Artist John Frick (below) of Cumberland, Maryland, stands under his creation, a Mothman replica that hangs from the ceiling of the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The belief system that underlies the sidetracking of 1966′s Mothman sightings from cryptozoology into the “dark side” has a lot to do with John A. Keel’s apparent framing of the case. But some folks still don’t get it. Good guy John Frick, a list moderator on the Mothman Lives email list, innocently writes: As far as Keel being a demonologist. He really isn’t as far as I know. Keel has mentioned that [...]
Mothman + 40 + Bighoot = New Debates
November 27 is another milestone in the 40th year anniversary of events related to Mothman. On November 27,1966, at around 10:30 a.m., Connie Jo Carpenter sighted what she took to be Mothman near New Haven, West Virginia. The creature looked to be a tall gray winged figure, standing on the local golf course. She said the “very red eyes” were “horrible, like something out of a science fiction movie,” but could not give a detailed description of the face of the creature. Carpenter’s Mothman unfolded its wings, which appeared to be ten feet across, and flew directly at her automobile’s [...]
Alligators-In-The-Sewers Are Real
In the early 1970s, I did quite a great deal of library archive research on out-of-place alligators. That resulted in the publication of various Fortean articles, such as "Showers of Alligators," (Fate, Vol. 26, September 1973) and "Erratic Crocodilians and Other Things" (INFO Journal, 12, Summer 1973). Finally, I made a unique discovery that alligators-in-the-sewers were not all just legendary, and were not merely a figment of smoking too much weed in the 60s. I tracked down articles that noted real alligators were found and killed in New York City, specifically in that city’s sewers in the 1930s. My formal [...]
Creepy Creatures Alert
TRAVEL CHANNEL Friday, Nov. 24, 2006 9:00 PM Eastern USA 1:00 hr. (TV show) Weird Travel: “Creepy Creatures” Cryptozoologists search the world for legendary creatures, including Sasquatch, the Loch Ness Monster and Mothman. Are programs like this worthwhile? Educational? What would you have done differently?
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 [...]
Happy Bigfoot Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving to All! Let us surround ourselves with our friends, families, foes, and forest-foraging and fjord-frolicking cryptids. In the USA, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, in Canada on the second Monday in October, and in the UK, as another name for the Harvest Festival, held in churches across the country on a Sunday marking the end of the nearby rural harvest. Celebrations like it are held worldwide under various names, at different points in the year. All may have unannounced cryptid guests. Thanksgiving has a way of bringing people together. One famous November Thanksgiving adventure [...]
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 [...]
How About A Cryptomundo Write-In?
From November 29, 2005, this “Name The Mystery Fish” blog image remains the readers’ favorite. (You can click on it to make the postcard image above bigger.) But who remembers blogs or mystery fish, without awards? LOL. ‘Tis the season…let the voting begin; let the year-end awards drumbeat start. Web awards, of course, are all over the place. There are the Webby, the Golden Web, and the Zorgy Awards, to name a few, for websites and more. It looks like Cryptomundo has been shut out of those for yet another year, and remains as hidden (to award givers) as most [...]
James Bond and Cryptozoology
Did you know there are links between actual people, some real-life characters, who have searched for cryptids and the stories surrounding and linked to "James Bond"? Ask any spy trivia or "Jeopardy" buff, what was the inspiration for the name "James Bond"? The answer: Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond novels, got the idea for his title character’s name from the author name of one of Fleming’s favorite tropical books, The Birds of the West Indies. Birdwatchers, Cryptozoologists, and Spies As I mention in my Tom Slick biography, there are in-depth links between cryptozoology, ornithology and the "Old [...]
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