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Unreal: Family Pet Survives 30 YEARS Living in a Record Player Box Inside Filthy Storage Room

Jan. 30, 2013 9:24pm Jason Howerton

(Foto: Perla Rodrigues/ TV Globo)

Many might say it is impossible for a tortoise to survive three decades living in a record player box inside a filthy storage room. Those people would also be wrong.

One fateful day 30 years ago, a pleasant Brazilian family lost their tortoise named Manuela. Little did they know he never even left. As Gizmodo humorously puts it, “Manuela got condemned to three decades of solitude in a dark dusty place full of crap.”

The tortoise apparently got lost while the family’s home was being renovated in the 1980s. Sueli Almeida said he thought “she had fled because the mason who did the work of the house leaving the gate open.”

But that wasn’t the case. Manuela apparently got trapped in the storage room where the man of the house, Leonel Almedia, stored a variety of worthless junk, including electronic devices. Inside an old box of a record player is where Manuela the tortoise would call home for 30 years.

Gizmodo tells us how Manuela was ultimately found:

Fast forward to right now, 30 years after that renovation. Sueli’s father died at the beginning of 2013, so it was time to clean the room where Leonel had been storing all this filthy stuff for all these years:

According to Sueli, the dad was obsessed about collecting crap that he thought may be used in the future: “he picked from the street everything he thought he could. If he saw an old television, he would get it, thinking that he could use some part to fix another gadget in the future. That’s how he kept accumulating things.”

But, in all this time of collecting electronic trash, he never noticed the poor trapped tortoise. Only when they cleaned the room and they were putting all this garbage outside, someone noticed it. It was a neighbor who told them, said Leandro de Almeida, Leonel’s son: “I put the bag of trash on the floor and the neighbor asked me if I was going to throw the turtle away too. I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

A Brazilian news channel talked with veterinary professor Jeferson Pires to figure out exactly how the animal could have survived all that time inside the storage room. The professor said turtles are very resilient and can “live long with eating much” despite unfavorable conditions.

The family says Manuela probably lived off of termites and other insects in the house, but they don’t really care. They are thrilled to have the family pet back in the house.

And they lived happily ever after. It’s unclear if the tortoise still has some unresolved resentment towards his family.

(Source: Gizmodo)

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Comments (114)

woobies22
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 1:16am
Sure give the poor turtle back to the family, they can make sure that he doesn’t live next time!!!!!!!!!

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- BehindBlueEyes
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 7:00am
  Too funny. I agree they’ll probably kill the turtle within the next year. Someone will step on him or a dog will bite his head off.
  
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- toiletclogga
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 7:25am
  They renovated the house back in the 80′s, and only now are they cleaning up the mess from the renovation? This is what I find absurd! Are these people hoarders?
  
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- SocialistSlayer
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 8:19am
  Wow – This is amazing ! Let’s try this experiment with Communist obama !
  
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- SocietyOfUniversalKnowledge
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 8:27am
  More than likely, they’ll feed it something they think is good, but it’s digestive system is used to 30 years of…
  The transition between what it was eating and what it will now eat must be delicate and gradual.
  If not careful, this will kill the tortoise, but they are very resilient.
  
  Report this comment
- 4xeverything
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 9:33am
  @Socialistslayer- It won’t work on Obama. He’s half zombie. He’ll just come back with a voracious appetite (like Soros).
  
  Report this comment
woobies22
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 1:10am
Gee did they leave their cat and dog to starve in a closet too!!!!!

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phillipwgirard
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:57am
What happened to Grandma?

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- everydaywoman
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 1:28am
  Bwahahahahahaha….thanks for the laugh!
  
  Report this comment
- mlimberg
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 8:17am
  She was in the box with the turtle….
  
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- governmenteffects
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:02am
  The turtle survived by eating her
  
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theninthplanet
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:44am
Meanwhile, a skeleton of a hare was found in a shoebox.

Slow and steady…

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- SweetDoug
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 9:27am
  ROTL!!!!
  
  Beautiful line!
  
            .-”"”"”"-.
          .’          ‘.
         /   O      O   \
        :                :
        |                |
        : ‘,          ,’ :
         \ ‘-……-’ /
          ‘.          .’
       ‘-……-’
  
  Report this comment
- Granny58
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:57pm
  Excellent! Thanks.
  
  Report this comment
MyAlaska
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:18am
What a (not so) brilliant way to create your very own 15 minutes! With very little food remotely possible, with zero water, impossible.

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- Teufel Hunden
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:18am
  Turtles, tortoises and frogs have been found alive after decades living in a state of suspended animation.
  
  Report this comment
- Chuck Stein
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 4:08am
  Good point
  
  Report this comment
- Thighmaster
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 10:59am
  ….and while the turtle suffered from severe atrophy of the legs, try as he might he couldn’t fall over or simply lay down and take a nap….
  
  Report this comment
- searcher619
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:56am
  Actually turtles/tortoises are bit more resilient than us humans. This isn’t unique. Many amphibians and turtles o into a state of suspended hibernation for extended lengths of time when foo and water become scarce. w/o water a human and most mammals dies within days. w/o food it’s a bit longer.
  
  Report this comment
USA-Ron
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:51pm
sorry mr. Turtle, stuff happens

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- Gumbercules
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:44am
  . . . the next day the turtle dies because of the family’s way of trying to take care of a pet. . .
  
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- searcher619
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:02pm
  how is thsi abuse? They lost track of the turtle. It hardly abuse and the turtle is fine.
  
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TeslanEdison
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:43pm
So if you have a filthy storage area get a turtle, he’ll keep the bugs down, just be sure not to use bug spray right? Or the best pet for a prepper planning to spend years underground is a turtle.

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- maggie3fan
  Posted on February 28, 2013 at 12:13am
  A tortoise is NOT a turtle. That looks like a Redfoot * tortoise*
  
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Jase
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:26pm
Meanwhile, in Detroit, dogs are literally freezing to death because their idiotic ghetto-trash owners leave them chained up outside 24 hours a day.

Cheers for the Brazilian turtle though.

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- MellowCat
  Posted on February 2, 2013 at 1:30pm
  You are so right. I cannot stand to think about the horrific misery these maggots perpetrate on these dogs. Come summer, they will be dying of thirst and heatstroke unless they live to fight again only to be promptly electrocuted, beaten or drowned by their owners. This poor turtle had it good compared to ghetto trash’s pit bulls and factory farmed livestock.
  
  Report this comment
eagledown
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:05pm
I once found a dancing frog at a construction site.
“Hello, my baby.Hello, my honey. Hello, my ragtime gal.” … something like that.ruined me.

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- pagraywolf
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:23pm
  Oh my goodness! Too funny! I remember that cartoon – and I loved it!! Thanks for reminding me of it.
  
  Report this comment
- bigdaddyt46
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 4:32am
  something along those same lines.
  
  a man walks into a talel agency with a dog, and the agent says a dog act? they’re a dime a dozen, not interested.
  
  the man says wait, this one can talk. the agents saus ok you have 1 minute to wow me.
  
  the man says to the dog how does sand paper feel? the dogs says RUFF, tne man says see? he said rough.
  the man says what is on the top of a house? the dog says rrrrrr oo ff.
  the man says see? he said roof.
  the man says who was the greast baseball player of all time? the dog says roof.
  the man says see? he said ruth. the agent kicks them out of his office.
  the man and dog are walking down the street the dog looks up and says
  you think i should have said dimaggio?
  the man says don’t talk to me, just don’t talk to me.
  
  Report this comment
- Marvin
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 8:31am
  LOL….great cartoon!
  
  Report this comment
- pavepaws
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:23pm
  http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon_story/372-One_Froggy_Evening.html
  
  Report this comment
- pavepaws
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:30pm
  So that’s where the WB Network frog mascot came from.
  
  Report this comment
- Quest4Freedom
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 5:43pm
  Cartoon info: name- ONE FROGGY EVENING. “Michigan Frog” Only cartoon made featuring him. Can get a copy from the movie, “LITTLE GIANTS”
  
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- urnokid
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 9:14pm
  BIGDADDY, HERE’S another one for you
  A man drove by a house with a sign that read “talking dog for sale”. His curiosity made him stop and ask the man on the porch about the dog. The man tells him the dog is out back, and asks if he would like to see the dog. The guy said yes, and they walk around back and there was a dog. The guy said to the dog, whats the story? The dog said , well started out in the Army as a bomb sniffing dog and after 4 years I retired and went to work for the FBI under cover trapping criminals. After working at the airport sniffing out drugs for a couple years, I retired for good and moved in here to stay. The guy was very impressed . He turned to the man and asked, “So how much do you want for him? The man said $10. The guy said “why so cheap? The man said” because he is a liar, he never did none of that stuff”.
  
  Report this comment
- bigdaddyt46
  Posted on February 1, 2013 at 1:10am
  @urnokid
  
  LOL know that one, it’s one of my favs from back in the day.
  
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Netsurfer2
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:41pm
Add turtle poo to the pile!

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- AppleAnnie
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:38am
  Ah hahahahahah! I wondered the same thing. Great minds…
  
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Dancing_In_The_Ruins
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:39pm
While at the zoo someone asked why all the large turtles have numbers on their shells, my reply was “Because they race them at night” .

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CanteenBoy
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:32pm
Turtles are reptiles of the oldest imaginable times.

They have very little brain for “thought” and just enough to function.

They function quite well, yes?

If it ain’t fixed, don’t broke it!

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- Southerner01
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:16pm
  So they are Democrats?
  
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- KoolAidDrinker
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:31pm
  Give it an Obama Phone. This way it can call 911 next time it gets lost.
  
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GoodStuff
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:12pm
Dumb family. Animals don’t belong caged up, even “accidentally”.

God created them to roam, let em bloody roam.

And clean your friggin house, lousy hoarders.

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- Wolfgang the Gray
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:55pm
  Poor tortoise, he should be given a better home.
  
  Report this comment
- soybomb315
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:25pm
  Good parallel. The turtle represents the average american and the family represents the political parties and big government….
  -Keeps people’s minds caged and in the dark
  -God created man to be free, so let him be an individual
  -Time to clean republicans and democrats from this house
  
  Report this comment
TrueColours
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:05pm
It was reported in 2008 that the oldest living turtle was 175 years old! This little guy has plenty of sunny days ahead of him.

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- drs1969
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:12pm
  Turtles are tough, too. They outlasted the dinosaurs. They may outlast man, too.
  
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- jdtanker
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:31am
  Dinosaurs are just reptiles. The average size of a so called dinosaur was the size of a sheep.
  
  Report this comment
- chips1
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 10:49am
  JD:
  Are you saying that muslims like sheep because they caused the dinosaurs to become extinct?
  
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captweb
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:02pm
Good one CRAZY-HORSE

WB

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teddyc73
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:00pm
what an incredible story and a very resilient tortoise. Im glad he was finally found.

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ChiefGeorge
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 9:52pm
Back in 1945 down in the holler of PA where my granpap Bill called home, he found a land turtle. He thought it would be neat to get out his pen knife and carve the date of 1945 on its back then let it go..many years later he found the same turtle down around his barn in 1990. The press came out and thought it was neat, they took pictures and ran the story local. He put it in a bucket so people could come by and see the turtle from 1945. Someone came in the night and took it as a pet or maybe turtle soup….I’d like to think ole’45 is still someones pet to this day.

This guys turtle did not live in that box the entire time. He roamed around the base of the garage floor picking up whatever bugs or weeds grew up through the cracks. No way could it have lived without someway to sustain it.

Cool story!

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- sparkyrules
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:28pm
  Its IS a cool story,and so is yours.Turtles are so resilient.
  Me and my brother used to go fishing/exploring in the late 60′s when kids in Indiana.We would follow streams and creeks for miles across fertilized farmland.Catching the occasional bass or catfish was fun.Huge carp were fun and plentiful.But the greatest thing was catching a monster snapper turtle on fishing line.Easily 4-5 foot wide and impossible to land without hands-on taking.We never had the balls to jump in and grab these things.No way.They had moss/weeds growing on their shells and huge fat necks.They looked like the environment they lived in,until hooked.Then they showed up.And the eyes/mouth….They could’ve bit me or my brother IN HALF.I’m quite sure they had eaten a few stray farm animals in their time.
  
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sparkyrules
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 9:50pm
I don’t know.Look at Nancy Pelosi.She looks like shes been in a record player for decades.Many Democrats do.

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- piper60
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 8:18am
  lolololol
  
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Via Dolorosa
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 9:48pm
God created the beautiful animals for us to enjoy – and man built cages and ruined it all.

God has His Hand over this lit’l turtle – that’s the only logical explaination.

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- Southerner01
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:10pm
  So god saved this turtle and let the Sandy Hook kids die? Or maybe God had nothing to do with this turtle and they just can live a long time without food?
  
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- GoodStuff
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:16pm
  @Southerner
  
  Too bad you’re so miserable.
  
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- Southerner01
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:27pm
  I’m not at all miserable. I just find it ridiculous when people think that God intervenes in the life of a turtle or in the outcome of a football game but then doesn’t in important things like the death of a child. God doesn’t intervene in the life of a turtle. If you think so, you are just deluding yourself. He also doesn’t save the ants when you pay an exterminator to spray your house.
  
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- whitealaskan
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:48am
  Thank you Southerner.
  
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- punyhuman
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:58am
  Southerner, you think that’s what your God does, let people die? You don’t think Sandy Hook was just a little Satanic? Or are you just giving Satan a pass, and blaming God for the troubles on this planet? Too many people think that God doesn’t care, not enough people are aware that Satan is just as real as God, but that one is the evil one, not God. If you think God doesn’t care, try to figure out what’s going to happen tomorrow. Point being that no one knows when God will act. We know only that He will act soon, but not today. It’s God’s planet, but Satan is the landlord.
  
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- punyhuman
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 1:00am
  Oops, sorry Southerner, I meant that for Dolorosa.
  
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- freightliner1160
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 6:15am
  God kept the turtle alive because he cares about man. When everything falls, fresh turtle soup. God is great. :)
  
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- chips1
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:16am
  SOUTH:
  The reason the turtle is still alive is because the liberals didn’t know where it was. They knew where the kids were.
  
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Crazy-Horse
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 9:44pm
And that’s how they became known as Box Turtles.

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- Heb4Seven
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:41pm
  HeeHee.
  
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- AlthenArtren
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:01pm
  *Rimshot* Thank you, thank you. Im here all night. Try the fish!
  
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Jake Dog2
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 9:41pm
There was probably a lot of pot in there and he was so high he did not care.

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Metallicat
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 9:41pm
Dumb family finds their dumb family pet. for some reason I’m not feeling all warm and fuzzy.

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- teddyc73
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 9:58pm
  If that’s your reaction to this story then I think we know who the dumb one here is.
  
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- Metallicat
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:16pm
  A turtle is a dumb family pet and probably doesnt see these people as family like a dog would. A family seeking affection from a turtle as a family pet is probably dumb enough to keep a pet rock too.
  
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- MisterSarcastic
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:36pm
  The family isn’t dumb, they’re pleasant. At least that’s how Jason described them.
  
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TJexcite
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 9:39pm
What is a more reasonable explanation is that the father knew and took care of the tortoise for all 30 years and never told the family he had it. When he was tinkering in the room he was loving the tortoise alone. 30 years ago when the family lost the tortoise he went to the pet shop and got a new one that looked the same. Then he did not know how to tell the family he found it and did not know how to get rid of it. Then days became years. He kept it in the room full of junk where the rest of the family did not go to hid his secret pet. Then he died and they found it where he left it.

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- Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 9:44pm
  How do you love a tortoise alone, do you have to use Turtle Wax?
  
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- sparkyrules
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 9:47pm
  More plausible explanation for sure.
  
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- slug
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:15pm
  So, your theory is that the father knew all along and this was just his idea of a running, 30 year practical joke that he wouldn’t even be around to see the punchline for? That’s as good as any theory I guess.
  
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- nesmond
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 4:51am
  Are you saying he had a secret turtle? Why on earth would anyone find it necessary to keep a turtle secret for 30 years? That’s just f’n crazy.
  
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- nesmond
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 5:29am
  I have an even more plausible explanation than that. If you go and research past editions of Brazilian newspapers as I have, you will notice some sudden, unexplained deaths in the small village where, coincidentally, Manuela the turtle was residing. All the victims had two small puncture wounds on their necks. The old man, realizing his turtle was a vampire, obtained a blessed rosary from the local diocese. One morning, just before dawn about 30 years ago, Countess Manuela, the Vampire Turtle returned home from a night of committing her unspeakable acts on the unsuspecting villagers. She crawled into her box, (vampire turtle coffin), to sleep the sleep of the undead until the sun set and she was free once again to terrorize the hapless villagers. That was when the old man made his move. Once the lid was closed on the coffin, the old man nailed it shut and placed the blessed rosary on top, thereby trapping the fiend. The old man had told no one of the Countess Manuela, fearing that somehow the villagers would blame him and his family and seek retribution. Fast forward 30 years. The old man has died along with his secret and the neighbor, unbeknownst to him or anyone else for that matter, in a gesture born of friendship and goodwill. has unleashed this evil once again. Now the poor simple people in that small Brazilian village will once again know to fear the night. The End.
  
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- CABERNETQHS
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 7:02am
  Nesmond and Darmok…Thanks for the laugh. This story was getting way too serious.
  
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Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 9:34pm
When interviewed, the turtle commented, “I am very eager to eat some real food, finally find out Who Shot JR, and of course, meet Gloria Alred for my impending lawsuit.”

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felixkatt
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 9:34pm
Poor turtle.
It’s sad when wild animals are kept in captivity.

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- Southerner01
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:29pm
  Beats being run over by a car.
  
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