Gory Real Estate

Some people believe that locations which have witnessed traumatic events absorb the negative energy expelled at the scene and manifest it for years to come as eerie phenomena. They say the bad vibes given off by murders and psychological abuse can re-appear as ghostly apparitions; the shadows of malevolent spiritual events, the horror of the past being played back in the present, as it were.

Those who believe that scenes of pain and suffering retain some of that violently expelled energy may question the current plans of the Nuremberg Zoo to house Germany's latest animal star in the "Cave of Death."

New polar bear celebrity Flocke, the cub born in December and saved from a fate worse than death by her keepers, will soon move into the prime bit of real estate being vacated by the notorious child killer, Vilma the Baby Eater.

The animal equivalent of the Bates Motel

The murderess Vilma shocked Germany in January when she snacked on her two recently-born offspring in "a moment of stress." Flocke's own mother, Vera, a confidante of Vilma, was suspected of plotting her own infanticide which led to the intervention by zoo keepers to save Flocke.

Now as the Nuremberg Zoo plans to promote Flocke as the new Knut, Berlin's global mega-bear, some believe that starting the young cub on the road to stardom from such a gruesome location is a potential disaster of Britney Spears proportions.

Exposing the bear to the world's media while housing her in a crime scene inhabited by the ghosts of her murdered childhood friends could be hugely damaging to Flocke's developing psyche. It could potentially lead to severe psychological problems in the future.

Years down the line, who's to say the world won't be watching a heavily tattooed Flocke being photographed having her fur shaved off or stepping out of secure transport vehicles without her underwear?

Fleeting fame or long-term psychosis?

However, it appears that the zoo authorities are more concerned with the here and now. Flocke will go on show at the "Cave of Death" in the spring and the clamor is expected to match that which surrounded Knut for the months before he got old, fat and left to deal with the trauma of sniffing German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel's crotch alone and without therapy.

Time will tell if young Flocke can survive the media circus which is bound to engulf her and, more importantly, whether the ghosts of the past will leave her in peace.