Do you sometimes get so bored that you decide to read something online that leads you to more information that again leads you to yet another sequence of information? And then you remember something that may be interesting to check out and after quite a while, you find yourself somewhere deep inside a rabbit hole. But there is still a lot of research left to do that leads to you just falling deeper and deeper into that hole…
If you ever have found yourself in such a situation, just a little warning - you may end up in the same situation again. One Reddit user recently started a thread asking folks online to share questions or topics that pulled them into the deepest rabbit hole.
More info: Reddit
#1
Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
Arthur C. Clarke.
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141points
#2
For a little while, I couldn't stop reading about Action Park, a water/amusement park that was open in New Jersey from the late 70s until the 1996. Basically, the whole place skirted a TON of rules and regulations, and six people died on rides.
There were also literally THOUSANDS of injuries.
The owner would pay employees $100 to test out crazy new rides. They had a slide that went completely upside down. It was um, not safe.
There was a giant human sized hamster wheel they tested by rolling down a hill. It rolled down the hill, broke the fence, and crossed the highway, with someone inside.
I recommend the documentary "Class Action Park" on HBO, or you can just see some crazy rides and old footage on youtube.
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107points
Bored Panda got in touch with the author of this thread and he kindly agreed to share more information about the inspiration and topics that pull him down the rabbit hole.
To begin with, the OP shared that he has been reading about so-called ‘perfect numbers’. To summarize a little bit what it is - an integer that is positive and equal to the sum of its appropriate divisors is called a perfect number. The sum of 1, 2, and 3 equals 6, which is the smallest perfect number. The remaining perfect numbers are 8,128, 28, and 496. The precise date when these numbers were first described is currently considered lost.
#4
Missing persons. People have no idea how hard it is to find someone in the wilderness, especially if they aren't trying to be found. The bodies are there, just never found. Sometimes people stumble upon the remains, but it's usually coincidence.
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103points
#5
The life of Harry Houdini. I was working on a historical novel idea a couple years ago that wove fictional events into historical 1926 New York City. My main character encountered several notable locations and places, and Houdini, his home, magic, and family played a major role.
There is so much of Houdini’s life that is fascinatingly well-documented. There are also tantalizing unknowns that keep both historians and magic buffs intrigued until today.
Weird facts:
He was the first to pilot an airplane in Australia.
When WW1 broke out, he trained US troops how to escape prisoner shackles if they were captured by the enemy and how not to panic if trapped underwater, such as in a torpedoed ship.
He knew and collaborated with HP Lovecraft who ghost-wrote an adventure story set Egypt in Houdini’s voice. They were collaborating on a book debunking superstitions at the time of Houdini’s death.
His house in Harlem was wired with a secret microphone system permitting him to eavesdrop on visitors and then appear to have mind-reading powers.
He purchased an actual Egyptian mummy what rattled around in his basement, much to his wife’s chagrin.
I could do this all day. Check it out.
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91points
He then added that he was curious why scientists have been so obsessed with finding them and whether or not there’s a real benefit or use for perfect numbers.
“It is the deepest rabbit hole I've ever seen,” OP emphasized. “So much time and resources are spent finding them, but now with AI things are changing.”
#6
If cigarettes are such a significant public health concern, are a multi-billion dollar industry, and are over a century old, why can’t we make them less harmful?
Went DEEP into the research. The answer was surprising: we can.
The rabbit hole involves GMOs, a secret research project dubbed “Project X”, catalytic filtering, Central American politics, and the Amish. I now have a file on my computer dedicated to the research papers I dug up on the topic.
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88points
#7
Christian fundamentalists in the US. Randomly stumbled across the Duggars when I was a teenager, which set off an entire chain reaction that culminated in dozens of hours of watched LDS documentaries, YouTube essays, Reddit deep dives, etc. There is so. much. mess in those communities.
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87points
However, after this followed OP’s curiosity about whether there are other people who are also in the same rabbit hole as him and decided to ask the question on Reddit.
However he noted that “It seems not everyone is into math, hehe. No one mentioned ‘perfect numbers.’”
#8
Narcissistic personality disorder and borderline personality disorder. Mental health fascinates me because it provides answers to the abuse I experienced as a child and in relationships as an adult.
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74points
#9
The disappearance of MH370 in 2014, as I've flown on Malaysian Airlines several times and a big part of my job is doing root-cause analysis of complex incidents. I work in medicine, not aviation, but the reasons why planes go down has always fascinated me.
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63points
#10
The fact Marilyn Monroe’s body disappeared for several hours after her death. Her entire life story was tragic.
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62points
Probably most of us have that topic that we can discuss with somebody without stopping or even read article after article.
So what about you guys? What is the topic or question that pulled you into a deep rabbit hole? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
#12
In Virginia radar detectors are illegal, so they have radar detector detectors. So I’m wondering if anyone built a radar detector detector detector?
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58points
#13
“What was Prussia?” was the question that indirectly made history go from a subject I had a bit of interest in to the subject that I plan to teach for a living, so I guess you could say I’m still going down that rabbit hole years after I asked that question.
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56points
#14
Michael Jackson and whatever he did or didn't do. Extremely interesting topic due to the unprecedented amount of smoke and mirrors surrounding a celeb, and probably impossible to determine one way or another. Was never a big fan but went down that rabbit hole one time because of some random reddit comment and it turned into a guilty pleasure hobby for a solid year. I probably could get a PhD in Michael Jackson lore now.
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53points
#15
The Stanford Prison Experiment Also, the difference between crows and ravens and whether I can tell them apart after studying them (I still cannot) Edit: I'm getting some great material to fall into rabbit holes for from this thread, thank you.
50points
#16
I read about the Japanese concentration camps being especially horrible on Reddit and that was extremely depressing and f****d up but I couldn't bring myself to stop reading.
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48points
#17
Random people from ~100 years ago who pique my interest, and then I'm on Ancestry for the next little while, trying to piece together their life stories.
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43points
#18
The f*****g titanic....which leads to other shipwrecks.
It's mostly the images of something so alien as the bottom of the ocean.
It's mostly the images of something so alien as the bottom of the ocean.
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42points
#19
The amount of people who have 'gone overboard' on a cruise ship...
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41points
