Artifacts

Civil War Pterodactyl to Maine

I’ve returned from Patrick Huyghe’s cabana, completing this weekend, the extended adventure in transporting the “Civil War Mystery Pterodactyl” to New England. The following images are courtesy of Allie Huyghe. The photo above is courtesy of Gregg Hale, Executive Director, Haxan Productions, Fox TV (at the time). My deep thanks to the Huyghes for their great hospitiality, cryptozoological conversations and Fortean brainstorming. By the way, if you were the passenger in a car with New York plates driving on I-84, who rolled your window down to ask me “What is that?” – and then had a short dialogue with me [...]

Cryptotat

Is this the ultimate “Cryptozoology” fan and the world’s only known sighting of a cryptotat!? Who is this dude? Unlike the elusive cryptids around us, this phantom with the Cryptozoology love tattoo was photographed by the quick-eyed R. Stevens at a comic show in Toronto this past weekend. Xeni Jardin at Boing Boing showed it to me first late last night, and I contacted R. Stevens for permission to post it here. Xeni’s going to do her own blog on this today at Boing Boing, but I have to honor this here too. Is it perhaps the only cryptotat known? [...]

More On Lakota Thunderbirds

Following up on the current report of Thunderbirds or Mothmen from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation mentioned yesterday, I wanted to share this map of the location of the sightings. The Lakota and Dakota have stylization their representations of Thunderbirds for hundreds of years. How some of these have come into white culture is as subtle as these designs published in Boy’s Life a few decades ago. Boy’s Life, the Boy Scout magazine, used to have a monthly column from “Whittlin’ Jim” (1946-1991), and this is an example of one of his “slides of the day.” All were without copyright.

Cryptotaxidermia Wurzeltodensis

One of the prize pieces of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists. Suzanne Gerber (above). Suzanne Gerber has collected an incredible gallery of pieces in her “long-awaited Taxidermy, Cryptozoology & Animal Curiosa Überpost – dedicated to a very precious and talented friend” of hers: “The lovely Jessica Joslin.” Open the magnificent door to her Taxidermia Wurzeltodensis and visit her large online collection of cryptotaxidermy and more. By the way, I was watching Showtime’s early Dexter episodes two weeks ago, and was surprised to hear and see that one of the serial killer suspects was a practicing “cryptotaxidermist.” (I wonder the [...]

Prince Arthur’s Feejee Mermaid

Gordon Rutter, a professional botanist and well-known collector of Fortean artifacts, wrote me: “I was in London last week and whilst in the British Museum I stumbled across a rather fine Feejee mermaid which I did not know they had!” Gordon shares the above photograph with Cryptomundo, of what he found. Gordon decided to write the museum and discover more about what was being exhibited: From: Gordon Rutter Sent: Sun 29/07/2007 19:36 To: Collection Enquiries Subject: Collection Request Dear Sir On a recent visit to the museum I chanced upon a Mermaid exhibit in the George II library. There was [...]

Real Or Not, Coleman Frog Lives On

Nine-year-old Noah Blanchard looks upon the stuffed Coleman frog. Rob Blanchard/CanWest News Service.   The Coleman Frog was so-called because of its owner, Fred Coleman. The huge specimen is being mentioned again as a tourist attraction to view, if you happen to be visiting Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. Tell me, would you want this artifact in your local museum? At 19 kilograms, the Coleman frog is a monster. Supposedly nurtured to its humongous size on a diet of whey and whisky in the 1800s, the stuffed beast occupies a place of honour in Fredericton’s York-Sunbury Museum, where it is a [...]