FYI: The word "lycanthrope" has its origins in Greek mythology. In the legend, King Lycaon of Acadia makes an offering to Zeus in the form of a meal of human flesh. Zeus is displeased by this and turns Lycaon into a wolf.

FYI: A toothpick is the object most often choked on by Americans.

FYI: There are several tribes in Africa who believe that crocodiles are vehicles of revenge, housing the souls of those who have been murdered.

FYI: Most dust particles found in the average home consist of dead skin.

FYI: Edgar Allan Poe's short story, The Black Cat is thought to be the most-filmed short tale in history.

FYI: Lachanophobia is the fear of vegetables.

FYI: Only 5 to 15 deaths result from the 70 to 100 shark attacks that occur each year, while annually bee stings account for over 6,000 fatalities.

FYI: George Leese, leader of the 19th Century New York street gang The Slaughter Housers, was a professional bloodsucker...he would suck the blood from fighter's wounds at boxing matches.

FYI: In 1800s Upper Canada, there were 120 different crimes that were punishable by death.

FYI: Blackbeard the pirate survived being shot in the chest five times. Eventually, he was beheaded.

FYI: The first recorded motor vehicle fatality occurred in 1896, when the first car in England ran over a woman and crushed her head.

FYI: The last two remaining samples of the smallpox virus are being kept frozen in Atlanta, GA and Moscow.

FYI: On the island of Sardinia, an illegal but oft-consumed delicacy is casu marzu, made from pocorino cheese that has been left out in the sun to attract flies that lay their larvae in it. The treat is eaten after the maggots have hatched and digested the cheese, leaving behind an enzyme that triggers the much-desired fermentation process.

FYI: Stagecoach robber Black Jack Ketchum's last words before his execution by hanging were: "Let 'er rip!" When the trap fell, the weight of his body ripped off his head.

FYI: The candiru, a form of parasitic catfish that gets its sustenance from the blood of other fish and mammals, is capable of swimming up the urethra of a human male, where it can burrow in and permanently lodge itself using claw-like protrusions before settling in for the feast.

This one tried to swim up this guy's anus.


When candirus parasitize humans, it is usually only when they are skinny-dipping while urinating in the water. The candiru tastes the urine stream and follows it back to the human. It then swims up the anus and lodges itself somewhere in the urinary tract with its spines. Blood is drawn, and the candiru gorges itself on both the blood and body tissue, its body sometimes expanding due to the amount of blood. This is all said to be very painful for the poor person who has this happen to him or her. Unfortunately, they are almost impossible to remove due to the spines. Amputation of the private areas is the cheapest, and most life-changing, way to remove the fish. Actual surgery is extremely expensive and involves inserting the Xagua plant and the Buitach apple up the urethra. These two plants kill and even dissolve the parasitic fish. If surgery is not done in time, the blockage of the urinary tract will prove fatal. The candiru is the only known vertebrate to parasitize humans.

http://www.angelfire.com/mo2/animals1/catfish/candiru.html