People are afraid of a lot of things. Fear rules some of their lives, and some of those fears are rational, like paying taxes even when you give a gift, your company closing and you losing your job, or even how your will afford to send your kids to college.
But with the approach of Halloween, our focus shifts to things scarier than Britney Spears raising children: here are 10 everyday things you should be scared of.
- Exploding Toilets
A boy went into the bathroom and did a number two. Thirty seconds to a minute after flushing, he heard an explosion from his room. Good thing he didn’t stop to wash his hands, as shards of porcelain penetrated the walls of the bathroom.
Several other toilets exploded and Flushmate recalled 2.5 million units. So if you plan to buy a toilet powerful enough to handle your heavy business, think again. Or eat a higher fiber diet instead.
- Onery Ovens
One couple’s oven appeared to be possessed, and replacing the oven did not seem to help, nor did replacing the control panel. It would turn on randomly, and turn off as well. An insulator was installed and solves the issue, which was apparently interference from a nearby radio tower..
- Message from the Kitchen Appliances
In 2012 a clip went viral from the Today Show in 1984, where a woman believed her toaster was haunted, and spoke to her in an evil voice. Another man had a microwave that would beep and flash three sixes on the screen. He never found out why, so just disposed of the appliance after a few months.
- Alien Encounters
In 2007, a man in Cardiff, England contacted the Ministry of Defence, claiming his car, tent, and dog were all taken by aliens when he was out camping with friends. Apparently the items were returned, and other making his own strange attempt to probe other life forms, the dog was unharmed.
Maybe camping near Stonehenge is not such a great idea.
Photo Credit: UK Ministry of Defence
- Giant Sink Holes
A giant sink hole near Perm in Russia has tripled in size over the last ten months. Many believe the sinkhole is due to mining in the area. While the holes appear to be common in the area because of potash mining operations, that doesn’t mean your neighborhood is immune. A large sinkhole appeared in Florida not that long ago, and the likelihood is you have mining of some sort relatively close to your home.
So if that divot in your lawn or the hole your dog dug to get under the fence starts growing, you may want to evacuate before it gets bigger than Kanye West’s ego.
Photo Credit: International Business Times
- Strange Weather Phenomena
In 1992. a whirlwind lifted several small children in China, and deposited them on a set of sand dunes twelve miles away, unhurt. So before you tell your kids to go fly a kite, think about the wind direction and figure out if you can give them a list to pick up at a nearby store, just in case.
- Unexplained Fires
A small village in Italy has been experiencing unexplained fires for a several years. It all began in January 2004, when, without any apparent cause, appliances (including a cooker and a vacuum cleaner) in several houses began to catch fire. Wedding presents, random pieces of furniture, and even a water pipe erupted into flames. In response, the local electric company tried cutting off the power supply to Canneto, but that made no difference. The village was evacuated and a through investigation was conducted, but the experts and authorities simply failed to locate the problem.
Photo Credit: Oddity Central
The fires appear to be caused by a strange electromagnetic phenomena which some believe to be alien in origin. Scientists are baffled, and after a period of only sporadic fires after residents returned to the area in 2007, the village was again evacuated in September of last year.
So if furniture and other appliances in your neighborhood or city begin to burst into flames, you might want to sell your home quickly, before property values tank due to evacuation, not to mention the certain spike in the cost of homeowner’s insurance.
- Earth Divots
If you are a poor golfer like me, you know a lot about divots. But in North Central Washington state, a divot eighteen inches to two feet in depth, ten feet long and two feet wide was picked up and deposited 73 feet away from the place where it came from.
Unless Zeus was playing a divine nine holes, scientists really have no explanation. A mild earthquake nearby but scientists say that isn’t likely to be the cause. So next time you are on a golf course and forget to replace your divot, take comfort. Apparently the gods or Mother Nature also don’t replace theirs.
- Naked In-Laws
A man in Michigan recently returned home to find his wife, completely naked, in bed with her own father. The man woke up his father in law, and they fought. The younger man was stabbed in the back, and his beloved in-law took off with his car.
His father in law was staying with the couple after being released from prison, and was later arrested. So next time you think you have it rough with your in-laws, just be thankful they don’t stab you in the back. Literally.
- Lost Connections
It may not be true, but as difficult as it is to believe one family in a local apartment complex claims to have lost their internet connection for sixteen hours. Fortunately before they could reconnect on a personal level, service mysteriously returned.
The couple, who wishes to remain anonymous, said the outage may have been related to an unpaid bill, and restoration could have occurred upon payment at a local office of their provider.
So whenever you are afraid and think things couldn’t get any worse, just think of all the everyday things that could go wrong.