Terrifying Facts Enough to Make Anybody Lose Sleep At Night

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Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Sep 24, 2023 9:00 PM EDT

In my opinion, the craziest thing about believing the most outlandish conspiracy theories is that what can be experienced in scientifically provable reality is wild enough. Reality can be terrifying, and I don't just mean that in a spending 60+ years in an unstable and depressing job market kind of way. The realities of this world can be chilling, and we don't even fully appreciate the scale of this most of the time.

This is something that has been underlined in a recent Reddit thread. Asking people to provide the scariest facts that they knew off the top of their head, it's no surprise that Redditors well and truly provided. From the freakiest parts of nature to health issues we didn't even realize we had to care about, there are a wealth of sleepless nights to be found here. As if there wasn't enough for the average person to worry about. 

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  • 01
    Font - r/AskReddit u/Misoalgia. 5d What is s genuinely terrifying fact?
    via Misoalgia
  • 02
    Vertebrate - Delevia 5d The CIA's Operation Northwoods proposed that CIA operatives should commit acts of terrorism upon the US to blame Fidel Castro for justifying a war against Cuba. This was rejected by JFK. We know about this because this got declassified.
    via Delevia
  • 03
    Smile - Particular-Natural12 5d Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (mad cow) can lie dormant for more than 50 years, is universally fatal, and is inheritable. There is no cure.
    via Particular-Natural12
  • 04
    Font - PLAmibingusPL 5d Dementia has no age limit
    via PLAmbingusPL
  • 05
    Human body - MaybeOrmayben0t 5d That two Scottish doctors originally invented the first chainsaw prototype for childbirth.
    via Maybe0rMayben0t
  • 06
    Font - Misbrukt 5d That brain aneurysms usually does not have symptoms and it can kill you if it ruptures
    via Misbrukt
  • 07
    Font - MenoumCretons 5d People who have Neanderthal DNA tend to have a gene variant that allows for better coagulation. Great for fighting woolly rhinos, less so when it starts misfiring and giving you random blood clots requiring emergency surgeries.
    via MenoumCretons
  • 08
    Font - MenoumCretons 5d People who have Neanderthal DNA tend to have a gene variant that allows for better coagulation. Great for fighting woolly rhinos, less so when it starts misfiring and giving you random blood clots requiring emergency surgeries.
    via MenoumCretons
  • 09
    Font - umdche 5d The US military has lost several nuclear weapons and not all of them have been recovered.
    via umdche
  • 10
    Font - Guses 5d It would take months to years for the power grid to recover from a sufficiently strong solar storm.
    via Guses
  • 11
    Rectangle - Klaus_Heisler87 5d It is physically possible to be so constipated that your stool will back all the way up your digestive tract and you can vomit feces. You're welcome
    via Klaus_Heiser87
  • 12
    Font - Blankasbiscuits 5d There is a species of caterpillar, big blue out of great Britain I believe, that tricks ants into thinking it's an ant queen in distress. The ants take this caterpillar back to the nest where the caterpillar continues acting like a queen but devouring all the ant larvae. This destroys the ant colony from the inside. There are some studies that can point to this species actively finding which larvae will eventually become the next queen and devour those larvae first.
    via Blankasbiscuits
  • 13
    Rectangle - InTheFDN 5d There are such things as Rogue Planets just flying through space and not orbiting any star. If one were to pass through our solar system it could easily nudge the Earth out of its orbit and we'd either fry or freeze and there's nothing we could do about it.
    via InTheFDN
  • 14
    Font - 5annex 5d that somebody is out here trafficking humans and then going back to their family while living comfortably in a much nice place than some of us are
    via Sannex
  • 15
    Human body - PandaAnt17 5d There are more bones in gummy worms than real worms
    via PandaAnt17
  • 16
    Font - auxerre 1990 5d That there are people in this world who have absolutely zero support, and absolutely zero people to count on.
    via auxerre1990
  • 17
    Rectangle - NotKhad 5d Sun eruptions happened before and lead to blackouts across several continents. All fun and games in the 19th century. Today it could easily kill millions. And it could happen any hour.
    via NotKhad
  • 18
    Human body - Aggressive-Gold-1319 5d If you cut off a snakes head it can live independently from the body for up to 7 minutes.
    via Aggressive-Gold-1319
  • 19
    Human body - ghoulierthanthou 5d The Appalachian mountains are older than bones. Sharks are older than trees.
    via ghoulierthanthou
  • 20
    Font - jdsizzle1 5d The earth was around billions of years before we were, and is indifferent to our survival. There have been multiple mass extinctions in the past and we shouldn't feel any safer. The only difference is we've advanced far enough to the point that we'll probably know in advance when our species is going to go extinct.
    via jdizzle1
  • 21
    Font - IvyBlackeyes 5d There is estimated 360,000 sperm whales alive and well in the ocean at this time, they're also predators of giant squid by the way. If they eat 1 giant squid a month then the giant squid population consumed yearly must be over 4.3 million. If the number is 1 per week then the consumed population would be over 18.7 million. JUST BEING CONSUMED! Evidence suggests though that they eat even more then that. It shows that 1% of the 700-800 squids a female sperm whale eats EACH D
    via IvyBlackeyes
  • 22
    Font - ZunoJ 5d One day no one will remember you anymore
    via ZunoJ
  • 23
    Human body - VersionNo3770 5d 50-70% of people don't have an internal monologue. I can't even imagine that. I can barely turn mine off to sleep.
    via VersionNo3770
  • 24
    Rectangle - Enigma-08 5d That time is passing as we speak... And in a blink of an eye the day has passed, the week, the month, a year has passed. And there's nothing you can do about, only what you do with it.
    via Enigma-08
  • 25
    Font - Svenisko 5d Your hearing is probably the last sense that you lose when you die. Imagine hearing all the people around you...
    via Svenisko

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nature scary facts medicine illness askreddit random facts medical health science Reddit true facts
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