To get these issues free by email each week, click here to open a subscribe form. (Or cruise around the web site to see more samples, archive, and info on our terrific book collections of thousands of past stories.)
Since 1994, this is the 1687th issue of Randy Cassingham’s...
| 11 October 2026: Back from Bangkok | Copyright ©2026 https://thisistrue.com |
Too Many Donuts, Not Enough Coffee: Jennings County (Ind.) Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to a woman driving in reverse, doing“donuts” on a lawn just before 5:00 p.m. She was still at it when deputies arrived. The driver, deputies say, was Lorraine Wilkerson, 67, and another woman was in the passenger seat. Wilkerson failed a field sobriety test and was arrested; a breathalyzer indicated her blood-alcohol was .079 percent, and a later test indicated 0.09 percent. The women had eaten at a Mexican restaurant across the street, where both ordered a “Margarita Special Jumbo” — and a waiter said Wilkerson finished the otherwoman’s drink. The whole thing was captured on security camera video: the lawn in question was the one in front of the county courthouse. (RC/WDRB Louisville) ...The only unanswered question: how many donuts it took for the passenger to wish she’d finished her own margarita.
Who Was That Masked Man? The things you see when you check your security camera recordings from the previous night. [Premium Only]
Bird Brain: U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Miami, Fla., pulled Alberto Castillo, 40, aside after he’darrived from Havana, Cuba. He had claimed he had nothing to declare but, according to a criminal complaint, “CBP officers observed an unexplained bulge on the front of [his] pelvis/waist area and noted that he appeared nervous.” The officers frisked Castillo and found six plastic tubes sewn into his underwear, allegedly containing ten live birds. The complaint says he claimed the birds were for “personal use,” but he hadn’t filled out the paperwork required for importing them. He was arrestedfor smuggling and released on $25,000 bond. (MS/WPLG Miami) ...With that much room, he’s equally well endowed in both heads.
Presto! Cop shoplifts while in uniform, on duty = career over. The surprise is what was worth losing his career over. [Premium Only]
Slipping: Support was down this week, with not enough to pay the bills: 1 upgrade, one returning lapsed member. Luckily, there were 7 “leftover” upgrades from last week, so there’s still no ad here, but we need at least one to omit ads next week. I really think you’ll love Premium: if you can afford less than a dollar a week to get it all, just try it — I think you’ll want to stay, it’ll help keep this freeedition ad-free, and you get all the stories. Thanks!
Outlaw In-laws: Probably the craziest story of the month. [Premium Only]
Catching Up On Paperwork: School district screws up the sale of excess property in a huge way. [Premium Only]
Scary Substitute: Amy Jones, 23, is a former student of Rufus King High School in Milwaukee, Wisc. She recently went back, allegedly telling the office staff she was a substitute teacher — and they placed her in a classroom. A student later said, “The teacher was cursing and screaming at the students,” and called a student “fat boy.” Also, she “asked a student if she wanted to be a stripper or a hooker,” and told two boys “they were the type of people to start school shootings.” Theprincipal figured out she wasn’t supposed to be there and had her escorted out of the school during the third period. Jones allegedly told police she went to the school “because she was bored,” and “hates kids and she just wanted to [expletive] around.” Milwaukee Public Schools sent a statement to parents, including: “We will continue to take all appropriate action to ensure that Rufus King International High School remains a safe and welcoming place for our students and staff.” (MS/WISNMilwaukee) ...Continue?
Second Chance: Police blow of incident until victim’s family hires a lawyer, and then the Special Victims Unit swoops in with serious charges. [Premium Only]
Second Look II: Crazy stalker of the week. [Premium Only]
No Touchie: You can actually read this zero tolerance story on the website, since I disagreed with Mike’s tagline: Contextual Humanity. Otherwise it’s [Premium Only]
Dropping In: The first First Responders arrive by air, but not in the usual way. [Premium Only]
It Starts with Seeing: “If this is your son, you did something right,” said Yareli Madrid on Facebook, posting avideo he had captured. “Please know he is amazing.” Madrid watched — and recorded — as a teen stopped to help an elderly man struggling through a parking lot in Maricopa, Ariz., on a walker. The man’s shoes were falling apart, and the 18-year-old quickly took off his own shoes, and helped the man into them. The kid didn’t even know his actions were being recorded, and walked away when he was done in his stocking feet on the blacktop. The post went viral, and led to the teen being identified. Hisname: Jordan Hope, who filled in the rest of the story. He came back and learned the man’s wife had recently died. He tried to give him a ride, but the man couldn’t get into Hope’s car. Hope thus ordered an Uber to take him to a restaurant, where Hope bought him a meal, then did the same thing to get him home, and sat with him for awhile, “So he didn’t feel that loneliness, you know?” He then started an online fundraiser to get “Mr. Roy” some grocery money; donations have exceeded $15,000.(RC/KTVK Phoenix) ...In the end, it came down to just a bit of Hope.
Pawns
Child Custody Exchange Ends in Shootout Between Mother’s Boyfriend, Ex-husband
WFLA Tampa (Fla.) headline
Did You Find an Error? Check the Errata Page for updates.
This Week’s Contributors: MS-Mike Straw, RC-Randy Cassingham.
Stories This Week were Written/Edited in Kuantan, Malaysia.
About that last story — the kid and his shoes. When I quickly skimmed the source story, I knew it was the perfect ending for the week. My first idea for the tagline was to say something about how people need to be seen, but most are so quick to look away. Then I noticed the kid’s last name, and that suggested a must-do tag. I repurposed the original concept for the slug. Waste not, want not. 🙂
The way the story progressed is just extraordinary. “Youth today” are too selfish to care? Clearly not. Even at just 18, Hope recognized something that plenty of much older adults overlook: solving someone’s immediate problem doesn’t necessarily solve the problem that matters most, and it takes a little talking to learn that there is a problem, let alone what it is. It’s awesome that someone truly saw Mr. Roy.
I’d Like to Share this note from a reader I exchanged messages with several times over the years. It was attached to his last order, in January: “I have been with you since the beginning. There were times when I could hardly afford the Premium price, however I felt supporting you was worth it. I want to auto renew as I never know what shape I will be in (been in and out of Hospice twice last year). I do not want to miss any issues, even if Iam unable to renew. Thanks, Randy, for all the laughs and serious thought-provoking stories over the years. I have really enjoyed them. Even WHILE in hospice I was able to laugh. Maybe that’s why I bounced out. —Mike”
Well, he didn’t “bounce out” of his third round of hospice: his family sent me a note this week to say he has died. I sure do appreciate getting such notes, even when it’s bad news. Thanks to all the grieving family members who take the time to do so! I like that he was with me from the beginning, and I was with him to the end. Rest in peace, Mike.
Last, I wrote an article for our Residential Cruising site about getting ill while traveling: we had plans (and savings) for that, but when it actually happened, we decided to alter those plans. What If You Get Sick?
My energy is still quite variable: I like to start writing on Saturdays, but was so wiped out I ended up taking two naps, and worried that I wouldn’t be able to catch up on Sunday. But Sunday turned out to be a good, high-energy day, and I finished my stories easily. Monday was somewhere in-between, requiring just one nap, and skipping the several-hour process to research and write an Honorary Unsubscribe. Sorry!
Ten Years Ago in True: The Devil’s a Crafty One.
The Bird Brain is the Story of the Week, which means you’re encouraged to share it from Telegram, Mastodon, Instagram, Bluesky, Threads, and/or Facebook, or grab from any of those to post elsewhere.
This Week’s Sunday Reading: I’m accused of ‘racism’ for saying the word 'blonde' ...and then it gets hilarious. A 19-year-old blog entry. Blonde Racism?
No Honorary Unsubscribe this week as mentioned above.
- This Week’s “Interesting in the H.U. Archive”: Doug Henning, a magician who repopularized magic by bringing specials to television. From 6 February 2000.
- Honorary Unsubscribe Archive.
Basic Subscriptions to This is True are Free at https://thisistrue.com. All stories are completely rewritten using facts from the noted sources. This is True® (and Get Out of Hell Free® and Stella Awards®) are registered trademarks of ThisisTrue.Inc. Published weekly by ThisisTrue.Inc, PO Box 666, Ridgway CO 81432 USA (ISSN 1521-1932).
Copyright ©2026 by Randy Cassingham, All Rights Reserved. All broadcast, publication, retransmission to email lists, web site or social media posting, or any other copying or storage, in any medium, online or not, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from the author. Manual forwarding by email to friends is allowed if 1) the text is forwarded in its entirety from the “Since 1994” line on top through the end of this paragraph and 2) No fee is charged. I request that you forward no more than three copies to any one person — after that, they should get their own free subscription. I appreciate people who report violations of my copyright.
To get this delivered to you every week, click here to open a subscribe form.