4. Spoiled pork chop murder, giant eyeball washing ashore and other bizarre stuff in the Sunshine State

The bizarre images of the Sunshine State in 2012 are reflected in discovery of a giant eye washing ashore on Pompano Beach, the arrest of a Holly Hill man in a killing over a spoiled pork chop and a woman riding a manatee in Pinellas County.

DAYTONA BEACH -- While President Obama's re-election and the Republican National Convention in Tampa gave a boost to Mitt Romney's candidacy for president, there were the true, freaky and bizarre stories throughout the Sunshine State in 2012 that made headlines, whether it was a woman riding a manatee, a giant eyeball washing ashore or Gov. Scott's staffers mixing up a phone sex number with a hotline call for meningitis.

Locally, one of the more bizarre stories was a Holly Hill man allegedly shooting one of his roommates to death over preparation of a spoiled pork chop.

And so here are bizarre stories that collectively constitute the No. 4 ranking in Headline Surfer's countdown of the Top 10 Florida stories of 2012.

Headline Surfer's Dec. 14 story on the Holly Hill pork chop murder was trending strongly in the search engines and spurred media outlets across the country to report on the bizarre killing.

So let's start with the local story first, with our story published Dec. 14 that was trending high in the search engines under the headline: "Holly Hill cops: Argument between housemates over spoiled pork chop leads to bloodshed," published Dec. 14.

Police Chief Mark Barker shook his head in disgust in describing what set off 55-year-old Thomas Matthew Hahn Jr. to the point where he allegedly retrieved a .22-caliber Ruger rifle and blasted away at housemate Robert Gray until he lay dead in the living room of the residence they shared with two others.

When cops arrived, they found 35-year-old Gray dead on the floor of Hahn's living room while Hahn sat in a chair near the body. Hahn allegedly told the cops, "I shot him in the head two to three times."

The police chief couldn't have summed up the how the evening ended up between the two roommates: "Last evening, Gray arrived at the residence after having been out drinking and a verbal argument ensued.

During the dispute, Gray made a comment regarding a pork chop he was preparing having spoiled." Then came the bloodshed.

Photo courtesy FWC / This giant eyeball washed up on Pompano Beach and ended up being the No. 1 story of National Geogrphic magazine's top weirdest stories of the year.

A giant eyeball washed ashore in South Florida in October made for headlines around the world more so for the image snapped by the Florida Fish and Wildlife that wildlife officials said was likely that of a giant swordfish.

The giant eyeball that washed ashore on Pompano Beach was the No. 1 ranked story of National Geographic's Top 10 Weirdest Stories of 2012.

Since we opened up a can of worms, here were the stories in descending order that National Geographic ranked as the weirdest: 10. World’s Smallest Frog Found; 9. Slime Has Memory But No Brain; 8. Two-Faced Cat a Mystery; 7.White Killer Whale Spotted; 6. World’s Leggiest Animal Found; 5. Turtles Urinate Via Their Mouths—a First; 4. Rare Maned Lionesses Explained; 3. Genitalia-Headed Fish is Evolutionary Mystery; 2. World’s Weirdest Penis Studied; 1. Giant Mysterious Eyeball Found on Florida Beach. 

Headline Surfer photo by Henry Frederick / Gov. Scot, shown here, made headlines for reciting the wrong phone number for a meningitis hotline that instead took callers to a phone sex hotline as described in this video uploaded from YouTube. It's OK to listen; it's not pornographic.

In Early October, a help line that was supposed to provide assistance for those with meningitis was announced by Gov. Scot's staff, but because Gov. Scott was off by one number in reciting it, callers ended up reaching a phone sex hotline. The correct number was 866-523-7339.

There were six confirmed cases of meningitis in Marion County following the death of a 70-year-old man with the disease in July. The sex line mix-up was first reported by WUSF-TV in Tampa Bay before being picked by other media outlet across the Sunshine State.

Photos courtesy Pinellas County Sheriff's Office / This woman turned herself in after seeing these images of herself on TV news riding manatees. The woman said she didn't know it was illegal to do so.

A woman photographed riding on the backs of manatees by swimmers at Fort DeSoto Park in Pinellas County turned herself in after seeing her image on the TV news, telling sheriff's investigators she didn't know she was breaking the law.

Ana Gloria Garcia Gutierrez, 52, was arrested by the Pinellas County Sheriff's office with formal charges forwarded to the State Attorney's Office there for possible prosecution.

Here is how "My Fox Tampa Bay described the situation: It was around 1 p.m. Sunday when deputies were called to Fort Desoto Park due to reports of a woman "riding" a manatee in the waterway just north of the Gulf Pier. But by the time they had arrived, the would-be cowgirl had skedaddled. Witnesses were able give deputies a description, including the attached photos, of the suspect and where she was last seen.

As the TV station pointed out, the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to "annoy, molest, harass, or disturb or attempt to molest, harass, or disturb" a manatee.