Weird News: Cicadas, Naked Strolls, Fake Crows, Plus Too Many People in Cow Costumes

Editor's Note: The Saturday crowd gets a first bite at the weird news from our 31 Patch sites in Virginia and D.C. The Wednesday crowd is getting a refresher to get over the hump day.

Cicadas Everywhere (Or Not): A line has been drawn, and it isn't residents rejecting the D.C. metro label — it's cicadas that have decided they'd rather avoid the congestion inside the Beltway. We've been anxiously anticipating a crazy spring of buzzing cicadas crawling everywhere. Now, some of us are finding the big bugs crawling out of holes and up trees in Fredericksburg, Woodbridge and lower Fairfax County, but others haven't seen any of this year's brood. 

• Read: The Art of Eating Cicadas

New for Wednesday: Herding cows won't be a chore for Chick-fil-A employees — they're shooting for a world record. And it helps that the herd will be people dressed like cows. Yes, the chicken franchise is trying to set the record for "Number of People Dressed as Cows Gathered at One Place." The attempt will be at 10 a.m. July 2 at the Patriot Center at George Mason University.

Enjoying the Breeze: Manassas City Police have a description of a suspect in several recent incidents, but you won't find a description of his clothing. Witnesses have spotted an unknown man strolling naked through a Manassas neighborhood at least four times over the last few weeks. Witnesses scared him off in each case.

Lightweight Robber Uses Taser: A man was walking on a Georgetown street late Tuesday when he was approached from behind by an unknown subject who used a Taser to subdue the victim. The unknown subject fled with the victim's cell phone, pocket change and a wallet, according to police. The subject is described as 5-foot-10 and 140 to 160 pounds.

Not a Bird: An Alexandria Animal Control officer responded to a call of a bird trapped in a home. The officer was directed to a hallway closet where a resident had discovered a bird. The officer opened the closet door and instead found a decorative crow that was slightly smaller than a real crow.

Honey-Do-Not List: Grabbing lawn care equipment from your neighbor's yard might seem easier than scanning the long aisles of the hardware store, but it comes with a price. A Fredericksburg man was arrested and charged with grand larceny after a woman said she saw him enter a neighbor's backyard and allegedly take a lawnmower.

Weird Rewind: With pools in the area opening their gates later this weekend, let's hope the poor folks in Lake Ridge don't suffer the same pranks as they did last August. In one incident, unknown vandals dumped large amounts of dirty kitty litter into a pool, filled the trash cans with "pet-related trash" and put one of the pool's large blue, metal picnic tables into the pool. Play nice, kids.

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