Free Republic

PASCAGOULA, Miss. – Authorities said a Mississippi Gulf Coast man apparently thought he was at his girlfriend's place when he wandered into another couple's home and fell asleep on their couch. Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd told The Mississippi Press that a couple in the St. Martin community found a stranger snoozing on their couch and cuddling a teddy bear late Saturday.

DETROIT — Linda Rose (search) says she spent three hours crouched in the corner of a concrete cell at the Saginaw County Jail (search), shivering and sobbing, after deputies stripped her of her clothes and left her naked in front of a surveillance camera. "They don't need to strip you of your clothes and your dignity," said Rose, who was arrested in 2001 for drunken driving. The claim by the 36-year-old bartender is one of dozens of accounts of humiliating treatment that have emerged as part of a lawsuit against the county.

Seeking out human touch has never been so anonymous, intimate or easy as in a new phenomenon called a cuddle party. "I love to cuddle. I love to meet new people and make friends," said Kelly, a cuddle party participant. Cuddle parties are the newest trend sweeping the country. Both young and old people are taking part. At a cuddle party, complete strangers nuzzle, massage, hug and sometimes even kiss. "They are often experiencing a loss. Maybe they've just broken up with a boyfriend. Maybe they've just lost a wife. They really need the energy that comes from close physical...