Culture

27 of the strangest world records ever attempted

Sarah Jacobs

2017-09-17T17:31:00Z

World record attempts — 1,213 participants apply face masks at the same time. Pichi Chuang/Reuters

People will do some pretty crazy things to get in the record books.

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Though some world-record holders are physical anomalies — like the world's tallest person, or the shortest — the Guinness World Records book is filled with some incredibly strange attempts.

In honor of these odd achievements, here are the 27 weirdest records broken by people around the world.

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1,010 bikini-clad women pose on an Australian beach in 2007 to set a Guinness World Record for the largest swimsuit photo shoot to date. In 2011, they were outnumbered by 3,090 in China.

World record attempts

Source: Guinness World Records

Hassan al-Zayyat shows off Quranic verses that he had copied by hand on 39-by-28-inch paper, aspiring to enter the Guinness World Records book for the largest handwritten Quran, in 2010.

World record attempts

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In their attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the "Biggest Barbecue in the World," about 30,000 people grilled 13,713 kilos of beef.

World record attempts

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Chris "The Duchess" Walton holds the Guinness World Record for longest fingernails.

World record attempts

Source: Guinness World Records

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In 2012, these children took part in a peace march that attempted to set a Guinness World Record for being the largest gathering of people dressed as Mahatma Gandhi.

World record attempts

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At 2,596 feet long, this dragon float made of paper, bamboo, and wood set the Guinness World Record in 2012 for being the longest parade float ever made. It was presented during the Lantern Festival in Gutian, China.

World record attempts

Source: Guinness World Records

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A Romanian woman wore a wedding dress with the longest train in the world during a Guinness World Record attempt in Bucharest, Romania.

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In Bangkok, these two attempted to break the record for the world's longest kiss in 2013. The record then was 58 hours, 35 minutes, and 58 seconds.

World record attempts

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Bees swarm around Gao Bingguo as he attempts to break the Guinness World Record for being covered by the largest number of bees.

World record attempts

These expecting moms practice yoga as they attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest prenatal yoga class. The current record is 553 participants.

World record attempts

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In 2014, a group of 261 hotel staff members attempted to boost Jordan's flagging tourism industry as they broke the Guinness World Record for the largest floating image in the Dead Sea.

World record attempts

Thaneswar Guragai spins a basketball on a toothbrush while holding it in his mouth for exactly 22.41 seconds.

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1,215 Taiwanese farmers broke a Guinness World Record by planting rice seedlings across 5.1 acres in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds.

World record attempts

In what was perhaps one of the most physically painful world record attempts, Attila Banyai let a four-wheel drive vehicle roll over him during a festival near Budapest, Hungary.

World record attempts

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Here's a more comfortable record to break — these people in Chicago attempted to create the world's largest pillow fight. The record currently belongs to a group of 6,261 participants who bashed each other with pillows during a baseball game in St. Paul, Minnesota.

World record attempts

A Michael Jackson impersonator dances with more than 13,000 fans in celebration of the late singer's birthday. The event, held in Mexico, broke a Guinness World Record for being the largest "Thriller" dance.

World record attempts

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A team of six tried to set a new record for the largest cup of cappuccino in Russia's book of records. The current Guinness World Record is 4,250 liters, or 1,122 gallons.

World record attempts

The skydivers of World Team entered the World Air Sports Federation and Guinness Book of World Records by building the world's largest free-fall formation. 357 skydivers were linked for six seconds while free-falling at 112 miles per hour.

World record attempts

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Thousands gathered in New York City's Central Park to form the largest human peace sign in honor of what would have been John Lennon's 75th birthday.

World record attempts

This event broke the record for the largest group of people receiving a beauty treatment in the same location. 1,000 customers received facial massages at a sports center in China.

World record attempts

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You can't be claustrophobic if you're going to try to break the Guinness World Record for the most people in a car, like these students from the Siberian Federal University team did.

World record attempts

The world record for the largest Einstein gathering goes to this group of more than 300 people in Los Angeles.

World record attempts

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In 2013, an event was organized in New York City to break the Guinness World Record for the greatest number of people twerking simultaneously. The current record is 406 people, set during a festival in New Orleans in 2014.

World record attempts

These sushi chefs carefully arranged tons of raw fish to create the world's largest sushi mosaic.

World record attempts

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1,213 participants set a Guinness World Record by applying facial masks for 10 minutes at the exact same time in Taiwan.

World record attempts

In Sydney, these people came together in their swimsuits in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest swimwear parade.

World record attempts

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Competitors play 20,480 games of chess at a university in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad for the Guinness World Record of most games of chess played simultaneously in one location.

World record attempts

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