Jan 1976: Miklos Petrovics held up a Bank of America branch in Los Angeles, but instead of asking for money he demanded a truckload of birdseed. He also, "demanded the bank landscape its grounds and filter the building's air-conditioning system to fight air pollution that he said was killing his birds." Finally, "he also wanted the people of Los Angeles to 'join hands and march to the ocean to be cleaned.'"
After 90 minutes he surrendered to the police. He later pleaded guilty to a felony charge of brandishing a weapon and was sentenced to six months in jail and six months probation.
Shreveport Journal - Jan 7, 1976
Venice Marina News - May 6, 1976
Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 04, 2023 -
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Category: Crime, 1970s
The story goes that, in 1976, Eugene Schneider cut his house in half with a chainsaw as a spiteful way of complying with the divorce requirement that he split his assets evenly with his wife.
But as you can see from the photos below, he didn't actually succeed in cutting the house in half, although he did a lot of damage with the chainsaw. It was all eventually repaired, and the house is still standing, in one piece, today. You can view it on Zillow or Google Maps.
Calgary Herald - Mar 30, 1978
Central New Jersey Home News - Aug 6, 1976
New York Daily News - Aug 3, 1976
Charges were filed against Schneider, but somewhat surprisingly (at least, I find it surprising) a jury cleared him of all wrongdoing.
LONDON — A major exhibition by 11 Los Angeles artists was postponed at Hayward Gallery here Thursday in a controversy involving titled officials, a show business star, the press, and a people who pride themselves on their love for animals.
An international flap over fish.
Artist Newton Harrison's "Portable Fish Farm" is an ecological work about growth and life cycles. Six large tanks contain lobster, crayfish, oysters, brine shrimp and catfish, dominating a large upper room of the government-owned gallery.
The catfish—200 of them—were shipped here live from El Centro, Calif. Harrison wanted to demonstrate man's ability to haul food great distances and harvest it in a new environment. Some catfish were to lay eggs; some were to mature during the showing. Others were to be cooked at an opening feast for 250 guests, to prove Harrison's idea that "all art is about survival."
Fish, to be cooked, must be killed. Harrison wanted people to see the process as part of his exhibition.
The killing part hooked the British press. Advance stories ignored almost everything except the "ritual execution" of catfish. That news triggered a reaction nearly incomprehensible outside animal-loving England.
Confused readers called papers to protest the "bludgeoning" of innocent cats. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was moved to "deplore" any public catfish killing.
British comedian Spike Milligan, famous for his work on "The Goon Show," carried his protest to the gallery itself. He threw a hammer through the front window Thursday morning.
I Drink Your Blood is a 1971 American exploitation horror film written and directed by David E. Durston, produced by Jerry Gross, and starring Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury, Jadine Wong, and Lynn Lowry. The film centers on a small town that is overrun by rabies-infected members of a Satanic hippie cult after a revenge plot goes horribly wrong...
I Drink Your Blood was marketed and released as a double feature with Del Tenney's previously-unreleased 1964 film Zombies, which Gross had acquired and retitled I Eat Your Skin.
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.