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But how often do we stop and consider the roots of our holidays and the events from which they were born? Most people with an Internet connection know that many modern holidays are a hodgepodge of ancient pagan practices which have been augmented or adopted in various forms by the surviving religions. But beyond just ancient paganism, many holidays stem from historical events. Sometimes, those events are quite dark and not exactly the nice, cheery tales we’d expect such holidays to spring from....

10 What It Was The American Eugenics Society was an organization that began in the United States in the early 1900s. Its mission included not just segregation, but a racial cleansing and the establishment of a strong, pure race untainted by the blood of those that were deemed lesser, whether by race or by disability. That meant the practice of forced sterilization for those who were deemed unfit to have a family, such as those with learning disabilities or those in institutions....

10El ImbuncheChile This myth is terrifying for several reasons. First of all, it focuses on a child. A first-born son was sold by his parents before his ninth day of life to a member of the Centre Comitee, a special guild of warlocks from Chilean folklore. Secondly, the baby was deformed with dislocated limbs. Two months later, his tongue was forked. Eventually, the warlock began a process that resulted in the baby’s head being turned 180 degrees....

Forcible phallus removal is the arguably the ultimate insult—and maybe the ultimate negotiation tool. Manhoods have been mauled in homicidal rampages, severed in torture, self-mutilated, removed in acts of self-defense and revenge, lopped off in ritual sacrifice, and, occasionally, even fed to their owner. 10 Caged With A Madman In July 2015, a Maricopa County jury sentenced an inmate to death for murdering another prisoner with whom he shared a small isolation cell....

These anatomical bits and pieces include a decapitated head, brains, pigtails and hair clippings, teeth, a hand, a finger, a thumb, a leg, entire skeletons, and even a penis. Everything, it seems, does have a price, and someone, somewhere, is willing to buy anything. 10 Decapitated Head On May 29, 2011, the decapitated head (actually, skull) of St. Vitalis of Assisi (1295–1370), the patron saint of people with genital diseases, was put on the auction block in County Meath, Ireland....

These characters tend to be the wise ones—the givers of sage advice—or simply invisible comedic props that other actors use for their jokes. Here are the 10 most interesting and important characters from television whom we never fully see on camera. 10 Eckley DiMeo The Sopranos If you watched The Sopranos, you may recall everyone referencing a guy called the “Old Man” but may not remember ever seeing him. That’s because Ercole DiMeo was the founder and longtime boss of the DiMeo crime family....

10Saint Lidwina Kept Her Rotting Flesh In A Vase Saint Lidwina was born around 1380 in Schiedam, Holland. When she was 16, she fell while ice skating and developed a mysterious condition that left her in chronic pain, sensitive to light, and partially paralyzed. She spent much of her life in bed, only able to move her left arm. According to a document written by the town elders of Schiedam, Lidwina also developed sores all over her body....

10 Whistling Dholes Dholes, also known as Asiatic wild dogs, appear to be the result of a canine-vulpine Disney romance. These supremely adaptable fox-wolves are surprisingly resilient and have carved out niches in almost every biome, from Himalayan alpine regions to dense rain forests in Java. Dholes live in packs of 5–12 and stereotypically display joyful sentiments with wagging tails. They’re sociable carnivores and sometimes form 30-member super packs to keep it fresh and gain the acquaintance of other groups....

Dashing, intelligent, and brave, Bond burst on the scene with fast cars and beautiful women. Fierce enough to take on any enemy, accomplished in hand-to-hand combat, and able to use every weapon created, he was ready for whatever came his way. But a spy’s clandestine activities also call for tactics known in the intelligence community as Tradecraft—clever disguises, surveillance, coded messages, and sneaking in and out of places undetected. Here is where it gets fascinating because Tradecraft went to a whole new level when our heroes were given gadgets....

10 The Murdered Girls In Birmingham, England, a 20-year-old woman returned from a dance with a friend on the evening of May 27. After parting ways with her companion, the young woman never reached home. The next morning, she was discovered—assaulted and murdered—in Erdington Park. Although a man named Thornton was charged with the crime, he was acquitted. The murder was never solved. The young victim’s name was Mary Ashford, and the story took place in 1817....

10Marcela Gracia Ibeas & Elisa Sanchez Loriga It is said that in 1061 two men were married by a priest in a small chapel in Spain. Little is known about the two men, Pedro Diaz and Muno Vandilaz, but a gay wedding, also in Spain, in 1901 is far better documented. Marcela Gracia Ibeas and Elisa Sanchez Loriga met while training to be teachers. Their friendship was intense enough to cause concern as Marcela’s parents sent her away to complete her studies and to separate the pair....

However, it is surprising to find out that many common household items were created by mistake during this research process. Some inventors found that a lab mistake could be adapted to a new purpose straightaway. Others were discarded, only to be repurposed many years later. Most households around the world wouldn’t be without these laboratory mishaps today. 10 Nonstick Cookware Where would we be without our nonstick cookware? Scraping off the eggs burned onto the bottom of the frying pan and trying to pry muffins out of baking trays, that’s where....

But there are other stories from the Titanic that we usually don’t talk about. Some of these stories are less than heroic, and some are downright ridiculous. 10 Katherine Gilnagh Thought The Ship Was Sinking On Purpose After the Titanic sank, an interviewer asked Katherine Gilnagh when she realized how serious it was. “I thought it was part of the trip, to tell you the truth,” she said. “I didn’t realize there was any danger....

Also known as the Diamond-Water Paradox, the paradox of value is the contradiction that while water is more useful, in terms of survival, than diamonds, diamonds get a higher market price. The argument could be made that diamonds are more rare than water, thus, demand is higher than supply, which means that price will go up. However, consider the fact that less than 1% of the earth’s water is drinkable....

[RIP Trigun472] Ruled by an ideology that penetrates every nook and cranny of its society. The regime is often headed by a cult of personality type leader. The government gets its power from a goal or idea, such as the dominance of Nazi Germany, that its people embrace so much they will give up rights to defend it. It builds up control through eliminating and confining anything that acts independently of the state, until it regulates and enforces nearly every aspect of public and private life....

In all, there are eleven women either dead or missing that are linked to John Robinson. All of these women either vanished or were killed over a 16 year period. Robinson, a married middle-aged father of four, had a hunger for murder and money. Robinson was a sadomasochist, and met some of the women though his internet identity as the “Slavemaster.” Others he met through personal ads and other means....

10Seguin Island Lighthouse The Seguin Island Lighthouse, built in 1857, is the tallest lighthouse in Maine. One of its earliest lighthouse keepers lived there with only the company of his wife for many years. She was very lonely and took to playing the piano at night to break the silence, but her husband seemingly had no outlet for his own feelings of isolation and loneliness. Apparently driven to madness, he took an axe and bludgeoned his wife to death before committing suicide....

10 Frankenstein; Or, The Modern PrometheusMary Shelley Nearly two centuries after its publication, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus continues to fascinate readers. Not only has the novel become a landmark of both the sci-fi and Gothic horror genres, it also established its author as one of the few outstanding female novelists prior to the 20th century. But what if Mary Shelley wasn’t the true author of Frankenstein? As incredible as it might sound, that’s the claim advanced by author John Lauritsen in his book The Man Who Wrote Frankenstein....

This type of scam nets the con artists some easy booty while giving you a headache. But this is nothing compared to these ten messed-up cons people actually fell for. 10The Con of Hollywood You’re a struggling, ambitious actor who has come to Tinseltown searching for your big break. One day you receive a phone call, and the caller claims to be a high-profile producer ready to hire you in your first significant role; only later do you find out that the caller was just a con artist after what little money you had....

10British East India CompanyBattle Of Assaye Arthur Wellesley, the major general of the British forces and future first Duke of Wellington, said this of the battle: It was “the bloodiest for the number that I ever saw.” One of the major battles of the Second Anglo-Maratha War, a conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire, the Battle of Assaye saw between 6,500–10,000 British soldiers face off against a 40,000–50,000 strong Maratha army....