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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Woman Sets Snake on Fire, Burns Down Her House

Texas fire official: It's not all that uncommon

(Newser) - Put this on your "don't-do" list: A Texas woman set a snake on fire in her backyard—and then watched as her house burned to the ground, Yahoo! News reports. "While cleaning up, she saw a snake, threw gasoline on the snake, lit the snake on fire,...

Man Banned From Yelling &#39;Bingo&#39;

 Man Banned From 
 Yelling 'Bingo' 
in case you missed it

Man Banned From Yelling 'Bingo'

Austin Whaley can't utter word for 6 months, says judge

(Newser) - Bingo is serious stuff. Or so Austin Whaley likely now knows. The 18-year-old Kentuckian has been barred by a judge from uttering the word "bingo" for six months after he falsely did just that last month. As the Kentucky Enquirer explains, Whaley was working security at a Covington bingo...

Cops: Mansion Caretaker Drank 52 Bottles of Rare Whiskey

Pittsburgh police charge him over century-old booze

(Newser) - Fifty-two bottles of well-aged whiskey disappeared between his lips, police said, and now it's time for a western Pennsylvania man to settle up. John Saunders, the former live-in caretaker of a Pittsburgh-area mansion, faces criminal charges for allegedly drinking more than $100,000 worth of the owner's whiskey....

IRS: Yeah, Our $60K Star Trek Parody Was a Bad Idea

Agency spent big bucks on 'training' film for employees

(Newser) - "There is no mistaking that this video did not reflect the best stewardship of resources." So says the IRS in regard to a five-minute Star Trek parody made by employees in 2010 that cost about $60,000, reports AP . Congress got wind of it, and the agency offered...

Guy Gets Banned From Every Library on Earth

 Guy Gets 
 Banned From 
 Every Library 
 on Earth 
in case you missed it

Guy Gets Banned From Every Library on Earth

Man was 'not trying to conceal' his lewd behavior: criminal complaint

(Newser) - Let's hope he's not a big reader. A 20-year-old man has been barred from "all the libraries on the face of the earth" for some rather inappropriate alleged behavior at one of them. Tyree S. Carter reportedly masturbated in a Wisconsin library one morning earlier this month;...

The 'Secret' of US Prisons: Teens Thrown in Solitary

Juveniles are protected there, but suffer psychologically

(Newser) - When juveniles are kept in adult jails and prisons, many are placed in solitary confinement for their own safety—but that can amount to psychological torture, experts tell NBC News . Imprisoned kids talk "about being in a cell alone, the size of a parking space, the size of an...

Killer 'Inspired by Saw Film' Gets 30 Years

Homeless man knifed victim 17 times: judge

(Newser) - Can Hollywood share the blame for this one? A judge in Britain sentenced a homeless man to at least 30 years yesterday for perpetrating a grisly killing inspired by Saw VI, the Daily Mail reports. The court found that Matthew Tinling, 25, knifed his victim 17 times and tried to...

Choking Driver Causes Huge Fireball Over Walmart

Crashes into propane tank

(Newser) - Police say man who choked on his food while driving caused a chain reaction that led to a fireball exploding over a Walmart in southwestern New Mexico. The Deming Headlight reports 61-year-old Robert Sheppard told police he was eating as he drove Saturday in front of the Walmart Superstore in...

Woman Loses Teeth Due to Very Strong Tea

Her daily pitcher made with 150 bags caused big problems

(Newser) - Tea: It's good for you , but only if you don't drink too much of it. And by "too much of it," we mean a pitcher made with 100 to 150 tea bags. That's how much a Detroit woman drank each day, and doctors eventually realized...

3-Inch Knife Removed From Man's Back—After 3 Years

Doctors missed blade in Billy McNeely's back after he was stabbed in 2010

(Newser) - Billy McNeely had been bothered by back pains and a persistent itch for three years, but when he scratched it Monday night, he felt something hard and sharp. His girlfriend poked around and discovered why—it was a knife blade, inside his back. McNeely hightailed it to the emergency room,...

Punxsutawney Phil Faces Execution Threat

Prosecutor furious over groundhog's 'misrepresentation of spring'

(Newser) - Punxsutawney Phil could be in serious trouble. He didn't see his shadow this year , meaning spring should come early. But the season has shown no signs of arriving as of yet in Ohio's Butler County, and a prosecutor there has "indicted" Phil, charging him with "misrepresentation...

Pretoria Hunt for Missing Snake Goes High-Tech

Zoo using infra-red cameras to find dangerous black mamba

(Newser) - The Pretoria Zoo says it is turning to technology with infra-red cameras to search for a 6.5-foot-long black mamba snake that escaped from its enclosure a week ago. Zookeepers in South Africa's capital think the snake probably is in the roof of a service building behind its terrarium,...

Montana Set to Let Residents Eat Roadkill

Elk, deer, antelope, and moose carcasses would be fair game

(Newser) - Elk, deer, antelope, and moose: If Montanans can scrape it up off the road, they can have it for dinner. State lawmakers are poised to say just that after the state Senate gave its initial support yesterday to a bill that would allow people to salvage roadkill for food. The...

Idaho Mystery: Dogs Are Vanishing

Almost 40 missing since November, with one possibly used in ritual killing

(Newser) - It's not safe to be man's best friend right now in southern Idaho. Nearly 40 dogs have disappeared since November, KPVI reports, and authorities fear they're meeting grisly fates. "The dogs seem to vanish into thin air," animal shelter director Debbie Blackwood tells Reuters . The...

12-Acre Sinkhole Plaguing Louisiana

Salt mine collapses, forcing residents to evacuate—7 months ago

(Newser) - Another sinkhole is plaguing the US, and this one is a monster: A 12-acre sinkhole in Louisiana forced Bayou Corne residents to evacuate seven months ago, with a fading chance they'll ever be able to return, reports Grist . The sinkhole, which originally measured nine acres, was created when a...

City to Workers: Bring Your Own ... Toilet Paper?

Budget cuts got personal in Windsor, Missouri

(Newser) - Congratulations to the guys in the Public Works Department of tiny Windsor, Missouri: They can stop bringing their own toilet paper to work, reports KCTV via Raw Story . It seems an overzealous bean counter determined that the men were using way too much and cut them off entirely. The mayor...

Win 'Liberal Madness,' Get Basketball From Newt

Republicans launch brackets to find 'worst liberal'

(Newser) - The National Republican Congressional Committee is out to find America's Worst Liberal with, what else, a set of March Madness-style brackets , reports the Hill . Your No. 1 seeds are President Obama (in the "Nanny Staters" camp), Joe Biden ("Obama Mouthpieces"), Nancy Pelosi ("Lefty Lapdogs"),...

Britain Flies 1M Euros to Troops in Cyprus

...in case the ATM machines stop working

(Newser) - How's this for a tangible sign of the banking mess in Cyprus: Britain's Royal Air Force is flying in a plane loaded with 1 million euros so its troops stationed there don't get stuck without cash, reports the Independent . The defense ministry made the move after the...

North Korean Video Shows Nuke Strike on Washington

White House is targeted, US Capitol explodes

(Newser) - Apparently New York in flames was not enough. Now a quasi-official North Korean news agency has posted a new video —this one of the US Capitol exploding, NBC News reports. Intercut with images of North Korean artillery and missiles, the video also shows a target homing in on the...

Earthquakes Give Us Gold
 Earthquakes 
 Give Us Gold 
study says

Earthquakes Give Us Gold

It precipitates as water turns to steam: researchers

(Newser) - Earthquakes can have a silver—or rather golden—lining. Some six miles underground, water can contain trace amounts of gold and silica. When an earthquake occurs, voids along a geological fault widen suddenly, pressure plummets, and the water held inside turns to steam. Meanwhile, the gold and silica in that...

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