Lauren Coss - Weird-but-True Facts about Scary Things

Published by The Childs World
1980 Lookout Drive Mankato, MN 56003-1705
800-599-READ www.childsworld.com

Acknowledgments
The Childs World: Mary Berendes, Publishing Director
Red Line Editorial: Editorial direction
The Design Lab: Design
Amnet: Production

Copyright 2013 by The Childs World
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means
without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 9781614734161
LCCN 2012946523

Printed in the United States of America
Mankato, MN
November, 2012
PA02143

About the Author

Lauren Coss is a writer and editor who
lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She loves
learning new facts, but she is not afraid
of the dark.

About the Illustrator

A former greeting card artist, Mernie
Gallagher-Cole is a freelance illustrator
with over 28 years experience
illustrating for children. Her charming
illustrations can be found on greeting
cards, party goods, games, puzzles,
childrens books, and now e-books and
educational game apps! She lives in
Philadelphia with her husband and
two children.

The world can be a scary place. People have
claimed to see ghosts for more than 1,000
years. Cultures all over the world have
monster legends. Real monsters might
even be living in your own backyard. This
book will cover everything from bugs to
the boogeyman. And remember, though the
facts might seem strange or spooky, they
are all true!

The worlds
largest spider
snacks on birds.

The goliath spider of South
America is the size of a dinner
plate. It has been known to eat
small birds, as well as small
animals and reptiles.

The giant centipede
of the Amazon can
be more than 1 foot
(.3 m) long.

This big bug eats almost anything,
including bats and lizards.

Some flies hatch in zombie ants.

Phorid flies, a type of South American fly, lay eggs inside of
an ant. The baby flies hatch and live inside the ant for weeks.
The flies eventually eat the ants brain and can control the
ants movements.

A cockroach can live
for several weeks
without its head.

Cockroaches dont bleed, and they breathe
through their skin. The body cant eat,
but it can move on its own without a head
to guide it. In cool conditions, the lonely
head can last a few hours.

Some spiders use perfume
to trick their prey.

Female moths often have a special scent to attract
male moths. Bola spiders make their own version
of this scent to trick male moths into coming near
them. When the moth gets close, the spider hurls a
sticky ball of silk at the moth to capture it.

Zombie rats
are attracted
to cats.

Some cats have a parasite
that can be passed on to rats.
When a rat unknowingly eats
the parasite, the parasite
takes over the rats mind.
Soon, the rat wants to be near
cats. Usually, the rat ends up
becoming a cats dinner!

For every human on Earth,
there are 1.5 billion bugs.

Centipedes are the ultimate track stars.

A 2 inch (5 cm) centipede can move fast enough to travel 4.5 miles per hour
(7.2 km/h). For its size, that is equal to a 6 foot (1.8 m) tall human running
160 miles per hour (260 km/h).

A scientist who
studies monsters
is known as a
cryptozoologist.

These scientists search for
animals whose existence has
not yet been confirmed. The
mysterious animals are known
as cryptids .

People-eating dragons
live in Indonesia.

The Komodo dragon can be longer than a car.
These animals eat almost anything, including
the occasional human. They can run as fast
as 11 miles per hour (18 km/h).

In 1909, a monster
closed down a city.

According to legend, the Jersey
Devil is a mysterious creature that
lives in the forests of southern New
Jersey. In the span of a week, there
were so many reported sightings of
the Jersey Devil that schools and
factories in Gloucester, New Jersey,
were closed.

Lumberjack Albert Ostman claimed a
bigfoot family captured him in 1924.

Telling the story in 1954, he recalled that he was taken by the beasts while
he was camping in a Canadian forest. The bigfoot family consisted of an
adult male and female and a boy and a girl. They held him prisoner for
several days before he was able to escape.

Bigfoot needs
a shower.

Many people who claim
to have sighted bigfoot
also report a terrible
smell. They say the odor
is so strong that it lingers
in the air long after the
mysterious creature has
vanished.

Bigfoot may have had big relatives.

Scientists have found fossils of a giant ape, which they call
gigantopithecus. They believe the ape lived more than 300,000 years
ago. Its head might have bumped your living room ceiling. Modern
bigfoot believers think bigfoot could be a relative of the giant beast.

The Loch Ness Monster was named the