5 Weirdest Real Life News Stories That Sound Like “The Onion”

They say that life is stranger than fiction, and when you read certain news headlines, you know that it’s entirely true. There are some things that happen in our world that are so bizarre, that even the best satirical writers such as those at The Onion could never come up with these headlines. Here are five news stories that sound like they were ripped straight from The Onion, but indeed happened in real life.

Lost Hiker Ignored Unknown Numbers

One of the most annoying things that happen to all of us throughout the day is getting unwanted calls from unknown numbers. However, if you’re lost and have been trying to find help for 24 hours, you might want to answer your phone. A man who was out for a hike on Mount Elbert in Colorado got lost when it was dark, and the next morning went back to his car.

Those that were aware that he was aiming to climb the tallest peak of the Rocky Mountains attempted to contact the man since he went straight to his car instead of the lodge to notify that he was fine. Several people tried to call the hiker, but he didn’t recognize the number, and he let them go to voicemail. The Lake County Search and Rescue had to tell the public that “If you’re overdue according to your itinerary…please answer the phone.”

Spending To Announce Charitable Donation

During the Super Bowl in February 2021, food delivery company DoorDash spent $7 million on its advertising campaign, which included the ad for the big game. This included characters from the beloved children’s series Sesame Street, but there was only one issue. Much of the campaign was focused on the fact that DoorDash donated $1 million to the Sesame Workshop charity.

There were immediately people that were up in arms over the fact that DoorDash used the most expensive advertising slot in the entire world to broadcast that they donated $1 million. Perhaps they could’ve donated another $7 million without needing to talk about it during the Super Bowl.

Hunter Dies When Elephant He Killed Falls On Him

In one of the ultimate forms of irony, a man that was hunting large game became hunted himself. Not by one of the animals that he was hunting, but rather by the universe itself. Theunis Botha was 51 years old when he was leading a hunting expedition in Zimbabwe, going on one of his many elephant hunts.

However, the elephants started to charge at Botha and his group. Three of them were put down before doing any harm, while a fourth suddenly came from nowhere to lift Botha up. One of the hunters shot the elephant, but the elephant then suddenly dropped to the ground with Botha in tow. The elephant landed on Botha, killing him almost instantly. 

Dance For More Hours

Most large companies are completely tone-deaf as to what their employees really want while trying to be hip and connected with the youth at the same time. In 2020, video game retail store GameStop decided to have a competition amongst the employees to do a TikTok dance to see if they could go viral.

However, the winner of the competition didn’t win a big cash bonus. Instead, they got the chance to work 10 more hours over Black Friday weekend, the busiest weekend of the year. Sure, there was overtime pay, but it hardly seems like a winning prize for a nationwide contest. Thankfully, the winning employee was also able to receive an Amazon Echo 8 and a $100 gift card.

Illegal Voting Accuser Voted Illegally

There has been a growing number of people worried about election legality, and that includes a Nevada man named Kirk Hartle. Hartle said that he had proof of illegal voting in his home state, saying that hundreds of dead people voted during the elections. How did he know? Well, his late wife was one of them.

Hartle accused many of trying to steal the election using ballots signed by dead people, and it turned out that the man had used his wife’s name to vote in the 2020 election. Hartle was sentenced to probation and was fined $2,000 after being caught.