21 Okiku Inspired The Ring Ghost
The girl from “The Ring” was inspired by a Japanese legend about a young girl named Okiku, who served a samurai named Tessan Aoyama at Himeji Castle. Aoyama hid one of ten valuable golden plates and threatened to accuse Okiku of stealing it unless she accepted his advances. After she refused, one version says Aoyama threw her into a well, while another says she jumped into it after finding no other escape. According to the legend, her ghost crawled from the well every night, counted the plates, and tormented Aoyama until he lost his mind.
22 Depression Defies Simple Serotonin Theory
The popular claim that depression simply results from low serotonin is an oversimplification that researchers have challenged for years. A 2015 paper noted that the serotonin hypothesis was nearly 50 years old but had never been clearly substantiated. Evidence suggests that impaired serotonin function can contribute in some circumstances, but it is neither necessary nor sufficient to cause depression. Although antidepressants alter serotonin activity, researchers still do not fully understand how those changes produce their therapeutic effects.
23 Taj Mahal Scaffold Vanished Overnight
During the 17th-century construction of the Taj Mahal in Agra, workers built a colossal brick scaffold that mirrored the tomb’s inner and outer surfaces. Foremen estimated that dismantling the enormous structure could take years. According to legend, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan announced that anyone could keep the bricks they removed, prompting local peasants to strip the scaffold overnight.
24 Cell Phones Cannot Ignite Gasoline
The belief that using a cell phone while fueling a car can ignite gasoline vapors and cause a fire or explosion is a common urban legend. Investigators have never documented a refueling fire caused by a cell phone anywhere in the world. Researchers have also repeatedly tried and failed to trigger one under controlled conditions, leaving no evidence that ordinary phone use can ignite fuel at the pump.
25 Library Of Alexandria Declined Gradually
The popular story that a single fire destroyed the Library of Alexandria is largely a myth. Julius Caesar’s fire in 48 BC may have damaged part of the collection, but the institution survived or was rebuilt and continued operating afterward. The Library declined over the following centuries as funding, prestige, and scholarly membership disappeared, with the last known memberships dating to the 260s AD. Most of its material may have survived through copies held elsewhere, and historians cannot confirm whether the Serapeum still contained a library when Christians demolished it in 391 AD.
26 Disney Filmmakers Faked Lemming Suicide
Lemmings do not commit mass suicide, despite a myth popularized by Walt Disney’s 1958 documentary “White Wilderness.” To create its dramatic ending, filmmakers threw lemmings from a cliff and presented the footage as a suicidal plunge into the sea. In 1983, a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation producer named Brian Vallee also revealed that the crew staged the mass migration using careful editing, tight camera angles, and a snow-covered turntable. In reality, crowded lemmings disperse in search of food and may accidentally drown while crossing water, but they do not deliberately kill themselves.
27 Cobalt Name Came From Kobolds
Cobalt takes its name from the kobold, a trickster goblin in German folklore. Medieval German miners searching for silver tried to smelt cobalt-bearing ore, but it produced no precious metal and released toxic arsenic and sulfur fumes. The miners blamed kobolds for stealing the silver and poisoning them, turning their supernatural explanation into the element’s lasting name.
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28 Aurora Sex Myth Was Alaskan
To explain why so many Japanese tourists traveled to Alaska to see the northern lights, some Alaskans circulated a baseless claim that couples had sex beneath the aurora for good luck and a gifted child. The CBS series “Northern Exposure” presented the tale as “Japanese folk wisdom” in 1992, helping it spread far beyond Alaska. A 2007 New York Times report investigated the rumor, and American screenwriter Jeff Vlaming claimed he had found it in the November 1991 issue of Alaska magazine, though investigators could not verify the item. No evidence indicates that the belief came from Japanese folklore or drove Japanese aurora tourism.
29 Popeye Praised Spinach’s Vitamin A
The story that Popeye ate spinach because a misplaced decimal point exaggerated its iron content is a myth. Although early analyses may have overstated spinach’s iron level, scientists knew the correct value before cartoonist Elzie Segar created Popeye. In a 1932 comic strip, Popeye credited spinach’s strength-building power to vitamin A, not iron.
30 Kitty Genovese Witness Myth Unravels
On March 13, 1964, a 28-year-old bartender named Kitty Genovese was murdered outside her apartment building in Kew Gardens, Queens, but the famous claim that 38 witnesses watched and ignored her attack is a myth. Two people called the police, while a woman named Sophia Farrar found Genovese after the second attack and held her until an ambulance arrived. The New York Times published its exaggerated account two weeks later, although nobody witnessed the entire attack and many neighbors misunderstood what they heard. In 2016, the newspaper acknowledged its flawed reporting, while another reporter recalled Times reporter Martin Gansberg saying that the omitted facts “would have ruined the story.”
RE: Fact #9 (Ellis Island Never Changed Names) – Many people chose to change their names. Even well into the 20th century, famous people would often switch to stage names to fit in better. Plenty of Jewish performers did this, like Stanley Lieber becoming Stan Lee, or Chaim Witz changing to Gene Simmons.
Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Carmen Cansino. She changed it because the head of Columbia Pictures told her she seemed too ‘Mediterranean’ and would be typecast in exotic roles.
RE: Fact #38 (Yellowstone Eruption Is Not Overdue) – People say it’s overdue because it follows a schedule, but that timeline is already long gone. Not that it just takes a loud noise to set it off.
RE: Fact #9 (Ellis Island Never Changed Names) – All my Italian relatives came through Ellis Island and none of them changed their names there. But when the census taker showed up every ten years, it was a different family name every time, Milano, Milone, Melons… neither of my great-grandparents could read or write.
RE: Fact #10 (Vampires Counted Seeds Until Sunrise) – I recall Mulder escaping a vampire by knocking over a bowl of seeds or something similar.
RE: Fact #38 (Yellowstone Eruption Is Not Overdue) – I don’t see why those two points are mutually exclusive. Something can be overdue to happen while not actually being ready to happen. The idea that it could blow “at any moment” might be a myth, but that doesn’t really change whether the eruption itself is overdue.
RE: Fact #8 (Hartlepool Monkey Faced Spy Trial) – I’m not saying the event didn’t happen, but I find it hard to believe they actually thought a monkey was a Frenchman. It feels more like they might have hanged the monkey as a symbolic effigy for France. Just my take, though.
RE: Fact #42 (Green Candy Mocked Aphrodisiac Rumor) – >The rumor that these green candies are an aphrodisiac apparently started or first gained prominence in the 1970s, when students reportedly picked the green ones out of packages to feed to the objects of their desires.Why the green M&Ms were attributed with this power is unknown: perhaps it was because the color green has always been associated with healing and fertility.The same “powers” have also been claimed of other candies, such as green jelly beans and gummi bears. >M&M/MARS finally started using the mythical image associated with green M&Ms to its advantage by running an “Is it true what they say about green ones?” advertising campaign and introducing the vampy “Green” M&M character: >After decades of skirting urban myth, M&M/Mars is cashing in on the legendary aphrodisiac powers of green M&Ms. Boasting bedroom eyes and luscious lips, Green, the M&M character introduced in 1997, has been vamping across movie and TV screens and magazine pages for an ad campaign suggestively titled, “What is it about the Green Ones?” The spots, which will run through the fall, are accompanied by green M&Ms stamped with Green’s come-hither mug, tucked into M&M bags starting [in September 2001].
RE: Fact #3 (Fish Feel Pain And Suffer) – My black moor used to greet me when I came home. I’d put my hand in the tank and he’d rub against it just like a cat.
RE: Fact #1 (Simeulue Folklore Saved Island Residents) – This reminds me of a local mayor who was disgraced and nearly bankrupted his town to build a massive sea wall. He knew from childhood flood memories and hill markings exactly how high the water could get. After the 2011 tsunami, that wall actually saved the town and people started leaving flowers on his grave.
RE: Fact #49 (Televisions Do Not Ruin Eyesight) – Staring at anything up close for a long time is hard on your eyes. It’s definitely bad for kids, especially since they’re still developing. Some people argue this is why myopia correlates with higher intelligence, smart kids spend way more time reading.
RE: Fact #2 (Raymond Robinson Inspired Green Man) – Charlie No-Face. My dad grew up about 20 miles from him and said he’d always buy him a beer when he saw him. He said the guy was great.
That used to be a local thing to do! A friend’s dad would go out looking for him to bring him beer because Ray was known for walking at night to avoid scaring people. Poor guy. I used to think it was a wholesome story, but now it mostly sounds like locals gawking at him and using beer to get close.
RE: Fact #21 (Okiku Inspired The Ring Ghost) – The lesson here: don’t toss women who reject your advances down a well, not because it’s wrong, but because they might end up haunting your life forever.
RE: Fact #18 (Bats See Better Than Believed) – Actually, most mammals can see UV light. Unfortunately, UV light is so high-energy that it can cause cancer in the eye. Over time, humans and other mammals evolved a layer of skin that absorbs UV light before it hits the retina, which is why we don’t usually see it. People who have certain eye surgeries have this layer removed and can actually see UV light afterward.
RE: Fact #29 (Popeye Praised Spinach’s Vitamin A) – I always thought that was just a marketing ploy to get kids to eat their green vegetables.
RE: Fact #34 (Van Gogh Gave Maid Ear) – Also, contrary to popular belief, Van Gogh didn’t cut off his ear because of depression. He did it in a rage after a major fight with his friend and fellow painter, Paul Gauguin.
RE: Fact #47 (English Teeth Defy American Stereotype) – I think it’s just that British actors have a higher tolerance for natural imperfections than Hollywood does.
RE: Fact #40 (Nazi Army Depended On Horses) – I can see a Pixar movie here. A horse gets drafted into the German army after working on a Polish farm. At first, he’s scared, but he’s told it’s just like farm work. He starts off hauling food and medical supplies, which doesn’t seem too bad. Then he ends up on the front lines pulling a mortar. When his horse friends get hurt, he realizes he’s on the wrong side, bucks, and runs off. He tries to get back home while causing chaos for his handlers and dodging cavalry. He ends up helping some partisans, and in the climax, they cross a frozen lake where the cavalry falls through. By spring, he’s back with his farming family just in time for planting.
RE: Fact #19 (Yule Cat Ate Unrewarded Workers) – The Yule Cat is actually the pet of a family of trolls tied to Christmas. The mother, Gryla, eats naughty children. There are also 13 sons who visit on different days and leave presents, but each has an annoying personality reflected in their names, like Hurðaskellir (Door Slammer), Bjúgnakrækir (Sausage Swiper), and Gáttaþefur (Door Sniffer). It’s a fun set of traditions, though they involve a worrying amount of child-eating.
RE: Fact #11 (Romantic Partners Usually Share Traits) – It’s hard to imagine how this wouldn’t be the case, given how people generally meet one another. A more interesting question is whether successful couples tend to have distinct differences relative to their shared social circle.
RE: Fact #19 (Yule Cat Ate Unrewarded Workers) – What a clever way for parents to trick their kids into thinking clothes are actually a fun Christmas gift.
RE: Fact #5 (Alcatraz Attracted Inmate Transfer Requests) – If you ever make it to San Francisco, I highly recommend checking out the self-guided audio tour of Alcatraz.
RE: Fact #21 (Okiku Inspired The Ring Ghost) – I can only imagine how shocked the samurai would be if she crawled out of his flat-screen TV.
RE: Fact #5 (Alcatraz Attracted Inmate Transfer Requests) – The only “tough” part about Alcatraz was how hard it was to escape from, since it was on an island and the water was cold enough to make swimming away nearly impossible.
RE: Fact #12 (Jesus Grew Garlic In Japan) – England, Japan, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Tibet, Turkey, Ethiopia, Russia, Spain, and more countries all have similar stories about Jesus moving there, getting married, having kids, and dying of old age.
RE: Fact #31 (Eye Movements Cannot Reveal Lies) – I had a police officer aggressively confront me while another officer was taking my statement about an accident. The guy attacking me was interviewing the other driver and then rushed over to me, cursing and jabbing his fingers in my chest, yelling that I was lying because my eyes were darting to the side. The officer actually taking my statement told the other one to back off and stop playing detective with garbage psychology. My ticket was eventually dismissed, but if the first officer hadn’t been there, the other guy wouldn’t have even bothered to record my statement properly.