Pop Culture

Twisted Tales of Mystery Cat Photo

Here, below, is the one photograph that has been released, thusfar, of the Maine Mystery Cat, taken from a homeowner’s backyard in Sidney, Maine. The photo is from a digital camera, and the pixels give this felid a less than sharp configuration. But as you can see from reading the past blogs on this matter, the downloading of the camera, from the testimony of the photo lab owner, speaks well for this image to have not been Photoshopped. But that has not stopped others from using various techniques to manipulate this image. While no one seems to have seen a [...]

Cryptofiction and Coelacanth Scales: Sterling E. Lanier Dies

Sterling Edmund Lanier, 79, who just died in Sarasota, Florida, harkens back to an era of early cryptozoologists and adventurers. Lanier worked as an editor at Chilton Books in the 1960s, alongside Ivan T. Sanderson, also an editor at Chilton. Chilton Books in 1961 published Sanderson’s famous book, Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life. Sanderson and Lanier moved in similar natural history and publishing circles for a few years. Lanier wrote the foreword for one of Sanderson’s friends, Roger A. Caras’ 1964 Chilton-published book, Dangerous to Man; Wild Animals A Definitive Study of Their Reputed Dangers to Man. Born in [...]

Cryptozoology Animal of Discovery: Pygmy Hippopotamus

(Photo by Jacques Brinon) Posting a baby picture is always a good idea on a Sunday on the first day of the month. Here, Anais, the mother hippo, keeps an eye on her son Aldo, a three-week-old pygmy hippopotamus, (Choeropsis liberiensis), at the Vincennes zoo, outside Paris, on Tuesday, June 26, 2007. Aldo looks, eats and takes it easy like a hippopotamus. But he is only about as big as a human baby, at 21 inches. This pygmy hippopotamus, born on June 5, is one of only a few dozen in Europe, bred in a special program to boost the [...]

Loren & Loch Ness on Video

Someone has uploaded parts of the History Channel’s recent repeat of an episode of “Deep Sea Detectives” featuring great archival footage of recent cryptozoological discoveries, the program’s hosts diving at Loch Ness, and yours truly in my home-research office-museum. Corrective footnote: Yes, I know that Loch Ness is six miles from the ocean, although I misspoke during one of the tapings, and too quickly said “mile” instead of “a few miles.” I do get excited in these interviews to try to share my down-to-earth passion for the topic. For more on this subject see: The Field Guide to Lake Monsters, [...]

A Pterodactyl in the Pool Cabana

There’s a Pterodactyl in the Pool Cabana So Brian passed it along, With a pat on the nose and a song. From Freaky Links in the South, Yikes, look at that mouth. Thanks Patrick for taking the family heat With the head in your passenger seat. To some, it’s a bizarre abomination, Seeking love, far from its final destination. The thing is in search of its new home. The creature has more miles to roam. Does it appear as an unwelcome louse? Nay, now it’s in the pool house. No need for further trepidation, Or even swimmers’ consternation. No reason [...]