Fact or Fiction? 35 Unusual Real-Life Stories – Part 4

Natalya "Natasha" Nikolayevna Demkina is a Russian woman who claims to possess a special vision that allows her to look inside human bodies and see organs and tissues, and thereby make medical diagnoses. Since the age of 10, she has performed readings in Russia.

There is a term for the tendency of technical equipment to fail when certain people are present. It's called the Pauli effect, named after Wolfgang Ernst Pauli.

One of Saturn's moons, Mimas, closely resembles The Death Star from "Star Wars", however the film was released 3 years prior to the discovery of it's distinguishing crater feature.

Praise-God Barebone (1598-1679) was a radical English Puritan preacher and member of Oliver Cromwell's parliament. He gave his son Nicholas Barebone (or Barbon) the legendary middle name "If-Jesus-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned."

The "Women Are Wonderful" effect is a phenomenon where people associate more positive attributes to women than to men, in general. While this attribution was true of both genders, woman's in-group bias was 4 times greater than men's.

Foreign Accent Syndrome is a rare but recurring phenomenon that causes people to wake up from comas speaking with foreign accents they have never used before.

There was a shipping merchant named Preserved Fish, who in the 19th century was responsible for expanding the whale oil market, directing the Bank of America, and being one of the founders of what is now the New York Stock Exchange.

Epomis beetles sneak up behind their victims (frogs) and hold on firmly using their legs. To paralyze the victim, the beetle makes an incision in the pelvic region with its mandibles, cutting nerves and perhaps leg muscles. The amphibian loses its ability to move and is eaten by the beetle.

On December 11, 1998, the Mars Climate Orbiter crashed into Mars and ended a $200 million mission because one instrument by Lockheed measured in (U.S.) pound-seconds and not newton-seconds.

The Frog Battery was used in early electrical research. It consisted of dead or sometimes live frogs that formed the cells of the battery.