Callie Elizabeth Carswell of Morganton, N.C., and her fiancé, Clarence Moore III, allegedly staged an elaborate crime, all in the name of love, just before Thanksgiving. Around 10 p.m. on Nov. 25, while Carswell worked at the Big Daddy's convenience store, Moore entered the store carrying an ornamental sword and wearing a hat and bandanna to disguise his identity. He "demanded" money from Carswell, leaving with $2,960, the Morganton Department of Public Safety told the News Herald. When the "robber" left the store, she called 911.

Police went on to work the case overnight, while Carswell and Moore made an early morning stop at Walmart to buy a ring and get engaged on the spot, documenting the big event on Facebook. But details of Carswell's story didn't add up, and investigators found evidence in her car and at their home that led them to arrest the couple. Moore confessed to the crime, but Carswell shouted at reporters as she entered the courthouse: "I will assault you! I didn't do it. ... Watch the [expletive] video and you'll see that I was [expletive] terrified. I wasn't involved." The couple were charged with armed robbery, misuse of 911 and filing a false police report.

Not Santa

As Stephanie Leguia of Milton, Mass., and a neighbor, Wenhan Huang, chatted in Huang's yard on Dec. 1, an unusual object slammed to the ground just feet from where they stood. Their backs were turned when what looked like a "giant silver tarp" crashed down, reported the Boston Herald. On its way, it lopped off four tree branches: "If it had hit us, we would have been dead," Leguia said. Turns out the object was an uninflated silver evacuation slide from a Delta flight arriving in Boston from Paris. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that the pilot had heard a loud noise as the Boeing jet approached Logan International Airport, but the flight landed without incident. Delta and the FAA are investigating.

Fine points of the law

After a decade of wrangling through the court system, Bela Kosoian has been awarded $20,000 (Canadian) by the Supreme Court of Canada. It all started in the Laval, Quebec, Montmorency Metro station in 2009, when Kosoian was riding an escalator while looking through her purse and, pointedly, not holding the handrail. According to Canadian Broadcasting Corp. News, a police officer told her to respect a sign asking riders to hold the rail, but Kosoian declined and then would not identify herself to the officer, who slapped her with two tickets: one for disobeying the sign and another for obstructing the work of an inspector. Kosoian sued, and the highest court agreed with her, saying: "A reasonable police officer should have known that people didn't have to hold the handrails." They called the sign a "warning" and not a law. "I knew that I didn't do anything wrong," Kosoian said. "It was the principle of it."

Questionable judgment

In The Hague, Netherlands, management at supermarket chain Albert Heijn is walking back a request that employees send in a photo of themselves in their underwear, in order to work out sizes for new uniforms. Workers were asked to use an "innovative mobile app" to submit the photos, AFP reported, but the company backed down after the complaints started rolling in. "The manager told us that if we don't do it, we can't be in the store anymore because we don't have the right corporate clothing," said one 17-year-old employee who works at the Nijmegen branch. But Albert Heijn said participating was voluntary and "although ... pictures were not visible to management, this should never have happened. We apologize to all involved."

News of the Weird is compiled by the editors at Andrews McMeel Syndication. Send your weird news items to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.