Bizarre News - January 21, 2015

Greetings fellow Bizarros:

A human cannonball made a lethal impact during a stunt show at Kent County Showground in Great Britain.

Video footage of the event showed Matthew Cranch, 24, moments before the stunt. After climbing into the giant cannon spectators shouted "Three, two, one, fire!" before Cranch was propelled 40 feet into the air with an explosion and a puff of smoke.

Tragically, the human 'cannonball' earned his name the hard way when the safety net he was supposed to land in collapsed, causing Cranch to land on the ground.

This particular stunt show has been touring the UK since 1991 and features motorbike and monster truck stunts as well as the human cannonball and have never had an equipment failure like this before.

Police announced after an extensive investigation that no criminal prosecution would be brought over the incident.

Cranch had only been with the daredevil stunt show for two weeks at the time of the incident and was taking part in his 12th event. It is unknown if the stunt company will be able to find another performer of his caliber.

Bizarrely,
Lewis

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*- Man survives ride in back of garbage truck -*
SACRAMENTO (UPI) - Authorities in California said a man who wound up in the back of a garbage truck survived by building "a coffin around himself" from trash. Yolo County Sheriff's Lt. Martin Torres said the man, whose name was not released, was searching through a Sacramento-area garbage bin for his wallet Dec. 13 when the bin was dumped into the garbage truck. "The man said he was stuck in the truck for about an hour, but estimates show it was more like three or three and a half hours," Torres told the Woodland Daily Democrat. "The truck made several other pick-ups before arriving at the landfill, where the driver saw the man crawl out of his trash pile." Torres told the Sacramento Bee the man used objects around him in the back of the truck to "build a coffin around himself" and keep from being crushed by the compactor. "He was lucky the truck was only half full," Torres said. "Had it been full, he would have certainly been crushed and suffocated to death." Torres said a bulldozer at the Yolo County Landfill nearly ran over the man after the truck dumped its load, but the truck driver spotted the man and alerted the bulldozer driver in time. "The driver was pretty much a hero for that," Torres said. Authorities said the man appeared to be uninjured, but complained of neck and back pain. He was taken to a hospital for an examination. "While our driver had no idea of anyone in his load, we're very glad and proud of our driver for spotting the man while dumping out his truck at the landfill," said Nick Sikich, chief operating officer of Sacramento-based Atlas Disposal. "If he hadn't, the landfill equipment could have come along and buried him. We hope the man is OK and had a speedy recovery from any injuries."


*-- Boy, 5, gets bill for skipping friend's birthday party --*
PLYMOUTH, England (UPI) - Alex Nash, a 5-year-old from Cornwall, England, has been billed for skipping a classmate's birthday party at the Ski Slope and Snowboard Centre in Plymouth last month. Alex's father, Derek, told the Plymouth Herald on Monday that his son came home with a £15.95 ($24) invoice last week. It had been passed on to him by Julie Lawrence, the mother of the classmate whose birthday he missed. "I thought it was a joke to begin with. I am lost for words," Derek said. Derek said Alex had agreed to go to the party but remembered too late that his son had made plans to spend the day with his grandparents. He said he didn't have any way to contact the Lawrence family. Lawrence told BBC News that Alex and his family had her contact information. "All details were on the party invite. They had every detail needed to contact me." Derek told Lawrence that he refused to pay the bill because of the way Lawrence broached the issue. "I told her she should have spoken to me first and not put the invoice in my son's school bag," he said. "I would have sympathized with her about the cost of Alex not showing up, but I just can't believe the way she has gone around it." Derek said Lawrence threatened to take him to small claims court, though Derek's partner is attempting to mediate the dispute.


*-- READER COMMENTS --*
Re: the 32 year old man whose wife cut off his penis twice. Maybe she was acting on orders from the Central Party since they had violated the one-child policy too many times. -Mark
[If that WERE the punishment for violating the one-child policy I don't think they would have very many repeat offenders.]

Wow, that Chinese woman took the whole Lorena Bobbitt thing to a new level. But the guy was an idiot, using his wife's phone to e-mail his mistress. Did he honestly think she wouldn't find out? Maybe he got what he deserved. -Chris
[Are you a eugenicist? Are you hoping to breed stupidity out of the human race by cutting off the dicks' of idiots? Or do you think it would have been less 'deserved' if he had just cheated using his own phone?]

Feng comes out on top. She obviously is angry and disgusted with her husband Fan. She can go out and buy the best made dildoes in the world and every day could be Valentine's day with out risk of having more children or adopting children from orphanages and make Fan take care of them. I only hope my wife doesn't read this. -Mike
[Every day is Valentine's Day as long as you have a good dildo, is that it Mike? And people still say that men don't understand women.]

*-- END OF READER COMMENTS --*
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