Grass-Eating Man Arrested Outside Hotel: Weird News & Oddities

A twist on the Boomer chant “Get off my lawn!” could have been invoked earlier this month when a 34-year-old man caused a spectacle at a Fredericksburg, Virginia, hotel.

The guy was rolling around on the lawn eating grass, according to the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office.

Such frolicking is not a crime.

But the cops also found multiple cans of Mike’s Hard Lemonade and determined the grazer was drunk. He was arrested on public intoxication charges and held until he sobered up, the sheriff’s office said.

• Read the full story: Guy Eating Grass Outside Hotel Arrested

Squirrel Cancels School

With the same whimsy of philosopher G.K. Chesterton, whose enchantment with pigs caused him to wonder if they ever discussed flying, or if only mankind ponder that, we offer this:

Wouldn’t it be magical if the squirrel whose oopsie gave some Connecticut school kids a mini vacation did it on purpose as part of — apologies, but someone has to say this — a squirrelly spring fling? Ah, Patch digresses. Save exploration of that question for a creative writing class at Carrigan Intermediate School in West Haven, where the squirrel caper went down. Here’s what actually happened:

Scampering along a power line as squirrels are wont to do, this one landed on the school’s transformer and started a fire Thursday morning. It was a small fire. Firefighters quickly extinguished it, and students were never in peril.

But it caused enough inconvenience that classes were dismissed around noon and school was canceled altogether on Friday. A new circuit breaker will be installed and everything will be back to normal Monday.

• Read the full story: Squirrel At School Gets An F In Fire Safety

NYC Turkey Eludes Captors

What is it with the animals? A wild turkey on the loose in New York City has so far eluded attempts to capture it. Concern for the wellbeing of Astoria, as the turkey is affectionately known, prompted calls to the NYPD after she was seen sprinting in traffic.

Astoria has become something of a local celebrity as she trots around Midtown. There’s even a “Manhattan Bird Alert” account on X.

But as much as Astoria has charmed New Yorkers, they think she needs to get off the streets. It’s not safe, due to the perpetual threat of fast cars and dogs, David Barrett, an Upper East Sider who runs the account, told Patch

Astoria is a Roosevelt Island ex-pat. It’s mating season for turkeys, and amore likely lured the bird across the river, Barrett speculated.

“We’re all hoping she goes back to Roosevelt Island as soon as possible because she has a great life there,” Barrett told Patch, adding that the roadways on Roosevelt Island have special “turkey crossing” signs and dog-free yards for Astoria to roam. “It’s a place where she has people who take care of her and provide for her.”

• Read the full Patch Exclusive: Wild Turkey Eludes New York’s Finest

Human Bones Sold On Marketplace

Two Florida women face charges of buying and selling human bones on Facebook Marketplace for their oddities shop, Wicked Wonderland, according to court records.

The investigation began in December 2023 after police got a tip about the advertisements for various bones on the Wicked Wonderland Facebook page. Items for sale included two skull fragments, a clavicle and scapula (collar bone and shoulder blade, respectively), a rib, a vertebra, and a partial skull.

Police said the shop owners said they had been buying the bones from private sellers for several years and weren’t aware they were breaking any laws.

Police confiscated the bones for analysis by the medical examiner’s office. The two women reportedly became upset when the bones weren’t returned.

A forensic anthropology analysis and a medical examiner’s report of two human bone fragments taken from Wicked Wonderland show that one “is likely of archaeological origin” and is about 570 years old, according to court documents.

• Read the full story: Oddities Shop Buys And Sells Human Bones

Secrets Found In Sunken WWII Ship

A genuine mystery is unfolding in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, where researchers exploring a sunken World War II aircraft carrier discovered some surprising cargo.

Instead of warbirds in the hangar on the USS Yorktown, which has been resting on the ocean floor since it was torpedoed in the Battle of Midway in 1942, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ocean Exploration researchers found a fancy-for-the-times 1940-1941 Ford Super Deluxe “Woody.”

“It’s a car. That’s a car. That is a full car,” a surprised researcher exclaimed when the shiny hubcaps on the tires came into view of the remotely operated camera during the April 19 exploration.

The shipwreck has been explored before, but this mission marked the first with remotely operated cameras. And the automobile wasn’t the only surprise they found, either.

• Read the full story: Explorers Shrprised By ‘Exciting Find’ In Sunken World War II Aircraft Carrier

GF Cruised Without Him, So He Did This

A Michigan man made a bogus bomb threat to a cruise ship because he was upset his girlfriend and her family sailed away, leaving him behind to care for their pets, according to court documents.

Prosecutors said the 19-year-old man emailed the threat to the cruise line, writing, “Hey, I think someone might have a bomb on your Sunrise cruise ship.”

The U.S. Coast Guard and Jamaican authorities assisted the Sunrise in docking, so the crew could check the ship’s more than 1,000 rooms.

The defendant apologized and took full responsibility, but the assistant U.S. attorney overseeing the case in Michigan’s Western District. Nils R. Kessler, said the hoax resulted in a “substantial disruption, including inconvenience to the passengers and potential lost revenue to the cruise line.”

The judge gave the upset boyfriend an eight-month prison sentence.

• Read the full story: Upset Girlfriend Took Cruise Without Him, He Made Bomb Threat

‘Minecraft’ Chaos: Dancing With Chickens

The viral “chicken jockey” TikTok challenge recently brought chaos to a metro Atlanta theater when the popular “A Minecraft Movie” was playing.

The Warner Bros. film is based on a well-liked video game that incorporates building and mining. In one scene, one of the characters fights the Chicken Jockey, a devious child who rides a chicken while the crowd throws things.

Of course, TikTok challenges being what they are, a re-enactment of the scene played out in the theater, with fans throwing drinks and popcorn, igniting fireworks, and generally misbehaving.

Someone even snuck in a live chicken as a dance partner.

• Read the full story: Viral ‘Chicken Jockey’ Trend Causes Chaos At ‘A Minecraft Movie’