2012: The year in weird
From an amateur's restoration of an art masterpiece that shocked the world, to a man some are calling a very dumb terrorist, here are some of 2012's weirdest news stories.
An anonymous man in Carlsbad, Calif., erected an actual fork in the road at a local intersection where one road split into two. The oversized kitchen utensil was 6 feet high, made of wood and painted silver. A city crew removed it.
An anonymous man in Carlsbad, Calif., erected an actual fork in the road at a local intersection where one road split into two. The oversized kitchen utensil was 6 feet high, made of wood and painted silver. A city crew removed it.
lsoActor Clint Eastwood also set up an Internet meme when he addressed an empty chair and questioned it as if it is President Barack Obama during his speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Aug. 30, 2012.
A Sussex, England, police officer ended up chasing himself for 20 minutes after a closed-circuit TV operator saw a suspicious character on the street and called in police. The plainclothes officer was never able to find the man, who always seemed one step ahead. It turned out the officer was the suspicious character, The Telegraph reported.
How many women can fit in a modern Mini? On Nov. 15 in London, a group of 28 crammed into the tiny vehicle -- including several in the "boot," according the UK's Telegraph newspaper.
In July, Japanese zookeepers had to round up 30 escaped squirrels after they escaped during a typhoon, TIME reported. They were a bit too successful, they managed to "recapture" 38 of the small, furry mammals.
Medusa, a 25-foot python, slithered its way into the record book in 2012 as the longest snake ever in captivity, Guinness World Records said.
Tokyo’s Kenichi Ito set the Guinness world record in 2012 for the fastest 100-meter run on all fours: 17.47 seconds, the Guardian newspaper reported.
A Las Vegas man suffered a heart attack in 2012 after eating the Heart Attack Grill's "triple bypass burger," the local Fox affiliate reported. The man survived.?
A small Scottish town has a twin on the red planet. Glenelg held a "twinning ceremony" in 2012 to celebrity its tie with Glenelg, a geological feature on Mars, the BBC reported.
Zac the macaw made 22 basketball slam dunks in one minute to set a Guinness world record.
A 27-year-old British woman, Hazel Jones, made headlines in 2012 when she revealed that she had uterus didelphys, a condition which caused her to have two vaginas, CBS news reported.
A low-level Taliban commander in Afghanistan, Mohammed Ashan, turned himself in to Afghan police after seeing a wanted poster offering a $100 reward for his capture, the New York Post reported. He was arrested, but didn't get the reward.
According to Guinness World Records, the "Mirai" set the record in 2012 for being the lowest roadworthy car. It measures just under 18 inches from the ground to its highest part.
A Spanish woman in her 80s made international headlines when she did an unauthorized touch-up of a fresco in a church, the BBC reported. Cecilia Gimenez eventually realized she was having trouble and contacted the cultural ministry for help. The painting also became an Internet meme.
A 41-year-old man was treated after being bitten by a decapitated cottonmouth. The dead snake had bitten down on his finger by reflex when he stuck it in the reptile's mouth, WALA-TV reported.
A Wisconsin horse, Big Jake, is the world's tallest living horse, according to Guinness World Records. Jake stands nearly 83 inches tall without shoes.
Guinness World Records said fire breather Antonio Restivo achieved the highest flame blown by a fire breather: more than 26 feet.
A 30-year-old man in Wisconsin legally changed his name to Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop, according to the Huffington Post. Police said he was arrested in 2012 on weapons and drug charges.
