Disinformation » Cryptozoology

Cryptozoology Meeting In London

JacobSloan — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:26:14 +0000

Can the search for monsters and mystery creatures please become a reputable branch of science? Scientific American has a report on a meeting of experts who take the matter very seriously. Maybe they can investigate my mother-in-law (*slide whistle*):

The meeting was chaired by Henry Gee. Henry explained how the discovery of Homo floresiensis led him to take seriously the idea that “perhaps stories of other human-like creatures might be founded on grains of truth” (Gee 2004).

Dr. Michael Woodley showed how species discovery curves for large marine animals generally seem to match the numbers of undiscovered species purported to exist on the basis of circumstantial accounts. In discussing several key ‘Cadborosaurus’ and long-necked seal accounts, Michael also explained how – since most cryptozoological claims are published in the ‘grey literature’ – they escape evaluation, even when this is deserved or even required.

If cryptozoology is imagined as the investigation of ‘target’ animals whose existence is supported by circumstantial and/or anecdotal evidence (eyewitness accounts forming the bulk of such evidence), then one might argue (as I have) that cryptozoology is practised far and wide by ‘ordinary’, technically qualified biologists. A list of species have been discovered following the investigation of either local tales and legends, or fleeting observations of what were (at the time) mystery animals.

One idea is that the strong negative stigma attached to cryptozoology is a recent phenomenon, that the field has fallen into disrepute since the collapse of the International Society of Cryptozoology during the 1990s, and that it needs rescue and invigoration.

Has Bigfoot Been Filmed on This Hiker’s iPhone (Video)?

bluemana — Sun, 29 May 2011 21:12:07 +0000

Annie Bishop reports on KXLY4 News:

SPOKANE, Wash.— A Spokane woman out for a day hike along the Spokane river claims to have proof of the mysterious and elusive Bigfoot.

Samantha, who did not give her last name, and her friends were hiking at Downriver Park over the weekend when they captured Bigfoot by using their iPhone camera.

Samantha posted a YouTube video of the creature a few days later.

Yeti Hand Returned To Remote Mt. Everest Monastery

JacobSloan — Wed, 04 May 2011 17:32:52 +0000

Jimmy Stewart, a monastery hidden in the snow capped mountains of Nepal, and the disappearance of an unexplainable, hideous clawed hand. BBC News reports:

A pilot from New Zealand is in Nepal to return a replica of what some believe is the hand of a yeti to a remote monastery in the Everest region. Mike Allsop will fly from Kathmandu to Pangboche Monastery, which sits at 13,123ft.

The originals were stolen from the monastery in the 1990s. They first came to light in the 1950s when an expedition to find the mythical yeti came upon the monastery. Peter Byrne, the leader of the 1950s expedition to find the abominable snowman, said that the hand did not match the skeleton of a human or a primate.

Mr Byrne managed to take one of the bones from the hand out of Nepal to his friend, the Hollywood actor James Stewart, who was on holiday at the time with his wife in Calcutta. James Stewart’s wife then placed the bone in her lingerie box and smuggled it into England where it was examined by a professor at Oxford University who said he could not conclusively say what kind of bone it was.

Russia Sets Up University Institute To Study Yeti Sightings

BananaFamine — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 09:22:07 +0000

Kevin Makice writes on Wired:

As geeks, we are encouraged to suspend our disbelief while simultaneously challenging everything we see and hear. In the words of Agent Mulder, we want to believe, but our geek roots are firmly planted in the scientific method.

That tension is possibly being resolved on one front. The Russians are establishing a scientific institute on the study of yetis, hairy ape-like creatures rumored to inhabit the Himalayas.

Officials in coal-mining region of Kemerovo Oblast announced plans today to open a Yeti Institute at the Kemerovo State University, a 38-year-old higher education entity in western Siberia. KSU boasts 31,000 students and is best known for reviving regional languages, like Shor. Yeti researcher Igor Burtsev reportedly claimed that 30 Russian scientists are currently studying yetis, or Abominable Snowmen, and the Institute could allow them to better collaborate.

For more information, see original article.

Bigfoot Sues State

majestic — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 19:46:43 +0000

From the “You can’t make this stuff up” department, via AP/Seacoastonline:

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — First there was a Bigfoot sighting. Now, there’s a Bigfoot suing.

A performance artist and amateur filmmaker who dressed as the mythical beast says New Hampshire park rangers didn’t have the right to kick him off a mountain where he had been scaring, or at least amusing, hikers while friends videotaped his antics.

Backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Jonathan Doyle is suing the state, arguing that the requirement to pay $100 for a special use permit 30 days in advance and get a $2 million insurance bond violates his free speech rights.

“The underlying activities are humorous, but the principle’s important,” said Jon Meyer, a lawyer representing Doyle. “We’re talking about a very small-scale activity in a very large place. We don’t believe there’s any legitimate government role in regulation.”

Doyle’s attorneys say no one complained to the state park service after Doyle first dressed as Bigfoot, ran around the rocky top of Mount Monadnock, returned to human form and interviewed bystanders about what they saw Sept. 6, 2009.

“People loved it. It was socially engaging,” Doyle, 30, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “When I showed up at the top of the mountain dressed as Bigfoot and beating my chest, everyone just laughed and hoorayed.”

Hikers describing their encounters in a video Doyle posted on YouTube seemed happy to get in on the fun and inflate the legend.

“At first I thought it was just a man in a suit making some sort of documentary, but then I saw it devour this man’s friend and a small child,” one man said at the top of the popular hiking spot as others behind him relaxed, admired the view and drank water. “I still see blood on the rocks.”…

[continues at AP/Seacoastonline. Doyle's Bigoot page is on Facebook]

Cryptotourism: On The Trail Of A 40-Foot Anaconda

BananaFamine — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:40:29 +0000

A common (non-giant) anaconda. Photo: he (CC)

Joshua Foer of Slate.com reports:

PACAYA SAMIRIA, Peru—Of all the crazy mythical creatures that starry-eyed monster hunters have gone in search of—the Yeti, Sasquatch, Nessie, the chupacabra—South America’s giant anaconda would seem to be the least implausible. None of the Amazon’s early explorers dared emerge from the forest without a harrowing tale of a face-to-face encounter with a humongous snake. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was practically a requirement of the jungle adventure genre. English explorer Percy Fawcett (of Lost City of Z fame) reportedly shot a 62-foot anaconda in 1907 while on a surveying mission in western Brazil. Cândido Rondon, who led Teddy Roosevelt’s famous journey down the River of Doubt, claimed to have measured a 38-footer “in the flesh.” In 1933, a 100-foot serpent was said to have been machine-gunned by officials from the Brazil-Colombia Boundary Commission. According to witnesses, four men together couldn’t lift its head. The photos, of course, were lost.

Had they been captured alive, any of these giants would have merited the $50,000 bounty that the New York Zoological Society (later the Wildlife Conservation Society) offered for much of the 20th century to anyone who could bring a 30-foot snake back to the Bronx Zoo. Though thousands of anacondas have been caught, measured, and released by scientists over the years, few have ever surpassed 18 feet. Still, stories of Amazonian megasnakes continue to surface every few years, and they continue to inspire credulous souls to set off into the jungle. People like Dylan and me.

We had made our way from Gocta to Iquitos, the largest city in the world that cannot be reached by road, to engage in what Loren Coleman, founder of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine, has dubbed “cryptotourism,” a form of adventure travel driven by the hunt for creatures that have eluded science. Most cryptotourists are truer believers than we. But that’s almost beside the point. Their expeditions sometimes seem to be as much about finding undiscovered animals as about creating an excuse to get out into some of the wildest places left on earth, to play-act as real explorers. The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, for example, coordinates regular Sasquatch hunts not only in the Pacific Northwest, where you might expect the elusive beast to hang out, but also in places like Wisconsin, Arizona, and Georgia. In some cases, cryptotourism can be quite cushy: One company offers a fully outfitted 18-day Yeti-hunting trek across the Bhutanese Himalayas for a mere $5,450 per person…

For more information, see original article.

Answers To The Chupacabra Mystery

majestic — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 01:02:39 +0000

The mythical Chupacabra has long been a favorite of fans of cryptozoology, but the attraction of this fearsome beast may fade if biologist Barry O’Connor is right about its true origins, reported in Discovery News:

Halloween stories about the ghostly “chupacabra” circulate every year, but now scientists have solved the mystery surrounding this legendary animal.

Instead of being vicious, fanged creatures that supposedly drink the blood of livestock, chupacabras turn out to be wild dogs inflicted with a deadly form of mange, according to University of Michigan biologist Barry OConnor.

The myth about chupacabras, also known as goatsuckers, started after reports of livestock attacks in Puerto Rico and Mexico, where dead sheep were discovered with puncture wounds, completely drained of blood. Similar reports began accumulating from other locations in Latin America and the U.S. Then came sightings of evil-looking animals, variously described as dog-like, rodent-like or reptile-like, with long snouts, large fangs, leathery or scaly greenish-gray skin and a nasty odor. Locals put two and two together and assumed the ugly varmints were responsible for the killings.

OConnor, however, and other scientists conclude that an 8-legged mite that burrows under the skin of coyotes can give these animals the “chupacabra” look.

He explains that the mite responsible for the extreme hair loss seen in “chupacabras syndrome” is Sarcoptes scabiei, which also causes the itchy rash known as scabies in people. Human scabies is an annoyance, but not usually a serious health or appearance problem, partly because our bodies are already virtually hairless and partly because the population of mites on a given person usually is relatively small—only 20 or 30 mites…

[continues in Discovery News]

Southern Gothic on The Black Fridays Podcast!

wowsley — Tue, 18 May 2010 19:57:12 +0000

The Black Fridays Episode 20 — Micah Hanks

Website • iTunes • Direct Download • RSS

On this episode of TBF, we talk with Micah Hanks. Micah is a “self proclaimed (but not self righteous) skeptic” that has been studying the world of the esoteric for quite some time now.

His articles and stories about the strange have been seen in FATE Magazine, Fortean Times, Mysteries Magazine, UFO Magazine, TCS Daily, The Journal of Anomalous Sciences just to mention a few. He has worked with The History Channel, National Geographic, and The Travel Channel while working with L.E.M.U.R from 2004 to 2010.

Visit Micah at The Gralien Report.

Talkin’ Sasquatch Blues

disinfogreg — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:43:30 +0000

Bob Dylan + Bigfoot + Big fat joint =

Bigfoot Threw a Rock at My Face: Eerie Radio Interviews Disinformation Podcast Hosts Joe McFall and Raymond Wiley

Raymond — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 01:25:03 +0000

Bigfoot Threw a Rock at My Face – Eerie Radio: Episode 143

Website • iTunes • Direct Download • RSS

In this episode we speak with Raymond Wiley and Joe McFall about Jesus, Rocks, and Bigfoot. Raymond Wiley and Joe McFall are the former co-hosts of Out There Radio, a 50-episode podcast of interviews and discussions covering topics related to the occult, conspiracy theory and the paranormal.

Raymond and Joe have been in podcasting since 2005, having started Out There Radio shortly after they met and realized their shared interest in fringe topics. The are currently the hosts of Disinformation: The Podcast and Disinformation World News.

Loch Ness Monster Death Rumours Denied

Raymond — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:22:42 +0000

From The Telegraph:

The head of the Loch Ness monster’s fan club has denied suggestions that the animal is dead following just one credible sighting last year.

A new documentary examines the possibility that the monster might be extinct as its reported appearances become increasingly rare.

Gary Campbell, president of the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club, said only one sighting, made just off the Clansman Hotel on 6th June, 2009, was judged by him to have been a credible report.

And according to Mr Campbell such reports are increasingly rare.

He said: “”That’s why were so relieved to have heard about this sighting.

“In June, when it was reported, nobody had seen anything for a year. If it hadn’t been for that one, we would have been really, really worried.

“There is an embarrassment factor to seeing Nessie. The first thing people say to you is, ‘Had you had a drink?’

“Ten years ago we had a lot of good sightings, but in the last two or three years, they have tailed off.”

He added: “What we regard as a dependable sighting is very much down to the person who sees it.

[Read more at The Telegraph]

Bigfoot in the Minnesota Northwoods?

disinfogreg — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:50:17 +0000

Looks like a classic Bigfoot “sighting”. Loping gait, partially obscured, grainy image. Whoever set this up might just be paying homage.

Via TwinCities.com:

Tim Kedrowski and his sons, Peter and Casey, are not pushovers for Bigfoot stories, but a frame on a game trail camera set up on their hunting land north of Remer has left them in a quandary.

“To us, it’s very hard because we lean toward the skeptical type,” Kedrowski said in a telephone interview from his Rice, Minn., home.

But after checking with neighbors and any other hunters who might have been walking through the dense woods at 7:20 p.m. on the rainy night of Oct. 24, he said they couldn’t imagine what else the image could be. Tim said he considered ideas from a bear to a bow hunter in a fuzzy suit. But the arm and hand couldn’t be a bear’s, or its upright gait. And there is no evidence in the photo of a bow or flashlight a hunter might be using to track a wounded deer.

Bigfoot’s Museum: Loren Coleman on his new cabinet of cryptozoology curiosities

Raymond — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:51:24 +0000

From BoingBoing:

For half a century, my friend Loren Coleman has been obsessed with unusual animals, many of which may not exist at all. Loren is a cryptozoologist. He studies hidden and unknown animals, and the mythology, urban legends, folklore, and culture surrounding them. Sure, Bigfoot, Yeti, and Nessie are the big names, but there are countless others — the Jersey Devil, the Thunderbird, the Mothman, to name just a few. Loren has written more than a dozen books on the subject and posts daily at the Cryptomundo blog, all from a firmly Fortean perspective. Does he actually “believe” in Sasquatch or sea monsters? No, because belief, he has said, “belongs in the providence of religion.” He just tries to keep an open mind in order to accept or deny evidence based on examination and investigation.Over the years, Loren has amassed an astounding collection of cryptozoology curiosities, artifacts, and oddities, from toys, beer cans, and t-shirts emblazoned with one cryptid or another to scientific specimens, plaster casts, and movie props. His collection, called the International Cryptozoology Museum, has been housed in part of his Portland, Maine home and viewable only by appointment only. (Two years ago, he gave BBtv a tour.) But all the while, Loren has dreamt of opening up his wunderkammer to the public. Last month, he finally made that happen. The International Cryptozoology Museum opened in a permanent space in downtown Portland, Maine, sharing space with a fantastically-fringe bookstore Green Hand Books. It has regular hours and admission is just $5. Loren answered my questions in between giving the steady stream of visitors personal tours of the collection.

[Read more at BoingBoing]

The Legend of the Sewer Gator

disinfogreg — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:20:30 +0000

via Gothamist

In 1935, the NY Times published an article titled, “Alligator Found in Uptown Sewer,” tracing the actions of 16-year-old Salvatore Condoluci and his comrades, who trapped and killed an 8-foot-long alligator found under 123rd Street. Today, at 92, Condoluci still remembers some of the tale, and the Times looks back at the urban legend.

Along with the printed article, former superintendent of city sewers, Teddy May, also had a part in giving the legend legs. He once investigated reports of sightings, relaying his story to writer Robert Daley, who in 1959 published the account in his book, The World Beneath the City. It goes like this:

“Alligators serenely paddling around in his sewers. The beam of his own flashlight had spotlighted alligators whose length, on the average, was about two feet. Some may have been longer. Avoiding the swift current of the trunk lines under major avenues, the beasts had wormed up the smaller pipes under less important neighborhoods, and there Teddy had found them. The colony appeared to have settled contentedly under the very streets of the busiest city in the world.”

No one seems to be certain if the story is fact or fiction, but the belief is that many vacationing families were bringing back baby alligators as pets from Florida at the time, later discarding them. Adding more documentation to the legend, Times columnist Meyer Berger once wrote that in the mid-1930s, “sewer alligators seemed to thrive below the pavement in rather frightening numbers. They were destroyed systematically and the threat of an alligator invasion died away.”

Tourists in Australia Warned of 6 Meter ‘Monster’ Shark

phunkychic666 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:19:29 +0000

On the Telegraph:

Concerns were raised after a 3 m great white shark was found dead with two huge bites taken out of its body. Experts believe the bites were made by an even larger predatory fish.

Swimmers have been warned to stay out of the waters off Stradbroke Island, north of Brisbane.

“It certainly opened up my eyes. I mean the shark that was caught is a substantial shark in itself,” Jeff Krause of Queensland Fisheries told the Sydney Daily Telegraph.

Surfers have reacted to the news of the shark attack with shock.

“Whatever attacked and took chunks out of this big shark must be massive,” said Ashton Smith, 19. “I’ve heard about the big one that’s lurking out there somewhere.

Bigfoot Attracts Crowds

majestic — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:48:54 +0000

PORTLAND, Maine (Wireless Flash) — Even after all these years, Bigfoot still knows how to draw in a
crowd.

Loren Coleman, a leading cryptozoologist, just opened a new museum in Maine dedicated to curious creatures like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Yeti.

The International Cryptozoology Museum is housed in the back of The Green Hand Bookshop. It features Coleman’s personal collection of unusual crypto artifacts including an eight-foot Bigfoot created by an artist, Bigfoot poop and hair samples, and skulls of other mystery animals.

Though most visitors inquire about Bigfoot, Coleman’s goal is to keep folks “open-minded” about various cryptids. He gives daily guided tours and presents evidence to visitors proving that these weird creatures really do exist.

Coleman is happy to have his collection in a public space since for years he ran the museum out
of his own home. Now that his eight-foot Bigfoot has moved out, he has much more room to entertain.

…

Sasquatch in My Subdivision – Out There Radio: Episode 7

Raymond — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 22:29:11 +0000

Out There Radio – Episode 7: Sasquatch in My Subdivision

Website • iTunes • Direct Download • RSS

An informative and entertaining foray into the world of cryptozoology. In this episode, we interview Wayne Ford and Steve Hyde, two local sasquatch hunters. They discuss general questions about the Bigfoot phenomenon and share some interesting stories about close encounters with the beast.

Wayne Ford is a reporter living in Watkinsville, GA, who researches local sasquatch sightings. Steve Hyde is a sasquatch researcher who lives in Griffin, GA.