Butterflies (and some moths) like to drink blood.
These insects will seize any opportunity to drink nutrient-rich blood. But don’t worry—butterflies don’t have the necessary anatomy to kill or bite other creatures in order to drink their blood. But if there’s a source of spilled blood in their vicinity, they’ll take advantage of the resource and drink it readily. Vampire moths, on the other hand, both bite and drink the blood of mammals (including humans). They can feed on an animal’s blood for up to 50 minutes.
A sloth’s “nails” are actually bones (not nails).
Ever wondered why a sloth’s nails appear so tough and overgrown? Well, it turns out they're not really nails! Sloths have claws that are really elongated and curved distal phalange bones that protrude out from their limbs. The claws (or, bones) are then wrapped in a protective layer of keratin—the same material that makes up our hair and nails.
Crocodiles can gallop.
You know…like horses. As if crocodiles weren’t frightening enough already, they can actually bound and gallop—meaning that they can run in a four-beat sequence in which their fore and hindlimbs push off the ground one after the other. However, only smaller crocodiles (classified as under 6.5 feet (2.0 m) long) have been reported as galloping. You can watch video footage of a crocodile galloping here.
Spiders have transparent blood.
It can actually be clear or pale blue, to be precise. Spiders lack hemoglobin, which is what gives a red color to the blood of humans (and other mammals). Hemoglobin also transports oxygen through our bodies, so spiders rely on a similar compound called hemocyanin. Hemocyanin contains copper (instead of iron), which makes the blood appear pale blue or transparent. It’s not just spiders that have clear or blue blood! Snails and octopi also share this trait!
Hippos can’t swim or breathe underwater.
But they can run or move quickly across the water floor. It’s a common misconception that hippos can float and swim since they’re typically seen moving through water. So, how do they move through water if they don’t swim? Due to their buoyant body composition and immense muscle power, hippos are able to walk on the bottom of the water and push themselves off the ground, which resultantly propels them forward.
The botfly insect has larvae that burrow under human skin.
You can even see the larvae moving around underneath your flesh! Botflies have a similar appearance to a bumblebee, with a large hairy body and black-and-yellow coloring. However, their larvae are known to infest the skin of mammals and live out their larval stage in a process known as myiasis. The fly isn’t known to transmit any diseases or pathogens, but the infestation may cause painful, fluid-filled pustules.
Horned toads can squirt blood out of their eyes.
They use this ability to remove debris from their eyes or scare off predators. Probably pretty effective, if you ask us! When cornered by a predator, the last defense of the horned lizard is to fill its sinuses with blood and shoot the liquid out of its eye sockets, often frightening the predator and allowing them to escape unharmed. In a more mundane scenario, the toad will use the blood to wash foreign particles from its ocular surface.
Cockroaches are known to eat human flesh, nails, and more.
Roaches are especially prone to eating human eyelashes, feet, and hands. American and German cockroaches are the most likely species to bite into humans, and their bites most often cause irritation, lesions, and swellings. They prefer to bite into fingernails, eyelashes, feet, and hands, but they have been reported as consuming the skin of both living and dead humans. Now that’ll give you the creepy crawlies for sure!
There is such a thing as “zombie ants.”
They’re actually just normal ants who’ve been infected by a fungus. But what connects this natural scientific phenomenon to the undead, you ask? Well, when an O. unilateralis spore attaches to a healthy ant, it feeds on the ant’s insides and spreads throughout its body. Once completely infected, the ant stops following the trails of its colony and begins to move erratically, walking aimlessly (aka, zombie walk) until the fungus makes the ant climb up a nearby twig, lock onto it with its jaws, and die. A few days later, a stalk shoots out of the ant’s head and releases more spores of the fungus.
The pacu fish has human-like teeth.
The South American fish is similar to a piranha…with human gnashers. The pacu is an invasive fish that looks normal from the outside but, once it opens up its mouth, you’ll see a set of perfectly human-like teeth. These flattened teeth likely evolved as a result of the pacu’s omnivorous diet. The good news is that humans are not part of this omnivorous diet, so one less oceanic creature for you to worry about!
Chickens and ostriches descended from dinosaurs.
Chickens actually boast being the first descendant of dinosaurs. In 2003, a team of scientists found unfossilized materials inside the bone of a Tyrannosaurus rex. They were able to retrieve collagen molecules and compare those proteins to humans, chimps, mice, ostriches, alligators, salmon…and chickens. The collagen of the T. rex was most similar to chickens and ostriches, meaning that the species are all distant relatives.
Crows can remember human faces.
And they can hold a grudge, so watch your back. Brain imaging studies have proven that crows pay close attention to people, especially those that frighten or anger them. Once you’ve wronged them just one single time, they can recognize you and pick out your face in a crowd for several years after. Never cross a crow!
There’s a jellyfish with the ability to live forever.
If left alone, the “immortal jellyfish” will never truly die. Scientifically known as Turritopsis dohrnii, this species of jellyfish is smaller than the nail on your pinky finger but it’s one of the most fascinating creatures on the planet. When the immortal jellyfish is physically damaged, starved, or otherwise facing what would normally cause death, it instead shrinks in on itself. It reabsorbs its tentacles, loses the ability to swim, and settles on the seafloor as a tiny blob. Within the next 24-36 hours, the blob becomes a new polyp (a jellyfish baby, basically). Once the polyp matures, it reproduces asexually through a process called “budding,” where it basically clones itself to create multiple medusae (or adult jellyfish). These medusae then begin to bud off the polyp and swim away to start their life cycles all over again. This entire process is known as transdifferentiation or life cycle reversal. Transdifferentiation is extremely rare, but it is also experienced (in part) by newts and frogs, who use it to regenerate their damaged limbs.
Box jellyfish have (at least) 24 functional eyes.
The eyes are organized into four clusters with six eyes each. Within each cluster, four of the jellyfish’s 24 eyes are small pits or slits that simply detect the presence of light. The other two, however, are “upper” and “lower” lens eyes that are far more advanced than any eyes you would expect to find on a jellyfish! They can see images, and the upper lens eye is always pointing upward at the sky—no matter how the jellyfish is angled. But why does this crafty predator fish need so many eyes? The definitive verdict is still out, but it seems that being able to constantly look upward helps box jellyfish to move through and find food in the murky waters of the Puerto Rican mangrove swamps in which they live.
Dogs are evolving eyebrows.
And it’s all thanks to humans! After centuries of humans adopting and domesticating dogs, the animal’s eyebrow anatomy has been radically altered. But why? Well, a huge part of human communication occurs through our eyebrows, so dogs with expressive eyebrows that allow us to “read” their faces and (assumed) emotions have an evolutionary advantage. Over time, it seems that dogs have developed tiny muscles that allow them to move their eyebrows and appear more human-like. These muscles are not significantly present in wolves and ancient dog breeds. However, it’s important to note that scientists don’t believe that this evolution happened due to humans intentionally selecting certain dogs for survival over others. Instead, dogs with moving eyebrows just had a natural advantage when interacting with humans.
A chicken once lived almost two years without a head.
The infamous bird is affectionately known as Mike the Headless Chicken. In 1945, a Colorado farmer beheaded a chicken as part of his normal daily routine. However, Mike refused to die. He was up, walking around, kicking, and running without any signs of slowing down. Once word spread, the farmer and his wife (Lloyd and Clara Olsen) took Mike on a tour of different towns and universities so that the bird could both be studied and marveled at as a sideshow attraction. Mike lived for another 18 months, eventually suffocating after the Olsens misplaced the syringe they typically used to clear mucus from his throat (since his head wasn’t around to do so). So why was Mike able to live so long? Most of a chicken’s brain is concentrated at the back of its skull. So, scientists posit that while Mike’s beak, face, eyes, and ear were removed, the majority of his brain and brainstem remained untouched. What actually puzzles scientists even more is how Mike managed not to bleed out and die that way. For that question, we don’t have an answer (yet!).
Bees enjoy addictive substances like coffee and nicotine.
They actually prefer these over toxin-free floral nectar. A 2010 study found that bees prefer nectar with small amounts of nicotine and caffeine over nectar that doesn't have any amount of these substances. To be clear, some flower nectar naturally contains nicotine and caffeine. Scientists believe that the bees’ “addiction” to these substances is an evolutionary tactic to make the bee addicted to certain flower nectars so that it will keep working and feeding its colony.
Freshwater snails kill up to 200,000 people a year.
This makes freshwater snails the 3rd deadliest animal in the world. Freshwater snails play host to deadly parasites, including parasitic flatworms known as “flukes.” Flukes live and develop inside infected snails before being released into the water, where they can then infect human skin and cause a deadly disease known as schistosomiasis, or “snail fever.” Schistosomiasis causes up to 200,000 deaths per year, making freshwater snails more deadly than lone species of snakes, scorpions, crocodiles, and hippopotamuses. Only mosquitoes and humans are ranked as causing more annual deaths than the freshwater snail.
Starfish technically don’t have bodies.
They just have a giant head! Starfish (also known as sea stars) are incredibly unique—they have no blood and no brains, and they eat by vomiting their stomach out of their mouth and using it to engulf prey. But perhaps most fascinating of all is that they have no body or torso. In effect, they’re just a massive, star-shaped head that crawls along the seafloor.
The average bed has 100,000–10 million dust mites.
But they won’t bite you…they just want to eat your dead skin! While a typical used mattress contains between 100,000 and 10 million dust mites, a few factors can influence this number in your specific mattress. For instance, older mattresses and foam mattresses in humid environments tend to have more dust mites. Mite populations can also be reduced if your bedding is regularly vacuumed and washed.
Outer space is freezing cold.
The baseline temperature is minus 453.8º Fahrenheit (or 270.45ºC). Despite the relative proximity to the sun, outer space is actually extremely chilly. Coming in at 2.7 Kelvin, the universe itself is colder than any planets, moons, or asteroids, largely due to the absence of any energy-absorbing matter.
There’s a rogue black hole in outer space.
It actually has a mass that’s seven times greater than our sun. It’s also 5,000 light-years away, so nothing to worry about (yet). The compact stellar object is within our galaxy, however, and it’s unique due to the fact that it seems to be alone. Black holes typically have companion stars, so this is the first isolated one that’s been discovered by humans!
It would take 8 minutes for earthlings to notice the sun exploded.
So if it exploded right now, you wouldn’t know for another 8 minutes. The energy from a solar explosion would travel at the speed of light, meaning that it would take exactly 8 minutes and 20 seconds for that energy to travel from the sun to Earth. However, in theory, life on Earth would also end as soon as this 8-minute and 20-second period was up. Despite this interesting factoid, it’s highly unlikely that the sun would ever actually explode. The sun isn’t expected to change in any way for another 5 billion years (or more), and it’s more likely to decrease in size than it is to actually explode.
About 95% of the Earth’s oceans are unexplored.
That means there’s a LOT about the sea that humans know nothing about. The ocean covers almost 70% of Earth’s surface. Despite decades of research into the ocean’s depths, humans have only managed to explore 5% of the world's oceans. That means that there could be undiscovered artifacts, creatures, plants, and even lost cities (Atlantis, anyone?) sitting under the surface.
Chlorine doesn’t actually have a natural smell.
That pool smell is due to other (often unpleasant) substances in the water. Whether you’re a lover or hater of the iconic chlorine scent, chlorine itself actually isn’t the cause. What you’re smelling is actually chloramine, a chemical compound that results from chlorine disinfectants being combined with sweat, cosmetics, and—most notably—urine. Pool smell can actually be minimized by showering before getting in the pool and, you know, not peeing.
Your hearing may be the last thing to go when you die.
Studies show that unresponsive patients may still be able to hear. Specifically, research has looked into palliative care patients who are close to death. By examining EEG recordings of their brains, scientists have found that the dying brain continues to respond to sound after the other senses have lost function. While a bit of a morbid fact, this information may also provide comfort to family and friends who are speaking to a loved one in their final moments.
Fir trees can grow inside human lungs.
A 28-year-old man inhaled a fir tree seed that sprouted in his lung. This scientific anomaly was discovered when the man, named Artyom Sidorkin, visited a Russian hospital, where doctors initially connected his symptoms to lung cancer. Once they began surgery in order to remove the supposed tumor, however, the doctors instead saw a 5 centimetres (50 mm) spruce tree growing inside the patient’s lung. While experts have commented that it is technically possible for a seed to germinate within the damp and dark lung tissue, it is highly improbable and certainly a rare occurrence.
You swallow 1-2 cups of mucus per day.
That adds up to more than 22 gallons (83 L) per year. For context, 1–2 cups (240–470 mL) of mucus per day is roughly equivalent to a standard squeeze bottle of ketchup or 1 US pint (470 mL) of milk. This quantity of mucus is produced in our nose, throat, and lungs, and then it’s propelled toward the back of our throats to be unconsciously swallowed. Keep in mind that this measurement comes from a healthy system, meaning it doesn’t count any excess mucus that’s created when you’re sick or congested.
You’ll shed about 40 pounds of skin in your lifetime.
Your skin flakes shed at the rate of 500 million cells per day. Of this 40 pounds (18 kg) you shed over the course of an average lifetime, many of the flakes turn into dandruff on your skin’s surface or dust in your household. While these aren’t the most pleasant of materials, skin cell flaking may also contribute to reduced indoor air pollution. So there’s a win!
You release about 26 gallons of sweat into your bed per year.
That’s about 1 cup (or 236 mL) per day! No one likes to wake up to sheets soaked in sweat, but the actual quantity of that sweat is even more uncomfortable. This average figure is most accurate when adults sleep 8 hours per day at approximately 30 °C (86 °F) in high humidity.
You don’t like your own voice because of the bones in your head.
See, it’s not your fault that you hate the sound of your own voice. It’s pretty much common knowledge that no one likes the sound of their own voice when played back on an audio or video recording. The main reason for this, according to research, is that you’re used to hearing the sound of your own voice being conducted directly through your skull bones as you speak. This process boosts the lower frequencies of your voice, meaning you perceive your own voice as richer and deeper. On an audio recording, however, the sound of your voice travels through the air and into your ears, causing your voice to sound thinner, higher-pitched, and potentially cringeworthy. Aside from the physiological reasons, you likely dislike the recorded sound of your own voice because it’s sort of disturbing! You have one idea of what you sound like that’s important to your self-perception and self-identity. When you hear what you really sound like, the reality can be jarring.
There’s a sleep disorder called Exploding Head Syndrome.
But don’t worry, it doesn’t involve any actual combusting skulls. Some people experience a sensation where they hear short but loud bangs or booms right as they’re falling asleep. These noises are often described as thunderclaps, explosions, gunshots, or sirens. However legitimately frightening they may be, these noises aren’t real—they’re auditory hallucinations. This phenomenon is explained by exploding head syndrome (EHS), a sleep disorder known to cause these symptoms. EHS disturbances shouldn’t happen frequently, and they shouldn’t raise serious health concerns.
When you eat a pineapple, it eats you back.
Has your mouth or throat ever felt sore after eating pineapple? This is why. A pineapple’s flesh and juices contain a chemical called bromelain that breaks down amino acids and proteins. Since your body is basically made up of amino acids and proteins, the bromelain works to break down those substances as you eat the fruit. So, when you eat a large amount of pineapple, your lips, mouth, and throat may feel raw or chapped later on.
Bananas are radioactive.
And it’s because they’re so rich in potassium! The high levels of potassium in bananas give them a slight level of radioactivity. In fact, a large truck full of bananas may be radioactive enough to trigger a false alarm on a radiation detector! However, humans have nothing to worry about when ingesting bananas. You’re actually 280 times more radioactive than a banana, so they can’t really have a strong effect on your overall radioactivity!
The first jack-o’lanterns were made out of turnips.
Doesn't sound creepy…until you look up a picture of early jack o'lanterns. The first jack o’lanterns were carved by Ancient Celtic cultures, who would carve faces into turnips and place embers inside them in an attempt to ward off evil spirits. Ireland didn’t have pumpkins, but when Irish immigrants began moving to the U.S., they brought their carving traditions with them and shifted them onto (larger and more malleable) pumpkins.
20% of kids report that they hear voices.
Kids might explain this phenomenon through an “imaginary friend.” According to psychiatric studies carried out in Ireland, over one-fifth of children aged 11 to 13 claim that they hear voices in their heads. These auditory hallucinations typically stop over time but, when they don’t, they may reveal mental illnesses or behavioral disorders.
As of 2025, the dead outnumber the living by 15 to 1.
This ratio has shifted since 1968, when the dead outnumbered the living by 29:1. As the world’s population continues to grow—reaching 8 billion in 2023—it’s interesting to note that the historic Earth’s population was tiny compared to the world we know today. Researchers have estimated that about 107 billion people have lived in the history of humankind, giving us a ratio of approximately 15:1 deceased people to currently alive people. One of the main reasons that the past population was so much smaller was due to life expectancy being shorter in the past. Many people never made it out of childhood or had children themselves.
Russia has a mysterious radio station that broadcasts codes.
The ghostly signal has been transmitting 24/7 since 1982. Outside of St. Petersburg, there’s a collection of abandoned buildings, power lines, and radio towers sitting inside an iron gate. Locals believe it’s the headquarters of radio station MDZhB, which constantly broadcasts a dull, monotonous tone. Every few seconds, a sound that’s compared to a ghostly foghorn interrupts the tone. Every few days, a man or woman reads out some seemingly random words in Russian—like “dinghy” or “farming specialist.” No one has ever laid claim to this radio station, despite the fact that it’s been operating since the Cold War. Unsurprisingly, there are many conspiracy theories about the station, which is also known online as “the Buzzer.” Some people believe it belongs to the Russian military and may be used to automatically trigger a retaliation if Russia was ever hit by a nuclear attack. Others believe it's used to keep in touch with submarines or aliens. You can listen to this radio station from anywhere in the world. Simply tune any radio to the frequency 4625 kHz. You can also listen to this YouTube livestream of the radio station.
There’s an ancient book of symbols that no one can translate.
Known as the Voynich Manuscript, the book dates back to 1404-1438 CE. The VM is an illustrated codex that’s hand-written in a unique, symbolic writing system that has never been deciphered. Numerous cryptographers have studied the manuscript and, while the book still remains largely untranslatable, some believe that the symbols are most similar to modern Arabic. Based on this theory, the text appears to speak primarily on the Cathars, a group of so-called heretics who were active in the south of France during the 12th and 13th centuries. Parts of the text may possibly touch on strange plants and flowers, naked women lounging in pools, celestial bodies like the stars and moon, and kitchen spices and herbs.
A ship was once found floating with no humans on board.
The Mary Celeste was found abandoned near Portugal in 1872. The American merchant ship was originally built in and launched from Nova Scotia, Canada in 1861. During this maiden voyage, the ship encountered numerous mishaps like the captain catching and dying from pneumonia and a crash on Cape Breton Island. Later on, the Mary Celeste set sail once again in 1872 from New York City. It had 10 people on board and was meant to carry 1,700 barrels of alcohol to Genoa, Italy. The ship encountered harsh weeks over its first two weeks, and its last log entry was recorded when the ship was about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from the Azores Islands in Portugal. Ten days later, sailors on the British ship Dei Gratia spotted the Mary Celeste before boarding the ship and finding it inexplicably deserted. The vessel was completely able to sail, with only 3 feet (1 meter) of water in the hold. The cargo and personal items were undisturbed, with only a longboat missing. Investigators believed that the ship had been abandoned quickly, despite there being no evidence of foul play or piracy (as there were no signs of violence and the cargo was intact). One of the most believable theories is that the captain mistakenly thought the ship was taking on too much water and was about to sink, due to evidence that one of the pumps was malfunctioning and that the sounding rod was used recently. From there, it’s possible that a mishap occurred in the longboat, causing its passengers to drown.
The Tower of London is said to be haunted by numerous ghosts.
The Tower of London has seen its fair share of deaths and misfortunes. The historic castle sits in a prominent location on London’s River Thames. Founded in 1066, the castle is thought to be one of the most haunted places in England—and perhaps the world. This reputation is largely due to the many true events that have occurred within the Tower’s walls, as well as numerous spooky experiences reported by visitors. Here are just a few of the most notable “ghosts” that may haunt the Tower of London: Anne Boleyn: An English queen and wife of Henry VII who was executed by her husband. She’s said to haunt the Tower Green (where she was beheaded) and wander the corridors of the tower as a headless body. Henry VI: An English king who stood to become the monarch of both England and France before being imprisoned during the War of the Roses. He was stabbed during prayer in Wakefield Tower, and his ghost is said to appear in the tower at the last stroke of midnight. Lady Jane Grey & Lord Guildford Dudley: Lady Grey was queen of England for just nine days before both she and her husband were executed by Mary Tudor (aka Bloody Mary). Lady Grey’s ghost is said to wander the battlements alone, while Dudley’s ghost weeps in a cell within Beauchamp Tower and etches the word “Jane” into the wall.
A stewardess survived three boat disasters in the 20th century.
Violet Jessop was a nurse who was commonly described as “unsinkable.” Jessop first served onboard the Olympic, where she experienced the ship’s 1911 collision with HMS Hawke. Later on, she was convinced to join the staff of the Titanic. During the ship’s infamous sinking, Jessop was one of the few passengers who made it onto a lifeboat—making her one of only 706 souls that survived the maritime disaster. Four years later, Jessop was serving as nurse on the Britannic when it sank in 1916. Jessop miraculously survived all of these incidents, eventually retiring from the sea in 1960 before dying of heart failure in 1971.
Dracula is based on a real Romanian ruler.
Vlad the Impaler was a Romanian ruler during the 15th century. The legendary blood-sucking figure wasn’t just invented by Bram Stoker for his 1897 vampire novel—he actually borrowed the character from the real-life Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia. Better known as Vlad the Impaler, the Transylvanian-born ruler (with the surname Dracul, meaning “dragon”) was known for disposing of his competitors in a very violent manner. To keep things on the lesser side of grotesque, here’s what we’ll say about how Vlad earned his nickname: he killed about 80,000 of his enemies during his rule, with his preferred method being impaling and displaying these unfortunate individuals on stakes. According to legend, Vlad would also eat among and dip his food in the blood of his victims—but this extra creepy addition to the story has not been confirmed.
A 3,000-year-old mummy can still have fingerprints.
Ancient fingerprints have also been recovered from Egyptian artifacts. Historians have been able to accomplish both of these feats—but how? Well, mummification involves the drying out of soft tissue in order to preserve the body (including its fingerprints). In order to recover the fingerprint impressions, experts soak or inject the mummified hands with hydrating solutions in order to plump them up. Then, the fingertips are inked and copied in the same manner as modern fingerprints. But what about fingerprints on objects, you ask? Some fingerprints can be found on ancient objects and artifacts—for example, a group of English researchers found prints on the internal lid of an Egyptian coffin. Most likely, they were left behind by a craftsman who handled the lid before the varnish had fully dried. Of course, the fingerprints don’t help us to track ancient peoples or learn more about their identities. However, it certainly helps us to feel a further degree of connection to those who came before us.
Scientists can trick people into thinking they’re invisible.
A research study used VR to create an invisibility illusion for participants. In the study, each person wore virtual reality (VR) goggles and looked down at their feet, with the headset being programmed so that each wearer would be staring down at nothing. Then, a researcher would touch the participant with a paintbrush while also touching the same place in the participant’s empty space view. The participants could feel the brush but could also look down and see that nothing was there. After a few variations of this experiment, the researchers concluded that these people actually believed they were invisible for a few minutes, suggesting that it’s easier than expected to create an out-of-body experience. Eventually, researchers believe that their study could help to develop VR treatments for people with social anxiety or body insecurities. It may also contribute to research on phantom pain or improved prosthetic limbs for amputees.
The Statue of Liberty is struck by lightning 600 times each year.
They say lightning doesn’t strike twice…unless you’re Lady Liberty. According to estimates, the iconic Statue of Liberty gets hit by up to 600 bolts of lightning every year. Fortunately, the tall-standing monument off the coast of Manhattan is fairly equipped to withstand these electric strikes. However, Lady Liberty does get affected by high winds, with her torch swaying side-to-side by up to 5 inches (130 mm) in 50 mph winds.
There’s an old war fort under the Statue of Liberty's pedestal.
Fort Wood was once intended to protect New York from British invasion. Although it may not seem like it from pictures of the statue from afar, the Statue Liberty actually sits on a small island on the Hudson River. But before the monument’s 1876 construction, a massive stone fort was built on the island in 1807. The 11-point star-shaped fort was used to defend the city from British troops during the War of 1812. Today, the fort is closed to the public but still visible as the base on which Lady Liberty stands.
There’s a complex tunnel network underneath Niagara Falls.
The 1837 tunnel system has given way to myths about a submerged city. In the 19th century, an entrepreneur began work on a network of tunnels underneath the immense and iconic waterfall. The entrepreneur’s goal was to use the tunnels to harness the full power of Niagara falls, but he eventually fell into bankruptcy and fled—leaving the tunnels unfinished. Today, tourists on the Behind the Falls tour may be able to catch a glimpse of the old tunnel system, although they cannot travel down it. So what about the creepy urban legend attached to the tunnels? Some Niagara Falls locals believe that the tunnels were actually developed into a full-on underwater city that still exists despite being abandoned back in the late 1800s.
There are secret tunnels underneath Disney World.
This long-told urban legend was actually confirmed by Disney themselves. The Magic Kingdom park is actually a massive multi-floor structure. The part you visit as a guest (with the rides, attractions, etc.), is actually the second floor of the structure—even though it feels like you’re at ground level! On the actual ground floor—or what feels like an underground tunnel—is a series of pathways (known as the Utilidor) that allows Cast Members to move about the park unencumbered. Cast Members may use the Utilidor to make deliveries, transport trash, or just get around more efficiently. You can actually visit the mysterious underground tunnels on Disney World’s “Keys to the Kingdom” Tour.
The horses in The Wizard of Oz were colored with Jell-O.
Apparently, the Emerald City relies on the magic of gelatin! If you’ve watched The Wizard of Oz recently, you may remember a magically color-changing horse—or a “Horse of a Different Color”—that pulled Dorothy and friends through the Emerald City to meet the wizard. Since the 1930s film was made before the era of CGI, filmmakers had to use practical effects to change the color of the horses. So, they actually tinted the coats of the horses with lemon, cherry, and grape flavored JELL-O, an approach that allowed the horses to show up in Technicolor without harming the animals at all.
Strasbourg, France once experienced a “dancing plague.”
The 1518 “plague” caused 50–400 people to dance incessantly for weeks. In July of that year, inhabitants of the city were suddenly struck with a seemingly uncontrollable urge to dance. Physicians believed they could "dance it out," and so a stage was constructed and a band was hired. However, many dancers soon collapsed from sheer exhaustion, while others died from strokes and heart attacks. Eventually, the dancers were taken to a mountaintop shrine where they prayed for absolution, seemingly ending the plague. Historians still don’t know exactly why this dancing plague happened. At the time, physicians blamed it on “hot blood” that could be cured by continuing to dance. Today, however, theories suggest that the dancers were members of a religious cult or that they ingested a toxic mold that grows on damp rye (“ergot”) and is known to cause spasms and hallucinations. Others believe that the dancing was the result of mass hysteria. The pious townspeople may have believed strongly in St. Vitus, a Catholic saint believed to have the power to curse people with a dancing plague. As disease and famine also tore through Strasbourg in 1518, it’s possible that the St. Vitus superstition led to an episode of stress-induced mass hysteria. Similar dance “attacks” actually occurred in Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands, although known were as large or deadly as the Strasbourg event.
An 1898 novel predicted the fate of the Titanic.
The book told of a large ship named Titan that crashed into an iceberg. Sound familiar? It should, since many of the details of Futility by Morgan Robertson match up with history’s most famous maritime disaster. However, the novella was published in 1898—14 years before the construction and sinking of the HMS Titanic. What other similarities were there between Robertson’s book and the future event? The ships shared similar names: Titan and Titanic. Both ships were also described as the largest and fastest vessels that had ever sailed. Further, both ships were only equipped with the minimum number of lifeboats under safety standards of the time. After all, they were both also described as “unsinkable.” Just like the real-life ship, Robertson’s fictional Titan crashed into an iceberg in a disaster that claimed the lives of nearly all of the 3,000 passengers on board. While much research has been conducted into Robertson’s life, he passed away three years after the Titanic’s sinking. His reaction to the disastrous event remains unknown.
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