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With all of the bad things going on in the world today, it’s that much more heartwarming to hear stories like these. Not enough people have the chance to fulfill their last wishes, but the people on this list did. Whether it was by their own hard work or the hard work of groups like the Make-A-Wish Foundation, these men and women were able to live out their dreams before passing away.

10 The Man Who Dreamed Of Flying Again


Robert Fletcher spent almost his whole life in the air. His passion for flying began when he first learned how to pilot an aircraft from a group of friends. Fletcher later developed his skills while working at the Lost Nation Airport in Willoughby, Ohio, where he repaired and painted the planes. As a perk of the job, he would test the mechanics of the single-engine planes by performing gravity-defying spiral tricks and loops.

Sadly, Fletcher was no longer able to fly as he got older, but he never lost his love of reminiscing about the days he spent in the air. After hearing many of Fletcher’s stories, the caretakers at his hospice decided to make it their mission to grant his wish of taking one more flight. The caretakers worked together with Lost Nation to arrange for Fletcher and his two children, who are both afraid of flying, to take a ride in a Cessna 172 for a few hours. Despite their fears, his kids joined an elated Fletcher on his last flight.

9 The Man Who Wanted To See His Dog


Dogs are known as a man’s best friend—and there was nothing that homeless Iowa man Kevin McClain wanted more than to see his best friend one last time. The 57-year-old man had lived in his car in Cedar Rapids for years with his dog, Yurtsie, as his only companion. When McClain became terminally ill with lung cancer and was rushed to the hospital, Yurtsie was taken from him and sent to a local animal shelter. As he lay on his deathbed, McClain asked to see his dog again.

Fortunately, McClain’s paramedic, Jan Erceg, volunteered at the shelter where Yurtsie was taken and was able to organize one last meeting between the two. Yurtsie was placed on McClain’s bed and immediately began licking him all over in recognition. McClain passed away only a few days later. Yurtsie has since been adopted by a new family.

8 The Woman Who Wanted To See Dolphins

When Linda Herdt first discovered that she had pulmonary fibrosis, she was told that she was unlikely to live more than five years. Miraculously, the Wyoming native managed to beat the disease for over two decades. Then, at age 44, her condition suddenly began to deteriorate and doctors estimated that she had less than six months left.

Linda’s struggle had kept her bedridden for almost 20 years, only finding the strength to venture out to the local Walmart about once a month. So when the Dream Foundation heard of Linda’s battle, they were determined to grant her last wish—to interact with dolphins. With the help of Sea World, they flew Linda out to San Diego to see the dolphins, giving her a “reason to continue fighting to stay alive.” Linda also got to fulfill her other lifelong dream—to see the ocean for the first time.

7 The Boy Who Wanted To Be A Firefighter


While Chris Greicius was the original inspiration for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Frank “Bopsy” Salazar became the first ever child to have his wish formally granted by the organization. After being diagnosed with terminal leukemia at the age of five, Bopsy’s mother checked him into St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Arizona, despite the fact that her insurance refused to pay for it.

His mother, Octaviana Trujillo, was eventually introduced to Linda Pauling—Chris Greicius’s mother. Pauling explained that she was starting a foundation to make the last wishes of children come true and offered to make Bopsy their first formal wish. Pauling’s partner, Arizona police officer Frank Shankwitz, then came by to get to know Bopsy and find out his wish. Bopsy named off several dreams, including a hot air balloon ride, a trip to Disneyland, and being a fireman.

Bopsy got his trip to Disneyland as well as his hot air balloon ride—but they both paled in comparison to his experience becoming a fireman. Rather than just a simple tour of the fire station, Phoenix firefighter Bob Walp went beyond the call of duty to make Bopsy’s last wish extremely special. He presented Bopsy with a customized badge and jacket and allowed him to use a hose, climb a ladder, and ride around in the truck.

Bopsy’s condition took a turn for the worst after Easter 1981. Shankwitz had come to visit Bopsy one last time when there was a knock on the hospital window. Bopsy was surprised to find Bob Walp climbing into his room, along with four other firefighters from a ladder truck on the ground below. He was then wheeled downstairs to see his “team”—only to find that their fire truck had been renamed “Bopsy 1.” He passed away later that evening.

6 The Teacher Who Wouldn’t Go Until She Had Her Degree

As a teacher, Harriet Richardson Ames dedicated her life to education. Because of this, it was her dream to receive her bachelor’s degree in education before passing away. Unlike most stories on this list, Harriet’s dying wish wasn’t fulfilled thanks to the kindness of others, but by her own hard work and determination.

Throughout the years, Harriet had received various credits toward her degree at the University of New Hampshire, Plymouth Teachers’ College, and Keene State. While she did receive a two-year teaching degree from Keene State in 1931, she had given up on her pursuit of a bachelor’s degree by 1971, unsure if she had enough credits to actually earn it or not. When she was interviewed for Keene State’s centennial, it became clear that the last item on Harriet’s bucket list was to receive her degree. Immediately, the school researched the courses she took and got to work seeing if they could make that wish come true.

Harriet had once stated: “If I die tomorrow, I’ll know I’ll die happy, because my degree’s in the works.” Three weeks after reaching her 100th birthday, she was finally awarded her diploma. Harriet passed away the next day, with her diploma on her bedside table.

5 The Girl Who Wanted To Hear Carols

While most eight-year-old girls would be spending the latter part of December getting ready for Christmas, Laney Brown was losing her battle with a terminal and very rare form of leukemia. She had been diagnosed only seven months before and doctors gave her only a few months to live. After hearing the horrible news, her family was determined to make the best of Laney’s last few months. Little did they know that their plight would trigger an immense outpouring of support from their Pennsylvania community.

Using the power of social media, the family set up a Facebook page known as “Team Laney” which soon went viral, gaining around 94,000 followers. On December 17, her family was told Laney had only weeks to live. With her birthday only three days away, the Make-A-Wish Foundation was able to set up a video meeting between Laney and her favorite singer, Taylor Swift. The next day, December 21, Laney’s other wish of listening to Christmas carols was fulfilled when over 10,000 people showed up to sing carols on the street outside of her room. The carolers sang for over an hour, with tunes including “Silent Night,” “Jingle Bells,” and even “Happy Birthday.” Laney lost her battle with Leukemia on Christmas Day, but not before having her final wishes come true thanks to the generosity of others.

4 The Boy Who Didn’t Want To Die A Virgin


In 2001, there was a bit of a moral uproar over the granting of one terminally ill Australian boy’s wish not to die a virgin. The 15-year-old’s cancer had kept him in the hospital for many years, unable to experience dating as normal kids his age would. Because of this, the boy’s controversial final wish was to have sex before he passed away. Without the knowledge of his parents, his friends granted his wish by setting up a meeting with a prostitute outside of the hospital.

Despite taking precautions to make sure the encounter was safe and consensual, the incident could still be considered illegal because of the boy’s age. An intense ethical debate ensued after the news of his last wish broke. Some child psychologists felt that granting the wish was illegal and extremely unethical, while others felt it should have been granted because the boy was going to die soon and probably craved the non-clinical contact. No matter which side of the debate you’re on, it’s certain that this Australian boy passed away happy.

3 The Boy Who Wanted To Meet The Queen

When Oliver Burton, who had been born with Down syndrome, was three he was given news that no one wants to hear—a leukemia diagnosis. At 10 years old, things looked bleak for Oliver, who had been given only a few weeks to live. Most boys his age would dream of meeting a famous sports player or actor, but not Oliver. At the top of this little boy’s list was meeting the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

While the Queen herself was unable to fulfill his last wish, an unlikely candidate stepped up instead. When actress Helen Mirren heard about Oliver’s wish, she was more than happy to play Queen for a day. The National Children’s Tumour Leukemia Cancer Trust arranged for Mirren to meet with Oliver and even had a limo bring him and his family to London to watch her play the Queen in The Audience. After the play, Oliver was brought backstage to share tea and crumpets with Mirren—she even knighted him as “Sir Oliver.” Mirren stayed in character the whole time and Oliver’s parents said that Oliver believed she was the real Queen.

2 The Boy Who Wanted To Marry His Sweetheart


When it comes to regrets, “the one that got away” is usually up there on the list. Fortunately for a little boy dying of leukemia, his last wish to marry his sweetheart was granted. Reece Fleming was diagnosed with leukemia at just four years old and battled with the condition for four long years. As his condition continued to worsen, his family was told that he had only around three weeks to live.

When asked if he had any last wishes, Reece made it known that he wanted to “marry” his sweetheart, Elleanor Pursglove, before he passed. His mother explained that they had been good friends for years and Reece had even asked her to marry him a few times before she finally accepted. The mock wedding occurred at the Fleming house, where Reece had been moved after being given his grim prognosis. The families did their best to make the wedding seem as real as possible, even having the couple exchange rings. Prior to the wedding, Reece was also given the chance to ride in a Ferrari and Porsche, as well as having a pirate-themed party with his friends at the local Kingsway Fire Station. After Elleanor left that day, his mother said Reece looked completely at peace. He passed away the day after the wedding.

1 The Boy Who Inspired Make-A-Wish

Christopher James Greicius always dreamed of becoming a man in blue. He had revered police officers his whole life and wanted nothing more than to become one. Unfortunately, this little boy’s dream was put on hold when he was diagnosed with leukemia. Unwilling to let Chris’s last wish go unfulfilled, US Customs officer Tommy Austin had promised him a ride in a real police helicopter. As Chris’s leukemia worsened, Tommy knew he didn’t have much time, but he was determined to make his dream come true.

Tommy contacted police officer Ron Cox and asked for help in making the wish come true. On April 29, 1980, Tommy made good his promise of taking Chris on a ride in a police helicopter—and that was only the start. After an aerial tour of the city, the helicopter landed at the Arizona Department of Public Safety, where Chris was met by three squad cars and a motorcycle ridden by Officer Frank Shankwitz. The group then escorted the boy to become the first honorary state trooper in Arizona history.

After his return to the hospital, Chris’s condition continued to decline. Three days later, Ron Cox came to the ward to present Chris with his own custom-made highway patrol uniform. Chris had also told Frank Shankwitz that he liked the wings on his uniform, but Frank explained that he needed to pass the motorcycle test before receiving them. Without wasting any time, Frank and the other officers set up a miniaturized version of the motorcycle test, which Chris was able to pass on his battery-powered motorcycle. The next day, the officers were able to present him with a well-earned set of motorcycle wings. Chris passed away the following day. Many of the people Chris had touched in his short life went on to found the Make-A-Wish Foundation in his honor.

It’s a sad event when an innocent person is wrongly convicted of a crime they did not commit. However, it’s especially tragic when the alleged crime never even occurred in the first place. If an innocent person is charged with a crime that someone else committed, there’s always a chance they will have their name cleared once the real perpetrator is caught, but exoneration can become a lot more difficult when no one else is to blame. Because of false accusations or serious misinterpretation of the facts, the following people wound up being punished for a nonexistent crime.

10Victoria Bell Banks

Infanticide is a truly heinous crime deserving the most severe punishment, but it generally requires the infant to have once existed. Those who prosecuted Victoria Bell Banks, however, begged to differ. In May 1999, Banks was incarcerated at the Choctaw County Jail in Butler, Alabama when she requested a furlough, claiming to be pregnant. She was examined by a pair of doctors, who disagreed about her condition—one thought they could detect a fetal heartbeat, while the other insisted she was not pregnant. Nevertheless, Banks was granted her furlough.

Three months later, she was questioned by authorities, who noticed she was no longer pregnant and wanted to know what became of her child. Banks eventually confessed to murdering the baby after it was born and disposing of the remains. She further implicated her husband and her sister, who both confessed to the crime. In order to avoid the death penalty, the trio pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received 15-year sentences.

The convictions were highly controversial. It was eventually revealed that all three suspects had low IQs and had been coerced into confessing to the crime and entering their guilty pleas. Furthermore, it was likely that Victoria fabricated her pregnancy as a ploy to get released from jail. In fact, she had actually received a tubal ligation four years beforehand. Her alleged accomplices were eventually released from prison after this evidence came to light, but Banks never attempted to appeal her conviction, so she remains incarcerated for the death of a nonexistent child.

9 Louise Butler And George Yelder


In 1928, Louise Butler lived in Lowndes County, Alabama with her two children and two nieces. Butler had garnered the attention of a married neighbor named George Yelder but soon became jealous of the attention he lavished upon her 14-year-old niece, Topsy Warren.

One night in April, Butler decided to confront Warren and allegedly beat her. When Warren disappeared shortly thereafter, the community suspected foul play. During the investigation, Butler’s daughter, Julia, and her second niece, Anne-Mary, informed the authorities that Butler had murdered Warren and Yelder had dismembered the remains before tossing them into a river.

Butler was arrested and confessed to Warren’s murder, and both she and Yelder were indicted for the crime. However, Butler quickly recanted her confession, and Yelder’s family claimed he was with them on the night of the alleged murder. In spite of these discrepancies, Julia and Anne-Mary provided such vivid testimony about the crime that both were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Less than a week after the verdicts, the community received some shocking news: Topsy Warren was still alive and living with relatives in a nearby town. When confronted, Julia and Anne-Mary claimed that a man who held a grudge against Yelder had coached them into fabricating their story about Warren’s murder. Butler and Yelder were granted full pardons and released from prison.

8 Bernard Baran

The 1980s were plagued by hysteria as many daycare providers were charged with sexual abuse against children and performing satanic rituals in their presence. Most of these charges turned out to be false. The first person to be officially convicted was Bernard Baran, a 19-year-old teacher’s aide at the Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

In September 1984, allegations of sexual abuse at another daycare center in nearby Malden hit the news. Shortly thereafter, the parents of a child attending the ECDC expressed their displeasure at the school’s employment of Baran, who is homosexual. When the school refused to fire Baran, the parents removed their child from its care, and on October 5, they went to the police and accused Baran of sexually abusing their child.

The charges were clearly ludicrous—the child had not even attended school on the day they claimed the abuse occurred. As drug addicts and police informants, the parents weren’t the most credible witnesses, either. Nevertheless, once word of this allegation spread, five more children came forward to accuse Baran of molesting them. One month later, Baran was indicted on six counts of rape and six counts of indecent assault.

After being sentenced to two concurrent life terms, Baran languished in prison for nearly two decades until a new legal team took on his case and noticed some odd discrepancies. Like most of the “sex abuse hysteria” cases, all the victimized children denied being molested at first. They only made their accusations against Baran after being coached by parents and therapists, and their stories were filled with inconsistencies. After his new legal team lodged allegations of misconduct against the prosecution at his original trial, Baran was granted a conditional release in 2006. All charges against him were dropped three years later.

7 Sonia Cacy


One of the most controversial executions of all time occurred in Texas in 2004, when Cameron Todd Willingham was put to death for burning down his home, murdering his three children in the process. However, a reexamination of the case determined that the fire was likely an accident.

In 1991, a Texas woman named Sonia Cacy found herself at the center of another controversial arson case. On November 10, Cacy’s Fort Stockton home burned to the ground, and her 76-year-old uncle, Bill Richardson, was killed. Cacy managed to escape, but she claimed she could not reach her uncle. After traces of gasoline were found on Richardson’s clothing, authorities concluded that Cacy had set her uncle on fire in order to inherit his estate. She was convicted of murder and sentenced to 99 years in prison.

However, an autopsy report revealed that Richardson had virtually no smoke or carbon monoxide in his lungs. He had likely died of a heart attack before the fire even started. Furthermore, Richardson was a heavy smoker who was known for accidentally starting fires after falling asleep with lit cigarettes in his hand. It seemed likely that faulty scientific evidence had determined Richardson was doused with gasoline, since a more thorough investigation found no trace of accelerants at the scene.

This new evidence was presented to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, who were so convinced of Cacy’s innocence that they granted her parole in 1998. However, even in light of the new evidence, Sonia Cacy remains a convicted felon in the eyes of the law and continues to fight to clear her name.

6 Patricia Stallings

In 1989, Patricia Stallings lived in St. Louis with her husband, David, and their infant son, Ryan. In July, Ryan became seriously ill. He was admitted to the hospital, where diagnostic tests revealed high levels of ethylene glycol, a chemical found in antifreeze, in his blood. This led doctors to believe that Ryan was poisoned, so the authorities were notified.

While Patricia and David were under investigation, they were only allowed supervised visits with their son. During one visit, Patricia was briefly left alone with Ryan to feed him some formula. Days later, he became seriously ill again. Ryan was only five months old when he passed away on September 7. Authorities concluded that Patricia had poisoned Ryan’s formula, so she was charged with her son’s murder.

At the time, Patricia was pregnant, and she eventually gave birth to a son named David Jr. while incarcerated. The child was placed in foster care, but it wasn’t long before David Jr. became ill—in fact, he started exhibiting the exact same symptoms as Ryan. He was eventually diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called methylmalonic acidemia (MMA). Since it would have been impossible for Patricia to poison David Jr., it seemed plausible that Ryan’s death could have been caused by MMA as well.

Unfortunately, Patricia’s lawyer was not allowed to present David Jr.’s MMA diagnosis to the jury at her trial, so she was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. After Patricia’s case was featured on the TV show Unsolved Mysteries, several doctors who were experts on MMA phoned in to volunteer their services. Tests were performed on Ryan’s blood to confirm that he died from MMA, and the charges against Patricia Stallings were dropped.

5 Mack Ingram

Mack Ingram, a 42-year old black farmer from Yannickville, North Carolina, became the victim of one of the strangest wrongful convictions of all time after he was sent to prison for a sexual assault which never happened. What made this case especially odd was that everyone involved, including the alleged victim, acknowledged that no assault actually took place.

On June 4, 1951, Ingram needed to borrow a wagon, so he went to the home of a white neighbor, Aubrey Boswell. He mistook Boswell’s 17-year-old daughter, Willa Jean, for her father due to the way she was dressed, in overalls and a hat. He pursued her across a field for some time, trying to get her attention, but when Willa Jean saw that a man was following her, she screamed and ran away.

Later that day, after Aubrey Boswell complained to the police, Ingram was arrested and charged with assault with intent to rape. Willa Jean claimed that even though Ingram never spoke to her or came closer than about 20 meters (75 ft), she felt he was looking at her in a leering manner. At the time, North Carolina had a law which stated that assault could occur even without physical contact, so Ingram was sent to trial, found guilty of “assault on a female,” and sentenced to two years of hard labor.

The NAACP soon came forward to help Ingram fight his conviction. In March 1953, after numerous appeals and two retrials, the North Carolina Supreme Court finally dismissed the case. Mack Ingram was exonerated after serving nearly two years for a nonexistent crime.

4 The Detroit Sleeper Cell

After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the United States became very aggressive in its attempts to combat terrorism. On September 17, the FBI was searching for a suspect on a terrorist watch list. They invaded a Detroit apartment and found three North African immigrants named Ahmed Hannan, Karim Koubriti, and Farouk Ali-Hamoud. They also found evidence to suggest they had uncovered a sleeper cell of Islamic terrorists, including sketches of what appeared to be a Jordanian military hospital and a videotape featuring footage of Disneyland and Las Vegas. They believed these locations might be future targets.

The three suspects, along with another man named Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi, were subsequently indicted for conspiracy to support terrorism. A witness named Youssef Hmimmsa testified that the four suspects had tried to recruit him into their cell. While Ali-Hamoud was ultimately acquitted and Hannan was only convicted of document fraud, Elmardoudi and Koubriti were found guilty of supporting terrorism.

However, it soon came to light that the sketches of the so-called “terrorist target” were just harmless drawings. Photographs of the actual Jordanian hospital revealed that the building did not resemble the sketches, but the prosecution never turned them over to the defense. Youssef Hmimmsa was also a known scam artist, who was overheard saying he would lie to the FBI to reduce his charges for other crimes. The supposedly incriminating videotape featured no footage of the suspects and had actually been shot by a university student who left it at their apartment. It became apparent that the case against the “Detroit sleeper cell” was a sham, so in 2004, the charges against them were dismissed.

3 The Tulia 46

Tulia is a rural farming town in Texas with a population of 5,000 people. It seems like an unlikely location for a major drug scandal, but on July 23, 1999, a massive sting operation led to the arrest of 46 of the town’s residents for drug offenses. They came to be known as the “Tulia 46,” and their combined sentences totaled up to 750 years.

The officer responsible for these arrests was Tom Coleman, a freelancer who offered his services to perform undercover narcotics work in Tulia. It turned out, however, that Coleman had a history of misconduct and a reputation as a notorious liar as well as a racist—it was no coincidence that 40 of the Tulia 46 were black and nearly all of them were from poverty-stricken areas.

Coleman claimed to have made over 100 undercover drug buys in Tulia but could provide no corroborating evidence linking any of the defendants to illegal drugs. He never wore a wire to record any of his transactions, and none of the suspects’ fingerprints could be found on any of the drugs he allegedly bought. In fact, some suspects had airtight alibis placing them in other locations when their drug buys supposedly took place.

Nevertheless, Coleman managed to secure many successful convictions, even though the only evidence was his testimony. Civil rights organizations soon became suspicious and decided to challenge the convictions of the Tulia 46. In the end, most of them had their names cleared and got to share a $6 million collective settlement, while Tom Coleman was indicted for perjury.

2 William Shaw

In 1721, William Shaw was living with his daughter, Catherine, in Edinburgh, Scotland when she became romantically involved with a jeweler. William did not approve of the relationship, as he had already picked out another man for his daughter to marry, and he often locked her up in their apartment to prevent her from seeing her lover.

In October, a neighbor overheard the Shaws having a loud argument about the situation. Later that night, they heard a woman groaning, along with the words “Cruel father, thou art the cause of my death.” This prompted neighbors to enter the apartment, where they found Catherine still alive but lying on the floor with her throat slit and a knife by her side. Before she died, she allegedly nodded to acknowledge that her father was responsible.

Shortly thereafter, William returned home with bloodstains on his shirt. He claimed that the blood was his own, the result of cutting himself days earlier, but it certainly didn’t look good for him. He insisted he was not even in the apartment when Catherine died and that she must have committed suicide, but he was found guilty of his daughter’s murder and promptly hanged.

The case remained closed until the following August, when Catherine’s former room was rented to another tenant, who found a suicide note written by Catherine inside the chimney. After the handwriting on the note was proven to be Catherine’s, William Shaw was posthumously exonerated.

1 The Scottsboro Boys

On March 25, 1931, a group of white teenagers were kicked off a freight train in Alabama after getting into a fight with nine black teenage boys. When this incident was reported to the police, two white girls who were on the train named Ruby Bates and Victoria Price accused the black youths of rape. The boys were all arrested and taken to Scottsboro for indictment.

After nearly being murdered by a lynch mob, all nine of the defendants were put through speedy trials over the course of three days. Even though a local physician testified that the two victims showed no signs of sexual assault, the youths were each found guilty by all-white juries, and eight of them were sentenced to death.

It wasn’t long before the International Labor Defense, the legal wing of the American Communist Party, took on the case and appealed the convictions. Since the defendants had received inadequate counsel, the US Supreme Court struck down the original verdicts and ordered new trials. During one of the retrials, Ruby Bates shocked the courtroom by recanting her testimony, claiming she made up the rape story to avoid possible arrest for vagrancy and prostitution.

In spite of this revelation, it took decades to close the case. In 1937, after a series of retrials, the charges against four of the Scottsboro boys were dropped. The rest had their convictions upheld, but four of them were paroled over the course of the next decade. The only one to not receive any exoneration was Haywood Patterson, who escaped prison in 1948. He was soon convicted of another crime and died of cancer four years later. It was not until November 2013 that the state of Alabama finally gave posthumous pardons to all nine of the Scottsboro boys.

egopersonified: If u all are writing yours, abeg the wives shd follow suit, I bet ours will be at least 10 times more, spread sheet ko, cover sheet ni.

Please write and let us see o.

fijiano202: Hahahaha..oya make i run go buy my own spreadsheet jare

Abiii..
make every husband go dey write him own na

A Reddit user throwwwwaway29 has a husband, and her husband is fed up!! Dude is so fed up that yesterday, he sent his wife an email that contained the spreadsheet you will see below. The spreadsheet had details of ALL the times she has denied him sex since June.

The wife explains, via Deadspin:

Yesterday morning, while in a taxi on the way to the airport, Husband sends a message to my work email which is connected to my phone. He's never done this, we always communicate in person or by text. I open it up, and it's a sarcastic diatribe basically
saying he won't miss me for the 10 days I'm gone.

Attached is a SPREADSHEET of all the times he has tried to initiate sex since June 1st, with a column for my "excuses", using verbatim quotes of why I didn't feel like having sex at that very moment. According to his 'document', we've only had sex 3 times in the last 7 weeks, out of 27 "attempts" on his part.

How cool is this, please? See the spreadsheet below...
source:http://www.lailasblog.com/2014/07/omg-fed-up-husband-sends-wife.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lailaikejisBlog+%28This+is+Laila%27s+Blog%29

No 2 and 1

no 6 to 2

WARNING: This post contains disturbing images. Around the world today, people of all races and creeds eat some of the most disgusting things you can imagine. This is a list of the ten most disgusting things that people eat. Considering the least disgusting thing is poo-related, if you are squeamish, you may not want to read on. The list is, of course, from my personal perspective which is western. If you know of any worse or equally disgusting foods, be sure to mention them in the comments.

10. Kopi Luwak

There is no beating around the bush on this one – Kopi Luwak are coffee beans that come from Civet (a cat sized mamal) poo. The animals gorge on only the finest the ripe berries, and excrete the partially-digested beans, which are then harvested for sale. Kopi Luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world, selling for between $120 and $600 USD per pound, and is sold mainly in Japan and United States, but it is increasingly becoming available elsewhere. The beans are washed, and given only a light roast so as to not destroy the complex flavors that develop through the process.

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9. Ox Penis

In Western countries, Ox Penis is usually dried and sold as dog treats, but in many Oriental nations, they are commonly eaten by humans. The penis is generally cooked by steaming or deep frying, and can also be eaten raw. Some westerners compare the tastes of some joysticks with overcooked squid.

8. Bird Spit

The nests in question here are produced by a variety of Swifts, specifically Cave Swifts who produce the nest by spitting a chemical compound that hardens in the air. The nests are considered a delicacy in China and are one of the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. It is generally served as a soup but can also be used as a sweet. When combined with water, the hard nests take on a gelatinous texture. This is one that I have eaten myself, on a trip to Hong Kong and I included it on the list of Top 10 Luxury Foods. My experience of the nest was that it tasted slightly musty and had the texture of snot. It is probably the only pudding in my life that I could not finish!

7. Caterpilla Fungus

Caterpilla Fungus is a species of parasitic fungus that grows on insect larvae. The fungus invades the body of the Thitarodes caterpillars, eventually killing and mummifying it. The dark brown to black fruiting body (or mushroom) emerges from the ground in spring or early summer, always growing out of the forehead of the caterpillar. The fungus is commonly used as a Chinese or Tibetan medicine where it is used as an aphrodisiac and as a treatment for a variety of ailments, from fatigue to cancer. It is also served in soup (as you can see in the image above).

6. Rats

Rats are surprisingly common food in some parts of the world. In North Korea they are eaten because there is often little else to eat in the villages. They are generally field rats rather than the city rats that most of us are familiar with. They are described as being tough and stringly with a taste like chicken (surprise!) Recently Reuters had this to say:

Live rats are being trucked from central China, suffering a plague of a reported 2 billion rodents displaced by a flooded lake, to the south to end up in restaurant dishes, Chinese media reported.


5. Monkeys Brains

This is disgusting primarily because of the very high risk of contracting fatal transmissible spongiform encephalopathies such as Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and other similar brain diseases. In parts of China, the monkey’s brain is eaten raw. While it is most likely an urban legend1, some people claim that monkeys’ brains are, or were, eaten from the head of a live monkey. Here is a common description:

The monkey’s head was supported by its neck in a bracket, two pieces of wood with a semicircular hole on each side such that when you put them together, they form a complete circle around the animal’s neck, allowing the head to be exposed above the plank. The hair around the head is shaven with a shaving razor. A small chisel and a hammer is used to quickly chisel a circle around the crown, and the top part of the skull is removed. A teaspoon is used to scoop up the brain, which is immediately eaten. This has to be done before the monkey dies.

4. Spiders


These spiders from Skuon in Cambodia are similar to North American Tarantulas. They are bred in holes in the ground especially for eating and are deep fried. The texture is described as crispy-chewy and some say it tastes similar to crab. Like Tarantulas, these spiders can bite. They were a regular survival food of the Khmer Rouge. The photograph above is an actual photo of one of the spiders ready to be eaten. Here is a rather unfortunate description by Michael on Weirdmeat:

The taste itself is not strong, it’s the cripsy-chewy texture that is most appealing. Make sure you have some paper napkins, as the black juice from these is greasy and it doesn’t look good on your goatee.

(I had to write this item with my eyes closed.)

3. Bee Larvae


Bee Larvae is eaten in China and Japan (where it is called hachinoko). Hachinoko became popular years ago when country people, deprived of fish and meats, turned to other wildlife in search of protein. The larvae are cooked in soy sauce and sugar and taste mildly sweet with a crumbly texture. These days, it is mainly a nostalgia item at parties. It makes a grand entrance in the festivities, and the older folks grin with expectation. The actual task of eating hachinoko, however, is not nearly so exciting.

2. Balut – Duck Fetus


Balut is a fertilized duck egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. They are considered delicacies of Asia and especially the Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac and considered a high-protein, hearty snack, balut are mostly sold by street vendors at night in the regions where they are available. They are often served with beer. Michael, from WeirdMeat, describes the experience thus:

After you choose what kind you want, the vendor grabs them piping hot from the basket and passes you a little stool, salt, and a vinegar-onion sauce. You hold the hot egg and flick carefully but forcefully at the top of it with your middle finger. It cracks a bit and you gently remove a small hole from the top, so you can sip the savory broth before removing the whole shell. I agree that the 18-day one is better than the younger ones. You might come across some small chunkies but it’s usually just eaten all the way through, in about 3 mouthful bites. You can see feathers, head, wings, and skeleton forming, but it’s basically an extra-chewy easter egg.

Fertilized duck eggs are kept warm in the sun and stored in baskets to retain warmth. After nine days, the eggs are held to a light to reveal the embryo inside. Approximately eight days later the balut are ready to be cooked, sold, and eaten.

1. Snake Blood and Bile


This is less a food than a medicine, but it is so disgusting that it warrants a place on the list. In Central Jakarta, a man who calls himself the Cobra man specializes in preparing blood and bile for medicinal uses. Typically, he cuts off the head and drains the blood into a glass of arrack. He adds the bile and serves the drink as a treatment for respiratory ailments, skin problems, aches or indigestion. It is also said to improve a man’s stamina and sex life. Drinking the blood straight from a snake can also be done as an act of bravery or manliness. In defense of the blood eaters, I should remind everyone that pigs blood is very commonly eaten in most European nations in the form of black pudding or blood sausage.

sometimes the best planned crimes can go horribly wrong. Either by accident or stupidity. This is a list of the 10 most stupid thieves.

1. Showing off your booty

Charles Taylor of Wichita, Kansas, was arrested for robbing a shoe store at knifepoint and stealing a $69 pair of size 10 1/2 tan hiking boots on December 18, 1996. At his trial, three months later, Taylor arrogantly rested his feet on the defence table. He was wearing a pair of size 10 1/2 tan hiking boots. The judge, James Fleetwood, was incredulous. ‘I leaned over and stared,’ he later said. ‘Surely nobody would be so stupid as to wear the boots he stole to his trial.’ But it turned out one person was that stupid. Taylor was convicted of aggravated robbery and sent back to jail in his stockinged feet.


2. Wrong Place, Wrong Time

On November 29, 1978, David Goodhall and two female accomplices entered a home supplies shop in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, intending to engage in a bit of shoplifting. After stuffing a pair of curtains into a plastic carrier bag, the party attempted to leave by separate exits. However, they were apprehended immediately by several store detectives. Goodhall and his cohorts had failed to notice that the shop, at that very moment, was hosting a convention of store detectives.

3. Checking Out

Eighteen year old Charles A. Meriweather broke into a home in Northwest Baltimore on the night of November 22-23, 1978, raped the woman who lived there, and then ransacked the house. When he discovered that she only had $11.50 in cash, he asked her “How do you pay your bills?”
She Replied, “By cheque” and he ordered her to write out a cheque for $30. He then changed his mind and upped it to $50.
“Who shall I make it out to?” asked the woman, a 34 year old government employee.
“Charles A. Meriweather,” said Charles A. Meriweather, adding, “It better not bounce or I’ll be back.”
Meriweather was arrested several hours later.

4. Keep the Change

In 1977, a thief in Southampton, England, came up with a clever method of robbing the cash register at a local supermarket. After collecting a basketful of groceries, he approached the checkout area and placed a £10 note on the counter. The grocery clerk took the bill and opened the cash register, at which point the thief snatched the contents and ran off. It turned out to be a bad deal for the thief, since the till contained only £4.37 and the thief ended up losing £5.63.

5. The Weld-planned Robbery

On the night of August 23-24, 1980, a well-organized gang of thieves began their raid on the safe of the leisure-center office in Chichester, Sussex, by stealing a speedboat. Using water skis to paddle across the lake, they picked up their equipment and paddled on to the office. However, what they thought were cutting tools turned out to be welding gear, and they soon managed to seal the safe completely shut. The next morning it took the office staff an hour to hammer and chisel the safe open again.

6. Who Was that Masked Man?

Clive Bunyan ran into a store in Cayton, near Scarborough, England, and forced the shop assistant to give him £157 from the till. Then he made his getaway on his motorbike. To hide his identity, Bunyan had worn his full face helmet as a mask. It was a smooth successful heist, except for one detail: he had forgotten that across his helmet, in inch-high letters, were the words, “Clive Bunyan – Driver”. Bunyan was arrested and ordered to pay for his crime by doing 200 hours of community service.

7. The Worst Lawyer

Twenty-five year old Marhshall George Cummings, Jr, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was charged with attempted robbery in connection with a pure-snatching at a shopping center on October 14, 1976. During the trial the following January, Cummings chose to act as his own attorney. While cross-examining the victim, Cummings asked, “Did you get a good look at my face when I took your purse?” Cummings later decided to turn over his defence to a public defender, but it was too late. He was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

8. Big Mouth

Dennis Newton was on trial in 1985 for armed robbery in Oklahoma City. Assistant District Attorney Larry Jones asked one of the witnesses, the supervisor of the store that had been robbed, to identify the robber. When she pointed to the defendant, Newton jumped to his feet, accused the witness of lying, and said, “I should have blown your —ing head off!” After a moment of stunned silence, he added, “If I’d been the one that was there.” The jury sentenced Newton to 30 years in prison.

9. Wrong Fence

Stephen Le and two juvenile companions tried to break in to a parked pickup truck in Larkspur, California, on the night of September 27, 1989. But the owner caught them in the act, chased them, and hailed a police car. Le and one of his friends climbed a fence and ran. It soon became apparent that they had chosen the wrong fence – this one surrounded the property of San Quentin prison. The suspects were booked for investigation of auto burglary and trespassing on state property, although charges were never filed. “Nothing like this has ever happened here before,” said Lieutenant Cal White. “People just don’t break in to prison every day.”

10. Shooting Himself in the Foot

In February 2004, Carlos Henrique Auad of Petropolis, Brazil, broke into a bar near his home and stole a television set. A few nights later, Auad tried to break in to the same bar through the roof. This time, carrying a gun, he slipped and fell and shot himself in the right foot. Auad went straight home, but failed to notice that he left a trail of blood that led right to his door. He was arrested by police who found the television set.

4 Michael Oliver III: Things Get Really, Really Weird

By 1979, everyone’s favorite Andrew Ryan-wannabe, Michael Oliver, had twice failed to establish his libertarian utopia. Most people would probably have given up at that point. But most people weren’t Michael Oliver. And while his first attempts were pretty weird, his third nation-building project reached a new level of bizarre.

Oliver’s new ally was Jimmy Stevens, a former bulldozer operator who had become a leader of the John Frum cargo cult on the Vanuatuan island of Espiritu Santo. A messianic figure, noted for his flowing white hair, long robes, and harem of beautiful wives, Stevens was charismatic enough, but he was easily manipulated by the fanatics of Oliver’s Phoenix Foundation. At a Melbourne hotel, the staff were moved to laughter by the guests’ grandiose talk of revolution, as well as Stevens’ insistence that everyone refer to him as “the King.”

But Oliver were deadly serious. By 1980, he’d spent over $250,000 supplying arms to Stevens’ cultists. The newly independent Vanuatuan government started making a series of ominous discoveries—a supposed “rescue boat” for Indonesian refugees was revealed to be full of sophisticated electronic spy equipment, crewed by mercenaries, and owned by the Phoenix Foundation. Phoenix personnel were seen organizing rallies of Stevens’ supporters. Stevens himself returned from a trip to America to meet Oliver loaded down with gold coins, flags, and “passports” for his planned new nation.

After Stevens’ badly lost an election in November, Phoenix, now headquartered in Amsterdam to avoid US prosecution, was ready to act. Stevens returned from another trip to the US accompanied by a Carson City lawyer named Thomas Eck and declared war. Armed cultists rampaged through Espiritu Santo, kidnapping the district commissioner and forcing 2,000 government loyalists to flee into exile. The Vanuatuan government, increasingly desperate, was forced to call on neighboring Papua New Guinea for help—which the New Guinea government happily granted, sending hundreds of soldiers to Vanuatu and shooting Stevens’ son dead as he tried to run a roadblock.

Devastated, the cult leader surrendered, unconvincingly arguing that he “never intended for anyone to be hurt.” With Stevens downfall, the Phoenix Foundation lost the last of its power. As late as 1995, Michael Oliver was insisting that raising a new island out of the sea was “easy” and the best way to found a new country. But the dream was dead . . . at least for Oliver.

3 The Atlantis Project

Yes, as it turned out, the vision of a high-tech libertarian homeland safely hidden away in the ocean didn’t quite end with the Phoenix Foundation.

Eric Klien was a Vegas software engineer who made a small fortune playing the stock market and retired at age 25. After a few months “lying around playing video games,” Klien became involved with the local libertarian movement. When their preferred candidate lost a State Senate election in 1993 (Klien insists electoral fraud was involved), a like-minded group of anti-government activists decided to go slightly more ambitious. The organization they founded was called The Atlantis Project, and its goal was the construction of a floating island nation off the coast of Panama. Inexplicably named Oceania, after the horrifyingly dystopian state in George Orwell’s 1984, the floating paradise was to be “a peaceful dolphin” compared to the “shark-like” US government.

It might sound bizarre, but Klien and his associates were deadly serious. An Internet campaign raised around $100,000 and an eminent Swedish architect built a scale model of the new super-state. A constitution was also drawn up, pledging that hospitals would have the right to turn off life support if patients could no longer afford care, that all elections would include an option for “remove this office,” and noting that government aid and charities were “compassion at gunpoint.” The project seems to have petered out at the moment—but you can be sure Klien still hasn’t given up on the dream.

2 The Global Country Of World Peace

The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was the founder of Transcendental Meditation and leader of a worldwide new religious movement. But he’s probably best known for a brief period in the ‘60s, when he served as the Beatles spiritual guru. Such is life.

But the Maharishi didn’t just fade away after the Beatles grew disillusioned with his teachings (Ringo famously left after 10 days). In 2000, he founded the Global Country of World Peace (GCWP), a “spiritual country without borders” aiming to bring peace to the world’s trouble spots. To this end, the GCWP carried out such surefire war-ending schemes as dispatching 1,400 spiritual guides to Cambodia, Nicaragua, and the Middle East and persuading the President of Mozambique to have the country’s military spend 20 minutes a day meditating. The group also attempted to control the performance of the Israeli stock exchange through meditation.

But the GCWP wasn’t content to remain a theoretical country for ever—they wanted to be the real deal. In 2001, the group tried to buy 2,500 hectares of land from Suriname to establish a sovereign nation. In exchange they offered to create $1.3 billion in investment and 10,000 new jobs (how they planned to do this remains unclear).

After Suriname politely refused, they tried to buy one of the North Mariana islands from the US and succeeded in getting the South Pacific nation of Tuvalu to consider letting them establish a “Vatican-like sovereign city-state” next to their airport. In 2002, the group was politely asked to leave Costa Rica after it was discovered they had been offering a local Amerindian group $250 a month each to accept a GCWP-appointed king. The Global Country doesn’t seem to have made any more grabs for sovereignty since then—but who can say what the future holds?

1 Fela Kuti And The Kalakuta Republic

In 1970, the legendary Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti returned to his homeland of Nigeria. It didn’t go well. Kuti was overwhelmingly popular among ordinary Nigerians, but his defiant attitude and licentious lifestyle infuriated the country’s oppressive military government. By 1974, he was in a Lagos prison, charged with marijuana possession and the corruption of minors. The communal cell he was housed in was nicknamed “the Kalakuta Republic,” after a Swahili word for “rascal.” The experience didn’t faze Kuti at all; he later declared, “If rascality is going to get us what we want, we will use it; because we are dealing with corrupt people, we have to be ‘rascally’ with them.”

On his release, Kuti moved to a fortified commune in Lagos, which included accommodation, a health clinic, and a state-of-the-art recording studio. He satirically named his new home after his own prison cell, and declared “the Kalakuta Republic” an autonomous zone for all persecuted Africans–independent from the laws and jurisdictions of Nigeria. The Republic soon numbered well over 100 “citizens.”

This was not received well by the Nigerian authorities or President Olusegun Obasanjo. Kuti, ever the free spirit, affected to be unconcerned, and for a while his fame prevented the government from moving against his new country-within-a-country. Then, in 1976, Kuti released his famous album Zombie, which mocked the Nigerian military, comparing them to zombies blindly following orders. The record was a huge hit—which only made the inevitable reprisal much, much worse.

Shortly after the album’s release, over 1,000 soldiers surrounded the Kalakuta republic, which Kuti had defended with an electrified fence. When he insisted that Kalakuta was independent territory, the army cut off his power, burnt his generator with kerosene, and opened fire with machine guns and mortars, before storming the compound. Kuti’s mother was thrown to her death from a window, and Kuti himself was severely beaten. When a subsequent inquiry cleared the army of all responsibility, Kuti dropped his mother’s coffin off in front of the local barracks and left his home for exile in Ghana.

At one point or another we’ve all probably fantasized about running our own country. But we’re also mostly sane enough to recognize that actually trying to make that dream a reality would be an exercise in futility—it’s not like you can just click over to eBay and get a deal on a used city-state and a second-hand army. But that hasn’t stopped some unorthodox thinkers from trying to throw off the shackles of the modern world (read: “having to pay taxes”) and start their own country from scratch. And as you might have guessed, some of those proposed new countries ended up being pretty darn weird. Just take:
10 The Shadowy Brotherhood Of LSD Island
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William Mellon Hitchcock was an unusual hippy. Born into an enormously wealthy family (his uncle, Andrew Mellon, was one of the richest men in American history), he received a trust fund worth around $15,000 a week. In the ‘60s, he trained as a securities broker and sauntered right into a highly-paid job at Lehman Brothers.

But what his new bosses probably didn’t realize was that Hitchcock had already found his calling in life—the new wonder drug called LSD. He even turned his luxurious family estate in upstate New York over to the legendary psychedelic activist Timothy Leary. The mansion soon filled up with New Age dropouts, tripping on acid and partying the night away, while Hitchcock carried on his high-profile business dealings from the relative safety of the guest cottage. By 1967, Leary had left for California, the estate was divided between at least three feuding “acid sects,” and Hitchcock was starting to go off the deep end.

Evicting the hippies from his estate, Billy Hitch (as he was now known) followed Leary out to California, where he incorporated a tax-exempt religious entity called “The Brotherhood of Eternal Love.” A weird mixture of New Age artists and neo-Nazi Hell’s Angels, the Brotherhood established a commune south of Laguna Beach. There, they built labs, hired chemists, and were soon running the largest LSD trafficking ring in the world, producing half of the acid in America.

As the money rolled in, Hitchcock used his financial knowhow to launder the cash through a series of Swiss and Bahamian bank accounts. Some of the cash went to New Age causes, such as hiring the Weather Underground to smuggle Leary out of the country after he escaped prison. But most of the money was earmarked for the Brotherhood’s most ambitious scheme—they were going to form a new country, based around the search for enlightenment and LSD.

The Brotherhood’s target was Clipperton, a tiny island in the Pacific whose terrifying, Lord of the Flies-style history we’ve already covered. While an island best-known for the horrifying deaths of its inhabitants may not seem like the best place to take acid, the Brotherhood was determined. Their new country would become the center of the global LSD movement—as well as a tax-haven and money-laundering facility—and guide the world into a new age of peace and love.

To this end, Hitchcock sent an emissary to buy the island from the French government. Unfortunately the first guy he sent simply stole his money and fled into Europe. Then, a Swiss money-laundering investigation wiped out most of the Brotherhood’s profits. Hitchcock was arrested in the US, where he cut a deal to testify against the rest of the Brotherhood in exchange for a reduced sentence. The commune disbanded and the dream of LSD Island died with it.


9 Michael Oliver I: Minerva Rising
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History’s most dedicated nation-builder, Oliver was a Lithuanian immigrant turned millionaire Las Vegas developer and a committed ultra-conservative libertarian. In his 1968 book A New Constitution for a New Country, Oliver explained how America was heading for a “complete collapse,” followed by an “onslaught of totalitarianism.” His solution was to found a new country, based on the principles of extreme laissez-faire capitalism.

Oliver’s proposed new country would operate on the gold standard and have no taxes, government regulations, or welfare. Teaming up with a number of other libertarian millionaires, Oliver set his sights on the isolated Minerva Reefs, located south of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean, and unclaimed by any existing country.

Now if Bioshock taught us anything, it’s that letting a deranged libertarian tycoon create his model society in the middle of the ocean is a bad idea, but that wasn’t going to stop Oliver. Nor would any of the other problems that soon cropped up. For a start, the Minerva Reefs were unclaimed for a reason—the tiny outcrops were underwater for most of the day. Undaunted, Minerva hired barges to ship loads of sand from Australia and dump them out on the reefs, in the hope of raising them above sea level. He also sent a couple of his followers out to wade onto the reefs and raise their newly designed flag.

On January 19, 1972, Oliver declared the Republic of Minerva an independent country, promising, “People will be free to do as they damn well please. Nothing will be illegal so long it does not infringe on the rights of others. If a citizen wishes to open a tavern, set up gambling, or make pornographic films, the government will not interfere.”

And that’s when the second problem reared its ugly head. The King of Tonga wasn’t that happy with a new country suddenly appearing on his doorstep, especially since he had heard about Oliver’s supposed Mafia connections. Just five days later, the King claimed Minerva was his territory and the Tongan army landed on the reefs, dislodging the few settlers trying to scratch out a living there. Oliver’s dream was over—for now.

8 The Island Of Corporate Criminals

As a teenager, Robert Vesco set himself three goals: “Get out of Detroit, be president of a corporation, and become a millionaire.” Twenty years later, Forbes would name one of the richest Americans. The article simply listed his occupation as “thief.”

Vesco’s rise began when he conned his way into control of a New Jersey tool manufacturer, which he stripped of its assets, using the profits to start his own investment firm. He became the toast of Wall Street, boasting of being the only man other than the President to have a private Boeing 707—complete with a disco and sauna, and named Silver Phyllis because its passengers were sure to catch syphilis from the cabin crew. In 1973, he fled the US after investors discovered he had bilked them of at least $224 million (over a billion dollars in today’s money) enough to make him one of the richest men in the world.

The money made Vesco untouchable—Costa Rica, where he hung out for a while, passed a law specifically banning his extradition—and gave him more time to focus on his true passion: founding his own country. During the early ‘70s he’d already led a cabal of mobsters, US intelligence agents, and neo-fascist sugar planters attempting to split the Azores Islands away from Portugal and turn them into an offshore gambling center. Now, in exile, he was able to step things up a notch.

Vesco’s dream was to found a nation exclusively for the benefit of white-collar criminals like himself—there would be no taxes and no barrier on laundering money from oversees. After failing in bids for islands off Haiti, the Bahamas, and Costa Rica, he settled on the Caribbean island of Barbuda, where he intended to set up “The Sovereign Order of Aragon.” In exchange for a large fee, every citizen would get a knighthood and protection from whatever criminal charges they were facing in their home country. Sadly for Vesco, the deal fell through after the Barbudans objected. He eventually moved to Cuba, where he was thrown into prison after trying to con Fidel Castro’s nephew.

7 Michael Oliver II: Attack On Abaco[img][/img]

Vesco wasn’t the only deranged millionaire cruising the Caribbean looking for an island of his own—everyone’s favorite libertarian messiah, Michael Oliver, had also turned his eyes to the region. But Oliver had learned from his Minervan fiasco. This time, when he founded his anti-government promised land, he was going to make sure he had the muscle to back it up.

Oliver’s new targets were the Bahamian Abaco Islands. Long ignored by the government in Nassau, the news that the Bahamas were to become independent from Britain caused a huge flare-up of discontent. Oliver and his wealthy buddies seized on the opportunity and began funding a separatist group called the Abaco Independence Movement. They also hired an ex-CIA mercenary named Mitchell Werbell, whose resume included an attempted invasion of Haiti, with support from CBS News in exchange for exclusive broadcast access to the fighting. Werbell’s job was to arm and train a revolutionary force capable of securing Abaco’s independence. For his part, Oliver began sending his acolytes out to the Bahamas to host seminars on libertarianism for the increasingly unenthusiastic islanders.

To Oliver’s frustration, his grand schemes began falling apart once again. First, while the Abaco revolutionaries were happy to take his money, they had never been that keen on his plan to turn their islands into a tax-haven and center for pornography distribution. When they discovered that their real goal of remaining a British colony was doomed (a British Minister actually shouted at their emissary: “We just want to be rid of you, rid of you, we want to get rid of the colonies!”) their support quickly waned. The plan fell apart for good when Werbell was arrested for selling illegal weapons—to Robert Vesco.

6 The Sovereign Ecclesiastical Dominion Of Melchizedek
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In 1995, California financial regulators started investigating an entity calling itself Bankasia AG. In the process, they uncovered the weirdest case of their lives. Warned against operating without a banking license, Bankasia produced mountains of paperwork showing it had been licensed in the Dominion of Melchizedek, a small South Pacific nation that operated as a theocracy similar to Vatican City. There was just one problem: The Dominion didn’t appear to exist.

The tiny atoll it claimed as its capital was underwater at high tide and one of its senior officials was listed as Harvey Penguini of Rockefeller Plaza, South Antarctica. Melchizedek’s President, a convicted con artist living in Redwood, California, responded to the investigation by declaring “spiritual warfare” on California’s Deputy Attorney General, informing him, “I will do metaphysical battle with you in your dream state. And if you interpret your dreams correctly you will know that I am the victor.”

Investigators are still working through the labyrinthine backstory of the Dominion, but some details have now become clear. The nation was the brainchild of a father-son conman team named David and Mark Pedley, who intended it to operate as a “mothership,” issuing fake passports, banking licenses, and other official documents to fraudsters worldwide. The pair wrote the Melchizedek “bible,” laid claim to an island in the Philippines, and started claiming to own 10 percent of the world’s oceans. After David died (or possibly faked his own death) in a Mexican jail, Mark changed his name to Branch Vinesdresser, then to Tzemach Ben David Netzer Korem and started floating fake government bonds.

What’s surprising about the Dominion is just how successful it was. Dominion-registered banks were granted licenses to operate in Indiana and Washington DC. In Hong Kong, a conman claiming to be the Crown Prince of the Dominion succeeded in drawing US $318,000 on his “Melchizedek bank accounts.”

5 The KKK Invasion Of Dominica

1981 was a bad time to be a member of the KKK. Membership was falling, funding was drying up, and the US government was cracking down on the organization. So some of the nation’s preeminent racists teamed up with Canadian neo-Nazis to do the only logical thing—conquer a Caribbean island and start their own horrifying new nation.

They initially picked Grenada as their target, figuring the US wouldn’t care much if that island’s left-leaning government was overthrown, but then a stroke of luck changed their plans. The Prime Minister of Dominica, Patrick John, had been forced to step down after a series of widespread protests swept the island. Now, he was looking to regain power—even if it meant working with the KKK. John also introduced his new friends to the Dreads, an extremist Rastafarian group living in Dominica’s mountainous interior. Weirdly, the two groups, white supremacist and Pan-Africanist, agreed to work together.

The KKK’s plan was to pose as CIA agents to hire a boat in New Orleans. They would then sail to Dominica, meet up with the Dreads, and violently overthrow the government. John would be installed as a figurehead while the Klan ruled from behind the scenes, using their new status to set up lucrative gun-running and cocaine smuggling businesses. The Dreads would be quietly disposed of and Dominica would become a safe haven for Aryan nationalists everywhere. What the island’s overwhelmingly black population would think of this idea doesn’t seem to have crossed their minds.

As you might expect, the scheme went wrong almost immediately. First of all, the invasion force assembled in New Orleans reached a grand total of 10 men. Then, the ship’s captain they tried to hire, failing to buy the “we’re totally from the CIA, please ignore our swastika tattoos” routine, reported them to the government. Everyone involved was deservingly arrested.

battle of roses
An Lushan Rebellion

angola
secret war
somali
Taiping Rebellion

Civil wars are merely an indication that even people who are closely related by ethnicity, culture, history, and geography, can have deep and divisive differences. Civil war has also been connected with genocide in many instances, and for many people, it is considered the most shameful kind of war, even though according to the great François Fénelon, “All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers.”

10 Bosnian War
1992-1995

The Bosnian War was a brutal, complex, and ugly conflict that followed the fall of communism in Europe.

In 1991, Bosnia and Herzegovina joined several republics of the former Yugoslavia and declared independence, which triggered a civil war that lasted for four years. Bosnia’s population was a multicultural mix of Muslim Bosniaks, Orthodox Serbs, and Catholic Croats. The Bosnian Serbs, well-armed and backed by neighboring Serbia, laid siege to the city of Sarajevo in early April, 1992. They targeted mainly the Muslim population, but killed many other Bosnian Serbs and Croats with rocket, mortar, and sniper attacks that went on for nearly three and a half years.

As shells fell on the Bosnian capital, nationalist Croat and Serb forces carried out brutal “ethnic cleansing” attacks throughout the countryside. Finally, in 1995, UN air strikes and United Nations sanctions helped bring all parties to a peace agreement. Estimates of the war’s fatalities vary widely, ranging from 90,000 to 300,000.

9 Nigerian Civil War
1967-1970

The Nigerian Civil War, also known as Nigerian-Biafran War, was the result of economic, ethnic, cultural, and religious tensions among the various peoples of Nigeria. Like many other African nations, Nigeria was an artificial construct of imperialism—in this case created by the British, who had neglected to consider religious, linguistic, and ethnic differences when they drew up the borders of the new country.

The civil war began on July 6, 1967, when Nigerian Federal troops advanced in two columns into Biafra. Nigeria, which won independence from Britain in 1960, had at that time a population of sixty million people consisting of nearly three hundred different ethnic and cultural groups. The war cost Nigeria a great deal in terms of lives, money, and its standing in the world. It has been estimated that up to three million people may have died due to the conflict—mostly from hunger and disease. It was one of the bloodiest civil wars of the last few decades.

8 Thousand Days’ War
1899-1902

The War of a Thousand Days was a Colombian civil war between the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and its radical factions that resulted over 100,000 deaths, extensive property damage, and national economic ruin.

The Liberal Party represented coffee plantation owners and rich merchants who favored a laissez-faire economic policy. Largely excluded from participation in government after the Conservative victory of 1885, they were further distressed by the drastic downturn in the international price of coffee; by 1899, many coffee growers were operating at a loss.

During the next three years, disorganized but highly disruptive guerrilla-style warfare raged in the rural areas, with great destruction of property and loss of life. Unable to pacify the countryside by force, the Conservatives finally offered amnesty and political reform in 1902. By November of the same year, the two most important Liberal leaders, Rafael Uribe and Benjamín Herrera, surrendered after negotiating peace treaties which promised amnesty, free elections, and political reform.

7 Sri Lankan Civil War
1983-2009

In April 2011, the UN released a report on human rights violations during the last phase of the twenty-six-year-long Sri Lankan Civil War, in which over 100,000 people lost their lives. The war was fought between the brutally effective Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the local government, and it is estimated that at least 40,000 civilians died in the five months before the war’s end in May 2009, when the Tigers surrendered.

Most locals greeted the end of the civil war in 2009 with jubilation—but although the fighting has stopped, the restoration of the rule of law and the proper investigation of rights abuses and alleged war crimes by both sides has not yet occurred. On February 12, 2013, the UN Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay stated that Sri Lanka has broken its promise to improve human rights, and has failed to investigate wartime atrocities

6 Angolan Civil War
1975-2002

The people of Angola fought bravely against occupation and tyranny to gain their independence from imperialist rulers. Unfortunately, right after Angola became a free nation, the local authorities and political wings lusted after power over the newly formed country. Civil war seemed to be inevitable.

The chief cause of this war, in the end, was a power struggle between the popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), and the National Union for Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). It was one of the bloodiest and most prolonged civil wars of modern history, lasting for nearly twenty-seven years.

The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in 1975, and finally ended only when Jonas Savimbi, leader of UNITA, was killed by government troops in 2002. The two sides then agreed to a ceasefire, soon to be followed by elections. The war left at least 500,000 people dead, and an economy in ruins.

5 Secret War
1953-1975

The “Secret War” in Laos was a crime committed by the American government (by now this has been attested as historical fact, rather than personal opinion).

It was characterized by political planning steeped in ignorance, deception, and arrogant self-interest; and by a disregard of the real problems and issues at hand. Unfortunately, the government’s evil little power games had a human cost. It has been estimated that as many as 450,000 civilians in Laos, and 600,000 in Cambodia, lost their lives. Figures for refugees exceed a million.

In addition, the widespread use of toxic chemical defoliants created a massive health crisis, which naturally fell most heavily on children, on nursing mothers, and on the aged and the already sick—and its effects still linger to this day. The Secret War was the very definition of what we should call a War of Shame.

4 Somali Civil War
1991-ongoing


Somalia is not only populated by Somalis; it’s actually home to a number of different peoples, several of which opposed Siad Barre, the Dictator of Somalia, in the late 1980s. In response, he began attacking them with his army—but they fought back and removed him from power.

Barre was still popular with many Somalis, however, and a revolution took place in the early 1990s to reinstate him. After his return to power, a large part of northern Somalia declared itself independent from the rest of the country, though it remains largely unrecognized.

After years of war, Somalia lies in ruins—and the UN continues to send peacekeeping forces to facilitate the distribution of aid and the rebuilding of Somalia’s society. It’s unofficially estimated that nearly a million of people lost their lives from war-related causes.

3 Taiping Rebellion
1850-1864

This is one of the most massive and most bloody civil wars the world has ever known. No other event devastated nineteenth-century China like the Taiping Rebellion. It was sparked by the leadership of one man from South China, Hong Xiuquan, who in 1847 failed the imperial examinations for the third time and fell into a delirium which lasted thirty days.

When he recovered, he believed that he had been chosen to conquer China and establish the Taiping Tianguo—the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Harmony. Gathering followers (at first from the poor masses), he and his recruits gradually built up an army and political organization that went on to sweep across China. By the late 1850s, they controlled over a third of the country. Their movement was so strong and popular that it took the central government millions of dollars and fifteen years to defeat them. Not until 1864 was the rebellion brutally put down; it’s estimated to have been responsible for the deaths of more than twenty million people.

2 Wars of the Roses
1455–1485

The Wars of the Roses were some of the most important historical events of the medieval era. Their impact in England was immense. They were sporadic civil wars fought between members of the House of Lancaster, whose symbol was the red rose, and the House of York, whose symbol was the white rose. Both houses were branches of the House of Plantagenet, tracing their descent from King Edward III.

The rivalry began in 1399 when King Richard II was overthrown by his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster. But the actual wars didn’t break out until 1455, when Richard, Duke of York, defeated the Lancastrians in the First Battle of St Albans.

The Wars of the Roses ended with the accession of King Henry VII, who founded the Tudor dynasty and symbolically united the White and Red Roses to create the Tudor Rose.

1 An Lushan Rebellion
A.D. 755-763

This civil war is often overlooked and ignored—and it’s definitely one war China would like to forget. It remains to this day the deadliest civil war in world history. The death toll surpassed even that of the Taiping Rebellion, and has been topped only by a couple of regular wars since then, with World War II being one of them.

The An Shi Rebellion as it is also known took place during the Tang Dynasty, from A.D. 755 to A.D. 763, and spanned the reign of three Tang emperors. Fortunately for the Tangs, An Lushan’s competing Yan Dynasty soon began to disintegrate from within.

In January 757, An Lushan’s son became upset by his father’s threats against his friends at court, and killed him. Shortly afterwards, he in turn was murdered by An Lushan’s old friend, Shi Siming. This friend attempted to continue An Lushan’s program of rebellion, but also ended up being murdered by his own son in 761. But although the Tang eventually defeated the An Lushan Rebellion, the effort left the empire weaker than ever before—and it is estimated that over thirty-five million people lost their lives during this blood-bath of a war.

The deathbed can lead people to speak with great honesty and, in many cases, humor. This is a list of 20 last words by famous people.

1. Pardon me, sir. I did not do it on purpose.

Said by: Queen Marie Antoinette after she accidentally stepped on the foot of her executioner as she went to the guillotine.

2. I can’t sleep

Said by: J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan

3. I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis.

Said by: Humphrey Bogart

4. I am about to — or I am going to — die: either expression is correct.

Said by: Dominique Bouhours, famous French grammarian

5. I live!

Said by: Roman Emperor, as he was being murdered by his own soldiers.

Nap Deathbed

6. Dammit…Don’t you dare ask God to help me.

Said by: Joan Crawford to her housekeeper who began to pray aloud.

7. I am perplexed. Satan Get Out

Said by: Aleister Crowley – famous occultist

8. Now why did I do that?

Said by: General William Erskine, after he jumped from a window in Lisbon, Portugal in 1813.

9. Hey, fellas! How about this for a headline for tomorrow’s paper? ‘French Fries’!

Said by: James French, a convicted murderer, was sentenced to the electric chair. He shouted these words to members of the press who were to witness his execution.

10. Bugger Bognor.

Said by: King George V whose physician had suggested that he relax at his seaside palace in Bognor Regis.

11. It’s stopped.

Said by: Joseph Henry Green, upon checking his own pulse.

12. LSD, 100 micrograms I.M.

Said by: Aldous Huxley (Author) to his wife. She obliged and he was injected twice before his death.

13. You have won, O Galilean

Said by: Emperor Julian, having attempted to reverse the official endorsement of Christianity by the Roman Empire.

14. No, you certainly can’t.

Said by: John F. Kennedy in reply to Nellie Connally, wife of Governor John Connelly, commenting “You certainly can’t say that the people of Dallas haven’t given you a nice welcome, Mr. President.

15. I feel ill. Call the doctors.

Said by: Mao Zedong (Chairman of China)


16. Tomorrow, I shall no longer be here

Said by: Nostradamus

17. Hurry up, you Hoosier bastard, I could kill ten men while you’re fooling around!

Said by: Carl Panzram, serial killer, shortly before he was executed by hanging.

18. Put out the bloody cigarette!!

Said by: Saki, to a fellow officer while in a trench during World War One, for fear the smoke would give away their positions. He was then shot by a German sniper who had heard the remark.

19. Please don’t let me fall.

Said by: Mary Surratt, before being hanged for her part in the conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln. She was the first woman executed by the United States federal government.

20. Now, now, my good man, this is no time for making enemies.

Said by: Voltaire when asked by a priest to renounce Satan.

It’s often said that money isn’t everything, but it sure does make life more fun. Here are 10 of the most over-the-top and yet oddly impressive ways people threw away their wealth.

10 E. Berry Wall And His Leather Boots


Evander Berry Wall was a fashion icon who strolled the streets of New York toward the latter quarter of the 19th century. Born in 1860, Wall became a millionaire by the time he hit 18 and a multimillionaire by the time he reached 22, when he inherited a million dollars from his father and grandfather respectively.

From the second he inherited the money, Wall began spending it all on clothes, famously buying 5,000 neckties and 300 pairs of gloves. Wall also supposedly refused to ever drink anything but champagne, was the first man in America to wear a tuxedo, and once changed his outfit 40 times in a single morning for a bet.

Wall’s incredible vanity soon attracted the attention of a reporter named Blakely Hall, who wrote incredibly popular newspaper articles about Wall’s various outfits. These articles aroused people’s curiosity and massaged Wall’s already tremendous ego, but they also drew the attention of other snappy dressers. Eventually, a gentleman’s bet was arranged between Wall and an actor named Robert C. Hilliard to see who could pull off the most ridiculous outfit.

After a few weeks of turning up to various parties wearing things like “checked suits” and “entirely tweed outfits,” Wall’s standout moment came when he walked into a bar in the middle of a blizzard “clad in gleaming boots of black patent leather that went to his hips.”


9 Caligula Literally Swam In Gold

We’ve discussed before how Emperor Caligula was an awful human being, and nothing we’re about to mention here will change that. That said, the man sure knew how to spend his money. As you’re probably aware, Caligula was fond of wild sex parties, but what’s less well known is that Caligula had a fetish for gold that bordered on the absurd.

This culminated in Caligula forcing his servants to pile up his impressive gold reserves purely so he could roll around in the gold because he enjoyed the feel of it on his skin. Caligula also reportedly fed his favorite horse oats mixed with gold, and he’d often serve his guests loaves of bread made of solid gold just to show off how rich he was. When he wasn’t rolling around in gold, Caligula would sometimes throw it on the floor just so that he could walk across it. He also had little to no regard for the fashion sense of the day and it wasn’t unusual to see the Emperor walk around wearing women’s clothes covered in jewels.

It’s reported that in the few years he reined, Caligula spent over 27 million gold pieces doing whatever he pleased.

8 Edward Hughes Ball Hughes And His Gambling Problem

Edward Hughes Ball Hughes was an early 19th-century dandy who began making a name for himself in upper social circles when he inherited £40,000 per year in 1819 at the age of 23.

Using his newfound wealth, Hughes began styling himself as a gentlemen by buying as many fancy clothes as he could afford and cramming them all inside a giant house. Even when he was enjoying the pursuits of the leisure class, like hunting, Hughes was rarely seen without “an army of servants carrying guns, wine, and food behind him.”

Unfortunately for him, Hughes’s favorite pastime was gambling. Hughes would reportedly bet thousands of pounds on something as simple as the flip of a coin and wouldn’t bat an eyelid when he lost. He was such a prolific loser that the locals published a pamphlet in 1824 purely to warn the young man about the company he was keeping and how much they were taking advantage of his wealth and naivety, warning him that he’d lose his entire fortune if he wasn’t careful.

In response, Hughes went right ahead and lost £45,000 in a single evening. In today’s money, that was the equivalent of Hughes losing £37 million. After that night, Hughes fled to Paris to avoid paying his debts and lived the rest of his days in quiet comfort.

7 The 5th Marquis Of Anglesey And His Dressing Gowns

Henry Cyril Paget, aka the 5th Marquis of Anglesey, was a legendary figure in England in the late 19th century and early 20th century who was known throughout the country for his insane spending habits and sense of dress. Like the celebrities of today, Paget would strut around town with a toy poodle tucked beneath his arm. Unlike the celebrities of today, Paget would do so while wearing a diamond tiara, just because.

In his life, Paget spent his family’s entire fortune and then some. His inheritance gave him £110,000 a year (about £8 million today). Most of his family’s money was spent on clothes and Paget was famous for wearing jewel-encrusted costumes that he’d wear once and then never touch again. As an example of how stupidly opulent Paget’s lifestyle was, when his bills finally caught up with him and he was forced to sell all of his belonging to settle the books, they found 100 unworn silk dressing gowns in his wardrobe. Paget’s most ridiculous display of wealth came in the form of his fleet of private vehicles, all of which had been modified to spray perfume out of their exhaust pipes.

6 Gordon Bennett And His Cow Yacht

James Gordon Bennett Jr. was an early 19th-century playboy and the son of James Gordon Bennett Sr., the founder of the New York Herald. Coming from such gilded stock, Bennett Jr. was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Whereas his father was a hardworking, well-respected businessman, Bennett Jr. was only really interested in spending money.

According to varying sources, Bennett spent around $40 million in his lifetime, and the stories of his opulence read like something Bruce Wayne would do to try and convince people he wasn’t Batman.

For example, Bennett once reportedly threw a roll of money into a fire just because he couldn’t fit it into his pocket. When a frantic guest tried to pull it back out, he yelled at them because the fire was where he wanted the money to be. Another time, Bennett bought an entire restaurant just because someone was sitting in his seat.

Bennett’s most extravagant purchase was his own personal yacht, the Lysistrata, which Bennett commissioned to be built when he realized that the other yacht he owned just wasn’t cutting the mustard. What made this yacht so extravagant? Well, Bennett had a room on the yacht reserved for a cow just so he could have fresh butter every morning. As if that wasn’t unbelievable enough, to make sure the cow was always happy, Bennett made sure that “an electric fan blew gentle breezes over the cow in tropical climes and the finest of all-wool blankets warmed it in arctic water.”

5 Howard Hughes And The Silver Slipper

When Howard Hughes was 19, his father died. A former oil prospector and inventor of a drill bit that revolutionized oil drilling, he left young Hughes in charge of a vast and profitable business empire. Upon learning of his father’s death, Hughes had a court declare him a legal adult, used his newfound wealth to buy every share of his father’s company, and then placed it in the hands of someone with more business sense than himself.

Not content to just let someone else make money for him, Hughes went right ahead and began producing wildly popular movies in the ’20s and ’30s. When World War II broke out, Hughes bought himself an airline, and when it ended, he bought a film studio. By the early ’60s, Hughes was one of the richest people on Earth, with a reported fortune reaching into the billions.

Though he’d lived a life of extravagance as a young man, Hughes’s most ostentatious acts of spending came when his health began to decline in the mid-1960s. According to people close to Hughes, in 1966 he calmly explained to one of his aides that he wanted to be “the largest single property owner in the gambling capital [Las Vegas].”

The very next day, Hughes flew to Vegas in his pajamas and rented a room in the Desert Inn. When the owner asked Hughes to leave, he bought the hotel and told him to get lost. Hughes then went right ahead and bought half a dozen other casinos, including the Silver Slipper, which he bought just because he wanted to move the sign.

One night, when Hughes was sitting in his room, he flicked on the TV and found that there was nothing on—so he bought a local television studio just to make them show movies at night so he wouldn’t get bored. Of course, Hughes was a film producer who owned a chain of theaters—he could have easily had a projector put into his room or something—but he chose instead to spend millions of dollars buying a TV station just so he could watch his favorite movies.

4 Marie Antoinette And Her Boat Hair

Marie Antoinette led a life that was marred by controversy, and throughout the latter half of her life she was repeatedly criticized by the public at large. A lot of this criticism was both unfounded and largely unfair, the most famous example being the infamous quote “let them eat cake,” supposedly uttered by Antoinette upon hearing that people were starving due to a lack of bread. The quote was almost certainly wrongfully attributed to Antoinette in an attempt to besmirch her good name.

All that said, Antoinette did indeed live a life of opulent luxury the likes of which the average person couldn’t possibly imagine. For example, Antoinette would regularly give away her tailor-made dresses and gowns after only a single wearing, which probably explains why Antoinette ordered 300 of them per year.

Where Antoinette’s opulence really shone through was in how she styled her hair. Although Antoinette never said, “let them eat cake,” she absolutely did cover her iconic pouf hairstyle in flour—during a flour shortage—and she once reportedly turned up to a party with an entire miniature boat in her hair.

3 Kim Jong Il And His Lobsters

During his time as the Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Il took full advantage of his position of absolute power and used it to indulge his every whim and passing fancy. While his people starved and died by the thousands, the Supreme Leader was shipping thousands of bottles of cognac to fill his private wine cellar, and he reportedly fed his dogs better than his staff. According to a Japanese sushi chef who used to cook for Kim Jong Il, every grain of rice was inspected by hand before it was cooked and served to him. “Defective” grains were thrown out.

Perhaps the ultimate example of the Dear Leader’s grandiose lifestyle comes from a testimony by a Russian emissary, Konstantin Pulikovsky, who reported that while he traveled with the Dear Leader on his private train, he “had live lobsters airlifted to the train every day which he ate with silver chopsticks.”

2 Cleopatra And The Pearl

The famously beautiful Cleopatra was one of the last pharaohs of ancient Egypt, and as such she enjoyed a position of tremendous power and wealth. As one of the most powerful women in all of history, Cleopatra had the entire wealth of Egypt to play around with. She’s considered by some to be the 22nd richest person in all of history, with an estimated personal net worth of $95 billion. Although the exact figure will likely never be known, suffice to say that Cleopatra had enough money to live a pretty good life.

One of the more curious treasures that Cleopatra supposedly owned was the largest set of pearls on Earth. We say “supposedly” because they no longer exist—apparently, Cleopatra drank them.

As explained by Pliny the Elder in his book Natural History, Cleopatra put one of the largest pearls mankind has ever known into a glass of vinegar purely so she could dissolve it and drink it for a bet. The queen supposedly created the costly cocktail when her lover Mark Antony bet her that she couldn’t spend a “small fortune” on a single meal. In response, Cleopatra removed one of her own earrings—made from a giant pearl given to her by an Eastern king—and dissolved it in a glass of vinegar before promptly downing the mixture in one go.

According to Lucius Munatius Plancus, the man who oversaw the wager, the pearl was worth the equivalent of “1,764 pounds of gold” and it was only by his intervention that Cleopatra’s other earring survived. If this guy hadn’t have stepped in, Cleopatra would have swallowed the equivalent of over 3,000 pounds of gold, all for a silly bet. It was believed for years that the story was a myth, but one researcher proved that vinegar would in fact dissolve a pearl within about 10 minutes if the pearl was crushed first.

1 Pablo Escobar’s Whole Life

When Pablo Escobar’s cocaine empire was at its peak, the Medellin cartel reportedly spent upwards of $2,500 on rubber bands just to hold all the piles of money together. According to people close to the infamous drug baron, literal “truckloads of cash” were a common sight, and when he ran out of room to store it all, he’d pay people to store it in the walls of their homes. According to the book An Economic History of Organized Crime, there were hundreds of these so-called caletas in the area surrounding Escobar’s home, each containing upwards of $5 million apiece.

Even when he was on the run from the police, Escobar continued to astound the public with his lavish spending. According to Escobar’s own son, while he was on the run he once burned millions of American dollars just to stay warm.

However, truly the most awesome and inconceivable act of wanton spending came when Escobar offered to pay off the entire national debt of Columbia—all $10 billion worth—out of his own pocket if they let him off. It didn’t work.

We know that science doesn’t have the answers to everything, but seeing that it’s 2014 and the future is almost here, there are some questions we really expected it to have answered by now.

10 How Does Turbulence Work?

Everyone has gone through a flight where the pilot asks you to tighten your seat belts because of excessive turbulence, but even though it is so important to things like air safety, we just have no idea how it works. It has perplexed scientists to such an extent that Einstein once famously said, “Before I die, I hope someone will clarify quantum physics for me. After I die, I hope God will explain turbulence to me.”

The problem is aggravated by the fact that wherever the need to study turbulence arises—like in jet propulsion—chemical reactions take place alongside the high pressure and extreme conditions, which makes it difficult for researchers to study the exact conditions needed to produce turbulence. If somehow we could figure it out, it could be applied to a variety of uses since turbulence occurs everywhere in nature. Maybe one day we’d even be able to predict hurricanes or other natural disasters with accuracy, thus minimizing the damage and finally scoring one over nature.

9 Why Do Cats Purr?

We’ve shown before that cats don’t always purr when they’re happy, but the mystery goes way deeper than that. There is no purring organ in the throat of a cat, and even though extensive research has been done on the function itself, the exact origin of the function in the anatomy of cats is still unknown.

It’s theorized that they might do it by the constriction and dilation of the larynx, but no evidence has ever been provided to prove or disprove that theory. It was, however, found that the frequency of a cat’s purr falls somewhere in the range required to accelerate bone regeneration and healing, so it might just be a healing superpower that we had no idea even existed in the animal kingdom. That might also explain why we take it to be a happy sound, as the frequency is not just beneficial for the cat—it tends to make us happier as well.

8 What Causes Hypnic Jerks?

Often when we are about to fall asleep, we experience a kind of a falling sensation which causes us to wake up with a start. It happens to almost everybody, and the sensation is known as a hypnic jerk. It also sometimes happens when you tilt the chair you’re sitting on too far—somehow you can sense when you’re about to fall, and you wake up with a hypnic jerk. We really have no idea what causes them or whether they serve any modern purpose, but science has come up with some interesting theories.

One hypothesis suggests that our bodies developed this mechanism when we used to sleep on branches or high ground, and it was meant to help us avoid a fall. But there is no evidence to support it, and humans rarely slept on trees or precarious cliffs as a matter of habit. Other theories suggest that it happens because of the slowing down of the body’s processes when you fall asleep, but again, there are no scientific studies to support that claim either.

7 How Exactly Do Magnets Work?

Magnetism is a widely observed phenomenon in our universe, but a lot of things about it remain unexplained. For example, why do particles charged with electricity create a magnetic field strong enough to physically move things from far away? And when they do, why exactly do they align themselves to two poles, north and south?

Explanations range from “it’s just one of those things” to particle movement at the quantum level, and MIT even has a whole laboratory dedicated to research on nothing but magnetism. We know that it’s happening, and we have a good idea of what exactly is happening, too—the particles align themselves in a way that adds up their charge in one direction, but it’s not very clear as to why the particles emit a magnetic field to start with. The fact that the Earth’s magnetic field is not well understood either further restricts our ability to understand magnetism.

6 Why Do Giraffes Have Long Necks?

Many may believe that only giraffes with long necks survived evolution because they had an advantage over the other, short-necked ones, but that’s not really true. Longer necks provide no particular advantage to giraffes because they care more about the type of leaf than the height at which it’s situated. If it’s confusing to you, science doesn’t have much of a clue either. There’s just no consensus on the exact conditions that would have caused long necks to be selected positively among giraffes.

One theory is that the giraffes developed long necks as a mating trait—in other words, it helped with the ladies—but there’s not much evidence to support that hypothesis. On the contrary, big, heavy necks, no matter how good they look, would be a definite disadvantage in the wild and are sure to die out at some point in the future. Another theory says that they had to develop long necks because of long legs, but again, that theory is based less on factual evidence and more on a scientist looking at a giraffe and guessing.

5 Why Do Birds Migrate?

We know that birds migrate over really long distances every year to lay eggs or to escape harsh winters. What we don’t know is how they do it at all. The migration of birds remains one of the most mysterious animal behaviors known to science, and even though they’ve been trying hard to solve it for a long time, answers haven’t been easy to come by.

Consider this: Cuckoos migrate and lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, then just fly away to their own business. When the young ones grow up, they make their way to their ancestral lands without any help whatsoever. Scientists do believe that they are able to use a variety of compasses based on the stars and the Earth’s magnetic field, but a compass can only guide you—it can’t tell you the coordinates of a location you should have no idea about. Clearly, cuckoos are one species you don’t want to mess with.

4 What Causes Gravity?

Newton pioneered the study of gravity over 350 years ago, and you’d think that we’d have it all figured out by now. But the more we’ve progressed in our knowledge of the world, the more baffling gravity has become for researchers. For starters, we know the causing particle for each of the four fundamental forces of the universe—except gravity. A graviton is believed to be that particle, but we’re pretty far from actually finding it.

Another thing about gravity is that it is the weakest of all the other fundamental forces, yet if we look around the world, that doesn’t seem to be the case at all. Gravity keeps galaxies together, and it is about 1040 times weaker than the electromagnetic force. The fact that it’s so weak makes it all the more difficult to study it in the lab.

3 How Do We Store And Retrieve Memories?

Science has come a long way toward understanding how our bodies work, but memories are still one of the most perplexing problems of the human anatomy. We just have no idea exactly what parts of the brain are involved in the storage of our memories, though we do know that a lot of areas of the brain are involved in the process. Even more confusing than memory storage is memory retrieval. Scientists have been looking into how our brains trace a particular memory from our memory bank since at least the ’20s, but it’s still not clear how we do it.

What we do know for sure is that it has something to do with neurons and the connections between them. When we see something that triggers a memory to be traced, many parts of the brain interact with each other simultaneously to make us remember it. Beyond that, though, the whole thing is a mystery.

2 Why Do Women Go Through Menopause?

Menopause defies all the rules of evolution. The ability to reproduce in the animal kingdom ensures that the species are able to pass on their superior genes, but in humans, something weird happens. Women decisively lose their ability to pass on their lineage at the age of about 45–50, and science just doesn’t have any idea why. From an evolutionary perspective, it is always harmful for a species to completely give up their ability to reproduce, as survival by natural selection ceases to take place once that happens.

One explanation is the grandmother hypothesis, which says that after a point, women should spend more time caring for their grandchildren than their children, but the benefits of that are far inferior to the benefits of giving birth to your own children. It’s also not abundantly found in the animal kingdom. Apart from humans, only two species of whale completely stop breeding at a certain age and go on to live for a significant amount of time. Other animals that experience deteriorating sexual abilities, however, often die out soon after.

1 What Are Dreams?


Dreaming is one thing that’s common to us all. It might differ in the way it happens for some of us, but it’s definitely a resident feature of all of our brains. You’d think that science would be able to figure out why our brains decide to go in LSD mode every night, but sadly, there are no definite answers as to what exactly dreams are. Some people believe that they’re just random images which serve no purpose, while others believe that they carry a deeper meaning, though we’re all pretty much guessing here.

Some theories suggest that dreams are a manifestation of things we’d rather not think about during the day, like sexual fantasies, though many modern scientists don’t agree with that. What they do agree with, however, is that dreams are most likely symbolic of something deep in our psyche, though no one can decisively say what. The jury is divided on whether they serve any purpose at all, and it looks like it’s going to take a long time for us to come to a universally accepted answer.

We all tend to focus on the evil men in the world and forget some of the truly evil women that have lived. I hope to correct that with this list. Here we have not just serial killers, but other utterly despicable women who have caused tragedy in many people’s lives. So, without further ado, here are the top 10 most evil women in history.

10. Queen Mary I Born: 1516; Died: 1558


Mary was the only child of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon to live past infancy. Crowned after the death of Edward VI and the removal of The Nine Days Queen-Lady Jane Grey, Mary is chiefly remembered for temporarily and violently returning England to Catholicism. Many prominent Protestants were executed for their beliefs leading to the moniker “Bloody Mary”. Fearing the gallows a further 800 Protestants left the country, unable to return until her death. It should be noted that Elizabeth I shares position 10 on this list for her equally bad behavior.

9. Myra Hindley Born: 1942; Died: 2002


Myra Hindley and Ian Brady were responsible for the “Moors murders” occurring in the Manchester area of Britain in the mid 1960’s. Together these two monsters were responsible for the kidnapping, sexual abuse, torture and murder of three children under the age of twelve and two teenagers, aged 16 and 17. A key found in Myra’s possession led to incriminating evidence stored at a left-luggage depot at Manchester Central Station. The evidence included a tape recording of one of the murder victims screaming as Hindley and Brady raped and tortured her. In the final days before incarceration, she developed a swagger and arrogant attitude that became her trademark. Police secretary Sandra Wilkinson has never forgotten seeing Hindley and her mother Nellie, leaning against the courthouse eating sweets. While the mother was obviously and understandably upset, Hindley seemed indifferent and uncaring of her situation.

8. Isabella of Castile Born: 1451; Died: 1504


Isabella I of Spain, well known as the patron of Christopher Columbus, with her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon, are responsible for making possible the unification of Spain under their grandson Carlos I. As part of the drive for unification, Isabella appointed Tomás de Torquemada as the first Inquisitor General of the inquisition. March 31, 1492 marks the implementation of the Alhambra Decree; expulsion edicts forcing the removal or conversion of Jews and Muslims. Roughly 200,000 people left Spain; those remaining who chose conversion were subsequently persecuted by the inquisition investigating Judaizing conversos. In 1974, Pope Paul VI opened her cause for beatification. This places her on the path toward possible sainthood. In the Catholic Church, she is thus titled Servant of God.

7. Beverly Allitt Born: 1968


The “Angel of Death, Beverley Gail Allit, is one of Britain’s most well known serial killers. Working as a pediatric nurse, she is responsible for the murder of 4 children and the serious injury of 5 others in her care. When available, insulin or potassium injections were used to precipitate cardiac arrest; smothering sufficed when they were not. Although convicted with death or injury in nine cases, Allit attacked thirteen children over a fifty-eight day period before being caught red-handed. Allit has never spoken of the motive for her crimes, but Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy explains her actions. This debatable personality disorder involves a pattern of abuse or harm to someone in your care in order to garner attention (Alitt was known as a child to wear bandages and casts over wounds, but would not allow them to be examined).

6. Belle Gunness Born: 1859; Died: 1931

Belle Gunness was one of America’s most degenerate and productive female serial killers. Standing 6 ft (1.83 m) tall and weighing in at over 200 lbs (91 kg), she was an imposing and powerful woman of Norwegian descent. It is likely that she killed both her husbands and all of her children at different times, but it is certain that she murdered most of her suitors, boyfriends, and her two daughters, Myrtle and Lucy. The motive was greed-pure and simple; life insurance policies and assets stolen or swindled from her suitors became her source of income. Most reports put her death toll at more than twenty victims over several decades, with some claiming in excess of one hundred. Inconsistencies during her post mortem examination; the corpse was reported to be two inches shorter than Belle’s six feet, paved the way for Belle Gunnes to enter American criminal folklore, a female Bluebeard.

5. Mary Ann Cotton Born: 1832; Died: 1873



Englishwoman Mary Ann Cotton is another for-profit serial killer, predating Belle Gunnes by thirty years. Married at age twenty to William Mowbray, the newlyweds settled in Plymouth, Devon, to start their family. The couple had five children, four of whom died of ‘gastric fever and stomach pains’. Moving back to the north-east, tragedy seemed to follow them; three more children born, three more children died. William soon followed his offspring, dying of an ‘intestinal disorder’ in January 1865. British Prudential promptly paid a 35 pound dividend, and a pattern was established. Her second husband, George Ward, died of intestinal problems as well as one of her two remaining children. The power of the press, always a force to be reckoned with, caught up with Mary Ann. The local newspapers discovered that as Mary Ann moved around northern England, she lost three husbands, a lover, a friend, her mother and a dozen children, all dying of stomach fever. She was hanged at Durham County Gaol, March 24, 1873, for murder by arsenic poisoning. She died slowly, the hangman using too short a drop for a ‘clean’ execution.

4. Ilse Koch Born: 1906; Died: 1967



“Die Hexe von Buchenwald” the Witch of Buchenwald, or “Buchenwälder Schlampe” the Bitch of Buchenwald was the wife of Karl Koch, commandant of the concentration camps Buchenwald from 1937 to 1941, and Majdanek from 1941 to 1943. Drunk on the absolute power rendered by her husband, she reveled in torture and obscenity. Infamous for her souvenirs; tattoos taken from the murdered inmates, her reputation for debauchery was well earned. After building an indoor sports arena in 1940, with 250,000 marks stolen from inmates, Ilsa was promoted to Oberaufseherin or “chief overseer” of the few female guards at Buchenwald. She committed suicide by hanging herself at Aichach women’s prison on September 1, 1967.

3. Irma Grese Born: 1923; Died: 1945



Another product of the Nazi’s final solution, Irma Grese or the “Bitch of Belsen” was a guard at concentration camps Ravensbrück, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. Transferred to Auschwitz in 1943, (she must have shown particular enthusiasm and dedication to the job), she was promoted to Senior Supervisor, the 2nd highest ranking female in camp, by the end of the year. In charge of over 30,000 Jewish female prisoners, she reveled in her work. Her work included; savaging of prisoners by her trained and half starved dogs, sexual excesses, arbitrary shootings, sadistic beatings with a plaited whip, and selecting prisoners for the gas chamber. She enjoyed both physical and emotional torture and habitually wore heavy boots and carried a pistol to facilitate both.

2. Katherine Knight Born: 1956



The first Australian woman to be sentenced to a natural life term without parole, Katherine Knight had a history of violence in relationships. She mashed the dentures of one of her ex-husbands and slashed the throat of another husband’s eight-week-old puppy before his eyes. A heated relationship with John Charles Thomas Price became public knowledge with an Apprehended Violence Order that Price had filed against Knight and ended with Knight stabbing Price to death with a butcher’s knife. He had been stabbed at least 37 times, both front and back, with many of the wounds penetrating vital organs. She then skinned him and hung his “suit” from the door frame in the living room, cut off his head and put it in the soup pot, baked his buttocks, and prepared gravy and vegetables to accompany the ‘roast’. The meal and a vindictive note were set out for the children, luckily discovered by police before they arrived home.

1. Elizabeth Bathory Born: 1560; Died: 1614

Countess Elizabeth Bathory is considered the most infamous serial killer in Hungarian/Slovak history. Rumors had circulated for years about missing peasant girls; offered well paid work at the castle, they were never seen again. One of these rumors reached the ears of King Mathias II, who sent a party of men to the massive Castle Csejthe. The men found one girl dead and one dying. Another was found wounded and others locked up. Described atrocities, collected from testimony of witnesses, include; severe beatings over extended periods of time, the use of needles, burning or mutilation of hands, sometimes also of faces and Instruments, biting the flesh off the faces, arms and other bodily parts, and the starving of victims. The victim total is thought to number in the hundreds occurring over a twenty-five year period. Due to her social status she was never brought to trial but remained under house arrest in a single room until her death. The idea that the Countess bathed in the blood of her victims is folklore, and one of the few things she did not do.

People passionately disagree on exactly what impact religion has on the horrors we inflict on one another. What is certain, however, is that many people use the teachings of their particular books to justify and spread their inhumanity. Each of the following verses has served as ammunition for someone to make the world a much more awful place.

10 The Quran And Terrorism


“So let those fight in the cause of Allah who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter. And he who fights in the cause of Allah and is killed or achieves victory—We will bestow upon him a great reward.”
An-Nisa, 4:74

A study by the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at Scotland’s University of St. Andrews found that the above verse from the Quran is the most cited of any in English-language Islamic terrorist propaganda. In a selection of 30 English texts produced to promote violent jihad, the phrase appeared in nine of them.

It’s easy to see the appeal to the verse—it very explicitly sells the idea of a reward for those that die fighting “in the cause of Allah.” The phrase even appeared in Al-Qaeda’s response to the death of Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden himself used a related verse when he declared a fatwa against the US in 1996. That verse, Muhammad 47:4–6. similarly tells that those “who are killed in the cause of Allah” will enter paradise.

However, the author of the paper notes that such verses are typically cherry-picked and offered out of context. This is particularly effective as a recruiting tool on those unfamiliar with Arabic and the Quran in their original forms.

A different analysis of Islamist writings by Arizona State University found that the most used verse, quoted in 12 percent of texts, didn’t relate to violence at all. It reads: “And Allah is predominant over His affair, but most of the people do not know,” (Yusuf 12:21).

The quote is part of the story of the prophet Joseph. It’s almost identical to the equivalent story in the Hebrew Bible—Joseph has a bunch of jealous brothers who pretend he is dead but who actually sell him into slavery. At the point where this phrase appears, Joseph has just arrived in Egypt, and the “most of the people” in question are the Egyptians who bought him. Extremist texts take the verse out of context to reaffirm that Allah remains in control and has a plan, even when injustice occurs.

9 The Bible And Slavery


“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.”
Ephesians 6:5

Slave owners and pro-slavery pastors used the above passage to justify the African slave trade up until the 19th century. Titus 2:9 was similarly popular, proclaiming, “Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them.”

Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States during the American Civil War, said that slavery “was established by decree of Almighty God . . . it is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation.”

The Bible was used to justify not just slavery in general but the inferiority of “dark-skinned peoples” in particular. Many theologians interpreted the cursed Canaanites from Abrahamic mythology as having dark skin. Their progenitor is Ham, the son of Noah, and people misread the Hebrew word for Ham to mean “black” or “dark.” This particular Bible passage has been used throughout history to justify the oppression of whomever it was convenient to oppress.

Even today, the story of Ham is still quoted by those who believe in racial segregation. The pastor of Appleby Baptist Church in Nacogdoches, Texas wrote on his website in 2013 that “the proof of the presence of God among the Israelites was the absence of the black skinned folk of Canaan.” He said that God is a separator rather than a mixer, and interracial marriages are the work of the devil.

8 Hindu Texts And Child Marriage

“For fear of commencement of puberty let the father give his daughter in marriage while she is still going about naked. For if she remains at home after the marriageable age sin falls upon the father.”
The Yogi Vasistha

Child marriage is a big problem. There are 24 million child brides in India alone. In Nepal, 63 percent of girls marry before age 18, and in some regions, the percentage is even higher. The practice, while technically illegal, is so socially accepted that hardly anyone complains.

As one mother put it, on the day her 12-year-old daughter married a man of 20, “Doesn’t a daughter’s marriage weigh you down? How would we get her married later?” She then complained, “I still have the burden of marrying one more daughter.” Yet 12 is hardly young—girls are sometimes married off at half that age.

If the statistics are shocking, they’re nothing compared to the human reality. Some girls are tortured or killed by their new in-laws in disputes over dowries. Inevitably, the children are raped by their husbands, and many die because their bodies simply aren’t ready to handle pregnancy. And the brides who survive are hardly happy. One teenage girl who was married at age nine said, “I hope other children will not suffer like me.”

The practice is enshrined in the teachings of Hinduism, and both Nepal and India are predominantly Hindu. The passage above comes from the Yoga Vasisth, a Hindu spiritual text. Another text, the Baudhayana, says, “The girl should be given while she is still immature; even from an unworthy man she should not be withheld if she has attained womanhood.”

A text called the Angirasmriti says there is “no atonement” for any man who sleeps with a girl who had her first period before marriage. Other texts say that the girl’s father and husband will both fall into hell if she is married after her first period, and their forefathers will be reincarnated as insects.

7 The Bible And Genocide


“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’ “
1 Samuel 15:2–3

The Old Testament serves as a laundry list of the worst crimes humanity can commit, up to and including genocide. These atrocities are often justified, or even commanded, by God. It’s no surprise, then, that people invoke the book to rationalize the widespread murder of others.

Europeans quoted the above verse to excuse the murder of Native Americans. Catholics and Protestants have each quoted it in their violence against the other. Preachers quoted it to support the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Some Christians are still quoting it today to teach that the murder of men, women, and children is the righteous reaction to disbelief in God. And they’re teaching it in US schools.

The Good News Club is a project of the Child Evangelism Fellowship, which provides after-school Bible study classes to around 100,000 American schoolchildren each year. The teachers’ instruction manual for the lesson on the verse says teachers should make it clear that genocide was justified because “the Amalekites refused to believe in God, and God had promised punishment.” Teachers should also make clear that King Saul was wrong to stop short when “he kept the king and some of the animals alive.”

6 The Quran And Subjugation Of Women


“Men are in charge of women by what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in absence what Allah would have them guard. But those from whom you fear arrogance—advise them; forsake them in bed; and, strike them. But if they obey you, seek no means against them. Indeed, Allah is ever Exalted and Grand.”
Surat An-Nisa 4:34

Most countries that base their laws on the teachings of Islam don’t have a reputation as beacons of women’s rights. In Saudi Arabia, women are legally bound to be subjugated to men and can’t even undergo some medical procedures without permission from a male guardian. That’s true even if the procedure is an emergency and there is simply no male guardian around.

The quote above is from Surat An-Nisa , which means “The Women.” Many Muslim men read the verse very literally. If your wife fails to be “devoutly obedient,” you should tell her off. If she continues to argue, refuse to sleep with her. Finally, you can beat her into submission.

One imam defends teaching the verse literally by saying husbands “should beat them lightly.” This somewhat misses the point of the criticism, but it’s downright enlightened compared to other interpretations. In May 2012, a man in Saudi Arabia beat his wife so badly that she was hospitalized; his sentence was to memorize parts of the Quran and quotes from Muhammad. In 2009, a Saudi judge said it was justifiable for a man to hit his wife if she spent too much money on clothing.

New laws against domestic violence implemented in 2013 have been welcomed, but they don’t change that women still live under the guardianship of their husbands.

5 Scientology And Anti-Psychiatry

“Crimes of extortion, mayhem, and murder are done daily by these men in the name of ‘practice’ and ‘treatment.’ There is not one institutional psychiatrist alive who, by ordinary criminal law, could not be arraigned and convicted of extortion, mayhem, and murder. Our files are full of evidence on them.”
Crime and Psychiatry

Scientology has no specific holy book, but it is built on the writings of founder L. Ron Hubbard. The above quote is taken from a treatise he published in 1969. The church denies mental illness even exists, and its followers have called psychiatry a form of terrorism.

The harm caused by this stance is real and deadly. We’ve previously covered several incidents of death due to Scientologists’ failure to treat serious mental. But these aren’t unusual or rare incidents.

Linda Walicki was a 25-year-old woman with schizophrenia. In 2007, she stabbed her father and teenage sister to death and seriously wounded her mother. Linda’s parents were Scientologists, and they had taken their daughter off her medication due to the church’s stance on psychiatry. One doctor said that the correct medication could have changed the course of Linda’s life. This story bears an eerie similarity to the death of Elli Perkins, which we covered earlier. Perkins was stabbed 77 times by her son when the church swapped his prescribed medication for vitamin pills.

Perhaps the most worrying aspect is that the church is using its power, especially its roster of Hollywood celebrities, to push its anti-medicine agenda into law. Scientology members were behind proposed legislation in Florida that would have made it more difficult for children to receive psychiatric care. Actress and Scientologist Kirstie Alley testified on behalf of the church to the Florida legislature. The bill was ultimately vetoed by governor Jeb Bush.

4 The Bible And Child Abuse

“Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them. “
Proverbs 13:24

Many people are familiar with the summarized version of the above quote. “Spare the rod, spoil the child” is commonly cited in support of corporal punishment, though it is actually from a 17th-century poem and is talking about flagellation for much more adult purposes. Nevertheless, the tough love sentiment from the original verse has been used as an excuse by some to torture their children to death.

How To Train Up A Child, a book sold mainly to evangelical Christians, encourages parents to use branches, rulers, and plumbing supplies to hit their children. “Training” should start practically from birth—a 20-centimeter (8 in) willow branch is described as “sufficient” to beat a baby who is under a year old. Parents must totally break their children’s will to make them compliant. The authors and their defenders are clear that they believe the book’s instructions are godly, invoking the “spare the rod” mantra.

Several children have died as a result of parents following the instructions laid out in the book. Teenager Hana Williams died of hypothermia after she was locked outside all night as a punishment. Sean Paddock was four when he was suffocated by being wrapped in blankets for not staying in bed. Seven-year-old Lydia Schlatz was spanked until she died of severe tissue damage, while her 11-year-old sister was hospitalized. A petition asking Amazon to stop selling the book has collected over 100,000 signatures.
3Hinduism And Abortion

“Enter thou after the beams, the smokes, O evil; go unto the mists or also the fogs; disappear along those foams of the rivers: wipe off difficulties, O Pushan, on the embryo-slayer.”
The Atharva Veda

The Hindu position on abortion is made very clear in a number of their texts. The verse above rallying against the “embryo slayer” comes from the Atharva Veda. Other texts compare abortion to the murder of a priest or say that it’s a worse sin than murdering one’s parents. Still other texts list abortion among the crimes such as murder and incest that will cost a woman her caste status.

In many countries, religious opposition to abortion bleeds into law, but in India, abortion is completely legal. In spite of that, the stigma behind the procedure means that very few women have access to safe abortion. As a result, a woman dies every two hours in India due to unsafe abortion. In fact, it’s estimated that two-thirds of India’s seven million annual abortions are done outside of authorized medical facilities.

While the death figures make headlines, there are other complications. Women can be injured, infected, and rendered infertile by botched procedures. Many of those who end up seeking out illegal means are young girls who are too scared to tell their parents about their situation. Even a doctor who trains other medical professionals in the procedure has said, “It’s such a social taboo that even in our families we don’t tell them that we are working to help women have safe abortions.”

2 Christian Science And Medical Neglect

“Then comes the question, how do drugs, hygiene, and animal magnetism heal? It may be affirmed that they do not heal, but only relieve suffering temporarily, exchanging one disease for another. We classify disease as error, which nothing but Truth or Mind can heal, and this Mind must be divine, not human. Mind transcends all other power, and will ultimately supersede all other means in healing.”
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures

Alongside the Bible, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy is the main text of Christian Science. The church, which is based in Boston, Massachusetts, takes the words very literally. They shun any and all medical care. While it is certainly the right of any adult to refuse treatment they don’t want, the church also forbids medicine for children.

The consequences of this are as predictable as they are tragic. Toddler Robyn Twitchell died of an obstructed bowel movement when his parents refused to take him to a doctor and instead turned to prayer. He is not the only child to die painfully—far from it.

Christian Science has also fought for religious exemption from laws designed to protect children from medical neglect. This hasn’t just protected their own members but also parents of other faiths who watch their children die needlessly. When Oregon removed its exemptions, the death rates among children dropped. In Idaho, the freedom to allow your children to die remains, and the deaths continue.

Humans are, by nature, competitive animals. There is seemingly no activity which humans will not enjoy more by making it into a competition. To the winner goes the glory and the pride of knowing you are the best. Though it might be hard for others to understand how you became the best in the following unusual competitions – and some may wonder why on earth you would want to.

10 Shin kicking

The ancient and noble art of shin kicking has been practiced by children since the dawn of time. But starting in the 17th century it became a more brutal sport when included in a festival of games called the Olimpicks held in Gloucestershire, England. Two men face each other and attempt to bring their opponent down in a hail of well aimed kicks. The two men grapple with their arms while weakening their foe through kicks to the shin. The first man to be thrown after receiving a kick is the loser. In its original form the contestants would wear boots with metal toecaps and blood loss was almost inevitable. In our softer age only soft shoes are allowed and the opponents must stuff their trouser legs with straw for protection.

9 Naki sumo

Each year at the Sensoji Temple in Tokyo a contest is held between infants – correct: babies. Known as the crying baby contest it is unusual in that crying is not usually associated with winning. Two student sumo wrestlers are given an infant each to hold up. Then they attempt to make their baby cry by pulling faces at it. The winner, as judged by a sumo referee, is the baby who is first, or loudest, to cry. The competition is thought to predict good health for the baby who wins, though bad luck for the probably frazzled mother of the whiniest baby in Japan.

8 Insect eating

Unlike the first two contests mentioned, this one is not traditional but more of a publicity stunt. Unfortunately it ended badly for the winner. Held at the Ben Siegel Reptile Store in Florida, the contest to eat the most insects was held with the winner receiving a prize python. Contestants ate meal worms, the larvae of darkling beetles, and a bucket of cockroaches. Shortly after winning the contest Edward Archbold was, perhaps understandingly, seen vomiting outside the shop. A little while later though he began to feel even more unwell and was taken to hospital, where he died. The cause of death is as yet unknown but it is possible he suffered a rare allergic reaction to the insects. The prize snake will be given to his estate.

7 Wife carrying

At Sonkajärvi in Finland each year there is a competition to see who can carry their wife over an obstacle course in the fastest time. Originally the course would involve wooden fences and boulders for the contestants to navigate. Now they simply have to cover a 250m metre course with a stretch of water in the middle. The prize for the fastest man and wife team is beer equal in weight to the wife. One of the rules for the contest is that the wife must not be under 49kg, possibly because it would be a waste of a prize to give away so little beer. The popularity of the contest has seen it being copied in the US and Asia.

6 Ugliest dog

Beauty contests for humans are seen as rather old fashioned and sexist these days. At least the winner of Miss World receives a boost to her pride. The World’s Ugliest Dog competition, held each year in Petaluma, California, is a charitable event which crowns one dog as the ugliest. The winner is chosen from dogs entered from around the world and receives $1000 and a supply of treats, as well as a great deal of publicity for their less than stellar looks. While racism is not a factor in human beauty contests there does appear to be a certain level of prejudice in the animal world that still needs to be overcome. The Chinese Crested breed of dog is heavily over-represented in the ranks of past winners of the contest. Though looking at pictures of Chinese Crested perhaps makes this understandable.

5 Cheese-rolling

The Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling is held every year in Gloucestershire. Contestants line up at the top of a steep bank on Cooper’s hill. At a signal a round cheese, a local Double Gloucester, is released and the crowd sets off down the hill in pursuit. The aim is to catch the cheese, but since it is given a short head start and has no fear of breaking bones it achieves too high a speed to ever be caught. The winner is the first person across the finish line. They then claim their cheese and climb back up the slope. In recent years there has been concern about the number of accidents involved in people tumbling down a hill but it has proved too popular an event to stop.

4 Mr Elderly beauty contest

The Mr Elderly contest in Brazil was held to settle the question of who was the most handsome grandfather. All the contestants must be over 60. The contest includes several rounds including dancing and smiling. The purpose of the awards is to encourage health and activity in the elderly. To cheer on the old men a group of elderly women provide a dancing troupe.

3 Areca tree climbing

In Bali, to celebrate Indonesian Independence Day, several contests are held during the festivities. One of these involves climbing up specially erected poles made from the trunks of the Areca nut tree. Prizes are placed along the pole for the successful contestants to claim, ranging from small treats low down to bikes right at the top. To make the climb even harder the trunks are greased. For one person to climb the pole would be almost impossible so you are allowed a team of four people working together. The most usual strategy is for one person to cling to the pole and have the next person climb onto their shoulders, and the next on his, until the fourth person can climb up and claim the prize.

2 Bog snorkelling

The Bog Snorkelling Championship has taken place in Wales since 1985. In the peat bogs of Waen Rhydd 60 yard trenches are dug every year. Since it is in the nature of bogs to be moist the trenches fill with water, dark with particles of peat, and it is in these that contestant must snorkel. The trick to the sport is that normal swimming strokes are not allowed and most of the power must come from your legs and the flippers you are allowed to wear. The water of the bogs is so murky that it has been known for competitors to completely turn around while submerged and come up for air headed in the wrong direction.

1 Ottery St Mary Tar barrels

The carrying of barrels in the village of Ottery St Mary is a competition to prove your daring, strength, and fearlessness. Each year on the 5th of November barrels which have been soaked in tar for several weeks are brought into the village. Outside each of the pubs in the village a barrel is put on someone’s back and set on fire. They then run with the barrel burning as far as they can. The barrel is passed on to other runners when the first carrier, or Barrel Roller, is too tired or singed to continue. This goes on until the barrel can no longer be carried. Another barrel is then lit. The competition includes categories for both children and women.

Everybody is familiar with sleepwalking. Most of us have probably done it at some stage in our life. It’s a fairly common occurrence, one that is usually harmless and only occurs in isolated incidents. But for some people, sleepwalking can be a terrifying thing. Some people have trouble with it every night, and so fear what they might do when they fall asleep, while for others, one bad incident is enough to change their lives. Keep reading to learn more about the Freddie Krueger that could be living inside you.

10 Kenneth Parks


We’ll start with what is perhaps the most famous case of sleepwalking crime. Kenneth Parks is a Canadian man who began suffering insomnia in his 20s, which was brought on after he lost his job and put himself in a lot of debt as a result of his gambling addiction. On May 23rd, 1987, Parks got out of bed, drove 14 miles to his in-laws’ house, killed his mother in law and injured his father with a tire iron and a knife. After the incident, he drove himself to a police station and turned himself in. Up until this point, he had a good relationship with his in-laws, and his wife vouched for his lack of motive in the crime. The following year, he was found not guilty.

9 Unnamed Australian Woman


A middle-aged woman in Australia, whose name has not been released for confidentiality reasons, had serious issues with sleepwalking. While there isn’t too much information on this case, it seems that neither her nor her partner had any idea initially. But the truth soon came out, and is a lot more terrifying than your average sleepwalking case. The woman would get up, sleepwalk out of her house, and engage in sex with total strangers. This took place for several months, and the couple had no idea. Condoms were found around their house, but the reality only completely came to light when her partner woke up one night and realized she wasn’t there. After searching for her, he found her having sex with a stranger, completely asleep. Such an act posed a huge threat not only to the woman, but also to her partner. Reports say that she has been successfully treated for the condition.

8 Timothy Brueggeman

Timothy Brueggeman, from Northern Wisconsin, is the only person on this list who did not have a history of sleepwalking, but rather, suffered from terrible insomnia for years. One summer, he drove his pickup truck into a tree after falling asleep at the wheel. When this incident occurred, he was prescribed the number one sleep aid in the US, known as Ambien. Although this drug has been linked to hundreds of cases of sleepwalking, its manufacturers claim that it is perfectly safe if taken correctly. In January of 2009 however, Brueggeman had a sleepwalking episode where he left his house in just his underwear. He was found dead the next day, having froze to death.

7 James Currens

James Currens has been a sleepwalker for a long time, but his most terrifying adventure occurred when he was 77. In 1998, Curren got up and sleepwalked out of his house, cane in hand, and right into a nearby pond. At this point, he woke up chest deep in water, but was unable to get out as he had become stuck in the mud. This alone would be terrifying enough for a 77 year old, but what made the incident really frightening was that he found himself surrounded by alligators. He used his cane to keep them at bay, and began shouting for help. One of his neighbors heard him yelling, and called the police. Using lights to scare off the alligators, the police managed to free Currens, who escaped with only small cuts from falling when entering the pond.

6 Jules Lowe


In 2003, Edward Lowe, 83, was found dead in his garden, having been severely beaten. A neighbor spotted Edward’s body in the driveway and contacted the police, who arrested the man’s son, Jules. Jules and Edward had been out on a heavy night of drinking when the incident occurred. Jules said that his family has a long history of sleepwalking, and that his bouts were brought on by drinking. His defense was that he did kill his father, but did so in his sleep. Edward was reportedly violent when drunk, so it is possible that Jules was acting in self-defense. He was found not guilty of murder.

In a similar case, Stephen Reitz was accused of killing his girlfriend of 10 months, Eva Marie Weinfurtner, while vacationing in Catalina. Eva had a fractured skull, broken elbow, wrist and shoulder, and had her jaw broken in three places, as well as a stab wound in the neck. Reitz told police that he dreamed he was fighting off intruders when he killed his girlfriend. He also admitted that he had been drinking and using cocaine that night. In this case, Reitz was found guilty and given 25 to life.

5 Jan Luedecke

Jan Luedecke, from Toronto, was at a party in 2005. After a heavy night of drinking, he fell asleep on a sofa. A few hours later, he was woken up by another partygoer, who he did not know, shouting and pushing him. He says he only woke up when he was pushed on the floor. Luedecke, 33, was accused of raping this woman, but he says he was asleep and did not even realize he had had sex until he went to the bathroom and found that he was wearing a condom. The courts were initially skeptical about his defense, even after hearing a testimony from Dr. Colin Sharipo, who said that this is a legitimate disorder. Perhaps the deciding factor in this case was that not one, but four of Luedecke’s ex-girlfriends testified that they had all experienced his sexsomnia first hand while they were dating.

4 Unnamed 15 Year Old

A man was walking home at 2am in Dulwich, England, when he somehow noticed something terrifying: a girl curled up on top of an inactive crane. He called the emergency services, and only after a fireman had climbed up after her did they realize that she was asleep. This made the ordeal even more frightening, as the fireman was now afraid to wake her in case she became startled and fell. He searched her, and found the girl’s mobile phone, at which point he rang her parents. They explained that the girl, who was 15, often sleepwalked, and then rang her phone back to wake her. This woke the girl up, and she was taken down safely, having climbed 130 feet (39.6 meters) up, and 40 feet (12 meters) across.

3 Lesley Cusack

Lesley Cusack is a 55 year old woman from Chesire, England, who engages in “sleep-eating”. While this sounds harmless enough, it can be extremely dangerous for many reasons. Lesley has had to change her daytime diet and join a fitness club, because when she eats at night, she can eat up to 2,500 calories. But the amount she eats is not the only danger. She also cooks while she sleeps, using a gas oven. This obviously poses a huge risk to everyone in the house if she leaves the gas running unlit. Finally, there is a risk to her health posed not by how much she eats, or how she cooks it, but by what she eats. Lesley will sometimes eat inedible items, such as vaseline, paint and washing powder. She put alarms on her doors in the hopes that they would wake her up, but to no avail. She is now going to see a specialist she hopes can cure her condition.

2 Stuart Miller


Sleepwalking is more common in children than in adults. About 17% of 4-8 year olds experience sleepwalking, compared to 4 to 10% of adults. Stuart Miller was 8 years old when he had an accident while sleepwalking. One night, in September of 1993, Stuart began sleepwalking. He lived in a flat on the fourth floor of council housing, and that night, he fell from his bedroom window. The courts decided that Reading Borough Council, the owner of that block, was responsible, as they had failed to install windows that were childproof. The fall dealt severe damage to Stuart’s spine, and has left him wheelchair bound for life. After 7 years in the courts, he was awarded £1.35m ($2m) in damages.

1 Robert Ledru


Robert Ledru was one of France’s finest detectives in the 19th Century. Although living in Paris, he was working on a case in Le Havre when he was contacted by his Parisian office and asked to take over a murder investigation there that the local police were having difficulty with. Another man from Paris, Andre Monet, had been shot and killed on a local beach. The only clues were the bullet, which was far too common to be of any use, and the footprints left by the killer. Ledru examined the footprints and came to a horrible realization. The killer was missing the big toe on his right foot. Ledru was also missing this toe, and had awoken that day to find that his socks were wet. Furthermore, the bullet was the same type he used. He discovered that he had murdered Monet while sleepwalking, believed to be brought on by his syphilis.

Understandably, the French police were reluctant to accept this theory when Ledru turned himself in, so they decided to experiment. They placed him in a cell for overnight observation. The first night, he did in fact sleepwalk. So they then decided to place a gun in the cell with him, and the next night, he shot at the guards in his sleep. Police decided that he could not be held responsible for his actions, but that he was still a threat, so he was exiled to a farm in the countryside, where he lived the last 50 years of his life with guards and nurses.

Ife
kutaisi
Patras
Sidon

10 Ife
Founded circa 350 B.C.

The Yoruba people consider Ife the mythical birthplace of mankind. Two of their deities are said to have created the first humans out of clay, with one of them becoming the first king of the Yoruba. By the 11th century, the city had become the capital of a kingdom, with its residents producing the region’s famed terra-cotta heads during the following two centuries.

Nearly destroyed as a result of a late 18th-century war, as well as by decades of trauma related to the slave trade, Ife is now home to one of Nigeria’s major universities, as well as the Historical Society of Nigeria. In addition, the spiritual leader of the Yoruba people, known as the Ooni, lives in a palace in the center of the city. Ife now has over 600,000 residents.

9 Balkh
Founded circa 500 B.C.

Known as Bactra in its pre-Afghan days, the city of Balkh was the capital of the Greek territory of Bactria after its capture by Alexander the Great. After several invaders conquered the city, it eventually became the capital of Khorasan, a political entity created by the Sasanian Empire of Iran. It was under their rule that Balkh became famous as a center of learning, earning itself the title “mother of cities.” In addition, the Zoroastrian religion is said to have been founded there.

Most of the city was destroyed during an invasion by Genghis Khan in the 13th century. It lay in ruins until the early 15th century, and the city is more of a village today, with a population of only a few thousand. But a handful of the original buildings have survived, including a number of ancient Buddhist reliquary mounds and the outer walls of the city.

8 Luoyang
Founded circa 1050 B.C.

One of the eight Great Ancient Capitals of China, Luoyang was founded in the middle of the 11th century, at the start of the Zhou Dynasty. In fact, nine different dynasties, stretching over centuries, have used Luoyang as their capital. Unfortunately, the city underwent a great economic depression that lasted from a revolution in the eighth century up until the middle of the 1900s. Assistance from the USSR and industrialization brought Luoyang back from the dead.

One of the greatest architectural and spiritual treasures in the city is the White Horse Temple, the “cradle of Buddhism in China.” Built during the first century A.D., it was the first of up to 1,300 different temples, as Luoyang became the spiritual center for Buddhism in China. In addition, the city is home to the Longmen Grottoes, a series of Buddhist caves that is a UNESCO heritage site and one of the masterpieces of Chinese Buddhist art.

7 Patras
Founded circa 1100 B.C.


While evidence says people lived in the area as far back as the third millennium B.C., Patras as an actual city didn’t begin until about 1,000 years later. Three small settlements existed in the area and remained there for hundreds of years, until the Achaeans, and the eponymous Patreus, combined them into one large city and named it Patras. Relatively insignificant for much of its early existence, the city later became a major part of the founding of the second Achaean League, a confederation of various Greek city-states.

Thanks to its location by the sea, Patras played a huge role in Greek trade, even up to modern times. Unfortunately, very few buildings have survived from its early history, with the oldest surviving example being the Patras Roman Odeum, a small theater built by the Romans sometime in the early second century. There is also a prehistoric acropolis, known as the Wall of Dymaeans, dating back to the 14th century B.C. It is said to have been built by Heracles himself.

6 Kutaisi
Founded circa 1400 B.C.

Among the oldest and largest cities in the nation of Georgia, Kutaisi was the capital of multiple ancient kingdoms, most notably Colchis from the sixth to first century B.C. That kingdom is perhaps best known for being the final destination of Jason and his Argonauts during their quest for the Golden Fleece. Afterward, the city and the area around it suffered numerous invasions, including by the Mongolians and the Ottomans.

In the 12th century, during the reign of David IV, Kutaisi became the capital of the United Kingdom of Georgia and underwent a period of construction unrivaled in its history. This time saw the construction of the Gelati Monastery, one of the most famous buildings in the city and a great example of medieval Georgian architecture. Remarkably well preserved, it is one of Georgia’s UNESCO heritage sites.


5 Tyre
Founded circa 2750 B.C.

An ancient Phoenician port city, with a large number of mythical occurrences to its name, Tyre has seen its fair share of historical action as well. Extremely prosperous thanks to its ideal location, the city was besieged by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who unsuccessfully tried to conquer it over the course of 13 years. However, Tyre did fall to the army assembled by Alexander the Great, which resulted in most of the buildings being razed to the ground.

It was here (or perhaps nearby Sidon) that people were first able to create dye with a purple pigment, leading the Greeks to call them Phoinikes, which means “purple people” and is where we get the name “Phoenician.” One of the most important Phoenician cities, Tyre used to be an island, but Alexander the Great used demolished buildings to create a causeway linking it to the mainland. Now known as Sour in the country of Lebanon, the city is home to many significant ancient Roman sites, including the second-century hippodrome, one of the largest existing in the world.

4 Sidon
Founded circa 3000 B.C.


Derived from the Greek word for “fishery,” Sidon was an ancient Phoenician port city and is famous for its fishing and trade industries, as well as its glass manufacturing—the Greek author Homer had a lot of praise for the people of Sidon when it came to that specific fact. Like its sister city Tyre, Sidon was captured by Alexander the Great, yet it was spared complete destruction because it surrendered without a fight.

Commanded by multiple kingdoms, Sidon flourished under Ottoman rule, though it has been ravaged and rebuilt multiple times. One of the oldest pieces of architecture in the city is the Temple of Eshmun, dedicated to the Phoenician god of healing and dating back to the seventh century B.C.

3 Argos
Founded circa 5000 B.C.

Perhaps the oldest city in Europe, Argos was originally a Greek city-state. Thanks to its bountiful natural resources in the fertile lowlands known as the Plain of Argos, the city rose to prominence during the Mycenaean period at the end of the second millennium B.C. In fact, until Sparta’s rise, Argos was the dominant city-state of the region.

Unlike many of its Greek partners, Argos flourished under Roman and Byzantine rule, as evidenced by the monumental civic works undertaken during these eras. The city and surrounding area played a huge role in Greek mythology, with the heroes Perseus, Diomedes, and Agamemnon believed to have been born there.

The present city of Argos is built over much of the ancient city, with very little architecture remaining from its early years. The ruins of the Heraion of Argos, a temple dedicated to the Greek goddess Hera, form probably the oldest existing structure in the area, dating back to the seventh century B.C.

2 Byblos
Founded circa 6000 B.C.


The oldest existing Phoenician city, Byblos was home to much scientific and technological advancement during its existence. Historians credited it as the place where the Phoenician alphabet was conceived, and the city’s name derives from the Greek word for “paper,” a major export. Byblos was burned to the ground near the end of the third millennium B.C. by invading Amorites, yet traces of that period still exist.

Originally, Byblos was an Egyptian protectorate, supplying crucial timber and other goods in exchange for protection. By the 11th century B.C., it was independent and became Phoenician territory. It remained relatively important for much of its existence, first losing its importance as capital of Phoenicia to Tyre and then fading to obscurity just after the Crusades. The present-day city of Jbail, Lebanon is partially built on the ruins of much of Byblos, with the remaining ruins being designated a UNESCO heritage site.

1 Jericho
Founded circa 9000 B.C.

Perhaps the oldest (and currently the lowest by altitude) city in the history of humanity, Jericho is located in the West Bank, just past the northern half of the Dead Sea. Thanks to a spring that supplies the area with extremely fertile soil, Jericho made a great place for early hunter-gatherers to settle down and begin domesticating animals. After about 2,000 years of loosely being considered a city, Jericho’s first walls were erected, forming the earliest known example of urban fortifications.

Known as Tell es-Sultan in its early days, Jericho flourished for many years before being completely destroyed by nomadic tribes toward the end of the second millennium B.C. Fire destroyed it again a few hundred years later. The modern city of Jericho comprises part of this ancient area, as well as space that used to be out of Tell es-Sultan’s city limits. Jericho was also said to be home to many spiritual events from Judaism and Christianity.

Everyone dreams (even if we don’t always remember them after the fact) and researchers have found that the majority of us have dreams with similar themes. For years people have tried to uncover the meaning of dreams—the fleeting images that we see when we go to sleep. Some interpretations are outright bizarre, while others are pretty understandable. This is a list of the interpretations that the Association for the Study of Dreams has given to the most recurring and common types of dream. Be sure to tell us whether you think it is accurate from your own experiences.

10 Car Troubles

In these types of dreams you are usually in or near a car or some other type of vehicle which is out of control or has other problems that seem insurmountable. For example, the brakes may have failed, you may have lost control of the steering, or be heading over a cliff or crashing. You can either be the driver or the passenger. This is a very common type of nightmare and it occurs in all people – not just those who can drive. This dream usually means that you are feeling powerless over something in your life – or that you are heading for a crash (metaphorically speaking).

9 Faulty Machinery


In the faulty machinery dream you are trying to operate mechanical equipment which either fails to work, or fails to work in the way that you expect it to. The vast majority of these dreams involve a telephone – either trouble dialing, losing a connection, or dialing a wrong number. It can involve a lost Internet connection, or something manual like a jammed or broken machine. This dream often means that you feel you are losing touch with reality, or that a part of your body or mind is not functioning as it should. It can also occur when you are feeling anxious about making a connection with another person in real life.

8 Lost or Trapped

Dreaming about being lost is very common and will usually occur when you are having conflict in deciding how to react in a situation in real life. In the dream you are trying to find your way out of an area – such as a forest, city streets, a large building, or other maze-like structure. Another way this dream plays out involves you being trapped, buried alive, caught in a web, or unable to move for some other reason. This is often accompanied by a feeling of terror. This dream usually means that you are trapped in real life – unable to make the right choice.

7 Missed a Boat or Plane


In this type of dream you are rushing to catch a bus, train, plane, or other type of public transport – but you miss it – usually by a fraction of a second. Rather than feeling fear in this dream, you usually feel frustration. This dream can also occur in a different form, in which you arrive late for an important performance or sporting event that you are supposed to participate in, only to find that the event has already begun. This dream usually means that you feel that you have missed out on an important opportunity in your real life. It will often occur when you are struggling over an important decision.

6 Failing a Test


This dream usually manifests itself in people who have been out of school for a long time. In the dream you are prevented from passing a test in a variety of different possible scenarios. In one scenario you find that you are unable to make it to the test on time, often through being unable to find the test room. In other versions you are unprepared (either through lack of study) or you are missing equipment. This dream usually means that you are feeling tested in some way in your real life. You may feel that you are unprepared for something or playing the wrong part in life.

5 Ill or Dying


In this dream, you (or a loved one) are ill, injured, or dying. It is a moderately common dream and, not surprisingly, occurs often at the onset of an illness. Aside from becoming ill, this dream can mean that you are emotionally hurt or are afraid of becoming hurt. The dream may also be warning you of an upcoming physical risk to yourself or a loved one. When it is someone else in the dream that dies, it can mean that you feel that part of yourself (that you see represented by that person) is dead. It may also mean that you wish the person would go away, or that you fear losing them.

4 Being Chased


Dreaming of being chased can be a truly horrifying experience. Most often the chaser is a monster or some person that is frightening, and occasionally it may be an animal. You may be surprised to know that this is the most commonly experienced nightmare theme. The meaning of these dreams is that someone, something (possibly something as obscure as an emotion) is making you feel threatened. One way to determine the root of the threat is to ask yourself who or what in your real life most closely resembles the “creature” or circumstance in your dream. It is also worth noting that sometimes this dream is a replay of an actual event in your life.

3 Bad or Missing Teeth


Teeth dreams are fairly common and they usually involve the discovery of extremely decayed or missing teeth in your own mouth. Sometimes you will dream that you open your mouth and your teeth begin to fall out. The fact that the majority of people today have reasonable teeth (perhaps with the exception of the British), it is not surprising that we feel so emotionally disturbed by these dreams. So, what does it mean when we dream about missing teeth? At the most basic level it means that we are afraid of being found unattractive. At a deeper level, it can signify a fear of embarrassment or a loss of power in real life. Oh – I was just kidding about the “British” thing!

2 Dream Nudity


In this type of dream you are in a state of UnCloth, partial UnCloth, or inappropriate dress (for example wearing pajamas to work). Occasionally you are the witness of another person who is naked while you are clothed. This is often accompanied by feelings of embarrassment and shame, but occasionally with the feeling of pride or freedom. The meaning of this dream is that you are feeling exposed, awkward, or vulnerable, or you are afraid that you have revealed too much of yourself (such as a secret or a very personal feeling) in a real life situation. An interesting fact about this type of dream is that it occurs much more frequently in people who are involved in a wedding ceremony in their real life.

1 Falling or Sinking


We have all had falling dreams – it is such a common dream, in fact, that myths have arisen over them; the most common myth is, of course, that you will die if you hit the ground in the dream. I can assure you, having hit the ground in more than one falling dream, that this is not true at all. In the falling dream we are usually falling through the air and frightened. Occasionally we may be sinking in water (and in danger of drowning). Typically a person having this dream is feeling insecure or lacking in support in their waking life. These dreams often occur when you are overwhelmed in life and feel ready to give up. If you have this dream you should evaluate your current situation and try to locate the problem that is overwhelming you. Deal with it and this dream should go away.