Year in Review 2012: Oddest Stories
- 1/12
Three sisters suffer from a rare and embarrassing condition - werewolf syndrome. Known as hypertricosis universalis, the condition affects one in a billion people but all three sisters, Savita, 23, Monish 19, and Savitri, 15, suffer from it. Hyperthrichosis is a genetic mutation where cells, that normally switch off hair growth in unusual areas like the eyelids and forehead, are left switched on (Caters)
- 2/12
An elderly couple in Wenling, Zhejiang province, refused to move when local government officials planned to build a highway that would run through their village. The homeowner, Luo Baogen rejected the compensation the authority offered them and was the only villager who stayed put - but this did not stop developers building a road around the house. The house has since been demolished Rex)
- 3/12
This real life Popeye set the record for the world's biggest arms, measuring 31in each. Moustafa Ismail, from Egypt, denies any use of steroids, shuns spinach and works out everyday in a suburb in Boston, America. He eats a gruelling diet of seven pounds of protein, nine pounds of carbohydrates and three gallons of water each day (Guinness World Records)
- 4/12
A kung fu baby became a YouTube sensation after demonstrating his 'Kill Bill' skills. Romeo Elvis Bulte Boivin slays his deadly stuffed dragon nemesis in a minute long video captured by his father, Patrick Boivin (YouTube)
- 5/12
A 96 year old man, who claims to be world's oldest dad, fathered another child in October. Ramajit Raghav, who became a father for the first time in 2010 aged 94, has had a second son to wife Shankuntala Devi. Raghav put his virility down to his teetotal lifestyle and a diet rich in fruit and dairy (Rex)
- 6/12
This startling photo shows the image of an alien in the Northern Lights sky. Landscape photographer Iurie Belegurschi took the image by accident in the Reykjanes peninsula of Iceland and only realised what he had captured when he got home (Caters)
- 7/12
Holy cow Batman! Children's entertainer Lenny Robinson was pulled over by police because he didn't have a proper number plate for his Batmobile - a swish black Lamborghini Gallado. Instead of a licence plate he had a batwing emblem - presumably to let other cars know he was the Caped Crusader. The Batman impersonator was let off with a warning from Maryland police in America (Rex)
- 8/12
Parisians could have an extra spring in their step when crossing the river Seine. French designers Atelier Zundel Cristea answered a call for designs for a new bridge in Paris and provided a fun-filled way to cross the river. The bridge would be made of three enormous air-filled 'doughnuts', each 30m in diameter, self-supporting and held together to form a series of arches (Zundel Cristea)
- 9/12
Look out for baby shaped pears in shops soon as Hao Xianzhang plans to bring these uniquely shaped fruit to our shores. The farmer in the northern province of Hebei, China, started to grow baby shaped pears in 2003 and is now taking his efforts to the UK and Europe. Here a woman shows off the baby shaped pear in Handan city (Caters)
- 10/12
An art installation made adults feel like children again with a large suspended trampoline that gives the impression you're walking on air. The invention of Argentinian artist Tomas Saraceno, the trampoline hangs 65ft in the air in HangarBicocca, Milan, Italy and is for over 18s only (Caters)
- 11/12
A couple were left rattled when a deadly snake decided to hitch a ride in their car. The slithery snake sneaked under the bonnet of Marlene Swart and Leon Swanepoel's car. The couple had been on the look-out for lions at the Kruger National Park in South Africa but got more than they bargained for when the snake decided to take a ride. The python hitched a lift for three hours under their bonnet (Caters)
- 12/12
This is the spectacular moment thousands of starlings formed the shape of the number two in the sky - and was captured by photographer George Reszete in Oxon (Caters)