The hunt for amazing stories involves spending a lot of time (some might say too much) on the Internet. Naturally, along with all the inspiring, heartwarming, stories, comes some really weird and creepy stuff that we almost wish we hadn't read.
But as NOPE-inspiring as some of this stuff is, it's also too fascinating to disregard completely. With that in mind, we've put together a few of our favorites for you. See if you can make it through the whole list!
1. A Rat King is a phenomenon created when a large group of rats become fused together by their tails via ice, dirt, hair, blood, or even feces. Encounters with this horrible phenomenon inspired some of humanity's greatest myths.
2. Watch out the next time you go for a picnic. The Japanese giant hornet's venom is so powerful that it can actually dissolve human flesh.
3. Also known as The Buzzer, UVB-76 is a shortwave radio station, believed to be of Russian origin, that has been broadcasting the same mysterious signal – a low, monotonous buzz punctuated by occasional Russian voice transmission – since 1982. No one knows where it comes from, but everyone agrees that it's creepy as heck.
4. Did you know that you can actually get chlamydia from a koala? Not so cuddly now, are they?
5. This is a pacu fish, found mostly in Brazil. They're related to piranhas and yes, they really do have human teeth.
6. Have you ever had a nightmare where you can't move or speak but you're still completely conscious? Turns out it can happen in real life and it's called locked-in syndrome.
7. This a magnified picture of an eyelash mite, and there are probably hundreds of them living on your face.
8. Hinterkaifeck was a small German farm a bit north of Munich. One night in 1922, all six inhabitants of the farm were murdered with a mattock. The crime as never solved, but there are many theories.
9. Oscar the therapy cat was raised in the dementia unit of the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island. It's said that he can sense the impending death of a patient, and will curl up and sleep next to a patient if they're near the end.
10. Tom and Eileen Longergan were a young couple from Louisiana on vacation in the Coral Sea off the coast of Australia. They were scuba diving with a large group in the open ocean and were accidentally left behind. By the time someone realized they were missing, it was too late, and the couple was never found. The lesson? Never leave the house.
11. This is the horned toad, and it can squirt blood out of its eyes. Good to know that exists.
12. Scaphism was an ancient form of torture that involved having every orifice covered in honey and then exposed to large swarms of insects (mostly ants). Oh, and this was all after being force fed even more honey and milk while tied between two long pieces of wood.
13. Japan's 35-square-kilometer Aokigahara forest is popular among tourists, with its beautiful trees and caverns. It's also said to be cursed and is a popular site for suicides, with 57 occurring in 2010 alone.
14. Did you know that fir trees can actually grow in your lungs? Russian doctors removed what they believed to be a tumor from a man's lung, only to discover that it was actually a two-inch fir tree.
15. As if the world wasn't confusing and horrifying enough, there are things like the Phantom Time Hypothesis. The theory, developed by German historian Heribert Illig, states that Anno Domini (AD) dating system is basically made up and three hundred years of human history – about 614 to 911 – never even happened.
16. Caterpillars. So cute, right? What if we told you that they weren't all so cute and cuddly, and that some are vicious killers?
17. The Whitehall Mystery is a murder that took place in London in 1888. The unsolved crime involved the dismemberment of a young woman, whose body parts were subsequently distributed among several different locations around the city. The police never made an arrest, and the case remains a source of great speculation to this day.
18. Did you know that crows aren't just extremely intelligent, but that they even have their own language? Not only are they able to communicate in ways we never imagined, they're probably using this talent to plot our downfall.
Yeesh. I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep for a week. The world is just too creepy. I think I need to go bury myself in puppy videos for a few hours.
Share these creep-tastic tales with your friends below!
Done - Purple
