10 Mary Ellen’s Ordeal Before 1875, legal remedies for the grotesque mistreatment of children were imposed inconsistently throughout the United States, and agencies devoted to child protection didn’t exist. That all started to change with the 1874 case of nine-year-old Mary Ellen Wilson. Born in 1864, Mary Ellen became a ward of New York City’s Department of Charities after her father, Thomas Wilson, died, and her mother could no longer care for her....

In some cases, though, the exact opposite happens. Throughout history, a few people have acquired extraordinary skills because of their medical conditions, and science still doesn’t quite understand how it works. Even if it’s a bad idea to go out and try to replicate these cases to improve your lives—as it only happens in rare instances—they provide us with valuable insight into how the human brain really works. 10 Franco Magnani Born in 1934, Franco Magnani grew up in a small village in the Tuscany region of Italy called Pontito....

At the very least, many people have a favorite flower—even if that flower might be able to kill them and even their pets in as little as a couple of hours. But to some, the thrill of danger is too hard to resist. Just remember to thrill-seek in safe and responsible ways. 10 Mistletoe It’s a tad ironic that the berries famous for Christmas kissing are actually toxic. While mistletoe is unlikely to be lethal, medical attention should still be sought in the event of accidental ingestion, such as a child swallowing some during the holidays....

You’re dead. Supa dead. Deader even than your ability to resist all this clickbait. But what can we say, beauty comes at a cost and a deadly one at that. All of the following things may appear to be eye candy but can quickly ruin your day. Well, sometimes, they can. Actually . . . oh just read the article. 10 Justin Bieber Perhaps one of the most talked-about pretty boys of our generation, Justin Bieber isn’t only known for his silky smooth voice but for his manly cuteness as well....

You might think that the worst a seagull could do is fly away with you lunch, or crap on your parade, but these beach dwellers have a dark side lurking just beneath their feathers. And you will see it if you stumble upon their nest. Seagulls, if they feel their chicks are in any way being endangered, will strike with a vengeance and peck your brains out (or do the next best thing anyway)....

10 Technocracy The Industrial Revolution brought wonderful, labor-saving machines and techniques, but most people have remained stuck in the manual drudgery of industrial capitalism. Some opposed this economic status quo, such as Norwegian-American economist Thorstein Veblen. He believed humanity possessed three natural instincts: “idle curiosity,” a desire to learn new things regardless of their practical applications, “workmanship,” a desire for creative achievements of high quality, and the “parental bent,” a desire to use one’s knowledge to improve society....

One aspect of my job was bicycle patrol of the three-level parking garage. All things considered, I enjoyed patrol days, because it got me out of the stuffy, smoke-filled casino and gave me a chance to exercise. It also meant, most of the time, that I didn’t have to deal with bothersome guests. But that isn’t to say that it didn’t present other, more interesting situations. I remember being on patrol one day and coming across a vehicle in the garage that I could have sworn was in the process of being stripped....

The Moon has been an intrinsic part of human culture from its beginnings. Since the first humans began to make art in caves, the Moon was already a special element of their paintings. And it sure is still special for us today. As our closest cosmic companion, humans have shared millennia of evolution with the Moon in many ways. But we do not usually stop to think about what would happen if the Moon had never accompanied us....

While these rumors are just that, rumors, the other facts of Ball’s horrific crimes need no exaggeration. Beginning sometime during the mid-1920s, Ball’s life of crime consumed and damaged lives while making Ball rich and infamous. 10 A Dark Heritage Long before Joe Ball came into this world, a more superstitious mind would say that he had been cursed simply because of his lineage. More to the point, Ball was the great-great-grandson of John Hart Crenshaw, one of the Land of Lincoln’s most notorious citizens....

10Dumbuck Crannog On July 31, 1898, artist and amateur archaeologist William Donnelly apparently made an incredible discovery at Dumbuck on the northern shore of Scotland’s Firth of Clyde. An ancient stone-and-timber breakwater, perhaps dating back to the 2nd century BC, perfectly preserved by a change in the river’s path. It was enough to warrant a full-scale excavation, and when we say “excavation” we mean in the 19th century sense of hacking away with spades....

From bugs to surgical instruments and everything in between, here are the ten craziest—and some quite disturbing—objects ever removed from someone. 10 Cysts Sometimes, the things that get “trapped” in our bodies are not by choice, like cysts. Besides all the pus and goo that can come out of larger cysts, when one is in you for so long, it can turn into a strange human pearl, brain-like and bizarre....

Today, Pope Pius V is best known for throwing an epic hissy fit that led to Queen Elizabeth I being excommunicated. But that wasn’t all he did: even before he attempted to depose a monarch with the power of words, Pope Pius V was showing signs of incipient badassery. After joining the Church at fourteen, he swiftly got involved with the Inquisition; where ‘got involved with’ means ‘terrified other inquisitors with his insane thirst for blood’....

Huldra (or called Tallemaja in Swedish) is a troll-like woman living in the woods. She is fair and beautiful but wild and has a long cow-tail that hides behind her back upon meeting a human. It is said that Adam and Eve had many children and that one day, when Eve was bathing her children, God came to visit. Eve had not finished bathing all of her children, and so hid those who were still dirty....

10 Ted BundySuicide Hotline Worker “Ted Bundy took lives, he also saved lives,” wrote novelist Ann Rule in one of the world’s most startling true crime books. Here, she described her encounters with infamous killer Ted Bundy, whose modus operandi (MO) involved luring victims (young, white, middle-class females) to his vehicle under the guise of some form of disability. As if it weren’t shocking enough that the crime writer was later hired to write a book on the unsolved murders perpetrated by her longtime friend, it just so happens that she met Ted while volunteering at a suicide hotline center....

SEE ALSO: 10 Creepy Photos Of People Unaware They Are With A Serial Killer The man who owned the British Columbia property was a pig farmer by the name of Robert “Willie” Pickton. Born in 1949, Pickton came from a family of pig farmers for three generations. In the mid-1990s, he and two siblings sold parts of the farm they’d inherited for few million dollars, and Pickton was left with sole control of the remaining land....

However, almost a quarter of a century later, many still question the verdict of suicide. And we’re not just talking about crazed fans and conspiracy theorists who insist Elvis is still alive, either. In the 2015 documentary Soaked In Bleach, former Seattle police chief Norm Stamper expressed significant regret that they didn’t more closely examine key individuals who “had a motive to see Kurt Cobain dead.” 10 No Fingerprints On The Gun According to investigation records, there were no usable fingerprints recovered from either the shotgun that Kurt allegedly used to end his life or on the shells that had been loaded into it....

10The Vishkanyas The vishkanya, deadly and beautiful assassins, were developed in ancient India to end the conflict between kings without widespread violence. According to ancient literature, one way of grooming a girl was to dose her with poison a bit at a time until she built up an immunity to it.[1] She would then be sent into an enemy camp or tasked with getting close to a rival king, administering poison to him while eating and drinking from the same vessels to allay suspicion....

“Rain Follows the Plow” is the name given to a climatology concept which is now completely debunked. The theory said that human settlement caused a permanent increase in rainfall – thus enabling man to move to areas previously considered arid. It is this 19th century theory that brought about the settlement of the Great Plains (previously known as the Great American Desert), and parts of South Australia. The theory was eventually refuted by climatologists, and in the settled areas of South Australia, drought brought an end to the attempted settlements....

The Golden Dawn is a neo-fascist group in Greece that openly holds racist views and admiration for Nazi Germany. They have operated for a little over 30 years. Until recently, their members were mostly known for fighting with ultra-nationalist groups in ethnic conflicts in Bosnia. However, austerity measures and political malaise has led to electoral support for the party in Greece in recent years. They have gained popularity for their support of militaristic civil order and for their scapegoating of Greek immigrants for the country’s economic instability....

10 The Varna Gold From 1972 to 1991, excavations at a lakeside cemetery in Bulgaria produced around 6 kilograms (13 lb) of gold artifacts. These artifacts constitute one of the most profound archaeological finds in Europe because they are over 6,500 years old—only a few centuries after the first farmers showed up in Europe. They’re also the first evidence of a social hierarchy, since they were only found in a handful of the graves at Varna; four graves held 75 percent of the gold found....