LEAD STORY -- Cavity Sam Lives

On Jan. 9 in Kyiv, Ukraine, a surgeon removed an unexploded grenade from the chest cavity of a 28-year-old Ukrainian soldier, The Guardian reported. The weapon lay just below the man's heart, and two "sappers" (military engineering soldiers) were on hand during the delicate operation to neutralize the device after it was removed. Doctors were unable to use electrocoagulation, a method that controls bleeding, because of fear that the grenade might detonate. "I think this case will go down in medical textbooks," said Anton Gerashchenko, Ukraine's internal affairs ministerial adviser. No word about how the grenade ended up in the soldier's chest cavity to begin with. He will now undergo rehabilitation. [Guardian, 1/12/2023]

Least Competent Criminals

Two arsonists were in the hot seat -- and they hadn't even been caught -- after they set fire to a Bakersfield, California, immigration services building on Jan. 2, Fox News reported. Footage from a Ring security camera captured the masked individuals as they spread gasoline around the building's base. But when one bent to light the fire, the flames spread to both people's clothes, causing them to run away screaming. The suspects are still at large. [Fox News, 1/4/2023]

Eyewitness News

Riders on the MAX light rail system in Gresham, Oregon, witnessed a brutal assault around 2 a.m. on Jan. 3, KPTV reported. A 78-year-old man on the train platform was attacked by another man, who "chewed off the victim's ear and part of his face," police said. "The injury was so severe that responders could see the victim's skull." The suspect did not provide investigators with a real name, but through fingerprints he was identified as Koryn Kraemer, 25, who had recently moved to the area from Georgia. He was charged with assault in the second degree. [KPTV, 1/3/2023]

Aero-naughty-cal News

Passengers aboard a charter flight on Jan. 8 from the Siberian city of Magan, Russia (where it was 41 degrees below zero), had to brave even more extreme temperatures when the rear door of the plane flew open in midflight, the New York Post reported. "People had their hats blown off," said Sergei Lidrik, 33, a passenger headed to Magadan on Russia's Pacific coast. One man had just unfastened his seatbelt when the door blew open, and he was nearly sucked out, along with luggage and other personal belongings. The plane, an Antonov An-26, was manufactured between 1970 and 1986. The pilot turned back to Magan and made an emergency landing, and there were no injuries. [NY Post, 1/9/2023]

It's Baaaacckkk

The atmospheric river battering California has another weird consequence, SFGate reported on Jan. 10. The storms are making the Golden Gate bridge eerily "sing." Nearby residents first noticed the phenomenon during summer storms in 2020, when they heard a "screeching that sounded like torture." A Building and Operating Committee report from 2020 said the cause was the retrofit of 12,000 slats on the west side of the bridge. The cost to add clips that would stop the noise is $450,000; officials said installation is due in the coming months. [SFGate, 1/10/2023]

Inexplicable

In Coventry, England, someone dubbed the Cat Shaver is catching cats and shaving a square into their fur, Metro News reported on Jan. 11. Not just a small patch, either: 6-year-old Tallulah had a large bald spot on her stomach that owner Bonnie Towe noticed when her daughter picked the cat up. "Did someone take her and bring her back? Or did they do it in a car?" Towe wondered. "We did notice she wasn't going out quite as much. She mostly sits at home and looks out the window." Other victims' owners have discovered one another on Facebook, speculating that the cats are being marked as targets. But no other harm has come to any of them. [Metro News, 1/11/2023]

Mistaken Identity

A walker out for a stroll in Wickham, Australia, in early January came across what they thought was a dead body clothed in a tracksuit, according to ABC News. Police cordoned off the area and began an investigation, but later concluded that the remains belonged to a cow. Roeburne Police Sgt. Dale Harmer voiced his frustration: "It has caused police to use an entire day and three police officers guarding a scene for something which was never a human in the first place." And what a waste of a perfectly fine tracksuit. [ABC News, 1/10/2023]

Check Twice, Engrave Once

The Washington, D.C., Korean War Wall of Remembrance pays tribute to more than 36,000 American service members who were killed in that conflict. But according to The New York Times, it's also rife with misspellings and omissions. Historians Hal Barker and Edward Barker Jr. of Texas, who run the Korean War Project, call the monument "a damn mess" and say it displays more than 1,000 spelling errors, and 500 names are missing altogether. The National Park Service passed the buck to the Defense Department, which supplied the names. DOD said compiling the list was "challenging." "No one bothered to check it before they set it in stone," said Ted Barker. "But now that it has been done, we need to get it right." [NY Times, 1/11/2023]

Compelling Explanation

Fans of romance writer Susan Meachen were devastated in September 2020 when they read on her Facebook page, titled "The Ward," that she had taken her life in response to online bullying, CNN reported. So imagine their surprise in early January when they read a new post there, claiming to be from Meachen herself. "I debated on how to do this a million times and still not sure if it's right or not," the post read. "There's going to be tons of questions. ... My family did what they thought was best for me and I can't fault them for it. ... I am in a good place now and I am hoping to write again. Let the fun begin." When a fellow romance writer asked for an explanation, Meachen responded, "I simply want my life back." Her former assistant, Connie Ortiz, told CNN she was "devastated" by Meachen's acts. "I did not know what Susan was doing, even though we were close." [CNN, 1/10/2023]

Break Out the Crab Legs

Firefighters were called to the Associated Milk Producers Inc. plant in Portage, Wisconsin, on Jan. 2 after flames broke out there, WMTV reported. But they were hampered by melted butter: "Butter was running down like 3 inches thick on the steps, so our guys were ... trying to drag the hose line. The hose line got so full of butter they couldn't hang onto it anymore," said fire Chief Troy Haase. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources was called in after the fire was contained to assess the butter runoff, some of which went to a water treatment plant. But about 20 gallons ended up in a nearby canal; booms were used to contain the buttery mess. Officials say the environmental impact appears to be low. [WMTV, 1/3/2023]

What's in a Name?

Someone bought a winning $15.1 million Megabucks ticket at -- wait for it -- Wayne's Food Plus in Luck, Wisconsin, WISN-TV reported on Jan. 5. "We could not be happier for the winner," said store manager Paul Wondra (also a great name). "They truly got lucky in Luck." [WISN, 1/5/2023]

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

Dog owner Erik Torres, who owns a pet store in Doral, Florida, is facing charges after he brought his Pomeranian -- dyed to look like Pikachu -- to a Miami Heat game on Dec. 26, WPTV reported. "It made NBA history because nobody's ever seen a Pikachu dog sitting next to an NBA player before," Torres said. But Miami-Dade County Animal Services officials were unamused: "No animal should be dyed, regardless of whether there's an ordinance prohibiting that," said assistant director Kathleen Labrada. She noted it is "unlawful for any person to possess, sell or otherwise transfer within the county any dyed or artificially colored rabbit or other animal." Torres is fighting the charge, saying the dog is not for sale and he used dye that is safe for consumption. He also has no plans to remove the dye. [WPTV, 1/3/2023]

Nay-chur

In Derbyshire, England, Phil and Jane Carter are used to seeing foxes on their lawn. But, the Telegraph reported, a Dec. 17 visitor to their garden caught their attention. Jane spotted a fox nosing around their turf looking for something to eat while balancing on its front legs -- the only legs it had -- and yelled at her husband to come see it. "It was fascinating," Phil said. "It stood bolt upright and ran like a human being on two legs." He got in touch with experts at the Derbyshire Nature Reserve, who told him the fox was likely born with the disability and had learned to survive. While foxes are usually shy, the special animal hung around for about 45 minutes before it took off "like a rocket," Phil said. [Telegraph, 1/4/2023]

Precocious

Ashley Lynn, mother of a 9-month-old baby, took to social media this holiday season after her child was gifted a toy remote control, the New York Post reported. Lynn said the baby loved the toy and was "going to town chewing on" it, but then she noticed that when certain buttons were pressed, it made inappropriate comments. One was about a drive-by shooting, and another was a sexually themed joke about priests. "What? What?" Lynn said. "Walmart, explain this. Linsay Toys, explain this." Lynn reached out to Linsay on Dec. 31 and got a prompt reply, which indicated the toy would no longer be sold. Walmart said the toy was sold by a third-party seller and has been removed for not complying with its "prohibited products policy." [NY Post, 1/4/2023]

Update

In late August, News of the Weird shared a story from Yellowstone National Park about a human foot having been found floating in the Abyss Pool, a hot spring. At the time, officials did not suspect foul play. KTLA-TV reported on Jan. 4 that investigators have now identified the person to whom the foot belonged: 70-year-old Il Hun Ro of Los Angeles. Ro's Kia SUV was found in a parking lot near the spring, and inside were his laptop, a wallet with $447 and a small book of poems -- but no suicide note. Geologists did not find any more human remains in the pool, other than "fatty deposits ... floating to the surface over time," a report indicated. The pool is more than 50 feet deep and has an average temperature of 140 degrees. [KTLA, 1/4/2023]

Overkill

Matthew Greenwood, 32, and Jeremy Crahan, 40, of Puyallup, Washington, only wanted to rob a business on Christmas Day, NPR reported. But their strategy got them in much more trouble than the original crime would have. Both were charged with attacking power substations, causing thousands of people to lose electricity on the holiday; Greenwood and Crahan admitted they just wanted to empty a cash register at a local business during the outage. The sabotage amounts to a federal crime; Crahan's lawyer said he plans to enter a not guilty plea. [NPR, 1/4/2023]

Duuuude

For the third year in a row, the county in Oregon reporting the highest rate of cannabis sales was Malheur County -- which shares a state border with Idaho and is close to Boise. KGW-TV reported that although sales were down in 2022, they still topped out at $104 million, or $3,243 per county resident. Cannabis sales -- medical or recreational -- are illegal in Idaho, which creates a boon for the Oregon dispensaries along the border. [KGW, 1/4/2023]

It's a Mystery

Public lands officials in Salt Lake City are trying to solve a mystery: Who is placing antennae with solar panels on public property? KSL-TV reported on Jan. 4 that a few of the devices were found about a year ago, but more have been discovered in recent months. The locked battery boxes, solar panels and antennae "have been bolted into different peaks and summits and ridges around the foothills," said Tyler Fonarow, the city's recreational trails manager. "It might be related to cryptocurrency and relaying networks and being able to make money off that," Fonarow speculated. He hopes to educate the public that items cannot be installed on public lands. "We want to stop it now before it becomes a dumping ground for dozens and dozens of more antennas." [KSL, 1/4/2023]

What's in a Name?

Scott Stallings of St. Simons Island, Georgia, is not THAT Scott Stallings -- which became all too clear when he received a FedEx invitation to the PGA Masters Tournament, the Associated Press reported. Stallings reached out to golfer Stallings, who is from Knoxville, Tennessee, on Instagram: "I'm (100 percent) sure this is NOT for me," he wrote. Golfer Stallings said he had been waiting for his invite and thought maybe his wife was pranking him. But Georgia's Stallings won't miss out altogether: "We're going to give him some practice-round tickets and take him to dinner on Monday night for doing the right thing," the PGA player said. [AP, 1/2/2023]

Oops

The Askern Medical Practice in Doncaster, United Kingdom, wins the award for most Scrooge-like holiday message, the BBC reported. On Dec. 23, the center accidentally sent texts to about 8,000 patients informing them that they have "aggressive lung cancer with metastases." About a half-hour later, recipients received a second text alerting them about the error. Patient Sarah Hargreaves said she "broke down" when she read the first message: "I had just had a mole removed and was awaiting a result from a biopsy ... so yes, I was very worried." Carl Chegwin was perplexed: "It's not often I go to the doctors ... I sat there scratching my head, thinking, 'I do smoke, do they know something I don't?' If it's one of their admins that's sent out a mass text, I wouldn't be trusting them to empty the bins." [BBC, 12/29/2022]

Blame It on the Devil

In Dorchester, Massachusetts, firefighters responded to a house fire on Dec. 27 at a three-story home around 11:30 a.m., MassLive reported. Police officers at the scene talked to a witness, who said a woman named Nikia Rivera had told them, "I'm sorry, I had to do it," before she left on foot. Later, Rivera, 45, told officers, "That house is haunted. I lit the house on fire. The devil made me do it, there are ghosts in my house." While no residents or firefighters were hurt in the fire, Rivera was charged with arson and ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation. [MassLive, 12/28/2022]

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

Anger Management

Tennessee state Rep. Jeremy Faison, 45, had to be ejected from the stands at a high school basketball game in Johnson City on Jan. 4 after he became angry at a referee and tried to "pants" him -- pull down his trousers. Faison's son was playing on the Lakeway Christian Academy team, NBC News reported. Later, Faison tweeted: "Totally lost my junk and got booted from the gym. ... I hope to be able to find the ref and ask for his forgiveness. I was bad wrong." Our advice to referees everywhere: Always wear a belt. [NBC News, 1/6/2022]

Government at Work

In the United Kingdom, as of Jan. 29, flouting a new highway code rule will cost you up to 1,000 pounds, the Mirror reported. The rule requires someone inside a car to open the door with the hand farthest from the door, employing a technique known as the Dutch Reach. In other words, if you're driving (on the right side of the car), you would use your left hand to reach around and open the car door. (The technique is borrowed from the Netherlands, thus the name.) Rule 239 reads: "This will make you turn your head to look over your shoulder. You are then more likely to avoid causing injury to cyclists or motorcyclists passing you on the road, or to people on the pavement." If a person in a car injures someone by opening with the wrong hand, a fine will be levied. Cycling UK estimates that more than 500 people are injured every year by car doors. [Mirror, 1/26/2022]

Wait, What?

Cameron Newsom, 42, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was treated for stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma on her tongue in 2013, the New York Post reported. Removing the tumor meant also removing part of her tongue, which doctors replaced with skin and muscle taken from her thigh. Through all of her experiences in treating the cancer, she said, "The weirdest part ... was when I felt a rough texture on the 'thigh' part of my tongue -- and when I looked in the mirror, it had started growing leg hair!" Newsom had to learn to speak again and still finds eating a challenge, but she's back to being a gymnastics coach, even with her fuzzy tongue. [New York Post, 1/19/2022]

Clowns

When Mark, 38, and his wife left for work one morning in January, their back garden in Belfast, Northern Ireland, looked just like it does any other day. But when the wife returned that afternoon, there was a concrete slab painted with a creepy clown face propped against the wall, the Belfast Telegraph reported. "Someone would have had to come through our gate and down the steps to place it there -- and deliberately place it so it was facing the window so we would see it," Mark said. The clown was holding a lighted candle, and on the reverse, a Bible verse was inscribed: "Let your light shine. Matthew 5:16." Mark contacted friends, neighbors and family members to see if it was a prank, or if others had received a clown, but no one had experienced anything similar. He threw the clown away, but remains creeped out: "It's so unsettling." [Belfast Telegraph, 1/26/2022]

Thanks for Nothing!

Catherine Graham of Marshfield, Massachusetts, recently cashed in on her 15 minutes of fame on "The Price Is Right" with host Drew Carey. She flew to Los Angeles to visit her daughter and attended a taping of the show, which aired on Feb. 1. As luck would have it, Graham ended up on stage with Carey and played for a great trip -- to New Hampshire! When Carey gushed, "New Hampshire is beautiful!" Graham replied, "Drew, I live in Boston! I've been to New Hampshire a million times!" But wait, there's more! In order to collect the prize roundtrip airfare, she'll have to travel to Los Angeles again to fly to Manchester, New Hampshire. "I just wish it was Tahiti ... or Bora Bora. A cruise around the world maybe," Graham told WBZ-TV. But, she said, "It was so fun." [WBZ, 2/11/2022]

Ooohhh-kkkaaayyyyy

Some romantic relationships are full of drama and strife, so maybe Sandra, 28, of Budapest, Hungary, has come up with a better model. According to Oddity Central, Sandra has fallen for Luffancs, a plastic model of an airplane. After breaking up with her latest human boyfriend in January, Sandra bought Luffancs for $660 and fell madly in love. "I don't know why I love him, I just love him," she said. Sandra works in the aviation industry and is around airplanes every day, but says she will never cheat on Luffancs. In fact, she doesn't know if she'll ever date another human being. "Planes are more reliable as partners," she said. [Oddity Central, 3/10/2022]

People With Issues

Prosecutors have accused 20-year-old Mauricio Damian Guerrero of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, of burglary after he traveled to Somersworth, New Hampshire, and hid in the attic of a woman he had met on the website OnlyFans, WKBN-TV reported on March 7. Guerrero allegedly descended from the attic and took videos of the woman while she was sleeping, stole some of her underwear and planned to place a tracking device on her car. Police were called after someone at the home heard a noise; Guerrero was found on the roof of the home. He was released on bail and ordered to wear a tracking device. [WKBN, 3/7/2022]

It's a Dirty Job ...

In Australia, Queensland's Bill Edgar is known to some as the Coffin Confessor. As such, Edgar shows up at funerals and speaks for the deceased, telling off family members, setting friends straight and delivering bad news about beneficiaries, News.com.au reported on April 14. But Edgar's job doesn't stop there. His services, for which he charges $2,000 to $10,000, have expanded to removing items from the deceased's home that they'd rather the family not see: "Could be sex toys, messages of hate, love, whatever it is they've written down, that they want removed from their web browsers. One gentleman had ... a sex dungeon in one of his bedrooms. And that gentleman was 88 years of age, believe it or not," Edgar said. He even delivers his services in the United States and United Kingdom, and he said Paramount has picked up the story for a movie. [news.com.au, 4/14/2022]

Anti-Social Media

The Federal Aviation Administration has revoked Trevor Jacob's pilot's license, The New York Times reported on April 20, after concluding that Jacob purposely abandoned a plane he was flying and filmed it crashing into the Los Padres National Forest in California while he parachuted to the ground. Jacob then posted the 13-minute video on YouTube, calling it "I Crashed My Plane." The FAA said Jacob acted in a "careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another." In the video, the propeller can be seen as it stops spinning, and Jacob opens the door and jumps out with a parachute and a selfie stick. The FAA noted, "During this flight, you opened the left side pilot door before you claimed the engine had failed." The agency also noted that Jacob did not contact air traffic control, try to restart the engine or look for a safe place to make an emergency landing. But he got 1.7 million views! [New York Times, 4/20/2022]

Crash Collector

Everyone needs a hobby. Christina Warren is a busy software developer, but in her free time, she collects the swag of epic corporate failure: from Enron to Fyre Festival to her latest acquisition, a PopSocket branded with the CNN+ logo. NPR reported that Warren isn't interested in milquetoast meltdowns. She wants stuff from the companies that made a big splash and then sank to the bottom of the barrel. "I'm looking at the ones that were flying high, too close to the sun," she said, which "makes it funnier to be out someplace wearing a shirt from one of those things." But she doesn't want to spend more than $75 on any one item. She avoids counterfeit merchandise, and said her "white whale, the thing I haven't been able to obtain yet, is something officially from Theranos. I would even take a pen, you know, like a ballpoint pen." [NPR, 4/27/2022]

Bright Ideas

-- An unnamed man in Detroit was arrested in late April for illegally possessing guns, but the federal agents who arrived at his home with a search warrant were more interested in how he made a living: He sold marijuana from a vending machine attached to his house, clearing $2,000 a day, he told them. The Associated Press reported that agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives made purchases from the machine to collect evidence before the bust. The man was released on bond. [AP, 5/3/2022]

-- Eighty-two-year-old actor James Cromwell, known most recently for his role on "Succession," glued his palm to a midtown Manhattan Starbucks store counter on May 10 to protest the extra charge the coffee company assesses for plant-based milk in their drinks. He later used a knife to scrape his hand off the counter. The Associated Press reported that Cromwell, who starred in "Babe: Pig in the City," is a longtime animal rights activist. For its part, Starbucks seemed nonplussed by the protest, which was organized by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, characterizing the nondairy milk customizations as similar to any other, "such as an additional espresso shot or syrup." [Associated Press, 5/10/2022]

What Could Go Wrong?

More than 800 New Yorkers aged 75 and older are going to get a new friend, The Verge reported. The New York State Office for the Aging is distributing robot companions named ElliQ, built by Israeli company Intuition Robotics, to help with social isolation -- for example, engaging in small talk and helping contact loved ones. "It focuses on what matters to individuals: memories, life validation, interactions with friends and families," said NYSOA director Greg Olsen. Intuition Robotics said ElliQ can project empathy and form bonds with users, even cracking jokes for users who tend to laugh a lot. [The Verge, 5/25/2022]

Goals

A man in Japan identified as Toko has spent almost $16,000 to make himself look like a collie, fulfilling his dream and depleting his savings in one fell swoop, Wionews reported. Toko contracted with a professional company called Zeppet, which makes sculptures and costumes for movies and amusement facilities, to create a costume that is extremely realistic. It took 40 days to build. "I made it a collie because it looks real when I put on," Toko said. "Long-haired dogs can mislead the human figure. I met such a condition and made collie, my favorite breed of dog." [Wionews, 5/25/2022]

Creme de la Weird

-- Harry Matadeen, 34, from Hampshire, England, has a wellness tip to share with the world: He drinks his own urine, and what's more, he rubs it on his face. Metro News reported that Matadeen claims his habit, begun in 2016, keeps him looking young and has cured his depression. "I felt a new sense of peace, calm and determination," he said of his 200ml-per-day dose. The skin therapy keeps his face "young, soft and glowing." Matadeen calls urine an "acquired taste," but says that "fresh urine is never as bad as you imagine -- it is neutral-smelling and not a bad taste unless you are really toxic." His family doesn't approve, and his sister has ceased talking to him. [Metro News, 5/5/2022]

-- In an effort to better educate the world about the human reproductive system, the "intimate wellness brand" Intimina has introduced Period Crunch, a breakfast cereal with uterus-shaped, raspberry-flavored pieces that will color the milk red, Oddity Central reported. Alongside the startling cereal shape and red milk, the cereal box will feature a diagram of the female reproductive system so that people can learn about its location and function. The company surveyed 2,000 adults and discovered that 48% of women are embarrassed to talk about their menstrual periods and 77% have never brought it up in their households. "Periods are a natural part of who we are," said Dr. Shree Datta, a gynecologist with Intimina, "so it's deeply concerning to hear that so many people remain uncomfortable discussing them when they are just another part of our health." [Oddity Central, 6/3/2022]

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.