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On October 24, 1871, Los Angeles was home to a&nbsp;mass lynching.&nbsp;That night, between 17-20 Chinese men and boys were murdered by a mob of around 500 in a seedy LA neighborhood with an incredibly high murder rate. The event was a product of both the burgeoning Southern California&nbsp;town’s corruption and its deep racism -&nbsp;and the nationwide economic fallout of the post Civil War era.&nbsp;The massacre was sparked after a police officer was killed.&nbsp;On the night in question,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.laweekly.com/news/how-los-angeles-covered-up-the-massacre-of-17-chinese-2169478" target="_blank">Officer Jesus Bilderrain</a> claimed&nbsp;he pursued an unknown Chinese assailant after finding a man named Ah Choy with a gunshot wound in his neck. According to Bilderrain (his account changed many times over the years), he himself was shot by the unknown assailant. It was this gunshot that began a chain reaction of chaos that grew into a mob of 500 Angelenos&nbsp;targeting random, innocent Chinese residents.

Things You Were Never Taught About The Los Angeles Chinese Massacre Of 1871

General

11 Things You Didn't About The Los Angeles Chinese Massacre Of 1871

Talkin

Exploring the strange and fascinating lives of rulers, royals, and royalty all around the world and throughout history.

We Will Never Be Royals

Weird History

They toppled monarchies, caused civil wars, and occasionally lost their head&nbsp;to the guillotine&#39;s blade. Despite their darkest moments, however, members of the aristocracy have fascinated and beguiled&nbsp;us common folk for centuries with their lavish lifestyles. Whether ensconced in the gilded cage that was Versailles, or running amuck <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/most-lavish-dowries-in-history/carly-silver" target="_blank">marrying &quot;cash-for-title&quot;&nbsp;heiresses</a> to keep their castles from crumbling, the European nobility formed privileged ranks.

But how did someone become a noble? It began with military victories in the Middle Ages, then soon turned into a matter of bloodlines,&nbsp;and proceeded to become quite confusing and pretentious after that. While always subservient to their ruler (at least in theory), the nobility has more than once <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/weird-royals-in-history/danielle-ownbey" target="_blank">turned the world on its head</a> and sent history in a totally different direction; how this unique and tightly formed social group came to dominate the world stage for so long is a fascinating story that reaches back through the centuries.

What Did It Actually Mean To Be &quot;The Nobility&quot; In European History?

What Did It Actually Mean To Be "The Nobility" In European History?

Ruth Ellis

Execution by hanging seems like a medieval form of criminal punishment, but the last time a woman was hanged in England was a mere six decades&nbsp;ago. Ruth Ellis publicly murdered her lover—there was no doubt who fired the shots that killed David Blakely on April 10, 1955 in London, England.&nbsp;But&nbsp;much controversy surrounds&nbsp;the murderer’s history and defense. At the time, Ruth was a young mother who had been&nbsp;consistently abused by men her entire life.&nbsp;Her weak legal defense and the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/women-executed-in-the-us/mike-rothschild" target="_blank">severity of her sentencing</a> made the&nbsp;case infamous.&nbsp;Some saw her as a victim, while others thought she was a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-female-serial-killers/reference" target="_blank">cold-blooded killer</a>. Ruth surrendered to her sentencing easily and seemed to believe she got what she deserved.&nbsp;When the judge read the&nbsp;guilty verdict, she replied, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I will hang.”

Remembering The Last Woman In Britain Executed By Public Hanging

After Murdering Her Lover, This Failed Actress Became The Last Woman In Britain To Be Executed By Public Hanging

It's always made the world go-round, but how did people of the past let others know how much they had before the days of fast, shiny cars and cheesy name brand apparel? And why do economies keep collapsing? Study up to see why history repeats itself.

Money Matter$

Tulip

When Bitcoin came screaming back into the public consciousness in late 2017, there was a lot of talk about whether or not <a href="http://fortune.com/2018/01/17/bitcoin-price-crash-regulation/" target="_blank">Bitcoin</a> is an <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/crazy-economic-bubbles/mike-rothschild" target="_blank">economic bubble</a>. The <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/world-of-bitcoin-explained/zack-howe" target="_blank">crypto&nbsp;currency</a> flew under the radar for several years and then all of a sudden it skyrocketed in market value. But what goes up must come down and nowhere was this more evident than the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5ZR0jMlxX0" target="_blank">Tulip Mania</a> which inflamed Europe in the 1630s.Seventeenth Century Amsterdam became a booming international port thanks to the Asian spice trade. Wealthy merchants made their home there and lived in grand mansions surrounded by beautiful flowers to demonstrate their wealth, and naturally they constantly wanted to one up each other. The favored flower became the tulip which came from the East and was considered incredibly exotic by contemporary standards. Their favor among the wealthy built up their worth until they were bought and sold at prices so astronomically above their intrinsic value they were as valuable as diamonds. When everyone finally got their head screwed on straight and realized this was absurd the tulip bubble burst and the rest is history.&nbsp;

This Random Flower Became The Bitcoin of the 1600s And Almost Destroyed An Entire Country

How Tulips Became The Bitcoin of the 1600s

The most bananas stories and insane 100% true tales about the lives and behind-the-music antics of your favorite rock stars and legendary bands.

Freakin' Rock Stars

James Brown

<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-james-brown-albums-list/reference" target="_blank">James Brown</a> will always be remembered as the Godfather of Soul, and one of the greatest musicians of his time.&nbsp;His musical&nbsp;innovations paved the way for new genres, and made him one of the 20th century&rsquo;s most legendary&nbsp;performers. Brown was born in May 1933, and his decades-long music career&nbsp;has left an irreversible&nbsp;impact on the world. Without Brown, we wouldn&#39;t have funk music as we know it today. The man was a force of nature, and he continued to preform and record right up until his passing&nbsp;in 2006 from congestive heart failure.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The innovative&nbsp;artist grew up surrounded by poverty, but he worked tirelessly&nbsp;until he could afford jeweled capes and glittery boots;&nbsp;however, his story is far from idyllic. Brown was one of many <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/celebrities-charged-with-domestic-abuse/celebrity-lists" target="_blank">celebrities involved in domestic&nbsp;disputes</a>, and he struggled with substance abuse throughout his career.&nbsp;There are no shortage of&nbsp;Godfather of Soul stories, and together they form an incredibly deep and nuanced portrait of a deeply flawed, brilliant musical icon.&nbsp;

PCP, Shotguns, And Creamed Corn: James Brown's Life Was Somehow Even Crazier Than You Thought

The Extraordinarily Strange Life of James Brown

First comes death, then comes the autopsy, embalming, a funeral, burial, decomposition, and who knows what else? Join us on the whirlwind journey of the next chapter!

After Life

Whoa Facts

Look, we&#39;re all going to perish. At least, when it happens,&nbsp;you (or your family)&nbsp;get to decide what happens to your body. Traditionally, people opt to be buried or <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/what-happens-in-a-crematorium/christopher-myers" target="_blank">cremated</a>. There are several different types of body preparation, one of which, called <a href="http://www.promessa.se/" target="_blank">promession</a>, could theoretically&nbsp;be environmentally friendly, produce a tree, and cut&nbsp;down on the overcrowding of cemeteries. The only issue is that it isn&#39;t legal... yet&nbsp;

Promession, developed by&nbsp;Swedish biologist Susanne Wiigh-M&auml;sa, is a theoretical process in which you are electing to <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/what-happens-to-your-body-when-you-freeze-to-death/katherine-ripley" target="_blank">freeze your body</a> after you pass. In a nutshell, promession&nbsp;freeze-dries a corpse and prepares it for natural decomposition in the earth.&nbsp;The process may sound a little out there to some, but there are benefits of promession. However, postmortem industries which have existed for hundreds of years are not in support of this unprecedented process.

This New Clean Alternative To Cremation Involves Freeze-Drying And Then Shattering Your Corpse

Not Into The Idea Of Being Cremated? Try Promession Instead

Every state&nbsp;in the American union loves to boast its superlatives, from <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/best-haunted-house-in-every-state/mick-jacobs" target="_blank">its most famous haunted houses</a> to its <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/most-famous-movie-from-each-state/mason-weigel" target="_blank">most famous movie sets</a>. The competition is great for tourism and trivia alike, and helps set each&nbsp;state apart from its 49 brethren.&nbsp;When it comes to most notable historical figures from each state, though, the details may surprise you. After all, <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-most-influential-people-of-all-time?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">famous historical figures</a> aren't always associated with the state of their birth. For example, the famous Illinois senator-turned-president Abraham Lincoln wasn't actually born in Illinois at all, but Kentucky!&nbsp;Which state has produced the most silver screen figures? It’s not California. And what about beloved New England poet Robert Frost? He's actually from California.Where historical figures were born doesn’t predict where they ended up in the annals of history but each state can claim someone of historical significance... even Rhode Island! Read on to see &nbsp;which of America's states claim lauded historical people.

These Are The Most Significant Historical Figures From Every State

The original versions and real stories behind the fairy tales we've been whispering to sleepy children.

Once Upon a Time

Lists exploring the beloved 1939 musical fantasy film The Wizard of Oz.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Culture

Everyone remembers 1939&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/wizard-of-oz-behind-the-scenes-stories/erin-mccann" target="_blank">The Wizard of Oz</a>, starring&nbsp;young Judy Garland; the classic&nbsp;tale that teaches you that there is no place like home, that the greatest weapon is water, and that we all have what we seek within ourselves. The popularity of the movie has, for decades,&nbsp;spawned all manner of spinoffs, merchandise, and even <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/land-of-oz-theme-park-facts/mariel-loveland" target="_blank">a creepy&nbsp;Wizard of Oz&nbsp;theme park</a>.&nbsp;

The&nbsp;kinds of lessons weaved throughout the movie&nbsp;are also present in the original <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/wizard-of-oz-facts/philgibbons" target="_blank">Wizard of Oz </a>books, on which the film is loosely based,&nbsp;but in the original stories&nbsp;there are so many limbs being lost in any given chapter that the heartfelt message gets a little buried. The original Wizard of Oz&nbsp;stories&nbsp;were told through&nbsp;a series of 14 episodic novels by L. Frank Baum, who wrote them in the early 1900s. They&nbsp;find Dorothy and her Yellow Brick Road Gang meeting strange foes and&nbsp;strange friends alike on their road to Oz, chapter by chapter, book by book. They&rsquo;re whimsical tales set in a magical land, but there are many characters and sequences that are downright dark, and there&#39;s a lot of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/hidden-symbols-in-wizard-of-oz/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">dark political symbolism</a> also embedded into the tales.&nbsp;

Reading The Wizard of Oz and its subsequent series&nbsp;will probably have you wondering how&nbsp;filmmakers of the 1930s even decided to adapt such sordid tales into a movie, and how said&nbsp;movie turned out to be so&nbsp;charming. But the books reveal&nbsp;fascinating insight into turn-of-the-century children&#39;s literature,&nbsp;and what a contrast the original stories are from the beloved&nbsp;film. You might never watch Judy Garland&#39;s version in the same way again &mdash; or you might vow never to stray from it.&nbsp;

The Original 'Wizard of Oz' Books Are Shockingly Violent Compared To The Judy Garland Classic

In front of the live studio audience, everything was all punchlines and pratfalls — but when the cameras were off, dark and messy things took place on the sets of the TV comedies America never missed.

Behind the Laugh Tracks

Step by Step

In a&nbsp;Los Angeles&nbsp;area lab in 1991, sitcom executives put The Brady Bunch and Full House into a petri dish, and Step by Step was born. It ran for&nbsp;seven years, and although it&nbsp;won’t be revived&nbsp;on Netflix anytime soon,&nbsp;it was certainly charming. Fans loved the wacky tale of a widow and divorcee who met on vacation and got married without telling their kids. The&nbsp;plot paved way for seasons of the charming misunderstandings and shenanigans that ensue when two families&nbsp;are blended.The show emphasized love between the&nbsp;Foster&nbsp;and Lambert&nbsp;families, but behind the shiny facade of '90s TV, things were a little darker. From abuse convictions to money troubles, the cast faced their fair share of grim issues.

9 Surprising Stories From Behind The Scenes of 'Step by Step'

Spooky. Scary. Lists about werewolves in film, TV, literature, and maybe even real life, close to midnight, when the moon is right.

Men Becoming Wolves

Myths & Legends

As much as the werewolf legend is now relegated to pop culture and teen romance, it used to be a widespread belief. Medieval peasants would hang wreaths of rye over their doors to prevent werewolves from visiting them, and people would avoid stepping in paw prints found in the snow and dirt out of fear of a curse.&nbsp;The <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/werewolf-encounters/lea-rose-emery" target="_blank">history of the werewolf</a> has been somewhat forgotten, relegating them to the background of the supernatural world to&nbsp;play&nbsp;second fiddle to sexy&nbsp;vampires and lumbering Frankensteinian&nbsp;monsters. <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/pictures-of-werewolves/melissa-brinks" target="_blank">Werewolves</a> have a rich history in the cultures of the past, however, making them one of the oldest supernatural legends to remain.

Early&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/the-steps-of-transforming-into-a-werewolf/lyra-radford" target="_blank">werewolf origins</a> most likely sprung up in response to the unexplainable acts of violence humans have inflicted on one another for years.&nbsp;In eras where issues of mental health and diseases like rabies were little understood, it makes sense&nbsp;that people would point to a sinister creature as explanation. Here is some far-reaching history that proves <a href="https://historydaily.org/how-did-werewolf-legends-start" target="_blank">werewolves</a> were making supernatural scary-cool way before those other monsters.

The Forgotten History Of Werewolves Proves They Are The Scariest Of All Supernatural Monsters

Werewolves' Long History Prove They Are The OG Mythical Monsters

History

If you are in need of creepy old <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/scary-demon-photos/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">demon illustrations</a>, consult the 1863 edition of the Dictionnaire Infernal.&nbsp;The 17th century hellish dictionary&nbsp;was once a picture-less volume of horrific demons in&nbsp;lore. People that longed for <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/ways-to-summon-the-devil/brandon-michaels" target="_blank">instructions on&nbsp;summoning demonic presences</a> may have perused the collection in earnest.&nbsp;These demons were impossible to imagine, though, until Louis Le Breton decided to commit their visages&nbsp;to paper.His fiendish&nbsp;drawings allow us to visualize&nbsp;demons like&nbsp;Haborym.&nbsp;Haborym has a man’s head, the tail of snake, the paws of a lion, the claws of a bird, and shoulders made from the head of a cat and a snake. Can you imagine it? Let Le Breton show you how its done.&nbsp;

The Creepiest Old Demon Illustrations That Are Sure To Give You The Spooks

Ramones

Everybody knows the shaggy-haired, leather jacket-sporting punk rock band from NYC known as&nbsp;the Ramones. With hits such as “Blitzkrieg Bop” and “Sheena is a Punk Rocker,” the Ramones were one of the first bands to hone and define&nbsp;the garage-rock-based <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-best-punk-bands-of-all-time" target="_blank">punk&nbsp;sound of the '70s</a>, taking influence from classic rock bands like The Who; greaser, doo-wop, and '50s rocker culture; and the balls-to-the-wall energy and stripped-down songwriting of the likes of The Stooges and MC5, turning it into a formula that created a revolution. Whether or not you like the Ramones, it's impossible to overstate their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90zFG5v9u3k" target="_blank">influence</a>.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/punk-bands-with-the-best-lyrics/will-gish" target="_blank">The Ramones</a> put on a front of unity. Members of the band&nbsp;had a uniform, a hairstyle, and an erasure of&nbsp;individual identities -&nbsp;they all adopted the last name Ramone.&nbsp;Behind the scenes, the Ramones were a deeply divided, tumultuous&nbsp;unit, whose lives were marked by mental illness and drug addiction. Crazy things the Ramones did range&nbsp;from stealing each other’s girlfriends&nbsp;to tricking friends into drinking urine&nbsp;and ditching punk in favor of rap. Read on for some little heard stories about the Ramones and the answer to the question everybody’s asking, “Which Ramone had his own line of marinara sauce?”

Were The Ramones The Most Dysfunctional Band That Stayed Together?

14 Insanely Punk Stories About The Ramones

Environment

You think the US is gross now?&nbsp;Try living in the US before the EPA. Before the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, smog obscured the air, glass lined the beaches, and&nbsp;flammable waste coagulated in the nation's rivers. Pollution before the EP&nbsp;grew to such&nbsp;astronomical heights that&nbsp;the eventual bill to create the agency received uncharacteristically high&nbsp;bi-partisan support. But even when it&nbsp;came to be&nbsp;in 1970, it took years for the EPA to address the rampant deterioration of&nbsp;America's ecosystems. So, starting in 1971, 100 photojournalists set&nbsp;out across the country, amassing&nbsp;almost 100,000 photos over a six-year span.These EPA before-and-after photos came as part of the&nbsp;then-new agency’s documentation&nbsp;of the environmental devastation across the country. Looking at the pictures, it appears the EPA drastically improved environment you live in today. Have you tripped over a shopping cart covered in human feces and oil lately? Yet almost fifty years later the EPA’s existence is under attack. <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/every-wtf-week-of-the-trump-administration/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">President Trump</a> gutted the agency's&nbsp;budget at a time the planet lies under threat&nbsp;of&nbsp;climate change and water scarcity. If the photos below scare you, it's because they look like the country's possible future if you don't <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/easy-things-you-can-do-today-to-help-your-environment/benjamin-dunn" target="_blank">save the environment in the ways you can</a>.

What The US Looked Like Before The EPA

Aaron Wiederspahn

The real stories behind famous works of literature are often&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/true-story-behind-anne-of-green-gables/lisa-a-flowers" target="_blank">more interesting</a> than the works themselves. Jack London&#39;s&nbsp;1903 novella,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Call-Wild-Jack-London/dp/1629102008?&amp;tag=rankercom-20" target="_blank">The&nbsp;</a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Call-Wild-Jack-London/dp/1629102008?&amp;tag=rankercom-20" target="_blank">Call of the Wild</a>, packs plenty of drama&nbsp;into its 80 pages &ndash; and there was&nbsp;even more action behind the scenes.

The story&#39;s canine protagonist, Buck, takes a journey from a mundane &ndash; but&nbsp;socially acceptable &ndash; life of domesticity to ascendancy over the limitations of human (and canine) morality in the kill-or-be-killed wild of the Klondike Gold Rush.

In many ways, Buck&rsquo;s character arc can be compared to the&nbsp;classic hero journey:&nbsp;Buck is kidnaped&nbsp;from his California ranch and taken to the primitive dangers of the Alaskan&nbsp;gold rush where, in order to survive, he unearths&nbsp;internal strength&nbsp;he never knew he had. In doing so, Buck becomes the wild and dangerous animal he was always meant to be.

London wrote the novella&nbsp;from the perspective of a&nbsp;non-human animal&nbsp;with human emotions and perspectives. This personified viewpoint allows London to work through the philosophies and experiences that inspired his deeply personal book. Jack London&#39;s inspirations for&nbsp;the text ranged from the literal to the philosophical to the existential. In a peculiar stroke of irony, the hugely successful&nbsp;Call of the Wild would see London plucked from his wild, ragtag origins and reared into a tortured domesticity.&nbsp;

The Fascinating True Story Behind Buck, Call Of The Wild's Protagonist Dog

The Fascinating True Story Behind Call of the Wild's Protagonist Dog

Graveyard Shift

Why do people speak in tongues? Short answer:&nbsp;it’s what happens when you're&nbsp;overcome by the Holy Spirit (one of the “Big Three” incarnations of the Christian God). Being able to&nbsp;speak in tongues means letting&nbsp;loose and using&nbsp;orations that have no meaning in any human language. The practice of speaking in tongues has been around for as long <a href="http://amazingdiscoveries.org/S-deception-speaking-in-tongues_history_practice" target="_blank">as people have been praying</a>. In the good ol’ Bible itself there are <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/march6/32.84.html" target="_blank">several references</a> to Jesus affirming that when his followers yelled out in tongues unknown to them&nbsp;that it meant<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+2%3A4" target="_blank">&nbsp;the Holy Spirit had fallen&nbsp;upon them</a>. The vast majority of scary clips of people speaking in tongues are straight from Christian Evangelical church services, though they are also often linked to <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/real-exorcist-rescue-missions/lyra-radford" target="_blank">exorcisms</a> or <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/possessions-caught-on-tape/katherine-ripley" target="_blank">demonic possessions</a>.Speaking in tongues remains a <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/march6/32.84.html" target="_blank">source of controversy</a> within the Evangelical church.&nbsp;For some&nbsp;it is proof of the Holy Spirit’s physical presence,&nbsp;and for others it is an antiquated and stigmatized&nbsp;practice. Check these videos out and decide for yourself. Some of the people seem to be having a really great time letting loose, while others are convulsing on the floor. How does the blessing of the Holy Spirit get you groovin'?

Chilling Videos Of People Speaking In Tongues

12 Disturbing Videos Of People Speaking In Tongues

Sure, serial killers ~killed~ people, but what did they actually do? Lists about who they murdered, how they did it, and other horrifying facts that will keep you wide awake tonight, shaking your head at humanity.

The Grisly Details

Death

White men between the ages of 20 and 50 don’t completely corner the serial killer demographic. In May of 2006, Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt were arrested for a chilling insurance fraud murder scheme. The <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/notorious-black-widows/robert-f-mason?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Black Widow Murders</a>, as the killings&nbsp;came to be called, forced Los Angeles law enforcement and residents into an uncomfortable paradigm shift of <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/scariest-california-serial-killers/harrison-tenpas" target="_blank">serial killers in California</a>.Helen Golay (73) and Olga Rutterschmidt (75) were two women who had kept fairly low profiles&nbsp;all their lives.&nbsp;Golay was a divorced mother of three who had lost her father in a car accident at a young age and was active in the Los Angeles real estate business. Rutterschmidt was originally from Hungary where she had been badly injured in a WWII bombing as a child.&nbsp;Upon immigrating to the US, she and her ex-husband opened up a coffee shop in downtown LA. No one suspected these <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/killer-grandmas/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">grandma killers</a> to be systemically murdering people.&nbsp;These killings rattled the community&nbsp;because the women preyed on the less fortunate. Their hunting ground was their local homeless shelter. There, they masqueraded as benevolent old ladies just doing their part for the community, when they were really scouting for their next victim. Read on to discover fascinating stories about the Black Widow Murders.&nbsp;

Facts About The Black Widow Murders And The Seemingly Wholesome Grandmas Behind Them

10 Grisly Facts About The Black Widow Murders

Paganism

Before Michael and Suzan &quot;Bear&quot; Carson became the San Francisco Witch Killers they were just two unstable divorc&eacute;es partying it up in the &#39;70s&#39; psychedelic drug culture. When they met, they were Susan Barnes, an unhappy mother of two teenaged sons, and <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1218871/Serial-killers-child-Im-daughter-devil.html" target="_blank">James Carson</a> a busboy/pot dealer with a master&rsquo;s degree in Chinese studies and father to one daughter. Due to who-knows-how-many drugs, an&nbsp;unwavering commitment to their&nbsp;ideology, and probably some <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/people-driven-insane-by-voices-in-their-heads/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">voices in their heads</a>, the San Francisco killers decided to rid the world of witches.&nbsp;The young <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/killer-couples/mike-rothschild" target="_blank">killer couple</a>&#39;s resemblance to the rest of the&nbsp;Haight-Ashbury neighborhood allowed them to easily&nbsp;vanish&nbsp;into the flower child crowd.

The twisted saga of these killers saw them change names and jobs, but their allegiance to each other never waned as they traveled throughout the US and Europe spreading their macabre bastardization of Islam. Rife with contradictions, their quest to destroy witches ironically sent them down some pretty witchcraft-y paths, like getting married at Stonehenge or claiming that thunderclaps told them to kill someone.&nbsp;While&nbsp;eventually convicted of three murders,&nbsp;Michael and Suzan Carson&nbsp;likely committed&nbsp;more killings during&nbsp;their travels. Both remain&nbsp;incarcerated and still voice no remorse&nbsp;for their crimes.

Details About The Life And Crimes Of The San Francisco Witch Killers

Details About The Life And Crimes Of The "San Francisco Witch Killers"

Lists about the backstories and persistent legends that surround the many mythical figures that watch you as you walk alone in the woods at night.

Creepy Creatures of Ill Repute

Do you daydream about <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/mermaid-photos/erin-mccann" target="_blank">seeing a real mermaid</a>? Such a spotting might be the highlight of any day out on the water. But before you get too lost in your imagination, beware: eerie tales about mermaids say&nbsp;they&#39;re actually a <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/doom-harbingers/jacob-shelton?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">harbinger of doom</a>.

Don&#39;t believe the Disney hype about mermaids being sweet fish-women seeking their soulmates. In reality, sinister mermaid mythology&nbsp;characterizes them as sea monsters worthy of any horror film. Mermaids and mermen have many tools at their disposal to bring about your untimely end. They may channel a storm,&nbsp;lure your ship&nbsp;into the rocks, drive you mad with their singing - or even&nbsp;feast on your flesh. These scary mermaid stories prove that they&#39;re some of the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-sailor-stories/christopher-shultz" target="_blank">creepiest things in the sea</a>.

Macabre Mermaid Tales Pulled From The Darkest Depths Of The Sea

Terrifying Stories About Mermaids

Lists of fun facts and fascinating trivia about some of history's most intelligent people.

Great Minds

Lists of fascinating facts and lesser-known details about the lives of people whose names you learned in History class (or should have).

Down in History

Sigmund Freud

As a <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/notable-psychoanalyst_s)/reference" target="_blank">psychoanalyst</a>,&nbsp;Freud was wrong about almost everything – there is no empirical evidence to substantiate Freudian theory. Yet, that somehow continues to not really matter. The man is embedded in our cultural consciousness. The&nbsp;legacy of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/freudian-analysis-and-hitler/kellen-perry" target="_blank">Freudian analysis</a> colors our everyday conversations and thought paradigms. Defense mechanisms, daddy issues, catharsis, arrested development, death wishes –&nbsp;all of these terms come straight from Freudian psychology. His understanding of gender was othering, deeply misogynist,&nbsp;and ignorant;&nbsp;his therapy sessions violated ethical codes;&nbsp;he manipulated data to fit his needs;&nbsp;but he brought the notion of the unconscious mind into the public consciousness. That's the thing that stuck. The man himself was an eccentric weirdo whose biography is just as strange as his beliefs.

11 Extremely Weird Things You Never Knew About Sigmund Freud

11 Surprising Facts About The Eccentric Sigmund Freud

Richard Nixon

You might be lucky enough to have gazed upon the famous photo of Elvis and Richard Nixon that looks more like a post from a Tumblr dedicated to Photoshopping unconnected historical figures than an official White House photo. The verifiable legitimacy of this snapshot hints at the peculiar anecdotes and strange Richard Nixon facts&nbsp;that often get obscured behind weightier fare like his escalation of the Vietnam War or the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/nixon-saturday-night-massacre/philgibbons" target="_blank">Saturday Night Massacre</a>. &nbsp;Nixon was the 37th&nbsp;President, in office between 1969-1974.&nbsp;He is most remembered for his resignation after the Watergate scandal, but take a dive into these true tidbits from Richard Nixon's biography,&nbsp;America’s own Tricky Dick -&nbsp;the only President to have ever&nbsp;quit - to learn about the Nixon that wasn't totally defined by <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/watergate-photos/liam-ross" target="_blank">the Watergate scandal</a>.

13 Little-Known Facts About Nixon That Prove He Was Way Weirder Than You Thought

13 Interesting Stories You've Never Heard About Richard Nixon

Lists about the wonderful and horrifying practice of trying to find one's soulmate.

The Art of Dating

Dating

For nostalgic idealists, daydreams of dating in the 19th century can offer a welcome escape from the modern-day&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/tinder-horror-stories/casey-cavanagh" target="_blank">Tinder horror stories</a> to an elegant age of gentility and romance. The thought of lounging in an ornate parlor and&nbsp;hiding your blush with a lace fan as a dashing stranger hands you an invitation card (with a chaperone present of course) can be intoxicating. As<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/160104-escort-cards-acquaintance-flirtation-victorian-america-dating-history/" target="_blank"> National Geographic points ou</a>t, “invitation” or “escort” cards were the <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/160104-escort-cards-acquaintance-flirtation-victorian-america-dating-history/">old pickup lines</a> of yore – a way for men to formally “swipe left” before such technology existed. The woman of his affection would regard the card and return it or keep it based on how much her fancy was tickled.&nbsp;Would it be a match? The anticipation was overwhelming, nevermind that you'd probably eventually succumb to&nbsp;arsenic poisoning or suffer a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/unusual-deaths-bizarre-deaths-of-the-19th-century/notable-famous-deaths" target="_blank">bizarre 19th century death</a>!&nbsp;At first glance, these old&nbsp;pickup lines lifted from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/aemays/albums/72157626967453736">actual escort cards</a> may seem more artful and romantic than the preferred pickup line of the current zeitgeist:&nbsp;“You up? ;)” Vote up the historical pickup lines that make you want to time travel just for the nookie.&nbsp;

18 Extremely Stupid Pickup Lines From The 19th Century

Slick 19th-Century Pickup Lines You'd Totally Use Today

Lists about the Hitler's Germany, which Der Führer ruled through fascism from 1933 to 1945.

The Horrors of the Third Reich

In some rare intersections of history, the “fog of war” is quite literally the puff of smoke that concludes a&nbsp;magician’s disappearing act. In others, the “fog” is a&nbsp;supernatural explanation conjured by a German soldier’s tortured mind. If you're&nbsp;scratching your head right now trying to remember magic used during WWII in <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/firsthand-depictions-of-tom-hanks/katherine-walker?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Saving Private Ryan</a> or whether there was a section in your 20th century history textbook entitled &quot;did magicians help the Allies in&nbsp;World War II?&quot;, you're&nbsp;not alone. The popular consciousness has all but forgotten WWII&nbsp;witches and all the fabulous and bizarre&nbsp;WWII magic technology;&nbsp;now feels as good a time as any to rectify that.&nbsp;World War II was as much a war of mind games as it was of bullet holes. To counter the swift expansion of the highly mechanized Third Reich, the Allies got creative with secret <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/secret-weapons-of-ww2/richard-rowe">weapons</a>, and <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/wwii-secret-missions/philgibbons">missions</a> of the magical variety. In the Soviet Union, a night bomber regiment of female fighter pilots was&nbsp;so&nbsp;deadly Germans nicknamed them the Night Witches, and they became the stuff of Nazi nightmares (so there's your answer to &quot;were witches involved in World War II?&quot;).On the German Front, a&nbsp;group of illusionists and masters of imagery and deception (some of whom&nbsp;came from advertising backgrounds; big surprise there)&nbsp;known as the Ghost Army tormented&nbsp;Nazi soldiers with the movement of invisible infantries. Down in Africa, a British magician named Jasper Maskelyne played out magic tricks so grand they have been classified by the Official Secrets Act. The true nature of&nbsp;Maskelyne's&nbsp;World War Two magic will not be made public until 2046 (so put an alarm on your phone, kids).&nbsp;

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