We are head over heels in love with satire. It’s entertaining. It’s good social commentary. And it’s something we don’t feel guilty about forwarding to all of our friends in the middle of the day. Satirical news, in particular, holds a very special place in our hearts because it helps us discuss important topics by considering wildly different perspectives. Here’s the thing, though: not everything that glitters is gold, and not everything that reads like satire is actually satire.
The wildly popular ‘Not The Onion’ subreddit documents some of the most “mind-blowingly ridiculous” headlines for actually true stories that wouldn’t feel out of place on the landing page of the satirical news site ‘The Onion.’ Sure, some of these might sound unbelievable at first glance, but we promise you, they’re legit. In many cases, that’s very unfortunate for humanity and our faith in it. Other headlines, however, show just how downright weird life on Planet Earth can get.
Scroll down and feast your eyes on the most impressively bizarre news headlines. Upvote the ones that surprised you the most, and let us know what you thought of them in the comments, Pandas.
Again, just to reiterate: the headlines are totally real. So be sure to share ‘em with your friends—we’re pretty sure they need a break from school and work. Oh, and if you’d like to real the original articles in full, we’ve added links to them underneath each pic.
Bored Panda got in touch with one of the moderators helping run r/nottheonion, redditor u/IndigoSoln, for a chat about the news. We also reached out to Lisa McLendon, the William Allen White Professor of Journalism and Mass Communications and the Coordinator of the Bremner Editing Center at the University of Kansas to get her opinion about clickbait headlines and what lies at the core of good journalism. You’ll find our interviews with both the moderator and Professor McLendon below, Pandas, so be sure to read on.
#1
Image source: Dangerous_Money_6875, cityam
#2
Image source: casuspenguen, cnn
#3
#4
Image source: FenrirIII, foxnews
#5
Image source: BunduBasher, news24
#6
Image source: Schoritzobandit, denverite
#7
Image source: thebigdonkey, whdh
#8
Image source: FlashesOfDarkonda, loadedradio
#9
Image source: YnwaMquc2k19, latimes
#10
Image source: SlappyMcGee, blavity
#11
Image source: MephistosGhost, lambgoat
#12
Image source: 2020isadumpsterfire, axios
#13
#14
Image source: FaustianBargainHunt, pedestrian
#15
Image source: ProfVerstrooid, insider
#16
Image source: Durendal_1707, americanindependent
#17
#18
Image source: [deleted], nbcnews
#19
Image source: 69_mgusta, trigtent
#20
Image source: VonDrakken, nbcnews
#21
Image source: drpraetorius, tulsaworld
#22
Image source: bubblydeadpan, brokeassstuart
#23
Image source: xx420mcyoloswag, cnn
#24
Image source: heinderhead, telegraph
#25
Image source: dronestruck, pedestrian
#26
#27
Image source: manticorpse, interestingengineering
#28
Image source: TheGiant1989, cnn
#29
Image source: Kane_richards, arstechnica
#30
Image source: Sam596, lincolnshirelive
#31
Image source: 1maxwellian, al
#32
Image source: MangoInfinity1, foxnews
#33
#34
Image source: Fanrific, telegraph
#35
Image source: MirrorUniverseCapt, indiewire
#36
Image source: ginger_bredman, newsweek
#37
Image source: buy_iphone_7, axios
#38
Image source: c_h_r_i_s_t_o_p_h, bbc
#39
Image source: ExplosiveGrotto, rfa
#40
Image source: NameReservedForYou, theguardian
#41
Image source: sslloooww, avclub
#42
Image source: voidworship, revolt
#43
Image source: Sardasan, insider
#44
Image source: Quasargyle, newsweek
#45
Image source: onewhitelight, consequence
#46
Image source: hilbertthedog, buzzfeednews
#47
Image source: ohnoh18, arstechnica
#48
#49
Image source: Yglorba, thegamer
#50
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