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.

Tuesday 30 June 2015

ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD



On This Day in Weird, July 1...

1965: Witness Maurice Masse reports seeing a grounded UFO near Valensole, France. It makes a whistling sound and he sees two or three small humanoids standing beside it, dressed in one-piece outfits. Approaching on foot, Masse is "paralyzed."


GIANTS OF PATAGONIA

These Giants were reported in the Age of Exploration.

Image courtesy Austin Whittall


now read on.....

UNIDENTIFIED CREATURE IN CALIFORNIA

This animal showed up on a beach in California.

you-tube video: have a look....

PRAYING MANTIS HUMANOID

Encounter in South Carolina.

Praying Mantis


now read on.....

AM I A KANGAROO?

A wild goat has joined a kangaroo group.



now read on.....

BLUE MAN OF THE OZARKS

This is a local name for Bigfoot and Finding Bigfoot will be looking for him.

now read on.....

Monday 29 June 2015

ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD


On This Day in Weird, June 30...

2002: Several hikers at Skootamatta Lake, Ontario, Canada, hear strange primate-type vocalizations lasting 15 minutes, followed by sounds of "something big" crashing through the nearby forest. While they see nothing, they attribute the sounds to Bigfoot.


WUCHARIA

We doggedly ask, What is the Wucharia?



now read on.....

BERNARD HEUVELMANS

Article on the founder of cryptozoology.  I had some contact with Bernard Heuvelmans, as he bought books from me in the days I ran Excalibur Books.  He seemed not alone learned, but pleasant.

now read on.....

SKY BATTLE 1665

This certainly must rank among early UFO sightings, but what did these fishermen actually see?

LAKE MONSTERS OF MICHIGAN

A look at lake monsters in this state.

Hello
Hello

IOWA CRYPTID SELECTION

Herewith you will find a small selection of cryptids that have been reported from Iowa.

*In 1887 a man named Corner saw what he took to be a buzzard in Taylor County.  Further investigation revealed it to be a flying snake which had large protruding eyes.  It landed in a cornfield.

*A strange creature which showed characteristics of wolverine or bear was reported.  The report is undated, but neither creature is supposed to be found in Iowa.

*A creature looking like a Chinese dragon was observed by a couple at Burlington.  Its body was about 10 feet long.  Tantalizingly, the sighting is again undated.


PIT BULL AND TURKEY CHICKS

This article and video shows a somewhat Fortean rapport between the two.

now read and view.....

Sunday 28 June 2015

ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD


On This Day in Weird, June 29...

2004: Residents of rural Eastland County, Texas, wake at 3 a.m. to howls similar to a woman screaming." In the morning, one finds a partial humanoid footprint near their camp. Local residents mention several dogs missing in the past two weeks, and the witness's own dogs disappear two days after the howling incident. They initially blame "panthers," then decide the partial print belongs to Bigfoot.


WHAT IS A VIBORON?

What indeed?  Legend has it that it is a giant rattlesnake, to be found in the vicinity of Taos (New Mexico).  The name is presumably derived from Spanish vibora, a viper.  If you encounter this animal, I should not approach too closely.

Speaking of vipers, the only poisonous snake found in Britain is the adder (Vipera berus).  It is usually easily recognized by its markings, but what is less well known is that black specimens sometimes occur.  The existence of black adders cannot but remind us of a number of television series featuring Rowan Atkinson portraying many generations of the family of Blackadder.


Adder

MONSTER OF LAKE SHUSWAP

This lake monster of British Columbia is known by a number of names and reports may not always refer to the same animal.

Lake Shushwap


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DR SHUKER'S ALIENS

Eminnent cryptozoologist Karl Shuker has a list of the ten strangest aliens of which he has heard.

now read on.....

DOGMAN IN 1941

Was this a sighting of a Dogman in Georgia?


Image courtesy Lon Strickler


now read on....

Saturday 27 June 2015

ORIGIN OF BIGFOOT

Is Bigfoot of partially human ancestry?

now read on.....

POISONOUS TARANTULAS INFEST TOWN

It's a new species, first noted in 2006, in Australia.


now read on.....

THE HAUNTED SCROTUM

This singular case is one that will surely be regarded as exceptional.  J.R. Harding writing in Journal of the Society of Medicine (89/101, 600) chronicles this unusual medical item of which a synopsis is to be found in The Psychologist Vol.28, No. 7.

The patient was male and aged 45.  The procedure he underwent was to determine whether he had an undescended testicle.  On computer investigation of the scrotum, the left testicle was found to be a simulacrum of an horrendous ghost screaming.  Testicles with such Lovecraftian overtones are rare indeed.  The formation, however, seems to have been entirely natural with no paranormal element: the shape into which the testicle had formed was quite coincidental.

BIGFOOT IN AMERINDIAN LEGENDS

This link transfers you to a website that gives you information on Bigfoot type creatures in Native American legends.

now read on......

IS BIGFOOT MUSICAL?

Can flute music attract Bigfoot?



now read on....

Friday 26 June 2015

ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD


On This Day in Weird, June 27...

1970: Witness Aristeu Machado reports two small humanoids standing on the rim of a "Saturn-shaped" UFO near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in broad daylight. As he watched, the craft takes off and skims away over the ocean.

HOLLOW EARTH

Conspiracy theories featuring a hollow earth.



now read on.....

WORLD COLLAPSE 2040?

Now there's something to look forward to.

now read on.....

WHAT IS THE WATER TIGER?

Creature in the legends of South America.

now read on.....

BIGFOOT IN NEW YORK STATE

Report from Warren County

now read on....

THERE'S NOTHING LIKE SEEING BIGFOOT TWICE

Two encounters by same witness.



now read on......

TABLE ROCK LAKE: ANOTHER BIGFOOT SIGHTING

The witness was somewhat surprised.

now read on......

Thursday 25 June 2015

ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD


On This Day in Weird, June 26...

1959: A Catholic priest, William Gill, allegedly sees a UFO grounded on four "legs" in Papua, New Guinea. A blue light atop the UFO illuminates four "man" standing nearby, who respond when Gill waves.


DUN COW

The Dun Cow is one of the most extraordinary beasts in English legend.  It originally belonged to a giant in Shropshire, but, having been anatgonized by an old woman, it escaped and wrought havoc throughout the land.  It was huge in size with gigantic horns and fiery eyes.  Anyone who approached it was doomed.

The hero who finally put an end to its depredations was Guy of  Warwick.  He was supposed to have lived when Athelstan was King of England (924-7). They had a long combat in which blood flowed freely and in the end Guy was victorious.

In Warwick Castle what is supposedly a horn of the Dun Cow is yet shown.  It is probably in fact the tusk of an elephant.

A variant of the legend comes from Lancashire.  This says the Dun Cow supplied milk to all comers.  A witch tried to get it to fill a sieve with milk, so that she would obtain far more than others.  The poor cow died of shock.  Another legend from the same area claims the milk of the Dun Cow stopped people from contracting the plague and it was finally buried at Dun Cow Hill.  Its supposed rib is shown at Whittingham.  It is perhaps a whale's bone.

The word dun in this context refers to the color of the animal.

This animal seems to have been regarded variously as beneficent and dangerous and it is difficult to tell what lies behind the tradition.  Guy of Warwick's popularity in days gone by was not restricted to England.  His story had considerable popularity in continental Europe.

Guy of warwick

ARICA MONSTER

Does it really exist in Chile?

now read on......

BIGFOOT TRACKS IN KENTUCKY?

Are these the real thing?



now read on......


SEA MONSTERS: EARLY IDEAS

Fascinating guide to early beliefs about sea monsters with equally fascinating illustrations.



now read on....

RECONSTRUCTION OF PREHISTORIC CREATURE

It is probable that we at last know what this relative of modern insects looked like.

now read on.....

MONSTERS OF MONTEREY BAY

Sea-monsters of Californian lore.



now read on.....

Wednesday 24 June 2015

ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD


On This Day in Weird, June 25...

1974: A witness reports fifteen six-foot-tall robot-like beings with red lights on their chests floating earthward from a domed UFO at St. Cyrille de Wendover, Québec, Canada. Reports claim unspecified "physical traces" found at the scene afterward.


OYSTER BAY CLOUD

This animal - for animal it appears to have been - must be in the Very Odd category of cryptids reported.  In 1975 it was approached by a witness at Oyster Bay, Long Island.  It looked like a cloud.  It obviously resented the attention of the witness, for it shot a jet of water at him.  The only alternative to its being an animal that I can think of  is that it was a meteorological phenomenon.  Anyway, the witness got wet.

Unfortunately, I have lost my source reference for this creature.  If anyone out there knows anything about it, I would like to hear.

Oyster Bay

PTEROSAURS TODAY

Why should you believe in them?



Image courtesy Lon Strickler

now read on......

SURFER FILMS GREAT WHITE

This surfer filmed a Great White Shark that was circling him.

Great White Shark


Have a look.....

17th CENTURY UFO BATTLE

Many reported sickness after watching this encounter.



now read on.....

ALBAWITCH - DIMINUTIVE PRIMATE


They live in Pennsylvania and like apples.

now read on.....

BIGFOOT IN MAINE?

What was this strange creature?



now read on......

Tuesday 23 June 2015

ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD


On This Day in Weird, June 24...

2003: Two competitors at a "Frisbee golf course" in Kenton County, Kentucky, notices a very unique smell of sour meat and wet hair," then sees a shaggy biped some nine feet tall emerge from nearby woods.



CHUPACABRA IN THE APPALACHIANS

This is said to pre-date sightings in Puerto Rico.



now read on.....

AMERICAN MONSTERS OF ILLINOIS

Over at mysteriousuniverse.org they continue with their series.

Coat-of-Arms of Illinois

now read on.....

REPTILE IN ROSWELL

Roswell isn't famous just for that crash.  Also contains article on Monster of Benbrook Lake.

now read on.....

ENCOUNTERS WITH FAIRIES

Allegedly true encounters with fairy and related entities.



now read on.....

DID THIS MAN HAVE ENCOUNTER WITH BIGFOOT?

He believes he did.




now read on......

Monday 22 June 2015

ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD


On This Day in Weird, June 23...

1982: A teenager reports a Bigfoot sighting from the border area of Calhoun and Union Counties, Arkansas, claiming that a 7-foot-tall "hairy man" stole some trout he had left on a line in a swampy river.


NEW BOOK BY RONAN COGHLAN

This fascinating (I can use no other word) volume contains a plethora of accounts of Little People, human-sized fairies and preternatural beings.

Sections include:

What the various kinds of fairies found in Europe and among people of European descent in the United States are;

large numbers of fairy/little people sightings.

dangerous figures of faerie, such as giants, ogres, wildmen and even mothmen;

discussion of how fairies could fit into the scientific paradigm;

contains list of species of European fairies.

Every student of the paranormal, folklore and cryptozoology should have a copy.

Available from all the usual Internet outlets and from the publishers, Skylight Press.




DOG-HEADED PIG MONSTER

This has been reported from Namibia.  For those with a limited knowledge of geography, Namibia is a country in south-west Africa, largely desert, sparsely populated and with a large hunter-gatherer population, usually called Bushmen, but I think there is a "politically correct" term used for them now, the San.

now read on....

CRAB INUNDATION

Quantities of crabs are being washed up on the coast of California.

now read on.....

REDFERN ON THE JERSEY DEVIL

Nick Redfern gives us a portrait of this famous enigmatic creature.

Nick Redfern (not to be confused with Jersey Devil)


now read on.....

ALIEN ABDUCTEES - THEIR BRAINWAVES

A neurologist studies the brainwaves of alleged alien abductees,


now read on.....

SEARCHING FOR BIGFOOT

An account of one Bigfoot quester.



now read on.....

Sunday 21 June 2015

ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD


On This Day in Weird, June 22...

2009: A a 19-year-old college student was driving near Rhinebeck, N.Y., swerves to avoid a bag in the middle of the road, then glances at his rearview mirror to see "someone or something" run out to grab the bag. Turning around, he sees a hairy biped 7 to 7.5 feet tall retreating with the bag.


SUMMER SOLSTICE IN WEIRD


On This Summer Solstice in Weird, June 21....

2003: A resident of rural White County, Arkansas, reports growling from the woods behind his home and sees "something" moving through the trees, walking with "a rolling motion." He reports his sighting to the Gulf Coast Bigfoot Research Organization.


PTEROSAUR REPORT

Incident in Minnesota.

now read on.....

UNDER THE UK

Do monsters lurk underground in the UK?  Nick Redfern poses the question.

Nick Redfern - not one of the monsters


now read on....
.

HAVE AN UDDER

The curious legend that snakes and other animals drink from cow's udders.



now read on......

PLINY THE ELDER

Pliny the Elder was one of the great Roman naturalists.  Every cryptozoologist should know something about him.

Gaius Plinius Secundus


now read on.....

MINI-PLESIOSAURS

But they may not actually be plesiosaurs.

now read on.....

Saturday 20 June 2015

BIG BIRDS

Linda Godrey reports on alleged colossi of the skies.



now read on.....

WHAT ARE FLYING HUMANOIDS?

Just because I haven't seen any doesn't mean they're not there.

now read on....

10 DISCOVERIES UNEXPLAINED BY SCIENTISTS

An in teresting list, including one or two items relevant to cryptozoology, with video.

now read on......

ANIMALS AND MEN




Animals and Men is the official magazine of the Centre for Fortean Zoology.  It features cryptozoology, natural history, paranormal and Fortean topics.  It is a full magazine, illustrated in color, with 83 pages.

Where can I get this?  I hear you ask.  Do I need to pay a large subscription?  Not at all.  This magazine is online ABSOLUTELY FREE.  All you have to do is click onto www.cfz.org.uk and gorge yourself on information.  

click on this link....

DOGMAN CHASES BIGFOOT

When cryptids collide.



now read on......

Friday 19 June 2015

ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD



On This Day in Weird, June 20...

1815: Captain Elkanah Finney watches a sea serpent through his telescope, off the coast of Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts, later writing: "I then had a good view of him through my glass, at the distance of a quarter of a mile. His appearance in this situation was like a string of buoys. I saw perhaps thirty or forty of these protuberances or bunches, which were about the size of a barrel. The head (the front part being visible above the water) appeared to be about six or eight feet long, and where it was connected with the body was a little larger than the body. His head tapered off to the size of a horse's head….What I supposed to be his under jaw had a white stripe extending the whole length of the head, just above the water. While he lay in this situation, he appeared to be about a hundred or a hundred and twenty feet long."


DNA TEST ON PARACAS SKULL

Does it show former existence of a new humanoid?


now read on.....

WHAT ANIMAL IS MOST LIKELY TO KILL YOU?

Statistically, you'd be surprised.  I'll give you a clue: something that buzzes is high on the list.

now read on.....

WHAT WAS A ZEBRO?

The origin of the word zebra is obscure.  Some say it comes from an Italian word, some favor Portuguese cebra.  Generally it is ascribed an African origin.  But it may owe its name to another creature altogether.

In medieval and Renaissance Spanish works, mention is made of a creature called the zebro.  Gray in color, its muzzle was dark and it had a black stripe on its back.  In the name of this creature do do we have the origin of zebra?

If so, we may ask what this now extinct creature actually was.  A recent theory is that it may represent a population of Equus hydruntis, which is thought to have become existed 12,000 years ago.  Perhaps it didn't.

DOES INFRASOUND AFFECT BIGFOOT SIGHTINGS?

This article explains the nature of Infrasound as well as its effects on Bigfoot observers.



I'll give you Infrasound

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POPE ON CLIMATE CHANGE

While it is not the policy of this website to focus on politics or religion, we at the CFZ are particularly concerned with preservation of the environment, so the Pope's encyclical Laudato si issued yesterday impinges on our area of interest.

The encyclical blames Global Warming on shortsightedness and human greed.  It says over use of fossil fuels is one of its causes.  It condemns destruction of the environment.

Such a stance is likely to be rejected by certain politicians and businessmen, but, in the perception of the present writer, his arguments are certainly valid and it behoves the industrialized nations to help the poverty-stricken ones cope with the results of Global Warming.

The text of the encyclical is available online as are comments from various news media.  In addition, there is an article in Wikipedia.

It may be added that political and scientific issues have a moral element, so the Pope is not stepping outside his appropriate area.

Thursday 18 June 2015

ON THIS DAY IN WEIRD


On This Day in Weird, June 19...

2014: A rural resident of Talladega County, Alabama, reports "two sets of eyeshine" reflecting a flashlight beam outside his home. One set of eyes is approximately seven to eight feet above ground level, the other about six feet high. He reports the event to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization the same day.