Dateline: ArizonaA ranch famous for alien encounters is now on the market for prospective homeowners with a love of the paranormal. The owners of Stardust Ranch in Buckeye, Ariz.., say they’ve had enough encounters with ghosts and extraterrestrials and are ready to part with the notorious property. The ranch has become well-known in paranormal and conspiracy circles, and has been featured on the Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures.” The owners claim the working horse ranch has seen numerous cases of animal mutilation, close encounters with extraterrestrials and even physical attacks from paranormal sources. They even claim to have killed 18 alien beings with a samurai sword the owner keeps in the living room. The 10-acre property includes a 3,500-square-foot home with 5 bedrooms and 4 baths. The home has a pool, a private well, four horse corrals, a pole barn, an arena, a tack room, a kennel and a commercial-size hay barn. The owners also say there are two interdimensional “portals” on their land—one in the back of the property and one in the living room fireplace—used by aliens to travel. The property is on sale for $5 million. Its new owners are not guaranteed of experiencing or avoiding a paranormal encounter.Dateline: MichiganA man who made a bet with police involving Facebook and doughnuts turned himself in last week for at least one outstanding warrant. After commenting “You suck!” on a Redford Township Police Department Facebook post earlier this month, Michael Martin Zaydel sent a private message challenging them to get 1,000 shares on their next post. He claimed that if they did, he would turn himself in and bring a dozen doughnuts with him. The department’s next post did indeed reach more that 1,000 shares, but Zaydel failed to respond to subsequent posts. Over a week later, however, the department published an image with this caption: “This evening at approximately 6:30pm Michael Zaydel made good on his promise to turn himself in to RTPD for his outstanding warrants. He walked in on his own, and not only did he bring the donuts, he brought one bagel!” Zaydel was reportedly sentenced to serve time 39 days in county jail.Dateline: United KingdomA study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology suggests that consuming a moderate amount of alcohol will improve a person’s ability to pronounce foreign words. Researchers at the University of Liverpool, King’s College London and Maastricht University in the Netherlands enlisted 50 German speakers who had recently learned Dutch. Some of the participants were given alcohol and a control group was given an alcohol-free beverage. The serving administered equated to roughly a pint of beer containing five percent alcohol, with adjustment for weight. The participants were then recorded during conversation, and the resulting clips were played for native Dutch speakers. According to the study, the speakers who had consumed alcoholic beverages were rated higher by native speakers than those who had not. Co-author of the study, psychologist Jessica Werthmann, said in a statement that a possible explanation could be the anxiety-reducing effect of alcohol, but also stated that more research is needed to test that hypothesis.Dateline: ArizonaA man allegedly burned down his mobile home trying to kill a spider with a propane torch. The Tucson Fire Department responded to a 911 call last week that led rescue workers to a mobile home that was on fire. It took 23 firefighters 11 minutes to put out the fire, which authorities suspect might have been caused by a propane torch used to burn away spiderwebs under the trailer. Officials said that only one mobile home was damaged by the blaze. Emergency workers reported that an elderly woman was carried out of the burning home by her son and neighbors. She sustained minor injuries while being carried out, but no other injuries were reported. House fires caused by residents attempting to kill spiders is not as uncommon as it sounds. In 2014, a Seattle man allegedly burned down his rental house trying to kill a spider using a lighter and a can of spray paint and a woman was arrested in Kansas for setting some towels on fire to kill a spider.Dateline: FloridaAuthorities in Florida report that the son of a West Palm Beach Sheriff’s lieutenant took his father’s unmarked police cruiser to pull over his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend. According to an arrest report, Christopher Combs—who is currently enrolled as a Palm Beach Sheriff’s cadet—took his father’s patrol vehicle, pulled over his former girlfriend Jamie DiCarlo and her new boyfriend, Robert Roberts, and then allegedly used the patrol car’s loudspeaker to order Roberts out of his truck and onto the ground. Officials say he then told Roberts to empty his pockets, and someone stole Roberts’ wallet and a pocket knife. Combs was arrested and ordered by a judge not to have any contact with DiCarlo or Roberts. He was put on house arrest with GPS monitoring and was fired from the police department. Combs faces charges of armed robbery, impersonating a law enforcement officer and false imprisonment.
Compiled by Joshua Lee. Email your weird news to devin@alibi.com.
