Cryptozoology

A Sea Serpent Surprise

I turned on the television this morning, over there in the background near my desk, to check the news on the local NBC channel. The very first thing on the screen was an individual discussing a Sea Serpent sighting. I happened to be in the midst of writing an article about New England Sea Serpents. I was floored, struck by, well, this bolt from out of nowhere. I quickly discovered the guy was a Reverend Peter B. Panagore, giving one of those daily messages the stations run, it seems, so their viewers can take a break from the news and [...]

Nashville And Bobbing Black Cats

Nashville Cats, play clean as country water Nashville Cats, play wild as mountain dew Nashville Cats, been playin’ since they’s babies Nashville Cats, get work before they’re two — by John B. Sebastian, Lovin’ Spoonful, 1967. Is this cryptid black cat a melanistic bobcat (Lynx rufus/Felis rufus)? Back on November 19, 2006, I wrote about the sightings and then videotape of a large short-tailed cat seen in Nashville, Tennessee. Speculations covered caracal, lynx, and bobcat. The two images below are from the video taken of the Tennessee Mystery Cat: Ben Willis of Bigcats.org brings to my attention that a road-killed [...]

New Species of Sucker-Footed Bat

Easily obtainable photographs of Myzopoda schliemanni are unavailable. This is the closely related species, Myzopoda aurita. Chicago’s Field Museum announced today that a “new sucker-footed bat [has been] discovered in Madagascar”: CHICAGO — Scientists have discovered a new species of bat that has large flat adhesive organs, or suckers, attached to its thumbs and hind feet. This is a remarkable find because the new bat belongs to a Family of bats endemic to Madagascar–and one that was previously considered to include only one rare species. The new species, Myzopoda schliemanni, occurs only in the dry western forests of Madagascar, while [...]

More OOPA: Shark and Kangaroo

What is this tropical shark doing so far north in December? Please click for a larger image. The out-of-place animals (OOPA) are popping up all over the map. A manatee was recently captured off Texas. It is the third out-of-place manatee discovered since last August, far from Florida (the other two were found hundreds of miles inland in New York State and Tennessee). An eight-foot crocodile was captured on Grand Cayman Island. Are they early warning signs of something? Now comes more. There is a buzz, this week, over in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (a town known for its high levels of [...]

Another Out-of-Place Manatee

Tennessee’s Manatee Last August 2006, an out-of-place manatee showed up in the Hudson Valley, New York (remember Tappie?). Then in October, one apparently swam up the Mississippi River to a harbor near Memphis, Tennessee. The Memphis manatee was found dead in December in a lake in the State of Mississippi. On January 4, 2007, the news was announced that the reason for the death of the Memphis manatee may never be known, as not enough tissue samples could be collected to discover the cause. Perhaps the warm weather is disorienting manatees, as well as the blossoms coming out in New [...]

Weird Wisconsin: Man Bat

Click on image for full size version Wisconsin’s Coulee News has published a story on January 3, 2006, entitled: "Man Bat Tale Tops 2006 for Weirdness" by Randy Erikson. It gives a journalistic overview of the case, although Linda Godfrey warns me it does have some factual mistakes. Her website with this same incident is found by clicking here and the student newspaper’s story is a pdf here (go to page five of the document). The article reads: As we start another year, I know there are at least a few among us who will look back at 2006 and [...]

Mystery Cayman Croc Captured

What is an eight-foot long crocodile (Crocodylus sp.) – a Mexican example is seen above – doing in the Cayman Islands? They have been extinct there for an undetermined number of years. It obviously is not someone’s escaped pet. “Mystery crocodile described as ‘very fast and aggressive’” Cayman News Thursday, January 4, 2007 The origin of an eight-foot long crocodile captured near Old Man Bay in Grand Cayman last Saturday remains a mystery. Sightings of the reptile in the north of the Island prompted 911 calls from members of the public. Police officers and officials from the Department of the [...]