News of the Weird: Inept crooks caught breaking into jail

Three unnamed men were taken into custody in St. Louis on Nov. 16 after breaking into an empty jail and ending up locking themselves inside it, KSDK-TV reported. The Workhouse, a medium-security lockup, has not been used for more than a year. After getting trapped inside, the trespassers had to call 911. Police let them out — and then arrested them for property damage, burglary and stealing.

Angela Presti of Parma, Ohio, was excited to bring home her first real Christmas tree and decorate it with her daughter, WKYC-TV reported. But a few hours later, she noticed her face was swollen. "My cheek was hot and itchy," she said. "My tongue, I felt like I could swallow it, except I couldn't swallow and my throat started closing and my breathing was wheezy." Emergency room staff told her that the problem likely was tied to her tree; about 7% of the population suffers from Christmas Tree Syndrome, caused not so much by the tree itself as the mold that grows on it in the sales lot. Presti's doctor suggested she go back to an artificial tree.

According to the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, a number of "witch bottles," created to deter evil spirits, are washing up along Gulf Coast beaches, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported on Nov. 20. The bottles are part of old-school spell casting. They contain objects including iron nails, rusty pins, hair and urine. Jace Tunnell of the institute thinks the bottles originate in the Caribbean and South America and are intended to "draw in and trap harmful intentions directed at their owners" — in other words, they're curse catchers. He doesn't believe they actually work, but he isn't taking any chances. "I've found around eight of these bottles and never opened one," he said. "I have five of them on my fence in the backyard because my wife won't let me bring them inside."

The Saucon Valley School District in Hellertown, Pa., and the local Satanic Temple have come to an agreement, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Earlier in 2023, the district had banned the temple from using its facilities at Saucon Valley Middle School to host the After School Satan Club (motto: Educatin' With Satan). But on Nov. 16, the district reversed its position and gave the club the same access to facilities as "comparable groups." However, the Satanic Temple noted that they do not run the clubs in districts where there are no Christian-based religious programs. There had been such a club, but now it's defunct, so the After School Satan Club is on hold.

Thieves made off with a questionable booty on Nov. 20 in Philadelphia, WPVI-TV reported. While a tractor-trailer was parked in a Target lot, six men broke the locks on the back of the trailer and stole multiple cases of talcum powder, police said. The driver was in the cab at the time but was unaware of the burglary until he started to drive away.

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