Noticia -Peorian finds octopus in his toilet-
Published Wednesday, June 06, 2007 by Spyder | E-mail this post
La noticia es antigua, pero creo que vale la pena recordarla para orientar un poco el cómo ocurren muchos de esos misterios aparentemente inexplicables que luego alimentan leyendas urbanas.
Una mujer estadounidense puso un pequeño pulpo en el water de su novio. Cuando este llegó a casa fue hacia el lavabo y encontró al pulpo. Se imaginó que éste debía haberse escapado de las alcantarillas. Llamó al periódico local, y el misterio se fue retroalimentando. La noticia salió en los periódicos y televisiones locales bautizada como el Gran misterio del pulpo. Todo acabó cuando la chica arrepentida de las repercusiones que estaban produciéndose por su broma, llamó a su novio y le confesó que ella había sido la autora de todo.
Peorian finds octopus in his toilet
Origin of tentacled mollusk a mystery: 'I know they don't live in the river'
November 20, 2003
By LESLIE WILLIAMS
of the Journal Star
Origin of tentacled mollusk a mystery: 'I know they don't live in the river'
November 20, 2003
By LESLIE WILLIAMS
of the Journal Star
PEORIA - Chad Allen will never look at the toilet in his North Peoria home the same way again.
That's after he says he discovered a tiny octopus on the inside of it Wednesday afternoon.
"I looked over and saw something," said Allen, 31, of 634 W. Mount Hawley Terrace. "I thought it was a paper towel."
Instead, he found the dark brown mollusk with a head about the size of a quarter and eight sucker-covered tentacles several inches long.
"I couldn't believe it," Allen said. "It wasn't in the toilet water. It was resting on the side of the bowl."
He fetched a wooden spatula from the kitchen and gave the octopus a poke.
"It was dead."
Allen insisted the saltwater creature was not his and guessed somebody had flushed the octopus down the toilet after it died in an aquarium.
"I know they don't live in the river," he said.
An employee in the fish room at Super Pets, 910 W. Lake Ave., who asked to remain anonymous, said an octopus wouldn't last more than an hour in fresh water.
"They're pretty sensitive to changes," he said.
The employee said the pet store sometimes carries small octopuses, but it hasn't in a few months because they are hard to acquire.
"It's odd that (an octopus) can get backed up in the sewer system like that," Allen said. "The chances of it happening are so slim."
Stan Browning, executive director for the Greater Peoria Sanitary District, agreed.
"It's very unlikely something like that would happen," he said. "It's not impossible. It's extremely unlikely."
Plumber James Dillon, who's also mayor of West Peoria, found the toilet tale hard to believe.
"That's a first," he said. "I've never heard of it."
Dillon said if the octopus was flushed, it must have been by someone living near Allen's residence.
"It's wild that something like that would happen," he said. "Peoria has one of the best sewer systems in Illinois. All of the sewers are sealed."
Dillon added, however, there is nothing in the sewer system that would block an object the size of the octopus from coming up plumbing.
Browning said the only way an octopus would have gotten into the sewer system is if a pet owner flushed the creature down the toilet.
"We don't find exotic animals like that in the sewage," Browning said.
"The odds are really slim … that it traveled … up a pipe and into someone's toilet. It would move in the pipe the same direction the water is moving. It would move like any other sewage solid."
To make sure that no other Peorian finds a surprise in their toilet, Allen said he planned to throw the octopus into the garbage.
"I don't want it to wind back up in someone else's toilet," he said.
"I looked over and saw something," said Allen, 31, of 634 W. Mount Hawley Terrace. "I thought it was a paper towel."
Instead, he found the dark brown mollusk with a head about the size of a quarter and eight sucker-covered tentacles several inches long.
"I couldn't believe it," Allen said. "It wasn't in the toilet water. It was resting on the side of the bowl."
He fetched a wooden spatula from the kitchen and gave the octopus a poke.
"It was dead."
Allen insisted the saltwater creature was not his and guessed somebody had flushed the octopus down the toilet after it died in an aquarium.
"I know they don't live in the river," he said.
An employee in the fish room at Super Pets, 910 W. Lake Ave., who asked to remain anonymous, said an octopus wouldn't last more than an hour in fresh water.
"They're pretty sensitive to changes," he said.
The employee said the pet store sometimes carries small octopuses, but it hasn't in a few months because they are hard to acquire.
"It's odd that (an octopus) can get backed up in the sewer system like that," Allen said. "The chances of it happening are so slim."
Stan Browning, executive director for the Greater Peoria Sanitary District, agreed.
"It's very unlikely something like that would happen," he said. "It's not impossible. It's extremely unlikely."
Plumber James Dillon, who's also mayor of West Peoria, found the toilet tale hard to believe.
"That's a first," he said. "I've never heard of it."
Dillon said if the octopus was flushed, it must have been by someone living near Allen's residence.
"It's wild that something like that would happen," he said. "Peoria has one of the best sewer systems in Illinois. All of the sewers are sealed."
Dillon added, however, there is nothing in the sewer system that would block an object the size of the octopus from coming up plumbing.
Browning said the only way an octopus would have gotten into the sewer system is if a pet owner flushed the creature down the toilet.
"We don't find exotic animals like that in the sewage," Browning said.
"The odds are really slim … that it traveled … up a pipe and into someone's toilet. It would move in the pipe the same direction the water is moving. It would move like any other sewage solid."
To make sure that no other Peorian finds a surprise in their toilet, Allen said he planned to throw the octopus into the garbage.
"I don't want it to wind back up in someone else's toilet," he said.
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