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A heroic chihuahua and 9 other bizarre news stories you've likely missed

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Yes, we know, the world moves too fast. Hundreds of news stories are published on news portals and social media every day, and it's impossible to keep up with everything that's going on. Since we know you're a busy bee and you probably could do with some chill time, in this article, we've rounded up 10 recent news stories that are so crazy they'll not only shock you, but also make you smile. Enjoy!

Image: Margarita Marushevska

Back in 2023, an antique dealer found a hidden gem at a garage sale in Cambridge, UK. He immediately thought he recognized the author of the painting, one of the most important artists in history. He then decided to take it to an auction house to confirm his suspicions.

After a thorough analysis that took almost two years, they finally confirmed he was right: the painting was an original Salvador Dalí. It is called "Vecchio Sultano" and belongs to a series that the Spanish artist had created, inspired by the tales of The Arabian Nights. The painting will be auctioned with a starting price of £20,000. Interestingly, the person who found it bought it for only £150. Nice deal, don't you think?

Image: Robson Hatsukami Morgan

How absent-minded do you think you are? Probably a lot less than this 62-year-old Frenchman, who had to call the police after forgetting his wife at a gas station on their way to Morocco for a vacation. The man claimed he only realized the woman was missing after driving about 200 miles.

Oddly enough, the couple's 22-year-old daughter, who was traveling with them, was unable to provide information to the authorities because she had fallen asleep. The police had to check the security cameras and contact the phone company to locate the woman. After a quick investigation, they concluded that the man was truly an absent-minded person and had not abandoned his wife intentionally.

Image: Isaac Quesada

Recently, a team of British scientists successfully conceived eight babies using DNA from three people. They also managed to ensure that the babies were born without hereditary conditions. This was possible thanks to a new in vitro fertilization technique where a small amount of mitochondrial DNA from a donor is added to the mother's egg and the father's sperm.

Researchers at the Newcastle Fertility Center explained that one in 5,000 people are born with mitochondrial diseases, which have no treatment and whose symptoms can include vision loss, diabetes, and muscle atrophy. The experiment has sparked a debate due to ethical and religious issues. Yet, it has been proven that babies can be conceived without inherited disabling or fatal diseases.

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A British court sentenced Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers to four years and three months in prison for cutting down an iconic tree next to Hadrian's Wall in northern England. This Sycamore Gap tree became famous after appearing in the 1991 film starring Kevin Costner, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Since then, it has been a major tourist attraction.

The perpetrators claimed they were drunk at the time, but authorities were able to prove the crime was premeditated. The men had traveled specifically to the site and recorded themselves cutting down the tree with a chainsaw. They also took a piece of the trunk as a trophy. As a result, the judge ruled that their behavior showed a "sheer bravado" that had caused an enduring sense of loss to the community.

Image: Héctor Berganza

Would you send yourself to prison for a piece of quiet? Just a few miles from Seoul is "Prison Inside Me", a unique retreat center where people voluntarily lock themselves away to detox from stress and reconnect with themselves. Imagine being able to escape the demands of everyday life for a couple of hours!

Those who attend this stress camp hand over their phones upon arrival, must wear a blue uniform, and say goodbye to watches, mirrors, and external distractions for a few days. Silence is the norm: they meditate, write, and breathe. The goal is not to be punished, but to find peace in tranquility.

Image: Kaboompics.com

Can you imagine being completely unique in the world? A group of scientists has confirmed that a woman from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe has a rare blood type that has never been seen before on the planet. This new blood group has been named "Gwada negative."

The French Blood Institute detected an unknown antibody when the patient took a set of tests before a surgery in 2011. At that time, the technology necessary to conduct in-depth research wasn’t available. It was not until 2019 that advancements in DNA sequencing allowed the use of a technique that confirmed a genetic mutation that finally solved the mystery.

Image: Snapwire

While cleaning a beach on the south coast of Ireland, a group of environmentalists found a stranded bottle with a love note inside. The message was written by a Canadian couple and said, "If you find this letter, please call us." Moved by the sentiment, they decided to call the phone number on the note to find out if Anita and Brad were still together.

After not being able to reach them, they posted the story on Facebook. The post quickly went viral in Canada, and friends of Anita and Brad Squires recognized the romantic gesture. The couple finally found out that their message, sent in 2012, had been found on the other side of the ocean. The couple has now been married for nine years and has three children. Anita is a nurse, while Brad is a former member of the Canadian police force.

Image: E Hillsley

Recently, 30-year-old Russian gymnast Sergey Boytsov performed a daredevil stunt on a platform suspended above a hot air balloon at an altitude of almost 5,000 feet. But that’s not all; he didn’t wear a harness or any safety equipment. He then jumped out with a parachute.

It took a team of 33 people, two and a half months of training, two hot air balloons, one helicopter, and one plane to get the gymnast into the air. Sergey is no novice when it comes to heights or extreme sports. He had also participated in a boxing match at high altitude three months before. The feat was officially recorded in the Russian Book of Records.

Image: Hermann

We all dream of winning the lottery, but winning it four times? David Serkin must be the luckiest man in the world! Not only did he survive cancer, but he has won the lottery four times, the last three in less than 12 months. His case is so rare that even the Western Canada Lottery Corporation claims that the odds of winning are 1 in 33 million!

Ten years ago, this lucky Canadian won $250,000, and although he knew the odds of winning again were very low, he kept playing because he didn’t want to give up the tradition he had been enjoying for over forty years. And thank goodness he didn’t! In August 2024, he won half a million dollars, in November a million, and in May 2025 another million. To celebrate, he took his wife on vacation to Hawaii!

Image: Kaboompics.com

A Chihuahua became news after its owner fell into a huge crevasse on a glacier in Switzerland and helped guide rescuers to find him. The man had fallen about 26 feet deep into the abyss while walking on the Fee Glacier with his small furry companion.

Fortunately, the man had a walkie-talkie with which he was able to call for help. But how would they find him? The Chihuahua, which had remained at the edge of the crevasse barking and moving around in the snow, allowed the rescuers to determine the exact location of the accident from the air. A true four-legged hero!

Folklore from around the world

Dragons, vampires and beyond: the surprising origin of 12 ancient beasts

Image: Friedrich-Johann-Justin-Bertuch, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Throughout history, dozens of mythological creatures from cultures around the world have played a leading role in tales and legends that have terrified even the bravest. Many of these beasts are well known, but have you ever wondered where their names came from? Read on to discover the origins of 12 legendary monsters!

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Ogres are popular characters in Western folk tales. The word ogre comes from French, and some scholars trace it to Orcus, a Roman god of the underworld who fed on human flesh.

Ogres are typically depicted with large heads, wild hair, and scruffy beards. In fairy tales, they are often portrayed as brutal giants who eat humans and are almost always extremely strong and ferocious. This legendary monster became popular thanks to the works of French author Charles Perrault in the 17th century.

Image: Tim Alex

Yes, the most famous vampire is Count Dracula, but blood-sucking undead creatures existed in European folklore long before Bram Stoker published his novel in 1897. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word vampire likely comes from the French vampire, borrowed from German and ultimately from South Slavic languages such as Serbian vampir.

Vampiric entities have been recorded in many cultures, although they were especially popular in Southeastern and Eastern Europe during the 18th century. Unlike the pale, fanged aristocrats of modern fiction, early vampires were often described as bloated, dark-skinned corpses that rose from the grave to feed on the living.

Image: Daisy Anderson

A mummy is, of course, the preserved body of a dead human or animal. In ancient civilizations such as Egypt, mummification was a vital part of religious and burial practices, believed to prepare the deceased for the afterlife.

Yet, popular culture took it upon itself to depict mummies as supernatural monsters. This portrayal likely stems from tales of "mummy curses" that emerged in the early 20th century, particularly after the discovery of Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Ancient Egyptian mummies are named after the substance in which the dead person's body was embalmed. Mummy, in this sense, goes back to Arabic mūmiyā, meaning "bitumen" and therefore "embalmed corpse."

Image: Ri_Ya

Another popular monster from European folklore is the werewolf. The word that describes the mythical transformation of a person into a wolf comes from the late Old English werewulf, combining wer, meaning "man," and **wulf, meaning "wolf"**—literally, "man-wolf."

Werewolves are often described as being placed under a curse, and the association between werewolves and the full moon became widespread during the Middle Ages, though stories of human-to-wolf transformations go back even further—one of the earliest literary examples appears in the Satyricon by the Roman writer Petronius.

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Goblins are small, mischievous creatures that appear in European folklore, particularly in tales from the Middle Ages. They are often portrayed as evil, disfigured humanoids with magical powers and a love for causing trouble.

The word goblin has several proposed origins. The most widely accepted theory is that it comes from the Old French gobelin, which itself derives from _Gobelinus_—a malevolent spirit said to have haunted the town of Évreux in northern France during the 12th century.

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The banshee is usually depicted as a ghostly woman clad in pale, flowing garments, though in some accounts, she is described as a fairy who sings with a mournful, otherworldly voice. The word banshee comes from the Old Irish ben síde (or modern bean sídhe), meaning "woman of the fairies."

In Celtic folklore, the banshee is a supernatural being—often believed to be the spirit of a deceased ancestor—who wails a warning of an imminent death in a house. So, when this female spirit appears, watch out!

Image: Antonio Canova, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Gorgons are legendary monsters from ancient Greek mythology—three terrifying sisters with glaring eyes and serpents writhing in place of hair. The name comes from the Greek Gorgones, meaning "the grim ones," derived from gorgos, meaning "fierce" or "terrible."

According to myth, anyone who looked directly at a Gorgon would be turned to stone. The most famous of the trio is Medusa, the only mortal Gorgon. Although she was slain by the hero Perseus, her severed head retained its petrifying power and was used as a weapon long after her death.

Image: Daniel Jensen

A zombie is a contradicting monster: it’s a human who’s both living and dead. The idea of reanimated corpses originates in Afro-Caribbean folklore, particularly Haitian Vodou, where zombies are said to be dead bodies brought back to life and controlled by a sorcerer.

In modern times, zombies have become iconic figures in horror films and fiction, often portrayed as mindless, flesh-eating hordes. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the term zombie has a Central African origin and can be traced back to words like zumbi ("fetish") and djumbi ("ghost").

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Ghouls are monsters from Arabian mythology that are usually found haunting the places humans tend to avoid, like graveyards and abandoned areas. According to legend, a ghoul would lure unsuspecting travelers into the wilderness with the intent of devouring them.

The word ghoul comes from the Arabic term ġūl, a desert-dwelling demon that feeds on the dead, often by robbing graves. Ġūl in turn derives from ghala, meaning "to seize." In some traditions, ghouls are considered a type of jinn—supernatural beings that can be either good or evil—from which the English word genie is derived.

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The Kraken is a legendary sea monster from Scandinavian mythology. This creature, resembling a giant squid or octopus, dwells in the deep sea, stalking sailors who dare to enter its waters. According to legend, it is capable of swallowing men, ships, and even whales.

The term kraken derives from the Norwegian word krake, meaning "pole," "stake," or "post," as well as "crooked tree" or "stunted animal or person."

Image: Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Oni are fearsome creatures in Japanese folklore. According to a 10th-century Japanese dictionary, the word—represented by the kanji 鬼—may derive from on or onu, meaning "to hide." Oni are typically hidden beings, dwelling in caves or remote mountains, making them difficult to spot.

When they do appear, they often take a red or blue humanoid form. They carry iron clubs, have horns and massive teeth, and are sometimes depicted with extra eyes, fingers, or toes. Despite their fearsome reputation for devouring humans in one mouthful, oni are also sometimes linked to bringing good fortune and wealth.

Image: Vlad Zaytsev

The dragon, one of the most well-known mythological beings, appears in various forms in several cultures around the world. In China, dragons are considered symbols of good fortune, while in medieval Europe, they were often depicted as evil creatures. These creatures, often shown with reptilian and avian features, were known both as guardians of sacred places and as fearsome predators who devoured princesses.

Whether spewing fire from their mouths or seen as earthly representatives of the Devil, dragons were creatures to be feared. The word dragon entered the English language in the early 13th century from the Old French dragon, which in turn derives from the Greek drákōn, meaning "serpent" or "giant seafish."