The Tale of Frank Hayes, the Only Jockey to Win a Horse Race While Dead

Frank Hayes is believed to be the only jockey in history to win an official horse race while dead. He suffered a heart attack while competing at New York’s Belmont Park in 1923.

According to Frank’s mother, the young stable boy and apprentice jockey had always been fond of hoses and dreamed of one day becoming a full-time race jockey, so when finally given the chance to prove himself in a 2-mile, 12-jump race at Belmont Park, he leaped at the opportunity. Frank Hayes loved training horses, and one of his favorites was Sweet Kiss, a 7-year-old unremarkable mare that wasn’t well thought of even by her owners. She had 20-1 odds in the big race and wasn’t expected to pull off anything extraordinary, but Frank believed she could win, so Sweet Kiss’ owners gave him the chance to prove it. This would be their only race together, but one that would be remembered a century later.

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The Legendary Giant Plants of Sakhalin

Located in the Russian Far East, the island of Sakhalin is allegedly home to giant versions of common plants like buckwheat, burdock and butterbur that can grow up to 5 meters tall.

Sakhalin is known for being the largest island in the Russian Federation, as well as a point of contention between Japan and Russia over the centuries. However, according to obscure reports going back over a decade, the northernmost island of the Japanese archipelago, as well as the nearby Kuril Islands are home to versions of ordinary herbaceous plants of truly gigantic proportions. Plants that normally reach the knee of an average adult, on these islands allegedly grow several times the height of a human.

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China’s Mosquito-Free Village, an Unsolved Mystery

Surrounded by lush vegetation and dotted with ponds and pools of water, the Chinese village of Ding Wuling should be teeming with mosquitoes, especially during the summertime. However, the tiny bloodsuckers allegedly haven’t been seen here in almost a century.

Located in the hills of China’s Fujian province, 700 meters above sea level, the village of Ding Wuling is home to the hakka minority, a people with a very rich history and culture evidenced by the unique architecture of their stone houses. But in recent years, the culture and architecture of this picturesque village have been overshadowed by a mystery enhanced by national media – the absence of mosquitoes. Despite being virtually covered by a lush canopy and surrounded by vegetation, the village has reportedly been mosquito-free for several decades.

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Okiku – The Creepy Doll That Allegedly Grows Human Hair

Okiku, aka “The Haunted Doll of Hokkaido” is a creepy old Japanese doll residing at a temple in Iwamizawa Temple that allegedly grows human hair. Obviously, it’s also said to be haunted by the spirit of a little girl.

There are various legends regarding Okiku, but the most popular one speaks of a traditional Japanese doll bought by Eikichi Suzuki, a seventeen-year-old boy from Hokkaido, who bought it for his little sister, in 1918. It is said that the tree-year-old girl, called Kikuko, loved the doll very much, took it everywhere with her, and slept with it every night. But, as is often the case in these creepy legends, young Kikuko died one day after catching a cold, and that’s when things started getting strange.

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This Man Has Spent the Last 22 Years Looking for Bigfoot’s Chinese Cousin

62-year-old Zhang Jianxing has been scouring the ancient forests of the Shennongjia National Nature Reserve for over two decades, in search of the mythical Yeren, or Chinese yeti, and says he will not give up until he comes face to face with the creature.

Zhang began living as a hermit in the 3,200-square-kilometer mountain range in 1994, after becoming fascinated with the Yeren, a 6-foot-tall humanoid creature covered in thick red-brown fur. References of the so-called Chinese Wild Man date back to the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC) in the works of classical poet and statesman Qu Yuan, mentions of its existence in the pristine forests of Shennongjia, China’s Hubei province, have been popping up throughout history ever since.

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The Spanish Village of Witches Cursed by the Catholic Church

Nestled in the foothills of the Macayo Mountains, in Aragon, Spain, lies a quaint village plagued by a curse so strong that only the Pope can lift it.

Trasmoz was once a bustling settlement with a population of around 10,000 people, but today it numbers only 62 inhabitants, of which only 30 live there permanently. For many, the downfall of Trasmoz has a lot to do with the curse placed on the village by the Catholic Church centuries ago and the stigma associated with witchcraft. Its history is riddled with legends of witches and pagan rituals, and even the ruined castle at its center is said to have been built in a single night by a magician called Mutamín. How many of these stories are true, and how many are simple rumors spread by the Church to justify its actions is left to interpretation.

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Local Council in Serbia Issues Warning That Vampire Is on the Loose

Locals in the Bajina Basta municipality, western Serbia, are freaking out after the local council has issued a warning about the famous vampire Sava Savanovic being on the loose and thirsty for blood.

Sava Savanovic is a popular figure of Serbian folklore, known as the first vampire in Serbia. According to legend, he lived in an old watermill on the nearby Rogačica river, where he killed and drank the blood of peasants who came to mill their grains. Scary stories like this are not uncommon, but the people of Zarozje village, where the mill is located, actually believe their local vampire is real. They had no problem living near it, as Savanovic hasn’t hurt any of them for centuries, but now that his home has collapsed, they fear he may take revenge on them. “People are worried, everybody knows the legend of this vampire and the thought that he is now homeless and looking for somewhere else and possibly other victims is terrifying people. We are all frightened,” mayor Miodrag Vujetic told the press.

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