News of the Weird: Floridians vie to embrace their weirdness

The first Florida Man Games were held in St. Augustine on Feb. 24. United Press International reported that hundreds of people paid $55 each for a ticket to watch Floridians compete in a mullet contest and a “Florida sumo” event where competitors tried to spill each other’s beers. Other events included a pork-butt-eating contest, a race that simulated stealing a bike, and an “evading arrest obstacle course.” “We understand that Florida is weird,” said Pete Melfi, organizer of the event. “We embrace it.”

News You Can Use

Legend says that if the seven ravens that protect the Tower of London (six, plus one spare, as decreed by King Charles II) ever leave the landmark, the tower will crumble and the Kingdom of England will fall. So it’s no surprise that the tower has a ravenmaster, and 56-year-old Michael “Barney” Chandler has just been installed in the job, the Associated Press reported. “We don’t know if [the prophecy is] true or not, because we’ve never let the number drop below six — and it’s not going to happen while I’m here,” Chandler said. Spoiler alert: The birds’ feathers are trimmed so they can’t fly away.

Last week’s appearance of Feb. 29 resulted in several oddities:

• In Rye, N.H,, Lillian Edin celebrated her 25th birthday — although she is 100 years old. “I feel 25, until I start trying to walk,” Edin said, according to WMUR-TV. “I can’t believe I’ve lived this age. I really can’t.” She was feted with lunch and cupcakes.

• Siblings who were born on Leap Day four years apart got to celebrate their birthday together for the first time. Omri Demchak, 8, and his sister, Scout, 4, celebrated with more than 50 people at the coffee shop their parents own in New York City. Most years, the family celebrates Omri’s birthday on Feb. 28 and Scout’s on March 1. Mom Lindsay Demchak said neither of the leap kids was due on the special day. “It was truly serendipitous,” she told the New York Post.

• Issue 12 of France’s La Bougie du Sapeur (The Sapper’s Candle) hit the newsstands, the BBC reported — which is kind of a big deal because it is printed only once every four years on Feb. 29. The first edition was in 1980. Editor Jean d’Indy said the 20-page tabloid is “put out by a few pals. We meet in a bar and toss around ideas over drinks. We have a lot of fun, and if the reader does, too, that’s the icing on the cake.” It has a print run of 200,000, costs 5 euros (about $5.50) and is not available online.

On Feb. 19, neighbors in an apartment building in Wejherowo, Poland, became alarmed when a 19-year-old man tried to lead a full-grown horse up the stairs to his third-floor home, Radio Gdansk reported. Police were called to the building and determined that the mare, worth about $3,800, had been stolen. It was returned to the owner, and the man was charged with theft.

Send your weird news items with subject line Weird News to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.