Bizarre 1941 footage shows women swimming in giant pool of peanuts at first festival

Got Weird is one of my favorite Instagram accounts. I love the fascinating, fun, delightfully weird things that I come across on their page. 

In this post, the Weirdsters share footage of the very first National Peanut Festival (this is the YouTube link to the source), which took place in January 1941 in Suffolk. The women in the video clearly don't have peanut allergies because they are submerged up to their necks in peanuts. Then, they all pop up and begin throwing peanuts around in a giant and joyous looking peanut fight. The video also shows a huge peanut sculpture getting weighed, a peanut costume contest winner (the peanut-covered gown is fantastic), and more. 

From Got Weird on Instagram:

"The first National Peanut Festival opened in Suffolk in January 1941. It included a parade, dances and balls and coronation of a queen. A newspaper editor the morning of the first fete summed up the excitement in town: "Within a few hours the curtain will rise on Suffolk's first annual National Peanut Festival.… The whole city has been a beehive of activity. Cooperation has been had from every civic group, every private citizen and from the world at large.… The publicity which has been received already from all over the nation … [does] credit to Suffolk and the peanut industry."

Around 10,000 people showed up for the first festival, a number that swelled to around 50,000 by the time the event was held again that very same year, October 30-31.

The festival held room enough for 100,000 people. Indeed, on October 15, 1941, the Virginia Farm Bureau boasted that "close to 100,000 people are expected" for the second annual celebration. The same article went on to say, "The two-day celebration will feature parades, parties, dances, coronation of the queen, and tours of the peanut industry." How better to celebrate Halloween?"

Previously: Finally, you can buy a pair of testicles for your Crocs