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The experience of just being alive is as wonderful as it is terrifying. The odds of our tiny planet spinning around a giant fireball being just right for habitation are minuscule, yet here we are. And while the world is a beautiful place, some aspects of it are truly horrifying (humans are to thank, in most cases).

Ignorance really is bliss, but curiosity often wins. Would our lives be easier if we weren't aware of the scary and disturbing things happening? Maybe, maybe not. Those things would still exist, whether we knew about them or not, but once you learn something, there's no way back. But hey, maybe then you could do something to change it.

One Reddit user wanted to learn some horrifying facts that shouldn't be true but are, and people made sure to deliver. Over 13k comments later, Bored Panda selected the most disturbing and chilling answers. From scary animal facts to the worst crimes humans have done, and continue to do - the facts on this list are eye-opening. Scroll down and upvote the most interesting entries, and if it gets too heavy, we have plenty of cat lists on hand.

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#1

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are *Anyone* can have a child. We have tests for driving cars, you have to have certain qualifications for multiple professions, and yet there are absolutely no tests, checks, exams, nothing to make sure you're suitable to raise a human being before you bring a thinking, feeling person into the world

Of course, I don't know what the hell such a test would look like, but the existence of abused children who grow up into messed up people who may or may not perpetuate such abuse is just...sad

AlsoAGun , charlesdeluvio Report

Final score:
449points
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#2

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are In 2009 a paralyzed Belgian awoke from a **23-YEARS-LONG** coma, and it was discovered he was fully conscious and could hear everything around him the entire time.

Like.. What. The. Actual. F!?!? Just imagine lying there not being able to move for two decades but also being aware of your surroundings. That's all kinds of messed up nightmare fuel right there.

BdR76 , LightFieldStudios Report

Final score:
426points
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#3

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are Since 1978 in the US, the average CEO's pay has increased 937%, while that of the average worker has increased 5.7%.

DJD119 , energepic.com Report

Final score:
410points
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#4

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are There is more actual lemon juice in lemon-scented Pledge spray than there is in Country Time Lemonade.

jackof47trades , Mike Mozart Report

Final score:
371points
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#5

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are Being gay is illegal in 69 countries.

In 7 of those countries homosexuality is punishable by death.

Silverskull291202 , katrinasid Report

Final score:
339points
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#6

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are The existence of people who believe that the earth is flat, despite the overwhelming amount of evidence that it isn't.

asocializer , NASA Report

Final score:
320points
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#7

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are The final moments of Andreas Prodromou, one of the flight attendants on Helios 522 that crashed in Greece in 2005. The pilots failed to flip a switch on the plane that would allow the plane to pressurise itself, not noticing it was switched to manual rather than auto. During the flight, the pressure in the cabin dropped, meaning the passengers and crew were slowly being drained of oxygen, and they soon lost consciousness. Andreas Prodromou managed to find a back up supply of oxygen, and even though he was suffering from hypoxia too, for a while he was the only one conscious as everyone was passed out and slowly dying around him.

As he held a UK pilots license, he entered the cockpit and sat down in the empty captains seat (Im not sure why the captain left his seat) in what investigators believe was an attempt to save the plane, but unfortunately his training was not enough, as he was only trained to fly small planes, not Boeing 737’s like the accident flight. He also called “Mayday” FIVE TIMES into the radio, but because it was tuned to the wrong airport, nobody could hear him. Soon after he entered the cockpit, the plane ran out of fuel, and the engines flamed out, so even if he could’ve flown the 737, there still was nothing he could’ve done. The plane crashed into the hills outside Athens, killing all on board.

Being the only one conscious whilst your colleagues and passengers die around you, not knowing what’s going on, and trying to help but not being able to do anything is just nightmare fuel to me.

poppunk_snowwhite , wikimedia.commons Report

Final score:
306points
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#8

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are A lone pilot was flying in Australia in 1978. He reported to air traffic control that he was accompanied by an aircraft above him. When asked to identify the aircraft, he replied "It isn't an aircraft". His plane disappeared, and was never to be found again.

anon , wikimedia.commons Report

Final score:
291points
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#9

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are Google fired two of their leaders in the AI ethics team for publishing articles about the dangers of an AI Google supported:)

anon , DragonImages Report

Final score:
283points
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#10

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are When you have scurvy, all your old scars and wounds open up, due to the vitamin needed to maintain scar tissue.
So for me for example, I had my jaw dislocated and my gums cut open from check to check to remove wisdom teeth.
If I got scurvy I would bleed uncontrollably from the inside of my mouth out.

What would be your most horrifying scar?

Weak_Independence793 , Karolina Grabowska Report

Final score:
265points
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#11

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are Virtually everybody has the capacity to kill, they just haven’t been put under the circumstances where it would be a preferable option.

HiNaughtyGirlImDad , Rawpixel Report

Final score:
258points
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#12

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are Pigs can dispose of a body with relative ease

2-year-old-edgelord , deyangeorgiev Report

Final score:
254points
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#13

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are When you get a sunburn, your cells are dying to avoid becoming cancerous

SoulsAndSandals , BGStock72 Report

Final score:
251points
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#14

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are in the NT (Australia) I remember seeing a government warning that crocodiles inhabit the area. Among the few bullet points of advice on the sign, the last one read "If they see you, it is already too late"

tigger04 , FamilyStock Report

Final score:
243points
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#15

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are How dark the BTS of the Wizard of Oz is. In Judy Garland's(Dorothy) own words "... they had us working days and nights on end. They'd give us pep-up pills to keep us on our feet long after we were exhausted. Then they'd take us to the studio hospital and knock us cold with sleeping pills- Mickey sprawled out on one bed and me on another. Then after four hours they'd wake us up and give us the pep-up pills again so we could work another seventy two hours in a row. Half of the time we were hanging from the ceiling, but it became a way of life for us."

inspectorspacetime95 , wikimedia.commons Report

Final score:
240points
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#16

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are Snails have thousands of teeth.

leaf-sauce , triwidana Report

Final score:
222points
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#17

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are You could die at any moment without any notice and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it.

ElephantExplosion , kitzstocker Report

Final score:
217points
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#18

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are Human trafficking makes 150 billion a year in money

SalamiMommie , anankkml Report

Final score:
217points
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#19

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are There are more slaves today than there were during the transatlantic slave trade era.

anon , stevanovicigor Report

Final score:
208points
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#20

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are An estimated 1.5 billion disposable masks entered the oceans last year, and that's on top of a dramatic increase in other single use plastics.

heretobefriends , recstockfootage Report

Final score:
206points
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#21

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are Antibiotic resistance

Ultraviolethead , Chibelek Report

Final score:
198points
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#22

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are There are 18 genocides taking place right now on this planet, and dozens have happened since WWII ended.

jordana309 , aetb Report

Final score:
194points
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#23

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are The Indian Cheetah and Sumatran Rhino were among some of the species that went extinct in 2019 along with;
Chinese paddlefish.
Yangtze giant softshell turtle.
Spix Macaw.
Catarina Pupfish.
Indochinese tiger.

Dugan_8_my_couch , wikimedia.commons Report

Final score:
178points
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#24

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are Over 150 dead bodies of climbers are still on Mount Everest.

DeathSpiral321 , arseniiphoto Report

Final score:
175points
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#25

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are Some monks used to endure a spiritual practice whereby they eliminated all their body fat through diet and exercise, ate wood lacquer tea to kill off internal bacteria, then sealed themselves in a tomb holding a string attached to a bell. A year after the bell stopped ringing, the tomb was opened and if the monk’s body was found to be uncorrupted they were revered as a saint; if not, they were re-buried.

The process took years and as they continued the monks required more and more help from their brothers until they entered the tomb. And the whole time you’d hear bells ringing from the nearby tombs as the monks inside slowly wound down the last days of their lives, voluntarily poisoned, starved, and buried alive for a chance at sainthood.

ejly , K. P. D. Madhuka Report

Final score:
175points
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#26

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are Something is eating the Milky Way galaxy - no, it isn't the plot for a Star Trek episode, it's really happening.

In 2009, researchers found a cluster of galaxies moving at an extraordinary speed towards a small patch of sky between the constellations of Centaurus and Vela.  Some unknown force is tearing away chunks of the galaxy, and astronomers still have no clue what exactly is causing it. It's been named 'Dark Flow.'

There is something big out there, far bigger than anything in our known universe. Such a behemoth would impose a kind of “tilt” on the universe, causing matter to move in one particular direction – as observations of the dark flow suggest. Could be anything - upto and including another universe.

sanctum502 , Pixabay Report

Final score:
172points
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#27

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are If a person gets bitten by an animal who has rabies, he will continue to live on a normal life for 12 weeks, and after the symptoms develop, there is no way he's making out alive. You'll know you're gonna die.

adityamism , habrovich Report

Final score:
166points
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#28

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are An unbelievable number of people who die of dehydration do so with a fair amount of fresh water in their possession.

Casual-Notice , tamaraelnova Report

Final score:
155points
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#29

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are In Mississippi and some parts of Florida, there is a Bacteria in the water at the coast that will literally eat your flesh off of you. Florida is much safer than Mississippi though. At least, in that aspect.

There is a mosquito in Florida that, when it bites you, can make your brain swell inside your skull and can possibly kill you.

LlamaLlimb , Threetails05 Report

Final score:
147points
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#30

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are For me the fact that maybe we'll never know what hapenned to flight MH370 is kinda disturbing at least

irenePro , wikimedia.commons Report

Final score:
147points
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#31

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are Fatal insomnia

ferros2q , bialasiewicz Report

Final score:
140points
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#32

Within three days of death, the enzymes from your digestive system begin to digest your body.

Smidvard_ Report

Final score:
139points
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#33

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are You might feel like the healthiest person in the world and yet still randomly die in your sleep. Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome is just one example. There are tons of small obstructions and irregularities that your heart could be suffering from that go completely unnoticed by you, your friends, and your doctors. You might be at an increased risk of just passing on when you go to bed tonight, and no one would even suspect as much until you actually died.

OneSaucyDragon , Pressmaster Report

Final score:
135points
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#34

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are you have a higher chance of dying to a swarm of bees than of winning the lottery

Clams221 , Mehaniq41 Report

Final score:
132points
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#35

There are many countries in the world where you can be put in prison or killed by the state for non-violent speech.

Conscious-Youth5676 Report

Final score:
131points
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#36

There is a parasite that will eat your brain. It's called [Naegleria fowleri] and it lives in warm water lakes in the sand and silt in the shallows. It will swim up your nose and proceed to eat your neurons and your brain. Usually symptoms occur around 4 hours after infection and include headache, sensitivity to light and nausea. If you experience any of these after swimming in a lake you need to go to the hospital ASAP. If undiagnosed, you'll be dead within 24 hours. To diagnose it, you'll have to get a spinal tap and pray the tech working knows what to look for.

knittykitty26 Report

Final score:
130points
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#37

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are The supervulcano under yellow stone is still active and can errupt. The chances are very low but If it does, It can cause devistation in whole USA. Spreading ashes over the whole Country and parts of Canada.

ToastAbrikoos , Lifeonwhite Report

Final score:
127points
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#38

- Long-dormant bacteria and viruses, trapped in ice and permafrost for centuries, are reviving as Earth's climate warms
- Gamma-ray bursts can kill all life on earth without any warning
- Asteroids can mess earth up

magicfunghi Report

Final score:
120points
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#39

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are The average American consumes over 150 pounds of sugar every year.

That’s approximately 187g of sugar per day for my metric system friends.

Actuaryba , shannonfieldsphoto Report

Final score:
117points
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#40

UK is trying to ban protests deemed "annoying".

veluxes Report

Final score:
96points
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#41

I don’t know how horrifying this might be, but if you get water between your contact lens and your eye and don’t clean it for a long period of time, there’s a chance some form of bacteria can get into your eye and will eat away your vision until it’s gone. Apparently doctors won’t know if it’s there until it’s too late as well. Always use solution folks!

jen4067 Report

Final score:
45points
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#42

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are Every single year, there are thousands of people in the US alone who disappear. Most of them show up again; usually the next day but sometimes a few days, a few weeks or even a few months later.

However, out of these thousands of people, there are roughly 150 people - every single year - who disappear and... simply never appear again. Nobody knows what has happened to those people. They might be dead, they might not be, we simply don't know.

Arcane_Panacea , Panxunbin Report

Final score:
40points
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#43

We all have mites in our eyelashes

NakedMcQueen Report

Final score:
37points
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#44

Pelicans and related birds, when they're too hot, push their spinal cords out through their mouths to vent excess heat.

Mysterious-Maverick Report

Final score:
35points
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#45

40 People Share Horrifying Facts That Shouldn’t Be True, But Are In just 1 kiss, over 80 million bacteria are exchanged

anon , francescosgura Report

Final score:
28points
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#46

Anesthesia Awareness.

Babies don't have kneecaps.

You have the ability to bite through your tongue but you brain is stopping you.

Aillians Report

Final score:
25points
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#47

There’s a tree out there growing that’ll eventually be your coffin.

BestieDarkheart Report

Final score:
25points
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