A disbelieving friend told him that he was inside a coffin at the wake
There was screaming. There was fainting. It doesn’t happen every day: a car washer in Brazil walked into his own funeral, where his distraught family was already weeping over their loss.
“People were so startled. Women were fainting, people started running all over the place,” said Maria Menezes, one of the mourners at the event in Alagoinhas, in Salvador de Bahia state, according to reports.
Gilberto Araujo, 41, heard from a friend on the street that his family thought he was dead and was busy getting ready to bury him so he decided to head straight to the wake and clear things up.
“A friend of mine told me there was a coffin at the wake and that I was inside it,” Mr Araujo said. “I told him, ‘But I am alive! Pinch me!”
In fact, Mr Araujo’s family had been burying a corpse that looked startlingly like their loved one, a body that had yet to be formally identified.
“I am just beside myself with joy,” a beaming Marina Santana said.
“What mother who is told her son is dead is not going to be overjoyed when she sees her son alive again?”(AFP)
Man bites off finger, swallows it
US: Authorities say a Jersey City man they believe was high on PCP bit off and swallowed his own finger after being arrested for allegedly trying to carjack a vehicle while naked.
The Jersey Journal reports that 29-year-old Jargget Washington of Jersey City is charged with carjacking, throwing bodily fluids at law enforcement officers and being under the influence of a controlled dangerous substance. It’s not clear if he has a lawyer.
Police say Jargget stripped naked in a Jersey City intersection on Sunday night and tried to forcibly remove a driver from a car.
Officials say he was twice brought to Jersey City Medical Center for evaluation before biting off and swallowing a finger at the jail. (AP)
Man stops car burglar by sitting on him
ALBUQUERQUE: Police say an Albuquerque man stopped a would-be car burglar by sitting on the perpetrator until authorities arrived.
KOAT-TV reports that a newly released police video showed Rene Huerta sitting on top of burglary suspect Michael Chavez earlier this month after Huerta said he caught Chavez breaking into his Chevy Tahoe.
According to the criminal complaint, Huerta heard his alarm going off then saw two men rummaging through his SUV.
Police said Huerta chased Chavez, fought with him and then sat on him until officers arrived.
Chavez is heard telling police “thank you!” when officers arrived and got Huerta off of him.
Chavez was charged with auto burglary.
It was unclear if had an attorney.(AP)
Woman finds naked stranger in bedroom
KANSAS: A Wichita woman gets an unwelcome surprise when she walks into her home and finds a naked stranger waiting in her bedroom.
The Wichita Eagle reports the woman tried to get away after she encountered him at 5:45 p.m. Saturday, but the 29-year-old man tackled her.
The man is accused of sexually assaulting the woman before she managed to escape and call 911.
Police say they found the man still naked inside the home when they took him into custody. He was arrested on charges of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary and aggravated sexual battery. (AP)
Cafe’s 1-way mirror allows peeks into restroom
AUSTRIA: An Austrian artist has installed a one-way mirror in a Vienna cafe that allows men to peek from their restroom into the ladies room.
Alexander Riegler told the daily Heute newspaper Monday that the mirror is an attempt to “stir people into a discussion of voyeurism and surveillance,” in an era when almost everyone is being watched.
Cafe employee Alexander Khael-Khaelsberg says the mirror only shows women at the sink and does not offend anyone’s private sphere. He told the daily Heute newspaper Monday that women will get their turn in January, when the mirror is reversed to let them look at men’s faces while they stand at the urinal.
The restaurant recently put up a sign advising women that they are part of an “art project” after complaints. (AP)