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The Top Cryptozoology Stories of 2014

2014
The Top Cryptozoology Stories of 2014
© Loren Coleman, Director, International Cryptozoology Museum;
Cryptozoologist and Author, Mysterious America, Cryptozoology A to Z, and other books.
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The general public and media were captivated in 2014, by a variety of cryptozoological stories, including a concentrated stream of Bigfoot news, and a spattering of other cryptid items. Compared to previous recent years, however, only a few announcements were not sensationalized and speculative. Hopefully, 2015 will have more substance.
The following are the top cryptid-related tidbits of most interest to the public, cryptozoologists, hominologists, fans, friends, and foes, during the last year. These stories are ones that garnered a media reaction, some public discussions, or perhaps, for the serious accounts, should have. Journey, briefly, through ten points of interest, concerning our favorite field of study in the last 12 months.
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1. William Munns Revealed New Patterson-Gimlin Film Findings
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The year saw the cumulation of seven years of intensive research by Bill Munns, a Hollywood makeup artist who brought his decades of special effects experiences to cryptozoology. Munns performed his own analysis of the Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film, which revealed, among other items, a skin fold or loose material at the armpit that is a newly discovered feature, as well as the natural (not artificial) bouncing of various body parts. Munns’ partial analysis had previously been featured on an episode of the television series MonsterQuest, but in 2014, he gave new conference presentations, and as well as, through his newly published book When Roger Met Patty, the gathering of his multianalyses of the film and film subject from the perspective of a cinema FX artist.
See also “Cryptozoologist of the Year 2014: Bill Munns” and “The Best Cryptozoology and Bigfoot Book of 2014″ in “The Best Cryptozoology Books of 2014.”
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2. Indonesian Coelacanth #7 Found

A seventh Indonesian coelacanth was caught by local fisherman Iwan Ponto, Benhard Ponto and Nicolas Sipota on November 5, 2014 in the ocean northwest of Gangga Island, southwest of Lihaga Island, Indonesia. No additional coelacanths were caught in the Comoros, Madagascar and along the east African coast area (Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zanzibar).

TimmCoel

The death of Peter Timm (pictured above with an African coelacanth), a man synonymous with coelacanths and conservation, occurred on June 18, 2014. Peter Timm, 51, and his companion Adele Steegen, 45, died in a diving accident, while trying to recover equipment. Timm was well known from his discovery of the South African coelacanths of Sodwana Bay in October 2000. Adele was the first South African women – and the second women ever – who was able to share some “great moments” with a coelacanth, named Grant, on March 5, 2014, at a depth of 116 meters. Timm and Steegen were also team members of the great international coelacanth dive expedition held in 2014.
See more, here.
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3. Sykes DNA Paper Published; Results Revised
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Dr. Bryan Sykes’ paper on the formal results of his wide-ranging “Yeti hairs study” were released at 7 pm Eastern, Tuesday night, July 1, 2014. In the first study of its kind, Sykes and his team of scientists analyzed hair specimens reported to have come from “anomalous primates” — hairy human-like beasts — including the Yeti of the Himalayan area, Bigfoot from North America, and Almasty from Russia. The most startling finding was that two of the three Yeti samples showed a match with polar bear DNA from the Pleistocene period.
In December 2014, an exchange of letters in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found that Sykes’ team made an error. A significant finding, the dissenting scientists pointed out, “that the two [Yeti] sequences” were incorrectly matched to “a Pleistocene fossil more than 40,000 BP of U. maritimus (polar bear).” Instead, the correct match was with “a modern U. maritimus individual from Diomede, Little Diomede Island, Alaska.” But on top of that the BBC News compounded the error, by saying the samples were from Himalayan brown bears, Ursus arctos isabellinus - and that media mistake has now snowballed around the world.
For more, see here and here.
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4. New Species Discovered
Many new species were verified or honored during 2014, including the olinguito, alligator snapping turtles, sharks, dolphins, a new leopard frog, and more .
olinguito

On May 23,  2014, the International Institute for Species Exploration declared the olinguito as one of the “Top 10 New Species of 2014.” It was actually discovered in 2013, but we understand why it continues to be discussed as a “new species.”

The newly found appealing olinguito, according to some news people, is downright “cute” because it resembles “a cross between a slinky cat and a wide-eyed teddy bear.” It was found to live secretively in cloud forests of the Andes mountains in Colombia and Ecuador. This arboreal mammal belongs to the family Procyonidae, which includes the well-known raccoons, coatimundis, kinkajous, ringtails, and others. The olinguito is smaller, though, typically weighing approximately 4.5 pounds. The olinguito is one of the largest new mammal described in the Western Hemisphere in 35 years.

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Alligator_snapping_turtle

Other 2014 wonders were revealed, such as in May 2014, through a news release from the University of Vermont. It noted that a new research study split alligator snapping turtles, the so-called “dinosaur of the turtle world,” into three species. The original species (Macrochelys temminckii) was joined by two newly classified species—M. suwannensis and M. apalachicolae, which are named after the river systems they populate: the Suwannee River and Apalachicola River. (See more.)

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round-earedsengiDiscovered in 2014 was a tiny elephant shrew, the round-eared sengi (Macroscelides micus) found in the remote deserts of Namibia, in south western Africa. It is the smallest known member of the 19 sengis.

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5. Bigfoot Movies Released
A bountiful bevy of Bigfoot films were released during the year. These included Exists, Bigfoot Wars, Megafoot, and Skookum. (Willow Creek, written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, was actually a 2013 film.)
The most successful of these movies for 2014 was Exists.
Exists is a 2014 fiction film directed by Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project, 1999; Seventh Moon, 2008; Lovely Molly, 2012) and produced by Mark Ordesky (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and Jane Fleming (Tiger Eyes, 2012; The Frozen Ground, 2013), among others. The film had its world premiere on March 7, 2014 at South by Southwest and was immediately signed by Lionsgate for the distribution rights. It was a good year for Bigfoot cinema. (See here and here.)
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6. Bigfoot Television Exploded
After less than a half-decade of the success of Finding Bigfoot on cable television, this year saw the new broadcasts of a number of attempts to capture the Sasquatch spark in reality television. These included Mountain Monsters, Underground Monsters, Alaska Monsters, Killing Bigfoot, and 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty. Surprisingly to some, Bigfoot Bounty was the best of this grouping, because it did use DNA analysis and tried to show Bigfoot seekers as merely people. (See here.) Several of the other shows were fictionalized, scripted, and factually incorrect with their cryptozoology data.
In general, with few exceptions, Bigfoot television turned out to be more docudrama than documentary. Bigfoot Bounty was one that did not use fiction. The other was Monsters and Mysteries in America, which reached their second season in 2014. The fact they have a focus on archiving actual eyewitness interviews has been a positive addition to historically documenting cryptozoology.
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7. Conferences and Podcasts Mature
Bigfoot conferences have evolved from small regional gatherings to mostly mature scientifically-oriented, critical-thinking events. Leading the way during 2014 was the Ohio Bigfoot Conference in May, at Salt Fork State Park, and through Sasquatch Summits and Sasquatch Roundups out West. (See more here.)
OhioBFConference
For many years, cryptozoology radio programs have tried to find a listening audience among cryptid and Bigfoot fans. The Year 2014 saw the appearance of one that successfully found a balance of critical attention to the people in the Sasquatch studies field, factual insights about the evidence, the exposing of hoaxers, interviews with authorities, and humor. This was the new podcast, Sas-What, based in Ohio, hosted by Seth Breedlove and Mark Matze (pictured).
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8. Sasquatch Mask Repatriated
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A Sasq’ets mask, commonly linked to being representative of Sasquatch/Bigfoot, is seen in this undated handout photo. Bigfoot sightings may be elusive, but a Sasquatch mask missing for 75 years was easily found after a simple request from a British Columbia First Nation, to which it was returned during May 2014. (See more here.)
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9. Critics of Hoaxers Vindicated
It is one of the sad situations in cryptozoology that keeps repeating itself. Despite the fact that hoaxes in cryptozoology only occur in 1% of the cases, they tend to occupy 95% of the “cryptozoology news attention” for the media.
During 2014, alleged hoaxers continued to be exposed, and/or often ended up confessing or withdrawing from further attention.
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See the following articles about two examples during the year: April’s “Bigfoot Hunter…Confesses Again To Duping The Public,” at Huff Post, and December’s “What Caused…To Quit,” at Bigfoot Evidence.
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10. International Cryptozoology Museum Honored

Mainstreaming of institutionalized cryptozoology continued, and was recognized during 2014.

In February 2014, Moco-Choco placed the International Cryptozoology Museum on their list of “Weird and Unusual Museums.”
May 18, 2014 was International Museum Day. In recognition of the day, Time Magazine published a broadly disseminated article, “10 Weird Museums of the World.” On the list, the International Cryptozoology Museum was named #7.
On May 20, 2014, Mashable’s “26 Weird Museums to Visit for the Ultimate American Road Trip” starts with the International Cryptozoology Museum at #1, in Maine.
Rumors of a new cryptozoology museum being established near Hamburg, Germany, circulated.
International-Cryptozoology-Museum

 

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© Loren Coleman 2014 ~ Please share this material via a link only. Permission is not granted to republish the entire contents of “Top Cryptozoology Stories of 2014.”

2014

See also

The Best Cryptozoology Books of 2014

Cryptozoologist of the Year 2014: Bill Munns

Top Cryptozoology Deaths of 2014 (Update)

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by Loren Coleman on December 31, 2014 in Bigfoot, Breaking News, Cryptotourism, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Media Appearances, Pop Culture, Sasquatch, Top Ten, Year In Review | Tagged 2014, Bigfoot, Bigfoot Wars, Bill Munns, Brian Sykes, Coelacanth, Cryptozoology Stories, DNA, Exists, Films, Movies, New Species, Sasquatch, Skookum, Television, The Top Ten Lists, Willow Creek
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