The Indian Village Where People Play with Live Scorpions
Most people wouldn’t dare touch a scorpion for all the money in the world, but in one small Indian village, people actually seek out the poisonous arachnids and put them on their faces, or eve in their mouths, as part of a worshiping ritual. Every year, on Naga Panchami, when most of India worships the […]
India’s Great Banyan Tree Is Its Own Forest
If you were to see the Great Banyan Tree in the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden from a distance, you could be forgiven for mistaking it for a forest. Spanning more than 14,493 square meters, the tree is the widest in the world—so large that it covers more ground than the average Wal-Mart. […]
The Oakland Buddha – How One Buddha Statue Brought Neighbourhood Crime Down by 82%
A non-religious man in Oakland managed to virtually eliminate neighborhood crime with nothing more than a statue of Buddha bought from a local hardware store. The neighborhood of 11th Avenue and East 19th Street was formerly a rough part of Oakland, riddled with a variety of illegal activities ranging from littering and vandalization to drug […]
The Swiss Man Who Built a UFO Landing Port in Argentina Because Aliens Told Him to
This is the story of Werner Jaisli, a Swiss man who in 2008 started building a giant, star-shaped ‘ovniport’ – a UFO landing spot – in an Argentinian desert, because aliens telepathically ordered him to. It’s not clear exactly when Werner Jaisli arrived in Cachi, a small town in the Argentinian province of Salta, but […]
Venice Cafe Charges Tourist $50 for Two Coffees and Two Small Bottles of Water
A cafe in Venice, Italy has been slammed as a tourist trap after recently charging a man €43 ($50) for two espressos and two small bottles of water. Venice’s St. Marks Square is known for its notoriously pricey cafes and restaurants, but one such establishment has been getting a lot of negative attention online after a […]
Vietnamese House Has a Fence Made Entirely Out of Old TV Sets
Photos of a small house on the Vietnamese island of Hon Thom have getting a lot of attention on social media for its unique fence made exclusively out of discarded old television sets. The unusual house is reportedly located on the road to Hon Thom cable car and is very popular with tourists, for obvious […]
Japan’s Unusual Obsession with Moss
As a very insular society, Japan has developed a culture that can be very interesting and sometimes bizarre to the outside observer. For example, in recent years, many Japanese have become infatuated with moss. Nature excursions centered around observing the thousands of species of Japanese moss have exploded in popularity to the point that the […]
The African Village Where Crocodiles and Humans Live Side by Side in Peace
In cultures all across the globe, animals are revered, and even worshipped. In Hinduism, for example, cows are valued for their gentle nature. But not every sacred animal is quite so harmless; crocodiles were worshipped in Ancient Egypt, as they were believed to be living representations of the god Sobek. You may be surprised to […]
Eibenthal – A Picturesque Village Where Theft Doesn’t Exist
Eibenthal is an idyllic village nestled in the Banatului Mountains of Western Romania. It’s a charming place inhabited mainly by ethnic Czechs, but what really makes it stand out from other villages in the area, or pretty much anywhere else in the world, for that matter, is its reputation as a theft-free community. There is […]
Thai Restaurant Finds Success with Screaming Hot Waiters
If you’re looking for a way to get your restaurant business off the ground, this unique eatery in Bangkok, Thailand is proof that having a team of hot male waiters dress in skimpy female garb and scream like damsels in distress as they serve patrons is a sure way to success. Staneemeehoi (Shell Station) is […]
Japan’s Stylish-Looking Trash-Collecting Samurai
The Gomi Hiroi Samurai – “trash collecting samurai” – are members of a street performance group who walk the streets of Japan collecting trash with their katanas and trusty garbage grabbers. These modern-day samurai are part of “Issei Ichidai Jidaigumi”, a performance group that originated in Kyoto but has since opened branches in other Japanese cities as […]
The Mysterious Bent Trees of North America
To the casual observer, the thousands of bent trees scattered throughout the North American continent look like mere freaks of nature, deformed by the elements of disease, but a more careful analysis reveals that these trees bend sharply into right angles, parallel the earth, which suggests that they were intentionally shaped long ago, for an unknown […]
The Creeping Devil – A Unique Cactus That Kills Parts of Itself to Move Across the Desert
The Creeping Devil is a rare and fascinating species of cactus that is not only capable of cloning itself to survive, but also of detaching from its major shoot to move through the desert over time. Also known by its scientific name, Stenocereus eruca, this unusual species of cactus is endemic to the northwestern Mexican state of Baja […]
This Tiny Island Has the World’s Largest and Heaviest Currency
No one knows exactly when the people of Yap, a tiny Micronesian island, started using giant limestone disks as money, but their unique stone money have definitely been around for centuries and are still in circulation today. Micronesian islands use the US dollar as their official currency, but on the island of Yap people also […]
Nameless Beach in Japan is Made of Recycled Colored Glass
There are only a handful of glass beaches in the whole world, and it’s their rarity that makes them so popular. However, Japan is home to a beautiful glass beach that is so obscure it doesn’t even have a name. Unlike California’s famous glass beach, or the one in Ussuri Bay, on Russia’s Pacific shoreline, […]