3d illusion arts: Oddity Central

Oddity Central

For English Family Living in the Middle of a Cemetery Every Day Is Halloween
Woman Who Only Eats Junk Food and Milk Says She Has Never Eaten Fruits or Vegetables
Armageddon-Proof Survival Pod Proves a Big Hit

For English Family Living in the Middle of a Cemetery Every Day Is Halloween

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 03:44 AM PDT

Would you be brave enough to spend a night in an old mortuary chapel surrounded by dozens of graves? One English family is more than happy to sleep in such a house every night, and say it’s actually their dream home.

Jayne Stead and partner Mike Blatchford didn’t seem to mind the creepy graves and spooky statues when they decided to move into an old cemetery keeper’s lodge, in Southampton, England. The cemetery didn't put us off. We don't spook easily, in fact I love watching scary films and television shows,” 52-year-old Jayne told reporters. When we first had a look around it was really run down, there were graves everywhere but it never really felt scary, there was very nice feeling about the place.” Self-employed builder Mike Bletchford spend a whole year and about £100,000 ($160,000) turning the chapel into a home for his family, and today you couldn’t tell the living room was once a mortuary… But, while they’ve never seen a ghost in their unusual home, the couple admit they have witnessed some bizarre occurrences: ”I've been sitting on my own in the living room and I've felt like there was someone standing behind me a few times,” Ms Stead said. “I've also found the dog barking at nothing in the corner of the room, but it's not scary.”

Nobody knows what it’s going to be like living in a cemetery, Jayne admits, and although she and her three kids were never spooked by their surroundings, they decided to first rent their old house instead of selling it, just so they could have a back-up plan, in case of zombies, ghouls, ghosts, etc. Now, they say the old cemetery keeper’s lodge feels so homely that even guests sometimes forget they’re in the middle of a cemetery. But people passing through the burial ground never forget, and when they look through the old mortuary chapel windows and see them watching TV or doing whatever else normal people do in their homes, they “jump a million miles”, according to Ms. Stead.

There’s no greater proof that the Stead-Blatchford family is living in the creepiest house in Southampton that the fact that in all the years they’ve been living in their mortuary chapel, no one has ever come trick-or-treating on Halloween. Suspecting they’re too afraid to venture down the path leading through a cemetery on the scariest night of the year on their own initiative, this year the couple has invited local school children to visit their house on Halloween.

via Daily Mail

For English Family Living in the Middle of a Cemetery Every Day Is Halloween was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Woman Who Only Eats Junk Food and Milk Says She Has Never Eaten Fruits or Vegetables

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 03:00 AM PDT

54-year-old Marla Lopez, from New York City, says the supermarket snack aisle has become her dinner aisle, as she will only consume three types of foods (potato chips, white breads and milk), and has never even tried fruits or vegetables.

Recently featured on Good Morning America, Lopez said her picky eating started as a baby, when she would gag on her baby food, and today, foods that most people consider mouth-watering, like spaghetti, sandwiches or omelets are just repulsive to her. Not to mention fresh produce – “When I look at this, I don't see food. I would no sooner eat any of this, than I would your shoe,” she told correspondent Linsey Davis about fruits and vegetables. When it comes to her favorite food, there’s no doubt in Marla’s mind: potato chips. “They’re so salty, and fresh, and potato-y, I love them,” she said. Her daily diet is primarily made up of three basic foods: milk, white breads and potatoes. She enjoys eating ice-cream, crackers, pancakes, tortillas, chips and french fries. Sometimes she spices up her heart-stopping meals with a few slices of crispy bacon.

Photo: Good Morning America video caption

With such eating habits, you’d probably expect this 54-year-old to be suffering from heart problems, but tests proved Marla Lopez is as healthy as a horse. “My cholesterol is 174, and I eat a bag of fries each day, and that's my main staple,” the woman said. She does admit her picky eating are embarrassing, and she prefers to hide her culinary preferences at parties by telling friends she’s already eaten. I guess the cat’s out of the bag now… “I do love what I eat and enjoy it,” the junk-food addict concluded.

“We don't quite understand what adult picky eating is… but what we do know is that there is a real biological struggle going on that's not all in their heads,” Nancy Zucker, director of the Center for Eating Disorders at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, who studies picky eaters, says. Marla isn’t the strangest picky eater we’ve featured on Oddity Central. Claire Simmons, from London, England, has eating nothing but pizza for the last 31 years, while 18-years-old Stacey Irvine has eaten chicken nuggets every day since she was only two.

via ABC News

Woman Who Only Eats Junk Food and Milk Says She Has Never Eaten Fruits or Vegetables was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Armageddon-Proof Survival Pod Proves a Big Hit

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 01:42 AM PDT

You may be all happy and carefree today celebrating Halloween, but don’t forget that according to the Mayan calendar the end of days is less than two months away. Luckily, there’s a way around it – a survival pod built by a Chinese inventor who claims it can withstand the end of the world.

It’s big, it’s round, and apparently it will keep you alive in case of a natural disaster or a nuclear meltdown. Officially, it’s called the “Atlantis”, but everyone has started calling it a modern-day Noah’s Arc. Chinese entrepreneur and inventor Yang Zongfu worked on his survival pod for the last two years and spent around $150,000 making it as durable as possible. Back in August, he announced a series of public tests which would prove his Armageddon-proof survival pod was ready for the end of the world. On August 6, he climbed inside the Atlantis and was pushed down a 50-meter obstacle course on the side of a hill, over a bed of rocks and into a pool. Sadly, as soon as it hit the water, the arc’s door opened proving it was less than water tight. the inventor himself came out in one piece, but with a cut on his chin. But that didn’t discourage Yang, who moved on to the fire test, in which he set a smaller version of the Atlantis on fire, and pulled out a frozen ice-cream that had been perfectly preserved inside.

Photo: CFP

According to Yang Zongfu, the Atlantis can withstand temperatures of up to 1700 degrees Celsius, and impact forces of 350 tons. It can float on water, and is equipped with safety seats, a communication system, a first aid kit and a toilet. This new-age Noah’s Arc has room for ten people and can carry enough food supplies to keep them alive for 10 months. You’ll be glad to know the inventor doesn’t plan on keeping the secret to surviving the end of the world to himself. Yang plans to sell Atlantis survival pods to survivalists ~~crazy~~ rich enough to buy them. Oriental Outlook, a Shanghai-based magazine, recently reported Yang Zongfu has so far received 21 orders for his doomsday ark, which is built in accordance with customer requests and has its own custom interior design. Because if you’re going to survive the apocalypse, you might as well do it in style.

Photo: CFP

Prices for the Atlantis survival pod range from 1 million yuan ($160,000) to 5 million yuan ($800,000). Hurry up and place your order today, there might not be a tomorrow!