strange stuff

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

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Firefighters Rescue Guy Stuck in Chimney

They're not sure why he climbed in

(Newser) - Firefighters had to chisel a hole in a chimney at an apartment building in Washington state to rescue a man who'd gotten stuck inside. Authorities in Tacoma say the man is fine, but they're not sure what he was doing in the 20-inch space. Firefighters were called about...

Woman Reads Library Book, Realizes Author Is Her Sister

Cheryl Strayed's best-selling memoir brings women together

(Newser) - What many of us end up with after checking a book out of the library: a fine for returning it late. What one woman ended up with: a long-lost half sister. That woman isn't named by NPR , who spoke to author Cheryl Strayed. Wild is a memoir of her...

Man Buys Foot-Wide Slice of Hamptons Beach for $120K
Man Buys Foot-Wide Slice of Hamptons Beach for $120K
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 8, 2013 7:00 PM CDT

Man Buys Foot-Wide Slice of Hamptons Beach for $120K

Yes, you read that right

(Newser) - And now, in bonkers purchases: Not only did a man pony up $120,000 for a one-foot-wide slice of beach in East Hampton, he secured his tony property after an intense bidding war with another Manhattan financier. Even Suffolk County, which acquired the land a decade ago, was floored. It...

Accused Spy Killed and Eaten in Egypt

Don't worry—it was a stork

(Newser) - Remember that swan detained by cops in Egypt after being accused of spying ? Well, turns out it was a stork (some news reports at the time also called it a duck or a bird), and despite being found innocent, it has met a grizzly end. The story was almost...

Physics: No, You Can't Tip a Cow

Stunt is the stuff of legend, not reality: 'Modern Farmer' writer

(Newser) - The age-old stunt of cow tipping isn't an age-old stunt after all, writes Jake Swearingen at Modern Farmer . In fact, he argues that it never happens in the real world, only in the movies. Don't believe him? Go scour YouTube and prove him wrong. You won't find...

Crocodile Traps Man on Island for 2 Weeks
Crocodile Traps Man on Island for 2 Weeks
in case you missed it
Sep 7, 2013 7:19 AM CDT

Crocodile Traps Man on Island for 2 Weeks

New Zealander says the 20-foot creature 'stalked' him

(Newser) - Talk about a vacation gone wrong: A New Zealand kayaker spent two weeks trapped on an island about 2.5 miles off Western Australia's far northern coast because he feared a 20-foot crocodile would eat him. The man, named only as Ryan, told his eventual rescuer that he was...

Maldives Election Trouble: Cursed Coconuts

Police confiscate several thought to have black-magic spells

(Newser) - Residents of the Maldives elect a president tomorrow, and the final week of the campaign has brought the world's weirdest election worry: coconuts cursed with black-magic spells. Police confiscated a coconut inscribed with suspicious-looking symbols that had been found near a polling station on Kaafu Atoll, reports the Australian ...

Teen's Hobby Kills Him in Gruesome Accident

Model helicopter session in NYC park turns deadly

(Newser) - A 19-year-old in New York City died in a gruesome freak accident yesterday when he was hit in the head by the remote-control helicopter he was operating. Police say Roman Pirozek died almost instantly when he was hit by the machine's 2-foot-long blades, which sliced his neck and took...

Town Named 'Jim Thorpe' Fights to Keep His Body

Sons want famed athlete moved home to Oklahoma tribal land

(Newser) - The surviving sons of the famous American Indian athlete Jim Thorpe have long fought to get the remains of their father moved from Jim Thorpe, Pa., to tribal lands in Oklahoma, where he was born. Now they've won a crucial legal victory that puts them close to their goal—...

California Chickens Flown East—for Retirement

Donor saves 1.2K from slaughterhouse

(Newser) - Their egg-laying days behind them, some 1,200 Northern California chickens are heading for a cozy retirement on the East Coast, where they will live outside of cages and have plenty of room to spread their wings. The Sacramento Bee reports that an anonymous $50,000 donation is funding Operation...

Cops Bust 'Drug-Fueled Sex Party' at Masonic Temple

Complete with video cameras, say sources

(Newser) - As far as Labor Day parties go, this certainly has to be the most headline-grabbing. Police in Battle Creek, Mich., were called to the town's Masonic Temple at 2:19am Sunday—where they came upon a private party featuring naked dancers, the Enquirer reports. That may have been the...

Meet the Frog That Listens With Its Mouth

Gardiner's frog has no middle ear or eardrum

(Newser) - They've got no middle ears or eardrums, yet one of the world's smallest frog species still responds to sound—and now, scientists have figured out how. The Gardiner's frog, found in the Republic of Seychelles, picks up noises through its mouth; from there, the sounds head to...

Glare From This London Skyscraper Is Melting Cars

Building has been nicknamed the 'Walkie Scorchie'

(Newser) - A new London skyscraper appears to be acting like a giant magnifying glass. But instead of burning ants, it's melting cars. A man says his Jaguar sustained about $1,470 in damage after he left it parked for two hours near the 37-story building, which is still under construction,...

Pot Farmer Killed by Own Booby Trap

He drove ATV into piano wire trap

(Newser) - An upstate New York marijuana farmer who was apparently paranoid about somebody snatching his crop ended up being not just killed but almost decapitated by one of his own security devices, the Albany Times Union reports. Daniel Ricketts was riding an all-terrain vehicle around his property in the middle of...

Portapotty Perv Gets 3 Years
 Portapotty Perv Gets 3 Years 
Sep 2, 2013 1:32 AM CDT

Portapotty Perv Gets 3 Years

He hid in yoga festival toilet tank

(Newser) - If Luke Chrisco wants to watch anyone go to the toilet from now on, he'll have to do it in state prison. The Colorado man has been sentenced to three years in prison and 10 years probation for hiding in a portapotty tank at a yoga festival to spy...

Man Pays for Wedding ... With Spider-Man Comic

Bought it for 12 cents, sold it for almost $8K

(Newser) - Richard Schaen, 69, was worried about how to pay for his daughter's upcoming wedding. Then his spidey senses started tingling. Schaen unearthed his old comic book collection, which had been gathering dust in his Ohio home. Inside, he discovered a copy of Amazing Spider-Man No. 1, which he had...

Homeless Man Saves Cop From Attack

Wrestles her attacker to the ground

(Newser) - San Francisco cops have spent the past four days hunting for a homeless man ... so they could thank him for saving for saving an officer from an attack. On Monday, a lone female cop was responding to a woman seen jumping up and down on cars, say authorities. The woman...

New Kind of Football Injury: T-Shirt Gun Explosion

Intern carried off on stretcher after device malfunctions

(Newser) - A man was carried off the field on a stretcher during a college football game yesterday. Pretty standard stuff—except the guy was an intern for the University of Arkansas' athletics marketing department, not a player, and his injury was caused by ... an exploding T-shirt gun. The loud boom could...

Bus Drivers Crucify Themselves to Get Jobs Back

Paraguayan men, some wives refuse to budge until all jobs restored

(Newser) - A group of bus drivers in Paraguay is going to extreme measures to get back the jobs they lost: They crucified themselves—three weeks ago, reports the BBC . The men (some media reports say five, other say eight) used 15-inch nails to affix their hands to crosses that have been...

NYC Subway Shut Down for Hours by ... 2 Kittens

They're eventually rescued

(Newser) - The appearance of a pair of feline friends temporarily halted two New York City subway lines yesterday in Brooklyn, DNAinfo New York reports. When officials noticed the kittens shortly after 11am, they shut down the power running to the Q and B lines, and a boss unsuccessfully "tried to...

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