Media Appearances

No Silly Season, Just Dog Daze

Click on image for full-size version Photograph by Michelle O’Donnell. Used by permission. On Monday, August 21,2006, Judith Meyer, editor at the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Maine, took a few moments to ponder the seven days that had just gone by. In her article “The Dog Daze in August,” she writes, in part: Last week was beyond weird. The public clamor for stories and photos about the mystery creature in Turner was so intense, the Sun Journal Web site couldn’t keep up and crashed. The switchboard was busy with media requests from around the world, and researchers and experts in [...]

Sunday Op-Ed Funnies

Johor Hominid Says: “What’s this I’ve heard about some missing photographs in Maine? Would you like to see some drawings of them?” ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Meanwhile, deep in the rainforests of Malaysia….

Story About Turner’s Mystery Beast Has Legs

TURNER, Maine –Whether or not tests prove that a "mystery beast" is a dog or something else, the story that has captured headlines from coast to coast won’t go away any time soon, according to an expert in human behavior. The Sun Journal newspaper obtained samples of the creature and shipped them to a University of Maine professor and to HealthGen in Toronto for genetic tests to determine the type of animal, said Judith Meyer, managing editor. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ For the rest of the article, please do a search via your favorite Google news or Yahoo news service, or see: Story [...]

Mystery Beast Photos Withdrawn

Update: Ms. O’Donnell changed her mind about the following, and the photographs are to be found on Cryptomundo. August 21, 2006. All of the photographs taken by Michelle O’Donnell of the "Mystery Beast" or "Maine Mutant" have been removed from Cryptomundo. This has been done at her request because she wants Cryptomundo to block anyone from pirating them. Ms. O’Donnell of Route 4, Turner, Maine, also wishes to be paid the sum of one hundred dollars per picture, if you want to order a copy of any of the photographs. Apparently someone at the Associated Press gave her some advice [...]

Maine Mutant Takes Down Website

The media attention was unabated on August 18 for this story, continuing late into the night for me with local television comments, scores of email inquiries & requests, and an interview on BBC News at 10:50 p.m. People wanted to have an answer to the "Maine Mutant" or "Mystery Beast" question, even when I told them there really is not one, but two parts here: the unknown large canid creature still out in the woods, uncaught, and the dead body off Route 4, which was most likely a strange, small feral dog. As noted below, with our publication of the [...]

Bizarre Animal Carcass Draws International Media Attention

Portland, Maine’s television station WCSH-TV, Channel 6, did a balanced, upbeat report on the media frenzy. They ended their report by showing footage of their reporter scrolling through the online “Maine Beast” blogs at Cryptomundo. Bizarre Animal Carcass Draws International Media Attention to Turner Web Editor:  Chris Facchini, Reporter   Created: 8/17/2006 5:11:52 PM Updated: 8/17/2006 5:15:39 PM Media from Maine to Germany to Madagascar have reported on the dead animal carcass that one expert says is likely nothing more than a feral dog. The Town of Turner is right in the middle of a media feeding frenzy. It’s all [...]

“Maine Mutant” Celebrated

When the media began dealing with the report of a body of uncertain identity in Maine on the 16th of August, they soon went wild with the story of the find and the even older tales of a killing mystery beast in the woods. For background, see: August 16, 2006 – Mystery Animal Photos and August 17, 2006 – Mystery Beast Update Cryptozoology is revealed in many ways. It is intriguing to see what kind of media frenzy is occurring because of this story. For the record, here’s some headlines that were used on the 16th and 17th of August, [...]