The human body is truly amazing. It's resilient, it can create antibodies to fight off infections, and it comes in all shapes and sizes.
There are some awesome facts about the human body, like that no two people have the same fingerprints.
However, there are also some creepy facts about the human body.
Redditors are well aware of this and are ready to share the creepiest facts they know about the human body.
It all started when Redditor MorBot07 asked:
"What creepy fact about the human body do you know?"
I Need To Go Take A Nap
"Too much lack of sleep can cause the brain to "eat itself", cutting connections and making things like alzheimer more probable in later life."
– 89_degree_angle
"nothing has been able to convince me to start sleeping more but i think this comment really did it for me.."
– r0saliaa
Can't Move
"If your spinal cord loses adequate blood supply for a short period of time, you can be temporarily paralyzed."
"The first sign that your spine is "waking up" again is that you regain a specific reflex, where if you squeeze that person's penis or clitoris, their anus contracts. If that happens, it's a good sign."
– AceAites
Just The Right Spot
"A single punch to the chest can stop your heart. A single punch to the gut can rupture your spleen and kill you. A single punch to the face or back of the head can kill you. (the back of the head being less sudden and more noticeable)..."
"Let it be known that, despite all the things we can endure, humans are insanely fragile in many ways you may not even have thought of."
– wolfyfancylads
The Other Side Of Me
"Some people’s organs are on the wrong side of their body, like a mirror image… It’s called Situs Inversus"
– smallCraftAdvisor
"This is true! I actually have this. Partial Situs Inversus. Dextrocardia. It doesn’t harm me just means my heart in on the wrong side so the opposite lung is smaller. Can cause issues when I’m sick but nothing more."
– FlamingArrowheads
My Choice
"There are pregnancy cancers. You can have little baby cell metastases growing in your brain if you decide to have a baby and some of cell multiplier genes go wrong."
– zeratul196
"Add that to the list of why I need bodily autonomy. 😬"
– chubbycat96
Time For A Reboot
"A seizure, despite how terrifying they may be, are your brain's response to the brain equivalent of a runtime error. Something happened that shouldn't have, and your brain is restarting to get everything running smoothly again."
"Source: epileptic since 2003"
– authorStanCrane
Ick!
"When we die, it looks like your fingernails are still growing, but it’s actually just the skin around your fingers shrinking."
– Comfortable-Pin-5769
A Body Is An Ecosystem
"Your body contains just as many foreign cells, i.e. gut bacteria, as your own body cells. These cells produce hundreds of neurochemicals that the brain uses to regulate basic physiological processes as well as mental processes such as learning, memory and mood. Some believe this is the "gut feeling" people sometimes get in certain situations."
– chaoschosen665
Genetics
"I’m currently pregnant with a girl. I’m currently holding the cells that could become my grandchild."
– dreamqueen9103
"Samesies. Every person in existence was once half inside their biological maternal grandmother."
– Magnaflorius
Counterproductive
"I don’t know if it qualifies as creepy.. I’m a nurse, and I’ve always found it interesting how the body attempts to compensate when sick which incidentally tends to lead to you becoming sicker because of how overworked your body is."
– Chowel98
Different Species, One Body
"An estimated 30 trillion cells in your body—less than a third—are human. The other 70-90% are bacterial and fungal. Ninety-nine percent of the unique genes in your body are bacterial."
– AwiiiLama
Uncomprehensible
"If you have a stroke (or other brain injury) that effects parts of the brain associated with speech, you will probably end up with some type of aphasia."
"For example, my “favorite” type of aphasia is Wernicke’s Aphasia; patients can form whole words and even sentences, but they usually make no sense. I had a patient with Wernicke’s Aphasia who would constantly say something close to “we have to rescue the dog(s) from the DMV!” It took me about 30 mins to figure out this person wanted something to drink."
– YayAdamYay
A Whole New Person
"I heard or read once that essentially every 7 years your body has completely regenerated. Of course it's a slow on going process but 7 years from now no cell that's currently in your body will still be there."
– randomradomski
No Changes
"Eyes are the only part of the body that don't grow. Same size when you die as when you were born."
– lookatmypackage
We Are Strong
"You could easily bite your own fingers or tongue off, but (unless you're seriously mentally ill) your brain prevents you from doing so."
– endorrawitch
They say knowledge is power, but I'm not sure I'm better off for knowing of this!
There are over 190 countries around the world today and each one has its own fascinating history. Many people love to travel to far off lands to learn more about these places. But are they always getting the full picture, especially if that country has a sordid past?
Many of us know about the genocide that took place in Rwanda nearly 30 years ago just as we know about the way that Chile's leader, Pinochet, would disappear his opponents. But that's just scratching the surface.
People told us some creepy facts about their countries after Redditor Dantehasabig_ asked the online community,
"What are creepy facts about your country that most foreigners wouldn’t know?"
Portugal
"Portugal basically started the transatlantic slave trade and sold and enslaved millions of African people. There were far more slaves in Portuguese Brazil than there ever were in the USA, but people only talk about the Americans being the slave monsters."
No_Brilliant5576
Portugal was also the first European country to attack Japan. It enslaved so many Japanese people that the Emperor of Japan threatened to declare war against Portugal.
History is wild.
Spain
"When Spain abolished slavery, instead of freeing the slaves they sold them to Morocco. It's disgusting."
UnbearableHuman
The history of human beings being sold for profit is horrifying, as it should be.
Australia
"In Australia, we had a Prime Minister who went swimming and just never came back. To this day no one knows what happened to him."
YUNGBLOOD5897aus
Ah, yes, that would be Harold Holt. He is now remembered more for the circumstances of his death than for his political achievements.
United States
"Nearly 100 workers died during the construction of the Hoover Dam. This has caused some urban legends about people still being entombed in the concrete, which is false, but there were in fact cases where people got buried by concrete and they had to extract the bodies because human bodies would compromise the structural integrity."
DawgCheck2
I love that the reason wasn't humane, but structural.
Mexico
"In my country we have a place where there are many creepy and authentic dolls everywhere you go. Up in the trees, down staring at you. Possibly one you are going to step on…."
MotherofCreepypasta
Yes, this is a definitely a place I have no interest in visiting. I've seen enough movies about creepy dolls to last me a lifetime.
South Korea
"This isn't creepy, but in the most militarized border in the world, the DMZ, wildlife has actually been flourishing there. Untouched and unvisited by people for several decades."
TheDashingPigeon
I'd say the circumstances of life beyond that border (and everything that led up to the creation of that border) is definitely creepy.
Belgium
"On top of subjugating and plundering the Congo, Belgium also sold the chains and shackles to slave traders in West Africa, shipped African people to America as slaves, and returned with butt loads of money back to Ostend. What one would call the original Devil's Triangle."
rjalxldr
In case any of you were wondering, King Leopold II of Belgium was a horrible person.
Ireland
"Ireland. We used to have “mother and baby homes” run by nuns where unmarried women were forced to go and work in commercial laundries to pay for their upkeep because having a baby out of wedlock was so unacceptable. This was done with the full support of the state. The last one only closed in 1998."
TheGratedCornholio
Anyone who reads about the Magdalene Laundries is in for some some depressing reading.
Canada
"Indigenous Canadian children were sent to residential schools to be abused and killed. This was approved and funded by the Canadian government and we still don’t know how many kids actually died."
EddTheMetalHead
The details to come out of Canada in the last year are horrifying, but learning about these things and acknowleding them is hopefully the first step to reparations.
Algeria
"Remember the thing Pinochet did to political opponents? You know, throwing them out off helicopters into the ocean? Yeah, we did that too during our war in Algeria. When they noticed that bodies would resurface, they'd attach concrete blocks to the victims' feet."
O-Alexis
Nooope. Talk about horrifying.
Every country out there has some skeletons in its closet, and some of those are more well known than others.
Have some stories of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
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History is riddled with issues and information we'd all be best probably not being privy to. Some facts are just too salacious and macabre. They weren't kidding about curiosity and that cat. We should learn from the cat. Some knowledge is not necessarily power.
Redditor u/xavierdc wanted to discuss what knowledge some people have happened upon that they wish they had not by asking... What is the creepiest historical fact you know?
Pray tell....
GiphyCleopatra was the product of four consecutive generations of brother-sister marriages. RayAnselmo
'Wendigo Psychosis'
The ancient Gauls used to collect the heads of their fallen foes and would display them in their homes. Particularly worthy opponents would have their heads embalmed in cedar oil to preserve them so they could be displayed for years.
In 1878 a Plains Cree American native named Swift Runner killed and ate his family, he accounts for one of many recorded cases of 'Wendigo Psychosis' a mental illness (or is it?) related to the Wendigo myth where people believe themselves to become possessed by a Wendigo and suffer from an irresistible craving for human flesh.
Starting in 1764, in Gevaudan, France, a creature reported as a gigantic wolf with blood red fur killed as many as 113 people, and injured many more. Some were eaten, but some were killed and left to rot. Some victims were decapitated, and others had their clothing ripped off. The problem was serious enough that Louis XV took notice and dispatched professional hunters to find the beast. It was finally killed by a hunter named Jean Chastel, who used a silver bullet to deliver the killing blow. SaltiestRaccoon
Claimed.
Long ago when Samurai were common, they would loudly announce their names before killing their target. They did this so that no other warriors could claim their kill, since everyone in the area would've heard them say their own name. Sometimes after beheading their enemy, they'd keep the head and sell it to a Shogun for proof of their job, and since heads were worth so much Sen, thieves would often break into rich homes to steal severed heads. Inquisicole
smashed and smooshed....
In England, during the 1800's, some cemeteries were filling fast so coffins were stacked on top of each other. Some previously buried coffins were smashed and smooshed to make them all fit. Some of the grave diggers contracted diseases from handling diseased corpses. Three years ago, I discovered my 4th great grandfather was buried in an old cemetery in a town I lived in. The cemetery has no headstones, records were lost.
Many years ago, a road was built over a section of it. The road is behind a McDonald's store and looking at maps part of the McDonald's car park may also be part of the cemetery. I have driven over that road and into that car park so many times to go through drive thru. I may have driven over an ancestor to buy fast food! I haven't been haunted by him yet, so that's nice. JoeCarthy
A Pooped Genius.
GiphyWolfgang Amadeus Mozart loved poop. This is a letter he sent his cousin:
Well, I wish you good night, but first poop in your bed and make it burst. Sleep soundly, my love.
Weird guy. Cool music I guess. lognostic
You can't make this stuff up.
Sir Hugh Despenser the Younger was "punished" for backing the wrong nobles in a power struggle, with execution by torture while tied near the top of a ladder leaning against an urban building while a crowd of onlookers watched. The torturer was a surgeon who had to stand near the top of an adjacent ladder while surgically cutting out Sir Hugh's liver. There's an actual painting of this called "The Execution of Sir Hugh Despenser the Younger." You can't make this stuff up. Jugmentor
Mouth Issues.
Before "proper" dentures came about in the mid-1800s, dentures were made using teeth taken from deceased soldiers and fitted into denture pieces. :) FreshBootyInspector
Children as well. Sir_Quackington
Walled In.
So many people died making the Great Wall of China, they never removed the bodies from the site. Pretty sure the bodies became part of the Great Wall of China. It's supposed to protect, and yet, so many people died creating it. _Fengo
the house in new orleans...
the story of delphine lalaurie. literally terrifying what she did. she would always host house parties, and at every single party she would end up going upstairs and coming down in a completely different dress and nobody knew why until the house caught on fire on day. she was caught with slaves suffering through some of the worst torture imaginable. the story is actually really interesting, the show 'american horror story' covers it in a very enticing way. but delphine's home still remains in new orleans and you can actually tour it. bunnyh0pp
"Attack of the dead men"
GiphyAugust 6, year 1915, Osowiec fortress. After poisonous bombardment from germans around 500 of Russians charged once again with the last strength they had. This event was called "Attack of the dead men". Germans didn't expected them to reincarnate and charge at them. Just imagine some Russian, charging at you, trying to shoot while his body slowly rots. SeemsNormalToMe
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