Strange Photos From a Strange World
By Buck Wolf, About.com Guide
Hot Shots: The Best of the Best
If you don't know where to get started, start here. You'll find a smattering of photographs -- the cutest of the cute and the grossest of the gross. You might not like it all -- and it's definitely not for everybody. Just remember, you were warned.
Circus/Sideshow
As the man who got Bozo thrown out of the International Clown Hall of Fame, I've gotten a bad rap as a clown-hater. Truth is, my battles with Bozo are rooted in my love for the circus and sideshows. In fact, my wife and I renewed our vows at the Myrtle Beach Ripley's Believe It or Not! Right next to a six-legged cow.
- The Naked Clown Calendar
- Bozo Through the Years
- Ripley's Opens in Texas
- 6,005 Holes: The World's Most Pierced Woman
- Coney Island Sideshow School
- The Life and Times of the World's Tallest Woman
- Marching in the Mermaid Parade
- Circus City Festival
Art/Exhibitions
Just how do you express yourself? Some paint on a canvas, others paint on each other. Then, there are the ones who pay $1,300 for a Frosted Flake shaped like Illinois. My kind of artist doesn't ponder which came first, the chicken or the egg. My kind of artist rebuilds poultry using Chicken McNuggets.
- World Body Painting Festival
- Body Gras
- Elvis Impersonators
- Waterboarding Thrill Ride
- Edinburgh Fringe Festival
- Underwater Fashion Show
Festivals
Everybody has their own idea of a good time. South Koreans get down and dirty at their annual mud festival. The streets of Auckland swell each year for the Boobs on Bikes celebration, just as New Yorkers flock to Coney Island for the annual Mermaid Parade (even when big fat guys dress like Mermaids).
Sports/Stunts
Is eating 70 hot dogs in 12 minutes a sport or a stunt? What about completing a bike marathon in the nude? If you can't tell, it's probably weird news.
Animals, Animals, Animals
You want cute and cuddly? We've got cute and cuddly. You want ugly? We've got really, really, ugly (check out the world's ugliest dog). Any newspaper editor will tell you that animal pictures sell newspapers, at least in that faraway time before the internet ruined the publishing industry.
Political Sideshows
Demented Democrats, ridiculous Republicans, and protesters who have a flair for the outrageous, not to mention a tendency to wear nothing at all.