Campaign Follies | Compelling Explanations

• Incumbent mayoral candidate Charles Pender erected his campaign signs in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, on Aug. 30, but when he woke up on Aug. 31, he found that they had been vandalized -- with hot dogs. CBC News reported that someone had cut round holes in the signs and inserted hot dogs to look as if Pender was smoking a cigar. Pender called it "minor mischief" but noted that the signs are expensive. He called the police, but he feels it's unlikely the frank bandit will be caught. He hopes to turn the incident into a good laugh with a "bun-raiser" later in the election season. [CBC News, 9/11/2017]

• Lisa Faye Stout, 53, came up with an unusual scapegoat for the mess police officers found in her room on Sept. 10 at New Castle, Indiana's Raintree Inn, according to the Muncie Star Press. Vampires had "destroyed everything," Stout told the officers, who were responding to reports that she had shown up in the hotel bar wearing no pants or undergarments. The front desk clerk also said Stout spit on her and threatened to kill her. As she was taken into custody, Stout spit some more and threatened to "slice" officers' throats. Stout was charged in Henry County court with two counts of battery by bodily waste, intimidation and criminal mischief. [The Star Press, 9/13/2017]