Cryptotourism

The Batman Of Cave Creek

It’s just one of those interesting little stories that we looked into but we couldn’t find anyone.Sgt. Mark Clark, Scottsdale Police Department In these days of Homeland Security alerts and school shootings, reports of what I sometimes like to call “Fortean Critters” – like the Bunnyman mentioned yesterday – are being treated much differently than they were 50 years ago. Fear drives today’s reports, that’s for sure. For example, take the bizarre events from Valentine’s Day, 2007, coming out of Arizona. Three schools in the north Phoenix suburb of Cave Creek were on lockdown for about 45 minutes on the [...]

The Bridgewater Triangle Video

For fans of the Bridgewater Triangle, I ran across this new YouTube half-hour video. Anyone who has not been to the Hockomock Swamp and the surrounding area will find this footage enlightening. Enjoy. There is a chapter in the new Mysterious America: The Ultimate Guide to the Nation’s Weirdest Wonders, Strangest Spots, and Creepiest Creatures that specifically deals with the cryptozoological and Fortean aspects of this location.

Pink Bird Wonders Sighted

An archival painting of the Pink-footed goose (Anser brachyrhynchus). The legs are stunning. They are bright pink, almost bubble-gum pink. It’s very exciting….They are beautiful geese. Most people had never seen these geese before….What we are looking at is whether the pink-footed geese, with their westward shift [in Greenland] are now migrating with some of the white-fronted geese. It could be theorized that all of these geese have arrived together. It’s an interesting ornithological puzzle.Rachel Farrell, Rhode Island’s leading bird expert, while observing the pair of pinked-foot geese at Hammersmith Farm in Newport. The pink-footed goose, a bird that is [...]

New Cayman Croc Sightings

As was detailed here, an eight-foot long crocodile was captured near Old Man Bay in the Grand Cayman on Saturday, December 30, 2006. This despite the fact that crocodiles, according to the media and authorities, were suppose to be extinct in the Cayman Islands for 200 years. Now comes reports of new crocodile sightings from the Caymans: According to one eyewitness, Cayman Brac seems to have an unwelcome visitor. Earlier this week, Albertha Bodden was on the shore in the Stake Bay area picking whelks, when she spotted, what she believes was a crocodile in the shallow waters near the [...]

The Great Days of Yeti Hunting

Harry Trumbore’s drawing of a Yeti. Ask yourself, where are all the great Yeti hunters from the 1950s? Take for example, what is Peter Byrne, the leader of the Tom Slick expeditions of the 1950s, up to these days? Byrne is often remembered, for example, online at such sites as The Anomalist and Wikipedia, with regard to his involvement with the late actor Jimmy Stewart and the Pangboche Hand. My favorable overview of Byrne’s Yeti-related life appeared in Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology. The book contains an updated version of what I had previously written about Byrne and [...]

FeeJee Mermaids & Other Gaffs

The easiest pseudocryptozoological exhibition items to have, of course, are often the gaffs and hoaxes. Among those in most cabinets of curiosities are the Feejee mermaids and the furred trouts, both taxidermy fakes. I have my share. I use them to let people know these objects are often shown as “almost real” specimens. Most honest sideshow owners displaying them often merely only ask “What is It?” or “Is it Real?” But slowly the drift has been, perhaps due to eBay, for people to present these items as cryptozoological, from “unknown animals.” For cryptozoologists, we need to be aware of this [...]