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50 Weird And Unsettling Facts People Didn’t Ask For, But This Influencer Shared Anyway
Interview With Expert
A content creator from the Philadelphia area, Ashley Washington, knows a few things that keep them up at night. So, they do what every sensible person in their position would—share the horror with others.
Over time, their TikTok account has become an extensive archive of unsettling facts about everything from human anatomy and social practices to the animal kingdom and beyond.
Whether you want to fuel your nightmares or are simply looking for ways to expand your pub trivia knowledge, continue scrolling to dive into the bizarre! And while you do, don't miss the conversations we had with psychotherapists Michelle Maidenberg and Nancy Colier—you'll find them between the entries.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
The United States makes up 4% of the world's population and 68% of the world's serial k**lers.
As much as we might dislike some of these facts (and other things about the world), closing our eyes won't make them go away.
Dr. Michelle Maidenberg is an adjunct graduate professor of Mindfulness Practice at New York University and maintains a private practice in Harrison, NY. She told Bored Panda, "Denial is a common psychological defense mechanism where a person refuses to accept reality or facts, often to protect themselves from uncomfortable emotions or distress. It can be both helpful and harmful, depending on the context and duration of use."
According to Maidenberg, the benefits include:
- Short-term emotional relief. Denial can help someone cope with shocking or traumatic news (like a medical diagnosis or the loss of a loved one) by softening the emotional blow until they’re ready to process it.
- Preserving functioning in a crisis. In the immediate aftermath of overwhelming events, denial can allow a person to continue functioning, go to work, care for family, or make decisions without being emotionally paralyzed.
- Gradual processing. It can act as a psychological buffer, giving the mind time to gradually accept reality at a pace it can handle.
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#2
Your stomach produces a new lining every six days to avoid digesting itself. You'd be amazed at the number of body functions that are there solely to keep your body from just destroying itself.
The detriments of denial include:
- Avoidance of reality. "Long-term denial prevents individuals from addressing and resolving real issues, whether it’s a deteriorating relationship, addiction, illness, or financial trouble," Maidenberg said.
- Blocking of personal growth. Refusing to confront uncomfortable truths, we miss opportunities for self-aware reflection, healing, and growth.
- Strained relationships. Maidenberg also highlighted that, "Denial can create conflict with others who see the reality more clearly, leading to frustration, mistrust, or emotional distance."
- Worsening problems over time. Ignoring problems doesn't make them go away. On the contrary, they often escalate because of it, as denying symptoms of an illness can lead to worsened health outcomes in the future.
"Denial can be a healthy initial response to emotional pain, but if it becomes a chronic pattern, it often leads to negative or detrimental consequences," said Maidenberg, who also shares comprehensible bite-sized snippets on human psychology on her Instagram account. "The key is awareness and the ability to eventually transition from denial to acceptance and action."
Psychotherapist, interfaith minister, and thought leader Nancy Colier has, among other things, served as a performance consultant to professional athletes and artists. She told Bored Panda the first step to accepting a reality we don't like or want is to adjust expectations and make peace with the fact that life includes disappointment and discomfort.
"Removing the idea that life should always go well and be comfortable is the first part of getting more ok with what’s not ok. Just the acceptance that not ok is always a part of but not the whole of our life," said the author of The Emotionally Exhausted Woman: Why You’re Feeling Depleted and How to Get What You Need and Can't Stop Thinking: How to Let Go of Anxiety and Free Yourself from Obsessive Rumination.
"Secondly, it’s important to create practices that allow you to stay in touch with those aspects of life that are working for you in the moment," Colier continued. "To feel grounded spiritually in some way so that what is 'wrong' or uncomfortable about reality can exist in a larger awareness of what is good and well and always present inside you—that space of all is okay must exist somewhere in us so that we can better tolerate that which is not ok."
#4
The last school to be desegregated was Cleveland High School in Cleveland, Mississippi, in the year 2016. Which is crazy.
#5
For those of us who are familiar with Waffle House, this shouldn't be unusual, but for those of you who don't know what Waffle House is, it's a restaurant in the United States that is open 24/7, no matter what, every day of the year. the US government actually uses something called the Waffle House Index to determine the severity of natural disasters based on how many Waffle Houses are open.
#6
Oxford University was created 200 years before the Aztec Empire.
Joe Publique 8 months ago
My University was founded over 100 years before the Aztecs 'met' the conquistadors. In Europe, it isn't uncommon. For example, Bologna, Paris, Glasgow,, etc.
#7
In 1953, an F11 fighter jet shot itself down because it was going faster than its bullet was.
Russell Bowman 8 months ago
In 1973, an F-14 Tomcat was struck by his own missile. Luckily, it was a dummy missile, and he ejected safely.
#8
90% of modern apples can be traced back to two apple trees.
Rosecrucian Roeth 8 months ago
And to think I was told it was only one! (Born RC here, but gave it up as a bad habit when I reached the age of reason).
#9
When someone gets a kidney transplant, unless there's something harmful in that other kidney, like cancer, they typically just leave them in with the new ones.
Rebecca McNall 8 months ago
it's true my husband had a kidney transplant and they left the old ones inside........ they just smush them over a bit to make room....... they don't hurt anything they just don't work
#10
Put a disclaimer on this one, if you're weird about hospitals or medical anxiety, just skip this part. But it's legal in a number of states for medical students to give Pap smears to women under anesthesia without their consent.
#11
There's a thing called immune privilege, which is basically just your brain keeping your eyes, brain, and your testes a secret from your immune system so that it doesn't try to k**l them and you.
🇺🇦 🇵🇸 TribbleThinking 8 months ago
Ha! So the rest of your body is controlled by a secret sect? Isn't that the stuff of conspiracy theories? 😀
#12
When you cry and your nose is running, it's actually your tears. And if you're like me and you've ever gotten liquid eyeliner in your eye in and wondered why it came out of your nose. They're connected.
#13
In 1993, a 16 year old spent about three hours operating a New York City subway before he was caught.
#14
The woman who discovered radium and plutonium, Marie Curie, along with all of her tools, whenever she passed, had to be buried in a one inch thick lead coffin to prevent any of that from getting out and making other people sick.
#15
For every pound of fat that you gain, you create an extra mile of new blood vessels for it.
#17
Kangaroos can use their singular toenail to dismember other animals. It's horrifying.
#18
Two food facts I love to tell people is :
1. If you are allergic to shrimp, you also can't eat cicadas.
2. In a blind sniff test, 90% of people cannot differentiate between the smell of parmesan cheese and vomit. So sorry if I just ruined that for you.
Michelle C 8 months ago
I’m one of the 10% who can because I have a very strong sense of smell and I’ve always had one. I had no idea the ability to differentiate was so rare!
#19
While filming Tokyo Drift, they couldn't get a permit to film one of the scenes, so they just did it anyway. But they hired a fall guy to pretend to be the director and spend a night in jail for it.
#20
Coin Star is tricking you. Coin Star originally had no counting sound and worked much faster. But people didn't believe that it was counting accurately, so they put in a counting sound and made it slower. A similar thing happened with Febreze. It was originally unscented, but nobody believed it worked, so they added scent to it.
Lynda Loyacono 8 months ago
When I utilize Coinstars, I tend to bang the c**p out of the dispenser several times. I will always hear additional coins dropping after the fact.
#21
Your corneas are the only part of your body that doesn't get any blood.
Offbeat Quinoa 8 months ago
“The cornea, being avascular (lacking blood vessels), obtains oxygen directly from the atmosphere through tears and the lining of the eyelids.” :)
#24
Snakes, specifically pythons, have what's called vestigial legs. So these itty bitty little legs left over from evolution, they're not functional. They don't have bone, they don't do anything.
#25
One of my favorite complex facts is the guy that sings Peanut Butter Jelly Time died in an 11 hour standoff with police. Meanwhile, his brother in law was trying to talk him down. His brother in law is Snoop Dogg.
#27
A shrimp can see more colors than you.
#28
The lobotomy is still the only neurosurgery based thing to ever receive a Nobel Prize. There also is no Nobel Prize for psychology. It's typically given in economics instead.
#29
Women who are operated on by male surgeons are 32% more likely to die.
StrangeOne 8 months ago
It's more likely you're going to get a male surgeon, because it's a male dominated field, and the fact that medical research is mainly done on men and used as a reference for women, we are at greater risk for any medical procedure.
#30
The plant orchids are named after the Greek word orchis, meaning testicles.
#31
Before toilet paper, people used corn cobs.
#32
This one truly haunts me. The pH of your "downstairs" can disintegrate an ant.
#33
A park ranger at Shenandoah National Park was hit by lightning seven different times.
#34
You are more likely to survive being shot in the head than to survive rabies.
John Dilligaf 8 months ago
once symptoms develop rabies is as close to 100% fatal as makes no difference. Less than 20 people , worldwide, have been documented as surviving
#35
The inventor of the Pringles can had his ashes buried in Pringles can in dedication to the brand.
#36
The Victorians ate almost all of the mummies. Almost all of them.
Panda Kicki 8 months ago
No, the eating was a very small part. The where used as fertilizer, pigment at similar. The victorians did destroy most of the mummies they found, but not by eating. That was more of a fad and not something everyday folk went aroung munching on.
#37
In 1980, Saddam Hussein was given a key to the city of Detroit.
Nils Skirnir 8 months ago
In fact George H W Bush was good buddies with him too. While in the CIA he was key in Hussein’s takeover in Iraq. Until the Kuwait invasion by Iraq.
#38
A million seconds is 12 days. A billion seconds is 31 years.
Offbeat Quinoa 8 months ago
I remember telling people i was a billion seconds old when I turned 31 last year lol
#39
The guy that built the Taj Mahal built it in honor of his wife, who he impregnated to death. And then she died in childbirth. He wanted to build the Taj Mahal. Not only did he put everybody in debt doing this, but after it was built, he wanted no one to ever be able to build anything even remotely similar. So he k**led all of the architects and designers. And then anyone who actually physically built it, he cut off their hands and legs so that they couldn't build it again. Then a couple of years, he decided he wanted one, but in black. And then his son had had enough of it. So his son k**led all of his other brothers, took a throne, had his dad put in jail, and then, while he was in jail, presented his dad with all of his dead brother's heads on a platter, which eventually drove him into madness. He plucked all of the hair off of his head and body and then died.
UKDeek 8 months ago
All of that is nonsense. Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal, was fighting wars and revolt, and he was a victim of a power struggle with his sons, one of which declared Shah Jahan incompetent to rule and put him under house arrest... nothing to do with lack of money. And there is no historical evidence that any of the builders were mutilated or killed, and it is estimated over 20,000 people were involved in the construction of the Taj Mahal. The rumour of a "black Taj" was debunked in 2006 when archeologists partial constructed a pool in the Moonlight Garden (on the opposite river bank of the Taj Mahal, where the rumoured "black Taj" was to be built) and they found the pool perfectly reflected the Taj Mahal. Scholars believe the rumour of the "black Taj" can be traced back to fanciful writings from 1665.
#40
House flies can live up to two months.
#41
The United States just started reprinting Purple Hearts. We had a stockpile of thousands of them from World War 2 in anticipation from an attack on Japan.
Kim Kermes 8 months ago
In anticipation of the estimated wounded US military members from a traditional invasion of Japan. The expectation was every Japanese able to walk would be mobilized, even if they could only be armed with sticks. The estimated Japanese losses far exceeded the actual deaths from the A bombs, counting upto the present.
#42
Texas is three times bigger than the UK.
#43
It's been proven that painkillers can actually make you less empathetic towards other people and can dull emotional pain.
Offbeat Quinoa 8 months ago
“research suggests that common painkillers like acetaminophen (Tylenol) can reduce emotional pain, (particularly social pain like rejection or hurt feelings) potentially by affecting similar brain regions involved in both physical and emotional pain processing.”
#45
If you're allergic to chocolate. You're also allergic to cockroaches.
Ace 8 months ago
Rubbish. Based solely on the fact that FDA rules specify a maximum allowable amount of insect parts in certain foods, but it does not follow at all that all chocolate contains that much, or indeed any at all. https://www.thetakeout.com/cockroaches-in-chocolate-cause-allergy-fda-debunks-1847996401/
#46
Babies are born with their skull, just not in one piece. That will never be normal to me.
"Disembodied voice" 8 months ago
Baby's have about 300 bones, they fuse as they age until we get to the normal adult amount of 206.
#47
Part of the reason people need glasses because the outer layer of your eye is the wrong shape. Now, if you're like me, after learning that fact, anytime I see somebody's side profile, I always look at the shape of their eye. Not that I'm gonna know what I'm looking at, but just for fun.
"Disembodied voice" 8 months ago
*Part of the reason some people need glasses. Plenty of people without astigmatism wear glasses
#49
You can get constipated related amnesia. You can be so backed up that it puts pressure on your vagus nerve, and when you finally do release all of that from your body, it can cause a form of amnesia.
Binky Melnik 8 months ago
Aside from the fact this girl is a wretched writer, I don’t understand this one. Wouldn’t pressing on our vagus nerve also potentially cause amnesia? Or, say, wearing a belt that’s too tight, or getting a strenuous massage? Why would it be only peristalsis, or did she leave lotsa stuff out to have something that sounds most interesting of all the choices?
#50
The greatest number of children born to one woman is 69 kids. And her husband left her and had 18 kids with someone else.
#51
Your hair collectively grows about half an inch every month. But each of your hair strands added together grow about 10 miles a year.
#52
This one's really cool, but the way your brain prepares to intake alcohol if you drink it regularly. Same thing with dr**s. If you go somewhere you don't normally go when you drink, or you drink something different than normal, or you're in a different situation, it's at a different time of day. Your brain hasn't had time to mentally prepare for that. So you're actually going to get more drunk than if you were, you know, having your usual glass of wine at home.
Lynda Loyacono 8 months ago (edited)
If only this was written comprehensibly. What am I griping about? Illiteracy is the new lingo.
#53
Squids have a donut shaped esophagus, which is really unfortunate for them, because if they eat anything that's too big, they get brain damage.
Offbeat Quinoa 8 months ago (edited)
This is incorrect. Squids have a donut shaped BRAIN :) and their esophagus passes through the middle, meaning if they try to swallow food that is too large, it can put too much pressure on the brain and cause damage.
#54
Chlorine doesn't have a smell. What you're smelling is the reaction between chlorine, pee and any kind of oils or things that come off of your body. Just think about that next time you're at a pool.
#55
There are more ants alive today than there have been humans ever. Ants are also the most populous animal basically anywhere. And on top of that, if you put the weight of all humans together equals the weight of all ants currently living.
#56
In 1950 they used live bears to test Mach 2 ejection seats.
#57
We don't know where eels come from. And our best guess is a Bermuda Triangle. Of course.
John Dilligaf 8 months ago
of course we know where eels come from. You see little Johnny, when a mommy eel and a daddy eel like each other very much .....
#58
Cleopatra was credited with creating one of the first "dzz dzz machines", and it was just a box full of bees.
#59
The abysmal layer of the ocean is the layer that is in complete darkness. It makes up 83% of the ocean and 60% of earth. The thing that makes this worse is that, one, we can't really get very far in the ocean. But two, that the square law doesn't apply underwater. The square law says that as things get larger, they have kind of a breaking point where they would be crushed under their own weight. So they can't get too big. But the ocean does not apply there, of course.
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What do you think ?
Ahnjunwan 8 months ago
Some very confusing to me but maybe because not my first language. Some complete BS
Offbeat Quinoa 8 months ago
These sounded weird because they’re all from a TikTok video of a lady just conversationally saying these facts to us.
Ahnjunwan 8 months ago
Some very confusing to me but maybe because not my first language. Some complete BS
Offbeat Quinoa 8 months ago
These sounded weird because they’re all from a TikTok video of a lady just conversationally saying these facts to us.
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