#WackyWednesday: Strangest organisations people can join

There are scores of clubs and organisations around the world, where like-minded people gather to enjoy socialising and working towards what they view as the greater good. However, there are some clubs that are a bit odd to, say  the least.

Here are five of strangest clubs and organistions to have ever existed.

1. The Beefsteak Club

Also known as the Sublime Society of Beefsteak, this club apparently goes back 300 years and only 24 members are allowed to join at any given time. In fact, it is said that even the Prince of Wales had to wait until someone died before he was allowed to join. The club is devoted to how great steak is, with members uniting to eat steak, talk about how awesome steak is, sing a song about steak, and even wear a funny outfit including a badge proclaiming “Beef and Liberty”.

2.The Order of the Peacock Angel

This society was formed in Britain in the 1960s and was founded on the ancient beliefs of the Yezidis, a group faced with accusations of devil worship from Muslims and Christians alike. However, the group actually worshiped Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel, represented by either a stone statue of a peacock or by a real live bird.

Members believe the Peacock Angel has the ability to answer prayers. The organisation’s meeting room is usually filled with hallowed images of the Peacock Angel; the altar itself is placed in the middle and contains the main symbol of veneration. Members often do a slow ritual dance around the altar while they silently express their wishes. The dance gradually takes on a frenzied pace as religious fervor builds, ending in a form of ecstatic bliss, with members feeling satisfied that they were filled with the Peacock Angel’s divine power.

3. The Order of the Occult Hand

Almost everyone enjoys a good prank, which seems to have been this group’s motive as they had just one goal, which was inserting the phrase  “it was as if an occult hand had” into newspapers and other publications.

The group began when Joseph Flanders, a reporter for the Charlotte News, innocently used the phrase in a report. The phrase caught on with his friends, who liked the wording so much they conspired to copy it as often as possible. Pretty soon, other reporters and journalists from all over the world began using the phrase in their own stories.

The conspiracy came to an end in 2004, when James Fanega, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, managed to track down the perpetrators and list the publications they had infiltrated. But, no one keeps a good prankster down as the group bounced back in 2006, when its leader Paul Greenberg and the chief members announced the group had selected a new phrase to carry on the tradition. So far, no one has succeeded in finding out the new phrase, which Greenberg claims has already appeared in many major outlets.

4. Cloud Appreciation Society

Do you often catch yourself staring into the sky and admiring clouds? If so, there is a group you can join. The Cloud Appreciation Society was founded by Gavin Pretor-Pinney from the United Kingdom in 2005. The society apparently aims to foster understanding and appreciation of clouds, and has over 42 000 members worldwide from 115 different countries, as of January 2017.

5. Number 47 Fan Club

If you are a fan of the number 47, there is a club just for you. The fan club was formed by Eric Levine of Portland.

The club began at Levine’s alma mater, Pomona College in Claremont, CA. In 1964, a student project to determine whether the number 47 appeared more often in nature than other random numbers turned into a mass 47 hunt.

When Levine heard the story as a student, he was intrigued and began noticing the number in publications, addresses, telephone numbers.

There are approximately 260 members worldwide who are part of this interest-group that follows the occurrence and recurrence of the number.