Community Corner

Weird Virginia: Holy Cow Moooves It and an Abducted Chicken

Plus, the world's sweetest woman tries to save a boy—using her shopping cart. Weird news, weird dancing, weird poultry, weird, weird, weird Virginia.

Editor's note: We first ran this feature over the weekend, but if you're stuck inside because of the snow today, a dose of weirdness might be just what you need.

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Patch has 31 sites in Virginia and D.C., and not a day goes by that something weird isn't happening in at least one of them. Here's a look back at some weird goings on over the past week.

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Yes, it was a long week, so let's get started with an infustion of some instant energy, compliments of the Holy Cow employees in Del Ray.

The “Harlem Shake” phenomena touched down in Del Ray when Holy Cow posted a Harlem Shake video on YouTube of its staff, well, shaking. 

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Co-owner Bill Blackburn said the employees had discussed making a “Harlem Shake” video for several weeks. They finally got around to recording one on Monday morning with the help of Dennis Belmont of Belmonster Creative.

Is that a table dancing on the left of the screen?

“Del Ray needed a ‘Harlem Shake’ video,” Blackburn said. “Of all the restaurants in Del Ray, we’re the only one with a dancing busboy. So we figured there was no better staff to do it.”

Agreed.

But we don't know what to make of this one: Why would somebody try to break into a funeral home? 

Someone tried to do just that in Old Town Manassas, but they were unsuccessful and no bodies were snatched, Manassas City Police reports show. 

It happened sometime between midnight and 7:30 a.m. on Feb. 19 at Pierce Funeral Home. An employee told investigators someone tried to kick in a rear door, but failed to gain entry.

Unfortunately, criminals tend to be persistent, as Arlington police were reminded by the Great Missin' Chicken Cooker Caper.

A presumedly hungry resident called police to report that somebody had plucked a chicken from an Arlington home on South Carlin Springs Road. Police have no suspect descriptions to offer, but the chicken was believed to be featherless, partially cooked and probably kind of greasy.

And, yep, it was that kind of week, one in which Virginia had a second chicken incident, this one more stupid than weird.

Police have charged a 16-year-old Woodbridge male with threats to bomb after a January bomb scare in a Triangle Fried Chicken at Triangle Shopping Plaza in Dumfries, Prince William County Police spokesperson Jonathan Perok said.

"Employees reported to police that an unknown male had called the establishment and reported a bomb was in the building," Perok said. "The building was evacuated and a Virginia State Police bomb dog was called to conduct a search which resulted in no explosive device being found."

In Leesburg, authorities have tried everything, including explosives, to try to get rid of the vulture culture that has been leaving its mark -- literally -- around town.

In early January, more than 200 vultures were roosting in trees in northeast Leesburg, prompting the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to try and chase them off. Pyrotechnics and an effigy of a dead vulture were employed. And it seemed to work.

But then an estimated 30 vultures began roosting in the trees of Jen and Todd Severance’s home in Northwest Leesburg.

“We have some large pine trees in our backyard and vultures seem to like those trees. They come flying in at sunset and circle around until they rest for the night. It is like a scene out of The Birds when they come flying in,” Jen Severance said, referring to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 thriller.

And the birds won't go away, and city officials won't call back in the USDA. Give it a few weeks, they say. 

In better days, this next item wouldn't be categorized as weird, but it is in these political times. ADemocrat and a Republican leader getting along? Weird, we know.

The former chairman of the Democratic National Committee came to Arlington on Tuesday to praise the work of Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Terry McAuliffe, the Democrat hoping to succeed McDonnell, said he spent hours on the phone calling members of both parties urging them to support a transportation compromise, which ultimately passed this weekend in the hours before the 2013 General Assembly session ended.

And, finally, we leave you with some wonderfully weird kids, even if they're a bit mischievous, and perhaps the sweetest old lady in the world — who tried to save one of them with her shopping cart.

Seems the kids are from Vienna, and they apparently wanted to see what would happen if they fell down with milk and then continually slipped back down as they tried to get up. 

So, they took to the grocery stores, staged their incidents and then put their milk-slipping video on Youtube.

The Huffington Post had the three boys, who said they were cousins, on for a live segment this week to talk about the prank. The "Gallon Smashing" video, which lasts just more than three minutes, appears to be filmed mostly in Giant Food stores, though the Pan Am Safeway and a Whole Foods also appear to have a cameo.

No Oscars for this video, but if we had a vote, it'd go to the sweet woman at 2:30 of the production. Take a look. And try not to let the milk you're drinking fly out your nose.


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