Some of the best stories from 2006 just happened to be the most, well, unique.
In 2006, people rolled down Mt. Brighton in an inflatable ball and relied on a rodent to pick the Super Bowl XL winner. And, yeah, there was one Hell of a party on June 6.
There were plenty of odd people, too, including a professional rock, paper, scissors player and one woman so passionate about voting, she stopped to get an absentee ballot ? while she was in labor.
Hunters report ghosts in county
The SouthEast Michigan Ghost Hunters Society canvassed several historic sites in Hartland Township in September for paranormal activity and presented its findings a month later.
During the hunt, some members said they saw dead people upstairs in the Florence B. Dearing Museum. Other members used all sorts of gizmos, but were unable to find anything.
Livingston County-based Paranormal Researchers in Southeast Michigan (PRISM), meanwhile, visited the Howell Opera House in October.
Of course, the ghost hunters have some skeptics.
"They (ghost hunters) go out with all sorts of over-sensitive instruments," Florida-based paranormal debunker James Randi told the Daily Press & Argus in September.
Revelers flock to 666 Party
On June 6, 2006, the Putnam Township hamlet of Hell threw a 666 Party that gained international media attention and 8,000-12,000 revelers. The number 666 is the sign of the beast, or Antichrist.
There were some problems with disorderly conduct, parking and crowd control, as well as a couple of thefts. Self-described "born-again" Baptist protesters also protested at the party.
All in all, the party resulted in complaints to the township, which insisted on better crowd control for future large events in Hell.
A rock, paper, scissors tourney?
Brandon Denby, a Fowlerville High School graduate and son of Handy Township supervisor Cindy Denby, went to the Bud Light USA Rock Paper Scissors League championships in Las Vegas in April, with a shot to win $50,000.
Contestants either clench their fist to make a rock, lay it flat to make paper or put two of their fingers in a horizontal V-shape to make a pair of scissors. Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper and paper beats rock.
But Brandon Denby couldn't cut it, even with what he called his "triple threat" strategy.
"They were getting pretty serious into it," he said after the event. "There was a lot of
trash-talking."
No voter apathy in this county
Some people in the county in 2006 weren't into playing games ? they were all business, even if it still produced a unique
situation.
Hartland Township resident Melinda Leazer was in labor and on the way to a hospital in Ann Arbor when the realized she didn't have her absentee ballot for the November election.
No problem. Leazer and her husband, Richard, stopped by Township Hall for the ballot while on their way to the
hospital.
"I told her she was crazy, but we were only like a mile or so from the Township Hall, so we cruised over there, then got on the highway and went down to the hospital," Richard Leazer said in November.
The Leazers had an 8-pound, 2-ounce baby that they named Chloe Rose.
Sphereing comes to the county
A new extreme sport got under way this summer at Mt. Brighton Ski Area in Genoa Township and features participants rolling 650-750 feet down the hill in an inflatable ball at speeds upwards of 30 mph.
Mt. Brighton was the first place in the country to get a crack at sphereing, where the average roll to the bottom takes between 35 and 45 seconds.
About 1,000 people tried the sport out in its first year, and it is tentatively set to return this year.
"We wish we had more people attend, but everyone that did go in it came out and loved it," said Rob Bruhn, operations manager at Mt. Brighton.
Worth some honorable mentions
One of the first unique events of the year was February's Polar Plunge into Whitmore Lake.
About 30 people donned costumes and swimsuits and jumped into freezing waters, all to raise money for the Livingston County and Washtenaw County chapters of the Special Olympics.
"I have never been in anything that cold," Pinckney resident Bonnie Cameron said after taking the plunge. "I practiced by taking cold showers, but nothing compares to it."
Nothing also compares to getting a Super Bowl XL prediction from the Howell Conference and Nature Center's Woody the woodchuck, who predicted Seattle to win the game held at Ford Field in Detroit.
Turns out Woody should stick to her day job. Pittsburgh beat Seattle 21-10. By the way, she also predicted six more weeks of winter.
Woodchucks weren't the only odd furry critters in Livingston County in 2006. Connie Esch held a pug picnic, or "pugnic," at her Conway Township home in October.
About 40 pugs and a puggle (a poodle-meets-pug) were dressed up in costumes such as Raggedy Ann and K-9 police dogs, and strutted their pug pride across the lawn.
On the more serious side, The Second Amendment team used its huge air cannon to win the World Championship Punkin Chunkin event in Delaware for the fourth time in five years.
Punkin Chunkin is a sport in which contestants fire a white, rock-hard pumpkin, or "punkin," through the air via some contraption.
The Livingston County-based team won by shooting a punkin 3,870 feet ? nearly three-quarters of a mile.
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