Strange Stuff: Weird Crimes, Crazy Laws, and Other Interesting News Stories - Page 144

Antiques Roadshow Finds
Most Valuable Painting Yet

Antiques Roadshow Finds Most Valuable Painting Yet

Revealed to be a van Dyck worth as much as $660K

(Newser) - It's a story that seems made for, well, television. A British priest bought a painting from an antiques shop more than a decade ago for about $660, and took it to a filming of Antiques Roadshow—where it ended up being one of the greatest finds in the show'...

Ancient
Romans Ate
Giraffe: Study

Jan 4, 2014 3:45 PM CST

Ancient Romans Ate Giraffe: Study

Also sea urchins

(Newser) - Researchers digging around the drains of ancient Pompeii have learned about some unusual Roman eating habits. The scientists found the remains of a giraffe and sea urchin in the drain of a onetime restaurant, LiveScience reports. "This is thought to be the only giraffe bone ever recorded from an...

Indiana House
Hit by Car ...
for 11th Time

Indiana House Hit by Car ... for 11th Time

House, cars, surroundings have been hit many times before

(Newser) - Over the past three decades, 11 vehicles have crashed at the Indianapolis house where Leigh and Tim McCall live. The most recent accident occurred this week, when a Chevy Equinox came through one of the walls and missed Leigh, who was watching the Colts game in her living room with...

Pope to Nuns:
Hey, Pick Up,
It's Me

Jan 4, 2014 9:17 AM CST

Pope to Nuns: Hey, Pick Up, It's Me

Francis has to leave a voice message

(Newser) - Pope Francis has made another memorable cold call , this time to a group of nuns in a Spanish convent. Problem is, they didn't pick up. "What are the nuns doing that they can't answer the phone?" Francis asked in the message he left, the recording of which...

Lawmaker
Resigns
in Klingon

Jan 3, 2014 4:09 PM CST

Lawmaker Resigns in Klingon

North Carolina council is not amused

(Newser) - Points for a creative exit. David Waddell used the Klingon language to write his letter of resignation from the Indian Trail Town Council in North Carolina. Waddell says he opted to use Klingon, the language of a warrior race on the Star Trek TV shows and movies, as an inside...

WWII Bomb Kills 1 in Germany

Jan 3, 2014 12:03 PM CST

WWII Bomb Kills 1 in Germany

Eight others injured at construction site near Bonn

(Newser) - Germany today lost one more person to the Allied bombing campaign of 70 years ago. A construction worker in the city of Euskirchen was killed and eight others injured when a bulldozer hit a buried bomb at a dig site, reports the AP . It's not unusual to unearth unexploded...

Worker Prepping for Storm Killed by 100-Foot Salt Pile

Jan 3, 2014 12:45 AM CST

Worker Prepping for Storm Killed by 100-Foot Salt Pile

He suffocated, say police

(Newser) - With a storm expected to dump more than a foot of snow on parts of the Northeast, cities throughout the region spent Thursday preparing—in one case with deadly consequences. A worker in a Philadelphia-area salt yard was killed yesterday afternoon after a 100-foot-tall rock salt pile collapsed on him....

Chicago Jeweler Loses
Snow Bet—and $151K

Jan 2, 2014 3:41 PM CST

Chicago Jeweler Loses Snow Bet—and $151K

He offered refunds if 3 inches fell; insurance company will pay

(Newser) - It was one of those weird promotions made during the heat of the holiday shopping season: "If it snows, it's free," promised a Chicago jeweler. That is, Rich Bennett pledged refunds to anyone who bought from his shop between Black Friday and Christmas Eve if it snowed...

Dogs Use Earth's
Magnetic Field to Poop

Jan 2, 2014 1:02 PM CST

Dogs Use Earth's Magnetic Field to Poop

When off a leash, they align themselves accordingly

(Newser) - Early contender for line of the year in a genuine scientific study: "Dogs preferred to excrete with the body being aligned along the north-south axis under calm MF conditions." MF, in this case, referring to the Earth's magnetic field. That's right: When dogs poop, they position...

Crop Circle
Baffles California,
Then Gets Mowed

Jan 2, 2014 8:25 AM CST

Crop Circle Baffles California, Then Gets Mowed

Circle may have depicted number 192 over and over in Braille

(Newser) - (Updated: This was later revealed as a PR stunt .) A "very detailed" and "quite beautiful" crop circle drew hundreds of curiosity seekers to a farm outside the small town of Chualar, Calif., this week for a fleeting look at the crop circle, which was mowed down Tuesday....

Cops: Burglar Sold Stolen Brains on eBay

Jan 2, 2014 12:38 AM CST

Cops: Burglar Sold Stolen Brains on eBay

He allegedly broke into medical history museum many times

(Newser) - Lots of brains were stolen in Indianapolis, but no zombies involved: Police say a 21-year-old man broke into the city's Medical History Museum multiple times to steal the preserved brains of mental patients, which he sold on eBay. The brain burglar was arrested following a sting operation set up...

Ill-Advised Plan:
Kidnap Girlfriend,
Try to Marry Her

Dec 31, 2013 11:12 AM CST

Ill-Advised Plan: Kidnap Girlfriend, Try to Marry Her

This alleged scheme involved a 1K-mile drive to Las Vegas, too

(Newser) - A Washington man apparently looking for a lifetime of wedded bliss could end up with five years in prison instead. Thomas Martin Pfeiffer, 22, was arrested early Friday and hit with a slew of charges, chief among them kidnapping. Police say he allegedly kidnapped his girlfriend on Thursday night and,...

England Will
Register All
Breast Implants

Dec 30, 2013 12:09 PM CST

England Will Register All Breast Implants

Officials look to fix 'cowboy industry'

(Newser) - Following a scandal over potentially dangerous breast implants last year, England is cracking down on what officials call a "cowboy industry." The country plans to begin registering every breast augmentation that occurs; Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are considering following suit, the BBC reports. "The PIP implant...

Future Painkiller:
Scorpion Venom?

Dec 29, 2013 11:57 AM CST

Future Painkiller: Scorpion Venom?

Study sees potential applications as it can locate human pain receptors

(Newser) - Scorpion venom could someday turn from threat to therapy. Researchers in Australia are investigating the chemical properties of the stuff after collecting 1,500 of the poisonous critters and extracting their venom. "Because they have been isolated in Australia for so long, their venom is very different to the...

Man's Sentence: Write 'Boys Do Not Hit Girls' 5K Times

Pacer Anthony Ferguson also gets 6 months in jail ... and 8 years for 2nd crime

(Newser) - It's a tale of two men out of Montana: One an infamous felon, one a rather infamous judge. Pacer Anthony Ferguson showed up twice in Yellowstone County District Court this week. One appearance was about an attempted robbery that took place at knife-point in a Walmart parking lot in...

Mouse Kills Man
and Other Weird
Victorian Deaths

Dec 28, 2013 1:23 PM CST

Mouse Kills Man and Other Weird Victorian Deaths

Townsfolk kill 'zombie,' alarm clock brings cruel fate in BBC list

(Newser) - Need a break from the holiday cheer? At the BBC , Jeremy Clay offers a list of weird and horrifying 19th-century deaths, which from the vantage point of centuries later are also darkly amusing. Among them:

After causing a stir in a London factory in 1875, a mouse literally killed a

...

Daughter Finds Mother
After 71 Years

Daughter Finds Mother After 71 Years

Woman, now 90, gave her up for adoption after rape, was told she had died

(Newser) - It's not all that unusual for an adopted child to grow up and seek out her biological mother, but the LA Times has the story of one such reunion that's remarkable on a few fronts—the big one being that this reunion takes place 71 years after the...

Woman Stabs Fiance
Over Wedding Colors

Dec 27, 2013 8:22 AM CST

Woman Stabs Fiance Over Wedding Colors

Krysta James charged with criminal domestic violence

(Newser) - Planning a wedding can be stressful. So stressful, in fact, you might feel the need to ... stab your fiance? Police say a South Carolina couple were discussing their upcoming wedding on Christmas Day when an argument broke out over the wedding's color scheme. When the groom-to-be tried to leave...

5 Craziest Crimes of the Week

Dec 27, 2013 5:00 AM CST