Pop Culture

The Top Cryptofiction Books of 2006

The Top Cryptofiction Books of 2006 by Loren Coleman, Author of Mysterious America. In 1998, Craig Heinselman of New Hampshire and editor of Crypto coined the word "cryptofiction." The term refers to any literary work that has cryptozoology or a cryptid or groups of cryptids as the major theme or central focus. What are the most noteworthy new works of cryptofiction published in the last twelve months? Five completely different kinds of novels and one graphic novel – all cryptofiction contributions – gain recognition here for the Year of 2006. These selections are so diverse that they occupy their own [...]

Who Coined “Skunk Ape”?

Just as I was curious about who coined “blobsquatch,” I’ve been wondering if there’s a clear history to who invented another term in our field. Who coined the phrase “Skunk Ape”? If you work your way over to the “Skunk Ape” entry at Wikipedia, you will find a simple answer that someone added there to that question. It is presented, as a fact, under the first subsection entitled simply Name. The following single sentence is given: The term “skunk-ape” was coined by David Shealy who heads the Skunk-Ape Research Headquarters in Ochopee, Florida. I’ve known the term “Skunk Ape” has [...]

Yahoo: “Salt & Pepper Squirrels” #1

The Once And Future University of North Texas White Squirrel. A Cryptomundo correspondent at Princeton University just passed this along: I see that your salt-and-pepper squirrel article made the # 1 spot (always reserved for cute critter pictures) on The 9 at Yahoo.Com. — my absolute favorite, must-watch M-F wrapup of the weird and wonderful on the World Wide Web: Vote For #1 = “Salt & Pepper Squirrels” Now you’ve really arrived, my man! Congratulations! I appreciate this. Actually, the readers at Cryptomundo are the keys to our success. Thank you all for visiting, reading, and voting us Number #1, [...]

Pynchon’s New Cryptofiction

Most people have heard the rumors about alligators-in-the-sewers, in large part, because of Thomas Pynchon’s 1963 novel, V. Pynchon wrote of the cute little pet alligators purchased as Florida souvenirs, eventually discarded, then growing and reproducing in the sewers of New York City. Moving through the underground system, Pynchon told us, they were big, blind, albino, and fed off rats and sewage. Pynchon envisioned an Alligator Patrol going into the depths of the sewers, working in teams of two, with one man holding a flashlight while the other carried a twelve-gauge repeating shotgun. As no one before him had, Thomas [...]

Again, Bear Lake

I enjoy reading stories about new sightings of Lake Monsters as much as the next guy, but what is up with retreading stories from the 1800s, so often? There’s been another local Utah article written about the Bear Lake Monsters. It revisits the same old stories that you perhaps have read before. What I find surprising is they hardly ever talk about the Utah Lake Monster sightings that are known from the 21st century, as documented elsewhere and mentioned by, for example, Karl Rose. There is no disputing that evidence for the Bear Lake Monsters was established by early leaders [...]