The world thrilled to the antics of Paul the Octopus last year, the psychic cephalopod that correctly predicted a string of World Cup matches before his short two-year life came to an end. And it looks like there won’t be a reasonable replacement for the octopus any time soon… eight octopi who were recently auditioned for the replacement role failed to make the grade.
The Standard reports:
Since the death of Paul the Octopus, the unlikely star of last year’s men’s football World Cup, the nonhuman psychic business has become a little fishy. Many have tried to continue his legacy but just couldn’t follow in his footsteps.
Among the candidates were eight octopuses in various aquariums in Germany.
But all of them bombed out in the early stages of the women’s World Cup – including one named Paula, who backed Canada over Germany right in the first game. The Germans won 2-1.
The only forecaster with a little credibility left is Nelly, an 18-month African elephant at Germany’s Hodenhagen Serengeti Park.
A pair of zookeepers discovered her talent after accidentally hitting a football into her enclosure and she sent it soaring into the air.
So before every Germany game they set up two goals marked with flags of contending countries. Whichever goal she knocked the ball into was tipped to lose.
At first, picking winners proved to be peanuts – Nelly correctly predicted the outcome of every German match, including its loss to Japan.
But the pachyderm prophet lost a lot of followers when her semifinal choices, Sweden and France, fell to Japan and the United States.
Just for the sake of it, Nelly was still up for her final forecast – and she chose Japan to win it all last night.
What do you think—will we ever see a replacement for Paul? Or will his legacy live on in eternity as the only, the greatest, the best psychic octopus there ever was?
One thought on “No Replacement Found for Paul the Psychic Octopus”
That’s because Paul was one of a kind !