The world is far more complicated than some of us like to think. Morality isn’t black-or-white, historical facts are often hazier than we’d like them to be, and the interconnectivity of everything means that the deeper down the knowledge rabbit hole we go, the more lost we can sometimes feel.

There are some truly weird things about life on Planet Earth you can accidentally stumble upon while you’re down there. You might learn something about human biology or nature that really unnerves you. Or you might uncover something about your country’s past that puts into question pretty much everything else that you might know.

Today, we’re featuring some of the creepiest, most bizarre facts from these two viral r/AskReddit threads here and here. These internet users thought that others should know what they know, too. While you’re upvoting the most interesting facts of the bunch, have a think about the most peculiar things you have locked away in your database as well, Pandas. You can tell us all about them in the comment section.

Steven Wooding, a member of the Institute of Physics in the UK, part of the Omni Calculator Project, and the creator of the Weird Units Converter, shared his thoughts with Bored Panda about learning new facts and staying curious as well as less cynical as we age. You’ll find our full interview with him below.

#1

Anglerfish, when Anglerfish mates the male Literally deforms its body and fuses with the female then they live together for the rest of their lives

Image credits: Sora984

Bored Panda was interested to get Steven’s take on how we can come to terms with the fact that when we gain new information, it might make us realize that we’ve been spouting nonsense in the past.

“Nobody likes to learn they were giving out incorrect information in the past. It hurts, but we have to push through it, accept new facts and work with them. After all, they could lead to the next big breakthrough,” he explained that we all have to remain steadfast and learn to embrace the fact that we are wrong at times.

“This is constantly happening in science; as new discoveries are made, old discoveries have to be reevaluated,” he said.

#2

The Roman Empire lasted over 1000 years, American society is only 243 years old, we could quite possibly collapse just like the Roman Empire did.

Image credits: TrashbinTerry

#3

There is a island of the dolls in Mexico City that has thousands of creepy dolls to honor a little girl who drowned in the 1950s. The island is also one of the most haunted places.

Image credits: [deleted]

According to Steven, from the Omni Calculator Project team, it’s hard to stay on top of new knowledge, especially as you get older. We tend to think that we know everything and there’s nothing new to learn.

“Try to view the world as a child does. Basically, keep asking ‘why?’ questions. As you learn the answer to one question, another will arise, and so on. It is a common situation in science that the more we know, the more questions there are. Keep questioning the world around you,” he told us how we can start the chain towards living a more curious, and less cynical life.

Steven wanted to share an interesting fact with all of you dear Readers, too. “Crows are the Einsteins of the bird world. Expert at solving puzzles, and they can even recognize your face. They will actively avoid individuals who have been aggressive toward them in the past,” he said. Hopefully, you’ll see crows in a different light from now on, Pandas.

#4

Tarantulas can swim.

Image credits: ashish19982001

#5

Somewhat recently (2012), scientists discovered over 1,400 new species of bacteria living in the belly button. Everyone’s belly button ecology is unique (add it to the fingerprints & snowflakes list). In that same study, 1 volunteers belly button harbored bacteria strands that had only ever been found in soil from Japan- where this man has never been.

Image credits: BukakeRuinedMyRug

#6

Cotard’s Delusion is a rare psychiatric condition, severe cases of which cause the sufferer to wholeheartedly believe they are dead, putrefying, or simply do not exist. Some Cotard’s patients refuse to eat, as they do not believe they need to, with one notable patient dying of starvation. Another woman once asked to be taken to a morgue, to be with the other dead people.

Image credits: NotMyShoes93

Curiosity is a great quality to have. It shows that we’re full of energy, a desire to learn something new, and we’re constantly on an adventure to get closer to the truth. Sure, some knowledge might be dangerous or we’re just not ready to hear some creepy facts yet, but curiosity in and of itself is something that we believe drives humanity forward, as a whole. Without curiosity, there would be no progress. Only stagnation and dogma.

A while back, parenting blogger Samantha Scroggin, the founder of ‘Walking Outside in Slippers,’ told us what parents can do to nurture their kids’ interest in learning new things. She also revealed to us the best approach on how to deal with endless ‘whys.’

“Kids asking ‘why?’ is an important part of their natural curiosity. That said, the constant chatter and questions can grow tedious. I am very open with my kids, and answer just about any question they bring to me. But sometimes I tell them, not right now. I need quiet. And they rarely grant me that quiet. But still, I ask,” she told Bored Panda that patience and good communication are essential in helping children’s curiosity thrive.

#7

In 1844, there was a case of hysteria in a French convent of nuns. One started meowing and after a week all the nuns were meowing harmoniously in the afternoons. It didn’t stop until neighbors called soldiers.

Image credits: iknowthisischeesy

#8

The last use of a guillotine in France was the same year the first Star Wars movie premiered. 1977

Image credits: OdaSet

#9

you aren’t scared of being alone. You’re scared of not being alone when you’re supposed to be.

According to the parenting expert, the best thing that families can do is create a safe space for children to develop their own skills, talents, and interests. The vital thing is to never judge your kids. Parents should also “avoid the temptation to push them down a certain path just because it’s familiar and more comfortable for us.”

Kids often mimic their parents’ interests, but that’s not always the case. Samantha opened up about what things are like in her own family.

“The genes are strong in my family. My husband and I are both writers, and my kids are both artsy types. My son, 10, is a little actor and singer who even appeared on Kids Say the Darndest Things this year. My 6-year-old daughter amazes me with her drawing ability,” the mom told Bored Panda.

“Although my kids’ talents are not identical to my husband and me, they are likewise little creative powerhouses. We as parents have made them feel safe and comfortable being themselves and expressing their skills. Then there are some abilities that clearly pass on directly from the parents. For example, my son and daughter are both math whizzes like my husband, while math has always been my nemesis.”

#10

Drowning is quiet, and most kids drown right in front of the person that’s supposed to be watching them.

Image credits: opossum-effigy

#11

A “Rat King” is a phenomenon created when a large group of rats become fused together by their tails via ice, dirt, hair, blood, or even feces.

Encounters with this horrible phenomenon inspired some of humanity’s greatest myths.

Image credits: Back2Bach

#12

You have a bunch of microscopic parasites called Demodex on your eyelashes and in the pores on your face. They come out at night to lay eggs on and eat the oils on your face.

Image credits: MrK1ng5had0w

Meanwhile, child independence expert Lenore Skenazy explained to Bored Panda that it’s not learning that people fall in love with. Rather, we fall in love with the activities we love doing, whatever that might be. Passion for a subject leads to a natural curiosity about the thing, as we develop our skills and knowledge. In short, “the learning comes automatically” when you’re doing something you’re either interested in or an activity that’s essential.

“You fall in love with something that you love to do—drawing, kicking a ball, playing make-believe, walking in the woods, reading. All of those things involve learning. If they didn’t, you’d be bored and you’d stop doing them. Instead, as a kid AND as an adult, you get into something and do it because each time you get a little better, or try a slightly different technique,” she said.

“In a game, you’re ALWAYS thinking and learning because the ball never comes to you in exactly the same way twice. In the woods, there’s always something new to look at, climb or poke. In play, you have to react to the other person. And you pick up a book to fall into another world and learn all about it,” Lenore said.

#13

About 3 000 people disappear every year in the US and are never found again

Image credits: PatheticSwede

#14

Chainsaws were originally invented for childbirth.

Image credits: Comics4Cooks

#15

The average human will shed about 40 pounds of skin throughout their lifetime.

Image credits: anon

According to the expert, parents should embrace their kids learning about the world in a variety of formats. “Having books at home can help a child find new things to fall into—but so does YouTube. Remember: every new technology is distrusted at first,” she said, adding that Socrates himself hated the idea that people had started writing down ideas instead of memorizing them.

“So yes, books are great. But don’t ignore all the skills, hobbies, facts, and new things kids can learn online as well. If you’re worried about the bad stuff, install some filters. But learning from a podcast or DIY video is still LEARNING. Think of all the things you have learned since your formal schooling ended. Learning doesn’t only take place in a classroom or book!”

#16

If a fetus doesn’t get enough calcium from their mother’s diet they will take the calcium from their mother’s bones.

#17

If you stare at the mirror in the dark long enough, your brain starts to make your eyes see things. Usually transforming you, or the room into something horrifying- more usually monsters. This is called ”peripheral fading” or the Troxler Effect.

Image credits: Eruran_e

#18

The bodies of the sailors who died on the Edmund Fitzgerald are still down there, almost perfectly preserved, due to the water at that depth being just barely above freezing. Divers who have explored the wreckage have seen their bodies frozen in place to parts of the ship, and have come back reporting that they feel as if they were being followed during their time underwater.

Photos were taken, but per the request of the crew’s family, they have never been released to the public.

EDIT: [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0Lg9HygEJc)

Image credits: Omny87

#19

Adult teeth in toddlers are right under their eyes.

Image credits: chickadeedeedee_

#20

There is a rare genetic disease called Fatal familial insomnia where over the course of months you literary can not go or be put to sleep no matter what you take or what you do. The symptoms get progressively worse until finally you stay awake watching yourself go insane until you [pass away] from exhaustion.

Image credits: BackdoorConquistodor

#21

When a person is electrocuted in the electric chair, they feel everything. They are fully aware of their bodies being fried as it happens in real time.

One inmate who survived the first round of electrocution said it tasted like cold peanut butter.

Image credits: Wilgrove

#22

You can fit 63 earth size objects in Uranus.

#23

Your eye has approximately the same proteins as an egg white, and both react similarly to hydrochloric acid, which solidifies the usually liquid substances

#24

Joseph Stalin had ideas about creating a human-ape hybrid army for the soviet union

#25

You could drop dead instantly by a brain hemorrhage/aneurism and have no warning signs prior. One second you’re perfectly fine, and the next you’re dead

Image credits: CheesyTacos68

#26

The island of Okunoshima in the Inland Sea of Japan is known for two reputable things:

1: It’s named “Rabbit Island” because of the overabundance of wild rabbits and…

2: The island has WWII ruins of a chemical weapons factory, creating poison like mustard gas in its attacks on China. So vital was its secrecy to the Japanese government that they tried to wipe its location off maps.

Image credits: Repulsive-Rick

#27

Postpartum psychosis can show up in a new mother virtually overnight. It can make them hallucinate, making them think their baby is a demon or the antichrist for example. New mothers murder their own children because of postpartum psychosis more often than you might like to think.

The more the mother knows it’s a possibility the better she’ll be able to combat it if it arrives.

#28

While most parents do what they can to prevent or stop their babies from crying, that’s not always the case in Japan. That’s because it’s a 400-year-old Japanese tradition that if a sumo wrestler can make your baby cry, it means he or she will live a healthy life. During a special ceremony, parents hand over their infants to sumo wrestlers who bounce their precious tots up and down and sometimes even roar in their little faces to get the tears flowing. “He’s not a baby that cries much, but today he cried a lot for us and we are very happy about it,” mother Mae Shige said at a 2014 event.

#29

Alaska is the State with the highest missing persons reports in the country.

#30

By the time you start realizing the symptoms of rabies, it’s already too late.

#31

It’s estimated that there is around 25-50 active serial killers in the US

Image credits: iMac_Hunt

#32

A human corpse decomposes 4 times faster in water than in the ground, and 8 times faster in open air than in the ground

Image credits: MatthewIcicles

#33

Not too creepy, but hippopotamus milk is pink

#34

Your skeleton is always wet

#35

Not my favorite, but did you know that rats can collapse their rib cage to fit through pipes and can come up through the toilet. They actually have a department strictly for that.

#36

The US is still missing at least 6 nuclear bombs somewhere on the continent from “Broken Arrow” incidents.

#37

The sun will burn out at some point and unless we as a species escape this solar system, everything we have ever done or will do will be instantly erased and forgotten.

#38

Your insides are constantly moving around and stuff. I hate this, but it’s my favorite for that reason.

Image credits: themooseyoufear

#39

the armpit is where all your important nerves in your arm so if you stab it you cant realy use your arm.

Image credits: Shotgunshark1

#40

I saw a news story on a woman with a rare type of epilepsy that causes her to see everything like a slideshow or a video game that gets 10fps.

She described watching cars drive by and saying they freeze in place for a moment and then snap into position further down the road over and over.

Her entire life is played out in front of her eyes in still frames and because if that she wears blinders or earmuffs because her senses are constantly contradicting one another and it overwhelms her.

I can’t imagine how horrifying it would be to experience life like she does.

#41

6 fingers on one hand is actually a dominant trait.

Edit: this blew up and rip my inbox

#42

If given access to it, butterflies will happily drink blood

#43

During the Victorian Era, it was not uncommon for families to take pictures with recently deceased relatives. This was done as one final moment with that person to honor them.

#44

Patients under going colonoscopies are most commonly put under conscious sedation, meaning the anaesthetic doesn’t actually numb pain, or even send you unconscious, they just impair your ability to form memories. You are awake and aware of the pain, you just don’t remember.

#45

Only 9% of the ocean has been explored, and that there are creatures that we would think of as aliens living deep, deep down…

#46

Dogs like squeaky toys because it sounds like a small animal being crushed.

#47

Patchouli was used to cover up the smell of decaying flesh during the Black Plague.

#48

When you happen to be murdered there is only an about 40% chance that your murderer will be found and punished.

#49

After getting stung by a cone snail, you don’t feel the sting for a little bit. There is no antivenin and it can be lethal. Treatment is basically keeping the victim alive until the venom wears off.

#50

In the Czech Republic, there is a church that is decorated with the bones of 10,000 dead people.

#51

Time and space don’t exist at the speed of light. Time isn’t frozen, the universe isn’t out of view, they truly don’t exist at the speed of light.

#52

There is a thing commonly called “Alice in wonderland syndrome” it’s when a person has episodes lasting from minutes to days of hallucinations often extremely bad nobody knows what causes it since it’s extremely rare it often starts when the person is a child

#53

I think it’s quite common, but

before you die of hunger, your stomach, in an attempt to have food, starts to eat the organs arround it so when you die of hunger you are just an empty body

#54

“The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds, given adequate vacuuming systems”

#55

The average number of hands per person is less than two

#56

It takes approximately 359 humans to have enough iron to forge a sword from their blood

#57

The human brain continues to give off electrical signals for 20 to 40 seconds after death.

#58

The children’s story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin was based on a real event. “Hamelin town records start with this event. The earliest written record is from the town chronicles in an entry from 1384 which states: “It is 100 years since our children left.” no one know what or who took the children, but there’s records of the entire towns children being taken.

#59

There was once a surgery done with a 300% mortals rate

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