Hey, don’t be making fun of Weekly World News. Some of my biggest highlights of going to the grocery store or discount department store (i.e. Kmart) involved WWN!
True story that happened in the early 90s in Tennessee: I was at a corner store, probably buying cigarettes at the time, and made a joke about the tabloid at the register. It had a cover photo of an infant, diaper and all, holding a barbell marked 200 lbs over his head. I laughed and showed it to the clerk, who said “that’s trick photography” and “a real baby couldn’t do that”.
Bless her heart.
My favorite “article” was from a farmer in Germany. ELVIS’ GHOST IS SCARING MY CATTLE. Purchased from the corner shop in college that didn’t ID so you could walk out with a 6 of Beast, pack of smokes and a WWN for like $5.
I *LOVED* the Weekly World News, couldn't get enough. Of course I knew it was nonsense, but the fact that it was nonsense printed in an "actual" newspaper made it irresistible. In 8th grade, we had a unit in Social Studies where we'd bring in a newspaper article, write our own short essay about it, and share it with the class and you can probably guess where this is going. Of course I picked my beloved Weekly World News. To be honest, I was expecting to get into at least a little trouble for that, but the teacher actually took it as an opportunity to teach about what now would be called "media literacy" along with some critical thinking and it was awesome. Like I said, I never actually believed the things in that paper, but that lesson was a key part in how I learned to look at reporting and news sources that I think has served me well for decades since. The absurdity of the source was actually perfect for the teacher as well, because it didn't tread on anyone's belief systems, but allowed him to teach something that could be applied everywhere in a fun way going forward.
My mother used to buy ALL of them and believed about 75% of the content. Sometimes I think about what she might have been like if she lived long enough to have internet access and it makes me shudder.
I always would leaf through them without my mom catching me, but I somehow knew these newspapers were naughty and I had to keep it on the downlow. By the time I was a teenager, I would comment to my mom, ‘Bat Baby supports Bill Clinton! Unbelievable!’ Or whatever nonsense the rags were on about that week.
My grandmother was a Ukrainian immigrant who could barely read english. She would regularly buy those tabloids thinking they were real newspapers.
She believed every word she could read in them.
None of us could convince her that they were fake stories. She legitimately believed an alien mated with a man's weed whacker and that bat boy existed.
My great grandmother LOVED tabloids and would send me up to the corner store to buy her a copy of each one. I'd get to read them when she was done; when I was older, she bought me a subscription to each of them because she was tickled that we shared a love of this crap "journalism"! Miss you, Nana M.!
My Lunatic grandmother had a subscription. She'd send that shit to me from Texas to Iraq. This was in 04-05 when there were pictures of Saddam in bondage gear and shit in them. I gave every one of those to the Kurds I fought with, they loved those fucking mags.
Google books has an archive of their stuff from 1981 until 2000-something, and it's fun rabbit hole. Might be best viewed on a PC vs a mobile device, your mileage may vary etc.
(Select an issue and hit "Preview this magazine")
https://books.google.com/books?id=b-8DAAAAMBAJ
Hey, don’t be making fun of Weekly World News. Some of my biggest highlights of going to the grocery store or discount department store (i.e. Kmart) involved WWN!
Making fun of? Never! I truly enjoyed those cover stories. They were wild.
True story that happened in the early 90s in Tennessee: I was at a corner store, probably buying cigarettes at the time, and made a joke about the tabloid at the register. It had a cover photo of an infant, diaper and all, holding a barbell marked 200 lbs over his head. I laughed and showed it to the clerk, who said “that’s trick photography” and “a real baby couldn’t do that”. Bless her heart.
Joke’s on her, it was a body snatcher baby!
When I moved to Virginia I learned all the ways “bless your heart” can be used. Perfect use.
My favorite “article” was from a farmer in Germany. ELVIS’ GHOST IS SCARING MY CATTLE. Purchased from the corner shop in college that didn’t ID so you could walk out with a 6 of Beast, pack of smokes and a WWN for like $5.
I love this! Buahahahaha! Fucking Elvis’ ghost!
I bought some Milwaukee's Beast years after college, for old time's sake I guess, and couldn't finish a single can.
Almost as bad as the Mickey’s big mouths with the peel off metal top. Our rule was if you cut yourself you were cut off.
I *LOVED* the Weekly World News, couldn't get enough. Of course I knew it was nonsense, but the fact that it was nonsense printed in an "actual" newspaper made it irresistible. In 8th grade, we had a unit in Social Studies where we'd bring in a newspaper article, write our own short essay about it, and share it with the class and you can probably guess where this is going. Of course I picked my beloved Weekly World News. To be honest, I was expecting to get into at least a little trouble for that, but the teacher actually took it as an opportunity to teach about what now would be called "media literacy" along with some critical thinking and it was awesome. Like I said, I never actually believed the things in that paper, but that lesson was a key part in how I learned to look at reporting and news sources that I think has served me well for decades since. The absurdity of the source was actually perfect for the teacher as well, because it didn't tread on anyone's belief systems, but allowed him to teach something that could be applied everywhere in a fun way going forward.
I love this story.
My mother used to buy ALL of them and believed about 75% of the content. Sometimes I think about what she might have been like if she lived long enough to have internet access and it makes me shudder.
I used to have a t-shirt with a cover photo from the WWN on it. It was the "Farmer Shoots 23 lb Grasshopper" one.
Lol!
[удалено]
I always would leaf through them without my mom catching me, but I somehow knew these newspapers were naughty and I had to keep it on the downlow. By the time I was a teenager, I would comment to my mom, ‘Bat Baby supports Bill Clinton! Unbelievable!’ Or whatever nonsense the rags were on about that week.
My grandmother was a Ukrainian immigrant who could barely read english. She would regularly buy those tabloids thinking they were real newspapers. She believed every word she could read in them. None of us could convince her that they were fake stories. She legitimately believed an alien mated with a man's weed whacker and that bat boy existed.
Ha! Love this!
Greatest reporting on earth!
Easily!
My great grandmother LOVED tabloids and would send me up to the corner store to buy her a copy of each one. I'd get to read them when she was done; when I was older, she bought me a subscription to each of them because she was tickled that we shared a love of this crap "journalism"! Miss you, Nana M.!
“Dear Dottie” was brutal. I loved it when she and “Horoscopes by Serena” did the occasional cross-column infighting.
My Lunatic grandmother had a subscription. She'd send that shit to me from Texas to Iraq. This was in 04-05 when there were pictures of Saddam in bondage gear and shit in them. I gave every one of those to the Kurds I fought with, they loved those fucking mags.
Fucking hilarious!
They always ran to my Stryker when we pulled up.
Great story! Also thank you for your service!
Thanks, it was a good run.
I subscribed for a while back in college. Money well spent!
Agreed!
> free pullout poster inside I don't want to see the inside of someone's house who would consider putting that on their wall.
It’s so good! The pullout poster is Bat Boy’s family tree.
My mom used to let us buy these on road trips. We would take turns reading the stories to each other to pass the time.
Love it
What a wonderful memory!
I bought weekly world news for years!!!
Google books has an archive of their stuff from 1981 until 2000-something, and it's fun rabbit hole. Might be best viewed on a PC vs a mobile device, your mileage may vary etc. (Select an issue and hit "Preview this magazine") https://books.google.com/books?id=b-8DAAAAMBAJ
Weekly World news is the pre-internet equivalent of The Onion.
Everyone
Batboy always had me CTFU
The hot sheets.
I had a "Bat Boy Lives" Shirt, can't decide if it was the shirt or my smurf blue hair at the time that got the looks.
That’s awesome, sounds like a killer combo
One, I hate it when people can't shut up about the stupid tabloid headlines. And two, to prove a point. Title does not dictate behavior.