OUR DUMB CENTURY: REPORTS FROM THE FRONTIERS OF HISTORY

Disco diva Gloria Gaynor survives Andes plane crash by eating rugby players

ORURO, BOLIVIA, 20 November 1978 - Disco superstar Gloria Gaynor was discovered alive by rescue workers Sunday, the sole survivor of a Bolivian rugby-team plane crash three months ago.

Gaynor, who on 19 August was travelling to Chile with the rugby team to sing the Bolivian national anthem at a game, was stranded in a remote section of the Andes for nearly 100 days after the plane crashed. She said she survived by eating the athletes.

"At first I was afraid, I was petrified," said Gaynor, who lost more than 40 pounds during the ordeal. "I thought that I could never live stranded on that mountainside. I stayed up so many nights, just feeling sorry for myself. But, once I overcame my aversion to eating other human beings, I grew strong and I learned how to get along."

Gaynor said she resisted cannibalism for the first two weeks on the mountain. But, when she ran out of possible food sources and realized it was her only chance for survival, she relented.

"I said I will survive," Gaynor said. "I will survive."

The above is an extract from 'Our Dumb Century', a satirical history in newspaper form, edited by Scott Dikkers, and published by Boxtree, pounds 9.99.

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