This week in weird news: A look at strange happenings from around the world – St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Here’s a look at some of the strangest news stories from the past week.
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They have been unable to leave since Friday, when a late autumn storm brought snow and heavy winds that felled power cables and blocked roads.
A man got more than nine years in prison after being accused of using COVID-19 relief funds on a Lamborghini, a Rolex watch and trips to strip clubs.
The last of the escaped monkeys from the crash of a truck towing a trailer load of 100 of the animals was accounted for by late Saturday.
A Texas woman offered $500,000 to another woman at a Walmart in exchange for her child while standing in line at self-checkout this month, according to police.
Watch now: See video of a brawl involving dozens of people throwing chairs and punches at a Golden Corral restaurant in Pennsylvania.
Belgian police searching for drugs in a Brussels apartment have discovered 37 cannabis plants — as well as a collection of dozens of poisonous spiders, scorpions and desert-dwelling lizards.
A Los Angeles nun and school principal who stole more than $800,000 to pay for a gambling habit was sentenced Monday to a year in federal prison.
An Illinois woman held hostage in her home by a naked man was rescued after her daughter noticed she had not sent her Wordle score and alerted local authorities.
The case has already caught the attention of pig partisans who believe the animals should be respected more as companions instead of just a food source.
The painting, dating from the 1930s, shows three torsos and heads with hair but no facial features; the vandal drew eyes on two of them with a ballpoint pen.
An Ohio mayor who suggested that allowing ice fishing shanties on a lake could lead to prostitution resigned Monday after days of being mocked.
The boat was covered in Gooseneck barnacles, had lost its mast, and its hull and keel were no longer attached, but its precious cargo was still safe.
Watch now: Viral video shows hundreds of blackbirds crash suddenly to their death in Mexico.
Hank the Tank strikes again. The 500-pound black bear has damaged more than 30 Lake Tahoe properties and last week broke into yet another home.
Also, check out more of this week’s stranger news stories (like a man getting arrested for trying to enter a tiger enclosure after breaking into Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo).
Hank the Tank is actually a three-bear battalion. DNA evidence shows the bear is, in fact, at least three bears who have damaged Lake Tahoe properties.
Contestants must carry a pancake in a frying pan and flip it at the beginning and end of the 415-yard race. The event began in Olney, England in the 15th century.
A New York City man needed to be rescued twice on consecutive days while hiking in a northern Arizona mountain range, authorities said.
Agents found 52 live reptiles tied up in small bags “which were concealed in the man’s jacket, pants pockets, and groin area,” the statement said.
A New Zealand couple who thought they dug up the world’s largest potato had their dreams turn to mash after Guinness said it isn’t a potato after all.
Almost 60 years after artist Yves Klein’s death, a receipt he wrote to prove ownership of his invisible artwork is up for sale, with Sotheby’s estimating that it could fetch up to$551,000.
The man and the alligator were both deceased when detectives arrived on the scene.
One of two flamingos that escaped from a Kansas zoo during a storm 17 years ago has been spotted on the coast of Texas, wildlife officials said.
A fox that bit a congressman and at least eight others near the U.S. Capitol has tested positive for rabies and was euthanized, authorities said.
In Rio de Janeiro, two rescue dogs have turned local mascots and budding online influencers after joining their rescuers’ ranks, wooing their growing audience, one bark at a time.
Police say a northwest Georgia man killed his grandmother by stuffing her in a freezer while she was still alive.
The man’s supervisor chastised him for “stealing his co-workers'” joy and “being a little girl,” according to a lawsuit.
The man who inhaled the drill bit said he now keeps the it on a shelf at home.
A 4-year-old Louisiana girl is dead after her grandmother allegedly forced her to drink a bottle of whiskey while her mother watched, Baton Rouge Police said.
After accidentally dropping her phone into an Olympic National Forest outhouse, a woman used dog leashes to tie herself off so she could reach it. She ended up falling into the toilet headfirst.
A photo shared by the Law Enforcement Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources shows the reptile fit only after the tail had been folded — and the snout was precariously propped up against the busted window.
The latest: Vicky White, who was set to retire the day she went missing, made some major financial moves leading up to the escape.
For only $34.99, the 50-pound sculpture seemed like a deal to a Texas antique dealer. She was right.
“I suppose it’s moving season,” the Washington state trooper said after pulling over the U-Haul.
A 60-year-old man who strangled his girlfriend died of a heart attack while burying her body in their South Carolina backyard, investigators said.
Also, check out more of this week’s weird news, including a Goodwill find in Texas that turned out to be an ancient Roman bust and a film about fancy public restrooms in Japan.
An Indian couple is suing their son and daughter-in-law, demanding they produce a grandchild within a year or pay them 50 million rupees ($675,000).
An Arkansas town is upset after someone shot a hole in their water tower in a very specific, and unfortunate location.
“I signed up to fight crime, here I am fighting dinosaurs,” an officer said.
Lawmakers agreed to reconsider her case last year after a curious eighth-grade civics class took up her cause.
In the wiggle of a nose, a man covered the “Bewitched” statue in Salem, Massachusetts with red paint, police said.
The woman claimed she unwittingly caught a sexually transmitted disease from her former romantic partner in his car.
Two people were rescued after falling into a tank full of chocolate at the Mars M&M factory in Pennsylvania on Thursday, officials said.
Uber’s list of the 10 most commonly forgotten items won’t surprise anyone (think phones, wallets, keys). Where things get strange is its list of the 50 most unique lost items
They took photo No. 9 on Wednesday after fears it could be a photo of four.
Scientists say the world’s largest recorded freshwater fish, a giant stingray, was caught in the Mekong River in Cambodia. See photos and video here.
Drinks after work probably seemed like a good idea — but for one worker in Japan the hangover is likely to last for some time.
Wildlife officials called to the scene discovered two white porcupines, two armadillos, 35 turtles, 50 lizards and 20 snakes in the two pieces of luggage.
The vast majority of UFO sighting reports in the United States occur between 4 p.m. and midnight, peaking between 9 and 10 p.m. Food for thought next time you’re out scoping for alien life.
A group of climate activists who have disrupted major galleries this week to send a message to the UK government have struck again — this time at the Royal Academy of Art in London.
It didn’t work.
A jewelry company broke a Guinness World Records title for the most diamonds set in one ring with a whopping 24,679 diamonds.
A police report says a woman with an open bottle of Jack Daniel’s in a bag was arrested for driving a golf cart on a Florida interstate while drunk.
A 35-year-old Florida man who was recording the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean died when a sand dune collapsed on top of him, sheriff’s officials said.
A beachgoer was killed Wednesday after a loose beach umbrella impaled her in the chest, authorities said.
San Francisco began its search for the perfect trash can in 2018 when officials decided it was time to replace the more than 3,000 public bins that have been on the streets for almost 20 years.
On a Facebook page under his name, Pauley has posted pictures of bags and stacks of femurs, one captioned, “Picked up more medical bones to sort through.”
Are you the type who has trouble keeping track of your car keys? A Michigan man has solved that problem by turning himself into a key.
Two summer staples — hot dogs and popsicles — are coming together. For whatever reason.
A shipment of baby wipes at the U.S.-Mexico border turned out to be something quite different: $11.8 million worth of cocaine.
An executive of a vegan food company has been charged after a fracas outside a football game in which he’s accused of biting a man’s nose, officials said.
A Florida highway had to temporarily close after a semi carrying cases of Coors Light crashed and turned the roadway into a silver sea of beer cans.
He was looking for a KitchenAid mixer. He found a medieval treasure.
A cow herd in Germany has gained an unlikely following — after adopting a lone wild boar piglet.
A fourth-generation member of the Tyson family faces charges of public intoxication and criminal trespass after authorities say he was found sleeping in someone else’s home.
Authorities say the thieves apparently fled with at least $100,000. It’s not yet known how they carted off the mounds of dimes.
Authorities in a central New Jersey town say they’re no longer noodling over the mystery of how hundreds of pounds of pasta were dumped near a stream.
The cygnets, or baby swans, were recovered, but officials say the mama swan was eaten.
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