29 Deeply Unsettling Facts From History And Daily Life

A so-called "cutaneous horn" is a specific, gray-brown, cone-shaped skin growth that occurs in some people, most often in old age. These growths are typically small, but in some cases, they can reach several inches in length.

For example, this Chinese woman, Liang Xiuzhen, had one on her head. Over time, the horn grew to a length of approximately ten inches. Doctors suggested surgery to remove the growth, but her family and the patient herself, fearing potential complications, refused.

In 2018, Jacqueline Ades of Arizona felt dumped by her date after just one meeting with him. The woman was apparently deeply offended, so over the next few months, she sent him 159K texts, ranging from amorous to offensive, and even outright threatening.

Paradise Valley police even stopped the woman while attempting to break into the man's home. Later, after being released, she went back to his office, claiming to be his wife. Apparently, her obsession with that guy had reached painful proportions.

On March 25, 1975, the Lyon sisters, 10-year-old Katherine and 2-year-old Sheila, went missing from a shopping mall in Wheaton, Maryland. A lengthy search for the girls proved unsuccessful. However, many years later, detectives reviewing the case decided to reopen it.

In 2013, detectives uncovered evidence from a man named Lloyd Welch Jr., who had claimed to have information on the case back in 1975. Welch accused a relative of being responsible for the girls' disappearance, but after questioning in 2014, he was charged with the crime himself.

In 2017, Welch confessed to the crime, which he apparently committed in the basement of his parents' home. The final resting places of both girls, however, have never been found.

In 2013, 67-year-old Belgian Sabine Moreau drove to visit a friend in Brussels, using her car's GPS navigation system as a guide. She likely trusted the device's directions completely, but the trip, which was supposed to be around 90 miles, ended up being 900.

It turned out that she had entered her friend's address and the GPS "found" it in the Croatian capital of Zagreb. During her two-day trip across Europe, Moreau filled up the car twice, had a minor road accident, and even managed to sleep while parked on the side of the road.

In 2016, one participant in a ghost pepper contest nearly had a disastrous end. After the man fell ill right next to the pepper table, emergency doctors discovered an inch-wide hole in his esophagus. The poor guy even had to spend several days in the hospital with a feeding tube.

These are so-called "cholesterol hands" – the result of a dangerous experiment conducted by a Florida guy who deliberately ate 6 to 9 pounds of butter and cheese every day for eight months.

The result was "xanthelasma," a condition in which cholesterol creates visible deposits on the hands. Besides being an aesthetic concern, this also poses increased health risks.

In 2017, a British burglar planned to break into a private property to steal. He wanted to enter through a slightly open window, but his plan was thwarted when he became stuck halfway through, unable to get in or out.

A few hours later, the hapless thief was spotted, and the arriving police, before arresting him, indulged in a selfie with the burglar-to-be stuck in the window.

In January 1992, US President George W. Bush visited Japan for a 12-day visit, but the visit was marred by several unpleasant incidents. First, during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa at his residence in Tokyo, the president vomited onto Miyazawa's lap, most likely due to an acute attack of gastroenteritis.

However, this incident, which was even caught on camera and later mocked on Saturday Night Live, was followed by another. A random Idaho guy named James Edward Smith later called CNN and posed as the president's physician, claiming Bush had passed away in Japan.

The story also leaked, and the White House press office was forced to issue a denial. By the way, for several years afterward, the slang expression "Bushu-suru," which means "to pull a Bush," (or "Bushing it"), became quite common in Japan.

In 2018, 38-year-old accountant Darren Carville from Kent, UK, became a true news "hero." Tired of constant bullying at work, he claimed to have stolen £170K ($227K) from his employer, bringing the company to the brink of bankruptcy.

However, company representatives claim that Carville had simply been stealing little by little over several years, and when he was threatened with exposure, he stole a large sum and went on the run. Incidentally, the Briton spent the stolen money on entertainment within just a couple of weeks.