Djavolja Varos is a strange rock formation in south Serbia, created by strong water erosion of the surrounding soil

Djavolja Varos, which means “Devil’s Town” in Serbian, features 202 earth pyramids, each between 2-15 meters high and 4-6 meters wide. Most of these rock towers have an andesit cap that protects them from further erosion. When an earth pyramid protects its protective cap, it is quickly disintegrated by the falling rains, but they form just as quick, because of the heavy water erosion. This is what inspired locals to name this extraordinary site Djavolja Varos, because they believe changes like these happen when demons fight each other for power.

The strange sounds made by the wind in this place are also behind its creepy name. The murmurs, howling and squeaking coming from Djavolja Varos on windy nights have frightened local population for centuries and are at the bottom of their eerie legends.

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There’s no questioning China’s economic boom, but although more and more impressive buildings are being constructed every day, there are some areas that don’t even have a proper school.

Dongzhong (literally translated as “in cave”) is a elementary school located in Miao village, China’s Guizhou province. The strange thing about this learning institution is that it’s housed by a giant cave, carved inside a mountain over thousands of years, by wind, rain and earthquakes. There is a small structure put together by the locals, but children attend classes protected only by the cold walls of the cave.

Photos were taken in November, 2007, but the school is till around today.

Photos by Reuters

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Adrian Reeman, a former Merchant Navy chef from Southampton, has spent the last 23 years of his life transforming his small apartment into a miniature Palace of Versailles.

His painstaking work began in 1986, when he moved in with his wife Annette, in the ninth floor flat of a tower bloc in Southampton. He hated the copper pebble dash wallpaper he found there and decided something had to be done. At first he just started panelling the walls, without having a clue of what it was going to turn into.

Although he has no training in constructions or design, and he has never once visited the real Versailles, Adrian Reeman managed to create an honorable small-scale replica of the popular French palace. He now sees no reason to visit the real thing, since he’s living in it himself, just on a slightly smaller scale.

Reeman says he’s not 100% happy with how the Versailles apartment came out, but he’s getting a little too old to keep working on it. He figures he’ll live in the unique flat for the rest of his life, since law states tenants have to deliver the apartments in the same state they received them. The Reemans couldn’t possibly restore their mini Versailles to its original condition.

I wonder if Adrian knows Tony Alleyne, owner of the Star Trek Apartment? I’m sure these two talented Brits would hit it off.

via Daily Mail

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The Toilet Seat Waterfall, a bizarre art project made up of thousands of recycled toilet seats, urinals, and sinks, attracts visitors to Foshan, in South China’s Gunagdong Province.

The 100-meter-long, 5-meter-tall Toilet Seat Waterfall was created out of approximately 10,000 toilet accessories, like urinals, toilet seats and sinks. It is a part of a local tradeshow for pottery and porcelain products.

via ImagineChina

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Members of the Unification Church, all around the world, took part in the world’s largest mass wedding officiated by reverend Sun Myung Moon, founder of the controversial church.

Over 20,000 people filled up the Sun Moon University campus, in Seoul, South Korea, to celebrate Sun Myung Moon’s 90th birthday and his 50th wedding anniversary with wife Han Hak-ja. Some of the couples had just met a few months before, while others came to renew their vows. Korean couples were joined by 20,000 other followers from all around the world, who tuned in via an internet link.

Sun Myung Moon took this opportunity to pass down leadership of the Unification Church to his children. Moon started the much contested cult in 1954, following a vision he had when he was just 15, where Jesus allegedly appeared to him and asked him to finish His work. The Korean leader performed his first mass wedding in the early 1960s and throughout the years officiated ceremonies between people who had never met each other before their wedding.

Critics stated this latest mass wedding proves followers of the Unification Church are brainwashed. Sun Myung Moon denied the accusation saying these days couples spend months getting to know one another, before they tie the knot.

Photos via csmonitor

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I really don’t get why Hello Kitty is so popular these days, I really don’t, but people keep coming up with various Hello Kitty-themed stuff.

The latest Hello Kitty project comes from designer Jason Mecier, who recreated the popular Japanese character from various Hello Kitty items. Toys, clothes and tons of other accessories come together to form a hideously pink, giant Hello Kitty. Disgusting, but I’m sure there are plenty of girls out there who love it.

via If it’s hip it’s here

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22-year-old Matthias Schlitte began practicing arm-wrestling when he was just 16 years old and since then has been training only his right arm muscles.

The first time I’ve seen photos of Matthias, I thought he had some sort of weird medical condition, but it turns out not only is the guy perfectly healthy, he’s also a young body-building champion. Sure’ he’s not the first one and I bet he won’t be the last, but what makes him stand up in a crowd is his incredibly large right arm.

Matthias’ right forearm measures almost 18 inches in circumference, while his left one is all skinny, just like the rest of the bodybuilder. That’s actually one of his hidden weapons, opponents see his slim figure and underestimate him. But when his Popeye arm does its thing, they look at him with a lot more respect.

via Daily Mail

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I’ve seen some pretty bizarre-but-impressive treehouses in my day, but the Minister’s House is by far the most impressive, if only through its sheer size.

Located in Crossville, Tennessee, the Minister’s House took Horace Burgess 14 years to build around an 80-foot-tall white oak tree, with a diameter of 12 feet. The wooden edifice itself is 97-feet-tall and it’s supported by six other strong trees that act like natural pillars.

Burgess says he started working on this giant treehouse after he had a vision back in 1993. God spoke to him and said: “If you build me a

treehouse, I’ll see you never run out of material.” And so he spent the next 14 years building God’s treehouse, using only salvaged materials, like pieces of lumber from garages, storage sheds and barns. So, as far as Horace is concerned, God did provide him with all the materials he needed.
Although he never bothered to measure Minister’s House (he estimates it must be about 8,000 to 10,000 square feet), he did count the nails he had to hammer into it, 258,000. It cost the 56-year-old landscape architect around $12,000 to construct the world’s biggest treehouse.

400-500 people visit Minister’s House every week, most of them tourists from out of state who heard about a 10-story-treehouse somewhere in Tennessee.

I found the photos on this obscure Hungarian site, but I doubt they actually own them. If you know who these belong to, let me know so I can credit them.

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Are you one of those people that goes “om nom nom” every time they think about bacon? Well, then you’re going to love this bacon jam.

Cooked by Not Quite Nigella from… Not Quite Nigella, the bacon jam is actually cooked double smoked bacon passed through the food processor. From what I read, the cook was quite pleased with the jam. You’ll probably have a tough time finding a jar of bacon jam at the department store, but if you don’t feel like cooking, try a piece of bacon chocolate instead.

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Forced by the downfall of the American housing market, Fred Milani had to put his backyard replica of the White House up for sale, for just $10 million.

American Iranian property developer, Fred Milani, says he doesn’t really want to sell his beloved replica of the iconic White House, but he has to. The mini-house is built in the backyard of his Atlanta residence and comes complete with its very own Oval Office and Lincoln Bedroom, as well as a backdoor pool.

If you’re expecting an interesting story about how Mr. Milani decided to have the White House replica built in his backyard, you’re in for a big disappointment. He just wanted a house and the architect just asked him “How about I build you the White House?”, he agreed and the rest is history.

The 16,500 square meter building was built seven years ago and has managed to split the neighborhood. There are those who feel lucky to be living next to such an impressive edifice, but most find it excessive and are annoyed by the high number of tourists flocking to their peaceful neighborhood to take pictures of the White House replica.

via Daily Mail

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Who doesn’t want to live in a happy house, right? I bet that’s what designer James Rizzi thought to himself when he designed the Happy Rizzi House, inBraunschweig, Germany.

What is it with Germans and wacky-looking houses? After the famous Waldspirale of Darmstadt, I’ve discovered the Happy Rizzi House, where pop-art ant cartoons mix to form a very unique architectural design. Built by architect Konrad Kloster, Happy Rizzi House is one of the most important monuments in Braunschweig.

Located on the ruins of a ducal palace, Happy Rizzi House is a big hit with both children and adults.

via decojournal

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Looking like an anti-aircaft cannon form World War 2, the enormous pumpkin cannon of Ulster County sends pumpkins flying at speeds around 600 mph.

With Halloween right around the corner, John Gill and Gary Arold figured they needed something really cool for this year’s celebrations. So, using a long metal tube and compressed air, they’ve come up withe coolest, most powerful pumpkin cannon on Earth.

The two 1,000 gallon-monster-tanks build up enough pressure to send the pumpkin 3,500 feet in the air, at a speed of approximately 600mph.  The organic projectile travels about a mile before it squashes against the ground (or whatever else it hits).

Seeing it in action is monster cool and I suspect operating it is even more fun, but is it completely safe. I’m sure I don’t think they aim for populated areas, but what if someone just passes through and gets hit by a flying pumpkin? Let’s just say there would be two squashed things.

Take a look at what this monster pumpkin cannon can do, in the video at the bottom.

via Gizmo Watch

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Scarlett’s Magic, an 18-months-old F1 Savannah cat, is the new record holder for the world’s tallest domesticated feline, measuring 17.1 inches from shoulder to toe.

The adorable pet is also awaiting the result of a second nomination for the world’s longest cat,from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail, but for now she and her owner, Kim Droper, are more than happy with the Guinness World Record for the Tallest Cat.

Miss Droper, a passionate Savannah breeder, says Scarlett’s Magic and her kind are the smartest, most obedient cats a family could have. The breed is becoming more and more popular in California, thanks to their beauty and advanced learning capabilities.

Together with Ashera and Toygers, Savannah cats are as close as you can get to actually having a wild feline as a pet.

via Daily Mail

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Using Polymer Clay, Colleen from Loopy Boopy creates some of the creepiest dolls I’ve ever seen. her creations do have human figures, but they give you a creepy feeling, sort of like the characters Tim Burton puts on screen.

Loopy Boopy dolls are a bit too creepy for my own taste, but if you’re into this kind of stuff, you can check Colleen’s store on Etsy and buy yourself something creepy for Halloween.

via Unknown Highway

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Covered in around 200 swastika tattoos, ManWoman welcomes pilgrims to his Swastika Museum and tries to “detoxify” the hated symbol used by Hitler.

Born to a Polish immigrant mother, at the start of World War 2, ManWoman (Manny, for short) hated the swastika as much as any other westerner. But that all changed when he turned 27 and started having bizarre visions involving the symbol. During these mystical experiences, Manny appeared as a half-man half-woman (thus the weird name) surrounded by a white light that represented everything good: love, peace, god, eternity. An old man would appear and mark his neck and arms with swastikas, instructing him to reclaim the sacredness of the ancient symbol.

At the time he didn’t know much about the history of the swastika, just that it was a symbol of evil, used by the Nazis. After some thorough research he learned the crooked mark dates back to the year 4000 BC and was associated with many religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism. The Sanskrit word “svastika” means “conducive to well being”.

That’s when re realized his destiny and started a quest to make the swastika known to the world as the sacred symbol it was before being tainted by Nazis. He got his first swastika tattoo in 1969 and, over the years, gathered an inked collection of over 200.

Although there are those knocking on his door, asking to see the Swastika Museum he set up in his own home, most people still feel uncomfortable around him, associating him with the terror of the Holocaust. He is aware the war to restore the sacredness of the swastika is far from over, but he presses on. Read More »