Weird News

Jeff Daniels doesn't just have friends in low places -- a newly discovered, and pretty damn vicious, worm now bears his name ... and tarantulas everywhere are quaking in their boots!!!

Here's the dirty lowdown ... scientists discovered a new species of parasitic worm that's particularly deadly to the hairy spiders and decided to name it Tarantobelus jeffdanielsi. If you're wondering why Jeff, you probably haven't seen his 1990 flick, "Arachnophobia."

In the movie, Jeff's character saves a town from an invasion of deadly spiders ... and the scientists at UC Riverside must be fans of the cult classic.

The actor clearly digs his new place in the animal kingdom, saying ... “Honestly, I was honored by their homage to me and Arachnophobia. Made me smile. And of course, in Hollywood, you haven’t really made it until you’ve been recognized by those in the field of parasitology.”

BTW, jeffdanielsi do some pretty nasty things once they infect tarantulas -- the spiders' limbs are slowly paralyzed ... making them walk on their 8 tiptoes, and their mouths and fangs are rendered useless. They eventually starve to death.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' wax figures are now on public display ... and it's a historic moment.

Madame Tussauds New York revealed the sculptures Tuesday as part of their "Oval Office" experience ... and it's the first time the famous wax museum immortalized a Veep.

As you can see, the resemblance here is uncanny ... MT really has this thing down. Biden and Harris are dressed in replica outfits from Inauguration day -- smiling as they stand on opposite ends of the Resolute desk.

The White House should be pretty damn satisfied with the final result here. Fact is, we've seen some of these displays go south. Just ask the Beyhive!!!

Madame Tussauds even accessorized Biden with a pair of his trademark aviator shades. 😎

Tradition calls for the famed wax museum to give this treatment to each U.S. president, but we've never seen them extend the honor to a VP ... until Harris.

Will Smith ripped a fart so hard during a workout with the NFL's Miami Dolphins he asked if there was a shower around ... and the hilarious chain of events is all on video.

The actor was getting stretched out for a training session with the Dolphins when he seemed to relax just a tad too much, suddenly breaking wind with a loud fart ... and drawing tons of laughs from everyone in the room.

Will's chalking it up to what was in his cup, saying ... "training with the Miami Dolphins was going great until that morning coffee snuck up on me."

Yes, we've all been there ... only difference is, Will had an entire camera crew capturing his every move.

A bird brought new meaning to "deuce" at a tennis competition in Australia this week ... by crapping all over Reilly Opelka during a match!!!

It all went down at the Melbourne Summer Set ... when a bird decided to do its business right on the (ironically enough) #2 seed's hat during the second set against Maxime Cressy.

Opelka -- the #26 player in the world -- was immediately ticked off by becoming a human toilet ... walking over to the chair umpire in hopes of switching out his hat.

"Sorry, I just got s*** on," Opelka told the umpire as his sweaty locks draped over his eyes. "I can't see, a bird s*** on me. What do you want me to do?"

What unfolded over the next few minutes was nothing short of a movie -- Opelka tried wearing a different hat, but was told the logo on it was too big.

Next, the judge suggested wearing his coach's hat -- but Opelka refused to wear a different brand.

Even a ball boy tried to come to the rescue -- offering his Australian Open lid to the player, but it wouldn't fit his head.

Eventually, a match official brought out a tournament-approved hat for him to wear and asked if he wanted it swapped with a different hat in his locker room ... which Opelka accepted.

With the tragedy at the Naples Zoo, it's heartening to know one of the rarest tigers in the world was born at the London Zoo, and to celebrate, the zoo has started a naming contest.

The baby is a Sumatran tiger ... they are few and far between ... an endangered species.

The cub came into the world on December 12 ... and the birth was recorded on a "cubcam" in the enclosure.

You gotta watch ... the cub's mom, 10-year-old Gaysha, is seen cleaning her baby and then watching it take first steps.

There are only around 300 Sumatran tigers in the world, so this birth is a big deal.

The ZSL London Zoo wants people to throw a proposed name in the hat -- from regulars at the zoo to strangers, all suggestions are welcome.

The birth announcement comes just a day after a horrific event at a zoo in Naples, Florida, where a custodian went rogue and apparently stuck his hand in a tiger's cage, either to feed or pet the animal. The tiger, Eko, clamped onto his arm, police were called and they ended up shooting and killing the tiger.

H&M's store in NYC has been shut down while the clothing retailer investigates a disturbing photo claiming to show hoodies crawling with dozens of tiny bugs.

Twitter user @Madesonee_ posted the photos Wednesday, explaining, "I work at the H&M in the Oculus at World Trade & today a customer discovered lice on a rack of hoodies."

The 3 images showed a close-up of several light-colored hoodies covered with insects.

She continued, "They're not closing the store nor are they notifying employees of the problem. The section was just blocked off."

It apparently didn't take long for H&M brass to find out about the post, because they released a statement hours later, reportedly saying, "Out of an abundance of caution we have closed the H&M store at Westfield World Trade Center in order to investigate fully."

South Carolina Coach Shane Beamer either loves mayo, or he's got a strong stomach ... as evidenced in the BUCKET of the condiment he was doused in after his team's victory.

The Gamecocks took down North Carolina 38-21 in the Duke's Mayo Bowl Thursday, and part of the victory celebration for the winning team included Beamer getting a mayo bath.

Apparently, a mass quantity of mayo can get heavy, as it took two people to lift it -- and slightly drop it -- over Beamer's head ... but he took the whole thing like a champ and with a smile on his face.

It's not the first time the Duke's Mayo Bowl has gotten some post-game-celebratory attention ... it was back in 2020 when Wisconsin took the trophy -- and then shattered it into a million pieces -- that garnered the game some big-time coverage.

This time, it's just a little less glass to tidy up, and much more mayo.

Stephanie Matto says she's earning 6 figures just from farting into jars ... but all that gas is taking a bit of a toll on her health, both mentally and physically.

If ya thought buying NFTs was weird, the "90 Day Fiancé" star tells TMZ ... she's already banked about $100,000 from selling her jarred farts to fans, but her process almost put the artist in the hospital.

Stephanie tells us she usually sets aside 2 or 3 days a week to work on her hustle, eating foods typically associated with being gassy ... like beans and fiber bars.

While it sounds like easy money, Stephanie says she recently ate way too many fiber bars and it nearly sent her to the emergency room!!!

No rest for the flatulent though -- although fans keep clamoring for product, Stephanie says she's only going to keep her biz going as long as she feels up to it, and as long as the checks keep coming.

What's really interesting about this convo is ... she's straight-faced the whole time, even while explaining why which she puts a flower petal inside each jar. Serious stuff.

Rosanna Scotto got a special surprise from a 4-legged guest on Monday ... when a horse took a leak during a live interview.

Scotto was wrapping up a segment for "Good Day New York" with Manda Kalimian and her horse Pila. Clearly unable to hold it in, Pila let loose ... and splashed urine all over the ground, sending Scotto scrambling to save her stilettos.

Lucky for all involved, the Fox 5 host had a good sense of humor about it, laughing the incident off, she later wrote on Instagram, "Is it #goodluck when a #horse #pee on you? Happy #monday #horseofinstagram #peelikearacehorse"

The NY host had actually been interviewing the two about saving wild horses, in honor of National Day of the Horse on Monday.

We may have another UFO sighting on our hands -- and this one sure seems legit, seeing how there's no explanation for what the heck all these lights in the sky are.

Check out this wild video obtained by TMZ, which appears to show multiple giant orbs in the heavens above Chino Hills, CA -- circling each other and moving in strange, eccentric patterns ... with no light source coming from down below, per an eyewitness, anyway.

We're told this was shot a couple days ago, on Dec. 9, around 9 PM. The woman who filmed it tells us her grandson was taking the trash out, when he looked up and saw this ... which prompted the rest of the family to come out and take it all in.

The witness says she thought there was a grand opening happening, but they couldn't trace any such event nearby ... and as they mention on camera, there's no beam coming from down below. Seems the lights are really up there, generated by something in the clouds.

The crazy part is, we're told that after about 30-40 mins ... these things completely disappeared, without a trace.

There doesn't seem to be any explanation that we could find for what we're seeing here -- it's a mystery. Of course, one answer could be ... this is a UFO. Or lots of them, more like. One might even call them a fleet -- which is what one pilot recently says he saw as he was flying high above civilization himself.

A pilot was joined by more than just other commercial airline flights over the Pacific Ocean during a recent trip, recording what he believes was an entire fleet of UFOs.

The video, believed to have been recorded in the last few weeks, shows between 9 and sometimes up to 12 of the bright objects. You can see some light up and dim at random periods, but their pacing and speed seem to remain consistent.

According to reports, the pilot was flying at about 39,000 feet ... you can hear him say, "That is some weird s***. That is something flying," as the lights continue to grow and move.

Doubters believe the lights could be anti-missile flares shot from another plane or even ship below ... but there's no proof yet to support that either.

The published sighting comes on the heels of the Dept. of Defense announcing the launch of a UFO task force. The new government initiative has been hit with plenty of criticism from skeptics who believe the move is simply The Pentagon wanting to control and hide reported sightings.

Turns out, Joey Chestnut can inhale shrimp just as fast as he can hot dogs ... 'cause the eating legend went beast mode on shrimp cocktail this weekend, guzzling 17 pounds of the appetizer in 8 minutes!

The 38-year-old accomplished the wild feat in the eighth annual World Famous St. Elmo Shrimp Cocktail Eating Championship in Indianapolis on Saturday -- and the gross/amazing scene was all captured on video.

In footage of the event, you can see hundreds pulled up to the contest to watch Chestnut eat -- and "Jaws" did not disappoint.

After a countdown, Chestnut -- who holds 40-plus eating contest world records -- grabbed a handful of shrimp and chomped down so quickly, the announcer said he had put away pounds of the dish in a matter of seconds.

Chestnut eventually destroyed the competition ... eating 17 pounds and 1.6 ounces of the seafood. And, according to the official event results, he beat second place by almost three full pounds!!

The most staggering part about it all? Chestnut has actually beaten this mark before -- in 2018, he chomped down 18 pounds and 9.6 ounces of the shrimp at the competition.

Things could have ended much worse for a family's dog had it not been for a pane of glass stopping a hungry mountain lion from making it dinner.

The video, taken by a woman in Colorado, shows her dog named Dash frozen in fear as the mountain lion spots it from outside. The mountain lion seems puzzled by the barrier, trying different ways to get in, even tapping on the glass with its paw.

You can hear the fear in the woman's voice as she records and tries to get Dash away from the door, without any luck. The dog is clearly terrified, not moving.

Rep. Tim Burchett is not happy about the Pentagon starting up a new agency to head up UFO research -- because he, like others, sees it as more secrets ... and less transparency.

The Tennessee congressman gave his thoughts on the matter Wednesday on Capitol Hill, and to put it frankly ... he ain't a fan of the move, especially since it felt like things were finally coming to light after decades of keeping this type of talk on the DL.

In Rep. Burchett's eyes ... the Pentagon is only going to keep asking for more funding (from Congress) without giving up the goods on what they know, and the House member thinks going down that road is plain foolish.

That's pretty much what UFO expert Jeremy Corbell told us just last week about this ... he called it a shadow operation that's being presented as something the Defense Dept. is taking seriously -- when he thinks it's the exact opposite in practice.

Now, as for why the DoD would rather sweep this under the rug further -- Burchett has a theory. It all has to do with "industrial complexes" and societal institutions that would probably crumble if we learned the truth about what's out there.

A man hitched a ride on a plane to get out of his home country in hopes of landing stateside ... somehow surviving the mile-high journey in the underbelly of the aircraft.

The 26-year-old was taken into custody Saturday after Miami-Dade Airport crew members found this dude exhausted and sprawled out on the tarmac, near the tires of an American Airlines flight that had just touched down from Guatemala City ... about 3 hours away.

Apparently, the guy snuck his way into the landing compartment of the plane -- where the wheel tucks in, it seems -- and hung tight until it reached its final destination.

As you can see from video taken from folks on the ground, this man is out of it ... but many simply can't believe he was able to live through the ordeal, as the oxygen levels must've been damn near untenable, not to mention the sheer logistics of finding space in there.

Clearly, it's doable ... as there've been other notable stowaway stories like this -- although, most who take to the skies like this do end up losing their lives. Only a handful survive.

Naturally, the authorities swarmed the scene ... including first responders who checked on the guy. The feds also got involved, with Customs and Border Protection agents taking him into their care while they figure out his situation. They're investigating the case further.

Uncle Sam wants to wrangle in the UFO phenomenon that's clearly starting to go mainstream -- and they're doing it by launching a whole new team specifically designed to dig in ... or, we should say, probe deeper.

The U.S. Dept. of Defense announced this week it's starting a task force called the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group to look into what several people claim they've seen in the skies, dating back decades.

This new unit is going to replace the Navy's Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force -- which just got created last year. Seems like the Pentagon wants to broaden the scope here.

In a press release, the DoD says the purpose of this new group will be to "detect, identify and attribute objects of interests in Special Use Airspace," and not just that -- but also, "to assess and mitigate any associated threats to safety of flight and national security."

Translation: We wanna know who or what's flying around us, and if they come in peace!!!

DoD notes the move comes under direct orders and in coordination with top intelligence officials ... while pointing out this is the direct result of that DNI report earlier this year, which turned out to be a big nothing burger.

You'll recall, our government was unable to properly identify or explain 143 out of 144 flying objects that had been witnessed and/or documented since 2004. The Defense Dept. says the new agency is being formed to improve a system that's clearly flawed.

While this might seem like exactly what needs to happen in light of Congress members publicly demanding the Pentagon fess up on what it knows ... some actually see it as a bad thing, that'll only cloak info in more secrecy.