Cryptozoology

Our deepest sympathies to Art Bell

Sorry to have to mention someone else who has passed away, but this is shocking news. Coast to Coast AM has posted this sad message: January 6, 2006 In Memoriam: Ramona Bell Art Bell’s beloved wife of fifteen years, Ramona, died unexpectedly last night after an asthma attack. At present, the exact cause of Mrs. Bell’s death has not been determined. It apparently took place during her sleep. Until her death, Art and Ramona Bell had not been apart a day since they were married. Mrs. Bell had suffered from asthma for years, and took her normal steps to control [...]

Wired, Boing Boing, Fimoculus, and Cox: America’s Still Going Crazy for Cryptozoology

This week, Rex Sorgatz’s Fimoculous.com Best Lists site, which annually compiles a “best of best” list, has posted their final “Top 20 Lists of 2005″ list. I was pleased and sincerely humbled to see Cryptomundo.com’s “The Top Cryptozoology Stories of 2005″ listed on Fimoculus’s “Top 20 Lists of 2005.” On December 29, 2005, Phil Kloer at Cox News Service put Cryptomundo.com’s list, “The Top Cryptozoology Books of 2005″ as #7 on Cox News Services’ “A Top 10 list of Top 10 lists” for 2005. Cryptomundo was honored by that recognition, as well. Wired News’ Mark Baard’s often-quoted comment captured in [...]

What does 2006 hold for Cryptozoology?

What are your cryptozoological predictions for 2006? Where will new expeditions search? What cryptids will dominate the news this year? What cryptozoological wonder will be filmed? Will someone use a cellphone camera to "capture" an image of a cryptid this year? Who will win the $5000 top prize for a cryptid-related photo in February, and what will it show? Can the opening of Disney World’s new ride and mini-exhibition on the Yeti renew interest in the pursuit of the Abominable Snowmen of the Himalayas? Does the Malaysian hominoid flap have any staying power? What lakes have expeditions planned to search [...]

The New Yorker: “The Cryptozoologist” (A Critique)

The magazine The New Yorker will publish a contribution to fiction entitled “The Cryptozoologist” by Tony Earley, on the 9th of January 2006, but it is online now. Here’s my early literary critique of this effort at capturing cryptozoology in The New Yorker: We are introduced to the concept of Skunk Apes, cryptozoologists, and organized cryptozoology in one specific paragraph about midway through this fictional piece: About her Bigfoot sighting, Rose learned that such creatures were routinely spotted in all of the Southeastern states—although the scientific authorities of course denied their existence—and the animals were commonly referred to as skunk [...]

Lost Legacies, Lost Evidence: Herman Regusters

I want to start an effort in 2006 to rediscover some missing people and their lost cryptozoological evidence, gone for years. Let’s begin with the well-known Californian cryptozoologist Herman Regusters. In the fall of 1981, Herman Regusters and his wife led a team into Lake Tele, Congo, in search of Mokele-mbembe. (Even though they might be undiscovered aquatic mammals, the cryptids called Mokele-mbembe are often discussed, first and foremost, in hauntingly romantic ways as perhaps surviving "Living Dinosaurs" in deepest Africa, in a somewhat Victorian fashion.) The Regusters returned with droppings, footprint casts, and sound recordings unlike any animal known [...]

Italian Black Panthers

An Italian press outlet is reporting that the country is experiencing a wave of Black Panther sightings. In an item entitled "Panther Panic Hits Italy Again," the old explanation that it "escaped from a zoo" or "circus train wreck" cropped up again. But the Russian zoo currently performing in Turin, Italy, the location of the recent Black Panther sightings, denied it was theirs. "We don’t have any panthers anyway. All we have are dogs, camels and horses," a zoo spokesman said. One eyewitness was a Turin traffic cop who managed to identify the big feline as a black panther. Authorities [...]