Watercooler Stories

Profit futures up on man’s severed leg

RALEIGH, N.C., Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A South Carolina man may have to share custody of his severed leg with a North Carolina man.

John Wood of Greenville, S.C., lost his leg in a plane accident in 2004. Doctors amputated it because they were unable to save his shattered limb.

Wood had his severed leg shipped to him for burial purposes upon his death and was forced to store the limb in a barbecue smoker after an electricity shut-off jeopardized its preservation. Wood had dried the limb previously on his fence post.

Shannon Whisnant purchased the smoker last week after Wood failed to make payments on the storage unit where he kept it. Whisnant sees a potential for profit after a Google search yielded nearly 2 million hits for the phrase "man finds leg in smoker."

He posted a sign and is charging people to view the smoker.

“He’s making a freak show out of it,” Wood told the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer.

Whisnant has expressed willingness to share profits and custody.

The leg is currently in custody of the local police department.

Bottled message response 'a sign'

RACINE, Wis., Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A pair of Racine, Wis., newlyweds said they received a sign of the marriage's future success when their wedding vows washed up in Michigan.

Melody Kloska and Matt Behrs threw a bottle containing their wedding vows into Lake Michigan after their Aug. 18 ceremony and received a curious letter a few weeks later from Fred and Lynette Dubendorf, who discovered the bottle while walking the beach in Mears, Mich., the Racine Journal-Times reported Monday.

The letter read: “We thought you would want to know where your message in a bottle ended up! We picked it up on the beach between Pentwater and Silver Lake on Sept. 19. An ironic note, we were also married on the beach! Here in Michigan by Pentwater. Even more ironic, it was on August 18, 1979. We wish you both the best of luck in your new lives together.”

Kloska and Behrs said they consider the letter to be a sign of impending good fortune for their marriage.

“It was meant to be,” Kloska told the Journal-Times. “This was a sign to me. It was cool of them to write us back.”

Man nears end of 13-year world trek

DOVER, England, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A British adventurer has evaded French authorities who threatened to block the final stretch of his 13-year trek across the world, using only human power.

Jason Lewis propelled his pedal boat, Moksha, over the English Channel and arrived Sunday in Dover Harbor, moving him within days of his journey's end, The Daily Mail reported Monday.

"I've waited 13 years for this and now I want to find a nice country pub which serves warm ale," Lewis said upon his arrival.

Lewis must travel around the southeast coast and up the Thames to London, where his journey will be complete. He is expected to arrive Saturday.

However, the adventurer was nearly blocked from completing his 13-year project -- which has included time spent on pedal boats, kayaks, mountain bikes and rollerblades -- when French authorities informed him that small craft -- like his pedal boat -- are banned from leaving the country's shores. Lewis said he made his escape by lying about his departure point, The Daily News reported.

"As I set off I decided that if I was caught by a French patrol boat I would have just kept going. They would have had to shoot me to stop me," he told the newspaper.

Woman fired for too much perfume

NEW YORK, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A New York woman says she lost her job at a Long Island, N.Y., customer service center for wearing too much perfume.

Jorinda Sullivan, 24, claims the firing was race-based and filed complaints with the New York Division of Human Rights, as well as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

She is suing her former employer, Mindpearl, for $1 million for racial discrimination in federal court in New York.

Sullivan received customer complaints regarding her perfume. Questions arose over her choice of soap, shampoo and deodorant as well, The New York Post said.

She lost her job in February after she received three complaints against her in one week, her boss said.

The CEO of Mindpearl, Vincent Gaines, denied wrongdoing.