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

[Captain Wiggles]

August 2023 has been like one of them 1970s disaster movies. 🥺

[Fergasun]

Felt that earthquake.  It's been 20 to 30 years since we had one in that area at the 5.0 magnitude.  Was just lounging on a coach and felt the vibration, looked around "who is shaking the couch"?  Oh. Earthquake.  Than got hit by the major wave. Knocked over 1 or 2 things in our house. Earthquake alert came in right when it is done. 

 

I'm very glad that we have an earthquake building code. It's not like we haven't had our share of 3s and 4s coming through. 

 

And I got soaked while grocery shopping earlier today too. Worst part is I missed one thing my wife wanted me to get.

[TheGreatBuzz]

I never experienced an earthquake until I was stationed in Japan.  I was asleep in barracks and woke up to the shaking not really sure what was going on.  I noticed the water in the cup by my bed was splashing and then a crack went up the wall of my room.  I threw on shorts and made it down 5 flights of stairs in about 3 seconds.

[China]

Man stung by nearly 2,000 bees hospitalized in Sun City West

 

A man is hospitalized after being stung by nearly 2,000 bees in Sun City West Saturday.

 

According to Arizona Fire and Medical Authority (AFMA), a maintenance worker in his 50s was working at Pebblebrook Golf Course when he encountered a beehive.

 

It's unclear exactly what led to the attack, but somehow the man disturbed a hive.

 

When AFMA crews arrived they said the man was covered in bees. One of the crew members stated, "We thought it was grass clippings on his face but as we got closer, we realized those were actually bees". 

 

The fire crews wore bee hoods and turnouts to protect themselves while using a hose line filled with foam to subdue the bees.

 

The man was rushed to a hospital where he remains intubated, according to AFMA officials.

 

Click on the link for the full article and video

[China]

Hundreds at Tough Mudder race reportedly infected in Bay Area

 

Sonoma County officials issued a health advisory Wednesday after hundreds of people who competed in a Tough Mudder obstacle course at Sonoma Raceway last weekend reportedly developed rashes with boils, fevers and muscle pain, as well as other health issues including nausea and vomiting, less than 24 hours after the event.

 

The popular event requires participants to wriggle and clamber through mud and waist-deep muddy water; that exposure is how health officials suspect people may have gotten sick. 

 

“Most affected persons have pustular rash, fever, myalgias, and headache,” the Sonoma County health advisory read. “These symptoms could be indicative of a minor illness called Swimmers’ Itch, but they can also indicate a Staph infection or other more serious bacterial infection such as Aeromonas.”

 

Aeronomas can be spread through contaminated waterways and soil, according to a study from the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Sonoma County officials urged participants experiencing symptoms to see a doctor or emergency provider immediately.  

 

The news comes after a flood of reports were shared on the Toughmudder subreddit, with some participants claiming they had to spend the night in the ER after they noticed their skin was covered in pus-filled blisters. Participant Nicole Villagran, who experienced flu-like symptoms as red welts broke out all over her arms and legs, told ABC7 there were a few moments during the race where she could “smell cow manure” and couldn’t finish some of the obstacles. 

 

“6/6 of my group have the bumps and pimples,” Reddit user GenxDHMTB wrote in one of the threads. “3 of us with fevers. 3 went to the ER. [I’m a] what-doesn’t-kill you-makes you-stronger kinda guy but knowingly sending people to wallow through cow crap is negligent in my book.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

How a 40cm cookiecutter shark deflated a 9-metre catamaran off the coast of Cairns

 

How can a 40-centimetre shark deflate a 9-metre catamaran?

 

On Wednesday at 1:30am three sailors attempting a round-the-world voyage activated their emergency beacon after their boat was attacked by sharks 800 kilometres off the coast of Cairns, and began to sink. 

 

 

The craft left St Petersburg on July 1, 2021, in a bid to break the world record for cruising distance in an inflatable sailing trimaran. 

 

It's suspected their craft was set upon by cookiecutter sharks. 

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

Are we sure it wasn't shrieking eels?

 

 

[China]

Powerful earthquake strikes Morocco, killing hundreds and damaging historic buildings in Marrakech

 

A rare, powerful earthquake struck Morocco late Friday night, killing hundreds of people and damaging buildings from villages in the Atlas Mountains to the historic city of Marrakech.

 

Morocco’s Interior Ministry said early Saturday that at least 296 people had died in the provinces near the quake. Additionally, 153 injured people were sent to hospitals for treatment. The ministry wrote that most damage occurred outside of cities and towns.

 

Moroccan television showed scenes from the aftermath, as many stayed outside fearing aftershocks.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Death Toll Jumps Above 1,000 From Strong Quake in Morocco

 

Rescue workers were combing through rubble in search of survivors on Saturday after a powerful earthquake surged across western Morocco overnight, killing more than 1,000 people and raising the specter of a humanitarian disaster in a seismically vulnerable area of the continent.

 

The quake, which struck in the High Atlas Mountains shortly after 11 p.m. on Friday, was indiscriminate in its demolition, rippling through the densely populated medinas of Marrakesh and rural villages ringing the city, where walls of earthen homes shook, cracked and collapsed.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Morocco earthquake live updates: Aftershock rocks rescuers as death toll surpasses 2,000; U.N. mission inventories damage to historic sites

 

A magnitude 3.9 aftershock rocked Morocco on Sunday, rattling rescue workers and residents whose homes withstood Friday's magnitude 6.8 temblor that killed more than 2,000 people and turned ancient towns to rubble.

 

The United Nations estimated that 300,000 people were affected by the quake. Digging out survivors from crumbled buildings remained the emphasis on Sunday.

 

“There are a lot of blocked roads, a lot of people can't find their parents and a lot of people are still under the rubble," Adeeni Mustafa, who lives 30 miles south of Marrakech in the town of Asni, told the BBC. "People are still searching for their relatives. Everything came down on them, the mountains, their homes."

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Hundreds Feared Dead in Severe Libya Flooding

 

Deadly floods swept through northeastern Libya over the weekend, with the top official in the region warning that the toll could exceed 2,000 dead as rescue teams searched for survivors.

 

Later, a spokesman for authorities in that region cautioned that it was difficult to give an exact figure for fatalities because rescue efforts were still underway, though officials in the east believe more than 2,000 are dead or missing. The authorities have confirmed only 27 deaths so far.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Some mighty christian behavior from some "Soldiers of Christ"

 

6 self-described "Soldiers of Christ" arrested after malnourished woman found dead in car's trunk outside Georgia spa

 

Five adults and a 15-year-old were in custody Thursday on murder charges after a woman's body was found in the trunk of a car parked outside a popular spa in Georgia's Gwinnett County. The six suspects referred to themselves as belonging to a religious group called "Soldiers of Christ," police said.

 

Investigators told news outlets that someone reported the discovery around 10:50 p.m. Tuesday outside of Jeju, a Korean spa and sauna in Duluth, Georgia. At a news conference Thursday, authorities said the spa does not appear involved in the incident.

 

The victim, according to arrest warrants, was starved and beaten for weeks before she eventually died. Police believe the starvation began Aug. 3. It's not immediately clear when the victim died.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Man known as ‘Sugar Bear’ who killed, chopped up woman and stuffed severed head, hands and feet in deep freezer pleads guilty: Feds

 

A man known as “Sugar Bear” and “Daddy” who allegedly killed a woman and dismembered her body before stuffing her head, hands and feet in the deep freezer in his New York City apartment pleaded guilty to murder and sex trafficking eight women, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of New York said.

 

Somorie Moses, 47, faces 15 years to life in prison. Moses is accused of murdering one of his sex trafficking victims, Leondra Foster, on Jan. 13, 2017. He used a saw and knife to dismember her body inside their shared Brooklyn apartment, according to prosecutors. Four days later, he stuffed her head, feet and limbs into a deep freezer in the apartment and disposed of her torso and limbs at a Bronx sanitation site, prosecutors said. One of the feet had “Somorie” tattooed on it, the feds said.

 

Since at least 2003, Moses forced women and girls into prostitution by “using brutal beatings, rape, torture, and threats,” prosecutors said. He promised “love and marriage” to the women before demanding they work as prostitutes and forced them to give the money they earned over to him. He also demanded that the women tattoo his first name on their bodies.

 

When one victim refused his demands, he used a Taser on her until she complied. He slashed the arms and feet of another victim with a razor, beat her with a belt and poured lemon juice on her wounds, leaving her permanently scarred, according to prosecutors. He put a shotgun in the mouth of a third victim and threatened to pull the trigger when she said she didn’t want to be a prostitute anymore, prosecutors said.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

Unavailable for comment

[China]

Worm that jumps from rats to slugs to human brains has invaded Southeast US

 

The dreaded rat lungworm—a parasite with a penchant for rats and slugs that occasionally finds itself rambling and writhing in human brains—has firmly established itself in the Southeast US and will likely continue its rapid invasion, a study published this week suggests.

 

 

The study involved small-scale surveillance of dead rats in the Atlanta zoo. Between 2019 and 2022, researchers continually turned up evidence of the worm. In all, the study identified seven out of 33 collected rats (21 percent) with evidence of a rat lungworm infection. The infected animals were spread throughout the study's time frame, all in different months, with one in 2019, three in 2021, and three in 2022, indicating sustained transmission.

 

Although small, the study "suggests that the zoonotic parasite was introduced to and has become established in a new area of the southeastern United States," the study's authors, led by researchers at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, concluded. The study was published Wednesday in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

 

The finding is concerning given the calamitous infection the rat lungworm, aka Angiostrongylus cantonensis, can cause in humans. The parasitic nematodes are, as their name suggests, typically found in rats. But they have a complicated life cycle, which can be deadly when disrupted.

 

Normally, adult worms live in the arteries around a rat's lungs—hence rat lungworm. There, they mate and lay eggs. The worm's larvae then burst out of the lungs, get coughed up by the rat, and are swallowed and eventually pooped out. From there, the larvae are picked up by slugs or snails. This can happen if the gastropods eat the rat poop or if the ravenous larvae just bore into their soft bodies. The larvae then develop in the slugs and snails, which, ideally, are eventually eaten by rats. Back in a rat, the late-stage larvae penetrate the intestines, enter the bloodstream, and migrate to the rat's central nervous system and brain. There they mature into sub-adults then migrate to the lungs, where they become full adults and mate, thus completing the cycle.

 

Humans become accidental hosts in various ways. They may eat undercooked snails or inadvertently eat an infected slug or snail hiding in their unwashed salad. Infected snails and slugs can also be eaten by other animals first, like frogs, prawns, shrimp, or freshwater crabs. If humans then eat those animals before fully cooking them, they can become infected.

 

When a rat lungworm finds itself in a human, it does what it usually does in rats—it heads to the central nervous system and brain. Sometimes the migration of the worms to the central nervous system is asymptomatic or only causes mild transient symptoms. But, sometimes, they cause severe neurological dysfunction. This can start with nonspecific symptoms like headache, light sensitivity, and insomnia and develop into neck stiffness and pain, tingling or burning of the skin, double vision, bowel or bladder difficulties, and seizures. In severe cases, it can cause nerve damage, paralysis, coma, and even death.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Califan007 The Constipated]

This has to be a sign of the apocalypse…

 

 

[China]

Missouri Woman Fights to Prove She’s Alive After U.S. Government Declares Her Dead

 

Madeline-Michelle Carthen’s life took an unexpected turn in 2007 when she discovered that the US government had declared her deceased. And despite her numerous attempts to prove her existence, the 52-year-old Missouri resident continues to grapple with the bureaucratic nightmare that has plagued her life for over a decade and a half.

 

“I don’t care what A.I. says or software says, but I’m alive,” she defiantly states, but proving it has proven to be a monumental challenge.

 

The saga began in 2007 when Madeline-Michelle was pursuing her education at Webster University. To her astonishment, she was denied financial aid, leading to a startling revelation: she had been placed on the Death Master File, a Social Security Administration (SSA) list that records the deaths of individuals connected to Social Security numbers. The baffling part? She had no idea how her name had ended up on that list in the first place.

 

Madeline-Michelle’s predicament swiftly escalated beyond mere inconvenience. Her erroneous status in the Death Master File had repercussions that rippled through various government agencies that became unwitting participants in this bureaucratic maze.

 

“Well, it got worse, because it wasn’t creditors. Being in the Death Master File, it went to the IRS, it went to the Department of Homeland Security, it went to E-verify, all of these things. It just started affecting my life,” she told local station KSDK News.

 

“It’s like a haunting,” she describes the ordeal, which has plagued her adult life, thwarting her attempts to graduate from college, secure a mortgage, and even retain employment. “It’s just a matter of time before my Social Security number catches up with me, and then they have to let me go… HR can’t process payroll,” she laments.

 

In her relentless quest to assert her existence, Madeline-Michelle Carthen has sought assistance from a multitude of sources, including four U.S. presidents and various government officials. She even filed a federal lawsuit against the SSA in 2019, only to have it dismissed due to government sovereign immunity. It seemed that there was no end in sight to her ordeal.

 

Despite the SSA’s claim that its records are “highly accurate” and that less than one-third of 1% of death reports are subsequently corrected, Madeline-Michelle’s struggle for resolution continues unabated.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

I don't recall hearing about this story at the time...

 

Brain-eating cannibal back in public life after 10 years in psychiatric hospital

 

A man who killed and ate a man has been released back into public life after ten years.

 

Tyree Smith, from Bridgeport, Connecticut, killed a homeless man and then ate his brain and eyeballs according to officials.

 

The horrific case made headline news, with Smith found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity after a July 2013 trial.

 

In lieu of a stint behind bars, Smith was ordered committed to a state psychiatric hospital for 60 years.

 

But now, ten years after the grim incident, the state Psychiatric Security Review Board said Smith was ready to be transitioned back into the community.

 

Smith has been released from the facility, Connecticut’s most secure, as of writing.

 

He will be living in a Waterbury group home, and is not allowed to associate with anyone involved in criminal activity.

 

“Mr. Smith is medication compliant, actively engaged in all recommended forms of treatment, and has been symptom-free for many years.”

 

During the trial, Smith’s cousin Nicole Rabb claimed he arrived at her Connecticut home in December 2011, talking about Greek gods and ruminating about needing to go out and get blood.

 

When she saw him the next evening she noticed what appeared to be specks of blood on his pants and that he was carrying chopsticks and a bloody ax.

 

Smith then allegedly told Rabb he killed a man and ate his brains in the Lakeview Cemetery while drinking sake, and grimly warned he intended to eat more people.

 

A month later, police found Angel Gonzalez's mutilated body in the vacant apartment on Brooks Street in Bridgeport where Smith had lived as a child.

 

Police later recovered the bloody ax and an empty bottle of sake in a stream bed near the Boston Avenue cemetery.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Spanish Town Experiences Alfred Hitch****’s ‘The Birds’ in Real Life

 

For the past five months, the people of Pravia, a town in Spain’s Asturias Region, have been under constant siege from flocks of crows who mindlessly attack their homes and vehicles.

 

The town of Pravia has no less than six crows proudly displayed on its historic coat of arms, so it’s safe to say that people here have been living in harmony with the birds for centuries. That is not the case anymore, however, as large flocks of blackbirds now attack the homes and vehicles of human residents for some unknown reason. The people of Pravia started reporting groups of birds mindlessly flying into their windows repeatedly until the impact caused them to bleed in May of this year, and things have been getting worse ever since. No one knows exactly why the crows are targeting people’s homes and vehicles, but they are relentless in their attacks, pecking at and flying into windows until they start to bleed.

 

 

Click on the link for the full story

[China]

Body parts stolen from cemetery, crypt damaged

 

 Jefferson County Sheriff's Office deputies said Wednesday that they're investigating a break-in at a Wheat Ridge cemetery in which body parts were taken from a casket in a private mausoleum.

 

At 7:20 a.m., deputies responded to Crown Hill Cemetery, 7777 W. 29th Ave. in Wheat Ridge, regarding damage to a mausoleum. According to a news release, the front of a private mausoleum was severely damaged, as were the crypt and casket inside.

 

"The faceplate had been smashed away and was laying on the ground. The crypt behind that had been accessed and the casket that was inside was partially pulled out," said Jacki Kelley with sheriff's office.

 

The sheriff's office said it appeared that unknown suspects entered the cemetery overnight, broke into the crypt and gained access to the casket.

 

The casket had been pried open and parts of the body inside were removed, according to the release.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

Jesus Christ, are we reverting to the 18th and 19th centuries?  Do we need to start installing mortsafes?

 

 

[skinsmarydu]

On 10/5/2023 at 2:47 PM, China said:

Spanish Town Experiences Alfred Hitch****’s ‘The Birds’ in Real Life

 

For the past five months, the people of Pravia, a town in Spain’s Asturias Region, have been under constant siege from flocks of crows who mindlessly attack their homes and vehicles.

 

The town of Pravia has no less than six crows proudly displayed on its historic coat of arms, so it’s safe to say that people here have been living in harmony with the birds for centuries. That is not the case anymore, however, as large flocks of blackbirds now attack the homes and vehicles of human residents for some unknown reason. The people of Pravia started reporting groups of birds mindlessly flying into their windows repeatedly until the impact caused them to bleed in May of this year, and things have been getting worse ever since. No one knows exactly why the crows are targeting people’s homes and vehicles, but they are relentless in their attacks, pecking at and flying into windows until they start to bleed.

 

 

Click on the link for the full story

My grandmother had to hang strips of old sheets she cut up over the picture window because birds would fly into it all the time.  My grandfather took care of nursing them back to health or burying them. 

[China]

Man’s body mistaken for Halloween prop; lawn mowed around him

 

A North Carolina family is upset after their loved one’s body was mistaken for a Halloween decoration and left outside for days.

 

Robert Owens’ body was found in China Grove. His family discovered that a lawncare worker mowed around his near-naked body, thinking it was a prop. A day later, someone else made the gruesome discovery.

 

“Don’t know how you can do that,” said Owens’ sister, Haley Shue. “Mow right beside someone and assume that they’re Halloween decorations at a house no one lives at.”

 

The last time the family saw Owens was Sunday, Oct. 1. It wasn’t until a week later that police found him down a long driveway off of Shue Road in China Grove. He had little clothing on and was face down in the grass outside a home that, family says, has been empty for quite some time.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Body found in suitcase floating in Lake Merritt Tuesday

 

A body was found floating in a suitcase in Lake Merritt Tuesday morning, the Oakland Fire Department has confirmed. First responder crews were at the scene working to extricate the body from the lake at around noon.

 

Video and photos from the scene show a suitcase floating on the edge of the lake and a large police and first responder presence in the same area.

 

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

 

[China]

Sunny Isles Beach woman caught on camera tossing, kicking 3-year-old son

 

A Sunny Isles Beach woman is facing two felony child abuse charges after police said she was caught on doorbell camera videos tossing and kicking her 3-year-old son inside the hallway of her condominium building.

 

Police said they arrested Yulia Storozhuk, 29, on Tuesday after a neighbor reported the abuse to authorities Monday.

 

The video clips show Storozhuk yelling at the child while brutally beating him at her condominium in the 17000 block of North Bay Road because she said he “wasn’t listening,” according to Sunny Isles Beach police.

 

“I observed redness on the victim’s right cheek and right forehead along with bruising on his right forearm and left knee,” the investigating officer wrote in an arrest report. “Scratches were also observed on his stomach and on his back.”

 

Sunny Isles Beach police Chief Edward Santiago said the clips were infuriating to watch.

 

“This is not gonna be tolerated, ever. Ever,” he said. “When I saw the video (I was) very angry and we’re not gonna tolerate this. There’s consequences and you’re gonna pay the consequences for this.”

 

Click on the link for the disturbing video

[China]

Former nurse now linked to 17 nursing home deaths

 

A former Pennsylvania nurse who, in May, had been accused of killing two patients with doses of insulin now faces more murder charges and has confessed to trying to kill 19 additional people at several locations, authorities said Thursday.

 

Heather Pressdee, 41, is accused of administering excessive amounts of insulin to patients in her care, some of whom were diabetic and required insulin, and some of whom were not, according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.

 

In total, 17 patients died who had been cared for by Pressdee.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Man crushed to death by robot in South Korea

 

A man has been crushed to death by a robot in South Korea after it failed to differentiate him from the boxes of food it was handling, reports say.

 

The incident occurred when the man, a robotics company employee in his 40s, was inspecting the robot.

 

The robotic arm, confusing the man for a box of vegetables, grabbed him and pushed his body against the conveyer belt, crushing his face and chest, South Korean news agency Yonhap said.

 

He was sent to hospital but later died.

 

According to Yonhap, the robot was responsible for lifting boxes of peppers and transferring them onto pallets.

 

The man had been checking the robot's sensor operations ahead of its test run at the pepper sorting plant in South Gyeongsang province, scheduled for 8 November, the agency adds, quoting police.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[CousinsCowgirl84]

At least he didn’t get murdered by his sex bot.