Obituaries

Yuriy Morozov Dies

Yuriy N. Morozov, 55, a well known Russian Fortean (anomalist) and leading authority on paleovisitology (the study of hypothetical ancient visitors to the Earth) died on April 29, 2007, in Moscow, Russia. Morozov’s death occurred after a short illness, according to his friend Vladimir Rubtsov, director of the Research Institute on Anomalous Phenomena (RIAP). [Rubtsov is himself famed for his studies of Tunguska (1972-2001) and his intriguing winged weirdies article in FSR1979, “A Flying ‘Man’ in Black in Russia.”] Yuriy Morozov was an advocate for the linking of all studies of unexplained phenomena, anomalistics, under one tent. He addressed the [...]

Famed Mothman Witness Loses Son

The Scarberrys and Mallettes saw Mothman on November 15, 1966. On November 16, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Wamsley and Raymond’s sister, Mrs. Marcella Bennett with her baby daughter Tina visited friends, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Thomas, who lived in a bungalow in a residential area near the location of the “igloos” (concrete dome-shaped dynamite storage structures erected during WWII) near the TNT plant. Marcella Bennett and the others saw Mothman, and Marcella was so upset she fell on her daughter. The story is well-known within the Mothman literature. Marcella told me she will never forget those red eyes. When I [...]

New Rash of Mothman-Linked Deaths

I am sorry to report that details are just beginning to trickle in of a new wave of deaths and near-misses tied to the Mothman researchers, museum staff and festival people in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. (Click here for a historical overview of other similar deaths. For more on the logic behind making an openminded focus of this kind of data, see my extended comment below in response to some early critics of this specific blog.) Many of these people impacted have become friends in the last five years, so these incidents are becoming more difficult to note. However, it [...]

Jim Jung Dies

Jim Jung, 54, an Illinois panther researcher and Fortean author passed away on March 15, 2007. He had for years gathered the disputed information that convinced him that black panthers and eastern cougars lived in his home state. As long as his website remains active, his cougar data on the web can be found here and here. Jung had just published his special look at the strange phenomena of southern Illinois, in the area north of Cairo called Egypt. He was also known, for the last decade, for his annual Southern Illinois almanac, The Waterman & Hill Traveller’s Companion. Scott [...]

Mothman, Garuda and Indonesian Air Crash

When discussing the strange episodes of interactions between humans and that winged weirdie seen in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in 1966-1967, John A. Keel didn’t carry around in his head the psychological icon of Mothman, which, of course, didn’t exist yet. No, his concept of what was the source of the foreboding and tragedy was much more ancient. A detail often forgotten is that John A. Keel’s The Mothman Prophecies was initially to be entitled The Year of the Garuda. The title Keel wanted was his way to connect the ancient Indian legends of the Garuda, an unknown flying cryptid, [...]