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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Duke CEO Resigns After 1 Day—With $44.4M

Board preferred old boss's management style

(Newser) - Hours after Bill Johnson became CEO of Duke Energy, its board sought his resignation—which it received at 12:01am the day after he took the job. Such a quick change is practically unknown in US history, the Wall Street Journal notes—and nearly as shocking is the $44.4...

Couple Pays Off Mortgage in Pennies

Massachusetts man had been saving them for 35 years

(Newser) - A man who pledged for decades to make the last mortgage payment on his home with pennies has made good on his promise. After warning his bank, Thomas Daigle of Milford, Mass., dropped off about 62,000 pennies weighing 800 pounds in two boxes for the final payment on the...

World's Tiniest Fly Beheads Tiny Ants

Found in Thailand, E. nanaknihali smaller than a grain of salt

(Newser) - It's the tiniest fly species known in the world, smaller than a grain of salt, and apparently it likes to eat ant heads, reports LiveScience . Euryplatea nanaknihali, a newly discovered species from Thailand, is from a fly genus known for decapitating ants and is believed to attack some of...

Theft of 'Vote Satan' Sign a Hate Crime, Couple Says

Police, neighbors think it's not such a big deal

(Newser) - Sometimes being a Satanist can be a hell of a burden. That's what Luigi and Angie Bellaviste have discovered after someone stole their "Vote Satan" sign from their Colorado front porch—an act they'd like to be considered a hate crime. But police aren't biting, reports...

Hit-And-Run Driver: I Was Afraid Ice Cream Would Melt

Flora Burkhart didn't have time to stop after rear-ending pickup

(Newser) - When cops showed up at Flora Burkhart's house asking her why she didn't stop after rear-ending a pickup truck on her way home Sunday night, she had quite an interesting excuse: "I left because I did not want my ice cream to melt." The 58-year-old Arkansas...

Feds: Sorry, Mermaids Aren't Real

Agency takes a stand after gullible TV watchers wondered

(Newser) - We know you've been holding your breath, but you can stop now: The US government has officially declared that there is no evidence mermaids exist. The strange announcement came about after Animal Planet ran a show about mermaids called Mermaids: The Body Found in May. Apparently, some people thought...

Maine Woman Finds 12-Year-Old Message in Bottle

It had floated down from Canada

(Newser) - Volunteers picking up trash in a coastal Maine community found a message in a bottle that apparently floated down the coast from Canada. Becky Lee of Downeast Coastal Conservancy says she discovered the note as she and others cleaned up Tibbett Island off of South Addison. The plastic soda bottle...

California Senator: Let Kids Have 3 Parents—or More

Mark Leno says 'there are more than Ozzie and Harriet families today'

(Newser) - Meet Mom, Dad, and Dad? Maybe, if California state Sen. Mark Leno has his way. He has introduced a bill that would do away with the law that says kids can have a maximum of two legal parents, reports the Sacramento Bee . So if a lesbian couple conceived a baby...

Pennsylvania High School Puts Itself on eBay

Cash-strapped school for troubled teens tries 'Hail Mary pass'

(Newser) - A Philadelphia-area high school has put itself on eBay to offset crippling budget cuts. The Learning Center—an alternative school for at-risk teens—describes itself as "slightly used but extremely successful" in the listing, ABC reports. The buyer won't get the school itself, which belongs to the Neshaminy...

Man Attacks Women With Sword and ... Sandwich

Mark Christopher Miller allegedly smeared lady with peanut butter

(Newser) - Two Florida women were likely scared when Mark Christopher Miller rushed them with a 4-foot sword, but maybe not quite as terrified by his second weapon: a peanut butter sandwich. The 50-year-old man is accused of poking one of the women, who is six months pregnant, with the sword after...

Couple Razes Home Being Built Too Far From Curb
Couple Razes Home Being Built Too Far From Curb
$150K MISTAKES...
Jul 2, 2012 12:38 PM CDT

Couple Razes Home Being Built Too Far From Curb

Construction boo-boo meant no room for a pool

(Newser) - Really ridiculous real estate decisions apparently aren't the sole province of West Coast couples. The New York Post reports that a Hamptons couple decided to tear down their rising home and demolish its 2,025-square-foot foundation because the under-construction home was being built too far from the curb, squashing...

Face-Eater Nailed in China
 Face-Gnawer Nailed in China 
Jul 2, 2012 12:26 AM CDT

Face-Gnawer Nailed in China

Drunken bus driver attacks woman in Wenzhou

(Newser) - America's zombie apocalypse seems to have infected China. A bus driver drinking with friends during lunch in the city of Wenzhou in southeast China suddenly ran into the streets, pounced on a random woman, and began gnawing on her face until bystanders pulled him away, according to officials. The...

Michigan's New DUI Weapon: Talking Urinal Cakes

Some sing and light up too, in effort to combat drunk driving

(Newser) - Michigan is trying a novel technique for cutting down on drunk driving: filling bathrooms with responsible talking urinal cakes, formally known as Interactive Urinal Communicators. Step up to a urinal equipped with one of these, erm, ingenious devices, and it will utter the following message: "Listen up. … Had...

Zoo Loses 30 Squirrels, Recaptures ... 38

Tokyo zoo checking rodents for chips

(Newser) - After 30 squirrels made a break for freedom from a Japanese zoo, workers assigned to recapture them were a little too successful. After a few days spent trying to recover the squirrels, which escaped from Tokyo's Inokashira Park Zoo after a typhoon-toppled tree sliced through netting, workers ended up...

Arsonist Drops Dead After Guilty Verdict

Speculation swirls that he killed himself

(Newser) - An Arizona man collapsed in court yesterday, minutes after a jury pronounced him guilty of arson—and many are speculating that he poisoned himself. Courtroom video appears to show defendant Michael Marin swallow something just after the verdict is read, My Fox Phoenix reports. Several minutes pass uneventfully, and then...

Now on eBay: Whole Italian Village, $3M

Tuscan residents not included

(Newser) - Ever dreamed of a Tuscan home? How about an entire town? If you've got $3.1 million to spare, you could score one on eBay, the Telegraph reports. The 800-year-old village of Pratariccia is for sale on the auction site; the buyer will get 25 run-down houses among scenic...

Judge to Lawyer: No, You Can't Be Hemingway

He rejects odd request with his own literary flare

(Newser) - A lawyer in an upcoming federal trial wanted to make sure he'd get a particular day off in a few weeks—because, as he noted in his request, the "undersigned counsel" is "a perennial contestant in the Ernest Hemingway Look-alike Contest" at Sloppy Joe's Bar in...

Poll: If Aliens Invade, Americans Want Obama

More than a third of respondents believe in UFOs

(Newser) - Americans may be divided on President Obama's handling of the economy, but if aliens invade, he's their guy. A whopping 65% think Obama would be better at handling an alien invasion than Mitt Romney, according to a new National Geographic poll spotted by the AFP . And for more...

Louisiana's Rogue Dolphin Entertains ... and Bites

3 people who got too close have been bitten by Katrina survivor

(Newser) - Residents of an upscale New Orleans suburb have been warned to stay away from their friendly neighborhood dolphin. The young bottlenose dolphin, who arrived in a canal off the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain after Hurricane Katrina, is a big hit with boaters and swimmers, but has bitten at least...

Cops: Guy Threatened Gassy Neighbor With Gun

Daniel Collins Jr. apparently not a fan of gas-passing

(Newser) - Be careful where you fart: A New Jersey man is accused of threatening his neighbor with a gun after hearing the neighbor pass gas outside his apartment door. Daniel Collins Jr., 72, allegedly pointed a 32-caliber revolver at the neighbor and said, "I'm going to put a hole...

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