Down in One

Have you ever been so drunk that you don't know what day it is? Have you ever been so drunk that you've forgotten your name? Both levels of inebriation can bring on some rather unpleasant experiences both during and most certainly after inebriation.

Imagine, then, what it would be like to combine both a loss of identity and time through alcohol. How utterly hammered one would have to be to think you're Santa Claus and that it's Christmas Eve?

If there is one place where this level of intoxication could take place it's Oktoberfest. The beers are huge and strong, the culture permissive and the objective one of mass consumption.

So it should come as no surprise that the German man who got so wasted that he ended up in a chimney should have stumbled his way out of the "Weisn" grounds in Munich under the influence of enough grog to slay (sleigh?) a fleet of reindeer.

Playing Santa or just a drunk on a roof?

Whether the 27-year-old was indeed in the midst of a drunken Santa episode when he ended up head first down the chimney is a matter of conjecture. Someone who climbs onto the roof at two o'clock in the morning after a day-long Weißbier session is unlikely to remember anything of the events leading to a mishap or any persona he or she may have adopted along the way.

It is safe to assume though that Herr Claus was attempting to make a surprise visit to an apartment in the neighborhood. The man apparently set out from the fairground to visit a friend, according to his woozy recollections, but upon finding the friend not to be at home, Herr Claus then found himself on the roof of a neighboring building.

This is possibly where the Santa delusion began because after making yet another bad decision in a night filled with them, Herr Claus found himself sliding head first down a gap between the buildings, 30 meters (98 feet) into the chimney below.

Chimney-imprisoned man released by fire fighters

A full 12 hours later, the man was discovered by an 82-year-old janitor from the hotel next door who had heard his cries for help. Fire brigade officers then arrived to knock a hole into the side of the chimney to liberate him, a police spokesman later said.

Herr Claus had somehow managed to turn around inside the chimney and had removed his clothes in an attempt to make it easier for him to squeeze back up.

"Miraculously, he was only slightly injured in the fall, sustaining just grazes and bruising," the police spokesperson said. The man was taken by helicopter to the hospital, where he was treated for hypothermia.