"Your Old Scars Can Just...Open": I Was Today Years Old When I Learned These 49 Dark, Disturbing Facts On The Internet - BuzzFeed

Hi, I'm the Latine Editorial Lead at BuzzFeed and cover a little bit of everything, from quizzes and true crime to celebrities and pop culture.

Spooky season is in full swing, so how about some dark, creepy facts? Here are 49 that people online shared recently (fact-checked, of course!) that sent chills down my spine:

"When climbing Mount Everest, there's a point nicknamed ' Rainbow Valley ' or 'Rainbow Ridge' because it's absolutely littered with the bodies of people who attempted to make the climb. The combination of the extremely cold temperature and the bright snowsuits means that they've become a colorful but never-rotting landmark."

Rainbow Valley is right below Everest's peak and is in the mountain's Death Zone, which begins at 26,247 feet above sea level. Those who don't survive the trek are left where they fell, as rescue is impossible in the conditions.

"On very rare occasions, a corpse can ‘give birth.’ If a pregnant person dies, then certain results of decomposition like bloating and gas can force the fetus out of the womb, giving the illusion that the corpse has given birth."

This rare phenomenon is known as Coffin Birth. There have been a few documented cases in history in which a smaller set of bones were found between the legs of a deceased mother who'd been buried. You can read more about it here.

"During the 1992 to 1996 siege of Sarajevo, wealthy foreign individuals allegedly paid Bosnian Serb forces for the opportunity to shoot and kill civilians. Wealthy individuals, reportedly from countries including Italy, the United States, and Russia, allegedly traveled to the hills surrounding Sarajevo and used sniper rifles to shoot at the besieged population. They were called 'sniper tourists' or 'weekend snipers,' and there is a documentary about it titled Sarajevo Safari."

— u/indictmentofhumanity and u/Available_Orange3127

Different rates were supposedly charged to kill men, women, or children, per the BBC.

"During the Challenger space shuttle disaster, the flight data shows that the astronauts turned on their internal oxygen supplies after the explosion occurred. So, it's likely that some of them were still alive when they hit the water."

"Big Bird was also supposed to be on that shuttle until they realized it would be a logistical nightmare to fit him in there, so the plan didn't come to fruition. Somewhere in the infinite universes, Big Bird fucking died on national television in front of millions of children."

According to NASA, at least three of the emergency breathing packs were turned on following the Challenger's explosion, leading them to believe that some of the crew remained conscious for at least 10 seconds following the disaster and were coherent enough to understand the severity of what was occurring. Reportedly, the final word they heard from the crew — which was uttered by the shuttle's pilot, Michael J. Smith, 73 seconds after they took off — was a simple, "Uh oh."

" The Boötes Void — a massive area of space where around 2,000 galaxies should be, but only 60 exist. No one knows why... Its nickname is 'The Great Nothing.' Almost all light from that section is either from galaxies directly in front of or directly behind the void."

— u/meddy12 and u/peezle69

The Boötes supervoid is the largest void in the known universe, per the BBC. "Holes" in the universe like the Boötes Void aren't uncommon — they make up about 80% of the universe that we know of, and our very own Milky Way galaxy exists in one called the KBC Void. Boötes stands out, of course, for its massive size — 330 million lightyears across.

"In 1975, the CIA had a heart attack gun. It killed people, and then the dart would disintegrate, making it look like a heart attack."

This Cold War-era weapon was part of Project MKNAOMI, which focused on creating biological weapons. It utilized shellfish toxins to make an undetectable poison, which was frozen into a dart shape and was noiselessly shot at the victim. The frozen dart would melt, poisoning the victim and killing them within minutes, with only a tiny red dot left in its wake.

"It wasn't until 1987 that the American Academy of Pediatrics declared it unethical to operate on newborns without anesthesia. Until surprisingly recently, the medical community felt it would be dangerous to give infants anesthesia and/or believed that they didn't feel pain."

Prior to '87, newborns were simply given muscle relaxants to prevent them from moving during procedures, but not pain medication.

"The leading cause of death for pregnant women in America is murder."