5 Mental Disorders That Only Occur in One Place on Earth What's awesome about crazy people is they always find ways to surprise us. And there might not be anything stranger in the world of mental illness than culture-bound syndromes. These are specific, and incredibly bizarre, forms of insanity that only happen in certain countries or cultures, for reasons that often leave experts baffled. #5. The Wendigo is a mythical monster that is featured in the folklore of some northern Native American and Canadian tribes. Pre-Rice Vampires. Now that we've cleared up what a true Wendigo is, you might be wondering in terror what exactly "Wendigo Psychosis" entails, and if you're not, you should probably start right about now. It's when a person becomes convinced that they are a Wendigo... most prominently marked by an intense craving for human flesh. What? That's the best guess as to where Wendigo Psychosis comes in. Today, Cracked declares that "Dammit, I'm about to go Wendigo on your asses!" #4. Guess what he's doing right now. #3.
The 7 Most Sexist Things Ever Invented for Boobs Breasts are made for use by mindless infants and are so powerful that they manage to reduce most adults to the same mental level. And while I'd like to promise that we'll get through this entire article without that mandatory CrackedBoobs shot from Kates Playground-- katesplayground.com NSFWEditor: In your face, McKinney! And readers! Staring at breasts can reduce your IQ to something you can't even spell, let alone use, as proven by seven inventions that do for cleavage what cleavage does for intelligence tests. #7. Breast Sculpting Apparatus, Patent Application #2007/0049473 A1 (2007) Three Californians decided that the natural human breast wasn't good enough (a common thought in those parts), but instead of installing silicone, they built what looks like a power-armored brassiere. You'll need a giant screwdriver to get to second base. But this system doesn't sculpt chests by encasing them in iron and forcing them to comply. By their logic, all Subway employees should be double Ds. #6.
6 Terrifying Things They Don't Tell You About Childbirth You know what's scarier than death? Birth. For those of you about to have your first child, or who are considering it, you should know that there are some things about childbirth they're not telling you. Disgusting, horrifying things. Our goal here isn't to talk you out of having kids (it'd suck to be the website that convinced mankind to go extinct). Webster's defines the placenta as: "the organ in most mammals, formed in the lining of the uterus by the union of the uterine mucous membrane with the membranes of the fetus, that provides for the nourishment of the fetus and the elimination of its waste products." Urban Dictionary would describe it (if there was such and entry) as, "The lumpy, blood-soaked terror that comes out after the baby and will visit you in your nightmares for years to come." This is a blobfish. The upside of witnessing the birth of a placenta is that the image it burns into your soul will make you thankful for the six sex-free weeks you have ahead of you.
8 Ordinary Photos Hiding Mind-Blowing Details We live in an age where we're constantly bombarded by images from every conceivable direction, and as a result we rarely stop to look at them for more than a few seconds, unless they come with the promise of a visible areola. However, sometimes a photo that looks completely boring and mundane at first glance can reveal mind-blowing details once you bother to take a closer look at it. Like two visible areolas. The next time you're absent-mindedly scrolling down your Tumblr feed, keep in mind that one of those photos you're ignoring could be hiding something that will change the world ... #8. Spot the Dictator Eee.uci.edu If we asked you to name the most significant thing about this picture, you'd probably say "The fact that everyone's wearing the same hat." The second thing is that within this crowd, there's a subtle hint of the terror that awaits the country -- take a closer look at the man in the circle and see if you recognize him ... "World war? Hoffmann Collection, U.S. #7. NY Times #6.
The 6 Creepiest Places on Earth (Part 2) In Cracked's continuous effort to make your local haunted house look like a boring pile of dog turds, we once again present the creepiest real places on Earth. Whether it's due to their bizarre histories, suspicious coincidences or good ol' human insanity, these are the locations even the die-hardest of atheists wouldn't venture into without a crucifix and a Super Soaker full of Pope-blessed water. Located smack in the middle of a swamp in the heart of Aztec country is the popular tourist destination La Isla de las Munecas, or Island of the Dolls, a name missing at least two adjectives and the word "fucking." To get there, visitors have to hire a guide to take them by boat through the canals of Xochimilco, then to the island itself, all the while making the guide promise on a stack of Bibles that he's not going to abandon them once they reach their destination. "Seriously, Pablo? Not that he'd do that, right? Oh. One that will cost tourists sleep for decades. Guess we'll never know. Homey.
5 Creepy Things You Won't Believe Animals Are Learning to Do In a world filled with terrifying monsters, we humans are lucky that most of the things that want to eat us follow a pretty predictable set of rules. You're probably safe to take a trip to the DMV without getting attacked by sharks, for example. Likewise, you shouldn't worry too much about bear attacks while you're out sailing in the ocean. But as we've shown you in the past, the animal kingdom has its fair share of loose cannons who may break all the rules, but damn it all, they get things done. #5. Crocodiles Can Climb Trees Kristine Gingras/Dinets et al When the time came for the dinosaurs to either die out or evolve into chickens, crocodiles clicked the opt-out box and continued right on existing as scaly armored nightmare machines. nopparatk/iStock/Getty Images You can tell if they're waiting; you'll hear their clock tick. Except ... Crocodiles can totally climb trees. Van Welsem/Australian GeographicChop them all down, then burn the wood. #4. Tuantube #3. University of Michigan
6 Ways They're Turning Random Crap into Alternative Energy Look, people, if we're going to solve this whole energy crisis thing, we're going to have to think outside the box. Way the hell outside. Fortunately, the alternative energy gold rush is full of researchers and companies doing just that. And what they've found out is you can get energy from pretty much any damned thing. People have been burning feces for fuel probably since some cave man first did it by (hilarious) accident. Collecting human feces these days is a different matter though, as most of us aren't willing to poop in a bucket and take it out with the recyclables. And the ones that are are just way too into it. Thankfully, we have babies. And They get Energy from this... AMEC-PLC, a company in Canada, has begun building a facility to turn billions of poopy diapers into energy through the process of pyrolysis (breaking down molecules through heat). So, What's the Problem? Well, as you can imagine, it's dirty. Bacteria Poop (and Farts) And They Get Energy from this... It smells.
The 5 Most Aggressively Crazy Websites on the Internet #2. Nobody Here The first thing you'll read on Nobody Here is "I'd like to apologize for all this." And since that's a phrase usually found at the top of suicide notes, you know right off the bat you're in for a treat. Despite that, the site seems harmless enough. If there was a bottle of bourbon on the floor it would actually look a lot like my home office. The first word is "pool," and we're told that "pool is home to a band-aid." Oh hey, there it is. Why the pool is home to a Band-Aid or why we should care about its plight isn't covered. Let's move on to "eyeball," because why would that word ever lead to terror? Eyeballs and pools? Look, there are only two kinds of people who collect pictures of eyeballs: serial killers and people who are too out of shape to be serial killers. OOOOK. Remember, that's all the result of clicking on just one of the dozens of words on the main page. Actually, cataloging gum is another sign that the creator may be a serial killer. #1.
The Gruesome Origins of 5 Popular Fairy Tales We know what's you're thinking. "What the hell is Cracked writing articles about fairy tales for? That's kids stuff! The thing about fairy tales, though, is that they weren't always for kids. Little Red Riding Hood: Inter-Species Sex Play, Cannibalism The Version You Know Mention the words "fairy tale" to someone--if they don't think of gingerbread houses, or possibly a certain bar they know, they think of this story. She gets there, they do the back-and-forth about what big teeth he has, and he eats her. What Got Changed Most modern versions of fairy tales come from two sources: The Grimm Brothers from Germany, and Frenchman Charles Perrault, the collector of the "Mother Goose" tales. Well, the woodsman was a later addition to the tale. Wait, it gets worse. Story's over!
12 'Sexy' Ads That Will Give You Nightmares Sex sells, but that doesn't mean that selling things using sex is easy. You figure a little cleavage can go a long way to sell cars or beer, but in the wrong hands a sexy ad can turn into the stuff nightmares are made of. Not even sexy nightmares, either. Baby Soft's Sexy Toddler It really is hard to work pedophilia into your ad campaign gracefully. And really, what better place to convince both young girls and sexual predators that this product can turn a preteen into a sexual dynamo? We can't figure out whether this ad means the 70s were a much more innocent time (when, what, nobody had heard of pedophiles?) Fortunately, we've come a long way since then... Anti-Pedophile Awareness ... or, maybe not. The Child and Adolescent Reference Center, perhaps worried about the army of pedophiles that Love's Baby Soft ad recruited, figured they needed to raise awareness about the problem. Hey! We shudder to think. Dolce and Gabbana Rape