‘Bottled ghosts’ sell for £1300
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Two bottled “ghosts” have sold for NZ2830 (£1305) in an online auction in New Zealand.
The ghosts, supposedly trapped inside two glass vials, were put up for bidding by Avie Woodbury from the southern city of Christchurch. She said they were captured in her house during an exorcism.
The spirits were trapped inside the vials with stoppers and then dipped in holy water, which she says “dulls the spirits’ energy.”
She said they were the spirits of an old man who lived in the house during the 1920s, and a powerful, disruptive little girl who turned up after a session with a spirit-calling Ouija board.
Since an exorcism at the property last July led to their capture, there has been no further spooky activity in the house, she said.
The auction attracted more than 214,000 page views and dozens of questions before the winning bid, Trademe auction site spokesman Paul Ford said. The name of the winning bidder was not released.
Woodbury said that once an “exorcist’s fee” has been deducted, the proceeds of the spirit sale will go to the animal welfare group the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The auction drew derision from some quarters, with one posting on the site declaring: “I have two spirits in bottles at home.
“I think they are called Jim Beam and the other is Johnny Walker.”
Flying Hovercraft for sale in New Zealand
Friday, March 5th, 2010
The ultimate in big boys’ toys – a hovercraft that flies – has been put up for sale on an internet auction website by its New Zealand inventor.
Rudy Heeman, who lives in the South Island city of Nelson, requisitioned a gas bottle from the family barbecue, parts from his wife’s car, and the control lever from his daughter’s motor scooter for his creation.
Looking like a conventional hovercraft but with the addition of detachable wings, the vehicle cruises at 56mph when flying, has a range of more than 140 miles, and reaches a height of about 10 feet.
It is powered by a 1.8-litre engine.
On the www.trademe.co.nz auction website the sale has already received more than 100,000 hits, has shot past the reserve price of NZ$20,000 (£9,300), and has attracted a long string of questions from viewers.
Mr Heeman, who has been building hovercrafts as a hobby in his back yard for more than 13 years, said this is his first flying model.
He says on the website: “It has been called all sorts of things, including aircraft, aeroplane, hovercraft and flying boat.
“It is in fact a WIG [a wing in ground effect] in the form of a hovercraft
“This machine is fast and furious, it roars like a lion and is not for the faint-hearted. It is adrenalin-pumping and exciting.
“Having a go on it is like a bungee jump, however, the thrill lasts as long as the ride.”
Mr Heeman said he thought farmers could make good use of his invention.
“You can land in a paddock and you wouldn’t have to worry about opening and closing the gates. You just go over them.”
The lightweight, canvas-covered wings are attached to the craft with what he calls a “Jesus pin”.
“If that comes out, you see Jesus,” he said.
Because the hovercraft is not classed as an aircraft under New Zealand aviation laws, the operator does not require a pilot’s licence.
It has taken Mr Heeman, a mechanic, 800 hours to build his invention and he has clocked up more than 75 hours’ flying time in it.
He said he was selling the craft because he needs the funds to get started on more “secret projects”.
Tiny dragon similar to Avatar’s Turoks
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
James Cameron’s Avatar may have boasted gigantic flying lizards called Turoks, but did you know they were more than just virtual reality?
Neither did we until we saw this miniature Indonesian version.
Two bottled ghosts for sale
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
Two vials, which the owner claims contain the spirits of ghosts exorcised from a house in New Zealand, have been put up for sale on online auction site, TradeMe.
Entitled “Two Captured Ghosts” the auction had reached a top price of NZ$62 ($47) after 35 bids yesterday (AEDT).
The auction description claims the spirits were captured by an exorcist from a spiritual church at a property in Christchurch, the largest city on New Zealand’s South Island.
The seller claims that one spirit belongs to a man who died in the house in the 1920s.
“We have had no (paranormal) activity since they were bottled on July 15, 2009,” the seller said.
“So I believe they are in the bottles.”
The auction said the “holy water” in the vials dulled the spirit’s energy and put them to sleep.
To revive the spirit, the buyer would need to pour the contents into a dish and let it “evaporate into your house”.
“I just want to get rid of them as they scare me,” the seller said.
1,200 pairs of shoes stolen from funeral homes
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
A South Korean second-hand shoe-shop owner stole more than 1,200 pairs of designer shoes by pretending to be a mourner in many funeral homes and hospitals.
So much more than just a man with an uncontrollable fetish for shoes, this haul of footwear was the haul to end all others. The police have put the “lost soles” on display in the hopes of reuniting them with their original owners.
The 59-year-old thief is a man named Mr. Park, and his victims were all mourners who had removed their shoes in funeral homes out of respect, which is the South Korean national tradition.
Park would attend funerals, remove his own footwear and after the ceremony, put on a more expensive pair and walk off to another funeral across the capital city of Seoul.
He had been under surveillance and Mr. Park himself unwittingly led the police to his secret stash; a warehouse filled to the brim with expensive shoes that he planned to use to replenish his stock.
His modus operandi was bold and clever. Police observed him carefully as he arrived at one funeral home after another in Seoul’s southern Suseo district, removed his cheap footwear, made a brief appearance as a “mourner” inside the home and then donned another expensive pair of shoes and left his own behind.
Police caught him in the act of pilfering three pairs of shoes, which were worth a few thousand dollars collectively.
Whether or not Mrs. Imelda Marcos, famed former first lady of the Philippines who was said to own more than a thousand pair of shoes would have smiled at Mr. Park’s antics is not known, but this man has burgled his last set of shoes if the police in Seoul have anything to say about it!
Fish are falling from the sky
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
While the North and central Australia have been battered by torrential rains, a territory town has had fish falling from the sky.
The freak phenomena happened not once, but twice, on Thursday and Friday afternoon about 6pm at Lajamanu, about 550km southwest of Katherine.
NEWSBREAKER Christine Balmer, who took these photos of the fish on the ground and in a bucket, had to pinch herself when she was told “hundreds and hundreds” of small white fish had fallen from the sky.
“It rained fish in Lajamanu on Thursday and Friday night,” she said, “They fell from the sky everywhere.
“Locals were picking them up off the footy oval and on the ground everywhere.
“These fish were alive when they hit the ground.”
Mrs Balmer, the aged care co-ordinator at the Lajamanu Aged Care Centre, said her family interstate thought she had lost the plot when she told them about the event.
“I haven’t lost my marbles,” she said, reassuring herself. “Thank god it didn’t rain crocodiles.”
Lajamanu sits on the edge of the Tanami Desert, hundreds of kilometres from Lake Argyle and Lake Elliott and even further from the coast. But it’s not the first time the remote community has been bombarded by fins from above.
In 2004, locals reported fish falling from the sky, and in 1974, a similar incident captured international headlines.
The small white fish are believed to be spangled perch, which are very common through much of northern Australia.
Weather bureau senior forecaster Ashley Patterson said the geological conditions were perfect on Friday for a tornado in the Douglas Daly region.
He said it would have been an ideal weather situation to allow the phenomena to occur – but no tornados have been reported to the authority.
“It’s a very unusual event,” he said. “With an updraft, (fish and water picked up) could get up high – up to 60,000 or 70,000 feet.
“Or possibly from a tornado over a large water body – but we haven’t had any reports,” he said.
The phantom breadmaker strikes again
Friday, February 19th, 2010
Residents of a Cornish seaside town have been left mystified by personal gifts of bread left on their doorsteps.
The self-named “Phantom Breadmaker” has been making repeat visits to some homes in Fowey.
When the local town crier first opened his door to the little loaves he was surprised by the personally-addressed parcel.
Having jokingly asked for a special order, he was stunned when on Thursday, it arrived.
Town crier Michael Penprase said: “It was beautiful-looking bread. My wife put a notice in the window asking for a sliced loaf.
“Sure enough, this morning in a bag on the door handle were three sliced loaves of bread.”
People across the town have been sampling the gifts, left with a note from The Phantom Bread Maker of Old Fowey Town pictured as a cloaked figure.
Some have their own theories about who the Phantom is, but no-one is letting on.
Boutique owner Belinda Weatherall said: “It could only happen in a place like Fowey.
“I think it’s a lovely idea and I hope he never gets discovered.”
Police in the town warned people not to eat the bread in case it was contaminated.
Cat starts fire, dog saves family
Friday, February 12th, 2010
A Florida family’s Golden Retriever is being called a canine hero, while the family’s cat should probably be sent to the “dog house.”
Bubba, the retriever, started barking when flames erupted inside the Lake Worth duplex just before midnight.
It started in the front portion of the home, where Saundra Frazer had fallen asleep.
Charles McCauley, who lives in the back of the home with his girlfriend, also heard the barking and came running into the front room where he saw Saundra trying to extinguish the flames with a blanket.
“When I walked out I smelled smoke, so I run to the other door and when I run to the other door the whole wall and her room was engulfed and she was trying to fight it,” McCauley said.
McCauley said the fire kept growing so his next instinct was to get everybody out.
They escaped safely.
Bubba’s loud barks are being credited with waking everyone up and getting them out of the burning house.
They believe if not for him they would have died in the fire.
The occupants believe the fire may have started when the family cat knocked over a burning candle.
The house was heavily damaged.
The American Red Cross is helping the three residents with temporary housing and food.
Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ causes Karaoke killings
Friday, February 12th, 2010
Frank Sinatra’s classic “My Way” has been blamed on a series of karaoke bar murders in the Philippines.
It may be a karaoke classic all over the world, but the song has been linked to a string of violence and even killings due to poor renditions in bars in South-East Asia.
At least half a dozen murders in the last decade have now been linked to the Sinatra favourite according to reports in the New York Times.
Many bars have since had the song removed from play lists as a preventative measure to what have been labeled the “My Way Killings”.
Amateur singer Rodolfo Gregorio said: ‘The trouble with My Way is that everyone knows it and everyone has an opinion. I used to like My Way, but after all the trouble I stopped singing it. You can get killed.’
One-armed cufflink bandit
Thursday, February 11th, 2010
A one-armed British man is being hunted by police for stealing a single cufflink.
The thief pretended to be looking for a gift for his mother before knocking a box of cufflinks to the floor, and then making off with one in the shape of a boxing glove.
The gold cufflink, which is worth $187, was stolen from a jewellery store in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, and police have since released Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage of him in the hope he will be caught.
Shop assistant Sally Ann Manthorp said: “It wasn’t until we watched the CCTV we saw he had an empty sleeve tucked in his pocket.”
The thief is described as white, bald, wearing a dirty navy blue bomber jacket and blue jeans.
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