Weekly Weird News for 7 October 2022

It may be “spooky season” but the weird news is a bit lame this time of year. There are always plenty of stories about lottery wins or giant vegetables but those are a bit boring - they are so common. I’m trying to pick through to find some more interesting stuff and this is what I came up with this week. First, an update about the Street Shark story from last week.

Street Shark video sort of confirmed

Last week’s video of what appeared to be a shark swimming in a residential area during Hurricane Ian was without proper provenance for days. So we didn’t know if it was what it said it was. The person who filmed the event that went viral has come forward. The video was filmed at a small lake near a stream that empties into Estero Bay. Rising waters flooded the yard of Dominic Cameratta who caught the moving animal in the water. He then shared the video with friends and, well, it worked just how social media is supposed to work. He was sure it was a shark since Bull sharks do swim upstream from the sea. But marine scientists who viewed the video don’t think it was a shark. So, it seems about half true. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/30/us/hurricane-shark-ian-hoax.html

Rob McDonagh @RobMcD

Storyful reached out to the FWC for help IDing the creature, but its staff were unable to identify it. Rick Bartleson, a marine scientist @SCCF_SWFL, was also uncertain, but told Storyful the "dorsal fin doesn't look like sawfish or shark." (4/4)

youtube.comShark Reported in Flooded Fort MyersShark Reported in Flooded Fort Myers NeighborhoodA video of what many suspected to be a small shark swimming in a flooded neighborhood of Fort Myers went vir...

Lucky Tampa Bay

Some people think Tampa Bay is supernaturally protected from hurricanes. Hurricane Ian did not hit Tampa Bay directly as expected. There are those who think no storm ever will. The last storm known to impact here directly was in 1921. And before that, there was only one other event in 1848. A legend says that mounds built by Natives protect the area with their magical powers. However, it’s more likely the protective effect is due to the winds and geography. A storm would have to make a very dramatic turn to hit directly. https://www.wfla.com/news/local-news/are-supernatural-forces-protecting-tampa-bay-from-hurricanes-probably-not/

Why are people ruining the crops? Food is expensive! 

Someone in Ipuaçu, Brazil really likes making crop circles. They appear every year around this time. This latest one is not very creative. It’s pretty simple. The formations are called agroglyphs. This one was noticed on the morning October 4 by residents of the city.  https://ndmais-com-br.translate.goog/meio-ambiente/agroglifos-aparecem-em-plantacao-de-trigo-em-ipuacu-no-oeste-de-sc/

It is an easy-to-make design and was accessed via the existing equipment paths. In Britain, crop circle appearances are not very welcomed anymore. With the price of grain sky high, farmers lose substantial money if part of their crop is unsalvageable because of cereal art. And they are a bit annoyed about it. Wiltshire, England was the birthplace of modern crop circles some 40 years ago. The circles are created by people using diagrams, measurements, and boards to tamp down the stalks. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/24/invasion-of-the-barley-snatchers-crop-circles-cost-farmers-thousands-in-lost-revenue

Fiji schoolkids playing old games

I was surprised at a headline I found from two weeks ago about students in Fiji being warned about the Charlie Charlie challenge game. The “demon-summoning” kids game was a legend craze in 2015. Kids balance one pencil crosswise over another on top of a paper. Any air movement disturbs the setting. But the effect freaks the kids out. It’s a form of fake lore that tapped into moral panic from scared parents and teachers who vowed to stop it. Additional fake stories claimed that kids were killed during the game. It’s not any different from fears of Ouija boards. Does it really take pop culture stuff that many years to hit Fiji? Students have been sent home for planning the game. However, it’s not clear if the students were punished for being disruptive or if people actually believe it summons evil spirits. https://www.fbcnews.com.fj/news/students-warned-over-charlie-charlie/

China’s complaint hotline shut down

Every Saturday, for years, a payphone in Beijing rings and rings. The residents of Gourd Island 265 miles away call the number to inform those who pick up the phone of their pollution plight as they live in an area plagued by emissions from factories. Not allowed to publicly protest, a Chinese artist developed the plan to use this very public but secret way to protest. Unfortunately, it looks like the jig is up. The lines were intercepted and eventually shut off. Never underestimate the value of environmental regulations. You would not want to be without them. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/10/03/1125911476/a-public-payphone-in-china-began-ringing-and-ringing-who-was-calling

Froggie went a-travelin’

Here is this week’s hitchhiking frog story: A Hispaniolan tree frog was a castaway in a bag of bananas to Staffordshire, UK. The animals looked thin and cold but was OK. The frog was taken by the animal protection agency. Frogs in banana bags, as well as in other produce bags, are very common. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-63158941

Mythical marathon record

Who knew there was a Guinness World Record for fastest marathon dressed as a mythical creature (male). A man dressed as a unicorn finished the London Marathon in “record” time beating out the previous record holder dressed as Bigfoot in an Irish event in 2019. There are records for nearly everything. https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2022/10/04/Guinness-World-Records-London-Marathon-unicorn/2351664903958/

“Pop pop” sound means run for cover

This is becoming a common event in gun-crazy USA. People call in reports of gunshots in public places only to find out the sound was caused by something else. Considering the number of shooting incidents in public places every day, it’s not implausible to assume the sounds indicate a serious situation. On Saturday morning, several people panicked at a New Jersey mall and reported the sound of gunshots. The cause was actually a malfunctioning popcorn machine. https://www.nj.com/hudson/2022/10/social-media-runs-rampant-with-claims-of-active-shooter-at-jersey-city-mall-but-it-was-only-a-popcorn-machine.html

Moai charred

A fire, apparently caused by arson, charred 148 acres on Easter Island permanently damaging a number of the famous stone heads, or moai, on the island. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-63167941

Springheel Jack, just doing his job

A cinematographer caught a weird scene from a high-rise window in Manhattan. He saw a man in a suit jumping across rooftops. It turns out it wasn’t a stunt for a viral video but a building director checking on a leaky skylight for a tenant. The man said he jumps across the spaces in the building as the easiest way to get around. He said it’s not unusual for building inspectors to do this but it was the first time he got it caught on video and people made such a big deal. He says it’s not unsafe but he was in a bit of a rush because it was starting to rain. https://pix11.com/news/local-news/manhattan/see-it-man-spotted-jumping-across-rooftop-of-manhattan-high-rise/ and https://nypost.com/2022/10/05/nyc-rooftop-hopping-daredevil-says-he-was-just-doing-my-job/

Pink skies at night

Many people around the world are reporting strange pink glows in their local skies. The culprit is very down to earth. They are greenhouses lit with red LED growing lights. Most of the time, the glass is covered at night to prevent light pollution but sometimes they are exposed. On a cloudy night, the glow illuminates a wide area with a creepy hue. In Cumberland County, PA, a cannabis grower deliberately decided to glow up to draw attention to breast cancer awareness. Honestly, that’s not the brightest of reasons - it’s quite the stretch to say such a cause needs “awareness” -  but it is a great way to educate people on how plants are grown sustainably indoors using energy-efficient lights. https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/10/whats-causing-that-pink-glow-over-cumberland-county.html

Clickbait black panther

Finally, it’s always disheartening to see blatant clickbait bullshit posted as “news”. It seems like standards are just so low. Here is a story that, if you click on the dozens of news links that feature it, will get your eyeballs on several advertisements. That is the ultimate goal. The story is all about a video clip that also requires you to additionally sit through a 30-second ad to see it. It shows 10 seconds of a farm landscape with what in all aspects looks like a sheep, cow, or dog licking itself in the distance. (It’s not a tale on the left, it’s a leg.) Instead, this is claimed to be a “mysterious” or “unidentified” large animal devouring a sheep. The video taken by two kids shows nothing of value and isn’t news but it’s gone viral with the suggestion that it’s a large black “panther-like” cat. Ridiculous. Yet, legitimate sources are reposting it. I don’t know why. This isn’t news, and it’s misleading. How lazy and uncritical has social media made us? 

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