Forensic Science

Little People Confirmed As New Species

While people can debate the reality of giant hairy Johor Hominids, huge hirsute Canadian Sasquatch, or little furry Hawaiian Menehunes, there’s no denying the continuing and expanding picture of the reality of the tiny, three-feet tall human-like beings of Indonesia. We have their bones. In a new, just-published July 2006 paper in the Journal of Human Evolution, scientists have confirmed that the so-called "Hobbits" of Flores, Indonesia, are a separate species. (Please read here for other Cryptomundo revelations about these real-life little hominids and their contemporary sightings.) Yesterday, USA Today’s Dan Vergano summarized the results: Now a study accepted for [...]

Editorial: Release Johor Photos

The drawings by Vincent Chow and Sean Ang, at one level, are to be appreciated. At another level, they have caused further frustration and a growing level of impatience within the general cryptozoological community. Here is Cryptomundo’s Peter Loh drawing of the head of a Johor Hominid (then called Mawas) – the first drawing allegedly based on Chow’s photos – compared to a photograph of the head of an orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), also called in Indonesia, mawas. As far as can be understood from the new stories being told, we now don’t know where these alleged Johor Hominid photographs were [...]

Johor Hominid: What Do You Look Like?

Vincent Chow’s associate, Sean Ang, wrote the following on Friday, July 7, 2006: …we will publish a sketch based on the original photos, say by end of this week, latest next week. Vincent is working on one of the sketch now. I also intend to publish the close-up photo of the hair samples we have. Ang also said that photographs are “potential Pulitzer prize” caliber. Why, at this stage, the continued hyperbole? In transcripts of conversations on July 6th, with and shared by Jason Pritchett, Sean Ang noted that of the 14 reported photos, Sean has seen two individuals, both [...]

Drudge Report’s Big Birds

During the first weekend in July 2006, various published photographs from the Florida site of NASA’s probable Space Shuttle launch showed rather large birds near the location. One of these pictures (see below) was so dramatic that Matt Drudge commented about it on his Sunday night radio program. He remarked that he was being emailed so many questions about it he removed the pix from his Drudge Report website for a time. (Drudge definitely is aware of cryptozoology and infrequently posts news items about sightings of cryptids.) However, from further photographs published by Drudge (below) and elsewhere, it is obvious [...]

Name the Mystery Fish Revisited

The Mystery Fish postcard, first noted here on November 29, 2005, has never been identified, as to exact location or species. Several thousand new readers have found their way to Cryptomundo since November, so here’s a quick revisit to that photographic mystery. (Click on image to see full size version, enhanced by shockbeton) Due to research on the type of postcard it is, there was a determination thanks to Cryptomundo readers, that this item would have been produced between 1904-18. The location seems to be in the Pacific, but perhaps it was taken in the Philippines, or maybe even Florida? [...]

Bili Ape Update

An earlier Bili or Bondo Ape foot cast from an information-gathering trek of cryptozoologist Karl Ammann. There’s breaking news from a recent exploration to collect data on the Bili Ape: Mystery apes of central Africa are chubby chimps (AFP) 28 June 2006 PARIS – A tribe of apes living in remote forests in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo are unusually large chimpanzees, not a new species of giant ape or a chimp-gorilla hybrid, New Scientist says. Zoologists became excited after people living around Bili, a town about 200 kilometres (120 miles) east of the Ebola River, recounted tales of [...]

Chameleon Snake Discovered

A red-brown snake that turns white? A new species among over 350 species discovered on Borneo? Being rather busy here with a wide variety of cryptozoological matters, I’ll let my Boing Boing buddy David Pescovitz’s good summary about the new finding of this chameleon snake speak for itself: Scientists have discovered a new species of venomous water snake in Borneo that can change its colors. The half-meter-long snake is a member of the genus Enhydris and might only live in the Kapuas River drainage system of Borneo. It’s not yet known whether the chameleon-like behavior is a defense mechanism or [...]