10 Weird Genetic Facts

10 Hybrid Vigor We all know the dangers of inbreeding and that it is probably not best to marry a close relative. Charles II, the king of Spain in the late 1600s, was so inbred that instead of the usual eight great-grandparents, he only had four. A glance at his portrait and biography will show that this was not a good idea. But something interesting happens when you breed two inbred individuals from different families together....

December 30, 2022 · 9 min · 1784 words · Charles Gardner

10 Weird Things About Being Left Handed

10People With Psychotic Disorders Are More Likely To Be Left-Handed Left-handed people have long been viewed with a certain amount of suspicion. Recently, science has shown that there might be a solid reason for that. In 2013, Yale University researcher Jadon Webb conducted a survey among patients diagnosed with different types of psychotic illnesses, including schizophrenia. Participants in the study were asked to fill out a questionnaire, which included the question about which hand they wrote with....

December 30, 2022 · 12 min · 2525 words · Sarah Kemp

10 Weird Ways Iconic Movie Costumes Were Created

In Peter Jackson’s epic adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s trilogy, Aragorn is a wanderer who probably never sees the inside of a shower. Which is exactly why the actor who played him—Viggo Mortensen—decided it was up to him to give his costume that vital lived-in appearance. Mortensen took his outfit home, then lived, breathed and sweated in it until it looked as beaten and battered as possible. He even repaired the costume whenever it needed it—something that Aragorn himself would have done on the road....

December 30, 2022 · 7 min · 1313 words · Chuck Bartlett

10 Weird Ways People Got Back At Their Rivals

Dedicated one-uppers have erected statues in clear view of their rivals, built fences around their homes, and even built towers named after their rival’s penises. At other times, revenge-seekers have chosen far less amusing methods, such as murder, poisoning, or some other weird plot. This list contains ten of the weirdest things we’ve found. 10 Egypt Builds 187-Meter Tower To Spite The US The 187-meter-tall (614 ft) Cairo Tower in Egypt’s eponymous capital is said to be “Egypt’s giant middle finger to America....

December 30, 2022 · 9 min · 1894 words · Michael Phifer

15 Incredibly Realistic Movie Illustrations

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December 30, 2022 · 1 min · 5 words · Matthew Ramsey

20 More Real Pictures Spread Via The Internet

The Great Blue Hole is a large sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It is located near the center of Lighthouse Reef, which is a small atoll 70 kilometers (43 mi) from Belize City. The hole is over 300 meters (984 ft) across and 124 meters (407 ft) deep. It was formed during several episodes of Quaternary glaciations that took place 153,000, 66,000, 60,000, and 15,000 years ago. The site was made famous by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who declared it as one of the top ten scuba diving areas in the world....

December 30, 2022 · 15 min · 3085 words · Yvonne Richardson

25 Fascinating And Fun Factlets

Dracula is the most filmed story of all time. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde comes second and Oliver Twist comes third. Donald Duck has a sister called Dumbella. Coca Cola has a pH of 2.8. Al Capone’s older brother was a policeman in Nebraska. Henry Ford never had a driver’s license. The original name of Pacman was going to be Puck Man until the developers saw the obvious potential for parody....

December 30, 2022 · 2 min · 328 words · Marjorie Wood

School Shooters On Why They Did It

We’re so desperate to understand it that we come up with any kind of explanation that we can wrap our minds around. Perhaps it’s the media’s fault, we think—or bullying, or gun laws, or video games, or TV. But the murderers haven’t tried to hide why they did. Before nearly every massacre, the shooters have told us exactly what they were thinking. They’ve written manifestos that let us see what’s happening inside their broken minds....

December 30, 2022 · 12 min · 2394 words · George Hufford

Site Competition Most Bizarre Prize Ever

Unfortunately, due to my vacation schedule and meetings with Google I was unable to publish a list for Listverse’s 5th Birthday (1 July). So – in memory of our fifth birthday I am launching our latest competition – a competition with our most curious prize ever. This time it isn’t cash – it is a stash of bizarre objects. This competition will run for the duration of August – ending on my birthday – the 31st of August at midnight UTC....

December 30, 2022 · 4 min · 771 words · Willard Finley

Site Update February 2011

As you all will have noticed we have scrapped IntenseDebate and gone back to our own custom made (and redesigned) commenting system. The changes removed a few features we all liked, but they increased the page load time quite a lot and made the site a lot more stable. This was a very worthwhile change and based on feedback on my Facebook profile and the Listverse Facebook fan page, it was liked by many more people than disliked....

December 30, 2022 · 7 min · 1322 words · Rodney Cancelliere

Ten Hauntings At The Amusement Park

Most paranormal investigators agree that places with high traffic, like hotels, clubs, and hospitals, are more likely to have ghosts. Even if the reasoning veers toward the pseudo-scientific, it’s hard to dispute that more hotels are haunted than mere apartment buildings. Considering that Disney World had 8.5 million guests in 2021 alone, theme parks definitely fit the “high traffic” descriptor. Though many parks boast a haunted house attraction or Halloween festival, true hauntings can also be found....

December 30, 2022 · 7 min · 1467 words · Lisa Velazquez

Ten Recreational Drugs That Were Surprisingly Common In Antiquity

But indeed, one would be mistaken if they were to assume that ancient cultures only knew how to party by using alcohol alone. History is full of recreational drug use, even regarding substances that modern historians aren’t exactly sure what they exactly were. From depressants to hallucinogens to substances that were pretty much 99% poison, people took them anyway to get a little buzz. Here is a list of ten different drugs that were commonly used in ancient and classical history....

December 30, 2022 · 16 min · 3317 words · Charles Kruger

Ten Tales From The Troubles Of Northern Ireland

The root cause was simple: Catholics living in British-controlled, predominantly Protestant North Ireland wanted more of a say over their own destiny. They’d been deemed second-class citizens for years, and as the 1960s unfolded, civil rights movements in the U.S. and elsewhere fueled an Irish uprising. What resulted was what happens when negotiations fail and extremism reigns. Here are ten tales from The Troubles. 10 Troubles Brewing: The Roots of the Conflict It’s impossible to understand The Troubles without comprehending modern Irish history....

December 30, 2022 · 12 min · 2446 words · Jonathan Snider

Top 10 Adventurers Who Never Returned Home

To avoid controversy I have set them out chronologically by the dates they died or disappeared. My selection is based on cases known to myself, filled in (as acknowledged) with details from Wikipedia. I have tried to make it as international as possible, and also to acknowledge the sacrifices made by women. Nevertheless, it is heavily biased towards men, as they are the main protagonists of these enterprises, and towards Britons, who have such a tradition of exploration … and dying in the course of it!...

December 30, 2022 · 11 min · 2167 words · Terrance Burroughs

Top 10 Animals With Totally Crazy Body Parts

Yes, it is a little creepy that an arachnid’s legs function “a bit like . . . tongues, noses, and fingertips.” Of all the places tentacles could grow, why would nature select a snake’s head? Skilled combatants claim that almost anything could be used as a weapon, but, unlike an aquatic salamander, even they might draw a line at ribs. The shoebill stork is nothing if not an innovative hunter....

December 30, 2022 · 11 min · 2309 words · Rebecca Aguirre

Top 10 Behind The Scenes Facts About Popular Christmas Movies

10 Tim Allen’s Costume in The Santa Clause The Santa Clause (1994) begins with Scott Calvin, played by Tim Allen, accidentally causing Santa to fall off of a roof and die, after which Scott has to take his place as Saint Nick. Although a pretty dark way to start a Disney Christmas movie, it was originally a lot darker, with Scott shooting and killing Santa. Though the murder was downgraded to manslaughter, the process of becoming Santa is no less arduous for Scott, but it was also arduous for Allen....

December 30, 2022 · 9 min · 1854 words · Mildred Mcallister

Top 10 Best Christmas Duets

This is a nice light list of songs to increase your Christmas spirit on this wonderful holiday. It includes some songs that commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, and some that are more modern in concept – but regardless of the type, they are all great songs and perfect for the first prize of our competition. Merry Christmas! 10. Josh Groban and Brian McKnight Angels We Have Heard on High This is quite a great Christmas carol that is sung beautifully by Josh Groban and Brian McKnight....

December 30, 2022 · 3 min · 509 words · Joseph Monarez

Top 10 Best Known Classical Melodies

This is a particularly long overture to an opera, lasting about 12 minutes. It is in 4 parts (last part above), and the last three are very well known: a depiction of a storm, with a famous trombone passage; the morning after the storm, “a call to the cows,” and “a call to arms.” It is now said as a joke that a musicologist is someone who can listen to this finale and not think of The Lone Ranger, because the producers chose the finale as its theme....

December 30, 2022 · 9 min · 1796 words · Annie Hoover

Top 10 Bizarre Fabrics Used In Clothes

Well designers, artists, and businesses are always ready to innovate and so here are ten of the strangest sources of fabric you may, or may not, be wearing in the future. Top 10 Bizarre Fashion Trends In History 10 Golden Spider Silk Silk is the ultimate luxury fabric. Since antiquity it has been traded across continents to those who crave its light and slinky touch against their skin. The Roman philosopher Seneca thought there was very little between wearing silk and wearing nothing at all – so fine was the silk reaching Rome from China....

December 30, 2022 · 9 min · 1782 words · John Cole

Top 10 Bizarre Toys For Kids

Given the strange circumstances under which Mr Herman was arrested some years ago, one wonders why any company would agree to produce a child’s doll of him. That aside, the doll itself is horrifying – it looks like a monstrous grinning clown without its red nose. The ill-fitting suit and strangely long fingers make this a doll that no parent would want for their child. If you are worried that your child is not narcissistic enough, this is the toy for them!...

December 30, 2022 · 4 min · 744 words · Michael Wyatt