There’s nothing wrong with a little healthy competition, but when the rivalry turns sour, some folks take truly out‑of‑the‑ordinary measures. In fact, there are 10 weird ways people have gone to extreme lengths just to get back at a rival, and each tale is stranger than the last.
10 Weird Ways Of Revenge
10 Meter Tower To Spite The US
The 187‑meter‑tall (614 ft) Cairo Tower that dominates the skyline of Egypt’s capital was, according to locals, erected as a gigantic middle finger to the United States. President Gamal Abdel Nasser commissioned the tower after a diplomatic spat with Washington, and the money to fund it came directly from a bribe the U.S. had paid Egypt.
Back in 1952, Nasser overthrew King Farouk in a coup and soon found himself in talks with Kermit Roosevelt, a CIA operative who wanted Egypt to bank with American institutions and purchase U.S. weaponry rather than British arms. Roosevelt slipped Nasser a $1 million payoff and promised further cash for “presidential security accoutrements.”
Unimpressed by the overt interference, Nasser diverted the entire bribe into constructing the Cairo Tower, which was completed in 1961. While the official cost was reported at $6 million, the initial $1 million was certainly a large chunk of the budget. Locals even nickname the tower el‑wa’ef rusfel (“Roosevelt’s erection”). Decades later, the tower sparked controversy when some Islamic scholars argued it was an indecent eyesore that allegedly excited Egyptian women – but honestly, who could resist a towering, seaside phallus?
9 Saddam Hussein Puts Bush On The Floor
When the First Gulf War wrapped up in 1991, Iraq’s army suffered a crushing defeat. Incensed and humiliated, President Saddam Hussein decided to give former U.S. President George H.W. Bush a literal piece of his mind. He ordered a massive mosaic of Bush to be installed in the lobby of the Al‑Rashid Hotel in Baghdad.
The hotel was a hotspot for foreign journalists and diplomats during the conflict, so placing the mosaic at the entrance meant that any visitor would have to step on Bush’s image, a clear sign of disrespect. Several U.S. diplomats inadvertently did just that, trampling the portrait as they passed through. In the West, many dismissed the act as a childish stunt, but in the Middle East, it was a potent insult – stepping on someone’s face is considered a grave offense, and using a leader’s likeness as a doormat is the ultimate humiliation.
When U.S. forces invaded Iraq in 2003, they destroyed the mosaic, erasing the blatant affront. Nonetheless, the episode remains a vivid illustration of how political grudges can manifest in public art.
8 38 Die After Man Poisons Food In Rival’s Restaurant
In September 2002, a disgruntled businessman named Chen Zhengping from Tangshan, Jiangsu Province, decided to sabotage a competing snack stall by dousing its popular treats with lethal rat poison. The poisonous concoction resulted in the tragic deaths of 38 unsuspecting customers and left roughly 200 more with serious injuries that required hospitalization.
The victims were primarily schoolchildren and soldiers, who began bleeding from the mouth shortly after consuming the tainted snacks. Some even collapsed right in front of the rival stall. Chen managed to flee the scene, but he was later apprehended. During interrogation he claimed his sole intention was to make people sick, never to cause fatal harm. The court sentenced him to death for the atrocity.
7 Senator’s Name Turned Into Neologism Over Anti‑LGBT Remarks
Former U.S. Senator and 2012 Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum earned a notorious reputation after making a series of anti‑LGBT statements, including a graphic comparison of anal sex to bestiality. Outraged, LGBT columnist Dan Savage rallied his readers to invent a new definition for the senator’s surname. The crowd settled on “santorum,” meaning the residue expelled from the anus after anal intercourse.
Savage then launched a dedicated website that promoted the neologism, and the site quickly rose to dominate Google’s search results for “Santorum.” In fact, it outranked the senator’s own campaign page, forcing his team to scramble. The term spread like wildfire across the internet, cementing itself as a cultural punchline.
Although Santorum complained to Google and the search engine tweaked its algorithm to push the site lower, the damage was already done. Urban Dictionary’s entry for “santorum” now consistently appears at the top of search results, followed by a Wikipedia article about the debacle, the politician’s own Wikipedia page, a Wiktionary entry, and finally the Urban Dictionary page again. The episode remains a textbook example of how a single word can become a weapon in political warfare.
6 Man Erects Giant Middle Finger Statue Toward Ex‑Wife’s Window
In 2013, after a bitter divorce, Michigan strip‑club owner Alan Markovitz decided that a simple phone call wouldn’t suffice to make his point. He purchased the house directly next to his ex‑wife, Lea Tuohy, and installed a $7,500, 3.5‑meter‑tall (11.5 ft) bronze statue of an upraised middle finger right beside her bedroom window. Spotlights were added so the giant gesture would be visible even after dark.
Markovitz later claimed the towering gesture wasn’t aimed at his ex‑wife herself but rather at her new boyfriend, with whom she had allegedly begun an affair while Markovitz was still married. He said a realtor informed him that a property adjacent to Tuohy’s was for sale, prompting the dramatic purchase and the eye‑catching monument.
5 Man Directs Middle Finger Statue At Town’s Officials
The middle‑finger motif didn’t stay limited to personal vendettas. In 2018, Westford, Vermont, town officials found themselves the target of a massive public‑art protest. Local resident Ted Pelkey, who had repeatedly been denied a permit to construct an 8,000 ft² (743 m²) garage on his 11‑acre parcel, grew fed up with what he saw as bureaucratic stonewalling.
Pelkey alleged the town’s rejection stemmed not from zoning concerns but from personal animosity. In retaliation, he commissioned a $4,000, 5‑meter (16‑ft) bronze statue of a raised middle finger, mounted on a pedestal and illuminated by spotlights so that the officials could not miss the message, even after sundown. Because the piece qualified as public art, the town was unable to simply remove it.
4 Woman Murders Rival And Starts An Elaborate Hoax
On the morning of November 12, 2012, Cari Farver of Macedonia, Iowa, sent a tear‑filled text to her mother, Nancy Raney, saying she might check into a mental‑health facility after a breakup. Three days later, Farver messaged her employer, claiming she’d landed a new job in Kansas. Then, on New Year’s Day 2013, she posted on Facebook that her account had been hacked and that her boyfriend, Dave, had proposed to her.
Raney, sensing something was off, filed a missing‑persons report. The case went cold for four years, until detectives finally uncovered that Farver had been dead since 2012. The murder was orchestrated by Shanna Golyar, a rival who also coveted Dave’s affection. Golyar fabricated the entire social‑media trail – texts, Facebook posts, even fake conversations – to create a smokescreen that concealed the homicide. She even sent messages to the police, falsely claiming an unnamed woman who’d had a child with Dave had shot Farver.
Golyar’s elaborate deception kept investigators in the dark for years, illustrating just how far some will go in a jealous, rivalry‑driven quest for love.
3 Lamborghini Enters The Sports Car Business To Get Back At Ferrari
The high‑octane rivalry between Enzo Ferrari and Ferruccio Lamborghini began in the 1950s, when Ferrari’s race‑derived road cars were the benchmark for speed enthusiasts. Ferruccio, who owned a successful tractor company, bought one of these modified Ferraris, only to discover a shoddy interior, frequent breakdowns, and a notoriously unreliable clutch that needed constant replacement.
When Ferruccio complained to Enzo about the clutch problem, Ferrari’s founder allegedly brushed him off with disdain. Infuriated, Lamborghini returned to his factories and set out to build a car that would outshine Ferrari in every respect. Leveraging his expertise in engines, drivelines, and high‑performance machinery earned from tractor production, he launched his own line of luxury sports cars.
He even situated his new plant just a stone’s throw from Ferrari’s headquarters and recruited several of Ferrari’s top engineers. The rest, as they say, is history – Lamborghini’s iconic bull‑logo supercars now sit proudly beside Ferrari’s prancing horse, each a testament to a personal vendetta turned automotive legend.
2 Chinese Government Builds Highway Around Home After Owners Refuse To Sell
China’s rapid infrastructure expansion over the past few decades has produced countless highways, railways, and bridges. When a private property stands in the way, the government typically offers compensation to persuade owners to relocate. However, many homeowners, known as “dingzihu,” deem the payouts insufficient and refuse to budge, earning the moniker “nail houses” for their stubborn defiance.
In one high‑profile incident, authorities decided to simply route a new highway around a five‑story house belonging to 67‑year‑old Luo Baogen. The road encircled his home, leaving the building perched in the middle of a traffic‑filled corridor. Photographs of the bizarre scene went viral, sparking worldwide debate over property rights versus state development.
Under relentless pressure, Luo eventually accepted a 260,000‑yuan settlement, after which the house was demolished. The episode remains a vivid illustration of how governments can employ engineering feats to overcome even the most obstinate property owners.
1 Man Builds 12‑Meter Fence Around Neighbor’s Home
In 1855, Nicholas Yung erected a modest residence on San Francisco’s Nob Hill. By the 1870s, the hill had transformed into a coveted enclave for the city’s wealthiest, offering sweeping vistas of the bay and surrounding peaks.
Enter Charles Crocker, a Central Pacific Railroad magnate who, after amassing a fortune, set his sights on Yung’s prized plot. Crocker offered to purchase the property, but Yung declined. Unwilling to accept a “no,” Crocker resorted to increasingly aggressive tactics. He first ordered his crew to fire dynamite at the surrounding terrain, hoping the blast would force Yung out. When that failed, Crocker erected a massive 12‑meter‑tall (40‑ft) fence encircling Yung’s house, turning the private dwelling into a public curiosity dubbed “Crocker’s Spite Fence” or “Crocker’s Crime.”
The fence became a symbol of the era’s cut‑throat capitalism, especially as Crocker’s wealth stemmed from exploiting cheap Chinese labor while anti‑Chinese sentiment surged throughout California. The fence even served as a rallying point for the Workingmen’s Party of California, whose slogan was “The Chinese must go.” Though the party threatened to demolish the fence, they never acted, and the structure remained until Yung finally sold his home to Crocker. The fence was later torn down, and after the 1906 earthquake and fire that devastated much of San Francisco, the site now hosts the Grace Cathedral.