The Immortal – Ecuador’s Most Controversial Building
‘El Inmortal’ (The Immortal), is an iconic building in the Ecuadorian city of Machala famous for its precarious look due to having an unusually narrow ground floor. Located on the corner of Pichincha and Buenavista streets in the center of Machala, The Immortal has been defying earthquakes in Ecuador for more than 30 years. Looking […]
Bagheera Kiplingi, the World’s Only [Mostly] Vegetarian Spider
There are around 45,000 species of spider in the world, all of them carnivorous, with one exception – Bagheera kiplingi, a jumping spider known for feeding almost exclusively on plants. Native to the forests of Central America and Mexico, Bagheera kiplingi is only 5-6mm long and spends most of its time on the old leaves […]
‘Professional Back-Scratchers’ Charge Up to $130 Per Hour
The Scratcher Girls is an unconventional relaxation therapy studio that charges clients up to $130 per hour for back-scratching and tracing services so relaxing they can put people to sleep. Over the years, we’ve featured our share of unusual services here on Oddity Central, from renting fat people by the hour to professional cuddling and […]
World’s Saltiest Body of Water Is So Salty It Doesn’t Freeze at -50 Degrees Fahrenheit
Located in Antarctica’s McMurdo’s Dry Valleys, the shallow Don Juan Pond is the world’s saltiest body of water. With a salt content that puts the Dead Sea to shame, it remains liquid even at -58 degrees Celsius (-50 Fahrenheit). At four inches deep, Don Juan Pond looks more like a large puddle than an actual […]
Japanese Ultra-Luxury Bottled Water Can Cost Up to $10,000 Per Liter
Fillico Jewelry Water is a Japanese company known for selling one of the most expensive bottled waters in the world, with exclusive limited editions selling for up to $10,000 per bottle. Water is one of the most basic human needs, so marketing and selling it as an ultra-luxury product is a pretty big challenge, even […]
Man Who Doesn’t Speak Spanish Wins Spanish-Language Scrabble World Championship
Nigel Richards, a 57-year-old New Zealand scrabble phenom, recently won the 2024 Spanish-Language Scrabble World Championship despite not speaking the language at all. It’s been almost a decade since we first wrote about the talented Mr. Nigel Richards; He had just won the 2015 French-Language Scrabble Championship despite being completely unable to have a conversation […]
Man Spends 21 Days in Jail After Police Mistake Talcum Powder for Drugs
An Argentinian man was wrongfully imprisoned after police mistook 18 containers of talcum powder for cocaine and it took three weeks to analyze the true nature of the substance. In early October, Maximiliano Acosta got on a bus in the town of Mendoza towards the capital, Buenos Aires. Shortly after, the bus was stopped in […]
Crypto Investor Buries Treasure Chests Worth Millions, Challenges Anyone to Find Them
An entrepreneur and early crypto investor recently announced a public treasure hunt for five different treasure chests containing valuable items allegedly worth around $2 million. Jon Collins-Black once dreamed of finding valuable treasure, but he managed to become rich by investing in Bitcoin early, so he has spent the last five years planning an epic […]
Viral Chinese Street Food Looks Like a Lump of Black Hair
A new snack served on the streets of Chengdu, in China, has been getting a lot of attention because of its unusual appearance; it looks like a lump of black human hair. Fa Cai or Fat Choy is a type of dried cynobacterium that has long been a part of Chinese cuisine. It grows mostly […]
Medical Student Eats 720 Eggs in 28 Days as Metabolic Experiment
A Harvard medical student recently completed an intriguing “eggxperiment” by eating a total of 720 chicken eggs over 28 days to test their effect on his bad cholesterol. Eggs have long had a bad reputation for raising LDL (low-density lipoprotein) or ‘bad’ cholesterol, and even though that perception of the protein-rich food has changed in […]
Fat-Tailed Sheep Have Some Serious Junk in the Trunk
Fat-tailed sheep are a type of domestic sheep mainly found in arid areas and known for accumulating fat, mainly in the rear part of their bodies, which not only gives them a unique look but also helps them stay cool in extreme heat. Native to the Middle East and North Africa, fat-tailed sheep have been […]
Man Who Lived in Pain for 9 Years Had a Glass Shard Embedded in His Liver
A Russian man who had experienced pain and discomfort under his ribs for the last nine years was shocked to discover that he had a 9 cm glass shard embedded in his liver. The 53-year-old unnamed man told doctors at the Kirov Regional Clinical Hospital, in Russia, that he had long experienced sharp pain and […]
Cheating Husband Sues Apple for Accidentally Exposing Infidelity to His Wife
A UK man is trying to take tech giant Apple to court for £5 million ($6.3 million), accusing the company of revealing his private messages with other women to his wife by synchronizing his iPhone with the family iMac. In the last few years of his marriage, Richard (not the man’s real name) had been […]
Blind Dating Cafe Sparks Controversy with One-Way Window for Men
A so-called blind dating cafe in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, has come under fire for installing a one-way window that allows men to see the girls they are talking to, but not vice-versa. On June 1st, a blind dating cafe in Ho Chi Minh’s District 1 went viral for a controversial reason. According to […]
Restaurant Sparks Controversy for Serving Alien-Looking Raw Octopus Eggs
A Japanese food restaurant in Singapore recently attracted criticism online for serving a bizarre-looking dish consisting of a raw octopus egg sack. Known as tako tamago, the strange dish that landed Singapore restaurant Koji in hot water with social media users isn’t the most appetizing food we’ve ever featured on Oddity Central. It’s basically a […]