Artifacts

What Is It?

What is it? This was published on November 14, 2006, in Victoria, Australia’s South Gippsland Sentinel Times. This thing was caught off the extreme southern coast of Australia. South Gippsland is a fertile agricultural area renowned for its prime cattle and dairy produce as well as a commercial fishing industry. Wonthaggi is located 132 kms southeast of Melbourne via the South Gippsland and Bass Highways, in the Bass Coast Shire of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. The town, known originally for its coal mining, is now the regional service center for tourism, beef and dairy industries, with a population of approximately 6,000. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Discovered: Circa 1350 A.D. Hominid Updated

What is it? Click on image for a larger version. I note that the National Library of the Netherlands has identified this image as being a "monkey." But I note this primate is not showing any tail. Look at the feet? Those are definitely not the feet of a monkey or even an ape. In terms of scale, this animal is shown with panels of various known, correctly drawn species that include a horse, a goat, a sheep, a wild boar, a hunting dog, a deer, and others. When those animals are compared to this one, they do not all [...]

Department of Cryptozoology

The Kansas City Star celebrates the opening of the traveling Bates exhibition with an article by John Shultz, in the October 25, 2006, edition: It evokes a hallway out of the X-Files, a parallel universe where government spending skews towards the arcane. At the end of the faux corridor, the very official-looking door for the Federal Wildlife Commission’s Department of Cryptozoology. It’s sandwiched, naturally, between the portals of the National Institute of Comparative Astrobiology and the Bureau for the Investigation of Paranormal Phenomena. The movie set of a hallway, inspired by a piece by artist Mark Dion, is among the [...]

That Mystery Fish Postcard

The Mystery Fish postcard, first noted here on November 29, 2005, has never been identified, as to exact location or species. New people sometimes have new ideas. (Click on image to see full size version, enhanced by shockbeton) Due to research (see below) on the type of postcard it is, there was a determination, thanks to Cryptomundo readers, that this specific item would have been produced between 1904-18. The location seems to be in the Pacific; perhaps it was taken in the Philippines. Or maybe even Florida? Someone said this might be during WWI, in the south of France, because [...]