Lots of cities select a cute, cuddly animal as their mascot, but the Indonesian city of Pontianak, located in Borneo’s West Kalimantan province, may take the opposite approach: According to Mashable, local officials are thinking about erecting a giant statue of a female vampiric ghost, in honor of the evil spirit the town is named after.

For those not familiar with Indonesian folklore, the pontianak—also known as kuntilanak—is the vengeful spirit of a woman who died in childbirth or while pregnant, and has returned to Earth to prey on the living. Tourism officials think that a 330-foot statue of the ghoulish phantom would attract visitors to Pontianak, after noting the popularity of similar public works in other Asian cities, The Jakarta Post reports.

For example, Singapore has the Merlion—a statue of an animal with a lion head and a fish body. The head symbolizes the lion that a mythical Malay prince is said to have encountered upon his arrival to the island (he named the region “Singapura,” or “Lion City”), and the tail symbolizes the city’s origins as a fishing village. Meanwhile, Kuching, Malaysia is filled with large cat statues; they reference the city’s name, which is derived from the Malay word for “cat.”

Mock-ups of the statue have been making the rounds on Facebook, and Indonesia’s Public Works and Public Housing Ministry reportedly told tourism officials that they would contribute funds for the project if the city council gives it the go-ahead. However, Pontianak’s giant ghost statue isn’t a done deal just yet.

The Straits Times reports that locals have formed a protest group against the statue, arguing that a giant ghost statue would be, well, pretty creepy. Group representatives have met with city council members, who’ve reassured them that the ghost statue is only in the planning stages at this point, and that they’ve heard no official word from government higher-ups.

“It’s only an idea,” said council official Irwan Suhandar, according to the paper.

[h/t Mashable]

In the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, thrill-seekers can opt for a hardcore hair-straightening experience. As Reuters reports, local barber Ramadan Odwan styles his customers’ hair smooth using a blowtorch—and people are lining up to reap the benefits of its burn.

For 20 shekels (around $5), customers can receive a haircut and have their strands fire-straightened. “People have gone crazy about it,” Odwan told Reuters. “Many people are curious to go through the experience and they are not afraid. People here love adventures.”

Odwan isn’t the only beauty professional to offer extreme salon services. One barber in Milan burns the ends of his patrons’ hair with candles; in Madrid, there’s a barber who trims tresses with a samurai sword. Still, Odwan may be the only stylist in Gaza to use flames instead of a flat iron.

Odwan coats customers’ hair with a protective liquid (he won’t reveal what’s in it) and uses a blowtorch to apply fire in short intervals.

“I control how long I apply fire, I keep it on and off for 10 seconds or 15 seconds. It is completely safe and I have not encountered any accident since I started it two months ago,” Odwan told Reuters. We’re crossing our fingers for him (and his intrepid customers).

Check out Reuters’ story for more pictures of Odwan in action.

#AWANInews Hottest cut of all – Gaza barber wields blowtorch https://t.co/oyBPfVF56s pic.twitter.com/I4YD8dvlHc

— Astro AWANI (@501Awani) February 10, 2017

[h/t Reuters]

Professional astronomers are responsible for 13 billion years’ worth of discoveries about our universe, but the cosmos is a big place, and at-home stargazers have been staring at the sky with a keen eye for a long time, too. These examples of weird and wonderful planetary phenomena—with an asteroid and comet in there too for good measure—were all first spotted by amateur astronomers, and prove that you don’t have to be a pro to make some stellar discoveries.

1. A PLUME ON MARS

When amateur astronomers discovered a plume-like cloud on Mars, scientists were at a loss for an explanation. Mars has clouds, of course, but to form at such a height was unheard of on Mars or Earth. Scientists later correlated the phenomenon with a coronal mass ejection from the Sun. Studies continue, but the plume and its solar cause might help unlock the mystery of the vanished Martian atmosphere.

2. A PLANET WITH FOUR SUNS

Tatooine has nothing on planet PH1, which has four suns (of sorts). The planet, discovered by amateurs, orbits two stars. Eighty billion miles away, those two stars are, in turn, orbited by two more stars.

3. A GEOMETRIC STORM ON NEPTUNE

While processing Voyager 2 images of Neptune, amateur astronomer Rolf Wahl Olsen discovered what appears to be a hexagon-shaped storm. More work needs to be done to confirm the phenomenon (perhaps in conjunction with some future mission there), but such a storm would not be without precedent: Jet streams near Saturn’s north pole form a hexagon as well.

4. AMMONIA BLIZZARDS ON SATURN

In 2010, amateur scientists worked with the Cassini spacecraft team to go storm chasing on Saturn. As the spacecraft’s Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument picked up evidence of possible storms, the information would be relayed to amateur astronomers, who would study Saturn for visual evidence. Discoveries would then be relayed back to the Cassini team for possible imaging and further study. (Yes, the ammonia-ice blizzards of Saturn could be seen by home stargazers here on Earth.)

5. THE FASTEST SUPER-FAST ROTATOR IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

In 2008, Richard Miles, a British amateur astronomer, discovered the then-fastest-spinning object in the solar system. Asteroid 2008HJ completes one rotation every 42.7 seconds, and falls under a class of celestial objects called “super-fast rotators,” for obvious reasons. Dwarf planet Haumea is now considered the solar system’s fastest spinner.

6. A VANISHING STRIPE ON JUPITER

Photos of Jupiter taken by amateur astronomers in 2010 revealed the disappearance of one of its famous red stripes. Jupiter’s mystifying weather means that its bands sometimes fade and its great red spot changes in size.

7. WHITE SPOTS ON SATURN

In 1933, actor and amateur astronomer Will Hay discovered a “white spot” on Saturn. It wasn’t the first instance of such a spot being observed, but Hay’s study was perhaps the most famous. The spots were once thought to be signs of collisions by foreign bodies, but are now thought to be related to the planet’s turbulent weather (see #4).

8. ICE VOLCANOES ON A COMET

Cryovolcanoes are just what they sound like: volcanoes that erupt ice as opposed to lava. They are well-known features of such moons as Enceladus (one of Saturn’s satellites), and in 2015, were spotted by amateurs on Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann.

9. SPACE WEATHERING ON THE MOON

In 1953, an amateur astronomer named Leon Stuart witnessed what appeared to be an explosion on the Moon. He took a picture of it, and in the process became “the first and only human in history to witness and document the impact of an asteroid-sized body impacting the Moon’s scarred exterior,” according to NASA. Fifty years later, planetary scientists proved Stuart’s discovery to be a legitimate instance of space weathering.

10. A MYSTERIOUS COMET CIRCLING THE SUN

In 1779, amateur astronomer William Herschel, using a telescope of his own design, discovered what he first thought was an oddly behaving star and later thought was a comet. As it turned out, Herschel had inadvertently built one of the most powerful telescopes in the world, and his comet was, in fact, the first new planet to be discovered since antiquity: Uranus.