Reviews

Do Critics Like The Water Horse?

What are the critics saying about the new cryptofiction film about the Loch Ness Monster? Here are some snippets from a few reviews of The Water Horse. (Click on the hyperlinks to read the complete reviews.) It is really difficult to tell if the reviewers are enjoying the movie. For most of us here, we’ll go see it anyway, but I thought some of these make for intriguing reading. Charles Cassady Jr. seems the most cryptid-aware, so I’ll begin with some quotations from his critique: Film earns bonus cryptozoology points for also mentioning Loch Morar, a deep Scottish lake with [...]

Water Horse, Nessie, and Sex

Adrian Shine, whom I understand is English not Scottish, was on NBC’s “Today Show” on Friday, December 14th. The guy almost sounded like a true believer from the Highlands. He was there to talk about the evidence for the Loch Ness Monster, and to promote the new movie, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, opening on Christmas Day. Being part Scottish, I’ve always liked the name “Water Horse” for these critters, and used it a good deal in one of my cryptozoology field guides. I think the “Water Horse” theory makes a lot of sense, and I was delighted [...]

The Curious Case of Mr. Holmes and the Mystery Ape

“Perhaps when a man has special knowledge and special powers like my own, it rather encourages him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand.” ~ Sherlock Holmes, in The Adventure of the Abbey Grange. The serial melodrama apparently continues. To tell you the truth, when I read the headline to the story late last night (November 18, 2007), “Bear trap set for mysterious ape,” I chuckled to myself. I immediately thought: “Dang, someone’s decided to finally attempt to catch Jacobs mangy bear.” But I read on, and was more startled than enlightened by what I [...]

Replica Cryptia: Przewalski’s Horses

The Przewalski’s horse, a Pleistocene megafauna survivor, can be called a “living fossil,” in the popularized employment of that phrase. Certainly, this horse is of interest to cryptozoologists. In the society we live in, this is an animal your daughter may know more about than you do. The species (Equus ferus przewalskii, Equus caballus przewalskii, or Equus przewalski poliakov – classification is debated) is the last truly wild horse, first recognized by zoology in Mongolia in 1881. It is an animal of discovery, with lessons to teach in cryptozoology. Besides, the Przewalski’s horse story overlaps with that of the Almas. [...]

The Flatwoods Monster Decoded

The date was September 12, 1952. The place, Flatwoods, West Virginia. On that crisp fall day, Kathleen May (pictured), Eugene Lemon, 17, Neal Nunley, 14, Eddie May, 13, Teddie May, 14, Ronald Shaver, 10, Teddie Neal, 10, Tommy Hyer, 10, and Lemon’s big old dog, climbed to the top of a hill and saw a “monster.” They immediately felt they had to run, as fast as they could, someplace. The huge dark figure with glowing eyes and a head “like the ace of spades” blocked their path. About 12 feet high (4 meters), the figure had a reddish face and [...]

First Sea Serpent Sighting: A Detective Story

Sargon II In the hot-off-the-press issue of The Anomalist 13, historical cryptozoologist Ulrich Magin examines, as he concisely says in the title of his article, “Sargon II’s Sea Serpent Sighting: The First Sighting in Cryptozoology?” I’ve always enjoyed Magin’s high-quality bibliographical and original source research, and this article does not disappoint. Magin gives the essence of his pursuit in his opening: The Assyrian King Sargon had the first ever sighting of a sea serpent. Bernard Heuvelmans, in his In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents, writes: “Thus we learn that Sargon II, who reigned in Assyria from 722 to 705 B.C., [...]