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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Miss Florida Pageant Crowns Wrong Winner

Elizabeth Fechtel loses title after less than a week thanks to tabulation error

(Newser) - Florida has just one-upped Delaware in the beauty-pageant gaffe department: The Miss Florida pageant crowned the wrong winner last Saturday because of a vote-counting error and has had to make an embarrassing about-face, reports the Miami Herald . The pageant initially named Elizabeth Fechtel its winner, and the 20-year-old University of...

Woman Has Mass Removed 50 Years After Snake Bite

Calcified tissue took a while to develop

(Newser) - It was a slowww reaction. When she was 14, a girl in Thailand got bit in the leg by a poisonous snake called the Malayan pit viper. A half-century later, she showed up at the doctor with a painful mass in that same leg, reports LiveScience , picking up on a...

Yum? World's First Coffee Wine Is Here

Available in red or white, in a can

(Newser) - You never knew you wanted it, but it's here anyway. The "wine in a can specialists" at Friends Fun Wine have come up with the world's first coffee-flavored wine—a combination of "the world's most popular Day Drink with the world's most popular Night...

Family's Problem: Daughter Harriet's Name 'Illegal'

But Hjörný, Haddý, Hekla, Hrafnhildur are just fine in Iceland

(Newser) - You might see why a government would be reluctant to hand Adolf Hitler a passport, but what's so bad about Harriet? A couple living in Iceland say the government has refused to issue their 10-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son new passports because their names, Harriet and Duncan, aren't...

Woman Killed by ... Phone Charger

Sheryl Aldeguer electrocuted by faulty charger in April

(Newser) - A mother of two has died in Australia thanks to a $4.95 phone charger. Authorities say Sheryl Anne Aldeguer, 28, was talking on the phone, plugged into a cheap charger that failed to meet Australian safety rules, when she was electrocuted with 240 volts and died instantly. The Filipino...

Man Spots Jesus, Lamb—on Apple

'Maybe it's a sign,' says David Duran

(Newser) - First Jesus was spotted on Google Earth . Now he's apparently taken to fruit. Albuquerque's David Duran was making apple butter in his mother's kitchen when he came to "the last couple of apples in the batch." He was just about to peel one when he...

EPA to Workers: Stop Pooping in the Hall

Agency hires consultant after phantom pooper strikes

(Newser) - The Environmental Protection Agency has a pretty basic tip for EPA employees who want to protect the environment they work in: Stop pooping in the hallway. The agency's Denver branch found it necessary to tell workers to cease "inappropriate bathroom behavior," citing incidents including toilets clogged with...

Air-Conditioner Thief Gets Extra Time ... for Pollution

By releasing Freon, he violated Clean Air Act

(Newser) - When Martin Eldridge and his pals started stealing air-conditioning units around Columbus, Ohio, last year, it's a safe bet they didn't factor the Clean Air Act into their possible punishment. Big mistake: Because when Eldridge and company cut the tubing that connected the units to their buildings, they...

Cops Sued for Killing Guy, 95, With Bean Bag Gun

Police claimed he was belligerent; family says he couldn't have posed threat

(Newser) - When 95-year-old John Wrana refused to go to the hospital last year for medical treatment, cops in suburban Chicago shot him with "five rounds of bean bag cartridges from a 12 gauge shotgun within a distance of approximately only six to eight feet," according to a lawsuit filed...

Crowd-Surfing Scientist Kicked Out of Classical Concert

I wasn't drunk, just American, he says

(Newser) - The audience at a classical music concert in the UK was urged to loosen up a bit—but an American scientist who loosened up so much he attempted to crowd-surf ended up being ejected by his fellow classical music fans. During the "Hallelujah Chorus," Dr. David Glowacki, a...

Funeral Trend: Posing Deceased Like They're Alive

Puerto Rico spearheads phenomenon

(Newser) - A boxer wore his gloves and stood in the corner of the ring, apparently ready for a fight—except for the fact that he was deceased. The scene was the funeral of Christopher Rivera, a former fighter whose memorial service belongs to a relatively new trend: Bodies are posed the...

Oceanfront Mansion Built in Park Must Be Removed
Oops: Oceanfront Mansion Must Be Removed
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Jun 21, 2014 11:31 AM CDT

Oops: Oceanfront Mansion Must Be Removed

It got built, accidentally, inside a Rhode Island park

(Newser) - Oceanfront view? Check. Jacuzzi? Check. A proper survey spelling out where this $2 million mansion was supposed to be built in Rhode Island? Not so much. The state's Supreme Court has ruled that a three-story home built in Point Judith in 2010 must be removed because it went up...

GI Joe Creator Helped CIA Make Osama Demon Doll

It never got past the prototype phase

(Newser) - To combat al-Qaeda in Pakistan, the CIA teamed up with one of the finest minds in the toy industry to create something even stranger than the exploding cigar it wanted to kill Fidel Castro with. The agency created an Osama bin Laden action figure treated with a heat-dissolving material that...

Tourist Claims She Has Photo of Alcatraz Ghost

Her partner thinks it's a woman from 1930s or '40s

(Newser) - We're going to preface this one with a recommendation you ingest a grain of salt before reading on—but it's an intriguing story all the same. A British tourist claims she captured an image of a ghost at Alcatraz during an April visit to the former prison. Sheila...

Cops: Bus Driver Lied About Bible Stopping Bullets

Investigators say Ohio man staged gang attack

(Newser) - Ohio bus driver Rickey Wagoner wasn't really saved by his Bible in a supposed Feb. 24 gang attack, police say—but he probably does need some kind of help. Investigators now believe the Dayton driver staged the attack by stabbing himself, shooting himself in the arm, and firing two...

Woman Killed by Sneeze, Says Sister

It led to the crash that killed Edna Hickson, she claims

(Newser) - A 79-year-old woman died Sunday, and her sister says a sneeze was to blame. Australian police say Edna Hickson's Hyundai Elantra rolled a number of times as she rounded a bend, causing internal injuries that ultimately killed her. But sister Betty Sheelah says Hickson, who was driving to Sheelah'...

Boy Finds Mummified Corpse in Abandoned House

Homeowner's body was hanging in closet

(Newser) - Plenty of kids poke around abandoned houses, but there's a 12-year-old boy in Dayton, Ohio, who probably won't be doing so again: The boy on Sunday opened the door of a closet in a house that neighbors thought was unoccupied and found a mummified corpse hanging inside, reports...

Man Runs 7.5-Mile Race... While Having a Heart Attack

But Wolfgang Zech is determined to run at least 24 more

(Newser) - Just 100 yards into Wolfgang Zech's 44th consecutive Dipsea Race—a challenging 7.5-miler that involves lots of steep terrain and three 50-story flights of stairs in California's Marin County—the 72-year-old just did not feel right. "My chest was really, really aching and I basically couldn’...

Firm Pays Out $61K in Bonuses ... in $2 Bills

It's a way to show support for community, says boss

(Newser) - A Nebraska bullet-manufacturing company likes to make its bonuses memorable. A few years ago, a portion was distributed in $1 coins, but they were a bit heavy to haul around—so this year, Hornady Manufacturing opted for $2 bills. Bosses handed out $61,000 worth of the rare bills, an...

To Save Voice, Patient Sings During Throat Surgery

Tumor extraction could have destroyed Alama Kante's vocal cords

(Newser) - When Alama Kante had surgery to remove a parathyroid tumor from her throat, one tiny slip of the scalpel could have caused her to lose her singing voice—and she's a professional singer . So, in an unprecedented move, she sang throughout the surgery at France's Henri Mondor hospital...

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