The Morningstarr*

Scenes on an Air India flight this week resembled the plot to the Samuel L Jackson film Snakes On A Plane.

The Air India A319 was thrown into turmoil when a snake was found coiled under one of the passengers seats. The plane had been on a domestic flight from Srinagar to Delhi when it was undergoing pre-flight checks before it’s next journey. The snake was disturbed during these checks and managed to slither away from the aircraft crew and escape into the air vents.

“There was commotion which scared the snake and it went further inside,” an airport official was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.

“The aircraft was parked at Delhi airport for maintenance purposes. There was a snake but not a cobra,” he continued.

“We have no details of what kind of a snake it was, or where it is now. We have taken up this matter with Delhi airport authorities.”

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DNA Could Identify The Stronsay Beast

In 1808 a mysterious sea creature was washed up on a beach in Orkney. The monster carcass, which many say resembled a Nessie type creature, has been partly preserved and now bone fragments are going to be tested to establish exactly what the legendary beast really is.

Stronsay Beast

Some marine experts have speculated that the beast may have been a Basking Shark, but with a carcass measuring 55ft it would have to be an exceptionally large Basking Shark. Looking at drawings made of the beast, it was said to have a long neck like many other sea monsters around the world and there have been obvious comparisons with that other Scottish cryptid the Loch Ness Monster.

Now geneticist Yvonne Simpson, who has been studying the creature for seven years, believes she can extract DNA from recently found bone fragments given to her by a private collector. She will be sending the samples, if successful, to a Florida based laboratory that holds a shark DNA database.

“At 55ft long this would be an unusually big basking shark, and it’s far more likely to belong to another member of the shark family.” She told reporters.

Parts of the Stronsay Beast are still kept on display at Royal Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

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Wife Beater Mutilated

Convicted wife beater Steven Smith from Middlesbrough has described to Teeside Crown Court how his family cut out his teeth using a six inch knife blade.

“A knife cut my lip, I felt my gums where my teeth were missing. I blacked out. I’ve never felt pain like it.” He told the court.

Smith aged 43, was allegedly attacked in his home by three members of his own family and was violently mutilated when the blade was used to hack the teeth from his mouth. He blacked out during the bloody attack, but later went to hospital where he required over 100 stitches in his mouth and needed four teeth removing. Three teeth were already hacked out of his gums and were later found in his blood splattered bathroom where the attack allegedly took place.

Smith’s ex-wife Katrina, daughter Nikki, stepson Wayne Lappin and unrelated Mike Smith all deny the allegations, even claiming Smith’s injuries may have been self inflicted.

Katrina Smith Smith was estranged from wife Katrina, and had been convicted and sent to prison for assaulting her in 2003 and 2004. The couple had been separated for two years, but had reconciled late last year and were still seeing each other. The attack happened in the early hours of New Years Day, Smith and his wife had spent New Years Eve together drinking but after an argument Smith returned home alone. Later that evening he was woken by Mrs Smith sounding her car horn outside his home. When Mr Smith went outside he says he was then attacked by the three other defendants who beat him with baseball bats and lengths of wood. He was then dragged inside and the attack with the knife began.

As a result of his injuries Mr Smith had to wear a special palate and it took him two months of therapy until he could actually speak again.

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Woman Cuts Off Husband’s Penis

A housewife is on the run from police in Uganda after allegedly cutting off her husband’s penis.

Hellen Maama Gift, aged 20 and from Mbarara in southwest Uganda is accused of mutilating her husband for starting a new relationship with another woman. Hellen and her husband Godfrey Ssemanda are separated, but Hellen became angry that her husband stopped giving her money to provide for their three children and then moved a new girlfriend into their family home. Before the attack which left Godfrey with a detached manhood, Hellen also attempted to poison Mr Ssemanda and allegedly set fire to his car destroying his savings which he kept in it.

Mr Ssemanda was suspicious when Hellen came to his home with a pot of tea and believed it contained poison.

“When she brought the tea, I became suspicious and I advised her to share it with me but she refused. I later told her to give it to the children but she poured it away,” Ssemanda said.

Mr Ssemanda was admitted to hospital and his organ has been successfully reattached.

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Great White Spotted Off Welsh Coast

A Welsh fisherman is claiming to have spotted a great white shark swimming off the Pembrokeshire coast, and he snapped a picture of it on his mobile phone.

David John says he caught a glimpse of the monster fish when it spectacularly breached the surface of the water less than 100 yards from his fishing boat. He quickly whipped out his mobile phone and snapped away as the shark gaped it’s wide mouth, showing off it’s rows of teeth.

John says an Irish shark fisherman working in the area confirmed that the picture was indeed a legendary great white.

“It wasn’t until I got home that I looked again and realised what I’d got. At first I thought it was a seal,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“You can’t mistake the shape of the head and you can see an eye and the mouth.

“And from what I understand, great whites do break the water like this.

“It would make sense for it to be in that area as there are plenty of seals for it to feed on.”

Great white’s do indeed feed on seals, our expert confirms. And the way the shark is breaching the water makes it look like a Great white. It is the classic way a white comes out of the water.

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Liberian Senator Denies Cannibalism

Prince Johnson, the former Liberian Rebel Leader who tortured and killed dictator Samuel Doe in 1990 and broadcast the event on Liberian television, has denied allegations that he ate Doe’s remains.

Jackson Doe, the brother of Samuel, has made the allegation at Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Liberia’s president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is trying to reconcile the two parties after the bloody coup which saw many casualties on both sides.

Johnson who is now a senior senator for Nimba County was leader of the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia during the coup in 1990, he personally tortured and killed Samuel Doe by cutting off the former dictators ears, but he strongly denies eating the despot.

“I told Liberians and the international community that when Doe died on the base because of series of injuries he was embalmed for 25 years and buried. But along the way, months or a year two later, there was a dirty propaganda that was propagated from the Amos Sawyer (former interim president) camp that we did not bury Doe, that we ate Doe. And of course we from Nimba are not cannibals,” he said.

To prove that Doe had not been consumed Johnson ordered the 25 year old remains to be exhumed and displayed for independent press media to inspect and verify.

“They brought the body of Doe, and it was as hard as a rock, and international journalists took photographs of Samuel Doe after which it was decided by consensus that Doe should not be reburied in the grave but should be burnt and the ashes be thrown into the river. And that is exactly what we did,” Johnson said.

“Even if I was a cannibal, I did not eat Doe because he was embalmed with chemicals for 25 years. So if they can eat human beings with chemicals, we don’t eat human beings with chemicals,” He added.

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Zodiac Killer May Soon Be Revealed

The FBI is reported to be on the brink of a breakthrough concerning the notorious Zodiac Killer.

The FBI are investigating links between Zodiac crime scenes and former US Navy and Airforce serviceman Jack Tarrance, who died in 2006. There could even be possible DNA evidence to finally prove the identity of one of America’s most elusive serial killers.

Tarrance’s stepson Dennis Kaufman has previously alleged his stepfather was the Zodiac Killer back in 2000, when he pointed out similarities in Tarrance’s handwriting and that of handwriting on notes sent to police by the Zodiac killer. Now Kaufman has produced a black hood, similar to that worn by the Zodiac Killer, which he says he found amongst his dead stepfather’s belongings after he died.

Amongst other items handed to the FBI by Kaufman are a blood stained knife and photographic film showing sinister images. Investigators plan on taking DNA samples from the stamps of letters sent by Tarrance to see if they match DNA samples from the crime scenes. The hunt for the Zodiac may finally be over.

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Dudley’s Haunted Tunnels

John Conway Experts from the West Midlands Ghost Club are planning a paranormal investigation of Dudley’s spooky canal tunnels.

John Conway, the club spokesman, explained:

“Much emphasis has been put on the ghostly history of this site over recent years, however, this forthcoming visit will actually be the first serious investigation being carried out by an independent research group.”

“Our investigations are purposefully carried out in a purely objective, no-nonsense manner – casting off all of the New Age bunkum and pseudo-scientific trappings,” added Mr Conway.

“We have no interest in either proving the existence of the paranormal or disproving it. We also do not endorse the use of psychics or mediums.”

The ghostbusting team will be patrolling the creepy tunnels from 20:00hrs until midnight on Friday 5th September, where they will be recording any strange goings on.

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Beast of Cannock Chase

Beast of Cannock Chase? Several witnesses have this week reported sightings of a mysterious beast on Cannock Chase that appeared to be a large black cat.

Trainee teacher Matthew Horeton described how the beast ran out in front of his car as he drove past the German War Cemetery.

“I saw something large and black dart out in front of my car about 50 metres in the distance,” Matthew said.

“At first I thought it was a deer, but as I got closer to the place it had disappeared. I saw something moving in the undergrowth.

“It was smaller than a deer, but it had a large black tail and was sort of slinking through the bracken.

“There was no way it was an average cat - it was much too large.”

Another witness, wishing to remain anonymous, gave this account.

“As I was driving back to the town from Rugeley I definitely saw something moving from the fields into the woods,” the person said.

“I was a fair distance away as I came over the brow of the hill, but this thing was not a deer. It moved in a slow and unhurried way. It was very low to the ground.

“I drive through the Chase regularly and I have never, ever seen anything like that.”

The Chase has a long history of beast sightings, among other strange occurrences. Earlier this month The Morningstarr* reported on the strange disappearances of family pets on the Chase, and the theory of subterranean stone age men prowling the area. The latest reports seem much more likely than cavemen, wildlife experts now agree that wild big cats are simply a part of the UK countryside. Big cats have been released or escaped into the wild over a number of years, Neil Arnold from Kent Big Cat Research had this to say on the subject.

“It’s time the public, especially sceptics, realised that large exotic cats are nothing unusual in the UK countryside any more - and that the only mystery is that they’ve become a mystery,” he said.

“These animals haven’t recently been released, but a steady influx of animals from private collections and travelling menageries over time has resulted in today’s populations.”

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Microwaved Baby

China Arnold was convicted today for the murder of her 28 day old baby daughter, the child was burned to death in a microwave oven.

Arnold showed little emotion as the verdict was read, relatives of the murderer began to sob in the court room and walked out.

Prosecutors had told the court how Arnold placed the baby in the microwave following an argument with her boyfriend in 2005, Arnold’s cellmate gave evidence that Arnold confessed to burning the child to death because she was worried her boyfriend would leave her if he discovered the child wasn’t his.

Her defence team argued that Arnold was too drunk on the night of the murder to have carried out the horrendous act, and that a young boy was seen taking the infant into the kitchen and turning the microwave on.

Judge John Kessler declared a mistrial on the 11th of February after he privately heard testimony from the juvenile who was the only witness to the boy taking the baby into the kitchen.

Arnold, from Ohio, may face the death penalty when sentenced. The court will decide on Tuesday whether the death penalty is called for.

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