Halloween mystery a yearly happening at New Hampshire college [News of the Weird] – Reading Eagle
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At Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, a mystery occurs every year at Halloween: Two pumpkins become impaled on the twin spires of the clock tower in the middle of campus. United Press International reported that the pumpkins have appeared since the 1970s, but no one seems to know who puts them there or how they do it.
“Conjuring the best, if far-fetched, tale on how it happens is a favorite campus pastime,” the university’s website reads.
While Amir Khan and Kat Warren of Washington, D.C., were visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Oct. 19, they became stranded along with other tourists at the top when a man was discovered climbing the structure. On hand with the couple was Associated Press reporter Pat Eaton-Robb, who was also visiting. Lucky for them, Eaton-Robb caught the moment when Khan decided to propose. He had been planning to do so later that evening at a restaurant, but “she always wanted to be proposed to on or under the Eiffel Tower. So I figured, ‘This is it, this is the moment,’” Khan said.
While romance was in the air atop the tower, police were arresting the climber, who was inexplicably carrying a banner that said something about singer-songwriter Billie Eilish.
An unnamed 22-year-old man in Warsaw, Poland, outwitted mall security guards — for a time — after twice posing in a store window as a mannequin, The New York Times reported on Oct. 20. The man stood still next to two other mannequins and held a bag until the mall closed, when he stole jewelry from a kiosk. On another occasion, he ate at one of the mall’s restaurants, found a new set of clothing and headed back for another meal. Police arrested the suspect, who faces up to 10 years in prison.
Since Sept. 20, Alejandro Rios, 25, has become the target of a dive-bombing magpie who follows him as he rides his bike home from work. Fox News reported on Oct. 18 that the Brisbane, Australia, resident first felt something hit his head more than a month ago.
“I … thought a piece of fruit had fallen off a tree or someone had hit me,” he said.
Rios’ helmet and eyewear protect him from injury, but the bird is persistent. Scientists say magpies remember faces and this one is likely protecting his young.
“It’s a bit of a friend and a bit of a nemesis,” Rios said of his attacker. “I want to say it’s my friend, but it really, really hates me.”
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