Category: News of the Weird

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

Awesome!

• At the Goodwill store in DuBois, Pennsylvania, workers found a treasure in a box of old LEGO pieces, United Press International reported on March 12: a 14-karat gold Kanohi Hau mask from LEGO’s Bionicle collection. Originally priced at Goodwill at $14.95, the piece eventually sold for $18,100 to an anonymous collector. “We didn’t know it was worth anything until people started asking if they could buy it for $1,000,” said Chad Smith, vice president of e-commerce and technology for Goodwill. Lego created only 30 pieces in gold in 2001. [UPI, 3/12/2024]

• LAD Bible reported on March 5 about two unacquainted Brits who were headed to a holiday in Bangkok, Thailand. At the airport, Mark Garland, 58, of Wiltshire, tried to check in, but gate staff told him he already had. After some sleuthing, they realized there was another Mark Garland (62, from Bristol) on the flight — and the look-alikes were seated next to each other. As it happens, they live only about 15 miles apart and sometimes ride the same bus. They even have a friend in common. “We were so shocked by how strange it was,” said the younger Garland. “It was crazy — I have never known anything like it,” said the older. “I’ve made a friend for life.” [LAD Bible, 3/5/2024]

Bright Idea

Amber Denae Wright of Cape Town, South Africa, has shared a marriage tip on TikTok that other wives may want to adopt, People reported on March 9. A video on the social media site shows her husband, Nick, talking when Amber plays orchestra music from her phone. When Nick asks, “What is that? What are you playing?” Amber says, “It’s Oscars music. You know, when the speeches are too long …” Nick’s taking it well, though: “She’s been doing this the whole week. Every time I tell a story! Is this gonna be the rest of my life?” One TikTok commenter suggested, “I should use this at work when guys mansplain.” [People, 3/9/2024]

Field Report

New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick told city council members on March 13 that rats had infested the department’s building so thoroughly that they made their way into the evidence room and were eating confiscated marijuana. “They’re all high,” she said, according to the Associated Press. “The uncleanliness is off the charts.” She elaborated, saying the building is full of mold and cockroaches, and staff suffer broken air-conditioning and elevators. [AP, 3/13/2024]

That’s Disappointing

The Pittsburgh Penguins planned to provide prized playthings to their passionate patrons on the evening of March 14, ESPN reported. (Okay, that’s enough of that.) NHL legend Jaromír Jágr bobbleheads were promised for the game against the San Jose Sharks — but the cargo was stolen during transit. Penguins president of business operations Kevin Acklin said the team is looking forward to “resolving this theft and delivering the prized Jagr bobbleheads to their rightful homes, with our fans.” The hockey great commented, “The legend of Jágr continues.” [ESPN, 3/14/2024]

The Passing Parade

On March 5 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a 42-year-old man was charged with battery and disorderly conduct with a weapon after his daughter called 911, saying her dad was naked and had a gun. The Smoking Gun reported the story — and the much more compelling backstory about Deez-Nuts Lee Kroll, the defendant. In 2011, Derrick Lee Kroll, then 29, petitioned the court and paid $164.50 for a name change. On the form, Kroll, who seems to be spelling-challenged, wrote his preferred name: Dez-Nuts Lee Kroll, and said his reason for the change was that “I with out a dout [sic] HATE MY NAME.” Six years later, it occurred to Dez-Nuts that he had spelled the name wrong, and he went to court to change his name again. At his recent run-in with the law, officers noted that he appeared to be intoxicated but cooperated with them. He was released on $2,000 bond. [The Smoking Gun, 3/13/2024]

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News of the Weird: Week of 04/18/24

Cheeky

Rawiya Al-Qasimi, a female reporter, was covering an event in Riyadh on March 4 when a Saudi Arabian robot called Android Muhammad unexpectedly slapped her posterior during a live shot, the Daily Star reported. Al-Qasimi pushed the robot’s hand away and rebuked him. Before the untoward touching, Android Muhammad introduced himself, saying, “I was manufactured and developed here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a national project to demonstrate our achievements in the field of artificial intelligence.” Ironically, had he been a real man, he might have faced jail time for his inappropriate behavior. [Daily Star, 3/7/2024]

Maybe She’s Onto Something

Spanish artist Alicia Framis, now based in Amsterdam, has created the perfect husband: a hologram that she designed and named AILex Sibouwlingen, whom she modeled on past paramours, according to EuroNews. Framis plans to marry him this summer at a museum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. On her Instagram page, Framis shares photos and videos of herself and AILex sharing meals and other elements of daily life. “Love and sex with robots and holograms are an inevitable reality,” Framis said. “They are great companions and capable of expressing empathy.” [EuroNews, 3/1/2024]

Truth Is Stranger Than Netflix

Loreen Bea Feralo, 55, and Karen Casbohm, 63, were charged with theft and gross abuse of a corpse after allegedly carrying out a Weekend at Bernie’s stunt in Ashtabula, Ohio, The Smoking Gun reported. On March 4, police said, Feralo and Casbohm — who were not related to Douglas Layman, 80, but lived in his home — loaded his corpse into the front seat of a car “in such a manner that he would be visible to bank staff” and drove through his bank, where they used his card to withdraw $900. The bank had allowed the women to withdraw from his account before, as long as he was with him. Having secured the funds, the women then dropped Layman’s body at the Ashtabula County Medical Center emergency room “without providing any information about the man or themselves,” police said. They were able to identify the women and question them. The women, both of whom have significant priors, said Layman died at home. [The Smoking Gun, 3/7/2024]

Creme de la Weird

Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, 80, of Vaughn, Montana, pleaded guilty on March 12 to two felony wildlife crimes after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks conducted a yearslong investigation, Business Insider reported. Schubarth was accused of buying, selling, and breeding “alternative” livestock, such as mountain sheep and mountain goats, for captive hunting operations. Between 2013 and 2021, court documents said, he conspired with others to create a large hybrid species of sheep that would garner higher prices from shooting preserves. To do so, he brought parts of Marco Polo argali sheep from Kyrgyzstan to the U.S. without declaring them. His other crimes include forging veterinary documents and shipping hybrid semen to other breeders. He faces jail time, fines, and supervised release. [Business Insider, 3/14/2024]

Recurring Theme

It’s baaaackkk. In the waning days of 2020, a tall silver monolith popped up in various locations in California, Texas, Romania, and elsewhere. Now, Wales Online reports, it’s back. The 10-foot-tall tower, which appears to be stainless steel, turned up near Hay-on-Wye in Wales around March 10, when Richard Haynes came across it while he was out for a run. “I thought it … might be a scientific media research thing collecting rainwater. But then I realized it was way too tall and strange for that. It was hollow and I imagine … light enough for two people to carry it up and plant it in the ground,” Haynes said. Stay tuned. [Wales Online, 3/11/2024]

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

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© 2024 Andrews McMeel Syndication.
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Fun Stuff News of the Weird

News of the Weird: Week of 04/11/24

The Passing Parade

As the last remaining Hooters restaurant in West Virginia prepared for demolition, residents of Kanawha City gathered on Feb. 23 for a candlelight vigil, WCHS-TV reported. The event, which started as a joke, got international attention, and hundreds of people showed up. “It’s a lot of memories going down with that building,” said Noah Collins of Rand, West Virginia. Tearful former Hooters employees reunited for one last time. “I started out coming in to get a job and it became so much more because I met so many lifelong friends and my co-workers,” said Danielle Hughart. “This building right here was a legitimate iconic figure to the Kanawha Valley,” declared co-organizer Leo Browning. The corporate office sent a box of calendars to distribute to those who attended the vigil. [WCHS, 2/24/2024]

Smooth Reaction

Dr. Krisztina Ilko, 33, a junior research fellow and director of studies at the University of Cambridge Queens’ College in England, lives in a medieval tower, the Independent reported. But on Feb. 29, Ilko became trapped in her bathroom for seven hours after the wooden door locked behind her and wouldn’t budge. She couldn’t signal or yell for help because the tower walls are thick, and there are no windows in the bathroom. However, she kept her cool and MacGyvered the door open using an eyeliner (to push down the door’s latch) and a cotton swab (to pull the locking mechanism away from the door frame). “When … the door opened, it was exhilarating because I didn’t think it would work,” Ilko said. Since the incident, she’s had the lock removed. [Independent, 3/4/2024]

Police Report

• In Kennesaw, Georgia, police responded to the Heritage Park Town Homes on Feb. 21 after a Toyota Corolla “rammed through the pool fence … and [she’s] in the middle of the pool,” said the 911 caller. Fox5-TV reported that the driver suffered some sort of medical emergency and was unconscious when officers arrived; they were able to break a car window and get her out of the car. She was taken to a hospital and was expected to make a full recovery, according to Cobb County Police. The pool cover was so strong that the car didn’t sink; a tow truck removed it from the cover later in the day. [Fox5, 3/4/2024]

• The Putnam County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office was flooded with calls on March 2 after two low-flying F-15 jets from the Florida Air National Guard caused sonic booms, News4Jax-TV reported. “It destroyed my friggin’ house!” one caller exclaimed, while others thought a bomb had dropped. “I have major damage, they flew right over my house. The lights were blown off the walls, there’s glass everywhere,” said another. The National Guard issued a statement saying they were aware of damage sustained by the sonic booms and had established a contact number for residents who had damage claims. [News4Jax, 3/6/2024]

Delusions of Grandeur

For Connor James Litka, 21, of Bloomington, Indiana, it was, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Litka arrived at a Porsche dealership in Louisville, Kentucky, on Feb. 21 and tried to buy a car with a fake $78 million check, WAVE-TV reported. When he was rebuffed, he searched around the back entrance to the showroom, looking for car keys. Salespeople summoned police, who charged him with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. Turns out Litka tried the same stunt the day before at a Land Rover dealership, where he presented a $12 million check. [WAVE, 2/22/2024]

Oopsy

Anne Hughes, 71, was standing outside the Best One shop in Tonteg, Wales, where she works, when the electric security shutters started raising, catching her coat and leaving her dangling upside down seven feet in the air. The incident from March 4 was caught on CCTV, Sky News reported; she hung in the air until a shopkeeper helped free her as the shutter was lowered. “I’m learning to live with the fame,” Hughes said. “I’ll never hear the end of it.” She was uninjured in the mishap. [Sky News, 3/5/2024]

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

Saw That Coming

You might have missed the first-ever Florida Man Games in St. Augustine on Feb. 24, but it’s never too early to plan for next year. United Press International reported that hundreds of people paid $55 each for a ticket to watch Floridians compete in a mullet contest and a “Florida sumo” event where competitors tried to spill each other’s beers. Other events included a pork butt eating contest, a race that simulated stealing a bike, and an “evading arrest obstacle course.” One winning team walked away with the $5,000 prize. “We understand that Florida is weird,” said Pete Melfi, organizer of the event. “We embrace it.” [United Press International, 2/26/2024]

News You Can Use

Legend says that if the seven ravens who protect the Tower of London (six, plus one spare, as decreed by King Charles II) ever leave the landmark, the tower will crumble and the Kingdom of England will fall. So it’s no surprise that the tower has a ravenmaster, and 56-year-old Michael “Barney” Chandler has just been installed in the job, the Associated Press reported. Chandler is a former Royal Marine who said, “We don’t know if [the prophecy is] true or not, because we’ve never let the number drop below six — and it’s not going to happen while I’m here.” As the sixth holder of the post, Chandler will be in charge of four other Beefeaters who look after the ravens. “You never know what they’re going to do,” he said. “They’re all totally different, personality-wise.” His favorite is Poppy, who hops up to him to accept a treat of a dead mouse now and again. Spoiler alert: The birds’ feathers are trimmed so they can’t fly away. [AP, 3/1/2024]

Leap Day Fun

• In Rye, New Hampshire, Lillian Edin celebrated her 25th birthday — although she is 100 years old. “I feel 25, until I start trying to walk,” Edin said, according to WMUR-TV. “I can’t believe I’ve lived this age. I really can’t.” She was feted with lunch and cupcakes. [WMUR, 2/29/2024]

• A brother and sister who were both born on Leap Day four years apart are getting to celebrate the unusual birthday for the first time. Omri Demchak, 8, and his sister, Scout, 4, celebrated with more than 50 people at the coffee shop their parents own in Brooklyn, New York. Most years, the family celebrate Omri’s birthday on Feb. 28 and Scout’s on March 1. Mom Lindsay Demchak said neither of the leap kids was due on the special day. “It was truly serendipitous,” she told the New York Post. [NY Post, 2/29/2024]

• Issue 12 of France’s La Bougie du Sapeur (The Sapper’s Candle) has hit the newsstands, the BBC reported — which is kind of a big deal because it is printed only on Feb. 29, every four years. The first edition was in 1980. Editor Jean d’Indy said the 20-page tabloid is “put out by a few pals. We meet in a bar and toss around ideas over drinks. We have a lot of fun, and if the reader does, too, that’s the icing on the cake.” It has a print run of 200,000, costs about 5 euros, and is not available online. [BBC, 2/28/2024]

That’s Sporting

The 2024 Iditarod race in Alaska got off to a messy start, Sporting News reported on March 7. On the first day, musher Jesse Holmes went mano-a-mano with a moose that became aggressive toward his dogs on the trail. Holmes punched the moose in the nose and went on his way. Soon after, Dallas Seavey and his dogs came upon a moose — it’s not clear whether it was the same one — that was “threatening and belligerent.” When the moose got entangled with his dogs, Seavey dispensed with the heroics and shot it. As per the Iditarod’s rules, Seavey then stopped for about 10 minutes to field-dress the moose, but he was later assessed a two-hour penalty at the next checkpoint because “the animal was not sufficiently gutted by the musher.” A third musher, Wally Robinson, ran across the moose carcass in the dark, on a trail curving through woods. Race Marshal Warren Palfrey confirmed that “we are making sure that every attempt is made to utilize and salvage the moose meat.” So there’s that. [Sporting News, 3/7/2024]

Clothing Optional

Looking for something light and airy to do at the end of April? Set your GPS for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Crafton Ingram Lanes, where Balls Out Bowling will return on April 28, according to WTRF-TV. The Pittsburgh Area Naturalists are hosting the event, which requires nudity (except women are allowed to wear bottoms). Participants must be 18 or older, and sexual activity is not permitted; harassment will result in being ejected from the bowling alley. And leave your cellphone at home; no photos or videos allowed. You won’t have anywhere to carry it anyway! [WTRF, 3/4/2024]

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

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News of the Weird: Week of 03/28/24

Expectations: Unmanaged

At an event billed as “Willy’s Chocolate Experience” on Feb. 24 in Glasgow, Scotland, children and parents were so underwhelmed that police were called, The New York Times reported. The event, which promised Willy Wonka-themed chocolate fountains, performances by Oompa Loompas and “optical marvels,” turned out to offer just a few jelly beans and a nearly empty warehouse. Stuart Sinclair, who paid about $44 per ticket to bring his kids to the show, said it amounted to “maybe 20 chairs, a couple of tables, and a half-inflated bouncy castle.” Jenny Fogarty, who was hired to play an Oompa Loompa, said she was given a 15-page script the night before and that “the wigs were very cheap.” The organizer canceled the event on Saturday afternoon; it was unclear who had called police. The event organizer, House of Illuminati, said ticket purchases would be refunded. [New York Times, 2/27/2024]

Bright Ideas

Details have recently emerged about an incident in Willow Springs, Missouri, in November, the Springfield News-Leader reported. The Howell County Sheriff’s Office had investigated after a man in his 60s, who was a paraplegic, lost his feet while brush-hogging. “It was a poorly executed plan,” said Lt. Torey Thompson. He said it was clear almost immediately that the accident had been staged: The cuts were very clean, the feet were nowhere to be found, and tourniquets had been applied to both legs. Allegedly, the victim had help from a man from Florida, who cut off the feet with a hatchet to help him commit insurance fraud. However, since the unnamed man never filed the claim and he was so severely injured, the sheriff’s office declined to charge him. And the missing feet? “A couple of days later, we got a call that a relative found them in a bucket obscured by tires, so we went and got them,” Thompson said. Mystery solved. [Springfield News-Leader, 2/15/2024]

The Golden Age of Air Travel

• On Feb. 13, as a Delta flight soared from Amsterdam to Detroit, maggots began falling from an overhead compartment onto passengers below, The Guardian reported. Philip Schotte, who was on the flight, said attendants traced the source to a bag stowed above and found a rotten fish wrapped in newspaper. They removed the offending item, and the pilot announced that the plane would be returning to Amsterdam. Apologizing, Delta said the passengers were placed on another flight and the plane was removed from service for cleaning. Passengers were also given 8,000 air miles, hotel room compensation, and a $30 meal ticket. But who’s hungry? [Guardian, 2/15/2024]

• Sri Lankan Airlines was forced to ground one of its Airbus A330 planes for three days after a rat was spotted on the aircraft, United Press International reported on Feb. 27. The rodent was seen during a flight from Lahore, Pakistan, to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Workers sprayed the plane with poison, and technicians checked wiring for damage done by chewing. [UPI, 2/27/2024]

Try the Decaf

Brandie Gotch, 30, of Peoria, Arizona, told police that her children were being bullied by other kids, and she had reported it to the school and law enforcement, but nothing happened. So on Feb. 27, she took matters into her own hands, CBS5-TV reported. With her four children in her Silverado, Gotch drove to a local park, where she allegedly approached a group of kids and started yelling at them. Police said Gotch grabbed a 14-year-old boy by the hair and yanked his head back and forth as she yelled at him, then grabbed a stick from her truck, and chased him, yelling, “I am going to kill you and run you over!” She then jumped back into her truck and drove it toward the group of kids, running over a girl’s ankle in the process, although she told police she didn’t think she hit the girl. “I hope I didn’t,” she said. Her own children told police they were bouncing all over the truck during her jaunt through the park. Gotch was charged with six counts of endangerment, four counts of aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and one count of attempted first-degree murder. [CBS5, 2/29/2024]

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News of the Weird: Week of 03/21/24

Very Senior Year

It’s never too late to graduate, and Fred Allen Smalls of Georgetown, South Carolina, is proof. Smalls took the stage at Georgetown High School on Feb. 4, the day before his 106th birthday, to receive an honorary diploma at a ceremony that came to fruition largely due to the efforts of his granddaughter. Smalls completed eighth grade in the 1930s and moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked as a janitor and held several other jobs before beginning a career with the District of Columbia, eventually retiring during the John F. Kennedy administration. WPDE ABC 15 reported that the diploma was “something he’s wished for most of his life.” And the diploma wasn’t the first time Smalls made recent news: In 2023, ABC News recognized him as the oldest Philadelphia Eagles fan. [ABC15, 2/20/2024]

Sticky Situation

A coyote that found itself in an ironic predicament in mid-January has the Humane Animal Welfare Society (HAWS) and the Wildlife in Need Center (WINC) of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, to thank for its rescue — maybe with a little help from above? WDJT in Milwaukee reported that the coyote had gotten its head stuck inside a hollow statue of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, while chasing a rabbit. The coyote was spotted dragging the statue and working to free itself, but by the next day, the animal was exhausted and still trapped. HAWS located the coyote and transported it to WINC, where it was freed, treated for minor injuries, and given the nickname “Frannie.” [WDJT CBS 58, 2/12/2024]

Cemetery Shortcut

In the immortal words of Shaggy, “It wasn’t me.” The Lavonia (Georgia) Police Department wants residents to know that a chaotic scene in a local graveyard Feb. 20 had nothing to do with them. “In case you saw or heard the law enforcement commotion,” reads a post on the department’s Facebook page, “well, it wasn’t us.” The commotion in question? Deputies from the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office in neighboring South Carolina had chased a reckless driver across state lines and into the Lavonia City Burgess Cemetery, reports FOX 5 Atlanta. The driver — who was apparently “late for an appointment” — damaged several graves before attempting to flee on foot. Unsuccessfully. [Fox 5, 2/20/2024]

Animal Antics

• Caterina Sevares of Florida had a late-night craving for tacos on Feb. 13, so she did what many of us have probably done: She placed a DoorDash order and hopped in the shower while waiting for her food to be delivered. But when she opened the door to retrieve the Talkin’ Tacos delivery, Fox 35 reported that she was met by three masked bandits — a trio of raccoons who got to her meal first, eating everything but the tortillas. Sevares began to film the carnage but retreated once the raccoons started engaging — one stood up on its hind legs while the other two stared her down. “Once they started hissing, I shut the door so fast. I was like, ‘They can have the carne asada, it’s fine,’” Sevares said. Talkin’ Tacos caught wind of the bandits’ antics after Sevares’ story went viral on TikTok, and sent her a gift card for her troubles. [FOX 35, 2/14/2024]

• Elsewhere in Florida, bears ransacked a woman’s car — on Valentine’s Day, no less. Cassidy Simoes’ boyfriend left chocolates in the front seat of her car the night before, intending to give them to her the next day. But NBC2 reported that at about 3:30 on Valentine’s morning, the couple woke to find the car in bad shape: “Basically, the whole door panel, I can’t even open the door at all or roll the windows down, nothing,” Simoes said. No word on if the chocolates were replaced. [NBC2, 2/14/24]

Bright Idea

On Feb. 19, neighbors in an apartment building in Wejherowo, Poland, became alarmed as a 19-year-old man tried to lead a full-grown horse up the stairs to his third-floor home, Radio Gdansk reported. Police were called to the building and determined that the mare, worth about $3,800, had been stolen. She was returned to the owner, and the horse thief was charged with theft; he faces five years in prison. [Radio Gdansk, 2/21/2024]

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Fun Stuff News of the Weird

News of the Weird: Week of 03/14/24

Not Likely

• Roderick Jackson of Waskom, Texas, is suing Walmart for $100 million — or “unlimited free lifetime shopping” at any location — in relation to a vague incident from an Omaha Walmart in March 2021. NBC News reported that Jackson alleges there was a “false pretense of shoplifting” that was a violation of his civil rights “based on race/color.” Walmart responded that the suit is “almost identical to a lawsuit he filed against our company in 2021 that was dismissed.” The earlier suit said he suffered emotional stress and pain from the handcuffs. [NBC News, 1/11/2024]

• Joao Pimenta da Silva, 71, of Minas Gerais, Brazil, repeatedly dreamed that gold lay deep under his home, the New York Post reported. To that end, over a year ago, he began digging a hole in his kitchen floor that ended up being 130 feet deep and about 35 inches in diameter. But on Jan. 4, Pimenta’s dreams died when he lost his balance and plunged to his death at the bottom of the cavity. His neighbor Arnaldo da Silva tried to discourage the project, but Pimenta was convinced his dream would come true. In the fall, he suffered head injuries and broken bones. [NY Post, 1/8/2024]

Wait, How Many?

And you thought your glovebox full of unpaid parking tickets was impressive. Police detectives and patrol officers arrested Ahyoka Keith, aka Carol Ann Sumner, on Feb. 16, two weeks after she was charged with an astonishing 322 felonies and 327 misdemeanors by the Spring Township police department in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. Keith is an over-the-road trucker, and her 649 warrants were related to the theft of thousands of dollars from a relative. [WPMI NBC15, 2/20/2024]

Long-Term Lending

More and more libraries across the country have converted to fine-free lending, and that’s a very good thing for one patron of the Licking County Library in Ohio. WPDE ABC 15 in Columbus reported that an Instagram post shared by the library included video of a poetry book that recently had been returned — about 93 years late. The patron had found the “Heart Throbs” poetry collection at a relative’s house and discovered the due date card inside the front cover, last stamped “Nov 9 ’31.” WPDE estimated the total fine would have been approximately $5,770. [AP, 2/13/2024]

Not Getting It

A 42-year-old resident of Ajax, Ontario, was arrested and charged with impaired driving on Feb. 20 at the Durham Regional police station, where he had driven to complain … about his arrest for public intoxication from earlier that morning. The man asked to speak with a supervisor when he arrived at the station, but officers noticed he seemed to be intoxicated, and, after confirming he had driven himself, issued a breathalyzer test, which the man failed. His license was suspended and his vehicle was impounded.
[DurhamRegion.com, 2/20/24]

Need for Speed

The Hockenheimring racetrack in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, was the setting for a Guinness World Record-setting run recently. The speed reached — 92.24 mph — might not sound so impressive, but Fulda University engineering student Marcel Paul attained that velocity in a toy car. Paul spent 10 months modifying the miniature Porsche with the goal of beating the 88 mph made famous by the time-traveling DeLorean DMC-12 in the Back to the Future movies, and in the process created the world’s fasted ride-on toy car. Said one user in the comments on Paul’s Instagram video of the milestone event: “Hell no that looks dangerous.” [Yahoo News, 2/20/2024]

Bleepin’ Birds

Eight potty-mouthed parrots are set to rejoin the rest of their flock at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in Boston, United Kingdom, after zoo officials decided that recent efforts to help the dirty birds clean up their act in isolation had shown promise. Steve Nichols, who serves as chief executive of the park, still isn’t sure what will happen when the birds are reunited with their more well-behaved peers. “We could end up with 100 swearing parrots on our hands,” Nichols said. “Only time will tell.” For now, the park does not plan to take down its signs warning visitors of the potential for foul language. [BBC, 2/21/2024]

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

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© 2024 Andrews McMeel Syndication.
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News of the Weird: Week of 03/07/24

High Tech

The story about the Alaska Airlines plane that lost a panel while flying at 16,000 feet is all over the news. But it’s the little human-interest stories that really capture us: When the panel flew off and the hole gaped open midair on Jan. 5, someone’s iPhone got sucked out and landed on a roadside in Washington state, Yahoo! News reported. Sean Bates, who found the phone, posted a photo on X showing the phone’s intact screen and a battery life of 44 percent remaining: “Pretty clean, no scratches on it, sitting under a bush,” he posted. Jennifer Homendy of the National Transportation Safety Board said all found phones would be returned to their owners. [Yahoo! News, 1/8/2024]

Inauspicious Award

Kathleen Murray of Sandford, Tasmania, credits bandicoots for helping her win the first-ever World’s Ugliest Lawn competition, The Guardian reported on Jan. 11. The marsupials, Murray said, have “actually liberated me from ever having to mow it again. I’m all for guilt-free weekends, especially since my ex-husband left with the lawnmower back in 2016.” (That must have been a good-looking Toro!) The contest began as Gotland’s (Sweden) Ugliest Lawn, which was conceived to encourage water-saving and environmentally friendly gardening in 2022. “All of [the lawns] were hideous and well worthy of winning, but the winning entry was really, really bad,” said Gotland’s Mimmi Gibson. “It brings me a lot of joy to see all the little creatures who now feel safe to come out during the day in my yard,” Murray said. [Guardian, 1/11/2024]

What’s in a Name?

Or a word? Wayne State University in Michigan has announced its 15th annual list of 10 “long-lost” words that should be resurrected, United Press International reported on Jan. 10. The Word Warriors program has identified “blatherskite” (nonsense), “curglaff” (the shock felt upon diving into cold water), “rawgabbit” (a person who speaks confidently but ignorantly), and “pawky” (having a cynical sense of humor), among others. Let’s get together and twankle during our kaffeeklatsch! [UPI, 1/10/2024]

But Why?

On Jan. 8, as an Air Canada flight prepared to leave Toronto for Dubai, a passenger who had just boarded opened a cabin door and stepped out, falling about 20 feet to the ground. CTV News reported. The passenger was injured, and emergency services were called, the airline said. The flight was delayed but eventually took off. There was no explanation for why the person jumped out. [CTV News, 1/10/2024]

Illustration: Jeanne Seagle

Crime Report

A 32-year-old woman who had been arrested for assault in Boone, North Carolina, took her aggression out on the police car’s backseat on Jan. 2, The Charlotte Observer reported. Boone Police Sgt. Dennis O’Neal said a “substantial amount of padding” had been chewed away, adding up to $650 in damages. The department’s Facebook post suggested they “may need to invest in Kevlar seat covers.” Authorities were still deciding whether to charge her in connection with the car’s damages. [Charlotte Observer, 1/8/2024]

That’s One Way To Do It

The Bean Monger, a coffee shop in Indianapolis, Indiana, next to a wedding venue site, was the site of a “pop-up” marriage on Dec. 31 — with no prior notice that the happy couple and their guests were planning to converge, the New York Post reported. Twenty to 30 people, including an officiant, photographer, and guests, crowded into the small store, where they treated the unsuspecting workers as if they were hired staff. “They were asking us to take coats, purses, and watch personal items as if they had rented us out,” one person said. The wedding party blocked the entrance to other patrons, and when a barista asked them to move, the photographer replied, “No, wait at least five minutes.” The store typically charges $500 for private events, which they have requested from the bride, but she deemed the amount “unreasonable.” [NY Post, 1/8/2024]

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NEWS OF THE WEIRD
© 2024 Andrews McMeel Syndication.
Reprinted with permission.
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Categories
Fun Stuff News of the Weird

News of the Weird: Week of 02/29/24

News You Can Use

We’ve all seen the restaurant notices about automatic gratuities added for parties of more than six or eight people. A 10-person group in South Bend, Indiana, thought they would beat the system at the Wild Crab restaurant by splitting into two groups of five, WSBT-TV reported. A manager said the group was informed that they’d be subject to the 18 percent gratuity, even though they were seated in different sections of the restaurant. As the party left the restaurant, someone threw crayons at the manager and pepper-sprayed them. Firefighters responded to help the victim of the pepper spray, and a police report was filed. [WSBT, 1/2/2024]

Oops

Someone missed the “Please secure all loose clothing” safety message. On Jan. 5, on the DC Rivals HyperCoaster at Movie World in Oxenford, Australia, the Mirror reported that a scarf became entangled around the wheel of one of the trains, which caused it to stop at the top of a hill. Dozens of riders were stranded, and each was given a harness and told to walk down the stairs to the load station. “All the guests on-board are safe with the ride vehicle stopped in a designated zone,” Warner Bros. Movie World said in a statement. [Mirror, 1/5/2024]

Unconventional Weaponry

The Laconia (New Hampshire) Daily Sun reported on Jan. 5 that police were called to the Market Basket supermarket in Tilton the day before after a “fruity fracas” broke out in the produce section. Social media posts indicated that a watermelon had been used in an assault, and Sgt. Andrew Salmon of the Tilton Police Department confirmed that his department is investigating. Salmon said one person went to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries “from being struck by a produce item.” A worker who answered the phone at the Market Basket said, “We have been instructed not to say anything.” [Laconia Daily Sun, 1/5/2024]

Awesome!

• King, a rescue dog at the Lost Our Home Pet Rescue in Tempe, Arizona, enjoyed a brief reign among his shelter buddies, Fox10-TV reported on Jan. 11. Sometime around midnight, King managed to break out of his kennel at the shelter and busted out several other dogs. He also found a stash of food and enjoyed a little feast. In the meantime, alarms were triggered; Jodi Polanski, the shelter’s founder, looked at video from the scene and saw the mess. “The police actually came because he set the alarm off,” Polanski said. The unnamed responding officer cleaned up after King’s free-for-all and got the dog settled back in bed. “I was just like, wow, amazing man that he did that,” Polanski said. The rescue’s website indicates that King is no longer looking for a home. [Fox10, 1/8/2024]

• Rodney Holbrook, a 75-year-old retired postman from Wales, had been noticing for a couple of months that small messes in his shed were being mysteriously tidied overnight, the BBC reported. So he set up a camera and caught a little mouse picking up pegs, corks, nuts, bolts, and bird food. Holbrook aptly named the rodent Welsh Tidy Mouse. “Ninety-nine times out of a hundred the mouse will tidy up throughout the night,” Holbrook said. “I don’t bother to tidy up now, I leave things out of the box and they put it back in its place by morning. I’ve added different things to the desk to see if they can lift it,” he said. [BBC, 1/7/2024]

Goals

LuLu Lotus of Mississauga, Ontario, has earned a Guinness World Record for an impressive, if dubious, skill: She blew a 44.1-decibel whistle through her nose. United Press International reported on Jan. 9 that Lotus visited Aercoustics Engineering Ltd. to have her whistle measured in a special room. She said her 5-year-old son has recently discovered he, too, has a nose-whistling ability: “It would be a dream come true if he beat my record one day,” Lotus said. [UPI, 1/9/2024]

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NEWS OF THE WEIRD
© 2024 Andrews McMeel Syndication.
Reprinted with permission.
All rights reserved.

Categories
Fun Stuff News of the Weird

News of the Weird: Week of 02/15/24

Creme de la Weird

Stick with me here. In 1899 in Peshawar, Pakistan, James Squid, a drunken British officer, arrested a … tree because he thought it was a fugitive trying to get away from him. He ordered the tree chained to the ground, Oddity Central reported, and the chains have remained for 125 years, along with a plaque explaining them. While tourists are tickled by the strange restraints, locals see the chains as a symbol of British oppression. “Through this act, the British basically implied to the tribesmen that if they dared act against the Raj, they too would be punished in a similar fashion,” one local man said. Others call it a living history. [Oddity Central, 1/4/2024]

Recurring Theme

• Authorities are still fishing for a man who entered a Bass Pro Shops store in Fort Myers, Florida, on Dec. 20 and dipped a net into the indoor fishpond, capturing a 50-pound tarpon. USA Today reported that the suspect left the store with the dripping catch, and despite a cash reward and social media posts, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office has not been able to identify or find him. [USA Today, 12/27/2023]

• Authorities were called to the Leeds, Alabama, Bass Pro Shops on Jan. 4 after 42-year-old George Owens of Sterrett drove a car into a pole in the parking lot, then exited the car, stripped off all his clothes and ran inside, where he did a cannonball into the aquarium. AL.com reported that Owens yelled at two police officers, then climbed over the edge of the aquarium, where he fell to the concrete floor and knocked himself out. He was charged with public lewdness among other offenses. [AL.com, 1/5/2024]

Super Freak

On Dec. 13, as a family in Arlington, Virginia, sat down to dinner, a Ring doorbell notification alerted them to someone at the door, WUSA-TV reported. The woman told her husband, “There’s this guy; he didn’t ring the doorbell. He’s just standing there and he’s in a gingerbread man costume.” The husband called the police non-emergency line to report the creepy visit, and about an hour later, another neighbor, Lindsey Churchill, spotted the gingerbread man. “All of a sudden my dogs were going crazy … and there was a giant blow-up gingerbread man costume out on the sidewalk,” she said. “We kind of locked eyes and the gingerbread man went on his way. It was not holly jolly.” Police never actually caught up with the subject, who was not identified. [WUSA, 12/21/2023]

Getting Away From It All

• Three armed suspects were busy robbing a check-cashing business in Commerce City, Colorado, on Dec. 16 when another thief mucked up their getaway plans, 9News-TV reported. The robbers’ vehicle, which was probably stolen, was outside when a woman jumped in and took off with it, leaving the teenage suspects to try to escape on foot. Police were able to capture two of them, along with loaded firearms, and arrest them. The car thief is still at large. [9News, 12/19/2023]

• In Wheat Ridge, Colorado, police caught up with a burglar on Dec. 28 who had hired an Uber for use as a getaway car, 14News-TV reported. Jose Guadalupe Perez-Gallardo was taken into custody as he approached his hired ride, carrying a backpack with $8,600 worth of stolen Milwaukee-brand tools inside. “Ordering an Uber as your getaway driver makes it that much easier for us to find you,” the Wheat Ridge Police Department posted online. [14News, 1/3/2024]

Questionable Judgment

Dr. Kevin Molldrem of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, is the subject of a malpractice lawsuit filed in late December by his patient Kathleen Wilson, USA Today reported. Wilson alleges in the suit that Molldrem, during a single visit in July 2020, performed more than 30 procedures on Wilson’s mouth — eight crowns, four root canals, and 20 fillings — and that the work was done “improperly,” resulting in her disfiguration. The lawsuit also alleges that Molldrem used twice the amount of anesthesia allowed and then falsified records to cover that dosage. Wilson is seeking more than $50,000 in damages. [USA Today, 12/28/2023]

Illustration: Jeanne Seagle

Not on My Watch

Vancouver, British Columbia, police revealed that on Dec. 19, a 72-year-old woman successfully chased an intruder from her home with a shovel, Vancouver City News reported. A naked man broke into the victim’s home with a pointed metal rod, which he swung toward her throughout the encounter. She fought back with a shovel, and “chased him out of the house and cornered him until officers arrived,” police said. “Kudos to her, it was pretty badass of her, I would say,” said Constable Tania Visintin. No one was injured during the incident. [Vancouver City News, 12/20/2023]

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

NEWS OF THE WEIRD
© 2023 Andrews McMeel Syndication. Reprinted with permission.
All rights reserved.