The Dark Furie

Synchronicity is a tricky concept to define without getting all technical and, as a concept of perception it's pretty hard to prove or disprove. At it's core is the idea that everything in the world fits together in a logical pattern if you can see the connections. Other descriptions say that coincidental events in harmony with each other define synchronicity. Yeah, tricky subject. The only real way to show synchronicity is to show the unconnected events all around us and point out the connections, but that way eventually leads to wearing tinfoil hats and communicating with the Dark Masters. As one of the Dark Masters it would be unseemly for me to follow that path of madness so instead I'll just show you the news stories that have caught my interest this week and let you draw your own conclusions.

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Gretchen Whitted was in her house in Polk County when she noticed five raccoons in her back yard. Having had trouble with animals messing the place up before she decided to chase them away, but soon wished she hadn't. The raccoons surrounded the 74 year old and attacked, causing her to fall to the ground, where they continued their attack. A neighbour, witnessing the event, called for help.

Gretchen was taken to hospital with extensive cuts from her neck to her legs and treated for rabies. Later on, local fire crews flooded nearby drains in a failed attempt to drive the animals out. Animal Control has said they're hoping to catch the raccoons by using cat food and sardines as bait.

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A disabled 52 year old man in Essex said he suffered cuts all over after a vicious gang of cats attacked him while he was walking his dog. "I've seen these cats before but I've never seen them act like this. At first all I heard was a whining and spitting sound, then they all emerged from underneath a car. I did nothing to provoke them and my dog was terrified, but they just kept jumping at us and clawing our legs."

The entire town of Pitsea has become increasingly aware of their cat problem since that incident in September. Locals say the screeching of wild cats are keeping them up at night, and some have even had to keep their children from playing outside as the cat attacks increase in frequency. The cats have begun vandalising fences and garden sheds as part of their reign of terror, and group together in gangs of five or more to jump off walls and attack passers-by.

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Mary Garcia, 70, was left in critical condition after two neighbourhood dogs attacked her on her doorstep. Animal Control says that a boxer-mix and a pit bull broke out of a neighbours yard and went straight for her. Neighbours never even heard her scream as the dogs leapt up on their hind legs and started trying to tear at her face. While covered in bites and scratches, it was the stress of the attack that hospitalised Mary as the ordeal caused a heart attack.

Witnesses heard what they thought sounded like dogs fighting and, upon investigating went straight to her defence, but it took four men armed with sticks and brooms to chase the dogs off. Even then they came back until one neighbour managed to see them off by chasing them down with a shovel to defend himself. Mary's 3 year old grandson witnessed the event and is said to be traumatised by it. He kept repeating "The dogs ate grandma." in between sobs.

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There have been many more events like this of course, but I've only got limited space here. It seems like animals are going crazy this past month eh, although the cats don't really surprise me to be honest. That's synchronicity for you.