Still, there are stories about Nero’s excess and depravity that go beyond anything imagined in the most gruesome horror stories. Although there’s no way of knowing how many stories are true, you don’t earn a reputation like this one without doing something people didn’t like. 10 He Burned Christians For A Source Of Light Nero never had progressive policies when it came to Christians, but he got really hard on them after the Great Fire of Rome....
10Black Sunday After two decades of planning and a year of construction, Walt Disney transformed a 160-acre orange grove into a $17 million Disneyland. Walt Disney’s bankers and even his brother Roy thought the project would ruin him. He borrowed against his life insurance and sold vacation property to build the park. The year of construction on Disneyland was frenzied and rushed. They worked right up to the 90-minute ABC live broadcast of the opening....
10 The World’s Most Prolific Exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth is the Roman Catholic Church’s most prolific exorcist, reportedly preforming the ritual over 100,000 times. You might think it would take hundreds of years to rack up stats like that, but you have to realize two things about exorcisms. First, an exorcism can take less than an hour. Second, in some instances, it is administered to hundreds of people at a time....
10 Horseshoe Crab Fly With a thin crescent head and a rounded, pill-like body, this pinhead-sized animal looks more like a mite or a beetle than a fly. This form is well-suited to creeping about their only known habitat: the nests of termites. It’s not entirely known what they eat, but it’s possible they prey upon termite eggs or make pests of themselves in their hosts’ fungal gardens. 9 Louse Flies Flat and tick-like, this large group of bloodsucking flies are more devoted to the parasitic lifestyle than your usual horseflies or mosquitoes, sometimes remaining on the same host for their entire adult lifespan....
SEE ALSO: 10 Most Insane Recent Conspiracy Theories Since JonBenet’s death, her family has been entangled in controversy. Depending on whom you believe, John and Patsy Ramsey are killers who murdered their child, liars who covered up a murder by their son, Burke, or innocent people plagued by unjust accusations. Few have delved into who the Ramsey family really is—and what they did before and after JonBenet’s death. Tidbits from their lives cast suspicion everywhere—and might hold the key to cracking the case....
10 Con Man Or Philanthropist? Many things have been said about P.T. Barnum. A quote that is frequently attributed to him states, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” This pretty much sums up the attitude that most people associate with him. (The quote is alternately said to have been uttered by a man named David Hannum about Barnum’s involvement with the Cardiff Giant, although some research into that shows that, too, might be false....
10 Edward Young On July 19, 1941, the HMS Umpire, a brand-new British U-class submarine, departed Sheerness for sea trials. The Umpire was sailing along the surface when she collided with a trawler, which could not see the submarine in the early morning darkness. The submarine’s commander and three others were outside on the bridge during the collision and were left to tread water. The Umpire sank quickly, trapping the rest of the crew on the seabed, 18 meters (60 ft) down....
10 Virginity And Masturbation It plays into the common conception of the more academically inclined among us that smarter people tend to spend less intimate time with other people. The reasons, however, may be more complicated than the simple explanations (no one wants to cuddle a nerd) we’re used to. Recent studies of students and graduates of top universities, including MIT, indicate that the number of sexual partners per student was significantly lower than the average-intelligence control group....
His machines used everyday objects, in addition to humans or animals, in a creative, convoluted way that really would work. For example, his self-operating napkin machine wipes his fictional Professor Butt’s mouth automatically using a contraption that starts with the spoon to his mouth pulling a string, along the way throwing a cracker to a toucan, dropping a bucket, igniting a lighter which sets off a rocket, cutting another string that drops the napkin to his mouth to wipe it....
10Feeling Guilty Can Damage Your Health Every January, people around the world resolve to leave their bad habits behind and embark on a journey of self-improvement as the new year begins. Then, a few weeks later, everyone starts to feel a little guilty for not following through. But while a little guilt can encourage someone to make positive changes, too much guilt is a different story. Feeling guilty isn’t just unpleasant—it could be causing damage to your immune system....
With all these convicts passing through the Big House, American’s prisons are brimming with peculiar people from all walks of life. From country bands to candymakers, the US prison system is jam-packed with fascinating figures and crazy characters, all with unique stories. 10Roy SmithThe Strangest Family Reunion Roy Smith barely remembered his father. A drug dealer and abusive husband, Roy’s dad disappeared when Roy was a kid. What he knew about his old man—Roy Milton—was all negative, and that’s why he swore he’d never follow in his father’s footsteps....
10 Defective Bulletproof Vests It must have been reassuring for rookie policeman Tony Zeppetella to wear the aptly-named Second Chance bulletproof vest in his line of work. However, the vest failed to live up to its hype when a bullet from a gang member’s gun tore through it like butter and penetrated his chest cavity. His avoidable death came as no surprise to the manufacturers of the vest. Five years prior to the incident, they already knew that the material in the vest, Zylon, had a tendency to break down....
Unregulated and unaccountable, those selling organs on the black market aren’t always that fussy about where the organs come from or how they were acquired. Nor do they particularly care what happened to the donor. Below are just a few examples of some of the most terrifying tales from the organ black market. 10 Mozambique Ring In 2004, sisters of the Brazilian mission Servants of Mary Immaculate in Mozambique reported that they had uncovered a large organ trafficking ring operating in the area....
There are things that we believe are self-evident, even scientifically proven, which are nothing but figments of popular culture’s imagination. Sometimes, even the “authorities” get it wrong. And sometimes, they do it on purpose. 10 Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity Gluten sensitivity is a condition suffered by those with celiac disease, which causes gastrointestinal distress. In 2011, a study by Peter Gibson found that even some people without celiac disease can suffer similar symptoms upon ingesting gluten....
By September 2014, the rebel movement Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)—also known as ISIL or IS—proved to be a legitimate threat to the US and its allies. The US soon decided that airstrikes against ISIS would be justified, so they launched an attack on the largest opposition movement in Syria, effectively assisting the Syrian regime it threatened to attack less than a year ago. But this behavior is not out of the ordinary....
10Her Father Died Before She Turned One Victoria never knew her father. He died before she turned one; before she’d formed a single memory. It was the first in a series of horrible tragedies that would end up putting her on the throne. When she was born, no one expected Victoria to grow up a queen. Her father was the king’s fourth child, and she was behind a long line of heirs....
Don’t get me wrong, it probably still won’t go well for us, but the faces of the creatures that would change our world forever will look very different to how we’ve imagined them. To set the record straight, great minds like Stephen Hawking and his contemporaries have given their opinions on what traits an alien race would have to possess in order to make it across the galaxy and pay a visit to the human homeworld....
10 Homosexuality Research has shown that homosexuality, something still going through the process of being accepted by human society, is not only very common among animals, it is vital to some species’ survival. One example is the dwarf chimpanzee, a species that is a close relative of us humans. All dwarf chimpanzees are bisexual, which is a quality very important to acting as a distraction from their violent nature. Dolphins, killer whales, and even lions share this trait....
She may have wined and dined with other legends, but she was also a girl who enjoyed taking a walk alone, with a kerchief over her head, sunglasses on, in casual clothes, and without a stitch of makeup on her face. She was a woman who could easily relate to people and was often seen in photos with her arm around someone or placing her hand on them. She made connections with her fans easily....
10Akio Kashiwagi Akio Kashiwagi was a multimillionaire real estate mogul who loved to gamble. His favorite game was baccarat, which he sometimes played 80 hours a week, betting as much as $200,000 on a game. During one particular game at an Atlantic City casino, Kashiwagi accepted a wager to play with $12 million. Over a six-day period, Kashiwagi spent almost 12 hours a day playing until he left with only $2 million, $10 million less than when he came in....
