Wallace and Gromit are of the devil.

At least that's what people of the island of Portland think. I'm gonna admit some serious ignorance here. I don't actually know where that island is, but I think it's somewhere in the vicinity of The British Isles. Anyway, according to a news report on BBC radio, hundreds of years ago it was determined that a rabbit is the sign of the devil, or the devil's familiar, if you will. The story goes something like this. There were some men who were working in a quarry, one of the island's main industries, and there was a string of dangerous accidents. Now, I gather that this profession is inherently dangerous, but I guess this season was worse than most. So, of course they decided that the devil was causing all these problems, and the only way to get rid of him was to smoke him out. They then set fire to the brush all around the quarry, and a little rabbit ran out of the brush. Well, there he was, proof of the devil! The quarry's luck immediately turned around, and from then on, it was forbidden to say the word “rabbit”, for fear of invoking the devil. This continues today. A “true” Portlander will never say the word, and the guy who was being interviewed said that whenever somebody does say the word, something bad happens to them, like the guy who was joking about it with some friends by the seashore, and after he said the dreaded word, he fell off a retaining wall and plunged into the sea. The guy being interviewed said something like, “Call it coincidence, call it whatcher like, but I call it the devil's work.” As you can imagine, the new full length feature film entitled “Wallace and Gromit, the Curse of the WereRabbit” has caused some consternation in those parts. Nobody is going to see the movie, because, you see, you can't just “bleep” out the offending word. The whole movie is about a You-Know-What! The interviewer obviously found the whole thing quaint and entertaining, but it was equally obvious that the man from Portland did not. The interview ended with the Portlander pointing out that the studio that produced the movie had a massive fire recently, and the entire set for the movie was burned to the ground. “That's got ta mean sometin', hasn't it?” So, all you LDS mothers out there, be comforted that the devil is not found in Ouija boards, or downward pointed stars, or MTV. He's in England, making movies with characters who have big, clay lips who really like their vegetables. Makes you look at the story Peter Rabbit in a whole new light, doesn't it?