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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Nuns Rap Goldman Sachs Fatcats for Pay

After Lloyd Blankfein's compensation almost doubles to $19M

(Newser) - Lloyd Blankfein’s salary nearly doubled in 2010 to a total of around $19 million—and the Catholic church isn’t happy about it. Four orders of nuns that invest with Goldman Sachs have all signed on to a proposal demanding the bank review its compensation policy, the Guardian reports....

Half-Naked Nazis Sneaked Into US: WWII Files

British spy documents reveal Germans' silliest moves

(Newser) - The Nazi war effort wasn’t limited to the battlefield: Hitler’s Germany also attempted an unorthodox campaign against the US that involved poison sausages, trick cigarettes, and swimsuit-clad saboteurs. Newly declassified British documents show that two teams of four Germans were dropped off on the shores of Long Island...

Teacher Mocks 7-Year-Old Student's Hair on Facebook

Posts pictures for friends: 'And y'all thought I was joking!'

(Newser) - A Chicago teacher is under fire after she posted pictures of a second-grader’s strange hairstyle on Facebook—and then publicly made fun of it. Inspired by a picture in a magazine, a 7-year-old had asked her mom to tie Jolly Rancher candies to the bottom of her braids for...

20K Bats Move Into Georgia House

Creeped-out neighbors revolted by smell

(Newser) - Thousands of Georgia residents are actually benefiting from the housing crisis—trouble is, they’re not human. After the foreclosure of a Victorian house in Tifton, bats began taking up residence in the home; now, 20,000 of the creatures may be inside, prompting the city to make it officially...

Boy Finds 24-Year-Old Message in a Bottle

Letter was written by 5-year-old German boy in 1987

(Newser) - There's no romance and no Kevin Costner, but nearly a quarter-century after a German boy tossed a message in a bottle off a ship in the Baltic Sea, he's received an answer. A 13-year-old Russian, Daniil Korotkikh, was walking with his parents on a beach when he saw something glittering...

Dead Fan Catches Final Soccer Game

Coffin carrying murdered teen smuggled into Colombian stadium

(Newser) - A 17-year-old soccer fan in Colombia didn't let death stop him from being there for the big game. As police opened the gates near the end of a match between Cucita Deportivo and Envigado to let fans out, hundreds rushed in, bearing the teen's coffin, reports the Independent . Police were...

PETA Contest Prize? Free Vasectomy

An inspired way to bring awareness to the neutering issue

(Newser) - This has got to be one of PETA’s weirdest stunts yet: The animal rights group is staging a contest related to its spay/neuter campaign, and the lucky winner will get … a free vasectomy. To enter, you just get your cat or dog spayed or neutered, then submit an...

Bikini-Clad Customer Busted in Burger King Tirade

Swings fists, jug at Alabama employees after long wait for Whopper

(Newser) - Wrathful over a 20-minute wait for a Whopper Jr., a bikini-wearing Burger King customer lashed out at workers before jumping on the counter and attacking them with a jug, the Smoking Gun reports—and it was all caught on tape. No one was hurt, but after allegedly throwing things and...

Taco Bell Burrito Price Hike Leads to ... Texas Shootout

Ricardo Jones enraged by $1.49 Beefy Crunch Burritos; no one hurt

(Newser) - Burrito prices are a touchy subject—at least for one man in San Antonio, who, infuriated by the fact that the seven Beefy Crunch Burritos he ordered would cost not 99 cents each but $1.49 due to a price hike, shot at a store manager with an air gun,...

Free House: Iowa Loophole Gets Couple Facing Foreclosure a House for One Payment
Loophole Gets Couple a House for Just One Payment
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 20, 2011 4:30 PM CDT

Loophole Gets Couple a House for Just One Payment

Facing foreclosure, they discover a 123-year-old law

(Newser) - Thanks to a loophole in Iowa law, Matt and Jamie Danielson now own their $278,000 home outright—for the cost of just one mortgage payment. The Danielsons fought foreclosure—and won—by citing a 123-year-old law that requires mortgages be signed by both spouses. A home-loan approval Matt Danielson...

The Weirdest St. Paddy's Customs

Including a 32-mile walk and the world's shortest parade

(Newser) - St. Patrick’s Day isn’t just about beer drinking and snake exterminating: there are a wealth of other odd traditions surrounding the holiday. AOL News reports on a few:
  • For 35 years now, a Toronto man has walked to a town 32 miles away for a drink, honoring a
...

Guy Sets Motel Room Fire Because Satan Lived There

Totally makes sense, right?

(Newser) - There’s only one obvious reason a person might set his motel room blankets on fire: Because he thinks he’s sharing the room with Satan. That’s the excuse a 52-year-old Washington man gave to cops after allegedly starting the motel room fire Friday, the Herald reports. He had...

Bomb Squad Sent to Defuse Sex Toy

Russian cops find vibrator in 'suspect package'

(Newser) - Russia has been tense since the Moscow airport bombing earlier this year, but a bomb squad in Petrozavodsk got something to laugh about yesterday. The city's main postal building was evacuated and surrounded by security forces after a worker reported a suspicious package with a ticking noise. The bomb squad...

Italian Leaves Home— and Pets—to Boston

But locals plan grab for $700K estate

(Newser) - Boston just got a new piece of real estate—in Italy. An Italian man whose mother and aunt lived in Boston left his estate to the city, the Boston Globe reports. But if Beantown wants it, it's going to have to do some petsitting. “The City of Boston, MA,...

Cops: Man Interrupts Own Haircut for Assault

... his police mugshot tells the story

(Newser) - Early but strong contender for police mugshot of the year: Police say a 21-year-old man in Stamford, Conn., interrupted his own haircut, grabbed the scissors, and slashed another customer. Cops picked up David Davis in a nearby home later, his haircut still unfinished, reports the Stamford Advocate . "Wonder how...

Flatulent Dentist Barred From Practicing

Gas was no laughing matter for colleagues

(Newser) - A rude, racist, and flatulent British dentist has had his license yanked. A General Dental Council committee was told that the dentist delighted in belching and breaking wind in front of colleagues and patients, the BBC reports. Colleagues testified that the dentist swore, made rude gestures behind the backs of...

Guy Auctions Rock That Crushed House

'Rocky' being sold to benefit earthquake fund

(Newser) - A New Zealand man whose home was destroyed in the Christchurch earthquake is auctioning off the 25-ton boulder responsible. Phil Johnson put "Rocky," which bounced down a hill and crashed into his house, up for sale on an auction site as a landscape feature that will "enhance...

Throngs Gather for... Hole-Digging Contest?

Winner of Japanese competition gets $1,215—and Golden Shovel

(Newser) - And you thought hot-dog-eating competitions were weird. Try this one on for size: Japan has an All-National Hole-Digging Competition, in which participants, yep, dig holes. The contest, which drew more than a thousand participants to the outskirts of Tokyo yesterday, awards the following feats: deepest hole, most creative digging, and...

Georgia Lawmaker: Let's Get Rid of Driver's Licenses

They take away our 'inalienable right' to travel, he says

(Newser) - Driver’s licenses—who needs ‘em? No one, according to a Republican lawmaker in Georgia. State Rep. Bobby Franklin is sponsoring the “Right to Travel Act,” a bill that says everyone has the “constitutional right to travel on the roads and highways”—and that, therefore,...

Dr. Laura Explains Her Rose-and-Skull Tattoo

See, she's 'sweet,' but can also be 'a tough-ass bitch'

(Newser) - Dr. Laura Schlessinger has two pieces of body art you might not expect: a belly-button piercing and a tattoo. Her profile in Los Angeles magazine, sadly, gives no details about the former, but it does offer a description from Schlessinger of the latter: Covering most of her left arm is...

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