Throughout history, mankind has found a number of ways to kill each other, whether through swords, bullets, or bombs. However, stupidity or bad luck have also led to a number of odd ways to die, including many that even the most creative cartoonist would never have thought of. This is a list of the first

They wrap around objects ranging from the tiniest magnets to the entire Earth. Despite our fascination with these magnetic fields, they still produce many mysteries and strange behaviors. Recent discoveries uncovered fields where none were ever seen before, the spot where the planet’s poles might flip, and how to control brains and make wormholes. Magnetic

Whether it’s stuffing a body in a vat of acid or forcing a snitch to dig his own shallow grave, almost every movie with a body in it has its own way of getting rid of the corpse. Hollywood has expended more creativity into thinking up ways to hide a body than into writing a

Sometimes, it takes a master criminal to get away with murder. But sometimes, it just takes one incompetent cop. As it turns out, the men who managed to evade detection for decades weren’t as crafty as it seems. Some of them pretty well got caught with their hands bloody, face-to-face with the men hunting them.

Seeing lights in the sky is perhaps one thing, even if these strange, unknown objects are witnessed close-up. However, seeing such craft with humanoid beings on board is completely another. The same can be said of closer, direct encounters with humanoid creatures presumably from another world. There are more recorded accounts of such encounters than

Technology is always changing without us even realizing it half the time. In fact, it evolves at such a rapid pace that by the time you buy the newest phone or laptop, it’s already old. However, things like that are expected to change. But 20 years from now, some technologies—the ones that you might not

The universe has a morbid sense of humor. We’ve known this ever since apes were allowed to have consciousness. However, the universe sometimes feels the need to remind us of this fact. At times, it does this by giving absolute power to the least deserving or by sending off a human being in a manner

The earliest period of US history has been so mythologized that it is sometimes hard to get a grip on what life was actually like during this time. As longtime Listverse readers know, whatever you learned in school about it probably won’t be much help. So, just in time for Independence Day, let’s take a

The center of the Earth is probably one of the most mysterious places on our planet because we cannot physically go there. There is a lot of information about the Earth’s core, and numerous scientific documentaries have been made surrounding the concept. Even though we do have a lot of information about the core that

For most of us, the words “stop the presses” bring to mind a familiar scene. The papers are rolling through the printers when breaking news hits and someone shouts out the infamous phrase, halting all production. Hollywood, of course, is to blame for this. The real-world equivalent is less dramatic and a rare occurrence. However,

Sometimes a hat isn’t just a hat. Hats that we see everyday are replete with secret meanings and controversial histories that we’d never expect from such humble headgear. Everything comes from somewhere. Even what we wear on our heads everyday can broadcast surprising messages or continue unexpected traditions. In many cases, a hat’s original connotations

If you have the IQ of a genius, that doesn’t mean you won’t be a criminal. The people on this list know that all too well, as they used their powerful minds for something other than academic success, namely cold-blooded murder. By the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, an IQ of 130 to 144 is considered “gifted,”

Censorship is a big deal in China, where the government has made it clear that it will go to any length to control information. The Chinese government strictly controls news spread through the Internet and mass media, consequently deciding what its citizens know and what they do not. Several Western companies—including Google and Facebook—have either

Have you ever wondered how your favorite foods were invented? Most of us probably envision a chef or a food company employee experimenting endlessly to craft the perfect concoction for palates that are tired of the same old thing. A pinch of this, a dash of that, and voila! Finally, after days or even months

“Ruthless,” “witty,” and “scheming” are only a few of the words that describe the first female emperor of China, Wu Zetian. Despite the obstacles that stood in the way of her uphill climb to power, she overcome a plethora of opposing forces and remains one of the most impactful, influential women in Chinese history. Known

At first glance, plants are a mundane part of life. From the grass on your front lawn to the towering trees, they cover the Earth in a blanket of green and have become an expected, yet ignored, part of our existence. It seems that they do nothing else other than grow and look pretty in

Today, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II is a well-known part of history. But the hard reality nobody seems to talk about is that this wasn’t some unique, isolated event. Governments were rounding up citizens from enemy countries and locking them inside camps on every corner of the world. This wasn’t something

It is rare to hear of someone suing himself. So rare that no one has even bothered to form a word for it yet. Perhaps we could just call it “self-litigation.” The obvious problem with self-litigation is that the plaintiff is also the defendant and, depending on the circumstances, the only witness. Then there’s the

On Sunday, June 24, 2018, media outlets in the Bay Area of California published articles about the Doodler. Specifically, these outlets asked, “Who is the Doodler?” In case you do not know, the Doodler was a serial killer who preyed on the gay community of San Francisco during the mid-1970s.[1] The Doodler was never apprehended.

Evel Knievel is the household name for death-defying stunts. When you think of motorcycle stunts, you likely picture him in his Elvis-inspired costumes, leaping over rows of cars and buses. To many, he is still the greatest stuntman of all time and arguably the most famous. However, records are made to be broken, and stunt

Drinking has always been one of America’s favorite pastimes. Bars, taverns, pubs, and the like have been around since the earliest parts of history. The intersection of various cultures throughout time has led to the exchange of various liquors and recipes all over the world. This sharing of liquors has led to a cornucopia of

The sinking of the Titanic was one of the most traumatic and horrifying events in history. Thousands of people lost their lives in the freezing cold water of the Atlantic Ocean during the early morning hours of April 15, 1912. There are many sad stories about the Titanic, but there are also many heroic stories

The Internet is already awash with lists about ridiculous, strange, and weird laws from across the world. What many of these lists will not tell you is that most of these laws are no longer enforced today. And where’s the fun if you can’t get arrested for frowning in Milan or just naming your pig

A head shot is almost always a free pass to the graveyard. So it is intriguing to hear of people surviving these injuries, especially when we realize that the survivors doubled as the shooters. Some of the people on this list deliberately hurt themselves in failed attempts at suicide, while others mistakenly shot themselves. There

Solving crimes was a lot harder before DNA testing. Detectives today have a whole arsenal of crime scene investigation tools and gadgets to help them prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but it wasn’t always that easy. Crime investigators have been around for thousands of years. All the way back in ancient Egypt, there were

Urinary catheters are used for various medical conditions in order drain urine from the bladder when other means have failed. This medical device is never ideal for any man or woman, to say the least. The use of urinary catheters is painful, not to mention rather unflattering. The following ten entries focus on intriguing facts,

The United States of America is crisscrossed with highways. According to the US Department of Transportation, America is covered by over 264,000 kilometers (164,000 mi) of federal roads.[1] Millions of Americans transverse these roads every day, and most worry about very little during their commutes. However, highway accidents remain a concern. Last year, there were

Water may look placid, but its capacity for strangeness seems unlimited. Unique among Earth’s liquids, water has quirks that make scientists and weathermen love their jobs. It inspires awe with massive and bizarre storms, swirls, clouds, and even stranger molecules and quantum secrets. From the oldest water ever found to the mystery of where H2O

When we first learned about Pangaea in school, it seemed like a mystical world where land went on forever and animals and plants inhabited places we could not even imagine. Just thinking about all the continents fitting together like a puzzle is unbelievable. Also, it’s incredible that earthquakes and tectonic plates could move so much

Tales of mythical lands, lost cities, and hidden treasures have regaled generations of eager listeners in nearly every society on the planet throughout the course of history. Some of the earliest of these tales can be traced back to influential literature like the Old Testament, with its description of ancient cities like Sodom and Gomorrah