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Fortean Headlines

Long-lost brothers meet again — when one stabs the other​


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/long-lost-brothers-meet-again-when-one-stabs-the-other-02tt2l7sh

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An Italian man who spent 24 years searching for his missing big brother is seriously ill in hospital after his long-lost sibling broke into his home and stabbed him in bed.

Martin Rabanser, 35, said he woke up to find his brother Ivo lunging at him repeatedly with a large hunting knife.

“After 24 years, Martin didn’t recognise his attacker and cried out: ‘Who are you? What do you want?’,” said his lawyer, Nicola Nettis. “Ivo replied: ‘I’m your brother — don’t you recognise me?’”
 

Injecting Algae Into Suffocated Tadpoles Brings Their Brain Cells Back to Life​


/ the next evolution in the reason for zombies in zombie movies

https://www.sciencealert.com/inject...cating-tadpoles-keeps-their-neurons-alive/amp

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When green algae and cyanobacteria were injected into the brains of African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) tadpoles, they were found to breathe life back into the tadpoles' oxygen-starved neurons, almost like internal CPR.
....
Even more incredibly, when the frogs were starved of oxygen until their neurons went silent, the microorganisms in their brains were able to restart and rescue neuronal activity from the brink.
 
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Film inspired by India's motorcycle god​


There's a roadside temple in Pali, about 75km (46 miles) from Jodhpur, where the resident deity is an old Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle kept on a pedestal. Devotees come to pray for motorcycle 'blessings'.

This phenomenon has now been made into a movie - Dug Dug, echoing the thumping sound of a Royal Enfield motorcycle.


motorbike.JPG


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-59036542
 

Man, 30, eaten by piranhas after jumping into lake to escape bees​

https://7news.com.au/news/world/des...fishermen-into-piranha-filled-lake--c-4415004

Couldn't decide if this should go under "bees", "strange deaths" or the "piranha" thread so I put it here.
I wrote it up in my Weekly Weird News letter as "out of the bees and into the piranhas".
Poor guy. But I'm not convinced the piranhas killed him since that's pretty rare. They did snack on him though.
 

'I Never See Anyone Here': Man's Creepy Apartment Complex Saga Prompts Wild Theories​


/this seems like there would be a relevant thread, but not sure where

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/rea...complex-saga-prompts-wild-theories/ar-AAQvthH

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Cody's first video began a few days after a worker from a local restaurant came and placed paper take-out menus in the crack of each unit's front door. While that alone was no cause for alarm, he noticed that flyers stayed put for days, suspended in each unit's doorframe—meaning that no one had been entering or exiting the apartments.

"They say the building's full, but I never see anyone here," he says in the clip. "Are you really telling me people live here but no one on my floor has come in or out of their building in three days?"
 

'I Never See Anyone Here': Man's Creepy Apartment Complex Saga Prompts Wild Theories​


/this seems like there would be a relevant thread, but not sure where

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/rea...complex-saga-prompts-wild-theories/ar-AAQvthH

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Cody's first video began a few days after a worker from a local restaurant came and placed paper take-out menus in the crack of each unit's front door. While that alone was no cause for alarm, he noticed that flyers stayed put for days, suspended in each unit's doorframe—meaning that no one had been entering or exiting the apartments.

"They say the building's full, but I never see anyone here," he says in the clip. "Are you really telling me people live here but no one on my floor has come in or out of their building in three days?"
Now that's grounds for a good conspiracy
 

'I Never See Anyone Here': Man's Creepy Apartment Complex Saga Prompts Wild Theories​


/this seems like there would be a relevant thread, but not sure where

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/rea...complex-saga-prompts-wild-theories/ar-AAQvthH

-----------------------------------------------------------
Cody's first video began a few days after a worker from a local restaurant came and placed paper take-out menus in the crack of each unit's front door. While that alone was no cause for alarm, he noticed that flyers stayed put for days, suspended in each unit's doorframe—meaning that no one had been entering or exiting the apartments.

"They say the building's full, but I never see anyone here," he says in the clip. "Are you really telling me people live here but no one on my floor has come in or out of their building in three days?"

Maybe he's the next Sentinel.
 

'I Never See Anyone Here': Man's Creepy Apartment Complex Saga Prompts Wild Theories​


/this seems like there would be a relevant thread, but not sure where

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/rea...complex-saga-prompts-wild-theories/ar-AAQvthH

-----------------------------------------------------------
Cody's first video began a few days after a worker from a local restaurant came and placed paper take-out menus in the crack of each unit's front door. While that alone was no cause for alarm, he noticed that flyers stayed put for days, suspended in each unit's doorframe—meaning that no one had been entering or exiting the apartments.

"They say the building's full, but I never see anyone here," he says in the clip. "Are you really telling me people live here but no one on my floor has come in or out of their building in three days?"
It may be an apartment block where many of the apartments have been bought by foreign investors (e.g. Chinese).
They will rent out or sell when the value is sky-high.
 

Brits shoving beer bottles and toothbrushes in their rectums cost the NHS £350k each year


An analysis by medics at Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust aimed to uncover the financial burden to the country.

They calculated the “number of rectal foreign bodies that required removal in hospital” between 2010 and 2019.

A total of 3,500 objects were removed from the back passage over the course of nine years.

iu


The cost of anaesthetics, bed occupancy and more has totalled the NHS £3 million over the same period.

Men were almost always (85 per cent) the patients, said the report published in the Royal College of Surgeons of England Annals.

And oldies were just as into it as youngsters, with one in six patients over the age of 60.

The authors of the paper said the trend was continuing to get worse, speculating it was due to the rise of internet porn.

Double the number (518) of incidents were documented in the final year of the study compared to 2010/11.

Trusts reported taking out a pencil, drugs, a jumbo spray can, a carrot, wine cork, pen, electric toothbrush, deodorant can, "egg-shaped object" and "crystal".

iu


Doctors have also told of whisks, a WKD bottle, lightbulbs and even an umbrella.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/health/16701911/brits-beer-bottles-toothbrushes-rectums-cost-nhs-350k-year/

maximus otter
 

Brits shoving beer bottles and toothbrushes in their rectums cost the NHS £350k each year


An analysis by medics at Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust aimed to uncover the financial burden to the country.

They calculated the “number of rectal foreign bodies that required removal in hospital” between 2010 and 2019.

A total of 3,500 objects were removed from the back passage over the course of nine years.

iu


The cost of anaesthetics, bed occupancy and more has totalled the NHS £3 million over the same period.

Men were almost always (85 per cent) the patients, said the report published in the Royal College of Surgeons of England Annals.

And oldies were just as into it as youngsters, with one in six patients over the age of 60.

The authors of the paper said the trend was continuing to get worse, speculating it was due to the rise of internet porn.

Double the number (518) of incidents were documented in the final year of the study compared to 2010/11.

Trusts reported taking out a pencil, drugs, a jumbo spray can, a carrot, wine cork, pen, electric toothbrush, deodorant can, "egg-shaped object" and "crystal".

iu


Doctors have also told of whisks, a WKD bottle, lightbulbs and even an umbrella.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/health/16701911/brits-beer-bottles-toothbrushes-rectums-cost-nhs-350k-year/

maximus otter
WTF. What were they thinking?
A spray can, FFS? o_O
 
It may be an apartment block where many of the apartments have been bought by foreign investors (e.g. Chinese).
They will rent out or sell when the value is sky-high.

Not just foreign, they may have been bought by huge investment companies who can afford to not rent out and can hold out on lowering rent bellow an exorbitant level.
 

People in China are hiring freelancers to 'prove the property is not haunted'​


https://www.asiaone.com/china/people-china-are-hiring-freelancers-prove-property-not-haunted

"It can be almost impossible to sell a property in Asia after it was home to an ‘unnatural death’, but, thankfully, a group of intrepid freelancers in China will make sure the place is not haunted — for a price.

In China, a small industry of “haunted house testers” are hired by property agents, owners or potential buyers. They are typically paid one yuan per minute, and could make upwards of 1,440 yuan (S$306) for a 24-hour stay, according to Dahe Daily, a news website based in the central province Henan."
 
Making Phone Calls to the Departed.

/an unconnected phone in a forest encourages people to "speak" with the dead to help them grieve.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/telephone-of-the-wind/

See Also:
Phone The Dead: Telephone Dedicated To Contacting The "Other Side"
There's an angel with a mobile phone on the cathedral in Den Bosch.
He/She has a telephone number you can call:
https://www.omroepbrabant.nl/nieuws/820114/engeltje-op-sint-jan-voortaan-mobiel-bereikbaar
https://www.bd.nl/s-hertogenbosch/b...-jan~a4903638/?referrer=https://www.bing.com/
 
More skeletons found under Nieuwe Kerk in Delft than expected
During an excavation in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft, 432 skeletons and 180 so-called knekelkuilen were found. That's a lot more than archaeologists had expected in advance. The archaeological research in the church is done because of the expansion of the crypt of the royal family.

For about four months, archaeologists have been researching the soil under the church. In doing so, they found both intact skeletons and knuckle pits; places where often several people were buried together. At the beginning of September, the counter was still at about 200 skeletons, which has doubled in the last weeks of the research.

In addition to finding out the identity, the researchers will also be looking into the bones themselves in the coming period. "The skeletons were very dirty, we first cleaned them and now we start analyzing the finds. In this way, the human remains can tell us more about illness, health, age and the diet of the deceased," says Williams.

The study is expected to be completed in two years. All human remains are then stored in an archaeological depot. "The techniques and the possibilities to do research are changing very quickly and by preserving the finds, we can also do more research in the future."

https://nos.nl/artikel/2406116-meer-skeletten-gevonden-onder-nieuwe-kerk-in-delft-dan-verwacht
 
Shopping street Goes evacuated because of smelly tropical fruit
A shopping street in Goes was briefly evacuated this afternoon because of a suspicious and smelly package that was delivered to a Primera. The stench was so bad that the fire brigade had to be involved, reports Omroep Zeeland.
After opening the package, it turned out that there was a durian in it. That's a tropical fruit known for a pungent smell that resembles a combination of sweat socks and onions. The durian is originally from Southeast Asia.
When it turned out that it was a tropical fruit, the street was released again. Why someone had sent a durian is unclear.

https://nos.nl/artikel/2406817-winkelstraat-goes-ontruimd-vanwege-stinkend-tropisch-fruit
 

Georgia politician stands by giant topiary chicken that got him ousted as mayor​

Jim Puckett put all his eggs in one basket when he started building what he hopes will be the tallest topiary in the world. But his dream tourist attraction cost him his job as mayor — and now the steel framework of a giant chicken looms over the town of Fitzgerald, Ga.

Earlier this month, Puckett experienced a crushing defeat at the ballot box when he ran for a re-election, with 95 per cent of people voting against him. The topiary chicken, which has so far cost his office $291,000 US, had been a well-known campaign issue.

The already long, drawn-out construction of the 19-metre tall topiary chicken is on hold until mayor-elect Jason Holt begins his term. Puckett, who hopes to still see the project completed, is holding office until January. Here is part of his conversation with As It Happens host Carol Off.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappen...hicken-that-got-him-ousted-as-mayor-1.6261128
 

Walmart pulls children's toy that swears and sings in Polish about doing cocaine​

TORONTO -- An Ontario grandmother who bought an educational toy for her 15-month-old granddaughter was shocked when the dancing cactus started swearing and singing about doing cocaine.

"This toy uses swear words and talking about cocaine use," Ania Tanner told CTV News Toronto. "This is not what I ordered for my granddaughter."

The cactus was sold on Walmart’s website as an educational toy for about $26 and sings songs in English, Spanish and Polish.

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/mobile/w...sings-in-polish-about-doing-cocaine-1.5678364
 
Walmart pulls children's toy that swears and sings in Polish about doing cocaine
Stories like this usually involve mishearing innocent recordings that are badly compressed, but this seems to be genuine. I wonder what the thought process was in the creation of this thing.
 
Stories like this usually involve mishearing innocent recordings that are badly compressed, but this seems to be genuine. I wonder what the thought process was in the creation of this thing.

It's on another thread, but basically the Chinese manufacturer stole a Polish rapper's material and put a recording of it into the cactus toy. It's likely the manufacturer didn't know what he was singing about.
 
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