Bizarre News - February 15, 2014

Greetings fellow Bizarros:

It sounds like an indie rock band, but apparently a "stone baby" is the rare phenomenon in which a fetus grows and then dies outside of the uterus. Why preamble Bizarre News with this weird bit of medical trivia? Because one of these rare unborn fetuses has been discovered in an 84-year-old Brazilian woman.

How long had this poor woman been carrying this macabre relic around inside of her? Over 40 years.

The discovery came when the woman started suffering intense stomach pains and went to the hospital. X-rays revealed the unthinkable.

Since the fetus grows and then dies outside of the uterus the body is unable to rid itself of it. The dead fetus is instead covered in calcium as a means of protection, resulting in the "stone baby."

The woman said she became pregnant more than 40 years ago but suffered pain during the pregnancy and visited a local healer for help.

After taking what he had given her, "her stomach didn't grow anymore, the baby stopped moving, and she thought it had been aborted," says a gynecologist at the hospital where she was transferred.

The Brazilian says she does not want the fetus removed. I guess after over 40 years what's the point?

Bizarrely,
Lewis

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*-- Police: Robber armed with chainsaw had flower pot on head --*
FLINDERS VIEW, Australia - Australian police said they arrested a 19-year-old man accused of arming himself with a chainsaw and covering his head with a flower pot to rob a store. Investigators said Steven Frank Steele, 19, of Leichhardt, had a flower pot over his head to conceal his identity and was holding a running chainsaw when he entered the 7-Eleven store in Flinders View about 4:30 a.m. Monday, the Queensland Times reported Thursday. Police said the two store attendants fled to a back room when Steele lunged at them. He allegedly used the chainsaw to damage a window and several display racks when they refused his demands for money. Steele allegedly bared his buttocks to the store employees and damaged a parked car while fleeing the scene. Police said he took a bottle of soda from the store. Police said the chainsaw, which is believed to have been stolen, was recovered from a bush near the scene and Steele was arrested by a police officer who saw him walking down a nearby street. Steele was charged with one count of armed robbery, two counts of willful damage, one count of going armed to cause fear, one count of public nuisance and one count of possessing suspected stolen property.


*-- Italian family buries mother they said was still alive --*
PALERMO, Italy - An Italian family said they were forced to bury their 68-year-old mother even though they believe she was still alive. The family of Grazi Bruno, 68, said she wasn't really dead because her body showed no decomposition or rigor mortis, which normally occurs after death, the ANSA news agency reported Friday. The family fought with municipal authorities over their mother's body for eight days after two medical authorities confirmed she died from pancreatic cancer. The family held a funeral in the town of Villagrazia di Carini near the capital of Palermo. "For us, we will always regret that we buried our mother while she was still alive," one family member, whose name wasn't reported, said. "Anyone in their place would have acted in same way," said priest Antonino Caruso. "Better to err on the side of caution than on indifference and distraction," the priest said during Mass.


*-- READER COMMENTS --*
So, the neighbor could see the father getting a ticket, but isn't mentioned as having seen anything else that happened? Sounds odd to me. I would think the neighbor would be definitely saying, yes, I saw that happen, if they were willing to offer the original information to the son. -Wendy
[Nobody ever talks about the case until after the trial and all the money is divvied up.]

I live in a small mid-west village with a lot of foot traffic. I would love to see people ticketed for all the cigarette butts I find along my sidewalk. It would seem that the majority of smokers don't give a rat's butt where they throw them. NO RESPECT. -Scott Avnaim
[Yeah! Tase their disrespectful, smoking balls, too!]

we do get some flawed jerks on the various peace officer forces out here, and more than you hear of else ware due to the population density, but most sheriff's deputies are decent to great people who don't go so far off the deep end! I myself would be contemplating revenge with that officer at the business end of my 12 gage shotgun, I probably wouldn't, pending a multi million dollar settlement with the county, but I definitely would be thinking about it! just reading that has my knees crossing involuntarily!
[I often have fantasies about some crazy (and hopefully drunk or high) cop in a very rich neighborhood tasering me for jay walking, or something, so I could retire early.]

Lewis, are you going to write a third book about bizzare stories? -Steve
[You know, years ago when we were still publishing books, the boss told me that when The Best of Bizarre News II finally sold out he would let me do a number III. Of course, the second book sold out four or five years ago and nobody has brought up the idea of doing another one yet. While it is exciting to publish those books, it is also a hell of a lot of work...so I'm content not to push the idea too hard.]

*-- END OF READER COMMENTS --*
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