10 of the Most Bizarre Declassified Government Documents

Some people are really into conspiracy theories – or more prone to believing that the government is hiding certain truths from us, maybe – and still others have just watched too many episodes of The X-Files to trust that we’re being told every last detail.

But if these 10, slightly terrifying declassified documents are any indication, people are definitely right to ask questions, because the truth is often buried behind miles of red tape.

10. Okay so this needs to be a movie, if it isn’t.

In East Germany a committed freedom fighter and her husband had dealt with having her home raided while she was away, being arrested on the way to protests and all sorts of state sponsored harassment. After the wall fell she was able to read the documents the Stasi had kept on her and found out her own husband was an undercover agent and had written many reports on her activities with a bloodless banality.

9. Everything about the Challenger explosion is horrible.

When the space shuttle Challenger was destroyed, it was reported that all 7 astronauts were killed instantly. It was revealed decades later that some, if not all of the astronauts survived the initial explosion, as the cockpit cabin had enough protection to not be breached. For 2 minutes and 45 seconds, they were awake and aware, as they plummeted toward the Atlantic Ocean.

Understandably, NASA knew that the news of their terrifying death would have crippled the space program even more than it already was.

8. Evil people sometimes have security clearance.

Canadian here… The Somalia Affair Not sure if it was ever classified but definitely a horrific scandal. A now disbanded division of the Canadian military torturing a kid to death in the 90s, and taking hero pics with him while doing it… I think it’s important to remember when your country does something shitty – it’s not always the “bad guys” who can be fucking evil.

7. This seems awfully small and petty when, you know, actual life should scare people enough.

Devil Eyes

The plan after 9/11 to make figurines that look like Osama Bin Laden and give them to kids in South Asia. After it’s left in the sun for a certain amount of time, it’s face would peel off to reveal a “demon-like visage with red skin, green eyes, and black markings,” basically a demon. The objective was to scare kids and their parents so Bin Laden and Al Qaeda would lose support.

6. This idea was actually floated, so what’s not possible?

Operation Northwoods; A plan for a false flag operation that came from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Department of Defense in 1962 and given to JFK who turned it down. The plan called for the CIA to commit terrorist actions against US Civilians across the United States and frame Cuba, allowing us the right to invade and depose Castro and the communist government there. It was declassified and can be found online at the JFK Library. Terrifying that no one knows or seems to care that this was suggested by our government to the President.

5. We have to prepare for all contingencies.

The Nixon Administration had a speech prepared for if the moon landing had failed, and it’s chilling.

You can read it here

4. The Manhattan Project was terrifying from the ground up.

My hometown was littered woth radioactive waste by the federal government as part of the Manhattan project. https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/01/nyregion/big-atom-waste-site-reported-found-near-buffalo.html

then we wonder why cancer and thyroid conditions thereare the norm.

3. It really seems likely that we’re going to wipe ourselves out on accident.

There are over 50 mishaps with nuclear weapons by the US Airforce in the 1950s alone.

2. So as you can see, we’ve never been a society that puts children first.

They tested Iodine on “retarded children” as well. In that time, oftentimes orphans and children who were behind in school ended up at these institutions.

The US government also inserted radioactive material into a man after a motorcycle crash and didn’t tell him.

https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/03/us/panel-urges-us-to-apologize-for-radiation-testing-and-pay-damages.html

1. Drug testing on clueless citizens. That’s not scary.

Operation Midnight Climax

The government hired sex workers to dose “johns” with LSD for research purposes so to speak

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Midnight_Climax

 

Some of these going to haunt my thoughts for weeks, and you know…the truth is out there, y’all.

Are you into conspiracy theories? Do these documents tickle your sixth sense? Let us know!

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10 Facts That Just Might Send You Down a Long Rabbit Hole

There’s almost nothing more exciting than learning about new subjects and then doing a DEEEEP dive into them. It could be history, science, sports, pop culture, politics, etc.

It’s all fair game! And with the Internet, we literally have all the information in the world at our fingertips. That’s why Wikipedia was invented, right? So don’t waste that special opportunity!

Here are 10 facts that might pique your interest and send you down a path of new knowledge.

1. Now, that’s loud!

Photo Credit: did you know?

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2. Trailblazers

Photo Credit: did you know?

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3. Do you have this condition?

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4. Public Enemy #1

Photo Credit: did you know?

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5. Grimalkin

Photo Credit: did you know?

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6. Good use of resources

Photo Credit: did you know?

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7. Give it a shot!

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8. This is so bizarre

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9. Super Women

Photo Credit: did you know?

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10. Yes! Books rule!

Photo Credit: did you know?

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What do you think? You a little more motivated to learn about some new topics after looking over those facts?

I know I am!

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The Deadly Incident at Lake Nyos Is One of History’s Most Bizarre Unknown Natural Disasters

Have you ever heard of this story before?

Lake Nyos in Cameroon is a crater lake – the water there poured in after an incredibly explosive volcanic eruption forged the large divot. It appears innocuous and silent, and even though the view is spectacular, the lake could be easily overlooked.

If you know its eerie history, though, you’ll definitely spend some time contemplating its calm surface.

On August 21, 1986, thousands of cattle and 1746 people living near the lake died within moments of each other.

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On August 21, 1986, a rare natural disaster occurred in the West African country of Cameroon. A large cloud of carbon dioxide gas spewed from Lake Nyos and blanketed nearby villages, killing 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock while they slept. .. News of the tragedy took a few days to reach international newspapers, with the first reports appearing in North American papers around the 24th. (Independent Record, 08.25.1986). . . . . . @independentrecord #cameroon #lakenyos #historybuff #historylover #historygeek #historynerd #historylesson #oldnewspaper #newspaper #newspapers #newspaperclipping #newspaperarticle #historicalnewspapers #doyouremember #otd #onthisday #thisdayinhistory #todayinhistory

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When the bodies were discovered, authorities discovered no signs of physical damage or distress.

Though the locals were ready to blame vengeful spirits or the government testing chemicals, geologists quickly uncovered the real killer: carbon dioxide.

When water from the lake was captured in vials, it popped the lids off the sample jars. It was packed with the colorless, odorless gas, and scientists concluded in their official report that the lake had released a sudden and large amount of the gas. Denser than air, it rolled over fields and down slopes toward the local villages, smothering everything breathing in its path.

The lake sits above a system of still-active volcanos, and since carbon dioxide is a common feature of magmatic systems, the fact that it bubbled up into the water isn’t a surprise. Typically, though, the gas simply leaks out of the water slowly and harms no one – people wouldn’t even be aware of it.

At Lake Nyos, though, the huge amount of very still water ensured that pressure remained high enough to keep the gas dissolved in the water. It hosted a defined layer of CO2 that accumulated for several centuries, undisturbed by any kind of current or waves, until each gallon of water had collected an astonishing 5 gallons of carbon dioxide dissolved inside it.

Obviously, that is unsustainable.

There’s some debate as to what triggered the massive release of the gas. It may have been a landslide that fell into the CO2 layer, or a sudden release of fresh CO2 into the water, but, either way, it was like breaking the seal on an over-carbonated bottle of soda.

Water would have shot up and out in a geyser hundreds of meters tall, expelling 1.2 cubic kilometers of CO2 in a mist that blanketed villages as far as 15.5 miles away. The lake turned from blue to red, a result of the iron at the bottom floating toward the top after the massive disruption.

Entire villages perished – there were only 800 survivors in the area, most of whom suffered symptoms of CO2 poisoning.

Authorities installed a degassing system in the lake, as well as a solar-powered warning system, in the hopes that there will never be another mass asphyxiation event like this in the future.

Lake Kivu, straddling the border between Congo and Rwanda, is 2000x bigger than Lake Nyos, and is full of Co2 as well as methane. With 2 million people living within killing range of either gas, scientists have pointed out that similar precautions should be taken there, as well.

Efforts to extract the methane to be used as an energy source, or to explore it for potential oil deposits, have been met with words of caution from scientists.

Here’s hoping the governments listen, or another silent, mass annihilation could be on the horizon.

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An Archaeological Dig on MT. Zion Revealed the Babylonian Destruction of Jerusalem

One of the most significant events of the Old Testament is the fall of Jerusalem, including the destruction of King Solomon’s temple. The Babylonian siege ended in 586 (or 587) B.C.E. and cost much of the local population their lives or their freedom. Exile in Babylon lasted 50 years, and the entire event is commemorated by the fast of Tisha B’Av, one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar.

The event has again been verified by a new excavation that found layers of ash, smashed pottery, Babylonian arrows – even an earring left behind in the panic.

Image Credit: Mount Zion Dig

The archaeological site is located on Mount Zion, inside the walls of the old city, and Dr. Shimon Gibson of the University of North Carolina says they’ve likely only scratched the surface of what it holds – and that they’re sure the finds reveal details about the Babylonian conquest.

Image Credit: Dig Mount Zion

“Nobody abandons golden jewelry and nobody has arrowheads in their domestic refuse. It’s the kind of jumble that you would expect to find in a ruined household following a raid or battle. Household objects, lamps, broken bits from pottery which had been overturned and shattered…Frankly, jewelry is a rare find at conflict sites, because this is a rare find at conflict sites, because this is exactly the sort of thing that attackers will loot and later melt down.”

As they dig deeper, expect more exciting information from the site – they’ve also managed to reveal basements from around the time of the last King Herod, and part of the defenses used to keep out Crusaders in 1099.

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Sony Has a New Walkman to Commemorate Its 40th Anniversary

It must’ve been about 1984 when my older brother Rich got a Walkman for Christmas. I was mesmerized by it. Of course, I wasn’t allowed to touch it, but I did admire it from afar until I got my own a few years later and started amassing a killer tape collection featuring hand-me-downs from Rich like AC/DC, The Ramones, and other bands that warped my young mind.

But I digress. We should all be excited that Sony announced it is releasing a Walkman to celebrate the original Walkman’s 40th anniversary. The original Sony TPS-L2 debuted in 1979 and quickly changed the electronics game. It was the first truly portable personal tape player, and it quickly became a staple of music lovers everywhere.

At the IFA electronics trade show in Berlin last week, Sony announced it is releasing a new version of the groundbreaking Walkman. The new Sony NW-A100TPS Walkman looks pretty amazing and is powered by Android.

Sony releases a Walkman for its 40th anniversary.The Sony Walkman is back.The electronics maker will release a new…

Posted by HOT 102 on Tuesday, September 10, 2019

It features a cassette tape interface, and the case has a 40th-anniversary logo on the back. It also has an S-Master HX digital amplifier to give listeners high-res audio, a processor to give compressed audio tracks a higher quality, and a vinyl processor that gives digital tracks a vinyl-like quality.

It also has 26 hours of battery life.

Here’s a video of the new Sony Walkman in action.

I don’t know about you, but my nostalgia just kicked into high gear, and I’m gonna need to get my hands on one of these!

Exciting!

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10+ People Share the “Most Generation X” Things They Ever Did

Ahhhh, the good old days of Generation X. We had good music, good movies, good TV shows, etc. But good taste? Well…

Hey, Gen X includes me, so I’m allowed to laugh and mock it all I want.

A Twitter user threw out this question and the Twitter-verse went all aflutter with great responses.

Take a look at some of the best responses.

1. The Singles soundtrack was definitely a landmark.

2. Ouch…I have a feeling you’re not alone.

3. The classic yin-yang tattoo strikes again.

4. Hit the road and be like the Beats.

5. $3? Pssshhh. I’ll catch ’em next time they come through.

6. Hahahahaha. Still completely over EVERYTHING.

7. You had to improvise, that’s for sure.

8. Kind of ironic, isn’t it?

9. Why did CDs used to come in those HUGE boxes?

10. Listen, it’s too mainstream, bro.

11. Saturday morning TV was the best!

12. The great milk crate craze of ’94.

Growing up as a Gen X’er was a glorious time! So much great music and pop culture. And also those weird little quirks that define every generation.

Some more than others…

Share your favorite Generation X memories in the comments!

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Take a Look at Photos of the Real Serial Killers in ‘Mindhunter’ and the Actors Who Portrayed Them

The second season on the hit show Mindhunter dropped on Netflix in August and fans are pretty happy about how the new episodes turned out.

The show is based on true events surrounding how the FBI established their behavioral science unit in the 1970s to study serial killers and other murderers. In real life, as in the show, the investigators interviewed serial killers to try to learn how their minds worked, back when “serial killer” was a new concept.

Here are photos of the real-life killers and the actors who portray them in the show.

1. David Berkowitz: “The Son of Sam” – Played by Oliver Cooper

Photo Credit: Netflix

2. Charles Manson – Played by Damon Herriman

Photo Credit: Netflix

3. Charles “Tex” Watson – Played by Christopher Backus

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Away from Manson, Tex Watson’s ambitions were growing. “I decided to call up an old girl friend… Her name was Luella {a pseudonym} and I'd gotten to know her casually while Rich and I were still living at the house on the beach. During the week we were waiting for our army physicals, he'd taken me to see her once and… I felt she'd been especially friendly to me that day. Right now I needed a friend. I got a lover. The first time I hitchhiked over to her apartment I ended up moving in. Luella… didn't have a real job; she kept herself going by dealing a little grass and LSD among her friends – nothing big time but enough to get by. She had an old Hollywood-Spanish apartment with eucalyptus trees all around and a patio that overlooked the driveway to an exclusive private club for professional magicians and entertainment stars. Sometimes we'd sunbathe on the deck, drinking beer and smoking grass while we watched all the big limousines drive up for parties, dumping out beautiful people whom we could never quite recognize. It was an easy life that Luella and I fell into. Combining her contacts with mine, we found we could sell a lot more dope than she'd been doing on her own…" It certainly sounds like Watson thought of himself as a drug dealer. In just a few months, he and ‘Louella’ (real name Rosina Kroner) would aim for a big score, with disastrous effects.

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Photo Credit: Netflix

4. Dennis Rader: The BTK Killer – Played by Sonny Valicenti

Photo Credit: Netflix

5. William “Junior” Pierce: Played by Michael Filipowich

6. William Henry Hance: Played by Corey Allen

Photo Credit: Instagram,fathergore

7. Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr.: Played by Robert Aramayo 

Photo Credit: Netflix

8. Ed Kemper: Played by Cameron Britton

Photo Credit: Netflix

9. Wayne Williams: Played by Christopher Livingston

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#waynewilliams #theatlantachildmurders

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Photo Credit: Netflix

10. Paul Bateson: Played by Morgan Kelly

Photo Credit: Netflix

I don’t know about you, but I’m really hoping that Mindhunter keeps going.

Have you watched season two yet? Let us know what you think in the comments!

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This Is How 5 Famous Fast-Food Restaurants Got Their Names

We all know fast food isn’t great for us, but that doesn’t mean you (and I) still don’t love it! Just in moderation, right? Or something like that…

Anyway, we all have our favorite fast food joints, but do you know where their names come from?

Let’s take a look and find out!

1. Whataburger

#TBT to the 9th Whataburger location in Corpus Christi, TX which must have been spectacular at night with its neon sign.

Posted by Whataburger on Thursday, March 7, 2019

What a taste, what a place! The regional burger chain started at a time when there were no patties bigger than 4 inches. What to do? Founder Harmon Dobson wanted a 5-inch burger that would make people exclaim “What a burger!” And the name stuck…

2. Wendy’s

Posted by Wendy's on Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy’s restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969, and he named his burger joint after his daughter Melinda, who was nicknamed Wendy.

3. Subway

Posted by Subway on Thursday, October 4, 2018

In 1965, Pete’s Super Submarines was opened in Bridgeport, Connecticut, by Frank DeLuca and Peter Buck. They renamed it “Pete’s Subway” a few years later. In 1974, DeLuca and Buck wanted to franchise their shop, so they simply renamed it Subway.

4. Starbucks

Where it all started. #coffeepassion

Posted by Starbucks on Saturday, January 12, 2013

Starbucks co-founder Gordon Bowker heard from a friend who worked at an ad agency that words that started with “st” were considered powerful. While brainstorming, they came across a map with a town on it called “Starbo.” Bowker was reminded of the character Starbuck from Moby Dick and a coffee giant was born. They also considered calling the place “Pequod,” after the ship in Moby Dick.

Side note: Pequod’s is the name of my favorite deep-dish pizza place in Chicago. Booyah!

5. Domino’s

Eenie, meenie, miny, moe…LOL, JK. We'll take a slice of each!

Posted by Domino's Pizza on Tuesday, March 27, 2018

The pizza favorite owes its name to a deadline. Brothers Jim and Tom Monaghan bought a pizza place called DomiNick’s in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in 1960. When the original owner decided he wanted to retain his rights to the name, the brothers had to make a decision so they could put their name in the phone book before a deadline.

Domino’s was reportedly dreamed up by a delivery driver named Jim Kennedy. Good choice.

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This Is Why You’re Not Supposed to Wear White After Labor Day

Do you know this?

The rule about not wearing white after Labor Day is so common that many people don’t even think twice about it. But where, exactly, did this rule even come from?

From rich people, apparently.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, more and more people became millionaires. High-society wives felt the need to come up with a way to tell the difference between respectable old money families and vulgar new money families. So, they came up with elaborate rules that only people in the “know” would be aware of.

Case in point, not wearing white outside of the summer months. White was only for weddings and resort wear. After Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894, it was considered the natural endpoint for summer fashion.

Photo Credit: iStock

Like many high-society fashion trends, this rule eventually trickled down to the middle class, too. Women’s magazines in the 1950s advised women to put white clothes into storage on Labor Day until the next Memorial Day came around.

But that’s not to say that everyone accepted this rule. Some socialites ignored the trend and continued to wear white year-round, such as Coco Chanel.

Photo Credit: iStock

Similarly, nowadays, a lot of people ignore this rule altogether. And knowing its origins, it seems completely fair to do that! The custom is over 100 years old and no longer really relevant. Yet, every year, you’ll probably hear someone citing it nonetheless.

Because of course, dahhhling!

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This Is How Hurricanes Actually Get Their Names

Barry? Dorian? Who comes up with this stuff, anyway?

Well, though hurricane names may seem random, there is actually a system to it all.

Hurricanes in the West Indies used to be named after the saint’s day when the storm hit. In the 1900s, an Australian meteorologist decided to name hurricanes after women’s names instead of saints (cause they’re destructive?), and the United States followed suit in 1953. In 1979, men’s names were also added to the list.

But how does a particular hurricane gets its name? The World Meteorological Organization uses an alphabetical list. For the Atlantic coast, there are six lists with 21 names each, one for every letter of the alphabet except Q, U, X and Y. Each list is to be used for one year — every time a storm comes, meteorologists take the names alphabetically on that year’s list. After six years, the naming process starts over with the first list again.

Photo Credit: iStock

The process is the same for hurricanes on the Pacific coast, except that the lists include names for every letter except Q and U.

If there are too many hurricanes in a given year and meteorologists run out of names, then the rest come from the Greek alphabet, starting with Alpha and going down to Omega.

The lists are already established, but there are a few exceptions. If a hurricane is particularly bad, it gets a unique name (like Katrina or Sandy). Also, the World Meteorological Organization sometimes decides to retire names from the list at its annual meeting. The names Florence and Michael, for example, were recently retired.

Photo Credit: iStock

So, now you know! Some future hurricane names to look out for in 2019 include Fernand, Gabriella and Humberto (on the East coast) and Juliette, Kiko and Lorena (on the West coast).

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