As if knowledge isn't scary enough, let's her more...
Hello Terry
paint surgery GIF by gifnewsGiphy"Some tumors have teeth, hair and even eyes."
Twat_Waffle_Stomp
"My sister had one minus the eyes! It was cantaloupe sized on one of her ovaries before it was found. She named it Terry the Teratoma."
Karina_is_my_cat
Hungry Bacteria
"Brain-eating amoebas."
dark_n_lovely_qu33n
"My best friend and bunk mate from summer camp died from one of those when I was in 7th grade. Happened so quickly, we were a week into camp and he got really sick. They gave us all heavy meningitis shots because they didn’t know what it was and within a few days he was dead. Turned out to be a brain eating amoeba."
"Edit: strangely enough on the same day he started getting sick one of the lifeguards that was sitting out in a boat waiting for the next group of kids for what we called Trojans Vs. Spartans day had a seizure, fell off the boat and drowned. Only deaths they’d ever had in the 50+ years the camp had been open."
Csharp27
Far Far Away
"The size of our galaxy, how many other galaxies there are and how far away they are. When you can actually see something that incomprehensible.."
Jfonzy
"The nearest star to us would take the Voyager 70,000 years to reach. The nearest galaxy to ours would take the Voyager 749,000,000 years. If we some how managed to take on the monstrous task of speed of light travel it would still take 25,000 years to reach the nearest galaxy. And it's even further apart after you read this. Wild stuff!"
ConqueredCorn
Head Changes
"How the brain is literally rewired and chemically altered by childhood neglect and abuse."
petalumaisreal
"It's genuinely kinda freaky, playing a puzzle game, and noticing how quickly you're getting better at it. The kind of puzzles that were a real blocker in the beginning become baby-easy after like an hour of playing puzzles like it."
LtLabcoat
"My sister faced horrible abuse at the hands of our father, and she has been working through it with multiple therapists over the last 10 years and she is only now starting to get her life back. I feel like she was robbed at a fair chance at life because of our a**hole father."
Pehdazur
Awake
Bill Murray Im Here GIF by Groundhog DayGiphy"Prions, horrific and totally unpredictable."
geordiesteve520
"Fatal familial insomnia is a prions disease where you can't sleep anymore, you just stay awake until your brain deteriorates and you die."
DrinknEspresso
Now I can never UNKNOW about prions. Perfect.
Days gone by...
Aging Matt Damon GIFGiphy"Ageing. I'm content with death but the idea of my body growing old, frail and eventually falling apart before the end game gives me goosebumps."
EvidenceOfInnocence
Bursts
"Gamma ray bursts. No warning, no escape, no defense, no survivors."
Swampwolf42
"If you're talking about supernovas if the star isn't too close the gamma burst would probably only destroy some part of our ozone layer. And gamma radiation is actually the least lethal out of all types of waves."
Broccoli_sauce24
Sizzle
"Entropy. Time shall consume all things. Inevitable heat death of the universe."
Revolutionary_Elk420
"I personally want the 'Big Crunch' to be true. That instead of fizzling out it all gets sucked back into an infinitely small/dense particle and then another Big Bang happens. It’s my explanation for the multiverse. It’s all one timeline. Just infinitely long."
ChoppyWAL99
They're Watching
"More like a theory, the 'orangutan paradox,' when we film a documentary on orangutans, they can’t realize that we are observing them, yet they are the most intelligent species of their category, so aliens might be watching us and we are as oblivious as an orangutan."
Time_Succotash
Fade 2 Silent
Listen Scooby Doo GIF by MashedGiphy"That hearing is the last sense to leave, when dying."
User Deleted
A blink of an eye
"Deep time. The Earth was alive a million years ago. And a million years before that. A thousand million years before that. Even if our civilization is miraculously successful and we live for 20 thousand more years and colonize thousands of planets like in Dune it's still nothing. A blink of an eye. The Earth would barely notice."
Spookd_Moffun
human psychology...
"The scariest thing for me, is that we have scientifically mapped human psychology. We know social habits, and evolutionary survival instincts that we've carried over from our ancient past. We have extensive knowledge on how to elicit the exact response out of a human on command. And the scary thing is that corporations use this information to sell things to us."
"Everything about a product's design from it's shape, to it's color pallet to it's odor is specifically and intricately designed to hack our brains and trigger the exact specific response that they want from us. Once you are aware of how much human psychology goes into advertising, you will never look at an add the same way again."
The_Quicktrigger
Humans
"Lead in gasoline may very-well have decreased the human IQ on a global scale while in use... https://www.utilitysmarts.com/automobile/gasoline/why-is-lead-in-gasoline/"
keldoged
"There's also a theory that the spat of serial killers between ww2 and the 2000s may have been partially due to this."
STRYKER3008
atomic bomb explosion GIFOut There
"That things we thought were stars (or fuzzy stars) a century ago are actually entire galaxies. Who knows who or what the F is out there?"
OnionTruck
"Which is exactly why I think anyone who doesn't believe in aliens is just in denial, cause there SO MUCH UNIVERSE out there that even if life came about on Earth by a total million-in-one accident that it almost certainly has happened somewhere else."
Thatsidechara_ter
Changes
"Finding substances that can change your behavior, memories and general personality."
Puggymon
tentacles
GIF by LidlGiphy"Giant squids. Suddenly the old sailor story's of krakens wrapping tentacles around a ship and pulling it into the ocean doesn't seem like fiction."
OneTyler2Many
Forever
"Lobsters are practically immortal and continue to grow as long as they don't die from disease or killed by predator."
merkitt
Tiny
"That a person can be killed by organisms so tiny that we can't even see them."
cold_toast_n_butter
A Billion Years
"Sun is going to die. It will explode and stop providing energy after 5 billion years. We better find a new star to relocate by then. Nearest star Proxima Centauri is 4.5 light years away from Earth and with current technology we can reach the neighbouring star in 6300 years trip."
srvanika
Well that is the antithesis of comfort. Life is so fun.
"What are you 100% certain is true despite having no evidence to confirm or disprove your belief?"
When it comes to family and pets, people just know they're instincts are spot on.
Dead Or Alive
"That my dad might be alive. He supposedly died in 2009. He was a huge paranoid conspiracy theorist to the point where he would bury his money, planted bushes to hide behind in case the government had a shoot-off with him, and at one point thought we all had been replaced by clones."
"The only people who saw his body are one of my aunts and my grandma who had Alzheimer's. They told us he was cremated and at the funeral there was no coffin, no urn, all there was was a black and white photo from when he was 10 (he was born in the 50's)."
"I've yet to see his urn or death certificate and it's been 12 years. He had connections to people who could have easily helped him fake his death, he also had the money to do this. People have also supposedly seen him in Indiana (they took a picture and tbh the guy looks just like him only a bit older, same hunchback, same tattoo on his leg, and he even walked with the same little limp)."
– Silent-Ferrets
Family Trauma
"I think my mom's ex boyfriend raped my sister. We don't have any evidence. He was abusive towards my mom so we got him out of her life, and then we noticed my sister gets noticeably on edge around men. He won't talk, and my sister is mentally disabled and won't tell us. I'm 100% certain of it in my gut."
– amakurt
Patient Pet
"My border collie is waiting for me in heaven."
– bluebearthree
The Keen Doggo
"Our dog knew my wife was pregnant before she did. Normally she was a sweet and lazy lovable dumbass who would hang out with whoever wasn't moving. (The dog, not the wife) Then one day, she decided she wasn't going to leave my wife's side. She wasn't aggressive, but she wasn't going anywhere either. Followed her everywhere for a few weeks, then spousal unit started getting sick, and went to the doctor, and the doctor said 'Lets check the obvious'...
"And now I have an eight year old daughter, and that dog is her constant companion."
These Redditors were convinced their very specific instincts were accurate.
Old School Mickey
"Lately, Disney has been trying to revive the old 'steamboat Willy' version of Mickey Mouse through merchandise and new cartoons drawn in the old fashion that nobody really asked for. I think they are doing all of that deliberately so that they can try to fight the scheduled copyright expirations on their old cartoons."
– Kmlevitt
The Signal
"Garbage trucks have loud brakes to give us one last chance to get the bins out."
– Novem13r
Eyes On The Prize
"I'm convinced that theme parks/fairs/carnivals pay people to walk around with giant prizes to make the games look more winnable and convince more people to play."
– Pineapple_Cheesecake
People Share Their Unexpected Happiest Moments | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
While many of life's big events like weddings and births bring us joy, even the smallest of gestures or gifts can leave a lasting impression. Especially if y...The NFL's Orchestrated Maneuver
"DeflateGate was intentionally spurred on by the NFL to distract from concussion lawsuits and domestic violence headlines."
– ben_bob2
Pricing According To Performance
"I am convinced that the electronics items sold at steep discounts on Black Friday are the ones that don't test as well at the factory. Like, when they do quality control tests, the ones that rate 90% or whatever are the ones that are tagged and sent out for Black Friday sales."
– snowycub
People truly believe in these minor acts of cruelty.
Shrinking Sandwich
"Big Mac keeps getting smaller."
– Notsoobvioususer
"Pretty soon it'll just be 3 buns with a little grease stain between them."
– gdimstilldrunk
Sabotage
"A supervisor changed my days off at the last minute without telling me in an attempt to get me fired for attendance."
– Timstro59
"i had a manager who wanted me to quit. i was supposed to work on a thursday and came in to work that day & when i showed them the picture of my schedule from the previous saturday when it was released, they said that they took me off the schedule the night before and that i had to go home. absolute bullsh*t."
– actualbeans
The Downside Of Proficiency
"I'm being pushed aside for leadership roles at my company because I'm a good reliable worker and they have a shortage of those."
– prahSmadA
The Thing About Big Hot Pockets
"The big hot pockets from a convenient store have different fillings than the small ones from the grocery store. I swear they taste different."
– ATXKLIPHURD
The Phone Company Manipulation
"Phone and internet providers start out solid and overtime purposefully make the product worse to encourage you to upgrade."
– mydearbrother
There are some things people know in their gut to be true, and it's not good news.
When a significant other becomes distant, the past experiences of many people would say it's likely they are being unfaithful.
Another thing people have a feeling about that has yet to be substantiated is the existence of ghosts. There are many supernatural accounts shared between people, however, it's usually all smoke and mirrors.
But if there was evidence to either of these instincts, would you be ready to face the truth?
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
I'm not sure about aliens, but I do believe in ghosts, I think. Does that count? Is there such a thing a paranormal conspiracy? Hmmm...
Little Piggy
homer simpson wow GIFGiphy"The bacon hype that came about around the time Epic Meal Time started on YouTube was a marketing campaign by the pork industry."
- lorn23
Disposables...
"Big oil and plastics created the recycling campaign so people could still feel good about buying disposable plastic products. In reality, the majority of plastic cannot be recycled. Further, recycling isn't cost effective in the slightest. China was burying our recycling for years."
"This is sorta true if you look at the entire funding for the personal responsibility campaign it was by BP oil to shift blame into the consumer."
wasting ink...
"That the "printer alignment" page your printer makes you print when you install a new ink cartridge or plug in your printer or any other basic printer action is complete made up nonsense that makes you think your printer is doing important printer maintenance while needlessly wasting ink."
- wxmanify
A.I. Issues
"I think the trend where you show a picture of yourself now versus 10 years ago was promoted if not invented by Facebook owned social media companies in order to train artificial intelligence to be able to recognize and analyze how faces age."
"This is true for pretty much anything on social media. All those quizzes, post if you believe, whatever random meme just lets them collect data for A.I. modeling or more nefarious purposes. Never do the "your pornstar name is your mother's maiden name plus the last six of your social security number" posts. I seriously underestimated the number of penises and 69s my inbox was gonna receive."
"commoners"
Burning Tom Hanks GIF by 20th Century Fox Home EntertainmentGiphy"That most conspiracy theories are allowed to circulate by the powers that be and they let certain false info "leak" to add fuel to the fire so they can use these conspiracy theories as a distraction from their real agenda, part of keeping the "commoners" in a naive bubble. Conspiracy theories are the cover for the actual conspiracies."
Anytime I hear big oil, I know it's true. Cheery I know. But they know how to manipulate the world. It's all about the money...
Out There
Jurnee Smollett Hbo GIFGiphy"Aliens are among us just not how we think they're supposed to look like. I mean we have an immortal jellyfish in our ocean that looks right out of a HP Lovecraft book."
- k-rdy
The Strangest Superstitions People Actually Observe | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
The world can be a superstitious place. If you've ever knocked on wood or thrown salt over your shoulder then you've run into one or two throughout your life...Paths
"That my navigation cares more about traffic flow than the best route for me personally."
- mrausgor
"I mean, to be fair, this can very often be "same picture" territory. If everyone's navigation tried to optimize for what's best for the driver, you'd easily get a situation that's worse for everyone... including you."
- xternal7
On the Floor
"Truly incompetent workers who get hired claiming 15+ years of experience but know nothing about their field are actually just people poorly placed by eyewitness protection. My nemesis who was our new industrial engineer who zip tied all the computer speakers to the floor made me think of this one XD Makes you wonder."
"Edit: lots of people concerned about the floor. Yes the floor had holes, it was a clean room. Iirc it was actually the cords truly zip toed to the floor, the speakers were zip tied to the tables' kick plates like 3 in above the floor."
Molten Salt Reactors...
"That nuclear technology and power was choked out by big oil and gas, and that fear of radiation was intentionally trumped up to incite public opposition to anything nuclear. A lot of folks seemed not to know that used nuclear fuel, often called waste, is recyclable"
"It can also be used directly as fuel for certain types of reactors that haven't seen a lot of research for political reasons, but for which several mature designs and several proofs of concept have been built (Molten Salt Reactors, if you want to research it)."
Big Brother
Explosion Reaction GIFGiphy"The government puts out really crazy conspiracies so the people that post about legitimate conspiracies come across as crazy and unbelievable."
Against the poor...
"The odds are very strategically stacked against poor people and even the middle class (America) so that we can never get ahead. We are kept in our place to do bullcrap jobs and buy bullcrap products to keep the ultra wealthy chugging along. Education is expensive so we don't think too hard, and the food is cheap and crappy to keep us fat, tired, and low ambition."
"Propaganda and identity politics keeps us in our own little stupid camps so we never come together to realize this. Our purpose is to purchase. And it will never change because for every 1 person who tries to buy local, learn, and take care of themselves, there are 100 morons who want everything fast and cheap." ~ Good_Piccolo4046
Dr. King
"That the government, more specifically FBI, was involved in the assassination of Martin Luther King." ~ Feisty-Inspection286
"I think it's assumed because we have the FBI letter to King that told him to commit suicide. We also have his file and how paranoid Hoover was about any of the black activists at the time. Sadly we don't have any links to the assassination but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck." ~ UCMCoyote
I Hate Ads...
"That YouTube gets mad at me for skipping all their quick survey questions for ads, and punishes me by giving me ads for feminine products." ~ Fancyliving228
"My YouTube ads are weird. Enough to make me think I'm part of some undisclosed, unethical social experiment, because google definitely knows enough about my internet habits to target their ads better. This last week they started advertising monster porn to me, which I didn't even realise was a thing."
"Before that I was getting ads for super woke online courses such as "pay $500 for this six week course that will explain why you're a racist cultural appropriater for doing yoga!" I mean, who the hell actually would sign up for something like that? YouTube ads are whack." ~ Reetniap
The Epidemic
"That the CIA/ Reagan Administration helped sell crack cocaine to African American communities in the 1980's and the reporter who broke the story, Gary Webb, was killed by the government and didn't commit suicide by shooting himself in the head twice." ~ unculturedswine420
Give me a Bud
"Not a very big conspiracy but someone told me they heard Corona (beer company) started paying off news companies to stop calling it corona and call it covid instead and I fully believe it. Everyone started calling it covid right after it came out that Corona lost a lot in stocks because of it." ~ Tyriad_
Sleep Lies
mess reverse GIF by Jordan FisherGiphy"Mattress firm is affiliated with money laundering. They have so many stores very close to each other in Chicago (miles apart)." ~ Nightcrawler999-
Damn Covid
"That if we were actually contacted by aliens our governments would 100% lie to us. Look at how people act toward COVID, if they thought aliens might invade we'd have idiots shooting at the sky and stabbing people to see if they're shape shifters while other idiots make up random crap like taking horse de-wormer and fishtank cleaner protects you from their mind control." ~ Im_No_Robutt
I'm not sure how much of this is actual information, but none is out of the realm of possibility. I don't know if that is an intriguing thought or terrifying. We'll find out.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
I don't know where to begin. I know who killed JonBenet. But I can't say. But we all know, and we can't say. It's no theory, but we have no receipts.
Frozen
frozen GIFGiphy"There is some scam going on with power companies in the US. The colder months when I literally don't turn on the AC at all (electric for heat and cold) is basically the same price... I called and asked them if they are averaging it and they say no... someone is lying."
Oh Tom...
"That Tom Holland "spoiling thing" and some "leaks" are all a marketing strategy. And it works!"
"I'm not a fan of superhero movies but i saw him idk why my algorithm did that and yes you are right, you have to be next-level stupid to be spoiling stuff accidentally, one time I understand but not again and again. He is not a kid (although he looks like one)."
And Scene
"The real Sonic movie was already finished. Then they put some extra time in to make the bad sonic trailer. The outrage it cost was the best publicity they could get for the movie."
"It's easy to believe, but they already had a load of merch in production of the old design. Seems like a bug waste of money just for some publicity."
The X Files
"Aliens exist."
"The evidence for aliens to exist is so strong that it is not really a question of their existence. Look up Drake's equation if you haven't. Just consider 100-400 billion stars in just our galaxy, the milky way. And then 100 billion other galaxies in the observable universe."
"Each star has a habitable zone and some have Rocky planets in their habitable zone. There are many forms of life and the are theories about forms of life that are not carbon based either. There is no doubt there is alien life. Now intelligent alien life is going to be much much rarer, but still there is a high probability of intelligent aliens. Look up Fermi paradox."
Show me the...
Pay Day Money GIF by MOST EXPENSIVESTGiphy"Money can buy happiness."
"This one's been proved. I don't remember the numbers but people are happier the more they make up to a certain dollar amount. If nothing else money buys peace of mind, which is the next best thing."
Life is a mess of confusion. Can any of us prove anything? Well yes, money DOES buy happiness. That is just truth. Go out and get some.
Flies
fight club fighting GIFGiphy"That earth is simply a 5th grade science project for some kid, to whom we are the size and importance of fruit flies. Our entire existence and history amounts to about 5 days in her time."
Other Worlds
"Parallel universes."
"Google many worlds theory. Worlds is a misnomer, if iirc. Basically it's a solution/interpretation of quantum mechanical wave function I think (not an expert). It's much more complicated than that and a lot of it very sciencey. And very philosophical. Don't get surprised if you get an epiphany. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qm-manyworlds/ Here you go , it isn't deep quantum mechanics but it does do a nice job of explaining it."
411
"Ten-ish years ago Google offered a free 411 service using voice-to-text. You spoke the person or company you wished to call (and perhaps added the address) and the Google computer would respond with the information. They stopped the "experiment" or "beta" or whatever they called it after 3-4 years. The conspiracy theory? Google now uses that voice recognition for their Google Assistant devises and services. AND has sold the technology to the government to improve wiretaps and eavesdropping."
I WANT TO MAKE SURE IT FITS!!!
"I'm lowkey convinced there's a clothing industry conspiracy to keep physical retail outlets in business. There's an unspoken mutual agreement to make sure everyone uses their own proprietary clothing sizes. That makes it impossible to transition clothes shopping to a fully online experience."
"Clothing shops suck. The selection is garbage. They are always short on certain sizes. They are always understaffed and it takes forever to grab something from the backroom. It always takes forever to go through checkout. People still go to physical clothes shop though. What's the number 1 reason they give? I WANT TO MAKE SURE IT FITS!"
The King!
elvis presley GIF by MauditGiphy"Elvis Presley lived in Las Vegas impersonation himself from 1978 to 2013, when he actually died. Easiest case of witness protection ever."
Oh Elvis. Just say hi. Keep strong in your fortitudes. Find all of your evidence. Prove life.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Ludwig Knows
digging self destruct GIFGiphyLudwig Boltzmann
His equations and formulas explained the physical properties of matter, but as it went against the then accepted Laws of Physics, he was ridiculed and ignored for years while fighting for atom theory to be accepted.
He took his own life just 3 years before Ernest Rutherford discovered the nucleus of an atom, proving Boltzmann's theory.
Ernie's Concern...
Hemingway, before he took his life he became extremely paranoid the FBI was following him. His wife and people around him just thought he was mentally ill and grew deeply concerned. Hemingway went as far as getting electrotherapy at a psychiatric hospital to try and help with the perceived delusions. Turns out the FBI had been following and bugging him for years according to declassified files.
No One Would Listen
Harry Markopolos spent ten years trying to convince everyone (investors, journalists, regulatory agencies, etc.) that Bernie Madoff was a fraud, based on forensic accounting. Madoff was one of the most respected names on Wall Street and despite the overwhelming evidence, no one was willing to entertain the thought he might be running a Ponzi scheme. Harry's book, No One Would Listen is a pretty great account of financial detective work and just the abject frustration of being absolutely certain you're right but no one believes you.
EDIT: If you want to see Congressman Ackerman absolutely destroy the SEC right after Markopolous's testimony, here you go.
The Drifter...
In 1912 the meteorologist Alfred Wegener described what he called continental drift, an idea that culminated fifty years later in the modern theory of plate tectonics.[40]
Wegener expanded his theory in his 1915 book The Origin of Continents and Oceans.[41] Starting from the idea (also expressed by his forerunners) that the present continents once formed a single land mass (later called Pangea), Wegener suggested that these separated and drifted apart, likening them to "icebergs" of low density granite floating on a sea of denser basalt.
[42] Supporting evidence for the idea came from the dove-tailing outlines of South America's east coast and Africa's west coast, and from the matching of the rock formations along these edges. Confirmation of their previous contiguous nature also came from the fossil plants Glossopteris and Gangamopteris, and the therapsid or mammal-like reptile Lystrosaurus, all widely distributed over South America, Africa, Antarctica, India, and Australia. The evidence for such an erstwhile joining of these continents was patent to field geologists working in the southern hemisphere. The South African Alex du Toit put together a mass of such information in his 1937 publication Our Wandering Continents, and went further than Wegener in recognising the strong links between the Gondwana fragments.
Wegener's work was initially not widely accepted, in part due to a lack of detailed evidence. The Earth might have a solid crust and mantle and a liquid core, but there seemed to be no way that portions of the crust could move around. Distinguished scientists, such as Harold Jeffreys and Charles Schuchert, were outspoken critics of continental drift.
So many have pleaded with us through science and fact. More often than not science can sound like fiction but reality is far stranger than fiction. It may seem odd that a plague is coming, or that certain aspects of the human body cause breakdowns and pain, because we don't initially understand the specifics. Sure, some truths feel too simple and others too vague, but rest assured plenty of people have known.
Dr. Fauci?
Corona Stay Home GIF by INTO ACTIONGiphyThat dude who suggested that it might be a good idea to wash your hands before performing surgery.
The Death
Semmelweis supposedly suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to an asylum by his colleagues. He died 14 days later after being beaten by the guards, from a gangrenous wound on his right hand which might have been caused by the beating. Semmelweis's practice earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory.
Super Barry
For a very long time the medical community thought that stomach ulcers were caused by stress.
A doctor in Australia called Barry Marshall claimed they were wrong and that they were caused by an excess of certain bacteria, and the cure was simple antibiotics. The medical community ridiculed him and nearly ended his career. He eventually decided the only way to prove he was right was to infect himself, develop the ulcers and cure himself.
In curing himself he was proved right and won the Nobel prize for his efforts, and now stomach ulcers are very easily treatable (they previously affected 1 in 10 people).
"The Great Missoula Flood"
J Harlan Bretz
He was a geologist that in the 1920s came up with a theory about why the Dry Falls and surrounding scablands of Eastern Washington state were so sharp and abrupt, instead of smooth as should be with the general understanding of erosion. Especially since the falls have no real river to speak of to create erosion.
His theory was that a giant flood, created by an even more massive lake, ripped through the region millions of years ago, reshaping the landscape in a matter of days. He was laughed at and discredited in the geology community for almost 50 years. Until someone discovered evidence in the 1950s of an ancient and massive lake that started just north of Montana that stretched all the way to southern Utah.
The lake was believed to have been created by glacial dams (ice walls) during the last ice age. It would fill up over thousands of years and then hit a point where a glacial dam broke and the lake water would fire out the break like a water cannon, drain the lake, and reshape an entire region over several days as the water flowed toward the ocean. This happened several times.
Since the flood that carved the Dry Falls likely started from the Lake Missoula area in modern day Montana, it was named the "The Great Missoula Flood". Bretz was given an award in 1979 for his contribution to geology when he was 96 years old. He joked "All my enemies are dead, so I have no one to gloat over."
Never underestimate the people who seem like they're just spreading gossip. Within every lie, there is truth. And gossip has to be born from somewhere, it's sort of a parody of truth. And don't negate facts that seem so outlandish they can only be a masterwork of creativity. The wildest tales are never made up.
Drunk Martha
Martha Mitchell, she was the wife of Nixon's AG, John Mitchell. She was outspoken in the extreme and was one of the first to talk openly about what really happened re:Watergate. Since she was also known to love her martinis, she was widely written off as a drunk, crazy woman. Behind the scenes, a White House doctor began heavily sedating her and her husband locked her away from the press. No one believed her until Nixon resigned and the story came out. To this day, most people only remember her as that loud-mouth, Martha Mitchell.
Sherman's Truth
When the Civil War broke out, everyone on both sides thought it would be a quick victory. However Sherman kept saying it would be a bloodbath that would drag on for years. His superiors decided he was insane and sent him out west to fight Native Americans just to get rid of him.
After it all came true and they needed some better generals, they said "Maybe we should bring back that Sherman guy."
John Knows
game of thrones winter GIF by got50GiphyJohn Snow (yes, that's his name) was laughed at for believing that the multiple cholera outbreaks could be traced back to a specific source and that it was due to contaminated water. Essentially, making him one of the fathers of epidemiology. He has a fascinating life that went beyond that as well!
Mother's Know
The "dingo ate my baby!" lady. Got made fun of constantly, most notably in Seinfeld and I believe went to jail because nobody believed her. Turns out a dingo ate her baby. She is still made fun of.
Phil Knows
There was a sci-fi writer Philip K Dick who was convinced the FBI was monitoring him so he kept sending demand letters that they release his file.
His daughter was interviewed years after he passed (extras on Scanner Darkly dvd iirc):
"I heard you've actually seen your father's FBI file and it is quite large"
"Yes it's rather large, but the only thing in there are copies of his demand letters".
Radium
The Radium Girls.
When Radium had just come to the US and was being marketed on dials for war and watches, girls used their lips to fix the paintbrushes to make their numbers and dials perfect. Eventually they started suffering horrible, painful experiences due to the radium.
These girls fought for YEARS to figure out A) what was wrong with them, B) who was responsible, and C) how they were going to pay their bills/support their families.
It's a horrible injustice. These girls needed support and validation that they weren't crazy, that it WAS radium; and it took far too long and too many deaths for it to happen.
Hey Ladies...
Hey Girl Ladies GIF by Amanda Cee MediaGiphyWhen I was in Boy Scout camp we had this counselor named Don. He was kind of odd, he knew everything about trees and only really talked about trees.
We had just gotten back from a hike that Don was on with us and we were just sitting around talking and he suddenly goes "You know, they're gonna let girls into Boy Scouts soon". We were all like, "yeah okay Don". But sure enough less than 3 years later, they did it.
Mr. Burry gets it...
Michael Burry. The first guy to predict the 2008 housing market crash. He was a hedge fund manager for Scion Capital at the time and basically bet his entire funds liquidity (all the money the fund had) that there would be a crash.
No one believed him except a few other people who also bet against the market. Several of his clients sued him for tying their money up in what they considered to be a foolish bet all to have him be right in the end. He made his fund something like $1.3 billion and the value increased about 489%.
The movie the Big Short is about him and the few other people who were wise enough to bet against the market at the time. I've watched the movie like 5 times in order to try to understand exactly what happened but still don't fully get it. I recommend it to anyone who's interested
Fun fact: Michael Burry was also ahead of the curve* in the recent GameStop surge. I think he had something like 1.2 million shares of GameStop months before the price shot up (might need to fact check myself).
Rotted to the Core
Johnny Rotten said in an interview that he knew Jimmy Savile was into all kinds of "seediness". People dismissed it as typical Johnny Rotten anti establishment talk (for which he is famous). As it turned out, he was right.
Pity Me Partyboy...
Me. About my (now disowned) cousin.
He kept stealing things from me which my family felt was no big deal. But it escalated. It went from stealing candy, to my things, to cash, and after that I asked them how much longer they would support him and call me "selfish" for "not sharing." The line was finally crossed when he stole our grandmothers credit cards and her car.
She finally wrote him off.
This was AFTER he had stolen all of her jewelry, including the last present (anniversary ring) my grandfather was ever to give her.
Oh, but he tried to say that our family kicked him out because he's gay. No. None of us cared about that, it was because he's a thief.
His "friends" have bailed him out of jail and then dropped him when he steals from them.
But he claims the world is "just unfair" to him.
Now he tells his pity story and milks the "my family disowned me because I'm gay" to everyone he begs from. I learned this when he tried to do it to one of my friends.
You're Sane
Season 5 Nbc GIF by The OfficeGiphyThe ex-husband of my ex-girlfriend . Turns out he wasn't the crazy one after all. He kept trying to tell me and if I would have listened from the beginning I could have saved 4 years of my life.
Th Wardens
The people who discovered prions. All the other biologists thought they were crazy to suggest one protein could be an infectious agent. Nope those biologists were wrong and Nobel prizes were awarded.
The Tortured
The people who were tortured as a part of MK Ultra. Imagine trying to convince the people around you that the government is trying to make you crazy with mind control, only years later to find out that not only was it true, but you wouldn't get compensation for it. And you were subject to illegal human experimentation.
Don't Tell Me
GiphyThe classic example, of course, is Cassandra; in Greek mythology she was cursed to know the future, but for no one to believe her when she told them.
It just seems like eternal human error to constantly repeat bad patterns and already lived through cycles -which is the definition of insanity by the way- so that lessons are never learned. When will believe those that are trying to warn us for our greater good, the first few hundred times they tell us? Wash your hands, wear your mask and prepare to combat climate change. You've been warned... A LOT!!
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.