Florida is getting set to stage a true only-in-Florida spectacle, popping the question in an unusual place, moose tracks and tarantula tales, plus the heist of a solid gold toilet from a British tourist attraction all rate in this month’s recounting of stories you may have missed that are truly “strange but true.”
IT AIN’T THE OLYMPICS
A group of Floridians plan to host competitions themed according to the collective antics of the beer-loving, gator-possessing, rap-sheet heavy, mullet-wearing social media phenomenon known as “Florida Man.” Organizers of the “Florida Man Games” describe the competition as “the most insane athletic showdown on Earth.” The games will poke fun at Florida’s reputation for producing strange news stories involving guns, drugs, booze, and reptiles — or some combination of the four.
Among the contests planned for next February in St. Augustine, according to organizers, are the Evading Arrest Obstacle Course in which contestants jump over fences and through yards while being chased by real police officers; the Category 5 Cash Grab in which participants try to grab as much money in a wind-blowing booth; and the self-explanatory beer-belly wrestling. “This isn’t just a competition; it’s a one-of-a-kind Floridian spectacle!” organizers said on the games’ website. General admission tickets to the event are going for $45. Two former stars of the 1990s television show “American Gladiators” have agreed to serve as referees.
MOOSE ON THE LOOSE
A herd of followers have been tracking a moose on the loose in southern Minnesota, hoping the majestic animal’s journey ends safely after it was recently seen 225 km. northwest of Minneapolis. Fans followed the young male moose for weeks, posting updates on a Facebook page that has more than 18,000 followers. Admirers call the animal “Bullwinkle” or “Rutt,” the latter in homage to a scatterbrained moose from the movie “Brother Bear.”
A Minnesota Department of Natural Resources big game expert said that moose typically only roam in northern Minnesota, making the now-famous moose’s visit to south and central Minnesota a rare treat. Todd Froberg, the agency’s big game program coordinator, said the young moose is likely looking for home territory or other moose and is expected to continue moving north. “It’s almost like seeing a unicorn,” said one fan. “They’re just really beautiful animals, and we don’t get a chance to see them around our area.”
IS THAT AN ANTLER IN YOUR POCKET?
A Nebraska woman bagged a marriage proposal late last month along with a big buck during a recent deer hunting trip. Samantha Camenzind’s boyfriend not only gave her the first shot at the deer they had spotted on a trail camera south of Lincoln, but then surprised her by popping the question in the middle of a photo shoot with the prized trophy – a giant buck with 11 tines on one side of its antlers and nine on the other. “Everybody has been saying they would marry him, too, if he let them shoot this big of a deer,” Camenzind, 28, who lives in Omaha, told the Omaha World-Herald.
THIS STINKS!
Four men appeared in court this after being charged in the theft of an 18-carat gold toilet (photo) from Blenheim Palace, the sprawling English country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born. The toilet, valued at over $6 million was an artwork titled “America” and intended as a pointed satire about excessive wealth by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan. It was part of an art installation at Blenheim Palace, near the city of Oxford, a few days before it vanished overnight in September 2019.
Seven people had been arrested over the heist, but no charges had been brought until now, four years after the toilet was stolen. The artwork has never been found.
The golden toilet was fully functioning, and prior to the theft, visitors to the exhibition could book a three-minute appointment to use it. Police said that because the toilet had been connected to the palace’s plumbing system, its removal caused “significant damage and flooding” to the 18th-century building, a UNESCO World Heritage site filled with valuable art and furniture that draws thousands of visitors each year.
WHY DID THE TARANTULA CROSS THE ROAD?
A tarantula crossing the road in Death Valley National Park caused a traffic crash that sent a Canadian motorcyclist to the hospital. Swiss travellers, driving a rented camper van, braked suddenly to avoid hitting the tarantula as it crossed State Route 190 recently the US National Park Service said. The 24-year-old motorcyclist then struck the back of the camper van.
“The spider walked away unscathed,” the park service wrote in a statement.
A FUROR OVER FUERHER
Italy’s culture minister is refusing a request by the German State Antiquities Collection in Munich to return an ancient Roman statue that embodied Hitler’s Aryan aesthetic, calling it a national treasure.
The Discobolus Palombara is a 2nd-century Roman copy of a long-lost Greek bronze original. Hitler had bought the Roman copy from its private Italian owner in 1938 under pressure from Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and against the wishes of the education minister and cultural officials. The statue, unearthed at a Roman villa in 1781, was returned to Italy in 1948 as part of works illegally obtained by the Nazis.
Italy’s culture minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano, expressed doubts that the German culture minister, Claudia Roth, was aware of the Bavarian request and slammed the German request for its return as “inadmissible.”