For years, my friends, family and I loved/hated the ongoing saga of "Mariachi Neighbor." Allow me to share the joy. My parents have lived in the same house since 1991 and in 2010, a young family moved into the house next door. Shortly after they moved in, my family hit a rough patch so me, my spouse and our kids as well as my brother, his spouse and their kids moved back into my parents house so we could all work together. What ended up happening was that we all got tortured by approximately 3,744 hours of mariachi music. That's not an exaggeration, we did the math.
My parents both worked early shifts on Saturdays, so they had no idea what they were missing until we told them. Every Saturday morning, starting at 7AM, the neighbor would begin blasting mariachi music so loudly that it rattled the windows of our house. Starting early was bad enough, but they would go non-stop for over 12 hours sometimes. Sometimes, if they had an event they would start as early as 5AM and go til 2 or 3 the next morning. Once, they changed up the game and had Mariachi Wednesday and that messed everybody up. We were friendly with them, so we would ask them to turn it down, but the mother always brushed us off saying we should understand because we were latinx as well so we knew what cleaning day was all about.
Sometimes, she would play the music through the house speakers but off of her phone. So every time she got an email, text, or FB message, we would have to listen to her notification sounds. Since asking them to stop never worked, we would gather on Friday nights and try to figure out where to go on Saturdays. Mariachi music was the soundtrack to life if we were home for any length of time on Saturdays. It was horrible for us, but our friends found it hilarious. My spouse, kids, and I stayed for about six years. This happened every Saturday. That adds up to over 3,700 hours of enduring mariachi music that we had no control over. We've all since moved back out, but every now and then one of us will pop over for a Saturday visit and yup, they're still at it.
One Reddit user asked:
What's your 'worst neighbor ever' story?
And I thought to myself "no WAY anyone could have it worse than years of Mariachi Neighbor!" ... and i was somewhat right, but hey at least Mariachi Neighbor never reported us to the FBI as possible terrorists. So yeah, I'll take the small victory.
Here are some of the best/worst replies, edited for language or clarity where needed. Brace yourselves, there's a whole lot of awful here.
We Can't See Into Your Yard
Downhill neighbor had a wide-open view of our beautiful lower yard. They got a barky dog that they left in their backyard all day. Dog tore down our fence trying to get out and get to our dog. We built a new solid wood fence and then they complained that now that they couldn't see into our yard and that meant we must be spying on them from our yard. Whatever. Then they built a raised deck so that they could see over the fence. We planted a row of bamboo and haven't seen them since.
They called the building department about our fence. The building department came out, said it was legit, and cited them for their illegal deck.
Al Qaeda Sleeper Cell
When I was thirteen, a new neighbor moved into the house next door to mine (which we share a driveway with). Our neighborhood is really close and like to have get togethers and block parties, so we all got together and had a little celebration to welcome her. Immediately it became clear that she did not like my dad.
A while later we find out that she's been telling our neighbors that my dad was inappropriate to her at the party. I know dad would never act like that but he isn't a native English speaker (he's middle eastern which is relevant) and hey maybe some sort of wire got crossed and there was some kind of misunderstanding. So my dad goes to try and apologize to her. It does not go well and she tells my dad to leave which he promptly did.
Then she put up the security cameras. They absolutely covered her house getting views of pretty much every angle including lots of shots of our shared drive. "Whatever" we though. "A lady has a right to put cameras on her house."
Then the cops started showing up. She called them claiming we had messed with her cameras or that me and my friends were shining laser pointers into them. The cops would leave pretty quickly because the supposed crime involved a camera which somehow hadn't captured any evidence of the supposed crime.
Then she started claiming that we were poisoning her yard. She spent a lot of time in her lawn gardening and growing plants but for some reason every six months or so she'd cut everything down and start over. Anyways the cops started coming asking about our supposed poisoning of her lawn but they couldn't find any evidence. We didn't have any poison, her cameras hadn't picked anything up, and we had no motive to poison her lawn. So she started an inquest with the department of agriculture. A pesticide use investigator showed and and interrogated us then took samples from her yard.
While that was going on we had a few fun encounters with her. Once she bought a giant floodlight and pointed it into our windows in the middle of the night. The fire department had to come and unplug it. Another time, our dinner was interrupted when a massive hazmat truck came blaring down our street. Men in heavy gear poured out and charged into her house and then, minutes later disappointedly filed out. One guy came and told us that she had bought a Geiger counter and used it wrong and had thought that we had irradiated her house.
Finally things came to a head when she sued us to get an order of protection. She claimed that my dad was a member of an al Qaeda sleeper cell intent on destroying her. She also claimed that he had used his skills as an engineer to develop a device that she referred to as a white ion laser which would allow him to turn invisible and sneak into her house. She submitted one terabyte of film from her cameras all of which was annotated with such incriminating evidence as "He leaves the house. He enters the house." There were also tons of photos and notes.
It was here that we discovered that her cameras were pointed into my bedroom and had been filming me for years. I was a young lad by this point so there's probably video evidence of some pretty embarrassing teenage behavior out in the aether now. We later legally forced her to move the cameras but she kept moving them back, so I just kept my blinds closed for the better part of a decade.
During the trial, the department of agriculture report came back. It was determined that crazy neighbor has poisoned her own lawn by over fertilizing it. She received a fine for contaminating the ground water.
We obviously won the lawsuit and countersued her to get our own order of protection. We also had to legally get the files on us at the fbi and cia closed since she had reported us to both agencies.
Despite losing the suit, she continued to live next to us, occasionally calling the police on us or suing us again. All things accounted for, the cops were called on us 37 times, we were sued five times, and of course there were the investigations with various federal agencies.
It's now been ten years and she's finally moving out. Why you might ask. Does she feel guilty for accusing us of crimes with no evidence for a decade? Had her paranoia finally driven her to move? No. She didn't pay her property taxes for six years and her house got taken from her. She tried to sue the city on a bunch of occasions as well and failed. Womp womp.
- squamesh
Thou Shalt Not Kill
When I was 10, my neighbor -- an 80-something year old man with a Christian radio station -- shot and killed one of my dogs. When I went looking for my dog, I asked my neighbor if he had seen him.
He told me that he shot a dog like that this morning.
Frozen, I asked where he was so I could bury him. The old man told me that his body was in the dumpster and that he would shoot me too if I didn't get off his land.
I ran through the woods back to my house, screaming out loud in anger and punching trees until my knuckles were torn and bloody.
When I got home, I called the police and the K9 unit came out to my house. He retrieved my dog's body and I buried him.
The worst part was that my dog was very sweet (I know that generally sweet dogs can be threatening, but it was very against his nature) my neighbor had tied him up and broken all of his legs, then shot him point blank in the chest with a shotgun.
I have never felt more rage in my life. My mom took the man to court and he was charged with animal cruelty and the judge asked how much money I thought the dog was worth. I was dumbfounded and croaked out that I didn't want money -- I wanted my dog.
The neighbor was fined $500 and I made him pay it to the local humane society.
The man had the ten commandments posted all around his house, so the next night I took a red sharpie and circled "Thou Shalt Not Kill" on all of his signs.
I doubt anyone will see this comment, but damn... writing it was kind of therapeutic. My dog's name was Hershey, he was a mutt that was born in my bedroom -- he was only 2 years old and such a good boy.
- mmont49
Mom Dyed The Dog Purple
Had a neighbor who let his dog run free, it would get into our yard give our dogs fleas, eat all the food and teach them how to escape. No matter what my mom said the guy denied his dog was getting out. So being fed up with the situation my mom dyed the dog purple and sent it on its merry way. The neighbor kept his dog contained after that.
- note the dye was a nontoxic semi permanent dog dye. No harm came to the pupper.
Other People Can Hear You
My current neighbors are terrible.
It is an Indian couple that fight constantly. I have had to go over to their house and ask them to stop because they are loud enough I can hear them in my house. When they are not fighting, they are loudly having sex in their backyard. And I get it, it's their yard, they can do what they want. But loudly screaming "harder harder, f--- me" is not ok to do outside when other people can hear you. I have kids and now I have to keep a window open because of their behavior.
The woman saw my daughter at the neighborhood mailboxes and told her my wife was a slut and other nasty names.
I complained to my HOA, who I am sure advised them to knock it off. About two weeks after I complained, the police came to my house and said they had received information that I was a dealing cocaine.
To top it off, a large section of the fence between our properties is falling over due to a tree on their side of the fence having a branch growing into it. They refuse to cut the branch and also refuse to help pay to repair the fence.
It has gone on like this for almost a year.
I am moving in 6 weeks.
Florida Man
One neighbor in Florida was a known kleptomaniac, but he would steal the most random items around the neighborhood. When someone moved out of a house, he would dig up the plants from the yard and sell them online. We would just wake up one morning and all of the plants would be gone with the trail of dirt leading to his house. When his house foreclosed he stole all of the doors off their hinges before moving out. He stole another neighbor's bicycle when they left their garage door open. The owner knew it was the klepto so he just walked over to his house and took it back without calling the cops. We also later found out that he was going through a nasty divorce from his wife... who was once his therapist.
- ArtbyTMD
Impersonating A Federal Officer
There's a particular type of person who seems to feel like they're the only thing standing between society and complete collapse, and about seven years ago, my downstairs neighbor was one of them. She was aloof and paranoid, and she'd imagine threats from almost everywhere... which made the fact that she thought of herself as some kind of secret agent all the more annoying.
Said neighbor was always trying to find ways of getting me (and anyone else whom she thought of as suspicious) to move out of the building. She'd stage loud telephone calls with "headquarters" about the alarming behavior of the other tenants – like my tendency to get home after nine in the evening, which was clearly scandalous – and frequently yell at the people who'd stand on the corner to smoke. On one occasion, I heard her shouting at someone over the placement of a flowerpot in their window, which was obviously an indication that they were selling drugs.
Then, one afternoon, I found an "official notice" taped to a wall in the stairwell.
It was perhaps the most ridiculous attempt at a government-sponsored document that I'd ever seen, and I'm including the time that my friend Jonathan – then nine years old – made a flyer for bodyguard services. The atrocious grammar, poorly Photoshopped seal, and distinct absence of any legitimate contact information made the thing about as realistic as a scene from NCIS. Furthermore, the reference to "the past two years" seemed to indicate me as her primary target, since I was (as far as I knew) the only resident who had been there for less time than that.
Still, since the notice was clearly meant to scare someone, I decided to return the favor by taking a page out of my neighbor's own playbook. This led me to stand outside of her apartment while staging my own fake phone call:
"You should see the notice; it's terrible! Hah, yeah, it's like they didn't know that impersonating a federal official is a felony! Anyway, the real FBI are on their way, and they're going to dust for fingerprints. Whoever made that notice is looking at a lot of jail time!"
I went back inside my apartment after that... and within seconds, I heard my neighbor's door open. There was the sound of hurried footsteps rushing towards the stairwell, followed by an equally hurried retreat. When I went out to check five minutes later, the notice was gone.
I've since moved away, but for the rest of the time that I lived there, the lady never bothered me again.
Let A Jehova's Witness In My House
I used to have this obnoxious neighbor who invited herself over all the time. Multiple cars in the driveway- we must be having company over which meant free food for her. She would peek over the fence and see we were grilling and would come over to find out what was up.
My dad had a semi- trusting relationship with her and let her know where we kept a spare key should there be an emergency.
We walked in a couple times after being gone and found notes from her on the counter stating she had stopped by to chat but we weren't there. Which means she had used the spare key, gone into our house while we weren't there and probably snooped around and then left a note.
My dad mentioned to her how she wasn't to come in when we weren't there and she apologized. The next day there were brownies on the counter with a note that said sorry. She clearly disregarded what he said to bring us apology brownies!!
The last straw was when one day my dad had left the house and I was taking a shower. When I stepped out in just a towel and ran to the laundry room there was a random woman sitting on the couch. After freaking out I learned that she was a jehova's witness and was let in by my neighbor who apparently was snooping around while I was in the shower and just left the lady alone in my house.
My dad came home and changed all the locks that day and told her not to come over ever again. We also ignored her any time she knocked after that. She hated us after that and clearly thought all of her actions were completely normal.
Old Guy With Binoculars
We lived next door to this old man who sat in his front yard BLATANTLY just staring at us with binoculars. He only did it when my parents weren't home. When my mom confronted him he claimed we were lying. We weren't.
So one night we hear a noise outside and my mom pulls up the blind to find herself eye to eye with this old man trying to look into our window.
Brian
Years ago, my wife, kids, and I rented a townhouse.
We had been there for 4 years, and were on a month by month lease.
The owner told us that they would not be extending the lease because she was selling the unit. No big deal, but the lease ended in July and we were told this in May.
We scrambled, but were eventually able to find a great house in an excellent neighborhood to buy. It was during the housing crisis so we got a huge deal, too. Paid about $100K less than the neighbors.
Anyway, at the townhouse there were a few neighbors that would ogle my wife. I don't blame them, I mean, I wanna bang her too.
They were all married except one guy that I will call Brian because that's his name.
Brian was divorced a few times and had kids in their 20s that lived with him. He would constantly run outside if he saw my wife out there. He would mention to her that he saw her going to the store or to the mailbox or whatever. We had a community pool and he would see her going there with the kids and follow so he could hang out with her while she was in her bikini. It creeped her out so much she would wrap a towel around herself until she confirmed he wasn't at the pool.
I had to have words with him more than once about this.
Moving day comes and we haven't told any of the neighbors we are moving because why would we?
Brian comes over as we are loading the truck and asks my wife "Which one of you are moving out?"
I stop and tell him, deadpan as can be, "Both of us."
He was hoping it was a divorce situation so he could try to f*ck my wife.
~BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE~
I come home from a work trip one day and my wife tells me that Brian was driving past our house.
I don't know how he did it, but he found out where we live. We still live in the same city, so I reason he either saw my wife and followed her home one day or just drove around until he found us.
We live in a cul-de-sac. There is no fucking reason for him to be driving there. It's not like we're on the way to someplace.
Finally, My wife has my car because I have to take her's in for maintenance. The doorbell rings and who is it but Brian.
He is obviously stunned to see me answer the door and starts to stammer out some bullshit about why he's there.
He knows about my military time and what I was in the Army.
I tell him, in no uncertain terms, that if I ever see him near my home or my wife ever again that it will be the last thing he does on this Earth.
I make him acknowledge that he understands me and to tell me he will never come here again, and he scurries to his car and leaves as fast it it will take him.
It's been a few years and neither of us have seen Brian.
Every now and then I'll see a car I don't recognize on our cul-de-sace and I always look at the driver.
Just in case.
H/T: Reddit
We can't learn everything in school, and maybe that's a good thing—because these bizarre historical facts are too weird for a textbook. Like Abraham Lincoln's other assassination, Thomas Edison's little-known dark side, or Mozart's obsession with butts...and that's just naming a few. Strap in for this VERY strange ride.
1. Queen Elizabeth Had A Nasty Mouth
Although dental hygiene was not necessarily at its peak in Tudor England, Queen Elizabeth I’s fondness for sweets gave her pearly whites an even darker tone...in fact, her chompers were probably very black. More than that, since sugar was a luxury, some women then blackened their teeth both to emulate their queen and show off their wealth.
2. Thomas Edison Was Evil
The famous inventor Thomas Edison had a huge dark side not many people know about. For example, he used electricity to publicly kill animals. He wanted to show how alternating current was more dangerous than the "direct" current that he used. On one occasion, he used A/C to execute a rogue circus elephant named "Topsy" in front of thousands of people.
3. Alexander The Great's Mother Was Scary
File:Cassandre et Olympia-Jean Joseph Taillasson mg 8223.jpg ...commons.wikimedia.orgQueen Olympias was Alexander the Great's mother, and she was even more ruthless than her son. On one occasion, she sent a captive enemy queen a cup of poison, a noose, and a sword...then told her to choose how she would die. According to history, the woman chose to hang herself, though she cursed Olympias to the very end of her life.
4. Napoleon Used His Wife As A "Womb"
Napoleon Bonaparte famously adored his wife Josephine, but few people remember the dark end of their love affair. Tragically, Josephine couldn't have children, so Napoleon made a hard choice: He divorced Josephine and took up with Marie-Louise of Austria. Napoleon reportedly told his blushing bride straight off, “It is a womb that I am marrying.”
5. Ernest Hemingway Almost Died In Back-To-Back Plane Crashes
In 1954, the macho writer Ernest Hemingway got into a plane crash. He miraculously survived, but that was just the start of the nightmare. When he tried to take another plane to get medical help, that plane exploded upon taking off. Hemingway managed to survive again. Talk about bad luck. Or wait a minute...actually, is that good luck?
6. King Edward VIII Was A Colossal Jerk
King Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson on holiday in Yugoslavia,… | Flickrwww.flickr.comKing Edward VIII lost his brother Prince John at a young age from a severe seizure. The boy had suffered from epilepsy and other ailments for years, but Edward’s response was so disturbing, it’s impossible to forget. He referred to John’s passing as “little more than a regrettable nuisance.”
7. The FBI Knew About Pearl Harbor
The FBI ignored compelling evidence about the attack on Pearl Harbor because they didn’t trust the Serbian double agent Dusan Popov, who was apparently a gambling, lustful lush. Dusan's nickname around town was "tricycle" because of his infamous love of threesomes. Unsurprisingly, he was one of the inspirations for Ian Fleming’s James Bond.
8. There Were Original "Siamese Twins"
Two Siam natives, Chang and Eng Bunker, were American twins joined at the sternum. During the American Civil War in 1865, Eng’s name was drawn in a draft lottery, but not Chang's. There was little the conscription officials could do: The brothers were not only joined at the sternum, but their livers were also fused. Neither twin served in the conflict.
9. Ben Franklin Had Bodies In His Basement
File:Joseph Siffrein Duplessis - Benjamin Franklin - Google Art ...en.wikipedia.orgWhile renovating his home into a museum, researchers made a horrific discovery at Ben Franklin's house. They found 10 bodies in the founding father's basement. This led to speculation he may have been a serial killer. However, the bodies were more likely cadavers used for the anatomical studies of one of Franklin’s friends.
10. You Can Use Honey For Some Messed-Up Activities
King Herod, the tyrant king of Judea, had his wife, Mariamne I, preserved in honey after her death. Herod ordered her execution, but found her too beautiful to bury and so kept and preserved her body for seven years. Herod suffered from paranoid delusions, rage, and arteriosclerosis, but his death in 4 BCE came at the hands of a mysterious and agonizing illness that modern doctors are still not able to identify.
At one point, the pain was so excruciating, the king attempted to take his own life. The illness came to be known, among the Judean people, as “Herod’s Evil.”
11. Abraham Lincoln Cheated Death Once
Abraham Lincoln was almost killed two years before he was assassinated. Late one August evening in 1863, Lincoln rode alone by horse to his family’s summer residence. A private at the gate heard a shot ring out and, moments later, a bareheaded Lincoln clinging to his steed galloped into the yard. Lincoln explained that gunfire at the foot of the hill had sent his horse into a frenzied gallop, running so fast that it knocked his hat off.
The two men retrieved Lincoln’s hat, which had a bullet hole in it. Lincoln asked the guards to keep the incident quiet because he didn’t want to worry his wife...
12. Public Beddings Were A Thing
File:Catherine de Médicis - entourage de François Clouet.jpg ...commons.wikimedia.orgCatherine de Medici was only 14 when she married Henri, the son of King Francis. And although she was young, the King and other older men insisted on watching the consummation of the marriage.
13. The Most Ruthless French Queen
The Tour de Nesle affair was a scandal in the French royal family in 1314. In it, Queen Isabella of England accused her sisters-in-law of adultery. The scandal led to the imprisonment of the women and the execution of their lovers. The lovers were then executed. Most histories agree that they were first castrated and then drawn and quartered.
14. Marie Curie Slowly Killed Herself
Marie Curie, the chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity, was completely in the dark when it came to the dangers of radioactive materials. Though she and her husband both suffered from chronic pain, neither considered that it was their radioactive substance-handling that was the cause. It was. Some of their original lab equipment is still so radioactive that we cannot safely view or study them.
15. George Bush Coined An Unfortunate Word
File:George H. W. Bush presidential portrait (cropped 2) (a).jpg ...commons.wikimedia.orgAfter George Bush Sr. vomited on the Japanese Prime Minister, the Japanese invented a new word: Bushusuru. This means to “do the Bush thing” or to “publicly vomit.”
16. Gandhi Liked To Tempt Himself With Young Women
Today we see Gandhi as a figure of peaceful protest and understanding. But there's a side of him no one knows. At the age of 36, while married, Gandhi became more and more obsessed with lust. In order to train and “perfect” his control over his desires, Gandhi would sleep undressed with young women. But one night, he committed an act so heinous that it made his own staff member quit on him forever.
Gandhi had performed this sleeping act with his own grand-niece named Manu. His stenographer left in disgust.
17. The Most Notorious Hollywood Eccentric
Howard Hughes was one of the most successful men of his time, producing many famous movies and dating Hollywood's most beautiful women. However, later in life, he became a complete hermit. Hughes spent his days in hotels, refusing to make eye contact with his aides. He also stopped bathing completely. Even more gross? He only cut his hair and nails cut once a year.
18. Nero Hated His Mother
File:15-07-05-Schloß-Caputh-RalfR-N3S 1528.jpg - Wikimedia Commonscommons.wikimedia.orgAccording to one ancient historian, the mad Emperor Nero tried and failed several times to kill his mother Agrippina the Younger, each time trying to up the ante. First, he tried to poison her on several occasions, but she always took an antidote each time. Then, he constructed a machine that would collapse her bedroom ceiling on her while she slept, but she caught wind of the plot and escaped.
Finally, he—seriously—invented a collapsible boat that would drown her while she was on a pleasure cruise. Reader, SHE STILL SURVIVED.
19. Grace Kelly Was A Homewrecker
Grace Kelly has a pristine, princess-like reputation in Hollywood, but nothing could be further from the truth. She had affairs with, and I quote, "everybody." She fell for so many of her older male co-stars that multiple biographers have wondered if Kelly had some daddy issues. There was Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, and Ray Milland, just to name a few. Milland's wife even called Kelly a "home-wrecker."
20. Victorians Had Impossible Beauty Standards
Although the hourglass figure has always held a special appeal across Western cultures, the Victorians took their obsession to a whole new level in their use of corsets. These waist-cinching devices, while successful in achieving a "wasp waist," had some major health repercussions. Besides causing fainting spells, which the era’s ladies unsurprisingly became famous for, the restriction on women’s lungs likely worsened potentially deadly ailments like pneumonia and tuberculosis.
21. Sweden Wasn't Always Peaceful
File:Verwilt - Erik XiV DSC6824.jpg - Wikimedia Commonscommons.wikimedia.orgErik XIV of Sweden was super paranoid. It wasn’t unusual for people caught laughing, smiling, or whispering within Erik’s earshot to find themselves on trial for treason. Somewhat ironically, he passed in 1577 when someone poisoned his pea soup. We guess just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.
22. Mary Shelley Kept Her Husband's Heart
Frankenstein author Mary Shelley had a pretty gross secret hidden away in her desk: her dead husband’s heart. When her husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, drowned in a boating accident, he was cremated, but his heart remained intact. Mary eventually took possession of it, and researchers discovered it in her desk when she passed a few years later.
23. King Henry VIII Had Royal Bottom Wipers
The infamous King Henry VIII employed four Grooms of the Stool, men whose job it was to wipe the royal bottom and attend to his other private needs. It was a position of great honor, but also—as one Groom soon discovered—incredibly grave danger. Henry VIII executed one of his bathroom staff, Sir Henry Norris, on trumped-up charges that he was sleeping with Henry's second wife Anne Boleyn.
24. Versailles Wasn't As Glamorous As We Think
Château de Versailles (Yvelines) | Le château vue depuis le … | Flickrwww.flickr.comThe legendary Palace of Versailles had everything—except enough toilets for everybody. Despite the villa’s luxury, Versailles simply didn’t have enough public water closets to accommodate Louis XIV’s huge court. It wasn’t uncommon for courtiers to pay each other for access to those precious commodes…or else, they simply went in the corner.
25. Mozart Loved Poop
Mozart was surprisingly obsessed with bathroom humor. Two of his songs actually talk about analingus. He also wrote letters to his family where he described his bowel movements in great detail.
26. King George IV Got A Brutal Revenge
King George IV hated his wife Caroline of Brunswick. When their only daughter perished in childbirth, George didn't even tell Caroline. She had to find out by accident through a courier.
27. Joan Crawford Once Gave Her Crush A Disturbing "Gift"
File:Joan Crawford in Humoresque, 1946 (cropped).png - Wikimedia ...commons.wikimedia.orgActress Joan Crawford once came on to her co-star Henry Fonda by making him a red sequined jockstrap.
28. A King Of Egypt Had A Disgusting Appetite
While many of Egypt’s citizens starved, King Farouk of Egypt reportedly ate 600 oysters a week. Not content with this, he also bought a candy red Bentley, then demanded that no one else paint their own cars red.
29. Jack The Ripper Might Have Been A Royal
For a long time, people thought Queen Victoria's grandson Prince Albert Victor was Jack the Ripper.
30. A Famous Comedian Hated One Color
File:Peter Sellers at home in Belgravia, London, 1973.jpg - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.orgComedian Peter Sellers hated the color green. He claimed it gave him “strange vibrations.” He not only refused to wear the hue, but he also refused to act opposite of anyone who did.
31. Russian Tsarinas Had A Naughty Addiction
Foot tickling was used in the Muscovite palaces and courts for centuries as a means of arousal. Many of the Czarinas (Catherine the Great, Anna Ivanovna, and others) loved it. It was so popular that eunuchs and women were employed as full-time foot ticklers.
32. The Royal Mistress Who Was A Dominatrix
Dancer and royal mistress Lola Montez carried a whip around wherever she went and lashed it out on anyone who displeased her, including members of the public, bored theatre-goers, and critics who gave her bad reviews.
33. Dracula Had A Dirty Little Secret
File:Bela Lugosi as Dracula.jpg - Wikimedia Commonscommons.wikimedia.orgDracula actor Bela Lugosi once had an affair with starlet Clara Bow, and commissioned an undressed portrait of the actress. He then displayed the large painting prominently in all of his homes from 1929 until his passing—including in the houses he shared with his last two wives.
34. Einstein Was Stupid In One Way
Albert Einstein's secretary once got an anonymous call asking where Einstein lived. The secretary declined to respond. The caller then admitted he was Einstein himself, and that he had forgotten his address.
35. Isaac Newton May Have Been A Virgin
Though Isaac Newton lived to be 84, he never married. Some even believe he never lost his virginity.
36. This Medieval Queen Was A Grave-Robber
File:Joanna of castile with her children.jpg - Wikimedia Commonscommons.wikimedia.orgShortly after her beloved husband's passing, Queen Joanna of Castile ordered his body exhumed, had the casket opened, jumped to his side once again, and kissed his dearly departed feet. She then carried his casket everywhere with her.
37. Cleopatra Had Wild Parties
Cleopatra wasn’t just a powerful queen; she was also a party girl. She created a drinking club known as the “Inimitable Livers” with her husband Marc Antony. The club would feast and drink heavily and then go out to play pranks on unsuspecting citizens.
38. People Actually Slept In Coffins
Actress Sarah Bernhardt had a peculiar obsession with death, and from the tender age of 15 onward, she sometimes slept in a custom-made, satin-lined rosewood coffin.
39. Caligula Loved His Horse WAY Too Much
File:Antonio Tempesta (1555-1630) (after) - Caligula (AD 12–41 ...commons.wikimedia.orgThe Roman Emperor Gaius Caligula made his horse a senator.
40. The Prince Who Was Raised Like A Girl
Philippe, Duke of Orleans was the brother of King Louis XIV. To prevent Philippe from threatening his famous brother, Philippe's mother Queen Anne of Austria raised him to be very feminine, calling him “my little girl” and even urging him to dress up in frilly, feminine clothing as a child.
41. History's Most Shocking Sideshow
Tarrare was an 18th-century French showman. His party trick? He obsessively ate everything, and lots of it. His circus act had him eating, among other things, whole live animals, a basket of apples, and even rocks.
42. A "Huge" Claim To Fame
File:Porfirio Rubirosa, circa 1954.jpg - Wikimedia Commonscommons.wikimedia.org1950s international playboy Porfirio Rubirosa had such an infamously large "package," Parisian waiters used to call their 16-inch pepper mills "Rubirosas."
43. Tsar Ivan Really Was Terrible
When Tsar Ivan the Terrible saw his pregnant daughter-in-law walking around in clothing that he didn't approve of, he absolutely snapped. He viciously attacked her, causing her to miscarry. When his son came into the room, Ivan also ended up killing him in a fit of rage.
44. But He Wasn't The Only Mad Russian
Anna, the "Mad Tsarina" of Russia, once tormented one of her hated courtiers by locking him up in an ice palace for the night. Before that, she made him pretend to be a chicken, sitting in her ante-chamber and "laying" eggs.
45. King Tut Was The Product Of The Siblings
File:King Tut Burial Mask (23785641449).jpg - Wikimedia Commonscommons.wikimedia.orgKing Tutankhamun passed at the tender age of 18. Some researchers believe he died from genetic disease, due to the fact his parents were brother and sister.
Some friendships aren't meant to last forever.
That's a hard truth to swallow.
It's easy when you're younger to hold onto everybody and promise forever.
But then LIFE happens, hard and fast.
And then distance grows.
And maybe you realize that those friendships were never what you thought they were.
But often times, the healthiest thing we can do is let them go.
Just follow the signs to the bitter end.
Redditor fusillihair wanted to hear about the times people finally let go of a dying friendship, or six. So they asked:
"What was the final straw that made you end a friendship?"
I'm bad at accepting last straws.
So much so that I end up drawing the short straw.
In Yo Face
kim kardashian GIF by KUWTKGiphy"When he had everything going well for him in life and bought cool sh*t while I was living poorly, he'd rub it in my face. When I started being successful and finally made something for myself, he couldn't stand it."
RedSystemDroid
Saul Goodman
"When they 'Forgot' to meet up with you for the third time even though you planned those meet-ups days in advance."
Careful-Coconut-1366
"Same here had a friend that I loved like my little sister, considered her my protege in bartending, and got her job in a high-end restaurant as a bartender by doing a Saul Goodman pretending to be another bar owner. Now, Super Bowl is a very important event since they can meet my friends plus everyone has a good time in the sports and entertainment area."
"I invited her a month in advance, reminding her 3 days behind, and told her when the game kicked off, and she didn't show up, aww shucks maybe she got stuck on something, nope she just ghosted me and never offered an apology or explanation, and a month back from now, I sent a meme just to get a response and chat and ''Get my moment',' but ghosted me, since then I cut her off which is sad since I really liked her."
Comando396
6 Months Later
"Dude bought a new house a block from my job and I was over there after work every single day to help him paint or move stuff. Once he moved in I didn't hear from him for 6 months. When we did talk he claimed to not know the location of my work otherwise he'd visit. But before this, there were years of making plans knowing he wouldn't make it or already have other engagements."
GlassHeart09
Left Out
"Seeing my old friend group constantly post photos to social media of them out doing things and having fun while I’m sitting at home. I brushed it off at first. But after I made it clear when I was off a few times and still got no invites I just stopped contacting them."
Background_Income710
"Had a similar experience. Realized it was either me inviting everyone to go somewhere or them hanging out without me. I was depressed, for unrelated reasons, and nobody reached out (I wrote in a group chat that I feel really bad, borderline suicidal). Later found out they have a separate chat, without me. And we're all in our 30s, not in high school, so I was so perplexed by this behavior"
.aoi4eg
Follow Her
New Girl Facepalm GIF by HULUGiphy"She gave me crap for wanting to go back to school to complete my degree. She was lonely and she wanted me to move to her small town and rent the other half of the duplex she and her husband owned."
S**tForDownVotes
Never trust someone who doesn't want you to be better yourself.
Talk about a last straw!
Try Again
danger bully GIF by nogGiphy"I was getting cyber bullied by someone in our friend group, removed him from the GC, and they kept telling me I should be friends with him again because he probably 'learned his lesson.' Each time they added him back, it was worse. I cut all ties."
ZobiBakugou
All about... THEM!
"Him saying 'What have you done for me?' in an unprompted call-out. He was holding food I bought him, with a bag with drawings I made for him. The friendship was completely one-sided. Watch out for all-take-no-give people, guys."
Fake-And-Gay-Bot
"Had a 'best friend' like that. She always expected everyone to cover for her whenever we go out to eat and would always whine about being 'broke.' This one time I had a peak of her looking at her bank account and she had more than enough money to cover for herself. She just didn’t wanna spend any of her money."
minombrevanillamamba
On Snapchat
"I was friends with this girl in college. One semester, my friend group, decide to be in a group for a semester-long assignment. There were multiple parts to the assignment, one was going on a class trip, each person taking a section of a paper, and then the last was a display of some sort."
"On the day we were compiling the display for class, this girl says she had a doctor's appointment but she would hurry back. That would be fine because everyone didn't get out of classes to meet up until a certain time. She didn't show up because she went out on a date and then got her car washed. Which she posted on Snapchat."
"She showed up 20 minutes before the class started and our other friend who had been helping us, WHO DIDN'T EVEN TAKE THE CLASS, had to give her the what-for because we were all so furious. It was after that that I looked back and realized it wasn't the first project she jeopardized, and she did some other shady sh*t like putting another friend in a dangerous situation. After that, I cut her out of my life completely."
smith_716
The Final Final...
"They were an 'I can do to you, but you can’t do to me' person. They could talk about you all they wanted, but as soon as someone said something about them, they would blow up. The final final straw was they tried to break two friends up so they made a group chat to try and get other friends on their side. We told the two friends about it, and the two friends confronted the one friend. The one friend tried to pass the blame on someone else but, the two friends knew the truth. We all eventually phased them out."
CrownD3m0n
Then Dinner?
Black And White Illustration GIF by Denyse®Giphy"When I reach out to get together for lunch to catch up, and they say they’ll check their calendar and get back to me. And then they don’t get back to me."
I've gotten exhausted of the "I'll get back to you" crowd.
Three times and your OUT!
People Recount The Most Profound Thing Their Therapist Ever Said
Whether it's in a traditional therapy session or not, we all need advice from time to time.
But sometimes during therapy, some truly profound statements may be made that the client will never forget.
Redditor lilmizzvalz asked:
"What is a profound statement your therapist has told you?"
Searching for Reason
"'You're trying to rationalize something said by an irrational person. You won't make sense from nonsense.'"
- A_Random_Lady
Intentions vs. Actions
"We judge ourselves by our intentions, but we judge others by their actions."
- codewarrior128
Unfair Compromise
"If someone can't or won't meet you halfway, that doesn't mean you go further. One-hundred percent of the time, that will lead to resentment."
- rainynotes
Negative Self-Talk
"Not profound necessarily, but she noticed I was very hard on myself and asked me if I would talk to others the way I talk to myself."
- suspicious_lobster6
"I was out with my little one, and I did something silly, so instinctively, I called myself an id**t."
"My daughter said, ‘Daddy, you’re very mean to yourself,' and now I think about that a lot."
- craptainbland
Simply Surviving
"She pointed out that a lot of the things I do or don’t do that I hate about myself are coping and survival mechanisms."
"They were important to surviving a s**tty upbringing, and now that I’m safe, they aren’t needed. Unlearning these traits/habits are hard. It’s not my fault, and I need to allow myself to recognize that."
- kmk89
"My therapist hit me with something when we were in that same vein. He said, 'You’re basing your way of living off the part of your life where you had no agency. You have that agency now.'"
- zharkus
An Overprotective Friend
"'Your anxiety is not evil or an enemy. It’s like an overprotective friend trying to keep you safe because it saw you hurt once. Don’t fight it; just prove it wrong.'"
- Laura5013
Be Proactive, Not Reactive
"'You don’t have to wait for something terrible to happen before you change your behavior.'"
- Olda**rollerskater
Constantly Growing and Changing
"'People are not finished products.'"
"It's really helped soften my outlook and attitude toward others and myself."
- yekirati
Level of Danger
"'Is this harming you or is this just uncomfortable?'"
"Not every difficult situation is harming us; sometimes it’s just a stretch, and those are uncomfortable. If it’s uncomfortable, it’s likely teaching you something and would be worth working through."
"I’m high-strung with anxiety, so this helped me calm down and look at difficult situations more objectively."
- CuriousTsukihime
Incompatibility Is Okay
"I never ever realized this before and it’s gonna make me seem like an id**t, but it was profound to me to hear, 'You aren’t compatible with everyone.'"
"I used to think that I could make a relationship work with anyone as long as the effort was there, but she opened my eyes to realizing that what makes someone special is when you both are compatible with each other because that’s actually a very rare thing to find."
- neoIithic
Breaking Generational Cycles
"Your ability to cut people off and self-isolate is a trauma response to never having anyone to depend on when you were young."
"I now understand why my parents were the way they were, and I no longer ascribe to them blame for my current mental state, and I am in the process of taking personal responsibility for my actions and not passing on generational trauma."
- Odd-Grapefruit4215
A Reality Check
"When I came back from Iraq, I was not in a good place. I was dealing with some serious PTSD, and started to withdraw from the world."
"Finally, I saw the VA was offering free mental health therapy for returning vets, so I gave them a call."
"The therapist came out to my place and we talked for a bit, and then he said something that made me think for the first time there was light at the end of the tunnel: 'You know, you're not half as crazy as you think you are.'"
"That one sentence helped me find my way back. I'll never forget that."
- Hewholooksskyward
Nice, But Optional
"Forgiveness of another person is not a necessity to move on, despite what people say."
"But you DO need to forgive YOURSELF for not being able to forgive the person who wronged you, otherwise, you’ll hold onto anger forever."
"Once you let go of THEM, forgiveness aside, your life is that much better."
- OkeyDokeyArtichokey1
Because 'Family'
"They pointed out to me, 'Many intrafamily problems boil down to bad manners.'"
- OpalWildwood
"I realized that my family is very good at maintaining appropriate social boundaries with other people but within the family interactions, they totally disappear. And we're supposed to put up with it, because FAMILY."
"Like, why do you treat your family s**ttier than strangers? How do we deserve less respect?"
- StickFigureSoul
Perpetual Worry
"Worrying about something makes you experience it twice!"
- jslay588
"My dad actually said this quote to me and it really resonated with me: 'Worrying does not relieve us of tomorrow's troubles; it only robs us of today’s joy.'"
- Life-Gazelle3499
"I like to tell myself, 'It looks like you’re writing a fanfiction again,' whenever I start imagining how something that could go bad might go and it starts to feel too real."
"It makes sense because what is fanfiction? It’s a made-up story that isn’t 'canon,' written by a fan imagining what they THINK will happen. That’s basically what every bad 'what if' you imagine in your head is."
"Or you can say that that scenario you just imagined is something YOU made up, which makes it fiction. It’s no more real than (name of the last fictional movie or show you watched). That helps me a lot, too."
- StreetIndependence62
It makes perfect sense that this is the advice that Redditors have held onto over the years.
All we can say, really, is we wish we could have all heard these and internalized them when we were young.
If you've been living in harmony with roommates, consider yourselves lucky.
That's not the case for everyone sharing a space together.
Even friends who mutually want to save money by becoming roommates can be a total disaster.
Idiosyncratic behavior and bad habits that were never apparent before can surface once living arrangements are finalized.
Strangers online shared their horror stories when Redditor Jman1994678 asked:
"What’s the worst experience you’ve had with a roommate?"
People with bad habits don't make ideal roommates.
Kind Gesture Gone Wrong
"I let my boss crash at my second apartment about 15 years ago. It was a sh**ty timeshare call-center where everyone did drugs and were pretty everyman types, so he and I were more friends than coworkers. Anyway he loses his apartment and asks to stay with me for a couple months while he gets back on his feet and I agree."
"He's a great dude. Kind, smart, funny, confident, and a solid ~350 lb. I only mention the weight because it's relevant to the negative experience."
"So around a month into staying with us, he decides to get clean from his crippling opioid addiction. He's decided to cold-turkey from a 20 a day 10mg hydrocodone habit, which (for the uninitiated) is pretty intense. I advised rehab, but he elected to lie on the couch in my living room for weeks (costing him his job), sweating his a** off and shaking under a blanket."
"The reason why his size was relevant: he sweat a lot already, and had to take pains to mitigate his body odor on normal days (with varying degrees of success), but with the withdrawals and being mostly sedentary on that textile couch for weeks, the apartment started to smell like a hot a**-forest. It was a party-house with a revolving door, and people just kinda stopped coming during his tenure there. Even with my bedroom down the hall's door closed, the stench was pervasive."
"It wasn't his fault, I liked the man, and he was trying to better himself and his life, so I put up with it. And he succeeded. Got himself a new place in the agreed time frame, stayed clean and everything was hunky-dory."
"After he moved out, my actual roommate and I carried the couch to the parking lot dumpster and it took several days to air out the smell. We even did a thermal fog with an oil-based cherry-scented counterfactant, and it still didn't help."
"Kinda irrelevant, but just an addendum; we stayed in touch for a while back when I still had Facebook, and he got his life together. Got a good job as a realtor, lost a lot of weight, had a baby girl, found religion or whatever. Then after a few years of being off Facebook and radio silence, I get a call from my old roommate saying that he'd relapsed and died from a heroin overdose. Pretty f'ked."
"RIP Don."
– squalorparlor
Fire Hazard
"Dude kept falling asleep while smoking cigarettes. I got mad every time and woke him up. He bought me a fire extinguisher at a yard sale one day. He thought it was best joke ever. He fell asleep on night on the couch. Cigarettes rolled off on to the carpet. Carpet caught fire, couch caught fire, his shirt catches fire. He never woke up. I woke up, having smelled it. Grabbed his gag gift and put it all out. His shirt and hair were GONE. He was okay. Never even went to the hospital, but he absolutely would have died if I hadn't been there and had that fire extinguisher beside my bed. I moved immediately."
– 1lazylady
Some people just aren't roommate material.
Living With "Demonica"
"Shared a quad in college with a girl named Monica. She was fine in the beginning but then began doing things like hiding the toilet paper, trying to limit how much time we spent in the shared living room, allowed a homeless man to sleep on the sofa and hoarded cutlery. She decided she wanted to be a vampire and had her teeth filed into points.. at the end of the year we started referring to her as 'Demonica.'"
– goodgirlgonebad75
Runaway Roommate
"I called to ask if he had his half of the rent and he informed me that he was on I95, headed back to his hometown of Virginia. Dude cleared his sh*t out of the apartment and dipped with no warning."
– Mindofmierda90
There instances of animal abuse.
Jealous Of The Bunny
"Dude killed my pet rabbit because he was jealous of the time I spent with it. Needless to say he stopped being my roommate that day."
– huiscloslaqueue
"As a rabbit owner, this makes me absolutely furious. Bunnies are wonderful creatures and I can't imagine intentionally causing one harm 😭"
– streeboat
Some people just don't understand boundaries and think they can do whatever they want.
Eight Is Enough
"First night in the new shared apartment I was renting, my landlord slept on the floor in my living room on a rug. I thought that was weird but I was not in a position to argue, as I really needed a place to live. Then, over the next couple of months, my landlord moved in and brought over 8 family members from Turkmenistan, including a newborn baby, and they all lived in 2 bedrooms (and by bedrooms I mean one was the living room!!). When I complained, they locked me out of the apartment. I called the police who let me in and scolded the family. It was a nightmare. I finally got out of there and never looked back."
– LauraPa1mer
Pure Chaos
"Freshman year of college- she came back drunk night 5 and pissed on our carpet and some of my clothes. Then in the morning she denied all of it despite the room smelling like piss. She would have random guys over constantly and bang them with me in the room (even though she had a bf)."
"She ended up getting arrested twice during the first semester (she had painkillers that were not hers and she got a marijuana charge lmao). She was pure chaos and ended up in academic poor standing since she literally never went to class. The second semester her parents required her to come home every single weekend, so it made things much nicer lol."
– Clementinequeen95
Fortunately, I haven't had any alarming experiences where I felt slighted or if I had to sleep with one eye open at night.
My husband, however, experienced an awkward situation when we subletted our New York apartment while we were touring with a show.
When my husband had to return to New York for business, the temporary occupant said it was fine for him to crash on the couch for the night.
When my husband arrived, our tenant was nowhere to be found. But in our bed were three young Russian women in their 20s who were just crashing there for a couple of nights.
It turns out our guy subletted to those young women while he went away for the weekend.