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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NY Amnesty Event Nets ... 3 Gators?

(Newser) - New York's Long Island, perhaps more noted for nails-on-chalkboard accents than rampant reptiles, held an amnesty event for illegal cold-blooded critters yesterday and some surprising "pets" crawled out of the woodwork: Namely, three alligators. “I’m done with alligators,” said one guy who turned in 4-year-old...

Lock of Emperor's Hair Sells for $18K

But that's only half the price of Bieber's

(Newser) - A lock of hair from an Austro-Hungarian emperor who ruled in Europe more than a century ago fetched about $18,000 at auction in Vienna yesterday—about 20 times the estimated price, reports the AP . An Austrian restaurateur bought the white lock once belonging to Franz Josef, whose reign from...

80-Year-Old Accidentally Swallows $5K Diamond

Miriam Tucker had to recover her prize the hard way

(Newser) - Miriam Tucker's last colonoscopy yielded quite a treasure: a 1.03-carat round brilliant cut diamond, worth $5,000. But don't go scheduling an appointment with your gastroenterologist in the hopes that you, too, will strike it rich. Tucker, you see, had accidentally swallowed the diamond first. The 80-year-old...

Siblings Survive 14 Hours in Ocean

US vacationers in St. Lucia survive sinking of boat

(Newser) - The AP recounts a tale that falls easily into the vacations-from-hell category for two US siblings visiting the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. Dan Suski, 30, and Kate Suski, 39, were out at sea earlier this week on a chartered fishing boat when its electrical system conked out. As the...

Fed Up With LA Traffic, CEO Gives $50K to Speed Work

Elon Musk says he'll provide even more of his own money if it will help

(Newser) - Surprise, surprise: Los Angeles again ranked as the city with the worst traffic congestion in America in an annual survey out this week, reports Reuters . Here's a sign of how bad things are, from the LA Times : Entrepreneur Elon Musk —he of Tesla, PayPal, and SpaceX—has forked...

Rowers Find Enormous Head in Hudson

Styrofoam structure looks like ancient sculpture

(Newser) - Today's mystery: What was a seven-foot-tall head doing floating in the Hudson River? Marist College crew members found the enormous noggin, made of Styrofoam and fiberglass and reminiscent of a Greek or Roman sculpture, while on the river on Tuesday, Newsday reports. It "looked like something out of...

Police Confiscate 4-Foot, 2-Pound Joint

It just slightly exceeded California's one-ounce medical pot limit

(Newser) - No, we didn't write that headline while stoned. California police actually did confiscate a mammoth joint during a 4/20 pot rally on Saturday, reports the Los Angeles Times . As the paper notes, hundreds of UC Santa Cruz students gather each year for the event, and each year campus police...

Mormon Bishop Scares Off Attacker With Samurai Sword

Kent Hendrix is also a martial arts instructor

(Newser) - When Kent Hendrix woke up yesterday to his teenage son telling him someone was being attacked in front of their house, he did what any self-respecting Mormon bishop/martial arts instructor/fourth-degree black belt holder/weapons collector would do: He grabbed his Samurai sword, ran outside, drew the sword on the attacker, and...

New Object of Chick-fil-A's Ire: Kale T-Shirts

Trademark Office not buying Vermont guy's bid to patent 'Eat More Kale'

(Newser) - First, Chick-fil-A flapped its way into the gay marriage debate , and now the fast-food giant is again throwing down—this time with a Vermont artist who makes "Eat More Kale" T-shirts. Chick-fil-A contends that the slogan, though spelled correctly, is too close to its own “Eat Mor Chikin”...

Burglar Hears Scary Noise, Calls Cops

Turns out it was probably a cat

(Newser) - A burglar in Romania was arrested—after he called the cops himself. Marius Ionescu, 31, apparently got scared by a noise while looting a house; fearing another robber at work, he dove under the bed and called police to save him, the Metro reports. They arrived to find no one...

What It's Like to Be Stuck Living in a NY Castle

Phemisters struggle to flip this New York house

(Newser) - You don't even need a cool million to purchase a 36,000-square-foot castle in Upstate New York. Just $895,000 will do. The New York Times today takes a look at this most unusual piece of real estate—and the unusual consequences of a common problem: homes that buyers...

Woman Walks Into Bathroom, Meets Tiger

Needless to say, Jenna Krehbiel was surprised

(Newser) - A central Kansas woman got quite a surprise when she walked into the bathroom at the Isis Shrine Circus in Salina: A tiger was standing just two feet from her. The big cat had escaped briefly after its turn in the ring Saturday; staff members blocked off the concourses at...

Driver Busted With 53 Cobras: Cops

Their meat is a delicacy in Vietnam

(Newser) - A driver in Vietnam was arrested over some unusual cargo. His car was slithering with snakes—53 cobras in green sacks, to be specific, police say. The driver reported being paid less than $50 to haul the animals, whose meat is a delicacy in the country, the AP reports. If...

Fisherman Fist-Fights Crocodile, Survives

Yoann Galeran has 'a few holes on the head'

(Newser) - A French fisherman was swimming near an Australian yacht club when he felt something odd, "like rocks hitting on my head." It turned out to be an 8-foot crocodile, Australia's ABC News reports. "He just hit me on the top, on the left side, and on...

Oregon Brewing Up a State Microbe

Saccharomyces cerevisiae , or beer yeast, would be first state microbe

(Newser) - US states have official flags and official flowers, but Oregon could become the first to have a state microbe—and a delicious microbe, at that. Oregon's microbe of choice is the Saccharomyces cerevisiae, better known as ale yeast, and the bill's sponsor hopes the measure will show appreciation...

Philly Skyscraper Hosts ... Giant Game of Pong

Science stunt helps kick off Tech Week

(Newser) - If anyone in downtown Philadelphia last night was wondering about that strangely familiar pattern of lights on the Cira Center, the AP has the answer: They were epic games of the classic Atari game Pong. The games played out via LED lights on the facade of the 29-story skyscraper, with...

Florida Invaded by Rat-Sized Snails
 Florida Invaded by 
 Rat-Sized Snails 
in case you missed it
Apr 20, 2013 8:30 AM CDT

Florida Invaded by Rat-Sized Snails

More than 1K giant African land snails caught per week

(Newser) - No, this is not a 1970s B-movie: South Florida really is dealing with an invasion of giant African land snails. The beastly mollusks can grow as large as rats (the biggest measure eight inches long, the Ocala Star-Banner reports), and can eat their way through plaster and stucco. More than...

Wow: Runner Escapes Boston Bombs, Texas Blast

Joe Berti was there for both

(Newser) - Not too many people can relate to this week better than Austin's Joe Berti. He raced in the Boston Marathon and figures he crossed the finish line about 30 seconds before the first bomb went off, reports AP . His wife got hit with shrapnel but escaped serious injury. The...

Got Some Existential Angst? Try Tylenol

Study suggests it eases non-physical pain, too

(Newser) - This could make for some interesting commercials: A new study suggests that Tylenol not only eases physical aches, but existential ones, too, reports Psych Central . Researchers found that people asked to brood about their own deaths were less, um, broody if they popped a Tylenol as opposed to a sugar...

Judge Holds Self in Contempt of Court

Fines himself $25 over cellphone interruption

(Newser) - Judge Raymond Voet is nothing if not a man of his word. The Michigan justice has a strict "no cellphones" rule posted in his Ionia County courtroom, and has a history of confiscating phones from witnesses, lawyers, spectators, and police officers during trials. So when his own phone went...

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