Clare's Collection of Unusual Tales and Pictures

[Dark One]

Escaped tiger sparks panic

Strollers in a Bulgarian park fled in panic when an escaped tiger wandered through the gates.

The tiger had managed to break out of its cage at the zoo in Varna on the Black Sea coast.

It started prowling the local streets before wandering into the Sea Garden park.

A massive police operation was launched and the animal was eventually caught and taken back to the zoo.

A local police spokesman said: "Thankfully no one got hurt."

[Dark One]

Artist uses thingy to paint PM

An Australian painter has gained notoriety by using his thingy as a brush to paint a portrait of the Prime Minister.

Tim Patch also used his thingy to paint opposition leader Kim Beazley, reports the Sidney Morning Herald.

He unveiled both portraits at the opening of the Sexpo exhibition in Perth.

Mr Patch, from Queensland, admitted his family were a little surprised by his new painting technique.

He said: "My dad is not too impressed. He shook his head and said: "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear"."

The former builder was drawing quick portraits in a market until recently.

"Then I told a friend I could paint with my d*** and she was really enthusiastic," he said.

After revealing his talent at a New Year's Eve party, he started sending his penile art pictures to galleries.

"But nobody really wanted to know until I sent them to Sexpo and they loved it," he said.

[Dark One]

Pool turns woman's hair green

A couple are suing a five star resort after its swimming pool allegedly turned a woman's hair green.

Carolina Carreno and Francisco Vargas were on their honeymoon at a top resort in Quinta Region, Chile.

Carolina's waist-length blonde hair turned green after the went for a swim on the first night, reports La Cuarta.

Francisco said: "Everything was perfect and we did smell something funny in the swimming pool but we could not anticipate what was coming.

"At first, when I saw the hair, I tried to say something funny to calm her down, but she was really angry.

"And now everyone is calling her the incredible hulk!"

[Dark One]

Bank robbers - aged 13

Two 13-year-olds and a 14-year-old have been arrested on suspicion of a string of bank robberies in Canada.

Police in Vancouver arrested the three teenagers following the robberies, reports CBC News.

"Within the last month and a half we're looking at seven robberies all over the Lower Mainland," said RCMP Cpl Roger Morrow.

Morrow says he has never seen such young boys involved in such brazen robberies.

"At our meeting this morning where this series of events came up, we sat around the table and were speechless at having kids of this age involved in this type of crime."

Police say no weapons were used in any of the robberies.

[Dark One]

Robber stopped for pancakes

A Pennsylvania man who robbed a bank and escaped with more than £2,000 was caught after he stopped for pancakes.

Police said the man, from Bensalem, might have got away after the raid on a Bank of America had he not stopped for a snack.

Kimberly Sermarini, a waitress at the Sunrise Diner, told NBC10.com: "He came in and he was ordering pancakes off the kids' menu. And the next thing you know we're surrounded by cops and he ran into the bathroom.

"He just pointed here and it was like, 'I want five pancakes.' I said, 'But that's a kids' menu,' and he was, like, 'I want five of them.'"

After he was caught and handcuffed, the man was arrested and charged with robbery, theft and receiving stolen goods.

[Dark One]

Police hunt Robin Hood thieves

German police are hunting a gang of Robin Hoods who steal food from exclusive restaurants and delis to give to the poor.

The anarchist thieves, who wear superhero costumes during their raids, have struck repeatedly in recent months in Hamburg, reports the Scotsman.

After they plundered Kobe beef fillets, champagne and smoked salmon from a gourmet store on exclusive Elbastrasse, they presented the cashier with a bouquet of flowers.

And they left a note saying: "Without the abilities of the superheroes to help them, it would be impossible for ordinary people to survive in the city of the millionaires."

In another recent swoop, the gang emptied a groaning buffet table in a top restaurant into sacks, while one of their number held up a sign saying: "The fat years are over".

In internet statements, the gang say their booty is distributed to the poorest of Germany's long-term unemployed.

They are also behind black market cinema tickets which they distribute free to the poor, and they have printed leaflets telling passengers how to dodge ticket inspectors on the city's underground and buses.

But police spokesman Bodo Franz said: "They get off feeling they are just like Robin Hood. There are about 30 in the group. But whatever their motives, they are thieves, plain and simple."

[Min]

jgduffin said:

Police hunt Robin Hood thieves

...who wear superhero costumes during their raids

OMG!! I must have laughed out loud at this point!
Those guys are awesome. They aren't 'plain and simple theives'...
*watches as inspector Rex jumps out and attacks Aquaman*

[Dark One]

2p coins now worth 3p

Britain's 2p coins are now actually worth 3p - thanks to the soaring price of copper.

Any 2p coins made before 1992 are now more valuable as scrap metal than loose change.

Earlier 2p coins contain 97% copper which has hit an all-time record price of £2,900 a tonne.

So a tonne of 2ps - 145,000 copins - would be worth £1,500 more as scrap than at the bank.

One penny coins from the same period are also worth roughly 50% more than their face value.

in 1992, the Royal Mint introduced new 1p and 2p coins made of steel with just a thin copper plating.

[Dark One]

Stilton launch blue cheese perfume

The makers of the famously pungent Stilton blue cheese have launched their own perfume.

Eau de Stilton claims to "recreate the earthy and fruity aroma in an eminently wearable perfume".

The perfume, blended by a Manchester-based aromatics company, features a "symphony of natural base notes including yarrow, angelica seed, clary sage and valerian".

It was commissioned by the Stilton Cheesemakers' Association as part of a campaign to persuade more people to eat their product.

Nigel White, of the SCA, brushed off suggestions that it might not be the most alluring of scents.

"Blue Stilton cheese has a very distinctive, mellow aroma and our perfumier was able to capture the key essence of that scent and recreate it in what is an unusual but highly wearable perfume," he said.

[Dark One]

Gran fights off alligator with hosepipe

A Florida grandmother was attacked by a 5ft alligator - and fought it off with a hosepipe.

Connie Gittles, 74, thought it was just a snake when something bit her leg as she watered plants in her backyard.

"When I looked down, I saw this fellow looking at me," said Mrs Gittles who lives in a mobile home at Punta Gorda.

"I just whacked him right in the snout with the nozzle," she told News-Press.com. "After that, he took off."

State wildlife officials later removed an alligator, thought to be the same one, from a nearby pond.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman JoAnne Adams said: "Based on the bite marks and the teeth, we think it was the same one."

Mrs Gittles needed medical attention for three puncture wounds, one of which went down to her bone above the ankle.

[Dark One]

Dozy attendants no match for robbers

Two petrol station staff nodded off on a night shift and slept as robbers broke into their office and made off with a 50 stone safe.

Anatol Palevic and Damek Sinovic slept on as the thieves broke through the door of the petrol station in the northern Serbian town of Zrenjanin.

The gang then ripped the huge safe, containing £31,500 in cash, out of the wall and dragged it out of the building.

A police spokesman told the daily newspaper Press: "Getting that safe out would have made enough noise to wake the dead.

"And the staff didn't even realise it was gone when they woke up. It was the morning shift that came in to open up which saw the safe had disappeared."

[Dark One]

Thieves paint stolen dog

Police in Germany are hunting a dog snatcher who stole a pet and painted it in the black, red and gold of the German flag.

Owner Theresa Carl, 47, said: "They must have taken little Simba from my garden. I searched for him for hours in the local parks before returning home to find him covered in paint.

"I bet some horrid football fans did this to him, everyone is going mad in the run up to the World Cup."

The paint had soaked into the eight-year-old Maltese Terrier's fur so much that it was stuck to his skin and he had to be completely shaved.

Police in Schleiden in the far west of the country are now investigating and hope to press charges of animal cruelty against the culprits.

[Deleted]

I just came across these pictures on LJ and thought they were awesome. Take a look:








-images taken from here and here

[Cat-Eyes]

Those are really cool...

[Dark One]

Those are very cool pictures!

Couple storked

An OAP couple from Germany are being stalked by a stork.

Gerhard Schneider, 72, from Brandenburg an der Havel near Potsdam said for weeks a large stork has been following him and his wife when they leave the house and tapping on their farmhouse window day and night if they stay in.

"It's become a real nightmare, he's either knocking on the window or sitting on my car waiting for us.

"All the doors on my car have been scratched and we can barely leave the house. The bird acts as if we're on his property," said Schneider.

The couple have now appealed for help from stork experts.

[Dark One]

Gang stole cars 'piece by piece'

German cops have arrested a gang who stole hundreds of top of the range BMWs and Mercedes piece by piece.

The gang, who stole car parts after getting jobs in the factories where they were made, was arrested in a massive police raid in Munich.

They had smuggled millions of pounds worth of cars out bit by bit in clothing and bags for six years before the scam was exposed.

So far three people have been arrested following a six-month investigation involving 200 police officers.

The investigation showed that many of the reassembled cars were stored nearby and then sold to countries in South-Eastern Europe.

Munich police organised crime department spokesman Peter Breitner said: "We found their stash but there was just so much there that we still haven't been able to clear out the warehouse."

[Dark One]

Boy, 6, tries to buy dad a car

A six-year-old boy posted 33p through the letterbox of a car dealer - to buy his dad a new car for his birthday.

Mazda MX5 dealership boss David Brewster, who found the envelope containing the coins and letter, said: "It's so sweet.

"We've never had a message like this before. At first we couldn't understand it.

"But we read it through a few times and worked out it's from a six-year-old boy. He had put the money in with the letter and asked for a car for his dad's birthday.

"I'm guessing the boy and his father must walk past our building regularly and his dad must say he wants one of our models."

The letter reads: "I want to get my dad a car. He wants a car from you please. My mum has got a car so I want my dad to have one.

"When is my dad going to get it? Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday?"

Contact telephone numbers were left in the letter, mostly written in pencil, but were illegible.

The envelope was pushed through the letterbox of Dandy Cars.com in Newbury Park, Essex. The lad signed the letter Adil and said he lives in Lynn Road, Newbury Park.

[Dark One]

Piano found on Ben Nevis

Volunteers clearing litter at the top of Ben Nevis have found a piano.

They are now trying to find out who carried the heavy instrument up Britain's highest peak.

The only clue is a biscuit wrapper found under the piano. It had a best before date of December 1986.

Fifteen volunteers from conservation charity the John Muir Trust spotted it as they cleared rubbish from the summit.

The cast iron frame and strings were still intact but the keyboard was missing reports The Sun.

Volunteer organiser Sandy Maxwell, of Glasgow, said: "We have a constant battle against stuff left on the slopes but this elevates being a litter lout sky-high."

The piano was broken up and carried down the mountain in bits by 30 volunteers.

[Dark One]

Ben Nevis piano mystery solved

The true story of how a piano found its way up Britain's highest mountain has been revealed.

Clean-up volunteers discovered the musical instrument near the 4,408ft summit of Ben Nevis.

The Scotsman reported that Kenny Campbell, a woodcutter from Bonar Bridge in the Highlands, believed he carried it up for a cancer charity in 1971.

But a "best before" date on a biscuit wrapper found near the piano told a different story.

The John Muir Conservation Trust says the instrument was carried by a group of Dundee removal men in 1986 in another charity stunt.

Mike Clark and his friends celebrated their achievement 20 years ago with a bottle of whisky and a packet of McVities biscuits.

Nigel Hawkins, director of the trust, said: "We are delighted to have solved the mystery of the piano on Ben Nevis.

"An organ was carried up by Kenneth Campbell in 1971 but we can say definitely that it was not an organ that was found, as there was an iron frame with metal strings.

"The biscuit wrapper which said 'Best before 13 December, 1986', which we found in the cairn gives further proof that this was the piano Mike and his friends took up the mountain."

[Dark One]

Man finds badger under his bed

A Norwegian man called out the police after he came home to find a badger fast asleep under his bed

The man, from Tonsberg, arrived home late to find the animal in his bedroom, reports Aftenposten.

Police officers tried to remove the animal - but beat a retreat when it put up a fierce resistance.

The rudely awakened badger overturned the bed while running around the room and ended up trapped underneath with its rear end exposed.

The drama finally ended after two and a half hours when a vet managed to take advantage of the badger's position to inject it with tranquilisers.

[Dark One]

Hand grenade mistaken for spud

Chip-makers were forced to flea their factory when they discovered one of their spuds was a hand grenade.

A 100-metre exclusion zone was set up as bomb disposal teams were called to McCain's factory in Scarborough, North Yorks.

The alert came just 24 hours after the tip of a wartime shell was found at the same plant just before it went into a slicer.

The potatoes come from fields in northern France and Belgium where relics from both World Wars are unearthed regularly.

According to The Sun a company spokesman said: "It is something that we will be looking into with our suppliers. It is obviously not an efficient use of our staff's time if we have to keep evacuating the premises.

"We have strict safety procedures and the safety of our workers is of paramount importance."

The WWI grenade and shell tip were both spotted as factory workers cleaned mud off potatoes.

The grenade was destroyed in a controlled explosion.

[Dark One]

Mum worried about love life of daughter, 68

Social workers called out by a worried mum to speak to her daughter about her loose morals were shocked to find out their ages.

They had to tell the 92-year-old German mother that her 68-year-old daughter's love life was none of their business.

Adelheid Schmidt called the youth department of social services in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, to complain about her daughter Tina's "uncontrollable, immoral and loose behaviour with men".

Mrs Schmidt made the call after she found out that Tina had a boyfriend.

But the social workers told her they could not help her as her "child" was 50 years past the age limit where social services can get involved.

[Dark One]

Man donates kidney to his rescuer

A man plucked from a raging torrent 20 years ago by a stranger has repaid the favour by donating a kidney to his rescuer.

Remzo Pivic, from the Bosnian town of Bosanski Brod, almost drowned when he fell into the icy water of the River Bosna two decades ago.

He was saved when passerby Ahmet Adulovic jumped in and pulled his lifeless body to safety.

The pair stayed in contact despite the fact that rescuer Adulovic emigrated to Canada, and when Pivic heard he was having kidney troubles he offered one of his own.

When doctors confirmed they were compatible, he flew to Ottawa to donate the organ.

He said: "I've finally been able to pay him back for saving my life 20 years ago."

Adulovic, who is recovering well after the operation, said: "Remzo has a wife and kids, so I did not want to do it, but I got sicker, and he insisted, so I finally agreed. Now we are blood brothers."

[Dark One]

Britain's first croc farm

A Cambridgeshire farmer has set up Britain's first crocodile farm.

Andy Johnson, 36, has eight Nile crocs imported from Africa in a heated building on his farm.

He hopes to start selling the reptiles as food within four years, reports the Mirror.

Andy, who farms at Old Hurst, said: "It's a white, low-fat meat with the grain of fish.

"Some say it is similar to chicken, it's not, it tastes of crocodile. There's definitely a market for it. "

The father-of-two admitted that he was very wary of the reptiles: "They don't nip or growl to let you know they're in a bad mood," he said.

[Deleted]

Randomist:



Dame Judi Dench and Ewan McGregor in the definitive roles of their careers: A lobster and a tomato!