,
It’s been a year that will be remembered as one of the weirdest in history. Every morning seemed to bring with it a slew of stories that just got more and more bizarre. The “unprecedented” spread of COVID-19, Kanye West’s attempt for the presidency and the vast popularity of “WAP” weren’t even close to the strangest stories we saw this year.
Here is a review of the weirdest news from 2020 (accompanied by the hope that 2021 will be much less interesting) :
Monoliths
Enough monoliths have been discovered across the world that the story has become stale, but for two weeks, it seemed like it was the only thing anyone was talking about.
A 10-foot, metallic monolith was found in the Utah desert by government employees. It was unclear who created the object or how long it had been in the remote location. But soon copycat artists began installing similar sculptures in other places all over the world.
To date, there are at least 10 different monoliths found in greatly separated locations around the world.
Jet Pack Man Sightings
After investigating numerous reports from LAX flight crews of a man seen flying alongside planes in a jetpack, the FBI says witnesses likely saw a balloon that looked like a person wearing a jetpack.
Following two separate reports in September and an additional report in October—all from professional flight crews—the FBI began investigating the possibility that a man was using a jetpack to illegally occupy air space over Los Angeles International Airport.
Last month a spokesperson for the bureau told reporters that the agency had yet to explain the sightings, however it was believed that flight crews had mistakenly misidentified a balloon or a “drone designed to look like a jet pack or person.”
UFOs Are Real Now
In April the U.S. Navy released three videos of what can only be described as UFOs. In August the Pentagon announced the establishment of an official agency to investigate the phenomena.
The new agency is called the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), and a press release from the agency says it’s no joke. The task force was established to “detect, analyze and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security. … The Department of Defense and the military departments take any incursions by unauthorized aircraft into our training ranges or designated airspace very seriously and examine each report.”
Murder Hornets
Earlier in the year insect experts raised a warning that the U.S. could become the new home of a dangerous insect dubbed the “murder hornet.”
Asian giant hornets are known to kill people in some parts of the world. In Japan they kill around 50 people a year. The hornets’ stingers carry an extremely painful venom that victims say feels like hot metal and has a higher toxicity than that of other insects. The stingers have also been known to penetrate bee suits. The venom generated by a small colony of hornets could kill a 150-pound animal.
Researchers spotted the dangerous insect early in the year in Washington. It was the first time an Asian giant hornet had been seen in America. So far the population has not been seen anywhere else in the U.S.
Mysterious Drones
In early January witnesses in Colorado and surrounding states reported seeing numerous large drones flying in formation. Investigations conducted by federal agents were inconclusive, and the mystery was never solved.
The formations were seen in rural areas of eastern Colorado and adjacent counties in Nebraska and Kansas. Witnesses said some of the drones appeared to have wingspans of up to six feet. The sightings continued for weeks and drew the attention of the Federal Aviation Administration, which investigated.
Agency reports state that the drones were seen flying in grid formations and mention a “mother ship.” The reports described sightings in which numerous smaller drones could be seen forming around a larger cylindrical drone.
