Over at Cryptomundo, Loren Coleman provides us with info and images on his favorite cryptozoological books of 2011, and also gives us some insight into what's coming next year. In fact, 2012 looks to be an excellent year for crypto-titles!
Here's the link.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
Bigfoot/Chupacabra Secrecy
A couple of days ago, I made mention here of my new book from New Page Books(Keep Out!), and noted that it contains a number of stories relative to Cryptozoology, including one on Bigfoot and another on the Chupacabra.
You can find out more about these two weird accounts - that combine Cryptozoology and conspiracies in truly controversial fashion - in a new post from me at the New Page Books blog.
You can find out more about these two weird accounts - that combine Cryptozoology and conspiracies in truly controversial fashion - in a new post from me at the New Page Books blog.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Creature Secrets
My latest Lair of the Beasts column at Mania.com: Creatures, conspiracies, secrets and more...
Sky Beasts
Over at his Shuker Nature blog, Dr. Karl Shuker has an excellent new post on the theory - most famously suggested by Trevor James Constable - that some UFOs may actually be unknown forms of life in their own right. The whole "Sky Beast" mystery is a fascinating one, and if you aren't aware of it, check out Karl's post, which makes for great reading!
Friday, December 2, 2011
Strange Creatures and Keep Out!
Area 51, Hangar 18, the Montauk facility, and the Dulce Base.These are just a few of the select, highly classified installations about which governments prefer that we, the general public, remain steadfastly ignorant.
And those same governments have excellent reasons for wishing us to remain in the dark. It is at these secret facilities that for decades clandestine research has reportedly been undertaken into crashed UFOs, deceased alien entities, bizarre creatures and unknown animals, lethal viruses, biological warfare, mind-control experimentation, and much, much more.
Whether situated deep under the oceans, far below the ground, or within the heart of remote, fortified desert locales, these and many other super-secret places are guarded with a near-paranoid zeal by those in power who wish to keep their secrets buried and locked far away from prying eyes.
And you can find all the information in my new book, Keep Out!, published right now by New Page Books.
But, why, you may ask, am I promoting my new book at this, my Cryptozoology-themed blog?
Simple: the book contains a number of stories of a crypto-nature that are linked to secret installations.
Stories of Sasquatch, the Chupacabra, big cats, cave-dwelling monsters and more are all part and parcel of Keep Out!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The Bigfoot Filmography
Coming in January: The Bigfoot Filmography by David Coleman. Here's the blurb for the book, which I'm sure most Bigfoot enthusiasts will want to get their hands on:
"The 'Sasquatch' film genre, devoted to the legendary and notoriously elusive creature also known as Bigfoot, and its Himalayan counterpart, the Yeti, is the focus of this illustrated reference guide. Here is a fascinatingly detailed look at the cinematic history of Sasquatch, from the earliest trick films of Georges Melies to the most up-to-date CGI efforts. Critical insights regarding the genre's development are offered, along with an exhaustively researched filmography that includes every known film or television appearance of Sasquatch, Bigfoot and Yeti in both fictitious and documentary formats. Included are in-depth interviews with such filmmakers as Kevin Tenney, Adam Muto, Ryan Schifrin, Tim Skousen and Michael Worten, as well as reproductions of rare movie stills, posters, lobby cards and behind-the-scenes production photos. Renowned cryptozoologist Loren Coleman provides an insightful foreword to the text."
The Winged Fiend of Winona
A couple of years ago I headed up to Winona, Minnesota to investigate sightings of a Mothman-type beast said to be roaming around the area. Certainly the most notable report came from a few locals who had heard a strange, years-old story of a giant, winged fiend perched atop this specific high peak that overlooks the town.
Monster-bird? Flying Humanoid? Spectral Pterodactyl?
I have no idea, and certainly the people telling the story were just as puzzled, too.
But, if you ever want to hit the road in search of winged monsters, Winona may be the place to go!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Cryptozoology and the Police
This looks to be an interesting read: The Police and the Paranormal by Andrew Owens. Put out by the Center for Fortean Zoology's Fortean Words publishing company, it contains (as you'll see from the press-release below) a number of cases in which police officers have investigated, or been witness to, cryptozoological creatures.
Here's the press-release from the CFZ's Jon Downes:
Police officers are widely regarded as amongst the most highly credible of eyewitnesses. And yet here they risk professional ridicule by revealing their otherworldly encounters with things that shouldn’t exist - but do.
They include:
* Crime Scene Investigators sift through the grisly remains of Cattle Mutilations and Spontaneous Human Combustion - and reach some startling conclusions;
* A Constable is hypnotised to recount his alien abduction;
* Detectives enlist psychics to help crack murder cases;
* Patrols see panthers and pumas at close quarters;
* A Detective reports the longest-ever sighting of Nessie;
* Officers’ close encounters of the first kind, second kind, third kind and deadly kind
Gathered together for the first time, this unique collection of true-life encounters between the police and the paranormal is utterly compelling and highly believable, suggesting that the long arm of the law extends way beyond this world and into the next.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Nessie: The Grant Affair
Over at Cryptomundo, Loren Coleman addresses the controversial 1930s story of Arthur Grant, who claimed a very close encounter with a Loch Ness Monster. True or false, we'll probably never know with 100 percent certainty, but it's an intriguing story, nevertheless...
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Orang-Pendek in Print
Right now, the Center for Fortean Zoology's Richard Freeman has a new book out on Sumatra's Orang-Pendek. You can find out more about the book at my latest Lair of the Beasts column at Mania.com. Here's the link. If you want to learn all about the Orang Pendek, this is definitely the book for you!
Thursday, November 17, 2011
The End Of An Era
Sad news: the Chase Post newspaper, which covered the sprawling, creature-infested Cannock Chase woods of Staffordshire, England is no more.
Yep, after decades of publication, it has finally closed its doors.
Aside from the most unfortunate thing - a significant loss of jobs - the closure of the Post will mean that a key outlet for breaking stories on sightings of big-cats, Bigfoot-style entities, werewolves, and unusual water-based beasts, on the Cannock Chase will be no more.
I have a lot of good memories of the Post, particularly when in 1999-2001 me and Irene Bott, formerly of the Staffordshire UFO Group, wrote a regular, weekly column for the newspaper called The C-Files.
It was that particular column which prompted a lot of eye-witnesses to crypto-creatures on the Cannock Chase to come forward.
Here's wishing editor Mike Lockley and the rest of the team all the very best for the future.
Yep, after decades of publication, it has finally closed its doors.
Aside from the most unfortunate thing - a significant loss of jobs - the closure of the Post will mean that a key outlet for breaking stories on sightings of big-cats, Bigfoot-style entities, werewolves, and unusual water-based beasts, on the Cannock Chase will be no more.
I have a lot of good memories of the Post, particularly when in 1999-2001 me and Irene Bott, formerly of the Staffordshire UFO Group, wrote a regular, weekly column for the newspaper called The C-Files.
It was that particular column which prompted a lot of eye-witnesses to crypto-creatures on the Cannock Chase to come forward.
Here's wishing editor Mike Lockley and the rest of the team all the very best for the future.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Horses of Horror
Did you ever wonder what might happen if a real-life zombie-virus broke out across the planet, and it spread to the animal population? Well, it might go something like the following!
The latest episode of Tim Binnall's Binnall of America tells a truly strange story of horse-based horror!
And here's Tim himself to tell you more...
CuChullaine O'Reilly, Deadly Equines: The Shocking True Story of Meat-Eating and Murderous Horses, 2 Hours, 24 Minutes:
Traveling down a truly unique and fringe road, BoA:Audio welcomes equestrian researcher and long rider CuChullaine O'Reilly for a discussion on his groundbreaking book Deadly Equines: The Shocking True Story of Meat-Eating and Murderous Horses.
Over the course of this two hour adventure, we'll discuss CuChullaine's powerful case for meat-eating horses, including historical accounts from ancient and contemporary times, the collective 'equestrian amnesia' that has befallen the 'civilized world,' and the reaction to his research from the equestrian community.
Plus, we'll discuss murderous horses, a separate, but equally bizarre anomaly that CuChullaine has uncovered. Along the way, we'll also spend considerable time discussing the mind-bending world of long riding.
Fascinating, enlightening, and awe-inspiring, this conversation is a proverbial 'long ride' of esoteric insights on both equines and humans with the remarkable CuChullaine O'Reilly.
The latest episode of Tim Binnall's Binnall of America tells a truly strange story of horse-based horror!
And here's Tim himself to tell you more...
CuChullaine O'Reilly, Deadly Equines: The Shocking True Story of Meat-Eating and Murderous Horses, 2 Hours, 24 Minutes:
Traveling down a truly unique and fringe road, BoA:Audio welcomes equestrian researcher and long rider CuChullaine O'Reilly for a discussion on his groundbreaking book Deadly Equines: The Shocking True Story of Meat-Eating and Murderous Horses.
Over the course of this two hour adventure, we'll discuss CuChullaine's powerful case for meat-eating horses, including historical accounts from ancient and contemporary times, the collective 'equestrian amnesia' that has befallen the 'civilized world,' and the reaction to his research from the equestrian community.
Plus, we'll discuss murderous horses, a separate, but equally bizarre anomaly that CuChullaine has uncovered. Along the way, we'll also spend considerable time discussing the mind-bending world of long riding.
Fascinating, enlightening, and awe-inspiring, this conversation is a proverbial 'long ride' of esoteric insights on both equines and humans with the remarkable CuChullaine O'Reilly.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Sahar Dimus RIP
It's with sadness this evening that we learn of the death of the expert tracker Sahar Dimus.
Richard Freeman writes these words:
February 3rd 1969- November 14th 2011
I first met Sahar in 2003 on the first of my trips to Sumatra in search of the orang-pendek. He was to be our chief guide and had been personally recommended by Debbie Martyr. I was surprised upon meeting him at hoe unassuming he was. A smiling, be-spectacled little man he could have easily passed for an accountant if dressed in a suit. A great example of how looks can be deceptive Sahar was a master of bushcraft and the most impressive guide I ever had in the jungle. He could tell what animal had passed and how long ago simply by the slightest disturbance of leaves that no one else would have noticed. He was immensely strong and fit and could carry huge weights up the steepest and most treacherous hills like an ant carrying a leaf up an anthill.
Not only that, he was a tiger shaman. His people held the tiger as a sacred animal, according to their tribal tradition the man who founded their tribe lived to a huge age before walking into the jungle and becoming a tiger. Tiger shaman are supposed to be able to call down the tiger spirit in tribal ceremonies. They are said to be able to look through the eyes of the tiger, observing far off things in the jungle and to become possessed by its spirit. Debbie herself had witnessed this and seen the happy, inoffensive Sahar turn into a feral, snarling dervish unrecognizable as himself.
He proved not only to be a great guide in the jungle but a great friend too. He was patient with slow bumbling westerners who found the terrain hard and the food harder. He held us spellbound around camp fires with stories of the jungle and the experiences of both himself and his late farther. He was a mine of information on both Sumatran folklore and wildlife.
So good was Sahar that we used him as chief guide all of the CFZ expeditions to Sumatra. We often stayed in his house at the foot of Gunung-Tuju with his lovely wife Lucy and his sons. Over our many trips we watched them grow up. His eldest Raffles was training to become a guide and accompanied us on our last expedition.
Sahar had lived and worked in the jungle for 14 years and had come across orang-pendek tracks and heard its call but never saw the creature until 2009 when he and Dave Archer encountered the creature in the clod forests of Gunung-Tuju. After the sighting he wept for a quarter of an hour due to the fact that he had no camera to capture an image of the beast on. Plans were afoot in 2011 to plant permanent camera traps in Kerinci Sablat National Park and had to pay Sahar to check the pictures each month.
On our last trip he seemed a little tired and slower than usual. His leg was hurting him. We all thought that in was nothing but age catching up with him and the rough terrain. I came home from the Fortean Times Unconvention 2011 to the news Sahar had died on 11th of November. He had been taken ill and was unable to walk. He was taken to hospital were apparently he was finding it hard to recognize people. He died shortly afterwards of what appears to be liver failure.
To me Sahar was Sumatra. He was just as much a part of Kerinci National Park as the lake, the mountain and the jungle. Sumatra and Sahar Dimus are inextricably linked in my mind; they are one in the same. Now he has gone it feels like a piece of Sumatra has died. The island can and will never be the same. He leaves behind him four children and a wife.
Goodbye old friend.
Sahar Dimus: Jungle guide, tiger shaman, orang-pendek witness and researcher.
Richard Freeman writes these words:
February 3rd 1969- November 14th 2011
I first met Sahar in 2003 on the first of my trips to Sumatra in search of the orang-pendek. He was to be our chief guide and had been personally recommended by Debbie Martyr. I was surprised upon meeting him at hoe unassuming he was. A smiling, be-spectacled little man he could have easily passed for an accountant if dressed in a suit. A great example of how looks can be deceptive Sahar was a master of bushcraft and the most impressive guide I ever had in the jungle. He could tell what animal had passed and how long ago simply by the slightest disturbance of leaves that no one else would have noticed. He was immensely strong and fit and could carry huge weights up the steepest and most treacherous hills like an ant carrying a leaf up an anthill.
Not only that, he was a tiger shaman. His people held the tiger as a sacred animal, according to their tribal tradition the man who founded their tribe lived to a huge age before walking into the jungle and becoming a tiger. Tiger shaman are supposed to be able to call down the tiger spirit in tribal ceremonies. They are said to be able to look through the eyes of the tiger, observing far off things in the jungle and to become possessed by its spirit. Debbie herself had witnessed this and seen the happy, inoffensive Sahar turn into a feral, snarling dervish unrecognizable as himself.
He proved not only to be a great guide in the jungle but a great friend too. He was patient with slow bumbling westerners who found the terrain hard and the food harder. He held us spellbound around camp fires with stories of the jungle and the experiences of both himself and his late farther. He was a mine of information on both Sumatran folklore and wildlife.
So good was Sahar that we used him as chief guide all of the CFZ expeditions to Sumatra. We often stayed in his house at the foot of Gunung-Tuju with his lovely wife Lucy and his sons. Over our many trips we watched them grow up. His eldest Raffles was training to become a guide and accompanied us on our last expedition.
Sahar had lived and worked in the jungle for 14 years and had come across orang-pendek tracks and heard its call but never saw the creature until 2009 when he and Dave Archer encountered the creature in the clod forests of Gunung-Tuju. After the sighting he wept for a quarter of an hour due to the fact that he had no camera to capture an image of the beast on. Plans were afoot in 2011 to plant permanent camera traps in Kerinci Sablat National Park and had to pay Sahar to check the pictures each month.
On our last trip he seemed a little tired and slower than usual. His leg was hurting him. We all thought that in was nothing but age catching up with him and the rough terrain. I came home from the Fortean Times Unconvention 2011 to the news Sahar had died on 11th of November. He had been taken ill and was unable to walk. He was taken to hospital were apparently he was finding it hard to recognize people. He died shortly afterwards of what appears to be liver failure.
To me Sahar was Sumatra. He was just as much a part of Kerinci National Park as the lake, the mountain and the jungle. Sumatra and Sahar Dimus are inextricably linked in my mind; they are one in the same. Now he has gone it feels like a piece of Sumatra has died. The island can and will never be the same. He leaves behind him four children and a wife.
Goodbye old friend.
Sahar Dimus: Jungle guide, tiger shaman, orang-pendek witness and researcher.
The 1928 Devil-Bat
Andrew Gable has alerted me to a strange tale from years long-gone - 1928 to be precise - of a weird "Devil-Bat"-type beast that seems to possess certain, distinct Jersey Devil-style overtones. Here's the link.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
The Tahoe Terror
In a new post at the Center for Fortean Zoology blog, Richard Freeman tells the story of the creature of Lake Tahoe. Rich begins as follows:
"At 1,645ft deep, Lake Tahoe ranks as the world's 10th deepest lake. It is, by volume, the 26th largest lake in the world. It is 22 miles long and 12 miles wide, and was formed about 2 million years ago. Eight creeks run into the lake. Its primary outflow is the Truckee River that runs into Pyramid Lake (also known for monster sightings) and into the Great Basin.
"Legends of this creature first began to surface in the mid-1800s, when members of the Washoe and Paiute Indian tribes began to tell the white settlers about the 'monster' dwelling in the depths of the Tahoe basin.
"It has been described by eyewitnesses as being over 15-80ft long, with an undulating, serpentine body, thick as a barrel and with smooth, dark skin. In modern times it has been given the nickname Tahoe Tessie."
And here's the link to Rich's complete post.
"At 1,645ft deep, Lake Tahoe ranks as the world's 10th deepest lake. It is, by volume, the 26th largest lake in the world. It is 22 miles long and 12 miles wide, and was formed about 2 million years ago. Eight creeks run into the lake. Its primary outflow is the Truckee River that runs into Pyramid Lake (also known for monster sightings) and into the Great Basin.
"Legends of this creature first began to surface in the mid-1800s, when members of the Washoe and Paiute Indian tribes began to tell the white settlers about the 'monster' dwelling in the depths of the Tahoe basin.
"It has been described by eyewitnesses as being over 15-80ft long, with an undulating, serpentine body, thick as a barrel and with smooth, dark skin. In modern times it has been given the nickname Tahoe Tessie."
And here's the link to Rich's complete post.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
On The Track - The Latest
The new edition of the Center for Fortean Zoology's regular, monthly journal of the visual kind - On the Track - is now available. And here it is!
Young children, those of a nervous disposition, and old cronies beware: this episode includes a section in which Jon Downes sings. The words from the 1986 version of The Fly, "Be afraid, be very afraid," have never been more apt...
Young children, those of a nervous disposition, and old cronies beware: this episode includes a section in which Jon Downes sings. The words from the 1986 version of The Fly, "Be afraid, be very afraid," have never been more apt...
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Polling Nessie
Well, the results are in on my poll concerning the nature of the beasts of Loch Ness, Scotland. And they make for interesting reading!
More than a quarter of all those who took part in the poll suggested that sightings of Nessie could be accounted for by hoaxes and mis-identification of down-to-earth phenomena of a non-monstrous nature.
A full twenty-five percent believed the animals to be surviving pockets of plesiosaurs, while six percent opted for the giant-eel theory.
The majority, however, concluded that the Loch Ness Monsters are real, but represent animals presently unknown. And just over one in ten were of the opinion that the creatures have paranormal origins.
So, all in all, an interesting set of conclusions on what those interested in Cryptozoology really think about one of the world's most famous monsters.
There will be another poll later this week, so I encourage you to vote!
More than a quarter of all those who took part in the poll suggested that sightings of Nessie could be accounted for by hoaxes and mis-identification of down-to-earth phenomena of a non-monstrous nature.
A full twenty-five percent believed the animals to be surviving pockets of plesiosaurs, while six percent opted for the giant-eel theory.
The majority, however, concluded that the Loch Ness Monsters are real, but represent animals presently unknown. And just over one in ten were of the opinion that the creatures have paranormal origins.
So, all in all, an interesting set of conclusions on what those interested in Cryptozoology really think about one of the world's most famous monsters.
There will be another poll later this week, so I encourage you to vote!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)