Those who are fascinated by the paranormal or unsettling situations can quickly get their fix by watching many shows on various streaming platforms and literature.
But they seem to forget that truth is actually stranger than fiction and many of the bizarre plotlines depicted in shows and books are inspired by actual life events.
Curious to hear what keeps strangers online up at night, Redditor wisteriasgirl asked:
"What’s the creepiest Wikipedia article you’ve ever read?"
All it takes is a toxic environment to have deadly consequences.
Gas Attack
"Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack, wherein a 10 members of the doomsday cult 'Aum Shinrikiyo' launched five separate Sarin gas attacks onboard five subway trains across three major subway lines in Tokyo. Killed 14, and injured approx 5,000 people, 1,000 of which received serious injuries."
"The cult itself started out as simple yoga group, which gradually turned into a doomsday cult whose goal is to start World War 3. They are also infamous for using chemical weapons in their attacks: VX, Phosgene, Cyanide, and Sarin gas."
– TheRepublicAct
Fatal Exposure To Chemical Elements
"The death of Karen Wetterhahn. She died of mercury poisoning at the age of 48 due to accidental exposure to the extremely toxic organic mercury compound dimethylmercury."
"Protective gloves in use at the time of the incident provided insufficient protection, and exposure to only a few drops of the chemical absorbed through the gloves proved to be fatal after less than a year."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn
– dorvann
DIY Cancer Cure Specialist
"The Toxic Death of Gloria Ramirez which is about a woman who possibly (the definitive cause is unknown) used household chemicals to treat cancer and in the process of caring for her many doctors and nurses fell ill. The chemicals reacted with her blood, creating an airborne toxin. She presented with an oily sheen on her entire body and her insides (mouth, blood, etc) had a pungent, sweet, garlic-y smell."
"Edit: A likely cause for Gloria is known but we can't rule out the theory where her IV bag gets switched out with meth ingredients being smuggled through the hospital (that is actually listed in the wiki) or, of course, aliens. /s And YES, I did first hear of her on buzzfeed unsolved, but I read the Wiki after okay?"
– ronaldreagular
The things humans are capable of doing by causing harm to others is deeply disturbing.
Led By A Doomsday Cult Leader
"Oh man, you should check out the Ant Hill Kids then."
"I'm not sure wikipedia goes into the brutality of it, but imagine screwdriver + brain + acid and a bunch of other f'ked up things. No real reason other than they felt like it in the moment."
– Cult_ureS
This Duo Filmed Their Killings
Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnepropetrovsk_maniacs
"It was actually mainly just two guys, the third guy didn't get charged with any murders, just armed robberies that took place before the murders."
– onarainyafternoon
School Bomber
"The Bath School Massacre about a man who went insane and bombed a school in order to kill the next generation of his town and get back at the prominent community members that 'slighted him'. Awful, awful."
– ronaldregular
Murder Of A Japanese High School Student
"Junko Furuta. That whole article just makes my blood boil."
– Cleverbird
Obsessed Radiographer
"Carl Tanzler A radiographer who got obsessed with a patient of his, Elena Hoyos. She succumbed to tuberculosis while under his treatment. He stole her body and kept it in his house for years to come, until her family discovered what was going on. Hoyos' decaying body was kept together with wires and a mask was made. He was also married to another woman all this while. Just an all-round disgusting case."
– identitty_theft
Redditors can't bear to imagine perishing by way of these horrific circumstances.
Inhumane Torture
"The article for Lingchi, or 'death by a thousand cuts.' Its a kind of execution method that was used in China where someone is tied to a wooden frame and is cut to death, usually over the course of several days, sometimes in public."
– dudebro1275
Ripped Apart
"Hv u heard about the method where a person’s head, arms and legs are tied to five different horses and they walk in away in different directions tearing the guy apart?"
"It’s called 車裂"
– Evelyn_Bliss
The article I personally found absolutely unsettling was the death of Elisa Lam, whose body was found in a large cistern atop the Cecil Hotel.
The budget hotel, which was named Stay On the Main at the time, was notorious for hauntings and housing serial killers like Richard Ramirez–a.k.a. "The Nightstalker."
Lam was last seen alive inside the building's elevator through viral surveillance footage of her behaving erratically.
Social media users were fixated on her subsequent disappearance, and much of what happened to Lam and how her body found its way into the water tank remains the subject of many theories and debates.
