Best of 2012: Most Unusual Stories

Not sure if this year's list of unusual stories tops last year's, but 2012 was certainly chock-full of strange tales from around Nassau County. In no particular order, here are some of the most unusual.

• DA's Office: Man Used Voodoo Doll in Attempt to Kill Teen: An Inwood man who was arraigned earlier in July after allegedly trying to find a hitman to kill the teen he was charged of sexually abusing back in April, also allegedly used a Voodoo doll in an attempt to kill the same teen. Police said Daniel Miller, who is currently incarcerated in Nassau County, believed by practicing Santeria and casting certain spells, that he could induce cancer on the victim.
• Female Enters Pig Pen After Hours at Bellmore Street Festival: Nassau Police said that an apparently intoxicated female climbed into the racing track with pigs on a September morning after day one of the Bellmore Street Festival. Cops said they received a call just after midnight about pigs wandering unattended in their racing pen in the carnival portion of the festival. Officers responded to the scene and found a female, who police said appeared inebriated, had climbed into the track with the animals.
• Sandy Sets Crossroads Farm Chickens Loose [Photos]: Hurricane Sandy's fierce winds set several chickens loose on Crossroads Farm at Grossmann's in Malverne. Expecting that their coup wouldn't withstand the storm, their caretaker had moved them into the hoop barn but even that was no match for Sandy's 80 mph wind gusts. She ripped the sides off the barn, allowing the chickens to escape.
• Police: WH Man Pulls Shotgun on Friends at Dinner: A dinner party turned violent in West Hempstead in November, police said, ending with the arrests of two residents at their Grant Avenue home. During a dinner party between two couples, a verbal argument ensued, which eventually led to physical violence, and then to one of the hosts pulling out a shotgun and pointing it at his guests, who were able to flee the home and call 911.
• Nassau Police Officer Arrested for Stealing Baby Food: A Nassau County police officer was arrested in April after he allegedly stole baby food from a West Hempstead store at an earlier date. According to investigators, Thomas Welsh, 48, entered the Stop and Shop located at 520 Cherry Valley Lane in West Hempstead and secreted numerous pouches of baby food on his person using plastic bags and a bungee cord. The value of the merchandise was approximately $40. Welsh was sentenced to 14 hours of community service for the crime.
• Plane Drops Black Sludge On Malverne Residents: While sitting in their backyard, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather Thursday night, residents in Malverne say black oily sludge fell from the sky after a plane passed overhead. Malverne Police responded to the home and contacted the Port Authority Police, who said that the fluid accidentally discharged from a plane.