Paul The Psychic Octopus Dies

Paul The Octopus has drifted off to a fully-equipped aquarium in the sky.

The octopus oracle’s uncanny knack for predicting the winning teams for eight of the matches that made up last summer’s soccer World Cup Championships made him an international wonder.

The English-born Paul passed away peacefully early Tuesday as he slept at the Sea Life Center in Oberhausen, Germany.

He was two years old.

“He appears to have passed away peacefully during the night, of natural causes, and we are consoled by the knowledge that he enjoyed a good life here and that the care provided him by our dedicated displays team could not have been bettered,” says Sea Life Center manager Stefan Porwoll.

Even though Paul hadn’t been expected to live long due to the limited life expectancy of the common octopus species, aquarium staffers are reportedly devastated over the death. His body is being preserved “in cold storage while Sea Life management decides how best to mark his passing.”

“We may decide to give Paul his own small burial plot within our grounds and erect a modest permanent shrine,” says Porwoll, who vows that Paul’s legacy will live on at Sea Life. “A new younger common octopus had been acclimatizing behind the scenes. The new octopus shall be named Paul, too.”

A permanent sea turtle rescue center funded by donations in Paul’s name is planned for the Greek island of Zakynthos.

The sea creature recently retired from his clairvoyant career, shortly after predicting that England would host the 2018 World Cup. Paul was offered movie and book deals and acquired a talent agent after his talents as a tentacled fortune teller were exposed back in July. Yet, the eight-legged oracle quickly learned the downside of notoriety. Paul was flooded with death threats from German soccer fans angry that selected Spain (the eventual World Cup victors) as winners over his home team. He was even slammed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as an agent of “Western propaganda and superstition.”

What he must have gone through!

So long, Paul…..