Top 10 Bizarre Accidents

10

Philadelphia Boiler Explosion

On 31 July, 1815, in Philadelphia, County Durham, England, an early experimental railway locomotive, Brunton’s Mechanical Traveller, blew up. This engine, also known as the Steam Horse, ran on four wheels but was pushed by mechanical feet. This was both the first recorded boiler explosion and the first railway accident causing major loss of life, as 16 people were killed. The accident is not included in many texts because it was on an industrial waggonway or plateway, rather than a public railway. Most boiler explosions caused severe mechanical damage but often only the locomotive crew suffered physically; however, Brunton’s locomotive was surrounded, at the time, by a crowd of curious sightseers, who formed the majority of the victims.

9

Bouncy Castle Disaster

In July, 2006, a bouncy castle, with 30 people inside it, broke free from its moorings and took off into the air in a freak gust of wind. It flew 50 feet into the air, turned over, and travelled 150 feet before landing on the ground. The castle seriously injured 13 people and killed two. An eye-witness described the event thus: “I heard the snapping of tent pegs and a lot of screaming, then the inflatable flew up into the air and bodies were dropping from it. It was just carnage. There were people everywhere lying on the ground. Some had been on the inflatable when it took off, others were hit on the ground.”

8

Death of Lady Coventry

Lady Coventry, or Maria Gunning, was a celebrated beauty of her time. She devoted herself to applying pasty white makeup and red rouge every day. This was the style of the time. Her husband hated this practice and tried to stop her from doing it, but her vanity prevailed. She probably should have listened to him. Lady Coventry died at the age of 27 from over use of lead-based makeup.

7

Napoleon’s Cough

Rumor has it that while Napoleon was suffering from a bad cough he accidentally ordered the execution of 1,200 prisoners. His officers had been awaiting orders from the emperor when he was seized by a coughing fit. The emperor exclaimed “Ma sacre toux,” meaning “My damn cough,” (or literally “My sacred cough,” but I think we know what he meant). His men took his words to be “Massacre-tous,” meaning “Massacre all.” This strange accident would top the list if it were proven. However, accounts of the incident vary greatly and many doubt whether this ever happened.

6

Lake Peigneur Accident

The Lake Peigneur accident was caused by drilling in a salt mine beneath the shallow (10 feet deep) lake. The drill accidentally pierced the third level of the mine causing the lake to drain into the hole. This resulted in the expanding of the hole as soil and salt were washed into the mine by the rushing water, filling the enormous caverns left by the removal of salt over the years. The resultant whirlpool sucked in the drilling platform, eleven barges, many trees and 65 acres (260,000 m2) of the surrounding terrain. So much water drained into the caverns that the flow of the Delcambre Canal that usually empties the lake into Vermilion Bay was reversed, making the canal a temporary inlet. This backflow created, for a few days, the tallest waterfall ever in the state of Louisiana, at 164 feet (50 m), as the lake refilled with salt water from the Delcambre Canal and Vermilion Bay. The water downflowing into the mine caverns displaced air which erupted as compressed air and then later as 400-foot (120 m) geysers up through the mineshafts.

5

Goiânia Accident

The Goiânia accident was a radioactive contamination accident that occurred on 13 September, 1987, at Goiânia, Brazil. Considered one of the worst nuclear disasters in history, it took place after an old nuclear medicine source was scavenged from an abandoned hospital site in the city, which serves as capital of the central Brazilian state of Goiás. It was subsequently handled by many people, resulting in four deaths and the serious radioactive contamination of 249 other people. The dispersal of radiation was equivalent to a medium-size dirty bomb. About 130,000 people overwhelmed hospitals. Of those, 250 people, some with radioactive residue still on their skin, were found to be contaminated through the use of Geiger counters. Topsoil had to be removed from several sites, and several houses were demolished. All the objects from within those houses were removed and examined. Those that were found to be free of radioactivity were wrapped in plastic bags, while those that were contaminated were either decontaminated or disposed of as waste.

4

London Beer Flood

On October 16, 1814, a vat of beer at London’s Meux and Company Brewery cracked open. Beer gushed out, causing yet another vat to open. The result was 550,000 gallons (or 4.4 million pints) of beer pouring through the streets of London. The wave of beer destroyed two homes and crumbled the wall of the Tavistock Arms Pub, trapping teenaged employee Eleanor Cooper under the rubble. The brewery was located among the poor houses and tenements of the St Giles Rookery, where whole families lived in basement rooms that quickly filled with beer. Eight people drowned in the flood. The disaster was ruled to be an act of God.

3

The Ball of Burning Men

On January 28, 1393, King Charles VI of France hosted a ball to celebrate the marriage of Queen Isabeau’s maid of honor. Charles had the brilliant idea to have himself and five of his friends disguise themselves as savages. The idea took a strange turn when the men decided to cover themselves with pitch and feathers. Remember, pitch is very flammable and the primary sources of light indoors at the time were torches.

The men entered the ball disguised this way and chained together. A horrible accident occurred when a man approached them with a torch so that he could get a better look. The men went up in flames immediately. The king was saved by Jeanne de Boulogne, who threw her petticoats over him to put out the blaze. One other of the men was able to throw himself into a vat of water. The other victims of this strange accident were not so lucky. Two burned alive that night at the ball. The other two died within days from their injuries.

2

Boston Molasses Disaster

On January 15, 1919, a tank of molasses exploded in Boston’s North End. The explosion caused a huge shockwave that was sufficient to knock houses off their foundations. Shards of metal from the tank were found up to 200 ft. away. Right after the explosion this accident took a very strange turn.

The tank was filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses. When the tank exploded, the molasses formed a 25-30 ft. wave, that went through the streets of Boston at speeds of around 35 mph. People caught in the wave were either smashed against large objects, or they drowned in the molasses. This strange accident caused 21 deaths and 150 injuries. Rumor has it that, on a hot day in the North End, the air still smells sweet.

1

Sidoarjo Mud Flow

In May, 2006, while drilling for gas in East Java, Indonesia, company PT Lapindo Brantas caused a mud volcano to erupt. By September, 2006, the hot mudflow had inundated rice paddies and villages, resulting in the displacement of more than 11,000 people from eight villages. Twenty-five factories had to be abandoned, and fish and shrimp ponds were destroyed. Transportation and power transmission infrastructure has been damaged extensively in the area. The mud flow is still ongoing at a rate of 100,000 m3 per day, at time of writing. A study has found that the mud volcano is collapsing under its own weight, possibly beginning caldera formation. It is expected that the flow will continue for at least another 30 years.

Top 10 Strange and Bizarre Dead Bodies

10. Persian Princess

On October 19, 2000, authorities in Balochistan, Pakistan received a tip about a man named Ali Aqbar and a videotape that showed an ancient mummy.  The mummy was said to have been placed on the black antiquities market for $20 million.  After interrogation, Aqbar led police to the house of Wali Mohammed Reeki in Kharan near the border of Afghanistan.  Reeki told the officers that he had received the mummy from an Iranian man named Sharif Shah Bakhi who found it after an earthquake near Quetta.  In a press conference on October 26, 2000, archaeologists from Islamabad’s Quaid-e-Azam University announced that the mummy appeared to be the body of a princess dated circa 600 BC.
The mummy was found in a gilded wooden coffin.  It had cuneiform carvings on the breast plate and a stone sarcophagus (funeral receptacle).  The body was placed atop a mixture of wax and honey.  It had an elegant golden crown, with an inscription that claimed the woman was named Rhodugune, a daughter of King Xerxes I of Persia and a member of the Achaemenid dynasty.  The Persian princess was immediately hailed as a major archaeological discovery.  No other Persian mummy has ever been found and the process of mummification is thought to be unique to ancient Egyptians.  After the discovery, the governments of Iran and Pakistan fought over the ownership of the mummy.
Official Explanation 
The story of the Persian Princess inspired many archeologists to investigate the case.  It was soon discovered that the inscriptions on the mummy’s breastplate had some grammatical errors.  A series of x-rays revealed that several operations common to Egyptian mummifications had been omitted.  Pakistani professor Ahmad Dani studied the item and realized the corpse was not as old as the coffin.  Ibrahim concluded that the Persian Princess was in fact the mummified body of a modern woman about 21–25 years of age, who had died around 1996, possibly killed with a blunt instrument to the neck.  On August 5, 2005, it was announced that the body will be given proper burial rights.  However, as of 2011, it remains unburied due to bureaucratic delays.

9. Chilean Blob

In July of 2003, a giant 13-tonne mass of rotting grey tissue was discovered on Pinuno Beach in Los Muermos, Chile.  The carcass was 41 feet (12.5 m) long and 19 feet (5.8 m) wide.  The discovery made international headlines and biologists were initially unable to identify it.  Many articles were written speculating that the gelatinous sea creature was a species of giant octopus that was previously unknown to science.  Other people were convinced that the blob was the remains of a basking shark or sperm whale.  After the discovery, the body was preserved by scientists in Chile, who unfortunately used a formaldehyde solution that destroyed the lab’s ability to maintain certain DNA sequences.
Official Explanation
In June 2004, it was reported that fragments of DNA found in the blob matched that of a sperm whale.  Adult sperm whales can reach the size of 20.5 meters (67 ft) long and weigh up to 57,000 kilograms (63 short tons).  Similar cases of giant globsters have been documented in history.  Often times the remains are interpreted as that of a giant sea creature.  Some examples include a carcass discovered in Tasmania (1960), The Gambia (1983), Nantucket, Mass. (1996), Newfoundland (2001), and two in Bermuda (1995 and 1997).  The pictures of the Chilean Blob are similar in nature to the St. Augustine Monster, which was a large unidentified carcass that washed ashore near St. Augustine, Florida, in 1896.

8. Trunko

On October 25, 1924, people on a beach in KwaZulu-Natal, Margate, South Africa, witnessed a sea battle between a giant, white colored sea creature and two whales.  One of the witnesses, Hugh Balance, said that the animal looked like a “giant polar bear.”  The monster used its lobster-like tail to strike the whales in an attempt to escape.  It jumped out of the water as high as 20 feet (6.1m) and was viewed for over three hours.  Later that night, the bloodless carcass of a sea creature washed ashore.  The body was measured at 47 feet (14.3m) long, 10 feet (3m) wide and 5 feet (1.5m) high.  It had an unusual lobster-like tail that was 10 feet (3m) long and the entire body appeared to be covered in white fur, which was 8 inches long.
The creature didn’t have a distinct head.  In its place, there was an appendage similar to an elephant’s trunk that was 5 feet (1.5m) long and 14 inches in diameter.  The presence of the trunk is what spawned the nickname of Trunko.  Scientists never examined the carcass and it was left on the beach for 10 days, until the tide pulled it back out to sea.  The information regarding the event was published in the December 27, 1924, edition of London’s Daily Mail, under an article titled Fish like a Polar Bear.  In September of 2010, a German cryptozoologist named Markus Hemmler discovered a collection of lost photographs of Trunko.  The discovery provided evidence that a large white colored carcass did wash ashore in the 1920s.
Official Explanation 
Many people have tried to identify the carcass.  Originally, the most common explanation was that Trunko was a large whale, basking shark, or whale shark that got a white texture due to water exposure and decay.  It was also suggested that Trunko was a new species of whale, or an unknown pinniped, or sirenian.  One of the more skeptical explanations was that the carcass is an albino southern elephant seal.  In 2010, after the photographs of Trunko were examined, it was determined that the carcass is probably a globster, or a massive, tough skin-sac of blubber containing collagen that is sometimes left behind when a whale dies and its skull and skeleton have separated from the skin.

7. Kitchenuhmaykoosib Monster

On May 8, 2010, two women were taking a walk in the vicinity of Big Trout Lake, in northwestern Ontario, Canada.  The women became alarmed after their dog retrieved the corpse of a small mammal, about 1 foot (0.3 m) in length.  The women decided to photograph the bizarre looking creature and quickly left the area.  After analyzing the pictures, it was determined that the carcass holds some bizarre facial features, which have been compared to a warthog.  It has long fanged-teeth and a rat-like tail.  The body shape of the carcass is similar to an otter.  Several days after the initial encounter, the two women returned to the area to retrieve the body, but it was gone.  In the aftermath of the report, several news agencies picked up the story and published articles on the unidentified body.
Official Explanation 
People have made comparisons between the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Monster and the legendary mammalian cryptid Omajinaakoos (the ugly one).  According to the folklore of certain Native American tribes in central Canada, the Omajinaakoos is a rarely scene creature that lives in the creeks and marshy areas of Canada.  The traditions say that it is an omen of misfortune to witness the carcass of an Omajinaakoos.  Investigations into the photographs have subsequently determined that the body was a decomposed American mink.  The conclusion has been challenged by some, due to the fact that no fur can be seen around the face of the creature, which should be evident on a decomposed mink species.

6. Taman Shud Case

On December 1, 1948, an unidentified human body was discovered on Somerton beach in Adelaide, Australia.  After an autopsy was performed on the corpse, it was determined that the man was of British heritage and aged 40-45.  He was in top physical condition and was 180 centimeters (5 ft 11in) tall.  The body was dressed in “quality clothing,” including a white shirt, a tie, brown trousers, socks, shoes, and a fashionable European grey and brown double-breasted coat.  All labels on the clothing were removed and the man was clean-shaven.  The corpse had an unlit cigarette behind the ear and a half-smoked cigarette on the right collar of the jacket.
The coroner was unable to determine the man’s identity or cause of death.  His organs displayed intense congestion and his spleen was strikingly large.  During the investigation, a tiny piece of rolled-up paper with the words “Tamam Shud” printed on it was discovered sewn within the dead man’s trousers.  The paper was neatly trimmed.  The phrase Tamam Shud was identified as meaning “ended” or “finished.”  It is found on the last page of a collection of poems called The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.  The theme of the poems is that one should live their life to the fullest and have no regrets when it is over.  With pressure to solve the case, the Australian police decided to have the mysterious corpse embalmed on December 10, 1948.  It was the first time in history that such a situation had occurred.
Official Explanation 
The discovery of the note was made public and a man came forward to reveal that he had found a rare first edition copy of Edward FitzGerald’s translation of The Rubaiyat in his unlocked car in Glenelg on the night of November 30, 1948.  The book was missing the words “Tamam Shud” on the last page.  Also found in the book was a telephone number belonging to a former nurse.  The woman was tracked down and denied all knowledge of the man’s identity.  In a TV program on the case, the woman’s name was given as Jestyn (which is an alias used for the show).  The name was apparently obtained from the front of the book.  Researchers investigating the case have attempted to track down the woman named Jestyn and found that she died in 2007.  Evidence recovered in 2009 linked the images of the Somerton Man to the family of Jestyn.

5. Lyuba

In May of 2007, a reindeer breeder and hunter named Yuri Khudi discovered the carcass of a frozen woolly mammoth calf in Russia’s Arctic Yamal Peninsula.  The carcass was named Lyuba and weighed 50 kg (110 lb).  The woolly mammoth is 85 centimeters (2.8 feet) high and measures 130 centimeters (4.3 feet) from trunk to tail.  It was determined that the calf died approximately 42,000 years ago at the age of one month.  She is by far the best preserved mammoth carcass in the world.  The body’s eyes, trunk, fur, skin, and organs were all found intact.
Official Explanation 
Scientists were able to identify milk from the mammoth’s mother in her stomach, and fecal matter in Lyuba’s intestine, including evidence that, like some modern young elephants, the creature ate adult herd members feces.  It was determined that Lyuba died in a healthy state.  The animal’s organs and skin are in perfect condition.  It is believed that she died after getting bogged down in deep mud and suffocating.  The clay-like substance “pickled” the mammoth’s remains and preserved the carcass in a nearly pristine state.
Scientists around the world were stunned by the discovery of the body.  By examining Lyuba’s teeth, researchers hope to gain insight into what caused Ice Age mammals, including the mammoths, to become extinct at the end of the Pleistocene era around 10,000 years ago.  A team of Japanese researchers are currently experimenting with the process of obtaining an intact woolly mammoth DNA sample from Lyuba in hopes of possibly cloning her.  The discovery of the carcass has spawned a wave of modern research into the mystery of what caused the last glacial period and the extinction of the woolly mammoth species.

4. Montauk Monster

The Montauk Monster is an unidentified carcass that washed ashore near the business district of Montauk, New York in July 2008.  A woman named Jenna Hewitt, 26, of Montauk, and three friends said they found the creature near the Ditch Plains beach, which is owned by the town of East Hampton.  Hewitt’s story was published by a local newspaper.  The paper speculated that the creature might be a sea turtle or some mutant experiment from the Plum Island Animal Disease Center.  The article quoted Larry Penny, who is the East Hampton Natural Resources Director.  Penny concluded that the carcass was a raccoon with its upper jaw missing.
Official Explanation
After the Montauk Monster was photographed by Jenna Hewitt, the carcass disappeared.  The picture of the creature quickly spread across the Internet and a large collection of media outlets picked up the story.  One newspaper quoted an unidentified woman who said the animal was the size of a house cat.  Initially, people speculated that it was a sea turtle.  However, this is unlikely as a turtle’s body cannot be removed from the shell without damaging skin tissue.  Some have suggested the carcass is a water rat, while others have claimed it is a decomposed dog or coyote that has lost all its hair due to water exposure.  Palaeozoologist Darren Naish studied the photograph and identified the carcass as a raccoon.  On March 14, 2011, National Geographic aired a program that examined the Montauk Monster.  The show concluded that the creature was a raccoon.

3. Zuiyo Maru Carcass

On April 25, 1977, a Japanese trawler named Zuiy? Maru was sailing east of Christchurch, New Zealand, when a strange, unknown creature became tangled in the vessels trawl at a depth of 300 meters (984 feet).  The crew pulled the massive creature to the surface and discovered a foul-smelling, decomposed carcass that reportedly weighed 1,800 kg (3,960 pounds) and was about 10 m (32 feet) long.  The creature had a 5 foot (1.5 meter) long neck, four large, reddish fins and a 7 foot (2.1 m) long tail.  According to the original reports, it lacked a dorsal fin and had no internal organs.
After the discovery, the crew of the Zuiy? Maru became convinced that the carcass was an unidentified sea creature.  Despite the potential significance of the find, the captain, Akira Tanaka, decided to dump the carcass back into the ocean.  Before the body was lost, a collection of photographs were taken.  The crew removed samples of the creature’s skin for analysis.  After the pictures were developed, several newspapers in Japan published articles on the event.  Japanese citizens became intrigued by the carcass and a “plesiosaur-craze” swept across the country.  Professor Tokio Shimaka from Yokohama University was convinced that the remains were an extinct plesiosaur.
Official Explanation 
On July 25, 1977, the Taiyo Fish Company issued a preliminary report on the creature’s tissue samples.  It indicated that the sample was “similar in nature to the fin ray group of living animals,” which includes the basking shark.  The basking shark is the second largest fish in the sea.  They can grow to a length of more than 30 feet (9.1m) and specimens have been discovered over 40 feet (12.1m).  After death, the carcass of a basking shark loses its lower head, dorsal fin, and caudal fins first, making them resemble a plesiosaur.  Despite the evidence, some have studied the photographs and found oddities, including a symmetrical pair of upper fins on the creature.

2. San Pedro Mountains Mummy

In October 1932, two prospectors named Cecil Mayne and Frank Carr discovered a bizarre room while blasting for gold in the San Pedro Mountains, about 60 miles southwest of Casper, Wyoming.  The enclosure was approximately 4 ft. (1.22 m) tall, 4 ft. (1.22 m) wide and 15 ft. (4.57 m) deep.  After entering the room, the miners were surprised to see the mummy of a tiny man.  The carcass was found sitting in an upright position with its arms and legs crossed.  It sat perpendicular to the floor on a small ledge and weighed approximately 12 ounces.  The mummy was around 7 inches (0.17 m) tall sitting and 14 inches (0.35 m) tall standing.  Its skin was brown and wrinkled, the cranium was flattened and the eyes of the carcass were heavy-lidded and bulged.  The mummy displayed a flat nose, a wide mouth, and thin lips.
The body was so well preserved that even the fingernails were visible.  The head was covered in a dark, gelatinous substance and the mummy appeared to have been preserved in a liquid.  Upon its discovery, the carcass was given the name Pedro the Mummy.  Scientists came from all over the country to take a look at the remains.  In 1950, x-rays were performed on the mummy and it was reported that a fully formed “manlike” skeleton was inside.  Some of the bones were broken, including the spine, collarbone and skull. These injuries and congealed blood at the top of the head insinuated a violent death.
Official Explanation 
The carcass was examined by a man named Dr. Henry Shapiro, who was a biological anthropologist from the American Museum of Natural History.  After studying the x-rays, Dr. Shapiro came to believe that the mummy was the body of a 65-year-old man at the time of death.  The mummy contained particularly large canines in comparison with the rest of the body and was reported as almost vampire-like.  In the 1950s, these findings were substantiated by Harvard University.  However, 30 years later, Dr. George Gill, a forensic anthropologist proposed another theory.  He feels the body is an infant of an unknown tribe of Indians.  Years after the mummy was discovered, a second, similar body was found in roughly the same area.  This time it was a female mummy, who was only 4 inches (.10 m) high.
Nearly every Native American culture tells of a race of little people.  Oral traditions from the Arapaho, Sioux, Cheyenne, and Crow, examine a race of “little people” who stand from just 20 inches (.50 m) to three feet (.91 m) tall.  In some tribes they are known as “tiny people eaters.”  The Nimerigar are a legendary race of little people found in the folklore of the Shoshone people.  According to Native American lore, the Nimerigar lived in the San Pedro Mountains in south central Wyoming and fought constantly with the average sized humans using poisoned arrows.  It is said that when one of the Nimerigar became sick or old, they were killed by their own people with a blow to the head.
Most of these claims were considered folklore until the discovery of Pedro the mummy.  The carcass of Pedro ended up in Meeteetse, Wyoming, at a local drug store where it was shown as an attraction for several years.  On July 7, 1979, an article was published in the Casper Star-Tribune that stated the mummy was passed to a man named Leonard Wadler, who was a New York businessman.  The carcass has not been seen since.  Until Pedro the mummy is found, it will be impossible to determine if it is real.  There is currently a $10,000 reward for the recovery of the remains.

1. Panama Creature

The Panama Creature refers to a carcass that was photographed near the town of Cerro Azul, Panama, in September 2009.  According to a collection of articles published about the event, the rubbery beast was spotted by a group of teenagers crawling out of a cave.  The kids said the creature was hairless and had a leathery body with sharp teeth.  It had “revolting features,” a snub-nose, and long arms.  The teenagers claimed the animal approached them, so they beat it to death with some sticks.  Some accounts of the event say the kids tossed the body into a pool of water and left the area.  They later returned to the site and photographed the carcass.
Official Explanation 
The teenagers sent the pictures of the carcass to a Panamanian television station and the story was picked up by networks around the world.  Many different stations speculated about the identity of the creature, with some suggesting it was a hairless sloth, an alien, or an animal new to science.  Some Panamanian zoologists have said that the carcass appeared to be a fetus of some kind.  Four days after the event was reported, a biopsy was performed by the National Environmental Authority of Panama.  It concluded that the corpse was in fact that of a male Brown-throated Sloth.  The odd appearance of the animal was caused by underwater decomposition.  Once identified, the corpse was buried.
The simple fact that the creature was positively identified as a living carcass is remarkable.  Different accounts of the story have told nothing of the teenagers throwing the body in water.  Some people have become confused over the fact that the children should have recognized a Brown-throated Sloth.  The animals are not threatening and on the ground the maximum speed of the three-toed sloth is 2 m or 6.5 feet per minute.  In order for a sloth to become hairless, it would have to be completely submerged for a long period of time.  In the original photographs, no water is visible around the animal.  Writers for the Huffington Post have said that the head is clearly animal, but the torso is “strange,” and the limbs are reminiscent of thin human arms.

Top 10 Shocking Cases Of Delusional Behavior

10. Craig D. Button

Something strange happened to Craig D. Button on April 2, 1997. On the day in question, Captain Button was participating in a training mission. He was operating a fully loaded single-seat A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft. His jet was armed with four Mk-82 bombs, 60 magnesium flares, 120 metal chaff canisters and 575 rounds of 30-millimeter ammunition. Craig D. Button unexpectedly broke formation near Gila Bend, Arizona. He flew in a northeasterly direction towards the Four Corners area of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. During the flight, Button’s jet was spotted numerous times by observers on the ground.

Delusional Behavior

Captain Button turned off his transponder, which made the aircraft difficult to track. His jet was last spotted in the air about 100 miles (160 km) west of Denver. It zig-zagged in the air before impacting the mountainous terrain about 15 miles (24 km) SW of Vail, Colorado, on Gold Dust Peak in a remote part of Eagle County. The crash occurred at 13,200 feet (4,000 m) of elevation. It took months for a search party to recover the aircraft and Craig D. Button’s remains. The four 500-pound Mk-82 bombs that were on the aircraft were never found despite an exhaustive search involving metal detectors and ground-penetrating radar.

Adding fuel to the fire, hundreds of people reported hearing loud explosions in Northern Arizona, Telluride and Aspen. No evidence was found to support the idea that Craig D. Button released the weapons before crashing the jet. It is a mysterious situation that will never be explained. As you would expect, conspiracy theorists have latched on to the bizarre events. One theory claims that Captain Button was attempting to bomb a major U.S. city and was stopped. The second conspiracy involves a large collection of alien species in the Four Corners area of the United States. The theory claims Button was attacking a secret U.S. underground base.

9. The Murder of Tim McLean

Vince Weiguang Li is a man that was born in Dandong, China on April 30, 1968. On June 11, 2001, Li immigrated to Canada, becoming a citizen on November 7, 2006. Tim McLean was a 22-year-old Canadian man from Winnipeg, Manitoba. On July 30, 2008, Tim departed Edmonton, Alberta on-board a Greyhound bus to Winnipeg. Vince Weiguang Li was on the same bus. Li was described as a tall man with a shaved head and sunglasses. He originally sat near the front of the bus, but moved next to Tim McLean following a scheduled rest stop.

Delusional Behavior

At some point during the journey, Vince Weiguang Li pulled out a large knife and began to brutally stab Tim McLean. A passenger named Garnet Caton described the situation. “I heard a blood-curdling scream. I turned around and the guy sitting right (behind) me was standing up and stabbing another guy with a big Rambo knife, right in the throat, repeatedly.”  Li eventually decapitated Tim McLean and displayed his severed head to the passengers. The people fled the bus. Li then began to remove Tim McLean’s body parts and eat his flesh. After arriving at the scene, the local Canadian police summoned a tactical unit.

The suspect taunted the officers and carried around Tim McLean’s head. Five hours after the police were called, the suspect attempted to escape from the bus. At that time, the RCMP arrested him. Inside of Li’s pockets the police found McLean’s ears, nose and tongue. The victim’s eyes and part of his heart were never recovered and are presumed to have been eaten by the accused. Vince Weiguang Li’s trial started on March 3, 2009.

Despite Li having no documented history of mental illness, a psychiatrist diagnosed him with schizophrenia. The psychiatrist said that Li performed the attack because God’s voice told him that Tim McLean was evil. The presiding judge accepted the diagnosis, and ruled that Li was not criminally responsible for the murder. Vince Weiguang Li was sent to the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, where he remains today. Had the murder occurred on a public transport vehicle in a different part of the world, like China, the circumstances and punishment for Vince Weiguang Li would be different.

8. Collyer Brothers

Homer and Langley Collyer were two American brothers that became famous for their eccentric behavior. During the early 1900s, the Collyer brothers settled in their family home located at 2078 Fifth Avenue (at the corner of 128th Street), which is in the middle of Harlem, New York. During World War I, Harlem saw a major rise of black residents from the Southern United States, leading to the Harlem Renaissance. During this time, the two white brothers remained in the neighborhood, becoming a local curiosity. The situation was escalated by the fact that the Collyer brothers lived as hermits.

Delusional Behavior

The brothers became famous for their snobbish behavior, dirty property, and compulsive hoarding. They obsessively collected newspapers, books, furniture, musical instruments and many other items. During the 1920s, Harlem teenagers developed the habit of breaking into the Collyer residence. In response, they boarded up their property and Langley used his engineering skills to create booby traps. In 1928, the Collyer brother’s lost all electricity, water and gas. The men took to warming their large house using only a small kerosene heater. They had money to pay the bills, but chose not to. In the 1920s, Homer became handicapped with rheumatism.

On March 21, 1947, an anonymous caller phoned the 122nd Police Precinct and insisted there was a dead body in the house. Upon arrival, the police found 130 tons of waste. They had to throw garbage into the street to enter the premises. An officer squeezed into a second story window and crawled on the floor for two hours to locate Homer Collyer’s body. On April 8, 1947, Langley’s corpse was found. It took 18 days to discover Langley’s body, which was only 10 feet away from Homer. Langley was killed by one of his own booby traps. The cumulative estate of the Collyer brothers was valued at $91,000 (about $1.2M in 2011 dollars). Items removed from the house include a collection of guns, glass chandeliers, camera equipment, painted portraits, eight live cats, and 34 bank account passbooks.

7. Carl Tanzler

In 1926, a German man named Carl Tanzler immigrated to the United States. Tanzler was a talented radiologist and in 1927 he took a job at the U.S. Marine Hospital in Key West, Florida. On April 22, 1930, Carl Tanzler met Elena de Hoyos. Upon meeting Elena, Carl became infatuated with her. He attempted to cure her tuberculosis with a variety of medicines. Tanzler showered Elena de Hoyos with gifts and professed his relentless love. Elena de Hoyos died of terminal tuberculosis in Key West on October 25, 1931. Carl Tanzler was heartbroken by the event. With the permission of her family, he paid for Elena’s funeral and had an above ground mausoleum constructed. Tanzler visited the cemetery almost every night.

Delusional Behavior

In April of 1933, Carl Tanzler removed Elena’s body from the Key West Cemetery. He used a toy wagon to transport the corpse back to his house. Upon arrival, Tanzler attached Elena’s bones together with a collection of wires and coat hangers. He fitted her face with glass eyes and replaced her decomposed skin with silk cloth soaked in wax and plaster. Tanzler fashioned a wig from Hoyos’s hair. He dressed her remains in stockings, jewelry and gloves. Carl kept the body in his bed. He used a large amount of perfume, disinfectants, and preserving agents to mask the odor. Elena’s sister heard rumors of Tanzler sleeping with the disinterred body of her sister and had her body exhumed seven years later in October 1940.

Carl Tanzler was charged with “maliciously destroying a grave and removing a body without authorization.” The case was later dismissed. In the 1940s, the public mood surrounding the incident was generally sympathetic towards Carl Tanzler. In the media he was portrayed as an eccentric romantic. In 1972, two physicians who attended the 1940 autopsy recalled that a paper tube had been inserted into Elena’s vaginal area that allowed for intercourse. The claim has been called unsubstantiated by some. After the incident, Carl Tanzler used a death mask to create a life-sized effigy of Elena de Hoyos. He lived with the effigy until his death on July 23, 1952.

6. Death of Philip Gale

The smartest people in the world can be susceptible to mental illness and delusions. Humans can form incorrect inferences about external reality, which causes suicidal tendencies. At the age of 8, Philip Gale began his education at The Delphian School in Sheridan, Oregon. The Delphian School is a private boarding school based on the ideas of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. By the age of 15, Gale was accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is a private research university. He worked at EarthLink Network Inc as the director of research and development. At the age of 16, Philip Gale developed a software program called Total Access.

Delusional Behavior

The software allowed EarthLink’s Internet servers to reach more customers on the Internet. Total Access gave the firm a competitive advantage and enabled EarthLink to ascend to the top ranks among ISPs. Before his 17th birthday, Philip Gale earned stock options worth a million dollars. At this time in his life, Gale abandoned the principles of Scientology and became interested in the Church of the SubGenius, which specializes in debunking cults. In 1998, Philip Gale began to display erratic behavior. On March 13, he committed suicide by jumping from a classroom window on the fifteenth floor of a building on the MIT campus. Philip Gale was only 19-years-old.

In the weeks before his death, Philip had been inquiring about how to gain access to the roof of MIT’s tallest structure, the Green Building. In the classroom he jumped from, Gale wrote out Isaac Newton’s equation for how an object accelerates as it falls. He also sketched a stick figure of someone tossing a chair. He signed the message, “Phil was here.” Gale then picked up a chair, hurled it through a window and jumped out. In part, Philip Gale’s suicide note read “Presumably I have jumped from a tall building. I am not crazy, albeit driven to suicide. It is not about any single event, or person. It is about stubborn sadness, and a detached view of the world.” Gale’s death has led to the speculation that his upbringing as a Scientologist contributed to his delusions.

5. Martin Bryant

Psychopathy is a disorder that is largely connected with delusions. The word psychopath brings images of danger, insanity and murder. Martin Bryant was born in Tasmania, Australia. He was a disruptive and sometimes violent child. After Bryant was suspended from New Town Primary School in 1977, psychological assessments noted that he had tortured animals. It was discovered that Bryant had an I.Q. of 66, equivalent to an 11-year-old and in the bottom 1% of the Australian population. On April 28, 1996, Martin Bryant carried out the Port Arthur massacre. He traveled to the Port Arthur prison colony in south-eastern Tasmania and brought an arsenal of weapons, including an AR-15 rifle.

Delusional Behavior

The shooting started in the Broad Arrow Cafe of the Port Arthur prison colony, where Martin Bryant killed 12 people and injured 10 in a span of 15 seconds. He then moved into the gift shop. In the two minutes that Martin Bryant was shooting in the cafe and gift shop, 29 rounds were fired and 20 people were killed, 19 by head shot. Most people did not see Martin Bryant during the attack. It wasn’t clear what direction he was shooting from. The 28-year-old continued to fire on people as he fled the scene. By the end of the massacre, Martin Bryant killed 35 people and seriously wounded 21 others.

Martin Bryant escaped and was later located at a house with hostages. A standoff ensued, which ended with Bryant setting the house ablaze. He was captured alive, charged, and convicted of all 35 murders. Martin Bryant initially plead innocent and famously laughed when he was charged with the crimes. He later changed his plea to guilty, but never gave a detailed confession. Bryant’s AR-15 was found at the scene with an exploded cartridge in the chamber. Within a matter of weeks, Australia passed a major gun control law. Legislation was passed to remove semi-automatic weapons, including the use of self-loading rifles and pump-action shotguns.

4. Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic

Mass hysteria is a phenomenon in which bizarre symptoms are recorded by a large collection of people. It typically begins when an individual becomes ill or delusional during a period of stress. In April of 1954, mass hysteria hit the area surrounding Bellingham and Seattle, Washington. The event is characterized by the widespread observation of previously unnoticed windshield holes, pits and dings. The pitting was so great that residents began to attribute it to everything from sand flea eggs to nuclear bomb testing. In March of 1954, the news of the “pitting epidemic” reached metropolitan Seattle. Local newspapers began to feature the story. Car lots and parking garages were susceptible to attacks.

Delusional Behavior

By April 15, 1954, approximately 3,000 windshields had been damaged. Some people reporting seeing the glass bubbling right before their eyes, believing it was sand fleas. Other news articles stated the pitting was caused by a Navy radio transmitter, cosmic rays, or a shift in the Earth’s magnetic field. Several supernatural causes were suggested, including gremlins. By April 17, 1954, the pitting suddenly stopped. The Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic has become a textbook case of collective delusion. Looking back on the hysteria, it is not hard to find a nuclear link.

In March of 1954, the United States began Operation Castle, which was a series of high-energy (high-yield) nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The operation involved Castle Bravo, which was the first U.S. test of a dry fuel thermonuclear hydrogen bomb device. It occurred on March 1, 1954. The detonation of Castle Bravo caused the most significant accidental radiological contamination ever released by the United States. Operation Castle lasted from March, 1954 to the middle of April. This is the exact same time that the windshield pitting epidemic was hitting Washington State. Washington is located along the Pacific Ocean and in a position that could receive nuclear fallout from the Marshall Islands.

3. Woo Bum-kon

Woo Bum-kon was a South Korean police officer who is responsible for the second most deadly shooting spree in modern history. On April 27, 1982, Woo Bum-kon had an argument with his girlfriend and became enraged. He was a mentally unstable individual with homicidal impulses. After the argument, Woo traveled to the police armory and gathered an arsenal of weapons, including two M2 carbines, 180 rounds of ammunition, and seven hand grenades. He got drunk in the police armory and then attacked the citizens of South Korea. Woo began by shooting at people who were walking in the village of Torongni.

Delusional Behavior

He then traveled to the nearby village of Kungryu. At the Kungryu Post Office, Woo killed three telephone operators. This prevented people from contacting the authorities. He then walked from village to village, killing people. Woo Bum-kon used his public status as a police officer to gain entry into homes. He shot most of his victims, but in one case killed an entire family with a grenade. Woo Bum-kon continued his killing spree for a grueling eight hours. He traveled through five different villages in Uiryeong County and murdered a total of 57 people, injuring 35. Woo eventually committed suicide by exploding two grenades. The Interior Minister of South Korea, a man named Suh Chung-hwa, resigned following the event.

2. Boyd Massacre

The Boyd Massacre documents one of the bloodiest cases of cannibalism on record. In October of 1809, a 395 ton brigantine convict ship named The Boyd sailed from Sydney Cove to Whangaroa, New Zealand. The vessel was under the command of Captain John Thompson and carried about 70 people. A man named Te Ara, who was the son of a Maori chief from Whangaroa, asked to work his passage on the ship. The Maori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand. During the voyage, Te Ara was flogged (beaten with a whip) for disciplinary action. Upon returning to Whangaroa, he reported the events to his tribe. In accordance with their customs, the Maori formed a plan for utu (revenge).

Delusional Behavior

Three days after The Boyd’s arrival, the Maori invited Captain Thompson to follow their canoes to find suitable kauri trees. After Thompson was lured away from the vessel, the Maori people attacked the European foreigners on land. They killed everyone with clubs and axes. They stripped the victims of clothing and took their bodies to be eaten. Using items taken from the deceased, the Maori organized an attack against The Boyd. They deceived the crew and massacred everyone. Only five people were left alive.

When news of the massacre reached European settlements, Captain Alexander Berry undertook a rescue mission and recovered four survivors. In a terrifying scene, Berry’s crew reported large piles of human bones on the shoreline. In March of 1810, a revenge attack was organized by sailors from five whaling vessels. The target was a village belonging to Chief Te Pahi, who was not involved with the original crimes. In the revenge attack, 60 Maori and one sailor died. From 1810 to 1814, shipping to New Zealand fell to practically nothing. A notice was printed and circulated in Europe advising against visiting “the cursed shore” at the risk of being eaten by cannibals.

1. Anders Behring Breivik

Anders Behring Breivik is a Norwegian right-wing extremist who has claimed responsibility for the two terrorist attacks that occurred in Norway on July 22, 2011. Breivik was born in London, on February 13, 1979. Before the attack, Breivik compiled a 1,516-page manifesto entitled 2083: A European Declaration of Independence, which he e-mailed to 1,003 addresses. He claims to belong to an international anti-Islam network. On July 22, Anders Behring Breivik conducted the most deadly shooting spree in world history. He performed two sequential attacks against the civilian population, the government, and a political summer camp in Norway.

Delusional Behavior

The first attack was a car bomb explosion in Regjeringskvartalet, the executive government quarter of Oslo. The explosion killed eight people and wounded several others, with more than 10 people critically injured. After detonating the bomb, the attacker moved to a youth camp organized by the organization (AUF) of the Norwegian Labour Party (AP) on the island of Utøya in Tyrifjorden, Buskerud. The camp is put together every summer and is attended by approximately 600 teenagers. When Breivik arrived on the island, he presented himself as a police officer who had come over for a routine check following the bombing in Oslo.

He first shot people on the island of Utøya and then started to fire on individuals who were trying to escape by swimming across the lake. A spokesman for the National Police Directorate under the Ministry of Justice and the Police reported that most of the 68 casualties were youths about 15 or 16 years old. The mass shooting reportedly lasted for around an hour and a half, ending when a police special task force arrived and the gunman surrendered. Initially, as the besieged people from Utøya tried to call the emergency services, they were told to keep off the line because of the Oslo bombing. When the police finally arrived at the scene, they were met by survivors begging the officers to throw away their weapons. They were afraid that the men in uniforms would again open fire on them.

In all, 76 people were killed in the terrorist activity. Many people survived by playing dead. After the attacks, Anders Behring Breivik confessed to the crimes and stated that the purpose of the murder was to save Norway and Western Europe from a Muslim takeover. Ian Stephen, a retired forensic clinical psychologist, said Breivik understood exactly what he was doing, but is clearly a psychopath. Everything he says should be taken as nonsense. On July 25, 2011, Breivik was charged with destroying basic functions of society, creating serious fear in the population, and acts of terrorism. Prosecutors are considering charging him with crimes against humanity.