15 Of The Craziest Guinness World Records

We’ll begin our deep dive by diving shallow. What is a shallow dive, you ask? Well, it’s a dive from any height into a pool of water no more than 12″ inches deep. As you’d imagine, the technique of choice by shallow divers is that off the belly flop, or regionally, the belly buster. American shallow diver, Darren Taylor, who is known in the dive world as “Professor Splash” had been progressing higher and higher over his career, and presently holds the world record at 10.3 meters, or 33’10”. Yes, that equates to Darren jumping off a platform that is over three stories high, and slashing down into a kiddie pool that holds roughly a foot of water. Diving is a hazardous sport in general, but one miscalculation, or too much rotation in a shallow dive, and participants will dive into a six foot hole for their next attempt.

Here’s another entry into the category of strange. Before addressing the record that was broken, and still stands, we need to explain exactly what Human Mattress Dominoes are. Differing from human dominoes, who just fall onto one another in succession, human mattress dominoes rely on people holding a bed mattress. In this particular world record attempt, everyone was using a twin size mattress. We’re guessing human dominoes with king size mattresses would be a different competition altogether. So, this particular record was set at the immense Gaylord Resort and Conference Center in National Harbor, Maryland, and included 1,200 participates. Yes, 1,200 people holding 1,200 mattresses. The entire event took over 13 minutes to complete. The great thing about this record: all of the mattresses were donated to people in need in the Greater Washington, D.C., area.

Bring on the pie! Is there anything in the world as satisfying as a pizza? And when it comes to breaking world records, what could be more inspiring and intriguing than a record for the world’s largest pizza. Before we give you the details, what would you guess as to the size of this pizza? We will offer a hint: it was made in the contemporary era. December 13, 2012, to be precise. You know…just before the world was coming to an end on December 21st. This pizza was made in Italy, and named Ottavia, in honor of the first Roman Emperor, Ocativian Augustus. The size of the pizza? 13,580 square feet. If you imagine a baking sheet under this pizza, it would measure nearly 117′ x 117′. The pizza was made by Dovilio Nardi, Andrea Mannocchi, Marco Nardi, Matteo Nardi and Matteo Giannotte of Rome, Italy.

Here’s a Guinness World Record that has stood for decades, and will likely stand for decades more. This one has been fascinating to consider, just based on sure “What the…!?” value. Robert Pershing Wadlow was born in Alton, Illinois, on February 22, 1918, and by the time he was a teenager, he was taller than everyone he’d ever met. As a man, he continued to grow, and grow…and grow. By the time he peaked, Wadlow was a mountain of a man, standing at 8’11.1″ in height. With shoes on, this puts him at 9′ in height. His head would have been in the net on a basketball goal. Aside from needing a truckload of calories to get through the day, Wadlow was in relative good health. Sadly, he died in 1940 after a leg brace caused a blister on his ankle that became septic.

In addition to some cool human feats, and legitimate world records in terms of human performance, Guinness also specializes in the absurd. Events/sports like joggling are honored by Guinness. What’s joggling, you ask? It’s running while juggling. So, it’ll come as little surprise to know that someone got the idea to run hurdles with swim fins on. Yes, we’re talking scuba fins. When one person does this, and gets Guinness to come out and have a looksee, they’ll be the first Guinness World Recorder holder in Fin Hurdling. Back in 2008, a German man by Christoph Irmscher desired to put this record out of reach from anyone who might think, “I’m gonna take up Fin Hurdles,” and he busted an impressive time of 14.82 seconds in the 100 meter hurdles. Christoph was a 110-meter high hurdler, so transitioning to fins was the only new variable.

Here’s a Guinness World Record for someone who really knows how to take a beating. When you think about the career of a fighter, whether amateur or professional, it’s somewhat painful to imagine all of the hits they have to take: hits to the gut, the kidneys, the ribs, the face…the junk. This is especially true for boxers, who are relegated to only throwing punches when they do battle. Unlike many Guinness World Records that involve people or groups attempting to set or break a record, this particular record is based on an application following a long career in full contact sports. British fighter, Paddy Doyle, owns more competitive rounds than any other fighter in recorded history. From 1993 to 2009, Doyle heard the bell ring 6,324 times, and we’re guessing he got his bell run a couple hundred times at least.

Here’s a little love to a badass female. Australian Eva Clarke had an idea to raise some money for charity, and she figured she’d use an attempt at a Guinness World Record in order to promote her cause. The challenge: do as many pull ups as possible in a 24-hour period. If you’re a woman, and you’re going to prove that you’re a badass, and so much so that all men have to offer a nod of respect, where else would you do it but Abu Dhabi? The fact that this record was set in the most oppressive, developed region of the world made it exceptionally sweet. This is the same place where an America woman is presently imprisoned for refusing to speak to local men. When it was all said and done, Clarke did 3,737 pull ups. This recent record was set on March 10, 2016.

We’re guessing this would be the favorite Guinness World Record of Napoleon Dynamite, and we open this one up to anyone who’s a fan of big cats. The current largest living cat is a liger living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, at the Myrtle Beach Safari. We’re well aware that animals in captivity might hurt your heart, but this guy wouldn’t stand much of a chance in the wild. He’s too majestic. Some jerk would make it their life’s ambition to take him down. Who is “him?” Hercules: the liger son of a lion and a tigress. How big is the largest living cat? He is nearly 11 feet long, he stands at over four feet high at his front shoulder and he weighs and impressive 922 lbs. Yes, Herc could be a 1,000 pound killing machine, but he’s taken to his life around people.

There are several Australians on this list. Scoring a Guinness World Record seems to be a trend in Oz. Even in the realm of gaming, Aussies are bringing their best effort. If ever a selection on this list were to spur an immense discussion in the comments section, it’s this one. There will be many claims—perhaps rightfully—that this record is not the actual record. That stated, according to Guinness, Okan Kaya played Call of Duty: Black Ops II for a stretch of 135 hours, 15 minutes and 10 seconds. He did this on November 13-19 of 2012 in New South Wales. For you gamers who are certain you could take this record down: you do get 10 minutes of rest per hour of game play. This is in order to eat, drink, use the toilet, brush your teeth, have a snooze, etc.

We’re gonna go out on a limb and suggest this record will be broken by some group in the United States once the right person catches wind. On July 27, 2013, a group of people showed up to Kendal Calling, a small musical festival in Cumbria, United Kingdom, with the purpose of hearing some dang good music and showing off their Superman costumes. All total, 867 individuals showed up to be counted as Superman. Ultimately, the group, representing the costume shop Escapade, planned their record attempt with the release of Man of Steel, while trying to raise money for the “Help for Heroes” charity. Good for them. Now, it seems that someone in the good ole USofA could put together something epic during the annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois. We’re thinking thousands, and we’re hoping they’d follow the lead of Escapade and do something for charity.

For years, people have been obsessed with speed. If we lived in a perfect world, we’d be able to travel at the speed of thought. Therein lies the paradox. There is so much joy to take in the journey. Still, automotive manufacturers have been working to make cars faster and faster for decades, including cars powered by rockets and jet engine technology. There have been two land speed vehicles that have made the claim of going Mach 1, yet only one was certified. On October 15, 1997, in the Nevada desert, Andy Green climbed into the vehicle known as Thrust SSC and settled down between two Rolls-Royce Spey 202 engines. The same engine used in the F-4 Phantom II fighter jet. After firing up the engines and working to top speed, Andy broke the sound barrier, and peaked at 763.035 mph, or 1,227.985 km/h.

And then there’s the story of the Gomez family: Victor, Gabriel, Luisa and Jesus Aceves. These four individuals from a Mexican family of 19 have a lot of love, and they take comfort in a shared experience. A shared experience that has spanned five generations. That shared experience is classified as Congenital Generalized Hypertrichosis, which results in body hair everywhere. For men, the hair becomes especially thick on the face and torso, and for the women it often manifests as a softer, fur-like hair on the face and torso. Victor and Gabriel, known to their nearest and dearest as Larry and Danny, decided to capitalize on what many would see as misfortune, and they perform with the Mexican National Circus. All four of the family members have offered their time to medical scientists who hope to identify specific genetic characteristics of those suffering from the condition.

Anyone who has seen the early 21st century documentary Super Size Me is familiar with Donald A. Gorske. Donald is known as the King of Big Macs. He has enjoyed one or more Big Macs everyday for the past several decades. The story goes like this: when Donald scored his first car in May of 1972, he went to McDonald’s to celebrate. There, he had his first Big Mac. So taken by the specialty burger, he ordered a couple more, and then came back later for more. According to Gorske, Big Macs make up over 90 percent of his solid food intake. Alarmingly, he has no major health issues, nor is he obese. As it stands, Gorske has eaten well over 26,000 Big Macs, and has kept the receipts for all his burgers, while also keeping a journal of his Big Mac experiences. He also has the coolest hair ever.

Being that more men are wearing facial hair now than ever before—perhaps not by ratio, but overall population—we think it’s appropriate to offer a little love to beards and mustaches. After all, these phenomena are loved annually at the World Beard and Moustache Championships, where competitors from the world over come to show off their facial dos. This does happen annually, and in 2015, it took place in Leogang, Austria. There are multiple categories, allowing people to compete in the division that best suits their beard, and/or mustache. In the realm of this international competition, one competitor stands above the rest. Karl-Heinz Hille, of Germany, has enjoyed eight wins at the illustrious celebration and competition, competing in the Imperial Partial Beard category. Anyone interested in the beard competition game can do so nationally, at the Beard and Moustache National Championships sponsored by Just For Men.

Regarding records that make you shake your head, shudder and say, “No way in hell! He can have it,” we turn to a man who took to a scale in order to be completely cloaked with bees. If you’re imagining this guy in a beekeeper’s suit, nah. Huh-uh. This guy was in the smallest amount of clothing possible, while plugging nearly every orifice with a cork of some sort in order to keep the bees from literally infiltrating his brain. No doubt, bees infiltrate this guy’s dreams every night. The man of the moment: Ruan Liangming of China. Fortunately for Ruan, he was able to break this record in his home country. Because there’d be no way to count the bees on a person, the record was done by weight: Total weight – Ruan’s weight = Weight of bees. He was two ounces shy of 137 lbs. 137 pounds of bees!