Cryptozoology

Strange Animal at Knobs

August 25 – Residents of the Knobs section, near Union, [West Virginia] report the presence of a strange, bewhiskered animal having short forelegs and a long tail which curls at the end. Garfield Seers, an employee of the George Irons farm, said he saw the animal emerge from a deep undergrowth and vanish into adjoining timber a short time ago. He described it as being considerably larger than an average-sized police dog [German shepherd]. Ernest Bowyer, Knobs resident, and E. E. McGinley, Narrow timber agent, also reported seeing “the beast,” giving a similar description. No loss of stock, however, has [...]

Dueling Mothmen

This first item is a new 2007 Mothman plush toy created for this year’s Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant. How do you think it stands up against other recent toys, figurines, and items produced as Mothman collectibles? Can you identify the source and origins of each? I’m on the road during the next few days, offline, and have left several historical archival items to be posted. If I return and discover that no one has correctly identified where all the above are from, I’ll blog about those needing further info. Have a good long complete last weekend of the psychological [...]

Apes In Green Hell: Racism and Revisions

Dr. Karl Shuker has written numerous articles and several major books devoted to cryptozoological topics. One of his earliest books is the classic like Mystery Cats of the World (1989). But today, I do not speak of felines. He also wrote other books that have become favorites of cryptozoologists, such as Extraordinary Animals Worldwide (1991), The Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the 20th Century (1993), From Flying Toad to Snakes with Wings (1997) and, acting jointly as consultant and contributor, Man and Beast (1993). During the 21st Century, Shuker has undertaken the revising and updating of many of [...]

Karl’s Kritter: Pliciloricus shukeri

Congratulations to Karl Shuker! Dr. Karl P. N. Shuker is a zoologist with a lifelong interest in cryptozoology and other animal-related anomalies. He studied zoology at the University of Leeds and obtained a Ph.D. in zoology and comparative physiology at the University of Birmingham. Due to the complications of a life that could have been hindered by a chronic form of diabetes, Shuker has continued on with his interest and passion for new animals through the written word and his documentary appearances in a dynamic fashion. Shuker has now been honored for his efforts with the naming of a new [...]

Chupacabras 1951

Kenneth F. Thomas, editor of the Steamshovel Press and Missouri university archivist, shares an old reference to what seems like a new occurrence of “Chupacabras” in a sinister context, which he found on August 23, 2007. Thomas writes that he made the discovery while…. …watching the 1951 movie Bride of the Gorilla with Raymond Burr and Lon Chaney. Burr gets poisoned by a witch and either starts becoming a gorilla or it’s all in his mind and he’s running around naked at night in a South American jungle. The natives are convinced that it’s a legendary beast called something like [...]

New Unknown Fossil Great Ape

To many, the reconstructions of Lucy (above) and other Australopithecus species appear to look rather apelike. However, until recently, fossil finds for the ancestors of the great apes have been lacking. That all seems to be changing. The nine fossil teeth (below) from Ethiopia are being announced in Nature, as gorilla-like and said to be from a previously unknown species of great ape. Here’s more from the BBC: The 10 million-year-old fossils belong to an animal that has been named Cororapithecus abyssinicus by the Ethiopian-Japanese team. This new species could be a direct ancestor of living African great apes, say [...]

Does Champ Exist?

A new 256-page book has been published that is an incredibly important contribution to cryptozoological history. It is a welcome document capturing a pivotal time in Lake Champlain Monster research Published by Coachwhip Publications, Does Champ Exist? Notes on the Historic Lake Monster Conference held in Shelburne, Vermont, 29 August 1981 by Gary S. Mangiacopra and Dwight G. Smith, has just been released. Does Champ Exist? was written, according to Chad Arment, to preserve the transcript of the (so far) only cryptozoological conference held to discuss the possible existence of an unknown species of animal in the waters of Lake [...]

Cousteau and Tessie

The subject of Jacques Cousteau and Lake Tahoe has been talked about here on Cryptomundo in the past, for example, when it was brought up by mystery_man in the post Cryptomundo’s Ultimate CZ FAQs and in another post entitled Another Bowness Monster Sighting?. What can be added on this topic? Tom Stienstra of the San Francisco Chronicle, who has written his share of Bigfoot articles for the newspaper, said the following in his article Mysteries of the deep at Lake Tahoe. Even famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau is said to have had a brush with something horrific in a deepwater dive [...]

Cryptotourism: Tassie Hunting

The last documented thylacine – Tasmanian tiger – died at Hobart Zoo in September 1936, and the species was declared “presumed extinct” in 1986. But is it? Travel anywhere on Tasmania’s west coast and you will meet locals who tell tales of some of the 4000 claimed sightings of the mystifying marsupials over the past 70 years. Corinna was the Aboriginal name for young thylacines. So if you’re keen to try your luck at tiger-spotting, the old gold-mining town of the same name, surrounded by vast tracts of rainforest on the southern end of Tasmania’s Tarkine wilderness, may be a [...]