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People Break Down Which Unsolved Mysteries Should Have Already Been Cracked

People Break Down Which Unsolved Mysteries Should Have Already Been Cracked
Aaron Burden/Unsplash

One of the first things you learn as a storyteller is that good stories have a resolution.

Bad guys get caught.

Mysteries get solved.

People are found.

But not every story is a "good" one.

Conflict isn't always resolved.

Some questions never get answers.



Reddit user numbnesstolife asked:

"What are some mysteries that should have been SOLVED by now?"

Sometimes, even piles of evidence and loads of data aren't enough to give us answers. Often, it just means more questions.

Trigger warning; a lot of the mysteries people wanted to talk about were disappearances and murders. True crime stories can be upsetting.

Who Was He?

"Who is DB Cooper?"

- llcucf80

"Best conspiracy theory I've heard is that he made the parachute landing successfully but lost the money on the way down. Since he had nothing to show for the crime, he made his way back home and went back to his normal life."

- agreeingstorm9

Giphy

"I’ve always had a tinfoil hat theory he did it for the thrills and never planned on keeping the money."

"Like he just dumped the bag when he was parachuting down. Or maybe he knew the bills were numbered so he couldn’t spend them."

- retroverted_uterus

"My favorite theory is that DB Cooper wasn't one person, but a member of the flight crew and they were all in on it."

- hectoByte

The Setagaya Family

"The Setagaya family murders."

"A family of four were murdered in their Tokyo home in late December 2000, after which the killer stayed in the house for several hours leaving behind a ton of evidence; clothes, bag, murder weapon, DNA from blood and stool (he used the toilet and didn't flush.)"

"Sand was found in the bag that the killer left behind, which was analyzed and determined to have come from Edwards AFB."

"Despite all this and literally millions of man-hours spent by Japanese police and investigators, they're still no closer to solving the crime."

- jnhummel

"There’s a lot of the things that could narrow down the suspect pool: his DNA suggests he is Eurasian, with Italian on the mother’s side and Korean on the father’s."

"He left behind a T-shirt that was one of a few hundred sold in some area of LA. The soil on his boots could only have come from an area of Southern CA near or on one of the military facilities, probably at 29 Palms. Yet we still haven’t gotten anywhere."

"It’s frustrating."

- SniffleBot

"Considering that they found sand in the shoe tracks that was from an Air Force Base in the US, and evidence pointing to the killer wearing designer limited edition clothing from South Korea, as well as the strong US military presence in parts of Japan, I wonder if the killer was some US military high-up’s kid and it’s been heavily covered up…"

- hotpotatoyo

"The killer used the toilet and didn’t flush…? Now that’s just disrespectful. And I’m not even joking."

"This dude was legit challenging the investigators."

- Lanky_Accountant_453

"My guess is it was a US military dependent or member."

"Evidence links to Korea and California. Can't find him in Japan because he isn't."

- ikonoqlast

Giphy

Max Headroom

"The Max Headroom signal hijacking occurred on the night of November 22, 1987, when the television broadcasts of two stations in Chicago, Illinois, United States, were hijacked in an act of broadcast piracy by a video of an unidentified person wearing a Max Headroom mask and costume."

"Really wish this was solved."

- Curiousthrowzone

"I saw that real time. SOB interrupted Dr. Who."

- EgberetSouse

"It seems to me that, by now, someone (possibly the girl) should have leaked it out. I think the statute of limitations expired a long time ago."

"It's all so odd."

"At the very least, three people had to be involved - the cameraman, the girl who swats his butt, and the guy. And not one person has told anyone?"

- jeremyxt

Giphy

Anybody Out There?

"If we're alone in the universe."

"There's an entire argument for it called the Fermi Paradox. Essentially the argument is: with the extremely vast number of stars in the universe, and the number of habitable planets that must orbit them, it seems incredibly unlikely that someone wouldn't have found us already, or at the very least, we would have stumbled upon evidence of them."

"All it would take is 1 civilization in our galaxy to create self-replicating probes (that mine materials to replicate themselves) to fill the galaxy in relatively short time."

- LifeIsOnTheWire

"Another theory suggests that one possible conclusion of the fermi paradox is that no civilization survives long enough to invent long distance space travel, they all go extinct first."

- Ch1ef_Walrus

"I always subscribed to the theory that there IS alien life out there, but they’ve observed us as a species and decided we aren’t worth contacting due to how we treat each other and how we’d essentially try to attack or destroy them if they did make contact."

- Spudzley

"One thing I've been wondering about the past couple years is how likely it is for advanced civilizations to last long enough without killing themselves off to progress to the stage of long-distance space travel and finding other civilizations."

"Considering we could well be wiping ourselves out via climate change in the next couple centuries...it's possible we won't ever make it to a stage where we could discover life on other planets. Is the same true for other advanced civilizations in the universe?"

"That would explain their absence."

- Ilyeana

"My favorite 'theory' on that is it would (require) nuclear power to travel outside of the immediate vicinity of the home planet, but civilizations that reach nuclear capability wipe themselves out with nuclear war before they can explore farther into space."

- YayAdamYay

Giphy

The Tylenol Murders

"I read that the FBI believes Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, was the real killer but since he is in Supermax and there have been no other poisonings they haven’t investigated further."

- Sam-I-Am56

"James Lewis. He served 13 years in prison for extortion in relation to the murders. Technically it’s 'unsolved' much like the Nicole Brown Simpson murder was 'unsolved.' "

- the-samizdat

"That dude flew out with his wife to NYC on 5th September and returned after the murders."

"Nobody could place him in Chicago at the time of the poisonings, which had to be carried out quickly else the potassium cyanide would eat through the pills."

"I agree he was suspicious, but they’ve never had the correct/enough evidence to convict him of the poisonings."

- FenderForever62

Giphy
"The Tylenol murders is a good one! That story with no suspect(s) after all these years is nuts.""Hard to believe Tylenol, as a brand, was able to come back after that."- m_nels"Probably the best theory is that one of the seven victims was the intended target.""The perp was at least smart enough to realize that a single death would point straight to who did it, so they contaminated multiple containers to spread out the investigation."- Dynasuarez-Wrecks

Missing In Panama

"Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon."

"I'd definitely like to see this one solved too although I do think this is a case which could just as easily be as a result of something other than foul play."

"It's very easy to get disoriented and hopelessly lost in the wilderness, especially in an environment you're not familiar with."

"The random photographs, it's been speculated, were them using the flash as a light to find their way, which seems plausible."

"And there is plenty of scavenging wildlife in that area which would explain the girls' remains being disturbed. Bones get sun-bleached all the time."

- jnhummel

Giphy

"The two girls that went missing in the jungle in Panama."

"There are only a few photos from the girls phones, attempts to call for help, and then apparently one of the phones were turned on later and the wrong PIN was entered a few times (not confirmed if it was just random)."

"Some clothes were found later during a search, mainly scattered bones with some skin on them and one of the girls bones were bleached."

"The photos and the bones suggest maybe someone killed them. For some reason there was 90 photos taken, but none of them except for 3 are even remotely clear to see anything, it's chilling as hell..."

"I hope it gets solved one day, those families deserve more closure other than what they have now."

- superfnliminal

What's Lurking

"The mysteries of the deep ocean. We know about the likes of the Deep Sea Angularfish and Colossal Squid, but it's probably just a fraction of what else is lurking down there."

- Quit_social_media

"As out Tech capacity has improved, scientists are 'discovering' weird and wonderful things all the time. I read somewhere they discovered 10 new creatures just in 2021."

- oceanbreze

"I think about this a lot. I have a 75 gallon aquarium. And even in that small contained space, I can rarely see all the fish in there."

- guppy89

Giphy

Stolen Sisters

"Why are there so many Native American women going missing and why did the US government only start keeping track of this in the last month?"

"I have a theory that some, if not most, are being sold into sex trafficking. I live close to the Keshena reservation here in Northeastern Wisconsin. The reservation is maybe a 30 minute drive from Shawano, Wi."

"Shawano is considered a sex trafficking hub, as well as Green Bay which is only an hour from the Keshena reservation."

"The Keshena reservation is very isolated."

"What I mean by this is you could very easily kill someone and dump a body in the woods out there and no one would find it. No, I do not know this by experience."

"A young lady by the name of Katelyn Kelley went missing on June 18th 2020, her remains weren’t found until March 25th 2021. They were found in the woods near the reservation."

"The story of her death is a mess."

"She was loved by so many people, yet none of the people with her that night would open their mouths about who she was with. The Menominee board offered a $5,000 dollar reward for any information leading to the remains of Katelyn Kelley and still no one talked."

"This is weird because the Menominee reservation in Keshena is easily one of the poorest reservations in the US. That money would have gotten people to talk."

Giphy

"I believe the murder was committed by someone outside the community. Sex traffickers."

"Many of her friends said that she was a fighter, she wouldn’t go down without putting up a fight. Secondly, she had a son who was an infant, giving her even more reason to fight."

"Personally, I believe that she was abducted and proved to be more of an issue then what it was worth so they just killed her and dumped her body in the woods on the reservation."

"To this day no arrests have been made and no new information has been presented."

"There are FED Dodge Chargers and SUVs everywhere on the reservation and in Shawano. How is this still happening?"

"Either the FEDs suck at their jobs on accident, or the US government is proving what we’ve known all along - that the US government doesn’t give two sh*ts about the indigenous population."

- Catman873

Lars

"Lars Mittank"

"He was a dude from Germany who went on vacation to Bulgaria with his friends in 2014. He 'apparently' got involved in a bar fight while drunk."

"I say 'apparently' because this happened when he was separated from his group of friends. All they knew was that he returned later with some injuries. None of his friends witnessed what actually happened."

"Because of this 'fight' he ended up with an injured jaw and a ruptured ear drum. The doctor on site told him that he had to wait a few days before he could safely fly."

"His friends offered to stay with him and take a flight back home later than planned, but Lars said it was ok and they should return to Germany without him. He would take a flight back home some days later. There are reports of him acting somewhat strange over the next few days. At one point he made a whispering phone call to his mother where he said that 'four men were coming to kill' him and advised her that she should cancel his credit cards."

Giphy

"On the day he was supposed to fly back home, the airport CCTV recorded him going into the airport office to consult a doctor. It later shows him SPRINTING OUT OF THERE and running out of the airport altogether."

"We don't know why. He just ran, hopped the fence, and fled into a field of sunflowers (all captured on CCTV). He was never seen again."

"The most popular theory is that he had a reaction to the medicine he was given. In rare instances it can cause hallucinations and paranoia."

- enumaelisz

The Frog Boys

"Who killed the frog boys in South Korea?"

"5 boys between 9 and 13 go missing in 1991 while playing together looking for salamander eggs. The parents, community, and government searched for the boys."

"The parents blamed one another for years until the boys were found in 2002 buried in the mountainside behind the town - in an area that had been searched in the initial investigation and that the kids knew well."

"Due to police incompetence officers with no forensic experience were digging up the bodies and destroyed evidence."

"The local military took the families of the boys to the mountainside in the middle of the night 'to spiritually guide them' to the bodies."

"To be honest, I think the military personnel shot the boys by accident and covered it up. There was a military range in the mountainside."

"Years later they 'felt bad' so they tried to guide the parents to the bodies found on the mountainside."

- tabbeycatty

Happy Producers

"Ancient First Nations artifacts that the film crew and these diggers are completely unequipped to uncover. Why at all would you keep the guy who screwed up the last expedition onboard?"

- FilmGamerOne

"The real mystery is how this is a tv show with multiple seasons. Who watches this?!!"

- Actual_Hat9525

Giphy

"What’s on oak island?"

- Tremmorz

"Some very happy producers and tv execs"

- the_clash_is_back

down the hill...

"The one with the two girls in Delphi Indiana. It has been I believe close to 5 years since those girls were murdered and the only clue they had until recently within the last year and a half or so is the voice clip of down the hill."

"I know that more things have been found recently and hopefully that case will be solved soon."

Karenhunter50

Oh Miss

"Missy Beavers. She was murdered in a church that she held fitness classes in very early one morning. There’s video that shows the suspected killer was already waiting for her inside the church, wearing full-body SWAT gear from head to toe, so that police aren’t even sure if it’s a man or a woman."

"It’s even more suspicious bc she had changed her class meeting location last-minute due to there being bad weather, yet her suspected killer was still able to be there ahead of time waiting for her. Besides the video from inside the church, there’s surveillance footage from outside showing a lone car circling in the parking lot, but it’s not very good footage."

"Overall it’s one of the weirdest cases I have ever come across, especially bc it didn’t seem like anyone close to her had anything to gain from her death. Usually most murders are committed due to a love triangle situation, or so that someone can get some money or something like that."

Laika_JR1390

Face

"Jennifer Kesse. She was murdered and the suspect was caught on security camera but had the craziest luck ever when their face was obscured behind a fence post when the camera took a picture."

"Edit: I guess she’s still technically listed as missing, not confirmed murdered."

thesch

That Guy

"Don't remember the guy's name but was last seen on camera leaving a bar above ground level and never being seen again despite seconds prior being with few of his friends."

Ciryl_Lynyard

"Brian Shaffer, and in case anyone else is going through reading all the details, here’s the wiki link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Brian_Shaffer"

artsytiff

DNA

"Boy in the Box is another case. Hopefully with DNA genealogy they can finally put names to these cases. Unfortunately they have to rely on public DNA databases. And those are a crapshoot if the matches are distant relatives, you really want second cousin or closer matches and even then the person they match to has to be willing to talk and has to know their family history. I bet if they ran these cases against the closed databases like 23andMe and Ancestry they would get pretty good leads but that won't happen."

Keudn883

History

"Who killed Jonbenet."

ChinaLouise

"Good grief what a debacle this was. theres not really any detail about this story thats not completely bizarre and contradictory. It should be a case study in how not to start a missing child case and how hopelessly screwed up DA - Police politics are."

lego_office_worker

Details

"Where is Susan Powell's body? Josh should've been arrested within days of her disappearance and then he would be in jail and her boys would be alive."

illbeyourlittlespoon

"Agreed. The boys were utterly failed by the system. There's a great podcast called Cold about Susan Powell if anyone is interested. It goes really deep into the details."

dizzylyingdown

"Grew up in Utah. The entire west desert is full of abandoned mine shafts. You could search for a century and never find them all- my mom’s theory is she’s in one of them."

blubbertank

Mr. Sodder

"I wish we could know what happened to the Sodder Children. Don’t think it’ll ever be solved, though."

vangoghawayy

"There was a door to door salesman who literally threatened to kill his (Mr. Sodder) children and burn down his house. Not only was he not questioned but he was on the jury who decided the fire was an accident."

Paradox_Mae

"There is a theory that they were kidnapped and trafficked out of state and possibly out of country. But yeah not enough evidence to support either claim."

REDDIT


Whether these mysteries are on a scale as big as the universe or as small as one person, they still keep us up at night.

People like to tie up loose ends.

We expect it.

We demand stories with conclusions and resolutions—but it's clear that doesn't always happen.

What mysteries keep your brain in overdrive?

Infamous Internet Rumors That Ended Up Being True

Reddit user strakerak asked: 'What started out as an internet rumor that ended up being infamously true?'

boy playing at laptop inside room
Photo by Ludovic Toinel on Unsplash

In 2017, I returned to my office after my lunch break to hear my supervisors discussing Tom Petty. This seemed like a random topic to me until one of my supervisors told me Tom Petty had passed away. He was a huge fan of Petty and spent the next hour or so combing through the internet to get more information.

He came back into the room my other supervisor and I were working in and announced that Tom Petty wasn't dead after all. News outlets had jumped the gun to announce his death, but he was actually still alive.

The next day, I came in to find out that Tom Petty was dead; the news may have been premature, but true.

This is a classic example of the rumor being started on the internet. Sometimes, like with the news of Tom Petty's death, the rumor can run wild and appear everywhere. Other times, the rumor can be seen by just a few people and dismissed. However, a lot of times, these rumors turn out to be true.

Redditors know a lot of internet rumors that turned out to be true, and are eager to share.

It all started when Redditor strakerak asked:

"What started out as an internet rumor that ended up being infamously true?"

The King Of Pop

"Michael Jackson writing the music for Sonic 3."

"He actually did, but was never credited on the game because it would breach his contract with his record label."

– -WigglyLine-

"He did the same when he appeared on The Simpsons. He appeared under a pseudonym, and the Producers said it was an impersonator."

"Only years later they confirmed it really was Michael."

"His singing voice was actually done by an impersonator, though."

– given2fly_

The Truth Comes Out

"In 1998, US Men’s National Team captain John Harkes was shockingly cut from the team right before the World Cup. The coach claimed it was because Harkes wouldn’t fit into his new preferred formation, but rumors flew on the early internet that it was actually because he had slept with his teammate Eric Wynalda’s wife. The rumor was so well-known in soccer circles that Harkes expressly denied it in his autobiography the next year."

"Fast forward 12 years to 2010 and Wynalda admits it’s true. The coach then came out and admitted it was why he dropped Harkes, but that he’d planned to keep the secret as long as Wynalda did."

– guyfromsoccer

Video Evidence

"The Tim Burton Hansel and Gretel that aired once on halloween in the 80's."

"I heard for years that it was fake but I knew it was real because my dad recorded everything in the 80s and he recorded that. We let a good friend of ours borrow it and switch it over from VHS to DVD and soon after that it made its way on to the internet , and there it is now. I know it's our copy because the tracking in the beginning is screwed up. Still have the VHS."

– Frozenthickness

"There was a similar story with a Nickelodeon movie called Cry Baby Lane. It was supposed to be so scary that Nickelodeon got complaints and denied its existence for years. Someone uploaded a taped copy to youtube about a decade ago."

– PattiAllen

The Movie Business

"That North Korea hacked Sony Pictures because of The Interview movie."

"I worked in the movie business at the time and the account managers at Sony all basically needed to get new identities as all of their personal information got leaked online."

OldMastodon5363

"My partner worked on that movie and the production bought all the crew 1 year of an identity theft tracking service."

CMV_Viremia

Keep Away From The Ears Of Kids

"Some banned episodes or scenes of cartoons."

"For example, I remember there was a Dexter’s Lab cartoon where he clones evil versions of DeDe and himself and they swear like every other word (censored of course), and people debated whether it even existed cause they only aired it like once. Now it’s pretty accessible online."

– Spledidlife

Yes, It's True

"Echelon, a massive electronic espionage system by the US and allies to intercept all electronic messages, especially emails."

"In the mid-nineties it was a topic on conspiracy BBS boards. A lot of people in my bubble at the time (mainly uni students in Europe) were including fake threats to the US in the their email signatures as a way to "protest" and "fill the system with false alarms" (obviously useless)."

"Then, in 1999-2000 came out to be true and a lot of security service agencies from UK and other US allies started to admit they were part of the espionage network."

– latflickr

How The Mighty Fell

"John Edward’s love child."

– ACam574

"A reminder that he was cheating on his wife while she was hospitalized for cancer treatment."

– Fanclock314

Ugh...

"Carrie Fisher's heart attack. Some a**hole who was on the same flight was livetweeting the whole medical emergency and justified it by insisting she was just making sure the family was informed."

– everylastlight

It Actually Happened

"Every year around her birthday there was a rumor that Betty White died. When I heard she died, I scoffed, saying that dumb rumor is back.... then saw it on the news. I was in shock."

– Known-Committee8679

"The fact that Betty died literally right before she turned 100 is such a Betty White way to go out."

– Paganigsegg

Big Actor, Small Roles

"I distinctly remember some rumors about the reason why Bruce Willis was taking so many roles in sh*tty movies before it was announced he has dementia."

– KampferMann

"RedLetterMedia did a deep dive on his recent movie activity to try and work out why exactly he was taking part in basically scam-movies. They noticed he had an earpiece in one of the scenes and joked that the director was feeding him lines. I remember they even disclaimed over the rumours at the time, and possible made a follow-up vid when it was revealed to the public."

– CardinalCreepia

What To Do Next?

"That the writer of LOST were making it up as they went."

"Turned out to be absolutely true."

– homarjr

That last one was kind of obvious!

Do you have any to add? Let us know in the comment below.

Person holding large stack of books
Photo by Jay Lamm on Unsplash

Whether you're naturally interested in fun facts and trivia or not, it's always nice to know a few that you can pull out of your pocket at a moment's notice as a nice conversation starter.

But there are some fun facts out there that are so weird, people become more preoccupied with how the teller found out that information rather than the information itself.

Redditor Dry_Bus_935 asked:

"What is your 'don't ask me how I know' random fact?"

Nuclear Fail Safe

"You have quite a lot of time, certainly more than ten seconds, to turn back on the main pumps of a nuclear reactor once you have accidentally turned them off."

- egorf

"I'm not surprised. The amount of fail safes, redundancies, and emergency scenario planning for nuclear power plants is insane."

"I toured a nuclear plant and wrote my high school senior thesis on the plans put in place to ensure the Fukushima disaster would not happen at that plant."

"I'm sure the secondary pumps are plenty capable of handling the reactor until the main pumps are repaired or just turned back on."

- Borderlandsman

Happy Cat

"If your cat chews on fresh eucalyptus, they might start hallucinating and fall over repeatedly, leading to a $400 emergency vet bill just to be told she’s just kinda high."

- oddidealstronghold

"And, that's part of why koalas love it. Little stoners."

- littlebluefoxy

Archaeology: Do Not Lick

"Old human bones are very porous, so if you lick them, they’ll stick to your tongue."

- clanculcarius

Sharing is Caring

"A pigeon will only eat a Starburst if you chew it up a little bit first. Just to clarify: chew the Starburst, not the pigeon."

- OhTheHueManatee

"Instructions unclear. Pigeon unhappy."

- Wild-Lychee-3312

Intriguing Anatomy

"Everyone is here with the creepy crime stuff, and I'm just like, 'A soft fur rat has 22 nipples.'"

- horroscoblue

"Okay, so either they have really small nipples, their nipples overlap, or they have nipples in places where there shouldn't be nipples."

"(I've never written the word 'nipples' so many times in a singular sentence before.)"

- GdeGraaf

'Don't Ask Me,' Indeed!

"Turmeric can be used as clothes dye. It is capable of permanently dyeing cotton cloth even after it has passed through the digestive tract of an adult male."

- SlefeMcDichael

"You s**t your pants, didn't you?"

- PMmecrossstitch

"I'd prefer not to answer that question."

- SlefeMcDichael

High-Risk Survival Skills

"If you ever trying to survive in the Arctic, don’t eat polar bear liver. It is so high in vitamin A, it will kill you."

- WrongWayCorrigan-361

"It's also surrounded by a lethal amount of angry polar bear."

- horanc2

Real-Life Spies

"TV shows and movies go out of their way to make military/intelligence officers look bada**."

"But real-life 'spies,' by design and training, are boring. They have regular houses and standard second-hand cars, they dress down, and they have vague, boring job titles (accounts receivable) as cover, and they do not draw attention to themselves. Most come from specialized academia."

- Ok_Worth_1093

Haunting Reality

"Your muscles can keep twitching for several hours after you die."

- JustDave62

"Also, beards can appear to grow. This is however not because the beard itself grows but because the skin shrinks."

- RRautamaa

"I worked at a morgue for over eight years. If you grasp the hand of a dead body to move the arm, the hand will grasp back, but that's just muscles and tendons reacting to the tension."

- goneferalinid

The Sneakiness of Drowning

"When a drowning victim is revived, get them to a hospital as soon as possible. Drowning is the leading cause of death of kids from the age of one to seven and is ruled as accidental drowning when it comes to secondary drowning or dry drowning."

"Basically, your lungs are full of water despite being revived. Your lungs will absorb the liquid, but not before your body acidifies from high levels of carbon dioxide. The only chance to survive is to have the lungs pumped with oxygen via CPAP machine and time."

"Also, drowning is extremely quiet. You don’t hear the victim go under. And if you see flailing, do not attempt to save the victim otherwise you’ll become another drowning victim. Throw them a lifeline and hope their amygdala realizes that a rope or something is floating near them and grabs on it."

- Dfiggsmeister

Not Everyone's Favorite Chocolate

"Hershey’s chocolate has the strong smell of vomit or feces to some people (me), and that’s because they use butyric acid as a preservative. Butyric acid is the compound that makes vomit smell so bad."

"Edit: Digging further into it, there are some claims that they may not be “adding” the butyric acid, but rather it is occurring from essentially spoiling the milk in their milk chocolate. Either way, the butyric acid and putrid smell remains a part of their product."

- hefewiseman1

"That explains the weird aftertaste I always get! I don’t smell it but their chocolate always has this super unpleasant sharp/acidic aftertaste that I find repulsive. I assume this is why!!"

- PomegranateNo975

Do Not Lick the Asbestos

"Asbestos tastes like chalk. And if you lick it, it has the texture of extremely gritty sandpaper. Which is actually the feeling of microscopic asbestos needles piercing your flesh!"

- TooYoungToBeThisOld1

Mapping Out the War

"Beginning in 1911 in anticipation of the outbreak of WW1 in 1914, two statesmen, one from England and one from France, began visiting locations in France that they believed would be the settings for a number of major battles that would occur during the great war."

"Long bike rides through these future battle zones in the countryside and weeks spent building a foundation for a French-Anglo codebook that would later prove important in helping win the war."

- fjordperfect123

Avoiding Lawsuits > Protecting Patients

"Doctors, or surgeons more specifically, that make too many mistakes during surgery, ie, leaving instruments in patients, frequently gets ‘quietly traded’ to other hospitals where they continue their path of destruction with the patients not being aware of their past record. Hospitals tend to keep quiet about the matter to avoid lawsuits."

- Kittytigris

Bonus Points: Do This While Having Lunch in Your Car

"If you overfill a fast food gravy cup and then put a lid on, it will create a pressurized gravy stream that sprays all over your face and uniform while your coworker looks on in horror."

- thechaosjester776

This subReddit thread was so a roller-coaster of random facts, we've surely all walked away learning something.

But the biggest takeaway might just be: Maybe don't lick so many things.

Shocked woman covering her mouth
vaitheeswaran Nataraj/Unsplash

When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.

But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.

Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.

It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.

Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:

"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"

These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.

Bleeding Out

"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."

"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."

– DongLaiCha

Tragic News

"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."

– accountnameredacted

Bottom Of The Barrel

"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."

– Crotch-Monster

A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.

Like Father, Like Son

"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."

– psycospaz

Busted

"Flashing blue lights."

– FiddleOfGold

"This sobered me up just thinking about it."

– redmaple_syrup

Losing Sight

"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."

– MissHibernia

Quitting The Bottle

"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."

– omgtater

These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.

Unplanned House Guests

"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."

– Oneinsevenbillion75

Serious Health Warning

"Elevated liver enzymes."

"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."

"So I opted for recovery, instead."

"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."

– Far_Meal8674

The Joyride

"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."

– foxfood9116

The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?

How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.

But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.

Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.

Woman holding multiple shopping bags
Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.

Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.

These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.

From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.

Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:

"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"

"Tale As Old As Time..."

"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","

"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."

"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."

"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."

"Lol!"

"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom

"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."

"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."

"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."

"I think he was a germaphobe."

"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."

"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."

"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.

"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."

"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."

"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000

Money Burn GIF by nog Giphy

Who Wore It Better?

"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."

"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."

"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."

"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'

"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"

"No."- mertsey627

Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...

"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."

"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."

"It was very low key."

"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."

"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."

"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."

"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."

"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa

south park wedding GIF Giphy

See You In Court!

"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."

'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."

"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."

"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."

"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."

"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin

It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!

"I work in a public library."

"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."

"A popular book that just came out."

"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."

"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten

A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!

"My own."

"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"

"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."

"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"

"Unacceptable!"

"This shall not stand!"

"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."

"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."

"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."

"I got over it."- DeathGrover

homer simpson episode 23 GIF Giphy

Holy Matrimony!

"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."

"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."

"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."

"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."

"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."

"It's just a party."

"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree

When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...

"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore

In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...

"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."

"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."

"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."

"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."

"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."

"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."

"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."

"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."

"We don’t offer wrapping services."

"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."

'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae

Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso Giphy

Happiest Place On Earth!

"I used to work for Disney."

"That in itself should tell you everything."

"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."

"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."

"Suddenly got worse huh?"

"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."

"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."

"I'm not kidding."

"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."

"My wife worked booking."

"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."

"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."

"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."

"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."

"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."

"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong

Disney World GIF Giphy

The horror!

Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!

It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...

Said absolutely no one.