History,CuriositiesDEC 1, 2021

30 "Unfun" Facts People Have Learned Recently That Are Both Fascinating And Terrifying

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Life isn’t just about cute animals, fun artwork, and wholesome stories. Our world is full of uncomfortable historical and scientific facts that would make any Panda feel uneasy and just a bit queasy. However, we think that facts are facts: we have to do our best to see the full picture, even if we don’t feel too rosy and cozy reading some things.

We’ve collected the most ‘unfun’ facts about life on Planet Earth, as shared by internet users on the r/AskReddit subreddit. Scroll down to have a read. Though we have to warn you, these facts really aren’t for the faint of heart. If you’d rather have something bright and light instead, you should definitely check out this Bored Panda article right here about people doing good deeds out of the kindness of their hearts. To the rest of you who are sticking around—we salute your bravery and curiosity. Onwards!

Of course, we have to remember to take everything that we read on the internet with a grain of salt. We reached out to Joseph M. Pierre, a professor of psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, to talk about conspiracy theories, whether some events seem to attract far more lies than usual, and what kinds of people tend to believe in misinformation. Read on for Bored Panda’s interview with him. When you’re done, you should take a peek at our earlier article about not-so-fun facts right over here.

#1

30 "Unfun" Facts People Have Learned Recently That Are Both Fascinating And Terrifying

There is a whale called 52 Blue that only sings at that frequency meaning it can’t communicate with other whales. It is nicknamed the loneliest whale on the planet.

Dave3012, Dmitry Osipenko

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225points

#2

More Americans died in 2 months from Covid19 than 10 years of Vietnam.

landertall, Hospital CLÍNIC

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214points

#3

When your skin becomes red from spending too much time under the sunlight, it’s basically because your skin cells are committing suicide to avoid becoming cancerous.

Captain-Cheesehead

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208points

I was curious to find out whether there are certain historical periods that have more conspiracy theories associated with them. For instance, propaganda during wartime, e.g. during the Second World War, seems to indicate that people may have been more likely to believe in theories rather than facts. However, this might not be the case.

Professor Pierre from UCLA pointed out that there are two ways of looking at this. First off, stating that people during some historical periods were more prone to believing in conspiracy theories isn’t particularly consistent with cold, hard facts. On the flip side, there are certain events that conspiracy theorists tend to focus on when twisting the truth for whatever purpose they have in mind.

In short, the upside is that, historically, people were just as smart then as they are now. The downside? People were only as smart then as they are now.

#4

The youngest person to ever give birth was a Peruvian girl, Lina Medina, a Quechua Indian who gave birth to a child in 1939 at age 5. She had precocious puberty and had her first period at age eight months. She may have been raped at a debauched indigenous religious festival where people often brought small children and rapes were known to occur. The man who raped her was never found, and she was silent about how she got pregnant.

The delivery was by Caesarean as vaginal delivery was deemed impossible. Her son was told that he was her little brother, and she also treated him in this manner. Obviously, she was an incompetent parent, preferring to play with dolls rather than tend to the baby, but that's to be expected. The case is well documented in medical journals, including photos of her pregnant body. It is also in the Guinness Book.

She later married, had another son, went to work for the physician who delivered her and lived a quite normal life. The son was healthy but died young at age 40. She and her family both refused all requests to speak of the case, including offers of significant sums of money. As of 2008, she was still alive at age 75 and living in a slum in Lima, Peru. If she is still alive, she would be 87 years old.

Silverfox17421, Mysterious Nights India

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208points

#5

You might still be “it” from an unfinished game of tag

lacedflame, John R. Hofmann Sr.

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200points

#6

Fatal familial insomnia exists. It’s a rare, incurable prionic brain disease that progressively destroys your brain’s ability to sleep. Eventually, you stop sleeping altogether, go insane, have seizures, and die.

Fenius_Farsaid, Ben Blennerhassett

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188points

“Joseph Uscinski at the University of Miami would disagree that there was any increase in conspiracy theories in the 1930s or 40s,” Professor Pierre told Bored Panda.

“His research together with his colleague Joseph Parent going back to the 1800s shows no evidence of that. Based on their research, the only spike from the 20th Century occurred during the 1950’s communist ‘red scare,’ he shared. Though, when we take a peek at specific historical events from a more modern perspective, the situation changes.

“It is true that certain historical events do tend to attract conspiracy theories and there is evidence that times of societal upheaval or crisis when people are feeling unsafe and desperate for clarity offer a kind of fertile soil for conspiracy theory beliefs,” the expert revealed.

#7

Most animals will kill you before eating you, bears just start eating you

0verlyEnthusiastic, Tony Hisgett

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188points

#8

There are at least 8 nuclear weapons known to be missing.

yo_gabba_gavin, The Official CTBTO Photostream

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183points

#9

Judith Barsi, the little girl who voice acted Ducky in The Land Before Time was murdered by her father at age ten. All they found of her and her mother were charred remains. The father shot himself after.

red_duke

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176points

“Over the past 60 years, the assassination of JFK, the death of Princess Diana, and 9/11 are the most obvious examples of national traumas surrounded by conspiracy theory beliefs.”

He added: “We should acknowledge that many conspiracy theories, like the idea that the Earth is flat, aren’t really based on any kind of obvious traumatic event.”

#10

You have a higher chance of dying on the way to get a lottery ticket than actually winning.

Soggy-Seals, Erik Mclean

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171points

#11

Your voice on recordings is actually how your voice really sounds. Your voice in your head is a bit muffled and deeper because the sound travels through your head instead of the air. That's why it feels weird to hear your own voice recorded.

Summar-ice, Soundtrap

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170points

#12

Child helplines are most busy day is Christmas Eve, because parents get drunk and what not. It's so sad to think about.

Kvindertilsalg, Bruno Martins

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168points

According to Professor Pierre, the people who tend to believe in conspiracy theories are those who see the world in very black-or-white tones, as a constant struggle between what is good and what is evil.

“People who believe in conspiracy theories are also often attracted to the Manichean narratives that conspiracy theories offer, involving battles of good and evil pitting against each other in an almost apocalyptic fashion. So, it should come as no surprise that conspiracy theories might sprout up from World War II—a real-life apocalyptic battle between good and evil,” he said.

#13

One day the last person who knows your name will die and you will be forgotten.

You could still be alive when this happens.

HeyHoLetsGo615, luis enrique

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155points

#14

Anyone can have a brain aneurysm at any age. No matter your health situation

Scicst, Christian Erfurt

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152points

#15

There are more slaves today than at any time in history.

sobriety_kinda_sucks, Rio Lecatompessy

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150points

#16

When the gas chambers were first assembled and experimented with at the Auschwitz concentration camp, the SS soldiers that oversaw the process found that the people inside would start screaming as soon as the gas agent was dropped in. The screaming was so loud that it could be heard through the thick walls of the building, and the victims would continue screaming over the course of 20 minutes until it gradually faded to nothing. The screaming disturbed the soldiers (believe it or not), so they tried to think of a way to drown out the noise so they didn't have to hear it. Their idea was to get 2 motorcycles and rev the engines as loudly as they could at the same time during those 20 minutes.

It didn't work.

someguy73, jan saudek

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150points

#17

I’ve been thinking about my parents, who are in their mid-60s. During my first 18 years, I spent some time with my parents during at least 90% of my days. But since heading off to college and then later moving out of Boston, I’ve probably seen them an average of only five times a year each, for an average of maybe two days each time. 10 days a year. About 3% of the days I spent with them each year of my childhood.

Being in their mid-60s, let’s continue to be super optimistic and say I’m one of the incredibly lucky people to have both parents alive into my 60s. That would give us about 30 more years of coexistence. If the ten days a year thing holds, that’s 300 days left to hang with mom and dad. Less time than I spent with them in any one of my 18 childhood years.

When you look at that reality, you realize that despite not being at the end of your life, you may very well be nearing the end of your time with some of the most important people in your life. If I lay out the total days I’ll ever spend with each of my parents—assuming I’m as lucky as can be—this becomes starkly clear.

It turns out that when I graduated from high school, I had already used up 93% of my in-person parent time. I’m now enjoying the last 5% of that time. We’re in the tail end.

collin-h, Tim Mossholder

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133points

#18

Only one in every 1,000 sea turtles born ever make it to adulthood

ItsFiin3, David Reynolds

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130points

#19

Touching an AM radio broadcast tower will kill you, and not only will it kill you, but it will hurt the entire time you're dying. Number one, the voltage is so high that your hands would instantly clamp to whatever charged part of the tower you touched, then because it's oscillating at a frequency your cells can't feel you wouldn't be able to feel yourself being electrocuted until it starts to heat your body from the current, and you'd also be able to hear your body acting as a "speaker" where you'd literally be able to hear whatever was on that particular station as you die.

adragonthatsgay, Steve Beger

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129points

#20

That brain-eating amoebas exist at all and is also pretty commonly found in freshwater ponds and lakes. Apparently, only 4 people have survived getting it in the last 50 years.

PM_Me_Nudes_2_Review, Koala

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126points

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