strange stuff

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

Stories 2161 - 2180 | << Prev   Next >>

Spanish Mayor Makes Afternoon Nap the Law

In Ador, the siesta is mandatory (or at least strongly suggested)

(Newser) - If you're planning to visit the town of Ador, Spain, timing is everything. Get there between the hours of 2 and 5pm, and you'll find nothing open and nobody to chat with—they'll likely be snoozing by decree of the mayor. Joan Faus Vitòria has declared...

Our Next Super Food? Bacon-Flavored Seaweed

Oregon researchers patent new strain of algae called dulse

(Newser) - Researchers at Oregon State University have received a patent for a new strain of seaweed they developed, and there's only one thing you need to know about it: “When you fry it, which I have done, it tastes like bacon, not seaweed," chief researcher Chris Langdon says...

It's Always March 14, 2005, for This Man

Man can't remember anything for longer than 90 minutes after dentist visit

(Newser) - March 14, 2005, was a day like any other for William, a 38-year-old member of the British Armed Forces stationed in Germany. He got up, went to the gym, played volleyball, and answered emails from his office. By 2:40pm, he was sitting in a dentist’s chair for a...

Why an Office Looks Like This in China

Companies are trying to reduce workplace stress with monthly mask day

(Newser) - It may look like a scene from Office Space: the Horror Edition, but it's not. A company in Handan, China, has begun offering its employees "relaxation days" once a month. This includes a "faceless" day where masks are worn. It's a bid to cut down on...

In Russia, Women Compete to Be Bitten by Mosquitoes

They grin and bear it for 20 minutes

(Newser) - Mosquitoes: the scourge of every corner of the Earth except for Berezniki, Russia. That town is gearing up for its three-day Russian Mosquito Festival, which begins on Friday. The BBC picked up an Interfax report on the event, which was founded in 2013 as a bit of a "joke"...

Woman's Plan to Have Jesus Pay the Bill Ends Poorly

April Lee Yates was arrested on Sunday in Myrtle Beach

(Newser) - What would Jesus do? Maybe advise us to pay our own bills. April Lee Yates apparently had other ideas. The 51-year-old was arrested in Myrtle Beach, SC, on Sunday night and charged with defrauding a restaurant. The staff at Bennetts Calabash told police Yates had been there for almost four...

Belgium to Tweak &#39;Mayonnaise Law&#39;
Belgium to Tweak
'Mayonnaise Law' 
Jul 14, 2015 9:12 PM CDT

Belgium to Tweak 'Mayonnaise Law'

Manufacturers bound by old recipe

(Newser) - Mayonnaise is taken seriously in Belgium, but producers say the government's 60-year-old rules dictating how it gets made are starting to hurt. The problem is that those rules decree that the mayo be 80% fat and 7.7% yolk, and today's consumers don't like that much fat,...

City Scraps Weird Raffle Involving a Taser

Sorry, entrants, no human target

(Newser) - Plenty of people in Van Meter, Iowa, apparently wanted to deliver a jolt to a city official, but they'll no longer get the chance. The city has scrapped a strange raffle that offered people the opportunity to fire a Taser at the city administrator or at a councilman, reports...

Study: Vampires Are Real, and They Have a Big Fear

 Study: Vampires 
 Are Real, and 
 They Have a 
 Big Fear 
in case you missed it
Jul 12, 2015 12:09 PM CDT

Study: Vampires Are Real, and They Have a Big Fear

They drink blood, but live in fear of ... the doctor

(Newser) - This surely ranks among the more unexpected studies: Vampires are real, and they have a fear—"of Coming out of the Coffin to Social Workers and Helping Professionals," as the study's title reads in part. The study, published in the journal Critical Social Work , isn't talking...

Doctors Find Source of Woman's Pain: Stray Bullet

She thought firecracker hit her days earlier

(Newser) - A Florida woman says she was shot in the leg while sitting at a café on Independence Day, but she didn't realize it until doctors found the bullet five days later. Heather Charlebois tells the Daytona Beach News-Journal that after days of pain from what she initially thought was...

Angry Bull Chases Burglary Suspect

But the cops caught him first

(Newser) - In this case, the suspect might have been happy to be caught by police. Sheriff's officials in northern Alabama say a burglary suspect was taken into custody after being chased by a bull through a cow pasture. Marshall County Sheriff Scott Walls tells WHNT-TV that 26-year-old Brad Lynn Hemby...

Theatergoer Tries to Charge Phone on Stage

Which forces an announcement to the audience

(Newser) - The usual story about cell phones and the theater involves one ringing at an inopportune time. Playbill can now top that: It seems that an audience member crept up on the Broadway stage of Hand to God last week and tried to plug his phone charger into a stage outlet....

$2K Underwear Caper Hits Store Plagued by Bra Heists

Thieves plunder Victoria's Secret in Pennsylvania yet again

(Newser) - First they took the bras. Now they've come back for the panties. Police say 140 pairs of underwear have been stolen from a northeast Pennsylvania store that's been struck by four bra heists since February. Police say the manager of the Victoria's Secret store reported the theft...

Teen Dies After Avoiding Toilet for 2 Months

She goes without bowel movement for weeks, suffers heart attack

(Newser) - A British teenager's toilet phobia appears to have cost her her life. The 16-year-old girl suffered a heart attack after going without a bowel movement for eight weeks, reports the Independent . Authorities say her chronic constipation resulted in distended organs and a compressed chest cavity, factors that contributed to...

Family IDs Mystery Calif. Woman With Amnesia

Her name is Ashley, not Sam—and she's American

(Newser) - A woman found on the streets of Carlsbad, Calif., in February and believed to be suffering from retrograde amnesia has been claimed by a family that's now filling in the blanks about her identity, the BBC reports. "Well we have some great news...PRAYERS have been answered!!!!"...

Dolphin Lands In Boat, Breaks Woman's Ankles

Family managed to save the animal

(Newser) - A dolphin leaped onto a boat in Southern California, crashing into a woman and breaking both her ankles. Chrissie Frickman was boating with her husband and two children June 21 when a pod of dolphins swam alongside them. One of the animals jumped on the vessel, knocking Frickman over and...

Woman Found in California Has No Idea Who She Is

Doctors say stage-3 tumor may be causing Sam's apparent amnesia

(Newser) - A woman who claims she has no idea who she is says she hopes to reconnect with family and a mystery man she may have loved before she dies of cancer. The woman—who goes by Sam and is believed to be in her 50s—was barely conscious when she...

5-Foot-Long Hairball Found Inside 15-Year-Old

She suffered from Rapunzel Syndrome

(Newser) - It's called the Rapunzel syndrome, but there's nothing fairytale-like about the condition. In layman's terms, it's a massive hairball that extends from one's stomach into the small intestine or beyond. As io9 explained in 2013, hair is made of keratin, a substance so steely that...

Rescuers Save Pair Trapped by Rattlesnake

Very, very slowly

(Newser) - A strange rescue in Nevada: Authorities guided two cousins around a rattlesnake and out of a mine shaft near Lake Mead after they reported being trapped inside by the snake. The cousins, ages 19 and 12, emerged unhurt after they were instructed to hug an opposite wall to move past...

How a Farting Drummer Cost a DC Bar $500
How a Farting Drummer
Cost a DC Bar $500
in case you missed it
Jun 27, 2015 2:01 PM CDT

How a Farting Drummer Cost a DC Bar $500

It has to do with an open window

(Newser) - What to do when you let rip a fart so noxious you're afraid it might offend patrons of the blues bar at which you're performing? If you're in Washington, DC, and it's after 12:30am, the answer is not "open a window." But that'...

Stories 2161 - 2180 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser