The secret they tried to hide? Cargo ship SS Ourang Medan
The history of the cargo ship SS Ourang Medan began in 1947, when two American ship who were heading to Malaysia received the SOS signal. A man called for help, introducing himself as a member of the crew of the Dutch ship Orange Medan. The man shouted: “Everyone is dead and soon it will come for me.” Then a strange noise came into the transmission and the sailor said: “I’m dead”...
American ships immediately headed to the aid of the ship in distress. The bodies of all crew members were found on board the Orange Medan. On faces dead people the expression of horror was frozen, and the glassy eyes were wide open. Many died with their hands outstretched in front of them, and it was clear that they were defending themselves from something. Upon examination of the bodies, it was found that all crew members died approximately 6-8 hours ago, but despite this, their body temperature exceeded 40 degrees Celsius.
It was decided to tow the Orange Medan vessel to the port for further examination, but a few minutes later a fire started on board and members of the rescue team were forced to abandon it. Immediately after this, an explosion occurred and Orange Medan sank to the bottom.
A theory was put forward that this whole story was a hoax and that no Orange Medan existed, because. no record of this vessel was found in Lloyd's insurance register, in which all vessels engaged in international trade must be entered. shipping. As a result, the whole story was recognized as a hoax. Although there are many facts proving the opposite, it is known for certain about several people who claimed that their relatives were hired on board a ship called the Orange Medan and disappeared.
In memory of the mysterious ship, only one photograph remains, taken by the wife of one of the crew members.
Zombie named Filicia
In 1907, after a short illness, which according to local Haitian beliefs is similar to the transformation of a person into a zombie, a certain Felicia Felix-Mentor died. And already in 1936, the same woman was discovered on the street, dressed, according to some sources, in rags, and according to others, she was completely naked. Despite some disagreements, all eyewitnesses claimed that the woman was covered in mud from head to toe. The lady, closing her eyes and muttering inarticulate phrases under her breath, dragged her mortal body towards the farm that once belonged to her father. In a living corpse local residents Filicia Felix-Mentor, buried 29 years ago, was recognized; the lady’s identity was also confirmed by her widowed husband.
The woman was immediately placed in a mental hospital. a hospital where, according to some sources, she lived for the rest of her life, and according to others, one fine day she simply disappeared from the felt-lined room. The report from her attending physician states: “The patient suffers from manic-depressive disorder and uncontrollable fits of laughter. The woman speaks about herself either in the third or in the first person and is constantly confused about dates and events. In moments of clarity of consciousness, she said that it was now 1906 and begged to be allowed to go home to her husband.”
Another interesting fact: according to an X-ray study, her skeleton was in excellent condition, and this despite the fact that the real Filicia had a leg fracture in two places. Other examinations also did not reveal any anomalies, except that the woman was in excellent condition. physical fitness and was... a virgin, several scars on her body also disappeared without a trace. “It seems that this middle-aged woman was born a few weeks ago,” the doctor who examined Filicia once said.
The mentally ill patient was recognized as a close relative of Filicia Felix-Mentor, and this despite the fact that the woman’s identity was confirmed by her husband and the fact that Filicia was only child in family.
Remember all
One fine morning in 1930, a four-year-old Indian girl, Shanti Deva, from Delhi, told her parents that past life her name was Ludgi and she lived in the city of Mathura with her husband. The parents wrote it off as a child's fantasy, but the little girl with enviable consistency reminded her parents of her past and each time added new details, so she once said that she had three children, two of whom died during childbirth.
Concerned about the mental state of the child, the father of the family found out that in the city of Mathura there actually lived a woman named Ludgi, who died 4 years ago. Her parents decided to fulfill Shanti's whim and took her to Mathura. Upon arrival, the girl immediately found the house where Lyudgi lived and introduced her parents to her “husband” and child, and also pointed out several details of her life dead woman, which only the relatives of the deceased knew about. After such incidents, you begin to believe in crazy theories about rebirth.
The Mystery of One Photo or the Ghost of Mr. Jackson
This unusual and even slightly frightening photograph was taken in 1919. 44 years later, this photograph became widely known thanks to retired British Air Force officer Victor Goddard, who sent it to the editor of one of the newspapers. The group photo shows members of the crew of the warship Daedalus, who were under Victor's command. The red circle indicates mechanic Freddie Jackson, who died two days before the photo was taken. Victor says that the funeral ceremony took place on the very day the photographer took the photo, which is why everyone in the photo has such gloomy faces.
Damn bridge
Overtoun Bridge is an ordinary arch bridge in Scotland, which was built back in 1859. Overtun gained fame thanks to dogs who, for several decades, end their lives by jumping from this architectural structure. The first case of dog suicide was recorded in 1951, by 1955 there were already more than 48 similar cases, in the same year it was found that mainly dogs with long muzzles. For most of the animals, a jump from a 15-meter height ended in death, but some survived and, after recovery, came to the bridge again to finish what they started. Another interesting fact - dogs jump not anyhow, and not anyhow: favorite place for jumping - between the last two flights with right side where are ours from? four-legged friends They throw themselves upside down and nothing else.
Local residents immediately dubbed the bridge cursed and began to avoid it. In 1994, a terrible bridge took the first human life: the crazy father threw his child off him, and then he himself followed.
The phenomenon received international attention and the Scottish Society for the Prevention of ill-treatment with animals” (Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) sent a representative to conduct an investigation. Expert ethologist (animal behavior specialist) David Sexton found that the undergrowth under the bridge was simply infested with mice. And as you know, the smell of these animals greatly influences the behavior of dogs and cats. Sexton conducted an experiment: he spread the scent of three species of mice found on the Overtun Bridge and observed the behavior of dogs. As a result, only two dogs out of 30 showed no interest in the mouse aroma, while the rest mindlessly ran to the place where the stench was spreading. “There’s no mysticism here: dogs just follow the scent - it’s their nature,” says David Sexton.
Ghost Ship Mary Celeste
Without a doubt, the most famous ship The ghost is the Mary Celeste, a merchant ship that was found abandoned and adrift in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872. The ship was in excellent condition, the holds were filled with fresh food and goods. No traces of the crew were ever found, and the presence of 1,500 barrels of pure alcohol on board eliminates the possibility that the ship was attacked by pirates.
The Mary Celeste was launched in 1860; over the next 10 years, the ship changed its owners with enviable regularity and was eventually bought for $3,000 by Captain Benjamin Briggs. On November 7, 1872, Mary Celeste left the port of New York. On board were Captain Briggs, his daughter and wife, and a crew of 10 sailors. No one has seen them since then. The ship's logbook could not be found on the ghost ship, and two lifeboats that were discovered in 1873 off the coast of Spain were also missing; one contained a body wrapped in an American flag, the other contained 5 more dead people who could not be identified. There was neither a woman nor a child among the corpses.
Sealand skull
Who does such an unusual skull belong to... A prehistoric animal, an alien, or maybe one of our ancestors at a certain stage of evolution? I think that any person will ask these questions after seeing the mysterious Sealand skull.
The skull was discovered in 2007 in the Danish village of Olstikke on the island of Sealand, but despite this, the find was kept in the strictest confidence until 2010. Researchers from the Veterinarian High School in Copenhagen, who studied the skull in 2008, concluded that it most likely belonged to an unknown species of mammal with extremely developed intellect. Radiocarbon dating showed that its owner lived between 1200 and 1280 AD.
The Sealand skull is almost 1.5 times larger than a human skull and its most prominent part is the huge eye sockets. Scientists suggest that this creature could see well in the dark. Based on the structure of the skull, scientists determined that the creature walked on hind legs, swam very well and was 3 meters tall. The structure of the teeth indicates that the owner of the skull was a predator. Unfortunately, the Sealand skull never revealed any more information about its owner.
Traveler
Looking at this photograph from 1940, you are unlikely to notice among hundreds of people one fashionista in sunglasses, a T-shirt with an emblem on it and a portable camera. It is not clear how our contemporary found himself among the respectable inhabitants of that era and why no one pays attention to him? The photograph was taken at the opening of the Canadian Museum, where it remains to this day. Skeptics say: “Deception, Photoshop... this simply cannot be!”
But I repeat, the photograph was taken in 1940 and took pride of place among the museum exhibits in 1941, and most importantly, a time traveler was present on it all this time, so there can be no question of a fake. Despite the facts, the photograph was subjected to examinations several times, which confirmed that no editing was found in the photograph.
The Snow Queen
19-year-old Jean Hilliard was a completely ordinary girl until one incident turned her whole life upside down and made her the most a unique person in the world. This happened in hometown Jean - Lengby, Minisota. A neighbor found a girl lying on the street in -25 degrees below zero. When she was taken to the hospital, the doctor was shocked by what he saw: the girl’s body literally froze. One of the nurses later said: “It was like I had my hands in a freezer when I touched that poor girl.”
The doctor said that this was an unprecedented case and there was nothing he could do, so all of Jean’s relatives and friends gathered at the hospital and began to pray. And strangely enough, it worked, because... in a month our " The Snow Queen"Recovered completely. The icing did not cause any damage to her body and even her frostbitten limbs did not have to be amputated. Doctors called it a miracle, and local fanatics dubbed Jean a saint.
But what really happened here? Whether it was the power of prayer, a medical miracle, or a new stage in human evolution. It is known that some animals can enter suspended animation when low temperatures...maybe Jean is one of them?
Ghost of Vem Town Hall
A photographer captured a little girl in the town hall engulfed in flames. This chilling photo was taken by Tony O'Reilly as he stood among a crowd of onlookers watching the town hall of Shopir - Wem burn down. The photo was taken in November 1995 and published at the same time.
The birth of a legend.
15 years later, a certain 77-year-old pensioner Brian Lear said that he found a girl on one of the old postcards similar to the one at Vem Town Hall. By the way, the postcard is dated 1922... do you smell the intrigue?
“I was shocked when, while sorting out my things, I found this old postcard with a picture of a ghost girl from Vem town hall,” says the pensioner. "Upon closer inspection, you can see that they are even dressed the same and it's really scary."
This photo shook all the pillars of knowledge about the supernatural and caused a real international outcry. There was even information in the newspapers that this 14-year-old girl's name was Jane Charm, she was 14 years old and it was her fault that the same town hall caught fire in 1677. The cause of the 1995 fire remains a mystery.
The photographer who took this photo, Tony O'Reilly, died in 2005, when on Halloween the kids decided to play a prank on the eccentric old man and, dressing one of the participants in the procession as the ghost girl from the photo, went to his house. Opening the door and seeing the pale girl from the photograph on the threshold demanding sweets, Mr. O'Reilly grabbed his heart and fell dead.
An examination of the photograph in 1998 showed that there was no photomontage on it.
Hoax
“Today I can confidently say that the photo of the ghost of the Wem Mosque is a hoax,” says Greg Hobson, curator of photography at the National Media Museum. The technique used to take this photograph is similar to that used by mediums in the 19th century, who supposedly could capture a dead person with whom they came into contact.
And it was done like this: the mediums asked the relatives for a photograph of the deceased, which was fixed in front of the camera lens. The shooting was carried out in a dark room and as a result, the contours of the image from the photograph were partially “imprinted” on the camera lenses. When relatives came to the charlatan for advice in Once again, he offered them to take a photograph of the deceased for a certain amount of money, which no longer presented any problem, because the new image was superimposed on the “imprint” from the lenses. This is how these incredibly life-like photographs of ghosts appeared.
Incredible but true or it happens (Video)
Thomas McGean was a well-known troublemaker in his town. 1871 - he was accused of shooting a man during a quarrel in a bar. His lawyer, Clement Vallandigham, on the contrary, argued that the man who became the victim, a certain Meyers, himself fired an accidental shot while trying to pull the pistol out of his pocket. Vallandigham even arranged for his colleagues to demonstrate how everything happened, that is, a kind of investigative experiment, in modern parlance.
The lawyer put two pistols on his desk– one was charged, the other was not. Confused, he grabbed the loaded pistol, put it in his pocket and pulled on the fabric of his trousers. He wanted to present the scene exactly as he thought it happened. But when he pulled the trigger, the gun fired - exactly as it had happened to the victim. Vallandigham died 12 hours later. Incredibly, McGin was acquitted.
Killer greeting
1750 - Robert Morris, a major colonial official, had an incredible dream: he was mortally wounded when the ship he was to visit the next day fired an artillery salute. When he woke up, he was in shock and refused to board the ship. Calming the guest, the captain promised that there would be no fireworks until Morris, after visiting the ship, came down to earth. Morris agreed to this condition.
After inspecting the ship, the captain waited until Morris was on the boat, and then gave the order to prepare for a cannon salute. But then a fly landed on his nose, and he raised his hand, driving it away. The commanders took his gesture as a signal and fired. A fragment of the cannonball hit Morris, who rowed his boat only a few meters away.
As they say, you can’t escape fate.
Buried alive
The night after the funeral of her five-year-old son Max, his mother, Mrs. Hoffman, was tormented by nightmares: she saw her son, who was imprisoned. The boy clenched his small hands into fists under right cheek and tried to escape from mortal captivity. Woman waking up from nightmare, asked her husband to dig up the coffin, but he refused, believing that it was all nerves and she simply could not believe that her son was dead. But the other night the woman saw the same nightmare in her dream. And her husband succumbed to her plea.
They and their neighbor, Mr. Hoffman, went to the cemetery at one in the morning and dug up the child’s body. The boy was in the same position as his mother had seen him in her nightmare, but showed no signs of life. Nevertheless, they brought him to the doctor, who had previously declared his death. The doctor, not hoping for success, began to resuscitate the boy. After an hour, to their horror, they saw that the child's eyelid was twitching. A week later, Max completely came to his senses and lived to the respectable age of ninety.
Attend your funeral
1831 - In England, during a raging typhus epidemic, medical students dug up the corpse of a man who had been buried four days earlier from a grave for a training autopsy. But as soon as the professor made the first cut, the dead man screamed and grabbed the professor by the hand. The events leading to the apparent death of this man were even more mysterious.
The poor Englishman said that, although he was very weak due to typhus, he never lost consciousness. He could not speak or make any other sign; he had to listen obediently as the doctor announced his death. Lying with his face covered, he listened to how his friends and relatives were dying for him. Having survived the terrible treatment of the gravedigger, he eventually heard a knock on wood - it was nails being hammered into the coffin lid. Crouched in his narrow box, he felt as if his head, arms and legs were being torn off. I also had to listen to the funeral words spoken to his own address. Over the next 4 days, he felt and was aware of everything. But when the professor began to cut him, he suddenly managed to scream loudly, as if thereby breaking the shackles of death and returning to life.
Violet scent
After defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, Emperor Napoleon III fled to England, where Queen Victoria granted him asylum. The emperor's son liked the British so much that he enlisted in military service V South Africa, where in 1879 he was killed in a battle with the Zulus. He was buried in the jungle not far from the battle site, but no one knew exactly where.
The Empress wanted her son to be buried in the family crypt, and so set off in 1880 with an expedition to Africa in search of a grave. The expedition did not produce results. And when the empress, whose health was undermined tropical climate, she had already completely given up all hope of finding the burial place, she suddenly smelled the scent of violets, her son’s favorite scent of perfume. Guided by this smell, she finally found Louis's grave, which was hidden in dense undergrowth.
Oasis in the middle of the ocean
1881 - Captain Neil Kerry, along with his wife, two children and a crew of 32 people, sailed from Liverpool to San Francisco. Approaching North America A severe fire broke out on board the ship, due to which everyone was forced to abandon the ship off the west coast of Mexico. Three lifeboats carried the waves Pacific Ocean, neither land nor a passing ship was visible. Soon hunger and thirst took their toll, and already seven shipwrecked people lost consciousness. At night, Kerry had a dream that the color of the water changed from blue to green. He tasted it and found the water to be fresh and drinkable. When he woke up, he was amazed to find that the water had actually turned green. And just as in the dream, gathering his last strength, he filled the vessel. The water turned out to be fresh.
Twenty-three days after the shipwreck, Captain Kerry and his men set foot on the Mexican coast. Mysterious oasis fresh water, which Kerry discovered by pure chance in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, saved the castaways.
Incredible Rescue
1828 - a British ship sailing from Liverpool heading to Nova Scotia had been sailing for several weeks icy waters North Atlantic when senior sailor Robert Bruce saw a stranger in the captain's cabin. He was writing something on the board. Bruce mistook him for a “hare” and followed the captain. Entering the cabin, they, however, did not find the stranger there, but on the board they saw the inscription: “Take a course to the north-west.”
The captain called the team members in turn, and each wrote this sentence on the board. None of them had the same handwriting. Nevertheless, the captain followed strange advice and changed the ship's course. Soon the sailor on Mars saw another ship, which, as it turned out, was stuck in the ice. When the crew and passengers of the ship in distress boarded the British ship, Bruce saw among them a man who was writing on the board. They took a sample of his handwriting as well. The handwritings turned out to be the same. The man said that shortly before they were lost in the ice, he was sleeping. And when he woke up, he had a feeling of confidence that they would be saved. Apparently, the man left his body in his sleep and teleported aboard the British ship to ask for help in advance.
Revenge from the grave
1681 - Jason Graham, a miller from Durham County (England), was visited three times by a ghost of a woman. The ghost introduced himself to Graham as Ann Walker and looked disgusting: she was splattered with blood from head to toe, and there were five gaping wounds on her head. She said that she was killed by a certain Mark Sharp, who was persuaded to commit the crime by his relative, from whom Anne was expecting a child. Now the ghost wanted Graham to tell this story to the authorities.
Graham did not believe that Anne could be anything other than the product of his own excited fantasy, and did not comply with the request. Ann Walker had to appear two more times before the miller went to the local magistrate and showed him the place where the murder victim was buried. When they began to dig, they actually found a corpse there with the same wounds as Graham described them. Mark Sharp and a relative were arrested, convicted and hanged. Ann Walker took revenge from the other world.
The dead can walk
The mixing of African religions with European Catholicism formed a kind of spiritualistic religion in Haiti, the so-called voodoo cult. The gods of the Loa cult endow the priests with special powers, with which they can revive the dead and create from them soulless automata, zombies.
Very often, the reason for the appearance of zombies is unhappy love or an unsatisfied feeling of revenge, both of these phenomena play in voodoo rituals important role. In one case, for example, a priest wanted to possess a young girl who was already engaged to another. She refused, to which the priest responded with a hail of curses. A few days later, the girl fell ill and died under mysterious circumstances. Soon after the funeral, a rumor spread that the girl was seen with a priest, to whom she refused reciprocity. There was no concrete confirmation of the rumors, and the villagers did not check that they might have buried the girl alive. But a few years later, the girl returned to the village and told her family that the priest had made her a zombie, but then repented and let her go.
Disappearance of the lake
For hundreds of years, a small lake existed, hidden among the Italian Dolomites. And in July 1980, when people were fishing and swimming as usual, water suddenly rose from the middle of the lake in a spiral-shaped column and all went into the sky. Neither hydraulics nor geologists can explain this phenomenon.
The man who didn't want to be hanged
Young Will Purvis was convicted of murdering a farmer in a Columbia court. And although he assured everyone of his innocence, twelve jurors found him guilty and sentenced him to death by hanging. As Purvis was led out of the courtroom, he shouted to the jury, “I’ll outlive you all!”
1894, February 7 - Purvis stood under the gallows with a noose around his neck. When the hatch opened, instead of hanging from a rope with a broken neck, he simply fell down. Mysteriously the knot came undone, and the noose simply slid off the condemned man’s neck. The knot was tied again and they were going to repeat the execution. But the assembled spectators had a different opinion; in their eyes, Purvis’s salvation was a miracle; they believed that he was clearly not destined to die on the gallows. By shouting, singing and calling on the Lord, people achieved a stay of execution. The condemned man's request for clemency was not considered, and a second execution was scheduled for December 2, 1895. By this time, Purvis was already a celebrity.
Shortly before the second execution, with the help of his supporters, he managed to escape from custody. He hid and waited for the new governor, who was known as a fair man, to take office. In 1896, Purvis confessed and his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. But in 1898, a real stream of petitions poured in asking for the abolition of punishment, and a well-meaning public opinion still had its effect. Purvis was pardoned. But only in 1917 was he truly acquitted: a certain Joseph Beard confessed on his deathbed to committing a crime for which Purvis was almost hanged.
This story has quite interesting continuation: On October 13, 1938, Purvis died—three days after the last juror to convict him died. He actually outlived them all.
Gigantic rats
Sometimes the vagaries of nature are truly unpredictable. For example, in Iran there are huge rats, some weighing up to ten kilograms, which attack and devour cats. According to the Kayhan newspaper, these rodents have unusually long hind legs and use them to jump like a kangaroo.
William Jackson, a biology professor at Bowling Green University, compares these monsters to so-called pipe cutters, giant rats from West Africa, which the local population eats as a delicacy. But the “African women” are herbivores, and therefore Jackson cannot understand what these carnivorous Iranian rats are. The aggressiveness in the behavior of rats is something very strange, the professor believes.
Unaffected by heat
The ability to walk on burning coals can be explained, if we discard mysticism, by time-limited mental control over pain. But unique abilities blacksmith of Denton, Maryland, may serve as proof of the possibility of true immunity to heat.
Nathan Coker was born in 1814 in Hillsboro and was a slave of Attorney Pernel. The owner treated the boy cruelly, fed him poorly, and it was hunger that revealed an amazing ability in him. One evening, when the cook came out of the kitchen, Nathan quickly dipped his hand into a pot of boiling water, pulled out the scalding dumplings and began to eat them. And then he realized that he did not feel pain - neither in his hand nor in his mouth. Now he could, without experiencing pain, take hot food and eat it. He drank, for example, fat from the surface of boiling soup and even claimed that cold food caused him pain. After the abolition of slavery in the United States, Nathan worked for a blacksmith, where his unique abilities were very useful. “I often remove the metal, red from the heat, from the forge with my hand and do not feel any pain at all,” he said.
News of Nathan's natural gift spread throughout the area, and he was invited to Easton to demonstrate his abilities to famous citizens, among whom were two newspaper editors and two doctors. In 1871, an article about Coker was published in the New York Herald. According to eyewitnesses, Coker stepped with his bare feet on a white-hot iron shovel. The cooled shovel was heated again, and he ran his tongue over it. Molten lead was poured into his palm, he took it into his mouth and moved his tongue in front of a stunned audience until the metal solidified.
Each time after the experiment, Nathan was examined by doctors, but no burns were found.
Abraham Lincoln and the Dancing Piano
In the 60s of the last century, spiritualism was so popular that it even attracted the attention of American President Abraham Lincoln. While attending a séance at the home of Mrs. Laurie and her daughter Mrs. Miller, he witnessed Mrs. Miller playing the piano in a trance and dancing the instrument as she did so.
As she began to play, the front legs of the piano began to rise and fall in time with the music. One of the guests asked permission to sit on the piano to check whether the piano actually moved on its own. The medium allowed anyone to sit on the instrument. One member of Congress, a judge, and two soldiers from Lincoln's escort checked. Then Mrs. Miller continued playing, and the piano continued to dance to the music.
Mountain of light... or darkness?
The brilliance of the Koh-i-noor diamond hides two legends - that its owner will rule the world and that it should never be worn by a man. "Koh-i-noor" means "mountain of light". But at one time the diamond caused terrible destruction in two great empires. He appeared among the treasures of the Mughal Emperor Mohammed - and he was overthrown. And the Persian Shah - its new owner - died at palace coup in 1747. A century later, the diamond was the brightest stone on the turban of the Sikh leader, who did not tolerate women in their ranks, and their domain was conquered by the British, led by Queen Victoria. Since then, the diamond has adorned the crowns of three queens of England. No British king ever wore it.
The healing powers of Padre Pio
If an ordinary person suddenly stigmata appear, that is, bloody sores of Christ on the body, then Catholics consider such cases as a miracle. IN highest degree A remarkable case of stigmatism occurred in the city of Loggia (Italy). The Capuchin monk whose name was Pio not only had stigmata on his legs and arms, not only puncture wound in his side, he still had the ability to heal the sick with the touch of his hands. Thus he cured a nine-year-old hunchbacked boy, who, after the monk laid his bleeding hand on him, straightened up and lost his hump.
Padre Pio was born in 1887 and only at the age of 28 he felt pain in his arms, legs and side, but doctors could not explain the reasons for their occurrence. 3 years later, while praying in front of the altar, he suddenly fell to the ground, writhing in pain. After some time, his brothers in faith found him lying unconscious on the floor, blood flowing from his wounds. It was clear to the monks that these were Christ’s wounds.
Although Padre Pio was revered in Italy, and then throughout the world, he constantly faced skepticism. One of these skeptics, Dr. Richardi from the small town of San Giovanni Rotondo, in the Compania region, had a brain tumor. He didn't want the healer's help. But when Padre Pio finally came to the sick man, the completely exhausted man willingly agreed to accept healing. Soon the doctor was completely healthy.
Sumerian star maps
The Babylonians were famous for their astronomical knowledge, which they achieved millennia before the Copernican scientific revolution in Europe. But now, judging by the recently translated Babylonian texts, it can be argued that this civilization only adopted its enormous knowledge from its predecessor, the Sumerian. The Babylonians, apparently, only took advantage of their star maps, although they understood little of the calculations that underlay them.
This means that the basis for our calendar was created 5 thousand years ago by the Sumerians, who seemed to already know that the planets were spherical and moved around the Sun. Moreover, they knew that when the Earth rotates, it deviates from its own axis and this changes the position of the North Star. They calculated that this star takes approximately 26,000 years to return to its original position. But the most interesting thing is that they accurately calculated the distance between the stars, that is, they had information that is especially important for modern astronauts. But why were the Sumerians, who obviously did not have spacecraft, interested in such information?
Pets predict earthquakes
The Chinese have known for a long time that animals sense the approach of earthquakes. They feel the changes magnetic field Lands that anticipate an approaching disaster begin to get nervous and often try to hide: in Japan, goldfish tried to jump out of aquariums, in China, birds tried to escape from cages.
Jim Berkland, chief geologist of St. Clare County in California, is convinced of the accuracy of the Chinese method of predicting earthquakes; his cat also ran away before the earthquake. Berkland regularly scans the lost and found columns of three major California newspapers. If the number of missing animals increases sharply, then perhaps an earthquake will occur soon. To the information about animals, he adds information about the activity of geysers and tides, as well as the positions of the Sun and Moon, and based his earthquake predictions on all this, achieving an amazing accuracy of 82%.
Living bridges, lips growing in forests and flying ferrets. Does this happen? Unbelievable but true.
Growing lips
There is no other plant like it. "Nature's Kiss" is one of a kind, and nowhere else in flower world Something like this doesn't happen. This is the sublime psychotria (Psychotria Elata) - a flower in the shape of scarlet lips.
The glossy red leaves are an ideal attraction for the plant's main pollinators, butterflies and hummingbirds, which drink the nectar and pass pollen from flower to flower. "Lips" grow in the forests of Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama and are now endangered due to deforestation.
Living leaf
2. Either a leaf or a twig. This is actually a fantastic flat-tailed gecko (Uroplatus phantasticus). Its length is about 10 cm. To enhance the already camouflage color, geckos sway a little, resembling a leaf blown by the wind. In a terrarium where there is no wind, this looks more than funny.
These unique reptiles living in the forests of the island of Madagascar have no equal in their ability to imitate fallen leaves. Unsurpassed masters camouflage!
Painted Mountains
Underground caves of Cappadocia
4. The ancient underground caves of Cappadocia in what is now Turkey were once inhabited. Steep slopes and rooms carved into soft tuff made up a whole camouflaged, secret underground world.
Derinkuyu (Turkish Derinkuyu - “deep well”) is an ancient deep multi-tiered underground city. Together with the neighboring city of Kaymakli, this is one of the best examples of underground residential structures. The city was built in the II-I millennium BC. e, discovered in 1963 and two years later opened to tourists. Here people hid for centuries from raids by nomads, religious persecution and other dangers. Reaching a depth of about 60 m (8 tiers), in ancient times the city could shelter up to 20 thousand people along with food and livestock. Scientists believe that only 10-15% of the entire city territory has now been explored.
There were all the necessary amenities: living quarters, ventilation shafts and wells, barns and stables, kitchens and dining rooms, bakeries, presses for squeezing oil and grapes, barns and wine cellars, churches and chapels, as well as workshops where everything necessary was made. There is information that in underground city there was even a cemetery.
Butterflies 88 and 89
5. Callikora - unusual butterflies, living in Central and South America. Their wings are decorated with numbers - 88 and 89, depending on the subspecies. The natives consider meeting with her a sign of good luck.
Ingrown bicycle
6. This mysterious bicycle, embedded in a tree, is located on Vashon Island in Washington State. They say that in 1914, a young boy went to war, leaving his “two-wheeled friend” chained to a tree trunk. But this guy never came back with , and the tree had no choice but to grow along with the bicycle. Decades have passed, and the living and the nonliving have grown together.
But the skeptics beautiful fairy tale from American blogs they compare the condition of the bicycle with the climate of Vashon Island and say that in a hundred years only barely identifiable pieces of rusty metal would remain in the tree...
"Living Bridges"
7. In the area of the town of Cherrapunji in northeast India, which is located at an altitude of 1,300 meters and is considered the most rainy place on Earth, bridges grow from the roots of the rubber ficus. The “construction” process lasts 10-15 years. Living bridges can reach a length of 30 meters and support the weight of more than 50 people. Read more in the article "".
8. In one of the British parks, the photographer managed to capture an amazing scene: a woodpecker flying with a weasel on its back. And although it looked funny, it was really about the woodpecker's survival. Weasels feed on small rodents and birds, and if the woodpecker had not found an opportunity to throw the predator off its back, it would have gnawed its throat.
The bird landed approximately 20 meters from the observers. Freed from the dangerous burden, the woodpecker took off and disappeared into the branches of the tree.
9. These smoking chimneys form in harsh areas with volcanic activity. In Arctic regions, steam escaping from the ground freezes, forming snow pipes around a volcanic vent. It looks very fabulous.
A snake is not a snake
10. This is a caterpillar. But at the moment of threat, she turns into a snake, skillfully imitating its appearance and movements, retracting her legs and inflating her head. Grasping the tree with its hind legs, it raises the front part of its body and bends as if preparing to throw poisonous snake. The triangular head, fierce eyes and shiny scales all create a rather menacing appearance that often scares off potential enemies. Who would mess with such a “predator”?
The secret they tried to hide? Cargo ship SS Ourang Medan
The history of the cargo ship SS Ourang Medan began in 1947, when two American ships that were heading to Malaysia received an SOS signal. A man called for help, introducing himself as a member of the crew of the Dutch ship Orange Medan. The man shouted: “Everyone is dead and soon it will come for me.” Then a strange noise came into the transmission and the sailor said: “I’m dead”...
American ships immediately headed to the aid of the ship in distress. The bodies of all crew members were found on board the Orange Medan. There was a frozen expression of horror on the faces of the dead people, and their glassy eyes were wide open. Many died with their hands outstretched in front of them, and it was clear that they were defending themselves from something. Upon examination of the bodies, it was found that all crew members died approximately 6-8 hours ago, but despite this, their body temperature exceeded 40 degrees Celsius.
It was decided to tow the Orange Medan vessel to the port for further examination, but a few minutes later a fire started on board and members of the rescue team were forced to abandon it. Immediately after this, an explosion occurred and Orange Medan sank to the bottom.
A theory was put forward that this whole story was a hoax and that no Orange Medan existed, because. No record of this vessel was found in Lloyd's Insurance Register, which must include all ships engaged in international shipping. As a result, the whole story was recognized as a hoax. Although there are many facts proving the opposite, it is known for certain about several people who claimed that their relatives were hired on board a ship called the Orange Medan and disappeared.
In memory of the mysterious ship, only one photograph remains, taken by the wife of one of the crew members.
Zombie named Filicia
In 1907, after a short illness, which according to local Haitian beliefs is similar to the transformation of a person into a zombie, a certain Felicia Felix-Mentor died. And already in 1936, the same woman was discovered on the street, dressed, according to some sources, in rags, and according to others, she was completely naked. Despite some disagreements, all eyewitnesses claimed that the woman was covered in mud from head to toe. The lady, closing her eyes and muttering inarticulate phrases under her breath, dragged her mortal body towards the farm that once belonged to her father. Local residents recognized the living corpse as Filicia Felix-Mentor, who was buried 29 years ago; the lady’s identity was also confirmed by her widowed husband.
The woman was immediately placed in a mental hospital. a hospital where, according to some sources, she lived for the rest of her life, and according to others, one fine day she simply disappeared from the felt-lined room. The report from her attending physician states: “The patient suffers from manic-depressive disorder and uncontrollable fits of laughter. The woman speaks about herself either in the third or in the first person and is constantly confused about dates and events. In moments of clarity of consciousness, she said that it was now 1906 and begged to be allowed to go home to her husband.”
Another interesting fact: according to an X-ray study, her skeleton was in excellent condition, and this despite the fact that the real Filicia had a leg fracture in two places. Other examinations also did not reveal any anomalies, except that the woman was in excellent physical shape and was... a virgin, and several scars on her body also disappeared without a trace. “It seems that this middle-aged woman was born a few weeks ago,” the doctor who examined Filicia once said.
The mentally ill patient was recognized as a close relative of Filicia Felix-Mentor, and this despite the fact that the woman’s identity was confirmed by her husband and the fact that Filicia was the only child in the family.
Remember all
One fine morning in 1930, a four-year-old Indian girl Shanti Diva (or Shanti Deva) from Delhi told her parents that in a past life her name was Ludgi and she lived in the city of Mathura with her husband. The parents wrote it off as a child's fantasy, but the little girl with enviable consistency reminded her parents of her past and each time added new details, so she once said that she had three children, two of whom died during childbirth.
Concerned about the mental state of the child, the father of the family found out that in the city of Mathura there actually lived a woman named Ludgi, who died 4 years ago. Her parents decided to fulfill Shanti's whim and took her to Mathura. Upon arrival, the girl immediately found the house where Lyudgi lived and introduced her parents to her “husband” and child, and also pointed out several details of the life of the deceased woman, which only the relatives of the deceased knew about. After such incidents, you begin to believe in crazy theories about rebirth.
The Mystery of One Photo or the Ghost of Mr. Jackson
This unusual and even slightly frightening photograph was taken in 1919. 44 years later, this photograph became widely known thanks to retired British Air Force officer Victor Goddard, who sent it to the editor of one of the newspapers. The group photo shows members of the crew of the warship Daedalus, who were under Victor's command. The red circle indicates mechanic Freddie Jackson, who died two days before the photo was taken. Victor says that the funeral ceremony took place on the very day the photographer took the photo, which is why everyone in the photo has such gloomy faces.
Damn bridge
Overtoun Bridge is an ordinary arch bridge in Scotland, which was built back in 1859. Overtun gained fame thanks to dogs who, for several decades, end their lives by jumping from this architectural structure. The first case of dog suicide was recorded in 1951, by 1955 there were already more than 48 similar cases, in the same year it was found that mainly dogs with long muzzles jump from the bridge. For most of the animals, a jump from a 15-meter height ended in death, but some survived and, after recovery, came to the bridge again to finish what they started. Another interesting fact is that dogs jump not anyhow and not anyhow: the favorite place for jumping is between the last two flights on the right side, from where our four-legged friends throw themselves upside down and nothing else.
Local residents immediately dubbed the bridge cursed and began to avoid it. In 1994, a terrible bridge took the first human life: a father who had lost his mind threw his child off it, and then followed him.
The phenomenon received international attention and the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals sent a representative to investigate. Expert ethologist (animal behavior specialist) David Sexton found that the undergrowth under the bridge was simply infested with mice. And as you know, the smell of these animals greatly influences the behavior of dogs and cats. Sexton conducted an experiment: he spread the scent of three species of mice found on the Overtun Bridge and observed the behavior of dogs. As a result, only two dogs out of 30 showed no interest in the mouse aroma, while the rest mindlessly ran to the place where the stench was spreading. “There’s no mysticism here: dogs just follow the scent - it’s their nature,” says David Sexton.
Ghost Ship Mary Celeste
Without a doubt, the most famous ghost ship is the Mary Celeste, a merchant ship that was found abandoned and adrift in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872. The ship was in excellent condition, the holds were filled with fresh food and goods. No traces of the crew were ever found, and the presence of 1,500 barrels of pure alcohol on board eliminates the possibility that the ship was attacked by pirates.
The Mary Celeste was launched in 1860; over the next 10 years, the ship changed its owners with enviable regularity and was eventually bought for $3,000 by Captain Benjamin Briggs. On November 7, 1872, Mary Celeste left the port of New York. On board were Captain Briggs, his daughter and wife, and a crew of 10 sailors. No one has seen them since then. The ship's logbook could not be found on the ghost ship, and two lifeboats that were discovered in 1873 off the coast of Spain were also missing; one contained a body wrapped in an American flag, the other contained 5 more dead people who could not be identified. There was neither a woman nor a child among the corpses.
Sealand skull
Who does such an unusual skull belong to... A prehistoric animal, an alien, or maybe one of our ancestors at a certain stage of evolution? I think that any person will ask these questions after seeing the mysterious Sealand skull.
The skull was discovered in 2007 in the Danish village of Olstikke on the island of Sealand, but despite this, the find was kept in the strictest confidence until 2010. Researchers from the Veterinarian High School in Copenhagen, who studied the skull in 2008, concluded that it most likely belonged to an unknown species of mammal with extremely advanced intelligence. Radiocarbon dating showed that its owner lived between 1200 and 1280 AD.
The Sealand skull is almost 1.5 times larger than a human skull and its most prominent part is the huge eye sockets. Scientists suggest that this creature could see well in the dark. Based on the structure of the skull, scientists determined that the creature walked on its hind legs, swam very well and was 3 meters tall. The structure of the teeth indicates that the owner of the skull was a predator. Unfortunately, the Sealand skull never revealed any more information about its owner.
Traveler
Looking at this photograph from 1940, you are unlikely to notice among hundreds of people one fashionista in sunglasses, a T-shirt with an emblem on it and a portable camera. It is not clear how our contemporary found himself among the respectable inhabitants of that era and why no one pays attention to him? The photograph was taken at the opening of the Canadian Museum, where it remains to this day. Skeptics say: “Deception, Photoshop... this simply cannot be!”
But I repeat, the photograph was taken in 1940 and took pride of place among the museum exhibits in 1941, and most importantly, a time traveler was present on it all this time, so there can be no question of a fake. Despite the facts, the photograph was subjected to examinations several times, which confirmed that no editing was found in the photograph.
The Snow Queen
19-year-old Jean Hilliard was a completely ordinary girl until one incident turned her whole life upside down and made her the most unique person in the world. This happened in Jean's hometown - Lengby, Minisota. A neighbor found a girl lying on the street in -25 degrees below zero. When she was taken to the hospital, the doctor was shocked by what he saw: the girl’s body literally froze. One of the nurses later said: “It was like I had my hands in a freezer when I touched that poor girl.”
The doctor said that this was an unprecedented case and there was nothing he could do, so all of Jean’s relatives and friends gathered at the hospital and began to pray. And strangely enough, it worked, because... within a month our “snow queen” had fully recovered. The icing did not cause any damage to her body and even her frostbitten limbs did not have to be amputated. Doctors called it a miracle, and local fanatics dubbed Jean a saint.
But what really happened here? Whether it was the power of prayer, a medical miracle, or a new stage in human evolution. It is known that some animals can enter suspended animation at low temperatures... perhaps Jean is one of them? =)
Ghost of Vem Town Hall
A photographer captured a little girl in the town hall engulfed in flames. This chilling photo was taken by Tony O'Reilly as he stood among a crowd of onlookers watching the town hall of Shopir - Wem burn down. The photo was taken in November 1995 and published at the same time.
The birth of a legend.
15 years later, a certain 77-year-old pensioner Brian Lear said that he found a girl on one of the old postcards similar to the one at Vem Town Hall. By the way, the postcard is dated 1922... do you smell the intrigue?
“I was shocked when, while sorting out my things, I found this old postcard with a picture of a ghost girl from Vem town hall,” says the pensioner. "Upon closer inspection, you can see that they are even dressed the same and it's really scary."
This photo shook all the pillars of knowledge about the supernatural and caused a real international outcry. There was even information in the newspapers that this 14-year-old girl's name was Jane Charm, she was 14 years old and it was her fault that the same town hall caught fire in 1677. The cause of the 1995 fire remains a mystery.
The photographer who took this photo, Tony O'Reilly, died in 2005, when on Halloween the kids decided to play a prank on the eccentric old man and, dressing one of the participants in the procession as the ghost girl from the photo, went to his house. Opening the door and seeing the pale girl from the photograph on the threshold demanding sweets, Mr. O'Reilly grabbed his heart and fell dead.
An examination of the photograph in 1998 showed that there was no photomontage on it.
Hoax
“Today I can confidently say that the photo of the ghost of the Wem Mosque is a hoax,” says Greg Hobson, curator of photography at the National Media Museum. The technique used to take this photograph is similar to that used by mediums in the 19th century, who supposedly could capture a dead person with whom they came into contact.
And it was done like this: the mediums asked the relatives for a photograph of the deceased, which was fixed in front of the camera lens. The shooting was carried out in a dark room and as a result, the contours of the image from the photograph were partially “imprinted” on the camera lenses. When relatives came to the charlatan for advice again, he offered them to take a photograph of the deceased for a certain amount of money, which no longer presented any problem, because the new image was superimposed on the “imprint” from the lenses. This is how these incredibly life-like photographs of ghosts appeared.
How can you offend an old lady in Norway by giving her your seat on the bus? Why is it forbidden to give flowers to the lady of the house in China? How smart are bears and when was the last wolf killed in England? This and much more is in our interesting selection. Here are collected a variety of incredible facts from all over the world and from different historical eras. Delicious food for thought ahead of the weekend.
(Total 13 photos)
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1. In Norway, it is not customary to give up your seat to older people in public transport. It is believed that by doing this you emphasize your physical superiority.
2. In the States, it is not customary to pay for a woman in a restaurant. It is believed that this is how men emphasize their financial superiority.
3. In China, it is not customary to bring flowers to the lady of the house. It is believed that by this the guests emphasize that this house is so ugly that they bring decorations with them.
4. Men's toplessness was banned on New Jersey beaches until 1937, on the grounds that residents "don't want to see gorillas on our beaches."
5. The first artificial Christmas trees in Germany were made from dyed goose feathers.
6. Most of Santa's reindeer wear male names. But males shed their antlers at Christmas, so most likely the sleigh is pulled by females or castrati.
7. Before 1870, one of the common ways to have an abortion was to pull out a healthy tooth. It was believed that pain could contribute to spontaneous abortion.
8. B Ancient Rome practiced cosmetic surgery. Men got rid of scars on their backs - this was considered a shame, because otherwise one could think that a person had turned his back to the enemy during a battle.
9. There are known cases when bears brought stones into traps so that when it slammed shut, they could calmly eat the bait.
10. The spear ceased to be an official weapon in the British Army in 1927.
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