I Was Today Years Old When I Learned These 16 Horrifying Facts, And I Don't Think I'll Ever Be The Same After Knowing Them
Recently, Redditor u/Misoalgia asked, "What is a genuinely terrifying fact?" From just a little unnerving to straight up bone-chilling, here are 16 scary facts people shared:
1."That two Scottish doctors originally invented the first chainsaw prototype for childbirth."
Scottish doctors John Aitken and James Jeffray invented an early version of what we now know as the chainsaw towards the end of the 18th century. Originally it was used in childbirth for "symphysiotomy" — aka, a now-outdated medical procedure done during labor where the joint that holds the mother's pelvis together is cut to make the birth canal wider. You can read more here and see what it looked like here.
2."The US military has lost several nuclear weapons and not all of them have been recovered."
According to the BBC, the US has lost — and never found — at least three nuclear bombs. There have been at least 32 known instances where the US accidentally lost, launched, set off, or had a nuclear weapon stolen. These are called "Broken Arrows." You can read more about the lost bombs here.
3."The Appalachian mountains are older than bones."
The Appalachian mountains are over one billion years old. The oldest bones with living cells (aka like the bones we have) are estimated to be 400 million years old, and found in fish. Bones without them — which were thick and on the outside of fish like concrete — existed before that, but certainly not for as long as the Appalachian mountains. They've been here a whiiiiiile, y'all.
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4."MK ULTRA was very real. CIA experiments (on unwitting, unconsenting US citizens) trying to find a way to use psychedelic drugs (and other things) as a form of mind control. We know this because it has since been declassified. At the time, it sounded like a nutty conspiracy theory, but it was absolutely 100% true, with real victims and real consequences."
The "other things" mentioned included chemicals, hypnosis, shock therapy, radiation, polygraphs, and toxins. The goal here was to use those things to be able to modify the behaviors of those they experimented on. As OP stated, many participants had no idea they were participating at all. You can read more about it here and you can see the declassified info for yourself here.
5."There are more bones in gummy worms than real worms."
A common ingredient in gummy worms (unless specified to be vegan) is gelatin. Gelatin is made from animal bones, skin, and cartilage, which are processed for their collagen. Real worms have no bones, as they are invertebrates and actually have a have a hydrostatic skeleton. So, it looks like gummy worms really do have more "bones" than real worms do!
6."Sharks are older than trees."
The National History Museum confirms that sharks are, in fact, older than trees. Sharks (which, fun fact! are cartilaginous, so they're skeleton is mostly cartilage, minus their teeth) date back to the Late Ordovician Period, or about 450 million years ago. They are believed, however, to have been toothless. Early trees are believed to have appeared somewhere between 350 and 420 million years ago.
7."There is a species of caterpillar out of Great Britain, I believe, that tricks ants into thinking it's an ant queen in distress. The ants take this caterpillar back to the nest, where the caterpillar continues acting like a queen, but devours all the ant larvae. This destroys the ant colony from the inside."
This is the blue butterfly caterpillar (or large blue). The large blue releases pheromones and changes its body shape to mimic red ant larvae, thereby fooling the ants into thinking they got out of the colony. In turn, the ants bring them back in. It can also fool red ants into thinking it's the queen by imitating the sounds an adult queen ant makes, so the other ants feed it. In particular, it can imitate the queen in distress, which results in them feeding the caterpillar their young. You can read more about it here.
8."Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (mad cow) can lie dormant for more than 50 years, is universally fatal, and is inheritable. There is no cure."
According to NBC News, people can in fact be infected with the always-deadly brain disease for 50+ years without developing it, which makes detecting the spread of it rather difficult. CJD can be transmitted by eating meat from cows infected with BSE — the equivalent of the illness —, but 5 to 15% of people with mad cow disease get it due to "inherited mutations of the prion protein gene" from their parents. While those infected can be treated to manage pain and symptoms, there is no cure for the illness itself. You can read more about it here.
9."The CIA's 'Operation Northwoods' proposed that CIA operatives should commit acts of terrorism upon the US to blame Fidel Castro and justify a war against Cuba. This was rejected by JFK. We know about this because this got declassified."
Potential acts included blowing up US ships in Guantanamo Bay, sinking boats with Cuban refugees, assassination of Cuban émigrés, hijacking planes, terrorism of US cities, and more. You can read more about it here and see the declassified document for yourself here.
10."People who have Neanderthal DNA tend to have a gene variant that allows for better coagulation. Great for fighting woolly rhinos, less so when it starts misfiring and giving you random blood clots requiring emergency surgeries."
According to the 2016 paper, “The phenotypic legacy of admixture between modern humans and Neanderthals," there is a Neanderthal variant that indeed increases blood coagulation. This was likely beneficial at the time, making wounds heal faster and making it harder for foreign pathogens to get in. However, it appears less beneficial now than it was then, as hypercoagulation can cause its own slew of medical issues, like an increase in the risk of having a stroke. You can read more about it — and other gene variants — here.
11."It is physically possible to be so constipated that your stool will back all the way up your digestive tract and you can vomit feces."
This is a bowel obstruction. According to Medical News Today, to treat this, doctors would suck out the contents of the patient's stomach via a tube through their nose in order to decompress the stomach. You can read more about it here.
12."The ten hottest years on record have all been since 2010."
It's true — the 10 hottest years in recorded history have indeed occured since 2010.
In order, the years are:
1. 2016
2. 2020
3. 2019
4. 2017
5 and 6. 2015 and 2022 (tied)
7 and 8. 2018 and 2021 (tied)
9. 2014
10. 2010
13."Dementia has no age limit."
While dementia tends to be associated with aging — likely because it's estimated about 1/3 of people 85+ may have it in some form — you don't necessarily have to be older to have it. Just this year, a 19-year-old in China was diagnosed, making him the youngest case in the world. You can learn more about early-onset dementia here.
14."One genuinely terrifying fact is the concept of 'antibiotic resistance.' Bacteria can evolve to become resistant to antibiotics, the drugs we use to treat bacterial infections. Overuse and misuse of antibiotics can speed up this process, making previously treatable diseases difficult or even impossible to cure. According to the World Health Organization, antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health today, potentially leading to a future where simple infections could once again become deadly."
You can read more about antibiotic resistance, and how to prevent it, here.
15."Many people don't have a frequent internal monologue. I can't even imagine that. I can barely turn mine off to sleep."
According to Professor Russell Hurlburt of the University of Nevada, anywhere from 30 to 50% of people don't have a frequent internal monologue. He broke down the five main "ways of thinking" with the CBC, which include having an inner monologue, "inner seeing," emotional processing, unsymbolized thinking, and sensory awareness. You can read about them here.
16.And finally, "Either we're the only sentient species in the whole universe, or we are not. Both is equally terrifying."
Do you know a genuinely horrifying fact like these? If so, share it with us in the comments below!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length, clarity, and accuracy.
