Top 10 most viral web stories of 2023

CTV Kitchener is counting down the top 10 local news stories that defined the year.

But what about the unusual ones that really get people talking?

Our web team is looking back at some of the strange or surprising stories that got the attention of readers in 2023.

#1 - Mayor can’t afford to buy a house in Wilmot Township

The mayor of Wilmot Township admitted she couldn’t afford to buy a home in 2023.

Natasha Salonen, 28, earns around $90,000 a year as the mayor, regional councillor and as an employee of a local electric utility. She said she was staying with her parents because the housing market was too hot.

“Living in this region is really not attainable for a young professional who has university debt,” she told CTV News in August. “I know I'm certainly not alone in that.”

According to the Waterloo Region Association of Realtors, the average home in Wilmot was selling for $916,167 in July.

WIlmot Township Mayor Natasha Salonen says she can't afford to buy a home in the municipality. (Spencer Turcotte/CTV Kitchener)

#2- Northern lights spotted across southern Ontario

The northern lights made a rare appearance back in March.

The aurora borealis was bright enough that it could be seen in southern Ontario and many residents took photos of the phenomenon which they shared on social media.

The colourful light show was the result of an Earth-facing coronal hole in the sun and solar winds, according to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA).

The northern lights above Authur, Ont. on March 23. (Kevin Gilbert)

#3 - UW statistics prof claims he can’t stop beating Roll Up to Win

A statistics professor at the University of Waterloo has pretty good luck with Roll Up to Win at Tim Hortons.

“I won almost 80 per cent of the time,” Michael Wallace told CTV News back March. “When the contest is on a physical cup, there is not actually a lot you can do. When they moved it to a digital app that opened up a lot of interesting avenues of thinking about how the contest was designed and how you as a player might be able to take advantage of that.”

He also shared his strategy, but said, it can take some trial and error to figure it out.

Michael Wallace, a statistics professor at the University of Waterloo, seen in front of a Tim Hortons in Waterloo on March 28, 2023. (CTV News/Jeff Pickel)

#4 - Big baby born at Cambridge Memorial Hospital

A new arrival at Cambridge Memorial Hospital is the biggest baby born there in more than a decade.

Sonny Ayres was delivered by caesarean section on Oct. 23, weighing in at 14 pounds and eight ounces.

He was the fifth baby for parents Britteney and Chase Ayres, and just like their other children, Sonny’s size was not a huge surprise.

“She had had a baby who was 13 pounds, 14 ounces maybe three years ago. So it was around the same size with the previous baby,” Dr. Asa Ahimbisibwe, their obstetrician-gynecologist, explained.

Cambridge Memorial Hospital said the average baby weighs in at around 7.5 pounds.

Parents Chance and Britteney Ayres hold their new baby Sonny on Oct. 24, 2023. (Colton Wiens/CTV Kitchener)

#5 - Man does burnouts after failing driving test in Guelph

A Brampton man had an unusual reaction to failing his driver’s test.

According to Guelph police, he yelled at staff members before getting back behind the wheel and speeding off in his vehicle. They said the man nearly hit four people before doing burnouts in a parking lot.

The 36-year-old was charged with dangerous and stunt driving.

#6 - Guinness World Records says world’s tallest poison ivy plant is growing in Paris, Ont.

A poison ivy plant in Paris has made it into the Guinness World Records.

The plant, which Robert Fedrock discovered in the woods a few years ago, now measures an impressive 20.75 metres -- or 68 feet.

According to the Government of Canada, the most common poison ivy plant is typically 10 to 80 cm, or 4 to 31.5 inches, high. A second type can climb to six to 10 metres high.

The one discovered by Fedrock winds around a White Ash tree.

Guinness certified the world record in March 2023.

According to the Guinness World Records, the is the tallest poison ivy plant in the world wraps around this White Ash tree in Paris, Ont. (Courtesy/Robert Fedrock)

#7 - Jizzy Jewelry: Brantford business uses some unusual materials

A Brantford woman has turned her side hustle into a full-time job.

Amanda Booth takes sentimental items and makes them into jewelry pieces and sculptures.

But it’s the materials that are a bit unusual – ashes, breast milk, umbilical cords, placenta capsules, semen and vaginal fluids.

Booth folds those into clay to make her unique creations.

Jizzy Jewelry offers memorial pieces using ashes or bodily-fluid focused creations. (Dan Lauckner/CTV News Kitchener)

#8 - Couple trades their Fergus home for a chateau in France

One couple has swapped their Fergus home for a French chateau.

Stephen and Sara Cole lived in a four-bedroom 2,400 sq. ft. home in Fergus, which sat on three-quarters of an acre of land. They were looking at other properties when they came across something they had never considered before.

"Eventually a chateau crosses your search and you discover that within the craziness of the Canadian market, it becomes attainable," Sara said. “We could pretty much do a straight swap for the chateau.”

The pair then packed up and made the move to the 6,300 sq. ft. property in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Dordogne, France.

The couple now runs a business, called Manor & Maker, out of 16^th century chateau.

Stephen and Sara Cole stand in front of the chateau where they now live in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, France. (Manor & Maker)

#9 - Rats caught on camera at UW coffee shop

A Tim Hortons store on the University of Waterloo campus was shut down in September after a video surfaced showing rats scurrying down one of the walls.

The coffee shop closed after the school and Tim Hortons became aware of the video.

A UW spokesperson said the university believed the rats could be related to recent construction at the Student Life Centre.

A still from a video posted to TikTok shows a rat scurring down a wall at a Tim Hortons location at University of Waterloo. (TikTok/Rats@Waterloo)

#10 - Rare lobster named ‘Tiger’ found in Kitchener

A very rare lobster turned up – in all places – at a Kitchener, Ont. seafood store.

Caudle’s Catch Seafood said the orange lobster they named ‘Tiger’ was found in a shipment from Yarmouth, N.S.

Experts say only one in around 30 million are that colour.

Unlike most of the lobsters at Caudle’s, this one will be staying in their aquarium – at least for now.

They’ve already reached out to Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada in Toronto in hopes they’ll give Tiger a new home.

Inspired by its black spots, staff have named the lobster Tiger. (Dan Lauckner/CTV Kitchener)