Weekly Weird News for September 24, 2021
Things are blowing up real good
Welcome to the week in weird news. I have a scientific tone, I enjoy learning about stories relating to odd natural phenomena. This week, I found many stories to share on this topic. If you enjoy it, please share on social media. It can really help spread the word and make this effort worthwhile. So, let's begin with things that blew up this week.
Biblical literalists claim evidence for destruction of Sodom
An article in a scientific journal about the destruction of a town some people say may have been the biblical Sodom exploded on social media early this week. Published in Scientific Reports, an offshoot of the prestigious Nature journal, the authors claim Tell El Hammam was destroyed by a comet/asteroid that exploded above it, similar to the Tunguska event that leveled an area of the Siberian tundra in 1908. The group of authors presents their evidence of a high-temperature, catastrophic destruction of the town. The initial problem may be the authors' use of Genesis as the factual source. This is amplified by the fact that the authors have a pro-Bible bias based on their sources that promote biblical literalism.
"...we consider whether oral traditions about the destruction of this urban city by a cosmic object might be the source of the written version of Sodom in Genesis. We also consider whether the details recounted in Genesis are a reasonable match for the known details of a cosmic impact event."
Among the several experts who are critical of the conclusions in this paper is bioarchaeologist Dr. Chris Stantis who questioned the human remains documented in the paper.
Scientific Reports is the world's largest journal by number of articles. Their quality is regularly questioned which makes it appears they aim for quantity, not quality.
The article made a big splash in the media as science-ish outlets reported the findings in a dramatic fashion as if it was established fact. Experts in archaeology and geology will be pressed to examine the paper to determine if the far-reaching conclusions are valid. The forecast calls for continued heavy skepticism. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-97778-3
Meteor triggers 911 calls in West Virginia
A meteor with the brightness of a full moon was spotted, but mostly HEARD, in eastern West Virginia and northern Virginia. NASA confirmed a bolide entered the atmosphere and broke up around 10 AM last Friday. The great big boom rattled residents and shook windows. People thought it was an earthquake but you can discern from this news report, it was very much an explosion, not a rumbling. People have set out to look for fragments of the meteorite. They are unlikely to find them as the pieces would be minute and scattered. The daylight and cloudy skies at the time obscured the view of the fireball. https://www.nvdaily.com/nvdaily/nasa-fridays-loud-boom-in-shenandoah-county-was-a-fireball/article_83a19f61-1b64-5bdb-a187-fe9686329d31.html
La Palma eruption resurrects fear over megatsunami
Mount Cumbre Vieja on the island of La Palma in the Spanish Canary Islands off the coast of Africa continues its spectacular eruption, spewing lava fountains and sending ash clouds over the area. La Palma is infamous for a sciencey claim that the collapse of its flank can trigger a tsunami that could hit southern Europe and the eastern US. With the latest eruption, that claim resurfaced and was propagated by people eager to add to the drama. However, the article that proposed the tsunami was published in 2013 and has since received valid criticism from other experts who say it is extremely unlikely that such a catastrophe will occur. The Landslide Blog has a takedown of research and its somewhat ridiculous premise. In all respects, island collapses don't happen this way. This eruption is unlikely to trigger it. As I've noted several times before, certain scientists will take pleasure in exaggerating their findings in order to garner press coverage. IOW, they will milk the hell out of it. The lava display and flows are drama enough, as the glowing mass engulfs homes and threatens the island’s supply of freshwater. Now, the lucrative banana crops are threatened by the ash. Meanwhile, the somewhat tone-deaf Spanish tourism minister called it a "wonderful show" as thousands evacuate or lose everything. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/canaries-volcano-blasts-lava-into-air-ash-blankets-area-2021-09-23/
My favorite source of eruption information is Volcano Discovery. https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/la-palma/news.html
Weird animal on beach is real - and identifiable
A TikTok video showed a pale, furless animal with two arms and two legs washed up on a Playa Venao, Panama. The post has over 37 million views and 193,000 comments as people speculate wildly about what it could be. This is what happens EVERY TIME with these visuals that go viral: Person finds weird carcass on a beach, indicating it has been in water. The animal is missing features due to decomposition that render it not readily identifiable. Non-experts (that is everyone on social media) suggest crazy ideas of what it is that have no basis in reality or common sense. Experts note by the remaining bone structure or dentition that that animal is most likely a local native, usually common animal. This reasonable answer gets ignored for the sensational stuff. The BS is propagated.
In this case, the animal has been identified as a howler monkey. That does stop people from participating in the social media sport of wacky random guessing.
Bear vs goat - Sometimes the undergoat wins
Cryptozoologists love to say you never find a bear carcass in the woods as if that somehow is evidence for Bigfoot being out there despite no physical evidence. But, you DO find bear carcasses. And in this case, the cause of death was determined to be quite weird. The examination of a grizzly in Canada suggests she was killed after a decidedly unsuccessful encounter with a mountain goat. She had likely fatal injuries from horns. While grizzlies often eat goats, this one got the better of the small female. Hikers came across the body and it was airlifted out of the area in British Columbia. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/20/canada-mountain-goat-grizzly-bear
In other goat news (I swear I didn't look for this, it just landed in my lap) these frisky ones were rescued in Wales. Otherwise, they would probably have died. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-58656605
Bees attacked penguins
In a sad story, 63 endangered African penguins were found dead in South Africa with multiple bee stings and dead bees around them. This occurred in Simonstown, near Cape Town, according to park officials. It's unknown what prompted the possible attack by the Cape honey bees. A post-mortem is being done on some animals to determine if the bee stings were the cause of death. https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/20/africa/bees-kill-penguins-south-africa-scli-intl-scn/index.html
Snake knocks out power in NC
A snake made an unfortunate visit to the site of an electrical substation in North Carolina. The contact with the equipment caused an outage to 1400 customers, according to Duke Energy who note that it's not just storms and wind that cause problems. https://myfox8.com/news/north-carolina/piedmont-triad/snake-knocks-out-power-for-more-than-1000-people-in-denton/
Hair-raising Cemetary find
This story came from tabloids but it was too weird to pass up. A man visiting a Saint Joseph's Cemetery in Sacramento, California noticed an off-kilter cover stone over a grave and human hair appeared to be spilling out over the edge. I could not find a reputable expert view on this story. Some suggested that flooding and trees could bring a dead body to the surface but this seems unlikely as coffins are sealed, often in vaults. But the claim, in this case, was that the grave was 100 years old. I am suspicious of this story. The man said he took a sample of the hair for testing. When returning to the spot the next day, the hair was gone, presumably pushed in. I'm not too sure that's what happened. As with the story above, it went around the world via TikTok. Hmm. https://nypost.com/2021/09/16/man-shocked-to-find-hair-poking-out-of-100-year-old-grave/
Russian rat king
A "rat king" is a known phenomenon where rats, usually in a nest, get their tails entangled to the point that they cannot move. A new video from Russia shows an example found by a farmer in his flooded field. He was able to loosen the knot and the rats were released. The animals in the video are clearly young. Perhaps they will survive their unpleasant experiences so far in life. https://www.livescience.com/rat-king-found-in-russia
“Don't get vaccinated” promotion
Some dark humor and psychology were apparent in this stunt. A black truck cruised the streets of Charlotte, N.C. advertising in big letters "Don't Get Vaccinated". It appeared to be sponsored by the "Wilmore Funeral Home" (in small letters). Good for business, it appeared. However, the URL noted on the truck sends hopefully scared people to a website that directs them to vaccination options. The truck was sponsored by an ad agency, BooneOakley, whose goal was to get people to take the death toll seriously. https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/21/us/covid-vaccine-billboard-funeral-home-ad-agency-trnd/index.html
For the latest example of Covid death by magical thinking, we head to Sri Lanka.
Fake "water cure" shaman dies of Covid
Magic doesn't cure you. Exhibit #37 million: Eliyantha White, a shaman in Sri Lanka who refused vaccination, claimed he could end the pandemic there and in India by pouring pots of his “blessed” water into rivers. Guess what? Dead. Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi endorsed the water treatment, but was infected two months later and ended up in the hospital. White had been widely labeled a fraud despite his wishful nonsense embraced by politicians and sports stars. It's not rocket science, folks. It's pretty damn obvious. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/23/sri-lanka-shaman-dies-covid-blessed-water-cure
Paranormal campers ruin things in woods near Pluckley
Pluckley village in Kent, U.K. is popular as being one of the most haunted places in Europe. Ghost hunters flock to the area, especially around Halloween. This simply doesn't sit well with the residents. The visitors seeking paranormal experiences frequently camp in Dering Wood, leaving trash and vandalism. I'll be blunt: asshole ghost hunters ruin things. They are a scourge. https://www.kentonline.co.uk/ashford/news/ghost-hunters-making-a-frightful-mess-254106/
Exploring Yemen's Well to Hell
Finally, in a story worthy of Spooky Geology (which I haven't had the chance to write up there), a group of cavers courageously descended into an open hole in the desert of Yemen that was legendarily the home of demons/genies to discover what was at the bottom. They succeeded this past week, finding plenty of snakes and fascinating carbonate structures in the hole known as the Well to Hell. The skylit cave appears to be a roof collapse sinkhole that connects to a cavern system and is near the border of Oman. Most traditional people feared the site as a source of evil. In accordance with the name of the place, the Well of Barhout, the intrepid Omani explorers found fresh water, and drank it. The cavers used equipment to test for dangerous gases. They experienced no curse and no evil entities. Humans tell stories if we don't understand. Then, we make an effort to understand, and the supernatural becomes, natural. And beautiful. https://www.thenationalnews.com/gulf-news/oman/2021/09/21/well-of-hell-meet-the-omani-caver-who-explored-yemens-strange-sinkhole/
For more on Gates to Hell and legendary bottomless pits, visit my other project SpookyGeology.com.
Clowning around was a bad idea
"Clowns have been spotted loitering outside schools in Singapore - staring intently, approaching pupils and allegedly asking the young children to follow them. Their unnerving presence sparked a flurry of complaints from concerned parents who immediately called on the police to investigate." No kidding. What a very silly idea. https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/police-investigate-terrifying-clown-prank-outside-singapore-schools-20210923-p58u1g.html
Maderna dumbass doesn't appear for hearing
In an update from a story a few weeks ago about a Chicago woman who was arrested for avoiding Hawaii's quarantine laws, Chloe Mrozak failed to show up for her hearing on the charges. She was the one who tried to pass off a fake vaccination card that spelled "Moderna" as "Maderna". Unsurprising. I mean, once a dumbass, always a dumbass, I guess. There is now a bench warrant for her arrest. https://apnews.com/article/health-arrests-coronavirus-pandemic-hawaii-6ea31741c10e805dc38a55ba7f3e0c68
Don't be a dumbass. Keep up on the latest viral weird news: subscribe and get this newsletter straight to your inbox.