Frank Baker faced death while earning two Purple Hearts in Vietnam, but the scariest moment of his life came in June 1995.

Baker was in his home in Vermont, when he suddenly burst into flames, an experience he discusses for the first time on "The Unexplained Files," airing Oct. 2 on the Science Channel.

"We were getting ready for fishing and sitting on the couch," Baker said on the episode. "Everything was great. [Friend] Pete [Willey] was sitting next to me [and] we were having a helluva time."

That is, until things started heating up -- literally -- when flames appeared on Baker's body.

"It was the damndest thing I've ever seen," Willey remembered. "Frank was freaking out and making me freak out."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/01/frank-baker-spontaneous-combustion_n_4024833.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

IOWA CITY — A former employee of an ice cream store has been accused of stealing money, cakes and other treats from the business.

Iowa City Police said 25-year-old Conor P. Fudge entered a downtown Cold Stone Creamery after business hours on Sept. 11 and Sept. 12. Security footage shows him taking money from a safe, as well as cakes and containers of ice cream.

The store owner said Fudge, who stopped working at the business in late August, entered with an unauthorized key. The stolen money and property was estimated at about $500.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20131001/NEWS/131009968/1016

A Bellevue middle school teacher fired for showing up to work drunk now demands he be rehired.

Filing a lawsuit earlier this month, former Chinook Middle School physical education teacher Erik Schock claims the Bellevue School District was wrong to fire him after a February incident when Schock was found to be drunk at work.

Schock was removed from the school and ultimately fired after an assistant principal there noticed he stunk of alcohol. The firing was upheld following an administrative review by a retired judge; Schock has since sued in King County Superior Court, claiming the district had no cause to fire him.

Detailing the allegations in an August report, hearing officer Terry Lukens found Schock, an 11-year school employee, was indeed drunk at work. His blood alcohol level was estimated at .15, nearly twice the .08 threshold set for drivers.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Bellevue-teacher-who-was-drunk-at-work-sues-to-4850304.php

What does one do with an incredible beard? Why, dress it up in odd ways to showcase its beard-y powers, of course. O.K., so that's not for everyone. But it's what Isaiah Webb, better known as "Incredibeard," decided to do.

Every Monday via various social media channels, Webb showcases his many impressive facial hairdos, which are nothing short of incredible. And gross. Like his "ramen beard," seen below.

We sincerely hope Webb didn't actually eat the foods nestled among his beard hairs, because... ew. Based on the below video, it may not have even been physically possible beyond a bite or two.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/24/ramen-beard_n_3982332.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

Sometimes, things don’t go your way. Sometimes—SPOILER ALERT—you’re the subject of a nationwide manhunt, you’ve fled to frosty New Hampshire, and you’re about to intentionally reveal your location to your family and law enforcement officials. It’s times like these that you’d probably turn to a glass of whiskey. And if you’re Walter White on Breaking Bad, you’d probably make it Dimple Pinch, neat.

On last night’s penultimate episode of the AMC series, a gaunt Walt perched on a barstool and did just that. The moment will almost certainly rocket-launch the blended Scotch into the boozy universe of iconic TV and film drinks: the Dude’s White Russian, Patrick Bateman’s Corona with J&B straight, Hannibal Lechter’s Chianti. But for the liquor nerds watching—the kind of boozy, fact-checking gestapo whose sights are more commonly trained on shows like Mad Men—the order was a dangling carrot for examining the Breaking Bad world of whiskey.

Dimple Pinch, for those not familiar, is an extremely mild blended whiskey with a few centuries’ worth of roots in Scotland. It’s produced by Haig, a company that’s been around since at least 1655 when, according to common lore, founder Robert Haig was scolded by the church for distilling on the Sabbath. Dimple Pinch’s unmistakable triangle-shaped bottle was patented in 1958—actually the first glass container to be registered as a trademark in the United States.

http://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/pop-culture/article/the-whiskey-of-breaking-bad-from-knob-creek-to-dimple-pinch

SCOTT TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) - New traffic barriers, known as bollards, are causing some controversy in the Glendale section of Scott Township. It's not the function, but the form.

"When you really look at all four close together, they look like male body parts, which I don't think is appropriate," says Glendale resident Pat Martin.

She raised the issue at Tuesday night's township commission meeting.

"Everyone's laughing about them," she adds, "because of the way they're put and what they resemble to people."

http://www.wtsp.com/rss/article/337312/58/Genitalia-shaped-concrete-posts-the-talk-of-the-town?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wtsp%2Fweird+%28WTSP.com+10+News+Weird+News%29

O.J. Simpson found out how the cookie crumbles when he was allegedly caught stealing gooey goodies from a Nevada prison cafeteria.

The former gridiron great was recently caught with a stash of not one, but more than a dozen oatmeal cookies, according to Fox News Radio.

Simpson, who is serving a 33-year sentence for armed robbery at Lovelock Correctional Center in Pershing County, reportedly tried to smuggle the cookies into his cell after lunch. He might have gotten away with the cookie caper, if not for an inquisitive guard who noticed Simpson was hiding something under his prison clothes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/26/oj-simpson-alleged-cookie-thief_n_3995882.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

TULSA, Okla. -- Prisoner Joshua Silverman passed up a taste of freedom this week and called the police instead.

Silverman could have fled with two other inmates who stole the unattended transport van he was riding in, but he dialed 911 and alerted authorities about the escape.

"Uh, yes, ma'am, you're probably not going to believe this, but I'm a prisoner in a van, and I'm here with a couple of these other cats," Silverman politely explained to the 911 operator Tuesday. "A couple of the guys that were in the van jacked the van ... at the hospital."

Guards from a private prison transport company had stopped in Weatherford, about an hour west of Oklahoma City, to deliver some ill inmates to a hospital. They left eight other prisoners, including Silverman, in the van unsupervised.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/27/joshua-silverman-911-runaway_n_4001822.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

Long before Twitter, Jesus Christ was the original tweeter, according to Vatican cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, because his statements were "brief and full of meaning."

At a conference Wednesday, Ravasi said Christ "used tweets before everyone else, with elementary phrases made up of fewer than 45 characters like 'Love one another’."

“A bit like in television today, he delivered a message through a story or a symbol,” Ravasi said.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/Blog/2013/09/25/Vatican-says-Jesus-Christ-tweeted-before-there-was-Twitter/7351380137772/#ixzz2g6ryWlVy