Creepy World News...

It's that time again. Time to wade through the news and seek out those oddities of life, death, and whatever might come after.

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.

True News is Stranger than Fiction...

It's been a while since I've reported on a few of the weird goings-on around the globe. Luckily it's been a great year for the bizarreness of humanity. Here are just a few stories that fell through the cracks (including a few from Oceania) found inside the Sydney Morning Herald.

Just Looking for a Ghouled Time...

In Durack, Northern Territory a woman named Jennifer Mills-Young has been the victim of what many Australians have labeled a "randy poltergeist." The ghost, given the name Kevin, attacked Jennifer, a mother of two, in her bed while alone in the house, grabbing her wrist and trying to drag her out of bed. "I yelled at Kevin that he was not welcome in my bedroom and that he couldn't come into bed with me. I told him to f--- off and to close the door behind him," Jennifer told a reporter for The Northern Territory News. "A moment later I saw how the bedroom door was closed."  Jason King, a Sydney-based paranormal investigator, has offered his services to help the woman, who was and still remains very skeptical of the paranormal.

Feasting on Misfortune...

There's something rotten in Wellington, New Zealand. Is isn't the corpses. And thanks to an unidentified man it isn't the funeral banquets either. A well-dressed man in his 40s made several stops at Harbour City Funeral Home and similar businesses in the eastern suburbs between March and April to dine on the banquets and take some extra to go. According to the Dominion Post he was stopped after a week by funeral director Danny Langstraat and his staff who felt he had crossed the line. Mentally ill or just looking for a free lunch? We may never know.

A Very Unlucky Number...

People may chalk up the superstitions surrounding the number 13 to coincidence, but one teenager in Suffolk, England may disagree. Friday August 13th proved to be a shocking day for the 13-year-old boy who was attending an air show when a thunderstorm rolled in. A lightning strike hit the boy and two other crowd members at 13:13. "Lightning strikes can cause cardiac arrest," said a St Johns Ambulance volunteer at the event, "but when our volunteers arrived, the boy was conscious and breathing." He was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for burns on his shoulder.

Rook to Alpha Centauri...

Could aliens pose concerns of national security leaks? Possibly in Russia. State Duma deputy Andrei Lebedev wrote to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in May asking for a full investigation into the alleged alien abduction of multi-millionaire businessman Kirsan Ilyumzhinov on September 18, 1997. On that date, Kirsan reported that a cylindrical craft piloted by "human-like creatures in yellow spacesuits" landed on his balcony and whisked him away to "some kind of star" in an effort to prove the existence of UFOs. Lebedev was concerned that the aliens may have urged him to divulge state secrets to them and asked for proper protocol to be followed when a high-profile figure is abducted. But they might be overreacting a little. Kirsan happens to be the head of the World Chess Federation. Perhaps they just wanted a few pointers in exchange for a tour of the universe?

What's New and Unusual...

So much has been happening, both in my life and worldwide, and I haven't had much chance to compose a long update here for quite some time. I thought about writing several individual posts on the various things but thought it best to condense it all into another "news in brief" moment for today. As for my own personal life, well... that major upheaval is best likened to the plate tectonic movements in the past several weeks. Major, major changes are happening too quickly at times. But once the dust settles, I'll give a more thorough update on those matters. For now, I'll focus on what's been going on while I've been asleep at the wheel of my blog.

Last week, director Tim Burton made the not-so-shocking admission that he does believe in the paranormal. Burton has had a few brushed with the unexplained and believes many people have had unusual experiences, yet they often don't discuss it or do their best to ignore it. He also mentioned that he finds cemeteries "peaceful" instead of creepy. As for his work, word was also announced concerning his newest venture. Plans are being discussed to turn Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (authored by Seth Grahame-Smith of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies fame) into a feature film. The new book follows the former present into his fictitious secret life pursuing blood drinkers. While the tale is odd it's quite well-crafted, not deviating from real history too far to make it absurd.

There is other book news to report as well. Stacy Horn's wonderful book Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena, from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory telling about the history of parapsychology at the Rhine Research Center has been released in paperback. While I still prefer the hard-bound editions of books for my own shelf (when they're actually available) it's nice to have the option of paying less in our current economy.

Some Massachusetts residents are up in arms over maple syrup. In at least three cemeteries both in and around Lancaster, maple trees were found with sap buckets hanging off. The culprits weren't zealous manufacturers but Lancaster Cub Scout Pack 9, who was given permission to tap maples for a special project. The town officials, however, were unaware that cemetery trees would be targeted. Perhaps it sounds a bit creepy, but I would think it a harmless act. People might even pay more for the spooky syrup! It's not the only time anyone realized that a quiet spot such as a cemetery would be superb for undisturbed sap harvesting. In Quebec, a Google Earth view revealed similar sap buckets at a Sutton cemetery.

Finally from the southern hemisphere, selling spooks has once again made the headlines. A woman in Christchurch, New Zealand auctioned off two bottles containing "ghosts" on Trademe. The spirits, said to be those of a little girl and an old man, were "captured" during an exorcism and placed in bottles of holy water, presumably to keep them fresh? After their containment on July 15, 2009 no further activity was reported in the house. The glassed ghosts sold for nearly $2000.

Nothing to be Frightened of...

A haunted house is up for sale in Waikanae, New Zealand this week.

Well, okay... it's not really haunted. Only in the movies.

Richmond Hall has one major claim to fame: it was one of the filming locations for Peter Jackson's 1996 movie, The Frighteners. The five-bedroom neo-Georgian style home, built in 1982, can be seen in the "Flying babies" scene and was also used in other interior shots throughout the feature.

Owners Jill and Noel Phillips say it isn't the paranormal that is driving them from their home of nine years, or even crazed fans. They simply bought another home down the road in Te Horo and plan to relocate soon.

The house is valued at around $680,000 and is expected to sell at or above its value, even with the housing market slump. And this is the final week, so look while you can...