30 Awkward, Upsetting, And Interesting Facts You Might Have Never Come Across Before

Certainly, we all love a good true story. Whether it's a true-crime documentary or a historical account detailing the life of a notorious con artist, crowds will eagerly consume a story that really happened.

Some time ago, before we had the internet and endless books available to us to learn more and see pictures of things we don't experience in our daily lives, there wasn’t much we could do to gain knowledge about events happening around us. Obviously, we live in a vastly different time today.

We have much better education about disabilities and remarkable physical attributes, and fortunately, deriding these things is now unacceptable. Yet, our human propensity to find interest in things we don't understand continues to thrive. As noted by Dr. Alexandra Solomon, a relationship therapist, "Our curiosity about the unknown can lead to deeper connections and understanding of ourselves and others."

So it's no surprise that the fascination with the unusual has become a success in various formats. This interest is reflected in the growing popularity of platforms that share some of the strangest, most entertaining, and nerve-racking true stories we've ever encountered.

This space is the place to learn something interesting, from enthralling pictures of animals to insights into the heartbreaking deaths of famous individuals. We've accumulated a few of the most compelling posts from these sources to share with you all, so keep scrolling and get ready to marvel.

1. Thank you

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2. Keanu Reeves

This is Keanu Reeves. He was abandoned by his father at just 3 years old and grew up with three different stepfathers. His dream of becoming a hockey player was shattered by a serious accident. His daughter died at birth, his wife died in a car accident, and his best friend, River Phoenix, died of an overdose.No bodyguards, no luxury houses. Keanu lives in an ordinary apartment and enjoys wandering around town; he is often seen riding the subway in NYC. When he was filming the movie "The Lake House," he overheard the conversation of two costume assistants, one crying because he would lose his house if he did not pay $20,000. On the same day, Keanu deposited the necessary amount into his bank account.In his career, he has donated large sums to hospitals, including $75 million of his earnings from "The Matrix" to charities. In 2010, on his birthday, Keanu walked into a bakery, bought a brioche with a single candle, ate it in front of the bakery, and offered coffee to people who stopped to talk to him. In 1997, some paparazzi found him walking one morning in the company of a homeless man in Los Angeles, listening to him and sharing his life for a few hours.In life, sometimes the ones most broken inside are the ones most willing to help others.This man could buy everything, but instead, he wakes up and chooses one thing that cannot be bought: to be a caring person.The Odd, Mysterious & Fascinating

3. Overweight Tourists

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4. Giant Wolf-Dog

Sadly, this giant wolf-dog was dumped at a kill shelter after growing too large and becoming too much of a burden on his owner. Thankfully, a sanctuary took him in and saved his life! His DNA testing revealed he was 87.5% Gray Wolf, 8.6% Siberian Husky, and 3.9% German Shepherd. Wow!The Odd, Mysterious & Fascinating

5. Juliane Koepcke

At age 17, Juliane Koepcke was sucked out of an airplane after it was struck by lightning. She fell over 2 miles to the ground still strapped to her plane seat and somehow survived. She then had to endure a 9-day walk through the Amazon jungle before eventually being rescued by loggers. She was the sole survivor of LANSA Flight 508, which killed 93 people in December 1971.The Odd, Mysterious & Fascinating

6. The moment you realize this is only one photograph

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7. Todd Beamer

"If I don't make it, please call my family and let them know how much I love them."Todd Beamer was just 32 years old when his flight was hijacked by terrorists on 9/11. A passenger on United Airlines Flight 93, Beamer was forced to think quickly. He first tried calling AT&T, but both of his calls were terminated upon connection. Beamer then attempted to call his wife, but that call was also terminated. Finally, he contacted Airfone operators and was able to connect with a supervisor named Lisa Jefferson. While on the line, he pleaded with Jefferson to tell his pregnant wife and two sons that he loved them, but he also outlined a heroic plan to fight back against the hijackers alongside his fellow passengers and the flight crew. And that's exactly what he did.The Odd, Mysterious & Fascinating

8. The Maine Coon Cat

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9. That outfit

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10. Still cute

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11. Judy Garland

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22. Tami Oldham Ashcraft and her fiancé, Richard Sharp

In October 1983, Tami Oldham Ashcraft and her fiancé, Richard Sharp, began a 4,000-mile sailing trip from Tahiti to San Diego. Three weeks into the journey, they were hit by a Category 4 hurricane that capsized their ship and knocked Ashcraft unconscious.Some 27 hours later, she awoke to find that her fiancé was gone and she was stranded alone in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. With only a sextant and a watch, Ashcraft journeyed for 41 days until she found the coast of Hawaii.The Odd, Mysterious & Fascinating

13. A hammerhead bat

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24. Drew Barrymore

By the age of 12, Drew Barrymore was already a self-described "party girl" — thanks to her mom, who took her to nightclubs in Los Angeles and New York. By the time she turned 14, she had spent a year in rehab, been emancipated from her parents, and lived in her own apartment.The Odd, Mysterious & Fascinating

15. A giant eagle

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16. Simo Hãyhã

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17. A discovery

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18. Harry Haft

Harry Haft was just a teenager when he was sent to Auschwitz. Once he arrived, the Nazi guards discovered that he had some boxing experience — so they ordered him to fight his fellow prisoners in harrowing boxing matches where the loser would be executed. Forced to literally fight for his life, Haft never lost a single match, even though he would have known many of his opponents because the Nazis regularly sent people from the same town to the same concentration camps. From 1943 to 1945, he was forced to fight at least 76 people, none of whom he ever saw alive again.Only in April 1945 did Haft manage to escape during a death march away from the camp — by killing a Nazi soldier and stealing his uniform. Haft then spent weeks running from village to village. Trained to fight to the death, he even killed an elderly couple who offered him shelter after he suspected they had discovered that he wasn't really a Nazi. By the time he made it to Allied-controlled Germany, he weighed only 110 pounds and spent the next two years recovering in a refugee camp. But by 1947, he decided to fight again and immigrated to America to become a professional boxer — where he took on some of the biggest names in the sport.The Odd, Mysterious & Fascinating

19. George Stinney Jr.

Accused of murdering two white girls in 1944 without a shred of physical evidence, 14-year-old George Stinney Jr. became the youngest person in U.S. history ever executed in the electric chair.When he was put to death, he was so small that the state electrician struggled to adjust an electrode to his right leg. Stinney even needed to sit on a phone book for the electrocution to work properly. He then survived the first round of 2,400 volts, which caused his oversized mask to slip off and expose his tears. It took two more jolts before he was dead, with the room reeking of burning flesh.The Odd, Mysterious & Fascinating

20. Pat Tillman

Former NFL star Pat Tillman was hailed as a hero in 2004 after he was "killed by the Taliban." But it was a lie — he had been killed by friendly fire. While the shooting has since been described as accidental, some believe it was intentionally planned by the U.S. Army.Not only was Tillman shot three times in the head, but he was also shot at close range, and it was later determined that the Army had lied about his unit being ambushed by the enemy. Eerily, all of Tillman's personal items had been burned — including his uniform and private journals. On top of that, rumors had surfaced that he was about to go public about his opposition to the invasion of Iraq and the War on Terror with a televised meeting with Noam Chomsky. But this meeting would never happen.The Odd, Mysterious & Fascinating

21. A haunting photograph

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22. Hisashi Ouchi

On September 30, 1999, Hisashi Ouchi was exposed to the highest dose of nuclear radiation in human history. A 35-year-old lab technician at the nuclear plant in Tokaimura, Japan, Ouchi was mixing a uranium solution by hand directly over an open container when he accidentally poured in too much uranium, immediately causing a violent explosion.For the next 83 days, Ouchi suffered unimaginable agony as the radiation worked its way through his body, obliterating his DNA and causing his skin to melt off and his eyes to weep blood before he finally died. And though he begged for death, doctors refused to listen and kept him alive against his will for nearly three excruciating months.The Odd, Mysterious & Fascinating

23. Vasily Ignatenko

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24. Billy Idol

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25. Do you?

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26. Bob Marley

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27. The horror

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28. Joe Pichler

When Joe Pichler was just six years old, he made his acting breakthrough with a commercial for a Seattle department store. Soon after, he moved to Los Angeles, where he landed a part in 1999's "Varsity Blues" before earning a leading role in two installments of the "Beethoven" franchise.Pichler then moved back to his hometown of Bremerton, Washington, to attend high school and had plans to return to Hollywood after he had his braces removed — but he never got the chance. In the early morning hours of January 5, 2006, Pichler mysteriously vanished, and police have been unable to solve his disappearance to this day.The Odd, Mysterious & Fascinating

29. Garry Hoy

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30. So sad

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Some of these posts are truly wonderful, while others are just too heartbreaking. However, these are events that have happened in the past, and with the way we’ve evolved so far, justice will surely prevail.

Which part of this post affected you the most and why? Drop all your comments below.