Weirdest stories from the Philly area in 2024

As 2024 comes to a close and we await the many unknowns 2025 will bring, it’s time to look back on another strange year in Philly, a year so weird I forgot it included an earthquake until I checked my notes.

The region once again found itself at the center of the country’s political universe during this presidential election, and, as a result, Philadelphia became the setting for a morning rave with a former kids show host, a 40-foot naked statue of a candidate, and the only presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, which included false allegations of people eating pets — by the guy who won.

Also raising eyebrows in Philly this year were an escaped horse and pig who captured headlines (and hoofed their way into our hearts); a portal that opened us up to the world; and a “scream test” conducted in South Philly that would make Edvard Munch shriek.

From the people to the events that shaped Philly in 2024, here are 10 of the strangest stories from our region this year.

A package containing two fetuses preserved in a single glass jar was delivered to the Mütter Museum on Feb. 6, and 10 months later, the mystery of where it came from and who sent it endures.

The package, which had no return address, was directed to the museum’s then-curator, Anna Dhody, who told The Inquirer it was “the first time human remains have just shown up on our doorstep.”

Dhody said the delivery came with an unsigned letter from someone who claimed to be a retired physician and wanted to donate the fetuses to the institution, which is a repository for anatomical specimens and a museum of medical history. Police were called and the fetuses were turned over to the city Medical Examiner’s Office for evaluation.

Capt. Jason Smith of Central Detectives told me this month that authorities weren’t able to determine who sent the package or ascertain its point of origin because the proper stickers detailing what post office it originated from weren’t affixed to it. Forensic testing on the box for fingerprints and DNA was also inconclusive, he said.

According to Smith, the fetuses were determined to be stillborn and showed no signs of trauma. The ME’s office did not respond to my requests for comment, but Smith told me that in the note that accompanied the package, the sender claimed one of the fetuses dated back 80 years.

The investigation remains open and the fetuses remain at the ME’s office, Smith said.

An escaped horse from the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club in Strawberry Mansion who, in a spur-of-the-moment decision, went galloping down I-95 on Feb. 20, developed a colt following that even inspired an Inquirer computer game.

The gelding, which pranced down Kelly Drive and I-676 before getting onto I-95, didn’t stirrup too much trouble and wasn’t on the run furlong, as police and the club worked together to recapture the horse in Port Richmond shortly before 7 a.m. He quickly became a hit on social media, where his horsing around inspired memes and terrible puns.

Members of the club, which had just acquired the horse as part of its mission to give free riding lessons to Filly kids, subsequently saddled him with a name that will forever reflect his hayday: Freeway.

In May, a raccoon crashed a Union vs. New York City FC game at Subaru Park when it ran onto the field, putting the game on hold for five minutes before the trash panda was captured by stadium staff with … a trash can.

It’s unclear if the raccoon, which was subsequently released into the wilds of Delco, ran onto the soccer field just for kicks or if it was conducting raccoonaissance for the opposing team.

And a not-so-little piggy named Dorothy found herself a long way from home on July 10 when she escaped from her trailer and turned into a road hog on the Schuylkill Expressway near King of Prussia.

The 300-pound rescue pig was offered food and water by passing motorists, who tried to sow calm in Dorothy while her owner spent two hours getting her back into the trailer.

As Philadelphia’s attention was turned skyward in early April in anticipation of a 90% partial solar eclipse (on what wound up being a cloudy day), Mother Nature took a moment to remind us who’s in charge down here with a 4.8 magnitude earthquake.

Hitting on April 5 — just three days before the eclipse — the earthquake, which had its epicenter in north-central New Jersey, rattled windows and nerves across the Eastern Seaboard but resulted in minimal damage.

Even Justin Allen of Horsham, who was undergoing a vasectomy at MidLantic Urology in Huntingdon Valley when the quake hit, was in good spirits when he told The Inquirer: “We all just kept laughing about how we’d never forget where we were when this was happening — because who would even believe that story?”

Six months later, Mother Nature hit Philly with another rare event — an October dry spell and drought watches.

For 42 days, from Sept. 28 to Nov. 10, the Philadelphia region received no measurable rainfall, far surpassing the previous 29-day record for consecutive days without rain that was set 150 years ago.

A drought watch remains in effect for the Phillies, who haven’t won a World Series in 16 years.

In June, PennDot had a PennD’Oh moment when workers installed a new sign for the on-ramp to I-95 South on Cottman Avenue in Holmesburg that misspelled Central Phila as “Cenrtal Phila.”

After Philly social media lambasted the agency for the mistake, PennDot draped a black cloak of shame over the sign until it could be replaced. A spokesperson told me a contractor was responsible for the error and would replace the $100,000 sign at their own cost.

The following month, West Philly resident David Cline captured hearts across the city when he put a dating billboard up in Grays Ferry of himself giving a big thumbs up and his cat, Peach, giving her belly up for tummy rubs.

“Dave is Single!” the billboard announced. “Want to go on a DATE with DAVE?”

Cline, 28, put his Instagram handle on the sign (@date_dave_philly) and a list of “Dave Fast Facts,” including that he can cook, has normal hobbies, owns a cat, and bought a billboard.

The response was “just insanity,” Cline told The Inquirer. He was inundated with thousands of DMs, went on more than 20 first dates (some of them sponsored!), and appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show.

Cline told me this month that he’s still single — and his DMs are still open.

After three years of amassing a most unusual collection, on July 8 Wawa superfan Tyler Gyurisin laid out his bounty on the social media platform X for all to see that he’d collected every Wawa order slip number from 000 to 999.

The social media post quickly went viral, garnering more than 4.1 million views, with some calling for his collection to be made into a quilt or displayed at the Louvre.

The Jersey Shore resident’s quest may have seemed like a Wally Goose chase at first, but with help from friends and some crafty pulls from the basket where slips are discarded, Gyurisin — who told me he visits Wawa “three or four times a day” — completed his mission.

“It was definitely very exciting, but then it was also like, OK what do I do with my life now?” he said.

On Sept. 23, patrons at Bob & Barbara’s Lounge in South Philly — including crew members of the band Guster — were treated to service by actor Bill Murray, who served up shots of Jim Beam and cans of PBR (a.k.a. “The Special”) from behind the bar.

Murray, who was in town for a Chicago Cubs game against the Phillies, is friends with the bar’s comanager and stopped by after the game. A heckfire of a good time was certainly had by all.

Not to be outdone, on Nov. 3, actor Robert De Niro went out tailgating with fans at Lincoln Financial Field before an Eagles game (Go Birds).

De Niro, who played an Eagles fan in Silver Linings Playbook, was in Philly to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris. He, former Secretary of State John Kerry, and local Democrats held a get-out-the-vote event in the M Lot before hitting up other tailgate parties.

There’s no word on how many drunk Eagles fans asked the actor, “Youse talkin’ to me?”

Perhaps the strangest thing about Philly getting its own Portal, a livestream video installation that connects people in cities around the world, is that two months later, we still have it.

When the Portal was first spotted in LOVE Park on Oct. 18, Philadelphians — who are very unserious people highly prone to questionable shenanigans — were doubtful it would last a week.

“Please don’t HitchBOT the Portal,” one Reddit user said, referring to the traveling Canadian robot that made its way across the country through human kindness in 2015, only to be beheaded in Philly.

Not only have we not destroyed the Portal but Philadelphians — who, in my experience, are some of the most open and genuine people when it comes to interacting with strangers — have warmly embraced it.

Philly Elmo and his Positive Movement drum line stopped by the first night it was open to give people in Dublin, Ireland; Lublin, Poland; and Vilnius, Lithuania, a taste of Philadelphia, and several people in Philly have connected with relatives in those cities via the Portal.

In the five hours I spent there on Oct. 23, I saw Philadelphians dance with strangers in other countries, a man in Lithuania hold up a “GO BIRDS” sign, and a guy in Philly do the Mummers strut in front of the Portal in a pink satin bunny suit with a matching parasol.

The Portal brings out the best of the weird in us and I hope it stays.

From the moment former President Donald Trump unveiled his new line of gold sneakers at Sneaker Con in Philly in February, it was clear this would be another weird presidential election year in Philadelphia (as if there was any doubt).

The more bizarre local events included Trump making fries at a Feasterville McDonald’s; Bill Nye (the Science Guy) and rapper Quavo hosting a morning voting rave at LOVE Park that featured “poll dancers”; and two guerrilla art statues of Trump appearing in the city.

The first statue showed up Oct. 30 behind Gerhard Marcks' Maja statue of a nude woman on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The gold-colored statue of Trump, which was not signed, had the former president’s right hand held out in a crude gesture. The plaque at the base of it was titled: “In honor of a lifetime of sexual assault.” It was quickly removed by city workers.

On Halloween, a 40-foot-tall naked statue of Trump was hung from a crane on Kensington Avenue (and that was the only thing hung about it). Philadelphia GOP Chair Vince Fenerty filed an obscenity report with police and the piece was later disassembled.

Attorneys who subjected South Philly residents to a recording of a woman screaming at 122 decibels for an hour on Sept. 23 were later ordered to apologize by a judge, who called the event “a deeply disturbing and potentially dangerous situation.”

The stunt was conducted by lawyers for Termaine Hicks, whose 2001 conviction for rape was overturned in 2020. Hicks is suing the city for wrongful conviction, and his lawyers came up with the “scream test” to try to prove his claims that he heard the victim’s screams from two blocks away and ran to help.

Without warning nearby residents, Hicks’ attorneys blasted the audio near 15th and Mifflin Streets for an hour beginning at 5:30 a.m. One resident told The Inquirer it was “just really awful.”

If this story doesn’t want to make you scream already, Hicks’ lawyers said in court documents that they coordinated the test with the city and police, who were on hand when it was conducted.

U.S. District Judge John F. Murphy later ordered the attorneys to write apology letters to residents and businesses in the area.

Swine artists from across the region competed in the first-ever Scrapple Sculpting Contest at Reading Terminal Market on Oct. 10 and made art for parts’ sake out of the regional dish that consists of pig scraps in a congealed loaf form.

The 90-minute competition was far from boaring as the 10 contestants pork chopped away at five-pound blocks of the grayish-brown meat matter with clay carving tools, creating everything from the Rocky statue to the Clothespin sculpture.

The top prize, which included a pig trophy named “Scrappy” and a $100 market gift card, was awarded to local cheesemonger Jake Heller for his chicken vase with a removable head.

“I feel like my life has really come together and led to this moment. Everything I’ve worked for has really been for this,” he said.