Swiss Hospitals Still Use a Medieval Prayer Called ‘The Secret’ to Prevent Patients Bleeding
A new study recently revealed that some Swiss hospitals still rely on a medieval prayer known as ‘The Secret’ to protect patients from excessive bleeding after surgeries. We live in a time when medical professionals have access to a variety of scientifically-proven tools to prevent excessive bleeding in patients, but according to data presented in […]
The World’s Oldest Lie Detector – Licking Hot Metal in the Name of Truth
The Ayaidah, a Bedouin tribe in north-eastern Egypt is the last to practice the Bisha’h, an ancient ritual used to determine whether a suspect in a crime is innocent or guilty. They have to lick a red-hot spoon or rod in the presence of tribal authorities, and if their tongue blisters, they are guilty, if […]
Man Rescued After Burying Himself Alive So He Could Become a God
An Indian man was recently rescued from a pit that he had voluntarily been buried in for 8 hours in order to attain salvation and be reborn as a God. Deeraj Kharol, a tantrik who had been living in a temple in Karocho ka Kheda village, Rajasthan, for a few years, last week announced that he […]
Japanese Monk Goes Nine Days Without Food, Drink and Sleep in Grueling Religious Ritual
Can you imagine going without food, drink and sleep for nine straight days and nights? It sounds impossible, but a Japanese Buddhist monk proved that it can be done, after recently completing a grueling ritual. Last Wednesday, 41-year-old Kogen Kamahori, one of the “marathon monks” of Mount Hiei, a holy mountain that straddles Japan’s Kyoto and […]
Thai Collector Uses Ancient Ritual to Create Souls for Creepy ‘Child God Dolls’
A creepy new trend in Thailand has people caring for supposedly haunted dolls, for good luck and prosperity. The Look Thep (Child God) dolls are believed to be inhabited by children’s spirits, created through special rituals. They’re considered to be an updated version of the ancient kuman thong, the practice of worshiping human fetuses that […]
Romantic Bowerbird Builds Intricate Structures to Seduce Females
The concept of bachelor pads isn’t unique to humans. Male bowerbirds are amazing architects, but they reserve theirs skills for just one purpose – finding a mate. They construct such elaborate and dazzling nests to impress females, perhaps they could teach our men a thing or two about home décor. Male bowerbirds use embellishments such […]
Bambu Gila – The Crazy Bamboo Dance of Maluku
Bambu Gila is a mystical ritual performed in Indonesia’s Maluku Islands, where a group of strong men struggle to control a piece of bamboo from moving around like crazy as if it were possessed by an unseen power. The origins of Bambu Gila, or Crazy Bamboo, are unknown, but it is believed the ancient ritual […]
Indonesian Villagers Beat Each Other with Rattan Brooms in the Name of Brotherhood and Friendship
Every year, a week after the end of Ramadan, the Indonesian villages of Morella and Mamala hold Pukul Sapu, a unique ritual that has men from the two villages beating each other across their bare backs with rattan broomsticks. There’s nothing like a good beating to strengthen the bond between members of a community, at according to […]
Bizarre Dog-Spinning Ritual Believed to Ward off Rabies
When we were kids, we played this game where we would twist a pencil innumerable times into a loop of thread and then let it go, watching with fascination as it spun around at top speed. It was a fun game, but I never imagined that somewhere in the world, the same thing was being […]
The Sacred Antogo Fishing Ritual, or How to Catch All the Fish in a Lake in 15 Minutes
Just beneath the village of Bamba, in the Northern part of Dogon country in Mali, lies a small, yet sacred lake, where fishing is permitted only once a year – during the unique ritual called Antogo. In the past, Bamba is said to have been covered in lush green forests. The lake, which is considered […]
Indonesian Tribe Believes Chiseled Teeth Make Women Beautiful
If tattooed black gums are considered a thing of beauty in West Africa, it’s chiseled, pointy-sharp teeth that’s the ‘in thing’ for some Indonesian tribes. I do wonder though, why it’s always the women who have to subject themselves to bizarre beauty rituals. Well, we may not be able to answer that question any time […]
The Pain of Growing Up – Being Stung by Hundreds of Bullet Ants in the Amazon Rain-Forest
Among the most bizarre coming-of-age rites we’ve ever featured is the one followed by the Satere-Mawe Tribe, an indigenous tribe from the Amazon rain forest, Brazil. What a boy has to do to become a man in this tribal community is painful, to say the least – he has to withstand being stung by not […]
Black Gums Are Considered a Sign of Beauty in West Africa
I’ve read about people getting tattoos on the weirdest places of their bodies, but this one just beats them all. Never before have I heard of people getting their gums tattooed. Not in any particular design, but just a uniform black color. This is actually a popular practice among women in West African countries like […]
Macabre Rituals – The Annual Cleaning of the Dead at Pomuch Cemetery
It’s fascinating how bizarre the rituals of the dead can get. The latest we’ve discovered is from Pomuch, Campeche, a small Mayan town in Mexico. In Campeche, the day of the dead, which is not unlike Spring Cleaning, is honored each year. On this particular day, families visit the cemetery to participate in the ritual cleaning […]
Indian Believers Roll in Food Scraps of Higher Caste to Cure Their Illnesses
A century old ritual in India dictates that those considered low-caste Hindus must roll in the remains of food eaten by members of a higher caste. But it’s not the ritual itself that’s strange. The strange part is that while social activists are actually seeking to outlaw the practice, the ‘low-caste’ Hindus don’t want to […]