ORLANDO, Fla. – We all know the “Florida Man” jokes, the weird things that happen in the Sunshine State that you just can’t make up. And of course, 2021 was no exception — there’s a whole bounty of stories out there.
But we’ll just leave a few of our favorites here for our Insiders.
‘Hangry’ alligator chases customers through Florida Wendy’s parking lot
We know alligators can be pretty feisty during mating season, but turns out they’re pretty aggressive when they’re hangry, too.
Lee County deputies said they responded to a Wendy’s parking lot after a gator chased pedestrians through its parking lot.
The deputies and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers were able to wrangle the gator and relocate it.
No word from officials if the alligator was upset his order was taking too long or not.
Tumble trouble: Wanted Lake County man hid in dryer, deputies say
A Lake County man wanted for violating his probation came clean about his hiding spot, telling deputies he was folded up in the dryer trying to avoid arrest, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies were trying to serve two arrest warrants to the 33-year-old while he hid in his home.
But after he heard them talking about using a K-9s to find him, he said his tumbling days were over and he emerged from the dryer.
Asked how he fit in the household appliance, Brook told deputies, “I’m little, man. My back’s killing me though,” adding the dryer “fin” was poking him in the back.
Bananas: Tree planted in pothole in middle of Florida road
Sometimes it takes way too long for potholes to be filled up, and so someone decided to take matters into their own hands.
Rather than wait for the problem to be solved, they planted a banana tree in the large pothole in the middle of a Fort Myers road.
Turns out, the road is a private street, so it’s up to business owners to maintain it, but one of the owners said he was tired of filling the holes.
At least this way, he said, people will see the tree and not have their cars damaged by the potholes.
Watch where you sit: Iguana found in Florida man’s toilet
This one will have you checking the toilet every time before you sit down.
A Florida homeowner said he got quite the scare after finding a spiny tailed iguana in his toilet.
He said he spotted the reptile while he was brushing his teeth.
So he tried to the free the aggressive iguana, but it kept sinking lower in the bowl.
After three days, he finally got a professional trapper to remove it.
Flying to stardom: Flock of pigeons that fell onto I-95 will work at Universal Orlando
A flock of homing pigeons that were once potentially roadkill will live out the rest of their days at Universal Orlando.
The flock was found back in July on I-95 in Volusia County, flying toward cars.
Volusia County Animal Services as well as other agencies rounded up the flock-- all 70 of the birds, which they said fell from a crate in the back of a truck.
No owner ever came forward, so now, they’ll be training to work as part of the flight show at Universal Orlando.
Report: Flight to Florida diverted after passenger bites man’s ear
It’s been a pretty unruly year for airline passengers, and this is just one wild example.
A man was arrested after he bit a passenger’s ear and hit several other passengers, according to reports.
He was on an United Airlines flight on its way to Florida when it happened.
A doctor was eventually able to subdue the passenger using a Benadryl injection, and after the plane was forced to land, he was arrested.
Viral video: Just another day in Florida as cranes chase baby alligator across street
You can’t really come up with a more Florida headline than that.
In a video that has gone viral on Facebook, you can see three cranes ushering a baby alligator across a Central Florida road. The video was posted to Facebook by Mallery Neptune with the caption, “Just a Monday drive to Hobby Lobby. Wait for the end.”
The video starts with the cranes walking closely behind the tiny gator as it makes its way into the St. Cloud roadway. It almost gets to the other side when it decides it wants to go back.
The cranes start spreading their wings to likely show their size as they seem unhappy with this change in direction.
But wait till the end. Once that baby gator gets across the road, it takes off running through the grass. And as the cranes get closer, it bolts back into the water.
Even the witnesses weren’t fazed by what was taking place in front of them. Yep, just another day in the Sunshine State.
Florida man twerks for officers during traffic stop, gets tased, report says
While most people would choose to cooperate with police during a traffic stop, some don’t, and some even get violent – but one Florida man got a little cheeky.
It happened in Crystal River-- when a 57-year-old man got out of the car, bent over, put his hands on the wet floor and began twerking for the Citrus County Sheriff’s deputy in the rain.
Deputies said he then took out a knife and threw it onto the grass.
After several attempt to get him to stop, the deputy ended up tasing the man before taking him into custody.
