Deep under the waves, the ocean is not just a dark place. The underwater landscapes hold ancient events, mysterious animal behavior, and vast gardens of glass and octopuses.

Each contributes new facts and riddles to this incredible aquatic world. However, the ocean also has a scary side—from wrecking the weather on land to blowing giant holes in the seafloor and countries.

10 The Loudest Fish

One can be forgiven for not associating fish with noise. More often than not, they are mute. One species, however, can be very vocal during reproduction. The Gulf corvina is a large, silver fish about the size of a snowboard.

During spring, when the tides and lunar phases are perfect, shoals migrate to the Colorado River Delta. The event is an unforgettable one and worth seeing. When corvinas gather, they pack together in a sheet that can span for miles.

In 2014, scientists followed the spawning shoal and used underwater equipment to record their sounds. The loudest noise captured during the study hit a deafening 150 decibels, which is a record among fish.

Additionally, the sound also rated among the loudest ever recorded underwater—and very capable of damaging the hearing of other creatures, including sea mammals. Researchers believe that male corvinas are responsible for the chorus. Similar to frogs and crickets, the boys produce a throaty croak to attract females.^[1]

9 Return Of The Blob

“The blob” is not as adorable as it sounds. This massive anomaly—a patch of hot water in the Northeast Pacific—affects the weather in extreme ways. The blob was blamed for the persistent California drought (2013–2015), Seattle’s hottest year (2015), and the freakish polar vortex intrusions of two winters (2013–2014 and 2014–2015).

In 2018, the return of the oceanic hot spot was caused by unusually warm weather in Alaska during the fall. Though the blob is famously crabby, it remains hard to predict the phenomenon’s moods.

When it made another appearance in 2016, the spot showed many signs of troubling times ahead but faded away before anything could go wrong. The latest manifestation leans toward weakening in the same way, but even the experts admit that nothing is certain when it comes to the blob.

Either way, Alaska has already suffered notable damage. The southeastern rain forest is in the grip of a persistent drought, and snowfall showed a record delay.^[2]

8 Rectangular Iceberg

In 2018, an unusual photo turned an iceberg into a social media star. A far cry from the usual mountain-shaped behemoths, this icy wonder was almost perfectly rectangular and flat.

As it turns out, this shape is not unknown to scientists. Called “tabular icebergs,” they form during calving (when pieces dislodge from a parent iceberg). The rectangles commonly occur after an ice shelf extends too far and then breaks off at the tip. This gives them a geometric shape.^[3]

A whopping 90 percent of the tabular iceberg remains hidden underwater. This unseen part is usually perfectly angular, too. In this case, the sheet came from the Larsen C ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Even though these floating tabletops are known to science, this one was unusual. For once, it was almost short enough to be a square. The size of the object remains unknown. But judging from the image, it could be as long as 1.6 kilometers (1 mi).

7 Largest Octopus Nursery

Most octopuses live solitary lives. This made the discovery of about 100 nesting together near Costa Rica a sensational find. However, this nursery paled in comparison to another found by accident in 2018.

Off the coast of California, marine biologists steered a remotely operated vehicle at a depth of 3.2 kilometers (2 mi). The goal was to study an underwater volcano called the Davidson Seamount.

As the vehicle turned a corner, it happened across the world’s biggest deep-sea octopus garden. The species was Muusoctopus robustus, and over 1,000 huddled together. Nearly 99 percent were females guarding eggs between the volcano’s cracks.^[4]

Their unprecedented conglomeration is not the only unanswered question about the Davidson group. Researchers do not know why the water appears to shimmer around the octopuses.

One theory suggests that heat is behind the glitter, which could explain why the creatures gathered at Davidson to successfully incubate their eggs. Since the volcano is extinct, the heat could be coming from an unknown source.

6 Canyon That Removes CO₂

The Porcupine Bank Canyon is an underwater trench marking the border of Ireland’s continental shelf. In 2018, an effort was made to map the sheer cliffs and contours. Near the canyon’s edge, the research drone discovered something amazing: The underwater trench removed carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere using two species and death.

Porcupine Bank came fringed with corals snacking on dead plankton. While dwelling near the surface, living plankton grow by packing their bodies with CO₂ from the atmosphere. When they die, they sink down into the ocean, taking the CO₂ with them.

In turn, the corals eat the plankton and use that carbon to build their own structures. When the coral perishes, it tumbles deeper into the canyon. Researchers found a massive amount of dead coral inside the canyon, all with CO₂ locked up inside them.^[5]

Sadly, this process cannot stop climate change. But at least, it showed that nature has ways to remove some of the greenhouse gas from the air.

5 Garden Of Glass

When the deepest volcano was found in 2015, it was not just a cone-shaped mountain lower than the rest. It was anything but plain—and very unexpected. A deep-sea submersible was investigating the Mariana Trough in the Pacific Ocean when it reached a depth of 4,500 meters (14,700 ft). There, it encountered an environment straight out of a Gothic novel.

An underwater volcano had released intertwined and blackened lava tendrils, which scientists likened to “a nightmarish garden of glass.” Inside a 4.5-kilometer-deep (3 mi) trench, cold water had rapidly cooled the lava into a glassy substance. The frozen twists and turns covered an area 7.3 kilometers (4.5 mi) long.

The visuals are heart-stopping, but something else turned the discovery into a scientific gem. The deepest volcanic eruption on Earth was also fresh. Only a few months old, the undamaged site can advance knowledge about volcanoes on land, how eruptions affect ocean chemistry, and when different species colonize a lava field.^[6]

4 White Shark Cafe

Once a year, a group of sharks confused biologists. Known as the northeastern Pacific great whites, they normally cruise California’s coast, a region rich with prey.

In December, the sharks journey into the Pacific and stop about halfway to Hawaii. Satellite studies suggested that the place, nicknamed “White Shark Cafe,” was a marine desert without prey. Despite this, the predators gathered in droves and stayed for winter and spring.

In 2018, scientists wanted to know how the sharks survived and why they found the location so attractive. They followed the whites and also tagged a few. When the research boat arrived at the cafe, they found the place teeming with fish, squid, phytoplankton, and jellyfish.^[7]

These critters took daily trips up and down from the depths. The tagged sharks showed that the predators did the same thing. During the day, they hunted up to 450 meters (1,500 ft) down. At night, they kept to shallow dives, about 200 meters (650 ft).

An unusual gender mystery turned up. During April, the males dramatically stepped up their activity to around 140 dives a day. Researchers do not understand why this behavior is displayed by only one gender.

3 Methane Craters

Recently, scientists visited craters lining the seafloor between the archipelago of Svalbard and Norway. First discovered in the 1990s, they were huge but few. Upon arrival, the team was shocked to find hundreds of previously unrecorded holes.

In a single area near one of Svalbard’s islands, the floor was pockmarked with more than 100. Astoundingly, they had been blown from solid bedrock. The sheer force created craters that measured up to 1,000 meters (3,280 ft) in diameter. The culprit was methane gas from the last ice age.

In the past, enormous ice layers kept the trapped methane in place. Once these melted, the gas exploded. The largest pockets blew 12,000 to 15,000 years ago, but some remain intact and could punch large holes south of Svalbard.^[8]

Satellite images showed that pingos, hills with ice cores, preceded most of the craters. Researchers suspect that the Norwegian pingos had frozen gas instead of normal ice and were possibly instrumental in an explosion. Incredibly, once scientists knew what to look for, they found 7,000 gas-filled pingos in thawing permafrost.

2 Lost Volcanic World

In 2018, scientists investigated something that would not raise many eyebrows—the link between the East Australian Current’s nutrient levels and how phytoplankton behaved. Part of this study included mapping the seafloor. A stunning discovery followed—a lost world dominated by dramatic volcanic peaks.

Some were sharp, while others resembled immense plateaus. Smaller cones made up the rest. Located near the east coast of Australia, the extinct volcanoes towered 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) high.

The depth of the valleys likely contributed to how this underwater wonderland avoided detection for so long. The highest parts of the mountains were still 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) below the surface.

Years of research are required to understand a large geographical area that is seen for the first time. However, researchers are positive about one exciting suspicion—this was the spot that helped Australia and Antarctica to separate 30 million years ago.^[9]

The birth of the volcano chain was pivotal to crumble the Earth’s crust in preparation for continental division. The landscape also hosts a breathtaking ecosystem, including a huge pod of at least 60 pilot whales.

1 Brewing Eruption Underneath Japan

Researchers are well aware that an ancient, underwater volcano lurks underneath Japan. The Kikai Caldera is prone to super-eruptions and, in the past, experienced three devastating episodes. The last time was 7,000 years ago. The eruption was one of history’s biggest and destroyed a vast area of the Japanese archipelago.

In 2018, several expeditions using a wide array of equipment all came to the same conclusion. Underneath the Kikai Caldera was a massive lava dome. The giant bubble held over 32 cubic kilometers (8 mi³) of magma.

Analysis showed that the dome contained lava chemically different from the last eruption. This meant that the giant structure was not a leftover of the event that razed the Japanese archipelago but a completely new formation.

For thousands of years, the magma continued building up inside this new reservoir—something scientists view as a preparation for the next super-eruption. Earlier research indicated that the probability of a caldera catastrophe in the next 100 years was about 1 percent.

The discovery of the active dome was not so comforting. Should Kikai erupt, 110 million people would be in danger.^[10]

Fish tanks are tranquil until scientists want answers and drunk people want some fun. Then the fish stories start to get interesting . . . and more than a little weird.

Beyond the laboratory and fish-related emergency room visits, some of the best tales come from public aquariums. From lifesaving firsts to the mysterious case of a shark abandoned at a worm farm, no fishbowl will ever look the same again.

10 Infectious Fish Pedicures

A trendy way to exfoliate feet is to get a fish pedicure. Clients soak their feet in a container full of tiny fish that consume dead skin cells.

In 2018, a woman in New York allowed the fish, called Garra rufa, to feast on her toes. Months later, her toenails fractured. The bottom layer could be seen underneath the top.

Since it was painless, she did not visit a doctor for six months. Ultimately, she was diagnosed with onychomadesis. This condition occurs when something stops nails from growing and, eventually, they fall off. When all other causes of onychomadesis were ruled out (injury or a family history of nail disease), the woman became the first case linked to a fish pedicure.^[1]

In the past, Garra fish had tested positive for several bacteria that cause skin and tissue infections. Hygiene is another problem. Since the fish are in the tubs, the containers cannot be properly cleaned between customers. Sanitary risks include individuals with foot diseases who use the tub before other clients.

9 Oldest Fish In Captivity

In 2018, an Australian lungfish in San Francisco celebrated her 80th year at the California Academy of Sciences’ Steinhart Aquarium. Her age is closer to 90 as she arrived as an adult in 1938. Named Methuselah, she measures 1.2 meters (4 ft) long.

The oldest fish in captivity loves figs and prawns, belly rubs, and certain volunteers. Methuselah also prefers her own tank. When caretakers placed her in a larger aquarium with two younger lungfish, she insisted on hovering upside down until they moved her back.

Genetics play a role in her long life, but the species is extraordinary in other ways. Lungfish, which are primitive and go back 400 million years, use a swim bladder to float and breathe air. Some even walk over the ground to search for a new pond.

Methuselah seems happy to aim for a century. According to her caretakers, she eats like a pig and loves human interaction. For this reason, the aquarium’s coddled group of lungfish are often called “underwater puppies.”^[2]

8 Fish Have Personalities

Scientists tackled a tricky question in 2015. Wondering if fish had personalities, they decided to create a horror show. They scared guppies with a fake heron beak plunging into the water. On another occasion, they used “Big Al.” He was a carnivorous fish called a cichlid which would suddenly appear on the other side of the glass.

When a guppy was moved to this scare tank, the only shelter was a small plastic cover. After getting the holy sin frightened out of it, the single fish would be returned to a well-protected tank full of other guppies. After three days, it went back to the scare tank to endure five minutes of terror. This continued for a month.

After putting each of the 105 guppies through this experiment, scientists concluded that the fish had personalities. All reacted in a unique way. It was not accidental. The guppies repeated their chosen behaviors (hiding, fleeing, freezing) during the follow-up encounters with the heron and cichlid every three days.^[3]

7 Catfish Drinking Game

In 2016, a drunk man arrived in the emergency room with a bizarre injury. That evening, the unnamed 28-year-old had partied with friends in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. They had decided it would be a good idea to swallow live fish.

Several goldfish were taken from a home aquarium and gulped down without a problem. Then someone suggested another tank occupant—a small catfish. However, it was a Corydoras aeneus, a toxic creature with spines. When threatened, these catfish stiffen their venom-filled needles to avoid getting eaten.

Needless to say, the spiky creature got stuck in the man’s throat. Choking, he threw up blood and beer—but no fish. His drunk friends applied the Heimlich maneuver incorrectly. The man tried to wash the fish down with beer, ice cream, and honey. Finally, after waiting several hours, he went to the hospital.^[4]

Delicate surgery ultimately removed the dead catfish. It was preserved in the Rotterdam Natural History Museum, joining a collection that highlights dramatic encounters between humans and animals.

6 Wrasse Recognize Themselves

There is a simple test for self-awareness. A mirror shows the subject an artificial mark on their body. Any related reaction, like rubbing the spot, suggests an awareness that the image represents their real body. Animals that have passed include dolphins, chimpanzees, elephants, pigeons, and crows.

In 2018, researchers wanted a self-aware fish. They picked the cleaner wrasse. One ability made them the perfect candidate. Wrasse feed on parasites. They have evolved to notice unusual spots on other fish.

When 10 wrasse were isolated in individual mirrored tanks, things got interesting. At first, they mistook their reflections for rivals and fought with themselves. However, within days, they performed “friendly dancing” in front of the mirrors.^[5]

Wrasse are solitary and do not dance for other fish. Although hard to prove, they could have been dancing to see themselves move. When colored gel was applied to their heads (only noticeable in the mirror), seven wrasse spent more time with their reflections or rubbing their heads against things in the tank.

5 Fish Floaties

Leafy sea dragons resemble seahorses that ate too much plant fertilizer. The entire fish is covered with leaflike fronds.

In 2018, the Florida Aquarium in Tampa acquired three young sea dragons. While observing the Australian fish, the aquarium’s vet noticed something distressing. They ate badly and kept sinking to the bottom of the tank.

Leafy sea dragons float for a reason—to look like seaweed and not food. For them to hit the dirt meant something was seriously wrong. Surprisingly, it was discovered that all three suffered from the same condition—a swim bladder that never developed. The organ is responsible for buoyancy, and without it, the trio could not get off the floor.

In a genius move, the vet created floaties. He used black rings made of neoprene, a buoyant material that was both comfortable and resistant to salt water. The rings were looped around the sea dragons’ fragile midsections and sewn together at the ends. It worked. Once the fish found themselves floating, they started feeding and growing again.^[6]

4 The Stickleback C-Section

Stickleback females spray eggs for hopeful dads to fertilize. There is no hanky-panky or pregnancy with this species. In the 1950s, a pregnant stickleback was found in Scotland. No investigation was done. But in 2016, researchers trawled Scotland for more and found a heavily pregnant stickleback. Since she was dying, the fish was humanely destroyed and the eggs removed via C-section.

Although three cases are known (where egg-laying fish got pregnant), this was the only time that the embryos survived. They hatched in the laboratory and became healthy adults.

But how did a member of a species that doesn’t get pregnant carry healthy young in her belly?

DNA tests showed that she did not clone herself because the babies had two parents. The stickleback likely swam through a sperm cloud and was fertilized through her egg tube.

Beyond being a major evolutionary leap, the mother’s body also aced a crucial male role. To stimulate a healthy development, stickleback dads fan the eggs. The C-section fry were normal, meaning a mysterious internal process had replaced the father’s fanning.^[7]

3 Robot Guppies

The Trinidadian guppy does something weird with its eyes. Although the eyes are usually silver, anger turns them black within seconds. As researchers are curious creatures who go the extra mile, they decided to create robot guppies to find out if the change was voluntary and what it communicated within this fishy population.

In 2018, they took a dead specimen and made silicone replicas. The incredibly realistic fakes had either silver or black eyes. They were positioned over food and given lifelike movements thanks to a small motor. The social dynamics that followed showed that black eyes had a very specific meaning.

Smaller guppies approached the food when the robot had silver eyes. However, a dark look communicated what researchers called “honest aggression”—the guppy’s absolute readiness to fight. It also meant that the guppy was guarding a worthy resource.

When the real guppies were bigger, they beat up the robot. This was to loot the resource and thrash a smaller fish that dared to use the look. It remains unknown how guppies flood their eyes with black.^[8]

2 The Sandwich Ray

Macduff Marine Aquarium in Aberdeenshire is home to several thornback rays. Late in 2018, staff decided to clean one of the tanks. It was filled with ray eggs, known as a mermaid’s purse. In this case, they had to be removed as all the babies had hatched and the cases were empty.

However, when an employee tried to push the air out of one purse, it would not give. He peeled back one side and was surprised to find an unhatched ray. The unlucky creature had been trapped inside its egg. Since the case was destroyed and the ray was still an embryo, a surrogate shell had to be found.^[9]

The solution was as simple as it was unusual—a sandwich bag. The ray happily incubated inside the plastic for two months and eventually “hatched.” The day came when staff decided that it was ready to leave the bag. The baby thornback was removed and placed with 10 others where it thrived, seemingly unaffected by its peculiar past.

1 The Abandoned Shark

In 2012, a wildlife sanctuary was closed down outside of Melbourne, Australia. The operator was supposed to preserve a species of giant earthworm but was caught running an illegal animal park.

One of the creatures that was definitely not an earthworm was a great white shark. The enormous predator was supposed to stay there temporarily while its real home was being prepared elsewhere. However, when new owners took over the park, they kept the shark.^[10]

When the park was closed due to irregularities, the animals were handed over to the RSPCA. At this point, the shark’s story gets muddy. Not only was it left behind at the worm sanctuary, but it also somehow ended up in a tank of formaldehyde. This preserved the 4-meter-long (13 ft) great white.

The empty park could be considered spooky, but the shark tank was downright haunting. The corpse, hanging motionless in green water, recently became an Internet sensation after urban explorers encountered the beast and posted the video to YouTube.

We all know about the fundamental problems faced in the ancient past. People had too little food, too much disease, shabby clothes, and inadequate shelters. Human filth was inescapable.

But past cultures also experienced more obscure problems. From supplemental fungus ingestion to prehistoric lead exposure and even prehistoric bedbug infestations, history is full of fascinating problems.

10 They Had To Eat Fungus

The Pueblo in the southwestern US began their agricultural adventure in 400 BC. For the next 800 years, they grew and ate mainly maize, which constituted 80 percent of their calories.

With a diet that included little else, maybe a bit of yucca or rarely some rabbit, the Pueblo people should have been malnourished. But they didn’t suffer the expected pellagra that comes with nutrient deficiency.^[1]

Their nutritional savior was the maize-infecting Ustilago maydis fungus (aka corn smut). It’s an annoyance today. But back then, maize fungus was purposely included in the diet because it boosted overall protein levels thanks to its essential amino acid profile. This huitlacoche is still eaten in Mexico today.

9 They Had To Share Their Beer

Chemical analysis has just offered direct evidence that the Mesopotamians loved beer. Researchers studied various items from Khani Masi, now the Kurdish region of Iraq, and found residue from beer consumed between 1500 and 1000 BC.

Mesopotamian beer was like ours, made from barley rather than rice or corn like ancient Chinese and Peruvian “beer.” But the drinking of the beverage was different. Instead of using personal vessels, the Mesopotamians drank from sizable communal containers by each dipping a long, metal-tipped straw into the brew.

Mesopotamians did eventually start drinking from personal, handheld containers as social traditions grew weaker. These containers held up to 600 milliliters (20 oz) of brew, or nearly two modern-day beer bottles.^[2]

8 Even Ancient People Were Exposed To Lead

Even Neanderthals suffered from lead exposure, and scientists found the telltale signs in teeth from two Neanderthals from southern France.

Researchers studied teeth because teeth are like tree rings. Fetuses and the very young get a new layer of enamel every day, and these layers trap chemicals that the individuals were exposed to.

Researchers can also tell that the 250,000-year-old Neanderthals ingested their lead during the colder weather. Based on oxygen isotope ratios, the Neanderthals experienced harsher, more pronounced autumns and winters and their children faced malnutrition and illness.

It’s likely that they ingested the lead from contaminated food or water or inhaled it from fires as they frequently populated caves with subterranean lead deposits.^[3]

7 Everyone Got Parasites

There’s a lot to learn by studying dried old poo. Like the 700-year-old parasites recovered from stool samples acquired from 31 medieval latrines in Lubeck, Germany.

Lubeck was one of the Middle Ages’ most bustling ports, and its people’s intestines were riddled with tapeworms and roundworms thanks to a diet heavy in improperly cooked freshwater fish.

The poo also shows a shift in parasites, revealing that residents switched to a more meat-centric diet around the year 1300. The change might have been due to the concurrent uptick in leather-making and butchery, two industries that polluted the freshwater ecosystem.^[4]

6 They Had Holes Drilled Through Their Skull

The ancient Chinese knew a lot about disease and described numerous ailments and their pathologies on pieces of bone or tortoise shells. They even knew how to perform craniotomies more than 3,000 years ago.^[5]

Archaeologists at the Ruins of Yin found two skulls with drill holes. One of the skulls belonged to a 10-year-old boy and featured a circular, 1-centimeter-wide (0.4 in) perforation. The bone showed signs of healing, so the boy survived as a result or in spite of the surgery. The operation was likely performed with bone needles, four of which were discovered at the ruins.

It’s not the first time that ancient Chinese skulls have been found with perforations, as 13 such skulls, bearing multiple holes, were previously unearthed at ruins in Xinjiang.

5 Women Weren’t Spared The Violence

Women weren’t spared from violence in ancient society according to a study of 378 Scandinavian skulls ranging from 3900 BC to 1700 BC, or the late Stone Age that saw a shift to farming.

Researchers found that up to one in six of these Stone Age skulls showed signs of violent injury. Nearly 10 percent of skulls from Sweden and 17 percent from Denmark exhibited signs of smashing, with women as likely as men to suffer lethal cranial trauma.

The discovery challenges the notion that women were spared, and researchers believe the injuries came about as a result of local warfare, family feuds, or raids.^[6]

4 They Were Preyed On By Bedbugs

Bedbugs aren’t a modern problem according to recent finds from the Paisley Five Mile Point Cave site in Oregon. Inside the caves, researchers discovered the oldest members of the bedbug genus.

The recovered ancient bedbug fragments date all the way back to 11,000 years ago. They handily beat out the previous oldest, a 3,500-year-old specimen found in Egypt in 1999.

Unlike the bedbugs of popular culture, the types discovered in Oregon are all parasites of bats rather than humans. Researchers say that these creatures probably would have fed on and annoyed humans as the caves were occupied seasonally by hunter-gatherers.^[7]

3 They Had Limited Choices For Entertainment

In spite of their busier lifestyles, Bronze Age humans knew boredom. And when they were bored, the gaming selection was limited. One game which quickly spread from the Near East was called 58 Holes, or Hounds and Jackals.

Researchers found a “game board” etched into a 4,000-year-old rock shelter in Azerbaijan. The game features rows of dots, usually 58 dots total. Gamers would have used a type of dice to move their pieces, with the ultimate goal to reach the top hole.

Hounds and Jackals may be the predecessor of backgammon and definitely served as a “social lubricant” to help disparate groups share their cultures.^[8]

2 They Had Surprisingly Bad Teeth

A communal grave site at the Grotte des Pigeons caves in Taforalt, Morocco, surrendered 52 adults who lived between 15,000 and 13,700 years ago—and their horrible teeth.

Only three of the bodies were free of cavities. More than half of the surviving teeth showed evidence of decay, with 49 of the 52 suffering from cavities. That’s comparable to modern people who stuff themselves with loads of refined sugars.

Preagricultural people don’t usually have such rotten teeth as tooth decay exploded with the introduction of domesticated carbs like barley and wheat.^[9]

But these hunter-gatherers apparently snacked often and overly relied on nuts, North African acorns, legumes, and oats. They likely used a grinding tool found at the site to transform these foods into flatbreads or sweet, sticky porridges that would have stuck to teeth and fed cavity-causing bacteria.

1 They Ate Their Dogs

The Xoloitzcuintli, or Mexican hairless dog, emerged around 3,500 years ago, making it one of the oldest dog breeds.

In the Aztec language, Nahuatl, “Xolotl” was the god of death and lightning (who supposedly created the breed) and itzcuintli less surprisingly means “dog.”

Aztecs revered the dogs as protectors and guides in the afterlife, helping the dead through Mictlan, or Aztec Hades. In the region encompassing Colima, Nayarit, and Jalisco, little Xoloitzcuintli ceramics accompanied 75 percent of burials.^[10]

Although the Aztecs tucked in their hairless little buddies at night, they also ate the creatures as a delicacy . . . because history is brutal. When the conquistadors arrived, they also ate xolo, nearly wiping out the breed.

Ivan writes about cool things for the Internet. You can contact him at [email protected].

For hundreds of years in Europe, all of the great works of art produced were in service of the Christian faith. Patrons were either rich nobles looking to boost their faithful credentials or the Church itself. Saints were popular subjects in art because images of their actions in life, and especially their deaths, were potent reminders of the power of faith.

Many of these works still speak to us today and elicit powerful emotions. Sometimes, though, the images that were meant to evoke reverence bring a smile to our lips. These are not one-offs done by dodgy artists but typical, if offbeat, symbols used to depict saints. Here are ten images of saints that are just downright weird.

10 St. Bartholomew’s Skin

St. Bartholomew, one of the apostles of Jesus, had quite the exciting life after the crucifixion. Like the other apostles, he was commanded to go forth and spread the word of God, but to Bartholomew fell the mission to go far abroad and preach. Tradition has him going to Mesopotamia, Ethiopia, or most commonly to India. There, he knocked down idols, taught the Indians the Gospel of Matthew, and cast out demons. It was while he was later preaching in Armenia that he is said to have met his sticky end.

Bartholomew converted the brother of the king of Armenia. This somewhat annoyed the king, so he commanded that Bartholomew be flayed alive. This is why in statues and paintings around the world, Bartholomew is shown holding his own skin. In some versions, such as The Last Judgment by Michelangelo, Bartholomew is shown as a person both with skin and holding skin, but other artists chose the bloodier option of showing a flayed man with his bloody skin nonchalantly draped over him.^[1] That’s one way at least to make sure that people don’t forget how much you suffered for your faith.

9 St. Antipas’s Bull

Little is known for sure about Saint Antipas of Pergamum. A brief mention in the Book of Revelation reveals that, “Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.” This martyrdom has left us with some very bizarre images of the saint.

According to legend, St. Antipas was attacked by the pagan priests of Pergamum for not offering sacrifice at their temples. When told, “The whole world is against you!” Antipas replied, “Then I am against the whole world!” For his obduracy, the priests dragged Antipas to the temple of the goddess Artemis and placed him inside a hollow bronze bull. A fire was lit under it, and the saint was roasted alive.^[2] Many images of the saint choose to focus on this aspect of his martyrdom.

Now Antipas is invoked as the patron saint of those with toothache—which seems to suggest either toothache is worse than most people think, or burning to death is not quite as painful as we imagine.

8 St. Romanus’s Tongue

When you fear what someone has to say, it may seem like a prudent thing to do to rip out their tongue. This is exactly what the Romans did to Saint Romanus when he defied them, and it is with his flopping tongue in his hand that the saint can now be seen in paintings.

St. Romanus was a Christian at a time when this was not a good idea. The Roman world circa AD 300 still persecuted Christians because they did not support the official gods of the empire. During one of these persecutions, Christians were given the opportunity to escape punishment if they would make offerings at the altars of the pagan gods. When St. Romanus encouraged his fellow prisoners not to, he was singled out for special punishment.

First, he was beaten, then he was suspended and attacked with blades, and then his tongue was torn out.^[3] Despite this verbal setback, the saint was still miraculously able to speak, so he was beheaded. Now the saint can be seen still wagging his tongue to spread the faith.

7 St. Margaret And The Dragon’s Belly

St. Margaret of Antioch has always been a favorite for artists because her life provided such a rich source of inspiration. As the patron saint of childbirth (for reasons which will be explained below), she was widely called on for aid, and images of the saint proliferated, leaving us with many examples of her struggles.

When Margaret was a young maid, a Roman official became besotted with her. Being a faithful Christian, Margaret refused his advances. Since he was miffed with being rebuffed, he had her thrown in prison. There, the Devil visited her in the form of a dragon and devoured Margaret, but by praying, she managed to burst out of the beast’s belly, hence the association with childbirth.

For artists, this image proved irresistible, and St. Margaret can be seen escaping from dragons of all shapes and sizes. She mostly manages to crawl out from their innards with her hair and clothes untouched by the gore around her.^[4]

6 St. Wilgefortis

Everyone has had a date that they’ve wanted to get out of. Few have gone to the lengths of St. Wilgefortis, however, when it comes to avoiding romance.

Known by a number of names, Wilgefortis’s legend was a popular one for its folktale qualities. According to the tales, the young Wilgefortis was the daughter of a pagan king and had taken a perpetual vow of virginity. Her father, despite her holy oath, wished to marry her off to another king. To escape the coming wedding, Wilgefortis prayed to God to make her so hideous that no one would want to marry her. In the morning when she woke, Wilgefortis had sprouted a miraculous, if unbecoming, beard. The wedding was off!^[5]

Unfortunately for Wilgefortis, her father was not amused by her new hirsute appearance and commanded that she be put to death by crucifixion. This is why there are many paintings and statues of a young bearded woman on a cross to be found in churches around the world.

5 St. Roch And His Licked Legs

Saint Roch is a relatively little-known saint whose iconography mixes both cuteness and putrefaction at the same time. The cute part comes from his faithful dog, who is almost always shown with him. The less lovely part comes from the rotting sores that St. Roch seems to like showing off.

St. Roch was born to a noble family, and his saintliness was predicted when he was born with a birthmark in the shape of a cross on his chest. When his parents died, Roch gave away all his worldly belongings to the poor and became a holy man. He was so poor that he would have died had not a dog brought him bread to eat. He would also have died from infected sores on his leg if the dog had not licked them clean. Most paintings suffice so show him with the dog, but some actually show St. Roch being licked.^[6]

St. Roch is now the patron saint of dogs and skin diseases, though neither dogs nor dermatologists would suggest licking as a way to clean wounds.

4 St. Lucy’s Eyes

While it is common for women to say to men, “Hey, my eyes are up here!” for St. Lucy, that is not the case. In images of Lucy, she is often shown carrying a plate with her own eyes resting on it.^[7]

St. Lucy was a Christian, but her mother was not. Her mother arranged a marriage to a local pagan, but Lucy longed to remain a virgin and to spend her dowry on the poor. St. Lucy took her mother to the tomb of Saint Agatha (who we shall meet later) and prayed for her mother to be cured of a sickness—the mother was cured and converted to Christianity at once. This was during a Roman persecution of Christians in the fourth century, and Lucy’s intended husband was not impressed by her faith and denounced her to the authorities.

Because Lucy would not recant her beliefs, the Romans had her tortured in many cruel and unusual ways, just one of which was the tearing out of her eyes. Other traditions have St. Lucy pulling out her own eyes to discourage her betrothed from the marriage.

3 St. Agatha’s Bosom

St. Agatha, who had aided St. Lucy, has a similar iconographic style to the younger saint. Instead of carrying her own eyes on a plate, however, St. Agatha prefers to carry her breasts. How they came to be off her body is the key to Agatha’s saintliness.

One of the most revered of the early martyrs, Agatha was born in Sicily. A highly beautiful woman, she was often faced with marriage proposals but had, from a very early age, dedicated herself to a life of pious chastity. A high-ranking Roman named Quintianus was not to be put off by her vows, however.^[8] When she refused him one too many times, Quintianus informed the authorities of her Christianity and had her hauled up before a judge—Quintianus himself.

The less-than-impartial judge reveled in torturing the woman he had wanted to marry, and one of his savage acts was to have her breasts torn off. This act has proved too titillating for some artists to ignore, so St. Agatha is now often shown with her most memorable attributes on a plate.

2 Lactation Of St. Bernard

St. Mary, mother of Jesus, is held by many to be the ideal woman. Images of her nursing the infant Christ were popular ones in churches and were intended to show that as she nurtured Jesus, so she would nurture all humans. While this nurturing was metaphorical, there was one saint who received a more literal feeding of his faith.

According to legend, St. Bernard was praying one day when a vision of the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus appeared to him. When the infant took a break from suckling, St. Mary placed her breast in St. Bernard’s mouth and nourished him. Other versions of the tale have the Virgin squirting milk at St. Bernard from quite some distance.^[9] One legend has the milk hitting him in the eye and curing him of an eye disease. In art, the most common image shows an impressive stream of milk shooting out to strike the kneeling saint.

One final variation shows St. Bernard not drinking the mother’s milk but being baptized in it as it hits him squarely in the middle of his forehead.

1 St. Christopher And The Dog’s Head

St. Christopher is one of the most famous and popular of Christian saints. Many wear his image around their neck, as he is the patron saint of travelers and is said to help people find their way back home. On his medals, he is often shown carrying a child (actually Jesus) across a river. What he is not usually shown as is a dog-headed man.

In some early icons of the saint, however, St. Christopher is shown with cynocephaly—having the head of a dog. This apparently bizarre artistic choice sprang from ancient misunderstandings of the world and texts. Beyond places known to the ancients, the world was said to be populated with exotic and weird varieties of humans. There were tribes with one foot who hopped everywhere, people whose faces were in the middle of their chests, and even cities of humans with dog heads.

One theory for why St. Christopher was shown with a dog’s head is that he was described as a Canaanite (cananeus), and someone misread this as “dog-man” (canineus).^[10] Despite these depictions of St. Christopher falling out of favor, they can still be found in some churches and ancient manuscripts. He was a good boy, after all.

Despite interacting with them many times a day, we really don’t give all that much thought to our teeth, beyond the mechanical ritual of brushing and hopefully flossing. We hope that’ll change after reading this article. As we’ve told you before, George Washington didn’t actually have wooden teeth. However, he did have a very frightening set of dentures made of various metals and human and animal teeth, and he serves as a warning to any who don’t take care of their chompers. So grab the brush (and the floss too) and join us as we explore the fascinating world of teeth.

10 Bejeweled Teeth

The Mayans were an advanced civilization who regrettably are now most known for their supposed “prediction” of the end of the world. About 2,500 years ago, the Maya already had a very advanced understanding of teeth. While many people today try to whiten their teeth, for the Mayans that was not nearly enough. They would have their dentists use a primitive drill to decorate their teeth. Sometimes they would have parts of the tooth cut out or shaped to make it look more interesting. However, their most extreme modification was the bejeweling of teeth.

Some people, more often men, would have small holes made in their teeth that were fitted with gemstones to make their mouths look pretty. Researchers believe these finds show the Mayans were very skilled at dental work, as they could fit these jewels into the teeth without breaking them.

9 Perez The Mouse

In many parts of the world, when a child loses a tooth, the Tooth Fairy comes to collect it and leaves money in its place. However, in Hispanic countries they have a different tradition.

It all started in 1894 in Spain when the king’s little son lost his first tooth. The king, wishing to mark this special event, had a priest named Luis Coloma write a story for the kid about losing his tooth. The priest created the character “Ratoncito Perez,” also known as Perez the Mouse. The story was incredibly successful and is still beloved by Hispanic children. The English translation is here.

Interestingly, while many Hispanic countries use a similar mouse, his methods vary. For instance, the children in Argentina don’t put their teeth under their pillow, but in a glass of water. Apparently the little critter gets thirsty and these considerate children are putting a drink out for him. And in several countries he is known as the “magic mouse” instead of simply Perez.

8 Street Dentistry

Back before modern dental science, people still had problems with their teeth, but oftentimes there wasn’t anything approaching an actual dentist around. In the early 1800’s there wasn’t even such a thing as a specific dental profession, and there certainly wasn’t anything in the way of licensing. What this meant is that many people only went to the dentist if they had a toothache and extractions were common.

Because dentists didn’t exist yet, the job fell to those who had the appropriate tools. For this reason, blacksmiths and barbers performed the majority of dental work. Of course, as time went on and the dental profession truly began, actual dentists became irritated at barbers and others who continued to practice without serious training, and now full licensing requirements mean you can no longer go to the village blacksmith to get your tooth pulled.

7 Synthetically Grown Teeth

Researchers in China have been trying to grow synthetic teeth using stem cells, but as getting a hold of stem cells can be quite difficult, they came up with a (disgusting) solution: extracting them from human urine.
As these kinds of experiments cannot be legally performed on humans, they attempted to grow their tooth inside the mouth of a mouse.

The results showed some dental pulp and the beginnings of enamel, but some experts are skeptical. While the method does look to be a good step toward learning how to create fully working synthetic teeth, there are still some issues. For starters, urine isn’t a very good place to take stem cells from and may lead to a higher rate of contamination issues. And growing the teeth is only the first step. Once scientists figure that out, they still need to learn how to make your mouth fully accept the new teeth you’re putting in it.

6 Toothache Remedies

A toothache is an abominable experience to endure. Sometimes the pain gets so bad we will try anything to make it stop. Our ancestors were no different, but they didn’t have quite the dental knowledge we have today. So, as you might imagine, they came up with many creative ways to stop a toothache. Most of their methods had no more effect than a placebo can provide.

Some people believed that toothaches were caused by tiny worms that got in your teeth, and that you could remove them using complicated methods with seeds and wax. Another method involved saying a bunch of magic words and then exchanging bodily fluids with a frog in the form of saliva, which is about the most disgusting thing imaginable. One medical practitioner long ago suggested that someone irritate the hell out of the affected area with a nail and then, once it was all bloody, jam the nail into a wooden beam. He insisted this would work and that the “treated” tooth would never bother you again.

5 Germ Encrusted Toothbrush

You’ve probably heard the story about toothbrushes and toilets. The theory goes that even if it is several feet away, airborne germs from a toilet flush will infect your toothbrush with fecal bacteria. It sounds pretty scary, and many people now make sure to close the cover of their toilet before they flush.

The problem is that this attitude causes people to miss the real source of worrisome germs—the brush itself. Studies have found that your toilet is one of the cleaner parts of your house, but as your toothbrush spends a lot of time removing bacteria, it ends up coated with it. Now if you have a strong immune system you should be fine, but keeping your toothbrush away from the toilet is not an effective way to keep it hygienic. What the bacteria on your toothbrush really need in order to thrive is moisture.

So if you really want to avoid germs on your toothbrush, the best thing you can do is keep it dry.

4 Love Your Teeth Day

China, a rapidly industrializing nation with a massive population, faces the daunting challenge of making sure their 1.35 billion citizens are doing okay in terms of health and wellness. While most people take care of their bodies overall health, many put off any healthcare involving their teeth, due to fear of dentists, expense, and the fact that dental problems often take a long time to become truly unbearable. Cavities lead to infections that can eventually be life threatening, so proper oral hygiene is more than just a cosmetic issue.

To increase awareness of the importance of dental care, the Chinese government designated September 20 as national “Love Your Teeth Day.” This day involves promotions from dentists to attract clients, as well as information meant to encourage people to see a dentist and take better care to avoid cavities in the future. The campaign has been running for decades and has been successful in getting more people to the dentist.

3 Mountain Dew And Appalachian Teeth

In the Appalachian regions of the United States, many people are extremely poor and geographically isolated. Due to the price, taste, sugar, caffeine and probably other factors, Mountain Dew might as well be the official beverage of the Appalachians. It has become such an ingrained part of the culture that people of all ages drink it pretty much all the time, often instead of water. This has caused a serious dental crisis in the region. The constant sipping of Mountain Dew has rotted the done such damage to people’s teeth that it’s even given its name to the rotting brown mess it causes—“Mountain Dew Mouth.”

Politicians have suggested trying to curb the problem by banning people from buying soda with food stamps. This seems like an unlikely solution as people are probably going to find another way to buy Mountain Dew if they are addicted to it. Perhaps the Appalachians need their own Love Your Teeth Day.

2 The First Brushes And Toothpaste

While we haven’t always had the fancy electrified gizmos of today, our species has been trying to keep our teeth nice and clean for quite a long time. Evidence has been found that as far back as Ancient Egypt people were using primitive tools made from twigs to brush their teeth. Many countries still use twigs from trees with antibacterial properties, such as cinnamon and neem, and they have been found to be just as effective as modern toothbrushes.

The first object closer to an actual toothbrush was invented by the Chinese. The handle was made of bamboo and it had boar bristles for cleaning teeth. As for toothpaste, it’s been a long journey to the minty fresh chemical concoctions that we slather over our pearly whites today. When pastes for the purpose of tooth cleaning were first being invented, the ingredients were nothing short of nasty. People would use mixtures comprised of ash, burnt eggshells, crushed bones and all manner of gross stuff that you don’t want in your mouth. And you thought brushing your teeth nowadays was a chore!

1 Proper Dental Hygiene

Many people assume you should brush your teeth right after eating, as that is when you have the most buildup on your teeth. However, it’s also when you have the highest amount of acid in your saliva, which, when combined with the abrasions of brushing, can actually assist in wearing away the enamel of your teeth. One dentist suggests rinsing your mouth out with water after eating to restore the pH balance and then brush about a half hour later.

Dentists also insist that no matter how well we brush, if we aren’t flossing we aren’t doing it right. Unfortunately, many people rarely floss, but it is actually even more important than brushing. It gets food that’s caught between the teeth that you can’t get with a brush, and protects your gums much more effectively. When asked whether you really have to floss your teeth, most dentists will reply “Only the ones you want to keep.”

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For centuries, scientists have grappled with the storage vaults of the mind. Better technology and knowledge of the brain brought some clarity, but they also made the strangeness of memory more evident.

From survival mechanisms that mess with mathematics to false recollections and anti-memories, researchers are not to be outdone by nature’s weirdness. Scientists have succeeded in teaching sleeping patients, transplanting experiences, and working with prosthetic memory.

10 False First Memory

A person’s oldest memory represents the first awareness of consciousness. For this reason, it may be disturbing to know that most first memories are false. When researchers worked with a group of volunteers who kindly shared their awakening moments, most in the group refused to believe that their memories were fabricated.

However, the 2018 study has science to back it up. Around 40 percent of the 6,600 participants claimed to remember as far back as ages 9–12 months. This falls into the preverbal stage of human development when a baby cannot retain memories. Scientific literature suggests that memories only stick after age two.^[1]

Why are people convinced that their first memory is not fictional?

The answer is complex, ranging from nostalgia to an ingrained identity investment in the stories people tell themselves. Research points to the real thing—the so-called first memory could be many things. It could be imaginary, fragments of an early event (but not the earliest memory), or gleaned from family snaps and stories.

9 Internet-Sized Memory Bank

In 2016, researchers searched a rat’s brain for the memory capacity of the human brain. The two species share a similarity in brain shape and synapse functions. Scientists took a year to draw every cell they found inside a slice of the rodent’s hippocampus. Incredibly, they extracted a huge volume from the tissue sample. (The tiny piece could fit 20 times on the width of a human hair.)

From this, they added up all the neurons with complete structures. In turn, the 287 brain cells were studied for size and their synapse communication network. After noticing how they touched nearly identical sites to transmit signals, it dawned that a single neuron could use 26 separate ways to code its information.^[2]

The accuracy allowed the team to translate it into computer-speak. Incredibly, the human brain can store one petabyte. That about equals all the data on the Internet. This brainy cache runs on the power equivalent of a 20-watt bulb. If a computer had to support the same memory bank, it would need a nuclear power station.

8 Hypnopedia Is Real

Thanks to hypnopedia, the ability to learn while asleep, some products have a unique market. However, as appealing as it sounds to learn martial arts or a new language merely by listening to tapes while sleeping, hypnopedia has its limits. It was already determined in the 1950s that humans cannot memorize facts unless awake. Modern research supported those findings but also made some interesting discoveries.

In 2014, Israeli scientists semi-cured nicotine addicts. They grossed out sleeping volunteers with cigarette smoke mixed with bad odors. In fact, none smoked for two weeks.

Later, a 2017 study proved that the sleeping brain can make brand-new memories. Learning Spanish on the snooze is impossible, but remembering complex patterns within white noise is automatic.

When the volunteers woke up, they successfully identified patterns but only when audio played during their REM cycles. The group failed to learn anything during non-REM, a deeper sleep. This provided the first evidence that sleep stages play a role in memory formation.^[3]

7 The Epigenetic Mystery

A field called epigenetics suggests that children inherit their father’s life experiences. Whatever Dad ate or was exposed to in his environment could affect the biology of several generations down the line. The existence of paternal “life memories” received support in several animal and human studies.

In 2018, researchers from Santa Cruz cracked a portion of the mystery. The object of their affection was a male roundworm. More exactly, the critter’s sperm. It revealed the presence of something nobody thought was there—histone packaging. These proteins hold DNA in the chromosomes, which was where researchers found epigenetic information.

Finding epigenetic markers in sperm is a first but not enough to explain the concept of this unusual inheritance. At least, scientists now understand that it is transferred within the histone packaging. Additionally, these proteins were inside important chromosomes for development. So much so that when baby worms did not get normal epigenetic markers, they were born sterile.^[4]

6 Master Memory Trick

Need to remember something? Draw it.

A recent study showed that doodling is the new Jedi mind trick. Canadian researchers, especially those fighting Alzheimer’s, gave it serious consideration. They gathered 48 volunteers to tweak a finding about how drawing sharpens recall in young adults. This time, they included more mature individuals. Half the group was in their early twenties, the rest around 80.

They were given words and a choice: They could write each word down, letter for letter, scribble a list of its attributes, or draw a related image. After a break, the volunteers had to recall as many words as possible. The younger members performed better, although both age groups showed an encouraging similarity.

Those who doodled remembered the most words. Drawing could beat traditional memory aids, such as rewriting or studying text. Researchers believe that the technique’s potency comes from the brain being able to absorb the same information from different angles—visual, verbal, spatial, meaning, and the physical act of sketching.^[5]

5 Math Traumatizes The Mind

Math trauma is a thing. Most people know the feeling. You stare at an equation only to be rewarded with a debilitating mental shutdown. People who struggle with numbers are often branded as incapable. Unless you perform calculations with speed and accuracy, you risk being outed as a math idiot.

The truth is more heartening—most people are actually good at mathematics. Even those who sweat a small swimming pool during exams (and fail).

The problem? Fear.

Timed tests, pushy teachers, and classmates who zip through fractions do not help those who dread falling behind or making a mistake. Fear is a primitive thing. It shuts down memory because pausing to think about that approaching cave lion is life-threatening. It just wants you to scramble up the nearest tree.^[6]

Fear does not know the difference between long-gone predators and math problems. When a person panics over algebra, the fear dials down memory, which makes calculations nearly impossible.

4 Anti-Memories

An enduring mystery surrounds the storage of memories. If all this information remained crystal clear, nobody would be able to recall new stuff like where they parked the car.

In 2016, a study found evidence of anti-memories. This process helps the brain stock up on fresh memories without a problem. It all comes down to a balance between two types of brain cells—neurons that get very excited and neurons that calm them down.

During the birth of a memory, the excitatory cells fire electrical connections among each other. They cannot stay giddy. Researchers believe that such overactive neurons contribute to epilepsy, schizophrenia, and autism.

To restore the balance, the calming neurons create what scientists call anti-memories. These neurons also fire connections but with the exact opposite pattern of the original memory.^[7]

Tests showed the presence of this balancing mechanism in volunteers when “forgotten” memories were brought back by suppressing the calming neurons. Those memories were never erased, just silenced so as not to interfere with others.

3 Prosthetic Memory

Putting electrodes in a healthy human brain comes with tough red tape. In 2018, scientists got the chance to work with patients already fitted with implants. Suffering from epilepsy, 15 individuals received care at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The surgically implanted electrodes were part of the therapy, but the patients were happy to let the scientists piggyback on their treatment.

The idea was to test a future implant designed to learn and replicate a person’s brain activity to boost short-term memory. Patients enjoyed a computer game in which recall was a factor. Scientists used the pre-implanted electrodes to record brain activity, especially during correct answers.

Soon, they were able to compile personalized profiles on every volunteer. When each person’s activity map was later used to help stimulate their brain, short-term recall jumped by 35 percent. This was a hugely successful step in realizing a “prosthetic memory” device that was tailor-made to the individual.^[8]

2 Memory-Swapping Snails

In 2018, snails exchanged memories. They achieved this odd feat thanks to a team of California scientists. Interested to see whether genetic memory existed, researchers looked to sea snails called Aplysia californica.

During the study, they zapped one of the critters with an electrical current. The snail quickly tucked its fleshy flaps away. Repeated shocks taught the creatures to keep themselves retracted for longer.

RNA (a genetic molecule that acts like a messenger) was taken from this trained snail. When transplanted in another, the second snail remembered the donor’s experience. After getting shocked for the first time, the memory-borrowing animal curled up for longer as if expecting another zap. Snails that received RNA from untrained donors retracted their flaps briefly, believing the shock to be a one-time event.^[9]

This proved that memory was embedded in the genetic code, although the exact process used by the donor material to warn another snail remains mysterious.

1 Alzheimer’s Breakthrough

No cure exists for Alzheimer’s disease, which is currently ruining the lives of 50 million people. In 2015, Australian scientists found a way to remove the cause.

Alzheimer’s occurs when plaques build up and block functions within the brain. The result is a cognitive decline without end. Meanwhile, back in Australia, a group of mice suffered from the same problem. They were given the breakthrough treatment that could change the way this disease is approached.

Around 75 percent of the mice showed a full recovery of their mental faculties, including memory. The new technology is noninvasive and does not damage brain tissue. Called focused therapeutic ultrasound, it churns superfast sound waves into the brain. This gently expands the blood-brain barrier, which contains waste removal cells.^[10]

Those cells spring into action and remove the lesions that cause Alzheimer’s worst symptoms. This discovery could lead to an effective, drug-free therapy for patients.

North American history is riddled with strange animal and so-called monster encounters. The mysterious woods, plains, swamps, and mountains hid mysteries that preyed on people’s minds and fueled the legends and stories told around family hearths.

Monster sightings were as popular in the 1800 and early 1900s as they are today. However, instead of posting their sightings to social media accounts, the people of the past went to the newspapers, where their stories were published and immortalized. And, of course, that means they can still be read today.

10 Half-Man And Half-Frog

The idea of aquatic or amphibian men is nothing new. Since antiquity, people have been spotting these strange creatures across the world. However, a more recent sighting from 1902 happened in North America.

According to one newspaper report, a half-man, half-frog creature came out of Colonial Lake, a tidal pond in South Carolina. It was late at night, and witnesses said the curious creature crawled onto the bank and began making strange sounds. They may have been distress cries, according to some accounts, but after about 30 minutes, the creature returned to the water.

The event was witnessed by a truck driver, a carpenter, and numerous other people who were out late that night. According to a statement made by the carpenter:

It was too horrible looking to describe. The head resembled that of a huge frog, the wide, protruding eyes burning with a lurid light. It had arms and shoulders like a man, but the body tapered down like a serpent’s. It was covered with large, greenish scales, and I should say it was at least eight feet long from head to tail. Its mouth was filled with crooked fangs, which it snapped together with a vicious click.^[1]

9 Disappeared In Green Smoke

Wildcat sightings, as well as black panther sightings, have always been a popular topic in newspapers, but this particular sighting in Slick, Oklahoma, was a bit different from those other wildcat stories.

It was during the summer of 1921 when people began seeing an unusual wildcat. According to one report, “The monster was seen [ . . . ] by a woman and two children who were picking dewberries in a swamp at the top of a hill on the outskirts of the city. It spat fire, snarled fiercely and gave a weird howl when it beheld the trio, disappearing in a sudden burst of speed and green smoke.”^[2]

A local reporter and scientist headed to the swamp to find the spitfire cat. The scientist made impressions of the cat’s large, unfamiliar footprints and muttered, “Wildcat, but not still.” The reporter wanted to follow the tracks to find the cat, but the scientist was quite unwilling to go any further.

8 Georgia’s Hairy Man-Monster

Long before the creatures were called “Bigfoot,” there were strange sightings in the mountains of Georgia. An early account from the summer of 1812 tells how a party of hunters came across a 2.4-meter-tall (8 ft) man-creature. It was covered in bluish hair and had large ears, similar to the ears of a donkey.^[3]

Two years later, a group of adventurers from Virginia decided to try and find the mysterious man-monster. As they traveled across the undeveloped land, they spoke to numerous locals who either believed that the hairy man existed or had seen the creature themselves. Fortunately for the monster, the party of men were unable to locate its dwelling.

To this day, hikers and Bigfoot researchers claim to have seen or heard the mysterious monsters that live in Georgia.

7 Duchesne River Monster

A post trader visited the Ute people in Eastern Utah back in 1889 and began talking to them about their culture, raising children, and the local industries. Soon, the conversation moved onto local superstitions, and the trader, who was accompanied by a local newspaper reporter, was told about the Duchesne River monster.

According to the Ute, there is a spot near the head of the Duchesne that was inhabited by “a horrible monster, half man and half beast, with all the powers of an evil spirit.”^[4] The monster lived in the valley, and the locals all avoided venturing into the area, believing that the creature would kill them if it caught wind of them.

Of course, instead of believing the Ute, the reporter felt that perhaps the people were confusing the half-man monster with the Gila monsters of Arizona. However, this makes very little sense because Gila monsters were recognized as animals, not actual monsters, among Native American tribes.

6 The Red-Whiskered Devil

New York state had its own unique monster problems in 1891. Residents near Gravesend Beach claimed they saw a devil of sorts and described it as a “monster all covered with hair, with flailing red whiskers and a Satanic howl.”^[5] People were frightened out of their wits, and it was reported that women and men were staying indoors instead of venturing out at night.

Unionville was also being terrorized by the Red-Whiskered Devil. One night, a train dispatcher saw the strange creature, and, he said, it “gave a roar like thunder, grinned in a most ghastly manner and then started off.” The train dispatcher said that since he did not believe in ghosts, he decided to chase after it. Holding a monkey wrench, the man followed the creature for 3.2 kilometers (2 mi). Then it disappeared right in front of him so suddenly that the man gasped in fear.

Afterward, numerous people came forward to say they had seen the creature. While the witnesses were described as intelligent, one newspaper report ventured to say that the creature was more than likely a man dressed in a bear suit, scaring residents for his own personal thrill.

5 Half-Man And Half-Dog

There was something rather alarming running around Virginia. In 1882, it was reported that a large number of people had spotted a half-man, half-beast creature in the Petersburg area. People were so frightened that they were requesting police escorts whenever they had to travel the neighborhood at night.

Three years later and over 160 kilometers (100 mi) away, the people of Lynchburg, Virginia, had similar sightings. In this case, the monster was described as being half-man and half-dog. It was spotted chasing after children, who believed that the monster was out to eat them.^[6]

In both of these cases, newspaper reports touted that the stories of the dog-man were told by superstitious, uneducated people. No other theories were given as to what the creature or creatures could have been. However, dog-man sightings continue today in the state of Virginia.

4 Idaho’s Hair-Covered Man

It was a cold winter in Chesterfield, Idaho, in 1902. The young adults, eager to socialize and spend time outdoors, went to the local river and put on their skates.

As they skated across the river ice and gossiped, a strange figure appeared. It was 2.4 meters (8 ft) tall, covered in hair, and carrying a club. The man-like creature let out strange yells, and the young people made a mad scramble to their wagons. They escaped, unharmed.

After reaching their little town, they told their parents and neighbors what they had seen. It wasn’t long before the older adults returned to the scene. There, they discovered footprints that measured 56 centimeters (22 in) long and 18 centimeters (7 in) wide. The creature had only four toes on each foot.^[7]

As people began to talk among each other, they found out that similar prints had been discovered in the past, albeit further down the river.

Idaho Bigfoot sightings remain common to this very day.

3 It Turned Itself Inside Out

Something rather odd was plaguing the cattlemen of Bloody Basin, Arizona, back in 1913, and there were reports of men selling out, packing up, and leaving the area just to avoid whatever it was.

According to one witness, he and two other cowmen were crossing the hills when they saw a strange-looking creature ahead of them. The men were so frightened by it that they emptied their guns into the thing.

It was no use. According to the account, the beast was unharmed:

Quick as a flash it wriggled and one side actually went through the other. In other words, it turned wrong side out, reversed, revamped itself, reorganized, changed its general plan and specifications, so that the long legs moved over to the side just occupied by the short ones. Then, with a roar and a swish of the tail it fled back around the hill.^[8]

Arizona continues to offer up strange creature sightings, as well as UFO sightings and Bigfoot.

2 Pennsylvania Devil

A strange creature was seen in Springvale, Pennsylvania, back in 1910. Locals called it a devil, and it was likened to the Jersey Devil, which had been acting up in the Pine Barrens again.

William Smuck, a local of Springvale, saw the creature firsthand and said it sort of looked like a large dog, but it had hind legs shaped like those on a kangaroo. Other people who saw it likened its fur to porcupine quills, but no one was brave enough to stick around for a closer look whenever it showed itself.

After the creature had been accused of tearing apart a local dog, people were afraid to go out at night. When they had to venture out, they would do so in groups, and many people began carrying shotguns and rifles with them.

According to the locals, the devil creature was ferocious. It moved like a panther, was fast, and hunted among the local farms.^[9]

1 Dismal Swamp Monster

While people in other parts of the US dismissed Virginians as superstitious, the Virginians themselves were having a terrible beast problem back in 1902. This is not surprising, since 20 years prior to this latest incident, Virginians were having problems with a dog-man.

According to old newspaper reports, something came out of the Dismal Swamp area and began eating people’s dogs and livestock. The creature, said to have had eyes that glowed in the dark like phosphorous, was hunted down and supposedly killed.

Shortly afterward, however, another Dismal Swamp monster came out of the area to terrorize the neighborhood. A farmer witnessed the strange creature kill seven of his dogs, but when he went after it with a pistol, the creature attacked him and tore his clothing to shreds.^[10]

Another neighbor saw the creature. He described it as an animal that was larger than a wolf, “with shaggy, yellow hair, long head, and sunken eyes.” About two weeks later, it was reported that the creature had been killed again, but this time, it was described as being similar to a wolf but far larger.

Today, the Dismal Swamp area is often visited by thrill-seekers who want to catch sight of the ever-elusive Bigfoot that has been spotted in the area by numerous eyewitnesses.

Elizabeth is a full-time freelance writer and enjoys researching early American history. When she is not busy digging through newspaper archives, she is usually traveling to historical sites throughout the US.

Nonliving objects and animals are not always safe from litigation. Over the years, people have sued animals and even inanimate objects like puppets. In turn, people have been sued by animals and nonhuman objects.

Obviously, lawsuits of this nature aren’t actually filed by animals or nonliving things but by people or groups. While the following court cases are bizarre, hilarious, or both, they show just how far people will go to get justice.

10 Musician Loses Court Battle Against Puppet

South African musician Steve Hofmeyr holds the rare distinction of having lost a court case to a puppet. The puppet in question is Chester Missing, which is owned by South African ventriloquist and comedian Conrad Koch (pictured above with Chester).

The whole thing began in November 2014, when Hofmeyr blamed black people for apartheid. Koch replied in a series of tweets he posted on his personal Twitter page and Missing’s Twitter page in which he criticized Hofmeyr over his racist statement. One of his messages urged Hofmeyr’s sponsors to cancel their contracts with the musician.

Hofmeyr requested for a protection order against Koch and Missing over what he called threats and harassment. However, he failed to receive the order when a court determined that Koch and Missing had done nothing wrong and could tweet about Hofmeyr. The court also ordered Hofmeyr to pay Koch and Missing’s attorney fees.

Koch quickly returned to making tweets about Hofmeyr, who he called “Racistboy.” The less-than-amused Hofmeyr accused the courts of siding with the comedian and his puppet.^[1]

9 Kansas Sues A Toyota Truck And Loses

In 2018, the state of Kansas lost a lawsuit against a Toyota pickup truck. Sergeant Christopher Ricard of the Geary County Sheriff’s Department stopped the truck over a partially obscured traffic plate. However, he impounded it when Scooby, his police dog, sniffed out 11.9 grams of marijuana hidden inside the vehicle. Sergeant Ricard also found $84,000 in cash.

The state filed to seize the vehicle and money. Considering that it was a civil forfeiture case, the state listed the truck, money, and marijuana as defendants instead of the two men driving it. However, the court determined that the state could not legally seize the truck and money because Sergeant Ricard had illegally extended the stop to allow Scooby to sniff the vehicle.^[2]

8 Police Dog Wins Lawsuit Filed By A Burglar It Bit

On July 6, 2013, a Georgia man named Randall Kevin Jones broke into his ex’s home and stole several items, including her television, camera, and game console. The unnamed ex called the police after spotting Jones leaving her home. Officers from the Gwinnett County Police Department responded to the scene.

The police found Jones and ordered him to surrender. Jones didn’t and started to run. He continued running, even after an officer threatened to send a police dog after him. The officer ultimately unleashed the dog, named Draco. Draco bit Jones, sending him falling into a ravine. Jones required some stitches for his injuries.

Two years later, Jones sued the police department for “excessive use of force.” As defendants, he named at least three officers and the dog, which was listed as “Officer K-9 Draco of the Gwinnett County Police Department in his individual capacity.” Jones claimed Officer K-9 Draco bit him “for what seemed like a lifetime.” He also claimed the officers watched and didn’t try to get Draco off him as this was happening.

Gwinnet County tried to have the lawsuit dismissed, but a federal judge rejected this, so the county appealed. Finally, Judge Robin Rosenbaum of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta threw the case out, saying, “We hold that a dog may not be sued individually for negligence since a dog is not a person.” She added that dogs cannot be issued a subpoena, cannot get an attorney, and cannot pay damages if found guilty.^[3]

7 Judge Stops Horse From Suing Its Owner

In 2018, a horse in Oregon sued its owner for neglect. It requested $100,000 in damages. However, a judge threw the case out because horses cannot sue their owners, or anybody for that matter. The horse itself did not file the lawsuit, though. The Animal Legal Defense Fund did on its behalf.

The horse, named Justice, was owned by Gwendolyn Vercher, who had left it outside in the cold. Justice was hungry, thirsty, and underweight by 136 kilograms (300 lb) at the time it was rescued. It also suffered from frostbite. Vercher was charged with neglect of an animal and paid for the horse’s treatment.

However, the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed the lawsuit because Justice could need money for further treatment. The court ruled the horse could not file the lawsuit because otherwise, courts would soon be filled with animals suing their owners. Gwendolyn Vercher said the lawsuit was “outrageous.”^[4]

6 Aborted Fetus Sues Abortion Clinic

In March 2019, Ryan Magers sued the Alabama Women’s Center for Reproductive Alternatives in Huntsville, Alabama, for aborting his unborn child. Also listed as defendants were the company that made the pill used for the abortion, the doctor who did the abortion, and every organization the doctor worked with.

Ryan Magers called the fetus Baby Roe. He claimed his girlfriend aborted Baby Roe in February 2017. She was six weeks pregnant at the time and went ahead with the abortion after he refused. Magers said he filed the lawsuit because he wants the law to protect fathers of unborn children.

For now, the law allows the mother to abort the baby without any consideration from the father. The lawsuit has raised eyebrows among feminists and pro-abortion advocates. The case is currently ongoing.^[5]

5 Monkey Selfie Ends In A Win For Photographer

In 2008, photographer David Slater encountered a troop of crested black macaques while taking pictures at an Indonesian wildlife park. While he concentrated on shooing some curious monkeys, others snuck to his camera, which was on a tripod, and started to click on the shutter.

The monkeys took hundreds of pictures, some of which included Slater. However, the most popular was a selfie taken by a monkey that pressed on the shutter. What followed was a bizarre copyright battle between Slater and the monkey, which was named Naruto.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) claimed that Naruto owned the copyright to the picture. Slater insisted that he owned the copyright and not Naruto. In 2015, PETA filed a copyright lawsuit on behalf of Naruto. In 2017, PETA agreed to dump the lawsuit on the condition that Slater gave them 25 percent of the royalties he received from the images.

However, in 2018, a court stopped PETA from settling the lawsuit because it wanted to pass judgment that would allow judges to decide over similar incidents in the future. The court ruled that animals cannot file or own copyrights. This effectively gave copyright ownership to Slater.^[6]

4 Wheelchair Thief Sues Police Dog

On April 23, 2015, 55-year-old Stanley McQuery broke into the Hillcrest, San Diego, home of 79-year-old William Ballard. He attacked Ballard and stole his phone and electric wheelchair. He also demanded money. The police were called in.

Officers found McQuery in the neighborhood. For some reason, his getaway vehicle was Ballard’s wheelchair, which traveled at a pitiable 3.2 kilometers per hour (2 mph). The police sent a dog after McQuery after he refused orders to stop. McQuery was ultimately sentenced to 16 years in prison because he already had three felony convictions.

In 2016, McQuery sued the police dog for “excessive force, assault and battery” while in prison. He demanded $7 million in compensation. He claimed he was already on the ground at the time the officer set the dog on him. He added that the officer told the dog, “Eat him up, eat him up.”

McQuery later claimed he made a mistake by naming the dog as a defendant. He said he loved dogs and never planned to sue a dog. However, this does not explain the fact that he listed the dog as a defendant twice.^[7]

3 Monkey Gets Charged With Assault For Attacking Woman

On November 29, 1877, The New York Times reported that one Ms. Mary Shea lost a lawsuit against Jimmy Dillio, a monkey owned by one Mr. Casslo Dillio. Trouble began for Jimmy when Mr. Dillio took him to Ms. Shea’s shop. Shea offered Jimmy a piece of candy, which he accepted while chattering in appreciation.

However, Jimmy turned violent and bit Ms. Shea’s finger when she playfully attempted to retrieve the candy. Mrs. Shea got Mr. Dillio and Jimmy arrested and taken to court. Judge Flammer threw the case out, saying the that court could not charge monkeys. Jimmy reportedly exhibited some gentlemanly behavior by doffing his hat after Judge Flammer delivered the decision.^[8]

2 Woman Attempts To Get Monkeys Charged With Sexual Assault

In 2015, 23-year-old Melissa Hart tried getting a pair of monkeys arrested and charged with sexual assault while he was visiting Gibraltar. She was watching the Barbary macaques when two of them attacked her without warning.

The monkeys scratched her with their paws, pulled at her clothes and hair, and removed her bikini top. She screamed for help during the attack, but nearby tourists just laughed. She was saved when a warden chased the monkeys away.

A startled, embarrassed, and angry Ms. Hart reported the incident to the police and tried to file charges against the monkeys. The officers turned down her request because monkeys are wild animals and cannot be charged. One officer even asked her if she could identify the monkeys in a police lineup.^[9]

1 Man Sues Police Dog After He Was Bitten

In 2018, 66-year-old Joseph Carr of Oregon sued a police dog named Rolo and its handler, Deputy Jason Bernards of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, because Rolo bit him. Rolo bit Carr on September 18, 2016, as Carr attended the opening of a store.

Carr met Deputy Bernards and Rolo standing at the entrance of the store. Bernards told Rolo to “say hi,” which Carr took as an invitation to pet the dog. However, Rolo bit Carr in the abdomen when Carr touched the canine’s ear and head. Carr sued for $50,000 in damages.

Deputy Bernards claimed that Carr was bitten because he wrapped his hands around the dog’s snout. However, Carr’s attorney, Brian Hefner, noted that surveillance footage shows that Carr only touched the dog’s head and ear. Carr said the bite scar constantly reminds him of the “horrific and unnecessary event.”^[10]

There’s nothing wrong with a little healthy competition. Of course, it’s much more interesting when the competition is unhealthy. People will sometimes go to extreme lengths to get back at their rivals.

Dedicated one-uppers have erected statues in clear view of their rivals, built fences around their homes, and even built towers named after their rival’s penises. At other times, revenge-seekers have chosen far less amusing methods, such as murder, poisoning, or some other weird plot. This list contains ten of the weirdest things we’ve found.

10 Egypt Builds 187-Meter Tower To Spite The US

The 187-meter-tall (614 ft) Cairo Tower in Egypt’s eponymous capital is said to be “Egypt’s giant middle finger to America.” The tower was built by Egypt’s president Gamal Abdel Nasser after a political fallout with the US government. Its construction was funded with bribes the US government had paid to Egypt.

In 1952, Nasser deposed King Farouk in a coup. He soon met with Kermit Roosevelt, a CIA agent who wanted Egypt to bank with and buy weapons from the US instead of Britain. As part of the deal, Roosevelt paid a $1 million bribe and promised Nasser more money “for purchasing presidential security accoutrements.”

Nasser was unimpressed with the deal because he did not want the US interfering in Egypt’s issues. So he used the $1 million bribe to fund the Cairo tower, which was completed in 1961. Nasser probably added more money, because the tower reportedly cost $6 million. Today, the tower is also referred to as el-wa’ef rusfel (“Roosevelt’s erection”).^[1]

The tower became controversial in the 1990s after some Islamic scholars condemned it because it supposedly excited Egyptian women. But honestly, who wouldn’t be excited by a giant penis by the seaside?

9 Saddam Hussein Puts Bush On The Floor

In 1991, the First Gulf War ended with the heavy defeat of the Iraqi army.

Reeling from the pain and shame of defeat, Iraqi president Saddam Hussein decided to take his pound of flesh from US president George H.W. Bush. Saddam installed a mosaic of President Bush in the foyer of the Al-Rashid hotel in Iraq.

The choice of the hotel was strategic. Al-Rashid was commonly stayed at by foreign visitors. In fact, foreign journalists lodged in the hotel during the First Gulf War. The mosaic was positioned at the entrance so that foreigners could not avoid stepping on it. Several US diplomats would later step on it when they visited the hotel.

In the US, the mosaic would be passed off as another childish prank. In the Middle East, it is a great insult. Pointing the sole of your foot at another person is considered an insult. Using their image as a doormat is the ultimate insult. US forces destroyed the mosaic when the US invaded Iraq in 2003.^[2]

8 38 Die After Man Poisons Food In Rival’s Restaurant

In September 2002, Chen Zhengping of Tangshan, Jiangsu Province, China, doused the snacks sold in the store of a competitor with rat poison. The incident left 38 people dead and around 200 hospitalized. The figure could have been much higher because the Chinese government censored details of the incident.

Schoolchildren and soldiers were the major casualties of poisoning. They bled from the mouth after eating the poisoned snacks. Some even collapsed right at the competitor’s store. Chen escaped after the incident but was later arrested. He said he only wanted to make people sick and never planned on killing anybody. He was sentenced to death for his actions.^[3]

7 Senator’s Name Turned Into Neologism Over Anti-LGBT Remarks

Former US senator and Republican presidential aspirant Rick Santorum does not hide the fact that he does not like homosexuals. The LGBT community had had enough after the senator compared anal sex with a man having sex with a dog.

LGBT columnist Dan Savage asked his readers to decide on a new meaning for Santorum’s name. They agreed “santorum” should refer to residue ejected from the anus after anal sex. Savage created a website for the new name, and it soon became the top result on Google search.

What happened next is what we remember today as the “Rick Santorum’s Google Problem.” Savage’s website and other related websites popped up whenever people searched for “Santorum.” The website even ranked higher than Santorum’s own site for his campaign to gain the Republican nomination for the 2012 presidential elections.^[4]

Santorum complained to Google, which later tweaked its search engine so that Savage’s website went down in the results. However, this probably did little for Santorum because Urban Dictionary’s page for “santorum” took over as number one. As of this writing, Savage’s site is still the first result on Google when searching for “Santorum.” A Wikipedia page about the debacle is second, and the Wikipedia page about Rick Santorum the person is third. A Wiktionary page for “santorum” is fourth, and Urban Dictionary’s page is fifth.

6 Man Erects Giant Middle Finger Statue Toward Ex-Wife’s Window

In 2013, after what was presumably a bitter divorce, Alan Markovitz decided he was not done with his ex-wife, Lea Tuohy, just yet. The Michigan strip club owner bought the home next to hers and installed a $7,500 3.5-meter-tall (11.5 ft) statue of a middle finger next to her window. He even added spotlights to make sure she had no problem seeing it at night.

Markovitz later claimed the statue was actually directed at Tuohy’s new boyfriend, with whom she had an affair at the time she and Markovitz were still married. Markovitz added that he got the idea after a realtor informed him that a home near his ex-wife’s was for sale.^[5]

5 Man Directs Middle Finger Statue At Town’s Officials

The middle finger statue is not reserved for exes. The town officials of Westford, Vermont, also got theirs in 2018. This time, it was from local resident Ted Pelkey, who was bitter after they’d repeatedly rejected his permit to build a 743-square-meter (8,000 ft²) garage on his 11-acre property. The garage would have housed his business.

Town officials claimed Pelkey’s application had “fallen short of the town’s standards.” Pelkey says officials rejected his application over some personal issues he had with them.

In response, Pelkey installed the $4,000 statue on a 5-meter (16 ft) pedestal so that town officials could get the message from a distance. Like Markovitz, he also added spotlights so that they could see it at night. The town couldn’t remove the statue because it qualified as public art.^[6]

4 Woman Murders Rival And Starts An Elaborate Hoax

On the morning of November 12, 2012, Cari Farver of Macedonia, Iowa, sent a heartbreaking message to her mother, Nancy Raney. Farver wrote that she had broken up with her boyfriend and might check into a mental institution. Three days later, she sent a text to inform her employer that she had gotten another job in Kansas.

On New Year’s Day 2013, Farver posted on Facebook, telling her friends that her former account was hacked and that her boyfriend, Dave, had proposed to her. Meanwhile, Raney got suspicious and filed a missing persons report with the police. Four years passed before police discovered that Farver had been dead since 2012.

She was murdered by Shanna Golyar, her rival, who also wanted to be with Dave. The text messages and Facebook posts were part of an elaborate smokescreen Golyar had created to conceal the murder. Golyar sent all the messages. At one point, she even created several posts to make it appear as if she and Farver were exchanging words on Facebook.

In truth, Goylar was controlling both accounts. Killing Farver was not the only way Goylar tried to ensure that she got Dave all to herself. At another time, she lied to the police, saying that an unnamed woman who’d had a child with Dave had shot her.^[7]

3 Lamborghini Enters The Sports Car Business To Get Back At Ferrari

We wouldn’t have had Lamborghinis if Enzo Ferrarri (the founder of Ferrari) hadn’t been rude to Ferruccio Lamborghini (the founder of Lamborghini). In the 1950s, Ferrari’s race cars which were sold for public road use were only slightly modified from the racing versions.

Tractor maker Ferruccio Lamborghini, who had a liking for sports cars, bought one of the modified Ferraris. However, he was displeased with it because it had a poor interior and often required servicing. He also hated the unreliable clutch, which often required replacement.

Lamborghini informed Ferrari about the clutch problem, but the arrogant Ferrari rudely told him off. The angry Lamborghini returned to his factory and modified his Ferrari sports car to his taste.

Ferruccio Lamborghini knew a thing or two about engines, clutches, and drivetrains from his tractor-making experience, so he decided to start making sports cars. He opened a factory close to Ferrari’s factory and even poached some of his workers. The rest, as they say, is history.^[8]

2 Chinese Government Builds Highway Around Home After Owners Refuse To Sell

China has built lots of roads and highways within the past few decades. Private property has sometimes stood in the way. The government strategy is to pay the homeowner some compensation to move. However, some residents have refused the money because it is too small.

These people are called Dingzihu. Their houses are called nail houses and are a sign of defiance against the Chinese government. However, the determined government sometimes gets cranky and just builds its highway anyway.

In one notorious case, the government built a highway around the five-story home of 67-year-old Luo Baogen in 2012. Pictures of the house in the middle of the road went viral. Baogen eventually relented and sold his home to the government for 260,000 yuan. The house was demolished.^[9]

1 Man Builds 12-Meter Fence Around Neighbor’s Home

In 1855, a man named Nicholas Yung built a modest home on Nob Hill, San Francisco, California. By the 1870s, however, the hill had become the choice location for the rich because it offered a view of the main San Francisco town and several other hills.

Central Pacific Railroad executive Charles Crocker was one of the millionaires who moved to Nob Hill. He bought the area around Yung’s home and offered to buy it as well. Yung declined. Crocker wouldn’t take no for an answer and was determined to get Yung’s property even if it meant playing dirty.

At one point, he ordered the men using dynamite to level the ground for his home to direct the fragments toward Yung’s house. When that didn’t work, Crocker built a 12-meter-tall (40 ft) fence round Yung’s home. The fence became a tourist attraction and was called Crocker’s Spite Fence or Crocker’s Crime.

Crocker himself had made so much money because he bypassed the more expensive American workers for cheap Chinese labor. Anti-Chinese sentiment had sprung up due to economic depression, and many Americans blamed the Chinese for their joblessness. Denis Kearney jumped on the anti-Chinese sentiment and formed the Workingman’s Party of California (WPC). Its slogan was, “The Chinese must go.”

Crocker’s Spite Fence became the symbol of the party and evidence of the evils of capitalism. Many members joined the party because of the fence. The WPC held rallies near the fence and threatened to demolish it if Crocker did not do so first. However, the WPC never executed its threat. The fence was demolished after Yung finally sold his home to Crocker. In 1906, Crocker’s property was mostly destroyed by the great fire that followed that year’s infamous earthquake. The Grace Cathedral stands there today.^[10]

There are many weird laws around the world today. The majority of them were passed centuries ago and have never been repealed, although they’re not currently being enforced. Still, many of them are on the books, and plenty of people can unknowingly commit crimes for various odd reasons, though they probably won’t actually get in trouble for it, of course.

While these laws sound ridiculous to us today, we should know they were passed at the time for practical reasons. From restrictions on clothing to what may be done with which animals, here are ten strange laws from around the world and why they were passed.

10 It Is Illegal To Wear A Top Hat In Public
United Kingdom

On January 16, 1797, a man named John Hetherington was apparently the first to wear a top hat in England. Nobody had seen a top hat at that time, so it was scary and controversial. According to a contemporaneous account, people became frightened, children shouted, dogs barked, and women fainted as Hetherington wore his silk hat through London.

The son of one Cordwainer Thomas broke his arm after he was pushed to the floor by the crowd that gathered around Hetherington. Hetherington was arrested and charged with disturbing the King’s peace and inciting a riot for “appearing on the public highway wearing upon his head [ . . . ] a tall structure having a shining lustre, and calculated to frighten timid people.”^[1] He was fined either £50 or £500, depending on which source you consult.

However, Hetherington insisted he had not broken any law. To prevent a repeat, the government of the day passed a law banning citizens from wearing top hats.

9 It Is Illegal For A Moose To Enter A Saloon Via The Sidewalk
Fairbanks, Alaska

It is illegal for a moose to enter a bar through the sidewalk in Fairbanks, Alaska. The law was passed during the early 20th century because a tavern owner was fond of getting his pet moose drunk. The intoxicated moose often went on rampages, destroying property.

City officials soon had enough and passed a law banning moose from public sidewalks, thus meaning that the moose in question could no longer get into the man’s saloon. The tavern owner stopped bringing his moose to his bar but still got it drunk in his home. It is unknown why the town couldn’t simply outlaw getting moose drunk.^[2]

8 It Is Illegal To Enter Parliament With Weapons Or Full Armor
United Kingdom

On October 30, 1313, King Edward II of England passed the Statutum de Defensione Portandi Arma. The law forbids MPs from entering Parliament with weapons or in full armor. The law is still upheld today and has been extended to bulletproof vests.

King Edward II passed the law after “certain individuals” interrupted and disorganized several meetings he’d had with members of Parliament. The king guessed the people were either disgruntled with the war with Scotland or over rumors that he was gay.

Today, coat hangers in the cloakrooms of the British Parliament are modified to hold the swords of members of Parliament. (It is unknown how many MPs currently carry swords.) Meanwhile, visitors and non-parliamentarians theoretically still are allowed to bring weapons and bulletproof vests into Parliament.^[3]

7 It Is Illegal To Die Within Town Limits
Italy, France, Spain, And Norway

Several towns in different countries have permanently or temporarily banned townspeople from dying within town limits.

In 2012, the mayor of Falciano dal Massico, Italy, banned residents from dying within town limits. The mayor issued the ban after the local cemetery became full. He said people would only be allowed to die after a new cemetery had been built. At least two people died while the law was in force.

The town of Bordeaux, France, also issued a similar ban after the local cemetery reached capacity, and the court stopped the town from extending the cemetery. The mayor mentioned that only people with burial plots at the cemetery were allowed to die and promised severe punishment for defaulters.

The town of Lanjaron, Spain, also banned people from dying within town limits for the same reason. The mayor ordered that townspeople pay attention to their health and suspended their deaths until the town acquired new land for a cemetery.

One town with a permanent ban on death is Longyearbyen, Norway, which has banned residents from dying since 1950. The town is considered the world’s most northernmost city (as in having more than 1,000 residents) and is covered in permafrost. The ban was issued after residents discovered that the dead simply froze in the cemetery the instead of decaying. This meant dangerous pathogens could survive in the cadavers and possibly re-infect the living. Old and sick people are usually transported off the island to live their last days.^[4]

6 It Is Illegal To Use Cell Phones In Banks
Argentina, Brazil, And The Philippines

The governments of Rio de Janeiro, Argentina, and the Philippines have passed laws banning customers from using cell phones inside banks. The bans were attempts to reduce bank robberies.

Criminals would sometimes enter banks and monitor customers withdrawing money and leaving the bank. Once a target was spotted, the robber would use his cell phone to instruct other gang members outside the bank to rob the client.

These sort of robberies had been reduced by 23 percent in Rio de Janeiro two years after bank customers were banned from using cell phones and radio transmitters. They were reduced by 20 percent in Argentina. However, some skeptics doubt the efficiency of the ban, since most bank robbers trail the customer and rob them outside the bank.^[5]

The Philippines also proposed a similar law, which was quickly adopted as a rule by banks even before the law was passed. Called the “Cell Phone in Banks Prohibition Act,” the law bans clients from using communication gadgets, including cell phones and laptops, within bank premises.

Bank workers are permitted to use their devices but not in the presence of clients. However, doctors and emergency health personnel are allowed to use their cell phones while responding to emergencies or consulting with patients.

5 It Is Illegal To Use Cell Phones And Many Other Devices
Green Bank, West Virginia

It is illegal to use cell phones, Wi-Fi, radios, or microwaves in the small town of Green Bank, Virginia. This is because the town contains the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope, which is operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO).

The NRAO telescope receives radio signals from faraway stars and galaxies. The signals are often very weak, and nearby radio signals would interfere with its operation. So in 1958, Congress passed a law banning radio devices around the observatory.

The law declared a 16-kilometer (10 mi) radius around the observatory to be radio device-free. The law also mandated that radio wave devices be regulated within a larger 33,700-square kilometer (13,000 mi²) zone that extends into neighboring Pennsylvania and Virginia.^[6]

4 It Was Illegal For Women To Drive
Saudi Arabia

Women were not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia until 2018. To be clear, Saudi Arabia never explicitly formally banned women from driving. However, it did not permit women to drive or get licenses, either. Women who dared to drive were arrested and fined.

Women were not allowed to drive because Saudi Arabia follows the strict Wahhabism version of Islamic law. Wahhabism demands that women cover themselves and be kept separate from men. It also requires every woman to have a male guardian.^[7]

3 It Was Illegal To Eat Swans
United Kingdom

It is illegal to keep or kill mute swans (which are the stereotypical swans most people envision) in the UK. The ban was issued under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act, which was passed to protect native animals. However, an earlier law had banned British citizens from eating swans. That law was only repealed in 1998.

Unlike the 1981 act, which is concerned with conservation, the older law was concerned with reserving the swans for the aristocrats. European nobility developed a taste for swans in the 12th century, and it soon spread to England, where it became a symbol of riches and nobility and was frequently served at royal feasts.

In 1482, the British crown was so concerned with protecting its swan supplies from the commoners that it passed a law limiting ownership of swans to the nobles. Hunting, selling, and killing swans attracted harsh punishments, as did did stealing their eggs.

However, the monarchy allowed rich landlords, organizations, and institutions to own swans. Only the richest of the rich could afford the rings used to mark ownership. The crown left their swans untagged, while everybody else tagged theirs. Swan-eating fell out of style by the 20th century.^[8]

2 It Is Illegal To Freely Serve Ketchup In Schools
France

In 2011, France passed a law mandating that sauces (such as ketchup, mayonnaise, and so on) must not be freely accessible to students but served according to various dishes. So, a portion of ketchup can be served with, say, French fries, but students can’t just slather whatever they want with as much ketchup as they want. This sauce mandate was meant to improve the overall dietary quality of meals.

Various news outlets reported this as France banning ketchup in schools altogether.^[9] While some did report that the “ban” was for health reasons, there were also claims that the French government outlawed ketchup in order to promote French dishes and culture.

1 It Is Illegal To Play Online Games Between Midnight And 6:00 AM
South Korea

In 2011, the South Korean government passed the Shutdown Law (also called the Cinderella Act) to curb excessive gaming among teenagers. The law requires that teenagers below the age of 16 to be shut out of online game servers between 12:00 AM and 6:00 AM. However, they can continue to play offline games on their personal consoles, phones, tablets, and laptops.

Game players above 16 are required to access game servers using their social security numbers. The ban was later amended so that teenagers below 16 could play online games past midnight with their parents’ permission.^[10]