This Week's Weird News

A Flat Earth researcher who took his enthusiasm for the subject a little too far, an odd hole spotted on the surface of Mars, and a troubling case of what appears to have been vandalism aimed at one of Easter Island's iconic Maoi statues were among the strange, unusual, and enlightening stories that popped up on our radar this week.

The infamous Flat Earth theory found its way into the news this past week with two rather surprising stories. First, in a testament to the strange widespread appeal of the much-maligned concept, it was revealed that a survey found that seven percent of the Brazilian population, which is a whopping 11 million people, believe in the controversial idea. Meanwhile, here in America, a Flat Earth enthusiast found himself in trouble with the law following an ill-advised trip to the playground of an elementary school in South Carolina wherein he attempted to enlighten the children about the 'true' nature of the shape of our planet. As one can imagine, his surprise appearance was not very well received by administrators and the conspiracy theorist was subsequently arrested for public disorderly conduct.

The mysterious world of Mars was in the spotlight this week by way of a pair of stories, beginning with an eyebrow-raising image of a puzzling hole that NASA had spotted on the surface of the Red Planet. Particularly intriguing about the cave-like spot is that the space agency indicated that such a location would be the ideal place to look for life on Mars since it would provide shelter from the planet's otherwise harsh conditions. To that end, the search for life on the Red Planet will advance considerably in the not-too-distant future thanks to the next NASA Mars Rover which is scheduled to launch later this year and, this past week, was officially named 'Perseverance.'

Perhaps the most jaw-dropping story of the week occurred on Easter Island, where a Chilean man was arrested for crashing his truck into a platform holding one of the famed site's sacred Maoi statues. The shocking incident, suspected of being an intentional act of vandalism, was understandably met with considerable outrage on the island as the damage to the ancient megalith was described by one official as "incalculable." The motorist now faces charges of damaging a national monument for his thoughtless misadventure.

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


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