News of the Weird: 'Grinch' can't steal kid's holiday spirit

Last week, the editors of News of the Weird shared their favorite stories from 2023. In response to the positive reaction to that column, the editors have dug a little deeper this week to find some favorites from years past. The stories' common theme: They all deal with the holidays.

When 5-year-old TyLon Pittman of Byram, Miss., saw the Grinch stealing Christmas on TV on Dec. 16, 2017, he did what any civic-minded citizen would do. He called 911. TyLon told police officer Lauren Develle, who answered the call, that he did not want the Grinch to come steal his Christmas, reported the Clarion Ledger. Develle made TyLon an honorary junior officer and had him come to the station a couple of days later to help her lock up the Grinch — actually, another officer in a costume — who apologized for trying to steal Christmas. Police Chief Luke Thompson told TyLon to come back when he's 21, "and I'm going to give you a job application, OK?"

Matt Hightower of Overland Park, Kan., was home alone with his three kids in mid-December 2020 when he turned on the oven in preparation for making dinner. He didn't know that the kids' three Elves on the Shelf had been put there the night before to "warm up" after spending the day in the refrigerator, KCTV reported. "I cooked the elves," Hightower confessed to his wife, Chelsea, who was out Christmas shopping. A frantic search around town found three replacements before the kids learned of the accident. "Jingle, Belle and Magic have made a miraculous recovery and are back to their silly ways," Chelsea reported.

Since 1966, the city of Gavle, Sweden, has erected a huge straw goat in its downtown square at Christmas time. The goats are pagan symbols that preceded Santa Claus as a bringer of gifts, the Associated Press reported. But in what has become an adjunct to that tradition, vandals have started lighting the goats on fire, including on Dec. 17, 2021, when police arrested a suspect in his 40s who had soot on his hands.

Those large inflatable Christmas decorations may fill the hearts of children with holiday cheer, but one youngster saw a sparring partner and went on the attack in Monrovia, Calif., on Dec. 8, 2021. Donna Hargett captured video of a bear cub wrestling with her neighbor's inflatable reindeer as the mama bear looked on, United Press International reported. "I looked up and there it was, jumping on the reindeer," The cub eventually wandered away, seemingly unharmed. No word on Rudolph's condition.

A 2006 holiday party for inmates at Britain's Peterborough Jail offered a fun time, along with cash gifts of 5 pounds each (about $9 U.S.), which is greater than the value of the candy boxes the jail gave its guards for Christmas.

Sarah Childs won a restraining order in Denham Springs, La., in December 2012, forbidding the town from shutting down her "Christmas" lights decoration. The large outdoor display was the image of two hands with middle fingers extended.

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