STRANGE DEATHS
UNUSUAL WAYS OF SHUFFLING OFF THIS MORTAL COIL
In the early hours of 2 November 2021, a man dressed as Fred Flintstone was struck by a car and killed in San Antonio, Texas. According to police, they had received several reports of a man dressed as the cartoon caveman weaving in and out of traffic and attacking vehicles with what witnesses described as “a spear”, although officers were unsure whether it actually was a spear or just a broomstick. Before they could arrive at the scene, a car hit the costumed individual and killed him, with the driver claiming he’d not seen him until it was too late as it was dark. startelegram.com, 2 Nov 2021.
When police were called to a high-end love hotel in the Fushimi District of Kyoto, Japan, they found noted Japanese potter Furukawa Go, 37, dead in a pool of blood on the floor of one of the hotel’s tiny rooms. Go, who was part of a family of highly regarded ceramic artists with a history going back over 100 years, was revered as one of the greatest modern potters in the country. He had been stabbed in the back with a large kitchen knife by his apprentice, Chiharu Sato, 31, after which she had shot him multiple times with a crossbow, leaving his body bristling with bolts. Sato, with whom Go had been having an illicit affair, then calmly informed the hotel staff that she had murdered him and asked them to call the police. min.news, 17 Jul 2021.
In late November 2021, Gary Parker, 67, and his wife Lorraine, 60, were reported missing by their daughter after failing to return home after going for a drive near Stafford in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, home of the legendary Jersey Devil. This prompted a search of the Barrens that eventually involved over 100 people, drones, helicopters, bloodhounds, police officers in all-terrain vehicles and a specialist State search and rescue team, all of whom combed the area without success. They were unable to contact the Parkers by phone, as neither of them owned one. Early in the search they discovered the couple’s car, parked just down the road from their house, with Gary’s shotgun still strapped to it, but it was not until two weeks later that they finally located the couple’s bodies. They were found 70 yards (64m) from their car, and only about 200 yards (183m) from their home in an area of almost impenetrable scrub, their bodies showing extensive injuries from where they had struggled to get through the tangled undergrowth. Stafford police Capt. James Vaughn said that in the area where they were found: “There were times I couldn’t see six inches in front of my face. And there were times I had to crawl underneath things to get through the brush… without the use of a drone, it was nearly impossible. You could have walked by them and not seen them unless you were directly looking. It was very thick, very dense.” Police remain baffled as to why the Parkers left their car so close to home and then headed on foot into such dense scrub, particularly as Mrs Parker suffered from mobility problems and had left her cane at home.
Asbury Park Press, 3 Dec 2021.
After watching the traditional “Obby Oss” celebrations in Padstow, Cornwall, on 1 May 2019, Laura Smallwood, 34, was found unconscious and taken to hospital with neck injuries, but later died. During the celebration Smallwood had reportedly been struck by the Oss, an oval wooden frame covered with oilskin that is traditionally worn by a male dancer who chases young women and tries to catch them under his cape. As Smallwood had also been involved in an earlier altercation involving “pushing and shoving” the Truro coroner could not be sure whether her death was the result of a single incident or a combination of incidents, but called for parade safety to be looked into and changes made, including ensuring the public do not come into contact with the Oss. Metro, 12 Nov 2021.
In Paraguay, infantry assistant sergeant Victor Isasi Flecha, a member of the security detail at the presidential palace, died after being attacked by a deer in the palace grounds. Flecha, 42, died when an Indian axis deer impaled him with an antler in an attack recorded on the palace’s CCTV security system. Infantry spokesman Víctor Urdapilleta said: “For unknown reasons he approached the area where the animals live and that’s where he was attacked. There has never been any such attack before.” It is believed that Flecha made an unexpected movement that startled the animal. The Paraguayan presidential palace grounds are home to a menagerie of animals, including ponies and ostriches, many presented by other countries, but they are kept in a restricted area away from contact with the public. guardian.com, 4 Jan 2022.