News of the Weird: Week of October 9, 2025

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The Passing Parade

In Russia, doctors at the Kirov Regional Clinical Hospital were astounded when a 65-year-old man presented with a tumor the size of his head growing from the back of his neck, the New York Post reported. The surgeons were able to remove the tumor on Sept. 22 and identified it as a benign lipoma -- a fatty lump that grows between the skin and muscle. The patient told doctors he'd been living with the lump for 16 years and had tried treating it with simple ointments, without success. Igor Popyrin, head of surgery at the hospital, said many patients "postpone a visit to a specialist, hoping that the formation will disappear on its own. The only effective treatment is surgical removal."

Saw That Coming

On Sept. 22, as Lubbock (Texas) mounted police officers Bryson Lewis and William Trotter assisted with a routine patrol, they stopped a man who was walking in the road, rather than on the sidewalk, KCBD-TV reported. The officers thought 42-year-old Joseph Ramirez was acting suspiciously, and when they asked to check his pockets, he said no. Then Trotter joked that he had a "narcotics-smelling horse" -- and Ramirez took off running. "He took it seriously, and the race was on," Trotter said. But the police horses caught up with him quickly, and Ramirez was charged with evading arrest and tampering with physical evidence with the intent to impair. "Chasing bad guys is part of the fun in it for us," Lewis said. "So when you get to chase down a bad guy and not even get tired, it's a good day."

People With Issues

Yaz Chapman, 34, of Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, was diagnosed at age 4 with pica, a disorder that involves eating items that are not typically thought of as food. As a child, she tried talcum powder, chalk and cigarette rolling papers. According to LAD Bible, the mom of four currently eats about 10 sheets of paper each day. "I look forward to the postman," Chapman said. "Certain papers taste different and they have different textures. I'll rip a corner off just to test it." She said she drinks plenty of water to help with constipation. "When someone likes chocolate and they're craving something sweet, they eat it and they feel those happy chemicals being released in their brain. It's like that," Chapman said about living with pica.

Least Competent Criminals

              -- Keajion L. Jennings of Fairview Heights, Illinois, told the Fairview Heights police officer whose car he had just rear-ended that he did it because he was "bored" and "I hate cops." The Belleville News-Democrat reported that on Sept. 24, as officer Travis Montgomery stopped a different car for an expired license plate sticker, Jennings drove his 2018 Camaro into the back of Montgomery's squad car. Jennings "admitted he had consumed alcohol and weed gummies," a department statement said. He was charged with criminal damage to government-supported property, two counts of aggravated battery and one count of aggravated assault. Montgomery and the occupants of the other car were unhurt.

              -- Six people were arrested in Los Angeles, KTLA-TV reported on Sept. 30, after they attempted to raise a banner on the iconic Hollywood sign. The LAPD said the group "trespassed all the way up to the Hollywood sign" with a banner advertising the cryptocurrency business Pump.fun. Jake Hillhouse, one of the six, said the group wanted to be "one of the only" to successfully alter the sign; to that end, they filmed every step along the way, from creation of the banner to raising it with ropes as a police helicopter circled overhead. Their post on X went viral, so ... promotion achieved!

Compelling Explanations

              -- Around 11 a.m. on Sept. 30, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst near Trenton, New Jersey, went into lockdown, the Associated Press reported. The warning stemmed from a text about a shooter on the base sent by Malika Brittingham, a civilian who works for the Naval Air Warfare Center. She told the person she texted that she had heard five or six shots and was sheltering in a closet with co-workers. The text recipient called 911, prompting the lockdown. But as it turned out, there was no shooter. Prosecutors say Brittingham confessed to committing the hoax because she had been "ostracized by her co-workers and hoped their shared experience in response to an active shooter would allow them to 'trauma bond.'" She faces charges of knowingly conveying false information about an active shooter who didn't exist.

              -- In Palm Coast, Florida, Flagler County Sheriff's deputies pulled over 57-year-old Michael Stanek of Welaka on Sept. 23 for speeding -- or in his case, superspeeding, Fox News reported. Stanek was going 107 mph. When an officer asked him why he was going so fast, bodycam video captured his excuse: "I have an appointment with my barber." Chances are he didn't make it; the officer said he would spend the night in jail after "weaving in and out of traffic" and "putting other people's lives in danger."

News You Can Use

Looking for a get-rich-quick scheme? Start saving those fingernail clippings. In traditional Chinese medicine, Oddity Central reported on Sept. 26, clippings are incorporated into medicinal products to treat abdominal distension and tonsillitis. Companies that make the treatments purchase the clippings and wash them thoroughly before grinding them into powder, and the prices paid for them are relatively high (compared to, say, the value of throwing them in the trash). One woman sold clippings for $21 per kilogram (she'd been saving them since childhood).

Animal Antics

A black swan nicknamed "Mr. Terminator" was removed from his adopted home in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, on Sept. 30, the Independent reported. The swan, also called Reggie, turned up in the famous berg nine months ago, said swan warden Cyril Bennis. At first, residents and visitors loved seeing the creature among the native mute swans, which are white. "He became more popular than William Shakespeare himself," Bennis said. "The darkest side of our Mr. Terminator happened when he tried to muscle in on a pair of our residents with a young cygnet ... He kicked out the male and the cygnet. He tried to take over its territory with the other female." When the swan started trying to drown his fellow fowl, "It needed to move on." Bennis is still recovering from injuries to his chest sustained during the removal process, but he said the "river is quiet and the mute swans are just relaxing." Mr. Terminator is at his new home in Devon.

Bright Idea

Holiday Inn Express guests in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Japan are trying out a new concept in the wakeup call category, the New York Post reported on Oct. 1. The Breakfast Alarm Clock will wake up sleepy customers with the smells of their favorite breakfast items. People can choose aromas including coffee, bacon, blueberry muffin, mango or pear. The device works like a diffuser, releasing the scent at the desired time. Holiday Inn commissioned research that showed 58% of travelers in the Asia Pacific region said a pleasant smell would make them feel better as they woke up. "We know the power of scent: That first whiff of coffee or fresh croissant can work wonders," said vice president Dean Jones.

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