Three weeks into January, and we may have a Headline of the Year

[major_clanger]

Plymouth Herald: Ghost ship full of cannibal rats could be about to crash into Devon coast

Comments

[redbird]

It's harder to win the "headline of the year" in a context where newspapers have the advantage of being able to drop "crack-smoking mayor" into stories without worrying about libel suits, but that is definitely a contender.

[legionseagle]

The opening line of the story is wonderful in the sort of MR James style of urbane detachment hinting at unnameable horrors:

There are fears a ghost ship full of diseased cannibal rats could be about to crash into the coast of Devon or Cornwall.

I think if they hadn't been diseased, cannibal rats the headline from the Victoria line might have won, though.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Oh that's grand!

Quick, we need to write 'Ballad of the Cannibal Rats' :o)

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

It's a lovely story, but as has been pointed out months ago, nobody knows where it is despite months of looking for it, so it's quite possibly gently rusting on the ocean floor, particularly since the last evidence of her whereabouts were of her apparently sinking 10 months ago.

I also rather doubt it could crash into Devon without it being seen several days earlier, by fishery protection patrols or coastguard radar at the least.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it seems unlikely that a large Russian vessel could get to within a few miles of the largest naval base in Western Europe without anyone there noticing...

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

You should send it in to the News Quiz or Have I Got News for You!

[murphys-lawyer.livejournal.com]

It's been a while since someone even came close to the Sunday Sport's "Nazi killer flies invade Britain".

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

And from the same source:

'London bus found on the moon' :o)

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

In 2013, I was fond of

Pray That This Scary, Galloping Four-Legged Robot Never Comes for You

In 2012, it was hard to top

Buddhist ‘Iron Man’ Found by Nazis Is from Space

[pauldormer.livejournal.com]

It also made it into The Independent today (which seems to think the ship is actually approaching Ireland).

Mind you, two headlines on the Indie site today are quite good:

Smiling vagina mural faces removal for 'inappropriate' setting in Swedish school

Opera singer out of work after surgery left her unable to sing without farting

http://ind.pn/1egEnzA

http://ind.pn/1fhmB0V

[ms-cataclysm.livejournal.com]

Very Bram Stoker.