Alarm Clock in Wall Rings Every Day -for 13 Years

Jerry Lynn of Ross Township, Pennsylvania, had a great idea that turned bizarre. He tied a battery-powered alarm clock to a string and lowered it through a vent into a wall, in order to determine where he should install a cable outlet for his TV. The alarm was set to go off in a few minutes, and he would drill the hole near the sound, ensuring that a cable would have an unobstructed path. Surely there are better ways of doing that, but the plan seemed sound. Until the string broke. The clock fell too far down to be retrieved.

“As I was laying it down, all of a sudden I heard it go ‘thunk!’ as it came loose,” he said. “I thought, well, that’s not a real problem. You know it’s still going to go off. And it did.”

He couldn’t pull it back up, but figured, “Maybe, three-four months it’ll run out of battery. That was in September of 2004. It is still going off every day. And during daylight savings time it goes off at ten minutes ’til eight. And during standard time it goes off at ten minutes to seven at night.”

Clocks do not draw much power from a battery, but the longest I've had one last is six years. This one has been ringing daily for 13 years. I would have torn the wall apart by now. -via Boing Boing


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Dozens of ways to get it out easily and quickly. A strong magnet on a string lowered into the same cavity would attach and lift it out. A small hole cut out of the wall would allow removing it, and if you're not in the mood for patching, a blank electrical plate would cover it for the time being. Heck, you know where it is, start drilling holes until you skewer and disable it! Pretty absurd that somebody would decide to put up with it for years, rather than a trivial effort.
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This has a faint odor of fake news. Once the location for a cable run was located, a hole large enough for a standard wall plate would have been cut. That would have easily given enough space to tape the cord to the clock and retrieve it.
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That's just daft. A cut in the dry wall big enough to retrieve the alarm, and a simple patch job would have taken care of it when it first happened.
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If you loved Watership Down you should read The Plague Dogs - brilliant tale of 2 dogs escaping from a research lab and going on the run. I have recommended this to everyone I know.
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I was 11 when I saw the movie on it's release. I'd already read the book at school. Yes it's a very dark story, but it isn't something that kids of that sort of age shouldn't be able to deal with. Very educational, without being too traumatic. However it's obviously worthwhile warning kids before they watch or read it that it isn't a happy fairy story about bunny-wunnies.
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I remember being brought to watch it as a 'treat' when I was five or six. It was shown in the local library for the kiddies, and the three of us that turned up were brought into a room and left to watch it. No movie has ever traumatised me more. And I'm including being forced to watch Aliens when I was 8 and Christine when I was 4 (gotta love older brothers)

I can't bring myself to either watch the movie or read the book now I'm a so-called adult! I wish I could...
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I read Watership Down when I was 15 and really enjoyed it. When I was 23, I read Shardik. It's been my favorite novel ever since.

It's different from Watership Down, but it's also the work that Adams considers to be his best. I agree with assessment.
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I'm 43 and this still creeps the hell out of me. I was one of those kids who was shown this animated feature at too young of an age. Now that I think about it, I'm sure it would still creep me out. I guess that confirms that it was a powerful tale.
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I love-love-loved this movie when I was as a kid. It's right up there with Animal Farm as far as neat mind opening (for a kid) stories. The social dynamics were so cool. Of course, I had no idea what social dynamic meant at the time, but I knew there was drama.
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Great book. Loved it in HS. Wanted to re-read it the other day. Found out that Amazon's Kindle version is $13.99!

Really! After all of this time?

I'm going to the local used paperback store and find a copy for $3. Stick it you greedy publishers.
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I hate the film of this so much! everyone thought it was for kids so it kept being shown as a supporting feature to disney and other kids films. Scared the hell out of me, makes me shudder even now aged forty just thinking about it :-(
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