Melissa Brinks lists at Ranker - the ultimate source for lists and rankings in all categories

Melissa Brinks - Lists at Ranker

Lists about the levels and scenes you'll never forget.

Great Moments in Gaming

Gaming

The &quot;fourth wall&quot; is a fiction term referring to the idea that the fiction -&nbsp;be it play, song, book, film, game, or any other form of media -&nbsp;exists without acknowledging the viewer. But the fourth wall in video games is a bit different, because the player is always a participant - we just have to play along and pretend that teaching a protagonist how to walk (in, say, a tutorial sequence) can really fit into the fiction. The line between player and character is so slim that video games that break the fourth wall really stick out, especially when they remind you that it&#39;s all a game in clever, subversive ways.

Video game perspectives are unusual&nbsp;because there&#39;s a degree of participation that isn&#39;t present in other media. You embody a character, but usually, that character doesn&#39;t represent you. You may also exist as a sort of godlike being with power over multiple in-game characters, but there&#39;s always a degree of separation. When games ignore that separation and address the player, whether outright or through more clandestine means, we get narratives that really muse on the nature of agency, challenge us to think differently, or, in some cases, just plain make us laugh.

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18 Times Video Games Broke The Fourth Wall

Video Games

Melissa Brinks

Lists for and about people who can't get enough video games.

Gamer Life

Maybe you hoard books or collect every piece of movie memorabilia, but it&#39;s video game addiction that really takes the cake. Some games are deliberately designed to get players&nbsp;hooked and keep them&nbsp;playing by&nbsp;encouraging them to spend more time and money to unlock that next loot box or upgrade.&nbsp;

Video games designed to get you habitually playing&nbsp;often start with a simple premise: fun. Few players will keep playing a game if they&#39;re not getting some kind of enjoyment out of it, and the best way to lure new players in is to promise a healthy dose of fun up front. The way video games trigger addiction is by following that up with little tricks that make players want to shell out more time and money. It&#39;s not that you shouldn&#39;t play these games - most of them are as popular for their addictive qualities as for their fun gameplay - but it doesn&#39;t hurt to understand how and why these games get and hold your attention.

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All The Ways Video Games Are Designed For Addiction

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All the Ways Video Games Are Designed For Addiction

List about the world's favorite indestructible building block.

Lego My Legos

LEGO

LEGO history is almost as fascinating as the toys themselves - but the globally renowned, multi-billion-dollar company went through decades of setbacks in an attempt to preserve itself. Created by Ole Kirk Christiansen&nbsp;in Denmark in the 1930s, the toy company&#39;s evolution has been shaped by tragedy in many ways. Though LEGO sets&nbsp;are now beloved and ubiquitous toys - &nbsp;and&nbsp;sometimes&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/rare-lego-sets/kellen-perry" target="_blank">incredible rare collectibles</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp;they began humbly, as the product of one Danish carpenter&nbsp;who originally crafted items&nbsp;like ironing boards and ladders for a living.

Modern LEGO toys themselves are&nbsp;deceptively simple. They&#39;ve gone through many evolutions over the years, starting as simple wooden toys and evolving into cleverly&nbsp;interlocking plastic blocks with special, inimitable designs that have gone on to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/lego-versions-of-famous-monuments/ariel-kana" target="_blank">inspire the imaginations</a> of children and adults around the world. These LEGO facts are a reminder that Christiansen&#39;s vision persisted despite many hardships. Even in an age when the company has become a pop culture staple around the world, LEGO&#39;s struggles continue.

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LEGO Is The Most Wholesome Toy On Earth, But Its History Is More Complicated Than You Knew

The Early Struggles That Almost Derailed The Lego Group's Billion Dollar Empire

Total Nerd

The <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/notable-comic-book-creator_s)/reference?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">best comic book writers</a> didn&#39;t start out that way. Becoming a successful comic book writer takes time&nbsp;and often requires the ability to balance those aspirations with a day job. For some writers, their experience in other lines of work has provided them with exactly the persecutive they need to create popular comics.&nbsp;A few lucky authors and illustrators found the time to pursue their extra-curricular career because they worked a job with a very <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/jobs-with-the-best-schedules-for-the-best-pay/jacobybancroft" target="_blank">flexible schedule</a>.&nbsp;Most creators, however, had to find time in&nbsp;their high-pressure work day or wait until retirement to make it big with a comic book writing career. From CIA agent to rock star, the most popular comic book writers worked some of <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/best-jobs-in-the-world" target="_blank">the coolest jobs</a> before&nbsp;turning to the paneled page.

These writers&nbsp;prove&nbsp;that a career in comics&nbsp;doesn&#39;t have to start with an English degree. In fact, their unique life experiences likely helped them create the work that has reached millions.&nbsp;

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13 Writers Who Had Awesome Jobs Before They Became Comic Book Superstars

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Writers Who Had Awesome Jobs Before They Became Comic Book Superstars

Lists about the past, present, and future of atomic explosions, just in case you don't already have your bunker prepared.

Going Nuclear

History

Once the world saw the long-lasting consequences of the atomic bomb, global powers wanted something more humane. Unfortunately, the neutron bomb&nbsp;- an invention created to neutralize enemy combatants while leaving structures intact and civilians unharmed - wasn&#39;t the nonviolent weapon world leaders envisioned.

Nuclear scientist Samuel Cohen dreamed up the neutron bomb, but his vision did not pan out in reality. While the weapons created from Cohen&#39;s plans were less destructive than the atomic bomb, they were still quite harmful&nbsp;and came with a litany of&nbsp;side effects.&nbsp;

Nuclear weapons have a contentious history. Some see them as a necessity for national security;&nbsp;others see them as a liability, spurring other countries to fund their own nuclear programs and potentially endanger the planet. From <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/manhattan-project-photos/kellie-kreiss" target="_blank">the US-led Manhattan Project</a> to disarmament, the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/us-created-fake-towns-to-test-out-nuclear-weapons/kellie-kreiss" target="_blank">history of nuclear weapons</a>&nbsp;- and particularly that of the neutron bomb - is one in which&nbsp;scientific advancement, foreign policy, and public opinion are inextricably tied together.&nbsp;

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The Neutron Bomb: The 'Humane' Nuclear Weapon That Protected Buildings While Killing People

What Is The Neutron Bomb? A Secret History Of The US's Attempt At A Clean Bomb

Weird History

Brown v. Board of Education&nbsp;is inarguably&nbsp;one of America&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/the-most-important-supreme-court-cases/michael-gibson" target="_blank">most important Supreme Court cases</a>. It found segregation illegal American public schools, which had up&nbsp;until that point&nbsp;employed a &quot;separate but equal&quot; policy that limited African-American students&#39; access to local and&nbsp;well-funded public education. Though the 1954 ruling&nbsp;was groundbreaking, it was far from an immediate shift. Over 60 years later, America is still grappling with the fallout of years of racism and exclusionary policies in its school system.&nbsp;

Shortly after&nbsp;Brown v. Board of Education&nbsp;ruled in favor of desegregation in the South as well as the rest of the United States, riots broke out. School systems throughout the US invented loophole after loophole to avoid integrating schools, sometimes going so far as to physically block students from entering, actively violating the Supreme Court&#39;s ruling. It took years of activism, demonstrations, and solidarity before integration was fully realized, with people today still fighting to ensure that public school remains accessible to all.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/photos-of-racial-segregation-in-america/rylee_en" target="_blank">Pictures of segregation</a>&nbsp;can show what these times looked like, but the stories of the students and parents who lived through these years reveals so much more about the fight for equality.

What Happened Immediately After Schools Were Desegregated In The US

What Happened After Schools Were Desegregated?

Urban Cowboy

In the 1980s, a movie starring&nbsp;John Travolta, mechanical bulls, country music, and Western&nbsp;couture inspired a new craze: the urban cowboy movement. Soon, everybody was wearing&nbsp;Western-style <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-fashions-from-the-1980s/samantha-dillinger" target="_blank">clothing</a> like&nbsp;spangly shirts and pricey cowboy boots, whether or not they had spent any time on a ranch.

Urban cowboy fashion blended the utilitarian informal wear of real cowboys with the glitz and glamour of city fashion. Though embroidered roses and mother-of-pearl buttons weren&#39;t unheard of in Western <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/least-cool-fashions-from-the-80s/samantha-dillinger" target="_blank">fashion</a>, particularly for show wear and dancing, urban cowboys took it to a whole other level. The movement also sparked interest in a hybrid of pop-country music that&#39;s still popular today.

The music lasted a lot longer than the urban cowboy craze in general, however.&nbsp;This whole new era of urban&nbsp;country obsession&nbsp;died as quickly as it came, although it did its part to change the face of country music, Western wear, and appreciation for the cowboy lifestyle from people who were distinctly not cowboys or cowgirls.

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The Rise And Fall Of The Urban Cowboy Craze

How The '80s Urban Cowboy Movement Took Over America

Entertainment

Philip Pullman&#39;s&nbsp;His Dark Materials&nbsp;series strikes an interesting balance with its intended audience - though the protagonists are young, the series deals with complex themes, most of which bemused young readers. That&#39;s by design; Pullman famously wrote the series as a response to other, more heavy-handed approaches to fantasy books for young audiences, and fully intended for them to be read by children and adults alike. Pullman examined deep existential and philosophical themes that served as the subtext for the darker and more violent storytelling. Pullman is far from the first author to tackle <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/dark-shel-silverstein-stories/erin-mccann" target="_blank">dark and complicated themes</a> for children and teenagers, but he manages to do so&nbsp;in his own unique and complex way.

His Dark Materials&#39; themes include love (with&nbsp;emphasis on an appreciation of life), anti-authoritarianism, and (of course) religion. Pullman has made no secret of his feelings about the works of authors like <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/jrr-tolkien-trivia-facts/luke-y-thompson" target="_blank">JRR Tolkien</a> and CS Lewis, both of whom also wrote richly detailed fantasy worlds that espouse certain worldviews. In his series, he responds to those ideas not through satire or parody, but by offering philosophical alternatives. Children who grew up on these books might be surprised to learn about some underlying themes they may have missed while reading.&nbsp;

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'His Dark Materials' Is Way More Existentially Terrifying Than You Realized As A Kid

Go Ask Alice

The 1971 book&nbsp;<a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/messed-up-go-ask-alice-excerpts/jacob-shelton?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Go Ask Alice</a>&nbsp;is infamous for being repeatedly challenged and banned, but it&#39;s also known for a different reason: was it based on a true story? For decades, this story of addiction and a seemingly inescapable downward spiral has captured the imaginations of young adults drawn to <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/vc-andrews-facts/michelle-nati" target="_blank">the darker side of YA literature</a>, but despite the book&#39;s marketing as a true story, it&#39;s more fiction than fact. The book&#39;s author - or self-proclaimed editor&nbsp;-&nbsp;Beatrice Sparks&nbsp;made a thriving literary career exploring&nbsp;the trials and temptations of teens, including stories of addiction, abortion, Satanism, and other topics intended to scare kids straight.

Why did&nbsp;Go Ask Alice&nbsp;get banned? Even if fictional, the book&#39;s&nbsp;portrayals of drug use are often graphic and intense, describing acid trips and speed in glowing language, though the narrative is staunchly anti-drug. But <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/history-of-anne-franks-diary/erin-mccann" target="_blank">unlike other famous diaries</a>&nbsp;targeted at younger audiences, the truth behind&nbsp;Sparks&#39;s books has become so skewed and misrepresented that it&#39;s hard to say if those passages have any validity.&nbsp;Sparks, unlike editors of factual historical diaries, seemed more interested in selling her ideology than in telling real stories - but the results have captivated audiences since the &#39;70s.

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The Shady YA Drug Diary 'Go Ask Alice' Is Just The Tip Of The Iceberg When It Comes To Author Beatrice Sparks

Beatrice Sparks's Other Books: How 'Go Ask Alice' Is Only The Tip Of The Iceberg

Email scams remain a fact of life in the digital era. While spam filters do an admirable job of keeping the more dangerous ones out of inboxes, online hoaxes, like the infamous Nigerian prince scam, persist. And these scams don&#39;t simply prey on people with a lack of internet knowledge, as they&#39;ve existed for over 200 years.&nbsp;

People have been falling for get-rich schemes for about as long as humans have existed. Advance-fee swindles, including the Nigerian prince variant, rely on a person&#39;s&nbsp;desire to get a lot for only&nbsp;a little effort, while playing on both&nbsp;their ignorance of&nbsp;the world and drive to do good.

It&#39;s no surprise they&#39;re so successful, but their interesting history shows exactly why we&#39;re still falling for the same old lie centuries later.&nbsp;

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The 'Nigerian Prince' Scam Is Actually 200 Years Old

Where Did The Nigerian Prince Scam Come From?

Lists about real life on the wild American frontier and fictionalized versions of the Old West.

Wild, Wild West

The image of <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/wild-west-saloons/melissa-sartore?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">wild west saloon</a> girls evokes a sense of mystery and allure, penned into history as part of the vibrant tapestry of frontier life. These women played an essential role in the culture of the Old West, and their stories reveal more than just the glamour and grit found in Hollywood depictions. Living in a time of rugged independence, saloon girls were a staple of the bustling establishments scattered across the frontier.Beyond simply serving drinks to weary cowboys and miners, these women had skills that went well beyond bartending. Many were entertainers, captivating patrons with song and dance in the rowdy saloon atmosphere. Yet, their roles extended further, with some engaging in prostitution, a harsh reality often dictated by the limited opportunities available to women of that era. Their lives were challenging, dealing with the precariousness of a lifestyle that could transition from celebration to conflict in an instant.To gain a deeper understanding of the true grit and complexity of these women, check out what life was like as a saloon girl in the wild west. This exploration offers insights into their daily experiences, revealing the blend of resilience, talent, and survival that defined their lives on the frontier.

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Life As A Wild West Saloon Girl: Dancing, Prostitution, And Danger

Wild West Saloon Girls: Dancing, Prostitution, And Danger

The Mars Volta

Art-rock band <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/the-mars-volta/2206558" target="_blank">The Mars Volta</a> are known for being abstract and obscure, but the band&#39;s fourth album,&nbsp;The Bedlam in Goliath, is especially out there. That&#39;s because, if their story is true, it&#39;s partially written by a malevolent spirit.&nbsp;

The Bedlam in Goliath&nbsp;story is one of a strange gift and spiritual meddling, as it all began with a fortune-telling game guitarist Omar Rodr&iacute;guez-L&oacute;pez purchased for lyricist and vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala. As they played with it, a sinister story began to emerge, with consequences that convinced the&nbsp;band there was a nasty spirit influencing their lives.&nbsp;

The Bedlam in Goliath&nbsp;- the resulting cursed album - is one of the band&#39;s most interesting. Its dark lyrics and haunting music are matched by moments of levity intentionally put there to balance the album&#39;s eerie energy. If any band can pull off a demonically influenced album, it&#39;s The Mars Volta, and the backstory behind&nbsp;The Bedlam in Goliath&nbsp;only enhances its unique nature.

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There Is Compelling Evidence The Mars Volta's Fourth Album Was Directly Influenced By A Demon

The Bedlam In Goliath Curse: How The Mars Volta Made Their Fourth Album

Music History

The Los Angeles&nbsp;music scene was the place to be in the 1980s, and few LA clubs had a greater influence on alternative music than&nbsp;Scream. While the rest of the Sunset Strip catered to the growing <a href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/best-hair-metal-bands-of-all-time" target="_blank">hair metal</a> genre,&nbsp;Scream embraced the rejects of rock music and solidified itself as an essential part of the emerging alternative scene. The club was among the first to book&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/jane_s-addiction/1266428" target="_blank">Jane's Addiction</a>, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/red-hot-chili-peppers/1884815" target="_blank">Red Hot Chili Peppers</a> and a host of other <a href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/greatest-artists-of-the-_90s" target="_blank">bands that came to prominence</a> in the late 80s and early 90s.&nbsp;Though the club&nbsp;has long since shuttered, it remains an important part of music history. Like many other <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-has-happened-at-the-viper-room/mariel-loveland" target="_blank">Hollywood clubs of&nbsp;the 80s</a>, its legacy lives on in old photos and tour fliers,&nbsp;stories of wild parties, and the legions of bands that got their start on its dingy stage - many of which are still touring today.&nbsp;

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The Music Club Scream Launched The Career Of Jane's Addiction And Was An Alt Scene Trailblazer

How The Scream Rock Club in Los Angeles Shaped Alt Music Forever

Looking closer at the most bizarre, traumatizing, truly baffling '80s flicks that were allegedly made for children.

WTF '80s Movies for Kids

Don Bluth

Though Disney ruled most kids' childhoods, another, darker shade of animation appeared&nbsp;in the '80s and '90s: the work of Don Bluth. Anybody who watched&nbsp;The Land Before Time or An American Tail likely remembers unsettling&nbsp;moments from Don Bluth films. Bluth's films offered storylines and themes atypical of other animated films; each had an undercurrent of darkness not usually found in Disney&nbsp;hits. From haunting visions of hell to <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/anastasia-movie-was-actually-really-weird/zack-howe" target="_blank">dark takes on the Romanovs</a>&nbsp;to oddly sexual frogs, Don Bluth's movies left a lasting impression on everyone who watched them.Don Bluth's&nbsp;penchant for creepy cartoons likely stems from a desire to remove himself from the overly cutesy and safe nature of most children's films. He got his first big break with Disney, but soon left to pursue his own work. Don Bluth's films can freak out viewers, and each one adds an eerie flair to his oeuvre. But all those weird, unsettling moments are part of what people love about his films&nbsp;- they stand out from other <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/the-best-non-disney-animated-movies-of-the-_90s/clay-keller" target="_blank">animated movies</a>.

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Weird, Emotionally Scarring Things You Forgot About In Don Bluth Films

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The 14 Darkest Moments In Don Bluth Films

Music Trivia

It&#39;s easy to write off famous groupies off as clich&eacute;s.&nbsp;Pop culture&nbsp;tends to paint them as airheaded or sex-crazed&nbsp;with little care to capture the actual experiences of&nbsp;women who lived the life. Decades after the sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll lifestyle that fueled the music scene of&nbsp;the &#39;60s, &#39;70s, and &#39;80s, notable rock groupies like Chris O&#39;Dell and Pamela Des Barres are sharing the real stories of how they served as mistresses and muses to some of the most beloved bands of all time. Though they can&#39;t compete with the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/rock_s-_1-groupie_s-conquest-list/celebrityhookups" target="_blank">conquests of rock&#39;s biggest groupie</a>, they shed new light on the entire lifestyle

The words of&nbsp;O&#39;Dell and Des Barres&nbsp;go beyond the simple question of, &quot;Why do groupies do what they do?&quot; By telling these stories in their own words, they reclaim the narratives about them. Though the wildest groupie stories may have a hint of truth,&nbsp;first-hand accounts show&nbsp;how these women are more than stereotypes.

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Rock N' Roll Groupies Reveal What The Lifestyle Is Really Like

14 Rock n' Roll Groupies Reveal What Life Was Like On Tour

A closer look at mysterious disappearances that continue to baffle detectives.

Gone Missing

Like many unsolved mysteries, the story of the Sodder children continues to haunt people today. On Christmas Eve 1945, the Sodder family house in Fayetteville, WV, went up in flames. Four of the nine children&nbsp;home at the time&nbsp;escaped the fire, but five -&nbsp;Maurice, Martha, Louis, Jennie, and Betty -&nbsp;did not. But it's not a simple case of smoke inhalation or fire. More than 70 years later, there are still many questions remaining about what happened to the Sodder children.The Sodder children are some of <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/what-happened-to-bobby-dunbar/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">the most famous missing children</a> in West Virginia. Accounts of the night of the fire include a strange phone call, a missing ladder, cars suddenly not functioning, and more; the family had good reason to believe their children survived the flames.&nbsp;Throw in the Italian mafia, a box containing beef liver, and a photo mailed 20 years after the incident, and <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/what-happened-to-the-lindbergh-baby/cheryl-adams-richkoff" target="_blank">there's a compelling unsolved mystery</a> laced with conspiracy theories.

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The Sodder Children Disappeared In 1945, And The World Still Doesn't Know What Happened

What Happened To The Sodder Family?

True Crime

The mystery of Don Kemp has haunted those closest to him&nbsp;since he vanished in 1982. Like many people who <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/bizarre-deaths-in-history/christopher-shultz">perished under bizarre circumstances</a>, there are numerous theories about what happened to Kemp;&nbsp;some mundane, some supernatural. The tale of&nbsp;Kemp's disappearance is full of twists, turns, and a few concrete explanations. Formerly an executive at an ad agency in New York City, Kemp gave up his job in pursuit of a simpler life. He planned to leave the city and write a book about Abraham Lincoln's assassination. How his body ended up off a rural&nbsp;Wyoming highway remains a puzzle.Some people speculate his passing was part of a cover-up in a&nbsp;conspiracy theory about Abraham Lincoln. Others say aliens abducted him. Could he have been <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.ranker.com/list/people-who-disappeared-to-another-dimension/katherine-ripley">transported to another dimension</a>? What seemed like a simple case of exposure turned into a disconcerting narrative full of inconsistencies. As is the case with many <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/missing-people-who-were-found-alive/rydavis?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">missing persons cases</a>, we may never know the full story.

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This Hot-Shot NY Advertising Executive Mysteriously Disappeared In The Middle Of Wyoming - And Left His Car Running

Don Kemp Mysteriously Disappeared In The Middle Of Wyoming - And Left His Car Running

Lists about one of the most famous and mysterious home-offices in the USA.

Inside: The White House

White House

Washington, DC, is the seat of political power in the United States, so it&#39;s no surprise it&#39;s rife with conspiracy theories and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/secret-conspiracy-and-occult-symbols-in-washington-dc/amandasedlakhevener" target="_blank">secrets</a>. Rumors of Washington, DC&#39;s underground city,&nbsp;a vast network of tunnels providing shelter and&nbsp;transportation to the nation&#39;s leaders, are true, to an extent. Numerous tunnels beneath the city connect&nbsp;important buildings and other areas in unexpected ways. Though their existence is not quite a White House secret -&nbsp;much of this information is publicly available, and some sections are even open for exploration -&nbsp;it&#39;s not exactly&nbsp;common knowledge.

These tunnels are usually used for mundane purposes, like avoiding bad weather or stopping by the Library of Congress&#39; private Dunkin&#39; Donuts. But other areas are <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/why-is-fort-knox-so-secretive/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">more secretive</a>, including at least one nuclear-proof bunker and a train system just for Congress.

Secrets Of The Capitol: Washington, DC's Underground City

Uncovering The Secrets of Washington, DC's Underground City

Thomas Jefferson

The history of America has been told in many classrooms, but that doesn't mean students hear everything. Consider this: one of the most famous divorces in history shaped America's Declaration of Independence. An affair with a British governor, a rumor of impotency, and a shocking death combined&nbsp;to create a fascinating, and formative, court case. Best of all, one of the prominent Declaration of Independence authors presided over the case, with his notes helping guide the language used in the famous document.Before <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/thomas-jefferson-sally-hemings-descendants/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">Thomas Jefferson</a> became&nbsp;a Founding Father, he worked as a lawyer in colonial America. Though <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/reasons-thomas-jefferson-was-awful/stephanroget" target="_blank">Jefferson's&nbsp;personal life</a> leaves a bad taste in the mouth, his actions as a lawyer cemented his beliefs about personal liberties. He advocated for indentured servants and the right to divorce, both somewhat radical beliefs at the time. While neither case went&nbsp;particularly well for his clients, both inspired Jefferson to consider&nbsp;how an independent America would function –&nbsp;a bit ironic, considering&nbsp;the dissolution of a supposedly sacred union provided the backbone for one of the country's most important documents.

Thomas Jefferson Modeled The Declaration Of Independence On A Scandalous Divorce Case

A Colonial Divorce Case Influenced The Declaration Of Independence

Mythical Creatures

While the legend of the South Carolina Lizard Man isn't&nbsp;as well known as Bigfoot or &quot;Nessie,&quot; this Southern&nbsp;creature has nonetheless shocked and menaced residents of the Scape Ore Swamp area since its first appearance&nbsp;in 1988. The South -&nbsp;and South Carolina in particular - abounds with rumors of the supernatural.&nbsp;Though reports of the Lizard Man aren't ghost stories, unlike many <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/south-carolina-creepy-stories-legends/isadora-teich" target="_blank">other South Carolina legends</a>, they're part of the cultural fabric of the area.&nbsp;Lizard Man sightings are particularly noteworthy because they leave&nbsp;a lasting impact. People&nbsp;cast&nbsp;footprints of the evasive creature, and he's known for trashing vehicles in the dark of night. Similar to most swamp creatures, the Lizard Man eludes detection -&nbsp;more often than not, it's his aftermath people claim to see, not the being himself. Even if&nbsp;the sightings don't match up with reality, there's intriguing evidence to suggest the Lizard Man lurks out there in&nbsp;Scape Ore Swamp.

The Lizard Man Is Elusive, But His Claw Marks Suggest He’s Haunting Scape Ore Swamp

The Lizard Man Is Elusive, But His Claw Marks Are Evidence That He’s Really Haunting Scape Ore Swamp

The American presidential office is one of great power and prestige. It's an incredibly stressful position, but there's always a little down time for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/us-presidents-with-weird-hobbies/aaron-edwards" target="_blank">presidential hobbies</a>, too. Even America's leaders can find&nbsp;time in their busy schedules to produce a few doodles every now and then.&nbsp;While <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/george-w-bush-paintings/ashley-reign" target="_blank">George W. Bush's paintings</a> are some of the most famous examples of presidential art, they're far from the only ones. Plenty of presidents&nbsp;have picked up a pen or paintbrush purely for artistic purposes while they were in office, creating a rich tapestry of artwork&nbsp;spanning centuries of US history.

Doodles From The Oval Office: Presidential Drawings

US President

14 Doodles From The Oval Office | Presidential Drawings

Myers-Briggs Types

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one of the most popular tests in the world. Using a series of questions, the test divides people into a series of four dichotomies - extroverted/introverted, intuition/sensing, feeling/thinking, and perceiving/judging. These dichotomies combine to form one of 16 different personality types, which purportedly determine a person's fit within a corporate setting. Some also generally consider the types for entertainment purposes&nbsp;or personal understanding.Using <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/historical-figures-meyers-briggs-types/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">the Myers-Briggs to analyze historical figures</a>, for example, is not only interesting, but informative in understanding the&nbsp;context of&nbsp;global events and the impact of key historical players.Many started questioning the test's validity, leading some to wonder if&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/inaccurate-pop-psychology-findings/rylee_en" target="_blank">pop psychology was all&nbsp;a farce</a> created using&nbsp;ignorant assumptions.&nbsp;The real science behind the&nbsp;MBTI is hazy at best, and&nbsp;experts in psychology are inquiring about its formation, usage, and credibility. Despite having few formal studies of its usefulness, the MBTI carries such a significant cultural impact.If you also question the Myers-Briggs's&nbsp;reliability, you should learn about its&nbsp;origins as a personality test devised by two people with no formal psychological training -&nbsp;the titular Katharine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers.

Every Reason Why The Myers-Briggs Test Is Bogus

Lists about the period of United States history that allowed for human enslavement, from early colonial days until the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865.

American Slavery

Texas

People expect their children's education to be&nbsp;unbiased and factual, especially in regards to history.&nbsp;After all, history is supposed to be a study of the past and actual events.&nbsp;But as evidenced by controversies over Texas textbooks, it is incredibly easy to rewrite and simplify the truth.In fact, in the early 2000s,&nbsp;people noticed&nbsp;the information in multiple Texas textbooks was skewed, sugar-coating pertinent&nbsp;issues like slavery to suit an ahistorical and offensive narrative.&nbsp;<a href="http://archives.cjr.org/the_observatory/texas_school_board_science_tex.php" target="_blank">Some suggested</a> the Texas Board of Education wanted to give America's&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/racism-kept-alive-post-civil-war/setareh-janda" target="_blank">racist</a> and problematic&nbsp;past a more favorable slant.&nbsp;Because Texas purchases so many of the nation's textbooks,&nbsp;the issue received nationwide attention. Parents,&nbsp;instructors, and reporters across the United States began to question the material given to younger generations. The answers they found were less than encouraging.&nbsp;Though the textbooks&nbsp;ultimately released were <a href="https://jezebel.com/heres-how-new-texas-public-school-textbooks-write-about-1726786557" target="_blank">not as bad as initially feared</a>, they&nbsp;raised important questions about continuing&nbsp;historical inaccuracy and bias in&nbsp;the Texas curriculum.

Texas History Books Are Downplaying The Role Slavery Played In The Civil War

All the ways drugs have been used, abused, and influencing the world throughout history.

Historical Highs

Cocaine

Before the US's first foray into substance&nbsp;control, drugs weren't regulated at all, and many&nbsp;considered dangerous by today's standards were everywhere&nbsp;-&nbsp;that's why there were&nbsp;so many everyday items that once contained cocaine.Though regulation started in the early 1900s, cocaine was not strictly controlled in the US until 1914, when&nbsp;the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act passed, and it wasn't technically illegal until it was classified as a Schedule II drug. The hysteria over cocaine use, which had prior to this point been a fairly normal thing, came largely from racist assumptions that Black men&nbsp;using cocaine would hurt white women. Even when cocaine was illegal, the substance was still a cultural force throughout the 20th century, and advertisers were quick to capitalize on the drug's popularity with <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/funny-vintage-cocaine-ads-from-the-70s-and-80s/chris-abraham" target="_blank">vintage cocaine ads in the '70s and '80s.</a>But just because something is&nbsp;illegal doesn't mean it ceases to exist. Cocaine products of the past weren't just&nbsp;in the forms we're familiar with -&nbsp;they included the plant's leaves, powdered forms, and other variations, infusing everything from sodas to medicines to margarine. The stimulant had a lot of medical uses thanks to <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/your-body-on-cocaine/anna-lindwasser" target="_blank">cocaine's&nbsp;effects on the body</a>, and manufacturers throughout history used those effects for some creative, surprising purposes.&nbsp;

Every Product That Used To Contain Cocaine

13 Random Products Cocaine Used To Be In

Exploring plagues and pandemics throughout history.

It's an Epidemic

Outbreak

The San Francisco bubonic plague outbreak was one of the biggest health crises&nbsp;—&nbsp;and controversies —&nbsp;of the 20th-century United States. The plague was&nbsp;a disease most thought had disappeared with the medieval period, but when it resurfaced,&nbsp;it became one of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/insane-epidemics-that-threatened-humanity/amber-fua" target="_blank">worst epidemics in US history</a>.&nbsp;The state of California was forced to contend with an illness not yet entirely understood, as&nbsp;government officials and the press actively covered&nbsp;it up. Not only did they have to pioneer treatments for the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/how-the-black-death-changed-the-world/kellen-perry" target="_blank">bubonic plague</a>, but the entire problem was also wrapped up in anti-immigrant and specifically anti-Chinese racism. Some people even referred to&nbsp;it as the San Francisco Chinatown plague, implying&nbsp;a problem specific to the Chinese residents of the city.&nbsp;But that wasn't the case. Blaming a select group of people meant that the cause itself —&nbsp;flea-infested rats carrying the same strain of plague causing deaths in China —&nbsp;went unaddressed. The San Francisco plague death toll rose, taking the lives of many of the city's underprivileged residents. It wasn't until a second plague swept the city, this time primarily affecting San Francisco's white population and spreading to further areas of the US, that the root cause was identified&nbsp;and put to rest.&nbsp;While modern-day humanity still deals with <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/worst-us-flu-seasons/laura-allan" target="_blank">tragedy&nbsp;incurred by the&nbsp;flu</a>, the plague of the early 1900s incited&nbsp;racist tension and social horror simply because of the ignorance of its causes and the inexplicable death it left in its wake.

The Bubonic Plague Ravaged San Francisco In The 1900s—And The Government Tried A Massive Cover Up

Hacks, facts, insider secrets, and horror stories from your favorite retail stores, product lines, and places to shop.

SSHHH! Company Secrets

Victoria's Secret

Anybody who has ever worked retail knows there are always absurd rules governing how employees must&nbsp;behave on and off the floor. The&nbsp;rules Victoria&#39;s Secret staffers must follow are incredibly irregular, though.&nbsp;These mandates&nbsp;dictate&nbsp;not just what employees can do while working, but also what they can&#39;t. It seems like VS employees&nbsp;have to walk on eggshells.

The craziest requirements&nbsp;at Victoria&#39;s Secret stores will&nbsp;shock&nbsp;the average customer because the&nbsp;work looks relatively easy. Employees are just as <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/daily-life-of-a-victorias-secret-model/mason-weigel" target="_blank">regulated as the Victoria&#39;s Secret models</a>, though.

Negative About a Brand

Ridiculous Rules You Didn't Know Victoria's Secret Employees Have To Follow

Lists that dissect and analyze (and possibly ruin) some of the movies and TV you watched over and over and over and over when you were a kid.

Revisiting Childhood Favorites

Exploring C.S. Lewis's magical Narnia with the Pevensie children.

Through the Wardrobe

The Chronicles of Narnia Franchise

C. S. Lewis's world of Narnia is one of the most <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-best-of-the-fantasy-worlds" target="_blank">enchanting fictional places</a> in existence, but it's also super, duper messed up. Talking animals aren't the only weird things about Narnia. From racism to sexism to painting entire species with a broad brush, there's a whole lot of this fictional land that strikes the modern reader as more than a little suspect. Though the novels themselves are ostensibly for audiences of all ages, there are some pretty disturbing things about Narnia.Sure, we could answer the question of whether the Chronicles of Narnia&nbsp;are&nbsp;racist by hand-waving it as a product of its time. But as a highly influential piece of literature that's often given to fantasy-loving children, it's important to consider the dark implications of Narnia. Fun and engrossing though it may&nbsp;be, the Narnia series holds some pretty disturbing truths buried in there as well.

Adult Content: Language

Mood (Aspect)

Disturbing

13 Ways The Narnia Universe Is Incredibly Disturbing

13 Super Disturbing Things About the Narnia Universe

Graveyard Shift

It's easy to make assumptions about people who practice <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/extreme-body-modifications/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">extreme body modification</a>, but these artists usually have interesting and personal stories that explain&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/satanic-body-modification-stories/trilby-beresford" target="_blank">why they do what they do</a>.Take Maria Jose&nbsp;Cristerna, the woman with the&nbsp;the body modification world record. Though her appearance is far from mainstream, her story of why she&nbsp;so heavily modified her body —&nbsp;earning her the nickname &quot;Vampire Lady&quot; —&nbsp; is a fascinating, moving tale of personal reclamation and self-healing.The facts about Maria Cristerna&nbsp;the Vampire Lady&nbsp;are as interesting as her many body mods. From tattoos, to subdermal implants, to fangs, there is nobody on Earth quite like her. Cristerna's story is inspirational, not just because she&nbsp;transformed her body into a canvas for her art, but also because of how she has&nbsp;channeled her life experience into artwork and outreach.&nbsp;

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