The Unexplained: It's About to Get Weird at Saukville Library

It's no secret in the journalism industry that sometimes there are just slow news days — and sometimes what is published seems a bit of a stretch of what you need to know.

This seems true of an Indiana news station who, in January, teased: "At 11, Eli Manning or Tom Brady — which one most women would hook up with."

Or the weird headlines that dot news company webpages such as "Judge: 13-year-old girl gets lighter sentence if her ponytail gets cut off" on MSNBC or "If You Whistle, Amazing Thing Happens," on AOL.

And while the internet and the 24-hour news cycle has definitely caused this phenomenon to evolve — odd news is something that has been around for a long time, and author Chad Lewis will offer proof of that on Wednesday night when he at in Saukville.

"If it's bizarre and unusual and it happened in Wisconsin it will be in my presentation," Lewis said, explaining that he has about 100 stories from 60 Wisconsin communities that he plans to share during the event.

His stories are filled "with strange deaths, ghosts, sea serpents, peculiar people, medical anomalies, oddities, psychic phenomena, and UFOs," Lewis said in an e-mail.

One of his favorite weird stories comes from Port Washington, posted in the Milwaukee Journal, he said. Here's a copy of the text of the original 1903 article:

Catch a Peculiar Fish

Port Washington—A very peculiar fish was caught yesterday by Smith Bros, in their pound net. The fish was twenty-five inches long, not over two inches thick and shaped like a sword fish minus a sword. It has a beak lie a small dirk projecting seven inches beyond the eyes and very sharp, with teeth like a trout. Local sports as well as fishermen are unable to classify the newcomer, even Fish and Game Warden Wilson admits his ignorance. The fish has been placed in the pond of G. Biederman. 

— Milwaukee Journal July 3, 1901

"I've got hundreds of these stories of these weird creatures ... chicken with a human face ... all of these weird stories that, back then, I don’t know if it was a slow news day and they made it up or it actually it happened," Lewis said. "I've got tons (of stories) from the Milwaukee area — you just can’t believe how many weird stories appear … a guy who barks like a dog, people fearig that their children were being buried alive, a ... chicken terrorizing people in Milwaukee and the outskirts."

Lewis first started collecting these stories while working on unrelated research; his research required him to sift through old newspapers and, while doing so, he came across a lot of weird stories.

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"I just started printing them out for my own amusement," he said. But, then, he decided to spend some time dedicated to searching for these weird stories, and eventually published a book.

He's now the author of several paranormal and strange story books, and has worked with co-author Terry Fisk on some of the publications.

The presentation starts at 6 p.m. Wednesday and is free to all ages. For more information, contact the library at 262-284-6022.