Cole is said to have collapsed during a photo shoot earlier this week, before being rushed to hospital to receive treatment.

Despite the existence of a vaccine, malaria is still prevalent in many tropical locations, where it can be fatal to those living in poverty or with pre-existing medical conditions. The illness is spread by mosquito bites and each year there are between 350 and 500 million cases of malaria reported worldwide.

Inexpensive items such as mosquito nets and insecticides are instrumental in slowing the spread of malaria.

The 91-year-old widow had the bodies of her loved ones dug up shortly after each of them were buried and placed the embalmed corpses on couches. Her sister was afforded a place in a spare room, while her husband was kept in a detached garage.

Nobody knows who dug the bodies up for the old woman, but she is said to have spoken to the corpses and even to have regularly sprayed her sister’s favourite perfume onto her embalmed body.

This whole thing just gets creepier the longer you think about it.

The letter was dated May 27th, 1641 (incidentally, also the year that witchcraft was pronounced a capital crime by the English) and was written to a priest who was overseeing the publication of Descartes book “Meditations on First Philosophy”, sub-titled: “In which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated”.

Some time after it was written, the notorious Count Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja, who—if guilty of no other crimes—had a name too long to be sensible, got his greedy mitts on the letter (along with around 70 others by Descartes) and stole away with it to London, England (where he assumedly didn’t peform witchcraft, as it was now illegal).

Before he fled to England, Count Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja stole thousands of books, manuscripts and other documents (at least some of which must have had at least something to do with witchcraft) from French and Italian libraries.

The Count sold many stolen items, including works by Galileo and Copernicus. After his death in 1868 some of the stolen works were recovered, while many others remained missing.

Among the missing documents was the letter discovered this year by a philosophy scholar. The letter was found in the library of Haverford University, near Philadelphia, and has since been returned to France.

Clearly, things are different in Utah where a man was recently attacked in the forest… by a spearman.

The victim, who is reportedly in “fair” condition (sounds like a trading card or a comic book to me) was walking near Little Cottonwood Canyon, when he met a stranger and the two of them had an amicable conversation.

Not content to simply part ways, the stranger continued following the man along the trail after their conversation had ended. When the victim confronted the man, the stranger began speaking incoherently and brandished a spear that had previously been disguised as a bamboo walking stick.

The spearman pierced the victim several times in the upper arm before fleeing. I can only assume that he was looking for a hill to fortify himself on in order to receive defensive bonuses.

As it turns out that man was Nicholas Brendon, better known to many by his Buffy the Vampire Slayer moniker of Xander Harris. Brendon allegedly threw punches at police officers and attempted to flee on foot before he was tasered.

Last week, Brendon plead no contest to the misdemeanor charges brought against him and was released on probation.

If you’re keen to see some other celebrities getting tasered, watch this.

Researchers in the physiology department at the University of Adelaide have been working with flies to determine how the insects judge the speed of moving objects.

Surely everyone should realise that no good can come from the unholy union of science and flies.

But even though Australia seems to have something of a monopoly when it comes to deadly creatures, those in other places have to watch their step for a variety of other reasons… like in Germany where three bomb squad experts were killed last week, while trying to defuse a World War II bomb found near the central German town of Goettingen.

Some 7,000 residents were in the process of being evacuated from the city when the bomb exploded. As well as the three men that were killed in the explosion, another two were injured and four others were treated for shock.

It was the second bomb discovered in the area within a week, with another having been succesfully defused only days earlier.

Unexploded munitions from World War II are regularly discovered in Germany and every region in the country employs a number of bomb specialists.

The Blonde Parade formed part of Riga’s annual “Go Blonde” festival and was organised by the Latvian Association of Blondes (called LAB).

“…small things like a playground or a blonde parade can cheer up all the residents of Riga,” said Marika Gederte, President of LAB.

I know a blonde parade would cheer me up.

Pics after “the jump”.

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—ILMARS ZNOTINS

—VALDA KALNINA

—ILMARS ZNOTINS

Severe tropical storms are believed to have triggered the appearance of the 30-metre-deep (almost 100 feet) hole, which swallowed a three-storey building and left an eerily symmetrical wound in the Earth. Surprisingly, no human lives were lost, despite unsubstantiated reports by a local newspaper claiming that a security guard was killed.

Sinkholes are normally formed when there is an excess of water in the soil that makes it too heavy for empty “voids” below the surface to continue supporting. The poor quality of sewage systems in Guatemala (a sewage leak was blamed for the appearance of another sinkhole there in 2007), as well as torrential downpours from recent tropical storms are believed to have combined in the creation of the sinkhole, which some experts are predicting could grow even larger.

Conspiracy theories abound, with people claiming that everyone from aliens to demons (and probably a few human governments) are to blame. But just as a Vegas magician earns his living, might the sudden appearance of this sinkhole in Guatemala be a cunning act of misdirection—intended to draw our attention away from some of the other holes in our planet?

Keep reading to find out about a few more places that are probably teeming with tentacled horrors.

The Great Blue Hole

Surely the only thing more awesome than a sinkhole on dry land is one underwater. The Great Blue Hole can be found off the coast of Belize and is 300 metres across (almost 1,000 feet) and reaches a total depth of 125 metres (410 feet).

The hole is believed to be the largest example of such a sinkhole worldwide and forms part of the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System—a UNESCO protected location. It is a popular destination for scuba divers, who for some reason enjoy floating above unfathomable voids.

Dersios

Surely the only thing more awesome than an underwater sinkhole is one with a name as ominous as “Dersios”. Sounding like something ripped straight out of Greek mythology, the Dersios sinkhole is located on Mount Parnon in Arcadia, Greece.

Dersios has been known about since those ever-elusive “historical times”, but was not explored until 1974. Since then, estimates about the depth of the sinkhole have doubled to well over 150 metres (just under 500 feet). We might never know how deep Dersios actually is, but there’s a fair chance Pandora’s Box is down there somewhere.

Sima Humbolt and Sima Martel

The Venezuelan plateau of the Sarisariñama tepui is a place spoken of in fearful tones by the Ye’Kuana Indians, who tell that the forested mountain-top is home to an “Evil Spirit” who devours human flesh.

It was not until 1961 that a pilot flying above the region spotted a pair of enormous sinkholes amid the trees. As it turned out there are four related sinkholes in the location, the two largest being Sima Humboldt and Sima Martel. Both sinkholes contain living jungles at their bases… and possibly also dinosaurs.

Don’t get any ideas about Triceratops rides just yet though, as the Sarisariñama tepui remains off-limits to tourists.

The creature was discovered by two hikers who were walking their dogs, when one of the animals is said to have dragged the corpse out of the water. The hikers took photographs of the creature, but when they returned later the creature was gone (imagine climatic music here).

The photographs depict a creature with a long furry body, a bald head and face and large “fangs”. The lake where the creature was found has been searched, but the mysterious corpse appears to be gone forever (imagine climatic music again).

As is generally the case with Cryptozoology, the story lacks credibility due to the absence of a body for scientists to examine. It’s important to remember that if you stumble upon a previously undiscovered species you should immediately incapacitate it (preferably with buckshot) and load it into the back of your truck.