Exploring caves is normally quite safe in comparison to rock climbing or kayaking, but the problems happen when the cave is either unexplored or the ones going into it are completely unprepared. The following five stories all involved people who either put themselves in unnecessary danger or didn’t know what they were doing in the first place.

Follow us on Instagram

Listen to our sister podcast: History of Everything

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Neanderthal, (Homo neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis), member of a group of archaic humans who emerged at least 200,000 years ago during the Pleistocene Epoch (about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago) and were replaced or assimilated by early modern human populations (Homo sapiens) between 35,000 and perhaps 24,000 years ago. But who were they and what happened?

Follow us on Instagram

Listen to our sister podcast: History of Everything

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ouija board, in occultism, a device ostensibly used for obtaining messages from the spirit world, usually employed by a medium during a séance. The name derives from the French and German words for “yes” (oui and ja). The Ouija board consists of an oblong piece of wood with letters of the alphabet inscribed along its longer edge in a wide half-moon. On top of this, a much smaller heart-shaped board is placed, mounted on casters, which enable it to slide freely. Can it contact the dead? Well lets see

Follow us on Instagram

Listen to our sister podcast: History of Everything

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the Second World War, the United States, Russia, and China—and a host of other nations—have lost vessels and their crews to accidents. Operating submarines is a risky business under the best of circumstances—and will likely remain so. Even the highest technology nuclear submarines can end up on the ocean floor if the crew isn’t careful or the technology fails.

Follow us on Instagram

Listen to our sister podcast: History of Everything

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Saturation divers are professional deep-sea divers who descend to depths of 500 feet (152 meters) or more to service equipment on offshore oil rigs and undersea pipelines. But unlike most commercial divers, who do a few hours of work underwater and return to the surface, saturation divers will spend up to 28 days on a single job, living in a cramped high-pressure chamber where they eat and sleep between shifts.

Pay is great for saturation divers — between $30,000 and $45,000 a month — but it's intense work in an otherworldly and claustrophobic environment. And it can be dangerous. In 1983, four saturation divers and one crew member were killed in a gruesome accident aboard a Norwegian-operated oil rig called the Byford Dolphin.

Follow us on Instagram

Listen to our sister podcast: History of Everything

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are some scary creepypasta rituals out there. Whether it's the Elevator Ritual, which supposedly takes you to another dimension, the Closet Game, which summons a demon, or 11 Miles, where you head out alone at night and drive along until you find the 11-mile road, these are dangerous games you should not play.

Follow us on Instagram

Listen to our sister podcast: History of Everything

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Warminster is an English town of about 17,000 people on the edge of the Salisbury Plain Military Training Area, about 15 miles (25 km) from the famous Stonehenge pre-historic stone circle in Wiltshire, southwest England.

Beginning at the end of 1964, residents of the town (its population then was about 10,000) started to witness something strange happening in Warminster. But What was it?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The term "spontaneous human combustion" refers to a situation when a human body is found with significant portions of the middle parts of the body reduced to ashes, much less damage to the head and extremities, and minimal damage to the direct surroundings of the body. Typically, no observable source of ignition is found in the vicinity of the victim and a bad smelling oily substance is noted. In the past, such a situation was erroneously attributed to supernatural powers, as such phenomenon occurs in the absence of any witness. 

Follow us on Instagram

Listen to our sister podcast: History of Everything

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Workers exert astronomical pressure on the earth's foundation, using power to drill and extract the planet's natural resources deep within the ground. Oil companies must take extreme precaution during all parts of the drilling process to avoid disaster. Even one mistake or missed safety procedure can lead to a catastrophic blowout. Unfortunately, oil companies often cut corners to save time and money. In doing so, they put the lives of the workers at risk. And it can end terribly

Follow us on Instagram

Listen to our sister podcast: History of Everything

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention, reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion. There are competing theories explaining hypnosis and related phenomena. But is it real and how does it even work? How was it used? Lets dive in and explore the mystery.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices