Bolivian Townsfolk Put Mayor in Stocks for Doing a Poor Job Serving Them

In most countries, the only way you can punish politicians and civil servants for not doing a proper job is by not voting for them in the next elections, but in Bolivia, they have a thing called “social justice”.

The people of San Buenaventura, a small town in northern Bolivia, recently made good use of their constitutional right to social justice by putting their mayor, Javier Delgado, in stocks for an hour, to let him know that they are not satisfied with his service. Photos of the disgraced mayor sitting on the ground with one leg trapped in the medieval restraining device while surrounded by angry townspeople have been doing the rounds on South-American social media and news sites since late February.

Read More »

Someone Dropped a Life-Size Jason Vorhees Statue to the Bottom of a Lake to Freak Out Scuba Divers

Imagine scuba-diving in the peaceful waters of a picturesque lake and coming face to face with Friday the 13th killer Jason Vorhees. It’s not the plot of a horror flick, but an actual possibility, thanks to the clever prank thought up by a Minnesota diver.

Inspired by the ending of Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, where Megan and Tommy manage to defeat the infamous Jason Vorhees by trapping him in the bottom of Crystal Lake, diver Curtis Lahr came up with one of the scariest pranks ever. In 2013, he created a life-size statue of Jason, complete with his iconic hockey mask and machete, and dumped it to the bottom of Crystal Lake, not the one in New Jersey, but Crosby, Minnesota. It’s been sitting there ever since, waiting to give unsuspecting divers a heart-attack.

Read More »

Vietnam’s Fake Wedding Industry Is Booming Thanks to Social Stigma

Vietnamese women looking to avoid the social stigma of having a child out of wedlock are increasingly turning to grooms-for-hire businesses that specialize in throwing fake weddings complete with fake grooms and guests for a hefty fee.

Becoming pregnant before marriage is usually frowned upon in Vietnam, particularly in the northern parts of the country, where traditional social norms are still very strong. With over 300,000 abortions recorded every year, Vietnam’s abortion rate ranks fifth globally and first in Asia. Data shows that most of these pregnancy terminations are caused by social pressure, as 20 to 30 percent of women seeking abortion are not married, while most of the rest are young students. But what happens when a mother wants to keep the baby while at the same time avoid disgracing herself and her family? Well, that’s where the grooms-for-hire businesses come in.

Read More »

Model Gets Tattoo of Her Cat with Ink Made from Its Fur

A German model has found a way to makes sure her beloved pet cat stays with her forever. Not only did she get a huge tattoo of it on her thigh, but she had it done with a s special ink synthesised from its fur.

38-year-old Kathrin Toelle loves her two pet cats like they were her own children, and knows that she’ll miss them more than anything else when they eventually pas away. So when she heard about a new tattoo ink that would help her stay connected to her felines forever, she didn’t hesitate. Now Kathrin, who goes by the modelling name Makani Terror, sports a large tattoo of her 10-year-old cat Gizmo, made with ink from its luscious fur, and plans on getting one of her other pet soon.

Read More »

The Complicated Case of a Death Row Inmate Who Can’t Remember His Crime

67-year-old Vernon Madison has been on death row for over three decades and was supposed to be executed in 2016, but after a series of strokes allegedly wiped out his memories of fatally shooting a police officer, his lawyers have been trying to suspend his death sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court will now have to decide if it is lawful to execute a murderer who does not remember his crime.

Madison was supposed to receive the death penalty in May of 2016, for the 1985 murder of a police officer. Shortly before the sentence could be carried out, his lawyers intervened, arguing that as a result of several strokes, the inmate had suffered neurological damage and could no longer remember his crime. A previous ruling of the Supreme Court stated that mentally incompetent prisoners cannot be executed, but also that some of them may be ruled competent to be executed as long as he or she understands their punishment and why they are receiving it. This leaves a lot of room for interpretation by state courts, so Vernon Madison’s execution has been scheduled and postponed several times in the last two years. It is now up to the Supreme Court to rule if it is lawful to have a man executed for a crime he doesn’t remember.

Read More »

Russian Parents Agree to Fake Their Own Deaths to Help Convict Son That Tried to Have Them Killed

A 22-year-old man from Sochi, Russia, was recently busted by police after his parents help prove he tried to have them assassinated by posing for photos of their fake bloody murders.

The shocking story of a young man who tried to have his parents and sister killed so he could inherit their wealth first appeared in Russian media earlier this month, with even more disturbing details surfacing later, as the criminal confessed to police. Apparently, police learned of the man’s diabolical plan from a friend of his, to whom he had confided in. To make sure he was serious about killing his family, police set up a meeting between the man and an undercover policeman posing as a professional hitman. Their worst fears were confirmed when the man gave the “assassin” all the details he needed to get into his parents’ house, like the location of the security cameras and of their guard dog, as well as a plan of the home. He allegedly offered the “killer” 3 million rubles ($54,000), one for each of his murdered family members.

Read More »

Indian Groom Forced to Marry Another Woman After Bride-to-Be Rejects Him Because He Is Balding

An Indian groom returned home with a different wife that the one he had originally intended to marry, after his bride-to-be refused to go ahead with the wedding upon seeing that he was balding.

Dr. Ravi Kumar’s family had arranged his weeding to a girl in Sugauli village, Bihar, more than a year ago, and all there was left wad for the couple to finally meet and get married in a traditional wedding ceremony. As the set date of February 18, approached, Kumar, a neurosurgeon, traveled with his family from New Delhi to Bihar, but he never actually met his bride-to-be until his wedding day, which turned out to be a big mistake. After all the rituals were completed and all there was left for the betrothed couple was to enter the wedding pavilion to be married, disaster struck. Kumar removed his traditional headgear and his bride-to-be noticed that he was balding.

Read More »

The Loneliest Tree on Earth – A Fascinating Tale of Survival

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, a Sitka Spruce growing on New Zealand’s southernmost subarctic island, is the loneliest and most remote tree on Earth. Not only is it the only tree on Campbell Island, but the nearest other tree can be found over 200 kilometers away, on the Auckland Islands.

Located about 700 km south of Bluff, Campbell Island is one of the harshest places in the world. With strong winds blowing almost all year round, less than 600 hours of sunshine and only 40 days per year without rain, it’s not exactly an ideal place to live, which is probably why, except for occasional visits by research scientists, it has remained deserted for over half a century. Trees aren’t supposed to be growing here either, a fact made evident by the wind-tolerant shrubs and grasses covering the island, which only makes the thriving “loneliest tree on Earth” so much more impressive.

Read More »

Japanese “Baby Factory” Dad Wins Custody of 13 Thai Surrogate Children

Mitsutoki Shigeta, the heir of a wealthy Japanese businessman, was recently awarded sole custody of 13 children he fathered through surrogate mothers in Thailand. Dubbed the “baby factory dad”, 28-year-old Shigeta is believed to be the father of at least 17 children, all conceived through surrogacy.

The “baby factory” scandal began in 2014, when Thai authorities stormed the Bangkok apartment of Japanese millionaire Mitsutoki Shigeta, where they found nine surrogate babies, each accompanied by a nanny, living in mostly unfurnished rooms and surrounded by playpens and baby bottles. DNA tests showed that Shigeta was the father of all nine children, as well as four others not living in the apartment. They had all been delivered by surrogate mothers that the Japanese national had paid between $9,300 and $12,500 each.

Read More »

South-Korean Artist Uses Makeup to Transform Her Face into Mesmerizing Optical Illusions

At just 24 years of age, Dain Yoon is already a master when it comes to optical illusions. Using only makeup, face paint and brushes, she uses her own face and body as canvas for mind-bending visual effects.

Yoon’s talent for painting was obvious from a very young age, and it later allowed her to attend some of the most prestigious art schools in South Korea – Yewon Arts Secondary, Seoul Arts High School and the Korean National University of Arts. But instead of pursuing what you would call a conventional artistic career, she decided to focus on ‘illusion art’, a modern art form that has proven very popular thanks to social media sites like Instagram and Facebook.

Read More »

That’s a Wrap! Woman Divorces Husband After He Refuses to Buy Her a Shawarma

A 30-year-old woman in Egypt recently filed for divorce from her 32-year-old husband after only 40 days of marriage on grounds that he is so stingy that he refused to buy her a shawarma sandwich on their first and only outing as a married couple.

Speaking before the Family Court in Zananiri, the young woman, known only as Sameeha, said that the shawarma incident was the straw that broke the camel’s back. She had married Ahmed, a teacher, after only knowing him for two months, which apparently wasn’t long enough for her to realize how incredibly stingy he was. However, his frugal nature became very obvious right after their traditional wedding. On their first day of marriage, Ahmed allegedly told his wife that he hated going out because he viewed it as a waste of money. She didn’t pay much attention to his words then, but things got worse with each passing day.

Read More »

Artist Spends Hundreds of Hours Creating Amazing Portraits with Millions of Ink Dots

David Bayo, a self-taught artist from Strasbourg, France, spends hundreds of hours carefully placing tiny ink dots on a white canvas to create incredibly detailed portraits.

To truly appreciate David Bayo’s skills, you need to lean in and examine his amazing artworks up close. Only when you see the millions of dots expertly placed by the artist over dozens, sometimes hundreds of hours, do you begin to understand the hard work and patience that go into each and every one of his stippled portraits.

Read More »

Russian Artist Builds 30-Meter-High Gothic Cathedral Out of Tree Branches, Then Sets It on Fire

Every year, the Nikola-Lenivets art park, near Moscow, Russia, burns a wooden structure to celebrate Maslevitsa, the oldest surviving Slavic holiday. This year, founder Nikolay Polissky burned the largest structure yet – a 30-meter-high Gothic cathedral made of wooden branches.

On February 17, 2018, art lovers gathered at the Nikola-Lenivets art park witnessed one of the largest bonfires in recent history – a wooden cathedral built for the sole purpose of being raised to the ground. A team of around 20 workers had laboured for three months under the guidance of famous Russian artist Nikolay Polissky, assembling the dry tree branches into the impressive 30-meter Gothic edifice, only to see it eaten up by the flames in a matter of minutes. It was an impressive display indeed, but a controversial one as well.

Read More »

Japanese Restaurant Becomes Internet Sensation for Its All-Natural Blue Soup

Kipposhi, a restaurant in Tokyo, Japan, has seen its popularity skyrocket recently, after photos of its bright blue ramen soup started going viral on social media platforms like Instagram.

Blue soup doesn’t really sound like the most appetising dish, but that hasn’t stopped people from flocking to Kipposhi, a ramen restaurant located in the heart of Tokyo, to give its famous Clear Chicken Soup ‘Blue’ a try, or at least take a photo of it to post on social media. It all started in January of 2017, when Mr Kozuimi, the owner of Kipposhi and creator of the unique blue ramen, posted a photo of his invention on Instagram. It went viral almost instantly, becoming a social media sensation, and putting the relatively new ramen restaurant on the map of must-visit Tokyo attractions.

Read More »

Indian Woman Posing as Man Marries Two Other Women for Dowry

Krishna Sen, a woman from India’s Uttar Pradesh state who posed as a man for over 4 years, was recently arrested for marrying two women and harassing them for dowry.

Krishna had always been a bit of a tomboy, but in 2013 she went a step further, adopting a male persona on social media and approaching women online in hopes of starting a romantic relationship with them. She started wearing men’s clothes, cutting her hair short and even changed her name to Sweety Sen. Over the course of three years, the disguised woman managed to convince two women to marry her, and then started pressuring them and their families for dowry.

Read More »