While many words are used to describe Montana, "weird" isn't usually one of them. But that definitely doesn't mean that nothing bizarre ever happens here in the Treasure State. For proof, read on about these 8 head-scratching happenings.
1. In 1967, two different grizzly bears mauled two women to death on the same night in Glacier National Park.
The park hadn't had a recorded incident of a grizzly death since its 1910 creation. Michele Koons and Julie Helgeson were both 19-year-old seasonal park employees. Author Jack Olsen later wrote an article and book about the incident called "Night of the Grizzlies."
2. The UFO sighting at the Malmstrom Air Force Base in 1950.
There were several witnesses to Montana's most notorious UFO sighting in 1950, most notably Nick Mariana, the general manager of the Great Falls Electrics minor-league baseball team. While many skeptics have claimed it was a hoax, no one has ever been able to prove what really happened.
3. In 2015, a black bear decided to walk the halls of Bozeman High School.
The bear entered the school through an open garage door in the back of the building in the morning before school started. Luckily, there were no interactions with humans, and the bear escaped unharmed (and uncaptured).
4. Someone passed a law banning sheep in the cab of your truck without a chaperone....
5. ... not to mention that silly law that prevents unmarried women from fishing alone.
Luckily, this one isn't enforced.
6. In 2013, a Livingston woman found part of a human face in a car wash.
Warning: This story is not for the squeamish. In September of 2013, an 81-year-old man was walking down I-90 when he was hit and killed by a semi truck driven by David Welk. Unfortunately, Welk fled the scene, and the man's body was hit several more times, leaving no identifiable remains. Apparently one of those subsequent drivers who hit the remains washed the evidence off their car at a Livingston car wash. Kimberly Kriege, a local veterinarian, later discovered part of the man's face when she washed her car there. Yikes.
7. A Frenchtown woman fended off a bear with a zucchini.
In 2010, a woman let her 3 dogs out before going to bed. A black bear noticed them from 25 yards away. Before she knew what was happening, the bear was on top of her collie. The woman kicked the bear, ran into her house (with scratches on her leg) and grabbed a 14-inch zucchini that she had picked from her garden earlier. The bear was halfway in her home by then, and the zucchini was the only thing she could reach. She threw the zucchini at the bear, hitting it in the head and forcing it to retreat. The woman and the dogs were shaken but not seriously injured.
8. Two words: Ted Kaczynski.
To be clear, the Unabomber was NOT a Montanan. But he did move to Lincoln eventually, where he lived in a tiny cabin he built himself and conducted his bombing campaign. Oops.
OK, so maybe Montanans are a little weird sometimes. In fact, in some ways we're American's black sheep, and we like it that way.
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