Chinese Lake Monster Videos: Fake or Real?

Reports of “monsters” in Lake Kansai have issued from China since at least the 1980s. In recent weeks, via news reports rebroadcast on YouTube, we are beginning to see various videos that are apparently of different animate objects. Are any of these motion pictures of animals? Or merely mistakes and known animals posing as cryptids? Well, you don’t need a weatherman to tell you which way that thar distance Lake Monsters, but do we even need a cryptozoologist for this one? Legendary lake ‘monster’ is captured on camera China’s Loch Ness monster has been sighted. Or so Chinese state-run television [...]

Mall of America Mandrill

Click on image for full version of all the comic panels by Steven Stwalley. I thought you may find amusement in a comic strip I drew that is appearing in the news weekly City Pages in the Twin Cities on the “Mall of America Mandrill.” I’ve been enjoying your site for some time and put a reference to your name in there (you can take comfort in the fact that I didn’t base the character’s appearance on you!). Enjoy!Steven Stwalley I asked Steve’s permission to share his strip – please click on the above panel visible to see the entire [...]

The Giant Snake of Carter’s Lake

Lake Monster. Kalamazoo, Mich., July 21 – The big snake which is said to exist in the neighborhood of Carter’s Lake, Barry county, and known as “Carter’s snake,” has been seen again this week, this time by Henry Marble. The snake is variously reported as fifteen to twenty feet long. Marble was terrified and came to Sexton McElwain’s with his horse on the run. Hunts have several times been organized to kill the snake without result.Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, July 21, 1894. Thanks for this historical item from Jerome Clark. For more information, please see Chapter 8, [...]

Happy Birthday Debunker of Yeti!

Today, July 20, 2007, Sir Edmund Hillary is 88 years old. Hillary’s name will always be linked, in my mind, to his World Book Encyclopedia-supported trek to Nepal in 1960, supposedly, to search for the “Abominable Snowman.” In reality, it actually allegedly was more about a spy mission against the Chinese, hidden in the media glare of a debunking Yeti expedition. The members of Hillary’s team (1) bought a bear skin that was declared to be a Yeti’s so it could be revealed to be a bear’s, (2) obtained a ritual religious object known to be made in imitation of [...]

The Day of the Triffids’ Kieron Moore Dies

In 1969, on July 20th, a man walked on the moon. Five days ago, one of the first men to walk with a Triffid died. Irish actor Kieron Moore, 82, died Sunday, July 15, 2007. He is one of the lead characters, Tom Goodwin in the motion picture, The Day of the Triffids. Playing an alcoholic biologist, Goodwin finds his core and ends up fighting the Triffids with vigor, while his character’s wife (played by Janette Scott) is credited with screaming a lot. The humans are stereotyped; the Triffids are not. For more on the acting career of Kieron Moore, [...]