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In the 17th century, the supernatural was apparently everywhere in the British Isles. A number of writers of the time, such as demonologist Richard Bovet and philosopher Henry More, collected contemporary accounts to prove that atheism was wrong. Nowadays, these “true” accounts read as ridiculous, but many of them are certainly worth remembering for their creativity and weirdness. 10 The Ghost Of Dunty Porteous Sometime in the late 17th century, a miller named Dunty Porteous was imprisoned by Sir Alexander Jardine in his tower in Dumfriesshire, Scotland....

Borges had a good twenty years to be considered for a Nobel, and was hot in the running for one for many of those years, but the Nobel Committee refused to award it to him because of his support for right-wing dictators like Pinochet. Sounds like someone he shouldn’t have supported, but the Committee routinely awarded the prize to writers who supported left-wing dictators like Joseph Stalin. Pinochet was worse than Stalin?...

Only science says otherwise. Far from being defined by our differences, careful examination shows that Brits and Americans are far more similar than many of us realize. 10Americans Are Fat, Brits Are Slim If there’s one stereotype of the US that will never die, it’s that all Americans are hideously overweight. Ask most Brits to describe a typical American tourist, and the first word you’ll likely hear is “fat.” There’s a good reason for this....

10 BurakuminJapan Japan is often considered to be an ethnically homogenous country, but it isn’t. Japan is home to the aboriginal Ainu inhabitants of Hokkaido, the Ryukyuans of Okinawa, and the Zainichi from Korea, China, Brazil, and the Philippines. But even within the majority Yamato ethnic group, there is a nearly invisible class of people subject to systematic social exclusion and discrimination. Buraku and burakumin are terms used to describe areas inhabited primarily by people descended from those at the bottom of the Japanese feudal social ladder: leather workers, executioners, undertakers, butchers, and sewage removalists....

In this list, you will learn about ten ghastly ghosts and monstrous myths from various countries that are not usually the top choice for scary storytelling. Make sure you have the lights on for this one! 10 The Lumberjack Ghost—Canada In the late 1800s, an Irish cook named Ryan traveled to New Brunswick, Canada, to work as a cook at a logging camp near the Dungarvon River. One of his duties was to wake everyone else up for breakfast, which he would do with a series of loud whoops and hollers....

The Line: Never let go. After the ship sinks (uh – you did know that, didn’t you), Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) scrambles onto a door which can only support one person and Jack remains in the freezing ocean. He assures her that she is going to survive, and die an old lady in her bed, before he succumbs to hypothermia. The Line: Freeeedom!!! After the deaths of his father and brother, and later his wife, at the hands of the English, William Wallace becomes involved in the Scottish uprising against King Edward I of England....

Here are 10 comic book heroes that could exist now, or sometime in the future. (Some of these examples are reaching, but that’s inevitable. Otherwise, we’d currently have superheroes.) 10Cyclops Cyclops, one of the leaders of the X-Men, shoots a powerful beam of energy from his eyes. This sounds like pure science fiction. However, a pair of physicists at Massachusetts General Hospital have altered human cells so they can emit light of their own....

10Hanns Alexander Hanns Alexander was born in Germany during World War I. His father was a popular doctor who would often throw parties attended by the social elite, including people like Albert Einstein. After Hitler began his rise to power, Alexander and his Jewish family fled to Britain, where he joined the British Army’s Pioneer Corps. At the end of the war, he was also one of the first volunteers to investigate war crimes, a role he took to heart....

Here are ten of histories greatest jesters and their japes. Top 10 Clowns You Don’t Want To Mess With 10 Jeffrey Hudson One way to win a ruler’s eye and then the position of court jester was to have a physical difference. Hunchbacks, the tall, and dwarfs were always welcome additions in a court. Sir Jeffrey Hudson stood just 18 inches tall when he was presented to Queen Henrietta Maria in 1626 at seven years old....

10 Ways Young Generations Are Better Than Their Parents 10 Valentine’s Day is a chore Valentine’s Day in Japan has turned into a social minefield. In the 1950s, a chocolate company dreamed up “giri choco” meaning “obligatory chocolates” to boost sales on February 14th. They suggested women should spoil all the men in their life with chocolate gifts, but for some the list would stretch beyond male relatives to co-workers and bosses....

However, that is exactly what happened in these cases as these cold-blooded monsters all stole other people’s lives in the most brutal way. Even creepier, there were clear warning signs of their evil potential in their earlier years. But it was completely overlooked until it was too late. 10 Jeffrey Dahmer There were many signs that serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer was an evil child. The “Milwaukee Monster” killed and dismembered 17 teenage boys and young men from 1978 to 1991....

If the following list is anything to go by, you can be sure that you will meet little Nemo, Doggo, or Kitty again! Hopefully, they won’t be scary like the black dog of Newgate Prison or run around in circles like the chicken ghost of Pond Square. Whatever happens in the Great Hereafter, pray you don’t meet any of these devilish creatures . . . 10 The Ghost BearThe Tower Of London The ghost of a bear is said to haunt the Martin Tower at the Tower of London, where the Crown Jewels were once held....

10 Luna Park Ghost Train Fire In June 1979, a happy family was waiting for a ferry to transport them to Luna Park, a popular amusement park located in Sydney. Jenny and John Godson had looked forward to this moment for a long time, wanting to spoil their two young sons with a fun day out. After having visited the Taronga Zoo, they finally made their way to Luna Park where they had a whale of a time going on all the different rides the park has to offer....

However, somewhere along the line, they lost their moral compasses and became criminals and enforcers of the same injustice they opposed. Read on—the entries will surprise you. 10 Somali Pirates In 1991, armed rebel groups seized control of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, marking the collapse of Somalia’s government and security forces. As a result, foreign fishing vessels quickly exploited the absence of a working government to turn Somalia’s seafood-rich waters into a free-for-all fishing ground where they did whatever they wanted without any government oversight....

10Monet’s Cataracts Claude Monet was the father of Impressionism. The whole movement was named after the display of his painting “Impression, Sunrise.” Impressionists valued and emphasized light and motion in their works. This can appear as a blurred style on the canvas. Is it possible that the whole movement, this blurriness, was influenced by Monet needing eye surgery? When he was 85, he underwent surgery to have cataracts removed. How much earlier had his vision been diminished by them?...

10The Real Jason Bourne April 19, 2010, Los Angeles police arrived at a building after a tenant complained of a gasoline smell. When they entered the offending apartment, they found its occupant climbing out a window and scuttling down a fire escape in a fashion they would later liken to fictional superspy Jason Bourne. The contents of the trashed apartment were a shock. Its resident, 34-year-old Brian Alexik, had drugs, forged passports, ammunition, an AK-47, a sawed-off shotgun, and $15,000 in counterfeit money....

Its not just the ancients who have linked comets to disasters, either. Historians, astronomers, and even regular people have blamed comets for causing some terrible event or another. Most of these connections are more superstitions and suggestions than facts. But then, the comets aren’t complaining. 10 The Death Of Mark Twain Halley’s Comet is one of the most famous comets out there. It returns at roughly 75-year intervals, and there are historical accounts of its sightings....

But it’s one thing to say that life feels like a generic dystopia, and another entirely to buy a specific book and find the horrors of our modern world described perfectly by someone who has been dead for 20 years. Whether you’re a liberal or a conservative, below you’ll find 10 novels from 10 authors which, taken together, explain all you need to know about the malaise afflicting modern America....

10 Salton Sea The Salton Sea in Southern California was never meant to exist. Before 1905, California’s largest lake was not a lake, but rather the Salton Depression, a dry lake bed reaching as low as 85 meters (278 ft) below sea level. That year, work began on diverting the Colorado River in order to irrigate California’s Imperial Valley. The river was successfully diverted, albeit not in the intended direction. By the time the problem was corrected in 1907, the Salton Sea had been filled....

10 Desmond Llewelyn Most people will remember Desmond Llewelyn as the iconic Q from the James Bond series, providing Agent 007 with all the gadgets he needed for his missions. Llewelyn appeared in 17 Bond films, more than any of the actors who actually played James Bond. But before he took on the task of overseeing the MI6 gadget lab, Llewelyn fought in the Royal Welch Fusiliers during World War II....