Eyewitness Accounts

New Black Panther Sighting: Maine

This is the look of the wooded areas along Rt. 2, near Island Falls, Maine. I’m now in northern Maine, and I’ve learned there’s been a new Mystery Cat sighting from up this way. An Island Falls restaurant owner said that he and his wife saw a panther cross the road in front of them, coming out from a field in an area locally called Barker Ridge, between Island Falls and Sherman, onto Rt. 2. The photograph above shows the area going up to May Mountain, which is northeast of the sighting area. May Mt overlooks Mattawamkeag Lake, which is [...]

Mystery Deer Captured In Indiana

Brian Walters, a South Bend Animal Control officer, checks on a deer that was captured downtown after a lengthy chase. Tribune Photos by Gene Kaiser. Police and animal control officers were on an animal chase in downtown South Bend, Indiana, on June 26, 2008. A wild mystery deer, later identified only as a “male” when captured, was seen running through the streets. Reporter David Stephens of the South Bend Tribune recorded the course of the chase: Where the deer came from, how he got downtown and where he was going Thursday afternoon were not known…. Already he had been spotted [...]

Volkswagen-Sized Catfish

Famed natural history artist Alexis Rockman painted the cover of the 2001 edition of Mysterious America depicting a real encounter he and his cryptozoology expedition associates had with a giant catfish in the Amazon. The new edition of Mysterious America contains a chapter on “Giant Catfish” sightings, which continue throughout North America and elsewhere in the world. These tales overlap with swamp monster encounters, lake monster ponderings, and weird animal happenings. Giant catfish do exist, which is a fact not in dispute. The question is how “giant” does “giant” get and where are they living today. In an article today [...]

Giant Ocean Platypus of Alaska?

In Karl Shuker’s book, Extraordinary Animals Revisited, there is a subsection entitled “The Cryptic Case of the Colorado Platypus.” In actuality, the largest part of those two pages are devoted to a story of a supposed sighting of a platypus off the coast of Alaska. Unfortunately, the investigation of the case is distracted by how the initial eyewitness labeled and linked what he saw with an exotic known animal’s name. People associate “seen cryptids” with the animal world they know or have seen on television. But, of course, platypuses are Australian, freshwater, and usually no bigger than 20 inches long, [...]

Chicago River Gator

On June 20, 2008, the alligator above was caught in a branch of the Chicago River, Illinois; it measured 4½ feet long and about 45 pounds. The alligator was found in the Bubbly Creek, in a woodsy area near 37th Street and Racine Avenue, which at one time was one of the dirtiest parts of the river. It just stayed submerged with its eyes popping out like in the documentaries. It was in stealth mode, I think.Bill Cox, director of human resources for Midland Metal Products Cox was among about a dozen Midland employees who spotted the female alligator swimming [...]

Cryptid Jaguarundi Research

Mystery felid cryptozoologist Dave Pelley writes Cryptomundo that his research on the cryptid jaguarundi (Puma yaguarondi) in Florida is ongoing. Pelley shares this update: I’ve been hot on the trail of the Florida jaguarundi for about a year now, and I think we are darn close to getting proof that a sizable population exists here in the central part of the state. Thus far I have four eyewitness accounts of a particular jaguarundi that frequents my neighborhood, as well as plaster casts and a possible scat sample (frozen!). I’ll keep you guys posted! You can see a mini doc that [...]