Post your favorite scary or unnerving article or Wikipedia page

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Bean Head: Feb 22, 2014

quote:

The parasite destroys the fish's tongue, and then attaches itself to the stub of what was once its tongue and becomes the fish's new tongue

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua and back to creepy... :barf:

# ? Mar 8, 2014 20:05

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# ? May 13, 2024 23:56

painted bird: Oct 18, 2013; by Lowtax

You mean awesome.

Unless you're a fish.

# ? Mar 8, 2014 20:24

Joramun: Dec 1, 2011; No man has need of candles when the Sun awaits him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia

Jesus Christ. The horror.

# ? Mar 9, 2014 20:44

coleman francis: Aug 8, 2007; Tap tap
The ketchup bottle
None will come
Then axolotl; Hair Elf

Withdrawal Plans posted:

Holy gently caress

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States

I knew about some of these things but the magnitude of evil perpetrated on the poor and disadvantaged blows my mind. American citizens were treated as lab animals over and over.

"From 1913 to 1951, Dr. Leo Stanley, chief surgeon at the San Quentin Prison, performed a wide variety of experiments on hundreds of prisoners at San Quentin. Many of the experiments involved testicular implants, where Stanley would take the testicles out of executed prisoners and surgically implant them into living prisoners. In other experiments, he attempted to implant the testicles of rams, goats, and boars into living prisoners. Stanley also performed various eugenics experiments, and forced sterilizations on San Quentin prisoners. Stanley believed that his experiments would rejuvenate old men, control crime (which he believed had biological causes), and prevent the "unfit" from reproducing."

poo poo like this is still going on to. Defense contractor Raytheon is testing heat rays on prisoners in california. It's "non lethal" but meant to inflict maximum searing pain all over. :america:

# ? Mar 9, 2014 22:11

Helmacron: Jun 3, 2005; looking down at the world

Here's a newbie:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N844AA#Ben_Charles_Padilla

Just posted in the thread of the MH370 flight that's disappeared with 239 people just south of Vietnam. The article isn't so creepy but the link directed section re: Padilla is haunting.

Lost people make me feel gut sick worse than anything else.

# ? Mar 10, 2014 00:06

Basebf555: Feb 29, 2008; The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!; Fun Shoe

Helmacron posted:

Here's a newbie:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N844AA#Ben_Charles_Padilla

Just posted in the thread of the MH370 flight that's disappeared with 239 people just south of Vietnam. The article isn't so creepy but the link directed section re: Padilla is haunting.

Lost people make me feel gut sick worse than anything else.

Wikipedia links to an article that makes it sound like this Charles Padilla guy just REALLY wanted to get that plane out of there for business reasons, and he probably was overconfident that he could fly it when he wasn't really trained to do so. Probably crashed in the Atlantic, that's the direction it was heading.

# ? Mar 10, 2014 14:30

Skelicopter: Feb 19, 2013; More like Prince Alarming

Looking up serial killers on Wikipedia is scary. You know what's even scarier? Looking up unsolved serial murders.

The Oakland County Child Killer case, for example, has some seriously weird details:

Oakland County Child Killer posted:

Timothy King, 11, borrowed 30 cents from his older sister and left his home in Birmingham, skateboard in hand, to buy candy at a drugstore on nearby Maple Road on Wednesday, March 16, 1977, at about 8:30 pm. He left the store by the rear entrance, which opened to a parking lot shared with a supermarket, and vanished. [...] In a letter printed in the Detroit News, Marion King wrote that she hoped Timothy could come home soon so she could serve him his favorite meal, Kentucky Fried Chicken. In the late evening hours of March 22, 1977, two teenagers in a car spotted his body in a shallow ditch alongside Gill Road, about 300 feet south of Eight Mile Road in Livonia, just across the county line in Wayne County. His skateboard was placed next to his body. His clothing had been neatly pressed and washed. He had been suffocated and sexually assaulted with an object. The postmortem showed that Timothy had eaten fried chicken before he was slain.

The suspect list gets even weirder.

Oakland County Child Killer posted:

Detroit psychiatrist Dr. Bruce Danto, who worked with the task force, received a poorly spelled guilt ridden letter several weeks after Timothy King's body was found from a man named "Allen". Allen claimed that he was a sadomasochist slave of his roommate 'Frank' who is the 'OCCK'. [...]
Allen described that Frank was traumatized by killing children in the Vietnam War where he and Allen served, and was taking revenge on more affluent citizens such as the residents of 'Birmingham'. Allen wrote that Frank wanted rich people to suffer for sending forces to Vietnam, and received nothing in return.
Allen instructed Danton to respond by printing the code words 'weather bureau says trees to bloom in three weeks' published in that Sunday's Free Press edition. Soon after, Danto got a phone call from Allen, who offered to provide photographic evidence in exchange for a letter from the Governor of Michigan guaranteeing immunity from prosecution. The psychiatrist arranged to meet Allen at a gay bar entitled the 'Pony Cart Bar' near Detroit's exclusive Palmer Woods neighborhood. Allen did not show, and was never heard from again.

There's also evidence that the OCCK could be connected to a wider ring of pedophiles, including the fact that following tips on the case led to the police busting a multi-state child pornography ring operating on North Fox Island in Lake Michigan, and this:

Oakland County Child Killer posted:

Sloan was a pedophile who victimized young boys in his neighborhood. He became a person of interest when hair samples found in his 1966 Pontiac Bonneville, matched hair found on the bodies of Timothy King and Mark Stebbins. However the hair samples did not match other suspects. Sloan often lent his car out to his pedophile friends.

The Wikipedia article itself is written in an occasionally rambling, misspelled fashion, and I don't quite know what to make of it. But it's terrifying to think that whoever did this is potentially still out there. Potentially able to read the Wikipedia page about his own crimes. Or edit it.

There's plenty more such cases, both local to the United States and worldwide. All are extremely chilling, and don't even have the catharsis you get from reading about a killer who gets caught in the end.

Other fascinating/terrifying, but little-known, cases include the Stoneman killer:

Stoneman posted:

The criminal or criminals' modus operandi was simple: first he or she would find an unsuspecting victim sleeping alone in a desolate area. The victim's head was crushed with a single stone weighing as much as 30 kg. In most cases, the victims' identities could not be ascertained since they slept alone and did not have relatives or associates who could identify them.

And the Freeway Phantom:

Freeway Phantom posted:

On July 27, 1971, 10-year old Brenda Crockett failed to return home after having been sent to the store by her mother. Three hours after Brenda was last seen, the phone rang and was answered by her 7-year old sister, who had waited at home while her family searched the neighborhood. Brenda was on the other line, crying.
"A white man picked me up, and I'm heading home in a cab," Brenda told her sister, adding that she believed she was in Virginia before abruptly saying "Bye" and hanging up.
A short time later, the phone rang again and was this time answered by the boyfriend of Brenda's mother. It was Brenda again, and she merely repeated what she'd said in the last telephone call, indicating she was alone in a house with a white male. The boyfriend asked Brenda to have the man come to the phone. Heavy footsteps were heard in the background. Brenda said "I'll see you" and hung up. A few hours later, a hitchhiker discovered Brenda's body in a conspicuous location on Route 50, near I-295 in Prince George's County, Maryland. She had been raped and strangled, and a scarf was knotted around her neck.

Freeway Phantom posted:

After having dinner with a high school classmate on November 15, 1971, Brenda Woodward, 18, boarded a city bus to return to her Maryland Avenue home. Approximately six hours later, a police officer discovered her body, stabbed and strangled, in a grassy area near an access ramp to Route 202 from the Baltimore�Washington Parkway. A coat had been placed over her chest, and one of its pockets contained a note from the killer:

This is tantamount to my insensititivity [sic] to people especially women.
I will admit the others when you catch me if you can!

Free-way Phantom

Authorities surmised that the note, written on paper cut from the victim's school notebook, was dictated to and handwritten by her.

And then there's the Connecticut River Valley killer. The killer never gets caught, but at least there's one particular incident where the victim gets away - and her story reads like something out of an urban legend.

Connecticut River Valley Killer posted:

The killings remained unsolved and had apparently stopped when, late in the evening on August 6, 1988, 22-year old Jane Boroski, seven months pregnant, was returning from a county fair in Keene, New Hampshire, when she stopped at a closed convenience store in West Swanzey to purchase cola from a vending machine. Boroski returned to her car and began drinking the beverage when she took notice of a Jeep Wagoneer parked next to her. Via her rear-view mirror, Boroski then saw the driver of the vehicle walking around the back of her vehicle. He then approached her open window and asked her if the pay phone was working, at which time he immediately grabbed her and pulled her from the vehicle. Boroski struggled, and the man accused her of beating up his girlfriend and asked if she had Massachusetts plates on her car. Boroski responded that she had New Hampshire plates, but this did not deter her attacker, who proceeded to stab her 27 times before driving away and leaving her to die.
Boroski managed to return to her car and drive on Route 32 toward a friend's house for help. As she neared the house, she noticed a vehicle driving in front of her and realized that it was her attacker. Boroski finally reached her friend's home at which the occupants immediately came to her aid. Her attacker apparently performed a U-turn and slowly passed by the house as Boroski was tended to before speeding away into the night.
Boroski was treated at the hospital, where it was determined that the attack had resulted in a severed jugular vein, two collapsed lungs, a kidney laceration, and severed tendons in her knees and thumb. Fortunately, Boroski's baby survived, although not without complications; Boroski's daughter would later be diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy.

And then there's the Highway of Tears murders, which have been going on for 40 years, with possibly up to 43 murders, but haven't been investigated properly due to systematic racism and the fact that the murdered women were aboriginals. And how many of these cases are linked? And then there's the West Mesa Bone Collector, who was operating as recently as 2009...

Basically, if you want to be scared, don't read about the monsters who've been caught, analyzed, and dissected by the media. Read about the monsters who are still out there, and could pass you on the street.

# ? Mar 10, 2014 17:23

Nouvelle Vague: Feb 16, 2011; Endut! Hoch Hech!

Freaky poo poo bladedsmoke. With regards to the Oakland County Child Killer, is it really that common for child murderers to kill both genders? It kinda reminds me of The Atlanta Child Murders, which were "solved." It makes me wonder if there might not be two killers, or perhaps as the article suggested it was part of a network.

But yeah, unsolved poo poo is worse. Especially when it randomly stops:

Paraquat murders posted:

The paraquat murders were a series of indiscriminate poisonings carried out in Japan in 1985. Police were unable to gather any evidence about the murders other than they were caused by a poisoned beverage that was left inside or around vending machines. All the beverages were poisoned with the herbicide paraquat except for one which was poisoned with diquat.

The first poisoning and death occurred on April 30, 1985 in Fukuyama, Hiroshima. This drink was found on top of the vending machine. After this, eleven more murders occurred between September 11 and November 17. Most of these drinks were retrieved from outside the vending machine. Vending machine operators posted warnings on machines telling people not to consume drinks found in or around the machines, after which the poisonings stopped.

No culprit was ever found.

Were they caught in an unrelated crime? Did they die? Was it the work of a bunch of copycats? Did they just get bored/scared and stop?

Missing and unidentified persons are also freaky, and if you ever want to not sleep at night go to The Doe Network.

Nouvelle Vague has a new favorite as of 19:37 on Mar 10, 2014

# ? Mar 10, 2014 19:34

Stairs: Oct 13, 2004

Nouvelle Vague posted:

Missing and unidentified persons are also freaky, and if you ever want to not sleep at night go to The Doe Network.

Oh God this. Especially the one drawing composite of a woman that had her hand covering her eyes showing the rings she was found with. The reason they don't show her face is because animals had eaten it off and there was nothing to work with. It was horrifying because of the implications of what that hand was hiding, but also because in the drawing she's loving grinning.

# ? Mar 10, 2014 19:49

KERNOD WEL: Oct 10, 2012

As well as those primally disturbing clay sculptures they have as stand-ins for victims. The lighting and the awful 80's hair + clothes they all wear. Like its something the actual murderer made for a trophy instead of a tool from the investigators.

# ? Mar 10, 2014 21:12

ruarc: Oct 22, 2008; what

Stairs posted:

Oh God this. Especially the one drawing composite of a woman that had her hand covering her eyes showing the rings she was found with. The reason they don't show her face is because animals had eaten it off and there was nothing to work with. It was horrifying because of the implications of what that hand was hiding, but also because in the drawing she's loving grinning.

She was eventually identified as Cheryl Bowman of Houston, TX.

# ? Mar 11, 2014 04:17

Missing Name: Jan 5, 2013

KERNOD WEL posted:

As well as those primally disturbing clay sculptures they have as stand-ins for victims. The lighting and the awful 80's hair + clothes they all wear. Like its something the actual murderer made for a trophy instead of a tool from the investigators.

Maybe

for some.
http://i.imgur.com/f02NQCV.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Vc37HbF.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/X9We0NC.jpg
:nms:

if you were to look at them quickly, you might think of them as simply bad sculptures. Then you realize...

# ? Mar 11, 2014 04:39

Fluo: May 25, 2007

Doctor Chaxtical posted:

Fellow goons, I give you Fairview Training Center.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairview_Training_Center

Located in Salem, Oregon, FTC was originally part of a network of mental hospitals in Oregon, which included Eastern Oregon State Hospital, the Oregon State Hospital, and Dammasch State Hospital (Pendleton, Salem, and Wilsonville respectively for other Oregoons out there). FTC was, essentially, the facility for children deemed "insane" or "retarded". During the 98 years of its operation, the facility was known for frequent cases of abuse and neglect; there was a cemetery on the grounds in which deceased children were buried, many of whom still have not been found.

The facility was the only one in Oregon to engage in eugenics, which adds to the creep factor a wee bit. My friend's mother told me about her sister (I know, one of THOSE story chains) who was at Fairview, afflicted with Down's Syndrome. She said visiting her sister was the most awful thing in the world; she was often covered in bruises and scratches, usually from other kids, and wanted nothing more than to leave with her family. Alas, she was left "in the care" of Fairview's professionals, and did so until she passed away in the mid 1990s. One of the stories my buddy's mom told me was about visiting one day and seeing kids with hydrocephalus wandering around their little ward with arm braces (or walkers, not sure which it was exactly), hanging their swollen heads down, moaning pitifully. She said the stink was unbearable, that children were often left in their own feces. Basically, if you can think of something lovely to do to somebody at an asylum, it went down at Fairview. To children.

This thread got me poking around Oregon's mental health history, which is how I came to discover Fairview. As somebody diagnosed with clinical depression, ADHD, Bipolar II, and insomnia, the stories at FTC sort of struck home. A lot of these kids had less wrong with them than I do, issues that a little bit of understanding and patience at home could have made lesser. Bipolar is absolutely horrifying, and I cannot seriously imagine being subjected to torture when going through an "episode". I cannot begin to fathom the utter feeling of helplessness and pain these poor children must have experienced, and it sickens and disgusts me that this happened so recently so close to me.

I contacted the current property owners to obtain permission to do some photography on the old grounds, with no intention of going inside any buildings and fully planning on signing any waivers and whatnot they threw in front of me. As a history major, I understand the desire to keep properties such as this undisturbed. Unfortunately, I was flatout denied, and the property is slated for demolition and redevelopment in the coming year. There are armed security guards patrolling the grounds 24 hours a day, and anybody caught will be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It's sorta lovely.

I was able to nab a single photograph a few weeks ago at night before I saw security and flagged them down (this was my initial contact with somebody related to the property owner, so I wanted to request permission [security was super chill since I wasn't on the property]).

Only vaguely horrifying, right? Anyway, here are some more photos taken by somebody else on the internet somewhere:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9681449@N05/sets/72157600659175511/

And a video http://vimeo.com/365508 about the training center filmed during its height. Finally, not wiki, but a news article about some of the abuses at the facility: http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/01/erasing_fairviews_horrors.html

I personally don't know a whole lot about EOSH or OSH, but I grew up near Wilsonville, and before they tore down Dammasch, we used to sneak into it because we were in high school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_State_Hospital
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dammasch_State_Hospital
http://www.smitheliot.com/pages/dammasch.html

Dammasch was absolutely horrifying to be inside. The basement still contained a lot of the old equipment, and you could just feel the instability in the atmosphere. I'm not trying to sound like a fool, but at both Dammasch and Fairview the air itself just felt unsettled. Perhaps it was my mind playing things up, but it just had an aura of "holy gently caress" to it. Dammasch had a reputation as, according to local legend, in the late 1990s a former resident broke in, as it was the only home he ever knew, and accidentally slashed his arms on the broken glass. Apparently he proceeded to walk around, slapping his arms on the walls as he bled to death, and the marks we sometimes found were supposed to be his blood. I don't know how much of it is true, but it certainly made poo poo more rear end-puckering at the time.

And then we have the tunnel. While exploring Dammasch one fine evening, we came upon an access hatch somebody had left open. We hopped down into it because we're exactly the kind of people who die in horror films and found ourselves in a long, dark corridor, wide enough for two or three people to walk next to each other. The corridor led to the Living Enrichment Center, a strange church-type facility for the "insane" that worked in conjunction with Dammasch until it was shut down after a financial scandal. Both Dammasch and the LEC are gone today, with the LEC finally being torn down in April of 2013.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Enrichment_Center

Hopefully that wasn't too long or off topic, I've been waiting to post it until I'd read through the entire thread.

Oh that reminds me of Cropsey! :spooky:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cropsey/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cropsey_(film)

quote:

Cropsey is a 2009 American documentary film written and directed by Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio. The film initially begins as an examination of "Cropsey," a boogeyman-like figure from New York urban legend, before segueing into the story of Andre Rand, a convicted child kidnapper from Staten Island.
In 2009, Cropsey premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, where programmer David Kwok stated, �The eeriness of the mystery pulsates through the film as they journey into the underbelly� As more information and clues unravel, Zeman and Brancaccio become more immersed in shocking surprises and revelations. The reality they uncover in this uniquely hair-raising documentary is more terrifying than any urban legend.

A movie on the urban legend (when it was still an urban legend) came out in 1981 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burning_(film)

Anyway the guy they ended up catching and it mindfucked the children from being an urban legend to being real.

quote:

Rand�s alleged victims

In 1972, 5-year-old Alice Perreira vanished after her brother had left her alone for a moment. They were playing in the lobby of a building on the island. Reports also suggest Alice may have been sighted in one of the parks. Rand was the prime suspect in this case due to his previous crime record. Alice has never been seen again.
In 1981, Staten Island resident Holly Ann Hughes, did not return home after going outside to play. Her parents filed a missing persons report and a search was issued. When questioned, several eyewitnesses reported seeing Hughes with Rand. She was reported being very dirty and entered a grocery store to purchase a bar of soap. She was last seen with Rand and has not been seen again to this day.
In 1983, 11-year-old Tiahease Jackson was reported missing after her mother had sent her to purchase food and she did not return. She was last seen exiting the Mariner�s Harbor Motel in Staten Island on August 14, just 12 days after Rand was released from Prison. Rand was quickly questioned about the girl, but due to the lack of evidence and witnesses, no charges were pressed on him.
In 1984, Staten Island resident Hank Gafforio was reported missing after he did not return home one night. Gafforio was described as being �slow� and had an I.Q. in the 70s. At the time of his disappearance he was 22. Eyewitnesses reported last seeing Gafforio in a local diner with Rand in the early morning hours. His body has never been found.
Jennifer Schweiger, born with Down syndrome, was reported missing on July 9, 1987. She said that she was going on a short walk, only to never return. Residents banded together to form a search group and found her body after a 35-day search. While combing the area around Willowbrook State School, one of the search dogs� attention was caught by a particular spot. Reports from those involved in the search state that it wasn�t long before the digging had commenced that a smell of decay seeped from the ground. As they continued, a small foot was unearthed. With continuous digging, the entire body was unearthed from the shallow grave and the remains were positively identified as those of Jennifer. In the next few days, police would search the grounds for evidence, only to find one of Rand�s makeshift campsites in proximity of Jennifer�s grave

quote:

In 1988, Rand was charged with the kidnapping and first-degree murder of Jennifer Schweiger. The Staten Island jury could not reach a verdict on the murder charge, but convicted Rand of the first-degree kidnapping charge. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. He would have been eligible for parole in 2008 if not convicted of a 2nd kidnapping.
In 2004 Rand was again brought to trial, this time charged with the kidnapping of Holly Ann Hughes 23 years earlier. There is no statute of limitations in New York for first-degree kidnapping, which made this charge possible. A jury convicted Rand of the kidnapping in October 2004, and he was sentenced to another consecutive 25 years to life in prison. He will become eligible for parole in 2037, when he is 93 years old.

http://i.imgur.com/8J9kzEE.jpg

The urban legend told different ways but it's based around http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willowbrook_State_School Willowbrook state school

quote:

Willowbrook State School was a state-supported institution for children with intellectual disability located in the Willowbrook neighborhood on Staten Island in New York City from 1947 until 1987.The school was designed for 4,000, but by 1965 it had a population of 6,000. At the time it was the biggest state-run institution for people with mental disabilities in the United States. Conditions and questionable medical practices and experiments prompted Sen. Robert Kennedy to call it a "snake pit.

The story about Willowbrook state school is just as hosed up as cropsey its self.

Fluo has a new favorite as of 22:08 on Mar 12, 2014

# ? Mar 11, 2014 07:01

Dissapointed Owl: Jan 30, 2008; You wrote me a letter,
and this is how it went:

Don't think we have to :nms:

a little girl with Down's syndrome dude

# ? Mar 11, 2014 18:16

Solice Kirsk: Jun 1, 2004; .

Dissapointed Owl posted:

Don't think we have to a little girl with Down's syndrome dude

Maybe he was NMSing the tacky aluminum siding on that house?

# ? Mar 11, 2014 18:26

FrumpleOrz: Feb 12, 2014; Perhaps you have not been to the *Playground*.
The *Playground* is for Taalo and for Orz, but *Campers* can go.
It more fun than several.
You can go there for too much fun.

Dissapointed Owl posted:

Don't think we have to a little girl with Down's syndrome dude

Maybe he was talking about her mind?

# ? Mar 11, 2014 19:20

painted bird: Oct 18, 2013; by Lowtax

I think it's more the context of the photo. It's distressing to see missing person posters, when you know, in retrospect, the missing person was a kid (a disabled kid, even) and they were murdered.

Still a bit poo poo, though. Don't mark disabled kids as :nms:

Fake edit: smileys are case sensitive. Huh.

# ? Mar 11, 2014 19:23

Terra-da-loo!: Apr 6, 2008; Sufficiently kickass.

Has the Helios Airways Flight 522 been mentioned here yet? I was reading up on the recent disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, and it was mentioned. I hadn't really learned about it before, and it's just really loving spooky to me that that sort of thing can happen. You just sort of doze off and three hours later you're a tragedy in the side of a Greek mountain.

# ? Mar 12, 2014 02:40

Shame Boy: Mar 2, 2010

Zombie Raptor posted:

Has the Helios Airways Flight 522 been mentioned here yet? I was reading up on the recent disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, and it was mentioned. I hadn't really learned about it before, and it's just really loving spooky to me that that sort of thing can happen. You just sort of doze off and three hours later you're a tragedy in the side of a Greek mountain.

The issue that downed the plane (besides the cabin crew not noticing the problem at all) was a switch set by a ground engineer. Now he gets to live for the rest of his life knowing that if he had just flipped that switch back when he was done with it everyone would still be alive. It's not really his fault, the crew should have noticed during all the checks they did, but jeez it must suck to be that guy :smith:

# ? Mar 12, 2014 17:08

MrYenko: Jun 18, 2012; #2 isn't ALWAYS bad...

Parallel Paraplegic posted:

The issue that downed the plane (besides the cabin crew not noticing the problem at all) was a switch set by a ground engineer. Now he gets to live for the rest of his life knowing that if he had just flipped that switch back when he was done with it everyone would still be alive. It's not really his fault, the crew should have noticed during all the checks they did, but jeez it must suck to be that guy

I used to work with the guy that marshaled ValueJet 592 off the gate before it crashed. He was a real upbeat guy, but got downright grim whenever that came up.

# ? Mar 12, 2014 18:00

Mikl: Nov 8, 2009; Vote shit sandwich or the shit sandwich gets it!

chthonic bell posted:

Mercury poisoning (hell, all heavy metal poisoning) is some freaky poo poo.

Good thing we usually stay away from those! Haha, just kidding, we totally used to smear that poo poo on our faces.

I'm really grateful to live in the modern world, where we at least know that lead is a bad idea.

You know what's worse than mercury? Dimethylmercury.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn

quote:

Wetterhahn would recall that she had spilled several drops of dimethylmercury from the tip of a pipette onto her latex gloved hand. [...] However, tests later showed that dimethylmercury can in fact rapidly permeate different kinds of latex gloves and enter the skin within about 15 seconds.

[...]

Despite aggressive chelation therapy, her condition rapidly deteriorated; three weeks after the first neurological symptoms appeared, Wetterhahn lapsed into what appeared to be a vegetative state punctuated by periods of extreme agitation. One of her former students said that "Her husband saw tears rolling down her face. I asked if she was in pain. The doctors said it didn't appear that her brain could even register pain." Wetterhahn was removed from life support and died on June 8, 1997, less than a year after her initial exposure.

# ? Mar 12, 2014 19:51

TerryLennox: Oct 12, 2009; There is nothing tougher than a tough Mexican, just as there is nothing gentler than a gentle Mexican, nothing more honest than an honest Mexican, and above all nothing sadder than a sad Mexican. -R. Chandler.

MrYenko posted:

I used to work with the guy that marshaled ValueJet 592 off the gate before it crashed. He was a real upbeat guy, but got downright grim whenever that came up.

My dad works for the equivalent of the FAA in my country (airframe and mechanical repair background) and one thing he has taught me is that aviation in general (piloting AND mechanics) lives and dies with checklists. The mind often wanders and a second of distraction can cause catastrophic failure. I've seen some nasty poo poo like planes landing with missing panels that blew during flight. Whats worse is to see the effort the companies go to avoid fines and to scurry away from blame. Even things like the autopilot can cause crashes if not used properly: a captain was taking off from the Dominican Republic and forgot to clear the flight computer's memory before he entered the new vectors. The pilot nearly poo poo his pants when the airplane started veering off towards the sea. Fortunately the copilot just dropped the autopilot and took over manually until they figured out WTF had happened.

# ? Mar 13, 2014 00:30

Smiling Jack: Dec 2, 2001; I sucked a dick for bus fare and then I walked home.

Mikl posted:

You know what's worse than mercury? Dimethylmercury.

There's an anecdote in Ignition! where someone or other suggests using Dimethylmercury in rocket fuel. The author called up Eastman Kodak and tried to order a quantity of the stuff and the chemical engineer on the other end of the line flipped out when he heard the amount being ordered.

Ignition! is an absolutely insane history of rocket fuel development. It's available as a PDF floating around the internet.

# ? Mar 13, 2014 00:43

ultrabindu: Jan 28, 2009

I guess this belongs here.

http://condomdepot.tumblr.com/post/79364268598/consumer-alert-trojan-fire-ice-condoms

quote:

Upon examining a Trojan Fire & Ice condom, I immediately noticed something was very wrong.

Shockingly, after taking a Trojan Fire & Ice condom out of its wrapper and handling it, the lubricant on the condom disintegrated and stripped off all of my red enamel nail polish (after completely eating through the clear top coat of polish).

Just to be sure, I tested a second Fire & Ice condom. The same thing occurred and more enamel was stripped off my nails. Then, my hands began to burn and I got a painful scorching sensation on the skin that came into contact with these condoms.

Condom might burn yo dick off.

# ? Mar 13, 2014 12:49

A Pinball Wizard: Mar 23, 2005; I know every trick, no freak's gonna beat my hands; College Slice

ultrabindu posted:

I guess this belongs here.

http://condomdepot.tumblr.com/post/79364268598/consumer-alert-trojan-fire-ice-condoms

Condom might burn yo dick off.

That's the fire part. It makes your junk burn. The ice makes your junk minty fresh.

You can simulate the experience at home by rubbing icy hot on your dick/vag :eng101:

# ? Mar 13, 2014 13:29

MrYenko: Jun 18, 2012; #2 isn't ALWAYS bad...

Confirming that fire and ice condoms are just about the worst thing ever invented.

# ? Mar 13, 2014 14:53

Slanderer: May 6, 2007

How could any reasonable person think, "Do you know what goes great on genitalia? Icy Hot!"?

# ? Mar 13, 2014 14:59

Solice Kirsk: Jun 1, 2004; .

Slanderer posted:

How could any reasonable person think, "Do you know what goes great on genitalia? Icy Hot!"?

Small amounts of menthol are fun for some people.

# ? Mar 13, 2014 15:16

xtal: Jan 9, 2011; by Fluffdaddy

ultrabindu posted:

I guess this belongs here.

http://condomdepot.tumblr.com/post/79364268598/consumer-alert-trojan-fire-ice-condoms

Condom might burn yo dick off.

I'm not really sure what lead you to that conclusion

xtal has a new favorite as of 18:51 on Mar 13, 2014

# ? Mar 13, 2014 18:42

Vilemoon: Jan 4, 2013; Unsound Of Mind.

xtal posted:

This isn't scary, unnerving or a Wikipedia page so I'm not really sure what lead you to that conclusion

Not sure what ISN'T unnerving about a mass-produced, FDA-allowed product that has been known to cause intense pain in consumers. Honestly, I could just have said "Burning dick" and that alone is unnerving.

# ? Mar 13, 2014 18:53

Hardwood Floor: Sep 25, 2011

Those condoms have capsaicin in them apparently. Which seems like a really bad oversight.

# ? Mar 13, 2014 19:27

InediblePenguin: Sep 27, 2004; I'm strong. And a giant penguin. Please don't eat me. No, really. Don't try.

Pew! Pew! posted:

Those condoms have capsaicin in them apparently. Which seems like a really bad oversight.

"oversight"? I don't think it fell in by accident and nobody thought to take it out. The condom is MARKETED as causing burning sensations - they might be stronger than people are expecting but it's not like these are normal everyday condoms that somehow mysteriously and without warning burst into flame and roast your nads off, yo

# ? Mar 13, 2014 19:29

Ms Adequate: Oct 30, 2011; Baby even when I'm dead and gone
You will always be my only one, my only one
When the night is calling
No matter who I become
You will always be my only one, my only one, my only one
When the night is calling

Slanderer posted:

How could any reasonable person think, "Do you know what goes great on genitalia? Icy Hot!"?

Well I've never been accused of being reasonable, but because it's fun :eng101:

For content, and related by way of dangerous substances, I'm fairly sure this has come up here before but they give me chills every time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarin_gas_attack_on_the_Tokyo_subway and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsumoto_incident

For anyone who's not familiar with it, basically a crazy cult in Japan manages to manufacture a buttload of Sarin gas, a chemical weapon classed as a WMD, and release it in terrorist acts. Fortunately they didn't manage to make a pure strain, otherwise thousands could have died, but still. The other thing that gets me about Aum Shinrikyo is that the people responsible weren't just chumps who got lucky making this stuff - they were respected medical doctors, people with postgraduate degrees in Physics, people doing their doctorates, and so on. I can comprehend how the beaten-down underclasses could end up this desperate, and I could understand how no matter how qualified you are you end up this desperate in a place with no real prospects, but I've never been able to wrap my head around how or why highly qualified, successful people in a highly stable first-world country could go so far overboard.

# ? Mar 13, 2014 21:35

hambeet: Sep 13, 2002

Mister Adequate posted:

Well I've never been accused of being reasonable, but because it's fun

For content, and related by way of dangerous substances, I'm fairly sure this has come up here before but they give me chills every time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarin_gas_attack_on_the_Tokyo_subway and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsumoto_incident

For anyone who's not familiar with it, basically a crazy cult in Japan manages to manufacture a buttload of Sarin gas, a chemical weapon classed as a WMD, and release it in terrorist acts. Fortunately they didn't manage to make a pure strain, otherwise thousands could have died, but still. The other thing that gets me about Aum Shinrikyo is that the people responsible weren't just chumps who got lucky making this stuff - they were respected medical doctors, people with postgraduate degrees in Physics, people doing their doctorates, and so on. I can comprehend how the beaten-down underclasses could end up this desperate, and I could understand how no matter how qualified you are you end up this desperate in a place with no real prospects, but I've never been able to wrap my head around how or why highly qualified, successful people in a highly stable first-world country could go so far overboard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjawarn_station

This link is related to your two. In 1993 Aum purchased a station in Outback Australia. Subsequent followup and search of the property after the Subway attack showed that sheep on the property had been exposed to Sarin gas and it appears that the site was a purpose built facility to test the sarin gas in the lead up to the two attacks. Good old Australian customs let them bring all sorts of chemicals into the country.

There is also the mystery of an unknown seismic event that occurred in the region which some theorists have proposed that Aum may have tested a small nuclear weapon (which they were always keen on doing) in the abandoned mines in the area though there has been no evidence for to substantiate that. Given that they took control of the property only a month before the event has always made this a fringe theory and evidence now points to it being a meteor airburst, with the timing of Aum being there nothing but coincidental.

edit: 1997 NY Times article regarding suspected nuclear seismic event http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/21/science/seismic-mystery-in-australia-quake-meteor-or-nuclear-blast.html

hambeet has a new favorite as of 22:10 on Mar 13, 2014

# ? Mar 13, 2014 22:03

angelfisher: Aug 15, 2011

Mister Adequate posted:

Well I've never been accused of being reasonable, but because it's fun

For content, and related by way of dangerous substances, I'm fairly sure this has come up here before but they give me chills every time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarin_gas_attack_on_the_Tokyo_subway and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsumoto_incident

For anyone who's not familiar with it, basically a crazy cult in Japan manages to manufacture a buttload of Sarin gas, a chemical weapon classed as a WMD, and release it in terrorist acts. Fortunately they didn't manage to make a pure strain, otherwise thousands could have died, but still. The other thing that gets me about Aum Shinrikyo is that the people responsible weren't just chumps who got lucky making this stuff - they were respected medical doctors, people with postgraduate degrees in Physics, people doing their doctorates, and so on. I can comprehend how the beaten-down underclasses could end up this desperate, and I could understand how no matter how qualified you are you end up this desperate in a place with no real prospects, but I've never been able to wrap my head around how or why highly qualified, successful people in a highly stable first-world country could go so far overboard.

I think the worst part is what happened to the man who was wrongfully accused of it, Yoshiyuki Kono.

The book "A Public Betrayed" has a good account of it, but basically, he was wrongfully accused of being the perpetrator even though he was a victim of the attack himself, and his wife ended up in a coma from inhaling the gas. (Apparently, she did in 2008). He was pilloried extensively by the media while going through all of that. He was the first to report the accident and was just trying to do the right thing.

angelfisher has a new favorite as of 00:01 on Mar 14, 2014

# ? Mar 13, 2014 23:58

AnonSpore: Jan 19, 2012; "I didn't see the part where he develops as a character so I guess he never developed as a character"

angelfisher posted:

I think the worst part is what happened to the man who was wrongfully accused of it, Yoshiyuki Kono.

The book "A Public Betrayed" has a good account of it, but basically, he was wrongfully accused of being the perpetrator even though he was a victim of the attack himself, and his wife ended up in a coma from inhaling the gas. (Apparently, she did in 2008). He was pilloried extensively by the media while going through all of that. He was the first to report the accident and was just trying to do the right thing.

At least the newspapers put out public apologies once it came out that he was totally innocent. The police never apologized for their behavior, and they never returned the things they seized from him during the investigation.

# ? Mar 14, 2014 00:06

ozza: Oct 23, 2008

It's really a miracle that, with the scientific expertise behind Aum and the amount of deadly chemicals in their possession, only 13 people were killed in the subway attack. It was a stroke of luck that a doctor watching TV coverage of the incident recognised the symptoms of sarin (he's be involved in treating Matsumoto victims), and so was able to fax information around to all the other hospitals. Murakami's Underground is a great read on this subject - he interviews both victims and former cult members.

# ? Mar 14, 2014 01:56

Hackers film 1995: Nov 4, 2009; Hack the planet!

Mister Adequate posted:

For content, and related by way of dangerous substances, I'm fairly sure this has come up here before but they give me chills every time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarin_gas_attack_on_the_Tokyo_subway

I want to know why they did it, and the article said their motivations were unknown. I understand they were a crazy cult, but usually these groups give some kind of reason for the insane things they do. Does anyone have any further insight? Did they want to impress Jodie Foster or...?

# ? Mar 14, 2014 02:38

AnonSpore: Jan 19, 2012; "I didn't see the part where he develops as a character so I guess he never developed as a character"

Wiggles Von Huggins posted:

I want to know why they did it, and the article said their motivations were unknown. I understand they were a crazy cult, but usually these groups give some kind of reason for the insane things they do. Does anyone have any further insight? Did they want to impress Jodie Foster or...?

Their objective was, I poo poo you not, to sow the seeds of unrest and disorganize the Japanese government in preparation of an eventual coup. Their original plan was to continue the sarin gas attacks on a much larger scale in Tokyo come November of that year using a military helicopter they'd purchased from conspirators in Russia, targeting the Diet, the emperor, and other focal points along with densely populated areas. While the government was crippled trying to deal with this attack, a strike force armed with machine guns and explosives would move into Tokyo and sieze control of the country.

# ? Mar 14, 2014 02:47

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# ? May 13, 2024 23:56

ozza: Oct 23, 2008

Wiggles Von Huggins posted:

I want to know why they did it, and the article said their motivations were unknown. I understand they were a crazy cult, but usually these groups give some kind of reason for the insane things they do. Does anyone have any further insight? Did they want to impress Jodie Foster or...?

The idea was to instigate World War III, thus fulfilling some batshit interpretation of Bible prophecy. The Wiki page on the group's leader, Shoko Asahara, has a bit more information:

quote:

The doctrine of Aum Shinrikyo is based on the Bible and other texts. In 1992 Asahara published a foundational book, and declared himself "Christ",Japan's only fully enlightened master and identified with the "Lamb of God". His purported mission was to take upon himself the sins of the world, and he claimed he could transfer to his followers spiritual power and ultimately take away their sins and bad works. He also saw dark conspiracies everywhere promulgated by Jews, Freemasons, the Dutch, the British Royal Family, and rival Japanese religions. He outlined a doomsday prophecy, which included a Third World War, and described a final conflict culminating in a nuclear "Armageddon", borrowing the term from the Book of Revelation 16:16.

# ? Mar 14, 2014 02:49

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