Since the invention of the camera, hundreds of controversial pictures have been taken. This article will examine 10 images that have raised concern in the media and caused debate across the internet. The list is not attempting to display the top ten controversial photographs in history, but will examine a collection of pictures that have not been featured in similar articles. In any case, I would like to hear your opinion on the most controversial images in history.

The 1948 Tucker sedan is an advanced automobile that was developed by Preston Tucker and produced in 1948. According to records, only 51 Tucker sedans were made before the business folded. The vehicle’s design was innovative for the 1940s and was built for safety. The Tucker was the first car to feature seat belts, safety glass windshields, and the Cyclops, which was a headlight system that shifted directions to increase visibility for night driving. In 1949, the Tucker Corporation was ridiculed by the American media and experienced a consumer backlash. The company was shut down amidst a scandal of controversial accusations around stock fraud. In 2011, a 1948 Tucker sedan was featured on the show It’s Worth What? and received an estimated value of $1,200,000.

Justin Cole is a man that runs Benchmark Classics in Middleton, Wisconsin. He claims to own the only unfinished prototype of a Tucker convertible. The authenticity of the vehicle has been questioned by classic car collectors from all over the world. Legend holds that the convertible was a secret, off-the-books prototype known as “Project Vera,” developed by Preston Tucker and named after his wife. However, Alex Tremulis, who designed the Tucker sedan, has claimed that the convertible was not a factory project, official or unofficial. Justin Cole refers to his convertible as Tucker #57 and says the factory number of 57 is stamped on the body panels.

In 2010, Justin Cole attempted to sell the Tucker convertible at the Russo and Steele auction in Scottsdale. The bidding reached a price of $1.4 million, but didn’t meet the reserve price. The car was also listed on ebay in 2010, where bidding approached $900,000, but once again didn’t meet the reserve. The vehicle is still listed for sale on Benchmark’s website and has a large gallery of photographs. The car holds a clear Tucker design and clean convertible conversion. The position of the Tucker Automobile Club of America is that the vehicle was converted after the company went out of business.

Girls’ Generation is a nine-member South Korean pop girl group formed in 2007. They are currently the top selling Korean girl band in the world. In the summer of 2009, the group took part in a controversial photo shoot with a military theme. One of the pictures from the shoot was selected for the band’s mini-album cover Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie). Soon after the album’s release, controversy erupted over the cover. In the picture, a plane can be seen which many people felt was a direct replica of Japan’s A6M Zero fighter plane, which was used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in World War II. People also noticed that the military outfits, medals, and hats worn by the girls resemble that of the Third Reich.

In one example, the eagle emblem used on the girls’ hats greatly resembles the Nazi Party emblem. In response to the accusations, SM Entertainment stated: “We used military icons on the album cover, but it was interpreted and understood in a way we didn’t expect, so we are planning to delete it and put an icon of the South Korean supersonic jet T-50.” In the future, Girls’ Generation should be more careful about using images that were taken from Nazi and Kamikaze insignia. Regardless of the controversy, Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie) reached #1 less than 24 hours after it release.

Thomas Hoepker is a German born photographer and member of Magnum Photos. On September 11, 2001, Hoepker was in New York when the World Trade Center was attacked. Hoepker captured hundreds of photos of the destruction, but one stands out. The photograph shows a collection of Americans relaxing and enjoying a conversation while the Twin Towers burn in the background. Hoepker did not publish the image for five years because he was concerned with the message. In 2006, the picture caused controversy in the American media. The New York Times published an article claiming the picture showed America’s failure to learn from the tragic day, or to change and reform as a nation.

“The young people in Mr. Hoepker’s photo aren’t necessarily callous (insensitive). They’re just American.” This is a country that likes to move on, and fast. The people in the picture have responded to the media by saying that they were in “a profound state of shock and disbelief.” They have ridiculed Hoepker saying that he took the picture without permission and in a way that misrepresented their feelings. Whatever the case, the photo is established as one of the defining images of 9/11 and remains controversial in the eyes of many people.

At the end of World War II, the United States and Soviet Union captured a large collection of German secrets, including information on a German rocket program. The technology sparked the Space Race (1957-1975) between the United States and the Soviet Union. In each country, a select group of individuals were chosen as the first astronauts. In most cases, these people were kept secret from the public. A good example is the Russian born astronaut Grigori Nelyubov. Little is known about Nelyubov, but he was likely the third or fourth person to travel into space before his dismissal from the Soviet space program in April, 1963, for disorderly conduct. Following his dismissal, all information regarding Nelyubov’s life was stricken from the Soviet record.

Grigori Nelyubov’s image was removed from a collection of famous photographs, including the Sochi Six picture, which shows the top members of the original class of Soviet cosmonauts. This airbrushing has led to a large collection of conspiracy theories regarding lost cosmonauts and unreported space flight. In 1966, Nelyubov committed suicide. From 1961 to 1972, at least eight former Russian cosmonauts are known to have died. The Sochi Six picture was officially released in the 1970s and the deception was only discovered after Russian news managers lost track of which versions of the picture they had already published. The fakery has caused some to label the Soviet Union’s string of space triumphs over the United States in the 1950s and early 1960s as a series of falsifications. I have included the original Sochi Six photograph before Nelyubov was removed. He is the tallest man in the picture.

Chris Hondros was an American Pulitzer Prize-nominated war photographer. In 2005, he traveled to Iraq in order to cover the war. On January 18, 2005, Hondros was in Tal Afar when he witnessed a car that failed to stop at a U.S. checkpoint. U.S. Soldiers feared a suicide bomber and opened fire on the car killing both parents and injuring one of their five children. Hondros approached the scene and captured a picture of 5-year-old Samar Hassan splattered in her parent’s blood. After the photo was published, it quickly caused controversy and was spread across the world. Many feel the picture is the most iconic image of the Iraq War, similar to the naked Vietnamese girl screaming and running after a napalm attack. The Iraq War delivered few singular images, partly because it was too dangerous for photographers. The U.S. military also set strict rules for journalists.

In 2011, Samar Hassan looked at the picture for first time and was interviewed by the New York Times Middle East. About the incident she said that her family was in the car because her brother was sick and that they were returning from the hospital. In 2011, Samar was living on the outskirts of Mosul in a two-story house with four other families, mostly relatives. Chris Hondros was quoted about the once in a lifetime photograph: “Almost every soldier in Iraq has been involved in some sort of incident like that or another, I would say. Their attitude about it was grim, but it wasn’t the end of their world.” It was reported on April 20, 2011, that Chris Hondros and photojournalist Tim Hetherington were killed by a mortar attack in Misrata while covering the 2011 Libyan civil war.

Mary Ann Moorman was a witness to the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. She is best known for her photograph that shows JFK a fraction of a second after being shot in the head. During the event, Moorman was standing directly across from the grassy knoll, about 15 feet (5 m) from the presidential limousine. Her photograph was taken approximately one sixth of a second after the bullet’s impact. The image has caused controversy. Some claim to have identified as many as four different figures on the grassy knoll. With the most well known figure being a uniformed police officer named the “badge man.” Others claim to see Gordon Arnold or a man in a construction hard hat. People also point to the light color observed over the wall (left side), which looks like photo doctoring.

The story of Gordon Arnold is an interesting one. In 1978, Gordon claimed that before the assassination he was twice approached by a business-suited CIA or Secret Service agent who demanded that he move from behind the picket fence of the Dealey Plaza grassy knoll. Arnold claimed that he moved just south of the picket fence and filmed the assassination with a movie camera. During the event, a bullet passed extremely close to his left ear and in response Gordon hit the ground. He was then approached by an armed officer dressed in a Dallas police uniform. The man kicked Arnold while on the ground and demanded the movie film. Another man was armed with a rifle and dressed in a Dallas police uniform. He was wearing yellow lens tinted “shooter’s glasses” and stood close by crying, shaking, and waving his rifle around.

The Moorman picture has been digitally enhanced for television documentaries. In the photo, blood and brain fragments can be seen exploding forward, which contradicts the theory that the shot came from the front. Moorman’s original photograph was never confiscated by the FBI and in 2008 she sold it on ebay for $175,000. On the contrary, a second picture taken by Mary Moorman that shows the sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository moments before the assassination was lost. The picture was confiscated by the FBI and never published. It probably shows Lee Harvey Oswald or anyone who may have been shooting at the President’s car. Another interesting photograph was taken by Phillip Willis (number 5) seconds before the fatal head shot. Willis said he took the picture after being startled by a gunshot, possibly the first shot. In Willis’ photograph, the grassy knoll can be seen and some have identified the “black dog man.”

On the morning of July 7, 2005, four Islamist home-grown terrorists exploded a series of bombs in quick succession aboard London Underground trains. In all, 52 people were killed in the attacks. The bombers (all deceased) were identified as Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Germaine Lindsay, and Hasib Hussain. The group was recorded by CCTV cameras entering Luton station on 7/7. On September 1, 2005, it was reported that al-Qaeda officially claimed responsibility for the attacks. However, an official inquiry by the British government indicated that the tape claiming responsibility had been edited after July 7, and that the bombers did not have direct assistance from al-Qaeda.

The lack of facts surrounding the case and its unusual timeline has led to a collection of conspiracy theories. Some newspaper editorials in Iran have blamed the bombing on British or American authorities seeking to further justify the War on Terror, and have claimed that the plan involved the harassment of Muslims in Europe. There have also been theories proposed about the attackers, including the suggestion that they were patsies. One of the theories is centered on a picture that was taken at Luton station. After researching the photo, a large collection of people have called it fake.

Some of the problems with the picture include a number of inconsistencies with the railing in the back of the image. The railing appears to be moved over the man’s arm and its crossbars do not line up. The person featured in the right side of the picture has no clear face and a skinny left leg. The entire picture is developed with extremely poor quality and three of the terrorist’s faces are unidentifiable. The photo is the only image taken of the four bombers together on 7/7. Controversially, no other CCTV images, either still or moving have ever been released. In an interesting twist, the photo is timed at four seconds before 7.22 am, which would have given the men only three minutes to walk up the stairs at Luton, buy their tickets, and move to the platform.

Andres Serrano is an American photographer who has become notorious for using feces, corpses, and bodily fluids in his work. Serrano was raised in a strict Roman Catholic family and is half Honduran, half Afro-Cuban. In 1987, he created a photograph titled Piss Christ. The image depicts a small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist’s urine. The photograph was part of a series of pictures that show classical statuettes submerged in various fluids, including milk, blood, and urine. Serrano received $15,000 for the picture, which was provided by the United States sponsored National Endowment for the Arts. In 1989, the image was displayed for the first time and the event caused a massive scandal. People became outraged over the picture and it was alleged that the U.S. government funding of Piss Christ violated separation of church and state.

Andres Serrano received death threats over the controversy and lost public grants. He responded by saying that the picture was not intended to denounce religion, but alludes to a perceived commercializing or cheapening of Christian icons in contemporary culture. Supporters of the picture have argued that it is an issue of freedom of speech. On the contrary, others feel it is their duty to destroy the image if displayed in a museum. In 1997, a retrospective of Serrano’s work was featured at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. During the show, two teenagers attacked Piss Christ with a hammer. On April 17, 2011, a print of Piss Christ was vandalized “beyond repair” by Christian protesters while on display in Avignon, France.

This entry is not a specific photograph, but rather the overall depiction of Muhammad. On September 30, 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 editorial (political) cartoons that depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad in various situations. The headline of the cartoons read: “Muhammeds ansigt” (The face of Muhammad). The cartoons were drawn by 12 professional cartoonists in Denmark, most of who regularly worked for the newspaper. After the cartoons were published, Islamic protests erupted across the Muslim world with more than 100 reported deaths. The Danish embassy in Pakistan was bombed and embassies in Syria, Lebanon, and Iran were fire bombed. Muslims stormed European buildings and burned the Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, French, and German flags in Gaza City.

The newspaper announced that the cartoons were an attempt to contribute to the debate regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship. Further examples of the drawings were reprinted in newspapers in more than 50 countries, which further deepened the controversy. Critics of the cartoons have described them as racist and hurtful to the Muslim faith. Supporters claim the cartoons illustrate an important issue of terrorism and are a legitimate exercise of free speech. Many people in the Western world feel that Muslims were not targeted in a way different from other religions, since unflattering cartoons about Jesus and Gautama Buddha are often published.

The entire issue was covered in two separate episodes of South Park, which is notorious for depictions of Jesus. Apparently, Comedy Central has been hesitant to allow images of Muhammad to be shown on the network since the riots and threats generated from the controversial cartoons. After Muhammad was heavily featured in the South Park episode 200, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone received death threats from the Revolution Muslim organization. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has described the Muhammad cartoon controversy as Denmark’s worst international crisis since World War II.

The full image will not be included, only a cropped version. Garry Gross was an American fashion photographer who specialized in dog portraiture. In 1975, he took a collection of pictures that would become the most controversial in history. The photographs show a ten-year-old Brooke Shields nude. She is standing and sitting in a bathtub, wearing makeup, and covered in oil. The pictures were taken with the consent of her mother, Teri Shields. At the time, Garry Gross was working on a project titled The Woman in the Child, in which he wanted to reveal the femininity of prepubescent girls by comparing them to adult women. The series was first published in the magazine Little Women, and then in Sugar and Spice, which is a Playboy Press publication.

In 1981, Brooke Shields attempted to prevent further use of the photographs, but a U.S. Court ruled that she was bound by the terms of the contract and more surprisingly that the images did not breach child pornography laws. In 1992, American artist Richard Prince, who is famous for his reproduction work, purchased the rights to the pictures. He recreated the picture and called it “Spiritual America.” In 1999, Prince’s version sold for $151,000. Three years ago the print was removed from the Tate Modern gallery in London, England. In response Gary Gross said: “The photo has been infamous from the day I took it as I intended it to be.” He was disappointed by the removal, but not surprised by the Tate’s decision. In 2002, a similar controversy erupted in London over a picture taken by Swiss artist Annelies Strba.

The deadliest aviation accident in history occurred at 5:07pm on March 27th 1977, and came about as a result of a bomb explosion in Gran Canaria airport. Several planes were diverted to Tenerife North Airport, Los Rodeos, including KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736, both Boeing 747s. This unscheduled surge in air activity meant that many aircraft were forced to park on the taxiway, causing blockages and complicating matters even further. This situation could have been manageable, however a dense fog formed over the airport, greatly reducing visibility. The two above-mentioned aircraft taxied onto the only runway in order to position themselves for takeoff, the dense fog meant that neither aircraft nor the control tower were visible. The control tower gave a clearance to the KLM flight which specified the aircraft’s departure route and gave instructions of what to do after take-off, however it was not a specific clearance for actual take-off. The co-pilot’s reply was “We’re now at take-off,” to which the control tower replied “OK.”

It appears that the flight crew meant that they were actually beginning their take-off, while the controller took it to mean they were in take-off position, awaiting final clearance. He added, “Stand by for take-off, I will call you.” The Pan Am flight transmitted a simultaneous message stating that they were not clear of the runway but mutual interference meant the messages were not transmitted. As the KLM flight increased speed for takeoff, the two crews eventually saw one another and the Pan Am captain applied full power and attempted to veer sharply onto the fourth exit. The KLM captain attempted a steep climb, scraping the plane’s tail along the runway for 65 feet. It left the ground, but its underside struck the Pam Am plane’s upper fuselage, ripping it apart. The KLM plane stalled and came down some 500 feet further on, then slid a further 1000 feet. The collision left a total of 583 dead, this included all 248 onboard the KLM flight and 335 of the 396 passengers and crew on the Pan Am flight.

Fatalities – 583

Located in Liaoning China, the Benxihu iron and coal mine was not a nice place to work at the best of times. During the Second World War, Japanese forces invaded Liaoning and took control of the colliery, here they forced the miners to work in deplorable conditions: the laborers were regularly beaten, food was scarce and Typhoid and Cholera flourished.

On April 26th 1942 a build-up of gas caused an explosion in one of the shafts, resulting in mammoth flames bursting from the entrance. The Japanese guards quarantined the site, preventing friends and family from assisting by erecting electric fences around the perimeter. Over the next 10 days workers cleaned the shaft and carried corpses out to mass graves. Many of workers were unidentifiable from burns suffered during the explosion but most had died from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by the isolation of ventilation after the initial explosion. The Japanese kept very mum about the accident, initially dedicating few words and reporting the death toll at 34. Later reports, including one carried out by the Soviet Union, reported that the death toll was around 1,549, including 31 Japanese, one third of the total work force.

Fatalities – 1,549

The world’s largest man-made accidental explosion occurred on December 6th 1917 in ‘The Narrows’ of Halifax Harbour. As the Norwegian vessel Imo attempted to leave the channel it collided with the Mont-Blanc, a French Cargo vessel carrying 2,300 tons of wet and dry picric acid, 200 tons of TNT, 10 tons of gun cotton and 35 tons of benzoyl – a highly explosive mixture. The collision occurred at 8:44am, when both vessels made a series of ill judged manoeuvres, the sparks generated by the massive amounts of steal rubbing against one another ignited benzene on board the Mont-Blanc and started a fire. The 40 man crew of Mont Blanc, unable to fight the fire, abandoned ship. Hundreds gathered on the shores to witness the huge flaming vessel approach the shoreline, as the Mont-Blanc grounded, it ignited munitions on the pier. Within 20 minutes of the initial collision the Mont-Blanc exploded with 3 kilotons of force (1/5 of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima); the explosion created a fireball that rose roughly 2km into the air, spreading molten metal for miles around. An 18m tall tsunami battered the shoreline dragging onlookers into the water. Churches, houses, schools, factories, docks and ships were destroyed in the swath of the blast. Children who had stopped on their way to school, workmen lining the windows of factories, families in their homes, sailors in their ships – died instantly. Injuries were frightful, blindness from splintering glass added to the shock and bewilderment.

The shockwaves caused stoves, fires and lamps to fall within structures, spreading fire throughout the community, trapping those who had survived the explosion within their homes. 326 acres of land were utterly destroyed. Buildings were damaged up to 16km from the explosion and it was heard up to 316km away. Chunks of metal weighing well over a ton were thrown nearly 4km from the Mont-Blanc. 1,600 people were killed in the initial blast and Tsunami, 9000 were injured. 1,630 houses were destroyed and 12,000 were damaged. Final fatalities were officially recorded as 1,950. All but one of the crew of the Mont-Blanc survived the disaster.

Fatalities – 1,950

The worst fire disaster in history occurred in Santiago, Chile on December 8th 1863. The Church of the Company of Jesus was celebrating the Feast of Immaculate Conception when one of the many gas lamps adorning the scene ignited a veil draping from a wall. A helpful onlooker leapt into action and attempted to extinguish the fire by using another cloth, but instead spread the fire to the wooden roof. Devastatingly, the doors had been closed to allow the church to reach maximum capacity, as they opened inwards, and as the panicking worshipers pushed towards the exit, the doors could not be opened. As the panic increased, the people at the front of the mass were crushed to death and eventually a wall of bodies accumulated in front of the door, making it nigh on impossible to reach freedom. Three hours after the fire started, the roof collapsed, killing the remaining survivors. Between 2,000-3,000 people were killed, mostly women, entire families were wiped out and the damage to the bodies made most unidentifiable – meaning they had to be buried in mass graves. It took 10 days to remove all the bodies from the church. The results of this event can be seen today as Chilean fire brigades are composed of volunteers that were formed in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Fatalities – 2,000-3,000

When people think of ocean liners sinking they instantly think of the Titanic, however this was not the deadliest disaster of its kind – in fact it has the 5th largest amount of casualties. The deadliest ferry disaster in History occurred on December 20th 1987. The MV Dona Paz was en route to Manila in the Philippines; it was officially carrying its maximum passenger manifest of 1,583 passengers and 58 crew.

The Dona Paz collided with an oil tanker MT Vector, which was carrying 8,800 barrels of gasoline. Survivors say that the weather that night was clear but the sea was choppy. Upon collision the Vector caught fire and the flames spread rapidly throughout the ship. The lights onboard the Dona extinguished and as there were no life jackets on board the vessel (or they were locked away), the passengers were forced to jump overboard into shark-infested waters. It was eight hours before authorities were notified of the accident, and it took a further eight hours to organize a search and rescue operation. 26 survivors were retrieved from the waters including two crew of the Vector.

Although official manifests showed there were 1,583 passengers on board, anonymous officials’ testimonies back up passenger accounts that the vessel was carrying around 3000-4000 passengers and they were sleeping in corridors in cots with up to four people in each. This is more than likely due to the fact that only one of the 21 bodies recovered after the accident was listed on the manifest. 2000 were reported missing by friends and family and were believed to have been on the vessel, none of these were on the manifest.

The official Death toll was 1,749 but a more realistic estimate of deaths, and one that the World Almanac records as the deadliest peace time maritime disaster of the 20th century, records 4,341 fatalities.

Fatalities – 1,749-4,341

During the Second World War, 5,000 bombing runs were conducted by the Japanese Army and Navy on the Chinese capital of Chongqing, in all, 11,500 bombs were dropped. Unlike today’s bombing sorties that concentrate on tactical targets, the bombing runs on Chongqing were seen as a terror campaign, targeting residential areas, hospitals and schools. During a particular aggressive bombing run on June 5th 1941, thousands of residents fled into bomb shelters. The sortie lasted over 3 hours, and the large number of personnel squeezed into the shelters resulted in over 2,500 (some estimate 4,000) people suffocating whilst waiting for the bombings to end. A museum has now been set up near the entrance to the tunnel and in remembrance of the victims, an air raid siren is sounded every year on June 5th. I have included this as the tragedy was not as a direct result of the bombing run.

Fatalities – 2,500-4,000

London has been plagued with pollution since the industrial revolution; these events have been collectively referred to as ‘Pea Soupers’ due to the greenish color they embody. One of the most extreme pollution events occurred in 1952. It was known as ‘The Great Smog of ’52′ or ‘The Big Smoke’ and lasted for five days at the beginning of December. The cold winter meant that Londoners were forced to burn more coal that they would normally; this coal emitted a larger amount of Sulphur Dioxide in comparison to coal used today. These fumes combined with pollution from newly developed diesel car exhausts, and the effects of northwesterly winds bringing already polluted air from across Europe, created an effect reminiscent of the adaptation of the Steven King book ‘The Mist’ with smog filling the city and seeping into indoor areas causing problems with the human respiratory tract. The event lead to the clean air act of 1956 and is considered one of the worst pollution events in history. 4,000 people were killed in the weeks following the smog with a further 100,000 taken ill. Recent research puts fatalities closer to 12,000.

Fatalities – 4,000-12,000

Between the 2nd and 3rd of December 1984 the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal India leaked Methyl Isocyanate (MIC). This tragedy was a result of water entering a tank containing around 42 tons of MIC, this created a chemical reaction that raised temperatures to over 200°c, increasing the pressure, the tank vented the toxic gas which caught in the Northwesterly wind passing over Bhopal

Initial exposure to MIC results in coughing, vomiting, eye-irritation and a sense of suffocation. Locals awoke in a panic when experiencing these symptoms and began to run from the plant, the increase in breath only hastened their unfortunate fate. Acute symptoms include burning in the respiratory tract and eyes, breathlessness, stomach pain and death was caused by choking and circulatory collapse. 170,000 people were treated for symptoms of MIC poisoning, mass funerals and cremations were held with bodies disposed of in the Narmada River. Independent organizations record 8,000 dead in the immediate days following the incident, and a further 8,000 have died since (other estimates put it at around 30,000). 100,000 to 200,000 have suffered permanent illness due to the leak. To this day groundwater and soil in areas even 3km away from the factory contains almost 40 times more pesticides than Indian standards. The soil and water also contain toxic metals like lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium and chromium.

Fatalities-16,000-30,000

This is the earliest and one of the most catastrophic events on the list. It occurred in 27AD, in the ancient town of Fidenae located close to Rome, Italy. A local entrepreneur known as Atilius built a wooden amphitheater on the cheap to celebrate the end of Emperor Tiberius ban on Gladiatorial Games, the construction was rushed in order to meet deadlines. The amphitheater seated 50,000 and almost inevitably, during the opening ceremony it collapsed, killing 20,000 blood-thirsty spectators. This is by far the worst stadium disaster in history and resulted in the Roman Senate passing laws that only citizens with wealth exceeding 400,000 sesterces would be allowed to host gladiatorial games and that all amphitheaters were to be erected on sound foundation. Atilius was banished from the Empire.

Fatalities – 20,000

The Banqiao dam was completed in 1952. It was constructed to control flooding in the Huai River Basin in Henan province, China, and provided 18GW of power to the region. After initial construction, cracks appeared in the dam, and under the advice of Soviet engineers they were repaired and the dam was considered unbreakable and was known as ‘The Iron Dam.’

The dam was constructed to withstand 300mm of rainfall per day (a phenomenon occurring once every 1000 years), however in August 1975, resulting from Typhoon Nina, the province experienced 1060mm of rainfall in 24 hours (annually the area averages 800mm) . Nina had destroyed much of the communications network in the area and requests to open the dam did not reach the engineers based there. Smaller dams upstream began to break resulting in water at the Banqiao reaching 0.3m higher than the wave protection wall. 78,800 tons of water per second burst from Banqiao, the total water released from the failure of all 62 dams was 15.783 billion tons.

The surge of water resulted in waves 10km wide and 7m high traveling at 50kmph, destroying a stretch of land 55km long by 15km wide, and creating lakes up to 12,000 square kilometers. Evacuation orders could not be delivered in time due to communications failures.

Official estimates from China indicate approximately 26,000 people died as a result of the initial flood with up to 145,000 succumbing to subsequent epidemic and famine. 11,000,000 people were affected by the disaster. The film Dam999 was based loosely on the event.

Fatalities – 26,000-230,000

I have included this as a bonus, as although it was a result of a natural disaster, it is considered the worst rail disaster in history. It occurred during the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004, It was not as a result of a train crash, but none the less accounts for the highest number of fatalities of any rail disaster in the history of locomotive travel. As the tsunami hit the village of Peraliya in Sri Lanka, water surged around the halted train. The passengers climbed on top of the train to avoid drowning inside, others used the train as a shield to protect them against the incoming torrent of water. They did not know however that this first wave was small in comparison to the 18 foot wave that followed. It picked the train up and carried in at a remarkable speed for 115km. Those that sheltered behind the carriage were crushed against trees and houses, those inside drowned as they were unable to escape through the doors as the train was so heavily packed with people. It was several hours before people realized the train was missing and days before assistance arrived; many of the initial survivors died during the following day. The estimated death toll was at least 1,700 and probably in excess of 2,000, however only 900 bodies were officially recovered.

Fatalities – 1,700 – 2,000+

I have included this as a bonus as it is not on the same scale as the rest of the list but it is my local city, so I decided to briefly mention it. The main stand at the Bradford City Football Club, Valley Parade was made of wood and by 1985 had not been changed in 74 years. The stand was due to be replaced after the last game of the season against Lincoln City on 11th May 1985, this was because of health and safety concerns over the amount of litter that had fallen between the gaps in the stand and its potential as a fire hazard. Just before half time a fire broke out in the main stand and within minutes had engulfed the entire stand. A video can be seen which demonstrates how quickly fire can spread, I have been told that the man who is walking around on fire only died because of internal injuries that he received resulting from other fans trying to extinguish him. 56 people died and 265 were injured. It is suspected that a fan dropped a cigarette or match between the gaps in the stand igniting the litter beneath.

Fatalities – 56

So there was this young girl, right? She bites it, probably from getting jilted by her husband. Well, a husband, not necessarily hers. She’s pretty down in the dumps, now she hates men, and she either gets sick and dies or takes the ghosts’ favorite way out, suicide by hanging. Either way, she is dead, but it wouldn’t be a ghost story if she didn’t remain to haunt (pick one of the following: her old residence, her burial site, a favorite location of her and her lover, or the place where she died). You and your friends, naturally, go in search of the spirit. But, you are all guys, and the story says she hates men so she will only react to a girl. Better bring somebody’s girlfriend, fellas, and hope she doesn’t freak out too easily so your ghost hunt doesn’t get flushed down the toilet. Or, maybe a few states or provinces away, a similar spirit will only torment your male friends. Either way, it will be frustrating to prove this is legit.

What is creepier than an abandoned building? Who knows what could be in there? Creaky floors, holes in the walls, feral dogs, a vagrant or two or three. Anything I’m forgetting? Oh, duh, ghosts! Evil entities and sorrowful spirits flock to abandoned locations like it’s a pilgrimage to Mecca. Where else is better? You can lurk in peace, and those pesky kids with their cameras will wander around, looking over their shoulder at every tiny noise you make. They’ll blame it on the floor creaking or building settling at first, but soon you will get your credit where it’s due. Wait until their breathing is at its fastest to pop into one of their pictures, that is the best time to do it!

Speaking of photos, many haunted locations have the ability to distort your photos or black them out entirely. Many a camera malfunction has probably unnerved an unwitting photographer, but how do you explain when faces are blurred out or certain features get scratched out? Back in the heyday of film cameras, this could easily be explained as a bad exposure. After all, those darkrooms have a tendency to live up to their names. But at some point, it has to be a ghost or demon marking his next victim, right? I would say so. Look for this spooky element in the trailers and posters for the upcoming film Harry Potter and the Woman In Black.

In this item, we will not be discussing poltergeist activity (visualize plates flying all over the place while the doors and cabinets slam open and shut, and confused parents and an angst teenager watch from the other room). We will be discussing the behind-closed-crypt-doors rearranging of which the dead seem so fond. A prime example is a local legend from my neck of the woods, where a young girl hung herself from a tree in the back of a small cemetery, and has to constantly pick up and move her tombstone in the front to the spot where she died, in the back. A more internationally accessible example is the Chase Vault in Barbados, where coffins are continuously moved and rearranged in the vault. If the people burying the dead got the Feng Shui right the first time, the deceased souls wouldn’t have to do it themselves. That’s like asking somebody to come in for a shift after they retired, so inconsiderate.

Well, we went to our local haunted cemetery, snapped photos, recorded unanswered questions asked to thin air, and just all-round wasted our night walking around in the cold, looking for the apparently non-existent ghosts. We went home, put our heads in our hands, and determined there must not, in fact, be ghosts. After one member of our ghost hunting team couldn’t handle the declaration as truth and ran crying from the room, we reread the legend and came to a happy conclusion. Our lack of evidence was due to the fact that we didn’t search during a full moon! If we came back in a few weeks, we were bound to get something. In the meantime, we are going to embark on a road trip to the next state over to catch that hitchhiker that only appears in your backseat during new moons.

What a great legend! Let me tell you about it. So there was this girl, and she jumped off of a bridge… What was that? You asked what bridge? Well… I’m not sure, EXACTLY, but, okay, I have no idea where this ghost story happened. I Googled it, and it got hits in five states and three other countries. Well, I can tell you about this other legend, we will totally have to check it out… Well, the house it happened in got moved by the original owners to a knew location. Or maybe it was the one that got demolished? Actually, let’s just play Modern Warfare 3 instead.

Like a rockstar from his dressing room or a silver screen starlet from her trailer, some spirits only reluctantly make an appearance when they are relentlessly summoned. The biggest celebrity in this summoning spirit game is our favorite, Bloody Mary. Like any good ghoul, Miss Mary has plenty of variations around the world, but she isn’t the only ghost to come when called. Introducing Bloody Mary’s understudy in case she doesn’t show, the Midnight Man. His full ritual can easily be found online, but his rider contract is a little more extensive than Mary’s. It involves candles, blood, and perfect timing. After the Midnight Man enters your place of residence, and stalks you and your friends for 3 and a half hours. Make sure your candle stays lit, and if it blows out you better work quick to surround yourself with the mythical circle of salt, or prepare to face the horrific hallucinations of your worst fears incarnate. Tell us about your favorite spirits to summon and how well it worked out for you, in the comment section!

Let’s not drag this one. It’s high up on the list because of how common it is, but we can smell the cliche from a mile away. “Oh, dammit!” our featured apparition presumably says, “I bit the dust too early, I never got to spin a clay pot with my lover!” Now the poor lost soul has to haunt some place, looking for somebody sensitive enough to paranormal entities to pick up your signal, interpret it, and squash the urge to run away screaming long enough to help you accomplish your task.

That would be the American Civil War specifically I have no idea how this war differs from the rest of them in creating ghosts to eternally haunt former battlefields, but it just seems to be greatest war for ghosts. How many times have you been flipping through your television channels, and you stumble upon a documentary featuring “ghosts of Gettysburg” or some such nonsense. I have barely heard tales from either World War, The American Revolution, and forget wars from other countries. They get no international love, as far as I have heard. But the American Civil War? Forget it, as far as I’m concerned, every soldier from North and South who died in combat, died of infection, or passed on from dysentery, is still in this Earthly realm, and still hates their counterparts to the north or south.

Well, consider this the catch-all explanation for why you don’t get to see and hear the ghosts in your house. You aren’t a five year old, that’s all! Or a dog. Does you toddler point at the “bad man” in the corner? Does your dog start growling at the empty hallway? Cat hiss when the room temperature inexplicably drops a few degrees? Does your children wake you up at night claiming the strange lady is at the foot of her bed again? Many stories the world over, and reports of actual activity, claim that only children and animals can perceive the beings haunting our dwellings (or at least perceive them better). As paranormal studies is not yet a proven science, only straw-grasping and indecisive explanations have cropped up, all of them explaining the children’s and animals’ odd behavior. I hear these odd stories, personally, and remember two things: a lot of animals have heightened senses compared to humans (dogs have better hearing and smell, remember?), and I don’t know about you, but I had quite the active imagination as a kid. So I’ll leave this one up in the air.

RORSAT, meaning Radar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite, is the western term used to describe a series of Soviet Union satellites. These satellites were launched between 1967 and 1988 to monitor NATO and merchant vessels using radar. They were referred to as Cosmos satellites and carried type BES-5 nuclear reactors fueled by uranium-235. For the radar to work efficiently the satellites were placed into low Earth orbit. The plan was for the spacecraft to jettison the reactor into high Earth orbit when the satellites effective life had ended. However, there were several failures.

One such failure was Cosmos 1402. At the end of the satellites intended operational period, the reactor did not separate into high Earth orbit as planned. When the satellite reentered the atmosphere on February 7, 1983, the reactor was the last piece to come home to Earth. It landed somewhere in the South Atlantic Ocean.

The US equivalent to a Soviet Union satellite equipped with a nuclear reactor is the radioisotope thermoelectric generator or RTG. An RTG is a nuclear reactor type electrical generator. The heat released from the radioactive decay of a specified radioactive element in the device is converted into electricity and used for power. Thus RTGs can be considered as a type of battery and have been used as power sources in satellites, space probes and other unmanned remote facilities (such as a series of lighthouses built by the former Soviet Union inside the Arctic Circle). RTGs are used where solar cells are not practical and power usage is longer than what can be provided by fuel cells. A common application of RTGs is as power sources on spacecraft such as Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and Galileo. In addition, RTGs were used to power scientific experiments left on the Moon by the crews of Apollo 12 through 17 (except Apollo 13, as we will see).

RTGs may pose a risk of radioactive contamination: if the container holding the fuel leaks, the radioactive material may contaminate the environment. For spacecraft, the main concern is that if an accident were to occur during launch or a subsequent passage of a spacecraft close to Earth.

One such incident took place on April 21, 1964 when a Transit-5BN-3 navigation satellite failed to reach orbit when launched. The spacecraft burned up over Madagascar and the plutonium fuel in the RTG was injected into the atmosphere over the Southern Atlantic Ocean. Traces of the Plutonium were detected in the atmosphere as a result.

On April 25, 1973 the Soviet Union attempted to launch one of its RORSAT satellites into orbit. However, the launch failed and the on board nuclear reactor plunged into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan. Little else is known about this launch except the USA is reported to have detected radioactivity over the region through air sampling.

The second incident involving a US RTG happened on May 21, 1968 when a Nimbus B-1 weather satellite exploded when the launch vehicle had to be intentionally destroyed and the lift off aborted shortly after launch. This satellite was launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base. The remains of the satellite and the RTG plunged into the Pacific Ocean off California and five months later the RTG and its plutonium dioxide were recovered from the bottom of the Santa Barbara Channel. No radioactive material had been released.

Cosmos 367 was a Soviet RORSAT nuclear-powered satellite launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. On October 3, 1970, only 110 hours after launch, the satellite failed and had to be moved to a higher orbit. Little else is known about Cosmos 367. It now orbits the Earth at an altitude of 579 miles and circles the Earth at a speed of 4.4 miles per second. For a really cool real-time satellite tracking, look at where Cosmos 367 is here (those with low internet speeds be warned).

On December 12, 1987 the Soviet Union launched Cosmos 1900, another RORSAT nuclear-powered satellite. By May of 1988, communication had been lost with the satellite and the Soviets told the world it expected the satellite to renter the Earth’s orbit sometime in September or October of 1988. On or about September 30, 1988, just before the satellite reentered Earth’s atmosphere and burned up, the Soviets shot the reactor core out of the satellite, intended for high Earth orbit. However, the primary booster failed. Fortunately, the backup booster did move the reactor core closer to high Earth orbit, but 50 miles below its intended altitude. The reactor core is still in low Earth orbit and decreases in altitude with each passing year. Someday, it will come down to Earth, somewhere. The Cosmos 1900 reactor core now circles the Earth at an altitude of about 454 miles and speeds along at 16,753 mph. It takes just about 99 minutes to complete one full orbit. Go here if you would like to see its orbit, but for those with slow internet speed, be careful as this is a link to a website.

SNAP-10A was the first and so far only known launch of a U.S. nuclear reactor into space (although many radioisotope thermoelectric generators have also been launched). The Systems Nuclear Auxiliary Power Program (SNAP) reactor was developed under the SNAPSHOT program overseen by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

SNAP-10A was launched from Vandenberg AFB by an ATLAS Agena D rocket on April 3, 1965 into a low Earth orbit over the Polar Regions. On board was a nuclear electrical source (a nuclear reactor) capable of producing 500 watts of power for up to a year. After only 43 days, an on-board voltage regulator failed, causing the reactor core to be shut down. The reactor is now stuck in a 700-nautical-mile earth orbit where it will stay for an expected duration of 4,000 years.

Making matters worse, in November 1979 an event caused the vehicle to begin shedding pieces. Therefore, a collision has not been ruled out and radioactive debris may have been released.

One of the better known incidents involved the unplanned reentry into Earth’s atmosphere of the Cosmos 954 satellite on January 24, 1978. Partly, this was because, unlike the other reentries, the reactor and radioactivity reentered over land, not the ocean. Soon after Cosmos 954 was launched, it became apparent to US officials that the satellite had not achieved a stable orbit and in fact, the orbit was decaying – fast. Once it was known that this was a Cosmos satellite and therefore there was a nuclear reactor on board, the US went into high alert status, tracking the satellite and trying to calculate when and where it would reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and crash (the reactor itself was too large to completely burn up on reentry and was sure to hit the Earth). When the satellite finally came down it did so over sparsely populated Northwest Territories of Canada. The radioactive material was spread over 124,000 square kilometers (47,876 square miles), most of which was recovered by a special and secret US radioactive emergency response team. However, it is possible the reactor core itself is still buried deep below the Arctic permafrost and remains radioactive to this date. Had the satellite made one more orbit, it would have reentered somewhere over the populated East Coast of the USA.

Unknown to many Americans, the Soviet Union was attempting, in secret, to put unmanned rovers onto the moon at the same time the US and Neil Armstrong were landing and walking on the moon. The Lunokhod program was a series of Soviet robotic lunar rovers that were to land on the moon between 1969 and 1977. If not for an accident during the launch, the Soviets would have been on the moon months before the Americans landed. On February 19, 1969 the first Lunokhod rovers were launched. Within a few seconds, the rocket exploded and the rovers were destroyed. On board the rovers were the Cosmos-type nuclear reactors to be used for power. When the rocket exploded, radioactivity was spread over a large area of Russia.

On November 10, 1970 the Soviets were successful when the second Lunokhod vehicle landed on the moon and became the first remote-controlled robotic rover to ever land on another planet or moon. In 2010, the Lunar Reconnaissance orbiter took detailed images of the lunar surface and detected the tracks left behind by the Lunakhod vehicle. Only then, forty years after it touched down on the moon surface, were scientists finally able to determine the final location of the vehicle.

The heroic rescue of the astronauts of the failed moon mission Apollo 13 is well-known. On April 14, 1970 (1970 sure was a bad year for launching stuff into space), on the way to the moon, one of the oxygen tanks exploded, damaging the vehicle. The astronauts, James A. Lovell, John L. “Jack” Swigert, and Fred W. Haise were able to circle the moon on April 15 and return safely to Earth on April 17 thanks to their own heroic efforts and those of engineers and scientists back on Earth.

The return to Earth, however, was not intended to take place with the Lunar module still totting the SNAP 27 radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG). This was designed to be left behind on the moon surface to conduct ongoing scientific experiments. As the Lunar module never landed on the moon, the SNAP 27 and its radioactive RTG came back to Earth along with the Apollo 13 astronauts.

The lunar module burned up in Earth’s atmosphere on April 17, 1970. It was aimed in the direction of the Pacific Ocean near the Tonga Trench (a 5 mile deep ocean valley) to minimize the potential exposure to radioactivity. As it was designed to do, the RTG and its 3.9 kilograms of radioactive plutonium dioxide survived reentry and plunged into the Tonga Trench. There it will remain radioactive for the next 2,000 years. Subsequent water testing has shown the RTG is not leaking radioactivity into the ocean.

One unexpected benefit of the Apollo 13 mission was the survival, in an intact condition, of the RTG. The high reentry velocities the Apollo 13 RTG were exposed to demonstrate the design is sturdy and highly safe.

The common capitalist mantra that “anyone can be rich if they work hard enough” is a fallacy. There’s only so much room at the top. In order to make money first you have to take it off someone else. This can be done through selling things, taxation or any other means. But this means that the rich cannot exist without the poor. Any way you look at it, there’s never going to be equality under capitalism.

In a society where resources are not evenly distributed, there is always going to be the wealthy who have an excess of resources. While occasionally these resources are given to the poor, often this excess is wasted. Millions of dollars worth of food is wasted by those who have more than they need while there are many others who desperately need it.

Of course, if some have an excess of the resources in society, there are others who do not have enough. In Third World countries, many are starving because they cannot afford to feed themselves, while those in Western countries fatten themselves with an excess of food and waste the rest of it. There is enough food in the world to feed the entire world population.

Under a capitalist system, the profit motive is far greater than altruism. If people are worried about what’s in their own pocket, they will avoid helping their fellow human beings because they’re concentrating on looking after themselves. People feel the need to put themselves first because they think no-one will be there to help them if they lose all their money.

Often companies will cut corners in health and safety restrictions because it costs them less to pay off the families of those who die in industrial accidents. Often staff are not properly trained in certain areas or provisions have not been put in place to protect them from certain risks. This has often resulted in injuries and sometimes death.

While every individual has a single vote in a democracy, in a capitalist system, they have very little say in the actions of government. Greater influences on government than ideology or public opinion are the wealthy. Governments will listen to big business and banks because they fund their election campaigns. They will listen to big newspaper barons because they know that they can influence public opinion.

It shouldn’t be hard to convince people to not kill themselves however this is what companies are doing as they refuse to put in environmental measures because it will reduce their profit margins. It doesn’t matter to them that in the long term, we’ll all be dead, as long as in the short term they’ll have the most money.

Many of the wars fought in recent years have been over profit. In Iraq, the war was largely funded by oil barons and it was private firms who handled most of the security after the initial invasion. In Libya, western forces intervened when the civil war caused oil supplies to be cut off. They only sided with the rebels because they thought they were the most likely to win. In Iran, military intervention is being threatened over the blocking of trading routes to transport oil.

We wouldn’t stand for dictatorship in our governments then why do we stand for it in the workplace? CEOs get paid massive salaries and award themselves huge bonuses on top of them, while they pay their workers minimum wage. The bosses don’t do the work, they don’t produce the goods we consume, and they merely own the means of production. As for those who do? The workers don’t have any say in how it is controlled.

You cannot escape capitalism, it’s everywhere. On every billboard on every TV program, you have someone telling you to buy something. When this is done by governments in dictatorships we call it propaganda, when companies do it, it’s called advertising. They’re both forms of brainwashing.

The Great Blue Hole is a large sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It is located near the center of Lighthouse Reef, which is a small atoll 70 kilometers (43 mi) from Belize City. The hole is over 300 meters (984 ft) across and 124 meters (407 ft) deep. It was formed during several episodes of Quaternary glaciations that took place 153,000, 66,000, 60,000, and 15,000 years ago. The site was made famous by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who declared it as one of the top ten scuba diving areas in the world. In 1971, he brought his ship the Calypso to the hole to chart its depths.

In the aftermath of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, a large collection of photographs and videos surfaced on the Internet. One picture shows a panda hugging the leg of a man. Many tragic images of the tsunami do exist, but this is not one of them. The photo was published in January of 2006, by the English-language version of the Chinese news source People’s Daily Online, as part of an article that describes a giant panda couple going to Taiwan as a goodwill gift. The picture shows a giant panda holding the leg of its feeder at the Chinese Panda Protection Center in Wolong, southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

In North America, grizzly bears are found only in Alaska, western Canada, Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming, extending as far south as Yellowstone and the Grand Teton National Park. In 2005, a man named Charles Lindsay was at the Yellowstone Club golf course in Big Sky, Montana, when he captured a picture of a grizzly bear on the 9th green. The bear jumped over a fence and scared a group of golfers. Lindsay was at the course in hopes of getting a picture of a cougar or bear. The photo was used in a book titled Lost Ball: Great Holes, Tough Shots, and Bad Lies, and went viral in 2005.

Zhenli Ye Gon is a Mexican businessman of Chinese origin who has been accused of trafficking pseudoephedrine, or ephedrine precursor chemicals, into Mexico from Asia. He is a legal representative of the Unimed Pharm Chem México Corporation. From 2002-2004, the company was authorized by the Mexican government to import thousands of metric tons of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products into Mexico, as a part of its vast importation business. However, in July 2007, the U.S. government filed an indictment against Zhenli Ye Gon, and accused him of a conspiracy to aid and abet the importation of methamphetamine into the United States. Two years later, the U.S. case was dismissed.

In March 2007, the Mexican government entered Mr. Ye Gon’s home in Lomas de Chapultepec, Mexico City, and seized hundreds of millions of dollars in assets. In all, the government seized $207 million U.S. dollars, 18 million Mexican pesos, 200,000 euros, 113,000 Hong Kong dollars, 11 centenarios (Mexican gold bullion coins made of 1.20565 oz t (37.5 g) of pure gold), and a large amount of jewels of unknown value. Also confiscated were two Mexican-style dwellings of approximately 20 million pesos, 1 lab, and 7 vehicles. A poll taken by the daily newspaper, Reforma, found that most Mexicans either believe Ye Gon’s story that he was framed by government officials or neither side of the issue. Bumper stickers that read “I believe the Chinaman” are for sale. In 2007, an image of the seized money quickly went viral.

In 1957, an unusual photograph was taken by a man identified only as B.C. According to the back story, B.C. and his fiancée were riding their Harley Davidson through the southern Sierra Nevadas near modern day Lake Isabella, California, when they decided to take some pictures. The couple didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary at the time. However, when the color slides were later developed, one of the pictures had a bizarre light on it. B.C.’s first reaction was to accuse Kodak film lab of playing a trick on him, but they denied any alteration. The slide was then taken to the Los Angeles office of Time Life Magazine and, according to their tests, the picture was genuine and the light was not a lens flare, an acid splash, or a double exposure.

The heaviest recorded gray wolf in North America was killed on 70 Mile River in east-central Alaska on July 12, 1939, and weighed 79.4 kilograms (175 lb). Back in 1995, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service introduced 35 Canadian gray wolves into central Idaho and the Yellowstone area of Wyoming. Since that time the animals have multiplied and are moving in huge packs. It has been estimated that there are well over 2000 gray wolves in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. Since 2009, a large collection of images have appeared online that document giant wolves. The selected picture shows an approximately 180-pound male Canadian gray wolf that was shot near central Idaho. In the United States you can hunt wolves in Alaska, Montana and Idaho.

Occupy UC Davis is a series of demonstrations at the University of California, Davis, that gained international attention on November 18, 2011, after a video and pictures of University police officers pepper-spraying a group of students went viral. During the incident, police arrived at the scene wearing riot gear and began removing tents and arresting people. A group of demonstrators staged a sit-in on the walkway in the quad, linking their arms together and refusing to move.

In response to the activity, two officers began spraying pepper spray directly in the faces of the non-violent, sitting students. Bystanders recorded the incident with their cell phone cameras, while members of the crowd chanted “Shame on you” and “Let them go” at the police officers. According to university officials, the police felt like they were surrounded by the demonstrators. The New York Times has indicated that there are multiple videos that show a peaceful demonstration and unlawful use of force.

On December 26, 2004, a massive undersea megathrust earthquake occurred off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake triggered a series of devastating tsunamis, killing over 230,000 people in fourteen countries. It also devastated the animal populations of the area. During the event, a baby hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen, was separated from his family and swept down the Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean. He was then swept back to land when the tsunami hit the Kenyan coast.

While in the water, Owen was rescued by wildlife rangers and taken to Haller Park, which is a wildlife sanctuary in the coastal city of Mombassa, Kenya. As soon as he was placed in his enclosure, the young hippopotamus ran over to greet a giant tortoise named Mzee. Mzee is estimated to be 100-130 years old. Within days of their meeting, the pair had forged a friendship, eating and sleeping together. Owen has since been seen licking the tortoise, who he regards as his new mother.

Adult dolphins range in length from 2 to 4 meters (6.6 to 13.2 ft), and in weight between 150 and 650 kilograms (330 and 1,400 lb). Adult great white sharks on average are 4 to 5.2 m (13-17.1 ft) long and have a mass of 680-1,100 kilograms (1,500-2,400 lb). In April of 2003, photographer Kurt Jones captured a picture at Surfrider Beach in Malibu, California, that shows a surfer coming upon a dolphin. The photo went viral with a description that the creature was a great white shark. This of course is false. However, it is a great picture, with perfect timing, color, and camera angle.

This beautiful overhead image shows the shadows of a group of camels as they travel across the desert. If you look closely you will see that the black color is the camel’s shadows. The hilly desert terrain, along with the sun and camera angle creates an illusion in the photo. The picture was considered one of the best of 2005 and was taken by George Steinmetz, whose work has been featured on the cover of National Geographic. Steinmetz is best known for science photography. In order to achieve his vision, George travels the world to remote deserts, obscure cultures, and new developments to capture one-of-a-kind photographs.

Hook Island is one of the Whitsunday Islands off the coast of the Australian state of Queensland. The island is almost completely uninhabited, and quite rugged. In the early 1960s, a man named Robert Le Serrec captured an image of a huge, tadpole-like creature near Hook Island. The picture was first published in March 1965. A detailed account of the case was written up by Heuvelmans (1968). It is claimed that Serrec and his family witnessed the creature on the lagoon floor after becoming wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef. There is no doubt that the image is real, but many people feel the event was hoaxed by Robert Le Serrec. It has been suggested that he used a weighted down plastic sheeting to create the illusion of a large sea snake.

Reynaldo Dagsa was a Filipino politician. He served as councilman for Barangay 35 in Maypajo, Caloocan, until his assassination on January 1, 2011. Dagsa’s death achieved notoriety due to the fact that he was in the process of taking a New Year’s Day family photo on Tuna Street when he was killed. The picture inadvertently captured the faces of both his killer and a lookout for the killer. The shooter was quickly identified as a convicted robber who was out on parole, named Michael Gonzales. The lookout was a man named Rommel Oliva. Gonzales pointed the gun directly at Dagsa seconds before the picture was taken. Dagsa was rushed to Martinez Hospital but was pronounced dead from a .45-caliber gunshot wound to the head. The image was given to Caloocan city police and the two suspects were arrested in connection with the murder.

The Solway Firth Spaceman refers to a photograph taken by Jim Templeton in 1964, at Burgh Marsh, situated near Burgh by Sands and overlooking the Solway Firth in Cumbria, England. Templeton claims the picture shows a background figure wearing a space suit and insists that he did not see anyone present when the photograph was taken. The image has attracted interest from ufologists and has become a source of international fascination. Templeton insists that he did not see the figure until after his photographs were developed, and analysts at Kodak confirmed that the picture was genuine.

In the last couple years, a collection of photographs showing white moose have gone viral over the Internet. The first case took place in 2007, when an unknown photographer captured two albino moose along a roadside in eastern Canada. It is not clear exactly where the pictures were taken, but it appears to be in Ontario, Newfoundland or New Brunswick. In 2009, a second set of pictures showing a single white moose appeared online under the heading “Beautiful Snow Moose.” The pictures are genuine, but the animals are probably not true albinos but rather white-haired moose. A moose can be born with an unusual genetic variation of white hair. It has been estimated that 1 in 100,000 moose have white hair.

The Golden Eagle is one of the best known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. They have been known to attack and kill foxes, wild and domestic cats, mountain goats, ibex, young deer and even fully grown roe deer. The Eurasian subspecies is used to hunt and kill wolves in many native communities. This photo was taken by Finnish photographer Pekka Komi in February of 2006. It was not captured “by a hunter in Montana” as the original mass email claimed, but rather by Komi, in South Finland. The full series of pictures show that the fox came across the eagle while feeding and a scuffle ensued. The eagle then grabbed the fox. After the picture was taken, the fox was able to break free and run away.

In September of 2011, a series of images surfaced on the Internet that shows a massive crocodile that was captured in the Philippines. The creature is one of the largest crocodile ever recorded and measures 21 feet (6.4m) long. It weighs one ton and was hunted over a three-week span by a massive 100 man team. The crocodile was captured because it was thought to have been responsible for the death of a fisherman. The creature lived in a river system in Agusan, which is a poverty-stricken region 500 miles south east of Manila.

The reptile was a constant worry for villagers. Nobody was brave enough to capture it until the creature was viewed as a threat to humans. In order to get the crocodile alive, the villagers set four net traps made of steel cables. After it was captured, the crocodile was moved by over 100 people to land. Despite the suspected death of the fisherman, the reptile is destined for fame. It is expected to be the star attraction at a new eco-tourism park that is being set up in Agusan. In 2011, a picture of the Mayor of Agusan del Sur Province with the crocodile went viral.

The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF) is an image of a small region of space in the constellation Fornax. The picture was composited from data taken from the Hubble Space Telescope, in 2003 and 2004. It is the deepest image of the universe ever taken. HUDF was captured in a section of the sky with a low density of bright stars, which allowed for better viewing of dimmer, more distant objects. It has been estimated that the HUDF photograph shows 10,000 galaxies. This high-resolution image includes galaxies of various ages, sizes, shapes and colors.

Eltanin Antenna is the name given to an unusual object photographed on the sea floor by the Antarctic oceanographic research ship USNS Eltanin in 1964. The picture was taken while the vessel was west of Cape Horn. After analysis it was determined that the object is two-to-three-feet high and has six main crossbars spaced evenly up its stem. Each set of crossbars has a small ball at the end of each arm. The antenna-like structure is located in an upright position at a depth of 12,808 feet (3,904 meters). The discovery has caused proponents of fringe and UFO-related theories to suggest it might be an extraterrestrial artifact.

One of these people is Bruce Cathie, who has devised a Planetary Grid System around the object. His work is in the same vein of research as Einstein’s “unified field theory,” where gravity, time and space, and their relation therein can all be expressed in one equation. His central thesis is that the laws of mathematics describe a grid-like pattern on the earth that powers flying saucers and controls the dates and places where nuclear bombs can function. Cathie claims that nuclear weapons can only be detonated at two times during the year when the sun is in the correct position. Since the discovery of the Eltanin Antenna a collection of articles have been printed that suggest the picture shows Cladorhiza concrescens, which is an unusual carnivorous sponge.

On September 21, 1979, The Clash performed at The Palladium in New York City during their Clash Take the Fifth U.S. tour. During the concert, a woman named Pennie Smith captured a famous photograph of Paul Simonon smashing his bass guitar against the stage. The image was used as the cover of the 1979 Clash album, London Calling. It was later voted the best rock and roll photograph of all time by Q (magazine). Originally Smith did not want the picture to be used because she felt it was not a technically good shot because it is slightly out of focus (as she was backing away from Paul to avoid getting hit).

Ameranthropoides loysi (De Loys’ Ape) is allegedly a large primate encountered by François De Loys during his 1917-1920 expedition in search of petroleum, in an area along the border between Colombia and Venezuela, primarily near Lake Maracaibo. The expedition was unsuccessful, and furthermore, it suffered greatly due to disease and skirmishes with natives. Of the 20 members of the group, only four survived. According to de Loys’ 1920 report, while the group was camped near the Tarra River, two large creatures approached them. Initially, the men thought the animals were bears, but then they noticed their bizarre appearance. The creatures, one male and one female, seemed angry and howled at the expedition, they defecated into their hands and flung it at the men.

Fearing for their safety, the expedition shot and killed the male. The female then fled into the woods. De Loys and his companions recognized that they had encountered something unusual. In some ways the animal resembled a spider monkey, but it was much larger: 1.57 meters (5.1 feet) tall. De Loys also counted 32 teeth (most New World monkeys have 36 teeth), and noted that the creature had no tail. The men posed the animal by seating it on a crate and propping a stick under its chin. After taking a single photograph, de Loys reported that they skinned the creature and intended to keep its hide and skull. However, both items were later abandoned by the troubled expedition. Apart from the testimony of the eyewitnesses, the only evidence of the animal is one photograph.

Controversy over the authenticity of the creature continues, with critics contending that it is a hoax and a posed spider monkey carcass. Others have argued that the men could have encountered an unknown species. The crate the creature was posed on was similar to ones commonly used for transporting gasoline, which measured just less than 18 inches (45.7 cm) tall. Assuming this crate was the common type. Its size would appear to support de Loys’ measurement of the creature. Researcher Michael Shoemaker argues that the animal has some pronounced differences from a monkey in its chest, hands, face, underbite, and most importantly it has a much higher forehead than any other known ape.

In 2007, a series of photographs surfaced on the Internet that shows a bizarre aircraft hovering in different areas of California. According to various accounts, the object was almost completely silent and moved very smoothly. It was witnessed moving slowly until it took off in the blink of an eye. In April, May and June of 2007, the object was photographed in Lake Tahoe, Capitola, and Big Basin, California. Each account is strange, but the pictures are yet to be authenticated by any type of authority and could be fabricated.

The death rattle is a common term used in the hospital to describe the chilling sound made by an individual very near death. It occurs after loss of the cough reflex and loss of the ability to swallow. This causes an excess accumulation of saliva in the throat and lungs. Although it rarely causes pain to the patient, family members often find the sound unsettling and disturbing. Anyone who has ever heard the unsettling death rattle will never forget the way it sounded. Suctioning, anti-pain and anti-anxiety medications are normally administered to alleviate the patient’s discomfort, and to allow the unavoidable dying process to proceed. [Image: Lord Byron on his Death-bed; Joseph Denis Odevaere]

This is a very abnormal breathing pattern characterized by very rapid breathing and then periods of no breathing (apnea). In short terms, the heart is weak and overworked and this makes the body want to hyperventilate (breathe abnormally fast) and, subsequently, there is no more energy to breathe for a period of time (apnea). This means the organs are getting less blood and, thus, less oxygen. Without oxygen, the cells in the organs begin to die, then the organs die and finally the individual dies. Although it can also occur in people with heart failure, or other respiratory disorder, it is usually present at a time of impending death. [Image: By the Deathbed; Edvard Munch]

Upon death, every muscle in the human body will cease to receive energy in the form of ATP. As a result, the bowels will relax and a bowel movement can occur. This is especially true in individuals who have eaten a meal in the period shortly before their time of death. Another factor contributing to post mortem defecation is how quickly an individual’s body normally digests food. It is found more often in the unexpected deaths of, otherwise, healthy individuals. Patients in hospice centers may not have an appetite for several days before death and, thus, will probably not defecate upon their death beds (no pun intended). [Image: Young woman on her death bed; Anonymous, Flemish School]

Everyone has either heard of rigor mortis, or has found a dead pet with rigor mortis. The most well-known post-mortem occurrence is rigor mortis, or “stiffness of death.” After death, the body is unable to break the bond that causes a contraction – causing a perpetual state of contraction. It works in a head-to-toe fashion. In most cases, rigor mortis begins within 1-3 hours after death, and it begins to pass after 24 hours. Even the eyelids get rigor mortis, so if they are not closed shut after death, eye caps (a big round lens with spiky protrusions) are used to get them open. Since it affects all the muscles, it can make the heart appear larger than normal, cause semen to be released post mortem, and can cause a goose bump appearance on the corpse. [Image: At the death bed; Samal Joensen Mikines]

Livor mortis is the purple-red coloration that appears when blood sinks to the dependent portions of the body. It does not occur, however, in areas of the body touching the ground, or that are receiving pressure because the capillaries are compressed – this is similar to pressing your finger on your arm for a couple of seconds and observing your fingerprint in white for about three seconds. This concept helps coroners determine the position of death. Its presence or absence can also help coroners to determine an approximate time of death. It generally begins 1-2 hours after death and becomes permanent or “fixed” within 6-12 hours. [Image: Ria Munk on her Deathbed; Gustav Klimt]

Also known as the “death chill;” it is the reduction in body temperature that occurs following death. Cooling takes place only if the ambient temperature is cooler than the body temperature at the time of death. The rate of cooling varies: body location (shade versus sun), clothing and the temperature of the room they die in. A cold bathroom floor would cause much quicker cooling than would be found in someone who dies outside in 95 degree weather. Obese people lose heat slower than infants, who cool rather quickly. If the time of death is within 24 hours, then this is a helpful tool. Otherwise, it takes the body about 24 hours to completely cool, or become the same temperature as its environment. [Image: Death of Pierrot; Aubrey Beardsley]

Tache noire, literally meaning “black spot,” is a dark, reddish brown strip that will form horizontally across the eye ball. During life the eye balls are kept moist by blinking, but sometimes they are no longer protected upon death. Therefore, tache noire will occur in individuals whose eyelids are not closed post mortem. Similarly, other mucous membranes like the tongue will darken after prolonged air exposure to the normally moist tissue. If the individual drowned, or the body was found in water, the tache noire would not be present. The eye balls have to be exposed to air for it to occur. [Image: The Death Bed; Kathleen Walne]

This is a putrid, reddish-brown fluid with a very foul smell that can emerge from the oral and nasal passages. It is easily mistaken as a brain injury, assault or just simple blood. It emerges as a result of the gases forming throughout the body. When gas formation occurs in the stomach and intestines, the abdomen can become tense and distended. Subsequently, the increase in abdominal pressure causes a purge of foul, blood-tinged fluid from the mouth, vagina and nose. A similar feces-mixed fluid will also emerge from the rectum. Purge fluid can be useful in determining the time of death. If an individual dies in a hotter climate, like Texas or Mexico, the purge fluid can be seen in less than 24 hours. [Image: Puppet on his Death Bed]

Degloving is the actual removal of the body’s skin post mortem. Most notably, the fingers and nails detach with sheets of skin thick enough to form “gloves” or “socks” as some people call them. It occurs as a result of the gaseous swelling of the neck, trunk and limbs, that become so swollen that one can mistake it for gross obesity. When the putrid gases are under a substantial amount of pressure, they flee from the body and the entire mass of decaying soft tissues disintegrates. The word “degloving” is an appropriate term because you can actually remove the skin of the hands like you would remove a glove from your own hand. Though, interestingly enough, the underlying skin can still provide a fingerprint for the examiners. [Image: Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill; Pieter Claesz]

Maceration means “to soften by soaking” in Latin. It refers to infants that die in utero, between the sixth and the ninth month of pregnancy. Their decomposition is slightly different due to prolonged exposure or “soaking” in the amniotic fluid. They resemble a corpse soaked in water. The infant’s skin will look like scalding or “boiling burns” due to their skin slipping off the body. Serosanguineous fluid-filled blebs form on the infant, and the bones are very soft and flexible. If the child is kept in utero for several days, the skull collapses and the brain will begin liquefying. If the infant is removed from the uterus within 24 hours after they die, and air enters their body, putrefaction occurs instead of maceration. [Image: Danse Macabre; Bernt Notke]

I am fairly certain that this will be the most well-known law on this list, for it has received much controversy. Put into effect in 1987, the law hoped to slow and even decrease China’s vast population of more than 1.3 billion. The law places a heavy tax on couples who choose to have more than one child. Debate rages on the ethnics of the law, supporters stating that China has taken a great step in targeting the overpopulation issue in, not only its own country, but in the world. Detractors, however, believe that restricting couples ability to raise a family of less than what they would like is morally wrong, and that abortion has increased because of parents wanting to have male offspring. Numerous groups have fought for its repeal, and only time will tell what the future brings.

This law was first passed on September 3, 2002, and at first only illustrated the banning of video games in Internet Cafes as a way to combat illegal gambling, but as of December 8, 2003, it has been “revised” to include the banning of all electronic games. The reason was that lawmakers concluded that it would be too difficult to distinguish illicit gambling games from other harmless games, like online chess. I couldn’t imagine this law being implemented in my home of the United States, in which teenagers are infected with the “first-person shooter epidemic,” in which franchises like Halo and Call of Duty have sold millions of copies. However, other people have formed groups like the Mothers Against Video Game Addiction and Violence (MAVAV), which aim to have electronic games banned in countries, like the United States, believing that the increased violence in modern games increases instability and crime among young kids and adolescents.

Yes, the great French general and emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, responsible for conquering most of Europe during the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), before finally being bested at Waterloo by the Duke of Wellington. The French had the utmost respect for him, and it is thought that George Orwell’s famous short story, Animal Farm, in which the pig representing Stalin was named Napoleon, launched the laws publication. Even in France, the pig is often referred to as “Caesar” rather than “Napoleon” in the book, but this is more due to Napoleon being represented as Stalin rather than being represented as a pig. Today, however, many people consider the law a joke and hardly anyone respects it, let alone know it exists.

Hmmm, if attacked by a thug, would you rather be assaulted with a knife or a pillow? As for myself, I would choose a pillow, yet in Germany they seem to think otherwise, in which pillows are labeled “passive weapons.” Perhaps if filled with rocks or used for suffocation maybe? In the meantime, however, I prefer to choose a gun as self-defense rather than a fluffy sack.

Ah yes, the nation of Israel, formed shortly after WWII, in 1948, as a place where Jews could reside without being persecuted. The country is internationally famous as being tough and resilient, fighting near constant war with its neighbors for nearly its entire existence. It is centered around key issues such as the rights of the Palestinians, and is the source of much controversy. Well, back to the law, a rabbi is legally allowed to, and often does, prohibit church-goers from picking their noses during the Sabbath. This law exists, not so much because of it being disgusting (although that is obviously a contributing factor), but also in that it is believed that the potential bleeding caused by the loss of nasal hair may result in violation of the religious code of sanctity. Thus, the law is only directed to believers of the Jewish faith, exempting ordinary citizens.

Swaziland is listed as one of the world’s absolute poorest and most poverty stricken countries, in which the average lifespan is between 30-35 years old. The people are suppressed by corrupt governmental control and a tyrannical and power hungry “king” (dictator), the current one being King Mswati III, who has passed a number of bizarre laws in an attempt to reestablish “traditional values” (aka patriarchic society), in which girls are unequal and considered inferior to their male counterparts. Thus, women are forbidden to wear clothing resembling menswear, and if one is caught in public displaying pants, they are subject to having them forcibly ripped off of them by soldiers, and humiliated.

That’s right, animals are prohibited from publicly mating with each other within 1,500 feet of any tavern, school or church. I selected a strange law from California because it happens to be the state I live in. What I wonder is how this law is enforced, and why this would be a concern with our citizens or local school children. I have never yet had the sudden urge to view animals mating during church, and I have yet to see any kind of “guards” or “regulators” who would be responsible for keeping animal couples from engaging within 1,500 feet of a school. As a resident of California, I can say that this law is, overall, just ridiculous and ignored by the people.

This law is very interesting in that it is so absurdly specific. It states that Cars whose license plates end with a 1 or 2 are not allowed on the roads on Monday, 3 or 4 on Tuesday, 5 or 6 on Wednesday, 7 or 8 on Thursday, and 9 or 0 on Friday. I can’t possibly understand what would be the goal behind the makings of this law, and how it would be implemented and enforced. Its logic has to do with some kind of identification and status procedure, but the law is so subtle and irrelevant it was difficult to do in-depth research on.

This law isn’t so much “absurdly ridiculous” in the sense of others on this list, but it is surely considered very strange by most readers (especially American) and truly depicts the intense respect and honor Japanese people give to their family. This law illustrates that an elder brother, by law and honor, can formally ask for his younger brother’s girlfriend’s hand in marriage, and both must agree to it. Surprisingly, there are many laws similar to this in other Asian countries and displays how the Asian people still have not let go of the thousand-year tradition of respecting your elders. We Americans still do as well, we’re just not as serious about it.

Great Britain is famous throughout Europe for its number of ridiculous laws and taxes, dating back hundreds of years. Over 2,000 laws have been repealed since its long history. Justice Secretary Jack Straw has been on a crusade to get rid of all of Britain’s most absurd laws, and one of his top priorities was this one, in which it was illegal to die in Parliament. This law, which as of now is no longer in affect (wonder why) was internationally criticized and laughed at for being pointless, as there could obviously be no punishment, and if a government official were to abruptly collapse from a heart attack far from the exit and need urgent help, the paramedics would first move him outside before operating on him? In case he died in the building? God Save the Queen, it is no longer in affect now.

Josef Stalin, the ruthless dictator of the Soviet Union during WWII, and the one whose forces captured Berlin and ended the war with the Nazis. He is credited with hugely industrializing Russia and turning it in to a gargantuan superpower, but in the process he committed genocide against millions of people to enforce his rule, and even his closest subordinates were not safe. He is often regarded as the largest mass murderer in human history, with estimations ranging from 20-60 million people. Yet Russia, like Lenin, still honors their former leader. Thus, some areas of the country have laws requiring all boys in the area to have the middle name of “Stalin.” At least Germany doesn’t nickname their boys “Hitler.”

“Yes operator, put me through to Tokyo. Yes, I’ll accept the charges.” These words are seldom spoken anymore in the age of the internet; communication is very much a free activity with such social utilities as AIM, Facebook, email (although it’s been around for ages), and most notably Skype. Skype allows users to call each other for free through the service (which is free to sign up for) and even allows video calling a la every movie set in the not-too-distant future. Hell, even CNN uses Skype to talk to on-location journalists embedded in areas of turmoil. That and their frequent uses of cell phone camera-captured footage begs the question, what’s up with all the cost-cutting maneuvers.

Hackers and gamers have been largely one-in-the-same since the first Doom came out. It’s a matter of being so in cahoots with a cyber-world that it eventually starts whispering its forbidden secrets. Accordingly, games have found their way to being pirated just as movies before them (only more “cut and paste” and disc-burning and less “bring a video camera into a movie theater” goes into software piracy). Sharing websites such as Napster and Kazaa, before the ever-effective torrents we have today, leaked all sorts of video games people just didn’t want to pay for. To adapt, smart industries like Sony blacked out the bottom of their Playstation discs; and this is precisely why the Dreamcast no longer exists and Sega hangs on by a thread.

Sure boot-legging allowed movies to be viewed sans an admission ticket, in “shake-o-vision” more often than not, but DVD ripping is really what’s hurting the industry (namely big renters like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video who’ve largely crumbled in physical storefront form). The theater experience is still enough of a draw for outrageous ticket prices however, and the implementation of 3D gives viewers an even bigger incentive to shell it out.

Hardly legal 3rd-party streaming sites (usually via Megavideo) make virtually any television show episode viewable and commercial-free (that is without needing to pay the cable bill or subscribe to HBO or Showtime). Accordingly, television shows which rely on such pesky nuisances to pay their overhead can’t afford to court television shows that don’t pull in viable ratings. They’ve been forced, like most every other industry, to adapt to the internet and find ways to keep the dollars they lose to impatient viewers. Steaming websites like Hulu do the industry a solid by inserting commercials into the videos they stream, while still clipping off the price tag. Cable providers, themselves, even allow cable subscribers to watch programming online, another incentive to carry the service in-home. Nonetheless, there’s always a way around every friendly anti-theft measure.

No longer do naughty boys keep a stack of dirty magazines in their sock drawer, and no more do responsible adults input their credit card info in to subscribe to niche novelty sites to satisfy their need to self-please. Full length, albeit budget-less (though sometimes plot-driven), adult films are widely available for free, and are one Google search away from access. Better than anyone, they’ve adapted to the ad-orientation (being a friend of all orientations) of the internet’s green side. And being a rampant commodity, there’s no shortage of impulsive clicking on each of the 18,000 ads that show up in any given site. That’s not to mention the ol’ industry-favorite pop-up ad.

Finding a date can be as easy as looking up a hot name on Facebook. Going on a date can be as easy as watching T.V. Effort and chivalrous convention don’t apply to the present young generation. Men don’t pay for dates as part of a mandatory social rule, as the term Double-Dutch frequently applies, and going out to a restaurant or movie is best enjoyed as an established couple, anyway (then the guy might decide to pay as a sign of affection, or at least of having just gotten paid that week). After all, if you like someone, and want to get to know them, who needs the white table cloths and fancy attire to do so. Better to chat to the tune of agreed upon background music, or flip through each others’ record collections to find out about that person (at least as far as music relates to their personality).

Remember when online encyclopedias like Encarta.com allowed you to look up anything you could in a multi-volume set (plus video and soundbites!), at least up to the second paragraph before it demanded you pay a monthly subscription fee. More often than not you merely learned two facts about something at a time then walked away. Now that is a thing of the past, along with glancing at actual encyclopedias, as Wikipedia, which covers virtually everything with a holistic entry and is constantly expanding, is the new household reference book. While it isn’t any good for scholarly research, though it often requires every fact be cited and attributed to a source, it is unrivaled as a source of instant enlightenment.

Bands almost exclusively network through Myspace, a free place to post tour schedules, stream their songs and connect to their fans, a thousand at a time. It’s the most economic, and effective, means for both up-and-comers and established acts to draw new fans and maintain their core. The other expendable bastion of cyber-presence construction is Facebook. Fan pages, beyond individual profiles, have taken the place of actual website operation as businesses are always looking for ways to cut costs. And what better way to connect to your clientele than to swim in the same water-body almost everyone on Earth does.

Another industry in agony is the newspaper industry. The internet has taken a huge toll, kicking them while cable news already had them down in the first place. What internet-savvy consumer would pay to read what can be read, on a more timely basis, for free? Adaptation has been tough for a lot of the rags, partly because it’s run by complacent old men, who’d rather keep their leather chairs than type their columns in a Starbucks. When will they learn?

A huge devastation on behalf of the internet – more than most every other industry – has befallen the music industry, where digital music has rendered the purchasing of physical CDs obsolete (except to dedicated album art enthusiasts). Music piracy has existed for over a decade, and through torrents it is a virtually invisible crime, but being as how easy it is to “steal” digital music, who in their right minds would pay a dollar per song for the same lousy song file. Truth be told, the only music format experiencing any growth in recent times (while still not the most common means of experiencing music) is vinyl, which, by nature, is actually deserving of the money (the what, two dollars per album at your local record store?). Where the industry, and subsequently every beleaguered band, is really making up for blows and lost profits is the concert industry, which trumps any other way to absorb music, bar none. Not to mention the humility that comes with such a mandate.

The first incident took place when 41-year-old Suzanne Hart was killed in an elevator accident. Hart worked at a New York City high rise building, and was on the first floor and heading to work around 10 a.m. As she stepped onto the elevator the doors closed on her and the elevator rose towards the second floor. This pulled her upward into the elevator shaft. Ms. Hart was trapped between the first and second floors. She was declared dead at the scene. Two other passengers in the elevator at the time were treated for trauma after witnessing the horrific accident. The cause of the elevator malfunction has not yet been determined.

The second incident did not involve a malfunction of the elevator or an error by anyone riding in it. Instead, it was a horrific and cold-blooded murder. A man named Jerome Isaac attacked and killed a 73 year-old woman named Deloris Gillespie. On Saturday, December 17, 2011, Ms Gillespie was returning to her fifth-floor apartment, in Prospect Heights New York City, from an evening of grocery shopping. She stepped onto the buildings elevator to go to her apartment, and on the fifth floor, Isaac was waiting for her. Because he was angry over money Ms Gillespie supposedly owed him, he attacked her as the elevator doors opened. Surveillance video shows Isaac spraying a flammable material, possibly gasoline, from a garden type sprayer into Ms. Gillespie’s face as he pushed her back into the elevator. Isaac then lit a Molotov cocktail, stepped out of the elevator and threw it in, igniting the woman in flames. For good measure, he then stepped back towards the elevator and sprayed her again with gasoline, as she burned alive. She was declared dead at the scene and Isaac is now in custody.

It’s hard to imagine a more horrific way to die in an elevator than the fate that befell Ms Gillespie, but here are ten more tragic elevator accidents for your consideration.

On the night of May 22, 1903, in Pittsburgh, PA, a large group of mostly young people who attended the Pennsylvania Electric Mechanical Institute were having a celebration party on the fifth and sixth floors of the Donnelley building. About 700 people packed the two floors for the ball, and at around 10 PM another group of seventeen passengers was loaded into the elevator on the first floor, bound for the party on floor six. Just as the elevator reached the floor, it suddenly let go and fell six stories, crashing into the elevator pit. The multi-ton elevator cable and assembly came crashing down onto the elevator, crushing the occupants. When the party goers heard the crash, they rushed to the elevator. In the panic, some nearly fell into the open shaft. Four bodies were pulled from the rubble and taken to a morgue. They were so badly mangled it was not until the next day they could be identified. So mangled were the bodies, they could only be identified by the cloths they were wearing. The others in the elevator, the youngest being only 3 years old, somehow survived. The accident was blamed on overloading of the elevator with 17 people when the maximum weight allowed for only 10-12.

December 1946. World War II had come to an end barely four months earlier, but life went on all across the United States, where industry was trying to make the pivot from wartime production back to peacetime. In the little town of Dover-Foxcraft, Maine, at the American Woolen Company textile mill, twelve women were about to do something they did every day at work – step onto an elevator. Only this time, things would not go as they normally did.

Textile mills have always been a hazardous place to work. Unguarded machinery could grab and pull a worker into the machinery, cutting, impaling and crushing them to death. The dust from the textiles hung in the air, thick and heavy and when breathed into the lungs caused occupational disease such as brown lung, or even anthrax. Fires were common occurrences.

By 1946, it had been nearly 100 years since March 23, 1857, when the first Otis passenger elevator was installed at 488 Broadway, in New York City. The Otis safety elevator was the first passenger elevator to have an automatic safety device to stop the elevator from free-falling should the cable snap. Though accidents and deaths occurred in elevators, they were normally associated with occupant error, or maintenance activities (something that remains true even today). So the twelve women had nothing to fear as they stepped onto their work elevator that day.

As they boarded the elevator on the third floor of the building, the elevator operator, Mrs. Blanche Foss, heard something break overhead. She jumped out of the elevator just as it let go and crashed three stories down into the elevator pit. What Mrs. Foss heard was the elevator cable and the elevator drum support assembly breaking free. The elevator and the twelve occupants crashed to the elevator pit, but that was the least of the dangers they now faced. An instant after they hit bottom, the 500 ton elevator cable, drum and assembly crashed through the roof of the wooden elevator. Two women were killed instantly with compound fractures of the legs, skull fractures and broken necks. The other ten women somehow survived but all were seriously injured. The mill superintendent stated that the elevator “was in fine working condition” and that he could not understand any reason for the accident.

Isaac Jordan has the unique distinction of being the only US Congressman ever killed in an elevator accident. Born on a farm in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania, in 1835, Isaac Jordan would not only go on to become a US Congressman, he was also one of the founders of the Sigma Chi fraternity, in 1855. A self-made man he became the US Representative for the 2nd District in Ohio, in 1883.

He was killed accidentally, in 1890, when leaving his law offices in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Jordan paused at the elevator entrance and turned to greet a friend. As he was conversing with his friend with his back to the elevator door, he did not notice the elevator had ascended to the floor above with the door still partly open. With a quick movement, and still facing his friend, he stepped into the open elevator shaft and fell to his death.

Hirosuke Ichikawa, was a 16 year old high school student who lived in the City Heights Takeshiba public housing complex in the Minato Ward, one of 23 Wards in Tokyo, Japan. In June 2006, Ichikawa was backing his bicycle out of an elevator when the elevator suddenly malfunctioned. Ichikawa was half-way out of the elevator when it suddenly shot upwards, with the doors fully open, pinning him against the door frame. He was killed by asphyxiation. Police arrived and eventually pulled Ichikawa out, and as they did, even though power to the elevator had been disconnected, the elevator still shot to the top story of the elevator shaft, stopping only at a collision prevention device.

The resulting investigation of how this could have happened brought into question the safety of elevators in all of Japan, especially elevators manufactured by Swiss elevator company Schindler. The investigation found 41 elevator-related mechanical problems in two Schindler elevators installed in the apartment complex over a two-year time period. The final cause of the accident was placed on the failure of a braking system in the elevator, combined with poor maintenance. The Minato Ward public housing corporation decided to replace all five Schindler elevators in the condominium with elevators from another manufacturer.

Sherwood and Caroline Wadsworth met while attending Ursinus College, in their home state of Pennsylvania, in the 1940s. Sherwood went off to war, surviving missions as a bomber pilot in World War II. Caroline Wadsworth was the daughter of prosperous car dealer. After the war, Sherwood started his own car dealerships in the Philadelphia area and the two of them retired to the Georgia coast in the early 1980s.

The Wadsworths’ three-story home overlooking Georgia’s coastal marshes contained an elevator. Elevators are becoming more and more common in private residences, but in Georgia the state does not require regular elevator inspections as they do for elevators installed in public or commercial buildings. The state of Georgia does require all elevators to be equipped with landline phones, whether they’re in public buildings or private homes. The elevator in their home had a telephone jack, but no phone connected to it.

The life they shared together for 60 years came to an end in a dreadful manner because of the elevator, and lack of a phone to call for help. Neighbors began to notice the Wadsworths’ were not taking out their trash. The newspaper delivery person noticed their papers were piling up at the door, and he called the police. The police had to break into the house where all they found was the Wadsworths’ cat. The police found the elevator and when they opened the doors saw the elevator stuck between the home’s second and third floor. Inside, the police discovered the Wadsworths’ bodies lying in a fetal position, facing each other, they had both died of heat exhaustion, with temperatures inside the elevator reaching 95 degrees. The lack of a phone in the elevator meant they could not call for help. Police estimate the couple was trapped in the elevator at least four days before being discovered. The couple’s son said “We always said we hoped they would go together because if one went, the other wouldn’t survive long.” “They were so dependent on each other.”

Gerhardt “Jerry” Fuchs was drummer and member of such indie rock groups as Turing Machine, and Maserati. He also played the drums, live or in recording sessions, with groups such as LCD Soundsystem and Moby. Fuchs was also a graphic artist and a freelance writer, working for Entertainment Weekly magazine. Unfortunately, Fuchs leo became an example of one of the two most common manners in which elevator occupants get killed by elevators – trying to escape one.

Early in the morning on November 8, 2009, while in New York attending a benefit concert, Fuchs was caught in a broken elevator in Brooklyn. Fuchs may have been unable to call for help. More likely, he called for help but grew impatient waiting for help to arrive and repair the broken elevator. Regardless, Fuchs, like so many that get killed in elevators, decided to escape on his own. As he attempted to jump out of the elevator, he fell to his death down the elevator shaft.

On January 6, 1995, 55 year old James Godfrey Chenault, was going to work, as he had for 20 years, at the Kingsbridge Welfare Center, located in the Bronx, New York City. On the first floor of the office building, Mr. Chenault and several other passengers boarded the elevator and, for some unknown reason, the elevator seemed to rise too quickly to the second floor. When the elevator stopped and the doors opened it had stopped slightly above the level of the second floor. Chenault was a Vietnam War veteran and had probably dealt with worse situations than this one. He decided to help the female passengers out of the elevator. He did so by holding the elevator doors open with his back while straddling the elevator, one leg in the elevator, one leg on the second floor. He was helping the occupants get off the elevator when it suddenly shot upwards, beheading him. His body fell onto the second floor lobby and his head fell into and onto the floor of the elevator. His head and the two remaining passengers in the elevator shot up to the ninth floor. One of the passengers described the scene – “I can’t get it out of my mind,” “The head was there but the body wasn’t. He still had the Walkman (earphones) on his head. . . .” There had been many problems with the elevator, and the service repairman was at the building that day to work on it. The elevator had been inspected on November 1, 1994, and passed the inspection.

The most common way to die in an elevator accident is to be an elevator maintenance employee working on one. The second most common way to die in an elevator is to be an occupant in a stuck elevator, who then tries to climb out and either falls to their death or, while only half way out the door, is crushed when the elevator suddenly moves either up or down.

Louis Tornero Moffit found a new way to die in an elevator – by surfing one. Elevator surfing or “Vator Surfing” is the act of “riding” on top of a moving elevator. Though this looks easy to do in films starring Bruce Willis, it is, in fact, exceedingly dangerous.

Practitioners of this “sport” gain access to the top of the elevator by either prying open the doors at the floor above the elevator and jumping down on top of the elevator roof, or by stopping a moving elevator between floors and gaining access to the roof through the ceiling hatch. Once there, the “Vator Surfer” rides the elevator as his or her friends operate the controls. Once on the elevator roof the surfer finds out the hard way that elevators and elevator shafts in real life differ from the ones in Hollywood movies in several ways. One, Bruce Willis is not there. Two, elevator shafts are much smaller than they are depicted in Hollywood films. Three, they are filthy dirty with plenty of grease and lubricant on just about everything. Four, they are dark, not at all like the brightly lit Hollywood sets. And five, there are all manner of protuberances, devices, and equipment inside the elevator shaft to get caught on, trip over, or get crushed into, most notably the elevator counter weight.

Canadian-born Moffit was a self-confessed adrenaline junkie who, along with friends, loved to BASE jump (jumping off towers, bridges, spans and other man made or natural structures with a parachute). At the Toronto Four Season Centre, they wanted to pull off a BASE jump inside the massive five-tiered auditorium, but first could not resist some elevator surfing. Early one morning, Moffit and his friends broke into the Centre and made their way to the elevators. Moffit climbed on top of one of the elevators while his friends operated it from inside. Unfortunately for Moffit, he was still wearing his parachute, which somehow deployed while he was inside the elevator shaft, while the elevator was moving. According to police who found Moffit in the elevator shaft “his harness and parachute becoming entangled with the machinery of the ascending elevator”. Moffit was pronounced dead on the scene with cause of death being noted as: “strangulation and massive trauma to the head and abdomen”.

On July 28, 1945, the United States and the world are almost at the end of the long struggle of World War II. Lieutenant Colonel William Franklin Smith, Jr., was piloting a B-25 Mitchell bomber from Boston to LaGuardia Airport. When he reached New York City and asked for permission to land he was told there was zero visibility because of thick fog. Smith decided to press on anyway and, lost in the fog, slammed his B-25 right into the north side of the Empire State building between the 78th and 80th floors, punching an 18 foot by 20 foot hole in the building. One of the plane’s engines slammed through the opposite side of the building and landed on the roof of another building, where it set fire to a penthouse. Firefighters had the fire in the Empire State Building under control within 40 minutes of impact. To this day, it remains the highest level of any building where a fire was successfully extinguished. Fourteen people were killed, three in the airplane and eleven in the building.

One person in the building who was not killed was Betty Lou Oliver, who can be described as one of the world’s luckiest or unluckiest people, depending on which way you wish to view what happened. Oliver was the elevator attendant in the building that Saturday. When the plane struck the building she was on the 75th floor and was thrown to the ground by the force of the impact, as well as sustaining burns from the burning airplane fuel. Having survived a plane crash into the building, the danger was far from over however. The rescuers decided to get her to the ground floor as quickly as possible so she could be taken to a hospital for treatment. They decided to use the elevator to take her down the 75 stories. What they did not know was the elevator they were using to transport her in was damaged by the plane crash. The elevator cables were almost set to break free. They placed Oliver in the elevator and, when the doors closed, the cables snapped. Oliver and the elevator plunged 75 floors to the basement but, miraculously, she was not killed. Thousands of feet of elevator cable had fallen to the basement before the elevator and this “softened” the impact. Once again, Oliver had to be rescued, this time from the bottom of an elevator shaft among heaps of twisted metal. Seriously injured, she lived and to this day holds the record for the longest survived descent in an elevator accident. This would remain the only known instance of a free-fall of a modern cable-borne elevator, until September 11, 2001.

Hitoshi Christopher Nikaidoh was killed in what has to be one of the most gruesome of all gruesome elevator deaths (and many are, indeed, very gruesome). Nikaidoh was a surgery resident working at Christus St. Joseph Hospital in Houston, Texas. The hospital had, as most hospitals do, several elevators to transport people up and down the tall building. But, for four days, elevator #14 was closed for repairs. Also working at the hospital was physician’s assistant Karin Leah Steinau. While the elevator was out of service she had been using the stairs, but on Saturday August 16, 2003, the “out of service” sign was taken down so Steinau decided to take the elevator. Standing across from her near the physicians lounge on the second floor, was Nikaidoh. Nikaidoh was an aspiring missionary doctor and very popular among his class of resident students. It was about 9:30 AM, a day like all the others that hospital personnel take elevators between the many floors of the hospital to do their work. This day was going to be very different however.

Steinau pressed the call button and did what she always did with the slow elevators, she waited for the first to arrive at her floor. It was elevator #14 that arrived, nearest where Nikaidoh was standing. Steinau walked a few yards across the second floor lobby to join him. She got into the elevator first and pressed the button for the sixth floor. Nikaidoh looked at her and asked if the elevator was working. Steinau responded that, apparently, it was back in operation. So Nikaidoh started to step into the elevator to join her. Only just as he stepped in, the doors suddenly slammed closed on him. Normally when this happens the elevator doors are designed to automatically reopen. This did not happen and in an instant, Nikaidoh found himself pinned by the closed doors as the elevator began to rise. Steinau said she saw Nikaidoh try to pull free, struggling against the elevator. He almost shrugged his shoulders free from the clamping doors to quickly pull himself inside, but he didn’t make it. As the elevator rose it forced his head into the ceiling and sliced off most of his head. His left ear, lower lip, teeth and jaw were still attached to his body, which fell to the bottom of the elevator shaft, as the elevator continued moving upward. The elevator stopped just below the fifth floor and it took rescuers and hour to free Steinau. During that time she had the remainder of Nikaidoh’s head in the elevator with her. “I just keep seeing the look in his eyes,” she told officers.

Sixty six years after a B-25 airplane crashed into New York Cities landmark building, The Empire State Building, history would repeat itself. Only this time the planes would not be piloted by American service men, but by terrorist’s intent on destroying the newest of New York City’s trademark buildings, the World Trade Center buildings 1 and 2. The World Trade Center buildings did not have 2-4 elevators like most buildings, they had a total of 198 elevators. It was one of the most impressive elevator systems in the world, carrying thousands of people 110 stories up and down every day.

On September 11, 2001, when the two airliners crashed into the towers, the force of the impact severed the cables of many elevators resulting in only the second instance of a cabled elevator system going into a free-fall. It is not known how many people were in elevators and died when they fell to the bottom of the shafts, were burned alive inside the elevators by the jet fuel, or who were trapped inside and died when the buildings collapsed; all extremely terrible ways to die, indeed. An investigation by USA Today determined that upwards of 200 people probably died in the elevators of both towers that day.

The elevator shafts spread burning fuel and smoke vertically and horizontally throughout the buildings. There are many documented cases of people who were standing near the elevators, or just about to enter or get off the elevators, when the jets hit. They were seriously burned by jet fuel which traveled down the elevator shafts and ignited. The USA Today report found 21 people who had been trapped inside elevators after the planes hit the building but who escaped and managed to get out of the buildings before they collapsed. They found no examples of successful rescues by emergency responders, of people trapped in the elevators, though many firefighters died trying to free the passengers.

However, the elevators played an important role in helping many people evacuate the south tower between the time the north tower was hit and the time the south tower was struck by the second airplane. Many people rode the elevators down to safety in the roughly 16 minutes between the two plane impacts.

The elevators played another, lesser known part in saving people that day. Housed inside strongly built metal mechanical rooms, the elevator motors, cables, and other huge mechanical components were located on the 78th floor of the South Tower. When the airplane hit, the strong elevator mechanical room on this floor prevented the plane from penetrating completely through the building. This left open one stair tower for people to use to exit the building, the only stair tower of either building that had not been crushed by the impact.

Elevator parts were recovered from the rubble of the collapsed World Trade Center towers, including one of the huge motors. It will be displayed, along with many other items recovered from the buildings, in the new 911 museum at the site of the former World Trade Center buildings.