News of the Weird newspapers illustration
Mhlongo’s Long Farewell
After the death of their uncle, Sifiso Mhlongo, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, Thandaza Mtshali and Thobeka Mhlongo ran into trouble trying to settle a claim on his life insurance. According to The Daily Star, Old Mutual required confirmation the man had passed away and delayed payment pending “additional assessments.” So the women went to the funeral home, retrieved their uncle’s body and took it to the company’s local office. “They said they had paid the money into our bank account, and we wanted to be sure,” Mtshali said, “so we left our uncle’s body at the office and went to check at the bank.” The money had been deposited, so the women returned Mhlongo’s body to the funeral home; he now rests in a family burial plot. Muzi Hlengwa, spokesman for the National Funeral Practitioners Association of South Africa, said the matter wasn’t over, however: “The rituals that were supposed to be done to move the body from one place to another weren’t done. The soul of that man is still at the Old Mutual office; someone will have to cover the costs of performing these rituals.”
Methamphetamobile
A 16-year-old boy was detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents on Sunday, Nov. 17, after an agent saw him hiding in brush about a mile north of the Otay Mesa Point of Entry near San Diego. Authorities said the teenager had a remote-control car with him, along with two large duffel bags stuffed with 50 packages of methamphetamines, weighing more than 55 pounds and worth more than $106,000. Border Patrol spokesman Theron Francisco told The San Diego Union-Tribune that authorities believe the car was used to carry the bundles across the border, making many trips through the bollard-style fence from the south side and driving to the teen on the north side. The boy has been charged with drug smuggling.
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The Whole World Is Watching
If you’re passing through the seaside city of Fukuoka, Japan, here’s a tip for a cheap hotel: A night in Room No. 8 at the Asahi Ryokan Hotel will cost you just $1—and your privacy. In return for the exceedingly low rate, your entire stay in the room will be livestreamed on YouTube. Hotel manager Tetsuya Inoue told CNN on Wednesday, Nov. 20, that, while the world can watch the room’s guests, there is no audio, so conversations and phone calls can remain private. “Our hotel is on the cheaper side,” Inoue said, “so we need some added value, something special that everyone will talk about.”
Petro-Popeye
Bodybuilder Kirill Tereshin, 23, a former Russian soldier also known as “Popeye,” underwent surgery in Moscow in mid-November after doctors told him that the petroleum jelly he had been injecting into his biceps to increase their might eventually result in the amputation of his arms. He had three pounds of the jelly, as well as dead muscle tissue, surgically removed from each arm. As surgeon Dmitry Melnikov rather perfunctorily told Metro News: “The problem is that this is petroleum jelly.”
Drop the Possum Drop
Animal Help Now, a group that assists in “animal emergencies,” has gathered almost 160,000 signatures on a petition to repeal legislation allowing “Possum Drops” in North Carolina. In a number of communities in the state, the custom of putting an opossum in a transparent box, suspending it in the air and then slowly lowering it to the ground is a feature of New Year’s Eve celebrations. Organizers in Brasstown told the Raleigh News & Observer they ended its Possum Drop after the 2018 event because it’s “a hard job to do, and it’s time to move on,” but they maintained that the tradition does “absolutely nothing to harm” the animal. Animal Help Now, however, is continuing its campaign against the state statute that makes it legal for people to treat opossums however they wish between the dates of Dec. 29 and Jan. 2.
Like a Moth to a Flame
Police and firefighters in Liberty, Ohio, were called to the local Walmart on the afternoon of Saturday, Nov. 16, to find a car on fire in the parking lot, reported WFMJ. Owner Stephanie Carlson, 40, admitted she had poured gasoline on the car seats and started the fire with a lighter because the car was dirty and there was a problem with the front wheel. The car belonged to her husband, who told officers that his wife had been huffing mothballs and paint thinner recently. Police took her into custody and found a lighter and mothballs in her purse; she was charged with arson, inducing panic and criminal damaging.
© 2019 Andrews McMeel Syndication
