Amid the thousands of stories we cover here at 1 NEWS each year, a handful always stand out for being truly unusual and in some case - so unbelievable that you couldn't make them up.
The past 12 months has been no exception. Here are five stories that left us gobsmacked in 2018.
Man dies after getting his head stuck under Gold Class
Yes, it's actually, tragically, true.
In March, a cinema goer in Birmingham got his head stuck under a seat after climbing under the seats to retrieve his phone. Unfortunately the footrest triggered and clamped down on his neck and he died later in hospital.
'Smallville' actress Allison Mack arrested, accused of recruiting other women to a sex cult
American actress Allison Mack found herself in the news for all the wrong reasons in April, when it was revealed the 35-year-old had been arrested and charged for her role in recruiting women to the sex cult Nzivm.
German-born US actress Mack, 35, was later charged with a range of sex-trafficking offences, had played the lead character of Chloe Sullivan on Smallville for 10 seasons on US TV, and latterly on Netflix.
She is accused of luring women into a secret society labelled "a women's mentoring group" in which women were later blackmailed with compromising images of themselves, forced to have sex with cult leader Keith Raniere and even branded with his initials.
She is awaiting trial in 2019.
Brisbane 'poo jogger' - how two amateur Aussie sleuths caught a corporate high-flyer in the act
Among the most compelling and most widely read stories of 2018 was that of Sydney's mysterious 'poo jogger'.
For months Andrew MacIntosh had stopped, several times a week in alleyway next to a block of residential apartments to relieve himself.
With locals fed up, two amateur detectives set a trap and uncovered the phantom pooer in the act.
The story, with a photo of Mr MacIntosh caught in the act, went viral around the world, forcing him to quit his job and flee the country.
Python swallows woman whole, Indonesian villaged find bloated snake with full clothed body inside
Also in June, a seven metre-long python stole headlines around the world after swallowing Indonesian villager Wa Tiber in southwest Sulawesi.
After Ms Tiber went missing, villagers found the snake 50 metres from her possessions, and upon killing it and slicing it open, found their missing friend and cousin.
Village chief Faris told media "she had been swallowed from the head first".
Meet Knickers, the 194cm tall steer you don't want any beef with
In late November we met Knickers, the Western Australian steer, an enormous beast that is making international headlines, standing at a whopping 194cm and weighing in at 1400kg.
The seven-year-old was put up for auction by his owner in October but his size proved to be his saving grace when meat processors said they simply couldn't handle him.
Owner Geoff Pearson told the ABC the lucky Holstein Friesian steer will live on a feedlot south of Perth for the rest of his life.
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