Anniversaries are those logical points on the calendar when we all naturally think about events that may have been too overwhelming to have sink too deeply into our psyche at the time. Three years ago the Mothman Death Curse, if there is such a thing, hit close to home. On July 19, 2004, the first copies of the August 2004 issue of Fortean Times went on sale in London, with distribution to the USA, later in July. It contained the first publication of “The Mothman Death Curse” article that I had completed a few weeks earlier, after researching the subject [...]
How Big is the Cryptozoology Community?
My late friend, colleague, and mentor, Ivan T. Sanderson, shown above with a lemur in his private zoo, was one of the first in America to try to organize those interested in cryptozoology into a formal “society.” What does his legacy look like today? Matt Bille asked me a simple question: “How big is the cryptozoological community?” Specifically, Matt wanted to know if anyone has tried to estimate the size of the cryptozoological community – that is, the number of people in North America particularly, who actively follow cryptozoological news and publications? How many people, Matt wondered, actually spend time [...]
A CryptoZoo Birthday
Even a hard-working cryptozoologist needs to take a break for his birthday party, once a decade, right? Aren’t we all kids inside, sometimes? Snapshots from the July 12th celebration at the Portland Sea Dogs game: During the event, an unknown cryptid mascot showed up to pose with the specially made Bigfoot birthday cake and some guy in a red shirt. Actually, this creature is the Yarmouth Clam Festival mascot clam. Strange but very cheerful. In the two above photos, you can see how different camera angles and light bouncing off Bigfoot created the illusion that the brown primate may sometimes [...]
Flashback: Johor Hominid – July 4th, 2006 + A New Sighting
Do you remember what we all were talking about on this date a year ago, on July 4th, 2006? Teasers about groundbreaking photographs of a “Johor Hominid” were being promoted with comments about having patience. One website researcher commented to me on this day in 2006 that asking to see the Johor Bigfoot photographs is “like asking for Angelina Jolie’s unpublished baby photos,” and that I now have to “be patient like the rest.” Yes, I said: Patience is a virtue. Patience and passion are two important components of cryptozoology research, as I have often mentioned, as per Bernard Heuvelmans. [...]
Out Of The Ordinary: Weird Virginia
In celebration and dedicated to my birthstate (Norfolk, Virginia: July 12, 1947; yep, my father was in the U. S. Navy)….here’s a June 29, 2007 review of Weird Virginia, a new book by Jeff Bahr, Troy Taylor and Loren Coleman. Weird Virginia As some have told me, I did come in with the era of modern “flying saucers,” as well as with a wave of Sasquatch, Bigfoot and Skunk Ape sightings in British Columbia, Missouri, and Florida, during 1947. Cards, greetings, and 60th birthday checks gratefully accepted at PO Box 360, Portland, ME 04112. Also appearing in my 60th year, [...]
St. John’s Day ‘07
St. John’s Day June 24, 2007 Here is my annual tribute to this special day, which happens to be a little more special than usual for 2007. Does the name Kenneth Arnold (below) ring a bell? Knights Templars display “Mysterious Head” at Poitiers (1308). Founding of the Order of the Garter (1348). John Cabot discovers North America (1497). Galileo released (1633). “Woman of the Wilderness” utopian community arrives in America (1694). “W of W” angelic visions (1701). Grand Lodge of Freemasons inaugurated (1717). Ambrose Bierce born (1842). Red rain, Italy (1877). Ice fall, Ft. Lyon, Colorado (1877). Fall of jelly-like [...]
Penn Giant Snake Eats Kittens
One hundred years ago, explorer Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett was sent by the Royal Geographic Society to make a thorough survey of the Rio Abuna and Acre Rivers. He encountered a Giant Snake. Today, sightings of a large serpent have stirred the media in the Midwest USA. Click image for full-size version Fawcett ran across his snake in 1907, as he was drifting along the Rio Negro. Fawcett shot the creature and finally examined it on the river bank where it came ashore. According to Fawcett, the snake measured 45 feet out of the water and 17 in it, for [...]
More Otter Nonsense
An old drawing of the animal described by Mr. and Mrs. George Spicer seen crossing the road near Dores, Scotland, one of the two examples examined today. Ten days ago, I posted what became a very popular entry here (+125 comments), “Otter Nonsense”. In discussing my appearance with Joe Nickell on CNN’s “Paula Zahn Now”, I noted that Nickel used a broad brush in debunking Lake Monster accounts. The major “skeptic” argument presented during the CNN interview was Joe Nickell quickly telling and returning again to statements that all Lake Monster reports could be explained as being otters. While some [...]
Mystery Fish Postcard Solved? Megamouth?
Could the solution of the mystery fish photograph on an antique postcard (first noted at Cryptomundo on November 29, 2005) be at hand? Could this postcard reveal evidence of a beached megamouth shark decades before the species was officially verified? (Click on image to see full size version the Mystery Fish Photo postcard, enhanced by shockbeton) Mystery Fish head, click to enlarge. Does the head of the megamouth look similar to that of the Mystery Fish’s head from the old postcard? The above photograph (and the one below) of this 2004 megamouth are courtesy of Ton & Marjan of the [...]
Where Are The Lost Sasquatch Columns?
Saturday, May 26th is the anniversary of the death of Sir Michael Bruce, a little-remembered early columnist who wrote about Sasquatch. He died fifty years ago. Mark A. Hall has passed along the following attached notes and articles about Sir Bruce. Sir Michael Bruce, an advocate for the Sasquatch, was the brother of Nigel Bruce, the actor best known for portraying Dr. Watson to Basil Rathbone’s cinematic Sherlock Holmes. Sir Bruce died of a heart attack on May 26, 1957. I mentioned him in Living Fossils, on page 20. As far as I know, no one has gone back to [...]
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