Chuck Shepherd bills himself as “America's Weird-News Anchor,” and if anything, it’s an understatement. Under his trademarked “News of the Weird” banner, he’s become a one-man industry, spinning tales of botched crimes and animals run amuck into gold.
Shepherd’s weekly column, now in more than 250 newspapers and dozens of Web sites, started as a lark nearly 30 years ago in a DC weekly.
Rather than relying on the wires, Shepherd combs through countless papers, and hones the funniest stuff into short blurbs with a biting tone.
One item from a 2007 column:
"Mandy Bailey, who lives in a suburb of Phoenix, is the mother of conjoined 1-year-old girls and wanted to take them to a family reunion in Maryland. She called Delta Air Lines to make sure the girls could ride for free on her ticket. No, said Delta, because even though a child under 2 can ride for free, each infant would need an oxygen mask in case of emergency, and thus, a separate ticket was needed.Bailey kept complaining (giving the story international reach) until a Delta higher-up compromised for the flight: Bailey's sister-in-law, who had been assigned to another row on the flight, was put next to Bailey so she could share her oxygen with the second twin.”
Shepherd’s site features his 25 most recent columns, his daily news-of-the-weird pro edition, a link to send him news tips, a compilation of stories he considers “No Longer Weird,” and an oddly compelling list of accused and convicted murderers with the middle name of “Wayne.”
Shepherd lives in Florida, of course, the epicenter of all weird news.
