Throughout history, the world—particularly the the United States—has seen its fair share of conspiracy theories come and go. From reptilians disguised as humans to chemtrails, it’s fair to say that most of these theories are entirely absurd.

From time to time, though, a conspiracy theory that many thought to be ridiculous is shown, in fact, to be correct. In such cases, the truth can prove to be much more terrifying than fiction. The following are ten examples of such real-life conspiracies.

10 Project SUNSHINE

Despite its cheery name, Project SUNSHINE was by far one of the darkest conspiracies ever conceived and the most horrifying to be proven real. The project was commissioned by the US Atomic Energy Committee and the US Air Force.

Designed to investigate the effects of nuclear radiation on humans and the environment, Project SUNSHINE saw the US government harvest and use, often without the permission of parents, the body parts of dead children and babies. Younger children typically have higher amounts of strontium in their bones, meaning that their tissues are more susceptible to radiation damage. Thus, they made better test subjects for the project.^[1]

9 Project MKULTRA

MKULTRA is one of the better-known conspiracies. The general premise—now proven to be true—was that the US government was testing psychedelics and hallucinogenic drugs on unsuspecting American citizens and military personnel, in order to investigate the viability of behavior modification programs. Essentially, the US government was testing mind control techniques on its own populace and left many of its “participants” with trauma and even brain damage.

There are plenty of cases of MKULTRA subjects acting violently or dangerously, and the fact that the US government was so willing to endanger the lives of its own citizens without their consent is perhaps the most chilling part of the whole conspiracy.^[2]

8 The US Government’s Alcohol Poisoning

This conspiracy doesn’t have a particular name, but it’s one that has been the subject of much discussion over the years, particularly recently. During Prohibition, the US government tainted industrial alcohol with methanol—a commonly used antifreeze—in an attempt to curb the drinking of it. Reports differ on just how much methanol was added, though most agree that it wasn’t enough to be lethal and was intended more as a deterrent than a punishment.

On the other hand, it has also been reported that there were around 10,000 deaths during this period as a result of the poisoning, so perhaps the intention was darker than we think.^[3]

7 US Government Spying

In June 2013, intelligence contractor Edward Snowden released thousands of top-secret documents to various journalists, which detailed the sophisticated intelligence network the US, in conjunction with several other Western countries, had been using to spy on civilian populations around the world. Much of this spying was done through social networking companies; for instance, in 2016, US government agencies sent approximately 50,000 requests for user data to Facebook, roughly 28,000 to Google, and about 9,000 to Apple.

Perhaps the most disturbing part of this story is how the National Security Agency conducted multiple espionage operations on US-allied governments, such as Germany, Belgium, France, and Spain. Creepy stuff.^[4]

6 Gulf Of Tonkin Incident

On August 2, 1964, in the midst of the Vietnam War, the USS Maddox, on an intelligence mission along North Vietnam’s coast, allegedly fired upon and damaged several North Vietnamese torpedo boats that had been stalking it in the Gulf of Tonkin. The Maddox was also reportedly attacked by North Vietnamese vessels on August 4.

In 2005, an undated NSA publication was declassified, revealing that there was no attack on the Maddox on August 4.^[5]

Since the NSA’s disclosure, many have accused the US government of intentionally faking the incident to increase support for the US war in Vietnam and to justify further military action in the region. In fact, on August 10, the US congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, a bill that authorized President Johnson to do whatever was necessary to assist “any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty.”

This technique was also seen in the early 2000s, when the government administrations of President Bush of the US and Prime Minister Tony Blair of the UK asserted that the Iraqi government was actively constructing and stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, prompting the Iraq War. Later, US-led inspections found that Iraq had in fact not been stockpiling or producing WMDs to begin with.

5 The First Lady Who Ran The Country

In October 1919, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke that rendered him incapable of governing. Some of us probably know that part. What you might not know, however, is that after his stroke, his wife, First Lady Edith Wilson, decided what matters were important enough to bring to Woodrow’s attention, essentially giving her the unofficial role of president until Warren Harding took over in 1921. Because Woodrow never technically resigned, the vice president at the time, Thomas Marshall, could not take over, and Wilson instead decided to allow his wife to govern for some time.^[6]

Perhaps the scariest thing about this whole story is that the US government didn’t inform the public of this. (The people only learned of Wilson’s stroke in February 1920, and even then, the full details weren’t known.) It’s events like these that are the framework of the relatively modern and widely believed Deep State conspiracy theory, which posits that there is an unknown party in the government, independent of changing administrations, that makes most of the decisions.

4 The US Government’s Weather Manipulation

In 1993, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the US military, and the University of Alaska created the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, otherwise known as HAARP. Since then, numerous conspiracy theories have sprung up surrounding the mysterious project, everything from satellites that can cause earthquakes to huge transmitters that can create tornadoes and tsunamis. However, what most people don’t know is that there actually was documented weather manipulation project during the Vietnam War—decades before the creation of HAARP.

Operation Popeye was an five-year project in which the US government used the age-old technique of cloud seeding to increase precipitation during the rainy seasons over North Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh Trail in order to disrupt the NVA’s moving of vehicles, weapons, and rations across the trail. The general idea of cloud seeding is to send an airborne object, typically an airplane, flying through a cloud while releasing small particulates that give water vapor something to cling to so that it can condense and become rain.^[7]

What’s scary about this is if the military has done it in the past (and given the length of the operation, it must have been at least partly successful), what’s to stop them from doing it again?

3 The Canadian Fruit Machine

Despite being one of the strongest proponents of the LGBT community today, Canada’s history isn’t as clean as one would think. In the 1960s, the Canadian government hired a university professor to create a “gaydar,” what it called the “Fruit Machine” at the time. The university professor, Frank Robert Wake of Carleton University, went about this by forcing subjects to look at same-sex erotic imagery while he measured pupil dilation, perspiration levels, and changes in pulse to gauge just how “fruity” they were.^[8]

The program was part of a long-term effort to remove homosexuals from positions of civil service. In the late 1960s, funding was cut off—but not before the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had collected files on over 9,000 suspected homosexuals.

2 The Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama is the designated spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. Those carrying the title are generally seen as embodying the tenets of Buddhism: inner peace, enlightenment, and virtuousness. However, CIA documents published by the State Department in 1998 indicated otherwise: For much of the 1960s and some of the 1970s, the current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatzo, along with many other prominent Tibetan figures, were funneled millions of dollars by the CIA. This funding was part of a concerted effort by US intelligence to undermine Communist China, and global communist presence, by propping up Tibetan guerrillas in their fight against the communist state. According to the report, the CIA funded approximately 2,100 Tibetan guerrillas with $500,000 annually and gave the Dalai Lama himself an annual $180,000 subsidy.

The funding ended in the early 1970s, after President Nixon began to open up more to China in efforts to improve crumbling relations. The official CIA report stated that the purpose of the program was to “keep the political concept of an autonomous Tibet alive within Tibet and among foreign nations, principally India, and to build a capability for resistance against possible political developments inside Communist China.” The Dalai Lama wrote in his autobiography that he saw the cutting off of the funding as “a reflection of their anti-Communist policies rather than genuine support for the restoration of Tibetan independence.”^[9]

1 Operation Mockingbird

Operation Mockingbird was a 1950s program in which the CIA recruited and propped up various media organizations to influence public opinion. In April 1976, the Church Committee, a US senate task force, conducted an investigation into the CIA’s influence over both foreign and national news organizations and stated that the CIA maintained a huge global network that provided intel for the organization and “at times” attempted to influence opinion through the use of covert propaganda.^[10]

The damning report also stated that these same individuals gave the CIA direct access to a large number of “newspapers and periodicals, scores of press services and news agencies, radio and television stations, commercial book publishers, and other foreign media outlets” and claimed that approximately 50 of the CIA’s assets were individual American journalists or employees of US media organizations.

I’m a freelance writer and student who loves writing.

Some fads hold on for decades—or at least as long as it takes us to realize that what we’re doing is dangerous. With the recent anti-vaccination movement, along with the relatively new fads of weight loss pills and e-cigarettes, there’s a whole list of mistakes we’ve made that, in the end, we find out we probably shouldn’t have.

10Skipping Vaccinations

The anti-vaccination movement somehow keeps attracting followers. Its advocates try to warn the public about vaccine side effects like seizures (which are extremely rare and have no lasting effects) and about the link between vaccines and autism (which is non-existent and based on a single discredited report). The movement helps no one. Instead, it’s making hundreds of people sick.

Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000. Nonetheless, the Center for Disease Control has identified 288 cases of the potentially deadly disease in 2014 across 18 different states. Most of the cases were contracted when unvaccinated individuals traveled overseas and were exposed to the disease before bringing it back. Among those hardest hit by the outbreak is the Amish community through unvaccinated missionaries.

Vaccines save lives. The last 20 years of vaccines have prevented an estimated 732,000 deaths.

9Wearing Muslin

Muslin is a versatile cotton fabric first made in the Middle East and popular in Europe since the 17th century. When the material came to France, it brought with it a deadly fashion trend.

Limitations had already been placed on fashion by sumptuary laws, which restricted what clothing French citizens could wear. Women started wearing light, sheer muslin dresses that harkened back to ancient Greece. The goal was to look like a Greek statue: pure, white, and marble. The muslin dresses were often worn over tights. They were also worn wet to accent the features of the body beneath.

While it might seem like a harmless, if somewhat immodest, display, it gave rise to what was popularly known as muslin disease. Women wore thin, wet clothes all year ’round, even in the winter. When influenza swept through Paris in 1803, it struck some 60,000 people each day, mostly women whose ability to fight off the disease was seriously compromised by their fashion choice.

8Asbestos

A huge number of buildings still contain asbestos, but the fire-resistant material is far from a new discovery. Asbestos was used as far back as 4000 B.C., when the slow-burning material appeared ideal for candle wicks. Early Egyptians used asbestos to wrap the bodies of their dead to prevent decay, and in ancient Greece, bodies placed on funeral pyres were wrapped with asbestos cloth to separate their ashes from the ashes of the fire.

Clay cooking pots were lined with asbestos in areas across Europe, and in ancient Rome, cloths made from asbestos could be cleaned just by throwing them into the fire. Charlemagne ordered tablecloths made of asbestos to keep them from catching fire during his parties, and knights in the Crusades flung burning tar from their catapults wrapped in—you guessed it—asbestos. Long thought to be a byproduct of a fiery lizard (an idea that was disproved by Marco Polo), asbestos was even the material of choice for sellers of holy relics. The unique properties of the material gave wood an ancient, weathered look that made it look a part of The Cross.

The dangers of asbestos have been known since the time of ancient Greece, when miners wore masks made of animal innards to keep from breathing the fibers. But in modern times, not till the 1970s and the emergence of mesothelioma did the asbestos industry shut down.

7E-Cigarettes

E-cigarettes give you the same nicotine hit as conventional cigarettes without the toxic tar. Even advocates who oppose vaping—believing it may discourage smokers from abandoning nicotine altogether—say it is better than smoking. However, users who think they can inhale a chemical for a nicotine high without suffering any effects are mistaken.

The vapor can contain chemicals like formaldehyde and acetone and can produce eye and respiratory irritants like propylene glycol. While the levels in secondhand vapor are less than those in secondhand smoke, they can still pose health risks. These risks increase when the e-cigarette is turned up higher.

Beyond the effects of inhaling the vapor, e-cigarettes present consumers with a concentrated, toxic chemical, and many have shown themselves incapable of using or storing it properly. In one month in 2014, poison control centers reported upward of 200 phone calls after children ingested the poison or got it on their skin. Pets are also at risk. Depending on the size of the dog, chewing a single cartridge can result in anything from seizures and cardiac arrest to death—all within 15 minutes. Users of e-cigarettes should keep cartridges out of the reach of children and pets, as they would alcohol or any other potentially dangerous substance.

6Dietary Supplements

Many swear by their vitamin C and calcium pills, but supplements touted as healthy sometimes turn out to be just the opposite.

In 2013, the Food and Drug Administration pulled several weight loss supplements from the market. They’d linked a stimulant called dimethylamlamine (DMAA) with 86 cases of psychiatric disorders, nervous system malfunction, and death. Even after the danger was documented, one company the FDA contacted refused to stop manufacturing the drug until the FDA visited them in person.

The FDA doesn’t review supplements before they hit the market. Bills have been put before Congress to make the agency do so, but for now, consumers must just trust the manufacturer. A supplement may be useless at best or contain deadly substances at worst.

5Radium Watches And Dials

Radium was first discovered in 1898 by Marie Curie. It naturally occurs when uranium decays, and purified radium has the property of glowing in the dark. For the public in the early 1900s, that glow was unique, and radium was used in the first glow-in-the-dark watches. Soldiers in trenches during World War I told time after sunset using the glow. And many industrial dials, such as on ship and airplane control panels, were coated with radium for easy reading.

Dial painters were mostly young women, and they were expected to paint about 250 watch dials every day. Many took to rolling the tips of their paint brushes between their lips. Others streaked their hair with radium to make themselves shine. Slowly, the girls fell ill. Teeth fell out, sores developed, and the bones in their faces rotted away.

In 1924, Harvard University and the US Radium Company investigated the effects of radium for the first time. The study concluded that the deaths of the young women in the plant had nothing to do with radium. But when the Consumers League of New Jersey got involved—with the help of some less-biased doctors—they found that radium is dangerous, and so were the working conditions at the factory. Turning off the lights revealed that the women were constantly covered in radium dust, glowing in the dark like their watch dials. Exposure was so great that when they breathed, they were breathing out radon gas.

4Mercury

The phrase “mad as a hatter” comes from the use of mercury in 19th-century hat-making. Originally, hatters separated fur from animal hides for felt using camel urine, as the urea’s chemical reaction pulled the hairs out of the skin. Later, people wondered why they were going through all the trouble of getting camel urine when they had plenty of their own readily available. So manufacturers shifted to human urine instead.

Over time, it appeared that syphilitic felt-makers consistently produced higher-quality felt. Those workers treated their disease with mercury, which entered their urine. When their urine hit animal skins, it reacted differently, fur came off more easily, and the skin took less damage. Felt-makers stopped using urine altogether and switched to mercury nitrate.

The process was banned in the United States in 1941—but not because of the risks, which had been known since 1874. Mercury was needed for weapons manufacturing, so the government appropriated it for wartime use.

3Cadmium Paint

Cadmium sulfide is a component of many yellow paints. It was hugely popular with the Impressionists and was a favorite of artists like Van Gogh, Monet, and Matisse. Long-term effects of cadmium-based paints weren’t known at the time, though, and now, more than a few Impressionist paintings are decaying because of the breakdown of the cadmium sulfide. Even after we realized the compound decays and changes color, we kept using it.

But while calcium sulfide can lead to paintings changing over time, some paints contain pure cadmium metal, which can be dangerous. Cadmium is a toxic carcinogen. McDonald’s was caught using cadmium paint on merchandise in 2010 and had to recall 12 million units of Shrek tie-ins.

2Carving Pumpkins

Halloween is loosely based on the Celtic holiday Samhain, the final harvest of the year traditionally observed on October 31. It prepared people for the long winter months, when bonfires were lit to protect the living from the spirits of the dead. Those massive bonfires turned into smaller fires and were made safer by lighting them within a turnip.

When the tradition crossed to North America, turnips were in short supply, but pumpkins weren’t. So the tradition expanded to lighting fires within pumpkins, and with carving the thick-skinned vegetable came danger. According to Consumer Reports, about one-third of Halloween-related injuries happen when carving pumpkins. These range from cuts to severed tendons.

A SUNY Upstate Medical University research team wanted to learn how badly different carving knives hurt people, but testing them on live humans seemed ethically questionable. So they removed hands from cadavers, and they used a hydraulic press and a variety of kitchen knives to see what kind of damage each would do. They tested the pressure needed to carve the pumpkin against the pressure needed to damage the hand. Blades marketed as pumpkin-cutting tools were generally less dangerous than standard kitchen knives, but care should still be taken to avoid making the night a bit more gruesome than planned.

1Skin Care

Beauty might be only skin deep, but that’s all it’s ever taken for the human race to do a lot of damage to themselves. For hundreds of years, we’ve been more concerned with the current beauty ideals than safety.

Our history of dangerous skin care products goes back at least to feudal Japan, whose lead- and mercury-based face paints created highly desired white complexions. Those powders and paints remained popular through the 18th century, when people finally got concerned about side effects like lead poisoning and neurological disorders.

That’s about the same time that the Western ideal changed. Once, pale skin was considered beautiful, as it meant an indoor lifestyle free from manual labor. With the Industrial Revolution, pale skin meant you were from the working class, confined to factories and mines. A tan, however, meant you had leisure time out in the country and were likely healthier than those subjected to cramped, polluted cities.

Tanned skin became much more desirable, and when Coco Chanel began the trend of sunbathing, the idea really took off. But we now know that about 90 percent of skin cancer cases are linked to prolonged sun exposure. The same exposure can age you prematurely, weaken your immune system, and damage your eyes.

Some modern technologies were invented to work or look one way but ended up getting modified. At other times, they were invented for particular purposes but were ultimately used in different ways.

This is true for several of today’s technologies—from our phones to USBs, air conditioners, sirens, and blockchains, which form the backbone of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Most were not invented for the uses they have today. And those that were didn’t end up as intended.

10 The USB Was Supposed To Be Flippable

The average person requires 2–3 tries to insert a USB into his computer. Ajay Bhatt, the inventor of the USB, was aware of this problem when he created the USB. He tried to avoid this by making the product flippable. That is, the USB could be inserted either way, the sort of thing we are seeing with USB Type-C.

At the time, Bhatt and his team did not make the USB flippable because it was an unproven technology. Before then, computer and gadget makers built different products to allow users to transfer files between their computers and other external devices. Bhatt wanted to standardize this with the USB.

However, the team was concerned with reducing the prototype production costs because they were uncertain that their product would become mainstream. The USB prototype would have required twice as many wires and circuits if Bhatt and the team had made it flippable. This would have made it more expensive to produce, which is the sort of thing you try to avoid when inventing an unproven technology.^[1]

9 The iPhone Was Never Intended To Support Third-Party Apps

Third-party apps are the mainstay of any mobile operating system today. In fact, they are a major reason that a new mobile OS cannot just arise out of the blue. Mobile phone users requiring an operating system outside Android and iOS will often need to reconsider their decision because most mobile apps are developed for these two operating systems.

Interestingly, we almost didn’t have the App Store. When the first iPhone was released in 2007, Apple only allowed developers to create web apps and not mobile apps. The web apps opened by default in Apple’s Safari browser. However, Apple started to reconsider its decision after developers raised concerns about creating web apps instead of mobile apps.

iPhone users also started to jailbreak their phones as they demanded more functionality, which could only be provided by mobile apps. Steve Jobs initially resisted the attempt to switch to mobile apps, even after several Apple executives saw the change as inevitable. Jobs was concerned about the quality of third-party apps. He later gave in, and the App Store was introduced in 2008.^[2]

8 Android Was Invented For Cameras

Android would have never been Apple’s rival if its inventors had followed their original plans of creating an operating system for digital cameras. Android was founded in 2003 by a four-man team trying to develop an operating system for digital cameras. The OS would have allowed photographers to connect their cameras to their PCs without any cables or to the cloud where they saved their photos.

The inventors maintained this vision until they started seeking funding from investors in 2004. They realized that the digital camera market was in decline. At the same time, sales of smartphones were going up. So they switched to developing their OS for smartphones. Android was later acquired by Google, which turned it into freeware for smartphone makers.^[3]

7 The Microphone Was Supposed To Be A Hearing Aid

The first microphone was invented by Emile Berliner in 1877. As with many other inventions, Berliner was not the only person working on developing the microphone at the time. In fact, Alexander Graham Bell (the inventor of the telephone) was also working on a microphone and even created a working prototype before Berliner.

However, Bell is not considered the inventor of the microphone because his device was not practical. Interestingly, Bell had a different reason for creating the microphone. While other inventors were probably interested in amplifying sound, Bell was trying to create a hearing aid that increased sound for people with hearing difficulties.

Bell got the idea to create a microphone when he visited his mother, who had hearing problems. He also worked around people with hearing problems. Bell had been involved with the hearing-impaired since he was young. As we mentioned earlier, his mother was partially deaf.

His father, Melville Bell, also invented a writing system called Visible Speech for the deaf. Alexander Graham Bell had worked as a teacher at Pemberton Avenue School for the Deaf in Boston. He later married Mabel Hubbard, who was one of his students at the school.^[4]

6 Blockchain Was Invented To Time-Stamp Documents

Most people do not realize that the blockchain—which powers cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin—was invented by Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta in 1991. The duo intended blockchain as a tool for time-stamping documents. However, the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto found other uses for it when he created Bitcoin in the late 2000s.^[5]

In their original paper, which was titled “How to time-stamp a digital document,” Haber and Stornetta wrote that the blockchain would not allow users to “back-date or to forward-date [a] document, even with the collusion of a time-stamping service.” They added that it would “maintain complete privacy of the documents themselves, and require no record-keeping by the time-stamping service.”

This is exactly how cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin work. Details about the owners of Bitcoins and their transactions are private even though others can see the transaction, which is the timestamp. Bitcoins are also almost impossible to forge. However, Haber and Stornetta believed that their blockchain would be used to prove that a document existed at a certain time, which is very useful in legal cases.

5 The Siren Was A Musical Instrument

Nowadays, sirens are considered the first sign of incoming danger. However, they were never intended to be warning systems. The modern siren was invented by Scotsman John Robison in 1799. He considered it a musical instrument even though it made the same sound as today’s sirens.

Frenchman Cagniard de la Tour also created a siren in 1819. However, he was only interested in using it for scientific experiments. Tour used his device to measure the average speed of a mosquito wing, the speed of sound underwater, and the frequency of musical notes. However, he noted that the siren could be used as a warning device on ships.

These devices only became warning signals during World War II when the British government used them to alert their people of German attacks. The US extended their use as tornado warnings after a devastating twister caused extensive damage and killed lots of people at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma in 1948. The US government turned to the already-proven siren instead of developing a new tornado warning system.

Curiously, the US government never issued tornado warnings before 1948 even though the authorities had once considered it decades earlier. In 1887, the government determined that tornado warnings were unnecessary over concerns that they could cause more confusion. The use of sirens was extended to warn of nuclear attacks when President Harry Truman passed the Civil Defense Act during the Cold War in 1950.^[6]

4 The Ice Machine Was Invented To Cool Hospital Patients

The ice-making machine was a spinoff of the refrigerator, which had been in development for centuries until William Cullen invented the first practical mechanical refrigerator in the 1720s. Several inventors improved on his design. This included Oliver Evans, who designed a refrigerator that used vapor in place of liquid for cooling in 1805.

In 1842, US doctor John Gorrie improved on Cullen’s refrigerator to create an ice machine. Gorrie used the machine to make ice to reduce the body temperatures of the yellow fever patients at the hospital where he worked. He got a patent for his invention in 1851.^[7]

3 The First Programmable Robot Was Invented For Die-Casting

The history of robots goes back centuries. However, the first digital and programmable robot was created by George Devol in 1954. He would later partner with Joseph Engelberger to found the first company dedicated to robotics.

The robot was called Unimate. It was a one-handed industrial robot, the sort used in automotive plants today. However, Unimate was not involved in building vehicles. Instead, it was used for the dangerous job of die-casting—that is, pouring red-hot molten metal into a preset mold.

The first Unimate was installed at a General Motors die-casting plant in New Jersey in 1959. Other automakers and businesses soon got the Unimate to do their die-casting jobs. A few years later, similar one-handed robots were created to do other tasks, including building vehicles from scratch.^[8]

2 The Steam Engine Was Invented To Pump Water Out Of Coal Mines

The steam engine was one of the most important inventions of the first industrial revolution. While considered archaic today, it was used to operate everything from factories, machines, mills, airships, trains, and boats a few centuries ago. This occurred even though the first practical steam engine was created to pump water out of coal mines.

The steam engine had been in development for centuries. However, like robots, early steam engines were not feasible to use. The first practical steam engine—which is actually considered a steam-operated machine and not an engine—was developed by Jeronimo de Ayanz in 1606. Ayanz created his steam machine to pump water out of coal mines.

Ayanz’s machine was not very efficient. In 1698, Thomas Savery stepped in to create what is considered the first steam engine. Like Ayanz, Savery developed his machine to pump water out of coal mines. However, his machine was not perfect, either. It could only pump water from shallow mines and was susceptible to exploding without notice.

In 1711, Thomas Newcomen improved on the steam engine to pump water from deep mines. His invention was inefficient even though it worked. In 1765, James Watt improved on Newcomen’s engine to develop an efficient steam engine. Watt’s steam engine soon found use in powering factories and, later, vehicles.^[9]

1 The First Air Conditioner Was Intended To Cool A Printing Plant

Willis Carrier invented the first practical air conditioner in 1902. Like the ice machine, the air conditioner was a spin-off of the refrigerator. Prospective inventors of the air conditioner were actually working on refrigerators when they discovered its air conditioning properties.

As mentioned earlier, Gorrie created the ice machine. He later improved it to develop a cooling system that worked like an air conditioner even though it was based on the principle of the refrigerator. However, he is not considered the inventor of the air conditioner because his invention was not practical.^[10]

In 1902, executives from Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Company in Brooklyn, New York, requested a cooling system from Carrier for their factory. The inside of their factory often became humid, which destroyed the colors used for printing. Carrier got to work, and the result is considered the first air conditioner.

Urban legends—from little elementary kids telling each other that swallowing a watermelon seed will make a watermelon grow in your stomach from teens daring each other to walk up to the “murder house” of the neighborhood—every one of us has heard them. The thing that makes urban legends so interesting is that they’re spread with the belief that they’re true. Urban legends come to be because of mysterious sightings, real experiences of people, and true historical events, so it makes them much more believable than simple creepypastas and scary stories. Most of them, however, are either completely untrue, remain unconfirmed, or extremely exaggerated. Only a small minority of urban legends have been confirmed as real.

10 The “Maine Hermit,” Christopher Knight

For years, residents of North Pond, Maine noticed the constant disappearance of items in their homes. Instead of watches and wallets, however, it was simple things like peanut butter, or apples. Considering the inconsequential nature of the items, the residents didn’t think much. Not until the break ins happened again, and again, and again—1000s times in fact.^[1] Finally, the police were able to catch and arrest the culprit—the “Maine Hermit,” Christopher Knight. When Christopher Knight was only 20 years old, he purposely stranded himself in the woods and lived without any other human contact for 27 years. He stole what he needed to survive, but avoided all other people. In the end, residents of North Pond finally got the answer to the mystery of their missing items.

9 The Boogeyman of New York, Cropsey

The story of Cropsey was once just a Staten Island urban legend kids told to scare each other. As it was said, Cropsey was an escaped mental patient with a hook for a hand that kidnapped children and murdered them in the underground abandoned tunnels of the Seaview Hospital. Parents would even use the story to scare their kids into keeping curfew or going to bed. In the ’80s, however, the urban legend manifested in real life. A bus full of children was hijacked by Cropsey, and five other children went missing at his hands. One poor child’s body was found in a shallow grave near the Willowbrook State School.^[2] Willowbrook State School, if you don’t recognize the name, was the subject of a national scandal in the 70s—children at the school were exposed to sexual abuse, corporal punishment, unsanitary conditions, overcrowding, and even unethical medical experiments. Our boy, Cropsey, turned out to be Andre Rand, the janitor at the school. Rand was convicted for kidnapping and lives in prison to this day.

8 Real Corpse Used as Carnival Prop

Real or not, corpses tend to give many of us the creeps. So to think that the haunted house zombie or the carnival mannequin beside you was more than just a prop? It’s the stuff of nightmares. In 1976, a film crew went to Pike Amusement Park in Long Beach, California for filming. While filming on one of the “spooky rides” of the park, a crew member reached for a hanged mannequin’s arm, which broke off. Upon examining the dismembered limb however, the worker saw real skin and bone. Turns out, that “mannequin” was no prop. In fact, it was the mummified corpse of outlaw and train robber, Elmer McCurdy. He was killed in a shootout after trying to evade the police. He was taken to a funeral and embalmed, but no one claimed the body, so the undertaker used him for display—people could see the body for dropping a nickel into the corpse’s mouth.^[3] A carnie eventually showed up a claimed to be a relative wanting to “lay the body to rest.” From then on, McCurdy’s corpse was used as a carnival attractions for decades. Eventually, the story of outlaw Elmer McCurdy was lost and the corpse was assumed to be fake. When the TV crew finally discovered the old boy he was laid to rest in Oklahoma. A layer of concrete covers the casket to prevent him from becoming a traveling attraction again.

7 Virginia “Bunny Man” Threatens Trespassers with axe

Many towns have their own share of local scary stories and haunted locations, and Virginia’s Fairfax County was no different. For decades, kids told each other the story of the “Bunny Man,” a threatening man in a bunny suit with an axe. Supposedly, Bunny Man was responsible for the murder of a couple children as well as some disappearances and the scattered presence of mutilated animal carcasses around the county. In truth, the story isn’t quite so wild. In October of 1970, the Washington Post published an article: “Man in Bunny Suit Sought in Fairfax,” after a couple had a hatchet thrown into their car windshield by a man in a bunny suit. The man threatened the couple for “trespassing” and then disappeared in the woods. Only a week later, the same event occurred once again with a separate couple.^[4] Though not quite as extravagant as murder, the bunny man was actually a very real man with an axe and everything.

6 Criminal Big Nose George’s Body was used to make Shoes

It’s not uncommon in horror movies for things made of skin, or bones, or something else more morbid. There was a case, however, where it was more than just a horror trope. George Parrot, or “Big Nose George,” was an ol’ wild west criminal. He stole horses, robbed stagecoaches and trains, and even murdered the local sheriff and detective.^[5] He did, at least, until he got caught. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. After the deed was done, no one came forward to claim the body. Two doctors present at the time asked to have the body for medical study. Though one of the doctors did study his brain, George’s corpse was mainly used for… not medical purposes. In fact, the cadaver was skinned and made into shoes and part of the skull was given as a gift to a medical protege. The rest of the body was buried in a whiskey barrel. The shoes still exist today and can be viewed at the Carbon County Museum in Rawlins, Wyoming.

5 Mysterious “Charlie No-Face” Confirmed a Considerate Pennsylvania Resident

Many people near Pittsburg know the story of Charlie No-Face (also called the Green Man). Depending on who you asked, he was a ghost, a monster, or a simple factory worked who had been horribly disfigured as a child and lost his face. This Beaver County bogeyman was more than just a legend, however. He was a real man and resident of Big Beaver, Pennsylvania. His real name was Raymond Robinson and was a normal boy—up until the accident. He was burned by high voltage when trying to climb an inoperative trolley line and, though he survived, he lost his eyes and nose and his lips and ears were horribly disfigured. Wanting to get some fresh air, but knowing his appearance would frighten others, Robinson began walking the roads at night. Word spread to local residents and people began to drive down to try to see him. Some even brought cigarettes and beer.^[6] Eventually, the story of Charlie No-Face was passed on until it became an unrecognizable ghost story, but Charlie was really just a kindly victim of a tragic accident.

4 Missing Woman’s Corpse Found in Hotel’s Water Tank

Have you ever gotten a glass of tap water and thought it tasted a bit funny? Well, this exact thing happened to guests of LA’s Cecil Hotel but with a gruesome twist. Elisa Lam was a 21-year-old Canadian tourist visiting LA. After Jan 26, 2013, however, she went missing. For 2 weeks her whereabouts were unknown. Unknown, that is, until a maintenance man went to check the Cecil Hotel water tank because of “water pressure issues”.^[7] Inside one of the four large tanks he found Lam’s naked corpse. Surveillance from the night of her disappearance showed her acting strangely: pressing all the elevator buttons or getting in and out of cars. The police deemed the incident a tragic accident, and health officials assured hotel guests that the water was not contaminated because of the body. Even so, guests were understandably upset.

3 Mysterious Gas Mask Man of Switzerland, “Le Loyon” photographed

Cryptids are a common thing. Some of them are extremely famous, like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. Others like mothman or thunderbird are uncommon but still far reaching. Some, like our aforementioned Maine Hermit or Cropsey, are only known locally. Le Loyon is most similar to the latter two. For about a decade, residents of Maule, Switzerland have experienced sightings of a mysterious man in the forest wearing a gas mask, boiler suit, and a cloak. Most who have encountered the mysterious Le Loyon retreated in fear, despite him/her showing no aggression. In fact, one observer even saw Le Loyon holding a bouquet of flowers one time.^[8] Though questions about Le Loyon remain unanswered, one observer was able to snap a picture of the mysterious man, thus proving his existence.

2 Man Actually Makes Himself Fly with Balloons

Many of us have dreamed of flying as children. With movies like Up and Mary Poppins it seems to be a fairly easy task—just get a lot of balloons, or maybe jump down the stairs with an umbrella. Okay, so maybe these methods don’t quite work like we’d hoped, but one man was actually able to accomplish it. In the ’80s, Larry Walter tied 42 weather balloons to a lawn chair and was able to soar 3 miles in the air for multiple hours.^[9] To return to earth, he used a pellet balloon to pop the balloons one at a time. Unfortunately, the balloons caught on power lines and caused a 20 min outage in Long Beach. Though he was issued a $1,500 fine, he received international attention and ever appeared on “The Tonight Show.”

1 Woman was Buried Alive and Mangled Her Fingers While Trying to Escape

I think most of us have probably heard the story of someone being buried alive: some person was proclaimed dead and was buried but later woke up, alive in their casket. When the grave is later dug up, the person is found dead by suffocation with horribly mangled fingers and scratch marks on the inside of the coffin. The story of Octavia Hatcher is likely the source of this legend. She fell ill and went into a coma in the late 1800s. Not long after, she was pronounced dead and swiftly buried. Not even a week later, other people began showing similar symptoms to Octavia—falling into a coma with extremely shallow breathing. These individuals, however, woke up. Her husband, worried she had been buried alive, ordered her to be unburied. Sadly, his suspicions were correct. Octavia was found dead in her casket with a scratched face and bloody fingers. The lining had even been torn from the coffin’s lid.^[10] She was shortly reburied.

You can find the student and freelance writer, Elizabeth Boyer, on YouTube at “Lizzie Boyer.”

Most zoo visits happen without incident, but sometimes, things go wrong. Visitors scale enclosure walls, and chimpanzees lure people closer for bad reasons.

However, it is when zoos close for the day that things truly get weird. From strange thefts and maulings to bizarre drills, this behind-the-scenes strangeness cannot beat the time when three zoos stole a herd of elephants.

10 Kaln’s Egg

A sanctuary in Gloucester, England, rehabilitates wild species of birds rescued as pets or captive working individuals. For the past 23 years, the haven has taken care of a male eagle owl called Kaln.

In 2019, he laid an egg. The declaration of motherhood was unexpected because the staff never considered the owl as female. Even Kaln looked surprised by the egg.

The sanctuary cannot be faulted for mistaking the bird’s anatomy. Determining the gender of an owl is difficult. Males and females often look identical, and their chromosomes are similar enough to foil genetic tests.

The sanctuary has no interest in such tests. Their priority is not breeding but rehabilitation. Should a bird behave like a male or female, that is how it is viewed.

Kaln carried on like a guy. She tried to mate with everything and never laid the usual six eggs that female eagle owls deposit during the winter. These days, Kaln is seen as the sanctuary’s “tomboy.”^[1]

9 The Two Dads

The Sea Life Sydney Aquarium homes several penguins. Among them were Sphen and Magic. The gentoo penguins were inseparable. They courted and even built a nest together. They were also both male. Seeing that the birds were devoted to each other, the staff provided them with a fake egg.

They did such a good job that the aquarium gave them a real egg in 2018. Thinking that they were new dads, Sphen performed security patrols while Magic incubated. After a while, Magic guarded the nest while Sphen warmed the egg.

Their foster chick hatched on October 19, 2018. Weighing no more than an apple, little “Sphengic” was doted on by both of its fathers. When it comes to penguins, same-sex pairs are nothing new. However, it remains exceptionally unusual for them to raise a chick.^[2]

8 Santino’s Game

At the Furuvik Zoo in Sweden, Santino is the dominant male of a group of chimpanzees. He developed the habit of pelting visitors with “ammunition.” The latter included stones from his enclosure’s moat and concrete lumps that he pilfered from an artificial island.

His stockpiles proved that chimps could plan a future event, something previously considered an exclusively human trait. Why Santino bombarded people was not a mystery. He likely tried to dominate them. Dominant males from other zoos have done the same.

However, in 2012, Santino did something unexpected. After a zoo guide removed a group of visitors from the chimp’s enclosure for safety reasons, he was left without admirers for hours. Santino decided to lure them back.

He hid his projectiles near the visitors’ area, and when the trusting humans returned, he resumed his rudeness. This was the first recorded instance of deception in chimps. The remarkable part was that Santino had made plans about people he could not see and also predicted their behavior.^[3]

7 The Valentine’s Day Offer

In 2019, the El Paso Zoo in Texas warmed the hearts of revenge-oriented people—more specifically, anyone who despised their ex and wanted to do something about it. The zoo asked for the first name and last initial of an ex. This title was then transferred to a cockroach. The insect was destined to be fed to a meerkat.

Those who submitted the names could watch the live-streamed event on Valentine’s Day. Called “Quit Bugging Me,” the stunt was a success. Soon after the project was announced, over 1,500 names were submitted, a little too much for the zoo’s meerkat population.

The bugs are rich in nutrients, and each mongoose received a single cockroach. To make up for the fact that most of the names would never end up inside a meerkat’s digestive system, the zoo revealed all the names on social media.

Other institutions followed suit. El Paso offered the name-a-cockroach service for free, but those who really wanted to see an ex consumed could pay between $2 and $15 for the privilege at three other zoos.^[4]

6 Zoo Jeans

A pair of jeans remains a fierce fashion choice, although few manufacturers can beat the wild way in which Zoo Jeans makes their pants. In 2014, Mineko Club needed a fundraiser idea for conservation.

The Japanese volunteer group came up with a solution that was both marketable and entertaining for zoo animals. They wrapped tires with denim material as toys for the Kamine Zoo in Hitachi City. The denim wheels were given to tigers, lions, and bears. The predators quickly took to the curious objects and started tearing away at the cloth.

It is no secret that torn jeans are hot favorites, but those mauled to shreds by dangerous creatures are even more so. After the material was rescued, it was sewn up as designer jeans. Buyers had a choice between the lion, tiger, or bear model. The fundraiser held an online auction, and jeans ravaged by a tiger received the best bid of $1,200.^[5]

5 Tilda’s Humanlike Calls

Orangutans utter a wide variety of sounds, but a female called Tilda does something unique. The Bornean orangutan lives at Germany’s Cologne Zoo. When she wants more food, Tilda calls for the menu in two different ways. The remarkable thing is that it resembles human vocalizations.

Researchers who analyzed the noises compared one call with clicking sounds used by the Bushmen of Africa. The second consisted of rapid grumbles that mimicked vowel sounds.

Tilda is the first orangutan born in the wild that learned to “speak human” to communicate her needs to people. How she did it remains unknown. But before the ape arrived at the zoo, she was in show business and perhaps was taught as part of an act.

The research might help to understand the origins of speech. If Tilda’s anatomy allows her to make vowel sounds and other humanlike noises, then so could the common ancestors of the great apes. Further investigation might one day pinpoint when and how the first words were spoken.^[6]

4 The Butt Slapper

Wanted: Man who slapped a hippo’s bottom. True story.

In 2018, a visitor to the Los Angeles Zoo went to the hippopotamus enclosure. Even though entering zoo enclosures is prohibited and punishable by law, the man clambered over a railing and approached the two hippos. He soundly smacked four-year-old Rosie on the butt.

She flinched, and the other hippo—her mother, Mara—was startled by the whole thing. Before Mara could experience parental rage, the man fled. The trespasser’s bizarre behavior was caught on film. Although it became widely circulated on social media and was shown to police, the slapper remains at large.^[7]

In a way, the incident was funny and at least the animals were not hurt. However, a hippo is capable of being exceptionally dangerous. In fact, they are one of Africa’s most lethal—and surprisingly nimble—animals. To take one by surprise, as the man did, is even more deadly.

3 The Monkey Cage Incident

John Owen Casford had a brilliant idea. To impress his girlfriend, he was going to give her a squirrel monkey. As one cannot purchase the tiny primates at Walmart, he decided to steal one.

In 2018, Casford strolled through an unguarded gate at a New Zealand zoo. He broke open two locks meant to secure the monkey cage and entered. After that, the details got hazy.

Things got violent at one point. Not only were the monkeys hurt and traumatized but Casford also had his own problems. The thief was found the next morning with fractured teeth, a twisted ankle, a bruised back, and a broken leg.^[8]

The 23-year-old was charged and sentenced to almost three years in prison. The verdict included punishment for prior crimes that summer, including several assaults on other people. Although Casford was man enough to plead guilty to the zoo incident and explained that he had broken his leg trying to get over a fence, nobody knows how he received the other injuries.

2 A Bizarre Escape Drill

Japanese zoos believe in being prepared. Every year, they hold drills for events like earthquakes and escaped animals. In 2019, the Tobe Zoo in Ehime decided to train its personnel to deal with a lion on the loose.

A local news station captured the training, and the video went viral. Not because the drill was good, but because it was so bizarre. Since Tobe Zoo could not use a real animal, a staff member dressed up as a lion. The giant puppet, looking more like a mascot than an object of serious training, wandered around the zoo.

At one point, keepers cornered it with nets. The lion-guy knocked several of them to the ground and ran away. The staff changed tactics and took off in hot pursuit in a vehicle.^[9]

As they drove by, the fake lion was shot with a fake tranquilizer. The cat keeled over, and the staff demonstrated how to correctly handle a sedated lion. Needless to say, the online community found the whole thing hilarious.

1 The Stolen Herd

In 2016, three US zoos absconded with a herd of elephants. The zoos expressed an interest in removing the animals, stating that the deteriorating conditions in Swaziland were a danger to them.

Indeed, there was a severe drought and removing the elephants would relieve the pressure of finding food for other animals, like rhinos. At worst, the zoos feared that the 18 elephants would be culled.^[10]

Animal rights activists took the zoo officials to court because the activists believed that the herd had to be relocated elsewhere in the African wilderness. A date was scheduled in US federal court, but the zoos decided to make their move anyway. During a daring mission, a large cargo plane touched down in Swaziland. The elephants were sedated, placed in crates, and loaded onto the plane.

When the news broke, the activists were not understanding. Some claimed that it was the most underhanded thing they had ever witnessed. Even so, the US Fish and Wildlife Service provided a permit to import the elephants legally. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums also sided with the zoos.

Man’s love affair with fiction is sweet, but the marriage is almost always beyond strange when it comes to facing the facts. True-to-life conspiracy movies, for one, have always upped the ante for the genre, satisfying viewers who aren’t only looking to be entertained but also educated and perhaps even grateful for knowing what may only remain a mystery to the rest. 

Here are the top 10 T.V. and movie conspiracy theories that turned out to be true.

10 The Philadelphia Experiment

In 1984, British director Stewart Rafill helmed a film that would later earn him the Best Science Fiction Film Award at the Rome Film Festival. But it was not entirely fiction. Entitled “The Philadelphia Experiment,” the Michael Pare film was based on events during World War II when U.S. Navy scientists, led by Dr. Franklin Reno, supposedly embarked on a science-defying military experiment that would create an invisible, teleportable warship. Called the U.S.S. Eldridge and docked in the Philadelphia Naval Yard, the vessel was allegedly created in October 1943, but not without complications.

Legend has it sailors in the controversial ship developed a whole range of extreme or strange conditions, such as mental trauma, seasickness, spontaneous combustion, and even getting embedded into the warship or being invisible themselves. The U.S. Navy has always denied any truth to the Philadelphia Experiment, but this has only fueled speculations of a cover-up. At least the government provided an explanation. The experiment actually meant to hide ships from magnetic torpedoes during the war. In any case, the mysterious venture inspired a whole slew of movies, including Rafill’s. 

9 The Roswell U.F.O.s

Over 70 years ago, news of a “flying saucer” crash-landing on a ranch in Roswell, New Mexico, hit the Roswell Daily Record’s front page. At one point, the U.S. military corrected itself by saying they had collected no more than a crashed water balloon, but the retraction didn’t change anything. One of the world’s biggest, most explored conspiracy theories was born, strengthened by reports of officials taking the aliens to the Area 51 military base in New Mexico. By the 1990s, swathes of books, T.V. documentaries, movies and supposed footage of alien autopsies had been produced and circulated, all pointing to the U.S. government as a keeper of aliens. 

One of the most extravagant and commercially, not to mention critically, successful movies on the Roswell U.F.O. was Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.” Released in 1977, the film expertly executed the phenomenon of sightings in the sky, alien abductions, and, of course, conspiracy. The movie even concluded by suggesting that American scientists had entered into some kind of exchange program with the aliens. In 2019, over two million people signed up to storm the Area 51 airbase near Rachel, Nevada, hoping to meet aliens despite the organizer calling the event a hoax. 

8 Men in Black

Speaking of U.F.O.s, modern-day theories have taken to a sleeker, cooler face with the sinister-looking Men in Black. Conspiracists claim that since the 1950s, Men in Black are present at each U.F.O. sighting. Donning their trademark dark suits and black Cadillacs, people believe the MiBs are undercover government agents out to quiet U.F.O. witnesses. Although, our definition of them has also evolved with implications that they could be robots or aliens. In the mid-1950s, ufologist Albert K. Bender said MiBs visited him and ordered him to stop investigating U.F.O.s. Bender believed they were secret government agents whose job was to suppress extraterrestrial evidence. 

This contemporary take on the MiBs stems from the 1956 book They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers by Gray Barker. It is unproven whether the author really believed in his own characters. He did admit writing the book for economic reasons. In 1997, director Barry Sonnenfeld’s sci-fi action-comedy “Men in Black” spawned a blockbuster franchise. But we’ve seen these creepy characters before. This includes John Sales’ “Brother from Another Planet” in 1984, and later in “The X-Files.” While no direct reference was made, “The Matrix,” another phenomenal movie franchise that began in 1999, had MiB D.N.A. written all over it. 

7 Moon Explorations

Aside from being one of mankind’s biggest ventures in the 20th century, moon landings were part of the Cold War’s Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. This is why people believe Neil Armstrong’s first moon landing in 1969 was fake. In 2002, a French filmmaker named William Karel even released a mockumentary on the alleged conspiracy between the U.S. government and American film director, producer, and screenwriter Standley Kubrick to manufacture the landings.

Conspiracists view Karel’s film as a straightforward presentation of the truth and people often share on YouTube as veritable evidence. The 2012 documentary “Room 237” focuses on the various interpretations involved in “The Shining,” a film that delves into the filmmaker’s purported role in the landings and the hints embedded into the movie’s symbolism. In “Apollo 18,” a 2011 found-footage sci-fi horror, the movie suggested that American astronauts did go to the Moon, only to be terrorized by aliens.  

6 Dyatlov Pass Incident

One of the lesser-known but equally intriguing theories in the conspiracy universe revolves around the Dyatlov Pass incident. On February 1959, in Russia’s Ural mountains, nine otherwise healthy ski trekkers died and sustained unexplained wounds on their bodies. Someone had torn open their tents from the inside. It is said the trekkers had come across a top-secret Soviet weapon experiment, and some of the bodies had been radioactively destroyed. The incident inspired several books and films, including “The Devil’s Pass,” directed by Rennie Harlin. 

Also known as The Dyatlov Pass Incident, Harlin’s movie is a narrative about a group of students who investigated the scene of the tragedy years after it happened. In the film, the students take raw footage of the consequences of the failed experiment. While the Russian government eventually recovers and hides the file from the public, hackers managed to get a copy and show it to the public. The film closed, insinuating there was indeed a Russian military experiment that went horribly wrong; the government was keeping it under wraps.

5 Project MKUltra

MKUltra stands out from most conspiracy theories that ever toyed with man’s imagination. For one, it is a confirmed story, which makes it extremely unsettling as opposed to urban legends and their random, half-baked pieces of evidence. MKUltra, a C.I.A. project that rolled out in the 1950s, was a study on mind control and how certain drugs could alter human thoughts and senses. Researchers studied the impact these drugs had on the brain long term without the participants’ knowledge or approval. 

The extent of MKUltra is too comprehensive to be explained in one article, but suffice it today that while several documents related to the project no longer exist. The reclassification of some 20,000 files towards the late 1970s confirms the extensiveness of the two-decade project. Nonetheless, the 2013 American horror film “Banshee Chapter,” managed to sew all the threads seamlessly despite budget and timeline issues. “The Banshee Chapter” was the critically acclaimed directorial debut of Blair Erickson and was groundbreaking in its genre for being the first to directly reference MKUltra.

4 John F. Kennedy Assassination

Surveys of late still show that most Americans believe a conspiracy was behind former President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. This opinion was most prevalent in the early-to-mid 1990s. Three decades after the event actually happened, Oliver Stone released his lengthy but irrefutably engrossing film, “J.F.K.” It is so far the most convincing J.F.K. conspiracy movie ever produced in history. In the movie, Kevin Costner played Jim Garrison, a New Orleans DA who found critical proof that Lee Harvey Oswald was not Kennedy’s exclusive assassin. 

After its controversial release in cinemas, many major American papers claimed Stone had not been very accurate about history. This included scenes about Kennedy’s vice-president, Lyndon B. Johnson, being part of a coup d’état. These inconsistencies, however, did not stop the movie from gaining critical acclaim, especially for its cast’s performances, Stone’s directing, and other technical aspects of the production. 

3 The Watergate Scandal

On June 17, 1971, officials caught prowlers red-handed in the Democratic National Committee Office at the Watergate building complex in Washington. This was the beginning of the Watergate scandal instigated by former President Richard Nixon himself and told by two Washington Post reporters: Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. With information from an anonymous whistleblower nicknamed Deep Throat—revealed in 2005 as former F.B.I. associate director W. Mark Felt—the journalists exposed Nixon’s part in the conspiracy leading to the incumbent’s resignation on August 9, 1974. 

Woodward and Bernstein won a Pulitzer Prize each for the assignment, which inspired a political biographical drama film in 1976 entitled “All the President’s Men.” Directed by Alan J. Pakula and written by William Goldman, the film starred Robert Redford as Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein. The film earned multiple Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nominations. The Library of Congress preserves it in the United States National Film Registry. 

2 The Rainbow Warrior Conspiracy

Codenamed Opération Satanique, the July 10, 1985 sinking of Greenpeace fleet flagship Rainbow Warrior was the French foreign intelligence unit’s handiwork. Said to be behind the operation were two operatives at the Port of Auckland in New Zealand, who attacked the ship on its way to a French nuclear test protest in Muroroa. Killed in the bombing was Portugal-born photographer Fernando Pereira, who was there to document the scheduled nuclear test and share his photos with the world. Just turned 35, Pereira drowned in a rush of water on the night of the attack. 

In the beginning, France was quick to dismiss reports of its involvement, even though New Zealand police caught two of its agents. The police charged them with arson, conspiracy to commit arson, murder, and willful damage. The controversy climaxed with the resignation of French Defense Minister Charles Hernu. But while the captured agents both pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a jail sentence of ten years each, they were released a mere two years later by the French government. In 1993, Michael Tuchner directed a made-for-TV drama film entitled “Rainbow Warrior,” also called “The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior,” top-billed by Jon Voight and Sam Neill.

1 A Pararescueman’s Medal of Valor

In a Vietnam War rescue mission on April 11, 1966, U.S. Air Force Pararescueman William H. Pitsenbarger saved the lives of more than 60 men with his own bare hands. Climbing out of the cover of his rescue helicopter, Pits joined people on the ground to help them despite his team members’ dissuasion. After saving several people, P.J. could have escaped in the last helicopter flying out of the acutely active combat zone but chose to stand behind his fellow soldiers before making the ultimate sacrifice. 

“The Last Full Measure,” a 2019 American war drama film directed by Todd Robinson, followed Pentagon staffer Scott Huffman’s efforts to investigate a Medal of Honor request for Pitsenbarger in 1998. As Huffman gathered testimonies from Army veterans, he discovered a high-profile conspiracy that had kept the Vietnam War hero from receiving the medal. This prompted Huffman to put a halt to his own career ambitions and dedicate his next years to pursuing justice for the fallen airman. Finally, on December 8, 2000, the government awarded A1C William H. Pitsenbarger the Medal of Honor posthumously. 

No matter whether you are a stay-at-home parent or a full-time employee, it can be difficult to find that perfect work-life balance. Aside from “work,” common day-to-day tasks such as household chores, yard work, caring for pets, managing finances, and taking care of ourselves can quickly become overwhelming.

While they may seem tedious and mundane, these everyday tasks keep our homes, vehicles, and bodies in good working order. However, often, these errands become so commonplace that we typically perceive them to be far more dreadful than dangerous.

However, these stories prove that all it takes is a split second for either a mistake or a bizarre external factor to completely change the trajectory of our lives, even while doing something as simple as taking the dog for a walk, mowing the grass, or making a routine trip to the dentist.

Here are the stories of ten common activities and tasks that quickly turned into tragic freak accidents.

Related: Top 10 Freaky Car Accidents With No Survivors

10 Walking the Dog

Around 5 am on August 16, 2023, 34-year-old Madeline Kelly of Mendota, California, took her boyfriend’s dog out for a walk.

Unfortunately, there had been a small fire in the area on August 14. While the fire department extinguished the vegetation fire, the power company—Pacific Gas and Electric—was not alerted as the power lines did not appear to be affected by the fire. However, the fire had indeed weakened the power pole, and sometime between the Monday night fire and Kelly’s Wednesday morning walk, the line fell.

Without the aid of sunlight during Kelly’s early morning walk, she was unable to see the hazard and stepped on the live wires. Sadly, both Kelly and the dog were electrocuted. Kelly’s boyfriend later discovered the pair’s bodies.

Emergency responders attempted to revive Kelly, but after unsuccessful attempts, first responders pronounced both she and the dog dead.

A spokesperson for Pacific Gas and Electric later issued a statement that read, “We are working with first responders to investigate the circumstances of the tragic accident in Mendota this week. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who have been impacted.” An investigation is ongoing.^[1]

9 Mowing the Grass

Sixty-four-year-old Peggy Jones and her husband, 66-year-old Wendell, planned to end the day of July 25, 2023, by mowing the lawn of their investment property in Silsbee, Texas, and then heading off to the casino together.

Given that the yard work was typically a three-hour job, Wendell got to work in the front of the property while Peggy set out on a riding mower in the back of the property. Then, “all of a sudden, out of the clear blue sky, a snake fell… and landed on Peggy’s arm.”

The four-foot (1.2-meter) snake clutched onto Peggy’s right arm and wouldn’t let go. The snake then began striking at her face, but thankfully, its venom landed on Peggy’s glasses rather than in her eyes. However, the more Peggy attempted to thrust her arm, the tighter the snake’s grip became. As if this situation wasn’t bad enough, Peggy had to continue to maintain control of the tractor, all while desperately screaming for help. Unfortunately, the sound of both tractors, along with traffic from the nearby highway, made it impossible for Wendell to hear her cries.

Just then, a brown and white hawk swooped down, creating a “tug-of-war of nature” as the hawk tried to grab the snake, who still refused to let go of Peggy’s arm. Despite the failed attempt at capturing the serpent, the hawk refused to give up on its prey. After swooping in four more times, the snake was finally released from Peggy’s arm, and the hawk flew away with it.

Thankfully, Peggy was eventually able to get her husband’s attention, but by this time, her arm was covered in blood, claw marks, lacerations, and punctures. Wendell rushed Peggy to the emergency room, where she was given antibiotics, her wounds were cleaned and bandaged, and her condition was stabilized.

The incident not only left Peggy with nightmares but also with the inability to use her arm. Fortunately, Wendell, along with the couple’s children and grandchildren, assisted Peggy with daily tasks and took extra precautions to keep her wounds wrapped and free from infection.^[2]

8 Running on the Treadmill

On July 21, 2023, 36-year-old Delrie Rosario and her sister, Marissa Woods, went to a local LA Fitness Center in Kent, Washington, to run on the treadmill, something the sisters did nearly every day. Unfortunately, their typical exercise routine turned into a “bizarre accident.”

As Rosario attempted to slow the treadmill down, she stumbled and hit her head on the front of the machine, causing her to fall off and lose consciousness.

Woods stated she then began screaming for help in hopes of gaining the attention of someone who knew how to perform CPR. While other gym-goers came to her aid, Woods claimed none of the gym staff tried to assist her.

Rosario was rushed to a nearby hospital but, sadly, never regained consciousness.

Amid the family’s grief, they found peace in knowing that Rosario, who was known for having “the biggest heart,” would go on to save the lives of others. Her heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver were transplanted in order to save the lives of five people on organ donor waiting lists.^[3]

7 Going to the ATM

Sixty-three-year-old Michael Diaczyszyn of Glenarm, North Ireland, was described as a “fun-loving big man with a good soul” who “saw the bright side of everything.” Unfortunately, his life was taken due to a freak accident at an ATM machine.

On February 22, 2017, Diaczyszyn went to withdraw money from a cash machine in Larne, North Ireland. However, while attempting to complete the transaction, a runaway empty Vauxhall Vivaro van rolled back down the street and hit him.

Diaczyszyn was taken to a local hospital for a broken leg but sadly died the following morning due to complications from surgery.^[4]

6 Getting a Tooth Filled

On March 18, 2022, 60-year-old Tom Jozsi of Antioch, Illinois, went to the dentist’s office for a routine procedure. However, what should have been a normal trip to the dentist ended with a trip to the hospital and the need for intensive surgery.

As Jozsi was getting his tooth filled, he “felt a cough” coming on. Jozsi was then told that he had swallowed one of the dentist’s tools—a one-inch (2.5-cm) long drill bit.

Jozsi went to a local hospital, but X-rays were unable to show the location of the drill bit. A CT scan later revealed that the drill bit was located really far down on the right lower lobe of Jozsi’s lung rather than in his stomach. In light of this, doctors believed that prior to Jozsi’s coughing, he also inhaled, which caused the drill bit to go into his lungs.

Jozsi was transferred to a hospital in Kenosha, Wisconsin, but unfortunately, the drill bit was so deep in his lung that traditional scopes could not reach it. Jozsi was advised that part of his lung may have to be removed if the drill bit could not successfully be taken out.

Thankfully, Dr. Abdul Alraiyes and Dr. Hasnain Bawaadam were able to utilize robotic bronchoscopy—a procedure that uses a smaller and more flexible scope that can get into lung airways and detect lung cancer at its earliest stage. The doctors used this to navigate the narrow airways and reach the drill piece without damaging Jozsi’s lung.

Fortunately, the 90-minute procedure went “exactly as planned,” and Jozsi was able to go home the same day. Jozsi said the drill bit is now proudly displayed on a shelf at home.^[5]

5 Changing a Flat Tire

William Jason Lamont Bell Sr. of Chicago, Illinois, and his family were on a road trip to Kentucky. However, late in the morning of August 15, 2023, the vehicle they were traveling in got a flat tire along the interstate in Northwest Indiana.

When Bell Sr. left the vehicle to change the tire, his 15-year-old son, William Jason Lamont Bell Jr., followed and insisted on helping his father. Unfortunately, while the two were fixing the flat, a semi-truck traveling in the same direction experienced a mechanical failure. As it passed by, one of its rear wheels dislodged from the truck.

The loose wheel, with its tire still attached, rolled along the barrier wall before striking Bell Jr. and the four other individuals who were outside of the parked vehicle.

Police were dispatched to the scene, and Bell Jr. was quickly rushed to a local hospital. However, once his injuries were deemed life-threatening, Bell Jr. was transferred to a hospital in Chicago. Bell was placed on life support but died on August 18, 2023. The other four individuals received non-life-threatening injuries.

The semi-truck driver was sent to a local hospital for a mandatory toxicology test. Although drugs and alcohol were not believed to be a factor in the accident, the semi-trailer was impounded for inspection by state police.^[6]

4 Doing Laundry

On the evening of September 21, 2008, 29-year-old Carl Thomas of Dixie County, Florida, went to do his laundry in an unattached shed near the home where he lived. However, when Thomas did not return to the house, witnesses said they went to look for him.

Unfortunately, they found Thomas on the floor next to a clothes dryer. Witnesses performed CPR until first responders arrived. Thomas was then transported to the Old Town Helipad but, sadly, pronounced dead shortly after his arrival.

An investigation into the electrical wiring of the shed revealed that the electrical system did not meet current standards. Therefore, when the dryer was plugged in, it would have become energized and had the potential to shock anyone who touched it.

An autopsy later revealed Thomas’ cause of death as “positional asphyxiation with the contributing cause of electrocution.” It was believed that in attempting to plug in the dryer, Thomas was shocked and then fell between the appliances, causing him to be unable to breathe.^[7]

3 Going Through the Drive Thru

In the early morning hours of September 8, 2021, a man, later identified as 42-year-old Anthony “Tony” Eyles, stopped to get breakfast from a local McDonald’s in Vancouver, Canada.

Eyles went to pay for his meal at 5:30 am but dropped his bank card onto the ground. Eyles then opened the car door to pick up the card, but unfortunately, “the vehicle rolled forward, colliding into a structural piece of the restaurant.” Eyles became pinned between the vehicle door and frame and was unable to free himself.

First responders arrived at the McDonald’s location and attempted to revive Eyles, but sadly, he died at the scene.^[8]

2 Taking Out the Trash

In May of 2012, 66-year-old John Fozard of Anglesey, Wales, was emptying a garbage can in his house. However, as he was throwing the trash away, pieces of a broken wine glass tore through the bag and cut him, leaving a 1.5-inch (4-cm) wound on his thigh, just above the knee. Unfortunately, the glass severed his femoral artery—the main blood vessel supplying blood to the lower body.

Fozard attempted to stop the bleeding but later collapsed in his bathroom due to the loss of blood.

Fozard’s next-door neighbors, Gwyndaf Rowlands and his wife, became worried after hearing the sound of running water for hours but never seeing Fozard. It was then that Rowlands looked through a kitchen window and saw blood, so he contacted the police.

Paramedics arrived on the scene and broke into Fozard’s house in an attempt to provide medical care, but sadly, it was too late. Fozard bled to death.^[9]

1 Putting Gas in Vehicle

On December 22, 2021, 46-year-old Sheryll Grace “Shoi” Delfin Caballes was pumping gasoline at a Circle K station in Palm Harbor, Florida. As Caballes proceeded to put gas into her 2018 Honda SUV, a 66-year-old woman backed her 2006 Nissan sedan into a gas pump.

The impact knocked the fuel dispenser from its base, causing the gas pump to overturn on Caballes. Caballes became pinned between the pump and her SUV, which then caught fire.

Two of Caballes’s children (ages 11 and 14), who were in the car at the time, were able to get out and attempted to save their mother. Thirty-four-year-old Jared Pierson, a homeless Good Samaritan, also attempted to help by using the fire extinguisher beside the pumps and getting the children to safety. Unfortunately, the flames were too much, and Caballes burned to death.

In August of 2022, the Caballes family went on to file a lawsuit against 13 defendants, which included Circle K Stores, Inc. and Shell Oil Company, since the device designated to stop fuel flow if a gas pump is damaged or struck by a vehicle was not working, and additionally because the Circle K employee failed to trigger the emergency stop switch.^[10]

No matter your gender, sexual orientation, political views, or religion, there are objects in this world that our brains will, consciously or not, remind you of sex. Or at least something sexual. The technical term for this is arousal, but we also know it as “getting turned on.” Your heart rate increases, you might breathe slightly faster than you were a moment ago, and blood starts to flow to different places. Don’t get blindsided and wonder why you just got turned on the next time you smell a candle—when your brain sees things or simply thinks about things that remind you of a past sexual experience, it can happen. Here’s a list of ten everyday-ish objects that people get turned on by.  

10 Video Game Controllers 

Now with vibration intensity settings? O-okay. Sometime between the great toilet paper shortage of 2020 and now, many of us needed some new and old hobbies to keep us sane. Many men, women, and everyone in between, picked up the sticks (a controller) and played at least a few rounds of vids. Mid-game, your phone dings with a notification. You put the ‘roller in your lap and watch a hilarious Snapchat.

Meanwhile, your video game avatar is violently assaulted by a walking mushroom-like creature (see Goomba). This sends a vibrating jolt to the controller resting in your lap. Suddenly, for some completely unrelated reason, you remember to text your significant other that you’re coming over later. 

9 “I Voted” Sticker

By definition, this is not an everyday object. But to make my case, when is it a bad time to promote voting? Also, you should see this object every voting day. Now that my editor is happy:

Nothing gets a red-white-and-blue bleeding patriot going like catching a glimpse of someone’s “I Voted” sticker. See someone who fits your sexual orientation walk by with proof they performed their civic duty, and suddenly November’s never been so hot. You’re likely lying to yourself if you don’t get aroused when you go to Starbucks on election day and see that sticker-wearing girl or guy in their aura of superiority. Your mind goes straight to the Washington DC swamp gutter.

But seriously, it says a lot about a person if they display some form of caring about their community. It can be a highly desirable trait. It’s not weird that you seek someone who is informed and cares about our country’s direction. It’s what you’re looking for in a partner. The desire to be with someone based on that silly sticker, guess what, that’s you being turned on. 

8 Books

Sapiosexuality is a not uncommon trait that makes people sexually attracted to intelligence. What’s the stereotypical sign that someone is (probably) intelligent? Books. Books can be a huge turn-on. Now obviously, or rather, hopefully, no one is wandering around the public library because of the intense sexual rush it provides. But when we nervously enter a romantic interest’s abode for the first time, and we see some Maya Angelou, Mark Twain, or Tolkien sitting on the coffee table, it. Is. On. 

7 Laundry

I’ve recently come to terms with the daunting task of laundry; making it my enemy wasn’t helping anyone. Wait. Sorry no, doing laundry sucks. There is no reconciliation to doing laundry. It sucks. But, if it’s not ours, that’s a whole different story.

Whether it’s a massive pile or a neatly folded stack, our brains can’t help but associate our significant others’ butt-enhancing boxer briefs or their rustic granny panties with pleasant memories. While they may be currently standing at the door in 4 layers of puffy coats, those clothes on the floor across the room, they took those off at some point – think about it that way, and willy-nilly, you’re turned on.

6 Mirrors

No one should judge someone on what they get turned on by. If you happen to get excited when looking at yourself in a full-body mirror after a shower, more power to you. Is it narcissistic? Maybe, but not necessarily. It’s more likely just our natural reaction to seeing a naked body. Even if it’s our own body, the fact that we’re naked and looking at it can feel scandalous. The societal taboo of nakedness is a common source of arousing emotions. 

Then, of course, there’s the flipside. Many people suffer from poor body image. In which case, mirrors may have the opposite effect. Try to remember there is no one more critical, more judgmental of your flaws than yourself. No one has spent more time looking for imperfections, too big of pores, or different-sized eyes, than you. This isn’t about to become a lecture on the Power of Positive Thinking, but suffice it to say, ugly thoughts can lead to ugly people. Force yourself to find one aspect of your body you like. Make it a habit to appreciate it every time you look in a mirror, and this everyday object might start to turn you on.

5 Foam Rollers

Let’s just address now: it is not the elongated shape of foam rollers that turns people on. Or maybe it is, to each their own. Next, for anyone who doesn’t own a foam roller, you should know that it is very much an everyday object for the people who do own one. There are few better sensations than having that foam cushion apply gravity’s weight in pressure as it moves down your back towards the top of your butt. After a long day, it’s pure bliss. Sustained use of a foam roller helps relieve back pain, improves flexibility, and helps your muscles work more efficiently. You feel ready for anything.

As the Journal of Sports Physical Therapy puts it, foam rolling “probably [allows you to] perform your workouts with better, more efficient, and safer form.” Given the subject of the article you’re reading, you can probably guess specifically what kind of partner-based workouts you’d be inclined to try.

4 Shower Heads

No gimmicks or veiled personality traits here. Physical stimulation of sensitive areas on our body is how we usually imagine arousal taking place. And that’s what showerheads do; their potential to turn you on is as straightforward as you can imagine. Unfortunately for us, peasants whose bathrooms aren’t equipped with handheld showerheads, this may not apply.

Sexual arousal aside, handheld showerheads are just plain fun to play around with. And when you do encounter one, just remember, you have no one to blame but yourself when you end up spraying the entire bathroom because you turned it an inch in the wrong direction. Also, be mindful of water pressure. Ouch.

3 Candy

Forget erotic allusions to eating lollypops. Science has literally proven certain types of candy turn you on. Chocolate’s main ingredient, cocoa, is a vasodilator. Meaning it increases blood flow. While not as potent as your creepy uncle’s Viagra, cocoa makes it easier for blood to flow to certain areas of your body. But that’s not even the most obvious reason candy turns you on. Eating sweets releases serotonin and dopamine – our brain’s happy chemicals. Put yourself in the right setting, romantic partner optional, eat some chocolate, and yep, it happened again: turned on.

2 Glasses

Within the same realm as sapiosexuals, glasses can be a turn-on. While contradictory to the idea of animals choosing the most genetically fit mate to produce offspring, your declining eyesight matters not to some individuals. In fact, some prefer you in them because “you look like an intellectual,” according to your mom’s friend from yoga class. Glasses can change the way others perceive your facial features—an illusion, to be sure. If it’s an attractive illusion, sorry, but you’re turning people on.

Poor vision matters even less if we spot a slick pair of designer eyeglasses, possibly indicating a wealthy status or simply good taste in fashion. Both traits, when you spot them in the checkout line at Target, can make you as inappropriately excited as ever. 

1 Candles

Candles affect two of the senses that play a huge role in getting turned on, sight and smell. For vision, we have the dim flickers of candlelight. This dimming, for whatever reason, can set the right mood for two partners while they dine. A far more potent aspect of candles turning you on is the smell. Your smell can be one of the most powerful senses for stimulating memories. That, and there are certain smells that science has shown, turns us on.

While many of these smells are body odors, those are generally later-stage arousal-enhancing byproducts – you were turned on a while ago. That’s why you’re now 2 centimeters away from your partner’s face and in their embrace. But to get to that stage: candles. Vanilla, ginger, jasmine, Neroli, Sandalwood, the list goes on. Light up a wax embodiment of these smells, turn off overhead lights, and the stage is set for that 2-centimeter separation.

Would you like to read the good news or bad news first? The bad news is that millennia of warfare, death, and obsolescence have left behind a world full of abandoned and dilapidated buildings and other structures. The good news is that the enterprising among us get to make some wild new homes if we want to.

Thanks to time and the ever-present march of progress, many old buildings currently sit vacant, just waiting to be cleaned out, cozied up, and converted into that far-out house that everyone talks about. Guaranteed to surprise you, this list brings together ten of those abandoned buildings that a creative and resourceful person turned into awesome new homes.

Related: Top 10 Repurposed Nazi-Era Buildings

10 A Public Bathroom

Looking at the photos of architect Laura Clark’s sleek, modern one-bedroom apartment in London, anyone would assume it is a lovely, ordinary home. Until, that is, they find out that it spent most of its days as a public bathroom off of a main street in a crowded city.

Clark has said, “For me, that’s about saving sites with an interesting history, but which have been abandoned and forgotten,” and her dedication is apparent. It took six years for Clark to convince housing authorities to let her redesign the space. And redesign it she did, converting the old stalls and sinks into a bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom (probably the easiest part of the process). It even has its own terrace/patio.

They say don’t s–t where you eat. I guess the loophole here is that you need to convert the john into a home first.

9 A British Castle

The Astley Castle in Warwickshire, England, has stood since the 1100s. Over the past millennium, the property went from manor house to castle, crumbled and was rebuilt, acted as a troop garrison in the English Civil War, and crumbled again. Luckily, in 2012, the remains of the castle’s walls were incorporated into a new, modern home.

Nowadays, the house is rentable, and anyone staying the night is treated to a gorgeous blend of ancient stone and modern brick. Instead of leveling the eroded stone or repairing it outright, the renovators kept it where it lay, filling in empty sections with new brick. The result is entirely unique and a whole new level of cozy. I’m sure it’s structurally sound, too, right? Even though the walls are made in part with crumbling stones…

8 A Water Tower

There are dozens of water tower homes across the globe, each with its own personal take on home renovation. But perhaps the coolest of them all, if only for its location and view, is the Sunset Beach water tower in Sunset Beach, California.

The 87-foot-tall tower was built in the 1890s, and it wasn’t until the 1980s that the tower became a home. All four stories of the house take advantage of its circular frame with wraparound windows and even a wraparound porch. Located just a block from the Pacific Ocean and the titular Sunset Beach, its view is stunning.

7 A World War II Railcar

In Fort Collins, Colorado, one couple built their own tiny home from the most unexpected shell: a salvaged railcar from World War II. They decided to keep the railcar’s exterior the same, and it still boasts every scratch, ding, and dent it accrued throughout its long life. That only serves to highlight by contrast the exquisite new interior.

The space inside looks like Bob Ross would call it home. The furniture is vintage, the hardwood is exposed in many spots, and the remaining walls are hand-painted and muraled. Flowers and blankets abound throughout the space and, combined with the surplus of light brought in by the vaulted roof, make it hard to imagine a home more deserving of the word “charming.”

6 A Bridge

The river that used to run beneath the covered bridge just outside Nevada City, California, has long since run dry, rendering the bridge useless. Useless, that is, until the building was converted into a chic loft-style home and hotel.

The interior is decorated with contemporary European taste and comes together nicely. Perhaps the best part of the interior is that the entire 100-foot-plus length is visible from any spot inside. The whole house is long and narrow (it was a covered bridge, after all), and it creates the unique and surreal impression of an average house’s room all separated and arranged in a row, all walls between them removed. Though the building operated as a hotel for years, they have removed their website, and it seems likely only one family now enjoys the Historic Covered Bridge House.

5 An Elementary School

A Canton, Ohio, resident named Kynsey Wilson purchased a 45,000-square-foot home for only $35,000. Her secret? She bought an abandoned elementary school.

Wilson is currently working to make the old building into a home, but only a piece of the second floor. The rest, she is converting into “a public space, co-work environment, some conference rooms, my home office…(and) as many as 15 guest rooms for visiting family and friends.” Wilson has so much space beyond what she needs. I mean, it is a full-sized elementary school. In fact, she is open to suggestions from anyone on how to use it. In her own words, “If somebody has a really great idea and is motivated and wants to come partner up with me, I’m open to it. I’ve got a lot of square footage.”

4 A Half-Abandoned Mall

Built way back in 1828, the Arcade in Providence, Rhode Island, is the oldest indoor mall in the United States. Like so many malls across the globe, the Arcade was powerless to prevent the loss of much of its business in the latter half of the 20th century. It closed during the ’70s and was reopened, only to close again in 2008. When it reopened again in 2013, it made a seemingly wise decision: while its first floor is still a mall, developers converted its second and third floors into apartments.

There are 48 apartments within the mall’s bounds, all of which are small studios. Though small, the units are well-lit and open into a massive interior courtyard. A little sunshine and some green can go a long way. These features open up the apartment and don’t feel as cramped as they otherwise might seem. And given that the Arcade is located right in the heart of downtown Providence, the units are popular enough to require a waiting list to rent one.

3 A Jail

In 2020, a house was put up for sale in Fayette, Missouri, that could easily be mistaken for a completely average home. The outside is as ordinary as can be: one door, two stories, old red brick, a lawn, and a fence. The inside is ordinary, too, until you reach the end of a hallway that leads to your own personal jail.

That is because the building, built in 1875, spent decades as the Howard County Sheriff’s Office. When they renovated the house, nearly all of it was updated and made modern. Only the jailhouse was left as it was, and all nine cells still sit as they used to, complete with locks and bars on the doors and windows. It’s probably worth asking why someone would want that particular house. And yes, we are implying that they use the jail cell as a Fifty Shades of Grey playroom.

2 A Lunatic Asylum

Though several mental health facilities have been abandoned and converted into housing, perhaps none have transformed more than the notoriously cruel New York City Lunatic Asylum. It is now the luxury apartment complex known as The Octagon.

The former lunatic asylum was one of the most infamous in existence for its mistreatment of patients, mainly due to journalist Nellie Bly’s landmark 1887 exposé, “Ten Days in a Mad-House.” Bly had faked mental illness enough to be admitted to the facility, and during her ten days there, she witnessed beatings, torture, and an appalling lack of hygiene. When the facility finally closed in 1955, it sat vacant until 2006. Then it was renovated and made into the swanky living spaces it now is, complete with a private gym, rec room, and pool.

1 A Private Island Fortress

Spitbank Fort was built in 1878 on a private island just south of Portsmouth, England. It served as an active naval base for England until 1956, a whopping 78 years. Since then, it has been closed, renovated, re-closed, and re-renovated, and currently, Spitbank acts as one of the coolest hotels imaginable.

The island retains its strategic location and fortified construction and now boasts a casino, spa, pool, gym, and wine cellar. In addition, it takes advantage of its panoramic views of the English Channel with multiple observation decks and even a lighthouse-like crow’s nest. It’s been said repeatedly, but only because it’s so true: the combination of security and luxury brings to mind the lair of a James Bond villain. Luckily, the hotel is open for booking and also open for outright purchase, with a listing price of $5.2 million.

We often hear about famous paintings and other works of art that turned out to be fake. By some estimates, as much as 20% of the art in museums is actually fake. But it also happens the other way around, and a painting that was thought to be a replica or copy turns out to be authentic.

Here are ten famous examples of fakes that turned out to be real.

Related: 10 Fake Artworks And Artifacts Exhibited In Museums

10 Rembrandt’s Self Portrait

Rembrandt is considered by some to be the king of selfies, or self-portraits, having painted nearly 100 over his lifetime. Now it turns out that a self-portrait owned by the National Trust in the United Kingdom, long thought to be a copy, is actually the real thing. Like other works considered to be fake, it had been left in storage for a long time until it caught the interest of an expert. In this case, it was Rembrandt expert Ernst van de Wetering who saw the painting in person in 2013.

After months of testing, analysis, and restoration, experts at the renowned Hamilton Kerr Institute have determined that the work was indeed painted by the Dutch master. Experts removed several layers of yellow varnish, which revealed the original colors and details that are in line with Rembrandt’s painting style. Close analysis also confirmed the signature to have been made at the same time as the painting, a point that had been in doubt before.^[1]

9 Rembrandt’s Portrait of a Young Woman

Another Rembrandt was authenticated during conservation work. The Allentown Art Museum in Pennsylvania has owned the Portrait of a Young Woman since 1961, when it was bequeathed to the museum. Originally thought to be a work by Rembrandt, it was declared a copy in the 1970s, believed to be painted by one of Rembrandt’s assistants. After recent conservation work, it turns out those experts were wrong, and the painting was an original Rembrandt after all.

In 2018, the painting was sent to NYU for conservation and cleaning. During that process, a thick layer of varnish was removed, revealing the original, delicate brushwork and color consistent with the Dutch master’s work. Conservators also used X-ray and new imaging technology to confirm that the painting was a genuine Rembrandt. Outside experts also agreed with NYU that the painting is real. a href=”https://www.npr.org/2020/02/19/807488140/the-rembrandt-that-was-fake-then-real-again” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>^[2]

8 Van Gogh’s Sunset at Montmajour

For nearly 100 years, a Van Gogh collected dust in an attic. Purchased by a Norwegian collector in the early 1900s, it was hidden away when the collector was told that the painting was a fake. The current owners had the painting reviewed by the Van Gogh Museum in 1991 after their purchase and were told then that it was a fake. However, using new technology, the Van Gogh Museum reversed its opinion in 2013.

Experts were able to match the pigments in the paint, as well as the canvas used, to other works by Van Gogh during the same period. The numbering on the back of the canvas also matched an inventory list of Van Gogh’s paintings. And last but not least, Vincent Van Gogh had written to his brother, Theo, about this exact painting. Taken together, the evidence was conclusive that Sunset at Montmajour is a genuine Van Gogh. It was painted in 1888, when Van Gogh lived in Arles, France, during the same period when he created famous works such as Sunflowers.^[3]

7 Botticelli’s Madonna of the Pomegranate

In 2019, experts at the English Heritage declared a painting long thought to be a copy of Botticelli’s Madonna of the Pomegranate to be authentic. The small circular painting shows Mary holding a baby Jesus and a pomegranate, surrounded by angels. It’s a smaller version of Botticelli’s famous Madonna of the Pomegranate on display in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Conservators used several techniques to confirm the authenticity of the painting, including stripping back a thick layer of varnish and dirt, X-rays, and infrared tests. They also noted that the painting was of the right period and painted on a common material from that time. After consulting with experts at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Gallery, the conclusion was that the painting did, in fact, come from Botticelli’s Florence workshop.

Whether the work was painted by Botticelli himself, however, will never be known, as Botticelli employed several assistants to help him with his work, which was in high demand during his lifetime.^[4]

6 Monet’s A Haystack in the Evening Sun

Using new technology, researchers at a university in Finland have been able to confirm the authenticity of a Monet painting. The painting, A Haystack in the Evening Sun, has been owned by Finland’s Gösta Serlachius Fine Arts Foundation for more than 60 years. Although the foundation suspected it was a Monet, they couldn’t prove it because the painting lacked a signature. Until the technology caught up.

Researchers at the university used a special device to identify the painting’s elemental composition. They also uncovered Monet’s signature and the date of the painting, 1891, which had been buried beneath a layer of paint. It’s unclear why Monet decided to paint over his signature. But the signature is proof that he painted the work, which now fits into a broader series of “Haystack” paintings. It also makes this painting the first Monet to be held by a public collection in Finland.^[5]

5 Rubens’s Portrait of a Young Girl, possibly Clara Serena Rubens

In 2013, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York sold off a painting, Portrait of a Yong Girl, Possibly Clara Serena Rubens, to raise funds to buy more works of art. They believed the painting to be by a follower of Rubens and not the Flemish master himself. It turns out they may have been wrong about that.

Several prominent Rubens scholars have since confirmed that it’s a real Rubens. This included the director of the Rubenshuis, a museum in Antwerp dedicated to the works of Rubens and his contemporaries, as well as Ruben’s former house and studio. The Rubenshuis is also showing the painting as part of a special exhibit.

However, not all experts are convinced, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and David Jaffe, a Rubens expert and former curator at the National Gallery.^[6]

4 Raphael’s Young Woman

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

For more than 40 years, Raphael’s Young Woman sat in the basement of an Italian palace, thought to be painted by an unknown artist after the great Renaissance painter’s death and practically worthless. Then in 2010, art expert Mario Scalini started sorting through the palace’s extensive art collection and came across the painting, set in a very elaborate and ornate frame.

After a closer inspection, Scalini suspected the painting might have been painted by Raphael himself and sent it off to a research institute in Pisa. There, experts used infrared and ultraviolet technology to “see” through the different layers of paint. They confirmed that the painting was a genuine Raphael.^[7]

3 Constable’s Early The Hay Wain

Art expert Philip Mould was always convinced that an early The Hay Wain painting that he owned had been painted by John Constable. Unable to prove it, however, he sold the painting in 2000 for £35,000.

In 2017, Mould co-hosted BBC’s Fake or Fortune? show, which had the painting analyzed by experts in Los Angeles. Using advanced technology, the experts were able to prove that the painting was a genuine Constable. It was painted around the same time, offering a different view of Willy Lott’s cottage as his famous The Hay Wain, which had been voted one of the most popular paintings in the UK. Experts were also able to trace the provenance of the painting to a sale by the famous painter’s son.

While Mould missed out on a large windfall, he was more than happy to be finally vindicated in his belief.^[8]

2 Three of Turner’s Works

Philip Mould and BBC’s Fake or Fortune? show helped authentic another set of paintings. This time, it was three paintings by famed British landscape artist JMW Turner: The Beacon Light, Off Margate, and Margate Jetty.

In 1951, Gwendoline and Margaret Davies left several paintings by Turner to the National Museum Wales. A few years later, these three paintings were declared to be fakes and removed from display.

The paintings were reexamined in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, with the same conclusion. It wasn’t until the BBC show conducted a new investigation, using technologies developed recently, that the result changed. This time, with the use of modern technology, experts were able to conclude that these paintings were, in fact, by Turner himself. This conclusion was also validated by a more in-depth look at the provenance and history of the paintings, as well as further consultations with Turner experts.^[9]

1 Rodin’s Bust of Napoleon

For years, a bust of Napoleon sat in the corner of a borough council meeting room in New Jersey. It wasn’t until 2014, when they hired a college art history student, Mallory Mortillaro, to archive their artwork, that they discovered that the bust had been made by none other than renowned French sculptor Auguste Rodin.

Mortillaro noticed a faint signature on the bust but didn’t have much luck otherwise confirming whether it was real or not. So she contacted the Comité Auguste Rodin in Paris, a group that could determine its authenticity.

Jerome Le Blay, head of the committee and a Rodin expert, was able to confirm that the bust was real after he traveled to New Jersey to view it. They even had a photograph of Rodin with the bust, but the bust had seemingly disappeared until recently. It turns out it had been in a corner in New Jersey all along.^[10]