The Odd Truth, Jan. 20, 2003

The Odd Truth is a collection of strange but factual news stories from around the world compiled by CBSNews.com's Brian Bernbaum. A new collection of stories is published each weekday. On weekends, you can read a week's worth of The Odd Truth.

Paying Tribute To Poe

BALTIMORE - Upon a midnight dreary - an anonymous, hooded man crept into a Baltimore cemetery early Sunday to mark Edgar Allan Poe's birthday.

Since the 100th anniversary of the author's death in 1849, someone has gone to his grave site in the dead of night to drop off three red roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac.

Poe Museum Curator Jeff Jerome says the man braved freezing temperatures and eluded dozens of people waiting out on the street.

The visitor appeared at about 3:30 this morning, his face hidden beneath a dark, hooded jacket. He bowed briefly before the grave, deposited the flowers and cognac and then disappeared back into the darkness.

The three flowers are thought to be for Poe, his wife Virginia, and his mother-in-law, all of whom are buried in the cemetery.

The meaning behind the cognac is a mystery.

Journalist Arrested Amid Vampire Rumors

BLANTYRE, Malawi - A radio journalist was arrested Sunday for interviewing a man who claimed he was attacked by vampires, under a Malawi government campaign to quash vampire rumors.

Maganizo Mazeze, who works for a community radio station in Blantyre, was charged with broadcasting false news that could lead to public unrest.

President Bakili Muluzi has ordered the arrest of anyone seen to be spreading accounts of vampires attacking villagers at night, which started circulating in this tiny east African nation in October.

Muluzi blames the stories on political opposition groups, who he says are trying to undermine him by saying his government gave aid agencies blood in exchange for food.

Since the rumors started, frightened villagers have beaten to death two men suspected of being vampires, attacked a ruling party official suspected of harboring vampires, attacked three visiting priests, and destroyed an aid group's encampment they feared was a vampire headquarters.

Mazeze's interview with a man from the southern tea-growing district of Thyolo was broadcast Saturday.

"As police, we are saying there is no evidence that we have blood suckers in this country," said police investigator Paul Chifisi. "No one has come forward with evidence, be it medical, physical or otherwise."

Mr. Duck, Mr. Donald Duck

OSLO, Norway - In Norway, it's okay to have a phony phone listing like Donald Duck or Osama bin Laden, but if a widow wants to use her late husband's name, it's against the rules.

That made national news when 82-year-old Odny Fotland complained to Norway's biggest newspaper, Verdens Gang, that the phone directory's publisher wouldn't let her keep using her late husband's name.

"I don't want to be listed as a single woman. I would feel more exposed to theft and break-ins," she told the newspaper Monday.

However, Findexa AS, which publishes the nation's phone books and databases, refused. It said the person who pays for the phone service is the person who must be listed.

Findexa spokeswoman Gro Ismar said that subscribers like Fotland can use a gender-neutral name, such as O. Fotland.

But if that's the case, why are there three Donald Ducks in the directory and three James Bonds, two listings for Superman (one with a Krypton address), as well as Harry Potter and Batman?

Yet another person is in the phone book under Osama bin Laden. His address is listed as Lantkvekistan (Far away-stan) in Norway's northernmost county, Finnmark.

"Those are all cash card phones," Ismar said.

She said some mobile phone users pay in advance for a card that lets them make calls for a specific amount. Some of them register with various phone providers using the false names. Those false names, and locations, are sent to Findexa's national database.

Owl Spotted

RACINE, Wis. — No wonder they call it the wise old owl.

This one outsmarted officials at the Racine zoo and the state Department of Natural Resources.

They didn't realize why the owl in front of Angie Anderson's house wasn't moving and appeared injured: It was a real fake.

A few days after Christmas, a zoo official carrying a large net and a snare knocked on her door.

"And he said, 'I just wanted to let you know I'm going to be out front trying to catch this injured owl,"' Andersen said. "I just broke out laughing. I told him it was a fake owl."

She bought the owl at Wal-Mart two years ago for $14.99.

Since she moved to a busy corner in October, people have stopped to stare, including the zoo official, who thought the owl was real and injured.

A couple days later, a DNR conservation warden stopped by and told Andersen that someone had complained and that he needed to check out the owl.

He returned the owl to Andersen and suggested she not put it back in the front yard, because bird-lovers could think it's inappropriate.

But she didn't give a hoot about his advice.

She has since put up a sign that reads, "This is not a real owl."

Last Civil War Widow Dies

BLAINE, Tennessee - The last Civil War widow on the Union side has died.

Gertrude Janeway was 93. She was barely 18 when she married 81-year-old John Janeway, whom she called the love of her life.

She'll be buried near her husband's slender military tombstone at a tiny cemetery in Blaine, Tennessee, where she lived her entire life.

Janeway was the last recognized Union widow and received a $70 check each month from the Veterans Administration.

John Janeway died in 1937 at age 91.

One Confederate widow is still alive, 95-year-old Alberta Martin of Elba, Alabama.

Helicopter Mistakenly Lands At Andrews

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md. - An apparently lost student pilot trying to reach a civilian airport about 10 miles away landed his helicopter at Andrews Air Force Base on Saturday, authorities said.

A statement from the 89th Airlift Wing, the outfight that manages the presidential fleet, said the unauthorized landing occurred at about 5 p.m. and was met immediately by security personnel.

Initial indications are that the pilot, who carried a Swiss passport and other identification, was lost and was attempting to land at Indian Head Airport, seven to 10 miles from Andrews, the statement said.

However, the FBI and Air Force Office of Special Investigations were called in to asset an investigation.

There have been numerous incidents of pilots straying into restricted airspace around Washington and the presidential compound at Camp David, Md.

Typically, they are released after through questioning and their cases referred to the Federal Aviation Administration for possible administrative action for not following proper flight procedures.

Unofficial Oldest Woman Dies

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - A South African woman who claimed to be been born in 1880 has died.

Dora Jacobs would have been 122 at the time of her death. But the Guinness Book of World Records didn't consider Jacobs the world's oldest living person because she couldn't produce three separate documents confirming her birthdate.

Jacobs was born in a rural part of South Africa where documentation was not always available in the 19th century.

Jacobs said she never smoked or drank. She grew up on a diet that forbade the eating of eggs and included raw wild fruit and berries.

According to Guinness, the oldest-person title belongs to a person in Japan who was born in 1887.