The tauntaun trick

Stephen and Sheila Joyce spent a scary night in Newfoundland after they lost their way tracking a moose on a hunting expedition. They had wounded the young animal near Gros Morne National Park and were following the trail of blood. By the time they caught up with it, they were soaking wet and shivering. "My wife thought it would be a good idea to skin the calf and we could use the skin as a blanket. Then we found a place under the root of a tree. It was quite horrific. We really were expecting the worst for a period of time there and we really didn’t know what would happen. The direction we were going was the wrong one,” said Stephen. The next morning, weak and scared, they met up with searchers, after which they provided the media with the photos above and took the opportunity to thank everyone who helped them survive the ordeal. “We really, really appreciate the effort that was put into ... well, preserving us from perishing in the woods."

When I read this story in the weird news last week, I was reminded of "The Empire Strikes Back," in which Han Solo slices open the belly of a tauntaun, allowing Luke Skywalker to climb inside to protect himself from the icy weather. The Canada couple did not cite this scene as spurring their decision, but it has inspired a verb (2nd definition here), a sleeping bag, a wedding cake, and a bloody photo shoot by an Oregon woman (photos here - caution). Secondarily, the photo above recalls my earlier posts about the New York man who planned to don a bear carcass for criminal purposes and the British girl born with a red nose.