Orlando's 25 most WTF news stories of 2023

Michael Jayson Scarlett, 43, was arrested after drug-sniffing dogs alerted agents on his suitcase, which was found to, indeed, be housing an exuberant amount of illegal drugs. Read full article

Before he tossed bags of beaver nuggets (wow) into the crowd during an appearance at Southeastern Livestock Pavilion in Ocala, DeSantis said the state will push $4 million from Florida's Job Growth Grant Fund to speed work on the I-75 interchange. “They make so much stuff. They have those beaver nuggets. They have all kind of barbecue that they make,” DeSantis said. “It’s basically like the Shangri-La of service stations." Read full article

Nearly 200 people cheered and shrieked as one Florida man wrangled and captured a 10-foot alligator outside an elementary school in Jacksonville. MMA fighter and veteran Mike Dragich is seen in a video posted in May to his Instagram account (bluecollar-brawler) struggling with the large animal in a crowd-filled parking lot. "We get there. I walked through the gate. And boom. There it was just ready to go right there in the parking lot, and we just had to get the job done," he said. Read full article

A Florida thrift shopper — who happened to be an anthropologist — found a skull in the store's Halloween section. He thought it looked too real to be a festive piece of decor and alerted officials, who appeared on the scene and confirmed the skull was in fact that of a once-living human. Read full article

The 150-pound bear was seen at Disney’s Magic Kingdom Sept. 18, causing temporary shutdowns of several rides and areas of the park. Body-worn camera footage shows Disney Wildlife Management and Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission officials using air horns, paintball guns and slingshots to stun the bear down from a 35-foot tree and off Disney property. Read full article

Fans started listing samples of the water soon after the ride closed, with prices ranging from a few dollars up to thousands. One listing, titled "RARE Disney 2023 Splash Mountain Attraction Flume Water (Custom Ziploc)," offers a Ziploc Splash Mountain-themed baggie given out by Disney to keep belongings dry on the ride. It was priced at $15,099.00 and had 19 bids at the time of publication. Read full article

“We have people that live among us today on planet Earth that are happy to display themselves as if they were mutants from another planet,” Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, said before the House Commerce Committee approved the bill. “This is the planet Earth where God created men male and women female. I’m a proud Christian conservative Republican. I’m not on the fence, not on the fence.” Read full article

Ron Peri, an Orlando-based former minister and head of Christian Ministry group "The Gathering," was one of five DeSantis appointees to a newly created oversight board for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. During a 2022 Zoom call, Peri — after wondering aloud "So why are there homosexuals today?" — posited that one answer is increased levels of estrogen in tap water (from birth control pills, no less) making men gay. Read full article

Hunters caught a 920-pound gator in an Orlando-area lake. Apparently it had the makings of Moby Dick, but Central Florida-style. Read full article

After he pulled Bud Light from all his restaurant's three locations, Grills Seafood Deck and Tiki Bar owner told Fox News the brand's partnership with a trans influencer has caused "hell on Earth." Joe Penovich confirmed the Orlando, Port Canaveral and Melbourne restaurants will no longer serve Bud Light after parent company Anheuser-Busch worked with Dylan Mulvaney, trans activist and TikTok influencer. Read full article

"This little gator is an absolute treasure ... but another American treasure is Dolly Parton," says Mark McHugh, Gatorland CEO, in a video posted to Facebook. "Dolly Parton all day!" echoes wildlife educator Savannah Boan before breaking into song. Read full article

Punctuating a nearly 20-year-long investigation, officials arrested the PR House's owner and 17 others associated with the "criminal enterprise." Orange County Sheriff John Mina said the restaurant was also the site of drug sales, shootings, illegal guns, several overdose deaths and a murder. Read full article

The 36-year-old woman, Peaches Stergo, used a years-long scam to steal the unnamed victim's life savings. She was arrested and charged with one count of wire fraud, and is now facing up to 20 years in prison. Read full article

Video footage and photos shared online this summer showed Nazi demonstrators waving large swastika flags outside of Orlando’s Walt Disney World on Saturday, along with a "Ron DeSantis 2024" flag. Read full article

The alarming note titled “THIS IS A ARMED ROBBERY!!!” contained a laundry list of drugs that were to be handed over to Mues to avoid injury: Xanax, Viagra, oxycodone, hydrocodone, Adderall and liquid codeine. The note demanded "all bottles" on hand of each. Read full article

Emma McGuinness visited Disney World in October 2019 with her family to celebrate her 30th birthday. But after riding the 214-foot Humunga Kowabunga water slide, she suffered an "injurious wedgie," according to a lawsuit filed by McGuinness and her husband, Edward McGuinness, in Orange County in September. Read full article

The Full Sail University student who hit a police officer with a skateboard during the Jan. 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison this summer. Read full article

A video shared to social media by WINK News Chief Meteorologist Matt Devitt shows a Lee County alligator effortlessly bending and climbing through an aluminum fence in Placida, Florida, which is in Charlotte County. Read full article

You'll never guess how many times this happened this year. We'll give you a hint: It was more than once. Read full article

This is the third incident involving this infamous sinkhole. Back in 2013, the sinkhole swallowed 37-year-old Jeff Bush while he was asleep in his house. His body was never recovered. Read full article