"Its owner had taught it to fire a pistol while galloping on the back of a dog."

The most ridiculous thing I have ever read was published in the June 29, 1889 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. The story in full:

“A correspondent writing to a Paris contemporary from Montriebard, in the department of Lois et Cher, says: ‘A learned monkey named Bertran was deeply attached to its owner, who among other tricks, had taught it to fire a pistol while galloping on the back of a dog. The master of the animal, it seems, lately met with certain domestic troubles and, in a dejected frame of mind a few days ago, he sent a bullet through his head, death being instantaneous. The monkey was present at the death of his master, and probably took in every particular. In any case,when a doctor was called in to see if life was extinct in the man he was astonished to find himself in presence of a double suicide, the monkey’s body being stretched beside that of his master, with the revolver being clasped between his fingers. It is stated that the animal picked up the pistol after his master had blown out his brains, and imitated what he had just seen done, sending a bullet through his head precisely as the man had done.'”