The most bizarre things people hold world records for

Forget longest fingernails, fastest 100-meter sprint, and deepest scuba dive — those are all incredible feats (except maybe for the fingernails thing, that's just gross), but they don't really compare to some of the truly bizarre things people will do in the name of being a world record holder. Some of these incredible feats of weirdness, cringe-worthiness, and just plain stupidity seem to have been designed specifically for the Guinness Book of World Records — we can't really fathom, for example, that people are constantly competing to overturn the world record for "Most drink cans crushed by hand while holding an egg in 30 seconds," but what do we know?

Here are some of the most bizarre world records currently on the books, just in case you decide someday that you'd like to achieve fame and fortune in the stupidest or weirdest way possible. And if not, you can always dream up something wacky that no one's ever tried before. How about "Fastest mile on a pogo stick while juggling?" Oh wait, someone already did that. Too slow.



1.Fastest flipper run

Funnily enough, someone actually tried to combine fastest sprint and deepest scuba dive into one incredibly oddball feat of looking really awkward while running. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, in March 2000, Christophe Bertaux ran 20 meters in 3.5 seconds while wearing "standard scuba-diving flippers." So it was sort of running, sort of diving (if you subtract the oxygen tank, the water, and the swimming).

 Now, it'd be great to have something to compare this to so you'd have an idea how the fastest un-flippered 20 meters compares to the fastest flippered 20 meters, but Guinness doesn't seem to have made note of that particular piece of information. It may interest you to know, though, that the fastest flipper run was 5.01 seconds faster than the fastest 20 meters while carrying a 300 kg barbell, and 16.91 seconds faster than the fastest 20-meter bum scoot.

2.Most spoons on body  
 

Because putting spoons all over your body is something that ordinary humans often do when bored, someone decided to go for the world record because … of something. But incredibly, this doesn't seem to be just one of those records someone with an excess of silverware dreamed up one night while on a drunken bender — the current record holder actually broke someone else's 2011 record. The first record holder, a kickboxing trainer named Etibar Elchyev, claimed he was able to attach 53 spoons to his chest because his body had magnetic properties.

 (If you have magnetic superpowers and you can kickbox, why aren't you wearing a cape and fighting crime instead of setting pointless world records with silverware?) According to Guinness, in 2016 Dalibor Jablanovic decided he was totally going to one-up Magneto and put 79 spoons all over his body, and now that's the record.

3.Largest gathering of people dressed like Mohandas Gandhi

This one is still sort of weird and funny, but there's at least a modicum of sense to it. According to Aww News, in 2015 more than 4,600 Indian schoolkids got together to celebrate the 147th birthday of Mohandas Gandhi and also to break a world record. And there's plenty to be said for uniting kids and giving them all a common goal, even if it's kind of a silly one.

The kids dressed in Gandhi's traditional shawl and wore bald caps, glasses, and fake mustaches, which was surely adorable. They weren't the first group of kids to make or break this particular record, either — it was first set by a group of 486 kids in 2012 and was broken in 2013 by a group of 2,955. And since Gandhi impersonation en masse appears to be kind of a thing for Indian schoolkids, it's a pretty safe bet this new record isn't going to stand very long.

4.Fastest squirting of milk from the eye

Most drink cans crushed by hand while holding an egg in 30 seconds Read More: most-drink-c5Most 5.Most drink cans crushed by hand while holding an egg in 30 seconds

Smashing cinder blocks with your head? That's so yesterday. A real martial arts champion has to find new and interesting things to crush with random body parts. According to Food and Wine, in 2017 Pakistani martial artist Muhammad Rashid decided to teach a bunch of beer cans a lesson by beating them to death with his fist. Now on its own, that's actually kind of boring because any martial artist worth his sash could do that, and also most drunk guys. But here's the trick: He had to smash as many (full) beer cans as possible in 30 seconds while also holding an egg in his smashing hand. When the clock stopped, the egg had to be completely intact. Most drunk guys probably could not do that. Rashid's record was 29 — nearly one per second, which is pretty danged impressive. The thing is, this particular feat sounds original until you realize that it's not — film star Jackie Chan once performed the same basic stunt, except with concrete instead of beer cans, which is way more badass. Of course we're talking about a dude who's known for sliding down a 21-story skyscraper without a safety harness and crawling backward over hot coals, which is a pretty tough act to follow. Still, beer cans? Diet Pepsi would have at least been less smelly.