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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Thousands of Spiders Drive Owners From Ritzy Home

Missouri family gives up trying to fight the brown recluses

(Newser) - If you like golf and you love spiders, then Fannie Mae has got your dream home waiting in Missouri. The foreclosed home in Weldon Spring overlooks a golf course but has been vacant for two years because apparently nobody wants to live with the estimated 4,000 to 6,000...

Why Are Plane Passengers So Into Tomato Juice?

The taste is different in a low-pressure environment

(Newser) - Tomato juice: It's not something many people crave on land, but in the sky, it's hugely popular. Germany's Lufthansa airline, for instance, has said it serves some 53,000 gallons of tomato juice per year—not so far off from its 59,000 gallons of beer in...

Couple Pulled Over for DUI Had Sex in Cop Car

Judge at sentencing says behavior of Travis Husnik, Heather Basten was 'outlandish'

(Newser) - Most people who get pulled over for drunk driving and hauled away in a squad car probably keep their pants on (just a guess). Then again, most people aren't Travis Husnik and Heather Basten. The Wisconsin couple, ages 33 and 29 respectively, were being taken to the Oconto County...

Hot Air Balloon Proposal Goes Quite Awry

Balloon ends up in the ocean

(Newser) - A romantic ride in a hot air balloon turned into a rescue operation, with lifeguards and surfers saving three people after the basket dipped into the ocean off a Southern California beach. A man was proposing to his girlfriend during their sunset ride yesterday when the balloon drifted off course...

Zoo Spends Years Trying to Mate Male Hyenas

It's hard to tell males, females apart, Japan zoo says

(Newser) - Hyena sexing by sight alone is "very difficult," says a Japanese zoo that spent years trying to mate a pair of males. The Maruyama Zoo in Sapporo says Kami and Kamutori were obtained in a 2010 exchange with a South Korean zoo that said they were a male...

Man Tries Visiting Every Starbucks in the World

Software programmer wants to see them all

(Newser) - Hey, why not? A freelance software programmer has spent over $100,000 in an ongoing attempt to visit every Starbucks on the planet, the Telegraph reports. The notion came to Winter (formerly Rafael Lozano) as he sat in a Starbucks in Texas in 1997. "My original motive was simply...

Woman Grows Potato in Vagina as Contraception

Colombian woman says mom told her to do it

(Newser) - A 22-year-old Colombia woman who went to the doctor with abdominal pains turned out to have a potato growing in her vagina—because she'd put it there as contraception, says Colombia Reports via Metro . "My mom told me that if I didn’t want to get pregnant, I...

Guy Running on Ocean in a Bubble Gets a Save

Coast Guard picks up Reza Baluchi after he suffers fatigue

(Newser) - If your idea of a good time is running across 3,500 miles of ocean hamster-wheel style in what amounts to a bubble, well, we'd advise packing more than water and protein bars. As NBC reports, the United States Coast Guard yesterday came to the rescue of marathon runner...

Acupuncture Needle Pulled From Guy's Stomach After 40 Years

He'd received the treatment for pain in 1974

(Newser) - It was 40 years ago that Xu Long had acupuncture to relieve stomach pain, and "the pain stopped immediately," he tells Central European News. But the treatment appears to have come with some serious complications. Xu had more recently been suffering from new pains in his back and...

Fisherman's Catch Has 'Human Teeth'

Experts say it's probably some kind of piranha

(Newser) - A fisherman in Russia has come upon a scary-sounding creature: a fish with teeth that look like our own, UPI reports. "I opened its mouth and was horrified to see human-like teeth in there," Alexander Korobov says. He caught the fish in the city of Arkhangelsk and took...

Flight Delay Caused by Escaped Crabs

US Airways had to round them up before taking off

(Newser) - And the week's weirdest reason for a flight delay goes to US Airways, which had to catch loose crabs in a cargo hold before letting a plane fly from New York to Charlotte, NC. A spokeswoman says it's unclear how the small crustaceans escaped their container or what...

Jail Doesn&#39;t Notice Inmate Escaped
Jail Doesn't
Notice Inmate Escaped
Sep 30, 2014 4:30 PM CDT

Jail Doesn't Notice Inmate Escaped

Until his lawyer comes to visit 2 days later

(Newser) - An inmate's escape from a jail in Washington state went undetected for two days last week until the man's defense lawyer stopped for a visit and couldn't find his client. The Daily Herald reports that 19-year-old Rhyan Vasquez is now back in custody in Marysville City Jail,...

Doctors Remove 9-Pound Hairball From Teen's Stomach

Apparently she liked to chew on her hair, eat hair from floor

(Newser) - Ayperi Alekseeva, 18, had been struggling with bad stomach pains. When it got to the point that she couldn't eat or drink without getting sick and she started losing weight, the Kyrgyzstan teen went to a hospital in the capital, Bishkek—where doctors determined she had a ball of...

In a First, Falcon Has Cataract Surgery

4-year-old Banner gets new lenses, will be able to hunt again

(Newser) - It's a birding milestone: A falcon in New Hampshire has undergone eye surgery to remove cataracts and has received new synthetic lenses. Banner, a 4-year-old falcon, lost its sight and hasn't been able to fly or hunt for the past two years. This week, a team at Capital...

Old Shipwreck Yields 'New' Perfume

Scent is recreated from 150-year-old bottle found amid debris

(Newser) - A perfume soon to hit the shelves actually dates back a century and a half. The Bermuda Perfumery's "new" fragrance has a fascinating backstory: It was discovered in a shipwreck off Bermuda that occurred this month in 1864. The smuggling vessel Mary Celestia traveled between the island and...

Cop: Footage Shows Ghost at Station

Straight-faced New Mexico officer says he spotted it on surveillance video

(Newser) - Bust out the Ghostbusters jokes: A police officer in New Mexico swears his station is haunted, and he says he's got video to back it up, KOAT reports. Officer Karl Romero was working last weekend and spotted something weird moving on surveillance footage of the Espanola Police Department, he...

Amorous Donkey Couple Reunited at Polish Zoo

Mothers outraged that children witnessed their lovemaking

(Newser) - Napoleon is now back with his Antosia. The two amorous donkeys who were separated because of an outcry over their lovemaking have been reunited at a zoo in Poland. The couple, together for 10 years, got into trouble when mothers expressed outrage that children had to witness their mating. Local...

Masturbating Man Grounds Flight in Omaha

Doug Adams, 26, allegedly tried to open emergency exit door

(Newser) - A masturbating man may be responsible for grounding an airplane in Nebraska Monday, though reports about what exactly took place on the Virgin America flight from Boston to Los Angeles are sketchy. The Federal Aviation Administration calls the incident a medical emergency, reports KNBC , but accounts from police in Omaha—...

3 New Mushroom Species Discovered ...in Supermarket

Scientists put a packet of dried porcini mushrooms under microscope

(Newser) - That scientists discovered three new species of mushrooms isn't all that unusual. That they did so in their local supermarket is why it's making headlines. Scientists in London picked up a packet of dried porcini mushrooms at the grocery store and then used a technique known as DNA...

Dad Visited Incorrect Grave for Years

Father grieved over stillborn son in wrong spot because of mixup

(Newser) - For seven years, a man in Westminster, Colo., regularly visited the grave of his stillborn son. Or so he thought. NBC 9 Colorado reports that Vance Abeyta learned this year that his son, Quincy, was actually buried in a different spot in Mt. Olivet Cemetery. It seems the Catholic Archdiocese...

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