Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

OFFBEAT

How this man got stuck for hours in a Swedish toilet

Making a trip to the toilet in a busy bar can be an unpleasant experience at the best of times, but for one guest at a Swedish tavern, a visit to the lavatory became an even bigger nightmare than usual.

Published: 16 June 2016 10:12 CEST
How this man got stuck for hours in a Swedish toilet
Apparently flushing is the dangerous part. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT

The unfortunate incident occurred at a bar in Eskilstuna – a small city around 100km west of Stockholm – where a man was just about to finish his business and pull the flush when he slipped, somehow managing to lodge himself between the latrine and the wall in the process.

Unable to break free, the hapless client was fortunate enough that he could reach his mobile phone in his pocket to call his partner for help. His plight was destined to continue however, as both the bar owner and other guests were unable to dislodge him.

He remained between a toilet and a hard place for several hours before emergency services eventually arrived at the scene, breaking him free by removing the toilet bowl.

Despite the awkwardness of the whole affair, it seems the unlucky lavatory-goer took it well.

“He didn’t panic or anything like that, and was in good spirits,” the bar owner told local paper Eskilstuna Kuriren.

The moral of the story? Check your footing before you flush. 

OFFBEAT

Swedish police remove sculpture mistaken for suicide victim

Police on the island of Gotland removed a public sculpture from the Galgberget nature reserve near Visby on the grounds that it is just too creepy.

Published: 9 March 2019 16:50 CET
Swedish police remove sculpture mistaken for suicide victim
The gallows at Galgeberget. Photo: Artifex/WikiCommons
According to local news site Hela Gotland, someone was out for a stroll on Galgeberget (the Gallows Hill) on Wednesday when they saw what they thought was a body hanging after a suicide. Local police were contacted but when they went to investigate they instead found a sculpture by artist Jessica Lundeberg. 
 
The artwork, entitled ‘The Watcher in the Woods’, is a partially transparent plate sculpture that looks like a spooky little girl. 
 
 
Despite discovering that the suspected suicide victim was actually artwork, police determined that Lundeberg’s piece could scare others and thus took the sculpture down. 
 
“It was decided that if it were to remain, more people would likely be frightened in the same way,” Gotland police spokesman Ayman Aboulaich told Radio P4 Gotland. 
 
Lundeberg told Hela Gotland that the sculpture has been at Galgeberget since a public art project last summer and that this was the first time it had caused any concern. She said ‘The Watcher in the Woods’ was the only piece that was allowed to remain after the end of the project. But now it is there no more. 
 
 
Lundeberg has taken the sculpture back to her studio. While she hopes it will eventually return to Galgeberget, the artist told Hela Gotland it seems unlikely.  
 
She said that the sculpture was damaged by police. 
 
“It was ragged, dismantled and broken. I was horrified when I saw it,” she said. 
 
Police have reportedly promised to pay any necessary repair costs.
 
Although the person who reported the sculpture to the police has not spoken with the media, their jump to conclusions could perhaps be attributed to the nature reserve’s macabre history. Galgeberget is still home to gallows that were used to hang criminals for centuries. The last execution to be held at the site was in 1845, according to Hela Gotland. 
 
 
SHOW COMMENTS