"Press Your Luck" had nothing to do with luck for one man

Remember the classic game show "Press Your Luck"?  The one with the obnoxious little red guys who steal people's money?  Well, according to Snopes.com, an Ohio man—Michael Paul Larson—who was a contestant on the show, memorized the light sequence on the game board, allowing him to land on any square that he wanted, and telling luck to take a seat.  He hit 35 squares in a row, accumulating the largest win in the history of the game at $110,237.

Game show officials quickly realized that Larson didn't just strike it lucky and had figured out some sort of pattern, but there was nothing that they could do because it wasn't illegal.  It was just unexpected.  Following this show, the show's producers capped winnings at $75,000 and recalibrated the board to avoid a similar situation in the future.

A little more information about Michael Paul Larson—he burned through his winnings within two years and became an assistant manager at his local Wal-Mart.

Was Mr. Ed Satan's steed?

There's a rumor floating around cyberspace that the words "sing the song for Satan" and "Satan's the singer" can be heard if you backmask (play backwards) the theme song of the famous 1960s television show "Mr. Ed."  The song was the subject of criticism by Christian groups during the 1980s when they claimed they discovered these satanic messages.

Not to spoil it for you, but we listened to the Mr. Ed theme song backwards and this is what we heard:

During the part that, when playing normally, says "That is of course unless...," we heard "sang the song or sade in," not "sing the song for Satan."

"Well listen to this..." sounds a lot like "sade in da sing gear," rather than "Satan's the singer."

We'll have to consider both of these pure coincidence.  Something tells us that songwriters Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, most famous for many classic songs from the same era, had no intention of prompting the skepticism of many religious folk.  It was a song about a horse that talks. In fact, the lyrics are copied below!

A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And no one can talk to a horse of course
That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mister Ed.

Go right to the source and ask the horse
He’ll give you the answer that you’ll endorse.
He’s always on a steady course.
Talk to Mister Ed.

People yakkity yak a streak and waste your time of day
But Mr. Ed will never speak unless he has something to say

A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And this one’ll talk ‘til his voice is hoarse.
You never heard of a talking horse?

Well listen to this: "I'm Mister Ed."