Reconsidering Mermaids

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Often it’s merely a good line drawing. Cryptozoologist Mark A. Hall passes along a delightful “editorial cartoon” for our consideration in rethinking some issues and comments involved in Merbeing theorizing and debunking. Enjoy! Please click on the image for the full-size cartoon. Thanks to Mia B. Smith, Permissions Coordinator at American Scientist, who informs me the copyright for this cartoon is Bill Long, 2005.

Emela-Ntouka: Africa’s Killer of Elephants

Cryptomundo Exclusive The Emela-ntouka has been an unknown animal of some confusion in Africa. A few chroniclers have felt it was merely another named cryptid representing the sightings of the Mokele-mbembe. But as revealed by an image seen here for the first time, it appears to be a beast unlike the saurapod-like Mokele-mbembe. Click on image for larger size Copyright: Michel Ballot – Mokélé – Mbembé CAMEROUN 2004 On page 219 of one of my recent field guides, written with Patrick Huyghe, we noted, among several different kinds of alleged “dinosaurs” in Africa, “one animal is called by locals the [...]

New Waspfish Discovered Off South Africa

Sometimes you find new animals in museums. Look up the story of the Congo peacock on page 71 of Cryptozoology A to Z, someday. It’s a good one. For today, we turn our attention to a museum in South Africa. Yes, it has happened again. A specimen collected in 1994 has been revealed to be a new species. It was "re-discovered" at the South Africa Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity collection in Grahamstown. According to the South Africa Herald on January 18th: "The discovery of the creature, a species of the venomous, little-known waspfish, means great kudos for the institute." One [...]

Four Mokele-mbembe Related Deaths

We aren’t talking curse yet, but there have been four Mokele-related deaths, not three as earlier noted, for 2005. The Mokele-mbembe-involved individuals, who have died in 2005, are: Pastor Phil Anderton, 48, who was a missionary for 15 years in the Cameroons among the Baku pygmies, died in Kansas City, of a brain tumor, on August 24, 2005. Anderton assisted several of the Bill Gibbons-John Kirk-Scott Norman expeditions in the Cameroons. Anderton tribute. J. Richard Greenwell, 63, cofounder of the defunct International Society of Cryptozoology (ISC), died November 1, 2005, of cancer, in Tucson, Arizona. Greenwell accompanied Roy Mackal on [...]

Mokele-mbembe News: Expedition Arrival and Another Death

The Milt Marcy Expedition, in pursuit of Mokele-mbembe, has arrived in Cameroon, and the latest word is that Milt Marcy, Peter Beach, and Rob Mullin are preparing to head into the target area. Word has also reached the greater outside world that another important figure in the search for Mokele-mbembe, Pastor Phil Anderton, 48, died unexpectedly in 2005. This brings to four (not three as previously noted here) the number of men linked to earlier Mokele-mbembe activities who all passed away last year. (See our postings on on all four here.) Missionary Phil Anderton, who along with his wife Reda, [...]

New Disney Yeti Video

Over at Boing Boing, our buddy David Pescovitz points to his associate Cory’s post today with links to the preview Yeti video available now. Cory writes: Video: New Everest coaster at Disney World’s Animal Kingdom Inside the Magic, a Disney fan-site, has posted two ride-through videos from the new Expedition Everest coaster at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom. The coaster features stunning views of Animal Kingdom (easily the most beautiful of all the Disney parks), direction changes — and encounters with a Yeti! Here are the links to the videotapes. Yeti video 1 Yeti video 2

Old Bad Yeti Tales

There is old Yeti news beginning to circulate as a new wire service story on January 15-16, 2006. It is all about Sir Edmund Hillary and his 1960 search for the Abominable Snowmen. +++ Harry Trumbore’s drawing of the Himalayan “Yeti,” from the forthcoming The Field Guide to Bigfoot, to be published by Anomalist Books. Copyright 2006, Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe. +++ See, for example, the new Australian article, “Hillary’s Abortive Hunt for Yeti Left Sherpa Myth Undisturbed”. They begin with Hillary’s conclusion that the Yeti is a cultural myth, and then they build the case on the retelling [...]

What Is This Mystery Fish (#2)?

Our popular earlier attempt to decide what kind of fish or animal was on an old postcard has a more contemporary recent contender. A strange looking sea creature of unknown identity washed ashore on Cayman Brac last weekend, reports the Cayman News. The newspaper indicates that "Layman Scott found the fish while walking along the beach early Sunday morning [January 8, 2006]. It is roughly thirty inches long, more than half of which is a long, eel-like tail attached to a fish body. It has pale pink scales, pectoral fins, a dorsal fin and a small feathery fin on its [...]