Have you ever looked at someone doing something and it is so stupid or weird that it gives you Forest Whitaker eye? With an ever growing population the chances of seeing something utterly unusual grow every day. So instead of relaying a list of things that have happened recently, we decided to make a list of weird things people do, have done, or have been forced to do. As we have said, this list isn’t about recent stupidity. Our goal is to show that people have been capable of doing stupid things for a very long time.
1 People Asked The Coast Guard To Rescue Gilligan’s Island Castaways
Gilligan’s Island was memorable sitcom from the 1960’s and was about a group of people from many walks of life who become stranded on a deserted island following a disaster at sea. Each week they faced a challenge and would somehow work out a way to solve it, usually with plenty of humor along the way.
One of the odd things about the series was that a lot of people thought that they were real people stranded on an island, a little like a sadistic reality TV show. The US Coast Guard even got telegrams and mail demanding they rescue the hapless, stranded victims.
This seriously happened. It’s like people were too dim to realize that it was a show, with a cast and script. When the Coast Guard got all of the demands they forwarded all the correspondence to the series producer Sherwood Schwartz. Needless to say, Schwartz and co thought it was quite humorous.
2 A Man Competed As A Woman For Germany In The 1936 Berlin Olympics
You really have to hand it to this man. He really did think outside the box, but didn’t count on one thing. Getting caught.
Heinrich Ratjen was a German born man who had a fair amount of athletic ability. But he wasn’t the best there was, not even in his own country. Wanting to be the best there was, and with no knowledge or understanding of performance enhancing drugs, he decided to cheat anyway. So what did he do?
Heinrich Ratjen did the only thing that he could do. He dressed as a woman, and competed as one. Yep, he really did this, and got away with it for years.
Dora Ratjen, as he was known, competed in the high jump event at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and came 4th. Two years later at the European championships he/she won with a world record jump. All the while no one decided to look under his clothes, or even at his Adams apple protruding from his throat. But his cunning plan soon came undone when he was revealed as a man in 1938.
In 1966 Time magazine reported that he was forced to change his identity and live as a woman for the glory of Fascist Germany. He died in 2008.
In 2006 a man in South Sudan was forced to marry a goat. Why would anyone force him to marry a goat? A goat isn’t a person, it’s an animal. This is just wrong. But as wrong as it might be, it’s not as wrong as what got him into this situation.
The man was forced to marry a goat as punishment and embarrassment for having sex with it when he was drunk. But his punishment wasn’t initially marriage. The actual punishment was paying the farmer of the goat he violated restitution, but the elders of the village thought having some fun at his expense would be even better punishment. They made him pay a dowry instead of compensation, and then marry the goat in a ceremony.
4 A Man Tried To Rob A Bank Wearing Lemon Juice As A Disguise
We are becoming familiar with the strange and peculiar laws that have been made at some point in time, and in some cases the odd rulings of the courts. From laws banning carrying ice cream in your back pocket to banning women from skydiving on Sundays, the law can certainly have a weird sense of humor at times. But no matter how dumb some laws may seem to be, they will always be outdone by those who seek to break the laws. One such instance occurred in 1996 in Pittsburgh.
A middle aged man was sentenced to a total of 24½ years in prison following an unsuccessful bank robbery. What made the bank robbery a failure? He failed to disguise himself, at all, but he thought he was hidden.
The man and his accomplice entered the bank wearing lemon juice as a disguise. They somehow thought the lemon juice would prevent the surveillance cameras from taking a clear picture of them. The mans partner in crime was sentence to 5 years in prison for his part in the somewhat bungled endeavor.
5 A Man Tried to Rob A Bank Because He Thought He Was Invisible
This is nearly as bad as the last one, but at least this time the criminal was duped himself.
In 2006 in Iran, a man made a series of what most people would describe as crazy mistakes.
The man had seen a supposed wizard who gave him spells to tie to his arm to make him invisible. When he entered the bank he made yet another mistake. He began grabbing money from peoples hands. Rather than the people being surprised or frightened that some unseen force was taking their money, they took action and overpowered the thief.
Following his arrest he explained that he had paid 5 million rials (just under $400) to a wizard that could make him invisible so he could rob as many banks as he pleased.
6 A New Zealand Radio Station Was Held Hostage For A Kermit The Frog Song
Hostage situations are one of the worst situations that you could find yourself in. They normally involve some deranged or psychotic fiend hell bent on some sort of demand. In most cases the police work their best to peacefully resolve the situation without giving in to the hostage takers demands, which can be anything. From political demands to money and aircraft. But one hostage situation in New Zealand had really weird request.
In 1996 a 21 year old man held a radio station manager in New Zealand hostage until he played a Kermit The Frog song The Rainbow Connection. He also demanded to be allowed to talk to listeners. But his odd demands were never met. The station was stormed by police before Kermit started to sing.
7 A Court Allowed A Robber To Deduct The Cost Of His Weapons From His Fine
And people wonder about the legal system and how well it works. In 2005 a Dutch court ruled that a person who robbed a bank in the Dutch town of Chaam, could deduct the 2000 euros he paid for his gun to rob the bank, from the 6,600 Euros he had to return to the bank, because it was a legitimate work expense. Now that’s extending the definition of work as far as I’m concerned.
But while he got off having to return two thousand Euros, he did get punished for his crime. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
I can actually recall this making the news when I was younger, but because I wasn’t really into the internet, mainly due to a lack of decent content at the time, I didn’t pay very much attention.
Here is an example of the big end of town taking on the small guy. Microsoft threatened 17 year old Mike Rowe with a lawsuit when he launched a website named MikeRoweSoft.com. Microsoft believed that the similarity between the names when pronounced could confuse the public or visitors to the site. Microsoft wanted to protect their own interest.
You have to admit he could have dropped the ‘soft’. But then again, today there are so many different domains, and one could really wonder is such a thing would happen today. They aren’t even spelled the same, or even that similar to one another. It was probably just Microsoft being a little over protective.
Now this is messed up. In 1892 in Exeter, Rhode Island, a father exhumed the corpse of his daughter, removed her heart, burnt it and mixed the remains with water to give to his sick son. Why did he do this? He believed his daughter was a vampire and was the cause of the deaths in his family. Removing her heart was the only way the only way to kill the undead. But what about giving it to his son?
The father believed that by giving his daughters burned heart to his son to drink it would stop the influence of the undead. This would preserve his sons life. But it didn’t work. His son died two months later. This was known as the Mercy Brown vampire incident
We hope you found this list of weird things people do, have done, or have been forced to do. Please continue on and explore more weirdness that our world has to offer.
