This Week's Weird News 5/17/24

A Chilean senator who believes he was abducted by aliens, an eerily accurate psychic enlisted to help find a missing woman, and possible photos of the Tasmanian Tiger are among the weird and wondrous stories that crossed our desk this past week.

A pair of stories wherein the worlds of politics and high strangeness crossed paths in particularly weird ways wound up in the news this past week. First, in Chile, a senator sparked headlines with the claim that he was abducted by aliens. Karim Bianchi stunned a media outlet with his account of seeing a UFO and then being transported over 100 miles away in what seemed to be mere seconds. Making his story even odder, the senator asserted that he was later visited at his office by a self-described extraterrestrial who told him that he would someday reveal the tale to the world. Later in the week, the Chief of Staff for the Culture Ministry of Slovakia raised eyebrows in his country when he mused to a reporter that the Earth may be flat.

This past week featured two stories involving sets of tantalizing photographs purportedly showing wondrous creatures. The first case emerged out of Sri Lanka, where a series of images said to feature a bizarre animal dubbed the 'Chikibilla' went viral on social media. Officials at the national park where the creepy creature, which resembled a chupacabra, was purportedly spotted indicated that no such sightings had occurred and that the images of the cryptid were a fabrication. Later in the week, debate swirled within the cryptozoological community when several photos seemingly showing the long-long Tasmanian Tiger surfaced online. For now, the veracity of those images remains uncertain, though some believe the creature could genuinely be the declared extinct thylacine.

Perhaps the most remarkable story of the week came by way of Louisiana, where a family credited a psychic with leading them to the remains of their missing mother. Following Theresa Jones' disappearance, her daughters were desperate for answers and turned to medium Carolyn Clapper in the hopes that she could provide them. Although the psychic sadly informed them that their mother had passed away, she was amazingly able to provide them with specific instructions as to where her remains would be found. Following the eerie lead the next day, one of Jones' daughters quickly discovered her body. The family is now hoping that police will consult with the psychic to get to the bottom of what they believe to be her suspicious death.

For more strange and unusual stories from the past week, check out the Coast to Coast AM website.