People

The history of the Freak Show and the legendary freaks who promoted the popular attractions

// December 22nd, 2014 // No Comments » // Sideshow Anomalies

Freak shows were popular attractions during the mid 19th to mid 20th centuries until changes in societal attitudes towards handicapped persons and tightening of local laws prohibiting “exhibition of deformed human beings” led to the decline of the freak show as a form of entertainment. Featuring attractions such as deformed humans and animals, unusual physical […]

Woman with craving for toilet paper maintains a diet of one toilet paper roll per day

// December 11th, 2014 // No Comments » // Strange Persons

The condition is called pica, and like a pregnant woman who hungers for unusual food combinations, 25-year-old Jade Sylvester’s cravings cause her to consume toilet paper at a rate of about one roll per day.

Yambuku – Ebola virus ground zero and the terrifying discovery (and death) of “patent zero”

// October 3rd, 2014 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

The Ebola saga began in 1976 in a small village in Congo called Yambuku and the news leaking out of the area was terrifying – lifeless bodies of feverish birds falling from the sky and human bodies piled by the roadsides formed impressions of the apocalypse in the minds of medical professionals. When samples of […]

21-year-old Florida woman obviously misunderstands men’s motiviations – adds third breast to make herself unattractive

// September 22nd, 2014 // No Comments » // Sideshow Anomalies

21-year-old Jasmine Tridevil (I’m guessing this isn’t her real name) says she was rejected by 50 plastic surgeons before one cosmetic surgeon (licensed?) agreed to perform an unusual surgery to add a third breast in between Tridevil’s two natural breasts. At a cost of $20,000, the surgeon’s only condition was that she sign a non-disclosure […]

Woman spends $50,000 to transform herself into real-life blow-up sex doll

// September 18th, 2014 // No Comments » // Sideshow Anomalies

30-year-old Victoria Wild had great aspirations. She wanted puffy pouty lips, gigantic breasts, and huge eyelashes so she could look more like an inflatable sex toy. Wild went through several operations to obtain size 32G breasts followed by rhinoplasty, bottom implants, lip implants, and botox injections. $50,000 dollars later, it looks like she accomplished her […]

The Dylatov Pass Incident – what slaughtered nine young hikers in the Russian wilderness? (1959)

// June 9th, 2014 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

Nine seasoned hikers die inexplicable deaths One January 25, 1959, nine hikers from the Soviet Union’s Ural Polytechnic Institute set off from the city of Sverdlovsk (1,200 miles east of Moscow) on a three-week cross-country skiing expedition to the nearby Otorten Mountain range. Led by enthusiastic 23-year-old Igor Dyatlov, the group boarded a train in […]

That time Lucille Ball picked up spy communications through her dental work

// April 29th, 2014 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

Lucille Ball, the zany comedic redhead that starred in popular television shows such as I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show, and Here’s Lucy, was one of the most influential comedic stars in U.S. history. As portrayed in her popular television series, life with Lucille Ball was never mundane, as evidenced by a true-life encounter she […]

80-year-old Iranian man has not taken a bath in more than 60 years – looks like dirt

// January 13th, 2014 // No Comments » // Strange Persons

80-year-old Iranian Amou Haji has not bathed in over 60 years, giving his skin and clothing an earth-tone that allows him to blend into his surroundings. Believing that cleanliness will only make him ill, the only water he comes into contact with is the 1 ½ gallons of water he drinks each day from an […]

Gambler Archie Karas during “The Run” – turns $50 into $40 million then loses it all

// November 19th, 2013 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

At the age of 15, after a violent fight with his father, Archie Karas ran away from home then hopped on an international ship taking a job as a waiter. By the time his ship reached America, he understood not only what it took to survive, but had the wherewithal (and intelligence) to grow rich […]

Mad Jack Churchill – the eccentric military hero who fought World War II with a sword, bow, and arrows

// September 23rd, 2013 // No Comments » // Strange Persons

In a war that featured formidable weapons such as grenades, machine guns, and armored tanks, one eccentric young soldier decided early on to buck traditional convention and stick what he was most comfortable with. Thus, John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill, who came to be known as “Mad Jack,” fought in World War II using a […]

Woman wears corset day and night to deform waist into freaky wasp-shape silhouette

// June 11th, 2013 // No Comments » // Sideshow Anomalies

24-year-old Berlin native Michele Koebke has a goal in life – to set the world record for the World’s Tiniest Waist. In order to achieve this goal, and create the wasp-waist silhouette that was so popular in the 19th century, she has worn a tight corset every day and night for the past three years […]

Mademoiselle Blanche Monnier – the girl who who was locked in a dungeon for 25 years

// June 7th, 2013 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

Blanche Monnier, a French girl, was kept captive for 24 years in a padlocked, shuttered room where she was forced to live amidst pests, rats, human excrement, and filth. Her discovery occurred on May 23, 1901 after the Paris Attorney General received an anonymous letter indicating a woman was being held captive in a home […]

Emergency ejection results in 40-minute ordeal as pilot is flung about inside a thunderstorm cloud

// May 30th, 2013 // No Comments » // People in Unusual Circumstances

The next time you feel like complaining about turbulence while flying aboard a commercial airlines, consider the situation Lieutenant Colonel William Henry Rankin survived after ejecting from his F-8 jet fighter that was flying Mach .82, at 47,000 feet, above a thunderstorm. To date, Rankin is the only known person to survive a fall through […]

Vladimir Demikhov – Russia’s real-life mad scientists creates living two-headed dogs in the lab

// May 17th, 2013 // No Comments » // Strange Persons

Vladimir Demikhov’s illustrious career provided many interesting advances in the Russian medical science field. In 1937, at the young age of 21, Demikhov designed the first ever cardiac-assist device, a pump mechanism which was capable of taking over a heart’s cardiac function for a full five and a half hours. In 1946, Demikhov became the […]

27-year-old man swallowed by hippo on African river and lives to tell about it

// May 6th, 2013 // No Comments » // People

27-year-old Paul Templer owned a safari tour guide business taking clients on sight-seeing expeditions down the Zambezi river in Africa. Templer was taking a group of tourists on a routine run when suddenly, and unexpectedly, a 4,000-pound hippo attacked the kayakers from behind. Templer quickly shuffled the tourists off the boat and began to paddle […]

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