Wikipedia:Unusual articles


A cow with antlers atop a power line pole. Wikipedia contains other images and articles that are similarly liveshocking or udderly amoosing.


Of the over six million articles in the English Wikipedia there are some articles that Wikipedians have identified as being somewhat unusual. These articles are verifiable, valuable contributions to the encyclopedia, but are a bit odd, whimsical, or something one would not expect to find in Encyclopædia Britannica. We should take special care to meet the highest standards of an encyclopedia with these articles lest they make Wikipedia appear idiosyncratic. If you wish to add an article to this list, the article in question should preferably meet one or more of these criteria:

  • The article is something a reasonable person would not expect to find in a standard encyclopedia.
  • The subject is a highly unusual combination of concepts, such as cosmic latte, death from laughter, etc.
  • The subject is a clear anomaly—something that defies common sense, common expectations or common knowledge, such as Bir Tawil, Märket, Phineas Gage, Snow in Florida, etc.
  • The subject is well-documented for unexpected notoriety or an unplanned cult following at extreme levels, such as Ampelmännchen or All your base are belong to us.
  • The subject is a notorious hoax, such as the Sokal affair or Mary Toft.
  • The subject might be found amusing, though serious.
  • The subject is distinct amongst other similar ones.
  • The article is a list or collection of articles or subjects meeting the criteria above.

This definition is not precise or absolute; some articles could still be considered unusual even if they do not fit these guidelines.

To keep the list of interest to readers, each entry on this list should be an article on its own (not merely a section in a less unusual article) and of decent quality, and in large meeting Wikipedia's manual of style. For unusual contributions that are of greater levity, see Wikipedia:Silly Things. A star (Featured article) indicates a featured article. A plus () indicates a good article.

Aphrodite's artistic nudity shows itself not far from Mount Olympus.
Good golly, Miss Molly – jus' love your folly!

North America

This bridge is a bit low, isn't it?
Oh no, this windowless skyscraper is definitely not a massive surveillance centre!
Mill Ends Park,
the smallest park in the world.
This lake hides many islands. And lakes in those islands. And islands in those lakes.
Capital status + no people = Plymouth, Montserrat!

South America

A desert with water in it. Or is it a lagoon with a desert in it? Hmmmm...

Antarctica

Africa

Crouching tiger lake, hidden dragon CO 2...
The buildings are in Spain. The ground at the bottom is in Morocco. Confused yet?

Asia

A skyscraper with en suite highway.
Roughly 50,000 people lived in that.
How did Jumbo Jets land here and not crash?
AAAAAAAAAA... Oh.

Europe

A postman's labor of love.
Make sure you're covered.
Careful where you put that lighthouse, Eugene...
Borders, courtesy of Pablo Picasso.
Welcome to the Principality of Sealand.
A chandelier, decorating the Sedlec Ossuary, made from human bones.
A mosaic of 4.6 million seashells. Who built it? When? For what purpose?
The UK's northernmost and best-decorated bus shelter.

Oceania

Baldwin Street, Dunedin.
Watch your step around Coober Pedy.

The infrastructural shortcomings of Faraday's times proved especially overpowering in the summer of 1858.

"BEGhIL0S", "hELL0", "B00BLESS", etc. – there are many words that can be spelled on a calculator.
The day Sweden turned to the right side.
Be afraid.Be very afraid.
See the spiral within?
Is this identical to one?

Dates and timekeeping

A soon-to-be bye-bye pi pie.
Don't panic – it's Towel Day.

Which of these typefaces do you think Hitler preferred?
"Which këÿs för this heävy plästic müsïc?"
The Phaistos Disc.
Toynbee tiles found in downtown Washington, D.C.
The Voynich manuscript is written in an undeciphered script.
  1. ^ Matthews, Peter; McWhirter, Norris, eds. (1994). The Guinness Book of Records. Bantam Books. p. 392. ISBN 978-0-553-56561-4.

Unusual names

See Nominative determinism for the idea that people gravitate toward careers that fit their names, e.g. urologists named Splat and Weedon.

The sound of ancient pottery.
Not dead, just resting.

Physics

This blue-looking noise is actually pink.
"It's Professor Pauli! Quick, pack that stuff away!"

Earth sciences

" It's flat and that's all there is to it."
"No, this definitely isn't flat, but it's the other way!"

Chemistry and material science

Warning: It's LETHAL.
At last – the look of BO. Sounds fishy?

Space and astronomy

All watched over by machines of loving grace.
That's no moon... Oh wait.
"Of course, it never reached the Moon..."
Inevitable?

Medicine and health

Suckling on a tasty goat.
Well, stone me...
Quick – grab a tissue!
Got one of those headaches that just won't go away?
The pharmacy called; your maggot prescription is ready for pick-up
Man, just brush your teeth!
Put them where the sun doesn't shine.

Human sexuality and reproduction

Individual patients and staff

Nervous system and behaviour

Can you get high on this?
Ever woken up thinking this has just happened?
This skull's owner didn't even get a headache – but he was a changed man.
It's... beautiful... Just... beautiful!
Phobias

Animals

A major in Antelopology
To boldly go where no monkey has gone before. Well, where a few monkeys have gone before.
Jenny Haniver.
Santa's little underwater worms.
The 'roachmeister.
The Far Side of a stegosaurus.
Can only wear mittens, not gloves

Cats

Cattle

Chickens

Can youtell the boys and girls apart?

Squirrels

A very scary squirrel

Mammals

Dried deer penis.
This goat has fainted.It has ceased to stand.
Flash photograph of an odd-eyed cat.
Georgian white Russian domesticated Fox

Individual animals

Names in biology

'SMAD, mad, mad, mad, mad name?
Neopalpa donald­trumpi: They say it's really small.
See also
  • List of organisms named after famous people
  • List of U.S. state dinosaurs (does not include any of the List of U.S. state fossils)
  • List of historical pigs

Plants

The Queens Giant – the oldest living thing in the New York metropolitan area.
See also
  • List of famous trees

It's hypnagogic hallucination heaven.
Long-lost remnant of a cricket game? Made by ancient intelligent life? A mysterious natural phenomenon?
World War I pigeon photography.
Cower, you leeches, in the presence of the Tempest Prognosticator!

Hygiene and sanitation

Toilets in Japan have some special features.

Clothing and accessories

Transport

East German Ampelmännchen.
Not so snail-mail after all, eh?
"Sinking? We're not sinking!"
Don't reach for that sick bag 'til you're back on the floor.
The train now approaching Suggestus II will leave at tertia hora.

Computing

Could a unicycle balance itself?

Ha ha ha... ha... gulp.
Gurned.
C'est Le Pétomane – who "performed" for royalty.
How far would you go to save yourself?
Allegedly, you can survive a conversation with Kuchisake-onna by saying the word "pomade" three times.

Art

The Headington Shark.
La Princesse.
New York is not the only Big Apple.
"Surely you can see that THIS is art!"

Comics and animation

Jenny Everywhere – at your service and in your hands.

Literature

Only 112?
"Shíshì shīshì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī... help!!
Reading this list is its own reward.
Was this man also William Shakespeare?
"Beautiful railway bridgeof the silv'ry TayAlas! I am very sorry to sayThat ninety lives have been taken awayOn the last sabbath day of 1879Which will be remember'd for a very long time."
T-rexes getting frisky, possibly with the help of dinosaur erotica
1885 medallion of the bogus Society of Science, Letters and Art

Music

I got a fever...

Instruments

Let your brain control the music.
Example of an instrument recently added to the inventory.
Make music, not war.

Genres

Composers, musicians, and performers

Purveyor of the worst music of all time?

Musical works

Have some time on your hands?
Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music – joke, grudge or conceptual art? All three, probably.
"Say, is Vic there? Ooooah!"

Film

" [yawn]... Yup, it's still there."
There are more than Godzilla?!
This was made. Created. And somebody is responsible...
Look what the cat dragged in...
From the earliest-known surviving motion picture. Don't blink – you'll miss half of it.
An optional requirement
AAAAH!

Television

The end of you(r sitcom) looms.
The spooky intrusion of someone disguised as Max Headroom on Chicago TV.
The Mull of Kintyre. Almost indecent, apparently.
Thousands from Switzerland are getting their spaghetti by doing this one simple trick!

Video games

ET and Pac-Man's final resting-place?
Think you can do what he supposedly did?
[Slaps broken down roof], this bad boy can fit so many hours of driving into it.

Internet memes and online culture

You can find this guy on talk pages filled with contentious discussions.

See also List of Internet memes.

Festivals

One from Schroeder's collection?

Stage shows

See also
  • List of Hitchcock cameo appearances
  • List of films that most frequently use the word "fuck"
  • List of films considered the worst
  • List of television series canceled after one episode
  • List of television series canceled before airing an episode

Nom nom nom burp nom nom nom nom...
No durians. (But no fine if you have some anyway?)
Engastration – here in the form of turducken.
Fried spiders on sale.
(May include excrement.)
The King's Hand — a meal described by many as "a culinary fever dream"
Meal time at a Modern Toilet restaurant.
Mmmm, roadkill.
Did William here eat them all?

Beverages

Some coffee, sir? ...... Coming right up out, sir.
Dispatch that unwanted soda in style.

Restaurants

You take my knight?I'll punch your face!
Hamsters are go!
Lawn mowers are go!
PETA wouldn't like it.
Pillow Fight League.
Jump rabbit, jump rabbit, jump jump jump...
Snails are go!
The "Estonian Carry". Mmm.

Animals in sports

Athletes

Beware the wrath!
Ironically, his team didn't finish as the best 1988 Winter Olympics bobsled team from the Caribbean.
A briefs history of Olympic Flame running.
"Hey, how are we doing this season?"
The Swastikas, eh?

Sport teams and associations

Games and strategy contests

Careful where you place that stone – your innards may not approve.
Sloane Square... Bond Street... Mornington Crescent!

A trap for something with large paws.
Wood you like dinner?
Spring Heeled Jack.

Mystery animals and animal folklore

Looks a load of Bonnacon to me...
Pieter Dirkx's imagining of the Mongolian death worm.
That's either one fast-growing plant, or...

Eating chocolate cake in a bag.
Comrade! Your hair is not trimmed in accordance with the socialist lifestyle!
At the heart of an international incident.

Politics and government

The confusingly hirsute Charles the Bald.
All hail the Conch Republic !
I am a jelly donut?
Who knew legislation could be so sweet?
Not a killer rabbit after all.
A senator uses an old debating trick.
A work by the " Kowloon emperor".

Business and economics

Orion in the sky, EURion on your money.
...we're going to need a bigger wallet.
Gamestonks.

Law, law enforcement and crime

An acoustic kitty. Well, almost.
Not my first thought when you said " armored personnel carrier".
A fruit or a vegetable?
A vegetable or a fruit?
A vegetable.

Punishments

"Had a little too much to drink, have we, sir?"
See also
  • List of fictional Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
  • List of fictional U.S. Presidents
  • List of frivolous political parties
  • List of nicknames used by George W. Bush
  • List of nicknames used by Donald Trump
  • List of scandals with "-gate" suffix

The rear of a bona fide Catalan decoration.
A John Frum cargo cult ceremonial flag raising.
Can be a hare-y matter in Wicca.
Sometimes Jerusalem can be too much.
A representation of Kolob (reference numeral 1).
I'm sure she knows more than she's letting on.
"Thou shalt commit adultery." So says the Bible.
An artist's impression of one of Xenu's space planes.
See also
  • List of sexually active popes
  • List of Buddha claimants
  • List of messiah claimants
  • List of names for the Biblical nameless
  • List of people who have claimed to be Jesus
  • List of people who have been considered deities

An entire war in one diagram (and less than one hour).
For Gallantry – if you're an animal...
...such as Sergeant Stubby here, World War I's most decorated war dog.
Now you see it...
Should the United States ever want to go to war against the British Empire...

Wars, operations and battles

Weapons and military equipment

The Antonov A-40 flying tank.
The Bazooka Vespa – the ultimate in Mod(ern) warfare.
No pilot required?
See also
  • List of military disasters
  • List of wars extended by diplomatic irregularity

Execution by elephant.
All aboard the Necropolis line – at least, those that can.
Don't panic – you're in a safety coffin.
Vultures enjoying a sky burial.
One moment he was here, the next...
See also
  • List of premature obituaries
  • List of unusual deaths

" Get thee onto that pin!"

Wikipedia is not afraid to tackle the tough questions:

Wikipedia:Featured pictures contains some unusual images.

  • Lawn mower racing

  • Train wreck at Montparnasse

  • The Agassiz statue, Stanford University, California. April 1906

  • Grenville Diptych

  • Medieval trepanation

  • Polydactyly

  • Isometric projection flaw

  • "> Play media

    Collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge

  • Defecating seagull

  • Indecency

  • Aerial turning house

  • Tank treads on an airplane

  • Salvador Dalí

  • Maintenance of Mount Rushmore

  • One million colors

  • Keep your hands to yourself!

  • Like a fly on...

  • An elaborate flat Earth map drawn in 1893

  • Vegetable Lamb of Tartary

  • Carrots of many colors

  • Professional regurgitator Hadji Ali at work

    • Wikipedia:Did you know/Statistics § All-time DYK page view leaders
    • Category:Adages
    • Category:Conspiracy theories
    • Category:Famous body parts
    • Category:Hoaxes
    • Category:Internet memes
    • Category:Ironic and humorous awards
    • Category:Profanity

    • Funcyclopedia
    • Regan, Jim (February 11, 2005). "Remarkable Wikipedia has "unusual" corners". CSMonitor.com. Halifax, Nova Scotia: USA Today. Archived from the original on February 11, 2005. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
    • Miller, Andrew (January 25, 2011). "The Least Essential Wikipedia Pages". Something Awful. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
    • Frater, Jamie (March 21, 2011). "10 Interesting And Unusual Wikipedia Articles". Jamie Frater. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
    • Lih, Andrew (May–June 2006). "Wikipedia Unusual Articles". andrewlih.com. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
    • "Interesting and unusual Wikipedia articles". The Straight Dope. June 2009. Archived from the original on 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
    • A. Kleinman, M. Strachan: "The 49 Most Entertaining Wikipedia Entries Ever Created" 14 January 2015 (updated 6 December 2017) Huffington Post; Retrieved 15 September 2019
    • Archive of A Random Collection of Unusual Articles on Wikipedia game on The Nethernet