Our natural instinct of curiosity can lead us to unimaginable discoveries. But sometimes, all those finds might make us question reality even more. So if not being able to fall asleep over some strange facts doesn’t faze you, you are in for a treat.
From animal-related to world mysteries to stories that send shivers down your spine, this subreddit called Mysterious Facts has it all. In this list, we have selected the most interesting ones you will hopefully find fascinating. So, Pandas, before embarking on this journey, we invite you to start by opening your mind to the unknown and prepare to be amazed!
While looking for answers on why we as people enjoy mysteries, we came across John Malouff, Professor of Psychology at UNE, who shared his ideas on the topic back in 2014. In his article, based on two stories — the hunt for the missing Malaysian commercial jet and the trial of Oscar Pistorius — John suggests that our interest in mysterious stories is rooted in human nature: a desire to understand the causes of death for prevention, a need to reduce uncertainty, and a quest for predictability to ease anxiety.
To learn more about that, Bored Panda reached out to John, who kindly answered our questions. Read the full interview with him below.
More info: blog.une.edu.au
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#1 Did You Know?
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#2 Did You Know?
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#3 Wistman’s Wood In England Is An Age-Old Forest That Has Been Allowed To Grow Naturally Without Human Intervention Or The Influence Of Large Animals
Wistman’s Wood is a unique and ancient woodland located in Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. The wood is primarily composed of stunted and gnarled oak trees, some of which are believed to be over 500 years old. The oaks are often draped in dense mosses and lichens, giving the woodland a mystical, fairy-tale-like atmosphere. In addition to oaks, other species of trees and shrubs such as rowans, holly, and hazel can also be found in this woodland.
Yes, Wistman’s Wood is home to a variety of wildlife and animals. Some of the animals that can be found in the woodland include birds such as the Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Tawny Owl, and Pied Flycatcher. The woodland is also home to mammals such as the Greater Horseshoe Bat, the Wood Mouse, and the Stoat. In addition, various species of insects, spiders, and other invertebrates are found in the woodland, including the Wistman’s Wood White butterfly, which is named after the woodland. Overall, Wistman’s Wood supports a diverse and unique ecosystem that is important for the conservation of biodiversity in the area.
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First, we asked John to elaborate on how the evolutionary aspect of our psychology contributes to our fascination with mysteries, particularly those involving high-stakes events.
He shared: “Survival is a key element of evolution. We have a keen interest in information that we think might help us survive. Humans who did not have this strong interest were more likely to die and to leave no genes in children. Humans with a high curiosity about survival matters were more likely to survive and reproduce — those are our ancestors. We also have that curiosity and apply it to mystery cases (and to fictional mystery stories). For instance, I would not fly on certain airlines.”
#4 Did You Know?
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#5 The Medieval Eltz Castle Located In Wierschem, Germany, Has Been Owned And Occupied By The Same Family For Over 850 Years, 33 Generations To Be Exact
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#6 Mme Abomah Was Known As The Amazon And The African Giantess. She Was Once The World`s Tallest And Most Beautiful Lady In The Late 1800s And Early 1900s. In The Early 1900`s She Traveled All Over The World As The Tallest Woman. She Stood Over 8 Feet And Could Easily Support The Weight Of A Man
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John, in the article, noted that individuals might feel more content with their own lives in light of disasters that befall others. We asked him to share how this phenomenon of comparative well-being contributes to the appeal of mysteries for the general public. John wrote: “Right now I am reading a fascinating fictional story of human misery, Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver. The story has strengthened my desire to avoid substance abuse, poverty, and Appalachia. I find the story unsettling, but reading it helps me see how fortunate I have been in life since the moment I was born. If something bad happens in my life, I think about how fortunate in general I have been relative to others.”
#7 This Is A Tree That Has Been Struck By Lightning And Exposed Its Vascular System. Nature Is Very Complex. A Tree’s Vascular System Carries Water And Minerals From The Roots To The Leaves
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#8 This Gecko Has Been Trapped In Amber For 54 Million Years
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#9 Did You Know?
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John’s article suggests that people derive satisfaction from joining the excitement of chasing the truth in dramatic events. We were curious to know how this aspect of participation and engagement with unfolding mysteries relates to the psychological concept of “flow,” where individuals become deeply immersed and engaged in an activity and how might this influence the level of interest people have in real-life mysteries versus fictional ones.
“People like a challenge. When trying to meet an interesting challenge, we may go into flow — where we feel focused, energetic, and content. I am driven to keep reading my Copperhead book by the desire to know what happens next to the unlucky boy. When I read I feel a sense of flow. I feel the same strong curiosity when I read about mass murders, whether by deadly mushrooms, knife, or whatever,” answered John.
#10 On November 12, 1833, There Was A Meteor Shower So Intense That It Was Possible To See Up To 100,000 Meteors Crossing The Sky Every Hour. At The Time, Many Thought It Was The End Of The World, So Much So That It Inspired This Woodcut By Adolf Vollmy
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#11 The Amazing Praying Mantis Embedded In This Precious Amber, Just Over A Couple Of Centimetres, Has Been Preserved, Resisting Time, For More Than 30 Million Years
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#12 Did You Know?
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And lastly, in his article, John also mentioned enjoying both real-life mysteries like the Oscar Pistorius trial and fictional mysteries like “The Woman in White.” He shared how these two types of stories differ in their psychological impact on readers or observers. “Good writers make a fictional mystery story seem real, so there is not much difference in the emotional impact between fictional stories and real ones. A big difference occurs between a tragic story that is distant from me and one that involves me or my loved ones. With distant stories, I have an emotional buffer that protects me.”
#13 5500-Year-Old Honey! Basically, Honey Never Expires
5500-Year-Old Honey! Honey has an incredibly long shelf life. Honey’s unique chemical composition, with its low water content and acidity, makes it difficult for bacteria and other microorganisms to grow. This is why honey was a popular food preservation method in many ancient cultures. In 2019, archaeologists discovered a set of ceramic jars in the country of Georgia that contained what is believed to be the world’s oldest known honey. The jars were found in the tomb of a noblewoman and were estimated to be about 5,500 years old. The honey was analyzed and found to be still edible, though it had crystallized over time. This discovery provides valuable insight into the ancient practice of beekeeping and honey production, as well as the diets and customs of people in the Caucasus region during the Bronze Age. Basically, honey never expires.
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#14 The 6.6 Ton Berezovka Mammoth Was Found In The Tundra, Frozen Into The Permafrost Of Siberia
In the late 1800’s, it was a warm time in Siberia and there was a collapse of the ground that exposed this frozen mammoth. The body remained partly exposed to the weather until it was excavated in 1901 and brought to Saint Petersburg, Russia. He was found sitting on his haunches and both of his hips were broken. He had food in his mouth and in his stomach and he had been eating flowering plants. The contents of his stomach had not purified which means that this 6.6 ton mammoth got frozen solid in less than 10 hours
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#15 There’s A Town In Florida Where People Intentionally Dismember Themselves
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Florida Panhandle was responsible for two-thirds of all loss of limb accident claims in the U.S. This was largely due to one place: Vernon, Florida, unofficially known as Nub City.
Residents learned that if they took out a life insurance policy with an accident dismemberment clause and lost, for example, both legs or both arms, or an arm and a leg, they would receive the full insurance pay-out.
One man took out 30 insurance policies and received a million-dollar pay-out. No one could be convicted of fraud because jurors found it really hard to believe that anyone would cut off their own limbs for insurance money.
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#16 A Roller Coaster You Ride Only Once, Because It’s Designed To [end] You. Called The “Euthanasia Roller Coaster”
Its Designed to be used by those who are terminally ill, it’s a coaster that, if built, could only be enjoyed once. It was conceived in 2010 by Juiljonas Urbonas, It is meant to take lives Quote, “with elegance and Euphoria.” It takes 24 passengers up to a height of 1,674ft than drops them down at a speed of 220mph where they go through a series of loops keeping you under 10g force for 60 seconds. The passengers will die from prolonged Cerebral hypoxia which is the insufficient supply of oxygen to the brain. This Coaster has never been built and is only a concept envisioned by Juiljonas Urbonas a Lithuanian artist, who actually built a scaled down version.
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#17 A Fossil Tree Was Found In Northern Thailand Measuring 72.2 Meters, Indicating That The Original Tree Was Over 100 Meters High And Has Been In A Moist Tropical Forest For About 800,000 Years
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#18 Archaeologists Discovered That These 900-Year-Old “Jars” That Have Been Unearthed Throughout The Middle East For Decades Were Actually Hand Grenades Used During The Crusades
Though the true recipe for these primitive grenades is a secret lost to history, experts believe that the secret ingredients may have been dolphin fat and urine.
Meanwhile, all mentions of these grenades in medieval texts are extremely cryptic — as one researcher behind this new study said, “These were secret weapons and they didn’t necessarily want to tell everyone exactly how to make them.”
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#19 The Inventor Of Vaseline, Robert Chesebrough, Was Such A Firm Believer In Its Medicinal Properties That He Claimed To Have Eaten A Spoonful Of It A Day. During A Bout Of Pleurisy In His 50s, He Ordered His Nurse To Cover Him From Head To Toe In The Substance, And Soon Recovered
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#20 Annelise Michel Began Blacking Out At School, She Would Soon Start Convulsing, Vomiting And Eating Her Own Hands And Drinking Her Own Urine. She Underwent 67 Exorcisms And Died In 1976
This story directly inspired the 2005 film “The exorcism of Emily Rose”. Doctors in court during a trial about her neglectful death came to the conclusion she suffered from Grand Mal Epilepsy and Psychosis. Her devout catholic family thought otherwise and went along with the exorcisms. Near death she weighed only 67 pounds.
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#21 At The Age Of 25, Blanche Monnier Fell In Love With An Older, Bankrupt Lawyer, Whom Her Aristocratic Mother Disliked, And Decided To Marry Him. One Day She Suddenly Disappeared And Nobody Knew Where She Was. But No One Knew That She Had Been Locked In Her Room For 25 Years
Blanche ate only leftovers from her mother’s meals, delivered to her room by maids or her brother. Even after the lawyer’s death in 1885, Blanche’s punishment continued. Food waste accumulated in her room, attracting the rats that were her only companions. Then, in 1901, the attorney general of Paris received a letter from an anonymous sender regarding her whereabouts, which said: Mr. Attorney General: I have the honor to inform you of an event of exceptional gravity. I’m talking about a spinster who’s been locked up in Madame Monnier’s, half-starved, and has lived for twenty-five years in a rotten litter, in a word, in her own filth. The police forced their way into the house, went upstairs and discovered a locked room that gave off a stench. They opened the windows that were locked and found him. Huddled on the bed, covered in food and faeces, was Blanche Monnier, emaciated. She weighed 55 kilos and was taken to the hospital. He died in 1913, aged 63-64.
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