But there’s also a darker side to go with the joy. No one wants to believe that a beloved animal could ever cause a tragedy, but this list explores 10 cases where a pet did just that. 10Pyromaniac Parrot In September 1947, 66-year-old Fannie Stewart’s pet parrot, Dolly, landed on the kitchen stove and turned on the gas jets. Neighbors detected gas outside Stewart’s home and called the police, who arrived to find her unconscious in the kitchen....

These days, there are so many alleged secret space program insiders that it’s hard to keep track of them all. Simple background checks and testimony cross-referencing can expose some of these aspirants to legitimacy as obvious frauds. But in some cases, testimonies interlink, and an image begins to form that is as dazzling to the uninitiated as the testimony of an escapee would be to those who have been chained their whole lives in Plato’s cave....

M 1931, Fritz Lang Someone is murdering children in a German city. The Police search is so intense, it is disturbing the ‘normal’ criminals, and the local hoods decide to help find the murderer as quickly as possible. The Passion of Joan of Arc 1928, Carl Theodor Dreyer The sufferings of a martyr, Jeanne D’Arc (1412-1431). Jeanne appears in court where Cauchon questions her and d’Estivet spits on her. She predicts her rescue, is taken to her cell, and judges forge evidence against her....

Oh, wait. That’s exactly what happened to the following people 10The Salad Terrorist The period just after 9/11 saw wrongful arrests skyrocket. Hundreds of innocent people were detained alongside real terrorists. But at least the CIA’s mistakes were understandable in many cases. Not so that of 14-year-old Mohammed Al-Gharani, nabbed in Pakistan. He wound up spending 11 years in Gitmo thanks to a misunderstanding of the word “salad.” His case reads like the plot of a hilarious, torture-based farce....

However, and perhaps for good reason if you subscribe to the theories of alien bases hiding within them, many mountains and their cave systems seem to be magnets for such activity. Here are ten examples of mountains and caves from around the world that have long histories of UFO and extraterrestrial activity . 10 The ‘Hidden People’ Of SnaefellsjokullIceland The Huldufolk, or the Hidden People, have been present in Icelandic folklore for centuries, certainly long before the UFO craze of the last 70-plus years....

Top 10 Misconceptions About The Catholic Church 10 Lady Gaga If you’re not a big fan of Lady Gaga, then you could easily be forgiven for thinking she is not a religious person. From risqué videos to her huge gay following, there are a lot of things about Gaga that suggest otherwise. But if you are a fan of her work, you’ll know that religion has a big influence on it....

Many of the Halloween traditions we celebrate today evolved during more recent centuries, alongside the spread of Christianity in the West. Nevertheless, while documentary evidence is a little sparse, it looks like many of these older traditions can trace their roots back further still to the Celts. Here are 10 Celtic Samhain traditions that appear to live on in the way we celebrate Halloween today. 10 Waiting for the Darkness Most Halloween fun tends to take place under cover of darkness....

Some kids just can’t handle stardom. As these 10 stories of well-known child stars show, the riches and fame can lead kids down a path of drug addiction and other illegal behaviors. They may lose everything and ruin their young lives. It’s enough to make us reconsider whether being rich and famous is really worth it. 10 Lindsay Lohan Born in New York City in 1986, Lindsay Lohan was first recognized by the public for her starring role as the twins in Disney’s remake of The Parent Trap....

10 David Friedmann Before the Holocaust, David Friedmann was one of Berlin’s most important and prolific portrait artists. Although he and his family escaped to Prague in 1938, they were deported to Lodz’s Jewish Ghetto in 1941. Friedmann was ultimately sent to Gleiwitz I and was a part of the death march to Blechhammer. His family died at Auschwitz. Friedmann and the other prisoners left on January 21, 1945, and marched the 100 kilometers (60 mi) to the next camp....

In 2018, we have seen a series of controversies spring up over Christmas ads, decorations, greetings, songs, and trees. Christmas trees are particularly controversial because they’re the de facto symbol of Christmas. However, they are not alone. 10 ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ Frank Loesser’s 1944 song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” which won an Oscar when featured in the 1949 film Neptune’s Daughter, has been causing controversies around Christmas for a long time....

During our country’s birth, incarceration was an alien concept. We may have over two million people in prison currently, but our founders did not see imprisonment as beneficial. Swift punishments meant you paid a fine, were physically brutalized, publicly shamed, or executed. Here are 10 punishments that thankfully ended in order from bad to “oh dear God, why?” 10 Stocks The stocks are probably the most recognizable colonial time punishment....

Compounding this problem was the fact that very few new works of literature were written during those days. However, stories were well beloved, since they helped relieve the monotony and boredom. People loved stories about animals, and the information often came from “bestiaries”—books that detailed accounts and descriptions of animals. However, they weren’t exactly written but rather copied. People had to rely on the texts of such noted and intelligent people as Pliny the Elder and Augustine of Hippo, who died quite a while before the Middle Ages....

If there’s one thing everyone knows about sheep, it’s how stupid they are. After all, if one sheep starts moving quickly, the rest of the flock will just up and follow. They’re generally perceived to have little ambition or motivation, and many people would rank them next to rocks in intelligence. Animal scientists, on the other hand, would rank sheep just below pigs, rodents, and monkeys. In some tests, they even come close to humans....

10‘Things’ Even the most open-minded people in the world make comparisons between themselves and those around them. Our feelings toward people tend to be directly influenced by how capable and kind they seem to be. When judging others, an area of the brain called the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) becomes active, allowing us to decide with whom to empathize and to what degree. In an article called “Dehumanizing the Lowest of the Low,” researchers Lasana T....

10The Venus Vortex A giant vortex near the Venus’s south pole behaves like a storm but without rain or lightning. It’s about 1,800 kilometers (1,200 mi) across, 18 kilometers (12 mi) tall, and takes place 41 kilometers (26 mi) above the planet’s surface. We used to think it was an oval, but in 2011, scientists discovered it regularly changes shape. Sometimes it looks like an “S” or an “8,” but often, it’s just an irregular blob....

10Paul Walker Was Murdered After Learning Too Much About Underground Corruption Hollywood actor Paul Walker died on November 30, 2013 after a fatal car crash. Reports indicated that Walker’s friend, Roger Rodas, had been driving the car at 160 kilometers per hour (100 mph) before it slammed into a concrete light pole and several trees. The car was engulfed in flames within moments, though Walker was believed to have died immediately upon impact....

10American DesperadoJon Roberts And Evan Wright In crime, one rule that is often true is that snitches are the real villains. No one likes a rat. That is what makes American Desperado so interesting. It tells the story of Jon Roberts, who worked for the Medellin Cartel during the 1980s. During that time, he became a chief transporter of cocaine into the US. The novel is an accumulation of three years of conversations between Roberts and Evan Wright, who wrote Generation Kill....

10Force Fields For Protecting Astronauts From Radiation In 2008, scientists from the United Kingdom’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory developed a working force field that guards against killer particles from the Sun. An instrument of war in space movies, the practical application of real-life force fields is much less glamorous—though much more important—because it would protect astronauts from cancer. Plus, it would replace conventional shielding materials, which are heavy and impinge on a shuttle’s payload capacity....

10 The Murder Of Julia Wallace Julia Wallace was a British housewife who lived at 29 Wolverton Street in Liverpool. On January 19, 1931, her husband William went to the local chess club for a regular game. When he arrived, he was told a message was left for him by a man named Qualtrough, a name William didn’t recognize, telling him to go to 25 Menlove Gardens East. The next day, William did just that, leaving his wife at home....

Animals successfully get out of zoos, shelters, and even pet shops more frequently than one may think. Mistakes made by staff are the leading cause of the incidents. But there have also been cases of people purposely aiding escapes as well as some rare, ingenious breakout tactics devised by the animals themselves. Although the majority of animal breakouts involve small and harmless creatures, here is a list of the more dangerous beasts that have escaped captivity....