Cartoonist Canceled

Time and Death

When the October 12^th, 2002 issue of The Spectator came back from the printer's, one of William Scully's cartoons had been blacked out.

Eager to reassure the cartoonist that it was the printer's error and that he would still be paid, the editor rushed to phone him -- only to learn that Bill Scully had died that week!

© The Weirding, 2019

Five Years to the Day

Five years ago, American exchange student Amanda Knox was accused of murdering her roommate in some kind of sex and drug -fueled craze.  Now, a 20-year-old American exchange student in Rome is accused of stabbing his roommate 25 times in a drug-fueled haze.  The new crime happened five years to the day after the one involving Amanda Knox.

According to police reports, 20-year-old Reid Schepis and longtime friend and roommate, 19-year-old Fabio Malpeso, mixed ecstacy with alcohol for the first time that night.  Malpeso's sister and boyfriend heard a commotion coming from his room around dawn.  Schepis, who claims to have no memory of the attack, apparently stabbed his friend.  Malpeso is now recovering at a hospital.

Schepis was arrested but released to house arrest at an undisclosed location.

© C Harris Lynn, 2012

Fox Turns Tables on Hunter

A hunter in Belarus shot and wounded a fox, but dropped his gun when he went in for the kill.  The hunter had advanced on the fox, intending to kill it with the butt of his gun, but the wounded animal fought fiercely.  The gun discharged when the fox accidentally hit the trigger.

The unidentified hunter was being treated for a gunshot wound to the leg.  The fox got away.

© C Harris Lynn, 2011

Coincidence or Fate?: Cold-Hearted EMT Killed Outside Nightclub

EMT (emergency medical technician -- the ones who operate the ambulances), Jason Green, and his partner, Melisa Jackson, were under investigation for negligence for refusing to help a 25-year-old woman who collapsed in their presence and later died.  According to witnesses, the EMTs refused to help the woman; they told onlookers to call 911 and left.  The woman, and her prematurely born baby, died.

Last night, Jason Green was shot in the face outside of a nightclub and died from his injuries.  Police say the incidents are unrelated.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Coincidence or Fate?: Bus Driver Kills Wife, Driving Other Bus

Seventy-two-year-old Lynady was fatally injured when the bus she was driving collided into another bus, driven by her husband.  Mr. Lynady was hospitalized with non-fatal wounds.  The coroner reported that the late Mrs. Lynady was thrown from the bus upon impact.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Coincidence or Fate?: It's a Small World After All

While going through childhood photographs, Donna Voutsinas came upon a photograph of herself and friends at Walt Disney World in Florida.  But, what caught her eye was a man in the immediate background pushing a stroller.  That man turned out to be her future father-in-law, pushing her future fiance!

Source: Gadling

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Coincidence or Fate?: In Threes

A Jersey Central train hurtled inexplicably into Newark Bay in 1958 through an open drawbridge after the conductor breezed through three warning lights, killing 48.  One of the images captured showed the rear coach being lifted from the bay.  The number, 932, was clearly visible on this front-page picture.  That day, 932 was the number chosen by thousands throughout New York in the numbers game.  And 932 was the winning number.

This one apparently ran in the Scientific American in 1972.  Of course, we know the mob ran the numbers game in New York at that time, so it is possible that they noticed a run in the numbers and paid-out as a nostalgic sort of tribute to their community -- John Gotti threw a lavish 4^th of July party every year which included a vibrant, though illegal, fireworks display.

I don't claim to know how that works, so I'm just putting this out there.  The conductor may have suffered a heart attack, seizure, stroke, or the like.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Coincidence or Fate?: "Things What Done Fell from the Sky Remix"

This is a really weird one which falls into two of our ongoing series: Coincidence or Fate? and Things What Done Fell from the Sky.

51-year-old Chan Kwai-mui of Hong Kong lost her husband two years earlier in an odd accident, when a crane fell on him and another worker on a construction site.  Friends say she had just begun recovering from her loss when a 71-year-old woman on the 27^th-floor of an apartment building slipped and fell from her balcony, landing directly on top of the widow, Kwai-mui, killing them both.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Coincidence or Fate?: "Shot Through the Heart"

(With apologies to Bon Jovi)

Henry Ziegland jilted his Texas girlfriend in 1883.  The poor girl was so heartbroken that she took her own life.  Attempting to avenge her death, the girl's brother shot Ziegland.  Believing he had killed him, the girl's brother then took his own life by shooting himself in the head.  However, the bullet fired at Ziegland only grazed his cheek and embedded itself in a tree.

In 1913, Ziegland was trying to cut down that very tree, but found it so difficult that he resorted to using dynamite.  The explosion sent the bullet his ex-girlfriend's brother had fired at him 30 years earlier flying through Henry Ziegland's head, killing him instantly.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Another Fine Mess...

Carlos Laurel and Andre Hardy, both in their 30s, were arrested in Luzerne County, PA when they attempted to deliver 50 bags of cocaine -- yes, 50 -- to an unidentified recipient. Both were already on probation for prior drug-related arrests. Oliver Laurel also had 10 bags of marijuana -- yes, 10 -- in his waistband, along with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Laurel and Hardy were charged with the following felonies:

• Delivery of a controlled substance
• Criminal conspiracy to commit delivery of a controlled substance
• Possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance
• Criminal conspiracy to commit possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance
• Criminal use of a communication facility

In addition to the following misdemeanors:

• Possession of a controlled substance
• Possession of drug paraphernalia
• Criminal conspiracy to commit possession of a controlled substance

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

The Kennebunkport Car Mix-Up

Not quite unique enough to make it into our "Fate or Coincidence" series, I'd be remiss not to note the recent mix-up a Kennebunkport-area man made when he went to pick up his son's car from a school parking lot recently:

The unidentified man went to the school parking lot and picked up his son's car as instructed.  Meanwhile, his wife was listening to the police scanner when she heard a report for area police to be on the lookout for a white 1998 Volvo Model 70 sedan.  As it turns out, there were two, apparently identical, white 1998 Volvo, Model 70 sedans -- and both had keys wherever the man's son had told him to look!

She phoned the husband and asked simply, "Are you sure you took the right car?"

Of course, the vehicle was returned to its rightful owner, no charges were filed, and the story made the local news.  And, now, The OddBlog!

Enjoy your 15 minutes, unidentified, absent-minded, Kennebunkport father of a white Volvo-owning son!  You earned it.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Coincidence or Fate?: Twin Tales

Twins have often been said to possess innate similarities which go much deeper than physical appearance.  So it was with two twins who had been given-up for adoption to different families some 40 years before they met:

Each had been named "James;" each had been in law enforcement; both enjoyed drafting and carpentry as hobbies; each married women named "Linda;" divorced those chicks and married women named "Betty."  Both had sons by their first wife; the sons' names were James Alan and James Allan.  Both enjoyed vacationing at the same Florida beach.

And both had owned dogs named "Toy."

Source

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Coincidence or Fate?: Two Bullets, Two Brothers

This one I have to chalk-up to folklore for several reasons, but according to The Official History of Guilford, Vermont, 1678-1961, Jabez Spicer of Leyden, Massachusetts was killed when two bullets struck him in the back at the Battle of Shays' Rebellion in 1787.  At the time he died, he was wearing the very coat his brother, Daniel Spicer, had been wearing three years earlier when he was killed in battle.  By two bullets through the back.

The bullets which killed Jabez passed through the holes the bullets which killed his brother, Daniel, had made in 1784.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Driver Kills Two at Intersection - Seven Years Apart

In 2000, Australian Michelle Thiele entered an intersection.  Had she looked to her left, she would have seen 69-year old John Mitchell, who had the right of way, approaching.  Unfortunately, Ms. Thiele's oversight resulted in Mr. Mitchell's death.  Thiele was fined.

In 2007, Michelle Thiele entered the same intersection.  Had she bothered to look to her left, she would have seen motorcyclist, Graham Bryant -- who also had the right of way -- approaching.  Thiele's oversight once again led to a man's death.

The same coroner worked both cases and blamed Michelle Thiele entirely for both accidents, calling her "incompetent."  He said, "Both men died in collisions at the same location in almost identical circumstances and at the hands of the same motorist.  They both died when that same motorist failed to give way."

After this second wreck, Thiele was sentenced to eight months in prison, fined, and her license was revoked.  However, the Supreme Court suspended her jail time and returned her license after a one month period!

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Centuries-Old Tombstones Found in Man's Backyard

A retired construction worker was shocked to discover two 19^th-Century tombstones while doing some landscaping in his Michigan backyard.  One headstone bore a name, William E. Turner, but the name had worn-off the other.  A family plot in the cemetery across the street belongs to the Turners and a city clerk said some kids used to tie headstones to horses and pull them down in acts of vandalism.

I include this account because it is evidence of how a little legwork can expose the mundanity of what might otherwise be a creepy, little mystery.  Oh, and because a woman showed up at the city clerk's that same day and mentioned she was a relative of an E.D. Turner.  "We were all very shocked by the coincidence," the city clerk said.  Officials are hoping the woman reappears so they can question her about any historical significance.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Coincidence or Fate?: The Wedding Picture

According to a Mrs. Eileen Bithell of Portsmouth, England (as printed in The Sunday Times of London on May 5^th, 1974), a sign hung over the door to her parents' store, stating the only day on which the store was closed.  For over 20 years, the sign hung undisturbed (except for the occasional dusting), until it was taken down two weeks before her brother's wedding to be altered.

When the picture was removed from its frame, another picture fell out.  It depicted a girl in her father's arms.  The pair in the photograph turned out to be her brother's betrothed and his soon-to-be father-in-law!  Of course, the families were unknown to one another at the time the sign was made.

To this day, no one knows how the photograph came to be used as the backing to the sign.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Coincidence or Fate? - Umberto of Italy

The night of July 28^th, 1900, King Umberto I of Italy dined at a restaurant in a little town outside of Milan.  He was taken by the restaurateur's similarity in face and build.  He was astounded to then learn the man's name was also Umberto.  Then, he learned the two were born in the same town!  On the same day in the same year...

The two marveled at their many similarities, which didn't end there: They'd both married a woman named Margherita on the same date of the same year, and had both named their son Vittorio!  When he learned that they had been decorated for bravery together on two occasions, the King told his men, "I intend to make that man a Caveliere of the Crown of Italy tomorrow."

Unfortunately, King Umberto I of Italy was told his "double" had been shot and killed in an accident earlier that day.  The King asked about Umberto's funeral so he could attend and pay his respects.  Suddenly, three shots rang out!  One assassin's bullet missed, but the bullets of the other two shooters' pierced King Umberto I's heart, killing him instantly.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Coincidence or Fate?: Woman Misses 447, Dies in Car Crash

History is filled with what we usually call "coincidence."  These seemingly chance happenings so defy the normal pattern that they stand out as unusual.  Some people dismiss them as nothing more than that: Chance occurrences; others say such events actually prove a larger force(s) at play.  No matter what you make of it, certain freakish events fire the imagination.  This new series will examine several of these accounts, such as the following:

Johanna Ganthalter and her husband were vacationing in Brazil in 2007, and were booked to leave on France Flight 447, but missed it by minutes.  The Ganthalters took a flight out of Rio the next day.  Johanna Ganthalter lost her life when the couple's car veered across a road and into an oncoming truck.  Her husband was seriously injured.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Perry Mason Arrested for Practicing Law

44-year-old Perry Mason of Houston was arrested for barratry, which is a third-degree felony.  Reports say Mason was soliciting former jail inmates for an unnamed lawyer.  The lawyer was also arrested but released Wednesday on bond.

Perry Mason, portrayed by Raymond Burr in the classic TV series and several made-for-TV movies, was based on the equally popular novel series by creator, Erle Stanley Gardner.  It ran for nine years and garnered Burr two Emmys.  The made-for-TV movies continued up to 1993.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009