Forensic Science

Malaysian Bigfoot Search Continues

In the wake of the dramatic developments that the “johor hominid” photos are a hoax, many have forgotten that the foundation of the Malaysian Bigfoot reports remain intact. Here’s a report from Raymond Goh of the API, a sometimes rival, sometimes cooperative entity of the SPI and Vincent Chow. For the sake of balance, I thought it important to publish these thoughts, with Raymond’s permission, to get some insights into the API’s point of view. – Loren ———————————————————————— The sudden turn of events of the Johor hominid case has angered and disappointed many. Touted by a reputed Malaysia Nature Society [...]

Johor Photo Release

Sean Ang, apparently on behalf of Vincent Chow, has decided to release a small portion of the eyes of an alleged Johor Hominid from one of the alleged photographs (see below). It’s not much. But it’s something. Of course, it only raises more questions. If they can show us this much, why not a total and complete release of this evidence? What is this really a photograph of? Where was it taken? When? What does it show? From this tidbit, is it a photograph of any great ape in a zoo, a movie costume, or an unknown hominoid? What’s with [...]

Real Monsters of Madagascar

Kevin Fitzgerald, 55, a science writer for the Journal Inquirer of Manchester, Connecticut, and past contributor to Grzimek Encyclopedia of Animal Life and the New England Skeptical Society’s online “Encyclopedia of Skepticism,” is the guest blogger today. Fitzgerald wrote me commenting that he would like to expand on some thoughts regarding Madagascar’s animals, as his travels there had given him some firsthand insights that might be of interest to Cryptomundo readers. This is in reaction to the U. S. Navy SEALs account about seeing an animal in the Congo that looks like a supposed “ape” on Madagascar. Fitzgerald does not [...]

“Sea Serpent” Beached

Cryptomundo pal David Pescovitz over at Boing Boing, on July 27, 2006, posts news of the latest beaching of a relative of the ribbonfish and oarfish. These types of fish may infrequently have been mistaken for Sea Serpents. David writes: Huge fish washed up in Oregon This huge King-of-the-Salmon fish, nearly six feet long, washed up on the shore near Seaside, Oregon last weekend. These rarely-spotted fish, Trachipterus altivelis, usually are found at depths of 1600 feet. Pescovitz shares more in his blog on this. Despite such a comparative remark on my part, the appearance of these animals on shore [...]

New Giant Peccary

I’ve always liked the idea that a man named Ralph Wetzel discovered one of the newest large mammal species, the Chacoan peccary, quite recently. In Cryptozoology A to Z, I wrote: This “rangy big pig,” as University of Connecticut biology professor Ralph M. Wetzel characterized his 1974 discovery, was a big surprise – a Pleistocene Epoch survivor of a species thought to have died out 10,000 years ago. The Chacoan peccary, a relative of pigs, boars, and warthogs, weighed in at more than 100 pounds, the largest and most unusual of the three known peccaries. Wetzel found it in the [...]

Update: Mystery Flying Cryptid

This is the original uncropped photograph. Thanks to beautifu11ybroken and Iggy Makarevich for their separate assistance in obtaining this. Does the full-framed photo give some more helpful insights into what this might be? For more details on this photograph, please see the previous posting on the Mystery Flying Cryptid Photo.

Mystery Flying Cryptid Photo

Cropped and unidentified versions of the above photograph have been floating around the internet, sparingly. I noticed one used in conjuction with the Ropen press release. It clearly seemed out of context, but nevertheless worthy of further examination. Cryptomundo reader Brian Gaugler tracked it down to the ufocasebook.com files, and located the text of the who and the where behind the photo: 2003 – New Hampshire. November 6 – On the 25th of October in Plymouth, Joy P. was in the middle of a train trip. While observing the landscape, she decided to take photographs of the passing scenery. One [...]

Ropen: Flying Reptiles Alive Today

One of the routine ways of looking at reports of giant flying creatures from exotic lands is as shown in the new comic, Cryptid, as giant bats (below). But there is another school of thought too. In Africa, they are called Kongomato (see below – William M. Rebsamen art from Cryptozoology A to Z and a mysterious photograph of one that has surfaced on the internet). In New Guinea, they are named Ropen. Some would have us consider if there are pterosaurs among us still today. A new book, Searching for Ropens, proposes they do exist. American cryptozoologist Matt Bille, [...]