A convicted child sex offender has been arrested this week following reports he was loitering in public toilets placing cling film on toilets and plastic cups in urinals to collect young boy’s urine so he could drink it.

Alan Patton, 56 years old and from Ohio, has a previous conviction from 1994 for gross sexual imposition against an 8-year-old boy. He served four years in prison and was placed on the sex offenders register. In 2006 he was again arrested for watching boys aged under ten using public urinals, and collecting their urine to drink.

Patton insists he wasn’t hurting anyone and that he suffers from an illness, that illness according to his attorney is urophilia.

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Filed under: Crime, Offbeat News, Sex by Earl Morningstarr Copyright © 2008 The Morningstarr*

An unnamed woman from the Selden area of Worthing has come forward to report seeing a mysterious flying object near her home on Monday night last week (23 June 2008).

The woman said she was standing in her garden around 5pm when she witnessed what she describes as “something really very strange”.

“I was chatting to a friend on my mobile phone and just casually watching the birds and the planes up above when I spotted something really very strange, much higher up than any planes. It was a clear bright orb, orange in colour.” She reports.

“I watched it for a few minutes, trying to work out what on earth it was. It was very odd, and moving in a very unusual manner. At first, I could hardly believe what I was seeing, and thought I must be seeing things or going crazy.

“So I called a nearby neighbour to come over and look, and he and I both watched this thing for at least five minutes. He said he’d ‘never seen anything like it’.. and the odd expletive.”

“We were both transfixed. I suggested we report it, but he said ‘people will just think we’re crazy’, even though we’d both seen it clearly.

“We both tried to come up with every possible rational explanation to explain it, but neither of us could find one to explain this object.”

The sighting is very similar to reports of a similar glowing orb seen over Hastings the same evening.

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Filed under: Offbeat News, Paranormal, UFO by Jason Clarke Copyright © 2008 The Morningstarr*

We do like a bit of Goldfrapp in our house and since the new album came out (see my review here…) it’s been one of my favourites to listen to on the bus to work. However, The Bridgwater Hall in Manchester seems to be a strange venue for an Electro-disco band like Goldfrapp. Non-the-less, me decided it would just be plain rude not to go…

Now after Mr M* stood me up an hour before the gig (that’s the third time now you swine) we thought we’d get an early seat, check the place out. I’ve been to the Bridgwater Hall twice before, once for a gig - Nick Cave and a couple of the Bad Seeds doing a quiet acoustic set - the other to see the original, silent ‘Phantom of the Opera’ with a live orchestra (That’s the kind of venue The Bridgwater Hall is). On both of these occasions I’ve been surprised by the venue, and really enjoyed the show.

The stage was set up like a scene from the Wickerman, with Pagan-styled deer’s head atop a may pole, wicker back panels and the band all wearing flowing white shirts. Alison Goldfrapp herself (seeming to wear less and less clothes whenever I see her - which is a good thing) came on stage wearing a one piece billowing white dress and barefoot, like some sacrifice to the Pagan Demigods of Pop.

But something just didn’t seem to work at the venue for Goldfrapp. Perhaps it was the really shit seats I’d managed to get my hands on (Don’t worry Mr M*, you wouldn’t have seen much) but it really seemed to lack atmosphere. Now ‘Seventh Tree’, their new album, is a much slower, more folk orientated piece - which perhaps explains the choice of the Hall in the fire place. They played this album literally in its entirety, which is always nice, but with the older more up-beat, Electro, crowd-pleasers. This just didn’t seem to work for me. Don’t get me wrong, the people down at the front were seemed to really enjoy the show. Whether this was due to the performance of the fact the could see right up Alison Goldfrapp’s dress I’ll never know…

I really like a good Goldfrapp Concert - and I’ve been to a few now - but this wasn’t the best. I don’t think it was down to the music, which was perfect, entertaining and just how I’d like it to be played (Little Bird was great, a real favourite of mine of the album). I just don’t think the Bridgwater Hall was the right venue.

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Filed under: Music, Music News, Pop Culture by Edgar Allan McAbe Copyright © 2008 The Morningstarr*

2,500 people have braved the cold and rain this morning in Dublin’s Docklands by stripping down to their birthday suits for a sensational photoshoot by acclaimed photographer Spencer Tunick.

Today’s dawn chorus of naked volunteers flashing their goose-pimpled flabby bits is the second massive naked photoshoot in Ireland this week. Tunick organised a similar gathering on Tuesday at Blarney Castle in Co Cork, as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival, 1,100 attended that shoot.

The shoot today was at a brisk 05:00am, volunteer models had been camped out all night to secure their place in what is really quite ground breaking art. Only two locations were used for the shoot this morning as bad weather and poor light hampered opportunities.

The first shoot was at South Wall where the models, all aged over 18, were instructed to stand or lie in different poses by Tunick.

The second shoot took the models down by Poolbeg Power Station, where passing freight ferries sounded their horns at the sight of thousands of naked bodies. At this time the rain began to pour, and with spirits dampened the photoshoots were called to a halt.

Every volunteer will receive a limited edition photograph of the event.

You can sign up to take part in any future mass nude events that Tunick organises by clicking this link: Spencer Tunick Sign Up

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Filed under: Art, Nudity, Pop Culture by Peter Jolly Copyright © 2008 The Morningstarr*

Pop star and chat show host Lily Allen is in LA recording her new album, the follow up to the hugely successful Alright, Still album of 2006.

Whilst she’s in town ex-Take That fat dancer Robbie Williams is making a move on her. Williams is known for trying to get jiggy with young, vulnerable pop starlets that have been catapulted into the limelight. He’s trying to woo Lily with the offer of a steak and chips dinner, and then hanging around on a multi-storey car park looking for alien visitors.

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Filed under: Celebrities, Pop Culture, UFO by Peter Jolly Copyright © 2008 The Morningstarr*

An eight year old boy was kept prisoner by his own family, tortured, sexually abused and even more shockingly partially skinned and devoured.

Klara Mauerova, along with her sister Katerina, and three other accomplices, chained her two sons Ondrej 8 and Jakub 9 in a closet in the cellar and periodically abused and tortured them. The boys were beaten, whipped with belts, burnt with cigarettes, sexually abused and ordered to cut themselves with knives.

Klara Mauerova, Barbora Skrlova, Jakub and Ondrej

The boys were kept in a cage, or handcuffed to furniture left to stand in their own urine and faeces. But most shocking is the discovery that little Ondrej was partially skinned and the group of sadists imprisoning him were also cannibals who ate his flesh.

The horrific acts were finally revealed when a neighbour of the house, in Brno in the Czech Republic, installed an identical wireless video baby monitor to the one Klara Mauerova had installed so she could watch her children suffer from the comfort of the sitting room.

When the neighbour switched on his baby monitor shocking images of the boys naked, bound and gagged in their cellar appeared on the screen. The unnamed neighbour immediately informed the police and they broke down the door of the house to investigate.

The police found the two boys, and what was first thought to be a 13 year old girl who was also a victim of abuse. Most bizarrely the so called 13 year old was infact 34 year old Barbora Skrlova, one of the boys abusers!

Skrlova had been posing as a 13 year old, and Klara Mauerova had actually been going through proceedings to formally adopt her as her daughter.

Skrlova had been taken to a children’s home to be cared for, when she escaped and fled to Norway. Czech police managed to trace her and took her back to the Czech Republic to face trail for the atrocities.

Both Klara Mauerova and her sister Katerina, and Barbora Skrlova were all members of a sinister religious cult called the Grail Movement.

At the court hearings of the accused it was claimed that the abuse of the children was partially coordinated by a man known only as the “Doctor”, and he is believed to be one of the leaders of the Grail Movement.

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Filed under: Cannibalism, Crime, Offbeat News by Earl Morningstarr Copyright © 2008 The Morningstarr*

A 79 year old woman from New South Wales, Australia has been convicted of animal cruelty after she disciplined her Maltese terrier, Charlie, by cutting out one of his testicles with a rusty razor blade.

Amalia Nabor was cross with Charlie for running into the yard when he shouldn’t have, neighbours heard the dog screaming and yelping in pain and called police.

When officers arrived at the house they found Charlie locked in the shed covered in blood and missing a testicle. Charlie ran towards the police officers and then collapsed from blood loss. He was rushed to a nearby veterinary surgery and operated on, Charlie’s heart stopped at one point but vets managed to resuscitate him.

Nabor admitted cutting the dog’s testicle off with a rusty razor blade because she was annoyed with him.

Charlie has been taken into care by the RSPCA and is looking for a new home. Amalia Nabor was given a one year bond and ordered to pay $(AUS)1070 in fines for RSPCA costs.

Filed under: Animals, Offbeat News by Earl Morningstarr Copyright © 2008 The Morningstarr*

Blood samples of a strange ape-like creature which has attacked three people and disemboweled over 50 small animals in the La Castellana area of the Philipines have been given to the police to try and determine whether the creature is man or beast.

The unidentified monster, known locally as Amomongo, has been terrorising local residents for the past month. The creature has been described by survivors of the attacks as around five and a half feet tall, and looking like a monkey.

Over the past three to four weeks over 50 chickens and at least one goat have had their entrails ripped out of their stomachs and devoured by the creature.

But the horror doesn’t end there, three people have been attacked by “Amomongo” and received long scratches on their torsos as the Sasquatch-esque beast tried to remove their internal organs to feed on.

Elias Galvez and Salvador Aguilar were both attacked by what they described as a “hairy creature with long nails”. Aguilar managed to fight the beast off and fled to hospital for large scratch wounds. Galvez was luckily rescued when friends heard his cries for help.

Days later when Eric Lasita was attacked by the man-sized hairy monster, he managed to slash the beast with a blade he was carrying as he fought it off. The blood on that blade has now been sent to police labs to ascertain exactly what is attacking the poor folk of La Castellana.

The entire village of Sag-ang in La Castellana where the attacks have taken place is now a no go area after dark, residents retreat to the safety of their homes after nightfall amid unconfirmed fears that there may be more than just one Amomongo at large in the area.

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Filed under: Animals, Cryptozoology, Offbeat News by Jason Clarke Copyright © 2008 The Morningstarr*

24 year old Wang Cheng from Zhiangsu in China has suffered from the terrible affliction of elephantiasis since she was just six years old.

She is unable to work, or even wear trousers due to the horribly painful condition. She has suffered for most of her life and has not left her home since she graduated from high school. Her father is paralysed due to a stroke and her mother is unemployed.

Her suffering may be about to end though as a Taiwanese specialist has agreed to treat Wang for free. Dr Hsu Wen-hsien has agreed to operate on the poor girl to remove lymphatic tissue in her legs and alleviate the pain caused by the swelling.

“I’ve never seen such an extreme case in more than 30 years’ experience” said Dr Wen-hsien.

“In the past cases, none of the patients have had two legs swelling to this size,” he continued.

Wang was taken from China to Taiwan to meet Dr Wen-hsien by Taiwanese Buddhist group Fo Kuang Shan. Chinese doctors had been unable to help Wang and she had been passed from one Chinese hospital to the next without any progress.

Dr Wen-hsien has performed almost 50 similar operations, 37 fully successfully. He is confident he can reduce the swelling in Wang’s legs by up to 50%.

The doctor believes that the condition is being caused by an obstruction in the veins which led to blood flowing to the lymphatic vessels and culminating with the swelling.

Fo Kuang Shan are kindly paying for all of Wang’s non-medical costs, and the expensive surgery is being performed free by the hospital.

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Filed under: Health, Offbeat News, People by Earl Morningstarr Copyright © 2008 The Morningstarr*

A four year old girl in Hicksville, NY has deafened her mother in one ear just by giving her a kiss.

The unnamed woman was given what is described as a “long sucking kiss” in her ear by her daughter.

“I couldn’t push her away. I was almost frozen. When she stopped, and the kiss ended, I realized I had no hearing in that ear. Nothing,” The woman told doctors.

“I got very upset and yelled for my husband, ‘I can’t hear out of this ear! I can’t hear!,’”

After months of getting nowhere the woman’s doctor finally transferred her to hearing expert Professor Levi Reiter, Chair of Audiology at Hofstra University.

Reiter discovered that the suction power from the child’s “long sucking kiss” had pulled the woman’s eardrum down the ear canal and torn the tiny ligaments and nerves that connect the eardrum to the ear.

The woman may regain her hearing over time as the damage heals.

Reiter is to publish his findings in the National Hearing Journal, and hopes to warn the public that kissing ears, particularly those of young and newborn children, is potentially very dangerous.

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Filed under: Health, Offbeat News by Earl Morningstarr Copyright © 2008 The Morningstarr*