The abnormal desire to eat substances that are not normally eaten is called pica. It’s a condition that causes people to munch on some of the strangest things. Sometimes it’s a coping mechanism, and for others, they pick up the strange habit after a traumatic or stressful event occurred in their lives.
If you believe the saying “you are what you eat,” then these people are beyond the bounds of ordinary.
Street Meat
Cooking instructions: remove dead animal from the roadside. Submerge its meat in water for up to four days or until the odor dissipates.Cook well and serve.
Arthur Boyt from England has been eating roadkill for more than 35 years. He is a taxidermist, and he prefers to eat the bodies of the badgers, cats, and barn owls he stuffs rather than throwing them out. He has never been ill because of his strange habit.
He has a freezer in his garage that is full of dead polecats, buzzards, swan, and reptiles. Boyt says the best roadkill he ever ate was a Labrador.
He says that the Labrador “has a pleasant taste and flavor that is a bit like lamb.” Man’s best friend can become man’s favorite meal, he proves.
Gas Guzzler
Chen Jejun is a 71-year-old Chinese man who starts his day not with a cup of coffee but by drinking gasoline. His habit adds up to roughly 3.5 liters of gas a month. It started in 1969 when Chen had a rough cough and chest pain. One of his neighbors suggested he take a shot of kerosene to soothe his cough, and that day, he got all better.
Since then he has been drinking gasoline every day. He has ingested about 1.5 tons of petrol over the past 42 years. His wife and children tried unsuccessfully to make him stop, and he now lives alone in a cottage. He is now free to drink as often as he pleases.
Experts believe that Chen has built up a tolerance to gas, and that is why he hasn’t gotten ill from ingesting the poison.
Foamy Delight
Adele Edwards may not be the ideal house guest. You’ll have to keep an eye on your furniture if she comes over. The 31-year-old Florida native has been eating the foam inside couch cushions for over 20 years.
Her favorite way to eat it is to bring the foam outside, rub it in dirt, then eat it. Her bizarre habit developed as a coping mechanism when she witnessed her parents go through a messy divorce. Since then it has become a full-blown addiction.
Each year, Adele goes through seven couches and three pillows. Doctors are concerned she will die if she continues her habit. She was confined in a hospital for one week because of intestinal blockage, and she was also found to have iron deficiency for which she has begun taking supplements to stop her foam-eating habit.
Soapy Habit
Tempestt Henderson‘s snack of choice is soap. She can go through five bars each week. The 19-year-old also loves laundry detergent.
She developed the obsession when her boyfriend Jason left her for college. She says she feels cleaner when she not only washes with soap but also eats it. Tempestt went through cognitive-behavioral therapy after being diagnosed with pica and is now working toward recovery.
Breast Milk
Tim Brown from London drinks his daughter’s breast milk every day. No, he is not a pervert. The 69-year-old was recently diagnosed with colon cancer, and he heard about an American man who used breast milk to treat his cancer.
He has undergone chemotherapy. There are some experts who say that research suggests that a cure for cancer may be found in human milk. He describes the taste of breast milk as “not unpleasant but slightly pungent.”
Your Own Urine
Carie is a 53-year-old woman who drinks her own urine. She’s battling with cancer, and she believes that her own urine helps her to cope with the disease. She drinks 80 ounces of her own urine each day and even uses it for nasal irrigation
Ashes
Casie recently appeared on an episode of TLC’s My Strange Addiction. The 26-year-old is in a league of her own when it comes to bizarre addictions.
She lost her husband, Shawn, when he had a sudden asthma attack. Casie then became obsessed with carrying his ashes around with her wherever she went. One day, some of the ashes spilled into her hand, since she didn’t want to wipe it off because it’s her husband, she decided to lick it off her finger instead.
She has already eaten about one pound of her husband’s ashes. She describes the taste as being like “rotten eggs, sand, and sandpaper.”
Scorpion Snack
Most people see scorpions as a predator. Young scorpions will sting you until they deplete their supply of venom. That hasn’t stopped Li Liuqun, who is so addicted to them he ate 30 in one sitting.
The 58-year-old from China was stung by a scorpion one day. It made him so mad that he picked it up and bit its head off. He’s been eating the creatures ever since.
When asked about his behavior, he says, “It tasted sweet and nutty, and I never looked back. To me, they’re delicious.” Doctors believe he has become immune to their venom.
Human Blood
Julie Caples is a 45-year-old from Pennsylvania. Each month, Julie has donors coming over to her house to let her slice them open. She drinks up to a half gallon of human blood.
Drinking blood makes her feel “stronger and healthier,” and she also says she becomes energized after drinking the liquid. This lady needs to be careful, or she may catch a blood-borne disease.
He’s into Heavy Metal
Michel Lotito is another person with pica. Doctors claim he has a strong stomach lining and intestinal tract. He’s eaten bicycles, shopping carts, chandeliers, beds, a coffin, and an airplane.
He breaks up the items into small, consumable pieces and then he eats them with water to help his system digest the metal. Even though his stomach can digest metal, he has problems digesting foods like bananas and hard-boiled eggs.