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10 grisly drinks horror stories
From disturbing discoveries and environmental disasters to supernatural sightings and ancient myths, with Halloween just around the corner, it’s time for some spooky drinks stories to send a shiver down your spine…
The myth of how carved pumpkins came to symbolise Halloween involves the beer-soaked figure of “Stingy Jack” (also known as “Drunk Jack”). When the Devil came to take his wicked soul he requested that he have one final pint before making his way to fiery depths. Having finished his drink at the pub, he suggested to the Devil they play a trick on the landlord and that his horned companion turns himself into a silver coin to trick the landlord into thinking they had paid the bill.
Little did the Devil realise that there was a rosary in the landlord’s pocket, and he was unable to change back. In return for being released from the pocket, he agreed to spare Jack’s soul. When Jack did die, and was not worthy enough for Heaven, the Devil also refused him entry to Hell, and so he was cast into the netherworld, with only a burning ember in a turnip to guide him, and thus he became “Jack of the Lantern”.
Ghost caught on camera at 300-year-old pub
Any business wants products to be flying off the shelves, but not necessarily when it may be because of supernatural forces at play. Now, it’s entirely possible that the shelf was wonky, or the beer bottle wasn’t properly placed on the shelf, but considering the age of the pub, it might well have been a beer-loathing poltergeist making mischief.
Tequila spill wipes out fish population
The phrase “drinking like a fish” doesn’t necessarily hold true. In total, 60 to 80 tonnes of dead fish were removed from Las Animas creek in Mexico, after a spillage from a Tequila plant. Such environmental devastation is, unfortunately, not unusual – in 2020 a third of a million litres of Cabernet Sauvignon spilled into a tributary of the Russian River.
Woman finds dead lizard in beer
“Waiter, waiter – there’s a fly in my soup and a lizard in my beer”. One unfortunate woman in Christchurch, New Zealand was shocked to find a rotting lizard in her low carb beer, and, worst of all, she had nearly finished the bottle before making the grisly discovery.
The only thing worse than finding a dead reptile in your drink is finding a living one, and an angry one at that. One unfortunate man in China was reportedly bitten by a venomous snake that had been preserved in liquor for a year. Using snake wine (often made by drowning a live snake in rice wine) as a remedy for his chronically ill son, the man opened up a bottle and received a nasty bite which he was then treated for. Precisely how the snake managed to stay alive is unclear, though it has been suggested that in low oxygen environments they can enter a metabolic state.
Speaking of the undead, Russia’s greatest love machine wasn’t just full of ecstasy and fire, but booze and poison as well. The tale of the (eventually successful) attempt to kill Grigori Rasputin in 1916 due to his power over the Tsarina has only added to the mystic monk’s legend. After drinking tea and eating cakes that had been seasoned with cyanide (for a delightful almond twang), he seemed completely fine. When he moved on to the Madeira, also poisoned, he seemed unbothered, even after three glasses. Despite being shot in the chest he didn’t stay dead for long and attacked his assailants before he was finally shot again and chucked in the Malaya Nevka River.
The curse of the Giro d’Italia fizz
This year’s Giro d’Italia was blighted by the curse of the celebratory Prosecco. Twice, stage winners accidentally fired corks into their own faces. While Mathieu Van der Poel wasn’t too hurt by the incident, Biniam Girmay, who made history as the first black African to win a stage of the race, received a severe enough eye injury to force him to abandon the race just a day after his victory.
There are even riskier ways to open a bottle of Champange: sabring it comes with numerous perils, particularly for those who aren’t experienced in swordsmanship. This particular incident didn’t cost any limbs, but it is still chilling to see good fizz wasted in such an appalling manner.
Spilling one pint is a tragedy, losing around two million pints defies all comprehension. The year is 1814, the day 17 October, the place Tottenham Court Road – tonight is the night the streets ran black with porter. A vat of fermenting beer ruptured, flooding the parish of St. Giles with 1.4 million litres of booze. The 4.5 metre tall tidal wave swept through the neighbourhood, badly damaging two homes and the Tavistock Arms.
Wildfires ravage pre-phylloxera vines
Hearing about how wildfires incinerated 90% of one Cretan village’s pre-phylloxera vines makes the blood of any wine enthusiast run cold. Calls for government support to protect the vines fell on deaf ears, leaving farmers helpless as they watched the devastation unfold.