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The Praetorian Guard grew too powerful and, on more than one occasion, exerted its influence in ways that forever changed the history of the Roman Empire—and, indirectly, the world. 10Augustus Founds The Praetorian Guard Although praetorians are inexorably linked to the Roman Emperor, they existed for centuries before Rome ever became an empire. During the Roman Republic, groups of soldiers known as Praetorian Cohorts were assigned to generals or magistrates called praetors....

However, when a large, deadly animal, or a lot of small ones, decide to make your home their new habitat, they quickly become significantly less endearing. Animals that you previously enjoyed from behind the safety of thick glass can quite suddenly become your very worst nightmare. For some people, that nightmare became horrifying reality. 10 A Town Is Taken Over By Tarantulas Tarantulas are not venomous enough to actually kill a human and they generally don’t attack unprovoked, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not potentially dangerous....

10The Jelly Bean Incident When The Beatles arrived in America in 1964, they sparked a wild tide of mass hysteria that we all know as Beatlemania. Over 75 million people tuned in to watch their performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and when they showed up in Washington, D.C., they had to rent the entire seventh floor of the Shoreham Hotel to escape their frenzied fans. During their 34-day tour, the band played at Carnegie Hall and San Francisco’s Cow Palace, but perhaps their most painful performance was at the Coliseum in D....

These advances have allowed for the closure of several cold cases involving unidentified decedents. In fact, some of those cases have been featured right here on Listverse. Even if the victim had been deceased for several decades, DNA testing allowed for their positive identification. Here are some more cases where a John or Jane Doe remained unidentified for years until dedicated sleuths helped them get their names back. 10Barbara Ann Hackman-Taylor, ‘Tent Girl’ On May 17, 1968, a well digger named Wilbur Riddle was walking down a dirt road near Route 25 just outside Lexington, Kentucky....

To accommodate this, they have created a multitude of ways to hide things from the average observer, despite them being right in front of them. You might be steps away from a large air conditioner that powers a whole land but have no idea because of something as simple as a paint job. 10 No See-Um Green Disney hides a massive amount of infrastructure in their parks, but not all of it is easily obscured from view....

Some monuments put up to ensure that an animal or group of animals is remembered forever have been so large or frankly bizarre that they cannot escape our notice. Here are 10 notable sites of animal remembrance. 10 Monument To Laboratory Mice Science has been driven forward by the efforts of some unlikely characters. Human researchers should not get too proud, though. Many sacrifices in the name of science have been made by rodents....

Today, a major part of the deaf community views Bell as a monster, and that’s started to spread. Articles have been written calling him a “huge jerk,” saying that he “fought against deaf people’s rights,” or even saying that he “hated deaf people.” The man dedicated his life to a group of people, and in the end, he became one of their worst villains. It’s a strange and complicated story, seemingly full of contradictions, that gives a little insight into what it was like to be deaf at the turn of the 20th century....

10Mini-Me Overall, the Amish are an exceedingly healthy group of people. They lead simple, agrarian lives with a high level of physical activity and diets free of preservatives and junk food. Unlike other members of modern society, they suffer a fraction of the stress of those stuck in the so-called rat race. But as an extremely insular community, the Amish have a very shallow gene pool. The population of around 250,000 hails from roughly 200 families, leading to an issue called “founder effect,” which results in a laundry list of congenital disorders and a staggering infant mortality rate....

This list looks at ten of the most frequently misinterpreted works in art history. In some cases, viewers couldn’t help but be distracted by one specific aspect. Other times, people simply assumed a work of art had a deeper meaning than it did. And sometimes, a decidedly risque piece of art seems tame to those unfamiliar with the painting’s era. 10 The SwingJean-Honore Fragonard This famous rococo painting, also known as The Happy Accidents of the Swing, is certainly a boisterous and jovial image....

10Professional Football It’s generally understood that it’s a pipe dream for just about anyone to believe their high school sports participation is going to lead to a career in that field. After all, in America, a student’s likelihood of going from high school football to a career playing professional football are about about .08 percent. The real reason to have students play sports is to encourage team-building behavior, get students to stay in shape, make connections, and stay sober....

There are allegations that Avery was framed by corrupt law enforcement officials. One of the most troubling elements of the case is the confession of Avery’s nephew, Brendan Dassey, who told police that he participated in the murder. Even though Dassey also went to prison, there are serious doubts about the veracity of his confession because he is developmentally disabled and may have been coerced into admitting to something he did not do....

Last known speaker of: traditional Cornish According to her gravestone, which can still be visited today, Dolly Pentreath was the last known speaker of Cornish. Dolly, who only learned English as an adult and whose last words reportedly were “Me ne vidn cewsel Sawznek!” (“I don’t want to speak English!”), had a fierce reputation and was known for smoking her pipe and using profane language. Some thought her to be a witch....

Five notable omissions are: 1978’s The Boys from Brazil, 1978’s Capricorn One, 1975’s Rollerball, 1972’s Silent Running and 1979’s The Black Hole. Philip K. Dick called The Black Hole “crap,” and he was right, but if certain stupid things had been eliminated, it could have been a much better film. The Black Hole starts great but disintegrates during the ludicrous third act. And sorry, I think Soylent Green is stupid, which is why it’s not on the list....

Sunk in 1942 On Board: 820 Survivors: 10 The USS Juneau was the second member of the Atlanta Class of Light Cruisers in service with the US Navy during the Second World War. On November 13 1942, during a battle with Japanese forces at Guadalcanal, the USS Juneau suffered severe damage to her port side. After she limped away from the battle she was intercepted by a Japanese submarine which fired torpedoes at the cruiser, striking the ship on the port side, near the previous hit....

At the German Babenhausen Barracks (now a museum) the ghosts of German soldiers, some in World War II era uniforms, have been reported. Lights are said to turn off and on by themselves and voices are heard in the basement. Footsteps and commands are allegedly heard at night, supposedly without physical cause. Legend has it that if a soldier happens to visit the museum and pick up a telephone, a woman will at times be heard “talking backwards”, unintelligible, in neither German nor English....

Scientists at the University of California Berkley have developed a wireless flying-insect cyborg. By attaching a radio receiver to a large African beetle and connecting electrodes to its nervous system and flight muscles the researchers were able control the flight of the beetle remotely. A simple electric pulse to the brain signals flight, another is used to signal descent. Left and right turns are achieved by stimulating the muscle of the opposite wing from the direction of the turn....

But flakka—the new synthetic drug that’s been said to turn people into zombies—is different. It’s a new generation of bath salts that, compared to other drugs, hasn’t spread that far. But the people who use it have gone on mad, violent, zombie-like rampages that make the worst drug stories your mother ever told you seem tame. Flakka affects people in ways no other drug ever has. The things people do while high on it are so crazy that some of this might seem like a hyped-up scare story....

The logo competition is coming along well with a reasonable number of submissions so far, but please be sure to send in your ideas for consideration. Thanks to Cyn and all our regulars who are taking the time to comment and respond to comments in my absence. I am looking forward to being able to chatter in the comments again when I return home. I hope you are all having a great New Year!...

10 Of The Most Bizarre Quack Doctor Cures In History 10 It’s Not Colloidal If you look up a definition of “Colloidal Silver”, you’ll get something like “microscopic silver particles suspended in a liquid base”. If you look up colloidal, you’ll see that it is defined as one substance dispersed throughout another, which the silver is. But if you look up a colloid, you’ll see the definition adds that it must not be possible to separate the materials again through any kind of filtration....

Wielded by: Lion-O of The ThunderCats Kicking off the list at number 10 we have The Sword of Omens. Any child of the 80’s should remember this cartoon series. More mighty than anyone else of his age, young Lion-O was only 12 years old when he and his Thunderian teammates sought refuge on Third Earth while their home planet of Thunderia was being destroyed. Upon arrival, Lion-O and his allies fought against the tyrannical Mumm-Ra and his hordes of evil fiends who sought to not only destroy The Thundercats, but also obtain great power from The Eye of Thundera, the jewel inlayed within the hilt of The Sword of Omens, which is the source of The Thundercats’ own power....