At the beginning of the 21st Century monsters still roam the remote, and sometimes not so remote, corners of our planet. It is our job to search for them. The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is - we believe - the largest professional, scientific and full-time organisation in the world dedicated to cryptozoology - the study of unknown animals. Since 1992 the CFZ has carried out an unparalleled programme of research and investigation all over the world. Since 2009 we have been running the increasingly popular CFZ Blog Network, and although there has been an American branch of the CFZ for over ten years now, it is only now that it has a dedicated blog.

Thursday 19 February 2015

AMERICA'S FIRST CRYPTID?

This may be the first cryptid, in the sense of an unidentified animal, reported from America.  In 1503 the King and Queen of Spain received a letter from Christopher Columbus, no less, telling them of this unusual animal.

Christopher Columbus

This was a cat of sorts, he said, but the face would remind you of a human.  It was a terribly fierce beast.  A crossbowman shot it, but its ferocity was such that he had in defense to cut off two of its legs.  A wild boar happened to be nearby and the beast grabbed its snout with its tail and killed it with one of its remaining leg.  Presumably the beast itself was then killed.

We have no clue regarding the identity of the beast, which I have called the Man-Faced Cat.  I know of no other reports that coincide with its description, but possibly it had a facial deformity, the result of some injury picked up with another beast in a tussle.  Who can say?  Well, I can't.

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