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News of the Weird: Week of 05/01/25

It’s Good to Have a Hobby?

After authorities in Keene, New Hampshire, arrested Kelli Tedford, 23, on Feb. 21 for urinating on a variety of grocery products at the Monadnock Food Co-op, they discovered that her odd hobby goes back at least four years. NBC News reported that Tedford tainted produce and other items to the tune of $1,500 for the groceries and cleanup. Then police found online videos dating back to 2021 depicting Tedford in multiple locations, relieving herself on produce, surfaces, and other objects. She was charged with felony criminal mischief and released on her own recognizance — so she was able to piddle in public until her April 7, court date. [NBC News, 2/25/2025]

Alarming Headline

Mitchell Ring and his wife Jennifer Colin were flying from Melbourne, Australia, to Doha, Qatar, in mid-February when another passenger on their flight collapsed and died, The New York Times reported. The crew tried to revive the woman, but eventually opted to put her body in a wheelchair and tried to move it to business class, Ring said — but the chair wouldn’t fit up the aisle. That’s when Ring, who was sharing a four-seat row with Colin, was asked to move over so they could place the deceased woman in the seat next to him. Colin ended up moving to a different row: “I’m not a great flyer at the best of times,” she said. Ring endured the four remaining hours of the flight sitting next to the corpse, which was covered by a blanket. The International Air Transport Association confirmed that the flight attendants did the right thing; the deceased should be covered and strapped in with a seatbelt. [New York Times, 2/26/2025]

Least Competent Criminals

• Some people just can’t shut up. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced on Feb. 25 that it had settled a case of illegal possession of remains of an endangered species, KCRA-TV reported. The investigation began in late 2023 when two plainclothes CDFW officers were on a flight and struck up a conversation with a couple seated near them. The couple admitted to having a green sea turtle skull in their luggage — a species that is endangered and illegal to possess and transport in the U.S. The couple went on to brag about having taken a mountain lion, protected in California, and a family member’s possession of multiple taxidermied mountain lions, a wolverine, and wolves. After landing, the officers filed search warrants on the couple’s home in Chico, as well as the family member’s home in Napa. The searches turned up more illegal species. All three defendants reached plea deals and were convicted of various violations. [KCRA, 2/26/2025]

• Evelina Fabianski, 18, was looking for revenge (and the return of $700 she said she was owed) on Feb. 26 when she “decided to spray-paint and throw eggs at what she thought was [her ex-boyfriend’s] car,” said Volusia County (Florida) Sheriff’s deputies. Unfortunately, ClickOrlando.com reported, the car she and a minor friend covered with bright yellow paint belonged to a neighbor. Damage to the car amounted to about $5,000; Fabianski was charged with criminal mischief, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, possession of alcohol under age 21, and DUI. [ClickOrlando.com, 2/26/2025]

Crème de la Weird

In early February, the BBC reported on Feb. 26, doctors at the AIIMS hospital in Delhi, India, removed a 15kg parasitic twin from the abdomen of a 17-year-old boy. Parasitic twins form when one fetus partially develops while attached to the other. The young man had two fully formed legs, a pelvis, buttocks, and external genitalia protruding from his abdomen. Because of his condition, he had not been able to travel or do any physical activity, and he dropped out of school at the eighth grade. “A new world has opened up to me,” he said. The parasitic limbs were able to feel pain and changes in temperature. It took a team of doctors just two and a half hours to complete the surgery, and the patient has not experienced any complications. Dr. Asuri Krishna, who led the surgery, said, “Only 40 to 50 cases of parasitic twins have been documented in world medical literature.” [BBC, 2/26/2025]

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News of the Weird: Week of 04/24/25

The Way the World Works

In the aftermath of the wildfires in California, at least two residents returned to their homes only to find new and unwelcome tenants, the Los Angeles Times reported. Homeowner Sean Lorenzini evacuated during the Eaton fire, and upon his return found a black bear sleeping in the crawl space under his home and lounging by the pool during the day. The large bear seemed to be foraging in neighbors’ trash bins and was probably behind an attack on a neighbor’s pet goat, Lorenzini said. “It’s definitely not moving,” he said. He’s hoping to get the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to help after they relocated a 525-pound bear at the end of January. In that case, the Altadena-area bear was lured into a trap with peanut butter and rotisserie chicken, then moved to Angeles National Forest. The wildlife agency told Lorenzini that after his bear is removed, he’ll need to seal up the crawl space, as it will probably try to return. “I know we’re encroaching on their territory,” Lorenzini said of the bear, “so I’m sympathetic to that. But at the same time … I’m exposed if anyone gets hurt. This is a wild animal.”

Least Competent Criminals

An observant deputy was credited with foiling the attempts of Jose Francisco Herrera Munoz, 18, and Angel Gonzales Gutierrez, 19, to launch illegal drugs into the U.S. Penitentiary Pollock in Grant Parish, Louisiana, Denver7-TV reported on Feb. 18. Both men are from Greeley, Colorado. Munoz and Gutierrez had planned to use a compressed air cannon, which has a range of 350 feet, to send $112,000 worth of tobacco and $89,500 worth of methamphetamine over the prison wall, but the deputy acted before they could make the delivery. “That much meth would have just been devastating in that population,” said Sheriff Steven McCain. They were charged with attempting to introduce contraband into a penal institution and attempting to distribute meth.

What’s in a Name?

• When Nontra Null, 41, of Burbank, California, tried to apply for a visa to attend a friend’s wedding in India, she kept getting the same response: The computer couldn’t process the application. Turns out “null” is a troublesome name when it comes to filling out online forms. Yahoo! News reported on Feb. 23 that when “null” is entered in a field, it essentially means, well, nothing. Jan Null, a 75-year-old meteorologist, learned to reserve hotel rooms adding his first initial to his last name, and security auditor Joseph Tartaro, whose vanity license plate reads NULL, keeps getting random traffic tickets from all over the United States. Modern software has addressed the problem, but not everyone has upgraded, one tech researcher noted. 

• Jason Kilburn of Omaha, Nebraska, learned about his daughter Caroline only after she was born, he told NBC News on Feb. 24. At her birth in November 2022, her mother had her placed with a foster family, but before that could happen, the baby received a certificate of live birth with a bizarre name: Unakite Thirteen Hotel. Kilburn was told it was a “computer-generated name.” Now, as Kilburn raises Caroline and tries to get a birth certificate with her given name, he’s stuck in a “circuitous, bureaucratic loop.” Without the birth certificate and a Social Security number, he can’t secure health insurance or child care. Just to get a routine checkup, Kilburn has to pay about $700 out of pocket. “It’s not like I’m trying to pull something here,” he said. “This is stuff she’s entitled to as any American is.” The Social Security Administration has issued a Social Security number, albeit with the original unusual name, and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services is working with Kilburn to straighten out Caroline’s mess. 

Phobia Report

Leigh Woodman, 32, of Bristol, England, suffers from a crippling fear of a common condiment: mortuusequusphobia, or fear of ketchup. The New York Post reported on Feb. 20 that Woodman likens seeing ketchup with “being held at gunpoint” on the trauma scale. “I can’t even look at a bottle or have it anywhere near me,” she said. “It makes me feel panicky.” While her mother claims Woodman liked ketchup as a child, she can’t remember a time when the popular condiment didn’t upset her. 

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News of the Weird: Week of 04/17/25

Update

Last week, News of the Weird reported about mysterious QR code stickers appearing on gravestones in Munich, Germany. The denouement is much less interesting than the mystery: The New York Times reported on Feb. 20 that a local business had been contracted to clean and maintain certain graves, and workers had used the stickers to help them keep track of which graves they had worked on. “We are a large company,” said Alfred Zanker, a senior manager at the unnamed company. “Everything has to happen in an orderly manner.” 

It’s Good To Have a Hobby

Clem Reinkemeyer, 87, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, has an unusual collection — and now he has a Guinness World Record. United Press International reported on Feb. 17 that Reinkemeyer’s collection of 8,882 bricks includes a Roman brick from 100 A.D. and a sidewalk brick made in a facility where the Pentagon now stands. “What appealed to me about bricks is they have names and you can trace them back historically to places,” he said. Some of the most valuable ones are those with misspellings. “I think Oklahoma has a history for the most misspelled bricks,” he said. “I don’t know why.”

Space Trash

Officials at Poland’s space agency POLSA are examining debris that fell onto the premises of a business in Komorniki on Feb. 19, Reuters reported, to determine whether it originated from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Later that day, a second “identical” container was found about 19 miles away in a forest. POLSA said it has been monitoring the flight of the Falcon 9, which launched on Feb. 1 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and “will verify the object with SpaceX.” News outlets in Poland reported that flashes were seen in the sky on the morning of Feb. 19.

Recent Alarming Headlines

Residents of Godstone High Street in Surrey, England, may be out of their homes for months after a huge sinkhole opened up on Feb. 17, the BBC reported. Two sections of the road caved in, causing people in 30 homes to be evacuated. “We’ll be looking to completely rebuild the road,” said Surrey County Council’s Matt Furniss. “It’s currently stable, it isn’t growing anymore.” Local business owners are concerned about how the closure will affect them. Shane Fry of DD Services said it would be “a trialling few months for us.”

News You Can Use

The SS United States, which has been docked and deteriorating at a Philadelphia port since 1976, started its 18-day passage to Alabama on Feb. 19, NBC10-TV reported. The ocean liner, in service from 1952 to 1969, holds the record for fastest eastbound and westbound trans-Atlantic crossings, but on this final journey, it will be towed at 5 knots (or about 6 miles per hour). In Alabama, it will be stripped of its innards — furniture, engine room equipment, cables, and flooring — and then will be moved to Okaloosa County, Florida, where it will be sunk offshore and turned into a scuba-diving destination. Capt. Joseph Farrell, a ship-sinking and reef expert, said the sinking will be “a final chapter for the last all-American-made, American-flagged ocean liner.”

Saw That Coming

An unnamed 55-year-old Canadian woman lost both her hands on Feb. 7 when she “attempted to engage” with a 6-foot-long shark while snorkeling in Turks and Caicos, The New York Times reported. The tourist reportedly wanted to take photos of the animal. After she was treated in the Caribbean, she returned to Canada for further medical attention, but doctors could not save her hands. Conservationist Chris Stefanou said the shark might have mistaken the woman’s phone for a fish. “Sharks, or any predatory animal in the ocean, can confuse that as, like, a bait fish,” he said.

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News of the Weird: Week of 04/10/25

It’s a Dirty Job

Nath Wyld is a star at Magic Men, a strip club in Prahran, Australia — or at least, he was, until he discovered a more lucrative line of work. Metro News reported on Feb. 10 that Wyld makes about 20,000 pounds a year by posting videos of himself passing gas on TikTok. The onetime carpenter joined OnlyFans in 2017 and soon made enough with his X-rated videos to quit his daytime job. About two years in, he got a request for a fart video, which he initially refused. “I was blown away (no pun intended) by the demand and I have been making them ever since,” Wyld said. “Some want to see my facial expressions; others just want to see me from far away,” he said of the custom videos he makes. Wyld said he “starts bloated — kind of part of the process — and go through the video until I feel lighter by the end. … I’ve been doing this long enough to know that everyone’s into their own thing, and that’s cool.”

Awesome! 

• When Loretta, a 104-year-old resident of the Avon Nursing Home in Geneseo, New York, was asked what she wanted for her birthday, she replied that she’d never seen the inside of a jail. So, WHAM-TV reported on Feb. 11, the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office obliged, inviting her to the station and giving her a good look around, then celebrating with cake and coffee. Loretta paid back the favor by sharing some wisdom with Sheriff Thomas Dougherty: “Mind your business.”

• Officials in the Czech Republic had been planning to build a dam on the Klabava River for more than six years, Yahoo! News reported on Feb. 11, but were stymied by negotiations over land use. Instead, some industrious beavers solved the problem for them and saved taxpayers $1.2 million. “They built a wetland with pools and canals,” said Bohumil Fiser of the Czech Nature Conservation Agency. “The area is roughly twice larger than planned. They do a brilliant job.”

Fish Story

It took Hayley Herzig, 22, of Van Dyne, Wisconsin, six years to harvest her first sturgeon, but when she did, it was newsworthy. WLUK-TV reported that on the first day of sturgeon-spearing season at Lake Winnebago, Feb. 8, Herzig landed a fish bigger than herself. The massive sturgeon weighed 180.5 pounds and was more than 79 inches long. “It was very exciting, did not feel real,” she said. “I was in disbelief.” She and her boyfriend buried the beast in the snow behind their house and plan to deep-fry or smoke it. “We’re probably going to get a replica … and hang it up in the house because it’s … a memory that’ll never be forgotten,” Herzig said.

It’s Come to This

Visitors to the Chengdu Snow Village in the Sichuan province of China were left with a “bad impression” of the tourist attraction in early February, Reuters reported. Because of unseasonably warm weather, project coordinators had to improvise the “snowy” atmosphere, stapling cotton sheets to the rooftops and scattering white sand, cotton batting, and soapy water to simulate snow throughout the property. Snow Village organizers said entry fees would be refunded, and the village has closed.

It’s a Mystery

Investigators in Munich, Germany, are stumped by the sudden appearance of more than 1,000 small stickers on grave markers in three different cemeteries, the Associated Press reported. The stickers feature a QR code that, when scanned, reveals the name of the person in the grave and the location within the cemetery. “The stickers were put both on decades-old gravestones and very new graves that so far only have a wooden cross,” said police spokesperson Christian Drexler. Police are investigating property damage as well because when removed, the stickers leave discoloration.

Repeat Offender

For the second time in a month, a teenager in the Bronx has been charged with trying to take a subway train for a joyride on Feb. 18, Pix11-TV reported. Police said the 15-year-old tried to operate the No. 2 train from the Prospect Avenue station. He was arrested in late January with a group of kids who drove the R train in Brooklyn. He was charged with reckless endangerment and criminal trespassing.

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News of the Weird: Week of 04/03/25

The Weirdo-American Community

A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Chicago was forced to divert to Denver on Feb. 9 after a passenger became unruly, LiveandLetsFly.com reported. The man was up out of his seat repeatedly and argued with flight attendants before demanding to know “Where are the Mormons?” One passenger said the incident “escalated into a big physical altercation and several passengers had to rush out of their seats to help the crew pin down this person.” Although the troublemaker was removed from the flight in Denver, the plane sat on the ground for about five hours before continuing to Chicago.

News That Sounds Like a Joke

A high school teacher in Queensland, Australia, has taken to identifying as a cat, 7News-TV reported on Feb. 10. “Miss Purr,” as she prefers to be known, teaches at Marsden State High School, where she “screeches and growls when [her students] don’t listen,” one person posted on Facebook. She also hisses and licks the backs of her hands during class and wears a headband with cat ears. One concerned mother said Miss Purr had made her daughter “purr for a lolly.” The Department of Education said the school was aware of the complaints and the principal was speaking with the teacher.

Cultural Diversity

On Feb. 10 in Inazawa, Japan, more than 7,000 men wearing only loincloths participated in the Konomiya Naked Festival at a Shinto shrine, The Mainichi reported. The event, which has been held for more than 1,200 years on the 13th day of the first lunar month, features a “god-man” who is thought to carry away misfortune if you touch him. This year’s “god-man” was 26-year-old Ryota Kato, who threw himself into the crowd as the men chanted and fought to touch him. About an hour later, he emerged from the crowd and entered the shrine.

Inexplicable

Law enforcement officers in South Holland, England, are stumped by a rash of pet cats returning to their homes with patches of missing fur, The Spalding and South Holland Voice reported on Feb. 12. The cats have apparently been shaved. “This behavior is completely unacceptable,” said inspector Matt Dickinson. “The cats in question are someone’s pet, part of their family.” Evidently, it’s not the first time the mysterious cat shaver has struck; two Facebook commenters said their cats had been shaved in past years.

It’s Come to This

A manufacturer of fortune cookies contacted the owner of a Vietnamese restaurant in Sydney, Australia, to announce they would no longer fill her orders for custom messages that are offensive or contain expletives. 9News reported that Nahji Chu, owner of Lady Chu, ordered profanity-laced cookies for Valentine’s Day. But after the manufacturer mistakenly sent some of Chu’s cookies to fulfill another order, causing distress with that customer, they changed their policy. Chu wasn’t happy: “If you’re getting it mixed up with other restaurants, that’s not my fault,” she said. Some of Chu’s more PG-rated cookie messages include, “You are capable of great things. But all you do is look at your phone all day. You won’t be that great sorry! #ladychu” and “The year of the snake bears good fortune! Your divorce is coming soon.” She said she’ll “take out the profanities and be creative” with her next order.

Oops!

The Lee County (Florida, where else?) Sheriff’s Office is investigating after a Feb. 7 incident involving an allegedly intoxicated man riding on a lawnmower, WESH-TV reported. A video camera caught the mower plowing into a mailbox along the street; the man went heels over head and stumbled away from the mower, then returned and drove off, apparently hitting multiple other mailboxes along the way. Matt Clardy, whose mailbox was among the victims, called it “absolutely disgusting” but admitted, “It’s so funny. I can watch it 100 times.” The man left behind a Pittsburgh Steelers hat and sunglasses at one of the scenes; police are still trying to identify him.

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News of the Weird: Week of 03/27/25

The Passing Parade

In the name of gender equality, Chinese influencer Zhu Miaolin is calling on her male counterparts to start wearing Adam’s apple covers, analogous to women wearing bras. The South China Morning Post reported on Jan. 23 that Zhu noted the Adam’s apple is a delicate, sensitive area that should be protected. The covers are made from wool, leather, or lace and cost between 70 cents and $3. A 2020 census in China revealed that there are about 35 million more men than women, a result of the longstanding (but now defunct) one-child policy in the country.

Family Values

Two mourning sisters from Clearwater, Florida, didn’t even make it out of the church before getting into a scrape following their 95-year-old dad’s funeral on Jan. 22, The Smoking Gun reported. As Kathleen Deegan, 66, delivered the eulogy for Dr. Arthur Deegan, she neglected to mention her niece, which upset Maureen Deegan, 60. After the service, Maureen allegedly chest-bumped her older sister; Kathleen then grabbed Maureen’s hair and pulled her back. Maureen threw “strikes at [Kathleen’s] face.” Kathleen was arrested for misdemeanor battery; Maureen was charged with felony battery because her victim was over 65 years old.

News That Sounds Like a Joke

Fighting a cold? If you’re lucky, you can find some Progresso Soup Drops — cough lozenges that taste like chicken noodle soup. Metro News reported that General Mills announced the limited-time product on Jan. 16: “What’s a soup drop? Well, it’s soup you can suck on, of course!” A can of 24 lozenges costs $2.49, but they sold out almost immediately, before a second batch was released on Jan. 23.

What’s in a Name?

Before she was born, a cosmetologist from McDonough, Georgia, told the New York Post on Jan. 27, her mom wanted to name her either Tequilla Sunrise or Shaylee Shian. After the birth, her dad merged the names and signed the papers, and Tequilla Shian was introduced to the world. Tequilla was bullied and got in trouble with teachers, who thought she was making up her name, until she started going by Shian when she was 11. As an adult, she has embraced her first name again. “I have heard the same jokes over and over again,” she said. “Kids would ask if my parents were alcoholics or if they were drunk naming me.” Interestingly, Tequilla is a teetotaler: “I myself don’t drink — people find that very funny, that the girl named Tequilla doesn’t drink.”

Don’t Try This at Home

JAMA Cardiology published a case on Jan. 22 that might put followers of the carnivore diet off their meat. The subject arrived at a Tampa, Florida, hospital with yellow oozing nodes on his palms, elbows, and soles of his feet, the New York Post reported. He told doctors that he was following a diet consisting of entire sticks of butter and six to nine pounds of cheese and hamburger patties daily. He said his overall health had improved — he had lost weight and gained energy and cognitive functioning. But the painless ooze had started nearly a month earlier. Blood tests revealed his cholesterol level was more than 1,000 mg/dL — about five times what is considered healthy. He was diagnosed with xanthelasma, in which excess lipids ooze from the blood vessels. The report didn’t reveal the man’s fate.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Domino’s Pizza UK launched its first-ever eau de toilette, Eau de Passion, which is inspired by its Pepperoni Passion pizza and features notes of spice, pepper, and a woody, warm base, the New York Post reported. The scent’s bottle is shaped like a slice of pizza, and the cologne is free from the Domino’s website if you’re lucky enough to be chosen to receive one. British star Luke Debono, who’s promoting the scent, said it was “the perfect gift for passionate pizza-loving couples looking to spice things up this Valentine’s Day.”

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News of the Weird: Week of 03/20/25

It’s Good To Have a Hobby

In 2023, friends Boone Hogg and Logan Jugler found a nice stick on the side of a trail in Utah — it had “some excellent grain on it” and a “nice grip,” they said. They liked it so much, they shared a review of it with their friends, National Public Radio reported on Jan. 23. Two years later, Stick Nation has about 3 million Instagram followers from all over the world who post pictures and reviews of their favorite sticks. Some are “modded,” or altered by humans; others are “natty,” left in their natural state. One poster from Antarctica wondered: “There are no sticks here. … I found an ice stick. Does this count?” Stick Nation allowed the submission. “This is an Antarctica stick,” Jugler decreed.

Nope

In November, high above Riedering, Germany, Friedi Kuhne and Lukas Irmler walked across a slackline strung between two hot-air balloons flying at more than 8,000 feet, United Press International reported. The two were awarded the Guinness World Record for highest slackline walk on Jan. 27. Irmler went first, calling the successful walk “a glorious moment.” Kuhne admitted, “Watching Lukas struggle on the slackline was also very intimidating for me,” noting that the balloons went up and down while they were mid-walk. “At one point we were walking kind of downhill — the next minute uphill. The tension of the line was going up and down.” He celebrated by parachuting off the line.

It’s a Mystery

The Los Angeles Times reported on Jan. 27 that police were called to a property along the Los Angeles River where Google Earth images had captured multiple HELP signs scratched into the dirt. The land is owned by the Union Pacific Railroad, and it turns out the satellite images were captured in 2023. But a KTLA-TV news helicopter flew over the property on Jan. 27 and saw that the words were still there. Jill Micek, a spokesperson for Union Pacific, said the railroad is aware of a man who has trespassed on the company’s property repeatedly and who is responsible for the alarming messages. While she stressed that no one is in danger, the conspiracy theory community lit up with tales of underground tunnels: “The truth is in the tunnels,” one wrote on X. But LAPD is also familiar with the individual who frequents the area, and they said he “has refused housing or a mental health evaluation. He has been at the location for a few years.”

Weird in the Wild

In rural Willows, Australia, a man in his 50s suffered serious injuries on Jan. 29 when a “massive” kangaroo attacked him as he walked from his house to his car, The Guardian reported. Fortunately, a neighbor witnessed the attack and was able to call for help. Rick Underhill of the Willows Rural Fire Brigade said the man encountered two kangaroos, one male and one female, and the female ran off before the “other bastard turned around and attacked him.” He said the male roo was about 6.5 feet tall and probably weighed 220 pounds. Underhill warned community members to stay at home. “A lot of elderly people live in this little community, and they like to go and walk their dogs in the morning,” he said. “And that’s just asking for trouble.”

The Tech Revolution

Twelve thousand humans, alongside dozens of humanoid robots, are scheduled to compete in a half-marathon in Beijing in April, Oddity Central reported on Jan. 29. Bipedal robots from Tesla, Boston Dynamics, and 1X will have to have a human-inspired appearance and be able to move on two legs. Experts say experienced human runners have the edge over robots, partially because of battery life, but battery changes mid-race will be allowed.

Police Report

Police pulled over Elizabeth Perez of El Paso, Texas, on Jan. 24 after clocking her driving 106 mph on I-84 near Baker City, Oregon, The Oregonian reported. Why is that weird? Perez is 94 years old. She was also cited for failing to secure a child passenger, driving without insurance, and failing to yield to an emergency vehicle.

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News of the Weird: Week of 03/13/25

Frequent Flyer

Mittens the cat gets around, to wit: On Jan. 13, the 8-year-old Maine coon was booked on a one-way flight from Christchurch, New Zealand, to Melbourne, Australia, Sky News reported. But in Melbourne, Mittens was never unloaded from the baggage compartment. Instead, three hours later, the airline revealed that Mittens had flown back to New Zealand — about 7.5 hours in the air. Owner Margo Neas was told a wheelchair in the cargo area had obscured Mittens’ cage from the baggage handler’s view. “It was not a great start to our new life in Melbourne because we didn’t have the family, we weren’t complete,” said Neas. After arriving back in Christchurch, Mittens was loaded onto another flight to Melbourne, where she was reunited with her family. She “ran into my arms and just snuggled up in here,” Neas said. “It was just such a relief.”

Unclear on the Concept

Drug counselor Alvin Lewis Jr., 54, was arrested in Wappingers Falls, New York, on Jan. 14 after he sold crack cocaine to undercover agents on multiple occasions, Mid-Hudson News reported. Community members had alerted the Dutchess County Drug Task Force that Lewis was selling drugs while using multiple aliases. He worked the overnight hours at an inpatient recovery facility, Arms Acres. After executing a warrant, agents discovered crack packaged and ready for sale in his home. He was held in the county jail without bail.

Awwwww!

A sunfish at the Kaikyokan Aquarium in Shimonoseki, Japan, has a new lease on life — or at least, new “friends” to share it with. The New York Post reported that the sunfish, who is the sole occupant of its tank, became depressed and stopped eating after the aquarium closed for renovations in December. “One of the staff members said, ‘Maybe it’s lonely because it misses the visitors,’” said an aquarium worker. “We attached uniforms of the staff members to the tank with a little bit of hope. Then, the next day, it was in good health again!” Workers say the sunfish tracks the uniforms and face cutouts with its eyes as it swims by, and those still in the building wave to it every time they pass the tank.

News You Can Use

A23a, an enormous iceberg that broke away from Antarctica almost 40 years ago, has been spinning around the Antarctic Ocean for a year, caught in a vortex, the Mirror reported. But now it’s on the move again, headed roughly toward South Georgia, a British-owned island that is largely uninhabited. A23a, at more than 1,200 feet thick and 1,400 square miles, can be seen from space. Sea captain Simon Wallace, stationed on the Pharos vessel in South Georgia, told the BBC: “Icebergs are inherently dangerous. I would be extraordinarily happy if it just completely missed us.” A collision could threaten wildlife on the island, including penguins, seals, and sea birds. The iceberg’s fate depends on currents and whether it gets “stuck” on the continental shelf around the island.

The Golden Age of Air Travel

On Jan. 17, as a Ryanair flight prepared to leave Lanzarote, Spain, and fly to Santiago de Compostela, a male passenger insisted that he was a United Nations diplomat and had a seat in the front row of the aircraft, the Mirror reported. When flight attendants asked to see his boarding pass, he said his friend had it. Once he was removed from the front row, he tried to sit in an exit row. An airport worker boarded the plane to say that “there was a ticket that hadn’t scanned properly,” and that’s when the flight crew decided he had to go. Police boarded the plane and had to drag the man off the aircraft as he said, “I have paid to travel” and “I am not going to accept this.” The flight was delayed about 40 minutes.

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News of the Weird: Week of 03/06/25

Animal Antics

A Starbucks employee in Mobile, Alabama, had to have stitches and rabies vaccinations on Jan. 10 after a pet Aotus monkey jumped out of a car at the drive-thru window and into the restaurant, according to Lagniappe. The monkey ran up the employee’s arm to her head and started biting her until a co-worker grabbed it and threw it back out of the window. Mobile Police Department public information officer Blake Brown said the monkey’s owner Tammy Elaine Gardner drove away from the restaurant before police arrived. The wounded employee said Gardner, who had another monkey in the car, later returned to the restaurant to check on her but wouldn’t give her name. “The owner of the animal could face charges,” Brown said. The Starbucks location has banned Gardner and her monkeys from the drive-thru. “She’s welcome to come inside if she leaves them in the car,” the employee said.

Wait, What?

Jose Israel Teran Jr., 21, was taken into custody on Jan. 19 in connection with a road rage incident in San Antonio, KSAT-TV reported. In that confrontation, Teran allegedly shot a man in a semitruck while driving north on I-35. But it was Teran’s earlier criminal activity, on Dec. 30, that really had law enforcement’s attention. He was accidentally added to a family group text string that day, in which members were discussing a 9-month-old baby’s upcoming baptism. Teran replied to the text, “That’s a nice Caucasian baby how much you want?” He went on to ask, “Are you not interested in selling? I’m willing to start the bid at 500k.” The baby’s father called Teran, who explained that he purchases babies for their organs and could pay in cash or bitcoin. Teran told police he thought the group thread was spam, but he was charged with the purchase and sale of human organs.

Truth Is Stranger Than Netflix

A 3-year-old girl who was visiting Fraser Island in Queensland, Australia, on Jan. 17 was bitten by a dingo, ABC reported. The Queensland Park and Wildlife Service said the girl was bitten on the back of a leg as her family strolled the beach. The family said they were regular visitors and had scanned the beach for dingoes, but “dingoes are quick and it happened suddenly,” said head ranger Linda Behrendorff. Other people came to assist in fighting the dingo off using a kayak paddle. The toddler didn’t go to the hospital and is expected to recover.

Questionable Judgment

A housekeeping crew on a P&O Cruises Australia ship took passengers by surprise in December when they paraded by the ship’s swimming pool wearing their all-white uniforms with pointy white hoods, News.com reported on Jan. 22. The eight crew were dressed as upside-down snow cones, but passengers were horrified and were quick to document the incident on social media. “We were like, ‘Are we seeing this correctly?’ It was so bizarre,” said one cruiser from Melbourne. Lynne Scrivens, communications director for the cruise line, said the housekeeping crew are from all over the world and had never heard of the Ku Klux Klan. “They are limited with what resources they have on ships,” she said, explaining that they make do with what they can find for costumes. P&O Cruises Australia issued an apology following the event: “The crew members were horrified.”

Recent Alarming Headline

A plastic surgeon in Taipei City, Taiwan, is being called the “bravest man in Taiwan” after he shared on social media that he had performed his own vasectomy, Oddity Central reported. Chen Wei-nong recorded the surgery for educational purposes and presented the 11 steps necessary to complete the procedure. “It was a strange feeling to touch and suture my own urethra,” he wrote. He reassured followers that the surgery was performed outside of work hours and under the supervision of a urologist, and while he experienced some discomfort following the vasectomy, he felt fine the next day.

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

NEWS OF THE WEIRD
© 2025 Andrews McMeel Syndication.
Reprinted with permission.
All rights reserved.

Categories
Fun Stuff News of the Weird

News of the Weird: Week of 02/27/25

Bright Idea

Toilet paper shoppers in Kagoshima Prefecture in southern Japan have a new option, GoodNewsNetwork.org reported on Jan. 14: rolls made from used diapers and other hygiene products. The cities of Shibushi and Osaki worked together to recycle disposable diapers starting in April 2024. The used items are sanitized, bleached, and shredded into a pulp to be mixed with recycled paper, to the tune of 30,000 rolls in the first two months of production. They’re sold at $2.70 for a dozen rolls. “Please support this eco-friendly product, which aims to promote a sustainable society by reusing local resources,” said Takumi Obo, spokesperson for the Osaki Municipal Government’s SDGs Promotion Council.

Irony

On Dec. 18 at the Family Dollar store in Mulberry, Florida, two shoplifters worked together to pull off a cleaning products heist, the Miami Herald reported on Jan. 10. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office, referring to the couple as Mr. Clean and Ms. Dookie until an arrest is made, hatched a plan to distract employees. “The man walked around the store gathering nearly $500 worth of merchandise [like lots of Gain, Tide and Clorox products],” officers said, “whilst the woman … [used] the restroom, without going to the restroom.” While employees cleaned up the mess, Mr. Clean walked past the registers and out to a Ford van, where Ms. Dookie joined him, and they drove away. The odd couple are still at large.

Unclear on the Concept

Hampton, Virginia, police officer J’ron Harry lost his job after a less-than-satisfying encounter with a prostitute on Dec. 30, WAVY-TV reported. Harry met 20-year-old Alexus “Dream” Copeland on an app and arranged to meet her that day at an apartment in Virginia Beach, police say. They agreed to shower together, but Copeland never came into the bathroom, instead lifting Harry’s phone, keys, wallet, and car (with police credentials). Police were able to track down the car in Norfolk; Copeland told them Harry had given her permission to borrow his car, but she was charged with grand larceny, credit card fraud, and prostitution. Harry was not charged but was terminated on Jan. 7.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

A coyote “made a mistake” on Jan. 13 and ended up in the refrigerated case of the produce section at an Aldi store in Chicago, WLS-TV reported. It was sequestered behind a selection of fine cheeses after roaming around the parking lot just minutes earlier. “It picked an odd location,” said Stan Gehrt with the Cook County Coyote Project. “They do this sometimes. They’re trying to hide from us.” Gehrt said many of the animals who end up in a sketchy situation are those who haven’t found a mate yet. The coyote will be evaluated by the Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation group, which will determine whether it can be released back into the wild.

Least Competent Criminal

Victoria state police in Australia released a video on Jan. 9 in an effort to identify two would-be arsonists who bungled their crime, Yahoo! News reported. In the video, two people in dark hoodies attempted to set fire to a Melbourne fast-food outlet on Christmas morning, but one of them became engulfed in flames. The footage shows the person removing their fiery trousers and running away bare-cheeked; the other person was seemingly unharmed.

Mistaken Identity

As a group of schoolchildren walked home on Jan. 13 in Syracuse, New York, Onondaga County Sheriff’s deputies approached the kids and said one girl, wearing a pink jacket and camo pants, was the suspect in a car theft nearby. WSTM-TV reported that another child started recording video as the 11-year-old girl and her friends denied the accusation and deputies put her in handcuffs. They showed the kids a picture of the suspect and said, “Girl, you gonna tell me this ain’t you?” Eventually, one deputy noticed that the suspect had longer hair and “apologized,” saying, “I’m sorry about it, but you matched the description pretty clearly.” The sheriff’s department reviewed the situation and claimed the detainment was “lawful and reasonable,” but Sheriff Toby Shelley met with the girl’s mother afterward and called their conversation “productive.”

NEWS OF THE WEIRD
© 2025 Andrews McMeel Syndication.
Reprinted with permission.
All rights reserved.