The 10 Weirdest And Strangest Things That Have Ever Happened In Maine

Many people think Maine's Portland is the "real" Portland. Instead, most people think of Oregon when they hear the hip city mentioned. But, in actuality. Oregon's Portland is named after Maine'ss. The Oregon city was created by two New Englanders. One came from Massachusetts, and the other...you guessed it - Maine! Both men decided to flip a coin to choose the person responsible for naming the city. Lucky for them, Francis Pettygrove of Maine came out the winner. He was able to name the city after his hometown in Maine.

In 2014, Meghan LaPlante and her father, Jay, pulled a blue lobster out of a pot off Pine Point in Scarborough. But, the story has a happy, animal-friendly ending! The rare lobster was given the name "Skylar" and donated to the Maine State Aquarium in Boothbay Harbor. BUT! That wasn't the last wacky lobster catch of the year. A few weeks later, the same lobsterman caught two albino lobsters off the coast of Maine. Guess there might be gold in them there seas!

Christopher Knight was arrested in 2013 after a life of larceny in the woods. He claims to have only spoken to one person in this time and, more remarkably, not paid for anything since the 1980s. NOTE: This image is not of the hermit. He was a hermit and I have no photos of him.

Regular golf balls are not biodegradable, making them dangerous if they land in the water. With this creation, golf balls can now break down harmlessly in oceans, lakes and streams where they inadvertently land.

Well...maybe. There have been a number of reported sightings involving a large creature that seems to walk upright. One of the oldest dates back to the late 1890s when a group picking blueberries reported that they came upon a hairy monster walking upright on its hind legs like a person. The animal looked like "an immense African monkey."

Not just any plane! It was the plane involved in the longest hijack ever. The plane was heading from Los Angeles to San Francisco before the hijacker took it on a trip to Italy to visit his dying father. Along the 6,900-mile journey, he stopped for fuel in Denver, New York, Maine and Ireland. Strange, but true.

In 2014, the founders of Cards Against Humanity purchased Birch Island in St. George Lake for around $200,000. They renamed the island "Hawaii 2" and used it in a holiday fundraising program giving 1 square foot of the island to a lucky winner who donated to the cause.

Our land is beautiful and we want to keep it viewable. The others are Vermont, Hawaii and Alaska.

GNP signed a contract with Vintage Books to produce 3,000 tons of paper needed for the book. There was no choice but to churn out the smut!

Meaning some unlucky Mainers will be unable to use the beloved 207 area code. The rest of us will have the difficult task of dialing ten numbers instead of the time saving seven to which we are accustom.