Ever looked at something – or someone – and thought “What’s the actual point?” It turns out there are lots of useless things in the world but surely stairs should never make the list.

To prove a point, to no-one but myself, I did a quick Google search. “What’s the point of stairs?” The results yielded no surprises: “The primary purpose of stairs is to provide a simple and easy means of moving between levels.” “Provide access from one floor to another.” “Provide a suitable means of escape in case of fire.” And so on and so forth.

Yet there are stairs aplenty that could have you scratching your head - and possibly even breaking your neck. They are, for lack of a better word, pointless. So my next question for Google had to be “Why do some stairs look like they were designed and built by a blindfolded ostrich with its head in the sand?” Google was confused but did inform me, as a side note, that an ostrich’s brain is smaller than its eyeballs.

Bored Panda has compiled a list of some of the most epic and bizarre stair design fails that might leave you thinking your eyeballs are deceiving you. And in case you ever encounter any of them, we spoke to two experts. One about the hidden purpose of strange stairs and another about how to remain firmly on your feet.

stair-design-fails-