Thanks to Google, many of our life's questions can be answered with the click of a button.
But in the digital information age, most of us are never really satisfied with just one definitive answer. Sometimes, there is more to learn as the revelation of one thing can lead to many more inquiries.
Say you're watching a show and one of the actors look familiar but you can't quite put a name to the face. So you IMDB the show and you are finally able to identify the actor after being distracted by the frustration of not knowing who they were.
But then you look at their long list of credits and discover other actors you didn't know were somehow associated with the previous actor in question. So you do more digging.
Such is the phenomenon of going down the proverbial rabbit hole.
Curious to hear from strangers who've gone to places they could never return from in their thirst for knowledge, Redditor mato_fako asked:
"What's a deep, dark rabbithole to research when bored?"
It turns out the list of things to learn about in life is never-ending.
Backed Up
"The 'saved' section of your reddit user profile. I've saved so much sh*t and then promptly forgot about it.. Just like I'm going to do with this thread."
– monacelli
Perfect Time Killer
"When I worked at a call Centre we often had quiet times and the internet blocked most things unusual wiki articles kept me entertained for quite some time though, it’s full of random strange things."
– slimjoel14
Growing Up In Isolation
"Feral children."
– PreviousTea9210
"I had to stop reading these accounts because it made me too sad seeing over and over that the 'rescuers' almost always killed the kids' animal families and the children pretty much never had any quality of life after."
– Not_a_werecat
Mythical Sightings
"Cryptozoology. Its interesting to say the least but there are so many things that make you question what is out there in the world that we haven’t discovered yet. When I first got into it I thought cryptids were more like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster but there are hundreds or even thousands of other weird and unusual sightings of creatures many haven’t even heard of."
– odagled86
Feral Habit
"You can't forget about the church of nuns that just started meowing and only stopped because the nearby town threated to kill them all if they didn't stop."
– averyconfusedgoose
Anything regarding foul play is a popular search request.
Deathwear
"Denver Lee St. Clair, 58, was asphyxiated by an 'atomic wedgie' administered by his stepson during a fight. After he had been knocked unconscious, the elastic band from his torn underwear was pulled over his head and stretched around his neck, strangling him. The stepson was sentenced to thirty years in prison."
– dean_the_machine
Financial Dealings
"Money laundering and how laundered money flows around the world. Most info is public from gov agencies like the CIA and State Department."
– TyHuffman
Unappealing Past
"The history of bananas."
– aus_in_usa
Slippery Slope
"Look up Chiquita! From paying terrorists to child labor, they have a huge list of interesting corruption cases they’ve been caught for."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/wbna17615143
– InsurethisD
Grim subject matter is a popular research topic.
Keeping An Eye On Exit Doors
"Fire disasters. And then never feel safe in an indoor crowded space ever again."
"There's actually video on YouTube of the Great White disaster and it's utterly horrifying how incredibly quickly it happens and seeing the people literally stuck in the doorway unable to get out as they burn to death. As someone who still goes to a lot of shows at small packed music venues exactly like that one (and other totally packed bars and clubs), I'm always constantly looking for exits to find the nearest escape path and it always freaks me out anytime there's any fire in any indoor space (candles/sparklers/pyrotechnics/etc)"
– SquareVehicle
Permanent Exits
"This should give you an hour or two. List of unusual deaths."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_deaths
– Krabbi
Fatal Domino Effect
"A poodle named Cachy, in Caballito, Buenos Aires, fell 13 floors and hit Marta Espina, 75, killing both instantly. In the course of events, Edith Solá, 46, came to see the incident, and was fatally hit by a bus. An unidentified man who witnessed her death had a heart attack and also died on his way to the hospital."
– wearentalldudes
Roadside Decapitation
'John Hutcherson, 21, drove home drunk with his friend, Francis Brohm, 23, who was hanging out the passenger window while vomiting due to carsickness. Hutcherson drove off the road and sideswiped a telephone pole support wire, decapitating Brohm. He continued the final 12 miles (19 km) to his Atlanta, Georgia, US, home, parked in the driveway, and went to bed. A neighbor found Brohm's headless body in the truck the next morning.'
– urge_kiya_hai
A Deadly Combination
"Vladimir Likhonos, 25, a student of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute from Konotop, was killed when his chewing gum exploded. Likhonos had a habit of dipping his chewing gum in citric acid to increase the gum's sour taste. On his work table police found about 100 grams (3.5 oz) of unidentified explosive powder which he used for chemistry studies. It resembled citric acid, and it is thought that he confused the two. The explosive was found to be four times stronger than TNT, and the explosion was possibly triggered either by reacting with Likhonos' saliva, or the pressure exerted by him chewing on the gum and explosive powder."
– singingkiltmygrandma
Pandaemonium
"Mass hysteria. There are different kinds that have affected different cultures in different ways. Multiple times throughout history, groups of people have uncontrollably danced themselves to deaths. In other parts of the world, men can become stricken with the belief that their penis is receding into their bodies; it was often believed the only way to prevent this from happening overnight was for family members to hold their members etc."
– tullyinturtleterror
Eye For An Eye
"Parvat Gala Baria, 60, from Gujarat, India, bit a snake after the snake had bitten him. Both he and the snake died."
"Chad Baria."
– attofreak
While all of this is fascinating, there are mind-boggling bits of trivia that can be great conversation starters at a party.
However, regarding some of the most disturbing and gruesome examples shared here, some people might think ignorance is bliss.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
@islamoradalover/Bluesky
@hillbillybluedog/Bluesky