Lies, It Was All Lies: German Men Did Not Escape Nursing Home to Go to Metal Festival

A pair of residents at a German assisted living facility caused panic among the staff when they couldn't be found. It was originally thought that the two men sneaked out to attend the Wacken Open Air Festival, but a new report suggests they were just partying in a nearby town.

The apparently errant original report by Deutsche Welle said that authorities found the headbangers on the festival grounds in Schleswig Holstein at 3 AM, and sent them home in a taxi with an escort by a patrol car.

However, now the Associated Press says the duo were instead in the neighboring town of Wacken, and that the tale's only connection to the festival is that it was departing concert-goers who found them "helpless, disoriented and intoxicated” at a bus station.

This year's Wacken Open Air, considered to be the world's largest metal festival, features headlining slots by Judas Priest, Danzig and Hatebreed, with performances by Vince Neil, Dokken, Tremonti, Cannibal Corpse and Fozzy, among many others. The festival is sold out, with 75,000 people expected to attend each day.

Wacken Open Air is famous for a muddy ground, but the region has not experienced any rain in the days leading up to the festival. Instead, organizers have warned against the possibility of fire and dust. Police say that, as of now, the only arrests they've made have been for minor cases of drug possession.

To help combat the heat, beer is being transported to the grounds via a seven-kilometer pipeline. This, they promoters say, will protect the grounds from being torn up by the trucks that have always brought the beer and reduce traffic in the area. The pipeline contains enough pressure to pour six beers in six seconds, fast enough to satisfy the average daily demand of 5.1 liters per fan.