Myth: Rat Snakes are poisonous. Fact: Rat snakes are Non-poisonous, rodent-eating Reptiles.
Myth: Rat Snakes mate with cobras. Fact: Rat Snakes or any other snakes will not mate with any snake out of its own species. Cobras eat other snakes so a mating between a Cobra and a Rat snake is not possible.
Myth: Snakes drink Milk. Fact: Snakes drink water and do not drink milk, neither can they digest it properly. They are reptiles and have no association with milk, only mammals who have mammary glands can produce milk and thus a liking for milk in non-mammals is unlikely. But in a crises when severely dehydrated, a snake might drink any liquid available.
Myth: Some Snakes grow a beard as they get older. Fact: Snakes are reptiles and do not have any hair on their bodies let alone a beard. It is impossible for them to have beards for their bodies do not have any ability of growing hair.
Myth: Snakes carry a diamond in their forehead. Fact: It is impossible for a Snake to carry anything in its head. The mythological status attached with a Snake in India is probably responsible for this myth.
Myth: Snakes remember you if you hurt them. Fact: Snakes are not vengeful animals and do not have the necessary intelligence to remember people or places for getting revenge. Hindi Movies (Bollywood) have a lot to do with the creation of this myth.
Myth: If one Snake is killed its partner will trace you (no matter wherever you are). Fact: Snakes are not vengeful animals and are not interested in chasing or tracing people who hurt them. They do not have the necessary memory and intellect to remember people to trace them back. Neither do snakes have a feeling of camaraderie nor do snakes pair for life. Once again Bollywood is responsible for this myth.
Myth: Flying Snakes can pierce somebody’s forehead or put out their eyes. Fact: A Flying Snake does not actually fly but only glides through the air by extending its ribs and pulling in the underside. It can glide a distance of 330 feet or 100 metre. It has an elongated head, which gives the scary feeling that it can pierce a person’s head or eyes.
Myth: Snakes found in India can spit venom. Fact: No Snake found in India can spit venom. Only Spitting-Cobras can spit venom and they are not found in India.
Myth: There are “Two- headed” snakes. Fact: The Snake-charmers spread the myth about the Two-headed Snakes only to maintain the mythological status of the snakes in India so they can continue attracting large crowds to their Snake shows. In reality nothing like a Two-headed Snake exists.
What happens when we die? It’s a question that has long haunted mankind, and while it seems unlikely to be definitely answered anytime soon, different cultures have always found their own ways of explaining where a person’s essence goes when their body ceases to function. And for many, the door to the afterlife was very, very close.
10.Masaya, Nicaragua
Letters from 16th century explorers in the New World told of great volcanoes that turned the night into day and lakes of fire that never stopped burning. Those brave enough to climb the Masaya Volcano described fire, smoke, and a seemingly endless abyss beyond the crater mouth. It’s easy to see why they started referring to the volcano as the Mouth of Hell. And European explorers weren’t the only ones to think that. For generations, the native people believed that the volcano was one of the forms of a god, and volcanic activity was a sure sign that he needed to be appeased. Young women and even children were thrown into the volcano as sacrifices, a practice oddly termed “fetching water.”
The volcano was also supposed to be the home of a powerful sorceress who was consulted on only the most important matters. The description of both the sorceress and the deity were so similar to the European’s ideas of what the Devil looks like, that it seemed obvious they were one and the same. Interestingly, the volcano and the beliefs surrounding it also spawned a discourse from Friar Juan de Torquemada, in which he cited the corporeal existence of volcanoes as reason why they could not be Hell or the entrance to it.
9.Pluto’s Gate,Turkey
Greek and Roman mythology is a somewhat strange mix of the corporeal and the incorporeal—after all, Mount Olympus, home of the gods, is a real place, so why shouldn’t the gateway to Hades be real? Legend says that Pluto’s Gate, also known as the Ploutonion at Hierapolis, is the entrance to the Greco-Roman underworld.
Long unknown, the site of the cave has been found in Pamukkale, once the ancient city of Hierapolis, which is also the home of breathtaking hot springs and the reputed burial site of St. Philip. Located in an ancient temple where pilgrims sought visions and prophecies, the gate was supposed to be protected by toxic fumes, which would kill any non-priest who tried to enter. An inscription at the mouth of the cave refers to this legend. The deadly fumes are still there, carbon dioxide gases that kill living creatures that get too close.
8.Twins Cave, Israel
Of all the religious traditions and stories that Israel and Jerusalem are associated with, perhaps the least well-known is their connection to Hades, Persephone, and Demeter. As the story goes, Hades fell in love with the beautiful Persephone, daughter of the harvest goddess Demeter, who he kidnapped and took to the underworld. Before her mother could find her, Persephone ate the seeds of the pomegranate and was forever bound to the underworld. She would spend three months with Hades (during which time Demeter grieved and winter fell) and the rest of the year on the surface with her mother. Caves were long thought to be entrances to the underworld, and archaeological discoveries in the Judean Hills’ Twins Cave show that it was the site of numerous pagan rituals. Roman lanterns, placed to help guide Demeter to the underworld in her search for her daughter, were found throughout the cavern.
7.Hekla, Iceland
The very active Icelandic volcano Hekla has been cited as an entrance to the underworld ever since violent eruptions began in 1104. Five kilometers (3.1 mi) long and seated on a 40 kilometer (25 mi) wide volcanic fissure, Hekla was once said to be spitting hellfire and spirits back onto the Earth. Close to populated areas, Hekla didn’t just bring fire down onto the surrounding landscape. It also caused countless deaths, violent earthquakes, and devastating famines even in the years after an eruption. So it’s not hard to see why people thought it was a gateway to Hell.
Balls of fire and lava that hissed as they hit the cold Icelandic air created the sound of the damned screaming in agony, and it was the perfect place for witches to meet and cast their evil spells. Uneven, deadly terrain was said to have been created by a war between the immortals. Even William Blake has immortalized the dark side of Hekla in his poem To Winter. Hekla is the site to which the monstrous Winter is driven, banished along with his storms and long, dark days.
6.St. Patrick’s Purgatory,Ireland
The story of St. Patrick’s Purgatory centers around Station Island on Lough Derg in the county of Donegal. The story goes that St. Patrick was preaching on the island and was met with overwhelming skepticism from the locals. He turned to prayer, asking how he could get the stubborn islanders to see the truth of his sermons. In response, Christ appeared to him and opened up a gateway to purgatory. A single man was sent into the long, deep pit, where he saw what waited for non-believers as they paid their dues in Purgatory. In other versions of the story, St. Patrick himself experienced the vision of the afterlife, and was also given a book and the staff that is traditionally associated with him. The cave said to be the gateway has long been sealed off and shut to the public, but there are still regular pilgrimages to the island.
5.Houska Castle,Czech Republic
Houska Castle is a 13th century castle in the Czech Republic. While most construction projects have a logical explanation for their location, Houska Castle sits in a place that gives it no strategic value, no access to goods or resources, and isn’t even near a water source. It’s also rather oddly designed, with few outer defenses and many, many more features that appear to be constructed to keep something inside.
Legend says that the castle was built over a pit into Hell itself. Locals have long been said to be witness to strange, flying creatures and long lines of tormented souls chained together and begging for mercy. At one point, criminals were offered a pardon in return for being lowered into the pit to figure out just where it went—a project that was as inconclusive as it was short-lived. Once the castle was built, stories of strange noises, screams, and apparitions of otherworldly monks continued. The castle was also occupied by the Nazis during World War II, amid claims of hellish experiments and transgressions.
4.Lacus Curtius,Italy
Now little more than a slab of pavement and whispered stories, Lacus Curtius was once a deep chasm with several similarly-themed stories associated with it. One says that when an oracle told of the looming fall of Rome, the chasm to the underworld opened in preparation to receive a sacrifice. That sacrifice was one of Rome’s finest warriors, a man named Marcus Curtius. He gave the chasm his name when he rode into it, giving his life to appease the gods and prevent the fall of his country.
A different account credits another family member with giving the pit its name. In this story, Mettius Curtius fell into the chasm during the battle that followed the Rape of the Sabine Women.
3.Actun Tunichil Muknal, Belize
A series of caves in the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve in Belize, Actun Tunichil Muknal, or the Cave of the Crystal Sepulcher, has long been used for ceremonial rituals by the Mayans. Now open to tours, visitors can see the skeletal remains of human sacrifices that range in age from infants to middle-aged adults. Some of the skeletons have been there for roughly 1,200 years, and the unique environment of the caves means that some have even become covered in fine crystals. The caves themselves were thought to be the home of Chaak, the Rain God.
Further into the caverns, the Mayans believed there were entrances to Xibalba, or the Place of Fear. Xibalba was the underground home of 12 demons and their minions, who were responsible for death, disease, starvation, pain, and poverty. Some of them were oddly specific, such as Ahalmez, who used unswept areas of a person’s floor as a gateway to enter their house and stab them. The Mayans performed human sacrifices in the caves to keep the gods happy—and contained.
2.The Sacred Cenotes, Mexico
The Sacred Cenotes are a series of wells in Mexico that were used by the Mayans for a number of purposes. They were firstly a solar timekeeper—on May 23 and July 19, the sun casts no shadow in the wells when at its highest point. Beyond the well stretch underground caves, where archaeologists have found remnants of offerings, including human and animal bones and intricate carvings of animals sacred to the Mayan. Similar to the cave systems in Belize, the Sacred Cenotes of Mexico were also believed to be the domain of Chaak, and contained the clay jars he would break to release the rains. Leaving offerings in the caves—the home of the rain—helped to ensure the success of crops and the continuation of a very delicate cycle of life. Days when the sun was at its zenith and the cenotes were filled with bright, shadowless light, were cause for celebrations and dancing at the doorstep to the underworld.
1.Lake Avernus,Italy
Lake Avernus in Italy has long been mythologized as a gateway to the underworld. With the Greek expansion into the territories that are now Italy, the lake was on the edge of their world and therefore closest to the underworld. Its distinctively dark appearance, with its dead volcanic craters, still waters, deep caverns, and occasional gas-spitting fissures, made it completely believable that visitors would see Hades striding through and disappearing back into his domain. Birds and other small animals give the lake a wide berth, or fell dead from its toxic emissions.
Mentioned by Virgil as the gateway to hell and visited by figures like Heracles and Odysseus, caves around the lake also lead to deep tunnels and the homes of oracles. Cicero makes mention of otherworldly activity such as ghosts around the lake, but so shrouded in mystery was the presence of the oracle that there are no accounts of anyone actually consulting with her. Subterranean lakes were said to be the sites of necromancy, and the caverns were thought to allow dreams and nightmares alike to pass from the realm of the dead to visit the living in their sleep.
9 Freakiest Mass Murder-Suicides that Will Leave You Stunned
We've all read about some of the scariest murder-suicides, yet there are countless other terrifying situations from history which get very little mention. The following nine cases feature brutal mass suicides, historical episodes which became infamous for ritual suicide, entire groups of people who committed suicide to avoid subjugation to enemy invaders, and more. Read on to discover nine freaky mass murder-suicides that will leave you stunned.
1.Members of Peoples Temple Who Committed Murder-Suicide to Avoid Becoming Fascists and '"Dummies" (Guyana - 1978)
On the evening of November 18, 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana, 909 members of Peoples Temple killed themselves, including their leader Jim Jones and 276 children.
This fateful night, Jones ordered his congregation to drink a concoction of a cyanide-laced grape flavored drink. Parents were instructed to inject their young children with the same drink.
But what drove them to this dire decision?
During a visit from Leo Ryan, a Congressman from San Francisco, a number of Temple members expressed a desire to leave the sect. On the afternoon of the fatidic day, these members accompanied Ryan to the local airstrip. While they were boarding planes, a truckload of Jim Jones' guards arrived and began to shoot. The gunmen left five people dead: Congressman Ryan, a reporter and a cameraman from NBC, a newspaper photographer, and one "defector" from Peoples Temple. Fortunately, a producer for NBC News, Bob Flick, survived the attack.
The FBI did recover a 45 minute audio recording of the suicide in progress. On that tape, Jones tells Temple members that the Soviet Union --with whom the Temple had been negotiating a potential exodus for months-- would not take them after the Temple had murdered Ryan and others. Jones also convinced parents that hostile forces would convert captured children to fascism and would just let them grow up being dummies. Due to these arguments, 909 Temple members were forced to commit mass suicide. (Link 1 | Link 2)
2.Balinese People Who Committed Murder-Suicide to Avoid the Humiliation of Surrender (Bali - 1906)
Puputan is a Balinese term that refers to a mass ritual suicide in preference to facing the humiliation of surrender.
On September 14, 1906, Puputan was committed by Balinese people to avoid being captured and enslaved by the Dutch invaders. To perform Puputan, the Raja dressed in their traditional white cremation garments and commanded that all valuables be burned. Then everyone, from the youngest child to the wives and priests, marched ceremoniously toward the aggressors.
When the procession was face to face with the Dutch force, the head priest thrust a dagger deep into the Raja's heart, signaling the commencement of Puputan. At that point the entire group simultaneously began to kill one another, while the women mockingly flung money and jewelry onto the stupefied troops.
On this fated day, over 1000 Balinese people committed murder-suicide.
Today, children are taught about Puputan and the day is commemorated with street reenactments. (Link)
3.Demmin's People Who Committed Mass Suicide to Avoid Rape and Murder by Soldiers of the Soviet Red Army (Germany - 1945)
Note: This picture is just for illustrative purposes.
Toward the end of World War II, hundreds of people committed mass suicide in the town of Demmin, Germany. The suicides occurred during a mass panic that was provoked by atrocities including rape, murder, and pillaging that were committed by soldiers of the Soviet Red Army. In the spring of 1945, almost nine hundred people committed suicide with guns, razor blades, or poison, while others hanged or drowned themselves in the Peene and Tollense rivers. Several mothers killed their children before killing themselves, or walked into one of the rivers with a rock in a backpack and their babies in their arms.
However, the suicides were not successful in every case. Some mothers who had drowned their children were unable to drown themselves afterward. In other cases, the dose of poison was lethal for the children but not for their mothers.
Even though the citizens of Demmin did not commit suicide at exactly the same time, the closeness of the acts of suicide and the fact that they killed themselves for the same reasons makes this incident a mass suicide. (Link)
4.Chittor's People Who Committed Self-Immolation to Avoid Capture and to Protect the Sexes' Honor (India - 1303, 1535 and 1568)
Jauhar and Saka are two ancient Indian Rajput Hindu traditions of honorable self-immolation that occurred in Rajput kingdoms during Mughal times. According to those traditions, men and women could avoid capture and dishonor at the hands of enemy invaders, along with protecting both sexes' honor. In other words, while the women and children would perform self-immolation, the men (fathers, husbands and sons) would charge against the attackers, facing certain death.
In 1303 AD, Ala-ud-din Khilji, the Muslim Sultan of Delhi, besieged Chittor Fort, so Rani Padmini, the queen of Chittor, led all the royal ladies (around 700 women) and their children into a bonfire in order to protect themselves from the Delhi's lustful army.
With their womenfolk dead, the men of Chittor had nothing to live for, so they decided to perform Saka. Each soldier got dressed in kesari robes and turbans. Armed with courage they fought with the vastly powerful array of the Sultan until all of them perished.
A second and third Jauhar took place in Chittor in 1535 and 1568, which saw the obliteration of entire Rajput lineages. (Link)
5.Teutonic Women Who Committed Murder-Suicide to Avoid Becoming Roman Slaves (France - 102 BC)
The Battle of Aquae Sextiae (in the south of present-day France) took place in 102 BC. According to the writings of Valerius Maximus and Florus, the king of the Teutones, Teutobod, was taken in irons after the Teutones were defeated by the Romans. Under the conditions of the surrender, three hundred married women were to be handed over as Roman slaves.
When the matrons of the Teutones heard of this stipulation, they begged the consul that they might instead be allowed to minister in the temples of Ceres and Venus. When their request was denied, the Teutonic women slew their own children. The next morning, all the women were found dead in each other's arms, having strangled each other during the night. This act passed into Roman legends of Germanic heroism. (Link)
Solar Temple Members Who Committed Murder-Suicide to Escape the "Hypocrisies and Oppression of This World" (Switzerland and Canada - 1994-97)
In 1994, the small Religious Movement called The Order of the Solar Temple leapt to fame after their appearance in Newspapers and on TV for the murder-suicide of 74 of its members.
The Solar Temple was founded in Geneva in 1984 by a New Age lecturer, Joseph De Mambro, and Luc Jouret, a homeopathic physician. Its headquarters was later moved to Zürich, and regional lodges were set up in Switzerland, Canada, and elsewhere. According to the teachings of The Solar Temple, the Earth would face a worldwide catastrophe in the mid-1990s. In anticipation of this apocalyptic event, members believed that it was necessary to enter a higher spiritual plane.
Between October 4 and 5, 1994, more than fifty members of The Solar Temple in Canada and Switzerland committed murder-suicide, and the buildings in which they died were set on fire. A year later another sixteen members killed themselves, and five more died similarly in March 1997.
Farewell letters were left by members, stating that they believed their deaths would be an escape from the "hypocrisies and oppression of this world." Records seized by the Quebec police showed that some members had personally donated over US$1 million to the cult's leader, Joseph Di Mambro.
Also in October 1994, a three-month-old baby named Emmanuel Dutoit was killed at the group's centre in Morin Heights, Quebec. The baby had been stabbed repeatedly with a wooden stake. It is believed that Di Mambro ordered his murder, due to the fact that he identified the baby as the Anti-Christ. (Link 1 |Link 2)
7.Heaven's Gate Members Who Committed Murder-Suicide to Go On a Journey Aboard a Spaceship Following Comet Hale-Bopp(United States - 1997)
On March 26, 1997, thirty-nine followers of Heaven's Gate died in a mass suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, California.
The founder of the cult, Marshall Applewhite -- who believed he was a descendant of Jesus Christ -- told his followers that the world was due to be "wiped clean" by its alien founders. So, they needed to leave the earth through their suicides so that their souls could go on a journey aboard a spaceship believed to be following Comet Hale-Bopp. In preparation for the genderless life that they believed awaited them, some male members of the cult also underwent voluntary castration.
On the ominous day, each of the followers were dressed in black shirts and sweat pants, brand new black-and-white Nike Decades athletic shoes, and armbands reading "Heaven's Gate Away Team."
The members took phenobarbital mixed with pineapple and vodka. Additionally, they secured plastic bags around their heads to induce asphyxiation. They then tied plastic bags on their heads to speed their deaths. The followers, age 26 to 72, killed themselves in three waves on March 24, 25, and 26. The survivors always neatly arranged their dead comrades' bodies before committing suicide themselves.
All but three of the bodies were arranged neatly on their beds with their faces and torsos covered with a purple cloth. Each body had a five dollar bill and three quarters in their pockets, along with packed luggage at their sides.
8.Jewish Rebels Who Committed Mass Suicide to Avoid the Humiliation of Surrender (Israel - 73 CE)
The Siege of Masada by troops of the Roman Empire towards the end of the First Jewish–Roman War ended in the mass suicide of the 960 Jewish rebels and their families who were hiding there.
Masada is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel which is situated on top of an isolated rock plateau on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea. The cliffs on the east edge of Masada are about 1,300 feet (400 m) high.
According to Josephus, in 73 CE the Romans required a total of 15,000 troops in order to crush Jewish resistance at Masada. When Roman troops entered the fortress, they discovered that its 960 inhabitants had committed mass suicide or killed each other. Josephus presumably based his narration upon the field commentaries of the Roman commanders that were accessible to him.
There are significant discrepancies between archaeological findings and Josephus' writings. Josephus mentions only one of the two palaces that have been excavated, refers to only one fire, while many buildings show fire damage, and claims that 960 people were killed, while the archaeologists found remains of only 28 bodies. (Link)
9.Souliot Women Who Committed Murder-Suicide to Avoid Capture and Enslavement (Greece - 1803)
The Dance of Zalongo was the name given to an act a mass suicide by women from Souli and their children during the Souliote War of 1803, which took place near the village of Zalongo in Epirus (Greece).
During the Souliote War in December 1803, the Souliotes began evacuating Souli after their defeat by the forces of the Ottoman-Albanian ruler, Ali Pasha.
During the evacuation, Over 50 Souliot women and their children were trapped by Ali's troops in the mountains of Zalongo in Epirus. In order to avoid capture and enslavement, they decided to kill their children and then commit suicide. The women took their children and threw them off a steep cliff. Immediately afterwards, they also jumped .
According to the legend, women jumped down the precipice one after another while singing and dancing. The incident soon became infamous across Europe. Today, a monument on the site of Mount Zalongo in Kassope (Greece) commemorates their sacrifice. (Link 1 | Link 2)
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