The Pied Piper of Hamelin, actually city tourism employee Michael Boyer, leads local children dressed as rats through a quiet street on November 19, 2012 in Hameln, Germany. The Pied Piper (in German: Der Rattenfaenger), is one of the many stories featured in the collection of fairy tales collected by the Grimm brothers, and the 200th anniversary of the first publication of the stories will take place this coming December 20th. Boyer, a U.S. citizen who has lived in Hameln for 15 years, and city children regularly perform a reenactment of the Pied Piper tale throughout the summer months. The Grimm brothers collected their stories from oral traditions in the region between Frankfurt and Bremen in the early 19th century, and the works include such global classics as Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel. (Photo by Sean Gallup)

Organizers of an exhibition of ancient instruments of torture in Huai'an, Jiangsu province, have suggested that children, heart disease patients and people with high blood pressure stay away because of the vivid depictions of shocking cruelty. The exhibition has more than 200 instruments of torture on display in the 50,000-square-meter exhibition halls of a restored ancient building. Wax figures, along with sound and light techniques, are incorporated for scary effect. The local government said the exhibition is for tourists and historians to research ancient torture practices. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress)

A Filipino flagellant crawls along a street on Maundy Thursday, in San Fernando city, Pampanga Province, north of Manila, Philippines, 24 March 2016. Many Filipino Catholic penitents mark the Holy Week by submitting to different forms of physical penance in the hopes of being forgiven for their sins. (Photo by Francis R. Malasig/EPA)

A member of the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN) deactivates a bomb from a supposed terrorist during a training exercise in the event of a terrorist attack in collaboration with Recherche Assistance Intervention Dissuasion (RAID) and Research and Intervention Brigades (BRI) in presence of the French Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve at la Gare Montparnasse, in central Paris on April 20, 2016. (Photo by Miguel Medina/Reuters)

A participant in the Borodino Battle re-enactment before the show at the Borodino Field in the Moscow Region on September 4, 2016. The Battle of Borodino, fought on September 7, 1812, was a battle fought in the Napoleonic Wars during the French invasion of Russia. The fighting involved around 250,000 troops and left at least 70,000 casualties, making Borodino the deadliest day of the Napoleonic Wars. (Photo by Kirill Kallinikov/Sputnik)

Participants re-enact the “Battle of Five Armies” from J.R.R. Tolkien's novel “The Hobbit” in a forest near the town of Doksy, Czech Republic June 6, 2015. According to event organizers, hundreds of enthusiasts dressed as characters such as elves, dwarves, goblins and orcs from the book “The Hobbit” re-enacted the clash. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)

The feet of a Filipino penitent is nailed to a wooden cross during Good Friday rituals on April 3, 2015 at Cutud, Pampanga province, northern Philippines. Several Filipino devotees had themselves nailed to crosses Friday to remember Jesus Christ's suffering and death, an annual rite frowned upon by church leaders in this predominantly Roman Catholic country. (Photo by Aaron Favila/AP Photo)

A member of the Amabutho Zulu regiments is congratulated by a member of the Dundee Diehards at the end of the Battle of Isandlwana, in Isandlwana on January 21, 2023. (Photo by Marco Longari/AFP Photo)