A host of holiday season craziness, an unlikely treasure, Superman to Moby Dick page-turners, and a riddle – what’s black and white and marauds around Maryland? – highlight our first ‘weird and wacky’ of 2022.

AT LEAST THE DOG WILL BE HAPPY

A woman who returned from a flight to Europe with more than $3,000 worth of gifts in her luggage found the contents gone — and replaced with dog food. Gina Sheldon, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, also found an old T-shirt and a shaving cream bottle in her bag. “There was a leather jacket I had purchased for my 16-year-old,” Sheldon said. I had bought these really cute leather wristlet band purses that I had bought to give to various family and friends.”

Sheldon said she spent 11 days in Italy and stopped in Paris for a few days for business on her way home recently. Sheldon booked her flight through Delta Air Lines, but it was operated by Air France, the latter apologizing for the mishap and promising to “find a resolution.”

WHALE OF A TALE

This year’s Moby-Dick Marathon, the annual cover-to-cover reading of Herman Melville’s iconic man-versus whale novel hosted by Massachusetts’ New Bedford Whaling Museum concludes Jan. 9. The non-stop reading, again a virtual event this year, takes about 25 hours to complete and is featuring celebrity reader Sam Waterston. The Oscar-nominated actor is a Melville aficionado who once read the part of Ishmael in a 2001 celebration of the 150th anniversary of “Moby-Dick” at Tanglewood. The marathon has been held since 1997.

JEEPERS PEEPERS

New York, Hong Kong, and Las Vegas had nothing on Bethlehem, Pa., when it came to New Year’s Eve. For the 13th consecutive year, the town hosted its two-day PEEPSFEST event, featuring a host of family activities, not least the locally famous Chick Drop finale, which saw a giant (180 kg, 1.50 m tall) illuminated chicken descend for the countdown to the new year on each night of the family-focused festival. “We are thrilled to be celebrating PEEPSFEST in person again this year, PEEPS Chick Drop has become a beloved New Year’s Eve tradition for our local community, as well as families across the country,” said a spokesperson.

THE ULTIMATE RE-GIFT

Two New Hampshire brothers have gotten their holiday regifting skills down to an art – they’ve been passing the same hard candy back and forth for over 30 years. It started in 1987, when Ryan Wasson gave a 10-roll Frankford “Santa’s Candy Book” (photo) with assorted fruit flavours to his brother, Eric, as a joke for Christmas, knowing that Eric wouldn’t like it. “I didn’t eat them,” Eric Wasson said. “And so the next year I thought, ‘Hey, I think I’m going to give it back to him. He’ll never remember.’”

But Ryan immediately recognized it. They’ve been taking turns ever since, keeping a log of their exchanges. They’ve gotten creative about it. Ryan Wasson says candy has been frozen in a block of ice and put in Jell-O, adding, “He one time sewed it into a teddy bear.” The tradition has also involved family members, co-workers and even a sheriff’s department. Last year, it was presented to Ryan on a silver platter at a restaurant.

This year, Ryan Wasson turned to social media for ideas. Suggestions included having it arrive via a pizza delivery or Christmas carolers, hiding it in a book or cake, or holding a scavenger hunt with clues. “If you ask which one has ever done the best as far as giving these, we’re both going to say it’s ourself, right?” Ryan said. “We’re never going to give in.”

ONE MAN’S JUNK…

A drawing purchased at an estate sale in Massachusetts for $30 is believed to be a rare work by a Renaissance artist worth tens of millions of dollars. International art experts say the previously unknown drawing by Albrecht Dürer could be one of the most significant art discoveries in recent memory. The pen-and-ink drawing is about the size of a children’s book and depicts a seated Mary holding the newborn Jesus. Titled “The Virgin and Child with a Flower on a grassy Bench,” it was last sold around 2016 in Concord, a Boston suburb.

UP, UP AND THEY PAY

A rare copy of a Superman #1 comic book that sold on newsstands for a dime in 1939 was purchased for $2.6 million in an auction. The comic showing Superman leaping over tall buildings on the cover was sold to a buyer who wishes to maintain a secret identity, according to ComicConnect.com, an online auction and consignment company. The seller, Mark Michaelson, bought the comic in 1979 from its original owner and kept it in a temperature-controlled safe. Michaelson, now semi-retired and living in Houston, paid his way through college by buying and selling comics. The character created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster is a pioneer of the superhero genre, and comics featuring the Man of Steel have netted super prices recently, including a copy of Action Comics #1, the comic that introduced Superman in 1938, for $3.25 million.

A BLACK AND WHITE STORY

Two zebras running loose since escaping a Maryland farm about four months ago have been caught. In late August, the two zebras fled from an Upper Marlboro farm where officials have said about 40 zebras live. Residents in the region shared sightings of the free-roaming pair on social media. The duo was originally a trio, but one got caught in an illegal snare trap on a neighbouring property and died soon after the breakout. The county filed animal cruelty charges against the farm owner in October after another zebra was found dead inside the farm’s enclosure.