MSNBC.com's Most Peculiar stories of 2005

One of the most popular features of MSNBC.com are those wacky, strange stories from around the world that have readers saying "Gee whiz" — and e-mailing them to friends and family.

We call them our Peculiar Postings, and earlier this year we decided to find out which ones readers thought were the Most Peculiar in a weekly poll.

But which ones are — drum roll, please — the Most Peculiar of the Year? Well, the tally is in, and here are the Top Five Most Peculiar Stories of 2005, as voted on by our users.

Full disclosure: Since this feature only started in August, the title should strictly read The Most Peculiar of the Last Five Months of 2005. So, in case you're wondering about the wackiest tales of the first seven months of the year, we have also offered a selection from January through July. We call them our Fabulous Forty.

THE TOP 5 MOST PECULIAR STORIES OF 2005

The envelope, please:

1: And the winner is, with a 77 percent vote:
Woman torches house trying to kill spiders

2: Coming in second, with a 70 percent score:
Corpse mistaken for Halloween decoration

3: Third, with 56 percent, is this seasonal gem:
Ho, ho - oh, no! Air force flyover kills reindeer

4: Fourth, at 55 percent, is a cautionary tale:
Woman calls cops over unreliable hit man

5: And fifth, at a round 50 percent, another cautionary saga.
Gator-gobbling python comes to messy end

THE FABULOUS FORTY

1. Credit cards lost at sea return 39 years later
2. Hooked fish gets revenge, lures angler to death
3. 3 wives greet man after triple bypass surgery
4. Teen vomits on teacher, told to clean police cars
5. Plumber takes a leak instead of fixing one
6. Seattle man dies after sex with horse
7. Brazilian bandits pull off big boob job
8. Sleepwalker rescued from top of giant crane
9. No beer? Then lunch is off, Belgian official says
10. Attempt at popsicle record turns into disaster on a stick
11. Statue of hero to gays draws monumental flak
12. Kittens use fax as toilet, spark house fire
13. German man makes $37,000 potty stop
14. Woman charged with smuggling fish in skirt
15. Man in trunk was bound to enjoy it
16. Man leaps from speeding car in pursuit of puff
17. Drinking wrong beer costs man his job
18. Jesus Christ in legal battle for driver’s license
19. Bum wrap: School mistakes huge burrito for weapon, goes into lockdown
20. Standing room only at new cemetery
21. Doctors pull 50 maggots from elderly man’s ears
22. Driver ‘executes’ balky automobile
23. Gnome gone wild — partying with Paris Hilton?
24. 911 dispatcher offers to shoot unruly kid for caller
25. Leech worms way into hiker’s nose
26. Uptight Englishmen blamed for erotic fest’s flop
27. Monster swine ‘Hogzilla’ was real, experts say
28. Satan’s face seen on turtle that survived inferno
29. Cowabunga! Giant surfboard breaks record
30. Iranian woman seeks divorce from smelly man
31. Blind Scotsman accused of biting guide dog
32. Birds recover after drunken bash
33. 4-year-old takes mom’s car for a midnight spin
34. Good to his word, bad to his testicles
35. Late-night cookie gift costs teens $900
36. Police officer robs bank, returns to solve case
37. Bush salute a Satan sign? Norwegians think so
38. Tennessee case draws the ‘jury pool from hell’
39. U.S. military nixed gay aphrodisiac weapon
40. Preacher’s last words in pulpit: ‘And when I go to heaven ...’

PAST WEEKS OF MOST PECULIAR VOTES

Dec. 11-17, 2005

Dec. 4-10, 2005

Nov. 27-Dec. 3, 2005

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