Obituaries

Beaked Whale Discoverer Dies

As important as he became as a scientist, he never stopped being the boy who came home for dinner with a frog in one pocket and a crawfish in the other. His love of all marine life was both infectious and inspiring.Paul G. Haaga Jr, museum board member recalls John E. Heyning John Heyning, deputy director of the research and collections at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, places one of the specimens used to genetically identify a rare-beaked whale on display. John E. Heyning, 50, one of the world’s foremost marine biologist, has died. Heyning’s speciality was [...]

Swamp Creature Actor Dies

Doctor, I was thinking… just the work that you’ve done with the crocodiles and taking them back along the evolutionary path and making them into fish would be enough to win you world acclaim.“Tom,” Curse of the Swamp Creature Yes, but acclaim… that’s nothing. To create life, to move it up and down the evolutionary path… that’s something. Something I don’t think you quite appreciate, Tom.“Dr. Simond Trent,” Curse of the Swamp Creature The plot to Curse of the Swamp Creature is about as simple as the movie. Deep in the rural swamps of east Texas the mad Dr. Simond [...]

Mothman’s “Cyrus Bills” Dies

Get me Cyrus Bills at the Post. The Mothman Prophecies, 2002 “Cyrus Bills” was a character, a Washington Post reporter, in the movie The Mothman Prophecies, played by Bob Tracey of Carnegie, Pennsylvania. Tracey died on January 26, 2007, exactly five years to the same weekend that The Mothman Prophecies opened in theaters across the United States. Bob Tracey, a former disc jockey, passed away from complications of pneumonia, said his wife, Marjorie Michel. Tracey was born Robert Charles Michel in Rutherford, New Jersey, in 1923. Still involved in local broadcasting and theater, Tracey had appeared in several films, including [...]

Extinct Bird Naturalist Dies in Menehune Valley

Na Pali means “The Cliffs” in Hawaiian. The secluded green valleys of the Na Pali Coast are said once to have been home to an ancient race of little humans called Menehune (seen above in the Hawaiian Medical Association’s publication logo). The Menehune are the tiny people of the Hawaiian Islands, who are perhaps related to the Flores Hobbits, Homo floresiensis. In more recent years, the Na Pali location has become familiar to movie goers worldwide. The beautiful scenery has served as the backdrop for such movies as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, and the remake of King [...]

American Dime Museum Closes – Part I

We’re losing another great piece of Baltimore personality. It was esoteric and great and hilarious and very fitting for this city. Maybe it was just too good to be accepted by enough people. – John Waters, Baltimore filmmaker and director of Pink Flamingos Photo credit: Barbara Matteson. A tradition eight years in the making based on wonders, gaffs, and sideshow fakery going back hundreds of years is closing. The American Dime Museum first opened in Baltimore in 1999, but has gone the way of many such sites. The cost of keeping it open has become too much. It is no [...]

Death by Sea Serpent?

In response to my “Sea Serpent Snatching?” blog, cryptozoologist Matt Bille, author of 2006′s Shadows of Existence, sent along a comment. He mentioned that there has been only one known case of the possible killing of humans by a Sea Serpent. I asked Matt to expand on this, and submit a guest blog on the account. He agreed and you will find his welcome overview of the incident below. Matt with a friend. Matt Bille’s contribution on this intriguing Sea Serpent case follows. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Death by Sea Serpent? By Matt Bille In the modern history of “sea serpents,” we have [...]