Weird News

A guy who went fishing in Egypt got more than he bargained for when his catch for the day tried going down his gullet before he could even fry it up ... and it almost killed him.

This went down last week near Beni Suef -- about 90 miles south of Cairo -- when this poor fella came stumbling into an ER down there gasping for breath and unable to speak. He obviously had something funky in this throat -- and that thing, it turned out, was a live fish.

Doctors diagnosed the blockage in his windpipe after running him through an X-ray and other tests, and then immediately got to work in extracting the damn thing with some tools.

Check out the procedure ... it's pretty gnarly. The man's laid out on a table as they pry his mouth open with one device and fish the scaly creature out with another -- eventually they hook it and yank out. As you can see, it's a tiny thing, but got lodged in there good.

Word is the guy was okay after all ... but as for how this happened in the first place -- bizarre, to say the least. Apparently, this dude caught this tiny fish and put it between his teeth to free up his hands so he could attend to another fish he had on the line.

This little bastard started squirming and broke free from his jaw's grasp, and went swimming in the dude's mouth. The lesson ... don't bite off more than you can chew (or swallow).

'Memba those murder hornets, and their TWO queens found in a Washington State nest? Turns out that was just the tip of the hive ... because there could be a lot more queens out there.

The WA State Department of Agriculture now says the nest they recently eradicated near had A LOT more queen hornets inside than they originally thought ... closer to 200 rather than just a measly 2. Big difference!!!

You'll recall that after an initial sweep in late October, the team went out there again when they realized they were short a female hornet ... which they believed might still be inside. They chopped down the tree in question and ended up finding two ladies in the nest -- one new and one old, they say -- plus a crap ton of larvae in different stages of development.

Welp, the WSDA now says there were actually up to 500 live specimens in the trunk -- 76 were fully developed virgin queens, 190 larvae, 108 pupae (next after larvae, almost all of which were queens) ... AND 112 worker hornets. That was the haul from this one job.

One WSDA official is quoted as saying the team got there "just in the nick of time" -- and, yeah, you can say that again. But, it leaves a major terrifying question ... how many other queens (or queens in development) might still be buzzing around, and how far did they travel???

The scientists there aren't oblivious to that -- they say they do believe there might be more nests in the area, but aren't sure where just yet. They also say they're going to scour that area for at least 3 more years to make sure the hornets are fully wiped out.

Here's a very unique, and creepy, tribute to Charles Manson ... a "Helter Skelter" face tattoo made with some of the mass murderer's DNA.

Tattoo artist Ryan Almighty tells TMZ ... Patrick Boos from Niagara Falls wanted to pay homage to Manson with this not-so-subtle tattoo -- and just to ratchet things up, Patrick chose the Manson ashes option. He called it a once in a lifetime opportunity.

As we've reported, Ryan says he has ashes from Manson's cremation, and he dipped his ink gun in it while drawing a pretty intense "Helter Skelter" on Patrick's forehead last weekend.

The Beatles track from the White Album -- which dropped 52 years ago -- was written by Paul McCartney using a fairground ride as a metaphor. Manson infamously misinterpreted it as a subliminal call to incite a race war.

When members of the Manson family carried out a brutal string of murders -- including Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in 1969 -- the words "Death to Pigs," "Rise" and "Helter [sic] Skelter" were scribbled in blood at the LaBianca home.

The "Helter Skelter" forehead tattoo, Manson ashes included, set Patrick back about $500.

Remember, Almighty gave another fanboy a CM tat with the Manson ashes -- and told us he scored the macabre remains from people who scooped up ashes when they were scattered at Manson's funeral.

Ya wanna know what Bill Belichick hates more than losing?? Coffee and everything about it -- the smell, the taste and even java-flavored treats.

Like ... the dude freakin' LOATHES the stuff with a burning passion.

Here's how we know -- the New England Patriots coach came clean on his disgust for joe in an interview with WEEI's "Ordway, Merloni, and Fauria Show" on Tuesday ... and it basically turned into a roasting session on all things coffee.

"Look, I mean I understand I am probably missing it, but I just don’t like coffee," Belichick said.

"I can’t stand the smell of coffee. I don’t like coffee ice cream and I like every sweet that has ever been made. But, that’s not one of them."

"I don’t like coffee-flavored anything."

He didn't stop there.

"I just don’t have the taste for it. I've tried, but it just doesn’t work for me. My grandmother put a glass of milk and poured like probably a thimble of coffee and I couldn’t even drink that."

"It’s just one of those things I didn’t develop a taste for. I didn’t develop a taste for scotch either. I tried that. I just couldn’t develop a taste for it," he added.

"Nothing against coffee. Nothing against Dunkin' Donuts. Nothing against anything, it’s just not for me."

Rudy Giuliani's impromptu Philly news conference at the Four Seasons -- the landscaping company, not the hotel -- gave an adjacent sex shop a raw deal ... and it's none too pleased.

An employee named Jacob at Fantasy Island Book Store -- an adult entertainment shop a couple of buildings over from Four Seasons -- tells TMZ ... Giuliani's Saturday event cost him and his partners some good cash.

He says they opened at 9 AM and by 10:30 AM, their parking lot was swarmed by Giuliani and his posse ... plus all the media/security tagging along to see what he was going to say about President Trump and the election.

With all the hubbub and cameras, Jacob says customers were spooked and couldn't get to Fantasy Island's front door.

He says they didn't get any warning about Rudy's plans, and it sounds like Four Seasons wasn't given notice either ... although it's reaped some benefit, selling out merchandise after becoming Giuliani's backdrop.

No such luck for Fantasy Island.

Jacob says all they got was a flood of phone calls from reporters asking if Giuliani swung by the adult store. That's a "no" ... BTW.

The Huntington Beach Bad Boy is now a Huntington Beach City Council member.

MMA legend Tito Ortiz dominated the competition in Tuesday's election -- clinching 1 of the 3 available City Council seats in his home town.

The 45-year-old UFC Hall of Famer finished with 34,901 votes (14.3%) -- the most amount of votes out of the 15 candidates running for the open seats.

The next closest was Dan Kalmick, Huntington Beach Planning Commissioner, who finished with 11% of the vote.

Ortiz celebrated with a small gathering in Huntington Beach -- passionately thanking the locals for supporting him.

Tito is a hardcore Trump supporter who previously told TMZ Sports he received political support from the Trump family.

Before the election, Ortiz pushed a COVID conspiracy theory -- explaining why he believes the virus was created by man and is being weaponized by "the left."

"It's population control by the left," Tito said last month on the "I Only Touch Greatness" podcast.

"They’re trying to take out all of the older people who are getting social security and so forth."

The Biden vs. Trump race results are in ... and it's BIDEN BY A NOSE!!!

... a horse nose!

Because "Biden" and "Trump" are horses!

Yep, meet "BidenHisTime" and "SuperTrump" -- two racehorses who competed in the Betfair, Race To The White House Stakes at Lingfield Park in the U.K.

Will the winner actually predict the U.S. Presidential election? Maybe! Who knows?

What we do know ... it was a super-tight race with a wild photo finish!

Trump -- a chestnut and blonde racehorse -- jumped out to an early lead ... before the grey racehorse, Biden, made a charge down the stretch!

"What a ding-dong finish here," the announcer yelled as the horses raced neck-and-neck to the finish line!

In the end, BidenHisTime took the W -- prompting the announcer to make this joke:

"There’s your winner, not so 'sleepy' today!"

By the way, a Betfair rep tells us ... the U.S. election is getting a TON of betting action around the world -- the gaming site has already taken in over $352 MILLION in wagers!!!

Lotta action!

President Trump and Joe Biden are hoping to get the votes of millions of Americans, but some first names are better than others for each candidate -- and, naturally, Karens are right in the middle of the action.

According to a new NY Times study of 102 common first names ... women named Karen in 18 battleground states are 60 percent likely to vote for Biden, which was the highest among the top 10 most common female names.

On the Trump side of the coin ... Nancy is most likely to vote for him, at 57 percent.

When it comes to the men in these states, Trump is a favorite among the Richards -- y'know, tricky Dicks -- at 64 percent, with Thomas trailing closely behind at 61 percent.

In fact, most of the top 10 most common male names prefer Trump, but Christophers and Josephs are 50/50 on the candidates.

As for the names outside of the top 10, here's a fun one -- Donalds love Donald the most ... at 68 percent. Patricks, on the other hand, are the most pro-Biden at 65 percent.

Janets are most likely to be Trump supporters at 64 percent, and Sarahs go with Joe 68 percent of the time.

Of course, what's really in a name? It's kinda ridiculous to draw a correlation between your political stance and the name your parents randomly gave you decades ago. Anyway, it's at least entertaining.

Scientists returned to the scene of the crime to finish the job they started last week -- and it appears they succeeded, snatching not just one, but TWO queen murder hornets.

Officials from the Washington State Department of Agriculture went out on another mission earlier this week to remove a tree they suspected still had quite a fair amount of hornets in its trunk, not to mention at least one queen that escaped their clutches last time around.

Turns out, they were right and then some ... not only was there a queen still burrowed in there, but there was a second fully-grown one as well. And, the crew got both!

Check out this video that documents their process. First, they cut the tree in question down, wrapped in plastic, sawed down the middle, pumped its innards with carbon dioxide to stun the hornets and then pried it open with heavy-duty tools to remove what they found.

What that was ... two massive queens, whose size you can see from the tubes they were housed in after the fact. Scientists believe one might be a newbie queen, and one might be the OG ... which helped spawn the hive -- where several other almost fully-developed were growing in what the crew calls white-capped cells. It's gnarly all around ... watch.

No one's laughing about the rising COVID death toll, which is why this is a total WTF moment -- a senior health official announcing grim numbers ... while rocking a clown costume.

Try not to be distracted by the full clown makeup, red tie, polka dot shirt and yellow pants the official was wearing as she somberly rattled off the tally for COVID cases and deaths in Oregon.

The answer to your question -- who's this clown? She's reportedly Claire Poche from the Oregon Health Authority. We know it's Halloween and all, but Claire never addresses her attire in the video.

Officials are reportedly dismissing it as just a costume, but that doesn't square with the fact the video was recorded Oct. 14, making it 2 weeks old now and pretty early for a Halloween. Plus, the sign language interpreter isn't in a costume ... so, Claire really stands out.

A morbid, bloody and frightful Halloween display at a Texas man's home is eliciting more than gasps from his neighbors ... he's getting police visits too.

Artist Steven Novak turned the front yard of his Dallas residence into a gory scene straight out of a horror movie -- or several of them -- using dummies, props, and more than 20 gallons of fake blood.

Check it out -- there's a man killed by a chainsaw, another killed by a safe dropped on his head, one more with a knife to the skull, an apparent dead body in a bag ... and a wheelbarrow full of severed limbs!!!

Steve really went all out.

The shocking and way-too-realistic display might take the cake for 2020's best Halloween decorations, but it's also prompted several complaints from locals ... and cops have been called to the fake massacre location multiple times.

Novak says he's been home twice when police showed up, and the officers told him they just had to check it out because they received calls ... but they thought it was cool.

A police officer was killed during a raid on an illegal cockfighting event in the Philippines ... when a rooster with a blade on it's leg slashed the cop, causing a fatal wound.

It all went down on Tuesday when cops descended on an illegal cockfight in Northern Samar -- where the "sport" has been outlawed due to the COVID pandemic.

FYI, before COVID times, cockfighting was allowed in the Philippines (at licensed venues) on Sundays and on certain holidays.

Officials say Lieutenant Christian Bolok had picked up a rooster while collecting evidence during Tuesday's raid, when he was sliced by a steel razor blade attached to the bird's leg.

Bolok was hit in the left thigh -- with the blade reportedly slicing through his femoral artery, which ultimately caused him bleed out.

The officer was rushed to a nearby hospital but it was too late -- he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The local police chief, Colonel Arnel Apud, commented to the AFP news agency -- describing the incident as "a piece of bad luck that I cannot explain."

"I could not believe it when it was first reported to me. This is the first time in my 25 years as a policeman that I lost a man due to a fighting cock's spur."

Washington officials would've really liked to say, "off with her head" ... as it relates to the queen bee hornet in that nest they destroyed ... but, sadly, they can't just yet.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture has confirmed their team from the Pest Program who ventured into the woods this weekend did NOT retrieve the mother of the hive -- the queen remains in the tree as far as they can tell ... implication being, she's alive.

An official for WSDA also told 'GMA' the tracker they recently placed on another one of those hornets was also still in the trunk ... so clearly, there's still some buggers in there somewhere. They say they sucked out roughly a hundred or so with their high-tech mission.

You'll recall ... about ten of those folks went out there at the crack of dawn Saturday in a sneak attack of sorts -- hoping to catch the hornets off guard by wrapping the area where their nest was in plastic wrap, filling it with a substance and then sucking 'em out dry.

They captured quite a lot in their haul -- but it appears the most important one remains ... and they might need to head back for a 2nd go. The WSDA official adds ... there are probably a handful of other nests they need to locate in the state, so the job's definitely not done.

Here's another scary factoid about these little bastards ... apparently, they can sting you with their venom multiple times. Not only that, but they can SPIT IT TOO!!! Worst of all, the hornets have a habit of wiping out bee colonies -- which can affect our crops/food supply.

Take heed, y'all.

Humans are going back to the moon for the fist time in a long time ... and this time a woman will be leaving her footprint on that giant rock in the sky.

NASA just announced a new space mission they're set to embark on over the next few years with the intent of getting boots on the lunar ground by 2024 to study water they discovered recently, and see if it's usable.

The thinking is the H20 -- now found could be a sign of life, 'cause that's technically what an organism on Earth would need to thrive. Then again, it could just be mutant space water, so that's what they're gonna check out.

NASA hasn't announced the crew members' names yet.

There's more to this trip than just agua ... NASA says not only is it going to study the water, but the new U.S. moon missions -- dubbed Artemis -- will also try to establish a long-term presence there by the end of the decade, and use it as a springboard to our neighbor ... MARS, baby!!!

BTW, if you're wondering why we haven't been back to the moon more regularly -- the last time we set foot there was in '72, during the Apollo missions -- the space agency has chalked it up to politics, support and funding, or a lack thereof. It wasn't because they couldn't do it.

In total, humans have been to the moon 6 times. Get ready to put another notch in our space belts.

The First Lady was cheerfully tagging along with the President on his way to the debate this past week ... or so it seems, because an awful lot of people don't think it was actually her.

Here's a photo that was taken Thursday ahead of the debate in Nashville between Donald Trump and Joe Biden ... in which DT is seen boarding a chopper with who appears to be his wife, Melania, already on board, smiling at the crowd that was bidding them a farewell.

We say appears because a crap ton of folks have studied this photo and others captured in the same few seconds ... and they believe this lady's a FAKE stand-in, not the real Melania at all. Prepare yourself -- this is a deep dive, but stupidly important work nonetheless.

Some have gone to the extreme lengths of zooming in and comparing the lines around her mouth ... not to mention playing dentist and seeing differences in the teeth. By most accounts, the mugs here just don't match up -- from chomper size to the curve of her smile ... many Twitter truthers simply aren't buying this is the real McCoy, but rather ... a look-alike.

BTW, this isn't the first time a "fake Melania" theory has surfaced. It's cropped up at least twice before -- most notably, in 2019 ... when Trump and Melania visited tornado-stricken Alabama to survey the damage. She was rocking massive shades then too ... but many said there's no way that was FLOTUS -- speculating she's got a few different body doubles.

Sure, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is alive and well, but the same can't be said right now for his wife ... who hasn't been seen in public since January.

Ri Sol-ju was last with Kim for a public event at the Samjiyon Theatre in Pyongyang during a Lunar New Year celebration, but after she missed a military parade she usually attends on October 10 ... speculation's swirling about why, and where in the hell she is now.

Along with the darkest guess that immediately comes to mind, there are 3 main theories that are less disturbing -- but also maybe less believable.

One is that she's taking care of Kim's aunt who is ill. Another, from experts in South Korea, is that she's afraid of getting sick herself amid the COVID-19 pandemic due to lack of social distancing and masks at events.

And finally, there are reports she stepped out of the public eye to take care of her daughter, who's believed to have been born in 2013.

It should be noted -- about a year ago there was similar concern for Ri after she wasn't seen in public for 4 months, but then she was ... and people speculated she may have given birth.

Of course, it's hard to know what to believe when it comes to North Korea ... as we learned this past summer about her husband.