studiotriggerfan397

[studiotriggerfan397]

"Speak what you think now, in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. -- 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' -- Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing." - Ralph Waldo Emerson ("Self-Reliance")

[studiotriggerfan397]

Fun Fact:

The original Little Red Riding Hood story is darker than you could ever imagine.

Most people are familiar with the Grimm Brothers version where the Big Bad Wolf gobbles up Little Red and Grandma and is promptly sliced open by a huntsman who saves the day and gives us a happily ever after. Believe it or not though, for once, the Grimm Brothers version really toned the story down. In the French version by Charles Perrault, there is no rescuer. The wolf devours the grandma and then tricks Red into climbing into bed with him and devours her too...and the story simply ends there!!

The darkest variant has got to be the Italian version though, known as "The False Grandmother". In this variant, the wolf is replaced with an ogress who eats some delicious grandmother before saving what's left of her in the pantry. Then when Red gets there, the ogress actually tricks her into eating her own grandma's remains. She says the flesh is animal meat, the blood is wine and that her teeth were dried beans.

[studiotriggerfan397]

Fun Fact:

In Disney's Hercules, Hades (Lord of the Underworld) has two minions who assist him with his evil schemes, Pain and Panic. But his Underworld entourage in Greek mythology is a lot more intimidating than those two imps.

For starters, there was Thanatos. He personifies death itself and according to some poets, grants a peaceful, painless transition from the mortal plane to the spiritual one.

The female death spirits, called "Keres", were not so kind. They were the goddesses of violent death, and they would watch over battles like vultures, waiting to sink their teeth and talons into the men fighting below.

The Keres are comparable to the Erinyes or Furies. But these three goddesses of retribution weren't so fixated on consuming human flesh as they were punishing those who went against the natural order by committing murder and offenses against the gods.

Charon and Cerberus deserve some spotlight as well. If it weren't for the boat man, deceased souls would have no way to cross the rivers Acheron and Styx to the Land of the Dead. And if it weren't for Cerberus, those lost souls may try to return to the Land of the Living.

[studiotriggerfan397]

We've all seen adaptations of fairy tales where "True Love's Kiss" is the key to conquering evil, but in the original tales...the solutions are far more random and usually pretty messed up.

For instance, in the story that inspired Sleeping Beauty called "Sun, Moon, and Talia", there's no heroic prince who slays a dragon and rescues the princess. Instead, there's a king who forces himself on Sleeping Beauty while she's unconscious, impregnates her, then after she gives birth in her sleep, one of the twins tries to nurse from her finger and sucks out the splinter from the cursed spinning wheel.

In the Grimm Brother's Snow White, the prince falls in love with her corpse and buys it off the dwarves. Then, a few weeks later, one of the prince's servants gets tired of hauling the glass coffin around. So he opens it up and takes out his frustration by smacking Snow White in the back, dislodging the poison apple that was stuck in her throat.

The best example might be The Frog Prince story though. In the original tale, the princess doesn't kiss the frog to break the spell. She actually throws him against the wall and in another version, she literally chops off his head.

What did I tell you?

[studiotriggerfan397]

Fun Fact:

Disney's Tangled is nowhere near as dark and twisted as the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale that inspired it, but you'd be shocked as to how much they have in common.

In Tangled, old Mother Gothel uses the Sundrop Flower's healing magic to keep herself young, until the flower is used by the royal family to heal the pregnant queen. In the original Rapunzel story, her mother wasn't a gravely ill queen. But she was having pregnancy cravings for a plant called a "rampion", which their next-door neighbor, the witch, had a garden full of. The witch caught the husband when he tried to steal the plant and made him swear to give her his baby as repayment. While in the movie, Gothel outright abducted Rapunzel because the healing powers had been transferred to her hair.

And ironically in the movie, Rapunzel's hair being cut leads to Gothel's demise. But in the fairy tale, Gothel cuts it herself as punishment for Rapunzel having a male visitor and then she abandons her in the wilderness to die alone and pregnant.

[studiotriggerfan397]

Fun Fact:

In Disney's Hercules, Philoctetes claims to be a great trainer of heroes, having brought up the best "yeuseus" to have ever lived. But in ancient Greek myth, this role actually belonged to Chiron.

Instead of being a satyr, Chiron was a centaur who mentored heroes like Odysseus, Perseus, and Theseus. He was also the one who taught Jason how to sail and he taught Asclepius everything he knew about medicine, which ultimately led to the boy being made the god of the healing arts. There's also his relationship with Achilles. After hosting the wedding of Achilles' parents, he received custody of him when the couple split up and he raised Achilles to be a master of medicine, music, archery, hunting, gymnastics, and prophecy.

So who's the real Philoctetes? Well, instead of being a trainer to heroes, HE was a hero himself. A highly skilled archer who fought in the Trojan War. And get this, his only connection to Hercules (or Heracles) is that he lit the funeral pyre that killed him when he was poisoned with the Hydra's blood.

[studiotriggerfan397]

Fun Fact:

The Annabelle doll from The Conjuring Universe is supposedly based on a REAL haunted doll.

According to famous paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, the real-life Annabelle doll can move, leave handwritten notes, has blood randomly appear on it, and can even kill people. The original owner of the doll, a nursing student named Donna, claimed the doll could and did do terrifying and unnatural things when she owned it and that's why she let it go with the Warrens.

But what do you think? Was Annabelle really possessed or was it all made up? Or could there even be a scientific explanation, like human fear and hysteria?

[studiotriggerfan397]

Fun Fact:

An Irish farmer recently stumbled on a seemingly untouched ancient tomb.

The farmer, from County Kerry, was doing land improvement work on the Dingle Peninsula when he overturned a large rock that revealed a hidden passageway underneath lined with stones. The National Monuments Service and National Museum of Ireland were called in and determined the passageway is a tomb dating back between 2000 B.C.E and 500 B.C.E. Experts are calling the tomb a unique find as it seems to be largely in its original state and contained human remains, but it's worth mentioning that the Dingle Peninsula is known for its rich archaeological finds with around 2,000 ancient monuments standing in the area.

Archaeologists are theorizing this tomb may have been a ceremonial site with burial elements and it could be a chamber tomb from the Bronze Age, or an underground mausoleum dated to Ireland's early Christian period.

[studiotriggerfan397]

Fun Fact:

One day, the Sun and Moon will be swallowed by wolves...well, at least according to Norse myth they will be.

In Norse mythology, the Sun is personified by a woman named "Sól" and the Moon is personified by a man named "Máni". Sól pulls the Sun behind her chariot, and Máni pulls the Moon behind his, thus giving us the passing of time. But their journey through the sky isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Snorri Sturluson tells us that Skoll and Hati, the two wolf children of Fenris, are chasing them, always nipping at their heels. And it's foretold that when Ragnarok arrives, Skoll and Hati will catch up to their prey and devour them.

Some sources do disagree with Snorri and contend that the Fenris Wolf will be the one who eats the Sun and Moon when it breaks out of captivity, not the other two wolves. But no matter what version you prefer, Sól will have a daughter (also named "Sól") that will take her place to pull the Sun across the sky, continuing the passage of time.

[studiotriggerfan397]

Fun Fact:

Disney Villains have a reputation for being killed off in astonishingly brutal ways. But they've got nothing on the fairy tales that inspired them.

Take Snow White's Evil Queen as an example. She tries pushing a boulder down a slope to crush the dwarves who are pursuing her, but she's apparently having such a blast while doing it that she can't help but laugh like a maniac. This gives Zeus the perfect opportunity to intervene. He strikes the cliff she's standing on, sending her falling to her death below...followed by the boulder to smush out what life is left. Now that's pretty dark, but quick and painless compared to her fairy tale counterpart.

In the Brothers Grimm version, the Evil Queen actually attends the Prince's wedding but she doesn't know it's Snow White he's marrying, and the moment she arrives, she's seized by guards who strap red hot iron shoes to her feet. Then, in front of all the wedding guests, she was ordered to dance in said shoes until her body couldn't take the pain anymore and she dropped dead.

See what I mean?

[studiotriggerfan397]

Fun Fact:

In Disney's Hercules, we see Zeus get immobilized by the Titans attacking Olympus. But did you know that actually happened in ancient Greek myth? Only instead of being entombed in fire and ice like the movie shows, he endures something MUCH more painful.

When the Earth goddess Gaia sent her youngest and most monstrous son Typhon to slaughter the Olympians as punishment for their treatment of the Titans, literally all of the gods fled to Egypt in fear besides Zeus (and sometimes Athena). Left to defend his kingdom alone, Zeus fought as hard as he could against the brobdingnagian beast. But Typhon overpowered the king of Olympus and tore out his sinews, leaving him limp and nearly lifeless on the ground. It wasn't until the god Pan stole back Zeus's strength that he could fight again and ultimately defeat Typhon. After which, he chained the monster underneath Mount Etna where he was never heard from again.

...Although he was known to cause the occasional disturbance.

[studiotriggerfan397]

Did you know that in Southeast Asian folklore there's a flying bat monkey hybrid that abducts children?

It's called the "Orang Bati" and it's described as being four to five feet tall with reddish skin, large black leathery wings and a long leathery tail. Said to inhabit the island of Seram in Indonesia, the Orang Bati is a nocturnal creature with a diet that mostly consists of small, adorable children who are easy to pick up and fly away with. It's raids take place in the darkness of night and before descending into the villages and cities that border it's territory, the airborne attacker will emit a shrill wail that warns any child who hears it that it's already too late to escape. The residents of Seram insist that the creature is a flying monkey, while outsiders have suggested it's more than likely a giant bat. However, some researchers have stated that physical descriptions (including the shrill wail it lets out before a hunt) match pterosaur physiology.

[studiotriggerfan397]

Fun Fact:

Archaeologists have found some of the oldest artistic depictions of domesticated dogs.

In recent years, archaeologists have uncovered more than 1400 rock carving panels in Northwestern Saudi Arabia depicting ancient hunting dogs. All of the dogs depicted are medium in size with upright ears, short snouts and curled tails. They look a lot like the modern Canaan breed, a largely feral breed that roamed the deserts, indicating these dogs were chosen based on their natural ability to navigate the surrounding terrain.

The carving showed dogs taking down animals like wild donkeys, ibexes and gazelles, and a few even depict them leashed to the humans they're hunting for. These carvings are an estimated eight thousand to nine thousand years old and may even be older than the Iranian pottery that was previously labeled as the oldest art of domesticated dogs. As the carvings are studied more, we should have a more concrete idea of the culture that left them behind.

[studiotriggerfan397]

Fun Fact:

Humans have been astral planing a LOT longer than we thought.

Researchers analyzed hair strands from a burial site in Menorca and detected scopolamine, ephedrine and atropine. Atropine and scopolamine are naturally occurring substances in the nightshade plant family that cause hallucinations and altered sensory perception, while ephedrine is a stimulant taken from certain shrubs and pines that boosts excitement and physical activity. Before this discovery, we'd only found indirect evidence of psychedelic use in ancient cultures. The cave that the analyzed hair strands were taken from was first occupied around 1600 BCE and featured a chamber that was used as a funeral space until around 800 BCE. It's estimated that 210 individuals were laid to rest here, but only certain people had their hair dyed red, placed in containers and sealed in a chamber further back in the cave. We don't know what made these individuals so special that their hair had to be preserved but we are certain that a major psychedelic discovery was just made in Spain.

[studiotriggerfan397]

Fun Fact:

If you thought Maui was a jerk for throwing Moana in the ocean, then I wouldn't dig deeper into the mythology. Because Maui kills Moana in the original myth.

Well, that's not totally true. Moana from the movie is a completely original character. However, she does share a name with a Polynesian water goddess called Moana-Nui-Ka-Lehua, who could take the form of a fish or mermaid.

The legend goes that one day Maui was fishing in Moana's domain which she didn't appreciate and because she's a troublemaker like him, she tries to pull a prank on him by taking his magical fish hook and sticking it into a submerged rock. Well, after Maui realized what happened, he was furious and not one to be out pranked, he pursued Moana in revenge. After catching up to the goddess, he grabbed her by her tail and pulled her onto the shore where she slowly but surely suffocated and died.

[studiotriggerfan397]

Fun Fact:

Medusa the Gorgon had babies. Yep… 2 of ‘em.

Mere moments after Perseus cut her big ugly head off, her two children by Poseidon exploded out of her neck stump. One of them was Chrysaor, who went on to father the three-headed giant Geryon whom Heracles killed while completing his 10th labor. The other was the famous winged horse Pegasus. In myth, he assisted the hero Bellerophon in slaying the Chimera, a fire-breathing lion/goat/snake hybrid. By flying just out of range of the Chimera's attacks, Bellerophon was able to weaken it with his bow and arrows before brutally killing it with a spear down the throat. It was an epic battle and finding that his pride had grown 10 times the size, Bellerophon decided to ride Pegasus directly to Mount Olympus, an arrogant move that Zeus punished him for by sending a gadfly to bite Pegasus. This caused the horse to buck Bellerophon off, sending him crash landing into the Earth's surface, dead. Meanwhile, Pegasus was warmly welcomed into Zeus's home and given a constellation to honor him.

What a good boy.

[studiotriggerfan397]

Some of you have probably wondered "Where did the Easter Bunny come from and why does a rabbit give out eggs?"

The exact origins of the Easter Bunny are unclear, but it's believed to have originated in Germany during the Middle Ages. The tradition probably stems from the pagan festival of "Ēostre", which honored the goddess of the same name and was celebrated during the spring equinox in the form of feasting and fertility rituals. Ēostre was eventually co-opted by Christians and it was rebranded as a celebration of Jesus's rebirth.

Following this theme of new life, rabbits and hares (which have long been seen as symbols of fertility and new life, as they often give birth to large litters in the spring) became the holiday mascot. And as early as 1682, it became a tradition for the "Easter Hare" to make the rounds and judge whether children were good or bad, similar to Kris Kindle. If they were good, they'd be given gifts like toys and colored eggs, eggs being another symbol of new life. German immigrants brought the tradition to the United States in the 18th century, where it became popularized and eventually spread to other parts of the world.