Victim Joseph Stanton

A victim of both physical pain and embarrassment was Joseph Stanton of Bates Township, Michigan, who in 2005 was shot in the torso--by his cat.

Stanton became a very minor temporary celebrity courtesy of nationwide publicity after his cat jumped onto the kitchen counter while its master was cooking and knocked a loaded gun to the floor. The gun went off, injuring Stanton and causing him to join the ranks of unintentional (very) temporary celebrities.

Stanton's misadventure was one of the many strange stories that found their way into Chuck Shepherd's delightful column "News of the Weird," syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate.