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Across the world, each and every country had creative ways of delivering capital punishment. Most of the time, the idea was to make the criminal suffer for as long as possible, while at other times, the chosen method had some symbolic meaning behind it. Nevertheless, criminals never suffered honorable deaths. In fact, their remains were often displayed for extra humiliation. Here are ten of the most brutal and horrific methods of capital punishment from ancient times....

10A Spider With Spikes Many millions of years ago, spiders were even more terrible than they are today, with large horns sprouting from their carapaces and even fangs. Case in point: Two 99-million-year-old, amber-clad fossils paleontologists acquired from a Burmese dealer. They belong to the extant Tetrablemmidae family, though today’s species aren’t as impressively horned as their ancient counterparts. Like modern Tetrablemmids, the pint-sized prehistoric spiders (one of which is an adorable 1....

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a list of “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll” and some of the artists that are not in the hall have recordings on that list which makes their exclusion from the hall even more inexplicable. I have listed the most glaring omissions first. There are many artists who could have been included, so if your favorite isn’t here (and they’re not in the H....

Here’s a small selection of birds with unorthodox defensive mechanisms – if you think there’s another bird deserving of a spot here, don’t forget to mention it in the comments! The fulmar is a kind of sea bird, related to the better known albatross. Fulmar comes from the Norse words ful-mar, meaning “foul gull”, and with good reason. These birds are known for their horrible smell; not only the birds reek, but even their eggs do!...

10 Oyster Wars (1865-1959) The Oyster Wars began after the American Civil War with a boom in the Chesapeake Bay oyster industry. Chesapeake oyster towns became a frontier flocked by fortune-seekers. Violence soon erupted between locals and new arrivals, and when the locals ran out of new settlers to shoot at, they turned on each other. Gunfire was exchanged between Maryland and Virginia watermen, and within the states between fishermen from different counties....

Although Earth’s population is rising at an exponential rate, the Japanese are slowly dying off behind an aging infrastructure. Compounding the problem is a growing problem: the shut-in “hikikomori.” To be sure, every society is home to a small number of people who could be described as “reclusive”—though most of these recluses tend to be older individuals, marked with mental illnesses such as depression and agoraphobia. Japan’s hikikomore hermits, on the other hand, are decidedly young....

A brief read of military history shows Roosevelt’s Big Stick Diplomacy at work. While world leaders typically lead with discussion, it helps to have an iron-clad arsenal in one’s back pocket. Eras like World War II and the Cold War brought boosts of creativity to the military-industrial complex. In an effort to stay on the cutting edge of combat technology, the military brass has rolled the dice on some questionable tactics in the era of modern combat....

The flags’ designs were far from set or certain in their early days—and were subject to just as many foibles, disputes, and mistakes as any other human endeavor. The process of getting a state flag was often far from stately. 10 Nebraska—Utter Laziness Flag designs, like other areas of life, are subject to trends. A long-standing trend in US state flags is the tradition of putting the state seal on a blue field....

The new normal for tourism-based enterprises seems to be getting weirder and weirder. The tourism sector has experienced some debatably strange new business models arising from consumers’ willingness to splurge on these completely bizarre ventures. Here ten strange things travelers are spending their money on abroad. 10 Rent A Person To Stand In Line For You According to a study done by Timex on how Americans spend their time, roughly 37 billion hours annually are spent waiting in a line of one form or another....

While nobody is arguing that the Slender Man is real (at least in the physical sense), the belief in him by some has made the consequences of the legend very real for some. Here are ten very unsettling points about the legend and reality of the Slender Man. 10 Very Definite Origins Unlike many other legends and myths, the origins of the Slender Man can be traced to the exact date of its creation....

For hundreds of years, children were often the focus of witch hunts and trials—both as victims and as witches. Easily swayed, impressionable, and young, they were believed to be the perfect targets for the Devil. 10 The Navarrese Witch Hunt In 1525, the Navarrese witch hunt marked the first official appearance of a professional witch-hunter in the historical record. When this unnamed figure was dispatched into the mountains to keep people on the right spiritual path, he embarked on quite the killing spree....

Imagine hearing the noises of horrifying monsters all around you as they hunt you down, but you can’t see them because of thick mist. Then imagine coming to the realization that no matter what you do, you can’t escape. You flee with your son and three other passengers by car, only to run out of gas. The monsters are still around, hidden by the mist. So you do the unthinkable....

If you’ve ever watched a movie and said, “Wow, I want that car” or “That car is out of this world,” then this is the list for you. Here, we focus on ten cars from famous movies that we wish would jump from the screen into our driveways. 10 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am First on our list is the Burt-Reynolds-and-Sally-Field-carrying super speeder known to most as the Trans Am....

If some studio executives had gotten their way, some of your favorite characters would have been played by the last person you’d expect, and some classic movies would have been very, very different. 10Bill Murray As Batman We very nearly got to see Bill Murray play the Dark Knight. Before Michael Keaton won the starring role in Batman, it was going to go to Bill Murray, and the movie was going to be completely different....

10 “The Birthmark” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1843 short story “The Birthmark” concerns a scientist, Almayer, who finds his wife Georgiana exquisitely beautiful except in one detail: her cheek, he believes, is marred by the presence of a birthmark in the shape of a miniature hand. He persuades her to drink a potion that he concocts, which causes the birthmark to fade completely, but, in the process of doing so, also kills her....

10 Yogurt Is Not Greek How often do you go to the supermarket to pick up a delicious container of Greek-style yogurt? My guess would be pretty often. Contrary to what the name suggests, the product is not actually Greek. Its origins can be traced back to Mesopotamia, dating around 5000 BC. The fermented dairy product remained popular in the Middle East and the Balkans throughout the centuries. However, it wasn’t until the early 20th century that a Bulgarian medical student, Stamen Grigorov, isolated the bacteria that causes the fermentation process of the milk that gives yogurt its distinctive tart taste....

10 Eros In 1962, Ralph Ginzburg created Eros, an erotic magazine which covered various stories about sex, including contraception, aphrodisiacs, and brothels. He then sent a “pornographic” mailer to three million Americans who were “of higher than average income and intelligence.” He was sure they would enjoy his controversial publication about love and sex. However, his mailers were not well-received. Many Americans sent Ginzburg disgusted responses, which he published in the second issue of Eros....

10 Visit a Planetarium Chances are, if you are reading this, you probably have at least a passing interesting in science and space. Why not go to your local planetarium this weekend? As well as getting the best view of the night sky that you can see from earth (unless you live in the Arctic maybe), Planetaria often have specialised shows on the weekends. 9 Take a Barista Coffee Course Are you sick of making bad coffee?...

But the story, which played out over months, is usually told in a single sentence. Every detail that led up to the Great Emu War is cut out, and we never hear the answers to those questions that immediately spring to mind: What could have made Australia think going to war with emus was a good idea? And how in the world did they lose? It’s a shame, because the full story is incredible—and a little less absurd than it seems....

SEE ALSO: 10 Bizarre Origin Stories About Your Favorite Foods 10 Emperor Claudius’s Murder Claudius came to power after Caligula’s murder, and it wasn’t long before he became the target of conspiracies, too. He had a series of failed marriages, and it was his last wife, Agrippina, who plotted to kill him to ultimately put her son, Nero, at the head of the Roman Empire. In his last days, Claudius was overheard being very vocal about regretting his marriage and his adoption (and advancement) of Nero, which historians think isn’t a coincidence....