This Week's Weird News 10/9/26

Plans for a Loveland Frogman statue, a pair of wild big cat cases from Europe, and a jaw-dropping brown bear encounter captured by a dashcam in Japan were among the weird and wondrous stories to cross our desk this past week.

A pair of legendary regional cryptids had moments in the sun this past week, beginning with the launch of a campaign to create a statue of the Loveland Frogman in the Ohio city that the amphibious being calls home. Envisioned sitting atop a water feature in a park, the sculpture would pay homage to the creature that has become something of a sensation in recent years. Meanwhile, in Minnesota, an author announced that he is offering a whopping $60,000 to anyone who can provide proof that a legendary lake monster, dubbed Pepie, resides in the sizeable Lake Pepin. Procuring the prize could prove difficult as the bounty requires substantial tangible evidence of the serpentine creature.

Two rather compelling big cat cases made headlines this past week. First, in England, multiple people reported seeing a sizeable feline roaming around near a village. The sightings became so commonplace in recent weeks that residents have taken to calling the elusive creature 'Catfoot' in a nod to the legendary cryptid of North American lore, and police were forced to issue a statement acknowledging the encounters and cautioning the public to be safe. Later in the week, authorities in Germany launched a massive search for a suspected puma filmed by a hunter at a reserve near the Munich Airport. As is often the case with such creatures, the effort proved futile, and the mysterious feline is still at large.

This past week featured a particularly wild video from Japan, where a motorist encountered an ornery brown bear that tried to attack her car. The jaw-dropping scene, captured via dashcam, occurred during a drive through the community of Bifuka in Hokkaido. Encountering the brown bear and its cub crossing the road, the motorist dutifully stopped the vehicle under the assumption the animals would make their way into the adjoining wilderness. The moment took a frightening turn, however, when the larger of the two creatures pivoted back to the car, furiously leapt onto the hood, and began swiping at the windshield that, fortunately, protected the driver from falling victim to the aggressive bear.

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