strange stuff

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

Stories 4521 - 4540 | << Prev   Next >>

1,500 Birds Crash, Die in Utah
 1,500 Birds Crash, Die in Utah 
Dec 15, 2011 2:23 PM CST

1,500 Birds Crash, Die in Utah

But 3,000 survive the crash

(Newser) - Storm clouds gathered over Utah on Monday, but what wound up raining down from the sky were birds. Thousands of eared grebes dived into roads and parking lots across Cedar City and St. George, apparently mistaking the flat surfaces for water, the LA Times reports. About 1,500 birds died...

Freak Apple Storm Pelts Cars
 Freak Apple Storm Pelts Cars 
Dec 15, 2011 2:01 AM CST

Freak Apple Storm Pelts Cars

Rain of fruit baffles British drivers

(Newser) - Drivers on a busy road in central England were suddenly forced to pull over when it started raining apples. "The apples fell out of the sky as if out of nowhere. They were small and green, and hit the bonnet hard," says one driver, noting that there were...

Indonesia Cops Shave Mohawks Off Punk Fans

Police raid concert, inflict unusual punishment

(Newser) - Police in a conservative part of Indonesia raided a punk-rock concert and inflicted a bizarre punishment on the young attendees: They shaved off their mohawks. Cops detained more than 60 youths, shaved them, took their piercings, and threw them in pools of water to cleanse them spiritually, reports AP . The...

EU: Prunes Aren't a Laxative Politician: Prove It

Good thing Europe has nothing better to worry about right now!

(Newser) - Conventional wisdom dictates that when you're having trouble, um, going, drink a big glass of prune juice. But that advice apparently no longer applies in the EU, and one member of the European parliament isn't very happy about it. The European Food Safety Authority's ruling that there...

Man Asks Cop: 'Can I Have My Weed Back?'

Guess it didn't belong to a friend

(Newser) - A Pennsylvania man has become a case study in what not to say to cops. Devonte Davon Jeter was arrested for marijuana possession in May, and in a preliminary hearing yesterday, his lawyer made the case that the pot could have belonged to someone else in his car, the Beaver ...

Female Splits Up 'Gay' Penguins

It's definitely over for Toronto Zoo's Buddy and Pedro

(Newser) - The penguin love affair dubbed "Brokeback Iceberg" by Jimmy Kimmel is now definitely over. Pedro and Buddy, the "gay" African penguins the Toronto Zoo decided to split up last month , are now both more interested in females, the BBC reports. Buddy, who shared a nest with Pedro for...

Another Hunter Shot by Dog
 Another Hunter Shot by Dog 
Dec 13, 2011 1:37 AM CST

Another Hunter Shot by Dog

Bulldog bumps Fla. hunter's rifle

(Newser) - The combination of a bumpy road, a loaded gun, and an over-excited bulldog has left a Florida hunter in critical condition. Billy Brown, 78, and a friend were on their way to a deer hunting post when the dog apparently bumped Brown's loaded Browning .208, shooting him in the...

Grandma Shoots Son-in-Law in Custody Battle, Police Say

Victim takes video of assault on iPhone

(Newser) - A Florida woman allegedly shot her son-in-law twice at point-blank range last week, enraged over his ongoing divorce with her daughter. Mother-in-law Cheryl Hepner claims he pulled the weapon, but whoops: He recorded the shooting on his iPhone, ABC News reports. "I can't believe you did that!"...

Man Dressed as Santa Drugs 9th Victim at Market

Girl, 15, may have been given date rape drug

(Newser) - A ho-ho-horrible story out of Berlin, where police say a man dressed as Santa drugged a teenager Saturday night at a Christmas market. The suspect offered the 15-year-old girl and her friend a shot of alcohol; the friend refused, but the victim drank both and soon began vomiting. Police say...

Cops: Man Robs Expert in Ultimate Fighting ...
Cops: Man
Robs Expert
in Ultimate Fighting ...
in case you missed it
Dec 10, 2011 7:00 PM CST

Cops: Man Robs Expert in Ultimate Fighting ...

... or tries to, and earns epic mugshot

(Newser) - Reason not to mug someone trained in mixed martial arts and Ultimate Fighting: Anthony Miranda's police mugshot. Chicago police say Miranda, 24, pulled a gun on a man sitting in a car, then demanded that the man get out. That's when the "victim," identified only as...

Meet World&#39;s Richest Cat
 Meet World's Richest Cat 
Dec 10, 2011 7:16 AM CST

Meet World's Richest Cat

Italy's Tomasso inherits owner's $13.4 million estate, sort of

(Newser) - Now that's some serious scratch—Tommaso, a 4-year-old former stray, is now the world's richest cat, the inheritor of $13.4 million worth of properties around Italy, reports the Guardian . Tommaso's rich owner, a 94-year-old childless widow, died last month, leaving her entire estate to her cat....

Cat With 26 Toes Helps Save Shelter

Daniel's odd feet has brought in $50,000 and counting

(Newser) - Daniel, an orange-and-white tabby cat, is doing everything he can to save the Milwaukee Animal Rescue Center, and he's doing it by showing off his bizarre feet. He has 26 toes. Donations of $26—one for each digit—are flooding into the nonprofit animal shelter , which was recently hit...

White House Metal Detector Set Off by ... Obama

The culprit? The president's cell phone

(Newser) - A metal detector leading into the White House was activated today by the president himself. President Obama was returning home from a holiday gathering across Pennsylvania Avenue when he decided to chat with the security guards at the Northwest Gate, reports USA Today . They showed him how a typical White...

Big Crisis in Norway: Butter Shortage

Country's people are gobbling it up as part of low-carb diet

(Newser) - It only sounds like an Onion article: Norway is dealing with a serious butter shortage because its people have been swept up by the latest diet craze, which involves eating lots of it. Reuters reports that a low-carb, high-fat diet has taken the country by storm. According to a rep...

Death Row Inmate Gets New Trial Because of Twitter

Juror tweeted throughout trial, raising risk of prejudice: Arkansas Supreme Court

(Newser) - A mere 140 characters has led to quite the mess in Arkansas. The state's Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a 26-year-old death row inmate receive a new trial because a juror tweeted throughout his first one. Though a lower court found Erickson Dimas-Martinez "suffered no prejudice," an...

Dog Poop Lottery Cleans Up City

Taiwan residents collect 14,500 bags' worth for chance at prize

(Newser) - Faced with an excess of dog mess, a Taiwanese city developed a novel solution: Scoop the poop and win a prize. Sounds like it worked. Some 4,000 people presented authorities in New Taipei City with 14,500 bags of feces, cutting local dog poop by half, the BBC reports....

Now Found in Some Australian Wines: Laxative Agent

No, it's not part of some weird plot to mess with your bowels

(Newser) - Those with delicate bowels may want to steer clear of wine from the Land Down Under. Winemakers there are now allowed to add sodium carboxymethyl cellulose to wine—a chemical lauded for its laxative powers. But in small quantities it can thicken liquids, and when it comes to wine, adding...

Ruckus Erupts After Raunchy Medvedev Tweet

Prez allegedly called jailed activist a 'sheep' with an affinity for...

(Newser) - Well, this isn't very presidential: Dmitry Medvedev appeared to retweet a disparaging remark against jailed opposition activist Alexei Navalny shortly after riot police stopped a second post-election protest Tuesday night. "Today it became clear that a person who writes in their blog the words 'party of crooks...

Declaw Your Cat in Israel, Spend a Year in Prison

...and pay a $20K fine, too

(Newser) - Israel, land of shredded couch corners? Maybe. At the end of November, the country passed a bill that bans the declawing of cats—with some seriously stiff penalties. Those convicted of the crime will face up to a year in prison and a $20,000 fine, reports Discover . If the...

Teen Commits 'Suicide by Piranha'

Bolivian leaps into river swarming with flesh-eating fish

(Newser) - An 18-year-old Bolivian picked a bizarre and gruesome way to commit suicide, police say. The intoxicated teen jumped out of his canoe into a stretch of river infested with piranhas and bled to death after suffering dozens of bites, the Sun reports. Police believe the death was suicide because the...

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