Odd Stew – Weird and Bizarre News – Issue 2

July 18, 2015

moneytreeHere comes the 2nd issue of weird, bizarre, and odd news that you might have missed over the last few weeks.

Just Trying to Enjoy a Drink and This Happens

A 35 year-old British woman had an unfortunate turn of events when she went to grab for her cell phone that fell on the floor.  The woman was enjoying a night out on the town at the George Hotel in Machester, United Kingdom, when she innocently dropped her phone.  When she went to grab it, she got herself stuck between the legs of a bar stool.  She was trapped for 30 minutes before firefighters were called in to extract her.  They had to remove a leg of the stool to get finally get her out.  It’s unknown when her friends quit laughing.

At Least She Didn’t Realize She Was Pregnant

A Florida woman got a shock after spending time with friends on July 4th.  She discovered days later that she had been shot.  The woman had gone to the doctor thinking that a firecracker had hit her, but the doctor found that a bullet had entered her leg and was still there.  The ordeal happened at a cafe she was visiting on the 4th when she felt something sting her leg.  Her boyfriend helped her clean up the area, and they noticed there was no blood and assumed it was from a misplaced firecracker.  Four days passed before the visit to the doctor and the unsettling announcement that she had somehow been shot.  A single .38-caliber bullet was found on an x-ray, lodged in her thigh.  Police in Deland, Florida have no idea who made the shot, and they assume it was from someone shooting in the air.  The woman will have a scary keepsake from the July 4th weekend because doctors have said the bullet is too close to a major artery so they’re going to leave it where it is.

That’s One Way to Do It

There may be something in the water in Florida, because here’s another strange story that happened in the state recently.  Two men came up with a unique way to steal an ATM machine from a bank in Winter Haven, Florida.  The men were caught with the ATM in the back of their truck as they drove to their homes in Clewiston, Florida.  The men claimed they were only looking for scrap metal, and weren’t sure how the ATM got in the back of their truck.  It wasn’t long before the police discovered that the men had used a backhoe stolen from a nearby construction site to pull the machine from its location.  They are currently in jail for grand theft.

There Really Is a Money Tree

In Mirow, Germany, during a hot July weekend, a tree there began to let loose with euro notes in denominations of 50.  People around the tree informed police who found $200,000 in cash held in plastic bags hanging in the tree.  The elastic holding the bag of money broke open because a pipe holding it in the tree had begun to bend due to the high temperatures.  The owner of the campsite where it occured claimed ownership, but police have yet to confirm it.  They suspect it was up in the tree because of a cottage fire that had taken place nearby a week before.  The people who found the money won’t go away empty handed for their good deed.  They are supposed to get $6,000 for turning it in, and if the ownership isn’t proved in six months, they will be able to receive the entire $200,000.

Getting Creative For a Date

Ren Lu You, a Birmingham, Alabama man who is 29 years old, is offering a prize of $10,000 to anyone who can set him up on a date that turns into a relationship that lasts at least six months.  You, who is a Harvard graduate and a private equity associate, has found that dating can be for the birds.  So much so that he has set up a website for people to submit would-be girlfriends.  On the site, called DateRen.com, You writes, “I save a ton of time on finding romantic prospects and going on bad dates. You make a bunch of money for something you might have done for a friend, just for fun.”  He even has sort of a disclaimer, in that no one he dates can claim the prize.  He goes on to explain his reasoning with, “if you work 12 hours/day, how would you want to spend the few waking hours you have left? Probably not standing around in a bar with your fingers crossed,” and even he admits his concept is “weird”.  Seems like a good way to cut down on the hassle.  (He even has a great quote from his mom that states, “He is nice boy.”)

That’s it for this edition.  Come back next week to see what other oddities are in the stew.

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About the author 

Daniel Ganninger - The writer, editor, and chief lackey of Knowledge Stew, the author of the Knowledge Stew line of trivia books, and editor of Fact World and the Knowledge Stew sister site on Medium, our ad-free subscription sites (you can find out how to join below). I hope you find things here to annoy those around you with your new found knowledge.

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