Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Peabody Hotel in Memphis declares amnesty MEMPHIS, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- The Peabody Hotel in Memphis, one of the south's legendary hostelries, has offered amnesty to anyone who returns stolen memorabilia. Advertisement "Amnesty for Artifacts' was declared to fill the Memorabilia Room, which is scheduled to reopen in January after a restoration, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports. "I get letters weekly from people who want to return things," Douglas V. Browne, the general manager, told the newspaper. "Mainly what we're looking for are artifacts from the 1930s and 1940s, not the bathrobe somebody stole last week." Browne said the hotel loses a lot of items to guests, including many who regard taking an ashtray or towel as souvenir-collecting, not theft. He said that the Peabody learned the hard way not to put out bar menus before its famous 11 a.m. Duck Walk, when live ducks march through the lobby to spend six hours swimming in the fountain. Advertisement "We have learned that we can't put the bar menus on tables in the lobby before the duck walk at 11 a.m.," he said. "If we put the menus out at 10:30 and the crowd gathers to watch the ducks, when it's over, every menu will be gone. And they're covered in leather." Night at Hearst Castle up for grabs SAN SIMEON, Calif., Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Anyone with thousands of dollars to spare can bid for a chance to live like a newspaper baron for a night at William Randolph Hearst's California castle. San Simeon, Hearst's famous estate on the California coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles, is a state historic monument. The castle that played host to movie stars and famous writers is now a museum. The estate was the model for Xanadu, the Florida castle inhabited by Charles Foster Kane, the Hearst-like newspaper baron played by Orson Welles in the classic film "Citizen Kane." A non-profit group seeking to restore and protect Hearst's art collection is auctioning off a night at the castle on eBay, the Los Angeles Times reports. The winner can spend the night at the castle with a spouse or partner and entertain eight friends, who will sleep at a nearby resort. Advertisement "Joe P. Average was not going to be invited to the castle," said Carol Schreiber, director of Friends of Hearst Castle. "Now the attitude is more: 'This is the people's castle.'" Of course, the winning Joe P. Average is likely to be well-heeled. Organizers hope to raise $100,000 from the auction. Mother: 6-year-old got stuck in washer MIAMI, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- A Miami mother says her 6-year-old son became trapped inside an operating washing machine while playing with his sister. Saraco Black said her young son, Timothy Clark, had been playing with what he thought was a broken washing machine along with his 4-year-old sister when the machine activated with him inside, WPLG-TV, Miami, reported Wednesday. Black said her daughter, whose name was not reported, then came running for help for her trapped sibling at a Miami laundromat. "She came to me and said, 'Mommy, my brother is inside the washing machine.' When she said that I got up, went over to the machine and my baby was spinning around inside," Black said. Black told WPLG-TV she eventually was able to open the machine's door and free her child, who required stitches at an area trauma center. Couple may keep home thanks to rare coin Advertisement PARMA, Ohio, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- A couple in Parma, Ohio, may be able to save their home from foreclosure thanks to a rare coin they cashed in, a coin and jewelry buyer says. Coin and Jewelry Buyers of America President Jim Matiach said the unidentified couple went to him with a 1873-CC Seated Liberty dollar in hopes of earning enough money to pay off a pile of mounting bills, including a mortgage payment, Cleveland's WKYC-TV reported Wednesday. Matiach said after examining the coin, which the couple found while searching their home, he agreed to pay a hefty sum for the historic item. "We sat down and we were able to negotiate a price and he walked away with enough money to pay off some of his bills and hopefully be able to keep his house," Matiach said of the undisclosed sum. Matiach told WKYC-TV that the couple's home search is part of a growing trend among desperate residents facing tough economic times. "People are losing their jobs," he said, "and the easiest way to get by and pay your bills right now is to go clean out your drawers. I mean we buy everything."
