Slight Detour – December 2025/January 2026
I’ve covered my fair share of overturned truck stories, but I can’t recall one that held my attention quite like this.
We start this Slight Detour in Mississippi, where officials were still on the lookout for an escaped monkey. That’s right. Keep reading.
The rogue simian was part of a group of 21 rhesus monkeys from a research center at Tulane University. While traveling along I-59, the truck carrying the pack of primates overturned, killing five of the monkeys and leaving three on the loose.
Let me be the first to say, I was a little upset to discover these weren’t peanut-butter-filled monkeys. I thought I had missed an important announcement from the Reese’s people. But I digress.
The company responsible for the monkeys confirmed they were not carrying any diseases but said the animals could pose a threat to humans because they are “likely frightened and disoriented.” Needless to say, this announcement put the residents of Jasper County on high alert.
Less than a week later, one of the monkeys was spotted by a mother of five in a nearby town. The woman called the police and was told to keep an eye on the monkey. She did much more than that. Fearing for the safety of her children and others, the woman shot and killed the monkey. According to the woman, she was simply doing “what any other mother would do to protect her children.”
While I don’t disagree with that sentiment, I’m honestly not sure my mom has it in her to kill a monkey. I’m not even sure she’s ever fired a gun before. While I can’t speak to her accuracy with a firearm, I can tell you that she is deadly accurate when it comes to throwing a house shoe at a bratty child, so maybe those skills translate.
A day later, another of the escaped monkeys was gunned down by a civilian. According to Jasper County Sheriff Randy Johnson, someone shot the monkey after seeing it cross the highway about a mile from the scene of the crash. This time the shooter was a preacher whose wife had spotted the animal near an exit ramp. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.
This might be a good time to ask – what the hell is going on in Mississippi? These folks are out here dropping monkeys left and right like they’re checking off boxes on a bingo card.
The final monkey was found by apparently the only person in the area who doesn’t own a gun. A local woman reported the monkey on her property after hearing her dog barking. Police contacted the company responsible for the monkeys and the animal was tranquilized. It’s probably for the best that he was apprehended now, because his fellow escapees did not fare well in the mean streets of Mississippi.
Check your pockets
As I’ve mentioned several times before, truckers seem to have a knack for hitting it big in the lottery. Well, let’s take another Slight Detour and see if there’s another lucky driver waiting in the wings.
The Pennsylvania Lottery is currently looking for the owner of a winning Match 6 ticket worth $1.2 million.
The winning ticket was sold at Smithton Truck & Auto Plaza in South Huntington Township.
According to lottery officials, winners have one year from the date of the drawing – which was Nov. 1 – to claim their prize.
Given the location where the ticket was sold, it is entirely possible the mystery millionaire is a truck driver. I make no promises, but if we’re taking bets, my money is on a trucker. All I’m saying is, if you’ve recently purchased a lottery ticket in Pennsylvania, it might be worth checking your pockets.
It wouldn’t be the first time a trucker had nearly flushed a big win down the toilet. Earlier this year, I wrote about a trucker who fished a $1 million winning ticket out of the trash after believing it was a dud. If that wasn’t enough, another trucker almost tossed a million-dollar winner prior to a family member offering to check his tickets. If it happened before, it can happen again. Is that not how this works?
They say ignorance of the law is no excuse, but I’m not certain I’ve ever seen someone try to use it as a defense. Until now.
A Milwaukee man is facing felony burglary and theft charges after allegedly stealing a comic book collection worth over $10,000. The crown jewel of the collection – the first issue of X-Men from 1963 – was valued at $9,000.
Police were notified after the victim noticed that around 25 of his more valuable comics were missing when he picked up his collection from a local storage unit. Officials said the victim identified the comics listed online on Facebook and eBay, which were posted by the manager of the storage facility.
Detectives recovered most of the missing comics at the crook’s home, with the exception of X-Men No.1, which had already been sold.
Seems pretty open-and-shut. Apparently, the thief didn’t see it that way.
According to the criminal complaint, when confronted by police, the crook said, “Burglary? Burglary? I didn’t burglar anything! Don’t you have to break in for it to be a burglary? Like, that unit was open!”
I like that this dude thought it was perfectly fine for him to just take anything he wanted from a unit that was open. Like his own personal flea market or something. It’s a bold defense. Obviously, it didn’t work, but it was bold nonetheless. Now my mind is racing, thinking about all the other stuff he might have stolen from other open units.
It probably goes without saying that he is no longer employed by the storage facility. If convicted, this fast-talking thief could face over 20 years in prison. At least he’ll have plenty of reading material.
A piece of history
We round out this Slight Detour with a man who owns an interesting piece of history.
The Los Angeles Dodgers recently won the World Series, but heading into the postseason, it was the Milwaukee Brewers who earned the top spot in the National League.
During the regular season, the Brew Crew amassed 97 wins – more than any other team in the majors. In August, the team rattled off 14 consecutive wins, triggering a long-standing promotion from local burger joint George Webb.
The promotion dates back to the 1940s and promises free hamburgers if the Brewers win 12 games straight. That feat has occurred two other times, once in 1987 and again in 2018.
Triggering the promotion is a rarity, and one Milwaukee fan still has a memento from the last time it happened – the actual burger.
The fan said the preservation process was pretty simple. He just let the burger sit out for a few days to get hard, then sprayed it with several layers of clear coat. That’s it.
According to the fan, he wanted to preserve the burger as a unique piece of memorabilia, which I think we can all agree was a success. If I’m being honest, it looks remarkably good for a 7-year-old burger hosed down with shellac.
While it doesn’t make me want to have a piece of preserved edible history from my favorite team, it does make me question some of my dietary choices. LL