Everybody loves a good fun fact. Did you know that ostriches' eyes are bigger than their brains? What about that most people fall asleep in about 15-20 minutes? Also, everyone’s tongue print is unique! Unfortunately, however, life has a way of balancing things out. So for every amusing and uplifting fact out there, there’s another unsettling, disturbing or disgusting not-so-fun counterpart.
Below, you'll find some of these facts that Reddit users have shared right here and here that might have you immediately wishing you had never read them, pandas. This list may not be the most enjoyable ride, but we hope you still find it fascinating, and don't forget to upvote the information you consider to be the epitome of "not fun"!
#1
The legendary science fiction author Isaac Asimov died of AIDS. He caught it through a blood transfusion, before they knew to screen for it. Part of his will was that the cause of his death not be revealed for 10 years (He died in 1992, when AIDS was still very much stigmatized; he didn't want his family to have to contend with allegations while they grieved). Asimov was a forward-thinking guy, and reasoned that the stigma around AIDS would likely have died down by 2002. He was right.
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320points
#2
Veterinarians that put down sick pets will say that the owner often chooses not to be in the room, leaving the pet frantically searching for its owner in the last minutes of his life.
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283points
To learn more about how this not-so-fun conversation started in the first place, we reached out to Reddit user Erikjb12, who posed the question "What are some NOT fun facts?" and was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda. "I had seen there were a lot of questions at that time asking for 'Fun facts' about this and that, and some of them were more or less the same," Erikjb12 shared. "Then I thought I might see some actual unique responses if I posed an anti-question, to get people to think of maybe more macabre facts. Ironically, not fun facts are in some ways even more fun. And it piques peoples interest for some reason. Also I just really wanted to know some," they added with a laugh.
#3
For a very long time, beheading was used as a form of execution because it was believed it resulted in instantaneous death. For quite some time, there was suspicion that this wasn't the case, but many rules and regulations governing the use of cadavers limited doctors from thoroughly investigating enough to challenge the practice.
However, at the turn of the 20th Century, a French doctor, Beaurieux, was permitted to make an investigation of a severed head from a criminal named Languille, immediately after guillotining. He notes his observations:
*"Here is what I was able to note immediately after the decapitation: the eyelids and lips of the decapitated man worked in irregularly rhythmic contractions for about 4 or 6 seconds. I waited several seconds longer. The spasmodic movements ceased. The face relaxed, the lids half-closed in the eyeballs, leaving only the white of the conjunctiva visible, exactly as in the dying whom we have occasion to see every day [...] It was then that I called in a strong, sharp, voice: 'Languille!' I then saw the eyelids slowly lift up, without any spasmodic contraction -- I insist advisedly on this pecularity -- but with an even movement, quite distinct and normal, such as happens in everyday life, with people awakened or torn from their thoughts. Next, Languille's eyes very definitely fixed themselves on mine and the pupils focused themselves. I was not, then, dealing with a vague dull look, without any expression that can be observed any day in dying people to whom one speaks: I was dealing with undeniably living eyes which were looking at me."*
Every person who was ever decapitated was most likely aware of their predicament for a short time following their 'death'.
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251points
#4
America has 5% of the world's population, but 25% of all prisoners in the world.
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237points
We were also curious if the OP had ever read any facts that they immediately regretted finding out. "Honestly, I love facts, so I can't really say I wish I didn't know something, but I once saw pictures of bone cancer and that made my skin crawl in the worst way I have ever felt. New pseudo phobia of mine. I wish I hadn't seen that."
We also asked Erikjb12 if any of the replies to their question surprised them. "Babies can die after consuming honey," they told Bored Panda. "The botulinum toxin (like the one in Botox) will paralyze their muscles causing 'Floppy baby syndrome'. I'm glad I read this one, but it sure as heck surprised me. I'm a sucker for honey, so I'm glad I got to know before I had any children. Now I feel so prepared."
#5
Homosexuals in concentration camp during WWII weren't recognised as victims after the war ended, and some of them were even re-arrested with their years in camps during the war only subtracted form their sentence.
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226points
#6
The Nobel Peace Prize was only invented by Alfred Nobel to undo the bad PR done after he invented dynamite.
He did not want to be remembered for inventing something that killed people, and for the most part, his plan worked.
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223points
And when it comes to why we're so interested in these not-so-fun facts, the OP says, "I think we seek out unsettling information in order to prepare ourselves for mishaps or accidents. In some way, I also think it gives one a sense of power being able to observe danger from above, like watching a horror film or seeing live wild animals in a cage. It makes people feel a rush of power and security, paradoxically. I always found that stuff odd, but personally I can not recall any fact I regret knowing."
#7
Over 300 people are believed to have jumped from the World Trade Center on 9/11. One of the falling bodies killed a fireman at the scene.
On top of that, there are still over 1000 victims whose remains have not been found.
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218points
#8
Almost all autoimmune diseases include ongoing pain as one of their symptoms.
Most people with one autoimmune disease have several more.
More women than men get certain autoimmune diseases, but men get them, too.
It takes an average of seven years to get a valid diagnosis; in the meantime, the patient may be suffering on and on, feeling hopeless. Patients are often told that it's all in their heads.
Most people with one autoimmune disease have several more.
More women than men get certain autoimmune diseases, but men get them, too.
It takes an average of seven years to get a valid diagnosis; in the meantime, the patient may be suffering on and on, feeling hopeless. Patients are often told that it's all in their heads.
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214points
#9
In Australia, there is a plant called the gympie gympie, otherwise known as the s*icide plant. When touched, it delivers multiple stings with a long-lasting neurotoxin that is so painful that people would rather kill themselves than live through a few days of excruciating pain, and then a further several years of lesser pain, or full reoccurrence in the correct conditions. If the tiny hairs that deliver the stings are not removed, or are buried, the pain will continue for years. The pain, which has been described as feeling like being doused in hot acid and being electrocuted simultaneously, is so bad the people have been driven mad by it. Horses who have been stung by this plant have literally thrown themselves off cliffs. An ex-serviceman names Cyril Bromley is known to have fallen into one of the plants during WWII. Driven mad by it, he had to be strapped to a bed to prevent himself from committing suicide. Another rather unfortunate officer is known to have shot himself in the head after using one of the plant’s leaves as toilet paper. Rather than live with the pain in his rear end, he chose to end his life.
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208points
#10
From an older comment of mine that fits this question:
The Challenger astronauts didn't die when the shuttle "exploded". The stack actually just broke apart under aerodynamic stress and the explosion you thought you saw was just the expanding cloud of hydrogen from the external tank burning. The forces involved in the breakup were very survivable.
The crew cabin was left intact after it separated from the rest of the orbiter and may not have depressurized. There's evidence to suggest some or all of them were conscious at least part of the way down, if not the entire time. And photography of the disaster shows the cabin falling without spinning in a nose down attitude, meaning no excessive forces to knock them out.
The impact with the ocean was what actually killed them. It took two minutes and forty-five seconds from breakup to impact. It's possible that some or all of them were conscious and aware the whole time.
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200points
#11
There is a whale that has been searching for a mate for the last 5 year. It has been wholly unsuccessful because its voice is a different frequency than other whales. So much so that whales run from it.
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193points
#12
If you show symptoms of rabies, your chances of dying are nearly 100%.
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185points
#13
There is a disorder that causes your body to replace your muscle tissue with bone over time.
For those who are wondering, it's called fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP). And currently there is no cure for it
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179points
#14
If you're attacked by a bear, it won't necessarily try to kill you like other predators would. It just starts eating.
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169points
#15
There are more prisons in the United states than there are colleges. And prisons have inmate quotas to meet.
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167points
#16
Insect populations have decreased by 80% since the 1980's.
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165points
#17
When it comes to heart disease, the VERY FIRST symptom in roughly 1/3 of all cases is sudden death. Meaning you could be perfectly healthy and drop dead because you had heart disease and didn’t know it.
Check your family history people.
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159points
#18
There once lived a man known as Tararre who is known as "the hungriest man in history." Despite being average to below-average weight, he lived his whole life with a nearly endless, insanely ravenous hunger. He would eat anything and everything he could find. Since his family couldn't accommodate him, he took to the streets where he'd eat all the raw meat, rotting fruit, live rodents, and other small animals he could find. He used this horrific "skill" to become a street performer where people would give him barrels full of cork, huge baskets of apples, more live animals, and sometimes rocks just to witness him swallow it all with ease. There are other disgusting aspects of tarrare's life that are worth reading about. I think the least fun fact about him is that he was caught several times trying to eat bodies from a hospital morgue, he was also suspected to have consumed a toddler at the same hospital. It's one of the most disgusting yet fascinating stories I've ever read.
155points
#19
The youngest girl to ever give birth was 5 years, 7 months, and 21 days old.
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153points
#20
The first five people who stopped applauding at Stalin’s 1938 presidium were sent to the Gulag for ten years; their crime was that they stopped applauding.
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148points