Hi friends, I'm Scott and here is your weird news update featuring some of the odd, and fun things from the news. This is What a Weird Week. Fri. 16 Oct. 2026.
Show notes page is shownotes.page. Stream and Subscribe HERE.
9 Man risks paper cuts on lips, esophagus to catch several airplanes in mouth. https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2026/10/13/guinness-world-records-david-rush-paper-planes-mouth/5211791898743/ and the video https://youtu.be/9mI-3SVweng?si=EG1ae43DUqjcLIMs
8 Spidermen unite. https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2026/10/09/Guinness-World-Records-spider-man/4421791569448/ and video https://youtu.be/VpD3C5tP39A?si=BHYgnDKxJgSWNmv_
7 Planking Grammy dominates. https://people.com/grandmother-breaks-own-record-planking-world-record-at-5-hours-12170377 and the video https://youtu.be/CY69c_vfDO8?si=ARLI8LZGNzc5hvzX
6 Giant Wiener Dog terrifies community *citation needed* https://www.chron.com/texas/article/buda-wiener-dog-statue-texas-22475144.php and the video https://youtube.com/shorts/60k_kPZh8ps?si=uajQ_sySq3iG4imr
5 Locked in! Doctor's office edition. https://www.wmur.com/article/keene-convenient-md-patient-left-behind/74111701
4 Poison Ivy Sheep. https://www.kgns.tv/2026/10/09/they-love-it-sheep-hired-eat-your-poison-ivy/
3 Wait, that Salem witch trial theory was debunked 50 years ago?? Tell the all the podcasters! https://www.popsci.com/science/salem-witch-trials-moldy-bread-ergot/
2 Bear gets too close to literary classic for my liking. https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/bear-library-winnie-the-pooh-22479397.php and the video https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1416136517335279
1 (tie) Jenny the horse has a very long tail. https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2026/10/15/guinness-world-records-longest-horse-tail/8351792085400/ and video https://www.facebook.com/reel/4588182088080988
1 (tie) man drinks bottle of pop very fast, world reacts. *might be soda. https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2026/10/14/finland-Guinness-world-records-orange-soda/7121791997375/ and the video https://www.facebook.com/reel/4476578822604451
TRANSCRIPT for Season 7, Episode 42, published on 16 Oct 2026:
#weirdnews #odd #fun #interesting #strange #podcast
00:00
The giant wiener dog terrified the community. What a weird week. You know what? Citation needed. They, don't think they were actually terrified. Hi, everybody. It's weird. This is like crazy. Really weird. Big foot out of my trash. I got a great job. It was so wonderful. Hi friends. I am Scott and this is what a weird week. It's a show where we go back through the news of the week and we pick out 10 weird stories, fun stories.
00:29
interesting ones, the odd stories, not the serious news. And you can get everything we talk about in more detail on our show notes page. It's quite popular. Check out the photos and the links in that go to show notes dot page. This episode first dropping on Friday, October 16, 2026. Number 10 is the very large pumpkin that broke a world record, not just won a contest for large pumpkins, but broke the world record in Rhode Island, United States of America.
00:58
Pumpkins now, the giant pumpkins, are weighing in at more than 3,000 pounds. One time that was unheard of, but not anymore. Pumpkins that weigh as much as a mid-sized sedan. Oh my gourd, a Rhode Island farmer just crushed the world record of largest pumpkin. NBC 10's Kate Hanoich shows us the massive gourd making history. This record is no small squash, literally.
01:27
Rhode Islander Ron Wallace has broken the record for world's largest pumpkin. And these pumpkins, they don't happen by accident. His pumpkin weighing in at a staggering 3,156 pounds, squashing the previous record by 299 pounds. There's only been a handful of pumpkins ever grown this size. That's some coverage from NBC 10 WJAR. We'll link to that in the show notes. If you want to see how massive the pumpkin is, the
01:55
Pumpkin farmer is Ron Wallace from Rhode Island, United States of America. This all occurred at the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off. A lot of the coverage, if you go seek out some photos of this and you watch some news coverage of the giant pumpkin, there's a lot of puns. Like I feel bad for you reporters who have all these puns building up inside of you. And it's only every so often you get a story where it's appropriate to lay on the puns.
02:25
And you've got to get them out of your system. I understand that. So there's a lot of, my gourd and you know, this pumpkin squash, the world record. There's a lot of that. Number nine, number nine is man risks paper cuts on lips and esophagus to catch several airplanes in mouth. The catching paper airplanes in your mouth world record. And this is our friend. If you're new to the program, I like to think of David Rush as our friend.
02:52
Often we refer to his world records. He's the fellow with the most world records. He's from Idaho, United States of America, and David record breaker rush as another record.
03:10
We'll link to the video, basically what is happening here. And if you want to attempt this record, wear safety goggles. And I think you gotta be careful about paper cuts to the mouth and lips, but your partner throws paper airplanes at you. You catch them in your mouth and then drop them to the floor and continue. In the world record for that, most airplanes caught in the mouth, 20 paper airplanes caught in the mouth in one minute. So we're going to link to the video.
03:39
And they refer to the pain of being struck in the nose by one of the paper airplanes. guess that's something you got to watch out for as well. 20 airplanes in a minute. Congratulations, David Record Breaker Rush. Number eight is the world record attempt at Comic Con where they got all the people dressed as Spider-Man in one place. They were trying to break the record for the most people dressed as Spider-Man in one place. They started to counting up the Spider-Men, Spider-Women, Spider-People.
04:08
And the record is 685. At time of recording, they haven't released the final tally, but they have said they did not set the world record. They did not surpass 685 spider people in one place. Good try. It's a great photo. We'll link to the story and you can click show notes dot page. We'll link to a video as well. But I mean, if you don't have a chance to click, I will describe it. It is a room, large convention room.
04:38
full of people dressed as Spider-Man. The end. seven is the world dominating planking Grammy from Alberta, Canada, planet earth. A Grammy who is age 61 named Donna Jean, planked for, well, how long could you plank? Now this is world record territory. So sure, 30 seconds, I'm feeling the burn. Maybe I need a break. Perhaps you can go 10 minutes planking. Well, good for you.
05:08
Could you go 45 minutes? Really? You could. Show me. Sorry, are we having a conversation? The world record is five hours. Planking for five hours, Donna Jean. Congratulations. You are great.
05:39
to the video and the story if you click the show notes. six. Number six is a scary one for Halloween. The giant wiener dog statue. I'm just kidding, it's not scary. Well, I found it terrifying, but nobody else does. The Buda Economic Development Corporation is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a very large sculpture. It's a 19 foot long, 10 foot tall sculpture.
06:05
of a wiener dog. Buda's wiener dog races have been there for 30 years and it's earned the city the title Wiener Dog Capital of Texas. That video is from Fox 7 Austin. We'll link to that in the show notes. It's a giant wiener dog statue. Everyone loves it. In the wiener dog capital of Texas at a park. You can go and visit it. Have your photo taken with it. All I'm saying is someday, I believe it's common knowledge, someday
06:33
the giant roadside attractions will come to life and attack. And that wiener dog will be seeking vengeance for all of the wiener dogs. Right? I mean, you believe that too, don't you? Number five. OK, number five. Here's the headline. WMUR News 9 exclusive the headline. They locked me in. Staff goes home leaving keen woman in exam room.
07:01
And they mean keen New Hampshire. They don't mean the lady was keen on being in the room, locked in the room. Here's what happened according to the article. We'll link to this in the show notes. You tell me how you would feel. Would you laugh at this or I think I'd be freaked out. I get freaked out easy. I'm not sure if you're picking up that vibe from me, but that's me. Oh, freaky. The lady in the article was having an asthma attack.
07:29
went for treatment at an urgent care clinic in Keene, New Hampshire, United States of America. Somebody gave the lady a steroid shot and said, we'll be right back and forgot. And they're locked up and went home. The lady was locked inside the urgent care clinic and had to call 911 to be rescued. So if I'm that patient, I'm probably freaking out a little bit, or maybe I think I'm on a reality show.
07:58
Where are the hidden cameras? Or maybe I'm just laughing like, all right, I'm taking all of the tongue depressors. I don't know for sure how I'd react. It would throw a wrench into your evening plans, for sure. Being locked inside the medical clinic. And I don't want to judge. Shouldn't there be a system where they make sure all the patients have gone home before they lock the doors? I don't know, just spitballing here. But also I've worked at jobs where I've forgotten stuff. Like if I were the employee.
08:28
I could see myself getting distracted by the wordle, a particularly difficult wordle on my phone. And then I forget everything, lock up, go home. I could see that. They asked the lady in the article, they ask, would you go back to the clinic? The answer, probably not. And also in the article, the clinic apologizes for what happened. four is the sheep that you can rent in Kentucky. There's a company
08:58
where they'll bring sheep over to eat your lawn. If your lawn needs a good trim, get the sheep and the sheep will eat your poison ivy.
09:10
This is so relaxing. They're so quiet. If you listen closely, you can even hear a neighbor's lawnmower in the background. We are the quietest lawn service on the East Coast. Homeowner Hone Goldman hired the flock from a new business fittingly named Lambowers of Kentucky and is already making a lot of yards look sheer perfection in their own way. They've cleared out some of the crab grass. They've cleared out some of the weeds.
09:39
Yes, your lawn's not going to look as perfect as your next door neighbor with all the lines, but that's not the point here. The point is creating something that's sustainable and it's a great way to connect with community. Poison Ivy, kudzu, poison oak, they will eat that. They love it, as a matter of fact. So. A visit will cost you $195 Monday through Thursday and $295 on the weekends. I don't know if you caught that. It costs more on the weekends to rent the sheep because I'd sell tickets. I would rent the sheep.
10:09
And then invite the whole neighborhood over, five bucks each, to come and watch the sheep eat my lawn. So peaceful. It's like a mini retreat watching the sheep. It's a sheep retreat. We are linked to the video from KGNS News. Number three. Number three is an interesting one from Popular Science. We're in spooky season. So a lot of places, they're doing different spooky season stories as we get close to Halloween.
10:37
I think that's what's going on here with popular science. The headline is, in 1976, a college paper blamed the Salem witch trials on moldy bread. It wasn't true. And maybe you've heard that one before, that a certain kind of mold that grows on rye bread can have hallucinogenic properties. Maybe it was hallucinations causing some of the things you read about at the Salem witch trials during that time.
11:04
So that was the theory in 1976, a college paper. It still gets repeated today. I think I read it in the new Frieda McFadden book, maybe. The Witch? I don't know. Don't quote me, because I read a few different books, similar topic. One of them talked about that ergot poisoning deal. And maybe it was the Frieda McFadden book. I'm not sure if you're a Frieda freak. I'm a bit of a Frieda freak. What popular science is trying to point out is a year after the paper came out,
11:34
That theory was debunked, but we still hear about it. I'm going to stop there. I have revealed I'm a free to freak. I've probably said enough, but I'll link to the article in the show notes. two is the bear that made headlines on Winnie the Pooh Day for breaking into a library and stealing honey. Winnie the Pooh Day the other day, the 100th anniversary of the publishing of Winnie the Pooh. And on that same day, a bear broke into
12:04
It seems like it was a setup. Bear steals honey from California library on Winnie the Pooh anniversary. That's the headline. And there is security footage of a bear getting into a library. Here's an unpopular opinion. Maybe this story got written up. Look kind of cute like Winnie the Pooh and the bear steals honey. So that's a library. If there had been people in the library at the time, like imagine you're sitting there mining your own beeswax, maybe reading the latest
12:34
Freedom McFadden book and a bear gets in there? Nobody was injured in this break in. Why was there honey at the library? Also, no honey near the Freedom McFadden books, right? Because you don't want to ruin those things. Those things are future classics. one is a tie between a horse and a man. Couple of different world records. Let's go with the horse one first. This written up by Ben Hoops Hooper in United Press International. Jenny the horse making headlines.
13:04
as having the longest tail in the world. The longest horse tail belongs to Jenny the horse from Ohio, the United States of America. Jenny's tail is 13 feet and something. I'm a city slicker. When I saw the photos, I was like, what the... What now? I had no idea that a horse's tail could grow to 13 feet long. 13 and a half. So...
13:32
If you don't have a chance to click the photos, just for perspective, Jenny's tail would be as long as two king size beds. Number one, one, one. Our other number one story published a couple of days ago, United Press International as well by Ben Hoob's Hooper, the fellow from Finland or Finland. I always pronounce it Finland. And now, according to the metrics, we do have three of you friends in Finland listening or Finland. So please reach out if I'm saying it wrong.
14:02
feel free to let me know. And thank you for listening. The world record for downing 500 milliliters, almost 17 ounces of soda or where I live, we would call it pop. Maybe you call it soft drink, soda pop something. An orange soda, 500 milliliters done in 3.16 seconds. Imagine you've got a drink right now. Okay. I'll count your favorite soft drink. Ready? Go one Mississippi, two Mississippi.
14:31
Three Mississippi, done. It seems like you could do it, right? Your brain is telling you, you could do that. Come on. We could attain greatness, but please be safe. You're going to try it. At some point, you're going to try it, aren't you? Please be safe. I always say, consult your physician, your dietician, your spiritual leaders before consuming anything ever.
14:56
All right, that's it. The What a Weird Week Show, your weird news roundup. Thank you for listening. We are back next Friday with 10 more weird things from the news. You can get all the show notes and everything we talked about in more detail if you click our show notes page, which is shownotes.page. We'll catch you next Friday on What a Weird Week.
The giant wiener dog terrified the community. What a weird week. You know what? Citation needed. They, don't think they were actually terrified. Hi, everybody. It's weird. This is like crazy. Really weird. Big foot out of my trash. I got a great job. It was so wonderful. Hi friends. I am Scott and this is what a weird week. It's a show where we go back through the news of the week and we pick out 10 weird stories, fun stories.
00:29
interesting ones, the odd stories, not the serious news. And you can get everything we talk about in more detail on our show notes page. It's quite popular. Check out the photos and the links in that go to show notes dot page. This episode first dropping on Friday, October 16, 2026. Number 10 is the very large pumpkin that broke a world record, not just won a contest for large pumpkins, but broke the world record in Rhode Island, United States of America.
00:58
Pumpkins now, the giant pumpkins, are weighing in at more than 3,000 pounds. One time that was unheard of, but not anymore. Pumpkins that weigh as much as a mid-sized sedan. Oh my gourd, a Rhode Island farmer just crushed the world record of largest pumpkin. NBC 10's Kate Hanoich shows us the massive gourd making history. This record is no small squash, literally.
01:27
Rhode Islander Ron Wallace has broken the record for world's largest pumpkin. And these pumpkins, they don't happen by accident. His pumpkin weighing in at a staggering 3,156 pounds, squashing the previous record by 299 pounds. There's only been a handful of pumpkins ever grown this size. That's some coverage from NBC 10 WJAR. We'll link to that in the show notes. If you want to see how massive the pumpkin is, the
01:55
Pumpkin farmer is Ron Wallace from Rhode Island, United States of America. This all occurred at the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off. A lot of the coverage, if you go seek out some photos of this and you watch some news coverage of the giant pumpkin, there's a lot of puns. Like I feel bad for you reporters who have all these puns building up inside of you. And it's only every so often you get a story where it's appropriate to lay on the puns.
02:25
And you've got to get them out of your system. I understand that. So there's a lot of, my gourd and you know, this pumpkin squash, the world record. There's a lot of that. Number nine, number nine is man risks paper cuts on lips and esophagus to catch several airplanes in mouth. The catching paper airplanes in your mouth world record. And this is our friend. If you're new to the program, I like to think of David Rush as our friend.
02:52
Often we refer to his world records. He's the fellow with the most world records. He's from Idaho, United States of America, and David record breaker rush as another record.
03:10
We'll link to the video, basically what is happening here. And if you want to attempt this record, wear safety goggles. And I think you gotta be careful about paper cuts to the mouth and lips, but your partner throws paper airplanes at you. You catch them in your mouth and then drop them to the floor and continue. In the world record for that, most airplanes caught in the mouth, 20 paper airplanes caught in the mouth in one minute. So we're going to link to the video.
03:39
And they refer to the pain of being struck in the nose by one of the paper airplanes. guess that's something you got to watch out for as well. 20 airplanes in a minute. Congratulations, David Record Breaker Rush. Number eight is the world record attempt at Comic Con where they got all the people dressed as Spider-Man in one place. They were trying to break the record for the most people dressed as Spider-Man in one place. They started to counting up the Spider-Men, Spider-Women, Spider-People.
04:08
And the record is 685. At time of recording, they haven't released the final tally, but they have said they did not set the world record. They did not surpass 685 spider people in one place. Good try. It's a great photo. We'll link to the story and you can click show notes dot page. We'll link to a video as well. But I mean, if you don't have a chance to click, I will describe it. It is a room, large convention room.
04:38
full of people dressed as Spider-Man. The end. seven is the world dominating planking Grammy from Alberta, Canada, planet earth. A Grammy who is age 61 named Donna Jean, planked for, well, how long could you plank? Now this is world record territory. So sure, 30 seconds, I'm feeling the burn. Maybe I need a break. Perhaps you can go 10 minutes planking. Well, good for you.
05:08
Could you go 45 minutes? Really? You could. Show me. Sorry, are we having a conversation? The world record is five hours. Planking for five hours, Donna Jean. Congratulations. You are great.
05:39
to the video and the story if you click the show notes. six. Number six is a scary one for Halloween. The giant wiener dog statue. I'm just kidding, it's not scary. Well, I found it terrifying, but nobody else does. The Buda Economic Development Corporation is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a very large sculpture. It's a 19 foot long, 10 foot tall sculpture.
06:05
of a wiener dog. Buda's wiener dog races have been there for 30 years and it's earned the city the title Wiener Dog Capital of Texas. That video is from Fox 7 Austin. We'll link to that in the show notes. It's a giant wiener dog statue. Everyone loves it. In the wiener dog capital of Texas at a park. You can go and visit it. Have your photo taken with it. All I'm saying is someday, I believe it's common knowledge, someday
06:33
the giant roadside attractions will come to life and attack. And that wiener dog will be seeking vengeance for all of the wiener dogs. Right? I mean, you believe that too, don't you? Number five. OK, number five. Here's the headline. WMUR News 9 exclusive the headline. They locked me in. Staff goes home leaving keen woman in exam room.
07:01
And they mean keen New Hampshire. They don't mean the lady was keen on being in the room, locked in the room. Here's what happened according to the article. We'll link to this in the show notes. You tell me how you would feel. Would you laugh at this or I think I'd be freaked out. I get freaked out easy. I'm not sure if you're picking up that vibe from me, but that's me. Oh, freaky. The lady in the article was having an asthma attack.
07:29
went for treatment at an urgent care clinic in Keene, New Hampshire, United States of America. Somebody gave the lady a steroid shot and said, we'll be right back and forgot. And they're locked up and went home. The lady was locked inside the urgent care clinic and had to call 911 to be rescued. So if I'm that patient, I'm probably freaking out a little bit, or maybe I think I'm on a reality show.
07:58
Where are the hidden cameras? Or maybe I'm just laughing like, all right, I'm taking all of the tongue depressors. I don't know for sure how I'd react. It would throw a wrench into your evening plans, for sure. Being locked inside the medical clinic. And I don't want to judge. Shouldn't there be a system where they make sure all the patients have gone home before they lock the doors? I don't know, just spitballing here. But also I've worked at jobs where I've forgotten stuff. Like if I were the employee.
08:28
I could see myself getting distracted by the wordle, a particularly difficult wordle on my phone. And then I forget everything, lock up, go home. I could see that. They asked the lady in the article, they ask, would you go back to the clinic? The answer, probably not. And also in the article, the clinic apologizes for what happened. four is the sheep that you can rent in Kentucky. There's a company
08:58
where they'll bring sheep over to eat your lawn. If your lawn needs a good trim, get the sheep and the sheep will eat your poison ivy.
09:10
This is so relaxing. They're so quiet. If you listen closely, you can even hear a neighbor's lawnmower in the background. We are the quietest lawn service on the East Coast. Homeowner Hone Goldman hired the flock from a new business fittingly named Lambowers of Kentucky and is already making a lot of yards look sheer perfection in their own way. They've cleared out some of the crab grass. They've cleared out some of the weeds.
09:39
Yes, your lawn's not going to look as perfect as your next door neighbor with all the lines, but that's not the point here. The point is creating something that's sustainable and it's a great way to connect with community. Poison Ivy, kudzu, poison oak, they will eat that. They love it, as a matter of fact. So. A visit will cost you $195 Monday through Thursday and $295 on the weekends. I don't know if you caught that. It costs more on the weekends to rent the sheep because I'd sell tickets. I would rent the sheep.
10:09
And then invite the whole neighborhood over, five bucks each, to come and watch the sheep eat my lawn. So peaceful. It's like a mini retreat watching the sheep. It's a sheep retreat. We are linked to the video from KGNS News. Number three. Number three is an interesting one from Popular Science. We're in spooky season. So a lot of places, they're doing different spooky season stories as we get close to Halloween.
10:37
I think that's what's going on here with popular science. The headline is, in 1976, a college paper blamed the Salem witch trials on moldy bread. It wasn't true. And maybe you've heard that one before, that a certain kind of mold that grows on rye bread can have hallucinogenic properties. Maybe it was hallucinations causing some of the things you read about at the Salem witch trials during that time.
11:04
So that was the theory in 1976, a college paper. It still gets repeated today. I think I read it in the new Frieda McFadden book, maybe. The Witch? I don't know. Don't quote me, because I read a few different books, similar topic. One of them talked about that ergot poisoning deal. And maybe it was the Frieda McFadden book. I'm not sure if you're a Frieda freak. I'm a bit of a Frieda freak. What popular science is trying to point out is a year after the paper came out,
11:34
That theory was debunked, but we still hear about it. I'm going to stop there. I have revealed I'm a free to freak. I've probably said enough, but I'll link to the article in the show notes. two is the bear that made headlines on Winnie the Pooh Day for breaking into a library and stealing honey. Winnie the Pooh Day the other day, the 100th anniversary of the publishing of Winnie the Pooh. And on that same day, a bear broke into
12:04
It seems like it was a setup. Bear steals honey from California library on Winnie the Pooh anniversary. That's the headline. And there is security footage of a bear getting into a library. Here's an unpopular opinion. Maybe this story got written up. Look kind of cute like Winnie the Pooh and the bear steals honey. So that's a library. If there had been people in the library at the time, like imagine you're sitting there mining your own beeswax, maybe reading the latest
12:34
Freedom McFadden book and a bear gets in there? Nobody was injured in this break in. Why was there honey at the library? Also, no honey near the Freedom McFadden books, right? Because you don't want to ruin those things. Those things are future classics. one is a tie between a horse and a man. Couple of different world records. Let's go with the horse one first. This written up by Ben Hoops Hooper in United Press International. Jenny the horse making headlines.
13:04
as having the longest tail in the world. The longest horse tail belongs to Jenny the horse from Ohio, the United States of America. Jenny's tail is 13 feet and something. I'm a city slicker. When I saw the photos, I was like, what the... What now? I had no idea that a horse's tail could grow to 13 feet long. 13 and a half. So...
13:32
If you don't have a chance to click the photos, just for perspective, Jenny's tail would be as long as two king size beds. Number one, one, one. Our other number one story published a couple of days ago, United Press International as well by Ben Hoob's Hooper, the fellow from Finland or Finland. I always pronounce it Finland. And now, according to the metrics, we do have three of you friends in Finland listening or Finland. So please reach out if I'm saying it wrong.
14:02
feel free to let me know. And thank you for listening. The world record for downing 500 milliliters, almost 17 ounces of soda or where I live, we would call it pop. Maybe you call it soft drink, soda pop something. An orange soda, 500 milliliters done in 3.16 seconds. Imagine you've got a drink right now. Okay. I'll count your favorite soft drink. Ready? Go one Mississippi, two Mississippi.
14:31
Three Mississippi, done. It seems like you could do it, right? Your brain is telling you, you could do that. Come on. We could attain greatness, but please be safe. You're going to try it. At some point, you're going to try it, aren't you? Please be safe. I always say, consult your physician, your dietician, your spiritual leaders before consuming anything ever.
14:56
All right, that's it. The What a Weird Week Show, your weird news roundup. Thank you for listening. We are back next Friday with 10 more weird things from the news. You can get all the show notes and everything we talked about in more detail if you click our show notes page, which is shownotes.page. We'll catch you next Friday on What a Weird Week.