Archive for November 2009
This is the fourth installment of a StrangeRush mini.
A mini will be four semi-strange stories that will be condensed into one post but will be told very briefly, typically one paragraph per story. A mini will be posted roughly 1-2 times a week and the purpose is to tell several strange stories that are interesting, but not worthy of their own full post. They will be quick and to the point and typically leave out any mystery as to where they are going.
Ouch!!! That Hurt-
JACKSON, Ohio- Nathan Beavers just wanted to make a little extra spending money, so he took a babysitting job watching a few small children, while being accompanied by some friends. During the day’s excitement, Beavers accidentally stepped on the foot of one of the boys he was watching. Upset, the boy went to a closet, retrieved a shotgun, and shot Beavers in the arm and side. Another teenager was also injured by the attack. The boy was only four years old. Sounds like someone needs a father figure.
Let’s Have a Drink-
SCHERERVILLE, Indiana- A 24 year old mother was pulled over and arrested for driving under the influence, while she had her one year old son with her. The boy’s father was called and when he came to pick up his son he was also arrested for driving while intoxicated. As a last resort the boys grandparents were called and they too showed up….and they too had both also been drinking, but granny was not over the legal limit and police escorted her home with the boy. Sounds like AA may need to be a family affair in this northwestern Indiana town.
Sleeping on the Job -
PONCHATOULA, Louisiana- A young man broke into the French Corner Church so he could break into the safe. When he was unsuccessful he then broke into another of the church’s buildings where he felt it was appropriate to take a little nap. And that’s where police caught him, taking a nap in a guest apartment. I would think if you are that tired you’d either take a nap before attempting to steal from God, or reschedule the robbery for a day you are more well rested.
The Mad Cash Dash-
BERLIN, Germany- A 23 year old German man was test driving a convertible sports car when the 23,000 euros ($31,180 US) in 500, 200, and 100 notes that he had in an envelope in the passenger seat pocket, blew out and all over the roadway. Police blocked off the road and 20K of the 23K euros were recovered. What I want to know is where on Earth does a 23 year guy get that kind of raw cash?
© 2009 StrangeRush.com
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GRAND HAVEN, Michigan-
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Not a lot of people know the “history” of Thanksgiving in the United States. Thanksgiving dates back to 1621 and the Mayflower Pilgrims at the site of the Plymouth Plantation, which is now generally the Cape Cod area of Eastern Massachusetts. Thanksgiving did not become an actual recognized holiday until 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it a day for American’s to express thanks for their many blessings. And that’s the end of your history lesson…..I just didn’t want anyone to ever say StrangeRush.com is all fun and games (even though that’s all it really is;)
So YES, I do have a story for you…..applaud now. One can only imagine how many millions of turkeys have sacrificed their innocent little lives for our eating pleasure since Thanksgiving came into existence. I’d imagine 99.9% of turkeys go down without much of a fight, probably understanding in their puny little brains that the human beast will not be without his turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing dinner in late November (Okay, so the turkeys probably don’t understand their eminent fate). Whether turkeys act on some reasoning skills or pure instinct when trying to escape their captors, the turkey hunters will not be outwitted, knowing there’s a hungry population of human beings counting on them to come through with enough turkey for “turkey day”.
Knowing that 99.9% of turkeys are mostly subservient to human needs, there does appear to be one small faction of ruthless wild turkeys who have had enough, and are doing their best to take back control of their streets. In Grand Haven, Michigan, a small town on the eastern seaboard of Lake Michigan there is a flock of rogue turkeys that don’t take any crap. In Grand Haven, it doesn’t pay to be a mail carrier. One afternoon, a mailman named Doug Cody, saw three of the tasty birds while doing his rounds. One of the birds spotted him from down the street and began to make a serious run at him, and the two other birds joined in. According to Cody, they made a dead on run at him, forcing him to retreat to a house’s porch before the three birds could claim him as the first victim of their Turkey Jihad.
After it was all said and done, and Cody was able to make his escape he asked around. He learned that three other mail carriers had also been preyed upon by the fanatical birds. Better get some hunters out to the streets of Grand Haven before these turkeys recruit more naughty turkeys. That’s how Civil Wars start.
So with that I say, tonight, as you are eating your tasty turkey, please remember what that bird gave up to be a part of your life, and thank the little bugger for his sacrifice.
The moral of the story: Don’t forget the gravy.
© 2009 StrangeRush.com
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AHMADABAD, India-
This story is pretty darn crazy and shocking. It was supposed to be just another train ride for a young Indian woman named Bhuri, who was on an overnight excursion with family members. Bhuri hadn’t expected so much excitement would follow her on her travels. Late in the evening, nearing the midnight hour, Bhuri excused herself to the restroom. Two stops later family members began to worry because she had not returned, so they went to check on her. They knocked on the restroom door and Bhuri opened it covered in blood. Evidently, she had sat on the toilet and had given birth 10 weeks premature to a baby girl, who then fell into the toilet. This sounds really bad and you’d expect her to quickly pull the newborn out and seek immediate assistance.
Well, in India, it’s not quite that simple. Because in India, toilets in trains are typically open holes to the tracks below, and on this particular train this was, in fact, the case. After the delivery into the toilet, Bhuri immediately passed out and was not revived until she heard the knocks on the door.
This is where the sad part of the story typically starts, and the type of story I try to shy away from. But on this particular night this newborn baby girl’s guardian angels seemed to have been working overtime. After two hours on the tracks, she was found, alive and in decent shape.
The moral of the story: NEVER EVER walk on train tracks in India.
© 2009 StrangeRush.com
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24
Chicago’s Finest
5 Comments | Posted by Ryan in Brilliant Crime Fighters, The Best of StrangeRush.com
CHICAGO, Illinois-
At some point in every man’s life he has had dreams and aspirations of becoming a police officer. It’s totally natural. Policeman, fireman, astronaut, professional football player, they’re all part of the natural male cycle of life.
When I first heard about this story I found it to be so utterly crazy and unbelievable that I wanted to save it for as long as I could, but the mood to write it just struck me and my hope is that I can do this wonderfully strange story the justice it’s due. So let’s see what I can make of it.
According to Wikipedia, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) has 13,400 sworn officers and is the second largest police force in the entire United States, right after the NYPD. So it is only obvious that with that many officers protecting 237 square miles, the reach of influence of one particular officer is only a couple hundred other officers at most, but more likely 50 or so. Most officers would only know an extremely small portion of the other officers in such a large city. So on a daily basis any given officer could come into contact and potentially work side-by-side with other officers they have never met before.
This is exactly what happened to seven of the Chicago Police Department’s finest. They each had significant contact with a new officer that none of them had ever met. In fact, they had never met him because he wasn’t even a police officer at all, just a guy impersonating one. According to the CPD this is not an altogether too uncommon occurrence. In 2007 there were 20 cases of impersonating an officer, 24 in 2008, and early in 2009 when this story actually happened, only eight.
As the story goes a gentleman entered the South Side Station at 1:30pm through an unlocked door at the rear of the building. He was in uniform and was issued a radio. He then proceeded to ride in a police car, side by side with another ‘real’ officer. During the afternoon the fake officer used the police terminal in the patrol car and participated in five calls, including assisting another officer in handcuffing a suspect. He also drove the police cruiser for two hours during the day.
At 7:37pm, six hours and seven minutes after he illegally entered the police station, he returned at the end of his fake shift. It was then, FINALLY, a supervisor discovered he was not wearing a complete uniform, which included the lack of a firearm. Isn’t a gun required to patrol the streets of any city large or small? How could he have gone unnoticed for six hours without a gun? He was then arrested at 7:40pm for impersonating a peace officer.
At this point you should be shaking your head and wondering how this sort of thing could happen, being dragged out for 6 hours unnoticed? Talk about egg on the CPD’s face, so to speak. Well, I’m not quite done yet. There is one more part that is so unreal, that it trumps the rest of the story.
When these competent police officers arrested the gentleman and went to ID him they discovered he wasn’t even a young man, but merely a 14 year old boy who aspired to be a police officer. Isn’t being observant one of the key traits of being a police officer? Looks like to me quite a few of Chicago’s Finest need to retake their observance class.
Oops!
The moral of the story: If the officer sitting next to you in the patrol car looks like your 8th grade son’s best friend, odds are he’s cutting history class and his girlfriend is mad because he hasn’t texted her for at least 10 minutes.
© 2009 StrangeRush.com
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ROCK HILL, South Carolina-
I remember when I was a kid, the week leading up to Christmas day was agonizing. In terms of a child’s mind and the desire for instant gratification, it was as if the entire month of December crawled by. First, the tree would go up in early December, then the packages would slowly trickle in. There were presents coming from the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and of course the Santa factor. On December 10th five packages resided under the tree, by the 20th there were 10, and by Christmas morning 50+ for everyone in the family. The kids always had each of their own targeted, the size, shape, weight, wrapping paper, and exact location locked in their memory banks.
At some point most kids had their hands in the cookie jar (wrapped around their own presents) long before Christmas morning ever arrived. Most kids, myself included, would shake, rattle, and roll the ones we suspected were the “big ones”. Maybe even on a rare occasion, when no one was home, the courage arose to peel off one side of tape and sneak a peek. But usually that was pushing it. After all, if Santa caught wind of such a desperate and daring act, he may have skipped your house altogether.
So what happens when the temptation gets to be too much? Pretty easy, you just open the present you want early. And that’s exactly what a South Carolina boy did. He was specifically told by his great-grandmother not to open any presents, but this rebellious 12 year old didn’t listen, because he knew he was getting a Nintendo Game Boy Advance, and by God, he wanted it right away.
The boy’s 27 year old, single mother said she had had it with his behavior, saying that he had stolen money from her, shoplifted, punched a police officer, and was nearing expulsion from school. She asked her son about the missing Game Boy and he denied knowing anything about it. Then she threatened to call the police and he fessed up and returned it. Despite returning the stolen goods his mother still called police and had her delinquent son arrested. He was charged with petty larceny but not jailed. The mother said she hoped the arrest would scare some sense into her son.
The Moral of the story: If you have a son who has shoplifted and punched a police officer, maybe the damn Game Boy should have never been under the tree in the first place.
© 2009 StrangeRush.com
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This is the third installment of a StrangeRush mini.
A mini will consist of four semi-strange stories that will be condensed into one post but will be told very briefly, typically one paragraph per story. A mini will be posted roughly 1-2 times a week and the purpose is to tell several strange stories that are interesting but not worthy of their own full post. They will be quick and to the point and typically leave out any mystery as to where they are going.
Just a Little Car Crash-
RACINE, Wisconsin- Car crashes and people getting hurt in them are a common occurrence. Early one morning a driver was traveling at a high rate of speed. He missed his intended turn and ended up turning on another street going the wrong direction. He proceeded to hit two parked cars and flipped his own car, finally crashing it into a third car driving his direction. The driver of the car was drunk…..and so was the driver in the other vehicle. Talk about two needles in a haystack finding each other.
It’s Just a DUI*-
ARVADA, Colorado- Luckily this man didn’t hit any cars or cause any injuries to others while he was under the influence. He was given a DUI by the police in a Denver suburb. The only thing was that he wasn’t driving a car, he was riding a horse. The man was given a $25 traffic violation for riding a horse in a strip mall. He said he was just out for a joyride. I wonder if the thought ever crossed his mind to make a run for it?
Fetch It -
BERLIN, Germany- A man was playing fetch with his dog while the two took a walk. When the pooch returned after one of his jaunts to retrieve the ball his owner noticed it didn’t look like the dog was carrying the ball anymore. Instead he had something round and rusty in his mouth, but it was definitely not the ball. Upon further inspection the owner found that the pooch had a grenade left over from World War II. Evidently, in Germany WWII grenades hanging around are not all that uncommon. Oh boy, how exciting for the kids.
Red Light District-
OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma- A man was determined to find a prostitute to take care of his manly desires but this cheapskate didn’t even have any cash to pay for her services. Money or not, this smooth talking John was not going to be refused. He was later found in her car getting what he needed and all he had to pay for her services was a $30 case of chips, and she gladly accepted it. She was fined $1,142 for her indiscretion. Is it considered bribery if she offers the police a bag of chips or are they considered dirty-chips?
© 2009 StrangeRush.com
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BERLIN, German-
Some would say there is nothing worse than annoying neighbors, and believe me I’ve had my fair share of them. Unfortunately though, annoying neighbors come in all shapes and sizes as far as the things they do. And after you move into a new home, or new neighbors move in next to you, it can take months to figure out which ones will be troublesome.
But annoying an elderly neighbor is just down right rude. Take for example this 82-year-old German man whose rude neighbors had been playing the same annoying, serenading music over and over again, day after day, night after night. He reported his problem to the police and said that his neighbors played the disruptive music at very irregular hours and at all times of the day and night, and it was driving him downright crazy.
Police came out to assist the gentleman with his problem and upon investigating found that he had a musical greeting card sitting in the windowsill and the breeze from the open window would randomly open the card and cause it to play the tune around the clock. Hey, I can’t fault the poor guy, 82 is 82 and annoying is annoying. At least he can be thankful that he still has good ears.
The moral of th story: It’s not always the neighbor’s fault.
© 2009 StrangeRush.com
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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania-
In April of 1995 Philadelphia attorney H. Beatty Chadwick was ordered to turn over $2.5 million dollars while in a bitter divorce case with his soon to be ex wife, Bobbie. When Chadwick did not turn over the money as ordered he was found to be in contempt of court. Chadwick contended that it was not that he refused to turn over the money, but rather he did not have it anymore because he had lost it in bad investments. The court did not believe him and sentenced Chadwick to prison for the contempt.
Chadwick made repeated attempt to have himself freed and eventually his pleas were heard by Delaware County Judge Joseph Cronin, who determined Chadwick’s continued incarceration was no longer coercing him to turn over the money and therefore the judge declared the imprisonment was no longer legal. There had to be a chance he would turn over the money to keep in him prison any longer and the judge did not believe that chance was there. All the while Chadwick continued to maintain he no longer had it.
On July 10, 2009, at the ripe old age of 73, after 14 long years, H. Beatty Chadwick was finally released from prison. He had served the longest imprisonment on a civil contempt charge in United States history. After his release, Chadwick went on record as saying, “If I had been convicted of murder in the third degree in Pennsylvania, I would have been out in half the time I was in jail for contempt of court.”
The moral of the story: We are raised to believe the United States has the very best judicial system in the world, and for the most part it’s probably true, but sometimes there are some pretty big cracks in that system.
© 2009 StrangeRush.com
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HIGHLAND PARK, Illinois-
Ilana Jackson and Jeremy Fierstien had been anxiously waiting for their big day. They were in love and only two days away from tying the knot and proclaiming their eternal love for each other. But neither of them felt well, both experiencing vomiting, achy limbs, and fever.
With the Swine Flu running wild worldwide, one would think the two would take a step back and reevaluate the situation. Instead the couple went to the doctor, confirmed they each positively had the dreaded Swine Flu, and went on with the wedding.
The bride wore a traditional white wedding gown and the groom a tux, in fact they each looked very weddingly except for the white face masks they each adorned. They had asked doctors and were assured that being affected with the Swine Flu would not pose any serious risk to their guests. But just to be on the safe side the couple kept a 10 foot distance between themselves and each guest and they even walked around everyone instead of the traditional way of walking down the isle.
So my first thought was why take the chance of infecting others when the general population is already so on edge about the Swine Flu? Then I thought maybe they feared the worst and wanted to marry so they could say they were married, in case one or both of them didn’t make it. But then reality set back in and I realized that if either one of them was in mortal danger, doctors would never have allowed the ceremony to take place in the first place and they’d be in the hospital being monitored. So I’m back to my original question…..why not put it off due to severe health reasons? I guess they wanted to make it memorable and I’m sure they did, no one will ever forget the Swine Flu “I Do”.
The moral of the story: If anyone ever asks you to attend a Swing Flu marriage, you’re better off watching it from across the street.
© 2009 StrangeRush.com
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HAYDEN, Idaho-
Anyone who has ever been to, or lived in Hayden, Idaho can tell you that it can get pretty darn cold there in the winter being that close to the Canadian border. Hayden residents Don and Penny Fisher can attest to this personally. For three years and three months the Fishers endured frigid conditions inside their own home, surviving by building fires and bundling up because the couple could not afford the excessively high utility bills they were receiving from the Avista Corporation, the city’s gas and electric company.
But for the Fishers it wasn’t that easy. They heavily conserved on using the utilities and sacrificed comfort, but still continued to receive the high utility bills, all the while knowing they could not have possibly been racking up that much utility debt. They said the bills got so bad they had to skimp on the three Christmases during that time period. Finally, they said during the third January they got so desperate that they reported a fake gas leak to get someone from the utility company to come out and check it out. During that visit it was discovered that their meter had been crossed with their neighbor’s for those three years. One month they had paid $238 while the neighbor paid only $28. The Avista Corporation reimbursed the Fishers nearly $2,000.
The moral of the story: If you rarely use gas or electricity and still get utility bills for hundreds of dollars, don’t wait three years to fake a gas leak.
© 2009 StrangeRush.com
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