‘Sorcerer’ who believed his tattoos made him invincible arrested in Thailand

A “sorcerer” tattooist has been arrested in northeastern Thailand after several brawls involving his disciples who believed his body art made them invincible, police said Tuesday. Boonyong Luangjumpol was held for possession of guns after officers raided his home following a spate of fights in the province of Kalasin, local police chief Major General Kanisorn Noinard told AFP. He said the 29-year-old was renowned in the area for creating love potions, as well as his sideline in tattoos which teenage followers believed could protect them from gunshot or knife wounds. “Police arrested the teenagers and asked them why they fought. They said they were tattooed because they believed it would make them invincible and wanted to test whether it works or not… they used sticks and knives, but guns are rarely seen in the brawls,” Kanisorn said. When asked if the fights had injured any of the followers, he said “every single one” was hurt. Police decided to conduct the raid because of the links to the brawls, which tended to occur after Buddhist festivals, Kanisorn added. They found several guns and machetes at Boonyong’s home, he said. [Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

North Korea: Researchers Find 'Unicorn Lair'

The world is stunned by the totalitarian state's declaration that experts have found the spot where an ancient king kept unicorn. North Korea has raised eyebrows around the world by announcing that researchers have proved the existence of the unicorn. The official state news agency says archaeologists "reconfirmed" the existence of a "unicorn lair" in Pyongyang, once used by an ancient Korean king. The Korean Central News Agency reports that archaeologists made the extraordinary discovery when they spotted a rectangular rock carved with the words "unicorn lair" 200m from the city's Yongmyong temple. The report quotes Jo Hui Sung, director of North Korea's history institute, explaining how the find tallies with information in history books from the 16th century. He says: "Korea's history books deal with the unicorn, considered to be ridden by King Tongmyong, and its lair. "The temple served as a relief palace for King Tongmyong, in which there is the lair of his unicorn." [Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

Dies and Back Alive and Die again

A two-year-old Brazilian boy, who was declared dead, sat up in his coffin and asked for water before laying back down again lifeless.

According to Website ORM, Kelvin Santos stopped breathing during treatment for pneumonia at a hospital in Belem, northern Brazil, News.com.au reported. The boy was declared dead at 7.40pm on Friday and his body was handed over to his family in a plastic bag.

 The child's devastated family took him home where grieving relatives held a wake throughout the night as the boy's body laid in an open coffin. But just an hour before his funeral was to take place on Saturday, the boy apparently sat up in his coffin and said asked his father for water.

[Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

Arrested for idol worship

A Sri Lankan youth employed as a domestic aid has been arrested in Saudi Arabia for worshiping a statue of the Buddha, which is considered an offence according to Shariah law.

According to the Bodu Bala Senaa, the youth bearing passport no. 2353715 identified as Premanath Pereralage Thungasiri has been arrested by Umulmahami Police, which is a grave situation.

The organisation states that information has been received regarding a plan that is underway to behead a Sri Lankan youth employed in domestic service in Saudi Arabia. Although a complaint has been lodged at the Foreign Employment Bureau, Battaramulla, under complaint no: CN/158/1205, so far no action has been taken.

While the youth is a Buddhist, the charge levelled against him is that he paid obeisance to the Buddha at the house where he was employed.

The Bodu Bala Senaa organisation further said those employed in Muslim countries are prevented from practicing their religious faiths, and if found to do so are punished severely. Recently a Sri Lankan woman was arrested for gazing at a child at a shopping complex, where she was accused of witchcraft, on the grounds that she had a black cord around her wrist.

However, the organisation accused the Foreign Employment Bureau officials of not educating the Sri Lankan workers travelling to Saudi Arabia regarding the laws in those countries pertaining to religious rights. Therefore, many of our migrant workers in Saudi Arabia face these situations due to their ignorance of the prevailing laws of those countries.

On prior occasions too many Sri Lankan female domestic workers were forced to embrace Islam, and wear the traditional attire, while so far four Sri Lankan youth have been beheaded in that country.

[Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

Woman, 63, 'becomes PREGNANT in the mouth' with baby squid after eating calamari

A 63-year-old woman became 'pregnant' with 12 baby squid after eating calamari, according to a claim in a bio-tech report.

The real-life 'octo-mum', from South Korea, was eating a portion of cooked whole squid when she felt a sharp pain in her mouth.

The bizarre claim has been made in a scientific paper from the National Center for Biotechnology Information in Bethesda, Maryland.

The lady told doctors that she could feel something in her mouth which they described as 'bug-like organisms'.

When examined, the doctors found 'baby cephalopods' attached to her mouth. These are small pods, covered in a cement-like material to make them stick.

Inside the pods is an 'ejaculatory apparatus' and sperm - with the apparatus expelling the sperm quite forcefully.

After the victim of the 'attack' was hospitalised, doctors removed the baby cephalopods from her gums, tongue and cheek. It was only then that the pods were formally identified as 'squid spermatophores.'

The Center's paper says: 'She did not swallow the portion, but spat it out immediately. She complained of a pricking and foreign-body sensation in the oral cavity.

'Twelve small, white spindle-shaped, bug-like organisms stuck in the mucous membrane of the tongue, cheek, and gingiva [gums] were completely removed, along with the affected mucosa.

'On the basis of their morphology and the presence of the sperm bag, the foreign bodies were identified as squid spermatophores.'

[Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

Indian believers swallow live fish to cure asthma

HYDERABAD (AP)- Tens of thousands of asthma-sufferers have mobbed a southern Indian stadium to swallow live sardines smeared with a yellow herbal paste they believe will cure their breathing problems.


Photo: Associated Press

Despite doctors' criticism, the Goud family has drawn throngs of people for years with its secret fish and herbal formula it says it received from a Hindu saint about 170 years ago.

Hyderabad police say a man died of a heart attack and several others sought medical attention for breathing difficulty after waiting for hours. Police say the stadium was unprepared to deal with the 70,000 people who rushed the gates on Friday.

The family offers the treatment annually on a day chosen by astrologers.

[Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

Chinese Buddhists 'cause plague of serpents'

For a group of Chinese Buddhists, releasing a thousand snakes from captivity into the wild was a compassionate act that would bring them good karma. But for the small nearby village of Miao Erdong, it resulted in a plague of serpents.

The 50 members of the "Let Blessings and Wisdom Grow" Buddhist group left Beijing in a nine vehicle convoy last Friday, driving for half a day with their cargo of snakes into the countryside of Hebei province.

Once they reached their destination, they chanted a ritual and released the snakes. However, they were soon spotted by a man from Miao Erdong who alerted the rest of the village.

The police were called, and quickly impounded three of the group's vehicles, as the snakes slithered into the undergrowth. Li Guohua, the head of the village committee, said snakes were soon spotted inside some of their homes.

"There is one girl in our village who has Down's syndrome and her parents are now scared of leaving her by herself in the house," he said. "I do not mind Buddhists releasing animals, but they should not disturb us," he added.

The practice of "Fang Sheng", or compassionate release, has been a Buddhist tradition in China for thousands of years, stemming from the teaching that it is possible to improve your karmic balance by doing good deeds to animals.

[Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

Woman, 25, arrested for chopping off the head of her three-year-old nephew on the orders of a witchcraft guru

A trainee witch has admitted beheading her three-year-old nephew on the orders of a dark arts teacher in Nepal.

The 25-year-old was allegedly told her skills would only be complete after sacrificing her nephew and eldest son.

Police in Nepal arrested the suspect in the town of Samanpur, south of the country's capital Kathmandu and charged her with 'sacrificing' a child.

Officers said Mahadevi Yadav beheaded Nitesh Kumar Yadav, at midnight on Saturday. Police said Yadav has confessed to the crime.

The New York Daily News reported today that Yadav sacrificed the boy following instructions from her guru with whom she had been learning witchcraft.

She was quoted as saying: 'I had been learning witchcraft from Chhabilal Yadav of Haraiya for the past month. He told me that my witchcraft skills would be complete only after the sacrifice of the nephew.

[Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

Search for cats uncovers "love potion" maker

CAN anybody possibly discover a link between missing cats and used underwear?

Apparently, the Malacca branch of the Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) did.

And it led them to an even more intriguing link - love potion.

The SPCA's continuing investigation on the intriguing link led them to the house of an Indonesian woman living with a dozen cats, The Star reported.

The investigation began after the SPCA received reports that many cats in Malacca, including pedigrees, had gone missing from their owners' homes since September.

In a recent case, a 45-year-old woman sought the SPCA's help after her Persian cat went missing.

Bent on getting to the root of the problem, SPCA Malacca chairman Vincent Low, accompanied by several members, visited the owner, Christine, to get more details.

After several days and many clues later, the officials visited the Indonesian woman's house.

[Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

Fish lodged in boy’s throat for 14 hours

KUCHING: A 12-year-old boy had to endure the agony of having a 4cm-long fish stuck in his throat for 14 hours before it was surgically removed.

Philip Muan from Rumah Endawie Nangka Jela Engkari in Lubok Antu caught the ikan puyu (climbing perch or anabas testudineus) while fishing in a drain near Batang Ai with his 10-year-old brother at about 9am on Sunday.

He removed the hook and tried to bite the head of the fish to kill it but it slipped into his mouth and lodged itself in his throat.

His father Muan Burong, 40, a rubber tapper said his sons returned home when they failed to remove the fish from Philip's throat.

Muan took the boy to the Batang Ai clinic from where he was taken to the Sri Aman Hospital about 40km away. From there, Philip was rushed to the Sarawak General Hospital in an ambulance.

It was already 11pm by the time he arrived and the boy was spitting blood. The fish had by then died and a foul smell emanated from the boy's mouth.

[Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

Miami Police Shoot, Kill Man Eating Another Man’s Face

Miami police are still tight-lipped about the man they shot and killed on the MacArthur Causeway Saturday afternoon, but new details back claims they had no choice: the naked man they shot was trying to chew the face off another naked man, and refused to obey police orders to stop his grisly meal, which one source now claims included his victim’s nose and eyeballs.



Surveillance video taken from security cameras at the nearby Miami Herald building show a police officer arrive on the scene, appear to be startled by the spectacle of two naked men lying on the street, and draw his service weapon. It appears that the officer shot one of the men, but it was difficult to tell in the video.

The bizarre shooting happened shortly after 2 p.m., when police responded to a 911 call about two naked men fighting on a bike path along the Causeway, which was packed with traffic on a busy holiday weekend.

[Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

Thai police arrest Brit with foetuses for black magic

Six human foetuses which had been roasted and covered in gold leaf as part of a black magic ritual have been seized from a British citizen in Bangkok, Thai police said Friday.

Chow Hok Kuen, 28, who is of Taiwanese origin, was arrested with the grisly haul in the city's Chinatown on Thursday, police said. The corpses had been packed into luggage and were set to be smuggled to Taiwan.

The suspect bought the foetuses several days ago from a Taiwanese man in Thailand for 200,000 baht ($6,500) and planned to sell them in Taiwan for up to six times that amount, police said. The origin of the foetuses was unclear.

"He said he planned to sell the foetuses to clients who believe they will make them lucky and rich," said Colonel Wiwat Kamchamnan of Bangkok police.

The man faces one year in prison and a 2,000 baht fine for possession of the foetuses.

In Thai black magic rituals, also observed among some Chinese communities, preserved foetuses are believed to bring good fortune to the owner and are often kept in shrines within homes or businesses.

[Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

'Witch' housemaid controlled family for 20 years

An Indonesian housemaid controlled a Saudi family for nearly 20 years by forcing them to follow her orders through magic before she was arrested by the Gulf Kingdom’s feared religious police.

The father finally decided to resort to the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice after his family plunged into more health problems and his children and wife “blindly” listened to the maid.

Commission members asked the father to bring his daughter, who appeared to be the worst affected by the magic spell, Sharq Arabic language newspaper said in a report from the western town of Madina.

After a spiritual treatment session, the girl woke up from an apparent trance and told Commission members that she knows about the magic work.

“She led them to a tree near her house and told them the maid had buried magic stuff there…they dug under the tree and found needles, threads, keys, lockets and other items which belong to the family,” it said.

“They took them to the Commission centre, where experts dismantled their effect…the maid was arrested while the family started to return to normal.”

[Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

In Bhutan, friendly phalluses painted on houses scare off evil spirits

In the tiny landlocked Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, the unique aesthetic tradition of painting erect penises on architecture — a tradition that has persisted for over 500 years — is finally receiving attention on a global scale. Yes, from the mountains to the valleys, Bhutan is covered with disembodied doodles.

But unfortunately for Bhutanese lovers of painting wiggling penises on the sides of their homes, foreign prudishness and the strictures of globalisation threaten to quash this virile art form. Join as we bask in the glory of Bhutan's public members. The following is arguably not safe for work, unless you're currently employed in Bhutan.

A few months ago, we ran a piece on the most phallic destinations on planet Earth. Following said post, several readers wrote in wondering why Bhutan was not included among those tumescent locales. Forsooth, gentle inquirers. There are penile places, and then there are veritable penile wonderlands — Bhutan is the latter. As the health journal Der Urologe elaborates, the symbol gained popularity thanks to a womanizing monk with a unique means of battling supernatural evil:

For most foreigners, the omnipresence of depictions of phalli, always erected and often ejaculating on many walls of traditional houses is a stunning impression.The popularity of these displays goes back to the "Holy Madman" Drukpa Kunley (1455-1529) who made generous use of his penis to fight demons, convert women to Buddhism and mock the religious establishment. Although there is a vast written and oral tradition on the religious and historical significance of the phallus-symbol, for most Bhutanese today it merely means a sign of good luck and an instrument to ward off evil spirits.

[Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

‘Sylvester Stallone’ spotted in 16th century painting

There's always something new to discover in Vatican City. Anthony Zonfrell, 20, a visitor to the holy city did a double take when he saw Sylvester Stallone in one of Raphael's masterpieces.
OK, so it wasn't really Stallone. But the man who brought to life "Rocky," "Rambo" -- and is reprising his role in "The Expendables 2" this summer -- does bear more than a passing resemblance to an unnamed onlooker in a 1511 painting of Pope Gregory IX approving the Vatical Decretals.

Note the cheekbones. Note the heavy eyelids. Note the nose, the hair, the chiseled chin. Heck, everything about the holy man in the painting looks like Sly.

It's interesting to note that Stallone is himself a painter.

Of course, this isn't the first time a current celebrity was thought to resemble someone from way back when. Some wonder if Jack Black and Paul Revere are one and the same. A year or so ago, somebody discovered an old photo of a Civil War soldier who looked a lot like Nicolas Cage.
In an interview with David Letterman, Cage acknowledged the similarities, but insisted that he wasn't a time traveler from the 19th century.

Stallone's publicist had no comment.

[Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

Mystery 'pulsating winged being' filmed

A video has appeared online showing a glowing figure with wings appearing briefly on CCTV footage.

The video shows an unremarkable street in Indonesia when out of nowhere an unidentified winged figure bathed in light suddenly drops down on the right-hand side and then quickly disappears. Moments later a number of people ( assumed to be security guards ) rush over to see what's happening. The exact origins of the footage remain unclear with some speculating that it could be a viral advertisement for an upcoming movie or video game.

Read more >>

Police raid smurf concert

Police raided a theatre performance in Saudi Arabia where schoolkids had dressed up as the Smurf's because the music was un-Islamic.

The raid happened in the city of Taif after complaints about the religious music that was being played to accompany the performance by the kids aged between five and nine.

The Saudi Arabian newspaper "El Sharq" said that the anti-Smurf action by the police took place in front of a performance in front of around 2000 primary school children.

It said that the police raid had not gone down well with the audience who had protested loudly.

Although not illegal to play music in public many Saudis regard it as unIslamic.

[Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

Egypt teen cries tears of blood, says touched by jinn

CAIRO: An 18-year-old Egyptian girl who shed ‘blood tears’ claimed she had been touched by jinn, which are ghosts and spirits popular in Upper Egyptian folklore. According to a report in the Arabic language quotidian, Sabea’a, a girl named Dawa’a appeared on Al Nahar Television, to share her experience. She said she had been touched by tribe of about one-thousand jinn. Amr Al-Laithi, a Muslim scholar, recited verses from Qur’an as the teenager fell unconscious. When she woke up after about 20 minutes, she claimed she could not remember anything but was suffering an intense headache. The Muslim scholar explained that the jinn in this case, thankfully, were merely an external influence on the girl. And that this was because there was no change in her voice, and too, that she did she suffer from physical convulsions. Those frightening symptoms, he asserted, are only seen in cases when jinn are internal and the victim has succumbed to total control. Neither person was available for comment at press time. Nor did the jinn offer a motive in their attempt to seize the girl. [Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

Russians test a gun that turns people into zombies

It’s been widely speculated that the U.S. military has been developing weapons with the capacity to scramble brain activity and basically turn your mind into mush. If so, we might be seeing a new kind of arms race as a new report claims that the Russia government has been testing a gun that does exactly that.

The weapon in question uses electromagnetic technology, such as microwave beams, to disrupt the central nervous system. Indeed, previous research has shown that certain kinds of low-frequency radiation can cause “a sensation of buzzing, clicking or hissing in the head,” according to a report by MSNBC. So along that line of logic, taking it up a few notches would lead to weapons that can potentially fry eyeballs, stop the heart from beating and even turn people into zombies.

Right now there’s no indication that anyone’s perfected anything close to an actual “zombie gun,” although the Australian publication The Herald Sun reports that Russia’s main man, President Vladimir Putin, plans to have them ready within a decade as a defensive measure against enemies of the state or unruly dissidents, such as protesters.

According to their report:

Plans to introduce the super-weapons were announced by Russian defence minister Anatoly Serdyukov. While the technology has been around for some time, Mr. Tsyganok said the guns were recently tested for crowd control purposes.

“When it was used for dispersing a crowd and it was focused on a man, his body temperature went up immediately as if he was thrown into a hot frying pan,” Mr Tsyganok said. “Still, we know very little about this weapon and even special forces guys can hardly cope with it,” he said.

But the effort to come up with something that can enable bona fide mind control has proven immensely challenging, despite decades of work by some of the brightest mad scientists. For instance, while the U.S. military has harnessed similar technology to produce a heat ray that creates a burning sensation hot enough to break up crowds, it still takes hours to power up and is a lot less effective when it rains.

[Click here to read full article]

Read more >>

Saudi Arabia: Beheadings for ‘witchcraft’

A Sri Lankan woman is currently facing decapitation by sword on a witchcraft charge in Saudi Arabia, in accordance with Wahhabism, a strict form of Sunni Islam. The UN reports executions tripled in the kingdom in 2011. ­A Saudi man complained that in a shopping mall his 13-year-old daughter “suddenly started acting in an abnormal way, which happened after she came close to the Sri Lankan woman,” reports the daily Okaz. After the local man denounced the Sri Lankan for casting a spell on his daughter, police in the port city of Jeddah found it sufficient cause to arrest the woman. Witchcraft and sorcery imply only one measure in Saudi Arabia – beheading. And it works this way in practice: last year in the kingdom at least two people – a woman in her 60s and a Sudanese man – were beheaded on witchcraft charges. In the absolute monarchy that Saudi Arabia is, a criminal code does not exist per se. Court sentences are based on Islamic Sharia law on the interpretation of judges. ­No sticking your neck out under Sharia law ­Capital punishment is applied regularly and indiscriminately to locals and foreign citizens. [Click here to read full article]

Read more >>