“Believe nothing you hear and only half that you see.”
– Edgar Allen Poe
By Tara Yilmaz
American writer H.P. Lovecraft once said “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. However, that shouldn’t stop you from living life one day at a time. Exploring the unknown has its benefits. It can expand a person’s view of the world, learn new things about oneself, or create memorable experiences. So, if you’re in the mood to read about unbelievable true events to the creepiest facts then you might enjoy this article.
→ Did you know Wes Craven’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street” was inspired by true events? The majority of people only think about horror movies such as The Exorcist (1973), and Amityville Horror (1979) being based on true stories. When the frightening reality is, there are so many more movies that are centered around horrific events. According to Craven’s 2014 interview “Freddy Lives: An Oral History of A Nightmare on Elm Street” with Vulture.com, he said, “I’d read an article in the L.A. Times about a family who had escaped the Killing Fields in Cambodia and managed to get to the U.S. Things were fine, and then suddenly the young son was having very disturbing nightmares. He told his parents he was afraid that if he slept, the thing chasing him would get him, so he tried to stay awake for days at a time. When he finally fell asleep, his parents thought this crisis was over. Then they heard screams in the middle of the night. By the time they got to him, he was dead. He died in the middle of a nightmare. Here was a youngster having a vision of a horror that everyone older was denying. That became the central line of Nightmare on Elm Street.”
→ Did you know every home, no matter how clean it is, houses dust mites? Forget about scary movies about possessions, aliens, or mysterious deep-sea creatures. This fact makes my skin crawl and is enough to send me into a full-blown panic attack. Dust mites are tiny insects that feed on the flakes of human skin. Although they don’t bite they can cause allergic reactions and rashes. These common household pests thrive in warm settings and usually reside in bedding, upholstered furniture, mattresses, carpets, or curtains. Before you jump into bed at night after running from the invisible man when you shut the lights off. Remember you may be seeking shelter in sheets with nearly 1 million dust mites.
→ Did you know there’s a structure beyond the visible universe outside of our horizon that is pulling on matter in our vicinity? It’s called “dark flow” and it was discovered by astronomer and cosmologist Alexander Kashlinsky per Nasa.gov. Even though everything in our universe is constantly moving planets, stars, and galaxies it’s an unsettling notion that there’s an unknown cosmic force from beyond pulling it all in one direction.
→ Did you know our cell phones are 10 times dirtier than a toilet seat? According to the 2017 Time magazine article, it states that our hands are the main culprit when it comes to transferring germs onto a phone. On average Americans check their phone 47 times a day per a survey by Deloitte and out of those 47 times Americans are using the restroom, touching public objects, bodily fluids etcetera.
A recent study done by the National Library of Medicine found more than 17,000 bacterial gene copies on the phones of high school students. But don’t freak out! The experts say “Washing your hands several times a day” can help keep the unknown germs away.