2024 Wheel of Horrors Thread (Earthquakes, Train Crashes and more...)

[China]

Philadelphia Man Known by Neighbors for ‘Completely Unhinged’ Behavior Accused of Cutting Off Wife’s Head

 

A Philadelphia man allegedly cut off his wife’s head. Ahmad Shareef, 34, had a bad reputation among neighbors, with one local woman telling WTXF she was not surprised.

 

“The adults in that house are completely unhinged,” she said. “And the man who did the decapitation, he is, I would say, the most unhinged of them all.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

 

[PleaseBlitz]

[dfitzo53]

"The driver was not injured"

 

Holy ****, good for them, but HOW

[China]

Meningococcal warning after Spilt Milk music festival in ACT

 

The ACT state government is warning anyone who attended a popular Canberra music festival in November to remain vigilant for symptoms of a deadly disease they may have been exposed to at the venue.

 

Health authorities are urging people who attended Spilt Milk festival on the weekend of November 26 to keep an eye out for symptoms of meningococcal disease, and act immediately if they identify any.

 

A person who attended the festival has since been diagnosed and is in Canberra Hospital.

 

 

Symptoms in children and young people are less common, but can include irritability, difficulty walking, high-pitched crying and loss of appetite.

 

“People can carry meningococcal bacteria in their throats and not have symptoms, but pass it on to close contacts. If you suspect symptoms of meningococcal disease, please seek medical review immediately”, said Dr Coleman.

 

Vaccinations against the disease have rendered it “uncommon,” but kids under five years old and people aged between 15-25 are most at risk of contracting meningococcal.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

There's a reason I keep hand sanitizer in my car...

 

How POO could be lurking on self-service scanners at your local shop: Grim experiment shows how dirty escalator rails, toilet handles and office keyboards can be

 

hey may be quick and easy to use.

 

But self-service check-outs — now a staple of modern supermarkets and convivence stores — are littered in bacteria found in human feces.

 

That is according to public health chiefs, who swabbed some of the devices to show how dirty they can be.

 

Bugs found lurking on the machines, used by thousands of people every day, can make people ill, sometimes severely, if they enter the body.

 

This can happen through not washing our hands before we eat, or touching our nose, mouth, and eyes with dirty fingers. 

 

Experts have now urged shoppers to wash their hands thoroughly after using the checkouts and host of other everyday items in the run up to Christmas. 

 

An experiment backed by NHS public health officials swabbed 19 different items people come into regular everyday contact with.

 

This included supermarket self-service checkouts, escalator rails, public restroom door handles, and computer keyboards.

 

Lab analysis showed self-service checkouts had 'one of the highest bacterial loads', with five types of bacteria known to cause disease in people.

 

One of these was a bug called Enterococcus, a bacteria commonly found in feces.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Toxic mercury levels in beauty creams likely caused woman to lose peripheral vision, experts say

 

A woman in Minnesota lost part of her vision and inadvertently put her entire household at risk of mercury poisoning, most likely from using beauty creams containing high levels of the toxic chemical, according to a case report shared exclusively with CNN.

 

The report, shared by Dr. Erin Batdorff with the Minnesota Poison Control System, details the extensive symptoms experienced by the woman, also a mother, and how home visits conducted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) found high levels of mercury in her children's bedrooms, bedding, household towels and laundry area.

 

"People have no idea," Batdorff, a fellow in medical toxicology who examined the woman in her home, told CNN. "No one intentionally wants to hurt themselves or their family members. But it's out there and you can't see it, you can't smell it. There's no way [for consumers] to know whether [mercury] is in the creams or not because it's not on the labels."

 

The woman, whose name has been concealed in the report to protect her identity, was referred to Batdorff's team after she reported an array of symptoms to multiple doctors, ranging from insomnia and leg pain to muscle weakness, fatigue and, eventually, the loss of her peripheral vision. Clinical tests revealed elevated levels of mercury in her blood and urine.

 

Batdorff explained that the most common symptoms she sees from potential mercury poisoning is tingling or numbness in a patient's hands or feet. She described the woman's loss of vision as "a more extreme and permanent symptom."

 

"She will not recover her vision," Batdorff told CNN. "So being a young woman that now has vision loss is really frightening and pretty concerning."

 

The toxicologist added that there are likely to be many more people out there who are being exposed to toxic levels of mercury and are not showing symptoms, or at least not yet.

 

On the first visit, she showed the team skin whitening beauty creams from abroad but said she was no longer using them. The agency found the amount of mercury in two of those products to be several thousand times higher than the permitted levels of 1 part per million (ppm) in cosmetics and urine tests revealed high levels of mercury in her body (23mcg/liter) — but mercury was not noted as an ingredient on the products, according to the team.

 

A second home visit in 2022 found that two new beauty products the woman had bought at a local market, one of which was not labelled as skin whitening but is known to be used for this, also contained high levels of mercury. The products found in her home were empty from use, but the MPCA team tested new unopened versions of the same product, finding extremely high levels of mercury of 11,000 and 18,000ppm.

 

The woman's story is one of many in the state of Minnesota and other parts of the US in recent years, in which women and entire households are believed to have been exposed to inorganic mercury from the prolonged use of skin whitening products that fail to disclose they contain harmful levels of the toxic chemical.

 

Beauty products containing mercury remain easily accessible in local malls and markets throughout the US and through online retailers, say experts, helped by the fact they fail to list mercury as an ingredient. Batdorff and other experts are calling for greater awareness, regular testing of products and stricter enforcement of regulations to help combat the problem.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Coyote attacked 2-year-old girl in front of her house, security camera shows

 

A 2-year-old girl is recovering after being attacked by a coyote Friday afternoon in front of her house in a Los Angeles neighborhood, her father told CNN.

 

Video from a Ring security camera shows the coyote run up to grab Ariya and start dragging her in the seconds before her father could react.

 

Click on the link for the full article and video

[China]

Stromboli volcano erupts in Italy, forces school closures

 

Schools in parts of Italy were closed on Monday after a volcano on the Sicilian island of Stromboli erupted.

 

The eruption on Sunday caused an explosion and set off alarm sirens on the island.

 

The violent explosion, filmed by a camera from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), sent clouds of ash into the air and into the sea.

 

The INGV said they also registered a 4.6 magnitute earthquake early morning on Sunday in the sea the Aeolian island archipelago, of which Stromboli is included.

 

The Coast Guard is monitoring the flow of lava and ash into the sea to ensure ports on the island remain safe and open.

 

This is not the only volcano to erupt in recent days. A volcano also erupted in Indonesia on Sunday. The Mauna Loa volcano also erupted in Hawaiii on Nov. 27 and lava flow is continuing.

[PleaseBlitz]

4 minutes ago, China said:

Stromboli volcano erupts in Italy, forces school closures

 

Schools in parts of Italy were closed on Monday after a volcano on the Sicilian island of Stromboli…..

I got this far picturing a volcano ejecting delicious baked turnovers filled with various Italian cheeses and Italian cold cuts into the air. 

[dfitzo53]

1 hour ago, PleaseBlitz said:

I got this far picturing a volcano ejecting delicious baked turnovers filled with various Italian cheeses and Italian cold cuts into the air. 

Yeah it definitely sounds like a novelty menu item at a local chain pizzeria.

[Xameil]

Mmmm I love Strombolis

[China]

Woman accused of killing stepdad after finding nude photos of herself on his computer

 

A woman pleaded not guilty to allegedly killing her ex-stepfather after finding nude photos of herself on his computer.

 

Jade Janks was accused of drugging, strangling, and suffocating Thomas Merriman, her ex-stepfather, with a plastic bag on New Year’s Eve 2020.

 

Janks, an interior designer, allegedly found explicit photos of herself on his computer while cleaning his room after he was hospitalized for a fall. Reports say Janks sent the photos consensually to her old boyfriend.

 

Merriman was found dead under a pile of trash in his driveway on January 2, 2021.

 

She allegedly confessed to killing Merriman to her friend Adam Siplyak, according to his testimony on Thursday. She reportedly wanted to make the death look like an overdose because he abused alcohol and drugs, according to officials.

 

According to the prosecutors, during a text exchange between Janks and Siplyak, she said her stepfather’s body was in her car and she needed help moving it, which Siplyak refused.

 

The prosecutor several texts that she sent to Siplyak:

 

“I just dosed the hell out of him.”

 

“He’s waking up. I really don’t want to be the one to do this.”

 

“I can’t carry him alone and I can’t keep a kicking body in my trunk.”

 

“I am about to club him on the head as he is waking up.”

 

“I’m not strong enough. He is very aware now and I am on my own.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

[China]

 

[China]

Michigan man gets life sentence for 2019 killing Kevin Bacon, mutilation

 

A Michigan man who acknowledged killing another man and hanging the victim's mutilated body from the ceiling of his home was sentenced to life in prison Thursday.

 

A Shiawassee County judge sentenced Mark Latunski, 53, to life in prison without the possibility of parole on a first-degree murder charge for killing 25-year-old Kevin Bacon, of Swartz Creek, in December 2019.

 

Latunksi was also sentenced to 11 months to be served concurrently on a charge of disinterment and mutilation of a dead body.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Rogue Hippo ‘Swallows’ 2-Year-Old—Then Spits Him Back Out

 

A 2-year-old boy is recovering after a rare hippo attack in which the massive animal “swallowed half of his body” but then miraculously spit him back out. The remarkable incident was first reported by Capital FM Uganda, which cited local police to report that the hippo had been forced to “vomit” the boy back up after a shocked bystander hurled stones at it. The boy had reportedly been playing by himself outside his home near the shores of a lake in southwestern Uganda when the hippo “grabbed” him, police were quoted saying by The Telegraph. A man who was nearby saw the horrific scene unfolding and “stoned the hippo and scared it, causing it to release the victim from its mouth,” police said. The hippo retreated back into the lake and the boy was rushed to a hospital for treatment after having been “half swallowed.” Police said he escaped any serious injury.

 

Click on the link for more

 

[China]

Human heart found in TDOT salt pile in Humphreys County

 

 human heart has been found in a salt pile in Humphreys County, according to Sheriff Chris Davis.

 

“I’ve been on some crazy stuff, but this is by far, one of the most unusual crime scenes I’ve ever been on,” he said.

 

Sheriff Davis said a worker found an “adult male human heart” on Thursday, Dec. 15 at the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) facility on Highway 70E in McEwen.

 

“We are treating this as a crime scene. We are working very diligently to find or not find anything else at this location,” said Sheriff Davis.

 

Investigators with the sheriff’s office, McEwen Police Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will be meeting with TDOT officials to conduct a wider search.

 

“At this time we don’t feel that anybody’s safety is in question,” said Sheriff Davis.

 

Sheriff Davis said they’re working to locate any other remains, “If there are any to be found.”

 

“We are searching the area where the item was found. It was found in the salt where the TDOT is preparing to attack the bad weather, severe weather conditions that we have,” said Sheriff Davis.

 

“At first they thought it was a rock,” he said. “The process of what salt does to that, it dries it out.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Berlin: Massive aquarium home to 1,500 fish bursts

 

A 16-meter (52-foot) high aquarium has burst at a hotel in downtown Berlin, injuring two people, German rescue services said on Friday.

 

More than 100 first responders had been called in to deal with the damage at the complex which houses the Radisson Blu hotel in the German capital's Mitte district. The cause of the incident was still unclear, Berlin's fire service said.

 

"The aquarium is damaged, water is leaking. The situation is not clear at the moment," the Berlin fire brigade wrote on Twitter.

 

"In addition to the unbelievable maritime damage... two people were injured by glass splinters," Berlin police tweeted.

 

Mayor Franziska Giffey described the burst tank as a "veritable tsunami" but pointed out that things could have been worse.

 

"Despite all the destruction, we were still very lucky,'' she said. "We would have had terrible human damage'' if the aquarium had burst just an hour later when more people would have been up and walking around.

 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Couple from Washington State Allegedly Took Their 8-Year-Old Daughter’s Corpse on a Cross-Country Road Trip Because They ‘Wanted to Spend More Time With Her’

 

A Washington State couple allegedly took their daughter’s corpse on a cross-country road trip – some three months after she died – because they “wanted to spend more time with her,” police say.

 

Aleksander Kurmoyarov, 28, and Mandie Miller, 33, now stand accused of one count of failure to notify law enforcement of the death of a child, according to Spokane, Wash.-based CBS affiliate KREM.

 

The couple hails from the town of Airway Heights, just outside of Spokane. Police there had previously issued a warrant for their arrest on suspicion of homicide by abuse.

 

On Thursday, they were arrested by police in Mitchell, South Dakota.

 

The boyfriend and girlfriend were allegedly on the radar of law enforcement in the area after the Davison County Coroner called the Mitchell Police Department and said their office had been in contact with them. According to the MPD, the coroner said “he had been contacted by individuals stating that they were traveling from Washington State to Pine Ridge with their deceased daughter.”

 

The next day, officers located Kurmoyarov and Miller in Mitchell. According to the police department, they were at a residence with a U-Haul parked out front. When confronted by law enforcement, the couple allegedly volunteered that the U-Haul contained a coffin with the dead body of Miller’s “juvenile daughter” inside.

 

While the pair were allegedly forthcoming about the trailer’s contents, they were allegedly unclear on when the girl died.

 

“During an interview with Kurmoyarov, he stated that the juvenile had died in Airway Heights a little before Halloween 2022,” the MPD alleged in a press release. “Miller told investigators that her daughter died on September 10, 2022.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

At least 2 dead as 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocks Northern California

 

A 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked Northern California early Tuesday, killing at least two people and leaving thousands in the dark as officials warned that another major jolt could still be on its way.

 

The quake hit at a depth of 10 miles just after 2:30 a.m. PT near Eureka in Humboldt County, the U.S. Geological Survey said. 

 

It struck around 7.4 miles west-southwest of Ferndale, the agency said.

 

At least 11 people were injured and two people “have died as a result of medical emergencies occurring during and/or just following the earthquake,” according to a statement from the Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services.

 

As many as 80 aftershocks followed, with the most powerful being a 4.6-magnitude jolt that rocked the city of Rio Dell, according to Mark Ghilarducci, director of California’s Office of Emergency Services.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Man accused of chewing MAX passenger’s face claims victim was ‘robot’

 

A man charged in a grisly MAX station attack Tuesday morning claims he did it because he believed the victim was a “robot.”

 

At about 2:17 a.m., officers responded to the Cleveland Station at 1200 Northeast 8th Street where witnesses reported an attack and a lot of blood.

 

Officers said they found 25-year-old Koryn Daniel Kraemer still on top of the victim, a 78-year-old man from Hillsboro, and pulled him off.

 

According to police, the suspect “had chewed off the victim’s ear and part of his face. The injury was so severe that responders could see the victim’s skull.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Experienced Dutch wingsuit pilot dies in base-jumping accident in Switzerland

 

A Dutchman died while base jumping with a wingsuit in Switzerland on Wednesday. The victim was 44-year-old Jarno Cordia, an experienced wingsuiter who had already completed thousands of jumps, his friends and family confirmed on social media.

 

The Swiss police said that the man died in the mountains near Lauterbrunnen on Wednesday, AD reported. He had jumped from the jumping point Hig La Mousse and crashed several times against a rock wall for unknown reasons.

 

[China]

Here's the literal Ferris Wheel of Horror:

 

 

[China]

Los Angeles among 50 worst bedbug cities in the U.S., Orkin says

 

Los Angeles recently landed in the top five of an annual list that doesn’t exactly come with bragging rights.

 

In its annual list of the worst bedbug cities in the U.S., pest control company Orkin ranked the City of Angels as No. 5. Chicago was No. 1 for the third year in a row, followed by New York and Philadelphia, which traded spots compared to last year, KTLA sister station WXIN reports.

 

To create its list, Orkin reviewed cities in which it performed residential and commercial bedbug treatments from December 2021 through November 2022.

 

Here are the 50 bedbug cities on this year’s list, as well as how their ranking changed compared to last year:

1. Chicago
2. New York (+1)
3. Philadelphia (-1)
4. Cleveland-Akron, OH (+4)
5. Los Angeles (+7)
6. Detroit (-2)
7. Indianapolis (-1)
8. Baltimore (-3)
9. Washington, D.C. (-2)
10. Columbus, OH (-1)

 

Click on the link for the full list

[China]

More haunting details reveal how ‘serial monster,’ his ‘generals’ ran Michigan sex trafficking ring

 

Two “generals” working under a Michigan man who filed his teeth down to points to intimidate his human trafficking victims have been taken into custody, and 20 new charges were issued against the leader after more haunting details came to light.

 

“I knew this serial monster was bad, but I did not realize he’s as bad as what I’m going to tell you today.”

 

Swanson said Barajas was building a human trafficking gang called the “Masaad Squad.”

 

Around Thanksgiving, he sent Alex Matthew Schmidt, 23, and another man out in a yellow Hummer to search for vulnerable women, according to authorities.

 

They found a 20-year-old woman walking along the side of the road in east Flint and offered her a warm place to stay, a shower, and food, officials said.

 

“It’s the bare needs of an individual,” Swanson said. “It’s the basic hygiene that she so needed. That was the grooming hook that they used. Brought her into the yellow Hummer, took her to the house (where) Barajas was waiting, because he was building out a gang to do these kinds of things called the ‘Masaad Squad.’”

 

Swanson said Barajas wasn’t in the Hummer at the time, but he orchestrated the kidnapping. He trained people to go out and find vulnerable women and bring them to a house, which acted as their “human trafficking headquarters,” according to authorities.

 

“The term ‘Masaad Squad’ was, I’m sure, in his mind, something that he was trying to create to form a sex industry trade,” Swanson said.

 

Schmidt was the driver of the Hummer, according to police.

 

The 20-year-old woman was brought to a house on Marmion Avenue near the intersection of Center and Davison roads in Flint.

 

From around Thanksgiving until Dec. 8, the woman was raped by men while Barajas and his generals held her down using ropes or other items, Swanson said.

 

At times, they would hold guns up to her head or force her to put a pacifier in her mouth and call them “daddy,” according to officials.

 

“Barajas held (a gun) to the head of our victim and said, ‘If you don’t do this, I’m going to kill you,’” Swanson said.

 

He also filed his teeth into points as another manner of intimidating his victims.

 

 

“He would tell the victim, ‘I’m going to rip your throat out if you don’t do what I tell you to do, and you don’t comply,’” Swanson said. “It’s dominance. It’s kidnapping. It’s grooming.”

 

Woman escapes on 3rd try
The woman tried to escape three times while she was being held at the house against her will.

 

Swanson said the doors at the house were barricaded with locks, and the windows were screwed shut with drywall screws.

 

The house was raided the day of the woman’s rescue, and Barajas was taken into custody. At that time, he was charged with seven felonies, including kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct, and assault with a dangerous weapon.

 

After the story of Barajas’ arrest broke, Swanson said another former victim came forward.

 

Click on the link for the full article