physicians who want to complain about the software.

Errors are common. Doctors miss important lab results because the screen is badly designed. Medication doses are mixed up. Notes disappear. And no one is tracking these errors. It’s even possible that this has contributed to the US Ebola crisis. Thomas Duncan caught the bug in Liberia. After coming home, he went to a Dallas ER for symptoms that could easily have been something like the flu. He did tell them where he’d been, and a nurse did enter that into his electronic record. What happened next isn’t clear, but it’s possible that the nurse’s note wasn’t immediately available to the ER doctor and other health care providers because of a software design flaw. In any case, they didn’t immediately treat Mr. Duncan for Ebola, and he later died from the disease.

2Hacked Medical Devices

Medical equipment has NSA-level cybersecurity, right? No, not at all. Recently, a Midwestern US health care chain asked the IT department to hack equipment at its 100 facilities. It was horrifyingly easy for them to access medical records, reset medicine pumps, reprogram defibrillators, change refrigerator temperature settings, and to take down emergency and lab equipment. And that’s just what the company would publicly admit. Problems included weak passwords, infected devices, and poor firewalling. However, the system’s best feature—feeding embedded information directly into medical records—also made it a hacker’s dream.

This isn’t a one-off problem. Malware shut down a New Jersey heart catheterization lab in 2010. The Conficker virus was found on 104 devices in a Tampa VA hospital. An antivirus program forced a third of Rhode Island’s hospitals to postpone everything but emergency surgeries and treatment because it mistakenly identified a critical Windows DLL as malicious.

No patients have been harmed yet, fortunately. The FDA just released cybersecurity guidelines. While they’re not federal law, good luck getting your new medical device approved if it’s not secure. And the guidelines are a heads-up to the health care world that now is the time to somehow secure all the vulnerable equipment out there.

1Unfair Treatment Of Minorities Still Exists In The US

Americans once got different medical treatment based on their ethnic background. We’ve come a long way, but not as far as we think. In 2002, the Institute of Medicine found that minorities were routinely given lower-quality health care and denied some drugs and medical procedures. They were also more likely to have an amputation for diabetes. Researchers called for system changes, as well as for more minority providers and more interpreters to overcome language barriers. Six years later, a different group found the same problems. This group put their findings in a book that people could use to improve things in their own communities.

In some ways, people are even worse off in 2014. Doctors say that it’s a very complex problem. Insurance plans and providers don’t serve poor communities. There are also cultural differences, communication barriers, and lack of information on how to access the system.

+Faking Surgery For Science

Unfortunately, our example about secret placebo surgeries isn’t theoretical. It’s rare, but it has happened. In 2009, for example, a report was published in the New England Journal of Medicine that described how 63 patients with compression fractures from osteoporosis got “a simulated procedure without cement” as part of a study. This didn’t just happen at a single hospital, either. Several major medical centers were involved. Well, that sounds horrible, but the study proved that the real surgery probably wasn’t helping anybody. Was it worth it? When it comes to sham surgery, doctors are still trying to make up their minds.

Barb likes to write about science at her blog Flight To Wonder.

Currently, as far as we know, there are nine countries with nuclear arsenals — the nine most dangerous nations on Earth: the US, Russia, China, the UK, Israel, India, Pakistan, France, and North Korea. Collectively, the axis of evil. And madness. And war. And ecocide. And abuse. And vacuity… You get the idea. The point is we’re not in safe hands, and the closer you look the more troubling it gets.

Brace yourself. 

Here are 10 terrifying truths about nukes.

10. Nuclear-armed nations spend $156,000 per minute on their bombs

Ever wondered why so many people in wealthy nations languish in abject poverty? Look no further than military spending, in particular on nuclear weapons. In 2021, amid a global pandemic — not to mention a climate crisis — the nine stupidest countries “squandered” $82.4 billion on their arsenals, the equivalent of $156,000 per minute. Besides maintenance, management, disposal, and so on, this includes spending on lobbyists to lie to the public. As the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons pointed out, this extreme expenditure has so far yielded zero (some would say less than zero) improvements in global security. 

The record gets worse. Between 1940 and 1996, the US alone spent an estimated $5.8 trillion on nuclear weapons and related programs. This figure — which is a conservative estimate, the minimum it could be — places nuclear weapons spending third overall in federal government spending, behind other Defense (in first place) and Social Security (in second, although a large part of Social Security spending is from recipients essentially paying for themselves, e.g. retirement funds). Meanwhile, nuclear weapons spending exceeds that on education, social services and employment, agriculture, the environment, science, community development (including disaster relief), law enforcement, and energy combined. Stacked in dollar bills, nuclear weapons spending would form a 459,000-mile-high tower of cash — reaching almost to the Moon and back.

9. Hiroshima and Nagasaki represent less than 0.1% of all detonations

Only twice have nuclear weapons been used for their intended purpose, the indiscriminate murder of hundreds of thousands of civilians. But Truman’s war crimes in Japan were only the beginning. Together, the annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki represent less than 0.1% of all nukes ever detonated on Earth; there have been over 2,000 nuclear tests since.

Until the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty, many took place in the atmosphere, spreading cancer-causing radioactive materials far and wide. Then tests largely moved underground — but continued to irradiate the atmosphere. Others have occurred at surface level, on land or at sea, far from the bombers’ backyards — usually in the homelands of indigenous people. The iconic test at the Bikini Atoll, for instance, left the island chain uninhabitable and, to this day, natives are unable to return. The UK’s nuclear testing, meanwhile, centered on Aboriginal land in the Australian outback.

8. There are more than 12,000 nukes in the world

Although the Axis of Stupidity’s stockpile of nuclear weapons has been greatly reduced since their peak in the Cold War era (when there were 60,000 bombs in the world), the number of nukes remains high. In early 2023, it was estimated that the nine nuclear-armed countries have roughly 12,500 warheads between them. The US and Russia have the most — 89 percent of the total or more than 5,000 each. 

The other seven countries, including China, see no need for more than several hundred. But many are proliferating regardless. The UK, for example, recently increased its cap on nuclear warheads by 40%, from 180 to 260. It has also decided, like the Biden administration (despite its pledge for nuclear transparency), not to disclose stockpiles in the future.

Of the 12,500 worldwide, only 2,000 are on high alert — ready to launch in an instant. But to put this in perspective, just one of the US Navy’s nuclear-armed submarines, with its 24 warheads, carries “seven times the destructive power of all the bombs dropped during World War II” — including the nukes dropped on Japan.

7. Many are in continual transit

Thankfully, America’s mind-blowingly idiotic Chrome Dome operation ended in 1968 — though not without catastrophe. The sub-hare-brained policy of keeping a dozen nuclear-armed bombers in the air at all times led, unsurprisingly, to a number of flirtations with oblivion, including the 1966 Palomares disaster (more on that later) and the 1968 Thule disaster, where a B-52 carrying four nukes crashed through a Greenland ice sheet.

Between 1968 and 1991, lessons learned, nuclear-armed bombers were on ground alert instead. However, Bush the First ended that with his Presidential Nuclear Initiative. Nowadays they’re back in the air. Whenever they need shifting from military bases to storage facilities and back again, depending on the day’s paranoid aggression, they’re loaded onto C-17 and C-130 cargo planes. 

They’re also moved by road on booby-trapped tractor trailers, as well as by submarine. The UK, for instance, has ten nuclear warheads on continual undersea patrol. It’s an accident waiting to happen — especially as warheads are moved to frighten enemies. This was recently seen in Russia’s strategically useless but psychologically intimidating relocation of nukes to Belarus.

6. UFOs have control of the missiles

In some ways, this is actually reassuring; although we don’t know who or what is piloting these craft, or what their interest is in nuclear bombs, they can’t be more disastrous than humans… Can they?

Ever since Roswell in 1947, UFOs have been associated with nukes. Roswell Army Airfield was in those days home to the only nuclear bomber squadron in the world, the 509th Bomb Wing, which nuked Japan two years earlier. Since then, many credible military witnesses have had encounters at nuclear sites. The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has gathered testimony and other evidence of more than a hundred incidents. One is from the former USAF ICBM launch officer Robert Salas who said that in 1967 an “orange flying disc” deactivated, one by one, 10 warheads at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana. It left the weapons “unlaunchable” for several hours. Another report, from 1964, claims a flying saucer shot beams at a test missile traveling thousands of miles an hour causing it to fall from the sky. There was apparently video footage but the CIA covered it up. The so-called “Chinese spy balloon”, which in early 2023 also flew near Malmstrom, may be the latest in a decades-long string of nuke-related UFO visits.

Although deactivating nukes is benevolent enough, UFOs have also demonstrated the ability to activate them. In 1987, claims the Russian colonel and radio expert Boris Solokov, “up to five” UFOs were seen by dozens of Soviet soldiers at a nuclear base in Ukraine. At the same time the control panel lit up with launch codes for activated nuclear missiles.

5. An unknown number of nukes are unaccounted for

You may have heard the term “Broken Arrow event”. It’s the US military’s euphemism for an “accidental event that involves nuclear weapons or nuclear components but does not create the risk of nuclear war” — which itself is a euphemism for endemic incompetence threatening all life on Earth. 

That Palomares incident mentioned earlier? That was a Broken Arrow event. It occurred when a USAF B-52 bomber carrying four nukes collided with a refueling aircraft over the southern coast of Spain. Both planes exploded, shaking buildings below, especially in the fishing village of Palomares where “shrapnel sliced towards the ground” and “body parts fell to the earth.” The 1.45 megaton nukes weren’t armed, so they didn’t detonate. But only three were recovered; the fourth lies somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea.

This terrifying incident is just one of the 32 Broken Arrow events that have happened since 1950. And these are just the ones the US has declassified. There may have been more. As for how many nukes the US still hasn’t recovered, it’s somewhere between 3 and 30. Equally troubling is how little is known about other countries’ incompetence. “We don’t really know anything about the United Kingdom or France, or Russia or China,” says non-proliferation expert Jeffrey Lewis.

4. Nukes are more destructive (and usable) than you think

Since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons have also become more destructive. The US nuclear arsenal, at its peak, had the destructive equivalent of 1.4 million Hiroshimas. A lot more. The nuke that wiped out Hiroshima, the larger of the two, had a 15 kiloton yield — roughly 3,000 times weaker than the most destructive nuke ever tested: the Soviet Union’s 50 megaton Tsar Bomba.

But what about nowadays? Amid escalating tensions in Ukraine, exactly what level of destruction is Russia actually threatening? According to experts, a full-scale nuclear exchange over Ukraine (ICBMs, submarine-launched missiles, and bomber-launched cruise missiles) is nowhere near as likely as the limited use of low-yield nukes. But “low-yield” is misleading. While on average it means something like 10 kilotons (five kilotons short of Hiroshima), Russia has up to 6,000 of them.

There’s a reason for this focus (in the US as well) on low-yield nukes, and it’s not humanitarian. Because they’re developed to significantly limit long-term radiation, they’re more imminently usable in war. In other words, the nuclear-armed nations are building low-yield bombs not for deterrence but deployment. Needless to say, their first use will set a terrible precedent and risk escalation beyond anyone’s control.

3. Your children are unlikely to live out their natural lives before nuclear war

According to Martin Hellman, cryptologist and Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, “a child born today may well have less-than-even odds of living out his or her natural life without experiencing the destruction of civilization in a nuclear war.” Critics say it’s not possible to determine the likelihood of something that’s never happened, but Hellman disagrees. Conceding that it’s not possible to give a precise figure, he says it’s nevertheless possible “to upper and lower bound it.”

A risk of one percent per day, for example, he considers too high, since that would make nuclear war “almost certain within the next year.” A risk of one in a million per year, meanwhile, he considers too low because it suggests the current nuclear deterrence strategy, aptly named MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction), can prevent nuclear war for the next million years. This is highly unlikely given the amount of near misses we’ve had in less than 80. As Noam Chomsky puts it, “it’s kind of a miracle that we’ve survived. Miracles don’t go on forever.”

Having established these upper and lower bounds for the risk of nuclear war (next year or in a million years’ time), Hellman drew on his “extensive study of nuclear risks” to narrow the range. Ten percent per year is a closer upper bound, he says, based on having survived 60 years of MAD nuclear deterrence. And 0.1 percent is a closer lower bound, suggesting we can survive another thousand — during which time he’d expect 10 major crises (like the Cuban Missile Crisis), 100 lesser crises (comparable to the Taiwan Straits Crisis, Russo-Georgian War, or the conflict in Ukraine), and many other events leading to nuclear threats. So between a yearly risk of 0.1 and 10 percent, we have a risk of roughly one percent per year, or 0.3 to 3 percent per year. This, he says, is unacceptably high.

2. The Doomsday Clock is closer to ever than midnight

These days it can sound like the boy who cried wolf, the Doomsday Clock that’s been ticking down the last few minutes for the past seven decades. But a lot of research goes into the placement of those hands. And now they’re set at 90 seconds to midnight — the closest we’ve ever been to global nuclear catastrophe — closer than any time during the Cold War.

Explaining their decision, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists cited the ongoing war in Ukraine and its destabilization of post-WWII European security arrangements, not to mention wider “norms of international conduct.” Leaders on both sides (i.e. Biden and Putin) have issued nuclear threats, but even if neither of them launches a strike, there’s still a risk of accidental escalation. The Atomic Scientists also point out the proximity of fighting to nuclear reactor sites, which risks the release of radioactive material. Furthermore, the only nuclear weapons treaty still in place between the US and Russia is set to expire in a few years time. When it does, Russia will no longer have permission to inspect American stockpiles (and vice versa), which could lead to a new nuclear arms race.

But Ukraine is just one factor pushing us closer to midnight. There’s also the conflict between India and Pakistan, both of which are nuclear-armed. This already febrile situation is made worse by India’s perceived need for a deterrent against China potentially leading it to increase its arsenal, prompting Pakistan to do the same in response. Then there’s Israel, which continues to pretend it has no nuclear weapons when it actually has more than a hundred — increasing the urgency with which its Middle Eastern enemies seek to build arsenals of their own. China’s also a threat, as is North Korea. But the greatest threat of all is the US. Unlike China, which has (for now at least) a “no-first-use” policy, American nukes are bound by no scruples and are always on high alert.

1. Life on Earth is basically entrusted to the President of the United States

Most of the nuclear-armed nations have safeguards against their leaders single-handedly ending the world. India and Pakistan both require authorization from a council like a board of directors. Every member must agree before a strike can be launched. Israel is thought to have comparable controls. 

Russia also explicitly prevents a single person issuing the command. Despite Western press releases to the contrary, it’s thought the president, defense minister, and chief of general staff all have access to launch codes that may only work in unison. Experts believe even more people may be required to authorize a first (i.e. offensive, rather than defensive) strike. In China, although little information is publicly available, it’s thought (based on a 2004 military text) that the Central Military Commission’s 11 members — senior generals and party officials, including the president — may have to reach a consensus. It’s not known for certain.

What is known for certain, though, is the nuclear launch protocol of the United States — as well as its two nuclear lapdogs France (which possibly needs three people) and Britain (which technically needs the consent of the monarch). In the US, only the president is required to authorize a nuclear strike. That’s right. They don’t have to consult with advisors. They don’t need permission from Congress. They don’t need approval from the Supreme Court, or even the Department of Defense. Nobody in the world can legally stop the senescent Joe Biden (the president at the time of writing; yours may be worse) from ending every single life on the planet. This should terrify you. If not, think of it this way: the power to start a nuclear war is in the hands of the most war-hawkish person on Earth, the cognitively challenged president of an empire in decline, who, as it happens, is the only person to have actually launched nukes in war to obliterate countless civilians. 

Good luck Earth. Let’s hope it doesn’t run out.

A series of portraits, dubbed the Crying Boy paintings, features a young ragamuffin with large eyes that meet the viewers to establish an instant connection. Complete with fresh tears streaming down his face, the perfectly captured expression of despair evokes a strong emotional reaction. The image was designed to pull at the heartstrings of its viewers, and it did just that.

The Crying Boy series gained fame in the UK, and other parts of the world, with thousands of prints purchased and displayed in homes and businesses. However, when terrifying events accompanied the paintings, many began to question if there was something sinister attached to them. Rumors spread of a curse that was so evil it destroyed its subject and creator and damaged the homes and lives of anyone who purchased one of the prints. Skeptics, on the other hand, provided other explanations. Many seem to have an opinion on this story, from urban legend and a cursed myth to media hysteria and a bid to sell more papers.

Decide what you believe about the curse after hearing these ten unsettling facts about the Crying Boy paintings.

Related: Top 10 Cursed And Haunted Household Items

10 The Artist Used a Pseudonym

The Crying Boy paintings were signed by Giovanni Bragolin, an Italian painter who doesn’t really exist. The true artist was a Spanish painter named Bruno Amadio, although he was also known to go by Franchot Seville on occasion. Amadio was one of the most mysterious artists of the mid-1900s. He painted over 60 portraits in his Crying Boy collection from the ’50s through 1980, with each printed, reprinted, and widely distributed through mass productions. The prints became very popular, with over 50,000 copies purchased in the UK alone.

The Crying Boy series was the only artwork of Amadio’s that saw success. However, it was a double-edged sword for Amadio as the images—depicting horror, suffering, despair, and longing of the innocent—also brought about speculations of abuse. Many questioned whether Amadio “specifically frightened them, terrified them, and then painted them,” with some even going so far as to liken Amadio to the devil himself.^[1]

9 The Subject Was an Orphan

According to Amadio, the subject of one of his paintings was “a little street urchin” that he came across in Madrid in the 1960s. The young boy was a mute orphan with a sorrowful expression that instantly captivated the artist. Amadio had stopped to paint the child when a Catholic priest came over to issue him a stern warning. He said that the boy, named Don Bonillo, had run away after seeing his parents die in a fire.

Since then, fires of unknown origin would break out wherever the boy went. It happened with such frequency that he was given the nickname, “Diablo,” which translates to “devil.” The priest warned Amadio against having anything to do with the child. However, the painter ignored him and adopted the boy. He brought Don Bonillo home to live with him and painted the Crying Boy series.^[2]

8 Amadio’s Studio and Apartment Caught Fire

The unique relationship between the painter and his favorite subject came to a sudden fiery end when Amadio’s studio and apartment mysteriously caught on fire. He lost everything and, as a result, Amadio was ruined. He remembered the priest’s warnings and accused the boy of starting the blaze. He kicked him out and never saw Don Bonillo again.

The situation continued to worsen for Amadio when reports of the curse of the “Crying Boy” paintings started to spread across Europe. His fame quickly turned to suspicion, and he became known as a jinx. No one wanted to look at any of his paintings, let alone commission him to paint something new.^[3]

7 Did the Subject Suffer a Tragic Death?

Unfortunately, Don Bonillo’s life ended much like it began: in a blaze of fire. In 1976, police responded to the report of a car crash on the outskirts of Barcelona. The car exploded after crashing into a wall. When officers arrived on the scene, they found that the driver had been burned beyond recognition. He was the only one in the car at the time of the crash.

Police officers searched the glove box, which survived the fire, and found part of a driver’s license. The name on the license revealed the victim to be Don Bonillo. For many, the fiery manner of his death served to add validity to the Crying Boy curse.^[4]

6 The Prints Survived over 60 House Fires

The first reported house fire occurred at the home of Ron and Mary Hall in Rotherham in 1985. The fire destroyed everything on the first floor of their terraced council home, save for one item: a print of the Crying Boy that hung on their living room wall. During the fire, the painting fell from the wall, landed face down, and, strangely, was only slightly charred. Though the cause of the fire was found to be a chip pan (deep frying pan) that overheated and burst into flames, the couple became convinced that the painting was cursed and that it, not the pan, was to blame for the destruction of their home.

The Halls were not alone in their experience or theory. Many similar fires followed, with homes, and even a pizza parlor, falling victim to the curse. Despite starting from typical causes, each fire left behind a Crying Boy painting. The curse evolved to cause injury and death, with some people reporting accidents after purchasing the print. Many others were horrified to find they could not burn it when they tried.^[5]

5 Firefighters Fail to Explain Why Paintings Did Not Burn

Fire service investigations pointed to discarded cigarettes, over-heated chip pans, and faulty wiring, leading firefighters to believe that the house fires resulted from human carelessness rather than a supernatural curse. Rotherham fire station officer Alan Wilkinson personally logged 50 fires where the Crying Boy paintings survived. Wilkinson was skeptical but could not explain how the artworks survived the flames. His wife, on the other hand, had her own theory: “I always say it’s the tears that put the fire out.”

Wilkinson’s disbelief in the curse did not save him from some superstitions. When presented with a framed print of the Crying Boy upon his retirement, he politely declined the gift. The widespread panic eventually led Chief Divisional Officer Mick Riley of the Yorkshire Fire Service to issue a statement meant to debunk the curse. “The reason why this picture has not always been destroyed in the fire is because it is printed on high-density hardboard, which is very difficult to ignite.” His statement did little to convince the public. Neither did the fact that the paintings were often of different children and even from different artists.^[6]

4 An Article from a British Tabloid Started All the Fuss

On September 4, 1985, the Crying Boy paintings received the first of what would be six weeks of news coverage with an article titled, “Blazing Curse of the Crying Boy.” Published on page 13 by a British tabloid newspaper called The Sun, it detailed the harrowing experience of the recent victims of a house fire: Ron and Mary Hall. A follow-up article on September 5 brought new terrifying stories from readers that claimed to be victims of the curse.

In addition to fires, injuries, and deaths, some accounts included supernatural occurrences, with readers alleging they saw the print sway from side to side on the wall or that it returned to its place after being destroyed. The Sun also claimed that the firefighters believed in the curse, despite conflicting statements by the fire service. Readers were captivated. Due to a wide-reaching audience, awareness of the “Crying Boy” curse spread very quickly. The Sun fanned the flames—no pun intended—with additional articles, each more sensational than the first. By the end of October, panic reached an all-time high, and many looked to The Sun for an answer.^[7]

3 The Paintings Were Burned in a Mass Bonfire

The Sun’s editor Kelvin MacKenzie, credited as the father of the “Crying Boy” curse, was the one to announce, “Enough is enough, folks. If you are worried about a Crying Boy picture hanging in YOUR home, send it to us immediately. We will destroy it for you—and that should see the back of any curse.” Soon, the Bouverie Street office of The Sun was overrun with Crying Boy paintings “stacked twelve feet high in the newsroom, spilling out of cupboards, and entirely filling a little-used interview room.” Readers had sent in about 2,500 copies of the print in total.

MacKenzie had to scramble for a solution to destroy all of the paintings. He eventually decided to burn them in a mass bonfire near the River Thames. In a highly-publicized event on Halloween, the paintings burned under the supervision of the fire brigade. The Sun put out an article with the headline “Crying Flame!” that claimed the curse was dissolved once and for all. It offered readers a reassuring quote from one of its police officer chaperones, “I think there will be many people who can breathe a little easier now.”^[8]

2 The Materials May Have Had Something to Do With It

After the mass bonfire, talk of the curse died down but never really went away. British writer and comedian Steve Punt investigated the Crying Boy series in a “BBC Radio 4” production called “Punt Pi” some years later. Punt purchased a Crying Boy picture, then was “inexplicably delayed on his destination several times,” before attempting to burn the print with construction researcher Martin Shipp.

The two men found that beyond the string, the artwork didn’t really burn. Punt and Shipp surmised that a fire-retardant varnish was used. The test also explained how the string holding the painting on the wall would burn and cause it to fall face down on the floor. Another investigation suggested that Amadio’s use of a compression board could also explain why it was so difficult to burn.^[9]

1 The Curse Became an Urban Legend

Despite the various attempts to debunk the curse, people have continued to believe, leading it to become a full-fledged urban legend. One that has expanded to include paintings by different artists. For example, the portraits of Scottish artist Anna Zinkeisen similarly feature crying girls and boys and have often been attached to the “Crying Boy” curse. Season 3, Episode 4 of “Weird or What?” with William Shatner examined the legend of the paintings as recently as 2012. Different online groups also popped up, such as the Dutch “Crying Boy Fan Club,” but many have since disappeared. However, a forum on the Unexplained Mysteries website is still open for viewing. You can also find talk of the curse on social media. On February 2, 2022, Hanbury Arms Haunted Hotel & Museum posted that they currently have several Crying Boy paintings on display, proving that this urban legend isn’t going away anytime soon.

Esotericists argue that when an artist paints a portrait of a person, part of their soul is sealed on paper. People have created plenty of legends and lore about cursed paintings, some of which black magicians could even seal the person himself or tie his life to the portrait. In the case of these paintings, the faces of these children reflect them: wide-open eyes full of fear, resentment, despair, misunderstanding. The viewer’s heart breaks looking at them, so it is quite possible that the picture, after its completion, retained this energy. And through the painting, these small sitters took revenge on those who hung their images at home. But it’s just legend, right?^[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.

10. Toilet Plume

Keep your hands out of the toilet, don’t fall in, and wash your hands after the loo visit and you should be all good, right? Well, not quite the case, sorry to say. Toilets spray contaminants right into the air, about six feet according to general estimates by microbiology researchers. Unfortunately for you, this contamination includes not just some dirty water spray but actual fecal particles. There is a term for this thing and it is “Toilet Plume.” Enough to make you shut the lid before you flush, correct? And for goodness sake, do not touch the underside of the toilet lid after all this!

The jury is still out on to what degree toilet plume is likely to make you ill. The subject has been insufficiently researched to say for sure, for the most part, so perhaps a little extra caution is deserved here. University of Arizona associate professor of environmental and occupational health Dr. Kelly Reynolds noted that toilet plume, a spray of microscopic waste and toilet water particles “is easily transmitted in a wide range of air space when you flush the toilet,” a finding based on her rather interesting work, which included studies of the toilet plume phenomenon. A study hailing from the Journal of Applied Microbiology published in 2005 identified a 2.7 foot vertical “launch” of toilet plume. Yuck!

9. Exploding Toilets

Exploding toilets may sound like an amusing special effect but in fact they represent a real safety matter in the history of the loo. In rare cases sewage overflow and incidental air leaks into toilets have caused potties to go poof, but the true horror stories come from the compressed air assisted toilets, as described by Aaron Kase of Lawyers.com in an article published on Business Insider. Some Flushmate III Pressure-Assist Flushing System models made between 1997 and 2008 were targeted for recall by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission when it was discovered that the toilets could explode.

The terrifying incidents caused injuries, in one case requiring stiches to fix a lacerated back from potty porcelain turned shrapnel. The exploding toilet matter even led to a $5 million lawsuit demanding greater action to remedy the problem, beyond mailing out repair kits intended to prevent the problem. While the concept of the exploding toilet, whatever its cause, is certainly no myth, it is fortunately still a very rare occurrence worldwide.

8. The Throne Death of King George II

A room in which one uses a toilet is mockingly called a “throne room” at times. But a certain time in history saw the shocking death of a real king on nothing less than a toilet. King George II of Great Britain passed away while using the toilet from what came to be known as Aortic Dissection (AD) on October 25, 1760. “Straining on the toilet” was a most embarrassing factor in this death. A variety of medical discussions have ensued following the king’s death, centering on autopsies that had some truly grotesque findings. As described in an account published in Vascular Disease Management.com titled “On the death of King George II in 1760: Aortic Dissection in Perspective,” the straining on the toilet had precipitated the catastrophic rupture.

The king’s German valet de chambre was alarmed by a noise, subsequently discovering the dead king. The autopsy that followed revealed the following: “…the pericardium was found distended with a quantity of coagulated blood, nearly a pint…; the whole heart was so compressed as to prevent any blood contained in the veins from being forced into the auricles; therefore the ventricles were found absolutely void of blood…; and in the trunk of the aorta we found a transverse fissure on its inner side, about an inch and a half long, through which some blood had recently passed under its external coat and formed an elevated ecchymosis.”

7. Wildlife of World Washrooms

An animal attack while using a toilet seems far fetched, but when it does happen, it can be too horrific to imagine. Toilets can attract problematic creatures and as we know, conflict for space can lead to a fight that the human toilet user is bound to lose. Sometimes, using an outhouse brings about the risk of an encounter with a Black Widow spider, but for one very unfortunate Thai man was attacked in the washroom in May 2016 and subsequently suffered serious bites to his penis.

The aggressor? A 10-foot-long reticulated python that was using the toilet of his choice as habitat after getting into the plumbing and then into the toilet. The attack took place in the Thai province of Chachoengsao. The unfortunate 38-year-old was able to force the snake’s jaws before he passed out, losing a quantity of blood in the process. The victim was hospitalized and underwent surgery before recovering. The snake also survived and was relocated after the incident. After recovering, he made plans to replace the squat toilet with a flush toilet, hoping to reduce the risk of future snake attacks.

6. The Sinking of U-1206

During World War II, a German U-boat was sunk by a toilet malfunction. Yes, you read that right. Mere toilet troubles sent a fearsome U-boat to the sea floor with loss of life. Toilets were an issue on the U-boats, leading to some elaborate innovations in on-board toilet technology to permit deeper dives and thus elude Allied countermeasures. The toilet relied on an intricate valve system under high pressure which also necessitated special training on the part of those operating the works. The vessel set off on patrol on April 6, 1945, a mission that was ill-fated because of the new toilet.

Leaving from Kristiansand, Norway, the vessel headed for Britain in hopes of intercepting Allied ships, but was cut short to just 8 days when disaster struck on April 14. The toilet operation proved problematic, and an engineer was called. The engineer opened the incorrect valve, leading to a flood. The flood reached the forward compartment, which damaged the batteries and released toxic chlorine gas. The captain was forced to surface, but the boat was spotted by Allied forces off the Scottish coastline. The captain decided to let the boat sink, having been seen by aircraft. Three of the crew drowned, while 37 were rescued and became prisoners of war.

5. Modern Toilet Restaurant

Taiwan is home to a truly bizarre themed restaurant. Called Modern Toilet Restaurant, this place to eat is amusingly (or grotesquely, depending on how you think about it) centered around all things toilet. Tiny toilets are used as food dishes, while bathroom derived furniture par extraordinaire dominates the restaurant. Especially prominent are the toilets recycled as dining chairs.

Little washroom signs are included as stick in signs in the meals themselves. You could end up eating from a tiny model bathtub, set on a table fashioned from a recycled bathroom sink, while sitting on a repurposed toilet. If that was not enough, you are probably now wondering about the food, for good reason. The actual meals include a variety of dishes that are perhaps logically fashioned in the likeness of waste products of the type that might be found in an active toilet. What will they think of next?

4. World Toilet Day

Yes, it is a thing, and it’s called World Toilet Day. No, it’s not an event where hobbyists and professionals show off photos of toilets, or where people dress up as toilets in some kind of photo contest (though these would, admittedly, be interesting ways to spend the day). World Toilet Day is hosted with a focus on giving people the human dignity of access to a proper toilet. Toilets are unfortunately a luxury still out of reach for much of the developing world.

World Toilet Day was designated in 2001 and in 2013 became an official United Nations day. The website for World Toilet Day includes the following statement highlighting the significance of the toilet access issue: “Whoever you are, wherever you are, sanitation is your human right. And yet, today, 4.2 billion people live without safely managed sanitation.”

3. Toilet Tourism

Toilet tourism. You might have thought you are an expert on tourism types, but you may have left something off the list. Eco-tourism, cultural tourism, food tourism and yes, let us not forget about toilet tourism. For Carolyn Childs and Bronwyn White, serious researchers on tourism destination experiences and related economic factors, toilets were the subject of their studies. The quality of bathrooms and the impact of this value was assessed through quantitative studies and focus group sessions.

The finding was logical. Great bathrooms are good for business to a significant degree. Not to get too extreme but, just to tell the truth, it was found that for the truly committed, washrooms that are special might even become front and center parts of the destination appeal as the attractions in and of themselves. (Editor’s note: just ask anyone in Texas about Buc-ee’s, if you don’t believe this.) The work didn’t stop at research. The two researchers, owners of My Travel Research, established the International Toilet Tourism Awards. Entries from around the world are reviewed and the destinations with the best toilets are selected as winners.

2. The Toilet Deities

You may think you have seen it all. Heard it all. Traveled the world, read the books, that sort of thing. But you probably have not thought of this one: Toilet Gods and Goddesses. Yes, around the world, there is such a thing. For starters, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean cultures had various deities in their history who were dedicated to the important matter of safely using the latrine and dealing with human waste. A variety of rituals were enacted in East Asia to deal with toilet gods and goddesses ranging from saying prayers to toilet gods in China to clearing one’s throat to warn a toilet god in Japan.

The imagined appearance of toilet deities ranged from that of a ragged old man to that of an attractive young woman. Other examples of toilet centered religious rituals range far and wide. Roman religion included recognition of a sewer goddess, a god of excrement and a toilet god. Titus Tatius even constructed a shrine to Cloacina, who was viewed as the one to protect Rome’s sewers. The intention was for Cloacina to be invoked in case of sewer backup.

1. As Clean as a Toilet Seat

Finally, some weird but good news about toilets. Despite the dangers of toilet bowls being laden with bacteria and spray hitting toilet lids, it might be a shocking fact to many to learn that toilet seats are typically rather clean items. A study by Dr. Chuck Gerba, a University of Arizona microbiology professor, reported the fascinating finding that toilet seats were his standard for item cleanliness. With an average of just 50 bacteria per square inch, the level of toilet seat cleanliness is a shocking finding for many. 

Gerba’s work saw him swabbing items found around the house and then studying the abundance and species composition of bacteria found, with a focus on faecal organisms including E. coli and staphylococcus aureus. Using toilet seats like a unit of measure for degrees of dirtiness is starting to catch on in a variety of articles published in popular media. You will hear things being described in terms of how many times as dirty as a toilet seat they are. Gerba describes cutting boards as having 200 times as many germs as toilet seats, while a dishcloth reaches as shocking 200,000 times the level of contamination as a toilet seat. Scary!