The legendary Endeavor shipwreck being discovered at last, a sacred Japanese stone that split in half, and bizarre smuggling busts made by border patrol agents were among the strange and unusual stories that crossed our desk this week.
This past week saw a rather eerie story emerge out of Japan, where a sacred rock said to be something of a prison for a sinister spirit suddenly split in half. Legend has it that Sessho-seki, or the 'killing stone,' is the transformed remains of a mystical nine-tailed fox that had inhabited the body of a woman who was caught plotting against Japan's emperor nearly a century ago. In modern times, a specific rock on the country's Mount Nasu has been believed to be the 'killing stone' in question and, in turn, it's become a popular tourist attraction. However, those days may be over as visitors to the site last weekend were stunned to see Sessho-seki sitting in two pieces on the ground. Officials say that cracks formed in the rock long ago caused the break, which we hope is the case since the alternative explanation is that the nine-tailed fox has been set loose upon the world again.
Photo: Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust
In a story which should give hope to anyone who has wished for answers to longstanding and iconic mysteries, a team of researchers announced this week that they had finally located explorer Ernest Shackleton's lost vessel Endurance, which had seemingly sunk into oblivion off the coast of Antarctica over a century ago. The subject of several searches over the last few years, the 1915 shipwreck had proven to be rather elusive until the group 'Endurance22' managed to not only locate it last month. In announcing the landmark find, they marveled at how the frigid waters kept the vessel incredibly well preserved to the point that its name can still be seen emblazoned on the stern of the ship.
Bizarre border busts made big news this past week by way of two very weird stories, beginning with an arrest at the US-Mexico crossing in San Diego where officers stopped a man who was trying to sneak into the country with a whopping 43 horned lizards and nine snakes hidden away in plastic bags distributed throughout his clothing. Meanwhile, at multiple ports of entry over the span of just three days, police put a stop to people attempting to smuggle bologna, of all things, across the border. Lest one think these were small incidents, authorities say that the two busts led to the seizure of a staggering 230 pounds of the deli meat.
For more strange and unusual stories from the past week,check out the Coast to Coast AM website.