Three arrested in Paris over 'devil's breath' drug that turns victims into willing 'zombies'

By Henry Samuel

Paris 7:11PM BST 01 Sep 2015
The three are thought to have stolen millions from unsuspecting victims by blowing scopolamine, a powerful "hypnotic" drug, into strangers' faces

Brugmansia arborea, also known as Angel's Trumpet Brugmansia arborea, also known as Angel's Trumpet, from the Solanaceae family, contain the alkaloid scopolamine

Police have seized two Chinese women and a man in Paris suspected of using a powerful Colombian drug dubbed "the devil’s breath" that turns victims into “zombies” devoid of free will and rob them. It is thought the three are part of an international Triad-style criminal gang running a multimillion-pound operation around the planet. The women, aged 42 and 59, approached strangers in Paris’ 20th arrondissement and blew the substance into their faces. It is thought to contain scopolamine, a hazardous drug extracted from a South American tree related to deadly nightshade.

The Soviets and the CIA reportedly used it as a truth serum during the Cold War, while Joseph Mengeles, the Nazi physician dubbed the Angel of Death, had it imported from Colombia to use in interrogations. However, because of the drug’s chemical make-up, it also induces powerful hallucinations.

Angel Trumpet, Angel's Trumpet Tree or Datura, Brugmansia arborea, Solanaceae, Tropical South America South American shamans believe angel's trumpet is a sacred plant

In strong doses it is lethal. Infamous murderer Dr Crippen is believed to have killed his wife Cora in 1910 using the drug before trying to flee to Canada. Paris’ judicial police believe the Chinese suspects administered the substance on “dozens” of victims in the French capital in the first reported case of such crimes.

The victims targeted, very often old, were accosted in the street by a first woman,” a source close to the investigation told Le Parisien newspaper. This person claimed to be looking for a mysterious 'Doctor Wang' before being joined by her accomplice. "They managed to isolate their victims, then got them to breathe in a mixture of plants on the grounds they had powerful curative qualities – even protecting them from misfortune.” Once they inhaled, all the victims recounted falling into a kind of “hypnotic state under the total sway of their handlers,” said the investigative source. “They then took advantage by getting the victims to take them to their home, where they asked them to put all their jewellery and money into a bag and hand it over to them.” One Parisian victim lost €100,000 (£73,500) worth of valuables and cash in this way, police said.

The pair had reportedly been operating since spring in Paris. They were caught this week at the entrance to a metro station after they were identified by a member of one of the victims’ entourage. Both deny wrongdoing. In a subsequent raid on their hotel room in Seine-Saint-Denis, a north-eastern suburb, police discovered an array of vials including “various Chinese medicinal substances as well as weighing scales, filters and gloves”. Analysis of the substance's precise contents is under way.
A third 56-year old suspect, thought to have prepared the mysterious drug, was later arrested.
Chinese authorities informed their French counterparts that the trio belonged to a notorious Chinese criminal network, which “acts around the world and specialises in mental submission with the aid of unknown products," according to Le Parisien. Other members have reportedly been arrested in China and South Korea.

The two women’s passports suggested that they had recently travelled to Madrid and Mexico.
Scopolamine is made from the seeds of a tree called Borrachero – roughly translated as “drunken binge” – which blooms with deceptively beautiful white and yellow flowers. It is mainly produced in Colombia via a chemical process that results in a white powder resembling cocaine.

- The Telegraph

Chupacabra Spotted in Rockford, IL Just Miles from Zombie Logic Press Headquarters?

Chupacabra Spotted in Rockford, IL Just Miles from Zombie Logic Press Headquarters?

Some Poor Zombie Lost His Lunch

Gyromitra fastigiata (Helvellaceae) Thick-stalked False Morel Mushroom

Updated at 11:22 AM EDT on Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Nine brains were found along a street in a northern New York village, but authorities say there's nothing to fear.

The brains are believed to have been part of a collection for educational or research purposes. No criminal activity is suspected. Residents discovered the brains on a street near railroad tracks in Governeur and notified police Wednesday.

A local veterinarian determined one of the brains had been professionally removed and preserved in formaldehyde. The organs are believed to be either from dogs or sheep.

Mishaps with preserved brains are not uncommon.

Last year the University of Texas in Austin said dozens of human brains stored in jars of formaldehyde and reported missing were actually destroyed in 2002. Those brains had been donated for teaching and research.

-NBC New York

Five Vampires Caught Sleeping in Abandoned Supermarket?

MAINZ, Germany — Public health officials were stunned to find five dead bodies at an abandoned supermarket in Germany.

A local undertaker had received permission to use the building's storage rooms to keep empty coffins and other equipment in the eastern city of Klosterfelde.

However, five corpses were discovered inside the caskets in a refrigerated area after a tip-off, local official Elisabeth Schulte-Kuhnt told NBC News on Wednesday.

Local newspaper MOZ reported Tuesday that public medical officer Heike Zander was "shocked when she saw what was being stored in a supermarket in the middle of town" during a visit last week.

But authorities could find little wrong with the undertaker's methods.

The condition of the deceased and the temperature they were being stored at were "according to the rules" and therefore not in violation of Germany's hygiene laws, county spokesman Oliver Koehler told NBC News. The undertaker also had the correct paperwork.

Officials are now looking into whether the correct request was filed with local planning officials to notify them that he was using the building for a different purpose.

The corpses were transported to a crematorium after being recovered on Thursday.

-NBC News

Barrie Man Runs Around Pretending To Be Werewolf, Gets Arrested

Barrie Man Runs Around Pretending To Be Werewolf, Gets Arrested
By Mohamed Omar Email Posted: 05/27/2015 11:55 am EDT Updated: 05/27/2015 11:59 am EDT


Police in Barrie, Ont. received a complaint early Monday about a man running around saying he's a werewolf.


This is not the man.

A real press release from the Barrie Police Service, actually and truly available here, also stated the man promised he "would be coming back at the next full moon to take care of business."

MARK YOUR CALENDARS.

Police say the man, who was arrested and held for a bail hearing, was on several probation orders — those orders being not to possess weapons or use drugs.

Police believe he was violating both conditions and charged him with breaching orders, according to Simcoe.com.

 -The Huffington Post Canada

Ampulex Dementor Zombie: Wasp Turns Cockroaches Into ZOMBIES

Ampulex Dementor Zombie: Wasp Turns Cockroaches Into ZOMBIES, Named After ‘Soul-Sucking’ Harry Potter Character [PHOTO] May 29, 2015 09:50 AM EDT | By Victoria Guerra

Those who have read the books about boy wizard Harry Potter written by J.K. Rowling or watch the eight movies based on them remember Dementors as the soul-sucking guardians of wizard prison Azkaban - and a new wasp species was named after them due to the Ampulex dementor's zombie-turning behavior.

Cockroaches are scary enough as it is without the possibility of the Ampulex dementor's zombie addition, as the newly-discovered wasp, named after the terrifying magical creatures from the "Harry Potter" world, can actually control the "minds" of roaches so they'll do their bidding.

A year ago, Nature World News reported that the Ampulex dementor zombie-turning wasp was actually named through public vote, after the discovery of the species in Southeast Asia of a wasp that basically sucks the life out of cockroaches and then makes them due their bidding - basically just as it happens with the creepy creatures from "Harry Potter."

After taking the species back to Berlin, curators of the city's Natural History Museum let the public vote on what to name it, and so they came up with the name Ampulex dementor for zombie-turning wasp whose modus operandi sounds like something right out of a nightmare.

According to CNN, the Ampulex dementor zombie species was actually discovered about one year ago, but it wasn't until this week when it made headlines all over the world as author J.K. Rowling retweeted a photo of the creepy necromancer insect after the World Wide Fund for Nature (WFF) mentioned Rowling by thanking her for the idea of the name.

This is the way this terrifying zombie-making wasp operates, according to The Washington Post: they inject their venom into their natural prey, namely roaches, in their bellies, and this venom contains a chemical that basically turns the roach into a "passive zombie" that allows to be easily eaten.

The Ampulex dementor zombie turner is one of 139 new species recently discovered - and hopefully there's nothing creepier in that list.   - Food World News

Cannibal Restaurant Finally Closed Down

Saturday 16 May 2015 3:21 pm

A restaurant in Nigeria has been shut down after it was found to be selling human flesh.

According to a news report on BBC Swahili, local police raided the hotel restaurant in Anambra, after being informed human meat was being served to customers. The police discovered various cuts of human flesh and two freshly severed (“still bleeding”) human heads stored in the kitchen.

Eleven people, including the restaurant’s owner, were arrested.

One local resident told the BBC:

“Every time I went to the market, I observed strange things going on at the hotel.

Saturday 16 May 2015 3:21 pm

“Shifty, strange looking people made their way in and out of the hotel and behaved in a very suspicious manner. I was not surprised when the police uncovered such an illegal trade.”

Though “not a societal norm,” cannibalism is not illegal in most countries—including America and parts of Europe. Cannibalism has been seen in many wars—including the Siege of Stalingrad during the Second World War and most recently in Liberia and the Congo. According to those who know, human flesh has a texture like beef—though is a little sweeter and a little softer.

A priest who had recently eaten at the restaurant told the BBC that he had been surprised when presented with a bill for 700 Naira ($3.50) for a small cut of “beef.” The price was extortionate when considering the average daily expenditure in Nigeria is roughly 95 cents a day. The priest added:

“The waiter noticed my surprise and told me the bill so high because of the small piece of meat I had eaten.

“I did not know I had been served with human meat, and this was why it was so expensive.”

A cache of automatic weapons (AK-47s), hand grenades and several cell phones were also discovered in the raid.

Though rumors of cannibalism have long been rife in Nigeria, this is allegedly the first time a restaurant has been discovered selling human flesh.

However, this is not the first time this story has been reported. On September 5th, 2013, the exact same story appeared in the Osun Defender:

On Thursday Onitsha police arrested 11 people after they discovered 2 fresh human heads in a hotel (name withheld) very close to the popular Ose-Okwodu market in Anambra state. 2 AK47 rifles & other weapons were also discovered in the hotel.

The arrest followed tip-offs from area residents on Thursday morning. The hotel owner, 6 women and 4 men were arrested.

After police got access to the hotel, they made a startling discovery of two human heads wrapped in a cellophane bag, two AK47 rifles, two army caps, 40 rounds of live ammunition and so many cell phones.

The quotes from a resident and a local priest tally with those carried by the recent article on the BBC and today’s Metro newspaper.

“Each time I came to market, because the hotel is very close to the market, I always noticed funny movements in and out of the hotel; dirty people with dirty characters always come into the hotel. So, I was not surprised when the police made this discovery in the early hours of yesterday,” said a vegetable seller in the area

A Pastor who was among the people who tipped off the police on Thursday said: I went to the hotel early this year, after eating, I was told that a lump of meat was being sold at N700, I was surprised. So I did not know it was human meat that I ate at such expensive price.”

...What has happened to the eleven who were arrested is not known.

Via BBC Swahili and Metro. - Dangerous Minds.net

Blood-Sucking Chupacabara on the Loose Near Houston

CONROE, Texas -

Could a blood-sucking chupacabara be on the loose near Houston? A Panarama Village man thinks so. He said he and a friend snapped photos of one running along the roadway on League Line Rd near Hallmark Dr. as they were driving to work Thursday morning.

“They're a little blurry because we were still trying to move and that thing was running down the fence line,“Justin Farris said, “and we wanted to get it before it went, and all of a sudden right off League Line, it went off into the brush.”

Farris describes himself as a “chupacabara hunter.” He said since 2008 he's spotted four of the animals.

“This is the second one we've gotten on camera. My buddies at work, they couldn't believe we got him on camera,” Farris said.

The name “chupacabara” is Spanish for “goat sucker,” a predator said to exist in parts of Latin America that supposedly attacks animals, especially goats, and drains them of blood.

Before the first sightings in Puerto Rico in 1995, no one ever claimed to have seen one.

There have been thousands of alleged sightings since since then, but none has ever been verified.

But along with the photos snapped Thursday, Farris has a picture of an animal he claims is a chupacabara that he shot in central Texas seven years ago.

We showed the photograph to Susan Schmaltz, a wildlife rehabilitation expert and director of the Wildlife Center of Texas, where thousands of injured abandoned animals are rehabilitated each year. Schmalz identified the animal in Farris' 2008 photograph as a coyote. Asked if the Wildlife Center has ever treated a chupacabra, Schmalz said, “No, no, we don't have those here, they're mythical really.”

Farris said he knows the existence of chupacabras has never been proven, but said he is convinced both animals he photographed are the real item.

"I said I believe it is a chupacabra, so until it's proven different, that's what I will believe. “ Farris said.

“There's a lot of things you just have to have some belief in, have some faith in.”

-Click2Houston

Teen on Drugs Claims She's Satan

MELBOURNE, Fla. -

A 17-year-old Cocoa girl suspected of being high on a hallucinatory street drug faces felony charges after police said she ran toward officers nude, covered in blood and yelled that she was Satan.

It is the latest arrest in Melbourne believed to be connected to the highly potent street drug flakka. The drug is causing growing concern and has gotten the attention of Brevard County's top law enforcement officers.

Flakka is a synthetic drug, like bath salts, that authorities say gives a high similar to meth but can also cause zombie-like, aggressive behavior. The drug is believed to be moving into the Brevard area from South Florida.

"The chiefs are discussing it and it's definitely a concern," Melbourne police Cmdr. Dan Lynch told Local 6 News partner Florida Today. "Our narcotics units are doing an enforcement campaign and notified our school resource officers. But we only have 12 more days of school before the summer break begins."

The teen was charged with burglary, battery and criminal mischief after officers arrested her in Melbourne on Saturday morning, records show.

Melbourne police came across the teen – who had been reported missing earlier – near Sycamore Road after two men flagged down officers. They spotted the tattooed teen coming out from behind a home, naked, covered in blood and screaming repeatedly, "I am God," and "I am Satan."

Police say she had earlier jumped through a glass window of an occupied home before running toward a car and striking it. She also struck a person outside of home as she continued to run around the area, reports show.

Officers used a Taser to stun the teen. Hours later at Holmes Regional Medical Center, the girl told officers that she took what she thought was LSD earlier in the evening but refused to tell officers where she got it.

"Whatever she was on, it was some mind-altering narcotic. The characteristics which exhibited are just like flakka. One of the characteristics is that it raises your inner core temperature…so that causes them to take their clothes off," Lynch said.

The teen was turned over to the Juvenile Detention Center in Sharpes.

-Orlando WKMG

Sky Trumpets, Strange Noises Heard Again in BC

VANCOUVER – Almost two years ago, a series of videos called ‘Strange Sounds in Terrace‘ caused a flurry of debate and speculation online as to what the noise could be.

Well, it appears those noises have been heard and captured on video again.

Strange sounds heard in Terrace B.C. Strange sounds heard in Terrace B.C., but this is not the first time Terrace resident Melissa Harris was drinking coffee on her couch Tuesday morning when she heard a low, strange noise. “I could hear it getting louder,” she says.

So she grabbed her phone and started recording.

She lived in Terrace when the similar noise occurred in 2013, but she was in Vancouver at the time and only heard them on the YouTube video below.

This time around, they lasted for about a minute and then they were over.

“Personally I don’t know what they were,” says Harris. “There’s a lot of different ideas floating around.”

In September, 2013, the City of Terrace posted a note on their Facebook page saying they were responsible for the noise.

“Turns out….. it was us. A City employee was preparing a grader for some work on Lanfear hill and produced that mysterious noise with the grader blade,” they wrote.

This time around, they say a very similar noise, captured on tape Thursday morning was caused by the same action (click the link to watch the video): “Here we are on video grinding the grader blade in the back parking lot at the Terrace Sportsplex.”

But many residents did not buy the explanation the first time and Harris says she does not think that is the explanation now.

“It had a science fiction feel to it,” she says. “It was eerie, I had goosebumps.”


 -Global News

***

List of Sky Trumpet Videos at StrangeSounds.org

Werewolf Pulls Knife at Hair Salon

Thursday, April 23, 2015

SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. (WABC) -- Hair salon workers thought it was a joke or prank until the man who walked in wearing a wolf mask pulled out a knife and demanded cash.

Those who came face to face with the wolf-man in the Rockland County Village of Spring Valley are still on edge.

The man walked into Kelly's Unisex Salon just after 3 p.m. Tuesday wearing a wolf man mask and gloves.

Stylist Emilia Moncayo told Eyewitness News in Spanish that she asked the man, "Who are you? You're scaring my daughter."

Moncayo and her 4-year-old daughter, Diabelis, were alone doing school work as she waited for another client to arrive.

When he pulled out a knife, she shielded her daughter not knowing what the thief would do next.
"Give me the money," she says the robber said to her.

Moncayo gave him the $200 in the register, he rushed out, and then she grabbed the phone and called police and quickly locked the door behind him.

Moncayo says she's afraid. She now locks the business door, refusing to take any chances.

She hopes the surveillance video will help police catch whoever did this before he does it again to someone else.

- WABC  News Channel 7 

Why Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things

Director of the cult camp zombie classic Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things Bob Clark was set to start shooting a remake of his film when he died tragically in an automobile accident in 2007. After his death Tom Savini was rumored to be interested in doing the remake. But as of now the project is, for lack of a more classy word, dead.

"Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things" is a very creepy and atmospheric zombie film about a group of hippie actors who go to a small island to practice satanism and succeed in raising the dead!The only problem is,the dead wants to eat them all.Surely one of my favourite horror flicks this one contains really cool zombies and dark,brooding atmosphere.The acting is surprisingly good,the location sets are spooky and there's also a sprinkle of black humour added for good measure.Only a little bit of gore,so fans of Italian zombie gut-munchers may be disappointed,but if you like scary horror movies this one is perfect for you.Anyway,check this movie out-you'll love this!And the ending is the most edge-of-your-seat ever.A must see!Highly recommended. -IMDB

Full cast and crew of Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things

What Happens When Monsters Mate With Each Other?

According to one of the world's pre-eminent crpytozoologists, Dr. Henry Wolfsburg, it is possible for monster's to interbreed. The result's are almost always disaterous, according to Wolfsburg, but they will do it.

What do they do?

Well, according to Wolfsburg, writing at Zombie Logic, it isn't as much a question of what they will do as "What won't they do?"

"First we have the primate monsters, vampires, werewolves and ghouls – but everyone knows about those. Now pay attention: A vampire and a werewolf would produce a werevamp. A werewolf and a ghoul would produce a weregoo. A vampire and a ghoul would produce a vamgoo. A weregoo and a werevamp would produce a shaddy. A weregoo and a vamgoo would produce a maddy. A werevamp and a vamgoo would produce a raddy. If a shaddy were to mate with a raddy or a maddy, it would result in a mock (which frankly, is just a polite name for a mongrel)." -Vincent Price from The Monster Club - See more at: http://www.zombielogic.org/2015/01/the-monster-club-vampire-and-ghoul.html#sthash.tDwjeMxe.dpuf

Humegoo spotted at Whole Foods in Cleveland earlier this week.