Going Gayly to the Grave...
Do you think those drab coffins aren't good enough for you? Want to be buried with some style? If you're in Cologne, Germany you might be in luck! One gay undertaker couple is stepping up to help. Thomas Brandl and Michael Koenigsfeld have tailored a line of urns and coffins specifically for the gay community, featuring rainbow colors, nude figures, or whatever your homo heart desires. Being so unique, the coffins have sparked a lot of interest and quite a bit of positive response. "People are cutting back in the recession but the one group of consumers who still have high spending power are gay couples," Michael told Orange News, "and very few people are designing for them in this market." We've always been told 'you can't take it with you' yet this no longer applies to sexual identity.
Feast or Famine...
Hunger is a strong force, as residents of the Russian village of Verkhnyaya Chova are learning. An unseasonably hot summer and its resulting fires destroyed scores of forest berries and mushroooms: an important food source for brown bears. Last month a bear did the unthinkable. A corpse from the town's cemetery was dug up and eaten. The Emergencies Ministry has started 24-hour patrols of Komi Republic to protect residents and livestock. If you are what you eat, does this make them dead meat?
Shaking Up the Dead...
New Zealand ghost hunters may have found something that brings out the ghosts. Following the September 4th 7.0 earthquake—the largest in recorded Kiwi history—centered outside of Christchurch reports of paranormal activity doubled. Anton Heyrick of Christchurch Paranormal Investigators told The Press, "People are calling us, saying that they had always felt like there was something in the house, but since the earthquake it had become more intense." He speculates that the powerful force behind the seismic event (or the subsequent renovations to damaged buildings) could be behind the spike in occurrences. Unsettled dead or mass hysteria? It certainly warrants more observation.
Recruiting Religious Reinforcements...
The Catholic Church might have taken a beating in recent years, but now the popularity of exorcisms has the clergy scrambling to keep up with demand. A special two-day workshop was held earlier this month with 56 bishops and 66 priests in attendance to learn the arcane rite. Vatican law requires that only properly trained priests can perform the Rite of Exorcism, of whom only 5 or 6 existed in the US before the workshop. Undoubtedly the combination of "demonic spirits" on paranormal television and economic stress may have more people believing they're possessed or have a spawn of Satan living under their roof (aside from the odd relative). It's a shame Fangoria doesn't still sell those DIY Exorcism Kits. They could've saved themselves a lot of time and money.
