Did you, pandas, know that a breast implant once saved a woman from a bullet? Well, you learn something new every day. I'm sure this list of strange and scary facts is a treasure trove for enthusiasts of curiosities.
The Morbid Knowledge X account has over 1 million followers and only a year has passed since its inception in October 2022. The account also has a website called Morbidful, "the ultimate destination for those who love to delve into the dark and morbid world of true crime, horror, and everything in between." We warn you, though – some entries in this list are not for the faint of heart, so proceed at your own risk, pandas.
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In 2012, a 24-year-old Kenyan man who worked at an orphanage called Anthony Omari woke up to find 3 machete-wielding thugs breaking in.
He took on all three men at once and chased them outside, where the fight continued. But unfortunately, Anthony would take a machete to the face.
Despite this, he successfully fought the attackers off, ensuring the children's safety, and then collapsed.
Luckily, he survived but needed stitches for the 11-inch gash across his face.
Upon hearing about his struggle, Ben Hardwick, a 21-year-old Penn State student interning at a nearby facility, went to talk to him.
Inspired by the story and deeply worried about Omari and the children's safety, Hardwick shared the man's story on Reddit, seeking $2,000 in donations to help build a larger fence for protection.
Within the first twenty-four hours, he received $65,000 in donations.
In 2008, a Quaker parrot named Willie alerted his owner, Megan Howard, that a toddler she was babysitting started choking on her breakfast.
When 2-year-old Hannah began to turn blue, the bird squawked loudly to get Megan's attention. Then he started saying 'Mama baby' repeatedly.
Megan hurried to Hannah and performed the Heimlich maneuver, ultimately saving her life.
Megan later expressed that if Willie hadn't alerted her, she might not have come out of the bathroom in time, as the child was already turning blue.
For saving the child’s life, Willie was awarded the local Red Cross chapter's Animal Lifesaver Award.
I first read that as the parrot being religious.
I have a Quaker parrot named Horatio. When I got him, he would scream "shut the f**k up!" at the top of his lungs when I was trying to calm him down. Thankfully, he doesn't do that anymore. Now when I'm being quiet, he sits on my shoulder whispering "shut the f**ck up" repeatedly in my ear. At least he's not screaming :0)
The bird did great but I don't want to seem like a mean person but why did she leave a 2 year old to eat on her own without watching her?
I was going to say that. I‘m glad the child survived and what the parrot did was amazing, but you NEVER leave a child that young alone with food.
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By mistake. The bird thought he was offered a cracker.
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And how is this morbid? Wouldn't this belong in a feel-good post?
my grandma’s blue quaker parrot would’ve stood and watched while the kid choked, chirping in delight. nice to hear that they aren’t all like that
Parrots are a great deal smarter than we give them credit for. Good job, Willie!
Also saved the girl a charge for negligence. You can't leave a two year old alone with a choking hazard
In 2006, a man offered a hitman $50,000 to eliminate his wife, Susan Kuhnhausen, using a hammer and staging it as a failed robbery. However, when the hired assailant arrived and assaulted her, Susan fought back, ultimately strangling and killing the hitman.
The Morbidful universe is not just the aforementioned website and the X page. They also share stories on Instagram under the account named Morbidfull. There's also a YouTube channel where you can find videos of unsettling and spooky stuff in their signature style.
The Morbidful team describes themselves as a dedicated team of writers and researchers. They aim to bring their readers "the most fascinating and bone-chilling stories from around the world."
For the last two decades, Chen Si has dedicated his weekends to patrolling the Nanjing bridge, which spans over China's Yangtze River. His mission is to prevent individuals from taking their lives by jumping into the waters below.
He is known as the ‘Angel of Nanjing’ because so far he has saved over 400 people.
Grover Krantz was an anthropologist who donated his body to the Smithsonian Museum to show how skeletons can be educational tools. His only condition was that he wanted his loving dog next to even after death.
Born on September 23, 1988, Matthew Robinson faced significant challenges from birth, being blind and paralyzed from the neck down due to oxygen deprivation.
Despite doctors' grim prognosis of only a few hours, Matthew defied expectations, living a remarkable 10-and-a-half years.
When Matthew passed away in 1999, his dad decided his gravestone should depict Matthew in his truest form and signify hope rather than grief.
I hope you find joy and freedom of movement in whatever awaits us after life.
The project operates on the premise that there are people who are intrinsically interested in the darker side of the human psyche. It's for people interested in exploring the psyches of serial killers, the supernatural, and haunted places. Historical stories with macabre and bizarre elements also have their place in the Morbidful universe.
"Our blog is not for the faint-hearted, but for those who are brave enough to explore the depths of human darkness," the website's bio reads. "With regular updates and new stories added every week, you can be sure that there will always be something new and fascinating to discover on Morbidful."
In 2018, a heroic dad, Brad Lewis, saved his youngest son from a fatal fall from a balcony by jumping after him and cradling him to his chest, taking the brunt of the impact. He suffered a fractured skull among other injuries.
The incident happened when his son fired a toy Nerf gun and chased after the bullet onto the balcony - only for him to slip and lose his footing.
Both Brad and his son made a full recovery.
In 2017, 70-year-old Lawrence Ripple robbed a Kansas City bank, then sat down in the lobby saying he would rather go to jail than to live with his wife any longer. He was sentenced to house arrest.
During a medical procedure in 2020, Dagmar Turner performed her violin while surgeons operated to remove a tumor from her brain's right frontal lobe. This unique act aimed to help surgeons avoid harming the brain region responsible for coordination and delicate hand movements, crucial for her musical abilities. Thankfully, the surgery was successful.
Morbidful has 1.2 million followers on X and 136k on Instagram. They're part of the booming interest in true crime and supernatural stories. According to the Pew Research Center, 34% of adults in the U.S. who listen to podcasts say they regularly listen to shows about true crime.
Photo from 1999, taken amid the Kosovo War, shoes Mustafa Xaja, an Albanian man who had lost his two children and was desperately trying to find them.
Sometime after, the Newsweek journalist who took the photo, returned to Kosovo and journeyed to Mitrovica, Mustafa's hometown.
The reporter located Mustafa and inquired about his family. Astonishingly, Mustafa confirmed that his wife and children were alive and they reunited.
A note containing the final request of 50-year-old former NFL safety Dave Duerson that he left when he ended his own life on February 27, 2011. His brain, as he suspected, was found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy as a result of the concussions he suffered during his playing career.
In 2017, Yang Ming, a 37-year-old, was thrown backward onto a protruding metal rod after accidentally coming into contact with a live wire at a construction site.
His coworkers opted to leave the pole in place and quickly transported him to the hospital, where surgeons could safely extract it.
Ming underwent a successful seven-hour surgery at Sichuan University West China Hospital, during which the protruding rod was safely removed. Fortunately, the rod missed all vital organs, and he survived.
Assistant professor at the University of Oregon Whitney Phillips teaches three reasons why people are so drawn to the genre of true crime. First, it's the mystery element. Differently from books and movies, "true crime allows audience members the chance to feel invested in a real mystery unfolding before them."
The Siberian Ice Maiden, also known as the Princess of Ukok, is a mummy of a woman with tattoos from the 5th century BC, Republic of Alta, Russia.
The Body of Princess Ukok, who died aged 25, had several tattoos on her body, including a deer with a griffon's beak and a Capricorn's antlers. The tattoos have been perfectly preserved for 2,500 years.
In 1935, in the town of Gulf, NC, a pregnant Alton Jourdan fell into a well and gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Frank. The infant remained under water for 45 minutes without breathing until both were rescued. The child lived.
In 2016, a 26-year-man from the U.K., named Ben Innes, was on an EgyptAir flight to Cairo.
During the flight, a passenger named Seif Eldin Mustafa, hijacked the plane, wearing a vest packed with explosives and carrying a detonator.
The hijacker demanded that the pilot land the plane in Cyprus instead of Egypt. The pilot obliged fearing the terrorist would detonate the bomb if he didn’t.
Upon arriving in Cyprus, Seif Eldin released 52 out of the 55 terrified passengers but kept 3 passengers as well as 4 of the plane's crew on board as hostages.
Among these remaining 7 was Ben Innes.
Ben decided to walk up to the hijacker and then ask him if he could take a selfie. Although slightly bewildered, the hijacker allowed him to take the picture.
Thankfully, the bomb turned out to be fake. Seif Eldin was arrested and the remaining 7 people on board were freed.
When questioned about why he took the photo, Ben explained that he was attempting to remain optimistic. He reasoned that if the bomb turned out to be real, he felt he would have nothing to lose anyway.
Secondly, there's an element of interactiveness in the experience. You can be sitting on your couch at home and trying to solve the mystery. The third explanation, according to Phillips, is the reason why true crime's biggest demographic is white women.
On 19th of September 1991, in the Ötztal Alps, the natural mummy of a man who lived between 3350 and 3105 BC was found. According to researchers, Ötzi, also called the Iceman, was killed due to the presence of an arrowhead embedded in his left shoulder and various other wounds.
Fück me dead... imagine finding something like that on your morning walk.
The skeleton of Harry Eastlack, a man that suffered from fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, a genetic disorder that resulted in any injury being "repaired" by turning into bone.
I didn't even know that was possible... didn't want to know either.
A U.S. marine gives a cigarette to an injured Japanese soldier, buried in the sand at the battle of Iwo Jima in 1945.
In the end, all soldiers are just normal people, nor good nor evil, following the whim of some mighty men that have beef with each other, far far above.
The same research by Pew Center claims that women are almost twice as likely to be fans of true crime podcasts. 44% of women among regular podcast listeners in the U.S. opt for true crime, while the percentage of men is only at 23%.
In the 1930s, two scientists, Winthrop Kellogg and his wife Luella conducted a cross-rearing study, in which a 7 month old chimpanzee named Gua was raised alongside their 10 month old human child, Donald.
For nine months, Gua and Donald were raised as "brother and sister,” and the parents recorded their development.
At around the 6 month mark, Gua was recorded as being able to learn many human behaviors quicker than Donald, but unlike Donald, Gua was unable to speak or form any words.
The experiment was abruptly stopped 9 months in because Donald started to mimic the noises Gua made and had started behaving more like a chimp.
This is the last known photo taken of raggae legend Bob Marley before he succumbed to cancer on May 11, 1981. He was on his way home to Jamaica, but never made it. He passed away at a hospital in Miami at the age of 36. His final words to his son Ziggy were “Money can’t buy life.”
Rest well, Bob Marley. Your music will be cherished for centuries.
Ann Hodges shows off her bruise after being hit by a meteorite, 1954.
In Sylacauga, Alabama in 1954, Ann Hodges was napping on her couch, when a softball-size hunk of black rock broke through the ceiling, bounced off her radio console, and hit her in the thigh, leaving a very large bruise.
A geologist working in the area was called to the scene and determined the object was a meteorite weighing 8.5 pounds and measuring seven inches in length.
Ann Elizabeth Hodges is the first documented case of a human struck by a meteorite.
Whitney Phillips uses one piece of research in her Media Ethics class to confirm the theory of why white women are more likely to be fans of true crime podcasts. That theory is this: women turn to true crime because they have anxiety about potential threats. By listening to and watching such shows, they feel more prepared in case something similar happens to them.
In 2018, silicone breast implants saved a woman from a bullet fired at close range in Canada. Doctors noted that the implant deflected the bullet's trajectory, thereby saving the woman's life. Her only injuries were a fractured rib. There was no harm to her vital organs.
An advertisement sign for the drug Atabrine, an anti-malaria drug, In Papua New Guinea, 1942.
In 2009, a man sued Pepsi alleging that he found a mouse in his Mountain Dew. However, Pepsi attorneys stated that Mountain Dew will dissolve a mouse in 30 days, and showed that his can was purchased 74 days after being manufactured.
Ghosts, haunted houses and other unexplained phenomena are regularly featured on Morbidful as well. Associate professor Eddy White from the University of Arizona says our fascination with the supernatural comes from searching for meaning in a complicated world. It also has to do with mortality, and that's where fortune tellers, psychics and ghosts come into play. Other people turn to the supernatural due to feeling insignificant.
In the year 500BC a corrupt judge who took a bribe, named Sisamnes,
was skinned alive. The King ordered his skin be used to upholster the chair that his son Otanes would sit on as his chosen successor, to be reminded of his Fathers corruption, and ensure fairness in all his hearings and sentences.
In 1926, famous jazz pianist Fats Waller was returning home after a performance in Chicago when he was suddenly ambushed by a group of gangsters.
They held him at gunpoint and ordered him into the back of their vehicle. As he was terrified for his life, Fats obliged.
After driving for a short while, they arrived at a an exclusive club owned by notorious gangster, Al Capone.
Fats was then forced inside where he performed on the piano for the entire venue.
It turned out that it was Al Capone’s 28th birthday and since he was a big admirer of Fats, he wanted Fats to perform for him.
According to Fats Waller’s son, the famed jazz musician wasn’t harmed and spent three days and nights performing for Capone, taking breaks only to sleep on his piano bench. He was reportedly paid $100 per song, which is the equivalent of over $1,600 today.
In 1945, a B-25 bomber accidentally crashed into the Empire State Building due to intense fog, claiming the lives of 14 people.
Amongst other damages, the plane severed the cables of the elevator and the operator inside, Betty Lou Oliver, fell 75 stories to the basement, somehow managing to survive. She still holds the world record for the longest survived elevator fall.
Sure she survived, but I'm willing to bet that not all of her damage was physical.
"The world of science makes us feel smaller and smaller as we realize that the universe and the cosmos is much, much larger," White explained. "Science is discovering what is out there, but not our place in it. So people look to other areas where they can find some answers to those questions."
In 2004, two brothers from Austria called Andreas and Christopher, fell through the ice of a frozen lake near Vienna.
They were submerged for at least 30 minutes before being rescued. Both of them had stopped breathing, their hearts had stopped, and they were both clinically dead.
Despite no hope that either could be saved, emergency services tried to revive them and after working for 30 minutes heard a faint heartbeat coming from Andreas. Half an hour later Christopher also began to show signs of life.
After nearly an entire month in a coma, Andreas recovered fully and bud Christopher was on his way to a full recovery.
At the time, Dr Arnold Pollak, the head of the paediatric clinic at the Vienna General Hospital, said: "Andreas’ recovery happened so quickly it borders on a miracle.”
I wonder what the afterlife felt like... the biggest mystery ever pondered, and these two know the answer.
These are human hands, suffering from extreme gout. Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter saved them off of a deceased patient to study. He'd been suffering from the condition himself. Gout is a form of arthritis, where your joints become inflames and swollen.
Oh god, imagine the pain... or don't. Maybe actually don't do that.
Mummy of Thuya. She was the mother of Queen Tiya, grandmother of Akhenaten, and Great grandmother of Tutankhamun, about 3400 years ago She died in her mid-50s. Discovered in February 1905 by Egyptologist James E. Quibell, her tomb in the Valley of the Kings had been robbed in antiquity. Nonetheless, it retained a significant portion of its original contents, such as chests, beds, chairs, a chariot, and numerous storage jars.
the valley of kings is stunning! i looked up a photo of it!
There's also a much simpler explanation for why we might love ghouls, the Slender Man, and American Horror Story. It's just entertaining – sometimes it's fun to be scared. "We're in a state of heightened awareness, but we know at the same time that we are safe," Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona Jerry Hogle says. "We can take pleasure in the endorphins going off like this without actually being threatened."
Kurt Gödel, an Austrian-American logician, was paranoid of being poisoned and would only eat after his wife tested his food first. He passed away from starvation when his wife was hospitalized. He refused to eat food prepared by anyone else out of fear of being poisoned.
Dude... there's far and then there's too far. You probably would have been better off eating a poisoned meal. Also did he just not care about his wife?
In 2015, Aitabdel Salem, a 41-year-old from Queens, spent 5 months in jail at Rikers Island, one of the country's most notorious prisons, not knowing that his bail was just $2.
Salem was initially jailed on a $25,000 bail for allegedly attacking a police officer who was arresting him on charges of shoplifting on November 21, 2014.
Prosecutors for the case, however, failed to land an indictment, and a judge ordered Salem's release on November 28, 2014, just one week after his arrest.
Salem, however, still had to pay two $1 bail charges for two unrelated tampering and mischief charges.
The only problem: Salem didn't know just $2 could set him free. He remained in the overcrowded prison until May 2015.
In 2014, three people died inside a flight simulator in a flight safety building at the Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport, Kansas, when a real plane crashed into it. The pilot of the Beechcraft King Air B200 twin turboprop was killed along with three people in the building; six more people in the building were injured.
Dissection shows a nut lodged in the trachea of a child that unfortunately resulted in child’s passing.
In July 2022, a 24-year-old woman was admitted to the Van Training and Research Hospital in Van province, Turkey, with a severe stomach ache. After undergoing an x-ray doctors were blown away by what they discovered.
The doctors could clearly see a vast array of non-edible objects in her stomach and rushed her into urgent surgery.
During the surgery, the surgeons found a large metal needle, along with 158 other metal objects. The extracted items included a pocket knife, tweezers, screws, nails, a fruit knife, and even more needles.
It became apparent to the medical professionals that the young woman had a history of psychological issues, which led her to compulsively ingest foreign objects. This is known as pica disorder.
Thankfully, the woman didn’t suffer any life threatening injuries and she survived.
Yikes... remind me to avoid nails for breakfast and tacks for snacks
Note: this post originally had 52 images. It’s been shortened to the top 35 images based on user votes.
Morbid curiosity... this is why I can't go on Twitter anymore. The hidden replies are horrifying!
Mao Sugiyama, a 22 year old chef, had his penis, testicles and s*****m cut off, garnished with mushrooms and parsley, cooked for dinner at a grim party he set up specially for this occasion. 5 people paid 160 euros to partake of his bits in a hotel in Tokyo. There was a piano recital accompanying the meal and a panel discussion afterwards. 70 people were also there to witness this once in a lifetime event and they dined on crocodile. Police were contacted but they refused to do anything about it stating that nothing was being done that was against the law.
not many 22yos are that committed to their craft. Jesus.
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Morbid curiosity... this is why I can't go on Twitter anymore. The hidden replies are horrifying!
Mao Sugiyama, a 22 year old chef, had his penis, testicles and s*****m cut off, garnished with mushrooms and parsley, cooked for dinner at a grim party he set up specially for this occasion. 5 people paid 160 euros to partake of his bits in a hotel in Tokyo. There was a piano recital accompanying the meal and a panel discussion afterwards. 70 people were also there to witness this once in a lifetime event and they dined on crocodile. Police were contacted but they refused to do anything about it stating that nothing was being done that was against the law.
not many 22yos are that committed to their craft. Jesus.
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