Hair of the Yeti

In a comment to an earlier blog, delfin asks: “Would you please tell me if genetic analysis has been used for ‘identification’ of the hair brought by Slick and Hillary? If yes, what the results are? If no, why still not?” I’ve discussed this question, in depth, in Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology, but here’s a summary and a few other thoughts. The Hillary hair samples from 1960 were mostly from only one of the Buddhist monasteries they visited, the Khumjung Lamasery. The famed supposed Yeti scalp from this Buddhist monastery was brought back to Paris and Chicago [...]

Bili Ape Discoverer Shot

Shelly Williams, 49, the world-renowned primatologist credited with gathering convincing evidence of a new species of great apes, a cryptid primate known to cryptozoologists as the Bili or Bondo ape, was shot in the back around 2:30 pm, on November 7, 2005. She apparently was the innocent victim of an unrelated drug shooting in Smyrna, Georgia. Williams remained in critical condition in intensive care at Atlanta Medical Center. The bullet, which passed through her spinal cord, grazed the nerve before glancing off her liver and lodging in her diaphragm. While police have some leads, no arrests had been made. The [...]

Death of Bob Warth

The Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained was founded by Ivan T. Sanderson. Sanderson created the society to further his research interests and writings of Forteana, from Abominable Snowmen reports to out-of-place objects. SITU’s journal was Pursuit, and the editor from 1980 onward was Bob Warth. I’ve been informed, indirectly from his wife, via former SITU member Bob Durant that Warth died on Halloween, October 31, 2005. Bob Warth died from a hemorrhage secondary to undiagnosed colon cancer. Warth was a long-time supporter of Fortean thought, and counted among his many friends, old line SITUers, as well as individuals [...]

Cable Producers & CZ Headhunting

Be forewarned that currently a certain cable program is looking for a cryptozoologist to hold up to ridicule on their show. They are stepping up their attempts to find someone for a cryptozoology attack episode. I was approached by them before the Bates Symposium. They wanted to supposedly interview me about the history of cryptozoology. However, I knew their technique is one in which they use clips of experts on the subjects they wish to ridicule, then with vigor and in nasty interjects, brutally make fun of the individual and the subject. They wanted me to sign a long release [...]

Keeping Your Sense of Humor

Chris Thompson really got the Bates Cryptozoology Symposium: “It is impossible to describe in a short column the strangeness of the discursive space that this event produced, or to begin to tap the wide range of themes that it covered — from the relationship between animality and humanity to the social psychology of witnessing (ghosts, aliens, cryptids). What was fascinating, and refreshing in relation to every other conceivable academic conference, was that the discussions and debates, however lively, always hovered at the edge of humor and never lost sight of the monstrosity of this artistic and epistemological undertaking.” Check out [...]

Lake Kanasi Monster

Ancient Chinese Mongolians tell of monsters in Lake Kanasi. Twenty years ago, the first modern wave of sightings of the Lake Kanasi Monster occurred. Today, this Chinese cryptid is well known throughout Asia, and rapidly gaining recognition in the West. Reporter Audra Ang, writing in a breaking Associated Press dispatch, notes: "They have come by the tens of thousands over the years — skeptical scientists, curious tourists — answering the lure of the mysterious Kanasi Huguai, China’s very own version of the Loch Ness Monster….In today’s society, myth-making and chasing are a big business." Ang reflects on this recent trend: [...]

More on Greenwell

Richard Greenwell, who just passed away, reportedly had planned to write a book on cryptozoology, but never did. Few knew that he had co-edited two books. His first was Nutrition, Food, and Man: An Interdisciplinary Perspective by Paul B. Pearson and J. Richard Greenwell (ed), Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1980. The second reflected his interest in ufology, which came before his cryptozoology involvement. It was Sightings: UFOs and the Limits of Science by Ronald Story and J. Richard Greenwell (ed.), NY: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1981, and London: New English Library. A paperbound version was published as well, [...]

Richard Greenwell (1942-2005)

An important figure in formalizing the organizational structure and tenets of cryptozoology, Richard Greenwell, 1942-2005, has died. J. Richard Greenwell, 63, cofounder of the International Society of Cryptozoology (ISC), died Tuesday night, November 1, 2005, shortly before 8 p.m. of cancer. He passed quickly and peacefully while surrounded by family in his home in Tucson, Arizona. On January 8-9, 1982, Greenwell, at the suggestion of Jerome Clark, along with Dr. George Zug at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D. C. and Dr. Roy Mackal at the University of Chicago, embarked on the creation of the first formal scientific organization for [...]