Weekly Weird News for 25 February 2022

Strange land, sea, and air

Welcome to the rundown of the week in weird news stories. It’s been a wild week. The news feeds have been loaded with serious crazy shit but you can digest that on your own; I’m going to focus on the less serious things that make these times not only interesting but strange.

First, some smart-ass animals.

Lake Tahoe’s big bad bear problem is even worse than reported

Many of you might have read the story of Hank the Tank, the 500-lb black bear that keeps breaking into houses in Lake Tahoe. This story took some twists and turns this week, so I wrapped it together here.

The problem with bears like “Hank” is that they are “food-habituated”. That is, they’ve lost fear of people and subsists primarily on human food which they obtain first through trash, but then by entering residences through open garages, gates, or breaking windows and doors. This is not the first time Lake Tahoe has had a bear problem where high-end neighborhoods do not mandate that trash and food are safely stored to prevent scrounging bears. After the South Lake Tahoe police called out Hank for the 30 recent break-ins, they were inundated with calls - to the point where it was disrupting their response to emergencies. In a surprising twist to the Hank story, the California wildlife agency reported that DNA tests show that THREE different bears are responsible for the house break-ins at Lake Tahoe making the “Hank” problem much worse. It may not even have been the well-known bear people call “Hank” that was involved. Officials said they were working to trap the bears and release them elsewhere but that may not be a happy ending, either. In 2020, a similar situation with a bear occurred here where it even entered a store to steal food. Even though the animal was trapped and released, it was later killed after it continued to menace a campground to sustain its former high-calorie diet. The animal was emaciated and had rotten teeth. Food-habituated animals can no longer effectively readjust to wild food and become ill. Perhaps the Hanks will find sanctuary but the hard lesson to be learned is: Please, don’t feed the bears, even unintentionally. It makes for a dangerous problem for everyone, especially the bears.

Cites: https://www.npr.org/2022/02/21/1082136147/hank-the-tank-bear-lake-tahoe

and https://www.sfgate.com/renotahoe/article/500-pound-Lake-Tahoe-bear-breaks-into-homes-16934159.php

and https://www.sfgate.com/renotahoe/article/500-pound-Lake-Tahoe-bear-breaks-into-homes-16934159.php and https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2022/02/24/hank-the-tank-big-bear-not-responsible-for-tahoe-break-ins/

Magpies outwit trackers

Researchers in Australia attached tiny, lightweight tracking devices to five magpies to study their social behaviors and found an entirely new behavior. Within 10 minutes, a bird without a tracker was seen helping another younger bird remove the tracker on him. The other birds were free by day three. This shows a level of cooperation not noted before. The magpies clearly identified the object as foreign and wanted it gone. Magpies, which are in the crow family, are skilled at problem-solving. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-22/magpies-show-cooperative-behaviour-by-removing-tracking-device/100851458

[Edit: Australian magpies are not related to magpie in the rest of the world which are Corvidae. These “magpies” are passerine birds.]

Phantom kangaroo

A kangaroo was spotted hopping along next to a road earlier this week. No one reported losing one of the animals. Police are confused as to where it came from and are asking people to help in reporting sightings of the animal. “Phantom” kangaroos - spotting of these animals where there is not a native population - is a worldwide phenomenon. https://apnews.com/article/europe-animals-denmark-marsupials-kangaroos-720656fe46dcc9f8730cfc3579f73744

Beach-stinking globster

Rockaway Beach, Oregon was the scene of a smelly “globster” encounter. A globster is a mass of animal remains that is not readily identifiable. People often conclude it is a monster or “cryptid” of some sort. Typically, the remains are highly decomposed pieces of whale or shark. Sometimes also called a “blobster” from its appearance as a formless blob, these remains appear to be from a whale, whose blubber tends to wash around in the ocean for a long time before beaching. https://www.beachconnection.net/news/globster_rockaway022022.php

Beach-stinking mass fish death

This beach in Chile has been swamped with dead fish creating a very high level of stink. Thousands of sardines and anchovies washed ashore but it’s not clear why. The likely culprit is that the massive school of fish ran out of oxygen (possibly associated with an algae bloom) and they died. Because of the location, the cleanup has to be done manually. Massive fish die-offs are natural but many scare-mongering sites suggest that there is something more mysterious going on. https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/02/22/chile-s-mysterious-fish-death-phenomenon-is-perplexing-scientists

Snow “monsters” in Japan

Windblown snow and ice create “snow monsters” on the slope of Japan’s Mount Zao. The phenomenon is called “Juhyo” and draws tourists to see the temporary formations every winter. The features are lit every night to create the appearance of an army of slouching beasts. https://www.accuweather.com/en/winter-weather/stunning-sea-of-snow-monsters-takes-over-mountain-in-japan/1142730

Orb over Hawaii

A sighting of an “unidentified aerial phenomenon” resulted in a military response in Hawaii last week. Not much has been said publicly about the event except to note that it was an unmanned balloon with no observable markings. Residents on the ground in Kauai spotted the object. They reported loud booms thinking the jets shot it down, but the military says they just continued tracking it. It’s stuff like this that gives fodder to the current UFO activists. However, The Drive news site speculates that the object may be related to Raven Aerostar, a company operating in the islands developing balloons that can remain relatively stationary for days. https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article258598568.html

Eye of the sky

An enhanced water vapor (cloud) view from the North Pacific last week developed into a perfect example of pareidolia. At the center is what appears to be an eye. https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article258449438.html and https://www.facebook.com/CIMSS.UW.Madison/posts/10159870970862220

Some low and high-tech sleuthing reveals the identity of infamous people. First…

QAnon writer(s) identified

QAnon began in 2017 as an anonymous post signed “Q” on the 4Chan message board. Computer scientists using forensic linguistic techniques have concluded they have discovered the likely creator of the post that grew into a dangerous, conspiratorial community that played a heavy role in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol. The original posting was tracked to Paul Furber, a South African software developer who was one of the first to draw attention to the post. Also Arizona congressional candidate Ron Watkins was identified as a co-writer who took over later on the 8chan message board. By revealing the writers, the researchers hope it diminishes the enthusiasm for the cult-like following. Unlikely. The involvement in such an insidious concept can’t be shaken by facts and reason. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/19/technology/qanon-messages-authors.html and https://www.engadget.com/qanon-machine-learning-205618665.html

Real-life Exorcist boy revealed

It’s long been known that the book and movie The Exorcist was loosely based on a story of a boy in Maryland who was said to suffer from demonic possession and was treated by Catholic priests. While the fiction was highly exaggerated, people have searched for the identity of the boy based on newspaper and church documents. Back in 1999, Mark Opsasnick correctly identified the boy in an article in Strange magazine. But he chose not to reveal his name because he was still living as well as other legal reasons. Two other authors had since discovered his name as well and it has been revealed. The man, born in 1935, had certain family issues that contributed to his childhood events, but he eventually recovered and worked as a NASA engineer for 40 years. He had always been afraid people would find out he was the inspiration for the tale. He died in 2020 just shy of 85 years old, still denying that he had ever been possessed. The story, therefore, was entirely concocted and grew far beyond expectations. https://nypost.com/2021/12/20/is-the-exorcist-a-true-story-what-happened-to-ronald-hunkeler/ and https://skepticalinquirer.org/2021/10/demoniac-who-is-roland-doe-the-boy-who-inspired-the-exorcist/

Demon House fictionalized movie coming to Netflix

In another example of a story that was blown far out of proportions, it’s not unexpected that the poorly-evidenced tale of the “Demon House” of Gary, Indiana is being made into a “true story” fictionalized movie for Netflix. The story began in 2014 when Latoya Ammons alleged that her rental house was possessed and the spirits had affected her children - one of which was infamously reported to have “walked backward up a wall” in a hospital. The case is dripping with social factors but the supernatural events are on shaky ground. Para-celeb Zak Bagans bought the house and made a terrible documentary about it in 2018. He later had the house demolished so no one else could investigate it (and find nothing). The fictionalization is likely to make the Ammons’ some additional money - which always seemed to be a goal - and will grow the myth. https://www.higgypop.com/news/demon-house-set-to-become-a-netflix-movie/

The sad residence no longer exists except in modern legend.

Community of psychics named a historic place

A historic spiritualist community in Chautauqua County, upstate New York, has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The site, which is still active, is billed as “the world’s largest center” for spiritualism, a religion developed in the mid 19th century where a core belief is that the living could communicate with the dead through mediums in seances. Modern Lily Dale is home to the world’s largest community of psychic mediums. https://buffalonews.com/news/local/lily-dale-is-added-to-national-register-of-historic-places/article_e5af4ca4-9190-11ec-8121-3bf5c40be233.html

Mermaid mummy undergoes scanning

An object said to be a “dried mermaid” that was kept in a Japanese temple, has been examined by CT scanning in an effort to determine its origin. The mummy, which has a hominid-type upper body but a scaly tail, is said to be 300 years old and carries the legend that it was caught in a fishing net on the coast of Tosa Province (present-day Kochi Prefecture) between 1736 and 1741. The results of the study will be available later this year. Preserved mermaid bodies like this have been exposed as artful fakes the world over. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14543351

Bag o’ blood

Security camera from a food store captured an unusual event - an unknown man was seen to empty a bag of blood as he walked through the Reading, UK town centre at 2:25 AM. Police have confirmed it is blood but not the nature or source of it. The footage was turned over to police after the business owners spotted the spilled blood in the morning. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-berkshire-60493339

Fatal airbag crash

There is a very good reason why you should never have anything between you and your car’s airbag except empty space. A California man died in what should have been a nonfatal car crash when the deployed airbag sent a knife into his neck. It is suspected from the evidence that he was using the knife to stir a protein powder drink while driving. He became distracted, crashed, and that was it. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/pomerado-news/news/story/2022-02-20/six-injured-in-rancho-bernardo-crash

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