oddly enough

oddly enough

Student hopes to use graduation cap to cut debt

FLINT, Mich.

A University of Michigan-Flint student hopes to use his graduation cap to take a bite out of his education debt.

Alex Benda of St. Clair tells the Detroit Free Press he wants to cash in on the 10-by-10-inch hat by selling ad space in 1-inch squares on top for $300 each. If he sells 100 squares, he’ll have wiped out his approximately $30,000 in student loans, he said.

“I realized that I would have the eyes of every graduating student and their family’s on me as I walked across the stage to accept my diploma,” he wrote on his website. “You can advertise on it, give a shout out, put a quote, a silly image of your cat, practically anything! All while helping a graduating college student start his life without student debt.”

The 22-year-old international-business major is scheduled to graduate in a few months. He says it’s “scary” to think about trying to find a job while having so much debt.

As of midday Monday, he had raised more than $1,200 online from 12 backers — but no square buyers had yet to make a pledge.

“I have gained so much from my education that I hope to help others with their goal of going to college, but right now I appreciate any help,” he said in his posting. “I graduate May 4th, so time is running out!

Pa. ‘slightly haunted’ house attracts attention but no buyer

DUNMORE, Pa.

Between the mysteriously banging doors, the odd noises coming from the basement and the persistent feeling that someone is standing behind them, homeowners Gregory and Sandi Leeson are thoroughly creeped out by their 113-year-old Victorian.

So when they put the house in northeastern Pennsylvania up for sale last month, they advertised it as “slightly haunted.”

Then things got REALLY weird.

There were calls from ghost hunters. An open house attracted lots of curiosity seekers, but no legitimate buyers. And a former resident came out of the woodwork to tell the couple that when he was a kid, he found a human skull in the basement — the same basement whose door Sandi Leeson once barricaded because she swore she could hear the clicking of a cigarette lighter emanating from the subterranean depths.

It’s enough to make her husband wonder whether he did the right thing when he playfully wrote about the home’s spooky charms:

“Slightly haunted. Nothing serious, though,” says the listing on Zillow’s real-estate site. It goes on to describe 3:13 a.m. screams and “the occasional ghastly visage” in the bathroom mirror.

The listing attracted local and national media attention. Now the Leesons just need an actual buyer for the four-bedroom home, on the market for $144,000.

Spring should bring more traffic. But if it doesn’t sell, Greg Leeson, a 35-year-old who works in information technology, said they might consider renting it out — by the night — to folks looking for spooky thrills.

Associated Press