Weekly Weird News for 30 Sept 2022
It was a relatively quiet week for weird news. And, it’s one of those Fridays where I have to queue this up for posting on Thursday night, so I’m a little short on time. Sure, of course there was lots of low quality content, particular from foreign sources hyping videos of ghosts, creatures, and the evergreen UFO sightings. Unimpressive and boring. In the US, Hurricane Ian provided me with some strange stuff.
Widdershins winds
First, the bays along the Florida’s western Gulf shore emptied. The water receded so far that some people thought it went for miles. Many explored the exceptional low tide. The rare event is a result of the low pressure of the huge offshore storm coupled with strong counterclockwise winds of the approaching system pushing the water away from shore. This can also be aided by the timing of the regular low tide. But the waters came rushing back in the form of a storm surge that pushed the water inland as far as it had been originally pushed out. Things did not go well for Florida, a state that will continue to suffer grievously from climate change in the future. https://www.tampabay.com/hurricane/2022/09/28/wheres-bay-water-tampa-bays-water-receding-ahead-hurricane-ian/
Street Shark
Then, we were visited by the notorious Hurricane Shark meme even before the storm came ashore. At least one video and one image went viral showing what posters said was a “shark” that came into Fort Myers with the floodwaters. I doubt both. The video shows something swimming in a flooded area near a residential areas. The provenance is unknown but there is no evidence that it’s a recent video or even a shark. The same video was posted twice, 4 hours apart, both by different, second-hand posters. The first one, at 10AM was actually too early as the effect of the storm had not yet reached Fort Myers. The second one posted the video without mentioning the first. Ambiguity remains. As is typical, many clickbait sites (many of those FM radio websites) used the video from the second Twitter account that now has over 12 million views.
The image was of a shark swimming next to concrete highway barriers. This one is photoshopped, and quite old. So it was easy to debunk. It was ubiquitous on the web. It’s apparently swum inland for Hurricanes Florence, Matthew, Sandy, Harvey, Irma, and now Ian. The image is also not believable since a car is parked on what’s supposed to be a deeply flooded highway.
The Street Sharks have appeared in almost every recent major hurricane in some form. While it’s certainly possible that marine animals get displaced during these events, and particularly alligators who prefer freshwater, and bull sharks which already navigate up freshwater outlets, the posting of these claims is typically uncritical. Even people who should know better, like the @US_Stormwatch twitter account, posted without checking. It’s almost as if people relish the chaos and danger of the storm and so jump at the chance to show it for clicks. The best part may have been the people who pointed out the fake photo and then posted the questionable video uncritically in the comments to argue that it’s REALLY happening now. I’m actually surprised we’ve not seen more hoaxes from Hurricane Ian. Maybe more will surface after the immediate danger passes and power and internet access is restored. https://www.dailydot.com/debug/fake-shark-florida-twitter/ and https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/janelytvynenko/houston-to-florida-shark
Naive hope
The last story on the Hurricane was this one, which I’m not going to even comment on other than to say - that’s not a heart and this is the stupidest headline of the day. Of course it was Fox News pulling it from a Facebook post. Not news. But, then again, neither is most stuff on Fox.
Erosion is a cruel master
Teacup Rock, a balancing sea stack landmark on Prince Edward Island in Canada, was lost during Hurricane Flora. As noted in the news article, coastlines are dynamic features. Even rocks aren’t forever. But the loss is keenly felt by the residents. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-teacup-rock-gone-1.6595695
Airborne mystery groaning
Last week, passengers on several American Airline flights experienced strange and unpleasant noises coming across the cabin intercom. The noises were of grunts, groans and breathy moans that sounded like they were from a male human. Originally, flummoxed staff thought it was a prank or a malfunction. Similar incidents may have occurred months earlier. The situation seems to have involved different types of plane. The onboard crew tried to reset the systems to no avail. Because of the plane’s closed wifi system, it is near impossible to hack into the system from the ground. The official comment is that it was an issue with the public address system amplifier but not all are convinced. Listen to the video. It’s hilarious. https://waxy.org/2022/09/a-mysterious-voice-is-haunting-american-airlines-in-flight-announcements-and-nobody-knows-how/
Leopard attacks
Several leopard attacks have made the news in India in the past few weeks. This week, a man and his wife were sleeping in an abandoned building when the animal attacked them, ultimately killing the man. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/rajkot/labourer-killed-wife-injured-in-leopard-attack-in-gujarats-junagadh-8162113/ Another man who took his cattle into a protected wildlife sanctuary near Bengaluru was killed and partially eaten by a leopard. https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/2022/sep/25/leopard-kills-man-eats-parts-ofhis-body-in-cauvery-wildlife-sanctuary-2501635.html A woman walking in her yard, Uttarakhand, was attacked and her 3yr old child was carried away only to be found dead. https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2022/sep/19/leopard-kills-three-year-old-girl-in-uttarakhand-2499761.html At least 37 people have been killed in wildlife encounters so far this year from big cats and other animals in this state. Rumors in the area that a leopard attacked two young tourists proved to be false. The rumor caused additional panic but it turns out their injuries were caused by a fall. https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2022/sep/23/leopard-attacks-bikers-no-end-in-sight-for-man-animal-conflict-2501062.html
Captain America to the rescue
A man who likes to dress up as Captain America walked the walk by stopping an out of control vehicle, rescuing an unconscious driver. He noticed a pickup truck swerving in a Harrisburg, PA urban neighborhood and saw the driver appeared to be in distress. He turned his car around and then ran to catch the truck where he jumped in and took control. He then called emergency services. https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/09/captain-america-jumps-into-wayward-vehicle-saves-driver-from-dauphin-county-crash.html
And a reminder about last week’s rainbow fentanyl story…
See you next week.
There isn't even fentanyl in the fentanyl anymore...