In 18th-century Europe, it was fashionable for wealthy landowners to hire people to dress weirdly, never shave, never bathe, and to live in shacks on their estates as ‘ornamental hermits’.
1
Paint like an Egyptian
“Mummy Brown” was a paint pigment containing the ground-up remains of Ancient Egyptian mummies. The color was discontinued in 1964 when the manufacturer ran out of its “key ingredient”.
2
Not worth it
To combat the rampant body snatching of the time, many 19th century coffins would be booby trapped with ‘Coffin Torpedos’, shotgun-like devices that fired steel balls at anyone who uncovered them.
3
Stop, STOP! STOP!!!
Despite its frivolous reputation, there are records of ancient cultures using tickling as a form of torture.
4
Don’t you dare…
Henry Ford would actively spy on his employees to make sure they were living virtuously.
5
Don’t smile, please
Odontophobia is the fear of teeth.
6
Imagine doing both?
More skin cancer is attributed to tanning beds than lung cancer is to smoking.
7
Run, boy!
In 16th century Britain, ‘Turnspit Dogs’ were specifically bred to run on a wheel that would rotate meat over an open fire. Hot coals were added to the wheel to encourage the dogs to run faster.
8
Bzzzzzzzz
You are 50 times more likely to get killed by bees than win the lottery.
9
Yeah, naw
According to its inventor, the Ouija Board named itself. After asking it what ‘Ouija’ means, it replied, ‘Good Luck!’
10
###K OFF!
A misomac is a person who hates everybody and everything.
11
That’s kind of messed up
‘Thelastessagereceived’ was a Tumblr page that collected the last text message people received from loved ones before they passed away.
12
It’s a real thing
MI5, the British Intelligence agency, does have the ability to issue ‘A License to Kill’. It is known as a Class Seven authorization and must be signed off by the British Foreign Minister.
13
That’s a lot of people
Of the 108 billion people estimated to have lived since the emergence of modern humans, 7 billion are still alive.
14
I don’t want to, but I kind of do
The ‘call of the void’ is the feeling people get when they consider leaping when standing on the edge of a cliff.
15
A ###tty way to go
Diarrhea causes more deaths per year than war, murder, and suicide combined.