Strange Times for 27 October 2023

Updates on viral news stories and a fake meteorite tale

Hi everyone. Thanks for joining me for another edition of interesting and odd bits of recent news.

I love to find updates of stories that previously came out in the news. This used to NEVER happen, but it seems that it is becoming more frequent as people are setting alerts for news stories or the media outlets know that sequels to a popular posting are usually a guaranteed hit. Unfortunately, when the update downplays the sensationalism of the first story, it is less likely to appear. That is, you will rarely hear of the investigation of an extraordinary if the conclusion turned out to be mundane. But even that is changing…

Remember the huge snake plaguing a community in Oklahoma City?

From 6 October 2023

The snake was found in decent shape. Except it was only 8 feet long and it wasn’t eating cats. The reptile had an infection from living outside its normally heated environment but it’s going to be OK.

Remember the sea otter that was hijacking surfboards?

From 14 July 2023

The female otter who was being tracked by “fans” was discovered with a pup leading some to speculate that her aggressive behavior back in the summer was due to hormonal changes from the pregnancy. The local wildlife authorities are asking people to refrain from bothering Otter 841 (I can’t believe she doesn’t have a cute name yet!). https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2023-10-26/the-angriest-sea-otter-in-california-is-a-new-mom

Remember the giant aquarium in a German hotel that unexpectedly burst and flooded the street?

Apparently, I never included the event in the Weekly Weird News at the time but the world’s largest cylindrical aquarium in a hotel in Berlin broke back in December of 2022, sending 1 million liters (264,000 gallons) of water and the animals in the tank into the street. About 1500 fish died. Only two people were injured from the catastrophic failure because it occurred in the early morning hours. Well, they never did figure out why it happened. That’s scary. It will not be rebuilt. https://apnews.com/article/germany-berlin-burst-aquarium-investigation-closed-aquadom-f94b95c889642f4b59896431ebc30157

Fog event causes huge traffic pileup

A mixture of humid air, wildfires and lack of wind created an extremely low-visibility situation in New Orleans last Monday morning. 168 cars were involved in a pileup crash where 7 people were killed and dozens injured. The drought conditions that led to the fires were a big factor in the “superfog” event. Warnings seemed to be in effect. Drivers were told to exit the roadway under such conditions. Some people stopped instead, and those behind them did not, including large trucks, one of which was carrying hazardous material. Superfog events are not that unusual in the south. In 1990 in Tennessee, a fog event caused by steam from ponds at a paper plant caused a 99 car pileup that killed 12. https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/super-fog-deadly-conditions-louisianas-158-vehicle-pileup-explained-rcna121935

Chinese drug companies using illegal animal parts

Pangolins are the most illegally traded endangered animals in the world because of absurd belief that their body parts are medically useful. A report by the Environmental Investigation Agency UK (EIA) said it had found that 72 companies licensed by China’s drug regulator are using body parts of pangolins and leopards, also endangered. The popular companies cited provide “Traditional Chinese Medicine” and are financed by major investors. The EIA is asking that these companies halt the use of these animals and the supporting companies divest their interest. TCM is largely pseudoscientific nonsense that may generally not do any harm but doesn’t have any measurable effectiveness. Of course, it's deadly to the trafficked animals. https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/23/business/china-tcm-companies-endangered-animals-report-intl-hnk/index.html

The “meteorite hit my house” excuse

I was immediately intrigued by a story of a mysterious fire that residents said broke out under their deck. They produced a piece of magnetic rock that they guessed might be a meteorite and spun the tale that a hot falling rock may have been responsible for the fire. Well, color me skeptical. I think I might add a few educated comments to this story.

This scenario has a strong FAKE stink all over it. The Arkansas family said they were woken up by the smoke and discovered a smoldering hole in the wooden deck. The nearby hot tub had leaked and put out the fire. The fire department did not find a cause of the fire. The homeowner said he used a magnet to “fish” for metal in the hole and discovered a squarish, dusty orange piece of magnetic rock about 5 cm in size. They contacted the USGS asking them to confirm if the rock was a meteorite. They then complained that they wouldn’t do it and made some weird followup that “it takes over a year to process and even requires the governor's signature”. This is complete bullshit from top to bottom.

First, that’s not a meteorite. It’s a piece of iron ore (you can tell by the oxidized orange color) from regular old earth. It also falls apart. Any geologists you can grab off the street will tell you that is a sedimentary rock. But oddly they didn’t ask any local geologists; they went to a government office that doesn’t have time to identify random rocks “found” in your yard.

Second, a small rock like that wouldn’t punch a hole in the deck. It’s not possible. Falling rocks, unless from a volcano, don’t get hot enough to start a fire. And they don’t smash wood silently. The meteorologist who investigated this should stick to forecasting the weather. He’s out of his element. This story sounds concocted, possibly as a way to cover up a careless accident or faulty electrical issue. https://www.5newsonline.com/article/weather/did-meteorite-hit-home-greenwood-arkansas-october-2023/527-e6eaa853-fc0b-438d-9c48-23c789d3686b

Local news coverage has the capacity to make you less informed.

If you find interesting local anomalies and strange claims, email me at sharon@sharonahill.com

Thanks for reading.