Category: Weird Stuff

Cockroaches have been around since the time of the dinosaurs.

As a matter of fact, these insects are incredibly hardy.

They generally prefer warm, dark, damp environments.

Needless to say, it is incredibly important that action be taken immediately to rid your home of cockroaches the first instance you see them.

The reason why is because some female cockroaches can remain pregnant forever and produce up to 150 offspring per year.  Here, take a look!

Cockroaches will crawl around in very filthy and disgusting areas.

If they then walk around parts of your house were you typically prepare food, or otherwise engage in everyday activity, there is a reasonable chance that you may become infected with bacteria or other diseases that the cockroaches carry around with them.

Some children are even reported to have acute asthma symptoms as a result of cockroaches being present in the home.

So, what are you supposed to do if you are confronted with this problem?

One of the easiest things you can do right away is to purchase do-it-yourself cockroach spray and begin applying it liberally to areas where the roaches themselves are found.

However, many people oftentimes find themselves feeling a little bit squeamish about this process.  

Therefore, it is not unusual for many people to seek out a professional service that will get rid of the cockroaches.  Check out how this guy does it:

Something that needs to be understood about these pests is that the American cockroach is the largest of all the roaches.

They can grow to be approximately 2 inches in size.

However, they are not considered to be the dirtiest or stinkiest.

That dubious designation goes to the Oriental cockroach.

Ironically, the Oriental cockroach is actually from Africa.

In the final analysis, you really need to make a determination as to whether or not you are comfortable taking care of the cockroach problem yourself, or if you would instead prefer to allow a professional company to handle the job for you.

Either way, immediate action needs to be taken to the extent you do discover roaches around your home or place of business. It’s really a health issue more than anything else.

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Anatomy of a Roach

Roaches wear their skeletons on the outside of their bodies.

What if you skinned your knee and white blood came out? If you’re a cockroach, no big deal. Cockroaches bleed white blood.

Roach mouths work sideways. Try it sometime.

Cockroaches have six hairy legs. The tiny hairs found on each leg give them their sense of touch.

Cockroaches have 6 legs and least 18 knees!!!  Take a look at this:

Many cockroaches can fly and have beautiful diaphanous–or see-through–wings. Tinkerbell would be jealous of these cockroach facts.

You outgrow your clothes; roaches outgrow their skeletons. As roaches grow, they shed their external skeletons several times a year.

Soft food moves through a cockroach’s gut in 48 hours.

A cockroach heart is nothing but a simple tube with valves.

The tube can pump blood backwards and forwards in the insect. The heart can even stop moving without harming the roach. 

Here’s a big one someone found in Australia…

 Roach Reproduction

Pregnant for life? The cockroach facts are that it doesn’t sound like much fun, but some female cockroaches mate once and are pregnant for the rest of their lives.

Female roaches produce an odor, called pheromone, that attracts males and drives them wild.

When a male cockroach is interested in a female, he gives her a wrapped gift and takes her out to dinner–well, sort of.

Males transfer sperm to females in a nice, “gift wrapped” package called a spermatophore.

Some males cover the package in a protein-rich wrapping that she can eat (yum!) to obtain nutrients to raise her young.

The cockroach facts are that some female roaches incubate their egg cases in their bodies until they are ready to hatch.

These babies stay with their mothers a day or two after they are born.  Here’s some baby cockroaches being born.

Roach History

A cockroach family tree would be mighty big and long!

Cockroaches are thought to have originated during the Carboniferous era, which ended 280 million years ago.

They have been abundant ever since and are some of the most primitive winged insects.

All American pest roaches–like most American humans–were immigrants.

If you were to collect one of every species of cockroach found in the world, you’d need a lot of jars to put them in. There are some 5,000 species of cockroaches worldwide.

Pest cockroaches are native to western Asia and northern Africa.

Cockroaches were carried all over the world in wooden ship. They were the sailors and stowaways of the insect world.

Sir Francis Drake once captured a ship which was overrun with millions of roaches.

The H.M.S. “Bounty” was so infested with cockroaches that Captain William Bligh, a British admiral known for his mean temper, disinfected the entire ship with boiling water.

The cockroach facts are that a some people develop allergies to cockroaches, including skin rashes and respiratory problems, such as a condition similar to asthma.

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Miscellaneous Facts

Picture a cockroach in a winter parka and mittens. Pest cockroaches can withstand freezing temperature of 32 degrees but will die if the temperature goes much below that.

They’re better off if they have a chance to become “used” to the cold.

Roaches use their feelers as noses.

The world’s largest roach is six inches long with a one-foot wingspan.

The world’s largest roach lives in South America.

Some roaches are tiny and live in ant nests.

Tropical cockroaches are often brightly colored green, yellow, red.

Most species of cockroaches live in the tropics.

No food for a month–not even a crumb? Roaches can go without eating for a month but will only live a week without water.

It’s hard to sneak up on a roach. They have one great big nerve connecting their tails to their heads, alerting them to danger from behind.

Roaches have faster reflexes than humans–even faster than Michael Jordan’s.

Roaches can swim and hold their breath for 40 minutes. But they breathe through their sides–not their noses–which makes it tough to come up for air.

American cockroaches are quick little varmints. They can run up to three miles per hour.

Male cockroaches weigh less than female cockroaches, and males can fly and flee faster.

Cockroaches are supreme couch potatoes. They spend 75 percent of their time resting.

How can you tell if a cockroach is resting or trying to remember what it came into the room for?

Resting roaches point their antennae up and forward, and at about a 60 degree angle from one another.

The cockroach facts are that cockroaches can crawl into some astonishingly small spaces.

Young roaches need only a crevice .5 mm wide–or a space as thin as a dime. Adult males can squeeze into a space of 1.6 mm–or the size of a quarter.

Pregnant females need the most space of all to hide: 4.5 mm or a space as wide as two stacked nickels.

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Disgusting Facts

Cockroach kidneys look like a bunch of writhing snakes. (Yak!)

Roaches live all over the world, including the North and South Poles. In extremely cold places, however, they survive by moving in with humans.

Do you run away when your big brother takes off his smelly tennis shoes? Not roaches. They recognize family and friends by their distinctive odors.

No, it’s not an albino. If you see a white cockroach, it has just shed its skin.

A cockroach that has just shed its skin is white with black eyes. (Just call it Casper the Cockroach.) After eight hours, however, it will regain its regular shell coloring.

Ever think about how cockroaches climb walls? They have a set of little claws on their feet designed for that very purpose.

Cockroaches in your gourmet dinner? Maybe not as a main dish, but they have been used in sauces, condiments and as appetizers.

Don’t complain next time you have to swallow cough syrup. You could be taking a dose of cockroaches instead!

Processed cockroaches have been used to cure illnesses and physical disorders for centuries.

More cockroach tea, anyone? Brewed from cockroaches, this tea has been used to treat dropsy–a kind of sickness or inflammation.

Next time you have trouble going pee, and your urinary tract just doesn’t want to go with the flow, why not try dried and powdered Oriental cockroaches? They are said to make a dandy diuretic.

Eat too much pizza? Cotton candy? Thanksgiving dinner? Some people eat cockroaches fried in oil and garlic as a cure for indigestion.

If you’re ever stung by a sting ray, remember to mash up a mess of cockroaches to apply as a poultice to the wound.

The cockroach was once a guest of honor in European homes, and it was customary to release them in new dwellings.

A vampire’s dream: blood that sloshes around freely in a body.

Roaches’ blood does just that. They have no blood vessels to speak of. (Though cockroaches are probably too small for your average vampire to bother with.)

The Headless Horseman? Er… Horseroach? For a while anyway.

A cockroach can live a week without its head. It only dies because without a mouth, it can’t drink water.

And those are the cockroach facts…hope you had fun learning!

When a person receives a DUI, it can not only be an awkward experience, but it can all be really very expensive, and can create negative repercussions in your private and home life for a long time.

As such, it is not something that should be just treated lightly; it should be considered extremely seriously, especially when it comes to picking a lawyer to represent you.

A great lawyer who specializes in DUI’s can assist you in getting the charges reduced or even dismissed.

With the right lawyer, you could also avoid any future negative consequences from your DUI.

Here are a few tips on how you might approach the process of finding someone who’s right for you.

Public Defenders – Avoid if you can

In some places, public defenders are available at no cost.  However, using a public defender can do you more harm than good.

A lot of new lawyers start out as public defenders and have virtually no experience.

And who has the least experience of all?  You.  So, try not to represent yourself.  You might think it seems feasible, but once you’re in the court room, and the legal terms start flying, you might wish you didn’t do that.

If you have the means, you should obtain an experienced lawyer who specializes in DUIs and has dealt with cases involving drunk driving.

If they tell you they’ve seen your type of case before, and won, then that’s a good thing.  Make sure they mean it, and they’re not just yammering on with false claims.

Obviously, if they haven’t dealt with anything like you’ve experiences, and are fidgeting nervously at the prospect of representing you, you should thank them for their time and find someone else.

Shopping around for the best DUI lawyer can actually save you money in the long run especially is you are facing serious penalties and even jail time.

The right lawyer can help prevent any further legal action that resulted from the incident which also will save you time and money.

Once your case has a verdict it is too late to hire a better lawyer.

Do Your Homework

Do your homework when looking for a lawyer.

Consult friends, family, and even co-workers.  Client reviews are the best way to find the right lawyer for you who understands what you’ve been through and sincerely wants to help.

You can also consult your yellow pages and even the internet, but be critical of who you might come across.  Anyone who sounds too good to be true, probably is.

Many DUI lawyers present free consultation for your first take a look at and this is an excellent way to check out your options, you desire the ideal fit for you and who you are relaxed with.

There are sites online which detail people’s experiences with various lawyers in different states.  You may want to peruse these sites to see what other people say about your potential lawyer.

They have systems like this for doctors, dentists, and lawyers as well.  Seek them out.  This is where you could get the most sincere suggestions from past customers and how their situations were handled.

The Bottom Line

Overall, the bottom line is this.  If you can afford a good lawyer, get one.  You don’t want this hanging over your head later on, so don’t hesitate in that regard.

Otherwise, if you can’t afford someone who seems to be the best man for the job, you may want to do the equivalent of speed-dating, but with lawyers, to find someone who is a balance of not too expensive, and who has some experience dealing with DUI’s.

It might take a while, but that’s why you want to remember that the clock is ticking, and so pick up the phone and start asking these lawyers questions in order to find the right guy.

Keep in mind that you have no obligation to any of them if you haven’t paid them, so don’t even mention your name and get the info you need, and move on.

You’ll find someone who knows the ropes here, hopefully.

Good luck!

Until I got to Mexico, I had no idea what this creature was, but then I kept seeing more and more of them.

Finally someone told me it was called a “coatimundi”, or “coati”, or “tejon” in Spanish.

I was just referring to it as that “Mexican racoon thing”. Turns out, they are also known as cholugo, or moncún, or sometimes “hog-nosed coon”.

Every year we’re down in Mexico visiting from Canada, and this map shows roughly where we stay in a Mexican town of about 15000 people called Bucerias, at a place called Casa Ana Ruth.

The coatimundi that we saw inhabit the densely marshy delta near the very expensive hotel complexes near Banderas Bay, in an area which is basically a crossroads between the swamp and urban development.

These cute, long-tailed coatis, or Mexican tejon, have been conditioned in this area to wait each morning for the tourists to come out of their hotels with food scraps and feed them.

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Interesting Facts About Coatis

• Here are 4 more interesting facts about this cousin of the racoon that I learned in my travels …
• Coatis often hold their tails erect so as to keep troops of coatis together in tall vegetation.
• These intelligent “hog-nose” raccoons have a very flexible snout.
• Coatis are omnivores and their diet consists mainly of ground litter invertebrates, such as tarantula, and fruit. They also eat small vertebrate prey, such as lizards, rodents, small birds, birds’ eggs, and crocodile eggs.
• They can be kept as pets and it is possible to litter train them. Keep in mind that they are “wild” unlike the dog and cats in our houses today.

Coatimundi Stories

Now that I am a semi-expert from spending so much time with these cute little Mexican coatis, I wanted to share a few more tales about these wily little critters!

Every morning, my wife and I walked on the street off the beach for about 5 km one way. There was the beach, the hotels, the road, and the scrub swamp, then the coastal highway.

The friendly (and slightly demanding) coatimundi hang out in the scrub swamp waiting for gringos like us, to drop garbage or maybe feed them grapes or cheerios thinking they are a Mexican pet tejon.

They will take the food out of your hand exposing their long biting teeth, which are similar to dogs’ teeth or so I’ve read.  Tourists have to be very careful because they are wild animals and very unpredictable.

As I said, the local Mexican people ignore them just like we would ignore a racoon – they are considered pests.

Mexico isn’t the only place you find coatis. I have read that there are different kinds and they live in South America as well. Mainly, you’ll find them living in the tropics.

They typically live in loose knit groups of about 20, females and juveniles. The males, after two years, are on their own returning only to mate. They are omnivorous i.e. tarantulas, fruit, small vertebrates.

Dogs, ocelots, and jaguars are their enemies, but coatis can handle themselves in a pinch using sharp canine teeth and long strong claws.

They sleep in trees in a messy nest. These aggressive animals have a long nose which provides them with a great sense of smell. They live around 7 years in the wild.

Coatis are members of the raccoon family. They can rotate their nose 60 degrees and paws 180 degrees, so they can come down the tree head first.

They can take things apart, such as your garbage container, if they are hungry enough.  Most of their interactions around humans in fact revolve around food.

Ah yes, aren’t they fun?  Meanwhile, my pet cat at home in Canada can climb trees but can’t get down.  She needs to take lessons from the coatimundi!

Coatimundi live from Mexico to Peru, and prefer warm weather. If you are walking along some path next to the mangrove swamps on the west coast of Mexico near Puerto Vallarta, keep you eyes peeled for the coatis. They are watching you.

They also walk on their padded heals like humans do.  They walk along with a bear’s gait.

It is common for Mexicans to have coatis as pets. Some people in Canada and the U.S. have tried to domesticate raccoons also.

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Coatimundi as Pets?

While many people might try to domesticate raccoons, squirrels or monkeys, the coati is another animal that has some cute characteristics that make people want to keep them as pets.

They’re curious, agile, and friendly, especially if you have food. They’re adorable as they snatch your food and run away like little scamps, so their endearing qualities make them a sought-after pet.

The coatimundi has certain noises and postures that convey their mood. They uses snorting, grunting or chirping noises as indications of a variety of moods depending on their current activity.

They might snort while digging to claim the food found. If they hide their nose between the front paws, it’s a sign of submission while lowering the head and baring their teeth is aggressive.

Those who have been raised in cages, bottle fed by humans, and learned to co-exist with them are easier to keep in the home with other pets like dogs.

Petting a Coatimundi

In some areas like Mexico and even Belize, coatis are not afraid to scamper up to you and demand food. It’s vital that you’re careful because they have very sharp teeth.

While they’re mostly well-behaved, there are times when petting a coatimundi can be quite dangerous. Never put your fingers close to the animal’s mouth as you’re feeding it.

If you have a particularly friendly coati, you can pet it like you would a dog or cat.

They love to be scratched on the head and to have their back rubbed. They’re quite needy when they’re used to human attention.

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Adopt a Coatimundi

It’s not really a great idea to adopt a coatimundi from the wild. It would be like bringing a wild raccoon or squirrel into your home. They’re not used to being caged or confined in any way, so they’ll try to get away, which can result in you or the animal being injured.

If you’re intent on keeping a coati in your life, you can adopt a coatimundi from an exotic pet store or from someone who has a lot of experience with coatimundis.

Do you have any stories about coatis you’d like to share?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments! -Rob

This is a quick guide to everything you ever wanted to know about the infamous 2021 Tour de France bicycle crash, and the associated phrase, “ALLEZ OPI-OMI”.

The bizarre crash involved a woman holding a sign that read “ALLEZ OPI-OMI”, who was somehow standing in the path of the peloton as they whizzed down the roadway, leading to this scene:

Famous Tour de France Bicycle Crash – wtf happened?

So it was, that on the fateful date of June 26th, 2021 of the Tour de France bike race, that a random French woman seemingly dressed in a yellow rain jacket, wearing a dorky hat and a foolish “Look at me, I’m on TV!” grin, while holding a sign that read “ALLEZ OPI-OMI” managed to cause a huge collision / crash that will not soon be forgotten.

Oddly enough, the ALLEZ OPI-OMI woman inspired many copycat costumes at other bike races that year (and henceforth until the trend subsides, if it ever subsides) and even a song!

Here is one of the many copycats of the ALLEZ OPI-OMI woman, attending a different race.

The song, too, is an anomaly.

With its laid back instrumental, most likely named after the infamous lady’s sign, it’s not clear if the artist is being snarky, as there are no words or lyrics that would indicate anything one way or another.

There’s even merch for this event!

So, when and where did the crash happen?  The bizarre crash occurred as peloton was 45 km (28 miles) from the end of the first stage, between Brest and Landerneau, in northwestern France.

One cyclist, Germany’s Tony Martin, unwittingly clipped the woman’s sign, having no way to really avoid it per se, causing a spectacular cascade of crashing bikes that would stun onlookers in its magnitude.

If you haven’t yet seen it, here is the video clip of the famous ALLEZ OPI-OMI crash:

This strange woman with her unquenchable craving for attention for her and her homemade sign lead to one of the most ridiculous, and presumably painful, moments in Tour de France history as bikers fell like dominos over one another into a tangled, mangled heap.

No one was severely injured, but the fact that the crash was entirely avoidable just adds insult to injury.

Immediately after the crash, the anonymous French woman flees the scene!  She hops on a plane to escape repercussions, but was later caught and then fined €1,200 ($1357) for the accident, having to pay out to the French Cycling Union, UNCP, for the mishap.

Some say she should have been arrested and put behind bars.  Many cycling fans howled with indignant rage over the woman being allowed to roam free. However, despite public outcry, she managed to avoid the cold, iron bars of the local women’s prison.

The law apparently felt some sympathy towards this woman, as it turned out to be nothing more than an error in judgement, both cognitively and spatially.

Meaning of “ALLEZ OPI-OMI”

ALLEZ OPI-OMI translates roughly from to english as “GO GRANDPA AND GRANDAA”.

“Allez” means “go” in French, while “Opi” means “Grandaa” and “Omi” means “Grandma”, in German.

So why would someone, such as this raincoat-clad woman, go to such efforts to make sure such a sign was seen on TV?

Well, it looks like this woman wanted her grandparents to know she was on TV, and caused the huge pile-up.  No more, no less.

Tony Martin, accident prone cyclist, to leave sport for good?

An interesting and yet sad sidenote to this story is that Tony Martin, the German cyclist who nicked the woman’s sign and hence “caused” the bike pile up, actually later retired from the sport, citing that he “just didn’t feel safe in cycling anymore,” outlining his concerns over rider safety .

In fact, later in the same 2021 Tour de France race, during Stage 11, he plummeted into a deep ditch and sustained injuries.

And, if you go back to Tour de France in 2018, here’s another clip of Tony Martin crashing, so his history of crashing is not limited to the 2021 Tour de France – the man has seen his fair share of crashes.

Conclusion

So, as the world turns, what happened to the ALLEZ OPI-OMI lady?  Is she restricted from attending future Tour de France bike races?  Not as far as we know, but we do know that we will sleep less soundly knowing she’s out there…somewhere.

What is Keyboard Cat? I asked myself the same question when I first came across this famous meme on Know Your Meme, where it was confirmed in 2009.

As it turned out, the name is quite self-explanatory. Keyboard Cat is a cat who plays the keyboard and has become quite famous for it.

Charlie Schmidt’s Keyboard Cat – The Origin

It started in 1984 when Charlie Schmidt filmed a video of his big ginger cat named “Fatso” wearing a light blue shirt and “playing” an electric keyboard.

Schmidt is really manipulating the cat off screen, so it appears as if she herself is playing the keys. She plays un upbeat, catchy little riff with a sort of smug, unimpressed, undeniably “cool” expression on her face.

In 2007, Schmidt uploaded the video to YouTube under the title “Charlie Schmidt’s Cool Cats”, but he later changed the title to “Charlie Schmidt’s Keyboard Cat”.

The video quickly gained popularity. You can watch the original video below.

“Play Him Off, Keyboard Cat” Meme

When Brad O’Farrell obtained permission from Schmidt to use the video of Keyboard Cat on the channel My Damn Channel, the meme “Play him off, Keyboard Cat” was created.

O’Farrell used the clip of Keyboard Cat at the end of blooper footage to “play” a person offstage after their mistake or blunder.

Soon after, many people began adding Keyboard Cat’s video to the end of bloopers and other viral videos, usually with the title, “Play him/her/them off, Keyboard Cat”.

Thousands of these videos now exist, and Keyboard Cat was ranked no. 2 on Current TV’s list of 50 Greatest Viral Videos.  Here are some good ones…

Beyond YouTube & Tributes

Keyboard Cat’s popularity was such that the meme reached beyond YouTube and made its way into television.

Keyboard Cat’s biggest time in the lime light was during 2009. In this year, Keyboard Cat was featured in the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and Andy Samberg joked at the MTV Movie Awards that anyone whose speech went on too long would be played off by Keyboard Cat.

In a segment of Tosh.0, Kato Kaelin did a spoof of Keyboard Cat entitled Keyboard Kato.

And then there’s Ron Livingston, best known for his role as Peter Gibbons in Office Space and star of Band of Brothers.

Ron made a Youtube channel called Livingstown with exactly one video, where Ron disguises himself as Keyboard Cat, convincing many viewers and commenters that, yes, this is in fact the real deal cat, and not a man at all.

Watch, and prepare to be utterly convinced!

Keyboard Cat also appeared in Weezer’s 2009 tour with Blink-182 to play the band off the stage every night.

We couldn’t find any footage of that legendary collaboration, but anyway, here’s M+M’s by Blink 182.

Appearances

It doesn’t stop at television and music. Keyboard Cat has also made a few appearances in video games.

In the game Scribblenauts for Nintendo DS, a game in which you use your imagination to call upon different objects to help you solve puzzles, Keyboard Cat is an option that can be chosen, along with several other internet memes.

Fatso and Her Successor, Bento

Unfortunately, the original Keyboard Cat, Fatso, died way back in 1987, three years after the original footage was filmed. But she left a legacy behind her and will not be forgotten.

In 2009, Schmidt got a new cat named Bento who resembled Fatso. Schmidt continued to make videos with Bento until Bento’s death in 2018.

We hope you enjoyed our little article tribute to the great Keyboard Cat.  If you know something we don’t, please leave us a comment!

You may have heard of the infamous story of Lorena Bobbitt, wife and penis severer of her then husband John Wayne Bobbitt.

It caused an explosion in the media of the 1990s, and has continued to pop up over time since, for obvious reasons. Such an incident is not something you hear of happening every day, and it took the media by a storm.

Herein lays the story of Lorena Bobbitt and her ex-husband, John.

Lorena Bobbitt

Lorena Bobbitt, born Lorena Leonor Gallo, came onto this Earth on October 31st, 1970 in the town of Bucay, Ecuador. Growing up in Caracas, Venezuela, she had two younger siblings, with a father who worked as a dental technician.

Upon visiting America, Lorena had decided she wanted to live there one day, but her family’s attempt to immigrate to the country was unsuccessful.

However, in 1987, Lorena obtained a student visa and had the opportunity to move to her dream country and attend school at Northern Virginia Community College.

Lorena, during this time, started a job as a nanny, and eventually as a manicurist at a local salon.

She met John Wayne Bobbitt the following year while he was enlisted as a U.S. Marine, at a Marine Corps officers’ ball for singles.

They started dating shortly after this meeting. On June 18th, 1989, they were married.

Over the next few years, police were called to their home on many occasions. In 1991, John pleaded guilty to assault and battery, but the charges were dismissed after John underwent counselling.

The couple separated in October 1991, but reunited the following year. They moved into a new apartment together in Manassas, Virginia, in April of 1993.

John had sexually, physically, and emotionally abused Lorena, as well as forced Lorena to have an abortion (although he would claim that it was consensually agreed upon).

They were incredibly financially unstable, with John frequently stealing money from Lorena and spending it.

Lorena had difficulty calling the police, and was quoted as stating that “As an immigrant woman, I was often too scared to call the police for help. My abusive husband always threatened that he could have the police detain me and have me deported back to my country.”

In June of 1993, Lorena had begun the process of filing for a protective order. Later that month was when the event that has gone down in history would occur.

The Incident

On June 23rd, 1993, John Wayne Bobbitt returned home from an evening of drinking and raped Lorena.

After John fell asleep, Lorena decided to venture to the kitchen for a glass of water. She then proceeded to grab an 8-inch carving knife from the kitchen counter.

Upon returning to the bedroom, Lorena lifted the sheets off her sleeping husband and proceeded to cut off his penis.

Leaving the apartment with the severed penis in hand, Lorena began driving away.

After some time on this adventure, Lorena tossed the appendage out her car window into a roadside field, later stating that she did so because she was having difficulty steering the car with one hand.

After throwing the penis, she decided to call 9-1-1 to inform them of what had just occurred, as well as the rough location where her husband’s penis could be located.

After an exhaustive search of the area, the penis was found and sanitized with antiseptic, and then packed in saline ice until it would be successfully reattached to John’s body during a 9.5 hour operation at a hospital.

The Trial

Upon Lorena’s arrest after the incident, Lorena was tape recorded by detective Peter Weintz as stating “He always have orgasm [sic], and he doesn’t wait for me ever to have orgasm. He’s selfish.” These words were read on trial by the Prince William County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney, Mary Grace O’Brien, who was prosecuting Lorena.

During this seven hour trial, it was agreed upon by both the defense and the prosecution that John had shown a history of abuse toward Lorena, which gave the assault context.

Several witnesses said that they had seen bruises on Lorena’s neck and arms at points, that she had called 9-1-1 repeatedly, and obscenely, that John had bragged to friends about forcing his wife to have sex.

Emphasis was placed by the defense upon Lorena’s action that night being triggered by a combination of self-defense and temporary insanity.

Defense attorneys including the defense lawyer Blair D. Howard stated that John’s constant abuse of Lorena had caused her to “snap” due to a PTSD episode along with clinical depression she experienced.

At the trial’s commence, Lorena was found to be not guilty, due to temporary insanity causing an irresistible impulse to sexually wound her husband.

However, she was ordered to undergo a 45-day psychiatric evaluation at Central State Hospital in Petersburg, after which she was released.

John Wayne Bobbitt was later acquitted of marital sexual assault by a jury of three men and nine women. He gave multiple renditions of what had occurred the evening of the incident, such as that they had not had sex at all, that Lorena had tried to initiate sex but he had been too tired, that they had sex but he had slept through it, and also that it had been consensual.

What happened after…?

John and Lorena’s divorce was finalized in 1995.

Post-trial, in order to keep a low profile, Lorena began using her maiden name of Gallo once again.

Ever since said trial, there has been periodic coverage of both parties. Lorena made several appearances on South American media, but rejected a one million dollar offer to pose for Playboy.

In June 2008, she appeared on the CBS News program The Early Show, and talked about how life had been since the incident.

In April 2009, Lorena told Oprah that she had no interest in speaking to her ex-husband, but then shared the stage with him on The Insider in May 2009.

This was to be their first meeting since the divorce, during which John apologized to Lorena for his treatment of her, and made claims that he still loved her because he continued to send her Valentine’s Day cards and flowers.

Following the trial, John had attempted to earn money by starting a band which was named “The Severed Parts” in order to pay for medical bills and legal fees, but this endeavor failed.

He decided to star in two adult films, the first of which was called John Wayne Bobbitt Uncut in September 1994, and the second of which went by the title Frankenpenis in 1996.

On August 10th, 1998, John was featured alongside WWF’s (now WWE) Val Venis, on the show Monday Night Raw is War.

John continued to accumulate abuse-related and other criminal charges over the years.

In 1994, John was charged with hitting his fiancé, 21 year old former exotic dancer Kristina Elliott, who he had met during a publicity tour in the city of Las Vegas, Nevada. Kristina broke it off with John after the arrest.

He was convicted of battery on August 31, 1994, and sentenced to 15 days in jail. Originally it had been a 60 day sentence, but had been cut by 75%. Justice of the Peace William Jansen was quoted as stating to John “I firmly believe you have an attitude problem. Your attitude problem is caused by your drinking.”

In 1999, John received probation after being caught partaking in a theft at a store in Nevada. However, in 2003 he was sentenced to prison for violating his probation after he was arrested on battery charges involving his then wife, Joanna Ferrell.

John was then arrested twice on charges of battery against this same wife in 2004, after which he filed for divorce under the name he was going by during the marriage, John W. Ferrell. The most current information states that John is remaining single.

In 2014, John would obtain a broken neck in a vehicular accident in Buffalo, New York, which he survived. Over the years, he worked as a bartender, limo driver, mover, pizza delivery driver, tow truck operator, and even took on a brief stint as a Universal Life Church wedding minister.

Currently, Lorena still calls Manassas, Virginia, home. When she was asked why she would do that by The New York Times in 2019, her response was “I live here. This is my home. Why should he have the last laugh?”

In 2007, Lorena founded Lorena’s Red Wagon Organization, with the intent of helping victims of domestic violence and their children, and to help raise awareness.

Lorena met her partner, David Bellinger, while attending Northern Virginia Community College after her trial. They were friends for awhile before their romantic relationship began, but did eventually begin dating.

Lorena has been known to refer to David as her husband although they never opted to marry. They have a daughter together, named Olivia.

Lorena Gallo Foundation

In 2018, the Lorena Gallo Foundation was formed, with a similar mission which can be found stated on its website as “The Lorena Gallo Foundation (LGF) is a new non-profit organization founded in 2018 by Lorena Gallo Bobbitt to provide domestic violence and sexual assault prevention, intervention, and awareness services in Prince William County, Virginia.

Lorena Gallo Bobbitt, an icon in the Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault prevention movement, founded the Lorena Gallo Foundation with a goal to build a network of supportive services and safe spaces for victims to share.”

John’s net worth is currently thought to be around $250,000 American dollars, with Lorena’s thought to be somewhere between the same and $600,000 American Dollars.

Conclusion

This is the story of Lorena Gallo and her previous husband John Wayne Bobbitt, albeit a messy one.

We can only hope that stories such as these help to raise awareness of domestic abuse, and prevent outcomes such as the one from this fateful evening in Manassas.

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