Shocking stories of people. The most shocking medical stories. The earth is not round
Our history is full of various strange, and at times downright shocking facts. We all know that much of the school curriculum is removed so as not to traumatize the fragile child’s psyche. But is this right? Users of popular social network Reddit decided to tell us what they know about history and what scary facts their teachers never told them.
Parents ate their children to avoid starvation
“During Stalin’s time, when Russia was in the stage of industrialization, he took away all the food and crops the farmers had been growing for so long, and the common people began to starve. This led to people starting to eat other people. Many cases have been recorded where parents even ate their children to avoid starvation" - R3ddittor. People's heads were cut off and loaded into cannons.
“During the Great Siege of Malta, the commander of the Turkish forces, Mustafa Pasha, ordered the bodies of knights found on the battlefield to be beheaded, nailed to wooden crosses and floated into the bay in mockery of his Christian enemies. In retaliation, the enraged Master La Valette ordered to cut off the heads of all Turkish prisoners, load them into cannons and fire them towards the Turkish camp” - Fakezaga. Scientists from Unit 731 performed horrific experiments, such as cutting out a fetus from its mother's womb
“This was a group of Japanese scientists who carried out various terrible experiments on people from China during World War II. The way these people were abused was captured in photographs, and when I read about it, I dreamed that they would simply disappear, because I had no strength to look at all this horror. I read about this incident in a book some time ago, but I remember some things clearly. 
Frozen people who were on the verge of life and death were thrown into boiling water; patients with syphilis were forced to have sex with completely healthy people; a child was cut out of a woman’s womb while she was on weak painkillers and so on. And I am sure that there were no experiments there. Everything they did to people was purely for fun. They were curious what would happen if... What was the worst thing about this book? 
So this is that the main “scientist” escaped punishment. Not only that, he recorded everything they did, and it was these recordings that gave him his ticket to freedom. Apparently, many of his studies were useful and greatly expanded our understanding of the human body." - davisbobavis. Soldiers raped and tortured millions of innocent people
“Japanese soldiers killed, tortured and raped thousands of innocent Chinese. In addition, they cut off the genitals of both men and women, abused children in every possible way, and also forced people with venereal disease to have sex with healthy people. This is just terrible" - ThatGuyYouKnow905. He killed his own wife and blew up a school, killing many children.
“Massacre at Bath School in Michigan. In 1926, a man named Andrew Kehoe was removed from his position as local clerk. In retaliation, a year later, he first killed his wife, and then bombed the school and killed many children and some teachers. He was an electrical engineer and suffered a head injury that may have caused his insanity. Or maybe he was just abnormal from birth." - IFudgedTheMath. Rosemary Kennedy had a botched lobotomy
“Rosemary Kennedy's lobotomy, which returned her to the age of two and left her disabled for life. The woman did not know how to walk or speak” - Silly_Bun. Francisco Macias Nguema ordered his soldiers to shoot at the spectators
“Francisco Macias Nguema, the first President of Equatorial Guinea, once invited all his political rivals to a large stadium on Christmas Eve under the pretext of a certain public event. When they all gathered and took their places, the soldiers, dressed in Santa Claus costumes, began machine-gunning the spectators while singing popular Christmas songs." - FuzzyMeep7 Their hearts were ripped out while they were still alive
“The Aztecs committed acts of mass human sacrifice of slaves. In one such event, over 10,000 slaves had their hearts ripped out while they were still alive. By the time the Spaniard Cortez arrived, thousands of people from the captured tribes had joined him to rid himself of the Aztec empire. More than 90 percent of the army that fought against the Aztecs were indigenous tribes" - deroque. Cannibals in Siberia
“On one island there was a guard named Kostya Venikov, a young man. He looked after beautiful girl, and also protected her. One day he had to go away for a while and he said to one of his comrades: “Take care of her.” Unfortunately, Kostya’s friend could not cope with all the people who were on this island. People caught the girl, tied her to a poplar tree, cut off her breasts, muscles, and basically everything that could be eaten. They were hungry, they had to do it. When Kostya returned, she was still alive. A young guy tried to save his girlfriend, but she lost too much blood." - Spinner1975. Christopher Columbus fed animals to humans
“At one point, Christopher Columbus gave a live sex slave to feed his dogs.” - Junko__Enoshima. More than a million people were hacked to death with machetes
“The genocide in Rwanda lasted 4 months. Four fucking months and a million corpses. Most died from machetes" - Mumtaz3580. Many believe that humanity is suffering from a strange species amnesia. We have certain facts about our past that tell us how long our species has been around, when we emerged from caves, acquired speech, created the first tools, and when the species with which we shared this planet became extinct. And we accept these facts as an immutable truth, despite the fact that some of them began as stories, which were later confirmed.
However, various native tribes still have beliefs that run counter to official science. And although scientists claim that these legends are only artistic works of folk craftsmen, every day we see how various myths are embodied in reality. For example, what do you say about stories about " big white bear"living in the highlands of China?" Fiction", people said, until a French missionary brought his skin. Bam! - the mystical animal became the familiar big panda. Then scientists say that they have records that state with one hundred percent certainty which species have become extinct, and - bam! - in 1938 they caught coelacanth in the ocean, which, according to them, disappeared from the face of the Earth as much as 66 million years ago.
15. Indus civilization
At first, the existence of an unknown ancient civilization on the territory of modern Pakistan was not taken seriously - rumors and rumors. And then in 1842 some archaeologist reported that he had found some ruins. This discovery was not paid attention to until 1856, when, during the construction of a railway, the remains of a hitherto unprecedented civilization were unearthed. Now, after multiple archaeological expeditions, we have learned quite a lot about the Indus civilization. The artifacts found indicate a high level of development of those who lived here in 3300 BC. society.
The main difficulty faced by scientists is the impossibility of deciphering their language. Although the Harrapan writings are incomplete, scholars unanimously believe that the Harrapans had a language, and based on the available evidence, it was written. However, this is a controversial point, because it would mean that the Hindus mastered writing before anyone else who lived in this area. Also, some artifacts hint at possible application printing, and if this is confirmed, then the Indian civilization will be 1500 years ahead of the Chinese in terms of development.
14. History of the Olmecs
The mysterious Olmec people are said to have lived somewhere in what is now Mexico in 1100 BC, making them the oldest Central American civilization. Until the beginning of 1990, little was known about them, until the group local residents from the city of Veracruz did not unearth a well-preserved stone slab, covered with ancient writing - much more ancient than anything found before. It became the greatest archaeological find. Scientists studied the inscriptions on the stone and made some amazing discoveries. Firstly, the artifact belonged to mysterious civilization Olmec. Further, the experts concluded that the text was so well structured that it showed all the signs of meaningful sentences, error correction, and even poetic lines. Moreover, the nature of the marks suggests that this tile is private." copy"of the specified text. If this is true, then there must be more different" documentation", records, trade routes or even ancient literature, waiting for their Columbus!
The only negative is the inability to decipher the Olmec language. It is unlike any previously discovered American writing system. Without a document like the Rosetta Stone from Egypt, it is almost impossible to understand this ancient people. For researchers, this task is similar to the study of the Indus civilization, only worse. And although the found tablet is so far the first and only document on the North American continent, experts are confident that the Olmecs could write complex stories, detailed reports and even a religious calendar with detailed descriptions of traditions. We have yet to find out what happened to this civilization after 300 BC, and this may be one of the greatest historical discoveries of the near future. It is worth noting that the Olmecs are included in the ranking of 10 mystically vanished civilizations.
Probably almost everyone has heard the legend of King Arthur - the knight who pulled a sword from a stone that no one else could lift. Some desperate romantics believe that Arthur is a real person, and based on knowledge, we cannot completely deny this. It is known for certain that in life there really is a sword in the stone - maybe it became the source of inspiration for the legend?
The real sword was found in the chapel of Monte Siepi in the Abbey of San Galgaro, located in Tuscany, Italy. The story goes that Saint Galgano Guidotti began his life as an evil and cruel knight. In 1180 he met the Archangel Michael, who told Guidotti to give up his sinful life and follow the path of God. At first he refused, but then he passed through Monte Siepi - then just a rocky hill. A voice from heaven called to him, saying that now is the time to change. The knight replied that it was the same as " cut the rock with a sword".
And to show the impossibility of the request, he plunged his sword into the stone. And instead of breaking, the blade entered the cobblestone. Not believing what had happened, he fell to his knees and began to pray at this very stone as at the altar from now on. About a year later, Galgano died and was canonized in 1185 by Pope Lucius III. The church was built around that very sword in stone. True, it is now covered with a durable plastic case so that no one would try to become the king of England.
One of the most controversial artifacts is the Sealand skull. It was found in 2007 in Elstykke, Denmark, while replacing pipes. At first, no one paid much attention to it, but later, in 2010, it was examined at the Veterinary College of Denmark and... Researchers could not determine whose it was, since it did not match any species known to science. This skull has raised many questions that scientists cannot answer, but some of them are trying to answer. full information about the existing artifact. Paleontologists believe that this is the skull of some kind of mammal, possibly a horse, however, a more detailed study showed that the owner of the skull does not fit the Linnaean taxonomy. Radiocarbon dating carried out at Niels Bohr University in Copenhagen showed that the unknown specimen lived sometime between 1200 and 1280 BC.
Further excavations at the site of the find, unfortunately, did not yield anything interesting. It's a pity, because the skull is quite an interesting looking one: compared to human skull, it has many noticeable differences. For example, the eye sockets of the Sealand specimen are much larger, deep and rounded and extend more to the sides. In humans, the eyes are set in the center. His nostrils, like his chin, are narrow, but overall the skull is larger than the average human. The surface of the skull is smooth, which scientists see as an adaptation for survival in low temperatures. Based on size eyeballs, scientists believe that the Sealand specimen was nocturnal. But what kind of creature is this? Alien? Or some previously unknown subspecies of people? We must hope for the results of future studies.
11. The German submarine UB-85 was sunk by a sea monster
During the First World War, there was a story about a German submarine, which, according to legend, was attacked by a sea monster, which is why it could no longer go to depth. We are talking about the submarine UB-85 and its commander Günter Krech. In April 1918, a British patrol ship approached a submarine that was on the surface. The Germans immediately surrendered. The ship's captain, Günther Krech, was interrogated and spoke about this strange incident.
At night, the submarine surfaced to charge its batteries. And suddenly she was attacked by a strange creature, which, according to Krekh, had a small head and fangs that glistened in the moonlight. The huge monster tried to tilt the ship, but the crew managed to scare it off with rifle and machine-gun fire and prevent further damage. Actually, this is why the Germans were unable to go deeper and escape from the patrol vessel. As a result, various reports stated that the submarine either sank or was destroyed by a British patrol.
The submarine and its history have become part of sea legends. It was believed that no such ship existed until a Scottish cable-laying contractor found something similar to the legendary UB-85 in the North Sea while laying a power cable in October this year. Acoustics showed that the ship did not suffer serious damage. It is planned to conduct further research to find out what happened to the submarine. Could she really have been attacked by a sea monster?
Another controversial artifact is the Manx penny. This coin was found on August 18, 1957 in an archaeological quarry while researching American Indian culture near Brooklyn, Maine. As many as 30,000 magnificent artifacts have been discovered, but especially notable among them is one that does not belong to Native American culture - the Manx penny. Some researchers consider it a fake, others - evidence that Europeans came to this continent in pre-Columbian times.
Scientists argue about the origin of this coin. Definitely not done American Indians, and some even believed that it was brought in the 12th century from England. Later studies claim that the artifact is of Scandinavian origin and was made in the 11th century. The University of Oslo confirmed that similar coins were in circulation in Norway in 1060-1080 BC. Now the Manx penny has ended up in the National Museum of Maine, whose authorities remain silent and cannot officially confirm either the origin or even the authenticity of the artifact. This unusual find will torture the minds of scientists for a long time - how many are there still and how did they get here?
Historians claim that the first human civilizations began building villages, farming and temples only in 8000 BC, but is this really true? This amazing discovery challenges established views on anthropogenesis. The discovery took place in 1994 in rural areas Gobekli Tepe in Turkey. At the top of the mountain range there are more than 200 large stone pillars up to 18 meters high and weighing about 20 tons each. They are arranged in a series of twelve rings with images of various animals. The find is dated 12,000 BC. Yes, this Turkish altar is thousands of years older than Stonehenge! It may even be the oldest place of worship in the world.
Various evidence indicates that the site was built by ancient nomadic hunter-gatherers who had not yet mastered Agriculture. Modern science believes that at this level of development, people still knew nothing about complex symbolic systems, social hierarchy and division of labor - necessary prerequisites for the construction of this gigantic temple with an area of \u200b\u200b89,000 m2. Religion would have been expected to emerge after humans transitioned from hunting and gathering to agriculture and animal husbandry, but this find may suggest otherwise.
Thus, the question arises - maybe the need for construction was the reason why people settled down, began to build communities and began to look for a constant source of food, which is how they invented agriculture? If so, how did the ancient nomads do it? How did they manage to do this thousands of years before anyone else? And finally, what kind of people are these and where have they gone? Archaeologists cannot yet give an answer.
8. Did people live side by side with dinosaurs?
Dinosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago, millions of years before humans first appeared. And in this case, it is very strange that scientists find artifacts with amazingly accurate images of dinosaurs, as if painted from life. Example? Built in the 12th century, the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia. On one of the walls is carved a detailed image of a stegosaurus, despite the fact that the first recorded fossil remains of these reptiles were found only in the early 19th century. And how did ancient artists manage to depict extinct lizards so reliably?
Another example that baffles archaeologists is the stones from the city of Ica. According to the documents, they were found in Peru, in a cave near the above-mentioned town. These mysterious artifacts Peruvian archaeologist Professor Javier Cabrera received it as a gift in 1961. Taking a closer look at the stone, he discovered an image of an ancient fish that had gone extinct millions of years ago, according to official sources. The discovery amazed the professor so much that he decided to find out more about it. The drawing was made on a piece of andesite - a dark gray/black volcanic rock, very durable and difficult to work, especially with primitive tools of antiquity.
Fossils found in the same area confirm that the recovered artifacts are millions of years old. Professor Carbera collected several hundred stones from caves in Ica and found on some of them images of living brachiosaurs, tyrannosaurs and triceratops, and on another - a predatory dinosaur devouring an ancient aborigine. Radiocarbon scanning is not the best exact method, because sometimes dinosaur fossils are too old for any information to be extracted from them... So maybe people really found ancient dinosaurs, as these artifacts say?
Many different publications rang about the Crimean pyramids found in 1999 by Vitaly Gokh, who retired from the Soviet Army thirty years ago. Having retired to the reserve, he began research activities, which led him to the Crimean peninsula, where an amazing discovery occurred. Goh suggested that if there are flooded villages in the Black Sea, then there must be other ancient buildings. But the region is simply a storehouse of archaeological treasures of various cultures - ancient Greek, Roman, Ottoman and others.
Being an engineer by profession, he knew how to use instruments operating on the principle of magnetic resonance, and decided to test his hypothesis. And it was confirmed. Goh found an area of seven limestone-built pyramids located along the southern shore of the peninsula. The largest of them was 45 meters high with a base length of 72 meters and had a truncated top, like the Mayan pyramids. And all seven buildings form a straight line running from northwest to southeast. Goh claims that there may be as many as 39 pyramids underwater.
In his opinion, these are the most ancient structures on Earth, built back in the era of dinosaurs. However, before rewriting history, many more excavations and studies of various documents will have to be done - most scientists believe that Goh’s hypothesis has nothing to do with reality, and his find may be much younger. Fortunately, a Russian researcher is already looking for funding for further development of the pyramids found.
Well... Strictly speaking, the Salzburg Cube is not a cube at all, which is why it is sometimes called the Wolfsegg Iron Nugget. This interesting artifact was found in 1885 near Wolfsegg am Hausruck in Austria. They say that this interesting egg-shaped object was found by a miner while extracting coal for a steel foundry. The find was covered with potholes and a deep groove surrounding it, had sharp edges and weighed about 800 grams with dimensions of 6.6 x 6.6 x 4.7 cm. Chemical analysis showed that " egg"consists of alloy steel with the addition of nickel and carbon, and the absence of sulfur showed that it is not pyrite. By all indications, it was a man-made product, machined from a single piece of iron. And everything would have been fine, but the artifact was found in coal deposits 20 years old -60 million years. That's the problem!
And how could such an intricately decorated piece of iron appear millions of years before the official appearance of people? Scientists have been struggling with this mystery for more than a hundred years. Some scientists believe that the artifact is a fake, others that it is a gift from guests from outer space, and others claim that it is a meteorite. Long years The Salzburg Cube moved from one research center to another, but now this mysterious object is located in Austria, in the Regional Museum of Voecklabruck.
5. Who is this “Abominable Snowman”?
"Abominable Snowman", or Yeti, is Bigfoot's colder brother. He is also the most unsolvable cryptozoological mystery. Many witnesses, large footprints and blurry video footage have led people to think that something is going on in the Himalayas. And, it seems, one British geneticist even knows What. The researcher's name is Dr. Brian Sykes, and he is a professor of genetics at the University of Oxford. In 2013, he completed the decoding of DNA samples believed to belong to the Yeti. In particular, one of the hairs was found in the western Himalayan region called Ladakh, and the other - from the state of Bhutan, which is approximately 860 km from there.
The Ladakh sample was taken from the mummified remains of an unknown creature killed forty years ago by a local hunter. The second hair is a single hair found 10 years ago in a Bhutanese bamboo forest during the filming of a documentary. Professor Sykes compared the DNA samples with those stored in a worldwide repository of genetic samples from various creatures - including extinct ones - GenBank. The researcher thought that here he could find similar samples. And the result amazed and greatly puzzled him.
The scans showed that both samples matched the DNA of an ancient polar bear whose jawbone was found in Norway. The age of the bone is approximately 40-120 thousand years. Sykes says this is precisely the period when polar and brown bears became two different types. Perhaps the Yeti is a subspecies of brown bears descended from a polar ancestor! Really" abominable snowman"Finally identified? Dr. Sykes is confident that both hair samples are from different ends The Himalayas belong to one animal. To confirm that it is the source of the legends about Bigfoot, additional research and expeditions will be needed.
4. Where did the Egyptians get cocaine from?
Not wanting to risk my reputation because of " cocaine discoveries", the scientists commissioned an independent laboratory to conduct the same tests on several mummies. The results were confirmed: the mummies were simply stuffed with cocaine and tobacco. And German scientists began to study more and more mummies, and found traces of tobacco in almost a third of them, and inside the mummy of Ramses II (the same one known from the biblical story " Exodus", about Moses and the Ten Commandments) there were tobacco leaves and a petrified tobacco beetle! And this is not a joke. It seems that Ramses II was a heavy smoker. But where did the ancient Egyptians get such substances? After all, there are no records of the Egyptians traveling to unknown distances, and There is also evidence of the use of these drugs, and it seems that scientists will not solve this puzzle any time soon.
3. "Giant Code"
Codex Gigas, which is translated from Latin as " Giant book" - no more - the largest ancient manuscript in the world. According to historians, the book was written in the 13th century in a Benedictine monastery in the Czech city of Podlazice, then during the Thirty Years' War in 1648 it was captured by the Swedish army and is now in the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm This tome was made from more than 160 animal skins and can be lifted by two people.
The book contains the complete text of the Vulgate - the generally accepted Latin translation of the Bible by Blessed Jerome of Stridon - as well as many other works in Latin, including " Jewish antiquities"Josephus, a collection of works of Hippocrates on medicine, " Czech Chronicle"Kozma of Prague," Beginnings"Isidore of Seville. In addition, there were texts for exorcism rituals, magical formulas and descriptions of the Kingdom of the Lord. And of course, a full-size image of Satan, because of which the book was called " Devil's Bible".
Legend has it that the monk who wrote this book made a deal with the Devil after he was sentenced to be embedded in a wall alive. Thanks to Satan, who left his portrait on the pages of the Bible, the monk managed to finish the book in one night. Researchers who examined the book concluded that the writing in the book was quite uniform and clear, as if the book had really been written in a very long time. a short time. However, this is impossible, because you would have to write continuously for five whole years in a row. Scientists generally believe that this code required over thirty years of work on it. However, we must remember that some monks could receive punishment in the form of copying sacred texts. The skill and perseverance with which this was accomplished cannot be seen now... Or maybe there really is evil spirits involved here?
2. Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun
The discovery of pyramids in Bosnia could become the greatest archaeological discovery in Europe. According to the statements of Dr. Semir Osmanagic, head. Department of Anthropology at the American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the discovered pyramid may be the oldest man-made object on Earth (however, this title may also go to the Crimean pyramids). Dr. Osmanagic discovered it back in 2005, when he was passing through the city of Visoko. The mysterious hill stood out from the surrounding landscape, which attracted the attention of the anthropologist.
The structure is called the Pyramid of the Sun and Moon and its height is 220 meters, which is much higher than the Pyramid of Cheops in Giza. And the most amazing thing about the Bosnian pyramid is that it is directed north with an error of only 12 arc seconds. Too precise to be a mere coincidence, since the Great Pyramid of Giza has exactly the same exact location. The Cheops Pyramid is located at the intersection of the longest parallel and the longest meridian, that is, exactly above the center of mass of the Earth. Moreover, the edges of its base are located exactly along the cardinal points. The location is too precise to go unnoticed. And then suddenly there is a similar pyramid. How did this happen? Was there really a connection between two ancient civilizations? It will take years to answer a question that may change official science forever.
1. "Big Bowl"
Fuente Magna, a large stone vessel similar to a tub or bowl, was found in 1958 by an unknown farmer near Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. The artifact was subsequently sent to the La Paz Museum of Precious Metals, where it remained for almost forty years until two researchers tried to study it. The vessel has beautiful engravings of animals and inscriptions in Sumerian cuneiform. And this raised many questions. How could an artifact with Sumerian cuneiform writing end up in the Andes, since there are thousands of kilometers between them? Archaeologists are trying to decipher ancient writings, but they have no idea what type of cuneiform was used.
Ancient cuneiform specialist, Dr. Clyde Winters, argues that the bowl may be of ancient Sumerian origin and is similar to artifacts found in Mesopotamia. He also notes that a similar cuneiform script was used 5,000 years ago by the ancient peoples of the Sahara: the Dravidians, Elamites, and even the early Sumerians. All of these civilizations formed in Central Africa before desertification began in 3500 BC. Dr. Winters translated some of the writings, and their meaning surprised many.
The bowl was a ritual libation vessel in the name of Ni-Ash, the Sumerian goddess of fertility. Niya is a Sumerian transcription of the name of the Egyptian goddess Neith, who was worshiped by many peoples formed in Libya and some parts Central Africa. The found vessel allows us to build new hypotheses about the previously undiscussed connection between the Sumerians and Bolivians.
Throughout the history of medicine, so many medical oddities, miraculous recoveries, strange questions and unresolved mysteries have been recorded that millions of articles and books have been written. Although oddities are undesirable for scientific approach, but manifestations of miracles make someone happy and strengthen faith.
Unfortunately, many medical mysteries remain unresolved. It is not always possible to put together the pieces of an intriguing mystery. A person begins to understand that he still has a lot to learn about what previously seemed to be completely studied - about our body.
An example of this is the ten most shocking medical stories that prove the mystery of man and his incredible capabilities.
Coming out of a coma after 19 years. Stories of emerging from a coma after many years are not entirely unusual. But such cases always attract, because a person seems to be rushing through time. This happened to a Polish railway worker who remained unconscious for 19 years. The story begins in the 1980s, when Poland was under the communist regime. The confused country entered a period of despair and poverty. Railway worker Jan Grzebski suffered a severe head injury from securing a carriage. He was taken to the hospital, where doctors told his family the sad news. In addition to injuries sustained at work due to an accident, Ian suffered from brain cancer. The man fell into a coma for 19 long years. Doctors believed that he would not be able to live more than three years. However, Yang's family and his wife believed that he would be able to come to his senses. The patient was surrounded by care and everything necessary for survival. The story ended in an amazing way - Mr. Grzebski woke up on April 12, 2007, after 19 years of coma. The doctors just shrugged their shoulders. The world around has become completely different, capitalism and democracy have arrived. Imagine the worker’s surprise when he learned that communism had fallen 18 years ago, and that 11 grandchildren were waiting for him at home. Ian said: "What amazes me today is that all these people walking around with mobile phones are constantly complaining about something. But I have nothing to complain about." This statement is a valuable reminder for all those who are dissatisfied with life. Unfortunately, we often don't appreciate the simplest things in life until we are deprived of them.
Children with werewolf syndrome. Of course, Indian boy Prithviraj Patil and Thai girl Supatra Sasuphan have their own dreams. They behave just like any other children around the world - they love to play and swim, draw and eat ice cream. But what sets them apart from their peers is something unusual. congenital disease- hypertrichosis, also known as werewolf syndrome. This terrible disease quite rare and unusual. Since 1638, only 50 such cases have been recorded. Children suffer from uncontrolled hair growth. The result is thick strands of animal fur that cover their heads and body parts. Neither medicine nor science could find an answer about the origin of such an anomaly. It's so sad to read the newspaper headlines about these children "half man, half wolf", "real wolf cub". Such people no longer suffer from the syndrome itself, but from a cruel society.
Man is a conductor of current. Sometimes people attract public attention by claiming that they can control electricity. One of these “wizards” is Jose Rafael Marquez Ayala. This Puerto Rican resident appears to be a human superconductor, as he can pass enormous amounts of energy through his body. electric current. Jose withstands various impacts of this kind without receiving any damage or experiencing side effects. At the same time, he can even set fire to paper with his fingers. If this story is real, then it is truly amazing.
Miraculous recovery after falling from the 47th floor. The New York Daily News reported that on December 7, 2007, brothers Alcides and Edgar Moreno were working on a platform, cleaning the windows of one of the city's skyscrapers. Suddenly, a 5-meter structure collapsed from a height of 47 floors. Edgar died on the spot, but Alcides managed to survive by cheating death. Doctors performed at least 16 operations - the patient broke his ribs, both legs and right hand, severely damaging the spine as well. Doctors describe the victim's recovery as "miraculous" and "unprecedented." According to their estimates, within two years Alcides Moreno will fully restore his health.
A teenager who lived 118 days without a heart. South Carolina's Jeanne Simmons is a walking medical miracle. The girl was able to live for about four months without a heart while she waited for a new organ to replace her damaged one. Simmons suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), which means a weak and enlarged heart that simply couldn't pump blood efficiently. Surgeons at Miami Holtz Children's Hospital performed the initial transplants on July 2, 2008, but the heart stopped working and was quickly removed. Zhanna herself continued to live without a heart, and her blood was pumped artificially, using pumps. Dr Ricci, director of pediatric cardiac surgery, said: "She essentially lived 118 days without a heart, with only two pumps keeping her blood circulating."
Life without pain. Gabby Gigras is an energetic 9-year-old child who looks no different from her peers. But the girl is different from most of us because of a very rare and unusual condition known as CIPA. This is a congenital insensitivity to pain, accompanied by anhidrosis. Only 100 cases of this disease have been documented worldwide. Gabby was born without the ability to feel pain, cold or heat. This gift may seem amazing to many, but in fact this condition is quite destructive. Pain sensitivity is important because pain works similarly as a warning and defense mechanism. Gabby's parents noticed something was wrong when their daughter was five months old. For some reason the child bit his fingers until they bled. Later, the unfortunate child even lost an eye and suffered severe injuries due to excessive scratching and scratching. A number of measures were taken to protect Gabby from such incidents. Desperate parents did everything possible so that the child could live in such difficult conditions. Brave Gabby became the main heroine of the documentary film “Life Without Pain” directed by Melody Gilbert. It tells the exciting story of an unfortunate girl.
Allergy to water. Water is an integral part of our life. We take hot baths, brush our teeth, clean the house, or simply quench our thirst with it. People simply cannot live without water. All the more interesting are cases of diseases when an allergic reaction is observed to this liquid. Believe it or not, some people suffer from rare forms of hives known as "Water urticaria" and "Water itch." Both are allergic reaction to the water. They are so unusual that only no more than 40 such cases have been described in the world. Examples include Ashley Morris, a 21-year-old Australian, and Michaela Dutton, a 23-year-old Englishwoman. Girls have a rare type of allergy; the only case out of 230 million skin diseases is water urticaria. If water gets on their body, itchy red streaks, swelling, and blisters will appear all over their body. For both girls, the shower is a painful torture. Michaela cannot drink water, coffee or tea, and she cannot even eat fruit. These foods cause a burning sensation, a rash on the skin, and a swollen throat. But the body seems to tolerate Diet Coke. Ashley also tries to avoid contact with water as much as possible - she stopped playing sports and any physical activity, which could cause sweat. Water urticaria is so rare disease that doctors cannot even fully understand the complex mechanism of this strange skin disease.
A family that can't sleep. FFI stands for fatal familial insomnia, a rare genetic disorder. Those who suffer from FFI constantly try to fall asleep but are unable to do so. The disease steals not only sleep, but also the mind. Ultimately, life turns into a continuous twilight world for several months before death. Cheryl Dinges, 29, is one of a whole family of people with the syndrome. All of her relatives carry the FFI gene. Such conditions are so rare that only about 40 such families are known worldwide. Fatal familial insomnia has already killed the girl's mother, her grandfather and her uncle. Cheryl herself refuses to be tested, even knowing that her sister did not inherit the unfortunate gene. FFI begins with mild cramping, panic attacks, and insomnia. Over time, patients begin to experience hallucinations and insomnia becomes so severe that people are no longer able to sleep. Patients eventually go crazy and eventually die. The mutated protein was named PrPSc. If only one of the parents has the modified gene, then the child has a 50% chance of inheriting and developing FFI.
Butterfly children. Sad story Sarah and Joshua Thurmond's illness began when doctors diagnosed them with Epidermolysis bullosa (congenital pemphigus, EB), a rare genetic disease. It is characterized not only by blisters all over the body, but also by extreme fragility of the skin. Erosion and blisters occur due to the lack of fibrous protein in the skin layer, which is responsible for the strong bond of tissues. Joshua suffers from one of the most severe forms of EB. His sister also carried the disease, but she died at the age of 20 in 2009. Medical research indicate that people born with EB live on average up to 30 years, and the maximum age reached is 40 years. “Silk skin babies,” “Crystal baby skin,” and “Butterfly babies” are terms used to describe the unfavorable conditions in which young patients have to live. Their skin is as sensitive as the wings of a butterfly. The slightest pressure can cause painful sores. Brave Sarah and Joshua learned to live in constant and extreme pain. To ease their suffering and prevent infection, children are forced to wear special bandages. Unfortunately, there is currently no cure for EV. These children will never know how great it is to run, swim or jump.
The birth of a mummy. Zahra Aboutalib from Morocco has given birth to a child she has been carrying for almost half a century. This shocking story began in 1955 when Zahra went into labor. She was taken to the hospital, and after examination the woman was offered a caesarean section. But then Zahra saw her roommate die due to a serious operation. The woman decided to refuse medical help and give birth herself. Zahra was taken back to her small village outside Casablanca. Soon the pain went away, and the child stopped moving. The woman decided that the baby “fell asleep.” This view may seem absurd to us, but according to Moroccan folk beliefs, “sleeping children” can live in a woman’s womb, protecting her honor. When the woman turned 75, the excruciating pain occurred again. Doctors conducted ultrasonography and discovered that her "sleeping baby" was actually a case of ectopic pregnancy. What is surprising is not even how Zahra survived, but the fact that the dead fetus was accepted by the body as another organ. IN normal conditions, if a fetus growing incorrectly is not detected in time, then deformation and rupture will occur female organs containing it. Then the mother has little chance of surviving. In the case of Zahra, doctors performed a five-hour operation and removed the already calcified fetus. It weighed more than 2 kilograms and was about 40 centimeters long. Infant petrification is an extremely rare medical phenomenon. The Royal Society of Medicine says there are only 290 such cases documented.
There is a lot in the world that is mysterious, enigmatic, and beyond explanation. There are facts that make us think about our existence and once again become convinced that the world around us is multifaceted and unusual. The most shocking facts presented by world scientists for public discussion are not only surprising, but also defy logic.
Eiffel Tower
The 324-meter building, considered the symbol of Paris, grows by 14-15 cm every year in summer, and in winter it becomes lower by the same 15 cm. This phenomenon is associated with heating of the metal. Even at school we are told that metal expands when heated, and contracts when cooled. In summer, the metal structure heats up, expands, and grows. With the onset of cold weather, the tower decreases in size due to the narrowing of the metal.
During the construction of the tower, these material features were taken into account: the tower was built with temperature compensators, allowing the volume of the structure to be reduced or increased without destruction.
The emergence of biological species
One of the top ten most shocking facts is the mystery of species appearing out of nowhere. For many years, scientists have been wondering how this is possible, because this phenomenon radically changes the history of the origin of all life on Earth.
Numerous experiments have shown that there are animals and other living organisms on the planet that appeared just like that, without evolution. Representatives of these are amphibians. It is not clear how land animals appeared, and immediately with well-developed limbs and a pronounced head. And several dozen species immediately formed, the appearance of which cannot be explained.
The same goes for mammals. The earliest representatives of the species were small and led a hidden lifestyle back in the era of dinosaurs. Then, after the supposed cataclysm, several groups of mammals appeared at about the same time. Scientists are speculating and cannot understand where they came from.
Neutron star weight
The most shocking fact is the weight of a neutron star. In general, neutron stars are the remains of massive objects that consist mainly of a core covered with a thin crust. It is represented by heavy atoms of nuclei and electrodes. The cores of stars that die during a supernova explosion are compressed by gravity. As a result, neutron stars are formed.
Astrophysicists have calculated that the weight of this object is so great that it is often equated to the weight of the Sun, although the objects themselves are no more than 20 km in diameter, i.e. a teaspoon of a neutron star would weigh six billion tons.
"Floating" Hawaii
Among the most shocking facts is the ability of the Hawaiian Islands to swim. As you know, the earth's crust consists of several large parts - plates. They constantly move along with the upper layer of the mantle. Hawaii is located in the middle part of the Pacific Plate, which drifts northwest. Because of this, the islands are gradually moving closer to Alaska.
Every year, Hawaii gets 7.5 cm closer to Alaska. For information: tectonic plates move at the same speed as human fingernails grow.
Humanity in a sugar cube
99.9999% of space is the void between atoms. Many people remember from school lessons that an atom consists of a tiny dense nucleus, around which electrodes are located, which occupy a large space. They move in waves and can be located at any point. So, if you remove all the empty space between the atoms, then all of humanity can be placed in a small area, the size of a lump of sugar.
The earth is not round
Not long ago, the most shocking fact in the world was that scientists revealed the truth to people by talking about this form planets. There was a time when people thought our Earth was flat. And only after thousands of years they changed their point of view, saying that the planet is shaped like a circle.
After the first satellites were launched into space, astronomers rushed to see what our planet looks like from space. In fact, it is not round, but has the shape of a geoid or oblate spheroid. The Earth is flattened in the direction of the poles, and in the “waist” zone it is 20 km larger than it is usually designated. By the way, because of this very high point on the planet is not Everest, but the Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador.
Eskimos
There are many most shocking facts about the Eskimos. This northern people surprises scientists and makes them think. There are many secrets and mysteries associated with them that still cannot be explained.
It remains a mystery to scientists how Eskimos can eat predominantly meat throughout the year, while other peoples of the world eat quite a lot of plant foods. And if representatives of another nation get sick from an excess of meat products, then the Eskimos feel great, they do not have problems associated with the digestive system due to excessive consumption of meat dishes. Among the Eskimos there are albinos and blonds.
Hydrochloric acid in the stomach
Among the most interesting and shocking facts, it is worth noting the ability human body produce hydrochloric acid. The pH level is so high that it can dissolve a variety of elements that enter the stomach, even metals. Acid has a negative effect on the walls of the stomach, but it can quickly recover: renewal occurs approximately every four days.
The hydrochloric acid produced by the body is so strong that it can dissolve even thin sheets of steel.
Death of the Mammoths
The 10 most shocking facts worth including sudden death mammoths Scientists cannot say for sure why the giants died. Undigested food in the stomachs of animals indicates that they died suddenly. And some representatives of the giants were found with half-chewed greens. Why did the animals die, and all at once? It remains a mystery.
Scientists cannot say for sure what exactly caused such a massive death, although there are suggestions that they simply froze due to a sharp cold snap. However, this theory still needs to be proven.
Flea speed
When moving, fleas jump up to 8 cm per millisecond. Moreover, each jump imparts acceleration 50 times greater than the acceleration of the space shuttle. Judging by the speed of the flea, we humans have something to strive for.
Historically, men occupy a dominant role in society, and women at different times were considered almost second-class citizens. Moreover, the woman not only could not take part in public life, get an education or decent pay for your work. Women's life often resembled a horror film.
1. Gender as a reason to die in infancy
In ancient Athens, it was very common for a couple to leave a newborn girl to die far from home. “Everyone raises a son, even the lowest poor man,” wrote one Greek writer, “but throws away his daughter, even being a rich man.” In Rome, this approach was also common, especially among poor families. A letter from a lower-class Roman to his pregnant wife has been preserved, in which he wrote: “A daughter will be too burdensome, we simply don’t have the money,” he wrote to her. “If a girl is born, we will have to kill her.” Even in Egypt, where women had relatively equal rights, children in poor families were often thrown away to die.
2. Critical days as a taboo
The Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder wrote: “When this condition begins in a woman, even the milk around her turns sour.” He decided that a woman's menstruation could kill people who touched her. In Egypt, women on “critical days” were locked in a special room where other people could not enter. The Israelites did not even touch a woman during her menstruation, and even more so, they did not touch anything that a woman touched, because they considered these things to be “defiled.” In Hawaii, people who entered a woman's hut while she was menstruating faced the death penalty.
In Athens, if a man found out that his unmarried daughter had slept with a man, he could legally sell her into slavery. Samoans made sure that their wives were virgins publicly: during a Samoan wedding, the head of the tribe personally tore the bride's hymen with his fingers in front of the crowd to prove her innocence. In Rome, if a priestess of the goddess Vesta lost her virginity before the age of 30, she was buried alive. And in ancient Israel it didn’t even matter whether a woman was a priestess. Any woman who lost her virginity before marriage was stoned to death.
4. Every man is an alpha male
In Rome, slaves were widely used for bed pleasures. The only troubles when having sex with a slave could arise if the man slept with “someone else’s property” without asking permission from her owner. Even then, it was not considered rape, but was classified as property damage. Women who worked in certain jobs could not file rape charges, no matter what happened to them. These were not only prostitutes, but also waitresses and actresses.
5. Bride kidnapping
In some parts of China, people kidnapped brides until the 1940s. In Japan, the last recorded case of bride kidnapping occurred in 1959. In Ireland this was a widespread problem in the 1800s. And even the Bible describes stories of how entire villages were slaughtered, and the women from them were taken away as their wives.
6. Infanticide
It was customary not only in Sparta to kill weak children. If in Ancient Greece a woman gave birth to a deformed child, she killed him. In Rome this was provided for by law. If a Roman woman gave birth to a child with a disability, then the mother had two options: she could either strangle him or abandon him. Historians estimate that one in four Roman babies did not even live to see their first birthday.
In Ancient Greece and Rome, women were prohibited from leaving the house unless accompanied by men. When guests came to her husband, women were forbidden to speak or sit at the table; they had to retire to their rooms without embarrassing the men with their presence. In Denmark, unruly women who argued or who openly expressed their anger were locked in a device called the "violin for the obstinate." It was a wooden block in the shape of a violin, into which the woman's hands and head were placed. So they were released onto the streets so that everyone could see their shame. In England it was even worse. There, a woman was put on a metal mask with sharp teeth and a bell.
8. Death to adulterers
If married woman dared to sleep with another man, she was doomed. A Roman, under certain circumstances, had the right to kill his wife if he caught her in bed with another man. Even the Puritans who colonized America looked down on the murder of adulterers. In medieval times, they didn’t just kill their wives who had sinned, they wanted to make them suffer. There was even a special device for such cases, which was called a “chest ripper.” Moreover, they could be sentenced to such torture not only for adultery, but also for miscarriage.
9. The husband died, the wife must be killed
Until the 19th century, a woman in India whose husband was dying would voluntarily go with him to the funeral pyre, allowing herself to be burned alive. Sometimes, during wars, women did this even after their husbands died. For example, his city was besieged and it was about to fall, then the women burned themselves alive along with their children. The husbands simply watched this, and the next morning they smeared their faces with the ashes of their wives and went to fight. That is, these women killed themselves in order to give their husbands a little extra motivation.
10. A woman’s difficult fate
Even before the start modern history the most early marriages were extremely one-sided. Archaeologists who examined prehistoric remains in Africa came to an interesting conclusion: men lived in approximately one place all their lives, and women came from other places. This means that even cavemen had unequal relationships: new wives moved into their husbands' houses. It is also very likely that these women were kidnapped by other tribes.
Fortunately, today the world has changed radically, and women have both their rights and the right to vote, and sometimes women can compete with men in various fields. we collected .