Virtually any and every thing can be found on the internet and unfortunately, many of those things can be bought and sold on the world wide web. We’ve seen and heard of rare items being sold at online auctions, but we seldom hear about the bizarre things being marketed on the net. Here’s a list of the strangest things that people have tried to sell online. 

1. Sperm Whale Carcass

In 2014, a 40-foot-long dead sperm whale by the name of George, washed up on Cape St. George beach in Newfoundland. The locals were told that they were responsible for disposing of the animal which proved to be a challenge. They first rented a 50-foot-long boat to tow it to sea, but the boat was not strong enough. Within a week, the whale began to smell, and the desperate mayor turned to the internet for assistance. Believing that it was okay, Mayor Peter Fenwick put the animal carcass up for auction and by the time that it was discovered and pulled by eBay, the auction was at $2,000. Fortunately for him, a large swell returned the carcass to the sea.

2. Celebrity Air

Films like Spaceballs and The Lorax have explored the idea of selling air, but they probably didn’t realize that it would become a reality just a few years later. Countries with high levels of pollution like China and India sell “clean air” while there are some who bag and sell air, from different locations. There are others who have claimed to capture and sell celebrity air, which has become a big business. In 2015, a fan who went to a Yeezus concert placed his Ziploc bag of Kanye West air on eBay with an asking price of $5. 90 bids later, people were willing to pay $60,000 for each of the 20 bags of Kanye air. It became such a phenomenon that his then wife Kim Kardashian tweeted “wow, he can sell anything!”

3. A Human Soul 

Websites like eBay have very strict policies against selling human and animal parts, dead or alive. They also have policies against selling souls because “if the soul does not exist, eBay could not allow the auctioning because it would be selling nothing”, but these rules have not stopped people from trying. In 2008, a man tried to auction his soul for 25,000.50 pounds or $37,500. In his post, he would send updates on his soul and a percentage of his band’s earnings. Additionally, there was a clause where he was allowed to buy his soul back for 100,000,000 pounds or $150,000,000.  

4. Crypt Above Marilyn Monroe

Over the last few decades, obsessing over items owned by celebrities or being next to celebrities has grown to the point where people are willing to spend big bucks. In 1962, Marilyn Monroe was laid to rest in a mausoleum at the Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park. The crypt above belonged to ex Joe DiMaggio who then sold it to entrepreneur Richard Poncher shortly after their divorce. Poncher requested to be buried face down in the casket so that he could gaze upon her. Two decades later, his widow removed her husband’s remains and tried to auction off the crypt to help pay off her $1.6 million mortgage. Bidding reached $4.6 million, but when it was time to pay up, all 11 bidders backed out. 

5. Harambe-shaped Cheeto

Pareidolia is a general term for seeing patterns in random things, like in the clouds. For centuries, people have been seeing such a phenomenon in food and have been making lots of money from it. In 2008, a Texan man purchased a cornflake shaped like Illinois for $1,350. A few years later, a Cheeto shaped like Superman in flight went for $5,000. In 2017, a Flamin’ Hot Cheeto shaped like the world-famous gorilla Harambe, was sold for almost $100,000.