11 people with awful real-life superpowers

[Reefa]

The human body is a remarkable organism, especially when things don’t work quite like they’re supposed to. The people in this article weren’t bitten by radioactive spiders or exposed to cosmic rays, but they still managed to develop abilities beyond the ken of mortal men. Unfortunately for them, those abilities are kind of unpleasant.

Here are 11 people with awful real-life superpowers.

Noorsyaidah, The Wire Woman

At first glance, the 40 year old Indonesian elementary school teacher known only as “Noorsyaidah” looks pretty normal. But then you notice the lengths of what appear to be metal wire seemingly growing out of her abdomen. She claims that the bizarre protrusions first appeared over two decades ago, and since then doctors and media have been unable to offer an explanation for her condition.

The wires, which can reach almost eight inches long, seem to be at least semi-organic, as they react to being cut by retreating under the surface of her skin, only to protrude elsewhere.

Dede Koswara, The Tree Man

Here’s an awful ability that was brought on by a weakened immune system. Indonesian man Dede Koswara was just a boy when the condition that would come to define his life first entered his body. At the age of ten, he cut his knee on a root in the jungle, and shortly after discovered the wound was ringed by warts. They soon spread to his hands and feet, growing into massive tree-like protrusions that made him look like Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy.

Those warts were caused by human papillomavirus, the same bug responsible for genital warts. They didn’t hurt or itch, and Koswara eventually took a job with an Indonesian circus.

Michelle Thompson, Orgasm Addict

There are few better sensations in this world than getting your rocks off, but in the case of British woman Michelle Thompson, there’s too much of a good thing. Thompson was diagnosed with Perpetual Sexual Arousal Syndrome, meaning that she constantly craves sexual stimulation and has as many as 300 orgasms every day.

The perpetual turn-on has cost her jobs, as frequent masturbation breaks aren’t really good for productivity. She’s also had a hard time finding boyfriends that can keep up with her needs in the bedroom.

Garry Turner, Stretchy Skin

There’s a wide array of elastic superheroes – Plastic Man, Mr. Fantastic, the Elongated Man – capable of transforming their rubbery bodies into any number of shapes. The real-world equivalent of this is Ehlers-Danos Syndrome, a genetic condition that causes bones, cartilage and skin to grow uncontrollably throughout your life.

Because his skin doesn’t contain the right amount of collagen, Turner can stretch and manipulate it in a number of extremely unsettling ways. It’s also capable of being molded into other shapes like Silly Putty. The one bad thing? If you stretch it too far, it could just tear right off. Yikes.

Cassie Graves, Fish Odor Woman

The metabolic system is a strange beast. When it works right, it transforms ingested nutrients into the energy we need to survive. When it doesn’t work right, well… we get people like Cassie Graves. The young singer suffers from a genetic mutation known as trimethylaminuria, which means that certain foods don’t get completely broken down in her digestive system.

The residue they leave behind is then excreted through sweat, breath and pee, and it smells bad. Like rotting fish bad. And there’s nothing that Graves can do about it aside from not eat meat and leafy greens. Worst of all? She can’t smell the odor herself, so she never knows if she’s grossing people out.

Claudio Pinto, Popeye

Unlike some of the other people on this list, Claudio Pinto’s bizarre superpower hasn’t caused him a lifetime of misery, but it’s still pretty disgusting. The Brazilian man can force both of his eyeballs out of their sockets a terrifying 0.3 inches, which doesn’t sound like much until you see it in action.

Pinto leveraged his skills into a job scaring people at a haunted house outside of Rio, but when Halloween ended he was out of work. There aren’t many gigs where being able to extrude 95% of your eyeball looks good on the resume, though.

Sharon Parker, Microbrain

At the age of nine months, Sharon Parker was diagnosed with congenital hydrocephalus, and doctors had to remove liquid from her skull. After they did, they discovered a massive hole inside her brain, and told her terrified parents that she wouldn’t live past her fifth birthday.

As an adult, she has approximately 15% of the brain mass of a normal person, but somehow still manages to have an above-average IQ and a good job as a nurse. The only negatives as a result of her bizarre condition are a poor short-term memory and a tendency to forget to clean up after herself.

lotitoMichel Lotito, Mister Eats-All

One of the most absurd comic book heroes of all time is Matter-Eater Lad, who has the ability to chow down on anything in the universe. French-born Michael Lotito was the closest we’ve seen on Earth to this ability. Known as “Monsieur Mangetout” (literally “Mister Eats-All”), he was born with a rare genetic mutation that made his stomach lining twice as thick and durable as the average human’s.

He also had the mental disorder pica, which drives the afflicted to consume inedible materials like sand. Combine the two and you had a dude who regularly ate plastic, glass, metal and all kinds of other stuff. Lotito once disassembled and ate an entire Cessna small plane. Unsurprisingly, he died in 2007 at the age of 57.

Thai Ngoc, The Sleepless Man

Getting a solid eight hours of sleep every night is vital, doctors say, to give your body and mind a chance to rest. So what does that say about Vietnamese man Thai Ngoc, who has not slept in over four decades?

After falling ill with a fever in 1973, Ngoc found himself unable to go to sleep, no matter how exhausted he was. For most of his life, he didn’t suffer from any additional detriments due to his strange condition, but by 2007 he was starting to complain that he felt “like a plant without water.” Just for comparison, the standing Guinness world record for not sleeping is a paltry 11 days, and the guy who did it was seriously damaged by it.

Lawrence Koomson, Man-Boy

Going through puberty is a difficult transition for boys and girls – bodies change, new urges make themselves known, and don’t forget about the acne. But for London doctor Lawrence Koomson, his teen years were a little different.

Koomson has Kallmann’s syndrome, an imbalance in the hypothalamus that prevents his body from producing testosterone. As a result, he’s been stuck in the body of a 12 year old boy his whole life. In his 30s, Koomson finally began receiving treatment for his bizarre superpower in the form of testosterone implants, which will release the hormone over time and allow him to finally reach manhood.

Jesus Aceves, Wolfman

History is full of tales of bizarre monsters, but most of them are sheer myth. Werewolves, however – werewolves are different. A rare condition called hypertrichosis basically jump-starts the body’s ability to grow hair, and it manifests as a thick carpet all over the face.

Probably the most famous real-life werewolf is a young man named Jesus Aceves, who hails from a rural Mexican family in which 24 people suffer from it to a degree. The family was saved from poverty by a circus promoter, who put them to work in the freak show, and now Jesus travels the world showing off his mutation.

So there you have it – eleven real-life X-Men (and women) who probably shouldn’t put costumes on and try and fight Magneto. They do show us exactly how the human body is capable of going seriously weird, though, so that’s a good lesson.

http://www.geek.com/geek-cetera/11-people-with-awful-real-life-superpowers-1618436/