On Oct. 10, during the 9 a.m. Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, an unidentified man climbed the Altar of Confession, dropped his pants to his ankles and urinated on the site, the Mirror reported. Hundreds of tourists looked on as plainclothes officers approached him; the Holy Pee-er was quickly removed from the premises after flashing a full moon at the gathered masses. Pope Leo was reportedly "shocked"; it was unclear whether he or another officiant was leading the service. [Mirror, 10/12/2025]

The Foreign Press

France's national postal service, aptly named La Poste, released a croissant-scented stamp on Oct. 8, France24 reported. Nearly 600,000 of the fragrant marks are intended to honor the "emblem of French gastronomy," the postal service gushed. "I had a stock of 1,000 stamps available," said Valence post office director Anthony Richet. "And on the first day, more than 400 stamps were already gone." The stickers can also be used for international mail. [France24, 10/8/2025]

Didn't See That Coming

Zimbabwean opposition lawmaker and poet Desire Moyo, 45, lost his life in a bizarre accident in the early morning hours of Oct. 10, the BBC reported. As Moyo and four others drove along the Bulawayo-Gweru highway, they crashed into an elephant. The other occupants of the car were injured; one of them said the elephant was struck on its backside, after which it turned around and started fighting the car. It is believed the elephant's reaction did the most damage and led to Moyo's demise. [BBC, 10/10/2025]

Questionable Judgment

Congregants at Legacy Faith Church in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 28 were confronted by their pastor, Phillip Thornton, wearing and wielding an assault-style rifle to illustrate his points during his sermon. WHP-TV reported that Thornton used the firearm to symbolize "clearing the room," or using spiritual violence against unbelief. At times, Thornton pointed the gun at the congregation, with a laser bouncing off church members. The church released a statement after concerns were brought to light, saying the gun was "disabled (firing pin removed), cleared and publicly shown to be ammo free." But Thornton also said, "I could get you, any one of you." The statement closed with gratitude for bringing "great attention" to the church. After all, there's no such thing as bad publicity. [WHP, 10/10/2025]

Ewwwww

First of all, apparently in the United Kingdom, ladybugs are called ladybirds. Regardless, one woman is fighting an epic battle against the cute spotted beetles in Hertfordshire, the Daily Star reported on Oct. 10. Lois Mallett-Walker's home has been invaded by "around 300" ladybugs, where they're covering her curtains, windows and walls. And, she said, "One peed on me and it stank." The 35-year-old tried to shoo the bugs outdoors but ended up vacuuming up some of them. "I love ladybugs, but it was far too many in my house for me." [Daily Star, 10/10/2025]

Fake News

Megan Ashlee Davis is a college student in Texas, Chron.com reported on Oct. 10. She is not a server at an Olive Garden in St. Louis, and she didn't get arrested for assault after throwing a basket of breadsticks at a customer. But Davis' life has been turned upside down since a Facebook account called Pure videos posted a (real) mug shot of Davis and claimed she had retaliated for a bad tip by tossing the treats at a diner. "It's probably like my worst nightmare coming to reality," Davis said. She admitted that the mug shot came from a night in August, soon after her mother died, when she was arrested for public intoxication. But this recent post has garnered harassing and creepy comments. "People are disgusting out there -- and scary," she said. "I feel small. Like, how do I even fix this?" [Chron.com, 10/10/2025]

But Why?

Wannabe magistrate Wilber Mateo, 45, of Kansas City, Missouri, was charged with burglary and stealing from a Jackson County, Missouri, courtroom, KSHB-TV reported. Surveillance cameras spotted Mateo inside the courthouse in Independence on Oct. 2 around 3:30 p.m. After speaking with workers there, he slipped into parts of the courthouse that are not covered by the cameras. Around 7:30 p.m., he was recorded entering a courtroom, where he apparently spent the night. The next morning, a witness saw Mateo and alerted officers; they found him wearing a judge's robes and carrying three bags. Inside the bags were a small brass dog statue, pens and a sticky note with login credentials on it -- along with three laptops, data storage, electronic devices and other office supplies. Mateo said he planned to sell the items to the highest bidder. [KSHB, 10/6/2025]

Unconventional Weapon

Former strip club employee Jordan Cotto, 26, arrived at Atlantis Gentlemen's Club in Tampa, Florida, on Oct. 10, hoping to "speak with management," The Smoking Gun reported. Instead, he got involved in a verbal argument and grabbed a cheeseburger from his car, which he hurled at a male victim. The victim was unharmed, but police spoke with Cotto, who said he "did throw a cheeseburger from his vehicle" and "would do it again." Cotto was arrested for battery and eventually released on his own recognizance. [The Smoking Gun, 10/13/2025]

Special Delivery

Blake Michael Kuhlman, 26, a contract driver for Amazon, was arrested for first-degree assault after an incident in an Everett, Washington, apartment complex mailroom on Oct. 3. KRCG-TV reported that Kuhlman and a USPS carrier were in the room when an altercation took place, resulting in the mail carrier being shot in the head. Kuhlman admitted shooting the man, who will survive but lost an eye, because he said the man "was trying to charge at him while he was cornered." Kuhlman was allegedly armed with two guns, a large knife and a bulletproof vest; he told police that he had been attacked on numerous occasions and that he is being "cyberstalked" by the mafia. Kuhlman said he believed the postal worker might have been a "mafia assassin." His bond was set at $1 million. [KRCG, 10/7/2025]

Look What I Found!

-- When Erin Scott O'Brien sold her home in New Orleans in 2018, she left behind a marble tablet given to her by her grandparents, the Associated Press reported on Oct. 11. The "cool-ass piece of art" in her garden was covered by weeds until the current owner, Daniella Santoro, was cleaning up and found it. Santoro alerted her colleague at Tulane University, anthropologist Susann Lusnia, who identified the slab as a 1,900-year-old grave marker of a Roman sailor, Sextus Congenius Verus. He had died at age 42 after more than two decades of service in the imperial navy. More research revealed that the marker had been missing from the National Archeological Museum in Civitavecchia, Italy, since World War II. Now, the FBI is working with Italian authorities to send the tablet home. [AP, 10/11/2025]

-- Ann Vincent Walter of Hale County, Texas, was getting ready for work on Oct. 2 when her son, Hayden, called out to her, United Press International reported. He had spotted what appeared to be a weather balloon over their farm north of Lubbock, but when it landed, they discovered it was a mysterious piece of equipment attached to a parachute. Walter alerted the Hale County Sheriff's Office, who had already heard from NASA about a missing object. NASA said it was part of the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility, which was conducting experiments to help aid the accuracy of telescopes, but after launching from Fort Sumner, New Mexico, it had been blown off course. The CSBF collected the equipment, and Walter and her family got a day of adventure. [UPI, 10/14/2025]

Ohio state Rep. Thaddeus Claggett, of Licking County, introduced a bill in the state house in late September that would declare AI systems "nonsentient entities" and ban them from gaining legal personhood. WCMH-TV reported that the bill seeks to prohibit people (or other AI systems) from marrying AI. Claggett said the legislation would prevent AI from holding power of attorney or making decisions on another's behalf. He said Ohio is "attempting to put some guardrails in place so that we always have a human in charge of the technology, not the other way around." [WCMH, 10/9/2025]

Least Competent Criminal

Dude, don't confess your crimes to ChatGPT. In Springfield, Missouri, 19-year-old Ryan Schaefer went on a crime spree on Sept. 28 in a Missouri State University parking lot, The Smoking Gun reported. The college sophomore allegedly shattered car windows, ripped off side mirrors, dented hoods and broke windshield wipers. When Springfield police officers visited him at his apartment the next day, Schaefer admitted that the person on surveillance video did bear a "resemblance" to him and turned his phone over as evidence. Investigators found a conversation between Schaefer and ChatGPT, which included questions such as "what if I smashed the ... outta multiple cars" and "is there any way they could know it was me." Schaefer went on to make vague threatening statements to the AI tool; he was charged with felony property damage. [The Smoking Gun, 10/1/2025]

Hair Today, Gone

If you haven't made it to Leila's Hair Museum in Independence, Missouri, time is running out. Huff Post reported on Oct. 9 that the 30-year-old museum is re-homing its displays after the death of founder Leila Cohoon last December at 92. Museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Museum of Funeral History are collecting items from Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Monroe and, reportedly, Jesus. Cohoon's granddaughter, Lindsay Evans, said the process of finding new homes for the collection is helping her grieve: "Every time I come here, I feel her here." Cohoon concentrated on finding items from the 19th and 20th centuries, when people kept hair of the dead in jewelry or coiled it into wreaths. She worked with antique dealers all across the country to locate the pieces. "If it had hair, she got it," said Evans. "When this is empty, it'll break my heart a little bit." [Huff Post, 10/9/2025]

News You Can Use

The El Cortez Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas has a sure bet for you: Casino.org is offering $5,000 to one person to spend a full weekend in the hotel, trying to scare up ghosts. The New York Post reported that the 84-year-old hotel, located on the "old strip," reportedly has in the basement the cremated remains of former employees who died without family, among other creepy features. The lucky winner will be furnished with "ghost-hunting gear" including EMF meters, EVP recorders and thermal sensors, and the ghost hunter will be expected to take photos and videos for evidence. [NY Post, 10/6/2025]

Awesome!

On Sept. 25, when an 86-year-old Oskaloosa, Florida, woman took her granddog for a walk, she didn't return after 10 to 15 minutes, as she generally does, her husband said. He called 911 and reported her missing, ABC News reported, and a sheriff's deputy set out to look for her. Deputy Devon Miller soon came upon Eeyore the dog, standing in the middle of the road. The dog "practically dragged" Miller to where the woman had fallen, and help was summoned. Recovering from her hospital bed, the woman was amazed that Eeyore had saved the day. "You're such a good boy. Grandma loves you," she said. [ABC News, 10/8/2025]

Don't Eat That!

-- An elderly woman named Zhang in Hangzhou, China, heard a rumor that swallowing live frogs could alleviate back pain, Oddity Central reported on Oct. 8. She asked relatives to capture some frogs for her (without explaining why) and consumed five in one day, and three the next. When her stomach pain became unbearable, her family rushed her to the hospital, and doctors determined that "Swallowing live frogs damaged the patient's digestive system and allowed parasites to enter her system," one physician announced. She was suffering from a Sparganum tapeworm. Zhang recovered and was discharged after two weeks. [Oddity Central, 10/8/2025]

-- Nathan Rimington, 33, a truck driver from Yorkshire, England, got a craving for gummy candies and went all in, ordering a 6.6-pound bag of Haribo cola bottle sweets, the Manchester Evening News reported on Oct. 1. Then Rimington went all in on eating them, finishing off the bag in three evenings -- all 10,461 calories. A couple of days later, terrible stomach cramps sent him to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with diverticulitis caused by the gelatin in the candies. After six days of IV fluids, he went home and hasn't touched a gummy since. "It was my own stupid fault, I've not eaten a cola bottle since," he said. [Manchester Evening News, 10/1/2025]

Repeat Offender

A business in Greenmount, Maryland, has been victimized three times by the same burglar, the owner, Tia Hamilton, believes. According to WMAR2-TV, Hamilton's store, DiGi Business Center, was broken into on Feb. 6, Sept. 30 and Oct. 2. "I noticed my register is gone; it's the same MO, he's not destroying anything," she said. "There are bars on the window, so you have to be super skinny to fit through those bars." Baltimore police are investigating, but the perp wears gloves and a face covering during the intrusions. "It's a violation to me when you steal," Hamilton said. [WMAR2, 10/6/2025]

The Aristocrats

As if the idea of toddlers driving motor vehicles wasn't breathtaking enough, now you can purchase a luxury car for your wee one, Oddity Central reported on Oct. 1. For the low, low price of $49,000, your tot can proudly sport around in a Russian-made scaled-down Mercedes-Benz SL300 with a top speed of 28 mph. The model, popular in the 1950s and '60s, features adjustable leather seats, functional lights and a subwoofer, for the kids' refined listening tastes. Happy motoring! [Oddity Central, 10/1/2025]

Bright Idea

Stephan Marcum of Stanton, Kentucky, is in hot water for his choice of Halloween decorations, LEX18-TV reported. Police were called to Marcum's residence on Oct. 4, where they found five "bodies" in trash bags with labels on them. The labels were "district judge," "mayor," "SIS," "C.A." and "zoning mgr." Marcum has reportedly had an ongoing dispute with the city over failing to hook up legal water, sewer and electrical services. The threatening decorations were erected sometime after a Sept. 30 court hearing about those violations. Marcum was charged with intimidating a witness in the legal process and third-degree terroristic threatening. [LEX18, 10/8/2025]

What's in a Name?

Avon and Somerset Police in England are hunting for Morgan Freeman, the Somerset County Gazette reported on Oct. 8 -- no, not THAT Morgan Freeman. This fugitive is 27 years old, white, 5-feet-4 and has light brown hair. "He is wanted on recall to prison after failing to comply with license conditions," police said. Maybe he's on the beach with Andy Dufresne. [Somerset County Gazette, 10/8/2025]

In Russia, doctors at the Kirov Regional Clinical Hospital were astounded when a 65-year-old man presented with a tumor the size of his head growing from the back of his neck, the New York Post reported. The surgeons were able to remove the tumor on Sept. 22 and identified it as a benign lipoma -- a fatty lump that grows between the skin and muscle. The patient told doctors he'd been living with the lump for 16 years and had tried treating it with simple ointments, without success. Igor Popyrin, head of surgery at the hospital, said many patients "postpone a visit to a specialist, hoping that the formation will disappear on its own. The only effective treatment is surgical removal." [NY Post, 9/22/2025]

Saw That Coming

On Sept. 22, as Lubbock (Texas) mounted police officers Bryson Lewis and William Trotter assisted with a routine patrol, they stopped a man who was walking in the road, rather than on the sidewalk, KCBD-TV reported. The officers thought 42-year-old Joseph Ramirez was acting suspiciously, and when they asked to check his pockets, he said no. Then Trotter joked that he had a "narcotics-smelling horse" -- and Ramirez took off running. "He took it seriously, and the race was on," Trotter said. But the police horses caught up with him quickly, and Ramirez was charged with evading arrest and tampering with physical evidence with the intent to impair. "Chasing bad guys is part of the fun in it for us," Lewis said. "So when you get to chase down a bad guy and not even get tired, it's a good day." [KCBD, 9/25/2025]

People With Issues

Yaz Chapman, 34, of Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, was diagnosed at age 4 with pica, a disorder that involves eating items that are not typically thought of as food. As a child, she tried talcum powder, chalk and cigarette rolling papers. According to LAD Bible, the mom of four currently eats about 10 sheets of paper each day. "I look forward to the postman," Chapman said. "Certain papers taste different and they have different textures. I'll rip a corner off just to test it." She said she drinks plenty of water to help with constipation. "When someone likes chocolate and they're craving something sweet, they eat it and they feel those happy chemicals being released in their brain. It's like that," Chapman said about living with pica. [LAD Bible, 9/30/2025]

Least Competent Criminals

-- Keajion L. Jennings of Fairview Heights, Illinois, told the Fairview Heights police officer whose car he had just rear-ended that he did it because he was "bored" and "I hate cops." The Belleville News-Democrat reported that on Sept. 24, as officer Travis Montgomery stopped a different car for an expired license plate sticker, Jennings drove his 2018 Camaro into the back of Montgomery's squad car. Jennings "admitted he had consumed alcohol and weed gummies," a department statement said. He was charged with criminal damage to government-supported property, two counts of aggravated battery and one count of aggravated assault. Montgomery and the occupants of the other car were unhurt. [Belleville News-Democrat, 9/26/2025]

-- Six people were arrested in Los Angeles, KTLA-TV reported on Sept. 30, after they attempted to raise a banner on the iconic Hollywood sign. The LAPD said the group "trespassed all the way up to the Hollywood sign" with a banner advertising the cryptocurrency business Pump.fun. Jake Hillhouse, one of the six, said the group wanted to be "one of the only" to successfully alter the sign; to that end, they filmed every step along the way, from creation of the banner to raising it with ropes as a police helicopter circled overhead. Their post on X went viral, so ... promotion achieved! [KTLA, 9/30/2025]

Compelling Explanations

-- Around 11 a.m. on Sept. 30, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst near Trenton, New Jersey, went into lockdown, the Associated Press reported. The warning stemmed from a text about a shooter on the base sent by Malika Brittingham, a civilian who works for the Naval Air Warfare Center. She told the person she texted that she had heard five or six shots and was sheltering in a closet with co-workers. The text recipient called 911, prompting the lockdown. But as it turned out, there was no shooter. Prosecutors say Brittingham confessed to committing the hoax because she had been "ostracized by her co-workers and hoped their shared experience in response to an active shooter would allow them to 'trauma bond.'" She faces charges of knowingly conveying false information about an active shooter who didn't exist. [AP, 10/1/2025]

-- In Palm Coast, Florida, Flagler County Sheriff's deputies pulled over 57-year-old Michael Stanek of Welaka on Sept. 23 for speeding -- or in his case, superspeeding, Fox News reported. Stanek was going 107 mph. When an officer asked him why he was going so fast, bodycam video captured his excuse: "I have an appointment with my barber." Chances are he didn't make it; the officer said he would spend the night in jail after "weaving in and out of traffic" and "putting other people's lives in danger." [Fox News, 10/1/2025]

News You Can Use

Looking for a get-rich-quick scheme? Start saving those fingernail clippings. In traditional Chinese medicine, Oddity Central reported on Sept. 26, clippings are incorporated into medicinal products to treat abdominal distension and tonsillitis. Companies that make the treatments purchase the clippings and wash them thoroughly before grinding them into powder, and the prices paid for them are relatively high (compared to, say, the value of throwing them in the trash). One woman sold clippings for $21 per kilogram (she'd been saving them since childhood). [Oddity Central, 9/26/2025]

Animal Antics

A black swan nicknamed "Mr. Terminator" was removed from his adopted home in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, on Sept. 30, the Independent reported. The swan, also called Reggie, turned up in the famous berg nine months ago, said swan warden Cyril Bennis. At first, residents and visitors loved seeing the creature among the native mute swans, which are white. "He became more popular than William Shakespeare himself," Bennis said. "The darkest side of our Mr. Terminator happened when he tried to muscle in on a pair of our residents with a young cygnet ... He kicked out the male and the cygnet. He tried to take over its territory with the other female." When the swan started trying to drown his fellow fowl, "It needed to move on." Bennis is still recovering from injuries to his chest sustained during the removal process, but he said the "river is quiet and the mute swans are just relaxing." Mr. Terminator is at his new home in Devon. [Independent, 10/2/2025]

Bright Idea

Holiday Inn Express guests in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Japan are trying out a new concept in the wakeup call category, the New York Post reported on Oct. 1. The Breakfast Alarm Clock will wake up sleepy customers with the smells of their favorite breakfast items. People can choose aromas including coffee, bacon, blueberry muffin, mango or pear. The device works like a diffuser, releasing the scent at the desired time. Holiday Inn commissioned research that showed 58% of travelers in the Asia Pacific region said a pleasant smell would make them feel better as they woke up. "We know the power of scent: That first whiff of coffee or fresh croissant can work wonders," said vice president Dean Jones. [NY Post, 10/1/2025]