Quirky, wonderful, odd and everything in between: Castanet Penticton's strangest-but-true stories of 2022

Photo: Contributed

This creepy-crawly discovery was one odd situation in the South Okanagan this year.

As 2022 comes to a close, Castanet Penticton is inviting readers to look back at some of the quirkiest, oddest, and strangest-but-true stories that made the South Okanagan unique this year.

In January, a Naramata couple got the shock of their life when helping a neighbour with what they thought was a live mouse in a trap — turns out, it was definitely not a mouse.

"It darn near got away on me,” Richard McMaster told Castanet, describing his brush with an unexpected snake. Read the whole story here.

That same month in Naramata, a whodunnit mystery involving fowl play unfolded when one of two feral peacocks adopted as unofficial village mascots was found dead in a local yard.

"Kevin," as he was known, was believed to have been a descendent of an abandoned or escaped peacock from a local farm. Read the rest here.

In a feline hitchhiking spree, three cats over the first few months of 2022 were taken in by Penticton-based rescue Alley Cats Alliance after showing up in the Interior unexpectedly in vehicles. Read more here.

Not to be outdone, an Osoyoos rattlesnake decided to try hitchhiking as well, slithering out of a Ferrari that had been delivered from the South Okanagan to a Vancouver dealership.

The rattlesnake, now named Enzo, was sporting a green line on his tail, indicating that he is part of a snake survey at the Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre near Osoyoos. Read the rest here.

In the spring, a clip from a Penticton video-blogger and author made an unexpected appearance on one of North America's most popular late-night comedy shows: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

The Emmy Award-winning comedian featured a short clip of Mare McHale, known to many in the South Okanagan for her time on local radiowaves and her frank and honest video blogs. Read the whole story here.

A Naramata man said he "felt bad" after a surprise meeting with a bear resulted in him throat punching the animal.

"I've had some crazy things happen to me in my life and this was one of the moments where I just started laughing like 'What just happened?'" Sam Coventry told Castanet. Read the rest here.

A creepy-crawly discovery awaited a family hiking near Osoyoos this summer.

"We all had never seen anything like it. We then went on to move rock after rock, and each rock had the same underneath. It was insane and super creepy!" Andrew Robertson told Castanet. Read more and watch the video here.

Bright lights, big city? Half of that, at least, was true for a Tulameen resident who caught an amazing sight on his security camera this fall.

A sustained bright flash in the sky lit up the surrounding mountains in the small community, likely a meteor. Read more and watch the video here.

And the Penticton Fire Department isn't always just for humans. This December, rescue crew members crawled out onto frozen Okanagan Lake to help a mule deer stuck in the ice, using a rope system to bring it back to shore. Full story here.

These are just a few of the strange-but-true stories from the South Okanagan this year — did we miss your favourite? Let us know at [email protected].