There are some truly bizarre hobbies that capture the imagination. One peculiar pastime is “bog snorkelling,” where participants don snorkels and flippers to swim through muddy peat bogs as quickly as possible. Additionally, there’s “worm charming,” where enthusiasts summon worms from the ground using vibrations and rhythmic tapping. “Extreme ironing” involves ironing clothes in unconventional and extreme locations, such as on mountain peaks or while skydiving. Lastly, “gurning” contests test participants’ ability to contort their faces into the most grotesque expressions imaginable.
Mooing
We all know there are people superb at imitating animal calls, but believe it or not, there is such a thing as competitive mooing. Shockingly, these contests tend to take place in rural locations noted for their dairy, like Wisconsin, and wherever British people keep cows. Yes, this sounds absolutely ridiculous, but thankfully, we live in an era of the Internet, where there is nothing so ridiculous that cannot be filmed and put on YouTube.
Milk Bottle Collecting
Paul Luke likes milk. Not as in, “he enjoys a nice cold glass with lunch,” but rather, “he’s kind of really into milk as a hobby.” So much so that the former milkman (and current dairy sales rep) has a milk bottle collection of over 10,000 bottles, and he actually had to build a museum to keep all of them. It’s worth explaining that for decades, milk bottles would have various kinds of advertisements and art designs on them, so it’s not just a strange hoarding thing.
Soap Carving
The practice depicted in bad prison movies is not just a character quirk, but an actual hobby. People take bars of commercial soap and carve them into beautiful sculptures that then have to be carefully sealed, or they’ll kind of cease to exist. This isn’t some sort of casual thing either; soap carving requires a whole set of tools and techniques, mostly learned by carving fruit. Only then can you become a soap carver.
Tape Art
This is the simple, elegant art of taking a cassette tape, like those from the 1980s, pulling out all the magnetic tape from inside the casing, and using it to create a portrait of the artist. Even as art hobbies go, this one is fairly obscure and only really gained popularity a few years ago, but there are some pretty impressive examples of this form out there.
Extreme Ironing
“Removing the wrinkles from your clothes.” That kind of ironing. People find weird or unusual ways to set up their ironing boards, do so, and… iron their clothes. Granted, extreme ironers are not entirely serious about their hobby; it’s as much about exploration, hiking, climbing, and other physical activities normal people engage in as hobbies, as it is about actually pressing a shirt.
