NEWS OF THE WEIRD

Surprise!

As construction crews worked to remodel the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland, California, on March 9, they made an alarming discovery, NBC News reported. The building, which has been out of use since 2005, was the final resting place for “an unidentified, decayed body,” said Lt. Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. “We found remains best described as mummified,” he said. “The conditions in the walls were such that the body was preserved in good condition.” He said authorities will obtain fingerprints to try to identify the deceased.

It’s a HeadScratcher

On March 3 in a quiet Denver neighborhood, someone broke into a box truck parked along a street and stole a box marked “Science Care,” KDVRTV reported. Inside the box were a number of human heads that were being transported for use in medical research. The thieves also stole a dolly. Isaac Fields, who lives nearby, was perplexed: Why was the truck parked in his neighborhood? Where was the driver? Why would someone steal human remains? Police wouldn’t provide many details because the case is still open.

Creepy

Yes, this item is about clowns. Or at least circuses. Or circus train cars. In Nash County, North Carolina, nine railroad cars from the 1960s Barnum & Bailey circus that had been abandoned in the woods caught fire on March 10, WRALTV reported. The cars were just outside the city limits of Spring Hope, where they were stored after the North Carolina Department of Transportation bought them in 2017, hoping to refurbish them for passenger service. Later they were put up for auction, but more recently the cars were a popular destination for urban explorers and people seeking shelter. At least four of the cars appeared to be badly damaged by the fire; the cause of the blaze is under investigation.

People With Issues

Prosecutors have accused 20-year-old Mauricio Damian Guerrero of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, of burglary after he traveled to Somersworth, New Hampshire, and hid in the attic of a woman he had met on the website OnlyFans, WKBN-TV reported on March 7. Guerrero allegedly descended from the attic to take video of the woman while she was sleeping, stole some of her underwear, and planned to place a tracking device on her car. Police were called after someone at the home heard a noise; Guerrero was found on the roof of the home. He was released on bail and ordered to wear a tracking device.

Ewwwww

U.S. Customs and Border Protections agents probably rarely having a boring day, but between Feb. 19 and 25, officers in Philadelphia came across some particularly skin-crawly cargo: about 300 leeches from Bulgaria, NBC New York reported. The medicinal leeches, which arrived in jars distributed among six separate air cargo shipments, were headed for Connecticut, Florida and Illinois, but they’ll never make it: That type of leech, the Hirudo medicinalis, is a protected species and can’t be traded internationally. Instead, they were turned over to federal wildlife agents.