ADVERTISEMENT

For any well-informed citizen, it's crucial to stay up-to-date on the news. But considering the endless amount of information we’re bombarded with daily, it’s impossible to keep tabs on every hilariously bizarre thing happening on our planet. Or is it? Well, let’s just say that the internet has proven time and again that wild and ridiculous headlines will never go unnoticed.

After all, some of them totally catch us off guard and leave us unsure whether to facepalm or do a spit-take. Like "Bear breaks into Colorado house, plays the piano but not very well" or "Thief cut victim's grass before taking lawnmower". These are just a few little gems found on the 'Internet’s Craziest Headlines' Twitter account — aka the hall of fame of the most ludicrous titles noticed on TV and print.

So if you find entertainment in the Florida man and his antics whenever they manage to find a way to your feed, you’ve ended up in the right place! Let us present you with a new level of absurdity that is the compilation of images we wrapped up right below. Enjoy scrolling through these entries and hit upvote on your favorite ones. And if you've ever come across an outlandish headline yourself, we'd love to hear all about it in the comments.

Psst! More newspaper headline madness awaits in our previous post right over here.

A brief scroll through this list may be all it takes to convince you that reality is often stranger than fiction. Even in this modern world where few things can genuinely knock us off our feet, people (and animals!) still manage to surprise us with the most absurd actions that exceed our expectations. News stories ranging from charmingly unexpected to plainly bizarre inevitably lead to funny headlines that are gaining popularity online every day. But this does beg the question: why are we so fascinated with them in the first place?

To learn more about the abundance of weird news items and the fine line between an informative headline and a fake one, we reached out to Deborah S. Bowen, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of PR Instruction at the University of South Florida. When asked what impact the digital world had on the spread of weird news stories, she told Bored Panda, "Because of its relative accessibility, the internet has become a powerful dissemination tool."

"Those fun stories from far-flung places (or not so far-flung!) are much more available now. People can amplify all kinds of messages across any number of platforms and can cast a net as wide as their imaginations," the professor added. "And all this posting can be done at no cost. It can even become a moneymaker for the person aggregating and publishing these wild tales. Besides, we love entertainment, and what’s more entertaining than the truth?"

ADVERTISEMENT
#4

Crazy-Internet-Headlines

hofheadlines Report

Add photo comments
POST
john_laughlin avatar
Brandon Marlowe
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Look for the bear necessities. The simple bear necessities. Forget about your worries and your strife.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu

Consider the Florida man scenario. The slew of stories that begin with those two words makes it look like the state is occupied by the wackiest and weirdest people ever. As a Florida resident, Bowen shared a few thoughts on the matter.

"Some might suggest that many stereotypes are rooted in some grain of truth," she explained. "I suggest that Florida arrests are part of the public record, and therefore become excellent content for communicators across the media! Admittedly, though, there's nothing like seeing 'Florida Man' in a headline and wondering, 'will THIS be the one I know?!'"

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

When it comes to our passion for these stories, the professor explained that their catchy and odd nature is what tends to spark our curiosity. "The best headlines — the infamous 'Headless Body in Topless Bar' being the classic archetype — grab the reader’s attention immediately and invite the reader on a newsworthy adventure."

After all, getting your headline clicked on is far from an easy task. The words you choose to wrap your title in are the first, and probably the only, impression you make on the potential reader. "It’s awfully hard to make day-to-day happenings sound cool and sexy; it’s much easier when a story is so absurd that the headline becomes an easy 'get' for the author," Bowen said.

"Wild headlines promise a real escape for a reader, and we crave, as humans, the emotional release that can come from reading a truth so different from our own. Whether hilarious or sad or evoking Schadenfreude [a German word meaning the pleasure we get from witnessing someone's misfortune], readers want the impact of the tale to be significant — to deliver the emotional punch promised by the headline."

ADVERTISEMENT

While it’s fun to devour stories that bend the limits of our imagination, they also serve as proof that anything can be considered newsworthy these days. The problem is that with the heaps of information that consistently grace our feeds, it has become difficult to differentiate facts from fiction.

"One of my favorite sayings is 'Content without context is just noise,'" Professor Bowen noted. "It’s critical that we become informed and savvy consumers of media, and that we take no information for granted as truth. A headline tossed out casually on, say, a social media platform should always be questioned, even if the source is knowledgeable. Find the reporter or author. What has that person contributed to the news before? Is there an 'angle'? A bias?"

#15

Crazy-Internet-Headlines

hofheadlines Report

Add photo comments
POST
michelleotto_1 avatar
Mattewis88
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Still waiting for that third arm the anti-vaxxers promised me after I got the jab. My dresses don't have pockets.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu

But many readers forget to do their own due diligence before sharing stories on social media. In an attempt to prove it, the satirical news site the Science Post published a piece with a frightening headline: "Study: 70% of Facebook users only read the headline of science stories before commenting." The content of the text, however, was mostly blocks of "lorem ipsum" text. As of today, it has been shared over 194k times.

ADVERTISEMENT
#18

Crazy-Internet-Headlines

hofheadlines Report

Add photo comments
POST
amybuck2005 avatar
Nathaniel
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Oh, no. Oh, thank you, none of that foreign muck. What? Garlic bread? Garlic bread? Garlic? Bread? Am I hearin' you right? Garlic bread? No, thank you, I've got some milk roll in t'case that'll do me. The toasty loaf. The garlic bread!" Peter Kay.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu

Interestingly, it inspired researchers at Columbia University and the French National Institute to do an independent study of news consumption on social media. They collected the number of Twitter’s 280 million followers who potentially viewed and shared a news link and how many clicks those same links amassed. The researchers found that 59% of links shared on social media have never actually been clicked — users retweeted the news without bothering to read it.

"People are more willing to share an article than read it," study co-author Arnaud Legout said. "This is typical of modern information consumption. People form an opinion based on a summary, or summary of summaries, without making the effort to go deeper."

#19

Crazy-Internet-Headlines

hofheadlines Report

Add photo comments
POST
john_laughlin avatar
Brandon Marlowe
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It wasn't already? Damn! All this time I could have been.... wait. Did I say that out loud?

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT

According to Professor Bowen, we, the readers, need to better understand the context in which news is being presented. "One important piece of that is to fact-check. Google will help readers find sources that are reliable and are generally truly journalistic in their approaches."

She stressed that it’s "absolutely imperative" to become media-savvy, especially when we "see deep fakes (visual and audio) on the horizon" as technology advances. "Media literacy is an important tool for each of us to have. It can save us from scams, phishing attempts, and, of course, 'fake news.' With media literacy comes the ability to distinguish fiction from fact and fact from opinion."

#22

Crazy-Internet-Headlines

hofheadlines Report

Add photo comments
POST
kreativista avatar
eeyore163_1 avatar
hemminsleifwae avatar
Hemminsleifwa E
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's fake. That's Swedish celeb Elena Belle who was married to music producer Michael Theanne. He died in February 2020. This is just a fan picture.

ericka_abraham avatar
wingolamo avatar
Wingo Lamo
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thanks for pointing that out, but I'm pretty sure that the majority of people viewing these "headlines" are aware that they're just for fun, and not to be taken seriously.

Load More Replies...
christophermonteiro avatar
Colonel Cornelius Cornwall
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

[Jamie Foxx:] She take my money when I'm in need Yeah, she's a triflin' friend indeed Oh, she's a gold digger Way over town that digs on me [Kanye West (Jamie Foxx):] (She give me money) Now, I ain't sayin' she a gold digger (When I'm in need) But she ain't messin' with no broke n****s (She give me money) Now, I ain't sayin' she a gold digger (When I'm in need) But she ain't messin' with no broke n****s (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head, get down (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head, get down (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head, get down (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head [Kanye West:] Cutie the bomb, met her at a beauty salon With a baby Louis Vuitton under her underarm She said, "I can tell you rock, I can tell by your charm Far as girls, you got a flock I can tell by your charm and your arm" But I'm lookin' for the one, have you seen her? My psychic told me she'll have a a*s like Serena Trina, Jennifer Lopez, four kids And I gotta take all they bad asses to ShowB

jordisharpe avatar
Jordi Sharpe
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Poor guy. I give him a year, max, before he's back at square one.

sergiobicerra_1 avatar
Sergio Bicerra Descalzi
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I guess he donated some monet to charity, she saw his selfless act and felt inmmediate in love with him

jades avatar
jade s
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've seen this a few times now but why does the news use a dollar symbol and still write dollar

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu

Bowen advised you, dear readers, to be diligent in searching for truthful information. "As William Shakespeare once said, 'Don't believe everything you read on the internet!' Make sure to find your information from solid, reliable sources. While their headlines might not be wacky, there's a treasure of truth to be learned. And enjoy every journey down your factually accurate and no less amazing rabbit holes," she concluded.

#26

Crazy-Internet-Headlines

hofheadlines Report

Add photo comments
POST
eldavoloco avatar
Dave Nalesnik
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

“What you doin’ babe?” “Just chillin’.” “Not after I caught you cheating on me, you ain’t.”

View more commentsArrow down menu
#29

Crazy-Internet-Headlines

hofheadlines Report

Add photo comments
POST
deborahbrett avatar
Deborah B
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you can't tell the difference between a puppy and a ferret then maybe you deserve to be sold ferrets?

View more commentsArrow down menu
See Also on Bored Panda
#31

Crazy-Internet-Headlines

hofheadlines Report

#35

Crazy-Internet-Headlines

hofheadlines Report

#38

Crazy-Internet-Headlines

hofheadlines Report

Add photo comments
POST
robert-thornburrow avatar
Robert T
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is real and has been featured on BP before. Just chalk it down to being Florida. ;-)

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#40

Crazy-Internet-Headlines

hofheadlines Report

Add photo comments
POST
john_laughlin avatar
Brandon Marlowe
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This has been a test of the zombie apocalypse warning system. If this had been an actual emergency you would have been instructed to tune in to your local station for further instructions. Repeat. This was only a test.

View more commentsArrow down menu
See Also on Bored Panda
#42

Crazy-Internet-Headlines

hofheadlines Report

Add photo comments
POST
berber-siersema avatar
Purple light
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fake news, there wasn't any bible eating and the guy pictured is a sex offender, but he is not on death row.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#44

Crazy-Internet-Headlines

hofheadlines Report

#45

Crazy-Internet-Headlines

hofheadlines Report

Add photo comments
POST
amybuck2005 avatar
Nathaniel
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Posties take note, this Postman managed to deliver his packages successfully!

View more commentsArrow down menu
#47

Crazy-Internet-Headlines

hofheadlines Report

Add photo comments
POST
ruthdell avatar
The lesbian knitting panda
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For the non Brits Harrow is one of the fanciest private schools in the UK, along with Eaton, it is famous for churning out self-important rich twits who own golf courses.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#49

Crazy-Internet-Headlines

hofheadlines Report

Note: this post originally had 70 images. It’s been shortened to the top 49 images based on user votes.