Here is one of those near-fiction stories, about a shark exploding, killing two people and injuring two others, according to the Mirror.
The scary story that happened more than 60 years ago has just been narrated by Cornwall Live.
The incident took place off the coast of the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwell. (Illustration).
At that time – at the height of the Cold War – several British naval divers were assigned to secret missions off the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwell.
Locals suspect that the navy secretly tested various explosives.
The day before the tragedy, Navy lieutenant Joseph Brooks said he saw a shark approaching him. Brooks, who has experience with sharks, saw the shark begin to swim towards an underwater diver. Brooks feared it would attack him.
However, the shark swam away after seeing the exhalation of the diver’s bubble.
A British naval diver. (Photo taken in the 1950s).
The next day, when Brooks boarded the boat with three other divers, he saw another shark circling their boat.
Fearing a repeat of yesterday’s incident, Brooks became worried and decided to try chasing or killing the shark.
Brooks, along with divers L Spicer, Leslie Nye and Richard Kirby armed with two explosives and prepared to attach it to the shark.
They fastened explosives to ropes. With a skillful throw, they managed to wrap the rope around the shark’s fin.
After that, Brooks and his teammates began to sail to shore, away from the sharks. However, the shark chased them and exploded while swimming beneath the boat.
The shark exploded right under the divers’ boat. (Illustration).
All four were blown into the water after the double explosion. Nye and Kirby were killed while Brooks and Spice were mortally wounded.
A resident named Ronald Curnow once spoke about the tragedy to the West Briton newspaper.
“I was at school and we had never heard of such an explosion. It was so loud that we all ran out of the classroom and down to the beach,” Curnow said.
“My father was an ambulance and ran to the beach, but there was nothing he could do for Leslie, his acquaintance. It happened during the Cold War and people suspect they (the navy) are testing top secret explosives and the shark story is just a made-up story.”