Content Warning: Gore, horror, cannibalism.
Reading is an incredible pastime that can not only entertain but help to expand your mind.
But there are plenty of stories out there that will leave its readers chilled or up at night, possibly for weeks, thinking about what they've read.
Currently reading Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk, Redditor Kooky_Bicycle8475 asked:
"What is the most f**ked up book you've ever read?"
'The Metamorphosis' by Franz Kafka
"I read 'Metamorphosis' to see if it was really as cursed as everyone says it is."
"Yeah, I underestimated it. It was even worse."
- EviIIord
'The Jungle' by Upton Sinclair
"'The Jungle' by Upton Sinclair actually made me puke."
- Electrical-Cat6346
'Cows' by Matthew Stokoe
"'Cows' by Matthew Stokoe."
"I read it in eighth grade and I regret reading it, it was so gross."
- Rich-Brush9100
'Unwind' by Neal Shusterman
"'Unwind' by Neal Shusterman. There’s a scene in the book of it (unwinding) happening and I literally couldn’t sleep for a week."
"It really stayed with me and it took that same week for me to pick the book back up and finish it. So f**ked up and I felt that kids fear every step of the way."
- CuriousTsukihime
'Outer Dark' by Cormac McCarthy
"Probably 'Outer Dark' by Cormac McCarthy. I read it years ago, and it still lives in my head."
- Pirate_Queen_of_DC
'Wild Highway' by Bill Drummond and Mark Manning
"The most depraved book I've ever read is 'Wild Highway' by Bill Drummond and Mark Manning."
"Former KLF art terrorists on a quest to find Mobutu in former Zaire. Deeply racist, homophobic, misogynist, and violent. But can just about be read as the darkest possible satire, which I think it is. Probably."
"The only book where I actually, genuinely couldn't believe that what I was reading had been published. Just completely insane."
- RevPercySpring
'House of Leaves' and 'The Hot Zone'
"House of Leaves... not really f**ked up, just a weird a** read. Words can't really describe it. It's hard to read as well. Took about 100 pages before it got to the point where I didn't want to put it down."
"'The Hot Zone' and 'Demons in the Freezer' also. Kind of non-fiction written in a very story-driven manner. Both are scary beyond anything because one deals with filovirus like Ebola, and the other talks about smallpox."
"The one on smallpox states that each of the three level-4 labs in the world had a supply of smallpox. When the USSR fell, so did their Level-4 lab. Guess what? Their supply of smallpox is in the wind, no one knows where it went, so 1/3 of the world's supply may very well be in the hands of terrorists."
"My wife read 'The Hot Zone' when she was five months pregnant, and she couldn't make it past the first 40 pages."
- Sedawson74
'The Good Old Days' by Ernst Klee et al.
"'The Good Old Days' by Ernst Klee, Willi Dressen and Volker Reiss. It's an exhaustive compilation of all the documents kept by the Nazis of the Holocaust, as they were committing it (they were fastidious record-keepers and still had tons left over despite trying to destroy evidence in the final days)."
"Most people don't know this, and I didn't before I read this book, that the killing of Jewish people started when Polish citizens started dragging their Jewish neighbors to the local gas station or other public square-type areas, to beat them to death with lead pipes as their other neighbors cheered them on."
"Germany started institutionalizing this murder by then taking trucks loaded with hundreds of people at a time (this is after sequestering all the Jewish people into ghettos where they were told they were being held for 'processing'), taking them out to the woods, and shooting them all to death 10 at a time. They'd kill men one day, women another day, kids the next, and each day they'd do as many as 10,000 people."
"Then, when the Nazis found that their soldiers were suffering PTSD from literally killing truckloads of kids with machine guns every day, they started rerouting the exhaust systems on transport vans so prisoners would be asphyxiated in the back of them."
"And then, of course, the SS soldiers in charge were complaining about the disturbing noises they were hearing as people begged for their lives in death, as well as the horrific mess of tortured bodies they came upon when opening up the back of these vans."
"And then Siemens Corporation, a major German corporation which all of you will recognize is still in business today, discovered that a pesticide they developed, Zyklon B, was the most effective tool for asphyxiation. And this was YEARS after the Holocaust started. Millions were already dead, but many millions more would die to Zyklon B in just the last few years of the war."
"So yeah, I bring this book up whenever some absolute ignorant jacka** tries to claim 'it wasn't as bad as they claimed it was' or that 'it didn't happen.' My grandfather liberated one of those camps and has the photos to prove it."
"Most disturbing book I've ever read and I don't even think I made it all the way to the end."
- Ok_Marzipan5759
'1984' by George Orwell
"I read '1984' when I was 14 or 15 years old, and it kind of really hit me. Took me a few weeks to process properly."
- namedafteramovie
'Pinocchio' by Carlo Collodi
"The original 'Pinocchio,' which my mom thought would be fun to read to me when I was maybe four or five years old."
"Holy s**t. That book is so dark, so bleak, and so gory. Pinocchio himself is the most disturbing character in the story. He's not the lovable, if wayward, kid we see in the Disney movie."
"Book Pinocchio is a twisted little psycho who delights in tormenting people. Disney's Pinocchio learns valuable lessons from Jiminy Cricket. When the talking cricket tries to give advice to Book Pinocchio, Book Pinocchio smashes him to death with a wooden mallet."
"I saw that Disney made a new version and something inside of me just went, 'NOPE!'"
- shoesfromparis135
'Tender is the Flesh' by Agustina Bazterrica
"I'm about 2/3 of the way through 'Tender is the Flesh' now. I took a break from it because it's so rough."
"The human cattle aspect is bad enough, but the emotional hell the main character goes through is probably one of the more difficult-to-handle things I've ever read."
"It's so well written and definitely worth the read if you like books that ruin your day."
- fancytrashpanda
'All Quiet on the Western Front' by Erich Maria Remarque
"'All Quiet on the Western Front.' I read this book on my lunch breaks at the first job I worked at."
"I was not expecting the ending and literally sat there silent for about 20 minutes trying to process it before having to punch back in for work."
"Great book, highly recommend not reading it at work."
- rogue_giant
'Childmare' by Nick Sharman
"'Childmare' by Nick Sharman. My mum's boyfriend lived in a house share and one of the guys there left it lying about. 10-year-old me just started leafing through."
"The plot is that lead poisoning in the water supply drives the children of London insane. Insane like bullies beating weak kids' skulls with cricket bats, and stabbing another through the eye with a pen, and so forth."
"Read it as an adult and it's pulp horror crap, but at the time, it was pretty nuts."
- Regrettable_Tattoos
'A Child Called It' by Dave Pelzer
"'A Child Called It.' No question."
- fingerlessgloves47
Oh, the Middle School Curiosity
"'Flowers in the Attic' by V.C. Andrews."
"'The Lovely Bones' by Alice Sebold."
"'Lolita' by Vladimir Nabokov."
"All from curiosity when I was a middle schooler."
- pumpkin_breads
Each of these stories are spine-tingling and haunting by their own right, and perhaps it's best that this subReddit has now been "warned" before opening one of these books.
But there are bound to be some horror-lovers out there who will seek these out in pure curiosity now.
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Expensive Foods People Genuinely Do Not Understand How Anyone Enjoys
Reddit user 123456789_00 asked: 'What expensive foods do you genuinely not understand how someone could actually enjoy eating?'
We all have foods that we like or don't like, and depending on how passionately we feel, it may be pretty hard to understand why someone likes a food that otherwise grosses us out.
But if that food is also expensive, we'll also be left wondering why they'd spend so much money on that dish.
Redditor 123456789_00 asked:
"What expensive foods do you genuinely not understand how someone could actually enjoy eating?"
Escargot
"Escargot. It’s gross."
- Heysandygirl
"Escargross."
- dukeofbun
Amusement Park Food
"Amusement park food."
- flacidsword
"A small bottle of Coke for $18 because it comes in a novelty bottle from a novelty booth in a theme park."
- GeebusNZ
Live Geoduck
"Live Geoduck. Just no."
"Watching someone eat clams has never felt so inappropriate."
- Unicornucopia23
Gold Leaf
"Anything with gold leaf."
- toxic_fumes23
"Gold is the dumbest f**king trend I have ever seen in food. Any restaurant that uses gold in their food is not worth visiting unless you want to post on social media telling everyone you have money to waste on sub par food."
- TacoShopRS
A5 Wagyu
"A5 Japanese Wagyu, it’s too godd**n rich, a few bites is more than enough. Maybe Australian or American is a little tamer"
"If you didn’t know dry age has a “funk” to it that might catch you off guard, still good, just not might be what you think."
- ScorchFalcon
Salt Bae's Menu
"I don't understand how any of the people eating at Salt Bae's restaurant can enjoy what he is giving them at those prices. Paying thousands of extra dollars just because this guy was in a viral video? Give me a f**king break."
- rity5yender
Truffles
"Truffles. To each to their own, but truffles and truffle oil completely overwhelm the flavor of whatever they’re in, and it’s not a taste I care for."
- calvinball81
Questionable
"Anything that's come out the a** of an animal. Like those expensive coffees (I know it's a drink, but still)."
- JackHyper
Sea Cucumber
"Sea Cucumber. It's a caterpillar/worm from the ocean that looks like snot on the plate. It tastes like processed American cheese that was left in the sun for the day and then wrapped around soggy tofu. It was served at my wedding and was maybe the worst dish of my life. Super popular in Asia, though."
- dangerwillrogers
Caviar
"Caviar. that expensive egg of fish hays."
- Client_Direct9613
Rocky Mountain Oysters
"They're not really expensive, but rocky mountain oysters. They're fried bull testicles and they basically taste like a beef chicken nugget. Not worth the hype, and a strange part to eat."
- vonshook
Foie Gras
"Foie gras. I was nauseated after seeing how the geese are force-fed. Should be outlawed everywhere. And I’m no vegan; I’m a pescatarian."
- Asparagussie
"There is ethically produced foie gras from just regular wild or free-range ducks/geese, but yeah, I agree that force-feeding foie gras production should absolutely be outlawed."
- SPEEDANDMOMENTUM
Shark Fin Soup
"Shark fin soup."
"I don't care how tasty it is, it's absolutely cruel to cut off a shark's fin and drop it back in the ocean."
- Impossible_Try76
Ortolan
"Ortolan. It is a small songbird that's drowned in cognac then cooked whole and eaten whole. The eating is done by placing a napkin over the face, they say to hide the diner from the eyes of God because it's such a sinful food, but in reality, it's because watching someone shove a whole bird into their mouth and chew it, including beak and bones, is not a pretty sight."
- SwordTaster
Expensive Burgers
"Any burger on any menu over the price of $14, especially if it doesn’t even come with fries."
"When did $18 single patty burgers become normal?"
- Expensive Burgers
Everyone is going to have different tastes when it comes to food, and some are going to be more tolerant to high prices than others.
But for those who don't even enjoy high-priced foods, it may be confusing why someone would be willing to spend so much money in the first place.
Let's face it. We love horror movies–at least a good majority of cinephiles do–because the experience of seeing one in theaters is as thrilling and pulse-pounding as riding a roller coaster.
Scary movies are not real-life.
But there are some scary films that are actually based on real cases or incidences, but even those are highly dramatized.
What genuinely gives people the heebee jeebees, however, are not movies like "Halloween" or "Nightmare on Elm Street."
It's the historical and scientific facts that a lot of people aren't cognizant of us that have the potential of keeping them up at night.
But thanks to an unnamedRedditor, some of those were revealed when they asked strangers online:
"What are some really creepy facts you know ?"
Scientific facts like these can be downright terrifying.
The Sound Of Prey
"Dogs like squeezing toys because it sound like a dying animal."
– Nain6969
"My dog loves squeeze toys except the chirping bird toy we got for our cats. If he hears it he picks it up very gently and brings it to us and then whines and is distressed by it."
– CopperTucker
Ominous Mass
"There is a black hole called Phoenix a, and it is estimated to be 100 billion times the mass of our Sun, comparable to the mass of an entire galaxy. Its event horizon is 590 billion kilometers wide, or more than 100 times the distance from the Sun to Pluto, or about 1/16 of a lightyear wide."
"To get a visualization of how big that is on a human scale, lets shrink our solar system by 1 trillion times."
"The Sun would be 1 millimeter wide, and Pluto would be a little more than 5 meters away, and that black hole would be 590 meters wide. For reference, Alpha Centauri would be about 40 kilometers away at that scale."
– Youpunyhumans
Easy Passage
"Take away the stomach acid and an octopus could go into your mouth and crawl out your a**hole."
– Resident-Clue1290
Creepy Crawlies
"Spiders, one of the most evolutionary advanced species on the planet. We keept killing them, they began to get better at hiding. They can also convince us we have killed them when we haven't. Rain doesn't destroy their webs, not even a pressured hose does anymore."
"Also forgot to mention, they can do nothing, sleep all day and wake up to find food in their webs. They do not need to hunt or attack like almost every animal."
– Unlucky_Ducky23
Some of the sinister forces around us are the work of humans.
Murderers In Our Midst
"As many as 50 serial killers are active in the US and on the loose."
– Individual_Bit_8528
"Wayyy more than 50 if you include organized crime affiliated killers. Probably a lot more than 50 lone weirdos killing strangers too, but definitely hundreds or more if you include the former demographic."
– fluffedpillows
Corruption
"A guy disappeared in my country. Everyone knew he died. Everyone knew who did it. But the guys were policemen. So the investigation was so ruined it became ridiculous."
"There are people on this planet who can interven in the investigations made against them, decide to block them and if you do something about it, no one will investigate when you will mysteriously vanish."
"Can't fathom to be so powerful but yet use this power to be so heartless."
– Least-Designer7976
A Patient's Risk
"In 45 states, doctors and medical students are legally allowed to practice pelvic exams on patients who are under anesthesia without being granted explicit consent to do so."
– TrailerParkPrepper
Feasting On Flesh
"The first known human cannibal was a Neanderthal whose victims' 100,000-year-old bones were discovered in Moula-Guercy, a cave in France."
"There have been sites where the act has occurred involving the cannibalism of children leading some to speculate the act was not just done for food, but that it was done as a warning to rivals."
"Some anthropologists suggest that cannibalism was common in human societies as early as the Paleolithic."
"To this day only a few countries have laws which explicitly criminalize the practice of cannibalism, and the act can still be found in isolated regions of five different Countries."
– JustSomeApparition
Death itself is a mystery.
Ill-Fated Flight
"The crew aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia was still alive for several minutes during the fatal and futile reentry attempt."
"The first signs of trouble were observed at 8:53:46. More and more started to go wrong but Mission Control was able to maintain communication through 8:59:32. Sometime after that, the shuttle entered a flat spin while traveling approximately Mach 15, which is enough to cause disorientation and very painful injury, but most likely not unconsciousness or death. Review of recovered data recording shows that Commander Husband and Pilot McCool were still attempting to restore systems and recover control past 9:00:05. The first lethal event was depressurization, which occurred between 9:00:35 and 9:00:59."
"All that means that the crew was very much alive and very much fighting to maintain/regain control for more than 7 minutes despite knowing that realistically their chances of success were pretty much zero."
– HoopOnPoop
After The Chopping
"Supposedly you're still aware for a few seconds after being decapitated."
– Broski225
"There was that one scientist or whatever who got beheaded in France. He said he would attempt to blink as many times as possible after his head was lopped off, for science, and his head did. I'm paraphrasing since I don't remember anything about the story but whatever. lol"
– Adkit
Now you know.
Some of the scariest things in life are our real living nightmares, and once you know about them, you can't unlearn them.
Reading through some of these examples, it's very clear that our world is a mysterious and creepy place to live in.
Sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite.
The Bible instructs us to "love thy neighbor as thyself".
Whether or not you are a practicing Christian, it is still wise to treat your neighbors with respect, and maintain a good relationship.
For some people, doing so is quite easy, as they end become close friends with their neighbors.
While others might remain friendly with their neighbors, but wouldn't go so far as to call them friends.
Then there are those who don't have any relationship with their neighbors, good or bad, possibly not even knowing their names.
"People who don’t get buddy-buddy with your neighbors, why?"
Classic Conditioning
"I was raised in an area where we had no neighbors."
"Now living in a neighborhood it drives me crazy to be outside working in the yard with people on all sides."
"I miss privacy."- Best_Fondant_3027
Friendly, But Not Friends
"I'm friendly with all my neighbors but I'm not trying to hang out with them."
"I don’t have any cool neighbors I can relate to on a personal level other than the fact we live in the same area."- ibetyouranerd
"I'm not against it, but none of them seem interested in more than a 'hey' head nod."
"Which I'm okay with."- Toastybunzz
seth rogen film GIF by NEIGHBORSGiphyIf The Chemistry Isn't There...
"Unless my neighbors are really cool, and we have a good amount in common, I wanna keep the relationship to just waves, how do you do’s, and hey your house is on fire."
"I’m here for pleasantries and emergencies only… I don't need to hang out with you."- Mundane_Tour_3215
"Why would I want to?"
"The only thing I have in common with any of them is that we live on the same block."- great_auks
It's A Generational Thing...
"My neighbors are either half my age of thrice my age."- BarefootBestseller
Baby Boomers Dancing GIFGiphyNo One Likes A Gossip...
"Neighbors next to us and directly across the street gossiped about other neighbors within a few days of us moving to the neighborhood and meeting them."
"Like heavy stuff about affairs, sexual preferences, mental health issues, arguments, etc."
"Also, one of the neighbor’s kids is a disrespectful drama queen."
"I try to steer my kids away from interacting with this kid, but they live next door."- PhatBitty862
My House, My Rules...
"Why would I?"
"My home is the one place I am not required to interact with others."
"I don't want to be bothered and I don't want to bother."
"I'll be friendly if I pass by them or something but I'm not going out of my way to befriend them simply because they live near me."- LunaMay196
Cultural Thing
"I live in Sweden."
"We don't do that here."- SweetWodka420
Sweden Flag Sport GIF by xponentialdesignGiphyYou See Them Every Day...
"Same reason you don't date someone from work."- dudeab1des
"Separation of church and state."
"I have friends, and those friends have to text me to see if I'm home."- Doyce_7
Just Human Nature
"What do I look like? Some sort of extrovert?"- heyitsvonage
Season 5 April GIF by Parks and RecreationGiphyQuality Over Quantity
"I try to get buddy-buddy with as few people as possible IRL."
"I like to live a simple life, and new connections beget new obligations."- Tylensus
Quite The Assortment Of Characters
"One is incredibly reclusive so I leave her alone and one has more faces than the town hall clock so I stay tf away the others are pretty ok though."- Banana_boof
No one should feel obligated to become friends with their neighbors.
On the flip side though, no one should be averse to it either.
After all, when you click, you click, and when you don't...
Well, you get the picture.
Over the years, I've gotten a little more adventurous with my menu options.
I recently added pepper a decade ago.
I've also been dabbling in hot sauces as of late.
But I am bias against a lot of food.
My stomach is a coward.
And I'm ok with that.
Redditor Judgemental_Squirrel wanted to hear about the foods that turn many people's stomachs, so they asked:
"What food aren't you eating even if it was free?"
Cow. Cow tongue. Cow stomach.
Why in the world?
Not that I don't eat steak but... I can't even think about it.
Not even with a free tank...
Sushi Ew GIF by Sealed With A GIFGiphy"Gas station sushi."
kirinmay
"For sushi use the 200-mile rule. If there isn't a body of water where the fish could have been caught recently, it's probably a bad idea. I wouldn't even get fresh sushi in Kansas unless I caught the fish myself."
Bahnd
Just Bland
"Shark fin."
Podzilla07
"I attended a wedding and the family paid for the food at an after-wedding dinner. I didn't know what it was, I didn't learn of the immorality behind it until after, that being said, it wasn't remarkable in any way and is in no way worth what they do to the sharks."
xfocalinx
"Not defending shark fin's soup, it's pretty bad the way it's prepared but where have you been eating it that it's bland? I'm Asian so I've eaten it at a bunch of weddings, its standout feature is how rich it is both in taste and texture."
LoreCriticizer
WHAT?!?!
"I’ve lived in New York my whole life and came to South Carolina for vacation ended up moving down here because I loved the weather. I learned that they apparently LOVE Mayonnaise and BANANA SANDWICHES!!"
"Miss me with that friggin' crap WHAT!?"
Yunloveme
"This is a dying sandwich down here, too. I grew up with them and enjoy them, but it's becoming less common. I think it must have started as a poverty food or something. They are good, though. Sweet and tangy." ~ Ritz527
"Banana and mayonnaise sandwiches came about during the times when food was more scarce (WWII). My grandmother loved them!"
Excusemytootie
Spoiled
"Suspiciously lukewarm milk. I am extremely paranoid about spoiled milk."
Melomius
"The smell of warm/hot milk is disgusting. When I have to make a huge batch of Mac and cheese at the school I work at, I have to wear a mask during the heating up of the milk/butter."
"Nothing like filling up a kitchen with the odor of vomit. Ugh. I refuse to eat Alfredo sauce and NE clam chowder for the same reason."
KitchenWitch021
Sorry Danes
fish GIFGiphy"Lutefisk. No offense to the wonderful people of Sweden/Norway and I genuinely like most other Swedish/Norwegian cuisine but not that."
"Edit- changed from Swedish to Scandinavian to Swedish/Norwegian thanks to the new knowledge about it from helpful Redditors. Apologies to Danes and anyone else who was offended by Lutefisk being labeled as Scandinavian."
HelenAngel
I go back and forth with fish in general, so a fish I can't pronounce... never!
Anything But This!
No No No GIFGiphy"Balut."
DesignerString6620
"On Today’s episode of 'F**k That!'"
"My friend said 'It’s great! Just pop the top off and sprinkle a little salt, drink the soup, and then eat the rest.' No."
omega_frog
"This. I could probably eat damn near everything, everyone else named, but hell no to this! And doing a quick skim, I’d actually probably tried half of the stuff, that’s been posted here."
Eupion
After Effects
"Pickled fish... tapeworms."
"Edit: I probably should have said 'Pickled fish because of tapeworms.' Buying them from a store is probably safe but buying/getting them from a bar or a person may not be. My uncle got tapeworm from pickled Walleye. One of two things need to be done beforehand, 1. bring the meat to 'a temp' (I don't remember) which sterilizes it but doesn't cook it, or 2. freeze for 2 days."
hatchetman208
Bad Harvest
"Edible Birds Nest. The high demand causes the nests to be harvested while still in use resulting in uncountable deaths of chicks and unborn swallows."
CaptainCloudyL
"Nearly all the edible bird's nest on the market is farmed, not harvested wild. Nesting houses are often built in urban areas for the swiftlets to settle in, while wild populations are left relatively untouched."
"The overharvesting you mention was a problem around 2 decades ago when immature nests in caves were destroyed to meet demand, but urban farming today has allowed populations to rebound and stabilize. After all, it's not in the farmers' interests to destroy swiftlet chicks which would become moneymakers for them next season."
LostTheGame42
LOATHING!!
"Liver, I cannot for the life of me get past the horrible taste and the horrible smell, I can't."
mikeyeli
"I tried eating liver before because I read that they’re a good source of iron. I then stopped and would rather take iron pills. I don’t eat any organs food like liver, gizzard, intestine, and all that. Those food are easily found in my country."
mznh
"Hell, yes. I LOATHE any kind of liver and have a special hatred for foie gras. Not only the method is horrible, but the texture is also even more revolting than regular liver."
"And yes, I've tried multiple times, from multiple animals and in every preparation under the sun because a lot of people go 'But you haven't tried it made THIS way.'"
Duochan_Maxwell
Bad Texture
"Gizzards. I'm not a gristle gal at all."
biggesttoot
"I love gizzards but I don't think I would ever call them gristly. Chewy as leather for sure though!"
orangestegosaurus
Lord No!
"Durian."
leafbaker
"Hot garbage fruit. When I was living in China, about 10 meters from my apartment’s entrance there was a durian stand and a stinky tofu stand side by side. Never needed coffee in the morning to wake up properly."
kuridono
Well, my stomach is unsettled.
I'll skip dinner for now.
Do you have anything to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.