Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Sailor DID NOT Use Raccoon to Bypass Breathalyzer




San Diego Union-Tribune
30 September 2015


By Tom Mallory and Lyndsay Winkley

Why question the truth when the story is this good?

The story was that a drunk Navy petty officer used a raccoon to bypass a breathalyzer installed in his vehicle.

We’re sorry, Internet, but it's just not true.

“I called police records, and while they were highly entertained, they confirmed (the story) is absolutely a hoax,” said 1st. Lt. Savannah Frank, a public affairs officer at Camp Pendleton.

The laugh-inspiring, but far-fetched story about an inebriated military man and a commandeered raccoon was put up on Imgur several days ago. The post featured a photograph of a police "incident report" from Saturday that spun quite a tale.

After a night of drinking, it read, a first class petty officer failed the breathalyzer test that allows his car to start. In a moment of alcohol-fueled ingenuity, he visited a nearby park, kidnapped a raccoon, and forced the creature to blow into the machine. […]

Frank said the official incident number featured in the post was a giveaway, since Camp Pendleton police records use a different system.

Just to be thorough, though, the officials who work with police records on base went through the incident logs and found no breathalyzer incidents involving raccoons or other rodents. […]

Monday, September 28, 2015

Monkey Carcass Found in Rafters of Boston Gardens, 1998




Boston.com
28 September 2015


A distinctly Boston urban legend

By Perry Eaton

[…] According to a May 1998 Boston Globe article, construction workers encountered something peculiar in the Garden about halfway through the building’s demolition.

“Add another bit of myth and mystery to the old Boston Garden now being slowly consigned to history by demolition crews,” Judy Rakowsky wrote for the Globe. “Workers said they found the remains of a monkey in the rafters Thursday, and were even moved to pause for a moment of silence, hard hats in hand.” […]

Joe Bearak, senior vice president of Morse Diesel at the time and project executive in charge of both the demolition of the old Garden and construction of the FleetCenter, recalls no such thing.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “I was in charge of the project, and believe me, I would have known. It’s an urban legend. There were pigeons, there were rats, there were other things, but no monkeys.” […]




Boston.com
6 November 2015

The saga continues—with some (fair warning: slightly gross) photos.

By Perry Eaton

Late in September, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the closing of the Boston Garden, we told the story of the Boston Garden monkey: In 1998, while taking down the historic arena, building wreckers were said to have come across the corpse of a monkey.

Despite our research, many parts of the story remained nothing more than urban legend. Where did this monkey come from? Where did it go? Was the monkey even real at all?

Thanks to Richard Bagen Sr., a building wrecker from East Weymouth who helped demolish the Garden, and his wife, Kathy Bagen, we may have some clarity. […]
 


Boston.com
9 November 2015

A (warning: slightly gross) final chapter to the monkey tale.

By Perry Eaton