Evidence

Maeher: Melanistic Bobcats in Florida

Dr. Dave Maehr’s 1990 article details the discoveries of black bobcats in Florida. Please see below his Florida location chart (numbers 1 and 2 are from 1939-1940 through the 1990 captures). Click on image for full size version Also here is a photograph from 1990 of a black Florida bobcat. Click on image for full size version The pdf of Maehr’s 1990 report he co-authored, can be downloaded by clicking on its title here: "Melanistic Bobcats in Florida". Melanistic felid photographed by Georgia Tech’s biology professor (ret.) Edward Yeargers, Martin County, Florida, December 2005.

Mystery Tusk: Not A Circus Elephant

Fisherman Tim Winchenbach poses outside his home in Cushing, Maine, with a mysterious prehistoric tusk that was pulled up with a load of scallop shells on a New Bedford vessel fishing off Georges Bank in December 2006. Photos by Joel Page. Does this tusk come from a ten-thousand-years or older, long gone mammoth or mastodon? Along the coast of Maine, the news of this find has been a strange but popular story in the papers, on the local television channels, and of some note to lovers of curios and fossils. It is, needless to say, not especially cryptozoological, unless the [...]

Mystery Black Felid Photo: Identified

An update on the mystery black felid photograph (see various enhancements on this page) reveals some new information, which, in context, makes much sense. The picture was taken December 2005, according to the photographer’s letter shared with me last night by felid researcher Ben Willis. The photo was taken by a retired biology professor from a Georgia university, Dr. Edward Yeargers . Dr. Yeargers had seen the cat, which he identified as a black bobcat, “several times” in his yard. The location of his yard – Palm City, Florida. Palm City is located in Martin County, Florida. The professor wrote, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Footprints

This year is starting off with a bang regarding the Skunk Ape. First, I wondered aloud if it was time to ponder the Myakka case anew (please note, not "Port Myakka" as given below), and now this (first published overnight with a different headline, since updated here, as it appears in today’s paper): January 02, 2007 Miami Herald "Kids armed with cameras chase after the Skunk Ape" by Curtis Morgan The scene: the Everglades, mysterious in the darkness. Four college kids, armed only with a night-vision camera, trudge through palmetto thicket, guided by a snake-booted man who claims to have [...]

Maine Mutant #6 in 2006

An automobile travels the sparsely used Route 4 through the Turner, Maine, area, little knowing what it will meet around the next corner. It wasn’t a Stephen King novel, but a real-life incident that captured the media, first in Maine, then more globally last summer, into early fall. Lewiston, Maine’s Sun Journal published their 2006 year-in-review on the first day of the new year. Route 4′s “Mystery Animal” (a/k/a “Maine Mutant”) was on their list. Monday, January 1, 2007 Top stories of 2006 Tragedies dominated the tri-county news in 2006, with young people dying in car accidents, plane crashes, the [...]

Cold Case Investigation For 2007: The Myakka Photos

All Photographs and Enhancements of the Myakka Photographs on this page are © David Barkasy and Loren Coleman 2001. It all began with a December 22, 2000, letter signed “God Bless. I prefer to remain anonymous,” mailed to the Sarasota (Florida) Sheriff’s Department. Two photographs were enclosed. I’ve written about this extensively, so for some quick details, merely click here. For this blog, it is more about just re-viewing the images, not reading the words. Let’s look. I’d like to see more progress on this one, either pro or con, in 2007. Here’s a selection of the photographs, with details [...]