In fact, some of them start out as slaves at a young age and barely know anything beyond the confines of their workspace. Many are subjected to regular beatings and other abuse. Often, they are first given the promise of a better life only to have that cruelly taken away from them. They are regularly moved to countries where they do not have legal status so they won’t have any recourse from the law....
10Route 66 It’s known as America’s Main Street. It’s the place where you can get your kicks. Running from Chicago to Los Angeles, Route 66 is an icon of Americana, whisking travelers across the nation’s heart. The road was decommissioned in 1985, but it still holds a mythical place in American culture. So why 66? Why not 12, or 384? Let’s go back to the beginning. In 1917, Wisconsin became the first state to prohibit the marking and naming of roads without the approval of the government....
In total, she is believed to have murdered anywhere from 17 to 180 people between 1884 and 1908. At the end of her killing spree, she mysteriously disappeared. Belle Gunness lived a dangerous life, and rumors surrounding her sudden disappearance continue into the present day. 10 Husband Number One Shortly after arriving in the US, Gunness married Mads Albert Sorenson for his money in 1884. Not long after the marriage, both their home and their store burned down....
10 The Flintstones Sexual Joke (That Really Isn’t) As video clips have become easier to find on Internet video sites, people have been able to rediscover things from classic cartoons that they thought may have been off-color. The Flintstones provided one such saucy joke, a throwaway line from Barney. While arriving at a costume store, Fred remarks that perhaps Barney should get a costume with another head. Barney quips, “Another one?...
There are many a tale of those who quite understandably panicked, begged, struggled, or fought as they were dragged step by step to the executioner’s scaffold, but what about those who met their fate well? Read on to discover ten people who met their makers in one of the cruelest fashions imaginable but managed to stay brave and dignified to the end. 10 Sir Walter Raleigh Poor Sir Walter Raleigh was probably dealt a harsh execution sentence in 1618....
10Frightened British Troops Release A Captured Paul Revere Paul Revere and his midnight ride have gone down in American history and folklore. Prior to the American Revolution, he created the first intelligence network in America, which spied on British soldiers and met regularly in a tavern to report their findings. The night of April 18, 1775 almost ended in tragedy for Revere. After warning Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington, Revere was captured by the British on his way to Concord....
10 Flores Giant Rat Humans are easily frightened by the tiniest animals: Cockroaches, spiders, and mice seem specifically designed to scare the bejeezus out of us. Some grown men would even prefer to wrestle a bear or take on a pack of coyotes than let a mouse run up the leg of their pants. These men should probably avoid the island of Flores, Indonesia. It’s home to the Flores Giant Rat, which has the single virtue of being too large to fit up your pants leg....
But what do we really know about them? Beyond the igloos, harpoons, and hooded fur coats, most people know very little about these historical hunter-gatherers and their modern kin. 10 The Name Although it can be (and often is) used in neutral context, the term “eskimo” is generally thought to be slightly racist, much the same way the term “Indian” is insulting to Native Americans. However, it’s technically considered an acceptable and commonly used scientific term with a fairly solid etymology....
The real-life Dracula might not have sucked blood out of his victims’ necks, but he still drank it in a different way: by dipping chunks of bread into buckets of blood drained from the people he killed. The fifteenth century manuscript The Story of a Bloodthirsty Madman Called Dracula of Wallachia, by Michel Beheim, describes how Vlad III would invite a few guests to his mansion, provide them with a feast, and then have them immediately impaled right there at the dinner table....
10Cynane Cynane was the daughter of Philip of Macedon and the half-sister of Alexander the Great. Her mother was from Illyria, a region with a tradition of female warriors, and she taught Cynane to ride, fight, and shoot. In fact, as a teenager, Cynane supposedly accompanied a Macedonian invasion of Illyria and killed the Illyrian queen in single combat. That may not be true, but Cynane was certainly a power player at the Macedonian court....
In fact, most “French” things aren’t even close to being French originally. So take off that beret, put down the French toast, and prepare to be shocked by all the French things that aren’t. 10 French Kissing It’s accepted as fact that French kissing is French. After all, it’s right there in the name. But experts agree that kissing with tongue isn’t at all a French tradition. The kiss is first mentioned in literature in the Kama Sutra, a famous book that was written before France existed as a nation....
The first thing a commercial has to do is grab your attention, and advertisers will do nearly anything to do so. Sometimes these stunts go a little too far, and the commercials only air for a short time in the public eye before they are removed for one reason or another. But hey, by the time they’re banned, they’ve already snagged enough attention to see a rise in sales, so making the most effective ad you can is always worth it....
SEE ALSO: 10 Entrances To Hell Right Here On Earth 10 Stull CemeteryStull, Kansas Stull, Kansas—and especially its cemetery—has gained a notorious reputation for satanic, occult, and paranormal activity. The legend states that the Devil himself appears in this location and that the cemetery is one of the gateways to Hell. For generations, some of the locals have talked about these stories as though they’re fact rather than urban legend....
10Facebook Is A Mind Control Plot To many people, Facebook is just an annoying—if somewhat necessary—social tool, but some are convinced that it is far, far more than that. They believe that sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Digg came to prominence a little too easily. As such, they must have had backing from powerful media moguls like Rupert Murdoch as well as faceless government benefactors. In turn, the media promotes these sites to encourage the masses to publicly post about their lives, making it easier to spy on them....
The statistics for this list were gathered from easily accessible sites on the web and a simple comparison was made to determine who should be here. A word on statistics for the uninitiated: Batting average indicates the player’s ability to get a hit of any kind when he’s at bat. RBI’s or ‘runs batted in’ points to a hitter’s ability to get hits to drive players on base to score runs....
10 A Spree Killer Attacks Morgantown Shayne Riggleman (who was this author’s classmate in high school) was a quiet kid who mostly kept to himself. He did not have a reputation for getting into trouble, but somewhere along the line, things started going south. Prior to committing murder, Riggleman served 14 months in jail for armed robbery. After his release, he began to develop a split personality. On the one hand, Riggleman enjoyed visiting nursing homes to cheer up those inside....
10John KatehisUS, Age: 16 In March 2009, 16-year-old John Katehis placed an ad on Craigslist offering sex in exchange for money. Forty-seven-year-old ABC News Radio reporter George Weber responded to that ad. He and Katehis began exchanging e-mails, and agreed on a $60 fee for Katehis to bind Weber, and suffocate him, while Katehis performed oral sex on him. Katehis said that when he arrived at Weber’s apartment, Weber gave him alcohol and cocaine....
10 Brown-Banded Bamboo Sharks Store Sperm The brown-banded bamboo shark has recently established itself as the animal kingdom’s most amazing hoarder of sperm. A female shark gave birth to a healthy pup in 2012, despite not being within range of a male shark for the prior four years. Some sharks love to tease biologists by ejecting unfertilized eggs, so even though the female was laying a carpet of potential shark pups, it was quite expected and disregarded....
10The Battle Of Edington In A.D. 878, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, led by Alfred the Great, defeated a Viking force led by Guthrum the Old at Edington. Thirteen years earlier, a Viking force known as the Great Heathen Army had landed in Northern England, quickly conquering most of the country. Wessex was the last major holdout. Alfred had spent the winter of 877 fortified in a Somerset marshland while he gathered his forces....
Many things in history are open to passionate debate. The following historical issues have all been hot-button topics at one point or another and have been debated for decades, even centuries. And all of them have had recent developments which added another twist to the tale. 10 Is The Warren Cup Real? The Warren Cup is one of the most expensive items owned by the British Museum and is known for its graphic depiction of gay sex, including a scene between a man and a youth....
