Dead Pool 21st November 2021

In the week that saw the death of Clive Jones of the Black Abbots, hands up who’s heard of  him, we’ve also seen the demise of the following celebrities…. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

President Joe Biden underwent his annual physical Friday morning at Walter Reed Medical Center, his first such appointment since he was inaugurated as the oldest first-term president in US history. Afterward, his physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor wrote in a memo Biden “remains fit for duty, and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations.” The doctor, who has been with the President since he served as vice president, singled out two areas of “observation” he set aside for detailed investigation: an “increasing frequency and severity of ‘throat clearing’ and coughing during speaking engagements” and the President’s ambulatory gait, or walking abnormality, which O’Connor said was “perceptibly stiffer and less fluid than it was a year or so ago.” Both have been noticeable elements of Biden’s public appearances since taking office. In a detailed, six-page summary of Biden’s health, O’Connor said X-rays showed Biden has arthritis of his spine and normal wear and tear damage for someone of his age. The doctor characterised that damage as ‘moderate to severe’, but said it was not severe enough to warrant any specific treatment. He wrote it would help account for some of Biden’s recent stiffness and clumsy gait. An “extremely detailed neurologic exam” was “reassuring,” O’Connor wrote, and showed no evidence of a stroke, multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s. Biden also has a condition known as hiatal hernia, which causes him to have reflux – something O’Connor said could account for his more frequent throat clearing. The document contained a detailed accounting of the physical exam, including his height of 5 feet 11.65 inches; his weight of 184 pounds; and his blood pressure of 120/70. Biden does not drink or use tobacco and works out five times a week, according to the report. “President Biden remains a healthy, vigorous, 78-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the president, to include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and Commander in Chief,” O’Connor wrote in his summary. Biden received a routine colonoscopy Friday while at Walter Reed. The process, which required anaesthesia, meant that he temporarily transferred power to Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the first woman to assume presidential power for 85 minutes Friday morning. As he left Walter Reed, Biden said he “had a great physical and a great House of Representatives vote,” alluding to the House passing his Build Back Better bill on Friday morning. The last extensive update on Biden’s medical state came in December 2019, when the doctor he eventually recruited to serve as White House physician described him as “a healthy, vigorous, 77-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.” Biden, who turned 79 on Saturday, hasn’t released a full report on his health since. Biden is not behind in releasing medical information compared to his recent predecessors, who waited a full year before undergoing a physical and authorising details to be released publicly. The latest update on Biden’s health came after he, then-president-elect, fractured his foot in November while playing with his dog. In February, Biden’s physician said the foot fractures “are completely healed.” Presidents are not required to publicly disclose results of their annual check-ups but have done so to be transparent and assure the American people in the face of questions about their state of health. Presidents, however, have also hidden their illnesses, the severity of their illness, or medical treatments. Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s primary care doctor since 2009 and the White House physician, wrote the three-page medical summary Biden’s presidential campaign released nearly two years ago. The 2019 summary showed Biden was being treated for non-valvular atrial fibrillation, or AFib – an irregular heartbeat that O’Connor said Biden experiences no symptoms of. He was taking Crestor to lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels, as well as Eliquis to prevent blood clots, Nexium for acid reflux, and Allegra and a nasal spray for seasonal allergies. The most significant medical event in Biden’s history, O’Connor wrote, was when Biden suffered a brain aneurysm in 1988. He was serving in the Senate at the time. During surgery, doctors found a second aneurysm that had not bled, which they also treated. While in the hospital after that surgery, Biden suffered deep vein thrombosis and a pulmonary embolism. Doctors at the time inserted an “inferior vena cava filter,” which would prevent future blood clots from reaching the heart and lungs and treated him with an oral anti-coagulant for several months. Biden also had his gallbladder removed in 2003, and according to O’Connor he has had multiple surgeries and physical treatments for orthopaedic injuries and sports medicine. Biden also has had several non-melanoma skin cancer lesions surgically removed. 

Scottish comedian Janey Godley, 60, has shared an update from her hospital bed as she discussed her diagnosis with cancer. The star is known for her Nicola  Sturgeon spoof videos as well as her career as a stand-up comedian. Posting earlier this week, Janey shared an image of herself in her hospital bed. The comedian opened up for the first time about battling ovarian cancer. She wrote to her 233,000 followers: “Sorry but my last weekend of the tour can’t go ahead in Edinburgh and Musselburgh as I am in hospital with ovarian cancer. She then posted a video message to her fans letting them know what had happened. In this, the star shared how she had done “nothing but cry” following her diagnosis. Although, she also explained how she’s ready for the time ahead, where she will rely on “science and technology”. Janey said: “I’m going to try and cope with this next step on my journey.” She began her video by apologising to fans for having to cut her tour short. Janey explained: “Unfortunately, I was doing the tour when I unbeknownst to me had ovarian cancer. “I just got checked out yesterday and that’s what I’m now in this very beautiful but very stormy corner room hospital in Glasgow. But I want to thank everybody for their support and their help in coming out and sharing so much love with me.”  

The Oklahoma’s governor has halted the execution of prisoner Julius Jones hours before he was due to be put to death. Kevin Stitt said he was commuting the sentence to life imprisonment without parole. Hundreds of students earlier walked out of school demanding clemency for Jones. Jones was sentenced to death in 2002 for killing Paul Howell during a carjacking three years earlier. He maintains his innocence. His case has attracted the support of celebrities including reality TV star Kim Kardashian and anti-death penalty activists. Jones’ execution by lethal injection was scheduled for 16:00 local time at the state penitentiary in McAlester. But Gov Stitt, a Republican, said he intervened “after prayerful consideration and reviewing materials presented by all sides of this case”. The state’s Pardon and Parole Board earlier recommended in a 3-1 majority vote that Jones’ sentence be commuted to life in prison with the possibility of parole. The case has attracted widespread attention in recent years, partly due to the 2018 ABC documentary series “The Last Defence”. More than six million people have signed a Justice for Julius petition which states he was put on death row because of “fundamental breakdowns in the system tasked with deciding”. Jones was found guilty of fatally shooting Mr Howell, an insurance executive, during a 1999 carjacking on his driveway. In October, he was among five people who won stays of execution from a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit US Court of Appeal. “I did not kill Mr Howell,” he wrote in a letter to the parole board in April, after exhausting his appeals. “I did not participate in any way in his murder; and the first time I saw him was on television when his death was reported.” But Mr Howell’s relatives have said Jones’ calls for clemency have victimised them further.

On This Day

  • 1877 – Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record and play sound.
  • 1953 – The Natural History Museum, London announces that the “Piltdown Man” skull, initially believed to be one of the most important fossilised hominid skulls ever found, is a hoax.
  • 1969 – The first permanent ARPANET link is established between UCLA and SRI.
  • 1974 – The Birmingham pub bombings kill 21 people. The Birmingham Six are sentenced to life in prison for the crime but subsequently acquitted.
  • 1980 – A deadly fire breaks out at the MGM Grand Hotel in Paradise, Nevada. Eighty-seven people are killed and more than 650 are injured in the worst disaster in Nevada history.
  • 1998 – Finnish Satanist Jarno Elg kills a 23-year-old man and performs a ritual-like cutting and eating of body parts in Hyvinkää, Finland.

Deaths

  • 1993 – Bill Bixby, American actor (b. 1934).
  • 1999 – Quentin Crisp, English actor, author, and illustrator (b. 1908).
  • 2011 – Anne McCaffrey, American science fiction and fantasy author (b. 1926).
  • 2017 – David Cassidy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1950).

The Tale of a Spooky Stump

If you think serial killers are a modern phenomena, think again! Peter Stumpp was allegedly a German serial killer and farmer, accused of werewolfery, witchcraft and cannibalism. He was known as ‘the Werewolf of Bedburg’.

As the local church registers were destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), Peter Stumpp’s date and place of birth is unknown, examining sources likely puts it near Bedburg, Germany around 1530.  The name “Stump” or “Stumpf” may have been given him as a reference to the fact that his left hand had been cut off, leaving only a stump, in German “Stumpf”. It was alleged that as the “werewolf” had its left forepaw cut off, then the same injury proved the guilt of the man. He was a wealthy farmer of his rural community. During the 1580s, he seems to have been a widower with two children; a girl called Beele (Sybil), who seems to have been older than 15 years old, and a son of an unknown age.

During 1589, Stumpp had one of the most lurid and famous werewolf trials in history. After being stretched on a rack, and before further torture commenced, he confessed to having practiced black magic since he was 12 years old. He claimed that the Devil had given him a magical belt or girdle, which enabled him to metamorphose into “the likeness of a greedy, devouring wolf, strong and mighty, with eyes great and large, which in the night sparkled like fire, a mouth great and wide, with most sharp and cruel teeth, a huge body, and mighty paws.” Removing the belt, he said, made him transform back to his human form. Unsurprisingly, no such belt was ever found after his arrest.

For 25 years, Stumpp had allegedly been an “insatiable bloodsucker” who gorged on the flesh of goats, lambs, and sheep, as well as men, women, and children. Being threatened with torture, he confessed to killing and eating 14 children, 2 pregnant women, whose fetuses he ripped from their wombs and “ate their hearts panting hot and raw,” which he later described as “dainty morsels.” One of the 14 children was his own son, whose brain he was reported to have devoured.

Not only was Stumpp accused of being a serial murderer and cannibal, but also of having an incestuous relationship with his daughter, who was sentenced to die with him, and that he had coupled with a distant relative, which was also considered to be incestuous according to the law. In addition to this, he confessed to having had intercourse with a succubus sent to him by the Devil.

The execution of Stumpp, on 31st October 1589, alongside his daughter Sybil and mistress, Katherine, is one of the most brutal on record: he was put to a wheel, where “flesh was torn from his body”, in ten places, with red-hot pincers, followed by his arms and legs. Then his limbs were broken with the blunt side of an axehead to prevent him from returning from the grave, before he was beheaded and his body burned on a pyre. His daughter and mistress had already been flayed and strangled, and were burned along with Stumpp’s body. As a warning against similar behaviour, local authorities erected a pole with the torture wheel and the figure of a wolf on it, and at the very top they placed Peter Stumpp’s severed head.

Although there probably is a perfectly rational explanation for the events, like psychosis and hysteria in witch trials, it’s interesting to see how early societies dealt with the unknown. Maybe Peter was an innocent man who was caught up in a weird coincidence of wolf attacks, or maybe he was just a crazed serial killer. Or who knows? Maybe he was a werewolf that ate children in the night.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Goldie Hawn (76), Alexander Siddig (57), Björk (56), Liza Tarbuck (57), Sean Young (62), Ming-Na Wen (58), Bo Derek (65), Joe Biden (79), Adam Driver (38), Terry Farrell (58), Meg Ryan (60), Jodie Foster (59), Kathleen Quinlan (67), Robert Beltran (68), Delroy Lindo (69), Owen Wilson (53), Linda Evans (79), Alan Moore (68), Rachel McAdams (43), Martin Scorsese (79), Tom Ellis (43), Danny DeVito (77), Sophie Marceau (55), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (63), RuPaul (61), Pete Davidson (28), Missi Pyle (49), Maggie Gyllenhaal (44), Martha Plimpton (51), Gigi Edgley (44), Jonny Lee Miller (49), Beverly D’Angelo (70), and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (76).

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