To paraphrase a popular saying, nothing in this world is certain except that socks disappear in the laundry and taxes. It's why we bring an umbrella even when the highest-paid weatherman predicts blue skies.
To illustrate this point, the members of the subreddit 'Strange Earth' share unsettling conspiracy theories, bizarre coincidences, unexpected animal behaviors, and everything else that challenges our understanding of reality.
After all, you can't write surreal without real. Life imitates art imitates life imitates art imitates...
#1 On July 9, 2020, 6-Year-Old Bridger Walker Saved His Little Sister From A Dog Attack. He Had 90 Stitches All Over His Body, But Saved His 3-Year-Old Sister From Certain Death
He stated, “If anyone has to die, it's me. I'm the big brother.” The World Boxing Council recognized him as a world champion
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#2 In 1996, Binti Jua, A Then 8-Year-Old Female Gorilla, Rescued A 3-Year-Old Boy Who Fell 25 Feet Into Her Enclosure And Broke His Hand
She carried him near a service door and handed him over to the paramedics. Binti is still alive today and has also become a grandmother.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#3 In 2017, A 10-Year-Old Florida Girl Juliana Ossa Fought Off A Deadly Alligator Attack By Sticking Her Two Fingers Up The Alligator's Nose
This forced the alligator to open its mouth to breathe, which freed the girl's leg and she escaped. She had learned the trick from Gatorland
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#4 Judith Love Cohen Was American Aerospace Engineer Who Helped Create Abort-Guidance System That Rescued Apollo 13 Astronauts
When she went into labor, she took her work to the hospital, printed out the problem, called her boss, and said she finished it before giving birth to Jack Black.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#5 In 2015, A Father Saved His Son's Life When Doctors Wrongly Declared Him Brain-Dead And Were Taking Him Off Life Support
He barricaded himself with a gun in the hospital and had a stand-off with SWAT until his son squeezed his hand. The son made a full recovery
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#6 minutes Before The 2004 Tsunami Hit Thailand, Tilly Smith, 10 Y.o. Girl Warned Her Parents It Was Coming
While on beach, she recognized the warning signs of a tsunami as she had learned them in geography class just two weeks earlier. She is credited with saving the lives of hundreds of tourists.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#7 In 2019, Fred Pepperman, A 53-Year-Old Father Swam Out To Rescue His Daughters When Grace (16), Olivia (20), & Kathryn (24) Caught In A Riptide On A Florida Beach
When his daughters were saved, he fell unconscious. He died on his way to the hospital. His last words to them were “I got you.”
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#8 A Local Fisherman Chito In Costa Rica Nursed A Crocodile Back To Health After It Had Been Shot In Head, And Released The Reptile Back To Its Home
The next day, Chito discovered “Pocho” had followed him home and was sleeping on the man’s porch. For 20 years Pocho became part of the man’s family.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#9 Today I Learned Scientists Discovered A Dinosaur Tail Perfectly Preserved In Amber. It Is Full Of Feathers
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#10 In 1999, Harvard Physicist Lene Hau Was Able To Slow Down Light To 17 Meters Per Second. In 2001, She Was Able To Stop Light Completely
In 2005, Professor Lene Hau did something that Einstein theorized was impossible. Hau stopped light cold using atoms and lasers in her Harvard lab
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#11 Aleksander Doba Kayaked Solo Across The Atlantic Ocean (5400 Km, Under His Own Power) Three Times, Most Recently In 2017 At Age Of 70
He died in 2021 while climbing Kilimanjaro. After reaching top asked for a two-minute break before posing for photo. He then sat down on a rock & "just fell asleep"
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#12 In 2013, Harrison Okene Spent 60 Hours Underwater, In Total Darkness, After His Vessel Capsized 20 Miles Off The Coast Of Nigeria And Sunk To The Bottom Of The Sea
He was discovered alive by divers sent to recover dead bodies
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#13 15yo Mary Vincent, Who In 1970's Hitched A Ride With A Stranger. She Was Then Brutally Assaulted In The Van, Had Both Of Her Arms Chopped Off, And Was Then Thrown Down A 30 Ft Cliff
She packed the stumps with mud and climbed back up to run naked in the street to flag down help.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#14 From A Million Miles Away, Nasa Captures Moon Crossing Face Of Earth. (Yes, This Is Real) Credit: Nasa/Noaa
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#15 In 1999, Skydiver Joan Murray’s Parachutes Malfunctioned, Leaving Her To Free-Fall 14,500 Feet Above North Carolina, Landing Directly On A Fire Ants' Mound
Miraculously, she survived. Doctors believe that being stung over 200 times by ants triggered a surge of adrenaline, keeping her heart beating
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#16 In 1948, A Man Wore 30-Pound, Three-Toed Lead Shoes & Stomped Around A Florida Beach During The Night
The footprints lead people to believe that a 15-foot-tall penguin was roaming their lands. He kept up the prank for 10 years, visiting various beaches. The hoax wasn't revealed until 40 years later
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#17 A 9,000-Year-Old Skeleton Was Found In 2018 Inside A Cave In Cheddar, England, And Was Nicknamed “Cheddar Man”
His DNA was tested and it was concluded that a living relative was teaching history about a 1/2 mile away, tracing back nearly 300 generations.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#18 She Is The Youngest New Zealand Mp And Performs The Traditional Māori Haka Dance In Parliament. Her Ancestry Dates Back 5,000 Years
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#19 Nikola Tesla's Last Message To His Mother: "All These Years That I Had Spent In The Service Of Mankind Brought Me Nothing But Insults And Humiliation."
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#20 62-Year-Old Boeing Whistleblower John Barnett Found Dead In His Truck After He Didn't Show Up For A Legal Interview Linked To A Case Against Boeing
Barnett worked for Boeing for 32 years and retired in 2017. After retiring, Barnett spoke out about how Boeing was cutting corners on their airplanes
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#21 Ancient Babylonian Tablet Reveals Pythagorean Theorem -
Image credits: Earth7051
#22 A Japanese Man Named Yasuo Takamatsu Lost His Wife In The 2011 Earthquake And Has Not Stopped Looking For Her Body For More Than 10 Years
He has dived more than 800 times into the ocean in an attempt to retrieve her
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#23 The Lost Girl, 1874 Blanche Monnier Was A Parisian Socialite, Known For Her Beauty
She wished to marry an old lawyer that her mother disapproved of, so she locked her in a small dark room in her attic for 25 years. the left one's taken in the 1870's, the right in 1901 after she was discovered.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#24 This Is Point Nemo, The Spot Farthest Away From Any Land In The World. You Are Closer To Astronauts Aboard The Iss Than Humanity
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#25 New Analysis Of Ancient Footprints From White Sands Confirms The Presence Of Humans In North America During The Last Glacial Maximum 21,500 Years Ago
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#26 FBI Agent Robert Hanssen Was Tasked To Find A Mole Within The FBI After The FBI's Moles In The Kgb Were Caught
Robert Hanssen was the mole and had been working with KGB since 1979. His espionage was described by the Department of Justice as "possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#27 In 1998, A Married Couple Was Left Behind During A Diving Trip To The Great Barrier Reef. Two Days Passed Before Anyone Realized What Had Happened
Despite a 5-day search, the couple was never found. A dive slate was later recovered which read "... rescue us before we die..."
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#28 A Bible Believed To Be 1,500 Years Old Challenges The Crucifixion Of Jesus Christ, Proposing That It Was Judas Who Was Crucified By Roman Soldiers
This ancient text, known as the Gospel of Barnabas, recently surfaced in Turkey's Ethnography Museum of Ankara, causing significant controversy.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#29 Turkey Is Home To Over 200 Ancient Underground Cities
The largest, the Derinkuyu underground city, is nearly 445 square kilometers and could house an estimated 20,000 inhabitants within its 18 levels of tunnels.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#30 In 2006, This Argentinian Police Officer Was Found After An 18-Hour Search In A State Of Complete Shock
He said "short beings with red eyes" had taken him and he had "memories like he was in his mother's womb." He was found 20km away he was last seen with his clothes dry despite heavy rain.
Image credits: strange-reality756
#31 In 2013, A Florida Man, Jeff Bush, Was Sleeping In His Bedroom When A Large Sinkhole Opened Up Directly Underneath His Bed, Swallowing Him And His Entire Bedroom
His brother heard him scream, but was unable to see or reach him in time. Bush’s body was never recovered.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#32 1991: A Man Vanishes After Telling His Family He's Going On A Business Trip. 2021: A Car Stops In Front Of This Man's Home And Drops Him Off
He is wearing the same clothes, can't remember where he's been all these years & is looking like he was very well taken care of. The curious case of Mr Gorgos
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#33 Man With Radium Poisoning, Chelyabinsk Region, Russia
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#34 16 Years After The Death Of Nicole Van Den Hurk, Her Stepbrother Andy Falsely Confessed To Ki****g Her To Get Her Body Exhumed For DNA Testing Which Lead To The Arrest And Prosecution Of Her Attacker
Andy believed that his father was responsible for Nicole's death.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#35 Dr. Irving Finkel With A 3,770-Year-Old Tablet Containing Instructions From The God Enki To Sumerian King Atram-Hasis
(Noah figure in earlier versions of the flood story) to build a 220 ft diameter round ark coracle.
Image credits: Earth7051
#36 In 1998, Michael Hill Was Stabbed In The Brain With An 8-Inch Serrated Blade When Answering Door At Friend’s House.
"After 7 days, he left the hospital with memory loss & a paralyzed left hand. The knife caused permanent memory damage, but it was the largest object ever removed from a human brain."
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#37 Sheldon Johnson, Ex-Con Who Appeared On Joe Rogan Advocating For Rehabilitative Justice, Has Been Arrested After Police Found A Torso In His Apartment
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#38 Martin Pistorius Slipped Into A Coma Aged 12 But He Could Not Move, Communicate, Or Do Anything For Himself For 10 More Years
His mind was awake when was 14 or 15 y.o but trapped in his lifeless body. He heard his mother saying 'I hope you die' to him. Everybody lost hope but he survived.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#39 The Very Last Photo Of Chester Bennington (The Lead Singer Of Linkin Park) Taken By His Wife Just One Day Before He Tragically Took His Own Life
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#40 A Group Of Six Teenagers Were Discovered Living On A South Pacific Island, Named Ata
The man who found them, an Australian adventurer named Peter Warner, was shocked to learn that they'd gone missing 15 months earlier (1966)
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#41 On May 31, 2014, 12-Y.o. Payton Leutner Was Lured Into Waukesha Woods, Wi By Her Friends, Morgan & Anissa. Morgan Stabbed Leut 19 Times With A Kitchen Knife As Anissa Looked On
Their aim: to please Slender Man. Despite grave injuries, she crawled to a path, flagged down a cyclist & survived.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#42 The Platypus Is Possibly The Weirdest Animal: It's A Mammal But Lays Eggs, It's Duck-Billed, Beaver-Tailed, Otter-Footed And Venomous
It has electroreceptors for locating prey, eyes with double cones, no stomach, and 10 chromosomes. It's fluorescent and glows under UV light.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#43 Want To Hear Something Insane? A Japanese Man Noticed His Food Going Missing So He Set Up A Webcam And Found That A Woman Had Been Secretly Living In His Closet For A Year
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#44 In The Year 1912, 4 Year Old Boy Named Bobby Dunbar Went Missing While On Family Trip. 8 Months Later, Bobby Was Found & Reunited Him With His Family
Almost 100 years later, DNA evidence proved that child who they found wasn’t actually Bobby. No one knows what happened to the real Bobby Dunbar.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#45 In May 2019, Amanda Eller Was Lost For 17 Days In The Forests Of Maui After A Three-Mile Hike Turned Into A Harrowing Ordeal
She set out on foot without a cell phone, food, or water, as she only planned to be out for a short jaunt. After venturing off the trail, she wasn’t able to find her way back. She suffered from severe sunburn, leg injuries, and the loss of her shoes but survived by eating berries, drinking stream water, and sleeping among leaves. After more than two weeks, a rescue helicopter spotted her atop a waterfall.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#46 Ivan Lester Mcguire, An Experienced Skydiver, Was Documenting A Tandem Jump On Apr 2, 1988
He was so engrossed in his filming that he made a critical error: He forgot to equip himself with parachute when jumped. Ivan continued filming, with his last words captured on camera being, "Oh my God, no!"
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#47 Just A Reminder That There’s A Perfect Hexagon Cloud Formation Over Saturn’s North Pole
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#48 Genie Wiley, Girl Who Was Raised In A Dark Isolated Room With No Indication Of An Outside World For The First 13 Years, Her Father Was Incredibly Abusive, & She Was Rescued Her In 1970
She couldn't speak at all & only made infantile noises. She lived 10 years of her life chained to the potty chair.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#49 In 1992, Annette Herfkens Survived Crash That Killed Everyone Else On Board, Including Love Of Her Life. Merely 50 Mins Into Their Flight, Plane Crashed Into Mountainous Vietnamese Jungle
She was trapped with dead bodies for 192 hours & had thoughts of cannibalizing bodies around her to survive.
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
#50 In 2018, 26-Year-Old Missionary John Chau Tried To Convert His Killers After Attempting Contact With The World’s Most Isolated People In The Indian Ocean
The night before his death he wrote to his family, “I hope this isn’t my last note but if it is... Don’t retrieve my body.”
Image credits: MartianXAshATwelve
