Are you the kind of person who loves to casually drop (creepy) random facts that freak out your friends? (Or at least make them wonder what the hell you do during your spare time?)
Well, recently, redditor u/121aliumarasked the internet, "What is your favorite very creepy fact?" And people did not hesitate to share, because why not put all these creepy facts in one place?
So here are 28 of the actual creepiest facts that I fact-checked for you and that you probably could have lived your entire life without:
1.There is a recorded case of hysteria in a large French convent in 1844. One nun began meowing like a cat, and shortly thereafter, every nun in the convent began meowing together for several hours at a time. This lasted until soldiers accompanied police to the entrance of the convent, and the nuns were informed that they would be whipped by the soldiers until they stopped meowing.
2.Cotard's syndrome, also called walking corpse syndrome, is a condition wherein the patient believes they are dead, dying, missing parts of their bodies, or don't exist. Some people with Cotard's syndrome may stop speaking or eating since they believe they're dead.
3.The only person to have survived death by electric chair, 17-year-old Willie Francis, reportedly described, "I tried to say goodbye but my tongue got stuck in the peanut butter, and I felt a burnin' in my head and my left leg, and I jumped against the straps."
4.A human body could be skeletonized in less than four days in highly oxygenated deeper water, according to a study done by Simon Fraser University.
5.The Roman Empire lasted for more than 1,000 years, making it the longest-lasting empire in history (even noted by Guinness World Records). For comparison, the US is turning 245 years old in 2021.
6.Fatal familial insomnia is a rare genetic degenerative brain disorder wherein the affected individual is unable to sleep. The disorder may begin mildly but gradually worsen, causing mental and physical deterioration. There is no known cure, and eventually, the disorder leads to death.
7.The bodies of the 29 crew members of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank suddenly in Lake Superior in 1975, were never recovered and remain entombed in the freighter. In a 1994 submarine expedition, Fred Shannon's team spotted a body on the lake bottom outside of the ship.
8.Theoretically, it would take approximately 400 humans to have enough iron to forge a sword from blood. This is based on the fact that the average human has about 3.5 to 4 grams of iron in their body, and one hand-and-a-half sword weighs 1.5 kilograms (1,500 grams). So 1,500 grams divided by 3.75 grams is 400.
9.In 2015, former chief of the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit John Douglas said, "A very conservative estimate is that there are between 25 and 50 active serial killers in the United States" at any given time.
10.If you were murdered in the US, there's an almost 40% chance your murderer will get away with it, based on 2017 data from the FBI.
11.For more than 50 years, the US has given Purple Hearts that were made during World War II. During the war, the US made 1,506,000 Purple Hearts. The US anticipated needing more Purple Hearts for ground invasions of Japan, but Japan surrendered, and the US was left with 495,000 unused Purple Hearts after the war.
12.Around 4,400 unidentified bodies are recovered each year, according to NamUs. Subsequently, after one year, around 1,000 of those bodies still remain unidentified.
13.Scaphism is an *alleged* ancient Persian execution method that entails the victim being laid on their back between two fitted boats (so that they cover each other) with their head, hands, and feet sticking out. The victim is then forced to eat and is covered with milk and honey to attract flies and vermin. The boat is left out on the water, exposed to the sun, until the victim dies.
14.Situs inversus is a rare genetic condition wherein the positions of the organs in a person's chest and abdomen mirror normal anatomy. For instance, their heart is on the right side of their chest, not their left.
15.There's a theory that dogs like squeaky toys because the sounds mimic that of captured prey.
16.Foreskin is used to grow skin for skin grafts. Dr. James McGuire, head of wound management at the Foot and Ankle Institute at the School of Podiatric Medicine at Temple University, told CNN, "In some cases, we can get four football fields of skin out of one baby foreskin."
17.The last execution by guillotine happened the same year the first Star Wars movie premiered. On May 25, 1977, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hopepremiered in the US. About five months later, on September 10, 1977, Hamida Djandoubi was the last person to be executed by guillotine in France.
18.Certain species of male angler fish mate by biting a female angler fish so that his mouth fuses to her body. Ultimately, their epidermal tissues fuse, and their circulatory systems are united so that the male, "whose single function is to produce sperm, becomes dependent on the female for blood-transported nutriment, and the female becomes a kind of self-fertilizing host." This is called sexual parasitism.
19.Of the total 2,368 species of bacteria identified in 60 belly buttons swabbed in an experiment by researchers, 1,458 species may be "new to science." One person's belly button had bacterium that has only been found in soil in Japan, but the person had never been to Japan.
20.Pretty much every adult human has a population of Demodex, also known as eyelash mites, living on them. They're arachnids that live in the hair follicles of your face and eat sebum. When you sleep, they crawl out onto your skin to mate, then go back to lay their eggs.
21.Zoroastrians traditionally practice sky burials, wherein the deceased's body is left exposed outdoors — customarily atop a raised, tower-like structure (a dakhma) — so that they can decompose in the open air and allow carrion birds to feed on the body.
22.Polydactyl (having extra fingers or toes) is actually a dominant trait (when it occurs independently and not as part of a larger syndrome). That means that having five fingers per hand and toes per foot is a recessive trait.
23.The "Rat King" is a folkloric phenomenon where a group of rats who live so closely together gets their tails entwined, creating a single mass of rodents. While some believe this is not a myth, the origins stem from the Black Death, when rats were blamed for spreading the plague.
24.To date, the US has lost six nuclear bombs and never recovered them. The term "Broken Arrow" refers to a nuclear weapons accident wherein the weapon has been accidentally launched, fired, detonated, stolen, or lost. Since 1950, there have been 32 known Broken Arrows.
25.Certain butterflies drink blood, urine, excrements, sweat, and fluids from decomposing carrion.
26.Pigs will eat a human body, including bones, leaving only teeth behind. In 2012, an Oregon farmer went out to feed his animals and didn't return. When his family went to check, they found his dentures and parts of his body in the pig enclosure.
27.Isla de las Munecas, or the Island of Dolls, is a small island south of Mexico City that is full of dolls hanging from trees and buildings. According to the island's history, caretaker Don Julian Santana Barrera found a little girl who had drowned in the canals. He later saw a doll floating down the canal and hung it in a tree as a sign of respect for her. Instead, he was haunted by the girl and began hanging more dolls to appease her spirit, but the dolls became possessed. Julian died in 2001, found dead in the same spot he found the girl, but the island remains a tourist attraction.
So, are you creeped out? Or do you have a creepy fact that will trump these? Let us know in the comments below!
