Category: history

Posted on

These Black Women Should Be History Class Staples

There are many things that have received much-needed attention during the recent movement for social justice. One of those things is just how poor our education is in America when it comes to the plight and contributions of Black people throughout history.

If a Black person contributed to history in some way they should be in all of the books and be taught all year round, not only during Black History Month, and we definitely think these 11 Black women deserve whole chapters (if not whole books) dedicated just to them.

11. Madam C.J. Walker

View this post on Instagram

Inspired by Madam C. J. Walker #blackexcellence

A post shared by Hey Bambino (@heybambino_) on

The Guinness Book of World Records calls Madam C.J. Walker – an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist, the first female self-made millionaire in the country.

Born in 1867, she made her fortune with Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company. The company developed and marketed a line of cosmetics and hair products specifically for Black women.

10. Gladys West

View this post on Instagram

Gladys West is one of the reasons why you can receive driving directions from your phone or tag a photo location on Instagram. At secondary school, during history lessons, my teachers taught me that my ancestors were slaves. I still remember asking “what were they before they became slaves?” I was told nothing. That’s not on the school curriculum. I remember feeling embarrassed and ashamed as my classmates looked on. I had the feeling of being a slave, being punished by whipping, subjection, shackling, beating, burning, mutilation, branding, raped, and imprisonment and even more, that we contributed nothing to the world that we live in. Back in Jamaica, I learnt about heroes like Marcus Garvey, Paul Bogle, Sam Sharp and sheroes like Nanny of the Maroons. But, they were all freedom fighters or civil rights activists. No creators or inventors. I never learnt anything about our ancestors at school besides slavery and freedom fighting. I was puzzled. I questioned my family and asked “how is it possible that the Nubian race (Black people) never created or contributed anything of substance to the world, to humanity?” I was encouraged to read, to get a better understanding of where we came from and l discovered myself in the process. I discovered that my paternal great-grandparents were born into slavery. I also learnt about Egypt- Africa as a whole. In the end, that’s where my ancestors came from. I learnt that we have, and still continue to contribute to the world, to humanity. That many of our school books were written by celebrated historians like #Davidstarkey – are full of lies to disguise our contributions. My husband says “formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” I love reading and discovering. #gladyswest #changethecurriculum #schoolcurriculum #ilovereading #historybooks

A post shared by Sherrille Riley (@sherrilleriley) on

Gladys West, a mathematician, contributed to the mathematical modeling of the shape of the Earth, and her work and models were later incorporated into the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS).

In the 1970s and 1980s, Gladys programmed an IBM computer that delivered precise calculations to model the shape of Earth. She used extremely complex algorithms that took into account variations in gravitational, tidal, and other forces of nature that impact the shape of the globe.

9. Valerie Thomas

If you like 3D movies, say a quick silent thank you to Dr. Valerie Thomas. She was an American scientist and inventory who held various positions at NASA, where she authored multiple scientific papers and applied for a patent for the illusion transmitter – a device that simulates a real-time, 3-dimensional viewing of an object through optical illusions with parabolic mirrors.

In normal speak, her technology allowed for the creation of 3D technology for everyone.

8. Barbara Jordan

View this post on Instagram

? Today is #internationalwomensday and I felt like listening to #barbarajordan ? Barbara Charline Jordan was an American lawyer, educator and politician who was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement. A Democrat, she was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction, the first Southern African-American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives. Known as an eloquent speaker she was pivotal in the impeachment hearings during Nixon's tenure. ⁣ ?Inspire others to Reach for their greatest self ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣ ?follow @melanininspires ⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ #MelaninInspires #pureexcellence #melanin #melaninpoppin #blackandabroad #civilrightsmovement #impeachment #blacklove #womenhistorymonth #makeastatement #blackgirlmagic #blackgirlsrock #blackmenaredope #senator #melaninbeauty #blackinamerica #afrolatino #africanamerican #blackhistory #blackwomenyoushouldknow #presidentnixon #blackhistory365 #wethepeople #constitution #angelarye #maxinewaters #kamalaharris #shirleychisholm

A post shared by Melanin Inspires (@melanininspires) on

The first African American woman elected to the Texas Senate (in 1966), Barbara worked to establish a minimum wage law, a Fair Employment Practices Commission, and anti-discrimination statements in business contracts. She was elected as Senate President in 1972, becoming the first Black woman in America to oversee a legislative body.

Later in her career she was elected to Congress – the first African American woman to be elected from the South since 1898 – and took center state during President Richard Nixon’s impeachment hearings.

7. Mary McLeod Bethune

Mary McLeod Bethune was an educated and activist often referred to as “The First Lady of The Struggle.” She was born to slave parents and when she was 30, opened the Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls in a small house near a dump. It later merged with a boy’s school, taking on the name Bethune-Cookman School.

In 1924 she was elected president of the National Association of Colored Women’s Club, then founded the National Council of Negro Women.

In 1936, FDR named her director of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration, making her the highest ranked African-American woman in government at the time. While serving, she created the Women’s Army Corps, ensuring they would be racially integrated.

6. Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Congress, and the first woman (and African American) to seek the presidential nomination from one of the two major political parties in 1972.

She introduced more than 50 pieces of legislation while in Congress, where she also spoke out for racial and gender equality, for the poor, and strove to end the Vietnam War.

She co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971, and in 1977, became the first Black woman (and second woman ever) to serve on the House Rules Committee.

5. Daisy Bates

Daisy Bates lost her mother after she was raped and murdered by 3 white men. She dedicated her life to fighting the kind of inequality that shaped her world, and played a leading role in the Little Rock Integration Crisis of 1957.

She and her husband ran The Arkansas Weekly, one of the only African American newspapers dedicated solely to the Civil Rights Movement.

Daisy was the President of the Arkansas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for many years, and was integral in enrolling Black children in white schools after the Supreme Court made it possible.

4. Mary Kenner

Born to a family of inventors, Mary Kenner came up with and tried to patent the idea for an adjustable sanitary belt with an inbuilt, moisture-proof napkin pocket – the precursor to modern sanitary pads.

She never made any money off her idea, because her patent was rejected because she was Black.

3. Barbara Smith Conrad

Photo Credit: humanitiestexas.org

Barbara Smith Conrad was admitted to the University of Texas in 1956, where she sang opera and, somewhat unwillingly, became part of a racial controversy when she got the lead in a musical over a white performer.

They took the role away from her, which led to protests and media coverage.

2. Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai was the first woman from East and Central Africa to earn a PhD, and the first African woman to win the Nobel Prize. She was a social, environmental, and political activist who founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 – an environmental non-governmental organization that put their main focus on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women’s rights.

1. Alice Coachman

Alice was an amazing athlete and the first Black woman to win an Olympic gold medal. In 1948, her medal was presented by King George VI, and in 1952, she became the first African American woman to advertise an international product – Coca-Cola – as she continued to support other young people in sports.

She’s credited with opening the door for future African American track stars.

 

I’m dying to know more about each and every one of these ladies.

And honestly, I’m pretty upset that I’m middle aged and don’t already know it all already. Major fail, public high school and private college!

The post These Black Women Should Be History Class Staples appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

This is Why the Liberty Bell Has a Crack

Few artifacts generate as many questions as the Liberty Bell. Housed in Philadelphia, the bell famously features a crack that has caused many to wonder about its origin over the years.

The Liberty Bell was first introduced in 1751, but it actually was called the State House Bell. Created for the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House, it earned its more famous nickname nearly 100 years later.

Over time, it has served many purposes and remains an important piece of American history.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Originally commissioned by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly, the bell features an inscription that says, “Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof.”

From a size perspective, the bell is actually quite larger than most people expect. It checks in at 3 feet high with a circumference of 12 feet.

Constructed with about 70 percent copper and 25 percent tin, it weighs in at almost 2,100 pounds. Despite its massive size, it still managed to get a crack in it around the time of its initial use in 1752. According to Stephen Fried, a journalist and historian who teaches at Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, the crack resulted in a whole plan to fix the famous bell.

Fried said,

“A replacement bell was ordered immediately from England, but in the meantime, local founders John Pass and John Stow melted down the busted original, added some metal of their own, and made a copy.

That copy is what we know as the Liberty Bell, but the foundry in England also sent a replacement, and both hung in the new State House tower.”

Of course, the Liberty Bell earned its time-tested name in 1835, when it first appeared in a pamphlet published by the New York Anti-Slavery Society.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Some historians believe the bell got cracked that year when it was rung to signal the death of John Marshall, the Chief Justice of the United States.

Less than a decade later, repairmen actually widened the crack in an effort to fix the bell. Unfortunately, that proved unsuccessful.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Nowadays, the Liberty Bell resides at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. And while some still want to fix it, it has gone unchanged and still remains a powerful symbol.

Have you ever visited Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell? Have you traveled to see historic American landmarks or buildings?

Tell us about your travel experiences below!

The post This is Why the Liberty Bell Has a Crack appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

This is Why the Liberty Bell Has a Crack

Few artifacts generate as many questions as the Liberty Bell. Housed in Philadelphia, the bell famously features a crack that has caused many to wonder about its origin over the years.

The Liberty Bell was first introduced in 1751, but it actually was called the State House Bell. Created for the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House, it earned its more famous nickname nearly 100 years later.

Over time, it has served many purposes and remains an important piece of American history.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Originally commissioned by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly, the bell features an inscription that says, “Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof.”

From a size perspective, the bell is actually quite larger than most people expect. It checks in at 3 feet high with a circumference of 12 feet.

Constructed with about 70 percent copper and 25 percent tin, it weighs in at almost 2,100 pounds. Despite its massive size, it still managed to get a crack in it around the time of its initial use in 1752. According to Stephen Fried, a journalist and historian who teaches at Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, the crack resulted in a whole plan to fix the famous bell.

Fried said,

“A replacement bell was ordered immediately from England, but in the meantime, local founders John Pass and John Stow melted down the busted original, added some metal of their own, and made a copy.

That copy is what we know as the Liberty Bell, but the foundry in England also sent a replacement, and both hung in the new State House tower.”

Of course, the Liberty Bell earned its time-tested name in 1835, when it first appeared in a pamphlet published by the New York Anti-Slavery Society.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Some historians believe the bell got cracked that year when it was rung to signal the death of John Marshall, the Chief Justice of the United States.

Less than a decade later, repairmen actually widened the crack in an effort to fix the bell. Unfortunately, that proved unsuccessful.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Nowadays, the Liberty Bell resides at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. And while some still want to fix it, it has gone unchanged and still remains a powerful symbol.

Have you ever visited Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell? Have you traveled to see historic American landmarks or buildings?

Tell us about your travel experiences below!

The post This is Why the Liberty Bell Has a Crack appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

This is Where the Saying “Take It With a Grain of Salt” Comes From

When someone tells you to take something with a “grain of salt,” you should be skeptical about what you’ve heard, because your source may be unreliable.

A grain of salt is tiny. It is also a reflection of not putting too much belief in something that has already proven itself worthy of reservation.

But where does the association between salt and skepticism come from? We’ll tell you what we know, but you take this information with a grain of… well, you know.

Photo credit: Pixabay

The phrase itself goes all the way back to 77 A.D. It’s earliest recorded use comes from Roman naturalist and philosopher Pliny the Elder, who created an antidote to poison in his Naturalis Historia—it called for figs, walnuts, rue (an herb), and a “grain of salt.”

It didn’t appear to have a symbolic meaning until a few hundred years later.

In the 17th-century, Anglican Bible commentator John Trapp included it his A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments as a metaphor concerning his own writing.

Just what its meaning was to Trapp, however, is still unclear.

Photo credit: Pixabay

Over the years, the phrase continued to make its way through the English language in literal and figurative speech, but wasn’t used in its current incarnation until just after the Second World War.

It was then that became widely used by Americans and the British, who slightly altered the phrase to a “pinch” of salt.

In 1948, English author F.R. Cowell first included it with this particular meaning in his book, Cicero & the Roman Republic. According to Cowell, Cicero and those around him “took more than the proverbial pinch of salt before swallowing everything written by these earlier authors.”

Photo credit: Pixabay

Do you use this idiom or know of others with equally fascinating origins?

Let us know in the comments below!

The post This is Where the Saying “Take It With a Grain of Salt” Comes From appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

This is Where the Saying “Take It With a Grain of Salt” Comes From

When someone tells you to take something with a “grain of salt,” you should be skeptical about what you’ve heard, because your source may be unreliable.

A grain of salt is tiny. It is also a reflection of not putting too much belief in something that has already proven itself worthy of reservation.

But where does the association between salt and skepticism come from? We’ll tell you what we know, but you take this information with a grain of… well, you know.

Photo credit: Pixabay

The phrase itself goes all the way back to 77 A.D. It’s earliest recorded use comes from Roman naturalist and philosopher Pliny the Elder, who created an antidote to poison in his Naturalis Historia—it called for figs, walnuts, rue (an herb), and a “grain of salt.”

It didn’t appear to have a symbolic meaning until a few hundred years later.

In the 17th-century, Anglican Bible commentator John Trapp included it his A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments as a metaphor concerning his own writing.

Just what its meaning was to Trapp, however, is still unclear.

Photo credit: Pixabay

Over the years, the phrase continued to make its way through the English language in literal and figurative speech, but wasn’t used in its current incarnation until just after the Second World War.

It was then that became widely used by Americans and the British, who slightly altered the phrase to a “pinch” of salt.

In 1948, English author F.R. Cowell first included it with this particular meaning in his book, Cicero & the Roman Republic. According to Cowell, Cicero and those around him “took more than the proverbial pinch of salt before swallowing everything written by these earlier authors.”

Photo credit: Pixabay

Do you use this idiom or know of others with equally fascinating origins?

Let us know in the comments below!

The post This is Where the Saying “Take It With a Grain of Salt” Comes From appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

People Suggest Some Super Creepy Deep Dives, If You’re Looking for That Kind of Thing…

I freaking love creepy shit. I watch murder shows, listen to true crime podcasts, drink up paranormal investigations, and am morbidly fascinated with crap like the bodies on Mount Everest.

So let me tell you, I’m taking notes along this list of creepy deep dives just waiting to be explored.

17. If you’re not easily squeaked out.

Parasites.

Disgustingly interesting, and scary AF.

16. This one is dar, even for me.

Go watch the documentary “Three Identical Strangers”.

A story about triplets who were separated at birth.

It starts out wholesome and very quickly becomes dark

15. Welp, never going there.

NASA has radio transmission made by every planet in our solar system essentially giving the planets “sounds”. Saturn screams.

Here is a link for your listening discomfort.

14. Really anything on cults.

Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple.

13. Caves are a nightmare all their own.

Definitely the tale of that guy who died in the nutty putty cave upside down unable to be rescued as it would have involved breaking his legs.

Never thought I’d get creeped out by an infographic, but here you go.

https://i.imgur.com/BkmpH9v.jpg

12. It really will haunt you forever.

People dead on Mt. Everest.

It’s too cold and dangerous to get them down, so… they… just… stay… up…. there.

O_O

11. Oh yeah she’s definitely unable to contact people for SOME reason.

The wife of the leader of the church of scientology has not been seen for over 10 years, the higher ups of the organization claim she is dedicating all her time to the church.

But the fact that ever since she got in a big fight with her husband 10 years ago, none of her family members had seen or contacted her indicates foul play.

10. Failure is one way to describe it.

The Nazino affair, aka, Cannibal Island.

Back in the 30’s, some bigwigs in the USSR wanted to do what amounted to a collectivization experiment on an unsettled island, so they rounded up 6000 mostly randomly snatched up city folk and dumped them on a undeveloped island with almost no food or supplies or shelter, with guards stationed around the island ordered to shoot anyone who tried to leave.

Within 3 months, roughly 2/3rds of the islands population was dead, with many of the survivors resorting to eating the dead (and in some stories, butchering still living people). Eventually, the experiment was deemed a failure and they removed the survivors off the island, and records about the experiment got buried until the 1980’s

9. It’s really the last great frontier, right here on earth.

The bloop, deep sea gigantism, and other deep sea sounds.

While many have been debunked, the idea of godzilla sized shit running around down there is fun/scary.

8. I’m never eating cornflakes again.

Cornflakes.

The inventor of corn flakes made it bland and boring so people wouldn’t get excited and have sex or masturbate.

He also ran a sanitarium, put carbolic acid on little girl’s privates so they would never derive pleasure from sex , and put wires on boy’s penises so that when they had an erection it would cause them pain… among other things. He believed in some crazy crap.

7. It’s really horrifying what people are capable of.

Human experimentations done by various militaries and governments.

6. And this was some people’s JOBS.

Torture methods between 14th and 18th centuries.

5. DO NOT listen to the transcripts.

Toy Box Killer.

David Parker Ray probably tortured and killed more than 50 women inside his soundproof trailer.

He was never convicted of murder.

4. I need this to be an unsolved mystery.

Room 1046 is a pretty creepy unsolved case, basically an un identified man was brutally murdered in his hotel room after he had been sat there, alone, in the dark, all day.

Throw in some mysterious phone calls and strange behaviours and it’s a pretty interesting story

3. This story never gets less jaw-droppingly horrible.

Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign which was led by the Japanese as a revenge for the Dollitle raid.

Here is what Wikipedia says about it: “After the raid, the Japanese Imperial Army began the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign (also known as Operation Sei-go) to prevent these eastern coastal provinces of China from being used again for an attack on Japan and to take revenge on the Chinese people. An area of some 20,000 sq mi (50,000 km2) was laid waste. “Like a swarm of locusts, they left behind nothing but destruction and chaos,” eyewitness Father Wendelin Dunker wrote. The Japanese killed an estimated 10,000 Chinese civilians during their search for Doolittle’s men. People who aided the airmen were tortured before they were killed.

Father Dunker wrote of the destruction of the town of Ihwang: “They shot any man, woman, child, cow, hog, or just about anything that moved, They raped any woman from the ages of 10 – 65, and before burning the town they thoroughly looted it…None of the humans shot were buried either…” The Japanese entered Nancheng, population 50,000 on June 11, “beginning a reign of terror so horrendous that missionaries would later dub it ‘the Rape of Nancheng.’ ” evoking memories of the infamous Rape of Nanjing five years before. Less than a month later, the Japanese forces put what remained of the city to the torch. “This planned burning was carried on for three days,” one Chinese newspaper reported, “and the city of Nancheng became charred earth.”

When Japanese troops moved out of the Zhejiang and Jiangxi areas in mid-August, they left behind a trail of devastation. Chinese estimates put the civilian death toll at 250,000. The Imperial Japanese Army had also spread cholera, typhoid, plague infected fleas and dysentery pathogens. The Japanese biological warfare Unit 731 brought almost 300 pounds of paratyphoid and anthrax to be left in contaminated food and contaminated wells with the withdrawal of the army from areas around Yushan, Kinhwa and Futsin. Around 1,700 Japanese troops died out of a total 10,000 Japanese soldiers who fell ill with disease when their biological weapons attack rebounded on their own forces.

Shunroku Hata, the commander of Japanese forces involved of the massacre of the 250,000 Chinese civilians, was sentenced in 1948 in part due to his “failure to prevent atrocities”. He was given a life sentence but was paroled in 1954.”

It is only a small part of what war crimes Japanese committed in WWII but nobody seem to remember them

2. Read the comic at your own risk.

Elan School.

Basically this school was a pseudo-cult/Stanford Prison Experiment type place disguised as a send away school for behavior correction.

There is a webcomic series by someone who escaped. Im on break at work else Id link it

It’s since closed but it went for under the radar for years and years.

Iirc a few people died there from the harsh treatments they were given.

1. That’s one way to die.

The true story that was the inspiration for the song “The Way” by Fastball.​

It’s based on Lela and Raymond Howard, a Texas couple in their 80’s. They were planning to go to a festival they went to every year just 15 miles from their home, but they were both suffering from mental decline. They took off that morning without telling anyone. They never came home.

Three days later they got pulled over 500 miles away from home. Not once but twice. Neither officer was aware they were reported as missing persons at that time. They were let go with a warning, even though Lela couldn’t remember where she lived. The search intensified, authorities in multiple states were looking for them, it made national news and tips came rolling in but none led to their discovery. The early news of the search inspired the song and it was written before they were found.

Lela and Raymond were ultimately discovered by hikers a couple weeks after their disappearance. The car was at the bottom of a 25-ft cliff. Raymond was deceased in the passenger seat, Lela was deceased a short distance from the car holding her purse and car keys. She opened the passenger door for her dead husband before crawling away and dying of her own injuries. The car went off the cliff at about 50 mph and there were no skidmarks indicating that she even tried to stop. Presumably she didn’t see the cliff or got confused or something and just… drove right off it.

You guys. YOU GUYS. I’m already gone.

Which one of these are you going to research first? Let me know in the comments!

The post People Suggest Some Super Creepy Deep Dives, If You’re Looking for That Kind of Thing… appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

People Suggest Some Super Creepy Deep Dives, If You’re Looking for That Kind of Thing…

I freaking love creepy shit. I watch murder shows, listen to true crime podcasts, drink up paranormal investigations, and am morbidly fascinated with crap like the bodies on Mount Everest.

So let me tell you, I’m taking notes along this list of creepy deep dives just waiting to be explored.

17. If you’re not easily squeaked out.

Parasites.

Disgustingly interesting, and scary AF.

16. This one is dar, even for me.

Go watch the documentary “Three Identical Strangers”.

A story about triplets who were separated at birth.

It starts out wholesome and very quickly becomes dark

15. Welp, never going there.

NASA has radio transmission made by every planet in our solar system essentially giving the planets “sounds”. Saturn screams.

Here is a link for your listening discomfort.

14. Really anything on cults.

Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple.

13. Caves are a nightmare all their own.

Definitely the tale of that guy who died in the nutty putty cave upside down unable to be rescued as it would have involved breaking his legs.

Never thought I’d get creeped out by an infographic, but here you go.

https://i.imgur.com/BkmpH9v.jpg

12. It really will haunt you forever.

People dead on Mt. Everest.

It’s too cold and dangerous to get them down, so… they… just… stay… up…. there.

O_O

11. Oh yeah she’s definitely unable to contact people for SOME reason.

The wife of the leader of the church of scientology has not been seen for over 10 years, the higher ups of the organization claim she is dedicating all her time to the church.

But the fact that ever since she got in a big fight with her husband 10 years ago, none of her family members had seen or contacted her indicates foul play.

10. Failure is one way to describe it.

The Nazino affair, aka, Cannibal Island.

Back in the 30’s, some bigwigs in the USSR wanted to do what amounted to a collectivization experiment on an unsettled island, so they rounded up 6000 mostly randomly snatched up city folk and dumped them on a undeveloped island with almost no food or supplies or shelter, with guards stationed around the island ordered to shoot anyone who tried to leave.

Within 3 months, roughly 2/3rds of the islands population was dead, with many of the survivors resorting to eating the dead (and in some stories, butchering still living people). Eventually, the experiment was deemed a failure and they removed the survivors off the island, and records about the experiment got buried until the 1980’s

9. It’s really the last great frontier, right here on earth.

The bloop, deep sea gigantism, and other deep sea sounds.

While many have been debunked, the idea of godzilla sized shit running around down there is fun/scary.

8. I’m never eating cornflakes again.

Cornflakes.

The inventor of corn flakes made it bland and boring so people wouldn’t get excited and have sex or masturbate.

He also ran a sanitarium, put carbolic acid on little girl’s privates so they would never derive pleasure from sex , and put wires on boy’s penises so that when they had an erection it would cause them pain… among other things. He believed in some crazy crap.

7. It’s really horrifying what people are capable of.

Human experimentations done by various militaries and governments.

6. And this was some people’s JOBS.

Torture methods between 14th and 18th centuries.

5. DO NOT listen to the transcripts.

Toy Box Killer.

David Parker Ray probably tortured and killed more than 50 women inside his soundproof trailer.

He was never convicted of murder.

4. I need this to be an unsolved mystery.

Room 1046 is a pretty creepy unsolved case, basically an un identified man was brutally murdered in his hotel room after he had been sat there, alone, in the dark, all day.

Throw in some mysterious phone calls and strange behaviours and it’s a pretty interesting story

3. This story never gets less jaw-droppingly horrible.

Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign which was led by the Japanese as a revenge for the Dollitle raid.

Here is what Wikipedia says about it: “After the raid, the Japanese Imperial Army began the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign (also known as Operation Sei-go) to prevent these eastern coastal provinces of China from being used again for an attack on Japan and to take revenge on the Chinese people. An area of some 20,000 sq mi (50,000 km2) was laid waste. “Like a swarm of locusts, they left behind nothing but destruction and chaos,” eyewitness Father Wendelin Dunker wrote. The Japanese killed an estimated 10,000 Chinese civilians during their search for Doolittle’s men. People who aided the airmen were tortured before they were killed.

Father Dunker wrote of the destruction of the town of Ihwang: “They shot any man, woman, child, cow, hog, or just about anything that moved, They raped any woman from the ages of 10 – 65, and before burning the town they thoroughly looted it…None of the humans shot were buried either…” The Japanese entered Nancheng, population 50,000 on June 11, “beginning a reign of terror so horrendous that missionaries would later dub it ‘the Rape of Nancheng.’ ” evoking memories of the infamous Rape of Nanjing five years before. Less than a month later, the Japanese forces put what remained of the city to the torch. “This planned burning was carried on for three days,” one Chinese newspaper reported, “and the city of Nancheng became charred earth.”

When Japanese troops moved out of the Zhejiang and Jiangxi areas in mid-August, they left behind a trail of devastation. Chinese estimates put the civilian death toll at 250,000. The Imperial Japanese Army had also spread cholera, typhoid, plague infected fleas and dysentery pathogens. The Japanese biological warfare Unit 731 brought almost 300 pounds of paratyphoid and anthrax to be left in contaminated food and contaminated wells with the withdrawal of the army from areas around Yushan, Kinhwa and Futsin. Around 1,700 Japanese troops died out of a total 10,000 Japanese soldiers who fell ill with disease when their biological weapons attack rebounded on their own forces.

Shunroku Hata, the commander of Japanese forces involved of the massacre of the 250,000 Chinese civilians, was sentenced in 1948 in part due to his “failure to prevent atrocities”. He was given a life sentence but was paroled in 1954.”

It is only a small part of what war crimes Japanese committed in WWII but nobody seem to remember them

2. Read the comic at your own risk.

Elan School.

Basically this school was a pseudo-cult/Stanford Prison Experiment type place disguised as a send away school for behavior correction.

There is a webcomic series by someone who escaped. Im on break at work else Id link it

It’s since closed but it went for under the radar for years and years.

Iirc a few people died there from the harsh treatments they were given.

1. That’s one way to die.

The true story that was the inspiration for the song “The Way” by Fastball.​

It’s based on Lela and Raymond Howard, a Texas couple in their 80’s. They were planning to go to a festival they went to every year just 15 miles from their home, but they were both suffering from mental decline. They took off that morning without telling anyone. They never came home.

Three days later they got pulled over 500 miles away from home. Not once but twice. Neither officer was aware they were reported as missing persons at that time. They were let go with a warning, even though Lela couldn’t remember where she lived. The search intensified, authorities in multiple states were looking for them, it made national news and tips came rolling in but none led to their discovery. The early news of the search inspired the song and it was written before they were found.

Lela and Raymond were ultimately discovered by hikers a couple weeks after their disappearance. The car was at the bottom of a 25-ft cliff. Raymond was deceased in the passenger seat, Lela was deceased a short distance from the car holding her purse and car keys. She opened the passenger door for her dead husband before crawling away and dying of her own injuries. The car went off the cliff at about 50 mph and there were no skidmarks indicating that she even tried to stop. Presumably she didn’t see the cliff or got confused or something and just… drove right off it.

You guys. YOU GUYS. I’m already gone.

Which one of these are you going to research first? Let me know in the comments!

The post People Suggest Some Super Creepy Deep Dives, If You’re Looking for That Kind of Thing… appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

If You’re Looking to Get Lost in Creepy Rabbit Holes, Try These 15 Topics on for Size

If you’re someone who loves reading, watching, or just learning about the creepy underbelly of this wacky world we live in, chances are you’re always on the lookout for something new you haven’t encountered before.

I know that’s true for me, but I don’t know, y’all – some of these suggestions sound like they might even be a bit much for me!

15. This freaks me out every single day.

Human trafficking.

It’s far more widespread than most people realize, and extends beyond sex trafficking.

If more people learned the warning signs that a person is being trafficked, they would be in a position to do something about it.

14. I don’t think I’ll be Googling this one.

Issei Sagawa.

Wealthy Japanese man kills, fucks, and eats a french woman in France.

Gets released after being found legally insane, then makes a career back home in japan profiting off his crime. He does writing, artwork, and is a celebrity there.

Really shows the dark side of Japanese culture.

13. Just a few nightmares.

The Tunguska Event.

Not really creepy in a traditional sense, but if you imagine that (back then) they had no idea what had occurred, and went on to discover 770 sq mi of forest completely flattened with no explicable explanation, I’d be having a couple nightmares certainly

12. That’s a lot of mystery creatures.

Cambrian life. At this point in Earth’s history (541-485 mya) most living things looked nothing like anything that now exists.

There’s the “Tully Monster,” an animal that has paleobiologists in debate over whether it was a vertebrate or not (it’s thought to be related to lampreys); Opabinia, which had five eyes and looks like a cross between a lobster and a vacuum cleaner, and Anomalocaris, basically a chitinous floating death ship that arrived to eat all the much smaller animals of the time. Last, let’s not forget Pikaia, a little wormlike thing that is our distant ancestor.

New discoveries are made all the time, and scientific theories constantly shift to adjust to the existence of the latest mystery creature. They get neglected by the media in favor of dinosaurs, but Cambrian life is just as fantastic!

11. Like how they find unexploded bombs all over England.

The sheer number of unmarked gravesites along the Oregon Trail.

Several friends of mine have found bodies of pioneers in their backyards and property.

10. Their minds are always fascinating, that’s for sure.

Usually, it’d be declassified documents on serial killers, their activities, and their motives.

It fascinates me to know what’s going on in the heads of these seemingly deranged nut-jobs and why they’re committing these atrocities.

9. I remember this case and the details are awful.

I would submit Gertrude Baniszewski for the murder of Sylvia Likens, though I hesitate to call it “interesting.” More like disturbing as shit and immensely sad.

In short, the movie “The Girl Next Door” (2007 horror film, not the 2004 movie) was based off this murder. Gertrude locked Sylvia in the basement, and her, her daughter, her son, and a few neighborhood kids tortured Sylvia to death over the course of several months.

Gertrude and her older daughter got life; the kids got 2 to 21 years. Gertrude was eventually fucking paroled, which as an attorney (though, to be fair, not a criminal attorney) has always sat with me as an indictment against our justice system.

Gertrude would live another five years, in an entirely undeserved freedom, before dying of lung cancer in 1990. To date, Gertrude Baniszewski is the only person I can say, with no remorse, that I’m glad got fucking cancer.

The case if anyone is interested. It is not light reading.

8. There were a lot of people murdering inn patrons back in the day.

The Bloody Benders of Labatte, Kansas

A family of serial killers operating in the mid-late 1800s murdered travelers at their roadside inn.

7. This list is quite a wild ride.

The list of people who have “died” via absentia, Unit 731, the strange case of Elisa Lam, the Tulsa Race Massacre, what happened to the pioneers on Roanoke island, why my mom calls valid points and reasoning “Back talk”, and where my dad went.

6. This should keep you busy for awhile.

1) Serial killers.

2) Unsolved missing person cases.

4) Rare genetic disorders.

5) Alien abduction reports.

6) Human medical experimentation.

7) Anything the CIA has declassified.

8) The Hum.

9) Spontaneous human combustion.

10) Cases of alleged “demonic possession”.

11) Rare mentally illness.

12) Heat death of the universe.

5. I’m not sure I want to know.

A rabbit hole called Cicada 3301.

It is one of the internets biggest mysteries, and it really creeped me out when I started looking into it.

A series of clues was left around the world for people to find and piece together using things like coordinates and reddit.

4. You might learn a thing or two.

Down the rabbit Hole playlist on YouTube.

I like that he gets outside the usual “spooky” topics that have already been beat to death by a million other YouTubers. I had never in my life heard of the Austrian Wine Poisoning controversy. I was riveted for the entire video. I became a big fan of Vaporwave music after I learned about it on that channel.

If you know anyone else of comparable quality and diversity of topic, please let me know. Fredrik Knudsen and Ben Minnotte’s “Oddity Archive” are my two favorite YouTube channels.

3. You never hear about this kind of thing happening in Canada.

Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka serial killer story in Canada – three murders and several rapes.

So heartbreaking – one of the girls mothers locked her out of the house as she missed curfew, Leslie called a friend to see if she could stay over and the friend’s mother said no. Paul Bernardo picked her up that night.

Karla Homolka “gave” Paul her little sister as a Christmas gift and ended up killing her with tranquilizers she stole from work.

Karla was totally involved in everything, but pretended she was a battered woman and only got 12 years.

Also, I love anything about the Zodiac Killer – super interesting stuff!

2. This is all kind of a mind f*ck.

Lost media.

The thought of something either existing but lost to the sands of time or something never meant to be is both creepy and terrifying.

It feels like it never existed, and yet it did, and due to human error it was never documented or finished.

Sometimes we don’t know if it even really existed.

And yet, lots of it we do know. Remnants through small clips, screenshots, or even just the word of god.

But there’s a good chance we’ll never find them.

Might as well try, though…

1. Please take the warning seriously.

The Bjork Stalker.

Ricardo Lopez was an exterminator with aspirations of being a famous artist one day. He was very reclusive, insecure and lonely. He retreated into a fantasy world and became fascinated with the lives of celebrities, particularly the Icelandic singer Bjork. His fascination soon grew into an obsession and he began stalking her.

Upon finding out that Bjork was engaged to an African American celebrity by the name of Goldie, he became enraged about one, the fact that she was engaged and two that her fiance was a black man. He decided it was his mission to kill her or cause her some kind of physical and emotional harm as punishment. He began constructing a homemade acid bomb that he would mail to her house in London to disfigure or kill the singer. He also planned to commit suicide with the belief that he would meet Bjork in heaven where they could both be happy.

Lopez recorded his entire plan to kill Bjork and his motivations with a video camera and you can find the videos on YouTube. If you watch them you can actually witness his mental deterioration and descent into insanity.

Lopez sent the acid bomb to Bjork’s house and then recorded himself shaving his head, painting his face red and green and then committing suicide by shooting himself through the roof of his mouth. His final words being, “This is for you.”

Fortunately, the police investigated Lopez’ apartment soon after his suicide and the FBI got involved. The package was intercepted by British authorities and the bomb was safely detonated in an isolated location.

Bjork is fortunately still alive and well.

The interesting thing about this case is that it provides an in depth look into the mind of a deranged stalker because of Lopez’ recordings and is a creepy, heartbreaking and also quite fascinating psychological study.

If you’re interested in looking more into the case, the link to a YouTube video that comprises of most of his video taped ramblings and his eventual suicide will be provided. I should warn you, it’s quite disturbing.

It’s always stunning, and not necessarily in a good way, to be reminded what humans are capable of, don’t you think?

Do you have a topic you’d add to the list? Make your own suggestions in the comments!

The post If You’re Looking to Get Lost in Creepy Rabbit Holes, Try These 15 Topics on for Size appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

If You’re Looking to Get Lost in Creepy Rabbit Holes, Try These 15 Topics on for Size

If you’re someone who loves reading, watching, or just learning about the creepy underbelly of this wacky world we live in, chances are you’re always on the lookout for something new you haven’t encountered before.

I know that’s true for me, but I don’t know, y’all – some of these suggestions sound like they might even be a bit much for me!

15. This freaks me out every single day.

Human trafficking.

It’s far more widespread than most people realize, and extends beyond sex trafficking.

If more people learned the warning signs that a person is being trafficked, they would be in a position to do something about it.

14. I don’t think I’ll be Googling this one.

Issei Sagawa.

Wealthy Japanese man kills, fucks, and eats a french woman in France.

Gets released after being found legally insane, then makes a career back home in japan profiting off his crime. He does writing, artwork, and is a celebrity there.

Really shows the dark side of Japanese culture.

13. Just a few nightmares.

The Tunguska Event.

Not really creepy in a traditional sense, but if you imagine that (back then) they had no idea what had occurred, and went on to discover 770 sq mi of forest completely flattened with no explicable explanation, I’d be having a couple nightmares certainly

12. That’s a lot of mystery creatures.

Cambrian life. At this point in Earth’s history (541-485 mya) most living things looked nothing like anything that now exists.

There’s the “Tully Monster,” an animal that has paleobiologists in debate over whether it was a vertebrate or not (it’s thought to be related to lampreys); Opabinia, which had five eyes and looks like a cross between a lobster and a vacuum cleaner, and Anomalocaris, basically a chitinous floating death ship that arrived to eat all the much smaller animals of the time. Last, let’s not forget Pikaia, a little wormlike thing that is our distant ancestor.

New discoveries are made all the time, and scientific theories constantly shift to adjust to the existence of the latest mystery creature. They get neglected by the media in favor of dinosaurs, but Cambrian life is just as fantastic!

11. Like how they find unexploded bombs all over England.

The sheer number of unmarked gravesites along the Oregon Trail.

Several friends of mine have found bodies of pioneers in their backyards and property.

10. Their minds are always fascinating, that’s for sure.

Usually, it’d be declassified documents on serial killers, their activities, and their motives.

It fascinates me to know what’s going on in the heads of these seemingly deranged nut-jobs and why they’re committing these atrocities.

9. I remember this case and the details are awful.

I would submit Gertrude Baniszewski for the murder of Sylvia Likens, though I hesitate to call it “interesting.” More like disturbing as shit and immensely sad.

In short, the movie “The Girl Next Door” (2007 horror film, not the 2004 movie) was based off this murder. Gertrude locked Sylvia in the basement, and her, her daughter, her son, and a few neighborhood kids tortured Sylvia to death over the course of several months.

Gertrude and her older daughter got life; the kids got 2 to 21 years. Gertrude was eventually fucking paroled, which as an attorney (though, to be fair, not a criminal attorney) has always sat with me as an indictment against our justice system.

Gertrude would live another five years, in an entirely undeserved freedom, before dying of lung cancer in 1990. To date, Gertrude Baniszewski is the only person I can say, with no remorse, that I’m glad got fucking cancer.

The case if anyone is interested. It is not light reading.

8. There were a lot of people murdering inn patrons back in the day.

The Bloody Benders of Labatte, Kansas

A family of serial killers operating in the mid-late 1800s murdered travelers at their roadside inn.

7. This list is quite a wild ride.

The list of people who have “died” via absentia, Unit 731, the strange case of Elisa Lam, the Tulsa Race Massacre, what happened to the pioneers on Roanoke island, why my mom calls valid points and reasoning “Back talk”, and where my dad went.

6. This should keep you busy for awhile.

1) Serial killers.

2) Unsolved missing person cases.

4) Rare genetic disorders.

5) Alien abduction reports.

6) Human medical experimentation.

7) Anything the CIA has declassified.

8) The Hum.

9) Spontaneous human combustion.

10) Cases of alleged “demonic possession”.

11) Rare mentally illness.

12) Heat death of the universe.

5. I’m not sure I want to know.

A rabbit hole called Cicada 3301.

It is one of the internets biggest mysteries, and it really creeped me out when I started looking into it.

A series of clues was left around the world for people to find and piece together using things like coordinates and reddit.

4. You might learn a thing or two.

Down the rabbit Hole playlist on YouTube.

I like that he gets outside the usual “spooky” topics that have already been beat to death by a million other YouTubers. I had never in my life heard of the Austrian Wine Poisoning controversy. I was riveted for the entire video. I became a big fan of Vaporwave music after I learned about it on that channel.

If you know anyone else of comparable quality and diversity of topic, please let me know. Fredrik Knudsen and Ben Minnotte’s “Oddity Archive” are my two favorite YouTube channels.

3. You never hear about this kind of thing happening in Canada.

Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka serial killer story in Canada – three murders and several rapes.

So heartbreaking – one of the girls mothers locked her out of the house as she missed curfew, Leslie called a friend to see if she could stay over and the friend’s mother said no. Paul Bernardo picked her up that night.

Karla Homolka “gave” Paul her little sister as a Christmas gift and ended up killing her with tranquilizers she stole from work.

Karla was totally involved in everything, but pretended she was a battered woman and only got 12 years.

Also, I love anything about the Zodiac Killer – super interesting stuff!

2. This is all kind of a mind f*ck.

Lost media.

The thought of something either existing but lost to the sands of time or something never meant to be is both creepy and terrifying.

It feels like it never existed, and yet it did, and due to human error it was never documented or finished.

Sometimes we don’t know if it even really existed.

And yet, lots of it we do know. Remnants through small clips, screenshots, or even just the word of god.

But there’s a good chance we’ll never find them.

Might as well try, though…

1. Please take the warning seriously.

The Bjork Stalker.

Ricardo Lopez was an exterminator with aspirations of being a famous artist one day. He was very reclusive, insecure and lonely. He retreated into a fantasy world and became fascinated with the lives of celebrities, particularly the Icelandic singer Bjork. His fascination soon grew into an obsession and he began stalking her.

Upon finding out that Bjork was engaged to an African American celebrity by the name of Goldie, he became enraged about one, the fact that she was engaged and two that her fiance was a black man. He decided it was his mission to kill her or cause her some kind of physical and emotional harm as punishment. He began constructing a homemade acid bomb that he would mail to her house in London to disfigure or kill the singer. He also planned to commit suicide with the belief that he would meet Bjork in heaven where they could both be happy.

Lopez recorded his entire plan to kill Bjork and his motivations with a video camera and you can find the videos on YouTube. If you watch them you can actually witness his mental deterioration and descent into insanity.

Lopez sent the acid bomb to Bjork’s house and then recorded himself shaving his head, painting his face red and green and then committing suicide by shooting himself through the roof of his mouth. His final words being, “This is for you.”

Fortunately, the police investigated Lopez’ apartment soon after his suicide and the FBI got involved. The package was intercepted by British authorities and the bomb was safely detonated in an isolated location.

Bjork is fortunately still alive and well.

The interesting thing about this case is that it provides an in depth look into the mind of a deranged stalker because of Lopez’ recordings and is a creepy, heartbreaking and also quite fascinating psychological study.

If you’re interested in looking more into the case, the link to a YouTube video that comprises of most of his video taped ramblings and his eventual suicide will be provided. I should warn you, it’s quite disturbing.

It’s always stunning, and not necessarily in a good way, to be reminded what humans are capable of, don’t you think?

Do you have a topic you’d add to the list? Make your own suggestions in the comments!

The post If You’re Looking to Get Lost in Creepy Rabbit Holes, Try These 15 Topics on for Size appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

Facts We Think You Will Find Very Interesting

I sound like a broken record, but we think it’s really important to keep showering you with quality facts because you always need to keep learning!

You shouldn’t stop being curious about the world after high school, or after college, or after age 40. I know people who are in their 70s who love to read about new subjects because they know how rewarding it is to be a lifelong learner.

So in the spirit of always learning, here are 10 facts that we think you will find incredibly interesting.

Enjoy!

1. Remember Total Recall?

That does not sound like fun…

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1

2. Stop tailgating!

Drives me insane.

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

3. Loudest sound of all time.

And here I thought it was my mother-in-law’s voice! Hey o!

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

4. This is so weird.

And also fascinating!

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

5. The flu shell.

Ugh. I’m sick of all viruses…

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2 

6. Very interesting…

What do you think?

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

7. That is wild!

Isn’t nature just great?

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

8. A fungus among us.

That is ENORMOUS. Wow!

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

9. Take a look at your Chuck Taylors.

I didn’t know that!

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

10. I love this!

Cheech and Chong for President and Vice President! Think it might happen…?

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1

Now we’d like to hear from you!

In the comments, please tell us about something really interesting that you’ve learned recently.

Share a link, a photo, or just tell us about it.

Thanks in advance!

The post Facts We Think You Will Find Very Interesting appeared first on UberFacts.