Are you looking for a reason to HULK RIGHT THE HELL OUT this morning? Because I think I have it in the form of yet another story about a mom getting in trouble with the authorities for allowing her kid the freedom to exist without being smothered under an oppressive culture of manufactured fear. If the news about the moms who were arrested recently for letting their children play at the park unsupervised didn't make your blood boil, perhaps this report of a mom being visited by Child Protective Services for letting her son play down the street from her house will.

Kari Anne Roy of Texas says her 6-year-old was playing outside on a late morning in August when her neighbor came to the door, expressing concern that he was alone. Then the police showed up. A few days later, she was investigated by CPS.

FOR LETTING HER KID PLAY OUTSIDE. WITHIN EYESIGHT OF HER HOUSE.

I'm sorry to go all caps lock about this, but I am so frustrated by these stories. Assuming Roy's account is accurate (Roy is a children's book author who documented the incident on her blog Haiku Mama), her 6-year-old son was sitting on a park bench all of 150 yards from her home when a neighbor brought him to the front door.

She motioned to a park bench about 150 yards from my house. A bench that is visible from my front porch. A bench where he had been playing with my 8-year-old daughter, and where he decided to stay and play when she brought our dog home from the walk they'd gone on.

The neighbor explained that she wanted to return him to stay safely inside with an adult, then she left. A few minutes later there was another knock at the door, and this time it was a police officer.

The police officer asked if my son had been outside alone. She asked why I thought it was OK for him to be unsupervised. She took my ID. She wrote down the names and ages of the children.

Roy says her son cried that night because "he thought someone would call the police when he couldn't fall asleep at his bedtime," and that a few days later, she got a voicemail from a Child Protective Services investigator.

Within an hour she was at the house, interviewing the kids one at a time, alone with her, while I had to sequester myself upstairs. I wanted to argue. I wanted to protest. I wanted to stamp my foot and say, "No, ma'am, you are NOT allowed to speak to my children without me being present." But I was cowed. And I understood why the process had to be that way. I didn't like it. I DON'T like it. But I understood. I understand. I complied.

My kids reported that she asked questions about drugs and alcohol, about pornography, about how often they bathe, about fighting in the home. And again, I understand the need for these questions. I understand CPS investigators have an incredibly difficult job. But the conflict I feel is immense. My children were playing outside, within sight of the house, and now my 6yo and 8yo and 12yo have seen their mother spoken to -- multiple times -- as if she, herself, was a child being reprimanded. They have all been questioned, by a stranger, about whether they've ever been shown movies of other people's private parts. And no matter what I say, I can tell that they think they've done something wrong.

The caseworker contacted Roy's husband and even her babysitter before determining that the incident would be marked as a non-event and the case would be closed.

But I was also warned: the neighbor can call CPS as many times as she wants. If she truly feels there's neglect, she can't be prosecuted for making false allegations. We could try to sue her for harassment. We could try to press charges for kidnapping if she approaches our son again and tries to get him to move from where he's playing. But in all reality, when children are involved, the person who makes the complaint gets the benefit of the doubt.

Roy goes on to talk about her intense humiliation, anger, and sadness over the incident. She waited to write about it in her blog until she knew the case was closed, but now she's expressing the same despair I always feel when I hear these stories: what is happening to our society when people make choices like this? When the sight of a child playing near his house is enough for a busybody neighbor to call the police? Crime statistics don't support this kind of fear-mongering. Parents don't deserve to worry that allowing their children freedom will result in punishment, and kids don't deserve to be smothered by paranoid what-ifs.

I always see a few comments on these stories that side with the overbearing authorities. It's a scary world we live in these days, people say. Better to be safe than sorry. No, our 24/7 access to headline-grabbing stories and social media makes it seem like a scarier world than the one we grew up in. What's scary is believing that keeping your children inside and under constant surveillance will ensure that they never experience harm. What's scary is believing that sitting in front of a TV is healthier than being active outside. What's scary is taking away their independence and creative play, and teaching them to be the victims of a widespread baseless fear.

I let my 6-year-old son play in our front yard all the time. He and his older brother are even allowed to ride their bikes up and down the street, can you believe it? I'd love to think they'll enjoy the same wild, endlessly open childhood I did, where the nearby park became a fairy-tale woods and my friend's house a few blocks away was a place I could run to and from ... but it's seeming more and more like those days are just gone. And that should scare FAR us more than these vague bad-guy scenarios do.

What's your take on this woman's story? Do you think it was right for her neighbor to notify the police?

Image via kgabhi/Flickr

Something about weddings really seems to bring out the brawler in people. Is it the decor? The vows to spend eternity together? Oh wait, call me crazy, but maybe it's the open bar?? Anyway, the latest wedding brouhaha sounds worse than a mixed martial arts cage fight. In Orchard Park, New York, over 100 people at a wedding got into a serious rumble after the bride and groom said their "I do"s. And it wasn't just some little spat either. A witness reportedly said that there was "blood everywhere."

The witness told Buffalo News:

I’m telling you, there was blood everywhere. There was holes punched in the walls. Words couldn’t describe it. Just when you thought it was over, another fight started.

Just in case you're still not down with my open bar theory, a relative told WKBW:

I think the alcohol was a big cause of what went on here. People were blasted.

Nor did the brawl discriminate by age or gender. Another witness confirmed:

There were young and old people, men and women, involved.

Well, I'm glad everyone had fun.

Apparently it all started -- just in case we needed to know -- when a guest accused someone else of touching his girlfriend. Somehow that escalated into someone trying to choke the uncle of the groom. Keep it classy, guys.

Several police departments were needed to break up the fight. Despite all this, no charges have been filed yet.

Well, they say your wedding day is the most memorable day of your life -- and despite the amount of alcohol consumed, I think no one will forget this one. Surprised no one woke up with a tiger in the bathroom.

More from The Stir: Wedding Reception Brawl Ends in Death & Arrests (VIDEO)

Unfortunately, and strangely, no video seems to exist of the wedding brawl to end all wedding brawls. Now that would be one wedding video your friends would actually want to watch, eh?

Have you ever been to an out-of-control wedding?

Image via Channel 4

Think ghost stories are simply fodder for silly horror movies and campfire tales? Think again. You may tell your kids there are no such things as evil spirits, ghoulish figures, and things that go bump in the night, but many insist that's just not true. We asked readers to share their real life supernatural encounters and what they said will chill you to the bone.

1. The Phantom Nanny

When my daughter was 6 months old, I started noticing some unusual behavior. She would laugh and babble like someone was playing with her when no one was there. She would start crying and before I could even get to her, she would calm down and coo. I honestly didn't think much of it until I was up late one evening and caught a glimpse of a woman's reflection in a window. She was standing in the door between my office and my room -- the door that was originally the front door of the house. I could see her clearly, a tall woman with dark hair wearing an old dressing gown. When I turned to look directly at her, she was gone. It was unsettling, but I never felt a negative presence in our house.

The house was old and we were the first owners who hadn't been descendants of the family that built it. I ignored her for the most part, though her interactions with my daughter became more frequent. The creepiest part was when my daughter woke crying in the night when she was almost a year old. My husband and I both got up to check on her but I heard something odd over the baby monitor and he grabbed my arm and put his finger over his lips. We stopped dead in our tracks and listened: there was the unmistakable sound of a woman singing a lullaby. Sure enough, our daughter quieted and said, "Night night." My husband ran into her room to check to make sure that she was alright. Everything was fine, luckily, but we cleansed the house the next day.

2. The Eerie & Unexpected Exorcism 

I saw a girl get possessed when we were at a friend's house. I was outside hanging out when we heard the girl's mom crying and screaming. We walked in and my friend, who is a big guy, was struggling to hold down his sister. I say she was possessed because she was talking in a man's voice -- this was a 17-year-old girl and just 110 pounds. She pushed her brother off and dropped to the floor, then she elevated off the floor, her torso was up in the air and only her feet and head were touching the floor.

It was horrible, most people left. I stayed and helped the brother hold her down, telling the spirit to go away. I don't know why I did that, I've always been spiritual and felt like I could help. After 20 minutes, she came back, she didn't remember anything. She didn't know what had happened, she was super confused and looked really messed up. She's okay now. Her brother and I kept in contact. Last time we talked was about a year ago and he still remembers that night pretty well. He thanked me for doing that but I honestly don't think I did anything impressive. I just did what felt right and wanted to help.

3. Insane Asylum Specter

Recently a friend and I went to this place called Wood County Historical Museum near where I live. It used to be a hospital for the mentally insane, but now you can walk through and do tours. Or you can just walk by yourself.

Well, we didn't realize they closed at 4 p.m. so by the time we got there, we only got to see one building. The stairs there were roped off saying "Do Not Enter." We were standing right there at the bottom of the stairs and I kid you not, we heard footsteps going up and down the stairs. I looked at my friends and I'm like, "Are you doing that somehow?" They weren't. They weren't even moving. But we know what we heard. No doubt about it. We definitely heard footsteps going up and down the stairs but nothing was there. I plan on going back with a different friend soon to explore more of the buildings.

4. Ghostly Houseguest

I've had several. Most were in a house I used to own. There was one time I was alone in my bedroom and felt someone sit on my bed. I was wide awake so I know it wasn't a dream. The blankets even pulled down with it. Another time I was home with my three small children alone and a lantern we had hanging was swinging back and forth but no one had been near it. And another time I heard strange rolling noises coming from my attic, like dozens of marbles rolling back and forth.

5. A Poltergeist From the Past

When I was 3 or 4 years old we lived in a house in Wichita, Kansas, that had been an old plantation house that had been split into apartments. My mother told me that one night she heard me screaming and she came running out of her room to see me running down the hall from the bathroom. I had gone to the bathroom on my own and she told me that I told her there was a man in the bathroom. She of course went running into the bathroom but found no one. The bathroom window was too small for anyone to fit through and upon searching out part of the house she didn't find a trace of anyone having broken in. She asked me to describe the man and I told her he had a pair of revolvers, was wearing a pinstripe suit, and had a mustache. I never saw the man again, but I wouldn't go to the bathroom by myself anymore. 

About a month later she was cleaning up the kitchen sink when she found that the back wall was a false wall and pushed it out of the way. Inside was a small area big enough for a person to fit in, old bottles, an old blanket, and pinned to the wall the pin stripe suit. She was freaked out to say the least. When I was 6 years old, my mom brought it up again around my grandparents. My grandfather had all these books about the old west with pictures in them so he pulled them out and told me if I saw the person to tell him. As he was flipping through, I did see the person and the picture I pointed at was one of Wyatt Earp wearing the exact same suit as the man in the bathroom. 

6. The Roommate That Wouldn't RIP

I lived in an apartment with two other girls and I would come home and feel a presence, you know, like someone else is home. Even after checking every room and knowing no one else was home, I would still feel the presence and feel like I was being watched. When I would sit on the love seat that kind of faced our hallway, I would see a flash of red sometimes in the corner of my eye. This would freak me out because there wasn't even anything on the wall or anything red in that area.

Finally one night we were all home and got to talking. It came up that we had all had similar experiences with feeling like someone was home and seeing the flash of red. All of a sudden, the phone rang and the caller ID was our number. We answered and we could hear the music playing in the room where the other phone was. No matter how many times we hit off on the phone, it wouldn't turn off and my roommate swears she didn't leave the radio on in her room. We all slept in the living room that night huddled together, and after that, none of us wanted to stay there. For the next couple weeks, we felt the presence even stronger and saw more flashes of red. Six weeks later we all moved out. My roommates rented different apartments in the facility and I moved away. I still get chills when I think of that place.

7. She Sees Dead People

I have seen those who have passed, but usually cannot hear them. And it's not all the time. It's really strange and creepy. I never met my husband's cousin but attended the funeral with him for support. I saw his dead cousin standing by his casket watching his brother make a tear-filled speech. I just kind of stared at him a bit freaked, he was shaking his head looking rather sad. Then he noticed me and he just scrunched his face like he was trying really hard to look at something. When my husband touched me to hold my hand, I looked away; when I looked back, he was gone. I also used to see our dead dog clear as day walk down the hallway, and a few others in my family family. Also we have Dotty, who is a little girl that stays in my sons' room and cries when they are gone. I cannot see her but hear her, my son has claimed to see her numerous times. And my husband has as well. 

8. Spooky Little Spirits Roam Their Home

Shortly after moving into the house, I was trying to go to sleep when I felt the bed shift at the end like someone had just sat down. Thinking that it was my daughter, I sat up to tell her to go back downstairs, but no one was there. After a few seconds, I laid back down and felt the mattress rise up as if someone had gotten off the bed. And when my youngest was a baby, she used to 'follow' something through the house. Sometimes out of nowhere, she would stare and point, especially up the stairs to our bedroom. We've talked to our neighbors and one of the grandmothers who visits from Mexico says that when she comes here to visit, she sees a little girl and boy at our house. We only have daughters.

Have you ever encountered a ghost or a spirit?

Image © Ken Rosenthal/Corbis

A Texas woman was executed last night after she was convicted of starving a 9-year-old boy to death 10 years ago. Lisa Ann Coleman, 38, will now go down in history as the 15th woman executed in the United States since 1976, when the Supreme Court made the call to resume death penalty sentences. The crimes she committed against Davontae Williams, who was the son of her girlfriend at the time, were horrendous: he was found in 2004 weighing just 36 pounds and wearing disposable diapers.

A pediatrician testified that he had more than 250 injuries, including burns from cigarettes or cigars and scars from having his arms and legs bound. It was also discovered that he had been locked in a closet and hit with a golf club. He was so malnourished that he had stopped growing and developed pneumonia, which experts say was the official cause of his death. 

As is the case with most death penalty sentences, this one wasn't without controversy and much debate -- almost up until the minute Coleman was killed by lethal injection.

Literally, less than two hours before she was executed, Coleman's lawyer appealed to the US Supreme Court to overrule the decision to put her to death. Although she was convicted in 2006 of murder and kidnapping, Coleman's attorneys have argued all along that Davontae had mental health issues that neither Coleman nor the boy's mom, Marcella Williams, knew how to handle. They tried to spin the women's horrific actions to make it seem like they were only trying to discipline the boy but didn't know the proper way to do so.

Which just sounds like a lot of bunk to me. You don't have to have a Master's degree in child psychology to know the motive behind denying a child food -- to the point where he weighed as much as my 3-year-old daughter -- isn't to teach, it's to torture.

John Stickels, Coleman's lawyer, also argued that his client shouldn't have been charged with aggravated kidnapping, which was the charge that pretty much made it possible to sentence Coleman to death.

The woman's original trial attorney, Fred Cummings, said it was "unfair" that Williams -- who was "as culpable in the death of Davontae" as Coleman, according to him -- got the lighter sentence of life in prison while his client got death, in part because this wasn't her first brush with the law.

I don't advocate using the death penalty -- ever. And that's not because I don't think criminals like Coleman deserve to die. But the whole eye-for-an-eye solution never sat well with me. I don't believe I have the right to play God, and, yes, I know Coleman felt she had that right with Davontae, but her twisted, erroneous way of thinking doesn't suddenly grant me the power to take her life.

But it's also my opinion that death is the easy way out for people who commit heinous crimes against others. A more fitting punishment would have been for Coleman to live the rest of her days in solitary confinement with only her own demons as companions.

You could argue that a life sentence is even more torturous than death, so no, I don't consider myself merciful and kind for thinking this way.

Although I think it makes a lousy defense for why Coleman shouldn't be put to death, I also can't help but agree with Cummings. It seems rather arbitrary to sentence her to lethal injection but allow the boy's own mother -- who did nothing to protect her son -- to live because she agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a plea bargain. Big whoop. Her guilty plea does not automatically indicate that she feels remorse, but it does confirm she knew what she had to do to get herself a lighter sentence.

Do you think Lisa Ann Coleman deserved to be executed?

Image via Texas Department of Criminal Justice

"Those were the daaaaays!" Archie and Edith Bunker sang. And no sooner do we hit middle-age than most of us begin wailing how great things wereback then. Hey, remember when you used to play outside all day long with no fear of pedophiles, and gas was a nickel a gallon, and no one ever showed their boobs on TV? Remember when authority was respected, the cops were always the good guys, and no one ever in the history of the world got murdered? Well, if you remember those days, your memory is a tad skewed. Surely some things were better then (gas and housing were cheaper for one), but lots of things sucked big time. Here are eight reasons life is much better now than it's ever been.

Are you surprised by #6?

So say you were going through a tough time in your life. Would you a) get some therapy, b) treat yourself to a night out, c) call your friends and talk it over? If you did any of the aforementioned, then you are not a woman from Connecticut who eased her emotional turmoil by stealing an angel statue from a teen's grave site.

Brandon Reeve died a decade ago at age 19 in a motorcycle crash. Since then, his family has kept a loving and sad eye over his grave, regularly placing flowers and statues on it. But when someone started vandalizing the site, they decided to set up a surveillance camera.

They were shocked when video of a woman with a blonde bob driving a white SUV pulled up alongside the grave, casually filched an angel and puppy statue that had been there for 10 years from the grave, and then placed it quickly in her vehicle. She then stood for a moment with her arms crossed, as if trying to pretend that she had come to pay her respects.

When video of the shocking scene made the news, the woman turned herself in. That's when she reportedly told police that she had plundered the grave because she felt a "connection" with the statue and hoped it would help her "persevere" through hard times.

Brandon's dad, James, is not having any of it: "She's just sorry she got caught," he says.

You'd think stealing from a grave site is something a troubled teen would do, but in another case that hit the news -- that of a woman who stole a toy from a child's grave -- the suspect was also a grown woman who should know better.

Who knows why this woman decided to take something from a dead person, who had already had his life taken from him, but there's no excuse for it, I don't care how sad you're feeling. The woman was driving an expensive car, surely she could have afforded to go buy something to cheer herself up. Or maybe she needs to look in the mirror and realize that she feels like crap because she's the kind of person who would steal from a dead teen's grave.

More from The Stir: Dead Woman Goes Missing After Creepy Cemetery Robbery

The dad vows to press charges and hopefully she gets what is coming to her.

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Why would she do this?

Image via WFSB

We do not need more fear related to vaccinations, but a major mistake or sabotage occurred resulting in the deaths of at least 50 infants after receiving the measles vax, which is already highly contested. The vaccinations were a part of a United Nations campaign in Syria, a country already experiencing many horrifying issues. And even though this happened far from home, we need to find out exactly what happened and make sure something like this doesn't happen again there or anywhere.

What we know so far is the measles vaccine may have had an anesthetic accidentally mixed into it, which is deadly for children.

Why was it mixed with anything at all? Apparently the vaccine comes in multi-dose vials and it had to be diluted for single injections. It may have been accidentally cut with Atracurium, a muscle relaxant commonly used during surgery. The bottles that Atracurium is stored in reportedly look similar to the safe dilution. Dr. Mohammad Hamadi said, "We are investigating if it’s a mistake by the medical crew or a criminal act." No matter what happened, children have died. This is truly devastating.

Early reports said that at least 15 babies under the age of 1 died shortly after being vaccinated. The symptoms are "tightness of breath, slowed heart rate, wheezing, and inflammation of the larynx." Some of the children experienced convulsions, which, as one doctor pointed out, is related to a neurotoxin. The latest reports are saying the number of fatalities is more than 50.

The UN vaccination campaign has been suspended until a cause is determined.

This is an isolated issue affecting this area in Syria only. But we still need to be sure vaccines are safe when given to children anywhere in the world. Mistakes like this cannot happen.

Does this information make you fear vaccines?

Image via NIAID/Flickr

What in the world is going on with the domestic assault charges in the NFL recently? First there was Ray Rice, who knocked out his wife (his fiance at the time -- poor girl ended up marrying him anyway) in a casino hotel elevator. Then Adrian Peterson got charged with child abuse for "whooping" his 4-year-old son, leaving him bloodied and bruised, and then he was accused of abusing another one of his kids as well.

Now Arizona Cardinals running back Jonathan Dwyer has been charged with domestic assault, for allegedly head-butting his wife and breaking her nose for refusing to have sex with him, and punching her in the face the next day.

The 25-year-old professional athlete was arrested on Wednesday for two altercations that happened in July, just days before he left for training camp. He spent the night in jail and was released Thursday after making a brief court appearance.

Dwyer's wife, Kayla Tobin Dwyer, 27, left the state after the incidents, but came forward a week ago when she reportedly received suicidal text text messages from him, including one with a picture of a knife.

Police had responded to the first incident, after being called by a neighbor who overheard the couple fighting. Reportedly, Dwyer had attempted to kiss and undress his unwilling wife before the head-butt to her nose occurred.

However, they did not make an arrest, because Dwyer hid in the bathroom and threatened to kill himself in front of his wife and their toddler son if she didn't lie and say he wasn't there.

The next day, he allegedly punched her on the left side of her face, punched walls, threw a cellphone out a second-story window, and threw a shoe at their 17-month-old son, who thankfully was not injured. Witnesses report that she said, "I'm calling the police."

Dwyer admitted to hiding in the bathroom after the first altercation, and to sending the picture of the knife and suicidal threats. He also owned up to punching walls in his home, although he denied committing an assault.

He was released on a $25,000 bond on Thursday, and ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device. He is to have no contact with his wife and son, and has been deactivated from all Cardinal team activities.

Do you think there's a sudden upswing in domestic violence in professional sports, or is it just being reported more?

Image via Hector Alejandro/Flickr

It's getting to be that time of year again -- the weather is cooling down, the leaves are beginning to turn, and kids are deciding what they want to be for Halloween. Some go cute, as a kitty or princess or superhero, while others go for a scary look, maybe a devil or a witch. But one thing kids shouldn't go as is disturbing.

Parents in a Wisconsin town are understandably upset that the local stores are marketing and selling ghoulish "Slenderman" costumes. Last spring, a 12-year-old girl was allegedly stabbed 19 times by two of her peers at a sleepover, in homage to the fictional character.

One Milwaukee-area mom, Paulette Thompson, said, "It's horrible, I can't imagine how many people would wear that."

Another parent, Chris Sobczak, said, "I think the stores could do a better job choosing their costumes for kids to not promote violence."

Not all the stores are carrying it though. Halloween Express has decided not to carry the Slenderman costume, which retails for around $40. Owner Jon Majdoch explained, "We don't mind scary, but we try not to be sick ... I have two daughters and I try to run my business so that they would be proud. So we try and carry a selection of stuff that is appropriate for families and having fun."

He continued, "We don't want customers to come in and have any sinister feel ... we want to be bright and sunshiny. We want music to be playing and a happy feel."

This really is sinister. Thankfully the victim survived, but according to her doctors, one of her wounds was a mere millimeter away from nicking her heart and causing certain death in the woods where she was stabbed.

The two classmates who stabbed her are also 12, and have been charged with attempted murder, and face up to 65 years in prison for their crime. One of the girls has been found not competent to stand trial, and this week, a Waukesha County judge ordered the other to be evaluated by a doctor.

This just seems like a really bad judgment call by the stores selling these costumes. Scary is one thing, but to dress as Slenderman in the town where a child was almost killed in homage to him is just wrong.

Do you think it's morally wrong for Halloween stores in this town to sell the Slenderman costume?

Image via mdl70/Flickr

Now in Teenagers Acting Like Idiots News ... 18-year-old Tristan Meyers crashed his SUV around 5:30 A.M. on Sunday, after his 17-year-old passenger lit his armpit hair on fire with a pocket lighter.

The Idaho teens were goofing around when Meyers lost control of the Ford Bronco, rolling it off the road. The boys, along with two female backseat passengers, aged 15 and 16, were not wearing their seat belts.

The boys remained in the vehicle, but the girls were thrown, and through some miracle, none had to be treated for anything other than minor injuries. Thank God no other cars were involved in the crash.

Initially they tried to tell law enforcement officers that Meyers had swerved to avoid hitting an animal in the road, but the Ada County Sheriff's Department uncovered the truth after talking to all four of the teens.

More from The Stir: Teen Texting & Driving Is Now Officially Worse Than You Think

Meyers was ticketed for inattentive driving after deputies reported that he had been speeding and driving erratically before the crash. His passenger was cited for "interfering with the driver's safe operation of a vehicle." Yup, lighting the driver's armpit hair on fire would definitely compromise his ability to drive safely.

What could these kids possibly have been thinking? Thank God they're OK, and let's just hope they learned a very valuable lesson -- don't light the driver on fire if you want to reach your destination safely.

What the dumbest thing you ever did as a teen in a car?

Image via DragonLord878/Flickr

Six small children, a mom, and a grandfather are all dead tonight after a horrific suspected murder-suicide in North Florida. Gilchrist County Sheriff Robert Schultz held a news conference on Thursday, and said that 51-year-old alleged suicide victim Don Spirit was the only suspect in the deaths of his daughter and her six children.

The kids ranged in age from newborn to 11 years, making the crime all the more abominable. Their mom, Sarah Lorraine Spirit was just 28. The elder Spirit's grandchildren were identified as Alanna Stewart, 2½ months, Brandon Stewart, 4, Destiny Stewart, 5, Johnathon Kuhlmann, 8, Kylie Kuhlmann, 9, and Kaleb Kuhlmann, 11. They lived in the small town of Bell, Florida.

Police received a 911 call from Spirit around 4 P.M. on Thursday, and made contact with him before he turned the gun on himself. Police found the seven other bodies upon searching the residence, and they believe they were all dead before they even got there.

Schultz said it wasn't the first time officers from his department had been called out there. In fact, he said they'd "been out to that residence on numerous law enforcement occasions."

Records show that Don Spirit has a criminal record going back at least 22 years. in 1992, he was convicted of battery, and he has 1994 charge for possession of drug paraphernalia. In 1995, he was convicted of "depriving a child of food and shelter, and in 2003 was convicted for "possession of a firearm by a convicted felon."

At the time of the weapons charge, Spirit plead guilty after her accidentally shot and killed his 8-year-old son while they were hunting.

There is no known motive for the killings.

The town of Bell only has about 350 people, and Schultz said the community will be "devastated" by this. "I haven't handled something like this at all," he said. "And to say this community is not going to be devastated by this -- for a small county, we're all family here. There's certain things in life you can explain. There's some things you can't. This is something you can't explain ..."

"We'll get through this," he said. "I will continue to ask everybody to pray for the families."

How would you react if something like this happened in your community?

If you are having suicidal thoughts and need help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

Image via Florida Department of Corrections

Almost exactly one year ago, we were horrified to learn that a 5-month-old baby was killed after her mother placed her in a carseat on a stationary luggage conveyor belt at an airport in Spain and then couldn't remove her in time after the belt began moving. The belt reportedly threw her out of her seat, and she died after landing in a gap between two conveyor belts.

Mom Nathania Terry has launched a lawsuit against Vanderlande Industries, a Netherlands-based global luggage supplier for airports, for wrongful death, negligence, design defects, and failure to warn. She claims the belt turned on suddenly and without warning and that there was no way for her to turn it off -- and no way for her to save her baby's life.

Last September, Terry, who is American, was traveling from London to Spain and arrived at the airport with her two children -- one of whom was infant Vashti Terry. The mom says she placed Vashti on a conveyor belt that wasn't moving so that she could retrieve a stroller at the end of the belt.

But the next thing Terry knew, the belt suddenly turned on and little Vashti was thrown between an area where two belts abutted -- despite her efforts to try and rescue her baby, she was crushed to death.

More from The Stir: Baby Who Died in Airport Conveyor Belt Tragedy Couldn't Have Been Saved

I'm torn over this mom's lawsuit and whether I think she has a strong argument. On the one hand, though many of us wouldn't take a chance like this with our babies, if there was no signage near the belt that warns people of how dangerous and fast-moving the conveyor is, I suppose she could argue that she didn't realize it would be unsafe.

Terry claims the conveyor belt had a sensor that activated it as soon as it detected an object had been placed on top of it. Again, if this is the case, I can't imagine why a sign wouldn't have been placed near the belt warning travelers about this.

A better argument here might be: why wasn't a warning provided prior to when the belt began moving? I can't remember a time I didn't hear a sound -- almost like a shrill alarm -- go off right before the belt started moving and pushing luggage out. But if this is done as a courtesy in certain airports, but isn't a requirement, then -- again -- I'm not sure Terry's attorneys can successfully win with this point.

Vanderlande says it will not comment on pending litigation, but Spanish authorities said last year in a statement that the luggage carousel complied with safety standards and that the baby's death was due to parental neglect.

Such a sad story and, of course, nothing will bring Vashti back or heal this mom's grieving heart.

Do you think this mom has a strong case against the luggage carousel company?

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A father has been arrested for endangering the welfare of a child -- despite video evidence seemingly showing him doing the exact opposite. David Bryant, 25, of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, arrived at his ex-girlfriend's house to find their young son in a bassinet outside, his face horribly bruised. The man began pounding on the door, accusing Dalishia Salter, 23, of hitting their son and demanding for him to be let in. For whatever reason, he begins filming the entire episode.

The man spends several moments crying and trying to comfort his son while banging on the door and demanding to be let in. At some point, he somehow gets in -- it's unclear how, but it sounds suspiciously like the door might have been burst down.

"You beat my son? You hit my son like that?" he repeatedly yells, as Salter repeatedly tells him to get out of her "crib."

She also says, over and over, "I don't care." And at one point she says, "I told you to get him."

The video certainly seems to give the impression of a caring dad who went ballistic when he finds his son beaten; however, it wasn't just Salter who was subsequently arrested -- it was Bryant too.

The details are unclear as to why he would have been charged as well, but reportedly Salter told police that the boy had bumped into things, and then she tried to place the blame on Bryant, saying he had pushed a flat-screen TV off a shelf and it hit the baby.

At the hospital, doctors reportedly determined that the boy had suffered other injuries over a long period of time. He also reportedly had a tear in his mouth from what appeared to be an object shoved inside of it.

One video isn't enough to obtain an accurate picture of what exactly is going on here, but the way the mother doesn't once defend herself or say, "I didn't do that!" makes you seriously wonder. I would think that any mom who is being accused of child abuse would have said something to effect of, "How DARE you!" and explain what happened. But not this mom.

The dad now has a GoFundMe account to help with his legal fees, and a petition is circulating to get his charges dropped.

Perhaps videotaping the incident wasn't the best idea -- but on the other hand, it may be the thing that defends him from these charges.

Here is the video, what do you think happened? Be warned, it is graphic:

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I've heard school bus horror stories before -- and even experienced a minor issue firsthand with my kindergartener last year that nonetheless created a bunch of confusion and worry on our first day of school -- but this news out of South Carolina makes me want to hug my kids' driver and thank her for 1) being so consistently good-natured and patient even though I'm sure her job is a freaking nightmare sometimes, and 2) never once ditching a pukey kid on the side of the road.

That's exactly what a driver did this week when one of her students complained of feeling sick. After an 11-year-old boy told her he was nauseous, the driver pulled over at the next unassigned stop, dropped him off ... and drove away. If a neighbor hadn't called the boy's mom, she wouldn't have even known where he was, or that he needed her help.

Victoria Stone's 11-year-old son called his mother in distress on Tuesday minutes after he'd been picked up from his own stop in the morning:

He says, 'Mom, help me, please.' He says, 'My chest is beating really hard and I really need to throw up.' He said, 'I feel like I can't breathe.'

Stone told him to inform the driver, and that's when the driver apparently dropped Joe at the next stop, which was neighbor Betty Breeden's driveway. According to Breeden,

The bus went on and the child was left there in the grass.

Breeden called Stone, who drove over and discovered Joe hunched in the bushes near the driveway, close to the road.

If I wouldn't have slowed down, I would have run over my own child. He was on his knees, throwing up. The bus was gone. There was no one in sight.

Oh man, this would have infuriated me. I mean, I'm trying to view it from the bus driver's point of view -- she was likely on a tight schedule, and maybe she even asked Joe if he thought he could just walk back home from his neighbor's location. Maybe it wasn't that far, although the fact that the mom had to get in the car to pick him up means it likely wasn't just down the block.

But the fact remains that she dropped a child at an unassigned stop and then just took off. Hey, no one likes to deal with barf on a bus, but this kid could have been experiencing a medical emergency. It's especially outrageous if he actually told her he was having trouble breathing.

A school district spokeswoman said the driver was an 11-year veteran and had no previous incidents, but:

Our policy is very clear. A driver is not supposed to leave a child at an unassigned bus stop and certainly in a situation like this, which is unusual, not to leave a child unattended.

The driver "resigned in lieu of termination" Tuesday. Joe's parents don't sound quite satisfied with that outcome, though: they've filed a report with the school resource officer and it will be assigned to an investigator to follow up. Personally I don't think I'd be looking to press charges if this happened to my kid, but I'd probably be thinking that most people don't get to resign (and thus reap various possible benefits like continuation of health benefits, severance, and being able to say you quit in future job interviews) when they've royally screwed up -- they get fired.

Would you be upset if a bus driver left your kid in a similar situation?

Image via thoseguys119/Flickr

If you're trying to catch a kid in the act of bullying and sexually harassing young girls at his school, it would seem odd to team him up with a young girl and send them both to the bathroom together. But this is apparently what happened at Sparkman Middle School in Huntsville, Alabama. Reportedly, a teacher's aide at the school, June Simpson, crafted a plan to catch a young special needs boy at the school in the act of harassing a classmate. To that end, she reportedly set up a 14-year-old girl to go into the bathroom with the boy, and she would walk in and catch him harassing her. Unfortunately, that is not at all the way it turned out.

Reportedly, the girl agreed (as part of the "plan") to meet the boy in the bathroom for sex. When they got into the bathroom, the teacher failed to show up to check on them, and the boy raped the girl.

No word on why the teacher seemed to forget she was supposed to go in and "catch" the boy committing an act of violence. Reportedly, the girl had extensive injuries, but the school downplayed them and referred to the rape as "inappropriate touching."

The teacher's aide was eventually fired, but the principal and several other players in the bizarre "plan" are still at the school. One has even been promoted.

This sounds like a dangerous plan from the get-go. A child with a history of harassing classmates shouldn't be sent alone anywhere with another child -- but if you absolutely need a witness to confirm harassment, then why the hell wouldn't the teacher show up like she was supposed to?

The girl's father has filed a lawsuit against the school, and the girl and her family have since moved out of state.

Sounds like the boy should have been watched more closely so teachers could catch him in his supposed acts of harassment rather than trying to play detective and using a young special needs girl as "bait" in some kind of a "sting." Perhaps the teacher meant well, but this is a plan that had the potential to go all kinds of wrong, and it sounds like it did.

Image via Vincent Li/Flickr

Eighth grade Weaverville Elementary School student Kyle Bradford was given a chicken burrito for lunch in the school cafeteria. His friend got a cheese sandwich but didn't like it. So 13-year-old Kyle did what many not hungry kids would do and shared his lunch with the friend. Kyle noted that it seemed like he couldn't get a "normal lunch." He was doing what he thought was a good deed -- helping another kid out. That act of kindness landed him in detention. 

Kyle didn't deserve detention. Why are we worrying about the wrong things?

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I understand that this is about safety and the potential allergies of another student. But we are talking about 13-year-olds here -- they know if they are allergic to something or not. And even so, Kyle's record shouldn't be tarnished for being kind to another. A warning would have sufficed.

The Superintendent of the Trinity Alps Unified School District that oversees Weaverville School in California said, "We have a policy that prohibits students from exchanging meals. Of course if students are concerned about other students not having enough to eat, we would definitely want to consider that, but because of safety and liability, we cannot allow students to actually exchange meals."

I get that. I agree. But detention? Seems excessive. Now if Kyle was a serial lunch sharer, then yes. If he was warned a few times not to share his lunch and he continued to do so, then I would understand. But our little Robin Hood of the cafeteria doesn't deserve to be punished for being kind, for having a heart. That isn't what we should teach our kids. Kyle, apparently, is a bit of a rebel and said he would share his lunch again despite the rules. He's just going to have to learn to be a little more sneaky about it. And make sure he's not giving peanuts to the peanut allergic.

What do you think? Does Kyle deserve detention?

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Kids. They are an endless source of pride for parents ... but also plenty of embarrassing moments too. Just ask Diana Brown. Her 10-year-old daughter Dejannah got stuck in the washing machine and they had to call the fire department to get her out. The little girl claims it was an accident while she was simply taking out a load, but here's why we are not buying it.

She says that she was bending over the machine and then tumbled face first inside. Hmm. Something doesn't add up here. As per the photo above, this was not an oversized machine, certainly not big enough to easily tumble into. And if she went in head first, how in the world did she turn her whole body around inside that little cylinder?

She spent an hour this way. "I was scared at first, and then it started to get funny," the little girl told a reporter. The situation wasn't so funny to her mother. Brown certainly had a natural initial reaction. "We was pissed," she said. "We were like, 'How the hell are we gonna get her out of there?'" They couldn't. Dejannah was trapped. After a call to 911, the police and fire department arrived to save the day.

But while the child insists that she didn't do it on purpose, I find that hard to believe. I bet that after getting the order to remove the items from the machine, she got the bright idea to see if she could fit inside. That certainly isn't outside the realm of possibility for a 10-year-old. Kids do silly, nonsensical things all the time. However, we may be the only ones so skeptical.

Dejannah says she was so traumatized that she has learned one important lesson: "I'm never helping my mom with laundry ever again," she said. Though mom says she can at least keep working with the front-load dryer.

 Watch more on the story:

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Do you think Dejannah accidentally fell into the washing machine?

Image via CBS 2 New York

A New Jersey high school teacher is behind bars after being accused of having sex with three of her 15-year-old students multiple times. Nicole Dufault, 34, allegedly had "full intercourse and engaged in oral sex with the underage teens in her car and on Columbia High School's campus, in Maplewood, from 2013 to 2014."

The mom-of-two was arrested in her home Wednesday evening, and she was charged the next morning with multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

The Essex County Prosecutor's Office said the boys were students at the school, where Dufault has taught language arts for nine years. Her own children have been removed from her custody, and she's being held on $500,000 bail.

School officials explained the situation to parents in a letter. In part, it stated, "The CHS administrative team, guidance counselors, student assistance counselors, school social workers, and teachers are supporting students and staff impacted by events ... If your child is showing signs of stress in reaction to the events or the investigation, please reach out to his or her guidance counselor or a member of the administrative team."

It's hard to say why women do these things. Reports say she had two toddler boys at home, so maybe it's some sort of desperate attempt to reclaim her youth? Why couldn't she find someone over 18 to get her jollies on? What. The. Heck?

As a parent, you expect your kids to be safe from predators at school. That's why they do background checks, right? Unfortunately, all the safety procedures in the world can't protect you from people who haven't been caught yet, or haven't acted badly yet.

Teenagers are so impressionable, these boys are probably suffering some heavy emotional trauma. I mean, what 15-year-old boy doesn't have sex on the brain all the time? But doing the teacher is morally and ethically wrong, but she probably put pressure on them and rationalized it ... Just such a crappy thing to do those kids.

Do you ever worry about your kids being taken advantage of at school?

Image via Essex County Sheriff's Office

When the staff at the Barnsley Auction Centre in South Yorkshire found broken glass all over the floor, they figured it was the work of intruders or vandals. But when they watched the CCTV footage, they discovered the scary truth -- a glass cabinet door opened and shattered all on its own.

There was no one near the cabinet. No one came in or out. There was no one else there, but the video captured the action clear as day. Business owner Danny Parker, 42, believes that it could've been a ghost, even though he's never believed in them before.

An electrician had found the glass remains after going out and returning, and reported it to Parker. The business owner remarked, "It's all a bit spooky really. The electrician had gone out for 10 minutes and locked the building because nobody was in there ... when he got back he stepped on the shards of glass and had no idea what had happened."

He continued, "He went all round the building trying to find someone but couldn't find anyone. After looking at the CCTV frame by frame I saw the glass shatter. It was really creepy."

More from The Stir: Creepy Footage From Pub Security Cam May Be a Real Ghost (VIDEO)

As Parker reported the incident to others in the area, he learned that he's not the first one to have experienced something spooky -- the building has a reputation of being haunted.

"I've told some of the shop owners next door and they said the building has always been haunted -- even before we got there," he explained. "I've never believed in ghosts before but this has really spooked me. I'm a bit wary when I'm locking up on my own now."

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Do you believe in ghosts?

Image via Daily Mail Online

If anyone needs proof that moms are the real superheroes of the world, this is it. Jessica Arrendale, a 33-year-old mom from Georgia, paid the ultimate price when her former Marine husband attacked and killed her while reportedly drunk. But she didn't allow their precious 6-month-old daughter Cobie to suffer the same fate and saved her life by hiding her in a toilet bowl so her father couldn't hurt her.

Arrendale and 30-year-old Antoine Davis reportedly returned home from a dinner date when Jessica's mother says he became abusive. Jessica, who was holding their baby, got out a baseball bat to try to fend off her husband, but he reportedly took it from her and hit her -- and their baby -- with it several times.

What happened next was both a nightmare and a miracle.

The woman allegedly ran into their bathroom and locked the door behind her. Davis was able to get an assault rifle and kick down the door. He then reportedly shot his wife in the head one time -- but once was enough to end her life.

Here's the only bright light: according to Jessica's mother, the mom fell over the toilet bowl after she was shot and dropped Cobie into it.

When police arrived, they found Davis had committed suicide in his baby's room by shooting himself. And it took 13 hours, but they eventually found baby Cobie -- alive in the toilet bowl. This poor angel reportedly sustained a head injury that is believed to have happened when Davis struck her and Jessica with the bat. Jessica's mother says she will care for Cobie once she is released from the hospital, so at least we know someone caring will provide for her.

Yet another sickening domestic abuse case -- one with a horrific ending. A child whose mother obviously had so much love in her heart for her doesn't deserve to have her ripped from her life before she celebrates her first birthday. It's unfortunate the man reportedly responsible for this was too cowardly to live and accept the consequences he deserved.

At the very least, we can say this: Cobie will grow up hearing stories about how her mother was her hero.

What do you think about what this mom did before she died?

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