Paul the Octopus no more

Paul the psychic octopus died overnight at the Sea Life in Oberhausen, western Germany. And as if the story would continue to haunt me even after the 2010 FIFA World Cup, I actually got a call around lunch time from India telling me that Paul the psychic octopus had died. At that time I had no clue about Paul's death, but it wasn't to be the last call from India about the topic as people remembered me reporting live for Times Now from the aquarium ahead of Paul's final day pick for the third place playoff and final.

Paul had received global media attention after predicting all of Germany's seven matches at the 2010 FIFA World Cup correctly plus also picking Spain as the new world champions. An precidented eight out eight, which made Paul an instant celebrity; but he also had enemies who wanted to kill and eat him. It sometimes became a bizarre media story.

"Management and staff at the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre were devastated to discover that oracle octopus Paul, who achieved global renown during the recent World Cup, had passed away overnight," the aquarium said in a statement.

"He appears to have passed away peacefully during the night, of natural causes," said Sea Life manager Stefan Porwoll.

Paul was born in English waters, but brought early in life to Oberhausen. He made predictions of the Germany matches at the 2008 European Championships, getting four out of five results right, but no one would really follow the story. His breakthrough came after the Ghana game after he had predicted three matches correctly and the media hype grew with each passing game, reaching a never before seen climax on the Friday before the final weekend. Over the last few weeks it had become quiet about Paul and he died last night aged three of natural causes.


Here two of my own blog posts on Paul the Octopus during and after the 2010 FIFA World Cup:

July 9: The craze around Octopus Paul

July 16: Octopus Paul still a craze in India