7 Ways You Can Die In A House

I love the built environment. Every house, from beautiful turn of the century jewels to lifeless utilitarian cubes, every road, from charming cobble stoned alleys to busy 4 lane streets, everything that has to do with cities and the infrastructure and buildings within them I just adore.

But without geeking out on architecture and urbanism (I’ll definitely be doing that on another article) and keeping in mind that Halloween is approaching I thought I could look at how the built environment I so deeply love CANKILLMEATAMOMENTSNOTICE.

Here are some of the weirdest ways in which a number of unfortunate souls met their demise at the hand of the buildings that surround them or the objects stored within them.


1. Just Buy a Kindle and You’ll Be Fine

Everyone can think of at least one tight spot in their home where they can possible get stuck; a crammed pantry, some part of the basement or a really small attic. However, Mariesa Weber managed to get herself killed by slipping behind the bookcase in her room. Supposedly, the 38-year-old woman from Pasco County was trying to plug in her TV when she slipped and fell behind her 6 feet tall bookcase. Being unable to set herself free, the woman eventually died of suffocation.

She was found 11 days later by accident after a huge missing persons search was set in place by her worried family.

Here’s a tip no interior designer will ever give you, make sure you can push over any piece of furniture you’re ever going to buy.


2. You Will NEVER Look at a Chair the Same Way Again 

In the most horrific story ever written with letters, an unnamed 14-year-old boy from China apparently died after the gas cylinder of his chair exploded sending what can basically be described as shrapnel into his rectum.

Just remember that when you’re nonchalantly adjusting the height on your office chair. In the meantime, I’m buying regular-normal-safe-chair stock in case this story ever trends and people suddenly stop buying adjustable chairs.


3. There is No Such Thing as 100% Safe When It Comes To Swimming Pools

I can’t swim very well. It’s one of the many things that may end up killing me in case of a zombie apocalypse or a trip to the seaside.

This being said, I still planned to install an awesome swimming pool when I became a homeowner and just be careful around it until I learned how to swim better. I scrapped that plan as apparently there is no such thing as being safe next to a swimming pool. I say this because a 31-year-old man named Jerome Moody drowned at a lifeguard party thrown to celebrate a no-drowning season in New Orleans.

In case you missed it, a man died at a lifeguard party, with 4 lifeguards on guard.

So instead of a swimming pool, my future home’s entertainment and relaxation section will come with something safe like a series of giant death-pendulums swimming over my backyard.

4. In News That Shocks No One: Hoarding Can Kill

Homer and Langley Collyer, brothers from a rich and somewhat prestigious New York family, were killed by their eccentric hoarding habits. The brothers became extremely private, basically shut-ins after their parents died sometime during the 1920s. 

In 1947, a neighbor of the brother’s Harlem brownstone called the authorities when a pestilential smell was oozing from the next-door building. Police found the blind and crippled Homer Collyer dead, surrounded by ALL THE THINGS IN THE WORLD. I’m not kidding, among other things, police officers found an X-ray machine, tons of newspapers, books, furniture and a horse’s jawbone. #justelittlethings #poorpeopledontunderstand

With no trace of his brother, Langley, police probably thought he was in some way responsible for the death and launched a US-wide manhunt. However, 180 tons of cleared out trash later, officers found the rat bitten cadaver of Langley which was apparently crushed by a giant stack of newspapers.

No shtick for this one.

5. People That Bother You While You’re Playing Are Saving Your Life

If you were born sometime after 1903, you probably have some sort of gaming system in your home. Be it a PC, laptop, or console system, you probably have your own special corner where you can delve deep into whatever time-sapping, mind-numbing, soul-enriching games you play. 

But for the love of God, whenever you’re preparing to go on a gaming bender, please remember to get up, stretch a bit maybe go to the kitchen and fix a sandwich or do anything that gets the blood moving.

Otherwise, you might end up like the 18-year-old Taiwanese youth known only as Chuang, who went on a 40 hour Diablo III marathon that killed him. The young man apparently died from a blood clot that had formed due to him not moving an inch while playing the game for hours on end.

Dying in your underwear and stained old t-shirt, while heading towards the bathroom with chip and Snickers wrappers all around you is certainly not a great way to go. At least that’s what the post-it stuck to my laptop screen says from now on.

6. YOU ARE NEVER ******* SAFE!!!

Whenever I have a crap day ahead of me or am going through a boring or unpleasant experience I always think that no matter how bad it gets now or how long it takes, I’ll be safely in my bed at the end of the day. I don’t think I’m alone in thinking about the bed as the absolute safe place.

This is what Joao Maria De Souza probably thought as well. The 45-year-old Brazilian man was safely in his bed, sleeping next to his wife when a freaking ton and a half cow fell through his roof crushing him to death!!!!

Yes, apparently a cow from a nearby farm escaped and climbed on De Souza’s roof by way of a hill situated right next to the man’s house. The structure gave way under the bovine’s weight and he cow came plummeting down and crushed the man who was sound asleep in his bed. Oddly, his wife which was sleeping right next to him escaped uninjured, as did the cow.

De Souza didn’t die on the spot, however, he did pass away a couple of hours later due to internal injuries.

I’m just … I mean… it’s…. I just don’t…

7. Smelling Good Can Cost You Your Life

Teenager Jonathan Capewell passed away due to a heart attack after he had 10 times the normal

dosage of propane and butane in his blood. The 16-year-old was apparently so obsessed with deodorant and smelling nice that he covered his entire body in deodorant twice a day. The gases filled his room to the point where his parents could taste them downstairs.

The lesson here isn’t to keep a close eye on your kids, nor is it to talk to them about hygiene and social norms, not even to ensure they are supplied with 100% natural, harmless substances. Just teach your kid to embrace fresh air and crack open a window every now and then and these things can be avoided.

6 Weird Fetishes (Part III)

This is part III of Weird Fetishes series and probably the last part, so if you haven't read Part I and Part II you should go check out some weirdness there.  Unless some people decide they get aroused by rubbing rocks on their eyeballs in the near future or others decide they want to invent some other new ways to get aroused I don't think I'm going to be writing about this subect soon.Along with Part I and II, I present you the next weird fetishes:

1. Furries - Yes, people who like to dress as animals and live that way. Yes, they exist and apparently  

they find humping to be sexually gratifying. Although some furries are interested in zoophilia, most of them are interested in other people being dressed as animals. The weird thing about them is the fact that they usually take on the persona of the animal they are portraying. While some people have the personality of a sheep, furries are definitely a lot more than that. Their "alternative" personality can be much more complex than must of us would think. There is also ursusagalmatophilia (more like sex with teddy bears) related to that, so go check it out on this cool website.

2. Symphorophilia –according to Wikipedia, in this paraphilia the sexual arousal hinges on staging

and watching a disaster, such as fire or traffic accident. The term was coined by J.Money who stated that this is a type of sacrificial paraphilia that culminates with a disaster. A lot of people who have this fetish are aroused by automobile crash. “For those members of the general public who have a touch of sadomasochism in them, disaster as an unrehearsed event is often a large part of the appeal of entertainment stunts and sports, from the circus to stock-car racing.”

3. Menophilia – menophilia is another weird fetish that involves women’s menstrual blood.  If your girlfriend’s name is Mary, I’ve got a name for your sexual encounters. It’s Bloody Mary, get it? Yes, I just made that high school joke, I don’t care.

Anyway, this fetish goes beyond your wildest imagination; it’s not like people just like having sex during that time of the month, but they also choose to gorge on their women’s tampons or maxi-pads. I'd probably pay money for that view. For further reading you should check out this webpage.

4.  Bugchasing - this is not just a fetish, it's a self harm behavior because people who are "bugchasing" purposely engage in sexual intercourse with HIV infected people. They are not the same as barebackers, who just prefer having sex without a condom. The psychology behind bugchasing is different as it may be due to self harm tendencies, the feeling that this practice is extremely erotic due to its taboo nature  or even a way for lonely and alienated people to be part of a community. 

5. Mechanophilia - I don't even know if this is bad or good. Designers such as Filippo Tommaso

Emilio Marinetti or Francis Picabia supposedly had this fetish, so having sex with cars should be accepted for the greater good? It is beyond me how a person would develop sexual interest for a car or something mechanical, but I've seen it, I've seen a couple of guys that were a tad too much into cars.

6. Oculolinctus - the art of licking eyeballs. No, not an art, just a fetish, and a pretty dangerous one too. If you've seen the news, you know that this practice has been spread among young people. I don't know where it comes from, but apparently it's the new "second base".

7 Statistics Meant To Please Singles (On Valentine's Day)

1 – Those in “low quality” relationships (as the study puts it ) are more likely to break up on VDay. Couples are 2.55 times more likely to break up during Valentine’s Day.

2 - One out of four Americans prefers spending Valentine's Day with a pet rather than a partner.

3 – Women are more attracted to guys who don’t say "I love you" or at least show uncertainty about it.

4 – There is a 4.0% higher chance of a car accident on Valentine’s Day.

5 – 14% of women will send themselves flowers on 14th February.

6 - 53 % women who would end their relationship if they didn’t get something for Valentines day.

7 – Divorce Rates increase with 40% on Valentine’s Day.

7 "Merry" Christmas Statistics

It's December! Let's see some statistics about Christmas:

1 – Alcohol consumption in Britain increases by 40% in December, more than any other country in the world, with Germany, Canada and France following. Fortunately, the drink-driving also decreases in UK, which means that people will also walk more to the pub, so this whole drinking during December actually promotes health and fitness. Well, I know I will be drinking this Christmas, in my room, alone.

2 – On the same happy note, it seems that people’s tendency to take their own life will also decrease during Christmas(contrary to popular belief), but murder rates will rise significantly in Germany (6.4%), the US, France and Italy (5.7%). It must be all those carols.

3 –Heart related deaths increase with 5% during the holidays, according to this study. 

4 – Each year, during the holiday season, fires kill more than 400 Americans and injure 1,650 more.

5 – You are more likely to die during the Holidays. A study analyzing 57.5 million death certificates shows the chance of dying during holiday period increases between 3% and 9%. Here is the study. 

6 - Around 40 million Christmas trees are cut every year in North America.  You won’t really save a tree if you choose to buy a plastic one, but you can save a small pine tree that is growing on a rocky part of the forest and might die (take it, bring it home, put it in a pot and plant it during March).

7 - More than 80,000 people a year need hospital treatment for injuries such as falls, cuts and burns during the festive period.

Also this:

7 Random Facts (Episode 6)

How about another 7 random facts to quote and look cool in front of your friends? Here they are:

1 – There is a small chance that you might get hit by a falling satellite or falling space debris. Apparently, you have about 1 in several trillion chances to get hit by one, so you’ll have to be very unlucky. Considering my luck, this will probably happen to me.

2 – Brain surgery is not a modern invention as the ancient civilizations did it too. There are quite a few writings that explain how ancient brain surgery worked and considering the tools that were available in those times it’s safe to say that surgeons back then were pretty good at their job. 

3 – American poet and novelist Sylvia Plath committed suicide in 1963 by sealing her kitchen, putting her head in the oven and turning on the gas. That’s a pretty creative and, uhm, sinister way to die.   

4 – It seems that being nice is related to your genes. Research by psychologists at the University at Buffalo and the University of California, Irvine, has found that at least part of the reason some people are kind and generous is that their genes nudge them toward it. So, I guess now I know why I’m not nice, it’s in my genes.

5 - Species dysphoria is the experience of dysphoria (depression, discontent), sometimesincluding dysmorphia (excessive concern over one's body image), associated with the feeling that one's body is of the wrong species.  

6 – George Leclanché invented in 1966 the Leclanché cell, one of the first electrical batteries. It comprised a conducting solution (electrolyte) of ammonium chloride with a negative terminal of zinc and a positive terminal of manganese dioxide. Leclanche's "wet cell" (as it was popularly called) was the forerunner to the world's first widely used battery, the Zinc-carbon battery. 

7 - During the time it takes you to read this sentence, 50,000 more 12-ounce aluminum cans are made. Also, Each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save:

3.5 cubic yards of landfill

17 thirty foot (pulp) trees

7,000 gallons of water

380 gallons of oil

4100 kwh of energy

5 Christmas Traditions Meant to Traumatize Children

Christmas is a wonderful time of overindulging, overdrinking, and eventually ending up in the E.R. with alcohol induced psychosis. But there is also the spending time with your family part, while sharing the same stories over and over again until you want to lock yourself in the basement and cling to your childhood blanket while rocking back and forth and quietly sobbing Why, why, why? . Also, let’s not forget having to play the” I’m so successful card in front of your relatives” while your mother proudly looks at you. Well, at least this is how it happens where I’m from and I enjoy doing it while getting my bad cholesterol high enough to convince my heart is time for it to commit suicide. But other countries like to celebrate Christmas in their own unique way…

Uncle Alberto, would you pass the salt please?

1 – Eating With Your Dead Relatives

In Portugal, Christmas is celebrated just like in any other country, with fun, lots of food, and lots of drinking. Oh, they also invite their dead relatives to dinner. Imagine being a child during Christmas meal and asking your mom why she put extra places at the table. “- Honey, these are the extra seats for our dead relatives”. Oh, I’m sorry, do you find that disturbing? It seems that eating at the same table with the souls of the dead will bring you a great harvest next year.

2- Tió de Nadal (Christmas Log)

We only want the soul of your first born.

It seems that there is a popular tradition in Catalan communities involving a…log. People have to take care of the log before Christmas day; also, the log is called called Caga tió, which translates in something like “shit log”. Some people even draw a face on it, a smiley face to make things creepier than a photograph of broken vintage dolls. The anthropomorphic log is fed every night and covered with a blanket to be warm because you wouldn’t want it to get angry. But this doesn’t happen because people care about the log, no! People are actually feeding the log so that it would be prepared to defecate on Christmas Day. Yes, the log is supposed to produce a gift. Oh, but it gets weirder. On Christmas day the family gathers around the log and starts singing:

"Caga tió,

caga torró,
avellanes i mató,
si no cagues bé
et daré un cop de bastó.
caga tió!"

…which means(honestly!):

Shit log,
shit turrón,
hazelnuts and cottage cheese,
if you don't shit well,
I'll hit you with a stick,
shit log!

One member of the family will then have to, uhm, retrieve the gift produced by the log.

Now imagine being a kid and entering your living room on Christmas day to witness your family gathered in a Satanic ritual manner, hitting a piece of wood with sticks while commanding it to defecate. Because singing carols and exchanging gifts is definitely lame.

3 – Mummers Visit 

Mummers - RPGs are for losers.  Source

The members of small communities would disguise themselves and travel from house to house at Christmas. This tradition can be traced back at least to the Middle Ages. They usually symbolize a battle between good and evil. Mummers usually are disguised and they either wear masks or have their face painted with black. Now I won’t discriminate here, there are different rituals like this in probably every country. But for a person who doesn’t have this type of tradition in their country this is as random and bizarre as an encounter with Galactic Crab Man. In Romania, we have The Goat which is basically the same thing. A bunch of people go from house to house dressed in goats. In that video those kids are just groping that goat, but hey, it’s tradition. I remember being a kid, I got a little traumatized when I first saw this and I found it hard to understand why everybody was letting that dragon looking monster inside my house. Was I about to be sacrificed to that abomination? Well, later I learned it was just for good luck.

This is how nightmares are born.

4- Mari Lwyd

What’s worse than people disguised in scary costumes and abstract looking goats? A dead horse. Actually, only the skull, which makes it even weirder if you think about it. This is very similar to The Goat tradition as people go from house to house for good luck. So, after hearing a knock in the cold Christmas night, you will open your door to what it can only be described as a resurrected puppet from a nightmarish show meant to please Satan..and according to that picture, some guy from the realm of dwarfs and magic mushrooms. 

5 – Krampus 

When you thought Christmas couldn't get any better.

Ah Krampus, I saved the best for last. In Germanic tradition people don’t bother disguising themselves as luck bringing animals. No, they prefer taking the form of child eating demons named Krampus. He is Santa’s private bodyguard and follows him while he delivers presents; the legend says that Krampus will kidnap and bring children to his cave where he will devour them if they are naughty and don’t listen to their parents. Young men roam the streets in December dressed as Krampus and scaring children with chains and eerie sounding bells. Now that's an enjoyable way to spend your holidays. 

7 Random Facts (Episode 5)

1 - The official beverage in Ohio is tomato juice. It seems that Ohio did a lot of work to popularizing tomatoes in the late 1800s and they even wanted to declare it the official state fruit.

2- BMW was actually an aircraft engine manufacturing company but after being forced to cease production by the terms of Versailles Armistice Treaty, the company shifted to producing motorcycles in 1923. Automobiles production began in 1928-29 with the first car named Dixi. 

3- Upper and lower case letters are named like that because of their positioning which was either on the top or lower case of the printing press which used movable type. The individual type blocks used in hand typesetting were stored in wooden or metal drawers known as cases.  

4- According to this study laughing lowers levels of stress and strengthens immune system. Now I will tickle myself every morning.  

5 – There is a common misconception regarding the digestion of chewing gum. People will either tell you that it will stick to your stomach or they will tell you that it takes a lot to digest. It doesn’t so it will pass through your digestive system as any other type of food.

6- The first movie to ever show a kiss on camera was actually called The Kiss and it was a re-enactment of the kiss between May Irwin and John Rice from the final scene of a stage musical called The widow Jones. This happened in 1896 so you can imagine how scandalized everybody was after seeing it. Here is the movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q690-IexNB4

7- Gabby Gingras is a girl who doesn’t feel pain. Although most of us would be jealous of her, this is actually a very life threatening condition.  Because she is unable to feel pain she cannot protect herself from harmful situations. 

7 Random Facts - Episode 4 (special edition)

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Today we have a special 7 Random Facts article because it’s Halloween Month, so everything will be...about death.


1- In one of the first stages of embalming the mouth is closed by suturing with a needle and ligature, using a wire or an adhesive. This practice is called setting the features and it is meant to keep the mouth from opening and making a more relaxed face by shaving, closing the eyes, etc.


2- Strychnine is probably the most terrible poison in the world. It is very easy to get poisoned with strychnine by inhalation, swallowing or absorbtion through eyes or mouth. It has some of the most dramatic and painful symptoms of all the toxic reactions; the worst part about it is the fact that the person remains lucid until the end. There are a few things that happen after strychnine poisoning:

- severe nausea, followed by vomiting because of its bitter taste

- because the poison is a neurotoxin, it primarily affects the motor nerves in the spinal cord which control muscle contraction. This is why convulsions affect the muscles and they begin to last longer and longer. Death occurs due to asphyxia because respiration is affected by muscle spasm.

3- Alexander Hamilton, a Scottish aristocrat wanted to be mummified after his death and he bought an Egyptian Sarcophagus. Unfortunately, after his death it seemed that there was a difference of height between the Duke and the person who was initially supposed to occupy the sarcophagus. His legs were cut off at the knees so that he could fit in the sarcophagus.


4- Did you know about the blood eagle? It was a gruesome Viking method for murder. While the victim was still alive, their ribs would be cut and opened up then the lungs were removed. The ribs of the victim were opened so that they would resemble blood-stained wings. Of course, salt was sprinkled on the wounds because the pain was not enough it seems.


5- Indian Professor Syed Abdul Gafoor kept his dead mother preserved in a glass case for 20 years, until he died.


6- The French murderer Marquise de Brinvilliers was force-fed 9 liters of water before being beheaded. She was also burn at the stake.


7- Philosopher Pliny the Elder wanted so much to see Vesuvius erupting that he actually died because of it. He ended up being killed by the volcano’s poisonous gases.

7 Dark Amazing Artists

Since this is Halloween month my posts will be concerned more with the horror side of things. I love art and I loved writing about it in the past, so I figured out I would share some of the most talented dark artists I know.  

1 - F. A. Carrión  is an artist from Houston, Texas. His art is haunting, macabre and beautiful. If you like his art you can see more on his personal page and his Facebook page. 

This one is definitely my favorite. 

2 - Amarilli is an artist born in Milan, who currently lives in beautiful Tuscan countryside. She works for an interior decoration company and on her own art projects. She has been interested in the artistic side from childhood and her art is inspired from folklore mythology and magic. If you like her work check out her Facebook page, her personal website and her twitter account.

3 – Rachel Graves is an artist from Portland, Oregon. She describes her art as being inspired by nightmares that have in the past amused her. I hope you agree with me that she created beautiful nightmares indeed. You can find more about her and her art on Facebook and on her blog.

4 – Amy Kollar Anderson is an incredible artist from Dayton, Ohio. According to her Deviantart page her favorite activities are painting and hanging out with her husband. She describes her art as “Pop Surreal images with a focus on narrative and color”. You can see more of her vibrant art on her Facebook page, twitter account  and her personal page. 

5- Mirko Sevic is an artist born on 24^th of April, 1954 in Velika Kladusa. His art is inspired from events that took place before and during the war, which had a great impact on him. On his website he states that his art is trying send the message that people lost what has separated humanity from animosity. 

6- Uno Moranes has amazing, fascinating and weird tone to his work and what's even more amazing is the fact that he makes Pixel Art. I couldn’t find much information on him but you can see his beautiful artworks on his personal page, Livejournal blog, and Tumblr blog. 

7- Thomas Joseph Yagodinski is a horror artist that gets inspiration from stories and experiences of the paranormal kind and his fascination with the occult and witchcraft. You can see more of his work here and on his personal website. 

7 Random Facts - Episode 3

1- If you were wondering what new things to cook this weekend, you can always try grasshoppers. People in Mexico do it and they are a delicacy,  but apparently grasshoppers are not that safe and organic. It seems that you tend to get lead poisoning when you ate them, so do it in moderation.

Here's an easy recipe on how to cook them, if you dare. 

2 - There’s nothing like a beer on a hot day! If you want to try something new, you can always try the spit beer. Yeah, it involvesspitting. It comes from Latin America and it’s made from corn. The process is a little bit weird: people take corn, chew it and spit it out. I think I will avoid drinking beer in Latin America if I ever get the chance to go there. 

3- Witch hunting was almost like a sport in the Middle Ages and it seems there have been 40,000 to 100,000 witches executed, which makes me think that they really enjoyed this. The last witch execution was in 1782 in Switzerland, however it seems that there were still witchcraft trials in Poland at the end of the 18^th century.

4- We all heard in school about Einstein and the fact that he failed math. Unfortunately for those of us who were hoping that we can still be genius scientists even if we fail math, Einstein didn't fail math. This is a common misconception. It seems that Einstein actually had very goodgrades in math which is pretty logical since he was super smart.

5- If you were searching for the longest word, search no more. Here it is: Nordöstersjökustartilleriflygspaningssimulatoranläggningsmaterielunderhållsuppföljningssystemdiskussionsinläggsförberedelsearbeten – it had 130 letters and it’s a Swedish word meaning Northern Baltic Sea Coast Artillery Reconnaissance Flight Simulator Facility Equipment Maintenance Follow-Up System Discussion Post Preparation Work(s). I really hope they don’t have spelling contests in Sweden. Oh here’s another one, this time from the island Anglesey in Wales: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. I know it looks like somebody sat on my keyboard but it’s actually a village. One of the longest village names. 

6- Feodor Vassilyev was just a peasant in Russia. What you didn’t know was the fact that his wife had 69 children. I guess they really wanted to be parents and birth control was probably not an option in Russian village from the 18^th century.

7- Pond’s is probably one of the most famous cosmetic brands but what you probably didn’t know about it is the fact that it has been around since 1846. Scientist Theron T. Pond extracted a tea from witch hazel which healed cuts. This became really popular and when he died it took the name of Pond’s Extract. Pond’s advertisement campaigns became really popular because they had a lot of celebrities. One of these celebrities was Queen Marie of Romania who was so impressed by the products, she accepted to do an ad campaign in the late 1920s.

Here's the ad:

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7 Random Facts - Episode 2

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1 Men's tear ducts are smaller than women’s tear ducts. And we wonder why our boyfriends or husbands never cry? It’s not their fault, it’s the tear duct.

2 False eyelashes were invented in 1916, by D.W.Griffith who wanted actress Seena Owen to have big lashes that brushed her cheeks and to make her eyes bigger. He had a wigmaker create those lashes from human hair and they were gummed to Seena’s eyelids.

3 George Washington grew marijuana in his garden. However, he didn’t use it as a recreational drug (well, we don’t really know that for sure) but he promoted it and used it as hemp and for soil stabilization.

4 In the 18^th century women wore bathing gowns in the water. They were just like dresses and they were made of fabrics that didn’t become transparent when wet. They also have weights sewn on them so they wouldn’t rise up in the water. 

5 During medieval times people rarely drank water. They mostly drank alcoholic beverages and used water for preparing food. This was a good decision since water in those times contained a lot of impurities. 

6 Tomatoes are actually fruits and not vegetables as most of us believe. But tomatoes don’t have a big amount of sugar so they are usually treated as vegetables. 

7 Next time when you go to someone’s house, bring them a bottle of snake wine. That will surely impress them and you can always show your courage by drinking it and eating the snake inside for a great show. Imported from Vietnam, this wine is made by infusing whole snakes with rice wine or grain alcohol. 

6 Execution Methods You Probably Don't Know About

We all heard about the Iron Maiden (no, not the band), impaling, and burning at stake as methods of execution or death. Yeah, those are really cruel deaths which involve a lot of planning and probably some mad psychopath behind the whole idea, but there are some execution methods that you probably haven’t heard about. So, check out these gruesome deaths that were quite popular in their time. I’ll even rank them according to their gruesomeness just because it makes things a little bit more fun.

1 The Roman Candle

 Nero, the ruler of Rome, was kind of a psychopath. He hated Christians so he liked to have a bit of fun with them by lighting his garden with their bodies. Yeah, that’s correct, he used humans as candles. They were tied or nailed to stakes and then the Romans poured boiling substances over their heads. This was done at night and apparently it pleased Nero as he used them as garden decorations during some special events. You know that type of firework called a Roman candle? Well, now you know the origin of its name.

2 Flaying

Flaying actually means skinning (as in, removing the skin from a person's body OMG). As an execution and torture method flaying humans was done, of course, while they were alive. If it was merely a torture method without death, then only parts of the skin were removed. However, if the person was sentenced to death by flaying or they were captured by enemies, then death was the goal of this practice and usually a lot of skin was removed. Apparently Assyrians were even more inventive and they captured the children of their enemies which were flayed before the eyes of their parents. Very popular in China too, flaying was used by Sun Hao, Fu Sheng, and Gao Heng but they mostly liked to remove the skin from the face.

3 The Five Pains

The name of this torture method is very cool. The Five Pains almost sounds like a quest in an RPG game. But it was a way to torture people in China during the Qin Dinasty. It involved, well,  five ways of inflicting pain. First the victim had their nose cut, nothing amazing here because we are used to nose cutting from medieval times. Then the executioner cut the hand of the victim. As a third pain they cut a foot and ultimately they castrated the person. The last pain inflicted was death and it was usually done by cutting half at the waist. What’s cool about this method is the fact that its inventor died this way himself.

4 Slow Slicing (Death By a Thousand Cuts)

You know Chinese people have these patience and perseverance proverbs like The journey of a thousand steps begins with the first step or The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones. Well apparently they like to use their philosophy in all areas of life, even torturing and executing. The death by a thousand cuts is exactly what it sounds like. And they didn’t do it fast either. Of course, there is no perfect method to this, every executioner had its own way and signature cut. Apparently the person was tied and brought to a public place where they were executed in this way. Ultimately, if the executioner was kind enough (or bribed by the victim’s family), he would stab them in the heart faster in order to kill them. Some emperors even wanted the executions they ordered to last for three days. Apparently, the remains of the victim were often used as Chinese medicine.  

5 Hanged, drawn and quartered

In England, they had other horrid torture methods such as being hanged drawn and quartered. The torture began with the person being drawn by a horse to the place of execution. The whole execution was done before a public because, you know, executions in the past were sort of like our reality shows nowadays. The public was ecstatic when an execution was programmed and if it was a famous man, it was just like the Super Bowl of medieval times. First they were hanged for a little while just to play a little with them. Some victims were lucky enough and died during hanging, most of them were not. Then they were taken to be disemboweled. While their stomach content was hanging, they would be emasculated which means that their penis and testicles were cut off. Because cutting a person’s genitals is not enough torture, the executioner burn them in front of the victim. Other organs were torn out and finally the person was beheaded. Of course, being quartered comes from the fact that the body was divided into four quarters afterward. Also, the executioner also had a blast by parboiling the remains so that they won’t rot too sun while being displayed on the city gates. 

6 Scaphism

Ok, so it seems that the person who invented this method was not sane at all. It is an ancient Persian method that involves a lot of pretty sick things. The victim was stripped naked and well tied to tree trunks or boats. It’s pretty normal execution until now, but the fun part just begins. The executioner forced the victim to ingest milk and honey until they developed severe diarrhea. Also, because that was not enough they also rubbed some of the honey on the body for the insects; after that he was just left in the sun. Now imagine attracting a lot of flies and mosquitoes that will probably bite your skin because you are covered in honey.  They would also leave their eggs on the victim’s body and the guys who are torturing him would come back every day and give him some more honey. This would last for a long time, a very long time. Death was usually caused by dehydration, starvation or septic shock. However, if the victim was lucky enough they would develop delirium fast, but that usually takes a few days. Some records of this method state that people survived even 17 days before dying.