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Getting a Head in Life
Laurence Pilgeram, who died in 2015 in California, paid Alcor Life Extension Foundation $120,000 to preserve his body indefinitely at -320.8 Fahrenheit (-196 Celsius) in the hope of being brought back to life in the future. But a month after his death, his son, Kurt Pilgeram of Dutton, Mt., received a box containing his father’s ashes: the company had sent him all but his father’s head, which was still being stored in liquid nitrogen at Alcor’s facility in Arizona. “They chopped his head off, burned his body, put it in a box and sent it to my house,” Kurt told the Great Falls Tribune. He is suing Alcor for $1 million in damages and an apology—plus the return of his father’s frozen head. “I want people to know what’s going on,” he said. For its part, Alcor says its contract was with Laurence Pilgeram, and that it met that agreement. The company contends Kurt is trying to get the life insurance money that paid for Alcor’s services. The trial is expected to begin in 2020 in California.
Clooney Clone Con Job
Francesco Galdelli, 58, and Vanya Goffi, 45—a.k.a. the Italian Bonnie and Clyde—were arrested on Saturday, June 15, at a luxury villa in Pattaya, Thailand, after years of avoiding Italian authorities for various scams and frauds. The Telegraph reported that Galdelli had confessed to posing as George Clooney and opening an online clothing business “to trick people into sending him money.” The two would also sell fake Rolex watches online, sometimes sending packets of salt to their customers instead of the expensive jewelry. Clooney testified against the couple in 2010, but they fled Italy before being arrested there. Galdelli was arrested in Thailand in 2014 but escaped after bribing prison guards. The pair will be returned to Italy for trial.
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Unctuous Onc
German Instagram “influencers” Catalin Onc and Elena Engelhardt have faced a digital dressing-down after they set up a GoFundMe page requesting donations for a bike trip to Africa. They want to raise about 10,000 euros for the jaunt, but some people aren’t on board. Onc and Engelhardt live with Onc’s mother, who supports them by working at two jobs, the Independent reported. They posted on their Instagram page: “Some will just tell us to get jobs, like everyone else does, and stop begging. But when you have the impact we do on others’ life (sic), getting a job is not an option. A normal job at this point would be detrimental.” Commenters let loose on the couple: “Get a job and treat your mum; she shouldn’t be funding her grown son to wander the world like a lost boy.” And: “You’re not impacting anyone’s life; you are just a couple of freeloaders.”
Desperate Times Call for Useless Measures
In the Colombian city of Buenaventura, violence and corruption are on the rise, and after a shocking Saturday, June 1, murder of a young girl, the local bishop devised a plan to “purge the city of evil.” Monsignor Ruben Dario Jaramillo Montoya intends to perform a mass exorcism, and to help him, he has asked the Colombian Navy to fly a helicopter over the city and spray “holy water” on those below. The ritual is scheduled for mid-July during annual patron saints festivities. “We want to drive out these demons that are destroying the port,” the bishop told Caracol Radio.
Think You Hate Your Job?
Last year, Eli Aldinger, 23, told police officers in Bothell, Wash., he intentionally drove his Toyota Camry into two different groups of pedestrians in order to “get out of going to work.” Aldinger, who worked in food service at McMenamins Anderson School, first hit a woman who was crossing the street with her husband, admitting to police that he sped up to 35-40 mph so he could “hit her before she made it across the road,” reported the Bothell-Kenmore Reporter. Later, he swerved to hit another pedestrian but declined to strike a third, thinking that would be “a bit too excessive.” On Friday, May 31, Aldinger was sentenced to 14 years in prison for assault.
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