Whether they are rooted in history or are personal accounts, life is full of disturbing phenomena that keep us up at night.
And speaking of insomnia, one example mentioned in the following list is a rare genetic disease that prevents people from ever falling sleep and eventually leading to their deaths.
That, along with other mysterious facts that give us the heebie-jeebies were brought up by strangers on the internet when Redditor 121aliumar asked:
"What is your favourite, very creepy fact?"
Be prepared to squirm as you discover the anomaly of mating angler fish, the bodies of dead sailors preserved in the depths of the sea, and various forms of sadistic executions that will leave death row inmates clamoring for the needle.
Life In Glitches
"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."
– Effiner
When Zapped
"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."
– Wilgrove
The Missing Children
"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."
"I actually did some research into this."
"Historians believe the children were not taken as in kidnapped (no mysterious man grabbed all the children and took off). Instead, an illness probably spread which mostly impacted children, who have a weaker immune system and are not as strong. The illness probably killed most, if not all, of the children."
Eaten Alive
"Scaphism, the worst way of execution I've ever heard of. The word comes from greek which stands for 'hollowed out'. The victim is trapped between two boats, fed and covered with milk and honey, which then attracts all kinds of insects and vermin that fester and devours you over a couple of days."
– devoirz
Cruel Way To Go
"I once visited Warwick Castle and I remember looking at an oubliette in the corner of the dungeon, it was nicknamed the forgotten chamber if I recall right."
"They would open the grate, push the person inside this small L shaped space that was so small you would basically always be sitting down with your shoulders and arms scraping against the walls either side, then they'd close the grate and leave you there. You'd literally be forgotten about and left there until you eventually went insane and died from malnutrition in this tiny, claustrophobic, silent space in the dark. The thought of it scared me to death, the idea of being left to starve to death in this tiny space under the ground."
"Our ancestors were truly cruel and sadistic bastards."
Meowing Nuns
"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."
Rabbit Island
"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."
Your Body Is A Wonderland
"Your insides are constantly moving around and stuff. I hate this, but it's my favorite for that reason."
"I tried on a proper tight corset once, when I took it off I could feel my inside slide back down out of my rib cage."
Death By Exhaustion
"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 die from exhaustion."
Frozen Sailors
"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."
– Omny87
How Romantic
"Angler Fish, when Angler fish mates the male Literally deforms its body and fuses with the female then they live together for the rest of their lives."
– Sora984
Can't Stop Eating
"There was a man from France, named Tarrare (1772 - 1798), who couldn't stop eating. By the time he was 17, his parents kicked him out. He was eating his own body weight in food daily at the time. When he enlisted in the army, the army rations just couldn't satisfy him. Often, he would sneak out at night and search for offal in the garbage and the gutters. He was hospitalized, doctors trying to find a cure but, at night he would raid the morgue. Scientists unable to stop his ability to eat almost anything began to study it. They'd feed him such random things as eels (he'd swallow whole), lizards, a kitten and puppies, all of which, he ate alive. When a 14 month old baby disappeared, he was chased from the hospital by an angry mob. He later died of tuberculosis."
Amount Of Dead Skin
"The average human will shed about 40 pounds of skin throughout their lifetime."
The Iron In Our Blood
"It takes approximately 359 humans to have enough iron to forge a sword from their blood."
"So technically you could make a blood iron armor set. Sounds like a good start to a dnd villain."
– BFWAA
Retired Execution Device
"The last use of a guillotine in France was the same year the first Star Wars movie premiered. 1977."
– OdaSet
Sumo Wrestlers And Infants
"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."
A Disturbing Vision
"Your eyeballs flatten when you die, leaving your corpse seeming to have no eyeballs."
