No one expects a happy family outing to an amusement park to end with a family member dead from one of the rides, but that’s exactly what happened on Friday at Six Flags Over Texas. Authorities from the park and the government are investigating the cause of a tragic accident where a rider was thrown from the Texas Giant Roller coaster and killed. [More]
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Key Finally Decides Not To Make Family Pay Dead Student's College Loans
By 4.27.12
When a person dies and their estate is settled, any remaining debt dies with them, including student loans. But there’s an exception: if a parent or other responsible grown-up co-signs a loan and the borrower dies a tragic young death, that co-signer is on the hook for the entire amount of the loan. That’s how co-signing works, after all. But after a Rutgers student died in 2006 after two years in a coma, most of his lenders (credit cards and student loans) deferred, then forgave his debts. Key Bank was the holdout, since the student’s father had co-signed his college loans at Key. Since 2006, the family has paid $20,000 of the $50,000 balance. It took an awful lot of negative publicity, but Key says that they will forgive the debt, and might not even put future families in the same terrible situation. [More]
1 Dead, 4 Sick In Hotel Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
By 2.1.12
A carbon monoxide poisoning has been blamed for the death of one hotel guest and the sickness of four others. The disaster unfolded at a West Virginia Holiday Inn Express, at which firefighters discovered high levels of the gas on several floors. They found that the source of the leak was a water heater. [More]
Government Prevents 101-Year-Old Evictee From Moving Back Home
By 1.23.12
Four months ago, a 101-year-old Detroit woman was evicted from her home because her son could no longer afford payments. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development stepped in and said she go back home, but has now reversed course, deeming the residence unfit to live in. [More]
Saks Fifth Avenue Santa Dies Trying To Save Granddaughter
By 12.28.11
A man who worked as Santa Claus at Saks Fifth Avenue Christmas Eve died in a Connecticut house fire the next morning. According to authorities, the 71-year-old man was on the roof of the home trying to rescue his granddaughter when he died. Including the man, five family members perished in the fire. [More]
Dog Dies After Visit To Petco Groomer, Owner Wants Hair Dryer Cages Banned
By 7.28.11
Sadie, a beloved 6-year-old Lhasa Apso in good health, died in 2008 after a regular grooming session at a California Petco. She became ill while inside a cage dryer, a kennel with an air blower attached (sometimes heated, sometimes not) and was immediately taken for emergency medical care. The veterinarian treating her concluded that the dog died of “severe heatstroke.” But was the heatstroke caused by the actions of Petco’s employees, as her owner’s lawsuit alleges? [More]
Wells Fargo Forecloses On, Auctions Off House With Dead Owner Inside
By 7.28.11
Last year, Wells Fargo foreclosed on and auctioned off a modest townhouse on Cape Canaveral in Florida. The owner hadn’t made any mortgage payments or used any electricity in over a year, and neighbors didn’t recall seeing her. Her possessions and car were still in the house. Did she walk away from her mortgage and leave town entirely? Not quite. The house’s new owner found something Wells Fargo’s inspectors and property managers had missed when they inventoried the contents of the house and garage: the homeowner’s mummified remains in the front passenger seat of her car. Her cause of death remains unknown. [More]
Company Will Make Fake Facebook Girlfriends
By 3.29.11
Hoping there’s a market of lonely single dudes who wish to project the image of happy domesticity, a company promises to develop pretend girlfriends to post sweet nothings on clients’ walls. [More]
Woman Killed Trying To Save Car From Repo Man
By 3.2.11
A California woman was crushed to death yesterday by her own car while trying to save it from repossession. Authorities still aren’t quite sure how the accident happened, but the 41-year-old was standing between her car and the tow truck, and was somehow pulled under her vehicle and dragged 40 feet. She died of internal bleeding later that night at a local hospital. [More]
Cable Co. RCN Tried To Bill Fire Victims For Incinerated Cable Boxes
By 2.17.11
A family in Allentown, PA was lucky to escape with their lives after a natural gas explosion destroyed their block and took five of their neighbor’s souls. Then their cable company RCN told them they would have to pay $170 a pop for the cable boxes that were destroyed in the fire. [More]
Kitten Freezes To Death After Delta Flight, Owner Offered Free Trip And $50
By 2.17.11
Snickers, an 11-week old kitten, is dead after taking a trip on Delta that went horribly awry. The owner said the airline initially offered over $3,000 in compensation. They have now revised that offer to free airfare plus $.50 for every pound the kitten weighed. There’s a $50 minimum payout on that policy, which is a good thing because the feline only weighed 3 pounds. [More]
Government Employee Dies At Desk, No One Notices
By 2.16.11
It’s the nightmare of every employee who feels undervalued and isolated at work: you could die at your desk and no one would ever notice. This actually happened to a 51-year-old employee of Los Angeles County: she passed away at her desk sometime on Friday, and wasn’t discovered until a security guard found her on Saturday. She had last been seen alive at 9 AM on Friday. [More]
My Dog Died Under Delta's Care, And Airline Blows Me Off
By 1.5.11
Deserved or not, Delta is garnering an unfavorable reputation in regards to pet care, most recently after a dog it lost in between flights in Atlanta was found dead. Before that, Delta lost a dog belonging to one of our readers in Mexico City. [More]
Body Found Outside Boston May Have Fallen From Plane
By 11.23.10
Reuters says police are investigating the possibility that the body of a 16-year-old North Carolina high school student fell from a plane approaching Logan Airport. So far, they have been unable to explain why the boy, who ran away from home, would have been found dead in Milton, MA. [More]
Foreign Lottery Scam Bilks Couple Out Of Life Savings
By 9.27.10
It’s a near-urban legend scenario that’s grown all too familiar in the information age. Someone picks up the phone and discovers they’ve won a foreign lottery they never entered, and all they need to do is put up some money in advance for taxes to collect their windfall. This kind of thing is always a scam and seems too outlandish to be taken seriously, but when the con hits its marks, it hits hard. [More]
Fast Food Ads Are Often Opposite Of Reality
By 8.23.10
Last week the overwhelming majority of readers told us that while fast food ads needn’t match the actual product exactly, but the food should at least be recognizable. Dario submitted a project showing cases in which fast food companies most definitely didn’t live up to this standard. [More]
Here's The Video Of That Crazy McNugget Lady Who Attacked McDonald's Employees
By 8.10.10
Remember the McDonald’s drive-thru customer who went all 28 Days after she was told they’d stopped serving Chicken McNuggets? Obviously a story like this is a hundred times more awesome if you can watch the actual attack, and fortunately for us the security footage of the event is now available. [More]
Subway Manager Fined $75 For Asking Pakistani Customer If He Was A Terrorist
By 8.8.10
Four days after the attempted Times Square bombing, a 64-year-old Indian-born Subway manager in North Chicago walked up to a 29-year-old Pakistani-born customer and said: “I heard you guys were recruiting more terrorists in New York. Are you one of them?” [More]
