News Of The Weird - March 29, 2005

Written by American City & County Administrator

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

Alan Johnson was arrested in Taunton, Mass., in November and charged with burning his girlfriend’s 19-month-old boy with a cigarette lighter while baby-sitting. Johnson’s explanation: The boy went into a seizure, and Johnson, recalling his lifeguard training, thought the solution was to raise the boy’s body temperature to alleviate the seizure.

Recent Sexual Obsessions:
–Surgical masks (Norman Hutchins, 53, was convicted in Leeds, England, in January, of tricking hospitals into sending him masks for his collection).

— Underwater photos of strangers’ legs and buttocks (U.S. Army Maj. James V. McGovern was convicted in January of taking numerous such photos at the swimming pool at Yongsan Garrison, South Korea).

A 23-year-old woman, attempting a handstand on a hotel balcony railing in North Fort Myers, Fla., fell to her death but only after shouting to friends to “watch to see what I can still do” (January).

Kyle Hans, 24, drove his car through the front of a Target store in Fort Wayne, Ind., in January, down an aisle, where he told employees he had a gun and wanted to see his estranged wife so he could reconcile with her. When the employees informed Hans that his wife didn’t work there anymore, he got frustrated and took one of them hostage, forcing the evacuation of the store and an eventual standoff with police. Officers talked Hans down, got the hostage freed and arrested him.
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