News of the Weird: August 5, 2021

×

Expand

News of the Weird newspapers illustration

Good Guy With a Gun?

An unnamed man in Yakima, Washington, was arrested on July 24 after a curious incident inside his home, KIMA reported. The man was stocking his refrigerator with soda cans when one exploded, witnesses explained to police. He pulled a handgun out of his waistband and fired a round into the bottom of the fridge. When police arrived, the man was outside his home in the alley, "yelling incoherently," police said, with a gun lying on the ground. He told police that he believed the people living in the basement were trying to kill him, but it turns out no one lives in the basement -- because there is no basement in the home. He also told police he had found the gun, but he was arrested for second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and discharge of a firearm.

What a Trip!

Reza Baluchi of central Florida didn't get very far in his effort to walk on water from St. Augustine to New York City, Fox News reported. On July 24, Baluchi washed ashore in Flagler County, Florida, inside a bubble-like vessel, which he hoped to use to run (sort of like a hamster in a wheel) up the East Coast. He told sheriff's deputies that he had encountered "complications" that brought him back to shore. "My goal is to not only raise money for homeless people, raise money for the Coast Guard, raise money for the police department, raise money for the fire department," Baluchi said. This was not the first time he had been rescued after going to sea in a hydro bubble.

But the Squirrel Survived

On July 15, a 19-year-old driver from Hingham, Massachusetts, swerved to avoid hitting a squirrel in the road and ended up in the living room of a historical home built by Abraham Lincoln's great-grandfather in 1650. The Boston Globe reported that the unnamed driver "drove off the right side of the road, over the sidewalk and into the front of the house" around 6:30 a.m., where residents were still sleeping upstairs. The driver was issued a citation for failing to stay in marked lanes, police said.

Least Empathetic Criminals

Two girls, 16 and 17 years old, were walking to a gas station in Medina Valley, Texas, on July 26 when they noticed something in a drainage ditch. It turned out to be a dead man, whom investigators believe hanged himself from a railing using "what appeared to be a shirt," Fox News reported. When the girls came upon the body, they called a friend, who called 911. But before officers arrived on the scene, the girls allegedly helped themselves to the dead man's gold necklace, documenting the theft on Snapchat. The video was anonymously sent to the Bexar County Sheriff's office, and deputies charged both with theft from a human corpse -- a felony. A friend of the 17-year-old told officers she stole it because it "matched her fashion style."

Rude

Cary, North Carolina, resident John Michael Kantz, 60, was arrested on July 24 for ethnic intimidation and vandalism after he applied bumper stickers to cars in the parking lots of Mexican restaurants On the Border and Totopos Street Food and Tequila, WNCN reported. The bumper stickers read, "I (heart) being white." He also applied them in the restroom of one of the establishments.

Fetish Update

Jorge Orellana-Arias, 38, was arrested on July 22 in East Haven, Connecticut, after a tenant in a building he owned recorded him entering her apartment and pawing through underwear belonging to her and her daughter. The woman first reported her landlord in May, then set up hidden cameras to prove her allegations. "The video, which was provided to officers, shows Orellana-Arias bringing female garments to his nose, apparently in an effort to sniff them," police told the Hartford Courant. On one occasion, he entered the apartment when the daughter was at home, but left quickly upon seeing her. Orellana-Arias was charged with third-degree burglary and released on bond.

Bad Behavior

Amanda Lee, 50, of Crewe, Cheshire, England, has been thumbing her nose at convention since the 1990s, urinating and defecating anywhere she chooses in the town's open spaces, CheshireLive reported. Finally, the Crewe Magistrate's Court issued a CBO (criminal behavior order) against her on July 12, which prohibits her from having alcohol in an open container; using abusive language or threatening behavior in public; contacting police without a genuine emergency; relieving herself in public; and entering one specific street, Preece Court. Police constable Alex Barker said Lee "has persistently shown no consideration at all for the actions her offending has had on others. There comes a point where you have to say enough is enough." The criminal penalty for breaching the CBO is a five-year prison sentence.

Fail

Folks in London are royally unimpressed with the city's newest "attraction," the $3 million Marble Arch Mound, The Washington Post reported. The 82-foot-high pile of mud was intended to attract tourists with a raised platform for viewing the Marble Arch, a 19th-century monument near Hyde Park, and offer "striking views of the city." Now, as visitors call it a "monstrosity" and "the worst thing I've ever done in London," officials are offering patrons their entrance fee (about $11) back. The City of Westminster Council admitted that "elements" of the attraction were not ready for visitors and closed the venue until further notice.

Bright Idea

Australian Olympic kayaker Jess Fox, 27, showed her MacGyver chops in Tokyo on July 27, using an Olympics-issued condom to repair her kayak before winning bronze and gold medals in different events. CTV News reported that Fox used the condom to hold in place a carbon mixture that is applied to the tip of the kayak. "Bet you never knew condoms could be used for kayak repairs," Fox posted on Instagram. "It gives the carbon a smooth finish." Smooth, indeed.

Don't Try This at Home

An unnamed man in Xinghua, China, was hospitalized after he inserted a 20-centimeter-long eel into his anus on July 20 to ease his constipation, Global Times reported. The "folk remedy" backfired on him, however, when the eel slithered up into his colon and bit through it, entering his abdomen. Shockingly, the eel was still alive when it was surgically removed. The surgeon said the man could have died from bacteria in the large intestine migrating into the abdominal cavity.

The Oakland County (Michigan) Sheriff's Office reported that an unnamed 31-year-old woman in Pontiac had a panic attack on July 27 when she discovered a bedbug in her car. So, according to Fox2 Detroit, she poured rubbing alcohol inside the car and set it on fire. In the process, she accidentally set herself on fire, too, suffering second-degree burns.

Sweet Revenge

A construction worker in Blumberg, Germany, used an excavator to tear the balconies off a block of new apartments on July 28 after not being paid, causing about $600,000 worth of damage. Metro News reported that the 47-year-old man cited "unjustly withheld payments" (about 5 million euros in total, he claimed) and "frustration" for his destructive act. He also damaged the building's garages. When he was finished, he got in his car and drove away, but later turned himself in.

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

COPYRIGHT 2021 ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

1130 Walnut, Kansas City MO 64106; 800-255-6734