- 1 week ago
This week, we’re looking into missing Egyptian artifacts and animal rescues from a pig and a snake to nearly 150 cats, Then, we’ll hear about a serial pooper in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and we’ll learn what that blood moon eclipse was all about.
Featuring audio from KNX News in Los Angeles, WWJ Newsradio in Detroit, 1010 WINS in New York and the Dana & Parks show out of KMBZ in Kansas City.
Featuring audio from KNX News in Los Angeles, WWJ Newsradio in Detroit, 1010 WINS in New York and the Dana & Parks show out of KMBZ in Kansas City.
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NewsTranscript
00:06Welcome to a Weird News Roundup, presented by Odyssey's Something Offbeat podcast.
00:12We explore strange tales reported on by Odyssey's radio newsrooms from coast to coast.
00:20I'm your Roundup host, Lauren Berry.
00:24This week, we're looking into missing Egyptian artifacts and animal rescues from a pig
00:31and a snake to nearly 150 cats.
00:35Then we'll hear about a serial pooper in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and we'll learn all about what
00:43the blood moon eclipse on Thursday and into Friday morning was all about.
00:49Let's start in Los Angeles, California.
00:53There, Odyssey station KNX News reported on what seems like the plot to one of those
00:59hard-boiled detective novels that played out when the Federal Bureau of Investigation
01:05recovered missing Egyptian artifacts.
01:08Well, the LA FBI agents have returned priceless and historic items to Egypt of all places.
01:15It's not totally clear how they got here.
01:17We get more on the story from Craig Figner.
01:19They were likely pilfered from Egypt decades ago.
01:22The FBI has gone public with what they've discovered.
01:24Forty-eight cultural artifacts, mostly small statues.
01:28They appear to be carved from stone, and they have repatriated them to Egypt via the Egyptian
01:34Consul General here in Los Angeles.
01:37The items may have been inherited or exchanged hands multiple times before being identified as
01:42illegally in our country.
01:43We encourage anyone who suspects that they may have looted cultural property to contact
01:49their local FBI office or legal attache office overseas.
01:53In the past 10 years, U.S. law enforcement has returned over 5,000 cultural artifacts to Egypt.
02:00That's Patrick Grandy, the assistant director in charge of LA's FBI field office.
02:04Investigators are only saying that the artifacts were discovered here in Los Angeles and that the
02:10suspected trafficker has since died, but there could be co-conspirators.
02:15And for that reason, they describe this as technically an open investigation.
02:19In Westwood, FBI headquarters, I'm Craig Figner, KNX News.
02:23Also in LA, KNX News has been on the story of a pig that got loose on the streets of
02:29West Hollywood.
02:31The pig's name is Wilbur, and he's been rescued.
02:34Since this story happened in the LA area, we shouldn't be surprised that the pig's new owner
02:40is a legendary songwriter, Diane Warren, who joined KNX's Alex Silverman to discuss her
02:48decision to adopt Wilbur.
02:50So happy to be joined now by Diane Warren.
02:53Diane, first of all, how are you and how's Wilbur?
02:55I'm good.
02:56Wilbur's living his best life.
02:58You've won Grammys.
03:00You're the only songwriter ever to get an honorary Oscar.
03:02Where does winning a pig rank in all that?
03:05And lose 17 of them.
03:06Right.
03:07Well, hopefully that changes.
03:08I'm going to try again.
03:10Where does winning a pig rank in all that?
03:12Yeah, I was saying, like, I lose Oscars, but I won a pig.
03:16It's great.
03:17I'm just happy that we saved him.
03:22My friend Marsha is willing, who runs my rescue ranch.
03:27She went and bid for him at a shelter.
03:31And I want people to be aware there's lots of animals that need homes.
03:34There's lots of dogs and cats that are waiting for forever homes.
03:38You know, so maybe go visit a shelter and adopt a new friend.
03:42Yeah, you've been doing this for a long time.
03:44When you saw the video of Wilbur running through West Hollywood, what made you say,
03:49I've got to have him?
03:51I mean, I saw him.
03:52He looked like he could run a marathon.
03:54That little pig's fast.
03:56And I'm surprised somebody even caught him.
03:58I just, when I saw him, I called Marsha and I go, we have to save this pig.
04:02You know, let's bring him to the ranch.
04:04You know, and he has some pig friends there.
04:07How competitive did you get with the bidding?
04:09Was there a number where you were going to say, maybe I'll let him go to somebody else?
04:12No, I just said do what you've got to do, you know.
04:16I'm not even sure what the bid ended up being.
04:19But the good news is we got him.
04:21He's really cute, you know.
04:23Yeah, he is.
04:24I hear you already have a pig named Wilbur, though.
04:26So any idea what you might rename him?
04:29Well, since he was found in Hollywood, he's Wilbur the sequel.
04:33Now, the other one is named, we renamed the other one Fat Wilbur.
04:37It's a fat pig, as you might imagine.
04:40And, yeah, this one's Wilbur Hollywood.
04:42Do you want to tell the audience about Wilbur or your ranch?
04:46Well, I want people to be aware that these animals deserve to live as much as we do.
04:51And you see, you know, it was National Bacon Day, of all things, yesterday.
04:56And if you just realize that they all start out as cute little pigs.
05:01And if you're eating meat, you're basically, you know, part of their murder.
05:06You know, you're part of what ends their lives.
05:09And they deserve to live as much as we do.
05:12So I'm a vegan and try to be as much a voice for the voices as I can.
05:19There's a lot of us, you know.
05:21Thank God.
05:23And, you know, do whatever you could do.
05:24You know, maybe not go full-on vegan, but maybe think about what's on your plate.
05:28Well, a lot of people out there are happy that Wilbur has a new home and grateful to you for
05:35what you do.
05:36Diane Warren, the legend, thank you for taking a couple of minutes for us today.
05:40Thank you for taking time to talk to me.
05:42Across the country, more animal rescue efforts were underway this week at the Humane Society of Huron Valley in Michigan.
05:50That's where nearly 150 cats recently needed some rescuing.
05:56Amanda Forrester of Odyssey Station WWJ Newsradio in Detroit spoke to Humane Society of Huron Valley Director of Communications, Wendy
06:07Welch, about this influx.
06:09So the Humane Society put out an email recently talking about an influx of cats they received.
06:18Why don't we start with where these 149 cats have come from?
06:24Yeah, it is.
06:26It's a very unusual and pretty disturbing year for us.
06:31Lately, within the last four weeks, we have done four large-scale cat rescues within the area.
06:39One was in Manchester, another in Ypsilanti, one in Northville, and then another in Ann Arbor Township.
06:47And what were the conditions like for the cats?
06:51Why did the Humane Society step in and take these animals?
06:56Right.
06:57Well, a few of these situations were because homeowners reached out to us.
07:02And we always, of course, appreciate that.
07:05We understand that things can get out of hand really quickly.
07:09And so we were able to step in and help rescue the cats there.
07:13Several of the situations were hoarding situations where there were just a number of cats.
07:20So ranging in ages and conditions from kittens to adults and some in okay condition and friendly and others extremely
07:29scared and in very poor condition.
07:32And then there's an ongoing, one of them is an ongoing investigation and where the authorities were involved and got
07:41us involved as investigators.
07:43So those are still pending.
07:46And what does the future look like for these cats?
07:50Are these going to be cats that are available for adoption?
07:53Are they going to be going to other shelters or rescues?
07:59I know obviously they probably need medical treatment and evaluations and stuff.
08:05But what do the next steps look like?
08:08Yes.
08:09Thank you so much for asking that.
08:11Yeah.
08:11Some of them have already been placed for adoption and have found loving homes, we're happy to say.
08:17So they were able to get the medical treatment they needed and behavioral intervention.
08:21Others are still not ready for adoption.
08:25We had a number of cats, in fact, come in who had lots of eye conditions due to the high
08:32amount of ammonia in the home.
08:34You know, of course, as you can imagine, when they're hoarding situations, there's lots of feces and urine.
08:40And so they have been in some very unsanitary conditions.
08:45And lots of them are very afraid of people.
08:49And so they need some behavioral intervention and some TLC that way.
08:54So some of the cats will be released for adoption very quickly.
09:00And others need some more time.
09:03Lots of the cats will need patience, though, even in the home.
09:06And so we're hoping people step forward to adopt cats.
09:10Before these situations, of course, we've been having kittens come in as regular.
09:15It's been kitten season.
09:16It's been a bumper crop of kitten season for us this year.
09:19Very unprecedented.
09:21In June, we had more kittens come into the Humane Society of Huron Valley than ever before.
09:26So we're really hoping for adopters, whether, you know, you want a kitten, whether you want a social cat, whether
09:32you want, you know, a barn cat.
09:34We've got everything at the Humane Society of Huron Valley right now.
09:37And in Brooklyn, a python that found itself on display on a Coney Island boardwalk was recently confiscated, according to
09:46Odyssey Station 1010 Winds in New York City.
09:49A Brooklyn man who was caught showing off two giant snakes to a crowd at Coney Island last month is
09:56now in some legal trouble.
09:58The guy's name hasn't been released, but he's facing a charge from environmental officials who say one of the snakes,
10:03a Burmese python, is illegal to own in New York State.
10:06He was spotted July 12th near the Regalman boardwalk with that snake and a ball python wrapped around his neck
10:12while surrounded by about a dozen gawkers, including children.
10:15An environmental conservation officer says the man admitted to owning the giant reptile.
10:19It was confiscated and transferred to the Nassau County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
10:25Officials say Burmese pythons aren't only dangerous.
10:27The snakes can have a seriously negative effect on the local environment if they're released into the wild.
10:32It's not unusual for owners of exotic pets to dump them when they become too much of a hassle.
10:36When we get back from a quick break, we'll hear about a public pooper causing trouble in Tulsa and all
10:44about the blood moon eclipse that occurred this week.
10:48Stay tuned for this on our Weird News Roundup presented by Odyssey's Something Offbeat.
11:03Thank you for listening to this special presentation of Weird News from Odyssey's Something Offbeat.
11:10Last Friday, the Tulsa Police Department shared a photo of a man who had allegedly been terrorizing one of the
11:17city's neighborhoods.
11:19With his own poo.
11:22Yeah.
11:23Yeah.
11:24The police department asked for the public's help to stop this perpetrator.
11:29And the Dana and Parks podcast out of Odyssey Station KMBZ in Kansas City has more on the story.
11:36Let's listen.
11:39In Tulsa, there's a serial defecator.
11:42Which, by the way, before you read that, what happened to the jogger in Leawood who would run around Leawood
11:49Boulevard and take some dumps?
11:52I don't know.
11:53It just, that story just went away.
11:56I don't know if they moved.
11:57Because if it was still going on, we would hear about it.
11:59Like, police became involved.
12:01Well, of course they did.
12:02Because that's disgusting.
12:02You can't go running around the city dropping trow everywhere you go.
12:05Or in an elevator.
12:06But clearly someone did.
12:08Something did.
12:09Your dateline is Tulsa.
12:10Security camera footage shows a man in a thong, a shower cap, and a cut-open mask exposing himself.
12:19Wait, wait, stop, stop.
12:20I want you to go back to this.
12:21There's a lot going on in this headline.
12:23Let's sit on that one for a second.
12:25I wasn't ready for all that.
12:26Start over from the beginning.
12:28Police are doing what?
12:29There is a serial defecator on the loose in Tulsa.
12:32The last scene wearing a thong, a mask with a hole cut out of it, and a shower cap outside
12:40of a shopping center.
12:42Because why not?
12:44Police in Tulsa need the public's help.
12:46They are looking for someone they have dubbed, quote, a serial defecator.
12:51The most exciting thing to happen in Tulsa in, like, forever.
12:54A quote, this is straight from the police.
12:56A, quote, mostly naked man has been terrorizing local businesses.
13:02Oh, he's wearing a thong?
13:07And is on the loose, despite the Tulsa Police Department's attempts to capture him.
13:17A business owner in a shopping center reported that the man, again, wearing a thong, had...
13:22We got it.
13:23It's hot down there.
13:24He did what he did.
13:27Yeah, I'm not going to read that next line.
13:29Does he remove the thong before...
13:31I don't...
13:32It doesn't say, Scott.
13:34That would be appropriate.
13:35I do want...
13:37So, police have released a photo, and it just says, do you know this man?
13:41A photo of what?
13:42He is naked, Dan.
13:44Like, if you know this guy, you know who this is.
13:47It's not grainy.
13:48It literally...
13:49He is just standing there.
13:50He's not wearing a shirt at all.
13:52Completely...
13:52He is not wearing a shirt.
13:54He, you know...
13:55Bomb, mask, and shower cap?
13:57Oh, that's bomb.
13:58By mask, I thought...
14:01Halloween mask, right?
14:02No, no, no, no, no.
14:03This is a surgical mask with the mouth cut open.
14:06Which, at that point, what's the point?
14:11Maybe he's trying to make a statement.
14:12I don't like it.
14:14Maybe.
14:14The caller came in and told me that there's actually an urban dictionary term for this
14:19called the phantom crapper.
14:21For real?
14:21Yeah, it's a colloquial and urban legend term for an anonymous person who defecates in bizarre,
14:27unexpected, or inappropriate public or workplace.
14:30Okay, well...
14:30Important location.
14:31That is very important.
14:33In Tulsa, it is not an urban legend because they have this guy on security.
14:37Listen to this.
14:39Quote, officers have responded to the area on multiple occasions, but have yet to track
14:45him down.
14:45Let me tell you what's going on right there.
14:46Okay.
14:46Police are like, uh-uh.
14:49I don't...
14:49Yes, is this illegal?
14:50Absolutely.
14:51Frowned upon?
14:52100%.
14:52But if this was your shift, and that is in the area of this little strip mall that you
14:58are patrolling, I'm just going to look the other way.
15:01I'll be honest.
15:02I am not going anywhere near that dude.
15:04I saw nothing.
15:05I did not sign up for this.
15:08Here are the words that are not heard on the two-way talkback with the communications.
15:13Yeah, we're closest.
15:14We got this.
15:15Why don't you go ahead and take this, Bob?
15:18And then this line ended the story from the Tulsa Police Department.
15:23Quote, please, if you know where we can find him, we would love to relieve these business
15:28owners.
15:28I can tell you where you won't find him.
15:30Relieve him.
15:30The bathroom.
15:32Nope.
15:35Well, you won't.
15:37Does he at least take toilet paper with him?
15:40No.
15:40No, it does not appear that that's what is going on there.
15:44Hmm.
15:45Yep.
15:46Okay.
15:46Okay.
15:47Good talk.
15:49To end the show, we'll move on from streets filled with stepping hazards to the sky, where
15:56a blood moon eclipse was visible across the U.S. this Thursday and into Friday morning.
16:03It was a near-total lunar eclipse, and it got its name because it gives the moon a reddish
16:10glow as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon.
16:16According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, blood moons are associated with hype, folklore, and
16:22even some biblical passages.
16:25Odyssey station WWJ Newsradio's Amanda Forrester spoke to Cranbrook astronomer Michael Narlock
16:33about this eclipse ahead of the event this week.
16:37Why don't we start with what people can expect to see later this week?
16:40Well, beginning Thursday night at about 1030-ish, you will note that the moon is beginning to
16:49change.
16:50And what's happening is the moon is plunging into the Earth's shadow, and it'll take several
16:56hours for it to move completely through the shadow.
17:00But what you're seeing is a partial lunar eclipse, partial because the moon is not going to go
17:07completely into the darkest part of the Earth's shadow, but it will be covered by about 93%
17:14of the Earth's shadow.
17:15How will people know that this is when the eclipse is happening?
17:19What will the moon look like?
17:21Well, at its peak, the moon will be very red, with just a hint, a very small bit of the
17:30regular
17:30moon shining through it on one of the sides.
17:33So it'll look a nice red color.
17:36The reason for the red color is when light passes through the Earth's atmosphere, blue
17:43light gets scattered quite a bit.
17:44That's why our skies are normally blue, leaving the red light to pass through almost unscathed.
17:50So the Earth's shadow is a very red color.
17:53So when the moon passes through that shadow, it goes from that silvery disk that we're used
17:58to seeing in the sky to a very red colored moon.
18:02And for people that want to see as much of the moon covered as they can, what is going
18:08to be the best time to head outside and look up?
18:14It begins, the part that we can see with our human eyes or with telescopes begins at
18:20around 1030 and it will go until almost two o'clock in the morning.
18:27So people are going to need to stay up a little bit to be able to see this.
18:32They're going to have to stay up if they want to see the whole thing.
18:35But what I usually tell people, if sleep matters to you, you can stay up till a little after
18:42midnight.
18:42You'll see it go from just a little bit of an eclipse to its absolute peak, which happens
18:48just after midnight.
18:49Then the rest of it is just sort of the reverse of what you just saw.
18:53So if you have limited availability, you can pop outside for as long as it's between 1030
18:59and two o'clock and see part of the eclipse.
19:01A little after midnight is the peak of it.
19:03Or you can just watch the first half of that, if that's to your liking.
19:08And is Cranbrook doing anything for people that want to come out and experience this eclipse
19:15with professionals?
19:18Absolutely.
19:19We're, we have what's called our blood moon event, which will go from 8pm to 1am and we'll
19:26have our telescopes trained on the moon.
19:28We'll have planetarium programs.
19:30We'll have a, an ice cream bar if you want to have a little sweet treat and we'll have
19:35members of the Warren Astronomical Society on hand as well to take a look at the moon
19:39through their telescopes.
19:41And when can we expect to see another one of these coming up?
19:47Because I know that we have usually a couple blood moons that happen.
19:53So when will the next one roll around?
19:56If for whatever reason, the clouds roll in and we are unable to see this one.
20:02Well, the, the next one that we'll be able to see with, um, regular telescopes and regular
20:09eyes is January 12th of, of 2028.
20:13Unfortunately, that one is almost the exact reverse of the one we have now.
20:18So it will be barely visible.
20:21The next one that will be, uh, much more visible will be, uh, in June of 2029 and December of
20:302029.
20:30So we'll have two total lunar eclipses in, in 2029.
20:33So we'll have to wait a couple of years for another really good chance to see a lunar eclipse.
20:46Thank you so much for listening to this weird news roundup presented by Odyssey's something
20:52offbeat podcast.
20:54This episode was written and produced by me, Lauren Berry.
20:59Special thanks to KNX news in Los Angeles, 10, 10 winds in New York, WWJ news radio in Detroit
21:07and the Dana and parks show out of KMBZ in Kansas city.
21:13You can find all of these programs and these something offbeat podcast on the Odyssey app or
21:20wherever you get your podcasts.
21:29We'll see you next time.
21:34Bye.
21:35Bye.
21:35Bye.
21:37Bye.
21:38Bye.
21:39Bye.
21:39Bye.
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