Folklore

Beyond Mothman: I-35W Blues

Things fall down. People look up. And when it rains, it pours.Magnolia, 1999. The collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minnesota is a tragedy, some say of epic proportions. Certainly, it is the most significant bridge collapse, not caused by an easily visible external reason like an earthquake or an impact from a barge, since 1967. An Anomaly National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark Rosenker said it is too early for officials to know if the accident could have been avoided. “They are built not to fall down. This is an anomaly and we’re going to try to find out [...]

An Electrogenic Mammal?

There are three known kinds of electric – more correctly called electrogenic – animals: (1) the one species, Electrophorus electricus, of South American electric eel (really a knifefish), (2) the 19 species of African electric catfish in the genera Malapterurus and Paradoxoglanis, and (3) the 69 species of electric rays (order Torpediniformes) found around the world. The first two fish both demonstrate the ability to shock prey with electricity as an effective strategy for a piscivore (an animal that eats fish). They produce high levels of voltage, e.g. electric eel (600 volts) and the electric catfish (350 volts). Electric rays [...]

Almasty Eyewitness at Weird Weekend

The reported appearance of the Almasty or Almas is often combined with frequently heard folkloric advice that the best way to escape from the female of the species is by running downhill. This motif is also found among reports from Sherpas regarding the Abominable Snowmen of the Himalaya. A Ukrainian biologist who has spent years hunting for the Russian equivalent of the Yeti will be one of the speakers at this year’s Weird Weekend in Woolsery. Grigoriy Panchenko claims to have seen one of the creatures himself in a barn on a remote farm in 1991. He also claims to [...]

Real Or Not, Coleman Frog Lives On

Nine-year-old Noah Blanchard looks upon the stuffed Coleman frog. Rob Blanchard/CanWest News Service.   The Coleman Frog was so-called because of its owner, Fred Coleman. The huge specimen is being mentioned again as a tourist attraction to view, if you happen to be visiting Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. Tell me, would you want this artifact in your local museum? At 19 kilograms, the Coleman frog is a monster. Supposedly nurtured to its humongous size on a diet of whey and whisky in the 1800s, the stuffed beast occupies a place of honour in Fredericton’s York-Sunbury Museum, where it is a [...]

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 [...]

One Way or the Otter, Radford/Nickell X-Files-Labeled

Don Getty, River Otters, Grand Tetons. Used with full permission of Mr. Getty. The photograph does not, however, appear in Ben’s and Joe’s book from last year. Would it have helped lessened the blow of this review against their flank? One would expect that the respected Journal of Folklore Reseach at Indiana University would come down on the side of Benjamin Radford’s and Joe Nickell’s recent skeptical book, Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World’s Most Elusive Creatures. It turns out it didn’t work out that way, and the journal, instead, found the book had shortcomings. Did Ben and Joe receive [...]