strange stuff

From strange crimes to strange celebrity deaths, read all of the latest weird and strange stuff news stories on Newser.com

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Instead of Jet Noises, Toy F-16 Plays Muslim Prayer

'We're kind of confused on how this would happen'

(Newser) - Bjorn Thorpe was excited to watch his 3-year-old nephew play with the toy F-16 fighter jet he bought him on Amazon for Christmas. It was advertised as making realistic jet noises, but "we put the batteries in and didn't get what we expected," Thorpe tells KING 5...

Man Killed Trying to Steal From Condom Machine

German trio blew up machine

(Newser) - In what must rank among the bleakest Christmas stories of this or any other year, a German man died on Christmas Day during a failed attempt to steal money from a condom machine. Police in Schoeppingen, near the Dutch border, say the man was killed by a flying piece of...

Whoops: Malaysia Airlines Plane Flies the Wrong Way

Pilot noticed plane out of New Zealand was flying south instead of north

(Newser) - Searchers are still looking for the rest of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 , while the airline's Flight 17 downed in Ukraine remains the subject of a criminal investigation . Now a new incident has come to light, and it isn't likely to help the airline's reputation: A Christmas Day...

Sweden's 'Yule Goat' Again Meets Grisly Fate

It's not a party until someone gets charged with arson

(Newser) - In what's become a Christmas tradition to some Swedes, a giant decorative goat made of straw was set ablaze early Sunday and police arrested a 25-year-old man suspected of arson. The straw goat is a beloved Christmas symbol in the city of Gavle, in central Sweden. However, it's...

'Noni Was Run Over By a Reindeer'

Well, a deer, but there are dumb jokes to be had

(Newser) - To most people, "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" is just a hokey, improbable Christmas song. To one Buffalo-area grandma who got run over by a deer, it's a very real hip replacement and suddenly not all that improbable. Such is the tale of 66-year-old Marlene Halt,...

Sock-Clad Girl, 3, Sneaks Off on Xmas Eve Adventure

Precocious American kid wandered away from family in Austria

(Newser) - Perhaps she was out looking for Santa. A 3-year-old American girl wandered away from her family's hotel in Salzburg, Austria, around midnight Christmas Eve and investigated the city streets on her own, wearing only a nightshirt and socks. A receptionist at another hotel brought her inside. Police guessed she...

Guy Gets Mad, Leaves Chickens in Tax Office

He was apparently 'frustrated' with Oregon Department of Revenue

(Newser) - Police say an Oregon man angry with his tax situation left a flock of seven chickens inside the state revenue office. Police in Eugene said in a news release they responded to a report Wednesday afternoon of chickens left in the lobby of the Oregon Department of Revenue. Police and...

Cards Against Humanity Might Shred This Picasso

150K subscribers will vote to donate or destroy

(Newser) - Should Pablo Picasso's "Tete de Faune" be donated to a museum or cut up into tiny pieces? The decision rests with fans of Cards Against Humanity—the game that's managed to get people to spend their hard-earned cash on poop and, well, nothing at all . With some...

Experts Stumped by Artifact Get Answer From Facebook

The 'Isis beamer' isn't as scary as it sounds

(Newser) - A mysterious gold-plated artifact that baffled the Israel Antiquities Authority for months was identified within hours after the experts turned to the public with a Facebook post . After suggestions that it was a rolling pin or a cattle insemination device, Italian man Micah Barak correctly identified the object found in...

Bank Robber Writes a Holly Jolly Demand Note

Give me money, and also, Merry Christmas

(Newser) - Georgia police say a bank robber gave a teller a note that both demanded cash and wished the teller a merry Christmas. Gwinnett County police said in a news release that they are looking for a man who entered a BB&T bank in Buford on Monday and handed a...

How a Grinch Sultan Stole Christmas
How a Grinch Sultan Stole Christmas
Dec 22, 2015 8:05 AM CST

How a Grinch Sultan Stole Christmas

By threatening those celebrating publicly with 5 years in prison

(Newser) - Don't be caught wearing a Santa hat in Brunei unless you want to spend the next five years in prison. Hassanal Bolkiah, the sultan of the Muslim country on Borneo, has banned "the act of celebrating Christmas excessively and openly" for fear it could lead to "tasyabbuh...

A Canadian Lake Has Fallen Off a Cliff

Rain, warming temperatures melted ice headwalls

(Newser) - In June, Canadian officials warned that a nameless lake in the Northwest Territories was about to fall off a cliff. It did. On July 15, a section of ground ice that's been around since the last ice age gave way, sending roughly half of the lake's 1 million...

Man&#39;s &#39;Pro-ISIS&#39; Christmas Lights Weren&#39;t That at All

 Man's 'Pro-ISIS' 
 Christmas Lights 
 Weren't That at All 
in case you missed it
Dec 19, 2015 9:01 AM CST

Man's 'Pro-ISIS' Christmas Lights Weren't That at All

Look up, folks

(Newser) - Residents of Limerick, Maine, were disturbed when they saw "ISIS" spelled out in Christmas lights on a local's home, and one of them contacted the York County Sheriff's Office to report a possible terrorist sympathizer. Deputies went to investigate and found that the holiday decor did, in...

Pa. Cops Stumped by Mysterious Embalmed Head

Woman's severed head was found a year ago

(Newser) - A woman whose embalmed head was found in the western Pennsylvania woods more than a year ago may have died of a heart ailment, police said Monday. Tests run on the woman's hair at the FBI Forensic Lab in Quantico, Virginia, showed traces of lidocaine and atropine—drugs used...

Why Clever Utah Residents Are Wrapping Rocks, Junk

Locals are trying to thwart holiday thieves

(Newser) - A man in one Utah community says his neighbors have begun placing decoy packages on front porches in an effort to thwart holiday delivery thieves. Rocks, old clothes, and junk televisions are among items that resident Kroger Menzer says residents in the Daybreak neighborhood of South Jordan have been putting...

Texas Plumber Wants $1M After Jihadists Get His Truck

Mark Oberholtzer says his business has been ruined

(Newser) - The Texas plumber whose truck infamously ended up in the hands of jihdists is suing a car dealership for more than $1 million, the Houston Chronicle reports. At issue: the dealership’s failure to remove a decal bearing the name and phone number of the Texas City man's business,...

Sweet Potato Fire Has Been Burning Since November

Silo may need to just burn itself out

(Newser) - Smoke from burnt sweet potatoes wafting around the town of Farmville has nothing to do with holiday baking. A silo full of dehydrated sweet potatoes has been smoldering in the town an hour east of Raleigh since at least the week of Thanksgiving, said Farmville town manager David Hodgkins. Firefighters...

Moscow Bringing WiFi to the Dead

Cemeteries' connection will likely bring visitors, too

(Newser) - As part of their campaign to bring WiFi to crowded public spots in the Russian capital, Moscow authorities are connecting up an unlikely new location: cemeteries. The Moscow city hall said Thursday that free WiFi—or as NPR calls it, Die-Fi—will be available at the city's three main...

Brothers Have Babies on Same Day, at Same Hospital

With same doctor

(Newser) - When two Wisconsin brothers found out their babies were due a week apart, the newborns' arrivals turned into a bit of a family competition that ended in a relative tie. Both babies were born at the same hospital in Kenosha on the same day, delivered by the same doctor. Chris...

Lots of Free Coffee Just Washed Ashore in Florida

Beachgoers are snapping it up

(Newser) - Hundreds of sealed coffee cans and vacuum-packed coffee bricks have washed ashore along Florida's Space Coast and officials believe they may be from containers that fell off a barge last weekend. Florida Today reports that the yellow-and-red packages of Cafe Bustelo dotted the beach Tuesday in Indialantic, where delighted...

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