SHOCKING! Check Out These Ohio Valley Celebs Before Photoshop!

THE WOMAN YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW
News 7's Rachael Dierkes grew up right here in the valley down in Shadyside, but have you ever noticed anything strange? It takes lots of makeup to hide it, but Dierkes was actually born with a rare condition known as face inversion, which means her face is actually upside-down on her otherwise normal head! Yikes! But Dierkes isn't the only member of WTRF hiding a congenital disorder.

THE MAN YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW
Dr. Dave Walker is known for his striking resemblance to Bill Nye the Science Guy as well as being a meteorologist for Storm Tracker 7. Thanks to an excellent A/V editing squad over at WTRF, Walker is able to hide his conjoined twin, a Mexican man named Pepe who is attached to Walker's neck. It's not only news people who are hiding deformities in the valley, though.




THE MAN YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW
Joe Zelek is a graduate of Buckeye Local High School and a very popular local country musician, but he has never hidden the fact that he is part spider. Before performances, Zelek uses a special mask to hide his six extra eyes. However, in music videos these are usually edited out. Joe has always said that his biggest wish was that he would have been born with eight arms instead of eight eyes, that way he could play all of the instruments in his songs at once! If you thought that was shocking, check out some of these other wacky celebs!






THE MAN YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW
Fred Abdalla has been sheriff of Jefferson County for a long time, like a really long time! Most of the general public think they know what he looks like, but did you know it's all a ruse? Abdalla simply uses a combination of makeup and photoshop to blend in with the crowd, and so criminals don't know what he looks like when he's off the job. Here he is on vacation sunbathing in the Ohio River! Think he's the only local politician who uses a disguise? You thought wrong!

THE MAN YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW
Lou Gentile is the Senator for the 30th district in the Ohio General Assembly, but do any of you know where he originated from? Gentile is actually a cartoon character from a long ago cancelled TV series on Adult Swim. Who knew? Well, nobody did until old footage surfaced of a tossed pilot episode of a shelved series named Boink-Boink! When confronted about it, Gentile publicly admitted last month that he really was animated and issued an apology. What could possibly top that you ask?







THE MAN YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW
Robert Murray is an ancient demon from under the surface of Earth who rises every thousand years to harvest the souls of job seeking Americans and trap them underground in his lair. Of course, everybody already knows this (what, have you been living under a rock!?), but it takes a team of 14 photoshoppers to alter Murray's appearance to make him look human. The more you know!

WTRF Apologizes for Hysteria After Falsely Predicting Apocalypse

WHEELING - StormTracker 7's Dr. Dave Walker apologized on-air to the Ohio Valley after mistakenly predicting the extinction of the human race.

"Someone read a forecast calling for a meteor shower," said Walker. "But when we were transcribing the story, they wrote 'Asteroid Storm' instead and we just ran with it. I take the blame for that. I know better."

Indeed, the graphics department even went too far as well, broadcasting the image above showing the Ohio Valley burning and several craters where cities used to be.

The aftermath of the weather report caused many people to riot in the streets. Vandalism tore through the valley and several local businesses reported robberies. As is always the case after a disaster, the Associated Press had to apologize to the black community.

"We've been through this before," said the president of the Associated Press, Gary Pruitt. "Black people should know by now that we're sorry we keep saying that they're the only ones looting from stores. In the future, we plan to include Jews, Muslims, Cubans and Democrats on that list as well."

The mistake caused more than $119 billion in damages across the Ohio Valley, from cessations in production, the aforementioned vandalism and hospital visits from people suffering heart attacks and seizures after Walker's stoic reporting of the end times.

"He just seemed possessed as he said it," said 83-year-old Laverne James, who was sent to East Ohio Regional Hospital after fainting, falling down her stairs, being impaled by a fire poker, crushed by a falling bookshelf and finally beaten by a group of white people whom the Associated Press described as 'searching' the house. "His pitch dropped and he stared into the camera without even blinking."

"The Earth is on a collision course with the Asteroid Belt," said Walker during the forecast. "There is nothing you can do to save yourself. The world is going to burn and we are all going to die. I repeat, we are all going to die."

WTRF's News 7 Switches to Animation

WHEELING - Channel 7 has lived in the shadow of the more colorful, raunchier News 9 for many years, but station manager George Green vows to change that. On the station's 6 o'clock program, anchor Nate Fluharty announced Green's plan to make the switch to animated news.

"Starting in two months," Fluharty said. "7 News will be presented to you in the form of a cartoon featuring the cast of Comedy Central's Brickleberry. Our current staff of reporters and anchors will voice these characters."

The reaction was almost instant. People across the valley who could figure out social media vowed to make the change from WTOV to WTRF.

"I'l[l] acshully b[e] abel to pay attenshin too the news! [sic]" said 20 year-old Bryce Hall in a Facebook post. "It['s] ushully so boring. [sic]"

Laurie Conway, Jamie Ward, and Rachael Dierkes will take turns providing the voice for Ethel Anderson (blonde woman in picture), who will be the anchor for all hours that the news program airs. Ethel will be joined by Steve Williams (far left), who will be voiced by Nate Fluharty. Woody Johnson (center) will provide weather and features the harmonized voices of Dr. Dave Walker and Brian Davis. Denzel Jackson (the black one) will cover sports. Scott Nolte and Mike Anthony will provide his voice. Sara Yingling and Kelsey Kennedy will do the voice for Connie Cunaman (woman on right), and D.K. Wright will voice the grizzly bear cub named Malloy.