Weekly Weird News for 5 May 2023

Fakes and reals

Hello everyone. Welcome to another roundup of weird news. To start, I have two updates on previous stories. First, the good news.

Update: Black fox captured

Here’s an update from the 21 April edition: The silver/black fox running amok in Wales has been captured and is in animal rescue facility. He’s quite friendly, clearly used to people. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-65400677

Update: Treasure hunt comes up empty

Nothing makes people lose all reason quite like the dream of buried treasure. Alas, it almost never provides the promised rewards. Back in January, there was the story of map found of Ommeren in Holland that seemed to indicate a Nazi treasure hoard buried before the soldiers ran away. The local municipality helped a museum worker conduct a search and dig. But nothing turned up. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/01/world/europe/netherlands-buried-treasure.html

High school bandits

Raccoons are so smart, they have taken over the local high school in Austin, Texas. And it’s not the first time. Apparently it’s a multi-generational thing that the raccoons send their relations to school too. But, it’s not great for the staff and students. The animals disrupt classes, make a mess, and pose a health risk. https://www.kxan.com/news/it-was-scared-it-was-running-around-raccoons-are-running-through-mccallum-high-school/

Albino echidna spotted

Albino animals in Australia are rare. But people have spotted an albino echidna (pronounced “eh-KID-na”) in the Bathurst region of central-western New South Wales. The animals are typically nocturnal but this one was well-photographed. What’s worrisome is it was found lounging on a roadway. Locals have been asked not to approach the animal if its seen. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-03/albino-echidna-raffie-spotted-near-bathurst-nsw/102295670

Not a joke - A hyena, a warthog and a porcupine walk into a den

Researchers in Kenya have observed three different species that don’t interact on a regular basis, all sharing space in a hyena den. They counted seven hyenas, three warthogs and two porcupines in one of the underground hollows. Another had 11 hyenas, six warthogs and two porcupines. “The animals lived together for months at a time, sometimes coming and going from the same entrance just minutes apart from each other.” Sometimes nature gives us wise lessons: differences can be overcome and we can live together in peace. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article274890346.html

Miami crown flash

A cool but very spooky atmospheric phenomenon called crown flash was recorded in the puffy clouds over Miami Beach a few days ago. The streaming and switching effect is caused by electrical fluctuations in the atmosphere that reorient the alignment of ice crystals that reflect light. It's extremely weird to watch but explainable.

Split-screen shadow effect

An award-winning wildlife photo was so weird-looking, people thought it was photoshopped. But the picture, which was awarded Honorable Mention in a Japanese photo context was all natural, just a fortuitous juxtaposition of water, objects, and light. And an egret. I’ll admit, it’s very difficult to wrap my brain around this. The illusion of a split screen is caused by a light colored wall in the backround that extends into the water. Because of the orientation of the wall, it casts a shadow towards the camera and the egret is on the border of the shadow area reflected on the water. The article has a wide scale landscape image that shows the wall and foreground. https://mymodernmet.com/kenichi-ohno-bird-photo-illusion/

Photo by Kenichi Ohno

Excess pasta issue boils over

Several hundred pounds of pasta were dumped along a creek in New Jersey. So. Many. Questions. The answers did eventually show up because the neighbors knew what was going on. The noodles were dumped by a man cleaning out his mothers house after she had died. She had been storing food and it was past its useable date. The noodles were dumped uncooked but the recent heavy rains made them look like they had been prepared. What’s extremely frustrating is that it’s right next to a stream. The waste has been cleared. What is not clear is why people would dump the food rather than properly dispose of it. It may be a matter of trash collection fees. https://www.nj.com/middlesex/2023/05/500-pounds-of-cooked-pasta-was-dumped-along-nj-stream-its-now-a-local-political-issue.html and https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/mystery-of-who-dumped-huge-mounds-of-pasta-next-to-a-stream-in-a-nj-town-is-solved/4305212/

Frog toxin kills woman during ceremony

Fake mumbo jumbo "medicine" can kill you. An inquest shows no one discouraged a woman from a dangerous shamanic ceremony performed in 2019 involving a toxin obtained from frog mucus that is placed on the skin. She died. She had been trained through the International Association of Kambo Practitioners to apply this mixture of frog toxin and Amazonian plants to the arms and legs but some may have suggested the potent mix be used on the “meridian” points used by acupuncturists. These ideas of energy flow in the body are entirely without scientific merit. Another Kambo practitioner placed the poison into burn marks from the ceremony including on her chest. It was not the first time she had used this treatment that she believed aided in the healing of her health problems. The 39 yr old woman died shortly after of cardiac arrest. Kambo was legal in Australia until it was banned in October 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/05/nsw-father-says-daughters-generosity-was-behind-her-death-in-kambo-frog-toxin-ritual

Clickbait news created a serial killer in Austin

There is a rumor going around in the local media that Austin TX has a murder problem caused by one person. Nine bodies have been recovered from Lady Bird Lake in the past few months. Amateur investigators who act like experts are promoting the idea that they are connected to deaths from years ago. But the evidence is not there. As is common these days, sensational headlines are promoted as clickbait and then social media send the misinformation flying. The recent deaths have been ruled as accidents due to intoxication and drowning. There have been no signs of foul play. The fake experts look for any patterns (or create ones that are not actually meaningful) leading to the baseless rumors. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/sorry-true-crime-fans-but-theres-no-serial-killer-in-austin/

Some evidence of unusual brain activity before death

Brain waves of a dying person are hard to measure. Now we have a bit more data that might indicate a connection between brain activity and what people perceive as near death experiences. Researchers spent 10 years collecting cases to observer brain activity prior to death. They only managed to find data for four cases. In two of those cases, a surge of gamma connectivity was noted which might explain what people perceive as near death experiences. Unfortunately, those patients didn’t survive to tell their side. But this is a bit more evidence to support the idea that NDEs are a natural brain response we interpret in a spiritual frame. https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-surge-of-activity-detected-in-the-brains-of-dying-people

That’s all for this week. Please check in on my Flipboard magazine Sharon’s Strange Times where I post the news stories that I gather for this newsletter.

Thanks for reading.