Weekly World News
Encyclopedia
The Weekly World News was a supermarket tabloid published in the United States from 1979 to 2007, renowned for its outlandish cover stories often based on supernatural
or paranormal
themes and an approach to news that verged on the satirical. Its characteristic black-and-white covers have become pop-culture images widely used in the arts. It continues to exist as a website.
, had been printed on, when the sister publication switched to color printing. Like many supermarket weeklies in the U.S.
, the Weekly World News was published in Lantana
, Florida, until it moved to Boca Raton in the late 1990s. It was unique as a tabloid because it was printed entirely in black and white.
Its longtime editor, Eddie Clontz, a 10th-grade dropout from North Carolina and former copy editor
at small newspapers, joined the paper in 1981. In the 1980s, the circulation of WWN peaked at 1.2 million per issue.
In 1999, David Pecker bought American Media Inc., which owned the Weekly World News. Within the next two years, many of WWNs longtime writers and editors, including Clontz, Sal Ivone, Derek Clontz, Susan Jimison, Joe Berger, Bob Lind
, Dick Kulpa and Leskie Pinson, were gone. Clontz left the paper in 2001, having been there 20 years, and died in 2004.
In a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
in March 2007, American Media said that sales of WWN in 2006 were only 83,000 per issue.
WWN ceased its print publication in 2007. It is currently being published as an insert within Sun magazine, with new material being printed alongside articles and columns from older issues. It maintains a website that is updated daily.
In October 2008, Bat Boy L.L.C., a company started by Neil McGinness, bought WWN. The company has plans to revamp the website and is considering printing it again as a standalone publication.
In January 2011, the Weekly World News made available to fans an online paid subscription. This online edition is emailed to subscribers bi-weekly. The format of the online edition is classic Weekly World News right down to the old school Weekly World News logo used from 1979 to 2001. The stories are classic Weekly World News, for example the first issue's headline screamed, "Werewolf Sues Airline Over Flight Delay."
, carried a fine print disclaimer
, the WWN never publicly questioned the accuracy of its own stories until 2004, when the paper began stating that "the reader should suspend disbelief for the sake of enjoyment". In recent years, Sun moved more toward articles on health, and miracle cures, mostly leaving WWN alone in its unique niche of basing a weekly publication almost entirely on 'news' that the traditional media dared not report, such as sightings of Elvis Presley and the Loch Ness monster
.
On occasion, it ran strange-but-true stories, such as "DEVOUT CHRISTIAN ATTACKED — AND HE'S THE ONE FINED!" referring to conservative English street preacher Harry Hammond
being fined after he was threatened by "homosexual liberals." Other verifiable stories included, but were not limited to, those of a giant mutant hog monster attacking Georgia
. It reported on the discovery of an infant dragon
preserved in formaldehyde proving the existence of dragons, although this was later proven to be a hoax
. It also quoted Vatican
exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth on Pope John Paul II
's battles with Satan
, and ran a story on the copyright dispute between O, The Oprah Magazine
and a German erotic periodical, also named "O."
However, these stories were the exceptions. When most of the supermarket tabloids were acquired by Fleet Street
publishers, they switched to celebrity
gossip, but the Weekly World News remained devoted to weirdness. In the introduction to Batboy Lives! Sal Ivone, former managing editor, said, "If someone calls me up and says their toaster is talking to them, I don't refer them to professional help, I say, 'Put the toaster on the phone'." Derrik Lang, a former stringer
for the paper, said, "That fat guy with the sunburned belly and that kid abused by his own shadow were living, breathing people with wilder-than-wild stories to tell — in my head. I can't attest to the entire publication, but everything in my stories was fake — you know, depending on how you define fake."
WWN was a journalistic leader in following the progress of Bat Boy, the half-bat, half-boy superhero; and P'lod
, an extraterrestrial
who became involved in Earth politics and had an affair with Hillary Clinton
. Other important issues regularly reported on included the oncoming great depression/apocalypse, and newly found lost prophecies.
WWN was also in the forefront of informing the public about alien abduction
s, the Loch Ness Monster
, Bigfoot
, and time travel
. WWN once carried a story about inhabitants of the planet Mercury
who had proposed to establish a colony in San Francisco — presumably they sought a more temperate climate, where lead
was generally a solid. (In one of the latest, Iraq was revealed to possess a "time tunnel" capable of facilitating time travel.)
Occasionally, stories published in the Weekly World News sent shock waves through the legal and law enforcement communities. For example, in early 1989, WWN published startling photographs on the front page of executed serial killer Ted Bundy
on the autopsy table. Electrode burns on Bundy's shaved head with his fixed and dilated pupils staring into space could clearly be seen in the photographs. Angry and surprised officials in Florida vowed to catch the person responsible. Eventually, a low-level employee of the Alachua County, Florida
Medical Examiners office was arrested and charged with taking and selling the photographs.
Regular columns included Ed Anger
(opinion), Hi Dolly (relationship advice), first Dear Babs and later Dear Dotti (outspoken advice columnists), Horse Sense (medical advice), Monkey Business (financial and business-related advice and information) and Madame Malisa (psychic
).
Beginning on May 9, 2005, the Weekly World News went "All New", along with other tabloid papers, such as the National Enquirer which had become "Bigger•Bolder•Better". In the new Weekly World News, Serena and Sonya Sabak's psychic
column was replaced by the horoscopes of Madame Malisa and Dotti Primrose's "Dear Dotti" was supplanted by an advice column called "Hi Dolly" written by a middle-aged, blonde woman reared somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line
. The new WWN included a weekly "Weird Picture Search" by famed Mad
cartoonist Sergio Aragones
. Other features included Trivia, Test Yourself, Jokes and "Miss Adventure
", "The Gayest American Hero", who has penetrated the mob
, gone to Hollywood, and fought DRAG-U-LA traveling from the depths of the Earth's center to Outer Space.
Two pages of comic strips became a popular feature, many spun off from feature stories. "SpyCat
", created by Dick Siegel, was drawn by Ernie Colón
. SpyCat spoke nine different languages ranging from Persian to "dog" and was armed with "Adamwestium" claws and deadly cat-of-nine-tails. He wrote free-form poetry when not waging war on America's enemies—at home and abroad. "Matthew Daemon", also created by Dick Siegel, was written and illustrated by Mike Collins and was a spin off from the "SOS Matthew Daemon (Seeker of Obscure Supernaturals)" feature. Daemon's lair was located beneath Grant's Tomb
. Daemon specialized in B-List Monster hunting. "Alien Baby" by Craig Boldman chronicles the adventures of Moogera the dead beat alien dad, alien baby Ethan, and Stacy, his Earth-born mother. "Bat Boy" is written and drawn by Danielle Corsetto and is a fictional creature that made several appearances in the tabloid.
(Lost World Caverns
). He has since led police on a high speed chase, fought in the war on terror, led the troops to capture Saddam Hussein
, bitten Santa Claus
, and traveled into outer space. In 2000, he gave his endorsement to Al Gore
. It was foretold that Bat Boy would become president in 2028. The story of Bat Boy was the basis for an acclaimed off-Broadway musical, Bat Boy: The Musical
, though the play ended tragically and ignores the continuity of the original stories. In addition to articles, Bat Boy has been featured in a comic strip
since 2004, though it's said that only the articles are the "true" story of Bat Boy. The strip was originally written and drawn by Peter Bagge
, and then by Danielle Corsetto.
and a description of her was printed. This article has been absent from WWN since the Halloween issue of 2006.
.)
Another subject often tackled by WWN is the reemergence of many prominent figures believed by most to be deceased, including Hank Williams, Marilyn Monroe
, John F. Kennedy
, Adolf Hitler
, and Michael Jackson
. Survivors of the Titanic and Hindenburg were also occasionally featured. Among the most frequently printed reports were those asserting that "Elvis is alive."
The WWN frequently reported Elvis sightings with a series of articles claiming that Elvis Presley
had faked his death and had recently emerged from years of seclusion to prepare for a comeback. Obviously altered photos purported to show a gray-haired balding Elvis sneaking into a movie theater and coming out of a Burger King
restaurant. When the US Postal Service
conducted a poll to determine the design of the Elvis commemorative
postage stamp
, the WWN conducted its own poll pitting the USPS' 1950s Elvis and 1970s Elvis versus their own 1990s Elvis. The WWN's Elvis won.
In 1994, the newspaper broke the news about the death of a popular rock musician long presumed deceased, running a front cover that said "Elvis Presley Dead!", revealing that he had been living a secret life since 1977, but was now "really dead" from heart failure after slipping into a diabetic coma. In a 2004 Washington Post article on Clontz's death, humorist Gene Weingarten
claimed that he and Dave Barry
were the sources of the story. According to Weingarten, the WWN later reported that claims of Elvis' death had been a hoax. In an earlier telling of his story, Weingarten varied some details.
in the immediate future, in which many prominent celebrities, politicians, and icons of business would become penniless. The cover story of the June 6, 2005 issue warned that the second Great Depression was "just weeks away." Because of this, Texas Oil Tycoons were planning to flee to Luxembourg
, the only country to survive this economic crash. The consequences of this depression would include:
A follow up in the August 15, 2005 issue reveals plans by China
to buy a controlling interest in all of America's banks, effectively buying out the nation's economy. According to the article, China currently owns more than 100 US banks totaling roughly 17 trillion dollars, making them the majority shareholder in America.
, the Garden of Eden
(claimed by the tabloid to be in Colorado
), and the discovery of additional commandments from God. The magazine obtained information about when Jesus
will return to Earth. WWN was also the first to speak of a pair of sandals worn by Jesus. Other stories disclosed that natural disasters such as earthquake
s have opened up gates and portals to Hell
from which demons have escaped which are now wreaking havoc upon the earth. A story shortly after September 11, 2001
showed the face of Satan
appearing in a cloud of dust caused by the collapse of the World Trade Center
. Similar stories had appeared before, wherein Satan's face had appeared in a thunderstorm.
to eventually invade and conquer the United States. Other stories featured profiles on the location and nature of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction
, including the news that Saddam Hussein had an arsenal of giant slingshots, the missing link and Dinosaur
s. In 2003, a series of articles profiled the ongoing relationship, and eventual marriage of Saddam Hussein
and Osama Bin Laden
. Other stories have made claims that Bin Laden is actually a dwarf, that he recruited a cloned Adolf Hitler
to join Al Qaeda or that he is in fact dead and that the CIA is keeping it a secret. Since being captured by Batboy, Saddam has been humiliated by female prison guards, won the United States lottery, and even demanded that the government pay for his sex change operation.
The April 25, 2005 issue of WWN revealed a thwarted attempt by terrorists abducted by aliens to hijack their UFO and fly it into the White House
.
, and persisting after his capture, WWN ran a series of articles on an alleged romance between him and Osama bin Laden
. The setup of the plot alleged Saddam Hussein
once starred in gay
porn
films.
The "couple" apparently had a steamy, sensual affair, before a wedding was performed, with Hussein as the bride and bin Laden as the groom. Later, they traveled the globe, ending up in France
. They adopted a shaved ape baby (Robert) that posed as a human child. After an argument, Hussein left for Iraq
to be comforted in his home town of Tikrit
by family and friends, and hid in the spider hole until Bat Boy discovered him.
and that George Washington
and Abraham Lincoln were actually women. Abraham Lincoln
, according to the paper, was insane and his ghost has also been spotted in the White House
giving President George W. Bush
advice on the War in Iraq. Stories about President George W. Bush capitalized on the public's perception that he lacked intelligence
. The paper has chronicled his plans to run for pope, his love affair with Janet Reno
and his intention to nominate Yoda
as Secretary of Defense. The paper also reported his secret plans to invade the moon
and mine it for the rich oil reserves discovered underneath. The June 21, 2004 issue stated that Vice President Dick Cheney
was actually a Robot
, and that his frequent trips to the hospital allowed him to rewire his circuits.
Weekly World News blamed these creatures for holes in the ozone. A Roswell crash survivor, "Altair Bob", made contact with "WWN" via telepathic e-mail. Several factions of extraterrestrials have been using the moon to dump garbage. Martians have been monitoring the Mid-East crisis. Warrior aliens have been resurrecting the dead, fighting Big Foot and training in a mock US town hidden in Antarctica. San Franciscans have opened their hearts to immigrants from Mercury.
One such alien who made several appearances in WWN named P'Lod
, has been known to fraternize with known women of politics. It was reported that he and Hillary Rodham Clinton
once had a close relationship, which ended up in a brawl between him and Bill Clinton
who went on a jealous rage. After P'Lodd left Hillary, he expressed a lot of interest for Condoleezza Rice
.
In the June 7, 1994 edition, WWN reported that 12 U.S. Senators were aliens from other planets. The piece quoted several Senators or their spokespersons humorously "confirming" the story. The Associated Press ran a follow-up piece which confirmed the tongue-in-cheek participation of Senate offices in the story. WWN quoted Senator Phil Gramm
(R-TX) as saying he was "amazed it took you this long to find out." Senator Alan Simpson
's (R-WY) then-spokesman Charles Pelkey told the AP: "We've got only one thing to say: Klaatu barada nikto
."
In the August 11, 1998 edition, WWN reported that autograph dealer Steve Koschal offered to pay $1 million for anything signed by an extraterrestrial. Koschal said he would pay the million dollars to anyone who had a signed letter or signed photograph or anything signed by a visitor from outer space. "Hundreds of people claim to have been abducted and taken aboard UFOs and yet there's not a single verifiable signature of an extraterrestrial being anywhere on Earth," said Koschal in an exclusive interview. "Someone out there must have asked one of these creatures for an autograph. If not," continued Koschal, "someone will in the future. When they do, I want to be the first collector to acquire it."
and half-animal half-Human hybrids are frequently the topic of many issues of Weekly World News. Creatures such as Bigfoot, Merpeople, Real-life Catwomen, Half-Alligator
Half-Humans, Frog Babies, Kangaroo Women, and many other creatures have swept the world by storm on various covers (Abominable Beachman strikes terror in Hawaii!)(Bigfoot Steals Race Car!!!!)
is also frequently reported in the pages of the Weekly World News.
The most detailed account from the Weekly World News, recorded a mermaid being caught in a fishing net off of the coast of Florida
on April 17, 2004. She was at least half-human, very sociable, and extremely intelligent. The mermaid measured five feet from the tip of her upturned nose to the end of her spiny, translucent tail. Experts which talked with WWN reporters say she was able to talk in a sophisticated "three dimensional language" that depends heavily on noises that could possibly be connected to the "click languages" prevalent in parts of Africa and on hand movements that look like sign language
instructed to deaf people around the globe. A linguist
who had spent several hours with the mermaid at an undisclosed marine study facility in Florida declared that once they are able to establish communication, everything known about human evolution
, the specialness of human intelligence, everything thought about fish – "It's all going out the door".
Similar to their female counterparts, mermen are found within the pages of the Weekly World News. On June 17, 2003, a merman was reported to have been caught in the South Pacific. The bizarre creature measured 28 inches, significantly shorter than a mermaid
caught the following year in a fishing net
(which measured five feet from the tip of her upturned nose to the end of her translucent tail). Though this most likely points to the fact that they might have been two separate merpeople species. Another contributing factor might have been the different area of the world in which it was caught. See also: Fiji Mermaid
, hosted by longtime journalist Edwin Newman
. The show ran for 35 episodes.
WWN had a tie-in with the CW show Supernatural
on its episode "Tall Tales".
Headlines on the website are refreshed daily. Samples:
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
or paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
themes and an approach to news that verged on the satirical. Its characteristic black-and-white covers have become pop-culture images widely used in the arts. It continues to exist as a website.
History
The WWN was launched in 1979 by publisher Generoso Pope, Jr. as a means to continue using the black and white press that the higher-profile tabloid, The National EnquirerThe National Enquirer
The National Enquirer is an American supermarket tabloid now published by American Media Inc . Founded in 1926, the tabloid has gone through a variety of changes over the years....
, had been printed on, when the sister publication switched to color printing. Like many supermarket weeklies in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the Weekly World News was published in Lantana
Lantana, Florida
Lantana is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 9,437 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 10,389.-History:...
, Florida, until it moved to Boca Raton in the late 1990s. It was unique as a tabloid because it was printed entirely in black and white.
Its longtime editor, Eddie Clontz, a 10th-grade dropout from North Carolina and former copy editor
Copy editing
Copy editing is the work that an editor does to improve the formatting, style, and accuracy of text. Unlike general editing, copy editing might not involve changing the substance of the text. Copy refers to written or typewritten text for typesetting, printing, or publication...
at small newspapers, joined the paper in 1981. In the 1980s, the circulation of WWN peaked at 1.2 million per issue.
In 1999, David Pecker bought American Media Inc., which owned the Weekly World News. Within the next two years, many of WWNs longtime writers and editors, including Clontz, Sal Ivone, Derek Clontz, Susan Jimison, Joe Berger, Bob Lind
Bob Lind
Bob Lind is an American folk music singer-songwriter who reached the height of his success during the 1960s...
, Dick Kulpa and Leskie Pinson, were gone. Clontz left the paper in 2001, having been there 20 years, and died in 2004.
In a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is a federal agency which holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets in the United States...
in March 2007, American Media said that sales of WWN in 2006 were only 83,000 per issue.
WWN ceased its print publication in 2007. It is currently being published as an insert within Sun magazine, with new material being printed alongside articles and columns from older issues. It maintains a website that is updated daily.
In October 2008, Bat Boy L.L.C., a company started by Neil McGinness, bought WWN. The company has plans to revamp the website and is considering printing it again as a standalone publication.
In January 2011, the Weekly World News made available to fans an online paid subscription. This online edition is emailed to subscribers bi-weekly. The format of the online edition is classic Weekly World News right down to the old school Weekly World News logo used from 1979 to 2001. The stories are classic Weekly World News, for example the first issue's headline screamed, "Werewolf Sues Airline Over Flight Delay."
General approach to stories
The WWN traditionally claimed that it always printed the truth (typical slogan: "Nothing but the truth: The Weekly World News!"). Many stories, however, appeared to have comedic intent. Confirming this, in Batboy Lives! a semi-serious introduction admitted that while Reader A reads the tabloid for real news, Reader B will read it for laughs. While the tabloid's main rival, SunSun (supermarket tabloid)
Sun is a supermarket tabloid owned by American Media Inc.Its contents have often come under question and has been widely regarded as "sensationalistic writing." Since a 1992 invasion of privacy case, a small-print disclaimer printed beneath the masthead has warned readers to "suspend belief for the...
, carried a fine print disclaimer
Disclaimer
A disclaimer is generally any statement intended to specify or delimit the scope of rights and obligations that may be exercised and enforced by parties in a legally recognized relationship...
, the WWN never publicly questioned the accuracy of its own stories until 2004, when the paper began stating that "the reader should suspend disbelief for the sake of enjoyment". In recent years, Sun moved more toward articles on health, and miracle cures, mostly leaving WWN alone in its unique niche of basing a weekly publication almost entirely on 'news' that the traditional media dared not report, such as sightings of Elvis Presley and the Loch Ness monster
Loch Ness Monster
The Loch Ness Monster is a cryptid that is reputed to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next....
.
On occasion, it ran strange-but-true stories, such as "DEVOUT CHRISTIAN ATTACKED — AND HE'S THE ONE FINED!" referring to conservative English street preacher Harry Hammond
Harry Hammond
Harry Hammond was a British street evangelist who became the subject of a UK-wide public debate after his preaching led to his arrest for a public order offence.- Arrest and prosecution :...
being fined after he was threatened by "homosexual liberals." Other verifiable stories included, but were not limited to, those of a giant mutant hog monster attacking Georgia
Hogzilla
Hogzilla is the name given to a male hybrid of wild hog and domestic pig that was shot and killed in Alapaha, Georgia, United States, on June 17, 2004 by Dr. Eliahu Katz on Ken Holyoak's fish farm and hunting reserve. It was alleged to be long and weighed over . It was originally considered a...
. It reported on the discovery of an infant dragon
Pickled dragon
In December 2003, David Hart claimed to have found a pickled dragon or, more precisely, what appeared to be the fetus of a winged reptile-type creature preserved in a tall jar of formaldehyde in his garage in Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire; he then showed it to a friend, Allistair Mitchell, who...
preserved in formaldehyde proving the existence of dragons, although this was later proven to be a hoax
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
. It also quoted Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth on Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
's battles with Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
, and ran a story on the copyright dispute between O, The Oprah Magazine
O, The Oprah Magazine
O: The Oprah Magazine, sometimes simply abbreviated to O, is a monthly magazine founded by Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Corporation.-Overview:...
and a German erotic periodical, also named "O."
However, these stories were the exceptions. When most of the supermarket tabloids were acquired by Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
publishers, they switched to celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
gossip, but the Weekly World News remained devoted to weirdness. In the introduction to Batboy Lives! Sal Ivone, former managing editor, said, "If someone calls me up and says their toaster is talking to them, I don't refer them to professional help, I say, 'Put the toaster on the phone'." Derrik Lang, a former stringer
Stringer (journalism)
In journalism, a stringer is a type of freelance journalist or photographer who contributes reports or photos to a news organization on an ongoing basis but is paid individually for each piece of published or broadcast work....
for the paper, said, "That fat guy with the sunburned belly and that kid abused by his own shadow were living, breathing people with wilder-than-wild stories to tell — in my head. I can't attest to the entire publication, but everything in my stories was fake — you know, depending on how you define fake."
WWN was a journalistic leader in following the progress of Bat Boy, the half-bat, half-boy superhero; and P'lod
P'lod
P'lod is a fictional extraterrestrial who, according to the American supermarket tabloid the Weekly World News, actively seeks to advise U.S. politicians for the benefit of the world or the galaxy....
, an extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
who became involved in Earth politics and had an affair with Hillary Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
. Other important issues regularly reported on included the oncoming great depression/apocalypse, and newly found lost prophecies.
WWN was also in the forefront of informing the public about alien abduction
Abduction phenomenon
The terms alien abduction or abduction phenomenon describe "subjectively real memories of being taken secretly against one’s will by apparently nonhuman entities and subjected to complex physical and psychological procedures." People claiming to have been abducted are usually called "abductees" or...
s, the Loch Ness Monster
Loch Ness Monster
The Loch Ness Monster is a cryptid that is reputed to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next....
, Bigfoot
Bigfoot
Bigfoot, also known as sasquatch, is an ape-like cryptid that purportedly inhabits forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid...
, and time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
. WWN once carried a story about inhabitants of the planet Mercury
Mercury (planet)
Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
who had proposed to establish a colony in San Francisco — presumably they sought a more temperate climate, where lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
was generally a solid. (In one of the latest, Iraq was revealed to possess a "time tunnel" capable of facilitating time travel.)
Occasionally, stories published in the Weekly World News sent shock waves through the legal and law enforcement communities. For example, in early 1989, WWN published startling photographs on the front page of executed serial killer Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy
Theodore Robert "Ted" Bundy was an American serial killer, rapist, kidnapper, and necrophile who assaulted and murdered numerous young women during the 1970s, and possibly earlier...
on the autopsy table. Electrode burns on Bundy's shaved head with his fixed and dilated pupils staring into space could clearly be seen in the photographs. Angry and surprised officials in Florida vowed to catch the person responsible. Eventually, a low-level employee of the Alachua County, Florida
Alachua County, Florida
Alachua County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the county is 227,120. Its county seat is Gainesville, Florida. Alachua County is the home of the University of Florida and is also known for its diverse culture, local music, and artisans...
Medical Examiners office was arrested and charged with taking and selling the photographs.
Columns and features
Regular columns included Ed Anger
Ed Anger
Ed Anger is a pseudonymous opinion columnist in the Weekly World News, a former U.S. tabloid, now a web site. In addition to weekly columns, a collected book of his writings, Let's Pave the Stupid Rainforests & Give School Teachers Stun Guns: And Other Ways to Save America was published in 1996.-...
(opinion), Hi Dolly (relationship advice), first Dear Babs and later Dear Dotti (outspoken advice columnists), Horse Sense (medical advice), Monkey Business (financial and business-related advice and information) and Madame Malisa (psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
).
Beginning on May 9, 2005, the Weekly World News went "All New", along with other tabloid papers, such as the National Enquirer which had become "Bigger•Bolder•Better". In the new Weekly World News, Serena and Sonya Sabak's psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
column was replaced by the horoscopes of Madame Malisa and Dotti Primrose's "Dear Dotti" was supplanted by an advice column called "Hi Dolly" written by a middle-aged, blonde woman reared somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line
Mason-Dixon line
The Mason–Dixon Line was surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in the resolution of a border dispute between British colonies in Colonial America. It forms a demarcation line among four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and...
. The new WWN included a weekly "Weird Picture Search" by famed Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
cartoonist Sergio Aragones
Sergio Aragonés
Sergio Aragonés Domenech is a cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to Mad Magazine and creator of the comic book Groo the Wanderer....
. Other features included Trivia, Test Yourself, Jokes and "Miss Adventure
Miss Adventure
Miss Adventure, 30, is a fictional character whose adventures appear in the American supermarket tabloid the Weekly World News.He is a homosexual man and worked as a hairdresser in his hometown of Teaneck, New Jersey....
", "The Gayest American Hero", who has penetrated the mob
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
, gone to Hollywood, and fought DRAG-U-LA traveling from the depths of the Earth's center to Outer Space.
Two pages of comic strips became a popular feature, many spun off from feature stories. "SpyCat
SpyCat
SpyCat is a comic strip appearing in Weekly World News created by Dick Siegel and drawn by Ernie Colón.SpyCat speaks nine different languages ranging from Persian to "dog" and is armed with "Adamwestium" claws and deadly cat o' nine tails. He writes free-form poetry when not waging war on America's...
", created by Dick Siegel, was drawn by Ernie Colón
Ernie Colon
Ernie Colón is an American comics artist, born on July 13, 1931,Colón was born in Puerto Rico and began his professional career at Harvey Comics as a letterer. He later worked, uncredited, as an artist on titles including Monster in My Pocket, Richie Rich and Casper the Friendly Ghost...
. SpyCat spoke nine different languages ranging from Persian to "dog" and was armed with "Adamwestium" claws and deadly cat-of-nine-tails. He wrote free-form poetry when not waging war on America's enemies—at home and abroad. "Matthew Daemon", also created by Dick Siegel, was written and illustrated by Mike Collins and was a spin off from the "SOS Matthew Daemon (Seeker of Obscure Supernaturals)" feature. Daemon's lair was located beneath Grant's Tomb
Grant's Tomb
General Grant National Memorial , better known as Grant's Tomb, is a mausoleum containing the bodies of Ulysses S. Grant , American Civil War General and 18th President of the United States, and his wife, Julia Dent Grant...
. Daemon specialized in B-List Monster hunting. "Alien Baby" by Craig Boldman chronicles the adventures of Moogera the dead beat alien dad, alien baby Ethan, and Stacy, his Earth-born mother. "Bat Boy" is written and drawn by Danielle Corsetto and is a fictional creature that made several appearances in the tabloid.
Bat Boy
Possibly the best known of all the stories to come out of WWN, Bat Boy was first featured in a 1992 issue after being found in a cave in West VirginiaWest Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
(Lost World Caverns
Lost World Caverns
Lost World Caverns, located just outside of Lewisburg, West Virginia, is an underground natural series of caverns. In November 1973, the caverns were registered as a National Natural Landmark as they "feature terraced pedestal-like stalagmites, flowstone, curtains, rimstone, domepits, and...
). He has since led police on a high speed chase, fought in the war on terror, led the troops to capture Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
, bitten Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
, and traveled into outer space. In 2000, he gave his endorsement to Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
. It was foretold that Bat Boy would become president in 2028. The story of Bat Boy was the basis for an acclaimed off-Broadway musical, Bat Boy: The Musical
Bat Boy: The Musical
Bat Boy: The Musical is a musical with a book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming and music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe, based on a June 23, 1992 Weekly World News story about a half-boy, half-bat, dubbed "Bat Boy", found living in a cave....
, though the play ended tragically and ignores the continuity of the original stories. In addition to articles, Bat Boy has been featured in a comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
since 2004, though it's said that only the articles are the "true" story of Bat Boy. The strip was originally written and drawn by Peter Bagge
Peter Bagge
Peter Bagge is an American cartoonist. He is the creator of Buddy Bradley, Hate, Neat Stuff, Martini Baton, and Sweatshop, Apocalypse Nerd and Other Lives. His stories often use black humor and exaggerated cartooning to dramatize the reduced expectations of middle-class American youth...
, and then by Danielle Corsetto.
A Scientist
"A Scientist" is typically shown and quoted. He was known as "A Scientist" to distinguish him from A Baffled Scientist. His findings are as close as WWN gets to having a reliable source.Page 5 Honey
Each week a different model was featured on page 5 and on the back page. She was usually wearing a bikiniBikini
The bikini is typically a women's two-piece swimsuit. One part of the attire covers the breasts and the other part covers the crotch and part of or the entire buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. Merriam–Webster describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit" or "a...
and a description of her was printed. This article has been absent from WWN since the Halloween issue of 2006.
"ALIVE!", starring (often) Elvis Presley
One of the other many recurring subjects was the occasional "ALIVE!" cover story. Most often the story pertained to some sort of human or creature, such as a mummy, prehistoric creature and occasionally a human who had been frozen in a block of ice (ex. Santa ClausSanta Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
.)
Another subject often tackled by WWN is the reemergence of many prominent figures believed by most to be deceased, including Hank Williams, Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, and Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
. Survivors of the Titanic and Hindenburg were also occasionally featured. Among the most frequently printed reports were those asserting that "Elvis is alive."
The WWN frequently reported Elvis sightings with a series of articles claiming that Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
had faked his death and had recently emerged from years of seclusion to prepare for a comeback. Obviously altered photos purported to show a gray-haired balding Elvis sneaking into a movie theater and coming out of a Burger King
Burger King
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
restaurant. When the US Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
conducted a poll to determine the design of the Elvis commemorative
Commemorative
Commemorative may refer to:*Commemorative coin*United States Commemorative Coin*Commemorative issue - a special edition of a book, magazine, or other item released around, or in memory of, a special event or occurrence.*Commemorative stamp...
postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
, the WWN conducted its own poll pitting the USPS' 1950s Elvis and 1970s Elvis versus their own 1990s Elvis. The WWN's Elvis won.
In 1994, the newspaper broke the news about the death of a popular rock musician long presumed deceased, running a front cover that said "Elvis Presley Dead!", revealing that he had been living a secret life since 1977, but was now "really dead" from heart failure after slipping into a diabetic coma. In a 2004 Washington Post article on Clontz's death, humorist Gene Weingarten
Gene Weingarten
Gene Weingarten is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist known for both his serious and humorous work...
claimed that he and Dave Barry
Dave Barry
David "Dave" Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and columnist, who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for The Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comedic novels.-Biography:Barry was born in Armonk, New York,...
were the sources of the story. According to Weingarten, the WWN later reported that claims of Elvis' death had been a hoax. In an earlier telling of his story, Weingarten varied some details.
The World's Fattest...
Numerous stories regarding shockingly obese people and animals made the pages of WWN, the most popular of which being Tonya, the world's fattest cat. After first being discovered, WWN encouraged readers to send in their guesses as to exactly how much they believed Tonya weighed. Weighing in at over 80 lbs, Tonya has been featured being adopted, and possibly sat on by the world's fattest woman. Later stories involved Tonya's attempts to lose weight through the "Catkins" diet, her struggle with anorexia, and claims that she had been eaten by the world's thinnest woman. Other stories have featured the exploits of the world's fattest couple at the gym, the world's fattest baby, and even a similar weight guessing contest featuring the world's fattest dog. One continuing story featured a morbidly obese man named Buster Simcus who had lost so much weight, it left 80 pounds of loose skin hanging off his body that he was planning to have surgically removed. By the next story, he blew up again, severely damaging his scars.Upcoming economic depressions
WWN covered stories that featured analysis of a coming Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in the immediate future, in which many prominent celebrities, politicians, and icons of business would become penniless. The cover story of the June 6, 2005 issue warned that the second Great Depression was "just weeks away." Because of this, Texas Oil Tycoons were planning to flee to Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
, the only country to survive this economic crash. The consequences of this depression would include:
- An 80% unemployment rate
- A collapse of all the nation's banks, causing them to call in all loans and mortgages, leaving a vast majority of Americans homeless
- An inability to afford any military program at all, forcing America to put an end to the War on terrorWar on TerrorThe War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
- A SomaliaSomaliaSomalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
-like famine - HyperinflationHyperinflationIn economics, hyperinflation is inflation that is very high or out of control. While the real values of the specific economic items generally stay the same in terms of relatively stable foreign currencies, in hyperinflationary conditions the general price level within a specific economy increases...
, leaving all paper money worthless - Enormous mobs of looters, ravaging towns and cities who cannot afford to pay police
- A disease epidemic caused by Americans unable to afford health care, including epidemics of choleraCholeraCholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
, tuberculosisTuberculosisTuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, polio and even the bubonic plagueBubonic plaguePlague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death... - The absence of food forcing starving citizens to resort to cannibalism of deceased relatives
- China replacing the United States as the world's #1 superpowerSuperpowerA superpower is a state with a dominant position in the international system which has the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests...
- Americans overcome with despair will turn their backs on their religion and return to pagan religions, and possibly sell their soul to SatanSatanSatan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
. Christians who stubbornly continue to adhere to their religion will be burned alive, and have their virgin daughters sacrificed - The world completely running out of oilPetroleumPetroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
.
A follow up in the August 15, 2005 issue reveals plans by China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to buy a controlling interest in all of America's banks, effectively buying out the nation's economy. According to the article, China currently owns more than 100 US banks totaling roughly 17 trillion dollars, making them the majority shareholder in America.
Religion and Biblical relics
Weekly World News was often the first to report the findings of biblical relics, including Noah's ArkNoah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
, the Garden of Eden
Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
(claimed by the tabloid to be in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
), and the discovery of additional commandments from God. The magazine obtained information about when Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
will return to Earth. WWN was also the first to speak of a pair of sandals worn by Jesus. Other stories disclosed that natural disasters such as earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
s have opened up gates and portals to Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
from which demons have escaped which are now wreaking havoc upon the earth. A story shortly after September 11, 2001
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
showed the face of Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
appearing in a cloud of dust caused by the collapse of the World Trade Center
Collapse of the World Trade Center
The twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001, as a result of al-Qaeda's September 11 attacks, in which terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners, flying one into the North Tower and another into the South Tower...
. Similar stories had appeared before, wherein Satan's face had appeared in a thunderstorm.
Terrorism
Following the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 WWN featured articles exposing plans for possible future terrorist attacks on the United States of America. A 2004 cover story leaked plans by Kim Jong-ilKim Jong-il
Kim Jong-il, also written as Kim Jong Il, birth name Yuri Irsenovich Kim born 16 February 1941 or 16 February 1942 , is the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...
to eventually invade and conquer the United States. Other stories featured profiles on the location and nature of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction
Weapons of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...
, including the news that Saddam Hussein had an arsenal of giant slingshots, the missing link and Dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s. In 2003, a series of articles profiled the ongoing relationship, and eventual marriage of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
and Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
. Other stories have made claims that Bin Laden is actually a dwarf, that he recruited a cloned Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
to join Al Qaeda or that he is in fact dead and that the CIA is keeping it a secret. Since being captured by Batboy, Saddam has been humiliated by female prison guards, won the United States lottery, and even demanded that the government pay for his sex change operation.
The April 25, 2005 issue of WWN revealed a thwarted attempt by terrorists abducted by aliens to hijack their UFO and fly it into the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
.
Saddam Hussein's heartbreak
Throughout 2003, just prior to the capture of Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
, and persisting after his capture, WWN ran a series of articles on an alleged romance between him and Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
. The setup of the plot alleged Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
once starred in gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
porn
PORN
Porn is a common short form for pornography. It may also refer to:* Progressive outer retinal necrosis, a disease of the retina* PORN, a French industrial rock band...
films.
The "couple" apparently had a steamy, sensual affair, before a wedding was performed, with Hussein as the bride and bin Laden as the groom. Later, they traveled the globe, ending up in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. They adopted a shaved ape baby (Robert) that posed as a human child. After an argument, Hussein left for Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
to be comforted in his home town of Tikrit
Tikrit
Tikrit is a town in Iraq, located 140 km northwest of Baghdad on the Tigris river . The town, with an estimated population in 2002 of about 260,000 is the administrative center of the Salah ad Din Governorate.-Ancient times:...
by family and friends, and hid in the spider hole until Bat Boy discovered him.
Saddam's Nuclear Submarine
In 2002 WWN reported that Saddam Hussein was hiding in his nuclear submarine, called the "Saddam-tilus", in Lake Michigan. In this submarine he had a theme park and half the Iraqi military. It was also reported that he was planning to launch his nuclear missiles at New York and Los Angeles, saving Washington, D.C. for his new capital, where he would demolish the White House and build a new palace made of the ruins of the White House. Also he planned to carve a statue of himself out of the Washington Monument. The article went on to further describe how he got the submarine into Lake Michigan. He used the help of bin Laden's "alien allies".The presidency
WWN is often the home to political satire regarding current and past Presidential Administrations. The magazine scored an important beat when it disclosed that the founding fathers were all gayGay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
and that George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
and Abraham Lincoln were actually women. Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, according to the paper, was insane and his ghost has also been spotted in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
giving President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
advice on the War in Iraq. Stories about President George W. Bush capitalized on the public's perception that he lacked intelligence
Bushism
Bushisms are unconventional words, phrases, pronunciations, malapropisms, and semantic or linguistic errors that have occurred in the public speaking of former President of the United States George W. Bush and, much less notably, of his father, George H. W. Bush. The term has become part of popular...
. The paper has chronicled his plans to run for pope, his love affair with Janet Reno
Janet Reno
Janet Wood Reno is a former Attorney General of the United States . She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on February 11, 1993, and confirmed on March 11...
and his intention to nominate Yoda
Yoda
Yoda is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, appearing in the second and third original films, as well as all three prequel trilogy films. A renowned Jedi master, Yoda made his first on-screen appearance in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back where he is responsible for...
as Secretary of Defense. The paper also reported his secret plans to invade the moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
and mine it for the rich oil reserves discovered underneath. The June 21, 2004 issue stated that Vice President Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
was actually a Robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
, and that his frequent trips to the hospital allowed him to rewire his circuits.
Aliens
Aliens are another subject frequently tackled by WWN.Weekly World News blamed these creatures for holes in the ozone. A Roswell crash survivor, "Altair Bob", made contact with "WWN" via telepathic e-mail. Several factions of extraterrestrials have been using the moon to dump garbage. Martians have been monitoring the Mid-East crisis. Warrior aliens have been resurrecting the dead, fighting Big Foot and training in a mock US town hidden in Antarctica. San Franciscans have opened their hearts to immigrants from Mercury.
One such alien who made several appearances in WWN named P'Lod
P'lod
P'lod is a fictional extraterrestrial who, according to the American supermarket tabloid the Weekly World News, actively seeks to advise U.S. politicians for the benefit of the world or the galaxy....
, has been known to fraternize with known women of politics. It was reported that he and Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
once had a close relationship, which ended up in a brawl between him and Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
who went on a jealous rage. After P'Lodd left Hillary, he expressed a lot of interest for Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
.
In the June 7, 1994 edition, WWN reported that 12 U.S. Senators were aliens from other planets. The piece quoted several Senators or their spokespersons humorously "confirming" the story. The Associated Press ran a follow-up piece which confirmed the tongue-in-cheek participation of Senate offices in the story. WWN quoted Senator Phil Gramm
Phil Gramm
William Philip "Phil" Gramm is an American economist and politician, who has served as a Democratic Congressman , a Republican Congressman and a Republican Senator from Texas...
(R-TX) as saying he was "amazed it took you this long to find out." Senator Alan Simpson
Alan K. Simpson
Alan Kooi Simpson is an American politician who served from 1979 to 1997 as a United States Senator from Wyoming as a member of the Republican Party. His father, Milward L. Simpson, was also a member of the U.S...
's (R-WY) then-spokesman Charles Pelkey told the AP: "We've got only one thing to say: Klaatu barada nikto
Klaatu barada nikto
"Klaatu barada nikto" is a phrase originating from the 1951 science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. "Klaatu" is the name of the humanoid alien protagonist in the film. Klaatu commanded Helen Benson that, were anything to happen to him, she must utter the phrase to the robot Gort...
."
In the August 11, 1998 edition, WWN reported that autograph dealer Steve Koschal offered to pay $1 million for anything signed by an extraterrestrial. Koschal said he would pay the million dollars to anyone who had a signed letter or signed photograph or anything signed by a visitor from outer space. "Hundreds of people claim to have been abducted and taken aboard UFOs and yet there's not a single verifiable signature of an extraterrestrial being anywhere on Earth," said Koschal in an exclusive interview. "Someone out there must have asked one of these creatures for an autograph. If not," continued Koschal, "someone will in the future. When they do, I want to be the first collector to acquire it."
Cryptids
CryptidsCryptozoology
Cryptozoology refers to the search for animals whose existence has not been proven...
and half-animal half-Human hybrids are frequently the topic of many issues of Weekly World News. Creatures such as Bigfoot, Merpeople, Real-life Catwomen, Half-Alligator
Alligator
An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. There are two extant alligator species: the American alligator and the Chinese alligator ....
Half-Humans, Frog Babies, Kangaroo Women, and many other creatures have swept the world by storm on various covers (Abominable Beachman strikes terror in Hawaii!)(Bigfoot Steals Race Car!!!!)
Merfolk
The existence of merfolkMerfolk
Merfolk may refer to mythical/fictional creatures:*Merperson *Merfolk *Merfolk *Merfolk...
is also frequently reported in the pages of the Weekly World News.
The most detailed account from the Weekly World News, recorded a mermaid being caught in a fishing net off of the coast of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
on April 17, 2004. She was at least half-human, very sociable, and extremely intelligent. The mermaid measured five feet from the tip of her upturned nose to the end of her spiny, translucent tail. Experts which talked with WWN reporters say she was able to talk in a sophisticated "three dimensional language" that depends heavily on noises that could possibly be connected to the "click languages" prevalent in parts of Africa and on hand movements that look like sign language
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
instructed to deaf people around the globe. A linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
who had spent several hours with the mermaid at an undisclosed marine study facility in Florida declared that once they are able to establish communication, everything known about human evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
, the specialness of human intelligence, everything thought about fish – "It's all going out the door".
Similar to their female counterparts, mermen are found within the pages of the Weekly World News. On June 17, 2003, a merman was reported to have been caught in the South Pacific. The bizarre creature measured 28 inches, significantly shorter than a mermaid
Mermaid
A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk"...
caught the following year in a fishing net
Fishing net
A fishing net or fishnet is a net that is used for fishing. Fishing nets are meshes usually formed by knotting a relatively thin thread. Modern nets are usually made of artificial polyamides like nylon, although nets of organic polyamides such as wool or silk thread were common until recently and...
(which measured five feet from the tip of her upturned nose to the end of her translucent tail). Though this most likely points to the fact that they might have been two separate merpeople species. Another contributing factor might have been the different area of the world in which it was caught. See also: Fiji Mermaid
Fiji mermaid
The Fiji mermaid was an object comprising the torso and head of a juvenile monkey sewn to the back half of a fish, covered in papier-mâché...
Other stories
- Marisa DeMatha, a TexasTexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
poolBilliardsCue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
playerPlayer (game)A player of a game is a participant therein. The term 'player' is used with this same meaning both in game theory and in ordinary recreational games....
with a mouthMouthThe mouth is the first portion of the alimentary canal that receives food andsaliva. The oral mucosa is the mucous membrane epithelium lining the inside of the mouth....
so large she can stuff it with multiple billiard balls.
- The chaos cloudChaos cloudThe chaos cloud is a hoax that originated in a Weekly World News article in September 2005. It was published online at Yahoo! Entertainment News...
, an enormous dustcloud in outer space, that is on its way to destroy the Earth in 2014.
- A fossilized tornado found underground.
- Bigfoot had stolen a Race Car during a race, earning the name BigLEADfoot!
- Raw sewage being sold as hamburger meat in Japan.
- A Dutch biography of Hans Christian AndersenHans Christian AndersenHans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...
which alleges that Andersen hated children and frequently dined on human fleshCannibalismCannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
.
- In May 2001, the WWN had a cover story which stated they had photographs of Timothy McVeighTimothy McVeighTimothy James McVeigh was a United States Army veteran and security guard who detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995...
after he had been executed. The problem with those claims was that McVeigh had just received a temporary stay of execution, and he was not killed until June 11, 2001.
- The WWN once reported the story of a cruel surgeon who re-attached a pair of conjoined twins (the actual article referred to them as "Siamese" twins), after they failed to pay their medical bill for the initial surgical separation he performed.
- Christer Hilding, a Swedish baby who died after drinking household ammonia, whose parents had his remains freeze-dried by a taxidermist. When the couple died in a boating accident, his remains were bought for $10 in a garage sale.
- Another popular story involved a cannibal food critic, who rated the people he had eaten, based on their nationalities. For example, he didn't like Mexican or Chinese people as food, because they were "too spicy." Germans, on the other hand, were fattening and "greasy" while the one American he had eaten was rated highly for "taste, texture, and appearance."
- The latest purported discoveries from the RMS Titanic were often featured on the Weekly World Newss front cover, particularly in its later years. Examples of objects being found onboard were puppies, live babies, and the remains of gay lovers still in embrace.
- Australia being attacked by "Kangorus"(a parody of GodzillaGodzillais a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...
, name spoof of AnguirusAnguirusis the second Kaiju to appear in the Toho franchise. Anguirus appeared only a year after Godzilla in the 1955 Toho film Godzilla Raids Again...
).
- In late 2010, WWN ran a satirical story, written by Frank Lake, indicating that the Los Angeles Police DepartmentLos Angeles Police DepartmentThe Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
intended to purchase 10,000 jet packJet packJet pack, rocket belt, rocket pack, and similar names are various types of devices, usually worn on the back, that are propelled by jets of escaping gases so as to allow a single user to fly....
s, at a total cost of one billion dollars. This story was later reported as fact by the Fox & FriendsFox & FriendsFox & Friends is an American morning television show on the Fox News Channel.-History:The show begins at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time with the latest Fox News Live headlines and analyzes the news of the morning...
morning news show.http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/10/fox-and-friends-falls-for-ruse-alleging-purchase-of-billion-dollars-of-jetpacks-for-lapd-la-fire.html
- In early 2011, it claimed that FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
would shut down in March 2011. The story was confirmed to be a hoax.
Television
In 1996, Weekly World News launched a TV series which aired on the USA NetworkUSA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
, hosted by longtime journalist Edwin Newman
Edwin Newman
Edwin Harold Newman was an American newscaster, journalist and author.-Early life and education:Newman was born on January 25, 1919 in New York City to Myron and Rose Newman. His older brother was M. W. Newman, a longtime reporter for the Chicago Daily News. Newman married Rigel Grell on August...
. The show ran for 35 episodes.
WWN had a tie-in with the CW show Supernatural
Supernatural (TV series)
Supernatural is an American supernatural and horror television series created by Eric Kripke, which debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the brothers as they...
on its episode "Tall Tales".
Website
In October 2006, Weekly World News relaunched its website in color. The site included video reportage and an Interactive Bat Boy Map. Other new features include "Share your Sightings" and categorizing breaking news in "National", "International", and "Intergalactic" news bureaus.Headlines on the website are refreshed daily. Samples:
- "Security Blanket Actually Saves Child's Life" http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/stories/75
- "Astronomer Rebuked For Endless Staring into Space" http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/intergalactic_stories/48
See also
- The SunSun (supermarket tabloid)Sun is a supermarket tabloid owned by American Media Inc.Its contents have often come under question and has been widely regarded as "sensationalistic writing." Since a 1992 invasion of privacy case, a small-print disclaimer printed beneath the masthead has warned readers to "suspend belief for the...
- The OnionThe OnionThe Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
- Toronto SpecialToronto SpecialThe Special is a free city life newsmagazine in Toronto, Canada, published by Midnight Media, that focuses on Canadian celebrity, politics, products and ideas, fashion and trends. It was first published in 2002....
- Sunday SportSunday SportSunday Sport is a British tabloid newspaper, published by Sport Newspapers, which was established in 1986. It prints plainly ludicrous stories, such as a double-decker London bus being found frozen in the Antarctic ice, or a World War II bomber found on the moon. Defenders of the paper pointed out...