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You can't make this stuff up: Crazy stories ripped from the headlines

John Webb

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When my daughter was hooting for owls (spotted), she was attacked by a barred owl. Fortunately it attacked her head, not her face. She was supposed to be wearing a helmet for this very reason.
A college friend of my wife’s was on a walking trail near Pasadena and a large raptor swooped down and clawed the side of her neck. A lot of bleeding. She had to head to the ER to get stitches.
 

DanoT

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I don't have any pics and it happened a long time ago:

It was the late 60s and I was a student at Akron University and at Spring Break I traveled in my VW Beetle to Mount Snow in southern Vermont, near Wilmington VT. There was a hostel at the mountain called The Snow Barn and they had a deal for college students to work mornings cleaning rooms and washrooms, making beds etc. for no pay, but after work at noon, they would feed you lunch and then give you a half day lift ticket and supper and a dorm room place to sleep that night.

While I was there a bar in Wilmington had an end of the season deal on mixed drinks for locals: 5 cents for drinks that would normally be $2-3 dollars. I thought, "I'm a local now" so I put a quarter on the bar and had 5 drinks over the course of the evening.

I staggered out of there and proceeded to drive back to The Snow Barn but on the way I passed out behind the wheel, drove off the road with only a sign post that I crashed into saving me from going down an embankment and into a river below. The cops showed up (they were working nearby with a tow truck ticketing and towing illegally parked cars at a nearby bar). By now I had more or less sobered up and was being interviewed by a cop in the front seat of his patrol car. I told him that I had lost control of my car on the icy corner. Another cop came by and asked if that was my VW that had been racing through town. I said it was not me (I didn't even remember driving through town).

I thought I would get a ticket and maybe spend the night in jail, but that did not happen. The cops let me go and the tow truck driver pulled my VW back on the road. When I asked him how much I owed him he replied that he was already out there towing the illegally parked cars at the bar around the corner, so there would be no towing fee. At this point I was free to go but I did not know if I was on the right road back to the Snow Barn but I thought it best not to ask and just head in the direction I was pointed which turned out to be the correct direction.

So, in spite of me being a total drunken idiot, other than a dent in the nose of my VW, I got off uninjured and Scott free! I have always loved Vermont. :)
 
Last edited:

James

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So, in spite of me being a total drunken idiot, other than a dent in the nose of my VW, I got off uninjured and Scott free! I have always loved Vermont
Nowadays you’d probably be in jail.
The towing is another story. Don’t know about down near Mt Snow, but imo there’s scamming/collusion going on with the sheriff and some tow companies. So, the free part prob not.
 

Jim McDonald

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One shouldn't laugh at drunk driving stories, but...
 

DanoT

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Nowadays you’d probably be in jail.
The towing is another story. Don’t know about down near Mt Snow, but imo there’s scamming/collusion going on with the sheriff and some tow companies. So, the free part prob not.
You are probably correct about stricter penalties today, but they cop did buy my story about skidding off the road and him not realizing I was drunk. I also think the Ontario plates on my VW helped me as the cops tend to go easy on out of town tourists as they realize the tourism value to Vermont.
 

DanoT

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One shouldn't laugh at drunk driving stories, but...
You will be happy to learn that I gave up drinking over 30 years ago. It was the story above and other incidences that lead me to believe that I had used up all my lucky chances with drinking and driving.
 

Jim Kenney

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I don't have any pics and it happened a long time ago:

It was the late 60s and I was a student at Akron University and at Spring Break I traveled in my VW Beetle to Mount Snow in southern Vermont, near Wilmington VT. There was a hostel at the mountain called The Snow Barn and they had a deal for college students to work mornings cleaning rooms and washrooms, making beds etc. for no pay, but after work at noon, they would feed you lunch and then give you a half day lift ticket and supper and a dorm room place to sleep that night.

While I was there a bar in Wilmington had an end of the season deal on mixed drinks for locals: 5 cents for drinks that would normally be $2-3 dollars. I thought, "I'm a local now" so I put a quarter on the bar and had 5 drinks over the course of the evening.

I staggered out of there and proceeded to drive back to The Snow Barn but on the way I passed out behind the wheel, drove off the road with only a sign post that I crashed into saving me from going down an embankment and into a river below. The cops showed up (they were working nearby with a tow truck ticketing and towing illegally parked cars at a nearby bar). By now I had more or less sobered up and was being interviewed by a cop in the front seat of his patrol car. I told him that I had lost control of my car on the icy corner. Another cop came by and asked if that was my VW that had been racing through town. I said it was not me (I didn't even remember driving through town).

I thought I would get a ticket and maybe spend the night in jail, but that did not happen. The cops let me go and the tow truck driver pulled my VW back on the road. When I asked him how much I owed him he replied that he was already out there towing the illegally parked cars at the bar around the corner, so there would be no towing fee. At this point I was free to go but I did not know if I was on the right road back to the Snow Barn but I thought it best not to ask and just head in the direction I was pointed which turned out to be the correct direction.

So, in spite of me being a total drunken idiot, other than a dent in the nose of my VW, I got off uninjured and Scott free! I have always loved Vermont. :)
Fact is stranger than fiction!! Dang, I'd say the rest of your life has been all gravy :yahoo:
 

John Webb

mdskier
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Joined
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Posts
5,779
Location
Nevada City CA
I don't have any pics and it happened a long time ago:

It was the late 60s and I was a student at Akron University and at Spring Break I traveled in my VW Beetle to Mount Snow in southern Vermont, near Wilmington VT. There was a hostel at the mountain called The Snow Barn and they had a deal for college students to work mornings cleaning rooms and washrooms, making beds etc. for no pay, but after work at noon, they would feed you lunch and then give you a half day lift ticket and supper and a dorm room place to sleep that night.

While I was there a bar in Wilmington had an end of the season deal on mixed drinks for locals: 5 cents for drinks that would normally be $2-3 dollars. I thought, "I'm a local now" so I put a quarter on the bar and had 5 drinks over the course of the evening.

I staggered out of there and proceeded to drive back to The Snow Barn but on the way I passed out behind the wheel, drove off the road with only a sign post that I crashed into saving me from going down an embankment and into a river below. The cops showed up (they were working nearby with a tow truck ticketing and towing illegally parked cars at a nearby bar). By now I had more or less sobered up and was being interviewed by a cop in the front seat of his patrol car. I told him that I had lost control of my car on the icy corner. Another cop came by and asked if that was my VW that had been racing through town. I said it was not me (I didn't even remember driving through town).

I thought I would get a ticket and maybe spend the night in jail, but that did not happen. The cops let me go and the tow truck driver pulled my VW back on the road. When I asked him how much I owed him he replied that he was already out there towing the illegally parked cars at the bar around the corner, so there would be no towing fee. At this point I was free to go but I did not know if I was on the right road back to the Snow Barn but I thought it best not to ask and just head in the direction I was pointed which turned out to be the correct direction.

So, in spite of me being a total drunken idiot, other than a dent in the nose of my VW, I got off uninjured and Scott free! I have always loved Vermont. :)
As they say if you outlive your foolish younger years you will likely live to a ripe old age !
 

James

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6768EE51-9356-4802-B8A2-F12FD58483E8.jpeg


He was out digging for treasures on a Florida beach. Then came the plane, video shows

 

James

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265A88DF-CE92-42E2-BA11-042CAA0CD6E2.jpeg

Plane flies into high voltage lines and tower. Occupants survive, 100,000 without power during rescue.
 

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