2013’s Most Incredible and Most Inconceivable Stories

I chose a green light - red light story of the year, as my two nominations for year end head turners. One of the most miraculous stories reported involved Odjegba Okene, the 29 year old Nigerian cook who survived three cold, dark days in a shipwreck that had capsized and sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Squatting in an air pocket with only a foot of space above his head and surviving on one bottle of Coke, he had almost given up hope. He kept repeating a Psalm his wife told him, praying to God for a miracle at the bottom of the sea. God answered his prayers when he suddenly heard the sound of a boat, a hammering on the side of the vessel and then, saw lights and then the rising waters around him bubbling! What an incredible story! And then, there was Thamsanqa Jantjie, the bogus sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela's memorial service. Standing just feet away from the President, and signing incoherently, signing experts said his arm and hand movements were nothing but gibberish. But the unbelievable part of this story is Jantjie was among a group of people who accosted two men and burned them to death by setting fire to tires placed around their necks, for stealing a television! Where were the security checks? How did this guy slip past our Secret Service? And I've noticed that as soon as the president returned, the news story went away. As we head towards a new year, let's all hope for the best.