Dateline: Serbia– Vampire hunters, fearful that late dictator Slobodan Milosevic would return from the grave as a bloodthirsty member of the undead, rammed a wooden stake through the former Serbian president’s corpse. Miroslav Milosevic, no relation to the deceased dictator, gave himself up to police after an investigation was launched into why a 3-foot-long wooden pole had been driven into the ground of Milosevic’s grave. The living M. Milosevic claimed he and his fellow vampire hunters acted to prevent S. Milosevic from “returning from the dead” to haunt the country. Slobodan Milosevic’s Socialist Party of Serbia, which led the country to civil war and oversaw the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, condemned the desecration of the grave in the eastern town of Pozarevac. Slobodan Milosevic’s daughter-in-law Milica Gajic said she planned to sue the vampire hunters and accused the police of failing to protect the grave properly. Milosevic died on March 11, 2006, while on trial before a U.N. war crimes tribunal. Dateline: India– A farmer in Chandipur, a village 145 miles southwest of Calcutta, decided to play detective after losing several of his chickens to what he believed to be jackals. Instead of catching some wild dogs in the act, the farmer, known only as Moloy, found that one of his own cows was to blame. “To catch the culprit, Moloy got up very early … and to his disbelief found that it was his calf which came out of the cow shed and was eating the chickens alive,” Debjyoti Chatterjee, a neighbor who filmed the calf eating a chicken, told reporters last week. Moloy and his 1-year-old calf have become local celebrities after footage of the carnivorous cow was shown on television in India’s West Bengal state. Asked for his take on the unusual barnyard situation, a local veterinarian was at a loss. “I’ve never read or heard about cows turning carnivorous,” said Mihir Triphany. “They eat grass and other vegetarian food but not fish or other non-vegetarian stuff.” Dateline: South Carolina– South Carolina Highway Patrol officers landed themselves an easy drug bust when a car carrying 43 pounds of marijuana crashed into a trooper’s cruiser. The bust came after two patrolmen parked their vehicles in northbound Interstate 95 near Santee early last Sunday morning following a series of wrecks that had tied up traffic. A Chevrolet Malibu going about 70 mph hit one of the cruisers, causing minor injuries to the trooper behind the wheel. Officers found two large duffel bags in the trunk with 43 pounds of marijuana in plastic bags. Orangeberg county deputies estimated the worth at more than $150,000. The 54-year-old driver from Daytona Beach Shores, Fla., was charged with driving under the influence, possession of cocaine and trafficking marijuana. Dateline: Wisconsin– Sheriff’s deputies in Shawano County, Wis., were greeted with a surprising bit of honesty when they responded to a complaint on March 1 that Eugene Hansen, of Wittenberg, was intoxicated and causing a disturbance. While questioning the 48-year-old Hansen in his bedroom, deputies spotted what they suspected was a marijuana pipe. According to papers filed in Shawano County Circuit Court, Hansen told the deputies, “That’s not a dope pipe, it’s my bomb.” Hansen could face up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine on a felony charge of possessing improvised explosives. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. Sheriff’s investigator Randy Giese said a search found bomb-making components but no actual explosive materials that could have led to a more serious charge. Dateline: Wisconsin– Police in Stevens Point, Wis., had it easiest of all, though, thanks to one very helpful criminal. It started when 24-year-old Zachary Brandl called police to tell them he was trying to break into a church. Police said they found their man waiting in the parking lot outside St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. Brandl told them he had hoped to get married in the church and was trying to use a metal shovel to break through the doors. He told them he wasn’t having much luck and figured the police could assist. Officers searched Brandl and found a prescription bottle stuffed with marijuana. Brandl then invited officers to his home, where he told them they would find more drugs. They did, locating a stash of marijuana and stolen prescription drugs with the homeowner’s help. Brandl was arrested on charges of criminal damage to property, possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia. “There aren’t many arrests like that,” Police Chief Jeff Morris told the Stevens Point Journal . Dateline: Wisconsin– A 7-year-old girl who though she was getting the short end of the deal called 911 last Sunday afternoon to report her grandfather was cheating at cards. The Dodge County dispatch center recorded a 911 hang-up call from a young child around 4:40 p.m. Sheriff’s officers traced the call to a home in the town of Burnett. When they arrived, the grandmother told a deputy her young granddaughter had recently learned to dial 911 and apparently phoned when she believed her grandfather was cheating during a family card game.
Compiled by Devin D. O'Leary. E-mail your weird news to devin@alibi.com.
