Kellie Kreiss lists at Ranker - the ultimate source for lists and rankings in all categories

Kellie Kreiss - Lists at Ranker

Weird History

Throughout history, humanity has been plagued by innumerable diseases that have deeply impacted the course of our global civilization, due to both the number&nbsp;of lives lost&nbsp;and the medical innovations they necessitated. These historical illnesses, including cholera, scarlet fever, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/medieval-history-of-gout/genevieve-carlton?ref=search" target="_blank">gout</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-is-having-tuberculosis-like/laura-allan" target="_blank">tuberculosis</a>, have left such a substantial mark, it&#39;s&nbsp;rare to find a historically accurate film that does not depict the impact of one such disease&nbsp;in some fashion. But how accurate are they?&nbsp;Was TB really as scary as&nbsp;Moulin Rouge!&nbsp;made it appear? Does cholera truly spread as quickly as it did in&nbsp;The Painted Veil?

To depict historical diseases effectively,&nbsp;there are many things that filmmakers must account for in order to properly portray the unique upheaval that emerges. Between the numerous TB movies and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-leprosy/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">leprosy</a> movies, some certainly do a better job of achieving historical accuracy than others. Here are some of the better movie portrayals of historical illnesses that have come out of Hollywood.

13 Pretty Accurate Movies About Historical Illnesses

Film

Kellie Kreiss

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Though many shows that aired during the late &#39;90s and early &#39;00s would go on to gain nostalgic notoriety, few earned the label of &quot;cult classic&quot;&nbsp;in quite the way that&nbsp;Buffy the Vampire Slayer&nbsp;did. After first airing on March 10, 1997, the show about a teenage vampire hunter and her friends quickly caught the attention of young women everywhere, serving as a foundational example of&nbsp;feminist butt-kickery that has maintained its <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/things-buffy-the-vampire-fans-have-noticed/candice-darden" target="_blank">influence among fans</a> to this day.

As was the case for many TV series airing at this time, a number of now-notable actors made some of their earliest cameos on the show, alongside rising star Sarah Michelle Gellar and other series regulars. In fact,&nbsp;of all the&nbsp;Buffy&nbsp;guest stars who became famous, quite a few have become household names.&nbsp;Here are some of the most famous&nbsp;Buffy&nbsp;guest stars.

Actors Who Guest Starred On 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Before They Were Famous

Actor

Actors Who Guest Starred On 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' Before They Were Famous

Exploring plagues and pandemics throughout history.

It's an Epidemic

Disease Outbreaks

When looking back through human history, one would be hard-pressed to find an era, civilization, or community that has not been impacted by an infectious disease outbreak. From the bubonic plague to influenza to cholera, epidemics and pandemics the world over have come in many shapes, sizes, and death tolls. But sometimes, the death toll alone doesn&rsquo;t reflect <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/why-do-epidemics-lead-to-social-unrest/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">the true, lasting impact</a> that specific infectious disease outbreaks had on the populations they infected - or those nearby.

So, what was the most significant infectious disease from every century? And what impact did the diseases have on the populations, economies, and environments of the communities they forever altered? And what world was left for the survivors of these pandemics? The answers to these questions, in many centuries, live up to the reputations of their associated infectious diseases.

What Was The Most Significant Infectious Disease In Every Century?

General

The Biggest Infectious Disease Outbreaks Each Century 

Fish

Many people are already familiar with the prehistoric ferocity of the long-extinct, 60-ton Megalodon shark, but what about the unforgiving bite of the 30-pound, 2&frac12;-foot-long&nbsp;Mega-piranha? The Mega-piranha, or Megapiranha paranensis, which lived at the same time as <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/giant-shark-megalodon-facts/jodi-smith" target="_blank">the Megalodon</a> but within the Amazon and Parana basin habitats, was a carnivorous machine weighing about the same amount as an adult Cocker Spaniel, but with a bite force that&nbsp;relative to its size was stronger than that of a Tyrannosaurus rex&nbsp;or Megalodon.

So, what made this Miocene fish&rsquo;s bite so deadly? And what on Earth could it have been feeding on that would have required it to have such unforgiving chompers? Scientists set out to find the answers to these questions, and in the process they realized the piranhas&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-animals-you-are-the-most-scared-of" target="_blank">we know and fear</a> today actually have quite a bit in common with their prehistoric predecessors.

This 20-Pound Prehistoric Super-Piranha Could Bite With 1,067 Pounds Of Force

Prehistoric Super-Piranha: About The Giant Fish That Bit With 1K Pounds Of Force

Danica McKellar

Most people will remember her as Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years, but in reality, there&rsquo;s far more to Danica McKellar than the &lsquo;80s motif of a timid girl next door would lead you to believe.&nbsp;

Born in La Jolla, CA, <a href="https://www.biography.com/actor/danica-mckellar" target="_blank">on January 3, 1975</a>, McKellar got her start in acting while studying at the Diane Hill Hardin Young Actors Space. By age 9, McKellar began her acting career with a number of commercial gigs and roles on two episodes of The Twilight Zone. It was at this point that her career took off with her most memorable role as Winnie on The Wonder Years.

Since attaining Wonder Years fame, McKellar has opted to take a different route in her professional life, including obtaining a degree in mathematics and becoming a New York Times bestselling author; however, this hasn&rsquo;t kept her from continuing her pursuit of the Hollywood limelight - far from it.

What Has Danica McKellar Been Up To Since 'The Wonder Years'?

The California Raisins

Raisins might just be one of the hardest foods to market. Despite their relatively low cost to consumers, long shelf life, and high nutritional value, California raisins are a less-than-visually appealing food - even to the most avid fruit lovers. However, in 1986, Will Vinton and his advertising team at Foote, Cone &amp; Belding launched a particularly innovative campaign that revolutionized the California raisin industry for the better part of a decade: the California Raisins.&nbsp;

A fictional singing group made up of a quartet of claymation raisins who sang popular hit songs, the California Raisins - and Michael Jackson - appeared in television commercials in an effort to create an allure around the rather unremarkable dried fruit. The singing raisins were a hit, and demand for the dried, wrinkly-but-sweet grapes rose to heights unseen since WWII. The rise in popularity of the California Raisins benefited the raisin industry in California, but it also led to the faux band becoming a cultural sensation and&nbsp;releasing albums, merchandise, and even California Raisin Christmas specials.&nbsp;

However, as with many bands throughout history, The California Raisins&#39; rise to fame was inevitably followed by a fall. By the early &#39;90s, the marketing ploy turned band had&nbsp;dwindled to the ranks of other one-hit wonders, until they gradually fell from public favor - along with the raisin market as a whole.

Who Were The California Raisins And Why Were They A Sweeping National Phenomenon For Years?

Who Were The California Raisins And Why Were They A Sweeping National Phenomenon?

Diet

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, supermarket shelves around the US were suddenly overflowing with different types of dieting beverages and snacks, all promising effortless weight loss.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-slim-fast-flavors/ranker-food" target="_blank">SlimFast</a> meal replacement shakes, which had been pulled from shelves in the 1970s, were re-released&nbsp;in 1984 to become a big part of this &#39;80s diet beverage trend. SlimFast&#39;s history, however,&nbsp;goes much deeper than its celebrity endorsements and sudden rise to success.&nbsp;

The company&#39;s history is deeply intertwined with ebbs and flows inherent to the dieting culture that was pervasive during the &#39;80s and &#39;90s, when shedding pounds by any means necessary took precedent over meeting minimum daily nutrition&nbsp;values. But much to the dismay of SlimFast&rsquo;s inventor, S. Daniel Abraham, the product&rsquo;s success waned almost as drastically as it had risen&nbsp;when the prominence of healthful living trends overtook the dieting mentality.

How SlimFast Became A Billion-Dollar Diet Craze And Faded Away Into Health Fad Heaven

How Slim-Fast Milkshakes Became A Diet Craze Then Wasted Away Into Health-Fad Heaven

Feuds

Anyone who has ever been stuck in traffic while driving down a US highway or along a country road has likely found themselves staring directly into the hypnotizing sway of a pair of Bulls Balls (whether they liked it or not). Bulls Balls - affectionately known by numerous monikers such as &quot;truck nutz,&quot; &quot;bumper nuts,&quot; &quot;yournutz,&quot; and simply &quot;truck balls&quot; - have been a staple among truck enthusiasts since they first arrived on the market in the mid-&#39;90s. But as with any novelty item, the truck nuts&nbsp;origin story is both vague and highly contested by those who lay claim to the rights of this imaginative product.

The truth behind the tailgate accessory is contested by two men: David Ham and John Saller. The highly successful anti-collaborators began producing and selling the glorified bumper adornments within a few years of one another, yet both claim to have beat out the other in the development of the original concept. So, who is the true brains behind this novelty tailgate-flair operation? And what&rsquo;s the meaning behind the truck nuts anyway? It turns out that the answers to both&nbsp;these questions are confounding at best.

Inside The Great Truck Nuts War That Consumed The Lives Of Two Businessmen

Inside The Great Truck Nuts War Of The Early ‘00s

Rachael Leigh Cook

Whether you know her from her brief stint as a teenage heartthrob or from her work as a Hallmark movie mainstay, Rachael Leigh Cook has been one of the most memorable actors in the romantic comedy genre since the late 1990s. Having starred in films like Disney&rsquo;s Tom and Huck and the teen&nbsp;rom-com She&rsquo;s All That alongside Freddie Prinze Jr., Cook all but disappeared from the romance film lover&rsquo;s eye until the mid-2010s. Aside from adding to the consistently growing collection of Rachael Leigh Cook Hallmark movies, Cook has been busy working with animal adoption efforts and raising two children.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000337/bio" target="_blank">Rachael Leigh Cook</a> - who is a Minneapolis, Minnesota, native - first got her start in show business as a model and commercial actor, working with brands like Target and Milk-Bone. By the time she was 14, Cook had begun auditioning for feature-length movie roles, which set her on the path to rom-com stardom. And though she seemed to fall from the big screen after her sudden success with She&rsquo;s All That, Cook has been busy. So, where&rsquo;s Rachael Leigh Cook now?

She Was 'All That' And Then She Wasn't. What Happened To Rachael Leigh Cook?

Marilyn Monroe

While Marilyn Monroe&#39;s image graced the covers of magazines, movie posters, and film screens for much of the latter half of the 20th century, <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/the-laundromat-true-story-panama-papers/melissa-sartore?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the true story</a> of her&nbsp;childhood is far less romantic than the Hollywood starlet&#39;s reputation may lead you to believe. Born to a mother with undiagnosed schizophrenia and an essentially nonexistent&nbsp;father, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/marilyn-monroe-facts/lisa-waugh" target="_blank">Norma Jeane Baker</a> (who would later change her name to the well-known moniker Marilyn Monroe) spent much of her childhood and adolescence moving between orphanages and foster homes, seeking out any semblance of familial stability she could find.&nbsp;

In Marilyn Monroe&#39;s early years, there were few signs to suggest she would one day become a beloved Hollywood icon. The star of films like Some <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/some-like-it-hot-movie-quotes/movie-and-tv-quotes?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Like It Hot</a>&nbsp;and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Monroe created an image for herself based not on her tragic upbringing but her ability to mesmerize audiences with her beauty, wit, and charm. Though her demons never ceased to follow her, Monroe was able to leave behind her troubled childhood and, at least for a short time, bask in the spotlight of international adoration.

Norma Jeane Before Marilyn: The Troubled Childhood Of The Girl Who Would Become Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe's Troubled Childhood As Norma Jeane Baker 

Fun facts, news stories, and pics from McDonald's, the world's largest burger chain.

I'm Lovin' It

McDonald's

When it comes to finding success in the marketplace, knowing your competition is key. But even more important than understanding your competition is knowing your target customer - and this is the mistake McDonald&rsquo;s made with the 1996 release of the&nbsp;Arch Deluxe burger.&nbsp;

What has been referred to as the chain&#39;s&nbsp;&ldquo;biggest product launch&rdquo; was also one of its&nbsp;greatest <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/worst-marketing-promotions/mariel-loveland" target="_blank">marketing failures</a>. The Arch Deluxe burger, which was developed with the intent of activating and drawing in a more adult clientele, featured everything that the fast food giant considered to be fancy and adult: one large piece of lettuce instead of shredded pieces, a larger patty, a decadent Dijon-mayonnaise spread, and a fluffier split-top bun with fewer sesame seeds.&nbsp;

Despite having been allotted a $200 million advertising campaign, the Arch Deluxe never lived up to what it promised in taste or profitability. Within four years of its original launch, meager sales and a lack of enthusiasm led the franchise&nbsp;to discontinue the burger for good.

The Rise And Fall Of The Arch Deluxe, McDonald's Most Ambitious Failure

Anyone who has ever flown on a commercial airliner will be familiar with a very specific sequence of events: boarding, stowing luggage, shuffling over to a tightly packed seat with little leg room, buckling up, and listening to&nbsp;a well-rehearsed flight attendant read&nbsp;off all the rules and regulations you&rsquo;ll need to follow. At this point, you aren&rsquo;t even in the air yet, but you&rsquo;re already asking yourself, &ldquo;Why can&rsquo;t planes get faster?&rdquo;

The average commercial plane flies at speeds of up to <a href="http://www.flightdeckfriend.com/how-fast-do-commercial-aeroplanes-fly" target="_blank">500 knots</a> (about 575 mph) while reaching altitudes between <a href="http://time.com/5309905/how-high-do-planes-fly/" target="_blank">31,000 and 38,000 feet</a> (about 5.9 to 7.2 miles above sea level). And these numbers have been essentially the same since the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/what-golden-age-of-flying-was-like/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">Golden Age of Flying</a> in the 1960s, when air transportation became more accessible&nbsp;both in price and convenience. In some cases, the speed of commercial planes has actually slowed down.

Despite numerous technological advances and upgrades to&nbsp;aircraft, a trip that took an hour in the 1960s still takes around an hour today, if not longer. The rising price of fuel and tickets have played a part, but there are actually a number of reasons why&nbsp;planes aren&rsquo;t faster today than they were decades ago.

Why Don't Planes Fly Any Faster Than They Did In The 1960s?

Why Don't Planes Fly Faster?

Remember these child stars? How did they turn out?

All Grown Up

Devon Sawa

From poster-strewn walls to cut-outs from <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-magazines-for-teenagers/ranker-books?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">popular teen magazines</a>, being a teen girl in the &#39;90s meant being infatuated with everyone from movie stars to boy band members. But when it came to &#39;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/90s-boy-loves-now/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">90s teen heartthrobs</a>, few measured up to Devon Sawa.&nbsp;

Most recognizable for his roles in the films Casper and Now and Then, which featured heart-meltingly notable lines like, &quot;Can I keep you?&quot;&nbsp;and &quot;Can I kiss you?&quot;&nbsp;(both of which were inevitably etched into the journals and hearts of every teen girl), Devon Sawa&nbsp;seemingly disappeared from the spotlight. Or did he?

The Canadian-born actor started his career early on after a frustrated teacher suggested he take his attention-seeking behavior and join a theater&nbsp;group. He started working in commercials and low-budget Canadian films before landing his breakout role in Casper. From then on, his career skyrocketed him to the ranks of teen heartthrob fame. But the story of Devon Sawa now and then doesn&rsquo;t end with his stint in teen films. The actor has continued pursuing his career, and many of his teen fans are still obsessed with him.

He Didn’t Want To Be A Teen Heartthrob Anymore. Whatever Happened To Devon Sawa?

Whatever Happened To Devon Sawa? Here's What He's Up To Now

Shoes

When it comes to cutting-edge athletic footwear, Reebok and its competitors - Nike being the most prominent among them - have been at the forefront of industry-shaking innovations that literally change the way people wear (and buy) sneakers. But few innovations have caused a stir quite like the Reebok Pump. On its way to becoming a veritable game-changer, the Pump - introduced&nbsp;at the tail-end of the 1980s - featured technologies that many brands, including arch-rival Nike, had been tiptoeing around for years.&nbsp;

Thanks to various celebrity endorsements and buoyed by the &quot;Pump Up, Air Out&quot;&nbsp;campaign, the&nbsp;Pump became noteworthy among professional athletes and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/90s-sports-fan-fashion/collin-flatt" target="_blank">sports fans</a>, eventually working its way into pop culture - not to mention&nbsp;every aspiring athlete&#39;s closet. The Pump&nbsp;utilized a high-tech air bladder system to provide an at-the-time unparalleled amount of support for feet and ankles. Reebok&nbsp;was one of a few brands manufacturing similar products at the time, but the Pump was without a doubt the most successful - until it wasn&#39;t.

Despite the Pump gracefully falling out of favor by the mid- to late-&#39;90s, sneakerheads and nostalgia lovers continue to fawn over the highly coveted original Reebok Pumps, with their limited-edition releases and colorways.

How The Reebok Pump Changed The High-Tech Sneaker Game Forever

Lists of fascinating and bizarre real cases that continue to stump detectives and amateur sleuths.

Unsolved Mysteries

Dusting for prints & pointing the magnifying glass at some of history's most persistent, fascinating, and frustrating mysteries.

History's Mysteries

The mysterious concept of buried treasure is nothing new, and has continued to draw the attention of curious adventurers since time immemorial. But&nbsp;few legends of buried treasure have remained quite as tempting and prevalent in the social consciousness as the yet-to-be-solved Beale Ciphers.

Many hidden treasures are accompanied by maps, clues, and stories, but the Beale Ciphers offer something a bit more mysterious: a potentially indecipherable set of three papers, all written in <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unsolved-codes-and-ciphers/keith-burnside" target="_blank">a secret code</a>, which reveal the truth of the legacy, location, and contents of Beale&#39;s treasure.

Having been lost to the hills of Virginia since 1820, the treasure is believed to be valued at nearly $54 million&nbsp;in today&#39;s US dollars, and contains a luxurious combination of gold, silver, and precious gems. Of the three cipher texts Beale allegedly left behind - later printed into a collection known as the Beale Papers - only one of them has ever been solved, leaving the final two to tempt treasure&nbsp;hunters for centuries afterward in hopes of being lucky enough to discover its long-lost location.

The Mysterious Beale Ciphers Inspired A Centuries-Old Treasure Hunt That’s Still Ongoing

The Beale Ciphers Inspired A Centuries-Old Treasure Hunt

Big Mouth Billy Bass, which became known by many as the perfect novelty gag gift for dad, originally started out as something of a cultural icon, taking up highly coveted wall space in the residences of everyone from President Bill Clinton to Queen Elizabeth. But what was it about Big Mouth Billy Bass the singing wall-<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/songs-about-fish/ranker-music" target="_blank">fish</a> that led to its leaving such a lasting mark on American culture?&nbsp;

Making its first appearance at a gift convention in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2000, Something Fishy Big Mouth Billy Bass (which originally sold for around&nbsp;<a href="https://thehustle.co/big-mouth-billy-bass-story" target="_blank">$29.95</a>) soon took on an animatronic life of its own, with sales skyrocketing to unforeseen volumes valued at nearly $100 million by the end of that year. Popular stores such as Spencer Gifts and Cracker Barrel sold them so fast, they couldn&#39;t keep their shelves stocked. This left Billy&#39;s small-town Texas manufacturer, <a href="http://thehustle.co/big-mouth-billy-bass-story" target="_blank">Gemmy Industries</a>,&nbsp;struggling to keep up with demand. But just as quickly as the wall-fish swam into consumers&rsquo; hearts, it fell from favor, becoming&nbsp;yet another relic of 2000s consumer culture.

The Rise And Fall Of Big Mouth Billy Bass, The Kitschy Singing Wall-Fish That Ruled The Year 2000

The Rise And Fall Of 2000's Singing Wall-Fish Big Mouth Billy Bass

Lists about the zany little things we believe anyway.

Very Superstitious

Graveyard Shift

Many people are familiar with the tense eeriness that comes with the 3 am hour, from waking up with a sudden jolt from a deep sleep to sensing that&nbsp;something may be lurking in the darkness around you. It goes by many different names - &quot;the witching hour,&quot; &quot;the devil&#39;s hour,&quot; and to some, &quot;the chime hour&quot; - but what gives this particular hour such a spooky reputation?&nbsp;

With roots stretching back to Jesus&#39;s crucifixion, myths and legends about the witching hour have been around for generations. But what is the witching hour really? And when is the witching hour? Some believe it to be a perfect time to practice&nbsp;magic, when spirits can be reached without interruption. Still others see the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-3am-stories/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">3 am devil&#39;s hour</a> as the time when evil spirits are free to roam and wreak havoc on the world. There is even debate about&nbsp;when&nbsp;the witching hour truly begins - is it 3 am after all, or midnight, or is it even limited to a single hour of darkness?

Why Is 3 AM The Witching Hour?

What Is The Witching Hour? Why 3AM Is The Devil's Hour

Lists about real life on the wild American frontier and fictionalized versions of the Old West.

Wild, Wild West

Old West

The Wild West has been known by many names - the Old Wild West, the American Frontier, and even simply the Old West. But what is the true story behind the westward expansion across the lands that made up the newly acquired western territories of the United States of America? Was it really just full of rifle-toting, whiskey-sipping, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/life-of-a-wild-west-cowboy/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">rabble-rousing cowboys</a> doing whatever they pleased and Native American peoples defending the lands of their ancestors, or was there more to the Wild West than meets the eye? When it comes to <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/wild-west-misconceptions/nida-sea" target="_blank">life in the Old West</a>, which officially spanned from the end of the American Civil War in <a href="https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/12/31/wild-west-era-2/" target="_blank">1865 and ended only 30 years later in 1895</a>, the individual experiences were as varied as they were dramatic, with each day bringing with it an unpredictable array of awe-inspiring views and terrifying encounters.

These accounts of life in the Wild West era show that living in the plains of the deep western countryside was anything but easy. This was a time dominated by one nation&#39;s obsession with maintaining their self-proclaimed Manifest Destiny and other nations&#39; determination to retain as much of the land inherited from past generations as possible. As a result, daily life in the Wild West was anything but simple and, for time immemorial,&nbsp;it has continued to mystify and intrigue children and scholars alike. Each of the accounts below offers only a small glimpse into what life was really like in the Wild West, according to the people who actually lived it.

What The Wild West Was Really Like, According To The People Who Were There

What Life In The Wild West Was Really Like According To The People Who Were There

Lists for people who grumble, "I hate the holidays."

Bah, Humbug

Ghosts

When conjuring up stories of ghostly legends and paranormal encounters, the Christmas season isn&#39;t usually what comes to mind. With its tree-filled windows and light-strewn rooftops, Christmas&nbsp;is typically admired as a time for being&nbsp;with loved ones,&nbsp;giving heartfelt gifts, and snuggling up next to a warm fire with some hot cocoa. But what happens when something goes bump in the night and it isn&#39;t Santa Claus?

Christmas <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/the-12-most-convincing-real-life-ghost-stories/wavy-gravey" target="_blank">ghost stories</a> are far more common than many people might expect. In fact, sharing ghost stories from years past&nbsp;was once a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/plea-resurrect-christmas-tradition-telling-ghost-stories-180967553/" target="_blank">Christmas Eve tradition</a>.&nbsp;So before you unwrap any presents, let these scary ghost stories help get you into the Christmas spirit.

Allegedly True Paranormal Stories Revolving Around Christmas

Allegedly True Paranormal Christmas Stories, Ranked

Exploring the thrilling, dangerous, often tragic expeditions of some of the world's most determined adventurers.

The Ends of the Earth

On August 5, 1930, a group of men on a sealing expedition&nbsp;made their way across a rarely exposed ice sheet in the Svalbard Arctic Region along the Norwegian&nbsp;archipelago&nbsp;only to discover a scene that was long thought to have been lost to history. While the group, named the&nbsp;Bratvaag&nbsp;Expedition, had intended to hunt seals and study the structure of the glaciers in the area, they instead found themselves unintentionally excavating the remains of the disappeared&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/arctic-balloon-expedition-photos/samantha-dillinger" target="_blank">S.A. Andr&eacute;e Expedition</a>, which had gone missing in that very region of the Arctic over 30 years before.&nbsp;

The 1897 balloon expedition was intended to be Sweden&#39;s opportunity to become the first country to officially explore the North Pole as part of&nbsp;an Arctic Race whose hype and nationalistic fervor in many ways parallelled that of&nbsp;the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/how-the-moon-landing-changed-history/kellen-perry" target="_blank">Space Race</a> of the 1960s. Led by Salomon August Andr&eacute;e, a Swedish explorer and engineer, accompanied by&nbsp;Nils Strindberg&nbsp;and Knut Fraenkel, the expedition aimed to pilot a hot air balloon from Svalbard, Norway, to either Russia or Canada, passing directly over the North Pole in the process. Tragically, the three men who committed themselves to the&nbsp;S.A. Andr&eacute;e Expedition never made it back, and their fate was left unknown.

Once their final camp was rediscovered in 1930, the mystery of what truly happened to the lost explorers finally began to unravel, with their bodies, goods, journals, and even film cameras&nbsp;preserved by the icy tundra.&nbsp;

They Left For The Arctic Via Hot Air Balloon - Their Doomed Expedition Was Found Three Decades Later

This Doomed 1897 Balloon Expedition Was Found Decades Later

Crystal Pepsi

What&rsquo;s better than regular Coke? Clear Coke, of course! Or, at least that&rsquo;s what a majority of the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-soda-brands/ranker-shopping?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">top soda brands</a> in the US thought back in the early &#39;90s. Leading the &quot;Clear Cola&nbsp;Craze&quot; was PepsiCo., which released the first of many&nbsp;clear cola beverages, with their aspirational hit Crystal Pepsi. Anyone who grew up in the 1990s is likely to recall the suspiciously pure-looking soda, and its just-as-curious departure from stock shelves nationwide. So, what really happened to Crystal Pepsi, and the clear-cola movement that succeeded it?

The soda, first released in 1992, barely lasted the year before consumer reaction - or lack thereof - led to its being removed from circulation. But that wasn&#39;t the end for Crystal Pepsi - in fact, far from it. Thanks to a combination of nostalgia, marketing, and viral social media, the clear soda made not one but <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/discontinued-foods-brought-back/anncasano" target="_blank">a few comebacks </a>over the years, with the most recent rerelease being in 2016.

These returns were&nbsp;as surprising as they were confounding, and much to the dismay of PepsiCo., they didn&#39;t have much more success with the drink the second, or third, time&nbsp;around. Was the flavor to blame? Or was it simply a marketing strategy gone terribly wrong?

Crystal Pepsi Was The Choice Of A New Generation, But Not For Long

Crystal Pepsi's History, The Short-Lived Flavor Of A New Generation

JNCO

Anyone who happened to grow up in the 1990s will surely remember the sudden rise - and fall -&nbsp;of the JNCO jeans empire. From elementary school yards to high school hallways, JNCO wide-leg&nbsp;jeans rapidly took up more and more space in the world of fashion, acting as both a statement of social status and&nbsp;of subtle angst-driven rebellion. However, after an unanticipated&nbsp;fashion shift and a number of financial panics, JNCO&#39;s popularity lost momentum almost as quickly as it rose. So, what happened to JNCO jeans, anyway?

Originally developed in 1985 by two French brothers,&nbsp;Jacques Yaakov Revah and Haim Milo Revah, JNCO (&quot;Journey of the Chosen Ones&quot;&nbsp;or &quot;Judge None, Choose One&quot;)&nbsp;started out as a brand aimed at attracting youth subcuture,&nbsp;from skaters to ravers and X-Treme Sports fanatics. But the wider their jeans became, the wider their potential youth market became, too. As if overnight, the brand had grown exponentially, with demand for the jeans hitting the shelves of far more distributers than anticipated. And, like Icarus flying too close to the sun, JNCO plummeted more suddenly than either of the Revah brothers could have anticipated.&nbsp;

Despite its apparent downfall in the late &#39;90s, the brand has made <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/2000s-fashion-trends-everyone-regrets/candice-darden" target="_blank">a few comebacks since</a>, the latest resurgence&nbsp;being as recent as the summer of 2019 with the help of, among other things, celebrity endorsement and nostalgia.

The Rise, Fall, And Wide-Leg Legacy Of JNCO Jeans

What Happened To JNCO Jeans?

Advertising

The rise and fall of the Joe Camel cartoon is&nbsp;a lesson in disastrous advertising. As a marketing ploy, Joe&nbsp;was allegedly created&nbsp;to draw smokers away from Camel&#39;s competitors. The Joe Camel advertising campaigns utilized a masculine camel, or &ldquo;smooth character,&rdquo; to create an association between the brand&rsquo;s cigarettes and the high life. However, when suspicions arose concerning the true audience impacted by&nbsp;these campaigns, attitudes about the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/vintage-smoking-ads/erica-braverman" target="_blank">smoking ads</a> quickly shifted.&nbsp;

As the influence of these Joe Camel advertising campaigns on children and teens came&nbsp;into question, a firestorm of debate was ignited amongst Washington politicians, advertisers, and academic&nbsp;communities. The debate raised the questions: Did these Joe Camel advertisements have a stronger impact on under-aged consumers than the adults they were ostensibly intended for? Did the Joe Camel cartoon, and the associated marketing ploys in the form of Joe Camel cards and memorabilia, subliminally target children in an attempt to prime them to become future smokers?

The Joe Camel cartoon advertisement debate continued&nbsp;in the United States for nearly a decade, only to come to a sudden conclusion in 1997.&nbsp;R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company claimed they discontinued the ads because they simply wished to move on to another campaign. The Joe Camel controversy will likely remain a pivotal example of the complicated relationship between advertising and illicit substances for decades to come.

Meet Joe Camel, The Smooth Character Who Encouraged Children To Smoke

Lists about the beloved American adaptation of the BBC workplace comedy series "The Office," which ran on NBC from March 2005 until May 2013.

Dunder Mifflin, This Is Pam

Michael Scott

When reflecting back on some of the more memorable scenes from&nbsp;The Office,&nbsp;chances are they include Michael Scott. As one of the most pivotal, plot-driving characters, Michael Scott (also known as Detective Michael Scarn) is single-handedly responsible for many of the most uncomfortable, hilarious, and - at times - <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-michael-scott-quotes/movie-and-tv-quotes" target="_blank">heartwarming moments</a> from the show&#39;s nine seasons. Though the last two seasons&nbsp;of the show&nbsp;had to press on without the comedic force that is Steve Carell, fans of&nbsp;The Office&nbsp;will likely agree that Michael Scott&nbsp;left his mark on the Dunder Mifflin-Scranton community, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/the-dundies-you-most-want-to-win/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">one Dundie at a time</a>.

Perhaps some of the&nbsp;funniest moments, though, are those when Michael Scott unexpectedly blurts&nbsp;out some obscenity to the shock of&nbsp;the office staff (and those of us snooping on them&nbsp;through our screens). We&#39;ve gathered together&nbsp;every time that Michael Scott got caught up in the moment and required some additional censoring as a result.

All The Times Michael Scott Was Bleeped Out On 'The Office'

TV Episode

Edmund Kemper

We Had A Criminal Psychologist Analyze An Interview With The Co-Ed Killer - Here's What We Learned

Ed Kemper Psychological Analysis

Lists about real catastrophes that caused enormous damage, human casualties, and metric tons of profound suckage.

The Biggest Mistakes

Space Shuttle Challenger

The incident that destroyed&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/challenger-explosion-facts/aaron-edwards?var=3&amp;utm_expid=16418821-311.AAszGoDYQ7WZsue0Bhz6ww.2" target="_blank">the now infamous Challenger space shuttle</a>&nbsp;on the morning of January 28,&nbsp;1986, forever <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-happened-after-the-challenger-disaster/bailey-benningfield" target="_blank">changed the future of&nbsp;NASA&#39;s space programs</a>; however, the true extent of the event spanned much further than anyone could have guessed. In the months following, after much of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/big-bird-challenger-shuttle/stephanroget" target="_blank">the original Challenger</a>&nbsp;had been recovered and analysis of the crew&#39;s remains was completed, Dennis E. Powell of&nbsp;the Miami Herald&rsquo;s Sunday magazine, Tropic,&nbsp;revealed that NASA had <a href="http://gawker.com/thirty-years-ago-the-challenger-crew-plunged-alive-and-1755727930" target="_blank">kept much of the story</a> to themselves. They did this&nbsp;not out of respect for families&nbsp;but as a cruel PR move to help preserve their public opinion.

The shocking truth that <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/14/us/nasa-accused-of-cover-up-in-shuttle-deaths.html" target="_blank">NASA attempted to hide</a> was that the crew of six astronauts and one schoolteacher&nbsp;aboard the Challenger&nbsp;that day had, in fact, survived the explosion&nbsp;and instead met their ends after they plummeted 12 miles&nbsp;into the ocean. Likely embarrassed by their own lack of foresight when it came to preparing the crew for what may have been a survivable loss of life, <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3078062/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/chapter-eternity-descent/#.WYOFlVqGMWo" target="_blank">NASA withheld </a>information and forced people to lie on their behalf in an effort to keep the general public - which&nbsp;had watched the explosion live on their televisions -&nbsp;in the dark.

The Crew Of The Challenger Was Alive The Entire Fall - And NASA Tried To Cover It Up

Exploring the backstories and nuances of famous historical photos that will change the way you think about the past—and the future.

Photographic Memories

Death

Since the completion of the <a href="http://www.codex99.com/photography/43.html" target="_blank">Empire State Building</a> in 1931, at least 36 people have sought out the top floors of the building to commit&nbsp;suicide &ndash;&nbsp;with Evelyn McHale&#39;s&nbsp;jump being perhaps the most infamous. On the morning of May 1, 1947,&nbsp;just before 11 am, a traffic director who was&nbsp;working at the intersection of&nbsp;34th Street and Fifth Avenue happened to look up and notice a white scarf drifting down from the side of the Empire State Building when, suddenly, he heard a large crash, and chaos ensued within the streets. He then followed a crowd of passerbys to a limousine&nbsp;parked along the curb &ndash;&nbsp;upon which the body of Evelyn McHale&nbsp;was found, having completed the &quot;Most Beautiful Suicide.&quot;

Despite the eerily uncertain circumstances surrounding her suicide, it is not her death that has gained her such notable infamy, but, instead, the way she was found: softly enveloped within the wreckage of the car, ankles crossed effortlessly, and face serenely&nbsp;calm as she clutched her necklace in one white-gloved hand. The morbidity&nbsp;of the scene was forever encapsulated in&nbsp;<a href="http://time.com/3456028/the-most-beautiful-suicide-a-violent-death-an-immortal-photo/" target="_blank">one photograph</a>, depicting the delicate tranquility with which this woman met her end.

However, the question remains: Why did Evelyn &ndash;&nbsp;a young woman who was newly engaged&nbsp;and who had a loving family &ndash;&nbsp;choose to end her life on that Thursday&nbsp;morning?

The Story Behind Evelyn McHale And "The Most Beautiful Suicide"

The Story Behind The Suicide Of Evelyn McHale

All the evidence scholars have found that the stories and people in world religious texts are based on reality.

Proof of Faith

One Piece

Crucifixion is a punishment as historically notorious as it is religiously&nbsp;significant; however, it continues to be one of the most mysterious&nbsp;methods of execution from antiquity, primarily due to the fact that no physical evidence of the practice had&nbsp;ever been found for millenia after the death of Jesus Christ.&nbsp;In fact, the only descriptions of it were found in art and literature from the era. Where was the physical evidence of crucifixion?

<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2015/12/08/this-bone-provides-the-only-skeletal-evidence-for-crucifixion-in-the-ancient-world/#7dc9e04476d7" target="_blank">This all changed in 1968</a>, when&nbsp;archaeologists&nbsp;<a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-a-stone-box-a-rare-trace-of-crucifixion/" target="_blank">discovered a stone box</a> hidden&nbsp;away&nbsp;in a tomb located in northeastern Jerusalem. Inside the box&nbsp;were the remains of a Jewish man named Yehohanan, but what was particularly astounding about this man was that his heel&nbsp;bone appeared to have&nbsp;a thick nail driven through it &ndash;&nbsp;something that could prove that the man had been crucified. That&#39;s right &ndash; a single bone is the only existing physical evidence that crucifixion ever took place. Even more curious, perhaps, was that the body of a young boy was also found inside the box.

The fact that the nail was driven through the man&#39;s heel suggests that everything we thought we knew about crucifixion was wrong, and, in many ways, this discovery has generated more questions than answers.

Experts Have One Piece Of Archaeological Evidence That Crucifixion Really Happened

GG Allin

<a href="https://allthatsinteresting.com/gg-allin" target="_blank">GG Allin&#39;s</a>&nbsp;life story and performance&nbsp;antics&nbsp;are not for the faint of heart -&nbsp;this was a man who pushed past&nbsp;the very limits of human&nbsp;depravity&nbsp;and used every opportunity he had to bring his audiences, fans, and casual passersby to the edge right with him. The time Allin&#39;s&nbsp;entourage posed with his corpse is one of many outlandish <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-gg-allin/harrison-tenpas" target="_blank">GG Allin tales</a>, and it&#39;s&nbsp;not even the most disturbing one. People loved and hated him, and it was within this polarized space that Allin thrived. Nearly everything he did -&nbsp;on stage and off -&nbsp;elicited a visceral response from those who happened to be around him. This included everything from punching fans to&nbsp;throwing his own fecal matter around packed auditoriums&nbsp;to revealing his intent to end his life on stage on Halloween.&nbsp;

Even in death, he managed to continue his deviant legacy. On the&nbsp;evening of June 27, 1993,&nbsp;after performing a show and being chased down the street by a mob of fans and police alike, Allin and a group of friends and girlfriends made their way to an apartment where they&nbsp;continued to snort and drink everything in sight.

This Punk Rock Singer's Friends Didn't Realize He Died

Jayne Mansfield

On the evening of <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/actress-jayne-mansfield-dies-in-car-crash">June 29, 1967</a>, actress and Playboy model Jayne Mansfield was in a car&nbsp;driving down Highway 90, heading west toward New Orleans, LA, after finishing a performance at a nightclub in Biloxi, MS. She was&nbsp;accompanied by&nbsp;three of her children—Mickey, Zoltan, and Mariska&nbsp;Hargitay—four&nbsp;Chihuahuas, her lawyer, and her personal driver. At just after 2 a.m.,&nbsp;the group suddenly encountered a thick fog of insecticide spray drifting across the road. Upon rounding a dark corner of highway, their car slammed directly into the back of a slow-moving semi truck, killing all three adults in the front seat.&nbsp;The tragic death of yet another young Hollywood starlet brought with it&nbsp;a swarm of&nbsp;national media attention. The&nbsp;tragedy&nbsp;soon led to the implementation of new highway safety regulations, namely&nbsp;the requirement that large&nbsp;trucks be equipped with <a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/28155/how-jayne-mansfield-changed-design-tractor-trailers">a DOT bar</a>, more morbidly known as the "Mansfield bar."The&nbsp;circumstances surrounding <a href="https://roadtrippers.com/stories/jayne-mansfield-bar">Mansfield's death</a>&nbsp;seemed to be straightforward, but rumors quickly began to circulate about the beloved actress's true cause of death. Many asserted&nbsp;she had been decapitated in the crash and that a clump of blond hair seen tangled into the windshield of&nbsp;the car in crime&nbsp;scene photographs was, in fact, her head.

Top 5 Most Popular Lists

73 lists