Here are spooky tales, loopy laws and strange inventions from all around the world. There are wild eccentrics like Dutchman Fons Oelermann who plans to cross the Atlantic in a bottle; the first and last Emperor of the United States, Joshua Norton; and Winchester rifle heiress Sarah Winchester who spent 38 years, 24 hours a day, building her house to keep the ghosts away. There are macabre extracts from history, like the tale of Cromwell's head, exhibited in peepshows and on mantlepieces for 200 years; and the story of Lord Uxbridge's leg, blown off at Waterloo and buried with full military honours on its own. The book features odd collections, outlandish pastimes like worm charming; and talented animals like Ruby, the painting elephant, whose canvasses fetch up to $3500 a time. Based on an international TV series in the USA called "Ripley's Believe It or Not", now followed by "Beyond Belief", this illustrated volume presents true-life curiosities - the odd, the eccentric and the bizarre - from the strange places people live to the extraordinary things they do.