Public Forum

Merchandising the Monster

Artist: Roland LaVallee, Crow Track Gallery, Eastport, Maine. Used with permission. Lewiston reporter and Cryptomundo associate these days, Mark Laflamme takes some moments on Monday, August 21, 2006, to look at “Merchandising the beast?” in the Sun Journal. Please click on image for full-size version Photograph by Michelle O’Donnell. Used by permission. Laflamme speaking to a local central Maine readership, first and foremost, observes: Admit it. All week, you’ve been calling friends around the country to brag about the mystery creature stalking the Maine woods. You love that dead, unidentified beast and you want a way to celebrate it. Put [...]

Johor Photo Release

Sean Ang, apparently on behalf of Vincent Chow, has decided to release a small portion of the eyes of an alleged Johor Hominid from one of the alleged photographs (see below). It’s not much. But it’s something. Of course, it only raises more questions. If they can show us this much, why not a total and complete release of this evidence? What is this really a photograph of? Where was it taken? When? What does it show? From this tidbit, is it a photograph of any great ape in a zoo, a movie costume, or an unknown hominoid? What’s with [...]

Thunderbirds on C2C

Mark A. Hall shares reports of thunderbirds and other mysterious creatures on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory tonight, July 20th. His show will be archived there after broadcast. Hall will be talking about many topics in cryptozoology. The show starts at 10 p.m. Pacific time, but Hall will not be on in the first hour. The interview will be from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. (In the Eastern time zone the interview starts at 2 a.m. and runs till 5 a.m., on Friday, July 21). Mark A. Hall authored the 2004 book, Thunderbirds: America’s Living Legends of Giant [...]

New Jersey Bigfoot

How do local Bigfoot groups begin? How do they establish themselves? How do they “get out there” to have the public know they are local investigators? Craig’s group in Texas is a high-evolved and well-oiled machine. But they all start the same way. Most begin as a grassroots effort, and today, since I recently spotlighted the New Jersey Bigfoot on The X-Files, here’s a follow-up on the continuing but new local group in that state: Upcoming Bigfoot Lecture by Drew Vics Thursday, July 20, 2006, at 7:00 PM: “Exploring the Possibility of Bigfoot in New Jersey.” The New Jersey Bigfoot [...]

“White-Trash Werewolf Smorgasbord”

Yes, that quoted phrase is the subsection title that columnist Melanie Conklin of the Wisconsin State Journal of Madison, Wisconsin, employs in her little segment on the The Beast of Bray Road. It is not often that you see a modern newspaper writer employing what, in essence, is a racial slur with a mention about cryptozoology. But there it is. Actually, to be specific, Conklin is quoting Linda Godfrey who is rather upset these days. Here is what Melanie Conklin wrote on July 12th, even mentioning this humble blog site along the way: ‘White-trash werewolf smorgasbord’ If you attend Wisconsin [...]

Editorial: Release Johor Photos

The drawings by Vincent Chow and Sean Ang, at one level, are to be appreciated. At another level, they have caused further frustration and a growing level of impatience within the general cryptozoological community. Here is Cryptomundo’s Peter Loh drawing of the head of a Johor Hominid (then called Mawas) – the first drawing allegedly based on Chow’s photos – compared to a photograph of the head of an orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), also called in Indonesia, mawas. As far as can be understood from the new stories being told, we now don’t know where these alleged Johor Hominid photographs were [...]