Obituaries

Taunted Tusker Killed

This story is being posted here, not because it is cryptozoological, but because it appears to relate to the recent discussion regarding the San Francisco Zoo tiger event. Tusker, a large 50 year old bull African elephant (seen in this October 2007 photograph) was shot dead on Sunday, January 6, 2008 at Charara camp on the shores of Lake Kariba, 370 kilometres northwest of Harare, Zimbabwe. The elephant had trampled several cars at a safari camp after being provoked by revellers at a new year party, say conservationists in Zimbabwe. Johnny Rodrigues, of the independent Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, disputed [...]

Year Ends With Zoos in News

Goodbye to Nonja. The final days of December seem an appropriate time to talk about death, a metaphor for an internal feeling of the artificial human construction of a year ending. Death drives the mainstream news. How can we extract something useful out of all of this? This year thoughts of death have occupied many due to the assassination of Bhutto in Pakistan, of course, and also because of the deaths of two unfortunate victims, Carl Sousa Jr. and the Siberian tiger Tatiana, both at the San Francisco Zoo on December 25, 2007. Zoos are in the news. Zoos are [...]

Tiger Escapes SF Zoo, Kills One

Tatiana, San Francisco Zoo’s Siberian tiger, attacked three men, killing one. Infrequently, discussions occur here about escaped animals, mostly as alleged explanations for cryptid animals. When a situation such as the following does occur, the fact is that the animal is quickly caught, returned to captivity, or killed. This is a sudden, sad, and startling story for Christmas Day. San Francisco, California – Police say a tiger escaped from its cage at the San Francisco Zoo today, killing one visitor and injuring two others. Several police officers shot the tiger to death when it started moving toward a group of [...]

40th Anniversary of Silver Bridge Collapse

December 15, 2007, is the 40th anniversary of the collapse of the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River. This year has been one of reflection with regard to this event. John A. Keel (above), who has written about Mothman as well as the suicides and deaths associated with it for decades, had his 1975 book turned into its namesake movie, The Mothman Prophecies, in 2002. Following is the clip from that motion picture of the dramatic recreation of the Silver Bridge collapse of December 15, 1967, which has been compared to the I-35W Bridge collapse of August 1st, 2007. In [...]

Fortean Anthologist Peter Haining Dies Suddenly

“Why doesn’t somebody reprint Peter Haining’s book on Springheel Jack?” is a question Fortean author Robert Schneck asked in 2005. Maybe some publisher will now. Peter Haining, 67, has died suddenly. Peter Haining wrote and edited so many Fortean and related books, I would imagine that most people reading this notice own at least one of his works. Anthologist Peter Haining, born 1940, died from a heart attack on November 19, 2007, at the age of 67. He is best known to 007 fans as the author of “James Bond: A Celebration” – one of the first books focussing on [...]