John A. Keel was a significant author of works in Forteana, cryptozoology, and ufology in the 1960s and 1970s. His Strange Creatures from Time and Space and The Mothman Prophecies, as well as his numerous articles in magazines, influenced other writers, researchers, and the general public. After the Mothman book-inspired movie appeared in 2002, interest in Keel resurfaced, briefly. His declining health, few public lectures, and then heart attack, created less attention to Keel than might have been expected. I was wondering how Cryptomundians consider his impact, legacy, and import today? What place do you think Keel with have in [...]
Cryptomundo Mermaids Do Exist
Recently someone emailed in a complaint: “I can’t help noticing the dearth or paucity of Mermaid information on an otherwise very complete site. Even I, a rank amateur, keep stumbling across references to live sightings. Even if some do turn out to be Dugongs, it seems as if some are less easy to explain — witness the case in Newfoundland, which is hardly Dugong territory.” I thought I would share a couple helpful hints about using Cryptomundo. Please click on the image for the full-size editorial image. First, of course, mermaids and all kinds of other fantastic creatures, curious cryptids, [...]
No “Bigfeet” Discovered
It is good to know that the legacy of Cryptomundo is assisting the literary world of Oregon’s Portland Mercury. Courtney Ferguson writes today about his search for whether “Bigfeet” is the correct word to use: After spending 10 minutes searching for the proper plural form of Sasquatch, I grew impatient. Was it Sasquatches? Could I use Bigfeet? Or was it a murder of Sasquatch? Finding little in the way of information on the New York Times site (two instances of Sasquatches) and absolutely nothing in the Chicago Manual of Style, I encountered this cryptid site! cryptomundo.com Eureka! Within cryptozoology, North [...]
Share Your CryptoPlates
Maine, it was noted this week, has the 6th highest (by per capita) number of vanity plates in the United States of America. Here’s Cryptomundo correspondent Maine Crypto’s new “Cryptid” plate, her just-issued Maine license tags for her car. Very attractive, won’t you say? Do you have cryptozoologically-themed plates? What’s yours? My plates happen to read “Crypto1″ (Maine).
Dayton’s Hangar 18
On April 9-10, 2008, I’ll be making a brief visit to Dayton, Ohio (to deliver a private cryptozoology talk). Today, I pause to pass along a bit of Forteana. A couple years ago I was the co-author of Weird Ohio, and one of the stories I enjoyed sharing in that book was of Dayton’s so-called “Hangar 18.” I thought you might like to read a little about it today, while I travel to that fair city. (It is hardly about cryptids, but it certainly is a strange location tale, sort of an “urban legend of place,” and it speaks to [...]
“Die, Researchers, Die!”
Perhaps it is a coincidence but on March 22, 2008, a renegade alignment of “thinkers” calling themselves the RRRgroup (although known by some critics as the “KKKgroup”) wrote a blog (together?) entitled “Death(s) will clean the UFO palate.” They begin by stating, “When ufology’s old-guard passes on – Dick Hall, Stan Friedman, Kevin Randall, John Schuessler, and even the 60ish Jerry Clark to name a few – taking hangers-on and sycophants with them (and you know who they are), the UFO palate will be cleansed.” The RRRGroup then mention others who “include Paul Kimball, Nick Redfern, Greg Bishop, and Mac [...]
Happy Birthday, Lon Chaney!
April Fool’s Day is Lon Chaney’s birthday. Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American film actor, nicknamed “The Man of a Thousand Faces,” whose macabre characterizations are classics of the silent screen. Both of Chaney’s parents were deaf, and as a child of deaf adults, Chaney became skilled in pantomime, which can be seen in his skilled acting for his many difficult roles. He is especially remembered as the Phantom of the Opera (above) and the Hunchback of Notre Dame (directly below). Chaney had many bizarre, almost Fortean roles, including the clown Flik in Laugh, Clown, [...]
Monsters and the Monstrous: Call for Papers
6th Global Conference Monsters and the Monstrous: Myths and Metaphors of Enduring Evil Monday 22nd September – Thursday 25th September 2008 Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary conference seeks to investigate and explore the enduring influence and imagery of monsters and the monstrous on human culture throughout history. In particular, the project will have a dual focus with the intention of examining specific ‘monsters’ as well as assessing the role, function and consequences of persons, actions or events identified as ‘monstrous’. The history and contemporary cultural influences of monsters and monstrous metaphors will also be examined. Perspectives [...]
Pelicanism 1897
Pelicans historically have held a bizarre place in animal folklore. The Physiologus says of the pelican that it of all birds loves its young the most. The young pelicans in the Pieter van der Borcht (1545-1608) copperplate engraving (above) appear to be about to drink the blood of their mother; some versions of the story say that she feeds them her blood. The pose of the mother bird is known as “The Pelican in her Piety.” Another illustration of this pelican tale is shown in a woodcut (above) from Rome, 1577. “Pelicanism” is a term I wish to borrow from [...]
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 [...]
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