8 Strange Things that Happened in 2016

By Joseph F. Nacino

The year 2016 has been such a dumpster fire of a year, so much so that a lot of us are probably looking forward to the year 2017.

However, we have to give it to this year for coming up with stories that interested us and made us do a double take after reading their headlines.

Here are eight strange things that happened in 2016, stories whose headlines made us give them a second look:

1. Megastructure in space

Via Space

First discovered in September 2015, a group of astronomers and scientists using the Kepler Space Telescope still can’t figure out the strange pattern in the light coming from the star named KIC 8462852 (called Tabby’s Star). The light seems to be blocked by an unusual mass of matter that some of the scientists theorized as being artificial (like a Dyson Sphere) and could be signs of an alien civilization.

2. Fake intelligence news

Via Opinyon

In October of this year, Senator Dick Gordon criticized the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) for submitting a confidential intelligence report about the Chinese building hidden missile silos in Zambales. Unfortunately, this report was based on fake news found online. *Sigh*

3. Crazy video images

Via KMBC

Meanwhile, last November, the police in Gardner, Kansas set up a camera to catch sightings of a mountain lion at their park. Things got a lot weird when their camera caught glimpses of people in gorilla suits, a beer-drinking Santa Claus, a masked man, and a person wielding a bow-and-arrow and going around in a walker.

4. Clown sightings

Via Blum House

In August, reports of clowns trying to lure kids into the woods quickly spread across the US and even to other countries. These reports led to mass clown hunts, clown-related terrorist threats, and even the White House and horror icon Stephen King speaking on the matter. Obviously, the professional clown community was not happy about this.