11 of the most bizarre stories ever to be told in Hull – and some you simply won't believe – Hull Live
We take a look back in the archives to find some of the strangest tales from the city
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From a "freaky" face at The Deep, to a woman haunted by a poltergeist who kept pinching her underwear, Hull really is the home to some odd happenings.
The Hull Daily Mail has had its fair share of bizarre stories in its 139-year history.
And if you thought it was only The Sunday Sport who could boast headlines such as "World War Two Bomber Found On Moon" – you'd be right – but these examples of oddball, absurd and outright implausible news items aren't far off.
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Any paper that can report, as it did in October 1974, that "Smashed coconut started rumpus", "Paper pants thief to pay £90" or "Foot Found in Noddle Hill – Police Not Suspicious" must contain a veritable gold mine of surreal slices of every day life.
On March 20, 2016, Will Ramsey and Myles Hemingway took a look at 11 of the most bizarre headlines featured in the Hull Daily Mail since 1885. Here, we have once again revisited the archives so you can re-read the craziest stories ever told in our city.
Monday, August 4, 1902
It was a brilliantly simple solution to his neighbour's moans. When Emil Gurden was hauled before the Board of Health, as reported in the Hull Daily Mail of August, 1902, charged with causing annoyance with his flock of ducks – he vowed to eat one of them a day.
"He says he needs an occasional change from beef and chicken and fears that a man who eats a duck a day may turn into a goose, but he will try to comply with that order," noted the report.
Wednesday, July 12, 1922
This baffling report from 1922 revealed how a very serious bearded gentleman was outraged by cheeky young ruffians shouting "Beaver!" at him in the street, as was the fashion among ruffians of the day.
"I fail to see anything amusing in saying 'Beaver!' at the sight of a bearded man," he said. "It cannot even be defended on the feeble use of etymology," he continued, since his dictionary defined a beaver "as a helmet drawn down over the ears" or as a furry animal.
Helpfully The Hull Daily Mail reported that the fashion had started in Oxford, "the genteel mother of follies, barring Cambridge or Beverley".
Saturday, September 2, 1899
No-one ever say the Hull Daily Mail isn't international in its reach. In 1899 it was goings on in southern Italy that were exercising the readers of Hull's premier newspaper. The Bishop of Nardo, in southern Italy, was under attack, it reported.
His enemies, who had previously attempted bombing him, decided on a new tactic. The packet of "dried fruit" which arrived in the mail contained eight "starving and ferocious" vipers. The reptiles were only killed with "great difficulty" by the local police.
Tuesday, December 10, 1912
Hardly newsworthy, you might think. But Albert Sorrenson – a drunken fisherman – had broken into his sister-in-law's house in Great Thornton Street in Hull for a bit of shut eye.
"I got in for a night's kip", Sorrenson told the policeman who shook him awake – and got one month's hard labour for his misadventure.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
She'd meant to get a photo of a shark. But Emma Place – a 21-year-old student from Doncaster– got a nasty fright instead. Her image, which made national headlines, seemed to show the disembodied head of a man at the bottom of one of the tanks.
Colin Brown, chief executive of The Deep, said he was sure there was a logical explanation but added: "It's just we can't find it."
Monday, August 3, 1903
There's always plenty of mileage in a monkey story as this snippet from Monday, August 3, 1903, proves. In it, the paper reports the story of a "French beggar" who was so disconsolate when his pet monkey – his "constant companion" died – that he had it stuffed.
The beggar himself was found dead shortly afterward "with the effigy clasped in his arms". Found stuffed inside the monkey's skin was the whopping sum of £1,200 – worth a cool £130,000 today.
Friday, August 8, 2014
Mischievous spirits tormented Pauline Hickson, reported the Hull Daily Mail in 2014, which said she had been forced to move house seven times in two years because of their antics. Pauline, of Essex Street, west Hull, finally called in the ghost busters, ridding her of spirits who had pinched clothes – including bras – turned on the shower, and left scratches on her doors.
Wednesday, August 9, 1950
This heinous crime unfolded at Hedon Road allotment, where nine boys undertook a raid on the neatly hoed lines of veg. One miscreant was said to have filled his shirt with peas, with all fined 10 shillings at Hull Juvenile Court.
Wednesday, August 17, 1938
News of the giant sea mammal variety was reported in the Hull Daily Mail of August 17, 1938, when it reported that Mr W Starkey had shot a whale which had run aground south of the Humber.
Mr Starkey then bought the three-and-a-half-ton carcass from the authorities for the princely sum of 10 shillings because, as we all know, all stranded whales become the property of the crown.
Visitors from as far afield as Manchester journeyed to Scunthorpe to see the whale, which was put on exhibition.
Tuesday, October 12, 1948
There was plenty of monkeying around in the old days. On October 12, 1948, "at about 11.30am this morning a monkey walked into an undertaker's premises in Wellsted Street, Hull, made a hurried exit and then climbed up a nearby tree. Afterwards, it disappeared."
Friday, December 10, 1926
Messers Burkinshaw and Gallagher of Withernsea were startled to discover a giant octopus washed ashore on the north end beach on this day in 1926.
Describing the "ten tentacled" creature as a repulsive monster the report said: "It had ten tentacles, two much longer then the others, everyone of which was covered with small suckers. Altogether it was a most repellent looking object."
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