The scariest serial killer you’ve never heard of. Seemingly having no MO whatsoever, Keyes would plant “kill kits” throughout the country and leave them dormant for years before returning to them in order to kill at random. I’m serious! This guy is messed up!
3.UVB-76
A radio station that broadcasts “short, monotonous” tones all day long and “on very rare occasions” has the tones replaced with “a voice transmission in Russian.” No one is entirely sure of its purpose.
Fotosipsak / Getty Images
A condition “in which a patient is aware but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for the eyes.” Basically, you’re trapped in your own body.
Getty Images
Vincent sat dead in her apartment for three years with the TV on before she was discovered. Three years.
6.Scaphism
Scaphism is the worst torture imaginable. Seriously. The victim was trapped between two boats, force fed milk and honey (and covered in it), and laid out in the sun to be literally eaten alive by insects. Yuuuuuup.
Boston Globe / Getty Images
Armin Meiwes is a German cannibal who met another man on an internet forum who consented to being eaten. Armin and the man met up and things quickly spiraled way out of control. Think: penis too burnt to eat. I feel sick just thinking about the details.
Pool / Getty Images
A very rare illness in which the person who has it is convinced they are dead or that they simply do not exist.
Jasmin Merdan / Getty Images
My person pick for the worst death in history. Dózsa was “condemned to sit on a smouldering, heated iron throne, and forced to wear a heated iron crown and sceptre” and that’s just the start of it. Spoiler alert: cannibalism makes an appearence.
Dea / Getty Images
Black Eyed Children “are supposed paranormal creatures who resemble children between the ages of 6 and 16 with pale white skin and black eyes who are reportedly seen hitchhiking or panhandling, or are encountered on doorsteps of residential homes.” I never thought I could hate kids more.
Donald Iain Smith / Getty Images
The sad story what happened when two men stole an extremely radioactive machine part from a hospital, dismantled it, and ended up exposing hundreds of people to deadly radiation. It a great example of just how dangerous this stuff is and how quickly things can spiral out of control in the wrong hands. It’s been called one of the world’s “worst nuclear disasters“.
Karen Kasmauski / Getty Images
12.Rat King
A phenomenon that happens when any number of rats “become stuck together… with, for instance, blood, dirt, ice, horse-hair, or feces—or simply knotted.” I mean, look at that. It’s terrifying.
Edelseider / Via commons.wikimedia.org
An inseparable set of twins from Wales who lived their entire lives essentially mute, only speaking with each other and their other sister. Eventually they decide that in order for one of them to live a normal life, the other must sacrifice herself. The entire backstory and what happens after they decide to go through with the sacrifice is fascinating.
Pa Images / Getty Images
On Dec. 1, 1948, a dead body was found on a beach in Adelaide, Australia. No one has been able to identity who the man was or how he died, and hidden inside his pants was a piece of paper that read “taman shud,” which translates to “finished” in Persian. And that’s not even the craziest part.
15.List of Reported UFO Sightings
I mean, this is the holy grail for anyone terrified by UFOs.
Getty
In February 1959, nine hikers disappeared in Dyatlov Pass, Russia. Their campsite was discovered with the tent ripped open and their bodies found barefoot bearing no signs of struggle. The theories on what happen range from “Aliens, government agents, “Arctic dwarves”… even abominable snowmen“.
Artistgndphotography / Getty Images
“A human-goat hybrid, and circus freak who vowed revenge after being mistreated” that is said to live underneath an old railway trestle in Kentucky. Urban legends say the beast uses a blood-stained axe to kill his victims or “hypnosis or voice mimicry to lure trespassers onto the trestle to meet their death before an oncoming train.”
Diane Deaton-street / Getty Images
18.Clinton Road
The most terrifying road in the United States, home to “many legends of paranormal occurrences such as sightings of ghosts, strange creatures and gatherings of witches, Satanists,” and “the country’s longest traffic light wait.” Perfect.
An entire article about “shadow people” who come to “visit” you in the middle of the night. Fun!
Jonhy Blaze / Getty Images
Is there anything more terrifying than the idea of being buried alive? Nope, but reading about it is a close second.
Getty
21.List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea
Another compilation of fascinating articles of people who, well, disappeared mysteriously at sea. Terrifying stuff.
Christophel Fine Art / Universal Images Group via Getty
22.Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva
Also known as “Stone Man Syndrome”, this is a condition in which muscle is slowly replaced by bone, restricting mobility and bodily function.
An article about the unsolved murder of an entire German family and their maid with an axe. Again, completely unsolved and completely terrifying.
Andreas Biegleder
24.Tarrare
A French man that lived in the 18th century who had an appetite that, no matter what he ate, could never be fulfilled. Tarrare could eat what “15 people [ate] in a single sitting” and also “ate live cats, snakes, lizards and puppies, and swallowed eels whole without chewing.” Oh, and he also ate corpses and was once accused of eating a toddler! Normal stuff.
Getty
25.Coffin Birth
This is essentially what it’s called when the gasses inside a deceased pregnant woman cause a post-mortum “coffin birth,” pushing the dead fetus inside out. I’m all set.
Getty
Endlessly fascinating and endlessly macabre, this is truly the Wikipedia motherlode of messed up shit. I’ve spent way longer than I care to admit scrolling through this list, and I’m sure you will too.
Hulton Archive / Getty Images
A roller coaster designed to kill every person who rides it with “elegance and euphoria.” It’s like Roller Coaster Tycoon come to life!
Jena Ardell / Getty Images
Signup bonus from