26/01/01 03:19 Coughing corpse comes alive at the undertaker's Laurel J. Sweet Jan. 25 - Ashland funeral director John Matarese has never seen anything like it before - and hopes he never has to again. TO HIS SHOCK, a 39-year-old Ashland woman deemed dead by police, firefighters and the Middlesex district attorney's office Saturday morning suddenly . . . coughed. "It certainly scared the hell out of me," said Matarese, whose funeral home had been waiting for the medical examiner to rule on what was thought to be the body of a suicide victim. But according to Ashland Town Manager Dexter Blois, "The undertaker walked past (the woman), who either coughed or gagged. He called 911 and established an airway. It's totally unbelievable." The woman, who had been found unresponsive with no vital signs in the bathtub of her Joanne Drive apartment about 8:30 a.m. Saturday, was "up and about" yesterday at MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham, Blois said. Lou Larson, a nursing supervisor at the hospital, was on duty when the woman was brought in Saturday afternoon. "In my career I thought I had heard and seen everything, but this was a first," Larson said. "She's a very lucky young lady." Blois said the authorities who believed her to be dead "did what they were trained to do." "This person was apparently in such a deep coma that there were no vital signs. I guess miracles never cease to happen." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 18/12/00 23:24 forteana http://www.straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,1870,11503,00.html? The Straits Times | 19 Dec. 2000 'Dead' man alive in funeral parlour TAIPEI - An elderly Taiwanese man who was pronounced dead by doctors after a car accident and placed in refrigeration in a funeral parlour was discovered alive five hours later. Mr Hsu Jui-nien, 74, was rushed to the Hungyang hospital in Touliu, southern Chiayi county, after the Sunday morning collision, according to local television. Emergency room doctors pronounced him dead, and he was moved to a funeral parlour in another town where he was placed in refrigeration. During a post-mortem examination in the afternoon, Mr Hsu was found still breathing. He was rushed back to the hospital, but is in a coma, the report said. His family is considering filing a lawsuit against the hospital.--AFP 19/12/00 19:55 http://www.scmp.com/news/China/Article/FullText_asp_ArticleID-20001219031931242.asp South China Morning Post | 19 Dec. 2000 'Dead' man five hours in fridge JASON BLATT in Taipei A 75-year-old Taiwanese man spent five hours in the refrigeration unit of a hospital mortuary after being wrongly declared dead. Hsu Jui-nien, a resident of southern Taiwan's Yunlin county, was rushed to hospital in the nearby city of Touliu in Chiayi County on Sunday after he suffered serious injuries in a motorcycle accident, Taiwan's TVBS cable network reported yesterday. After spending more than two hours trying to resuscitate Mr Hsu, the hospital issued a death certificate and notified the man's family to take him to a mortuary in preparation for burial. The family complied, and Mr Hsu was placed in a refrigeration unit, where his family waited more than five hours for a local prosecutor to confirm the death and sign routine paperwork. But when he made his inspection, the prosecutor was amazed to discover the old man still breathing. Mr Hsu was returned to Touliu hospital - where he had been declared dead the day before - and was later reported to be in a coma. He was breathing with the help of a respirator. The old man's family said they were furious with the hospital staff over the incident. "A prosecutor came down to have a look and said 'this person is still alive, what are you doing sending him here'," one of Mr Hsu's family said at the hospital. The hospital claimed the family had taken Mr Hsu away. "We had already worked to save him for two hours and the family wasn't optimistic," a hospital spokesman said. "It was the family that wanted to take him [from the hospital]." Meanwhile, Mr Hsu's doctors said they were not optimistic about his chances of survival. 19/12/00 14:33 http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_149014.html A Taiwanese man has spent five hours in a mortuary fridge after he was wrongly declared dead. The 75-year-old man was found to be breathing when a coroner arrived to confirm death. Hsu Jui-nien's relatives are said to be furious at what they say is a mix-up though doctors claim the family took him to the mortuary without their permission. A spokesman said: "We had already worked to save him for two hours and the family wasn't optimistic. It was the family that wanted to take him." Mr Hsu was injured in a motorcycle accident and is now breathing with the help of a respirator. Doctors told the South China Morning Post his chances of survival are not good. Last updated: 12:27 Tuesday 19th December 2000 26/12/00 21:33 forteana http://www.inquirer.net/issues/dec2000/dec27/news/news_11.htm Philippine Daily Inquirer | 27 Dec. 2000 Man with amulet survives train hit By Jerome Aning Inquirer News Service A MAN lived to tell the tale of his survival after he was hit by a train in Old Sta. Mesa, Manila yesterday morning. Jose Caeta,]aa resident of Parcel Street, Old Sta. Mesa, was said to have been drunk when the accident happened. Supt. Roberto de la Rosa, Western Police District traffic commander, said the accident happened around 6:30 a.m. while Caeta, who had been drinking with neighbors, was walking aimlessly on the railroad tracks. Witnesses said a Laguna-bound train came but Caeta only kept walking toward it. Luckily for Caeta, the train had reduced speed because it was nearing its station. Still, it hit Caeta and hurled him a few meters. Caeta landed between the steel rails. The train simply kept on rolling while he lay beneath. Residents thought they would be gathering pieces of Caetas body but they were surprised when they saw him lying between the rails. Neighbors brought Caeta, who was still breathing but unconscious, to the Philippine General Hospital. It turned out he suffered a few cuts and bruises on the forehead, legs, arms and torso. The hospital sent him home after a few hours. In an interview on radio station dzBB, he attributed his survival to an amulet, a medallion given by an old herb doctor he met in Quiapo several years ago. He said the amulet had protected him from death and bodily harm a number of times. 09/01/01 20:57 http://allafrica.com/stories/200101090244.html Dead Woman Creates Panic In Moyamba Concord Times (Freetown, Sierra Leone) January 9, 2001 Promise Alpha Momodu Freetown 24 year-old Baby Jane Saidu of Shenge in Moyamba District last Thursday created panic when she suddenly opened her eyes while about to be lowered into the grave. "Why is everybody standing on top of me," She asked the mourners who were praying with their eyes closed. Helter skelter, everybody dived for cover. As Jane, wrapped in white cloth, got up and walked towards the panic stricken mourners, more people took to their heels. "A dead woman is coming," they screamed. Baby Jane, said to be a displaced from Tongo Fields, was undergoing training in tailoring and gara tie-dying at the God Is Our Light Development Association (GOLDA). She reportedly fell ill in Bo and was admitted at the government hospital. Back in Shenge, Jane fell ill again and was confirmed dead. The corpse was then taken to a village called Nkaiuyeahun in a hammock for burial. An eyewitness said that before she was about to be buried, the deceased sister, Hellen Kadie Saidu decided to say special prayers for her sister. "It was during this time that the dead lady woke up. Everybody ran away except her parents who continued to pray," the eyewitness said. "It is the power of prayers," Mustapha Koroma said. 15/01/01 14:39 A Romanian man has been accused of beheading his wife. Gavril Tuca, 58, from Barbosi, County Vaslui, had been taking care of his bed-ridden wife Georgeta, 69, since she became paralysed following an accident four years ago. Police claim they found him lying in bed with her headless corpse and an axe. 15/01/01 20:42 forteana http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Southern_Africa/0,1113,2-11-40_964558,00.html News24 | 12 Jan. 2001 Decapitation murder puzzle Maputo - What people do or intend to do with a severed human head remains a puzzle for most Mozambicans. In a four-year span, four heads have turned up in one place, while their respective bodies have cropped up somewhere else. The last such head was found last weekend in the Maputo suburb of Maxaquene. The headless body was discovered in a ditch in Bobole, some 37 kilometres north of Maputo. The 29-year-old victim, Juvencio Cuna, was just 500m away from his home, police told the media on Monday. After beheading the victim, the murderers gouged out parts of the brain and cut off the tongue, the left ear and the left eye. What they did or will do with the missing body parts still remains a mystery. Police say investigations are underway. The previous grisly murder took place in February 1999. Police were tipped off that a man was trying to sell a human head to an Indian imam of a mosque in central Maputo. Sure enough, they caught Atumane Aly carrying a mutilated human head in a plastic bag. Aly told the police he was working on behalf of the imam, Shafik Kadiwala, who they said wanted the head for unspecified purposes and was willing to pay about 6 600 dollars (one million meticais) at the time. In the ensuing investigations, police arrested two of Aly's accomplices as well as the imam. It turned out that the three had on February 1999 lured Goncalves Mpoto, killed him and subsequently decapitated him. However, a Supreme Court judge quashed the charges laid against Kadiwala, who neither spoke Portuguese nor English but only his language Urdu, and granted him unconditional release. The court had found that the police produced no evidence whatever that linked him to the crime. In June last year, a Maputo court handed out severe sentences ranging from 16 to 20 years to Aly and his two accomplices. Aly had earlier been convicted on a similar case, but surprisingly, someone had signed for his release. To thank his benefactor, he came out of prison and murdered Mpoto. - Sapa-DPA 26/01/01 16:14 Ananova... A woman was found alive in a body bag in the US. The woman was found slumped in a bath, apparently dead, and was taken to a funeral home. But funeral director John Matarese heard a gurgling noise coming from the body bag. "It scared me half to death," Matarese says. "The girl was alive." Matarese quickly unzipped the body bag and held the woman's mouth open to keep her air passages clear. She is now recovering in hospital. Police officers and an emergency medical team were unable to detect any signs of life when the woman was found. Dr Murray Hamlet, a hypothermia resuscitation expert, says. "People have to understand that cold, stiff, blue people can be resuscitated." 11/02/01 14:30 Ninja Attack Three men dressed as ninjas and brandishing samurai swords have stormed a house in the US. The invaders fought with the householder and his teenage sons before making off with $500 from the house in Yorktown, New York. An 18-year-old is in custody and police are hunting two others. "I was shocked, I was in the bathroom and these two masked marauders busted into the house," said Brian Hauptner, a construction worker who fought the robbers off with his sons. The ninjas began attacking 17-year-old Aaron Hauptner. He screamed for help from his dad and brother Ryan, 19. The Hauptners and the ninjas then fought for five minutes. Mr Hauptner armed himself with a longbow he uses for deer hunting and the ninjas used swords and a crowbar. "It was a pretty big ruckus," Aaron Hauptner told The Journal News. "My brother came in and started head-butting the guy in the face. It was pretty cool. I didn't know my brother could throw down like that." Neighbour Bill Male told police he didn't see the robbers arrive. "Of course, if they were ninjas, you wouldn't see them," Mr Male said. 15/03/01 03:43 Man Survives Fall But Lands Beside Corpse http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010314/od/body_dc_1.html Wednesday March 14 10:52 AM ET LONDON (Reuters) - A British man who jumped off a cliff survived a fall of nearly 400 feet -- but landed on a ledge next to a badly decomposed body. Rescuers said the 22-year-old man had suffered serious and extensive injuries and it was miraculous that he was still alive after falling such a distance. ``To live at all is a miracle but to land so close to a dead body is just amazing,'' a coastguard spokesman told Reuters. The drama began when police and coastguards were called to Shakespeare Cliff at Dover on England's southeast coast on Tuesday night when the man was spotted behaving erratically. Despite their attempts to calm him he leapt over the cliff edge. ``The man survived the plunge but landed close to another body. It was very much decomposed,'' the spokesman said. The grisly find was made by a paramedic who went to the aid of the man as he lay injured on the ledge about 30 feet from the bottom of the white chalky cliff. The man was taken to hospital with multiple injuries but his condition was stable, officials said. A spokesman for Dover police said officers did not know the identity of the dead man. 05/04/01 10:10 Axe wielding priest An axe-wielding drunk priest has been jailed for fighting with his parishioners in Russia. Deacon Vasily Vorobets of St Nicholas Cathedral in Omsk was sentenced to three years for assault and battery. As well as attacking a female parishioner with a pick, the priest tried to smash another parishioner's door down with an axe. The priest often invited parishioner Tatyana Tankovid to his home to drink vodka, a court heard. On one occasion, he went to her home where he started an argument and punched her several times. He then attacked the woman with a pick. The following day, Vorobets, described by Pravda as "the drunken deacon" arrived at her home again. This time two of the woman's male relatives were there. The priest started a fight with them during which one of them was injured. Tatyana meanwhile hid at her neighbour's house. They called the police who arrived as he was destroying the front door with an axe. None of the parishioners' injuries are reported to be serious. 16/04/01 14:29 [forteana] New Cheltenham Sword Attack Three men have been taken to hospital with serious injuries after a man attacked them with a Samurai sword. The incident happened in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, just a few hundred yards from the scene of a Samurai sword attack last year which left a councillor dead and an MP injured. Police say the incident took place outside a restaurant in the town's Regent Street. It is believed the incident involved a dispute between the swordsman and door security staff. A police spokesman said: "During the incident three male persons received injuries to arms and hands none of which is life threatening. "Members of public in the vicinity responded to the disturbance and a man was contained within a motor vehicle and prevented from leaving the scene." The spokesman say a 21-year-old local man has been arrested and is helping police with their inquiries. Earlier this year a jury decided that 50-year-old former surveyor Robert Ashman attacked and killed county councillor Andrew Pennington with a Samurai sword at Cheltenham's Liberal Democrat offices. The town's Liberal Democrat MP Nigel Jones was seriously injured in the attack. Ashman denied murder and attempted murder and was found unfit to stand trial at Bristol Crown Court. 03/05/01 23:19 Skydiver Survives 4,000ft Plunge From Ananova Thursday May 3, 2001 8:47 pm A Gloucestershire student has survived a 4,000ft plunge from a plane in California when her parachute failed to open. Lynda Harding desperately tried to inflate her reserve parachute when the main one jammed as she plummeted to earth at about 80mph. The reserve chute carried her for part of the drop, but when it failed, she hurtled towards the ground. Amazingly, she came away with just broken ribs, a punctured lung, muscular back injuries and concussion. Lynda, from Newent in the Forest of Dean, spent eight days in intensive care after the accident at the Skydive Elsinore centre. Her father Phil and sister Alison flew to Los Angeles to stay by her bedside in Inland Valley Hospital, Elsinore. But less than four weeks after the incident, on Sunday April 8, the Hull University chemistry student has made a near-full recovery. Lynda, who is chairwoman of her university parachuting club, was using a wheelchair until a week ago but is now mobile. The accident happened on her ninth parachute jump, on a holiday with about 60 other students. She said she could not remember anything about the accident. "I feel a combination of surprise that I am here at all and then a bit strange as if nothing has happened because I cannot remember it. "I am sure someone was looking out for me. I am steering clear of jumping although I am not ruling it out. I am totally amazed I am still alive." She fell on to grassy scrubland but may have escaped serious injury because she fell sideways instead of on her feet or bottom. Safety officer John Hitchen, of the British Parachute Association, said it was "virtually impossible" for anyone to survive such a plunge, but it was rare for parachutes to completely fail to work. 07/06/01 17:52 forteana@yahoogroups.com Thursday, June 7, 2001 86 Human Skulls Found at Bus Stop CALCUTTA (Reuters) - Police in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal found 86 human skulls at a bus stand after complaints of a stench coming from an unclaimed bag. "All the skulls were neatly sawn off and some had some brain tissues sticking to them," Sanjay Chander, superintendent of police of the Darjeeling district, told Reuters Thursday. Police said they had no idea who the victims were, who had cut their heads off or why. No arrests had been made, they said. The skulls were found Wednesday in Siliguri city, some 600 km (375 miles) north of the state capital Calcutta. "Initial investigations indicate some of the skulls were cut from the body 5 to 6 months ago," Chander said. The skulls have been sent for forensic tests, he said. 07/06/01 21:41 http://uk.news.yahoo.com/010607/80/bu73t.html Thursday June 7, 02:04 PM Indian police find 86 human skulls at bus stop CALCUTTA, India (Reuters) - Police in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal have found 86 human skulls at a bus stand after complaints of a stench coming from an unclaimed bag. "All the skulls were neatly sawn off and some had some brain tissues sticking to them," Sanjay Chander, superintendent of police of the Darjeeling district, told Reuters on Thursday. Police said they had no idea who the victims were, who had cut their heads off or why. No arrests had been made, they said. The skulls were found on Wednesday in Siliguri city, some 600 km (375 miles) north of the state capital Calcutta. "Initial investigations indicate some of the skulls were cut from the body 5 to 6 months ago," Chander said. The skulls have been sent for forensic tests, he said 21/06/01 00:26 forteana Woman Survives Being Skewered By Snooker Cue >From Ananova Wednesday June 20, 2001 9:52 pm A woman was pinned to her car seat when a snooker cue pierced her body following a crash in Nottinghamshire. The cue had been in the boot and the 21-year-old was a back seat passenger. The cue entered the woman near her kidneys and re-emerged through her thigh. It took fire and rescue workers two hours to free her. She was taken to hospital with a section of the cue still inside her, but released after three days. Doctors at the Kings Mill Hospital, near the accident scene in Mansfield, said the cue had missed all her vital organs. The woman, who comes from the Beeston area of Nottingham, has not been named. Two other people in the Kia Mentor car suffered minor injuries following the crash in the early hours of Saturday. Sergeant John Blaylock, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: "We are very grateful the injuries suffered by this woman were not more serious. Something like this could easily have proved fatal." He said she had been left with puncture wounds. And he added: "It appears the car she was travelling in collided head on with a second vehicle. The circumstances of the accident will be investigated to see if any criminal action will be taken." The driver of the car, Ian Butterworth, of Britannia Avenue, Nottingham, said his friend had complained of a pain in her back following the accident. He said: "I put my hand behind her and there was something piercing her." 26/06/01 11:55 Boy decapitated by train as he chats on mobile A 15-year-old Japanese boy failed to notice an oncoming express train as he talked on his mobile phone. The boy was leaning over the rim of a platform when the train roared through the station in Settsu, near Osaka, killing him instantly. Police said the boy, who has not been named, was on the way home from school with two classmates. All three were talking on mobiles and none noticed the train. The driver sounded his horn but the boy failed to notice in time. The train hit the upper part of his body, decapitating him, reports the Mainichi Daily News. This came from www.ananova.com 16/07/01 13:00 'Swordman's mother' speaks The mother of a schizophrenic man shot dead by police in Liverpool has spoken of her 'disgust' at how they dealt with the situation. Andrew Kernan, 37, was shot twice in the chest while brandishing a samurai sword near his home in Wavertree, Liverpool. Officers had been called to the flat Mr Kernan shared with his mother, Marie, on Thursday night after she and psychiatric workers became concerned about his behaviour. She said: "I cant believe this. The way my son's been treated you would think he was a criminal. He's never had so much as a driving offence. "My son was just ill. Care in the community? Don't make me laugh - there is none." She said Andrew had been suffering from schizophrenia for 14 years and she was his primary carer. "So when I need the authorities to come in and help I ring and they come - this time they didn't," she said. "So the next step was the police. I had Andrew contained in the bedroom waiting for the police to come. They did and I expected it to be dealt with in the bedroom. I'm disgusted, absolutely disgusted I want justice for Andrew. We want a lot of questions answered." The incident is being investigated by the Police Complaints' Authority. Mrs Kernan's lawyer Rex Makin said: "I'm not very impressed with the police investigating themselves and the time has come for the whole system to be changed." 13/07/01 13 July 2001 http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_350575.html Police reveal identity of dead swordsman Merseyside Police have named the sword-wielding man shot dead by police. He is 37-year-old Andrew Kernan, thought to be a single man who lived with his mother. He was shot twice in the chest outside a pub packed with drinkers and died at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. Mr Kernan was seen in an "extremely agitated and violent state" in Wellington Grove, Wavertree, Merseyside Police say. Attempts to disarm him with CS spray failed and he was shot by an armed response officer. Police say they were called to Wellington Grove by family members and a psychiatric team, requesting help in dealing with Mr Kernan. Assistant Chief Constable Mike Tonge said: "Officers attended the scene in Wellington Grove and tried to defuse the situation and build up a rapport with 37-year-old Andrew Kernan. Efforts to do this failed and he left the premises armed with a sword. "Mr Kernan continued to cause serious risk to the public and police officer safety, which ultimately led to the discharge of a firearm to ensure public safety. " The owner of the Wellington pub, where the man was shot dead by police, says the swordsman had tried to barge into the premises. Brian Williams, whose daughter Julie Carter is licensee at the pub, said: "At about 10pm our son-in-law Jimmy, who lives with us, came down the stairs saying he had seen a chap waving a sword around. "He was shouting to bolt all the doors and we managed to get them shut. I think he basically shut the door in the guy's face and stopped him getting in. A few minutes later we heard two shots ring out. I don't know if there were any warnings given because it was difficult to hear what was going on outside. " 13/07/01 09:56 http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_350435.html Sword-wielding man shot dead by police A man has been shot dead in Liverpool by a police marksman after running amok in a street armed with a sword. The 36-year-old was seen in an "extremely agitated and violent state" in Wellington Grove, Wavertree, Merseyside Police said. Attempts to disarm him with CS spray failed and he was shot by an armed response officer. He was taken to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital where he later died. Police were called to the scene by a psychiatric team at 9.30pm and found the man in the street. A police spokeswoman said: "The man was in an extremely agitated and violent state armed with a sword. Officers attending the scene attempted to calm the man and maintain dialogue. "CS spray was used to attempt to defuse the situation. However he continued to behave in an aggressive manner with the sword. As a result an armed response officer discharged a firearm." Merseyside Police have referred the incident to the Police Complaints Authority. Assistant Chief Constable Mike Tong said: "This is an isolated and extremely rare incident which we have voluntarily referred to the Police Complaints Authority. "Even though there has not been a complaint we want to ensure that the matter is subject to an in-depth and independent inquiry by an outside force." Mr Tong added: "Safety of the public and police officers is our primary concern in any situation. These were difficult circumstances in which fully trained officers discharged a firearm after carefully assessing the level of threat to the public and officer safety." 10/10/01 19:34 A severed head has been found on a Stockport street. It was found close to a car containing a man's headless body in Lancashire Hill. Detectives say it's possible the man committed suicide by tying a rope around his neck and attaching it to a lamppost, then driving off. The Citroen Saxo car is believed to have smashed through a fence before coming to a halt. A passer-by found the severed head on a pavement in Bangor Street at 4am today, reports the Manchester Evening News. 06/11/01 14:01 forteana@yahoogroups.com ananova.com Hedgehogs 'killed with samurai sword' Police in Germany believe a man killed five hedgehogs with a samurai sword. The 23-year-old will be charged with violating animal protection laws. Neighbours who found the dead animals in Bonn said they were shocked by the sight. The man denies the killings, reports the Express newspaper. Story filed: 16:37 Monday 5th November 2001