Yep, another one for Halloween: at my regular Lair of the Beasts column at Mania.com, I have just reviewed Vol's 1 and 2 of Brad Steiger's latest release: Real Nightmares, an e-book-based series that, as well as covering all things ghostly and paranormal, will be of deep interest to fans of cryptozoology.
Werewolves, Bigfoot, weird snakes and more - they're all in here!
And here's the link to the review.
Monday, October 31, 2011
The Stone Werewolf
Over at my "Pics of the Day" blog, I tell the strange story of the stone werewolf of Texas. Definitely one for Halloween!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Boggy Creek - A Book!
This is great news: early next year, Anomalist Books will be publishing Lyle Blackburn's book, The Beast of Boggy Creek: The True Story of the Fouke Monster.It's about time that we get to read a full-length, definitive study of one of the United States' most legendary man-beasts!
I've met Lyle on several occasions - most recently when me, Ken Gerhard and Craig Woolheater hung out on a Sunday night in the cool house in which Lyle and his wife Sandy live, which is an incredible shrine to all-things monstrous!
Lyle is also the singer in an excellent band called Ghoultown, whose Life After Sundown CD I'll be reviewing shortly.The picture above shows Lyle at the Oklahoma-based Cryptid Fest that me and Ken Gerhard spoke at in September.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Profiling The Man-Monkey
Once again, I'm dissecting Britain's most notorious Bigfoot-like entity - the Man-Monkey of the Shropshire Union Canal. Okay, when I say dissecting, I don't mean literally! I mean investigating! But you know that, right? Right...?
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Monstrous Ghosts?
Why are so many cryptozoological beasts so elusive (in fact, consistently elusive)?
Could it be that what we are dealing with - in some cases, at least - not living animals at all, but the ghostly forms of long-dead, or long-extinct, creatures?
Whether you agree with such a controversial scenario or not, it's the subject of my latest post over at Mysterious Universe.
Could it be that what we are dealing with - in some cases, at least - not living animals at all, but the ghostly forms of long-dead, or long-extinct, creatures?
Whether you agree with such a controversial scenario or not, it's the subject of my latest post over at Mysterious Universe.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Chupacabra Synchronicity
A case of mere coincidence, or an odd occurrence of Chupacabra-style synchronicity?
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Real Nightmares: A New Series
This is excellent news! Visible Ink Press have just unleashed a new project from macabre-master Brad Steiger. Titled Real Nightmares: True and Truly Scary Unexplained Phenomena, it's a monthly series of e-books covering a wide range of paranormal topics, including strange creatures.
I'll be reviewing the first two editions of Real Nightmares next week at my Reviews of the Mysterious Kind blog.
But, in the meantime, you can find out all about Real Nightmares at this link at Visible Ink Press.
And, of course, you can purchase the books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all numerous other good book sellers.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Monster Vs. UFO!
What it is the connection between a flying monster and the world's most famous UFO event? Read on...!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
A Hexham Heads Appeal
The strange saga of what have become known as the Hexham Heads is legendary within British Fortean circles.
Not only that, it's also a tale with definitive werewolf-style overtones attached to it.
And for those wishing to learn more about this curious story - that began in 1972, or much earlier depending on with who you speak - check out an excellent paper on the subject by Paul Screeton, which can be found in his book I reviewed a couple of months ago, I Fort The Lore.
But, there's more to come - and it's great news too!
Paul is in the process of writing a full-length book on the Hexham Heads, which is to be published next year.
And, of course, whenever an author digs into a decades-old saga, there are inevitably leads to chase down, and people to find.
Which brings me to the point of this blog-post - an appeal from Paul, which I will let him relate in his own words.
Over to Paul:
This appeal is self-contained but stems from a posting on the 'Forteana' forum. It featured a 1982 foray into New Scientist by Dr Don Robins, an inorganic chemist associated with The Dragon project. Anyone know where Don is in 2011?
Ah, earth energies and the mystery that dare not speak its name - ley power!
Dr Don Robins, a blast from the past. I'm researching the Hexham Heads mystery and the role this inorganic chemist played in the saga. I knew Don quite well and after a The Ley Hunter mag moot, had a drink with him and his buddy at Jack Straw's Castle pub, Hampstead.
We also corresponded and at one stage Don requested a sliver from a pseudo-archaic head which had been made by a local Hexham man, Des Craigie, in response to Celtic scholar Dr Anne Ross's challenge that if he, Des, had made the original Hexham Heads, as he claimed, she wanted to see him repeat the feat.
Oddly the three demonstration models only resembled the originals in the later form (after a geologist had butchered their tenons for analysis).
When everyone else believed the originals had been sent back to Newcastle University Museum of Antiquities and from there returned to their owners, the Robson family, who (re?) discovered them, Dr Ross pulled out a box in her study and handed them over to Don Robins, who she had just met. Ross and Robins went on to collaborate on a book and subsequently fell out big time.
Don never sent a report into his findings and wrote in an Alpha mag piece that he had loaned the idols to Frank Hyde, an astrologer, for tests and Hyde had been involved in a car crash and seriously injured.
I have been unable to trace Hyde nor the whereabouts of the original heads. I am also trying to track a mysterious figure called Wild or Wilde, supposedly married to an African princess, who collected Celtic artifacts and who met Dr Ross 30 or so years ago.
Lastly, I have lost touch with Don, who I believe may now be in the US? I would appreciate any leads to find any of those mentioned (except Dr Ross, with whose son I have been in recent contact), particularly Don.
Paul Screeton.
Note from Nick: If you can help Paul re the above (and, indeed, on just about any aspect of the Hexham Heads puzzle), he welcomes your emails. You can reach him at: screetonpaul@yahoo.co.uk
Not only that, it's also a tale with definitive werewolf-style overtones attached to it.
And for those wishing to learn more about this curious story - that began in 1972, or much earlier depending on with who you speak - check out an excellent paper on the subject by Paul Screeton, which can be found in his book I reviewed a couple of months ago, I Fort The Lore.
But, there's more to come - and it's great news too!
Paul is in the process of writing a full-length book on the Hexham Heads, which is to be published next year.
And, of course, whenever an author digs into a decades-old saga, there are inevitably leads to chase down, and people to find.
Which brings me to the point of this blog-post - an appeal from Paul, which I will let him relate in his own words.
Over to Paul:
This appeal is self-contained but stems from a posting on the 'Forteana' forum. It featured a 1982 foray into New Scientist by Dr Don Robins, an inorganic chemist associated with The Dragon project. Anyone know where Don is in 2011?
Ah, earth energies and the mystery that dare not speak its name - ley power!
Dr Don Robins, a blast from the past. I'm researching the Hexham Heads mystery and the role this inorganic chemist played in the saga. I knew Don quite well and after a The Ley Hunter mag moot, had a drink with him and his buddy at Jack Straw's Castle pub, Hampstead.
We also corresponded and at one stage Don requested a sliver from a pseudo-archaic head which had been made by a local Hexham man, Des Craigie, in response to Celtic scholar Dr Anne Ross's challenge that if he, Des, had made the original Hexham Heads, as he claimed, she wanted to see him repeat the feat.
Oddly the three demonstration models only resembled the originals in the later form (after a geologist had butchered their tenons for analysis).
When everyone else believed the originals had been sent back to Newcastle University Museum of Antiquities and from there returned to their owners, the Robson family, who (re?) discovered them, Dr Ross pulled out a box in her study and handed them over to Don Robins, who she had just met. Ross and Robins went on to collaborate on a book and subsequently fell out big time.
Don never sent a report into his findings and wrote in an Alpha mag piece that he had loaned the idols to Frank Hyde, an astrologer, for tests and Hyde had been involved in a car crash and seriously injured.
I have been unable to trace Hyde nor the whereabouts of the original heads. I am also trying to track a mysterious figure called Wild or Wilde, supposedly married to an African princess, who collected Celtic artifacts and who met Dr Ross 30 or so years ago.
Lastly, I have lost touch with Don, who I believe may now be in the US? I would appreciate any leads to find any of those mentioned (except Dr Ross, with whose son I have been in recent contact), particularly Don.
Paul Screeton.
Note from Nick: If you can help Paul re the above (and, indeed, on just about any aspect of the Hexham Heads puzzle), he welcomes your emails. You can reach him at: screetonpaul@yahoo.co.uk
Monday, October 17, 2011
Puerto Rican Vampirism?
Over at my "peculiar pictures" blog (not its real name, but it will suffice!), you can find a new story - and accompanying photo, of course - from me on one of the many bizarre experiences I have had on Puerto Rico while searching for the Chupacabra.
Black Dogs & Ball Lightning
My latest Lair of the Beasts post at Mania.com - on black dogs and ball-lightning...
Friday, October 14, 2011
Goat-Man Weirdness!
My latest article for Mysterious Universe - on the controversy surrounding Lake Worth, Texas' Goat-Man...
Monday, October 10, 2011
Monster Memoirs Vs Monster Memoirs
I notice that Josh Gates - of TV's Destination Truth - has a book out. Its title: Destination Truth: Memoirs of a Monster Hunter.Er...didn't someone else once write a book called Memoirs of a Monster Hunter?
What's also interesting is that right next to my photo on the back cover of my Memoirs it describes the book with the following opening words: "Part X-Files, part Crocodile Hunter..."
On the back of Gates' book, right next to his photo, it describes the book with the following opening words: "Part journey into the unexplained, part hilarious travelogue..."
Hmmmm...
Texas Monsters at EPIC
Yesterday afternoon, with Ken Gerhard, I went along to the monthly meeting of the Grapevine, Texas-based EPIC group, where Ken was due to lecture on our book, Monsters of Texas.As for Ken's lecture, he gave a fine presentation on a wide range of beasts seen throughout Texas for decades - and, in some cases, even longer - including Bigfoot, wild-men of the woods, the notorious Lake Worth Goat-Man, giant winged monsters and flying humanoids, big cats, out of place alligators, the so-called Texas Chupacabra, and a great deal more too.
And, if you aren't aware of EPIC (Extraordinary Phenomena Investigations Council (the brainchild of Ken Cherry), I recommend you check them out as they are doing some excellent work in all realms of unknown phenomena.
A fine time was had, lots of questions were asked (which is always a good sign that the audience is interested!), and even none other than Jim Marrs came along to listen! And with a few good beers and dinner afterwards, it was a good afternoon and evening!
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Orang-Pendek Update
The Center for Fortean Zoology's Richard Freeman has a new post in the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper on Orang-Pendek, which provides yet more fascinating insight into the beast.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Monster Hot-Spots
My latest Lair of the Beasts column at Mania.com on why certain locations seem to attract far more than their fair share of strange beasts...
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
A Cryptozoological Passing
This year has seen far more than its fair share of passings in the field of Forteana. And, now, there's another one - this one being very significant to the field of Cryptozoology, as Loren Coleman notes over at Cryptomundo.
Bigfoot Poll Results
Well, the results of my first poll at this blog - on the nature of Bigfoot - are in, and they make for interesting reading.
Of the 4 options for what Bigfoot might be, the results are as follows:
Gigantopithecus: 19 Percent.
An Unknown Animal: 50 Percent.
A Paranormal Entity: 21 Percent.
A Myth: 9 Percent.
Of course, in a poll such as this, it's difficult to gauge what we can learn from these figures. And, equally of course, under no circumstances at all should those same results be viewed as being in any way definitive - of anything.
After all, one might argue that because my views on Bigfoot are somewhat alternative in nature, this might mean people who share my views tend to gravitate more to this blog than to one which caters more for those who view Bigfoot as a purely flesh-and-blood creature.
The result: More votes for the paranormal theory than one might be inclined to see elsewhere.
I was most intrigued to find, however, that almost 1 in 10 people thought that Bigfoot was mythological.
So, all in all, an interesting set of results that provide a good indication of some of the beliefs, theories and conclusions of people who read this blog.
I'll be posting another poll later today or tomorrow, so be sure to vote!
PS: You'll see that the percentages above add up to 99 percent, not 100 percent. What happened to that elusive 1 percent? I have no idea!
Of the 4 options for what Bigfoot might be, the results are as follows:
Gigantopithecus: 19 Percent.
An Unknown Animal: 50 Percent.
A Paranormal Entity: 21 Percent.
A Myth: 9 Percent.
Of course, in a poll such as this, it's difficult to gauge what we can learn from these figures. And, equally of course, under no circumstances at all should those same results be viewed as being in any way definitive - of anything.
After all, one might argue that because my views on Bigfoot are somewhat alternative in nature, this might mean people who share my views tend to gravitate more to this blog than to one which caters more for those who view Bigfoot as a purely flesh-and-blood creature.
The result: More votes for the paranormal theory than one might be inclined to see elsewhere.
I was most intrigued to find, however, that almost 1 in 10 people thought that Bigfoot was mythological.
So, all in all, an interesting set of results that provide a good indication of some of the beliefs, theories and conclusions of people who read this blog.
I'll be posting another poll later today or tomorrow, so be sure to vote!
PS: You'll see that the percentages above add up to 99 percent, not 100 percent. What happened to that elusive 1 percent? I have no idea!