Farewell To The Story Of A Lifetime: Paul The Psychic Octopus Memorialized In Germany

He rocketed to international stardom around the time of the World Cup semifinals last summer. He was threatened by Argentinians and designated for special protection by the Spanish government. He was awarded his own World Cup trophy, drew the scathing ire of the scientific community, and took Moscow by storm (where he also grew human teeth). Spending a summer covering the life and times of Paul the Psychic Octopus was the unequaled thrill of a lifetime for a young writer.
Paul died this past fall at the age of two and a half, you might have heard, and was curiously not buried at sea, but cremated and enshrined in his own golden octopus-shaped urn. And now, at his home of Sea Life Aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany, he’s being honored with a larger-than-life, vaguely sinister memorial. Click through for a full photo gallery, and reflect on that one halcyon summer, when a simple cephalopod captured (but did not eat) the hearts of the sporting world.