1Pennies Cash Sinks Truck
In 2015, a Florida woman named Cheryl Treadway was being held hostage by her boyfriend, Nickerson. He didn't allow her to make calls or write texts, so she used the Pizza Hut app to send a discreet call for help. When the police arrived at the location, they freed her.
2. In 2019, a pet cassowary attacked and killed a Florida man named Marvin Hajos, making him the first human killed by the species since 1926.
3. In 2019, a Florida teenager hacked their high school and emailed everyone an urgent announcement about "mandatory penis inspections in accordance with Florida Penal Code 69."
4. In 2020, a Florida man and his two friends robbed a drug store of $320,000 in pills, taking precautions like wearing surgical gloves to avoid leaving prints. However, they tossed empty pill bottles out the window of their getaway car, which the cops followed like breadcrumbs to their front door.
5. In 2011, a Florida man named Malcolm Brenner published a book called "Wet Goddess," reflecting on his six-month sexual and consensual relationship with a dolphin named Dolly in 1971. Because Florida only banned bestiality in 2011, there were no legal charges. Dolly died due to "heartbreak" three months after their fling ended.
Latest FactRepublic Video:
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
6Man Sucked Sinkhole Death
On his 89th birthday in 2017, a Florida man named Robert Dreyer drowned and died after crashing his car into a fire hydrant. He managed to get out of his car but was sucked into a sinkhole, likely created by the water pressure from the fire hydrant's destruction.
7. Theodore Thomas Wentworth, Jr., a Florida man, won an election for County Commissioner in 1920 by promising to "keep the county courthouse clock at the correct time."
8. In 2016, Ray Baluchi, a Florida man, attempted to travel from Florida to Bermuda alone in an inflatable bubble. The US Coast Guard had to rescue him, costing taxpayers $144,000. This was his second attempt after being warned following a failed attempt in 2014.
9. A Florida man named Jarvis Carlton Sutton called 911 nearly 80 times in 2013 to demand Kool-Aid, hamburgers, and weed.
10. A Florida man named Michael Wilson wired the front door of his home to a car battery charger in 2017, attempting to electrocute his wife. Before his plan failed, he prematurely changed his Facebook status to "widowed," leading to his arrest.
11Failed Dwarf Tossing Legalization
Ritch Workman, a Florida man, tried to make dwarf tossing legal in 2011. In 1989, a series of dwarf-tossing events made it illegal. He claimed the ban prevented dwarfs from "gainful employment" and would help the economy, but his effort failed.
12. In 2015, the family of a deceased Florida man named Stephan Merrill claimed in his obituary notice that an uppercut from Batman caused his death.
13. A Florida man named Craig Williamson recognized himself as a missing person from Colorado while watching "Unsolved Mysteries." He claimed he was beaten in a robbery and developed amnesia. He was later reunited with his wife, whom he had no memory of, though the police remained skeptical of his story.
14. In 2010, three burglars breaking into a woman's house in Central Florida thought they had found a stash of cocaine. They ended up snorting the ashes of a man and his two great Danes.
15. In 1968, authorities wrongfully imprisoned James Joseph Richardson, a Florida man, for 21 years for poisoning his seven children. In her old age, the child's babysitter confessed to poisoning those children while in a nursing home, leading to his release.
16Shark Attack Arm Retrieved
A Florida man named Vance Flosenzier wrestled a shark out of the water in 2002 to retrieve his nephew's arm that it had bitten off. Doctors managed to reattach the arm.
17. In 2009, an accused Florida man named Keith Griffin claimed his cat downloaded child porn, not him.
18. In 1933, a Florida man named Carl Tanzler dug up Elena "Helen" Milagro de Hoyos' body, essentially mummified her, and lived with her corpse in his home for seven years.
19. In 1999, a Florida man tried to auction his kidney on eBay, writing, "You can choose either kidney. Buyer pays all transplant and medical costs. Of course, only one for sale, as I need the other one to live. Serious bids only." The bids reached $5.7 million before the company abruptly ended it.
20. A Florida man named Edward Archbold choked to death in 2012 after participating in and winning a live cockroach eating contest.
21Man Wakes Bullet Head
A Florida man named Michael Moylan woke up with a severe headache in 2007. At the hospital, doctors found a bullet in his head. It turned out that his wife had shot him while he was sleeping.
22. Two Florida men failed to steal a Corvette in 2013 because they couldn't drive stick. At gunpoint, the owner instructed them four times to push the clutch, but they gave up and ran away on foot with only the man's phone, keys, and wallet.
23. In 1991, Marshall Ledbetter broke into the Florida State Capitol and blockaded himself inside. His demands included pizza, beer, cigarettes, Chinese food, weed, 666 donuts (for the cops), and phone calls with Ice Cube, Timothy Leary, and Lemmy from Motörhead. Despite not meeting any demands, the standoff concluded peacefully.
24. Between 1948 and 1958, Tony Signorini wore 30-pound, three-toed lead shoes and stomped around a Florida beach at night, leading people to believe a 15-foot-tall penguin roamed the area. Only 40 years later did the hoax come to light.
25. In 2016, Courtland Hunt, a Florida man, modified a Glock 9mm to shoot underwater and used it to target invasive lionfish while scuba diving. Hunt remarked, "Who wouldn't want to go shoot their gun at fish underwater? Especially a species that detrimental to the environment."
