Museums

New Coelacanths On Display

Two new exhibitions of coelacanths are worthy of noting. The celebrated story of the coelacanth has made it one of the darlings of cryptozoology. It embodies a true tale of a “living fossil,” not verified as a “real animal” by science for 65 million years, then discovered off Africa in 1938 and rediscovered, with great fanfare, again in 1952 (as shown above). The coelacanth was a fish known to the natives, and eaten, with some slight disgust because it was too oily. It was a part of the menu of fishing peoples for centuries off Africa, long before it became [...]

New Asian Species

More species are being found, anew, in south Asia. We can hardly keep up with the announcements. Here’s a quick overview with some photos and links to the source articles. A new species of freshwater stringray (pictured here) has been discovered in Thailand. One of the discoveries was the remarkable Himanturan kittipongi, a new species of freshwater stringray from Thailand. Meanwhile, in Laos, six new species of frogs have been found. One is shown. Laos is the least densely populated country in Asia and has produced a treasure trove of wildlife discoveries during recent years. Rana khalam is one of [...]

See The Jersey Devil Here!

Come on in! See the Jersey Devil. Step right up. Get your tickets here. Look inside and see the actual Jersey Devil. Actually visible below, for real… In circus, sideshow, and carnival jargon, the gaff is the gimmicked item, the taxidermy fake, the rigged prop often used by the illusionists, the sideshow artists, the showmen to turn the tip, that is, get the audience, to enter the sideshow, tent, attraction, freakshow, exhibition. The Jersey Devil and the gaff go hand-in-hand. Take what happened…a hundred years ago. In 1906 huckster Norman Jefferies, publicity manager for C.A. Brandenburgh’s Arch Street Museum in [...]

Tom Slick, Snowmen, and Spying

In conjunction with the University of Texas’ display, "Bigfoot in Texas?" this weekend, one of the speakers will be Catherine Nixon Cooke, a niece of Tom Slick. Ms. Cooke in 2005 published her book, Tom Slick, Mystery Hunter from Paraview, Inc. A question I would ask her if I was there: Was the late Texas oil and beef millionaire Tom Slick partially using his Snowmen expeditions to hide, in plain sight, his spying activity? Tom Slick’s life-long cryptozoological pursuits have been worthy of my attention for 46 years. My awareness about his probable spying has occurred in the last two [...]

Mothman Death List Photo

Anyone from Ohio or West Virginia? I’m looking for a Mothman death list photo. Mothman image, copyright 2002, created by cryptozoology illustrator William Rebsamen for Mothman and Other Curious Encounters In the Charleston Daily Mail of March 20, 2006, in “Mothman has his own museum,” reporter Samantha L. Thomas, discussing the collection in Point Pleasant, mentions: One attention grabber is the “death list” displayed prominently in the middle of the museum. It draws connections between the sudden or strange deaths of those associated in some way with the Mothman legend. I wonder, does anyone have a photograph of this display, [...]

Yeti Mania Begins

In a kingdom built on make-believe, it is a big deal when the masters of fun and fantasy decide to place a focus of cryptozoology into the midst of their own real-life zoo. This covert positioning was not lost on reporter Buck Wolf. Wolf talked to me a couple of weeks ago because he knows of my extensive Yeti research, and he understood I had assisted the Disney people, behind the scenes. I supplied information, a photograph and background data on the Tom Slick (see below) Yeti cast for their exhibition, and pointed them to others who owned the rights [...]