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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Germany Busts Cocaine-Stuffed Condoms Headed for the Vatican

German Customs made kind of an eyebrow-raising discovery

(Newser) - Let the party-at-the-Vatican jokes begin: German Customs authorities have intercepted a package of 14 condoms filled with cocaine and headed for the Vatican, reports RTE via Bild. The condoms contained about 12 ounces of the drug, worth an estimated $55,000. As the AP reports, the package was mailed from...

Academic Journal's Sole Focus: Bruce Springsteen

Yes, this is a thing that actually exists

(Newser) - There's already a Bruce Springsteen college course , so really, this was inevitable: There now exists an academic journal devoted solely to the study of the Boss. It is named, appropriately, BOSS: The Biannual Online-Journal of Springsteen Studies . The Daily Dot notes that the editorial advisory board is "well-credentialed,...

World's Priciest Dog Sells for $2M

Property developer in China buys Tibetan mastiff

(Newser) - AFP thinks this is the highest price ever paid for a dog, and no wonder: A property developer in China shelled out $2 million for a Tibetan mastiff puppy. A second puppy of the same breed went for about $1 million. The sale came at a "luxury pet"...

Guy's Gun Tattoo Draws SWAT Team

Tree workers in Maine thought it was real, called the cops

(Newser) - He'd worked the night shift and was trying to get some sleep. So when a bunch of tree-service workers woke Michael Smith of Maine yesterday morning, he went outside shirtless and hollered at them to get off his property, recounts the Morning Sentinel . Now would be the time to...

Cops: Lazy Mailman Trashed 1K Letters, Packages

Patrick Paskett charged with mail destruction

(Newser) - If you never got grandma's Christmas card and happen to live on Long Island, this might explain things: A mail carrier threw more than a thousand pieces of mail into garbage bins along his Massapequa and Seaford route ... simply because he was too lazy to deliver them, police say,...

Guy's Revenge: Texting Complete Works of Shakespeare

Alleged fraudster will receive more than 29K texts

(Newser) - A man paid $133 for a PlayStation 3 on UK classifieds site Gumtree, but never received it—so he decided to get revenge on the fraudulent seller by texting him the complete works of Shakespeare. Edd Joseph, 24, discovered that it's easy for him to simply copy the text...

Amish Buggy Sought in Hit-and-Run

It hit a Honda, twice

(Newser) - "Hope they at least got the license plate" doesn't really apply here. State police are searching for an unlikely suspect in a western Pennsylvania hit-and-run accident—the driver of an Amish buggy. Troopers from the Mercer barracks say the buggy hit a Honda CRV at a crossroads on...

Bystander With Box Spring Catches Falling Toddler

Child falls from 3-story window, emerges unscathed

(Newser) - Definition of a lucky kid: He falls from a three-story window but gets saved by two people who just happened to be walking by. Definition of a luckier kid: His saviors also happened to be carrying the box spring for a mattress. It happened in Burbank, California, when Konrad Lightner...

Guy Googles Himself, Learns He's 'Most Wanted'

That probably wasn't the search result Christopher Viatafa was hoping for

(Newser) - A California man who decided to Google himself got a very big surprise—a surprise that landed him in jail last week. Christopher Viatafa, 27, searched for his name online and discovered there was a warrant out for his arrest in connection with an August incident in which police say...

Guy Gets 2 DWIs ... in One Day, at One McDonald's

At the same McDonald's

(Newser) - Let's just say Zachary J. Boynton may have really, really wanted some McDonald's. The 31-year-old New York man was arrested on DWI charges twice in the same morning, at the same Oneonta McDonald's, WKTV reports. Police first arrested him at 12:56am last Sunday after he allegedly...

Cause of Woman&#39;s Weight Gain: 88-Pound Tumor
Cause of Woman's Weight Gain: 88-Pound Tumor
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 16, 2014 12:04 PM CDT

Cause of Woman's Weight Gain: 88-Pound Tumor

Doctors remove huge ovarian cyst

(Newser) - After a year of watching her waistline expand, a 57-year-old Brazilian woman finally consulted doctors when it hit 52 inches ... and they discovered the cause was an 88-pound, mucus-filled ovarian tumor. The woman, who was overweight, had very few other symptoms: just a feeling of "heaviness" in her stomach,...

To Get Kids Across Street, Vegas Deploys ... Leprechaun

City has seen rate of pedestrians killed in crosswalks spike

(Newser) - Las Vegas officials worried about the safety of pedestrians crossing the street did what any municipality might: They stuck a cop dressed as a leprechaun on a street corner by a school for a day, reports 8 News Now . It's actually a lighthearted approach to a pretty serious problem:...

Forget Juice Cleanses, an Ice Cream Cleanse Exists

But ... is it actually good for you?

(Newser) - Juice cleanses are all the rage these days—but doesn't it sound more fun to go on an ice cream cleanse? If you live in California, you can. Kippy's! Ice Cream Shop in Venice is now offering a four-day cleanse, although its version of ice cream doesn't...

Future Sentences Could Last 1K Years —in Prisoners' Minds

Philosophers discuss mind-warping punishments

(Newser) - We could someday see prison sentences radically altered—in the prisoner's own mind, the Telegraph reports. An Oxford philosophers are considering how future technology could, for instance, make a jail sentence feel as though it lasted 1,000 years, they tell Aeon magazine. After all, there are already "...

Homeowner Fights to Keep Treehouse

City says it's a public hazard, but Washington state resident disagrees

(Newser) - Zeb Postelwait of Washington state always wanted to build a treehouse for his sons. He got the chance last summer after moving into a Wenatchee home with a big tree in the front yard. Two months later he received his first notice from the city to tear it down. Authorities...

Family on Crazy 22-lb Attack Cat: He Stays

Therapy might be on the table for old Lux

(Newser) - If your 22-pound cat clawed your infant, then went on a yowling rampage that ended with your family barricaded in a bedroom on the phone to 911 , you'd think a little, er, tension might result. But Lee Palmer and Teresa Barker seem pretty sanguine in the aftermath, telling the...

Mom Who Ate Poppy Seeds Sues Over Failed Drug Test

Hospital informed child welfare agency

(Newser) - A first-time mother who says she failed a drug test while in labor because she ate poppy seeds has sued a Pittsburgh hospital, saying officials defamed her and violated her doctor-patient confidentiality by sharing the results with a child welfare agency. Rachael Devore, 31, who gave birth at Magee-Women's...

Man Dies of Heart Attack Caused by ... Nail Biting

Nails bleed, infection turns septic and travels to heart

(Newser) - It's a good thing you listened to your mom when she told you not to bite your nails: The bad habit ended up costing one UK man his life. John Gardener, a 40-year-old amateur football referee, bit his fingernails so badly that they bled—leading to an infection that...

Cops Rescue Family From Irate 22-lb. Cat

Himalayan attacked, family locked themselves in bedroom

(Newser) - Portland police got a very strange call Sunday: A family was cowering in a bedroom after their 22-pound Himalayan cat went on the rampage, the Oregonian reports. "It has gone over the edge," Lee Palmer told dispatchers. "He's trying to attack us—he's very hostile....

Boy Suspended for Pointing Finger Like Gun
Boy Suspended for
Pointing Finger Like Gun
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 9, 2014 12:25 PM CDT

Boy Suspended for Pointing Finger Like Gun

Nathan Entingh used a 'level 2 lookalike firearm'

(Newser) - America's kids have been suspended for pretending that pencils were guns, but an Ohio school may have topped that. A 10-year-old student at a Columbus elementary school was handed a three-day suspension for making a finger gun and pretending to shoot a classmate. The suspension letter more formally referred...

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