Oktoberfest Brawls Down, Mug Thefts Up

If you're missing a set of dentures, a cat carrier, cymbals, a French horn, or a German Federal Cross of Merit second-class medal, you may have had a few beers too many at this year's Oktoberfest in Munich. A list of lost property has been released, along with crime statistics from the beer festival that show "beer mug brawls" were down almost 40% this year, but attempts to swipe the famous "Masskrug" beer mugs soared, reports AFP. Some 112,000 mugs were confiscated from people trying to smuggle them out of the festival, up from 81,000 last year.

An estimated 6.3 million people were at the world's biggest beer festival this year, and 6.5 million 1-liter mugs of beer were drunk over its 16 days, which ended with the traditional gun salute on Sunday, reports AP. There were around 600 cases of alcohol poisoning, the Bavarian Red Cross says, with the first case only two hours after the beer started to flow. There was one attempt to steal a whole trolley full of beer mugs, police say, but the strangest incident was the destruction of an "evil spirit" puppet on a haunted house ride by a 44-year-old man who jumped out of his car on the ride. (More Oktoberfest stories.)