Obituaries

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, [...]

Tragedy in Bluffton

Sometimes the news does touch deeply, merging worlds of sorrow, cryptozoology, and baseball. My thoughts go out to the parents, the players, and the many people in Bluffton – a wonderful little village that hosted me, cryptozoologically, and was kind to me 30 years ago this spring. My heart truly is with Bluffton. Times are hard. To the baseball families, the survivors, and the hurt bodies and souls from that town in Ohio, how can we really understand what they are going through? I empathize with how close baseball families can get. I’ve always worked with my sons and coaches, [...]

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 [...]