Results tagged “mystery”

Guess you can't just win millions upon millions of dollars and expect to keep a secret. The mystery man or woman behind the winning Mega Millions ticket is unveiling him or herself today and picking up the winning July 7th pot. The ticket, purchased in Jamaica, Queens, was the only one to have all 6 matching numbers, giving the winner the entire $133 million payout. The NY Post reports that the winner "will get a lump-sum check for nearly $83 million, before taxes, from New York lottery officials at Grand Central Terminal." The employees at Shiv Convenience, where the winning ticket was printed out, are anxious to find out which of their customers has been keeping their fortune a secret. Store manager Bharat Patel said, "It's going to be a surprise. But I'll know the person as soon as I see them." The store also gets a $10,000 bonus for selling the ticket. If this story is giving you lottery fever, tonight's Mega Millions jackpot is $60 million—if you win that's a $2,307,692 annual, or $35,210,000 lump-sum payout. Decisions decisions. UPDATE: The Daily News reports the winner is 49-year-old MTA worker Aubrey Boyce, who works (worked?!) as a collections agent making around $50K a year. He'll take home the lump-sum of $56.7 million after taxes.

Now that the maple syrup smell mystery is "solved", maybe Mayor Bloomberg's weird-stuff-in-NYC team needs to work on the odd case of the Staten Island Sound. A noise, described as a "loud," "heavy and low," and an "explosion," that occurred on Monday night is being investigated. The Staten Island Advance notes that its SILive.com commenters have no shortage of ideas, suggesting "everything from a mortar to a meteor to a sonic boom, to an exploding meth lab to, as authorities believe, one heck of a king-sized firecracker." A police source said, "As of now we have no idea. Nothing exploded in anyone's home or anything like that, and we checked all the power lines. ... We think it's probably fireworks." Like fireworks in NJ at a fireworks factory?

A reader sent in this video that he took last week, saying, "I filmed this girl (filming her music video?) on the train the other day and am dying to figure out where I can find her final cut, or even who she is. Any ideas?" Looks like a (really passionate!) lip dub in the making, yet can't be found on YouTube or Vimeo. Alas, will this lip dub fall in the forest?

The man who calls himself Clark Rockefeller gave a jailhouse interview with the Today Show and did not admit to not being part of the famous clan, "I really couldn't tell you. Perhaps at some point we can do a DNA test and find out." But he does claim he grew up in NYC!

As the mysteries around Clark Rockefeller, the apparent con man who abducted his daughter during a social worker-supervised visit, are still being unraveled, here's an definitely bizarre addition: The German national actually used the Son of Sam's Social Security number to get his stock broker's license. The NY Post reports that Rockefeller, born Christian Gerhartsreiter, was fired from his firm when it learned he used David Berkowitz's SS#. A German man, a friend of Rockefeller's father, described Rockefeller as "crazy, always crazy He was like Batman before there was Batman, always going into different roles." Some classmates in Bavaria, Germany suspect he fled the country to avoid military service.

Finally! It looks like Clark Rockefeller, the mysterious con man who abducted his daughter (his wife had custody) and turned up in Baltimore a week later, is actually Christian Gerhartsreiter, a German national from Bavaria. When the Boston Herald handed Alexander Gerhartsreiter a photograph of Clark Rockefeller, he said, "It seems you found my brother." Gerhartsreiter said his brother admitted to changing his name to Christopher Chichester--who is wanted for questioning in the disappearance of a California couple. And Gerhartsreiter said, "As far as I remember, Christian was an open-minded and social person and he was able persuade people very well."

After Clark Rockefeller abducted his daughter in Boston and went on the lam--through NYC-- for days, only to be found in Baltimore a week later, the mystery about who Rockefeller really is continues to rivet people. While he falsely claimed to be part of the famous clan, now it's suggested he might be a German national named Christian Gerhart Reiter. Reiter had stayed with a Connecticut family an exchange student in the 1970s (the family said he acted oddly). Rockefeller, who has not provided any passports or other information about his past (and claims not to remember anything before 1993), is also being questioned about the deaths of California newlyweds. A man named Christopher Chicester--who looks like Rockefeller--had been staying with them.

The Montauk Monster is still in the news (and on the Colbert Report), with the East Hampton Star now reporting that the mystery carcass is missing! More disturbing than that and the fact that the nation has been staring at a dead, bloated dog for a week, is the fact that the two locals holding the remains were planning to profit from the dead body. The duo were planning on reducing it to bones, creating some sort of artistic piece out of it, and watching the money roll in.

"Someone came and took the carcass. Now I have to hunt for my damn creature," said Eric Olsen, a Montauk real estate agent and surfer who retrieved the rotting animal from the beach.

Continue reading "Montauk Monster's Remains Stolen, Press Tour Continues"

This past week, the NY Times peeked inside the Vermont Market and Pharmacy in Carroll Gardens, which has been closed for over a decade...actually, owner Mark Stein wouldn't let them inside, but he does shed some light on the shuttered store. Apparently when it was open, it had a 1920s aesthetic and "was a combination drugstore and market, selling specialties from Vermont"; prior to that, and under the same owner, it was called Mark's Pharmacy. These days it serves as a look into the past, a frozen-in-time storefront sitting on Henry and Sackett Streets. Local lore is that the suspender-wearing Stein is a quirky genius and recluse who is perhaps unwilling to sell his piece of prime real estate. He recently addressed some of the speculation about the store's past with the Times:

He dispelled some of the rumors, though, saying that aliens were not the reason the store closed down. Mr. Stein said: “It didn’t quite work out.”

Continue reading "Mystery Storefront Now Slightly Less Mysterious"

Last week the NY Times' House & Garden section took a look at the mysteries planted by an architect in a ritzy Fifth Avenue apartment. This week, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety report that Paramount has purchased the rights to the article for a feature to be produced by J.J. Abrams. Writers Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky have already been hired to adapt the piece into a film.

After released a "Wanted" poster and questioning someone who may have been involved with an escape, law enforcement officials doubt that hedge fund founder Samuel Israel killed himself. Israel, who was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for swindling $450 million out of investors, was supposed to arrive at federal prison on Monday, but instead his empty SUV was found the Bear Mountain Bridge. The words "Suicide is Painless" were written on the dusty hood, suggesting suicide.

A bench warrant was issued for the arrest of Samuel Israel III, the hedge fund founder who was convicted of scamming investors of $450 million. Israel was supposed to report for a 20-year prison sentence in Massachusetts on Monday, but instead, his empty car was found on the Bear Mountain Bridge with "Suicide is painless" written on the hood.

Last weekend a mystery surfer saved the life of Brian Jordan, who was struggling in the water 100 yards off the shore of Coney Island. The story surfaced with a photo on the cover of the Daily News late last week (a surefire way to crack the case) and lo and behold, the mystery man has been unmasked...or rather, outed by his family. Turns out the hero is humble, and just a bit shy of the spotlight.

Kevin Campion, a 30-year-old ship's captain from Seattle, doesn't mind if his lifesaving deed goes unrewarded.

Continue reading "Superhero Surfer Unmasked!"

In a headline ripped from a superhero flick, the Daily News is reporting that a drowning man, Brian Jordan, was saved by a solo surfer off the shore of Coney Island last weekend. Jordan is now trying to find his saviour, who fled the scene after carrying him 100+ yards back to shore and saving his life.

There's currently a long line forming outside of the Apple store on 5th Avenue...but not everyone in it seems to know why they are there. Engadget reports that "the group is more than 60-deep, though most people seem confused about what they're waiting for, while some believe they're actually camping out for a 3G iPhone."

Why would a triplex in the West Village, measuring about 3360 sq ft, go abandoned for decades? More importantly, what's inside? amNY takes a look at the mystery of 43 MacDougal Street, which has had locals rumor-mongering about it for ages.

"I heard that it used to be a hangout for the mafia, and there was a police shootout there, and they had to close it for evidence," said Tal Kon, 22, who has lived on the picturesque block for a year.

Continue reading "43 MacDougal Needs a New Lease on Life"

How bad does a show have to be to become good? That’s the question posed by self-described “part-time conceptual artist” John Borek, who has recently revived the notorious 1983 Broadway flop Moose Murders in Rochester. The murder-mystery farce by Arthur Bicknell, which takes place one dark and stormy night at an isolated lodge, closed after 14 performances and widespread critical derision; the term “Moose Murders” has since become a Broadway euphemism for theatrical disaster.

A man called 911 after discovering his friend, whose face and back he had spray painted blue as a joke, would not wake up. The painted friend was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police and firefighters are investigating the cause of death of a man who died late yesterday evening in the Bronx. The two standout theories are that he died because he was on fire or because he may have been shot. The still-unidentified man stumbled in the first floor hallway of the Eastchester Houses on Adee Ave. in the Bronx around 11:30 p.m. Saturday night; he was on fire and collapsed. Responding firefighters declared him dead at the scene. The fire in the man's apartment took about an hour to extinguish.

After looking at the nitrogen tanks that live on city sidewalks, a reader asked us to look into another city mystery. She wanted to know "Why is the expiration date on milk different for New York City? Does it really take that many more days for the milk to get here?" The NY Times looked into this in another shelf-life (1982), and reported:

New York City is the only place in the state and one of relatively few in the country that has its own dating system for fluid milk, which may legally be sold only up to 96 hours after 6 A.M. on the day after pasteurization. The rule is the same for whole, skim or low-fat fortified milk.

Continue reading "NYC's Milk Expiration Date Mystery"

In Ryan Seacrest is Famous, his debut collection of pop-culture enthused short stories, Dave Housley makes you think, makes you laugh, and, if you're a writer, inspires you to run to your computer and get started on that premise you've been putting off. Whether it comes in the form of an alcoholic clown, people obsessed with Fight Club, or a DJ hiring a prostitute in an attempt to win back his old flame, Housley's stories...

Tomorrow night a version of the below (which was filmed in France) will be taking place in Brooklyn. Paul Notzold, Visual Goodness, and Soren Sorensen took the classic horror flick, Night of the Living Dead, and broke it down into an interactive graphic story with original dialogue provided by...you!

Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire investor who New York called an "International Moneyman of Mystery" back in 2002, may be set to plead guilty to having sex with underage girls in Florida, but now there are claims that he was preying on the young in the Big Apple. Maximilia Cordero is suing Epstein for "repeatedly" luring her to his East Side townhouse for sex back in 2000.

A look at some of this week's noteworthy television:

A look at some noteworthy television this week:

COMEDY: This weekend marks the 9th Annual Del Close Marathon. Del Close, if you don't know by now, "was the driving force behind improvisational comedy in Chicago for over 30 years influencing Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Mike Myers, John Belushi, Chris Farley and the Upright Citizens Brigade to name a few." The annual weekend began after Del's passing in 1999.

READING: It's New York Murder Mystery Night with novelists Jed Rubenfeld, Joel Rose, and historian Ben Feldman. The trio will be discussing New York’s famous 19th-century murders, including the bizarre events behind Butchery on Bond Street.

MOVIE: The L Magazine kicks off their summer movie series, Summerscreen, tonight at McCarren Park Pool. We're pretty sure we'll be attending most of these this summer (even though we feel there is a lack of horror filcks on their schedule). So bring something soft to sit on and head over tonight for the cheerleading film that introduced us all to spirit fingers, Bring It On. In two weeks: Dazed and Confused! Alright, alright, alright.

A look at some noteworthy programs this week:

MUSIC: Tonight The Ladybug Transistor (who sadly just lost a band member) have their record release show (band pictured at right). Joining them on stage will be Pipas and Alasdair Maclean from The Clientele performing an acoustic set. Buy tickets here.