Weird News

C.J. McMahon -- a decorated horse racing jockey -- was arrested and booked over the weekend for attempted murder, according to officials in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Officials are not revealing specifics about the case -- in fact, one official told TMZ Sports the case is sealed. But, Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office records show the 26-year-old was booked on 1 count of attempted 2nd-degree murder.

McMahon -- who won the Oklahoma Derby in 2016 -- was also booked on a weapons charge and a drug possession charge.

A note in the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office booking records says, "Subject was arrested after traffic stop and drugs were found, also an active warrant."

Again, no word on when or where the alleged attempted murder took place -- or who was targeted. Authorities are being very tight-lipped at the moment.

According to police records, McMahon was initially stopped on Saturday afternoon for a traffic violation -- and when officers ran his name, they noticed an outstanding warrant for his arrest stemming from another incident, presumably the alleged attempted murder.

McMahon posted bond the following day (Sunday) and has since been released from custody.

He's raced everywhere from Lone Star Park to Delta Downs and more -- and has racked up more than 1,000 career victories.

McMahon comes from a horse racing family -- his father was also a jockey.

Attempts to reach McMahon for comment were unsuccessful.

As if Nashville hasn't had enough chaos descend upon it lately, here's two doofuses causing even more of a panic by jumping off a hotel rooftop bar to ring in the new year.

This wild incident went down Friday at the Grand Hyatt in downtown -- not too far from where Anthony Warner blew himself to smithereens just a few days prior. Two men were spotted standing on a ledge with parachute backpacks on ... then, took a leap of faith.

Check out the video ... you can see worried guests tell them they're not allowed to do that, but these clowns continue on anyway. When it becomes clear they're jumping -- and then actually do it -- people freak out and start screaming, including the camerawoman.

Miraculously, their chutes open ... and the two BASE jumpers glide down above the Nashville streets. They eventually landed safely in a nearby parking lot, where they got into a waiting car and drove off without a trace. Cops are looking to talk to them now.

Now, as for who they might be, it's still a mystery. The hotel has come out and said they were, in fact, guests staying there ... and they've now been banned. Apparently, there's surveillance footage the hotel has turned over to MNPD.

The Nashville bomber, Anthony Warner, was just as out there as people might've suspected -- because authorities now say he sent letters full of kooky ideas days before detonating.

Warner sent a number of letters and videos to friends and acquaintances all over the country on Dec. 23 -- two days before his RV exploded in downtown -- with bizarre writings about everything from aliens to lizard people, 9/11 and the moon landing and everything in between ... this according to CBS News, citing law enforcement officials.

Apparently, Warner sent several packages without return addresses -- which contained upwards of nine pages of typed-out text, plus a couple of thumb drives with videos.

One such letter begins, "Hey Dude, You will never believe what I found in the park." Warner continues, "The knowledge I have gained is immeasurable. I now understand everything, and I mean everything from who/what we really are, to what the known universe really is."

He goes on to say there are too many anomalies to count as it relates to 9/11 and the moon landing, adding a theory about the Earth being under active attack by aliens since at least 2011 ... something he claims the government is covering up.

And, then ... there's the lizard people, whom Warner supposedly thinks walk among us -- and control things. He reportedly writes, "They put a switch into the human brain so they could walk among us and appear human." Warner also signed some of these letters as "Julio."

Friends of his have said that's a name he'd gone by, but neighbors also pointed out that his dog was named Julio. His dog may have died in the explosion, because animal remains were also recovered at the bomb site ... in addition to tissues connected to Warner.

Take a seat, kids (some adults too) ... we've got bad news about those icicles you've been sucking on every winter, and this won't go down easy. 💩

Actually, Iowa meteorologist Katie Nickolaou is the real party pooper here, because after seeing social media clips of folks chomping on icicles ... she had to speak up.

Katie, who works at KMEG in Sioux City, Iowa, is imploring people to break their icicle habit ... unless, of course, they're into eating bird 💩. Check out her very scientific, and stomach-turning, explanation of the frozen treat.

The good news for Katie is her advice is spreading pretty quickly, courtesy of TikTok and Twitter.

Talk about a piss-poor decision from an Amazon delivery driver ... this one in Florida -- shocker -- where the driver was caught on video peeing in front of the customer's apartment door.

This whizz incident went down at the Palms of Boca Del Mar apartment complex in Boca Raton, where a resident was expecting a trace laser ... typically used on pistols.

We're told the customer heard a loud slam from inside his apartment ... apparently the package hitting the ground. He looked at his security camera (ironically an Amazon Blink XT2) and was horrified seeing the driver handling his own package with care ... peeing inches from his front door. The driver appears to have zero qualms about relieving himself.

BTW ... the customer's laser was damaged. We're told Amazon's already shipping him a new one and looking into the incident.

As for the pee ... a rep for Amazon tells us, "We have very high standards for our associates, and expect every package to be handled with care. This incident does not reflect those standards. We’ve notified the right teams internally and will work with the customer directly to make it right."

Joe Exotic is taking a Patrick Henry approach to the possibility of catching COVID-19 -- if the world gives him COVID, then give him death too ... or something like that.

TMZ has obtained an email the 'Tiger King' sent to his Tiger Team -- which is also helping him in his pardon efforts -- and it spells his intentions out clearly ... JE does NOT want to be put on a ventilator in a worst-case scenario should he contract coronavirus.

He writes, "Filled out an advance directive to not be put on a ventilator or life support if I get COVID." He goes on to say that people are dropping like flies at the prison he's at in Fort Worth ... adding that staff and inmates are getting sicker by the day.

He's not entirely wrong about the numbers ... FMC Fort Worth has a listed 12 deaths linked to COVID, with 58 inmates and 27 staffers currently positive. That said, FMC has a decently high recovery rate -- 650 inmates and staffers combined have beaten the 'Rona.

The robot apocalypse is looking a lot closer -- and a little funkier -- because some advanced machines are flaunting their dancing skills ... complete with choreography!!!

Boston Dynamics released a video to ring in the New Year, which features their two signature machines -- ATLAS and Spot (the dog robot) -- looking very *NSYNC-like ... dancing in unison to the Contours hit, "Do You Love Me."

BD writes, "Our whole crew got together to celebrate the start of what we hope will be a happier year: Happy New Year from all of us at Boston Dynamics." What they don't mention ... how and WHY they got their droids on the good foot like this???

The A.I. is terrifyingly state-of-the-art here -- robots putting on their best "So You Think You Can Dance" audition.

We shoulda seen the choreographed number coming ... we've already seen ATLAS and Spot do everything from parkour to opening doors and picking up boxes.

So, while this is neat and all ... we're personally praying the Boston Dynamics team has a fail-proof shutdown for these things.

A homeless man in Atlanta is a true hero after risking his own life by running into a burning animal shelter and rescuing 16 dogs and cats.

Keith Walker saw the burning building and couldn't just sit there and wait. He jumped into action.

The 53-year-old didn't pretend he wasn't scared, saying, "I was nervous as hell. I'm not going to lie. I was really scared to go in there with all that smoke. But God put me there to save those animals."

The fire was said to have started in the kitchen and been an electrical fire

Turns out Walker, who's been homeless since he was 13, loves dogs, saying, "If you love a dog, you can love anyone in the world. My dog is my best friend, and I wouldn't be here without him, so I knew I had to save all those other dogs."

Walker has a pit bull named Bravo, and the owner of the W-Underdogs shelter, let him keep the dog there every night.

Walker was on his way to pick up Bravo for a walk when he saw the flames. The owner of the shelter, Gracie Hamlin, said, "Even the firefighters didn't want to handle the dogs. They called animal control, but Keith was already in the building pulling out the cats and dogs until they were all safe." In all, Walker saved 6 dogs and 10 cats.

Hamlin was beyond grateful ... "I can't thank him enough for saving my animals," adding, "I'm still in disbelief because I've been around a fire and I know how fast they flare-up. He is my hero."

Denying there's a pandemic is one thing, and then there's this ... actively, and disgustingly, committing a crime by intentionally spitting on someone -- and, stupidly, doing it on camera.

This Trump supporter went face-to-face with Black Lives Matter protesters over the weekend in Swampscott, MA. The guy who posted the video claims the man in shades and a Trump 2020 cap just turned to him, unprovoked, yelled "all lives matter" ... then started hacking and spitting.

The video is pretty graphic ... when ya see this jerk loading up to spit, which he did at least twice, on people standing across from him. As if this video wasn't enough evidence ... a police officer on scene witnessed the crime.

It's called assault and battery or unwanted touching -- and that does include spitting on someone -- and it's a crime. Cops were there observing the protest, and did cite the guy for assault.

This vile individual is clearly ignoring the images of patients packed into hospital ICUs, stressed nurses and doctors ... or the fact more than 330,000 Americans are already dead from COVID-19. But, intentionally doing what's seen here?

The equivalent of a snack bar -- or perhaps even a food truck -- has surfaced in the ancient city of Pompeii ... and by the looks of it, those Romans sure liked their chicken and duck.

Archaeologists publicly unveiled a discovery Saturday in the ruins of the one-time flourishing Italian city -- which was buried under volcanic ash in an historic eruption nearly 2,000 years ago -- and it amounted to a street food vendor set-up that's incredibly well-preserved.

The technical term for it is "termopolium" -- Latin for hot drinks counter -- but it would appear the Romans served more than just beverages out of this thing ... diggers uncovered traces of really old animal parts in the counter wells you see here ... fish, pork, snails, beef and other protein that were apparently dished out to paying customers once upon a time.

Not just that, but check out the fresco paintings on the front and sides of this bygone eatery -- the Romans depicted chickens, mallards, dogs (supposedly as a warning, they say) and even an angel-looking figure. So yeah, they knew how to advertise their goods/services.

Some other related items that archaeologists found ... a bronze drinking bowl, ceramic jars for soups and stews, wine flasks and amphora (a long jar/vase used for transporting a variety of crops and/or food). It just goes to show once more -- the Romans were pretty damn advanced before things came crumbling down, but most of us already knew that.

It's good to know ... Canadians are now as crazy as us folks in the U.S. of A.

A group protesting the COVID vaccines dressed like zombies, kinda ... they had white masks, white hazmat suits ... the works, as they proselytized at the Fairview Mall in Toronto.

With an assist from a loudspeaker, they screamed, “Everyone loves the pharmaceutical companies” ... "Obedience is love ... questioning vaccines is murder ...  you are not essential. Big business is essential. The government is essential. The government is life. ...  questioning masks is murder ... thinking for yourself endangers the common good.”

It was peaceful, as zombies tend to be sometimes. At the end of the protest, for unsafe measure, they hugged and screamed, "Good job, everybody!"

Welp, here's a Christmas nightmare -- a guy with a painful grumbling in his gut quickly learned more than 100 worms had set up shop in his body, and had to be surgically removed.

This went down this week in the Vietnamese city of Thanh Hoa, where reports say a man wandered into a hospital with complaints of incessant stomach pain. A doc checked him out and discovered his stomach resembled a live bait shop -- it was basically worm city in there!

Of course, they immediately sent the dude into surgery, and recorded the whole thing -- which means you can watch what happened, but ya better be into this kinda thing, 'cause it is GROSS!!!

The doctor and his team literally fished out more than 100 parasitic worms -- which had apparently started with just one that laid a bunch of eggs. Word is ... the medical team chalked the infestation up to poor eating habits. Go figure.

If you saw an extra bright star in the sky Monday evening, you're not alone -- our Solar System's 2 biggest planets crossed paths ... closer than they've been since the year 1226!!!

Monday's winter solstice -- the longest night of the year -- happened to coincide with a rare celestial occurrence star-gazers call the Great Conjunction, when Jupiter and Saturn align in their respective orbits around the sun ... only this time, they got extra cozy in space.

While Jupiter will pass Saturn every 20 years, the last the gas planets appeared as together as they do this right now was some 800 years ago. That time, they nestled up too close to the sun, so hardly anybody could see. Now, they're crystal clear in the night sky.

It's a rare, cool thing ... one that's colloquially been called the "Christmas Star" -- y'know, from the Bible and all. The planets might look conjoined to the naked eye, but even then -- they're about one-tenth of a degree apart from our vantage point.

Up there, though, they're really hundreds of millions of miles apart. Still, there's no way you could've missed their closest point Monday if you looked to the southwest shortly after sunset ... assuming weather conditions allowed for a peek. Tons of folks snagged photos too.

Jupiter and Saturn will remain in close proximity for the remainder of the month, but after that, they'll drift back apart to their usual distance.

If Santa Claus is gonna come to town, successfully, he's gonna have to keep a better eye out for power lines ... and he's damn lucky some mere mortals saved his ass this time.

A man dressed as Saint Nick had to be helped down by firefighters Sunday morning in Sacramento after he somehow got his sleigh powered parachute vehicle snagged in some utility wires ... leaving him awkwardly dangling, helmet still on and all.

As for how this happened, apparently the guy's a local who often gets airborne with his motorized aircraft, and he was trying to do something nice for the kids by handing out candy canes from the sky. Seems one of his reindeer led him astray and straight into this.

Santa wasn't harmed, which is noteworthy as this screw-up could've gone awry in a hurry. Sacramento Metro and CHP responded to the scene, and were able to successfully roll out the hook and ladder to rescue the dude ... shutting off power to about 200 residents in the process. Of course, they also poked some fun at the situation on social media.

The jolly one should count himself lucky -- SMF told local outlets that the way he hit the wires and how he was positioned in his seat didn't allow for an electric current to zap him

Anyone interested in frying up a little python?? Well, if you live in Florida, you're in luck.

Turns out python may be the new chicken in the Sunshine State, because the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Dept. of Health may give the green light to make the slithery creature a menu item in restaurants and at home.

The snakes are overtaking the Everglades, creating risks to other wildlife.

The wild card is mercury. Scientists are evaluating whether mercury levels in the snakes are at acceptable levels. Problem is ... the smart money is on mercury levels being too high for human consumption, but scientists aren't sure, so they're testing 6,000 pythons.

We're told they can actually be delicious. Some folks like to turn them into jerky, but they can also be cooked in various other ways.

John Wayne Bobbitt's toe met the same fate as his penis ... both went on the chopping block.

John -- whose penis was notoriously hacked off by his then-wife Lorena while he was sleeping -- just had another gruesome amputation to his extremities.

JWB tells TMZ ... two toes on his right foot have now been amputated, and the first amputation triggered the second.

John explains he lost his big toe on his right foot last year after a callous formed, and an infection spread to the bone. He says that led to the next little piggy getting chopped off.

JWB tells us his second right toe was amputated last weekend at a hospital in Vegas. He says the toe was fractured because his previously amputated big toe left him with no support on the foot, and as he limped around, the pressure he was putting on the second toe caused it to shift and break.

Making matters worse ... his left foot was in a cast as doctors weighed amputation on that body part, which only added to the strain.

Remember, John says he suffers from neuropathy so he didn't know the toe was fractured until he went to a doctor for a checkup. He says the doc noticed the problems right away and recommended amputation.

John says he's been released from the hospital yet again and now he's got a bandage on his right foot and special shoes so he can walk. He tells us he also uses a knee scooter to get around.

JWB says he's on the mend and is finally feeling healthy ... but he's still got a lot of work to do and he's seeing a podiatrist.

He's been through so much. Still, the first cut is the deepest.