Arsole is a pyrrole molecule with an arsenic atom in it. Its name is purely based on the standard chemical rules for naming, but is quite an amusing name nonetheless.

Basketane is made up of carbons and hydrogens connected to each other by single bonds. This means it belongs to a family of molecules called alkanes, whose names must all end with –ane. Basketane bears a strong resemblance to a basket, hence its name.

Originally described as “nonacyclodocosane, a bastard tetramantane” as it was an unwanted child or derivative of tetramantane. After it was described in this paper, scientists immediately adopted the name “bastardize” to describe it.

This molecule looks like a classical window which is missing a single pane. It belongs to a class of molecules called fenestrane, which comes from the Romantic word for window.

Found in rotting animal tissues. Cadaverine smells awful and is understandably hated by those who deal with cadavers. Similar compounds are putrescine and spermine.

Like basketane, this molecule is an alkane, and so its name must end with –ane. Since it looks like a cube, it is called cubane. Other alkanes named after 3D solids are tetrahedron, which looks like a tetrahedron, and dodecadrane, which looks like a dodecagon.

This mineral garnered its unfortunate name from the place it was found: Cummington in Massachusetts, USA. It is also more sensibly called magnesium iron silicate hydroxide.

A stinging carcinogenic whose name is an appropriate acronym of DiEthyl AzoDicarboxylate.

This large molecule is found in the saliva of vampire bats and is named after the legendary vampire Count Dracula.

This molecule belongs to the family of alcohols, and so its name ends with –ol. It was originally found in seaweed with the name Fucus vesiculosis, and so it ended up with the odd name fucitol (pronounced with a hard ‘c’). Compounds derived from fucose, a sugar from the seaweed, are often abbreviated with fuc. Fucose kinase is fuc-K, and another is fuc-U.

A group of organic molecules that contain alkanes (hence the –and at the end of their names) and also look like a ladder.

This wonderful molecule is one of the family of ketones, whose names end with –one, and yet it undeniably looks like a penguin. Scientists have called it penguin one.

Rods (sometimes known as “sky fish” or “solar entities”) are elongated artifacts produced by cameras that inadvertently capture several of a flying insect’s wingbeats. Videos of rod-shaped objects moving quickly through the air were claimed by some to be alien life forms or small UFOs, but subsequent experiments showed that these rods appear in film because of an optical illusion/collusion (especially in interlaced video recording).

Investigators have shown that rods are mere tricks of light which result from how images (primarily video images) of flying insects are recorded and played back. In particular, the fast passage before the camera of an insect flapping its wings has been shown to produce rodlike effects, due to motion blur, if the camera is shooting with relatively long exposure times.

Getting no satisfactory answer to the phenomenon, curious scientists at the facility decided that they would try to solve the mystery by attempting to catch these airborne creatures. Huge nets were set up and surveillance cameras then captured images of rods flying into the trap. When the nets were inspected, the “rods” were no more than regular moths and other ordinary flying insects. Subsequent investigations proved that the appearance of flying rods on video was an optical illusion created by the slower recording speed of the camera.

Wild haggis (Haggis scoticus) is a fictional creature said to be native to the Scottish Highlands. It is comically claimed to be the source of haggis, a traditional Scottish dish that is in fact made from the innards of sheep (including heart, lungs, and liver).

According to some sources, the wild haggis’s left and right legs are of different lengths, allowing it to run quickly around the steep mountains and hillsides which make up its natural habitat, but only in one direction. It is further claimed that there are two varieties of haggis, one with longer left legs and the other with longer right legs. The former variety can run clockwise around a mountain while the latter can run anti clockwise. The two varieties coexist peacefully but are unable to interbreed in the wild because in order for the male of one variety to mate with a female of the other, he must turn to face in the same direction as his intended mate, causing him to lose his balance before he can mount her. As a result of this difficulty, differences in leg length among the haggis population are accentuated.

The fur-bearing trout (or furry trout) is a fictional creature native to the northern regions of North America, particularly Canada, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and the Great Lakes. The basic claim (or tall tale) is that the waters of lakes and rivers in the area are so cold that a species of trout has evolved which grows a thick coat of fur to maintain its body heat. Another theory says that it is due to four jugs of hair tonic being spilled into the Arkansas River.

In reality, a possible source may have been a simple misunderstanding. A 17th century Scottish immigrant’s letter to his relatives referring “furred animals and fish” being plentiful in the New World, followed by a request to procure a specimen of these “furred fish” to which the mischievous Scotsman readily complied by making one up, is often cited. In fact, the “cotton mold” Saprolegnia will sometimes infect fish, causing tufts of fur-like growth to appear on the body. A heavy infection will result in the death of the fish, and as the fungus continues to grow afterwards, dead fish that are largely covered in the white “fur” can occasionally be found washed ashore.

The skvader is a Swedish fictional creature that was constructed in 1918 by the taxidermist Rudolf Granberg and is permanently displayed at the museum at Norra Berget in Sundsvall. It has the forequarters and hind legs of a hare (Lepus), and the back, wings and tail of a female wood grouse (Tetrao urogallus). It was later jokingly given the Latin name Tetrao lepus pseudo-hybridus rarissimus L.

The name is a combination of two words, and this is the explanation provided by the Svenska Akademiens Ordbok (Dictionary of the Swedish Academy): The prefix skva- from “skva-ttra” (quack or chirp), and the suffix -der from “tjä-der” (wood grouse).

The skvader originates from a tall tale hunting story told by a man named Håkan Dahlmark during a dinner at a restaurant in Sundsvall in the beginning of the 20th century. To the amusement of the other guests, Dahlmark claimed that he in 1874 had shot such an animal during a hunt north of Sundsvall. On his birthday in 1907, his housekeeper jokingly presented him with a painting of the animal, made by her nephew and shortly before his death in 1912, Dahlmark donated the painting to a local museum. During an exhibition in Örnsköldsvik in 1916 the manager of the museum became acquainted with the taxidermist Rudolf Granberg. He then mentioned the hunting story and the painting and asked Granberg if he could re-construct the animal. In 1918 Granberg had completed the skvader and it has since then been a very popular exhibition item at the museum, which also has the painting on display.

A strikingly similar creature called the “rabbit-bird” was described by Pliny the Elder in Natural History. This creature had the body of a bird with a rabbit’s head and was said to have inhabited the Alps.

The jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore (a so-called “fearsome critter”) described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns or deer antlers and sometimes a pheasant’s tail (and often hind legs). The word “jackalope” is a portmanteau of “jackrabbit” and “antelope”, an archaic spelling of “antelope”. It is also known as Lepus temperamental us.

It is possible that the tales of jackanapes were inspired by sightings of rabbits infected with the Shope papilloma virus, which causes the growth of horn- and antler-like tumors in various places on the rabbit’s head and body. This can occur in cottontail rabbits under natural conditions and in domestic rabbits under experimental conditions. Systemic regression of warts occurs in a variable proportion of rabbits as a consequence of a specific cell-mediated immune response. Persistent warts may progress into invasive carcinomas. Progression into carcinomas is observed in approximately 25% of cottontail rabbits and in up to 75% of domestic rabbits with persistent warts. The jackalope has bred the rise of many outlandish (and largely tongue-in-cheek) claims as to the creature’s habits. For example, it is said to be a hybrid of the pygmy-deer and a species of “killer rabbit”. Reportedly, jackanapes are extremely shy unless approached. Legend also has it that female jackanapes c an be milked as they sleep belly up and that the milk can be used for a variety of medicinal purposes. It has also been said that the jackalope can convincingly imitate any sound, including the human voice. It uses this ability to elude pursuers, chiefly by using phrases such as “There he goes! That way!”

During days of the Old West, when cowboys gathered by the campfires singing at night, jackanapes could often be heard mimicking their voices. It is said that a jackalope may be caught by putting a flask of whiskey out at night. The jackalope will drink its fill of whiskey and its intoxication will make it easier to hunt. In some parts of the United States it is said that jackalope meat has a taste similar to lobster. However, legend has it that they are dangerous if approached. It has also been said that jackanapes will only breed during electrical storms including hail, explaining its rarity.

According to the Douglas Chamber of Commerce, a 1930s hunting trip for jackrabbits led to the idea of a Jackalope. Herrick and his brother had studied taxidermy by mail order as teenagers.When the brothers returned from a hunting trip, Herrick tossed a jackrabbit carcass into the taxidermy store, where it came to rest beside a pair of deer antlers. The accidental combination of animal forms sparked Douglas Herrick’s idea for a jackalope.

In 1881 German explorer “Carl Liche” wrote an account in the South Australian Register of encountering a sacrifice performed by the “Mkodo” tribe of Madagascar:
“the slender delicate palpi, with the fury of starved serpents, quivered a moment over her head, then as if instinct with demoniac intelligence fastened upon her in sudden coils round and round her neck and arms; then while her awful screams and yet more awful laughter rose wildly to be instantly strangled down again into a gurgling moan, the tendrils one after another, like great green serpents, with brutal energy and infernal rapidity, rose, retracted themselves, and wrapped her about in fold after fold, ever tightening with cruel swiftness and savage tenacity of anacondas fastening upon their prey.”

The tree was given further publicity by the 1924 book by former Governor of Michigan Chase Osborn, Madagascar, Land of the Man-eating Tree. Osborn claimed that both the tribes and missionaries on Madagascar knew about the hideous tree, and also repeated the above Liche account.

In his 1955 book, Salamanders and other Wonders, science author Willy Ley determined that the Mkodo tribe, Carl Liche, and the Madagascar man-eating tree itself all appeared to be fabrications

On 22 August 1972, the Victoria Daily Times reported that two local teens claimed to have been chased from the beach at Thetis Lake by a creature which roughly resembled Gill-man from the Creature from the Black Lagoon. One of the teens claimed to have been slashed on the hand by the creature, which displayed three webbed toes and fingers along with a barbed fins on its skull, arms, and legs, prompting an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It was described to be “roughly triangular in shape, about five feet (~1.5 m) tall and five feet across the base”. At the time, the officer stated that “the boys seem sincere, and until we determine otherwise we have no alternative but to continue our investigation.” Four days after the story was reported, two men claimed to have spotted the creature on the opposite side of the lake from its first appearance. According to one, “it came out of the water and looked around. Then it went back into the water. Then we ran!”

The boys described the creature as “shaped like an ordinary body, like a human being body but it had a monster face, and it was scaly [with] a point sticking out of its head [and] great big ears.” They believed the creature had a humanlike face, although it appeared to have scaly and silvery-blue colored skin. On 26 August 1972, The Province received a call from a man claiming to have lost a pet Tegu lizard in the area the previous year. Tegus, indigenous to Latin America and mostly carnivorous, can grow up to four feet in length. They are commonly kept as pets. The investigating police officers believed the lizard matched the description of the creature and the case was closed.

Kasai rex is an animal claimed to be a carnivorous living dinosaur in Africa. There are conflicting descriptions of it, and the only original reports are suspected by most cryptozoologists to be dubious.

In 1932 John Johnson (sometimes spelled Johanson), a Swedish plantation owner, was traveling with a servant in the Kasai valley, in the Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo). They encountered rhinoceros, and, while attempting to pass it without detection, were surprised by a large creature rushing out of the undergrowth and attacking the rhinoceros. The servant ran away and Johnson fainted. He awoke to see that the creature was eating the rhinoceros. “It was reddish in color, with blackish-colored stripes,” he said later. “It had a long snout and numerous teeth.” He decided that the creature, 13 m (43 ft) long, was a Tyrannosaurus. he also said “The legs were thick; it reminded me of a lion, built for speed”.

There is a similar story in an edition of the Rhodesia Herald, also from 1932, albeit accompanied by an obviously hoaxed photo, it is probably untrue:

‘On February 16 last I went on a shooting trip, accompanied by my gun bearer. I had only a Winchester for small game, not expecting anything big. At 2 p.m. I had reached the Kasai valley (sic).

No game was in sight. As we were going down to the water, the boy suddenly called out “elephants”. It appeared that two giant bulls were almost hidden by the jungle. About 50 yards away from them I saw something incredible – a monster, about 16 yards in length, with a lizard’s head and tail. I closed my eyes and reopened them. There could be no doubt about it, the animal was still there. My boy cowered in the grass whimpering.

I was shaken by the hunting-fever. My teeth rattled with fear. Three times I snapped; only one attempt came out well. Suddenly the monster vanished, with a remarkably rapid movement. It took me some time to recover. Alongside me the boy prayed and cried. I lifted him up, pushed him along and made him follow me home. On the way we had to transverse a big swamp. Progress was slow, for my limbs were still half-paralyzed with fear. There in the swamp, the huge lizard appeared once more, tearing lumps from a dead rhino. It was covered in ooze. I was only about 25 yards away.

It was simply terrifying. The boy had taken French leave, carrying the rifle with him. At first I was careful not to stir, then I thought of my camera. I could hear the crunching of rhino bones in the lizard’s mouth. Just as I clicked, it jumped into deep water.

The experience was too much for my nervous system. Completely exhausted, I sank down behind the bush that had given me shelter. Blackness reigned before my eyes. The animal’s phenomenally rapid motion was the most awe-inspiring thing I have ever seen.’

I must have looked like one demented, when at last I regained camp. Metcalfe, who is the boss there, said I approached him, waving the camera about in a silly way and emitting unintelligible sounds. I dare say I did. For eight days I lay in a fever, unconscious nearly all the time.’

This story presents problems due to inaccuracies. The hunter claims that “giant bull” elephants were in the jungle – yet forest elephants Loxodonta cyclones are smaller than the familiar elephant L. africana of the plains. A large bull L. africana would have great difficulty in jungle terrain (Though, considering the size of all elephants, it is reasonable that the Elephant could still have been described as large).

There is also the similarity between many aspects of these two stories: the single servant runs off; the creature eats a rhino; and both Johanson and Johnson faint. This suggests a single source for both stories.

It is perhaps notable that, of all crypt ids reported from Africa, this is the only one without a unique name in a local language. A carnivorous animal of this size would not have escaped a unique name by the local population.

Two photographs from the first two sightings are said to exist, each showing radical differences from the other. One shows a creature resembling a large monitor lizard. In this photograph, a white line surrounds the creature; it appears to be a cutout from a nature magazine. The other photograph depicts a Tyrannosaurus-like creature eating a rhinoceros.

In 1893 newspapers reported the discovery of a Hodag in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. It had “the head of a frog, the grinning face of a giant elephant, thick short legs set off by huge claws, the back of a dinosaur, and a long tail with spears at the end”. The reports were instigated by well-known Wisconsin timber cruiser and prankster Eugene Shepard, who rounded up a group of local people to capture the animal. The group reported that they needed to use dynamite to kill the beast.

A photograph of the remains of the charred beast was released to the media. It was “the fiercest, strangest, most frightening monster ever to set razor sharp claws on the earth. It became extinct after its main food source, all white bulldogs, became scarce in the area.”

Shepard claimed to have captured another Hodag in 1896, and this one was captured alive. According to Shepard’s reports, he and several bear wrestlers placed chloroform on the end of a long pole, which they worked into the cave of the creature where it was overcome.

He displayed this Hodag at the first Oneida County fair. Thousands of people came to see the Hodag at the fair or at Shepard’s display in a shanty at his house. Having connected wires to it, Shepard would occasionally move the creature, which would typically send the already-skittish viewers fleeing the display.

As newspapers locally, statewide, and then nationally began picking up the story of the apparently remarkable, living creature, a small group of scientists from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.announced they would be traveling to Rhinelander to inspect the apparent discovery. Their mere announcement spelled the end, as Shepard was then forced to admit that the Hodag was a hoax.

The giant was the creation of a New York tobacconist named George Hull. Hull, an atheist, decided to create the giant after an argument at a Methodist revival meeting about the passage in Genesis 6:4 stating that there were giants who once lived on Earth.

Hull hired men to carve out a 10-foot (3.0 m) long, 4.5-inch block of gypsum in Fort Dodge, Iowa, telling them it was intended for a monument to Abraham Lincoln in New York. He shipped the block to Chicago, where he hired Edward Burghardt, a German stonecutter, to carve it into the likeness of a man and swore him to secrecy.

Various stains and acids were used to make the giant appear to be old and weathered, and the giant’s surface was beaten with steel knitting needles embedded in a board to simulate pores. In November 1868 Hull transported the giant by rail to the farm of William Newell, his cousin. By then, he had spent US$2,600 on the hoax.

Nearly a year later, Newell hired Gideon Emmons and Henry Nichols, ostensibly to dig a well, and on October 16, 1869 they found the giant.

Newell set up a tent over the giant and charged 25 cents for people who wanted to see it. Two days later he increased the price to 50 cents. Archaeological scholars pronounced the giant a fake, and some geologists even noticed that there was no good reason to try to dig a well in the exact spot the giant had been found. Eventually, Hull sold his part-interest for $23,000 to a syndicate of five men headed by David Hannum. They moved it to Syracuse, New York for exhibition. The giant drew such crowds that showman P. T. Barnum offered $50,000 for the giant. When the syndicate turned him down he hired a man to model the giant’s shape covertly in wax and create a plaster replica. He put his giant on display in New York, claiming that his was the real giant and the Cardiff Giant was a fake.

Hannum sued Barnum for calling his giant a fake, but the judge told him to get his giant to swear on his own genuineness in court if he wanted a favorable injunction. On December 10, Hull confessed to the press. On February 2, 1870 both giants were revealed as fakes in court. The judge ruled that Barnum could not be sued for calling a fake giant a fake.

Aliens who have mastered interstellar travel, well beyond our current technological capabilities, will not be interested in gold or rare elements, as the energy required to create these through nuclear fusion is much less than the energy required to come to Earth. Moreover, if they wanted specific elements or molecules, they would not have abducted a human. Authentic cultural artifacts or life forms are much more difficult to obtain. Even so, do not waste your time worrying about your car. If they can fly all the way here, they have the power to take a simple car forcefully, and you are not going to be able to stop them. But more than a car or any other item, you yourself are much more valuable to them than anything you own.

Do not worry about aliens zapping you with their beam weapons or whatever they might have. If they wanted you dead you would be dead before you even saw them. A civilization that has the energy and technology to fly here would find the effort needed to disintegrate your suburb from orbit to be a drop in the pond. If you are abducted, they want you alive. The last thing you should do is act in a threatening way, as this will make them less likely to want to have diplomatic dealings with you or possibly all of humanity by extension. You are alive but still at their mercy. Vivisections are unlikely, as a living organism can be cloned and its behavior studied much more easily than a dead one can be. Wanting to cut you open to look inside is highly improbable, considering that even we with our primitive technology have several types of scans that can do the looking harmlessly and without the mess. And any amateur biologist can tell you that they will not be interested in your reproductive system.

Statistically speaking, it is more likely that aliens randomly abducting earth life will pick up non-human animals. If you find yourself in the company of aliens, they may not immediately realize that you are more intelligent than their other quarry. Observe them to see how they communicate. They may not use vision, or may use vision in a different area of the spectrum to us. They might also hear at different pitches. Once you have an idea of how they communicate, if possible, copy it to attract their attention. If they communicate in a way you cannot observe or copy, physically push them (not violently) for attention. Any creature that is advanced enough for space travel must be able to interact with its surroundings in order to build or operate a ship, and so they will detect your push. The aliens might be acidic, toxic, or diseased, so do not touch them yourself; use a stick or other handy object. They might interact with you immediately or send for one of their scientists. Be patient and if all else fails, keep trying new ways of attracting attention.

Much of what we do on Earth would not be at all obvious to an alien visitor. Pointing to indicate a distant object seems natural, but even animals generally will look to the end of the finger instead of following its line to see in the intended direction. Body language such as nodding, smiling, and shrugging are equally meaningless. If you are communicating with aliens, these might unfortunately be misinterpreted. Try to not make unnecessary movements, except when manipulating objects or copying their communication if you are able to. They will not be humanoid, so do not expect ‘normal’ movements. Try not to be afraid of the bizarre actions they might make. Remember also that they could be just as individual as humans, or perhaps more so, so do not expect every single one of them to pay attention to you. Nevertheless, if you are alive, then it is because at least one of them is interested in your behavior.

Translating your language is not as simple as scanning what is said into a computer. A word bank needs to be built up with a decent vocabulary which can take hours, let alone analyzing the meaning from the context of each of those words. Similarly, telepathy designed for alien brains will probably not work on yours. Visiting aliens might have observed us secretly and therefore might speak to you in an Earth language, but if they had observed us for long enough to learn our language, then they also would have chosen a world leader or significantly influential person to abduct. Pure mathematics is non-cultural and can be used to show you are intelligent and will start mutual learning. Draw different numbers of dots to represent basic numbers and do a few multiplications, since this is non-trivial to less intelligent animals. If they are blind, use coins or objects to represent the numbers. In the numbers, put every ten dots or objects in groups of ten to show that we use base-10 for our numbers. This will also tell them that we are intelligent.

Draw our solar system, or make a model with objects if they are blind. Make the sun quite large with each of the planets significantly smaller than it, but try to at least show relative sizes, such as Jupiter being the largest. Show their orbits also around the sun to demonstrate that you are not just drawing random circles. Indicate Earth to show them that we know astronomy, again proving our intelligence. Do not use arrows to point, as understanding these is based on knowledge of Earth customs. Indicate yourself with hands or whatever works based on their senses and then indicate your drawing. Pause and then indicate the aliens and a blank space for them to draw. If all goes well, the aliens might respond by drawing their solar system.

Once the aliens have established that you are intelligent and are actively trying to communicate with them, your value to them increases. They, or others for whom they travel, will want to learn more. If they record things, a good way to start is with nouns. Indicate an object and say its name. Repeat this several times for emphasis. Try to avoid plurals and different cases (such as me versus I). If you keep trying, they should be able to record what you are saying and index it. This is the first step to real communication, but it will take days at least before you can speak more easily. Once basic communication is established, do not tell them that humans are the masterwork of god and all other creatures, themselves included, are inferior. Apart from being appalling diplomacy, you should learn more about them before including them in statements which were probably not made with them in mind. More importantly, not every human shares your point of view, and you are representing all humans after all. You can worry about what different groups believe later. It is the whole of humanity which is most important at this point.

For us, once we are safe from being obliterated by the aliens, the most important thing we can obtain from them is information about their technology and culture. Space travel, medicine, and our very understanding of the universe could change with what we learn. You could save the lives of millions, and enrich billions. Try to develop an environment of information exchange and mutual learning with them. Ask lots of questions and answer everything carefully and wholly. Do not lie about the less tasteful things humans do—say things like “some humans do that, but most of us try not to.” You want to portray humans as a species which is intelligent, curious, and not a threat or mere savages. Make them want to stay to learn more. If they cannot stay, do what you can to ensure that they return soon. Be specific with times and places. If they are going to return, not all humans might behave as well as you. Ask them to return in a month to the centre of your government, so that you can give the government time to prepare a proper reception.

Of the many who have claimed to have been abducted, most bring back only stories. Some use body wounds or scars to prove vivisection while others show slime or liquids which they claim are alien in origin. Marginally more convincingly, some produce photographs. Most of these are blurry at best, and even so, today nearly any image can be manipulated and faked. Do not bring back something that anyone could make. If you explain the need for proof carefully to the aliens, try to obtain either a piece of alien technology or an alien organism. Technology is preferable, as organisms might be poisonous to us. If you do end up with some alien electronics, have them teach you how to use it. Aim for something that cannot be done with Earth technology, like levitation. Returning to Earth and producing a metal box and claiming it is alien but you cannot do anything with it is not compelling.

Returning to Earth and showing your friends evidence of your experience will not get you very far. If you have proof and want to either set things up so that the aliens can visit again safely or if you just want money, you need to go to higher powers. Book interviews with several organizations, and make at least one affiliated with your government. Magazines specializing in strange and eccentric stories will only take your credibility so far. Keep your story factual and precise if you want to be believed. The media will sensationalize everything for you. It is very important to not rely on a single organization, both to maximize any profit you might make and to ensure that you and your proof do not mysteriously disappear. It is difficult for the government to keep you quiet when you have already sold your full story to five newspapers and published it online with irrefutable proof. As for profit, any money you might make at this stage is largely meaningless if the aliens return, as you will be the best person to continue future dealings with them and will be able to demand just about any pay you like.

A barleycorn was an Anglo-Saxon unit of length. It was originally the length of an actual barleycorn, but became standardized at what is now 8.5mm. The imperial inch measurement was originally called an ynch which was defined as being equal to three barleycorns. Rather nicely, a quarter of a barleycorn is called a poppyseed. Barleycorns are still used today as the unit of shoe sizes. A size 8 is 1 barleycorn larger than a size 7. Originally, the maximum size was set at 13 which was 13 inches exactly, and all other sizes were determined by counting in barleycorns backwards from 13. A size 4, by this system, would be 9 barleycorns less than 13 inches, that is, 10 inches or 25cm. These days sizing varies somewhat from country to country, but barleycorns are still used for shoe sizes in the UK and the USA.

This was an English method of measuring that was based on hand-spans and other hand measurements. A span was the distance from the thumb to the end of the little finger when the digits were stretched out, standardized at 23cm or 9 inches. A basic hand was 10cm, or 4 inches. A palm was 7.5cm or 3 inches. A finger was 2.2cm or 7/8 of an inch, but somehow a nail was larger than a finger, being 5.7cm or 2 and 1/4 inches. A digit was slightly less than a finger at 1.9cm, 3/4 of an inch. An ell was the distance from an outstretched fingertip to the opposite shoulder, 114cm. Records of these measurements go back for over a thousand years.

English farmers would measure the area of their land based on how much their animals could plough. Originally, an acre was defined as the maximum area that could be ploughed by an ox in a single day, roughly 4047 square metros. An oxgate was the area an ox could be expected to plough over a whole year, equal to 15 acres. A virgate was the area two oxen could plough over a year, 30 acres. A carucate was the area eight oxen could plough over a year, 120 acres. A furlong, which was a unit of distance rather than area, was a contraction of ‘one plough’s furrow long’ and was how far oxen could plough at a time. 1 furlong is slightly over 200m.

Volumes of alcohol had their own particular names. In Northern England, as well as being a small horse, a pony was two mouthfuls of fluid, or 30mL. Today, a shot of spirits is sometimes called a ‘pony shot’ after this, although shots are not standardized and their volumes vary greatly. Much of the system that was used in old times was based on combining doubles of jackpots. A jackpot was 74mL. Two jackpots made a gill, two gills made a cup, two cups made a pint, two pints made a quart, two quarts made a pottle, two pottles made a gallon, two gallons made a peck, two pecks made a pail, two pails made a bushel, two bushels made a strike, two strikes made a coomb, two coombs made a cask, two casks made a barrel, and two barrels made a hogshead. Phew! Hog’s Head Inn from Harry Potter is named after this volume of alcohol, about 250L. A more recent alcohol volume measurement is the bottles worth, which is equal to a standard bottle of champagne (750mL).

In Europe, a grave was a measurement of mass that was briefly used before its name was changed to the now-modern kilogram. ‘Grave’ itself came from the word ‘gravity,’ a fitting word to derive such a measurement from, but it was dropped in favor of ‘gramme’ and finally ‘kilogram’ at the end of the French Revolution. To measure energy, a ‘Hiroshima bomb’ is used when describing large amounts of energy from various natural disasters, and it is 60000GJ (gigajoules). To measure radioactivity, which all living things emit in small amounts, the ‘banana equivalent dose’ can be used to explain to laymen the equivalent risks of X-rays and other common radioactive procedures. 1 banana equivalent dose is 78nSv. For comparison, 500000nSv is considered the lowest dose for radiation poisoning.

Has someone ever told you that they will only take ‘a jiffy’ or ‘a shake of a lamb’s tail’? Jiffies and shakes are real units of time measurement. A jiffy is 0.1 seconds and a shake is 10 nanoseconds. These are used for convenience in computing and nuclear engineering respectively. A moment, on the other hand, is 90 seconds long. In Medieval Europe, the Latin ‘atomus’ was often used, defined today as 160 milliseconds. Other time measurements are dog years, which are based on the myth that 7 dog years are equivalent to 1 human year. Dogs actually do not experience time faster, they age differently based on breed, and inventing dog years to measure their age is as meaningless as inventing snail years for said mollusks. Nevertheless, the myth has become so popular that now a dog year is said to be one seventh of a standard year, making it 52 days long.

In the ancient story of Troy, a single woman was said to have been so beautiful that powerful men fought over her with such vigor that terrible wars occurred. This woman, Helen of Troy, now has a unit of beauty named for her – the Helen. According to the tale, Helen was ‘the face that launched a thousand ships,’ and so 1 Helen is equal to this power. A face that can only launch one ship has a beauty of 1 milliHelen. A face which sinks a ship has a beauty value of -1 milliHelen. The prolific writer Isaac Asimov is thought to have first used a Helen as a unit of measurement; it has been used in dozens of stories since. The city of Troy stood for 10 years before it was sieged, so 1 Troy can be said to be a defense strong enough to last this long. A defense that lasts only 1 year is measured at 0.1 Troys.

The celebrity Wil Wheaton is an avid Twitter user, and when he obtained half a million followers, this number was deemed to be 1 Wheaton. The average Twitter user has about 150 followers, or 300 microWheatons. A gillette, on the other hand, is a measure of how many razor blades a laser can burn through. A 5-gillette laser can burn through 5 blades. A mickey, named for Mickey Mouse, is the smallest computer mouse movement a computer can detect, less than 0.1mm. A byte is familiar to many of us as a unit of computer information storage, but a nibble is defined as half a byte. Finally, a beard-second is similar to a light-year in concept, but it is the amount of distance a beard grows in one second. This is about 5nm.

During the Second World War, a singularly unhelpful man known as Commander Pouter caused a great deal of trouble by disrupting or delaying a multitude of important matters for the Allies. A pouter was henceforth used to measure the obstructiveness of a person. Commander Pouter himself rated at 1 pouter, however, those around him agreed that it was unrealistic to believe that any person could ever live up to his superhuman powers of disruption and annoyance, so the micro pouter was decided to be a more useful measurement for normal people. In a more modern setting, space adaption syndrome is well-known at NASA. Commonly referred to as ‘space-sickness,’ this is the difficult acclimatization that astronauts experience in unusual gravities or pressures. NASA uses the Garn scale which was named after Jake Garn (above), a man who became exceptionally sick on an orbital flight, vomiting explosively. 1 Garn means a person is as sick as Jake Garn himself was.

The mother cow index was used until fairly recently in farming areas of the USA. It was an estimation of how many pregnant cows a certain area of land can potentially support. Even to non-dairy farmers, this gave a good indication of the fertility of the land. Donkeypower, on the other hand, is analogous to horsepower, except that it is 250W, only one quarter as strong. A sheppey was invented by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd as the minimum distance from which sheep look picturesque, stated to be 1.4km. In the metric system kilograms measure mass but in the imperial system pounds measure weight force, a slightly different concept: in zero gravity you still have mass but have no weight. A slug is an old imperial unit of mass. It is just less than 15kg. To measure or compare huge masses, elephants are used. The average weight of an adult male African bush elephant (usually the type used for such measurements) is 5.4 tones, and so this is 1 elephant. Dinosaurs and whales are often measured in elephants.

At Whiteface, Texas, in an area where UFOs had been reported for weeks in early 1975, police found a mutilated young calf that rancher Darwood Marshall had found lying within a 30-feet circle of flattened crops on March 10th. The animal’s neck was grotesquely twisted so that it pointed toward the sky, its tongue had been violently removed and its sexual organs were missing as well.

A few days prior to this, Marshall had discovered a mutilated steer lying in a circle of scorched wheat. One Sheriff Richards tested the site for radiation, got a positive reading, and enlisted the help of experts at Reese Air Force Base. Their tests revealed that radiation at the site was one-half of 1 percent higher than normal, a difference that didn’t warrant a dramatic response. But why was there a difference at all, and just what had scorched that circle of wheat?

On the night of April 8, 1979, two Apache tribal officers were on patrol duty not far from Dulce, New Mexico, when they saw a mysterious aircraft “hovering about 50 feet off the ground with a powerful spotlight aimed at a field.” A third police officer in the area believed it to be connected with recent livestock disappearances, as it was near some recently reported locations. The craft was never identified, but one person said he understood that the U.S military had developed a comparatively quiet jet-powered helicopter used in Vietnam, and believed it to be one of those.

Five years prior to this sighting, on July 5th, 1974, a white helicopter and a black twin-engine aircraft were seen by one Robert Smith, Jr. The helicopter allegedly opened fire on him whilst he was tending to a field in a tractor not far from the Nebraska border. Neither craft had a registration mark (required by law), and police were unable to trace them. The presence and aggressive behavior of unmarked helicopters near numerous sites of missing livestock and mutilations increased apprehension in ranch owners regarding cultists in the area.

One of the most daring thefts of the 20th century occurred in 1907 when Ireland’s crown jewels (valued at $250,000) were stolen from a safe kept in the strong room at Bedford Tower in Dublin Castle – under the eyes of four men who had been assigned to guard them. Sometime between June 28th and July 6th, the thief had first obtained keys to the tower’s main door and then to the strong room and finally to the safe, where he must have spent at least 10-15 minutes freeing the jewels form their cases. And yet no suspicion had been aroused. A long investigation by Scotland Yard came to naught. The whereabouts of the treasure and the identity of the thief are still unknown.

A distraught young Englishwoman came to the British Embassy in Paris one day in May 1889. She and her mother, on their way home from India, had checked into a hotel not long before, as the mother had fallen ill. She told the embassy how the hotel doctor had examined her mother and sent the daughter out for medicine. When she returned, the hotel staff denied ever having seen her mother. Only the younger woman’s name was in the hotel register. When she insisted on seeing the room her mother had occupied, she found it was not the one she remembered and even the doctor denied ever having met her before.

Unable to make her story believed, the young woman ended up in an asylum in England. Some have speculated that the mother had contracted plague in the Far East and that the hotel had conspired to suppress the news – even going so far as to redecorate her mother’s hotel room and to dispose of the corpse – rather than lose business. But the only evidence to support the case of the vanished matron was the young woman’s own testimony: a sign of madness, possibly, but if true, surely enough to drive her mad regardless.

As the supply ship ‘Heperus’ approached the island of Eilean Mor off Scotland’s West Coast, there was no sign of life ashore. One passenger, lighthouse keeper Joseph Moore from a nearby island, who was also relief lighthouse keeper on Eilean Mor, was especially concerned: the lighthouse had been dark for 11 days.

Moore and others searched the lighthouse, finding everything in order, although oilskin foul-weather gear belonging to two of the three keepers was missing. Storm damage to a jetty suggested the possibility that the three men had been swept away by a giant storm wave. But would they have been so incautious as to venture onto the jetty at the height of a storm? There were no answers, for none of the three were ever found.

The long drive between Miami, Florida to Scarsdale, New York, was routine for Charles R. Romer and his wife, Catherine. The retired couple, both in their seventies, had spent the winter of 1980 in their Florida apartment, and on April 8 they started home. That afternoon they checked into a motel in Brunswick City, Georgia. A little later a highway patrolman saw their black Lincoln Continental on the road. Perhaps they were going to a restaurant for dinner.

If so, they never arrived. They – along with their car – disappeared. Three days later, finding the room had not been slept in, the motel management notified authorities. Baffled police could only guess that the Romers had gone off the road into a swamp or that they had been robbed and/or killed. Other than the luggage in the motel room, and a fleeting glimpse of their car, there were no clues. Their son stated “It’s incredible that two people can totally disappear.” Incredible – but true.

Isidore Fink was shot dead at 10:30 p.m. on March 9, 1929, in the back room of the Fifth Avenue Laundry (which he owned) at 4 East 132nd Street in New York City. The police were alerted by a neighbor, Mrs. Locklan Smith, who had heard screaming and the sounds of a struggle. When the officers arrived, they found that the doors to room in which Fink lay were locked and so they gained entry by lifting a small boy into the room through a transom window.

Fink had been shot twice in the chest and once through the left hand, which showed signs of powder burns. No gun was found in the room. There was money in Fink’s pocket and in the cash register. At first police theorized that whoever shot Fink, who bolted the laundry doors when he worked at night, had climbed through the transom window. But the window was small, as was the boy who was hoisted through it, and the question of why an escaping murderer should climb through a small window instead of leaving by the door seemed unanswerable. A second theory was that Fink had been shot from the hallway through the transom , but the powder burns on Fink’s body showed that he had been shot from close range. More than two years after the crime, New York Police Commissioner Edward P. Mulrooney called the murder an “insoluble mystery.”

Something had been eating the ears off living hogs, reported The Jasper County News in Mississippi, in January 1977. One victim, belonging to Joseph Dickinson, of the Nazarene Community, had had its ears sheared off so cleanly that the job might have been done with scissors. The next night another hog was attacked in a pen, and a third hog the following night. On the third night, Dickson saw an animal in the pen during the attacks, and he said it was bigger than the biggest German Shepherd, and could jump farther than any dog in the world. A week later Calvin Martin, a neighbor, found that the ears of one of his sows had been pulled out by the roots.

Two children appeared from a cave near Banjos, Spain, in August 1887. Their skin was green and their clothes were of an unfamiliar material. They could not speak Spanish, and their eyes appeared Oriental. At first they would not eat, and because of this the boy didn’t survive, but the girl survived long enough to explain that she had come from a ‘sunless land’ and that one day a whirlwind had swept her and her companion up and deposited them into the cave. Understandably, this did little to dispel the wonder surrounding her. She died in 1892, her origins still unknown.

George Leigh-Mallory (pictured: second left, back row) and Andrew C. Irvine were less than a thousand feet below the peak of Everest on June 8, 1924. Then swirling, wind-driven snow and mist hid them from the telescope in the base camp below – and they were never seen again. Everest was conquered “for the record” in 1953, but the tantalizing possibility remains that two men had reached its summit almost 30 years before.

Leigh-Mallory, 36, had participated in two earlier attempts on Everest. The leader of this third expedition described him as the “living soul of the offensive; the thing had become a personal matter with him.” Irvine, 22, had little mountaineering experience but was skilled with the bulky, cumbersome oxygen gear. They had made camp the night before at 26,800 feet, sending their Sherpa bearers down to tell the others that they hoped to reach the peak early the next morning. For some reason they got a late start or were held up in the early part of the climb, for it was 12:50 p.m. on the eighth when they were observed at 28,227 feet. Then the clouds closed in – and the only evidence ever found of them was Leigh-Mallory’s or Irvine’s ice axe, discovered along their route in 1933. Perhaps they fell into an icy crevasse or were swept away by an avalanche that entombed them far below the challenging peak of Everest. The answer, like the climbers themselves, was lost in clouds at the top of the world.

As you step foot into an old growth forest, the rush of fresh air fills your lungs. Your senses perk up and you become aware of the life that surrounds you. In the forest, you never know what is waiting around the corner. In the forest, you will discover and witness new things for the first time. In the forest, you will come to peace with nature. In the forest, you will escape the world of technology and learn what it was like to live off the land. This article will examine ten strange and unique forests.

North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. It lies to the west of the southern part of South Andaman Island. North Sentinel Island is unique because it is surrounded by coral reefs and lacks natural harbors. For this reason, the area was never settled by Europeans and deforested. The island is almost completely covered in old growth trees and is 72 km² (27.8 sq mi). Due to the isolation, North Sentinel Island has become home to the last pre-Neolithic tribe known as the Sentinelese.

The Sentinelese tribe consists of 50 to 400 individuals. The group strongly rejects any contact with the outside world. On January 26, 2006, two men were illegally fishing for mud crabs near North Sentinel Island when they were attacked and killed by Sentinelese. The Indian coastguard attempted to recover the bodies using a helicopter, but they were met by a hail of arrows. It was reported that the fisherman’s bodies were buried in shallow graves and not roasted and eaten. However, the idea that the tribe would eat the men is very real.

During the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, North Sentinel Island was greatly damaged. The tsunami sank some of the surrounding coral reefs and raised others. The coastline of the island was completely demolished. The Sentinelese fishing grounds were disturbed, but the tribe has since adapted to the current conditions. The Sentinelese maintain an essentially hunter-gatherer society, obtaining their subsistence from the forest through hunting, fishing, and collecting wild plants.

Their agricultural practices and methods for producing fire are currently unknown. The Sentinelese weaponry consists of javelins and a flatbow, which has an extremely high accuracy against human-sized targets up to nearly 10 meters (32.8 feet). The Sentinelese has even been known to use untipped arrows for warning shots. There food consists primarily of plantstuffs gathered in the forest, coconuts which are frequently found on the beaches, pigs, and presumably other wildlife (which apart from sea turtles is limited to some smaller birds and invertebrates).

Selected Quote: “I believe our biggest issue is the same issue the whole world is facing, and that’s habitat destruction.” Steve Irwin.

The Crooked Forest is a grove of oddly shaped pine trees located outside the village of Nowe Czarnowo, in western Poland. The forest contains about 400 pine trees that grow with a 90 degree bend at the base of their trunks. All of the trees are bent northward and surrounded by a larger forest of straight-growing pine trees. The crooked trees were planted around 1930 when the area was inside the German province of Pomerania.

It is thought that the trees were formed with a human tool, but the method and motive for creating the grove is not currently known. It appears that the trees were allowed to grow for seven to ten years before being held down and warped by a device. The exact reason why the Germans would want to make crooked trees is unknown, but many people have speculated that they were going to be harvested for bent-wood furniture, the ribs of boat hulls, or yokes for ox-drawn plows. It is a bizarre case that still can’t explain.

Selected Quote: “A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us.” Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The Red Forest or the Worm Wood Forest is located within the 10 kilometer (6.2 mile) area surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat, Ukraine. After the Chernobyl nuclear accident on April 26, 1986, the Worm Wood Forest turned a ginger-brown color and died. In the cleanup effort, most of the trees were bulldozed and buried in a collection of “waste graveyards.” The trenches were covered with a carpet of sand and planted over with new pine saplings. Today, the Red Forest remains one of the most contaminated areas in the world. It holds a mixture of old growth pine, along with the new saplings planted in 1986. More than 90% of the radioactivity of the Red Forest is concentrated in the soil.

The accident at Chernobyl has offered scientists an unparalleled opportunity to fully understand the passage of radioactive debris through an urban, rural, and natural environment over time. In a remarkable turn of events, the wildlife in the Red Forest has adapted to the changes and not only survived, but flourished. The forest has been labeled a “Radiological Reserve” and is a hotbed for endangered animals. A large collection of species has moved into the forest and biodiversity in the area has greatly expanded since the accident.

Since 1986, the population of wild boar in the Red Forest has exploded. The area is home to a large collection of wild species, including storks, wolves, beavers, lynx, elk, and eagles. Birds have been observed nesting in the old nuclear reactors and many endangered species have been spotted. In 2001, the tracks of a brown bear were photographed in the streets of Pripyat. In 2002, a young eagle owl, one of only 100 thought to be living in all of Ukraine, was seen on an abandoned excavator in the Red Forest, also an endangered white-tailed eagle was radio-tagged within three miles of the plant. In 2005, a herd of 21 rare Przewalski’s horses escaped from captivity, bred in the area, and have expanded to 64.

The Red Forest still holds some unnatural behavior. The flora and fauna in the area has been dramatically affected by the radioactive contamination. In the years following the disaster, there were many reports of mutant animals, but no cases have been confirmed to influence the genetic evolution of a species, except for the partial albinism in swallows and stunted tail feathers in birds. It should be noted that mutant animals usually die quickly in the wild, so the creatures affected by the explosion are long dead. The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone now encompasses more than 1,600 square miles of northern Ukraine and southern Belarus, a ragged swatch of forests, marshes, lakes, and rivers.

Selected Quote: “A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine.” Anne Bronte.

The chestnut blight is a devastating disease that has struck the American chestnut tree and caused the mass extinction of the tree from its historic range in the eastern United States. The disease was accidentally introduced to North America around 1900, either through imported chestnut lumber or through imported chestnut trees. By 1940, almost all of the American chestnut trees were gone. These marvelous trees once grew as tall as 200 feet (61 meters), with a trunk diameter of 14 feet (4.2 meters).
The chestnut tree is known to grow beautiful flowers in late spring or early summer. The blight was caused by the C. parasitica and destroyed about 4 billion American chestnut trees. The fungus kills the tree by entering beneath the bark and killing the cambium all the way round the twig, branch, or trunk. After the blight was first discovered, people attempted to remove the effected trees from the forests, but this proved to be an ineffective solution.

The largest remaining forest of American chestnut trees is named Chestnut Hills and sits near West Salem, Wisconsin. Chestnut Hills holds approximately 2,500 chestnut trees on 60 acres of land. The chestnuts are the descendants from only a dozen trees planted by Martin Hicks in the late 1800s. The trees are located to the west of the natural range of American chestnut, so they initially escaped the onslaught of the chestnut blight. However in 1987, scientists found the fungus in the trees and the blight has been slowly killing the forest. Scientists are working to try and save Chestnut Hills, as there is a strong desire to bring the American chestnut back to the forest.

A large collection of surviving chestnut’s are being bred for a resistance to the blight by The American Chestnut Foundation, which aims to reintroduce a blight-resistant American chestnut to its original forest range in the early 21st century. The disease is local to a range, so it is possible for some isolated trees to exist if no other chestnuts with the blight are within 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). A small stand of surviving American chestnuts was found in F. D. Roosevelt State Park near Warm Springs, Georgia on April 22, 2006.

Selected Quote: “Under the spreading chestnut tree I sold you and you sold me: There lie they, and here lie we, under the spreading chestnut tree.” George Orwell.

The Sea of Trees or Aokigahara is a forest located at the northwest base of Mount Fuji in Japan. The forest contains a number of hidden caverns and giant trees. It is very dark and has thick growth, so the only light that can be seen inside the forest is a collection of sunbeams. Aokigahara holds an absence of wildlife and is known for being an eerily quiet place. In modern times, the Sea of Trees has gained a reputation for two things, a breathtaking view of Mount Fuji and suicides. There is currently no reliable statistics for the total number of suicides in the forest. However in 2004, 108 dead bodies were found in Aokigahara.

In recent years, the Japanese government has stopped publicizing the number of suicides in the forest. In 2010, it was reported that 247 people attempted suicide in the Sea of Trees, but only 54 succeeded. The suicide rate has caused officials to place signs in the forest, in Japanese and English, which urge people to reconsider their actions. Every year, a collection of police and volunteers conduct an annual body search of the land. During the event, corpses are always discovered, usually hanging from the trees. The Sea of Trees is reportedly the world’s second most popular suicide location after San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

Japan’s suicide rate is a major problem and has been rising after the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami. The country has been experiencing a large wave of social withdrawal. Hikikomori is a Japanese term that refers to the phenomenon of reclusive adolescents or young adults who have chosen to withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation. It is estimated that around 1% of the entire Japanese population is living as hikikomori. In Japanese mythology, the Sea of Trees has always been linked with morbid myths and legends. It is widely believed that the custom of ubasute, where an elderly relative is left to die in a remote location, was widely practiced in the forest.

Selected Quote: “The prevalence of suicide, without doubt, is a test of height in civilization; it means that the population is winding up its nervous and intellectual system to the utmost point of tension and that sometimes it snaps.” Henry Ellis.

Trillemarka – Rollagsfjell is a 147 km² (57 sq mi) nature reserve located in Buskerud, Norway. It was created on December 13, 2002 and is located in the mountain areas between Nore in Numedal and Solevann in Sigdal. Trillemarka – Rollagsfjell holds the last ancient wilderness forests of Norway. The land has all the qualities of the original Norwegian forests, including untouched valleys, rivers, lakes, and very old trees. Trillemarka – Rollagsfjell is home to 93 red list and endangered species.

Trillemarka – Rollagsfjell holds a large amount of animals that are dependent on the forest dynamics. The area is one of the few untouched woodlands in Norway. Some of the endangered species that frequent the forest are the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Tree-toed Woodpecker, Siberian Jay, Stock Dove, and Golden Eagle. The forest is also home to endangered lichens, mosses, and fungi. Currently, about 75% of Trillemarka – Rollagsfjell has been protected by the government, and there is a controversy in Norway over how much of the remaining land should be set aside for future generations. It appears that Norway is lagging behind neighboring countries in forest protection.

Selected Quote: “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.” Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Dudley Town (the Village of the Damned) is a ghost town in Cornwall, Connecticut. It was founded as a small settlement in the mid-1740s and was a thriving community by the 18th century, known as Owlsbury. The town was primarily fueled by the region’s iron industry. It was a popular place to visit until people started to report strange sightings, unexplained murders, and mass suicides. In some cases, the town residents experienced hallucinations which included demons who commanded them to commit suicide. It was also a regular occurrence for sheep and heard animals to go missing in the town.

Many early settlers of Dudley Town began to think the area was cursed. By the middle of the 20th century, everyone in the town had either died or moved away. Today, Dudley Town looks like it did when Thomas Griffis first settled it some 250 years ago. It is a very thick forest with rocky terrain and it sits in the shadow of three separate mountains: Bald Mountain, Woodbury Mountain, and The Coltsfoot Triplets. Because of the dense and tall woods, the forest has been given the name “Dark Entry Forest.” The land is not officially located in a Connecticut state forest, but sits on private land near the Mohawk State Forest and Mohawk Trail.

The ruins of Dudley Town and the Dark Entry Forest are patrolled by the Dark Entry Forest group, which prosecutes anyone who trespasses on the land. Hundreds of people have been arrested for visiting the site. The area is also known for a large collection of orbs, unexplained lights, and bizarre sounds. Similar to other strange forests, visitors claim that the trees are unusually quiet and without wildlife. Contemporary researchers have suggested that the town may have succumbed to mass hysteria or that the groundwater could have been contaminated with lead which caused the deaths.

Selected Quote: “An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.” Charles Dickens.

The Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges in Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. The land is covered by thick forests and rugged terrain. The region is rich in timber, minerals, and wild game. The Ardennes holds a strategic position in Europe. For this reason, a large number of famous battles have been fought on the land. The Ardennes has changed hands on many different occasions. In the 20th century, the Ardennes was thought unsuitable for large-scale military operations, but in both World War I and World War II, Germany successfully gambled on making a passage through the area to attack France.

The Ardennes was the site of three major battles in the 20th century, the Battle of the Ardennes (1914), the Battle of France (1940), and the Battle of the Bulge (1944). During the Battle of the Ardennes, French and German troops literally stumbled into each other on the battlefield due to the thick fog. In the winter of 1944, the Third Reich launched a major offensive through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium. The event has become known as the Battle of the Bulge.

Before the Battle of the Bulge, the snow-covered Ardennes was so quiet it was termed “the Ghost Front.” The United States placed its greenest units on the wooded hills, along with combat-shattered troops. Hitler valued the Ardennes and arranged for two full Panzer armies and 300,000 troops to conduct a surprise attack designed to shatter the American front. Many of the towns in the region were badly damaged during the battle, including the historic city of La Roche-en-Ardenne. The forest wasn’t completely taken back from Nazi rule until early 1945. Today, the beauty of the Ardennes and its wide variety of outdoor activities, including hunting, cycling, walking, canoeing, and historic landmarks make it a popular tourist destination.

Selected Quote: “Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult.” Karl Von Clausewitz.

The Hoia-Baciu Forest is located near Cluj-Napoca, Romania and is locally referred to as the Bermuda Triangle of Romania. The forest was named after a shepherd that disappeared in the area with two hundred sheep. Most people who live near the forest are afraid to enter. They believe that those who visit the site will never return. Many of the locals who have gone into the forest complain of physical harm, including rashes, nausea, vomiting, migraines, burns, scratches, anxiety, and other unusual bodily sensations.

The Hoia-Baciu Forest has a reputation for paranormal activity. People have witnessed several strange events on the land. The most common phenomenon includes seeing mysterious orb-like lights, female voices, giggling, apparitions, and cases of people being scratched. In the 1970s, the area was a hotbed for UFO sighting and unexplained lights. Visitors to the forest have reported a strong sense of anxiety and the feeling of being watched. The local vegetation in the forest is bizarre and some trees hold an unexplained charring. On August 18, 1968, a military technician named Emil Barnea captured a famous photograph of a saucer-like object over the Hoia-Baciu Forest.

Many people who live near the Hoia-Baciu Forest have reported a large collection of orb-like lights inside the tree line. When using a thermal, these lights don’t seem to be producing any heat signatures. Some people who enter the forest suddenly remember all of their past experiences in the trees, but then forget the memories after leaving the land. Specialists from around the world are fascinated by the forest. Scientists from Germany, France, the United States, and Hungary have managed to capture bizarre material structures on film, including faces and apparitions. Some of the structures are seen with the naked eye and others only in photos or videos.

Selected Quote: “Authoritarian political ideologies have a vested interest in promoting fear, a sense of the imminence of takeover by aliens and real diseases are useful material.” Susan Sontag.

In February of 2012, scientists in northern China announced that they had finished reconstructing an ancient forest that was found buried under a thick layer of volcanic ash near the Mongolian district of Wuda. The 20 square kilometer (12.4 mile) forest was completely preserved after a large volcano erupted 298 million years ago and dropped a large amount of lava and ash on the site. The discovery was reminiscent of the destruction of the Roman city of Pompeii in A.D. 79. It was determined that the blast came from a large volcano around 100 kilometers away. The destruction left a layer of ash that is now 66-cm (about 40 inches) thick. The blast ripped leaves from branches, knocked down trees, and buried the forest.

Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, Shenyang Normal University, and Yunnan University have been able to reconstruct 10,000 square feet (3,048 meters) of the subtropical forest. They have identified a large collection of plant species and flora that has been extinct for centuries. It is believed that the forest sat on the edge of a large tropical island off Pangaea’s eastern shore. It was swampy land, with a layer of peat and a few inches of standing water. In all, six different species of trees have been identified in the preserved forest, including the tall Sigillaria, Cordaites, and the smaller spore-bearing Noeggerathiales, which is believed to be related to the fern family. Scientists haven’t found any evidence for animal life, such as ancient amphibians.

Selected Quote: “All this worldly wisdom was once the unamiable heresy of some wise man.” Henry David Thoreau.

Yellowwood State Forest is located in Brown County, Indiana. The name of the forest is derived from the yellowwood, a tree seldom found this far north in the U.S. The Yellowwood State Forest preserve was established in the 1930s. In 1939, a 133-acre (54 ha) lake, Yellowwood Lake, was created in the area. One major mystery surrounds the forest. A collection of large sandstone boulders, estimated to weigh about 400 pounds (180 kg), have been found in the tops of three trees. The mystery began in the 1990s, when a turkey hunter, scouting in a remote area of the 23,000-acre forest, discovered a large boulder in a chestnut oak tree. The boulder was eventually dubbed Gobbler’s Rock.

Gobbler’s Rock sits high on a south-facing slope overlooking a ravine near Tulip Tree Road in western Brown County. Officials can’t explain how the boulders got wedged into the branches. Some of the theories include a fraternity prank, tornadoes, high winds, or floods. The strange phenomenon is now the focus of several UFO websites. On Yellowwood State Forest’s Wikipedia page it claims that the rocks were placed there by a U.S. helicopter doing a training exercise from nearby Camp Atterbury during World War II. However, the provided reference for the claim is broken and no further information can be found on the training exercise or why such a task would be undertaken.

Selected Quote: “Geologists have a saying, rocks remember.” Neil Armstrong.

Sea pigs are sea creatures closely related to sea cucumbers, belonging to the kingdom Animalia. These aquatic organisms are about four inches in length, and have 10 tentacles with tub like feet that are used not for swimming, but for marching along the ocean floor. Sea pigs are bottom feeders and detect food by scent; they remove organic particles from the mud with their deflating and inflating tentacles and eat the particles trapped in their tentacles. These sea creatures obtained their name from their pink-tint and chubby body, do not fall short of idiosyncrasy.

The yeti crab was only discovered in 2005 by Marine biologists in the Pacific Ocean. This organism resembles the mythical organism yeti with its hair-like sinuous, and resides in the hydrothermal vents of the pacific ocean that protrude a toxic liquid that to the average organism would be deadly. This organism is not well-researched yet, but its albino-like eyes suggest that the organism may be blind and it is suspected to feed off of the toxic minerals from the hydrothermal vents.

The viperfish, which can easily be recognized from the Disney film “Finding Nemo” with its hinged lower-jaw containing long stringy, pointy teeth, is a deepwater fish that lives in tropical and temperate waters. The viperfish varies from 12 to 24 inches in length and swims in depths from 250 to 5,000 feet. Although the viperfish is frightening in appearance, it is preyed on by sharks and even dolphins! This fish can live up to 40 years and holds the Guinness world record for largest teeth in comparison to head size in a fish.

This marine crab is the biggest arthropod in the word in overall size containing eight legs. The Japanese spider crab is found about 150-800 meters deep off the southern coasts of the Japanese island Honshu and has a leg span of 3.6 meters. This crab can live up to a miraculous 100 years and are known to be calm animals. The Japanese spider crab feeds off animal carcasses, plants and shellfish; they could be considered the vulture of the sea.

The giant isopod, a crustacean living in the Atlantic Ocean, is an alien-looking sea creature that exists in the pitch darkness of the bathypelagic zone in depths as deep as 7,020 feet. This interesting organism has stayed relatively the same for the past 130 million years! The giant isopod can be up to 14 inches in length and up to 30 inches in height and have four sets of jaws. The giant isopod is a scavenger that feeds with its four sets of jaws, on dead whales, fish, and squid. This organism has the ability to survive without food for more than eight weeks!

The Chinese giant salamander has stayed almost exactly the same in resemblance as its ancestors of 30 million years. This organism is the largest known salamander in existence and its habitats include mountain streams and lakes of China. This salamander can grow up to 73 inches in length and have lived up to 80 years at a time. The Giant Salamander does not have eyelids, and therefore has poor vision and rely on sensory nodes to detect possible vibrations made by predators. This amphibian has the ability to breathe through the pores and wrinkles in the skin and is mainly a nocturnal animal that hunts during the night feeding on crabs, crayfish, fish, frogs, insects, shrimps, snails and worms.

This proteus, aquatic, snake-like amphibian is a blind organism that lives in the caves of the subterranean waters. The Olm is about 8-12 inches and the small fragile superior limbs contain three fingers and the inferior limbs containing two. The olm’s skin resembles the color and texture of humans and is sometimes recognized as the “human fish” for its skin. The olm has not only external gills but also has lungs that are rarely actually used during the respiratory process. Due to their eyes that lay deep beneath the dermis and only somewhat detect light, the olm is dependent on their acute sense of smell and hearing abilities to survive.

The giant grenadier is the only member of the Albatrossia genus that is found along the north Pacific part of Japan to the Okhotsk and Bering seas. This fish can reach up to seven feet in length and has been proven to live up to at least 56 years-old. The Giant Grenadier feeds mainly on different species of squids, crabs, worms, shrimps and echinoderms and is well known for its frightening resemblance to snakes with its long pointy tail and its large eyes.

This fish, also known as the oarfish is the longest bony fish in existence. It is found in depths from 300-1000 meters in any of the world’s oceans. The king of Herrings remains in deep waters and does not surface often; typically if it surfaces, it dies when doing so. This 16 foot long fish was first discovered washed up dead on the shore in Bermuda in 1860. It is believed by scientists that the great myth of a sea serpent could have branched off of a king of herrings sighting. Despite that, this organism is a fish, it does not have any scales and although frightening in size, is not a threat to the human race based on its small teeth and one dorsal fin.

This cuddly creature is a domestic rabbit bred for long and soft wool. They originate from Angora, Turkey, are affable companions for those looking for a pet, and live up to seven years when well taken care of. There are five types of Angora rabbit breeds including English, German, Giant, French and Satin. The Angora rabbit can be up to 12 pounds and in spite of their large fluffy appearance, are very active creatures.

In the sixteenth century town of Dole, a proclamation was publicly read in the town square. Its contents gave permission for the people to track down and kill a werewolf that had been terrorizing the village.

While walking through the forest, a group of peasants heard the screams of a small child accompanied by the howling of a wolf. When they arrived they saw a wounded child fighting off a monstrous creature whom they later identified as Gilles Garnier. When a ten year-old boy disappeared in the vicinity of Garnier’s home, he was arrested and confessed to being a werewolf. He was then burned at the stake. Wikipedia has a few more details on this werewolf here.

According to old records, c. 1640, the German city of Greifswald became overrun with werewolves. The population of these beasts grew so large that any human who ventured out after dark was in danger of being accosted by one of them.

A group of students decided that they had had enough and devised a plan. They gathered all their silver goblets, plates, buttons, etc., and melted them down for bullets.

Armed and ready – they struck out into the night to challenge the werewolves. After it was over, the people of Greifswald, once again could venture out at night.

In 1685 the Bavarian town of Ansbach was being terrorized by a large vicious wolf. The rumors were that the wolf was actually a werewolf whose identity was that of the town’s dead mayor. When the wolf was killed, the people of Ansbach dressed the wolf’s carcass to resemble their mayor. It was then put on display in the town square and later moved to a museum.

In earlier times there were extensive forests rich with game in the vicinity of Klein-Krams, near Ludwigslust, Germany. Great hunts were held in the area by sportsmen who came from all over Germany to test their prowess at bringing down their choice of game. For years, however, the hunters had been stymied by the appearance of a great wolf that seemed impervious to any bullet. Sometimes the beast would taunt them by approaching within easy shooting distance, on occasion even adding to the mockery by snatching a piece of their kill, then dash away without a bullet seeming to come anywhere near it.

Now it happened during one great hunt that one of the participants, a young cavalry officer, was traveling through the village when his attention was captured by a group running and screaming out of a house. Seeing nothing pursuing them that would cause such panic, he stopped one of the youngsters and asked what the matter was. The child told him that no adult from the Feeg family was at home except for their young son. When he was left alone, it was his custom to transform himself into a werewolf and terrorize the neighborhood children. They all ran away when he achieved such a transformation because they didn’t want him to bite them.

The officer was bemused by such wild play of the children’s imaginations, that he assumed they were playing the big bad wolf after the sheep or some game. But then he caught a glimpse of a wolf in the house, and in the next few moments, a small boy stood in its place.

In 1541, Pavia, Italy, a farmer… as a wolf, fell upon many men in the open country and tore them to pieces. After much trouble the maniac was caught, and he then assured his captors that the only difference which existed between himself and a natural wolf, was that in a true wolf the hair grew outward, whilst in him it struck inward. In order to put this assertion to the proof, the magistrates, themselves most certainly cruel and bloodthirsty wolves, cut off his arms and legs. The wretch died of the mutilation.

One of the worst-ever lycanthropes was the Werewolf of Chalons, otherwise known as the Demon Tailor. He was arraigned in Paris on 14 December 1598 on murder charges which were so appalling that the court ordered all documents of the hearing to be destroyed. Even his real name has become lost in history.

Burnt to death for his crimes, he was believed to decoy children of both sexes into his shop, and having abused them he would slice their throats and then powder and dress their bodies, jointing them as a butcher cuts up meat. In the twilight, under the shape of a wolf, he roamed the woods to leap out on stray passers-by and tear their throats to shreds. Barrels of bleached bones were found concealed in his cellars as well as other foul and hideous things. He died (it was said) unrepentant and blaspheming.

Claudia Gaillard was one of the hundreds of unfortunate souls brought to trial by the witch-finder Henry Boguet. According to witnesses, she was seen behind a bush assuming the form of a wolf without a tail. For this great sin, she was set to the torture. Regarding the tortures, the judge commented, “Common report was against her. No one ever saw her shed a single tear, whatever effort might be made to cause her to shed tears.” Claudia was then burned to death at the stake.

In 1521, Jean Boin, Inquisitor of Besancon, tried Philibert Montot, Pierre Bourgot, and Michel Verdun for having made a pact with the devil and for lycanthropy. These men became known as the werewolves of Poligny.

These men came under suspicion when a traveler passing through the area was attacked by a wolf. While defending himself, he was able to wound the animal, forcing it to retreat. Following the trail of the injured creature, the man came upon a hut where he found a local resident, Michel Verdun, under the care of his wife, who was washing a wound on his body. Believing Verdun’s injury to be a sympathetic wound, the man notified the authorities. Arrested and tortured, Verdun admitted that he was a shape-shifter. He also revealed the names of his two werewolf accomplices, as well as confessing to hideous crimes: diabolism, murder, and eating human flesh. The three men were promptly executed.

This case was tried in 1692, Jurgenburg, Livonia, situated in an area east of the Baltic Sea, steeped in werewolf folklore. It involved an 80 year-old man named Thiess.

Thiess confessed being a werewolf, saying his nose had been broken by a man named Skeistan, a witch who was dead at the time he had struck Thiess. According to Thiess’ testimony, Skeistan and other witches were preventing the crops of the area from growing. Their purpose for doing this was to carry the grain into hell. To help the crop to continue to grow, Thiess with a band of other werewolves descended into hell to fight the witches and recover the grain.

The warring of the werewolves and the witches occurred on three nights of the year: Saint Lucia, Pentecost and Saint John (the seasonal changes). If the werewolves were slow in their descent the witches would bar the gates of hell, and the crops, livestock, and even the fish catch would suffer. As weapons the werewolves carried iron bars while the witches used broom handles. Skeistan broke Theiss’ nose with a broom handle wrapped in a horse’s tail.

The judges were astounded by such testimony, for they had naturally supposed the werewolves were agents of the Devil. But now they were hearing the werewolves were fighting the Devil. When asked what became of the souls of the werewolves, Thiess said they went to heaven. He insisted werewolves were the “hounds of Gods” who helped mankind by preventing the Devil from carrying off the abundance of the earth. If it were not for them, all would suffer. He said there were werewolves in Germany and Russia also fighting witches in their own hells.

Thiess was determined in his confession, denying he had ever signed a pact with the Devil. He refused to see the parish priest who was sent for to chastise him, saying that he was a better man than any priest. He claimed he was neither the first nor the last man to become a werewolf in order to fight witches.

Finally the judges, probably out of desperation, sentenced Thiess to ten lashes for acts of idolatry and superstitious beliefs.

During the early spring of the year 1603 there spread through the St. Sever districts of Gascony in the extreme south-west of France, the department Landes, a veritable reign of terror. From a number of little hamlets and smaller villages young children had begun to mysteriously disappear off the fields and roads, and no trace could be discovered. In one instance even a babe was stolen from its cradle in a cottage whilst the mother had left it for a short space safe asleep, as she thought. People talked of wolves; others shook their heads and whispered something worse.

The consternation was at its height when the local magistrate advised the puisne Judge of the Barony de la Roche Chalais and de la Chatellenie that information had been laid before him by three witnesses, of whom one – a 13 year-old girl named Marguerite Poirier of the outlaying hamlet of St-Paul in the Parish of Esperons – swore that in full moon she had been attacked by a savage beast, much resembling a wolf. The girl stated that one midday whilst she was watching cattle, a wild beast with rufulous fur, not unlike a huge dog, rushed from the thicket and tore her kirtle with its sharp teeth. She only managed to save herself from being bitten thanks to the fact she was armed with a stout iron pointed staff with which she hardly warded herself. Moreover a lad of thirteen or fourteen years-old, Jean Grenier, was boasting that is was he who attacked Marguerite, as a wolf, and but for her stick he would have torn her limb from limb as he had already eaten three or four children.

In 1883, the citizens of Lijar, a small village in southern Spain were infuriated when they heard reports that, while visiting Paris, the Spanish king, Alfonso XII had been insulted and even attacked in the streets by Parisian mobs. In response, the mayor of Lijar, Don Miguel Garcia Saez, and all 300 citizens of Lijar declared war on France on October 14, 1883. Not a single shot was fired, and not a single casualty sustained on either side during the confrontation, but despite the anticlimactic war, Mayor Saez was declared “The Terror Of The Sierras,” for his exploit.
A full ninety-three years later, in 1976, King Juan-Carlos of Spain made a trip to Paris, during which he was treated with great respect by the citizens of the French capital. In 1981, the town council of Lijar ruled that “in view of the excellent attitude of the French,” they would end hostilities and agree to a ceasefire with France.

War duration: (1883-1981) Ninety-eight years.
Casualties: None.

This war began in 1325, when a rivalry between the independent city states of Modena and Bologna spiraled out of control over the most unlikely of things: a wooden bucket. The trouble started when a band of Modena soldiers raided Bologna and stole a large wooden bucket. The raid was successful, but Bologna, wishing to secure both its bucket and its pride, declared war on Modena. The war raged on for twelve whole years but Bologna never did manage to get its bucket back. To this day the bucket is still stored in Modena’s bell tower.

War duration: (1325-1337) Twelve years.
Casualties: Unknown.

The President of Paraguay, Francisco Solano Lopez, was a huge admirer of Napoleon Bonaparte. He fancied himself a skilled tactician and excellent commander, but lacked one thing, a war. So to solve this problem, in 1864 he declared war on Paraguay’s three surrounding neighbors, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. The outcome of the war? Paraguay was very nearly annihilated. It is estimated that 90% of its male population died during the war, of disease, starvation and battles with enemy armies. This was perhaps one of the most needless wars in history since Lopez had almost no reason to declare war on his more powerful neighbors.

War Duration: (1864-1870) Six years.
Casualties: 400,000 on both sides.

In 1925, Greece and Bulgaria were not friends. They had fought each other during the First World War and those wounds had not yet healed. Tensions were perpetually high along the border, especially along an area called Petrich. Those tensions reached a boiling point on October 22, 1925, when a Greek soldier chased his dog across the Bulgarian border and was shot dead by a Bulgarian sentry. Greece vowed retaliation and, true to its word, it invaded Petrich the very next day. They quickly cleared Bulgarian forces from the area but were halted by the League of Nations, who sanctioned Greece and ordered them to leave Petrich and pay Bulgaria for damages. Greece withdrew its forces ten days later and paid Bulgaria 45,000 pounds.

War duration: (October 23-November 2, 1925) Ten days.
Casualties: Fifty-two dead on both sides.

The Aroostook War was a military confrontation between the United States and Great Britain over the border of Maine. After the War of 1812, British forces had occupied most of eastern Maine and, despite having no troops in the area, still regarded it as British territory. In the winter of 1838, American woodcutters cut firewood in the disputed area and, as a result, incited the ire of Great Britain, who moved troops into the area. American troops moved over as well, and it looked like a war was imminent. However logistics on each side got snarled and the Americans received enormous amounts of pork and beans due to a mistake in the supplies department. This led to the war’s most popular nickname, “The War Of Pork And Beans.” For nearly a year, British and American troops waited each other out before their respective governments finally reached an agreement. Britain agreed to give America back eastern Maine and, in return, American troops backed down. The Aroostook War was devoid of military combat but there were still hundreds of deaths from disease and accidental injuries.

War duration: (December 1838-November 1839) Eleven months.
Casualties: 550 dead on both sides.

Another British/American war, The Pig War was started when a British infantryman shot a pig that was wandering on American soil. The local American militia responded by gathering at the border and waiting for the British to make a move. Eventually the British apologized and the brief war ended, leaving the pig as the only casualty.

War duration: (June-October 1859) Four months.
Casualties: One pig.

This war was fought between the Netherlands and the Isle of Scilly, which is located off the southwest coast of Great Britain. The war started in 1651, but like many wars of that era it was not taken seriously and soon forgotten about. Three centuries passed before the two countries finally agreed to a peace treaty in 1986, making their war the longest in human history.

War duration: (1651-1986) Three hundred and thirty-five years.
Casualties: None.

Some wars begin with a surprise attack, others a massacre, but this one began with a football game between El Salvador and Honduras, in 1969. El Salvador lost the game and tensions rose and rose until, on June 14, the El Salvadoran Army launched an attack on Honduras. Surprised by the sudden violence the Organization of American States organized a cease-fire that was put into effect on June 20, just one hundred hours after the first shots were fired.

War duration: (June 14-20 1969) Four days.
Casualties: 3,000 dead on both sides.

This war began shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the former Soviet bloc country of Moldova experienced a crisis. Two-thirds of the country wanted closer ties with Romania, but the remaining third wanted to remain close with Russia. As a result, war erupted. But what makes this war truly strange is the fact that the men fighting each other during the day often gathered in no man’s land at night to mingle and drink. Soldiers even made pacts not to shoot each other if they saw each other during battle the next day. And this wasn’t a one time thing, it happened nearly every night for the duration of the war. One soldier wrote in his journal: “The war is like a grotesque party, during the day we kill our enemy, during the night we drink with them. What a bizarre thing war is.”

War duration: (March 2-July 21 1992) Four months.
Casualties: 1,300 dead on both sides.

This is perhaps the only formal war where one of the belligerents was not human, but rather avian. In 1932, the emu population in Australia was growing out of control, with an estimated 20,000 emus running around the Australian desert and causing havoc among crops. In response, the Australian military sent out a task force of soldiers armed with machine guns to kill the emus and even jokingly declared war on them. In mid-November they drove out into the desert and proceeded to hunt down any emus they could find. However, they ran into complications; the emus proved remarkably resilient, even when struck by multiple machine gun bullets they continued to run away, easily outstripping the heavily laden soldiers. The Emu War lasted for nearly a week before Major Meredith, the commander of the emu-killing task-force gave up in disgust after the soldiers only bagged a fraction of the elusive birds.

War duration: (November 11-18 1932) Seven days.
Casualties: 2,500 emus.

Used by the Māori tribes of New Zealand, this simple-looking, yet solid, club was built from nephrite jade. Strangely enough, the Māori used the 12-20 inch club for jabbing and thrusting instead of swinging downward blows in the way that most other clubs are used. To the Māori, the mere was a very spiritual weapon. They named their mere clubs and passed them down through generations. They even believed that the clubs contained a mana (spiritual force) of their own. The Māori revered their mere clubs greatly. They were a symbol of leadership, and if any mere that was considered important by a tribe was misplaced, great efforts were taken by the tribe to make sure the mere was located and returned to its respective owner.

Perhaps the most well-known on this list, the Chinese hook swords were wielded by the normally passive Shoalin monks of northern China. Beautifully and artistically designed, the blades were curved into a hook shape at the end which allowed the user to connect the blades by the tip and wield them as a single, long-ranged weapon. The crescent shaped guards were excellent at blocking blows as well as slashing enemies who got too close. The ends of the hilts were sharpened into daggers for stabbing at close range. These swords measured from 4-6 feet from the top of the hook to the end of the sharpened hilt. The blades saw most of their usage from civilians, as the Chinese military did not use them in any of their armies.

The kpinga was a throwing knife that was used by experienced warriors of the Azande tribe. The Zande people were residents of Nubia, a region in Africa composed of northern Sudan and southern Egypt. The knife (also known by its nickname, the Hunga Munga) was up to 22 inches long and had three blades that extended from the center. The blade closest to the handle is in the shape of a man’s genitals, and represented the masculine power of its owner. The alignment of the blades on the kpinga drastically increased the chances of impaling a target on contact. When the owner of the weapon was married, he presented the kpinga as a gift to the family of his wife.

The macuahuitl was basically a large, sword-shaped piece of wood, with razor-sharp pieces of obsidian embedded in the sides. Since the macuahuitl lacked a sharp point, it couldn’t be used as a stabbing weapon; however the jagged rows of obsidian gave the weapon a vicious tearing power that could cut deep lacerations in the enemy. The wood itself is heavy and strong enough to clobber opponents, thus enabling the Aztec to capture the foe alive to be used in their famous ritual sacrifices. There have been accounts of maquahuitls being able to decapitate horses, which is impressive, for a horse’s head is a good deal thicker than that of an adult human being.

This rather odd-looking weapon was used in the arenas by the gladiators of the ancient Roman Empire. Interestingly enough, the gladiators who wielded the scissor in combat were also known as scissors. The metal casing at the bottom formed a long tube that covered the gladiator’s arm, allowing the weapon to easily block and parry, as well as counterattack. Made from hardened steel, the scissor measured up to one and a half feet long. It is surprisingly light, weighing in at an easy 5-7 pounds; this allowed the scissor to be wielded with a good amount of speed. The scissor’s unique shape and design made it a crowd favorite.

Don’t be fooled, the chakram is not something you would want to play frisbee with. Unlike the frisbee, the chakram was often thrown vertically rather than horizontally. The deadly circle of metal was up to a foot in diameter. It’s extremely sharp edge ensured that the chakram could slice off arms and legs with ease. This weapon originated from India, where it was used extensively by the high ranking Indian Sikhs. Much like a distant relative, the shrunken, the chakram could be stacked one on the other and thrown repeatedly. One interesting throwing method used by professional warriors was to spin the chakram on their index finger, and then, with a sharp flick of the wrist, launch the whirring blade at their opponent.

Another Chinese weapon, the chu ko nu was basically an ancestor to the automatic rifle – it sacrificed range and power for a quick reload time. The wooden case on the top of the crossbow held 10 crossbow bolts which fell into place when the rectangular lever on the back was pulled back after firing a bolt. One interesting fact is that the chu ko nu last saw its use in the Sino-Japanese wars of 1894-1895, years after the rise of firearms. The crossbow could fire on average a total of 10 bolts within 15 seconds. Which, when compared to the reload speed of normal bows and crossbows, is a great improvement. For added effectiveness, some of the bolts were tipped with poison from the deadly aconite flower, also known as wolfsbane.

Now I have to hand it to the Chinese, their weapons have made four entries on my list. Third place is taken by the nest of bees, or flying fire. Basically it was a wooden container filled with tubes in the shape of a hexagon, which, when viewed from the front, gave the weapon the appearance of a large honeycomb. Inside each of the tubes was a rocket propelled arrow. The rockets launched the arrows with more power and range than that of a traditional bow. Up to 32 arrows could be launched from a nest at once. The Chinese would fire thousands of bees’ nests at once, killing plenty of enemies within seconds.

This Indian weapon gave its owner the claws of wolverine, minus the strength and cutting power of adamantium. The katar at first glance has a single blade, however when a trigger on the h-shaped handle was activated, the blade would split into three, one on the middle and one on each side. The three blades not only made the weapon more effective at stabbing and slashing, but they also intimidated and/or startled the opponent. The blade’s positioning on the handle also allowed it to easily block attacks. Its unusual design has yet another purpose – the triple blades could easily stab through all kinds of Asian armor with ease.

One look at this incredibly odd-looking device was more than enough to convince me that it deserved the number one place on this list. Yet another Chinese weapon, the zhua’s conspicuous iron “hand” at the end had sharp claw-like nails that would impale flesh, and then tear it off from the body. The sheer weight of the zhua was enough to kill the opponent, but the claws made it even deadlier. When wielded by a professional, it could be used to pull mounted soldiers off their horse. But the main use of the zhua was to pull off the shields of enemies, leaving them exposed to the clawed hand of iron.