Category: history

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History Buffs Might Have Even Missed These 14 Dark Moments

I can attest to the fact that the truth is definitely stranger than fiction. There are some things that have happened in human history that, even if an author could dream them up, no one would ever buy.

Some of them, as these 14 events prove, are completely dark, showing the absolute depravity of humans, corporations, governments, or all of the above – and these are niche enough that even the most avid of history buffs will probably learn a little something!

14. So much hate in the world.

The Cambodian Genocide. You could have been killed just for wearing glasses, therefore being an intellectual (at least this was the Khmer Rouge logic). The prisoners were tortured so badly that they tried to commit suicide in every possible way, even by using some spoons.

The executions used to be like this: the prisoners were put on a straight line and to the second prisoner was given an object like a shovel or a hammer which he had to use to kill the prisoner in front of him. Then, the same object was given to the third prisoners and the cycle would repeat until there was nobody alive except for the last prisoner on the line, who was then killed by the guards.

Since many medics were killed or sent to work as farmers, the local regime used child medics to conduct experiments on the prisoners: they used teenagers with no knowledge of western medicine to experiment on people without anesthesia. For example, they opened one person’s chest just to see his heart beating. Imho, this s**t is even worse than Unit 731.

13. Too many people got away with it.

The massacre of kalavrita. It is a village is Greece. The Germans entered it and rounded up all the male villagers in a field. They then shot them all with machine guns. After that they got the children and women and put them in the church.

When everyone was inside, they locked the doors and set fire to the church. Around 20 minutes into the burning, a German soldier couldn’t take it anymore and opened the doors. Around half of the people escaped the fire but the rest perished.

The German soldier was shot for this, and if you go to kalavrita today his name is on the memorial. No one was punished for this apart from the leader of the division, who I was told by my grandmother that he died in a gulag. But everyone else got away with it. It is sad that no one knows about this, as things like this happened all over Greece and Russia and Poland.

I only know about this because my Great grandmother was one who escaped in the church. This massacre was in retaliation for the villagers supporting the local resistance force, which had recently killed about 10 nazis.

12. She starred in a season of American Horror Story.

Madame LaLaurie

Slave owner who tortured her slaves in horrifying ways. Evil sh%t.

11. Who thinks of these things?

“Khuk Khi Kai,” or the “Chicken Poop Prison” in Thailand. Used by French forces to hold political prisoners (rebellious Thai people) in the Chanthaburi region.

The long-standing impacts of this much-feared torture are still felt in the region today – there’s a Thai saying for those who buck authority that roughly translates to “Be careful not to get caught in a chicken poop prison.” I learned about this prison from my parents who learned about it from theirs.

How it worked, was there was a small, 2-story prison. Bottom floor houses the prisoners, and the top floor is basically a huge chicken coop.

The grated floor/ceiling ensures that the chicken poop falls onto the prisoners below.

Apparently, even though the “maximum sentence” in Khuk Khi Kai was around a week, it was one of the most feared punishments there was.

10. I can’t believe more people don’t know.

The January 1945 sinking of the MV Wilhelm Gustloff. It was a German ship carrying fleeing Germans from the Eastern Front to the West through the Baltic Sea. It was sunk by the Soviet Navy shorty after setting sail.

The total death toll is unknown but estimated at over 9000 since there were so many stowaways. It is the worst maritime disaster ever, several times more than the Titanic.

It didn’t get nearly the press because they were the enemy so who cares, and the Nazi media certainly didn’t report it because they’re at the waning days of a war they’re badly losing so the last thing they need is more hits to their already sinking morale.

9. The face I am making right now.

Margaret Beaufort – mother of Henry VII (father of Henry VIII

She was married off at age 12 to Edmund (25) who was desperate to get her pregnant as quickly as he could. It was not unusual for members of the aristocracy to marry young. It was slightly more unusual, because of the risk to both mother and child, for them to get pregnant before the age of 14.

Edmund died of plague while Margaret was pregnant, she was widowed and alone and pregnant during war. The birth was a very difficult one and would scar her forever. For a time they believed that she and her unborn child would perish. Not only was she very young but she was also slight of stature and undeveloped for her age so it’s a wonder she even survived childbirth.

It was so difficult for her that she never became pregnant again over the rest of her years, despite remarrying two more times. It is widely believed that she was physically damaged during the childbirth and was unable to conceive again, but it’s also possible she was too traumatized to ever put herself in that situation again.

Either way, Margaret devoted herself to her son, calling him “my dearest and only desired joy in this world.”

8. I hate these stories.

Mother and Baby homes here in Ireland. Most Irish people will know about this, but most people from other countries don’t.

Basically, mother and baby homes (or laundries) were places run by nuns where women would be sent if they got pregnant before marriage, and would do all the laundry from people who sent their dirty clothes to the homes until they gave birth.

During childbirth they would be provided with no real medical procedure, anaesthesia etc, and the nuns would often verbally abuse them during the process for being so sinful as to have sex before marriage.

When the baby was born, the umbilical cord was cut and that was the last contact the mother would have with the baby. Ever.

The nuns would only ever rarely let the baby live, and if they did it would be abused by the nuns it’s whole childhood for being the product of sin. But, most of the babies didn’t survive, and you would think, maybe, they would be killed humanely. Nope. Dropped into a septic tank.

They’ve all been shut down now obviously, but they ran until the late 70s I believe. During excavations they would find the remains of around 300 newborn babies for each home.

I apologize if any of this is a little inaccurate, I will gladly correct myself if I’ve gotten something wrong.

7. I would think a quicker death would be welcome.

Use of the “Judas Cradle” for torture:

The Judas Cradle was a pyramid-shaped seat set up high where the victim would be seated on the pinnacle, while tied.

The pyramid point would penetrate the victim’s anus or vagina and the sheer weight and movement of the person would slowly help it penetrate more.

The torturer would sometimes add weight to the victim’s legs, rock them, or add oil to the pyramid to increase the pain and quicken death.

6. Unthinkable.

The Children’s Blizzard. It occurred in January 1888 on an unseasonably warm day. The weather was nice and many school-kids were tricked into not wearing coats or jackets to school, some only in short sleeves.

While the kids were in class, the weather outside changed dramatically from warm and sunny at noon to dark and heavy like a thunderstorm, with heavy winds and visibility at 3 steps by 3 pm.

Children left school to go home and do their chores (this was in Minnesota) and were expected to milk the cows and do whatever else was involved in the family farm. But they got lost in the darkness and snow and the wind and many froze to death in their town, just yards from houses or other sources of refuge.

235 people, mostly children died.

5. Why the nuns get a bad rep.

Magdalene asylums, also known as Magdalene laundries.

Places of “reform” for women that didn’t fit the idea of a good upstanding citizen. The most well known ones were in Ireland. The women and girls were abused and mistreated by asylum staff, most of whom were nuns.

Mass graves, selling these women’s children to people in other countries, blocking any parental rights… There’s apparently at least one movie coming out, a lot of stories about it, and so many people sharing stories from their mothers and grandmothers.

4. Probably more we’ll never know about, too.

Human “experimentation” by Japanese Unit 731 during WWII, committed primarily against innocent Chinese civilians. Nothing I’ve ever heard of in my life, including in fiction, is darker than the horrors committed for years by Unit 731, a military biological and chemical weapons research division of the Japanese Imperial military.

There’s not enough room in a Reddit post to list half of it, but here’s a taste: Dissections of living babies, pregnant women, etc. without anesthesia (also known as a vivisection) usually after they had been deliberately exposed and left to suffer from horrible diseases, chemical and biological weapons, and so on. Freezing limbs off of victims. Horror-movie sadistic surgeries involving cutting off limbs and attaching them to the wrong sides of a victim, or removing organs and connecting the tubes back together without the organs to see what would happen, such as running the esophagus straight to the intestines with no stomach in between.

Not to mention the fact that the victims were routinely raped and tortured for the sake of rape and torture, without even the flimsy excuse of “science” being conducted.

And we’re talking about thousands upon thousands of victims, usually hapless Chinese civilians, political prisoners, POWs, and the homeless, over the course of years in huge facilities with thousands of staff committing these atrocities.

The icing on the cake? General MacArthur and the rest of the US government found out about it when they captured Japan — and they granted Unit 731 immunity for their war crimes so long as they share their findings with America and ONLY America. Many of the former Unit 731 members even went on to have very successful and profitable futures in Japan after the war.

3. Room for sheep.

Highland clearances.

Thousands of Scots were forcibly evicted from their homes, many were forcibly exported to Canada, the US or Australia, many who refused were massacred with whole villages of women & children r*ped, many died of starvation on the forced marches or from famine, all so they could farm sheep.

2. Why, though?

You know Jameson Whiskey?

Well a long time ago in like the 19th one of their family Heirs fed a little girl to cannibals.

Like legit went and bought a little girl in the Congo as a slave and brought her up to a cannibal tribe because he wanted to see them.

Sick f*ck drew pictures of it and s**t as it was happening.

Of course for years the family tried to bury the fact, and the stories and such. Discredit the witnesses. But the crazy bastard was happy to document the whole thing, his only rebuttal incase it reflected badly on him was that “he wanted to see if they would do it”

And his accounts matched up with the evidence witnesses had provided.

1. Racist history.

I wrote my undergraduate history thesis on human zoos at the 1893 and 1904 world’s fairs. Even people who are vaguely aware this was a thing may not remember that the US government specifically sponsored the “anthropology” department in 1904. It was organized so that fairgoers walked up a hill, and the people on display “evolved” from the most ape-like to the most civilized.

At the bottom of that hill were Pygmies from the Belgian Congo, at least one of whom had been “saved” from the infamous Force Publique when they sold him to a fair recruiter. After the fair, that recruiter took him “home” (to a village that had already been burned by the Belgians.) He begged the recruiter not to leave him there, so the recruiter took him to NYC and gave him to the American Museum of Natural History, who loaned him to the Bronx Zoo, which put him on display in the ape house. His name was Ota Benga, and he got out of the zoo after African-American church groups protested. He tried to build a life in America for over 10 years before he shot himself in 1916.

Farther up that hill were Ainu people from Japan, and a large contingent of Filipinos (the US had recently taken the Philippines as a colony). A few months after the fair closed, one of the Ainu wrote to someone they’d met in St. Louis to report that they’d made it home safely, and explain how they were spending all the money they’d made in tips on new livestock.

Continuing up the hill, there were also Native American people, including Geronimo, who was still being held as a “prisoner of war” by the US army (some 20 years after the Indian Wars were over.) In his memoirs, Geronimo writes about the soldiers taking him on the Ferris Wheel in order to make fun of him, and how he reclaimed the moment by teasing them right back.

Another Indian resident at the fair irked the fair governors by spending her tip money on a baby carriage for her kid. They thought it would be more “authentic” to carry him around on a board, but she liked the labor-saving carriage. She won that argument.

At the top of the hill was a “model Indian School,” of residential school infamy. The teenagers on display there were “proof” of how savages could be civilized into almost-white-passing specimens. The girls’ basketball team from that school competed against other teams that traveled to the fair and the girls were, in effect, world champions. When the fair was over they all got sent back to reservations or shipped off to “good Christian families” (who wanted free labor).

I try to remember these stories because it helps me think about the humanity of the people on display, and always remember not to tolerate systems that could – can – dehumanize people to that degree.

I know I learned a few things, and I am aghast at people, y’all.

If you know a story that would fit onto this list, share it with us in the comments!

The post History Buffs Might Have Even Missed These 14 Dark Moments appeared first on UberFacts.

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Creepy Urban Legends You Should Read With the Lights On

Most cities have at least a few creepy urban legends.

And thankfully people from all over the world can come to Reddit and share theirs for all the online world to read.

The following 12 people have heard some s**t, and now you can read it!

Let’s take a look!

12. “she threw the baby off the bridge…”

“In Wichita, there is a bridge, Theorosa’s bridge. There are a few versions of the story, but most of them tell that there once was a woman who had an illegitimate baby, and she threw the baby off the bridge into the water to be rid of it.

Full of grief and regret, she then jumps in after the baby and drowns herself. Supposedly, if you go to the bridge and yell loudly that your are Theorosa’s child or that you have her child, she will appear and drown you in the river.”

11. “once they came out running with a bat…”

“We have the Watchers. The story (that I have heard) is that their daughter was kidnapped and murdered decades ago and the family completely snapped. They boarded up their windows and installed CCTV stuff and now they watch not just their yard but their whole street 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If they think someone is suspicious they will run out of the house with a weapon and attack.

The Watchers are completely legit, it’s pretty much a rite of passage in my area and they DO come running out after you. I’ve done it twice, both times in a car, and once they came out running with a bat and another time they came out with a knife. No idea what really compels them, especially since this has (supposedly) been going on since the 70s or 80s, but it’s real.

It isn’t a rural area, either- it’s just a house on a normal California street. I know their (new) next door neighbors, too. Nobody knows what their deal is.”

10. “people used to hide behind the trees on the side of the road…”

“Shades of Death Road is actually located about five minutes outside of my town. A lot of people get really into it and insist that they see ghost on the side of the road.

I remember my teacher telling me it was a really old road and people used to hide behind the trees on the side of the road and murderer them and have an old fashion GTA. There is also a lake next to the road called Ghost Lake. I love that road and lake. I’ve taken many beautiful drives down that road and have hiked and explored around the lake.

The lake at night can give out a weird vibe, though.”

9. “There were reports of green like ooze dripping…”

“In my hometown there is a legend that one of our high schools is haunted by a girl who committed suicide in the school.

There were reports of green like ooze dripping from the ceiling and the hallway supposedly covered in fog everyday. The hallway has been closed on the fourth floor that has been closed off for decades. Some hear a girl sobbing near the hallway, some see her waving at them from the balcony, even some see a girl jump off of the balcony and see her vanish before she hits the ground.”

8. “and said that they tried to sacrifice her…”

“There’s a church in a suburb town of Dallas with no real windows, and if you go there at night, there’s always at least 1 car, sometimes 2 parked in the entrance and really spooky choir music audible. The doors are all metal, and the 10″ish square windows in the doors have that shatter-proof wire mesh in them. Keep in mind that this church is not in a terribly bad area. Not great, but not bad.

Rumor is that a woman walked into a nearby convenience store covered in blood, and said that they tried to sacrifice her. No idea if it’s true, but I used to live near the church, and I can confirm the car(s), spooky music, and overbuilt door bits of the story.

Might actually try to go by there after dark and get a video or something. Anyone interested?”

7. “legend has it he still haunts a trail by the railroads…”

“Where I am from, there is a man known as the Green Man.

He was a normal person who endured a traumatizing accident in his youth. Basically, a freak accident melted his face clean off, and the the locals called this person ‘Charlie No-Face.’

Eventually he died, but legend has it he still haunts a trail by the railroads, which is where he would do his night time walks, away from people that would be too afraid of him during the day.”

6. “The slaughter house was built sometime originally in the 20’s”

“I used to live near Statesboro Georgia for a time, and while my own home town didn’t have its own creepy urban legend, there was a legend about the old abandoned slaughter house on the aptly named ‘Slaughter house Road.’

The slaughter house had been built sometime originally in the 20’s, and worked through the mid 40’s before a fire ran through the place, killing a number of the employees. The legend was that the fire had been started by the owner when he found out that his young bride to be wanted to break off the marriage in favor of her childhood sweetheart. Among the dead reported were the woman, and the presumed sweetheart. The owner himself effectively vanished off the face of the earth after the fire, making the case technically (he’d be long dead now) still open.

The building has long stood abandoned, with no power, phone, nor access to the very top most floor. Yet this hasn’t prevented phone calls to 911 cropping up from there, as well as strange sightings of a woman walking aimlessly along the top floor where the offices were.”

5. “her eyes are completely black with bloody tears…”

“The little girl in the white dress.

Apparently a father went crazy in the 1950s and tied up & blindfolded his young daughter that was wearing a white dress. He placed her on train tracks and she was decapitated.

There are sightings to this day of a young girl standing right next to the tracks where the roadway is. They always say that it looks like a real human until she turns around and her eyes are completely black with bloody tears running down her face. Then, poof, she’s gone.

Thats how the sightings always go too. Nobody ever sees her from the front first…it’s always from the back, she turns around, people see the face, are horrified, then they see a mist where the ‘girl’ was and she disappears.”

4. “you can see Old Man Taylor’s eyes watching…”

“From rural Alabama…we had the story of Old Man Taylor. Tl;dr Old Man Taylor’s house caught on fire during a Sunday night poker game, everyone ran out, someone went back in for Taylor, saw his head had been cut off or something like that.

Legend is that the wrong man was convicted, so you can see Old Man Taylor’s eyes watching where his house used to be for the actual killer to come back.”

3. “these people also took their lives in a local forest…”

“Randomly, the amount of suicides in my home town will spike from absolutely zero to about 6 or 7 a year. We can go for 20 or so years without a single suicide, then all of a sudden many people take their lives over the course of 12 months.

I first heard about it when my mother was explaining what happened to some of the people she mentioned by name but I had never met. Two of them happened to take their own lives in the same year, as did 4 other people. They are normally in their early or mid twenties, have pretty normal lives, and usually aren’t connected much in anyway, so it’s not like these are suicide packs.

It’s creepy as hell because this is a small rural town in the highlands of Scotland. The population never really goes over 1,500 people. Most of these people also took their lives in a local forest by hanging themselves.”

2. “I noticed a few shadowy figures out of the corner of my eye…”

“I live in Princeton right now but I’m from a suburb of Seattle but I always say I’m from Seattle because people don’t know where federal way/Tacoma/auburn/Renton is.

So the story goes that if you go Federal Way, on foot or bike at night, and then to Tacoma (doesn’t matter exactly where) you’ll began to notice little things start to get weird. Usually you’ll feel as if you’re just stuck in the same 500ft stretch of land that just repeats over and over again forever. Then paranoia and the last thing would be some things chasing you on foot, shadow figures.

I thought it was stupid when I heard it in the 7th grade until I tried it, except in a car years later. I noticed a few shadowy figures out of the corner of my eye looking at me, at that point I peeled out and drove to my girlfriends in downtown Seattle and said some bullshit about wanting to see her.

Would never try it again. I had an intense paranoia that I couldn’t get rid of. Like night terrors that I felt for days at a time.”

1. “their skin is super pale and tinted blue.”

“I live in Southern California, and about half an hour east of the cities in the foothills. It’s very rural with lots of steep rocky hills and dry brush.

The blue people are a cult that live in the deep foothills. They never come out during the day, so their skin is super pale and tinted blue. They will leave a person laying on the rd out in the rural areas, and when a car stops to help them, they’ll surround the car and the person and the vehicle are never seen again.

I once got lost with very little gas out in the foothills at night and this story freaked me out so much I had to keep convincing myself it was just a story.”

Wait… the BLUE PEOPLE?!? What in the actual f**k?

Okay, I’m not sleeping tonight. Thanks Reddit!!!

Which of these really freaked you out? Let us know in the comments!

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Things That 1990’s Kids Remember Doing at One Point and Never Again

So, let’s have some real talk… this one hit me right in the feels because I am very much a 90s kid and I remember ALL of these.

Remember Blockbuster? Remember Nokia phones? Remember ALL THE GREAT THINGS!?!

Here are fifteen things you unwittingly did for the last time and never even thought twice about.

1. Used your T9.

I legit still miss those Nokias.

Image Credit: Buzzfeed

2. Watching the news to see that cancellation…

The only time I watched the news as a kid.

Image Credit: Buzzfeed

3. Tune in TV…

Man… we actually had to be in front of the TV at a certain time!

Image Credit: Buzzfeed

4. Those balls… gotta clean ’em…

This was oddly satisfying.

Image Credit: Buzzfeed

5. Make sure you had batteries for that CD player…

You gotta make sure ya got your tunes!

Image Credit: Buzzfeed

6. Physical media was bae!

Pour one out for our physical media…

Image Credit: Buzzfeed

7. Oh man… not crying… a lot…

I mean… this is going to happen to anybody… so I consider this emotional blackmail!

Image Credit: Buzzfeed

8. How’s your SIM family doing…

You all doing okay?

Image Credit: Buzzfeed

9. Blockbuster… RIP.

I am so gutted by this.

Image Credit: Buzzfeed

10. Oh snap! There were movie times in papers!

I remember the day these left and it was a bad day.

Image Credit: Buzzfeed

11. Remember digital cameras?

Do people even have these anymore?

Image Credit: Buzzfeed

12. AIM logging in with that modem sound…

Ahhhh…. the memories…

Image Credit: Buzzfeed

13. Cassettes had lyrics inside of them…

I REALLY miss this.

Image Credit: Buzzfeed

14. Directions on paper?

My grandmother still does this, though, so…

Image Credit: Buzzfeed

15. Illegal song downloads.

Did you all really think this was gonna last? Borrowing? HAHAHAHAHA… you f**king people…

Image Credit: Buzzfeed

How many of these did you do back in the day? Oh, all of them? Of course you did!

Share some bit of nostalgia in the comments. We love to read that stuff.

Thanks, fam!

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This is Why “It’s A Wonderful Life” Flopped at the Box Office, and How It Ended Up a Holiday Classic

There’s a good chance your family has some kind of tradition when it comes to the movies you watch during the holidays. It might be children’s classics, like Charlie Brown or How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

It might be modern favorites like Christmas Vacation or A Christmas Story, or maybe you just love marathoning every Hallmark Christmas movie they can throw at you in the span of two months.

If you’re like my family, you enjoy mixing in an oldie or two, like White Christmas, Holiday Inn, Meet Me in St. Louis, and yes, It’s a Wonderful Life.

Image Credit: Republic Pictures

The story of George Bailey’s descent into despair and subsequent triumph over the certainty that everyone would be better off without him has become a tradition for many, and I don’t know about you, but that heartwarming ending gets me every single time.

It’s a little surprising to learn, then, that audiences originally panned the film so hard that it was considered a complete box office flop – this despite Academy Award magnet Frank Capra at the helm and America’s beloved everyman, James Stewart, in the starring role.

None of that mattered to audiences in 1946, and the flop was so bad that it killed Liberty Films, Capra’s production company.

Image Credit: Republic Pictures

Frank Capra had made a name for himself in the 1930s with hits like It Happened One Night and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. He took a break during the war to produce propaganda films for the government, but in 1946 he was ready to jump back into producing films about the thing he loved most – freedom.

Liberty Films was born, and they decided their first film would be an adaptation of a short story titled The Greatest Gift (alternate title: The Man Who Was Never Born).

It was, of course, It’s a Wonderful Life, and with a $2 million budget, it was a huge risk.

The production process was fraught with drama. There were script rewrites, a bloated shooting schedule, and they have trouble keeping crew, all of which meant most of the budget was gone before filming even wrapped.

Image Credit: Republic Pictures

It’s a Wonderful Life released just after The Best Years of Our Lives, and it soon became clear that audiences and critics alike preferred the hard-hitting drama of the latter to the message of hope and the worth of simple values espoused by Capra and Co.

The Best Years of Our Lives won awards, it won the box office, and everyone forgot It’s a Wonderful Life ever existed. Capra sold his Liberty Films to Paramount and he only directed 5 more films in his career (none of which achieved what his pre-war movies did).

In 1974, though, a clerical error resurrected It’s a Wonderful Life from certain death on a dusty shelf.

The woman who owned the film’s copyright forgot to file for a renewal, and the movie entered public domain. Any television station could air the movie as often as they liked without paying a cent – and as you may have realized, networks aren’t shy about roping in viewers with – to quote Mr. Potter – “sentimental hogwash.”

People who were experiencing life after WWII wanted nothing to do with the sweet nostalgia of the film, but it turns out that audiences 30 years later had a strange sort of yearning for those days.

Image Credit: Republic Pictures

The Wall Street Journal spoke with Capra about the film’s revival after it was clear it was going to stick.

“It’s the damnedest thing I’ve ever seen.

The film has a life of its own now and I can look at it like I had nothing to do with it.

I’m like a parent whose kid grows up to be president.

I’m proud…but it’s the kid who did the work. I didn’t even think of it as a Christmas story when I first ran across it. I just liked the idea.”

In 1993, the Supreme Court ruled that Republic Pictures, the film’s original copyright owner, could regain ownership of the movie. What that means is that now NBC is the only one who is allowed to show it, and they manage to show some restraint – they typically air it once or twice during the holidays.

So, there you have it. Proof that you really never can predict success, and there are no bad stories – sometimes you just have to wait 30 or so years to find the right audience.

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People Share “Let That Sink In” Facts That Are Hard to Believe

Do you want to know ALL the info there is out there?

Well, that’s impossible, but today we’ve got 14 crazy facts to wrap your head around.

Let’s take a look!

1. Kaboom #2!

It took humanity approximately 4 times longer to switch from copper swords to steel swords than it took to switch from steel swords to nuclear bombs.

2. Eat mur ckcn!

There are more chickens in America than people on the planet.

3. Oh, is that all?

To be in the top 1% of Americans in terms of income, you need to rake in about $400,000 a year.

Round it off to $1,000 a day.

4. Unluckiest nurse ever.

The Titanic had two sister ships, the Britannic and the Olympic. There was a woman called Violet Jessop, a nurse and a cruise liner stewardess that worked on all three.

The Olympic crashed into a warship whilst leaving harbor but was able to make it back.

She was on the Titanic as it sank and is referenced in the Titanic film, a stewardess that was told to set an example to the non english speaking passengers as the ship sank. She looked after a baby on lifeboat 16 until being rescued by the Carpathia the next day.

It’s not known what exactly caused the sinking of the Britannic but the lifeboats hit the water too early. As the ship sank, the rear listed up and a number of the lifeboats were sucked into the propellers. Violet had to jump out of the lifeboat she was in and sustained a serious head injury, but survived.

She was on board for all three incidents in the space of 5 years.

She went back to continue to work at sea for another thirty years before retiring in 1950. She died of Heart failure in 71.

5. Now THAT is big… and small… and big.

If the sun were scaled down to the size of a white blood cell, the Milky Way galaxy would be the size of the continental United States.

The vastness of space is mind boggling.

6. Wait… how many?!

The US dropped 26,172 bombs [in 2016].

That’s almost 72 per day.

That’s about 3 bombs an hour. Every hour. For the entire year.

In 2017, the US had already dropped more bombs than that by September.

7. Feel old now?

Macaulay Culkin is now older than Catherine O’Hara was when she played his mom in Home Alone.

8. Savage!

France was still using the guillotine when the first Star Wars film came out.

9. Kaboom!

Next to the US army, Disney world is the largest buyer and importer of explosives in the USA.

10. What the what?!?

The first electric car was invented at the end of the nineteenth century and it went 65 mph.

11. Lot of concrete!

China used more concrete in 3 years than the U.S. used in the entire 20th century.

12. Weird orbit

The Moon orbits us from the west to the east, but we see it move across the sky east to west because of the rate of the Earths rotation.

Our observation is like being in a faster car watching a slower car (heading in the same absolute direction) fall further and further behind us.

13. F**king Texas…

There are more tigers privately owned in Texas than tigers in the wild.

14. Yes, the Air Force is #1.

The US navy has the second largest air force in the world.

Mind blowing, right? Who would have thought that a nurse could be THAT unlucky. Wow!

Have a fact that you’d like to share with us? Do that in the comments!

Thanks, fam!

The post People Share “Let That Sink In” Facts That Are Hard to Believe appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Talk About the Historical Facts That Make Them Choke Up

History is full of amazing stories, and they can run the entire gamut from joyful and lovely, to completely devastating and sad.

Because human beings are complicated, you know?

These 14 facts, though, are of the variety that make people break down and weep, so gird your loins!

14. And their dogs.

I am in tears, while carrying you to your last resting place as much as I rejoiced when bringing you home in my own hands fifteen years ago

My eyes were wet with tears, our little dog, when I bore thee (to the grave)… So, Patricus, never again shall thou give me a thousand kisses. Never canst thou be contentedly in my lap. In sadness have I buried thee, and thou deservist. In a resting place of marble, I have put thee for all time by the side of my shade. In thy qualities, sagacious thou wert like a human being. Ah, me! What a loved companion have we lost!

To Helena, foster child, soul without comparison and deserving of praise.

Three epitaphs written years ago in ancient rome by men and their dogs.

13. We don’t deserve dogs.

WW1- Mercy dogs, they would go out into no mans land and find wounded soldiers.

They would bring medical supplies for the soldiers to patch themselves up. Or if the soldier was to mortally wounded, stay and comfort them in their final moments.

12. Times were tough.

Through genealogy, I found an old newspaper reporting an accident that happened:

My 4x great grandmother and grandfather were crossing the river into maine from canada when their wagon tipped. He and 5 children survived, my 4x great grandmother and month old baby did not.

That tugged at my heart. I cannot imagine the devastation he and his children felt as they were moving.

There was also a lot of stillborns and a lot of children who never saw past the age of 10

It’s quite a sad journey at times.

11. It’s heavy.

The end of a sappho poem:

Beyond all hope, I prayed those timeless days we spent might be made twice as long.

I prayed one word: I want.

Someone, I tell you, will remember us, even in another time.

That quote always make me tear up.

10. The worst time in history.

Dangerfield Newby, one of the free black men who died in the raid on Harper’s Ferry, had a letter from his enslaved wife on his person.

He had been working to buy her and his children, but her owner kept raising the price.

9. Do not Google this unless you truly want to know.

The torture and murder of Junko Furuta.

What they did to her would make the cartels cringe, but the worst part of her sordid case is that all of the people involved in her death were given slaps on the wrist and are roaming the streets of Japan today.

8. History is full of stories like these.

The Sand Creek massacre is particularly bad. They had so much faith in the peace treaties that had been signed, the signs of good faith from American settlers. Only to be massacred.

The leader of the camp, Black Kettle, desperately holding up the American flag he’d been given with a white flag underneath it, encouraging his people to gather around it- thinking that the settlers would realize they were allies and stop the killings. Only to be shot down.

The descriptions of the massacre are brutal- children tortured and slaughtered, pregnant women with their children torn out of their stomachs. Genitals torn from corpses and taken for trophies. It really made me realize you can never underestimate the cruelty of mankind.

Especially considering most of the murdered in this massacre were defenseless women, children, and elderly.

7. Everyone loves cats.

The oldest recorded name for a cat was from Ancient Egypt.

The cat’s name was “Nedjem” which means “Sweetie”.

6. He probably should have.

My grandfather was Kalispell, he was taken from his family, sent to “white” school and eventually adopted by a German family. He was about eight, his exact age was not known.

Breaks my heart every day. He was such a good and loving grandfather, and never held a grudge.

5. Humans, man.

There’s no more wolves in Ireland.

They are coming back to Germany.

And there are already groups which want to kill them all again. And they are spreading panic:

There was a news story were a woman reported to be “attacked” by a “wolf wearing a collar”. It was a lost dog looking for help, which sniffed and licked her hand.

4. Seriously, I hope you have a dog.

The story of Hachikō, the dog who waited patiently for his owner 9 years after his death.

I’m sure many are familiar with this story because of the movies and the episode of Futurama (Jurassic Bark) which was inspired by this story.

3. Because they had no choice of their own.

There were approximately 300 infants and children that were murdered in Jonestown, being forcibly fed or injected with cyanide.

I feel so much pain for all the victims but the kids in particular make me ache with despair.

2. It’s called honor.

In WWII an American pilot named Charles Brown was flying a B-17 in a bomb raid over Germany where his aircraft was severely shot up and entered a free fall when Brown passed out.

When Brown awoke, he was only a few thousand feet above the ground and barely was able to recover the aircraft. When the Luftwaffe spotted a limping B-17 far below the formation, they dispatched a pilot named Franz Stigler, a soon to be ace just 1 kill away, with 2 Downed B-17s earlier that day.

As he approached from the rear, Stigler noticed that the B-17s tail gunner didn’t move and after further inspection, realized he and several other gunners were dead. Stigler saw this and remembered what his flight instructor had said years ago,” if you shoot a man in a parachute, ill shoot you myself”.

Stigler saw this limping B-17 as no different from a downed pilot in a parachute. To prevent german flak cannons from taking it out, Stigler flew in formation with the B-17 all the way until the English Channel where it landed safely. Stigler never mentioned the incident, and could’ve been court martialled for it.

Decades later, Charles went looking for the enemy pilot that saved his life that fateful day, and eventually met him face to face, becoming close friends and dying just a few months apart from each other in 2008.

1. It will make you cry.

The story about Sir Nicolas Winton who saved over 600 children from the holocaust

No one knew of his story until 50 years later when his wife found notebooks detailing the 669 kids he helped escape the Nazi’s.

Is anyone else choking up here?

Do you have a fact to add to this list? Share it with us in the comments!

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People Share the Historical Facts That Makes Them Cry

If you think history is boring, I promise that you’ve just never had the right teacher (or read the right books!). History can do all of the things a good movie or book or play can do – it can make you laugh, making you think, make you mad, and sure, it can make you cry.

These 15 people are sharing the moments that always make them tear up, no matter how many times they hear about them.

15. Life isn’t always fair.

It doesn’t exactly make me cry, but Albert Goring, the staunchly anti-Nazi brother of Hermann Goring, spent the second world war helping jews and dissidents to escape.

He was caught several times, but was let off the hook due to his brother’s influence within the Reich. After the war, he was shunned for his last name and his accomplishments forgotten.

14. Mental illness is a thief.

Virginia Woolf’s suicide and the note she left behind makes me f**king weep like a baby.

Just the way she expresses sentiments of happiness and love to her husband, but also her guilt and struggle with mental illness- it just kills me.

13. Human beings are capable of terrible things.

The R**e of Nanking in 1937.

Looking up photos of what the Japanese did there left me silent for a while. They Raped and murdered women, Bayonetted babies, (you can look up a photo of it.) used the wounded as rifle and bayonet practice, forced mothers on their sons and fathers on their daughters, and made a contest out of beheading civilians.

(There is a Japanese newspaper article you can look up about it. It’s disgusting.) and the worst part about it is that the Japanese government denies most of these acts. Along with a lot of other war crimes that they committed afterwards.

It always shakes me to my core to know that human beings are capable of doing such horrible things to one another. And smile while doing it.

12. What a night for everyone involved.

RMS Carpathia was the first ship to arrive on the scene when the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank. Every one of the Titanic’s 705 survivors were rescued by Carpathia, which made a tremendously heroic effort that night in the North Atlantic.

The scene is dramatized in A Night to Remember, the classic film from 1958 (and one of the more accurate, especially given the constraints of technology at that time) — Harold Cottam, the radio operator on Carpathia, had already gone off-duty when the Titanic’s distress signals were received.

He immediately conveyed the message to Captain Arthur Rostron, who jumped out of bed and ordered the ship to change course.

11. Well that’s horrifying.

After the Pearl Harbor attack, at least some men were alive in a pocket of air inside one of the capsized ships.

Navy personnel could hear them banging on the hull and trying to signal for help, but there was no way to get at them safely.

The water was full of fuel and oil, so blowtorches weren’t a workable idea. And there was no way for divers to get into the ship because the damage had rendered the whole thing a deathtrap of twisted steel. There wasn’t even any way to communicate with the trapped men.

So the guards at Pearl Harbor had to listen to those calls for help getting weaker and weaker, while inside everyone slowly suffocated.

When they hauled the ship up for scrap later, there were 16 notches scratched onto the wall of that compartment, which means at least one casualty of Pearl Harbor lived until December 23, 1941.

10. People don’t talk like this anymore.

A letter from the Civil War by Sullivan Ballou:

“My very dear Sarah: The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days — perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more …

“I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution. And I am willing — perfectly willing — to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt …

“Sarah my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistibly on with all these chains to the battle field.

“The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them for so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood, around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me — perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar, that Ishall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battle field, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often times been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness …

“But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights … always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again …”

Sullivan Ballou was killed a week later at the First Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861.

9. Imagine if they’d just…refused.

A story from my great grandfather who fought in WW1…

Soldiers would cease fire to pick up their men’s bodies and would have a smoke together, go back to their trenches and start firing again.

Neither side of front line soldiers actually wanted to be there. Just drafted for war.

8. It’s hard to know how to feel.

The kneel down of Willy Brandt, German chancellor of 1969-1974.

He was visiting the ghetto of Warschau and kneeled to apologize for the German war crimes, surprising everybody.

The thing that really gets to me was the backstory: Brandt emigrated Germany in 1934 for being a social democrat and for having been in the resistance. He spent his time in Oslo until he was captured by Nazi soldiers there and was able to flee to Sweden.

The press releases of the time really capture the strength of the moment and I’m sorry for my translation, this is what Hermann Schreiber wrote in Der Spiegel:

„Dann kniet er, der das nicht nötig hat, da für alle, die es nötig haben, aber nicht da knien – weil sie es nicht wagen oder nicht können oder nicht wagen können. Dann bekennt er sich zu einer Schuld, an der er selber nicht zu tragen hat, und bittet um eine Vergebung, derer er selber nicht bedarf. Dann kniet er da für Deutschland.“

“There he kneels, he, who does not have to, for those who would have to, but who are not kneeling – because they can not, or because they do not dare to or because they can not dare to kneel. There he admits to a guilt, he does not have to bare and asks for a forgiveness he does not need. There he is, kneeling for Germany.”

7. Finally a happy ending.

Sacagawea, who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their expedition to explore the lands we now know as the Western United States, had a vital coincidence on the journey that always makes me emotional to think about.

She was born a Shoshone but was taken around the age of 12 and made a slave to the Hidatsa. After being with them for 3 or so years, she was sold to a French man named Toussaint Charbonneau who took her as a wife. When Lewis and Clark met her, she was about 16 years old and pregnant with Charbonneau’s child. The birth was a tough one and Lewis helped with the child’s safe delivery before Sacagawea and Charbonneau joined them on the expedition.

Lewis and Clark knew they would meet the Shoshone on their journey and were hoping Sacagawea could help them procure some supplies, especially horses, to help them cross the Rocky Mountains.

Sacagawea didn’t speak English. She spoke Shoshone and Hidatsa. Charbonneau spoke Hidatsa and French and one of the members of Lewis and Clark’s expedition spoke French and English. Suffice to say, translation was complicated and complex.

When the expedition finally came upon the Shoshone’s territory, they agreed to meet and hear Lewis and Clark’s proposal. They sat down around the fire and began negotiations.

The Chief of the tribe began to speak with Sacagawea and the conversation proceeded rapidly. The others, unable to really understand what was going on, were confused when she and the Chief began to cry, and then to embrace.

In the years since her capture, it turned out, Sacagawea’s brother had become Chief. He had believed her dead and she did not recognize him at first.

The celebration, when the tribe learned who she was, and the appreciation bestowed upon Lewis and Clark for returning her, is hard to completely express.

6. I like these happy endings.

Just a slightly happier letter for those needing a recovery. From a former slave, so writing not as eloquent.

Samuel Cabble, a private in the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry (colored), was a slave before he joined the army. He was twenty-one years old.

Dear Wife i have enlisted in the army i am now in the state of Massachusetts but before this letter reaches you i will be in North Carolina and though great is the present national difficulties yet i look forward to a brighter day When i shall have the opportunity of seeing you in the full enjoyment of freedom i would like to no if you are still in slavery if you are it will not be long before we shall have crushed the system that now oppresses you for in the course of three months you shall have your liberty. great is the outpouring of the colored people that is now rallying with the hearts of lions against that very curse that has separated you an me yet we shall meet again and oh what a happy time that will be when this ungodly rebellion shall be put down and the curses of our land is trampled under our feet i am a soldier now and i shall use my utmost endeavor to strike at the rebellion and the heart of this system that so long has kept us in chains . . . remain your own affectionate husband until death—Samuel Cabble

Samuel Cabble returned to Missouri for his wife, and together they moved to Denver, Colorado.

5. It’s definitely not funny.

One of the girls in the Donner Party was fed her dead mother and told afterwards. They had an agreement to not feed people their family members, but they had broken off from the camp in an attempt to find rescue. She would randomly burst into tears about it at school years later.

The whole story of the Donner Party is so horrible and sad and it bothers me that it’s just used for cannibal jokes.

4. What is the matter with people?

One that really stands out to me from the sub is this image of the Filipino Zoo Girl that was on display in the Coney Island Zoo in 1914. She was bound by ropes and people tossed peanuts at her.

It’s just heartbreaking to see something like that happen, especially to a child so young, but human zoos were a thing up until as late as 1958.

3. A heavy heart.

Teddy Roosevelt’s mother Mittie and his wife Alice, who had just given birth days before, both died in the same house on the same day, hours apart from each other.

In his diary entry that day, he drew a large black X and scribbled “The light has gone out of my life.”

That’s some heavy s**t right there, man.

2. Bless her heart.

When Alexander Hamilton’s eldest son died, his second child Angelica Hamilton had a mental breakdown and she never recovered.

Sometimes, her family would walk into a room with only her in it, and she would be speaking to her dead brother.

1. Heartwarming and tragic.

During the German-Soviet war, there was a Red Army soldier who sang each night with a hauntingly-beautiful voice. His comrades would give him their tea rations and scarves to protect his larynx.

One night, he couldn’t sing because he had gotten sick. A German soldier crawled across no-man’s-land and tossed something into the Soviet trench; the Soviet soldiers thought it was a grenade.

However, it was a package containing a letter asking if the singer was okay and if he needed medicine. A truly heart-warming moment in an otherwise horrific front.

Is someone cutting onions in here? Ugh!

If there’s a historical fact that makes you cry (and it’s not on this list) share it with us in the comments!

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Super Accurate True Crime Memes That Only Extreme Fans Will Understand

Another day, another opportunity to learn about true crime. Serial killers and kidnappings don’t deter you like the average person. In fact, they’re exactly what interest you – freak that you are.

Have no shame here; we’ve got a fresh batch of 13 memes that’ll scratch your true crime itch.

1. Oh no

Yeah, you might want to take a call like this as a major heads up.

Image Credit: someecards

2. The greatest love of all

Nothing gets between a girl and her true crime.

Image Credit: someecards

3. Time for a career change

It’s never too late to become a detective specializing in active serial killers, right?

Image Credit: someecards

4. Epic fail

Come on, that’s a rookie mistake.

Image Credit: someecards

5. LOL

A pleasant spin on true crime for the faint of heart.

Image Credit: someecards

6. Oops

Yeah, that razor, nail, and blindfold on the rubber duck are definitely not good signs.

Image Credit: someecards

7. Somebody pitch this

This would be a M. Night Shyamalan level twist.

Image Credit: someecards

8. Some extra binging material

Ironically, this is the only programming that’s remotely keeping me sane at this point.

Image Credit: someecards

9. This, 100%

Yeah, once you go down the true crime rabbit hole, you’ll never have a one-night-stand again.

Image Credit: someecards

10. What every girl wants

Fuzzy slippers, a glass of wine, and true crime sure beats having your heart broken.

Image Credit: someecards

11. Frugality at its finest

This is actually really helpful information – funerals are expensvie!

Image Credit: someecards

12. Some things never change

No offense to the other serial killer cases, but it’s pretty hard to compete with pure evil.

Image Credit: someecards

13. Super inconvenient

How different our lives would be if the knowledge were completely reversed.

Image Credit: someecards

There you have it – a little fix to hold you over until the next time Netflix launches another serial killer documentary. Remember to binge responsibly, and never walk to your parked car in a garage alone.

Do you have any favorite true crime memes? Don’t forget to share them in the comments!

The post Super Accurate True Crime Memes That Only Extreme Fans Will Understand appeared first on UberFacts.

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Enjoy These Fascinating Examples of Old Technology That Look Pretty Strange Today

We like to think that the age we’re living in is highly advanced and that the people who came before us we’re simpletons, but we have a feeling the photos you’re about to see will completely change your mind about that.

Because you’re about to lay your eyes on amazing examples of OLD technology that was way ahead of its time and is honestly still pretty impressive today.

Are you ready to go back to the future? Let’s go!

1. I’ve never one of these before!

But I like it!

300 year old library tool that enabled a researcher to have seven books open at once, yet conveniently nearby (Palafoxiana Library, Puebla) from interestingasfuck

2. Wow. Pretty impressive.

And I’m willing to bet this is extremely rare.

350 year old pocket watch carved from a single Colombian emerald from interestingasfuck

3. That is so cool.

But I bet that poor officer got tired of sucking in fumes all day.

In 1955, this tiny electric narrow gauge train was installed in New York’s Holland tunnel to monitor traffic speed. from interestingasfuck

4. This is kind of crazy.

But also pretty brilliant.

A British couple sleeps inside a "Morrison shelter” used as protection from collapsing homes during the WWII ‘Blitz’ bombing raids… March 1941 – [1280 × 965] from HistoryPorn

5. The forerunner to the Roomba.

I wonder if it was ever popular…

Robo-Vac, a self-proppeled vacuum cleaner part of Whirlpool’s Miracle Kitchen of the Future, a display at the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow, 1959.[1600×2116] from HistoryPorn

6. Wow! Get a load of this thing!

That is awesome!

This car is a French ‘Delahaye 175S Roadster’, introduced at the Paris Motor Show in 1949. Only one was ever made. It was recently sold at auction for around five million dollars. from interestingasfuck

7. I bet you sank all the way to the bottom.

Looks pretty heavy, doesn’t it?

The world’s oldest surviving diving suit: The Old Gentleman, from 1860. from interestingasfuck

8. That is one HUGE cell phone.

Zack Morris style!

Motorola Vice President John F. Mitchell showing off the DynaTAC portable radio telephone in New York City in 1973 [495×622] from HistoryPorn

9. Not too easy to lug around.

But it got the job done.

Kodak K-24 camera, used for aerial photography during WW2 by the Americans from Damnthatsinteresting

10. A rail zeppelin.

German engineering at its finest.

A rail zeppelin and a steam train near the railway platform. Berlin, Germany, 1931 (more info in comment) from interestingasfuck

11. I wish this would make a comeback!

I’m all about this!

Motorized roller-skate salesman in California, 1961 [1600×1666] from HistoryPorn

12. You don’t see something like this every day.

Time to hit the open road.

Jay Ohrberg’s ‘double wide’ limousine. Built by the man who also created the ‘american dream’ superlimo from WeirdWheels

13. I think a lot of us could use this right about now.

I need my alone time!

The ‘Isolator’ , by Hugo Gernsback: a helmet for insulating the senses against distraction; from the journal Science and Invention, vol. 13, no. 3, July 1925 [850×717]. from HistoryPorn

Those are so cool!

And now we want to hear from you.

In the comments, share some more photos of old technology that you think we’ll enjoy.

Thanks in advance!

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A Group of Kittens Is Called a ‘Kindle’ and Other Curious Facts About Cats

Few animals have captivated our curiosity and adoration so much as cats.

Our feeds are flooded with videos of their hilarious antics and adorable faces. We’ll happily buy them the best toys, treats and food that money can offer. But how much do you really know about cats?

Perhaps you’ll learn something new after reading these 13 curious facts about cats. 

1. Cats spend between 30 to 50% of their day grooming themselves:

Image Credit: Pexels

Cats clean themselves frequently for many reasons.

It helps to protect them from predators, by removing odor-causing agents.

Grooming also distributes natural oils in a way that prevents dampness and seals in heat.

Similarly, cats rely on saliva evaporating from their fur to regulate their body temperature.

2. Purring doesn’t always mean a cat is happy:

Image Credit: Pexels

Purring can be a self-soothing technique for cats who are injured, stressed, or giving birth.

It can also be a tactic to solicit food or attention!

3. It’s possible that purring helps bone density:

Image Credit: Unsplash

Some people theorize cats also purr to heal themselves.

Studies show that sounds frequencies between 25 and 150 Hertz, which is within the range that cats purr, can improve bone density and promote healing.

4. A cat’s nose has catnip receptors:

Image Credit: Unsplash

When cats encounter catnip, chemical compounds enters the cat’s nasal cavity and attach themselves to certain receptors.

One of these compounds, nepetalactone, is responsible for the strange and silly behavior some cats demonstrate after sniffing catnip.

It triggers a response in the amygdala, which is responsible for emotional responses to stimuli, and the hypothalamus, which is responsible for behavioral responses to stimuli.

5. But not all cats respond to catnip:

Image Credit: Unsplash

Whether a cat responds to catnip or not is based on its genetics.

The catnip gene is autosomal dominant, which means at least one parent must pass on the gene for offspring to inherit the response.

20-30% of cats will experience no response at all to catnip.

6. Cats make great private detectives:

Image Credit: Unsplash

In the 1960s, a pair of Siamese cats helped ambassador Henri Helb find 30 tiny microphones hidden behind the walls of his residence in the Dutch Embassy, in Moscow.

Ambassador Helb noticed as his two pet Siamese cats went from sleeping peacefully in the study to arching their backs and clawing at the walls.

He suspected they must be hearing something imperceptible to the human ear, and he was right.

7. The wealthiest cat is named Blackie:

Image Credit: Unsplash

When millionaire antique dealer and recluse Ben Rea died in May 1988, he left his £7-million ($12.5-million) fortune to his cat Blackie.

Blackie was the last surviving of Rea’s 15 cats.

If you think that sounds ludicrous, rest assured the majority of Rae’s wealth was split between three cat charities, with instructions to look after Blackie.

8. A group of kittens is a kindle:

Image Credit: Unsplash

You might be accustom to referring to a group of kittens as a litter, and that is correct, but a litter of kittens all born of the same mother can also be called a kindle.

Makes e-readers sound a lot more cuddly, doesn’t it?

9. Many historical women of note loved cats:

Image Credit: Unsplash

Cats were trending well before the Internet came along, and cat ladies are no new phenomenon.

Notable historical women such as Florence Nightingale, Louisa May Alcott, and the Brontë sisters all owned and adored cats.

10. Abraham Lincoln liked cats too:

Image Credit: Unsplash

Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president, loved cats. When asked if her husband had any hobbies, Mary Todd Lincoln responded, “Cats!”

Reportedly, near the tail of the civil war, Lincoln discovered and rescued three orphaned kittens in a telegraph hut.

He saw to it they all found a home, where they would be loved and well fed.

11. But not all historical figures loved cats:

Image Credit: Unsplash

Napoleon was deathly afraid of cats, Ivan the Terrible killed cats for pleasure, and Hitler was ailurophobe, meaning, he hated cats.

That’s ok. I’m sure they didn’t like him very much either.

12. If you love cats you are an ailurophile:

Image Credit: Unsplash

Are you simply a cat lover, or are you an ailurophile?

This fancy word for someone who loves cats comes from the Greek word for cat, ailouros, and the suffix –phile, meaning “lover.”

13. Disneyland has a lot of feral cats, with an important job:

Image Credit: Unsplash

Around 200 feral cats roam the Disneyland property, doing the important work of controlling the park’s rodent population. (Sorry Micky and Minnie, but real mice are not welcome!)

These cats are spayed, neutered, given medical care when needed, and fed by the Disney corporation.

You might not see them, because they roam the park at night when all the guests are gone and the park goes dark.

There is so much to learn about cats, and if you are a true ailurophile, we know you’ll be curious for more.

What’s your favorite cat fact from above?

Let us know in the comments!

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