Top 10 Weirdest Weapons of War You Won't Believe Were Invented
Some of the craziest military weapons ever invented are pretty strange. Ever thought a wind canon that shoots compressed air at your target would come in handy? What about the highly ineffective Japanese Fire Balloons? Or how about Who Me, a weapon that emits a horrible smell of feces to disorient enemies? These are just some of the bizarre weapons of war that did not work. WatchMojo counts down ten insane war tactics and weapons.
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Top 10 Weirdest Weapons of War You Won't Believe Were Invented
War may be hell, but sometimes it's also downright weird. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we're counting down our picks for the Top 10 Weird Weapons of War. For this list, we'll be ranking the strangest and most bizarre attempts at creating a unique style of weapon. Humanity has been engaged in war for as long as we've been on this planet, and as a result, there have been some very left-field ideas when it's come to shifting how we view battle. [Here are some of the most "out there" examples we could find.]
#10: Project Habakkuk
Need to build an aircraft carrier but steel and aluminum are in short supply? Construct it out of ice! Or, at least this was the idea proposed to England's Winston Churchill by inventor Geoffrey Pyke in a plan he dubbed Project Habakkuk. Pyke rationalized that a large ice carrier could easily operate while under torpedo attack, as the missiles would only damage small sections of the ship's hull. A mixture of ice and wood pulp called pykrete was used to make the carrier stronger and more resilient, pushing Project Habakkuk to the point where a smaller-sized test ship was built. Unfortunately, its slow speed and the high demand for materials doomed the project before it could start.
#9: Dazer Laser
Sometimes, it isn't about killing your opponent, but rather just incapacitating them for a bit. This is where the idea of non-lethal weapons comes in, with the Dazer Laser being one of the most bizarre of the bunch. There were three different designs made of the Dazer Laser: a small pistol, a baton and a larger, multi-function weapon. All of them emit what is called a "MEAN Beam," a mixture of modulating pulses and light which, when combined, can induce feelings of nausea, vomiting or disorientation within their target. You may have heard the Dazer Laser be referred to as a "Puke Ray," and, although this may not be the weapon's intended function, it sure could prove to be handy bonus in battle.
#8: Windkanone
The term "Wunderwaffe" refers to covert German plans for the development of so-called "super weapons" during World War II. One of these proposed weapons was known as the Windkanone, which, roughly translated, could be described as a "Wind Cannon." The Windkanone was a ground-based cannon that was packed with a mixture of hydrogen and ammonia (though some sources say oxygen). It was designed to shoot out a shell of compressed air at its targets, with the intention of grounding planes or otherwise disturbing airborne threats. Windkanones were tested, but their effects against targets weren't to the liking of German officials, and anyone manning it was essentially a sitting duck - so the idea was scrapped.
#7: Who Me
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The next weird weapon on our list possesses a strange name for an equally strange idea. Who Me was an idea that first came to light thanks to the proto-C.I.A. agency known as Office of Strategic Services. This American intelligence sector designed the horrible smelling stench weapon known as Who Me for the French Resistance fighting against Germany in World War II. The compound was placed within small atomizer devices similar to a cologne dispenser, and was intended to disorient its target with the overwhelming stench of feces. Unfortunately, the spraying of Who Me often backfired against its user, making it yet another quickly discarded idea in the ever evolving fight against Nazi Germany.
#6: Novgorod
The Russian monitor Novgorod was a circular, flat-bottomed warship whose intentions were to be a heavily armored protector ship, with the ability to carry a large amount of artillery on board. Built in 1871, the reality of its strange design made Novgorod almost impossible to maneuver effectively in anything other than perfect weather conditions. Its circular shape also meant that it could take nearly an hour for Novgorod to make a U-Turn, thanks to an incompatible rudder system. To be fair, although Novgorod holds a reputation as one of the worst wartime naval ships ever constructed, it actually achieved its intended aim for coastal defense...even if it might've looked a tad silly while doing so.
#5: Man Catcher
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The image of this old school European weapon could be considered to be the stuff of nightmares. The Man Catcher possessed a relatively simple design, consisting of a spring-loaded trap, located at the end of a long stick or pole. Its main purpose was to drag enemy targets from horseback and restrain them, presumably for such ends as capture, interrogation or ransom. One particularly devious aspect of the Man Catcher were the sharp spikes located within the spring trap, which could prove intensely painful or even fatal, should the target not being wearing some sort of protective armor.
#4: Japanese Fire Balloon [aka Fu-Go]
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There was seemingly no end to the innovation of offense during the Second World War, with this Japanese invention serving as one of the least effective, yet potentially deadly weapons of the conflict. In some ways, the Japanese Fire Balloon was frighteningly successful, as these quick moving, hydrogen balloons actually did make their way to North American shores. This was the longest ranged war attack recorded at the time, despite the fact that the balloons caused little damage with their incendiary contents. Officials were worried about the potential for biological or chemical warfare with the balloons, however, leading to a government-initiated, press cover up concerning their existence and success.
#3: Gay Bombs [aka Halitosis Bombs]
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In what could only be described as one of the most head-scratching weapons proposals on our list, the Gay Bomb was an idea dreamt up by scientists in Ohio's Wright Laboratory. The idea behind their proposed Gay Bomb was to utilize female sex pheromones as a biological weapon, spraying them over enemy soldiers in order to make them sexually attracted to each other. The fact that this idea was concocted during the mid-nineties makes it all the more anachronistic, with Wright Laboratories going on to receive an "Ig Nobel Peace Prize" by scientific humorists in 2007 as a satirical jab at this most bizarre plan.
#2: Flaming Pigs [aka Incendiary Pigs]
The practice of using immense war elephants on the battlefield was a common sight during the age of Roman warfare, with the beasts' effectiveness as mounts leading to research for a way to combat their advantage. A simple, if troubling solution was found when it was discovered that elephants were intensely frightened and disoriented by the sound of a pig's squeal. The idea? Cover an array of war pigs in oil, set them on fire, and let the enemy elephants trample the opposing forces to death as they tried to get away. It may not have been animal-friendly, but it was certainly effective.
#1: Bat Bombs
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No, Bruce Wayne didn’t develop these… Bat Bombs were an idea developed by the United States during World War II in an attempt to infiltrate Japanese territory. This was proposed to be achieved by arming bats with incendiary devices, letting them loose at dawn to roost, and later detonating those bombs. Although initial tests led to a massive explosion when the bats roosted under the fuel tank of a New Mexico Air Force base, another test in Utah was more successful. The Bat Bomb project was dropped due to rising costs and implementation delays, although its developer, dentist Lytle S. Adams maintained its use could have circumvented America's dropping of the Atomic Bomb in 1945.
