Stranger Than Fiction #2 is 1930s TikTok and I kind of love it

If you have nine minutes to spare today and want to feel like you've slipped into an alternate dimension, yes, watch this. It is perfect for people who love weird trivia and old-school carnival energy, but if you need a storyline to stay awake, you will absolutely hate it.

Honestly, I stumbled on this while looking up old Charles E. Ford stuff. It is basically a 1930s TikTok feed but with a guy in a suit talking really fast. 🌵

The Weird Stuff Inside

First off, we get a segment on candy made from cactus. The host, Jimmy Wallington, explains it with this intense, booming radio voice that makes cactus candy sound like a matter of national security.

I swear the candy looks like chunks of green soap. I still kind of want to eat it though.

Then, suddenly, we are looking at an arm-less painter who paints with his toes. The movie does not linger or get sappy about it; he just paints a pretty decent tree and then the film violently cuts to the next thing. 🎨

It has that same breathless pacing you find in early shorts like Bouncing Babies, where nobody is allowed to breathe for more than five seconds.

"And now, a church service... on horseback!"

This part was just wild. A bunch of people in suits and long dresses sitting on horses, looking incredibly uncomfortable while a guy preaches.

One horse in the back keeps shaking its head like it disagrees with the sermon. I spent the whole segment just watching that one horse.

Why It Works (And Why It's Dusty)

It is the lack of polish that makes it fun. The sound is scratchy and the narration has this great, slightly aggressive rhythm to it.

It is definitely more entertaining than educational stuff like Wheels of Progress, which feels like school.

My favorite part? The pygmy hippopotamus just standing there at the end looking confused. 🦛

The camera just stares at it for a few seconds, the narrator says something quick, and then *boom*—the end card hits. It is so abrupt it made me laugh out loud.

Check it out if you want some quick, harmless old-school weirdness. Just do not expect any of it to make actual sense.