Loren Coleman

Loren Coleman

Three-Toes Revisited

St. Petersburg Times: Tony Signorini said that in 1946 or 1947 his boss saw a picture of dinosaur tracks in a National Geographic and said, "You know, we could have fun with this." Ted McLaren, St. Petersburg Times: Signorini’s tracks, using these 30-pound molds, created a sensation. A zoologist speculated they were left by a giant penguin. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Tony Signorini told the media in 1988 that it was all a hoax, and then recycled it as “news” again last summer. (I refused to post it here as “news” then for that reason.) The zoologist was Ivan T. Sanderson, and he [...]

The Beautiful Anthropologist and Vietnam’s Lost World

As opposed to viewing what recently happened during a formal anthropological criticism of cryptozoology as some cause for upset, let’s reframe what occurred as an opportunity for our field to broaden our worldview. When the apparently charming Pamela D. McElwee, Ph. D., Assistant Professor, The School of Global Studies, Arizona State University (shown above), shared some insights, her audience may not have realized the significance of what she was saying. Certainly, however, cryptozoologists need to pay attention, as McElwee’s comment might be useful in reviewing some foundation thoughts within our field. If we wish to remain aware of how fast [...]

Mystery Photo at Boing Boing

Old cryptobuddy David Pescovitz continues to post cryptozoological and faux cryptozoologie news items at Boing Boing, such as this new one, "Takeshi Yamada’s curious taxidermy creations". Now, fellow Boing Boing blogger Mark Frauenfelder is jumping into the cryptid pool, with both feet this week. See his posting on "Old engravings of animals are charmingly strange" (about such images as the one above). I only saw this after I’d posted mine on "Who Were The Dogheads?" and the "Discovered: Circa 1350 A.D. Hominid," so I must be on the same wavelength as Mark. Also, Mark Frauenfelder has posted a mystery image, [...]

Who Were The Dogheads?

Click on the above image of a doghead to make it grow larger. Dogheads were more than mythological creatures, according to some ancient sources. One of them even became a Saint, as per: St. Christopher the Doghead Who were the dogheads? What is cynocephaly all about? Wikipedia (not a source that should be the only one a person ever uses), in discussing cynocephaly, has this piece of modern trivia: “In the USA there are tales of dog-headed creatures, including the Dogman of Michigan, and the wolf-like Beast of Bray Road of Wisconsin, which terrorized a neighbourhood in the early 1990s.” [...]

Grice Roast Anyone?

The Shetland pig, or grice, was a specific and special feral boar that was driven into extinction 100 years ago. It was called a “scourge of lambs, landowners and local produce.” There are no known photographs of it, although some drawings (such as the one above) exist. Highlighted in BBC News and other media, it’s been all grice and no pig with this news. The Scotsman recently noted the grice’s distinctive appearance: Short, squat, with a mohawk of bristled hair running down its spine, the grice was a primitive domesticated pig that became extinct after locals on the island were [...]

Personal Note: Deaths in the Family

I am going to take a couple days off, here and there, this week, and post when I can on Cryptomundo. I am dealing with the death of my sons’ maternal grandfather (my ex-wife’s father), whom I have known personally, non-stop (despite the divorce), for almost 30 years now. John Coit Cone, 88, who was a former NH state legislator and had worked with Robert F. Kennedy investigating the Bernard Goldfine-Sherman Adams "Vicuña Coat Affair," died yesterday on RFK’s birthday, after a long battle with cancer. John Coit Cone always had very Kennedyesque looks, shown here in about 1950. The [...]