John Hinckley, Jr. will be forever remembered as the man who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and confined to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, DC for treatment for narcissistic and schizotypal personality disorder and major depressive disorder. In an ironic bit... Continue Reading →
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher rose to distinction in the Prussian military in his campaigns against Napoleon, earning the rank of Field Marshal. He was also barking mad. Blücher was paralyzed by fear for days at a time, perched in his chair, convinced that the French had made the floor too hot for him to stand upon.... Continue Reading →
The official name for a fear of clowns is Coulrophobia.
Label someone as a "conspiracy theorist" and you might as well be calling that person a "wacko," "nut job," or any other phrase that questions his or her rationality. Of course, depending on who you talk to, you might find out that this is all part of the biggest conspiracy yet. In his book Conspiracy Theory... Continue Reading →
Alfred Hitchcock, the master of horror and suspense, who terrified millions with his films Psycho and The Birds, harbored his own fears of something most of us take for granted -- eggs. Suffering from ovophobia -- a fear of eggs -- he was so revolted by them that he claimed to have never even tasted one in his... Continue Reading →
Keanu Reeves has confided that he is afraid of the dark. It probably doesn't make him feel any better about it, but you might want to know that such a condition is known as nyctophobia. Keanu, whose name means "cool breeze over the mountains" in Hawaiian, fortunately does not appear to suffer from nomatophobia, which is... Continue Reading →
On March 23, 1775 Patrick Henry stood in St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia and addressed the members of the Virginia Convention. He spoke the words that would forever be linked to his name: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it,... Continue Reading →
Nomophobia (short for "no mobile phone phobia") is the constant fear of not having mobile phone service. Researchers report that more than half of the people of the United Kingdom have this malady. source
About 20 minutes before the onset of pain from a migraine headache, many suffers experience a phenomenon called "the aura." During this time the sufferer may see intense colors, flashing lights, and even hallucinations such as monsters and ghosts. Lewis Carroll, who suffered from migraines for most of his life, is said to have been... Continue Reading →
One of the coolest-sounding disorders is fortunately not nearly as serious as its name suggests. Exploding Head Syndrome is a condition that causes people to hear extremely loud noises — a gunshot, an explosion, a thunderclap — as they're drifting off to sleep, or as they wake up from a deep sleep. Such incidents are... Continue Reading →
Confederate General Richard Ewell believed himself to be a bird, eating grains of wheat and sunflower seeds for meals. There were persistent stories from soldiers on guard duty claiming that the General would spend many hours in his tent quietly chirping to himself. Also known as "Old Baldy," one can't help but wonder if he... Continue Reading →
Music can boost your running performance by up to 15%, but only if you’re a particular kind of runner. If you tend to focus inward while running, music probably won’t help you much. If you look for stimulus from your environment, pump the tunes to get over the finish line more quickly. source
The Austrian/American logician and mathematician Kurt Gödel died on January 14, 1978 from being a picky eater. He had a compulsive fear of being poisoned and would only eat the food prepared by his wife Adele. Adele was hospitalized for six months and could no longer prepare food. During this time his weight dropped to... Continue Reading →
In 2013, Oxford researcher Kevin Dutton compiled a list of professions that attract the most psychopaths. It probably won’t come as a surprise that plenty of psychos become police officers, lawyers, and surgeons. However, the number one vocation chosen by psychopaths was “CEO.”
