Eating Cats in China?

Dead Dog Suitcase

OK, so, living in London, you do get to hear the occasionally wacky story usually they are about vw camper vans for sale or silly things that uni students end up doing. Like the time my sister tried to take an armchair on the tube, but they wouldn’t let her so she took it on the bus instead. But this story really takes the cake.

It’s a while ago now, but still within the last couple of years, that my flatmate’s girlfriend related this story about a friend of hers.

To try and keep the pre-amble brief I will simply say that this friend had been asked by her long time neighbours to look after their rather elderly dog while they were away on holiday. Being such an old dog, the owners had left instructions that if he were to pass, then to just take him along to the vets and let them know. No fuss, no drama. Needless to say, mid way through the week that they were away, the dog sadly passed.

Now, this is where things started to get interesting. Not owning a car, there wasn’t really any easy way for this friend (of my housemate’s girlfriend…) to get the, rather large, dog to the vets. But then, inspiration struck and she fetched a large, battered old suitcase from home and proceeded to package the dog up, and get on the tube to the vets.

When emerging from the train station, a nice man offered to help her with the obviously heavy suitcase, with which she was clearly struggling. Not being one to turn down such a kind offer (the man looked plenty strong enough to manage, and didn’t really need to know what was in the suitcase), she accepted. And just as they neared the top of the escalator, the man took off with her suitcase, disappearing into the crowd never to be seen again. Just imagine the look on his face when he opened it up to reveal the contents!

Oh, and the owners never heard the full story…

Urban Legends

As children we often lent a patient ear to folk tales and legends. Some were easily forgotten while some left deep etches in our memories for the longest time. Let’s delve into the world of urban legends.

1) Honey we are sleeping over the dead body!

How many times have you checked into a hotel and looked under your mattress? Almost, never! A young couple did just that. Legend says that, they checked into a hotel and spent the entire night amidst unbearable stench. In the morning, they summoned the hotel authorities who found a decomposing corpse under the mattress. This same incident has been reported in many hotels later, because apparently mattresses seem like a nice resting place for people who have been murdered in those very rooms.

2) It is Halloween!

Halloween is the time to perform all those crazy and scary stunts that will freak out people and especially children. However, a stunt can take a person to a new world altogether (literally) if performed incorrectly. A teenage boy was trying to amuse the neighborhood kids by pretending to hang himself. The boy’s acting turned out to be too real and he ended up killing himself in front of all the muted spectators. This incident has occurred several times and people always forget to take extra precautions while performing such fatal exercises.

3) Don’t bury me, I’m alive

How many times have you dreamt of being buried alive? Well, this has really happened to people in the past. When science was not very advanced and the only way of checking that someone was still alive was by calling his name out loud. Several wealthy men and women purchased safety coffins for themselves that were built with bells and flags that could be used to caution passersby. Although, the safety coffins have been discontinued, we do have people working locum doctors jobs who can ascertain our death now.