The latest Congressional hearing on UFOs, a celebrity witch doctor kidnapped in Nigeria, and an eerie glowing rectangle filmed floating over a city in India were among the weird and wondrous stories to cross our desk this week.
UFOs were in the spotlight in a major way this past week as Congress held a highly-anticipated hearing on the mysterious phenomenon. At the event, former Navy pilots Ryan Graves and David Fravor discussed their own encounters with peculiar aerial objects and whistleblower David Grusch detailed what he claims to be a clandestine government program centered around retrieving downed craft. While the hearing was short on specific answers as to what UFOs might be and why they keep appearing in our skies, the gathering was a testament to how far the subject has come in the last few years as the politicians on hand treated the entire affair with a remarkable level of seriousness.
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A pair of particularly puzzling pieces of possible paranormal evidence popped up in the news this past week, beginning with a wondrous video from India wherein a woman filmed a truly strange glowing rectangle seemingly floating in the sky. The mystifying anomaly spawned all manner of theories online with some suggesting that it was a portal or doorway, while others argued that it was a natural occurrence along the lines of the Brocken spectre. Later in the week, a curious trail cam photograph showing a small simian in the Florida wilderness spawned speculation that the odd-looking creature could be the state's Bigfoot-like creature known as the Swamp Ape.
Photo: Getty Images
By far, the weirdest story of the week came by way of Nigeria, where a wildly popular witch doctor wound up being kidnapped in a bizarre incident that left two people dead. At the center of the very strange case is self-described sorcerer Akwa Okuko Tiwari Aki, who has found fame via his lavish lifestyle purportedly produced with the aid of magic and his friendships with some of his country's biggest celebrities. Unfortunately for the witch doctor, it would seem that his purported powers were no match for a pair of armed individuals who killed his two bodyguards and subsequently took him captive. As of now, the sorcerer remains in the hands of his abductors, though police in the Nigeria have pledged to find him.
For more strange and unusual stories from the past week, check out the Coast to Coast AM website.