Thursday, June 20, 2013

Gang Initiation on Driver: Bleach Attack



http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/news/gang-link-to-bleach-attack-just-net-hoax-say-polic/1914679/

The Northern Advocate [Whangarei, New Zealand]
20 June 2013


    Peter de Graaf

A link between a bleach attack on a regional council employee and a warning about a violent gang initiation ritual has been dismissed as an internet hoax.

Police continue to investigate the attack on the Kerikeri 45-year-old, who had a knife held to his face and bleach thrown in his eyes after he pulled over on June 10 for a car which had repeatedly flashed its lights behind him. A number of possible motives are being examined. [...]

Secret Tunnels Under Courthouse (Murfreesboro, TN)



http://www.dnj.com/article/20130619/SPOTLIGHT02/306190002?nclick_check=1

Daily News Journal [Murfreesboro, TN]
19 June 2013


Written by Greg Tucker

MURFREESBORO — According to various local legends (“oral traditions” not found in any writing), secret subterranean passages radiate in four directions from beneath the historic Rutherford County Courthouse.

Tunnel lore alleges (1) a passageway from the courthouse to the river for escape from marauding enemies, (2) a tunnel from the northwest corner to the Murfreesboro Bank & Trust building, perhaps for the transfer of cash, (3) a passage from the southeast corner to the Goldstein Building (now county offices) for some unknown purpose, and finally, (4) a tunnel from the Murfree Spring to the courthouse connecting at the spring with a tunnel from the Bellwood mansion. [...]

Naked Rapists (Assam, India)



http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/naked-men-rape-women-assam-lynched-balishiha-tezpur/1/284240.html

India Today
19 June 2013

Press Trust of India: Tezpur (Assam)


Panicky over a rumour about the movement of some naked men out to rape women, villagers of Balishiha in Sonitpur district lynched three persons on Wednesday, the police said. [...]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Naked-men-spark-panic-in-Assam-3-lynched/articleshow/20673164.cms

Times of India
20 June 2013


Prabin Kalita, TNN

[...] Police said the rumour had spread across the district. "We have been told that male members of villages have been forced to patrol the villages at night by women. There are some stories about dark nude men knocking on doors at night and attacking women of the house. Some say the attackers have even bit off parts of the victims' bodies but no one has reported any such incident to police or gone to hospital," a source said. [...]

Monday, June 17, 2013

Mexican Gangster Scares Restaurant Patrons



http://cascade.uoregon.edu/spring2013/features/feature-4/dining-with-the-devil/

Cascade [University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences]
Spring 2013

‘Narco narratives’ may take the edge off fear -- while expressing hostility toward the privileged

By Lisa Raleigh

One of the stories goes like this: The setting is an upscale restaurant. Patrons are enjoying their dinner when a thuggish group of men bursts in. Brandishing automatic weapons, they demand everyone’s cell phones, purses and wallets. Things do not look good.

But it’s not the potential massacre it seems. Take it easy, the men say. El Chapo merely wishes to have a meal here -- just like an ordinary person. Just like you. Go about your business; we will return your personal items when the boss has finished his supper. By the way, the boss has also paid for all of your meals.

There’s an uncertain sigh of relief. Maybe el Chapo, the notorious head of the Sinoloa cartel, is not the ruthless butcher he is reputed to be.

Assistant professor Claudia Holguín Mendoza heard this story time and again when she was conducting ethnographic research in her hometown of Juárez, the Mexican border city infamous for narco violence in the streets.

Her interview subjects would share this story in hushed tones, apparently fearing they might be overheard by narco spies. They claimed to have heard this story from someone who was actually in the restaurant that night. Or from someone who heard it from someone who was there. And so on. [...]

[See Claudia Holguín Mendoza, "Dining with the Devil: Identity Formations in Juarez, Mexico." Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 18:415-436, 2011.]

Thursday, June 6, 2013

HIV Watermelon Rumour (U.A.E.)



http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/health/food-authority-rejects-hiv-watermelon-rumour-1.1193781

Gulf News [UAE]
6 June 2013

People with vested interests make up such stories, official says

    By Binsal Abdul Kader, Staff Reporter

Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (Adfca) has asked people not to fall prey to rumours regarding food safety.

The advice came following a rumour that watermelons being imported from an Arab country are injected with HIV that causes AIDS. [...]

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Dog Thieves Use Stickers and Dots



http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2013/06/04/366358_news_pf.html

Geelong Advertiser [Australia]
4 June 2013


Erin Pearson

A GEELONG dog-napping ring being hyped on social media is a hoax, police say.

Sergeant Andy Harris, of Geelong police, said online posts claimed people were stealing dogs for illegal fighting rings.

The posts claimed people were putting coloured stickers outside homes to mark them as places that have a dog worth stealing. [...]

Newcomb resident Amanda Kettner joined the call to keep dogs safe after returning from work last week to find a man in her driveway trying to lure her dog and her in-laws' pooches. [...]

"Then later on I noticed two green stickers on my fence and dots on the power pole nearby. "[...]