10The Strange Prophet It’s no secret that Ezekiel is perhaps the weirdest book in the Bible. With its strange visions and explicit sexual language, some rabbis instructed that the book shouldn’t be read by any Torah student under the age of 30. Ezekiel himself was among 10,000 Jewish captives taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. He was from the tribe of Levi, and God called him to be a prophet around 593 BC....
SEE ALSO: 10 Most Terrifying Insects In The World 10Synchronous Fireflies If you walk along the bank of Thailand’s Mae Klong river at night, you might witness one of the most incredible visual displays in nature—tens of thousands of fireflies blinking in perfect unison. Nobody knows why they do it, just that it’s part of their mating ritual. But the real mystery is how they’re able to synchronize their pulsing lights....
Taxidermists have a long and sometimes noble history. As far back as ancient Egypt, they were perfecting their skills. This continued through the Middle Ages until the Victorian era, when the popularity of taxidermy exploded. Many renowned men have dabbled in this art. For example, Charles Darwin took lessons from John Edmonstone, a freed slave who was a master taxidermist. Darwin used these skills on his famous HMS Beagle voyage....
However, there are interesting facts about him that go unnoticed by history despite being strange enough to shock a lot of people. 10 Louisiana Was Named after Louis XIV Louisiana was named after King Louis XIV of France in 1682. The French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier claimed the territory for France and named it in honor of the king. Actually, Louisiana remained a French colony until 1762, when it was ceded to Spain in the Treaty of Fontainebleau....
Japan’s gastronomical delights have evolved through centuries of social, political, and economic shifts. The region’s chefs are notorious for their fusion cuisine, combing dishes from around the world with their own culinary flair. Such emphasis on innovation and originality has led to a mishmash of novel, interesting, and downright strange creations. As you will see from this list, the Japanese certainly adhere to the “try everything once” school of thought in terms of food....
10 Luna Park Sydney Entrance Amusement parks are meant to provide hours of fun and entertainment in the form of rides and games. Going to such a park usually doesn’t warrant a second look at the exterior because the inside is where the fun awaits. However, when it comes to Luna Park in Australia, you’d probably be applauded if you made it through the entrance in the first place. Here, a giant grinning clown face beckons you (or dares you) to enter....
10 A Secret Nuclear Smuggling Network There are smuggling networks and black market operations which deal in exotic things like animal furs and illicit drugs, but there has probably never been a black market network quite like the one run by Abdul Qadeer Khan. It dealt in information on how to build nuclear weapons as well as the actual nuclear material and equipment to make those weapons. While countries have peddled nuclear secrets before, Khan is the first individual to have ever built a business providing these services....
But, amid screaming around each corner or keeping your face set like stone to show your buddies how brave you are, have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of your favorite scream shack? Not much is widely known about the haunted house industry. This list offers ten surprising facts about commercial haunted attractions in the United States. 10 Haunted Houses Are More Widespread Than Target That’s right, there are more haunted houses in the United States than Target stores....
But some memories never leave you and are as memorable as the day they were first experienced. Why does this happen? Psychologists have many theories about why the human memory is like this, and some of their ideas may surprise you. 10 Absent-Mindedness Absent-mindedness is experienced by many people. When you are extremely interested in one thing, you likely won’t be paying attention to what is going on around you....
It’s estimated that around 40 percent of the population has experienced sleep paralysis. Modern research into the phenomenon agrees that sleep paralysis is most likely caused when a person wakes suddenly from rapid eye movement (REM), a sleep stage in which the body is essentially paralyzed to prevent it from acting out dreams. But all the science in the world can’t make it easier to deal with a nightmare unfolding before your open eyes....
Warning: These stories are not for the faint at heart. 10 Teeth If there’s one thing that you’d never expect to find in your food, it’s what you eat it with: teeth. Even so, biting into a meal that has teeth of its own has been known to happen. All it really takes is one freak accident at some point in the manufacturing process. Maybe a packing line employee gets hit in the jaw by a piece of malfunctioning equipment....
10The Vampire Clan Like many teenagers, 16-year-old Rod Ferrell was obsessed with dark subjects, specifically vampires. However, Ferrell took things a bit further by declaring that he actually was a 500-year-old vampire named Vesago. While it’s not unusual for people to role-play, Ferrell’s dark obsessions would have tragic consequences. Though born in Kentucky, Ferrell spent some time living in Eustis, Florida, where he met Heather Wendorf at their school. Wendorf was immediately drawn to Ferrell and was fascinated by the “vampire clan” that he ran back in Kentucky....
And, most important of all—what will happen when we are finally hit by the zombie apocalypse? 10Dr. Andreansky Is Pretty Sure She Can Create The Rage Virus A virologist at the University of Miama, Samita Andreansky, sat down with National Geographic to discuss the body of his work. Her studies, he told them, has led her to some important conclusions that the world needs to know. First, she believes she has scientifically proven that 28 Days Later‘s idea of airborne rage virus is the most likely zombie apocalypse scenario....
The highly acidic, oxygen-poor, cold environment of the peat bogs in Northern Europe have acted as a sort of natural refrigerator, storing the cadavers of the ancients in a unique way that often leaves the organs and soft tissues intact. Whether by happenstance or intent, most of these bodies date from the Iron Age. Although Europeans of this era left no written details of their lives, their remains teach us many surprising things about them....
Humans are creators instinctively, so we want to contribute to the landscape and make our impression on the world. Sometimes, we create beautiful things, only to let them go. We enjoy the transience of art, like building sandcastles even though we know they will be washed to the sea or designing intricate mandalas that we will destroy upon completion with a blow of breath. Some people, however, take this inclination a step further....
10How The Brain Categorizes Information Information and knowledge is stored in the brain. We’ve known that for a long time. But we haven’t necessarily known how it all works. With the advent of brain scans, we were able to see which parts of the brain become active when exposed to certain stimuli. This includes seeing what activates when we look at cat videos online or where electrical impulses appear when we’re asked to finish a crossword puzzle....
And sadly, the mere ten items on this list are truly just the tip of the crazy iceberg. 10 The Interest Is How Much? In 2009, the Kontora loan company in Latvia raised eyebrows when it presented an unusual offer to those suffering through tough economic times. All potential clients needed to do to secure a small loan was to agree to the collateral, namely their immortal soul. When interviewed about this weirdness, Viktor Mirosiichenko, who was the face of the company at the time, confirmed that the “soul” part of the contract was the only part he would hold clients to....
SEE ALSO: Top 10 Surreal Animals That Really Exist Sure, it might be hard to see the value of getting animals high and watching what happens, but these experiments have taught us some deeply valuable things. Thanks to science, we finally know the answers to the questions that have plagued mankind for years. Like these ones. 10 How Much Cocaine Does It Take To Get A Rat Into Bebop Jazz?...
The Surma tribe of Ethiopia avoided all Western contact for years. Though they were well-known by Westerners for their giant lip plugs, they wanted nothing to do with any sort of government. The Surma lived in groups of a few hundred, and carried on with their humble cattle ranching for centuries while colonization, World Wars, and struggles for independence were going on all around them. The first people to hold a conversation with the Surma people were a few Russian doctors in the 1980s, thought by the tribesmen to be walking dead because of their skin color....
TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy and ER have prepared the viewer to expect the worst: blood flying, body parts being cut off, organs not getting there in time. The reality is less dramatic—well, almost. With an estimated 28 million surgeries preformed yearly, mistakes can be made.[1] However, the mistakes made in the following surgeries are those stemming from the creation of one’s worst nightmares. Ranging from towels to needles to even whole instruments, patients found out after they left the operating room that they were left with mementos from their procedures they hadn’t expected, or wanted....
