News of the Weird: Week of October 24, 2024

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Field Report

At the annual World Conker Championship in Southwick, England, on Oct. 13, veteran player Dave Jakins, 82, won the men's tournament, the Associated Press reported. (Conkers is a traditional game played using the seeds of horse chestnut trees threaded on string; players try to strike and break each other's conkers.) But controversy followed when Jakins was found to have a steel conker in his pocket. His opponent, Alastair Johnson-Ferguson, said his own conker "disintegrated in one hit" after Jakins struck it. "He was very closely watched by four judges," said St. John Burkett, chair of the event's organizing committee. "It looks like it was absolutely impossible for him to cheat." Jakins has denied cheating.

Saw That Coming

An unnamed woman in Kitsap County, Washington, admitted to authorities that she'd been feeding about "a dozen" raccoons in her yard over the past 35 years, The New York Times reported. Several weeks ago, more raccoons started showing up, and on Oct. 3, the homeowner had to call 911 when about 100 animals arrived and became more aggressive. "Anytime she comes out of her house," said sheriff's department spokesperson Kevin McCarty, "they swarm her until she throws them food. ... The new ones showing up scare her." The woman fled her home, and local trappers were going to charge $500 per animal to remove the raccoons. So the state department of fish and wildlife stepped in, suggesting that she simply stop feeding them. "The raccoons appear to have started dispersing now that they are no longer being fed," the department said.

Ironies

              -- When cops in Portland, Oregon, pulled over a 1994 Ford Taurus that had been stolen on Oct. 9, they met Reginald Reynolds, 35, and Mia Baggenstos, 37, along with their toys: a loaded .357 Magnum, a bag of methamphetamine, $1,360 in cash, three white pills that Baggenstos said were OxyContin, and a meth pipe. The Smoking Gun reported that a vehicle search yielded more meth, two scales, and a "brown bag that said on it, 'Definitely not a bag full of drugs.'" Inside, they found more meth -- a total of about a half-pound. Both were charged with multiple felonies.

              -- In Stadtallendorf, Germany, on Oct. 16, a state-of-the-art fire station that had been open less than a year ... burned to the ground, The Guardian reported. The fire started in a vehicle and quickly spread, destroying 10 fire engines and causing between 20 and 24 million euros' worth of damage. "It is a nightmare for a firefighter," said district fire inspector Lars Schafer. He went on to say that the station was not required to have fire alarms because it was classified as a building holding equipment. Schafer said the building would be reconstructed quickly, for safety and for local morale.

Oops!

              -- In early October, The New York Times reported, passengers aboard a Qantas flight from Sydney, Australia, to Tokyo were treated (or not) to an R-rated film with "sexual material and brief graphic nudity" on their seat screens -- and it couldn't be turned off. Because of technological problems, passengers weren't able to choose their entertainment, so the crew queued up "Daddio," starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn, and let it run for about an hour before switching to something more family-friendly. "It was super uncomfortable for everyone," one Reddit user wrote. "We apologize to customers for this experience," a Qantas spokesperson said.

              -- The BBC apologized on Oct. 10 after releasing a weather forecast predicting winds in London of 20,000 kilometers (13,000 miles) per hour, Yahoo! News reported. Matt Taylor, a meteorologist for the network, soothed concerns: "Hurricane Milton hasn't made it to us here in the U.K.!" He added that a data glitch had caused the extreme forecast, also warning of overnight temperatures of 759 degrees Fahrenheit in Nottingham. "Folk are working to solve the issue," Taylor assured Brits.

Unconventional Weapon

In Port St. Lucie, Florida, on Oct. 14, police responded to a report of an explosion, WPBF-TV reported. As they arrived at the scene, Joseph Moreton, 39, began yelling at them from his backyard, then came into the front yard holding a flamethrower. Police asked Moreton to drop the weapon, but he wouldn't -- luckily, one officer was close enough to grab it out of his hands. Moreton then moved inside his house and got a flashlight, which he tried to blind officers with. Law enforcement tased him, and he was taken into custody. Moreton was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and resisting an officer.

Bright Idea

Perfumer Michal Gilbert Lach was inspired by his childhood trips in the 1980s to vegetable markets in Zywiec, Poland, to create his newest scent: Polish Potatoes. TVP reported on Oct. 15 that Lach's latest perfume is going viral on social media. "I create my scents as an olfactory deja vu," said Lach, who visited the markets with his grandparents. "The farmers market was a gateway to another world. Going to the market was like hunting for treasure." Which is what buyers will have to find before picking up a bottle: 1.7 ounces of Polish Potatoes will set you back $185.

Animal Antics

Paraglider Marshall Mosher of Atlanta, Georgia, was drifting over the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt on Oct. 14 when he noticed something unexpected walking around the top of the structure, the New York Post reported. Mosher posted a zoomed-in photo of a dog on Instagram with the caption, "A dog climbed all the way up the Great Pyramid of Giza!" Viewers worried about the dog's safety, but back on the ground, Mosher posted again standing next to the adventurous dog and explained that dogs in the area often climb up and down the 454-foot-tall pyramid. People have nicknamed the pooch Anubis Pup after the Egyptian god of the underworld who's often portrayed with a canine head.

Wait, What?

The Journal of Medical Case Reports published on Oct. 9 the highly unusual case of a cadaver of a 78-year-old man that was revealed to have three penises -- only the second recorded case of triphallia, a condition just discovered for the first time four years ago in a 3-month-old Iraqi child. From the outside, the man's genitalia seemed normal, but as the body was dissected, researchers found two smaller penises situated behind and below the primary one. Such occurrences are thought to result from genetic mutations.

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

Christopher Laney, 34, of Lancaster, California, was charged on Oct. 16 with using an unregistered drone to deliver narcotics to customers on multiple occasions, The Smoking Gun reported. The Drug Enforcement Administration alleges that Laney used the drone to deliver fentanyl from his home to a church parking lot last year; his client, a woman, died the next day of an overdose. Videos recorded by the drone itself, along with other drugs and three ghost guns, were seized during a raid of Laney's home and used as evidence against him. He faces 25 years in prison.

Questionable Judgment

The owners of the Kith and Kin restaurant in Hudson, Massachusetts, were forced to close their establishment temporarily in the wake of a stroke of bad judgment, WBZ-TV reported. On Oct. 12, a group of World War II reenactors dined at the restaurant after an American Heritage Museum event. But two of the actors were wearing Nazi uniforms, which didn't sit well with the locals. Gary Lewi, a trustee of the museum, called the incident "beyond thoughtless" and said the museum doesn't even allow costumes with SS collars on its grounds. "It's at a time when antisemitic violence is on the rise ... That's repugnant," he said. The restaurant received threats against its workers and apologized for allowing the costumed diners.

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