A possible UFO photographed by a selfie-taking tourist, a restaurant in China facing trouble for having a dumpling eating contest, and a con artist who allegedly bilked a woman out of over $300,000 by pretending to be God.
Two separate swindlers wound up in the news this past week, beginning with a case in Ireland where a purported psychic was sentenced to one year in prison for having bilked a man out of more than $10,000. Found guilty of 'dishonestly inducing by deception,' Debbie Paget convinced her victim, James Byrne, to give her the money by claiming that the man's late father had contacted her from the 'other side' and insisted that he fork over the funds. An even more audacious scheme was revealed later in the week when a man from Spain was accused of tricking a deeply religious woman into giving him over $300,000 by pretending that he was God and promising to put her funds in the Bank of Heaven.
Photo: Getty Images
This past week featured a pair of strange stories surrounding an excessive amount of food and the response in their respective countries was decidedly different. First, in China, a restaurant came under fire for hosting a contest wherein patrons were challenged to eat over 100 dumplings as fast as possible. Alas, the competition caught the attention of authorities, who announced an investigation into the eatery as they believe the encouraged gorging violated a newly enacted law against food waste. Meanwhile, over in Thailand, Burger King restaurants were inundated with customers curious to try the chain's newest creation: a nightmarish 'burger' that consists of 20 slices of American cheese and no meat.
Photo: Getty Images
A tourist visiting some picturesque sand dunes in Mexico inadvertently wound up becoming something of a viral sensation this week after he snapped a selfie at the location and accidentally captured what appears to be a flying saucer in the background. Ramiro Navarro took the peculiar picture during a trip to the Dunes of Bilbao and did not even notice the oddity behind him until he shared some vacation photos with a friend, who spotted the anomaly in the image. The tourist subsequently shared the strange selfie on social media, where it spread like wildfire with many observers wondering if Navarro had caught something alien in nature, while skeptics dismissed the 'UFO' as merely a bug or a bird.
For more strange and unusual stories from the past week, check out the Coast to Coast AM website.