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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Lottery Player Gets Wrong Ticket, Wins $1M
 Lottery Player Gets 
 Wrong Ticket, Wins $1M 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Aug 19, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

Lottery Player Gets Wrong Ticket, Wins $1M

He asked for one game, but distracted clerk gave him another

(Newser) - When a store clerk gave a Massachusetts man a different kind of scratch-off lottery ticket than he asked for, he didn't make a big deal about the mistake; he said he just "rolled with it." It was a good decision: He won $1 million. Richard Brown of...

NASA So Cool, It Has Own LMFAO Spoof

Of course, the coolest kids work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

(Newser) - They sport mohawks. President Obama called them cool . And now they're the subject of an MTV-worthy video. The polo-shirted crew at California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory found quick fame after Curiosity's victorious landing, following its famed seven minutes of terror on Aug. 5, in part "because they...

Clown Wound Up With Steve Jobs' Stolen iPad

He unwittingly received it from his burglar friend

(Newser) - When his buddy gave him a 64GB iPad, Kenny the Clown immediately began using it in his act. "I didn't notice anything special or anything like that. It was silver; it looked normal," he tells the San Jose Mercury News . He loaded it up with songs he'...

Belgian Mayor May Sue Over ... Weather Report

Says dreary report has hurt tourism

(Newser) - The mayor of a seaside town in Belgium is fuming over ... a weather report. He says a seasonal weather report for this summer was downright unfair, and he might sue. A private weather forecasting firm said the country would only have two weeks of sunshine this month. "We all...

Driver Swerves to Miss Moose, Hits Bear

Bear injured in late-night collision; driver and moose OK

(Newser) - An unlucky Norwegian man driving on a country road at night swerved around a moose in the road only to hit an even unluckier bear. Wildlife officials say the bear, one of only around 150 in the country, was injured in the crash, Reuters reports. They have found traces of...

eBay: No More Magic for Sale
 eBay: No More Magic for Sale 
Aug 16, 2012 5:09 PM CDT

eBay: No More Magic for Sale

Auction site bans sale of spells, hexes, psychic readings

(Newser) - Call it a War on Hogwarts—eBay has announced it will no longer allow the sale of hexes and potions, reports the Los Angeles Times . Starting next month, the site's new guidelines also will prohibit the sale of blessings, enchantments, psychic advice, "and other metaphysical readings & services....

Museum Discovers Picasso Work in Storage

Glass artwork had been mistakenly labeled

(Newser) - An Indiana museum plans to sell a work of glass art by Pablo Picasso that sat unnoticed in storage for nearly 50 years. The Evansville Museum says the piece titled "Seated Woman with Red Hat" was donated to the museum in 1963. Museum officials say it was cataloged as...

Key to Avoiding Skin Cancer: Shark Lotion?

Sharks tan, but don't get the disease

(Newser) - We're gonna need a bigger bottle of lotion. Researchers think that the key to curbing skin cancer may lie deep under the sea, among the sharks. The giant fish, honored this week by the Discovery Channel, are able to tan, but apparently they are impervious to skin cancer. Scientists...

'Who's Your Daddy' Truck Sells DNA Tests on Road

New York City vehicle sees 'constant drama'

(Newser) - A truck has hit the streets of New York selling DNA tests to passersby. The "Who's Your Daddy" truck caters mostly to men who aren't sure their children are their own, CBS News reports. "They flag us down, they pull us over, they talk to us,...

US Drops Drug Case: It Has ... Too Much Evidence?

Prosecutors: It's too costly to maintain files against doctor on the lam

(Newser) - After nine years of investigating, the US is dropping its case against a Panamanian doctor accused of making bogus sales of prescription drugs—in part because it has amassed too much evidence, the AP reports. The feds have collected two terabytes of electronic data and 440,000 documents on Armando...

Cat Burglars Steal 87-Year-Old's 500 Canaries

Miami cops recover 150 birds, still hunting for thieves

(Newser) - Bird-lover Manuel Sanchez has taken care of canaries for 20 years. So he was heartbroken when thieves stole all 500 of his yellow friends, reports the Miami Herald . But with canaries going for up to $30 each at pet stores, that equals a potential haul of $15,000 for the...

Toronto Mayor Caught Reading While Driving

Cops to Rob Ford: Please get a driver

(Newser) - Next time you're driving in Toronto, beware of a hazard on the road: the mayor. Rob Ford was photographed reading a stack of papers while driving on the city's busy Gardiner Expressway yesterday, in a shot snapped by a Twitter user who says traffic was moving at around...

Moviegoer Accidentally Shoots Self ... in Butt

He apologizes, skedaddles during 'Bourne Legacy' showing

(Newser) - A Nevada audience watching The Bourne Legacy last night experienced a chilling moment when a gun went off—but it turned out it was just some guy accidentally shooting himself in the butt. The 56-year-old "was adjusting himself in his seat" when "his gun fell out of his...

Busted: Huge Pot Farm in Old Rome Subway

Raid yields $3.7M worth of marijuana

(Newser) - Mussolini probably never saw this one coming. An old metro tunnel in Rome built on the fascist leader's orders during the 1930s was covertly operating as a cannabis farm, reports Reuters . Police, using that most ancient detective device—their noses—caught the scent of marijuana just outside its entrance....

Forget Shark Week, Cow Week Is Here

Turns out bovines are more dangerous than sharks

(Newser) - Maggie Koerth-Baker was astounded when she learned that cows actually kill more people than sharks—27 times more people, at least between 2003 and 2008. It made her think about "the way we talk about sharks" and "the way we think about risk," she writes on Boing...

Hearse Driver Dies En Route to Funeral

Woman found slumped over wheel of hearse in Beverly Hills

(Newser) - Today's dispatch from the Irony Department: Beverly Hills police responded to a report of a body slumped over in the driver's seat of a hearse parked near the Beverly Hills Hotel at about 3pm yesterday—and discovered that the hearse's driver apparently died while transporting a body...

Thai Senator 'Accidentally' Shoots Secretary at Dinner

His Uzi goes off in restaurant

(Newser) - A Thai lawmaker who took his Uzi to dinner ended up killing his secretary with it. Police say Senator Boonsong Kowawisarat was dining with family members when he accidentally shot his ex-wife, who works as his personal secretary. The 9mm Uzi submachine gun "was accidentally fired off while he...

Scouts Stone Rabid Beaver to Death

Scoutmaster bitten 6 times in river attack

(Newser) - If they handed out merit badges for bravery during a beaver attack, the boys of Troop 32 would be first in line. One of the leaders of the upstate New York troop was swimming in the Delaware River when he was attacked by the rabid animal. "It came through...

Islands to Be Built in India ... and Towed to Maldives

Dutch design features private islands, golf course with underwater club

(Newser) - Many of the islands that comprise the Maldives could soon be submerged—so replacements are under way. A Dutch firm is designing artificial islands to join some 1,192 islands that sit an average of five feet above sea level, making the Maldives the world's lowest country. Now, the...

Bride-to-Be Stabs Groom Hours Before Wedding
Bride-to-Be Stabs Groom Hours Before Wedding
say cops
Aug 13, 2012 4:30 AM CDT

Bride-to-Be Stabs Groom Hours Before Wedding

Fiance dies of wounds soon after police arrive on scene

(Newser) - "'Til death do we part," indeed. A Pennsylvania woman has been charged with murder after stabbing her fiance twice with a kitchen knife, just hours before she was scheduled to marry him, reports ABC News . Na Cola Darcel Franklin, 31, and Billy Rafael Brewster, 36, apparently got...

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