Pop Culture

New Mexico’s Bighoot

Ornimegalonyx oteroi Bighoot, the Flying Head by Mike Smith In the piney mountains and desert mesas of southcentral New Mexico, citizens of the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation still tell legends of an enormous and evil bird: Big Owl. The Jicarilla Apaches, along the state’s northern edge, also talk of Big Owl-near slickrock canyons and beneath the gray bluffs of their reservation-but in their stories Big Owl will often paralyze humans just by staring at them, and after doing so swallows them whole, just as smaller owls swallow mice. Mark A. Hall, noted cryptozoologist and author of Thunderbirds: America’s Living Legends [...]

New Pterosaur Video?

Are the following new video images those of a prehistoric flying reptile seen over the waters near New Guinea? Well, frankly, I am not going to play any investigative games with you, my readers today about these YouTube uploads. Unfortunately, the democracy of the internet is going wild with such speculations about living pterosaurs. All these people would have to do is look in any good bird identification guide. These images are most certainly footage of frigatebirds, which are related to the pelicans; please compare to the photographs below. There are five species in the family Fregatidae, the frigatebirds, and [...]

Sunday Funnies: Yeti Jr Ski Ski

Bastien Beasties

Cartoonist Ted Bastien contributes a graphic view of tonight’s program. The cryptic comic crew is gathering for the show celebrating the new release of Mysterious America: The Ultimate Guide to the Nation’s Weirdest Wonders, Strangest Spots, and Creepiest Creatures (NY: Paraview Pocket – Simon and Schuster, 2007)!