Weirdest News Stories of the Year

Many were shocked when “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett said he was attacked by white men yelling slurs. The men, Smollett claims, beat him, poured a chemical on him, and tied a rope around his neck. It later came out that the attack was orchestrated by Smollett. The two men seen in a footage of the incident told police Smollett paid them to fake a hate crime. Police say the actor orchestrated the scheme because he was dissatisfied with his “Empire” salary. He was charged with filing a false police report, but those charges were later dropped.

As pollution has wreaked havoc on the Great Lakes and surrounding areas, the city of Toledo turned to an unusual solution. Residents proposed a “bill of rights” for the ecosystem of Lake Erie, which borders the city. This symbolic measure, which passed in a referendum in February, gave the lake and surrounding ecosystem the right “to exist, flourish, and naturally evolve”.

An odd question of more than three decades — why Garfield phones keep washing up on the shore of Western France — finally got its answer in March 2019. Since the 1980s, plastic telephones shaped like the beloved comic strip cat Garfield have consistently washed ashore around Brittany, France. A local farmer decided to get to the bottom of the mystery, and after some exploring, he came upon the smashed remnants of a shipping container tucked in a cave filled — or that was once filled — with the feline phones.

Fans are using Twitter to exercise more control over their favorite film franchises. The biggest example of this came in April, when fans were universally horrified by the appearance of Sonic when the trailer to the upcoming video game adaptation, “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie, was first released. Sonic’s legs, teeth, and eyes were alarmingly different than the video game version, and fans were upset, calling it “creepy.” The film’s director acknowledged the gripes, and the studio elected to redo Sonic’s design, pushing the film’s release to February 2020.

Convicted drug trafficker and gang leader Clauvino da Silva thought he had a brilliant plan to escape from prison in Rio de Janeiro. After a visit from his teenage daughter, da Silva donned a wig, glasses, a mask, and a feminine outfit, and attempted to walk out the front door. Guards noticed the “girl’s” nervousness and busted da Silva before he could escape, returning him to serve the rest of his nearly 74-year sentence.

President Donald Trump found himself in an unexpected geopolitical spat in August when the Wall Street Journal reported that he wanted the U.S. to try to buy the Danish territory of Greenland. Though the island has strategic importance, trying to buy territory from another country is highly unusual. Denmark’s prime minister called the suggestion “absurd.”

Superstar wide receiver Antonio Brown left the Oakland Raiders without playing a single snap following some bizarre behavior. Brown first began missing practices after a botched cryotherapy left him with frostbite on his feet. Then, he refused to practice because the NFL would no longer allow him to wear his favored helmet out of safety concerns. Brown filed a number of grievances with the NFL, meanwhile missing more practice. The Raiders fined Brown for skipping workouts, which led to a shouting match between the Pro Bowler and Oakland general manager Mike Mayock. Oakland finally cut Brown, who was signed by the Patriots then released after he was accused of sexual misconduct.

In a bombshell story from September, the U.S. military confirmed that three famous videos released in 2017 with UFOs in them are real. In one, from 2004, an object is seen flying so fast that even advanced sensors were unable to pick it up. In another, awestruck pilots are in disbelief about the unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) flying near them. After years of silence, a Naval spokesman confirmed that the videos are authentic, though they had not been cleared for release or declassified.

A Facebook event titled “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” quickly gained steam and went viral as a joke. The post suggested that if enough people ran into Area 51, the military facility long rumored to store UFOs in it, those storming the facility would be able to get in and “see them aliens.” More and more people joined in on the joke, and soon more than 2 million Facebook users RSVP’d that they would go to the Sept. 20 event. When the time came, there was no mass raid on the site, though several music festivals popped up and attracted 1,500 attendees.

Politicians use staffers to run their official Twitter accounts, but what if they want to post and like anonymously like the rest of us? If you’re Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, you make a burner account. Slate writer and Twitter sleuth Ashley Feinberg gathered evidence suggesting Romney had an account with the pseudonym “Pierre Delecto.” The account criticized President Trump and advocated Romney’s interests. Romney eventually acknowledged the account was his, then made it private.

In a display of southern hospitality, several Birmingham, Alabama, Waffle House customers became Waffle House workers in a pinch. After a schedule mix-up left just one employee to run an entire restaurant, customers began lending a hand, doing the dishes and wiping down tables. A Waffle House spokesman said the gesture was appreciated, but he would rather have the chain’s employees working instead.

An abandoned puppy has become a viral sensation thanks to a unique quirk in his anatomy. The dog has a congenital defect that left him with a small tail in the middle of his forehead, so he was given the name “Narwhal,” in reference to the large “tusked” whale. The suspected dachshund mix is not facing any complications or discomfort from the tail.

If it quacks like a duck, it has legal protection in France. A local court in Southwestern France ruled that the ducks owned by a retired farmer are allowed to continue vocalizing after a new neighbor said their quacking was too loud. The neighbor wanted thousands in damages and a reduction in the nose, which the farmer said would have meant the ducks would have to be slaughtered.

In a heist that sounds straight out of a movie, thieves made off with an estimated over $1 billion in jewel-encrusted artifacts. About 100 pieces were pilfered from Dresden, Germany’s Green Vault Museum in November — and they were not insured. To steal the 18th century collection, the thieves entered the museum after bending a metal grille, breaking through the glass. They then left in a getaway car. As of this writing the thieves had not been caught.

A year after losing his spot running his titular pizza chain, John “Papa John” Schnatter delivered an odd interview in November to Kentucky TV station WDRB. Schnatter, who was pressured to resign as board chairman in 2018 after he was reported to have used a racial slur on a conference call, accused other board members of stealing his company. What received perhaps the most attention after the interview was published was Schnatter’s claim that he had “over 40 pizzas in the last 30 days” from Papa John’s to prove the product had slipped since he left.