NEWS OF THE WEIRD

Inexplicable

On Sept. 17, at a penguin colony near Simonstown, South Africa, 63 endangered African penguins were killed by a swarm of bees, CNN reported. South African National Parks issued a statement saying that the “deaths occurred suddenly sometime between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.” Examinations revealed that “all the penguins had multiple bee stings,” many of which were around the birds’ eyes, which one expert called a “fluke.”

Least Competent Criminal

Timothy Wolfe of Lake City, Florida, arrived at the Lake City Chrysler Dodge Jeep dealership on Sept. 20 to buy a new car, WTLVTV reported. And, bonus, he had a trade-in. But when employees checked the VIN of the trade, they found it was a car that had been stolen from that dealership just a few days earlier. Police were called, and Wolfe admitted to the theft, which had been captured on a surveillance camera. He was charged with grand theft and dealing in stolen property, among other crimes.

Too Good to Be True?

Two men in Byram, Mississippi, couldn’t believe their luck on Sept. 19 when they came across an Acura with keys in the ignition and a “free car” sign, People.com reported. They drove the car to a family member’s home and started to check it out, and that’s when they found a surprise in the trunk: the body of 34-year-old Anthony McCrillis. The body had been there at least 24 hours, noted Copiah County Coroner Ellis Stuart. The men called 911 and waited for authorities; the car was registered to McCrillis, and his death is a mystery: He had “no visible signs of trauma,” Stuart said. An autopsy is underway.

Awesome!

Betty Reid Soskin, a ranger at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California, has been on the job for 15 years, but that’s not what she was celebrated for on Sept. 22. Soskin, whose tours are some of the most popular at the park, according to People.com, turned 100 years old that day. She is the oldest active ranger in the National Park Service. In 2015, she said she is not “a trained historian — my tours are necessarily a way to share my oral history with the public. I tell the story of the African American workers.”