27 Wikipedia Entries So Disturbing You’ll Be Asked to Confirm You’re an Adult

Content warning: The following summarizes a collection of Wikipedia pages highlighted by online users for their graphic, disturbing, or tragic material — including descriptions of violence, sexual assault, mutilation, unethical medical experiments, unexplained disappearances, and mass loss of life. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

Reddit contributors compiled a list of particularly harrowing Wikipedia entries. Below are concise, verified summaries of many of the most notable items from that compilation, presented to give context without graphic detail.

• Orphanage fire (reported): Reports describe girls who protested alleged abuse and were confined; when a fire broke out, staff reportedly refused to open the door, resulting in the deaths of 41 girls.
• Cindy James: A woman who reported prolonged stalking and harassment was later found hog-tied and strangled; authorities classified her death as resulting from an "unknown event" after the alleged stalker was not identified.
• Kim Jun-bong: The 58-year-old South Korean taxi driver whose body was found in a quarry in 2011; an investigation ultimately ruled the death a suicide.
• Amber Tuccaro: After accepting a ride from an unknown man in 2010, she recorded part of a disturbing conversation; skeletal remains were discovered two years later.
• Hedviga Golik: A Croatian nurse who died in 1966 and whose remains were not discovered until 2008; neighbors reportedly did not report her missing.
• Sada Abe (1936): A well-known case in Japan involving murder and mutilation; the assailant served five years and later published a memoir.
• Carole Lombard (1942): The actress died when a plane carrying her and others crashed following a coin-toss decision to fly home from a war-bond tour.
• Blanche Monnier: A French woman held captive for 25 years was found in appalling conditions and never fully recovered after rescue.
• Elena Mukhina: A gymnast who suffered a catastrophic spinal injury during training in 1979 that left her quadriplegic.
• 1994 Airbus crash: An incident in which a pilot’s child inadvertently disrupted the autopilot; the flight ended in a fatal crash.
• Brian Shaffer (2006): An Ohio State medical student who was recorded entering a bar and was never seen leaving; his disappearance remains unsolved.
• Henryk Siwiak (9/11/2001): The last reported New York City homicide on Sept. 11, recorded separately from the attack fatalities; it remains unsolved.
• Cara Knott (1986): A student found murdered in a ravine the day after she disappeared; evidence implicated a police officer.
• "Smile mask" syndrome: A term used to describe severe psychological and physical distress from forced, prolonged smiling; accounts mix clinical description with anecdote.
• Kids for Cash: A judicial corruption scandal in which two judges accepted bribes to send juveniles to for-profit detention centers.
• Exhibit and forensic oddities: Reports include cases such as severed remains displayed in a museum and a sarcophagus sold on the black market that contained a modern murder victim rather than an ancient princess.
• Ricky Simonds (2008): A suspected serial killer reportedly found dead of heat stroke in the trunk of his ex-girlfriend’s car after allegedly hiding there to ambush her.
• Sogen Kato: A man thought to be Tokyo’s oldest until a mummified corpse was discovered; he in fact died decades earlier and the family concealed his death.
• Recording during an earthquake: An audio clip captured a recording interrupted by a quake, then the ambient rumble and voices; it’s a chilling primary-source clip available online.
• Eben Byers: A wealthy man who consumed a radium-laced tonic in large quantities and later suffered severe radiation-related decay of bone and tissue.
• Richard Crafts: Convicted of murdering his wife and disposing of her body using a wood chipper; her earlier warnings to friends raised alarm before her death.
• Cholera-era burials: Rapid burials during pandemics led to concerns — in some accounts — about premature interment and horrifying exhumed expressions, though claims vary by source.
• Carl Tanzler: A radiology technician who preserved and kept the corpse of a former patient for years; the case raises ethical and legal issues about necrophilia and obsession.
• Guatemala syphilis experiments (1946–1948): U.S.-led studies that deliberately exposed vulnerable populations to sexually transmitted infections without consent; the experiments resulted in multiple deaths and are widely condemned.
• Cleveland Balloonfest ’86: A massive balloon release that unintentionally caused disruption and was associated with two deaths and significant controversy.
• Endling: A term for the last known individual of a species; when an endling dies, the species becomes extinct.

These summaries omit graphic detail but preserve essential facts and figures (for example, reports of 41 orphanage victims and 83 deaths linked to the Guatemala experiments). Many items remain contested, have complex legal histories, or include incomplete evidence — consult original sources and reputable accounts for full context.

Note: This compilation reflects a cross-section of widely circulated entries and user-cited Wikipedia pages. Details vary by source and some accounts have been edited for clarity and brevity.