Weekly Weird News for 3 February 2023

Same things, different day

Here I am again, rounding up the weird news of the week. I still surprise myself because sometimes it’s difficult to wade through the awfulness of the news. I get pretty grumpy at times during the week. But, I’ve brought the goods. Hope you enjoy. I’m sensing a theme this week… things that have happened before are repeating themselves. Why? Well, it was Groundhog Day week!

Groundhog’s Bad Day

It was Groundhog Day on Thursday, the silly tradition in various places in the northern hemisphere, mostly the US, where we disturb fat sleeping rodents, dragging them out of their warm dens, to shine spotlights on them and make noise. It’s not something I think it worth talking about. But the poor 14 yr old fur ball in Quebec didn’t make it out of the hole alive this year. It seems like he died hours before the big show. There was no time to train a replacement! He had a good run, living much longer than the typical groundhog. So, the fame didn’t kill him, it seems. https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/fred-la-marmotte-dead-groundhog-day-quebec

Two Long Island groundhogs, dueling for attention it seems, made conflicting prognostications again this year. Good old Punxy Phil also saw his shadow, but he always does, with all the lights. Phil’s accuracy rate is said to be less than 50%. But it’s not about that. It’s about the towns having something fun to do on a really dismal February morning. https://www.longislandpress.com/2023/02/02/long-island-groundhog-day-2023

Hawaii’s sky show

Speaking of Groundhog Day, every day I looked at the news feeds this week, I kept seeing the mention of the “sky whirlpool” over Hawaii I listed last week. The event was spotted on January 18 and I think every news outlet reported on the darn thing. Like I said last week, these Space X launches are so common that anyone paying any attention should be aware of what they look like. It’s not new. But definitely new this week was a far more interesting event where a green light was spotted traveling through the sky at Mauna Kea this week. The light show was assumed to be from a remote sensing altimeter satellite that sends laser pulses to measure elevation. The weather conditions caused the green laser beam to be visible as it moved across the sky. WAY cooler! https://www.cnet.com/science/space/watch-mysterious-green-lights-from-space-flash-over-hawaii/

Dallas Zoo troubles continue

In more animals news, the troubles at the Dallas Zoo continued this week. Last WWN, I linked to stories about the leopard escape, the langur exhibit cut (happy endings), and the vulture attack (not happy ending). Police didn’t seem to have leads. And then the mystery deepened. Even after adding extra security measures, the emperor tamarin monkey enclosure was deliberately breached and two monkeys turned up missing. The security cameras, however, appeared to gather critical information that resulted in a tip about who took the animals. Dallas police followed up and found the monkeys in a run down building. They may be close to closing down this spree if they can find the man in question. The monkeys are back safe and in good condition. https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/recovered-missing-monkeys-were-unharmed-are-happy-to-be-snuggling-at-home-dallas-zoo/3183173 and https://www.fox4news.com/news/dallas-zoo-monkeys-missing and https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/01/31/dallas-zoo-missing-monkeys/

Post-Posting edit: Man is arrested in monkey theft. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/03/us/dallas-zoo-stolen-monkeys-arrest/index.html

More missing monkeys

Elsewhere, 12 squirrel monkeys were taken from a zoo in Louisiana. All the other animals at the Zoosiana facility have been accounted for and security increased. https://www.audacy.com/wwl/news/local/12-squirrel-monkeys-stolen-from-zoosiana

Pink pigeon hopes karma is a bitch

Some cruel people dyed a white pigeon pink and apparently let it go, possible as part of a gender reveal event. The pigeon, named Flamingo, was found in NYC and sent to rescue center. But the chemical used on the bird was ingested as it preened itself to remove it. The bird is suffering and may not survive. The release of any birds at events is a dumb stunt and should not be considered. Birds aren’t props, as noted in this article. https://gothamist.com/news/mysterious-pink-pigeon-rescued-from-madison-square-park

Michigan sand slabs

At this time of year, strange formations appear along the shores of the Great Lakes thanks to frozen sand. Often they look like sculptures. But this week, slabs of frozen sand are washing up in Lake Michigan. Icicles also form on the slabs. Hundreds of the slabs appeared on the beach. https://www.fox7austin.com/news/mysterious-sand-slabs-appearing-on-lake-michigan-beach

Haunted Hotel promotes scary doll for publicity

This story caught my eye because it seems to be a testable claim regarding a “haunted room”. A hotel room in Chester, UK, that contains a scary doll, is said to be so haunted that guests have to sign a disclaimer. This reeks of publicity stunt. The visitors report anxiety, burning eyes, and knocking. So what? Those are not paranormal. It sounds more like priming. However, it’s unlikely that any real psychologists could or would test the claim that room has weird effects on people by using controls and unbiased methods. It’s a silly story that paranormal advocates use to enhance their reputation for doing important work. Show us some actual reliable results instead of showing us scared people who were told they should be scared. The town of Chester is actively promoted as a very haunted city for tourism dollars. https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/cheshire-hotel-room-haunted-ghost-26086150

Doppelgänger murder plot

In an incredible crime that sounds like fiction, a 23 yr old woman sought a lookalike on social media, then murdered her in a plot to fake her own death to escape from her family. The victim bore a strong resemblance to a woman named Sharaban K in Munich. When a body was found, it was initial identified as Sharaban K. The woman had been stabbed and disfigured. But an autopsy quickly raised questions that it was someone else. An investigation revealed the plot and Sharaban K and an accomplice are wanted for the murder of another 23 yr old woman who had been in contact with Sharaban K through social media. It seems obvious that such a plot would not work in these times of easily accessible identification records and DNA testing. Desperate people can be pretty sloppy thinkers. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/30/doppelganger-murder-ingolstadt-german-prosecutors-allege-woman-killed-lookalike-to-fake-death

Tylenol murders case still open

In 1982, the Chicago area and the nation were terrified by the Tylenol murders. Seven people died when they inadvertently consumed over the counter pill spiked with cyanide. The case was never solved. 40 years later, authorities continue to investigate, using DNA to try to track down who touched the bottles. Families affected have volunteered their DNA in the past decades in attempts to rule out themselves and their families. It’s not clear if the testing will eventually point to a conclusion. DNA evidence degrades over time. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tylenol-murders-investigation-new-dna-tests-40-years-later/

Mistaken death

In a nightmare come true, a woman who was presumed dead was placed in a body bag and transported to a funeral home in Iowa, but she wasn’t dead. Nearly two hours after being declared dead, she was removed from the hospice center. About a half hour later, the funeral staff discovered she was gasping for air. She did die two days later. It’s not clear what really happened to her but the center aims to set better protocols as a result. It’s not that rare for people to appear to be deceased and for this assumption to be proved wrong hours or days later. There is something to be said for not processing the body right away. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/woman-presumed-dead-was-found-gasping-air-body-bag-iowa-funeral-home-rcna68936

Bringing back the dodo

Genetic technology is being used in attempts to bring back extinct animals such as the thylacine and the mammoth. The latest effort is to resurrect the dodo, an iconic symbol of extinction. Sentiment for the efforts depends highly on the degree of extinction guilt we feel. But does it make any sense to pour money and effort into the project? Such efforts always raise the thorny issue: We might be able to do it, but should we do it? The genome has already been sequenced for the dodo. The next step would be to attempt genetic manipulation on the dodo’s closest living relative, the Nicobar pigeon. Don’t hold your breath. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/31/world/dodo-bring-back-from-extinction-colossal-scn/index.html

Bigfoot and his forest friends, the bears

Finally, a new published paper reiterates an existing explanation for Bigfoot. Where there are black bears, there are more Bigfoot sightings. The assumption is that people are mistaking bears for Bigfoot. A data scientist published the paper, https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.14.524058v2.full.pdf which is, frankly, not very useful, taking questionable eyewitness data from the Bigfoot Field Research Organization and compared the locations to bear population. This isn’t exciting stuff. I mean, obviously where there is forestland, there will be more bears and, due to cultural notions, people will think they see Bigfoot. This study tells us nothing of value that we didn’t already know. https://www.sciencealert.com/bigfoot-has-a-very-simple-explanation-scientist-says

Thanks for reading! I’m seeing the reading counts slowing going up each week. I greatly appreciate that.