Lady Gaga still fills up newsprint. Vampire movies don’t. Angelina Jolie’s Oscar stage stance was a highlight, an Iranian film receiving the Oscar wasn’t. Just goes to show that the kinky and the offbeat catch the eyeballs. Fifteen minutes of fame makes for weird news. But is it that weird in an increasingly crazy world where the difference between the weird and what’s breaking news for the day is fast disappearing.
Weird news fills up the gaps and makes the world much more interesting. More often than not they raise a laugh or two. They do show that our world is a strange place, though not a humorless one. We caught some of the best weird and funny newsbytes in 5 Websites To Go To For Offbeat And Funny News Stories.
Let’s take a look at few more websites which bring the weird to our chaos weary eyes.
Fortean Times Magazine
The magazine’s tagline says – “The World of Strange Phenomena”. The website is the online face of the British monthly. The original magazine was inspired by the works of Charles Fort. From daily roundups of the weird (collected from various sources) and the odd to regular feature articles, the site brings you everything from the paranormal to urban legends. The scope is very diverse and as a reader you are sure to have a gut-full of weird news. Probably more than you can take in a day.
I am reading: Man calls emergency services to report he’s invisible.
Odee
As the name suggests, Odee is a blog on oddities. The entertainment blog is ranked pretty high from the looks of it with visits and page view in millions. The blog covers everything from arts to tech, and so you have a cross-section of weird news to digest. Quite a few of the posts are in list form. The blog posts aren’t news in the strictest sense, but they do tell you that the world is crazier than it looks. Though, you have a section for incoming weird news items too.
I am reading: 10 Weirdest Hybrid Gadgets
The Mary Sue
This one is strictly for the females. Oh no! You can enjoy it to. After all who wouldn’t like to read about the single dad who is dedicated to learning about comics for his 4-year old girl. The About Us page makes an interesting read. As the page says the blog is about – highlighting women in the geek world, and providing a prominent place for the voices of geek women. And yes, the name Mary Sue has a literary tale to go with it.
The blog is part of a bigger media group and you can catch weirder news at sister sites like Geekosystem.
Weird Asia News
Every culture has its share of the weird. This site is Asia centric, and being from this part of the world, I can identify with some of the bizarre stuff that goes on…or maybe not. Weird Asia News is a small site, but even if you are from any corner of the world, you will appreciate that no one has a monopoly on insanity. It’s a human trait.
Mental Floss
Somehow I really like the name they have come up with for the site. And the site isn’t bad either. In fact, it’s downright interesting as you take in everything from trivia to quizzes, in between reading about amazing facts. The site is a mish-mash of entertaining science facts to world observations. To while away five minutes in between a humdrum job, try out the Amazing Fact Generator and The Ultimate Brain Challenge.
I am reading: If the Titanic Hadn’t Sunk, This Female Pilot Would Be a Lot More Famous
This Is True
Technically, this is not a weird news website but a newsletter. The weird news newsletter has a free subscription and a paid one. The paid subscribers get the full complement of 7-9 stories in an ad-free email. The free newsletter subscribers get 4 stories and the email has two inline ads. Of course, you can always come over and read some weird news which is just a bit dated. The news items are picked up from mainstream news sources and credited at the end of each.
I am reading: Necessity is the Mother of Invention
Snopes
Snopes describes itself as the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation. It is also cited as The Urban Legends Reference Pages. The site has a message board which hosts, debunks, and discusses popular myths and weird claims. That also includes weird and strange news stories. All content on Snopes is neatly slotted into categories, and you can also use the search bar to go to your area of interest. A glossary on the site helps to explain terms that might be unfamiliar to readers not used to urban folklore and myths.
I am reading: Man Arrested with TV in Pants
Honorable Mentions
- Huffington Post Weird News
- National Geographic Daily Weird News
- Topix – Offbeat News
- Reuters – Oddly Enough
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