A Peoria, Ill., man who thought a dead octopus in his toilet came from the sewer system just learned that his girlfriend planted the creature as a joke.

Chad Allen’s girlfriend got the idea after she and a friend had lunch at a Chinese restaurant.

“It was part of the buffet. They had a whole big tray . . . boiled for people to eat,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like that before, so I thought I’d bring one home as a joke and put it in the jar in the refrigerator. My friend suggested I put it in the toilet.”

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The mayor of a Brazilian town canceled a planned landing of an “alien spaceship” because he was afraid the nasty little creatures might abduct a soccer player.

Elcio Berti, the concerned mayor of Bocaiuva do Sul, said he was just looking after the nation’s interest. He also says he is in regular contact with the aliens and that he is helping to fund a UFO landing pad.

The mayor first made headlines when he issued a decree banning all birth-control methods in his town to boost the number of pregnancies – and increase federal funding.

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A Briton serving 25 years in a Thai prison for drug crimes can enter Bangkok’s annual marathon, but he will have to do it behind bars.

Trevor Lund can’t run through the streets of the Thai capital, but can do 124 laps, or 26 miles, around the prison’s running track.

Lund, 38, who has served seven years of his sentence, is racing to raise funds for the nation’s poor.

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A company in upstate New York is trying to erase an embarrassing mistake on pencils bearing an anti-drug message.

The Ticonderoga pencils carry the slogan: “Too Cool to Do Drugs.”

But a sharp-eyed fourth-grader noticed that when the pencils are sharpened, the message turns into “Cool to Do Drugs,” then simply, “Do Drugs.”

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A 13-year-old Vietnamese boy kidnapped by drug addicts was sold as dog meat, but is OK now.

The kidnappers tied him up, stuffed him into a sack and sold him to a restaurant for $19. After the owners discovered the terrified boy, they fed him and called police. Bill Hoffmann, Wire Services