A trio of remarkable creatures witnessed in the wild, a man who was busted for trying to cook a chicken in the Yellowstone hot springs, and a doctor in India that paid big bucks for what he was led to believe was a magical lamp were among the odd and enlightening stories to cross our desk this week.
Easily the weirdest story of the week occurred in India where con artists managed to trick a doctor into buying what they described as a magical wish-granting lamp for a whopping $41,600. The months-long scheme saw two men impersonate the sons of an ailing woman and slowly convince the victim of the caper that they literally possessed Aladdin's famed lamp. So committed to the caper were the con artists that one of them actually dressed up as the legendary genie in order to prove to the doctor that their story was true. Eventually, their story fell apart when he provided the sizeable down payment on the lamp and grew suspicious when they refused to let him take possession of the 'magical' item.
The wonders of the animal kingdom were on full display this week by way of three stories featuring some truly unique creatures which call our planet home. Off the coast of Australia, scientists captured the first-ever footage of a bizarre-looking deep-sea denizen known as a ram's horn squid. Over in Madagascar, researchers in search of lost species of animals stumbled upon a breathtaking chameleon that has not been observed in the wild for over a century. And, in India, an amateur wildlife photographer snapped some remarkable images of an incredibly rare black tiger which, by virtue of a genetic condition known as pseudo-melanism wherein the creature's black stripes are so pronounced that they obscure its orange fur.
This past week presented us with a pair of strange stories that simply left us scratching our heads and asking, "what were they thinking?" First, a state trooper in Wisconsin stopped a motorist who was barreling down the highway with a snowmobile strapped sideways to the roof of their car. Although the man behind the wheel insisted that his jaw-dropping hauling operation was secure, authorities quickly put an end to the dual-vehicle trip upon pulling him over. Meanwhile, at Yellowstone National Park, a ranger caught a visitor who was trying to cook a chicken in the site's famed thermal spring. The ill-advised culinary technique earned the would-be chef a two-year ban from the park and a $1,200 fine.
For more strange and unusual stories, check out the Coast to Coast AM website.