Odd Turkey Day: Five times Thanksgiving dinner made the headlines

Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, and for many families in the United States, this means heaping servings of turkey and an array of side-dishes.

The Thanksgiving table is not the only place you can find foods such as turkey, potatoes, macaroni, sweet potatoes and vegetables, though -- they also appear in the Odd News headlines.

In celebration of this day of thanks, and the traditional meals it brings, here are five times Thanksgiving foods never quite made it to the plate.

Aggressive turkey causes chaos in Minnesota neighborhood

Residents of a Coon Rapids, Minn., mobile home park complained earlier this year that they were being terrorized by an unwelcome neighbor: a wild turkey.

Neighbors said a flock of turkeys spent time in the area in November 2021, but one of the birds stayed behind when his cohorts moved on and has since been attacking cars, damaging property and chasing children.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources told residents the best thing they can do to encourage the turkey to leave is to keep trash and other potential food sources secured.

Inert WWII grenade found among potatoes at factory

Workers at a factory in the suburbs of Auckland, New Zealand, spotted something on their potato conveyor belt that definitely would have ruined a Thanksgiving reveler's mash: an inert World War II grenade.

Night shift employees at the Mr. Chips factory said 28 tons of recently-delivered russet potatoes were on the conveyor belt when a worker spotted what initially appeared to be a particularly mud-covered spud.

The New Zealand Defense Force's explosive ordnance disposal team ended up getting involved when workers discovered the object was a grenade dating back to World War II. The device was found to be a non-explosive grenade, likely used for training purposes.

500 pounds of cooked pasta found by New Jersey river basin

No turkey day dinner would be complete without a side of mac and cheese, but 500 pounds of cooked pasta next to a New Jersey river basin might be excessive for even the most voracious of appetites.

Residents of Old Bridge discovered the quarter ton of cooked spaghetti, elbow macaroni and ziti covering a 25-foot area near the bank of the river.

The derelict durum semolina was hauled away by the Old Bridge Department of Public Works after about two days, and investigators were able to trace the source of the "uh oh, spaghetti woes" back to a local man, but no charges were filed.

Georgia man's 186-pound sweet potato harvest might be a world record

Plenty of Thanksgiving dinner enjoyers might have David Anderson of Washington County, Ga., to thank for their feast after he harvested 186 pounds of sweet potatoes from a single plant.

Anderson said weather conditions were ideal this year for a bountiful crop of potatoes and sweet potatoes.

The single root system yielded 186 pounds of sweet potatoes, breaking the record of 81 pounds and 9 ounces set by Manuel Pérez of Spain in 2004.

Truck rolls over, covers Ontario highway in celery

Your grandmother would be disappointed if you skipped your veggies, but a truckload of celery stalks didn't quite pass the 5 second rule when they spilled across Highway 400 in the Aurora, Ontario area.

Ontario Provincial Police tweeted photos of the roadway absolutely covered in spilled stalks, writing: "So much celery."

The high-fiber mess took crews several hours to clean up, but no injuries were reported from the truck crash or the resulting celery spill.