News of the Weird: Week of November 3, 2022

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Suspicions Confirmed

Amou Haji, 94, of Dezhgah, Iran, also known as the World's Dirtiest Man, refused to bathe for more than 60 years because he was afraid doing so would make him sick, Fox News reported. Apparently, he was right: For the first time, "villagers had recently taken him to a bathroom to wash," the Islamic Republic News Agency reported. "Not long after, he fell ill and finally ... he gave up his life," the report went on. Haji had no family, but villagers had built him a cinder-block dwelling for shelter on the outskirts of town.

Everyone Needs a Hobby

• Rosie Grant, 33, of Takoma Park, Maryland, stumbled upon a new hobby while finishing an internship at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., a year ago, The Washington Post reported. Her studies revealed her own interest in cemeteries, and she found social media threads of other taphophiles like her. On one of those, Grant noticed a list of ingredients engraved on a headstone in Brooklyn, New York, and thought she'd give the spritz cookies a try. Naomi Odessa Miller-Dawson's recipe didn't include instructions, but even so, Grant said the results were heavenly. "Cooking these recipes has shown me an alternative side to death," Grant said. "What a cool gift (Miller-Dawson) put on her gravestone." Grant has found other gravestone recipes -- several in the U.S. and two in Israel, all from women.
• Remember the scene in "The Empire Strikes Back" when Han Solo gets frozen in carbonite? Catherine Pervan and her daughter, Hanalee, owners of One House Bakery in Benicia, California, have brought Solo back to life -- in bread, The New York Times reported. The two worked together for more than a month to create the 6-foot-tall "Pan Solo" sculpture from bread dough; now he stands outside their store as part of downtown Benicia's scarecrow contest. "People are just super interested in it, and you see people smelling it and poking it," said Hanalee. 

Nightmare Scenario

A woman known as Jahrah, 54, who worked at a rubber plantation on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, lost her life at work on Oct. 23 after being swallowed by a 22-foot-long python, the Guardian reported. Her husband reported her missing when she didn't return home from work; while searching for her, he found her sandals, headscarf, jacket and tools. Authorities caught a python that had been spotted nearby and found Jahrah's body in the snake's stomach, the local police chief said. 

Backtrack

The state of Maine is walking back a 2015 decision to eliminate its review process for vanity license plates, the Associated Press reported on Oct. 27. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has called the resulting vulgarities the "wild wild West," with about 400 offensive plates being subject to recall. "What I would say to those who want to engage in objectionable or questionable speech: Get a bumper sticker," she said. Because the plates are technically the property of the state, new rules to stifle the nasty messages can be enforced, she said. Recall letters began hitting mailboxes this month.

It's a Mystery

• A huge, hollow metal object sat by the side of the road in New Brunswick, Canada, for weeks, and no one seemed to know what it was or how it got there, the CBC reported on Oct. 21. Finally, the New Brunswick Department of Transportation had it hauled away. Canadian Forces spokesperson Jamie Donovan said it likely is not connected to the military, and the DOT won't claim it, either. Lying on its side, it's about 10 feet tall and has a concrete base and a hatch. "At this point it really is a mystery we are looking into," said Alycia Bartlett of the DOT. 
• A Florida neighborhood is on high alert after a series of overnight visits from a well-dressed man wielding a machete, WSVN-TV reported. On Oct. 17, around 5:30 a.m., residents heard a knock at the door and saw the man on their doorbell camera, but he walked away after tapping the door with the machete. Other neighbors in Lauderhill had the same experience. "He didn't seem like someone lost or confused," one resident said. "He seemed very intentional, very businesslike, like he was dressed for business, just with a machete." Police have stepped up patrols of the area but say no crimes have been committed. 

Compelling Explanation

• After a "consensual search" on Oct. 26 in Clearwater, Florida, Robert Lawson, 50, was found to be in possession of methamphetamine and a syringe, The Smoking Gun reported. Pinellas County deputies approached Lawson as he loitered in a park; when they found the drugs and paraphernalia, Lawson demanded that they call the FBI and St. Petersburg Police because "he is allowed to carry methamphetamine," the police report noted. He was held in the county jail on $2,150 bond. 
• An unnamed 64-year-old woman in Gastonia, North Carolina, was charged for firing a gun within city limits on Oct. 24 after officers arrived to find her shooting at Mountain Dew cans in her backyard. Why? She told officers that she didn't approve of her father drinking the soda, Fox News reported. "We totally understand that not everybody is a fan of the Dew but we can't stress enough how dangerous this is!" Gastonia police posted on their Facebook page. 

It's Come to This

The town of Llandudno in Wales has resorted to setting up a task force to address one of its most pressing problems, Metro News reported: marauding goats. The Kashmini mountain goats, which normally reside on the Great Orme headland near the town, got bold during the pandemic -- moving into the community, eating hedges, sleeping in bus shelters and mixing it up in the supermarket parking lot. The new task force's main goal is protecting the animals from injury or death. "We should be very proud to have these wonderful animals on our doorstep," said councillor Geoff Stewart. The goats are descendants of those presented to the town by Queen Victoria about 100 years ago.

Oh, the Humanity

Marlies Gross of Fountain, Colorado, was trapped in her home on Oct. 22 -- not by a menacing bear or a snowstorm, but by tumbleweeds that surrounded her house after a windstorm. "Horrible! Look at that from the deck!" Gross told KRDO-TV. "I opened the front door and ... it was full of tumbleweeds." When she tried to drive away, she said, "I almost ran into the neighbor's fence because I didn't know where I was. You know, you feel helpless. I thought it was a bad dream. I don't know what we're going to do, how we get rid of those tumbleweeds. Oh, it's horrible."

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