Face facts, Tony. The world is a creepy place. From a number of unsolved murders and disappearances over the years all the way to those creepy numbers stations (seriously, have you ever heard Swedish Rhapsody?), the world is host to a lot of nightmare fuel.
For the curious minds out there I know it can be difficult to find a creepy fact you haven’t heard a million times but hopefully, these are the ones you haven’t seen before. Besides, even if you have heard them before at least you get spared the embarrassment of having to change your pants. Or you can just be one of those people who rolls their eyes and goes, “I knew that already,” thereby signalling your never-ending discontent for not finding new material. Well, excuse me but I don’t know how deep the Internet’s rabbit hole goes so if you want crazier facts than these, you’re on your own.
Halloween may not be right around the corner but early September is close enough and we’ve gathered a list of the creepiest facts we could find so that way our days can be ruined together. (Trust me, just count the lucky stars that you didn’t have to research any of this crap.)
We’ll start off easy. Okay, not exactly “easy” but at the very least with a fact you’ve probably heard before if you’re into the macabre. There’s a website for plane crash recordings where you can read actual transcripts of plane crashes. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend visiting but it’s out there.
There’s a parasite out there that attaches itself to a fish’s tongue and takes in its food. The tongue-eating louse squirms in through the gills and attaches itself to the tongue where it pretty much stays there until the host dies. And you thought the leeches “borrowing” your Netflix was bad.
In the 1500-the 1600s there was a torture method called “Dungeon of Rats,” which consisted of exposing someone’s abdomen and placing a rat inside an overturned bucket on top. Hot coals were placed atop the bucket and in order to get away from the heat, rats would gnaw their way through your body.
The Dyatlov Pass incident refers to the unsolved deaths of nine Russian hikers. The team promised to touch base once they reached their destination and when they didn’t a search team went out for them. Their tents were torn from the inside and members were found unclothed and one had a missing tongue.
There is a haunted wine cabinet known as the Dybbuk box. A Dybbuk is a Yiddish, malicious spirit, which is what is said to haunt this thing. A man named Mannis purchased it and immediately started to experience misfortune from his mother having a stroke to him suffering terrible nightmares.
In 2011 a video was uploaded to YouTube from a security camera in Yosemite. Two figures, one much taller than the other, were strolling down the driveway. They appeared to be only made up of a head and legs. According to Indigenous folklore, the creatures are meant to bring man and nature together.
Pedro Alonso López was a Colombian serial killer and rapist who was said to have killed 80 women though he says the number is closer to 300. He spent 14 years in prison for his crimes, three in a psychiatric hospital, and was then released. No one has heard from him since. (Reddit user: Reddit/apple_crumble1)
Isla de las Munecas is an island in Mexico adorned with hundreds of dolls. Evidently, a young girl drowned in the canal and was discovered by Don Julian Santana, who was living on the island at the time. He started putting up dolls all over the island to honour her memory.
Before his execution, Thomas Busby allegedly cursed his favourite inn stoop back in the 1700s. He said whoever sat in it after his death would be met with their own. The curse claimed the lives of several people and became so dangerous that it’s now nailed to the wall in the Thirsk Museum.
Poveglia Island in Italy is said to be one of the most haunted islands in the world. When the bubonic plague was happening, those infected with it were shipped to Poveglia and left to die. The Italian tourism board has banned people from visiting but technically, you can still visit. (Reddit username: alberttico)
The tarantula hawk is a wasp that spans five centimetres and hunts down tarantulas. They’re pretty harmless if they’re not provoked but if you get stung by one you’re screwed for about five minutes. Their sting is second on the Schmidt sting pain scale only after the bullet ant. (Reddit username: A_Game_Of_Scones)
There is a website you can go to watch the world’s deaths and births recorded in real-time. Little green dots spring up to represent births and little red dots for the deaths. As I type this, over the past five seconds, 235 people have been born while 107 have died.
Issei Sagawa is a Japanese man who murdered and Dutch woman Renee Hartevelt before devouring her remains. He gained fame in Japan and was asked to be a guest speaker and has written several books. He even played a part in a movie. (But he wasn’t given work anywhere else.)
There is microscopic fecal matter sitting on your toothbrush. As you may already know, when you flush the toilet, little water droplets get shot into the air, which then lands on your toothbrush. However, Mythbusters discovered that even toothbrushes that haven’t been in a bathroom are still tainted with it. (Reddit username: lastrolo)
Unit 731 in Japan conducted horrifying “experiments” on humans during WW2. They would perform surgery without anesthetic, would force people outside nude in the winter and dump water on them to test frostbite effects, and other similar acts. They were granted immunity by the U.S. because of the information they found through their actions. (Reddit username: tupungato)
One in 50 people have an unruptured brain aneurysm. Of those who do recover, stats say that four out of seven will have disabilities. Usually, brain aneurysms have no symptoms so people don’t know they have one. Though in rare cases, it can cause blood to leak into the skull and you’ll have a stroke. (Reddit username: Scrappy_Larue)
The Exorcist set was totally haunted. Okay, that may just be my bias but listen to this: nearly nine people who were associated with the film passed away, a fire burned down the set, priests came in to bless everything, and many directors turned the film down. So, you are the judge.
Moving into a new house is usually a sign of new beginnings. But in the case of Susan and Brian Trost, they spent $450,000 on a house infested with brown recluse spiders. They lived with these things for years before finally winning a lawsuit against the previous owners for not disclosing this information.
Babies can cry in the womb. If they get startled they start to cry but given that they’re in the womb, you obviously won’t hear them. The baby might react by moving around a bit in the womb but if that kid gets scared or upset, yeah. They will start crying. (Reddit username: MomSmellsLikeVodka)
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Behold the blobfish. Now the reason he looks so miserable is that he was taken out of his natural habitat for this embarrassing photo shoot. What happened to this guy here is that once he was removed from the water he lost his buoyancy and turned into this. So, yeah…
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In the 1940s there lived a chicken named Mike. Sounds alright until you realize that he was headless for 18 months before he died. A farmer named Lloyd Olsen tried to behead it for dinner but missed the jugular artery, thereby leaving the majority of the brain stem intact.
Serial killer Rodney Alcala was once on a dating game show (I’m serious). Despite already having been convicted for his crimes, he was still somehow accepted as a contestant for The Dating Game, where he was described as being strange with weird opinions. I’ll take “Go Figure” for $1000, Alex.
During the Victorian era, family photographs were often taken with every member, even if the said member had already passed away. They would be made up to look as if they were still alive and posed for photographs alone or with family members. Sometimes those photographed would be as young as infants.
In 1948 a man was found on Somerton beach. He had no labels on his clothing and no identification. A paper with “Tamam Shud” was found sewn into his pants’ pocket along with a piece of paper consisting of random letters, which have yet to be deciphered. No one knows who he was.
