Obituaries

Anna McClain Memorial Fund

Anna McClain (future Coleman), at 17 years of age, a few years before she gave birth to Loren Coleman. First it was a slight cold on Tuesday, April 8th, followed by her quick death on Wednesday, April 9th. I’m in a bit of a shock. My mother always helped and encouraged my cryptozoology, including the museum. Donations will be greatly appreciated to support the continued work and housing of the cryptozoology exhibitions, and can be sent to Anna McClain Memorial c/o Loren Coleman PO Box 360 Portland, ME 04112 or via PayPal to lcoleman@maine.rr.com Or if you want to have [...]

Hillary’s Yeti Debunking Lives On

Sir Edmund Hillary recently died, and yet his legacy of Yeti debunking continues onward, even now through his associates. The Telegraph of Calcutta, India has published a subtle little article recalling in glowing terms Hillary’s damaging Yeti investigations, which were set up skeptically, versus open-mindedly, from the very start. In the article, “Climber recalls days with Edmund, hunting for Yeti,” the Telegraph’s correspondent writes of one man who was on the trek: Nearly half-a-century ago, Bhanu Banerjee accompanied legendary climber Edmund Hillary to a Himalayan expedition in pursuit of the Abominable Snowman and came back with some incredible memories. “Every [...]

Happy Birthday, Lon Chaney!

April Fool’s Day is Lon Chaney’s birthday. Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American film actor, nicknamed “The Man of a Thousand Faces,” whose macabre characterizations are classics of the silent screen. Both of Chaney’s parents were deaf, and as a child of deaf adults, Chaney became skilled in pantomime, which can be seen in his skilled acting for his many difficult roles. He is especially remembered as the Phantom of the Opera (above) and the Hunchback of Notre Dame (directly below). Chaney had many bizarre, almost Fortean roles, including the clown Flik in Laugh, Clown, [...]

Night of the Demon Remembered

Nick Redfern alerts me to the fact a character actor of some note, Brian Wilde, 80, died on March 20, 2008. Like Nick, I recall Wilde for his role of Rand Hobart in the classic 1957 UK movie Night of the Demon (Curse of the Demon in the USA). For me, the film was a pure Jungian psychological look at strange phenomena and “paranormal” events, including the appearance of a mystery felid and a “demonic” creature. (Years later, I would write two books ~ The Unidentified & Creatures of the Outer Edge, with Jerry Clark, which touched on these same [...]

Tintin Publisher Dies

Images above are from Tin-Tin in Tibet, published in 1960. Tintin publisher Leblanc dies at 92 22 Mar 2008 Economic Times/India Times Brussels: Raymond Leblanc [above], the Belgian publisher behind the global rise of Tintin’s comic-book adventures, died on Friday [March 21, 2008] at the age of 92, the company he founded said. Lombard editions paid tribute to “the qualities of the man and of the shrewd publisher who contributed to recognition of animated books as the ninth art. “In launching the ‘Tintin journal’ and the innumerable paper heroes it gave rise to, he goes down as one of the [...]

Stringray Kills Woman

Here’s one for the “animal attack underestimation” file. A stingray has killed a sunbathing woman in Florida, according to the Associated Press, on Thursday, March 20, 2008. The unnamed woman died in the Florida Keys, near Marathon, after a stingray (the actual specimen, shown here) jumped out of the water and struck her upper body. The spotted eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari) had hit the 55-year-old woman while she was in a boat. Officials say she was hit in the face or neck. It’s not clear whether the animal’s barb struck the Michigan woman, or if the impact killed her. Spotted [...]

Arthur C. Clarke Dies

An Associated Press News Alert confirms that science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke has died in Sri Lanka at the age of 90. Rohan De Silva says Clarke died early Wednesday, March 19, 2008 (local time) after suffering from breathing problems. Clarke was born Arthur Charles Clarke on 16 December 1917. He was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, most famous for his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name. Tributes and mainstream obituaries will not be difficult to find about Clarke in the coming hours [...]