Residents in Northamptonshire were left puzzled after a bubbling brook turned blood red last week.

In fact some even compared it to a scene from a horror film – with others fearing it was a sign of the apocalypse.

One even commented: “The start of the book of revelations. Thou local waters will turn red like blood is the sign of the coming of the Anti Christ.”

But the reason behind the discolouration of the stream near the A43 in Moulton, turned out to be a lot less dramatic.

An investigation by the Environment Agency found an ink spillage had caused the water to flow red.

Saved from ‘vicious’ Santa

A woman who trapped her finger in the mouth of a dancing Father Christmas toy had to be rescued by firefighters.

The unnamed woman dialled 999 after she injured her-self while taking her festive decorations down from her home in Market Harborough.

A spokesman for Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Firefighters attended a property where a woman had her finger caught in a motorised Christmas decoration. The motor on the decoration was reversed and her finger was quickly freed. It is thought the decoration was a dancing Santa Claus toy.”

Thief ‘steals’ police handcuffs

A US man has been charged with stealing a pair of handcuffs he was wearing when he escaped from a police car.

Douglas Lydic had been cuffed but not yet charged while officers searched his Indiana home for drugs.

He climbed out of the car window and was found at his girlfriend’s home miles away.

Human brain tissue tip off

A man who allegedly stole human brain samples from a medical history museum was arrested after a California man who bought some of the tissue online alerted authorities.

David Charles, 21, was arrested after investigators were tipped off by a San Diego man who became suspicious about six jars of brain tissue he bought on eBay.

Charles faces theft and other charges.

Note pad in WWI auction

A notepad containing a number of tongue-in-cheek sketches by a soldier serving in World War I is expected to do well at auction as Britain prepares to mark the centenary of the Great War.

The doodles are contained in a notebook, discovered in a Derby house, and feature a number of accomplished drawings believed to have been created by an unknown Royal Engineer.

Commenting on the find, Charles Hanson, manager of Hansons Auctioneers in Etwall, Derbyshire, said: “Words can often be expressed in images and the sketches were made in France and are dated 1916-18. A hundred years on we can only imagine what was going through the mind of the unknown Royal Engineer.”