Weekly Weird News for 11 August 2023

Happy Friday, everyone. I’m really pleased you can join me for another rundown of the best unusual stories of the week. Hello to new readers! Subscribers and views have been growing slowly but steadily since I began here over two years ago. If you like these posts, please share. There is no better way since internet search engines don’t pick up these posts well at all. I do my best to collect and relay this content every week (except for Christmas week last year when I went on a vacation). That’s a pretty good record, I think! If you read this via a web link, please subscribe so you don’t miss a week or my other occasional commentary posts on Sharon’s Strange Times.

On to the news!

Scottquake

Last week it was a Swiftquake, this week it’s a Scottquake. During a performance in Rome’s Circus Maximus by rapper Travis Scott, the audience was so animated that nearby residents thought there was an earthquake. Officials received hundreds of calls and citizens posted on social media asking if anyone else felt the shaking. The location is near the historic Roman Colosseum. Historical preservationists fear the vibrations and crowds pose a threat to the ancient monuments and to public health and safety. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/travis-scott-circus-maximus-scli-intl/index.html

Pole position

A totem pole depicting Perkūnas, the Baltic (Lithuanian) god of sky, thunder, and lightning, appeared on a path in the Capel-Le-Ferne nature reserve in England. But the Kent Wildlife Trust didn’t get angry and ask for it to be removed, they are asking for the artist to come forward so they can submit the proper permit to keep it on the land. Earlier today, Kent Online posted an article that supposedly revealed the artist, but the post was removed. So, the mystery remains. https://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/its-totem-mystery-sculpture-appears-clifftop-walking-trail

Black magic scammers in Malaysia

Police in the Johor district of Malaysia are warning citizens to be cautious of strangers in the shopping areas targeting the elderly with a common scam to rob them of valuables. The perpetrator approaches people with an offer to rid them of bad luck by spinning a tale that they are cursed or their family is in danger if they don’t obtain help. Also known as a “blessings” scam, the victim is implored to hand over money or jewels for a ritual. Some victims claim they must have been hypnotized by the scammer because they don’t remember giving them the objects. Therefore, the scam is associated with some sort of dark magic. The key to stopping the scam is education. Forewarned is forearmed.

At least there wasn’t a gun

Headline of the week: Dog on golf cart runs over 4-year-old girl in Westland (Michigan). The kid was OK but a fire dog sitting in a golf cart at a fundraiser jumped onto the accelerator sending the vehicle into the child and running over her leg. She was fine. Accidents happen…. when you let dogs drive. https://www.wxyz.com/news/dog-on-golf-cart-runs-over-4-year-old-girl-in-westland

Demons propel car into house

Many mysteries remain after a disturbed 20 yr old traveling at a high rate of speed impacted the second story of a house in Mifflin County PA. Incredibly no one was hurt including the people in the house on the first floor. The house sustained heavy damage. The driver left the vehicle and ran around talking of seeing demons and harming himself. He apparently deliberately crashed into the house though there is no indication yet that he targeted this particular house which is surrounded by farmland. The car hit a ditch and became airborne. The bizarre scene was widely circulated on news sites. https://wjactv.com/news/local/psp-lewistown-man-charged-after-crashing-into-second-story-of-house-claiming-he-saw-demons

Singapore’s smoke signal

A black smoke ring appeared in the sky over a beach in Sentosa, Singapore. The sight freaked people out a bit who thought it was a bad omen. The video of the smoke ring was shared to TikTok which spread the word. Smoke rings can occur after artillery fire or other explosives exit through a narrow opening creating a poloidal flow pattern, or ring. Not long after, it was announced that the cause was testing of effects equipment from the nearby Wings of Time attraction. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/should-we-start-running-mysterious-black-smoke-ring-spotted-in-sentosa-sky

Mon$ter Quest

For a few weeks now, I’ve seen mention of a new research project at Loch Ness where everyone is invited to participate in the “biggest surface watch of Loch Ness for more than 50 years” to find evidence for Nessie. I haven’t mentioned it until now because it’s a blatant tourist ploy. There is a new visitors center and they want a spectacle. The splashy website for the Loch Ness Centre promotes “Quest Weekend” where everyone who buys a special ticket can say they participated in the search. Like, everyone who visits doesn’t do this already? The BBC is also in on the promotion by posting a terrible and uninformative article about how people think Nessie is a giant eel, a plesiosaur, a dinosaur descendant, or nonsense. It’s not one thing, it’s a bunch of observations of many things (fish, birds, waves, logs, etc.) that people interpret in the frame of a monster because that’s what they hope to see. I’d bet that any and every claim made by visitors on this day will be touted as evidence. But the Nessie “mystery” drowned long ago. https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/66450788

Really unprocessed food

Sometimes, I see so many incidents of “anomalies” that they aren’t anomalous to me anymore. But they may be shocking to the average reader who doesn’t follow this kind of weird news. Another frog found in a salad container. Animals or their remains found in fresh food by consumers happens at least a few times a year (that we hear about). This week - frog in salad in Detroit. Eat more unprocessed food. It’s natural. Just inspect and wash it first. https://apnews.com/article/frog-lettuce-michigan-meijer-package-spinach-11ef701417c4ca8f7d77dc912cde468d

Snake fall, but that’s not all

It wasn’t enough that a snake fell from the sky in Silsbee, Texas. The snake landed on a woman riding a lawn tractor. But wait, it gets worse. The snake wrapped around her arm and bit her. But wait, it gets worse. The hawk that dropped the snake (well, there’s at least one mystery explained), came down and tried to retrieve its meal injuring the woman further with its beak and talons. Finally, she rid herself of the snake and the hawk flew off with it. Her husband, alerted by the screams, witnessed the event and took her to to the hospital. Her arm was bleeding and bruised. While this all sounds highly implausible, I suppose it could be true that all the nasty pieces of this event really did fall into place. Just, yikes, that’s traumatic. https://www.ksl.com/article/50706122/first-a-snake-fell-from-the-sky-onto-a-texas-grandma-then-the-hawk-attacked

Utah fish fall

Another fish fall - a topic on which I am uniquely familiar. In the past few years, Australian Fortean researcher, Paul Cropper, and I have been exchanging stories we find in the news of fish falls. We are getting pretty skilled at spotting the clues to determine what might have happened. Early this week, there was a reported incident in Fruit Heights, Utah where, after a storm, a family found 16 fish in their yard and their roof. First, if the fish are above ground, then they certainly “fell” rather than washed onto the property. The old excuse of a tornado or waterspout can be discarded as a consideration in almost every case, maybe all cases because this has never been documented. In this instant, it makes no sense. What does make sense is that large fish-eating birds were making a rapid escape from the storm when they regurgitated their last meals over the house. Water birds, like cormorants and pelicans, consume many fish in a short time and will bring them back up when they need to lighten their load or feed their young. Paul checked out the comments on this news story on Facebook and found an unsolicited mention of pelicans seen in the area. The circumstantial evidence strongly suggests this is what happened on the Jones property. https://ksltv.com/574459/fishy-mystery-utah-family-discovers-16-dead-fish-in-their-backyard/

While the news reporter and outlet say they are interested in figuring out what happened, they don’t seem to be. It was just a passing human interest story. I contacted them about the event and the probable cause but they didn’t respond. They must have bigger fish to fry. You can read more about fish falls on my newly renovated blog.

Ball lightning videos

Finally, one of my other areas of deep interest is the phenomenon of ball lightning. In the age of social media video apps, there are many clips that say they show ball lightning. But do they really? I explored the latest claims in a post this week on my personal blog. Please have a look! https://idoubtit.wordpress.com/2023/08/07/ball-lightning-videos-everywhere/