Saturday, October 23, 2010

Fortean / Oddball News: Cincinnati UFOs, Croc Causes Crash and Singapore Bear-Like Creature

Strange Lights / UFOs Over Cincinnati - 10/22/2010



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Thanks to Jeff Gonzalez of the Sanger Paranormal Society for the heads up!

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Bear-Like Creature Recorded in Singapore

A bear-like creature was spotted along Ulu Pandan on Monday morning.

The strange scene was caught on an amateur video using a hand phone.

Eyewitness Wilson Tay, a civil engineer, was driving home with his son when he spotted "something strange".

He said his son took the video when the creature was spotted near a dustbin.

By Mr Tay's estimation, the bear was about the height of an average adult human being.

It's as yet unclear whether the creature is for real.

In a media release, Wildlife Reserves Singapore said no bears had been missing from its parks.

Wildlife Reserve Singapore manages the Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, Jurong Bird Park and the upcoming River Safari.

It added it was unable to verify yet, if the creature was a real bear.


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Thanks to Bill Green for the heads up!

UPDATE: turns out that this was a publicity hoax...read below

'Bear sighting' publicity stunt now a public nuisance case

channelnewsasia - Worried residents, searches by animal interest and wildlife groups, even police officers having to cordon off the area - all because of a purported "bear" sighting along Ulu Pandan Road which has turned out to be a publicity stunt by a company to market shavers.

The blurry video clip of a purported "bear" rummaging through a dustbin at a bus stop had been making the rounds on the Internet. It was also reported on television and in newspapers such as Lianhe Wanbao, Shin Min Daily and The New Paper.

In a statement on Wednesday, through public relations agency Fleishman-Hillard, Philips Electronics Singapore clarified that the bear was a mascot for a guerilla marketing campaign for a shaver undertaken by social media agency, The Secret Little Agency.

"We acknowledge that the resemblance of the mascot to a live bear has caused some public concern in the neighbourhood where the mascot was sighted. We had anticipated the attention that the bear will draw but have no intention to cause any alarm. We would like to apologise for any concern caused," the electronics giant said.

But the police, as well as tens of men and women from Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) and Wildlife Reserves Singapore who scoured the area for hours on Wednesday, were not amused.

On Wednesday night, a police spokesman said: "In response to media queries on the sighting of a 'bear' in Ulu Pandan, Police confirm that we're investigating an offence of Public Nuisance under Section 268 of the Penal Code."

On Monday, the video clip was sent to several news outlets by a person claiming to be a civil engineer named "Wilson Tay", who claimed his teenaged son shot the clip while he was driving on the road.

TODAY newspaper decided against running the story on Wednesday until proper checks could be done, including finding out the full particulars of the so called witness and having this reporter meet him face-to-face to ascertain the authenticity of the "bear sighting" claims he had made online.

This reporter had sent an email to the informant, asking him to call her – which he did. But when this reporter then tried to contact Mr Tay on the mobile number he provided, the person who answered denied he was Mr Tay and said she was not the first one to call that number looking for the informant.

When contacted, The Secret Little Agency said the aim was to get the public to blog and talk about the sighting on social media.

Creative partner Nicholas Ye said they called up to enquire with the Police if a licence was needed on Sunday before heading down to film the video on Monday at about 2am.

"This is irresponsible and it is a waste of resources ... publicity by all means, but this has gone way too far," said Acres founder and executive director Louis Ng, whose group also conducted an hour long search on Tuesday.

Singaporeans whom MediaCorp spoke to had mixed reactions to the news.

"It is hilarious that this bear mascot got on the news ... but imagine the stress and work they have caused the police and zoo over this silly mistaken identity," said a nurse Lee Xiu Hua, 24.

The latest publicity gimmick brings to mind SingPost’s postbox graffiti stunt in January this year - the last time resources were invested when SingPost employed an agency to spray graffiti on its postboxes in the lead-up to the Youth Olympic Games.

Members of the public were startled when they spotted a vandal at work, and called the police. The police said then that they would take up the matter with SingPost.


NOTE: the Singapore authorities don't tolerate this stuff. Remember, this is where you can be punished by caning for dropping a cigarette butt. Lon

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Escaped Crocodile Causes Panic, Crash of Plane

telegraph - The plane came down despite no apparent mechanical problems during an internal flight in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It has now emerged that the crash was caused by the concealed reptile escaping and causing a stampede in the cabin, throwing the aircraft off-balance.

A lone survivor apparently relayed the bizarre tale to investigators.

The crocodile survived the crash, only to be dispatched with a blow from a machete.

Danny Philemotte, the Belgian pilot and 62-year-old owner of the plane's operator, Filair, struggled in vain with the controls, with Chris Wilson, his 39-year-old First Officer from Shurdington, near Cheltenham, Glocs.

The plane was on a routine flight from the capital, Kinshasa, to the regional airport at Bandundu when the incident unfolded, on August 25.

It crashed into a house just a few hundred feet from its destination. The occupants of the property were outside at the time.

According to the inquiry report and the testimony of the only survivor, the crash happened because of a panic sparked by the escape of a crocodile hidden in a sports bag.

One of the passengers had hidden the animal, which he planned to sell, in a big sports bag, from which the reptile escaped as the plane began its descent into Bandundu.

A report of the incident said: "The terrified air hostess hurried towards the cockpit, followed by the passengers."

The plane was then sent off-balance "despite the desperate efforts of the pilot", said the report.

The plane was a Czech-made Let L-410 Turbolet, one of more than 1,100 produced as short-range transport aircraft and used mainly for passenger services.

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WARNING!!! GRAPHIC! "Cow hit in head by passing train survives, then stands in field with most of its face missing"


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