News of the Weird: August 11, 2022

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Trigger Warning

One TikTok user described her Walt Disney World experience on July 30 as "torture" after the It's a Small World ride got stuck for over an hour, the New York Post reported. "They didn't realize for like 45 minutes, everyone was on a boat so we sat there for about an hour stuck with the song on repeat!!" @hazeysmom22 wrote. The boat sails through a facsimile of Walt Disney World while the infamous song is sung by animatronic children. Now it's in your head, too!

Least Competent Victim

On July 25, a man in the Saitama Prefecture in Japan met another man in a convenience store parking lot with the hope of selling his 18-karat gold Rolex watch, SoraNews24 reported. The potential buyer handled the watch, priced at $47,000, for a few minutes, then suggested the seller pop into the store for a tea. Bet you can't guess what happened. Two minutes later, tea in hand, the seller emerged from the store to find the buyer, and his watch, gone. He texted the buyer, who replied, "I left it in your car" and "I don't have your watch." The victim said he "was too stupid and honest." 

Inexplicable

• As a pilot tried to make an emergency landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina on July 29, his co-pilot, Charles Hew Crooks, 23, bailed out of the aircraft without a parachute, WRAL-TV reported. An FAA employee said the pilot told the tower, "My pilot just jumped out." Crooks' body was found in a backyard in Fuquay-Varina hours later after a neighbor who had heard a noise flagged down officers. "This is the craziest thing ever," the FAA employee said. The National Transportation and Safety Board is taking over the investigation into Crooks' death. 
• A backyard party in Everett, Washington, went horribly wrong on July 31 when one of the attendees started racing his SUV around the backyard "in good fun." The 59-year-old man then aimed his car at other partygoers, KIRO-TV reported, and drove over furniture in the yard, eventually pinning another man against a garage wall. The driver is still being sought by sheriff's deputies; the victim refused a trip to the hospital. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how'd you like the play?

What's in a Name?

Allan Grainger, 61, of Derby, England, has two tattoos that include his first name, spelled with two Ls. His wedding certificate and his driver's license both spell it the same way. But on July 30, when his family came across his birth certificate, they were all shocked to learn that his name is really Alan, with one L, the Daily Mail reported. The factory worker said he and his parents always spelled his name "Allan": "I couldn't believe it. I think it was a mistake on the birth certificate because my mum wouldn't let me go through school spelling my name like that," he said. Grainger has no plans to change his official name: "I don't see what difference it would make." 

Career Opp

Folks in China tackle the problem of cheating husbands head-on, with two professional paths related to the issue: "mistress killers" and "mistress persuading teachers," who talk the "other women" into giving up their paramours. Among the latter, Oddity Central reported, Wang Zhenxi is a standout: She reportedly was able to persuade 800 women in a year to back off. Wang starts her process by shadowing and befriending her target, and sometimes resorts to revealing the affair to the mistress's family and friends. "In addition to earning money, I can help more people return to happy families," she said. "That is the most fulfilling part of this job." (In related news, the South China Morning Post reported on July 30 that a Chinese court ordered the girlfriend of a married man to return to his legal wife the $569,000 he had given her over 14 years.) 

Great Art

For the low, low price of $6,200, you can be the proud owner of "Pickle," an unorthodox art installation at the Michael Lett Gallery in Auckland, New Zealand, Oddity Central reported. Australian artist Matthew Griffin is the creator of the piece, which comprises a ketchupy pickle from a McDonald's cheeseburger stuck to the ceiling of the gallery. The art is described as a "provocative gesture" designed to question what has value. "As much as this looks like a pickle attached to the ceiling -- and there is no artifice there, that is exactly what it is -- there is something in the encounter with that as a sculpture or a sculptural gesture," said Ryan Moore, director of Fine Arts Sydney, the gallery that represents Griffin. 

Don't Try This at Home

The Daily Star reported that an unnamed man in the Campo Lindo region of Sao Paulo, Brazil, attempted a home rhinoplasty -- a nose job -- using online video tutorials. He was admitted to the emergency room on July 21 after the botched surgery, in which he used 70% alcohol to clean the cuts and didn’t wear gloves. Commenting on the DIY procedure, a plastic surgeon said risks include infection and nasal obstructions, and the efforts "will only worsen the appearance because they are not effective. You cannot do this without knowing the nasal anatomy, which is very complex." 

Bright Idea

Inmate Jazmyne Levesque, 23, was "bored" in the Pinellas County (Florida) jail on July 28, The Smoking Gun reported. So as she was being escorted by a female corrections officer, she punched the officer in the face. Levesque said she "had nothing else to do and was already in a couple of fights earlier in the day." She was in jail for punching a municipal bus driver earlier in July; at the time of that arrest, Levesque was free on bond in a felony grand theft case. Added to her rap sheet: one felony count of battery on a law enforcement officer. 

Backlash

If you order the plant-based sausage with your breakfast at Cracker Barrel, better do it sotto voce: The company's addition of the Impossible Foods product to its menu is causing an uproar among loyal restaurant fans, CNN Business reported. "I just lost respect for a once great Tennessee company," one person opined, among others who called the decision "woke." Cracker Barrel responded with an Aug. 4 Instagram post of the new offering, captioned, "Where pork-based and plant-based sausage lovers can breakfast all day in harmony." Can't we all just get along?

Mystery

If you don't like the book, just leave a negative review. On Aug. 3, Kalispell, Montana, library director Ashley Cummins got a call from staff at one of the library's branches: Five hardcover books had been left in the overnight book drop, "riddled with bullet holes." Cummins moved to shut down all branches for the day until more could be learned. "We don't know if this was someone just messing around or if it was meant as intimidation," Cummins told the Flathead Beacon. The library system is putting in place procedures to increase security, including surveillance cameras. "I just regret that so many people had to miss out on library services because of this act," she said. 

Bring the Gravy!

Central Florida's Interstate 4 was shut down on Aug. 4 after a semi-trailer hauling 10,000 frozen turkeys caught fire, ClickOrlando reported. The Seminole County Fire Department did not know what had caused the blaze, which started as the driver pulled onto the shoulder. No one was injured.