Cryptozoology

Lake Placid’s Black Panther

Large eastern North American cryptid felids are generally referred to as “Black Panthers,” no matter what the description. The practice is commonplace. It has little bearing on what the animal’s classification alignments may be. This breaking news out of the Lake Placid area of New York tries to jumble around the science and speculation to include black leopards and melanistic jaguars – and remarkably exclude the realities of folk use of the term “Black Panther.” The rather illogical statement in this media account that “black panthers,” in fact, “do not exist” is incorrect. After all, “black panther” is merely a [...]

Rocky Kills

Rocky performs. In a not-too-surprising revelation, in the wake of an escaped tiger killing a man at the San Francisco Zoo, perhaps a few cold glasses of water in modern human’s faces are that, yes, wild animals are strong and do kill. For a moment, ponder this: If people can’t consider the realities of the animals in their midst, how are they to understand those cryptids that are just beyond their knowing? Now the news: Rocky, a five-year-old bear that has starred in big-name Hollywood films, bit trainer Stephan Miller on the neck during filming at an animal training center [...]

Brookline Gator Sighted

The following account signals that spring is finally here in North America. In Mysterious America, I noted that out-of-place alligators should to be tracked to keep such reports separate from Lake Monster reports. Over thirty years ago, reports of crocs could often indicate an extension of the reptile’s range or an escaped or released pet. But some few sightings hinted at breeding populations of alligators, such as near Decatur, Illinois, or Oakland, Michigan. (Yes, department of wildlife officials, they do “winter over.”) Very rarely, some “alligator” observations are indications of a cryptid in the area. Heightened awareness makes recording such [...]

Radford Tries Being Scientific

Ben Radford tells us how his “science works.” “Lake Monsters I Have Known” sounds like the setup for a bad horror movie or an even worse children’s book. One thing it might not sound like is science. But without science, Ben Radford explained at a recent meeting of New Mexicans for Science and Reason, the stories of the Loch Ness monster and her kin spin out of control in a hurry. Monthly meetings of NMSR, as the organization is known by its members and friends, are the sorts of places you can go to learn about the truly strange — [...]

Chilean Winged Wonder

Mr. Oscar Solar Valdebenito, married, a sergeant with the Carabineros, was performing his duties as a security guard in the Preventive Custody Center of the city of Angol on Friday, April 28, 2000. The facility was under construction at the time. Mr. Solar was alone and was making his rounds of the construction site’s interior. Once he returned to the guard shack on the southern side, using a passageway located in the back, he noticed the presence of an “animal” standing 1.20 meters tall, average complexion, with a small head in proportion to the rest of its body. The creature [...]

Lake Monster or Giant Snake?

Milwaukee [Wisconsin] Sentinel September 4, 1886 THE SEA MONSTER IN MICHIGAN. Charlotte, Mich., Sept. 2. – Charlotte is somewhat stirred up over the report that a genuine sea monster exists in the water of Narrow lake, ten miles south of this city. The monster, it is claimed by the habitués of that vicinity, raises itself out of the water on moonlight nights to a height of ten feet and then disappears. Its body is said to be about the size of a stovepipe and its head to resemble that of a serpent. A party is being organized for an investigation. [...]

The Blob Screenwriter Has Died

Kay Linaker, who wrote the screenplay for The Blob, passed away on April 2008. She was 94 and would have turned 95 in July. For more complete information on her careers as both a writer and an actress, see her entry at IMDb, here.