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New Zealand man sells his soul to 'Hell'
by CNN
Thanks to Larry Altree for the link.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/07/03/nzealand.soul.ap/index.html
New Zealand man sells his soul to 'Hell'
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A New Zealand man has sold his soul to hell -- Hell Pizza, that is.
The New Zealand pizza chain said Thursday it had struck a deal with Walter Scott, 24, to buy a deed to his soul, shortly after an online auction site that initially agreed to the sale withdrew it from the Internet because of complaints it was in bad taste.
Scott offered his soul on the TradeMe site on Wednesday, saying he had not found it to be much use.
"I can't see it, touch it or feel it, but I can sell it, so I'm going to palm it off to the highest bidder," Scott, 24, said on the sale site.
The auction attracted more than 32,000 hits and more than 100 bids before it was taken down.
TradeMe business manager Michael O'Donnell said the company had received an "overwhelming number of complaints from the TradeMe community."
"A lot of people felt it was offensive even though we thought it was there for good fun," he told The Associated Press. "So the compliance team pulled it."
He said the auction had also attracted many bogus bids -- while the last bid on the site was listed as $3,799, the last genuine bid was $456.
Rachael Allison, head of marketing for Hell Pizza, which has outlets across New Zealand and trades on a naughty image, said the company contacted Scott shortly after the auction was removed and offered him $3,800.
"The soul belongs to Hell, there is simply no better place for it," Allison told The Associated Press. "He was pretty delighted."
O'Donnell had said on Wednesday that Scott's auction complied with TradeMe's rules because a physical object -- the deed of ownership -- would change hands.
In 2001, 20-year-old U.S. university student Adam Burtle tried to sell his soul on eBay, but the auction was pulled after the company ruling that something tangible needed to be exchanged for a viable sale.
Allison said she would fly to Scott's home town of Wanganui on North Island Friday "to pick up the soul -- or at least the deed of ownership."
The deed would be hung on a wall at the company's headquarters in the northern city of Auckland and an image of it posted on the company's Web site.
"We'd love to get his soul in the virtual world -- to keep it immortal," she said.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/07/03/nzealand.soul.ap/index.html
New Zealand man sells his soul to 'Hell'
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A New Zealand man has sold his soul to hell -- Hell Pizza, that is.
The New Zealand pizza chain said Thursday it had struck a deal with Walter Scott, 24, to buy a deed to his soul, shortly after an online auction site that initially agreed to the sale withdrew it from the Internet because of complaints it was in bad taste.
Scott offered his soul on the TradeMe site on Wednesday, saying he had not found it to be much use.
"I can't see it, touch it or feel it, but I can sell it, so I'm going to palm it off to the highest bidder," Scott, 24, said on the sale site.
The auction attracted more than 32,000 hits and more than 100 bids before it was taken down.
TradeMe business manager Michael O'Donnell said the company had received an "overwhelming number of complaints from the TradeMe community."
"A lot of people felt it was offensive even though we thought it was there for good fun," he told The Associated Press. "So the compliance team pulled it."
He said the auction had also attracted many bogus bids -- while the last bid on the site was listed as $3,799, the last genuine bid was $456.
Rachael Allison, head of marketing for Hell Pizza, which has outlets across New Zealand and trades on a naughty image, said the company contacted Scott shortly after the auction was removed and offered him $3,800.
"The soul belongs to Hell, there is simply no better place for it," Allison told The Associated Press. "He was pretty delighted."
O'Donnell had said on Wednesday that Scott's auction complied with TradeMe's rules because a physical object -- the deed of ownership -- would change hands.
In 2001, 20-year-old U.S. university student Adam Burtle tried to sell his soul on eBay, but the auction was pulled after the company ruling that something tangible needed to be exchanged for a viable sale.
Allison said she would fly to Scott's home town of Wanganui on North Island Friday "to pick up the soul -- or at least the deed of ownership."
The deed would be hung on a wall at the company's headquarters in the northern city of Auckland and an image of it posted on the company's Web site.
"We'd love to get his soul in the virtual world -- to keep it immortal," she said.
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Posted: Thursday, July 3, 2008 | PermalinkComments 1 - 50 of 74 |
Reload Comments | Back to Top | Page Numbers2. Comment #203611 by qomak on July 3, 2008 at 8:33 am
Quick, we all have to sell our souls before supply surpasses the demand. Other Comments by qomak
3. Comment #203618 by Apathy personified on July 3, 2008 at 8:46 am
Interesting idea...I'm taking highest bidders on my conscience, in almost new condition, barely used, who wants to start the bidding?
My senses of decency and self respect will be sold separately
Other Comments by Apathy personified
4. Comment #203619 by schmeer on July 3, 2008 at 8:51 am
I would have settled for a large pizza. Did Hell Pizza place the final bid for $456? Good deal for the seller.Other Comments by schmeer
5. Comment #203621 by DamnDirtyApe on July 3, 2008 at 8:55 am
Bah, don't sell yourself short fellas!
Soul for sale, £50000 ono. One previous owner.
Other Comments by DamnDirtyApe
6. Comment #203623 by garywheron on July 3, 2008 at 9:00 am
Can I assume that if he doesn't deliver his soul in time the company will get it for free?Other Comments by garywheron
7. Comment #203627 by Mitchell Gilks on July 3, 2008 at 9:09 am
Wow, wish someone would give me 3,800 for free. Other Comments by Mitchell Gilks
8. Comment #203632 by evolver23 on July 3, 2008 at 9:16 am
I would have settled for a large pizza. Did Hell Pizza place the final bid for $456? Good deal for the seller.
If I read it correctly, I think they offered him $3800. Brilliant. I'm going to start a business selling deeds to invisible things that don't exist. Maybe I'll call it Invisiworld...
Other Comments by evolver23
9. Comment #203640 by eclampusvitus on July 3, 2008 at 9:35 am
Of course, the market rate for souls is $666.ECV
Other Comments by eclampusvitus
10. Comment #203651 by konquererz on July 3, 2008 at 10:09 am
damn it! I sold my sold to some doofus at work for 15 bucks because I needed lunch money! ARG! I didn't know I could get thousands of dollars for it! Other Comments by konquererz
11. Comment #203655 by mordacious1 on July 3, 2008 at 10:23 am
You guys, our souls aren't worth shit, because we are all heading to hell anyway. The only souls that have value, are the souls, like Ted Haggart's who has been born again, and again in jesus and are for sure heading for heaven. People don't want a black, ravaged soul like mine...they want a crisp clean, white soul...like Tony Blairs.But, if this Pizza chain wants my soul, they can have it for a large pizza and a couple of cold beers.
Other Comments by mordacious1
12. Comment #203658 by Your_Noodly_Master on July 3, 2008 at 10:28 am
Shouldn't some Christian organization start offering to buy any loose souls that end up on the market in order to "save" them? We should start suggesting this to evangelicals we run across. Then there wouldn't be a supply vs. demand problem.Other Comments by Your_Noodly_Master
13. Comment #203663 by Jaz on July 3, 2008 at 10:33 am
This isn't a new idea/joke really. I guess this guy had just finished watching the Simpsons episode "Bart Sells His Soul" Other Comments by Jaz
14. Comment #203666 by KRKBAB on July 3, 2008 at 10:42 am
"Overwhelming number of complaints from the TradeMe community"? Your kidding, right? THIS is a perfect place for TOTAL ridicule at the religious community. I think ridicule (as R.D. suggests)isn't always a good tactic, but here it's PERFECT. I'd love to say to some one- You believe in SOULS? I can't freakin' believe it. That's one of the stupidest things I've ever heard- and then wait for their response.Other Comments by KRKBAB
15. Comment #203689 by Faithhead on July 3, 2008 at 11:18 am
Love it!!
Me next!!
Other Comments by Faithhead
16. Comment #203690 by crazy4blues on July 3, 2008 at 11:18 am
Okay, fine. But what about depreciation? What about the re-sale value??? Other Comments by crazy4blues
17. Comment #203695 by Border Collie on July 3, 2008 at 11:26 am
Good grief ...Other Comments by Border Collie
18. Comment #203705 by cyberguy on July 3, 2008 at 11:59 am
I had the same idea about a year ago, but I thought it had been done already - at a similar time to when people started selling their virginity, etc, on eBay.
Your_Noodly_Master wrote "Shouldn't some Christian organization start offering to buy any loose souls that end up on the market in order to "save" them? We should start suggesting this to evangelicals we run across. Then there wouldn't be a supply vs. demand problem."
Maybe RD.net should become the leading online soul-broker in order to raise money for the RD Foundation? The main difficulties to maintaining the value of souls would be to stop individuals selling their soul repeatedly, and also verifying that a given "Deed of Soul" was genuine. Then you have a market.
The key to it though is putting the wind up the christians so they get in on the act. And if word got out that a satanist cult was buying up all the available souls you would have real competition in the marketplace.
The LDS might be interested as well...
Other Comments by cyberguy
19. Comment #203707 by Artifactorfiction on July 3, 2008 at 12:01 pm
If every atheist were to sell his soul , on whatever, it would certainly raise our profile somewhat - it would be bound to make the news etc.Probably the market in souls would collapse - too much on the supply side
But a few questions seem obvious...
....does the concept of depreciation apply when the goods are immortal?
....for the buyer, can this be offset against their tax burden (like a pension investment for example)
(Remember, the value of your investments can go down as well as up)
....can you use such acquired souls to pay of the debt of any sin redeemable at an unspecified future time?
Third parties could 'add value' to their product portfolio by praying (for the sins of the vendors of aforementioned soul goods), hence raising there market value etc.
In these times of tight credit, this could be just the commodity we need to stave of recession. You could go as far as to say it is our economic duty to start buying and selling souls.
A middleman could make a fortune....
....soul'd to the highest bidder
Whoops, sorry I'm just rambling now.
Anyway, I'd be lucky to cover postage and packaging costs ...
Other Comments by Artifactorfiction
20. Comment #203720 by flobear on July 3, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Would the transfer of a soul be a taxable exchange in the US? Would someone have to report it to the IRS? Perhaps capital gains tax will be applied after a re-sale. Other Comments by flobear
21. Comment #203731 by the great teapot on July 3, 2008 at 12:59 pm
"CHIRISTIANS COMPLAIN SALE OF SOUL IN BAD TASTE"This sort of thing makes my blood boil. All those europeans, sorry, christians- they all look the same to me, if they don't like it why don't they all **** off back home?
Other Comments by the great teapot
22. Comment #203734 by Ansu on July 3, 2008 at 1:06 pm
You could start a company that deal exclusively with soul selling. You could put a price on it and display a simbol of ownership somewhere everyone can see it and let the free market decide the price of each soul. Then you could add something funny like nicknaming the soul you own and... OMG FACEBOOK APLICATION FRIENDS FOR SALE IS STEALING OUR SOULS!!!! Other Comments by Ansu
23. Comment #203736 by irate_atheist on July 3, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Quality. The man's a genius. Other Comments by irate_atheist
24. Comment #203739 by cyberguy on July 3, 2008 at 1:15 pm
A soul futures market? Other Comments by cyberguy
25. Comment #203746 by alovrin on July 3, 2008 at 1:30 pm
TradeMe business manager Michael O'Donnell said the company had received an "overwhelming number of complaints from the TradeMe community."
Thats New Zealand for you.
70%, according to a spokesperson for the catholic church, follow some religious faith. I think she was including muslims as well.
NZers are so inclusive.
Other Comments by alovrin
26. Comment #203747 by aprilmb on July 3, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Re: Comment #203632 by evolver23 on July 3, 2008 at 9:16 am
Brilliant. I'm going to start a business selling deeds to invisible things that don't exist. Maybe I'll call it Invisiworld...
Great idea, but if you really want to sell invisible things that don't exist let's sell god. That ought to fetch a good price.
Other Comments by aprilmb
27. Comment #203748 by tahustvedt on July 3, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Isn't that fraud? :)
I wonder if there're any legal implications with selling my soul multiple times.
Other Comments by tahustvedt
28. Comment #203749 by Don_Quix on July 3, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Hmmm. Since the Mormons can get away with posthumously baptizing people, I wonder if I could get away with selling deeds to other peoples' souls. Other Comments by Don_Quix
29. Comment #203750 by Artifactorfiction on July 3, 2008 at 1:37 pm
It would add a new dimension to identity theft - someone could steal your details and then sell your soulYou could build a fake identity (find someone who died young who was born at a similar time as yourself and start applying for birth certificates etc) - then you could sell their soul...?
This needs a regulatory body :-)
Other Comments by Artifactorfiction
30. Comment #203752 by aprilmb on July 3, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Oops! I forgot that the selling of god is already THE major industry in the world.Other Comments by aprilmb
31. Comment #203758 by tahustvedt on July 3, 2008 at 2:03 pm
There's a place in Norway called Hell. It's nearby the place I went to boot camp. Fitting, because boot camp is almost Hell. I took the train through Hell station many times and there's a sign that says: "Hell. Gods ekpedisjon." Which I thought was funny.
(Gods is norwegian for goods, and ekspedisjon is norwegian for expedition)
Hell was cold and wet, BTW.
Other Comments by tahustvedt
32. Comment #203759 by mordacious1 on July 3, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Let me change the old brain joke:A man goes into the "Soul & Blues" store for some used souls. He sees the first container of souls and it's marked $100/lb. "Wow", he exclaims "How come so much? The owner says, "Well, those are priest souls, very, very clean. And you know we have to sort out the one's that, well you know had some indescretions, and that raises the price".
"I see", says the man. Then he looks at the next container of souls. "$200/lb, man! What makes these more expensive than priest souls?" The owner says, "Those are Bishop souls, much rarer to find good clean souls there, you know".
"Yes, I understand that", then he sees the next container,"Holy shit, $1000/lb, what in the name of god could make souls that expensive?"
"Erm, those are atheist souls", says the owner.
"Why in the fuck would atheist souls cost so damn much?"
Owner: "Do you know how many atheists it takes to get a pound of clean souls?"
Other Comments by mordacious1
33. Comment #203761 by Oystein Elgaroy on July 3, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Comment #203758 by tahustvedtAs a matter of fact my sister works in a church close to Hell.
Other Comments by Oystein Elgaroy
34. Comment #203763 by Steve Zara on July 3, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Comment #203758 by tahustvedtThere's a place in Norway called Hell.
Google maps shows a place called Heaven close to Bury St Edmonds in Suffolk, UK.
(I would try and give some kind of reference to it on Google Earth, but the evil Linux version crashes my video drivers under Ubuntu)
Other Comments by Steve Zara
35. Comment #203764 by Lord Zero on July 3, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Its this even real ? If there is people over there who
are ready to pay, i would start a company
selling them.
Other Comments by Lord Zero
36. Comment #203766 by JHJEFFERY on July 3, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I sold my soul for a pretty good price. Unfortunately, I invested the proceeds in the U.S. stock market.Other Comments by JHJEFFERY
37. Comment #203770 by decius on July 3, 2008 at 2:29 pm
I would try and give some kind of reference to it on Google Earth, but
Use google maps, it's equally functional and detailed.
http://maps.google.com/maps
Other Comments by decius
39. Comment #203776 by decius on July 3, 2008 at 2:38 pm
I prefer this place.http://tinyurl.com/5lgtvs
Other Comments by decius
40. Comment #203779 by perkyjay on July 3, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Steve Zara: Heaven looks like it might be a pub; the co-ordinates seem to be 52/21.58'/56" N and0/52.0'/72" E. I've been away from UK except on vacations for over 50 years, so it may only look like a pub from "the air".
Other Comments by perkyjay
41. Comment #203781 by Jenny Taylier on July 3, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Can I suggest Christians respond by wearing T-Shirts with the following slogan:"We're Christians - We love our souls"
(But don't say it out loud)
Other Comments by Jenny Taylier
42. Comment #203783 by Szymanowski on July 3, 2008 at 2:58 pm
That's pretty cheap marketing. A good ruse by both buyer and seller. Other Comments by Szymanowski
43. Comment #203784 by Simonw on July 3, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Legally selling your soul more than once is probably fine, as long as you don't claim to have only one soul in any of the contracts. Some ancient egyptians believed we were composite beings with multiple souls.The buyer might assume you have only one soul, but if so ask him to prove his assertion.
Caveat Emptor. I know of no defects on any of my souls - so they clearly are also of merchantable quality. All major credit cards accepted.
Other Comments by Simonw
44. Comment #203790 by Chris_The_Positivist on July 3, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Well we're all going to hell anyway aren't we? We haven't accepted jesus or aren't believers in the prophet mohammed..I would sell mine but it escaped the last time I sneezed... :(
Other Comments by Chris_The_Positivist
45. Comment #203801 by Telic on July 3, 2008 at 4:17 pm
So when we die ........ we're all going for pizza and beer in NZ?Sounds all right to me ;)
Other Comments by Telic
46. Comment #203804 by Goldy on July 3, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Aaaah, TradeMe :-) Because of this site and that, I get no work done. I particularly liked the stick that was on sale once - similar to the one used by Moses to part the Red Sea (sea parting properties not guaranteed).Got a roman blind on sale in TradeMe, if anyone is interested.
And I was particularly underwhelmed by Hell pizzas. I make better...
Other Comments by Goldy
47. Comment #203805 by markg on July 3, 2008 at 4:31 pm
So when we die ........ we're all going for pizza and beer in NZ?
Not necessarily. For those of us in the U.S. who may not be able to afford the travel expense in the afterlife there's another option: http://www.hell2u.com/
Other Comments by markg
48. Comment #203813 by Lightnin on July 3, 2008 at 5:04 pm
TradeMe business manager Michael O'Donnell said the company had received an "overwhelming number of complaints from the TradeMe community."
"A lot of people felt it was offensive even though we thought it was there for good fun," he told The Associated Press. "So the compliance team pulled it."
read: A bunch of obnoxious busy-bodies thought they'd ruin everyones fun by demanding that individuals personal actions comply with their bronze age mythology.
Other Comments by Lightnin
49. Comment #203818 by perkyjay on July 3, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Jenny Taylier: When I was at school in England during WWII, we sang an anthem, with one line that read "Our souls are turned to Thee O Lord".No prizes for how we chose to pronounce it. BTW - that's a cute handle; why no avatar ?
Other Comments by perkyjay
50. Comment #203820 by spankermatic on July 3, 2008 at 5:52 pm
@ alovrin : nah its not 70%. That last census in 2006 it was less than that - more like 65%. See here for the full story on NZ religious affiliationshttp://www.stats.govt.nz/census/2006-census-data/quickstats-about-culture-identity/quickstats-about-culture-and-identity.htm?page=para012Master
"The number and proportion of people indicating that they had no religion continued to increase in the 2006 Census. In 2006, 1,297,104 people (34.7 percent) stated that they had no religion, compared with 1,028,052 people (29.6 percent) in the 2001 Census."
Other Comments by spankermatic
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1. Comment #203607 by happinessiseasy on July 3, 2008 at 8:28 am
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