And other stories from the stranger side of life
Exorcists may be inadvertently helping the Devil, according to a pastor. Dan Delzell said that “demon-bashers” could be “a useful weapon in Satan’s arsenal”, reported the Daily Star. The pastor, from the Redeemer Lutheran Church in Papillion, Nebraska, US, said that the Devil might be “unfazed” by the efforts of exorcists. “No-one gets into Heaven by being an exorcist, but only by repenting of your sins and trusting Jesus to wash you clean with the blood he lovingly shed for you on the cross,” he advised.
Rome ‘smelt of patchouli’
Archaeologists in Spain have recovered a Roman perfume from a rare quartz bottle sealed 2,000 years ago, reported The Times. The researchers from the University of Córdoba described it as having a “smell of patchouli”, a fragrant plant native to Asia. The remains of the perfume were found during an archaeological excavation in 2019 in a mausoleum uncovered during the construction of a swimming pool in the southern town of Carmona. “Rome smelled of patchouli,” they said.
Library book returned 96 years late
A book has been returned to a library in the US almost 100 years late, reported Sky News. The copy of “A History of the United States”, by the American historian Benson Lossing, was on loan from St Helena Public Library in California, with a return date of 21 February 1927. However, it was handed back last week, some 96 years overdue. The man who returned the book to the front desk offered no explanation before leaving. Fines were scrapped in 2019 but had they stood, he would have been due to pay $1,756.
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