issue 80

At his Tuscany farm in 1986, Bruno Cipriano's pet cow, Carletta, saved him from being gored by a boar when she charged at the beast and butted it with her horns.

Priscilla the pig, owned by Victoria Herberta of Houston, Texas, hit the headlines in 1984 when she rescued an 11-year-old boy. She used her snout to keep his head above water until he could hold on to her collar and then dragged him to the safety of the shore.

Leo the poodle was out playing with his owners, Sean and Erin Callahan, when the trio encountered a rattlesnake. Leo leapt between it and 11-year-old Sean, enabled the boy to escape. Although receiving six bites to the head, Leo somehow survived.

In 1989 Adam Maguire was surfing near Sydney when he was attacked by a shark. As the shark moved in for the kill, it was distracted by a school of dolphins thrashing around in the water. To prevent the shark reaching its prey, the dolphins swam around it in circles until Adam's friends had managed to rescue him.

During his 12-year career in the Swiss Alps Barry the St. Bernard rescued more than 40 people, among them a small boy trapped in an avalanche. Barry spread himself across the boy's body to keep him warm. To complete the rescue, Barry spread himself across the boy's body to keep him warm. To complete the rescue, Barry carried the boy to the nearest house. [all the above from Bizarre News archive]

When police received a call from a disabled person's home on Christmas Day, they rushed to the site to make sure the owner was in fair condition. The owners, however, weren't even at home. What police found was a cat and dog fighting. They concluded that the pets must have called 911. Police spokesperson Mike Klem, Kalispell, Montana, explained, "We assume the dog chased the cat, and that somehow the phone got knocked over, and the speed dial called 911. We had a history from that residence for sending ambulances." Not one to hold a grudge, Klem jokingly added that they would not be taking the animals into custody."It's Christmas, and we don't want the animal rights activists getting all over us on that one," he said. [Bizarre News, 1-2-02]

A dozen mokeys were arrested in Patiala, 220 miles north of New Delhi. One monkey was stealing handbags in the market, another was terrorizing people by biting them, and another was committing lewd acts in public. They cannot be sentenced to death because Hindus associate monkeys with Hanuman, the monkey god who set the country alight with a torch tied to his tail. Now these degenerate monkeys are only a small minority. Only a dozen of the 50,000 monkeys roaming around the Punjab are creating the problem. Monkey activists point to Humans as the real problem. Truck drivers in India buy monkeys to guard their trucks and often mistreat them and when the monkey rebels, they simply let them go. There is a growing Monkey Rights Organization (MRO) whi defends them in court. [Bizarre News, 1-19-02]

Researchers said they found what could be considered one massive ant colony, consisting of many nests of ants living (oddly) in harmony, stretching 1,000 miles from Spain to Italy. [AP, 4-16-02]

When his wife found two cobras on their property in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Mantu Kasai called snake charmer Dudu Miah. Cobras often nest in houses, so Miah and his assistants searched beneath the floors of the two homes and discovered 3,000 and hundreds of eggs. Panic spread through the neighborhood as residents immediately fled their homes. Miah and his team were determined to look for more cobras in the surrounding area, but couldn't deside what to do with the captured ones. No one was injured. [Bizarre News, 5-1-02]

A State University of New York at Buffalo professor, in a recent ecology journal, expressed confidence that eventually butterflies could be genetically altered to permit advertising logos and other designs on their wings. ["Trends in Ecology & Evolution", Chicago Sun-Times, 3-13-02]

A Nigerian transportation official urged in November that citizens de-emphasize their heavy reliance on automobile icon charms to keep them safe, urging instead that they concentrate on the rules of the road (as similarly urged the governor of Trang, Thailand, when informed in February of the heavy use of auto charms to overcome evil ghosts at the town's major traffic intersections). [The Guardian (Lagos), 11-7-01]

An editor of a major Sri Lanka astrology magazine resigned in November, concerned that his boss was using planet-alignment readings to make political commentary, thus undermining readers' faith in astrology. [S. African Press Association-Agence France-Presse, 11-20-01]

Maybe instead of a cauldron, this inspiring witch should keep a fire extinguisher handy. Mary Palmieri, Enfield, Conn., is now homeless after she allowed her pagan friends to perform a ritual in her house to "burn her troubles away." The witchcraft ritual involved burned a piece of paper with Mary's problems written on it. The flames got out of control and set fire to the house. Mary's bedroom was gutted and the house suffered extensive smoke and water damage. Mary says next time she will talk to her priest instead, [Paranormal Insider, 2-902]

In January, the Kanda Myojin Shinto shrine in Tokyo began selling its own information-technology-prayer charms to ward off computer viruses [Bangkok Post, 2-3-02, The Bangkoj Nation, 1-14-02]

An 18-year-old construction worker in Knoxville, TN, survived his Jan. 14 impalement by a 3-foot-long, 3-inch-thick metal rod thatt fell off a bridge and which went point first through the man's skull and neck, coursed down his trunk, and stopped only when completely embedded in his body. He was semiconconscious at the scene but talkative later at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. The man was not wearing the required hard hat. [Knoxville News Sentinel, 1-16-02, 1-25-02]

An 18-year-old drunk male in Oslo, Norway, passed out on a set of railroad tracks. Fortunately he laid lengthwise, because an 82-ton train fast approached. The train conductor was unable to stop the train in time. The train hurled over the boy at 75 mph, within inches of his head. Long after the train had passed, the teenager woke up and walked away with a mere scrape on his arm and hole in his shirt. Shrugging off the incident, he said, "I don't remember a thing." [Bizarre News, 5-4-02]

A Texas man with only two months to live due to an inoperable and fatal brain tumor decided to make the sentence a little shorter by taking his own life. "Steve Huey" reportedly wrote a suicide note and then placed the gun to his head and shot. A few hours later, Huey's friends found him on the floor in a pool of blood and called an ambulance. Huey not only survived the gunshot to the head, but actually shot the tumor out of his brain. Doctors say this was a 254,000:1 shot. Huey is currently writing a book and possibly a movie. "I am a very lucky guy and I plan to turn this miracle into some serious cash for myself," said Huey in an exclusive interview. [Bizarre News, 4-13-02]

28-year-old Keith Quick was hospitalized after the dumpster he was sleeping in was emptied into a garbage truck and was compacted several times. According to Omaha, Neb., Fire Dept. spokesperson Craig Schneider, it was not until several stops and several loads of trash later that the truck driver heard Quick calling for help. By that time he had been compacted "two or three times". Firefighters took about an hour to dig the man out from the tightly compacted refuse packed into the hopper of the garbage truck. Miraculously he was not seriously injured. [Bizarre News archive]

After dealing with a bout with issues and a divorce after seven years of marriage, a 32-year-old Miami, FL, woman tried to commit suicide by overdosing on pills. After being rushed to the hospital and having her stomach pumped she survived only to attempt suicide again this time by jumping 14 stories out of a high-rise. She landed on her rear-end, and only suffered a broken arm. "You're trying to take your life away, you fall from the 14th floor, and you survive. This is an awakening that this is not your time," one Miami police officer concluded. A Jackson Memorial Hospital trauma surgeon said, "You see this in the movies -- people jump from a building, land on a car and walk away ... That doesn't happen in real life." [Bizarre News, 5-11-02]

Recently unearthed bones are sickening Cambodian villagers and local officials have no idea why. While digging a foundation for a new Buddhist temple, residents of Sangkum Meanchey village near the border with Vietnam encountered a strange assortment of bones. The bones weren't Human and didn't belong to any indentifable animal species, but they did make all who came near dizzy and feverish. Superstitious villagers now believe the remains have the supernatural power to torment Humans. The bones are being guarded by local police for examination by scientists from the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. [Paranormal Insider]


	Fortean Mysteries SIG recent history issue 80 Newsletter of the Fortean Mysteries SIG of American Mensa only 200,000 millicents per 3 issues Published irregularly since Undecember 1658 AC "All things are possible ..." (Mt 19:26) ANIMAL TALES At his Tuscany farm in 1986, Bruno Cipriano's pet cow, Carletta, saved him from being gored by a boar when she charged at the beast and butted it with her horns. Priscilla the pig, owned by Victoria Herberta of Houston, Texas, hit the headlines in 1984 when she rescued an 11-year-old boy. She used her snout to keep his head above water until he could hold on to her collar and then dragged him to the safety of the shore. Leo the poodle was out playing with his owners, Sean and Erin Callahan, when the trio encountered a rattlesnake. Leo leapt between it and 11-year-old Sean, enabled the boy to escape. Although receiving six bites to the head, Leo somehow survived. In 1989 Adam Maguire was surfing near Sydney when he was attacked by a shark. As the shark moved in for the kill, it was distracted by a school of dolphins thrashing around in the water. To prevent the shark reaching its prey, the dolphins swam around it in circles until Adam's friends had managed to rescue him. During his 12-year career in the Swiss Alps Barry the St. Bernard rescued more than 40 people, among them a small boy trapped in an avalanche. Barry spread himself across the boy's body to keep him warm. To complete the rescue, Barry spread himself across the boy's body to keep him warm. To complete the rescue, Barry carried the boy to the nearest house. [all the above from Bizarre News archive] When police received a call from a disabled person's home on Christmas Day, they rushed to the site to make sure the owner was in fair condition. The owners, however, weren't even at home. What police found was a cat and dog fighting. They concluded that the pets must have called 911. Police spokesperson Mike Klem, Kalispell, Montana, explained, "We assume the dog chased the cat, and that somehow the phone got knocked over, and the speed dial called 911. We had a history from that residence for sending ambulances." Not one to hold a grudge, Klem jokingly added that they would not be taking the animals into custody."It's Christmas, and we don't want the animal rights activists getting all over us on that one," he said. [Bizarre News, 1-2-02] A dozen mokeys were arrested in Patiala, 220 miles north of New Delhi. One monkey was stealing handbags in the market, another was terrorizing people by biting them, and another was committing lewd acts in public. They cannot be sentenced to death because Hindus associate monkeys with Hanuman, the monkey god who set the country alight with a torch tied to his tail. Now these degenerate monkeys are only a small minority. Only a dozen of the 50,000 monkeys roaming around the Punjab are creating the problem. Monkey activists point to Humans as the real problem. Truck drivers in India buy monkeys to guard their trucks and often mistreat them and when the monkey rebels, they simply let them go. There is a growing Monkey Rights Organization (MRO) whi defends them in court. [Bizarre News, 1-19-02] Researchers said they found what could be considered one massive ant colony, consisting of many nests of ants living (oddly) in harmony, stretching 1,000 miles from Spain to Italy. [AP, 4-16-02] When his wife found two cobras on their property in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Mantu Kasai called snake charmer Dudu Miah. Cobras often nest in houses, so Miah and his assistants searched beneath the floors of the two homes and discovered 3,000 and hundreds of eggs. Panic spread through the neighborhood as residents immediately fled their homes. Miah and his team were determined to look for more cobras in the surrounding area, but couldn't deside what to do with the captured ones. No one was injured. [Bizarre News, 5-1-02] A State University of New York at Buffalo professor, in a recent ecology journal, expressed confidence that eventually butterflies could be genetically altered to permit advertising logos and other designs on their wings. ["Trends in Ecology & Evolution", Chicago Sun-Times, 3-13-02] CHARMING! A Nigerian transportation official urged in November that citizens de-emphasize their heavy reliance on automobile icon charms to keep them safe, urging instead that they concentrate on the rules of the road (as similarly urged the governor of Trang, Thailand, when informed in February of the heavy use of auto charms to overcome evil ghosts at the town's major traffic intersections). [The Guardian (Lagos), 11-7-01] An editor of a major Sri Lanka astrology magazine resigned in November, concerned that his boss was using planet-alignment readings to make political commentary, thus undermining readers' faith in astrology. [S. African Press Association-Agence France-Presse, 11-20-01] A van carrying Hindu pilgrims to worship the god of destruction crashed near Calcutta, India, in April killing 21. [AP, 4-12-02] Maybe instead of a cauldron, this inspiring witch should keep a fire extinguisher handy. Mary Palmieri, Enfield, Conn., is now homeless after she allowed her pagan friends to perform a ritual in her house to "burn her troubles away." The witchcraft ritual involved burned a piece of paper with Mary's problems written on it. The flames got out of control and set fire to the house. Mary's bedroom was gutted and the house suffered extensive smoke and water damage. Mary says next time she will talk to her priest instead, [Paranormal Insider, 2-902] In January, the Kanda Myojin Shinto shrine in Tokyo began selling its own information-technology-prayer charms to ward off computer viruses [Bangkok Post, 2-3-02, The Bangkoj Nation, 1-14-02] An 18-year-old construction worker in Knoxville, TN, survived his Jan. 14 impalement by a 3-foot-long, 3-inch-thick metal rod thatt fell off a bridge and which went point first through the man's skull and neck, coursed down his trunk, and stopped only when completely embedded in his body. He was semiconconscious at the scene but talkative later at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. The man was not wearing the required hard hat. [Knoxville News Sentinel, 1-16-02, 1-25-02] An 18-year-old drunk male in Oslo, Norway, passed out on a set of railroad tracks. Fortunately he laid lengthwise, because an 82-ton train fast approached. The train conductor was unable to stop the train in time. The train hurled over the boy at 75 mph, within inches of his head. Long after the train had passed, the teenager woke up and walked away with a mere scrape on his arm and hole in his shirt. Shrugging off the incident, he said, "I don't remember a thing." [Bizarre News, 5-4-02] A Texas man with only two months to live due to an inoperable and fatal brain tumor decided to make the sentence a little shorter by taking his own life. "Steve Huey" reportedly wrote a suicide note and then placed the gun to his head and shot. A few hours later, Huey's friends found him on the floor in a pool of blood and called an ambulance. Huey not only survived the gunshot to the head, but actually shot the tumor out of his brain. Doctors say this was a 254,000:1 shot. Huey is currently writing a book and possibly a movie. "I am a very lucky guy and I plan to turn this miracle into some serious cash for myself," said Huey in an exclusive interview. [Bizarre News, 4-13-02] 28-year-old Keith Quick was hospitalized after the dumpster he was sleeping in was emptied into a garbage truck and was compacted several times. According to Omaha, Neb., Fire Dept. spokesperson Craig Schneider, it was not until several stops and several loads of trash later that the truck driver heard Quick calling for help. By that time he had been compacted "two or three times". Firefighters took about an hour to dig the man out from the tightly compacted refuse packed into the hopper of the garbage truck. Miraculously he was not seriously injured. [Bizarre News archive] After dealing with a bout with issues and a divorce after seven years of marriage, a 32-year-old Miami, FL, woman tried to commit suicide by overdosing on pills. After being rushed to the hospital and having her stomach pumped she survived only to attempt suicide again this time by jumping 14 stories out of a high-rise. She landed on her rear-end, and only suffered a broken arm. "You're trying to take your life away, you fall from the 14th floor, and you survive. This is an awakening that this is not your time," one Miami police officer concluded. A Jackson Memorial Hospital trauma surgeon said, "You see this in the movies -- people jump from a building, land on a car and walk away ... That doesn't happen in real life." [Bizarre News, 5-11-02] DEM BONES, DEM BONES, DEM DAMN BONES Recently unearthed bones are sickening Cambodian villagers and local officials have no idea why. While digging a foundation for a new Buddhist temple, residents of Sangkum Meanchey village near the border with Vietnam encountered a strange assortment of bones. The bones weren't Human and didn't belong to any indentifable animal species, but they did make all who came near dizzy and feverish. Superstitious villagers now believe the remains have the supernatural power to torment Humans. The bones are being guarded by local police for examination by scientists from the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. [Paranormal Insider]