The tough economy has undertakers thinking outside the coffin.

Many now are renting their plush facilities for weddings, USA Today reports.

“The idea of getting married in a funeral home wasn’t much of a hurdle to overcome,” Paulita Flores, 21, of Indianapolis, told the paper. “At first . . . it did concern me. But when we walked in and saw everything, it was overwhelming . . . It was the perfect place.”

***

This suspected con man couldn’t have picked a worse mark.

Johnny Butts allegedly approached William Pace at a grocery in Randolph, Mass., and offered to sell him what turned out to be phony gold jewelry for $100.

Pace is not only the town’s police chief. He also owns a jewelry store.

***

New York finally has a rival for the country’s weirdest Legislature.

Ohio state Rep. Jay Hottinger accused some fellow Republicans of toilet-papering his house — and one of them admitted helping plan the prank.

“I’ve got three daughters, ages 15, 13 and 9,” Hottinger said.

“I always expected the house would be toilet-papered, but I didn’t think it would be by my colleagues.”

***

A marauding monkey named Lucky, who terrorized resort towns in central Japan, is back home at a nature park.

Lucky has bitten 120 people during previous escapes.

She was recaptured when keepers called out her name.

***

A 13-year-old boy in rural Norway was returning home from school when he was circled by a pack of wolves.

Fortunately, Walter Acre was armed with some heavy metal — music that is.

He blasted it from his cellphone, and the animals — who probably preferred Prokoviev’s musical encounter between Peter and the wolf — ran for their lives.