PHOTOS WITH SHOCKING STORIES

Sometimes called "America's darkest hour," the Civil War killed almost three percent of the U.S. population in four short years.  Not only was this conflict the bloodiest in American history, but it was also one of the first to be documented in photos, showing the reality of warfare to ordinary civilians for the first time — and many people were horrified by what they saw.  From dead bodies littering the battlefields to emaciated prisoners of war to grieving generals to once-glorious cities left in ruins, it was immediately clear to the public how devastating the Civil War truly was. 

On this day in 1900, a hurricane made landfall at Galveston and caused the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Residents were given almost no warning of the storm’s approach and few were able to evacuate. The storm surge completely flooded the island and more than 6,000 people died in a city of 38,000. The aftermath of the storm was horrific. Two-thirds of the city’s buildings lay in ruins and the bodies that could be recovered couldn’t immediately be buried.  As part of the rebuilding efforts, Galveston lifted the entire city — up to 17 feet in some places — and built a six-mile-long seawall. The measures were successful. The city survived another hurricane just 15 years later.

Power and beauty, 2014 In 2014, a city in Iran called Isfahan was the location of a number of brutal and horrific acid attacks against a number of women.  An acid attack is a form of physical violence. It involves a person throwing acid on a victim, usually targeting their face in order to deliberately cause disfiguration to the body. Acid attacks have primarily seen a rise in the Middle East / India in the last few years. Cases usually involve males attacking ex lovers.  Isfahan saw at least 8 acid attacks in 2014. It is speculated that 2 males on a motorbike are to blame. They covered their faces and have never been identified for their crimes.  It is debated as to what the motivation behind the attacks was. Some Iranians speculate that it had to do with the progression of women in Iran, as many of the women targeted were driving cars or were not wearing traditional Islamic attire. Other theories about the attackers range suggest that they were radical Islamic extremist...

The year was 1914 and the world was embattled in a horrible war. Trenches were cut through the European countryside creating an area known as No Man's Land - the dangerous barbwire-filled space between enemy lines.  On Christmas Eve, though, a remarkable thing happened as soldiers from both sides climbed out of those trenches and came together.  Learn about this legendary event and its lasting impact at our December edition of Bites and Bits of History.   We will be joined by Dr. George Johnson, a longtime Christmas collector and scholar, who will tell the story of this amazing event through images and artifacts.  This free event begins this Thursday, December 16, at noon at the Tyler History Center.  Attendees will receive a special coupon to visit Memories of Christmas Past at the Arms Family Museum.

Cucumber Mistakenly Fell Inside A Ladies Pussy - Doctors On Operations - Romance - Doctors Remove Huge Cucumber From Lady’s Body. Nigerians React (Graphic Pics) Viewers Discretion Advised!!! A video showing the moment Doctors removed a huge cucumber from a Lady’s body has shocked Nigerians and got them talking. Many Nigerians have reacted to the video which has now amassed over 4.4 million views. Many are wondering how such huge cucumber was able to enter inside the person’s body. After removing the huge cucumber, the Doctor measured the size, length. But many are already assuming how it got in there. From the reactions as seen in the screenshots below, you can deduce what they think. Meanwhile, an Online Medical Doctor, Dr Olufunmilayo after seeing the video, attempted a possible explanation to this…..

Nemi Ships: Caligula's Floating Pleasure Palaces! The discovery of the Nemi ship in Lake Nemi (hence the name), near Rome, Italy. It was a Roman ceremonial barge built by Emperor Caligula 2000 years ago. The ships were vast, among the largest ever recovered from the ancient world. The largest was 240 feet in length, the same length as an Airbus A380, and measured 79 feet across. From inscriptions on lead pipes and tiles, it soon became clear that what had been discovered were the floating pleasure palaces of the infamous first-century Roman Emperor Caligula. While excavating at Lake Nemi, Italian archaeologists uncovered a veritable treasure trove of artifacts from the wrecks. Vast anchors, bronze mouldings and marble statues came up from the depths, along with ornamental oar rings and joints in copper and bronze. They found carvings and mosaics, even gilded copper roof tiles that would have shone spectacularly in the sun. The expense of the vessels would have been enormous. Bronze...

Very sad; Three primary school students crushed to death by a tipper driver in Anambra. .The three were together when they were coming back from school they       rushed into the road at the same time and then the tipper crushed them.  To every hand typing Rest In Peace untimely death will never be your portion. Yoy will never lose your child as you do so. Amen. #RIP

The Unsinkable VIOLET JESSOP,  a Real Survivor! If you survived an ocean liner crash, you’d consider yourself extremely lucky. If you survived that crash and the 1912 Titanic disaster, you’d probably start thinking about avoiding water-based transportation. And if you made it through all of that only to find yourself aboard the sinking HMHS Britannic just four years later, you might start wondering if you were the angel of death. This is the story of Violet Constance Jessop. Even before her days as an ocean liner stewardess, Violet was no stranger to cheating death. Six of her eight siblings died young, and she was nearly number seven—she managed to survive a bout with tuberculosis that doctors said would kill her. Violet was 23 when she got a job on the RMS Olympic, the largest civilian liner of the day. She had served for just three months when she experienced her first maritime crash: The Olympic collided with the HMS Hawke. Neither ship sank; in fact, both were later repaired a...

Death by Garrote (1901) Described by historian Teodoro Agoncillo as “death by strangulation using an iron-collar,” garrote vil became the prominent form of capital punishment when death by hanging was abolished in 1832. The collar could be made from handheld chain, rope, fishing line or scarf although brass/iron collars were more common in the Philippines. A typical garrote usually includes a small seating board, a moving back piece which crushes the upper spine, and a front hinge controlled by a large fourth-rate screw. Interesting fact:   Prior to execution, the condemned was usually preceded by priests and soldiers for the final walk. A man in front carries a sacred banner which was not allowed to be touched by the convict–doing so would reduce his sentence to life imprisonment. The executioners, on the other hand, were one of the highest-paid ‘workers’ in town—getting at least $16 in addition to a $20 monthly salary for every executed convict.

 World War II: The U.S. 32nd Infantry Division Battle to Control the Villa Verde Trail in San Nicolas, Pangasinan. VILLA VERDE TRAIL This is a sub category of North Luzon Category. The Villa Verde Trail was used by the 32nd Infantry Division to break thru the Salacsac Passes of the Villa Verde Trail in WWII. It was a savage battle with many casualties on both sides.  Before that it was a foot trail used by the people to communicate between the Pangasinan and Nueva Viscaya Provinces. In 2017 a serious effort was started to build a two lane highway thru the two provinces. The Battle of the Villa Verde Trail was fought along the trail and thru the Salacsac Pass joining SAN NICOLAS in PANGASINAN and Santa Fe in Nueva Vizcaya across the Caballo Mountains. It was fought by the 32 Division from February to May 1945. Many Filipino residents from the SAN NICOLAS area helped in many ways. The Japanese lost 5,410 at Salacsac Passes. The Battle of Villa Verde Trail, or the Battle of Salac...

The heroics of World War II medic Desmond Doss were so incredible that Mel Gibson chose to leave some of them out of "Hacksaw Ridge" fearing that audiences wouldn't believe they really happened. Not only did Doss refuse to carry a weapon because he was a conscientious objector, but he also single-handedly saved 75 lives during the Battle of Okinawa. He retrieved injured men from enemy fire one by one, mended their wounds, and dragged them to safety. While doing all this, he was hit by a grenade at one point — but only treated himself after helping others. Discover more of his unbelievable story here: 

Woman known as ‘Napalm girl’ in Vietnam War picture receives final laser treatment in Miami. A picture in time of the Vietnam War 50 years later, as the “Napalm girl” received her last laser treatment in South Florida from a world renowned doctor specializing in burns.   To the world, she is “Napalm girl,” the girl in the picture taken during the Vietnam War. Now she is Kim Phuc. Fifty years later, removed from the infamous photo being taken, she has come to Miami for her last reconstructive laser treatment.  Being the anniversary month of the event, Phuc told the story of that day. “Well June 8th, 1972, I never forget,” Kim Phuc, known as “Napalm girl.” “I saw the airplane, and I saw four bombs landing like that and I heard the noise, and then suddenly, there was fire everywhere around me.” The 59-year-old suffered severe injuries, with 65% of her body burned. Five years ago, she met Dr. Jill Waibel, a world renowned doctor who specializes in treatment in burns and traum...

Historical Events leading to the use of Guillotines: During the 1700s, executions in France were public events where entire towns gathered to watch.  A common execution method for a poor criminal was quartering, where the prisoner's limbs were tied to four oxen, then the animals were driven in four different directions ripping the person apart.  Upper-class criminals could buy their way into a less painful death by hanging or beheading. Doctor Joseph Ignace Guillotin Doctor Joseph Ignace Guillotin was born in Saintes, France in 1738 and elected to the French National Assembly in 1789.  He belonged to a small political reform movement that wanted to banish the death penalty completely. Guillotin argued for a painless and private capital punishment method equal for all the classes, as an interim step towards completely banning the death penalty. Beheading devices had already been used in Germany, Italy, Scotland, and Persia for aristocratic criminals. However, never had suc...

13 Most Extreme Body Modifications PERSONAL PHOTOExtreme body modification: Devotees say tattoos, piercings, and skin implants, like those seen here, are beautiful - and that the sometimes painful procedures used to create them can be emotionally and even spiritually uplifting. But some medical experts say the "mods" can be dangerous - and in some cases evidence of mental illness. Forked Tongue IOERROR/FLICKRWhy have one tongue when you can have two? Traci Joy Burleigh (not shown here) is a 38-year-old professional piercer in San Francisco who says "tongue bifurcation" is typically done in a piercing shop under sterile conditions. But Dr. Jon Perlman,a prominent Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who has been practicing for 25 years and has turned down requests for procedures he found disturbing, says that the tongue "is a very functional part of the human body affecting speech and eating. I think anyone who wants this should undergo psychological evaluation t...

The Woman Who Jumped off the Empire State Building and Survived   Elvita Adams Miraculously Survived Jumping Off the Empire State Building. According to New York Times, four guards normally patrol the observation deck, which is surrounded by an eight-foot fence spiked with iron. This led to the swift response that contributed to saving her life.  Elvita Adams couldn’t understand what saved her from death or anyone else that night.  The Empire State Building staff theorized that the wind may have saved her. Although wind isn’t typically miraculous, the gust swept Elvita Adam’s body backward down one floor. Elvita Adams was admitted to the Bellvue Hospital. She was in severe pain as she dealt with a fractured pelvis or hips. She was later put under psychiatric watch after her treatment.  At the hospital, Elvita Adams claimed she had traveled from the Bronx to Manhattan just to look at the city lights that were so pretty. Instead, she said she only wanted to reach ...

**THE TRUE LESSON OF THE HANGING CORPSE** A teaching cited by Rashi on yesterday’s Torah reading has proven a firm favourite among those who seek to prove ancient rabbinic belief in a physical deity (a subject addressed at length in *Judaism Reclaimed*). While the verse intriguingly informs us that the corpse of a condemned criminal should not be left overnight on a tree because this is an affront to God, Rashi’s rabbinic parable has raised many an eyebrow through the years: “*This is comparable to two identical twin brothers. One [of them] became king, while the other was arrested for robbery and hanged. Whoever saw him [the second brother, suspended on the gallows], would say, “The king is hanging!” Therefore, the king ordered, and they removed him*.” Attention is commonly concentrated on analysing the implications of this story for how God was perceived in ancient Israel. Could the same God who revealed Himself to Israel at Sinai to a nation who “saw no image” (Devarim 4:15), now be...

On August 6, 1890, at Auburn Prison, New York, William Kemmler became the first person to be sent to the chair.  He was convicted of murdering his lover, Matilda Ziegler, with an axe. After he was strapped in, a charge of approximately 700 volts was delivered for only 17 seconds before the current failed. Although witnesses reported smelling burnt clothing and charred flesh, Kemmler was far from dead, and a second shock was prepared. The second charge was 1,030 volts and applied for about two minutes, whereupon smoke was observed coming from the head of Kemmler, who was clearly deceased. An autopsy showed that the electrode attached to his back had burned through to the spine.   Electrocution as a humane means of execution was first suggested in 1881 by Dr. Albert Southwick, a dentist. Southwick had witnessed an elderly drunkard “painlessly” killed after touching the terminals of an electrical generator in Buffalo, New York. In the prevalent form of execution at the time—...

Most love is a temporary experience,  even if the feeling itself is everlasting. Sometimes it’s harder to accept a once fiery love being reduced to a slow, phlegmatic death.  No hatred.     No lying.        No glass breaking  or doors hanging off hinges.  For no noteworthy reason,  wide-open skies become low-hanging ceilings. We bump up against it,  wondering what’s stopping us from growing as planned.  You’re not my person.  And I’m not your person.  Anymore.  If ever I’m asked about you, I’ll say we were just two people whose intentions outweighed our abilities.  What was once promising  and bursting at the seams,  now lies deflated at our feet.  Sometimes the best thing we can do for each other is what’s painful.  Over time, harsh truths lose their sting.  The only thing more obvious than loving the person you see forever in  is leaving them the second you no longer...

WRITE ME DOWN If one day I don’t remember, do not feel helpless, my love. You will have much work to do. You must remember me enough for both of us…. Write me down. Put the things that make me ‘me’, in a beautiful box, with my treasured photos and my joyous memories.  Build my essence whole again with pictures, words, music, recipes.  The things which sparked my spirit. If one day I begin to fade, my love, do not feel hopeless. Put yourself straight to this task. I was very much here, so very much alive, you know that better than anyone.  You know me enough for the world, so tell the world who I am. Because if I have forgotten me, it is vital that you don’t. Remember me, my love, remember all of me, enough for two… And then I won’t be gone. Donna Ashworth From ‘wild hope’ 

Forget the talking stage. Pack your bag and I'll let you throw a dart at the map and we can take the first flight out to a small little town that resembles a hall mark movie. The morning after we arrive let's go to the local farmers market and pick out some of our favorite home grown fruits and vegetables. R e  After the market lets have brunch at a little hole in the wall diner that the locals brag about so much. Then we can finish off the evening laying out on a hillside in the middle of nowhere telling each other our favorite childhood memories while looking into each others eyes and thinking to ourselves there's not anything I'd rather do in the entire world ..... than be in this exact moment.