Folklore

Monster Quest ~ The Real Hobbit + DSD ~ Loch Ness

Monster Quest: The Real Hobbit Travel to the interior of Sumatra, in Indonesia, in a search for what locals call the Orang Pendak [sic], translated as: Man of the Woods. In 2004 skeletal remains were found on the neighboring island of Flores and named “the Real Hobbit.” Could Orang Pendak [sic], with its human face, be a surviving ancestor to the Flores Man? An expedition is launched deep within the rainforest. The natives claim to see the creature often, and they even find footprints of an unknown upright walking beast. Will camera traps reveal its identity? One-part history, one-part science [...]

South Africa: New Mermaid Sighting!

From Curious Encounters, Faber and Faber, 1985. In recent years, Merbeings have taken on the appearance of Lizardpeople, as above, and the Merman and Mermaid roots in the sightings seemed to have been fading. Most reports of Merbeings generally seem to be from over a hundred years ago or are lost in the fog of folktales and legends. But that can all change in an instant. Coming to us from South Africa, from the weekend of January 12-13, 2008, is a new sighting of a more traditional Merwoman, indeed, a nearly classic Mermaid. Herald reporter Aldo Pekeur details the breaking [...]

Hobbits, Ebu Gogo, and Orang Pendek

History Channel’s “MonsterQuest” is going to be investigating the socalled “real Hobbits” in their episode premiering on January 16th, 2008, at 10PM ET. The official summary of the program notes: “A MonsterQuest expedition will deploy researchers and the latest technology into the jungle, searching for evidence of a creature natives describe as half man, half ape.” This will be cryptozoologist Adam Davies (author of a forthcoming Anomalist Books title), who will be leading the “MonsterQuest” crew on an investigation of Orang Pendek activities, for one part of the program. Various cryptids and related hominoids discussed will be the “Hobbits” (i.e. [...]

Year of the Yeti Begins Now!

This Friday will be the official launch of the new publication of the reasonably-priced hardback edition of Ivan T. Sanderson’s classic book, Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life, from Cosimo Classics. This new printing contains a new preface I’ve written, and I will have a few copies, hot off the press, literally, for sale at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. I also will have copies of two other books I’ve written that contain large sections about the Yeti: Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology and The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates Worldwide [...]

Do Critics Like The Water Horse?

What are the critics saying about the new cryptofiction film about the Loch Ness Monster? Here are some snippets from a few reviews of The Water Horse. (Click on the hyperlinks to read the complete reviews.) It is really difficult to tell if the reviewers are enjoying the movie. For most of us here, we’ll go see it anyway, but I thought some of these make for intriguing reading. Charles Cassady Jr. seems the most cryptid-aware, so I’ll begin with some quotations from his critique: Film earns bonus cryptozoology points for also mentioning Loch Morar, a deep Scottish lake with [...]

MonsterQuest: Mutant Canines

In the summer of 2006, during the investigation of the “dead animal on the Turner road,” which was blamed for the killings and injuries to dogs and livestock in central Maine for the last decade, an interesting piece of evidence turned up missing. It was the mystery creature’s skull (above). Having the skull would have clearly told us the animal was a dog, without going through all the DNA testing. Now the skull has surfaced again for television. The carcass that Mark LaFlamme and I examined (below) only a few days after its discovery was headless. But we knew the [...]