A possible Bigfoot sighting in Arizona, a creepy teddy bear that shut down a California gas station, and a bizarre 'yeti blood oath' ritual that caused controversy at a Colorado seminary were among the weird and wondrous stories to cross our desk this past week.
A pair of bizarre crimes found their way into the headlines this past week, beginning with a weird case in California where what was believed to have been a teddy bear wrapped in human skin was found sitting outside a gas station. As one might imagine, the macabre discovery prompted a sizeable response from police and emergency personnel. Fortunately, it was later determined that the toy was created by an artist who sold the piece to a person who was later arrested for causing the commotion. Later in the week, a Florida woman was hit with multiple charges after she allegedly attacked another motorist with bear mace after they ran over a chicken that was trying to cross the road in front of them.
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This past week featured news of a rather remarkable Bigfoot sighting reported by a trio of people searching for a camper who had gotten lost in the Arizona wilderness. While looking for the woman at night, the group of volunteers cast a massive flashlight on some brush and spotted what one witness described as a seven-foot-tall bipedal creature covered in brown and white hair. Approximately 200 feet away from the mysterious figure, they observed that it sported a flat, leathery face devoid of fur. Eerily, when the camper was found the following day, she indicated that she had run into the woods after being chased by glowing lights.
Photo: Getty Images
By far the weirdest story of the week came by way of Colorado, where a priest came under fire for orchestrating a fake blood oath ritual involving a man in a Yeti costume. The bizarre 'ceremony' occurred during a ski trip organized by a Denver seminary. Hoping to create a bonding moment for the men on the trip, Fr. John Nepil staged an elaborate scene in which each student was taken to a room where they were greeted by the faux Yeti and told that they had to take a sacred blood oath to be a part of the Church. The rite of passage was, of course, an elaborate prank by Nepil that ultimately led to an investigation by the Archdiocese of Denver after word of the weird ski trip 'ceremony' spread beyond the bounds of the seminary.
For more strange and unusual stories from the past week check out the Coast to Coast AM website.