From the most simple to the jaw-droppingly fantastic, the world is filled with mesmerizing things. There are things, both naturally-occurring and man-made, however, that are both unexplainable and a little ridiculous.
Here are just some of the strangest things that exist in our world...
Days of the Week Clocks
If you've never seen one of these before, you're definitely not alone, but these days of the week clocks served an important purpose for one career field in particular...
Why Is This a Thing?
Farmers used to rise with the sun and turn in with the sun, so the only thing that most farmers needed help with was remembering what day of the week it was. Therefore, days of the week clocks started emerging all around the world.
American 25-Cent Bill
Americans usually associate bills with whole-number amounts of money and coins with decimal amounts of money. But back in the day, when a dollar was worth much more than it is today, this bill existed.
Poke Around and You Might Find One
If you look hard enough, you'll be able to find one of these floating around to this day. They're still valid forms of currency, even though the vast majority of cashiers will probably think they're fake.
The Mysterious Woah Sign
Your eyes do not deceive you. This is a "stop" sign that undoubtedly says Woah. There's actually some rich history behind this story, believe it or not.
This is From a Simpler Time
In Amish communities, not very many people drive cars. So, the traditional state-sanctioned "STOP" sign regularly gets replaced by these "WOAH" signs. WOAH is the universal signifier that you need to slow or halt your horse.
A Single Egg Carton
What the heck is this? Sometimes the greatest surprises in life are the simplest... like this single-egg carton.
What's the Point?
In some cases, single egg cartons exist to showcase perfect or near-perfect eggs. This is a popular process in Japan and other countries that regularly showcase high-quality ingredients as singular entities.
Floating Rooted Trees
There is a place in Mexico that lets you drive under these two floating, living trees. How are they alive, you ask? The roots that you see at the bottom here aren't really the roots of the tree, this is merely an illusion.
Just Like in the Movies
The root system of the tree actually grows into the hollow concrete barriers that are holding the trees up, since the concealed part of the tree is the only part that gets water or any nutrients. This gives off the illusion that these trees are growing out of thin air, but they're merely suspended in a sort of growth purgatory.
Cube Shaped Trees
Your eyes do not deceive you, despite the fact that this photo looks photoshopped beyond belief. Those dents in the roof, the weird contour of the doors, that's actually just the makeup of a real 6-door car. The 8-seat Prius never did very well on the market, and that's why you've probably never seen one.
Where Can I Find One of These Trees?
To put it simply, not very many pictures of this strange car exist, so the vast majority of them aren't of the highest resolution. However, you can clearly see here that there is, in fact, a human being inside of this car. If you're looking to snag yourself one of these rides, we suggest that you act diligently. It doesn't seem like very many of these bad boys are on the market.
A Six-Door Toyota Prius
Ok, so we're not talking about anything that occurs naturally here. Dying food green in honor of cultural holidays has been a human process since society started expanding in northern Europe.
Excuse the Quality, Accept the Quantity
We chose to represent green here because of how eye-popping the color is. But, often people look at colored food and assume that it tastes like something it doesn't. That's because our brains still have primitive correlations with different colors and how we perceive their edibility.
Green Food
When a leaf outlives its normal cycle, the carbon that collects the sunlight eventually breaks down. As the leaf dies and the tree begins to shed to hunker down for the winter, some leaves remain, and they eventually begin to look like this.
Celebrating St. Patty's Day
When the weather has turned, the wind starts blowing, and the snow starts to fall, sometimes a few leaves survive. Very rarely, a leaf like this can get left behind by nature. This is a very, very rare occurrence, and you should consider yourself lucky if you see a leaf like this.
A Weathered Leaf
When a leaf outlives its normal cycle, the carbon that collects the sunlight eventually breaks down. As the leaf dies and the tree begins to shed to hunker down for the winter, some leaves remain, and they eventually begin to look like this.
A Diamond in the Rough
When the weather has turned, the wind starts blowing, and the snow starts to fall, sometimes a few leaves survive. Very rarely, a leaf like this can get left behind by nature. This is a very, very rare occurrence, and you should consider yourself lucky if you get to witness a leaf- ike this.
Soda Cake
When most people think of trees, they picture round-topped dogwoods, drooping pines, and great weeping willows. But, not all trees grow the same.
Not Many People Get It
Cubed trees are typically in the oak family, and they are usually bred and trimmed to grow in this formation. However, some oaks can actually grow in cube shapes in the wild. This one, for example, grew this way all by itself.
Golden Rubik's Cubes
This Rubik's Cube isn't photoshopped or a mistake. These get manufactured with the same regularity that normal Rubick's Cubes do, and they exist to add another layer to the challenge.
Morph and Change
The difference between this and standard Rubick's cubes is that this one cannot use the standard algorithm that helps people solve traditional Rubick's cube puzzles. You need to actually use math and think ahead to solve this one, as each turn and change makes the puzzle more unique than before.
The Eshima Ohashi Bridge
With the right amount of cloud coverage, the Eshima Ohashi Bridge might look like it's spewing cars from the heavens. But, in reality, it's just a strangely steep bridge that functions extremely well, given the bizarre circumstances.
Method to the Strangeness
The reason this bridge was built so strangely was to help it maintain structural integrity during small earthquakes that happen sporadically around Japan. The gradual incline and the steep decline allows the bridge to act as a crutch, of sorts.
Round Playing Cards
Back in the day, circular playing cards were just as popular as square ones in certain places. Even nowadays you can find playing cards that come in circular formats, you just need to know where to look.
Oh, the Games We Play
Often mistaken for coasters at bars, round playing cards were built to fit more comfortably in the pocket. However, their lack of popularity directly relates to how difficult it is to shuffle them. So, take that into consideration when you're looking to make a purchase.
Walgreens Movie Theater
Have you ever wanted to waltz up to one storefront, buy a ticket to see Tenant, and also pick up your prescriptions at the same time? Well, that store doesn't exist yet, but this one is the closest we've got.
They're Working With What They've Got
This particular Walgreens branch was opened when a local movie theater failed and their storefront went on the market. Instead of spending the money to get the outside of the store re-designed, the owners of this Walgreens just built upon the movie theater decor. No, you cannot watch a movie in there, but they probably do sell popcorn.
Strange Perspective Photos
This is, in fact, not a picture of a giant balloon or a tiny person. These kinds of photos have been a popular style of photography since photography was conceived. Although you personally know that this is merely a trick of perspective, your brain struggles to maintain that perspective of reality.
Your Brain Doesn't Get It
The reason that these photos are so compelling is that, psychologically, your brain doesn't technically know how to process the image. Your brain operates on a scale of fixed perspectives, so your immediate reaction will almost always be confusion, whether you've conditioned yourself to react that way or not.
Cardboard Soap Containers
This concept is fairly new, so bear with us here. Seventh Generation actually came up with this design in early 2016, but the beginning models turned out to be just as wasteful as their plastic counterparts. So, they got a little creative...
The Trend Begins
By incorporating a recycled plastic bag inside of the recycled cardboard, Seventh Generation was able to patent a design that was almost 100% recyclable. As you can see here, other companies have hopped onto the boxed-detergent train as well
5-Suit Card Decks
Spade, heart, club, diamond, and... Star? For some card games, there is a fifth suit that gets utilized. Most of them are old and rarely played anymore, but five-card bridge is slowly making a comeback.
Five of a Kind
Five-suit poker and five-suit bridge were popular games in the 1940s and 50s, but as the popularity of simpler card games grew, the fifth suit became obsolete. Don't think of it as a loss of history, think of it as a general improvement to the overall health of card games.
Pitless Avocados
Doth thy eyes deceive thee? This avocado is born and raised without a pit, and this is why...
Here's the Scoop
You don't actually need the pit of the avocado to grow another avocado. The seeds are inside the pit, and they also grow on the avocado trees. So, scientists have been working on creating a pitless avocado to make shucking these bad boys a bit simpler.
Purple Peppers
At first glance, these peppers could be mistaken for eggplants. But, they are not eggplants. they are peppers. These are super hard to find, but not impossible...
Merlot Colored Peppers
Merlot peppers are crossbreeds between red and green peppers. For some reason, blue becomes a dominant color in the cross-breeding and the purple hue comes from that. Purple peppers exist in both spicy and sweet varieties.
Teeny-Tiny Coke Bottles
This Coke is actually one inch tall. What is this, a soda for ants? No! It's a novelty tiny soda for people, and people only!
The History of Tiny Coke
Coca-Cola has been making very small bottles of their cola beverage for years and years, but only recently have people begun to pick up on the trend. These bottles are not available in America, but you can purchase them online in marketplaces like E-Bay.
Fire Eyed Cats
Some cats are blessed with warm looking eyes, similar to this one. These felines are called "fire-eyed cats," and roughly 10% of all cats have fire eyes.
1/2 Liter Pepsi
Back in the 1960s, Pepsi toyed around with the idea of releasing this giant half-liter can of cola because glass bottles break easily. These were supposed to go to soldiers in Vietnam, but the idea never really made it off the ground.
Tiny Pineapple
For those people who live alone, you know that it's extremely difficult to finish a fresh pineapple all by yourself. So, a Japanese company worked out a formula to genetically modify a pineapple so it both ripens faster and can be eaten by one person in one sitting.
Crocheted Trees
You may have seen one of these out in the wild. This process is called scarf or knit-bombing. People literally knit these structures around trees for many many hours. The results look like this.
Red Streetlights
These streetlights don't just make the street look eerier, they also serve a serious purpose. Normal colored streetlights scare bats, but red streetlights help them maintain healthy predatorial relationships with urban areas.
The Octopus
The octopus is one of those creatures that humans have never really understood. Their ability to camouflage and morph into the shape of anything that they're near make them seem like they were dropped from an alien spaceship with no explanation. As far as we know, they might have been.
The Box Building
Do you think you know what they sell here? Chances are that you actually don't. For some reason, this storage facility decided to not advertise like they're an actual storage facility, they decided to make their building look like it's a box store. This is bad marketing, in our opinion.
Burger King Castle
This was a publicity stunt that fell flat for Burger King, but it does look pretty neat. This BK location was totally remodeled in 2016 and is now shaped like a boring old box.
The Rambutan
This fruit might look like an alien egg sack, but it's actually a delicious member of the lychee family. This is one of those things that you think shouldn't exist in the world, but it does, and it's delightful.
See Through Butterflies
When evolution doesn't grant you camouflage, sometimes you have to make it yourself. This clear winged butterfly can blend in with the environments around it because it's built to look like a mildly abnormal flower.
Clear Car
This car was entirely 3D printed, except for the tires, of course. You can drive this vehicle just like you can drive any normal car. If you ever get a chance to ride in a clear car, we highly recommend that you do so.
Monkey Orchid
To avoid herbivorous predators, some plants have evolved to look like predators themselves. Small monkeys eat bugs that feast on flowers in the Amazon, so this particular breed of orchids evolved to look like the monkeys that eat the bugs.
Quad Banana
Some variants of banana have more than one fruit inside of their peels. This particular variant has four, even though that is a genetic abnormality.
Clear Hot Sauce
Frostbite hot sauce is made using pure capsaicin extract, which is completely clear. Don't let the color of the sauce fool you, this one packs a serious punch.
The Royal CVS
This is another one of those strange buildings that somehow became part of a pharmacy chain. This particular building was once the Golden Gate Theater in East Los Angeles and was built back in 1927.
Giant Blueberries
Wild blueberries can get really huge if they go unchecked. Most factory-raised blueberries never reach their potential size due to how fast they get picked. All blueberries have the potential to get this huge, but few actually get there.
A Pink and Yellow Moth
This moth is pink and yellow to blend in with its surroundings and to avoid being attacked by predators. It's extremely difficult to spot one of these moths in the wild because of their camouflage skills alone.
Metal Keyboards
This kind of keyboard may seem like it's from some sort of dystopian video game, but these keyboards mostly exist in hospital settings. The metal is easy to clean and bacteria cannot grow on it.
An Army of Robots
These robots work for George Washington University to deliver hot meals to students. These services are not only for the wealthy or disabled either—any student can order a robot-delivered meal.
The Biagong Pipes
These iron pipes exist on a remote mountain in the middle of China. Seemingly, this landscape was untouched by man, but these pipes exist. Nobody knows the origin of this strange formation, and few have been able to even do the minimal amount of research to figure out how long they have been there.
Galaxy Flowers
If you didn't know before, flowers look like this to attract pollinators. Usually, the brighter the flower, the more pollinators it attracts. This one flower, in particular, is extremely good at attracting pollinators.
Vanta-Black
Vanta-Black is the darkest substance that can be synthesized by humans. This color (hue?) only reflects 0.00000001% of the light that touches it. Isn't that crazy?
The Blue Angel Sea Slug
This bizarre creature is only found around South Africa and Australia. The blue angel is a carnivorous and venomous creature, so don't mess with it, even if it may look like some sort of weird algae.
Blue Lava
The Kawah Ijen volcano in Indonesia spews great volumes of blue and purple lava. Well, at least it appears to be. Due to the sulfur concentration of the land surrounding the volcano, the lava burns a bright blue hue that can be seen from very far away.
Tardigrades
Tardigrades are strange microorganisms that exist on Earth. They are the only creatures that have ever been found by humans that could survive without the Earth's biosphere. Tardigrades can live in the vacuum of space.