By ,
Published January 13, 2015
It’s a spooky spice holder — and it can be yours if the price is right.
Fed up with strange happenings around his kitchen, a New Hampshire man has decided to unload an antique spice rack he claims is haunted on eBay.
“The first strange thing that occurred was the sound of an elderly woman humming in the kitchen as if to entertain herself while baking, banging of pots and pans have also been heard. Spices I had set on the spice rack have rearranged themselves overnight as if the individual haunting this spice rack didn't like how I had them placed,” the seller said in the eBay item description.
Read more, and place a bid: eBay
Pet Protection
There’s something fishy about new animal protection laws in Switzerland.
Among the strict new laws that went into effect Monday, a live goldfish cannot be flushed down the toilet unless it is first knocked out and killed. Also, fishermen are forbidden to conduct catch-and-release fishing, and can’t use live fish as bait, the law stipulates.
Dog owners are now required to attend special classes on how to raise their pups properly so as to keep biting attacks down, according to the law.
And score one for the Swiss swine civil rights movement: Pigs now have the legal right to enjoy showers when rolling in the mud just isn’t enough.
Read more: AFP
Dead Man Visits Doctor
As a dead man, Ahmad Akhtary shouldn't have needed a doctor's appointment.
Akhtary's checkup, six months after he allegedly died in Afghanistan, scuttled his ex-wife's attempt to collect $550,000 on a life insurance policy.
At a court hearing last week in Gloucester, a judge sentenced 34-year-old Akhtary to 60 hours of community service and his former wife, Anne Akhtary, to 40 hours of community service but suspended prison sentences of nine months each.
Anne Akhtary, 43, admitted trying to claim the payout from the Norwich Union insurance company by using a forged death certificate from Afghanistan claiming that her husband had died of brain trauma in an accident.
Within weeks, however, Norwich Union investigators were tipped off about the doctor's appointment.
"They were told that Mr. Akhtary's GP had seen him at his practice and he had attended hospital so it was not the most sophisticated way of going about making a false claim," said prosecutor James Cranfield.
Akhtary had continued to live openly in Gloucester after his supposed death, working and paying taxes, Cranfield said. (AP)
'My Kids Are a Pain'
It was an unusually honest ad for a live-in nanny, a 1,000-word tome beginning, "My kids are a pain." But it worked, attracting a brave soul who's never been a nanny before.
"If you cannot multitask, or communicate without being passive aggressive, don't even bother replying," Rebecca Land Soodak, a mother of four on Manhattan's Upper East Side, wrote Aug. 19 in her advertisement on Craigslist.
"I can be a tad difficult to work for. I'm loud, pushy and while I used to think we paid well, I am no longer sure."
This being the age of instant communications, the ad took on a life of its own, making the rounds of parenting blogs and e-mail inboxes and inspiring an article in Thursday's New York Times.
Soodak, a 40-year-old painter whose husband owns a wine store, eventually hired Christina Wynn, a 25-year-old University of Virginia graduate, to take care of Rubin, 12; Ellis, 9; and Shay and Cassie, both 6. (AP)
Confused Woman Down Baggage Chute
An elderly woman had an unexpected layover while attempting to check in at Sweden’s main airport Tuesday. The 78-year-old woman misunderstood instructions and fell down a baggage chute after placing herself, rather than her bags, on the belt, AFP reported.
The woman, who was not named, was preparing to depart from Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport for Germany, when she lay down on the baggage belt thinking she was following the check-in instructions.
Staff members helped her catch her flight after she was swept off to the baggage handling center.
Read more: AFP
Pope Demands Ban on Crucified Frog Sculpture
A depiction of frogs in a modern art sculpture that would make Kermit blush has also been condemned by Pope Benedict XVI and labeled as blasphemous.
The 4-foot wooden artwork in question is a crucified green frog holding a beer mug in one hand and an egg in the other, Reuters reported.
The board of the Museion Museum in Bolzano, Italy, met Thursday to decide whether to side with the pope and other "frog" critics, or with those who say it should be recognized as a work of art. They decided to keep it.
Late German artist Martin Kippenberger’s “Zuerst die Fuesse," (Feet First), depicts the frog in a loin cloth, nailed to a cross through its hands, with its tongue hanging out of its mouth.
"Surely this is not a work of art but a blasphemy and a disgusting piece of trash that upsets many people," Franz Pahl, president of the regional government who opposed the sculpture, read from a letter from the Vatican to Reuters.
The Vatican letter said that the work "wounds the religious sentiments of so many people who see in the cross the symbol of God's love."
Pahl was so offended by “Feet First" that he went on a hunger strike to demand its removal and had to be taken to hospital this summer.
The sculpture does have its supporters as well.
"Art must always be free and the artist should not have any restrictions on freedom of expression," Reuters quoted Claudio Strinati, a superintendent for Rome's state museums.
Kippenberger's work has been shown at the Tate Modern and the Saatchi Gallery in London and at the Venice Biennale, and retrospectives are planned in Los Angeles and New York, Reuters reported.
Read More: Reuters
Bark Mitzvah?
A New York dog owner is so proud of his pooch that he threw the canine a $10,000 “Bark Mitzvah.”
David Best thinks “Elvis” is such a top dog that he deserved the star-studded event, which drew 100 guests, including famed sex therapist Dr. Ruth. Even Elvis’ mother showed up to wish him well.
“He has a great personality and everyone loves him,” Best said.
Read more: MyFOXNY.com
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Erin Obourn and Tom Durante.
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