Changed Personalities, Gaseous Meteor And Superman

By James Donahue

Among a rash of strange new world anomalies are events involving a Czech crash victim and a transplant patient who both woke up speaking perfect English with a British accent. Then there is the Peruvian meteor that emitted a strange gas that made hundreds of locals ill, and lots of people who claim to have seen a silvery human figure flying in the sky over Romania.

Here are the stories in brief:

A Czech speedway driver knocked unconscious in a racing accident shocked ambulance drivers after he woke up speaking perfect English. They said Matei Kus, 18, was unconscious about 45 minutes, then woke up and talked to the paramedics in an English accent. Kus said he had begun studying English, but was unable to say many words at the time of the crash. Witnesses said he was speaking fluent English. Unfortunately, the effect only lasted a few hours. Even stranger is that when Kus lost his newfound gift, he also lost any memory of what happened to him between the time of the accident and the moment he could no longer speak English.

In York, England, William, the nine-year-old son of Ruth McCartney-Moore was stricken with a rare form of meningitis and endured dangerous surgery to remove an abscess on his brain. The boy survived the operation, but when he began speaking a few days later, he lost the strong Yorkshire accent and began speaking what folks in the UK call the "Queen's English." The vowel sounds were long instead of the short sounds used by his family. He also discovered he excelled at playing both the piano and trumpet. As far as we know, William has not lost these miraculous gifts.

Somewhere near the town of Carancas, in the Andes Mountains of Peru, about 30 people this week sought medical treatment for an illness they believe came to them from a large object, possibly a meteor, from outer space. They said the meteor came down with a bolt of light and left a deep crater. People who visited the site complained of headaches, vomiting and nausea. A team of scientists was sent to the site to investigate. They determined that the hot meteor created steam filled with toxic ground materials that included arsenic. The illnesses did not originate from outer space.

And finally, there is this strange story from Gemeni, Romania, where about 20 people say they witnessed a "superman" figure fly over their town. They claim this particular UFO had a human form dressed in a shiny blue suit, much like the ficticious comic book and movie figure wore. Police said they talked to a number of witnesses, of different ages and locations, who all described the same thing. One man said the figure was flying slowly about 100 yards off the ground, and in a standing position. There was no sound. The figure was "just cruising around."