Some of the strangest articles ever to appear in The New York Times

The headlines you’ll see below are bizarre. But the articles, all of which once appeared in the pages of The New York Times, are even more so.

Did a ghost really express itself by moving a box of macaroni one day in 1898? How did a dog learn to ask for cake in German? And what brought on The Times’s obsession with the Loch Ness monster?

All these stories — and more like them — were dutifully reported, mostly in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Valente is an Italian, and about six weeks ago he quarreled with his wife, Angelico, over the way she cooked macaroni. As a result of the quarrel the wife left Valente’s home, declaring she would rather die than return. When Valente’s rage had cooled he became worried over his wife and started a search for her, reporting her loss to the police.

After a wait he saw a lean cat emerge from the cote with one of his finest pigeons in its mouth. He fired, and the cat fell dead. In the early transports of his joy at having destroyed the thief he forgot that there was yet a task for him to perform, but soon recollected that the body must be disposed of. First he thought of digging a hole in the back yard and interring the cat therein, but then he trembled when he thought what the neighbors might think he was burying. At last a bright idea struck him.

Mrs. Raynor, like many other persons of Brookhaven, has made a pet of turtles, especially those which had the initials of her ancestors carved on their shells, and when this particular turtle which had a large “B” on his back, came to her house four years ago, she knew he had been the pet of the Bartow family, her ancestors, who settled here two centuries ago, and she took pains to make him welcome.

The turtle, a large fellow, immediately showed a fondness for the Bartow pancakes.