30 of the Most Disgusting Yet Interesting Facts

We are living in an ill-fated world. Our history is packed with all sorts of crimes, and these continue to strive even today. Apparently, some of the most disgusting events are also among the most interesting ones and that is a fact.

Elite Readers has compiled a list of some of the vilest events in the history of mankind. We bet you will not look at the world the same way you do. Check them out below!

#30. An Unwanted Guest

Just recently, a group of doctors from India was able to remove a 6-foot-long tapeworm. And it did not require any surgery at all. They just literally pulled it out from the man’s mouth. Tapeworms, in case you did not know yet, are usually caused by eating raw pork or beef.

#29. The Vikings Way

Believe it or not, the Vikings were fond of using urine to start fires. They would boil a tree fungus and touchwood with urine for days. And actually, it worked. The sodium nitrate found in urine when combined with the touchwood could produce a highly combustible substance. Such tool became handy in every raid they had.

#28. Phones

A London study confirmed that every six mobile devices out there have fecal matter on it. It is also suggested that they carry 10 times more bacteria than toilet seats. Gross!

#27. What’s the Grossest Thing in Your House?

It is none other than your kitchen sink. It contains a whole lot more of bacteria than either toilets or garbage pails.

#26. Flies

These creatures love to feast on feces and transport a plethora of bacteria, such as dysentery and typhoid. And when they land on your food, they vomit a mixture of enzymes and saliva. We are not even talking about the eggs they lay on dead flesh to hatch maggots.

#25. Attracting Flies

An ancient Egyptian King named Pepys found a way to attract flies, and this was by using honey. He would slather one of the slaves with honey, attracting the flies. They would flock straight to the slave.

#24. Vultures

Vultures are carnivorous, but there are things that make them gross. One is the fact that they are second to flies. They live on rotting flesh. When they feel hot, their way of cooling off is by excreting (you know what the means).

#23. What You Don’t Know About Hagfish

At one single look, you can immediately say that a hagfish looks gross. But, in reality, it qualifies in a lot of ways. It is blind and does not have teeth, but it is fond of eating dead flesh. They look for openings in carcasses. Once they do, they go straight to eating the corpses.

#22. Spitball Courtesy of Hippopotamus

We all know that hippopotamuses love a mud bath. But have you seen those balls of goop that they sometimes playfully fling at each other? It is a disgusting mixture of their feces and urine. They basically do this to mark their territories and, more importantly, humiliate foes.

#21. A Dead Heart

If you are a fan of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, then this fact might shake your loyalty to her. She has this secret hidden away in her desk, and it is her husband’s dead heart. Her husband’s body was cremated except the heart, and she has since kept it for years.

#20. Oh, Romans.

During the reign of the great Roman Empire, toothpaste was not a thing (of course!). But do you know what they use to clean their teeth? Powdered mouse brains, that is.

#19. The Romans Strike Again

If the mouse brains were used to keep their teeth white, they would also use imported Portuguese urine as mouthwash. And it is funny that they call it “imported.”

#18. Another Mouthwash

If you are sick of the taste of a regular mouth, then perhaps it is time for you to use a different one. Tortoise blood was once used to disinfect mouth and clean teeth. Yikes!

#17. Coffee Mug Truth

A new study suggests that office coffee mugs (at least 40 percent of them) contain a bacteria called coliform. To put it simply, they contain feces.

#16. Extra Protein Anyone?

Have you tried eating insects before? No? Actually, you already have. You just did not know about it yet. According to FDA’s Defect Level Handbooks, almost all food in this world contains “insect fragments.” The most common ones are broccoli, corn, and tomato. Happy eating!

#15. Peanut Butter With a Twist

Do you love peanut butter so much? Whether or not you do, you cannot take away the fact that it contains rodent hairs. And it is around 5 per 100 grams.

#14. Cannibalized Airmen

Sometime in 1944, a group of nine American airmen was shot down over the Japanese island of Chi Chi Jema. Eight of them were captured, chopped up, cooked, and served to various Japanese officers. And do you know who the lucky ninth man was? George W. Bush.

#13. The Great Massacre

The Asian giant hornet is one of a kind. It is two inches long and has a quarter-inch-long stringer that can inject a deadly venom. If they encounter a nest, they right away mark it so as to attract other giant hornets. Once the latter falls into the trap, they eventually get a frenzied massacre.

#12. Gross Means of Cure

Ancient civilizations had a couple of interesting means for a cure. The ancient Egyptians, in particular, would use a crush pig eyes mixed with a common dye called red ochre. This mixture would then be poured into a patient’s ears, as they think it would cure blindness.

#11. The Ultimate Revenge

Peter the Great discovered that his wife had been cheating on another man. After killing him, he forced his wife to keep the head of his lover in a jar full of alcohol in the bedroom. This jar, with the head inside, is well-kept on display at St. Petersburg’s Kunstkamera museum.

#10. Jelly Beans

Kids love to eat these colorful treats that are jam-packed with sugar. However, their shiny and colorful exterior is actually covered in shellac. And you know what it is made of? Bug excretions.

#9. The Human Snake Connection

Humans are like snakes. We have the ability to shed up to 40 pounds of skin in our lifetime.

#8. The Great Misconception

People believed that those who lived in the Middle Ages never bathed in their entire lives. Truth is, they did. They just chose not to later on thanks to the Christian church authorities, who announced that bathing would lead to diseases, promiscuous sex, and immortality.

#7. Where Does Your Snot Go?

Snot is gross, okay? No doubt about that. But what is even grosser is the fact that we produce around 1 liter of snot every single day.

#6. You Cannot Escape It

Like a snot, sneezing is also gross. It is after all composed of snot. Apart from that, it is a hard one to escape. Your sneeze can travel around 30 to 60 miles an hour and can fly up to 30 feet in the air.

#5. Headless Cockroaches

It is really true that cockroaches can live even if there is a nuclear bomb explosion. In fact, they can survive up to a week even if their heads are decapitated.

#4. The “Gross Defense”

When it comes to fighting off predators, the regal horned lizard has a unique way of doing it. It simply shoots a foul-smelling blood out of its eyes, straight into the attacker’s mouth.

#3. Green All the Way

The Prasinohaema lizard is an advocate of the green stuff. Just kidding. It basically has green bones, green muscles, and a green tongue. More importantly, it has a green blood that is quite poisonous.

#2. Supper Anyone?

If you are a fan of Dracula, then you should have known already that it was inspired by the 15-century Romanian ruler named Vlad the Impaler. This guy invited hundreds of his enemies to a banquet and, later on, had them impaled on long sharp poles. He even has a penchant for drinking the blood dripping from his victims.

#1. The Human Toolbox

There is a reason why Brad Beyers is known as the Human Toolbox. He once used a driller to drill through his head. He even hammered a nail straight into his face. Interestingly, it did not cost him his life.