15. Grand Central Terminal’s Big Secret
Though commuters travel through Grand Central station in NYC every single day, few know
that there are secret tunnels that lie below. Nine stories below, to be exact. Beneath the floor of Grand Central sits the
M-42 bunker. It’s said to have been built during WWII. Rumor has it that because the station delivered
troops to and from New York, there was fear it would be targeted. There’s also a hidden station below: Track
61. It’s not on any Grand Central train map. It was built specifically to accommodate the
wealthy on private trains. In fact, an elevator delivers guests from
the platform to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. FDR was said to use it the most, due to his
polio. The hidden transport helped hide the fact
that the president couldn’t walk from the public. Just goes to show you never know what lies
below. 14. Work Causes More People to Pass Away Than
War Yes, war can be gruesome, and it’s definitely
not a pretty way to pass away. But being worked to that point isn’t pretty
either. It can be long and painful, especially for
those who live in a country where labor laws aren’t enforced or don’t exist. While heart disease and stroke remain the
number one cause of passing away, the International Labor Organization’s Director General, Guy
Ryder, said that work takes more lives each year than war. Drawn from statistics between 1955 to 2002,
an average of 378,000 people passed away each year from war, according to ABC News. More than six times that number pass away
from occupational incidents and diseases. That’s an estimated 2.3 million workers
a year. 13. CIA Scary Stupid Assassination Attempts
The CIA wanted Castro gone in the 60’s, and if they had to do it with a seashell – damn
it – they were going to try. During the years between ‘60 and ‘65,
eight assassination plots against the Cuban leader were described in a 1967 report on
the subject. This information was only declassified 36
years later. Maybe they should have left it top secret,
because the plots are just plain embarrassing. Poisoned pills, cigars, fungus, air, and even
a syringe were all potential objects suggested to send Castro to an early grave. Not only did they want the guy passed away,
but they wanted to humiliate him. One plot outlined an idea to fill his shoes
with thallium salt, so that his beard would fall out. Um…is this a renowned government agency
or a group of naughty school boys, pulling pranks? But the plot that was perhaps the strangest
and scariest for how stupid it was involved a booby-trapped seashell. Castro was known to go diving, so CIA operatives
thought they might plant a particularly beautiful shell in a coral reef he frequented. Being such an avid diver, Castro would of
course be the one to grab hold of the shell and set off the explosive device, taking his
life instantly. The CIA came to its senses, however, and decided
the plot was impractical. Although, that was not without some investigation
into the matter. Books on Caribbean mollusks were purchased
by the CIA’s head of Cuban operations, Desmond Fitzgerald. They are gathering dust as we speak. 12. Gandhi Wasn’t All Good
You know how you think you know a person, and then you discover something about them
that flips everything you thought you knew on its head? No one’s perfect. But just what does an icon have to do to lose
their broader appeal. Mother Teresa doubted the existence of God. Lance Armstrong was doping. You know what Bill Cosby has been accused
of by now. And, yet, although many know that Gandhi wasn’t
all good, they really don’t know the half of it. It’s not that Gandhi was a terrible person. But the idealistic view of this man, whose
goodness is often compared to the likes of Martin Luther King, Jr., may be a bit of a
stretch. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty: The
British imprisoned Gandhi and his wife, Kasturba, in Aga Khan Palace in 1942. Kasturba’s poor circulation led to bronchial
pneumonia, and one of her sons brought her penicillin to take, but Gandhi wouldn’t
allow it. Instead, she was given river water from the
Ganges, which would supposedly restore her. He believed, “If God wills it, He will pull
her through.” With only traditional medicine and God’s
will to save her, Kasturba passed away three days later. Not long after his wife’s passing, Gandhi
acquired malaria. His doctors pushed quinine on him, but of
course he didn’t take it, because of “God’s will.” Just kidding, he totally took it and recovered
just fine. So while Gandhi remains one of the most quotable
world leaders throughout history and, in the purview of the past, an activist for peace,
he certainly had an Achilles’ heel. He was imperfect, and Kasturba probably saw
the worst side of him. 11.The US Knowingly Let Its Citizens pass
away The United States allowed African American
farmers to pass away from syphilis in order to study the disease’s progression. It began way back in 1932, during the Great
Depression. A study by the U.S. Public Health Service
took place in Macon County, Alabama, where around 35% of the male population had been
found infected with the disease. With the promise of free medical exams, meals,
healthcare, and even burial insurance, the PHS and the Rosenwald Fund convinced 600 African
American farmers to take part in the study. 201 didn’t have syphilis, 399 did. The farmers who were infected with syphilis
didn’t know they had the disease…and they weren’t told of their infection. Instead of treating the farmers for syphilis,
doctors monitored them and tested out “free treatments,” which included agonizing and
unnecessary spinal taps. Instead of lasting six months, the program
lasted around 40 years, despite the fact that penicillin had been discovered to cure the
disease in the 1940s. 130 of the participants passed away during
the study, and some also went on to infect their wives and children, as they weren’t
told they had the disease. Thankfully, no bad deed goes unpunished. In 1972, the government shut down the program,
calling it “ethically unjustified.” After filing a lawsuit the following year,
the families of the study were awarded a $10 million settlement and lifetime healthcare
and burial insurance. But I’m sure no money could quell their
pain and anger in this case. 10. The Top Secret FISA Decision
What is the US government trying to hide? Well, lots of things, probably. But in 2011, the government was fighting for
its life to keep a key FISA court (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) decision
hidden from the public. What did this decision entail? The NSA, of course. This 86-page opinion from the FISA court was
pre-Snowden, so the public had no knowledge of the scope of NSA surveillance. In fact, the FISA court declared some of its
programs unconstitutional, but the Department of Justice would not allow the Electronic
Frontier Foundation to go public with this opinion, despite the fact that FISA, itself,
ruled that it could be made public, and despite the fact that the foundation had filed a public
records request for its release. The government still wants to keep this opinion
secret, but there’s been a breakthrough in the case. According to a report by NBC News, a ruling
“signed by the court’s chief judge, Reggie Walton, rejected the Justice Department’s
arguments that the secret national security court’s rules prevented disclosure of the
opinion.” Judge Walton’s ruling, however, did not
require an immediate release of the top secret opinion, but rather sent the case to a lower
court to ensure it met the requirements to be subject to disclosure. If the NSA knows everything about us, what
does it have to hide? We’ll probably never know. 9. Telecommunication Companies are at the Mercy
of the NSA Another scary fact about the NSA that the
public isn’t supposed to know: they’ve got big companies in their pocket. Verizon and other big-name telecommunication
companies are made to spy on customers by the NSA. The telephone records from millions of Verizon
customers were collected by the NSA at a request from the FBI, and court ordered by FISA. Whether or not customers were suspected of
anything, the order enabled the NSA to gather metadata, including locations, unique identifiers,
the phone numbers of both sides on a call, time and duration of phone calls, etc. Only the conversations’ content was kept
private. The top-secret court order required these
companies to hand over this information on an “ongoing, daily basis.” The order also disallowed Verizon from disclosing
the FBI’s request and the order, itself, to the public. Congressmen and surveillance experts, alike,
have declared this collection of personal data as an invasion of privacy. But the fact that the public is now aware
of this doesn’t seem to change anything. Big Brother is watching us in plain sight,
but most people aren’t invested enough to care. In fact, though a Pew Research report noted
that 57% of Americans think it’s wrong of the government to monitor communication of
American citizens, only 17% claimed to be very concerned about it. 35% were somewhat concerned…but being “somewhat
concerned” about anything means you’re not going to do a damn thing to change it. 8. The CIA Experimented with Behavior-Controlling
Drugs The NSA and FBI aren’t the only bad eggs. The CIA is also hiding some deep dark secrets. Unless you’ve really dug deep into the history
of the CIA, you probably have no idea that they’ve done biological, chemical, and radiological
experiments on US and Canadian citizens. Over the span of twenty years, from ’53
to ’73, a sinister and illegal CIA program called Project MKULTRA recruited 185 private
researchers and 80 institutions to perform behavior-controlling experiments on citizens
using drugs. More often than not, the drugs were administered
on “people who could not fight back,” as one CIA agent put it. We’re talking mental patients, drug addicts,
prostitutes, and prisoners. That’s some pretty shady stuff…even for
an organization as shady as the CIA. LSD was one of the drugs tested, due to its
ability to distort reality. The CIA believed the drug might be used to
alter a person’s loyalties. This was during the Cold War, so the potential
application for this would be to convert foreign agents to American operatives. LSD was provided to men in brothels in San
Francisco, after which doctors would secretly monitor them and the effects of the drug through
two-way mirrors. Even government agents were supplied the drug,
in order to test whether or not it would illicit a confession or draw the mind blank. Morphine, marijuana, heroin, alcohol, and
other drugs were also tested. One person is known to have passed away in
these experiments…but the reality could be more. Drug-induced hypnosis was also on MKULTRA’s
agenda. They tested whether it would boost intelligence,
produce anxiety, or lead to sleep deprivation in patients. They also experimented with assassination
methods, using aerosols. If this fact’s not scary, I don’t know
what is. 7. Facebook Knows… Will your relationship last? Don’t ask a Magic 8 ball. Ask Facebook. According to the social network, the heaps
of user data it accrues can help the site determine whether or not a romantic relationship
will last. The data suggests that, overall, a “facebook
official” relationship status of three or more months means a couple will likely stay
together for the long haul. Bogdan State, a Facebook data scientist, analyzed
US users’ relationship statuses over three years, from 2008-2011. As one might expect, the most important indicator
of a lasting relationship was the duration of their facebook official relationship status. “About half of all Facebook relationships
that have survived three months are likely to survive to four years or longer,” State
concluded in his analysis. The study also found that summer breakups
are the most frequent, perhaps due to long-distance relationships falling apart once the academic
calendar year ends. While not groundbreaking, you might breathe
a sigh of relief once your relationship outlasts the three-month mark. Apparently, that means you’re in it to win
it, and your relationship is stable enough to endure. While this fact isn’t super scary, the public
should be aware that social media knows an excessive amount about us. And delving into our relationships is a little
too close for comfort. 6. Agent Orange Was Used in Korea
While most people know about the US military’s use of Agent Orange in Vietnam during 1961-71,
most don’t know that it was also used in the Korean war in 1978. These are historical facts that we’d like
to ignore, as the damages done at the hands of chemical warfare were detrimental to generations
of Vietnamese and Korean people. Agent Orange is a defoliant and herbicide
chemical – a mix of two herbicides – which was officially used in Operation Ranch Hand
in Vietnam to the detriment of the environment and the health of those exposed. It wasn’t until 2011 that it came out in
the local press, KPHO-TV in Phoenix, Arizona, that the US had used Agent Orange in 1978,
burying 250 drums in its Korean army base, Camp Carroll. By the time it was made public in America,
Korea had known about it for more than a decade. Around 20,000 South Koreans filed lawsuits
in 1999, alleging damages of over $5 billion. In 2006, they won their appeal, and Dow Chemical
and Monsanto were ordered to pay $62 million to 6,800 people. Veterans that served in Korea are also able
to seek compensation for “presumptive exposure.” 5. The US Government Knows What’s Coming In
& Going Out Another NSA not-so-secret secret: the government
organization not only collects information from its own citizens; it also collects all
international email and text that crosses US borders. Government officials cite the 2008 FISA Amendments
Act, approved by Congress, which deemed that cross-border surveillance (i.e. eavesdropping
on our home turf) was allowable, as long as the warranted “target” was a noncitizen
abroad. Hmmm….sounds like the NSA is digging deep
here. Again, the public isn’t supposed to know
this. It was uncovered by the New York Times in
2013, and the extent to which the NSA is surveilling Americans continues to broaden instead of
narrow. 4. Winston Churchill Believed in a Worldwide
Jewish Conspiracy Like Gandhi, Churchill has aged like a fine
wine. He’s viewed kindly by history, as one of
the strongest wartime leaders in the world. But as Prime Minister, Churchill firmly believed
there was a team of “international” Jewish people whose objective was to control the
world. In fact, when he was Secretary of State for
War and Air, he wrote an article on his theory in 1920, entitled, “Zionism Versus Bolshevism:
A Struggle for the Soul of the Jewish People.” While Churchill didn’t paint all Jewish
people with the same brush, he claimed there were extremes in the race. He also theorized that Jewish people have
three political streams of consciousness: nationalism, Zionism, and atheistic communism. The first two were honorable, according to
Churchill. But as for atheistic communism – these were
devastating. In his essay, he said of these types, “Most,
if not all, of them have forsaken the faith of their forefathers, and divorced from their
minds all spiritual hopes of the next world.” He called this movement a “world-wide conspiracy”
and claimed that it played a part in forming Bolshevism and the Russian Revolution. 3. Barbie’s Origins are as an Escort
Aside from the impossible physical expectations the Mattel group places on children, Barbie
seems like an innocent enough plaything, right? Wrong. Nothing could be less innocent. Barbie’s origins date back to 1940s Germany. The design was originally that of the Lilli
doll – a German gag-gift escort doll for adults. You heard that right: your little girls have
been playing with escort dolls. Created by Reinhard Beuthien [beau-thay-en],
Lilli was a cartoon character for the tabloid, Bild-Zeitung [bild zay-tung], which is based
in Hamburg, Germany. The character – full name “Bild Lilli”
– was a buxom blonde gold-digger who managed to attract rich men with her looks and sass. Lilli’s quick wit and appeal made her so
popular that the newspaper decided to make a quick buck from her rising popularity by
selling a doll version in bars and at tobacco kiosks as an adult novelty toy. They became a popular gag gift at bachelor
parties and a common dangler for the rearview mirror. During the 1950s, the product began to expand. Different styles of clothes and accessories
were designed to dress Lilli. This attracted young girls, who of course
wanted to dress her up. This is where Mattel came into the fold and
really put Lilli on the map…albeit with a different name. A toy designer, Ruth Handler, picked up some
Lilli dolls on a trip to Europe and, returning home, worked on the doll’s design, until
she became Barbie. The popular toy made her debut on March 9,
1959, at New York toy fair. Shortly after, Mattel bought the rights to
Bild Lilli, and German companies ceased production. 2. Yellow #5 and #6
Lots of fast food restaurants use ingredients that you can’t pronounce. However, although you can pronounce “Yellow
dye #5 and #6,” the contents aren’t any less mysterious. These artificial dyes are approved by the
FDA and are used to color various food and drink offerings at places like Burger King,
Chick-fil-A, Wendy’s, and Dunkin Donuts. And, yet, they’ve been nixed by many companies
in the UK, due to the fact that they’re linked to behavioral problems and hyperactivity
in children. The UK government also now requires that foods
with these two scary “yellows” have warning labels. The dyes are also used in soap and nail polish. It’s probably best just to avoid them. Before we get to number 1, my name is Chills
and I hope you’re enjoying the video so far. If you've ever been curious as to what I look
like in real life, then follow me on Instagram @dylan_is_chillin_yt, with underscores instead
of spaces. I also have Twitter @YT_Chills where I post
video updates. I'd really appreciate it if you followed me
and feel free to send me a DM if you have a questions or suggestions. If you’d like to see more of these videos
in the future, then hit that subscribe button because we upload new countdowns every Tuesday
and Saturday. 1. You Can Buy Almost Anything on the Darknet
The internet has made it easier than ever to get away with certain activities under
the cover of darkness. When it comes to the web, this darkness is
in the form of the Darknet. If you’re an innocent Googler, social networker,
or Youtuber, you’re probably not using the internet to access nefarious sites and purchase
stuff on black markets. In fact, you probably have no idea they exist. But they do. And it’s scary. The Onion Router enables online anonymity
and allows folks to access the Darknet (i.e. websites that aren’t part of the regular
internet). You can do and buy anything in this dark underworld. Guns, drugs, an assassin. Hacker services are up for grabs, as are stolen
credit cards, fake IDs, and forged documents. In fact, the Silk Road market was removed
in 2013 by the FBI. It was the internet’s largest hidden drug
market, and its alleged creator, was charged with computer hacking, money laundering, and
drug trafficking. 150 million worth of Bitcoins were also seized. The criminal underworld did not disband, however. It simply found a different marketplace. Thanks for checking out this video. Be sure to subscribe because we upload new
countdowns every Tuesday and Saturday. Or if you're still not convinced, here are
some of our other videos that I think you'd like. Enjoy!
