Snakes, Anyone?
Next time you have that feeling of butterflies in your stomach, think about this story. Yeter Yildirim, a 15 year old Turkish girl, had suffered from stomach pains for over five years. They were a constant torment to the girl. She had gone from a happy girl with lots of friends to a lonesome girl who suffered sever head aches and stomach pain. Her family was shunned by suspicious villagers in their little farming community. Eventually Yeter's family moved 80 miles away because they were being persecuted by the town. As her symptoms worsened, her family finally took her to a hospital.
The doctors x-rayed her and went to talk to her parents. They matter-of-factly stated that there would be no problem removing the snakes from the young girls stomach. "What snakes?" asked her shocked parents.
The x-rays showed three snakes living in the girl's stomach, water snakes that she had apparently swallowed as eggs while drinking from a stream. They hatched and lived there for 5 years before being discovered as the cause of her sickness. They were slightly thicker than string and about a foot long. She was fine after they were removed.
Daily Star June 28, 1979
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Man's Visit To His Future Grave Kills Him
Sep 4, 2002 9:13 am ET
LASCARI, Sicily (Reuters) - Giovanni Greco sent himself, literally, to an early grave.
Greco, 63, was so keen that his future mausoleum would be a perfect fit that he liked to visit it ensure the builders were making it just right.
But his latest visit proved to be his last.
According to local media reports, Greco was making his regular trip to the construction site in the small cemetery in his hometown of Lascari at the weekend. He climbed a ladder to get a better view of the top of the mausoleum when he slipped, hit his head on a marble step, and fell into his own tomb.
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Headless Naked Corpse Found by Castle Frankenstein
Reuters - Jun 18, 8:21 AM (ET)
BERLIN (Reuters) - German police were investigating the discovery of a headless body near castle Frankenstein in Germany, a ruin many see as the inspiration for the novel about the mad scientist who made a monster from body parts.
Police said on Tuesday the naked male corpse was found by a couple in a car park in the southwestern town of Darmstadt some two miles from the castle, but added it had probably been moved.
The medieval castle was the birthplace in 1673 of Johann Konrad Dippel von Frankenstein, a controversial alchemist famous for his avid interest in the creation of artificial life. He was also rumored to have experimented with human body parts.
Many say he inspired the character of Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, itself later the source of countless spin-offs and horror films. Dippel died mysteriously in 1734.
Local police dismissed suggestions of any link between the castle, a popular tourist attraction among gothic thrill-seekers, and the decapitated man as "absurd."
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Two Accused of Taking Fake Tombstones
Oct 28, 5:51 PM (ET)
SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Stealing fake tombstones from a haunted trail in broad daylight isn't a good idea. Particularly if the trail is operated by a Fraternal Order of Police Lodge.
South Charleston police arrested two men Wednesday after Lt. D.B. Cunningham, president of FOP Lodge No. 85, saw several of the lodge's handmade props in a passing vehicle. The driver was wearing a skull mask, Patrolman Jeremy Burns said.
Cunningham, Burns and several other officers were gathered near the ticket stand at the time. Cunningham and Burns pursued the vehicle in Burns' police cruiser and stopped it.
Donald Jenkins Jr., 20, and Devon Halstead, 19, both of South Charleston, were charged with petit larceny, a misdemeanor. They were issued citations and released.
Jenkins, the driver, allegedly told police he and Halstead saw the props on the ground and thought they were being discarded, Burns said.
