When we look back at the lifespan of our world, it is filled with dark history and chilling real
stories of some of the scariest moments imaginable. We like to think that we have
a fair idea of what the future holds, both on earth and in our little corner of the universe,
but if history has taught us anything, it is that everything can change in the blink of an eye.
5. Halley’s Comet Doomsday
In May of 1910, many people believed that earth was about to experience one of the scariest
moments in its history when Halley’s Comet was set to pass by and astronomers realized that our
planet would pass through the comet’s 50-million- mile long tail, causing chaos to ensue.
The news sparked a mass panic with some people believing that it would cause the Pacific
to change basins with the Atlantic and that the jungles of North- and
South America would be dragged by the tail over the Sahara desert, causing untold destruction.
But it all got much worse when one French astronomer announced that,
as we passed through the comet’s tail,
cyanogen gas would permeate our atmosphere and cause all life on earth to be extinguished.
At the time, astronomers had been able to use spectroscopy for the first time
and were able to determine that cyanogen was indeed present in the tail.
Since cyanogen is a deadly poison, Flammarion’s announcement was taken
very seriously by members of the public and this paved the way for more ridiculous claims.
Conmen and charlatans were quick to take advantage of the public’s ignorance
and started selling sugar pills, marketed as “Anti-Comet pills”
that were said to be an “elixir for escaping the wrath of the heavens”,
with one voodoo doctor in Haiti noting that he was selling the placebo as fast as he could make them.
Two Texans were arrested after it was found that they were selling the miracle comet cure,
but they were released after their customers demanded their freedom.
A shepherd in Washington became so worried at earth’s impending doom
that he gradually went insane and churches were overflowing with concerned parishioners.
But when the comet passed by without incident, Flammarion stuck to his story,
stating that some observers had suffered olfactory experiences which were described
as the smell of acetylene, burning vegetables or a marsh.
He did, however, not offer an explanation as to why all of humanity wasn’t wiped out.
4.
The Stasi
Most of us have made peace with the fact that our data isn’t as safe as we initially
thought and the likelihood that some of our conversations are being eavesdropped on.
But we aren’t the first generations to face this problem.
One of the most intrusive surveillance organizations in history, known as the Stasi
(stah zee), or the Ministry for State Security in the German Democratic Republic, was only brought
to a halt in March of 1990 when it was dissolved, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In order to identify any member of the public who may be a threat,
the Stasi’s goal was to gather knowledge about what people said and did on a daily
basis and to then use that information to control and manipulate the population.
At least one employee at virtually every business
was selected to be an informant for the organisation and they were tasked with
reporting on any suspicious activity or conversations that they observed.
Some informants reported on their own family members, letters were steamed open
to gain access to their contents, disguises, including fake moustaches were handed out;
cameras were hidden in cigarette packs, apartment walls or in items of clothing such as ties.
Some people’s homes were fitted with listening devices and cameras while they were out,
phones were tapped and people who were considered as suspicious were followed wherever they went.
All in all, the organisation employed more than 200,000 unofficial informants with
hundreds of thousands more “part time” moles doing their bidding on occasion.
Needless to say that all of this information wasn’t being stored in any type of digital format
and hence, the Staci archives located in Berlin
holds files containing information on more than 6 million citizens. It is believed that a file
was kept on one in every three people who lived in East Germany at the time.
The archive is accessible by members of the public who have described seeing photos of their own
bedrooms, record collections and other inane aspects of their daily lives still being held
there. 2.75 people have requested to see their own files and many were shocked to learn that the
Stasi had information on conversations that they had with family members, friends and colleagues.
Some found that their own family members had been blackmailed into becoming part of the network.
But in December of 1989, East German citizens had had enough and they stormed
the Leipzig Stasi offices, putting an end to its surveillance campaign for good.
3. The Stanford Prison Experiment
In August of 1971, 24 men living in Palo Alto, California, were arrested for robbery and burglary
and taken to the Palo Alto police station where they were processed before being transported
to Stanford University where a simulated prison environment had been prepared.
But they were not being held against their will,
as they were willing participants in the Stanford Prison Experiment which would go on to become one
of the most chilling studies ever carried out in the history of social psychology.
Participants were drafted through an ad that was placed in the want section of the Palo Alto
Times and the Stanford Daily newspapers. In all, 24 men with no criminal history
were accepted to participate in the 2-week study. In turn, they received $15 per day.
Fake guards were given uniforms and equipment to simulate a prison environment as closely as
possible and prison cells were created to measure 6 x 9 feet,
holding three of the men, each with their own cot.
On the first morning after reaching the university,
the prisoners ignored the guards’ orders to wake up;
they refused to leave their cells and wouldn’t eat out in the yard. Guards were insulted,
causing them to spray the inmates with fire extinguishers in order to gain control once more.
All of the prisoners’ clothes and mattresses were confiscated and the main instigators got time in
The Hole. The following day, three prisoners who only had small roles in the rebellion were
rewarded with clothing, beds and food while these comforts were denied to the others.
Other prisoners were ordered to do push-ups and denied bathroom privileges.
One prisoner started showing signs of a mental breakdown when he started screaming uncontrollably
and he was set free. On day 4, prisoners started distancing themselves from one another,
as some believed those who were rewarded to be snitches and the “good” prisoners
saw the rioters as a threat to their comforts, such as their sleeping cots.
Another inmate broke down that day, crying in his cell and he was set free after he refused
to talk to a priest. On day 5, friends and family were allowed to visit the inmates for
10 minutes at a time. They were shocked to find that the guards were abusing inmates,
forcing them to wear bags on their heads and many promised to return with lawyers.
On day 6, the study was cancelled due to the growing concerns from family members and the
increasing brutality of the guards. The men were all given 14 days’ worth of pay and sent home and
today, the experiment is often referred to when explaining the theory of cognitive dissonance.
2. The Hoer Verde Mystery
In February of 1923, the town of Hoer Verde in Brazil would take its place in the annals of
unexplained historical mysteries when residents of a small nearby village noticed that the daily
shipment of trade, which travelled to them from the town, had not arrived as scheduled.
It was uncommon for the boat to be delayed, but the villagers waited nonetheless,
until they realized that it wasn’t coming at all. They figured that something must be
very wrong and decided to travel to the town to see for themselves and at the very least,
find out what had caused the delay and bring their trade items to the town to be sold.
They expected to be greeted warmly, as was the custom between the two villages,
but instead they saw that the boat was still tied down
with no one aboard and the dock completely empty. The town seemed, from that distance,
to also be uncharacteristically quiet and they decided to investigate further.
When they ventured into town, they found it completely empty and noticed some homes
were left with their doors open, tables set for meals but with their occupants missing.
They walked to the town’s school where they found a recently fired firearm lying on the ground.
Inside one of the classrooms, a message had been written on the chalkboard that read:
“There is no salvation”, but none of the town’s residents were located. The following day,
a search was started but no further clues were ever found and the town remained eerily quiet.
Some people theorized that the villagers had fled due to a guerilla attack, but there were no signs
of panic or a struggle. Others believed that the residents had been abducted by extraterrestrials,
since they found it hard to believe that 600 people could simply vanish,
but to this day, the townspeople’s disappearance remains a historical mystery.
1.
Isidore
Fink
Isidore (is a door) Fink became the subject of a historical mystery
in 1929 when he was found deceased in his apartment in New York City.
Fink was a Polish immigrant who had moved to America shortly after World War I.
He managed to save enough money to open a laundry business
on East 123rd Street and the property also served as his home. On the 9th of March,
he had returned to his apartment after delivering laundry to some of his customers
and locked himself inside, since he was wary of a spate of robberies that had occurred in the area.
He was said to have joked with some of his customers that he would be robbed
of everything he owned one day, but that they would have a tough job of getting into his home.
At around 10pm, his neighbor, Mrs. Locklan Smith, reported to Harlem police that
she had heard a series of quick “pops” coming from Fink’s place, followed by a loud thud.
When police arrived, they found that the door was locked from the inside. They tried to gain access
through a small window above the door, but found that it had been nailed shut from the inside. They
decided to smash the window, but even that was too small for an average-sized adult to fit through.
And so, they asked a young boy to climb through the window to unlock the door and let them in.
Inside, they found that Fink had been attacked with a firearm
and he had been hit three times, twice in the chest and once in the left wrist.
The apartment and the surrounding area were searched, but no weapon was ever found
and after an investigation was conducted, the only fingerprints found in the apartment belonged
to Fink himself. This left investigators baffled as it was impossible for anyone to lock the door
and nail the window shut from the outside.
Nothing was missing from the apartment, including money that Fink had in his pocket
and so, robbery was dismissed as a motive. Fink couldn’t have taken his own life,
as the damage to his body was inconsistent with this theory. No further clues were ever found,
no one was arrested and the demise of Isidore Fink remains an unsolved historical mystery.