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10Water Tank Surprise In 2013, a maintenance worker discovered the rotting remains of Elisa Lam, 21, floating face-up and naked in the Cecil Hotel’s roof top water tank. Los Angeles investigators believe she had been dead as long as 19 days, while guests below bathed with and drank the water. Security camera footage revealed Lam’s last moments. She appears to be playing a game of hide-and-seek with an unseen partner. She enters an elevator, pushes multiple floors, and then peers out as if looking for someone....

People love to decorate themselves. While stage actors and actresses were getting designs painted on their bodies, there were many other people getting permanent markings and proudly displaying them for all to see. 10 Bromide, Whiskey, And Cocaine Society women of the late 1800s absolutely loved their tattoos, but they abhorred the idea of pain. In order to overcome their fear of the pricking needle, a special cocktail was taken beforehand....

That was the day that World War II veteran Howard Unruh picked up his gun, strolled out into his neighborhood, and ended 13 lives. The incident became known as the Walk of Death, and it changed our understanding of mass violence forever. Although the US had suffered mass shootings as early as the 18th century, none had ever been so meticulous, deranged, or senseless as Unruh’s walk. It was the first truly modern mass shooting, and it set the template for every horrific crime that was to come....

Although the number of spider-related fatalities is very low compared to many other causes of death, this list will give plenty of examples to show that the fear of spiders is completely justified. 10 Ronald Reese In 2013, a 62-year-old man named Ronald Reese was bitten by a spider while living in Florida. He was doing renovations on his house when he felt a sharp pain in his neck. He never saw the spider that bit him, but doctors believe that it was probably a brown recluse....

10 Mitt Romney and the KKK Remember Mitt Romney? He was the runner-up in last year’s elections, and while he may have had many, many faults, he was clearly not a racist supporter of the Ku Klux Klan. But that didn’t stop MSNBC and the Washington Post from trying to portray him as such. The problem arose when Romney was recorded using the slogan “keep America American.” Within hours, MSNBC gleefully ran an item on it, pointing out that the phrase was originally used in the 1920s as a rallying cry by the KKK....

10The Sacrificial Beggar ChildSweden The story goes that there was a town named Dalland that was suffering from a disease that was wiping out much of the population and causing many people to flee. The townsfolk were beside themselves with worry about how to stop it, until an old man from Finland came along with sage advice on how to stop the disease. He told them that only a sacrifice would put an end to it, and explained that they would need to bury a living thing in the ground....

10 SuperimpositionRachel Dobkin In April 1941, Harry Dobkin murdered his wife, Rachel, and left her body in the cellar of a London chapel destroyed by the Blitz. He was hoping that she would be classified as another bombing casualty. Authorities found her over a year later. Unfortunately for Harry, the body was assigned to pioneering pathologist Keith Simpson. He spotted a broken bone in Rachel’s throat, suggesting that she had died of strangulation....

Here are 10 of the most interesting ghost cities the Soviet Union left behind. 10 Kadykchan Kadykchan, once a thriving coal mining town, is now a collection of burned-out houses. The city was founded by gulag inmates in the 1940s. The town was soon discovered to have coal, which made it a desirable site for a settlement. The town grew, and by the late 1970s, it had a population of over 10,000....

10J.K. Rowling’s Sob Story After author J.K. Rowling wrote an article about her experience as a single mother and a single negative incident of stigmatization while working at a church, the Daily Mail misrepresented her case in an article entitled “How J.K. Rowling’s sob story about her single mother past surprised and confused the church members who cared for her,” alleging Rowling had falsely accused her former church of bigotry. Rowling had said nothing of the sort....

Throughout history, several mythical creatures and monsters have scared generations of people who were getting into the Christmas spirit. Winter brings not only cheer and happiness but fright and terror to those who still believe in ancient myths of ice monsters and wicked snow creatures. While most of us are getting ready for winter with holiday preparations and hand warmers, others are anxiously awaiting the arrival of a wild assortment of monsters....

In fact, while we’ve been led to believe that sharks are the most dangerous thing you can find in the water, they’re not on the top of the food chain in our world’s oceans. The tale of the shark has been greatly misunderstood and exaggerated over the years, but the real facts are even more interesting than the myths. 10Some Sharks Are Bottom-Feeders Most people think of sharks as dangerous, bloodthirsty predators that won’t stop until everything in the ocean is gobbled up....

10Charles Dickens Iconic English author Charles Dickens is probably the only Victorian figure most people can name. Aside from penning classics like A Tale of Two Cities and Oliver Twist, Dickens was the mind behind everyone’s favorite holiday ghost story, A Christmas Carol. It seems obvious that the man who dreamed up Ebenezer Scrooge’s uplifting transformation would himself have been a pretty kind fellow. But he was actually kind of an obnoxious creep....

See Also: 10 Strange Stories From America’s Spiritualist Craze 10The Rock ‘n’ Roll Séance Inspiration for music can come from all manner of places. Ask the band “The Mars Volta” where they got their inspiration for the album Bedlam in Goliath, and they’ll tell you it came from beyond the grave. One of the band, Omar Rodriguez Lopez, bought a Ouija board while traveling through Jerusalem. The band had a few sessions and decided to write a song or two about their experiences with “contacting” the dead....

But some fashion designers have been influenced by more unlikely sources. In fact, certain fashion trends throughout history—including the present day—have sprung from the strangest birthplace of all—disease. Here are 10 fascinating examples. 10 Tuberculosis Influenced Victorian-Era Fashion Tuberculosis, a fatal disease which attacks the lungs and is spread through the air, was laying waste to the citizenry of Victorian England in the mid-1800s. At the time, the effects of tuberculosis on the female body were considered beautiful....

As the picture broadens, things get strange. From kids getting kicked out of school to secretive groups actively breaking public trust, nothing about vaccination is simple anymore. Ironically, for all the good and the bad, one vaccine might be the accidental answer to type 1 diabetes. 10 Dying Trust In Vaccines In the last 20 years, shots are believed to have prevented 732,000 deaths and 21 million hospital admissions among American children....

SEE ALSO: 10 Unusual Death Rituals From Around The World All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day are religious holidays observed primarily in the Catholic Church. They are celebrated on the first and second of November directly following All Hallows’ Eve, that most sacred of holidays when parades of costumed kids celebrate by asking you for candy. Considered a national holiday in many countries, All Saints’ Day has roots in early Catholicism as a festival to honour unknown saints and martyrs....

10 The Hidden Film Most moviegoers are familiar with the disappointing 2005 Fantastic Four film and its sequel. However, the 2005 film was not the first Fantastic Four movie ever made. It was the first one the public saw because of a bizarre bit of rights negotiation. It all started when German producer Bernd Eichinger bought the film rights for the Fantastic Four back in 1986. He courted companies like Warner Brothers and Columbia Pictures to make the movie, but even the success of Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman could not convince these companies to take a chance on Marvel’s first family....

This film earns the distinction of being the Forrest Gump before Forrest Gump. Starring Dustin Hoffman, it followed the same script of an extraordinary life, like Forrest Gump. Hoffman plays an ordinary white man whose life takes a sharp turn when he is first captured and then adopted by Native Americans. From then on, hilarity ensues as he struggles to choose between his white roots and native American upbringing. Its an understated film with subtle humor....

10The Realization That Animals Can Become Extinct If you were walking along the beach and found a fossil, you’d naturally assume it came from some long-extinct species. The idea that species die out is so normal to us that it’s hard to imagine a time when people thought every single type of creature was still alive somewhere. Yet people believed God had created everything—why would He create something that wasn’t fit to live?...

Now, in my admittedly biased and prejudiced mind, not all Last Stands are created equal. So, for the purpose of this list, I’ve got five criteria in mind. Not every last stand here meets all five, but they must meet at least three. If you are the aggressor, you can’t have a Last Stand because you are getting your just desserts. Simply put, you started it and if you hadn’t started it, you wouldn’t be getting wiped out to the last man, now would you?...