Dimitris Michailidis/K. HarvatiDating back to the Middle Pleistocene, this stick as well as the other prehistoric pieces of wood found alongside it could have been used by either early Neanderthals or Homo heidelbergensis.During excavations that began 13 years ago, archaeologists in Greece uncovered more than 100 pieces of prehistoric wood. At first glance, some appeared to be sticks or chunks of a tree. But after closely examining these artifacts, researchers now believe that two of their finds were once used by our ancestors for digging or cutting, making them the oldest-known wooden tools ever discovered.Both of these wooden objects are a whopping 430,000 years old, dating back to the Middle Pleistocene. They indeed appear to have been intentionally carved and shaped, suggesting that they served a clear purpose for the early humans who once wielded them.The Discovery Of What Could Be The Oldest Wooden Tools Ever FoundAccording to a study published in the journal PNAS, these wooden objects were part of a much larger hoard discovered during excavations at the Marathousa 1 archaeological site, a mine in Greeces Megalopolis basin. Between 2013 and 2019, archaeologists recovered 144 pieces of wood that had been preserved through the ages by the areas wet, muddy conditions.N. Thompson/K. HarvatiThe second wooden tools purpose is unknown, though researchers noted that it had been purposefully stripped of bark.Because of the age of the site, researchers determined that the wood pieces were 430,000 years old. And some of them, examined under a microscope, bore marks which suggested that they had been shaped for use as tools.The first, which looks like a mere stick at first glance, is 2.7 feet long and made of alder wood. It has cut marks, seemingly made by stone tools, as well as signs of wear that suggest it was used to dig through soil. Researchers suspect that it was used to dig through wet ground, possibly to harvest plants. However, the presence of an elephant carcass nearby also raises the possibility that this wooden tool was used to scavenge meat from the animals bones.The second tool, made from either willow or poplar, is just a few inches long. Though clearly stripped of bark, its exact purpose remains unclear. Researchers have speculated that it was perhaps used to shape stone tools.These finds also come not long after similar discoveries of prehistoric wooden tools were made in Germany and China. However, the tools unearthed in Greece predate those by more than 100,000 years.And while questions remain about the wooden tools found in Greece, they nevertheless provide a rare and fascinating window into how our ancestors lived some 430,000 years ago.The Pleistocene Human Ancestors Who Wielded The Stone Tools Found In GreeceG. Prieto, K. HarvatiHow one of these prehistoric tools was perhaps handled, according to an artists depiction.Roughly half a million years ago, Greeces Megalopolis basin was likely populated by Neanderthals or an early human ancestor known as Homo heidelbergensis. During the Middle Pleistocene, the basin was a glacial refugium, or an area where plants and animals survived during the Ice Age.Despite the harsh global conditions, this was also an era of groundbreaking ingenuity. As the researchers note in their study, the Middle Pleistocene was a critical period of human evolution, characterized by increasing behavioral complexity and the first unambiguous evidence of plant-based technologies, like wooden tools. That said, such tools are incredibly rare in the archaeological record, given that wooden artifacts like those found at Marathousa 1 usually arent well preserved.But the muddy conditions in the Megalopolis basin have preserved several objects from this era objects that tell a story about what life was like here some 430,000 years ago. In addition to the tools, researchers also came across another fragment of alder wood scarred with claw marks, hinting at the treacherous conditions that once existed in the basin. As the researchers wrote, the claw marks are suggestive of carnivore presence at the site, as well as possible hominin-carnivore competition.As such, the wooden tools unearthed at the site are an astounding find, one that rewrites the history of human toolmaking. And the conditions at this site, which preserved these relics for almost half a million years, could also mean that there are other exciting discoveries just waiting to be made.[The tools] represent both the use of expedient larger handheld tools as well as a much smaller, likely finger-held wooden tool, which is uniquely small for the Pleistocene, expanding known functional purposes of early wood technologies, the researchers remarked in their study. Moreover, they highlight the Megalopolis Basins exceptional preservation conditions and its role in understanding the evolution of hominin behavior.After reading about the oldest-known wooden tools ever found, discover the lost stories of some of the worlds most incredible prehistoric animals. Then, look through these fascinating facts about life in ancient Greece.The post Researchers Just Identified This 430,000-Year-Old Stick From Greece As The Oldest Wooden Tool Ever Found appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge/FacebookKenny was rescued from an Arkansas breeder alongside his parents and brother, all of whom were living in filthy cages littered with feces and dead chickens.Since the 2000s, photos of Kenny the tiger with Down syndrome have made him an online sensation. Countless people have been captivated by his story, in which the worlds ugliest tiger was rescued from an abusive breeder who determined that he was too ugly to sell. Both his story and his appearance garnered enormous amounts of sympathy online and Kenny wasnt alone.Untold numbers of stories about animals with Down syndrome have made their way around the internet, thanks to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, where short documentaries chronicle these animals difficult lives.However, all of these stories are false. In fact, most animals, felines especially, arent able to develop Down syndrome and that includes Kenny.So, whats Kenny the tigers real story?The Myth Of Endangered White Tigers And The Breeding Practices Responsible For ThemMany breeders, entertainers, and even some zoos that feature white tigers like to tell the same story: these tigers are endangered, and conservation efforts must be made to ensure their survival. The average person would have no reason to doubt this claim, of course. After all, nature is rife with animals like brown bears and black bears and red pandas why should white tigers be any different?Well, as Susan Bass of the Florida-based sanctuary Big Cat Rescue (BCR) told The Dodo, White tigers are not a species, theyre not endangered, theyre not in the wild. There are so many misconceptions about white tigers.Seng Chye Teo/Getty ImagesA pair of white tigers, who all share a propensity for certain genetic mutations as they all descend from the same original white tiger.In fact, Bass said, there hasnt been a sighting of a wild white tiger since the 1950s. That tiger was a cub living with a family of standard, orange tigers, but the person who found them was so intrigued by the light variation of the cubs coat that they stole it away from its mother and siblings.White tigers today all descend from that cub, whose coat was the result of a double-recessive gene combination.So, while white tigers are undeniably beautiful, there is only one way, really, that breeders can achieve that double-recessive gene combination: breeding tigers over and over again to get that gene to come forward, Bass explained.Of course, that doesnt mean breeding just any two tigers they all still trace back to that original white tiger, meaning most white tigers are the result of generations of inbreeding, which can cause any number of health and physical complications. Kenny, whose parents were siblings, is just one example of what the end result of this inbreeding can be.Bass continued, saying that most white tigers are cross-eyed, even if it may not be apparent when you look at them. Their optic nerves, however, are often crossed. In addition, They dont live as long. They have kidney problems, they have spine issues. One white tiger at BCR, like many others, has a cleft palate that makes it look like shes always smiling.But the cruel treatment of white tigers doesnt start and end with inbreeding and physical deformities. The main appeal of these animals, for breeders at least, is that people are willing to pay money to see them and theyve been a staple of Las Vegas entertainment for decades. Tibbles Maurice/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix via Getty ImagesAkbar, a white tiger cub with Bristol Zoo senior keeper Bill Barrett in October 1968.Of course, people might be less willing to pay money if they knew the truth, which would be apparent if they were presented with a physically deformed white tiger, meaning only ideal tigers are sold. To get that one perfect, pretty white cub, its one out of 30, Bass said. What happens to the other 29 euthanized, abandoned who knows.Kenny was one of the rare cases where a physically deformed white tiger happened to make it into the public eye, but his situation beforehand was a far cry from ideal.How Kenny The Tigers Infamy Exposed The Breeding IndustryIn 2000, Kenny was rescued by the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, taken from a tiger farm in Bentonville, Arkansas, where he was born in 1998. According to a report from The Mirror, Kenny lived there in filth for the first two years of his life and was nearly killed at birth.Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge/FacebookKenny and his brother Willie, an orange, cross-eyed tiger rescued from the same breeder.Kenny was one of two cubs in his litter to survive. The other, his brother Willie, was born orange and severely cross-eyed. The rest of the cubs were stillborn or died at birth. Their parents were brother and sister. The breeder claimed that Kennys facial deformities were a result of the cub smashing his face into a wall repeatedly. He also admitted that he would have simply killed the cub at birth had his son not felt that Kenny was too cute.White tiger traffickers were once able to sell ideal cubs for over $36,000. At the time of The Mirrors report in 2019, that price had dropped to around $4,000.When the Arkansas breeder contacted Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in 2000, realizing he wouldnt make a profit from his inbred tiger family, they found the tigers in cages riddled with feces and dead chicken remains. The gruff man still demanded nearly $8,000 for them. When they refused, he handed over the tigers for free.The gentleman that we rescued [Kenny] from said he would constantly run his face into the wall, said Emily McCormack, animal curator for Turpentine Creek. But it was clear that that wasnt the situation.Photos of Kenny then went viral alongside inaccurate claims that he had Down syndrome, but McCormack noted that, mentally, Kenny was no different than any other tiger.Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge/FacebookThough most tigers in captivity can live to be older than 20, Kenny died at only 10 years old after a battle with melanoma.He acted like the rest of them, she said. He loved enrichment, he had a favorite toy he ran around in his habitat, he ate grass, he just looked kind of silly.Unfortunately, Kenny died in 2008 after a battle with melanoma, a serious type of skin cancer that develops in cells that produce melanin, the pigment that gives skin its color. He was 10 years old, under half the average age of a tiger in captivity.The Exploitative Breeding Practices Continue After Kenny The Tigers DemiseMembers of Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge were later interviewed for an episode of ABCs 20/20 focused on the magicians Siegfried and Roy, who were known to use a variety of exotic animals in their act including white tigers. Their show came to an end when Roy was nearly killed by one of their white tigers, Mantacore. When Emily McCormack and Tanya Smith were interviewed, we were informed the second half of the 20/20 Siegfried and Roy special would show the other side of magic shows, a 2019 post from the sanctuary reads. Sadly, the two-hour special seemed to be a very long promotion for Siegfried and Roys upcoming biography movie.20/20 correspondent Deborah Roberts also defended Siegfried and Roys tiger-breeding, saying, There have been no reports of abnormalities with Siegfried and Roys white tigers. In fact, they say they practice conscientious breeding to avoid mating tigers that are closely related, and they say they stopped breeding tigers back in 2015.Of course, Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge once again acknowledged that it is factually impossible to conscientiously breed white tigers, as they are all related, and they all share the same faulty genetics and predisposition for a number of diseases and deformities. Getty ImagesSiegfried and Roy circa 1990 with one of their white tigers, a prominent part of their magic act.That same year, The Mirror reported that there had been an increase in the slaughter of white tigers for their fur and meat, with their skins being turned into rugs, their bones being used in healing tonics and wine, and their meat sold to restaurants or used in stock cubes. This would be alarming no matter the animal, but it is especially troubling with white tigers as it encourages illegal farms to continue their unethical breeding practices.As Bass said, These are not a species, they are not endangered, they dont need to be saved, they shouldnt exist. [Breeders and owners are] duping the public into thinking that they need conservation, and paying money to see them.After discovering the truth about white tiger breeding and Kenny the white tiger, learn about Tiger King Joe Exotic. Then, read the true story of Doc Antles cult-like animal sanctuary that was featured in Tiger King.The post The Tragic Reality Behind Kenny, The Tiger With Down Syndrome appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Charles Manson, the notorious cult leader whose followers committed eight brutal killings in the summer of 1969, ultimately diedhimself on November 19, 2017. He spent nearly half a century in a California prison for the murders he was convicted of masterminding and he remained behind bars up until his death due to cardiac arrest at age 83.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesCharles Manson on trial in 1970.But even with Charles Manson dead, his grisly story kept unfolding as his twentysomething fiancee, his associates, and his family began sparring over his body. Even after Charles Mansons death, he generated a grim circus that grabbed headlines across the country.This is the full story of Charles Mansons death and the shocking incidents that made him famous in the first place.How Charles Manson Earned His Bloody Place In American HistoryCharles Manson first shocked the world when members of his California cult known as the Manson Family murdered actress Sharon Tate and four others, supposedly on his orders, inside her Los Angeles home. Those gruesome killings on August 8, 1969, were the first act of a multi-night murder spree that ended with the killings of Rosemary and Leno LaBianca the following evening.Los Angeles Public LibraryCharles Manson awaiting the verdict on March 28, 1971.Whatever Mansons motives for the murders, a jury eventually found that he directed four members of the Manson Family Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel to drive from the groups makeshift home at Spahn Ranch to 10050 Cielo Drive and kill everyone inside: Tate as well as the others at the scene, which were Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring, and Steven Parent.The evening after the Tate murders, Manson and his Family members, including Leslie Van Houten, broke into the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, killing them just as brutally as those they murdered the night before.After a relatively short investigation over the course of several months, Manson and his Family were arrested, then promptly tried and sentenced to death. However, their sentences were commuted to life in prison when California outlawed the death penalty.Wikimedia CommonsCharles Mansons 1968 mugshot.In prison, Charles Manson was denied parole 12 times. If he had lived, his next parole hearing would have been in 2027. But he never made it that far. Before he passed away, however, the famous cult leader garnered the attention of a young woman who wanted to marry him: Afton Elaine Burton. Her part in his story only made his final days and the aftermath of his death all the more interesting.How Did Charles Manson Die?At the start of 2017, doctors found that Manson was suffering from gastrointestinal bleeding, causing him to be hospitalized. Within months, it was clear that Manson was in critical condition and suffering from colon cancer.He was, nevertheless, able to hang on until November of that year. On November 15, he was sent to a hospital in Bakersfield with all signs pointing to his end being near.Sure enough, he died of cardiac arrest and respiratory failure in the hospital on November 19. charles Mansons death had been brought on by the cancer that had spread to other areas of his body. In the end, the answer to the question of how did Charles Manson die? was altogether straightforward.And with Charles Manson dead, one of the 20th centurys most infamous criminals was gone. But, thanks largely to a woman named Afton Burton, the full saga of Charles Mansons death was just getting started.Afton Burtons Bizarre PlansMansonDirect.comAfton Burton planned on garnering legal possession of Charles Mansons corpse in order to charge customers to see him entombed in a glass crypt.According to The Daily Beast, Afton Burton first heard of Charles Manson when a friend told her about his environmental activism. His rallying cry known as ATWA air, trees, water, animals apparently impressed the teenager so much that she felt not only a kinship with Manson but began developing romantic feelings for him once they started communicating.In 2007, she left her midwestern home of Bunker Hill, Illinois at the age of 19 with $2,000 in savings and made her way to Corcoran, California to meet the elderly convict in prison. The pair began to develop an amicable relationship, with Burton helping manage his MansonDirect website and commissary funds, and Manson seemingly warming to her wish to marry him.According to The New York Post, however, this engagement between two people 53 years apart was not an honest one. Burton who became known as Star after forging her connection with Manson merely wanted possession of his corpse after he died.She and a friend named Craig Hammond had reportedly hatched a macabre plan to take possession of Mansons corpse and display it in a glass crypt where fawning or merely curious onlookers could pay to see. But this plan never came to pass. The strange scheme was largely thwarted by Manson himself, who slowly began to realize that Burtons intentions were not what they initially seemed.MansonDirect.comWhen it became clear that Manson didnt want to sign his body over to Burton, she pivoted back to marriage. As a spouse, shed be legally in possession of her husbands remains.According to journalist Daniel Simone, who wrote a book on the matter, Burton and Hammond had hatched their plan and initially tried to get Manson to sign a document that would give them the rights to his body after he died.He didnt give them a yes, he didnt give them a no, said Simone. He sort of strung them along.Simone explained that Burton and Hammond, anxious to get Manson to agree to their plan, would routinely shower him in toiletries and other goodies that were unavailable in prison and keeping the gifts coming was precisely why Manson kept his position on the agreement nebulous. Eventually, however, Manson decided to not consent to the plan.Hes finally realized that hes been played for a fool, said Simone. He feels he will never die. Therefore, he feels its a stupid idea to begin with.When Burton and Hammonds first plan didnt work, she only became more anxious to marry him, which would allow her to take possession of his body after his death. And Charles Manson did acquire a marriage license in order to wed Burton before he died, but they never went through with it. When it expired, a statement on Burton and Hammonds website assured invested audiences across the globe that their plan was still on track.They plan on renewing the license, and things will move forward in the coming months, the statement read.The website also claimed that the ceremony was postponed due to an unexpected interruption in logistics, which presumably referred to Mansons transfer to a prison medical facility to get an infection treated. This left him secluded from visitors for at least two months. Wikimedia CommonsA prison photo of Manson mere months before he died. August 14, 2017.In the end, Manson never recovered, the wedding idea never came to fruition, and Burtons plan to secure Mansons body never reached completion. With Charles Mansons death on November 19, 2017, Burtons plan was left incomplete. But with Charles Manson dead, so began the battle for his body that took months to finally conclude.With Charles Manson Dead, The Battle For His Body BeginsIn the end, Afton Burton never got what she wanted, which left the status of Mansons remains uncertain. The publics questions quickly turned from is Charles Manson dead? to what will happen to his body?With Charles Manson dead, several people then came forward with supposed claims to his body (as well as his estate). A pen pal named Michael Channels and a friend named Ben Gurecki came forward with claims supposedly backed up by wills made in years prior. Also vying for the body was Mansons son, Michael Brunner, who Manson had with Mary Brunner.Ultimately, however, Californias Kern County Superior Court decided in March 2018 to give Mansons body to his grandson, Jason Freeman. Later that same month, Freeman had his grandfathers body cremated and scattered on a hillside following a short funeral service in Porterville, California.Only about 20 attendees, described as close friends (as well as Burton), were present for the service which was kept unpublicized to avoid a media circus. Though he was a man who incited a media circus almost every time he opened his mouth in public following the infamous murders of 1969, the final step in the story of Charles Mansons death was a decidedly quiet, low-key affair.After learning about how Charles Manson died, read all about his mother, Kathleen Maddox. Then, check out the most fascinating Charles Manson facts. Finally, discover to the answer to the question of whether or not Charles Manson killed anyone.The post How Did Charles Manson Die? Inside The Bizarre Death Of The Infamous Cult Leader appeared first on All That's Interesting.

NESPRThis is said to be the oldest-known photo of what would become the Perron family house, taken decades before the alleged haunting.When The Conjuring was released in 2013, it both terrified and captivated audiences like few horror movies of its generation. To this day, it remains widely known for its all-too-realistic portrayal of the demonic haunting of an innocent family in 1970s Rhode Island.Initially, many viewers may have assumed that the movie was nothing but a fantastical tale dreamed up by Hollywood. However, the true story of The Conjuring is actually rooted in a horrifying real-life account of a haunting allegedly endured by the Perron family of Harrisville, Rhode Island in 1971 and investigated by the famous Ed and Lorraine Warren.Ed And Lorraine Warren, The Investigators Behind The Perron Family HauntingGetty ImagesParanormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren were the ones who looked into the Perron family haunting.Ed Warren was a World War II veteran and a former police officer who became a self-styled demonologist after studying the subject on his own. His wife, Lorraine, claimed to be a clairvoyant and a medium who was capable of communicating with the demons that Ed discovered.In 1952, Ed and Lorraine founded the New England Society for Psychic Research, the oldest ghost hunting group in New England. They quickly gained fame as respected paranormal researchers after their investigation of the Amityville hauntings.Their most famous cases, however, were those popularized by the Conjuring franchise, the series of movies that focuses on Ed and Lorraines experiences dealing with demons, ghosts, and spirits across America.TCD/Prod.DB/Alamy Stock PhotoEd and Lorraine Warren involved themselves in a number of paranormal cases some of which were likely hoaxes.Though the movies may seem over-dramatized and impossible to believe, the Warrens maintain that all of the events depicted actually transpired. They even kept a collection of artifacts from their cases at the Warren Museum in Connecticut, run in part by their daughter Judy. Though Ed died in 2006, Lorraine was a consultant on the films and claims that she didnt let the directors take any more dramatic license than was necessary.Nevertheless, the true story of The Conjuring the first in the series, and the one based on the Perron familys case remains perhaps most chilling of all to this day.The True Story Of The Conjuring: The Perron HauntingNESPRThe Perron family, minus Roger, in January of 1971, shortly after moving into their allegedly haunted home.The true story of The Conjuring concerns the Perron family and the vengeful spirit they supposedly encountered in Rhode Island.In January 1971, the Perron family moved into a 14-room farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island, where Carolyn, Roger, and their five daughters began to notice strange things happening almost immediately after they arrived.It started small. Carolyn would notice that the broom went missing, or seemed to move from place to place on its own. She would hear the sound of something scraping against the kettle in the kitchen when no one was in there. Shed find small piles of dirt in the center of a newly-cleaned kitchen floor.NESPRThe Perron house in Harrisville, Rhode Island where the haunting allegedly occurred in 1971.The girls began to notice spirits around the house, though for the most part, they were harmless. There were a few, however, that were angry.Carolyn allegedly researched the history of the home and discovered that it had been in the same family for eight generations and that many of them had died under mysterious or horrible circumstances. Several of the children had drowned in a nearby creek, one was murdered, and a few of them hanged themselves in the attic.The main spirit that was depicted in the film, Bathsheba, was the worst of them all.Whoever the spirit was, she perceived herself to be mistress of the house and she resented the competition my mother posed for that position, said Andrea Perron, the oldest of the five girls.Bathsheba Sherman: The Vengeful Spirit Who Allegedly Terrorized The Perron Family And Inspired The ConjuringNew Line CinemaBathsheba Sherman in The Conjuring.It turns out there was actually a real person named Bathsheba Sherman who lived on the Perron property in the mid-1800s. She was rumored to have been a Satanist, and there was evidence that she had been involved in the death of a neighbors child, though no trial ever took place. She was buried in a nearby Baptist cemetery in downtown Harrisville.The Perrons believe that it was Bathshebas spirit that was tormenting them.NESPRThe Sherman farm in 1885, in a colorized photograph.Meanwhile, according to Andrea, the family experienced other spirits as well that smelled like rotting flesh and would cause beds to rise off the floor. She claims her father would enter the basement and feel a cold, stinking presence behind him. They often stayed away from the dirt-floored cellar, but the heating equipment would often fail mysteriously, causing Roger to venture down.Over the 10 years that the family lived in the Conjuring house, the Warrens made multiple trips to investigate. At one point, Lorraine conducted a seance to attempt to contact the spirits that were possessing the family. During the seance, Carolyn Perron became possessed, speaking in tongues and rising up off the ground while still in her chair.NESPRBathsheba Shermans tombstone, noting her death on May 25, 1885.Andrea claims to have secretly witnessed the seance. I thought I was going to pass out, she said. My mother began to speak a language not of this world in a voice not her own. Her chair levitated and she was thrown across the room.How The Perron Family Haunting Ended In Real Life Vs. The ConjuringTCD/Prod.DB/Alamy Stock PhotoThe Warrens claimed they never conducted exorcisms, unlike whats shown in The Conjuring, but they did perform seances to deal with various demons and spirits.Though the movies version of events culminates with Ed performing an exorcism rather than a seance, the real Conjuring story was different. Lorraine insists that she and her husband would never attempt one, as they must be performed by Catholic priests.NESPRThe children of the Perron family pictured outside their allegedly haunted house in Harrisville, Rhode Island.After the seance, Roger kicked the Warrens out, worried about his wifes mental stability. According to Andrea, the family continued to live in the house due to financial instability until they were able to move in 1980, at which point the spirits were silenced, and the hauntings ceased.After reading about the real story behind The Conjuring, check out the shocking murders behind the Amityville Horror and the chilling story of the supposedly haunted Robert the Doll.The post The Perron Family Haunting: Inside The True Story Of The Conjuring appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Cavan Images/Alamy Stock PhotoUeli Steck, the Swiss Machine who met his end near Mount Everest.An incredibly strong and fast climber, Ueli Steck of Switzerland was considered one of the greatest mountaineers of all time. Within just a few hours, he could propel his wiry frame along climbing routes that took others days to complete. The agility, endurance, and precision required for such feats earned him the nickname the Swiss Machine. But every machine eventually reaches its limit, and Steck reached his on April 30, 2017. At the time, he was preparing to summit Mount Everest. Steck had climbed the worlds tallest mountain before, but this time he wanted to summit both Everest and Lhotse, Earths fourth-highest peak, while climbing along the treacherous West Ridge without supplemental oxygen. Sadly, he never made it that far. Ueli Steck was acclimatizing on Nuptse peak in the Everest massif when things went terribly wrong, and the 40-year-old mountaineer plummeted more than 3,000 feet to his death. Ueli Stecks Early Love For Mountain ClimbingJonathan Griffith/Barcroft Med/Getty ImagesUeli Steck climbing Droite Mountain in the French Alps in 2011.Ueli Steck was born on Oct. 4, 1976 in the small Swiss town of Langnau in Emmental. At first, the sport he was most interested in was hockey. But when a family friend brought him climbing on the nearby peak of Schrattenfluh, Steck became hooked on mountain climbing instead. By 16, Steck was on even footing with most professional climbers. He quickly transitioned from local crags to the bigger, more challenging faces of the Alps. His focus was already shifting towards the pure, fast, and light style of climbing that would eventually make him a legend.Jonathan Griffith/Barcroft Med /Getty ImagesUeli Steck at Grandes Jorasses in the French Alps in 2011.At 18, he made his first ascent up the North Face of the Eiger, a 13,000-foot peak in the Bernese Alps. And it was on the Eiger that Steck would command the attention of the climbing world. By 2007, the fastest that anyone had ever climbed the mountain was four hours and 40 minutes. That year, Steck climbed it in three hours and 54 minutes. He then went to break his own record in 2008 (two hours and 47 minutes) and 2015 (two hours and 22 minutes). It was an astounding feat and Steck set a record that has yet to be beaten.But even after setting another record on the Matterhorn, Ueli Steck wasnt satisfied. A Record-Breaking Mountain ClimberWhether on the Eiger or elsewhere, Ueli Steck pushed himself to the limit by being the first climber to conquer new routes or the first to make solo ascents up some of the worlds most treacherous mountains.The memories of the climbs are transitory. Unfortunately its already over as soon you are back in the valley, he told The Alpinist in 2015. I want to live more adventures. Thats the only way to refresh the feelings. Climbing is about living it. I am looking forward to my next climb, my next run. Wikimedia CommonsSteck was considered one of the fastest mountain climbers in history.Before long, Steck was honored by the climbing community for his achievements. He was awarded the Piolet dOr (Golden Ice Axe) in 2009 for taking a new route up Teng Kang Poche in Nepal with a fellow climber, and in 2014 for his groundbreaking solo ascent up the South Face of Annapurna, also in Nepal, which Steck completed in 28 hours. This was an especially poignant moment for Stecker, as he had fallen and nearly died while attempting to climb Annapurna in 2007.However, Stecks ascent up Annapurna was controversial due to lack of independent proof. Some doubted his achievement because he had neither photographic proof or GPS documentation. That said, photographers at base camp had tracked his progress, and sherpas recalled seeing the glow of his headlamp near the summit. This was enough to convince the Piolet dOr jury.Wikimedia CommonsAnnapurnas South Face.In the years that followed, Ueli Steck continued to make news as a mountaineer, including for his feat in 2015 of reaching the summits of all 82 of the Alpine peaks over 4,000 meters (roughly 13,000 feet) in 62 days.But an audacious climb up a dangerous Himalayan peak in 2017 would prove to be his undoing.Ueli Stecks Tragic Death On Nuptse PeakJonathan Griffith / Barcroft Med / Getty ImagesUeli Steck walking along the Gilat route of Droite Mountain in the French Alps in 2011.Despite being aware of the dangers of climbing and even making a promise to his wife, Nicole, that he would limit his solo ascents, Ueli Steck continued climb the worlds most dangerous mountains alone.And climbing alone is certainly as dangerous as one would think. In the words of mountain guide Michael Wejchert, who spoke to the New York Times after Stecks death, Those [solo climbers] who live into old age are usually the soloists who quit climbing alone.But while Steck was, in Wejcherts words, probably the best mountain climber in the world, he was also among the most daring. Steck not only risked solo climbs, but also often did them with little equipment.And in 2017, Ueli Steck set out on one of his most dangerous climbs ever. He planned to audaciously climb both Lhotse, Earths fourth-highest peak, and Mount Everest, the worlds tallest mountain. To acclimate ahead of this climb, he set out to climb the nearby Nuptse peak on April 30, 2017.That morning, a Nepalese mountain guide named Vinayak Jaya Malla saw a climber on a ridge on the Nuptse peak that was least 23,000 feet high, just west of Everests summit. But shortly after that sighting, Malla heard a noise and noticed that the climber was gone. Meanwhile, a number of other sherpas and climbers also witnessed someone fall from the high peak.That climber, sadly, turned out to be Ueli Steck. Malla and another guide found his body at 9:34 a.m. about 3,000 feet below where they saw the climber earlier. Nearby, they also found a rock covered in blood.PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/Getty ImagesNepalese volunteers and friends of Ueli Steck carry his body at a hospital in Kathmandu on April 30, 2017, not long after his death earlier that day.Sadly, in high-altitude mountaineering, theres no such thing as a 100 percent guarantee of safety. One little mistake or unexpected event, such as a rockfall, can cause death. Ueli Steck knew this and put himself to the test time and again regardless, like so many great mountaineers do. For him, the thrill of climbing was about more than reaching summits or setting records. It was about doing something new; doing something that was perhaps impossible. In a video that he posted just a few days before his death, Ueli Steck declared of his route along the treacherous West Ridge:I think its possible but we dont know. Thats exactly the challenge, thats exactly the interesting thing. Nobody has done that before.After this look at the life and death of mountain climber Ueli Steck, discover the stories of climbers who perished on Mount Everest including Rob Hall, Hannelore Schmatz, and George Mallory.The post The Life And Death Of Ueli Steck, The Record-Breaking Mountain Climber Who Fell 3,000 Feet To His Death appeared first on All That's Interesting.

In the 1970s, a performing chimp known as Oliver was promoted as a possible humanzee, but it was later confirmed via DNA testing and further scientific examination that he was a full chimpanzee after all.Chimpanzees are the closest living relatives to human beings, aside from bonobos. Not only do humans and chimps share a lot of DNA, but their bodies and behaviors have notable similarities. Perhaps thats why a few people have proposed the bizarre idea of a humanzee.The idea of a human-chimp hybrid dates back centuries, with the hypothetical animal mostly appearing in folklore. But it wasnt until the early 20th century that a Russian biologist named Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov made a serious scientific attempt to create one. Since then, there have been other rumored attempts, including one in China in the 1960s, and one unverified claim alleges that a live humanzee was created in a U.S. lab in the 1920s.To this day, no real humanzee has ever been confirmed to have existed, and its unclear whether such an animal could thrive. Even if it is possible, there are many ethical and moral debates surrounding the hypothetical hybrid, from the process used to create one to what the creatures life might look like. However, that hasnt stopped some from trying to develop a humanzee or spreading rumors that a humanzee has already been born.The Controversial Hybrid Experiments Proposed By Ilya Ivanovich IvanovWikimedia CommonsIlya Ivanovich Ivanov, a Russian biologist who made the first known scientific attempts to create a humanzee.Russian biologist Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov was known for his once-revolutionary method for artificially inseminating domestic animals at the turn of the 20th century. Though some of his experiments were practical, as he hoped to create new horse breeds that could withstand harsh winters, others were eyebrow-raising, like his crossbreeding of a zebra and a Przewalskis horse.But by far his most infamous experiment was his mission to create a humanzee. Starting in 1910, Ivanov began telling zoologists that a human-chimp hybrid might be a scientific possibility. By the 1920s, he was putting specific plans in place to actually attempt the creation of such an animal.He stressed to the Academy of Sciences that his experiment would prove Charles Darwin right about how closely related humans were to other primates, and he also claimed that it could be a compelling argument against religion, which the Bolsheviks wanted to stamp out at the time.According to New Scientist, some have speculated that Ivanov may have hoped to transform society as a whole through his experiment. Bizarrely, its also been rumored that Ivanov was secretly working on a separate experiment to help rejuvenate older politicians, and the humanzee mission was considered just strange enough to cover up the other scheme.Wikimedia CommonsA comparison of human and chimpanzee skulls and brains, illustrated by Paul Gervais in 1854.In 1926, Ivanov left for Guinea, which was then part of French West Africa. While in the country, he visited a new primate center and also captured some chimps of his own, and he soon transplanted a human ovary into one female chimp and inseminated her with human sperm. He later inseminated three other female chimps, but none of these tests led to a humanzee.Ivanov then tried to organize a far more horrific experiment inseminating human women with chimp sperm without their knowledge. He hoped to trick women in Guinea by claiming he was performing a medical examination on them, but fortunately, the French governor forbade him from doing this.Shockingly, when Ivanov went to the Soviet republic of Abkhazia to place his chimps in an ape nursery, he was able to find five Soviet women who were willing to carry humanzee babies in the interest of scientific progress. However, Ivanovs animals did not thrive in his facility, and before long, his last surviving primates were dead. Furthermore, word got out about Ivanovs disturbing plans to inseminate African women without their consent, leading the Academy of Sciences to condemn him and withdraw their support. By this point, Ivanov had also made a number of scientific enemies, one of whom accused him of sabotage, leading to his arrest by the secret police in 1930. He was exiled to Kazakhstan, where he died soon afterward. However, his bizarre mission to create a humanzee somehow lived on.Inside The Persistent Rumors About HumanzeesFacebookOliver the chimpanzee became the subject of false rumors that he was a humanzee, due to his human-like appearance, his preference for walking upright, and his alleged sexual advances toward human women.In the 1970s, a chimp known as Oliver was promoted as a possible humanzee or missing link in the United States. Reportedly captured in the Congo, Oliver was purchased by Frank and Janet Berger in 1960. The New Jersey trainers ran a sideshow act, and Oliver was initially meant to be just another animal performer entertaining the audiences.But the Bergers noticed that Oliver stood out among the other chimps, due to his human-like appearance, his preference for walking upright, and his alleged sexual advances toward human women including Janet. As she recalled, He wouldnt attack you or anything, but he would kiss and hug you, and wouldnt let go. At that point, we decided it was time for Oliver to go.Oliver was purchased by a New York lawyer named Michael Miller, who capitalized on Olivers unusual appearance and behavior and marketed him as a potential missing link. The chimp was later sold to a small theme park in California. Eventually, he fell into the hands of owners who claimed he had 47 chromosomes, one more than a human and one less than a chimpanzee. Before long, rumors emerged that Oliver was a humanzee, perhaps the product of an illicit experiment conducted in the U.S. or China.However, it was later confirmed via DNA testing and thorough scientific examination that Oliver was a full chimpanzee. Though his human-like qualities remain perplexing to this day, its believed that he simply picked up many of his behaviors due to spending so much time with humans and grew to appreciate their companionship a little more than the average chimp. Theres also the possibility that he thought he was human.Then, in the 1980s, a Chinese researcher named Ji Yongxiang came forward to claim that he had been involved in a 1960s project to create a humanzee in Shenyang. According to the researcher, the experiment was already underway before it was forced to end amidst the Cultural Revolution.Allegedly, a female chimp had been impregnated with human sperm and she was three months pregnant when she died from neglect, as the lab she was in was destroyed and the researchers working on her were arrested.Ji Yongxiang also made a number of odd claims about what the humanzee would have been like if the creature had been born. He believed that the human-chimp hybrid would have been able to speak to humans and that the animal could also help humans explore space and the worlds oceans. Li Guong, a genetics research expert, was quoted not only confirming Ji Yongxiangs report in the 1980s, but also expressing hope for more humanzee experiments: My personal view is that it is possible, because according to general biological distinctions, they [men and apes] belong to the same category At the moment, we plan to arrange further tests.Where The Humanzee Idea Stands TodayAlain Houle/BMC EcologyAn adult female chimpanzee in Uganda, pictured with her infant.Though the idea of a humanzee remains obscure and taboo to this day, the hypothetical hybrid emerges in the news every so often. In 2018, evolutionary psychologist Gordon Gallup said that there was a rumor that a humanzee was born in the 1920s, in an Orange Park, Florida lab.Gallup claimed his former university professor told him this: They inseminated a female chimpanzee with human semen from an undisclosed donor and claimed not only that pregnancy occurred but the pregnancy went full term and resulted in a live birth. But in the matter of days, or a few weeks, they began to consider the moral and ethical considerations, and the infant was euthanized. However, this report remains unsubstantiated.In 2019, reports emerged that a group of Spanish and American scientists produced monkey embryos containing human cells. This was done in a Chinese lab to avoid legal issues. But the process was stopped long before the human-monkey chimera could actually be born, and its believed that this research is primarily focused on the goal of using animals for human organ transplants, rather than bringing full-term hybrids into the world.Unsurprisingly, the idea of actually creating a humanzee brings up a number of ethical debates about whether its morally right to develop such a creature. It also raises a number of questions. Would a human-chimp hybrid function more like a human or a chimpanzee? Would it be able to reason? Would it be able to speak? And if it were able to reach human intelligence and experience human emotions, how would it feel about its origins?Its one thing to ponder about a hypothetical creature, but another entirely to bring it to life. Even if we can, that doesnt mean we should.Next, read about Ham the chimp, the animal astronaut who became the first chimpanzee in space. Then, check out a recent study that claims that chimpanzees may be capable of human speech. The post The Disturbing History Of The Quest To Create A Human-Chimp Hybrid Known As A Humanzee appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Wikimedia CommonsKate Morgan circa 1892.The United States has no shortage of spooky hotels. From the Stanley Hotel in Colorado to the Driskill Hotel in Texas, many of these supposedly haunted spots have made their way into American pop culture. But one of the most haunted hotels is the Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, California, which is purportedly haunted by a ghost named Kate Morgan.Morgans life was tragic from beginning to end. She was orphaned at a young age, lost her baby just days after he was born, and had a series of disappointing romantic relationships. She checked into the Hotel del Coronado in 1892 under an alias, and died by suicide just a few days later. Her body was found on an exterior staircase of the hotel leading down to the beach, and Morgan has purportedly haunted the hotel ever since.This is the eerie story of Kate Morgan, from how she allegedly haunts the Hotel del Coronado to why some believe that she was actually murdered.A Woman Of Many NamesLittle is known about Kate Morgans early life, aside from the fact that she encountered tragedy at a young age. Morgan was born in Hamburg, Iowa, in 1864 as Katie K. Farmer, and lost her mother when she was just two years old. Morgan was subsequently raised by her maternal grandfather.In 1885, Morgan met and married a man named Thomas Edwin Morgan. However, the marriage was marred by tragedy as well. Morgan gave birth to a son, but the baby survived for just two days. Morgan then purportedly ran off with another man. Public DomainAn article about Kate Morgans death from her hometown, which states that she had fallen from the path of virtue.After this relationship ended, Kate Morgan seemingly made her way to Los Angeles. Christine Donovan, the Hotel del Coronados historian and the author of a book about Kate Morgan entitled Beautiful Stranger: The Ghost of Kate Morgan and the Hotel del Coronado told the Los Angeles Times in 2003 that Morgan found work as a domestic servant. However, Morgan lied to the families that she worked for about her identity. She said that her name was Katie Logan, and that she was from Nebraska not Iowa. She also told her colleagues that her husband was a gambler, and that she was unhappy in her marriage.Then, on the day before Thanksgiving 1892, Morgan told her employer that she needed to go to San Diego, but assured them that she would be back the next day to cook Thanksgiving dinner. She was spotted on the train arguing with a man later identified as her husband, Thomas Edwin Morgan who got off the train before she did. Morgan continued on to San Diego, where she checked in at the Hotel del Coronado on Thanksgiving Day. She said that her name was Lottie Anderson Bernard, and claimed that she was from Detroit.The hotel put her in Room 302 (today Room 3327). Kate Morgan paid $3.80 a day, including meals. Kate Morgans Final Days At The Hotel Del CoronadoWikimedia CommonsThe Hotel del Coronado circa 1890.At first, Kate Morgan seemed to enjoy her stay at the Hotel del Coronado. Donovan told the Los Angeles Times that she was spotted horseback riding and enjoying some whiskey cocktails. But many who encountered Morgan noted that the young woman seemed melancholy.She said she was 24 years old, and spoke often of her physical condition, and was noticeably despondent, sometimes seeming to verge on melancholia, the San Diego Union Tribune reported after Morgans death. Indeed, Morgan told some people that she had hopeless stomach cancer. She told others she had heart disease. Morgan also claimed at one point that she had neuralgia, but that her brother was coming soon to treat her (Morgan had no brother). She seemed to despair about her loneliness, and at one point exclaimed: Oh, no one comes to me any more!On the day before her death, Morgan went into town, where several shop owners noted her weak, slow gait. She bought a .44-caliber American Bulldog pistol, which she claimed was a Christmas present for a friend. Wikimedia CommonsA composite sketch of the Hotel del Coronado suicide victim, Kate Morgan.Then, on the evening of November 28, Kate Morgan ventured out onto a wooden staircase on the exterior of the hotel facing the beach. Witnesses spotted her there, wearing a black dress and a lace shawl. The next morning, Nov. 29, 1892, the hotels electrician found her body.She was dead, and an American bull-dog revolver was lying within two inches of her outstretched right hand, the San Diego Union Tribune wrote, A ragged wound showed on the right temple, but the rain had washed away all stains of blood. Her body was soaking wet, stiff and cold.In the years that followed, questions swirled about Kate Morgans death. And it was not the last time that she was allegedly seen at the hotel.The Ghost Of Kate Morgan At The Hotel Del CoronadoLos Angeles HeraldA clip from the Los Angeles Herald from Dec. 12, 1892.How did Kate Morgan die? Even after her death, some doubted that she had died by suicide. According to Donovan, one of her relatives from Iowa claimed that shed left home with quite a sum of money and even declared: You can rest assured it was no case of suicide.In the 1980s, a San Francisco lawyer named Alan May found he agreed. After he allegedly spotted Morgans ghost at the hotel, May looked into her case. He found that the bullet from her gun should have shattered her skull, instead of lodging in her brain. He suspects that she was traveling with her husband, Thomas, who killed her when he found out she was pregnant. (Its unknown if she was pregnant there was no autopsy.) May also believes that Thomas stole Morgans money after her death. But while theres no strong evidence for Mays theory Donovan believes that Kate Morgan died by suicide he is not the only person who allegedly encountered Morgans ghost at the Hotel del Coronado. Numerous paranormal sightings have been reported around the hotel over the years, including unexplained breezes, sounds, and smells, as well as doors opening and shutting without warning, and frequent sightings of a ghostly female figure that bears a resemblance to Kate Morgan. Guests have also reported feeling fingertips brush their cheeks at night, and Morgans initials have allegedly appeared on the ceiling of Room 3327.According to the Hotel del Coronado, Morgan is also especially active in the hotels gift shop. Guests and workers claim that items at the shop occasionally fly off the shelves, but mysteriously remain unbroken.That said, Kate Morgan is believed to be a fairly harmless ghost. Hotel del CoronadoThe cover of Beautiful Stranger: The Ghost of Kate Morgan and the Hotel del Coronado by Christine Donovan.She generally limits her activity to fleeting appearances and inexplicable antics Guests in Kates room report everything from breezes that come from nowhere to having to deal with a television set that turns on and off by itself, Donovan writes in Beautiful Stranger.Rather than scaring guests away, the ghost of Kate Morgan has drawn many paranormal enthusiasts to the Hotel del Coronado. In fact, the room she stayed in before she died is the most requested room in the entire hotel. After learning about Kate Morgan, the woman who purportedly haunts the Hotel del Coronado, check out these haunting photos of people taken just before they died. Then, read the true story of The Conjuring and the families that were haunted for decades. The post Kate Morgan, The Young Woman Who Died By Suicide At The Hotel Del Coronado And Has Allegedly Haunted It Ever Since appeared first on All That's Interesting.

InstagramConnie Hamzy said that she started sleeping with rock stars when she was just 15 years old.Connie Hamzy collected several nicknames throughout her life. Some called her Sweet Sweet Connie, others dubbed her Connie Flowers, and yet others simply knew her as Sweet Sweet. A prominent rock groupie, many of her nicknames and her celebrity status came from the 1973 song Were an American Band by Grand Funk Railroad.The song, which became a number one hit, featured these memorable lyrics:Out on the road for 40 days / Last night in Little Rock put me in a haze / Sweet, sweet Connie, doin her act / She had the whole show and thats a natural fact.But those lyrics were just a small glimpse into Connie Hamzys wild life.How Connie Hamzy Became An Infamous Groupie In The 1970sConnie HamzyConnie Hamzy, pictured with The Eagles Joe Walsh in 1988.Born on Jan. 9, 1955, in Little Rock, Arkansas, Connie Hamzy was captivated by music and the idea of fame from an early age. She claimed that she first became a rock groupie when she was just 15 years old.After her mother dropped her off at the Barton Coliseum to see the rock band Steppenwolf, Connie Hamzy alleged that she hooked up with Jerry Edmonton, the bands drummer. At the time of the purported encounter, Edmonton would have been in his mid-20s. However, Hamzy also claimed that she lost her virginity to Frijid Pink drummer Rick Stevers.From there, she said that she later became involved with both Keith Moon of The Who and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, which led to many other drummers pursuing her, partly in the hopes of hearing about Moon and Bonham. The drummers gravitated to me, she later told Howard Stern.Eventually, she became a sort-of staple in Little Rock, a common sight at rock shows whenever famous bands toured the city. She hoped that her association with these bands would ultimately lead to her own fame.I was determined to become a famous groupie, she said. I really was.In a way, she got her wish when her name was featured in Grand Funk Railroads song Were an American Band in 1973. At the time, she was 17.YouTubeGrand Funk Railroad, the band that mentioned Connie Hamzy in the song Were an American Band.The lyric Sweet, sweet Connie, doin her act quickly earned her the nickname Sweet Sweet Connie and many other similar nicknames. Even more exciting for Hamzy, the song became a number one hit.Hamzy said the bands manager told her the news: He called me and said, Youre never going to believe this. But Grand Funks written a song called Were an American Band and your name is in the first lyrics.'That wasnt the only time her name was immortalized in the lyrics of a rock song, either. The Guess Who also mentioned her in their 1974 song Pleasin For Reason. Its also been speculated that shes the same Connie mentioned in the 1985 Cheap Trick song Standing on the Edge. Unsurprisingly, Hamzy enjoyed her new notoriety and remained determined to stand out amongst the other groupies of the era who wanted a taste of fame: When girls find out what theyre in for group sex, kinky sex, sex with other women, and usually all of it in one night they chicken out. I didnt. I felt as though I had arrived. I thought I was somebody.An Alleged Encounter With Bill ClintonConnie Hamzy claimed to have slept with numerous musicians and other celebrities throughout her life, including Huey Lewis, Rick Springfield, Alex Van Halen, Neil Diamond, Eddie Van Halen, multiple members of KISS, and Vanilla Ice. But her most infamous alleged encounter was with Bill Clinton.Hamzy said that she met with Clinton in 1984, when he was the governor of Arkansas. According to Hamzys claims, Clinton not only propositioned her but also agreed to receive a blowjob from her in the laundry room of a hotel. She alleged, Somebody poked their head up from behind one of the washing machines and said we couldnt do that in there we didnt get to complete [the blowjob], but we began it. And he was very well endowed.Hamzys allegations about Clinton first became public in 1991, around the time that Clinton announced that he was running for president.Wikimedia CommonsBill Clinton, pictured in 1986. Connie Hamzy was at the center of one of Clintons first sex scandals.A controversy later overshadowed by the much more infamous Clinton-Lewinsky scandal and the Paula Jones case, the Hamzy scandal seemed to fizzle out relatively quickly in the press.Clintons communications director George Stephanopoulos was able to secure affidavits from witnesses that cast heavy doubt on Hamzys story.Wed survived our first bimbo eruption, Stephanopoulos later wrote. The Hamzy episode was a test of Clintons character, our campaigns competence, and the medias resistance to tabloid trash. We all passed. Too bad it was only a drill. The Hamzy controversy briefly resurfaced in 2016 when Hamzy took a polygraph test regarding her claims and released them to future President Donald Trumps political campaign, giving her full support to Trump.How Connie Hamzy Continued Her Presence In The Rock Scene In Her Later YearsThough many groupies move on from their wild lifestyles after they get older, Connie Hamzy continued to pursue rock stars even when she reached middle age. In a 2005 interview with SPIN, when she was 50 years old, she claimed to have had a recent encounter with Neil Diamond while she was smokin dope and blowing roadies who were on a tour.She said, Neil looks me up and down and nods his approval. Then he gets high with us, and disappears backstage. A few minutes later, his manager says he wants to see me in his dressing room. So I knock on the door, and theres Neil waiting for me in a blue robe.Chris King, the owner of the local Sticky Fingerz RockNRoll Chicken Shack, remarked, Shes a legend in Little Rock. Whenever theres a good concert at the amphitheater, she likes to come in before the show, have a glass of chardonnay on the rocks, and tell us these wonderful stories about her life.In 2010, when she was 55 years old, she told Howard Stern, Every now and then I give a good blowjob to somebody coming through town, but all the damn venues around here hassle me all the time. Apparently they [think], in my age range, blowing roadies and band guys isnt appropriate.Stern asked Hamzy if she ever felt insulted by the rockers crass behavior toward her and how they passed her around like a plate of potatoes. Hamzy simply replied, Well, a plate of good potatoes.Connie HamzyAn article about Connie Hamzy and some of her most salacious claims.Though Hamzy was eventually forced to slow down due to unspecified health issues, she reportedly enjoyed recounting her stories with rock stars at local bars until her final years, entertaining the patrons with her supposed escapades. She also worked as a substitute teacher to support herself.She never married, but she said she was engaged twice and kept both rings.On August 21, 2021, Connie Hamzy died at the age of 66 in her hometown of Little Rock. The cause of her death was not publicly revealed, but it was learned that she had entered hospice care before she perished.Don Brewer, the Grand Funk Railroad drummer who sang the famous lyric, Sweet, sweet Connie, said that he was sorry to hear of her death: My memory of her is of a very outgoing sweet girl that wanted to be famous. That was her goal in life. May she rest in peace.Next, go inside the story of Cynthia Plaster Caster, the groupie who made dozens of plaster casts of rock stars penises. Then, discover the controversial story of Sable Starr, the Queen of the Groupies.The post Inside The Wild Story Of Sweet Sweet Connie Hamzy, One Of Rocks Most Notorious Groupies appeared first on All That's Interesting.

The new next-gen smart glasses coming from Chinese companies are certainly stylish, but that's not all they're meant for -- here's what they can do.

Mark Zuckerberg says 2026 will be "a big year for delivering personal super intelligence."