More News from Our Weird World...

It's been a while since I've posted anything, much less the stranger side of the news. Here are a few of the oddest stories I've encountered during my study break.

This Water is as Hot as...

Everywhere, people are trying to save money, especially in government. In Redditch, Worchestershire, the council discovered it can save £14,500 annually in pool heating costs for Abbey Stadium by using a greener (and creepier) heat source. Ongoing discussion revolves around the crematorium next door and the heat wasted from incinerators which could do the job quite nicely. "I'd much rather use the energy rather than just see it going out of the chimney and heating the sky," council leader Carole Gandy told the Guardian. "It will make absolutely no difference to the people who are using the crematorium for services."

Next Time, Remove the Price Tag...

Welsh asbestos remover Neil Simons was sentenced to five years in jail following a string of robbery attempts in Llandaff, Cardiff. Simons first robbed a gas station brandishing an ax and wearing a Halloween mask. . . which he purchased from the same station three days prior. A second robbery attempt nearby was interrupted by a customer. Simons, 30, told the court he felt shameful for his actions, becoming desperate to pay off a £20,000 debt (including money demanded from a drug dealer who had sold him cocaine). Public defender Kieron Malloy told Wales Online “The fact his son bought the mask then returned to the same petrol station wearing it, shows it wasn’t a sophisticated crime.” Here's the CCTV footage:


Getting High on Death...

White powder isn't always snow, flour, or even cocaine. Yet three robbers in Silver Springs Shores, Florida, saw a couple urns and thought they discovered the latter, so much so that they snorted what turned out to be the cremated remains of a man and two Great Danes. 19-year-olds Waldo Soroa and Jose David Diaz Marrero, along with Matrix Andaluz (18), stole electronics and jewelery from the home along with the remains of the owner's pets and father. Realizing their mistake and fearful of fingerprints, they tossed the urns into a nearby lake.

The Blood-Bound Gang...

If you're on Team Edward, it's no surprise that vampires are a sexy, popular topic. From The Vampire Chronicles to Twilight, the increased popularity of blood suckers has evolved into its own subculture, says Sociologist D. J. Williams. The Idaho State scholar (interviewed by Reuters) was consulted for a vampire documentary and has been researching this and similar alternative lifestyles for many years. The important aspect Williams points out is that self-identified vampires are largely misunderstood. (That in itself almost sounds a little emo.) People like Jeffrey Dahlmer give the community a bad name. "They see themselves as normal, regular people in normal regular jobs: they are teachers, lawyers, accountants, they may be parents," Williams told Reuters. "They have normal lives but there is this aspect to needing to take energy from time to time and in certain ways."

A Tale of Two Murderers...

A skull stolen from the allegedly-haunted Old Melbourne Gaol in the 1970s has surfaced again amid questions of its true identity. Originally said to be that of famed outlaw Ned Kelly who was hanged and buried at the gaol in 1880, others speculate that it could belong to murderer Frederick Bailey Deeming (alleged to be "Jack the Ripper") who was also hanged at the gaol 1892. The skull closely matched the death masks of both killers so researchers are pleading for descendants of Deeming to come forward and supply DNA for testing.

Keys to a Secret Melody...

A mystery surfaced this weekend along a dirt road near Harwich, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. A piano of unknown origin found itself lost in the woods.

Discovered by a hiker at 3:00 PM Saturday, the Baldwin upright piano sitting peacefully in a wooded section of Bell's Neck Conservation Area has perplexed authorities. It was perfectly in tune and came complete with bench. Given its immense weight, this was no simple feat. It took several men to move the instrument back to storage as police await answers.

Was it theft, abandonment, or a prank? No one has come forward to claim it. The Arcosonic upright, model number 987 - serial number 733746, remains in police custody as local law enforcement search for its rightful owner. Anyone knowing information related to its origins or the individuals who moved it to the site are asked to contact Harwich police.

Is it the work of Liberace's ghost, a tortured pianist seeking solitude, or bored teenagers? The ivories aren't telling...

Lost on the Wild, Wild Sea...

In the month of July in 1909, a mystery began which has never been solved to this day. A ship, the SS Waratah, vanished on a voyage from Australia to England. Was the vessel cursed or were supernatural elements at work? We may never know.

Waratah is a word used by the Eora Aboriginal people from what is now New South Wales. It translates to "beautiful" and a native flowering shrub bares the same name. The bright crimson flower is the emblem flower for New South Wales. According to legend, the first waratah shrub sprouted from the place where a young woman died of grief over the death of her warrior lover. While the tale itself is tragic, the fate of those vessels taking on its name seemed to follow the same course.

In 1848, a ship named Waratah sank off the coast of France. Two subsequent Waratah's were lost at sea near Sydney in 1887. Another went down in the Antartic Ocean in 1894. Still, the Blue Anchor Line built the SS Waratah in Glasgow in 1908 without thought to these other lost vessels. This mistake would prove to be their own demise.

The Waratah departed from London on April 27, 1909, on what would be her second uneventful voyage to the land down under. She left Melbourne on July 1 bound for South Africa on the return voyage. Upon reaching Durban, an engineer named Claude Sawyer left the ship and sent his wife a telegram:

THOUGHT WARATAH TOP HEAVY STOP LANDED DURBAN STOP

He couldn't tell his wife his true reasoning. On board the ship, he had experienced a premonition.

While arranging for another vessel, Sawyer reluctantly told the booking clerk of the strange visitor in his cabin. He described it as the corpse-like figure of death in strange clothing resembing a matador (perhaps a pirate ghost?), clutching a long sword. "He was holding the sword in his right hand and it was covered in blood." Three separate times, the apparition entered his cabin. On each occasion, the specter made but one command: "Leave her!" The visions so terrified Sawyer and though he had sailed many times and was not prone to superstitions, he obeyed and stayed in Durban.

He would live be the sole survivor of the 212 passengers and crew schedued to embark on the final leg of this voyage.

On July 26, one day after leaving South Africa, the ship exchanged cordial greetings with the Clan Macintyre, also bound for London. Weather deteriorated soon afterward and the Waratah may have been spotted twice that evening, though the heavy seas made identification difficult. The Harlow saw what may have been the Waratah following behind her in the crashing waves, billowing with smoke. Two bright flashes came from the direction of the ship and it vanished.

The July 29 arrival date came and went. Authorities assumed engine trouble and waited longer without questioning the delay. In September, the Blue Anchor Line finally chartered a ship to search for the vessel. Though it covered over 14,000 nautical miles, the Waratah was nowhere to be found. An official enquiry was held in London in December. Among the many giving testimony as to the possible fate of the ship was Claude Sawyer. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle even held a seance in hope of determining the fate of the steam ship. Word of the disaster spread around the world. The Blue Anchor line never recovered from the tragedy and was forced to sell off their fleet to the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company (or "P&O Line") in 1910.

Over the many years since the disappearance, many people have sought the wreckage of the SS Waratah. A few wrecks were discovered but were later identified as vessels which sank in the world wars. Emlyn Brown of NUMA and Clive Cussler, author of the book Raise the Titanic, were the last to search for the ship. Brown gave up his 22-year search in 2004, declaring "I've exhausted all the options. I now have no idea where to look."

Not one piece of wreckage or cargo was ever found from the Waratah. Its disappearance remains one of the great maritime mysteries. Yet perhaps, like the Flying Dutchman of legend, the spirits of the doomed ship still travel the southern Atlantic on the misty decks of the ethereal Waratah, waiting for their final chance to return to London.