20 Hard-to-Believe Yet True Facts Shared By This Online Community

In this age of information overload, it’s no surprise that we often come across incredible facts that seem too extraordinary to be true. However, the internet is a treasure trove of knowledge, and every now and then, it surprises us with astonishing revelations.

#1

Image source: Robinkc1, Pixabay

Robinkc1 said:
1/8 pregnancies end in miscarriage.

Edit: You guys keep messaging me with 1/4, 1/3, and a bunch of other numbers so let me clarify… 1/8 of known pregnancies end in a miscarriage. When you factor in unknown, it goes up. There are articles and studies done that can articulate that better than I can, but anyone who is messaging me with nothing more than a number? Feel free to argue amongst yourselves.

twinkedgelord replied:
Technically it’s more. A woman in her fertile years having regular unprotected sex with someone who can impregnate her is going to have multiple miscarriages. It’s relatively common for fertilised eggs to go away with menstruation.

THAT DOESN’T MEAN CONTRACEPTION IS OPTIONAL. WRAP IT UP.

#2

Image source: Confident-Juice-7, cottonbro studio

Confident-Juice-7 said:
The average number of human skeletons inside the human body isn’t 1.

BlueBabyCat666 replied:
That thought makes me uncomfortable for some reason. Ik this is because of pregnancies but still, creepy fact lol.

Triceracops0115 replied:
Think about those people that find out later in life they partially absorbed a twin in the womb.

moonpie269 repliedL
“I now have the power of a grown man and an infant”

OrangutanBeard replied:
There are also people who are born missing bones, or who have lost them in accidents. Technically, they don’t have a complete skeleton.

#3

Image source: LlhamaPaluza, Peter deYeule

LlhamaPaluza said:
That the last execution by guillotine in France was in 1977 the same year that Star Wars premiered on movie theathers.

OldMastodon5363 replied:
Hopefully he got to see Star Wars before being guillotined.

thesystem21 replied:
And was witnessed by sir Christopher Lee, who would later go on to be in a star wars movie.

skebe replied:
Yeah no, Lee witnessed the last *public* execution in France, back in 1939.

thesystem21 replied:
This is correct. I got my facts mixed up, I am ashamed by my inaccuracies.

However, still cool that Sir Christopher Lee saw the last public guillotine, the last private one was when star wars came out, then he was in a star wars as a person who was decapitated.

#4

Image source: Shells_and_bones, KoolShooters

Shells_and_bones Said:
Sharks have been on the planet longer than trees.

DistributionPerfect5 replied:
Sharks exists longer than the ring of Saturn.

TheAnythingGuy replied:
For a long time after trees evolved, there were not yet any fungi or bacteria that would break it down, so when a tree died, it just sat there, dead. Decomposers eventually evolved, that’s why there’s oil layers under the soil.

Lord_Phoenix95 replied:
Before that we had Mushrooms trees.

Mindshred1 replied:
The Cambrian period alone lasted 53 million years, and that was basically just sponges, trilobites, and other weirdos vibing in the ocean. Dry land plants hadn’t evolved yet, so on land, it was just dry rock as far as the eye could see.

Even after the Cambrian period ended, it would be another 70 million years before algae got around to turning into dry land plants, and it took another 10 million years for them to become the first trees.

#5

Image source: Whaddaulookinat, Matt Hardy

Whaddaulookinat said:
France borders Brazil.

ST616 replied:
France doesn’t border the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Europe, but it does in the Caribean.

Passing4human replied:
Canada is closer to France than Britain is.

Elkins45 replied:
I would appreciate an explanation of this one.

miraflox replied:
Saint-Pierre et Miquelon.

Elkins45 replied:
Thank you.

#6

Image source: bolivar-shagnasty, Greg Goebel

bolivar-shagnasty said:
The Tyrannosaurus rex lived closer in time to the founding of Waffle House than it did to Stegosaurus.

You guys can stop with the Cleopatra pyramids fact. It’s been done to death. Might even say it’s extinct.

valtl replied:
A picture with a T-rex riding a scooter while holding an iPhone is more accurate than him fighting a Stegosaurus.

baconmaverick replied:
Based on your comment and the one that you replied to I’m starting to think my Christmas sweater of Santa riding a stegosaurus might not be historically accurate.

AtDawnWeDEUSVULT replied:
No, Santa is eternal. Who do you think brought presents to the little stego’s on Christmas??

#7

Image source: JackCooper_7274, Aleksandar Pasaric

JackCooper_7274 said:
More people are killed by vending machines than shark attacks every year.

InevitableAd9683 replied:
To be fair, if people made a habit of shaking sharks back and forth because dammit I paid for the Snickers now GIVE IT TO ME YOU PIECE OF [TRASH]

Sorry, what was I saying?

CyptidProductions replied:
I forget what’s it called, but that’s actually a form of deceptive statistics caused by the potential for one event being more commonly created than the other so you can’t directly compare the level of danger

Ie: people are near vending machines far more often then they are sharks so there’s more opportunity for people to die that way on any given day

#8

Image source: Raccoonisms, U.S. EMBASSY CONAKRY

Raccoonisms said:
Martin Luther king jr and Anne Frank were the same age. King just lived longer. (Timelines f me up).

ducksinthepool replied:
So was Bob Newhart, and he’s still alive. It’s wild that these historical figures still could be alive today.

TheNorselord replied:
One might argue that if Anne Frank was alive today, she wouldn’t have been a historical figure.

DrunkOnRedCordial replied:
She would always have been a talented writer, and she would have had an amazing story, even as a survivor. So maybe not an iconic figure, but she still could have made a name for herself.

#9

Image source: Gubble_Buppie, Tom Cattini

Gubble_Buppie said:
A man, Michel Lotito, ATE an entire airplane. It took him 2 years.

dolly241 replied:
His parents, feeding him as a baby: Here comes the airplane!
Michel Lotito: challenge accepted

BrisklyBrusque replied:
“Lotito holds the record for the ‘strangest diet’ in the Guinness Book of Records. He was awarded a brass plaque by the publishers to commemorate his abilities. He devoured his award.” ?

#10

Image source: ThingFromEarth, Shvets Anna

ThingFromEarth said:
The reason there’s not a lot of Egyptian mummy’s is because the British elite ate them in the early 1800s due to a misunderstanding that eating them had healing properties.

Known-Pop-8355 replied:
Not just eat them, but they would also mix parts with their beauty creams, makeup and other medicines and etc. it was INSANE.

Voynichmanuscript408
They made a specific color of paint with it to replied:

MrsMalvora replied:
And had mummy unwrapping parties.

whaletacochamp replied:
Sometimes when I’m putting together some mediocre ass party I think about all the ABSURD parties that have happened throughout history and get a little sad. Like my party will never be as wild as a mummy unwrapping party.

Voynichmanuscript408 replied:
Hopefully less curses being unleashed at your parties.

#11

Image source: UsedToHaveThisName, David McEachan

UsedToHaveThisName said:
Cleopatra lived closer to the time of the first moon landing than to when the ancient pyramids were built.

15jtaylor443 replied:
I know this is true, I’ve heard and verified it myself dozens of times, but a part of my brain is always floored with this fact. Like, it sounds crazy, but it’s true.

the_c_is_silent replied:
I think people get tricked because of technological advancements. The 19th, 20th, and 21st century alone advanced more in technology than the previous 5k years.

Like it only took 50 years to go from first plane flight to literally sent a rocket to the moon.

The look and feel of 2500 BCE doesn’t feel that different to 33 BCE. But even something like the 1950s feels a hundred generations removed from 2023.

#12

Image source: DukeManbert, Pixabay

DukeManbert said:
The human body is the most efficient on earth for running. We use the least energy for running less then any other creature on earth.

[Writer’s Note: technically, *one* of the most efficient on earth. A unique experiment on mice, engineered to lack the gene called CMAH—that’s responsible for the long-distance endurance trait in humans—made them run stronger, for longer, and with less fatigue.]

froggrip replied:
It’s theorized that before weapons were invented, humans would chase deer until the deer collapsed of exhaustion.

lump77777 replied:
And we are able to cool our bodies much more efficiently based on how we sweat. That was another evolutionary advantage, and it enabled hunters to pursue game until the animals were exhausted.

#13

Image source: PhreedomPhighter, Aliona & Pasha

PhreedomPhighter said:
Vatican City contains 5.9 popes per square mile.

ST616 replied:
Until last year there were twice as many as that.

Eoron replied:
That’s about 2.28 metric popes per square kilometer.

#14

Image source: amrodd, Nothing Ahead

amrodd said:
Viagra, when mixed in water, can make flowers stand upright for several days.

Strengths is the longest word in English with only one vowel.

You can’t tickle yourself or lick your elbow.

Chalk is edible.

sweetkatiecakes replied:
You can tickle yourself on the roof of your mouth.

davesoverhere replied:
And the bottom of your foot.

ITookTrinkets replied:
Oh yeah I super can

NjhhjN replied:
depends on the person, i cant

Masseyrati80 replied:
Yeah, I’d have to sacrifice a knee for that.

#15

Image source: CountRoloff, Ivan Stecko

CountRoloff said:
Orcas evolved from a land mammal.

jgiffin replied:
Also whales and dolphins have a more recent common ancestor with deer than they do with any fish in the sea.

_Steven_Seagal_ replied:
Also with humans and the platypus, as we’re all mammals.

brieflyamicus replied:
The variant of this that I tell people: Camels are more closely related to whales than they are to horses.

jgiffin replied:
Yep, any even- toed ungulates! Also includes giraffes and boar.

#16

Image source: MeruFaw, Thach Tran

MeruFaw said:
4300 years old: The oldest pine tree in the world stands in the Inyo national forest, California. But no one knows what the tree looks like, where it is exactly, or if it really exists because the government keeps its location a secret.

SciGuy013 replied:
And also because the older one was killed when a sample was taken from it.

dizzley replied:
I heard that the scientist who took the sample was completely mortified. I can only imagine.

Audiman09 replied:
This is accurate, he was unfortunately blamed for the demise of the tree, a bit unfairly. I heard the story on an Ologies podcast(highly recommend the podcast in general) where Allie hosted a tree expert(I forget the technical “ologist” name) and he described the story of when the oldest tree on earth was having a sample taken from it by some guy. The tool used to take the sample got stuck, so he tried another tool ending in the same result. I can’t remember the exact specifics but if I recall he wasn’t aware that this was indeed the oldest tree in the world and the damage ended up being enough to be the demise of the tree somehow.

Edit: to clarify that the guest on the podcast was not the same person that hurt the tree

SukieTawdrey replied:
Dendrologist! That one and the one about bats are my favorite episodes.

#17

Image source: algomasuperior, Sebastian Arie Voortman

algomasuperior said:
Men are seven times more likely to leave their partner after their partner is diagnosed with cancer than women are.

Dizzy-Ad2333 replied:
Check if this was true and it is. source I want to emphasize that most people – regardless of gender – do not leave their partners when they get sick.

MattieShoes replied:
1 in 5 vs 1 in 34… Pretty stark difference.

weednumberhaha replied:
To be more precise, that study reported:

“Women composed 53% of the patient population. Divorce or separation occurred at a rate similar to that reported in the literature (11.6%). There was, however, a greater than 6-fold increase in risk after diagnosis when the affected spouse was the woman (20.8% vs 2.9%; P < .001). Female gender was found to be the strongest predictor of separation or divorce in each cohort. Marriage duration at the time of illness was also correlated with separation among brain tumor patients (P = .0001). Patients with brain tumors who were divorced or separated were more likely to be hospitalized, and less likely to participate in a clinical trial, receive multiple treatment regimens, complete cranial irradiation, or die at home (P < .0001).”

In plain English, there’s seemingly a ~80% chance of staying together when the sick partner is a woman, but the chances of staying together improve to ~97% when the sick partner is a man. Ughhhhhhhhhhh

#18

Image source: KnockMeYourLobes, Cats Coming

KnockMeYourLobes said:
Humans with a deficiency in thyroid-stimulating hormone production can fix that by taking a pill made of dessicated, ground up, smashed into pill form pig thyroid. The best part is it smells a little like bacon.

Chickadee12345 replied:
I’ll have to crush one up and taste it. LOL. Insulin used to be made from the pancreas of cows and pigs. But there were problems with that method so they came up with a bunch of other ways to make it. It is still produced but not widely used.

cryptic-coyote replied:
I tasted mine this morning. I don’t have a baseline for what powdered pig thyroid is supposed to taste like, but I don’t think the pill tastes much like anything at all.

Chickadee12345 replied:
Bacon, isn’t it supposed to taste like bacon??? So this means you can skip the side of bacon with your eggs in the morning if you’re on thyroid medication.

redfeather1 replied:
How dare you suggest anyone deprive themselves of bacon. YOU HEATHEN!

#19

Image source: AndyFromTheWPC, Artur Roman

AndyFromTheWPC said:
Goats like to stand on trees.

blue4029 replied:
Goats can defy gravity to walk up mountains

Seriously, look up pictures of mountain goats. they can stand on mountains without any visible foot-holds.

Loko8765 replied:
Hell, they can climb dams.

chuffberry replied:
I once watched a goat fall out of a tree. I was really worried because it was a pretty tall tree and he landed on his side, but he just stiffly walked it off. I still wonder about that goat because, again, it was a pretty huge tree and he just pancaked.

#20

Image source: _Light_The_Way, Timon Cornelissen

_Light_The_Way said:
Hippos kill at least 500 people a year.

things_most_foul replied:
I’ve traveled a bit. The only time I’ve seen locals get scared of wildlife was in the Okavango Delta when we encountered a pair of Hippo ears sticking out of the water.

MC936 replied:
We were out there camping years ago, it was absolutely stunning. Not a cloud in the sky, hundreds of miles away from any major light pollution and I still haven’t made peace with the fact that I’ll probably never see the night sky like that again. Went to bed, woke up needing to pee later on. Got my boots on and headtorch, unzipped the tent and was face to face with an adult hippo about 10-12ft away.. didn’t need to pee after that, went back to bed and tried to ignore what I saw.