Indian with 39 wives, 94 kids is the strangest story of 2011

Wives and children of Ziona Chana take part in a ceremonial evening prayer in Baktawng village in Serchhip district of Mizoram. File photo: Ritu Raj Konwar

An Indian man with 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren, all living under one roof, holds the numero uno position in Ripley’s Believe It or Not top 11 strangest stories for this year.

Ripley’s Believe It or Not! is considered to be the authority on all things odd, amazing and unusual.

The annual list of the strangest stories of the year was released by it on Thursday.

Topping the list if 11 strange stories, is the story reported by London based

The Telegraph , about Ziona Chana, who lives in a four storeyed building with 100 rooms in a mountainous village in Mizoram state, sharing borders with Burma and Bangladesh.

“It’s a safe bet that Ziona Chana would not be impressed watching ‘19 Kids and Counting’ or ‘Sister Wives’ The 66 year old Indian man has 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren,” said Ripley’s Believe It or Not in a statement.

“I once married 10 women in one year,” Mr. Chana is quoted as saying by

The Telegraph .

According to the daily, Mr. Chana met his oldest wife, who is three years older than he is, when he was 17.

Other strangest stories include ‘implanting organs in the name of art’; ‘Liechtenstein for Hire at $ 70,000 a Night’; ’Blind Dog Gets Own Guide Dog’; ‘Cemetery Collector with 29 Bodies Arrested’; ‘Alabama Company Turns Gun Lovers’ Ashes into Ammunition’ and ‘Mexican Vampire Woman Maria Jose Cristerna Immortalized in Wax by Ripley’s’ among others.