Folklore

Bladenboro Beast Is Back

As the North American warm weather develops and the two new cryptozoology television series, “MonsterQuest” and “Destination Truth” battle for ratings heats cryptid matters, it will be worth our time to notice how many media mentions are generated by these two programs. For example, the Beast of Bladenboro article below appears to have been written because of the documentary filmmakers renewing investigations of the old stories as due to any new reports. If the tourist development success seen in such locations as Bladenboro or ones like in Point Pleasant, we should not be surprised to see other rural towns sharing [...]

The Hobbit Hunt

The discovery that Homo floresiensis survived until so very recently, in geological terms, makes it more likely that stories of other mythical, human-like creatures such as Yetis are founded on grains of truth….Now, cryptozoology, the study of such fabulous creatures, can come in from the cold.Henry Gee, editor of Nature, “Flores, God and Cryptozoology,” 2004 editorial. The time is assuredly upon us to expand the Hobbit hunt. The systematic study of Proto-Pygmies in Oceania seems tied to the probable findings of future fossil evidence for Homo floresiensis beyond Flores. What is being discovered in Palau appears to be the latest [...]

Mermaid Found: 1917

The skeleton of a creature half human and half fish, which scientists say is more than 4,000 years old, has been found on the coast of China. Its discovery, imbedded deep in a sandy shore, has revived the old question of whether mermaids have ever existed. This skeleton is accepted in some quarters as conclusive proof that there were such creatures, long famed in the lore of many lands. The strange relic which has come to light after centuries had a head, shoulders and arms like those of a woman, as proved by the formation of the bones and skull. [...]

Evolution of Yeti

Even the Los Angeles Times is getting in step with the significance of cryptozoology. They have deemed, of all the programs being broadcast tonight, the following as their “Wednesday Highlight”: YETI OR NOT? The Abominable Snowman is sought on the season premiere of “Destination Truth,” at 10 p.m. on Sci Fi. This seems like an appropriate time, therefore, to bring up the issue of the “Evolution of Yeti” within popular culture. I’ll leave for another time a more formal discussion of the biological evolution of Yeti, and their place in the biological scheme of things. But how about the reflection [...]

Felix the Cat & Yeti

Okay, this may be merely a Felix the Cat cartoon, but it also may be one of the worst illustrations of misrepresentations in comic history. This cartoon with Felix the Cat and the Abominable Snowman is from 1958. How many misstatements and mistakes do you see in it? (No, I’m not really upset. I’m just playing along with some kind of mock insult to our cryptozoological legacy.) Some of the errors I caught are: – Abominable Snowmen at the North Pole (the Arctic) – They actually are reported to live in the montane valleys of the Himalaya and cross the [...]

Abominable Snow Rabbit

Take an enjoyable historical break, sit back, and watch this just posted crypto-cartoon from 47 years ago: The Abominable Snow Rabbit is an eight minute 1961 Warner Brothers Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. The cartoon was directed by Chuck Jones and co-directed by Maurice Noble, with a story by Tedd Pierce. (For whatever reason, the video version here is six minutes long.) While the cartoon’s title, according to such sources as Wikipedia, allegedly “is taken from the phrase and horror film, The Abominable Snowman,” I must observe that knowledge of the Abominable Snowman was culturally [...]

Madagascar’s Cryptids

Harry Trumbore’s drawing of Madagascar’s kalanoro, from The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates. New species of lemurs keep being discovered in Madagascar. But there’s a long history of other cryptids being reported from the world’s fourth largest island. Besides the big three (Kalanoro, Elephant Bird, and Man-Eating Tree) that have historically been most discussed in cryptozoological and cryptobotancial circles regarding Madagascar, what lesser zoological cryptids are discussed from there? What other strange animals exist in the literature, many of which were noted in passing at Cryptomundo, after I first published information from near that corner of the [...]