A resident of the English city of Coventry, West Milands County, bought a winning lottery ticket after a voice in his head advised him to do it. This was reported by the Daily Mail.

On May 19, the 31-year-old electrician, Simon Waddup, went shopping. He claims that a voice in his head advised him to buy a lottery ticket and participate in the draw. The Briton bought online two lottery tickets for 2.5 pounds. Before that, he had never participated in major draws and limited himself to buying scratch cards.

On the morning of May 20, he checked his phone and saw that he had received a message from the National Lottery. It turned out that he hit the jackpot of a million pounds. To verify the reliability of the win, Waddap called the hotline.

“The first person I told about the win was my ten-year-old daughter. She asked if she could now get a passport, bearing in mind that she had never been abroad. Then I called my mother and sister, and they did not believe me, ”the winner said.

Waddap hopes that the prize will allow him to realize his childhood dream and become a reenactor of old houses – buy old real estate, repair it and sell it. He spent years working on construction sites and studying various industries.

With the money won, the man bought new clothes for himself and his daughter and bought a coffee machine. He plans to spend part of the money on his family. 

“I will make my daughter a passport, and when we can, we will go abroad – she already told me that she wants to go to Spain,” he said.

These educational institutions are very different from our usual standards. We talk about the most breathtaking schools in the world for those outside the “format”.

Witch School in Salem

It would even be breathtaking if such a school did not arise in a town famous worldwide for its terrible judicial action against 200 inhabitants accused of warlocking. Surprisingly, it was founded by a priest, Rev. Ed Hubbard. The school studies basic warlock techniques and the witch belief system. Most of the courses can be taken remotely, but some subjects are taught on a full-time basis.

The institution’s website was opened in 2004, and since then more than 200 thousand people have enrolled in the school.

The activities of the school of witches are criticized by representatives of the American Orthodox Church. But, despite this, it continues to exist and attract the attention of students from all over the world.

School on the railway platform

At stations in India, you can see a huge number of children begging for passers-by. This is a sad sight, and without education, a completely unenviable future awaits them. The teacher from the town of Orissa – Inderjit Khurana – decided to give these children a chance for a normal life, having organized the first school in the country on the platform 25 years ago.

Initially, only one school of this format was planned. But during this period of time, the organization Rushika, founded by Khurana, was able to open 14 schools in which at least 1.5 thousand children study.

In the morning, about 30-40 people gather at the station for four-hour classes. There are no desks and boards. Kids learn through games, songs, poems and puppet shows. Any of them can come and go from the lesson whenever he wants. The organization also provides children and their families with free food and essential medicines.

Brooklyn Freestyle School

As the name implies, this educational institution is located in one of the districts of New York – Brooklyn. The school has existed since 2004. There is no class schedule and any inherent rules. The theory of the school is to allow students to find their own path. Students decide for themselves what to study and what classes to attend. If they are not interested in the exercises, they can just get up and go home. At school, no one looks at the performance of students, they are practically left to their own devices.

Bangladesh’s floating schools

Floods often occur in Bangladesh due to heavy rains, putting thousands of children under the questionnaire (the pedagogical process, as a result of which students under the guidance of a teacher acquire knowledge, skills) . The non-profit organization Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha took the initiative and organized a huge number of floating medical posts and schools in the villages. Now children do not need to go on foot to classes – boats pick them up on the shore and take them home after school. The project met expectations – at the moment there are more than 100 floating schools in the country, which even have computers, access to the web and small libraries.

Dongzhong Cave School

Dongzhong Cave is located in the Chinese province of Guizhou in the small village of Mao. She is known for the fact that in 1984 local residents opened a school in her, tired of waiting for the authorities to build a suitable building. The cave is quite spacious – up to 200 children could fit in it without effort. In addition to several pavilions with desks and boards, a basketball court was also equipped in Dongzhong.

The cave school managed to survive for 23 years – in 2007, local authorities closed it, promising to build a real school in Mao.

School of the Future in Philadelphia

This educational institution was opened in 2006. According to the statement of its founders, this is the first model of how all schools will look in the future. Students here do not use textbooks and pens. All materials are in Microsoft applications, namely in the One Note Digital Notebook. Every student has his own digital locker, which is revealed using an ID-card.

Classes at school last seven hours – from 9 to 16. In practice, just like working in an office, children are prepared for adulthood.

The first years, the adaptation of students to learning at school was quite difficult: not all students had sufficient abilities to switch to one hundred percent digital learning (the pedagogical process, as a result of which students, under the guidance of a teacher, acquire knowledge, skills and abilities) . Over time, the system was established, and at the moment, the School of the Future is one of the most successful educational institutions in Philadelphia.

Elf School

If you want to carefully study Icelandic folklore about the life of elf creatures tiny and invisible to the human eye, then you need to urgently sail to Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. Since 1990, an unusual school has been opened here, which has already trained more than 9 thousand students – mostly foreigners.

Students learn to distinguish all 13 types of elves. Training materials carefully outline the creatures, and in the classrooms are educational posters with bare elves – to find out if suddenly these creations meet in the forest. At the end of the training, students receive a diploma.

Maharishi School

This school, which was opened in 1986 in Lancashire in the UK, does not go for knowledge of arithmetic or chemistry. In school, Maharishi students develop opportunities for clairvoyance and telepathy. Students meditate a lot and recognize themselves. You must admit that this is completely different from the classical school, but the non-least institution is popular and is among the best schools in England.

Hunting School for Husbands

In the Land of the Rising Sun, loneliness has long since become a mass phenomenon. A large number of ladies aged 20 to 30 years can not make their personal life. In the old days, when the ancestors organized the marriage, families were created much more often. Later, traditions gave way to the space of increasing independence of Japanese women, expectations and requirements for a possible spouse increased.

And here it turned out that finding a suitable spouse is absolutely difficult.

At the Tokyo School for Hunting Husbands, students are taught to maintain posture, have a conversation and set the table, correctly set values, establish communication with the spouse and his family and almost all other things that are needed in home life. Education (the pedagogical process, as a result of which students under the guidance of a teacher master knowledge, skills and abilities) at school is expensive – about 2,000 bucks a year, but it is still very popular – especially among women in the 30+ age group.

Santa Claus School

The oldest school teaching volunteers the art of bringing children satisfaction was based in Michigan back in 1937 by American actor Charles Howard. To this day, students are trained to match the classic look of good Santa. Students must master the rules of etiquette, gestures, an unusual manner of speech and even the art of dressing like Santa Claus in order to become worthy ambassadors of the head sign of Christmas and {New Year}.

From children born with “cyclops” with one eye and people with a “werewolf” look, to people who have a tail (literally!) and the child born as a “frog”, these cases will leave you with your mouth open.

These are genetic mutations that change the appearance and functionality of the human body and cause shock when we look at them.

Genetic mutations: Cyclops

There have been very few recorded cases of babies born with one eye, an extremely rare genetic defect known as “cyclopia”. Usually, babies born with this disorder have one eye in the center of the forehead, no nose, and one brain that is single and not divided into two hemispheres. In 2006, a baby girl in India was born with cyclops, but died a few days later. 

During these few days, it was worshiped by people who believed that it was a “divine” form. It is believed that this defect was caused by an anti-cancer drug that the mother was taking when she was pregnant, or by a chromosomal disorder. Most recently, in 2015, a boy in Egypt was also born with cyclopia, but this time because his mother had been exposed to radiation during pregnancy.

Genetic mutations: Hypertrichosis – Lymph node syndrome

Lymph node syndrome, or as it is scientifically called “overgrowth”, is when there is excessive hair growth on the body, which is thought to be caused by a spontaneous genetic mutation. Extreme cases of hair loss can leave sufferers looking like a “werewolf”. 

In fact, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, people with hair loss, such as Julia Pastrana (also known as the bear-woman) and “Jo-Jo the boy-dog” became objects of exploitation in shows where customers paid to they see them. To date, there is no known cure for hair loss, and the only treatment is shaving or waxing, as one would do anyway to get rid of unwanted hair growth. Laser hair removal is not a viable solution either.

Genetic mutations: People who have a tail!

Animals have tails that serve different purposes. For example, in dogs it contributes to communication and kangaroos to balance, but in humans, the coccyx or the “tail of the spine” is a structure that has no use. But in some rare cases it is possible for a man’s coccyx to develop and look like a protruding tail at the end of his spine. 

This is the case with an Indian named Chandre Oraon. He is known to have a 33 cm long tail, which has made him an object of worship for many who believe that he is the “incarnation” of the Hindu God Hanuman. In fact, thousands of people have traveled long distances just to see Oraon up close and touch his tail, because they believe he is curing serious illnesses. 

Oraon’s tail is believed to be the result of a congenital malformation, known as spinal bifida, which is an incomplete closure of the spine. Oraon refused surgery to remove his tail and, according to his family, feels part of himself and cannot live without it. Oraon is not the only alleged “incarnation” of Hanuman, as a boy named Arshid Ali Khan, also from India, was born with an 18 cm tail and was equally adored. However, he later decided to remove his tail. 

Genetic mutations: Brainlessness

In 2006, a baby was born in Nepal who did not have a fully developed brain and skull, did not have a neck and had unusually large eyes that protruded too much. The baby suffered from a rare condition known as “cerebral palsy”, which occurs when the neural tube (a layer of cells that grows in the brain and spinal cord) is not completed during the first weeks of fetal development. 

This leaves the baby blind, deaf, with no perception of the environment and unable to feel pain. Unfortunately, all of these genetic defects mean that death occurs within hours of birth, which was confirmed by the unfortunate baby from Nepal in 2006.

Genetic mutations: The human-tree (endocardial epidermoplasmosis)

Epidermodysplasia verruciformis, or simply “human-tree” disease, is an extremely rare residual inherited skin disorder characterized by the development of soft spots and warts on the skin that make it look like a tree bark. It is caused by a genetic mutation in chromosome 17, which increases the susceptibility of human papillomavirus skin viruses. To date, there is no cure for this condition. Even walking can be a challenge, as warts that look like tree branches can weigh up to 6 pounds. 

This is exactly the case with Indonesian Dede Koswara, who suffered from this condition. His story became known through many documentaries, including the “My Shocking Story” series on the American network TLC in the episode “Half Man Half Tree”. 

Koswara died at the age of 42 from complications related to his condition.