School Professor Who Missed Work for 20 Years Out of 20-Year Career Finally Fired
An Italian professor who was recently fired for around 20 years of absence out of 24 years of service at schools near Venice has vowed to contest her recent firing by the Ministry of Education. 51-year-old Cinzia Paolina De Lio, a secondary school teacher who specializes in history and philosophy, became famous in her home […]
Meet Thermonator, the Flamethrower-Wielding Robot Dog
American company Throw Flame recently unveiled its latest product, Thermonator, the world’s first flamethrower-wielding robot dog. Robot dogs have been around for a while now, and in countries like China, they’re actually competing against actual pooches. But it turns out that these four-legged robots can be more than lifeless pets. For example, Throw Flame, a […]
‘Godzilla Ramen’ Has a Crocodile Leg Sticking Out of the Bowl
A ramen restaurant in Yunlin, Taiwan, recently unveiled its latest menu entry – Godzilla Ramen, a bowl of ramen soup with a braised crocodile leg sticking out of it. Taiwanese ramen has been getting weirder and weirder in the last few weeks. It all started with the isopod ramen we featured at the end of […]
Woman Goes Viral for Promoting Tree Hugging as a Form of Therapy
A Shanghai woman has become famous in her home country for promoting the physical and psychological benefits of hugging trees. Qishishiqi hugged her first tree back in April, while out on the tow with her husband. Feeling a little tipsy, the woman hugged a random tree on an empty street in Shanghai and immediately felt […]
Bagger 288 – The World’s Largest Excavator
Comparable in height to a skyscraper and weighing a whopping 13,500 tons, the German-made Bagger 288 holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest excavator. Here at oddity Central, we love big, heavy machinery! In fact, we just featured the world’s largest dump truck, the BelAZ-75710, a Belarussian behemoth capable of carrying a load […]
This Art Stinks! German Artist Paints with Cow Manure
German artist Werner Härtl has carved out a truly unique niche for himself – he is currently the only known artist who uses diluted cow dung to create sepia-style paintings. Here at Oddity Central, we’ve featured some funky art mediums in the past, from the artist’s own blood as paint, to dead cockroaches as canvases […]
Fisherman Forms Touching Bond with 4-Meter-Long Crocodile
An Indonesian fisherman claims to have shared a friendship with a four-meter-long saltwater crocodile for over 20 years and calls the reptile part of the local community. 59-year-old Ambo, a fisherman from Bontang City, in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan, has become somewhat of a celebrity in his country because of his unusual friendship with a giant […]
Gas Station Clerk Asks Someone to Rob Him So He Could Leave Work Early
A Tulsa gas station clerk is being accused of staging a robbery because he felt tired and needed an excuse to get off work early. On June 5th, Isaias Jones called the Tulsa Police Department that a masked man had walked into the gas station store he was working in, pulled out a firearm, and […]
Stir-Fried River Rocks – Chinese Street Food That’s Literally Hard to Stomach
Suodiu is a bizarre type of Chinese street food that consists of small river rocks stir-fried with a mixture of spices and herbs. You are supposed to suck on the stones and then spit them out. Roughly translated as ‘suck and throw away’, suodiu is believed to have been invented hundreds of years ago by […]
Ayam Ketawa – Indonesia’s Hilarious-Sounding Laughing Chickens
Ayam Ketawa, or the Indonesian laughing chicken, is a breed of long-crowing chicken known for the clarity of its crow, which has an unusual similarity to a human laugh. Originating from Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province, the Ayam Ketawa was originally a status symbol for the region’s Buginese royal family. Its captivating appearance made it a […]
Inmate Has Sentence Reduced by Over 4 Years for Executing 26 Fellow Inmates
An inmate in Bangladesh sparked controversy in his own country after being released four years and four months earlier for hanging 26 people during his time in prison. in 1991, Shahjahan Bhuiyan was sentenced to 42 years in prison for murder, but he served four years and four months less by carrying out executions of […]
Chinese Farmer Claims to Have Created Half-Melon Half-Watermelon Hybrid Fruit
A Chinese farmer claims to have successfully created a hybrid fruit that allows people to enjoy the taste of both melon and watermelon in equal measure. A 40-something watermelon farmer from Fuyang, in China’s Anhui province, referred to only as Mr. A by Chinese news outlets recently lit up Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, with […]
Mutant Pigeon With Puffed-Out Chest and Long Legs Baffles Internet
Photos and clips of a proud-looking pigeon with its chest puffed out like a cartoon character and impressively long legs have been getting a lot of attention online. The “chad pigeon” went viral after a UK pigeon breeder shared a clip of their impressive-looking bird on TikTok, where it quickly went viral. Million of people […]
Poppy Farmers Struggle to Get Rid of “Opium-Addicted” Swans
A family of poppy farmers in Slovakia has been having trouble getting rid of hundreds of swans that have become addicted to poppy seeds and sometimes even overdose on them. Poppy farmers near the Slovakian town of Komarno first reported the presence of swans in their fields back in February. It is believed that they […]
Teachers Sound Alarm on Trend of Students as Old as 11 Still Wearing Diapers
Teachers in Switzerland recently reported a worrying number of students, some as old as 11, still coming to school in diapers because they never learned how to use the toilet. In Switzerland, some children begin school at age four, so it is not uncommon for them to still be wearing diapers. However, they are not […]