strange stuff

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

Stories 3521 - 3540 | << Prev   Next >>

'Apocalypse' Village to Media: You're the Problem

People in Bugarach can't wait for the 'end of the world' to end

(Newser) - A mysterious online rumor has brought immense fame to a village in France —but for locals and visitors the biggest annoyance seems to be reporters who keep asking about it, the Guardian reports. The sleepy village of Bugarach is known as the one place destined to survive the Mayan...

First Date Goes Horribly Wrong
 First Date Goes Horribly Wrong 
Nov 24, 2012 3:23 PM CST

First Date Goes Horribly Wrong

Woman in Boca Raton, Fla., allegedly becomes enraged

(Newser) - We've all heard about first dates gone awry, but this? Police in Boca Raton, Fla., say they found Jillian Martone, 35, hysterical and crying outside the apartment of her date, Efren Molina, 39—and then heard his side of the story, reports the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Molina "brought...

Naked Man Stands on a Statue for 3 Hours

London police cordon off road as crowd gathers

(Newser) - Guess he didn't mind the cold: A naked man sat on the statue of a 19th-century prince in downtown London yesterday, striking poses and waving his arms around while police tried to coax him down, the Telegraph reports. Police also closed off a street near Trafalgar Square to traffic...

Eerie Discovery: Gene Predicts What Time We&#39;ll Die
Eerie Discovery: Gene Predicts What Time We'll Die
in case you missed it
Nov 24, 2012 9:00 AM CST

Eerie Discovery: Gene Predicts What Time We'll Die

Scientists accidentally stumble on finding

(Newser) - Scientists have made a discovery that, at first glance, seems pretty creepy: a gene variant that predicts the time of day we're most likely to die. Researchers looked at the sleeping patterns of 65-year-olds, and found that those with the more common variant of a single nucleotide near the...

Real Estate Agent Stole Competitor's 'For Sale' Signs: Cops

Robert Toth charged with weird crime

(Newser) - Well, that's one way to hurt the competition: A Connecticut real estate agent has been charged with stealing a competitor's "for sale" signs from the front lawns of area homes. Police say 54-year-old Robert Toth was charged Wednesday with third-degree larceny and first-degree criminal trespass, after Jihad...

Postcard Mailed During WWII Finally Arrives

Only took it 70 years or so

(Newser) - A postcard mailed nearly 70 years ago has finally arrived at the former upstate New York home of the couple who sent it. The postcard was sent July 4, 1943, from Rockford, Illinois, to sisters Pauline and Theresa Leisenring in Elmira. Their brother, George Leisenring, was stationed at Rockford's...

Drunk Driver in Search of Walmart Deal Hits 2: Police

45-year-old woman was pinned under SUV in parking lot

(Newser) - Black Thursday shopping proved to be a treacherous affair for a Seattle-area couple, who were hit by an SUV in a Walmart parking lot last night. Police say the 71-year-old behind the wheel was suspected of driving drunk to the store in search of a Black Friday deal. But instead...

10 Weird Thanksgiving Facts
 10 Weird Thanksgiving Facts 
Nov 22, 2012 4:48 PM CST

10 Weird Thanksgiving Facts

It was supposed to be a day for fasting...

(Newser) - Thanksgiving feasts and TV dinners may seem like polar opposites, but in fact, the holiday gave birth to the prepackaged meals. Swanson bought way too much turkey in 1953—an extra 260 tons of it—so a salesman suggested packing the leftovers into 5,000 aluminum trays, accompanied by sweet...

Cop Resigns After Saying He'd Volunteer to Kill Obama

Sam Koivisto had been on the Jacksonville force for 26 years

(Newser) - Another entry in the " things you shouldn't do if you want to keep your job" file: A 26-year veteran of the Jacksonville, Florida, police force resigned last week after telling co-workers that he'd volunteer to kill Barack Obama. The Florida Times-Union reports that Sam Koivisto made the...

Passenger Helps Land 747 After Co-Pilot Falls Ill

Luckily, the Good Samaritan was licensed to fly jumbo jets

(Newser) - A Lufthansa 747 made a smooth landing at Dublin's airport this week, an event made notable because one of the passengers was helping in the cockpit. As the Irish Independent explains, when the co-pilot fell ill with a crushing migraine, the main pilot got permission to divert to Dublin....

Guy Arrested After Telling Kids Santa Doesn't Exist

Busted on public intoxication charge

(Newser) - An Ontario man who thought it would be fun to walk along a Christmas parade route telling kids there is no Santa Claus got his comeuppance: He was busted for public intoxication. Cops on Saturday received complaints about the 24-year-old man, who was easy to find because he had "...

Pope Statue No Longer Looks Like Mussolini

Monument reworked to look friendlier

(Newser) - Rome was not happy after last May's unveiling of a statue of Pope John Paul II, which many decried as looking more like dictator Benito Mussolini (or, according to others, a Star Trek alien) than the late pontiff. Now the 16-foot bronze statue has been reworked to give it...

Beard Traps Abseiling Santa
 Beard Traps Abseiling Santa 
Nov 20, 2012 1:27 AM CST

Beard Traps Abseiling Santa

He was left dangling over British shopping mall

(Newser) - The holiday season didn't get off to a great start for one luckless Santa Claus in England, the BBC reports. As he abseiled inside a shopping mall as part of its Christmas lights switching-on ceremony, his beard got caught in the rope and he was left dangling for 30...

Woman Keeps Her Dead Husband for 3 Years

And tells the children to take care of it

(Newser) - Here's a macabre tale: A woman in central Russia kept her husband's dead body for three years and told her kids to talk to him and feed him, AFP reports. When her husband, a Pentecostal missionary, died in 2009, she simply left him on a bed in their...

Firefighter: I Was Snubbed for Being Vegetarian

Anthony Harper says colleagues ostracized him

(Newser) - Talk about a meaty problem: A New York firefighter says colleagues have snubbed him and even endangered his life because he's vegetarian, the New York Post reports. Anthony Harper, 42, says it began when he changed his diet two years ago and stopped paying his share of communal meals...

Scotland's New Hero Is Man in Giraffe Suit

Armstrong Baillie does good deeds around country; got idea 'on the loo'

(Newser) - While sitting on the toilet, a jobless Scottish man had an idea: Why not dress as a giraffe and do good deeds for people? Now, Armstrong Baillie has developed a reputation as the Good Giraffe, and as said animal he's done kindnesses like cleaning beaches, giving runners bananas, and...

Highway Safety Honcho Has Abysmal Driving Record

Massachusetts' Sheila Burgess will be reassigned

(Newser) - Well, this is embarrassing: The Massachusetts highway safety director's driving record includes an impressive seven accidents, four speeding tickets, and two failures to stop for a cop—all in all, there are 34 entries on her record. Is it any wonder Governor Deval Patrick's administration has decided to...

Meet the Fearsome New Tool in Airport Security
Meet the Fearsome New Tool in Airport Security
in case you missed it
Nov 18, 2012 7:00 PM CST

Meet the Fearsome New Tool in Airport Security

Israeli company trains mice to sniff out explosives

(Newser) - If an Israeli company has its way, mice will be the new frontier in airport security. BioExplorers has trained its little critters to sniff out telltale signs of explosives and narcotics, reports AFP . Under its system, travelers would pass through a small booth, and mice in a nearby chamber would...

Cop Pulls Over Speeding Driver, She Gives Birth

Has baby on side of the road

(Newser) - A speeding driver gets pulled over en route to the hospital, only for the cop to realize she was speeding because she's in labor. Think it only happens in sitcoms? Think again: An Ontario police officer found himself in exactly that situation this morning, when he pulled over a...

NY Prosecutor Admits Lying About His Porn Star Past

Mark Suben appeared in adult films in '70s

(Newser) - A district attorney in upstate New York has admitted that he acted in pornographic movies in the 1970s, then lied about it during his second campaign. Mark Suben, the DA in Cortland County near Syracuse since 2008, held a news conference yesterday to fess up. "Recently materials have been...

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