Subscribe
Sticking with the theme of lists, although this is in part because I became involved in a rather silly discussion about strange marriages with someone recently; here’s my take on the most bizarre marriages that I’ve been able to track down.
| 10. | 26th May 1994; King of Pop, Michael Jackson marries Scientologist, Lisa Marie Presley. They divorced less than two years later. |
| 9. | 1997; Top New Zealand Athletics coach, Arthur Lydiard (aged 80) marries his student, Joelyne van der Togt (aged 32). A 48 year age gap. |
| 8. | 1994; Billionaire oil executive, J. Howard Marshall (aged 89) marries model and television personality, Anna Nicole Smith (aged 26). A mere 63 year age gap. |
| 7. | 25th August 1992; The Reverend Sun Myung Moon marries 30,000 couples, at one time, in Seoul’s Olympic Stadium. |
| 6. | 3rd January 2004; Pop Princess, Britney Spears marries childhood friend, Jason Alexander, after a night out in Las Vegas. The surprise marriage was annulled less than 55 hours after they tied the knot. |
| 5. | May 2004; Convicted double murderer, Scott Watson marries 35 year old mother of four (by four different fathers), Coral Branch, in a wedding chapel at Auckland Prison, New Zealand. |
| 4. | 2003; Residents of Bangalore marry two donkeys (the bride called Ganga and the groom called Varuna) at the Maha Ganapathi temple in Rajajinagar, believing that this ritual will bring them rain. |
| 3. | November 2007; P. Selvakumar, a 33 year old farm labourer, who believed he had been cursed for stoning to death two dogs, atoned for his sins by marrying a four year old stray bitch in a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony, on the advice of his Astrologer. |
| 2. | February 2006; Charles Tombe is forced to marry a Sudanese goat (subsequently named Rose), after he was caught having sex with her. He also had to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars (£25) to the goat’s owner. |
| 1. | 1975; Ronald van der Plaat forces his daughter into a mock marriage ceremony, and then subjects her to 23 years of sexual slavery. However, in 2001 he was caught, convicted and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. |
Posted by Jonathan in History, Miscellaneous