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Beth Elias - Lists at Ranker

Supernatural & Paranormal

In 1946,&nbsp;<a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-jpl-rocket-scientist-jack-parsons/lyra-radford?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Jack Parsons</a> and L. Ron Hubbard attempted to usher a mystical, feminine goddess into the world through a magical fornication ritual. Known as the Babalon Working, these ceremonies drew inspiration from Aleister Crowley&#39;s novel,&nbsp;Moonchild,&nbsp;and attempted to use intimate&nbsp;magic between Parsons and a woman to conceive a spirit-world child&nbsp;who could thus usher in the otherwordly goddess, Babalon.&nbsp;

The story of the Babalon Working almost seems like a myth in itself - more unbelievable than Crowley&#39;s Thelema religion or the rituals of the Ordo Templi Orientis organization. While the notion is far-fetched, a&nbsp;rocket scientist and the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/horrible-l-ron-hubbard-facts/lea-rose-emery" target="_blank">eventual creator of Scientology</a>&nbsp;did partake in a two-week ritual, using chants and&nbsp;reproductive fluids to marshal Babalon into creation. Though Scientologists have attempted to scrub Hubbard&#39;s involvement in black magic from public memory, he was not only present at the ceremonies but&nbsp;presided&nbsp;over them. And though Parsons may not receive proper credit&nbsp;for being the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-jpl-rocket-scientist-jack-parsons/lyra-radford" target="_blank">father of modern-day rocket science</a>, the black magician was also responsible for launching rockets into space.

Inside The Babalon Working, L. Ron Hubbard's Magic Sex Rituals That Conjured A Mystical Goddess

General

Inside The Creepy Black Magic Sex Ritual, Babalon Work That Brought A Feminine Beast Into Our Realm

Beth Elias

Myths & Legends

If you haven&#39;t been watching The Curse of Oak Island,&nbsp;you&#39;ve been missing out on a wild goose chase that&#39;s been going on for over 200 years off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. Multiple crews of treasure hunters have set out to find what&#39;s buried on Oak Island - the Ark of the Covenant, Marie Antoinette&#39;s jewels, a pirate&#39;s loot - no one knows for sure. Some speculate it&#39;s the treasure of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/knights-templar-theories/morgan-deane" target="_blank">Knights Templar</a> on Oak Island, while others suspect&nbsp;Sir Francis Bacon buried proof that he was the one who wrote William Shakespeare&#39;s plays. Based on a mysterious secret inscription found in a sinkhole, many refer to the spot as the &quot;Money Pit.&quot;&nbsp;

But is there actual&nbsp;treasure buried on Oak Island? Brothers Rick and Marty Lagina decided to find out, so they reportedly bought a controlling interest in the island&nbsp;to dig for treasure. The History Channel became interested in the brother&#39;s quest, and The Curse of Oak Island&nbsp;premiered in 2014.

Although the brothers haven&#39;t dug up anything all that exciting, the long history of the island provides&nbsp;enough proof to keep the men risking their lives in search of a mysterious treasure.&nbsp;The justification for the search is only one of many reasons why you need to watch&nbsp;The Curse of Oak Island.&nbsp;

'The Curse Of Oak Island' Is The Wildest Show You Need To Watch Right Now

TV Program

You Need To Watch 'The Curse Of Oak Island' Right Now

In 2013, Geraldine &quot;Gerry&quot;&nbsp;Largay, a 66-year-old former nurse from Brentwood, TN,&nbsp;went missing after going on&nbsp;a hike on the more-than-2,100-mile Appalachian Trail.&nbsp;She was supposed to meet her husband, George, three days&nbsp;after she went through a remote area of the trail - but she never showed up. Largay had gone off the path to relieve herself and never found her way back, joining the ranks of hikers <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/national-park-disappearances/mel-judson" target="_blank">who have disappeared</a> on the Appalachian Trail.

Largay&#39;s disappearance launched the biggest search mission in Maine&#39;s history, and intensive efforts endured&nbsp;for months. She <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/26/hiker-who-went-missing-on-appalachian-trail-survived-26-days-before-dying" target="_blank">survived 26 days</a> before passing in her sleeping bag due to starvation and exposure to the elements.&nbsp;Two years later, Largay&#39;s campsite and remains were found;&nbsp;Largay&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/lost-hikers-near-civilization/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">was unknowingly only&nbsp;a few miles</a> from the trail.&nbsp;

Largay&#39;s&nbsp;story&nbsp;is somewhat different from&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-appalachian-trail-stories/jacobybancroft" target="_blank">other Appalachian Trail&nbsp;tales</a> of lives lost&nbsp;along the route -&nbsp;Largay left behind a journal and messages to her family that provide haunting and heartfelt details about her final days.&nbsp;

A Hiker Died While Hiking The Appalachian Trail - And Her Final Journal Entries Are Haunting

Person

A Hiker Died While Hiking The Appalachian Trail - And Her Journal Entries From Her Final Days Are Haunting

Gross

Do you ever wonder where roadkill goes? As a child, you may have imagined those prostrate animals on the highway were just sleeping, but now you know better.&nbsp;In fact, if you hit a deer or other small animal with your car as an adult, you&nbsp;likely realize you fatally doomed the poor creature or injured it for life.

There are people who properly deal with roadkill in a variety of ways, though. Some&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/best-carcass-photos-twitter-challenge/eric-vega" target="_blank">animal carcasses</a> look as hauntingly beautiful in death as they did in life, and&nbsp;some&nbsp;deceased creatures&nbsp;even&nbsp;contribute to animal&nbsp;research.

These facts about roadkill will blow your mind and possibly&nbsp;make you a bit more careful on the road.

Everything You've Been Too Scared To Ask About What Happens To Roadkill

Animal/Plant

To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub, For what if someone (or something) terrible is waiting inside your closet, or lying under your bed, or kneeling on your chest?

While You Were Sleeping

Health

If you snore, you may be embarrassed about it or reluctant to look into bulky CPAP&nbsp;masks as a means to prevent breathing problems. The health risks associated with snoring are serious, though, and it&#39;s important to find&nbsp;out whether you&#39;re just snoring or if you have sleep apnea.&nbsp;Likewise, if you&#39;re <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-sleep/coy-jandreau" target="_blank">sleeping</a>&nbsp;next to someone who snores, you may be motivated to help them&nbsp;regulate their night-time breathing. Health risks associated with sleep apnea - or even light snoring - should be a wake-up call&nbsp;to seek help for yourself or a loved one.&nbsp;

Though sleep apnea and snoring are different things, both are disruptive to the snorer&#39;s <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-happens-to-your-body-when-you-sleep/laura-allan" target="_blank">sleep</a>&nbsp;and those who have to listen to them. As to why you snore, it could be congestion, a deviated septum, or some other&nbsp;airway obstruction, which then leads&nbsp;to impeded breathing.

If you aren&#39;t sure if your snoring is sleep apnea, there are simple tests you can find online to determine what kind of snoring you&#39;re experiencing. Or you can get a sleep study done to ensure you have nothing to worry about,&nbsp;as even light snoring may be a cause for concern. Either way, there are simple things you can do to alleviate your snoring without medical intervention, like&nbsp;cutting back on drinking, losing weight, or even altering your&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/meanings-behind-sleeping-positions/erin-mccann" target="_blank">sleeping position</a>.&nbsp;

Snoring Isn't Just Annoying, It Can Also Be Dangerous

Disease or medical condition

Lists about fascinating, icky, sometimes funny things going on inside our own bodies.

What's Happening Inside You

Maybe you&#39;ve sat&nbsp;on the couch and binged&nbsp;your favorite TV show for six hours, or maybe you slept in a weird position, but&nbsp;when&nbsp;you tried&nbsp;to move your arm or leg, something happened.&nbsp;It felt&nbsp;as if you had a <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/phantom-limb-syndrome-amputated-limbs/kellen-perry" target="_blank">phantom limb</a>; it felt like it was&nbsp;there but it was&nbsp;unresponsive and numb, and within a few seconds, the numbness turned&nbsp;into a combined sensation of heat and pain.&nbsp;

The medical name for this sensation&nbsp;is paresthesia, but most know it as a limb&nbsp;&quot;falling&nbsp;asleep.&quot;&nbsp;It&#39;s a common sensation, unlike&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-rare-skin-diseases-and-dermatological-conditions/diseases-and-medications-info" target="_blank">rare skin diseases</a>&nbsp;or other bodily sensations, but not many know what causes the tingling feeling in limbs when they fall asleep -&nbsp;or&nbsp;why it hurts so much. Though it can be painful and alarming, there&#39;s usually&nbsp;no need for concern.

Why Our Limbs 'Fall Asleep' And Why It's So Painful

Animals

Pablo Escobar:&nbsp;kingpin and...&nbsp;animal lover? In the 1980s, Escobar&#39;s zoo at Hacienda N&aacute;poles&nbsp;took shape, filled with exotic&nbsp;animals, including&nbsp;hippos. The zoo was only functional for about 10 years before the Colombian government claimed it, but during its heyday, Escobar allowed locals to explore it for free. He even bussed children to the zoo.

Today, however, those hippos are causing quite the uproar in Colombia. While hippos aren&#39;t native to South America, that hasn&#39;t stopped them from making a home in Colombia, wandering away from Hacienda N&aacute;poles,&nbsp;and multiplying quickly. These hippos haven&#39;t hurt anyone yet, but it&#39;s likely only a matter of time before these sometimes&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/killer-hippos-are-dangerous/mariel-loveland" target="_blank">dangerous animals</a> get too close to humans for comfort.

Pablo Escobar's Hippos Are Breeding Out Of Control, And It's Becoming A Problem

Pablo Escobar's Hippos Are Breeding Out Of Control And It's Becoming A Problem

Amateur sleuths and Internet detectives: Now's your chance to prove your skills. Solve these real unsolved cases, then alert the police so they can put these babies to bed.

Can You Solve These Mysteries?

True Crime

Stacey Ann Arras was only 14 years old when she&nbsp;vanished&nbsp;without a trace inside Yosemite National Park in 1981. To this day, her disappearance remains unsolved. Though Yosemite National Park has been the site of other people going missing and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-yosemite-stories/lyra-radford" target="_blank">creepy occurrences</a>,&nbsp;Arras&#39;s case is especially eerie given the startling lack of evidence.&nbsp;

Due to the mysterious circumstances surrounding the event, some people believe there were supernatural forces at play.&nbsp;And while there is probably a scientific or&nbsp;rational explanation for what happened to Stacey Ann Arras on July 17, 1981, the reality of her departure remains as haunting as any paranormal mystery.&nbsp;

The Strange Case Of A Girl That Vanished From Yosemite National Park

Stacy Ann Arras Yosemite Theories: What Really Happened On July 17, 1981

Interesting

Though love is frequently touted as a cure-all to your ailments, it turns out being single could be better for your health.&nbsp;

The health <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/benefits-of-being-single/lauren-slocum" target="_blank">benefits of the single life</a>&nbsp;range from less debt and stress to having stronger friendships, which are vital to remaining healthy as we age. Single people also report feeling like they have grown and developed more psychologically over time than married folks. Stress is linked to many physical conditions, as it increases cortisol and inflammation, two factors in everything ranging from cancer to autoimmune diseases.&nbsp;

So, don&#39;t pity your single friends - or yourself, for that matter. Being in a relationship doesn&#39;t guarantee a full life&nbsp;that benefits your health, and being <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/how-to-be-single-and-happy/justin-hussong" target="_blank">single</a> doesn&#39;t doom you to misery.&nbsp;

Think Being Single Sucks? It Could Actually Mean You're Healthier Than Those In Relationships

Lifestyle

Being a woman is&nbsp;a potential health hazard.&nbsp;On top of other&nbsp;problems -&nbsp;periods, childbirth, the pink tax, fighting for equal pay -&nbsp;women are also more susceptible to numerous health conditions, particularly autoimmune diseases.&nbsp;

For many of the medical conditions more common in women than men, the differences in risk are striking. Sometimes, women are 60% more likely to get a condition, and often, modern medicine doesn&#39;t have an answer why, even taking into account <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/differences-between-male-and-female-human-biology/kellen-perry" target="_blank">differences in biology</a>.&nbsp;

Hormones are often to blame when there is a scientific explanation for&nbsp;why women are at a higher risk of certain diseases.&nbsp;Changes in hormone levels, whether at puberty, after childbirth, or due to menopause, can all trigger the onset of many serious health conditions.&nbsp;

These Diseases Affect Women More Than Men

In the middle of the ocean, no one can hear you scream. 

Out to Sea

The Sea

If you&#39;re itching to explore the deep seas in hopes of&nbsp;finding a lost treasure or new marine friends, you&#39;ll have to learn to scuba dive. Scuba diving can be a safe and rewarding hobby - if you follow certain precautions - but it can also turn deadly for those renegades wanting to jump into the water without proper training.&nbsp;

For mere mortals who need&nbsp;to breathe air, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/worst-scuba-diving-accidents/jacobybancroft" target="_blank">scuba diving</a> can present several dangers. Some are obvious (sharks) and others not (O2 supply). If you haven&#39;t gone scuba diving before, keep in mind the activity&nbsp;involves a lot more than putting on a mask and wetsuit. There are computers and lots of equipment to master, which sounds simple when you&#39;re landlocked, but&nbsp;a multitude of stressful issues may occur&nbsp;underwater. Before signing up for a diving course, brush up on some of the avoidable disasters that can happen under the surface.

Here Are All The Things That Could Go Wrong While Scuba Diving

Trending on Ranker

Long before Hugh Hefner and his guests&nbsp;in the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-living-in-the-playboy-mansion-was-like/rebecca-shortall" target="_blank">Playboy Mansion</a> graced television reality shows, women known as &quot;Bunnies&quot; served as the waitstaff in Hefner&#39;s clubs. Bunnies&nbsp;were distinct from Playmates, and&nbsp;clubs carefully vetted women for elite roles&nbsp;in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York&nbsp;and London. Rare in the 1960s, Playboy Bunnies were afforded a largely unprecedented level of financial independence, and many were able to save enough money to purchase their own homes.

Playboy Bunny jobs were competitive;&nbsp;hundreds of girls often interviewed for the handful of available positions. Hires were trained intensely using&nbsp;the <a href="https://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_playboy_club_bunny_manual_of_1968" target="_blank">&quot;Bunny Manual&quot;</a> and outfitted with their uniforms. However,&nbsp;as glamorous as the job could be, there were downsides. Bunnies were <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/10/history-of-the-playboy-bunny-suit/541929/" target="_blank">subjected to strict rules</a>, such as daily weigh-ins and strict appearance standards.&nbsp;Not abiding by the rules could get a Bunny fired&nbsp;or, at the very least, have her pay docked.

Despite exposes and tell-alls about being a Bunny, many former <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/former-playboy-bunny-jennifer-bassey-memories-2017-9" target="_blank">Bunnies have fond memories</a> of their time at the Playboy Club during its early years and saw&nbsp;it as an introduction to an entirely new world and way of life.&nbsp;

What It Was Like To Be One Of The First Playboy Bunnies In The Heyday Of The Playboy Club

History Of The Playboy Club: What Life Was Like For The Playboy Bunnies

From 1985 to 2000,&nbsp;Thomas Sweatt terrorized the Washington, DC, metro area. He was a serial arsonist, and his&nbsp;crimes claimed&nbsp;the lives of three people and caused injuries to many more. When authorities arrested him&nbsp;in 2005 after a two-year manhunt, they charged him&nbsp;with more than 40 fires. However, he has since&nbsp;confessed to 309 additional fires, making Sweatt&nbsp;one of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/worst-arson-attacks-in-history/eric-vega" target="_blank">America's most prolific arsonists</a>.&nbsp;A jury sentenced Sweatt to life in prison, plus 136 years.Sweatt did not face charges for his&nbsp;entire catalog of fires. The judge said at sentencing the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/as-with-most-sociopaths-he-likes-to-brag-an-investigator-recalls-dcs-deadly-serial-arsonist/2018/03/08/730af08c-216d-11e8-94da-ebf9d112159c_story.html?utm_term=.d1a7d5d1d711" target="_blank">charges were</a>&nbsp;&quot;in no way a complete articulation of the crimes that were committed, nor the extent of the harm.&quot;&nbsp;Deemed a sociopath by some, Sweatt&nbsp;seemed eager to brag about his crimes, which is why&nbsp;the public knows&nbsp;the true extent of the fires. Allegedly, the fires provided a sense of sexual gratification and power for Sweatt. He&nbsp;corresponded with a reporter from the Washington City Paper, discussing his crimes and motives in detail.

When Thomas Sweatt Saw Handsome Men, He Followed Them Home And Burned Their Lives Down

Lists about cults around the world, charismatic cult leaders, and warning signs that—uh oh—you might already be in a cult.

Pumpkin, You're In a Cult

What It's Like

Chances are, you've heard the saying &quot;don't drink the&nbsp;Kool-Aid&quot;&nbsp;- which, contrary to popular belief, is technically incorrect since&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/11/stop-saying-drink-the-kool-aid/264957/" target="_blank">the victims actually drank Flavor Aid</a>. The adage refers to Jim Jones, a cult leader who gave his followers cyanide-laced punch, resulting in the&nbsp;mass murder-suicide of more than&nbsp;900 people.The Jonestown cult started&nbsp;as the Peoples Temple, in which Jim Jones preached racial equality and an end to segregation, and even <a href="https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=33222" target="_blank">won awards</a> for his civil rights work. However, as Jones's teachings got out of hand, by including fake healings and violent outbursts, the Peoples Temple took a different turn.&nbsp;Jones and his loyalists started Jonestown as a sort of paradise, but this notion quickly fell apart. Daily life in Jonestown was not idyllic; the compound struggled to feed and house the exodus of church followers. Brutal beatings, disturbing &quot;suicide rehearsals,&quot; and Jones's increasing paranoia compelled people to defect from the cult. After hearing complaints from defectors, US Representative Leo Ryan, accompanied by 23 others, traveled to Guyana to investigate.When Ryan attempted to rescue church members and board a plane, Jones unleashed gunmen on them. At this point, the mass murder-suicide began. Some allege loyalists forcibly injected poison into those who refused to drink the deadly punch. Jones himself didn't drink the Flavor Aid&nbsp;and died from a - likely self-inflicted -&nbsp;<a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/surviving-a-headshot/travis-morgan?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">gunshot to the head</a>.

What Life Was Like In The Peoples Temple Cult Before The Jonestown Massacre Killed Over 900 People

Jonestown Before The Suicide: What Life Was Really Like

True Stories

Ah, Publix. Maybe&nbsp;you&#39;re&nbsp;a Southerner devoted to&nbsp;the Publix grocery chain. Or&nbsp;you&#39;ve&nbsp;made it a tradition to stop there&nbsp;on family vacations to Florida. But even if you&#39;ve never heard of Publix, you&#39;ll enjoy hearing what Publix employees have to say about what it&#39;s like to be a worker who&nbsp;deals with the market masses&nbsp;daily.

The public at Publix do some bizarre things.&nbsp;Not surprisingly, plenty of Publix horror stories litter&nbsp;wild Reddit threads, shared by&nbsp;employees&nbsp;regularly abused by customers.

The Most Entertaining Crime-Adjacent Stories From Publix, Grocery Icon Of The Southern United States

12 Real Publix Employees Share Their Craziest Customer Stories

Lists for horror-hounds who get their kicks by having paid professionals scare the bejesus out of them until they literally beg for mercy.

Chills & Thrills

Horror

If you&#39;re over the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-escape-rooms/erin-wisti" target="_blank">escape room</a> trend, don&#39;t worry - you can always pay to have yourself kidnapped. For some, it&#39;s the ultimate adrenaline-pumping experience.

Multiple services, including <a href="http://www.extremekidnapping.com/" target="_blank">Extreme Kidnapping</a>, allow&nbsp;people to arrange their very own kidnapping&nbsp;experience or fantasy. Henchmen or an all-women team can take you when you least expect it, and you&#39;ll then undergo... well, anything you&#39;ve chosen. You could be waterboarded, stunned, be bound and gagged, or anything else. The experience can last a few hours or a few days.&nbsp;

These services are perfectly legal, and you can have a safe word to end the experience early if it gets to be too intense. However, police and mental health professionals see this kind of fantasy experience as troubling, and say that those who partake in it could potentially suffer long-term consequences.&nbsp;

Inside Extreme Kidnapping, The Service You Pay To Abduct You

Extreme Kidnapping: What Paying To Get Kidnapped Is Like

Psycho Killers

Anyone who regularly watches the news has likely observed&nbsp;the phenomenon: Violent incidents&nbsp;seem to come in waves, almost like a domino effect. But do mass shootings and the subsequent news coverage inspire&nbsp;other crimes?&nbsp;It could be a combination, but the truth is that we don&#39;t fully understand the link between the media and violence. The&nbsp;idea, known as &quot;media contagion,&quot; has plenty of anecdotal evidence. Many shooters -&nbsp;particularly school shooters -&nbsp;explicitly point to others&#39; past crimes as inspiration&nbsp;or&nbsp;blueprints for their own violent acts.

Those inclined to commit mass violence have other factors in common, too. <a href="https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2016/08/media-contagion.aspx" target="_blank">Research shows</a>&nbsp;they&nbsp;are typically white males&nbsp;who identify as loners or outsiders and feel wronged by&nbsp;society. Detailed news coverage of mass shootings and other crimes could influence this type of person. Whether the media plants the seed or fertilizes it is unclear - there isn&#39;t much research on the copycat effect or media contagion due to the US government&#39;s&nbsp;moratorium on funding&nbsp;research concerning gun violence.

The Psychology Behind Copycat Killers: Media Contagion

The Media Causes Mass Shootings: The Copycat Killer Effect

Organized Crime

Whether you love&nbsp;Mob Wives&nbsp;or&nbsp;The Godfather (and you no doubt enjoy at least one), the organization holds an allure for many on the outside. <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/mafia-nicknames/amylindorff" target="_blank">Mafia lore</a> and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/how-lemons-led-to-criminal-organizations/beth-elias" target="_blank">mob history</a>&nbsp;have long inspired everything from entertainment to the creation of unions to legal policy framework.&nbsp;Though Rudy Giuliani allegedly took out the American mafia, the Five Families, and the Commission in the 1980s, many say <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/things-the-mafia-controls/philgibbons" target="_blank">the mob is still active</a> throughout the world. Certainly, different countries possess their own iterations of the mob, but even in the US the institution still holds power.&nbsp;These Redditors claim to have encountered it&nbsp;-&nbsp;and lived to tell their tales on the internet.&nbsp;

Disturbing Stories From People Who Have Actually Encountered The Mafia

13 Normal People Share Their True Stories About Mafia Encounters

It's&nbsp;a tourist hotspot in Estonia now, but in the not-so-distant past, the town of Rummu&nbsp;housed a prison. Given&nbsp;the facility's&nbsp;proximity to a limestone quarry, Rummu&nbsp;prisoners often <a href="http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/rummu-underwater-prison" target="_blank">provided free labor</a>&nbsp;there; they mined the rocks at the Soviet Union's behest.&nbsp;However, in 1991, the Soviet Union lost&nbsp;Estonia, and the prison was shut down.&nbsp;In the ensuing years, both the quarry and prison became overrun by quickly rising groundwater; a lake now sits on the site. On nature's odd whim, many&nbsp;of the original machines and buildings were swallowed whole by water.Now, however, divers and tourists seek out the eerie lake to&nbsp;take creepy underwater <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-pictures-of-abandoned-amusement-parks/jordan-love" target="_blank">photos</a> of the sunken prison structures. They explore Rummu's&nbsp;underwater labyrinth&nbsp;and leap off the tips of structures that aren't completely covered.&nbsp;Though the water isn't deep, signs discourage visitors from swimming. But even if you only plan to visit for a picnic, you're still destined to have an interesting time.

There Is An Abandoned Prison Where People Worked And Perished For Decades - And Now It's Underwater

19 Hauntingly Beautiful Underwater Photos of Rummu Prison

Laws. They're what separate us from the animals. Well, most of us.

Legal Matters

What is Megan&#39;s Law? It created the state sex offender registry, requiring offenders to report to local law enforcement and remain monitored, often for life.&nbsp;Sex offender&nbsp;laws derive from&nbsp;tragedy -&nbsp;with names like Megan&#39;s Law, the Jacob Wetterling Act, and Jessica&#39;s Law - and seek to provide justice for horrific crimes. So while few doubt the need for these laws, many question their scope, as current legislation tends to treat&nbsp;all offenders equally.

Take, for instance, the so-called &quot;<a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/romeo-and-juliet-laws-what-they-mean-3533768" target="_blank">Romeo and Juliet</a>&quot; scenario, where an 18-year-old high school senior has consensual sex with his girlfriend, a 15-year-old high school sophomore, in a state where the age of consent is 16. Is this as egregious&nbsp;as a 45-year-old man who abducts&nbsp;and rapes&nbsp;a child? In the eyes of the law, those two sets of offenders often appear&nbsp;the same.

Many believe Megan&#39;s Law is a step towards justice, but others claim it&nbsp;has flaws.&nbsp;It&nbsp;fails to recognize most children endure&nbsp;abuse&nbsp;by someone they know, not a stranger. This&nbsp;fact alone makes it unlikely a registry would save a child&#39;s life. In the case of youthful offenders, meanwhile, a number of them don&#39;t go on to commit crimes as an adult.

Regardless of the issues, Megan&#39;s Law has brought about some serious consequences for offenders.

The Details And Controversies Of Megan’s Law, Explained

13 Things You Should Know About Megan's Law

On April 26, 1986, an accident in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR, caused a blast & fires that released at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere, contaminating everything around it for years.

Chernobyl

Pets

In 1986, tragedy struck the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine when the Unit 4 reactor failed, spewing nuclear waste and radiation throughout the nearby city of Pripyat. The Soviet Union <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/04/visiting-chernobyl-32-years-after-the-disaster/559016/" target="_blank">evacuated&nbsp;120,000 people</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;established what&#39;s now known as the Exclusion Zone, covering 1,000 square miles. Those forced out of their homes&nbsp;had to leave behind their pets. And like&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/first-responders-at-chernobyl/mariel-loveland" target="_blank">first responders to the disaster</a>, these dogs and other animals were subject to radiation.&nbsp;

Over 30 years later, <a href="https://www.spcai.org/news/press/suffering-dogs-will-be-rescued-chernobyl-nuclear-exclusion-zone-and-available-adoption/" target="_blank">hundreds of stray dogs</a> live&nbsp;in and around the power plant, along with&nbsp;scores of other <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/strange-chernobyl-radioactive-animals/cynthia-griffith" target="_blank">animals that call Chernobyl home</a>.&nbsp;Though efforts have been made to cull the canine population, the&nbsp;dogs of Chernobyl&nbsp;still prove&nbsp;remarkably hardy. Now, they&#39;re getting a chance to live in&nbsp;loving homes, thanks to the efforts of multiple nonprofit organizations devoted to animal welfare. In 2017, organizations began offering the Chernobyl&nbsp;dogs medical attention. And in summer 2018, two groups brought the first batch of dogs&nbsp;to the United States to experience life outside the Exclusion Zone.

Hundreds Of Dogs And Puppies Live In Chernobyl - And You Can Adopt One

Hundreds Of Dogs And Puppies Live In Chernobyl—And You Can Adopt One

Easter Eggs

Though you may associate Easter eggs in music with metal bands, the idea of songs with a hidden or subliminal message&nbsp;spans all genres. While the usual suspects,&nbsp;such as <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/ozzy-osbourne/1742531" target="_blank">Ozzy Osbourne</a>&nbsp;and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/judas-priest/1330487" target="_blank">Judas Priest</a>, make the list, the most famous instances of adding messages into songs come&nbsp;from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/the-beatles/2176463" target="_blank">the Beatles</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp;fans claim you can find <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/hidden-messages-in-popular-movies/lisa-a-flowers" target="_blank">hidden messages</a> on several Fab Four&nbsp;songs.&nbsp;

A few of these secret messages&nbsp;supposedly caused people to commit suicide; others prompted conspiracy theories that remain popular today (&quot;Paul is dead,&quot; anyone?); others still are just plain creepy. And then there&#39;s the usual &quot;backwards-masking&quot;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/satanic-songs/christopher-shultz" target="_blank">calls to Satan,</a> of course.&nbsp;

Hey, even <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/prince/1837662?ref=tags" target="_blank">Prince</a> and The Eagles supposedly put hidden messages in their songs. You can check out of the Hotel California any time you like, but you can never leave -&nbsp;particularly if you listen to classic rock radio.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Most Terrifying Easter Eggs Hidden Inside Songs

The Most Terrifying Easter Eggs Hidden Inside Albums

Addiction

Decades have passed since the war on drugs began, yet many Americans across the country continue to see their communities ravaged by heroin and other opiates. Some critics of the war on drugs point to one controversial,&nbsp;animal-based experiment&nbsp;known as the Rat Park study, saying this experiment is partly to blame for the exacerbated effect of the so-called war.The basis of the Rat Park study: a&nbsp;Canadian professor and researcher, Bruce Alexander, took two groups of rats and placed one&nbsp;in solitary confinement with access to two water bottles -&nbsp;one&nbsp;laced with drugs. Another group resided together in &quot;Rat Park,&quot; basically a rat paradise where they had access to the two water bottles, as well as to&nbsp;partners, toys,&nbsp;and food.Alexander learned the group in the park generally chose the non-laced bottle, while the&nbsp;solitary&nbsp;rats became morphine addicts. Alexander concluded the common <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/animals-that-get-drunk-and-do-drugs/michaelgraff" target="_blank">understanding of drugs at the time</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp;that the chemical makeup of drugs causes anyone to get addicted -&nbsp;was wrong, and that environment proved as significant.Some in the medical and psychological communities&nbsp;say Alexander's study perpetuated false&nbsp;ideas about addiction. But many experts now surmise it's&nbsp;more accurate to say that while Alexander was wrong to pin addiction on a sole cause -&nbsp;in his case, environment -&nbsp;he still provided a valuable piece to the puzzle of addiction. A living being's surroundings do affect their propensity to become addicted to drugs, but the&nbsp;chemical makeup of drugs and other factors are&nbsp;also vital to understanding how one becomes an addict.&nbsp;Regardless, the&nbsp;Rat Park study and&nbsp;subsequent conversations about it provide&nbsp;a useful lens&nbsp;with which to view <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/how-and-why-richard-nixon-invented-the-war-on-drugs/stephanroget" target="_blank">America's&nbsp;war on drugs</a>.&nbsp;

These Doctors Gave Rats Morphine - And Changed The Way We Talk About Drugs

Drug

This Canadian Professor Gave Rats Morphine To Study Addiction

Tips

As safe as you&nbsp;try to be, you could still&nbsp;run into trouble. Luckily, you can learn&nbsp;how to survive an armed robbery. Sometimes the assailant only wants your money, not your life.&nbsp;

So, what do you do if someone points a gun at you? Be sure to remain calm. This advice&nbsp;is challenging, but following it can raise your chances of walking away unharmed.&nbsp;Of course, it&#39;s also beneficial to develop safe habits and&nbsp;try to avoid an armed robbery in the first place. Avoiding visibly aggressive people, walking with a friend, and being aware of your surroundings are all common sense ways to protect yourself before tragedy strikes.&nbsp;

It&#39;s probably not wise to fly off the handle, immediately become aggressive, or whip out a weapon, either. You don&#39;t want to antagonize the attacker.

Experts Share Advice For Being Held At Gunpoint

12 Experts Share Advice For Being Held At Gunpoint

The suavely portrayed organized crime ring in The Godfather was allegedly predicated on a cultural zest for lemons. Dating back to Sicily in the mid-1800s, the relationship between lemons&nbsp;and the Italian Mafia emerged&nbsp;when a&nbsp;weak, corrupt government and a highly profitable fruit market led to an opportunity for&nbsp;extortion. This situation also contributed to the so-called protectionism measures for which&nbsp;the Sicilian Mafia -&nbsp;Cosa Nostra - is still known.&nbsp;It may seem strange <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/foods-that-started-wars/laura-allan" target="_blank">a particular food&nbsp;could spawn conflict</a>&nbsp;and one of&nbsp;the most successful crime organizations in the world. However,&nbsp;it makes sense if you understand the basis for the high global demand for lemons - this citrus fruit&nbsp;helped&nbsp;prevent&nbsp;scurvy. Plus, lemons are challenging to grow, and Sicily's temperate climate proved ideal for cultivating&nbsp;lemons. Citrus producers had to become self-reliant when protecting their groves from opportunistic racketeers, though. Enter the Sicilian Mafia.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/sophisticated-food-crimes/jordan-love" target="_blank">Sophisticated food crimes still crop up</a>&nbsp;now and then, but&nbsp;lemon racketeering is long gone. Regardless, this demand for citrus catalyzed the&nbsp;Sicilian Mafia, which still operates in both Sicily and&nbsp;the United States. Major mob busts in the US occurred in 2011, when&nbsp;the <a href="http://nypost.com/2011/01/21/feds-bust-127-in-biggest-mob-sweep-in-us-history-video/" target="_blank">feds apprehended 127 members</a>, as well as in&nbsp;2016, when <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/05/nyregion/mafia-five-families-racketeering-conspiracy.html" target="_blank">more than 40 associates faced charges</a> for racketeering.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bestofsicily.com/mafia.htm" target="_blank">Sicily continues to fight the Mafia</a>&nbsp;as well, but with variable success.Life handed the Mafia&nbsp;lemons, and they certainly made lemonade -&nbsp;along with&nbsp;a thriving global organization.

How Lemons Gave Rise To One Of The Largest Criminal Organizations

Lists about the most insulting ways so-called "reality" shows lie right to their fans, from fudging details to outright manufacturing entire lives. Open your eyes, sheeple.

That's Not Reality

Discovery&#39;s Naked and Afraid&nbsp;has earned a reputation similar to that of other reality shows.&nbsp;Some contestants claim&nbsp;there are myriad ways the show isn&#39;t real, stating not only were they misrepresented, but that producers aired outright lies. Many contestants have done interviews or Reddit AMAs&nbsp;to share their stories of being in <a href="/list/best-naked-and-afraid-episodes/ranker-tv" target="_blank">Naked and Afraid episodes</a>, hoping to&nbsp;set the record straight about interactions with their partner, the crew, and locals.&nbsp;

If you&#39;ve seen&nbsp;The Bachelor,&nbsp;<a href="/list/deadliest-catch-is-fake/chelsea-harris" target="_blank">Deadliest Catch</a>,&nbsp;or any of the numerous&nbsp;Real Housewives&nbsp;shows, you&#39;ve probably guessed that reality TV is scripted&nbsp;on some level. But Naked and Afraid&nbsp;has apparently faked not only dialogue, but causes of injuries, the sources of&nbsp;contestants&#39; food, and&nbsp;the supposed remoteness of the show&#39;s filming locations.

All The Ways Discovery Channel's 'Naked And Afraid' Duped You

All The Ways Discovery Channel's 'Naked And Afraid' Is Fake

There&#39;s no doubt that living remotely in the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/alaskan-bush-people-fake/donn-saylor" target="_blank">Alaskan bush</a> isn&#39;t a walk in the park. But is the National Geographic channel&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-life-below-zero-seasons/ranker-tv" target="_blank">Life Below Zero</a>&nbsp;accurate? According to some native Alaskans, the show doesn&#39;t portray the reality of Alaska all that well. Criticisms of&nbsp;Life Below Zero&nbsp;mainly center around the fact that most of Alaska is connected to the outside world &mdash;&nbsp;it has wifi, roads, and even Amazon delivery (often by plane, but delivery nonetheless).&nbsp;

One woman who starred on the show ended up suing the production company&nbsp;in 2017, saying that her life was purposefully put in danger; she&#39;s not the first <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/reality-show-contestants-tell-all/lowe-saddler" target="_blank">reality show contestant to come clean</a>&nbsp;with their&nbsp;less-than-stellar experience. Life Below Zero certainly isn&#39;t the first reality show that&#39;s suffered accusations that it was staged or otherwise &quot;unreal.&quot; However, many are all too happy to sign away their rights for a chance at reality fame. That fame often means that Life Below Zero&nbsp;stars aren&#39;t living the tough, remote lives that they perhaps used to &mdash;&nbsp;after all, they are getting paid to be on the show.&nbsp;

Regardless of reality, Sue, Chip, Agnes, and the rest of the gang certainly provide entertainment against the stunning backdrops of Alaska&#39;s wilderness: it just may not be as wild as you think.&nbsp;

Behind The Scenes Facts (Most People Don't Know) About NatGeo's Life Below Zero

Nature/Natural Feature

 NatGeo's Life Below Zero Shows The Harsh Life Of The Alaskan Wild - But Is It Legit?

Nearly 100% of women in Iceland who receive test results indicating their fetus will be born with Down syndrome are choosing to terminate the pregnancy, leading to a near elimination of Down syndrome in Iceland. The number of babies with Down syndrome is going down in many other countries as well.&nbsp;Anti-abortion activists call it eugenics; mothers who have chosen to end a pregnancy with Down syndrome call it complicated. Expectant mothers now have more information than ever about their unborn child, leading to difficult decisions.&nbsp;Those protesting the abortion of fetuses with Down syndrome say an ethical line is being crossed.&nbsp;The facts about Down syndrome show it as a complicated genetic mutation, one that now can be diagnosed early in a pregnancy, along with other diseases and health problems.&nbsp;Though many with Down syndrome are able to live healthy lives, living with Down syndrome isn't easy. Though some will be able to have jobs or marry, others will never live independently.Learn more about why women are choosing to terminate pregnancies if the fetus is likely to have Down syndrome, and the ethical debate behind this decision.&nbsp;

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