A woman in Washington state was having issues with her home heat. When the repair guy came and checked things out he found that someone had been living in the crawl space under the house. The intruder had made him(or her)self at home by diverting the heat to the crawl space. There were also numerous alcohol containers strewn around the area. Enough to freak someone out don't you think?
Nowadays, stories about men, women and children being kept prisoner in strange circumstances--sometimes for years or decades--are so common that I'm certain Chuck will soon declare them "no longer weird."
But fifty years ago, such stories seemed more rare. One such inspired the classic novel by John Fowles, The Collector, which appeared in 1963.
The trailer of the film version can be seen above.
Fowles was inspired in part by a true story. I believe I've found that account, as seen below.
Enjoy the debut of what was to become a whole category of weird news.
Mother's Day is next Sunday, May 8th, and I'm sure we all have nice things planned for our Moms. But few of us will have as thoughtful and extravagant a gift in mind as Tamik Kirkland, pictured to the right.
Upon hearing that his Mom had been shot, Kirkland broke out of jail (with only ten months left to serve) and went on a violence-filled revenge spree, including bursting from concealment in a car trunk with gun blazing.
We are approaching, in 2011, the one-hundredth anniversary of the creation of Fantomas, villianous antihero adored by the French. But something about Fantomas just doesn't translate to American tastes, and he's never been popular here.
What image could possibly be great enough for our milestone fiftieth installment? Only this one!
At one time, during either the seventies or the eighties, I believe, this campaign was ubiquitous. I would run across OJ and his boots in every issue of Playboy I intended to cut up for collages, whereupon I would promptly rip out the page intact and mail it to a friend. That's why I had to find a scan on eBay, for this post, and can't tell you the exact provenance of the advertisement.
Of course, today we laugh because of OJ's appearance. "So that's how he was able to escape so fast after the murders! He deployed his third leg!"
But consider the campaign even without OJ.
First you get the off-color allusion to "third leg = penis." Then you get the Addams-Family-style associations of "Our boots are worn by mutants and freaks."
A follow-up to the widely reported stabbing and decapitation that occurred recently on a Greyhound bus. (Reported here by Chuck Aug 1.)
In one of those moments of perfect timing that only occur in a weird universe, Greyhound has decided to pull its ad campaign that sported the boastful tagline: "There's a reason you've never heard of 'BUS RAGE'", because unfortunately now everyone has heard of that phenomenon. (Thanks, Gary!)
"I had fun" doing the three murders
The charming Randall Rushing, 25, was charged with killing his estranged girlfriend and two others as a result of her dumping him. In court in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., he yawned as the murder scene was being described and blew a kiss to reporters. Associated Press via Yahoo//Times-Leader (Wilkes-Barre)
Category: Scary Criminals