Pop Culture

Yeti Enlightenment and Freeing Tibet

Three images: A documentary film crew finds Yeti tracks in Nepal, December 2007. A monk is beaten in Kathmandu amid protests by Tibetan refugees in Nepal, March 2008. Chinese troops kill Tibetans in the most violent protests in Tibet in 20 years, March 2008. In a region of the world where the Chinese killing of Tibetans has been in the news all week, it seems strange to read the travel article in today’s New York Times. Entitled “As Turmoil Subsides, Tourism in Nepal Surges,” it allegedly heralds the return of visitors to a nation raked by its own bloodshed in [...]

No No Gnome

I earlier posted about the “creepy Argentinan gnome video” making the rounds, along with one of the versions of the footage. As the comments there indicate, multiple uploaded videos demonstrate that several takes of the “incident” were made, the images look like a puppet, and other things point to a hoax. Nevertheless, interest is still running high about the visuals. I was interviewed by reporter Alex Davies of Wireless News Flash service yesterday, for the following story they sent out today to their 800 radio stations and other news outlets: ARGENTINIAN GNOME A RED-HATTED HOAXPORTLAND, Maine (Wireless Flash) — Strange [...]

General Guemes Gnome

A little gnome with a pointed cap has been captured on a cellphone digital video camera. With a pointed cap? Where have we all seen gnomes like this before? Two years ago, the 30th anniversary edition of the coffee-table book Gnomes hit the bookstores. It reflects how successful the popular cultural icons of the gnomes pictured on the cover and within that book have become. We are surrounded by gnomes. Gnomes was the product of Rien Poortvliet (1932-1995) and Wil Huygen (1925- ), who supposedly made alleged observations of the local gnome population in Holland. The cryptofictionalization of these beings [...]

Bladenboro Beast Is Back

As the North American warm weather develops and the two new cryptozoology television series, “MonsterQuest” and “Destination Truth” battle for ratings heats cryptid matters, it will be worth our time to notice how many media mentions are generated by these two programs. For example, the Beast of Bladenboro article below appears to have been written because of the documentary filmmakers renewing investigations of the old stories as due to any new reports. If the tourist development success seen in such locations as Bladenboro or ones like in Point Pleasant, we should not be surprised to see other rural towns sharing [...]

Pinky Expedition: Dinosaur World

Since I’m exploring the Florida wilds of the St. Johns River, looking for evidence or indications of Pinky, the living dinosaur, I thought I’d take a side trek into civilization to visit Dinosaur World. Located just north of Tampa, it is off I-4, at Exit 17 in Plant City. It took me several hours of driving to reach it, but I figured if anyone would know anything about Pinky the dinosaur, it would be these folks. With over 150 life-size dinosaur statues and other creations to be seen on the walking tour of the grounds of Dinosaur World, you would [...]

Wild Man of The Navidad, Humm?