A Chinese woman recently took a work colleague to court, after they allegedly broke three of her ribs by hugging her too hard.

This bizarre story started back in May of 2021, when the plaintiff, a woman from Yueyang city, in China’s Hunan province, was chatting with a colleague at her workplace. At one point, a male co-worker came over and greeted her with a hug, which allegedly caused her to scream in pain. The man had apparently hugged her so hard that she continued feeling pain in her chest even after leaving work, but she didn’t seek medical help right away preferring to rub some hot oil on her chest and go to bed instead.

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Cymothoa exigua, popularly known as the tongue-eating louse, is a parasitic isopod that attaches itself to the tongue of its fish host, severs circulation, causing the organ to necrose and fall off, and then becomes the new tongue.

We’ve covered a bunch of terrifying parasites on Oddity Central, but few can hold a candle to the tongue-eating louse in terms of creepiness. This critter is one of the few that actually does the phrase “what nightmares are made of” justice. It enters fish through the gills, attaching to them until it matures, at which point it changes sex from male to female. Once this process is complete, the parasite starts to make its way to the fish’s mouth, where it attaches itself to its tongue using its incredibly powerful legs. It then pierces the host’s tongue with its strong bite and begins to suck the blood out of it. The blood vessels can’t keep up with their appetite, and the tongue eventually withers and detaches from the fish.

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For over 700 years, the Indian state of Bihar has been hosting a unique groom market where women and their families come to shop for husbands.

Every year, thousands of men gather under the Pipal trees in the local market area of Madhubani district, India’s Bihar state, and wait to be chosen by prospective brides. Called Saurath Mela or Sabhagachhi, the 9-day groom market was allegedly started by Raja Hari Singh of the Karnat dynasty over seven centuries ago to make it easier for women to find the right husband from a diverse group of men. Each groom is priced based on their capability, including their educational qualifications and family background.

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Mohamed Buya Turay, a striker for Swedish football club Malmö FC couldn’t attend his own wedding in Sierra Leone because of a match, so he asked his brother to stand in for him on the big day.

Last month, 26-year-old footballer Mohamed Buya Turay decided leave the Chinese league and sign with major Swedish club Malmö FC.  After announcing the deal on July 22, the club notified Toray that they were expecting him to join the team as quickly as possible to begin preparations for an important match. There was just one problem – the African striker had already planned his wedding, and there was no backing out of it. But he couldn’t make a bad first impression on his new club either, so he decided to do both. Since his brother couldn’t play football in his place, Mohamed asked him to take his place at the wedding.

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A 44-year-old married woman sparked controversy in Thailand after allegedly posting a job ad seeking “presentable and educated” women to fill the position of mistress for her husband.

Speaking out of her Bangkok apartment, the woman, identified as Pattheema Chamnan, recently said that she hasn’t been sleeping with her husband for a while, which makes her feel like a bad wife. To make up for it, she is looking to hire a mistress for him, one that can please him “physically”, but also have a pleasant personality and good communication skills. Chamnan offered the region’s minimum wage for the job $450), plus free meals and accommodation in the family home. As outrageous as the offer might seem to some, the Thai woman said that she has already shortlisted two candidates for the job.

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Dutch beer company Heineken recently teamed up with sneaker designer and customizer Dominic Ciambone, aka The Shoe Surgeon, to create a special sneaker with beer-filled soles.

To celebrate the launch of Heineken’s newest product, Heineken Silver, the Dutch brewer commissioned The Shoe Surgeon to create a sneaker that embodied the identity of their smooth, easy-to-drink new beer, and he delivered. The so-called “Heinekicks” feature the company’s iconic color scheme – green, white and red – as well as the Heineken logo, and handy bottle openers built into the tongues. But what really sets them apart from any other sneakers is the liquid floating in their transparent soles – actual Heineken Silver beer.

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If you love karaoke, but can never hit the right notes of your favorite songs, don’t despair! Apparently, all you need to do is use a weird karaoke training device for just three minutes per day, and you’re all set.

Karaoke is really big in Japan. Few people know that the pastime enjoyed internationally by millions originated in the Asian country, so it’s really no surprise that so many people of all ages still love it here. But just because you love singing your favorite songs doesn’t mean you’re good at it, and that can be an issue, especially if you prefer doing it in public karaoke establishments, of which there are many in Japan. Sure, you can take singing lessons, but that requires time and money that most karaoke enthusiasts don’t have. Luckily, there is apparently a simple, albeit more bizarre alternative…

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History Supreme, a super-yacht commissioned by a mysterious Malaysian billionaire and designed by controversial artist Stuart Hughes, is considered the world’s most expensive yacht, but most don’t even believe it exists.

The story of History Supreme is one of the weirdest we’ve ever covered here on Oddity Central. It originally made news headlines over a decade ago, when luxury jeweler and designer Stuart Hughes announced that he had spent three years working on it, after being commissioned by a Malaysian businessman who preferred to remain anonymous. Hughes described his newest creation as the world’s most expensive yacht, priced at a staggering £3 million, or $4.8 billion. Photos of the vessel started doing the rounds online and news outlets covered the topic extensively, but no one has ever seen the History Supreme in person…

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A 60-year-old man in Thailand recently caused shockwaves throughout the island nation after he stole from a pharmacy so he would get arrested and go to jail because he was too poor to make ends meet.

The unusual incident reportedly happened in the afternoon of July 29, 2022 at a pharmacy in Chonburi province, south of Bangkok. The 60-year-old man, later identified as Phichit by the police, was caught stealing three bars of soap worth THB17 ($0.47) by the staff. The place had very clear warnings against shoplifting, with perpetrators risking fines of up to 30 times the value of the stolen goods and even jail time. However, in this case, the staff was willing to let the old man off the hook, and a bystander even offered to pay the fine for him. But he wouldn’t have it, insisting that the staff call the police on him…

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Wang Zhenxi, a young woman from Luoyang, Henan Province, is known as one of China’s premier “mistress persuading teachers”, professionals who convince mistresses to end their affairs with married men.

Extramarital affairs are frowned upon in virtually all cultures around the world, but China is perhaps the only country in the world to have not one, but at least two professions that deal specifically with this type of relationship. One is the “mistress killer,” a type of detective/vigilante that helps scorned wives reveal their husbands’ infidelities and also exact revenge on the mistresses. The other is the “mistress persuading teacher” who relies on more diplomatic techniques to convince mistresses to end their affairs and allow their partners to return to their families. One such persuasion master was recently profiled by a major Chinese newspaper, after it became known that she had once managed to persuade over 800 mistresses in a single year.

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A 62-year-old man from Bihar, India has been getting a lot of attention in his home country after it was revealed that he has not taken a bath in over two decades.

Dharamdev Ram is famous in his home village of Baikunthpur. Everybody knows that he hasn’t taken a bath or even a quick shower in 22 years, but nobody mocks him for it, on the contrary, he gets a lot of respect for his decision. That’s because the 62-year-old man vowed to shun bathing until violence against women, land disputes among men, and the killing of innocent animals stop. That has yet to happen, so Dharamdev continues to uphold his vow.

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A disgruntled excavator operator who allegedly got fired by their employer recently took revenge by destroying several luxury homes in Ontario’s exclusive Muskoka Marina.

A 59-year-old man has been charged with mischief and slapped with a $5,000 fine after a viral video circulating online showed him using an excavator to severely damage several properties in Muskoka Marina, a popular summer retreat of the rich and famous in Ontario. Police officers who arrived on the scene just after 9 p.m. on July 21st discovered “significant damage” to the marina on Lake Rosseau in Muskoka Lakes Township, but no suspect. It was only after a video recorded by a local went viral on Twitter that the 59-year-old perpetrator was identified. He is now scheduled to appear in court and risks spending time behind bars.

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A Chinese court recently issued a controversial ruling, ordering a woman to pay 3.79 million yuan ($560,000) to her lover’s wife, because their relationship wasn’t recognized by law.

Scorned wives suing their husbands’ lovers isn’t unheard of. On the contrary, a quick Google search of the phrase “alienation of affection” reveals that it’s still quite a common practice, although this law tort was abolished in many jurisdictions around the world. But whereas that refers to one spouse suing a third party for damaging their marriage and usually leading to divorce, a recent case in China saw one wife sue her husband’s mistress to return all the material possessions he had given her during their affair. The court sided with the woman and ordered the mistress to pay a whopping 3.79 million yuan to her lover’s wife.

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A Brazilian man ended up at the emergency room last week, after attempting to perform a rhinoplasty on himself, using YouTube tutorials and super glue.

You can find all sorts of DIY tutorials on YouTube these days, and that apparently includes nose surgery as well. However, just because someone says you don’t have to be a doctor to perform an operation, especially if it’s on yourself doesn’t make it a good idea. Unfortunately, one Sao Paolo man actually tried to do his own rhinoplasty using a YouTube video as a guide and ended up at the Campo Limpo Emergency Care Unit with an infected wound. The man told doctors that he did not use any gloves to perform the procedure and didn’t clean the wound as not to open his stitches.

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A Tunisian woman has been receiving messages of support from around the world after being dumped at the altar because her would-be mother-in-law didn’t like how she looked.

Last week, Lamia al-Labawi, a young woman from Tunisia, took to Facebook to share the sad story of how what was supposed to be the best day of her life turned into a nightmare. She and her partner of four years were supposed to be married; everything had been arranged and they had spent a lot of money to make sure everything went according to plan, but the one thing they hadn’t taken into account was the groom’s mother. Lamia said that she had never met the woman in person before, and instead of a warm welcome into the family, all she received from her on her wedding day was vitriol.

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