Steven Gregory Stayner (April 18, 1965 – September 16, 1989) was an American kidnap victim. Stayner was abducted from the Central California city and county of Merced, at the age of seven and held until he was 14, when he escaped and rescued another victim, Timothy White, in 1980. Stayner died in 1989 in a motorcycle accident while driving home from work. On the afternoon of December 4, 1972, Steven Stayner was approached on his way home from school by a man named Ervin Edward Murphy, an acquaintance of Kenneth Parnell....

In fact, some of the most iconic pieces of pop culture were created in surprisingly dark circumstances. Next time, you belt out “Dancing Queen” or tinker with LEGOs, remember that your joy could not exist without someone else’s pain. 10 Nuclear Fear Inspired “Do You Hear What I Hear?” “Do You Hear What I Hear?” is one of those Christmas songs that seems like it has been around since the birth of Christ....

These tribes got their superpowers due to various factors, including their foods, climates, and lifestyles. In several instances, the sources of these abilities are explainable. Nevertheless, these superpowers give them an edge over other humans in sports and other ways. 10 The Kalenjin Of Kenya Are The World’s Best Long-Distance Runners Everyone knows that Kenya has the world’s best marathon runners. What most people do not know is that the majority of these runners are from the same tribe....

But as well as allowing us to assign human emotions to them, such as whether they look happy or angry, an animal’s mouth, and in particular its dentition, can tell us a great deal about the animal itself. The underwater world is no different to the terrestrial side of things, and its inhabitants display a wide range of dentistry. 10Goliath TigerfishHydrocynus Goliath Hailing from the Congo, the goliath tigerfish is found all throughout the Congo River basin, with the exception of the Mweru-Luapula-Bangweulu system....

10 Black Swallowers Eat Enormous Prey The horrifying black swallower has a talent that’s given away by the huge sack of a stomach that dangles beneath its body. Chiasmodon niger has many of the features that make other deep sea fish frightening, like its bulging black eyes and abominable teeth. Yet it’s the fish’s ability to swallow its prey whole that makes it stand out. When the black swallower finds something it wants to munch on, it darts out, grabs hold, and inches its jaws over the victim until the entire prey is consumed....

Pamukkale means cotton castle, and has also been called the white castle because of the vast whiteness caused by the high concentration of calcite in the water. Travertine sedimentary deposits have created the white terraces, petrified waterfalls and mineral forests that make up the landscape. The 17 hot springs are heated by an underground volcano. The beautiful area of Pamukkale, Turkey, has been used as a healing spa for thousands of years....

10Park Station Bombing1970 San Francisco PD Sergeant Brian McConnell died when a bomb exploded at the Park Police Station on the night of February 16, 1970. At 10:45 PM, while McConnell was sorting through paperwork and keeping an eye on the recent police union election, a time bomb detonated from a nearby window. Inside of the bomb were a series of upholstery staples that not only embedded themselves into Sgt. McConnell’s face and upper torso (he would die two days later) but also gave shrapnel wounds to eight other officers and administrators....

The fluid is also central to several weird moments and studies. From walls that nobody wants to urinate against to advertisements that readers can pee on, our bladder brew is far from boring. 10 The Pool Pee Test People like to pee in swimming pools. Unfortunately, chemicals in urine react to compounds in the water and form by-products that can be harmful. There is no effective way to know how much urine visitors deposit in your pool with a straight face....

10 Maori These Polynesian settlers had created their own language and culture that became known as Maori after arriving in New Zealand. The Maori formed tribal groups that were based on Polynesian customs, and within these tribes, a strong warrior culture emerged. This led to head-hunting during raids and wars. After killing their enemies, these savage Maori would carefully preserve the heads by removing the skulls and then smoking the heads....

Canny entrepreneurs came up with various money-making schemes to inform the illiterate, lower class public as well as entertain them, making it easier to part them from their pennies. Here are ten ways your ancestors made murder fun for the whole family. Writers of broadsheets often employed doggerel verse in these poorly printed, highly imaginative accounts of murders which were sold in poorer neighborhoods. Several editions focusing on the same murder might hit the streets within hours....

With only a limited amount of heavily discounted products available, the race is on. When many people are willing to camp outside the stores to get their place in line, a little shove or nudge isn’t out of the question to ensure they get what they came for.[1] However, in some cases, to make sure they walk away with the items they want, getting the other person out of the way is some people’s sole objective—no matter what the cost...

10 The Echo Chamber Effect One would think that social media would be an effective tool for bridging divides between differing viewpoints, but this does not necessarily appear to be the case. For example, Facebook’s algorithms tend to push users toward content which lines up with their interests, which is understandable, and their existing viewpoints, which is troublesome. As a result, users of social media must go out of their way to seek out differing views from their own—and most do not....

10 Sibling Relationships According to the old saying, “the family that slays together stays together.” Nothing improves sibling relationships more than brutally slaughtering each other in Call of Duty. And now, science has proven it. In 2015, Brigham Young University conducted a study to determine how playing video games together affected sibling relationships. They had brothers and sisters report how often they played video games, how often they played with their siblings, how often they had conflict with their siblings, and how they would rate their sibling relationships....

10 Baboons Keep Pet Dogs For many years, it has been asserted that the only animals that keep pets are human beings, but a troop of Hamadryas baboons near Ta-if, Saudi Arabia seems to have debunked that theory. Although some remain skeptical, claiming that the animals merely co-exist rather than share any bond, it is believed that the baboons kidnap the dogs as puppies and enjoy a symbiotic relationship with them much in the way that humans do....

There is still something almost unbelievable about the scale of these beasts. We have only just begun to learn about this mysterious creature, and the island of Komodo may yet yield more secrets. 10 Inspiration For King Kong Merian C. Cooper conceived of King Kong as the story of a giant gorilla on a prehistoric island, and he imagined the film ending with the beast on top of the Empire State Building....

Then again, we could also look at the other side of the coin. In a time of lawlessness, there were lawmen who commanded respect and weren’t afraid to stand up to outlaws. In the process, they created the archetype of the Western hero. 10Pat Garrett Sheriff Pat Garrett secured his fame when he gunned down one of the biggest outlaws of the West, Billy the Kid. Garrett became the Lincoln County Sheriff in 1880....

But from the very birth of the United States, women have made countless, little-known contributions, both major and mundane, that continue to aid us, entertain us, enrich our national heritage, improve our wellbeing, and save lives. Here are ten women whose contributions you know even if their names remain unknown. 10 The Declaration of Independence No, Thomas Jefferson had no woman at his elbow as he penned those immortal words....

Right up to the 20th century, pound bars of salt (called amoleh) were the basic currency in Abyssinia (now called Ethiopia). The amazing Salar de Uyuni (the world’s largest salt flat at 4,000 square miles) in Bolivia becomes mirrorlike when a thin layer of water lies on top. This reflectivity makes it a very useful tool in calibration scientific equipment from outer space. This amazing salt flat also contains half of the world’s supply of lithium....

Next, you will note that many of the entries are for series (or at least books with sequels), to which I state only that even more than other genres, here we see that success breeds success. The entries, except for entries 1, 2 and 3, are in alphabetical order. Item 1 is elevated because of its impact on so many generations of young people, item 2 is elevated because no other book had such an impact on me, at an age when the world was still full of wonder, and item 3 is elevated because of its impact on Listverse founder, Jamie Frater....

20 Prisoners As Targets Prior to the outbreak of World War II, several international laws prohibiting the mistreatment of prisoners of war (POWs) already existed. However, these laws were frequently either “bent” or completely ignored as the war raged on. Here, Sikh prisoners await an untimely death at the hands of their Japanese captors. Although all participating nations broke the rules to some extent when it came to POW treatment, most historians agree that the Japanese were the worst offenders....