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31 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are
The experience of just being alive is as wonderful as it is terrifying. The odds of our tiny planet spinning around a giant fireball being just right for habitation are minuscule, yet here we are. And while the world is a beautiful place, some aspects of it are truly horrifying (humans are to thank, in most cases).
Ignorance really is bliss, but curiosity often wins. Would our lives be easier if we weren't aware of the scary and disturbing things happening? Maybe, maybe not. Those things would still exist, whether we knew about them or not, but once you learn something, there's no way back. But hey, maybe then you could do something to change it.
One Reddit user wanted to learn some horrifying facts that shouldn't be true but are, and people made sure to deliver. Over 13k comments later, Bored Panda selected the most disturbing and chilling answers. From scary animal facts to the worst crimes humans have done, and continue to do - the facts on this list are eye-opening. Scroll down and upvote the most interesting entries, and if it gets too heavy, we have plenty of cat lists on hand.
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#1
*Anyone* can have a child. We have tests for driving cars, you have to have certain qualifications for multiple professions, and yet there are absolutely no tests, checks, exams, nothing to make sure you're suitable to raise a human being before you bring a thinking, feeling person into the world Of course, I don't know what the h**l such a test would look like, but the existence of abused children who grow up into messed up people who may or may not perpetuate such abuse is just...sad
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#2
In 2009 a paralyzed Belgian awoke from a **23-YEARS-LONG** coma, and it was discovered he was fully conscious and could hear everything around him the entire time. Like.. What. The. Actual. F!?!? Just imagine lying there not being able to move for two decades but also being aware of your surroundings. That's all kinds of messed up nightmare fuel right there.
#3
Since 1978 in the US, the average CEO's pay has increased 937%, while that of the average worker has increased 5.7%.
#4
There is more actual lemon juice in lemon-scented Pledge spray than there is in Country Time Lemonade.
#5
The existence of people who believe that the earth is flat, despite the overwhelming amount of evidence that it isn't.
#6
The final moments of Andreas Prodromou, one of the flight attendants on Helios 522 that crashed in Greece in 2005. The pilots failed to flip a switch on the plane that would allow the plane to pressurise itself, not noticing it was switched to manual rather than auto. During the flight, the pressure in the cabin dropped, meaning the passengers and crew were slowly being drained of oxygen, and they soon lost consciousness. Andreas Prodromou managed to find a back up supply of oxygen, and even though he was suffering from hypoxia too, for a while he was the only one conscious as everyone was passed out and slowly dying around him. As he held a UK pilots license, he entered the cockpit and sat down in the empty captains seat (Im not sure why the captain left his seat) in what investigators believe was an attempt to save the plane, but unfortunately his training was not enough, as he was only trained to fly small planes, not Boeing 737’s like the accident flight. He also called “Mayday” FIVE TIMES into the radio, but because it was tuned to the wrong airport, nobody could hear him. Soon after he entered the cockpit, the plane ran out of fuel, and the engines flamed out, so even if he could’ve flown the 737, there still was nothing he could’ve done. The plane crashed into the hills outside Athens, killing all on board. Being the only one conscious whilst your colleagues and passengers die around you, not knowing what’s going on, and trying to help but not being able to do anything is just nightmare fuel to me.
#7
A lone pilot was flying in Australia in 1978. He reported to air traffic control that he was accompanied by an aircraft above him. When asked to identify the aircraft, he replied "It isn't an aircraft". His plane disappeared, and was never to be found again.
#8
Google fired two of their leaders in the AI ethics team for publishing articles about the dangers of an AI Google supported:)
#9
Virtually everybody has the capacity to [end], they just haven’t been put under the circumstances where it would be a preferable option.
#11
in the NT (Australia) I remember seeing a government warning that crocodiles inhabit the area. Among the few bullet points of advice on the sign, the last one read "If they see you, it is already too late"
#12
How dark the BTS of the Wizard of Oz is. In Judy Garland's(Dorothy) own words "... they had us working days and nights on end. They'd give us pep-up pills to keep us on our feet long after we were exhausted. Then they'd take us to the studio hospital and knock us cold with sleeping pills- Mickey sprawled out on one bed and me on another. Then after four hours they'd wake us up and give us the pep-up pills again so we could work another seventy two hours in a row. Half of the time we were hanging from the ceiling, but it became a way of life for us."
#15
An estimated 1.5 billion disposable masks entered the oceans last year, and that's on top of a dramatic increase in other single use plastics.
#17
There are 18 genocides taking place right now on this planet, and dozens have happened since WWII ended.
#18
The Indian Cheetah and Sumatran Rhino were among some of the species that went extinct in 2019 along with; Chinese paddlefish. Yangtze giant softshell turtle. Spix Macaw. Catarina Pupfish. Indochinese tiger.
#19
Some monks used to endure a spiritual practice whereby they eliminated all their body fat through diet and exercise, ate wood lacquer tea to [end] off internal bacteria, then sealed themselves in a tomb holding a string attached to a bell. A year after the bell stopped ringing, the tomb was opened and if the monk’s body was found to be uncorrupted they were revered as a saint; if not, they were re-buried. The process took years and as they continued the monks required more and more help from their brothers until they entered the tomb. And the whole time you’d hear bells ringing from the nearby tombs as the monks inside slowly wound down the last days of their lives, voluntarily poisoned, starved, and buried alive for a chance at sainthood.
#20
Something is eating the Milky Way galaxy - no, it isn't the plot for a Star Trek episode, it's really happening. In 2009, researchers found a cluster of galaxies moving at an extraordinary speed towards a small patch of sky between the constellations of Centaurus and Vela. Some unknown force is tearing away chunks of the galaxy, and astronomers still have no clue what exactly is causing it. It's been named 'Dark Flow.' There is something big out there, far bigger than anything in our known universe. Such a behemoth would impose a kind of “tilt” on the universe, causing matter to move in one particular direction – as observations of the dark flow suggest. Could be anything - upto and including another universe.
#21
If a person gets bitten by an animal who has rabies, he will continue to live on a normal life for 12 weeks, and after the symptoms develop, there is no way he's making out alive. You'll know you're gonna die.
#22
An unbelievable number of people who die of dehydration do so with a fair amount of fresh water in their possession.
#23
In Mississippi and some parts of Florida, there is a Bacteria in the water at the coast that will literally eat your flesh off of you. Florida is much safer than Mississippi though. At least, in that aspect. There is a mosquito in Florida that, when it bites you, can make your brain swell inside your skull and can possibly [end] you.
#24
For me the fact that maybe we'll never know what hapenned to flight MH370 is kinda disturbing at least
#27
There are many countries in the world where you can be put in prison or killed by the state for non-violent speech.
#28
The supervulcano under yellow stone is still active and can errupt. The chances are very low but If it does, It can cause devistation in whole USA. Spreading ashes over the whole Country and parts of Canada.
#29
- Long-dormant bacteria and viruses, trapped in ice and permafrost for centuries, are reviving as Earth's climate warms - Gamma-ray bursts can [end] all life on earth without any warning - Asteroids can mess earth up
#30
The average American consumes over 150 pounds of sugar every year. That’s approximately 187g of sugar per day for my metric system friends.
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