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Mysteries

The Bermuda Triangle isn&#39;t the only watery region with a reputation for unexplainable events and tragedies. For centuries, a triangular portion of Lake Michigan has been ground zero for sunken ships, disappearing crews, and vanishing aircraft. As if these incidents aren&#39;t creepy enough, what is now known as the Lake Michigan Triangle is also notorious&nbsp;for UFO sightings&nbsp;and strange lights appearing on the horizon.

&quot;A lot of interesting stories have come out of that region of Lake Michigan,&quot; Wisconsin Maritime Museum submarine curator Karen&nbsp;Duvalle shared with <a href="https://www.nbc26.com/news/the-legend-of-the-lake-michigan-triangle" target="_blank">a local news affiliate</a>.&nbsp;&quot;No one knows why,&quot; she then explained. One thing is clear about the Lake Michigan triangle: The mystery doesn&#39;t seem to be easing up anytime soon.

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The Mystery Of The Lake Michigan Triangle

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The Mystery of The Lake Michigan Triangle

Megan Summers

Lists about the Hitler's Germany, which Der Führer ruled through fascism from 1933 to 1945.

The Horrors of the Third Reich

Weird History

The incredible details of the cat-and-mouse game between Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann and those who spent years chasing him seem like they could be ripped from the pages of a Hollywood script. The decades-long hunt for&nbsp;Eichmann is among&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-the-biggest-manhunts-in-history/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">the most&nbsp;infamous fugitive pursuits</a> in history. Eichmann, one of the architects of the Holocaust, managed to evade capture until 1960, when Israeli agents seized him in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Eichmann was quickly smuggled&nbsp;out of the country -- unbeknownst to Argentine authorities.

Eichmann&#39;s subsequent trial, broadcast all over the world, provided a much-needed catharsis for Holocaust survivors, WWII veterans, and war-weary citizens alike.

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The True Story Behind The Hunt For Adolf Eichmann

The Hunt For The Nazi War Criminal Adolf Eichmann

“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” - Andy Warhol 

The Art of Art

Wild Facts

Artifacts&nbsp;that adorn the halls and walls of museums in the Western world are not always acquired through reputable means. Some of the most famous museum exhibits and objects on display at places like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/artifacts-the-british-museum-should-return/dave-schilling" target="_blank">the British Museum in London</a>&nbsp;were taken from other countries.

From Africa to Iraq to India, leaders from these nations&nbsp;continue to speak&nbsp;out&nbsp;and request the return of their&nbsp;cultural heritage.

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Weird Ancient History

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Famous Museum Exhibits The Original Countries Want Back

Are you already an expert in everything America? Great! No need to read about these fascinating facts and important events that have shaped the U.S. as we know it today.

US History You Should Know

Explainer

Since the first iteration of the American flag found itself atop the colonial warship&nbsp;Alfred&nbsp;in 1775, Old Glory&#39;s tri-color facade has undergone 26 makeovers. The current 50-star&nbsp;American flag, adopted by President Eisenhower in 1960, has been in use longer than any other version. What began as a symbol of independence from Great Britain is now, for better or worse,&nbsp;a universal symbol of America&#39;s influence around the world.

At home, the American flag is literally everywhere: on cars, on t-shirts, and hanging atop flagpoles outside businesses. From classrooms to sports stadiums to political arenas, the Stars and Stripes remain a centerpiece of public engagement in the United States. How exactly did Americans become so obsessed with their&nbsp;flag? The actual answer is far more multifaceted than the unconditional allegiance and love&nbsp;expressed by the flag&#39;s symbolic sibling, &quot;The Star-Spangled Banner.&quot;

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The Actual Reasons Why America Has The Flag Everywhere

Why American Flags Are Everywhere In The United States

Unspeakable Times

Even before Rey Rivera&#39;s case aired on Netflix&#39;s&nbsp;Unsolved Mysteries&nbsp;revival, the baffling story&nbsp;caught the attention of true crime fans, web sleuths, and professional detectives&nbsp;alike. The confounding pieces of evidence and bizarre leads that emerged from the investigation have made this <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-unsolved-murders/ranker-crime" target="_blank">unresolved</a> case one of the most baffling in recent history.&nbsp;

While the&nbsp;Unsolved Mysteries&nbsp;episode introduced Rey&#39;s story to a much larger audience, it left out some important details that add even more complexity to the case&#39;s standard narrative. To this day, new testimony and clues continue to come forth, leaving Rey&#39;s loved ones hopeful for an update, and that the truth will eventually be exposed.

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Rey Rivera’s Mysterious Death Has Baffled The Public Since 2006

Everything We Know About The Unsolved Rey Rivera Death Case

Mexican Revolution

We&#39;re all familiar with images of&nbsp;<a href="https://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/slatta/hi216/documents/mexrevtime.htm" target="_blank">Mexican revolutionaries</a> like Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata&nbsp;rallying the peasantry against the ruling class in early 20th-century Mexico. The Mexican Revolution these radical generals participated in was far from a simple, two-sided battle&nbsp;between an unpopular political regime and the revolting masses. Instead, various factions, parties, and interests created tenuous alliances in hopes that their respective agendas would gain the most support.

These coalitions shifted frequently during&nbsp;the Mexican Revolution, which spanned from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Mexican-Revolution" target="_blank">1910 to 1920</a>. Friends one day were enemies the next. Then in the week after, they were friends again. By the end of the bloody and violent war, Mexico found itself propelled onto the world&nbsp;stage as a constitutional republic. Meanwhile, its citizens reeled from all the conflict -&nbsp;conflict fueled by some of the most interesting characters, battles, and operatives to ever exist.

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12 Facts We Just Learned About The Mexican Revolution

Facts We We Just Learned About The Mexican Revolution 

Historical Entertainment

War movies are infamous for <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/most-inaccurate-war-movies/donn-saylor" target="_blank">taking creative&nbsp;liberties</a> with their action sequences&nbsp;and characterizations. However, there are some war movies, in whole or in parts, that manage to actually get it right. These <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/accurate-war-movies/justin-andress" target="_blank">more realistic war movies</a>&nbsp;rely on research and first-person accounts to shape their narratives, whether they center around being deployed, seeing combat, or grappling with PTSD as a veteran. This doesn&#39;t only apply to straightforward war dramas: Some sci-fi and fantasy films do a much better job than expected depicting the ins and outs of warfare.

War movies are also infamous for their many tropes: the tight-knight unit, the fight-or-flight moments, the elaborately adorned generals, and&nbsp;the big-muscled heroes. It turns out that some of these cliches are actually grounded in reality, and the surprising anecdotes from history below prove, yet again, the truth is just as compelling as the fiction it inspires.

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12 Things That War Movies Actually Get Right

Things That War Movies Actually Get Right

Fascinating facts and interesting stories about organized crime: gangs, gangsters, mobsters, the mafia, and other criminals & crime syndicates all over the world.

Feels Good to Be a Gangster

Interesting

Organized crime groups span the globe. These centralized, often hierarchical, endeavors make money by engaging in illegal activities. The size and scope of their operations vary, but these criminal organizations participate in&nbsp;the drug trade, large-scale theft, human trafficking, extortion, and fraud -&nbsp;to name just a few offenses. From underground black markets to corporate offices, the world&#39;s most powerful felonious associations yield a lot of influence in their respective regions.

While most people envision <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/crime/origins-of-the-mafia" target="_blank">the Italian Mafia</a>&nbsp;when they think about the&nbsp;biggest organized crime groups, it&nbsp;represents the tip of the iceberg when it comes to coordinated, law-breaking syndicates. In fact, the Sicilian Mafia and its offshoot the American Mafia are only a few of the criminal rings active in Italy. The Sicilian Mafia began as a way for residents of Sicily, an island just off the coast of Italy, to protect themselves from a&nbsp;government they believed was taking advantage of them. Throughout the 19th century, it slowly evolved into an organization prone to violence, strong-arming,&nbsp;loan sharking, and even <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/how-lemons-led-to-syndicates/beth-elias" target="_blank">lemon racketeering</a>. The American Mafia popped up during Prohibition in America when Italian immigrants realized they could profit from dealing in contraband alcohol.&nbsp;

Some international criminal organizations, such as&nbsp;the Sicilian&nbsp;Mafia, were born from efforts to challenge local, corrupt authorities on behalf of exasperated locals. Others, like <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/russian-prison-tattoo-meanings/mike-rothschild" target="_blank">Russia&#39;s infamous prison gang</a>&nbsp;Solntsevskaya Bratva, rose out of horrific political turmoil with the clear intention of exploiting instability for their own gains.

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International Crime Organizations Besides The Italian Mafia

These days, companies like Amazon, Apple, and Google are facing increased scrutiny for monopolizing markets with their practices. They are far from the only&nbsp;wealthy companies to see their money-making techniques challenged. Many of the richest companies in history achieved their status thanks to unsustainable fiscal policies, mass exploitation,&nbsp;and hegemonic tactics.

This has never stopped investors from buying stock in these companies, causing their market capitalization values to rise to unbelievable levels. Sometimes, these companies gain more and more traction. Other times, they reach a critical point and burst.

The most valuable companies still intact today fall into two categories: oil and big tech. As for&nbsp;the richest companies no longer in existence, they usually dealt with trading goods, products, and even people around the world. These ventures, like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/worst-things-the-east-india-company-did/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">the East India Trading Company</a>,&nbsp;accumulated so much wealth that the financial highs set by them have yet to be surpassed.

The Richest Companies In History

Have you ever looked at a piece of art&nbsp;in a museum and thought, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/my-kid-could-paint-that-documentary-review/oliver-pretl-drummond" target="_blank">&quot;My kid could make that!&quot;</a>? Just as&nbsp;confounding for&nbsp;art appreciators is why certain pieces&nbsp;sell for so much money. In 2019 alone, the global art market raked in over <a href="https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-art-market-2020-report#:~:text=The%20global%20art%20market%20shrunk,Basel%20and%20UBS%20on%20Thursday." target="_blank">$64 billion</a> in sales - a 5% decrease from the previous year.&nbsp;

There are many factors that contribute to how different works of art are valued, but these factors historically&nbsp;boil down to a tangled relationship between artists, collectors, curators, and auction houses.&nbsp;

Recently, a new avenue for&nbsp;art lovers to amass creative&nbsp;ephemera has emerged, one that has&nbsp;potential to revolutionize the art world: buying digital works&nbsp;on open-sourced blockchains with cryptocurrency. These non-fungible tokens, known as NFTs for short, include JPEGs, GIFs, and videos.&nbsp;

Like the physical art collectors have been obtaining for centuries, some of these NFTs are&nbsp;selling for millions of dollars. And like high-priced physical art, costly NFTs also have&nbsp;many people scratching their heads and asking, &quot;How could this be so expensive?&quot;

The Actual Reasons Art Sells For So Much

Historical Figures

When it comes to the trials and tribulations of real-life spies, the truth is definitely stranger than fiction. The stories&nbsp;of spies who deserve <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/most-accurate-espionage-movies/jonathan-kantor" target="_blank">their own big-budget blockbusters</a>&nbsp;are just as jaw-dropping, scandalous, and entertaining as any&nbsp;James Bond&nbsp;flick -&nbsp;if not even more so.

From duplicitous operatives pitching <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/historical-intelligence-agencies/kellen-perry" target="_blank">intelligence agencies</a> against each other to Nazi infiltrators with wooden legs to Union informants during the Civil War, another day on the job for <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/people-who-should-have-biopics/matthewcoleweiss" target="_blank">these historical figures</a> involved life-threatening challenges, dangerous missions, and using effective disguises on those around them.

Read on below and vote up the real-life espionage chronicles that actually warrant cinematic adaptations.

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12 Historic Spies We Want To See Get Their Own Summer Blockbusters

12 Spies From History That Deserve Their Own Movies

The 2021 military coup in Myanmar is just the tip of the iceberg when it to comes to examples of armed forces seizing power in countries around the world.&nbsp;From the French for &quot;stroke of state,&quot; coup d&#39;etats&nbsp;are much more prevalent than residents of stable nations may realize. Unlike democratic coups, military coups usually result in dictatorships or tyrannical, repressive autocracies.

Why do these military coups continue to happen with some frequency? Why are they most common&nbsp;in Africa, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-happened-on-chilean-september-11th/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">the Americas</a>, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East? The reasons are complex and myriad, but countries that experience coup d&#39;&eacute;tats&nbsp;tend to share common conditions. Whether it&#39;s economic strife, destabilizing outside influences, a legacy of colonialism, or ethnic tensions,&nbsp;the factors that spawn military coups perpetuate cycles of violence, war, and hardship for citizens.

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The Actual Reasons Why Military Coups Historically Happen

Throughout history, quite a few bandits have tiptoed past guards, scaled high walls, and made their way into seemingly inaccessible places. These <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/weird-unsolved-heists/jfergus" target="_blank">famous break-ins</a> in heavily fortified locales lead to an important question: Are these venues as safe and secure as they claim?

Tricksters and heisters manage to&nbsp;sneak into impenetrable spaces&nbsp;for many reasons -&nbsp;whether it&#39;s to abscond in the night with valuable <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-most-incredible-pieces-of-artwork-ever-made?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">pieces of art</a>, to intrude upon <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/historical-inaccuracies-in-the-crown/setareh-janda" target="_blank">Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace</a> after a night of heavy drinking, or to give NASA scientists a run for their money. That being said, some of these cases are much more clever than others. Read on below to vote up the most artful and intelligent examples of someone actually breaching unassailable buildings, networks, or even military planes.

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13 Times Someone Actually Broke Into An Impregnable Place

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13 Times Someone Actually Broke Into An Impenetrable Place

Lists about cults around the world, charismatic cult leaders, and warning signs that—uh oh—you might already be in a cult.

Pumpkin, You're In a Cult

Cults

Branding is the key to any company&#39;s success, no matter the industry. This is even more important&nbsp;for companies with <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/backstories-of-american-products/philgibbons" target="_blank">bizarre origins and interesting histories</a>. Some businesses&nbsp;have especially good reason to separate their products or services from their founders and leaders; the average consumer would be shocked to know these brands are affiliated with cults, fanatical New Age movements, and in&nbsp;some cases extremist religious sects.

Who would have suspected&nbsp;the founder of Celestial Seasoning, Mo Siegel, was inspired by the conspiracy theory-laden&nbsp;The Urantia Book&nbsp;when developing his soothing Sleepytime Tea? Or that the bedazzled jacket worn by Michael Jackson on the cover of the&nbsp;Bad&nbsp;album was designed and manufactured by an&nbsp;evangelical&nbsp;Christian cult?

These examples represent&nbsp;just the tip of the iceberg. Dig in below and vote up the businesses with the most unexpected connections to cultish organizations.

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12 Companies We Never Expected To Have Been Associated With Cult-Like Groups

Companies With Unexpected Cult-Like Group Associations

Military

Modern democracies love to reference ancient democracies when stressing the&nbsp;value&nbsp;of participatory&nbsp;politics. The Athenian direct&nbsp;democracy and the Roman Republic are seen as milestones on the path toward more egalitarian forms of governance, yet&nbsp;these&nbsp;ancient democracies eventually failed.&nbsp;

The Roman Republic traditionally spans from 509 BC to 27 BC, at which point it became the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/popular-items-from-the-roman-empire-vs-today/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">Roman Empire</a>. It was&nbsp;the Athenians who coined the term democracy&nbsp;- &quot;rule by the people&quot; - to describe the system they developed in the sixth century BC. Athenian democracy lasted until 322 BC, when the city was conquered by the Macedonians under Alexander the Great.

In both Rome and Athens, elites and oligarchs exploited long-standing weaknesses in the political system&nbsp;to seize power for those on top, disrupting democratic processes enough to create enduring problems. In both cases, this went on for hundreds of years until all remaining&nbsp;vestiges of democracy ceased to exist.

The Actual Reasons Ancient Democracies Failed

When President Joe Biden was sworn into office on January 20, 2021, he participated in a ceremony that dates back to America&#39;s infancy: <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/us-presidential-inauguration-photos/cleo-egnal" target="_blank">Inauguration Day</a>.&nbsp;This ritual, televised around the world, is an important milestone in United States political and public life. What exactly happens on Inauguration Day, though, and what have&nbsp;its components come to symbolize over time? Who is in charge of invitations? Who handles the fundraising? What is security like? Does <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/last-things-presidents-do-in-office/mike-rothschild" target="_blank">the outgoing president</a> attend?

From a modest event outside&nbsp;New York&rsquo;s Federal Hall for George Washington to a massive gathering along the West Front of the Capitol for every incoming president since Ronald Reagan, Inauguration Day is a post-election commemoration that takes months to plan. While the US&nbsp;Constitution dictates some of Inauguration Day&#39;s trappings, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/things-a-new-president-gets-to-do/mike-rothschild" target="_blank">each new president</a> relies upon custom to make vital choices about their special day.

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What The Events Of Inauguration Day Actually Symbolize

What Happens On Inauguration Day And What It Means

Watchworthy

Movies inspired by paintings&nbsp;extract the most iconic qualities of their&nbsp;source material and transform them into something more modern and altogether unique. An ancient, towering god&nbsp;becomes a giant robot in Guillermo del Toro&#39;s Pacific Rim. A biblical scene is updated for 1970s New York City bar culture in Martin Scorsese&#39;s&nbsp;Mean Streets.&nbsp;While some directors rely on the style and moods evoked by certain artists, others make movies based on paintings that&nbsp;focus on a specific piece&nbsp;of art to&nbsp;shape everything from set design to costuming to narrative developments.

Whether it&#39;s an animated Disney flick geared toward children, an iconic&nbsp;horror feature&nbsp;that borders on exploitation, or <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-artist-biopics/ranker-film" target="_blank">a biopic about a well-known artist</a>, movies inspired by paintings or other pictorial works are as plentiful and diverse as the world of visual art itself.

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13 Movies Inspired By Works Of Art

Film

From Shia LaBeouf&nbsp;to Jessica Alba to Kristen Stewart,&nbsp;actors who hate the roles that made them <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/celebrities-who-hate-being-famous/swiperight" target="_blank">really, really famous</a> sometimes have good reason to recoil once a final cut is released. Other times, it seems that nothing pleases these stars. Case in point: Harrison Ford, who went as far as petitioning&nbsp;to have Han Solo <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/actors-who-requested-characters-end/harrison-tenpas" target="_blank">written out of</a> the&nbsp;Star Wars&nbsp;franchise.

While few people are as eternally <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/grumpy-harrison-ford-moments/lisa-waugh" target="_blank">grumpy as Ford</a>, everyone does things they regret. When actors offer up their faces&nbsp;to movies they later hate, there&#39;s no erasing the evidence of these purported past mistakes. It&#39;s obvious that fans of these actors who hate their movies are very happy the detested films still exist, but the performers have made it very clear in interviews how much they dislike having their names attached to these&nbsp;projects - even for breakout roles in big movies.

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The musical phenomenon Hamilton follows the life of one ambitious immigrant who helps win a revolution and shape early American politics, all while earnestly sticking to noble ideals. 

History Has Its Eyes on You

Alexander Hamilton

The affair between Alexander Hamilton and Maria Reynolds plays a major role in the second act of&nbsp;Lin-Manuel Miranda&#39;s musical&nbsp;Hamilton, but how historically accurate is this depiction of America&#39;s first big sex scandal? Quite accurate, it turns out - even if some key details are excluded from Miranda&#39;s dramatic retelling of the incident.

At the height of his political career in 1797, Hamilton published <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/12/25/10662620/reynolds-pamphlet-hamilton" target="_blank">a wordy confession</a> detailing the extramarital affair he carried on with the also-married Maria Reynolds between 1791 and 1792. Now known as the &quot;Reynolds Pamphlet,&quot; the document impacted Hamilton&#39;s desire to hold higher positions within the United States government, and tainted his reputation among his peers.

The Hamilton/Reynolds affair is marked by blackmail, secret liaisons, arrests, and constant threats waved at political rivals. It also foreshadows Hamilton&#39;s premature demise in 1804, when he lost&nbsp;a good ol&#39; fashioned duel to&nbsp;fellow Founding Father Aaron Burr.

Little Details

Genre

Details About Hamilton’s Affair With Maria Reynolds That ‘Hamilton’ Brought To Light

When glancing back through history, sometimes it&#39;s the small details &ndash; as opposed to the big, sweeping ones &ndash; that speak more to the realities of day-to-day life over the centuries. This maxim couldn&#39;t be more appropriate for the Victorian Era, an age of incremental and creative change&nbsp;marked by one minute, but poignant, development&nbsp;after another.

From the royal family to small-town families, 19th-century people established many of the customs and routines still followed&nbsp;in the 21st century.&nbsp;Whether it&#39;s <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/victorian-death-photography/amandasedlakhevener" target="_blank">mourning&nbsp;the dead</a>, donning unique necklaces, or playing with <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/frozen-charlotte-dolls-history/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">bizarre toys</a>, these seemingly trivial activities&nbsp;provide ample insights&nbsp;into&nbsp;the peculiar ways Victorians passed their days.

Small But Poignant Details About The Victorian Era

A lot of weird stuff went down during the Victorian era, thanks in large part to the spirit of exploration and innovation that persisted during the period. Despite Victorian thinkers&#39; pioneering attitudes, death and disease loomed around every corner. How is it that the same epoch that birthed Darwin&#39;s theory of evolution also <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/harmful-victorian-household-objects/amandasedlakhevener" target="_blank">popularized green wallpaper</a> and clothing laced with poisonous arsenic? These dichotomies created a culture of contradictions, one fueled by population booms, large class divides, and strict moral codes.

While history books focus on the Industrial Revolution, Queen Victoria&#39;s political reign, and all the social reforms that defined the era, day-to-day life for Victorians lent itself to some very singular customs and norms -&nbsp;ranging from wacky to fatal. Some of these Victorian habits&nbsp;are so outlandish that they don&#39;t seem real at all. In fact, they sound positively fictitious.&nbsp;

Facts About The Victorian Era That Sound Made Up - But Aren't

Spellbook

Have you ever wondered which Spider-Man villain you are? The zodiac can answer that question for you.

Peter Parker, AKA the amazing Spider-Man, jumped from the page to the screen for the first time in 1977. Flash forward to 2020, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe&#39;s resident superhero/photographer is a blockbuster powerhouse, starring in his own solo vehicles and standing out as one of the MCU&#39;s top draws.

As memorable as Spider-Man himself are the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/all-spiderman-villains-list-of-all-spiderman-enemies/all-enemies-and-supervillains" target="_blank">many, many villains</a> he uses his spidey-sense to defeat. Depending upon the alignment of the stars when you were born, your inner Spider-Man foe could be made of sand, bonded to an alien Symbiote, or a misunderstood mad scientist. Scroll below to find out where you fit within Peter Parker&#39;s rogues gallery.

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Obviously movies embellish the truth, but you might be surprised by all the things pop culture gets wrong about countries, cultures, animals, and much more!

Pop Culture Makes Us Dumber

Tropes

Thanks to popular&nbsp;movies, television, and&nbsp;books,&nbsp;we&#39;ve all been fed a bunch of lies about what life was actually like during the Victorian era. According to these beloved forms of entertainment, Victorians were priggish, repressed, and experienced a dozen wardrobe changes throughout the day. These&nbsp;tropes and stereotypes may make for dramatic storytelling, but they couldn&#39;t be further from the truth.

Life during the Victorian era was full of contradictions, where strict social codes compelled people to <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-did-people-do-for-fun-victorian-era/patrick-thornton" target="_blank">loosen up and have fun</a> on the sly. When Victorians weren&#39;t dodging pollution or epidemics, they were experimenting with new trends, beliefs, and inventions. Unlike what you see on the screen, not everyone in Victorian England was white, either.&nbsp;

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12 Of The Dumbest Things Pop Culture Has Us Believe About The Victorian Era

Dumb Things About The Victorian Era Pop Culture Has Us Believe

Cleopatra

Just as she is known by many names, Cleopatra VII of Egypt is an ancient ruler whose persona has taken myriad forms over the millennia. The Cleopatra depicted in movies is often very different&nbsp;from the Cleopatra described in&nbsp;verifiable texts and chronicles. In fact, many of Hollywood&#39;s beloved myths about the Queen of the Nile, influenced by ancient Roman propaganda about her,&nbsp;are far from historically accurate.

While the mystique surrounding Cleopatra makes for good storytelling, contemporary historians are working to debunk the fables and lore about this contentious <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/what-was-life-like-ancient-egyptian-royalty/setareh-janda" target="_blank">Egyptian royal</a> who reigned over Egypt between 52 and 31 BC. These academics are proving that most of pop culture&#39;s assertions about Cleopatra are totally dumb.&nbsp;

10 Of The Dumbest Things Pop Culture Has Us Believe About Cleopatra

Dumbest Things About Cleopatra Pop Culture Has Us Believe

Over 2,000 years have passed since the era&nbsp;of Queen Cleopatra VII, who ruled Ptolemaic Egypt between 51 and 30 BC. So many centuries later, Cleopatra remains a <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/misrepresented-historical-figures/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">revered, yet misunderstood historical figure</a>, a woman whose real life is often overshadowed by popular myths and lore about her reign.

Every aspect of this ancient ruler&#39;s existence has been scrutinized through art, texts, and films - from Cleopatra&#39;s early life to her climactic clash with <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/biggest-empires-ever-history/melissa-sartore?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the Roman Empire</a>. Cleopatra&#39;s love life, too, is a perennial topic of interest. However, behind the myths and propaganda,&nbsp;what information about this self-appointed goddess gets closest to the truth about her temperament, talents, and experiences?

The compelling&nbsp;facts below bring Queen Cleopatra down from her throne and provide insight into her day-to-day life. Vote up the details that move you the most about Cleopatra&#39;s real life.

12 Small But Poignant Facts We Just Learned About Cleopatra

Small But Poignant Facts We Just Learned About Cleopatra

Play It Again

American Pie

Eight minutes long, starting with &quot;A long, long time ago,&quot; Don McLean&#39;s &quot;American Pie&quot; is a slice of cultural history.&nbsp;Since the song&#39;s release, fans have been obsessed with answering one question: what is &quot;American Pie&quot; about?

&quot;That song didn&#39;t just happen,&quot;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.maebrussell.com/Articles%20and%20Notes/Don%20McLean.html" target="_blank">McLean said</a> of his 1971 hit, which was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.christies.com/about-us/press-archive/details?PressReleaseID=7743&amp;lid=1&amp;mob-is-app=false" target="_blank">inducted</a> into the Grammy Hall of Fame and named a Song of the Century&nbsp;by the Recording Industry Association of America. The&nbsp;classic folk-rock anthem, known for its expansive <a href="http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-song-lyrics/American_Pie.htm" target="_blank">lyrics</a>, is filled with cultural references related to American life in the 1950s and 1960s.

&quot;I saw the implication of America going bye-bye, since by 1971 we were a horribly divided country with tremendous anger being directed at the government over... Vietnam,&quot; McLean said&nbsp;in Alan Howard&#39;s book <a href="https://donmclean.com/about-american-pie/" target="_blank">The Don McLean Story</a>, hinting at the song&#39;s larger meaning: the disintegration of the American ideal McLean romanticized in his youth.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/04/08/gloomy-don-mclean-reveals-meaning-of-american-pie-and-sells-lyrics-for-1-2-million/" target="_blank">McLean&#39;s</a> ambiguous writing style lends itself to all types of interpretation, and that is how he wanted it. &quot;People ask me if I left the lyrics open to ambiguity. Of course I did,&quot;&nbsp;he said. &quot;I wanted to make a whole series of complex statements. The lyrics had to do with the state of society at the time.&quot;

McLean officially verified only one reference in the song: that Buddy Holly was&nbsp;a key influence in his life.&nbsp;As McLean put it, &quot;I can say that Buddy was a huge part of my childhood dream. Long before I decided how I would use music or what kind of artist I would be, Buddy was there.&quot;

Fans have pulled apart and analyzed the&nbsp;rest of the &quot;American Pie&quot;&nbsp;lyrics and references through context clues, research, and finding historical parallels to the decades that inspired the creation of McLean&#39;s ballad.

Song Subtext

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All The Cultural References In The Song ‘American Pie,' Explained

The 'American Pie' Lyrics Are Full Of Cultural References

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