The Weird, Wild World of Walmart

Does Walmart imitate life or does life imitate Walmart? The ubiquitous big-box chain is very often the setting for births, deaths, marriages, and strange events, reports the Wall Street Journal. Recent incidents include: a man dressed as a cow who stole 26 gallons of milk from a Virginia store in April and handed them out in the parking lot; a rapper filmed a racy music video in the aisles of a New Orleans branch in May; and a man stole a truck filled with Krispy Kreme doughnuts from a Florida Walmart in March until police discovered him sleepily in possession of marijuana.

There's no evidence proving more strange occurrences happen at Walmart than other chains, but with 3,750 locations and 140 million customer visits per week, unique stories—like that of a Houston woman who stomped the hood of the getaway car of three beer thieves—are bound to spring up. "Walmart has become a microcosm of American life," says a Walmart spokesman. "So it is not uncommon to see our share of the things that happen in every town across the country." (More Walmart stories.)