10 Bizarre Human Mysteries

Every so often, we’ll come across strange and inexplicable conditions found in the human body. These are the mysteries science can’t easily debunk, the kinds that defy natural laws and how we’ve come to understand ourselves. There’s always debate concerning these supposed powers. Are they just hoaxes derived from our imagination, or are we looking at the first steps into the next evolutionary leap? So here’s what we’ve seen; you decide what to believe from these bizarre human mysteries.

10

Entrancing Healers

Shamanistic practices were once much more prevalent in the world, and considered a profound foundation of the tribes that believed in them. These spiritually based rituals are still found today and are revered as legitimate procedures. In the Philippines, an entrancing healer, allegedly, has the ability to materialize and dematerialize matter. The shaman will enter a mild trance, where they gain the supernatural ability to perform surgeries with little to no contact with the patient. They would then be able to remove foreign objects within the body such as glass and metal and provide alleviation from similar pains.

Many of these shamans have been discovered as fraudulent, proving the use of slight of hand tricks and passing them off as legitimate procedures, but that isn’t the case for all of them. Some entrancing healers can pull out molars with their bare hands, while others can remove and replace eyeballs. There is still not enough evidence to dismiss what these shamans have been apparently able to achieve for decades.

9

Psychic Surgeons

Much like entrancing healers, psychic surgeons can perform procedures that would normally require tools and what we consider conventional medical supplies (like anesthesia). But, unlike the healers, psychic surgeons go deep into the patient’s body, and literally pull out tumors and organs from their patients.

These types of surgeons are mostly found in Brazil and the Philippines, where people strongly believe in spirits (which aid every procedure/treatment). Patients are told to recognize that negative feelings and thoughts toward disease and illnesses only serve to aggravate the condition, and that they can’t be healed if they don’t believe in the possibility of overcoming it. In other words, they must form a bond between the mind, body and spirit, to achieve the balance required for recovery; the body can’t be healed if the mind and spirit aren’t aligned. This is also the reason why psychic surgeons argue that outsiders who come to them seeking help are more difficult to work on because they lack that faith.

8

Spontaneous Human Combustion

SHC is burning from the inside out. It certainly sounds strange but by now, most of us are familiar with this supposed phenomenon. Famous cases include Jack Angel’s account of SHC that led to his hand needing amputation, or Mary Reeser who was burned to a crisp and found with a shrunken skull. Even fiction has its examples of SHC, as seen in Charles Dicken’s novel, Bleak House (Dickens was fascinated by the topic and researched it thoroughly).

Already you can probably come up with a few facts off the top of your head that would debunk this mystery, but consider this: crematoriums pre-heat their furnaces to about 1837.4 degrees Fahrenheit, because the human body is relatively difficult to burn. It takes between one and two hours for tissue and major bones to become ashes. SHC victims are usually found in a liquid form, meaning their bodies had to burn at a temperature exceeding 2998 degrees Fahrenheit. And in some cases, not the entire body is burned and we’d expect to see burn marks all over the body in a traditional house fire scenario.

7

Fire Immunity and Fire Starter

On the subject of fire, we come to the Leidenfrost effect. The effect actually creates an insulating, protective barrier of vapor that forms over a liquid exposed to extreme heat. This same effect protects you when you pinch out candles with wet fingers. It’s a phenomenon we’re all capable of doing given the right circumstances (like in firewalking), but it’s only a fraction of what people with fire immunity experience.

Nathan Coker was a blacksmith in Maryland who could stand on white hot metal, swill molten lead shot in his mouth until it solidified, and hold red-hot coals. His skin was so dexterous, he never even showed signs of burn marks. Is it a practice of mind over matter or did his skin, over years of handling fire, get tough enough to keep him from feeling the burn?

On the opposite spectrum, pyrokinetics can attract or project fire. A.W. Underwood was able to cause a handkerchief to burst in to flames by blowing on it. Starting a fire with the mind, or a wave of the hand, is rejected much quicker than those that have fire immunity but it remains the favorite in fiction.

6

Dowsing

Dowsing has existed as early as the 15th century. Using a divining rod, a dowser may find water, metals and other substances in the ground without the use of scientific tools. The thought is that divining rods amplify invisible movements of the hand coming from the dowser who has some ability to sense magnetic fields or may possess a form of ESP.

One way to explain the phenomenon is by exploring the environment. If a dowser can detect hints about their surroundings, then they make subconscious movements with their hands, forcing the rods to shake and dip, indicating they’ve found something of value. Most dowsers can’t offer a plain explanation how the process works but the practice has been used to locate substances successfully throughout the centuries.

5

Bioelectricity

You have probably seen Youtube videos of people showing signs of bioelectricity. As early as the 19th century, there have been cases of people being electrically charged or magnetized, resulting in an odd electromagnetic effect on the objects around them. Some people even show allergic reactions to technology, finding it difficult to live around devices that emit too much magnetic and electrical charge.

There have been cases of people being so charged that they are able to light a bulb simply by holding it. Others cause fuses to blow out, without any means of controlling the effect. It’s even been recorded that people with this strong force can give a static electricity shock continuously, and be powerful enough to actually hurt someone.

4

Bioluminescence

Surprisingly, most cases on bioluminescence in humans comes from ill patients. Anna Monaro had asthma and for several weeks, a blue glow would emit from her chest while she slept. In his book ‘Death: Its Causes and Phenomena’, Hereward Carrington reported the body of a boy radiating a blue glow after his death of acute indigestion.

This glow-worm effect still doesn’t have many cases, but recently Japanese researchers discovered that the human body glimmers. The light we emit is about 1000 times lower than the naked eye can see. This light fluctuates during the day, in cycles, leaving us brightest in the afternoon (the skin around your mouth lightens most around this time of day too) and dimmest in the evening.

3

Levitation

D.D. Home was a famous medium who had many witnesses claim he could indeed levitate. Homes most incredible feat happened in 1868, when he floated out one window and into another during a séance. His abilities were never proven to be fraudulent, even by Harry Houdini, who attempted to duplicate many of Homes “tricks.”

Today, levitation is common during magical performances, but they all came from reports of people actually floating. It was considered a normal occurrence in séance, not just by the people in attendance, but of the objects around them. And if you ever want to experience levitation for yourself, try the Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board game. It’s been scaring kids for years now.

2

ESP

ESP is an extrasensory perception, able to gain information through use of a sense unknown by science. Before getting into ESP, first you should realize you do in fact have more than five senses. You can sense temperature variations, proprioception (position of your muscles), and the force of gravity (you do this by knowing at what angle your head is in while your eyes are shut). ESP covers the senses that are left.

There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence of ESP, but what about legitimate science? In the 30s, the Ganzfeld experiments took place. People claiming to have ESP were told to lie down, and then forced to listen to white noise to clear their minds. Someone observing from another room would then attempt to mentally send him/her an image. Afterward, that person would pick which image it is they saw in their mind from four. Critics predicted a 25% accuracy but were surprised to learn it was 35%. That isn’t statistically a lot more but this experiment was used to show that perhaps there was something to ESP after all.

1

Prophecy

The Delphic oracle did it. Nostradamus did it. Hell, you can call fortunetellers over the phone nowadays to hear about the future. History is riddled with people claiming to know the future. Some have visions that come and go, others have foretelling dreams. There are those who seek the future by means of ritual, and then there are people who are struck with precognition randomly. You might have experienced it yourself. Ever thought of a friend and they called you (or in this modern age – they Facebooked you) seconds later? Is that an example of precognition or just coincidence?

Nostradamus had a number of prophecies that, when interpreted in a certain manner, predicted the Great Fire of London and the rise of Adolf Hitler (among others). However, Nostradamus was purposefully vague and cryptic in each of his predictions, leaving them open for interpretation. To say that he unmistakably foresaw those events in history would be a bit of a stretch. Still, among all the items on this list, the ability to see the future is the most abundant bizarre trait people believe they possess.

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Top 10 Most Influential Psychiatrists

Psychology has, historically, been considered the ugly stepchild of science. There are some legitimate reasons for this. First of all, the average person associates psychology with the kooky antics on on-screen therapists in various movies and T.V. shows. Second, everyone considers him or herself an “amateur” psychologist. While most of us don’t have direct experiences with black holes DNA or atoms, we all have experienced and generated behavior, emotions and thoughts. Finally, few understand that, historically, there were attempts to shape psychology as a science of human nature, along the lines of physics or chemistry. Unfortunately, modern psychology is an incredibly fractured discipline with many components, some of more value than others. The ten individuals I’ve selected, in my semi-educated opinion, are those who had the greatest impact on the shaping of psychology into the field it is today (both for good and ill).

10

Karl Lashley

1890-1958

Karl Lashley is a debatable choice for the tenth spot. I selected him because he was one of the first psychologists to try to understand the physiological underpinnings of behavior. Lashley was an American psychologist who initially worked with John Watson. However, Watson was never very interested in the brain-behavior relationship and Lashley eventually went his own direction. He conducted a series of studies with rats where he attempted to locate the “engram” or the physiological seat of memory. Lashley trained his rats to run a maze, systematically removed portions of their brains, and observed any effect it had on their ability to run the maze afterwards. Lashley found, to his astonishment, that it didn’t matter. What did matter is how much of the brain was removed. Lashley would go on to train, and mentor, a number of psychologists and physiologists who built upon his early work linking brain and behavior. Currently, much of the work in modern experimental psychology is focusing on this topic.

9

B.F. Skinner

1904-1990

B.F. Skinner is one of the few psychologists with name recognition outside the field. Much of this had to do with his charismatic personality, excellent writing ability (he originally wanted to be a novelist), and confrontational style. Skinner was convinced that his approach to psychology was the only reasonable one, and had little patience with opposing views. Arrogance aside, few men in history can claim to have created the vocabulary for an entire discipline. In psychology, when we speak of “operant conditioning”, “positive reinforcement”, and “shaping” these are terms introduced and popularized by Skinner. But his ideas go beyond terminology. Skinner was instrumental in making his notion of psychology (called “behaviorism”) a dominant force in the discipline. In fact, in America, between the years 1930 and 1950, behaviorism WAS psychology. Much of this had to do with the compelling nature of Skinner’s ideas; a few simple principles based on the interaction of the organism and environment, that can explain a multitude of behaviors without invoking ideas like “thought”, or “emotion” or “unconsciousness”.

8

Jean Piaget

1896-1980

My first cheat: Piaget was not a psychologist. His training was as a natural scientist. As a young man growing up in Switzerland, he was interested in fossils, shells and birds. However, after finishing his degree, he became interested in developing an “embryology” of intelligence. Piaget initially planned to spend only a few years on this. He ended up spending 60 years observing children and their abilities, and formulating his highly influential theory of cognitive development. His ideas had a huge impact on developmental psychology, educational psychology and cognitive psychology. Ironically, Piaget, perhaps due to his own unusual childhood, while intellectually interested in the children he studied, never really engaged with them emotionally.

7

Abraham Maslow

1908-1970

Maslow, an American psychologist, was familiar with the two dominant forces in psychology during the mid-twentieth century: namely, psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Maslow felt that neither of these approaches adequately explained human experience. Behaviorism was founded on animal research which Maslow felt couldn’t have any real relevance to humans. Psychoanalysis seemed to focus on psychotic individuals and not healthy personalities. Maslow, by nature shy and reserved, felt strongly enough about this to lead the development of a new approach to psychology he called “third-force” psychology. His psychology discarded research as not relevant to human beings, focused on what it takes to become mentally healthy, and paved the way for a number of approaches to therapy, developed in the sixties and seventies, of dubious utility. Depending on your perspective, Maslow either increased the scope of psychology or reduced its overall validity.

6

Max Wertheimer

1880-1943

Wertheimer was a German psychologist, fascinated by fact that what we often see is not what is present. For example, when we watch movies, we are actually watching several still pictures presented quickly in sequence. What we see is movement up on the screen. Wertheimer believed that our minds do something to the perceived image to create this apparent movement. His curiosity in this phenomenon led to the development of Gestalt psychology, and its focus on perception, cognitive insight and learning and dynamic social systems. Wertheimer had to leave Germany because of the rise of Nazism, and when he came to America, presented the only real competitor to the ideas of behaviorism that were so dominant at the time. The principles of Gestalt psychology were instrumental in the founding of social psychology and cognitive psychology. While it no longer exists as a separate discipline, many Gestalt principles have been integrated into other subfields of psychology.

5

Alfred Binet

1857-1911

During the late 1800s, “intelligence” was conceptualized as a psychological quality passed on from one generation to another. What was needed was a way to successfully measure this particular quality. Binet was a French psychologist, approached by the French government to assist in developing a number of tests to discriminate between children of normal ability and children who needed extra educational assistance. In 1905, Binet and a colleague, Theodore Simon, developed their first attempt, called the Binet-Simon Test of Intelligence. It was based on a brilliant but simple idea. If you want to know if a child is “less intelligent” than another, first see what a “normal” child does and then observe how many of those tasks the child you’re evaluating can accomplish. This is the basic principle that all modern intelligence tests follow. Binet’s simple test was brought over to America and eventually revised to become the Stanford-Binet Test of Intelligence that is still being published and used today. But more importantly, Binet introduced the concept of successfully measuring psychological qualities that led to an absolute testing mania in the United States and other parts of the world. Few people have not been touched, for good or ill, by testing. Ironically, Binet would probably be appalled by the direction that testing has gone.

4

Wilhelm Wundt

1832-1920

Wundt is probably the most influential psychologist that no one has ever heard of. His influence did not lay in his ideas of psychology (his goal was to discover the “elements of thought”), or his methods of studying psychology (his one original contribution to methodology was probably “introspection”, which involved having subjects, somewhat subjectively, report their mental responses to different kinds of stimuli). No, Wundt is considered the founder of psychology. He was the first individual to call himself a psychologist, and to recognize that the work he was doing was part of a new discipline that hadn’t been labeled. Wundt was serving as the chair of the department of philosophy at the University of Leipzig, in Germany, when he began conducting his first psychological experiments, probably around 1879. His program of study was so successful that Germany became the center of psychology for a time (until a couple of world wars occurred). During the late 1800s, if you wanted to study psychology, there was no question that you must go to Germany, and many of the early psychologists traced their intellectual genealogy back to Wundt.

3

John Watson

1878-1958

Few famous men have started out so ignominiously. John Watson was the son of a drunkard who abandoned his family, and an extremely pious woman who made Watson promise to become a minister. Unfortunately, as a young man growing up in South Carolina, Watson was well on his way to juvenile delinquency. For some odd reason, (perhaps in the interest of pleasing his mother) Watson suddenly decided to go to college. Eventually, he graduated from the University of Chicago with its first Ph.D in psychology. Watson was dissatisfied with the current trends in psychology and believed only that which was directly observable could, and should, be studied. In 1912, Watson presented his ideas to the psychology community and in one broad stroke, swept away the old methodologies and presented his own. B.F. Skinner, as influential as he was, built his success on the foundation of Watson’s ideas. Watson is also well-known for his notorious “little Albert” study and, even more notoriously, for carrying on an affair with his assistant in that work, Rosalie Raynor. The affair cost Watson his academic position in 1920 (times being what they were) and, like any good behavior modifier, he worked in advertising for the rest of his life.

2

Sigmund Freud

1856-1939

Here he is: the most well-known psychologist in history, and another cheat. Freud was not a psychologist; he was a psychiatrist (and, yes, there is a difference between the two). It is difficult to overestimate the influence that Freud’s ideas had over psychology and culture. His terms ‘ego’, ‘id’, ‘libido’ and others have entered every day language, and his very name is synonymous with probing techniques that reveal the damage that your parents did to you when you were young, and dreams that are superficial covers for surging, uncontrollable desires. What may be perplexing to the layperson is that in modern psychology, Freud’s ideas are not taken very seriously. Most acknowledge that his ideas have little basis in reality, and were more the product of Freud’s highly creative and innovative imagination. So why is he so well-known? Whole books have been written on this subject but I would say his place on the list is due to a very basic, but at his time, completely new idea. This was the notion that mental disorders could be treated psychologically. Before Freud, doctors considered mental disorders to be the product of some physical aberration (and many of them are). Freud provided compelling anecdotal evidence for the psychological origin and treatment of many of these problems.

1

William James

1842-1910

James was an American psychologist who disliked the label. Morton Hunt, the science writer, described him as the psychologist malgre lui or the reluctant psychologist. James fancied himself more as a philosopher than a psychologist, and did very little experimentation in psychology. He was not impressed with the work of Wilhelm Wundt, and towards the end of his life focused on matters of religion and spiritualism. However, I place him in the number one position for one reason: in 1890, he wrote a book called “Principles of Psychology” which is still in print today. It contains some apparently very modern ideas of psychology. In fact, a naïve reader would probably assume the book had been written in the last couple of decades not over 100 years ago. James essentially outlined modern psychology in this book. Wundt had proposed a psychology that focused, primarily, on the senses and perception. He rejected the notion that psychology could concern itself with some of the higher-order processes, like learning or problem-solving. James disagreed and outlined in his “Principles” the idea that psychology could concern itself with issues like: emotions, habits, consciousness, self, adaptation and learning. Behaviorism has many of its roots in James’ ideas, as does concepts like “self-esteem, self-concept, clinical psychology, biopsychology” and others. There are few topics in psychology that James didn’t anticipate, in one form or another. Interestingly, James was unsatisfied with the book. He wrote to the publishing company and described it as “a loathsome, distended, tumefied, bloated, dropsical mass, testifying to nothing but two facts: 1st, that there is no such thing as a science of psychology, and 2nd, that W. J. is an incapable”.

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Top 10 Mysterious Islands in Fiction

Islands have appeared in works of fiction since time immemorial (as you will see in item 1), and they are often the location of mysterious or unusual happenings. In tribute to the series finale of ABC’s Lost, and the opening of a new Island of Adventure (the Harry Potter area) at Universal’s amusement park in Florida, below is a list of the Top Ten Mysterious Islands in Fiction in reverse chronological order.

10

The Island

First appeared in: Lost (2004)

“The Island” is the major setting of a six seasons long television show, as well as a video game that featured time travel, slave ships, supernatural monsters, large deadly non-native-to-the-island animals, hidden treasures, scary scientists, potential to sink into the ocean, super villains, references to antiquity, etc. i.e. just about as much of a combination of the various aspects of the remaining islands rolled into one.

9

Shang Tsung’s Island

First appeared in: Mortal Kombat (1992)

Shang Tsung’s Island appears as the tournament setting in a video game version of the secret martial arts tournament – a premise seen in such earlier films as Enter the Dragon. It adds much more in the way of the supernatural, and, in 1995, resurfaced in the theatrically released film version. Shang Tsung is a powerful and deadly wizard, and primary antagonist in the series, and is a shapeshifter who absorbs the souls of those he slays in order to maintain his youth and power.

8

Isla Nublar

First appeared in: Jurassic Park (1990)

For the film, Spielberg used the island of Kauai as a stand in for Isla Nublar (intended to mean “Cloud Island” in Spanish). Aside from serving as the primary location of a blockbuster film and novel, Isla Nublar is perhaps the only island people can actually visit, in a manner of speaking, due to its replication as one of the Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando.

7

Arkham Island

First appeared in: Batman #258 (1974)

Over the years, the Batman franchise added many special batcaves to the story line – it is the Arkham batcave that is associated with Arkham Island, and the asylum there (which undoubtedly adds to its mysterious nature). With appearances in major comic books, films and video games, the island serves as a setting of bizarre and creepy villains and harrowing violence. Most recently, video game players can experience the Island in the 3D “Game of the Year” release of Batman: Arkham Asylum for the PlayStation 3.

6

Han’s Island

First appeared in: Enter the Dragon (1973)

The Asian island served as one of the alternate titles for the film (Han’s Island), and as the main setting for a mysterious martial arts competition, setting the stage for such later, similarly plotted, (albeit more fantastical) films as Mortal Kombat (1995). Interestingly, a similarly named island (Hans Island) is a tiny island in the Nares Strait over which both Canada and Denmark claim ownership. This disputed claim led to a Google war as each nation spammed Google search results in support of their ownership.

5

Skull Island

First appeared in: King Kong (1933)

Skull Island is the home of the eponymous King Kong and several other species of creatures, mostly prehistoric, and in some cases species that should have been extinct long before the rise of mammalian creatures such as gorillas, along with a primitive society of humans. It is the main setting of three major films and a tie-in video game of the most recent film, as well as a pseudo-documentary and companion book about expeditions to and the animal life on the island.

4

The Island of Doctor Moreau

First appeared in: The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896)

Multiple film adaptations, and the whole notion of animal experimentation by a mad scientist, serves as a definite precursor to Jurassic Park, if not the varied research by the Dharma Initiative and even the Ben Linus-era Others, on Lost. The island is home to Dr Moreau, who spends his time creating animal-human hybrids, who terrorize the book’s protagonist. The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection was formed two years after the publication of the novel.

3

Treasure Island

First appeared in: Treasure Island (1883)

Treasure Island is a tale of “pirates and buried gold” by Robert Louis Stephenson. In addition to the numerous film and television adaptations of the novel, the characters, setting and events of this novel have greatly influenced the modern imagery of pirates, including treasure maps with an “X”, schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands and one-legged seamen with parrots on their shoulders.

2

Lincoln Island

First appeared in: The Mysterious Island (1874)

The original “mysterious island” that first appeared in a novel has since served as the main plot location in at least a half dozen films. Mysterious Island (the book) was a sequel to Verne’s famous Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and In Search of the Castaways, though, thematically, it is vastly different from those books. While on the island, the main characters find a message in a bottle which serves as part of the mystery theme.

1

Atlantis

First appeared in: Timaeus (360 BC) by Plato

Arguably the inspiration for many of the other islands listed above, Atlantis’s appearances on television and in video games is incredibly diverse, from being playable levels in Arctic Thunder and Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, to the titular location in television’s Stargate Atlantis. Of course, while we are reasonably confident that no actual island has housed Dr. Moreau’s experiments, smoke monsters or Batman’s arch-nemesis, Atlantis may have actually existed. Sure, the search for it has attracted the attention of such fictional heroes as Indiana Jones, but many real life archaeologists and explorers, alike, have devoted much time and effort in that quest as well.

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Top 10 Most Confusing Films

I have watched quite a few films in my life, and the more I watch them, the more I wonder, what is the point? I mean, sure, there are plenty of movies that have obvious answers to your questions, but sometimes, a picture comes around that makes you ask more questions than the answers you receive. It’s these films that make or break a career. Some may be considered the greatest thing ever, and some may be considered the worst thing ever, but they’ll all end up making you scratch your head in. Warning: this list contains spoilers.

10

Fight Club

I had to put this on the list, not because it’s the most confusing movie ever, but because I fear the backlash did I not. My opinion? No. The reason is because I already knew the big twist of the movie when I came into it. That ruined the experience for me, but Edward Norton made up for that. Still, it is a confusing movie, and far superior to the same director, David Fincher’s Se7en. Anyone who has seen Fight Club appreciates its inclusion here. If you haven’t seen it – the last few moments will make you realize why it is here.

9

Donnie Darko

Walking talking rabbits, time travel, schizophrenia, bizarre therapy sessions – this film has it all. But the one thing it is missing is clarity. If you have seen this film you probably love it. Gyllenhaal gives a superb performance in what is definitely one of the most unusual films for its time. This is a must-see film – regardless of how difficult it is to understand.

8

Eraserhead

Is it a nightmare or an actual view of a post-apocalyptic world? Set in an industrial town in which giant machines are constantly working, spewing smoke, and making noise that is inescapable, Henry Spencer lives in a building that, like all the others, appears to be abandoned. The lights flicker on and off, he has bowls of water in his dresser drawers, and for his only diversion he watches and listens to the Lady in the Radiator sing about finding happiness in heaven. Henry has a girlfriend, Mary X, who has frequent spastic fits. Mary gives birth to Henry’s child, a frightening looking mutant, which leads to the injection of all sorts of sexual imagery into the depressive and chaotic mix.

7

Memento

This film is quite interesting. The set up is great because it’s a concept that seems to have never really been done before. The confusion of it all is in the fact that it’s told out of chronological order, due to the character’s short term memory loss. This is not the first film with disordered time (think Pulp Fiction) but unlike Tarantino’s masterpiece, Memento is firmly grounded in a mental problem. The confusion is not through artistic direction but through an aberration of the character’s mental state. If you haven’t seen this film please do. You won’t regret it.

6

Big Man Japan

A man known as Masaru Daisato has inherited the duty of protecting Japan against various monsters. He is able to grow several stories high, through the power of electricity. However, he is regarded as an outcast by his fellow citizens, and suffers under burden of a heroic heritage which overshadows his own less-than-shining accomplishments as a monster fighter. To make matters worse, in his personal life he is failing as well as both a father and a grandson. In the end, his failures and doubts reach a hallucinogenic apotheosis. Now you know why this film deserves a place on this list.

5

The Shining

Two film makers stand out as the masters of the unusual – Kubrick and David Lynch. This is a definite cult classic and while Stephen King may not have been impressed, Kubrick managed to take a fairly typical horror story and turn it into a bizarre film – and while you may not think about it upon first watching, it definitely is bizarre. There is very little dialogue, and what you see leads itself to many different interpretations. Frankly, how normal is a film that includes a lift spewing blood?

4

Mulholland Drive

David Lynch has made some straight forward films, but then there are films like this – the work for which he will be always remembered. This movie gets a lot of credit for being really confusing and it is no wonder – even Lynch doesn’t know what it means! Characters are played by multiple Actresses, an insane amount of identity issues occur, and theories suggest that the first 3/4′s of the film are all just a dream sequence. Twin Peaks was Lynch’s great TV show, and even though this was going to be Twin Peak’s successor, instead it came out in movie format, and so any questions that might have been answered are left in the dust.

3

Primer

This is the most underrated Science Fiction film I’ve ever seen. Filmed for 7,000 dollars, and using a cast that you could count on one hand, Primer was Shane Carruth’s attempt at a re-envisioning of the tried and true plot of time travel. Primer is an anomaly for confusing movies, because there is not one person in the universe who will fully comprehend it. Carruth didn’t know what he was doing while he was writing it (which brings to mind Lynch’s Inland Empire). It just sort of came – so to speak. It’s confusing to the writers, the actors, the characters, and the audience – intentionally.

2

The Matrix Trilogy

Thomas A. Anderson is a man living two lives. By day he is an average computer programmer and by night a malevolent hacker known as Neo. Neo has always questioned his reality but the truth is far beyond his imagination. Neo finds himself targeted by the police when he is contacted by Morpheus, a legendary computer hacker branded a terrorist by the government. Morpheus awakens Neo to the real world, a ravaged wasteland where most of humanity have been captured by a race of machines which live off of their body heat and imprison their minds within an artificial reality known as the Matrix. As a rebel against the machines, Neo must return to the Matrix and confront the agents, super powerful computer programs devoted to snuffing out Neo and the entire human rebellion. The real question in this film is: what is real?

1

2001: A Space Odyssey

In the middle of this wonderful film occurs a 15 minute interlude of psychedelic colors and strange music (not unlike a Windows screen saver). What the hell Kubrick was thinking no one will ever know – but despite the bizarre aspects to this film, he will be forever remembered for giving us some of the best (and most true to life) pictures of what life in space might really be like.

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10 Incredibly Painful Rites of Initiation

What is taboo for one culture is tradition for another. Many places all over the world will experience agonizing rites of passage in order to prove their faith, dexterity and maturity, even at the risk of extreme pain. The dreadful sensation is worth it, considering the perks that come with passing an initiation. Generally, girls become women and are now ready to marry, while boys evolve into men, eager to be treated as adults and be considered valuable members of the community. These are just some of the most painful initiation rites (in no particular order). This list is definitely not for the squeamish.

10

Sepik Scarification

The tribes living along the Sepik river in Papua New Guinea have used the tradition of scarification to mature their boys into men for decades. The ceremony requires the youth to be cut along his back, chest and buttocks in elaborate patterns, to mimic the coarse skin of a crocodile. It is thought that this reptilian divinity consumes his youth during the bloody process, leaving behind a man in his place.

Before he can be treated as a man, though, the boy is subjected to humiliation in a ritual that can take weeks. In fact, the boys are referred to as women and regarded that way in order to psychologically toughen them. The scarification, parallel to the taunts, strengthens them physically because it requires a vast amount of discipline to go through the ritual, withstanding hundreds of cuts. The raw wounds are cleaned after the scarification is complete, but the pain endured continues for days as their bodies heal.




9

Naghol – Land Diving

In the South Pacific Ocean, on Pentecost Island, tribe members construct a tower 60 to 90 feet (20 to 30 meters) high made from the trees surrounding a clearing. Rocks and wood are removed from the ground and the soil is tilled before the tower is built. The rickety structure is then used as the world’s most extreme form of bungee jumping, with only two vines and faith supporting a diver.

The ritual is done to ensure the yam harvest that year will be successful; the higher they dive, the better the harvest will be. It’s also thought to strengthen participants spiritually, as they take the leap of faith. While it’s not required to dive, those who do are revered in the community and seen as true warriors. After all, to dive means to sacrifice your life for the tribe. They embrace the possibility of death during the initiation; it’ll be like taking one for the team. Boys around seven and eight (once they are circumcised) can participate, and they’re considered men after they survive the fall.

The risks are obvious. Divers are prone to concussions, broken hips and necks, and that’s if the vines don’t snap (and if they don’t impale themselves). If the vine is measured correctly, the only pain a diver will experience is the sudden harsh pull at his ankles once he drops, a painful feeling which will stay with him for days. It’s common to see tribe members’ heads hit the ground after a jump but for the most part, they survive unscathed.

8

Okipa Ceremony

The Okipa ceremony of the Mandan Indians opened with a Bison Dance, followed by a variety of torturous ordeals through which warriors proved their physical courage and gained the approval of the spirits. The Okipa began with the young man not eating, drinking, or sleeping for four days. They are then led to a hut, where they had to sit with smiling faces while the skin of their chest and shoulders was slit, and wooden skewers were thrust behind the muscles. Using the skewers to support the weight of their bodies, the warriors would be suspended from the roof of the lodge, and would hang there until they fainted. To add agony, heavy weights were added to the initiate’s legs. After fainting, the warrior would be pulled down and the men (women were not allowed to attend this ceremony) would watch the warrior until he awoke, proving the spirits’ approval. After awakening, the warrior would sacrifice the little finger on both hands, each finger being severed by the initiate with a hatchet. Finally, the warrior would be taken outside where he would run around the central plaza of the village a number of times.

7

Roman Infibulations

Speaking of penis, the ancient Romans also had their own initiation method. Infibulation is the process of suturing the foreskin. Using string or a metal clasp, the foreskin was closed and the penis was drawn to the side. Most infibulations were self inflicted.

This was done for several reasons. For singers, infibulations helped keep their voice through the years. It also was thought to capture and retain gladiators’ might and vitality. In some cases, an exposed penis was thought to be vulgar, especially the head of the penis, so infibulations were done to show modesty and restraint. For the purpose of this list, youths were exposed to the process to keep them from masturbating, and to abstain from sexual intercourse. It was a show of maturity to suture your own foreskin.

6

Mentawai Teeth Chiseling

Female Mentawaians of Sumatra experience an agonizing practice known as teeth chiseling. Local shaman sharpens a crude blade as best he can to make the chiseling as least painful as possible. The young girl is given nothing to numb the feeling in her mouth before he takes a rock and begins to hack away. Using careful strikes, the blade carves the corners of the teeth, leaving behind pointed ends similar to shark teeth. To finish the process, her teeth are filed to achieve the desired shape.

This is done to young girls because it is believed to make them more attractive. It’s also said that sharpened teeth please the spirits the tribes believe in, and bring balance to a female’s life. It’s an old tradition the Mentawaians have been following for years, but the practice isn’t as common anymore. Today, it’s up to the girl to decide if she wants her teeth chiseled to become beautiful.

5

Xhosa Male Circumcisions

It’s a celebration when a boy has the opportunity to become a man, for the Xhosa people of South Africa. The abakwetha (male initiate) is shaved, and he’s given a feast, before being taken to the mountains where a hut is built for him by his family. The hut will be his home for the next several weeks, so it’s fortified to keep insects and animals away (primarily to protect from disease).

Without any preparation, the surgeon appears and conducts the circumcision. The foreskin is removed, often with a dull blade, and the boy is left alone. He takes refuge in his hut where he cannot eat or drink water until he’s healed. The risk of infection is high. The blade alone, which is used on multiple boys transitioning into men, can often carry STD’s. One of the big fears of the boys going into the procedure is news of previous abakwetha that have been hospitalized because of the circumcision.

4

Fulani Whip Match

The Fulani people, from Benin, have been living nomadically in West Africa for years. For their boys to be considered men, they must endure a tormenting bloody whip match that will test their strength, self-control and bravery. The initiate picks a long stick and sharpens it in a way that will guarantee the most painful blow with every whip. Once he has his weapon, clans from all over gather for the ceremony, where two youths are pitted against each other.

His goal is to hit his opponent the hardest, and wince the least when he’s struck. Three blows are exchanged between each boy. The crowd decides who has shown the most courage through the ordeal, and he is the winner of the match.

3

Sabiny Female Circumcisions

Girls of the Sabiny tribe, in Uganda, go through genital mutilation to achieve womanhood. The pain that comes with the tradition is part of the experience that can’t be matched. If she can survive the ordeal, she proves herself strong enough to endure any, and all, obstacles that she may face the rest of her life.

Female circumcisions are complete when the clitoris is partially cut or completely removed. The Sabiny believe this will make a woman faithful to her husband, and keep her from sexual promiscuity. Infection and likeliness of death is high. This, among other health complications, are just part of the tradition that a woman must withstand to prove herself.

2

Blood Initiation

Papua New Guinea isn’t know just for the crocodile scarification ritual as seen earlier in the list. Deep in the highlands, an equally gruesome rite of passage exists. The Matausa believe that if a boy doesn’t complete the blood initiation, he may suffer the consequences his entire life. He will never be seen as a real man, and he won’t experience the vigor and strength that the others have. That’s why boys are eager to go through the initiation, regardless of pain, to become warriors.

In order to do this, they must cleanse themselves of any remaining female influences left in them from their mothers. First, they must slide two thin wooden canes down their throats to induce vomiting several times to empty their stomachs. Afterward, a collection of reeds are inserted into the initiate’s nose to further expel bad influence. Finally, they must endure repeated stabbings to the tongue. This bloody ritual thus purifies them, and they are truly men afterward.

1

Bullet Ant Glove

The Brazilian Satere-Mawe tradition, that makes young boys into warriors, has become notorious in recent years. Explorers, adventurers and documentarians flock to the Amazon to catch a glimpse of what is considered to be one of the most painful rite of passage on Earth. What makes the initiation so torturous? The culprit is the bullet ant.

According to the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, the bullet ant has the worst known insect sting. A single sting is comparable to being shot with a bullet (ergo the name). The intense pain lasts a full 24 hours, and can lead to vomiting, nausea and cardiac dysrhythmia. And that’s all from one sting. The Satere-Mawe don’t use just one ant.

Employing natural sedatives, more than thirty bullet ants are submerged in the liquid drug until they are unconscious. A glove weaved from leaves is fashioned and then completed by placing the ants in the tight openings, stingers pointed inward. Once they are conscious, they struggle to free themselves from the weaving, growing increasingly anxious and desperate by each passing second. The boy being initiated has his hands coated in a thin layer of charcoal before slipping on two bullet ant gloves. He must endure their stings for ten minutes. The goal is to keep from screaming or showing signs of weakness. He and the tribe members present chant and dance to take his mind off the pain. Once the ritual is complete, he will suffer from the stings for days but he’s one step closer to being a warrior; this process must be repeated an additional 20 times in the following months for it be officially complete.

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