Weekly Weird News for 25 August 2023

The spotted and spotless

Hello and welcome to another wild news week. I’ve pulled together some of most interesting odd news that you may have missed. If you watch the news carefully, you will notice that many of the stories you see here first will appear in your local syndicated feeds several days to a week later. For example, the Texas mystery animal from last week is still hot this week even though it was clearly a dog. And the Loch Ness mass volunteer search story is still cresting weeks later. By all measures, that was a very successful publicity stunt. The latest promotion appeared in The Telegraph. You can see the text of the paywalled story on my Lemmy community for Strange Times.

Prepare yourself for the week by getting your weird news here first. I’ve got A LOT of stuff to present this week so let’s get right to it.

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Fire tornado in B.C.

A fire tornado was spotted at Gun Lake near Kamloops in British Columbia. The low humidity, heat from the fires, and a cold front formed the rotating smoke whirl. https://www.kamloopsbcnow.com/watercooler/news/news/Wildfire/Firenado_video_was_recorded_off_the_shores_of_Gun_Lake_near_Lillooet_says_BCWS/

LK-99 isn’t a superconductor

In high tech science news, you may have seen hype that the substance called LK-99 — a compound of copper, lead, phosphorus and oxygen - was a superconductor at normal temperatures and pressure in contrast to all the other superconductors that need very low temperatures and extreme pressures. The news was a sensation as the material was shown to levitate above a magnet and show abrupt drops in resistivity. Showing that the entire scientific process works, when others tried to duplicate the results, they found alternative explanations for the effects and evidence in existing data. Insert sad trombone sound here. The details are in Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02585-7

“Wolf” man of the Harz spotted

Did tourists capture a photo of the infamous “wolf man” in Harz national park in Germany? The picture is described as showing a mostly naked man with a spear near the sandstone caves. The local fire service personnel dismissed the photo and say there is no wild man in the area even though there were rumors. On occasion, hermits do survive in the forest. But the photo is grainy and unsupported by any other information or evidence. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/08/24/wolf-man-dirty-naked-photo-germany-harz-mountains-woods/

Salmon river salmon shark

What was a salmon shark doing on the banks of an Idaho river? Several people reported a dead shark along the banks of the Salmon River, about 1000 miles away from its native ocean habitat. Idaho Fish and Game Department officials believe it was a prank. https://www.fieldandstream.com/conservation/wildlife-officials-find-dead-salmon-shark-on-the-banks-of-an-idaho-river/

Big cat hoax in Staffordshire

This story was a slow burn. Filmmakers hyping a documentary about big cats roaming the British countryside indicated a photo depicted the Staffordshire Panther. First appearing in the British tabloids over a week ago, the story was removed from one source shortly after it was revealed that the accompanying photo was deemed to be hoaxed. Richard Freeman noted on the Forteana Forum that the photo was in the archive of the Center for Fortean Zoology in England, sent 2012 but discovered to be a composited fake. Yet, no news agency took the time to discover that. It was not really treated seriously by The Guardian but many people will just see the headline and photo and assume it’s real, especially since they captioned it ‘Probably the best photo of a British big cat that exists’. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/16/the-staffordshire-panther-is-the-british-countryside-really-teeming-with-big-cats

Highway shark resurfaces

With every large rain event, the fake highway shark photo resurfaces in the affected place. This time, in California in response to Hurricane Hilary. It was doofus Sen Ted Cruz (R-Tx) that fell for it. Unsurprising, he’s an idiot. Do you really want someone this clueless to be representing you? Uh, nevermind. https://knowyourmeme.com/news/ted-cruz-falls-for-ancient-hoax-gets-got-by-hurricane-shark-photo

Spotless babe

An adorable solid-colored giraffe was born at the Tennessee zoo. No other spotless giraffe is known to exist in the world. She is just lovely. https://wjla.com/news/offbeat/worlds-only-spotless-giraffe-born-at-tennessee-brights-zoo-public-asked-to-help-name-her-reticulated-giraffe-conservation

Surprise relation

Here’s another great story. Two adopted siblings who were taken in by the same family, under different circumstances, two years apart, were found to be biological siblings. It’s not revealed if they are full or half siblings. A DNA test revealed they were related. The rest of the story tells of a community who helped rescue abandoned babies and give them loving homes. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/08/22/siblings-adoption-ancestry-laffin-baby/

Chicken adopted squirrel baby

A baby squirrel was found in a chicken nest in Scotland. The squirrel kit had been abandoned and was keeping warm in the nest. The chicken didn’t object. But the hungry babe was rescued by a wildlife organization that will take care of him until he can be released. https://www.scottishspca.org/news/squirrel-kit-adopted-by-hen-rescued

Teen reels in a wad of cash

A teen fishing in Lake of the Woods, North Dakota thought he had a fish so he pulled hard and brought up a billfold that contained $2000 cash. After drying out the money and wallet contents, they were able to find identification and contacted the owner who had lost the wallet while fishing there a year ago. He was amazed and grateful that the wallet and cash was returned to him. https://www.inforum.com/news/moorhead/still-hard-to-believe-moorhead-teen-hooks-a-billfold-full-of-money-on-lake-of-the-woods

Most people don’t realized that most states have laws that require the finder of cash or valuables to attempt to find the owner. It’s not “finders keepers”. It may be a misdemenor crime, at least, if you don’t attempt to return it.

Message in a bottle

Found this week among the debris on a North Wildwood, NJ beach was a bottle launched from Ireland with a message. The message was dated July 2019. The sender of the message has not yet been found. https://www.irishcentral.com/news/community/irish-message-bottle-new-jersey

Illegal accusations

As it has always been, accusations of witchcraft reveal a sickness in a society that attempts to name a scapegoat or exert social control. Ghana has a witchcraft problem. People are being killed in the streets by those who believe the person is a witch. Hundreds of accused witches must leave their villages and live in “safe” houses to avoid being murdered. Lawmakers in Ghana have passed a bill that prohibits the naming, accusing or labeling of another person as being a witch, with offenders facing up to five years in jail if found guilty. The original aim of the bill was to prohibit acting as a witchdoctor or witchfinder but the bill was expanded to include all accusations that are the key to the problem. Such laws are the start of changing the culture. Much education is needed. https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/It-is-illegal-to-refer-to-anyone-as-a-witch-Parliament-1814696

Bee mummies

Preserved insects are pretty rare. Researchers found a cache of bees that were mummified in their cocoons prior to hatching. The remains are about 3000 years old from Portugal. The hundreds of bees preserved this way were victims of some catastrophic event, possibly a sudden freeze. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/20/science/mummified-bees-cocoons.html

Time traveler photo

There are many examples of old photos where modern viewers interpret some details as out of place. A British tabloid is promoting another one of these pictures where one person looks “modern” sparking claims of time travelers. One man in the scene is dressed in a tee and shorts without a hat. All of these photos can be explained without defying physics. But it’s now an internet pastime to play these games. The photo is dated 1917. Tee shirts did exist at the time. It seems likely the young man had just been swimming. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/mysterious-photo-resurfaced-1917-sparks-30755642

Faking your own murder

This is becoming a trend. Young woman are faking their own deaths. This time, a North Carolina woman spread information anonymously that she was beaten to death. She was later found and charged with false reporting to police. Police wasted many days following up on the supposed murder case. There are not many details shared in these several cases over the recent past, but clearly these women have serious life troubles to go this far. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/north-carolina-woman-arrested-allegedly-faking-murder-police-say-rcna101356

Last week was a high mark for readers of Weekly Weird News. I’d love for this number to continue to grow. Please share this with others who might like it. See you next week!