xxxNews Of The Weirdxxx

Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.

According to a September BBC report, police in South Korea are investigating some of the 22,000 complaints made already this year by computer gamers that characters and property that they have acquired in such all-consuming games as “EverQuest” and “Ultima Online” have been stolen by hackers and sold to other gamers to make their own playing more successful. Experts say such theft of “intangibles” should be punishable by law, but the value of the stolen property might be inconsequential, except to those players whose entire lives revolve around a game and for whom the acquisition of a character or property might have involved hundreds of hours of playing.

In September in Pinson, Ala., Joseph Logan, 46, was arrested for assault just after watching Alabama’s 34-31 football loss to Arkansas on TV, which Logan took pretty hard. He started ranting, slamming doors, and throwing dishes into the sink, and it was at this point that his son, Seth, 20, chose to ask Dad innocently if he would help him buy a car, at which point Dad grabbed a gun, put Seth in a headlock, and fired a bullet near Seth’s ear. Said a sheriff’s deputy, “I know we take football serious in the South, but that’s crossing the line.”

A delay on a London underground train was caused when an apprentice driver fainted while listening to his instructor describe vasectomy surgery that had developed complications.

Family Christian Stores, the largest Christian retail goods chain in the U.S., announced it would begin opening on Sundays.
Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa, Fla. 33679 or [email protected]
Copyright © 2001 by Chuck Shepherd

NEWS OF THE WEIRD