Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Will and Kate's palace offers ghost tours LONDON, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Officials with the purportedly haunted London residence of Prince William and his wife Kate say the palace will be open for Halloween ghost tours. Advertisement Kensington Palace officials said members of the public will be offered tours Oct. 28-31 to see the relevant sights and hear the tales of Queen Mary, Peter the Wild Boy and an unknown figure sometimes spotted standing by a window, the Daily Mirror reported Monday. "For years now there have been rumors about Kensington Palace being haunted. In the evenings, the place has an atmosphere all of its own," a palace source told the Mirror. "There are lots of strange and unusual stories which the warders have logged over the years. There are bumps in the night and that kind of thing. It's fascinating stuff and not for the faint-hearted." Advertisement Couple's romance seen by soccer fans SINT-TRUIDEN, Belgium, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- A woman spotted having sex in a hotel room overlooking a Belgian stadium during a soccer match said she and her beau had thought the windows were tinted. The woman, who identified herself by her stage name, Alicia Tenderness, 26, said she and her boyfriend did not realize soccer fans could see into their stadium hotel room during Saturday's Lokeren game in Sint-Truiden, the Dutch-language Sportwereld reported Monday. Tenderness, a model and escort, said she and her boyfriend were shocked to see their picture in newspapers and on the Internet the following day. "When checking out on Sunday morning the lady at the desk responded very cold, but we did not understand why. The realization came when we read the newspaper Monday," Tenderness said. She expressed outrage that the hotel manager had filed an indecency complaint against her. She said the manager should have installed tinted windows in the rooms. Tightrope walker fails bid for 7 records THUN, Switzerland, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- A Swiss tightrope walker failed in his quest to set seven world records in seven days when he abandoned his effort to cross Lake Thun on a high wire. Advertisement Freddy Nock, 46, attempted to cross between Leissigen and the St. Beatus caves on a 2.05-mile tightrope Sunday, but was forced to give up after about 1.2 miles when winds picked up over the lake, the French-language Tribune de Geneve reported Monday. Nock previously postponed the walk Saturday when he decided wind speeds were too high. The tightrope walker set four world records during the past week, including one for completing a walk across a cable car line at Germany's Zugspitze mountain to a height of 9,678 feet above sea level. He failed in his attempt to make it seven records in seven days Thursday when weather forced him to postpone his attempt to set the record for the longest bicycle ride on cable. Fly robot inspired by da Vinci MILAN, Italy, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- The creators of a fly-like robot with a 1.18-inch wingspan on display in Italy said they were inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's research from the Renaissance. Robert Wood, the Harvard University researcher who designed the robot, and U.S. aerospace engineer David Doman, who designed the flight mechanism, are showing off their creation this week at the triennial meeting of the International Federation of Automated Control in Milan, ANSA reported Monday. Advertisement The robot, which aims to replicate the shape and movements of a fly, was inspired by da Vinci's studies on flight. "Leonardo da Vinci's dreams are coming true," IFAC president Alberto Isidori said. "This is the first concrete example of a wing-flap aircraft capable of mimicking the performance of a moving helicopter." The creators of the robot said their project has received funding from the U.S. Department of Defense.
