Wouldnt – Listorati https://listorati.com Fascinating facts and lists, bizarre, wonderful, and fun Sat, 04 Jan 2025 02:37:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 https://listorati.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/listorati-512x512-1.png Wouldnt – Listorati https://listorati.com 32 32 215494684 10 Places Around The World You Wouldn’t Want To Live https://listorati.com/10-places-around-the-world-you-wouldnt-want-to-live/ https://listorati.com/10-places-around-the-world-you-wouldnt-want-to-live/#respond Sat, 04 Jan 2025 02:37:49 +0000 https://listorati.com/10-places-around-the-world-you-wouldnt-want-to-live/

When your neighbors party late into the night or a garbage truck wakes you up two hours before sunrise, you might curse your neighborhood. We’re not all fortunate enough to have rolling emerald lawns and central air conditioning, but most people reading this have access to the most basic of amenities: heat, running water, electricity, and Internet access. Unfortunately, there are many people throughout the world who are not so blessed—men, women, and children crammed into slums ruled by crime and ravaged by drugs and disease.

10Cité-Soleil, Port au Prince
Haiti

cite soleil
On the outskirts of Port au Prince, Haiti is Cité-Soleil (“Sun City”), a foul slum ruled by gangs and sitting in a pool of its own squalor. Cite Soleil has no sewage system and is composed of hovels. Garbage and excrement sit in stagnant, mosquito-infested puddles. AIDS is prolific, and the life expectancy hovers in the low 50s. There is no police force, and for years, vicious drug lords and kidnappers controlled the streets. According to the Red Cross, “the shanty town of Cité-Soleil is a microcosm of all the ills in Haitian society: endemic unemployment, illiteracy, non-existent public services, insanitary conditions, rampant crime and armed violence.”

In 2004, the United Nations deployed thousands of troops to Cité-Soleil, where they engaged in numerous gun battles with the gangs. Some vague sense of order was restored, but the area remains a hotbed of violence. To this day, one must pass through an armed UN checkpoint to enter the slum. Cité-Soleil weathered Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake well, with many of its structures still standing, but the nearby National Penitentiary was damaged, and 3,000 deadly inmates flooded out in the resulting chaos. They returned to Cité-Soleil with a vengeance, riding motorcycles with assault rifles at the ready. They burned all their arrest records and took back the slum, setting back the progress made by the United Nations.

9 Favelas Of Rio de Janeiro
Brazil

Rio de Janeiro favelas

Rio de Janeiro is a beautiful, sprawling city frequently visited by tourists for such events as Carnival and for the white sands of Copacabana Beach. But on the fringes of the city, there exist huge slums called favelas: piecemeal shacks built haphazardly atop each other. The dwellings are tacked together from odds and ends, cast-off bits of lumber, metal, and stone.

Of the approximately 1,000 favelas around the city, one of the most notorious is Rocinha. Rio is a major port for cocaine traffic traveling to Europe, and the favelas are often ruled by heartless drug lords. One of the more colorful characters from the area was Erismar Rodrigues Moreira (street name Bem-Te-Vi, after a Brazilian songbird). His gang carried gold-plated weapons and subjected enemies to “necklacing”— jamming a tire over a man’s head and then setting it aflame. In 2005, Ben was shot down in a police raid. The future of the favelas remains uncertain; since Rio de Janeiro has been accepted as the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics, the authorities have showed an increasing presence in the streets they once ignored.

8Detroit, Michigan
USA

Detroit

Once heralded as the “Motor City,” Detroit has more recently come to be known as one of the United States’ “Murder Capitals.” The decline of the American automotive industry has left this city reeling. The population has dropped 25 percent since 2000, and many areas have become a wasteland of foreclosed homes, boarded up and selling for pennies on the dollar—some for less than $100. Of course, this is an “as-is, buyer beware” situation if there ever was one. Many of these houses have been taken over by squatters, and the basements of abandoned buildings are a favorite haunt of dog fighters. Detroit has a huge problem with strays; tens of thousands roam the streets, most of them pit bulls.

On July 19, 2013, Detroit declared bankruptcy, approximately $18 billion in debt. Many residents of the city are also feeling the crunch—unemployment rates stand at around 16.3 percent, actually a marked improvement from 2009, when 24.9 percent were out of work. One need look no further to witness Detroit’s crippling poverty than truTV’s hit show Hardcore Pawn, which takes place in the largest pawn shop in the city and often features lines of people out the door trying to peddle their valuables to make rent and keep the lights on. Data compiled from various sources including the FBI and the US Justice Department reveals that the top three most dangerous neighborhoods in America are all located in Detroit. The worst, the area surrounding West Chicago Street and Livernois Avenue is so bad that you have a one in seven chance of becoming the victim of a violent crime there each year.

7Ciudad Juárez
Mexico

ciudad-juarez

Ciudad Juárez sits just south of El Paso, Texas, the two cities separated by the narrow stretch of the Rio Grande. And yet the difference between these two places is like night and day. In the last decade, Ciudad Juárez has become the epicenter of the Mexican drug war. Rival cartels visit horrifying violence upon each other as they battle for turf, corpses stacking up. In 2009, the city was crowned the murder capital of the world, with 130 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. In truth, the number is probably much higher, as many people simply vanish, buried in mass graves. Police officers are often either too corrupt or too afraid to leave the station.

It is particularly dangerous to be a woman in Ciudad Juárez; sexual assaults are prevalent, and hundreds of women, many just teenagers, have been murdered since the ’90s. Hundreds more remain missing, victims of domestic violence, the drug trade, or worse—some believe that serial killers roam the streets in abundance, their crimes masked by the chaos around them.

6Medellin
Colombia

Medellin

During the height of the cocaine trade in the late ’80s, Medellin was the most violent city in the world, with Pablo Escobar’s cartel and paramilitary groups running rampant. Escobar was killed by police forces in 1993 and crime declined significantly. Unfortunately, there are still thousands of murders here each year. In 2009, there were 2,899 homicides (down from an astonishing 6,500 in 1991), many tied to drug trafficking. Other schemes perpetrated by local criminals include extortion and kidnapping. Tourists are frequently targeted, held for ransom and forced to empty their bank accounts through visits to ATMs. Since 2012, there has been increasing violence between two rival cartels (the Office of Envigado and Los Urabeños) as they scrap over territory.

5 Brownsville, Brooklyn
USA

Brownsville

New York City (and Brooklyn in particular) have some sordid corners if one looks hard enough, but Brownsville stands out among the rest. Most of the housing in the neighborhood is made up of projects run by the New York City Housing Authority—huge, low-income apartment buildings where crime is prevalent. While much of New York has been subject to gentrification and tumbling crime rates, Brownsville remains quite dangerous, and possibly the most violent place in the entire city. In this neighborhood, some UPS drivers make their deliveries in the company of an armed guard.

As in many rough areas, much of the crime is related to the drug trade. Luckily, the crack-cocaine epidemic of the ’80s and the ’90s is long over, and things have grown (relatively) more peaceful in the interim, with organized gangs fractured into small fragments of their former power. It can be tough to get by on the streets of Brownsville, and many are forced into making their way with their fists. It is no coincidence at all that this neighborhood was the home of a long list of championship boxers, including Riddick Bowe, Shannon Briggs, Zab Judah, and “Iron” Mike Tyson.

4La Perla, San Juan
Puerto Rico, USA

La Perla, San Juan

La Perla is a settlement on the outskirts of San Juan that was once home to a slaughterhouse. Today, it is a shantytown known for the proliferation of drugs, particularly heroin imported from suppliers in South America. About 15 square blocks, the streets of La Perla are often omitted from maps of San Juan to keep tourists from traveling there. Despite the abject poverty, La Perla is quite beautiful in many ways, with multicolored homes, breathtaking views, and its own expanse of Caribbean beach. In 2011, La Perla became the site of a massive police raid, netting 114 drug arrests based on an 18-month investigation by the DEA, the Puerto Rico Justice Department, and several other agencies.

3Ferghana Valley
Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

Ferghana Valley

The dissolution of the Soviet Union made for a great deal of tension as the world’s largest country was chopped into independent republics. More than 20 years later, these hostilities remain, some more bitter than ever before. Few places have seen more violence than the Ferghana Valley, an area split in three by the nations of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. The Ferghana Valley is a center of Islamic fundamentalism and home to a patchwork of ethnicities who are known to clash viciously. The economy is deeply flawed, and the government corrupt. Hundreds of thousands of refugees wander the streets, and corpses litter the sidewalks.

Perhaps the most savage event in the area occurred on May 13, 2005, when the Uzbek town of Andijan became the site of a horrifying massacre as the military opened fire on a group of protesters massed in the main square, decrying the economy and the policies of Preident Islam Karimov. The government would later claim the body count at 187, but those present allege that over 1,000 were killed, including many women and children. They claim that many of the bodies were buried in secret mass graves as a way of downplaying the true scope of the carnage.

2Kibera, Nairobi
Kenya

Kibera, Nairobi

Nairobi is the capital of Kenya, founded by the British as a rail depot in 1899. Today, it is one of the most important cities in Africa, but it is not free from turmoil. On the outskirts of the city sits Kibera, one of the world’s worst slums. Like many such places, Kibera is forsaken by the government. Enterprising criminals tap into Nairobi’s power grid, bringing electricity to a few select places, but for the most part the area is dark. Homes are typically mud and concrete huts with dirt floors. The water is mostly polluted, causing typhoid and cholera, and toilet facilities consist of holes dug into the ground and used by hundreds. Women leaving their homes after dark are often raped.

About half of Kibera’s population is unemployed, and to alleviate their crushing boredom, they often partake in cheap drugs—glue-sniffing is a big problem—or drink changaa, a powerful local brew. AIDS spreads like wildfire in Kibera, with women selling their bodies just to make enough money to eat, and orphaned children, often born with the disease, haunt the trash-choked streets.

1Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong
China

Kowloon Walled City

Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City was demolished 20 years ago, but it certainly deserves mention. A former Chinese military fort, it became densely populated with squatters in the years following World War II. Inside the walls of the fort, ramshackle high-rises were built largely devoid of creature comforts like heat or running water. In 1987, a survey by the Chinese government indicated there were approximately 30,000 residents inside the tiny 6.5-acre territory—a population density of 3,250,000 people per square mile. As a means of comparison, the city with the highest population density today is Manila, with approximately 111,002 people per square mile.

Greater Hong Kong largely turned a blind eye to activities within Kowloon Walled City. For years, it was governed by the Triads, Chinese mafia members. Police would only enter in large groups. There were high rates of prostitution, gambling, drug use, murders, and opium dens. Only the faintest trace of sunlight filtered down to the muddy streets, and rats proliferated in the ruin. In the early ’90s, the government finally decided to destroy this anarchic slum. An evacuation was ordered, and in March 1993, the demolition began. Today, the area is occupied by Kowloon Walled City Park, a verdant expanse of gardens and monuments.

Mike Devlin is an aspiring novelist.

]]>
https://listorati.com/10-places-around-the-world-you-wouldnt-want-to-live/feed/ 0 17156
10 Forests In Britain That You Wouldn’t Enter At Night https://listorati.com/10-forests-in-britain-that-you-wouldnt-enter-at-night/ https://listorati.com/10-forests-in-britain-that-you-wouldnt-enter-at-night/#respond Sun, 08 Sep 2024 18:21:26 +0000 https://listorati.com/10-forests-in-britain-that-you-wouldnt-enter-at-night/

The United Kingdom has such an array of wonderful country parks, forests, and estates that it would be impossible to visit them all in one lifetime. As with all countries, the tales told about some of our dear forests are quite simply . . . petrifying.

One would do well to avoid some of the wooded areas on our list as they are not for the faint of heart. Whether you choose to believe these stories or not, read on to find out about 10 forests in Britain that we bet you would not enter at night.

10 Epping Forest
Essex

The Epping Forest is a massively sprawling area of woodland which straddles the border between London and Essex. It is somewhat known as a burial area for murder victims due to its proximity to London. In fact, many victims of the Kray twins are supposedly buried there.

As a result, the forest is notorious for ghostly sightings or contact from the other world. Some people have even reported being touched, pushed, or chased in the forest!

During a 2003 episode of Most Haunted, the crew was on the lookout for the ghost of Dick Turpin. He was a highwayman from the 18th century who used the forest as a hideout and is known to have committed at least one murder there.[1]

During the episode, the crew reported that they believed Turpin was making contact with them, further leading them off course until they had to be rescued. Other unsettling accounts come from the 1960s when people claimed they had witnessed ghostly figures emerging from a pond within the forest. The figures, some of which were on horseback, disappeared after heading toward town.

Unsurprisingly, with such a grisly history, the forest continues to mystify and frighten folks to this day.

9 Great Wood
Blickling

The grand estate at Blickling Hall, known as the Great Wood, is the reported site of the ghost of Anne Boleyn. Blickling Hall has been suggested as the birthplace of Boleyn, and the estate was owned by her father. Therefore, both Anne and her father, Thomas Boleyn, are said to haunt the premises.

On the anniversary of her execution on May 19, she is supposedly seen riding from the woods up to the hall on a coach drawn by four beheaded horsemen. When she arrives at the hall, her coach vanishes. It is said that she is headless.

After vanishing, the ghostly apparition is known to traverse the corridors of Blickling Hall for the remainder of the night while clutching her own head. Thomas, who was also beheaded, is said to be seen crossing bridges repeatedly in what is described as repentance for allowing his daughter’s beheading.[2]

The estate is open to the public year-round, and visitors can learn more about the infamous ghostly inhabitants. Just avoid May 19 if you can.

8 The New Forest
Hampshire

The New Forest has been described as the “most haunted part of Britain” due to the sheer number of sightings reported every year. The forest is situated in the county of Hampshire and covers a large part of the southern tip of England near Southampton.

Supposedly, the forest is home to a number of poltergeists and spirits that have multiple reported sightings. One of the more famous is that of King William II, who was killed by his own brother in the woods. He is said to inhabit the area near the Rufus Stone and is reported to have red hair. Therefore, he has been dubbed “Rufus the Red.”

On the outskirts of the New Forest near Fordingbridge, you may see a group of ghostly monks who walk the churchyard at Breamore. These monks are said to appear near stone coffins before disappearing into the misty tree line.[3]

There are many more accounts that come from the New Forest. These include tales of witches, moaning and wailing sounds, and even faces who peer through village windows!

7 Fountains Abbey
Yorkshire

Found near Ripon in Yorkshire, Fountains Abbey is the one of the best-preserved Cistercian monasteries in the UK. Cistercians were groups of Catholic monks who were confined to monasteries, and this is one of the more famous in the world.

The abbey was established in 1132. It has long been said that the voices of the deceased monks can be heard at the Chapel of Nine Altars. The eerie presence of the ghostly monks is probably down to the fact that as many as 2,000 of them could buried under the abbey.

The grounds are also said to produce the chanting of a choir, even though this is not possible. The grounds have vast gardens and forestry. You would be forgiven for finding them absolutely terrifying, considering that there are even touted photographs of ghostly figures seen within the monastery. The nearby deer park adds to the mystifying and atmospheric effect of the whole area.[4]

6 Witches Wood
Devon

Witches Wood can be found in Lydford Gorge in the southwestern county of Devon. The wood is said to be home to a number of ghostly visitors. Parts of the walk into and through the gorge have been described as being “completely surrounded by trees,” so much so that even during the day it can feel dark.

Once through the gorge, the main feature can be reached: the 30-meter (98 ft) White Lady Waterfall. In the local area, the waterfall is said to be named after a mysterious white lady who has been seen under the waterfall. Supposedly, she wears a flowing white gown and saves people from drowning in the river.[5]

Another eerie place to visit in the gorge is Devil’s Cauldron. By all accounts, this is a series of whirlpools that can be deceptively tricky to navigate. The Devil’s Cauldron is said to be the scene of deaths or suicides due to its danger.

5 Bradley Woods
Lincolnshire

The village of Bradley in Lincolnshire is reportedly the home of a ghost known as the Black Lady of Bradley Woods. With multiple reported sightings over the years, it is said that she haunts the woods on the edges of the village.

The Black Lady is described as wearing a black cloak and having tears flowing down her “pretty” face. She is known to be sorrowful, and there are no reports of her harming anyone who has witnessed her eerie presence.

Some people believe they have hit her with their cars. But when they get out of their vehicles to check, nobody is in sight. Other accounts tell of her appearing in a mist form. But when these individuals follow this mystical sight, it disappears suddenly.

There are even photos available from people who have snapped pictures of the woods. As of 2019, people have seen things in the woods which they cannot explain. Some local newspapers claim that it could have been Bradley’s own “Bigfoot.”[6]

There are many origin stories of the Black Lady, including her as a raped wife whose baby was stolen or as a local spinster. But nothing definitive has been put forward. However, one thing is certain: Her spirit seems ever present in the area.

4 Cannock Chase
Staffordshire

Cannock Chase is a large countryside area in Staffordshire with dense forestry and open areas. The region was made infamous in the 1960s due to a series of grisly murders of schoolgirls.

However, it has been known to be haunted before this public attention. The Four Crosses, an old public house in Cannock Chase, is said to have a high level of poltergeist activity. The sounds of children crying, the movement of objects, and strange footsteps are just a few of the occurrences there.

As for the woodlands, there is the mysterious case of the “Black-Eyed Child.” This ghastly girl was witnessed in the 1980s, and the following is an excerpt from a mother who claims to have seen her:

I turned ‘round and saw a girl stood behind me, no more than 10 years old, with her hands over her eyes. [ . . . ] I asked if she was okay and if she had been the one screaming. She put her arms down by her side and opened her eyes. That’s when I saw they were completely black, no iris, no white, nothing. [ . . . ] When I looked again, the child was gone. It was so strange.[7]

Creepy indeed!

3 Dering Woods
Kent

Dering Woods is situated around 3 kilometers (2 mi) from the village of Pluckley, Kent, and is known locally for its eerie stories of the paranormal. The Guinness Book of Records recorded Pluckley as Britain’s most haunted village, so it’s no wonder the surrounding forestry has this reputation.

According to tales, there are continuous screams emanating from the woods day and night. Therefore, the woods are locally known as the “Screaming Woods.” It is not clear what or where the screams come from. Paranormal hunters have long visited the area and undertaken ventures to see what lies in there.[8]

There are creepy stories about a colonel who had previously committed suicide in the forest walking around and reaching out to visitors. Other accounts depict a highwayman who actually jumps out at hikers in the woods.

There are many more accounts to be found online and reported videos of the screaming. Whether you choose to believe what you see is up to you, but the village of Pluckley and the nearby Dering Woods are certainly as creepy as you can get.

2 Bisham Woods
Berkshire

Bisham Woods are a series of wooded areas near Bisham Abbey in Berkshire. The woods used to form part of the wider Bisham Estate, which once housed Lady Hoby. She was known to be a friend of Queen Elizabeth I.

According to legend, Lady Hoby was a supremely proud and strict mother who accidentally killed her son while beating him. It was likely that Lady Hoby wanted her offspring to be as educated as those of her royal counterparts.

Due to this tragedy, her ghost is said to inhabit Bisham Abbey and the surrounding woodlands. Reported sightings include her washing her bloodied hands, looking remorseful and tearful.[9]

According to local stories, she is seen more often when there is a coronation in the UK as this reminds her of choosing the monarch over her own son. She is said to be dressed in white with a black face, doomed to sob for eternity due to the abhorrent crime she committed against her son.

1 Wistman’s Wood
Dartmoor

Wistman’s Wood is a high-altitude oak woods on a large moor known as Dartmoor. The woods used to be part of a larger covering of woodland on Dartmoor. A lot of the trees are covered with lichen, which makes them look creepier than usual.

This was described by Countryfile magazine as “making the trees look like writhing arms grabbing fistfuls of passing witches’ hair.” It’s also highly inaccessible to wild animals on foot, so the woodland takes on an undisturbed and overgrown look.[10]

Wistman’s Wood is continually linked with the Wild Hunt, a cavalcade of ghostly dogs or packs of hunters chasing others. Locally, the story goes that “Wish Hounds” live in the trees and hunt those at night who dare to enter. These hounds are described as spectral black, and they howl into the night.

Other stories include Hairy Hands Bridge, which is said to be haunted by an immigrant (with hairy hands) who also frequented the surrounding area. It would take a brave person to traverse these woods at night.

]]>
https://listorati.com/10-forests-in-britain-that-you-wouldnt-enter-at-night/feed/ 0 14810
10 Cool Things You Wouldn’t Expect To Find In A Cave https://listorati.com/10-cool-things-you-wouldnt-expect-to-find-in-a-cave/ https://listorati.com/10-cool-things-you-wouldnt-expect-to-find-in-a-cave/#respond Mon, 05 Aug 2024 14:04:29 +0000 https://listorati.com/10-cool-things-you-wouldnt-expect-to-find-in-a-cave/

Caves aren’t just for bats and ancient bones anymore. Although many caves have incredible natural beauty and rich histories, some also have cool things that you’d never expect to find there.

10Mountain Biking

Mega Cavern Bike Park in Louisville, Kentucky, is home to the world’s first underground mountain biking course—and the largest indoor bike park ever built—with something for bikers at all levels. Even expert bikers will be able to maneuver through advanced trails and jumps in caverns with 30-meter-high (90 ft) ceilings. “Think about riding or skiing down a mountain,” says co-owner Jim Lowry, describing the trails. “You don’t go speeding straight down, you go back and forth, over bumps and smooth sections. You are moving fast at some points and more slowly at others.”

Designed by Joe Prisel, a bike park creator for the ESPN X Games, Mega Cavern Bike Park is built in a modular fashion. That way, a lot of the trails can be modified during the year to create new challenges for riders. With a consistent temperature of 16 degrees Celsius (60 °F) underground, bikers no longer have to worry about weather that makes riding dangerous outdoors. There will be a riding school, too.

The 92-acre cavern also sports a business park and entertainment attractions like the Lights Under Louisville, a drive-through display of over two million Christmas lights. The cavern runs under the Louisville Zoo and some commercial buildings. But the way the texture of the high limestone walls and dirt varies, it feels like you’re outside instead of enclosed beneath the ground.

There’s so much solid limestone above the ceilings that the cavern was considered safe enough to use as a fallout shelter for up to 50,000 people during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Initially excavated in the 1930s, this man-made cavern, the largest in Kentucky, was mined as a limestone quarry for over 40 years. Under new ownership in 1989, the cavern eventually housed a recycling center and over 11 acres of office buildings. It became a huge complex almost completely hidden within massive limestone cliffs.

9A Nightclub

A part of Hotel Las Cuevas in Trinidad, Cuba, Disco Ayala lets you experience a rave in a cave. With three bars and five dance floors, the club blasts disco-salsa music from a DJ booth while colored lights play off the stalactites on the walls. Although some of disco’s intense heat is released through a big hole in the roof, the opening really serves to prevent the sound waves from causing a cave-in. Up to 5,000 people can fit inside. The disco also features live acts that include acrobatics, glass-eating, fire-walking, and snakes.

Legend has it that the cave was once home to a notorious Cuban serial killer, psychopath Carlos “Coco” Ayala, who kidnapped children and killed them in the cave. When Cuban children misbehave, their mothers often warn them: “Be good or Carlos Ayala will come looking!” Supposedly, Carlos deserted during the 19th-century Cuban War of Independence and hid for safety in the cave. “I always heard that this man [abducted] children, leading [them] to a cave to rape and kill them as part of a ritual to the saints,” recalled an old resident of Trinidad as quoted by Cuban newspaper Escambray. “His misdeeds ended when the people captured and beheaded him.” Exactly how much truth exists in the legend is unknown. But there is historical evidence to confirm that Ayala did kill several people in the cave in the late 1800s.

Strangely, the owners of the nightclub kept the Ayala name. However, the disco was constructed for entertainment only, not to remember the evil deeds of a murderer.

8A Church

01

Although we don’t know its date of origin, the spacious Spassky Cave Church is located in Kostomarovo, a Russian village in the Voronezh region of the country. It’s the larger of two churches in the ancient cave monastery called the Svyato–Spassky Convent. Although the Spassky Church is carved into a chalky cliff, it’s big enough to accommodate 2,000 people. There’s even a large “Cave of Repentance” for sinners to make their confessions. Much of the surrounding area is named after the Holy Land, including a Calvary, a Gethsemane Garden, a hill of Golgotha, and a Mount Tabor.

Before the rise of Christianity in Russia, monks hid in ascetic cave cells in the region to avoid religious persecution until the first monastery was constructed in the 12th century. One of the purposes of the monastery was to shield parishioners from enemy attack, even if the siege continued for a long time. Monks and hermits lived in small cells cut into the shrine walls. They were completely isolated from the outside world except for a tiny window carved out of the rock.

As the communists swept into power, the monks were executed, and the Svyato-Spassky Convent was closed like so many other places of worship in the country. However, the caves once again provided refuge, this time for the country’s soldiers, when the Soviets fought the Nazis in World War II (also called the “Great Patriotic War” in the Soviet Union). Although the churches were officially reopened in 1943, Nikita Khrushchev directed local officials to close them again in the early 1960s. They flooded the cave and burned the exterior of the buildings.

In 1993, after the fall of communism, the church, convent, and caves were rebuilt. Even today, some Russians make a pilgrimage to the church every year.

7A Whole New Ecosystem

The Er Wang Dong cave in the Chongquig province of China is so big and isolated that it has a unique ecosystem, including its own weather. Scientists didn’t venture far enough into the cave to discover its secrets until 2012. Partly, that’s because they needed a lot of specialized equipment to lower themselves through the opening at the top of the cave, which requires a descent of more than 250 meters (820 ft). When the explorers got inside, they also found some openings to the outside around the floor of the cave. However, the scientists were less astounded by the almost 13-acre size of the cave than by the clouds that obscured their view of the ceiling in what is known as Cloud Ladder Hall.

Clouds get in, but they can’t get back out. Although the cave had been mined for nitrate near its entrances, there was lush vegetation, including trees, in the interior chambers. But there was also danger from rushing rivers that can carry you over one of the interior waterfalls to your death.

Explorer Robbie Shone explains that we really know very little about the mysteries of our planet’s caves. “More people have been to the Moon than to some of these caves,” he says. “Each time we go into these caves and bring photographs or video back to the surface, it’s all new stuff we’ve never seen before.”

6Modern Cavemen And Cavewomen

05

Over 30 million people in China still live in caves, including an entire community in Shaanxi province. There, the porous soil of the loess plateau makes it easy to dig a cave home, called a yaodong, out of the mountainside. These no-frill, one-room dwellings substitute rice paper or a quilt for a front door. If you have the money, it’s possible to buy more rooms, as well as electricity, running water, and a yard. These caves conserve energy and provide residents with more land to farm.

Some of the caves are in high demand from people looking to buy or rent. But apparently, nobody wants to leave. Most cave dwellers have lived there all their lives. Even some of the residents who’ve moved on for various reasons dream of returning to their caves. “It’s cool in the summer and warm in the winter,” says forty-something Ren Shouhua. “It’s quiet and safe. When I get old, I’d like to go back to my roots.”

Historically, that wasn’t always safe, though. On January 23, 1556, the Shaanxi magnitude 8 earthquake struck, and it was the deadliest one ever recorded. The quake killed 830,000 people, and many lost their lives when their yaodong collapsed on them.

Nevertheless, the caves have provided refuge for the Chinese during important moments in history. Mao Zedong once retreated to caves in the north of Shaanxi province when the Long March ended in the 1930s. American journalist Edgar Snow wrote about a Red Army university located in bombproof caves. During the Cultural Revolution, even Chinese President Xi Jinping spent seven years living in exile in a Shaanxi province cave.

However, not all modern caves are inexpensive or spartan. The deluxe Cave House in Bisbee, Arizona, was listed for sale for over $1 million dollars in 2012 when one of the owners died. It’s even possible to find a cave home on eBay as Curt Sleeper did in 2003 in Festus, Missouri. But he soon learned it’s difficult to get a bank to finance the purchase of a cave. The Sleepers moved in, but they fell on hard times and had to put the house up for auction.

5Medical Treatment Centers

When two middle-aged Frenchwomen became convinced that electromagnetic radiation from the modern world was making them sick, they took up residence in a cave. “I’ve been treated like a crazy woman,” said one of the pair, Bernadette Touloumond. “I’ve lost a lot of friends, and my family find [sic] it hard to understand.” However, many people trek to medical treatment centers set up in caves throughout the world to supposedly help them with their ailments. We’ve already talked about the Gastein Healing Cave in Austria that contains the world’s biggest pain management center.

Especially popular these days are salt caves, some natural and some man-made, designed to treat respiratory ailments like asthma and skin conditions like eczema. The man-made caves are often just indoor rooms that coat their ceilings and walls with salt, although some blow particles of cave salt into the air with a generator. In these halotherapy chambers, you simply relax in a chair and breathe the salt air. However, doctors caution that conditions such as asthma may be worsened by these treatments.

A German named Dr. Schutz is credited with dreaming up the notion of a salt cure gallery in Berchtesgaden, Germany, after noticing how the air around a Polish salt mine healed wounds faster during World War II. In Eastern Europe, salt caves are considered by many to be therapeutic. However, there are few studies on salt rooms published in the English language to either confirm or deny these claims.

4A Controversial Movie Set

07

Devetashka Cave is a huge cave close to the village of Devetaki in Bulgaria. In the 1950s, the cave was used as a military warehouse for oil tank storage. Devetashka was also inhabited by humans in ancient times, but the landmark is only home to a protected bat population, including some endangered species.

In 2011, the cave became most well known for a controversy over a movie set. The producers for The Expendables 2 (starring Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis) shot an action scene where Stallone crash-landed a plane into the cave to take out Jean Claude Van Damme’s hideout. Environmentalists complained that the movie shoot reduced the bat population by about 75 percent. “The shooting harms the bat habitat—with the placement of props, the cutting down of vegetation, as well as disturbance by the presence of large numbers of people and the noise they make,” said Bulgarian zoologist Nikolay Simov from the Center for Bat Studies and Protection. Supposedly, all the noise caused the bats to come out of hibernation too early, to the detriment of their health.

Simov also stated that local authorities had no legal right to issue a permit for filming at the cave because regulations allow only scientific research and tourism there. After an investigation, however, the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Waters found that most of the bats were hibernating at the proper time and the number of dead bats wasn’t excessive.

3Astronomical Knowledge & A Fertility Light Show

08

A cave on Gran Canaria, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, has revealed that its aboriginal inhabitants had an impressive knowledge of astronomy. It appears that the cave was originally used as a temple. But the way that equinoxes and solstices are marked inside the cave suggests an advanced knowledge of astronomy.

The temple also creates a unique fertility light show throughout the year. “It’s like a projector of images from a vanished culture,” says archaeologist Julio Cuenca. That culture is the aboriginal Guanches, who are believed to have come to the Canary Islands about 3,000 years ago. After Spain conquered them in the 1400s, their culture disappeared.

But apparently, their fertility myths are illuminated in the cave, revealing images that change according to the season. For the six months from March to September, sunlight shining onto the cave walls produces phallic images on top of engravings of female pubic areas. Over time, as fall approaches, these images transform into a pregnant woman and ultimately a seed.

2An Amusement Park

09

While technically not a cave, the Wieliczka Salt Mine outside of Krakow, Poland, doesn’t qualify as a mine anymore, either. No salt has been mined there for over a decade. Approximately 300 kilometers (186 mi) long, it’s a huge complex nine levels deep with chapels and important sculptures of religious and historical figures. From the 13th century on, generations of mostly Catholic miners built incredible structures beneath the ground, including a huge cathedral. Wieliczka even has an underground lake and chandeliers made of salt. Like the salt caves already mentioned, Wieliczka has a spa for people with respiratory difficulties. The complex became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.

Thrill seekers congregate in its depths 300 meters (1,000 ft) underground to bungee jump, ride hot-air balloons, and even windsurf across the salty underground lake (although they need a giant fan to provide the wind). Wieliczka also has its own underground brass band to provide music during the festivities.

1Hidden Treasure

In March 2015, a 21-year-old member of the Israeli Caving Club discovered buried treasure in an undisclosed cave in northern Israel. Authorities don’t want to identify the location of the ancient stalactite cave for fear that poachers will rob it of other hidden treasures.

In the cave with his father and a friend, Hen Zakai was crawling along a particularly narrow area when he spotted something shining in the darkness of a nook. It was two silver coins minted during the time of Alexander the Great, who conquered Israel in the late fourth century BC. Each coin showed an image of Alexander the Great on one side and Zeus on the other. Hen also discovered a cloth pouch with silver jewelry nearby, with some earrings that were incredibly well preserved along with bracelets and rings.

“The valuables might have been hidden in the cave by local residents who fled there during the period of governmental unrest stemming from the death of Alexander, a time when the Wars of the Diadochi broke out in Israel between Alexander’s heirs following his death,” said Dr. Eitan Klein of the Antiquities Authority. “Presumably, the cache was hidden in the hope of better days, but today we know that whoever buried the treasure never returned to collect it.”

Further exploration of the cave revealed ancient pottery hanging on stalagmites. Some of the pottery had fused with the limestone and couldn’t be removed. The newly discovered artifacts date from the Hellenistic period about 2,300 years ago all the way back to the Chalcolithic period about 6,000 years ago.

]]>
https://listorati.com/10-cool-things-you-wouldnt-expect-to-find-in-a-cave/feed/ 0 14147
10 Things You Wouldn’t Believe Cause Allergies https://listorati.com/10-things-you-wouldnt-believe-cause-allergies/ https://listorati.com/10-things-you-wouldnt-believe-cause-allergies/#respond Sun, 24 Sep 2023 10:16:53 +0000 https://listorati.com/10-things-you-wouldnt-believe-cause-allergies/

Allergies are our body’s natural response to certain things it considers dangerous. They are often triggered by food, although they can also be set off by animals, electrical appliances, drugs, and even other medical conditions.

What many don’t realize is that these allergies are sometimes caused by something other than what they think. For instance, chocolate allergy is typically the result of neither cocoa nor any other ingredient in chocolate. It’s actually caused by cockroach bits in the chocolate. Here are nine more examples, not all of which are confirmed or recognized by medical science.

10 Cockroaches Cause Chocolate Allergy


Some people complain of being allergic to chocolate. However, as teased above, people who think they are allergic to chocolate are probably actually allergic to the cockroach parts that often end up in chocolate. It’s all good, though. The cockroach parts in question are ground up.

You’d think ground-up roaches would be enough reason for the Food and Drug Administration to fine the chocolate makers, but the FDA actually permits them have a maximum of 60 insect parts per 100 grams of chocolate. The average chocolate bar has eight parts.

Cockroaches often end up in chocolate at cocoa bean farms, where they sneak into the harvest. Farmers already use several pesticides to keep them at bay but would need more if they wanted to get rid of the roaches completely. That would mean your favorite chocolate would be filled with pesticides, which is more dangerous than pieces of cockroaches.

Besides chocolate, cockroach parts can also trigger allergies in foods like peanut butter, macaroni, popcorn, cheese, wheat, and fruits.[1]

9 Vaccines Are Claimed To Cause Peanut Allergy


Peanut allergy is common in young children, with millions of kids in the US affected. According to some rather . . . fringe sources, vaccines are a major cause of peanut allergy in today’s children.[2] Refined peanut oil, a major ingredient in vaccines, is why. Vaccine makers need to add oil to preserve their vaccines and ensure that the human body can fight the weakened diseases in the vaccines.

Several oils can be used, but vaccine makers allegedly prefer refined peanut oil because it is cheap. However, the oil is said to cause hypersensitivity (aka serum sickness) in some children. These children will later become allergic to peanuts and products containing them. Note, however, that there is no scientific evidence to back this proclaimed link between vaccination and peanut allergy.

8 Something Else Could Be Causing Wi-Fi Allergies


Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) is an allergy supposedly caused by being close to items that emit electromagnetic signals. This includes cell phones, computers, and Wi-Fi. We say “supposedly” because the allergy is not medically recognized.

The World Health Organization (WHO) insists EHS is not a real medical condition, even though it agrees that its symptoms are real. Dr. James Rubin, a psychologist at King’s College, London, believe EHS is real but is not caused by electromagnetic fields.

A 2009 report on 46 studies into EHS indicated the sample groups could not determine when the devices emitting the electromagnetic signals were on or off. Nevertheless, people have continued to claim to have the allergy. Sufferers claim electromagnetic signals cause severe headaches, nausea, fatigue, and dizziness, which disappears when they leave the vicinity of the offending device.

In Massachusetts, the parents of a 12-year-old sued his private school, claiming that the school’s Wi-Fi caused several EHS symptoms, including nosebleed and heart palpitations, in their son. Curiously, doctors could not diagnose the supposed ailment because it disappeared when the boy was out of school.

In France, a woman suffering from EHS left her home to live in the mountains to escape from electromagnetic signals. The parents of a 15-year-old UK girl blamed EHS for their daughter’s suicide. They claimed the Wi-Fi signals in her school left her disoriented and sick, causing her to take her own life.[3]

7 Dogs Can Get Allergies From Eating The Same Food


Dog owners are often surprised to see their dog suddenly become allergic to a food they have been eating for some time. In truth, dogs can develop allergies from eating the same food over a long period of time.

The allergies can manifest from eating the same brand of food, or foods containing the same sources of protein. The body dealing with these same ingredients or proteins over and over leads to allergies to the food. This is why food allergies are more common in dogs over the age of two.

The most common food allergens for dogs are beef, milk, cheese, chicken, and wheat. Eggs, corn, lamb, soy, yeast, spices, and additives are also suitable candidates.[4]

6 Airborne Particles Cause Allergies To Air Conditioning


It is impossible to become allergic to air conditioners. People who think they are allergic to air conditioning are actually reacting to whatever is in the air the air conditioner blows. The so-called air conditioner allergy is often caused by pollen, dust mites, dander, mold, toxins, bacteria, viruses, air pollution, or toxic chemicals.

Air conditioners do not create but only spread these allergens around the room. Pollen enters the building through open doors and windows or via the clothes and shoes of people entering the building. It could also be from the plants inside the building. Toxic chemicals are often expelled from certain products like household cleaners.[5]

5 Baby Wipes Could Cause Food Allergies


Baby wipes are the latest products said to be causing food allergies in babies. Researchers say this happens because the soap and soap-like materials in baby wipes may disturb the chemicals in the top layer of the skin.

Some children have genes that could cause any interaction with these chemicals to lead to food allergies. This is why researchers have suggested that parents avoid wipes entirely and use water to clean their babies instead.

However, the research is not conclusive, and others have suggested that baby wipes do not cause food allergies in children. This is because a widely reported study which indicated that baby wipes cause allergies was conducted on newborn mice and not newborn humans.[6]

4 Dead Skin Causes Allergies To Birds And Dogs


Some people often report that they are allergic to dogs. However, they are not actually allergic to dogs but to the dander, as in the dead skin on the dog. They could also be allergic to the saliva and urine of the dog or the pollen or mold that is usually on dog fur.

Dander is carried in the air and is often littered around the home or wherever the dog visits. This is why people allergic to dogs usually also have reactions to areas dogs frequent—even when the dog is not around. Researchers have discovered that people who are allergic to dogs have a highly sensitive immune system that reacts to dog dander, urine, or saliva as if it were some form of pathogenic invader and attacks it promptly.[7]

Similarly, people aren’t truly allergic to birds, either. They’re really allergic to the dander on the feathers of the birds as well as the dust mites that feed on it. The dander and dust mites are often spread when the birds flaps its wings.

3 Parasites Cause Swimmer’s Itch

Chlorine rash is often confused with swimmer’s itch. While both are caused by swimming, it is virtually impossible to get both from the same body of water. Chlorine rash only appears after swimming in water that contains chlorine, while swimmer’s itch only happens in water without chlorine.

First, swimmer’s itch is an allergic reaction, while chlorine rash is not. Humans cannot develop allergies to chlorine. Instead, we can only become sensitive to chlorine. A continuous reaction between our skin and the chlorine causes chlorine rash.

Swimmer’s itch (also known as cercarial dermatitis) is caused by a parasite. It often appears after swimming in lakes, ponds, and sometimes salt water. However, it rarely happens in swimming pools because chlorine prevents the parasites from thriving.

The parasites are first dumped into the water as eggs in the feces of beavers, muskrats, waterfowl, and several other animals that live near the water. Then they hatch and are picked up by a kind of snail before they are ultimately released into the water again.

The parasites burrow into the exposed skin of human swimmers, causing an allergic reaction in the swimmer. Fortunately, humans are not every good hosts, and the parasites die off after a few days.[8]

2 Folic Acid Could Cause Allergies In Unborn Children


Pregnant women are often advised to ingest a number of vitamins and minerals to have a healthy baby. Folic acid (also called folate) is one of the most important. It is basically the artificial version of vitamin B9.

Women are advised to ingest folic acid in the first trimester (first three months) of pregnancy. However, research by the Robinson Research Institute of the University of Adelaide indicates that ingesting folic acid after the first trimester could cause allergies in the unborn child.

However, like the baby wipe entry, this, too, was declared inconclusive because the study was limited to sheep. Researchers discovered that lambs often had allergies to dust mite and egg albumen if their mothers ingested folic acid late into pregnancy.[9]

1 Allergic Eczema Is Linked To Food Allergies In Children


Allergic eczema appears when a part of the skin touches whatever a person is allergic to. It is indicated by a dry, itchy rash that may be painful and accompanied by blisters.

However, recent research indicates that the eczema is linked to allergies in children. Today, 20 percent of children are affected by allergic eczema. Curiously, 30 percent of those children suffer from food allergies.

Researchers have discovered that the skin closest to the eczema spots usually have different molecular structures than other areas of the skin in children who have food allergies. However, the skin around the eczema in children with no food allergies is the same.

Researchers believe the difference in the molecular structure is the reason some children with allergic eczema have food allergies, and others don’t. They also believe an understanding of the molecular structures could allow them to detect food allergies in children earlier.[10]

]]>
https://listorati.com/10-things-you-wouldnt-believe-cause-allergies/feed/ 0 7728
10 Cemeteries You Wouldn’t Want to Spend the Night In https://listorati.com/10-cemeteries-you-wouldnt-want-to-spend-the-night-in/ https://listorati.com/10-cemeteries-you-wouldnt-want-to-spend-the-night-in/#respond Fri, 21 Jul 2023 21:50:24 +0000 https://listorati.com/10-cemeteries-you-wouldnt-want-to-spend-the-night-in/

There’s no fooling anyone. If you go to a cemetery at night, you’re doing one of two things: partying or ghost hunting. Well, I mean, you’re not going to have a picnic with your long-buried great-great-grandma at midnight, are you? No. Most likely, you’re ghost hunting. If you weren’t, an entire category of YouTube would be out of a job.

Visiting cemeteries at night, ghosts aside, is a bit unsettling. The ground is soft because it’s been turned so many times, there are literally dead people under your feet, and typically, the lighting isn’t the best. But the cemetery threat isn’t the ghosts. In fact, an undisturbed cemetery is quite peaceful. The threat comes more from other weirdos hanging out in the cemetery while you wander aimlessly through it at night.

Still, peaceful cemeteries seldom make history—or top ten lists. We want paranormal activity in our cemeteries, dammit! So with that, here are ten cemeteries you wouldn’t want to spend the night in.

Related: 10 Graveyards Supposedly Haunted By Vampires

10 Union Cemetery, Easton, Connecticut

One of America’s most haunted and oldest cemeteries is a little cemetery in Connecticut, dating back at least 400 years: Union Cemetery. It has received enough notoriety for its hauntings that even Ed and Lorraine Warren made a case study of it. 

Union is quiet during the day, but walking through it, the energy is heavy. At night, that heavy energy springs to life. Paranormal investigators report hearing and seeing the spirits of soldiers and children, but what really grabs people’s attention are The White Lady and Red Eyes.

No one knows the origins of The White Lady, but two popular stories make her either a woman who died during childbirth or a wife murdered by her husband and dumped in a sinkhole behind the adjacent church.

Red Eyes is a bit more terrifying. Believed to be the angry spirit of Earle Kellog, who was burned to death across the street in the 1930s, Red Eyes manifests as just that: glowing red eyes. The spirit will sometimes chase people through the cemetery and breathe down their necks.

If the ghosts aren’t reason enough not to spend the night there, the police are. They will ticket you for trespassing faster than you can say “run!”

9 Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh, Scotland

Next to one of the world’s first documented concentration camps, Greyfriars Kirkyard Cemetery in Scotland has a brutal past—and a brutal ghost. Back in the 1670s, those who identified as Covenentors (Presbyterians, essentially) were put on trial for religious and political reasons. The religious end was that Presbyterian Scots wanted the freedom to practice their beliefs in the country without persecution. The parliament at the time (which was Catholic) didn’t like that idea and decided to squash it almost immediately.

Enter George Mackenzie, the ruthless judge in charge of the trials. He imprisoned and punished more than 1,200 Covenentors in a field next to the cemetery, without shelter, forcing them to live in the worst conditions with only four ounces of bread a day. Hundreds died of malnourishment.

Skipping ahead, “Bloody Mackenzie” eventually was buried in Greyfriars in a giant mausoleum. A homeless man broke into the mausoleum in 1999; people believe it unleashed an evil Mackenzie spirit—a poltergeist. The physical attacks from the poltergeist got so bad that grounds management forbid tours for a time. Tours now come with a physical and mental health warning.

8 La Noria Cemetery, La Noria, Chile

Deep in Chile’s Atacama Desert lies La Noria, an old mining ghost town with a creepy cemetery to match. Not only would you not want to visit this cemetery at night because it’s in the middle of a scorching hot desert where there are no practical resources, but also because it’s haunted (duh!).

Living conditions for residents when the town was up and running were not ideal. Several people died an untimely death, and the cemetery has been looted repeatedly. As a result, coffins remain opened and scattered through the grounds; human and animal bones lay exposed in the sand; eyewitnesses even claim to see the souls of the disturbed walk from the cemetery into town as the sun sets.

La Noria is not the happenin’ place to be at night, especially when you have angry spirits walking around.

7 Buckout Road Cemetery, White Plains, New York

A few years ago, a Canadian indie film called “The Curse of Buckout Road” was released. It was terrible, don’t watch it. But the backstory to the film, the real one, is pretty awesome.

Buckout Road is considered one of New York’s most haunted roads, known as a challenge for high schoolers and curious adults in the White Plains/West Harrison area. It used to be much scarier before they paved the road, but it’s still scary enough.

As you drive down the road, you’ll encounter a small cemetery, headstones mostly overturned. The only one remaining belongs to John Buckhout (the “h” is correct). People have reported apparitions, batteries draining, and everything else associated with a decent haunting. But the real reason why you don’t want to visit this cemetery at night is because of the road itself.

Supposedly, if you drive to the red house on Buckout Road and honk the horn three times, albino cannibals will come out and attack you. Then, of course, three witches were burned on the hill across from the cemetery, and Isaac Buckhout murdered his wife and neighbor in their nearby house.

The Buckhout’s have a lot of baggage.

6 El Panteon de Belen, Guadalajara, Mexico

El Panteon de Belen is a historic cemetery and once the resting spot for several famous people from Jalisco (they were relocated in the 1950s). It is now also a popular spot for nightly ghost tours.

This cemetery is certainly no Greyfriars, but there are enough ghost stories and sightings to make the thought of going there at night unnerving. First, this is technically a disturbed cemetery. The section, also called a patio, where the poor people were buried, was demolished because the headstones were unrecognizable. Second, the people who are buried here most likely died from epidemics and poor living conditions.

Because of this, the living regularly see the dead walking around the cemetery. In particular, a pair of lovers, a monk, and a vampire.

5 Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, Midlothian, Illinois

No creepy cemetery list would be complete without Bachelor’s Grove. You may have seen the picture of the ghost taken here: a woman sits on a gravestone, ankles crossed, dressed in dated garb. She is called the Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove and is the cemetery’s very own White Lady. People report seeing her on full moon nights, carrying an infant.

But this is child’s play compared to what else people have seen. People report a full-house (yes, an actual house) apparition, a 1940s gangster-style ghost car, and a farmer and his horse who died when they were tragically pulled into a pond.

4 Highgate Cemetery, London, England

I don’t know about you, but I’m not a vampire hunter, nor would I want to test my luck at finding one. If this also sounds like you, possibly don’t go to Highgate Cemetery at night. Highgate Cemetery is one of the most haunted graveyards in England, and we can see why.

People see vampires draining the blood of animals there, as well as an “imp-like creature” roaming the grounds. Because of this, “vampire hunters” would dig up caskets, open them, and stab the dead with wooden stakes. This behavior ended in 1970. People also see a ghostly bicycle rider (not Nicholas Cage) and a man in a top hat.

If only the cemetery’s famous residents would make an appearance instead: Karl Marx and Douglass Adams, to name two of them.

3 Chase Vault, Barbados

Those who are dead should stay dead, right? Well, the ghosts who inhabit Chase Vault may think otherwise. Since the 19th century, the coffins inside the semi-sunken tomb have rearranged themselves regularly. Every time the vault was opened up to add another body, people would find the coffins violently tossed around. Imagine what that spirit would do to you if you decided to sleepover

2 Cemetery Hill, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

For the record, I have visited Cemetery Hill twice and have yet to experience anything that would keep me from going back at night. Other people would feel otherwise. 

Cemetery Hill is technically not a graveyard but was certainly the last place many soldiers would ever step foot. The Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War was the bloodiest, and because there were so many dead bodies on the hill after the battle, the stench of death was overwhelmingly powerful. They couldn’t bury the bodies fast enough. It was so bad that passers-by would cover their noses from the smell even after the bodies were interred.

Even now, people report smelling peppermint, one of the scents used to cover up the stench.

1 Green Lady Cemetery, Burlington, Connecticut

As you drive down the pot-hole-ridden, dirt road of Upson Road, you wonder why you even ventured to drive down it. Seriously, it’s a terrible road. But the reward is well worth it. The Green Lady Cemetery in Burlington, Connecticut, is ruined, absolutely ruined. No grave markers remain. The last headstone, a replica that belonged to the Green Lady herself, was stolen in 2010. People notoriously vandalize the trees and remaining stone walls around it. 

At night, many have seen the Green Lady appear as a full-body apparition shrouded in a green mist with a lighted smile. But others just say that it was a story a camp counselor at the fresh air camp across the street made up one day. Note, the camp is fully abandoned.

Regardless, other stories of satanic rituals and untimely deaths circulate, and it is no place for someone who doesn’t want to be arrested at night.

]]>
https://listorati.com/10-cemeteries-you-wouldnt-want-to-spend-the-night-in/feed/ 0 6749
10 Discoveries We Wouldn’t Have Without Space Travel https://listorati.com/10-discoveries-we-wouldnt-have-without-space-travel/ https://listorati.com/10-discoveries-we-wouldnt-have-without-space-travel/#respond Sat, 17 Jun 2023 13:12:22 +0000 https://listorati.com/10-discoveries-we-wouldnt-have-without-space-travel/

Lightspeed, warp speed, we all speed toward the great unknown. Space exploration and space travel aren’t limited to only astronauts. Some, if not all, of the most fascinating discoveries would not have been possible without the use of technology, from space probes to rovers to radio and light waves.

Let’s take a closer look at how the science behind interstellar exploration led to the knowledge and advancements we know today. Here are ten discoveries we wouldn’t have without space travel.

Related: 10 Realistic Designs For Interstellar Spaceships

10 Traversable Wormholes

Einstein’s theory of general relativity, proposed in 1915, expands on space and time, which he initially theorized in 1910. However, Einstein didn’t consider gravity, and he discovered that massive objects warp spacetime through gravity.

General relativity mentions how wormholes are curved regions of spacetime that connect two distant points like a tunnel. Even though scientists haven’t directly observed these in nature and no proof of their existence is available to confirm the theory, scientists suggest that any wormhole would be extremely unstable. If anything were to pass through, the tunnel would collapse, and the matter would be cut off and disappear, trapped in whatever remote part of space the wormhole led to.

However, some scientists have theorized that there is a way to keep wormholes open and prevent their collapse through the use of negative mass, or electrons, to counteract the electric charge and mass of the wormhole. Another theory is that by layering the wormhole entrance with shells of regular matter, the tunnel would be stabilized and allow matter to pass through. The researchers who proposed these discoveries plan to test the theories experimentally. If proven true, our greatest sci-fi dreams of time travel would come true and challenge our understanding of the universe.

9 Marsquakes

You’ve heard of Earthquakes; now get ready for Marsquakes. NASA’s InSight lander, launched in 2018, has measured three separate quakes on the red planet. On September 18, 2021, on its thousandth day on Mars, InSight measured a 4.2 tremor that lasted for an hour and a half. The average quake on Earth only lasts for about thirty seconds.

These Marsquakes provide valuable insight (Get it? Because the lander’s name is InSight?) to the planet’s composition, how it was formed, and how these tremors travel through Mars’ crust, mantle, and core. It was a close call for the lander to even detect these Marsquakes, though, due to the planet’s elliptical orbit taking it farther from the sun, causing InSight to use heaters to stay warm and not receive even solar energy in its panels. Thankfully scientists were able to turn off specific instruments and conserve power. As InSight approaches the sun again, its energy levels can rise and continue to gather data on the red planet.

8 Surviving the Death of a Star

Scientists discovered 4,324 exoplanets in 2020. Since then, the total has risen to 4,903. But in September 2020, a giant Jupiter-sized planet, called WD 1856 b, was found orbiting a white dwarf star. Even though this star is a dwarf, it’s actually forty percent larger than Earth. Dwarf stars are the dense leftovers of a sun-like star that has emitted all of its energy, swollen, then ejected its outer layers, losing up to eighty percent of its mass and leaving only a dense core.

Any nearby objects are typically engulfed by the star’s mass and burnt up during this process which, in this system, would have been WD 1856 b. Somehow, the planet seven times larger than the dwarf star got extremely close and managed to stay in one piece. WD 1856 b resides in the constellation of Draco and is eighty light-years, or twenty-five parsecs, from Earth.

7 Asteroid Mining

While mining asteroids is a trope in science fiction novels, primarily for the galaxies that have used up a planet’s resources and looked for other options for fuel, it may just become a reality.

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft launched in 2016 and traveled to the asteroid, Bennu, which is close to Earth. The purpose of this mission is to collect a sample of rocks and materials from the asteroid’s surface to better understand its chemical makeup, how life and planets form, and if asteroids hold material that Earthlings might find viable. OSIRIS-REx’s planned return to Earth in 2023 will bring its handlers a host of extraterrestrial samples for study.

6 Voyagers’ Discoveries

In August 1977, Voyager 1 was launched to observe Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. In September 1977, Voyager 2 was launched with the same objective of exploring our solar system’s outer limits and the impact of the sun’s reach.

The Voyager spacecraft travel at about 38,000 miles per hour, or 17 kilometers per second. Since their launches over forty years ago, the two have discovered ice-covered moons, deep space volcanoes, and evidence of water on other planets. Jupiter’s moon, Io, has a volcano with ten times more activity than the volcanic activity on Earth.

Jupiter’s other moon, Europa, has a cracked surface, leading scientists to believe there was liquid water below the surface. Voyager 2 is currently 12 billion miles from Earth, and Voyager 1 is currently 14 billion miles from Earth. They are the first flyby crafts to travel interstellar space. It takes two days for mission control to send and receive incoming communications. This link offers an in-depth look at Voyager 2, while this one provides an in-depth look at Voyager 1 and a real-time location of their positions.

5 Black Hole Area Theorem

You know black holes, right? Can the voids that consume matter let nothing, not even light, escape? In 1971, Stephen Hawking proposed the theory that black holes can’t decrease in size over time, also known as the Black Hole Area Theorem. It primarily functions on the thermodynamic principle of entropy, which is a system’s thermal energy converted into mechanical work. So heat into movement.

After fifty years of being proposed, researchers in 2021 finally proved Hawking’s theory by analyzing the gravitational waves produced by black holes. Scientists calculated the surface area of the two holes before and after they merged and discovered that the area was greater than the sum of the two separate black holes.

It seems obvious that adding 1 + 1 equals 2, but it’s a breakthrough discovery in understanding astrophysics. It even led to two physicists theorizing a method to safely and efficiently extract energy from black holes. It’s hypothesized that this could be accomplished by breaking and reforming magnetic field lines at black hole’s boundaries, making it possible for matter such as light to escape.

4 Space Dust

Without space travel, we never would have discovered that 5,200 tons of space dust are added to Earth every year. Space dust is visible in the sky and is otherwise known as zodiacal light that diffuses a faint glow often seen at sunset or sunrise.

Over a twenty-year study, scientists gathered data of what and how these particles were occurring. Space dust consists of comet, asteroid, and interstellar dust passing through the solar system. Though most particles range from a few molecules to 0.1 millimeters, this dust contains organic compounds formed by stars at the beginning and end of their lives. So next time you go to clean, maybe hang onto those dust bunnies. They might just be from space.

3 A Day on Venus

The length of Venus’s day changes by twenty minutes every orbit. At least, it used to. A group of scientists got together and conducted a decade-long research mission using radar to bounce light waves off of the planet to measure its axial tilt, the size of its core, and how long it takes to complete an orbit.

If scientists ever want to send missions to Venus, the spin and orbital length must be exact; otherwise, a spacecraft could land twenty miles off course and severely impact the mission. The research team discovered that one day on Venus is the equivalent of 243 Earth days and some change. The discrepancy they previously encountered was due to the thick, fast-moving clouds in Venus’s atmosphere, which alter the planet’s spin.

2 Dwarf Galaxies

In 2021, scientists discovered a new tiny galaxy, only 1% of the Milky Way’s size. It’s still developing and in the early stages of its expansion. Still, scientists were able to find it by gravitational lensing, where large objects bend and magnify light which creates a sense of what is there and what is not, like a photo negative.

Now, this new galaxy is not the first of its kind. There are actually twenty dwarf galaxies floating around in the Milky Way, but finding them wouldn’t have been possible without the minds and technology behind space travel.

1 The Fifth Force

Four fundamental forces govern spacetime: gravity, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, and weak nuclear. The standard model of physics combines all of these forces, but scientists can’t stop picking at a healing wound and conducted experiments that verified the standard model is incomplete. It doesn’t unify gravity with the other three forces, nor does it explain the dark matter that makes up 96% of the universe.

So they started looking at beauty quarks and the process of their decay, which just so happens to create a set of light particles through the weak force. The type of particles these quarks are decaying into violate a law of lepton universality, which says that the number of leptons before and after has to be the same. Though this discovery still requires more data, researchers are on the brink of discovering a fifth element that could forever alter our understanding of physics.

]]>
https://listorati.com/10-discoveries-we-wouldnt-have-without-space-travel/feed/ 0 6228
Top 10 Discoveries That Wouldn’t Exist Without Nazi Germany https://listorati.com/top-10-discoveries-that-wouldnt-exist-without-nazi-germany/ https://listorati.com/top-10-discoveries-that-wouldnt-exist-without-nazi-germany/#respond Tue, 13 Jun 2023 09:39:57 +0000 https://listorati.com/top-10-discoveries-that-wouldnt-exist-without-nazi-germany/

There are very few areas of research and scientific discoveries that have not at some point interacted with immoral behaviour or politics. Indeed, more often than not in the 20th Century, discoveries were made in circumstances which would be classed as illegal or at the very least unethical today.

The question remains therefore, that if doctors, scientists, researchers or the everyday consumer utilise inventions that have been discovered unethically, are we not simply complicit in the past? Can the discoveries and research of certain people be completely separated from their actions?

10 Nazis Who Killed Themselves With Cyanide Suicide Capsules

10 Fanta


How did this zesty refreshing drink originate in the Third Reich?
With the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States formally entered WW2, and declared Nazi Germany an enemy. The Trading With the Enemy Act of 1917 was reinstated and the flow of Coca Cola syrup to German factories was halted.

Nonetheless, Max Keith, the German Coca Cola subsidiary manager at the time, was determined to continue trading. He decided to oversee the creation of an exclusively German soft drink; ridding it of its typically ‘American Dream’, patriotic branding.

Chemists concocted a new drink which was made from the leftovers of other food industries, such as fruit pulp and the by-product of cheese curdling. The flavour was similar to the Ginger Beer of today, and as one of the only soft drinks now available in Germany, Fanta soon became a household staple. As the Germans conquered more European territories, Max Keith continued to spread Fanta across the continent and saved other Coca Cola subsidiaries from collapse.

Once the Allies finally defeated Nazi Germany, the production of Fanta ceased and Keith handed over Fanta’s profits to the Coca Cola headquarters in Atlanta.[1]

9 The Hunger Disease Study of the Warsaw Ghetto


There is evidence and testimony of senior Gestapo personnel deciding that those residing in the Warsaw Ghetto would be murdered via starvation. According to their calculations, low-calorie food rationing would take nine months for everyone in the ghetto to die.

The hunger gave rise to cannibalism, violence and a lethal black market. A combination of starvation and disease led to thousands of deaths. In 1942 Dr Israel Milezkowski, decided to conduct a study of the physiology and pathology of the starving ghetto prisoners.

Dr Israel wanted to understand how hunger disease could be cured, whilst Dr Julian Fliederbaum aimed to conduct a study on hunger that would have scientific validity and consequently set up a research platform.

The study was divided into several sections with topics including blood circulation, aspects of starvation in children and more. The research project had over 100 participants and was conducted on an enormous scale. Women were used to smuggle medical equipment into the ghetto, and some of the finest medical minds of Europe worked collectively to study what happens to the energy usage of a person who loses weight- something which is still studied today.

The Jewish physicians themselves were hungry and endangering their lives, as it was prohibited for Jews to carry out research. These physicians did the research not in the knowledge that they could save themselves, but instead in the hopes of advancing medical research.

The physicians’ most important conclusion was that the rehabilitation process from starvation must be gradual, and if this knowledge had been made public at the time, thousands of liberated lives could’ve been saved at the end of the war.

The only way to arrive to these findings was sadly through an atrocity, and it is a study that can never be replicated ethically again.[2]

8 Nerve Agents Tabun and Sarin


German chemists had invented and readied thousands of tons of lethal nerve agents, including sarin, in the build up to WW2. The deadly agents were not known to the Allies, and if used could potentially have altered the outcome of the conflict.

Nerve agents directly disrupt vital organs of the body, and as a result, the smallest amount of exposure can be fatal.

German scientists invented the two most dangerous nerve agents, Tabun and Sarin, in 1936 and 38 respectively. Even to this day the substances still rank among the most toxic chemical warfare agents. It is believed that the Nazis had over 30,000 tons of Tabun and smaller amounts of Sarin in storage by the end of the war- and yet, it was never used in combat.

Several theories exist as to why this was the case, with some historians even suggesting that due to Hitler’s own personal experience of chemical warfare in WW1, he chose not to engage in such acts. However, this becomes hard to believe when one considers what he was willing to do in death camps. Ultimately, we just don’t know why.[3]

7 Audio Tape/Cassette


Whilst Gen Z may not even know what I’m referring to, this revolutionary invention actually has Nazi Germany to thank for its existence.

A German scientist, Fritz Pfleumer, created a way to coat paper with metal strips in 1928, and by 1935 the first magnetic tape recorder was created. This technology allowed for both improved audio material and also longer recordings.

When Allied forces intercepted radio transmission from Europe in WW2 they were often fooled into thinking that different people in different places were providing re-readings of messages simultaneously across multiple time-zones. This assumption was based on the Allied Forces’ knowledge of their contemporary recording equipment which did not allow for the audio quality and length of recordings that they were picking up.

It was only once an audio tape recorder was liberated from Radio Luxembourg, that they realised they had been mistaken. The technology was sent back to the US, and the release of the cassette two decades later was no doubt founded on this captured technology.[4]

6 Jagermeister


The recipe for this herby liquor has not changed since 1934, and much to the company’s dismay, neither has the drink’s rumoured association with the Nazi party.

Curt Mast, one of the founding brothers of this herb liquor, is rumoured to have named Jagermeister as a nod to the Nazi Party’s second in command; Hermann Goring. In 1934 Goring gave himself the title of Imperial Huntsmaster, or in German; Jagermeister.

Rumours even exist that Goring came to personally visit Curt Mast for a hunting celebration at his property where the drink was first invented.

In 1933 Curt Mast joined the National Socialist German Workers Party and even bought his house in Wolfenbuttel on land that the state had seized from a Jewish family. Whilst the company and family members have tried to deny the company’s past-ties to the Nazis; no affirmative conclusion exists.[5]

10 Nazi Scientists Who Survived The War

5 JerryCan


Without fuel, a military becomes immobile and consequently pointless.

With this in mind, the German army invented the “Armed Forces Unit Cannister”, intended to keep the tanks fuelled and ready for battle at any moment in turbulent pre-war Europe.

The Jerrycan didn’t get its nickname however until an American engineer, Paul Pleiss, picked up a few of these German inventions at the Berlin Tempelhof Airport. At first the Allied Forces were not interested in this invention, as they had their own poorly designed canisters, which were easily punctured and required a wrench to open.

Nonetheless it could not be denied that the Germans had designed a masterpiece, with very little changes made to this original design to date. The German canister could hold up to 5.3 gallons of fuel, and featured handles. Ultimately, their effectiveness was undeniable and the US made a swift decision to manufacture their own version – naming it the ‘Jerrycan’ after the Allied nickname for the German forces.

Over 19 million jerrycans were required to support the US forces in WW2, and President Roosevelt is noted as saying that “without these cans, it would have been impossible for our armies to cut across France.”[6]

4 Pervitin- Amphetamine


When Germany was still known as the Weimar Republic its pharmaceutical industry was thriving, and the country was a leading exporter of opiates and cocaine.

At a pharmaceutical company in Berlin, Dr Fritz Hauschild became inspired by the American’s successful use of amphetamines at the 1936 Olympic Games.

Hauschild consequently developed his own wonder drug, and patented the first German methyl-amphetamine; Pervitin. The drug quickly became a sensation and was available in many formats, including chocolate bars. Women were recommended to eat 2 or 3 a day, in order to help them get through housework faster and to curb their appetite.

In 1940 when Germany was planning to invade France through the Ardennes Mountains, a ‘stimulant decree’ was sent out to army doctors. The decree recommended that German soldiers take up to 5 tablets a day in order to decrease inhibitions when fighting and to make sleep unnecessary. The Wehrmacht ordered 35 million tablets for the army and Luftwaffe.

The tablet allowed whole divisions to remain awake for three days and three nights, and remain one of the key reasons Blitzkrieg was not only successful, but physically possible.[7]

3 Night Vision


Okay fine, this one needs a caveat. Germany was not the first nation to invent night vision, however it was the first to deploy a portable version of night vision that could be carried by a single soldier.

Its codename, rather fittingly, was “Vampir” (vampire). Its real name doesn’t quite roll of the tongue; Zielgerat 1229.

The device was essentially an enormous backpack battery which powered an infra-red searchlight and an infra-red scope mounted on the gun of choice.

Whilst the search light emitted high infra-red, the scope then amplified this light. This device does not pick up body heat, and is essentially an ‘invisible light’, and can be spotted up by another Vampir user.

Deployed in 1945 these devices were rare and reserved for the unit known as the Night Hunter. Although too late to make a difference in the war, for a while there was paranoia around the German’s ability to spot people at night.[8]

2 The Term ‘Privatization’


The coining of the term privatization has been falsely credited to Peter Drucker, when in reality it was the Nazis who coined the term.

Peter Drucker referred to ‘reprivatization’ in 1969, as he suggested handing executive responsibilities of the public sector back over to what was previously controlled by the private.

However, after researching the structure of the Nazi Economy, major work by Maxine Yaple Sweezy actually found that industrialists supported Hitler because of his economic policies. These policies consisted of what Drucker later termed ‘reprivatization’, in which the Nazi German government restored state controlled monopolies to the private sector.

Sweezy first published the term in 1941, where she describes how “The United Steel Trust is an outstanding example of the ‘reprivatization’.” And this may be the first use of the term ‘reprivatization’ in social science literature in English.[9]

1 Counterfeit Money


One of Nazi Germany’s more elaborate plans to destroy not only the Allies but also their economies was titled; “Operation Bernhard”.

The operation involved creating huge sums of counterfeit British and American money, to be secretly introduced into England’s economy. The idea not only hoped to destroy the British economy, but also to ruin the trust of the people in their own government.

In 1942, SS Major Bernhard Kruger was ordered to carry out this plan, and he recruited 142 counterfeiters and artisans from the concentration camps. Together, they created some of the most impressive counterfeit currencies ever seen, and by 1945 they had created 182 million British Pounds, and had just finished the plates ready to counterfeit US American Dollars.

In May 1945 the operation was ordered to retreat to an Austrian village, and it was here that the equipment was dumped into a lake, the prisoners revolted and their guards fled as US army unit neared their base.[10]

10 Famous People Who Were Nazi Sympathizers

]]>
https://listorati.com/top-10-discoveries-that-wouldnt-exist-without-nazi-germany/feed/ 0 6176