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47 Bizarre Artworks From The Middle Ages That Make No Sense

Asli Akalin — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 09:47:02 +0000

The Middle Ages aren’t just about heroic knights and epic battles. If there’s one thing that never fails to boost our mood, it’s medieval art! It’s colorful, creative, quirky, and goofy, and it showcases how the artists had to use every ounce of their imagination and stylistic skills to draw animals and monsters they may or may not have seen with their own two eyes. The results? Often incredibly bizarre but undeniably entertaining.

Our team at Bored Panda has collected some of the finest specimens of peculiar medieval art from every nook and cranny on the internet. We’ve found some of the strangest renditions of real animals and mythical creatures to confuse and amuse you, Pandas, so scroll down to check them out.

Click here & follow us for more lists, facts, and stories.

#1 My Favorite Picture I Took At The Louvre. I Call It "Freaked Out Lion Is Getting His Nails Done"

#2 A Dog Riding A Bunny Spear-Fighting A Bunny Who Is Riding A Snail With The Head Of Rick Rubin

#3 Pigs vs. Elephants, France, 1420-1425

The medieval era started in the 5th Century with the collapse of Roman civilization, lasting all the way to the Renaissance. When exactly the Middle Ages ended varies depending on what historian you talk to.

The Encyclopædia Britannica notes that some researchers see the Renaissance period starting in the 13th century, while others argue that it began in the 14th or even 15th centuries.

#4 Medieval Paintings Of Cats Are Weird

#5 Seems Like Lions Had More Character Back In The Day

#6 These Breathtaking Horses

Broadly speaking, the things that defined the end of the Middle Ages included the breakup of feudal structures, the rise of secular education, the strengthening of city-states in Italy, as well as the rise of national monarchies in England, France, and Spain. The Renaissance looked all the way back to the Classical age for inspiration.

#7 He Looks So Careless

#8 Medieval Goofy?

#9 Hare Riding A Hound With A Trained Snail Of Prey, Before 1390

One of the most widely known social media projects that features wonky medieval illustrations is ‘Weird Medieval Guys’ (@WeirdMedieval), a fantastic account on X (formerly Twitter) that shares peculiar-looking medieval illustrations. The project has gotten so popular over the years that there’s even a podcast and a book out.

The person behind the ingenious ‘Weird Medieval Guys’ account is Olivia M. Swarthout (@tochterzwiebel). She started the project back in 2019. In the 5 years since its inception, the account has grown by leaps and bounds.

In mid-2022, it boasted just shy of 100k followers on X (still Twitter back then). However, now, in 2024, a jaw-dropping 678k people from all around the world now follow it on the social network.

#10 Weird Medieval Bat

#11 Someone Tried To Paint A Catfish

#12 Medieval Boar With Pants

As word about the ‘Weird Medieval Guys’ internet sensation spread, the creator started a podcast by the same name together with Aran, a historian.

The founder of the project, Olivia, even published a book in late 2023, titled ‘Weird Medieval Guys: How to Live, Laugh, Love (and Die) in Dark Times.’

#13 They Definitely Knew How A Dog Looked Like

#14 Adorable Bats

#15 Lion, France, 15th Century

Olivia, who created ‘Weird Medieval Guys’ half a decade ago, previously told Bored Panda all about the project and the inspiration behind it. She shared that she did some graphic design for a magazine at her university. In one issue, she used a lot of medieval imagery.

“I spent a lot of time online looking for images from medieval manuscripts to incorporate into the project, and I was amazed at the works that I found. Not just the art itself, but also the extent to which these priceless, one-of-a-kind manuscripts and documents have been digitized and cataloged online for anyone across the world to browse,” she told us during an earlier interview.

#16 A Snail By Jacob Van Maerlant

#17 Cats' Life During Medieval Times

#18 Medieval Garfield Looking For Lasagna

Olivia explained that accessing these sorts of medieval works of art from centuries ago is easy these days. In the past, however, it would have been incredibly difficult to do. She wanted to share some of the enjoyment she felt with everyone else.

“Because I found so many pieces that I thought were extremely funny and endearing and could only send so many of them to my friends before they got sick of me, I also liked the idea that I could connect with other people online about how cool the art is,” she said.

#19 Love Depictions Of Lions From Countries That Clearly Don't Have Lions

#20 Looks Like A Demon. Kind Of Like Cats Are Now

#21 Someone Getting An Elephant Shrew Described To Them?

Of course, ‘Weird Medieval Guys’ is far from the only project to bring weird medieval art into the spotlight. This sort of content has been incredibly popular on social media for many years now. There are tons of accounts and projects dedicated to showcasing the strangest works of art from the Middle Ages. However, not many of them are as successful as Olivia’s account on X.

“Most of what I post is from the eras that are referred to as the High Middle Ages and Late Middle Ages, which encompass approximately the 11th to the 16th century. I do think that this period of time is very unique from a Western art historical standpoint because the printing press had not yet been invented, so all books were written out by hand and often included notes and doodles that were added in spontaneously by scribes who never thought these additions would be seen by the general public,” the founder of the project told us earlier.

“Therefore, we have a huge amount of content from this era that reflects the humor and thoughts of (somewhat) average people. And when we look at what they created, we actually find that a lot of it contradicts how we view the 'Dark' Ages.”

#22 At Least They Tried To Depict A Frog

#23 An Elephant Protecting Her Baby From A Dragon, 14th Century

#24 This Elephant With A Tornado Trunk By Jacob Van Maerlant

“There’s a perception that the Middle Ages was a very solemn, bleak era for humanity, and nowadays, we perceive medieval culture as extremely religious, superstitious, backward, and repressive. Much of the art that was created in that period has a reputation for being strange and ugly. So, we don’t expect to see ourselves in it, not in the same way that we can relate very emotionally to more conventionally beautiful art,” the founder said.

“When we look at, say, a drawing of a cat playing an organ, it’s easy to imagine it being endearing to its creator 600 years ago in the same way it is today, that it brought people the same kind of joy then as it does now. And I think we as humans enjoy how art and humor bridge that gap,” she told us.

“One of my personal guiding principles of internet use is that, often, you get back out what you put in, so I think by trying to keep the account pretty lighthearted and wholesome, I’ve attracted very kind-hearted feedback.”

#25 This Beaver With A Fish Tail

#26 Lion, England, 1390-1460

#27 Medieval Oyster

According to Olivia, lots of internet users seem to identify very much with the animals and monsters that she posts. “I love scrolling through everyone’s comments about who a creature is or what they’re doing. Even though I’m just a third party facilitating interaction with other people’s art, a lot of followers have left extremely sweet messages saying that my account brightens their day and that they look forward to my posts,” she said.

Among some of her followers are actual medieval art and history researchers, which just goes to show how successful ‘Weird Medieval Guys’ has gotten. “There are people of all ages and from around the world whose comments I luckily get to read and understand due to the magic of internet translation.”

She added: “I’m so glad that even though what I post is pretty silly, and I’m not an authority on medieval art whatsoever, so many different people are able to come together over my account! I’m really thankful for everyone who’s supported me, and I have so many more weird medieval guys that I can’t wait to share.

#28 Medieval Monkeys Being Medieval Bros With A Medieval Kitten

#29 This Leopard That's Clearly Distraught Over His Misrepresentation

#30 Medieval Human Dogs

Which of these medieval illustrations did you like the most? Which ones made you smile and giggle the hardest?

Do you think you’d be able to do a better job at painting these creatures if you were suddenly transported back in time? What do you like the most about the Middle Ages? We can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

#31 A Whale, 13th Century

#32 This Owl With A Human Face

#33 Looks Like Pug Dog

#34 Lion, Belgium, 14th Century

#35 Why Do Medieval Cats Look Like Fully Grown Adults?

#36 Leopard, England, 13th Century

#37 Four Rats Rowing A Little Boat In The 14th Century France

#38 From The Cover Of My Medieval Literature Textbook

#39 Elephants In Late 13th Century

#40 Wild Cats In 15th Century, France

#41 Medieval Frog

#42 The Best Depiction Of Ants

#43 Snails On A Ladder. France, Circa 1320

#44 A Chorus Line Of Camels

#45 Owl Fight By Godfrey Of Viterbo, Italy 13th Century

#46 This 15th Century Drawing Of A Greyhound Is An Undisputed Masterclass In Stylisation

#47 Wild Cats, 1485

You might also like: 50 wild animal encounters that took people by surprise

44 Chilling Images From The Past That Hide A Disturbing Backstory

Asli Akalin — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 09:46:02 +0000

The scariest things aren’t always the ones that jump out at you.

They don’t announce themselves with warning signs or eerie music in the background. Instead, they sit there, unnoticed, hiding in plain sight.

That’s what makes these photographs so chilling. At first, they look like any other picture - normal, unremarkable, even forgettable. But once you learn the truth behind them, they become something entirely different.

Scroll down to find out why - though you might end up wishing you hadn’t.

More info: Reddit | Reddit | Reddit

Click here & follow us for more lists, facts, and stories.

#1

See this little girl scribbling on a chalkboard? Aaaw-

Actually, this is a c****************p survivor, when asked to draw "home".

#2

Raw footage from the 2004 tsunami is incredibly eerie. seeing people just watching as the tide comes in and having no idea what's about to hit them... Really terrifying.

#3

This is one that always stuck with me, just the way you have this bustling city in one frame, and the same city scythed clean with nuclear fire in the next. It's hard to imagine that level of devastation, a blast that burned civilians into the pavement and left shadows that would still be there decades later.

Hiroshima - Before And After Bombing

#4

The toddler in the photo is James Bulger.

He is being lead away from his mother by one of the two 10 year old boys who abducted and would later m****r him.

Here's a paragraph from Wikipedia; At the trial it was established that at this location, one of the boys threw blue Humbrol modelling paint, which they had shoplifted earlier, into Bulger's left eye. They kicked and stomped on him, and threw bricks and stones at him. Batteries were placed in Bulger's mouth. Police believed some batteries may have been inserted into his [rear], although none were found there. Finally, a 22-pound (10.0 kg) iron bar, described in court as a railway fishplate, was dropped on him. Bulger suffered ten skull fractures as a result of the iron bar striking his head. Dr. Alan Williams, the case's pathologist, stated that Bulger suffered so many injuries—42 in total—that none could be isolated as the fatal blow.

#5

Here's a shadow permanently cast of someone caused by the nuclear blast at Hiroshima.

#6

This photo, taken at 7 PM, May 18th, 1980 in the forests of Washington state.

In the photo is David A. Johnston, star vulcanologist for the United States Geological Survey, camped at his trailer at his field post.

Less than 24 hours later, Johnston, the trailer, and everything else within ~30 miles would be obliterated by a lateral blast from Mount St. Helens’s eruption, making Johnston the first US Government Vulcanologist to be k****d in the line of duty.

His last words were a radio call to the USGS station in Vancouver WA, which you can find recordings of online:

“Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!”

#7

The car in that picture contained a b**b that blew up just moments after this picture was taken. The people in the picture survived, but they guy who took it did not.

#8

Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers managed to document getting lost in the jungle in Panama. They kept going past the marked easy trail instead of turning around went down the other side of the mountain, they wound up lost with no real hiking/camping supplies in dense, sparsely populated wilderness. At least one of them survived for a week. That photo is one of the last touristy ones, but they're probably already lost in it without realizing.

#9

In this photo a man took of his wife diving, you can probably see another diver on the sea floor. That's Tina Watson. A few minutes before this photo, her husband turned off her air supply and held her underwater until she drowned. He then went up to the surface and told the other divers she was "in trouble", and you can see someone else swimming to try and save her.

EDIT: He did serve 12 months in prison in Australia for Manslaughter, as a plea bargain (Neither he nor the court knew if he was going down for m****r). When he returned home to Alabama, the US courts tried to get him on the grounds that he'd planned the m****r there, but he got off due to lack of evidence. Australian authorities refused to help with the American trial, as they'd broken an extradition clause not to push for the death penalty.

Edit 2: changed some info people have corrected me on. Also, the manslaughter charge managed to stick because despite apparently being a trained rescue diver, he made no evident effort to save her, or share his own functioning tank. Also one witness says he saw Gabe Watson "engaged in a bearhug with his flailing wife".

#10

Josef Fritzl enjoying himself on holiday while his daughter was still trapped in his cellar at home.

#11

Tyler Hadley k****d his parents before he threw this party at his house. They were dead in their bedroom when this picture was taken.

#12

A photo of a cute girl, right? this is Genie (not her real name, but that's what she is called in the public sphere. real name was kept secret.) from the time she was an infant, around 20 months old, her father kept her in a single room, strapped down to a potty chair facing the wall. she had no human interaction beyond her parents until the age of 13, when she was rescued.

#13

The my lai villagers picture. might not fit exactly since the picture shows the terrorized villagers right before they were gunned down, so not exactly seemingly normal. but, one often overlooked aspect is the young woman buttoning her shirt, which is interpreted as evidence that she was r***d right before the photo.

#14

Moments before getting struck.

#15

This home video of Jeffrey Dahmer, casually saying to his dad that he should eat at home more often. However, at the time this video was filmed, Jeffrey already k****d 7 men (and ate some of their body parts).

#16

This picture of Elizabeth Smart (far left) taken while she being was held captive by her kidnapper (pictured far right).

Smart was missing for 9 months. the picture was taken some time in the middle of that period, at a party the kidnapper crashed with Smart. She was made to wear the veil in order to keep from being recognized in public.

#17

Chernobyl Elephant's Foot, a formerly molten mass of corium from the reactor core meltdown. It still emits radiation today that can k**l you if you hang around it too long, but not as much as back in 1986. They had to use a set of mirrors in order to get photographs of the mass.

#18

Demon Core. This is a recreation photo of an accident that occurred with the infamous "demon core". Physicist Louis Slotin was conducting an experiment to verify the exact point at which a subcritical mass of fissile material could be made critical by the positioning of neutron reflectors. Basically, the two half spheres would be adjusted around the core and the core activity would be measured.

The risk was that if the spheres were allowed to close, the core would instantaneously form a critical mass. To keep them from closing, he pried the top core up with a screw driver. Unfortunately the screw driver slipped, a critical mass formed, and (near) instantly gave him a lethal dose of radiation. He shielded the other people in the room and was the only fatality.

#19

A famous picture of John Lennon signing an autograph for Chapman just hours before the latter m******d the former.

#20

2004 Tsunami nears John & Jackie Knill.
John and Jackie Knill were k****d in the 2004 Tsunami. Their bodies were never found but their passports and camera were discovered and returned to their children. There are more pictures that show that something terrible is about to occur. But this one is nearly tranquil.

EDIT: Their bodies apparently were found.

#21

This one's a bit creepy.

Post-mortem photography.

This is a picture from the victorian era of two parents with their dead daughter in the middle. Apparantly, in the ninteenth century, people taking photos of their deceased loved ones was a thing.

#22

Not a photograph but the diagram of the cave diver who got stuck in Nutty Putty Cave and died.

And another picture of a cave diver maneuvering through a part of the same cave.

Edit: To make things worse. When they were trying to rescue him, they used a pully and had him mostly out of the part he was stuck in but the rope broke and he fell back in.

#23

The M****r of Reynaldo Dagsa.

A filipino politician, Dagsa was on vacation spending time with his family.
Looks like a regular family photo at first glance right?
This photo was taken on New Years Day by him moments before he was shot and k****d, and his k****r can be seen in the background behind his family.

#24

The picture of John Wayne Gacy dressed as 'Pogo the Clown'.

#25

How about an entire film?

Errol Morris' documentary Vernon, Florida

Errol Morris is a great documentary maker that can really capture people well. This documentary is a look at a small rural town in Florida. The film doesn't really have a narrative. It's just made up of interviews with some of the colorful and quirky characters in their rather mundane small town.

And just based on that, it's a really neat documentary to watch. It's not the best documentary you'll ever see, but it's quaint, touching, often funny.

But the thing is: that's not the documentary Errol Morris set out to make. In fact, the original name of the documentary was *Nub City*.

You see, the city of Vernon, at the time, had the highest rate of limb amputation in America per capita. People missing fingers, hands, feet, etc. The messed up bit is that they were doing it to themselves, on purpose, in order to collect on insurance money.

While filming the documentary, Errol Morris started receiving death threats from the residents who were scared he was going to expose their secret. Errol took the threats seriously enough that he re-edited the whole film so it never mentions anything about the amputations.

So now it's just a nice documentary, about some colorful and quirky characters in their rather mundane small town.

#26

This is the last picture taken of thirteen-year-old Abby Williams. She was hiking in Delphi, Indiana in February 2017 with her friend Libby German, who took the picture. They were both m******d shortly after the photo was taken.

They still haven't identified the k****r.

#27

Happiness is...

The man in picture,Robert Giblin post this on Facebook, after few minutes he stabbed his pregnant wife and throwing her over the balcony to her death. He jump off the building after that.

#28

Timothy Treadwell lived his life watching and learning about bears and it eventually led to his disturbing death by a grizzly bear. The most awful thing about his death is that all of it was caught on audio.

#29

To me, it will be this one of the Iroquois Theatre Fire. You can see smoke pouring from inside the glass

When this photo was taken, around 600 people were trapped inside the building in pitch darkness whilst a fire incinerated/smoke asphyxiated them one by one.

The story:

In 1903, a "fireproof" theatre opened in Chicago IL, and proceeded to host a play called Bluebeard. Around 600 people attended, but midway through the performance, it is believed that an old arc light shorted out and caused one of the stage curtains to set alight.

The theatre was not equipped with fire extinguishers, but rather a fire-extinguishing powder which was inadequate. The fire spread to other curtains and an "fireproof" curtain was lowered, but snagged halfway down on a light.

In panic, one of the stage employees opened a back door to the theatre, causing a backdraft of air to enter, turning the fire into a fireball that blasted out into the seating area and incinerated hundreds.

Some people in the upper seating areas had left the play room, however they became trapped in the narrow corridors due to the fact that some of the non-opening windows into the vestibule resembled doors , and some of the proper doors used an Espagnolette "bascule lock", an old french lock that most Americans had no idea how to manipulate. As a result, people began piling up at these doors because the poor people at the front had no idea how to open them. It is likely they were crushed to death.

#30

This is just a bunch of astronauts hanging out at the pool and generally being awesome, right? Nope. That's the crew of Apollo 1. See the hatch on the capsule that opens inward? They died in that capsule, unable to escape the fire.

#31

This is John du Pont and Dave Schultz.

John (The man on the bottom) hosted a massive wrestling team where all of the athletes lived on the grounds. Schultz was hired to coach the team.

As time went on John started to act stranger than normal (He was already very odd). He started to think his friend Schultz was spying on him. He believed that Schultz was hiding in his walls spying and plotting to k**l him. It seems to me like John was a paranoid schizophrenic.

Eventually John snapped. He drove up to Schultz's home and shot him in front of his family. Schultz died moments later.

Edit: The documentary is called *Team Foxcatcher*.

#32

Last photo before she (Regina Kay Walters) was k****d by Robert Ben Rhoades.

#33

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet.

Basically Dean Corll and Elmer Wayne Henley k****d a bunch of people but were caught. This picture was found amongst Henley's things of an unidentified boy that is a likely victim of Corll.

#34

Serial k****r Rodney Alcala was on The Dating Game in between m*****s. So that in itself is creepy, seeing this serial k****r charm a young woman on national television. You have to think, "Is he imagining all the vile things he wants to do to her? Is he planning this woman's m****r on camera right now?"

There's a lot of seemingly normal innocent pictures relating to him as he was a photographer and loved taking photos of potential victims. Whether they can still be found on the internet I'm not entirely sure. He also took and kept earrings from the girls and women he tortured and k****d.

#35

K2 2008 disaster. It's just a mountain picture, but with the annotations it reveals an eerie scene. K2 if I remember correctly is regarded as one of the most dangerous mountain in the world. 1 out of every 4 climbers who summit die on that mountain.....

If you are interested check out bbcs documentary here.

#36

Myra Hindley, on the Saddleworth moors with her dog, Poppet. She is looking down at the grave of John Kilbride, one of her's, and Ian Brady's, young victims.

Hindley and Brady used to take photos hinting to the gravesites of their child victims, and when their crimes came to light, these pictures were used to help find the bodies.

Also, a little more on the serial k****r theme - a home video taken of Jeffrey Dahmer during Thanksgiving Day 1990. Note the 'I should really start eating at home more'. Yeah... he was already starting to cannibalise his victims at this point. Lionel Dahmer, his father (and the guy behind the camera), later said that in retrospect, his foot would jerk at every mention of his apartment, what he was doing in his spare time, or what he was eating. You can just make it out in the video.

Edit: A little more info on Dahmer's situation at the moment this video was taken. He had already k****d 9 men and boys, the latest (David Thomas) was m******d three weeks before Thanksgiving. At this point he was still *relatively* restrained, k*****g every few months and choosing his victims carefully. By February 1991, he had amped up to a m****r a month. By the time he was arrested in July 1991, he had completely lost it; he was missing work, stopped showering and shaving (at times, his tub was filled with up to three bodies) and he was k*****g 2-3 times a week. During the last 6 weeks of his freedom, the only meat he was eating was human flesh.

#37

This is the last existing photo of wrestler Chris Benoit. Just a few days after this photo was taken he m******d his wife and child. After this he commited s*****e.

#38

The most sinister wink of all time.
Context: This photo was taken just after LBJ was sworn in on Air Force One, immediately following the m****r of JFK. In the foreground you'll notice Jackie Kennedy visibly grieving the loss of her husband. LBJ turned towards his longtime friend, Texas congressman Albert Thomas, who gave him a surreptitious wink and a smile. White House photographer Cecil Stoughton, who took the photo, said it could have been "innocent or sinister, and I would have leaned towards the latter." The man in charge of Air Force One at the time, General Godfrew McHugh later said LBJ's behavior on the plane was "obscene."

Edit: Took out a line about blood spatter on Jackie's coat, since people seemed to be really concerned about it. Though there was blood on her coat at the time the photo was taken, it's not in the frame.

#39

Rock climbers taking pictures accidentally captured woman stranded at bottom trying to survive. went through entire thread and didn't find anyone post it, was really popular on reddit a while back.

#40

Musician Jeff Buckley, hours before he died from accidental drowning at the age of 30 in 1997.

#41

This picture was taken by a passenger of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 17th 2014. He posted this picture on his Facebook, saying; 'if it goes missing, this is what it (the plane) looks like.' Referring to another Malaysian Airlines plane (flight MH370) that went missing on March 8th 2014. Later that day the plane the man boarded was taken down by a missile fired by either Russia or Ukraine.

#42

This picture of Varg Vikernes has reached a sort of Internet meme status. The reason being it just looks like a picture of a happy smiling old man, but in reality Varg's back story is that he is a musician who makes incredibly abrasive music, as well as a m******r who k****d another musician from Norway's black metal scene ~~just because~~, and an arsonist who burned down churches in Norway ~~just because~~. This picture of him was taken in prison.

He was released in 2009 and continues making music.

EDIT: Okay so apparently Varg claims to have m******d Euronymous in self-defense, and he burned down the churches because he believes in neo-paganism.

#43

Someone videotaped a guy playing Dance Dance Revolution. Six months later, he would shoot and [end] 27 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School back in 2012.

#44

Burst of Joy.

POW returns home to his family, but his wife Dear John-ed him and his kids no longer respected him.

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30 People Share The Most Unbelievable Coincidences That Still Baffle Them

Mariia Tkachenko — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 10:30:03 +0000

Luck, serendipity, chance, fate—call it what you will, but unusual coincidences likely play at least some sort of role in your life. There are moments in life when things line up a little too neatly, whether for good or ill, and it can make you question a lot of things about how life works, even if there are perfectly rational explanations for what’s happening.

After diving deep all over the internet, our team here at Bored Panda has collected some of the most interesting stories from people who opened up about the most bizarre coincidences that they have ever personally experienced. Scroll down for their mind-blowing tales.

We got in touch with Jodi Wellman, MAPP, for some advice about handling bad luck, as well as figuring out which things we can and can't control. Wellman is the founder of Four Thousand Mondays and the author of You Only Die Once: How to Make It to the End with No Regrets, and you'll find her insights as you read on.

#1

This happened about 12 years ago. My daughter has epilepsy, and she was about 9 at the time that this happened. We were having a lot of trouble with her going into absolute uncontrollable rages. A lot of this could be contributed to the epilepsy medication Kepra that she was taking at the time. It is well-known for causing aggression and rages in children. But they were getting worse and worse, and it was mentally, physically, and emotionally so draining. I knew it wasn't her fault, but that doesn't really make you feel much better when you're getting hit, or things thrown at you, and screeching going on and on and on, and all your things broken. My husband and I spoke with a pastor of our church about it when he came up to visit her in the children's hospital during one of her stays. Just for the emotional support for us as parents because he was very good about that kind of thing.

Anyways, these rages were happening more and more frequently. One day I answered the phone and a woman introduced herself and said that she was calling from the church, and that Pastor Marty had asked her to give me a call because she had dealt with some of the things I was going through, and she was a pediatric nurse. So I started talking with this woman, I was at a very fragile moment that day because things had been really rough as far as the raging went. So I really unloaded, and I told her what was going on. And she said to me “Do you by chance use Pine-Sol to clean your house?” It was a pretty odd question. The funny thing though was that I did indeed use Pine-Sol to clean my house. In fact I had a lot of it because there had been a going out of business sale somewhere. So I told her that I did, and she told me to immediately stop using it. She said that she didn't know exactly what the connection was, but she had spoken to many many parents who are having behavioral problems with their children out of the blue, and out of the nature of the child. She said that the one thing they all had in common was that they all used Pine-Sol. So I thought that was pretty strange, but I was more than willing to stop using it if it was going to help our situation any.

So here is where the weird coincidence kicks in. We spoke for a little while longer, and I thanked her for her time and told her I was going to try this, and then I said something about the pastor and his wife. And she said “Wife? What wife?” Apparently her Pastor Marty was not my pastor Marty. She was not even in the same state as me. She had dialed the wrong number! She just happened to also have a pastor named Marty, and she just happened to accidentally dial a wrong number where there just happened to be a mother, me, desperately needing help with their rage filled child. We were both completely surprised, and we laughed about it, and I thanked her for her advice.

Just so you know, I stopped using the Pine-Sol, and my daughter's rages went down about 90%! I don't even know the woman's name. She introduced herself at the beginning of the call, and I cannot even remember her name, but what she did for me that day, and did for our family that day, I will never, ever be able to thank her enough.

"A great way to figure out what you can truly control is to focus on your influence rather than outcomes. Research on the locus of control suggests that people with an internal locus feel more agency, while those with an external locus feel powerless. The key is balancing both—taking responsibility for your choices while accepting uncertainty," Wellman told Bored Panda in an email.

"A simple exercise is to ask, 'What part of this situation is directly up to me?' Usually, it's your effort, mindset, and response. Everything else—other people's opinions, random events, rain at your picnic—is outside your control. Letting go of those frees up energy for what fabulously is yours to shape."

#2

When I was a kid our class had a cake raffle in relation to mother's day. I went around our area and sold tickets. People were so friendly and brought me in for tea and cake. I had a great time. We had ten cakes people could win and nobody I had sold tickets to won. I was so disappointed and angry I decided to bake a cake to the lady who bought most tickets from me. I went to her house on mothers day to give it to her. Turns out not only was it mothers day, it was also her birthday and we delivered the cake in time for her birthday party. Best accidental cake gifting ever.

#3

When I was a kid, we used to drive past this old abandoned school on a hill on the way to the grocery store. I always thought it would be cool to make it a house and live there. Years later someone tore down the school and built a house there. I was an adult then and had my own kids and was living in a house with a leaky basement. As I was driving my kids to the grocery store, I would pass this house and think, it must be nice and dry living up on that hill. I bet he doesn't have a leaky basement. Fast forward a few more years, I am divorced and remarried. We are looking to buy a house. A guy my wife works with is selling his house. It turns out to he that very same house on the hill. I live here now and am writing this comment from my nice dry house on the hill.

According to Wellman, resilience isn't about avoiding bad luck. Rather, it's about "how you respond when it (inevitably) hits." She noted that research on psychological resilience shows that the key things are flexible thinking, emotional regulation, and social support.

"One powerful approach is cognitive reframing—instead of seeing setbacks as permanent or personal, view them as temporary and surmountable. Ask, 'What can I learn from this?' rather than 'Why me… am I cursed forever?!'" she told Bored Panda.

"Developing a sense of purpose and practicing self-compassion can also help. And don't underestimate the power of small wins—taking action, even in tiny ways, rebuilds a sense of control amidst the down-and-out times. Resilience isn't about toughness; it's about adaptability."

#4

March 1, 1950, in Beatrice, Nebraska.

It was a chilly Wednesday evening in the rural Nebraska town. Reverend Walter Klempel went to West Side Baptist Church to start the gas furnace so that the choir wouldn’t be cold at practice later that night. After lighting the furnace, he went back home to wait for practice to start—7:20 p.m.

What he didn't know was that the furnace had a leak, and gas was slowly filling the church.

At 7:25 p.m.—five minutes after choir practice started—the gas ignited. The resulting explosion destroyed the church and broke windows in nearby houses. Miraculously, however, not a single choir member was injured or hurt.

How did every choir member manage to avoid almost certain passing that night? By being late.

Every one of the 15 members of the West Side Baptist Church choir happened to be running late that particular evening, so no one was there when practice was supposed to start. And each person was late for their own, unrelated reasons: car trouble, falling asleep, geometry homework, losing track of time, and just plain laziness were among the reasons the choir members later gave.

While it isn’t unusual for people to be late to choir practice, what are the odds of all 15 happening to be late on the same day?

Literally one in a million.

#5

I used to work at a movie theater. One day a group of people from an organization that helps mentally handicapped people experience a sense of normalcy in their life come through. They each had their own cash and came to concessions for candy and popcorn.

One girl in my line had a bunch of candy but was 1.25 short, and when I told her this she had this look of defeat and was about to start crying so I just told her she was fine and covered it myself. She happily took her candy and went to watch her movie.

The next day I got a "keep the change" tip from a random customer of 1.25. That was the only tip I ever got at that job.

#6

My friend’s father, Vincent, served in Korea. After the war he visited his folks in his small home town located at one end of the state of Pennsylvania where he met a gorgeous young woman, Loretta. Although she was engaged to another man, he managed to sweep her off her feet so she broke off that engagement. Vincent and Loretta married and moved 400 miles away to a major city where they stayed and raised a family.

Fifty years later, sadly, Loretta passed away from cancer. Vincent began to spend a lot of time with some seniors from his church and eventually began to have romantic feelings towards one of them, Evelyn. The only trouble was, Evelyn had been keeping company with a man who lived across the street from her, but after a while she broke it off with that man and soon Evelyn and Vincent were married. The guy who lived across the street from her didn’t take it well when she broke it off with him and he saw this other guy coming around her house. He liked it even less when he realized that Vincent was the SAME MAN who had stolen his fiancee Loretta 50 years earlier!!

According to Stacker, the chances of you getting struck by lightning in a given year are just 1 in 1,222,000. Though, that probability rises to 1 in 15,300 over a person’s entire lifetime.

The chances of losing your life in a tornado are just 1 in 13,000,000. This will be higher if you live in an area where storms frequently pass, take unnecessary risks around tornadoes, or live in a mobile home.

Meanwhile, the probability of you getting struck by a meteorite is unclear, ranging from (a relatively high) 1 in 3,000 to (a very low) 1 in 250,000.

Contrast this with your odds of winning the lottery. The chances of you winning the Powerball jackpot stand at 1 in 292.2 million, and if you’re aiming for the Mega Millions jackpot, your odds are barely 1 in 302.6 million.

You’ll have much better luck finding a four-leaf clover, which occurs around once every 10,000 regular clovers.

#7

Not mine, but a friend's.

He had gotten out of the military and had developed a drinking problem. One night at the bar he drove his truck home drunk and hit a motorcyclist, k*****g him. Goes to court, ready to face his doom, when a woman reaches out to the court to express her gratitude to my friend. She is the wife of the motorcyclist who he k****d. She says that her husband had schizophrenia and had random bouts of rage. That night he left her a voicemail (which she played for the court) in which the guy told her over the phone that he was coming over to m****r her. She said she prayed when she got that voicemail that something would prevent him from getting to her house. And what do you know, my friend accidentally m******d him. The woman tried to argue with the judge that he wasn't a drunk driver, but an angel who sent him home at that exact moment to stop her husband. She didn't want him to face jail time because he was doing the world a good deed.

He ended up getting 3 years in prison and only served 2 for good behavior. The judge felt sorry for the situation but you can't just not send someone to prison for drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter.

#8

I had been living in Japan but after two and a half years I got ill and had to return to the UK. I took the opportunity to visit places along the route, and in Cambodia I met a woman who was returning to New Zealand from Hong Kong. We visited Angkor together and ended up on the same flight to Bangkok where we said goodbye. We didn’t keep in touch.

Fast forward a couple of years and one day I went to a supermarket in the Kings Road, Chelsea, an area I had never been to before, while a friend went to a nearby shop to return a purchase. As I waited at the cashier a woman in the next line called across to me and said “Don’t I know you?” I wracked my brain and she said “Didn’t we go round Angkor Wat together?” As coincidences go that one is hard to beat.

#9

My mother and I had a thing where we would always tell each other "Be careful" before the other would leave somewhere. Once, I forgot and that day she was in an accident on the way home. 6 months later, I forgot again. Again, accident. So I never missed saying it again.

She died in 2012 and I remember driving to the funeral home to plan her funeral, past this church that always changed their signs on Wednesdays. The sign for that Wednesday said only "Be careful". That was it. No other words. No Bible citation, just that.

No matter how skilled, educated, talented, and prepared you (think you) are, luck is still going to be an important factor in your life. Good and bad luck can both affect you very deeply. You might accidentally meet someone who then becomes a great friend, or you might stumble across an awesome job opportunity that is extremely meaningful to you. On the other hand, you might get into an accident, fall ill, or [meet someone] off.

You can (and should) prepare for some unfortunate eventualities, but not for all of them. And living in constant fear and anxiety that something awful might happen to you is horrible for your physical, emotional, and mental health. So, every once in a while, it’s important to remind yourself of the things that you can control and the things you can’t because there are too many moving parts.

#10

Not mine, but my friend's story. Her cousin moved to Japan and noticed that someone in their building had the same last name (looking at the apartment buzzers or mailboxes or wtv). It's a relatively unusual Moroccan Jewish last name, and obviously they're in Tokyo so that's pretty weird to begin with to see a non-Japanese name let alone the exact SAME name.

So they knock on the door and are like "Hi... this is weird but I'm you're neighbour and we have the same last name... are we possibly related?" and it turns out the neighbour was a branch of their family that had gotten "lost" - nobody knew what had happened to them. It's a MASSIVE family with literally hundreds of cousins in the same generation, and this particular bit of the family had just gotten lost in the mix. The parents would have known these people's parents, and so everyone got back in touch and they got reconnected with the whole rest of their family! I thought that was crazy... what are the odds?

#11

Many years ago, when I was about 5 years old, one day I noticed my dad had a big burn scar on his chest and back. I asked him what happened. He told me he was in a train wreck when he was young, it got on fire, he was OK but many of his schoolmates were unconscious and would die, so he saved as many as he could by taking them outside, going in again, etc. and got burnt. I didn’t believe him, I thought “My dad is tricking me, he wants me to think he is a super hero like superman”. But I didn’t say anything and didn’t ask anymore. He always told us stories at nighttime that he invented, so it wouldn’t be odd for him to tell me a fantastic story.

When I was 12 years old, my dad died. I have missed him all my life, and I’m 63 so it’s a long time.

At the age of 19, I went to Colombia and stayed many months, at an uncle’s home. His wife worked at the Chilean Embassy and got me a job as a receptionist. One day, an old man asked me for help because he had lost his passport, so I gave him directions to get a new one. A few days later, he came back to thank me, and asked my name. “Solange De Vidts” I said. Then we had this conversation:

“De Vidts? Are you Carlos De Vidts granddaughter?”
“No, I am his daughter”
“Oh, please send him my kind regards”
“I’m sorry, he died”
“Oh, I’m so sorry! Your dad saved my life”
“What? How come?”
“Well, when we were at the Escuela Militar (Military School), the students of the last year were to go to Argentina, to march for their Independence day. Your dad wasn’t supposed to go, because he was in the penultimate year, but asked to go and as he was the best student with the highest grades, they let him go. We were on the train and had a terrible accident at Alpatacal, it was a tragedy, many died. I was unconscious and your dad took me out, I don’t know how he managed because he was small. So he saved me.”
At that moment I remembered the story my dad told me, and realized that my dad had told me the truth. Felt so guilty for not believing him!

It was a very strange coincidence, that accident is called “The tragedy of Alpatacal”, it was in 1927. To meet one of the survivors decades later, who recognized my name because it is not common in Chile, in another country, is a huge coincidence, that allowed me to know better my dad, years after his passing. I even found photos, where I could identify my dad.

#12

My wife and I backpacked around Vietnam for three weeks. One place we stayed in had a television so while I was waiting for my wife to get ready to go out one night I flicked on the TV to see what Vietnamese viewing was like. We could only get reception on a few channels and since the other two were Vietnamese talk shows I left it on a program that was doing current affairs in English. It was a strange mixture of footage from Australian programs so I recognised the presenter from TV back home.

I had the TV on for about five minutes while I waited and was about to switch it off when I looked up and saw my brother on the screen. The network was showing a program from Australia about marriage and it included couples showing excerpts of their wedding videos. My brother officiated at the wedding of one couple and so he was clearly visible on the screen for about ten seconds.

When I got back to Australia I mentioned this to my brother. He had no idea he'd been on Aussie TV let alone replayed on Vietnamese TV. I can say with almost one hundred percent confidence that my brother has only appeared on Vietnamese TV for ten seconds in the entire time they've been broadcasting, it blows me away to think that it happened to occur in the ten minutes of Vietnamese TV that I happened to be watching.

Some of the main things you can control include broad areas like your health, relationships, finances, and leisure. For example, how you approach health, diet, and fitness, how much you invest in your relationships, who you spend the most time with, where you work, how much you save vs spend, what you invest your hard-earned money in, how you spend your spare time, what new skills and crafts you learn, etc.

Though nobody is immune to bouts of bad luck or geopolitical and economic shocks on a global scale, what you can do is ensure that you are in the best possible position to absorb those shocks and recover as quickly as possible. In short, you want to be as flexible and resilient as you can. That means prioritizing your health, fostering a strong network of reliable and positive people, having some sort of financial emergency fund, and having a growth-oriented mindset where you’re constantly improving in one shape or form.

#13

When I was 8, my best friend and his family came over to bring me a Christmas present. “Guess what it is?” my friend said. I had absolutely no idea, so I just said the weirdest, most random thing I could think of. “An inflatable dinosaur,” I guessed. And it was. It was gigantic.

#14

I grew up in a small town in California, then moved to Missouri as an adult. Before moving, I spent my early 20s working in a local video store in that small town. 14 years later, I was in hospital in Missouri, having surgery to break up a kidney stone. The overnight patient care person looks familiar to me. Every time she comes in, I keep thinking I know her, but can't figure out why. She mentions she's from California, and I say I am too. Turns out, we're from the same small town, and she was a regular customer of mine. She said she'd been trying to figure out why she recognized me too.

#15

I was living in America and went for holidays to Mexico. There, I matched with a hot Mexican [intimacy] tinder in Cancun. We chatted but never met. I never unmatched her neither she did.

A year later I have noticed her 2 miles away. She was a summer student in the same town in the UK where I relocated.

I messaged her, she still didn’t want to meet.

What are the weirdest coincidences that you’ve personally experienced, dear Pandas? Do you believe more in chance or fate? What’s the biggest bout of good luck that you’ve ever had? On the flip side, what’s the longest streak of bad luck that affected you? How did both of them impact your life?

Grab a snack or a hot drink and share your thoughts in the comments below.

#16

There were a number of strange coincidences that occurred to me and others in and around the 6 month period from April 2007, when my 16 year old son Kyle passed away suddenly, and unexpectedly from a brain hemorrhage.

They began just a few weeks before he died, when the step father of his girlfriend drowned in a diving accident. He stayed with her constantly, supporting her and comforting her. On the day of the funeral Kyle travelled to the crematorium by taxi with their group of friends when he (as relayed to me separately by two people present) calmly asked them what they would do 'when' he died; my son proceeded to ask his best friend to take care of his (Kyle's) girlfriend as she would have two losses to cope with.

Almost 4 weeks later, on 15th April 2007, my son created a single page on MySpace with a profound statement about life filling the page. He also had music playing automatically when the page was opened. The song ironically was 'How to save a life' by The Fray.
The following day, Kyle died.

A month or so after Kyle's funeral, I was driving alone in my car listening to local radio. Suddenly the broadcast stopped and there was around 10 seconds of silent air; a song broke the silence, blurting out from the start of the chorus, '...How to save a life...'.

I told my husband what happened, and I was quite shaken up, but he said it was probably just a glitch by the radio station and it was brushed off.

A few days later exactly the same thing happened. I concluded that the station were having technical issues and maybe this particular song is what they always cut to.
Another few days passed and my husband and I went shopping in the car. I decided to listen to a different station and flicked through to find one we liked. No sooner had I chosen a station when the sound cut out; my husband and I both visibly jumped when the chorus 'How to save a life...' jarred the silence. We had to pull over to take in what had just happened, yet to this day we cannot explain it?

Incidentally, Kyle's best friend did indeed look after his girlfriend, so much so that they fell in love and moved in together. Alas it wasn't to be and they split up 2 years later.

There are a number of other incredulous coincidences that have occurred since Kyle passed away, but I will leave them for another post...

#17

The summer before grade 5 my family moved 2 provinces west. I was sad to leave all my friends but I was especially excited to get away from my bully, a loser named Geoff. On my first day at my new school, the teacher introduced two new students to the class. Me and my bully Geoff from two provinces away. We had both moved from the same Small Town, Saskatchewan to the same Small Town, British Columbia. What are the chances.

#18

I used to spend my summers working in the office at a church camp in northern Iowa. I became friends with some of the people who spent their vacation there, especially this one little girl who would stay for two weeks every summer. I was sort of a big sister for the two weeks her family was there.

Then came the summer I had my internship in New York City and I didn’t go to camp. I was sort of bummed that I wouldn’t see this girl.

One weekend a bunch of us decided to go to Washington DC, and I wore my staff shirt from the camp; it had very distinctive stripes across the shoulders.

We are in the Smithsonian and I feel someone touch my arm. I turned around, and it is that little girl who was my friend. She had her parents had gone from Iowa to DC for part of their vacation. They’d missed me at camp that year. But they didn’t quite believe her when she said she saw me until they spotted the stripes from across the room. .

#19

I was w/ a friend and he's chatting up this girl... I end up sitting in her car while they talk on her porch and I guess I was fiddling w/ the knobs and switches on the dash; I left everything as I found it but I must have inadvertently dimmed the console lights all the way down.

Years later I meet the same girl, end up sitting in her same car and it's night time, her dash lights are out; "have been for years" she says.

I lean over and turn the dimmer up.

#20

When I was in the early stages of dating my spouse, I brought her to my hometown to meet my parents. While looking at an old family photo album, she pointed to a picture and said "how do you know this man?" I answered, "that's my uncle" and she said, "No, he's my uncle!" Turns out her mother's sister married my mother's brother.

#21

I worked with a lady called Linda about twenty years before this happened. We got on really well and were on friendly terms, but not ultra-close. Time went by, we both went on to work elsewhere, and we lost touch.

I started my own business, and, after a few years, I had a vacancy for a new member of staff. To be honest, although Linda would have been perfect for the position, I didn't think of her at all: it was years before social media and she had fallen right off my radar.

One day, I got my bank statement. I was just about to open it when I realised that the glue on the envelope had adhered to another bank envelope. The two statements were firmly fixed together, meaning that they must have gone through all the postage procedures as one.

I carefully eased the envelopes apart, so that I would be able to put the other person's back into the post. Then I saw to whom the letter was addressed. It was Linda (I knew instantly because she actually had an entirely unique surname). I couldn't help but smile delightedly.

The bank was one of the giant high-street banks, and Linda's surname begins with an "A" (mine begins with a "P"; it's not even adjacent in the alphabet!): there are nearly 230,000 people in Brighton. What are the chances?

I wrote a little note on the back on Linda's envelope (joking that I now knew all her financial secrets), before I put it back in the post. She phoned me in amazement the next day. We got to talking, one thing led to another, and Linda ended up happily working for me for at least 10 years-until we retired.

#22

When I was around 8 years old I went to an adventure/theme park based in the UK. While playing in a castle themed wood-chip play area I climbed up one of the towers by ladder into the small room. There were around 10 or 12 of these towers around the play area. When I entered my head into the small room I was met with the sight of a huge s**t in the corner covered in flies and a pair of blue socks covered on s**t also. Disgusting and weird but yeah, these things happen.

When I was 15 I moved to another city on the other side of the country and became best friends with a kid on my street. We’re still best friends now 16 years later.

One day we were talking and the theme park came up to which my friend told me he did a s**t in one of the rooms in the castle play area when he was 8 and that he wiped with his socks. I was astonished and asked him particularly which tower and what colour were the socks. He said they were blue and described the same tower.

So I saw my future best friends s**t 7 years before I moved across the country and met him.

Weird right?

#23

This happened recently.

I went back to my alma mater to watch a football game. After the game, i was supposed to spend the night at a friend’s parents’ house. We got separated so he texted me the address - only problem was he messed up the street number. I then spent a good ten minutes trying to convince the woman that lived in the house next door that i knew her son and we were friends so she should let me inside. It was very embarrassing when i realized my mistake.

The very next day i got dinner with a different friend from college who has never met the friend i went to the game with. I’m telling him this story and i happened to mention the address. He immediately got really suspicious of my story. Turns out It was his house and his mother i tried to stay at. Everything i told that woman was inadvertently true - i really did know her son!

#24

My father was a naval officer, so we lived in a lot of places - some fairly unusual. When I was 13, we moved to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Our home was 8500' above sea-level and 600 miles from the Red Sea - not a place you'd expect to find US Navy.

Dad got to know the Marines in the security detachment at the US Embassy well, and one day Bob, the Gunnery Sergeant, came to him with an unusual request. His fiancee Carol was coming to Addis; they were to be married at the embassy. Bob wanted my dad to stand-in for her father - to give the bride away. My dad agreed immediately. In fact the reception was at our home.

A few months later Bob got orders; he and Carol left Ethiopia, promising to keep in touch. A year later, on a Thursday in September, Bob was walking into the American Embassy in Amman Jordan on his day off; he'd forgotten something. One of the on-duty Marines asked, "Hey Gunny, weren't you in Addis before you came here? Some Americans from there were in a car accident on their way back from Petra. Do you know anyone on this list?"

My name was on that list. You can read about my NDE in another thread. Bob sent the ambulance which brought me from the government aid station, in the middle of nowhere, to a private hospital, in Amman, the next day. He cabled my parents that I was seriously injured; that they needed to come at once. For the next two days, until my father arrived, every time I opened my eyes either Bob or Carol was sitting next to my bed.

Probably just coincidence.

#25

I was working in a small shop and the owner was away and the till broke, it wouldn’t power up or do anything. This was a nightmare because a typical customer would buy many small items - it was mainly crafts.

While we were still wondering what on earth to do, a guy walked in and asked if we were interested in getting a new till and would we like one on trial? He was a till salesman.

#26

I live in Canada. In summer 2001 my family went on vacation to Florida and we stayed at this hotel in Daytona Beach. One night while my dad was getting ice from the machine, our next door neighbor from home came up behind him to get ice as well. When my dad turned around and saw who it was, they were both surprised. Turns out our next door neighbors from home were staying in the room next to us at the hotel, and not only that but they had booked their room for the same 4 days that we did. Considering neither family even knew the other was going on vacation, it was a pretty amazing coincidence.

#27

This happened to my brother when we were a lot younger.

First of all, we were a poor family from eastern Europe, so we shared a PC. Both me and my brother were really into gaming and that PC was the only option to play video games.

One time my parents planned a one day trip in the forest in the mountains. My brother, who was like 12-13 refused to come, to play video games of course.

When we got back, he kinda looked frightened, but didn't say a word, he was just very happy to see us somehow, which was weird.

Later that evening he told me that he sat playing games, randomly looked at the light in the room, which was on, and said 'If demons exist, the light should go off'. He said, that in an instant, the light went off.

Pretty terrifying for a child in a christian family, but now I only think, what a f*****g coincidence ot was haha

#28

When I was 12yro, an exchange student stayed at my house for a couple of weeks, and we became friends. One day we had a conversation about how we spent our birthdays, and we found out we happened to be exactly the same age. We were born on the same day, month and year.

#29

I was around 16 and travelling with a few schoolmates for a sports competition in another city. Boys were sharing one hotel room, girls another. We were lying around mid-afternoon with the TV on and an add for Fruit Loops comes on. They looked so appetizing at that moment and it dawns on me that I have the freedom at this stage in my life, on this trip to just go and get some. I put my coat on, rally a friend to come with me down the elevator and across the street to the variety store. As I go to exit the hotel room door there is a knock. I open it to one of the girls from next door, standing at the door to ask us what's up. In her hands, is an opened box of Fruit Loops that she's snacking on.

It was not any kind of theme or discussion point prior to that moment.

#30

I still can't believe it!

Once I went for an examination. 15 mins were left for the commencement of exams. So, I thought it's better to interact with the guy seated beside. And it goes this way…

Me: Hey, I'm Anish.

He: Wait, What? Even my name is Anish.

Me: Surname?

He: George! (Anish George)

Me: Even my full name is Anish George! Wow!

He: Woho, what a coincidence? Suddenly he gazed at my screen and said, “No way, it can't happen!”

Me: Hey, what happened?

He: We share our birthday on the same date and year.

I was insanely surprised!!

Later, many similarities were revealed except he wasn't my doppelganger. Sigh..

Cheers!

When considering the unpredictable nature of life’s twists and turns, it's helpful to explore narratives that reveal the challenges of turning hopeful beginnings into reality. For readers interested in understanding the complexities behind ambitious personal projects, seeing how unforeseen obstacles arise during extensive overhauls can be insightful.

An inspiring account of tackling difficult home transformations captures this struggle vividly, and you can explore this perspective through the story of overcoming unexpected difficulties during a major renovation in this detailed look at a challenging restoration experience.

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Self-Described “Birth Keeper” Grilled By Court After Wellness Influencer Lost Her Life During Free Birth

Lei RV — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:58:37 +0000

A self-described “birth keeper” who was paid to support a mother during childbirth claimed she had “no obligation” to intervene when complications arose.

Emily Lal, who worked as an unregistered doula under the moniker The Authentic Birth Keeper, agreed to provide evidence in court on the condition that it could not be used against her in any future criminal or civil proceedings.

Lal was paid A$6,000 (approx. US$4,200) by Stacey Warnecke, an influencer who lost her life at a hospital in Melbourne, Australia, following an at-home birth.

A “birth keeper” left a court stunned after explaining why she did not seek medical help for a mother who had paid for her services

Image credits: naturalspoonfuls/Instagram

On Tuesday (June 17), the court was played a 12-minute recording of an emergency call made by Warnecke’s partner, Nathan, in which the mother could be heard struggling to breathe.

When the phone was passed to Lal, she told the operator that she was a “friend” of Warnecke.

Lal told the court that it wasn’t her role to call an ambulance for Warnecke or assess whether the mother’s health was in danger.

Image credits: 9 News Australia

“It would really depend on what the mother wanted,” the “birth keeper” said, per news.com.au.

“If she wanted support, I would call an ambulance if that’s what she wanted. I would wait for her to ask for an ambulance. If she said no, then that’s the answer.”

Emily Lal, an unregistered doula, said she had no obligation to assist a mother if complications arose

Image credits: 9 News Australia

Lal was then asked whether she thought she had an obligation to seek professional medical help when the mother “couldn’t ask.”

“I don’t think I have an obligation,” she said.

“She’s supported by her family. There’s always a husband or father. It’s up to the family. It’s not up to me to make that decision for them.

“The husband or father could do it. If they wanted to call an ambulance, I’m not going to stop them.”

Image credits: naturalspoonfuls/Instagram

Lal said many women choose “free births,” at-home births without a licensed medical professional, because they value “autonomy” and making decisions for themselves.

The court noted that Lal charged for her services, suggesting that this implied that mothers entered a “relationship of reliance” with her.

“No, I wouldn’t say they rely on me,” Lal said.

“The majority of it is just woman-to-woman support. Nothing formal, more just being there for them, listening to them, supporting them in any way they wanted.

Lal testified that she saw herself as a supportive friend rather than a medical professional

Image credits: naturalspoonfuls/Instagram

She added, “It wasn’t as prescriptive as that. It’s filling a void. A lot of these women just want a woman there to support them.”

The former podcaster insisted that she wasn’t an “expert” and that her services involve “supporting” mothers as a “friend” or “big sister.”

She stated that she talks about her own experiences with childbirth and that, despite her role as “birth keeper,” she has never misled anyone into believing she provides medical assistance.

Image credits: naturalspoonfuls/Instagram

To determine what her role as “birth keeper” implied, Rachel Ellyard, the counsel assisting Coroner Therese McCarthy, asked Lal whether she would call an ambulance in the event of a mother suffering “significant blood loss.”

“I would ask how she’s feeling but no, I wouldn’t say ‘I think you’ve lost too much blood’. That’s not my role,” Lal said.

“I don’t know what’s too much. I’m not clinically trained. It’s not my role to assess blood loss…I don’t charge specifically for the birth. When I’m at a birth, I’m attending as a supportive friend. I’m not there to make a birth safer.”

Lal insisted it is not her role to check a mother’s pulse despite her “birth keeper” role

Image credits: GoFundMe

She also said she wouldn’t check the mother’s pulse if the father was unable to do so.

The “birth keeper” told the court that she had lost all text messages exchanged with the Warneckes after changing her phone.

Lal further claimed that she cleaned and threw away the blood-stained carpet where Warnecke had given birth because that’s what the mother would have wanted.

Image credits: GoFundMe

Warnecke, 30, passed away at the hospital on September 29 last year from complications of postpartum hemorrhage hours after giving birth to her healthy son, Axel.

Paramedics reportedly arrived at her residence ten minutes after the emergency call. Inside the home, they found Warnecke lying on the floor, struggling to breathe, with her skin yellow.

Stacey Warnecke passed away in a Melbourne hospital from postpartum hemorrhage

Image credits: Frankston Hospital

The 30-year-old woman was rushed to Frankston Hospital. The hospital reportedly exhausted its supply of Warnecke’s blood type, but she could not be saved.

The court heard an ambulance was only called when Warnecke agreed to it after she began gasping for breath.

“I asked her for an ambulance three times. She started gasping and saying she couldn’t breathe,” Lal said.

Image credits: GoFundMe

“Why did you take no for an answer?” Ellyard asked.

“I don’t know how many times I need to reiterate this. There was no way I was going to call an ambulance against her wishes.”

According to Ellyard, Warnecke chose an at-home “free birth” because she had a “deep fear of birth trauma” and being forced to undergo safety interventions that she felt uncomfortable with.

“The only way to have a baby on her own terms was to look for a free birth,” the counsel assisting the coroner said.

Warnecke was reportedly charged $4,200 for Lal’s “birthkeeping” services

Image credits: naturalspoonfuls/Instagram

Lal had built a significant following among mothers before the incident. She charged A$4,000 (US$2,800) for a “full package” in 2020, raising the price to A$6,000 (US$4,200) three years later.

The woman had previously rented a birth pool to a “freebirthing” mother, whose baby passed away after birth, per The Daily Mail.

“It was a birth that had absolutely nothing to do with me, and somehow it ends up with every media report saying that the baby’s d*ath was my fault,” she said.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.

“How irresponsible,” one commenter fumed

David And Victoria Beckham’s Inner Circle Furious After Brooklyn Takes A Jab At Parents In World Cup Ad

Analice Couto — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:57:10 +0000

On June 15, 2026, Brooklyn Beckham posted a 10-second FIFA World Cup advertisement in which he seemingly took a jab at his estranged parents, Victoria and David Beckham.

This comes months after the 27-year-old accused his parents of faking family dynamics for the media and trying to “ruin” his marriage to Nicola Peltz.

Close associates of the Beckhams have now opened up on the family feud, slamming Brooklyn for making a “joke” out of the situation.

The ad also drew immense backlash from netizens, forcing Brooklyn to limit comments under the post.

“If you hate them so much, drop the name and stop profiting from association,” one user said.

An insider blasted Brooklyn Beckham for “mocking” his family situation in a “shocking” ad

Image credits: Getty/Chris Brunskill/Fantasista

The 2026 FIFA World Cup began on June 11, 2026, and is being jointly hosted across 16 cities in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

Days after the mega event started, Brooklyn shared the aforementioned advertisement, which the tags revealed was a collaboration with food delivery brand DoorDash.

Image credits: brooklynpeltzbeckham

In the video, sitting on a couch, wearing a navy blue hoodie and jeans, Brooklyn looks at the camera and says, “You’re probably wondering why I’m watching the FIFA World Cup 2026 from home… It’s a long story.”

He gets up, smirking and dropping six tickets to the World Cup on the coffee table in front of him. The screen reads, “It’s complicated. More soon.”

Friends of Victoria and David were reportedly “taken aback” by the video release amid the public family feud, which has left the family “devastated,” according to the Daily Mail.

Brooklyn Peltz, fuck off and serve your wife like you were hired to do.

“You’re probably wondering why I’m watching the FIFA World Cup from home…” Yeah, no one’s wondering, Loser. Everyone already knows you’re completely jobless, cut off, and hiding in Nicola’s basement while… pic.twitter.com/fGNIo80CEQ

— Queen Esther (@XOQueenEsther) June 15, 2026

“To do an advert based on estrangement from family as if it’s a joke when his family is devastated, and his sister and grandparents are inconsolable, is shocking,” one insider told the outlet.

“Especially from someone who claims he wants peace and privacy.”

The move did not sit well with his followers either, as many berated him for “profiting off” his parents’ name while “disrespecting” them.

Image credits: nicolaannepeltzbeckham

“Love the fact that he got the gig because he is Beckham’s son, yet shades his father in the commercial,” one person said. Another wrote, “When you have to keep having digs at your family to stay relevant.”

A few eagle-eyed fans also pointed out that some of the props used in the ad could be interpreted as digs at his family. Among them was an “unopened” letter that some believed referred to his 14-year-old sister, Harper.

Brooklyn’s team accused Victoria and David Beckham of using their daughter for publicity

Image credits: Getty/Frazer Harrison

On June 12, paparazzi clicked pictures of Harper going to Brooklyn and Nicola’s $16 million Beverly Hills mansion after attending David Beckham’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star-receiving ceremony with her mother Victoria and brothers Romeo and Cruz.

The couple was not in LA but in New York at the time, according to their Instagram stories. Harper reportedly left a handwritten letter for her brother.

Image credits: brooklynpeltzbeckham

Brooklyn’s lawyers accused the Beckhams of orchestrating the visit for the sake of publicity, saying, “The fact that photographers were in place as the letter was hand-delivered says it all – this was choreographed for the cameras.”

A friend of Brooklyn mirrored the sentiment to the Daily Mail: “Acting like this is very in character and on brand for the Beckhams, and it proves what Brooklyn has been saying all along.”

“They are digging deep into their bag of tricks with this,” the friend continued. “This option that they chose is so counter-productive. It achieves nothing other than relaying their desperation, and all that results in is that the relationship just deteriorates.”

Image credits: romeobeckham

The source also revealed that Brooklyn has had “very limited contact” with Harper since the row started to protect her from getting into a “difficult position” within the family.

“The Beckhams have never grasped the reality of what they did to him and Nicola, and that the constant campaigning against their son’s wife had consequences,” the insider added. “It’s not just what they did, it is that they didn’t stop doing it. It is very sad when a family is fractured like this.”

In response to this new allegation, a second friend close to Victoria and David told the outlet, “Nothing needed to be said at all, so to invent this nasty accusation is really unnecessary.”

Image credits: romeobeckham

“How can anyone criticize a 14-year-old who has been cut off from her brother for more than a year? It’s really a very unkind and unpleasant thing to say, but frankly, nothing is a surprise,” the Daily Mail reported a third friend of the Beckhams saying.

“Only they can answer why they are now choosing to attack the sister that they previously liked to pretend they maintained contact with,” the third friend continued, adding that the paparazzi must have been near the residence to capture Brooklyn and Nicola and got lucky with Harper.

David and Victoria Beckham have previously addressed Brooklyn’s allegations

Image credits: Getty/Darren Gerrish

On January 19, 2026, Brooklyn went public with his grievances against his family in a scathing multi-part Instagram statement.

He said that his parents told “countless lies” in the media, tried to “ruin” his relationship with Nicola Peltz, and “disrespected” her repeatedly. He said they asked him to sign away the rights to his name before his wedding, which he refused.

“They never treated me the same since,” he said.

He also said Victoria “hijacked” his dance with his wife after sabotaging her wedding dress and that she “danced very inappropriately,” which made him feel “humiliated.” At David’s 50th birthday party in May 2025, the family allegedly refused to see Brooklyn if Nicola was present.

Image credits: brooklynpeltzbeckham

A day after Brooklyn’s revelation, David addressed the situation during an appearance on CNBC’s financial program, Squawk Box.

“I have always spoken about social media and the power of social media, for the good and for the bad,” David began. “The bad we’ve talked about with what kids can access these days, it can be dangerous.”

“I have tried to do the same, I’ve tried to do the same with my children, to educate them,” he continued. “They make mistakes, but children are allowed to make mistakes. That is how they learn. That is what I try to teach my kids. You sometimes have to let them make those mistakes as well.”

Image credits: Getty/Gilbert Flores

Victoria was asked to comment about the drama in an April 16 interview with The Wall Street Journal, and she did so without explicitly mentioning Brooklyn.

“I think that we’ve always — we love our children so much,” she said. “We’ve always tried to be the best parents that we can be.”

“And you know, we’ve been in the public eye for more than 30 years right now, and all we’ve ever tried to do is protect our children and love our children. And you know, that’s all I really want to say about it.”

“It stinks of hypocrisy.” Netizens called out Brooklyn Beckham over new FIFA ad

Flight Gossip: 46 Hilarious Conversations People Caught On A Plane

Asli Akalin — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 09:45:03 +0000

There’s something about public transportation and traveling on planes that brings out some of the weirdest aspects of humankind. Passengers often run into hilarious and dramatic situations that make them wonder why their lives suddenly resemble a movie script.

Redditor u/TheRealWhoDat started an intriguing discussion when they asked internet users to share the strangest things they’ve ever overheard while flying on a plane. And though many of these are truly funny, others are quite concerning. We’ve collected the most interesting stories for your amusement, Pandas, so scroll down and we hope you enjoy them—especially if you’re currently in an airport waiting room!

Bored Panda wanted to learn more about the appeal of eavesdropping and why it sometimes makes us feel guilty, so we reached out to social psychologist Alison Jane Martingano, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay, and a blogger at Psychology Today. She was kind enough to explain to us how eavesdropping is rooted in our social nature. Read on for the insights she shared with us.

Click here & follow us for more lists, facts, and stories.

#1

There was this kid was behind me that kept telling her dad she lost her tooth and the dad was disgruntledly trying to find it, and some guy nearby said “hey kid, I hear if you lose your tooth on a plane, the tooth fairy gives you 50 bucks” to which the dad replied, “hey look sweetie, the tooth fairy decided to sit next to us on the plane!”

#2

Not something I overheard, but something semi-interesting nonetheless. I once went and got sushi with my mom and I noticed a guy and a girl at another table very clearly on their first date. They were both dressed very nice, lot of awkward laughter, the guy was being ultra gentlemanly like pulling her chair out for her. You know, just the usual stuff that tips an observer off that they were still very much getting to know each other and wanting to make a good impression. Fast forward 2 and a half years. I was boarding a plane in Atlanta, GA heading to Colorado with my brother to go skiing when I saw the same couple seated near the back of the plane. I was in the row directly in front of them, so when I put my bag up, I turned to them and said, "This is going to be super weird, but did you guys have your first date at (insert sushi restaurant)?" They both got wide eyed in shock and laughed and told me that they had in fact had their first date there. I told them I was there that night and just happened to recognize them when I boarded the plane. It was friendly and we chit-chatted for a bit, they were going skiing at the same place we were, so it was cool and all. Day 2 of our trip, my brother and I decide to go to the top of the mountain and take a few of the more advanced slopes down to the bottom. There were maybe a dozen or so people up there, and before taking off we decided to look at the trail map to make sure we were going to get back to where the shuttle could pick us up without having to hike our gear for 2 miles. About 20 feet away from us, a guy got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend and everyone clapped as she jumped up and down with excitement and said "YES!!" They took of their helmets and goggles to kiss, and it was the SAME FREAKING COUPLE!! I literally was there for their first date, met them for the first time on a plane purely by chance because I was sitting in front of them, and was present when he proposed to her. I assume they're still married because at the rate we're going, I'm probably going to run into them again if one of them decides to file for divorce.

#3

Some guy told his partner that she didn't need more yarn and every woman in earshot promptly told him how wrong he was.

According to Martingano, people are, fundamentally, social beings. "Research in social neuroscience reveals that our brains have something akin to an 'autopilot' setting, referred to as the 'default mode network.' This part of our brain becomes active when we're resting or not focused on another task. Intriguingly, it plays a significant role in processing social information, suggesting we are naturally inclined towards contemplating social situations and interactions," the UW-Green Bay assistant professor explained to Bored Panda via email.

"This includes what others are doing or saying. If we find ourselves on an airplane with little else to do, it is likely that our thoughts will default to people, people we know, or those around us. Additionally, you might find a research study of interest which indicates that, from infancy, human brains are highly attuned to human voices, demonstrating our inherent curiosity in others' conversations."

#4

I am a pilot for a major airline. Decades ago I was running for a deadhead flight home and managed to snag the last seat. A mother and young daughter were seated next to me. Halfway through the flight the mother, seeing my disheveled look after flying all day, asked if I wanted her daughters PB&J sandwich that she wasn’t going to eat. I politely declined, but she insisted. That was the best Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich I’d ever had!

#5

Nervous passenger: Excuse me. How often do planes crash? Flight Attendant: Only once!

#6

😳on my flight to Denver, a really nice woman sat beside me. We can just started chit chatting about flying and how excited we both are to get to Denver. She asked me why I was going to Denver, and I said because I’m going to see my cousin get married. Then I asked her. She told me she is going so that she can go back to her old childhood home and [end] herself. I was shocked, and didn’t know what to say. She continued on with why- that’s the house she was continually beaten in and sexually assaulted by her father staring at the age 4. She told me how much shes suffered and can’t continue on. I just sat there not even realizing I was holding her hand, and told her how truly sorry I am for her. She just half smiled and said thank you, and the pain will be over soon. Now many of you may react or feel in different ways to what I did next. I went and told the flight attendants that I was sitting next to a very suicidal person. I gave them very little detail but enough to make some action. Upon landing in DEN, the flight was met by emergency services. The lady somehow figured it out that they were there for her. She turned cold and numb said nothing but walked right to the awaiting ambulance.😵‍💫I hope she is ok🙏🏽

Meanwhile, we were curious about why some people feel guilty when they overhear someone's private conversation. Martingano shed some light on this. "Studies suggest that guilt tends to emerge when we believe we've infringed upon social norms or expectations. Although eavesdropping can offer insightful information about our social environment, it can also be perceived as a violation of these norms, particularly those pertaining to privacy," she said.

As with most things, eavesdropping has its fair share of upsides and downsides. According to Martingano, one of the potential benefits is that eavesdropping can "serve as an opportunity to refine our theory of mind," which is the foundational element of empathy. "In this context, eavesdropping can help us practice identifying norms and behavioral cues, ultimately enhancing our ability to navigate social interactions," the social psychologist explained.

Meanwhile, on the negative side of the scales, you have the discomfort or guilt that you might feel from violating social norms and someone's privacy. It's also essential to take the information you hear with a grain of salt. "It's crucial to bear in mind that overheard information may be incomplete or misconstrued, potentially leading to misunderstandings or false impressions," Martingano said.

#7

Two older guys in my row on the way to an academic conference. One of them mentions that the first thing he is doing is attending lecture on some esoteric physics topic, but before he can even finish the name of the topic, guy #2 says "oh, of course: The Effects of co-limited tesseracts on quantum membrane string interactions (or somesuch physics jargon.) Are you familiar with the topic?" Guy #1 gets half way through saying "well actually I-" before he is cut off by guy #2 who says "Because, you see, most people, even in the field are woefully undereducated in this particular subject..." and then proceeds to talk guy #1's head off for about ten minutes. Guy #1 just nots and smiles patiently through the whole exchange. At the end of his missive, guy #2 says "So, the lecture is being given by Dr. So-and-So, one of the leaders in the field, and absolute legend. Do you know his work?" And, of course, guy #1 puts on a very kind but somewhat sheepish look and says "Actually, I am Professor So-and-So: your understanding of the field is actually quite good!" Guy #2 turns red as a tomato for a few seconds but seemed to get over it quickly and they spent the rest of the flight casually talking shop about theoretical physics.

#8

Not so much what he said, but I sat next to this fully grown man that was playing plants vs zombies the whole 3 hour flight with incredible enthusiasm. Everytime a plant got eaten or he killed a difficult zombie he'd jump in his seat, pump his fist and aggressively whisper yeerrsss, YEERRSSS, gert em yessss....

#9

Flying domestic US. Two oldish ladies spent the whole flight talking about how ugly my husband is, in French. I guess they assumed no one could speak it. We can.

Any time that you take a large group of people and plop them in an area that’s cut off from the rest of the world for any amount of time, you create some friction. This can lead to positive interactions like complete strangers sowing the seeds of friendship because one of them’s reading a book the other one likes.

Or it can lead to conflict as someone wants to recline their seat but there’s not enough space, someone's listening to music too loudly… or someone’s desperate to use the bathroom right this very second and the entire plane is privy to their pain. There are a lot of emotions swirling up above the clouds, and they make for good stories once the passengers disembark at their final destination.

#10

A 5 year old boy once said "Dad, can you ask them to pull over so I can go to the toilet?". Haha

#11

Not that crazy but a fun story. Last December I was flying from Frankfurt to Chicago and was seated in the absolute last row of the plane where the staff prepares stuff so you can hear them just chatting with each other. Right before takeoff I heard one of the flight attendants say to another “is that thing **still** broken?? I swear they’ll never get around to repairing it” which is not something you want to hear on a flight. The guy next to me was like “did you hear that?” looking at me like [why?] I hope nothing major is broken. The attendants then said something like “well at least it’s not maggots this time” and me and the guy next to me were thoroughly concerned about how this flight would go. After laughing it off, I spent the next 9 hours chatting to this complete stranger about our entire lives, relationships, family drama etc. We had four glasses of wine and decided to watch the matrix together making sure to pause whenever the other person paused. I don’t think we exchanged names, but if you’re out there guy from Wisconsin living in Italy and teaching English, thanks for the most fun flight I’ve ever had!

#12

I sat in front of a kid (12-13) and his older sister, who I assume was his guardian. It was a cross-country flight, and the kid was casually talking about how he had never flown before and he is looking forward to it. He seemed likely on the spectrum a bit. It is pretty wholesome so far. Then the plane starts to move and he instantly freaks all the way out, screaming, "WE ARE ALL GOING TO F*****G DIE!!! Let me off this plane, it's a f*****g coffin, you're all going to die. It's going to be a f*****g fireball." Etc. The stewardess comes by and tries to calm him down. The sister is talking to him in English and Spanish, trying to get him to relax, telling him he is embarrassing her, she's never taking him to Puerto Rico if he keeps acting like this, etc. The guy in front of me turns around and loudly offers the kid Xanax. Finally, the hero of the story, a big Southern black lady says, "James (not his name) honey I'm gonna need you to calm down sweetie 'cause you're making all the rest of us real nervous now, ok?" Eventually, and for no noticable reason the kid relaxes and starts talking about how cool flying is. Like a switch, he starts looking out the window, saying things like, "Wow! The view is really cool! I feel safe now, everything is OK after all." Audible collective sigh of relief. Where was his sister flying him to? Astronaut camp. I think about him every time I fly.

At times, it’s impossible not to overhear a fellow plane passenger if they’re talking very loudly or even yelling. Other times, our curiosity kicks in and we start to eavesdrop on strangers’ conversations. Before we know it, our minds are filled with saucy details about their personal lives.

According to Maddie Cohen, writing for Umbrella Security Services, eavesdropping is entirely natural—it’s a primal part of us. Being aware of our surroundings is useful because it helps keep us, our loved ones, and our property safe. Knowledge really is power. And you can learn a lot by actively listening to your surroundings.

However, there’s another reason why folks eavesdrop: it’s fun! It can be incredibly entertaining to learn about the hidden aspects of people’s lives. Listening in on a conversation is basically like watching a real-time soap opera (though perhaps with slightly poorer editing…).

#13

Way too late for anyone to see this and it wasn't so much overheard as said to me: I was flying alone and this little girl (maybe 5) wandered down the aisle and said hello. I asked where her parents were and she said they died and a police officer was flying with her to take her to her aunt. My brain was not able to conjure any response at all apart from " errr.... sorry" she asked if she could look out my window so I moved over to the aisle seat and let her, me continuously looking for a cop that she might be travelling with. She then told me how her parents were driving back from a party last week and their car got pushed off the road by a truck into a tree. She was quietly crying while telling me this story. Suddenly I hear "oh there you are" from the aisle. There's a woman standing there. The girl says "hello mommy" and leaves with her.

#14

“I’ve told you many times Brenda, I am not shaving my balls! It’s my balls and I’m a man!”

#15

Delayed for some issue. I hear banging on what I assume is a luggage door underneath. After several minutes I hear “f*** it we’ll fix it in Pittsburgh” 😳

Quartz points out that eavesdropping is something all of us have done, and may actually make us better people. According to language science professor John Locke, the author of ‘Eavesdropping: An Intimate History,’ all of us have to be geared up for eavesdropping because we live in complicated social arrangements and compete with others.

“Monkeys generally are very watchful and not just by eye, but by ear. They recognize on some level that they need to know things that others are unlikely to want them to know. We can assume that the very earliest humans, or proto-humans, were like that as well,” Locke told Quartz.

The professor points out that “there is no group of people in the world, no society that doesn’t do this [eavesdrop], and that hasn’t been doing this for recorded history—even recorded art depicting people with an ear to the keyhole. It’s an extraordinarily strong motive. Some people do it all the time. Others claim that they don’t do it, but we’re all a bit interested whenever we realize that we’re about to receive a few clues about what some people who don’t want to be observed are doing.”

#16

Not that “crazy” as such but when literally about to touch down, a lady got up and started walking urgently towards the bathroom. The cabin crew immediately started saying “Madam! We’re about to land! You have to sit down!” The lady responded by screaming in a panic “I’M GONNA S**T ME-SELF!!!” They allowed her to continue

#17

I was flying to Seattle from Atlanta and there was a baby crying for the majority of the flight. The parents were doing their best and it really was not their fault, just a s****y situation. About halfway to Seattle, the man seated in front of the baby snapped and started screaming at the baby and his parents, cursing at them saying how they’re awful parents and he’s gonna beat them all (including the baby) to a pulp when they land. A flight attendant tried to ask the guy to calm down and he said he would also beat her up. The pilot had to come on and tell everyone to calm down or else we had to make an early landing. We made it to Seattle and the guy ended up having to be tackled by 4 cops at the gate because he was trying to run away after being approached by them.

#18

This isn't "crazy" but its definitely the most fun I've had on a plane: This guy introduced himself as "Caribbean Boy," chatted with nearly everyone on the plane, asked them what their plans were, complimented everyone, then started singing (Bob Marley type stuff). He had most of the passengers clapping along, everyone was smiling. Most charismatic man I ever met.

#19

On a flight from Honolulu to LA, I hear a woman say, “Why are there so many white people on this plane?”

#20

I was flying solo into Orlando. The woman next to me was so excited about her new boyfriends boat and was going on and f*****g on about how excited she was for this trip. I nodded and put my headphones in and about 1 minute later, she grabbed the cord on my headphone and pulled it out of my ear so she could blather on about it... I asked her if she had lost her mother f*****g mind.

#21

Hour long plane trip from Dothan Alabama to Atlanta. Sat in front of 2 guys arguing the validity of demon possession. One believed that it wasn't a possession per se, but merely the devil interfering with your thoughts. The other believed it was an actual demon possession, and he knew people that did exorcisms which solved the problem. It was a fascinating philosophical discussion. I was entertained for the full hour. The world is different down south.

#22

Two mormon missionaries trying to convert the sweet, naive man sitting between them the entire flight.

#23

Sitting next to a young woman and her boyfriend on a flight about to depart to San Diego. They were going for a romantic getaway, and apparently she decided to “find God” on the way to the airport. What did that mean? Well, she decided that they weren’t having anymore [intimacy] until he married her, but kissing, hand holding and other PG rated intimacy were perfectly ok. Boyfriend tried his best not to flip out, but you could tell he was very agitated. An hour later we’re in the air and they’re both awkwardly sitting there without saying a word. She gasps and starts crying rather loudly. Apparently he logged into the planes WiFi, canceled the hotel and booked himself a turnaround flight home. Pretty sure they were done as well.

#24

Pilot accidentally left the intercom switch on. The whole plane heard him say “Ooo. That’s weird”. Nothing else. Plane took off amid varying levels of anxiety throughout the cabin. I’m here to tell the tale today, so thankfully it wasn’t too weird!

#25

“There’s a bomb on the plane, it’s going to go off at (insert time here)” (as the time he said approached) “Ten, nine, eight…” The police were waiting for him when we got there.

#26

When i was 16 i was taking a flight from Oslo to Stockholm, around 45 minutes. Before lift off, the guy in front of me( around 30 years old) broke up with his gf who sat next to me……. They yelled so much and loudly during that flight I had the worst head ache when we landed. Why not just wait 45 minutes? Edit: Wow, 1k upvotes. Thank you 😊

#27

I was in window seat, lady next to me daughter on isle side She kept saying see you can see the earth is really flat from up here. No curve at all etc It was like she wanted me to go oh wow you're right B***h if you think the earth is flat i don't think you understand gravity enough but some how trust a plane?

#28

Once I was flying between two Australian cities, and there were a bunch of highly manicured young men sitting in front of me. They looked somewhat familiar, but I couldn't place them. Naturally, I spent the entire flight trying to figure out who they were, mostly by looking between the seats while they were texting their friends. I saw them write a bunch of messages to mates about how much "they didn't want to hang out with us" and "they just spend all their time in their rooms". It wasn't until we landed and I walked out into a room of screaming teenage girls - signs and selfies at the ready, that I placed that we'd been sitting directly behind Five Seconds of Summer - an Australian boy band which was reaching popularity at the time. I can only assume they were texting about the band they were touring with - a little known outfit called One Direction.

#29

My competitor's entire sales plan for a prospect I was on my way to visit. Definitely helped my pitch.

#30

passenger 1 - i cant wait to get there, this party is gonna be insane passenger 2 - did you hear, jose's estranged wife is gonna be there passenger 1 - why is she estranged? passenger 2 - because shes strange, and hes mexican

#31

“We aren’t cleared to taxi at the moment. We should be taking off within an hour.”

#32

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've been facing some strong headwinds and... it appears we burned up a *little* more fuel than we anticipated so we will be making a diversion to Fiji." This was flying from the US to Australia in a 747. I had seen on the trip map that we had been flying in the wrong direction for like 2+ hours. When we did land we landed hard and they told us that because of the landing we had to sit on the ground with the engines off in Fiji in the summer while technicians looked at the plane. When we were airborne again, our destination was fogged out and we diverted from Sydney to Melbourne. I don't ever want to spend 26 hours on a plane again.

#33

A guy coming home early to bust a cheating wife. He was on the phone with a friend/family who told him the other guy was at his house abd they didn't expect him back until the next week.

#34

I was sitting next to a father with his small child. The child wouldn't stop hopping around, until the father said "sit still and be a good boy or the plane will crash because of you and we will end up dying." Never seen a kid so quiet before.

#35

I was sat next to a teenage boy and his dad. The kid was telling his dad how much he loved the song “sexual healing” by Marvin Gaye, when the kid was finally done talking the dad just looked at him and said “you’re a virgin”

#36

"He's 17!" - my dad, to the flight attendant who was about to serve me a Jack & Coke instead of the Coke I had asked for. Killjoy.

#37

Ohh. I got this one... Passenger W is struggling to get his luggage into the overhead compartment and passenger E seated next to me starts getting upset. W's carry-on clearly doesn't fit. E speaks up saying to be careful because his luggage is there. Flight attendant comes over and says passenger W needs to check his bag. W grows increasingly disturbed, but it works out. Then W says to the flight attendant "I'm sorry, it's just that I haven't taken my medication. I get so nervous with all these body bags on board. You know I have body parts in my luggage." Passenger E turns to me and says, "did you hear that? I just have a laptop in my luggage!"

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I overheard a passenger passionately arguing with their seatmate about the correct way to eat a slice of pizza with chopsticks.

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Sat next to a college guy once who , while drinking some alcoholic beverages, started crying and telling me he killed his best friend in a drunk driving accident. Because he had good lawyers he got off wo jail time. He was sobbing and drinking. When we landed I made sure he was NOT driving.

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A small child once told me that she had to fix the plane by lifting the armrest up and down. She also called me a dog-headed boy girl. Roasted.

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I was sitting next to a dad and his daughter who was about 5. He was super cool and was chatting away while his daughter started talking to me. She was so sweet and bubbly. And gave wayyy to much information to me. She said something along the lines of " I went to my grandma and grandpas house and they're married, I wish my dad would marry my mom but they can't talk to each other but I always wish they were married like my grandma and grandpa." Her dad would have been horrified. And I was just sad.

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"Yo, are those snakes OK back there?"

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Before takeoff, after the doors were closed, a kid of about 6/7 yrs old towards the front of the plane stood up on his seat, faced the rest of the plane and yelled “we’re all gonna dieee” while his parents tried to pull him back down.

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The absolute mayhem that broke out when the captain announced that we were in fact not gonna get to take off because of night air traffic restrictions at our destination after we had been sitting and waiting in the aircraft for 2 hours already... That entire evening was just a great mess, first we had to wait for a flight attendant who was called from stand by, then we finally got to board the plane, but apparently the airline had a severe ground staff shortage so there was no one to get the luggage onto the plane, when the luggage was there we didn't have a tow, then the captain told us we wouldn't get landing clearance at our destination but that we couldn't deplane either, because, well, ground staff shortage, and the only guy who was allowed to attach the jetbridge was busy with other planes, so we sat there for another 2 hours, absolute horror for the flight attendants, cause people were raging and didn't understand that the airline employees pn the plane had nothing to do with rescheduling/ compensation/ or the reasons for this mess in general... I actually kinda enjoyed the whole thing, turned out to become a little adventure, I got to transfer to another airport in the city, spent the night there and flew out with a better airline the next morning, paid by the original airline + cancellation compensation, but man poor flight attendants

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I was on a flight and happen to glance over and see the phone of the guy sitting next to me. He was scrolling tik tok and watched some clip of a girl dancing in revealing clothing. I’m not even convinced the girl in the video was of age, but anyways, this like 50 year old dude just comments “Yummy!” and then keeps scrolling.

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A tragic airplane moment: we've been sitting on the tarmac waiting to take off for two hours. The guy in front of us fell asleep immediately upon boarding, he just woke up and started getting ready to get off the plane - he thought we'd landed. My wife broke the news to him.

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Cute & Quirky: 47 Hilarious Animal Memes And Pics To Turn Your Frown Around

Mariia Tkachenko — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 10:27:02 +0000

You know the internet has an infinite amount of entertainment lined up for you to enjoy when 5.7 million people follow an Instagram account, the identity of which revolves around one of the most basic concepts out there defined in three words: animals doing things.

That’s the whole meaning of life, isn’t it? Just doing things. Well, you can check out how many things can actually be done by animals in the list we just curated for you below.

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Animals Doing Things is an Instagram page that jokingly boasts being “rated the #1 Instagram page by every single animal.”

The page was created back in May of 2017 and has since then managed to deliver nearly 5,500 posts and amass a following of 5.7 million people.

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So, what are those animals doing that’s so dang deserving of great attention?

Well, they’re scaring kids for fun, digging in trash, stealing bird feed, chilling, playing music, forming unlikely friendships, sitting on people, doing community service, and stressing the heck out.

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All jokes and memes aside, what animals do all day is a bit of a surreal thing to think about.

In reality, wild animals pretty much walk around all day, scouting for food and taking the occasional rest in-between foraging sessions, all the while making sure they themselves don’t become food for someone else.

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And when they’re not on a food walk, they’re probably sleeping, procreating, pooping or caring for their young’uns. In other words, they’re always up to something.

So, you can imagine just how much you’re taking away from an animal when you adopt them as a pet. In essence, it takes away the foraging aspect and the fear of being foraged.

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So, instead, they substitute that time with the perks of a different life, i.e. getting all those pets, playing games with you or anyone else in the house, and occasionally destroying furniture.

If you want more specific results, strap a GoPro on a cat and let it run wild outside. A few hours if not days later, review the footage.

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As for dogs, researchers in India took to the streets to observe strays. They observed dogs when they were typically active during the day, save for midday as it was the hottest time and dogs tend to hide from the heat.

And, so, the most popular activity among stray dogs was [drum roll] inactivity, i.e. sleep, lazing and sitting around (53% of instances).

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16% of the dogs observed were just walking around, either in groups or individually.

Less than 6% of the time was spent on what the researchers called “maintenance” activities. This included grooming, scratching, drinking, garbage sniffing, pooping, and the like.

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Only around 10% of instances included dogs interacting with other animals (dogs, cats, as well as humans and even calves). Even though the context was that most people think of stray dogs as aggressive, none of the 32 interactions were observed to be aggressive. They were actually of a positive nature with the dogs wagging their tails and begging for food.

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This is your standard run-of-the-mill day in the life of an animal. Mileage may vary, of course, because human involvement in various facets of animal life has become commonplace. Like raccoons who have a daily get-together on this guy’s porch to have a wholesome feast of hot dog sausages. But, besides this, the tl;dr is that animals eat, sleep, mate, and repeat.

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So, when you’re done eating hot dogs on that one guy’s porch, why not share your thoughts and stories about anything that you’ve seen or read here today.

Or if you want even more usual stuff from animals, why not continue your virtual journey through Bored Panda.

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41 Photos Displaying Things You Will Only Ever Encounter In Europe

Asli Akalin — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 09:44:02 +0000

No matter where you live and how much of the world you have already seen, there’s always so much more out there to explore; it can take ages to properly acquaint yourself with one particular city, not to mention an entire country or a continent.

Luckily, there’s a way to familiarize yourself with what’s happening in certain territories—and quite large ones, too—in just a matter of a few seconds; and that’s the internet. Today we’re focusing on Europe and the interesting facts about it, as well as the beautiful places in it, as they have been presented by members of the ‘Europe‘ subreddit. Scroll down to find their posts—as well as Bored Panda’s interview with one of the subreddit’s moderators—on the list below and familiarize yourself better with one of the seven continents of the world.

Click here & follow us for more lists, facts, and stories.

#1 This Dog You See Helped Find People In The Earthquake Area In Turkey

“When Reddit first created subreddits, a lot of subreddits that focused on a specific place were created. Among those ones was also r/europe. The original moderators of that subreddit have long left the moderation team, and r/europe actually took some time to really pick up speed, but little by little, and urged by the need for a common place to learn news from all over the continent, it grew up to the current size of about 6 million subscribers,” one of the current moderators of the subreddit told Bored Panda, discussing how it all started.

#2 Early Morning Foggy Gdańsk, Poland

#3 Utrecht, Netherlands

“Even if this is indeed a continent of 750 million people, in more than 50 countries, talking more than 250 different languages, there are a lot of things that unite us—and that includes dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, human rights and the rule of law,” the redditor shared.

“It also includes disparaging the various European bureaucracies, whether that's EU or otherwise. And each year, we get a pan-European festival of music and kitsch and fun in the Eurovision Song Contest. And all of that is heavily reflected in the content of the subreddit.”

#4 Town Of Kiruna, Sweden

#5 Italian Alps

Discussing the influence of such online groups as the ‘Europe’ subreddit, the moderator shared that even just listening to people from other cultures is beneficial. “Finding out how much we have in common after all, even if we literally don't even speak the same language has got to be a positive influence,” they said.

#6 Strasbourg Cathedral Last Week

#7 Before And After In Łódź, Poland

#8 Reconstructed 8th Century Viking Hall In Lejre, Denmark

Nowadays, the continent of Europe is home to roughly 740 million people. According to recent statistics, the majority of them live in Russia, which is the largest country in the continent population-wise, followed by Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain respectively.

#9 Roman Mosaic Discovered Near To The Shard, London

#10 I Just Changed A Lightbulb That Was So Old It Was „made In Czechoslovakia“. It Has Been In Use Every Day Since 1990…

#11 The European Bison Population Is Recovering. Recently Scientist In Poland Observed Biggest Heard Ever Containing 170 Bisons Including 40 Calves

In addition to permanent residents, Europe is brimming with visitors from all over the world. In the first half of last year, tourism in the European Union—which entails the majority of the countries located in Europe—reached the highest level in the past decade.

According to Eurostat, during the first half of 2023, there were 1193 million nights spent in tourist accommodations, which marked an increase of 11 million compared to the same period the year before.

#12 Lone Deer Running Across The Green Fields Of Moravia, Czech Republic

#13 Old Town In Kraków, Poland

#14 Roman Mosaic Discovered In The Croatian Town Of Hvar

If you’re curious about what city in Europe attracts the most visitors, it wouldn’t probably take you a lot of guesses to get it right; it’s Paris (at least based on 2022 data).

The city of love, good food, and the language that sounds so beautiful but can be so torturously difficult to master (trying to learn the numbers alone can make you want to wave the white flag) reportedly recorded roughly 19.4 million inbound tourist arrivals. Ranking just below Paris, London and Istanbul were popular destinations, too, with over 16 million inbound arrivals each.

#15 Hiking In Switzerland [oc]

#16 A Fully Stocked Supermarket In Kherson. Despite It Being A Ukrainian Frontline City

#17 Heavy Snowfall In Athens, Greece

Coming back to languages and French being a difficult one to learn, I might have been too quick—or too biased—to judge, as in the context of other languages, it falls within the category of the easiest ones in Europe for an English speaker to learn.

Other mother tongues in the same category—which reportedly take less than 24 weeks of learning to reach speaking and reading proficiency—are Spanish, Italian, and Norwegian, just to name a few.

The second hardest, requiring roughly 30 weeks, is German, followed by Polish and Lithuanian, just to name a couple, with 44 weeks, and Hungarian and Finnish with an undetermined number of weeks, as no one would probably last long enough to master something as difficult as this.

#18 In West Belfast, Northern Ireland

#19 Pula, Croatia

#20 Finnish Family Coach (Lastenvaunu) In Inter-City Trains

While languages in countries all over Europe are indeed fascinating, not many people choose to travel to—or within the bounds of—the continent just to hear them with their own ears. The majority of visitors arguably seek to explore some of the most popular landmarks, or on the contrary, the hidden gems unknown to the masses, and gain some unforgettable travel experience.

Those more interested in the popular sites, as seen in pictures online and TV screens, likely still have Paris in their minds; and for a reason, as it is home to the iconic Eiffel Tower—undeniably one of the most recognizable landmarks in Europe, if not in the entire world.

#21 A New Flagpole At The Nato Headquarters Installed

#22 A Seaside Toilet In The Bay Of Kotor

#23 Anatolian Plate Moved 3-3,5 Meters After The Earthquake

After analyzing the data from Google searches, Tripadvisor reviews, TikTok views, and Instagram hashtags, Holiday Cars found that the iconic structure is indeed Europe’s most popular tourist destination, googled roughly 84.4 million times yearly.

Other popular landmarks on Holiday Car’s list respectively were Big Ben and Westminster Palace in London, Gaudi’s iconic architectural marvel, the Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona, Colosseum and Roman Forum in the Italian capital, Rome, and Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

#24 The Crimean Bridge

#25 Troll Hunting Season In Denmark

#26 Lithuanian Guy Rowed Across The Atlantic Ocean From Spain To Florida In 120 Days!

While visiting the places in Europe—or elsewhere in the world, for that matter—is undoubtedly more fun to do firsthand, sometimes it simply might not be possible to. But that shouldn’t deter you from working on that bucket list, as it can still happen; and before it does, make use of the internet and browse whatever it is that interests you the most.

#27 Vasco De Gama Bridge In Lisbon, Portugal. The Longest (Standing) Bridge In Europe

#28 View Of Italy From The International Space Station

#29 Sea And Football. Trogir, Croatia

#30 Ruptured Fault Line Can Be Seen In Turkey

#31 In 2014, This French Weather Presenter Announced The Forecast For 18 August 2050 In France As Part Of A Campaign To Alert To The Reality Of Climate Change. Now Her Forecast That Day Is The Actual Forecast For The Coming 4 Or 5 Days, In Mid-June 2022

#32 University Lunch In France ! (1.2€)

#33 German Ww2 Bunker That Has Fallen From The Cliff, Normandy, France

#34 France And Italy Share A Lot Of Cultural Features, But People Often Fail To Grasp How Centralised France Is Compared To How Decentralised Italy Is, At Least Regarding Population. Different Historical Paths, Different Political And Social Dynamics Today

#35 The River Loire Today, Loireauxence, Loire-Atlantique, France

#36 Third Night Of Protests In Tbilisi. Georgians Demand Resignation Of Government, Early Elections

#37 British Newspaper ''the New European'' Print Edition Cover, 23 – 29 September

#38 Lemmer, Netherlands

#39 Environmentalists In Berlin Protest Against The Government's Decision To Close Nuclear Power Plants

#40 German Police Protect Bucket-Wheel-Excavator From Climate Activists In The Former Village Of Lützerath (Source In Comments)

#41 Bulgarian Navy Detonating A Mine In The Black Sea

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42 Hilarious Memes For Anyone Who Has Ever Worked A Day In Their Life

Mariia Tkachenko — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 10:26:02 +0000

Imagine you could go to work, earn a salary, then go home and completely disconnect—and totally forget—what you do for a living, and that you even have a job. Almost like wiping your mind clean at the end of each shift. The Apple TV series Severance centers around this idea. It follows a group of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives.

It’s fictional, obviously. But interestingly, a recent survey has found that 70% of people polled said they’d be “Severed” in exchange for an annual starting salary of $100,000. HR experts say this openness to trading consciousness for compensation says a lot about how people feel about modern work…

If you feel like you want to undergo surgery so that you can forget all about work, we can’t help you there, I’m afraid. But we do have something that might make you temporarily forget you’re supposed to be working right now. There’s an online community called Work Memes. You guessed it. They share hilarious and sometimes painfully relatable memes about that "W" word that we shall not mention (for a moment, at least). Bored Panda has put together our favorites from the page, for when you need to dip out of the reality of your 9-5. We also spoke to David Rice, an HR expert at People Managing People about why so many people wish "Severance" was a real thing.

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How far would you go to achieve a perfect work/life balance? That’s the question Apple TV’s critically acclaimed series “Severance” aimed to explore. If you’ve never heard of the Emmy Award-winning show directed by Ben Stiller, here’s the synopsis, according to Rotten Tomatoes:

“Lead character Mark leads a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives; when a mysterious colleague appears outside of work, it begins a journey to discover the truth about their jobs.”

A recent survey by Human Resources platform People Managing People found that many viewers are more than intrigued to give the memory-splitting procedure a go. The poll of more than 200 workers across the globe revealed that almost a quarter (21%) of people say they ‘definitely would’ or ‘probably would’ be willing to accept the procedure—while a big majority (70%) of workers said they would be ‘Severed’ for a wage of $100,000 a year.

We asked People Managing People's Human Resources expert David Rice what inspired them to conduct the survey... "The series presents a dystopian workplace where people are willing to alter the function of their minds to be able to live separate lives from their work," he said. "This is an interesting time to present the survey, because increasingly people are feeling the drain on their personal lives that modern work presents and how the demands of serving capitalism have simply become too much for a lot of people."

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Rice believes we're encountering a time where workers are presented with ethical dilemmas in how they experience and complete their work. AI is part of that, he says, and it's making work for a lot of people less about creativity or ingenuity and more about the volume of what they can do. The HR expert tells us it's a recipe for burnout.

"We're only a few years away from the trans-humanism movement in which things like the neura-link could change the function of human's brains and how we work. Add in the politics of the day, and it kind of feel likes we're headed toward dystopian workplace tropes you might see in shows like Severance or Black Mirror," Rice told Bored Panda. "So we wanted to see where people are with this concept given so many are struggling with things like burnout, separating work and life and overall satisfaction with what they're doing for a living. I think the results really illustrate that in a unique way."

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On the topic of results, 34% of those surveyed said they would consider having the "Severance" procedure if they were paid more than $500,000. It also emerged that Gen Z is the age group most willing to undergo the procedure for money. Only 13% of 18-24-year-olds said they would not consider it. Over a third of Gen X and Millennial respondents said they either ‘definitely would’ or ‘probably would’ accept the procedure.

"There are a lot of factors at play here," says Rice. "For one, work has become increasingly demanding of people. I recently saw a poll asking how many hours on average you work and the number one answer across thousands of respondents was 50 hours."

The expert told Bored Panda that it's a significant chunk of anyone's life. But yet, for many, they're barely living pay-check to pay-check and struggling to cover the cost of living.

Rice says that when workers are giving more but getting less than what they're used to, or not the same as what previous generations experienced, it can be more than a bit demoralizing.

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The HR expert stresses that AI hasn't made things any easier for the average worker. He says, if anything, it's created more frustrations. "One is the devaluation and outsourcing to a machine... Skills that people spent years cultivating that many of them built their aspirations around. And for people who pursued a career in a field and found something that they liked, seeing those opportunities disappear or at the very least change entirely in structure, that is demoralizing. There may be jobs for them in the future, but for a lot of people, they're struggling looking at AI and seeing human obsolescence as a real challenge."

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Rice adds that there's also a lot of frustration around everything else in the world. "I think a lot of people have become disillusioned with employers, employment generally, and any sort of institution that is meant to provide value to society but which operates with another motive," he told us.

Rice says what surprised him the most about the survey results was the amount of people who named a price. "I thought that 'Definitely would not do it' would be the number one answer to the general question of if folks would do it or not, and it was," he explained. "But what was odd was that there seemed to be a breaking point where people's stance on that wasn't so firm."

He was taken aback that 68% of people indicated that some amount of money would entice them to do it, rather than answering with "no amount of money." "I think that says something very disheartening about people's sense of financial health and their overall wellbeing," Rice told Bored Panda. "There's a real disconnect there and they're not sure there's an answer to what they're experiencing, so they're not taking the severing of their consciousness off the table."

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Rice says those in HR should learn from the results of the survey. "When you have this many people willing to split themselves in half, essentially it means there's a lot of people out there who want to forget what working for you is like," he cautioned. "Additionally, I don't know if I've ever seen a piece of data that illustrates that wages haven't kept up with inflation and we need to consider what that means for people."

Rice told us that a significant chunk of respondents said they would do the procedure for less than $200k. "That's not a lot of money," he said. "That isn't even into the territory of getting some tax breaks or really solving your financial problems. The perception that it's enough to do this says to me that people aren't feeling valued and are willing to do this to overcome some basic challenges."

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Rice says he'd never advise someone to "Sever" themselves, like in the Apple series. "Your work life is a part of life and vice versa, and each presents valuable lessons that will serve you in the other," the expert explained. "Any perceived pros around work life balance or compartmentalization are lost when you don't have valuable experiences informing who you are as a person."

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Rice says the cons around "Severance" (if it were to exist) center around how this could be manipulated to ensure people work even more. "My advice would be to stand up for yourself in this life, set boundaries for your time and honor them," he told Bored Panda. "You can create what you're looking for but it will take some conscious effort."

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He adds that your part in shaping the future of work is helping organizations see clearly what's reasonable to demand of a human being. "That shouldn't be the case, but sadly, a lot of organizations aren't seeing it for themselves," says Rice. "Exodus of good talent moving in the direction of better work and life boundaries is how they learn that lesson."

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50 Cool Things You Probably Didn’t Know About The World

Asli Akalin — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 09:43:02 +0000

If it’s not educational or amusing, it likely won’t hold our attention. Many of us still have an inner child whose eyes gleam brightly every time it spots something fun or interesting, whether it’s online or in real life. We’re driven by curiosity and there’s a deep inner desire to learn more about the world. Though it can get dimmer as we age, it never truly goes away. And one way to reignite our passion for learning is by snacking on cool, bite-sized facts about science, psychology, tech, and history.

That’s where the massively successful ‘Did You Know?’ project comes in. Run by a group of ‘knowledge crusaders,’ it shares fun, interesting, and unusual facts about the world that you may not have ever heard of. And today we’re featuring some of their best posts, as shared on their Instagram page, to help spread their mission of enriching people’s lives through education.

Scroll down, upvote your fave facts, and let us know in the comments which of these you found the most surprising, dear Pandas. Oh, and if you feel that you’ve fallen in love with the ‘Did You Know’ project, be sure to follow them on social media for their freshest updates.

We reached out to the 'Did You Know?' team and a representative was kind enough to answer Bored Panda's questions. We also got in touch with Steven Wooding, a member of the Institute of Physics in the UK, part of the Omni Calculator team, and the creator of the Weird Units Converter, to have a chat about how scientists should approach things when there are competing interpretations, embracing mistakes, and staying passionate about your chosen subject. Read on for what they both told Bored Panda.

More info: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | DidYouKnowFacts.com

Click here & follow us for more lists, facts, and stories.

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A member of the 'Did You Know?' team told Bored Panda that they started the project over a decade ago, all the way back in 2011. The goal was to make it fun and interesting to learn new things that people might not know about the world around them, no matter if we're talking about the past, present, or the future.

"Specifically, we know if we can take something complex or long but filter it down to something snackable we have accomplished our goal," they said.

"It might sound cheesy, but we want to make learning fun," the 'Did You Know?' team representative told Bored Panda that, above everything, they put an emphasis on this key thing.

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They also revealed a bit about their approach to the research behind each fact.

"We focus heavily on the research and fact-checking when creating our content and hold high standards to finding and verifying sources," they explained. "No one is perfect, but we have reviews by writers, editors, and publishers before we publish to ensure we are doing our best to not misinform our readers."

Meanwhile, Steven, from the Omni Calculator project, shared his thoughts about how scientists 'should' behave if they come across two or more competing interpretations of the truth.

"Probably the main factor when deciding on which theory is closer to the truth is the amount and quality of the evidence for each interpretation," he told us, adding that scientists have to put in the work and immerse themselves in their field. Staying up to date with the newest information and findings is critical.

"You have to be prepared to keep up with the developments in a contested field of science, as new evidence may favor one or the other over time. And therefore, you need to keep an open mind in these areas."

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We wanted to get Steven's opinion on how to embrace failure, something that most people probably don't enjoy. Mistakes are great opportunities to learn, but many end up feeling embarrassed and miss the lesson. Reframing failure as trial and error might help some people shy away from failure less.

"One very powerful way of learning a new skill is by trial and error. Take learning to ride a bike for example. We fall many times and make numerous mistakes before we finally get it and we can ride error-free. So the next time you make a mistake, reframe it as part of the trial and error learning process and normal part of it," the member of the Institute of Physics in the UK told Bored Panda.

As for keeping our passion for our beloved subjects burning bright over the years and ups and downs, Steven suggests taking a look at what's fresh and new in your chosen subject. It's bound to rekindle any curiosity or passion you feel you may have lost.

"One good way is to keep up with the latest news happening in your subject area. You will be exposed to all the new developments and realize that the subject is progressing past what you know and learn new things," he said.

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The team behind the ‘Did You Know?’ project states that their main purpose is to “enrich the lives of others by providing fun and interesting ways to learn about the world —past, present, and future—what lies within it, and what’s been discovered beyond it.”

According to them, they provide new ways of “observing and understanding life” in the massive stream of information that many of us have access to at our fingertips.

Above all, the ‘Did You Know?’ team strives for quality, reliability, and excellence. They do a ton of research to make sure that what they’re sharing is as close to the truth as it can be.

“We know you want more than just random, meaningless facts, so we work very hard to live up to your expectations. Whether you’re interested in giant tarantulas who have tiny-froggy pets, lifelong couples who die holding hands, everyday people striving for social justice, the fact that magenta doesn’t exist, or the reason why your diamond engagement ring is the result of a decades-old marketing ploy and holds no actual monetary value, ‘did you know?’ has something for everyone,” the team writes that they try to provide something interesting for everyone, no matter who they are.

No, really, they’re aiming to make everyone happy: “the knowledge junkies, the trivia addicts, the know-it-alls, the need-to-know-mores, the don’t-know-enoughs, the young, the old, the incorrigible, the bored, the eager, the downtrodden, the underdogs, the lovers, the dreamers, and you.” It just goes to show that they really do believe that everyone’s a fan of something. No matter how jaded or cynical.

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They also aim to bust myths and slay rumors, simplify science and remember forgotten history, showcase ordinary folks doing extraordinary things. And they’re not afraid of owning up to their mistakes (because nobody is perfect and we all make ‘em from time to time).

“We are against Internet rumors, recycled myths, and the spreading of fake news, therefore we cite credible sources for all our facts and credit the talented artists, photographers, and writers whose content and images we use to help further illustrate our educational information,” the ‘Did You Know?’ team explains that they invite opinions on comments on the facts they share.

The ‘Did You Know?’ team has nearly 5 million followers over on Facebook, and another 647k fans on Instagram. Our guess is that the great mix of information and entertainment works wonders to draw in the crowds and turns people into loyal followers.

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Media expert Mike Sington previously explained to Bored Panda that it’s vital to find reliable sources to rely on and to be careful what you repost on social media.

"Red flags to watch out for that a claim may be fake: it's outlandish, it's too good to be true, you haven't seen the claim anywhere else, you've never heard the source, the source isn't reputable, you can't find two other sources making the same claim, your gut tells you, 'this can't be true,'" he shared with us some of the signs that a fact or claim might not be true.

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"The rise of social media has decreased the reliability of information because misinformation can spread so quickly before it can be corrected," Mike pointed out that the speed of sharing information has also made the spread of fake news that much quicker.

One quick way to check the reliability of a fact or a course is to start off with a simple Google search. "Do this and think before reposting or you may be contributing to the problem. Amplification doesn’t make a claim true or accurate," he said that just because something is repeated a lot doesn’t make it true.

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According to Mike, some of the most trustworthy sources out there are the Associated Press, Reuters, and The New York Times. "They employ fact-checkers and editors that ensure the information they post is correct. They’re basically doing the research and homework for you. There are literally too many online sources to list that can’t be trusted and should be avoided. Anyone can basically post anything they want… proceed with caution," he told Bored Panda.

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"Our attention spans have been reduced to mere seconds at a time because that’s the way information and entertainment is fed to us now. People get tiny bite-sized bits of news by scrolling a Twitter feed, they entertain themselves by scrolling quickly through Instagram and TikTok. It’s creating a habit that doesn’t have to be.”

He continued: "The good news is there’s plenty of long-form entertainment and news available, you just have to seek it out. I believe the benefit is worth it. I’ve discovered it improves your ability to focus, it’s more calming, you retain more information, and it gives you a more balanced and nuanced view of the world."

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Meanwhile, Joseph M. Pierre, a professor of psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said that countering misinformation is “a huge challenge” and isn’t as effective as we’d like it to be because it only presents accurate information as an alternative to false beliefs.

“In my opinion, understanding conspiracy theories and other false beliefs is best understood as a byproduct of mistrust and misinformation. If people don’t trust authoritative sources of information, they aren’t going to replace their false beliefs with facts and we’re not going to be able to agree on what facts are. That’s where we often are these days,” the professor told Bored Panda.

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In his view, ‘inoculation strategies’ can help beat misinformation to the punch. However, the sad fact is that, online, misinformation usually finds its way to people before accurate info. What’s needed is a “retool from the bottom up” in the way people are taught, putting more emphasis on analytical thinking, data reasoning, and media literacy, starting in grade school.

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