Obituaries

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 [...]

Eastern Cougar Mysteries

On display at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology: The verified casts (one shown above, the other below) of credible eastern cougar tracks found in Massachusetts in 1990. Naturalist Helen McGinnis’ of the Eastern Cougar Foundation, during January 2007, has raised some questions about the above during their “Project Hoax.” A Mystery Melanistic Felid captured on film in Florida turned out to be a black bobcat. Helen McGinnis, in the late 1970s, gathered evidence and privately published her findings in papers widely distributed to cryptozoologically-minded associates saying she thought upwards of 40% of the mystery cats in that state were melanistic. [...]

Peter Tompkins Dies

Hot on the heels of the death of superspy E. Howard Hunt (whose first wife had a magical middle name, Wetzel), now comes word of the passing of a Fortean writer of some note who also was a spy.

Track of the Cat’s Bezzerides Dies

A.I. Bezzerides, 98, a novelist-turned-screenwriter best known for post-World War II film noir classics such as Kiss Me Deadly, On Dangerous Ground and Thieves’ Highway , died January 1, 2007, after a brief illness. Albert Isaac Bezzerides was born Aug. 9, 1908, in Samsun, Turkey. His mother was Armenian and his father a Turkish-speaking Greek. He moved to America with his parents by age 2, and they settled in Fresno, where his father worked in the fields before becoming a produce-hauling trucker. He is perhaps most remembered for a style he applied to his best-remembered work, the 1938 novel Long [...]

23 Skidoo: Goodbye Robert Anton Wilson

My old friend Robert Anton Wilson has died. I learned of the news from my friends Patrick Huyghe and David Pescovitz. I’m sure someplace, Bucky Fuller, Timothy Leary, Charles Fort, and Robert Anton Wilson are deciding whether it’s time to play supercheckers or Texas hold ‘em. I corresponded with Robert Anton Wilson (RAW as he sometimes was called) from the 1970s through the early 1990s, until his health and his in-and-out self-exiles moved him near-and-far from many people. In the waning years, like many, I kept in touch via friends of friends, as it were. Wilson had a universe of [...]

Harry Horse, The Ogopogo Author & Atlantis Rising Cartoonist Dies

The author of The Opopogo – My Journey with the Loch Ness Monster, Harry Horse, 46 (real name: Richard Horne), his dog Roo, other pets, and his ill wife Mandy, 39, have all died in an apparent mass suicide. The Scotsman is reporting on January 11, 2007, that Horne, his wife (multiple sclerosis saw her confined to a wheelchair at 39), and their pets were found Papil, on Burra, Scotland, on January 9, victims of an apparent assisted suicide and suicide pact. Richard Horne, better known as Harry Horse, a famed children’s book illustrator, author, and cartoonist of the bizarre [...]

Animal X Researcher Dies

One of the “Animal X” staff members died in 2006, but I am lacking a specific date on which the death occurred. The program’s Tony White, 54, died an untimely death, from a massive heart attack in Australia. He was the show’s senior researcher and died during the production of “Animal X: Natural Mystery Unit.” White had also been involved in the endangered species series “Before It’s Too Late” and the general animal series, “Animal Allies.” He furthermore had a weekly radio show in the UK and some years ago he wrote a four-part documentary series for BBC Radio on [...]