Top 10 Weird Facts About The Amish
10. Healthy but..
An interesting fact about the Amish is that they are an extremely healthy group. They do not suffer the health atrocities of modern age like their fellow men. However, their disease are mostly genetic due to the fact that the 250,000 descendants come from a mere sum of 200 families. This makes their diseases foreign, even to the medical community, as a result of the ‘founder effect’. Verne Troyer, the actor of mini-me in The Austin powers, descends from an Amish family. He suffers from a genetic disorder that made him the world’s shortest man by only 81 centimetres.
9. The Amish and the machines
Like you would expect, The Amish are not known for their love of modern technology. However, some of them enjoys finding loopholes that would allow them to have a taste of modern life every now and then. But did you ever hear of the Amish computer? It is a basic simple computer that is meant for business only. It does not play games, videos, music or anything else.
8. Violence
The Amish is a highly peaceful group whose history is devoid of violence. The only encounter of homicide in their history was Edward Gingerich’s. His mental illness showed at a very young age and in 1993 he killed his wife savagely because he stopped taking his medications. He was diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia in an early age and that meant that he could not do without his medications. He served five years behind bars and then got out. In 2011 he hanged himself leaving behind a note that said “please forgive me”.
7. Rape
Rape is sadly more prevalent in Amish communities due to the patriarchal nature of their communities. Compared to murder, rape is so familiar to the Amish community. Pedophilia and incest are very common too but sadly these crimes are dealt with inside the community and not brought to the police. For rape, the rapist will be banished from the church until he shows that he is really sorry and then is obliged to spend six weeks in doing church duties!
6. The buggy and the horse
The buggy and the horse is the most basic means of transportation used by the Amish. However, in the eyes of the law it is still a vehicle and you could get arrested for drunk driving. In 2007 in Pennsylvania a 22 year old was arrested for drunk driving. A nother 17 year old was arrested for sleeping while driving which was considered reckless.
5. The Wolf of Ohio
Monroe Beachy of Ohio was sentencedto six years and a half in prison for his fraud schemes. Monroe is an Amish member and, despite the fact that the Amish are strictly religious and not fond of the riches of the world, he was a different Amish member. He was the broker who lost $16.8 million in stocks. Well, that’s a large sum of money!
4. Amish dolls
All children played with dolls at one point or another at their childhood and so did the Amish children. The only twist here is that the Amish dolls are faceless! This comes from the religious belief that only God can make humans and that all the children are the same in God’s eyes. These dolls are sold to tourists for a not-so-little sum of money!
3. Where do our puppies come from?
The Amish run puppy mills where dogs are made to breed and the puppies are sold for quite some money. This was not the sad part yet, the sad part was that these dogs’ vocal cords are damaged so they would not bark. The Amish are not being cruel but they rather view dogs as pigs and chicken; a meal on a plate!
2. Amish population
The Amish doubles every generation; they started as 5,000 and now they are 250,000. This is because of natural growth as their families are usually big and they always stick together as they fear being abandoned when they leave their community.
1. TV shows and the Amish
The Amish were pictured in multiple shows trying to have a look on their reaction to modern life. Despite the claims of religious bigotry held against these shows, they continue to be an absolute success in showbiz.
