Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.com

Some author--I can’t recall who he or she was--once wrote that it made no sense that ghosts were always seen fully clothed.  Shouldn’t they all be naked?  That writer would be pleased with the following news item from the “Springfield News Sun,” August 22, 1999:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Ghost stories are pretty common around the old Iraqi city of Haditha. Still, when the ghosts start dancing naked in front of oncoming motorists, it creates quite a stir. 

The state-run Alwan weekly said Saturday that drivers passing through Horan Valley outside the town of Haditha, 135 miles northeast of Baghdad, were reporting that "ghosts appeared next to the bridge, naked and doing some acrobatic moves." 

Tales of ghosts in the Horan Valley are common, but these ghosts were "throwing themselves before cars, causing the drivers to panic,” the paper said. 

Alwan quoted motorist Shawki Sabar as saying "they were almost human although I could not concentrate on their looks because I was so scared and it was dark." 

The ghosts were so lifelike that one motorist thought he'd hit a person and reported the accident to police. The newspaper said the police checked the area for a body, but found nothing.

Some motorists apparently suspect a less supernatural explanation. According to Alwan, drivers don't brake for ghosts just in case they are really a ploy by thieves to rob cars.