Stonebunny Press $13.00 Kindle ed. $2.97
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Friday, 31 October 2014
NEW BOOK ON CANADIAN WEIRD CREATURES
This book delves into the folklore of strange beings and cryptids.
Stonebunny Press $13.00 Kindle ed. $2.97
Stonebunny Press $13.00 Kindle ed. $2.97
WOLF HUNTING IN DENMARK
Noted cryptozoologist Lars Thomas writes of the indignation of farmers, some of whom intend to shoot reintroduced wolves illegally, in Denmark.
now read on.....
now read on.....
ETHIOPIAN BULL
The Ethiopian Bull was known to the Greeks by rumor. In Ancient Greece the term "Ethiopia" was rather vaguely used and should not be understood as relating to the present country so called. It meant roughly Africa south of Egypt. The question arises as to whether there was an actual breed of cattle which inspired this legendary animal.
now read on.......
now read on.......
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DONALD'S FATHER - THE ANSWER
It was Quackmore Duck. An interesting genealogy of the Duck Family is to be found in Wikipedia.
Thursday, 30 October 2014
PLANS TO SHOOT NESSIE
In days gone by, a bounty was put on the head of the Loch Ness Monster. It's almost unbelievable today. Dr David Clarke unearthed the data.
now read on.....
now read on.....
DAVIES/SYKES BIGFOOT BROADCAST
Over at Bigfoot Evidence they have a broadcast interview by Adam Davies and Lori Simmons on the Bigfoot expedition that convinced Dr Bryan Sykes of Bigfoot's possible existence.
(The expedition is chronicled in the CFZ book Manbeasts)
read and listen in....
(The expedition is chronicled in the CFZ book Manbeasts)
read and listen in....
MELBA KETCHUM AND DOGMAN
Melba Ketchum claims encounter with Dogman, the creature said to look like an upright dog or wolf or something similar.
now read on...
now read on...
ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD
On This Day in Weird, October 30...
2003: Members of the Japanese apocalyptic cult Aum Shinrikyo
predict the start of a nuclear war that will purge most life on Earth by its
conclusion on November 29. As usual with such prophecies, nothing happens.
Wednesday, 29 October 2014
STARTLING CLAIM ON VIDEO ABOUT AREA 51
What is alleged to be a deathbed video features a scientist claiming he worked with aliens at Area 51.
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now read on....
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now read on....
ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD
On This Day in Weird, October 29...
1811: Farmer John M'Isaac signs an affidavit swearing that
he had met a mermaid in Campbeltown, Scotland. He convinces an attorney and two
ministers, witnesses to his statement, leaving them "satisfied that he was
impressed with a perfect belief, that the appearance of the animal he has
described was such as he has represented it to be."
1997: Anton Szandor LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan,
dies in San Francisco, California, at age 67.
Tuesday, 28 October 2014
ARE ALL DODOS DEAD?
The word dodo is almost synonymous with extinction. "As dead as a dodo" is a not uncommon expression. The dodo was a large flightless pigeon found on the island of Mauritius. But it was not only reported from there.
An explorer called Cauche in the year 1638 mentioned an encounter with dodos on another island. This would seem to have been the Ile Tromelin in the Indian Ocean. If this is accurate, there is no record of dodos being wiped out here, so perhaps they still strut about on this southerly isle. There may even be dodos on other nearby islands.
Although the odd dodo in crepuscular conditions has been reported from Mauritius itself, these reports are likely to be mistaken.
An explorer called Cauche in the year 1638 mentioned an encounter with dodos on another island. This would seem to have been the Ile Tromelin in the Indian Ocean. If this is accurate, there is no record of dodos being wiped out here, so perhaps they still strut about on this southerly isle. There may even be dodos on other nearby islands.
Although the odd dodo in crepuscular conditions has been reported from Mauritius itself, these reports are likely to be mistaken.
MODERN BIRDS=BABY DINOSAURS
An article which claims that today's birds have the characteristics of yesterday's dinosaurs.
now read on.....
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| What interesting descendants I will have. |
now read on.....
ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD
On This Day in Weird, October 28...
2009: Canadian folk singer Taylor Mitchell (née Taylor
Josephine Stephanie Luciow) dies at age 19 after being attacked by coyotes on a
nature walk at Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She
remains the only human adult—and only the second person in recorded history—to
be killed by coyotes.
Monday, 27 October 2014
RUSALKA
Have you heard of the rusalka? Rusalkas are water spirits of eastern Europe. These days they are considered dangerous, but were once regarded as benevolent. Nowadays it is said they will lure men into the water and drown them. They are very beautiful, with green or golden hair. They will sometimes set upon a human of any type and will tickle him or her to death. They are under the rule of male creatures called vodyanies who often look ugly and are on the fat side. Of them it is believed that if you drown near one, he will eat you and put your soul in a jar.
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| Rusalka |
ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD
On This Day in Weird, October 27...
1973: The Akron Beacon-Journal reports that several
witnesses have seen a foul-smelling, seven-foot-tall Sasquatch wandering around
Massillon, Ohio.
Sunday, 26 October 2014
PEGFOOT?
An unusual kind of Bigfoot was reported from the Georgia highways in the 1970s. It looked like your ordinary Bigfoot, except it had a wooden leg.
If sightings of this animal can be authenticated, we must ask where a Bigfoot would find such an artificial appendage. Did some lonely cabin dweller encounter a Bigfoot with a gangrous limb, amputate it and replace it with a wooden leg? Was the Bigfoot dropped from a UFO, some helpful aliens having provided it with said leg for health reasons before letting it loose? Could Bigfeet themselves manufacture such a thing and attach it?
My suspicions are that, if there is any truth in these accounts, what was seen was a Bigfoot with a stiff leg, perhaps due to arthritis or some other complaint. As it walked so stiffly on it, it appeared that the leg was wooden.
On the other hand, if any reader of this actually has made a wooden leg for a pedally challenged Bigfoot, perhaps he would let us know.
If sightings of this animal can be authenticated, we must ask where a Bigfoot would find such an artificial appendage. Did some lonely cabin dweller encounter a Bigfoot with a gangrous limb, amputate it and replace it with a wooden leg? Was the Bigfoot dropped from a UFO, some helpful aliens having provided it with said leg for health reasons before letting it loose? Could Bigfeet themselves manufacture such a thing and attach it?
My suspicions are that, if there is any truth in these accounts, what was seen was a Bigfoot with a stiff leg, perhaps due to arthritis or some other complaint. As it walked so stiffly on it, it appeared that the leg was wooden.
On the other hand, if any reader of this actually has made a wooden leg for a pedally challenged Bigfoot, perhaps he would let us know.
WHO CARVED THE MARREE MAN?
No one knows sho made this mysterious carving in Australia - even though it was made only 16 years ago.
ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD
On This Day in Weird, October 26....
1881: A nod to the non-cryptic Wild West this morning, on
the 133rd anniversary of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.
Four notorious "fighting pimps"—the Earp brothers and tubercular Doc
Holliday—shoot it out with rival outlaws from the Clanton gang, killing four,
while suffering some minor wounds themselves. As usual in U.S. history, the
event is shrouded in fable: it did not occur at the O.K. Corral, and was not
the triumph for "law and order" presented by later Hollywood myth
makers.
Saturday, 25 October 2014
MYSTERY PREHISTORIC ANIMAL MAY BE IDENTIFIED
Fossils may give the answer to the identity of a mystery creature of the Cambrian Period, which was a long time ago.
now read on....
now read on....
DIMINUTIVE HOMINIDS
We have had one or two stories featuring the Yowie, Australia's man-beast. However, it isn't the only such creature. There are also rumored to be small creatures there called junjudees.
now read on.....
now read on.....
ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD
On This Day in Weird, October 25...
1924: A marine cryptid nicknamed "Trunko" washes
ashore at Margate, South Africa, following an alleged battle offshore with two
killer whales.
1993: Vincent Leonard Price Jr., star of many macabre films,
dies in Los Angeles, California, at age 82.
Friday, 24 October 2014
SEEN A DRAGON LATELY?
A treatise on Dragon sightings. However, we should warn you that this site includes Sea-Serpents among Dragons.
now read on....
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| Roar! |
now read on....
ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD
On This Day in Weird, October 24...
1970: Theatrical premiere of the film Trog, wherein
faded star Joan "Mommy Dearest" Crawford portrays a scientist
confronted with a living prehistoric "troglodyte" humanoid creature
found dwelling in an contemporary English cavern.
Thursday, 23 October 2014
HALLOWEEN
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| New England Halloween Scarecrow |
Halloween is the day before All Saints' Day (1st November). But it is coincidental with the Celtic feast of Samain. While Halloween is widely celebrated, there is sometimes ignorance of what it actually is.
The term Samain is found in three of the Gaelic languages, its modern forms being Irish Samhain, Scottish Gaelic Samhuinn and Manx Sauin. The actual meaning of the word has been disputed. It was one of the main festivals of the Gaelic year and it has been conjectured that it marked the start of that year. It has also been suggested that the gates of the Otherworld were supposedly open at this time, allowing for an influx of otherworldly magical beings. The Irish tale Macgniomhartha Finn (12th Century) says that at Samhain the fairy mounds were unshut. Samhain began at sundown on October 31st and lasted until sundown on 1st November.
Samain seems to have had clearly pagan overtones. Charles Vallency in 1774 asserted that it was called after a god called Samain who presided over the dead, but here he was mistaken: this god is not found in the Gaelic pantheon. However, there are definitely mythological connections with the festival.
One of the Irish goddesses called Mongfind definitely had an involvement. Even after Christianity had supplanted paganism, she continued to be invoked. Thus a medieval Irish chronicler wrote:
'On Samhain Eve women and the rabble address their petitions to her'.
In modern Waterford in the south of Ireland children have been heard to repeat an old rhyme: Anocht Oíche Shamhna Mongfhionn bandia (Tonight is Samhain of Mongfind the goddess).
Another belief concerns the Morrigan, the terrible war-goddess of the ancient Irish. She is said to emerge from a cavern called Uaimh na gCat (Cave of the Cats) in Roscommon, her chariot pulled by a one-legged horse.
It is also thought there were assemblies and possibly fertility rites at Samain.
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| Apple Bobbing |
There are many modern customs associated with Halloween which derive ultimately from Samain. However, except among modern pagans, they no longer have pagan significance. Bonfires are lit in celebration of the feast. The fertility element which originally formed part of it is remembered in such customs as bobbing for apples. Originally, you peeled the apples and threw the skin over your shoulder, the letter formed on the ground by it being the letter of your future spouse. A kind of cake called the báirín breac (speckled loaf) is eaten and it sometimes contains a ring. The person who finds it probably believed it originally to be a portent of marriage. In Irish superstition, Halloween is a good time to become pregnant.
It was the custom for people with their faces blackened called guisers to go from house to house collecting for the feast. Sometimes in the 19th Century a man wearing a white sheet and carrying a horse's skull went about. This personage was referred to as the Láir Bhán (white mare). The guisers were probably supposed to represent goblins.
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| Jack o' Lantern |
The custom of carving Jack o' Lanterns at this season is probably because they either represented or were supposed to scare away magical beings. Turnips were often used to make them, but when Halloween migrated to America, pumpkins were preferred. At some stage scarecrows were also added to the paraphernalia of the festival.
Halloween was brought to North America by Scottish and Irish immigrants. By this stage, even though it contained reminiscences of paganism, it was no longer regarded as a pagan or religious feast by most of those who celebrated it, but rather as a time to dress up as supernatural beings and tell ghost stories. The guisers' custom of going from house to house collecting for the festival has been carried on in Ireland, Scotland, the USA and Canada.
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| Halloween in Dublin |
With regard to these collections, the custom of Trick or Treat had its origin in the western portion of North America. By about 1950 it had spread throughout the United States. It was exported to England, where it was looked upon disdainfully by some as an American and foreign custom. In the United States it has to some extent been supplanted, however, by Trick or Trunk, in which comestibles are given to children from the trunks of cars in a carpark.
Samain, Samhain, Samhuinn is nowadays pronounced sowin, the first syllable to rhyme with 'now'.
As regards Celtic countries that are not Gaelic, they hold festivals at the same time - Hollantide (Wales), Allantide (Cornwall), Kala Goafrv (Brittany).
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| Halloween in Austin (Texas); photograph Robert Simmons |
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BIGFOOT ON TELEVISION?
A television program hopes to prove the existence of Bigfoot.
now read on.....
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| Where are the cameras? |
now read on.....
ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD
On This Day in Weird, October 23...
1973: A witness in Russell Springs, Kentucky, reports two
3-foot-tall humanoid creatures, reddish in color, climbing into a grounded UFO
before it takes off at high speed.
Wednesday, 22 October 2014
WEREWOLVES NOT HUMAN
Nick Redfern argues that supposed Werewolves are not transformed humans - but that doesn't mean they don't exist.
now read on.....
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| Werewolf |
now read on.....
CAN YOWIES INTERBREED WITH HUMANS?
Most cryptozoologists are familiar with the Yowie, an apelike creature said to roam Australia. However, this tale about it is somewhat extraordinary.
In the People Magazine in 1979, three alleged witnesses gave an account of events that supposedly had occurred about a century before. A yowie had raped a human woman and, in due course, she had produced a female child which was half yowie. She was kept locked away. She was said to have looked like a girl, but to have been covered with orange hair. The woman had asked her husband to kill the child, but he had refused to do so. On her death, he released it into the wild.
I mentioned this story some years ago to noted Australian cryptozoologist Paul Cropper, but he was inclined to dismiss it. If it should be true, however, the genetic implications would be interesting.
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| Statue of Yowie. |
In the People Magazine in 1979, three alleged witnesses gave an account of events that supposedly had occurred about a century before. A yowie had raped a human woman and, in due course, she had produced a female child which was half yowie. She was kept locked away. She was said to have looked like a girl, but to have been covered with orange hair. The woman had asked her husband to kill the child, but he had refused to do so. On her death, he released it into the wild.
I mentioned this story some years ago to noted Australian cryptozoologist Paul Cropper, but he was inclined to dismiss it. If it should be true, however, the genetic implications would be interesting.