Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe A mysterious sea monster or giant octopus? SANTIAGO, Chile, July 3 (UPI) -- Scientists are awaiting DNA test results to determine if a creature washed onto a Chilean beach last month is a mysterious sea monster or a giant octopus. Advertisement Investigators say it's also possible the 13 tons of gelatinous material, dubbed "The Blob," is a giant squid or even just a piece of rotting whale blubber. Sky News said the 40-foot-long gray and pink flesh organism was discovered on the beach June 23. However, officials said while it lacks tentacles, it resembles a giant octopus that washed onto the Florida coast in 1896. Skeleton unearthed in play area DETROIT, July 3 (UPI) -- The discovery of a skeleton under a backyard concrete slab has shaken a Detroit family, whose son's often played on top of it. Eric Garza set about to break up the slab so gravel could be poured for a driveway. First he unearthed a tennis shoe, then bones. He ran yelling for his wife to call the police. Advertisement Police broke apart the concrete completely and found an entire adult male skeleton, said homicide Inspector Craig Schwartz. The skeleton may have been buried for as long as 18 years, he said. The skeleton had a gunshot wound to the head, Schwartz said, adding "There's still a lot of work that needs to be done on this case." Meanwhile, the Garzas are shaken, but have no intention of moving, the Detroit Free Press reported. Their 2- and 4-year-old sons don't seem to understand what's happened, so the couple plans to "get over it" on their own. French vintners await 'The Nose' BORDEAUX, France, July 3 (UPI) -- Anxious winemakers in France are pleading with a man known simply as "The Nose" to return for some sipping and sniffing. The war in Iraq has made Robert Parker, the world's pre-eminent wine critic reluctant to leave his home in the United States, which could bankrupt some small vineyards in France. The London Telegraph reports "Le Nez," or the nose, hasn't been to Bordeaux in nearly a year. For small French vineyards, a word of praise from Parker is their only form of marketing. Without him, they are doomed. In the Bordeaux region alone, there are 12,000 producers. Advertisement Without ratings by The Nose, published in his bi-monthly magazine, "The Wine Advocate," buyers will struggle to assess the quality of this year's French wines. Parker's tasting notes, which rate wines out of 100, offer one of the few ways for oenophiles to get a handle on France's numerous vineyards. Fireworks honor Ann Landers CHICAGO, July 3 (UPI) -- The city of Chicago will honor the late advice columnist Ann Landers, dedicating its annual Independence Day fireworks to her Thursday night. "Eppie's love for life and people made her bigger than life itself," said Mayor Richard M. Daley. "Honoring her with this event is appropriate because it's a living thing." Lederer and her twin sister -- who wrote the "Dear Abbie" advice column under the name Abgail Van Buren -- were born on the Fourth of July, 85 years ago. When she died of bone cancer on June 22, 2002, Lederer was the world's most widely read newspaper columnist. Many newspapers ran both columns. Daley considered her a friend and said he truly missed corresponding with her. Before her death, Ann Landers received more than 2,000 letters a day from around the world, offering often witty but straight-from-the shoulder advice in a seven-day-a week column that Advertisement "Eppie Lederer was one of the most influential women in America and we are happy to have called her a Chicagoan," Daley said.
