Strange But True Category
Weird, offbeat and bizarre news from around the world. Funny, strange & odd news stories that make you wince, laugh and fear for humanity.
Ballooning turtle rescued from tree
IS it a bird? Is it plane? Is it a small boy? Is it a donkey? No. It’s a turtle stuck with tape to a battery of balloons and released over Oceanside, California. But Branson the turtle never did make it to Japan. The balloons snagged in a eucalyptus tree.
Joel Rabagos’ mother took a video. Says Joel:
“When something like this happens, she always takes the video camera, no matter what it is.”
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Posted: 23rd, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Local news: Cumbrian woman finds Chinese tortoise in garden
LOCAL news story of the day: the News & Star tells of Margaret Parker, 67. She spotted a “baby tortoise” in the garden of her home in Upperby, Cumbria. Mrs Parker’s daughter dashed out to buy some supplies. Lorraine Boyes, 47, bought soem vegetables from the Co-op. But the tortoise refused to eat.
So. They called the Knoxwood Wildlife Rescue Centre, near Wigton. The wee creature was placed carefully inside a cardboard box he tortoise. Rescue volunteer Pauline Adams soon arrived. Says Margaret:
“I was worried it might have died. But then the lady from Knoxwood looked at it, picked it up and turned it over. She told me: ‘It’s not dead – it’s made of pot…My daughter was trying to tempt it with the lettuce and the tomato but I did wonder why it wasn’t moving it’s head, and decided it was probably just frightened. At first the woman from Knoxwood didn’t say anything when she saw it. It was about the same weight as a real tortoise, but when she picked it up and looked underneath there was writing on the bottom: Made in China.”
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Posted: 21st, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Fallen blind man sues after workmen removed his balcony
TO Blindheim, Germany, where wheelchair-bound Klaus Ohlmeier is addressing the court:
“I heard a noise, and then I can’t remember anything. I’m glad it didn’t come out any worse.”
Mr Ohlmeier is 64-years-old and blind. He lives in a home that was being renovated. His balcony had been removed… His fall led to many broken ribs and internal bleeding. Says site manager Patrick B: “There was a sign.” For the, erm, blind people to read.
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Posted: 21st, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Mug shot of the day: Jeepers Peepers Joshua Dakota Traub
MUG shot of the day is of Joshua Dakota Traub, 20, of Tulsa. Traub has been arrested for alleged sexual battery (he smacked a female Walmart worker on the buttocks), being a peeping Tom (he peered inside the female toilets) and obstructing an officer (he gave unusual answers during his police interview, including saying he had a physical handicap of being hungry.
He duly had his mug shot taken, which, as you can see, bears the looks of a man who has peeped and seen…
Posted: 21st, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Dog Shaming: because your dog is shamed (photos)
TUMBLR of the day is Dog Shaming, in which dogs confess to any number of sins and moments of moral turpitude:
Posted: 20th, August 2012 | In: Key Posts, Strange But True | Comment (1)
Police blow up marijuana ‘pipe bomb’ bong
LET’S get bombed! In Sherman Heights, San Diego, police have spotted a device that they think looks like a pipe bomb. It’s a 10-inch-long galvanized metal tube with capped ends. It lying in the dirt outside an apartment building.
Someone called the fire brigade. They called the bomb disposal squad. The area was evacuated. An expert checked out the pipe and in their wisdom decided it was a good idea to blow it up with a special rifle. So they did. One cap flew off to reveal the ‘bomb’ as a device for getting bombed. It was a bong for smoking marijuana through.
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Posted: 20th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Willy the cockatoo has been trained to call the neighbour a ‘whore’
TO Rhode Island, where Kathy Melker and Craig Fontaine are rowing with neighbours Lynne Taylor and Chris Levasseur over a bird. Melker says Taylor calls her nasty things and hurls vile insults. And so too does Taylor’s umbrella cockatoo, Willy.
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Posted: 20th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment (1)
Jackmeoff Mudd arrested in Florida
TO South Florida in seach of nominative determinism – and finding a man arrested last Friday in Fort Lauderdale. Meet Jackmeoff Mudd.
Jackmeoff has been charged with assault, disorderly conduct, resisting an officer, possession of alcohol in an open container, and violation of probation.
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Posted: 19th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Eduardo Leite was pieced in the brain by a 6-foot metal pole – and lived
PICTURE of the day features the head of 24-year-old Eduardo Leite, a builder in Brazil. He was on site when a 6-foot metal bar fell and hit him in the head. The pole passed though his hard hat and into his head. He did not lose consciousness until he was put under for an operation to remove it.
Says Luiz Alexandre Essinger, chief of staff at Rio de Janeiro’s Miguel Couto Hospital:
“He was taken to the operating room, his skull was opened, they examined the brain and the surgeon decided to pull the metal bar out from the front in the same direction it entered the brain…Today, he continues well, with few complaints for a five-hour-long surgery..He says he feels little pain.”
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Posted: 18th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Local News: Postman finds swear word on letter
TO WORCESTER, where postman Douglas Nicholls is shocked to see a letter addressed to “Mr Fuck Off”.
Douglas Nicholls, 53 (!) talks of his pain to the local paper:
“I couldn’t believe it when I saw the address. Even after 32 years working as postman I have never had anything like this. I delivered it at about noon on Friday. But afterwards I started thinking about it and felt even more offended.”
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Posted: 17th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Fish sneaks into home and smashes place up
TO Changji, Xinjiang Province, China, where Xu Xianmin and his wife are looking for an explanation. How did their home come to be trashed? And why is a catfish in the lounge?
Says Xu:
“I thought my home had been ransacked by thieves. The table was turned over, and stacked plastic bottles were everywhere. When I was picking up things from the other side of the table, I suddenly touched something cold and slippery, and it was moving!”
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Posted: 17th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
School lunch scanner gives children mark of The Beast
TO Moss Bluff Elementary school, Lake Charles, Louisiana, where fears abound that the new dinnertime palam scanner is turning the children to the Devil.
Says parent Mamie Sonnier, sounding not a little like Annie Wilkes.
“I was very, very mad. Disappointed.”
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Posted: 17th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True, Technology | Comment
Help! My taxi driver is wearing the wrong trousers
WHAT should a mini-cab / taxi driver wear to put his customers at ease, to assure them that they are in the hands of a professional? To Perth, Australia, then, where a driver is not wearing trousers. Jessie Gravett, 21, hired the cab. She took a photo of the non-trousers:
“There is possibly a legitimate reason for the lack of pants but I would think he would stop driving and be a professional about it. Not pick girls up. I didn’t take much notice of the driver when I got in, just shut the door and confirmed my drop off address in Spearwood, 35 minutes away. I immediately messaged my friends so they could keep tabs on me. I didn’t want to draw attention to his lack of pants because I was unsure how he would react. I was very uncomfortable.
“I put my keys between my fingers and unzipped my sharp studded boots because I wasn’t sure what his intentions were and I wanted to be prepared in case I needed to defend myself.”
Such is the power of trousers.
She complained:
“When I called they [Swan Taxis] said he had someone else in the car already for another job so at least they had track of him.”
Posted: 17th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True, The Consumer | Comment
Olympics dressage centre opens in Brinnington, Stockport
DRESSAGE has gone to the streets in search of new Olympic champions. First stop on the talent quest is Brinnington, Stockport, where animals have bene spotted living in the homes of dressage enthusiasts. As many as 14 animals have been seen grazing on the Brindale Park playground.
One local tells the MEN:
“It’s a children’s playing field and horses are not meant to be on there…I have seen them kept in gardens. I have been to the housing office and complained.”
Indeed. It’s all very well housing them but the short dressage arena measures 20m x 40m (or approximately 66 ft. x 132 ft.) and is seldom used in the sport of dressage today, where as the standard – or long – dressage arena measures 20m x 60m (or approximately 66 ft. x 197 ft.)
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Posted: 15th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Man shoots himself in bum at Nevada cinema
TO Sparks, Nevada, where at a cinema screening of The Bourne Legacy a 56-year-old male patron has sat on his loaded weapon, causing it to fire a bullet into his backside.
Sgt. Pay Dyer tells media:
“Witnesses inside the theater at the time the shot was fired stated that a (man) was adjusting himself in his seat when a gun he had on him discharged.”
The gun was legal. Which goes to prove that they give them to pretty much anyone…
Posted: 15th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Men needed to drive women to and from Saudi Arabia’s women-only city
NEWS from Saudi Arabia of plans to build a city exclusively for women. The Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon) has been detailed to create opportunities for women. At a cost of 500 million riyals (£84m) developers will turn a province of the Eastern city of Hafuf into a haven for women who want to work in the glamour trades of, erm, textile making, pharmaceuticals and food processing. The law states that women cannot work in Saudi Arabia outside the home unless a man say it’s ok. But in the Eden of Hafuf they will be free to stand on production lines put things in tins, clean up offices and go to the toilet unsupervised.
The men will soon realise that women are good at sticking things in boxes and cleaning up offices and Saudi Arabia will be dragged into the 19th Century. Well, so long as the women can get their men to pick them up and take them to work.
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Posted: 14th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comments (10)
UCL offers a free Jeremy Bentham head to all students past and present (photo)
ANYONE want to own the head of Jeremy Bentham? After his death, the philosopher and jurist was preserved. His ‘Auto-Icon’ sits in a wooden cabinet, at the end of the South Cloisters of the main building of Univerity College London. Now you can own his head.
UCL almni relations are offering scholar a free head to “inspire radical thinking”. It’s also useful for keeping your Rizlas from blowing away…
Spotter: Ben Goldacre
Posted: 14th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Other parents: Why is Silas Sim happy?
WHY is Silas Sim so happy? Finally, the truth can be revealed. Cancel the iPad. It’s Biros for Christmas:
Posted: 13th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Anti-gay golfer hits ball through homosexual Church window
IS there something about golf that lends itself to intolerance? Do people who like rules enjoy golf?
We ask in light of events at Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, where a golf ball “covered in hate speech” has broken the window of Robert Paddock’s car. The Church had just inaugurated gay Pastor Anita Hill as the head of a drive to reach gay, lesbian and transgender congregants. Paddock, who had attended the service, returned to his car:
“It’s one thing to have your opinion – you may not accept this – but when you go out and damage people’s property, that’s another thing. It’s not changing anything by doing an act like that. It’s simply vandalism.”
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Posted: 13th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
China goes loopy for placing a stick on your head
TREE huggers, step aside. The new way to show your coolness with all things natural is to wear a stick on your head. It’s reported that in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, western China, those in search of enlightenment are meditating with stick on their heads.
One enthusiast who teaches the art of stick wearing is quoted:
“It sounds odd but it really does relax you. If you have one real task to concentrate on, all your worries and stresses seem to melt away, and you don’t notice the heat at all. We follow the same principles as zen meditation to keep the body and the mind in harmony.”
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Posted: 12th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Can you poo on demand? Drunk driver did
MUG Shot of the day takes us to Thibodaux, Louisiana, where Wayne Benoit, 53, has been asked to step out of his truck. He fails a police sobriety test. He then, in what police call an attempt to avoid arrest, began “straining and purposely soiled himself.”
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Posted: 12th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Jesus Christ spotted in Belfast tree stump
JESUS Christ has been spotted by Sean Osborne in a Belfast City Cemetery. Says he:“Lots of people have been to see it and one woman has been there saying the rosary at the stump. It really is mounting in terms of curiosity. You can feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up, you really need to see it for yourself.”
“Being a sceptic I’ve been down and scrubbed at it, but you can’t really tell how it got to be there. If someone has painted it on, they’ve done a really good job and kept quiet.”
Posted: 11th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment (1)
‘Dead’ Joseph DeAngelo was just sleeping in the river like a human Pooh Stick
LIFE mirroring Pooh Bear story of the day now as we head to the Susquehanna River in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Sue Hubbard spotted a body floating in the water. The body was wearing a life vest.
“I saw him down there all by myself, second thought was oh my gosh.”
The police were called. Matthew Kranz of Williamsport was looking on:
“We were standing here talking to you, all of a sudden he sat up, and apparently wasn’t dead.”
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Posted: 11th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Drunk who fell asleep at Rome airport passes through bag scanner
TO Terminal 3 at Rome’s Fiumicino, where a Norwegian tourist, 36, has fallen asleep on the baggage belt. He is only spotted when, having travelled 160 feet, he passes through the X-ray scanner. He is seen wearing a backpack and clutching a can of beer.
We can aslo deduce that his shoes and head are made of the same matter, both showing up green on the scanner. He might want to see a doctor.
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Posted: 10th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Drugs taker accidentally calls police during dugs deal
IDIOT of the day is Justin Kryzanowski of Scranton, Pennsylvania. While meeting his drugs dealer in a car, Kryzanowski managed to dial 911. His mobile phone was in his trousers. Somehow he managed to call the police, who recorded the deal. The phone number was traced to Kryzanowski’s home. Police popped over. They found loads of drugs and devices for taking them. They also found an intoxicated Kryzanowski.
Kryzanowski was charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and prohibited offensive weapons.
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Posted: 9th, August 2012 | In: Strange But True | Comment
