ODDLY ENOugh

ODDLY ENOugh

Pathologist toting human organs while drunk gets probation

MARTINSVILLE, Ind.

An Indiana pathologist who was hauling human-organ samples in his pickup truck when he was arrested on drunken-driving charges has pleaded guilty.

Seventy-five-year-old Elmo A. Griggs was sentenced recently to a year of probation in Morgan County after pleading guilty to one count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. A second count was dismissed.

The Indianapolis Star reported Griggs has worked as an Indiana path-ologist for more than a decade, providing services to the Marion County and Tippecanoe County coroner’s offices.

He was arrested Sept. 12 after he was spotted driving erratically along Indiana 67 in Morgan County about 10 miles southwest of Indianapolis.

A vodka bottle and totes containing slides and organ samples from Griggs’ private pathology cases were found in his truck.

Hogwarts Express rescues stranded family in Scotland

LONDON

As if by magic, the Hogwarts Express came to the rescue of a stranded family in Scotland.

The train that took Harry Potter to school was played onscreen by the Jacobite steam train, which runs on a remote and scenic route through the Scottish Highlands.

It made an unscheduled stop Oct. 20 to pick up a family of six who was stranded when a storm washed away their canoe.

Jon Cluett, his wife and four children between the ages of 6 and 12 were staying in a lakeside hut on Loch Eilt when they awoke to find their canoe was gone.

Faced with walking several miles over boggy ground to get back to the family car, Cluett called police to see if any form of rescue was available.

“The policeman said, ‘We’ve arranged for the next train passing to stop for you, and you’re not going to believe this but it’s the Hogwarts Express steam train. Your kids are going to love it,”’ Cluett said.

Cluett said his children, all Harry Potter fans, were “really excited” by the adventure.

“They know the Harry Potter films, and they know that they are filmed in the Highlands,” he said. “But they hadn’t put all of that together in their heads until they saw the train.”

Cluett, the pastor of a church in Stirling, central Scotland, is hopeful someone will find his canoe and give the story a perfect happy ending.

“It’s got to turn up at some point. The thing is 16-foot-long, red and floats,” he said.

Associated Press