Did you know that the body of Charlie Chaplin was stolen for ransom from his grave in the Corsier-Sur-Vevey cemetery in Switzerland? Did the aliens visit Arizona desert in their flying saucer in 1953 and crash?
What is the mystery behind the black stone of Mecca, or the astonishingly fresh 400-year-old body of St. Xavier, preserved in Goa without artificial preservation techniques and brought out every 10 years for devotees to see?
Just flip through the 145 pages of “The Book of the Bizarre” and be ready for surprises. The stories, though more fact than fiction, leave you with an eerie feeling.
Compiled by columnist Ashok Malik, the book published by Roli is a collection of strange, inexplicably shocking phenomena that have punctuated human civilisation and contemporary history. And its black and white pictures that authenticate the happenings make it a compelling read.
Cannibal General
It brings you out of your comfort zone with stories like Idi Amin, Uganda's notorious dictator, who was a cannibal out of choice. His dinner would consist of his rival's head or heart. It presents facts to prove that the terrorists chose September 11 to attack the Pentagon for it was its 60th anniversary, as also the birthday of Jesus Christ as per American writer Ernst Martin's findings.
It gives you a peep into famous Spanish painter Pablo Picasso's personal life that it claims can beat any soap opera script.
It also provides respite with some lighter stories, like the one that talks about the amusing history behind Santa Claus' red and white dress. It was actually a marketing gimmick of Coca Cola and had nothing to do with Saint Nicholas associated with gifting, it says.
Malik, 40, says, “I am a trivia buff. I collect useless pieces of information and document them for my collection. Knowing my habit, Pramod Kapoor of Roli Books came with the idea of such a book and produced some rarest of the rare pictures to go with them. It was a bit of a challenge, especially while classifying certain personalities in, say, ‘cruel' or ‘devil' categories. I had around 60 stories and we produced more than half of them.”
The book can be finished in just an hour because of its short and crisp text.
