These 20 Terrifying Wikipedia Pages Will Keep You Up at Night
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Halloween is just about upon us, and that means that it's time to indulge in a time-worn tradition: reading, watching, and listening to scary tales. And there's nowhere better to find those stories than Wikipedia. The user-generated encyclopedia is home to thousands of legends, fables, and word-of-mouth tales, but there's nothing quite as spooky as the stories that originate from real-life events. And if you're looking to keep yourself up tonight, we highly recommend you keep on reading.
Behold: the 20 most chilling Wikipedia entries that are not only terrifying, but also very, very true.
- Tarrare: An endlessly hungry sailor has no limits when it comes to what he'll eat.
- Euthanasia Coaster: The real-life roller coaster of death.
- Grey Goo: How robots could effectively take over the world and consume all the living humans on earth.
- Rat King: The rat of your nightmares exists in the world.
- Montauk Project: The real-world inspiration for Stranger Things was a psychological warfare research base.
- Borley Rectory: The most haunted house in England will have you believing in ghosts.
- Unit 731: The secret biological and chemical warfare research facility kept by the Japanese during WWII is too gory for words.
- Sedlec Ossuary: A church in the Czech Republic uses the corpses of 40,000 to 70,000 individuals for furniture and decor.
- Hinterkaifeck Murders: A house was believed to contain a ghost, but it turned out to be a serial killer.
- Issei Sagawa: A murderer who cannibalized his victim then became a massive celebrity after his release from prison.
- Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva: This medical condition leaves you frozen in time, forever.
- Goiania Accident: What residents of one Brazilian town took as fairy dust turned out to be a radioactive event.
- Aokigahara: A forest is known for its suicide-inducing properties.
- Genie: There are few things more creepy than this feral child.
- Roanoke Colony: This is what happens when an entire town disappears all at once.
- Mad Gasser of Mattoon: A mysterious series of events in Virginia still hasn't been explained by law enforcement.
- Exploding Head Syndrome: Knowing that this is an actual thing will do everything but make your head explode.
- Mellified Man: The Chinese believed that a vital medical substance is created by steeping a human cadaver in honey.
- Total Information Awareness: The American government is literally big brother.
- Overtoun Bridge: The staggering number of dogs who have leapt off this bridge can't possibly be a coincidence.