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Presents brief descriptions of unusual news items. American bids to the Kremlin for Lenin's corpse; The finding of the bodies of Tsar Nicholas II, his family and servants; The body of St. Edward the Martyr; Theft of the heads of the bodies of John Evelyn and his wife Mary; More.

Relates two stories of folk traditions that tell readers something about the dream factory and the nature of myth. Inaccurate attribution of an environmental warning allegedly given to United States President Franklin Pierce in 1855 by Chief Seathl (Seattle) of the Suwamish tribe of the state of Washington; Origins of the `Woman in Black' tradition of appearing at the grave of silent-movie heartthrob Rudolf Valentino.

Offers a motley collection of bizarre religious stories. Muslim reactions to products apparently containing Arabic symbols for Allah; Ban of shoes with crosses on their soles in Athens; House arrest faced by Archbishop Emanuel Milingo Zambia because of his mass exorcisms; More.

Features a sampling of unusual anecdotes compiled by a silk merchant in Bursa, Turkey. Birth of a circumcised boy in Istanbul; Changing color of the sea at Dardanelles; Tale of an alien abduction of a young girl; More.

Relates several anecdotes of people whose kidneys or other organs were stolen for the illicit organ trade. Origins of the tales; Response from Dr. Anthony Morgan, a specialist in kidney disease in Nottingham City Hospital; True stories of the practice.

Relates several anecdotes of unusual objects that have fallen from the skies, known as fafrotskies (things alleged to fall from the skies). Distinguishing between acceptable and superstitious tales of fafrotskies; Stories of ice, frogs, fish and more.

Relates several anecdotes of fiendish occurrences. Mistake made in the 1990 edition of `Larousse' which cost three million pounds to rectify; Israeli dentist who hired a call-girl, only to discover she was his wife; Award given to an Edinburgh bus driver for 25 years of accident-free driving, following which he crashed his bus; More.

Relates several anecdotes about crimes committed by people while sleeping. Murders and violent attacks; Medical analysis of the actions; Legal implications.

Surveys a variety of unusual remedies for baldness. Listening to Mozart; Short, sharp shocks; Licks from a cow's tongue; Lightning; More.

Relates several incidents throughout history where individuals have attempted to modify the weather. Efforts to stop rain in 1538 with artillery shells; Use of anti-aircraft guns in the former Soviet Union to protect grain prairies from hail; Cloud seeding during droughts; More.

Shares several anecdotes about bizarre fatalities. Death of a burglar in Spain who tripped, swallowed his false teeth and choked to death; Death of an Italian woman with a severe allergy to milk who died from merely smelling it; California meat-worker's death in a giant mincing machine; More.

Shares several anecdotes of reputed gravity anomalies around the world. Car that rolled uphill in Azerbaijan; Similar incidents in Brazil, New Brunswick and elsewhere; Theories as to the causes of the unusual phenomenon.

Comments on several off-beat saints' Feast Days and anniversaries of peculiar events, to be published as a Fortean Times Diary. St. Paul's Day on January 25; St. Peter the Apostle's Day; Death day of Nostradamus; More.

Relates several tales of reincarnation. Eight-year-old Sharad Agrawala in Delhi, who appeared to have had a former life as a fabric importer; Toran Singh, a child of poor parents near Agra in India who claimed to have been a shop owner with a wife and children; Muhneh Zayad Salman, an Israeli who evaded compulsory military service because of his past life as a Syrian soldier crushed by an Israeli tank.

Relates several anecdotes about purportedly talking animals. Proclamation a bout the AIDS epidemic by a goat in Uganda; Prophetic turtle in Uganda; Batyr the talking elephant at the Karaganda Zoo in Kazakhstan; How books about talking animals havebeen banned in China.

Reports on two misleading statements made on a Radio 4 broadcast of a Emma Freud program in Great Britain on December 26, 1995. Location of an island that worships Prince Philip of Britain; Rituals for throning of Popes.

Narrates cases of pets' dialing of emergency telephone numbers around the world. Raising of false alarms.

Presents information on a network of muddy springs in Wiltshire countryside near Wootton Bassett first discovered by scientists in 1974. Clearing of channel Hancock's Water; Discovery of `mud blisters'; Hopes of scientists that springs will be given as a special site of scientific interest; How the area might be reached.

Presents trivia about clowns. Threat to both young and old; Bandit clowns; Serial killer John Wayne Gacy's stint as Pogo the Clown at children's parties.

Focuses on coincidences in Great Britain. Accidents involving family members killed in similar circumstances; Possibilities of sharing common traits; Experiences of Renaults in tiger enclosures.

Reports on the increasing number of people victimized by electric shocks caused by lightning. Fifth annual Lightning Strike and Electric Shock Victims International Convention in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Encouragement of victims to file damages under workers' compensation.

Presents stories about people who are exactly alike in physical appearance. Ajay Chopra of New Delhi, India; Tendency of relatives to make errors in identifying their missing kin; Alison Turner of Manchester, England.

Presents some animal collectors in Great Britain. Pam Mansfield; Jack and Donna Wright; Pamela Drew.

Recounts two tales from the United States about two unusual couples. Bruce Jensen's discovery that his wife of three and half years was a man; Richard H. Rosenthal's murder of his wife.

Discusses odd illnesses that have come out in Australia. Death of horse trainer, Vic Rail from equine morbilivirus; Mystery surrounding the death of pilchards off the Australian coast in early 1995; Blinding of tens of thousands of kangaroos in ea rly 1995 by an unexplained disease.

Relates two ghost stories. Story about the machine which was believed to be driven by the ghost of Van Mitchell; Story about the Horace J. Easterwood who had a horn in his head.

Features reported sightings of unknown or ravenous big animals in London, England, Great Britain. Carp; Pike; Press reports.

Focuses on the bizaare phenomena. Account of Australian writer Keith Smith's spooky experience; Other accounts of people who have seen objects fall from the sky.

Focuses on the increase in `newspaper poaching' in the United States. Excerpt on the subject of newspapers published in the July 16, 1910 issue of `The Bisbee Review.'

Presents cases about the prosecution and jailing of animals. Includes the arrest of a bull terrier on August 18, 1995, in England after chasing a cat; Incarceration of a small white rabbit in Porvoo, Finland for vagrancy; Sentencing to death of the Madison, Wisconsin cat, Boogs for stealing other cats' food and biting an animal control officer.

Recounts various bizarre incidence of death. Includes drowning of several men in the Egyptian village of Nazlat Imara; Unusual electrocution in Linden, California; Bloody murder of Richard Niquette, host of Canadian television program `Murder and Mystery.'

Deals with the phenomenon of exploding manholes. Recorded incidents of blowing manholes; Explanation for the phenomenon.

Focuses on rat infestation. Historical background of rat infestation and the diseases associated with it; Use of poisons on rats which made the latter psychotic.

Comments on a videotape which allegedly depicts the dissection of a dead alien in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 conducted by the United States military. Description of the events covered in the videotape; Doubts regarding the veracity of events on the tape; Connection of the US Air Force's project to detect Russian atomic weapon tests to the supposed aliens and unidentified flying objects in New Mexico.

Recounts two instances wherein human females were raped by animals. Case of an eight-year-old girl who was attacked from behind by the family Labrador while she was kneeling naked to look under the bed; Suspicion that the story was a cover-up for human incest; Author Dr. Birute Galdikas' story about a cook that was raped by an orangutan.

Presents several true stories featuring snakes. Decline in snake consumption in China; Revenge by a snake; Snakes' fondness for plumbing and drainage; Story of the late Omieri, a 16-foot python worshipped by the Luo tribe of Kenya.

Presents several stories about unusual deaths. Automobile accidents; Family in China who was fined for defying the population control policy.

Discusses instances of hysterical behavior and collective fear. Instance of woman and child who mistook the killing of a raccoon for an armed attack; Instance of seawater dripping from a Canadian helicopter as mistaken for pesticide spraying.

Examines people's need to imagine monsters. Enjoyment of vicarious fear; Yearning for adventure; Desire to preserve the world's places.

Discusses the growth of the Klingon artificial language. Origin of the language; Comment by Kevin Wilson, Yale University Divinity School student; Efforts to popularize the language.

Focuses on the presence of vampire bats in Sonora, Mexico. Bats as carrying the rabies virus; Behavior; Feeding habits; Causes of the bat outbreak; Symptoms of rabies.

Traces the history of beards and how it reflects the swings of fashion down the centuries. Popularity of false beards in ancient Egypt for important occasions; Introduction of shaving in Rome from Sicily in 299 BC; Popularity of beards in medieval England; Smooth chins that came in during the Civil War; Scholars who dedicated years to the power/beard dialectic; Russian folk wisdom on beards.

Cites unusual news items from the `Monitor' periodical of Uganda. House burning by spirits; News of a prophetic goat; Harvesting of a five-foot-long mushroom; Troubles about customs.

Details several dramatic aerial escapes from April 3 to September 3, 1994. Des Maloney and Graham Longstone's safe landings; Stories of how John Goodyear, Bill Comber and Sharon McClelland escaped death in parachute jumps.

Discusses the problem of cat theft in several countries. Link between missing cats occult ceremonies; Skinning of cats in Eastern Europe; Supply of pelts for furriers; Price paid for stolen cats in Mexico; Use for dissection in the United States; Clubbing to death of stray cats in the Ukraine.

Features various reports of weeping virgins reportedly proliferating in Europe. Cases; Legal sanctions against abuse of public credulity.

Relates cases of unusual deaths. Uncertainty concerning Carlos Merino's cause of death; Lovers' triangle which led to murder; Ukrainian teenagers' death due to pickled cabbage fumes; Decapitations.

Presents a story in Guizhou province in China concerning the alleged sighting of unidentified flying objects (UFO). Details of the incident; Reaction by the authorities; Effects in the tourist trade.

Discusses instances of authentic fertility seats. Effectiveness of sitting on a fertility chair in Asda supermarket in Cheshire, England; Cashier's chair in an Israeli supermarket which is believed to be fertility seat.

Reports on various international movements in honor of Elvis Presley. Number of Elvis impersonators; Belief that Presley is alive and is under a witness protection program in the United States; Cults inspired by Presley.