SKELETONS: Police say they don't suspect foul play after the CREEPY discovery of human bones in the roots of a giant oak tree in Connecticut that was toppled by the recent storm. Even if they did, there wouldn't be much they could do because the CREEPY bones are believed to be 200-300 years old. (Or a little more, if you count the time they were inside someone.) The area was once used as a cemetery, including in the 18th century during a smallpox epidemic, so the current theory is that a couple of people took the opportunity to be buried there and wait 250 years to CREEP ME OUT on Halloween 2012. CREEPY pictures can be found at the links above.
As you may have noticed, for some reason I find this ÜBER-CREEPY.
SCARY COSTUMES: A truck driver in New Hampshire said he was "surprised" late Tuesday night when a naked clown hopped into his truck and asked if he wanted to have sex. The headline ("Naked clown accosts trucker at rest stop") is a little misleading because although the man does did work as a clown, he was not dressed as a clown (or as anything else) during the incident. A state trooper who responded to the trucker's call said that the clown threw "items" believed to be narcotics out of his car before pulling over, and that to his surprise several dozen clowns then poured out of the tiny car. (No, there was just the one.) The report also contains this sentence: "A search of [the clown's] vehicle resulted in the seizure of several sex toys, Halloween masks and head lamps."
Of course I also find that CREEPY, but somehow less so than the skull in the tree. Aiiieeee!!
CREEP (getting a beat-down): A person who should be terrified right now for more sensible reasons is the scammer behind isanybodydown.com (do NOT go there), who's currently being pummeled by Mark Randazza of The Legal Satyricon and Ken of Popehat. The scammer's site apparently posts (without consent) naked photos of people, and an attorney named "David Blade" has been offering to get the pics taken down for just $250 apiece. Unfortunately for the scammer, Mark and Ken noticed this and guess what? The site owner and attorney appear to be the very same person, which makes this extortion, and the "attorney" does not appear to be an attorney at all, which is also a felony. You should read the whole chain of posts at both sites. It's pretty glorious.
OAKLAND: Always terrifying, but maybe slightly more so now that its police chief has admitted that he never got emails sent by city officials and a federal court monitor asking about allegations of police brutality, First Amendment violations and other illegal conduct during the "Occupy" protests, because they were caught in his spam filter. More specifically, he had set his spam filter to screen out emails with phrases like "occupy," "police brutality," "excessive force," and "press pass." He claimed this was because he was getting many anonymous messages, and that he "forgot" the filter might also keep out legitimate official ones on those topics.
PLAINTIFF V. THE GREAT PUMPKIN: "Even though Plaintiff's view of the 170-pound pumpkin was obscured by her flower purchase, the giant pumpkin was an open and obvious danger. Based on the evidence presented, Defendant's motion for summary judgment is well-taken and is GRANTED." Daly v. Giant Eagle Co., 2004 WL 5506105 (Ohio Com. Pl. 2004).
