2022 was a weird year, and we’ve got the stories to prove it.
From mysterious ghost towns to inspiring survival stories, the Deseret News covered some of the strangest news stories of the year.
Here are 10 of those stories:
The Latter-day Saint ghost town that keeps emerging from Lake Mead
Severe drought conditions revealed a ghost town settled by Latter-say Saint pioneers that had been underwater for years.
St. Thomas in Nevada was settled in the 1860s, before it was flooded in the 1930s to create Lake Mead. Residents were forced to abandon their homes, farms and businesses as the water rose.
Now, nearly a century later, the water levels have dropped so low that the town has once again emerged.
Read the full story here.
Terrifying footage shows China Eastern plane nosediving before crash
A plane with at least 130 people on board crashed in southern China on March 21, and the footage of the crash went viral.
The video shows the China Eastern Boeing 737 airplane nosediving before crashing into a mountain.
The plane fell 25,000 feet in two minutes.
Read the full story here.
Is a bee a fish? California court says it could be
In May, a California court ruled that bumblebees can legally be considered fish under the California Endangered Species Act.
Insects apparently aren’t protected under the state’s Endangered Species Act but fish are. So environmental interest groups argued that bees technically fit under the act’s definition of “fish,” which they defined as an “invertebrate.”
Read the full story here.
Why does the U.S. government have 1.4 billion pounds of cheese stored in a cave underneath Springfield, Missouri?
In February, Deseret News writer Gitanjali Poonia wrote about a surprising, little-known fact: The U.S. government is storing 1.4 billion pounds of cheese in a cave in Missouri.
Apparently the government has been storing away cheese for decades ever since the 1970s, when former President Jimmy Carter offered dairy farmers a break by having the government buy and store cheese from farmers.
Read the full story here.
An asteroid flew by Earth and people watched it live
On Jan. 18, a massive asteroid flew by Earth, with plenty of people watching the asteroid live.
The asteroid, which was about twice the height of New York’s Empire State Building, passed by Earth a little over 1 million miles away.
Read the full story here.
What did this college wrestler do when his teammate was attacked by a grizzly bear?
Two college wrestlers from Cedar City, Utah, and Evanston, Wyoming, survived a surprise attack by a grizzly bear in Wyoming in October.
When Brady Lowry was attacked by the bear, his teammate tried to disrupt the attack by throwing things at it and grabbing its fur. The bear turned on him, attacking him as well.
For some reason, the attacks stopped and Lowry was able to climb a ridge to find cell service and called 911 for help.
Read the full story here.
SpaceX debris lands on Australia sheep farm
In July 2022, space debris from a SpaceX rocket landed on a sheep paddock in Australia. Don’t worry, though — no sheep were harmed.
An Australian sheep farmer discovered a 10-foot charred object, which would later be identified as the largest piece of space junk to land in Australia since 1979.
Read the full story here.
‘Tough’ and ‘brave’ 9-year-old girl is recovering after fighting off a cougar attack
In May, a 9-year-old girl was able to successfully fight off a cougar attack in Washington.
Lily A. Kryzhanivskyy was playing hide-and-seek on a trail at a kids camp when a young male cougar attacked her. She fought off the cougar, sustaining several injuries.
Read the full story here.
Are people naming their babies after Ikea product names?
In June, the furniture store Ikea offered its catalogue as a way to come up with new baby names.
Following an uptick in births in Norway since 2020, some parents may need help with deciding a name, so Ikea Norway offered to help.
“After all these years, (Ikea) has built up a large ‘catalog’ to pick from,” a spokesperson said.
Read the full story here.
Activists threw Heinz soup on a Van Gogh painting in climate protest
This year was full of stories of climate activists throwing food on paintings. From a cake attack on the Mona Lisa to mashed potatoes launched at a Monet, no painting was safe.
But the one that made the biggest splash occurred in October, when two climate activists threw Heinz tomato soup at a Van Gogh painting in London’s National Gallery before gluing themselves to the wall.
Read the full story here.