Lacantunia enigmatica shown above.Photo courtesy of John P. Sullivan. I get interesting emails. Here’s a good one with a new species discovery to share: I’m a fan of Cryptomundo and also an ichthyologist. I thought I’d point out an article we just published on an enigmatic catfish from Chiapas, Mexico (named Lacantunia enigmatica, appropriately). From DNA analysis we found that this species is apparently a relict of a once much more widespread clade of catfishes (claroteinea) all of which are today exclusively found African. It’s an amazing disjunct distribution for a freshwater clade. The paper, published in the latest Proceedings [...]
Homo pongoides Emerges From Lausanne
The following images are more photographs being shared from the inside of “The Department of Cryptozoology B. Heuvelmans, Museum of Zoology, Lausanne, Switzerland.” This location is the sanctuary for Bernard Heuvelmans’ collection of books, paintings, and raw materials, detailing his years of cryptozoology research and gathering of cryptid data. Today, you can more clearly seen how he organized his data on unknown hairy hominiods and other cryptids. Once again, these photographs were taken and shared with me by Christoph Kummer, who was allowed to begin to examine the Heuvelmans files and then take these photographs, at my request. I then [...]
Bigfoot Friendly Tom Snyder Dies
Before David Letterman, before “Coast to Coast” was all about Art Bell and George Noory, talk show host Tom Snyder was pushing back the boundaries on late night radio and television, sometimes discussing Sasquatch. Snyder, 71, the former host of NBC’s “The Tomorrow Show,” then “Tomorrow Coast to Coast,” and CBS’ “The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder,” died on Sunday afternoon, July 29, 2007, in San Francisco, from compilations of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Snyder gained national fame for hosting “Tomorrow” in NBC’s post-”Tonight Show” slot from 1973 to 1982, with some of his more memorable guests including John Lennon [...]
How To Catch A Coelacanth
Indonesian fisherman Justinus Lahama holds up a rare coelacanth, an ancient fish once thought to have become extinct at the time of the dinosaurs. (Reuters) Scientists excited by Indonesian-caught coelacanth fish Two months ago Indonesian fisherman Justinus Lahama caught a rare coelacanth fish that has now lured an international team of scientists to investigate how he caught it. French experts equipped with sonar and GPS asked Mr Lahama to reconstruct in his dugout canoe, exactly what it was he did that enabled him to catch the coelacanth fish, an awkward-swimming species among the world’s oldest. Last May 19, Mr Lahama [...]
Satyrs & Salt?
Courtesy of The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies (CAIS) Satyr? A man’s body, naturally mummified within an ancient salt mine, was found in a salt mine outside the Iranian city of Zanjan. What’s going on here? This news out of Iran is now been linked to ancient tales of satyrs and salt. Stanford University’s Adrienne Mayor, a folklorist and friend to Cryptomundo, has previously suggested that satyrs were fakes, as she notes in The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times. Due to this specific find, Mayor may be changing her position: Obviously, satyrs are mythic creatures [but [...]
Heuvelmans Files
The following images are the first ones I have seen of the inside of “The Department of Cryptozoology B. Heuvelmans, Museum of Zoology, Lausanne, Switzerland.” This location is now the sanctuary for Bernard Heuvelmans’ collection of books, paintings, and raw material detailing his years of cryptozoology research and gathering of cryptid data. These photographs were taken and shared with me by Christoph Kummer, who was allowed to do an initial examination of the Heuvelmans files and then take these photographs, at my request. I then asked and was granted permission to publish these photos at Cryptomundo, by Olivier Glaizot, Conservateur, [...]
The Giant Snake of Carter’s Lake
Lake Monster. Kalamazoo, Mich., July 21 – The big snake which is said to exist in the neighborhood of Carter’s Lake, Barry county, and known as “Carter’s snake,” has been seen again this week, this time by Henry Marble. The snake is variously reported as fifteen to twenty feet long. Marble was terrified and came to Sexton McElwain’s with his horse on the run. Hunts have several times been organized to kill the snake without result.Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, July 21, 1894. Thanks for this historical item from Jerome Clark. For more information, please see Chapter 8, [...]
Happy Birthday Debunker of Yeti!
Today, July 20, 2007, Sir Edmund Hillary is 88 years old. Hillary’s name will always be linked, in my mind, to his World Book Encyclopedia-supported trek to Nepal in 1960, supposedly, to search for the “Abominable Snowman.” In reality, it actually allegedly was more about a spy mission against the Chinese, hidden in the media glare of a debunking Yeti expedition. The members of Hillary’s team (1) bought a bear skin that was declared to be a Yeti’s so it could be revealed to be a bear’s, (2) obtained a ritual religious object known to be made in imitation of [...]
How Big is the Cryptozoology Community?
My late friend, colleague, and mentor, Ivan T. Sanderson, shown above with a lemur in his private zoo, was one of the first in America to try to organize those interested in cryptozoology into a formal “society.” What does his legacy look like today? Matt Bille asked me a simple question: “How big is the cryptozoological community?” Specifically, Matt wanted to know if anyone has tried to estimate the size of the cryptozoological community – that is, the number of people in North America particularly, who actively follow cryptozoological news and publications? How many people, Matt wondered, actually spend time [...]
Extinct Echidna Rediscovered
Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi), thought extinct since 1961, appears to not be gone, after all. Researchers have found burrows, tracks, and nose pokes made by the long-beaked echidna, recently in Papua’s Cyclops Mountains. Also, locals had said they have seen the animals as recently as 2005. “The month-long expedition by scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) involved travelling to parts of the mountain range, covered by thick jungle, which had remained unexplored for more than 45 years,” reported the BBC News. This echidna was named after TV naturalist Sir David Attenborough. The species is only known to [...]
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