Media Monster

Psychic German Octopus Receives Death Threats After World Cup Loss

I can’t write a better lede than this Telegraph story did while covering the news, so I turn it over to them: “Paul the psychic octopus is one of the unlikely stars of World Cup 2010 but his ability to correctly forecast the outcome of Germany’s matches threatens to land him in hot water.”

Done groaning yet? Good.

In case you haven’t been following the story as closely as our friends over at Geekosystem, an Octopus named Paul has been employed to swim towards to glass boxes, each containing a tasty morsel and the flag of Germany and its opponent in an upcoming soccer match. He’s done exceptionally well through the World Cup, picking every single one of Deutchsland’s matches correctly, including the triumph of the Spaniards in yesterday’s semifinal.

That’s not sitting too well with the local folk in Germany who have trusted said Octopus, or laughed at said oracle’s prediction through clever signs, nor the Argentineans, who felt the wrath of both Miroslav Klose and Paul the Octopus over the weekend:

Having accurately predicted that Germany would beat Argentina in the quarter-finals, Paul faced the wrath of angry Argentinian supporters who have blamed the octopus for their World Cup exit and expressed a desire to eat him in an act of vengeance.

But Paul’s keeper Oliver Walenciak remains confident that the octopus will continue performing his remarkable act for years to come from the safety of his tank in Oberhausen as opposed to the dinner table.

He said: “There are always people who want to eat our octopus but he is not shy and we are here to protect him as well. He will survive.”

How exactly do you send an Octopus a death threat? Does Flipper deliver it? Is that what LeBron James is going to announce at 9 p.m. tonight?

(H/t Huffington Post)