Most extreme journeys

 The Australian man who circumnavigated the globe with an amphibious vehicle

Ben Carlin, an Australian, took the challenge to circumnavigate the world in a modified amphibious jeep. He set out with his wife Elinore as first mate in 1950. His wife eventually came to her senses and left the expedition somewhere in India at about 3/4 of the journey but Ben continued with other mates finally completing the voyage in 1958. The trip began and ended in Montreal, Canada. It took

Lottery Winners Who Were Better Off Without Their Prizes

 Janite Lee
The Missourian who gave away her money to politics, education and the community and ended up with nothing left

Sometimes, even good intentions can get wildly out of hand — as was the case for Janite Lee, the 52-year-old woman, who landed an $18 million payout from the Missouri Lottery back in 1993. The South Korean immigrant immediately began to contribute chunks of her wealth to various educational programs, community services and political organizations. Besides the usual million-dollar house and cars, Lee reportedly donated more than $1 million to Washington University, where her namesake reading room commemorates the occasion. She reportedly donated $277,000 to

Bizarre sleeping bags

 Bear Sleeping Bag

Concerned about getting mauled by a bear when you’re out camping? Maybe if you sleep in this bear sleeping bag by Eiko Ishizawa, you won’t have to worry about that. Just crawl out of your tent and scare that bear back to its den. Just watch out for hunters, you don’t want to get shot. Ehhh… so maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all.

Most lever bandits

Colton Harris-Moore: the 19-year-old boy who stole 3 airplanes and a $450,000 yacht barefoot

For more than two years, lawmen had been hunting Colton Harris-Moore, the elusive 19-year-old “Barefoot Bandit” they believe is responsible for hundreds of burglaries and the theft of at least three airplanes and a $450,000 yacht. Harris-Moore is suspected in countless burglaries round the country, including Washington, Idaho, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. He is also believed to have committed crimes in Canada and, most recently, the Bahamas. Since many of Harris-Moore’s alleged crimes were committed while he was barefoot, the media dubbed him the “Barefoot Bandit.” Not

Bizarre torture methods

Thumbscrew

This was used to get a confession from the offenders. The fingers of the person were placed in the device and crushed by the torturer turning the handle on the top. It could last for a very long time and it was very painful. This was also used to crush a person’s toes. They even made bigger versions of this device used to crush feet, knees, elbows and even heads.

Most insane marriage rituals

 Marrying animals to exorcise ghostsPracticed in: some regions of India

The Western culture is no stranger to superstition, especially during a wedding. Most brides would sooner set fire to the church and postpone the ceremony than to get married without something old, new, borrowed and blue. And don’t even think about trying to catch a glimpse of your wife-to-be before the nuptials or that’s 3 stitches to the temple right there on the spot.
But the Santhal tribe in India decided to one-up us all and cranked the wedding-crazy dial all the way up to 11. They believe that if a baby girl has a tooth rooted to her upper gum, it’s the obvious sign she will be eaten by a tiger or something in the near future, because ghosts hate her. Therefore, she

Most bizarre competitions

 High Heel Marathon

High heel race is an unusual event, which is held in many cities, such as Sydney, Paris, Moscow and Amsterdam. But the citizens of Milan were lucky most of all – not every day the winner of such race gets a couple of delicious, lust luxury open-toe sandals from Manolo Blahnik.
Up to 300 girls took part at this competition who must overcome a distance of 80 m running on high heels. The heels should be a minimum 7 cm height and 1.5 cm in diameter. All these fashion