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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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 »

Nestled between the Great Himalayas and Karakoramh mountains, Leh Magnetic Hill apparently has magnetic properties capable of pulling vehicles uphill.

Located just 30 km from the city of Leh, the Magnetic Hill is quite a popular tourist attraction in India. Travelers from all over the world are drawn here by its mysterious magnetic powers. There is a marked line on the road going up the hill, where drivers are instructed to put their cars in neutral and sit back as they get pulled up at speeds over 20 km/h.

Stories say the magnetic energy is so powerful that aircrafts have to fly at a higher altitude to avoid interference. But, in reality, there is no magnetism or mystical power involved, just an optical illusion created by the layout of the surroundings. A slightly downhill slope appears to go uphill and while the car naturally roles downwards, the landscape makes it look like it’s actually climbing.

Even though it’s just nature playing a trick on us mere mortals, it’s still an amazing experience, worth trying. Check out the video at the bottom to see the Leh Magnetic Hill in action.

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Created by Solene le Goff and Christophe Gouache, out of an oak log, Log radio might just be the world’s “greenest” radio.

The Log Radio features a long, thin solar panel that charges it with energy, and if there’s no sunlight available, it also has a built-in dynamo, that will keep it running with minimum energy. The bottom left button, the one with the finger hole in it,handles the dynamo, the top left one turns the radio on and controls the volume, while the top right button is used as a tuner.

This amazing radio needs no wires or batteries and was conceived as a statement against the use of plastic and metals. Incredibly enough, 80% of the Log Radio is made of wood, while the other 20% is made up of basic radio components.

via designboom

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Built atop an extinct volcano plug, the Buddhist monastery of Taung Kalat is one of the most breathtaking sites in Burma and the world.

Many people call the hill on which the monastery was built, Mount Popa, but they’re mistaking it with the much higher volcano, close by. The hill is called Taung Kalat and though it looks like a mere bump when compared to Mount Popa, climbing it is quite a task. There are seven hundred seventy seven steps to from the bottom, all the way to the Buddhist monastery.

The locals believe Nats (37 demigod-like beings) live inside Taung Kalat hill and judging by the heavenly views from up there, they just might be right.

Climbing up Taung Kalat, you’re bound to run into some adorable Macaques, but be careful, they’re wild creatures and are likely to snatch anything you lay on the ground, before you even have the chance to blink.

Taung Kalat Monastery and its surroundings are truly unique, but unless the Burmese government intervenes soon, they will degrade beyond recovery.

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Well, if there’s such a thing as the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, you’d better believe we also have a Cardboard Tube Fighting League.

It’s actually an international organization promoting events where people face each other in fair combat, wielding deadly…carton tubes. To be honest, it focuses more on fun and costume creativity than on violence. Anyone over 5-years-old can participate in a cardboard fight, so it’s not dangerous at all.

The rules of cardboard tube fighting are simple. To win a tournament or cardboard battle, you have to break your opponents cardboard and keep yours intact. If it should happen that both fighters break their tubes, the fight is declared a draw and the competitors are both declared winn…, losers. Parrying hits with the arm is forbidden and so is hitting an opponent in the face and stabbing.

During cardboard tube fighting tournaments, shields of any kind are forbidden, but they can be worn during cardboard tube battles, where two armies face each other and pound away until the last cardboard tube breaks or unravels.

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Aiming to become an ambassador for freaks all around the world, La Negra has experimented with tattoos, branding, scarification and body suspension.

Her adventure in the bizarre world of body modding began when La Negra was only 14 years old. She simply walked into a tattoo-shop, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and had a very common design needled on her right shoulder. Now, at 30, the Latin modding enthusiast is still experimenting and trying to push the envelope even further.

La Negra says having an idyllic childhood, in the Argentinian countryside and two encouraging parents are what pushed her to explore the limits of body enhancing. At 16 she took a break from modding to focus on school and dedicate herself to a steady relationship, but “when the simple, happy life wasn’t working anymore” she rediscovered her passion. She tried face piercing, branding and things just went on from there.

The horns she had implanted beneath the skin are her trademark, but La Negra plans to have them removed, so she can finally wear a hat or a wig, but plans on experimenting with other types of body modding, because the transmutation never ends.

If you want to know more about La Negra, check out this article on Bizarre Magazine. Read More »

In the hills near San Chih, northern Taiwan, lies the Seashell Temple, one of the most amazing architectural works in the world.

I’m sure many of you have seen photos of it before, it’s almost on every spam photo site on the internet, sometimes listed as being in Bagkok or Taiwan, but I thought it deserved a spot among the oddities on Oddity Central.Almost completely covered with seashells and pieces of coral, Pei Khe Miao (as its known by the Chinese) takes your breath away the minute you lay eyes on it.

Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of genuine information concerning the Seashell Temple and I don’t want to make stuff up, so for now you’ll just have to settle for some photos and a video.

Photos via Awesome Asia

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The Buffalo Fighting Festival is held annually, on the northern coast of Vietnam and draws huge crowds, eager to see a display of violence.

Buffalo owners train the peaceful creatures and even pray on the night before the festival, to ensure their beast is victorious. To the crowd’s disappointment the animals often do nothing more than look at each other and go about their business. On rare  occasions they cros their scythe like horns and push each other like sumo wrestlers.

The victorious buffalo is cheered by thousands of people, while its owner displays it for all to see and collects a prize of 40 million dong. But the winner has little time to enjoy his success, as both buffalos are sacrificed and their meat offered to the spectators. The owners are allowed to take a keepsake, like the animal’s head. Read More »