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Bhagwan Rajneesh chose Ma Anand Sheela as his closest confidant, thinking she would lead his followers down the path of righteousness. Instead, she led them down a path of sheer destruction. Rainer Binder/ullstein bild via Getty ImagesA Rajneeshee meditation service. If you build it, they will come. And come they did. In 1981, a hoard of outsiders descended upon a sleepy Oregon town, all dressed in red and preaching free love....

Sylvester Graham would be horrified to see what his namesake cracker has become. Wikimedia Commons For a treat so well-known and loved, few people are familiar with its namesake or the story behind its invention. Most would be surprised to learn, then, that the Graham Cracker — most commonly associated with s’mores (an undeniably sensual snack) — was actually created to stifle sexual urges. The cracker/cookie combo was the brainchild of Sylvester Graham — a Presbyterian minister and huge Debbie Downer who lived in Philadelphia in the mid-1800’s....

Residents in Maaroom, Australia, have been carrying sticks to defend themselves after at least two people, including an elderly woman, were injured by the kangaroo mob. Auscape/Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesGray eastern kangaroos in Queensland. 2010. In recent months, dozens of eastern gray kangaroos have overrun the small coastal Australian town of Maaroom. Fearful of encountering the unusually aggressive animals, residents have taken to arming themselves and avoiding going outdoors....

He was attempting to raise awareness for a future parachuting feat – but he ended up getting more publicity than he bargained for. YouTubeGeorge Hopkins standing with Devils Tower in the background. On Oct. 1, 1941, news crews descended upon Devils Tower National Monument. The 1,200-foot monolith in northeastern Wyoming was known for attracting visitors, but this time it wasn’t the rock formation that everyone was there to see — it was the stranded man on top....

Stephanie Matto sold her jarred flatulence for $1,000 a piece and made over $200,000 in her two-month venture while subsisting on a diet of yogurt, eggs, and beans — and ended up in the hospital when she thought she was having a heart attack. Stephanie Matto is an influencer, YouTuber, author, and former star of TLC’s 90 Day Fiancé. But she recently launched a new business venture after realizing demand was high for a rather unorthodox product....

Polish movie posters rarely offer “literal translations of the plot” — but rather experiment with social ideas and critiques. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 1 of 32Ridley Scott’s Alien, 1979.Poland has a long history of poster making. As early as the 1890s, Polish artists would create colorful, vibrant posters to promote artistic events and performances in the country....

From the church-sanctioned burning of cats for fun to serving up roasted lampreys as a delicacy, these medieval practices are better left in the past. Wikimedia CommonsFrom divorce by combat to the “medical” practice of trepanation (pictured), these medieval customs will leave you thankful to live in modern times. It can be hard to imagine just how difficult life was for people in the Middle Ages. And from today’s modern perspective, some of their most common practices seem downright sadistic....

Kemune Palace was part of the mysterious Mittani Empire that ruled Syria and northern Mesopotamia thousands of years ago. University of Tübingen eScience Cente/Kurdistan Archaeology OrganizationArchaeologists discovered ruins of the Kemune Palace after a severe drought hit Iraqi Kurdistan. There is no arguing that climate change has impacted the environment for worse, but it has also had some unexpected consequences for researchers and scientists in their quest to dig up history....

The settlement was first discovered in 2007, but new advances in imaging technology have uncovered more of the city than ever before. The GuardianLidar images show the ancient city and its various structures. Archaeologists in Mexico have uncovered an ancient civilization that may have held as many buildings as modern-day Manhattan. Roughly half an hour’s drive from the city of Morelia, west of Mexico City, the city is believed to have been built around the year 900 A....

Just over a decade after he completed his historic flight across the Atlantic, Charles Lindbergh spoke out against American intervention in World War II, which he feared would “destroy” the “White race.” Charles Lindbergh was the first person to fly solo and nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927 — but he was only 25 years old then. He lived nearly 50 more years, through some of the 20th century’s greatest upheavals....

Forest fires in Chernobyl’s exclusion zone are not uncommon, but this huge blaze has experts concerned over rising radiation levels. YouTubeThe Geiger counter measured distressingly higher-than-average levels of radiation in Chernobyl’s exclusion zone. A 50-acre forest fire near the Ukrainian village of Vladimirovka broke out on April 4, with valiant firefighters still battling to contain it. Unfortunately, the fire is within Chernobyl’s uninhabited exclusion zone — and radiation rates near the nuclear reactor site have risen to 16 times above normal as a result....

Dennis DePue brutally murdered his wife Marilynn in April 1990 — and when a passing couple saw him trying to hide the body, a terrifying chase ensued. YouTubeDennis Depue and his wife, Marilynn, in an undated photo. On Easter Sunday, April 15, 1990, Ray and Marie Thornton were on a traditional weekend drive along Snow Prairie Road, a rural highway 12 miles outside Coldwater, Michigan. In their rear-view mirror, a Chevrolet van suddenly appeared, driving aggressively, before overtaking them....

Although Doggerland has been surveyed countless times — mostly by oil companies looking for fossil fuels — this latest expedition was “a chance to prioritize the finding of human settlements in the center of the North Sea.” PixabayA fossilized forest underneath the North Sea has led scientists closer to recovering the lost human settlement. Doggerland covers a vast swath between the eastern coast of Britain and mainland Europe. Looking at it now, you would never think that it was once home to a settlement of Mesolithic humans some 10,000 years ago — because the region is submerged beneath the North Sea....

With the help of professional wrestling, Trump discovered that he could be the voice of the people. Donald Trump’s transformation from East Coast rich kid to President of the United States took decades to play out — and had Trump not participated in the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), it may have never happened at all. Playing against WWE founder Vince McMahon’s character as the “establishment” billionaire lording over the WWE, Trump crafted a WWE persona that focused on coming across as the voice of the people fed up with an out-of-touch system....

Born with a rare condition that made her walk on all fours, Ella Harper found fame as the “Camel Girl” in front of traveling sideshow audiences from the time she was just 12. Wikimedia CommonsElla Harper’s deformity led to her troubling “Camel Girl” stage name. Ella Harper was born shortly after the Civil War in Hendersonville, Tennessee, with a rare condition that made her knees bend backward — and made her into a spectacle....

Half-man and half-goat, the mysterious beast known as the Goatman is said to stalk forests and lurk beneath bridges waiting for the next victim in his murderous rampage. Cryptid WikiMaryland and Texas each have their own tales of the Goatman — but the legends are very different. At face value, the Goatman isn’t all that different from other cryptozoological urban legends. A mythical half-man, half-goat, the Goatman’s name has been used to instill fear in locals for decades....

A few days after the injection, he started to experience fatigue. Then came diarrhea, nausea, yellowing of the skin, and vomiting blood. PixabayThough recent research has extolled the medical virtues of “magic mushrooms,” one recent case highlighted a potential, if rare, danger. As the psychoactive compound in “magic mushrooms,” psilocybin has proven to be an effective treatment for mental health issues like depression. Unfortunately, a 30-year-old bipolar man in Nebraska tried to treat himself by injecting the mushrooms rather than eating them....

Dallas artist Steven Novak went all out to make this year’s Halloween decorations as spooky as possible. No fog machines or cobwebs — just murder, blood, and guts. FacebookNeighbors genuinely believed that the stab victims and 20 gallons of blood were real. Halloween is upon us, which means everyone is entitled to one good scare. While most of us are content to carve a few pumpkins and call it a day, Dallas artist Steven Novak made his home look so grisly that the cops have been called multiple times....

The mummified dog was a shocking find for the loggers, who were working on cutting the tree into pieces and almost turned it into mulch. NewsweekStuckie, still stuck in his tree, at the Southern Forest World museum in Georgia. There are some things loggers expect to come across when cutting down trees. Bird’s nests and things stuck in the branches seem like a given – a mummified dog in the center of a tree, however, does not....

“What is the joke? That we’re trying to help people get rid of diseases? We promote stopping alcohol consumption, drugs and fornication—is this laughable? … Let them laugh and we will do our job.” Vesti Tver/YouTubeLocal bishop Metropolitan Savva readies a goblet with holy water to pour out of an airplane and bless the Russian city of Tver. Priests administering blessings with holy water is nothing new. But one Russian priest and his colleagues recently took that idea to the extreme....