Via The Welwyn & Hatfield Times

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German lawyer hopes to drum up more business by pursuing state compensation claims for people who believe they were abducted by aliens.

“There’s quite obviously demand for legal advice here,” Jens Lorek told Reuters by telephone on Thursday. “The trouble is, people are afraid of making fools of themselves in court.”

Lorek, a lawyer based in the eastern city of Dresden who specializes in social and labor law, said he hoped to expand his client base by taking on the unusual work.

He has yet to win any abduction claims, but says there are plenty of potential clients, noting that extra-terrestrial watchdogs report scores of alien assaults every year.

“These people could appeal for therapies or cures,” he said.

Lorek, 41, is pinning his hopes for success on a German law which grants kidnap victims the right to state compensation.

Asked if he was worried he might look ridiculous by seeking justice for clients haunted by aliens, Lorek was unfazed.

“Nobody has laughed about it up until now.”

Via the Indianapolis Star…

Animal control and law enforcement officials were on the hunt today for two alligators spotted in the White River near downtown.

Two fishermen reported seeing the alligators, one estimated at 10-12 feet and another about two feet long, south of the bridge over West Washington Street.

The Indianapolis Zoo has no report of any missing creatures.

Late this afternoon Adam Garrett, public information officer for Animal Care and Control said officers from the Department of Natural Resources, Indianapolis Police Department and Capitol Police were monitoring the larger alligator on an island in the middle of the river. But they later realized what they were monitoring was just a log.

The gators, at last report, were still at large.

Via Reuters…

TORONTO (Reuters) - An animal rights group called Tuesday for a North American theme park operator to cancel a competition in which people will try to break the world cockroach-eating record.

Theme park operator Six Flags Inc, based in New York, is staging the contest as part of a promotion leading up to Halloween in which it is also offering customers free entry or line-jumping advantages if they eat a live Madagascar hissing cockroach.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said it had been flooded with calls from children, adults and even anonymous employees of Six Flags opposing the record-breaking contest and the overall promotion.

“Insects do not deserve to be eaten alive especially for a gratuitous marketing gimmick,” PETA spokeswoman Jackie Vergerio told Reuters.

The competition to beat the world cockroach eating record is being held Friday at a Six Flags park in Gurnee, Illinois. Anyone who beats the record will win a season pass for four people for 2007 with VIP queue-jumping status.

Competitors will try to break the current world record, which is held by Ken Edwards of Derbyshire, England, who devoured 36 Madagascar hissing cockroaches in one minute in 2001.

However Six Flags spokesman James Taylor said the only complaints the company had received were from people who did not have the opportunity to sign up and eat a cockroach because only 12 of its 30 parks in the United States, Canada, and Mexico were participating in the promotion.

Taylor dismissed any health concerns, saying the cockroaches were raised in a sterile environment and were as safe to eat as shrimp or lobster with high nutritional value.

Madagascar hissing cockroaches are large, wingless cockroaches that can grow to between 1.5 to 3 inches.

Taylor said no one who had indulged in this rare delicacy had complained.

“It’s something that’s supposed to be scary, it’s icky, it’s gross, it’s Halloween fun and it’s just one small part of the haunted houses and thrilling rides going on.”

Do you have a good ghost or alien story? Please share!

We’re currently seeking ghost and alien stories for the Trolley Dodgers Podcast Halloween Podcrash. So if you have one (or want to make one up) please either record it and e-mail it to us or leave a message on our voice mail.

Contact us at: trolleydodgers -= at =- gmail -=dot=- com OR (317) 215-7078 OR Skype watershedstudio

You have got to be kidding me…

[photo credit: of all the things to ban…, originally uploaded by Malingering.]

…but they’re not.

The ordinance calls for a maximum $1000 fine and/or six months in jail for use, possession, sale or distribution of Silly String in Hollywood from 12:01 a.m. on October 31 to 12:00 p.m. on November 1.

On a typical Halloween night, up to 100,000 people come to Hollywood Boulevard in search of something to do. Given the lack of a formal event, hundreds of illegal vendors flock to the street and sell Silly String which then becomes the sole source of entertainment for the night.

I knew things were “different” in California, but come on guys! I’m just waiting for the Hollywood Halloween Toilet Paper Ban.