strange stuff

From strange crimes to strange celebrity deaths, read all of the latest weird and strange stuff news stories on Newser.com

Stories 2761 - 2780 | << Prev   Next >>

Doctors Find 40-Year-Old Fetus in Woman, 82

'Stone babies' end up mummified in body

(Newser) - An 82-year-old Colombian woman went to the hospital with abdominal pain and got a diagnosis she almost certainly wasn't expecting: There was a 40-year-old fetus inside her. The condition is known as a "calcified fetus," "lithopaedian," or "stone baby," the Telegraph reports. It'...

Guy Finds Friend Dead, Steals Art, Then Calls 911: Cops

Hiram Noel Mendez facing multiple charges

(Newser) - A New York man who went to check on an acquaintance and found him dead at his home is accused of stealing some of the man's artwork before calling 911. State police say Hiram Noel Mendez of Cortlandt Manor found Ronald Cutrone, an artist and onetime assistant to Andy...

Fla. Capitol Gets Festivus Pole— Made of Beer Cans

Pabst Blue Ribbon cans, specifically

(Newser) - It's a "Festivus for the rest of us" in Tallahassee this year: The Florida Capitol will likely today see the installation of an almost 6-foot-tall Festivus pole (yes, the invention of Seinfeld) in its rotunda. And it's not the traditional plain aluminum pole, but one made out...

Slow Subway? NYC Riders Can Get a Late Note

City's MTA has handed out 250K over the last few years

(Newser) - The New York Times highlights an odd quirk of the city's subway system: Riders can get a late note upon request if the trains make them tardy. Or more precisely, they can get a "Subway Delay Verification" note. And while they're relatively unknown, the city's transportation...

Guy Wields Sword, Demands Free Tacos

Adam Kramer charged with aggravated robbery, among other things

(Newser) - Adam Kramer apparently loves his tacos. He ordered six of them at a San Antonio restaurant last week, but when told how much money he owed, he refused to pay and insisted he be given the food for free, police say. The waitress wasn't going for it, so the...

Colorado Town's Drone-Hunting Vote Grounded

Deer Trail waits for court opinion on Phillip Steel's effort

(Newser) - Phillip Steel has made a name for himself—through such outlets as the Colbert Report —with his call for hometown drone-hunting . Steel is behind an ordinance to allow the shooting-down of federal drones in Deer Trail, Colorado, home to 598 people. But the town won't vote on the...

Woman Chases Peeping Tom Through Kohl&#39;s&mdash;Topless
 Woman Chases Peeping Tom Through Kohl's—Topless 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Dec 8, 2013 7:21 AM CST

Woman Chases Peeping Tom Through Kohl's—Topless

Cops nab the guy 3 blocks away

(Newser) - A strange scene erupted at a Kansas City Kohl's this week, when a woman trying on bras noticed a man holding a cellphone beneath her dressing room door. "I just screamed and chased him topless through the store," Jeanne Ouelette told KCTV . "I was at a...

Banned at Next Olympics: Brake Fluid

Weather-tracking gear, Thermoses, TVs are among barred items

(Newser) - Those attending the Sochi Olympics in February should be careful what they pack. Officials have unveiled a list of banned items, and it's full of some rather odd selections. Among them, via Mashable :
  1. You won't be able to bring in antifreeze or brake fluid.
  2. All your meteorological gear
...

5 Craziest Crimes of the Week
 5 Craziest Crimes of the Week 
Dec 6, 2013 9:05 AM CST

5 Craziest Crimes of the Week

Nissan Leaf owners: Be careful where you plug

(Newser) - There are some criminals who end up in jail for stealing millions of dollars in jewels, and then there are this week's criminals, whose crimes include a 5-cent theft ... and giving away $1,000.
  1. Driver Jailed After Taking Nickel's Worth of Electricity : Here's a weird twist in
...

Goat Faces Down Rapist in Court

Kenyan man gets 10 years for defiling animal

(Newser) - Weird enough is that a 28-year-old man in Kenya got hit with a 10-year jail sentence for bestiality after being caught having sex with a goat. (The Star has the details on how the goat's owner spotted his neighbor in the act.) But weirder still is that the...

City to Girl: You Can't Sell Mistletoe, but You Can Beg

11-year-old runs into rules of vendors and panhandlers

(Newser) - An 11-year-old entrepreneur in Portland, Oregon, got a strange lesson in grown-up economics when she tried to sell mistletoe near the city's public market, reports KATU . A security guard informed her she'd have to move outside the city park's boundaries—or she could just plunk down on...

2K Dead Mice Dropped on Guam's Snake War

They're packed with Tylenol to kill invasive creatures

(Newser) - Guam has a new weapon in its war against brown tree snakes : an army of Tylenol-filled dead mice. The creatures have been dropped onto a US Air Force base using miniature cardboard parachutes, NBC News reports. The snakes, an invasive species, feast on exotic local birds and cause power outages,...

Prisoner Escapes... So He Can Go to Dentist

Then turns himself back in, goes back to jail

(Newser) - A Swedish prisoner managed to escape the minimum-security facility where he was being held, but rather than head for the hills, he went to ... the dentist. He had asked for medical care but had not received it, he claims. "My whole face was swollen. I just couldn't stand...

New Robo-Cop: 'R2-D2's Evil Twin'

300-pound Silicon Valley robot aims to keep an eye on things

(Newser) - Its makers don't like to compare it to "RoboCop or Terminator"—but it's hard not to. The K5 Autonomous Data Machine is an electronic security guard developed in Silicon Valley by a company called Knightscope, Fox News reports. It's five feet tall, weighs 300 pounds,...

Lawyers Discover Teacher Quietly Held $6M Fortune

It took lawyers 2 years to learn extent of Kathleen Magowan's wealth

(Newser) - Kathleen Magowan lived a humble life until her death at 87 in 2011: She taught elementary school for 35 years in Simsbury, Connecticut; lived in a 100-year-old house that eventually sold for $250,000; and told lawyers a few years ago that she guessed her estate was worth about $40,...

$7.5M Bitcoin Fortune Buried in Landfill

 $7.5M Bitcoin Fortune 
 Buried in Landfill 
in case you missed it
Dec 1, 2013 1:02 PM CST

$7.5M Bitcoin Fortune Buried in Landfill

James Howells accidentally tossed a crucial hard drive over the summer

(Newser) - Sitting beneath about four feet of garbage in an area of a Welsh landfill the size of a football field sits a fortune—in the form of a computer hard drive that James Howells threw out this summer while cleaning up his workspace. On it: the cryptographic "private key"...

Man Ablaze Runs Into Church, Pastor Dies in Fire

Not clear how John Sterner became engulfed in flames

(Newser) - An awful story out of Ocean City, Maryland, last week, where a man who was engulfed in flames ran into a church, set it on fire, and ended up dead along with the church's pastor. Investigators think John Sterner, 56, was for some reason covered in a flammable substance,...

Man Builds Deadly Arsenal Using Airport Store Items
Man Builds Deadly Arsenal Using Airport Store Items
in case you missed it
Nov 30, 2013 6:00 PM CST

Man Builds Deadly Arsenal Using Airport Store Items

Including a gun, grenade, crossbow—and they all work

(Newser) - You may already find it ridiculous that you can't bring the tiniest pair of scissors through an airport security checkpoint, but you'll find it even more absurd after reading this: A North Carolina programmer is proving that even with all those security restrictions, it's still possible to...

South Africa Hotel Offers Fake Slum Experience

This 'Shanty Town' has under-floor heating

(Newser) - Well, this is ... interesting: You can now pay half the average South African's monthly salary—or $82 a night—to stay in a slum. Not a real one, as some one billion people worldwide do; instead, Gizmodo reports, South Africa's Emoya Luxury Hotel and Spa is offering the...

Guy Switched at Birth Gets $317K to Make Up for It

He was born to rich family, but ended up raised in poverty

(Newser) - Imagine it: You're raised in a tiny apartment by a single mom and grow up to be a truck driver ... only to find out you were actually born to a wealthy family and accidentally switched at birth, and the baby raised in your place grew up to be the...

Stories 2761 - 2780 | << Prev   Next >>