Monday, August 25, 2008

The Other Kind of 'Down Under'...

Last week in England, a man returned from the dead... well, sort of.

Michael O'Neill decided a change of scenery might do him a world of good. He departed on June 2nd, unannounced, from his Middlesborough residence on a vacation to Australia and didn't bother to tell anyone about it. With his last-minute trip, notifying neighbors and friends slipped his mind.

Neighbors became restless with worry and the police were called when no signs of life came from Mr. O'Neill's home. Upon breaking in, they found the place deserted. Friends were shocked and saddened to see in the newspaper the reports of the death of Michael O'Neill, leaving behind two brothers: Terry and Kevin.

In an interesting twist, the obituary was for another man, nearly the same age, in his town, who also had brothers with the same names as his own.

O'Neill returned home on August 11th to find his door broken in. As he headed around town, friends were approaching him, filled with shock and relief. One neighbor did receive a postcard from abroad but word hadn't spread fast enough. Yet some people still mistake him for a ghost.

"They can't believe it's me and I'm still alive," O'Neill told The Telegraph. "I'm a nervous wreck because everywhere I go people keep grabbing me!"

1 comment:

Cullan Hudson said...

WOW! Now there's some freaky synchronicity.