But it wasn't his job. Still, Beirut Report journalist Habib Battah got his hands dirty on a recent flight from Paris to Toronto, Canoe reported. "An hour into the transatlantic flight ... I kept smelling something gross and couldn't figure it out," Battah wrote on Twitter. While investigating, he discovered a large, "wet to touch" stain on the floor around his seat. The strap of his backpack, which was under the seat, was soaked in it, and a flight attendant only gave him some wipes to clean it up before "casually (noting) a passenger had hemorrhaged on a flight before ours," Battah said. He said the Air France staff were shocked because a crew had removed the seats after the previous flight's incident, but apparently hadn't cleaned the bloody carpet. "This is not a customer service issue -- it's a BIOHAZARD," Battah wrote. "There is fresh human blood on your aircraft." [Canoe, 7/4/2023]

Oops

The Presbyterian Ladies' College in Croydon, Australia, a private girls' school, recently had egg on its face after drone footage captured the suggestive shape of a new garden bed on the campus, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on July 5. The garden was designed by an architectural firm; a school staff member said that as they considered chairs for the garden, they "sent a drone up to take pictures. At a certain angle from up high, the garden ... took on a phallic shape which was unintended and unexpected. As a result, the architects made some alterations which were completed within 72 hours of the drone pictures." One unidentified former student said, "The immediate response was laughter ... Photos have been circulating among the school as memes, saying 'oh good morning' and various kinds of jokes." [Sydney Morning Herald, 7/5/2023]

The Golden Age of Air Travel

On July 2, as an American Airlines flight prepared to depart Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, one passenger had a massive change of heart about her trip, The Dallas Morning News reported. The woman rose from her seat and headed to the front of the plane, yelling and pointing toward the back, "I'm telling you, I'm getting (expletive) off, and there's a reason why I'm getting (expletive) off, and everyone can either believe it or they can not believe it. ... That (expletive) back there is NOT real. And you can sit on this plane and you can die with him or not. I'm not going to." The TikTok user who posted a video said the outburst delayed the flight by three hours, as passengers were forced to deplane and reboard; the woman was not arrested and, in fact, got back through security. American said the passenger was "met at the gate by law enforcement and removed from the flight." [Dallas Morning News, 7/4/2023]

What Could Go Wrong?

Alef Aeronautics has announced that the Federal Aviation Administration has cleared the startup's flying car, the Model A, to fly for purposes including research, development and exhibition, United Press International reported. The California company calls its invention a vehicle takeoff and landing aircraft, or VTOL, which can drive and park like a normal car. While it is not certified (yet) for public road travel, the company says the FAA's OK will place it closer to "bringing people an environmentally friendly and faster commute ... This is one small step for planes, one giant step for cars," said CEO Jim Dukhovny. [UPI, 7/3/2023]

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

Chandler, Arizona, taxidermist Rachel Lewis, 38, has found her niche in the world of preserving dead animals: She makes piggy banks out of stillborn piglets. Metro News reported that Lewis, a former hairdresser, took a taxidermy class four years ago and just came up with the piggy bank idea in May. "Most of my specimens I get from local farms around me," Lewis said. "I feel like they get to live a second life ... it's kinda cool." She called her process "labor-intensive," involving hollowing out the insides and adding a pork ... er, cork plug. "I have a larger pig that I plan on doing as a piggy bank, too," she said. She also hopes to make objects with jewelry boxes and "secret stash" compartments. [Metro News, 6/28/2023]

Inexplicable

Michael Banks, 36, told Brevard County (Florida) sheriff's deputies that he decided to go "car surfing" after he left a Home Depot store on July 5 in Merritt Island, Click Orlando reported. Banks allegedly climbed on top of a van, then jumped from it onto a Nissan truck, an SUV, a Jeep, another SUV and a sedan, causing damage to each vehicle in the neighborhood of $1,000. He faces two counts of criminal mischief and was held at the county jail. [Click Orlando, 7/5/2023]

Questionable Judgment

The Greater Muscatine (Iowa) Chamber of Commerce and Industry is apologizing after a controversial Fourth of July parade entry drew heated responses, KCRG-TV reported. The entry consisted of a man on horseback, leading a woman on foot dressed in Native American attire. The woman had a rope tied around her hands. "The group (submitting the entry) stated that their intention was to pay homage to the Cherokee Nation on how unjustly they were treated," read a statement from the GMCCI, but "the entry does not represent our community." [KCRG, 7/5/2023]

Recent Alarming Headline

Carol Dillin of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is trying to get to the bottom of a nighttime visitor that keeps banging on her back door, waking up her family. KFOR-TV reported on July 6 that Dillin's security cameras have captured a flying object that may be a bat or a large moth; all of her attempts to block or scare the animal away, including plastic owls and a scarecrow, have failed. "I thought somebody was hitting baseballs against the house. Then it started sounding like basketballs," Dillin said. Micah Holmes of the state wildlife department said his money is on a moth. "This is a good year for moths because it's been pretty wet," he said. "This is the time of year they're out and trying to mate." Meanwhile, Dillin has decided to take the ultimate step: "We have a guy coming Friday morning to give us an estimate" to close off the porch, she said. [KFOR, 7/6/2023]

Bright Idea

The long lines at Wimbledon are legendary, but Jesse Besse, 28, from South London and her flatmates came up with a plan to make the wait ultra-comfy. The Mirror reported that the friends brought their living room sofa with them and set it up in the queue, enjoying Pimms and strawberries. "The queue is part of the tournament, so you have to sort of expect you're in for the long haul," Besse said. "We arranged for our other friends to pick it up when we got near the front and it's back safe and sound in the lounge now." Even better, Snug, the company that makes the sofa, got in touch and paid for the group's tickets. Score! [Mirror, 7/6/2023]

Field Report

Emma Tetewsky, 31, of Stoughton, Massachusetts, went missing on June 26, WBZ-TV reported, and her family were frantic to find her. On July 3, a group of hikers at Borderland State Park in Eastland called police after hearing a woman "screaming for help in a swamplike area," officials said. Tetewsky was found in "thick brush and swamp" about 50 feet off the trail, where she said she'd been stuck for three days. "We did initially try to pick her up, but the weight of her on top of our body weight sunk us further," said Easton police officer Corey McLaughlin. "It took me 20 seconds to get my feet out of the mud," added officer Jason Wheeler. Tetewsky's family said she suffered from severe dehydration but was otherwise unharmed. [WBZ, 7/6/2023]

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

Emerald Downs racetrack in Auburn, Washington, switched things up on June 25 with a Grandparents Race, WMTV reported. It was part of Grandparents Weekend, where nanas and pop-pops received free admittance and could participate in prize drawings. About 25 grandparents competed in the race, charging out of the horse gates toward a finish line about 40 yards away. Two of the racers stumbled and fell during the sprint, but no one was hurt. Steve Butler of Everett, Washington, was declared the winner. [WMTV, 6/26/2023]

For the Birds

The Cotehele medieval house in Cornwall, England, was all set to be the site of a five-day cherry-picking festival starting on June 28, the BBC reported, but blackbirds foiled the plan. Laura Jarman of the National Trust said that 80 trees were full of the fruits on June 19, but two days later "the gardener came to tell me they'd all gone ... feasted on by the very cheeky blackbirds. They're so cute, we don't mind too much," she added. The site still plans to host an apple-picking event later in the year. [BBC, 6/23/2023]

Government in Action

Paavo Arhinmaki, 46, the deputy mayor of Helsinki, Finland, was caught in the act on June 23 as he and a friend spray-painted graffiti in a railway tunnel in the capital city, the Associated Press reported. The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency said the cost to clean up the graffiti would be about $3,830, but it's not clear if the deputy mayor will face charges. "I have committed a crime and bear full responsibility for it," Arhinmaki said, calling his actions "stupid fooling around." However, he is refusing to resign his position. [AP, 6/28/2023]

Unconventional Weaponry

Tristan Stetina, 19, was charged with fifth-degree assault (who knew degrees went to 5!) after an incident at a Mankato, Minnesota, restaurant on June 23, KSTP-TV reported. Police officers were called to the business after Stetina allegedly arrived there and "began yelling and throwing Skittles at employees and customers." One victim said she experienced stinging on her back after being hit with one of the candies. Officers, who were familiar with Stetina, found him nearby and placed him under arrest; because he resisted, he was also charged with obstruction of the legal process and disorderly conduct. [KSTP, 6/28/2023]

Inexplicable

Public restrooms are a gamble on the best day, but in Columbus, Indiana, a discovery in the bathroom at Mill Race Park raised the bar: David Lancaster, part of the cleaning crew, found a dead octopus in a toilet there on June 22, with its long tentacles hanging out of the bowl. Fox59-TV reported that Mark Jones, director of the park department, said he didn't know how the octopus had come to be in the toilet, but it had been removed. [Fox59, 6/26/2023]

Irony

Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino, who researches dishonesty and unethical behavior, is in the hot seat with her administration for ... submitting work that falsified results. NPR reported on June 26 that several people have alleged that Gino changed data in at least four papers about her studies. She is currently on administrative leave; for her part, Gino did not confirm or deny the claims, but said she is "limited into what I can say publicly. I want to assure you that I take (the allegations) seriously and they will be addressed." Investigators said they found incidents of fraud spanning more than a decade. [NPR, 6/26/2023]

Unclear on the Concept

When Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, Illinois, underwent a cybersecurity audit, TechCrunch reported, the vendor mistakenly reset every student's password, which prevented students from being able to log into their Google account. Naturally, the school wanted to rectify the situation, so on June 23, they sent parents an email: "To fix this, we have reset your child's password to Ch@ngeme! so that they can once again access their Google account. We strongly suggest that your child update their password to their own unique password as soon as possible." What could go wrong? Manning Peterson, an OPRF student's mom, noted, "This is terribly insecure and you have just invited every single student's accounts to get hacked." It took the school a day to realize its mistake, whereupon it promised to send "a special password process that will be unique to your specific student." [TechCrunch, 6/29/2023]

It's Good To Have Goals

"Highpointing" enthusiasts seek to find tallest points in a geographic region. The hobby intrigues former Colorado resident Andrew Karr, so it's only natural that in his new home state of Florida, he'd continue the quest. According to The Messenger, Karr has pledged to summit the highest point of every county in Florida -- the flattest state in the country. He studies maps, rents kayaks and asks landowners for permission to cross their property to achieve his goal, and he's almost there: He's summitted 61 out of 67 counties. [The Messenger, 6/29/2023]

The Aristocrats

A Brooklyn-based art collective called MSCHF created a teeny tiny handbag that sold for $63,000 at auction on June 28, CNN reported. The neon green bag, measuring less than 0.03 inches wide, is fashioned after an iconic Louis Vuitton bag called the OntheGo tote, but it was not sanctioned by the designer. It was made using technology that prints 3D micro-scale plastic parts and was sold with a microscope so the owner can see it. [CNN, 6/29/2023]

News You Can Use

The Bridge of Flowers between Shelburne and Buckland, Massachusetts, draws walkers from both cities to view the flora alongside the footbridge, Mass Live reported. But now the Bridge of Flowers Committee is asking residents not to scatter loved ones' ashes there. "It's not healthy," said Carol Angus, co-chair of the committee. "The gardeners and volunteers are then exposed to the human remains," and the leaves and roots of the plants are damaged. "It's very upsetting," Angus added. [Mass Live, 6/28/2023]

Recent Alarming Headline

At Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport on June 29, a 57-year-old Thai woman was preparing to board a flight when she became caught in the moving walkway in Terminal 2, The Guardian reported. The lower part of the woman's leg was trapped beneath the belt at the end of the walkway; a medical team had to amputate her leg above the knee, and she then was transferred to a hospital to assess the chances of reattaching her leg. Airport director Karun Thanakuljeerapat offered "my deepest condolences regarding the accident" and said the airport would be fully responsible for the victim's medical costs. [Guardian, 6/30/2023]

Great Art!

German artist Werner Hartl of Reichersbeuern paints stunning agriculture and landscape scenes, mostly of cows, Oddity Central reported. What sets Hartl apart is his medium of choice: diluted cow manure. Hartl places a canister beneath a cow's rear end as it poops, then mixes the dung with water. "I use watered-down dung for the light shades ... I use dung with no water mixed in for the dark shades," Hartl explained. "When it is wet, the 'paint' is a bit funky, but when it's completely dry, it doesn't smell anymore," he said. [Oddity Central, 6/23/2023]

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

Visitors to the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam can now bring home a new, and permanent, souvenir of their visit. The Associated Press reported that tattoo artist Henk Schiffmaker and others are doing a residency within the museum called "A Poor Man's Rembrandt," where tourists can get inked with sketches by the famous artist. Schiffmaker calls it "highbrow to lowbrow. And it's great that these two worlds can visit one another." The tattoos cost between $54 and $270. [AP, 6/19/2023]

Wait, What?

Employees of Taqueria Garibaldi restaurants in northern California got an unusual -- and unorthodox -- perk during work hours, USA Today reported. Employees testified in court that a person who identified as a priest was called in to hear workers' "confessions." "The priest urged workers to 'get their sins out' and asked employees if they had stolen from the employer, been late for work, had done anything to harm their employer or if they had bad intentions toward their employer," according to a release from the U.S. Department of Labor. But the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento said it could find no connection between the alleged priest and the diocese. An investigation found that the restaurants had denied overtime pay and threatened employees with retaliation, among other "sins," and the owners were ordered to pay $140,000 in damages and back wages. [USA Today, 6/21/2023]

The Tech Revolution

In an office building in Durham, North Carolina, nine scientists are hard at work in Duke University's Smart Toilet Lab, The News & Observer reported. Sonia Grego told the paper that she and her colleagues "are addressing a very serious health problem" -- gut health. The toilets in the lab move poop into a specialized chamber before flushing it away. There, cameras are placed for image processing, and the resulting data can give doctors insights into a patient's gut health. Startup Coprata is testing pilot versions of the smart toilets in a few dozen households; after the data is gathered, users can access it themselves on a smartphone app. "The knowledge of people's bowel habits empowers individuals to make lifestyle choices that improve their gut health," Grego said. [News & Observer, 6/15/2023]

Insult to Injury

Mark Dicara of Lake Barrington, Illinois, allegedly shot himself in the leg on June 12 while dreaming of a home invasion, Insider reported. Dicara grabbed his .357 Magnum and fired -- which instantly brought him to consciousness. There was no intruder in the home. Police found him in bed with a "significant amount of blood." He was charged with possession of a firearm without a valid Firearm Owners Identification card and reckless discharge of a firearm. [Insider, 6/15/2023]

It's Come to This

Cedric Lodge, 55, and his wife, Denise, 63, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, were indicted in federal court on June 14 after it was revealed that they allegedly were stealing and selling human body parts, the Associated Press reported. Lodge was the manager of the Harvard Medical School morgue until May 6, when he was fired. He and his wife offered a shopping opportunity at the morgue, where buyers could pick which donated remains they wanted. The Lodges would then take the items home and ship them through the mail. The parts included heads, brains, skin and bones. Three others were indicted: Katrina Maclean, 44, of Salem, Massachusetts; Joshua Taylor, 46, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania; and Mathew Lampi, 52, of East Bethel, Minnesota. Prosecutors say they were part of a nationwide network of people who buy and sell human remains. Harvard called the actions "morally reprehensible." [AP, 6/15/2023]

Smooth Reaction

When Martin Trimble, 30, tried to rob a convenience store in Durham, England, in May, the shop owner got the best of him: He lowered the store's steel shutter, trapping Trimble on his back half in and half out, and waited for authorities to arrive. Once Trimble realized he was pinned to the ground, Fox News reported, he popped open one of the beers he'd tried to steal and drank it as he waited to be arrested. Trimble pleaded guilty on June 16 to attempted robbery and possession of a knife and was sentenced to three years in jail. [Fox News, 6/18/2023]

Bright Idea

Self-pitying Belgian TikTokker David Baerten, 45, has a morbid sense of humor -- or a fragile ego. According to Sky News, Baerten and his family decided to "prank" his friends by faking his own death because he felt "unappreciated" by them. The funeral, which took place in early June near Liege, drew a crowd of friends and family, who were shocked when a helicopter landed nearby and Baerten stepped out. "What I see in my family often hurts me. I never get invited to anything. Nobody sees me," Baerten said. "That's why I wanted to give them a life lesson." [Sky News, 6/14/2023]

Weird Science

KTVX-TV reported on June 21 that snow in the mountains of Utah is turning pink, red and orange -- what scientists call "watermelon snow." Experts said the colored snow results from blooming green algae, which is found in mountain ranges. "The snow algae produce a pigment that basically darkens their cells," said Scott Hotaling, an assistant professor at Utah State University's department of watershed sciences. Basically, the algae turn colors to protect themselves. One young visitor said the snow turned his shoes orange. "I thought that was pretty cool," he said. [KTVX, 6/20/2023]

You Had One Jo

The town of Stuart, Iowa, needed a new water tower to handle its growing population, according to KCRG-TV. But when residents saw the name painted on one side, they cringed. Rather than STUART, the tower was painted with START. Mayor Dick Cook called the social media attention about the misspelling "hilarious," and the tower has been repainted. [KCRG, 6/21/2023]

Maybe the Dingo Did Eat Your Baby ...

On K'gari beach (formerly Fraser Island) in Australia, a 10-year-old boy was bitten and dragged under the water by a dingo on June 16, The Guardian reported. Not two weeks earlier, another dingo was euthanized after biting multiple tourists, including a French woman who was bitten on her posterior as she sunbathed. In the most recent event, the boy's older sister rescued him, and he was treated for puncture wounds to his shoulder and arms. "These animals are capable of inflicting serious harm ... some are quite brazen and are not fleeing when yelled at or when someone brandishes a stick," said ranger Danielle Mansfield. "Children and teenagers must be within arm's reach of an adult at all times." [Guardian, 6/21/2023]

Oops!

"The Price Is Right" contestant Henry Choi went home with more than a trip to Hawaii on the episode that aired on June 16, the Los Angeles Times reported. Choi threw his arms up and pumped his fists as he was called onstage, then leaped into the air and pounded his chest. Afterward, he could be seen holding his right arm and stretching it out. Later in the show, host Drew Carey explained that Choi had dislocated his shoulder, and Choi's wife, Alice, was allowed to spin the wheel for him during the Showcase Showdown. When he won, he meekly lifted his uninjured left arm, but Alice jumped up and waved her arms. "Don't hurt yourself," warned Carey. [Los Angeles Times, 6/20/2023]

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