the 10 most bizarre live streams

There are many livestreams – but these ones are something special. From a spinning kebab skewer to a circumnavigation of the globe, you can find something for everyone’s entertaining taste here.

 

1. Life in the live stream – for 31 days

The American Ludwig Ahgren had millions of people watching him 31 days in a row, and not just while he was playing. The reason for this was a broadcast marathon on Twitch, a so-called “subathon”. The goal of this is to get as many abos (subs) as possible. Ludwig Ahgren designed the stream in such a way that it is actually intended to last 48 hours, but the community keeps extending it. With each new subscription, ten seconds are added to the remaining streaming time. So the 48 hours turned into 31 days, and viewers were there the whole time, watching him play and going about his daily life. The 31,000 subscriptions became 250,000 after the stream.

2. A power plant is blown up in the livestream

It was the largest blasting in Germany in 2021. The Hagedorn Group blasted a boiler house, the cooling tower, the scrubber of the flue gas desulfurization plant and a 250-meter-high smokestack of the former coal-fired power plant in Lünen. To prevent crowds from forming on the spot to watch the blasting, the blasts were shown in a live event stream. The area had been widely closed off and the neighborhood evacuated. Thousands followed the event on the screen. There was exciting drone footage to watch, and also a lot of interesting facts. Comedian Matze Knop led through the program, talking to experts who explained the blast and interviewing guests.

3. Here spins a kebab skewer

It was a Canadian kebab store that started streaming the spinning kebab live on YouTube in 2017 under the title of the “Donair Cam.” The stream has since ended, at the time there was a lot of media coverage and many viewers watching the meat sizzle away.

4. With the truck across the USA

“BigRigSteve” is on the road with his truck, travelling all over the USA. Always with him is the livestream – as long as the network allows it. On his page, you can always see which route he is currently taking and find the most important general data. Around 50,000 subscribers follow the videos on YouTube. There is now a whole archive of his trips, sorted by state. It’s definitely an opportunity to get to know the U.S. from a completely different perspective.

5. Animals in a live stream

This is not about a livestream, but about a whole category: it’s about livestreams that show animals. Bats, leopards, hawks or naked mole rats – these are just some of the animals you can watch in livestreams. Explore.org is a site that bundles such animal livestreams from the USA. Behind it is the Annenberg Foundation, which has compiled the roughly 167 cameras from zoos, reserves and breeding stations.

In Germany, there are also some zoos with livestreams, plus attractions such as stork nests, national parks or beehives – all can be watched via livestream.

6. Controlling a smart home in a livestream

For many, this might be a nightmare: Your own smarthome being controlled by strangers. Texan Paul Mathis wants exactly that. On his site, users have been able to switch lamps on and off since 1997 and see the result in a livestream. The website for this project still looks like it did in the ’90s. But after all, around 10,000 people come here every day to control the lamps. To do so, they click on the corresponding switches and watch what happens in the livestream.

7. The world’s oldest light bulb in a livestream

At first glance, this livestream is not particularly spectacular: it shows a burning light bulb. But when you know that this light bulb has been burning continuously for 120 years, it looks quite different. The bulb is located in a firehouse in the US state of California. It has been hanging there since 1901, and even though it no longer shines with the original 60 watts, but only with about 4 watts, it is still considered the longest-lasting light bulb in the world. And it has its own camera that films the bulb around the clock. The light bulb is often used as an example when it comes to demonstrating that in modern light bulbs, the planned wear and tear is already calculated into the manufacturing process.

8. The everlasting stop sign

Then there’s this live stream on Twitch that shows a stop sign in Salem, Massachusetts. You can see it standing at an intersection. Many drivers don’t stop at the sign, but continue driving. That’s why the camera is now there to watch the cars. And that’s what thousands of users do – the channel has 250,000 followers. In the meantime, statistics are kept on the colors of cars that pass the sign.

9. Video on Demand: Bob Ross and his paintings

Bob Ross (1942-1995) was a famous painter and host of the Florida television series “The Joy of Painting.” There are livestream recordings where his old episodes are shown and commented by him. The relaxing way he paints landscapes with his unique painting technique and speaks in his soft voice can be very entertaining. Bob Ross painting was distinguished by his ability to depict harmonious, idyllic nature with just a few brushstrokes. He often used a wet-on-wet technique, applying colors directly on top of still-wet paints to create smooth transitions and vibrant textures. He always emphasized that anyone was capable of painting and that mistakes were part of the creative process. His legacy as an artist extends far beyond his time and his works are still popular and fascinate people around the world. Today, for example, there are “Paint Like Bob Ross” recordings to be found on YouTube.

10. NASA Live stream looking at the Earth

This livestream shows a live view of Earth from the International Space Station (ISS). The International Space Station is in low Earth orbit 260 miles above Earth. The ISS takes 90 minutes to complete one orbit around the Earth. During this time, it orbits the dark side of the Earth half the time. During the dark period, thunderstorms and the light of cities can be seen. Periodically, the ISS interrupts transmission due to a loss of connection, but automatically ramps back up once it has reconnected. When the connection is lost, the image changes to an archived video.