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Click for video 1 Click for video 2 Click for video 3 Well, no one can say that 'ex-Bigfoot researcher' Autumn Williams is not good in front of a camera. She is savvy and easy on the eyes...just as she was when she had a television show. But now, she is presenting her case for leaving the field of Bigfoot research. The preamble to her recent video blog is as follows: "Bigfoot research" hasn't worked and isn't working. It's inherently counterproductive... and that's why I'm throwing in the towel. I'm going out into the woods to act like a witness - and hopefully BE a witness again. When I'm not in the woods, I'll be listening to and speaking up for witnesses as an eyewitness advocate, and helping witnesses share their stories with other witnesses. She does make a few valid points. I'm also a 'Bigfoot witness' and the experience has changed my for life. I know that regardless of what I hear or read this cryptid is real. Some of the exploits of certain individuals to simply make a buck are despicable...ex. the Georgia Bigfoot fiasco. She claims to have intimate knowledge of a man who has a personal association with a Bigfoot. This man has no problem conveying this information but draws the line at providing tangible evidence to support this claim. Ms. Williams presents a long diatribe on the ills of Bigfoot research and finally tells us that she no longer has a desire to be known as a Bigfoot researcher and that she will reveal her anecdotal evidence...in a book. Look...I have no problem with anybody who decides to write a book on any subject. But for some reason, the route that Autumn Williams is pursuing leads me to question her motives. Slamming the entire Bigfoot community and completely disassociating herself from it may be more counterproductive than she realizes. Granted, she may very well have a legitimate account to tell...but in the long run, I'm not sure the end will justify the means. Lon Autumn Williams' blog - Oregon Bigfoot Blog Phantoms & Monsters Wiki A network for paranormal investigators, enthusiasts and those seeking the truth Have you had a close encounter or witnessed something unusual? Send us an email Anomalist Books - works on maverick science, unexplained mysteries, unorthodox theories, strange talents, and unexpected discoveries. Please check out their excellent and diverse catalog "The latest news from beyond the mainstream" Join Ben & Aaron for their weekly podcast! Check out Mysterious Universe Plus+ all access format! Want to help support Phantoms and Monsters? Please visit our online shop. Thanks! Vote For Phantoms and Monsters at Paranormal Top Sites List Become a fan of 'Phantoms and Monsters' at Facebook

Posted by: Loren Coleman on January 15th, 2009 The breaking news out of New York City is that an Airbus has been brought down by Canada geese. But what if it was something else? Of course, it wasn’t, but we have to look at all the angles. (Updated with recent bird collision data, at the end.) A flock of Canada geese (Branta canadensis) – please note, not “Canadian” geese as some news people are saying – has apparently hit or were hit by an Airways jet, an Airbus A320. The plane then had to be ditched in the Hudson River, New York City, and sunk below the waterline. The flight was US Airways flight 1549, which took off at 3:26 p.m. on January 15, 2009, from LaGuardia, headed for Charlotte, N.C. Reportedly 155 people are on board. New York City firefighters, federal transportation officials and an armada of boats were responding to the accident. It was not immediately clear if there were injuries, but recent news bulletins state everyone on board is safe. Collisions with Giant Birds have been a background topic of interest to cryptozoologists involved in Thunderbird research. The files contain some intriguing cases, for example: (1) 1947, a pilot reports a near-collision over Arizona, bird said to have a wingspan of over 30 feet (9 meters); (2) May 1961, a New York businessman reports his Piper Cub plane was followed by a bird that was so large he thought it was another small airplane, over the Hudson Valley, Hudson River, New York, and (3) November 1962, a Maryland airplane crash was blamed on a collision with a giant bird, as reported by author Jack Pearl in 1963. Mark A. Hall writes of the above in his Thunderbirds book. On a mundane level, however, each year, planes collide birds in mid-air causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. This event is, no doubt, the case with this story, if the eyewitness accounts confirm the initial sightings of the geese. For the cryptozoological point of view of the developing news, see Mark A. Hall’s Thunderbirds: America’s Living Legends of Giant Birds, and Jerome Clark’s and my Creatures of the Other Edge, concerning the history of cryptid large birds. CNN has published an article, “Biologist: Birds competing for airspace with planes” with factoids of some interest. Here are parts of this selection. The problem of planes hitting birds comes down to a key fact: “We’re competing for airspace,” says Richard Dolbeer, a biologist who spent 20 years studying the problem at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Populations of large birds have increased dramatically since the 1970s, when environmental regulations were instituted in the United States. Birds have become more accustomed to living in urban environments near airports and the number of airline flights has risen sharply, according to Dolbeer. Dolbeer, who retired in September 2008 and is now a consultant on the issue, spoke with CNN hours after a US Airways plane crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York after an apparent bird strike. He retired as National Coordinator for the Airport Wildlife Hazards Program and was chairperson of Bird Strike Committee-USA from 1997-2008. CNN: How big a problem are bird strikes? Dolbeer: Every year, approximately 7,000 to 8,000 bird strikes are reported to the Federal Aviation Administration primarily by commercial airlines nationwide. The reporting is a voluntary system. It’s not mandatory, so we know that not all of the bird strikes are being reported. We estimate that as much as 80 percent of the strikes are not reported. It’s a fairly common occurrence to have bird strikes, but to have bird strikes that would disable both engines on an aircraft is fortunately a rare event. CNN: What are some of the most serious instances of bird strikes? Dolbeer: In 1995, at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, a Boeing 707, a wide-bodied jet adapted to military use as a surveillance plane, ingested Canada geese into two of four engines. It crashed a mile away and killed 24 airmen. In Rome, Italy, in November, a Boeing 737, which is very similar to the Airbus 320, flew through a flock of starlings and both engines were disabled. The pilot was able to land the plane on the runway, but it collapsed the landing gear and did extensive damage to the aircraft. There were a few injuries, but no one was killed. Last March in Oklahoma City, a business jet was taking off and it struck a flock of white pelicans, which is another species which is increasing. It crashed into a wood lot and killed all five businesspeople aboard. The root of the problem right now is that because of the very successful wildlife conservation programs in North America since the 1970s, we’ve seen a tremendous resurgence of many wildlife species, particularly large bird species — species that weigh over 4 pounds, including Canada geese, snow geese, bald eagles, great blue herons, double-crested cormorants, turkey vultures and black vultures. In fact, of the 36 species of birds in North America that weigh over 4 pounds, 24 of those have shown population increases, nine have shown stable populations and only one has shown a decline in the last 30 years. The Canada goose population in the United States — the resident Canada geese, not the migrant birds from Canada — has increased from 1 million birds in 1990 to about 3.9 million in 2008. In addition to these populations increasing, they’ve also adapted to urban environments. They’re not afraid to associate with people. Traffic doesn’t bother them, aircraft don’t bother them. So they’re more likely to be seen near airports. Another important factor is modern turbofan aircraft like the Airbus 320. Their engines are much quieter than older aircraft. And almost all the noise comes out of the back of the engine. Birds are less able to hear or see modern aircraft. There are more airplanes in the sky, more birds in the sky and this is where the conflict comes in. The number of strikes being reported is definitely increasing. In 1990, the FAA had approximately 1,750 strikes reported. And in 2007, the last year we have data, we had 7,600. Some of that may be due to a little better reporting, but there are also more aircraft flying today. About bird strikes (CNN) — Information on bird strikes by aircraft, according to the Web site of Bird Strike Committee. • Since 1975, five large jetliners have had major accidents in which bird strikes played a role. • The most deadly civil crash was at Boston Logan Airport in 1960, when 62 people were killed after a strike. In that crash, a flock of starlings was ingested by all four plane engines. The plane fell into Boston Harbor. • More than 82,000 bird strikes were reported to the Federal Aviation Administration from 1990-2007. • The committee estimates that number is 20 percent of the strikes that actually happened. • Most bird strikes happen during takeoff and landing. • The frequency of the strikes has increased since the 1970s because of conservation efforts and quieter aircraft. • A bird striking a single engine is generally not enough to cause a jetliner to crash. Because birds tend to travel in flocks, however, there is the potential for strikes of multiple engines. • The FAA estimates bird strikes cost U.S. airlines more than $500 million annually. • Commercial aircraft are certified to be able to withstand engine strikes by single birds up to four pounds. • Thirty-six bird species in North America weigh more than four pounds — many traveling in flocks. • In large numbers, smaller birds, including starlings, gulls and mourning doves, have caused crashes. • The Wright brothers recorded the first known bird strike two years after their maiden flight. “Chased flock of birds for two rounds and killed one,” Orville Wright wrote. Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013.

It has waited long enough for the opportunity, so I guess we can’t begrudge Latho the fact that it kind of glories in being listened to and getting to deliver all kinds of lessons and platitudes. Latho can’t be sure when it will ever be listened to again, if ever, so it must make sure to get the message out, as well as all ancillary messages. With just a pinch of righteousness thrown in, because it has earned that. The core of the message is simple: love is the answer, not violence. Given Latho’s color and the hear symbol on his tummy, it’s not terribly surprising that that would be its message. But notice the qualification: Violence can be part of the answer, but not extreme violence. Latho is trying its best not to be the typical guardian/mentor character who completely condemns violence and then sends his charges out to commit some in the very next moment. Instead, Latho gives a modest amount of leeway, resting assured that it will be wildly abused – but it’s still a lot less hypocritical that way. By B-movie standards, that’s already some really subtle writing! And then he whips out the scepter, and Mopey flashes back wildly to the last time she was forced to fight with the power of love as her only weapon. Needless to say, those weren’t halcyon days for her. Her new position as faculty head have forced her to rein in her preference for somber-colored fashion (white is pretty much obligatory for a labcoat, and a labcoat is pretty much obligatory for a B-movie professor) – but pink is going a step too far. And not just a little step, more like a step that every respectable cryptid researcher* would readily accept as proof for the existence of Bigfoot. Inevitably, her flashback features glimpses of the battle of Ia Drang**… which Mopey didn’t really take part in. But given the choice between Ia Drang and Pink Princess, she’d surely go for the first in a heartbeat. Olive drab isn’t black, but it’s kind of somber and, most importantly, it isn’t pink. More on Thursday. * Of course, respectable cryptozoologist are pretty much like cryptids themselves, measured by how rarely they’re sighted. ** We’ve already discussed the halo effect the Vietnam War has in connection with this sort of trauma-induced flashback…

The Cryptid Catcher is the first book in a monstrously fun middle-grade duology by Lija Fisher about a boy who inherits a job hunting legendary creatures. After Clivo Wren's archaeologist father dies mysteriously, the newly orphaned thirteen-year-old finds out the truth: his dad was no archaeologist. He was actually a cryptid catcher, known for finding elusive beasts like the bloodsucking chupacabra. His goal: discover the one extraordinary cryptid whose blood grants immortality―before the knowledge falls into the wrong hands. The mission remains unfinished, and now there's only one person who can take the renowned cryptid catcher's place: Clivo. He may not know the first thing about monster hunting, but he's willing to give it a try―because anything beats staying home with his salsa-crazy aunt and her neurotic cats. The second book in this Duology, The Cryptid Keeper, is due out soon, so make sure to check it out! We’ve designed this crate to be accessible for budding cryptozoologists 10 and under, but we’re sure that it will appeal to kids of all ages! We will feature the creatures, but keep the creepiness to a minimum. Cryptid Crate Junior is a partnership between the team at Box Mountain LLC and Lisa at Cryptid Comforts. Order will ship every month Free shipping in the US How It Works Easy Sign Up Choose your gift subscription plan and save BIG! Sit back - we’ll take care of the rest You’ll be charged on the 15th of each month for as long as you choose to keep the subscription active No committment- after completion of your paid term, you may pause or cancel the subscription at any time What is Included A different featured Cryptid each month T-shirt produced by Cryptid Crate Stuffed plush toy handcrafted by Cryptid Comforts. Fun surprise items like stickers, buttons, pins, and patches Crate may even include an occasional book or coloring book themed around the cryptid of that month About Cryptid Comforts Cryptid Comfort creates cryptozoology themed hand crafted stuffed toys. Each plush is hand drawn by Lisa Russell, so no two plushes are alike. Cryptid Crate T-Shirt This exclusive Cryptid shirt will either be a totally new design or selected from previous Cryptid Crate shirts- but now available in children’s sizes!

Free shipping over $100! Rad, woman owned, eco-conscious outdoor brand. Myths and Mysteries of the National Park Collection - Yosemite Nightcrawlers Yosemite Nightcrawlers are an interesting looking cryptid that has been caught on video in the Fresno area and you guessed it, Yosemite National Park! 100% Organic Cotton! Classic unisex fit, pre washed. Lightweight and soft! Garment color is Yellow Ochre, it is a mustard/yellow color.

Chupacabra: Legend of a Blood-Sucking Cryptid in Latin America The Chupacabra is a legendary cryptid often associated with Mexico, and well-known across Latin America. One of the locations the Chupacabra has made a significant impact in the past is in Puerto Rico. Reportedly first sighted there during the mid-1990s, the Chupacabra made headlines across the world when livestock started mysteriously dying. Animals were found completely drained of blood through small incisions which, according to experts at the time, were not compatible with the bite of a dog, monkey, or any other known carnivore from the region. More than 200 Chupacabra sightings were reported on the island in 1995 alone, yet as quickly as the cryptid sightings started, they stopped, leaving behind a trail of questions. The Origins of the Chupacabra in Puerto Rico The name "Chupacabra" is of Spanish origin meaning "goat sucker” (from chupar, meaning "to suck", and cabra, meaning “goat”) which is in reference to how the cryptid allegedly attacks its prey. ‘Chupacabra.’ (Eggmungus/ DeviantArt) The phenomenon of the Chupacabra has been associated with the “Vampiro de Moca" from February 1975, when a Puerto Rican legend tells of fifteen cows, three goats, two geese, and a pig that were found with puncture marks in the Rocha Barrio suburbs of Moca. Later autopsies showed that blood had been drained from their bodies. The incident made headlines and police blamed the animals' deaths on stray dogs. When a cow was found dead with similar marks on its skull, a newspaper called the phenomenon “El Vampiro de Moca.” The 1995 Chupacabra Attacks Made the Cryptid as Famous as Bigfoot A series of isolated attacks took place on the island from 1992 to 1995. In March of 1995, there was a supposed Chupacabra incident where eight sheep were found dead. Their bodies were completely intact but their blood had been drained, leaving behind puncture wounds in the chest. Paranormal researcher Mark Davenport and video producer Joe Palermo were in Puerto Rico at the time of the attacks filming a documentary. They described the animal deaths as a continuous daily event: Day and night over the radio, over television, they were constantly talking about this Chupacabra activity going on - this was very serious to them. They’d wake up one morning and find the carcass of their four favorite rabbits sucked dry of blood and just lying there on the ground. - Merrylin Cryptid Museum: Proof for the Existence of Mythical Beings or Elaborate Hoaxes? - The Beast of Exmoor: Is this Phantom Cat More than Mere Folklore? - The Brosno Dragon: The Loch Ness Monster’s Evil Russian Cousin? Five months later, there was another event, this time with more bloodshed. In August of 1995, as many as 150 farm animals and pets were killed by a predator around the Puerto Rican town of Canóvanas. Just like the sheep from the incident in March, the animals were said to have been drained of blood through small puncture wounds. Interestingly, in each of the cases studied, local veterinarians said the cause of death was due to puncture wounds under the right side of the neck. The wounds were about the diameter of a drinking straw and three to four inches (7.62 to 10.16 cm) in length. In March 1996, the Spanish talk show Christina aired the story about the Chupacabra, and immediately following the show there was a tremendous amount of alleged sightings across Latin America and the United States. The Chupacabra had become as famous as Bigfoot. A coyote often attacks by biting the throat of the prey. ( Public Domain ) What Does a Chupacabra Look Like? There are no known photographs of the Chupacabra. Many supposed images of the cryptid have turned out to be nothing more than disease-ridden coyotes. Thus, it is unknown what this mythical creature looks like - if it actually exists. There are however, numerous "eyewitness" accounts which offer varying descriptions of its appearance. The Chupacabra of Puerto Rico was described by many eyewitnesses as standing on two legs. In newspaper articles during the series of incidents, it was said to be “some type of large ape” and “a vicious monkey that can run upright on its legs, slaughter goats and suck the blood from its prey.” A sound bite from an Associated Press video at the time said “There are two big animals, as big as a man. I saw them from afar, they looked like big apes, like a mandril but I couldn't distinguish their features.” The Chupacabra of Puerto Rico is sometimes described as a type of terrifying large ape. ( GARETH /Adobe Stock) The “typical” description of a Chupacabra sighting today seems to be more in line with a reptile or even resembling an alien creature. Most of the claimed eyewitnesses have described a beast with a gray oval head, lizard-like skin, and measuring about 3 to 4 feet in height (91 cm to 122 cm). People tend to say that it resembles a kangaroo that is able to hop around on its hind legs. It is said to have large red eyes, fangs, and a forked tongue, as well as sharp quills running down its back. The Most Important Chupacabra Sighting is Questionable There are a number of theories regarding the origin of the Chupacabra. Some of the more outlandish claims suggest that the creature is a modified vampire bat or an extraterrestrial pet that was brought to earth by aliens. A few reports have indicated that there are three puncture wounds left on the animal victims of the Chupacabra - which would be unusual because carnivores generally have two fangs. Drawing of a Chupacabra preying on animals. (Jeff Carter / CC BY 2.0 ) Another theory purports that the Chupacabra is part of some top secret government experiment in the El Yunque National rainforest in Puerto Rico. The town of Canóvanas is only a few miles away from the border of the El Yunque and is the only tropical rainforest within the United States (28,000 acres, 43.75 square miles in size). The majority of the first Chupacabra sightings and animal attacks are said to have taken place here. Puerto Rico is also home to a large population of Rhesus monkeys - which are not native to Puerto Rico and often stand up on their hind legs. They were brought to the island for research back in the 1930s and several dozen managed to escape. Then there are skeptics who contend that these incidents are by nothing more than attacks from ordinary animals such as wild dogs or coyotes. The animals go for their victim's neck, and their teeth leave wounds resembling vampire bite marks. Instead of tearing up the carcass, they simply bite the neck of the prey, leaving it to die. - Another Human Hybrid? The Controversy Continues One Year Later - Strange rituals or cannibalism? Neanderthals manipulated bodies of adults and children shortly after death - The Evolution of Sea Monsters on Medieval Maps - Wildman, Chinese Version of Bigfoot: Sightings, Scientific Tests, Theories One scientist, biologist Barry O’ Connor at the University of Michigan, believes that the Chupacabra is nothing more than coyotes with severe cases of Sarcoptes scabiei or the itch mite. The animal loses its hair when mites burrow into its skin, causing it to become thickened and ugly. Their faces swell and their teeth take on a more fang-like appearance. Weakened by the infection, they may be more prone to attack livestock. A lengthy investigation into the Chupacabra phenomenon was launched by author and skeptic Benjamin Redford and documented in his book The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore in 2011. It showed how eyewitness accounts of the Chupacabra could be traced back to a single individual, a woman by the name of Madelyne Tolentino. Redford claims her sole sighting of the cryptid became the basis for all other accounts of the creature. She offered a detailed description of the Chupacabra - spikes along its back, bipedal, dark eyes - which did not match any other known animal on the island. However, another sighting at the time came from Michael Negron, a student at a nearby university, who had this to say about the mythical beast : I was looking off the balcony one night, and I saw it step out of a bright light in the back yard. It was three or four feet tall, with skin like that of a dinosaur, it had bright eyes the size of hens eggs, long fangs and multicolored spikes down its head and back . Radford concluded that the description given by Tolentino was based on the creature Sil in the science-fiction horror film Species. The alien creature, Sil, is nearly identical to Tolentino’s eyewitness sighting and she had seen the movie before her report: “It was a creature that looked like the chupacabra, with spines on its back and all... The resemblance to the chupacabra was really impressive,” Tolentino reported. Radford revealed that Tolentino “believed that the creatures and events she saw in Species were happening in reality in Puerto Rico at the time,” and therefore concludes that “the most important chupacabra description cannot be trusted.” The Results of the Paranormal or Over-Active Imaginations? The mystery of the Chupacabra seems to have become somewhat diluted with time, even as supposed sightings continue . Although there have been thousands of articles written on the topic, along with movies and documentaries, television programs, and several books over the years, there is little hard evidence to take this cryptid beyond the realm of legend. The “original” Chupacabra sightings have manifested into sightings of the mythical creature from across the world in remote places such as the Philippines and Russia. However, what happened in Puerto Rico seems to have been something unto itself - which leaves one wondering how much of it was paranormal and how much was due to the human imagination. Top Image: The Chupacabra is a terrifying Latin American cryptid. Source: Daniel /Adobe Stock By Bryan Hill Updated on October 6, 2020. "Chupacabra." Animal Planet Chupacabra Comments. August 13, 2012. http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/lost-tapes/creatures/chupacabra/ "Chupacabra Mystery Solved : DNews." DNews. http://news.discovery.com/animals/pets/chupacabra-mystery-solved.htm "Chupacabra." Chupacabra. http://www.virtuescience.com/chupacabra.html "Puerto Rico 'Vampire' Feeds Fear and Satire : Mystery: Rising Number of Blood-drained Animals Are Found. As Newspapers Ridicule Incidents, Search Parties Are Formed." Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1995-12-03/news/mn-9730_1_puerto-rico Radford, Benjamin. "Chupacabra: Facts about the Mysterious Vampire Beast." LiveScience. October 16, 2012. http://www.livescience.com/24036-chupacabra-facts.html "1975, February~July: The Vampire of Moca." Anomalies: The Strange & Unexplained. http://anomalyinfo.com/Stories/1975-vampire-moca "The Chupacabra – Continued." Aquiziam. http://www.aquiziam.com/cryptids/the-chupacabra/ Than, Ker. "Chupacabra Science: How Evolution Made a Mythical Monster." National Geographic. October 30, 2010. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/101028-chupacabra-evolution-halloween-science-monsters-chupacabras-picture/ Monsterquest. A & E Television Networks :, 2008. DVD

It’s the spookiest time of the year! The time where instead of avoiding being afraid, you even pay to get scared! Hm… But how about shows that might unnerve you? Or perhaps… Shows that are so bad you wish you never looked them up??? The kaomoji office has your back. Here are our good (and bad) picks for the Spooky celebration that’s Halloween! Also known by the name The Lost village. Sounds really scary right? The premise of the anime goes as follows: A group of incredibly unique individuals board a bus headed to Nanaki Village, a place where you supposedly can start your life over. Everyone is looking forward to the start of their new life and can’t wait to see what awaits them there. The village can not be found on a map, not even the police were able to pinpoint the location. After a few mishaps, the bus actually does arrive at the lost village! But it’s completely abandoned. After seeing the damage and filth, they came to the conclusion the village was vacant for at least a year. People slowly go missing, fights ensue and bloody claw marks get spotted on trees? Will they find out the secret of this scary village? Ghost Stories (DUB) This is downright the scariest addition to the list. But when you do gather the courage to watch this show, everyone recommends you watch it in the English Dub. Ghost Stories is about… Ghosts in multiple stories... Now to be real, it’s about a haunted schoolhouse. After being banished years ago by a student, the spirits are back… And they want revenge! Satsuki and Keiichirou Miyanoshita are two siblings, recovering from their mother tragically passing away. After moving to their late mothers hometown, they come to find out their new school is located in the old haunted school house! Shaking off the “silly rumor”, the two soon after find out ghosts are real, and even worse, after them! With the help of their newly made friends, they try to survive the school’s ghosts. Serial Experiments Lain Want something that fits with the creepy vibe? The creepy art style of Lain will surely make you uncomfortable. With the internet being present everywhere, this show will make you slightly more wary about what to look up and post! Lain Iwakura, an awkward and introverted fourteen year old girl, receives just like a whole lot more girls at her school, a very disturbing email. The email comes from Chisa Yomoda. The very same Chisa who committed suicide very recently. Lain, however, has no interest in technology, let alone the internet. Out of curiosity, she opens the email and gets pulled straight into the WIRED. A virtual world of communication networks similar to what we know as the internet. Lain's life gets turned upside down as she begins to encounter very cryptid mysteries one after another. Strange men seem to follow her wherever she goes, even knowing more about her than she knows about herself. Boundaries between reality and cyberspace are rapidly blurring. The series follows Lain as she makes crucial choices that will affect both the real world and the Wired. Have you been spooked yet? I sure have been thinking about Ghost Stories lately. Some lines for sure… Stuck with me. 👀 We, from kaomoji office, wish you guys a very creepy Halloween!

Well, release day was actually YESTERDAY…but I wasn’t feeling well, and I’ve learned that doing promo work while not feeling well is not always the best thing to do. In a world of supernatural beings, not knowing what you are is dangerous. After Reeni Dutta’s ex-husband Karl attacks her at a music festival, she finds a refuge teaching cryptid construct children at Klone’s Stronghold in northeastern Oregon’s isolated Bucket Mountains. But things are not as they seem at the Stronghold, from the older proprietors of a nearby store and the Stronghold’s leader Alexander Reed Klone, to Reeni herself. She discovers it’s not just Karl who seeks to control who and what she is, but forces from her past that threaten her present. Can she learn the truth about herself and do what is needed in time to defend the Stronghold? Available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Kobo, and other places. Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DVXFZ9H Books2Read link (takes you to Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and iBooks) https://www.books2read.com/u/m2vZDG

First up is the infamous Lizard Man! Did you know the South Carolina Emergency Management Team released a warning in 2017 during the eclipse because they weren’t sure if the phenomenon would make the creature more active? Thankfully, it didn’t seem to. While many go hunting for cryptids, this is one that I would avoid. At over seven feet tall with glowing red eyes and a penchant for attacking and tearing apart cars I think I’ll steer clear of the Bishopville area! Scotland has Nessie, Vermont has Champ, and apparently Georgia has Altie! Short for Altamaha-ha this cryptid hasn’t gained quite the fame that their distant relatives have seemed to. It’s said you can see Altie swimming through the Altamaha River, particularly around Darien. He’s even featured on their welcome sign! Most may associate Big Foot with the Pacific Northwest, but in the opposite end of the country South Florida residents are claiming to have encounters with the Skunk Ape. Named for it’s unfortunate stench, the Skunk Ape is said to roam the Everglades, eluding even the most avid cryptid hunters. I’ve even been told a story by a follower where they’ve heard strange roaring at night while staying at a ranch in South Florida, believing it could be the Skunk Ape! Alabama has it’s own take on Big Foot, the Alabama White Thang! Many describe the creature as looking like a typical Big Foot, except it is all white. Others have described it as having a body of a kangaroo and the head of a cat…a little all over the map! One thing most accounts have in common are the smell (like the Skunk Ape) and the fact that it moves really fast! While I’ve never been to the swamps in Louisiana, I have heard of an interesting cryptid that’s supposed to live out here, the Rougarou! This creature even has it’s own festival in Houma, LA. It’s a werewolf like creature that’s said to lurk in this area. Like many legends, this one was used to keep kids from misbehaving, telling them that the Rougarou would get them if they were bad! The legend also seems to target those who are not devout in their religion; you’re said to become a Rougarou if you don’t practice Lent for seven years!

Jerome’s Journal: Saber Tooth — Page 40 An NFT Encyclopedia of Cryptids and Other Mythical Creatures Like the Mammoth, the Saber Tooth Tiger was also thought to be extinct, but the Pixies had a Saber Tooth Cub. It looked similar to that of a regular leopard cub, but I could tell by the way the teeth were growing in that something was different. Also known as the Smilodon, I think the Pixies are hiding something from the world. It could be my own paranoia thinking there were Mammoth hair down there, leading my mind to assume the Saber Tooth still lived, and maybe it’s my own bias for hating Paul from Paul’s Pixie Packaging shrouding my mind to not trust the Pixies, but I generally like to trust my own intuition. The Saber Tooth are large leopard-like animals with 2 extremely powerful fangs hanging from the roof of their mouth. It’s said they went extinct from being too good of a predator and eating up all the food supply, so if Saber Tooth truly existed down in the Underground City of the Pixies, there would have to be a large food supply for them, unless the Pixies were domesticating them. I’ve struggled to bring the attention of the Pixies to avoid being ostracized by the fans of Paul thinking I’m trying to take down his entire operation, but the Lost City of Agartha is something I fear will bring an end to this peaceful time we’ve had since the Battle of the Creators. *For more information on the NFT project, go to Jerome’s Journal: An Encyclopedia of Cryptids and Other Mythical Creatures As more information comes into the world of The Cryptid Coalition, this page will be updated.

A full year, folks. That’s right. We’ve almost made it. The finish line approaches, but does not end. If you’re used to thinking that years have only 52 weeks, get ready for a discovery. Because 2020 continues to surprise everyone, am I right? Interested in accountability, if only to yourself? Need some gentle feedback from a welcoming group of creative minds? Want some inspiration for your next painting, baking session, writing sprint, or photo shoot? Join us! Send in a prompt to [email protected], either as a trade or as a spare. With that, let’s get going in this weird year of years. |Cedar Sanderson||The biologists were excited about the permafrost wolf mummy. Little did they know, just how far back legends of werewolves went…||nother Mike| |Leigh Kimmel||Warning that certain ground is sacred or accursed; that a house or city must not be built upon it—or must be abandoned or destroyed if built, under penalty of catastrophe.||Cedar Sanderson| |nother Mike||He never expected that the cryptozoology diploma course would require applied fieldwork. With a cryptid of his choice.||Fiona Grey| |Fiona Grey||The streetlight was blinking Morse code…||Leigh Kimmel| And here are your spares. They’re like fuzzy puppies that want to bumble their way to follow you home, looking pleadingly at you with large, sad, anime eyes. You know you want to keep one. |Spare||“Oh no. No. You’ve conjured a human!”| |Spare||The final exam for the Vampirology Diploma included staking and beheading at least one vampire… Show your work.| |Spare||The Ancient Egyptian Shamanism Course turned out to be a typo. It was actually a curse, which awoke the mummy in your back room… and made you its high priest…| |Spare||The aliens turned out to be living electromagnetic pulses. The EMPs that fried our electronics did not facilitate their attempt to say hello, and they did not understand our response.| |Spare||The old man’s beard was soft and curly Spanish moss.| |Spare||A pocketful of voodoo and sugared magics| Take a deep breath. We can do this! I’ll see you in the comments. Header photo from Pixabay, Free-Photos.

CreepGeeks Podcast Episode 203 Ring in the New Year with UFOs, 2021 Predictions, Historic Paranormal and UFO events, and more! In this fine episode: We ring in the new year with some odd announcements from Lue Elizondo to George Knapp about leaving TTSA, casually scroll through December’s UFO sightings, and explore some of the more interesting UFO and Paranormal Historic events to happen in January and February. Oh, and we get side-tracked for a bit about Russian Yeti and Igor Burtsev. Happy New Year! Or call 1-575-208-4025 and leave it as a voicemail! Today's podcast is brought to you by audible - get a FREE audiobook download and 30-day free trial at http://www.audibletrial.com/cheapgeek -Over 180,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player. Thank you to our Patreon Supporters: Dav, Isiss, James, Bobby, John and John and Adam! Want to Support the podcast? Join us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/creepgeeks What is the CreepGeeks Paranormal and Weird News Podcast? CreepGeeks Podcast is an off-beat news podcast that takes a light-hearted approach to the paranormal, cryptid, strange, the silly, and trending tech topics circulating the web. Broadcasting paranormal news and fun stories from our underground bunker in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Hey Everyone! You can call the show and leave us a message! Use Amazon Prime Free Trial! Did you know YOU can support the CreepGeeks Podcast with little to no effort! We’ve got Bigfoot Coffee! Support the Show: https://creepgeekspodcast.square.site/s/shop Website- http://www.creepgeeks.com Hey everyone! Help us out! Rate us on iTunes! 2021 Nostradamus Predictions - January doesn’t get much play for Paranormal, but it’s got quite a few UFO events throughout history: - The alleged Pilot crash caused by UFO: https://www.historyandheadlines.com/january-7-1948-u-s-pilot-shot-ufo/ - More about Mantell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantell_UFO_incident - January 8th, 1981: UFO encounter leaves physical evidence: https://www.historyandheadlines.com/january-8-1981-physical-evidence-left-ufo/ - January 16th, 1958: alleged Trindade Island UFO sighting Trindade Island UFO - Berwyn Mountain Incident: Berwyn Mountain UFO incident - Stonehenge UFO sighting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge_(building)#Stonehenge_incident The Mark of the Bell Witch Preorders for Bell Witch + Legacy Blurays are Restocked! — Small Town Monsters Audible is audio entertainment that entertains, educates, and inspires. For you, the listeners of [CreepGeeksPodcast], Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-day trial to give you the opportunity to check out their service. To download your free audiobook today go to www.audibletrial.com/cheapgeek Again, that's http://www.audibletrial.com/cheapgeek for your free audiobook. - Beyond the Fray- Paramalgamation Shannon LeGro and G. Michael Hopf- - Hunt for the SkinWalker- George Knapp and Colm Kelleher- https://amzn.to/2QDkejV - The Dover Demon, Hunter Shea. https://amzn.to/2R7NGi1 - Monsters Among Us: An Exploration of Otherworldly Bigfoots, Wolfmen, Portals, Phantoms, and Odd Phenomena https://amzn.to/2Yn7L8K Enjoy this with your free trial: “Through the Brown Mountain Lights” by Christy Tillery French https://amzn.to/2MfRZZh Looking for something unique and spooky? Check out Omi’s new Etsy, CraftedIntent: https://www.etsy.com/shop/craftedintent This Patron supported episode is brought to you by Dav, Isiss, James, Bobby, John and John! We really appreciate their Patronage! What to watch: - Currently Free for Amazon Prime Seth Breedlove Small Town Monsters https://amzn.to/2yemd8x - On the trail of UFO’s https://amzn.to/2Uj5Hwu - Native Bigfoot: https://amzn.to/3a5TCzp Lyle Blackburn: Sinister Swamp: https://amzn.to/3g0Va0A Stanton Friedman- Crash at Corona: The U.S. Military Retrieval and Cover-Up of a UFO https://amzn.to/38GkCqd Shannon Legro -Beyond the Fray: Bigfoot: https://amzn.to/395obok Ramdas - The One Eyed Turtle by Robert Goerman: https://amzn.to/2DY5civ John A. Keel: The Man, The Myths, and the Ongoing Mysteries: https://amzn.to/2LHbd7X Brown Mountain Lights: History, Human Nature, and Science Explain an Appalachian Mystery https://amzn.to/2TJ2oyR Get Something From Amazon Prime! Cool Stuff on Amazon -Squatch Metalworks Microsquatch Keychain: https://amzn.to/2Mzc7Ek Need to Contact Us? Attn Greg or Omi Want to comment about the show? Join Us Next Time!

In this fine episode: Redditors track down the possible true origins for the mysterious Utah Monolith, Small Town Monster’s “The Mark of the Bell Witch” gets our stamp of approval, details about our upcoming contest, and a listener shares some research and book suggestions for our region! CreepGeeks Podcast Episode 199 Mark of the Bell Witch, Utah Monolith, a Listener Question and a contest! Special Thanks to our Canadian Friend Prospero for our What’s it all about intro! -You want to do our intro? Attach and send it in an email! Or call 1-575-208-4025 and leave it as a voicemail! Today's podcast is brought to you by audible - get a FREE audiobook download and 30-day free trial at http://www.audibletrial.com/cheapgeek -Over 180,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player. Thank you to our Patreon Supporters: Dav, Isiss, James, Bobby, John and John! Want to Support the podcast? Join us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/creepgeeks What is the CreepGeeks Paranormal and Weird News Podcast? CreepGeeks Podcast is an off-beat news podcast that takes a light-hearted approach to the paranormal, cryptid, strange, the silly, and trending tech topics circulating the web. Broadcasting paranormal news and fun stories from our underground bunker in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Hey Everyone! You can call the show and leave us a message! Use Amazon Prime Free Trial! Did you know YOU can support the CreepGeeks Podcast with little to no effort! Won’t cost you anything! When you shop on Amazon.com use our affiliate link and we get a small percentage! It doesn't change your price at all. It helps us to keep the coffee flowing and gas in the Albino Rhino! CreepGeeks Podcast is an Amazon Affiliate We’ve got Bigfoot Coffee! Support the Show: https://creepgeekspodcast.square.site/s/shop Website- http://www.creepgeeks.com Hey everyone! Help us out! Rate us on iTunes! Contest! Be sure to Tune in to our Special 200th Episode of the CreepGeeks Podcast! We’ll be choosing a lucky listener to receive a CreepGeeks Podcast Swag Pack! That’s amazing! So how do you when? Listen to the podcast! Answer our mystery question! Submit your answer via our email- [email protected] We’ll randomly choose the lucky winner and send them some sweet sweet swag! The winner will be announced in Episode 201! Listener Questions: Bryson H.- Have you read Jeannie Reed's "Stories of the Yunwi Tsunsdi"? I have read a few sections and there appears to be sightings of the Little People near Big Cove in Cherokee, Fry Mountain, Nantahala gorge, Raven Creek, and Towstring Church in Swain County. According to James Mooney's "Myths of the Cherokee" there is supposed to be a cave near the Oconaluftee River where small footprints were found. Yes! We have and we’ve talked about Little People in the Podcast in Previous episodes. Here’s a link- to some more Little People information http://www.skyshipsovercashiers.com/bigfootet2016.htm#theatre NEWS: Mysterious Monolith in Utah may be leftover movie prop: Mysterious monolith puzzle has been solved by internet sleuths The Bell Witch - The Bell Witch Web Site News - Bell Witch, the Bell Witch, Bell Witch legend, recent events Bell Witch, An American Haunting - Song from Amazon?- The Bell Witch (Let the Game Begin) by Pat Fitzhugh on Amazon Music The Mark of the Bell Witch Preorders for Bell Witch + Legacy Blurays are Restocked! — Small Town Monsters Audible is audio entertainment that entertains, educates, and inspires. For you, listeners , Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-day trial to give you the opportunity to check out their service. To download your free audiobook today go to www.audibletrial.com/cheapgeek Again, that's http://www.audibletrial.com/cheapgeek for your free audiobook. - Beyond the Fray- Paramalgamation Shannon LeGro and G. Michael Hopf- - Hunt for the SkinWalker- George Knapp and Colm Kelleher- https://amzn.to/2QDkejV - The Dover Demon, Hunter Shea. https://amzn.to/2R7NGi1 - Monsters Among Us: An Exploration of Otherworldly Bigfoots, Wolfmen, Portals, Phantoms, and Odd Phenomena https://amzn.to/2Yn7L8K Enjoy this with your free trial: “Through the Brown Mountain Lights” by Christy Tillery French https://amzn.to/2MfRZZh Looking for something unique and spooky? Check out Omi’s new Etsy, CraftedIntent: https://www.etsy.com/shop/craftedintent This Patron supported episode is brought to you by Dav, Isiss, James, Bobby, John and John! We really appreciate their Patronage! What to watch: - Currently Free for Amazon Prime Seth Breedlove Small Town Monsters https://amzn.to/2yemd8x - On the trail of UFO’s https://amzn.to/2Uj5Hwu - Native Bigfoot: https://amzn.to/3a5TCzp Lyle Blackburn: Sinister Swamp: https://amzn.to/3g0Va0A Stanton Friedman- Crash at Corona:The U.S. Military Retrieval and Cover-Up of a UFO https://amzn.to/38GkCqd Shannon Legro -Beyond the Fray: Bigfoot: https://amzn.to/395obok Ramdas - The One Eyed Turtle by Robert Goerman: https://amzn.to/2DY5civ John A. Keel: The Man, The Myths, and the Ongoing Mysteries: https://amzn.to/2LHbd7X Brown Mountain Lights: History, Human Nature, and Science Explain an Appalachian Mystery https://amzn.to/2TJ2oyR Get Something From Amazon Prime! Cool Stuff on Amazon -Squatch Metalworks Microsquatch Keychain: https://amzn.to/2Mzc7Ek Need to Contact Us? Attn Greg or Omi Want to comment about the show? Join Us Next Time!

Ring. Riiing. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing. Who is it? Who could it be? Why….. love is calling….. and it’s… for YOU? ….. Actually, taking a second look at you, you’re kind of…. disheveled? Come to think of it, when was the last time you even showered?! Ugh, well… I… suppose we can work with this? Go change your clothes, slip into something nice, put your receiver on straight, clean your keys, whip out the phone book… yeah, y’know what, I think we can find you… Dialtown is a comedic visual novel / dating sim with a dizzying amount of content and a clever if not endearingly crude sense of humor. You step into the shoes of an escaped cryptid that managed to break free of the local zoo, and as you look for a place to nest your brood your gaze comes to the local funfair. Bingo! Plenty of food, humid, and lots of muddy grass to dig a hole in and settle down… but alas, you find yourself confronted by one of the game’s first key characters: The Funfair Ticket Overlord. Upon attempting to flap your vocal chords in the direction of this obstinate gatekeeper buffoon, you quickly realize he’s a hard negotiator as he outright refuses to let you into the funfair for free. However, there is a caveat- there’s a special 2-for-1 Valentines day deal you see, meaning YOU, strutting your stuff about town can find a …. uh, nice suitcase or phone person to con- I mean, CONvince to go on a date with you at the funfair. Throughout your quest to find a loving somebody to share a romantic evening with, Dialtown has you traverse many wonderful vistas such as: - A desolate park full of raccoons and trash - Downtown Dialtown (A truly shocking centerpiece for the game to feature) - A dirty phonebooth that reeks of urine - The exterior of a burger shop where you can harassbond with fine meat connoisseurs - Pedestrians to pester endlessly - A weird alleyway with some kind of dog - More parks! - An apartment complex with doors left slightly open which is a clear invitation to MAKE FRIENDS. Oooof, ow, my finger bones! Hey! Don’t slam so hard! And in the end, you make many, many public complainants FRIENDS AND ADORING FANS along the way. What luck, now that you’ve found a date you can make your way to the funfair and finally take up your noble role in the circle of life. Oh, what joy, what romance! What HOTDOGS, DID THAT SAY HOTDOGS? I AM VERY HUNGR- Oh, I was talking out loud again, wasn’t I? Oh, that? Don’t worry about that. It just…. TELLS YOUR FUTURE. Who cares, the only fortune I’m interested in is enough cash to buy ten gallons of teriyaki spam flavored cotton candy! OH BOY WHAT A DEAL! I love the funfair. Date? Huh? What date? No thanks, I can’t stand your outfit. Look, go get on a rollercoaster or something, no, I don’t want to help you with your eggs, I don’t want any breakfast right now. …….. Wait, do you hear that? It sounds like a dialtone. … Hello???? … well, okay, more cotton candy for me. Emily Rose is an indie developer who writes for rebind.io and resides in the pacific northwest. She’s often seen in the local VR arcade and developer community participating in pushing the medium’s horizons. You can find her on twitter @caravanmalice

GLOW IN THE DARK Got Mermaid Bigfoot Mug Regular price $20.00 Tax included. Shipping calculated at checkout. In honor of our fellow cryptid, GotMermaid designed custom one of a kind Bigfoot catches a Mermaid mugs!!! Got Mermaid? 15oz Mug with permanent glow adhesive vinyl

Just popping in for a quick howdy to my Hellions on this fine Cinco de Mayo. Tequila is your friend today. I wanted to make you aware of two very cool specials that are available now. First up, THEY RISE has been discounted to 99cents on Amazon. Just a couple of days ago, it was the #1 horror book on Amazon as well as #1 in the Sea Stories category. Unfortunately, we couldn’t crack the cryptid erotica category. And if there is no such category, there needs to be. Click the cover below to snag a copy on the cheap! Also, to get you all worked up into a lather over my upcoming monster book, THE JERSEY DEVIL, I’m giving away 5 signed paperback copies of my best selling THE MONTAUK MONSTER every month on Goodreads between now and August. If you’re on GR, enter the giveaway for your chance to win one. Take it to the beach and be very, very afraid! Greetings and salutations Hellions! Uncle Hunter here, alive and well and busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger. 2016 has been bat crap crazy, and we’re only two months and change in. Big changes are going on all around me. I’m a hamster on a wheel, just trying to keep up. Let’s start with some of the hysterical artwork that Jim Herbert has been concocting for 2 of my books, THEY RISE and the upcoming, I KILL IN PEACE. I keep posting that Jaws has nothing on the ghost sharks in THEY RISE. Well, Jim put his artwork where my mouth is and came up with this hysterical variant cover… Bye bye Brucie! You never stood a chance, big guy. The title to my last Samhain novella, I KILL IN PEACE, inspired a little savage warrior cover with my face on a Frazetta bod. I think my wife wants this one framed. Meeting people like Jim and seeing stuff like this is the reason why I write. When I’m worn out at the end of a long day, I only need to look at this to cheer me up. And wish I’d get off my ass and go to the gym. Thanks Jim. You may not be aware of this, but one of the best ways to support an author, aside from buying our books, is to leave reviews. Seriously, reviews are like priceless Lucky Charms. Good, bad or ugly, they all count, especially on Amazon where more reviews get your book ranked higher and more sets of eyes. 50 reviews is a magic first milestone to hit. Right now, THEY RISE, has 32 reviews. If you’ve read the book, I’d love it if you can post a quick review or rating on Amazon. Anyone who does, shoot me an email at [email protected] with a link to your review and I’ll send something special to you. All you need to do is click the cover below and it will take you right there. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. OK, on to what’s next, now that Samhain is in a bit of potentially terminal turmoil. I’ve been contacted by several publishers over the past month and will be making an announcement about a new book deal very soon. I also have several short stories that will be included in anthologies. It’s been a long time since I worked on short stories, and it’s even better that I’m finding homes for them. There will be more Hunter tales of the demented and monstrous than ever. And we’re getting close to official Hellions gear and giveaways. The artwork is amazing. I promise, you’re going to love it and want in on the devilish fun. Keep on readin’, and I’ll keep on writin’. First, thank you to everyone who has picked up a copy of my deep sea thriller, THEY RISE. Sales and reviews have been fantastic. You all make my monster heart grow 3 sizes. Jack and I finally got an episode together to talk about THEY RISE and reveal what is real and what isn’t. You also get a little inside poop on how deeply personal the first chapter was for me. Plus, we give some shout outs to a few of our uber Monster Men fans! But wait, there’s more! If you comment on the video, you’re eligible to win a free copy of They Rise. Winner will be announced on March 17th. If our little gab fest has you in the mood for an entree of chimaera fish with a side of seaweed, hop on over to Amazon and snag a copy on your fishing line. For the next couple of days, you can hook a copy of my sea monster madness, THEY RISE, for only 99 cents. That’s one penny less than a McDouble on the McDonald’s dollar menu. And I promise They Rise will be far more fulfilling. It won’t even give you heartburn. But it may cause you to reconsider your summer vacation plans. That ocean cruise may not seem so appealing. It’s a new year, which means it’s time for some new books for all you horror monster fans! First up for 2016 is my sea monster novella, THEY RISE. The monster fish in They Rise are real, though not as large as I make them out to be. When I was searching for a sea monster to terrorize the ocean, I wanted to find something old and ugly. I knew I found my beastie when I came upon this photo of a chimaera fish – Talk about a face only a mother could love. Turns out, chimaera fish are an offshoot of the shark family tree. They’re even nicknamed ghost sharks. They’ve been around for hundreds of millions of years. These bottom dwellers have spiny protrusions laced with venom for protection. I know if I pulled one up on a hook, I might throw the pole back into the ocean. Now, in reality, they’re only a couple of feet long. I had to make my chimaera fish in They Rise much, much larger, so the sea creatures in the book are prehistoric chimaera fish that have been trapped in methane ice for millions of years. Once they get out, they’re mean and ugly and hungry. Kinda like me in the morning. The book opens with a pair of older brothers out on a fishing party boat off the coast of Miami. The 70+ year-old men, Richie and Eddie, were based on my grandfather and his brother. I used to go fishing with them every summer when I was a kid down at Sheepshead Bay. They’ve been gone 20 years now, but the beauty of being a writer is the power to resurrect the ones you loved and lost, even if only for a chapter or two. In the book, Eddie’s hooked something awful powerful on his line. His days of fighting big ocean fish are well behind him…at least that’s what he thought. Things are about to get a wee tad intense, as long as Eddie and the ship’s mate can haul in the catch of the day. Of all the things I’ve written over the past several years, that opening chapter is the one that has meant the most to me. It gave me a chance to fish with Grandpa and Uncle Eddie, or as everyone called him, Okie Dokie, one more time. I’m glad that we only caught fluke and occasional sea robins back in the day. Hell, if I was going to write a fish tale, I had to start it with the men who taught me all about fish tales. Want a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card? Follow the publicity tour put together by the fab Erin at Hook of a Book Publicity. Sign up for my newsletter to be eligible. You’ll also be part of the giveaway fun I have all throughout the year. I’m super excited to announce my new home – SEVERED PRESS– along with my first ever sea monster book, THEY RISE! If you think the baddies I created in The Montauk Monster were sinister, you’re in for a wild ride on the open seas this time around. You know, before I became infatuated with Bigfoot, I was the kid going from library to library searching for every book that dealt with the Loch Ness Monster, giant squids and mysterious beasts from the deep. Needless to say, there wasn’t much out there in the late 1970s, but I did devour each book I managed to get my hands on. So, when Severed Press approached me about writing a novella about sea creatures gone mad, I jumped at the chance. THEY RISE is just the first of what I hope are many more to come with the wonderful folks at SP. The book comes out January 4th, but you can pre-order the ebook over at Amazon for just $3.99 – or free for you Prime members. The trade paperback will be available on the release date. Order now and be one of the first to experience a sea tale that’ll make you reconsider that cruise you’ve been dreaming about. Here’s the synopsis for THEY RISE – Some call them ghost sharks, the oldest and strangest looking creatures in the sea. Marine biologist Brad Whitley has studied chimaera fish all his life. He thought he knew everything about them. He was wrong. Warming ocean temperatures free legions of prehistoric chimaera fish from their methane ice suspended animation. Now, in a corner of the Bermuda Triangle, the ocean waters run red. The 400 million year old massive killing machines know no mercy, destroying everything in their path. It will take Whitley, his climatologist ex-wife and the entire US Navy to stop them in the bloodiest battle ever seen on the high seas. I’ve always felt that the novella format is the best for horror, and THEY RISE fits that mold. The fun is packing as much action and terror into a tiny package as possible (though it’s not sooo tiny at 151 pages). So grab your fishing gear and a bazooka and join me in the Atlantic Ocean for a hell of a trip! Ok, I’ll admit that I added Jessica Biel to the title of this post because a) her last name rhymes with ‘deal’ and b) a friend and I were just talking about her in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake back in 2003 and how we liked the movie mostly because she was in it looking all kinds of fine. I mean, yowza! Anyway, horror fanboy fantasies aside, I do have some pretty exciting news to share. I can’t believe it slipped my mind to announce this earlier, but the ink on my latest contract with Samhain is more than dry. They’ll publish my new novella, I KILL IN PEACE, in early 2016. This one is a total departure from what I normally dabble in (ghosts and monsters) and can be brutal. Reading discretion is advised. Here’s the elevator pitch : Killing can be habit forming, especially when the texts and voices in your head give their marching orders and your victims deserve it. Peter Blades can’t stop weaving a path of destruction, unsure if he’s gone insane or become the puppet of a higher power, speeding headlong to a terrifying end while the world goes mad around him. My sister has always been my first reader and editor, and I think this one may have scarred her for life. I’m also thrilled to announce that I’m writing a sea monster novella for a brand new publisher (for me, anyway), Severed Press. I’m really excited to work with them because these ladies and gents know their monsters. The title of my book will be THEY RISE. I can’t give much away at this point, but I’m looking to meld Jaws with Swamp Monster Massacre. Strap in for this one! There’s no release date set yet, but I believe it will come out in 2016. Believe it or not, there’s one more to announce, but I can’t just yet. Let’s just say the book is already written and it involves a cryptid on the loose. More on that very soon. And that’s all the news that’s not fit to print. 2016 is going to be a veeery busy year. On a totally different note, I’m wondering if I’m the only horror author with tickets to see Shania Twain on her farewell tour. Want to be the first to know what’s coming up next? Sign up for the Dark Hunter Newsletter and become an official Hunter Hellion!

A blog for the United States branch of the global Centre for Fortean Zoology 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. Sunday, 26 May 2019 CRYPTID HOTLINE IN CHICAGO Phone if you've seen one: the interesting project of Sophie Jones.

Mystic Investigations bionic boy wonder Zack Powers had been bummed near the end of his Summer vacation because his girlfriend Brittany Contessa moved to Denver, Colorado due to her Mother’s new job. Although it was possible it might be temporary, and she could return in less than a year. The first day of school after Labor Day at Woodland Springs High was a bit less exciting this year without her presence but he still had his friends. Things finally looked up for him a few weeks ago in gym class where he spotted an alluring girl he’d never seen before. He was mesmerized by her beguiling beauty, or maybe it was the midriff revealing tank top, and short shorts she was wearing on that warm autumn afternoon. She was a slender girl with just the right amount of curves. She had long blond hair, and unique green eyes that almost seemed to glimmer in the sunlight. Zack asked a few people who she was, and a guy said her name was Summer Eden. Summer had just moved here days ago from Maryland. It was quite a breezy Fall day causing iridescent leaves to flutter from the trees nearby as the class stood around the track field listening to the pot bellied gym teacher. Zack realized that Summer was staring at him every time he looked away from staring at her. Finally their eyes met, and her warm smile melted his heart. At that moment some little kids from the nearby elementary school came running across a nearby tall grassy field screaming in terror. The gym teacher turned around, and said,”What the hell! A midget wearing a pointy red hat is chasing those kids!” That little man was in fact a child eating Gnome! Everyone started to run toward them while the little Gnome could be heard cackling maniacally. Zack, and Summer bolted ahead of the class like super track stars. Zack was known to be a fast runner so it didn’t look out of the ordinary to flex his bionic legs in a moderate manner. Zack was a bit taken back when Summer raced even ahead of him. He pushed a bit more to keep up with her as she turned to smile at him. The kids, and Gnome disappeared into he woods. At that point a kid could be heard desperately pleading “Help me!” Once inside the tree line out of the view of the rest of the class Summer flashed down the trail at phenomenal speed, and Zack followed suit pushing his cybernetic power to the limit. Summer got to the kids first as they were barely holding off the Gnome with fallen tree branches lying around the ground. The diabolical Gnomes razor sharp teeth snapped amid his menacing snickering, and guttural non-nonsensical gibberish. Gnomes eat kids because it unfortunately keeps their immortal lives going. Zack got there in time to witness Summer pick-up the little bastard, and toss him over the treeline out of sight. He made an odd sound as he was launched in the air. It sounded like,”Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” If that Gnome had been even a baseball then that throw would have left the field, crossed the street, and then some! So tossing a 30 pound Gnome that far was nothing short of supernatural! The rest of the class arrived at that point with the out of shape gym teacher huffing, and puffing behind everyone else. He pulled out a Snickers bar from his pocket, and leaned against a tree while muttering,”I’m getting too old for this crap!” Summer looked at Zack, and put her finger to her lips while seductively smiling to indicate silence was warranted. Zack told the gym teacher that the “midget” had gotten away, and he appeared to be drunk as a skunk. The teacher added,”Damn midget was probably hopped up on PCP as well!” The teacher then took the crying kids back to their school as everyone headed back to the track. Summer, and Zack lagged behind to talk privately. Zack took her hand, and said,”What are you?” She then replied,”I was about to ask the same thing? I don’t know anyone who has ever been able to keep up with me?” Zack looked into her green eyes using his microscopic bionic vision while she instinctively did the same thing looking into his. She witnessed a multitude of tiny cellular repairing nanobots roaming about Zack’s right eye along with the general electronic nature of it. Zack could clearly see both of Summer’s eyes were highly advanced pieces of optical enchantments. They both simultaneously exclaimed,”You’re bionic!”, and giggled. Summer was surprised, and said,”I thought I was the only one! And my God you actually have nanobots!?!” Zack replied,”Yeah they repair my bionics, and cellular tissue. I can’t believe I’m finally meeting another cyborg! Where did you get your bionics from?” She responded,”It’s a long story. Maybe we can talk at lunch?” Zack smiled, and said,”Sure thing Summer.” There was a natural attraction between them that grew for the rest of the class. They joked at the end of gym about having to dumb down their abilities to hide their true identities from the world. At lunch they sat under a tree outside amid fallen amber leaves on the grass. Summer told her story. Her Father worked for a US oil company in the Middle East, and she was the victim of a suicide bombing. All her limbs, and various body parts were torn to shreds. She was virtually nothing but a brain hooked up to a computer when some men from a private clandestine organization asked if they could experiment on her. Summer’s father knew she would die soon, and there was nothing to loose. A month later she woke up in bed with all her limbs fully intact as if nothing had happened. She was a Cyborg with superhuman strength, speed, agility, and enhanced senses. All she had to do in return was go on a secret mission every so often where a teen was required, or would never be suspected by the mission targets. Her missions seemed to be ones a top secret government agent would partake of but she swore the organization with no name didn’t ally with any particular government. Naturally Zack was worried about the US governments Paranormal Defense Agency finding out about him because they had a nasty habit of kidnapping supernatural beings to exploit their paranormal powers. Summer assured Zack his secret was safe just as she expected him to keep her bionic secret. She also revealed she had complete knowledge of the real supernatural world. That’s why the Gnome wasn’t a surprise for her. Zack had fully intended to not even tell us, the good folks down at Mystic Investigations, about Summer until we inadvertently discovered her cyborg abilities. Days ago we all cut out of work early to attend the Autumn Harvest Halloween Festival since Mystic Investigations had specifically sponsored that days festivities. At this point we knew Summer as Zack’s new girlfriend. They were on a bumper boat together in the large Pandora Pond amid other bumper boaters, ducks, and geese. Suddenly a monstrous looking green reptile humanoid entity covered in slimy weeds popped out of the water roaring wildly. It was a nine foot tall heavy set swamp monster who must have swam into the pond from a small connecting stream. The stream connected to a river that eventually leads to a swamp on the edge of the Mystical Forest. Kids, and adults alike began screaming with some of them panicking to the point of falling out of their bumper boats. The swamp monster neared a mother, and four year old child holding each other in terror within the murky waters. Summer & Zack dove into the pond to stop this horrendous beast. They tackled the monster but he shook them off. They jumped on him again forcing him under the surface where they let loose a barrage of super fast, and brutal bionic punches. Although not as potent due to the water slowing things down they still hurt the angry green monster. When I heard the screaming I was jealously watching my girlfriend Rebecca Abernathy manning the Kissing Booth. As a supernatural Demi-Mermaid she could kiss anyone without worry of catching any disease. Clearly the booth was making a killing since guys were willing to pay thrice the normal rate to kiss her. We both bolted toward the pond at the first sound of trouble! When we arrived Zack, and Summer were being launched several feet out of the water. Both hit the ground violently yet instantly jumped to their feet. The swamp monster emerged from the water heading toward them growling madly. Rebecca tackled the beast, and began punching him in the face. She got thrown off into the pond, and I gave him a taste of my taser with very little results. Upon closer inspection of the monster I saw his eyes glowing, and he had vampire like fangs as well. This indicated some silly vampire had nearly drained the monster of blood, and then introduced his vampire blood into the behemoth. This was a rare vampire swamp monster who was unfortunately not hurt by the sunlight! I immediately took out my flask of holy water to splash it but the searing sounds, and steams like that of water hitting a red hot pan were very minimal. It only angered him more as the cyborg duo lay into the monster again. Rebecca joined the fray as well. It was rather obvious Summer was some manner of supernatural. I then yelled,”He’s a vampire! Zack let him drink your blood!” I knew from past experience that Zack’s nanobot laced blood was vile to vampires, and perhaps it would weaken the monster. Zack allowed the creature to bite into him, and the monster screamed out in agony. The paranormal trio held the beast as he struggled to re-entered the water. Our Cryptozoologist Dr. Ashley Abercrombie came running up with a large tranquilizer rifle, and said,”Fire in the hole!” Rebecca had been in front of him, and she moved to the side as Ashley launched a large tranq dart at the vampire swamp monster. It didn’t work so she shot two more into him before he finally hit the ground. Hunter Jackson & Rob Edmunds pulled up in the Mystic Van, and we loaded the 800 pound monster in back. I reassured the crowd it was apart of a live action show, and everyone’s fear turned to reluctant glee before clapping erupted amid cheers. Back at Mystic Investigations headquarters, with the monster safely caged in the Cryptid Lab, Summer told us her amazing bionic story. Some of us were suspicious of Summer. Especially since she worked for some unknown organization that partook of black ops missions. There’s also the astronomical coincidence she happens to end up crossing paths with another bionic teen! Julia Hathaway, our resident Psychic, attempted to read Summers mind but something is blocking her. This is also very worrying. Summer also refused to let Dr. Abercrombie examine her bionics. She said she had signed a contract with the clandestine organization that stated she couldn’t share her bionic technology with anyone. We investigated her back story as far as we could, and it seems to check out to an extent. There are however some minor inconsistencies. We talked to Summer’s father, and he was more than annoyed by the fact we knew about his daughter. He said it was in our best interests to keep quiet about her because the people both he, and Summer now work for are very powerful! We told Zack something isn’t right here but he refuses to listen to reason. All we can do is be pleasant, and hope this really is just a wonderful coincidence for him. In the meantime Summer has volunteered to work for us, and help out Zack on any supernatural cases he’s apart of. We agreed since it allows us to keep a better eye on her!

Drunk Text – Maudlin & Pugnacious It’s Thursday night. That means it is a drinking night in the college town where I live. I live on the periphery, not just of the town but also of its society. I am too old to be an undergraduate, and too young and unmoored to be a family man. So, I drink to make up the difference. My plan is to go and have a few drinks with my last remaining friend. I make sure to confirm his availability beforehand. He shoots back a text that reads, “yep.” That is all I need to know before going off to the races. I spend the hours before beer doing my usual stuff. I wake up. I write a little. I read a little. I go to the gym (got to be swole for the pub crowd), and then I drink coffee. More coffee comes in the afternoon. I drink so much coffee that my blue eyes turn brown and my bowels liquify into sludge. I check the toilet and I check the mirror. Yes, I tell myself, tonight is going to be a good night. At 7 pm I arrive at my friend’s house. I have known him since high school, but we did not become close friends until college. Ever since then we have shared boatloads of beer and liquor together. Our friendship is almost stereotypically male. For example, in all the years that we have known each other, we have both experienced loss and tragedy. He lost his grandparents, while I lost a fiancé. He has struggled with direction in his life, plus the stress of his last job caused him to quit work altogether. He has been unemployed for the better part of a year. We do not talk about it. We have never talked about our personal problems with each other, despite hanging out between two and three times each week. Usually, these nights consist of us seated on his grandma’s old couch watching YouTube videos or playing video games. He always beats me, and I lie that it does not bother me. Anyway, on drinking nights we rendezvous at his place and pregame for a few hours. On the Thursday night in question, we shared an IPA six pack and listened to music from Reddit. The music included an eclectic mix of death metal, college rock, electronica, and folk. I liked probably 75 percent of the songs. We also indulged a shared passion for nostalgia. The most recent topic included a local DJ who resurrected himself as a podcast host ten years after retiring from the airwaves. We listened to the podcast. It sucked. Two older guys talking about COVID is as interesting as a colonoscopy. We both agreed that we missed the halcyon days of the 1990s. In truth, the radio show was rotten back then too. I much preferred two weeks ago when we trawled through a mutual friend’s highly detailed Facebook page, which stretched all the way back to 2006. It provided me with a sociological study. You see, the mutual friend in question began his life as just another townie meathead. Everyone knew him as the guy whose worldview consisted of hockey, alcohol, weed, and skirt chasing. The first four years of his social media posts confirmed this (as well as his unhealthy obsession with his own nipple rings). Things took a weird turn in 2011, when his long-term relationship turned sour. Emo posting became his thing from then until 2016. Since 2016 he has become just another psychic war victim of America’s nonstop politics. Think wall-to-wall images of Guy Fawkes masks, invocations of BLM, and discourses on the 99%. The man is truly something worth studying. We drank beer and rocked out with our chickens out until 10:30. An Uber was ordered. The amicable driver talked about pool tables, a sports bar in another town, and all the college females going out that night to a local dance bar. That latter topic intrigued us the most. We, the creepy old dude trio, agreed that the unseasonably warm weather and the upcoming “dead week” before finals meant that the downtown bars might be more crowded than usual. Excellent. Things were already looking up. The first bar we hit is an old standby. It markets itself as a sports bar, but it also features several arcade games and three pool tables. Last Halloween we dominated a pool table there for hours until three tattooed hustlers with their drunk girlfriends pulverized us in record time. Oh well. There is always another night, especially when the brightness of your future is limited to weekly booze sessions at familiar pubs. We saddled up to the bar and ordered a round of beers. We traded orders until both of us were neck-deep in suds and a pair of Long Island iced teas. The bar was absolutely packed. Frat boys in sports gear and suits crowded around us. The girls…oh boy the girls! Every new girl seemed prettier than the last. Their uniform for the night consisted of thin tank tops, jeans, and bad fake tans. My eyes tracked the ones in dark colors and the ones in lighter tones. Blondes and light brown hair predominated, but a few raven-haired beauties of questionable ethnicity caught my attention as well. The heavy make-up under the lights made kabuki shadows all across the bar. I did not care; it warmed my cockles just to see women for change. I live in a world that swings from masculine to isolated. My two workplaces are almost exclusively male, and when I’m not at work I am either at home or the gym. The only time I see the opposite sex is when it is late, the moon is out, and I have enough money to waste on lager. But as happy as I was, the happiest man in the bar was the geriatric who got hugs and kisses all night. The gray-hair is a regular. I do not know his name, but I know he sits at the same place, wears the same bar merch, and always has at least three young college girls around him. They treat him like a zoo animal—a declawed and defanged species. That is why they flaunt their cleavage in his face or spread their tongues on his cheek. My friend and I both diagnosed the scene as sad, and we agreed to kill the other if we ever stooped to being such an old hound dog. However, maybe we are the ones who have it all wrong. The old boy seemed happier than the proverbial pig in shit, while me and my friend sat at the same bar and talked to absolutely nobody. In fact, from a certain point of view, we were the old guys in the bar too. The one highlight at that bar was seeing someone do coke in the bathroom. At one o’clock we migrated to another reliable bar. It is a small bar. It cannot be characterized as a dive bar given its situation on the street, and yet that’s the ambience it gives off. It is a bar for older people. The cowboys who go there play country music. Such songs played when we came in. We ordered more beer. It did not take long for the country songs to make me feel maudlin. So, with a five-dollar bill in hand, I hit the digital jukebox. Now, for those who know me, this should have been a worrisome development. My musical taste tends towards the extreme. I love metal. Death metal, doom metal, black metal, thrash metal. I also like noisy rock. Experimental jazz is a-ok in my book too. I basically like all the types of music that could reliably get one kicked out a bar if played. Thankfully for those in attendance that night, I decided to play some favorites that most would find agreeable: “Roxanne” by The Police, “Hate to Say I Told You So” by The Hives, “Rock the Casbah” by The Clash, and “Cat Scratch Fever” by Ted Nugent. I returned to my seat with a wide, smirking grin. I dutifully informed my friend that yes, it was time to rock. Except it really was not time to rock. When my songs played, the volume barely peaked above background music. Each track of mine received country song interludes too, with twangy, heart-sick men cutting in on my cock rock jaunt. Annoyed and bored, we bounced after less than an hour. I did not get to hear all of my songs. We also did not talk to anybody either. 0/2 on the night so far. The next bar proved to be the last. It too is cramped and plays to an older crowd, or at least I thought it did. When we walked in, I estimated that the average age of the crowd was a flat twenty-one. Rather than country music, the bar’s stereo welcomed us with the dulcet tones of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U.” Spare me a minute to talk about how much I loathe this song. First of all, it is catchy. My toes tap whenever it comes on. If I’m in my car or some other safe space, I sing along. The song reminds me of summer, specifically this summer when I had a handful of incredible days and lots of not-so-great nights. It does not hurt that the singer is pleasant to look at. Yes, I know she’s eighteen. And yes, I have already been booked at the hornt jail. They say my bail is three Hot Pockets and a handwritten apology note. But, deep down, I hate “Good 4 U.” Why? Because of the lyrics. Every sentence and syllable could have been taken from the break-up texts and emails from my last relationship. The self-pity, the irony, and the hurt. “Good 4 U” has it all. Ms. Rodrigo’s voice is eerily close to my ex’s, to say nothing of the fact that they have similar facial features. I hate it. It brings back too many memories. “Good 4 U” reminds me of the time, not so long ago, when I was a guy capable of having a relationship. Now I’m gun-shy, mostly because of said last gf. The song also reminds me of the last time when I was elated to be single. When the anguished texts and accusatory emails ended, I felt free. Free as a naked jaybird in January. I loved the world and everything in it. Most of all, I loved falling asleep to Alex Jones or cryptid videos in my own bed. I loved waking up in the morning to no commitments. I loved scrolling through the dating apps with the assumption that I could, in due time, start the whole dog and pony show again if, and only if, I wanted to. That was years ago. Nowadays I rarely think about my romantic status (nonexistent), and I have not bothered with an app since 2020. Then a song like “Good 4 U” comes out of Los Angeles and hits me in the balls with a spatula. I hate it. The music choice proved to be a premonition that our last brew through before bed was going to be bad. The badness came in the form of a not-so-attractive young female with glasses. She stood behind us. My friend and I shared glances with each other because we could overhear the female in question threaten to start a fight with an unnamed male. The threats were audible across the bar, but only us two idiots wanted to talk to her about it. A night full of single women and plausibly interesting dudes and the only person we bother to chat up is a pugnacious twentysomething who immediately makes us hate her. After introductory pleasantries, the young woman asks us our age. We tell her to guess. She whiffs and says that we are about four to five years younger than we are. We tell her that we are men in our thirties. “You are guys are old as fuck!” she barks. The revenge of the gray-haired lecher at the first bar struck us and struck us hard. “I would kill myself if I was from that shithole,” she said after finding out about our hometown. Within ten minutes, the girl, who had just turned twenty-one, insulted our ages and our birthplace. I thought that I could not hate anything in the bar more than “Good 4 U,” but I was wrong. I did not relax until our combative friend picked a new crew of guys to insult. Then, just before closing, her ire turned to the two guys sitting next to us. She screamed incoherently at them. The one closest to me pleaded for help. He and his friend asked me about the girl and her deal. I told them what I could, which was nothing. I could not even tell them that she was drunk because she did not seem drunk to me. As the lights came on, I commiserated with the other innocent victims. I even put my college German to use, as one of the two targets hailed from South Africa (I mistook his Afrikaans accent for German, but he rolled with the language anyway). That made me feel good. As with so many nights before, we ended up at the pizza place. I ordered six slices for the both of us. I usually take mine with sriracha. We talked and flipped off the girl behind the counter. She is an old friend from our shared high school epoch. Her dad is friends with my dad, and I know three guys that she has made out with. One of those guys is me. Another, my best friend, actually broke into an abandoned apartment in order to spend an adult evening with her. It is all so weird. Another Uber took us back home. I slept until eleven. I thanked my lord and savior that I did not have a hangover. I decided to make the most of my late morning by driving out of town to the exurb of my youth. I stopped at my favorite local coffee shop, grabbed three hotdogs from another local favorite, and finally got around to visiting the used bookstore that has been in my personal periphery since about 2000. A simple twenty-dollar note netted me five books. I felt happy, elated even. My boozy morning made me feel better than the previous night, I realized. This is the drunkard’s dilemma. I have spent a significant portion of my life in bars. I have wasted hours fretting over my wardrobe. I have saved up money for the sole purpose of getting blotto. And for what? I have had lots of fun, but most of the time my nights out have been uneventful. I sit and chat with friends. I have not danced since college. I cannot remember the last time I met someone interesting at a bar. And when it comes to sensualism, my last hurrah was giving a chubby girl a shoulder massage. Yet, despite logically knowing all of this, I still get excited about the prospect of going out each week. I look forward to crawling through the bars. I tell myself, “Tonight will be different.” It almost never is, but still, I creep around and take slings and arrows from random heels. It is far from ideal, but it is the life I have.

Last week Barnaby took you on a Jurassic adventure, this week he makes you sleep with the lights on! Set a reminder and tune in LIVE on our website www.wltkdb.com or on your favorite social media platform under WLTKDB to meet Barnaby’s guest Jack Chavez. Jack is a well-versed and knowledgeable paranormal and cryptid researcher from Chicago as well as the promoter for Chicago Paranormal Convention which is on June 26th. Barnaby and Jack will be discussing the Rake and Pale Crawlers. What are they, and who is seeing them? Tune in to hear all that and learn about the history and Jack’s past encounters!

Based on 101 reviews The Looria Grade (A - F) accounts for multiple factors, including sentiment, helpfulness, and more. Learn about our sources and ranking. - Great for people who like asymmetric games - Bugs in the software that have been fixed recently - Game is a little too long for some - Unique and different Have you owned this product?Write an Exit Review 9.6: Ratio and Root Tests Learning Objectives Use the ratio test to determine absolute convergence of a series. Use the root test to determine absolute convergence of a series. Describe a strategy for testing the convergence of a given series. In this section, we prove the last two series convergence tests: the ratio test a... Root Test in Series Convergence Examples | How to Tell If a Series Converges or Diverges? - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com If you know that a series converges, then you can work further on it. But if it doesn't converge, then you can stop working on the series because you won't find an end to it. So how can you tell? Well, there's a test you can run. The root test is a simple test that tests for absolute convergence of ... SU&SD review Oath - 2021's Most Exciting Boardgame I’ve played it 3 times so far, which is not a lot, but after one play of Root and PP2e both me and my group clicked and saw what the games had to offer if we got good at them. Oath has not done this yet. I have the physical game with all expansions and love it. While no boardgame (in my experience) gets better with a digital remake, I think Root is so complex and has so much to keep track of, that only by playing this one did I realise a lot of ways we have been playing it wrong. Recommended. More recent titles have all kinda just left with a "that was fun enough" reaction rather than a "Let's play again!" reaction, or even just a "I'd rather play x designer's older games" It's not for lack of trying. Some of the more recent lauded games I've played are **Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion (2020), The West Kingdom Trilogy ('18, '19 '20), Maracaibo (2019), Underwater Cities (2018), Hallertau (2020), Tekhenu (2020) Sleeping Gods (2021), Cryptid (2018), Wingspan (2019), Root (2018), 7th Continent (2017). ** It's not that I don't think these games are good, they are, but they just seem to lack a bit of a wow factor for me, and out of all those games, I'd rather play something on my first list. Root Review - A Love Story With Ups & Downs Island spirit, island is a cooperative experience from greater than games the level of the way these spirits break the game and change the game, and while they still operate with the same rules as opposed to route, where you really have different rules for every single spirit. For every single faction in spirit island, if the the spirits feel different enough and game breaking enough that i get a similar feeling of wanting to dive in with not just every spirit but with every combination of spirits. I want to try this spirit with that spirit Good not great implementation of the board game. Frequency of bugs has decreased recently. Several months ago approximately 1 out of 3 games had to be aborted because of bugs. But the last few games everything has been running smoothly. Root or Oath? Which should I buy? Root has the same thing but it’s a simpler game to understand, plays the factions are all different (with a bunch of expansions). That does mean you need to learn each faction individually but it’s a very enjoyable game. If you have an iPad I would recommend getting the iOS version of Root to start. It’s a great way to learn the game and the ai in it is also pretty good. Root (and the Riverfolk Expansion) - Shut Up & Sit Down Review Never I played this so much and I never quite quite got a good game out of it. You know yeah, so I mean you want to sleep this year, I'll, keep it yeah, it's just that they could release an expansion later that, like fixes a lot of my problems with it, so maybe I just want to over come on. We we say that maybe they'll fix in expansion, yes, you're right, okay, you know what you can keep it all Inis or Root? Every time I've played so far it's just been a negotiated crab bucket, and the last time I played, we called the game a draw and stopped because it was going yet *another* round because people were tied and we had things to do. The expansion "we need a king" rule helps this apparently but we weren't playing with it. Root can still have a bit of crab bucket to it, but someone *will* win eventually.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word cryptid as “An animal whose existence or survival is disputed or unsubstantiated, such as the yeti.” For the following witnesses to living cryptids, there is no dispute. In this series of National Cryptid Society’s case files, you will read what the witnesses have experienced in their own words. Keep an open mind when reading these accounts, and also remember one’s perception and memory of an event can be influenced by the emotions felt at the time of the occurrence. The contributors to this series of articles are doing the best they can to recount what are in some cases very shocking and traumatic experiences. If you have a personal cryptid sighting story you would like to tell us, our contact information is at the bottom of this article. NCS Case File #26: Huge, Potentially Dangerous Bigfoot witnessed at Mammoth Pools Reservoir Submitted by Stacy Location: Mammoth Pools Reservoir, California, Sierra Nevadas, Fuller Meadow, along the French Trail. Our family and friends have been camping at Mammoth Pools Reservoir every June for more than 30 years. We usually arrive on opening day, June 15th, and always camp at China Bar, located several miles up the lake from the boat launch. Mammoth Pools Reservoir, located on the backside of Kaiser Peak (from Huntington Lake), is not easily accessible and China Bar is only accessible by boat. There is another campsite near Fuller Meadow, also only accessible via boat, but we have never camped at that site. On this trip, we boated to Fuller Meadows and put down our crawfish traps, as usual. But we noticed clothing strew along the bank and along the trail leading to the campsite. Alarmed because the lake had just opened for recreation, we tied the boat, got out and walked to the campsite. There, we found the campsite abandoned with all camping gear onsite except for sleeping bag(s) and ice chest(s.) The tent was intact but turned upside down. We, seven adults, assumed a bear had caused the campers to flee. We spread out to search for anything else unusual but each of us felt unsafe, as though we were being watched and returned to China Bar. Either the next day or following day, my husband and I returned to Fuller Meadow in the afternoon to check the traps and do some fishing. He fished off the back of the boat, tied to a rock at the point while I went ashore, walked toward the meadow and sat down along the bank. It was about 4:00pm, the sun was still above the mountain to the right of where I was sitting. At the meadow, there are large trees that create a horseshoe around the meadow. The grasses come to the water’s edge and there are bushes near the shoreline where I was sitting. We were the only persons at the meadow and no other boats were noticeable. The weather was beautiful with no clouds in the sky. While fishing and reading my book, I caught a shadow, out of the corner of my eye, on my right, casting from the West. Immediately, assuming it was a bear, I looked to see what was walking near me but it was NOT a bear. I have seen more bears than I can count while hunting, camping [or] fishing. I saw a creature I have never seen before walking just inside the trees closest to where I was sitting: its shadow caught my attention. It was probably no more than 50′ from me. It was dark brown in color, and covered in hair/fur. It was 8′-9′ tall, powerful, walking upright, on two legs. It seemed confident and casual as though it knew the route it was traveling. It was very muscular, its shoulders were huge and it swung its arms and upper body with each step. It was not clumsy but surefooted, easily walked through the trees and did not turn its head to look side-to-side. I did not see its face as it had just passed me. It did not have clothing or any ornaments on: it was not carrying anything. I was terrified, felt that I was in danger and immediately rolled onto my stomach, trying to control my breathing. I don’t know if it saw me or not: I assumed it had excellent hearing but I may have been camouflaged by the bushes next to me, or it may have seen my husband in the boat and thought he was alone and not a threat. I watched it walk away in the direction toward China Bar, along the French Trail (the meadow and China Bar are not on the same side of the lake). As soon as I felt that it was safe to flee, I gathered my gear, ran to our boat [and] told my husband “We have to leave right now! There’s something back in there!” He asked me what I saw but all I could say was, “Some sort of witchcraft, some kind of creature.” I was still physically shaking when we returned to China Bar and everyone was alarmed by how scared I was. The next morning… At 6:00am, a few of the men in our camp got up to go fishing. There was a fire, on the steep hill almost directly across the lake from our camp. When I say, “across the lake,” the distance is less than 1/4 mile. There is just no possible way for a fire to start there: the weather was clear, not a cloud in the sky. It’s not possible to camp there, it’s steep terrain and none of those camping at China Bar had a campfire as we were in a severe drought. The men in our camp, most active or retired Firefighters, including a Fire Marshal, were able to contain the fire until the Sheriff and Forest Service arrived. Our camp became the base camp for fire personal so we packed up, ended our trip early, returned home and have yet to return. I believe the creature I saw started that fire, confronted or threatened the campers who abandoned their campsite at Fuller Meadows and ultimately is very dangerous and capable of harming humans. If you have had a cryptid encounter, sighting or have photographic or video evidence, contact us immediately HERE. Visit our YouTube Channel and Subscribe! This collection of over 170+ articles, direct from newspapers of the 1800s and 1900s, brings some of the most bizarre, amazing, and incredible stories of true monster encounters out of the past and into your hands! Presented with zero spin or bias, this book delivers just the facts and allows you, the reader, to decide for yourself if the stories within actually happened or not. From the funny to the frightening, the sincere to the weird, there is something for everyone within these pages!

In June 2011, the Horniman Museum offered to loan a genuine Japanese monkey-fish to the museum of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP). The RCP said ‘yes’, of course, because who wouldn’t want a genuine Japanese monkey-fish? The monkey-fish was not due to arrive until December, but the word of his coming spread through the corridors of the RCP like wildfire. What was monkey-fish? Who was monkey-fish? ‘It’s the missing link,’ said some, while others speculated about a chupacabra roaming 11 St Andrews Place after dark. An urban legend was born. I work at the RCP and it is likely that I played a small part in the creation of the RCP’s very own cryptid. So while the bees are on their winter break, here is a post about another species, or two, sort of. Fakes, forgeries and quacks The RCP held two lunchtime talks on Tuesday 20 December with experts from the Horniman Museum and Wellcome Library on the subject of ‘Fakes, forgeries and quacks’, inspired by the loan of the Horniman monkey-fish. Japanese monkey-fish, or mermen, were popular attractions during the 19th century and were touted as being real creatures. The second talk, ‘Making mermaids: a fishy business’ by Paolo Viscardi, curator at the Horniman Museum and Garden, traced the chequered past of monkey-fish revealing the history of mermaids, tales of fraud, media manipulation and shipwrecks. Among the audience were a number of RCP staff who were eager to find out more about monkey-fish, or ‘Alan’ as he is affectionately called. Paolo took us on a journey of mermaid sightings from the Sirenia, or sea cows, mistaken for mer-folk by ancient mariners, to the thousand-year-old shrivelled ‘mermaids’ of Japanese Shinto shrines, to the famous Fiji Mermaid exhibited by master showman PT Barnum in the 1840s. This was all very well, but what I wanted to know was this: who is our monkey-fish? Who is monkey-fish? On Tuesday, 2 September 1919, a Japanese merman was purchased by, or on behalf of, Henry Wellcome at an auction held by Stevens London auctioneers. The auction catalogue listed the specimen as ‘Japan, Mermaid, paper-mache body, with fish-tail 20 in. long x 9 in. high’.[ref] The merman came to the Horniman Museum from the Wellcome Collection in 1982, and somewhere along the way it gained the name ‘monkey-fish’ because of its appearance of a monkey’s head and torso sewn onto the body of a fish. Mystery solved, or is it? What is a monkey-fish? I was curious to know, what is a monkey-fish made of? Is it the mummified head and torso of a monkey sewn onto the tail of a fish? The Horniman Museum had investigated the makings of monkey-fish through X-ray and CT scans – and the results? ‘What is a monkey-fish made of? Paper, wood, string and clay, with fish bits and chicken feet!’ said Paolo. ‘But no monkey.’ Monkey-fish babies and the dark sibling, Paul As if that were not enough excitement for one afternoon, we were told that there could be 100s of monkey-fish out there, waiting to be found. There might also be monkey-fish babies, which led to a twittering of ‘I want’ tweets. The Horniman monkey-fish even has a sibling on display elsewhere in the UK – a dark twin called Paul. I may have made up that last bit. Come and see our monkey-fish! The monkey-fish will be exhibited alongside items from the RCP’s own collections, which involve an element of fakery – whether intentional or not – until 20 January 2012, and is open Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm. No booking is required and entry is free. The exhibition area is closed on public holidays and for RCP ceremonies. The RCP museum holds various events all year round and information on how to visit is here. Monkey-fish will return home to the Horniman Museum at the end of January, which also looks like a pretty interesting place to visit.

Welcome To The Cryptid Brothers Investigations of Oklahoma Blog! WELCOME! I'll be informing you, the subscriber, of many of the encounter story's and calls that I receive throughout each month. I'll share pics and video's of the bizarre and strange eyewitness sightings that many folks are trying to cope with. Many of these eyewitnesses need to know that we can be trusted with their story, keep their name confidential, and more importantly, give them guidance and suggestions as to best deal with their creature encounter (Rogue Terrestrial Biological Entity) - (aka, Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Dogman, etc.) Whether someone had a Bigfoot encounter or encountered an upright walking canine (Dogman) creature, Cryptid Brothers Investigations of Oklahoma offers a safe sharing venue for eyewitnesses to share their story....FREE from ridicule, embarrassment, or judgement. We understand that many eyewitnesses keep private, sometimes for years, what they saw that frightened them because what they saw they didn't understand....it was too horrific, too bizarre, and much too terrifying to even think about. But at C.B.I.O., we also understand that by SHARING what happened to you or what it was that you saw, this SHARING IS GOOD MEDICINE FOR THE SOUL, and can alleviate this mental burden that you carry. We know that these CREATURE ENCOUNTERS can disrupt your life over time, which can lead to creating a P.T.S.D. (post traumatic stress disorder), and/or with associate anxiety and stress. Our primary mission at C.B.I.O. is; Give coping assistance, educate and give understanding as to what the eyewitness saw, and give guidance as to how best to remove from these creatures from properties. We can be reached 24/7, 365 by calling our Nationwide Creature Report Hotline Toll-Free #: 1-866-306-8085. We can also be reached by email: [email protected]. FIREARM safety is critically important with C.B.I.O. Team Members. This year, the C.B.I.O. team will be demonstrating to YT subscribers and patrons how best to choose a firearm and what safety measures must be adhered to when in the field investigating. "Wiley" Dave and Lance at the gun range sighting in firearms for upcoming 2019 / 2020 season.

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The Top Cryptozoology Stories of 2013 The general public and media were captivated in 2013 by a wide variety of cryptozoological stories. Compared to previous recent years, the news items were generally more positive, if not sometimes only to be found in the strange and offbeat sections of your social media feeds. This year’s annual picks are cryptozoological events that became newsworthy or were announced during 2013 (even though, as actual discoveries, they may have been in the works from an earlier year or years). The following are the top cryptid-related tidbits of most interest to the public, cryptozoologists, hominologists, fans, friends, foes, and the media during the last year. The stories may not be the most groundbreaking, but they include some that garnered the largest media reaction and greatest public discussions concerning our favorite field of study in the last 12 months. (1). New Tapir Discovered The remarkable confirmation of the largest land mammal since the discovery of the saola in 1992, and the first new tapir to be found since 1865, was certainly big news. Within a day or two of our early comparative overview, mainstream media were reporting the breaking announcement of this find. The Kobomani Tapir (Tapirus kabomani) discovery was definitely cryptozoological, as this species first came to Western Science attention based on ethnoknown information. The added tidbit that this new species of tapir was actually hunted by Teddy Roosevelt in 1912, with a specimen being placed in the American Museum of Natural History collection in New York City, adds an intriguing historical twist. Roosevelt wrote that the local hunters called the tapir a “distinct kind.” “I can’t imagine we managed to get samples from the only two ‘snow bears’ in the Himalayas,” he said. Hobbits are real. And it changed the landscape of our thinking about our coexistence on Earth with other hominids. Since the discovery of Homo floresiensis, the “Hobbits” of Flores, Indonesia, in 2003, thoughts of the actuality of little people have shifted in human consciousness to a real possibility. Paul LeBlond, Ph. D. (oceanography), Canada, Cadborosaurus: Survivor from the Deep (1995) Michel Raynal, Ph. D. (computer sciences), France, Synthesis Series in Computer and Information Science (2011) Karl Shuker, Ph. D. (zoology), United Kingdom, The Encyclopaedia of New and Rediscovered Animals (2012) Charles Paxton, Ph. D. (aquatic ecology), United Kingdom Christine M. Janis, Ph. D. (vertebrate paleontology), United States of America, Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America (2005, 2008) D. Jeffrey Meldrum, Ph. D. (physical anthropology), United States of America, Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science (2006) Henry Bauer, Ph. D. (chemistry), United States of America, Enigma of Loch Ness (1986), and Adrienne Mayor, honorary Ph. D., United States of America, Fossil Legends of the First Americans (2005). © Loren Coleman 2013 ~ Please share this material via a link only. Permission is not granted to republish the entire contents of “Top Cryptozoology Stories of 2013.”

lowest property taxes in oregon A potentially historic bill in the Oregon House would dramatically. state Constitution by setting a minimum permanent property tax rate in. boost to Josephine County, which has the lowest tax rate in the state at just 59 cents.oregon city shooting oregon rose bowl ring Rose Bowl Ring Stolen From Ex-OSU Player. That included the 2010 Rose Bowl ring adams received after the Buckeyes beat the University of Oregon. "The Rose Bowl, it’s one of the biggest games in.A girl prays during a vigil in Roseburg, Oregon on October 1, 2015, for the victims of a shooting at Umpqua Community College. KELOWNA, B.C. – A grotesque sea serpent haunts an ancient glacial lake on B.C. Highway 97, a single long day’s drive north of Central Oregon. If you don’t believe. that Ogopogo actually exists. But. It’s the world’s most famous cryptid – Bigfoot. Terrifying new eyewitness accounts of Bigfoot encounters, in combination with recently uncovered anthropological evidence, reveal a creature far fiercer and more predatory than the gentle, lumbering giant often depicted. Investigate Further: In Search of Monsters: Bigfoot Although Oregon is the home-state of Dark Horse itself, the one-shot’s subject matter is instead in the wilds of the Oregon countryside and the search for cryptids. Sasquatch?. maybe. oregon education investment board oregon ducks uniforms today portland oregon coffee shops wine country hotels: grand lodge, Hotel Oregon The Willamette Valley, home to Hotel Oregon in McMinnville, is widely considered one of the best wine-producing regions in the United States, encompassing 290 wineries within six different AVAs.On January 12th, the Oregon Ducks and Ohio State Buckeyes will take the field to determine the first ever College football playoff national champion. Today, Nike unveils the team’s Mach Speed uniform.Oregon Education investment board hosts outreach meeting The Oregon Education Investment Board hosted a community outreach event at Lane Community College that focused on questions regarding Gov. The Ouija Broads’ definition of the Pacific Northwest is more broad than most, and includes Washington, Idaho, Oregon, western Montana. Kelley also loves chasing stories based on cryptozoology or. In 1963, Shell Oil Company explorers on an oil-drilling expedition off the Oregon Coast supposedly filmed the creature swimming in 180 feet of water. Tagged: Bigfoot, Sasquatch, cryptid, sasquatch, cryptids, portland, portland oregon, cryptid cruise, bigfoot boat trip. Newer Post NEWS: tom brady wins Super Bowls with Altars, Stones, and Good Witch Gisele. Older Post 10 Creepy Things People Found in Their Homes. oregon live high school softball restaurants ne portland oregon From farm-to-table cuisine to ethnic eats, Portland, Oregon, is where food culture reigns supreme. Le Pigeon has been named one of the best restaurants – if not the best – in Portland time and time again. Two-time James Beard Award-winning chef and co-owner gabriel rucker, along with co-owner.OregonLive.com. PIL high school baseball and softball preview: Top players, outlook, projected finish for every team Chessie is another sea monster named in the style of legendary Nessie, but this cryptid reportedly lives in the waters of Chesapeake Bay. There have been numerous sightings of the creature, which witnesses describe as 25 to 40 feet long, serpent-like and finned. yurts oregon Expert Oregon Wood Yurt Makers Based in Eugene, Oregon, Lou and his team have a history of building durable wooden yurts for more than 15 years. During this time, Lou has improved on standard designs and offers a one-of-a-kind wooden yurt. Giant Freshwater Crustaceans are giant crustaceans inhabiting the area in and around Wallowa Lake that appear heavily in the tales of early settlers of Oregon. Although no true lobsters live on the Pacific coast (only spiny lobsters, or langoustes), there are many large crabs. These are not your Harry and the Henderson kinds of cryptids. These are the sasquatches of Cum for. and her band of friends (all characters are 18 and older) and furries in Oregon, where bigfoot. Recent directing credits include "West Side Story" at Carnegie Hall; "Timon of Athens," "Into the Woods" and "My Fair Lady" at oregon shakespeare festival. and Polyphone Music Festival); and.

Phalium arium ssp. anams By Victoria Sandbrook Nora tugged her gloves down further over her freckled wrists. Every other couple in line had linked arms, but John Reidy had not so much as inched his elbow towards her. She wasn’t sure what pained her more: the ache in her hands screaming that this parish carnival sideshow hid more magic than most or her inept suitor. The line could not move fast enough. But nothing about this show was fast. Patrons shuffled between intricate, though fraudulent, displays: palm-sized peacocks with visible clockwork, chicken-sized dragon eggs wiggling as a hidden steam boiler hissed, monkeys that might as well have still had their old organ-grinder parts attached. Nora struggled not to roll her eyes. Dull, boring, badly engineered. And not a true cryptid to be seen. Everyone else had sighed, pointed, marveled. Only John Reidy seemed as disappointed as Nora. He’d polished his glasses, refolded his handkerchief in his pale fingers, and said “hmm,” three times. Nora wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or insulted.

The Loch Ness Monster is a cryptid, reputedly a large unknown animal that inhabits Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next. Popular interest and belief in the animal's existence has varied since it was first brought to the world's attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with minimal and much-disputed photographic material and sonar readings. Nature - Birds and Animals The most common speculation among believers is that the creature represents a line of long-surviving plesiosaurs. The scientific community regards the Loch Ness Monster as a modern-day myth, and explains sightings as including misidentifications of more mundane objects, outright hoaxes, and wishful thinking. Despite this, it remains one of the most famous examples of cryptozoology. The legendary monster has been affectionately referred to by the nickname Nessie (Scottish Gaelic: Niseag) since the 1940s.

Today I’m joined by a very special friend of mine today, Lana Hopkins Another Aussie! Lana has spent the last 10 years building consumer facing brands that blend tech and products. She started her first venture, Mon Purse, in 2014 when we were just getting used to this new and exciting world of social media platforms like Facebook, after exiting in 2018 she’s now launching her latest venture, Some Place as the world starts moving into the metaverse. some·place gives individuals the ability to collect, curate and flex their NFT collections; in a social, 3D space and in real-life, via exciting augmented reality interactions. Now I have to say - I’m not entirely versed on all things NFT’s and crypto so I’m trying my best in this episode and I learn a lot from Lana. I hope you you do too! Please note, this transcript has been copy pasted without the lovely touch of a human editor. Please expect some typos! Lana. Hi hello, welcome to the Female Startup Podcast. Thank you for having me. It's been so long since we caught up in person and it's lovely to see you happy and glowing in London or all the way from London and you today. I don't know if I'm glowing, I would say I'm great but I'm thinking the same. I haven't seen your face since like 2019 I think right I think you're right because 2020 and 2021 a carnival vital. Um and so the the pandemic has done that to our travel. I did not. Yeah and we, we catch up on the phone but we don't do facetime. So it has been quite a while. I'm excited, I'm excited to be talking to you about business and your new venture and all the things going on in your world. 00:03:38Edit I want to give everyone a little bit of context before we jump into your own intro, you have been through a decade of building super successful businesses. You were in the D. C. E. Commerce, space building and accessories brand. You took that all over the world now you've kind of transitioned into this new digital world of N. F. T. S and before we started recording you were dropping these terms that I don't actually know what they mean. I think you said dow we're probably gonna have to go through that in a second but you've got a lot of different learnings and so many things to share with us. So I want to get you to start by giving us a bit of an introduction to who you are and then I'd love to jump into your first business and get a bit of a founder story 100%. So um everything you said in 100% correct, a dow actually for those who don't know is a decentralized autonomous organization but more on that later so he told me to that. 00:04:41Edit Um But long story short so um look I started my journey, I started my entrepreneur journey in 2013 2014 um just before launching month first um with with another excessive fines where I got really excited as it was halfway through the web to, or I guess the web to journey when we were learning about google search and facebook has just become a thing. I don't know if you guys can remember that, but we're all trying to learn and navigate the um in and out of the facebook advertising platform and how do you really build an amazing branch and drive eyeballs to the site? That was all of this, all of the commotion and all of the things for those of you who can remember what was happening in 2012 in 2015, late 2014 and fairness 2015, I started a one of the first direct to consumer companies which specialize specifically in customized excesses called my first. 00:05:41Edit Um and as you rightly pointed out, it was actually an exercise in learning everything that I could about how to build a branch, how to also build a consumer technology platform on web gl which at the time back in 2014 2015 was pretty novel and that really was my first foray into the three D world. So how do you automate and provide a three D tool that allows you to render the bug or accessory of your dreams. Um and that's kind of what led me to where I am today. But long story short, my mom plays journey lasted from 2014 to 2018, I exited the company and spending 18 and then spent about a year and a half um consulting to accelerate our venture funds and also meet to private equity funds because I've had quite a bit of experience raising capital during my time at one person and I wanted to share the perspective of a founder, particularly one from a consumer perspective. 00:06:45Edit Whilst I was working out really what you do now, what led me to start someplace is, as I mentioned previously, I was in this web three journeys and I guess three D journey for such a long time and the my interests and my passions have always been in web three. I've been interested about what we now have come to speak about in recent times as the metaverse and I remember I think telling you about the metaverse a year and a half ago or a year ago, instead of watching people's faces and I can't recall about your face of somebody else's faith and something which is long over, What are you talking about exactly. Um first forward to 2020 to to this moment in town and all you seem to hear anywhere you look and go and have a conversation if this metaverse metaverse that long story short, what it really comes down to and what I'm really passionate and excited about is the web three economy and how we can mature from web to into web three, what that encapsulate and really the part that I'm excited about it, decentralization and the opportunity for artists in particular and people who have been marginalized to really take advantage and take control over how they monetize their experiences. 00:08:06Edit Um so for me that's something that I'm particularly interested in and about that's amazing. And I think what's really interesting is, you know, you were saying when you got started with Mon purse, you're at this inflection point of people coming onto facebook and this new world that we were kind of living with and then now, you know, we're coming into this new world of metaverse and we're starting to hear about meta and all these kinds of different things that we're trying to navigate. So you've really been like pioneering these spaces for such a long time before we jump into your new venture and you can tell me all the things that I don't yet know about. I want to talk a little bit more about the raising capital side of things with your first venture? Obviously you went through that you raised money with one person, then you went and worked in the industry, what are the kinds of things that you learned, what what are the best learnings that you can share for other founders, who are either thinking about raising capital, like who should raise capital for example or who are like trying to navigate the money like funding path? 00:09:09Edit I think, you know, it's such an interesting question and something that I've thought a lot about over the years, particularly since my exit from one person. It's something that I try to share with people from an advisory perspective, I think that there really is such a thing as good capital and bad capital and that takes shape in many ways and forms and what I mean by that is you really in the same way that you select your partner in life, you should also be very, very selective about the people you choose to partner with. I think that particularly in this climate in this environment there's more capital going around then we know what you're doing and I think it really comes down to finding the right alignment and having the same North star, suppose because whilst all those lead to Rome people have different ideas about how to get there. And so I think it's really important to be aligned on what success looks like for you and then having that conversation with your venture partners to actually understand if you're on the same page from the get go and it's not, it's better to know that up front as opposed to later down the line. 00:10:21Edit So I think you have to give you a very thoughtful um and consider it about your application for your review application and you have to d d your investors as much as they D D. U. I think that Diddy being due diligence, Right? Dude I'm sorry. Yes due diligence, so thorough due diligence being as diligent as possible, asking specifically other founders about their experiences with a particular group of investors doing as much independent research as possible. So you can figure out also if you these are the sorts of people that you wish to work with but also having the tough conversations with the investor themselves and trying to understand are your stars aligned? Are you looking for the same things? Are you looking for the same sort of exit? Um It's important to understand if it's a venture funds, what terms they've got what stage of the fund a light so that you can understand if you will get the support as a founder that you need. So due diligence, I think it's very very important value alignment is also very very important and making sure you get along with this individual, making sure this is somebody who really wants to spend time here, month in, month out, it might be day in day out hopefully but it should be every couple of weeks. 00:11:39Edit So that's something that I certainly learned through my experience and the process that I went through. I've also been extremely fortunate because some of my buckets from Mp Monfort have actually gone on to back my new venture and they are some of the most incredible intelligent um and remarkable people that I've ever had the pleasure of with with, so, again, truth wisely, um secondly, I think the second part of this is also about really kind of understanding is your business right or suitable for venture capital funding? Is it distorted business that requires venture capital? Because not all companies do if you're starting a large style company, um that plans to generate x amount of revenue, maybe you can figure out if you can bootstrap for as long as you can prove your point, bring on customers and get customers to actually fund and part of your journey. I know you've done that in your previous venture and that's proven to be extremely successful for you. 00:12:42Edit So I think it's also about identifying what sort of outcome are you looking for? Are you looking to scale something At 10 2030 100 x from a return to perspective or are you looking at a stable income from a lifestyle business? Neither is right or wrong. Both are incredible. It just really depends on what is the objective of your capital rate. And the third and final thing that I sort of say to everybody and this is come from my own experiences, be very, very frugal with the capital that you raised. We, for my new venture for our new venture, we've raised a small round of capital late last year and we're still sitting comfortable from that position and so try to incentivize team members as much as possible through a sock, make sure that you've got any stops our employee option schemes. So um I should clarify what I'm talking about here. Um but I think what you want again, as we talk about north down value alignment, if you've got people who believe in the business and who were willing to work with you, she built the business for future upside that is always a really really good way of um I suppose validating the demand for what you're building. 00:14:01Edit So there's many, many different ways to I suppose think about funding one it through bootstrapping and self funding in other ways through adventure. Then you've also got things like accelerators potentially or customer funding funding through your supply chain partners or in addition to that literally building an M. V. P. As far as you can with the support of other team members who are just as invested as you are for equity in the business. Yeah, absolutely. And I think also what you know, your experience has been building essentially to businesses that heavily rely on the tech piece of the puzzle. And tech is so expensive. So that's something that probably you do need to gravitate towards having access to more capital versus another kind of business where maybe you're able to buy, you know, limited pieces of stock and that kind of thing as you go and kind of build up from there. Let's talk about some place, let's talk about the new venture. Let's talk about where you got the idea from what kind of got you interested in this space in general. 00:15:07Edit 100%. So, um and I could talk about this all day, sadly we haven't got all day, but as I mentioned, so when when I was starting in p I was thinking a lot about the feed the space and when you think about what someplace is someplace is, what some of our friends of the company have so described as the most spectacular metaverse now, a little bit about that and why that particular statement matters. We are trying to build a different narrative, particularly one that is friendly and I guess accessible to women and mainstream communities who feel potentially marginalized by some of the experiences they've seen from an energy or crypto or Blockchain perspective. I don't know one was the last time that you try to set up your meta mask or your crypto wallet or anything like that and was that a painful experience for you? Have you gone on this journey yet? Am I going to johnny? 00:16:08Edit You're going to take me on the journey. A lot of my husband's super into it. So we can say we have a crypto portfolio, I can tell you that we have in excess, but truly it's not being led by me at all. It's very much all him, he's super into it. He's in all the communities, you know all the things, but it goes a little bit over my head. I mean, I understand it. I have like a basic understanding of everything, I guess you would say, because I listen to what he's listening to and he tells me about it and that kind of thing. But I haven't embarked on the journey at all of setting up my own crypto well, I haven't gone down that pathway and I don't know if any of my girlfriends have either to be quite frank and I already see that as a problem. I know it's a problem and I'm like, but why? And I guess maybe because for me, my wife is like, well he's doing it, so maybe I don't need to, which is silly, but besides that, I'm like, yeah, why isn't it more accessible to women and why aren't more women? And I'm not saying like generally, because maybe so many women listening and like, oh yeah, I'm all over it, like I'm 100% into it, but like in my circles, I'm like, yeah, I don't really have any friends who could, like sit down and tell me how to do that at all, and I wonder why, and neither did we neither did my co founder juliana and I when we first started to speak about what the storm meant in terms of why we're starting someplace and what are we doing, let's go back to the top level vision and how we're thinking about everything. 00:17:38Edit We initially wanted to start some place as a space which had a narrative that allowed you to meet and connect with like minded others. Think about how we used to originally meet people, we went to the same school we studied at the same university um or perhaps we did the same boot camp together, maybe we stalked each other on instagram maybe favorable. And that was how we interacted and connected in Web two. Right, fast forward to web three and we've got the ability to build something that is immersive real time and far more engaging and we'll talk about the manifestations of three D. World versus A. R. Because I think that's another conversation that's really worth having. But then when you really start to condo about what is this Web three business and what does it all really mean? And ultimately centered around how we're redefining what it means to socialist to interact and also what does it mean in the context of shifting capitalism. 00:18:40Edit And I touched on decentralization earlier because that's such an important part of, you know, when you think about Web two and you think about all of the fangs and everything is really centralist with facebook amazon et cetera. Right, so there's a lot of control around how would you what we do this censorship, there's so much that we're now sort of saying is this okay, we're starting to question the paradigms and the principles of how things happened and continue to happen within Web two and the internet in its purest firm was supposed to be this, I suppose paradigm where we have much more control over our creative freedoms and that's not how it turned out. And so far particularly about saying the bigger picture vision is about ultimately creating a space where you can connect with like minded others. How do you make that connection happen? Well, how it currently happening people who belong to certain Nhe community that I'm part of a cryptid ship, for example, you have to definitely join, I will connect you with the globe. 00:19:48Edit They are amazing, they're roadmap, it's insane. We are looking at how we can work together with them at some place, but other people are members of board aid, somebody else is a member of crypto plants, etcetera. Everybody that I know has a particular affiliation to a certain down or community and a community. Um and that is where they congregate on discord. As you mentioned, your husband spends a lot of time and discord why? Because this is where he connects and shares ideas with like minded. Are there So, energy communities really have true purposes. One is to trade some people are in there purely for financial gains in financial upside, but others gravitate towards a common goal, a common thing and the desire to belong to a certain group and so what we realized coming back to narrative doing what we realized pretty early on, we couldn't come out with an app or a product or platform or dow that was seemingly like second life or the Central are change or something that you may have heard of on the fringe of the conversations, but probably do not venture out in tune. 00:21:01Edit What we realized is we have to treat this like as if as if we're baking a cake now, when you do back cakes, do you love baking cakes? Sometimes? My baby. Yeah. So if you were baking a cake and you had a couple of friends coming over for dinner, chances are that you would probably incorporate a lot of ingredients that people were familiar with. You wouldn't turn completely fine ingredients because even though it looks like a cake, it doesn't taste like a cake. So in the case of someplace, we realized that in order to make this a success with mainstream audiences, we had to focus on three core things and those were changing the narrative in terms of how we speak and how we engage with our audience. Thinking about every single touch point from a ux user experience perspective, How do we streamline and simplify this experience? How do we not make it scary, daunting and overwhelming. So we focus on the words that we use, we normalize those words, we focused on the overall aesthetic and experience. 00:22:10Edit And thirdly, and something that we're hearing all the time, which comes back to this comment around this is the most beautiful and spectacular metaverse I have ever seen is really about elevating the aesthetic beauty of our spaces so that there's a sense of warmth and familiarity and for those of your viewers who are familiar with the beginning of the drug to consumer era, you can probably remember a time way back when before we had the direct to consumer brands, there were a lot of more brands. There were a lot of, you know, sort of supermarket brands or large box retail brands. And they also did not have strong commands over clarity over storytelling and over a genuine engagement and connection with their audience. This is where we know we're at right now. We're trying to make people see the beauty of Web three and the abilities that exist within the web three paradigm. 00:23:11Edit How do you do that by breaking down the barriers? So back to the cake, I'm baking the cake, you're baking the cake, we're baking the cake together. And so what's happening in that context is we are basically coming out of the gate with an opportunity for people to do three things. Those three things are trade, collect and flex. Now, what that means specifically is when you enter the up you select your avatar, you enter an absolutely gorgeous personal space and you start to collect various NFC collections from various collaborations and drops that we have lined up. We have a really long roster of interesting brands. We're working with a lot of female led brands and also female artists to create a different type of three D N. F. T. Which isn't in and of itself a different offering. Most thing achieved to date have been P FPs which is profile picture reality. 00:24:16Edit They tend to be J pegs. We are turning everything into a three D. Dimension in a real time engine with much more utility with much more application and the ability to actually see what it's like to be in that space and to interact with things that matter to you. Then you've got the other component which is flex well hang on a second if I have quiet beautiful collection digital collections, let's call the digital collections. Not only achieved that might disarm the conversation a little bit. If I've got beautiful collections that are really meaningful and really special to me. Well what do I want to do? I want to share them with you. I want to share them with other people. So I'm flexing that and I'm showing that your people through what through instagram through twitter. I'm talking about the collection that I have. I'm showing you what I have right now. If you want to share your collection with me or your joint portfolio with your husband, you would send me a link to your open stay account and I get a static page with a couple of energy picture. 00:25:18Edit We're blaming that on its head and we're saying no no no come into this gorgeous space and be able to interact and engage with what you are. But in addition to that we've also got an A. R. Component and I'll tell you why we're bridging the gap between I. R. L. And U. R. L. And what that means is if you own one of our beautiful N. F. T. S, let's stay the device which is dropping in early february if you want. I know of one of those. Not only can you interact with that in the three day space, but you can actually also have that as an A. R. Component anywhere within your home. And that is something that the people have been pretty pretty special. It's no longer just a jpeg off the internet. It's now an item that you can literally have in your house on top of your pallet town. I've got to pull it on there, You can't see it very handy by the way. But that it could be working from home. But why is that important? 00:26:19Edit Gene? It's important because the truth schools of thought for the metaverse, one school of thought belongs to that Microsoft and facebook where they really focused on the three D. World and what it's going to be like to exist within those three D. Worlds which is quite often linked to gaming, right? So a lot of games operate in that way, which is why there's been such a strong correlation between game like environment. Um and the metaverse, The second school of thought actually belonged to the Niantic cohort, which is another major technology organization. And they talk about the fact that they say absolutely no way are we going to go down this three D rabbit hole? What should be happening is people need to be getting out and about more and the A. R. Component needs to be present all around us. Think of it like Pokemon go, you're going about your day and the Pokemon running around you. Guess what we're saying? And I'm going to use a DtC analogy here that I think everybody will understand it's not books and water or online. 00:27:21Edit It's both, it's whatever the customer needs advance. And so throughout this entire journey, which said, we are bridging ira with you Ella and we're creating a deep connection and elevating what it means to have utility in the sense of digital ownership. And so that leads us to our longer term goal, which is okay. Um Here's my collection. Here's what I've got, I'm talking about it. I'm flexing that I'm having an amazing time celebrating all of this and now I'm actually able to engage and connect with my community with my crypto chicks. The crypto chicks might have a fashion show or an event in the space that all of the other crypto chips will come along to that and be a part of it, for example. Um and so all of a sudden these communities are starting to form and congregate in beautifully curated spaces where we're celebrating the ability to connect with people in different ways. We're doing that in discord already. But imagine if you were able to do that in a highly engaged, personalized, curated and immersive space, so that's really what the short and the long term vision is about. 00:28:33Edit Obviously, as you can imagine, we couldn't come out of the gate with the whole proposition. So we've had to take baby steps. Yeah, and I mean I love the sound of it. It all sounds so exciting and obviously where the future is going, it's down here, back to hype you up about all things Crm with a little message from our friends at hubspot. A Crm platform takes any customer interaction and transforms that data into valuable insights as the world's leading Crm platform, hubspot is rolled out over 50 plus integrations over the past year to help businesses connect with customers like never before. The latest suite of customer centric tools to help your business, show your customers. A whole lot of love includes seamless payment tools. Crm powered CMS, customer portals and feedback surveys, seamless payment tools, mean payment links and recurring payments can be directly embedded into hubspot is quoting tools and emails for easy delivery and collection from customers and Crm powered CMS means both your marketers and developers can personalize the customer experience and ensure all engagements are timely and relevant, learn more about how a hubspot Crm platform can help build, maintain and grow your customer relationships at hubspot dot com. 00:29:53Edit I'm interested to hear about like your launch plan and how you actually find women like me like you like people who are maybe on the fringe of knowing about it, but not so much about it, where you will need to have that strong education piece as well as the kind of enter this new world. What's your launch plan? 100%. Great questions. So interestingly, initially we were thinking about this sort of proposition appealing just the mainstream consumers and we'll talk about that in a second. What has happened over the past couple of weeks is the existing nhe communities and our such as the ones that I've mentioned already getting really excited about what we can offer um their existing community members. Some of them are women. The crypto chicks, for example, is a women's N. F. T. But some are not. So that's where the interesting thing has come about. What we're doing though, is by creating these spaces which are so beautiful. 00:30:55Edit We have had women like you, we went like Jasmine who is a great friend of yours um obviously support the branch and other women who um are super interested in the space and want to learn more about it. They are excited by the narrative and what I mean by that is the fact that we have been so thoughtful and our aesthetic And in our language, this is something that even when people don't fully understand it 100%, they are excited and motivated to have a conversation and find out more the response that we have had on Twitter from various female artists communities you name, It has just been so heartwarming to say the least. Absolutely heart warming and I think what we love hearing from them and I like this done the other day, we spoke to somebody who basically said until some players come and came along and having so many conversations at the moment that I have to like bite it down, but until some players came along, they said there was absolutely nothing out there that was built for the consumer like me. 00:32:02Edit There was absolutely nothing out there that allowed me to honor my creative integrity and there was absolutely nothing out there that felt like it was designed by someone like me. So, again, it really comes down to the fact that when we think about building technology and consumer product, it's also really important to remember who is at that table driving that conversation. So, to answer your initial question, what's our launch plan? We've been deeply engaged with some major energies and our communities and we're working in partnership with them as well as artists and brands to actually put together amazing partnerships at the end of january slash early february to the date a little bit secret, We will be dropping 10,000 energies um which will be the beautiful bottles that you may have seen on our side that you may have seen on instagram etcetera. Um, and they will be what we call the access path and that access past then allows the 1st 10,000 people to enter our beta platform on the, on the IOS app. 00:33:08Edit So we're launching on IOS only initially no other platform um that was also probably the most difficult decision ever. It would have been much easier to build this platform on desktop or VR but we knew that the women we were reaching and the communities you were reaching are all spending time on this little guy, not on desktop or anywhere else. And so we've been quite fortunate in the sense that we've had some really organic conversation and we've been supporting female artists and that is how the word is getting out there and that's how we're hoping to build and harness that community because for us really it's about people falling in love with the proposition and they are indeed falling in love with what we're about, which is very exciting and heartwarming. I'm so excited for you, this is so amazing, I love it all. Are there any brands that you can mention publicly who the upcoming partnerships and co labs are with? We will be able to announce that towards the end of next week so you will just have to stand up and watch this space, I will have my blinkers on, I'll be keeping my eyes peeled. 00:34:21Edit What is your key piece of advice for entrepreneurs coming into 2022? Gosh, well, uh presuming the pandemic will continue um where your mouth can wash your hands, but no, that is side, uh hopefully uh that is all coming to an end and that will soon be behind us. I think the biggest piece of advice that I can give to anybody is really built an incredible change around you and build an incredible network of supporters around you. I have been extremely, extremely fortunate in that, I have found an amazing co founder who's both talented, brilliant, passionate and highly intelligent to go on this journey with, but it's not just the two of us, there's a team behind us as well, um I should stay alongside us, no one is ever behind you um and so we will work very, very hard together and we work three things together and we have done so for the past year and a beach um and so I always say it really comes down to picking your team wisely whether that's your investment partners or whether that's your partners in business or in life um secondly, I think be very open To the possibilities of Web three because I think what is happening right now is exactly what I have not been this excited doing since like 2005 or 2006 and I was probably too young to know what was actually happening, but we are really interesting sort of point in history and point in time where things are changing all around us and it's important to take knowledge and pay attention. 00:36:11Edit So I think approach it with a very open mind and a very open heart and try to learn as much as possible if something scares you probably a really good waiting to attack it and learn more about it. Oh amen! Absolutely, I'm going to be holding you to helping me set up my wallet and step me through that process as well as the introduction to crypto checks, that sounds super cool. We usually wrap up every episode with a quick fire round of six questions, some of which we might have covered, some of which we might not have, but I asked them all the same, so question number one, what's your, why, why are you doing what you're doing? I think that when you get out of bed every morning your heart has to skip a beat, your mind has to want to know more and your soul has to want more every day, being an entrepreneur is something that is challenging at the best of times and so I think you have to have this unbelievable passion for learning and for knowledge for me, I feel like I'm learning something new every day, my brain is constantly stimulated and that is how that is, and has always been my way. 00:37:22Edit I love that, I love this, get out of bed and have your heart skip a beat every morning. Gosh, so poetic. Lana, jesus question number two is this can be from potentially mon purse because the new business hasn't officially launched yet, but maybe there is a moment that we can talk about. But what's the number one marketing moment that you've had in either business that kind of made the business pop Well, I think it's actually really funny doing, I couldn't make this up if I tried, but I texted somebody on the team today to say we had a really big day, we've had a lot of commotion with um unbelievable excitement from literally some of the best streetwear brands in the world. My co founder met with this unbelievable, unbelievable group of people and she came running back so excited, she could not contain herself, but it was just saying that joy and that passion was just unbelievable today, but we've had the same with a couple of meetings that we've had over the past few days with Unoci communities, et cetera, and people are just getting so excited about this and that's why you do it and started what I checked it. 00:38:34Edit One of our team members today is I said, is there a parallel between what's happening today and what was happening in the very, very early days of mp when everything just seemed to be happening and working and living in the right direction and this person said, absolutely yes, amen to that. And so I think when I think about marketing at its core, this is not to take away from, you know, the performance, marketing, digital activities and whatnot that we all need and have to do, but it's something that's authentic and organic and just happens. And I think things just happen when people fall in love with what you're talking about. Um, for us, that's the biggest validation of the fact that we're onto something, watching other people get excited, smiling, wanting to talk about, wanting to promote it, wanting to partner with you. That's also the hardest thing, potentially sometimes because it takes the most time and you have to be so, so patient for that to happen. But I think if you can hit that Eureka moment, then you actually know you want to something that has longevity question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? 00:39:45Edit What are you reading or listening to or subscribing to the other founders should know about? Well, I've actually, I bought this book, it's a really interesting book um called The Happiest Man on Earth. Um, it's by this wonderful wonderful gentleman. He passed away not long ago. He was over 100. His name is Eddie Jackal and he was a holocaust survivor. Um, and throughout all of the terrible, terrible moments that took place in his life. He always maintains extensive integrity and dignity and kindness and I think we all have moments, we all have bad moments. We all have moments when we sort of think bad things, feel bad things, et cetera. And this man, it just never did for one reason or another and I think I kind of have that book lying opposite me as a little reminder every day that no matter how tough things get tomorrow is always a better day. And this is no comparison to what, you know, it took place during that terrible moment in time, which is a personal thing for me as well, but it's something that I think is a constant reminder of what's important and what matters in life and that's human, human dignity. 00:40:55Edit I've also got, this is very weird, it's not like educational books, but I've got to be funny way the holidays are coming up and it's really all about artie parties. So again, it's a bit of a reminder of how to bake more cakes, how to cook exciting things and how do we take joy in the simple pleasures of life. Um, jokes aside from a business perspective, I'm a big leader, I think you know this, we are bouncing podcasts articles, all sorts of things back and forth all the time. I think it's really important to be well prepared in terms of the things that matter to you, but also the things that are societally and economically important. I try to read a broad range everything from the Wall Street Journal new york times. I try to cover major european papers in terms of staying up to date on economics, foreign politics, domestic politics here in Australia as well to have a sense of what's happening. Um, and I also subscribe to very specific sub stocks and things like business, business substructure develops, cooked food, sub stuff, which I will not bore people with today. 00:42:07Edit Um, not to mention platforms such as lane likes, which we've also discussed, which really is a very light hearted community that talks about the jokes to consumer space. I'm interested in a number of different things and that ranges from politics, to art, to economics, et cetera. But throughout all of that, the two things that I happened to have in my table related to a personal story of a beautiful amount and how to have more fun and bake more cakes. So maybe they're just telling us that I need to get out there and even more case, I don't know, maybe, Oh my gosh, you just gave us so many great recommendations. I'm going to link them all in the show notes for anyone who is listening and if you do want to send me a list of your go to sub stacked, I will subscribe. I would love to check them out. Thank you so much. Question. Number four is how do you win the day? What are your AM and PM rituals that keep you feeling happy and successful and motivated? The one and only thing that I absolutely try to do even though it has been new on impossible the past month, we have had a dreadful case of La Nina here in Beautiful Sydney um, is going for a walk. 00:43:14Edit Um, and I'm fortunate that I do the Bandana bronte walk every morning, which I know you love very much as well and I'm sure you're missing this terribly right about now. I'm missing it. So bad. I can hear it in your voice. Um, so I try to do that every morning either with my husband. So we have quality time together um, whilst taking a business call or whilst listening to our podcasts. Oh my God, if I don't do it my day just doesn't have the same ring to it. Please bring that to someplace. Please replicate Bondi to bronte. Uh, so that we can all join it in the metaverse when we're living in light, which is gray and bleak. I will pass that on to juliana. Yes. Please pass it on. Question number five is if you were given $1000 of no strings attached grant money, where would you spend that in the business and that's to highlight your most important, spend a dollar. I know it's not a lot of money in general. We honestly, and I've thought about this long and hard when you first showed me what your questions were and it really comes down to the communities that were affiliated within the communities that we support just today actually, juliana. 00:44:28Edit And they co founder, creative director and I, we picked out two of our favorite pieces of art and we posted about them on this someplace twitter, which I think everybody should follow. It summed up place at twitter and so both of them happen to be unbelievably talented female artists. And so because some place really is about supporting and fostering the arts community um for us it really would be about purchasing the N. F. T. S and the artwork of um up and coming female artists, why does that matter? It matters? Because that's the lifeblood, that's the soul of our community, that's the soul of what we do, that's the spirit of what we do. So, absolutely, we would invest in in the artists that we support. I feel like today or tomorrow. CJ Hendry is dropping her N. F. T. Collection. Did you see that? Which one? Do you know? Who's CJ Hendry CJ Hendry? I will check it out. The Brisbane artist. She's based in New York. She's I mean if you don't know how you're going to absolutely love her, but she drops the collection tonight or tomorrow. 00:45:37Edit Um I think she has 10 different styles going up anyway, it's really, really cool. It's all around this like collection around blonde wigs and she's like, absolutely mind blowing. So you should definitely check it out. Yes, I'm writing it down at which pages I'll send you the email with the link and all that kind of stuff. Last question, I know I've asked you a lot today, but last question, how do you deal with failure? What's your mindset and approach when things inevitably don't go to plan? Failure is a part of life. I think failure is something that I've experienced myself personally and it's something that I've had to learn from adapt and live with. I think that when you think that the trajectory and the pattern of life, it's always like this, it's never always constantly going up or hopefully not constantly going down. I think a lot of it comes down to mindset and it comes down to how quickly can I pick myself up and how quickly can I say? 00:46:42Edit This is where my short coming along, this is what I can do better next time and improve from that. I try not to sit on something for a long time because that affects me mentally and emotionally. I tried to sort of sort of give myself time to breathe, to cope to deal with it, but then also figure out where I went wrong and how I can do it better next time so that I can continue to grow and evolve as an individual, but also said that I can continue to bake cakes and have fun because what would be the fun in um you know, reliving that terrible moment and trust me, I have had plenty of those Lana, Thank you so much for taking the time to have on this call with me today. I've loved learning about someplace and I'm so excited for it to launch and to get in there and experience it and do all the things. Have my first N. F. T. S, my own N. F. T. S, I should say. Well, I just wanted to say thank you not behind behalf of myself, but on behalf of my amazing co founder juliana and the rest of the chain, we're so grateful to have the opportunity to share our story with you and I cannot wait to see you back in Sydney, so we can go for that walk in, Bondi please combat same. 00:47:56Edit Same. I think the last time I saw you was was a walk in the park and it was so lovely. I can't wait me sharing.

You are a lead server at the Cryptid Cafe, a Sasquatch-owned restaurant packed with legendary creatures from all over the world. Gather food. Fill orders. Earn the most tips and be crowned, dare we say, the most “legendary” server. Strategically dispatch your team of Sasquatch servers to the different food stations, gathering the much-needed items to complete your customers’ orders.

YouTube Channels and web sites producing and promoting UFO hoaxes Last update 5/28/2019 – 178 full entries, 18 Dishonorable Mentions The volume of fraud in the field of UFOlogy is staggering, primarily from those attempting to profit by exploiting interest in UFOs. This list is provided to help you avoid supporting hoaxers and profiteers. 07TV – Creator of the Kassel, Germany UFO hoax that fooled quite a few people until some basic compositing errors were exposed. In July 2015 this channel had a new hoax supposedly shot by an airline passenger over the Swiss Alps, which was picked up by a few news sites. Also see Kaschuba Brothers. 3CreepyTV – A channel that peddles “Illuminati” conspiracy material, trading on the proven concept that fear sells. Most videos include “Illuminati Exposed” in the title, and present unrelated clips compiled from news footage and set to music without ever presenting a coherent narrative. Instead, each video is a series of unfounded claims that the government, or evil celebrities, are conspiring to do… something. For example, “A MUST SEE! The BANNED Video With The Secret The US Government Is Hiding In Antarctica…” features a video that isn’t banned, with someone on camera making a wild claim that Russian troops are poised to attack “an annunaki hive” in the frozen wastes (Do they live in hives? They must make some badass honey). Videos are often promoted with (of course) misleading thumbnails whose content appears nowhere in the video, and are often stolen from other hoax videos or photos. 3CreepyTV is fear porn for the gullible, with the disclaimer “all videos are intended for entertainment purposes only.” 7tales.net – When stories are considered too ridiculously stupid for tabloid news, 7tales.net is where they go to die. “PROOF Living Dinosaur Killed By Military!! Government Cover-Up!!” “ALIENS EATING PEOPLE – THE FOREST SERVICE UFO FILES” “AMAZING! CIA REVEALS THEY MADE CONTACT WITH SHADOW PEOPLE FROM MARS!” 7tales takes fake news to the next level of fake. Currently spamming Facebook using the the account “Kamenov Miro.” Adam 1414 – Originating in Italy, this channel feeds off all manner of hoaxes and conspiracy theories, making graphic-heavy videos about sun anomalies, flat earth conspiracies, “reptilian shapeshifters” based on video compression artifacts, doomsday prophecies, and more. Promotes with intensely overwrought thumbnails. ADGUKNEWS (see also StephenHannardADGUK) – Mostly misrepresentations of existing air and space footage, often of dubious origin. Some of the posts venture beyond UFOs into general oddities. A typical description will start with “A video has surfaced of what appears to be…”, a weaselly method of creating plausible deniability. Aguirre, Roberto – CGI artist/designer decides to do a one-off amateurish UFO hoax and is immediately rewarded by being promoted in the British tabloid The Mirror UK, scraping the bottom of the barrel for clickbait. ALFA.8 – Spanish language channel featuring bad CGI hoaxes, contrail remnants misrepresented as UFOs, and video stolen from hoax creators Thirdphaseofmoon, and UFO Today. Alien Blog – (Facebook group) Focuses primarily on CGI hoaxes alien sightings and interviews. Responsible for the Meni Tsirbas alien interview hoax being shared over 1,760 times. Alien News – Badly misrepresented footage: mylar balloons, skydivers with flares, a reflection on a window. Content stolen from other channels without even bothering to remove the victim’s logo. Terribly misleading thumbnails. Bad all around, but aggressively promoting on Reddit, and likely elsewhere. Alien Planet – A collection of poorly conceived and executed UFO hoaxes. Alien Sightings – Amusingly terrible CGI clips that look like the work of a bored teen. Alien Unleash – Laughably terrible CGI fakes, promoted with equally hilarious thumbnails. Most appear to be original, with some models (like a saucer with blinking lights) showing up in multiple videos. With an average of four advertising breaks per video, the goal of the channel seems to be maximizing profit. All Awesome – Similar in method to hoax channel Section 51 2.0, All Awesome finds background footage and adds in CGI spaceships and light effects, as well as copying and repeating old paranormal hoaxes that have been floating around YouTube for years. Also like Section 51, the hoaxes are easily detected and exposed by debunker UFO of Interest. The domain contact for the related allawesome.net web site is listed as Chingan Cheng, and the related Facebook page is managed by Pheanyoun Vit, apparently of Nagano, Japan, who has made at least one YouTuber unhappy by attempting to extort them with false copyright claims. Anomalies Study Group – A “study” of various types of balloons in flight mostly made of mylar, infused with technical sounding nonsense. For example, a semi-inflated balloon with ribbon attached is a “morphing anomaly with floating tether.” Too ridiculous to parody. ANONIMO ANONIMO – A Portuguese language channel featuring sensationalist videos, and hoaxes stolen from other channels including 07TV. ApexTV – Heavily focused on profit, each video of this YouTube channel begins with an appeal for you to subscribe (with an offer of a cash prize for a randomly selected subscriber) and includes multiple ad breaks per video. Using a compilation format with voiceover and sometimes an unidentified on-camera host, ApexTV creates collections of CGI hoaxes, manipulated photos, misrepresented images and hoaxes aggregated from other sources, all with titles that include the phrase “Caught On Tape.” Topics include teleportation, strange and mythical creatures (mermaids, dragons, demons), aliens, time travel, and the usual viral UFO hoaxes from Secureteam 10, Thirdphaseofmoon, Streetcap1 and others. The formula has been successful: ApexTV has racked up over 92,000 subscribers as of February 2017. ArtAlienTV – Channel that makes its living off crazy, scientifically baseless interpretations of Mars photos from the Curiosity rover. 100% pareidolia based, and a waste of time. Aurigae 77 – Formerly Section51/Aurora51, renamed and re-uploaded after being removed from YouTube for reasons unknown. Austin, Jon – This “Online Science Reporter” for the British tabloid The Express UK is a primary supporter and enabler of UFO and paranormal hoaxes that go viral online. Austin uses such stories as clickbait for his column, and subsequently lesser publications repeat the story without checking the quality of the source. Hoaxers Streetcap1, Scott C. Waring, Secureteam 10, Mister Enigma and others owe their high visibility and large subscriber bases to the free publicity provided by Austin and the Express UK. Barney Winner 5 – Certainly a winner for most nonsensical channel name, most of the posts have titles that include the phrase “End Time Signs & Events”. They feature scenes of disaster and strife (and a recurring hilarious illustration of Jesus boxing Satan) with voiceover of a Joe Frank-esque stream of consciousness religious sermon. You’re only a winner if you stay away from this channel and its 5-7 advertising breaks per video. Beforeitsnews (web site) – Promotes any crackpot theory or hoax video clip/photo from any source in hopes of driving more traffic to the site. Watch for Disclosure to be predicted every single year of its existence. Blast World Mysteries – Formerly named “Blast A”, this channel once featured only ridiculous and insultingly bad UFO hoaxes, some created and some stolen. It has since expanded into poaching and misrepresenting paranormal news items from other sources, some years old and recycled to look new. Budgetmoon – Nicknamed “Budgetballoon” and “Are You Fucking Serious?”, this channel specializes in videos of balloons in flight. Canal Paranormal – Originating in Argentina, this Spanish language channel features stolen hoaxes and misrepresented footage from around YouTube, including Thirdphaseofmoon, Section 51 2.0, The Faking Hoaxer, the Meni Tsirbas alien interview, an Aphex Twin video, and many others. CLASSIFIED CHANNEL – Originating in Spain, this channel features mostly stolen content, apparently selected for its viral appeal. Sources include Thirdphaseofmoon, UFOVNI, and 07TV. Close Encounters UFO – Originating in Greece, this robot-voiced channel features primarily fake news, including “CIA Document Reveals the Truth about MARS, they have Discovered An Ancient Giant Alien Race” the source of which turns out to be an interview with a clairvoyant, and the “Earth Has A Second Moon” story, actually referring to an asteroid with a wide orbit around the Earth. Each post has a 30 second lead-in imploring you to “like” and “subscribe”, and the channel is promoted using spam accounts on Facebook. Michael Cohen – This silly, rather sparse channel features alien, UFO, ghost and bigfoot hoaxes. It has a surprising 50K+ following, likely by virtue of having been around since 2009. Conspiracy News Documentary – Mostly stolen content that was acquired with no regard to copyright or accuracy, including a second-hand theft of the hoax “UFO Attacks NASA Spaceship” from DarkSkyWatcher74, which was originally created by The Faking Hoaxer. A comment on the page that pointed to the original video was deleted, so there’s no doubt this is intentional. The Cosmos News – Re-hashes of trending events from other channels using some extra graphic flash, and their own fact-free embellishment. C’one, Scott – See Nibiru Planet X 2016. Coffee Break Talk – Hoaxes and strange stories stolen from other YouTube channels, including Now You Know and UFO Today, as well as others that have circulated for years. Cousins, Blake and Brent – Arguably the two instigators who created the UFO hoaxing-for-profit model with their Third Phase of Moon YouTube channel. Armed with far more ambition than talent as CGI artists and filmmakers, their greatest “skill” has proven to be the ability to lie as a profession and ruminate at length about the contrived and composited videos they present. In recent years they appear to have farmed out their production and post work to other entities, who use a combination of visual effects and customized remote control drones to create hoax UFO video clips. As of July 2015 they’ve amassed a total of nearly 1,200 videos (some non-UFO related) and over a quarter million duped subscribers. In 2014 they released (free online) the science fiction drama Hangar 52: We Are Not Alone, demonstrating a stunning degree of ineptitude in screenwriting, direction, acting, visual storytelling and visual effects. The production makes it clear why the Cousins Brothers are relegated to creating fake UFO videos for a living. crazyvideono1.com – Features hoaxes to attract web traffic, from hoaxers including Paranormal Crucible, UFOVNI, space live news, and others. Promotes using spam accounts on Facebook. Cryptid Research – Beyond the ridiculous overly-dramatic music on every video, the visual effects are beyond awful. If you need a laugh, watch “Giant Snake Caught On Tape,” a slide show made with toy tanks, toy army men and Photoshop. Then erase this channel from your memory. DAHBOO77, DAHBOO777 – Mostly bad pareidolia-based misinterpretations of Mars images. Also posts re-reports of current events infused with his own conspiracy/doomsday theories– usually these videos are simply a still image taken from the news with his own voiceover commentary. Will occasionally present a UFO hoax, or anything that might attract views. DarkSkyWatcher74 – After initially trusting this channel (UFO Theater Episode 1) this producer has become an obvious profiteer, exhibited in the deceptive moneymaking scam in which he (supposedly) raffled a telescope, theft of a clearly labeled CGI video, and several other posts that have been debunked by Dave “Dazzathecameraman” Greg. Sad and disappointing. Disclose.tv – Will post anything they think will bring clicks and profit, including hoaxes of any kind; they seem particularly fond of fakes by Secureteam 10. The unique feature of this site is that all videos are *stolen* rather than linked. In other words, videos are downloaded from YouTube and re-uploaded to Disclose.tv in order to add their own advertising. This is done under the guise of being uploaded by the users of the site rather than the administrators, so Disclose.tv takes no responsibility for the material on its own pages. Videos by UFO Theater have been featured in this way no less than three times, and given the choice to link the original or remove the content, they’ve chosen to remove every time. Disclosurer Radio – Modeled after the fear-mongering style of Secureteam 10 (listed in this channel’s favorites), Disclosurer (?) pushes a narrative of persecution by the U. S. government. Some videos present mundane videos of aircraft misrepresented as something sinister (US Military Using Commercial Aircraft To Track Americans!), while others are visual effects composites (737 Commercial Jet Stopping In mid-air flying backwards). While the compositing is better than Secureteam’s, mistakes are made with focus and perspective. Documentario Xtreme – Originating either in Brazil or Portugal, this channel steals UFO hoaxes from around YouTube. The image quality is so bad on most clips the theft is likely second or third generation (stolen from a content thief who stole from a thief who stole from the creator). Many are promoted with totally unrelated images (also stolen) from other hoax channels like iUFOSightings, Thirdphaseofmoon and Secureteam 10. EarthNewz – Posts compilations of hoaxes from other sources including the Kaschuba brothers and LookNowTV. Earth & Space News – Stolen hoaxes from other sources including the Kaschuba Brothers, WTF Flow and anything else that might be floating around, including The Faking Hoaxer’s Mission to Mars video. educatinghumanity.com – will post anything that might drive traffic, including an obvious hoax from a channel clearly identified as belonging to a CGI artist. Egyptoon – An Egyptian (comedy?) channel that suddenly decided to post a UFO hoax in October of 2015. An odd tangent. EriGIA007 – Will post everything and anything of potential interest, including misrepresented Mars Curiosity and SOHO images, viral hoaxes (example: “Alert: Bananas were found infected with AIDS in Mexico”), and UFO clips with the classic characteristic of starting and ending for no reason. Made fun of these jokers in UFO Theater Episode 1 for their ridiculous graphics. EXO SPACE HD – A robot voice recitation of old UFO cases, using (ironically) low-resolution imagery stolen from other sources– in one case even a thumbnail from hoaxer Secureteam 10. A bottom-feeder channel that appears to be trying to cash in on UFO interest without offering anything original. ExtraterrestrialMind – Hoaxes and non-UFO footage stolen from around YouTube, including a Brazilian telecom commercial represented as a real sighting, and an entire stolen documentary called “Thrive,” broken into three parts titled “UFO’s & Free Energy”. F7U12 – UFO hoaxes and other sensational footage stolen from other sources on YouTube. Racked up 4 million views using a video stolen from an ad campaign for a Brazilian marketing company. Facts Studies – Presenting neither facts nor studies, this channel features hoaxes and stolen footage of all kinds: UFOs, aliens, fatal car accidents, mythical creatures, and fake news. The image quality on most clips is terrible as a result of being downloaded from YouTube and re-compressed multiple times. Most are represented with very misleading titles and thumbnails, and the channel is currently being promoted by spamming Reddit. Fast Walker – Not the worst thing in the world, but a sensationalist channel that will post anything for views, including Shia LeBeouf’s green screen rant, car crashes, hoaxes from other channels, and a significant number of airplane contrails misrepresented as UFOs. Fausto Perez – Another balloon show in which light/reflective inflatables of various shapes drift lazily across the sky. The hook for this channel seems to be the coverage of peoples’ live reactions to the balloons as they’re being taped. FindingUFO – While not as awful as some other 100% hoax channels, FindingUFO has refused to remove numerous hoaxes identified in their playlist, and should not be trusted to provide authentic sightings. gm30001 – Clips without any attribution or context, most often low resolution shots of balls of light in the sky, at least one of which is clearly a police helicopter. Every video has the same creepy drone audio track with a heartbeat sound effect. The real giveaway is that every one of the thumbnails for their videos is a completely fabricated image that doesn’t actually appear in the video. How to Draw and Paint Art Channel – Yes, you’re reading that channel name correctly. This channel’s posts alternate between ancient hoaxes stolen from around YouTube, misrepresented footage (also stolen), and time lapse clips of an artist (safe guess: channel owner) illustrating characters with pen and paper. At least there’s something original here. Hunter, Jason – After first focusing primarily on unusual cloud formations, three years ago Mr. Hunter joined the Mars pareidolia porn bandwagon and never looked back. Hutchison, John (YouTube) – Posted a hoax video of a police officer being immolated by a motorist (supposedly an alien, of course) that drew over 4M views. Debunker Isaac Koi correctly identifies this as a promo for a television show. Not UFO-related, but making an exception for Mr. Hutchison for recently trying to profit from October 2015 news stories including the discovery of water on Mars and a mass murder. Igor Kryan – Channel featuring bizarre animal attacks, sexual images and UFO hoaxes. Their “30 Best 2016 HD Alien UFO Encounters Caught On Camera That Will Make Skeptics Believe” that features all manner of hoaxed and misrepresented footage including mylar balloons, bad CGI and reflections in windows. Don’t review this garbage without a hot shower and some brain bleach handy. Or preferably don’t view it at all. Ilias, “Dr.” J. Andy – Longtime shill for the Third Phase of Moon YouTube hoax channel, this decidedly non-Phd attorney showed a penchant for filling time with useless chatter. Consequently he now has his own YouTube channel, and a radio show on Art Bell’s Dark Matter Digital Network. After spending time with the Cousins Brothers exploiting the Malaysia Flight MH370 disappearance for profit, there’s nowhere for Andy to go but up. Incredible News E3 – Incredibly ridiculous paranormal stories, many duplicated from around YouTube but with misspelled titles. Based on older posts like “Pacu, el pez que come testiculos humanos” (Pacu, the fish that eats human testicles) the unnamed channel owner is likely a Spanish speaker. Robot-voiced videos include “EXTRATERRESTRIAL SORCERERS [sic] FOUND UNDER THE POLAR ICE CAPS” (taking a cue from hoaxers UFOVNI and Secureteam 10), “Mysterious vortex appear on the Large Hadron Collider” (stolen from hoaxer Section 51). Incredible News E3 simply regurgitates existing stories with a minimum of effort, in some cases only presenting two still photos for an entire 3 minute video. InFocusUFOs – A spinoff from the worst-of-the-worst Thirdphaseofmoon channel, this series of videos seeks to develop a “character” out of a frequent contributor of computer-generated UFO videos. “Ed” vaguely describes his supposed personal experiences with extraterrestrials, speaking only in generalities and giving no context or details (much like his hoax UFO videos) and all set to spacey music with plenty of b-roll. The whole channel is one after another masturbatory mood piece devoid of any information, insight, or anything real whatsoever. The Inquisitr (inquisitr.com) – In an online ecosystem overpopulated with cut-and-paste news sites, The Inquisitr sits at the bottom of the heap. Will repost any idiotic paranormal news story from any hoax source, even those too stupid for British tabloids. Low point so far: promoting a debunked photo of a solar farm in Nevada, represented by hoaxer Mister Enigma as a giant UFO. The substance of the article was a “debate” regarding whether the photo was a solar farm or a giant UFO in the exact location of a known solar farm. ISS Ufo Watch – You can see where this is going just from the channel name: lots of misrepresented lens flares, compression artifacts, and tiny bits of debris floating around the International Space Station. Also, a healthy dose of Mars pareidolia clips. “Finds” on the red planet include a number “7”, a statue, a skeleton, a creature (posted twice), and a “strange figure.” iufosightings – Formerly called NDestination Unknown before it disappeared from Youtube, this is not so much a UFO channel as a 3D model asset catalog. Over 1,100 videos and not a single authentic sighting. Every UFO clip is a computer modeled spaceship composited against a landscape background or still photo. Every. Single. One. jmhz71 – aka “The Balloonist.” Based in Mexico, all this channel’s captures are simple shapes that wander slowly and aimlessly across the sky. Kaschuba Brothers – Purported owners of the audiocolorworld.com domain (anonymized through the registrar) and creators of at least eight hoax YouTube channels, debunked by Metabunk.org and others. in sum, a herpetic rash on the body of UFOlogy. Their techniques include use of CGI 3D models, fake camera movement, and blurring and obscuring of key details that would clearly reveal how their images have been manipulated. latest-ufo-sightings.net (web site and Facebook page) – Will post anything regardless of authenticity just to keep the traffic moving, making it a perfect vehicle for Black Lister’s material. Features hoaxes from LookNowTV, Secureteam 10, Streetcap1 and Scott Waring. Latest UFO Sightings (YouTube) – Comes with a unique disclaimer on each page advising that “95% UFO sightings are probably fake” which is intended to excuse the fact that their compilations are put together with demonstrably hoaxed clips included. Limitless – Created by a Serbian named Zeljko Stankovic, this channel features stolen UFO hoaxes from UFOmania2015 and Secureteam 10 as well as other material from around YouTube, without even bothering to obscure the creators’ watermarks and logos. The name “Limitless” seems to apply to advertisements, as on 30 minute compilation includes a possible record-breaking 23 ads. Looknowtv – Although they’ve recently started putting more effort into their videos, they’re still bad and technically unconvincing. Early attempts at making clear close-up hoaxes have failed, so they’ve now attempting to lower the size and resolution of their phony UFOs in order to obscure how the video clips have been manipulated. magazineclick.com – This extreme right-wing fake news site is also fond of UFO and paranormal hoaxes, featuring videos from fraudulent YouTube channels when possible. Subjects include animal-human hybrids, Nazi UFOs, Nibiru, and the March 2017 “flying humanoid shape” hoax which turned out to be a Photoshopped kite. Vik Mancini – Mr. Mancini is a Facebook enigma. At first glance he seems to be a regular guy who enjoys making music and playing with his dog. However, if you frequent UFO-related pages and groups, he’s a distribution hub for UFO hoaxes. Mancini is fond of posting video clips of bad fakes that are never sourced, and defy analysis because they’ve been uploaded to Facebook, which degrades the image quality to the point that the method used to create the fake can’t be discerned. Every video is captioned with one of several broken English phrases ending in a question mark (?), most frequently: Mystery sky ? Time ? Hey ? He has been asked why he does this, and won’t respond. There are plenty of simple minded people passing around ridiculous looking UFO hoaxes on Facebook. If they ever decided to organize, Vik Mancini would be their king– the King of Simpleton. The videos he posts inexplicably get shared tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of times. It’s likely you wouldn’t be able to frequent UFO groups for a week without being exposed to one of the silly, badly constructed fakes he’s pushing. Why he does it, and why they are shared so often is anybody’s guess– could Facebook be using his videos as a honeypot to collect data on gullible people? We may never know. Mandi Boyn – An almost comical trove of stolen UFO hoaxes from around YouTube using a vignette to (almost) obscure the creator’s watermark. All uploaded on June 3, 2015. marinodelfino – Not confined to fake UFO clips, this channel covers several kinds of hoaxed paranormal activity, mostly presenting digital video artifacts as evidence of “shapeshifting reptilians.” They’re quite fond of using eerie sound effects and glitchy motion graphics and stock images to dress up their nonsense. Martin Mikuaš – Misrepresents ordinary sunlight breaking through the clouds as “strange phenomena”, promotes chemtrail and Nibiru conspiracy theories, presents faked “historical” footage of unknown origin with unconvincing film scratch effects. Examples include “Alien in the box,” “Mysterious Coin,” and “Mermaid Skeleton.” There are some clips of blobs of light in the sky that look interesting, but there’s too much garbage on this channel to take them seriously. Matrix World Disclosure – Creates compilations of sensationalist clips from around YouTube: UFO videos, disasters and odd events. This fear porn channel features wild apocalyptic scare headlines, the most common tropes being “Earth Is Changing, Extreme Events Worldwide” and “ALERT! SOMETHING BIG IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN”. Predicted World War III was “about to begin” in 2015. Apparently this formula has worked well for its creator, a Romanian man named Puiu Chiriac, as he’s recently created a second similar channel named The Others. Mexicogeek – A ridiculous collection of paranormal detritus from around the net, including misrepresented Mars photos, old UFO hoaxes that have been circulating for years, and doctored photos of strange creatures. Mister UFO/Mister Enigma – Mostly UFO detritus duplicated from around Youtube, and some hoax videos. And then, there’s a rare unicorn-like clip made of 100% computer generated imagery, which we debunked. Mister UFO has our debunking video temporarily taken down with a false copyright infringement claim, after verbally wrestling with himself. misterio canal – A Spanish language channel that features any number of sensational clips including unusual insects, and giant snakes, as well as insultingly bad UFO hoaxes. Prime example is the “Teletransportación de nave nodriza” video featured in the tabloid Daily Express in September 2016. Also a smattering of stolen hoaxes, including Section 51’s “UFO Portal Over CERN.” ModernGalaxy – UFO hoaxes and other paranormal videos stolen from around YouTube. Includes hoaxes created by Secureteam 10, UFOVNI, and Paranormal Crucible. Modnuts – Stolen content from around YouTube, at one time including Darin Crapo’s excellent UFO Planet show. NOT COOL, MODNUTS. MR. AMAZING X – Based in India, this channel presents awful, juvenile UFO fakes created with visual effects, and a hoax stolen from CGI artist Oondyla. For an added dose of credibility, videos depicting a “real dragon found alive” that doesn’t move, and “real dinosaurs found alive” which consists of a CGI photo of a pterodactyl. Mr Anomalous – Balloons of all shapes and sizes. Mysterious Perception – Previously named Truth Perception Media, this is carbon copy of most bottom-feeding paranormal channels, simply duplicating hoaxes that have gone viral and applying its own stink to them. Conscious of possible accusations of copyright infringement, every video description includes the phrase “Used under Fair Use.” Plagiarized hoaxes include “6,000-year-old Vimana found by 8 US Soldiers Disappeared in Afghanistan Cave”, “Elongated ‘Alien’ Skull discovered on Mars According to UFO hunters” (a Mars pareidolia hoax mocked in Mars Madness), “Round Black Object ‘UFO’ captured on live stream flying over the Moon”, and “Mysterious Black Helicopter appears to chase UFO ‘small dark object’ zooming across the evening sky” in which, curiously, the object being “pursued” resembles a balloon, and never appears in the same shot as the pursuer. MysteriousUniverse.org – Promotes hoax videos by channels including Secureteam 10, LookNowTV, UFOVNI, and Paranormal Crucible. Blocks dissenting comments from their posts. NDestinationUnknown – See iufosightings. THE NIBIRU – The title of this channel would lead you to believe it’s focused on planet X Nibiru nonsense. Instead, THE NIBIRU features 100% stolen UFO hoaxes from Thirdphaseofmoon, Section 51 2.0, Jonathan Castro, UFOMania2015 and more. Most are promoted with CGI or space art thumbnails completely unrelated to the video. Nibiru Planet X 2016 – Either a product of extreme opportunism or extreme mental illness, this channel, the brain-vomit of one Scott C’one (aka Scott Allan Cone), promotes the idea there’s a secret planet lurking in our celestial neighborhood that is beginning to wreak havoc on earth. As exposed by astronomer/debunker Dave “Dazzathecameraman” Greg, no claim is too ridiculous or unfounded to keep C’one’s viewers coming back for more details of their impending doom. C’one has attacked Greg personally, suggesting he’s a government shill paid through that well-known illuminati money conduit, Paypal. If any of your friends fall prey to C’one or his Nibiru conspiracy theories, please find them professional help. NowYouKnow – A collection of standard paranormal news tripe, including Mars pareidolia clips, questionable cryptozoology photos, bigfoot, witches, mermaids, etc. Appears to be content taken from another channel as most of the posts were uploaded en masse once a month starting in August 2016. Of Sound Mind And Body – New name for an old hoax channel. See Mister UFO/Mister Enigma. Omega Ovnis Ufos – (Facebook group) Has the distinction of being the first Facebook group to be added to The Black List. There’s no hoax too unbelievable to be downloaded from YouTube and re-uploaded to their pages, which seem to get shared constantly. Most of the branding appears to have been removed, but we were able to identify at least one hoax from Secureteam 10, and others look straight from the Kaschuba Brothers. ovni hd – A French channel featuring copied and (sometimes altered) reposted hoaxes. Most are rather obvious CG fakes, and as of October 2016 ovni has a tiny following. Secureteam 10 started out the same way, and we know what a megadisaster that has become, so it’s never too soon to add to The Black List. OVNIS ACTUALES – Enigmas de la Historia – An apparent side project of hoax channel jmhz71, these clips feature balloons, misrepresented footage, and stolen UFO documentary segments; basically anything that can be scraped off the bottom of YouTube and used to generate some views. PARALLEL reality of UFOs – While the capitalization of this channel’s title is inept, its purpose is very clear: maximize profit. Each video is a compilation of stolen footage, with up to 15(!) advertisements distributed throughout. Even worse, the stolen clips are re-compressed and muddied down to 480p resolution which makes the real and hoaxed “UFOs” barely discernible. Paranormal Crucible – Channel mostly dedicated to wild and ridiculous interpretations of unusually shaped rocks on Mars, using photos taken by the Curiosity rover. Will sometimes engage in UFO clips. paranormics.com, paranormics.tv – Promotes hoaxes by Thirdphaseofmoon, Mister Enigma and others. Pot Boys – YouTube channel dedicated to doctored photos, hoaxes repeated from other channels and misrepresenting lens flares and the moon in ISS footage. praticonews.info – will post anything in order to drive traffic to their site, including links to many hoax videos. RAW NEWS – Imagine Howard Beale from the film Network on his downward slide, delivering a depressing sermon over images of disaster and strife, some taken from the news and some from mainstream films. This is the sensationalist, depressing fear porn served up by Raw News on YouTube, including a generous helping of hoaxes such as the Meni Tsirbas alien interview, Nibiru planet X scares, and “72 HOUR WARNING ~ DEEP IMPACT ASTEROID DUE TO ROCK THE WORLD”… from September 2016. “COPS GIVE DUI TEST TO GIRL NOT WEARING PANTS” is about as uplifting as it gets. Their related Raw Channel was removed from YouTube “due to multiple or severe violations of YouTube’s policy against spam, deceptive practices, and misleading content or other Terms of Service violations.” Real Thing TV – Primarily and opportunistic pop culture channel that collects oddities from around the net, including movie reviews, ridiculous speculation (Pope Francis to Resign in 2016?), and yes, UFO videos, all of them hoaxes stolen from other channels. The “reporting” is all voiced via computer text-to-speech, making this channel all the more suspect. Real UFO Alien Evidence – Badly composed, implausible CGI hoaxes, some original and some stolen from other channels such as Thirdphaseofmoon, Section 51 and Secureteam 10. The latter are obvious in that the clips are very low resolution, as a result of enlarging the image to crop out the original watermarks. Also includes run-of-the-mill Mars pareidolia and alien hoaxes. Rob19791 – Mostly dormant channel with years-old videos that recently posted in May 2016, with misrepresentations of ISS footage and Mars photos. SandboxTEN – Features hilariously misleading thumbnails promoting faked videos UFOs, witches and ghosts. The UFO clips are hoaxes stolen from other channels and several bad CGI fakes. The “witch” videos are the most absurd, one featuring a silhouetted peacock perched in a tree, and another a woman simply gesturing in an open field. How this train wreck of a channel accumulated over 100,000 subscribers is anybody’s guess. Scary Videos – Not exclusively featuring UFOs, but the UFO videos this channel presents are all nearly 100% poorly executed CGI fakes. The “About” YouTube page links to hoaxer Alien Planet, so the same person likely owns both. SecretScienceTV – See Kaschuba Brothers. Section 51 2.0 – A channel created by French CGI artist Jean “JH” Wzgarda that once exploited authentic military footage by adding CGI spaceships. At one point the original channel, was “limited” by Youtube, possibly due to fraud complaints, so it split off into a second channel named Aurora 51. In a bizarre about-face, Wzgarda then started to referring to his hoaxes as a “web series” and asking for money to support it. He later stopped using military footage and renamed the channel Section 51 2.0, but continued the use of ridiculous-looking computer generated UFOs that sometimes earn him tabloid publicity. Wzgarda was outed by Scott Brando of ufoofinterest.org, and this amusing interaction ensued. In February of 2017 Wzgarda lodged a privacy complaint against a video that directly associated him with his Section 51 2.0 YouTube channel, but that complaint was rejected when YouTube discovered he had been publicly identified as the owner of domain associated with the channel in registrar records. His videos continue to be debunked as viewers have recently started locating the stock and found footage he uses for backgrounds. In December of 2018, Wzgarda finally came clean in a video confessing that “sorry guys, it was all CGI,” and has since labeled all his remaining videos as such. The entire saga is detailed in the UFO Theater video A Brief History of Section 51 2.0. Secureteam 10 (Glockner, Tyler) – Originally this channel simply used deceptive interpretations of footage and some silly Photoshop work, but eventually grew its viewership with significant help from pretend journalist Jon Austin of the Express.co.uk web site. He attempted to have a UFO Theater debunking video removed from Youtube and Vimeo with false copyright claims. We have since released a more comprehensive debunking video. Glockner continues to be promoted by a number of disreputable tabloids and as a result has collected a large number of subscribers, giving his channel the appearance of veracity. Sergeant UFO – Formerly Section51/Aurora51, renamed re-uploaded after being removed from YouTube for reasons unknown. Slapped Ham – It was easy to dismiss this compilation of “countdowns, lists and facts about everything” as another viral trash collector, until this: “Thanks to Section 51 for collaborating with us on this one. For more amazing UFO footage check out their channel.” Obviously, facts are not a concern, so paranormal viral hoaxes are littered throughout the Slapped Ham playlist. sonofmabarker – Another “whatever gets the clicks” channel, featuring everything from UFO hoaxes (often videotaped off a TV or computer screen) to car crashes to doctored Mars photos. Recently jumped on the “Astronaut Tweets Photo of UFO” hoax bandwagon. space live news – Another fear porn channel featuring stolen content with apocalyptic titles like “Nibiru Planet NEMESIS to Hit Earth” and “FEB 4 Breaking News NASA Says Earth Civilization is Doomed.” Other completely false stories include “China Reveals That a Massive Alien Outpost and Mining Facility is Operating on the Moon” and “feb 1 BREAKING SPACE ALERT! Russian Media CONFIRMS PLANET X NIBIRU 2017 INVASION.” StephenHannardADGUK (See also: ADGUKNEWS) – ADGUK being an acronym for “Alien Disclosure Group, United Kingdom”, and yet there are no aliens, no disclosure and I doubt there’s even a group. Though this channel seems to have the good sense to deal mostly in still photos as they’re far easier to fake, they sometimes post UFO-related items used without permission from major networks. Strange Videos – A grab bag of anything and everything that might attract views: “ghost sightings”, haunted dolls, UFOs, angels, et cetera, all stolen from other channels. As a result of the download/re-upload process, the image quality of all videos is degraded to the point that details are barely discernible. Apparently no one is keeping track of what’s been stolen, as at least one clip has been uploaded twice with two different titles. Strangeness Video – Varied faked material stolen from around the net, including the “Massachusetts UFO Releasing Orbs” hoax and the Michigan UFO hoax, both animated over still backgrounds. Plus alien attacks, shape-shifting Obama, blah, blah, blah. StrangeThings – Typical of the common low cost, quick-profit UFO hoax channel: stolen clips and insultingly bad CGI fakes. Currently attempting to generate views by spamming Reddit using the account “worldhotties20.” Streetcap1 – Created by Scotland resident George Graham (aka George Orwell Smith), this channel relies on gross misrepresentation of images, primarily in video feeds from the International Space Station. There seems to be no lens flare, moonrise, tiny ice particle, or anomaly in a Solar and Heliospheric Observatory image that Streetcap1 won’t pounce on and present as evidence of an extraterrestrial visit. Tabloids promoting Streetcap1’s videos will often attempt to beef up the story with an opinion from know-nothing Scott C. Waring, who will confirm any sighting as authentic in order to promote his name and web site. Graham passed away in June 2018, and was memorialized in a video by Waring. Suspect Sky – Originally created as a promotional channel for an online science fiction series which never materialized, this has devolved into just another source of hoaxes. Some of the clips are original CGI fakes, and the balance are misrepresented phenomena and clips stolen from channels like Thirdphaseofmoon. THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE – As it turns out, it is very possible to misrepresent ordinary phenomena with a load of nonsense and gain over 50,000 subscribers. Lens flares misrepresented as multiple suns, clouds are said to be lit “wrong” and claimed to be hiding planets, lights in the sky are called SCARY UFO PORTALS. And then of course, the usual nutty mermaids, Nibiru “sightings”, Nazi UFOs, and plenty of over-the-top sensational video titles that include the phrases “footage included” (pushing the envelope by putting video on YouTube) and WOW! BREAKING! SCARY! WTF! UNREAL! At least that last one is accurate. Not real at all. The Others – From the same person who created Matrix World Disclosure, and just as trashy. Thirdphaseofmoon – As best I can tell, some time in 2010 a couple of mediocre filmmakers discovered that posting UFO videos on Youtube was a viable business model, and they’ve done very well for themselves. It was a perfect area for them to exploit: production standards are extremely low, and plausibility is almost a non-issue. Producers/CGI artists Blake and Brett Cousins may not create all the hoax UFO shots on their channel (only around 90% of them are hoaxes) but they certainly don’t care about authenticity; it’s all just more content. They’ve made their channel a full-time business and crank out 2 to 3 videos a week, some of them hoax videos, some of them inane interviews devoid of originality or insight. Due to their large audience the Cousins brothers appear to be making a comfortable living for themselves, have upgraded their equipment to HD and are using a steadicam for host segments. Lately they’ve become more brazen promoter, as evidenced by totally unfounded speculation that Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 disappeared due to a “mass alien abduction”. After being repeatedly busted on their hoaxes, they’re now using “shake and blur” style to make their computer generated imagery harder to debunk. Top10Trending (dongzterlibrary) – Hoaxes stolen from everywhere: Secureteam 10, Section 51, Streetcap1, and others. Hard to believe this channel hasn’t received any copyright hits yet, but there are so many similar channels that rely on stolen content it’s hard for the hoax creators to track them all down. Truth Perception Media – See Mysterious Perception. ufo.web.tv – Not just UFO hoaxes, but stolen UFO hoaxes from anywhere and everywhere. UFO – Shocking that this channel created in May of 2016 found the name “UFO” available, but there you go. The simple name is very appropriate to its simple strategy of stealing hoaxes from other channels and covering up the branding with its own “logo” (for lack of a better term). Even the video titles seem as if they could have been stolen from Secureteam 10 or Thirdphaseofmoon. Ufoalien Ovni Ufosx – Facebook group that features hoaxes from around YouTube, similar in style to the also word-salad-named Omega Ovnis Ufos. UFO ALIENS TV – An collection of CGI clips, doctored photos and reposted hoaxes currently (as of November 2016) being uploaded at the batshit crazy rate of 6 to 10 per day along with misleading, totally unrelated thumbnails that seem to have been stolen from an archive of sci-fi imagery. Was recently promoted by Jon Austin of The Express UK, the equivalent of a credibility kiss of death. UFO 2015 – Collections of fabricated or outright stolen hoax clips, all with titles including the phrase “Real UFO With Aliens Caught On Camera,” likely hoping to profit from confusion with the original hoax created by 07TV bearing the same title. UFO Lights – Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: hoaxes stolen from around YouTube, including the worst of the worst: Secureteam 10, Thirdphaseofmoon, iUFO Sightings, Blast A, and more. UFO Release – A collection of dementedly bad CGI spaceship clips similar to those created by hoaxers iUFO Sightings and Section 51 2.0, only more ineptly conceived and executed. As one comment put it, “I can see the polygons.” UFO shack – rehashed collections of hoax videos from other channels with extremely misleading thumbnails. UFO SIGHTINGS – UFO hoaxes stolen from other YouTube channels, most oftten from CGI hoaxer Blast A. Uses ridiculously misleading thumbnails and titles. UFO Sightings 2015 – CGI hoaxes and UFO features outright stolen from around YouTube. If this channel gets a bigger profile they can expect some copyright hits coming soon. Ufo Sightings Footage – All manner of fake news, including “Recent Portals Opening Directly Above CERN”, “Alien Hole Found In Russia,” Nibiru, Giant Nephilim, Buildings on the moon and more. And of course, hoaxes stolen from other channels. One post is simply a collection of fakes copied from UFOmania 2015. There’s a link in the header to a related channel called “UFO Videos” when followed lands you on a page saying “This account has been terminated due to multiple or severe violations of YouTube’s policy against spam, deceptive practices, and misleading content …” The associated web site conspiracylie.com is registered to Tim Lewis of Lancashire, UK. UFO TV – 100% CGI fakes stolen from other hoax channels, promoted with completely unrelated thumbnail images stolen from hoaxers Secureteam 10, LookNowTV and Section 51 2.0. UFONEARSUN – myunhauzen74 – Created by Russian Alexey Sapozhnikov, posts to this channel are all based on wildly misrepresented specks and errors in Solar and Heliospheric Observatory images, colorfully described as UFOs, angels, spheres, and in one case, a giant worm. Ufo videos – Channel comprised of reposted hoaxes of the defunct NDestination Unknown channel kicked off YouTube in 2014. UFO Today – Features nearly 100% stolen content, including documentaries, hoaxes and misrepresented footage. All the videos appear to have been downloaded from YouTube and manipulated, then re-encoded, producing an extremely muddy image. While the subscriber and view numbers are still small, this channel is being aggressively marketed on Facebook and Reddit. UFO Today got a boost after one of its stolen hoaxes went viral in February 2017. UFO World – UFO clips stolen from hoaxers around YouTube, including EriGIA007, WTF Flow, and UFOVNI, and others having unknown origin such as “UFOs from airplane over Atlanta, GA.” These are usually edited together into compilations with news clips and legit photos and videos, demonstrating a lack of interest in whether the media is authentic or not. Consequently this channel can’t be trusted. UFO World News – Hoaxes and other footage stolen from around YouTube, presented with the source’s logo cropped out. Sources include Thirdphaseofmoon, Secureteam 10, and NowYouKnow. Ufoalien Ovni Ufosx – Facebook group that features hoaxes from around YouTube, similar in style to the also word-salad-named Omega Ovnis Ufos. UFObook – See Kaschuba Brothers. UFODI, aka UFODI 100% Real Ufo’s @ UFODI.NET – These people out of Ireland (?) have bashed other hoaxers in the past, so as a courtesy we warned them that their “TR3B Over Manchester” videos (previously titled “Low Hanging Triangle”) were fakes. The warnings went unheeded, and comments on the video page deleted. The videos are still up. Their playlist also includes a couple of CGI fakes and one from co-blacklister Budgetmoon. UFOfilesTV – See Kaschuba Brothers. ufointernationalproject.com – After raising a profanity-laced stink over being included on the Black List, these jokers were taken off and given the opportunity to remove hoaxes featured on their site: LookNowTV, Streetcap1, Mister Enigma and others shat out by the tabloid press. Not only has the site not been cleaned up, but in March 2016 decided to go with a ginned-up story about an offhand joke made by space station astronaut Scott Kelly as an admission of the existence of aliens. This was disingenuously combined with a long-ago debunked tweeted photo of a “UFO”, which was proven to be part of the space station. Their return to The Black List resulted in more personal threats, profanity, accusations of a DDOS attack, a torrid campaign of anti-UFO Theater Facebook posts on various pages, and sworn promises of legal action. What they didn’t provide was any refutation of the fact that the site promotes hoax UFO videos. Ufomania 2015 – Hoaxes stolen from other channels and set to music, with (sometimes multiple) icons applied to cover up the source branding. UFOmania – The truth is out there – Another robot-voiced channel full of fake news, with each post presented as photo montage around a fabricated story. Examples include “Mass Evacuation Of Antarctica as Special Ops And Military Moving In”, “The CIA Explored Mars And Discovered An Ancient Giant ” and “Doorway Into Pluto Found In Latest NASA Photo.” Scientifically baseless trash that will only leave you dumber. UFOrbs – Each post is purported to be a “documentary,” but is really a compilation of old footage taken from other sources, including documentaries and local news reports, promoted with a misleading thumbnail that has nothing to do with the content. Further, UFOrbs has the audacity to put its own watermark on content it clearly doesn’t own, with text in the description of each: DISCLAIMER: WE CAN NOT AUTHENTICATE ALL THE VIDEOS. VIEWERS ARE FREE TO MAKE THEIR OWN CONCLUSIONS. AKA “you decide,” the hoaxer’s favorite catch phrase. Throw in multiple advertising breaks per post, and it becomes clear UFOrbs has created a no-cost, no-original-content money machine. UFOs And Aliens – Yet another garbage trove of viral hoaxes stolen from around YouTube. UFOs Documentary – Features hoax videos created by blacklisted channel WTF Flow. ufosightingsdaily.com – See Waring, Scott. ufothetruthisoutthere(.blogspot).com – Will post any sensationalist trash to drive traffic to their advertising-heavy site, including material from hoax channels like Secureteam 10 or Thirdphaseofmoon. UFOVNI – Relies on presenting photos of dubious origin and at least one composited hoax titled “UFOs OVER OSAKA JAPAN 7/18/2015” in which lights over an industrial plant clearly move independent of the background. In August of 2016 UFOVNI misrepresented a solar balloon as a “cigar-shaped UFO over Spain.” UFOvni2012 – A mishmash of bad CGI posts and current events spun to seem related to UFOs, including completely unfounded speculation that the MH370 disappearance was a mass abduction. At least one video included a Billy Meier photo as its subject. UFOWorldNews (web site) – A shill site for all the other hoaxers. They will literally post anything from any of the Youtube hoax channels: Thirdphaseofmoon, Looknowtv, even the laughable iUFOSightings. Do they receive pennies for promoting hoaxes, or do they simply benefit from the traffic created by posting hoaxers’ work? Who knows. I guess this is what you do when you have zero talent and you’re really, really lazy. UndentifiedFO – That’s the word “unidentified” spelled incorrectly, plus “FO.” Hoaxes, viral and documentary footage stolen from YouTube, re-encoded and re-uploaded, resulting in abysmally degraded image quality. One bizarre post called “NASA Confirms Contact With Nibiru planet!” includes footage of NASA scientists edited with clips from the film V For Vendetta, in which nothing close to what is described in the title ever occurs. As of February 2017 this channel is being promoted by spamming Reddit using the account “NewsDreams.” VARBAGE – Daringly, appropriately rhymed with garbage, yet another computer-voiced channel capitalizes on hoaxes and big lie headlines including “DOOMSDAY WARNING: Moon is on COLLISION COURSE with Earth, say scientists!”, failing to mention that “doomsday” will becoming around the time our sun starts to die. Vero Verius – Hoaxes and other material stolen from around YouTube. Nearly every video is comically plastered with graphics, strategically placed to hide the watermarks of the channels they were stolen from. ViralDark7 – A showcase of the idiotic, ViralDark7 features easily or previously debunked hoaxes and sensational footage collected from other channels on YouTube, served in easy to digest “Top 5” or “Top 10” format. “5 Angels Caught On Camera Flying 2016” for example, features amateurish CGI clips mixed with a long-ago debunked clip from a computer game. Walton, Charles – Mr. Walton, a fan of Donald Trump, has made what looks like multiple posts a week (often a day) on odd topics of his interest, since 2006. His longevity has inexplicably netted him over 15,000 subscribers. The videos include various government conspiracy theories involving UFOs, but what really got our attention in May 2016, were multiple posts exploiting the disappearance of Egyptair Flight MS804. Nine videos within 24 hours claim that the plane was abducted by a “mile wide alien UFO” without any evidence whatsoever. He further goes on to claim that he predicted an event like this in a video posted days preceding the event, yet nothing like this exists… unless he chooses to create and backdate it. Waring, Scott C. – No practitioner of visual effects, Mr. Waring makes his living using narration to misrepresent images as evidence of UFOs or strange activity: an oddly shaped cloud, a strangely shaped rock on Mars or the moon, and the like. In one video he spends 4 minutes trying to convince us a smudge in a still photo of a volcano (likely the blurry image of a bird) is a UFO. Claims there’s a speedboat on Mars. Waring has used his ufosightingsdaily.com web site (found to be infested with malware popups) to act as carnival barker for well-established hoaxers such as Streetcap1, Secureteam 10 and LookNowTV, and has unfortunately been cited as a “UFO expert” by online news sites that share hoaxes in order to bring in traffic. Waring will confirm any sighting as authentic in order to promote himself and his web site. Writer Jon Austin of the UK tabloid The Express once fooled Waring into claiming a video clip of planes landing at Heathrow airport were UFOs, yet continues to quote Waring in UFO stories. WELCOME TO REALITY – This channel originating in France is another typical steal-and-spam operation, using hoax videos duplicated from YouTube and promoted using at least one Facebook shill account. x-u-f-o.blogspot.com – Simply reposts links to hoaxes by Secureteam 10, Myunhauzen74, UFOvni2012, Art Alien TV and others. xxxdonutzxxx – See Kaschuba Brothers. ZV UFO – A few rarely seen clips, but most stolen from Secureteam 10, Thirdphaseofmoon, Section 51, LookNowTV, and others that have gone viral. Web sites that use UFO hoaxes to attract pageviews.

Learn the fundamentals of FIFA 22, from earning money to scoring goals. Even if you’re just starting started with this year’s major football sim, you’ll find that FIFA 22 hints are indispensable. Do you happen to be a PS Plus downloader? Welcome. Though FIFA 22 is most known for its “Ultimate Team” mode, it offers a lot more for players to get their teeth into. The following are some helpful suggestions for that gigantic card-collecting monster, as well as some other goodies, like as the ability to form your own club in the game’s career mode. The seven most important things you need to know before you play FIFA 22 are as follows. Get some experience taking free kicks. FIFA’s new free-kick system is taking some getting used to for players. It’s not easy to hit the target with just the right amount of force when using a crosshair. Consequently, it is not a bad idea to take some practice shots in advance in order to have a feel for the mechanics of this device. Once players master this technique, they will be able to take the opponent by surprise with a well-executed free kick. Acquiring the Skill Required to Complete Penalties Once upon a time, it was also easy to take penalties, but those days have long since passed. Taking a penalty is now more of a minigame than a serious danger, with most players just aiming for the middle of the goal. Players should practice taking penalties in the same way they do free kicks. It’s a basic assignment that will pay huge dividends down the road when players start being fouled inside the box and have to make the most of their fantastic scoring chance. When the time comes, you must be able to adjust the force of your shot. Consciously regulating the force of one’s shots is a challenging task. Given such, players need to keep in mind the shot’s angle and type before deciding on the necessary force. Consequently, it is not always possible to get a successful photo with only one press of the shoot button. Instead, it’s important to maintain the power under control so that goalkeepers have a tougher time responding in time to prevent these goals from being converted. In order to reach your goals on a regular basis, you need to set some “sweaty goals.” Many soccer fans have strong opinions on the’sweaty goal’ phrase, depending on their own skill level. A goal like that is embarrassing, but it’s also simple and reliable. To maximize scoring chances, teams should be arranged in a manner that encourages attackers to rush the goal area. It’s a certain way to get another player off their line and into the scoring position for a fun, easy goal. If you find yourself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, you should go for a low, driven shot. It’s best to shoot towards the goal that’s further away from the goalie. To do this, players should take a low, driven shot towards the goal. To unleash a low driven shot, players must hold both shoulder buttons in addition to the shoot button. Using this tactic well, they may easily win a shootout against the goalie. Using this method, you can also direct your header downward. It’s not easy to get a good header in FIFA 22. Only a few of top attackers in FIFA 22 are capable of consistently scoring goals with their heads. Using the same method as a low driven shot may boost the likelihood of scoring these kind of goals. Goals are more likely to be scored when players aim their headers downward by pressing and holding both shoulder buttons at the same time. Give another tap on the shoot button a try as you near the end to see if it helps you time your shot better. It’s much easier to score in FIFA 22 if you use timed finishes. That being said, this is certainly not a simple method. To increase the force of the shot, players should hit the shoot button again just as their foot makes contact with the ball. By perfecting this last step, golfers may boost their shot’s quality and increase the chance of making a putt. When you get close to the goalkeeper, try a delicate chip. A goalkeeper who is spreading himself as thin as possible may be struck by a shot that is headed right at him. To maximize success, players should focus on making finesse shots under these conditions. Some attackers are able to perfectly slot the ball into the corner of the goal because they prioritize accuracy above strength. It’s a great feeling to score in this fashion in FIFA 22. You can effectively punish charging keepers with a chip shot. Given the fast-paced nature of FIFA, players sometimes have a chance to sprint for the net during a gap. However, a crafty player might attempt to unnerve the opponent’s striker by having his or her goalie rush towards the player. Chip shots that can go past the goalkeeper may be released by pressing the left shoulder button and shooting. To do so will guarantee a result that is both pleasant and embarrassing. To score spectacular goals, you should try going for a flair shot. Attempting a strong and stunning goal with a flair shot is a calculated risk that players take. Power is prioritized above accuracy when the left trigger is combined with the shoot button. But under the right conditions, a flair shot may become a work of art. They are crucial for players who want to show off their abilities with a spectacular goal, since they can be used for anything from flicks to bicycle kicks. For those who have the skill and equipment, long shots are possible. It’s possible to put an opponent in their place with a long-range shot. This is easier said than done, however, since success depends on picking a guy with great shooting ability. Once this is accomplished, players may charge their bar to an all-out flurry of attempts (up to 2.5 bars, depending on their distance from the goal). Incorporate timed finishes as well, since they may significantly affect the precision of this shot. A regular shot will get you out of most jams. Most FIFA players make things more difficult than they need to be by attempting fancy techniques when they should just be shooting. There is a risk of embarrassment if the player’s shot ends up missing the target, despite the impressive appearance. It’s for this reason that it’s wise to go with a straightforward photo rather than experiment with a variety of techniques. Those who are just starting out in FIFA and are still learning the ropes would benefit greatly from reading this. Lead developer at Lost Rabbit Digital. Writer for Good2Games. Boden began freelancing for Good2Game in 2021. He got his start making games and is still interested in the inner workings of games via the modding and speedrunning communities. He is addicted to co-op crafting games, lengthy novels, and multiplayer cryptid hunts.

Desert Oracle: Volume 1: Strange True Tales from the American Southwest (Paperback) The cult-y pocket-size field guide to the strange and intriguing secrets of the Mojave—its myths and legends, outcasts and oddballs, flora, fauna, and UFOs—becomes the definitive, oracular book of the desert For the past five years, Desert Oracle has existed as a quasi-mythical, quarterly periodical available to the very determined only by subscription or at the odd desert-town gas station or the occasional hipster boutique, its canary-yellow-covered, forty-four-page issues handed from one curious desert zealot to the next, word spreading faster than the printers could keep up with. It became a radio show, a podcast, a live performance. Now, for the first time—and including both classic and new, never-before-seen revelations—Desert Oracle has been bound between two hard covers and is available to you. Straight out of Joshua Tree, California, Desert Oracle is “The Voice of the Desert”: a field guide to the strange tales, singing sand dunes, sagebrush trails, artists and aliens, authors and oddballs, ghost towns and modern legends, musicians and mystics, scorpions and saguaros, out there in the sand. Desert Oracle is your companion at a roadside diner, around a campfire, in your tent or cabin (or high-rise apartment or suburban living room) as the wind and the coyotes howl outside at night. From journal entries of long-deceased adventurers to stray railroad ad copy, and musings on everything from desert flora, rumored cryptid sightings, and other paranormal phenomena, Ken Layne's Desert Oracle collects the weird and the wonderful of the American Southwest into a single, essential volume. About the Author Ken Layne is the creator of Desert Oracle, the cult-favorite periodical and radio show, and author of the bestselling Desert Oracle Vol. 1 from MCD Books. “UFOs, doomed hikers, William Burroughs, singing sand dunes, Elvis, ghosts, roadrunners and rattlesnakes – the Desert Oracle packs a lot of weird, dark matter between its bright yellow covers.” ?Dominic Rushe, The Guardian “[Desert Oracle serves] as a field guide to a seemingly barren place that is paradoxically full of life and legends. [Layne] leads us into the Mojave Wilderness, a vast area containing gophers, coyotes, Yucca Man, a hermit ballerina, mysterious cacti, 10-foot-tall warriors, space aliens, and more.”?Blaise Zerega, Alta Magazine “Anyone contemplating a trip to the arid Southwest or wanting to learn more about the area and its natural history should pick up this collection of varied anecdotes.” ?Diana Hartle, Library Journal “If you’re a fan of UFOs and insane heat, this is your book.”—Kirkus Reviews “With his succinct, descriptive, narrative-driven prose, Layne creates a fascinating homage to the beauty of an often unforgiving landscape.” —Publishers Weekly “The desert is a powerful cocktail of breathtaking beauty, brutality, and mystery. Layne serves it straight-up in this collection of essays dedicated to his cherished, arid homeland . . . [Desert Oracle] is a soulful love letter to the rugged landscape of the American Southwest. Layne implores readers to preserve and protect the enigmatic and wild desert. Reading this book is like swapping tales around the campfire under a star-filled sky.”—Michelle Ross, Booklist

Pat O'Toole has always idolized his older brother, Coop. He's even helped Coop with some of his crazier plans—such as risking his life to help his big brother dig a tunnel underneath their neighborhood in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Coop is... different. He doesn't talk on the phone, doesn't use email, and doesn't have friends. He's never really cared for anything but the thrill of being underground and Pat. So it's no surprise to anyone—even Pat—that after a huge fight with their parents, Coop runs away. Exactly one year later, Pat receives a package containing a digital voice recorder and a cryptic message from his brother. He follows the clues to New York City, and soon discovers that Coop has joined the Community, a self-sufficient society living beneath the streets. Now it's up to Pat to find his brother—and bring him home. Troubled waters! Cryptids–mythological creatures like the Loch Ness monster and Sasquatch–are Travis Wolfe's obsession, and he'll travel to the ends of the earth for proof. For cousins Marty and Grace, who have lived with Wolfe ever since Marty's parents disappeared, this means adventure– and danger! Now they're all en route to the South Pacific to track down a giant squid, but the freighter they're on seems to be haunted, and someone on board is determined to saBobotage their mission. Will Marty and Grace get to the bottom of this fishy business, or end up at the bottom of the sea? The riveting sequel to TENTACLES and CRYPTID HUNTERS, reunites Marty and his unusual uncle, cryptozoologist Travis Wolfe, as they search the world for Wolfe's daughter, Grace. Grace has been kidnapped by her grandfather, the ruthless and dangerous Noah Blackwood, who has also stolen the two dinosaur hatchlings Wolfe was raising in secrecy. Now, with word that the mysterious creature known as Chupacabra has been sighted again, Wolfe is torn between his obsession with finding cryptids and his desperate need to rescue his daughter. With trouble at every turn and a dangerous journey ahead, will Marty and Wolfe come face-to-face with the mythic monster? Even more frightening, will they reach Grace before it's too late? Chase Masters and his father are "storm runners," racing across the country in pursuit of hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. Anywhere bad weather strikes, they are not far behind. Chase is learning more on the road than he ever would just sitting in a classroom. But when the hurricane of the century hits, he will be tested in ways he never could have imagined. Chase and his friends Nicole and Rashawn have just survived Hurricane Emily, the storm of the century, but their troubles are just beginning. Although they've made it to the safety of Nicole's family's farm–the winter home of the Rossi Brothers' Circus–the floodwaters are rising and they need to reach higher ground. The circus's lions have escaped their cages, and a dangerous and unpredictable leopard is also on the loose. Have Chase and his friends lived through a terrifying night only to face a new disaster? Chase Masters and his friends have made it through the longest night of their lives, but their adventures are far from over. Now they're headed south of the border to track down the missing Rossi Brothers' Circus. With a volcano about to erupt after a massive earthquake, Chase has never faced such a serious threat to his survival! Pat O'Toole and his brother, Coop, are on the run from an enemy that specializes in hiding in plain sight. Along with their new companion, Kate, they've narrowly escaped a cultlike community situated beneath the streets of New York City. Kate has lived underground since birth, and the world above thrills her, but it's treacherous as well. With the cult's leader -- Kate’s grandfather -- on their trail, will they spend the rest of their days as fugitives? Who can they trust but each other?

That’s not Bigfoot. Bigfoot uses Firestone’s 120x48x68 tires and is a bit louder. I wish the guy woulda manned up just a tad and shot more footage! I don’t know. Big foot apparently has been around for hundreds of years so why the f*#k hasn’t anyone caught it yet or got actual legit evidence of him. Still skeptical <_< but if ghosts exisist so must he right? Hmmm. Only time will tell. Weak and fake!!! Its Bigfoot alright…but he goes by Cletus! Last time i was in Utah we hung out and had a few beers, he’s actually a pretty cool dude once you get to know him, just totally misunderstood! Fake or not it’s a pretty damn cool video. It is a well known fact that Big foot is very shy. He would never have allowed anyone to get that close and then charge at them. If you are going to fake an urban legend sighting try to get your facts straight.:) Couldn’t help but think of those messing with sasquatch commercials. I say that’s fake. I believe but I don’t see any real defining features on it. Ross you rock better than the shitty station here in Denver! Bull shit if there was such a thing then why aint it in a zoo Total Blair witch. They are W A Y to calm to be that close to my cryptid buddy! FAKE! Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

January was a big month for Bigfoot, or so it would seem. Last month, we saw at least four high-profile videos surface allegedly containing evidence of the bipedal cryptid stalking our forests. Most have, of course, been labeled hoaxes, but I thought I’d share the videos and their stories, nonetheless. Bigfoot Sighting in Maine Appearance in video: 2:06 So I’m cheating with this one a little because the alleged sighting happened before January, but: A 12-year-old boy captured this footage of a Bigfoot, or Sasquatch, in Turner, Maine. This prompted one investigator to have a look for himself. Unfortunately, the witness later admitted, at school, that the sighting was a hoax. Regardless, the above video, uploaded on January 3, contains a recreation of the footage by Bigfoot expert Bill Brock, comparing the mysterious figure in the original to himself. In the video, he claims “the subject still appears to be much taller,” despite the camera being 10 feet closer in the recreation. And, at least according to the Inquisitr, the possibility remains that the boy was “bullied into recanting his Bigfoot sighting.” Sighting in Russia This video, uploaded on January 14, claims to provide evidence of a Bigfoot, or perhaps in this case a Yeti, in Russia. Captured by a group of “adventurers” from Adygeisk, who set out to find the creature after seeing a television report on sightings in the region, the video shows a dark figure walking among the snowy trees, as well as what I assume are the footprints it left behind. Sighting in Lettuce Lake Park, Florida Appearance in video: 0:40 On January 26, 2015, website Bigfoot Evidence received this footage from Matt M., who spotted what he believes could be Bigfoot or a Skunkape (or Florida Bigfoot, if you will) while canoeing in the swamps of Lettuce Lake Park outside of Tampa, Florida. At first, he thought it was a bear, but after consulting with a park ranger, he was told that “bears don’t generally get into the swamp and that there were never many sightings in general.” Matt also noted, in his submission to Bigfoot Evidence, that if this were a person, “They are walking, swimming and diving in an area where there are hundreds of 12 foot gators and water moccasins everywhere,” adding, “It went underwater and vanished.” Sighting in Brooklyn, New York Appearance in video: 0:24 Russel Strark was out at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York trying to capture footage of the snow for a live stream called Brooklyn Live Video. But while snow is no doubt heavily featured in the above video, what piqued his interest was the “creature” he believes he may have filmed, as well. “Looks like it was taken at around 7 am this morning,” he wrote in the YouTube description of the video, which he uploaded on January 27. “I am no expert, but this is pretty compelling stuff. I am baffled how this creature could be in Brooklyns [sic] Prospect Park.”

Dates 10 May '14 to 10 May '15 Flexible? Yeah, sure Est. Cost 5,000 - 10,000 USD (USD United States Dollars) Type Travel Partners Wanted Name Take the red pill! Imagine for a moment that you are a modern day explorer. Your self-imposed mission is to seek out the greatest mysteries Earth has to offer, whether they be modern, ancient, natural or manmade. You have an insatiable desire for knowledge. May no ghost town, cryptid sighting, paranormal, supernatural, or UFO-related occurrence go undiscovered, you say. As often as possible, you prefer to avoid utilizing cars. Trains, trollies, boats, the occasional animal -- those aren't so bad. Indeed, they can prove to be an adventure in and of themselves! But, for the most part, you prefer to feel the Earth beneath your soles. After all, some things are easy to miss when you're not right on top of it! When you wind down for the night, your evening bed is often a tent pitched beneath the stars. Other nights, in the interest of fostering lasting friendships, you make use of Couchsurfers. After all, you're not JUST out to solve mysteries; your accruement of knowledge extends to cultural exchange as well! During your downtime -- which, considering your chosen field of exploration, can sometimes be fairly often -- you enjoy immersing yourself in breathtaking scenery, marveling at feats of architectural genius, perusing myriad museums and quirky local shops, and just generally milking as much out of whatever town you happen to be passing through as you possibly can. This is my dream. To start, I would like to spend a year exploring the United States. Who am I? Just a girl who's unwilling to completely let go of her childlike wonder. A girl who's convinced that there's more to the world than what can be observed on the surface, who's fairly certain she was either a nomad or a wild animal in a previous life, and who hits pretty much all of the major categories of nerd. :P I'm in search of one or two like-minded individuals who want to realize this dream with me. Life is too short to spend it in the dark! When responding, tell me about yourself. What your interests are and what YOU would want out of this journey. I look forward to hearing from you! :) **Take the cost estimation with a grain of salt. I theorize that we'll set a goal amount to save up beforehand -- jointly -- and make more as needed along the way. Assume we'll generally be living pretty rough, probably with breaks in between when we inevitably yearn for civilization. :P Take the red pill! Still looking for flights? You can have flight experts compete against one another to find you the absolute best and cheapest flights.

It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker. Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool. Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker. originally posted by: Frocharocha It' been a while since i don't see a thread like this. I really liek cryptid dinosaurs, they are my favourite since ever. Anyway native americans weren't wrong about the Okapi or the Mountain Gorillas, but their histories weren't actually true. According to them gorila rape women and ate men. But that was just a story. My bet is that, if this creature ended up being real, it would be a small sized reptile. Isiququmadevu Dinosaur-like animal of central Afirca, similar to the Mokele-Mbembe. . . . Variant names: Ig'ondotuya, Lengolengole, Lingongole. Physical description: Length, 20 - 40 feet. Larger than an elephant. Head like a snake's. Long neck. Lizard like legs. Behavior: Amphibious. Tracks: Makes wide furrows in the reeds and mud. Habitat: Swamps, rivers. Distribution: Zambezi River from the Barotse Floodplain to Victoria Falls, Zambia. Significant sightings: Lewanika, king of the Barotsel in western Zambia in the early twentieth century, went to the spot where a huge, aquatic reptile had been seen. He found a large space where reeds had been flattened and a channel as large as a trek wagon where it had crawled through the mud. In the southern summer of 1925, a river-transport manager named V. Pare saw a 30 to 40 foot, snake like animal with a slate gray head resting on a rock in the flooded Zambezi River near Victoria Falls, Zambia. It disappeared into a deep cave. Africa’s largest snake species and one of the world's largest, the typical African rock python adult measures 4.8 m (16 ft). Rumors of specimens over 6 m (20 ft) are considered reliable, although larger specimens have never been confirmed. Weights are reportedly in the range of 44 to 55 kg (97 to 121 lb), with a few weighing 91 kg (201 lb) or more. A 20ft-long African rock python is being hunted by the police and snake catchers after it swallowed a 10-year-old boy near Durban, the first recorded "man-eating" incident for its species. For three hours other children hid up mango trees near the township of Lamontville, too terrified to flee, as the snake first trapped the young boy and squeezed the life out of him before consuming him whole. The hunt found no trace of the child, or his clothing, except for a trail of flattened grass leading down to a nearby stream. chief Lewanika reported years ago to the British Resident in Zululand that a huge lizard, "ten times as big as a crocodile, which has made a trail in the reeds like that of a large trek-wagon from which the wheels had been removed " (he meant, made by something large dragged along, and the size of what to him was the familiar Boer veld wagon), and that he had given strict orders to his warriors to keep watch for the beast that he might see it for himself; but it was never seen again. No less a personage than Lewanika, King of the Barotse, saw the beast in the marshes of his land, and set a special warrior watch to capture it. 'A monster,' says he in his official report to the British Government, 'with a head like a snake, making a huge track in the reeds as large as a full-sized wagon would make were its wheels removed.' He speaks of course, of the old Boer trek-wagon, a big, lumbering concern pulled by twenty or more oxen. originally posted by: MichiganSwampBuck Here's a story I just found today about a dinosaur type monster that lived near a swamp in Africa. An explorer in the early 20th century claimed the natives believed that it lived in a giant sinkhole and they were forbidden to visit it. It lived in a pit but would come out to the swampland near by as well. With all the clues offered in a story that I can actually believe, I think I know just about where this "lost" pit actually was. Here is a quote form the website . . . In the early 1920s, several news publications of the time shed light on a curious location in Africa, . . . It was reported that in what was referred to as North Rhodesia, there was a mysterious pit in the ground measuring at least a hundred feet wide that the native Mashona and Matabele people of the area shunned, a place only known as The Forbidden Pit. Yeah. Just leave it alone. Drop it completely. Whatever is there, IS there. They are the only reason why no diamond mining has happened there. Despite the potential "gold mine". Just leave it alone. Thanks. It was said that the pit was home to some horrific, reptilian beast that would emerge to terrify the local tribes. Apparently somewhat like a dinosaur in appearance, the creature’s appetite was said to be ravenous, and that it would ferociously hunt and kill whatever it could catch, including human beings. The story was covered by a newspaper called the "New Zealand Guardian" in their October 17, 1925, issue. You can find the original source article called, "Mystery of Big Hole" "Pit in Darkest Africa" at this link. Now where is this mysterious place in Africa with the forbidden pit? Here are all the clues I have found. Firstly, the country said to have this pit was referred to as North Rhodesia, now present day Zambia. The tribes in the area stated in the article were, The Mashona or Shona of Zimbabwe and Matabele of Rhodesia, and the Ila, who seemed to live the closest to this pit and the monster that lived there. One tribe, the Ila, had allegedly become so distressed by the horror from the pit that a group of tribesmen were tied together and flung into the craggy black hole as a sacrifice in an attempt to appease the monster that lurked within. The Ba-Ila tribe, inhabited the Kafue river valley in Zambia during the 1920s. The Kafue river is feed by the huge Lukanga Swamp, a primordial area indeed. The following quote is from wikipedia . . . The Lukanga Swamp . . . It then again develops intricate meanders and a maze of channels in a swampy floodplain, with oxbow lakes and lagoons. It flows 20 km west of the permanent part of the Lukanga Swamp which fills a circular depression, and which drains through a channel into the Kafue. Also, the upper reaches of the Kafure river is a limestone karst area with numerous caves, under ground rivers and sinkholes. So many sinkholes that to this day they have a big problem with them. So if some cave divers in Zambia, diving a sinkhole near the Kafue, fed by an underground river, find the bound bodies of human sacrifice victims, then they had better keep an eye out for the monster they were meant to feed. This all leaves one to wonder, just what in the world was the Forbidden Pit of Africa? If these reports are to be believed, then is it still out there hidden away from the world in some remote place in Africa? We may never know. It seems that whatever these reports were describing, this monster infested pit is a place that has faded into a mere forgotten historical news curiosity. I think it is still there, I know where the area is, and this sinkhole is probably known by both tourists and guides who may have even heard the story. IMO, if the author of this article would have dug just a little harder he never would have made that final statement at the end.

Those who study the strange and the unusual are probably very familiar with the period of high strangeness the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia faced throughout 1966 and 1967. Sightings of the legendary Mothman were also accompanied by tales of hauntings, sightings of other cryptid creatures, enhanced psychic abilities and ESP, and of course...encounters with UFOs and the Men in Black. For those not familiar with the Men in Black (MIB) in short, they are usually described as rather strange gentlemen, wearing dark suits and driving dark cars that often claim to be representatives from the government. They tend to harass UFO witnesses into thinking that what they saw was perfectly natural---and that there is no reason to question the matter further or report it. Many times, these MIBs are described as being rather small in stature and having Asian features, such as olive complexions and slanted eyes. Researcher John Keel covered the weirdness of Point Pleasant extensively and wrote several books about or containing stories and theories about just what was happening in this small town by the river. He himself was harassed by the Men in Black, and his writings on them really were instrumental in bringing the phenomenon to the mainstream. But...these sightings in the mid-1960s weren't the EARLIEST sightings of MIB in the Mountain State. Those with an interest in UFO lore probably are also quite familiar with the 1952 Flatwoods Monster sighting, in which a group of kids, accompanied by the mother of two of the boys witnessed what many believe today to have been a downed UFO and/or its spooky inhabitant. While I'm personally not familiar with any Men in Black sightings associated with this case, the Braxton County UFO crash of 1952 is significant to this tale because...IT WASN'T THE FIRST TIME A UFO CRASHED IN BRAXTON COUNTY, WV!! The following tale comes from John Keel's 1978 book, The Cosmic Question. On pages 148-150, Keel relates the story told to him in 1967 from a retired newsman living in Weston, WV named John Cole. In May of 1924, John Cole was called in to investigate the site of a possible airplane crash near Gem, Braxton County, WV and had a run-in with what were probably early Men in Black. I've provided a link to the actual book, but here's a condensed version as posted on Reddit: The late and groundbreaking Ufologist John Keel (John Alva Kiehl) reported a bizarre possible crash & retrieval case which involved strange characters, perhaps precursors of the modern day M.I.B. The incident is said to have occurred one afternoon in May of 1924 near the small town of Gem, West Virginia: A farmer outside Gem in monster haunted Braxton County reported seeing an ‘airplane’ crash in a forest. Planes were a very rare sight in those days especially in West Virginia, and a crashing plane was big news. According to the farmer, the plane was very odd in that it didn’t seem to have any wings, didn’t make any noise and seemed unusually large. “As big as a battleship” is the way the farmer described it. A party of men, including the local sheriff and local newsman John Cole systematically searched the woods. Within hours they found the wreck in a small clearing. According to Cole: “We weren’t the first ones there, though. There were already five or six men in the clearing. Some of them were dressed in black business suits, neckties and all, and that seemed damned silly in that neck of the woods”. Others were dressed in coveralls of a funny color---some kind of very shiny material. They were talking among themselves in a rapid-fire foreign language when they found them. They got real excited when they saw the search party. The men in coveralls ran into the wreck---like they were trying to hide. Some of the men in the search party were carrying guns and one of them said to Cole, “By God, they’re spies!” and he raised his gun. The strangers were all small, just a little over five feet tall, and they all looked like Orientals, with high cheekbones, slanted eyes, and dark skin. One of them spoke English. He told the men nobody was hurt, that everything was all right. He said he would call on the sheriff later and make out a complete report. There wasn’t much they could do. No crime had been committed. Nobody was hurt. According to Cole while he was looking around he spotted a ‘little thingamajig” on the ground. He picked it up and decided to keep it. He doesn’t know why he just didn’t turn it over to one of “foreigners”. He put it in his pocket. They all finally went away, leaving the foreigners to fuss with their contraption. It didn’t look like much of a flying machine. It fact, Cole didn’t think it could fly at all. It was like a fuselage of a modern plane, with windows and all. But it didn’t have any wings, tail or propellers. And like the farmer said, it was mighty big. According to Cole at least seventy five feet long, it filled the whole clearing. He went back home in Weston and went right to bed. He was pretty tired from all the day’s hiking. About three a. m. somebody started pounding on his door. He got up and looked and there was an army officer standing there. He was dressed in one of those broad-brimmed hats they used to wear, with those leg wrappings and all. It was a U.S. Army uniform, but except for his clothes he looked just like those foreigners from the airplane. Slant eye, dark skin, but he was maybe a little taller. ‘You picked up something today,’ he said. ‘We need it back.’ Cole was half asleep and at first he couldn’t think what he meant. Then he remembered the metal ‘thingamajig” It was still in his coat pocket. Cole went and got it. “Is this what you mean?” He asked him. He didn’t answer; he just grabbed it and walked off without a word. He didn’t, seem to have a horse or a car. Cole shuffled back to bed. But the next day he started wondering about it. How had the supposed officer managed to track him down? A couple of days later he went back to those woods and found that clearing. It was empty. The grass and bushes were all crushed down where the airplane had been but there was no other sign of anything or anybody. After the Army ‘officer’ came by Cole figured that maybe it was a secret Army deal of some kind and he thought it was better to leave it alone.

- Adam Riviere Adam Riviere, world percussionist, audio engineer and composer boasts over 25 years of experience, 13 published albums and numerous collaborations. Riviere began playing the piano at the age of ten, which led to a love of percussion and throughout the years that followed, he studied more than 30 world instruments. His music sounds as unique as the instruments he plays. Styles he performs and infuses during his performances include Middle Eastern, African, Classical, Celtic, Latin/Afro-Cuban, Caribbean, Native American, and Electro Acoustic World Ambient Trance. Riviere's love for culture and music can be heard in his performances, displaying how different cultures and mediums of music can make one great sound. This summer Riviere will be opening his studio, Playground Productions LLC, in Irvington welcoming all involved in the arts to record, rehearse, and present their works to all, and celebrating what Riviere promotes; keeping the music going. - Angry Red Planet Joe Howard - Indianapolis, IN You get to The Angry Red Planet by riding a sonic star craft whose destination lies somewhere between nightmares and dreams. Electronic and synthesized soundscapes combined with percussive accents demand the listener to caresses the puzzle box, enter the rabbit hole and say the magic words… Once alighted, the magnetizing pulse of this diverse father and son duo will hold the audience captive in their new home… The Angry Red Planet. Zach Fisher - Chicago, IL Baconhanger is a legendary cryptid rumored to inhabit parts of the Midwestern United States. According to local folklore, Baconhanger was inbred and farm-raised by a cult of Satanic Hoosiers whose sole purpose was to create a pagan deity to convert unbaptized children to Satanism. After murdering his makers, Baconhanger left the confines of the cornfields and holds occult revivals all over the Midwest, eating the souls of the youth. Colin Jenkins - Bloomington, IN Canid began in 2008 outside Washington, DC, moved to Bloomington, IN, in 2009, and soon (i.e. tomorrow) will be relocating to Philadelphia. Canid has toured Europe and the East Coast with fellow Bloomingtonian Drekka. He has performed at MuViMentS Festival 2011 in Itri, Italy, and Sonic Circuits Festival 2012 in Washington, DC. Canid exists along a continuum from ambiance to noise and is defined by fractal patterns of lo-fi pedal drones, wordless manipulated vocals, and fragments of semi-intelligible speech. Each improvised performance simultaneously searches for and attempts to establish a open-ended narrative arc as a means of continued spiritual revelation. - Cranial Mythos Greg Waltzer - Asheville, NC Cranial Mythos is the solo project of musician, composer, producer, and event organizer Greg Waltzer. He has recorded and performed with Waveformation, AfterMyth, xeroid entity, Technicolor Travel Agency, Fringe Element, Holosphere, and Mutation Vector. The music of Cranial Mythos ranges from dark, ambient, and spacey to upbeat and melodious, with some strange trips in between. Matthew Nitz - Indianapolis, IN Cytomorph (A.K.A. Matt Nitz ) is an electronic musician specializing in the styles of Acid, Breakcore, Dubstep, and IDM. His live sets bring these styles together with improvisational manipulation of tones and effects. - David Peck David Peck is a 22 year-old digital composer, electronic musician, sound sculptor, and bringer of vibes from Indianapolis, Indiana. As a purveyor of organic-electronic music, Peck's compositions often blend electronically generated tones and effect processes with found-sound recordings of organic material and acoustic instrumentation. Never letting his sound stay static, David finds himself shape-shifting between sound sculpting mad scientist, dance music enthusiast, ambient meditator, and hip-hop producer. No matter which form he chooses to presents himself, there is always an invariable focus on texture, sonic richness, and emotional impact. Michael Anderson - Bloomington, IN DREKKA performs heavily experimental, cinematic soundtracks to films unmade where the accompanying images are unique to each listener; stylistically and empathetically similar to the soundtracks of Tarkovsky's later films or the more abstract works of Coil and Cindytalk. DREKKA's sound is hushed, cinematic, ambient, ethereal and industrial... at times discordant and menacing, more often communicative and inviting. It is performed at a moderate volume, perfect for any small setting, including homes, gallery spaces, stores... music for those who enjoy filling in the gaps and the imagery that accompanies it. Deeply felt inspiration is drawn from such luminaries as CINDYTALK, COIL, FLYING SAUCER ATTACK, HAFLER TRIO, NURSE WITH WOUND... contemporary examples of shared sounds could include SVARTE GREINER, MACHINEFABRIEK, CHRIS WATSON, STILLUPSTEYPA, IRR.APP.(EXT.) and WOUTER VAN VELDHOVEN. DREKKA has undertaken over a dozen European excursions since 2002, including ITALY in 2010/2011/2012 and over fifty shows in the NETHERLANDS and ICELAND alone. Jeannie Allen - Indianapolis, IN Earthgirl is the music persona of Jeannie Allen, an experimental electronic musician based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her mission is to combine analog synthesizers, digital analog modeling, field recordings and vocals to create the sensation of traveling through time and space. Drawing on inspiration from many artists who sonically evoke emotion (ranging from Tangerine Dream to Bob Marley), she explores different genres of electronic music, with tracks that range from ambient to dance to psychedelic pop. - Faux Pas Quartet Faux Pas Quartet is a free form improvisation ensemble whose sole purpose is the spontaneous expression of the unconscious. The resulting music, quite literally, comes from the same stuff of which dreams are made. Archetypes of the psyche rising unfettered through the medium of the unconscious and becoming manifest in the shared conscious reality. The music is soothing, agitating, floating, rhythmic, funny, scary, sad, angry, melodic and atonal - aka 'nerd hop.' Relax, open up and take the time to flow with the music. Above all, give yourself permission to explore the irrational. Charles Shriner: EWI/soft synths/controllers Aaron Urbanski: Keyboards/soft synths/controllers Jen Schmetzer: Vocals/sampler/effects Duncan Putman: Bass/effects/dogs - Gerber & Gerber Gerber and Gerber is a electro music duo with brothers Tony and Todd Gerber. They started performing as children together in the early 70s, but have most recently been honing their other worldly music together again after several years of working on their individual solo work. Todd Gerber was an early adopter of looping techniques back in the 1980s and has had several projects over the years including Dinah Shore, Jr, Umlaut and Port of Saints. He actively records and explores musical horizons in his home studio in Nashville, TN. Tony Gerber is a veteran space music artist with over 30 recordings, music scores for films, and planetarium shows and soundtracks to virtual world installations. His internationally recognized live space music group, Spacecraft, has scored music for films including Paramount's "Vanilla Sky". He has performed live concerts in planetariums, museums, galleries and festivals around the US. Tony is a pioneer of live space and ambient music, and has performed over 1500 concerts of his unique music on the virtual world grid in the past 7 years. Jason Breitigan - Indianapolis, IN Jason Breitigan creates delicate, thoughtful, lower-case soundscapes using a variety of electronic and acoustic instruments and found objects. Jason is a regular performer on the streaming radio show "Music from last Thursday", frequently performs with Faux Pas Quartet and has completed three full length releases. - Kevin Kissinger Kansas City, MO Kevin Kissinger is a thereminist/composer from Kansas City, Mo. His solo theremin compositions utilize live-looping technology that enable rich orchestral textures and intricate counterpoint. Kevin will premiere his latest theremin work at MEME 2013. This new work will feature the use of long loops (loops longer than 20 seconds) and tapped delay to build up the ensemble sound. The result of Kevin's approach to theremin composition is a sound that contains neo-classical and minimalist elements. - Marauder Octobot Zach Lapidus - Indianapolis, IN Two years ago, two friends affirmed their impressive wits and winning personalities with a powerful explosion of smacking hands, henceforth known as a "high-five," and referred to in human history books as "the shot heard round the world." The resulting sonic boom unleashed a very dangerous robot: the Marauder Octobot. Zach Lapidus and Jesse Wittman, who used a fearsome combination of SuperCollider, PureData, live instrumentation, and their dashing good looks, were long able to keep this deadly beast contained with the power of sweet, sweet music. After two years of epic performances in venues such as "The Earth House," "Rachel's Cafe," "the Indie Indy Art Gallery," and "Zach's Basement," Jesse was banished to the ice prison known as "Alaska," thus threatening the future of humanity. Thankfully, Jesse's departure was followed by the entry of percussionist Ben Lumsdaine, popularly hailed as "the Hieronymus Bosch of the Drum Set," who joined with keyboardist and laptop-ist Zach to engage the Octobot in sonic battle, for the amusement of all concert-goers and music-lovers. - Mark Mosher Mark Mosher is an electronic musician, composer, and performer from Boulder, CO. He performs his original sci-fi inspired electronica compositions using expressive controllers such as keyboards, grids (Maschine, Tenori-on), Theremin, and smart IR blocks called AudioCubes. He also amplifies his performance using interactive visuals based on live camera input and visual synthesis. Mark gives back to the community by blogging on electronic music at www.ModulateThis.com and is the organizer of the Boulder Synthesizer Meetup. - Michael Drews Michael Drews is a composer, sound artist and computer musician. His work explores unconventional narrative structure and the expressive power of contextual identity. Present throughout Drews' work is an interest in improvisation and the use of computer technology to expand traditional ideas of musical performance and creativity. Drews is also a member of the computer-acoustic ensemble, Big Robot. Performances of Drews' compositions have been featured at SEAMUS, Cinesonika, Electronic Music Midwest, NYC Electronic Music Festival, Studio 300, PASIC, Super Computing Global, IASPM-Canada and throughout United States. Drews holds degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (D.M.A.), Cleveland State University (M.MUS.) and Kent State University (B.A.). He resides with his family in Indianapolis and is Assistant Professor of Music at Indiana University-Indianapolis (IUPUI). - Michael O'Bannon Michael O'Bannon is a visual artist, programmer, and psychologist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He specializes in improvised mixes of video imagery in concert with live electronic music performers. He has collaborated on visuals for electro-music festivals and other music events in the southeast and midwest. His work pursues the ephemeral phantasms lurking in transition zones between abstraction and representational experience. - Michael Peck Michael Peck is a multi - instrumentalist musician, sound designer and producer from Northeast Tennessee. His music often dwells in the dark(er) ambient and outersound genres. Since the early 00's he has been active in the electronic music scene, and frequently playing live up and down the East Coast and central Midwest. His live sets are always one off, often moving in and out movements and genre allowing both the audience and himself the opportunity of sonic exploration. Peck also has many active projects ranging from drone to doom industrial which can be heard on his label Waiting World Records. Adam Holquist - Erie, PA onewayness is Adam Holquist, an experimental electronic musician from Erie, Pennsylvania. He uses hardware and software synths, spoken word and field recordings, and a variety of acoustic and electric instruments to create atmospheric compositions which draw influence from vintage Berlin-school electronic music, minimalism, post-rock, and contemporary electronic 'listening music'. - PAS Musique Amber Brien, John Worthley, Robert L. Pepper, Michael Durek - New York, NY PAS Musique (PAS) is a group out to create musical collages through the form of abstract sound. Their name refers metaphorically to those who have been aborted by society, because their point of view doesn't fit in the constraints of "normal" society. The term also refers the negative form in French, metaphorically negating everything that is established to start from a new beginning. The viewpoint fuels our creativity to create our own world of beauty. Since our inception the band has been interested in making music from the fringes of perception, creating soundscapes that aren't defined by any particular conventions or viewpoints. The aesthetic underpinnings are defined by the notion that music can be whatever the ear perceives. It's a conception fueled by the love of life and art. It's a desire for honest artistic self-expression. The compositions themselves are more akin to soundscapes than "songs" in the traditional sense. There are no clearly defined melodies, no structural landmarks that give you any sense of traditional anchor. This is not music making with any sense of or desire for commercial viability, but sonic sculptures in the mode of pure art. - Randy Brown Randy Brown is a composer/performer from Dayton, Ohio. His music is influenced by Jazz, Ambient, World, and the Classics. Performing across the USA for over 20 years on saxophone and other woodwind instruments, he now focuses on creating music with software and various electronic instruments, such as the Eigenharp and EWI. In addition to composing in his home studio and performing solo, Randy enjoys collaborating with others in creating new music. - Shannon Hayden Shannon Hayden is a classically trained cellist who has never been content to stay strictly within the confines of the traditional course of study. Having achieved early success in competitions both at home and abroad she quickly began to experiment with other forms of music as well as other instruments. Working with renowned cellists such as Janos Starker and Aldo Parisot, with whom she began a graduate level course of study at the age of 18 at the Yale School of Music, did not keep her from playing lead guitar in rock and experimental bands or writing music for amplified cello. She feels that musicians who want to consider themselves artists should go beyond mere craftsmanship and constantly look to expand the repertoire of their instrument, fulfilling the needs of the era within which they actively participate. When not performing her own pieces, Shannon focuses on 20th century and contemporary works and has enjoyed working with composers Ezra Laderman, David Lang, percussionist/composer Andy Akiho, Fay Wang and tours occasionally with Eric Genuis. Having completed her studies she is currently supporting her first album with shows around the United States and hopes to meet other artists with similar interests whose focus is continuing to stretch the boundaries of virtuosic classical music by composing for and embracing technologies which she feels are underutilized. Shannon also shares her parent's passion for sustainable living and alternative energy and spends as much time as she can at the family's off the grid organic vegetable farm. Kelly & Bunny Sheets and Jim Curry - Indianapolis, IN SurrealEstate is a musical experience that utilizes visual and sonic textures reminiscent of the Old Berlin style of electronic synth music. Surrealestate was formed five years ago with original members Kelly Sheets, Bunny Sheets, and Randy Schwartz. After Randy's departure, long time friend and associate Jim Curry has contributed his musical creativity to Surrealestate. Surrealestate evolved from Kelly and Bunny's collective band experiences which included Gravity Hill and Interstellar Electric Gnomes. Jim Curry has been involved in multiple genres and played with bands with tastes ranging from Grateful Dead, Psychodellia, Blues, and Bluegrass. Former band member, Randy Schwartz, contributed his experiences from Tombstone Valentine and added his own unique style through synths, delays, and violin. Currently Surrealestate enjoys playing Old School Berlin using restored Moog vintage synths and other vintage equipment collected over the years. When required, styles include upbeat techno, psychill, ambient, and trance. Lighting and stage props are occasionally utilized to add to the experience. - Systems of Memory Derek Reed and Christian Birk - Atlanta, GA Systems of Memory is the musical collaboration between Detroit native Derek Reed and German born Christian Birk. Based in Atlanta, Systems of Memory combine influences from early Industrial, Ambient and Berlin School to IDM and Glitch into a freeform musical experience that is performed with hardware synthesizers. Bill Fox and Howard Moscovitz - Allentown, PA Before forming Xeroid Entity with Greg Waltzer, Howard Moscovitz and Bill Fox were already playing together under the name Subspace since 2002. In 2010, they realized that they had made a resurgence as a duo and became Twyndyllyngs, performing weekly internet broadcasts (Chez Mosc) on electro-music radio. Also, Greg had moved away to Asheville, NC. They use guitar, lap steel guitar, Nord Modular synthesizers, Theremin, and iPads. Bill and Howard have very broad musical interests ranging from Claudio Monteverdi to Charles Shriner. They call their music Electronic Chamber Music. It is intended to be performed live in relatively small spaces. Howard is the founder of electro-music.com. Bill is the producer of several FM radio programs including Galactic Travels on WDIY in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. They both travel widely performing electro-music and frequently collaborate with other musicians. - Veronica Pejril Veronica Pejril is a composer and multi-keyboardist from Greencastle, Indiana, where she teaches digital musicianship and computer music at DePauw University. An alumna of the University of Illinois Experimental Music Studios and Princetonís computer music lab, she was an early explorer into the intersections of MIDI and sound synthesis. She continues to explore non-traditional uses of human/computer interfaces for musical expression. Her current interests include applications of sound-spatialization for real-time interactive installation art, as well as for traditional through-composed music.

Looking for some chills, thrills or a way to have a spooky good time with like-minded individuals? Great! You’ve come to the right place. Here’s where we list: - Ghost Hunting Tours & Events – Includes paranormal investigation ghost hunting tours, overnight and weekend ghost hunts, paranormal cruises, and other one-day or overnight paranormal (or paranormal-ish) spirited events like Halloween parties, masquerade balls, and races and walks. - Paracons, Halloween & Horror Fests – Pretty much like its name says, this section includes paranormal events, conferences and conventions (aka “paracons”), as well as horror fests and Halloween haunter and enthusiast cons. However, under the “para” cons umbrella we’ve included UFO and cryptid-centric cons. Here’s where you’ll also find events like zombie and witch events and cons too. Each section lists events both my month and state. That way if you’re looking for something during a particular time of the year, or in a particular part of the country, you should be able to easily do that. Any suggestions you may have for improvement? Use our Contact Us page to get in touch.

May 10, 2004: I'm outside the Anasazi ruins at Chilchinbito, where I'm told the skinwalkers dwell. The Navajo speak only of them in whispers, but I found an old woman who was willing to tell me just a bit about them, so I am prepared, both for the physical challenges and the usual stresses on my sanity. Naturally, their appearance is horrifying (no facial features) and they would kill me as soon as look at me. They can also run as fast as a car and shapeshift. Just once, I would like to meet something beautiful that tries to kill me, but I suspect that's asking far too much. In any event, I will be going through a third story window that I didn't detect any signs of activity from. My research on cryptid sightings in the area suggests that the skinwalkers are a seperate offshoot of humanity, most likely (in my opinion) warped from the foul variety of magic they use. They are about the size of a child, but whithered and pale. Their eyes are deep red and sunken, the mouth is a gaping hole that never closes, and the ears are simple holes in the side of the head. Their forelimbs are approximately twice as long as they would normally be and are correspondingly limber, allowing skinwalkers to manuever easily in the ruins. The skeletal structure of the forelimbs appears to be similar to that of a gibbon's, with the important difference of one extra joint. Since I expect hostility, I am carrying a standard revolver with the bullets dipped in white ash. I would prefer more technologically advanced weaponry but can't afford the chance that the skinwalkers would loot it from my dead body. Currently in room with Anasazi artifacts. Very little time to write. Grabbing as many things that could tell me about fall of civilization as possible. May 13, 2004: They were definitely hostile. As soon as I had finished bagging the last tablet, they came running in, leaping from floor to wall to ceiling like evil humanoid frogs. No idea how they did it, either. The bodies of skinwalkers I've examined show no adaptations that could be used to such an effect. Magic of some sort, I suppose. I shot two dead and wounded another in the chest. After that, they ran away as quickly as possible. Thought that was the end of it, but (of course) it wasn't. A few minutes later, while I was gathering blood for DNA testing, one- just one- approached. I bade it not to enter the room, for I was armed with bullets dipped in white ash. "Thank you," was the only thing it said- in Navajo, of course, but when you're as old and well-traveled as I am, you learn more than a few languages. The voice still gives me nightmares, as does the mental blast that came after. I had known that these… things… took the shape of children, but I did not know what both the voice the blast revealed to me- that they were children, children that by all rights should be at rest. But they can't rest. They were killed by witches, and so their spirits became witches too. Their suffering, I think, is the worst I have ever seen, for they do not enjoy what they do, but they are driven by ancient spells and curses to inflict pain, horror, and suffering on others anyway. It was straining at the end of its story, trying by an act of millennia old willpower not to tear me to quivering bits. I saw the plea in its eyes, begging me to put it out of its misery. So I did. I could have sworn it smiled and laughed as I shot it. I'm tired now. I think I'll go to bed. — Peristrixalo, member of the Hand Librarian Notes: The DNA sample Peri brought back was indeed mutant human. Tests demonstrated that it apparently exists both in our plane and another, and so requires ritualistic objects to be damaged. This applies to the dead bodies as well. Translation of the tablets is currently in progress, but what we have deciphered so far suggests that skinwalkers began to multiple exponentially until the Anasazi performed a ritual that apparently destroyed most of the skinwalkers and partially cut them off from reality, but at the cost of the Anasazi civilization. Peri returned to the location several weeks later and found it abandoned. The dead skinwalker bodies were gone, as was any sign of a struggle. Analysis of the site indicates a recent spatial disturbance.

Cryptozoology is an area of 'Fortean' study (or zoological study depending on your views) which can be of great interest to folklorists because of its reliance on anecdote and oral transmission of stories. In this episode of The Folklore Podcast, host Mark Norman introduces a guest lecture from Paul Michael Donovan of Federation University, Australia on the indiginous legends surrounding the cryptid known as the Bunyip. An eZine supplement for this episode with further reading suggested by Paul is available to download from our Folklore Shop HERE. To listen FREE to this Episode please use the player below. You may also subscribe on the player, or on the bar to the right of this page. No matter which was you cut it and no matter how you celebrate it, there is no doubt that Yule is a time of year steeped in tradition. Some of this will be unique to your own family and some will be more generally known. Other symbols and motifs occur frequently and are either timeless or have been changed and appropriated in other ways over the years. In this edition of The Folklore Podcast, creator and host Mark Norman examines some of the customs, traditions and beliefs surrounding the festivities of Christmas, Yule and/or the Winter Solstice (to name but three variations). From candles to trees, reindeer to mistletoe and Santa to Krampus, learn some of the ancient roots and origins of the imagery that endures to this day. You may be surprised by some of the history of your favourite Christmas symbols. An electronic magazine supplement is available for this episode. Please click here to purchase the supplement, or here to become a patron of the podcast and receive all of our future supplements. The listen FREE to this episode and subscribe for future and past shows, please use the player below. Belief in fairies and other creatures of the fae is ancient and deep-rooted in cultures around the world and hence there is a multiplicity of folklore and tradition surround our interactions with the fae as human beings. Widespread belief in fairies generally died out around the 19th century, but that does not mean that people do not still report seeing or interacting with fairies in more modern times. In this episode, host Mark Norman discusses this subject with social historian Jo Hickey-Hall and they look at how modern fairy beliefs tie in with the older lore. A Facebook group to accompany this research can be found here To download the e-magazine supplement for this episode, please visit the Supplements page To listen to this episode and subscribe to others, please use the player below Fire can be a powerful and sometimes all-consuming force. Helpful and dangerous in equal measure, the ability to use fire sets man apart from the animals. It should not be too surprising, then, that fire features heavily in our folklore and traditions. This episode looks at aspects of fire within our folklore from around the world, from calendar customs to mythical creatures; old gods to modern practises. Gather around your hearth and learn about the folklore of fire with The Folklore Podcast. An e-magazine is available as usual to support this episode. This is delivered automatically to our Patreon subscribers, who you can join here. To download the supplement as a one-off, please visit Folklore ShopHERE. Listen to this episode free on the player below: Hallowe'en, Samhain or Allantide. However you view the time surrounding October 31st, it is an important part of our ritual year. It is traditionally a time when the veil between the worlds is thinned, when magic is more powerful and when spirits roam the Earth. Joining regular host Mark Norman on this edition of The Folklore Podcast is special guest Judith Hewitt. Judith is co-manager, with her husband Peter, of the world famous Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Boscastle, Cornwall. Throughout 2016, the Museum has staged an exhibition looking at representations of Hallowe'en in the past and now. To listen to this bonus length episode, please use the player below, where you can also download it or subscribe for all of our episodes for free. Judith discusses the folklore of All Hallows past and present: the glitter and the gravedust. An episode supplement for this episode, containing a full transcript along with photos of the exhibition and some of the Museum's Hallowe'en collection is available to download from theFolklore Shop or is free to Patrons at any level from our Patreon page. The Autumn Equinox passes and as the Wheel of the Year turns we enter a state when the world is said to be in balance. This is a time of harvest and of appreciation for the fruits of the land. The Folklore Podcast moves into October with two seasonal episodes looking at important folklore at this time of the year. In this episode, The Folklore Podcast's creator and host Mark Norman moves from broader folklore themes to something much smaller, and discusses the varying roles of the apple and apple trees in our folklore. Superstitions, traditions and religious imagery are all discussed, and the show additionally includes some of Mark's field recordings from a traditional wassail ceremony in 2016. An e-magazine supplement for this episode is available from the Folklore Shop. Listen, download and subscribe to the podcast for free on the player below: This episode of the Folklore Podcast features an exclusive talk from Dr David Waldron, a lecturer and folklore researcher from Federation University, Australia. David examines the phonemonon of hoaxing and guising as a ghost in the Victorian Era, from well known characters such as Springheeled Jack to more obscure examples from both the UK and Australia. Why did people do this and how have the stories entered into our folklore? Visit the Folklore Shop to download the e-magazine supplement for this episode with a full transcript and suggested reading. Listen the the show on the player below. Podcast host Mark Norman is one of only a few folklore researchers specialising in the field of Black Dog apparitions. He holds what it is thought to be the UKs largest archive of Black Dog ghost eyewitness accounts and traditions. In this episode, Mark draws on his archive to examine this phenomena which, despite sightings spanning nearly 1,000 years, is largely unknown by many people. In particular, the episode looks at connections between Black Dog ghosts and the wider European folklore of the Wild Hunt. As usual an episode supplement in the form of an electronic magazine accompanies this show. It features a full transcript, with additional material, notes, photographs and illustrations and suggested reading and web resources. Click here to visit the Folklore Shop to download this and previous episode magazines. Joining host Mark Norman in Episode 3 of The Folklore Podcast is historical ethnographer and archaeologist Dr Ceri Houlbrook. Ceri is a research assistant on "The Concealed Revealed" - a project which is cataloguing mysterious objects found in buildings and other unusual places. Mummified cats, children's shoes, witch bottles and coins are just some of the items under discussion in this episode. Listen and subscribe free below. An optional 16-page electronic magazine is available to accompany this edition. This features a full transcript of this edition plus extra material, suggested reading, links to video interviews and galleries of images of some of the concealed items discussed. To purchase this, or other episode supplements for just 99p (a little over $1). Please visit ourFolklore Shop to purchase. Thank you for your support. Ghosts are one of the areas of folklore which hold a wide fascination. There are really two distinct types: hauntings accounts and the more traditional Folk Ghost. In this episode of The Folklore Podcast, regular host - folklore author and researcher Mark Norman - discusses two distict types of Folk Ghost. The first of these is the penitential ghost, which is only allowed to return to its grave at the rate of a cockstride a year. The second is the phantom coach motif. Both of these are illustrated with examples from the South West of the United Kingdom where they are common. Support this Episode by downloading the Episode Supplement for just 99p (approx $1.25). Fully designed and illustrated e-zine featuring re-written show transcript and suggested further reading and web resources. Please visit our Folklore Shop to purchase. Thank you for your support. The Folklore Podcast New episodes released 1st and 15th of the month. Subscribe now to ensure you never miss an episode. The Folklore Podcast will always be free, but costs a lot to run. A small voluntary donation will help us do more. Thank you.

On Google+, Google posted a new Google Maps easter egg that lets you do directions by Loch Ness Monster aka Nessie. Google wrote, "Now you can go from Fort Augustus to Urquhart Castle by Nessie!" How does it work? Easy way is to go here. Or you can select the "Route Options" and then choose either "Fewer Transfers" or/and "Less Walking." Here is a picture: What is this monster? The Loch Ness Monster is a cryptid, a creature whose existence has been suggested but has not been discovered or documented by the scientific community. David Elder took a video of what he thought was the Loch Ness Monster in 2013 at Fort Augustus, here is that video: Forum discussion at Google+. This post was scheduled to be posted today but was written at an earlier point in time. The author is not around on June 4th or 5th to respond to comments.

After a five year project studying the DNA obtained from 100 samples which may have come from Bigfoot, veterinarian Melba S. Ketchum believes that she has found evidence which suggests that the mythical cryptid exists. At team of researchers at DNA Diagnostics in Nacogdoches, Texas, under Ketchum's direction, believes that Bigfoot may be a human relative which developed over 15,000 years ago as a hybrid between humans and an unknown primate, states a story published by the Huffington Post on November 30. Ketchum's research suggests that Bigfoot is descended from the impregnation of a female human by an unidentified primate. The team claims to have discovered three nuclear genomes belonging to the creature known as Sasquatch or Bigfoot. The research team was comprised of experts in the fields of genetics, forensics, pathology, and other related disciplines. While this is encouraging news for Bigfoot believers, Ketchum's study raises many questions. Under what circumstances would a primate impregnate a human female? Was this hybrid the result of a chance encounter, or a planned "experiment"? Journal of the Bizarre's own Marlin Bressi believes that he knows the answer. In his forthcoming e-book, In Pursuit of Horned Giants, the author chronicles his investigation into the "Horned Giants of Pennsylvania"- skeletons of humans who stood over 7 feet tall which were found along the Susquehanna River in the town of Sayre in the 1880s. Bressi believes that there is a link between the Susquehannock tribe and Sasquatch- a link, claimed in his book, that goes back 15,000 years- and extends across the Atlantic Ocean. According to his book, the author believes that Bigfoot migrated to North America during Neolithic times, and was the ancestor to a mysterious ancient tribe of giants known as the Andaste, who eventually became the now-extinct Susquehannocks. "Several historical documents refer to the Susquehannocks as being giants," explains the author. "In Captain John Smith's journal, written 1607, Smith describes the Susquehannocks as being a tribe of giants. Missionary David Brainerd also did so in 1754, and so did explorer La Rochefoucald-Liancourt in 1795." The author states that Susquehannock war shields may have also payed homage to their ape-like ancestors. "There have been Susquehannock war-shields found which have been decorated with depictions of ape-like creatures," explains Bressi. "Since monkeys aren't indigenous to Pennsylvania, this is astoundingly peculiar." |Explorers were so impressed by their size that Susquehannocks were frequently illustrated in their journals.| |Bronze statue of a Susquehannock warrior| The Susquehannocks were a mysterious tribe, having gone extinct in the 18th century, but Bressi believes that Native American language may hold clues to solving the mystery of Bigfoot. "The word sasquatch is derived from sesquac, or "wild man" in the Salish tongue of the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada. The Salish family consists of twenty-three languages, and ethnologists believe that there is no relationship between these and any other Native American languages," he states. "My theory is that the word sasquatch is derived from Sasquesahanough, which is the name the Powhatan gave to the Andaste, who later became known as the Susquehannock. Sasquesahanough translates into 'muddy water people'. Since many modern-day Bigfoot sightings are often paired with a strong offensive odor, not unlike that of a muddy dog, it could be possible that the Powhatans used the word sasquesahanough as an insult to the strange foul-smelling tribe of hairy giants from Pennsylvania." So how did the word Sasquatch enter the vocabulary? In his book, Bressi states that the word wasn't even coined until the 1920s, when it was used by a Canadian newspaper reporter named J.W. Burns. "Burns is the first person to use the word sasquatch in print," he says. "My guess is that when the French explorer Etienne Brule explored Pennsylvania in 1605, he encountered the Sasquesahanough and brought the word back to Canada in the 17th century, where it was later adopted by the Salish, who used it to refer to Bigfoot in the Pacific Northwest. Since the Salish language developed independently from other native languages, the word had to have been introduced to them by someone else." Pennsylvania has a rich history of Bigfoot sightings, dating back hundreds of years. "Historically, Pennsylvania has had more Bigfoot sightings than any other state, dating back to Revolutionary War times," writes Bressi. "The first recorded West Coast sighting didn't take place until 1924 when a prospector, Albert Ostman, claimed to have been abducted and held captive by Sasquatch for six days in British Columbia." Ohio, another state with historically high numbers of Bigfoot sightings, also plays a prominent role in In Pursuit of Horned Giants. In 1800, an early settler of Conneaut, Ohio named Aaron Wright discovered gigantic human bones inside a Native American burial mound. Since that time, several similar archaeological discoveries have been made in the area. "Incredibly, the areas where giant human bones have been found in burial mounds correspond to areas with high numbers of Bigfoot sightings," the author claims. "I believe the reason why we don't find Bigfoot carcasses is because, like many ancient mound-building tribes, Bigfoot has developed complex burial rituals." He adds: "To assume that Bigfoot is intelligent enough to elude throngs of zealous researchers, but not intelligent enough to bury its own dead is laughably absurd." The author believes that the Bigfoot of the Pacific Northwest migrated from the East Coast, after arriving from the British Isles via an ice bridge: "An ancient race of giants arrived in North America during a period of time known as the Late Glacial Maximum, which occurred between 10,000 and 13,000 years ago. This period of glaciation is what allowed Asians to cross the Bering Strait, thereby populating North America. However, this same period of glaciation may have allowed Neolithic Bigfoot to travel from Ireland and Scotland to the Orkney Islands, then onto the Shetland Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and then to North America's Baffin Island. If Melba Ketchum's research is correct," states Bressi, "then Bigfoot first appeared in Europe at least two thousand years before arriving in North America." |Bigfoot's migration: From the British Isles to North America?| Not surprisingly, In Pursuit of Horned Giants implies that the British Isles continue to have an abnormally high rate of gigantism- a genetic abnormality which may have been left behind by the migrating Bigfoot: "In 2010, the board of directors of the Hunterian Museum gave researchers permission to examine the teeth from an 18th-century Irish giant named Charles Byrne. Using the DNA from Byrne's teeth, a germline mutation was identified in the gene known as the aryl hydrocarbon–interacting protein gene, or AIP. It was discovered that members of four modern-day Irish families had the same mutation as the 18th-century giant, therefore proving that modern giants of Northern Ireland shared a common ancestor who lived 57 to 66 generations earlier. This proves that gigantism can be hereditary, which means that a race of ancient giants could have existed in the British Isles." (Editor's Note: Marlin Bressi's book, In Pursuit of Horned Giants, will be available in January 2013. For more information, contact the author at [email protected])

Tiburón is a character from the television show American Dragon: Jake Long. He is voiced by John DiMaggio. Tiburón is one of the evil Shark People. He has a red patch over one eye and a metal clawed hand. His goal is to rule the sea by using Neptune's Trident. He battled Jake and Greggy by riding on a giant sea cryptid called the Sea Serpent. His Sea Serpent got weakened by hot steam and he fell into the ocean with Tiburón. - "Tiburón" means "shark" in Spanish.

Friday, January 23, 2015 I saw something that put a big scare into me. I'm going describe it - not sure you'll believe it, but I'm certain about what I saw that day. This happened in August 2009 as I was driving to my husband's place of employment. We live in Gillam, Manitoba and he is an electrician for one of the generating stations on the river. It was close to 3 PM. I had just turned off one of the residential roads near my home heading east on PR280. About a 1/2 mile after my turn, I caught a glimpse of something tall moving through the trees to my right. Then suddenly, it jumped onto the shoulder of the road and stood there as I drove by. I looked in the mirror and saw it quickly cross to the other side of the road. I picked up speed and didn't stop until I reached the station. I had chills all over. I got a decent look at it. It had a large wolf head, but it was standing upright on legs which looked man-like. I didn't see arms as I passed by, but I did see arms swaying back and forth when I looked in the mirror as it crossed the road. The coloring of the head and body hair was charcoal with darker patches. If it was an actual gray wolf, then it was the largest one I had ever heard of. I thought that someone was playing tricks, but that wouldn't make sense since (I think) it was during the hunting season. I did tell my husband, who later checked the area where I saw it. He said that there were reports of a very large wolf along the river a year or two before, but he had not heard anything beyond that. I still don't know if he believes me. I also said something to my uncle (through marriage) who is Chippewa. My uncle told me that it was not a ma'iingan (wolf) and that I must forget about it. He then recited some words under his breath and told me not to mention it again. That kind of freaked me out. Since it was 5 years ago, I haven't thought much of it - until I read a newspaper article about the dogman and sightings people had in other locations. That's how I found you online. I have a few questions, if you'd consider emailing me. Thank you - SB NOTE: I contacted SB by email in mid-December and just received a response on Wednesday...then another response on Thursday. She wanted to know what I thought of the sightings in the newspaper and internet. I referred her to several of Linda Godfrey's books and mentioned that I would forward her information to Linda as well. SB agreed to having her experience published...though personal information was removed. She stated that the being was about 8 ft tall with a huge, wide head. I tend to be a bit more cautious with bipedal canine reports. To be frank, there have been several narratives I've received over the years that didn't quite pass the 'smell test.' This can happen with any unexplained phenomena submission...but it seems more prevalent when the subject is cryptid canine. That being said, I truly think SB believes she witnessed some form of supernatural creature. Lon

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 Geek Monthly on End of the Century “What do a soldier from the 6th century, a sleuth from the 19th century and an American teenager in 1999 all have in common? They are all characters in Chris Roberson’s ambitious quest for the Holy Grail that intermingles all three ages to truly entertaining effect.”Geek Monthly appears to do relatively few book reviews, so I'm really jazzed they covered the book. And considering that in this issue there are only reviews for new comics by Jaime Hernandez, Neil Gaiman & P. Craig Russell, and Tom Neely, and novels by Jonathan Carroll and little old me, I'm delighted to be included in such a lineup of heavyhitters. Update: Allison insists I'm a dope for not sharing a scan of the review, so here it is. Tuesday, December 30, 2008 Year in Review We're briefly back at headquarters, in between rounds of holiday travel. I'm slowly catching up on correspondence and blog feeds, noting items of possible interest for later investigation. Here's a few I thought well worth sharing: - Lou Anders has posted a note about Hal Duncan's Escape From Hell! (and about the MonkeyBrain novella line in general) over on Tor.com. - Over on the Beat, Heidi reports that R. Sikoryak’s “Masterpiece Comics” are going to be collected in 2009 by D&Q, which is a cause for much rejoicing. - Bruce Ross ruminates on pulp heroes, and shares his custom figures of Commando Cody, Doc Savage, and the Shadow. - John Coulthart points to Kevin St. Onge's flash emulation of Texas Instruments "Speak & Spell", which immediately flashed me back nearly three decades to the Christmas of 1979. Wednesday, December 24, 2008 A Venture Bros Xmas The annual Venture Brothers Christmas song is now online. Enjoy. (Relive Christmases past here, here, here and here.) Tuesday, December 23, 2008 Secret Saturdays toys Although viewers can expect the typical array of figures of the main cast of characters--Doc Saturday, Drew, Zack, and ever-present villain V.V. Argost--Mattel, Inc. is sure to work on the fantastical nature of the cryptid creatures as well. The mysterious, mythological, and altogether marvelous creatures that populate The Secret Saturdays; from flesh-eating wolf beasts to volcano-dwelling cannibal giants of Chile, the cartoon has plenty of unique animals to offer.I know one little girl who is going to be very happy about that. (And her dad is pretty geeked about it, too...) The toyline based on The Secret Saturdays is currently slated for release in Fall 2009. Playsets and role-play items are also on tap for development by Mattel, Inc. The adventure animation, which debuted on Cartoon Network this past October, is likely to see production through that period as well. Venture Bros. 3rd Season DVD TV's Sci-Fi and Superhero Characters This morning over on his deviantART gallery, he shares "stage one" of his latest work in progress, TV's Sci-Fi and Superhero Characters. Here's how he describes it: This is stage one of my huge attempt to draw a little bit of every cool science fiction and superhero television show I ever watched growing up in the 70's. There had never been such an amazing diversity of programs like these and they all did their part to expand my love of both genres. These shows had it all, drama, fantasy, high adventure, amazing production design (notably Space 1999 and the original Battlestar Galactica) great actors and actresses, wonderfully designed creatures and aliens (Dr. Who's Zygons come to mind immediately), incredible special effects and in the case of the Incredible Hulk the most haunting theme song ever recored in my opinion. Well, I still need to color this beast but I wanted to show it off at this stage because I'm so damn proud of this one, its taken me an age to reference all the costumes and ships, I just kept adding stuff, if I missed one of your favorites I apologize, Marvels 1978 Dr. Stange almost made it in and so did one of the moon girls from the great old Gerry and Sylvia Anderson series UFO! I could have put in almost every villain from Dr. Who and its almost criminal Davros didn't make the cut but there you go, you got the Supervoc SV7 robot and hes pretty cool too! Let me know what you think, cause I'm dying to hear, of course I hope all you 30 to forty somethings out there have some fond rememberances of some or all of these shows, and i'd incourage anyone unfamiliar with them to give them a shot sometime, see what all us old timers are always carrying on about. Happy Holidays guys and gals!So how many can you name? Escape from Hell! review Escape From Hell! is a wild ride through the literal Hell – a pulp adventure and angry condemnation. I suppose that some may consider it blasphemy – I consider it brilliant fiction. It’s rare for me to think such, but Escape From Hell! would make a great movie, if anyone had the guts to make it. 9/10 Monday, December 22, 2008 Less spoilerish than the Booklist review, which I'll quote in January when the review is published, but at the same time not entirely accurate. Still, a fairly positive review, I think. So thanks, reviewer at Library Journal! In sixth-century Londinium, young knight Galaad follows his visions to the castle of King Artor and the search for the Holy Grail. Victorian London houses consulting detective Sandford Blank and his assistant, Roxanne Bonaventure, who hunt for a serial killer whose motive is the location of the grail. In 20th-century London, American teenager Alice Fell is on the run, pursuing strange visions that lead her as well to the sacred cup of the grail. Inevitably, the barriers between time and place deteriorate, bringing a group of seekers together in a cosmic confrontation between good and evil. The author of Here, There & Everywhere and The Voyage of Night Shining White blends high fantasy, Victorian mystery, and urban fantasy into one mesmerizing story that refreshes the Arthurian legend. For most fantasy collections. Friday, December 19, 2008 Avatar: The Last Puppet Bender - It Aint Over Till The Plush Lady Sings Thursday, December 18, 2008 Over the Horizon The Custom Toys of Bruce Ross Look at this pair, Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tars Tarkas and John Carter: And check out the detail work on this figure of Dave Stevens's Rocketeer: It's in the rear view that you can really see the care he took with this: This Lord Chamberlain from Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal, though? Uncanny. Happy Birthday, Michael Moorcock! Incidentally, John Picacio has some great gift suggestions: I suppose the best b-day gift an author can receive is for folks to buy his/her books, and since we're in the gift-giving season, the new Del Rey editions of Mike's classic ELRIC work make excellent stocking stuffers. :) The first three of a six-book series are available here, here, and here. Wednesday, December 17, 2008 Season 2 Online Premiere - Flight of the Conchords And look, here it is! Space Crash - my first novel But few people know that the novels I wrote in college weren't my first novels, either. In fact, I wrote my first novel nearly three decades ago, at the age of nine. It ran to 426 words on three and a half handwritten pages, and it was entitled Space Crash. Here, for your delectation, is that novel. (Click the images to embiggen, or just read the transcript below if you can't make out my nine-year-old cursive penmanship.) In transcribing this epic, I have left in all misspellings and typographical errors, including the (bafflingly) misspelled title on page 1. Also note that the following in no way bears any resemblance to any theatrical films that might have been released two years before in 1977. No resemblance at all. Space ChrashIn our future there is a place in time and space. On Venus two there is a boy named Jim Spacerider, and his father Bill Spacerider. They live in a dugout in Cantena Five. They were rebel troopers. Jim’s mother died in a *Space Crash near Cantena Five. He and his father were okay, but she was dead. by Chris R. They then joined the rebel gorillas. There were a princess named Mary Wildsun and she was beautiful. She was on the rebel force. The empire was evil and strong but the rebels were strong, too. Later Jim and Bill went to the rebel statoin on Valtar in the Crab Nebulae. They went there in Star Fighters. “Were in the Crab Nebulae, now,” said Jim cheerfully! The empire leader was named Dick Vaber. He was evil and strong. The leader of the rebel’s was Ben Vaber, they were brothers to blood, not heart or brain. Ben was smarter. Ben had seven medals. Dick had five. Ben had one hundred five stations, Dick had ninety nine. Ben had 2,340,798,910 men. Dick had 530,102,803. But Dick was the strongest man in the univirse. Ben used his wits instead of strength. Jim and Bill went to see Ben Vaber and Marywildsun and a friend named Brooke Starraider. Brooke had a droid named Jenny and she looked like Shirley Temple. Nobody knew it but Dick had captured Jan, mother of Jim wife of Bill. Everybody thought she was dead, but she was captured by Dick. When they got to Valtar the search began to find what happened to Jan. Mary, Brooke, and Jenny took galaxy Five and Four. Bill, Jim, and Ben, Two and Three. They took Laser bows and Atomic arrows. “Nothing,” cried Bill who was mad at Dick for killing Jan. Brooke, Mary, and Jenny had found Dick’s base on Saturn Four. They went inside and saw a small planet inside an outer false planet, which was unusual. It was the only one like it. They contacted Jim, Bill, and Ben to come, but the startroopers trapped them. The other rebels came to fight back. Whith laser gun’s in there hands, the startroopers lost the battle. Then Ben saw Dick and said “So we meet agin brother.” They both drew Atomic arrows and Laser bows, and they had a battle. Ben won and Dick died. Jim saw a cell and opened it and saw Jan inside. They called Bill, Ben, Brooke, Mary, and Jenny and they got away to fight another day.And to complete the set, here's the back cover.the end. Admittedly, the plot tends to wander a bit. In my defense, though, the addition of my three younger siblings as supporting characters (Brooke Starraider, Mary Wildsun, and Jenny the droid who looks like Shirley Temple) was at the insistence of my dad, as I recall, an early example of editorial interference. Tuesday, December 16, 2008 The Ten Doctors A few months ago - in fact pretty much a year ago, when I first spoke about the story I was about to start writing called Doctor Who: The Forgotten, I said the following line.And here's the image he's talking about. "And it will have a double page splash in issue #6 that will hopefully go down in history as one of the most downloaded Doctor Who pictures/Wallpaper ever." Big words indeed, and people thought I'd mispoken, that I actually meant the double page of the Doctor's costumes that was seen in #1, an image that has since appeared in a variety of different places, most recently on news sites talking about who would be playing the next Doctor. But no. You see, I had a better page. A double page that would lay to rest the rumours already flying around that although I mentioned all ten Doctors in the first five issues of the six part story, the Doctor? He never actually meets them. Not at all. No, no way whatsoever. There's no way that the BBC would allow that. Nuh-uh. Well... You've been reading the comic? All four issues out so far? You're looking forwards to #5, out on New Years Eve? You're eagerly waiting for #6, out on the 21st of January, because with the previous Doctor's stories all ending in #5, something special must be happening in it? Well, you'd be right. Something special does. Something magical. Something never thought possible. Click on the segment of the page shown below to see the full, double page spread from #6 that I spoke of, a year ago. I've been reading and enjoying The Forgotten since the first issue, and I've found it to be one of the best Doctor Who comics to date, and certainly the best in ages. (Didn't RTD famously say in an interview that, so far as he was concerned, such a meeting was impossible and would never happen? I remember reading that in the last year or so, but can't find it anywhere now.) My New Project I'm spending the next few days getting my head back in Warhammer 40K mode, to work on the outline for my next project for Black Library. The book hasn't been formally commissioned yet, so I don't know if I can talk about what it is yet, but for those following along at home I suppose I can say that it features an established Chapter of Space Marines. (And I just got an early copy of Dawn of War II yesterday, and I'm really pleased how it turned out. More on that later.) After I finish the Space Marine outline, I'm spending a few weeks working on some fantasy stories, that will ultimately be part of a sprawling epic fantasy project that I'm not sure I've talked about here. The first one will probably be titled "A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows", and feature a group of kick-ass ghost-hunting ninja-monk-morticians fighting zombies in a graveyard. Probably. More on that later. But in the meantime, I thought I'd share with you some samples from my other new project. See, my daughter Georgia, who turns five in a couple of months, loves to color and draw. I've posted a few examples of her work over the last few months. Coloring and drawing is great for parents, you might say, because it is this completely self-directed activity that kids can do on their own, freeing parents up to do whatever needs doing around the house--dishes, cooking, straightening up, checking Google Reader, what-have-you. You might say that, but you'd be wrong. Georgia loves to color, but she loves company while she does it, and so is always begging me or Allison to come color with her. Since Allison is the real breadwinner in the family and is, subsequently, often busy actually working, it most often falls to me to sit and color with Georgia. Well, for most of the last year I've been busying myself coloring pages out of her coloring books--Littlest Pet Shop, Tinker Bell, Curious George, Bolt, Wall-E, you name it. A few weeks ago, Georgia and I were digging through an old box of my papers and such that I'd brought down from the attic, when I happened to find a gold mine--a half-dozen or so coloring books I'd bought between the ages of seven and nine, or thereabouts. A couple of Flash Gordon, and one each of Spider-Man, Battle of the Planets, Disney's The Black Hole, and Batman. In every case, as kids will, I'd colored a few pages with great care, a few others partially completed, and most of the pages completely untouched. And that's when I hit upon my new project. No, not a project, but a mission. I would finish all of these coloring books. Since I'm sitting at the kitchen table coloring several times a week anyway, why not use this time to finish the work I started more than thirty years ago, rather than just coloring another page of Littlest Pet Shop animals? I'm starting with the Batman book, for no particular reason. Here it is. Batman: Tent Full of Trouble. I mean, come on? How can you not love Batman at the circus? I quickly had to establish a few rules for myself. My goal here is to maintain consistency with the work of my nine year old self. (I'm guessing that I did most of the work in this one in 1979, having purchased it at a school book fair in that year, if the "Central Cyclone Book Fair" stamp and indicia are any indication.) That means that I can only use Crayola colors that I would reasonable have had access to as a kid. And that, as much as possible, I would try to adopt the same coloring style I used back then (ie. a single color for each bounded space). And, perhaps trickier, I would try to match the colors used on the already completed pages when doing the unfinished pages. Here's me at age nine, for reference. Yes, that's Robin capturing a clown. This is a story about Batman and Robin foiling the plans of a group of crooked clowns to steal the jewels worn by the circus bareback rider, Lady Adele. Really. Okay, so here's the image from the opposite page, begun and finished this last weekend. (Parenthetically, this is the kind of thing that Batman doesn't do enough of these days. Wrestling bears, I mean, while evil clowns try to slip away. Of course, for all I know that could be the plot of next week's Batman: The Brave and the Bold.) As you can see, I'm dating each new page in crayon at the bottom, to keep track. Undated pages are those I finished thirty years ago. In some cases, though, there are pages that I began but left unfinished at age 9. In these cases, I finish the work, trying to make it as seamless with the original colors as possible. Here's the next page in the book, for example. In this instance, I had colored all of Robin but his right glove and shoes, with the rest of the page undone. (As you can see, the dating at the bottom reflects the amount of time taken to finish--in this case, almost 30 years.) Georgia has been wanting to color a lot lately, so I've gotten quite a few pages done in the last two weeks. But at the rate I'm going, it'll still probably be another month or so before I color the last page of Tent Full of Trouble. After that I'll probably move on to one of the Flash Gordon coloring books, more than likely. And if anyone is concerned about what happened with Robin and the bear (and don't try to figure out how the bear escaped the clutches of Batman--it's left vague in the original narrative), here's the next page. That's right, it's the circus's animal trainer, briefly glimpsed early on, come to the rescue. As tasty as Robin might be to a bear, clearly a bucket of fish is that much more appealing. In any event, that's my new project. Escape from Hell! contest Monday, December 15, 2008 (1) Was unable to post to my blog for most of today and yesterday, after I stupidly forgot to update the IP address at Blogger after a server migration. (2) Typed "The End" on the script for issue 6 of Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love. (3) Posted some thoughts over on the new Clockwork Storybook blog. (4) Put on a third layer of clothing. It is damned cold here today! Sunday, December 14, 2008 Clockwork Storybook group blog Saturday, December 13, 2008 Paul Cornell has polled a bunch of sf/f types on the topic, "what is your favourite Xmas film?" (he used that extra "u" of course) and collected the results on Day 2 of his 12 Blogs of Christmas. Respondents include John Scalzi, John Picacio, Mike Carey, Mary Robinette Kowal, Lou Anders, Stephen Segal, Shanna Swendson, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, C.E. Murphy, Steven Moffat, Sean Williams, Kim Newman, and my own humble self. (If I had it all to do over, I'd probably have switched to Lou's answer, truth be told.) How about you nice people? Got a favorite holiday flick or special? Friday, December 12, 2008 Well, we watched it last night. Wall-E, it is not. Georgia's comments aside ("This is a good movie," she said several times), it was neither watchable nor mildly entertaining. And this is a movie that features chimpanzees in spacesuits having adventures on another planet. Getting that combination right isn't exactly, oh what's the term, rocket science. (Having enough trouble with the logic of the narrative itself, I won't think about the bad science. I mean, at one point I'm pretty sure a character refers to "Einstein's Unified Space Theory." Did no one on the production have access to Google?) In any event, if I can ever remember just where it was that I read the somewhat positive review of this thing, I'm going to go and demand that they return to me the 80 minutes I wasted watching it. Thursday, December 11, 2008 The last I recall seeing of him was one of the titles in DC's shortlived Focus line, Touch, and don't think I've seen his name mentioned since. In the late 90s, though, Moore was responsible for some of my favorite comics, all of which have really held up as I've revisited them in the years since--Chronos, the best treatment of time-travel in a superhero book to date; Superman: The Dark Side, which took what could have been a trite idea (Kal-El lands on Apokolips) and owned it; and in particular the 100% awesome Elseworld's Finest, which reimagined the DC Universe as a Depression-era pulp adventure in letter-perfect style. Google fails to find any news of him. Does anyone know more? 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes That'll change shortly, I promise. I've got a few more entries to go in the Secret Services, and I've been thinking a lot about pulp heroes and such, too. But I've got a few more days' work to go on the last issue of Cinderella, so I'll be keeping my head down for a little while yet. With that in mind, I give you what could well be a scene from the greatest movie ever made--if this was one scene and came from a single movie. (Stick with it. There are some genius juxtapositions in here.) My hat is off to Matthew Belinkie, who cut this together. Nicely done! If you're interested, here's the complete "transcript" of the inspirational speech: "Shame on you. This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you're going to let it be the worst. And I guarantee a week won't go by in your life you won't regret walking out, letting them get the best of you. Well, I'm not going home. We've come too far! And I'm going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause. A day may come when the courage of men fails... but it is not THIS day. The line must be drawn HERE. This far, no further! I'm not saying it's going to be easy. You're going to work harder than you ever worked before. But that's fine, we'll just get tougher with it! If a person grits his teeth and shows real determination, failure is not an option. That's how winning is done! Believe me when I say we can break this army here, and win just one for the Gipper. But I say to you what every warrior has known since the beginning of time: you've got to get mad. I mean plum mad dog mean. If you would be free men, then you must fight to fulfill that promise! Let us cut out their living guts one inch at a time, and they will know what we can do! Let no man forget how menacing we are. We are lions! You're like a big bear, man! This is YOUR time! Seize the day, never surrender, victory or death... that's the Chicago Way! Who's with me? Clap! Clap! Don't let Tink die! Clap! Alright! Let's fly! And gentlemen in England now abed shall know my name is the Lord when I tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our Independence Day!" Wednesday, December 10, 2008 I want to see this flick now... Silent Star Wars Monday, December 08, 2008 István Madarász's "Sooner or Later" Doc Wilde and The Frogs of Doom I have a post on a private mailing list to thank for pointing me towards Tim Byrd's Doc Wilde and The Frogs of Doom, forthcoming from G.P. Putnam’s Sons in May 2009. Here's the flack from the official site: “Doc Wilde and the Frogs of Doom is an adventure yarn in the old tradition. It gets that reading is an intellectual activity, and that an adventure, to be really good, has to engage the reader’s brain. I love a smart book!”If you are catching a whiff of Doc Savage-y goodness from this, you're not alone. And check out Byrd's list of inspirations, from the book's acknowledgments:—Daniel Pinkwater To the world at large, the Wilde family is an amazing team of golden skinned adventurers, born to daring escapades and globetrotting excitement! Doctor Spartacus Wilde, world class scientist and inventor, physical exemplar, ultimate warrior, and loving dad! Brian and Wren Wilde, the worlds most swashbuckling kids, able to survive the most perilous situations through quick wits and the intensive training and astonishing gadgets that are their birthright! Aided by their dashing majordomo Phineas Bartlett and their loyal driver and pilot Declan mac Coul, the Wildes crisscross the Earth on a constant quest for new knowledge, incredible thrills, and good old fashioned adventure! The Frogs of Doom… Now, with adventurous Grandpa Wilde missing, the Wildes confront the deepest mysteries of Dark Matter, penetrate the tangled depths of uncharted jungles, and come face to face with the likely end of the world in the clammy clutches of The Frogs of Doom… That's not a bad reading list, if you ask me. For inspiration, I affectionately acknowledge the spinners of countless adventure stories I’ve enjoyed since I was a kid, folks like Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Alexandre Dumas, Paul Dini, Karl Edward Wagner, Rafael Sabatini, Walter Gibson, Ray Harryhausen, Neil Gaiman, Joss Whedon, Norvell Page, Michael Chabon, and Robert B. Parker. I owe a special debt to two writers from the pulp magazines of old, Lester Dent who, under the nom de plume “Kenneth Robeson,” brought the world the extravagant adventures of Doc Savage, the original superhero, and H.P. Lovecraft whose spooky stories warned of eldritch horrors lurking just outside our world waiting to devour it. Lovecraft’s work is always readily available, and as I write this, all the Doc Savage stories are finally being reprinted in beautiful editions by Anthony Tollin and Nostalgia Ventures (www.shadowsanctum.com). I'm really looking forward to checking this out. Of course, my first reaction wasn't quite so charitable. You see, for the last few years I've been shopping around a middle-reader adventure series called the Young Explorers, the main character of which is--among other things--the grandson of pulp adventurer "King" Carmody (though that connection doesn't come out till much later in the series), familiar to readers of Cybermancy Incorporated. Along with his classmates at boarding school, the young Carmody travels all over the world, seeking knowledge and adventure. Sound familiar? In the last month or so it looked like Young Explorers had a better than average chance of getting picked up, but the project fell the last hurdle, so now we've had to move back to the starting blocks (though things aren't entirely without hope). In any event, it wasn't just that our two series have similar ideas and themes that made me so envious to read about Byrd's forthcoming book, it was the title of the first installment, too. The title of the first novel in the Young Explorers series? The Young Explorers and the Monkeys of Doom. Not identical, I know, but still... D'oh! Sunday, December 07, 2008 "Two Pigeons," by Georgia R. Before heading out to Duncanville for Thanksgiving last week, I chanced on a lot of great printouts on the Pigeon Presents! site, including a "How to draw Pigeon" tutorial in the "Pigeon's Teacher's Guide" (found in the "boring Grown-up stuff" section of the site). Georgia spent most of the three hour drive north from Austin coloring all of the Piggy, Elephant, Leonardo, Knuffle Bunny, Pigeon, and Edwina stuff I'd printed out for her, and when we got to my folks place she set up shop at the kitchen table and kept right on going. When she finally got to the How To Draw Pigeon page, I read it aloud for her as she followed the steps (you know the kind of thing... "Step 1, draw a circle. Step 2, draw a smaller circle inside it for the eye."), and then she started drawing pigeons. Or, to be more precise, Pigeons. So far, she hasn't stopped. The following example was probably the third and fourth pigeons she drew, respectively, at the point when she'd started coloring them. And of course, she has to sign her name, hence the "Georgia R." at the top. (The Santa and mincemeat on the upper right and left are magnets adhering the paper to the refrigerator in my parents' house, where it is on exhibit.) Not bad for a four year old, eh? Saturday, December 06, 2008 "Evil Under the Sea!" The best part? When Batman is forced to fight a giant squid... inside a mind-controlled whale. That's pure awesome, right there. Friday, December 05, 2008 RIP Paul Benedict Growing up in the 70s, I saw a lot of Benedict on television, but I think it's his bits on Sesame Street as the "Mad Painter" (also featuring Stockard Channing and Jerome Raphel) that I remember most fondly. Thursday, December 04, 2008 Good (Secret) News Cryptic enough for you? Wednesday, December 03, 2008 Newsarama on Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love Prop 8 - The Musical Tuesday, December 02, 2008 Geoff Ryman's "The Film-makers of Mars" The films just started showing up, everywhere, old forgotten silent movies turning to jelly in warehouses all over SoCal: Anaheim, Burbank, Tarzana.(When I finished reading, I couldn't help myself, but had to look up "Herman Blix." I found this, about the real-life Herman Brix, if anyone's interested.) I got a call from Al at Hannibal Restoration. “They’re mindblowing!” The old hippie. Eight reels of a film about Santa Claus from 1909. Filmed in Lapland. And forty reels of a film it says was produced by Edgar Rice Burroughs. In 1911? So what did I miss? Here are a few items of personal interest that have cropped up online in the last few days, at least as per my Google Reader feeds. Rudy Rucker reminiscences about writing the Hollow Earth The BookSpot Beat talks with Hal Duncan about Escape From Hell! SF Signal looks at Iron Jaw and Hummingbird Oh, and we went to see Disney's new animated flick Bolt with Georgia over the weekend, and Allison and I were amazed to discover that it was one of the best movies we'd seen in ages. (Georgia liked it, too.) Highly recommended.

"Stirred, Not Shaken" "A Knight to Remember" There has been a new sighting of a small humanoid like cryptid in the Indonesian jungle. It is believed to be the legendary Orang Pendek, a race of diminutive, hobbit like bipeds that lived along side man thousands of years ago. I saw Jordan Peele’s magnificent “Get Out” this weekend and was blown away by it’s powerful racial commentary as well it’s unique probing of the human psyche. While the racial component definitely makes for some poignant discussion, for this brief analysis, I will try to focus more on what I believe “The Sunken Place” is as it has some interesting implications. On February 19th, 2013 the decomposing body of twenty-one year old college student Elisa Lam was found inside of a water tank atop Los Angeles’ Cecil Hotel. After guests staying at the hotel reported foul tasting, blackish-brown water coming from their faucets, hotel staff were propelled to locate the source of the ill-tasting water and upon inspection, they discovered her remains.

Posted by: Loren Coleman on March 17th, 2008 As the North American warm weather develops and the two new cryptozoology television series, “MonsterQuest” and “Destination Truth” battle for ratings heats cryptid matters, it will be worth our time to notice how many media mentions are generated by these two programs. For example, the Beast of Bladenboro article below appears to have been written because of the documentary filmmakers renewing investigations of the old stories as due to any new reports. If the tourist development success seen in such locations as Bladenboro or ones like in Point Pleasant, we should not be surprised to see other rural towns sharing their old monster stories with willing production companies. This beast refuses to die. Half a century after hunters came by the hundreds to stake out Bladenboro’s big swamp, the elusive vampire cat is still on the prowl. It graces the community newsletter from time to time and headlines Beast Week, the town’s annual celebration that leads up to a Boost the ‘Boro festival. The Beast of Bladenboro, though a bona fide terror in its day, has been embraced by a city looking for resurgence and finding national recognition by way of its folklore. “The beast is no longer this dreaded embarrassment or shameful thing. I think people are really excited about it now,” Hiram Hester, former chairman of the Boost the ‘Boro board, said. The bloodthirsty shadow-dweller has found a haven in the community where it wreaked havoc in January of 1954. The killing reportedly started on New Year’s Eve, 1953, when a pair of dogs that belonged to Johnny Vause were “torn to ribbons and crushed.” Two more pairs of dogs were mauled, their blood guzzled by the beast, and chief of police Roy Fores told mayor W.G. Fussell about the odd goings-on. Fussell, who often called the Wilmington Morning Star with local news items, picked up the phone. On January 5, 1954, a front-page story titled “Vampire Tendencies Found In Bladenboro’s ‘Monsters'” appeared in the Star. The story snowballed for 10 days with reports of the beast being picked up by wire services and published as far away as Arizona. Closer to home, Gene Norton recalled the talk in Bladenboro, even though he was only 9 years old when the beast roamed. “I remember people talking about animals that had been killed by something that had sucked all the blood out of them,” Norton wrote in a document submitted to the History Channel for use in its upcoming “MonsterQuest” feature. “Everyone was on edge for a while as something was obviously doing this to animals, so the thought was that it might turn on people.” Fear and frustration came to residents who lived near the beasts’ stomping grounds as well as the biologists trained to find logical explanations for unusual events. “Normally we try to ascertain the situation, find out the details of what they think they’ve seen,” said N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission biologist Tom Padgett, who patrols District 4, which includes Bladen, Cumberland and three other counties. “A lot of times they hear strange noises, but most sightings of whatever they think it might be are at night. And there’s usually no physical evidence; no hair, no tracks. We’re not saying the people are not seeing something, but it’s very frustrating for us as well as for the folks who are involved when there’s no physical proof,” Padgett said. Mayor called off search Proof, though, was secondary to the compelling stories of a blood-sucking, jaw-crushing creature roaming the small mill town. “There were right at 1,000 hunters from across the country who came to town, newspapers came to town,” Hester said. “It got kind of extreme. Someone killed a bobcat and the mayor said, ‘Oh, we’ve killed the beast,’ just to kind of save the people from shooting each other.” Hester acknowledged that some human mischief undoubtedly took place at the height of the beast’s reign. But some of the reported deaths of dogs and goats could have been caused by a bobcat or coyote. “We do have reports of people losing livestock. That’s been going on for years,” Padgett said. “Most of the time it’s feral dogs. Occasionally it’s a bobcat. “I tell people if they have an encounter with something and they don’t know what it is, if there’s any sign there, like a track, put a bucket over it and try to contact somebody in the wildlife commission,” Padgett said. But even Padgett, the Agent Scully-type skeptic who relies on hard evidence, won’t plant a silver bullet in the small town folklore that has become a source of pride. “I try to be as objective as I can. With all the calls we get, there may be something out there,” Padgett said. “Over the years we have confiscated mountain lions that people had as pets. There’s always that possibility.”by Monica Holland, “Beast of Bladenboro on the prowl” – Fayette Observer, Sunday, March 16, 2008. Thanks to Chad Arment for the article. Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

Even in absurdity, sacrament. Even in hardship, holiness. Even in doubt, faith. Even in chaos, realization. Even in paradox, blessedness links open windows | email me at lightenin' speeds Hey, original t-shirts for sale! bird on the moon weblog all the pictures call me moonbird "Life expands or shrinks in proportion to one's courage." ~Anain Nin 'UFO Hacker' Tells What He Found WN: Did you find anything in your search for evidence of UFOs? McKinnon: Certainly did. There is The Disclosure Project. This is a book with 400 testimonials from everyone from air traffic controllers to those responsible for launching nuclear missiles. Very credible witnesses. They talk about reverse-(engineered) technology taken from captured or destroyed alien craft. WN: Like the Roswell incident of 1947? McKinnon: I assume that was the first and assume there have been others. These relied-upon people have given solid evidence. WN: What sort of evidence? McKinnon: A NASA photographic expert said that there was a Building 8 at Johnson Space Center where they regularly airbrushed out images of UFOs from the high-resolution satellite imaging. I logged on to NASA and was able to access this department. They had huge, high-resolution images stored in their picture files. They had filtered and unfiltered, or processed and unprocessed, files. My dialup 56K connection was very slow trying to download one of these picture files. As this was happening, I had remote control of their desktop, and by adjusting it to 4-bit color and low screen resolution, I was able to briefly see one of these pictures. It was a silvery, cigar-shaped object with geodesic spheres on either side. There were no visible seams or riveting. There was no reference to the size of the object and the picture was taken presumably by a satellite looking down on it. The object didn't look manmade or anything like what we have created. Because I was using a Java application, I could only get a screenshot of the picture -- it did not go into my temporary internet files. At my crowning moment, someone at NASA discovered what I was doing and I was disconnected. I also got access to Excel spreadsheets. One was titled "Non-Terrestrial Officers." It contained names and ranks of U.S. Air Force personnel who are not registered anywhere else. It also contained information about ship-to-ship transfers, but I've never seen the names of these ships noted anywhere else. Daniel Pinchbeck: The Return of Quetzlcoatl In the popular culture of our secular age, the gods, demigods, fairies, and gnomes of the old mythic realm have returned as extraterrestrials. Our mingled longing for and dread of contact with some unknown consciousness or superior alien race has been reflected in a century’s worth of books, films, television, and radio plays. I grew up on Star Trek, The Planet of the Apes, Star Wars, ET, and 2001, on Ursula K. Le Guin and Kurt Vonnegut and Stanislaw Lem—as an adolescent, I loved the Silver Surfer and Orson Welles’s The War of the Worlds. The pleasure of these artifacts was in the possibilities they threw out, like so many sparks. They returned the cosmos to a capacious state of “what-if?” that our mechanistic science seemed to deny. The exploration of fictional worlds is a kind of dreaming while awake; the complex ecosystem of the cultural imagination may also have a protective function. Through such stories, we absorb ideas in sidereal fashion, perhaps readying ourselves, on some subliminal level, for future shock of various stripes, before it arrives. After I finished my article on the crop circles, the images, and their implicit intent, continued to linger in my mind. I was perplexed by the rectangular Arecibo Response formation, dismissed by current SETI astronomer Seth Shostak as a “nice example of grain graffiti,” unworthy of further investigation. I was equally confounded by the "Face" that had appeared in halftones on the date of my daughter's birth. Whether accident or synchronicity, this correspondence seemed like a personal invitation to visit what the writer Robert Anton Wilson dubbed "Chapel Perilous," that vortex where cosmological speculations, coincidences, and paranoia seem to multiply and then collapse, compelling belief or lunacy, wisdom or agnosticism. Considering the scientific evidence, gathered by Eltjo Haselhof and others, suggesting the phenomenon had some mysterious legitimacy, as well as the many personal accounts I absorbed while doing my research, SETI’s blithe dismissal of the Arecibo Response glyph, a direct response to a message beamed into space by SETI in 1974, seemed flat and unreflective. Shostak insisted that an alien civilization would not communicate in such a manner when they could simply leave an Encyclopedia Galactica on our doorstep. But how could we determine the means that an alien civilization might use to communicate? He was perhaps recalling the Fermi Paradox, which noted that any technologically evolved civilization on a nearby star system should have emitted radio waves during its development that our sensors would have picked up. The physicist Enrico Fermi asked, in the absence of these signals, “Where are they?” But the answer might lie beyond the limits of our present knowledge. The SETI astronomer pointed out that the original Arecibo greeting was sent out to the M13 star cluster, over twenty thousand light-years away, and it therefore made no sense that it could have been answered already. It seemed equally logical to theorize that whoever—whatever—had crafted the reply knew about the original message as soon as it was sent, that they might have observed activities on our planet for a very long time. But even if one could imagine an advanced species watching the Earth, awaiting the proper moment to reveal itself to us, the Arecibo Response still made little sense. Who was meant to receive the transmission? And what were they—or we—supposed to do with it? Small, big-headed figures with silicon added to their makeup and an extra strand of DNA, as depicted in the Arecibo Response, suggested the peculiar narrative, or evolving postmodern myth, of the Gray aliens. Over the last decades, the Grays infiltrated the global subconscious, through best-selling books such as Whitley Streiber’s 1987 Communion, the TV miniseries Taken, and T-shirts, plastic figurines, cartoons, and other mass-cult detritus based on accounts of abduction. I had never paid more than a glancing attention to the UFO phenomenon or to alien abduction accounts—it seemed like some hysterical symptom of our cultural malaise, adolescent and turgid, overliteral, and deeply disreputable. The notion that three-and-a-half-foot-tall cardboard-colored aliens made nightly invasions of middle-class bedrooms across the United States and the world to insert rectal probes and take sperm samples did not seem plausible, or the type of behavior one would anticipate from a futuristic civilization. And yet, much like the surprisingly tangible evidence on crop circles, the accumulated data on UFO sightings and alien abductions reveals jarring levels of complexity and downright weirdness that do not allow for a blanket rejection of the phenomenon. Harvard psychiatrist John Mack, author of a Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of T. E. Lawrence, dedicated the last decades of his life to studying the psychological phenomenon of adbuction by “the visitors,” as Whitley Streiber called them. Considering the data gathered by a 1991 Roper poll, Mack thought it conceivable that as many as three million Americans had undergone an abduction experience. His study of abductees led him to conclude that the phenomenon had validity beyond any psychological mechanism: “There have been numerous psychological studies of these individuals; none has discovered any psychopathology in great degree that could account for the experience.” In many cases, abductees “have been witnessed by their relatives to not be present during that time. They are physically gone, and families become very distressed. . . . One of the things most difficult to accept is that this can actually have a literal factual basis. . . . Abductees may wake up with unexplained cuts, scoop marks, or bleeding noses.” Mack optimistically proposed that these experiences had some sort of therapeutic value. Prieur: Fall Down Six Times Spring, 2006. The attack on Iran is canceled when the UAE, stung on the port deal, refuses to offer their territory as a staging ground. Tony Blair, after being given a huge dose of ecstacy by Russian agents, reveals that he supported the Iraq war because the Bush administration blackmailed him with disturbing sex photos. Hundreds of other blackmailees come forward, and suddenly the American elite have no leverage. The rest of the world pulls the rug out from under our economy, and we can no longer afford to occupy the colonies or import anything. This disaster cuts deep enough that most Americans pass right through indignation and outrage, into humility and cooperation to help each other get through it. The neocons fade away, the Republicans become a minority party of religious fundamentalists, and Howard Dean survives three assassination attempts to be elected president in 2008. Using Bush-era strong-president laws, he begins a Hugo Chavez-style redistribution of wealth and political power. By 2010, he has survived seven more assassination attempts, most of which are tied to the old elites, who, incidentally, are are also being revealed as a pack of child-raping Satan-worshippers. The dying industrial farm system is nationalized, distribution is handled by autonomous volunteers, and it's kept going just long enough to feed us while we learn to grow food locally without oil-derived chemicals. Residents of places where food cannot be grown locally use their last gasoline to drive to places where it can, and live in their cars until they build their own shelter from indigenous and scavenged materials, turning parking lots into thriving encampments with dense gardens... Uplifting Bafoonery: 24 End of the World Prophecies 1999 to 2009: Jerry Falwell predicted in 1999-JAN that Jesus could return within ten years. But before that can happen, he said that the Antichrist must appear. Referring to the Antichrist, Falwell said: "Is he alive and here today? Probably. Because when he appears during the Tribulation period he will be a full-grown counterfeit of Christ. Of course he'll be Jewish. Of course he'll pretend to be Christ. And if in fact the Lord is coming soon, and he'll be an adult at the presentation of himself, he must be alive somewhere today." Rabbi James Rudin of the American Jewish Committee suggested that Christians should be careful about making such comments. His said that Falwell's statement "plays into some latent and historical anti-Semitism from the past." Rev. Falwell later apologized for his comment. Civilization: A risk of total collapse Is it possible that global civilisation might collapse within our lifetime or that of our children? Until recently, such an idea was the preserve of lunatics and cults. In the past few years, however, an increasing number of intelligent and credible people have been warning that global collapse is a genuine possibility. And many of these are sober scientists, including Lord May, David King and Jared Diamond - people not usually given to exaggeration or drama. The new doomsayers all point to the same collection of threats - climate change, resource depletion and population imbalances being the most important. What makes them especially afraid is that many of these dangers are interrelated, with one tending to exacerbate the others. It is necessary to tackle them all at once if we are to have any chance of avoiding global collapse, they warn. Many societies - from the Maya in Mexico to the Polynesians of Easter Island - have collapsed in the past, often because of the very same dangers that threaten us. As Diamond explains in his recent book, Collapse, the Maya depleted one of their principal resources - trees - and this triggered a series of problems such as soil erosion, decrease of useable farmland and drought. The growing population that drove this overexploitation was thus faced with a diminishing amount of food, which led to increasing migration and bloody civil war. The collapse of the civilisation on Easter Island followed a similar pattern, with deforestation leading to other ecological problems and warfare. Unlike these dead societies, our civilisation is global. On the positive side, globalisation means that when one part of the world gets into trouble, it can appeal to the rest of the world for help. Neither the Maya nor the inhabitants of Easter Island had this luxury, because they were in effect isolated civilisations. On the negative side, globalisation means that when one part of the world gets into trouble, the trouble can quickly be exported. If modern civilisation collapses, it will do so everywhere. Everyone now stands or falls together. Happy 1708: The Phantom Time Hypothesis The Phantom Time Hypothesis suggests that the early Middle Ages (614-911 A.D.) never happened, but were added to the calendar long ago either by accident, by misinterpretation of documents, or by deliberate falsification by calendar conspirators. This would mean that all artifacts ascribed to those three centuries belong to other periods, and that all events thought to have occurred during that same period occurred at other times, or are outright fabrications. For instance, a man named Heribert Illig, one of the leading proponents of the theory, believes that Charlemagne was a fictional character. But what evidence is this outlandish theory based upon? It seems that historians are plagued by a plethora of falsified documents from the Middle Ages, and such was the subject of an archaeological conference in München, Germany in 1986. In his lecture there, Horst Fuhrmann, president of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica, described how some documents forged by the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages were created hundreds of years before their “great moments” arrived, after which they were embraced by medieval society. This implied that whomever produced the forgeries must have very skillfully anticipated the future… or there was some discrepancy in calculating dates. Every year since 1954, a small network of rich and powerful people have held a discussion meeting about the state of the trans-Atlantic alliance and the problems facing Europe and the US. Organised by a steering committee of two people from each of about 18 countries, the Bilderberg Group (named after the Dutch hotel in which it held its first meeting) brings together about 120 leading business people and politicians... "I don't think (we are) a global ruling class because I don't think a global ruling class exists. I simply think it's people who have influence interested to speak to other people who have influence," Viscount Davignon says. yes, but is it ethical?* Whenever the president talks about Social Security, I think about the 5,000-Year-Old Woman. I can see her right now, cruising down some sunny highway in Florida in her convertible Mini Cooper, laughing into the wind. The 5,000-Year-Old Woman is supposed to give us hope. But sometimes, she scares me. Here we are talking about the federal retirement system facing possible disaster because a lot of people are living into their 80s and 90s. Meanwhile, out in the real world of science, medicine, and hypercompetitive Americans, 90 years old is already peanuts. *As magical as it all sounds to live damn near forever, I'd have to say that no, it's not ethical, at least for me. I already despise the fact that our major curable diseases have been abandoned on the research front by greedy PharmaCorps who pursue permanent erections of instantaneous weight loss pills to ease and comfort the First World, much like Huxley's "soma." Life extension tends toward a Utopian ideal that ultimately becomes racist and classist unless you're willing to extend the same benefits to, say Haiti or Bangladesh. Their quality of life and infrastructure is already billions of dollrs behind ours, so why bother? It doesn't take long with an objective eye to determine there's a problem with this sort of thinking; the desire for LE is often shared by we leftists, artists and neo-think types. Good for us, but what about them? Where is the line between individualism and conscience? It's blurred by the West's fear of death in a life where most other "problems" are a pill away. Now, as far as Leary's S M I(2) L E Principle, life extension for the purpose of getting off the planet makes sense, but only when we've hit an equilibrium of resource distribution on this radically disparaged little planet, where the main problem isn't life extension, it's staying alive. "Better a dram than a damn." ~Brave New World The simulation hypothesis: are we real? ‘The simulation hypothesis, that we are currently living in a computer simulation, should be understood literally, it’s not just in a metaphorical sense whereby one could view the universe as a simulation, but literally we would be living in a simulation created by some advanced civilization in a computer they built in their universe. And everything we see and our brains themselves would just be parts of this simulation...’ The simulation hypothesis is not sci-fi, it’s serious academic thought. Or, perhaps the inverse is true, and the entire world and universe exists, and all the people you know, and you, or I, are simply a convenient invention for the entertainment of totality? Does God Make Monsters? Sasquatch, or "Big Foot", is something of a beloved cryptid, because it is typically gentle, and it reminds us of ourselves. Some people believe it is the "missing link", and if we can capture a Sasquatch for testing, we may find just how humans evolved from apes. But is Sasquatch a natural creature, or an abomination? What about ghosts, dragons, aliens, and other inhuman entities? When they showed on television the cave on the island of Flores where the remains of little people had been found, I felt, I admit, a Yeatsian frisson that the world of politics cannot give. It was not delight at a new branch on the hat-stand of anthropoid evolution, but the thought that in the thick Indonesian rainforest there were (or had been, perhaps as recently as the time when dodos lived) creatures with whom we could converse, but which were not men. The appetite for talking to other creatures is amply exemplified by our often exasperated one-sided conversations: ‘Get off the bloody table, Tigger, there’s a good cat.’ The very existence of pets as a sort of imaginary friend shows how reluctant humans are to be alone among the frightening emptinesses of Paschalian space. The exciting news was that the folk tales of green men, little people, wood-dwellers, might be based on fact... Would these Floresians be in the image and likeness of God too, with immortal souls to be saved or lost, capable of praying to God and going to heaven? How Magicians Invented the Impossible The authenticity of wardrobes called “spirit cabinets” that appeared to summon rowdy ghosts sparked heated debate and even riots. The French government deemed the magic of early magician Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin so inscrutable that they sent him as a special envoy to awe the colonized peoples of French Algeria. Master magicians attracted the attention now lavished on movie stars. In a flurry of creativity and determination that lasted roughly from 1850 through the Depression, the founders of modern magic created a new form of entertainment that spread across the globe. It's only Friday, but you It's only Friday, but you can't help wonder about the end of the world. Enjoy this fun collection of scenarios, from a sudden change of matter-state, to an unplugging of our consensus reality, and the usual suspects: global warming, cometc, et cetera. Message for the curious: please Message for the curious: please phone ET, at home Put yourself in the situation of the aliens, out there somewhere in the galaxy. They surmise that Earth looks promising for the emergence of intelligent life one day, but they have no idea when. There would be little point in beaming radio messages in this direction for eons in the vague hope that one day radio technology would be developed here and someone would decide to tune in. A better plan would be to leave a message for us to find when we are ready. The trouble with this set-and-forget strategy is the time factor. Life takes billions of years to evolve intelligence. Even if ETs figured there was animal life on Earth, they could be faced with a wait of tens of millions of years. That is a long time for an artefact to survive. Putting the text inside a large metal object and plonking it on the Earth's surface is expensive in transportation costs, and risky. Our restless planet leaves nothing untouched for long. The artifact could easily end up buried or drowned or eroded to scrap. The ideal solution would be to encode the message inside a large number of self-replicating, self-repairing microscopic machines programmed to multiply and adapt to changing conditions. Coalition of the Willy. [via Just as the eyes may be averted from full frontal public displays of male nudity, is it possible that the unconscious association to phallic symbols like "weapons of mass destruction" may effectively lead the eyes to be "averted", thus frustrating any search. What are the ideas that Can We Imagine the Far TRY imagining what the world will be like in the year 3000. Some serious thinkers are starting to do just that. But can our minds even project that far? How will we work, play, propagate, communicate, worship, wonder? What forms of bodies will we have? What will our cities look like? How many nations will there be? How long will we live? What technologies will be available to us? What about family, business, government, education? How deep into space will humans have ventured? How many people will live on Earth? How strange will it be? Most of us don't know what we'll be doing a year from now; why then should we care about what our descendents will be doing a thousand years from now? It's fun to speculate, sure; but envisioning the year 3000 may be more than an idle exercise or mere amusement. Our time-traveling futurists explain. What would a creature from What would a creature from another planet really look like?, asks our inquisitive friends at the BBC. "Real aliens will be very alien indeed," Cohen and Stewart write... Anywhere that physical matter exists and there is an energy source could lead to the development of something of sufficient complexity that we would categorise it as "life". The psychedelic secrets of Santa Most of the major elements of the modern Christmas celebration, such as Santa Claus, Christmas trees, magical reindeer and the giving of gifts, are originally based upon the traditions surrounding the harvest and consumption of... sacred mushrooms. Number twenty-three is a wacky If you were a lab If you were a lab worm [with some modifications], you could live five times longer than a human. This news will likely be celebrated by folks like these and their ilk, while bioethicists and others cringe. Regardless of right or wrong, the ideas of life extension/biological immoratality pose some mighty difficult questions. I'm content with an average life span, because it gives me a decent amount of time to achieve what I want and do that which matters most. I'd rather snuff it at 65 with a full life under my belt than shlep along my hundreds with brittle, doped-up bones and a 'seen-it-all-before" malaise. But that's just me. The flip side is that if humans actually start evolving our tech into sci-fi type terms in the next few hundred years, exploring stars light years away and all that jazz, we'd likely need longer lifespans to make those journeys, or we'd have to have viable cryogenic suspension (rather than glamorized than freezers with Disney's brain wrapped in tinfoil next to the icey pops). The worm experiement, regardless of what we believe about LE, can certainly teach us alot about the mechanisms of life. And that's all good. (That was my comment from the MeFi thread). Anyone talk to John Titor Powerful stuff: E.T. and God Powerful stuff: E.T. and God Could earthly religions survive the discovery of life elsewhere in the universe? Rennes-le-Chateau is a small French Rennes-le-Chateau is a small French village with a grand cathedral of mystery and speculation. Read up on the mad priest, the Knights Templar, the Cathars, a lost treasure, coded parchments, including unusual spinoff theories. Crossposted to MeFi Crop Circles in California "I Crop Circles in California "I feel vacillations," said Connie Pearson, who came from New Orleans. "Low vibrations. I feel reality, which is a function of agreement. It's very exciting to be here." Drudge is reporting that a Drudge is reporting that a top spy catcher has stepped down at the "Homeland Security Tent Revival" for this reason: "[Redmond] suddenly resigned in the middle of his secret investigation into how Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden allegedly obtained [Promis] US computer software." Conspiracy buffs will note that shady dealings with Promis and Reagan-era goons led to the questionable death of Danny Casolaro, and possibly Vince Foster. I tend to not get all hot and bothered over such speculation, but there appears to be way too many interconnections in these cases. Then again, I'm looking for them. Seek and ye shall find. The Moonlit Road - Ghost What If? Are You Living What If? Are You Living in a Computer Simulation? If I don't pay for net access will an agent get me? contained within this website, excluding external links and items listed are Copyright 2005 by theodore "jay" joslin and joyous jostling studios. Thank you, Wanderer, for All. i am jay joslin: a spirit-fed mountain hopping lover of everything, an ordained lefty-veggie-homo, and bon-vivant go-go dancing with all the messenger mockingbirds of morning. Progressive Voice of the Mountains Free Radio Asheville Eclectic Music for Mountain Folks (see rights notice at bottom) Keep it even, "Not all who wander You contain everything Everything contains you If you desire the Infinite, look no further than the window. Ten Considerations for Being Well n this Goofy Universe 0. If you find yourself wonderstruck, don’t forget to return the favor. 1. Always be of service to the whole and the Holy. You’ll find that the Holy will reciprocate by being of service to your becoming Whole. 2. You will be called upon to use your mind and your vision in ways I cannot possibly glimpse. Never turn down an offer to shine that light so uniquely yours to help others in their darkness, and you’ll find that when it’s your turn to be in the night that there’ll be someone along the way who happens to have a little glow to share . 3. The rewards of being true to yourself are infinite, even when outwardly your efforts are met with nothing. 4. You’ll also see that knowledge and wisdom will come from within yourself through your own struggle and curiosity... your loved ones may guide you to insight, but yours is the power to choose it. 5. You’ll find that some of your choices could’ve been better, or at times were downright stupid. That’s okay... I have a closet full of reckless decisions, but without making them I wouldn’t have the slightest idea of what a good one might feel like if I tried it on. 6. Your growth will be a mysterious, comic, ecstatic and sometimes scary ride, and I pray that you strive to savor each minute of it, even the most difficult or embarrassing minutes. Don’t count on second chances. 7. In those times when everything collapses around you, and what’s left won’t go right, don’t forget your chances of being alive in this solar system, in this galaxy, are a little on the slim side. So slim in fact that it could be called a miracle to breathe this air, drink this water, and have whet ever predicament you’re having no matter how you shake, rattle and roll it. So go with the cosmic flow and always choose something over nothing, while remembering that there’s a little of each one hidden in both. 8. Respond as best as you can with love to adversity rather than reacting with fear... Love, in any situation and being the primordial source and essence of ALL THIS STUFF, leaves / enters us with the most possible ways out / in. 9. Whatever you’re doing, celebrate the process of doing as much, if not more, than what you’ve got when you’re done. Magic lives in the action. 9 ½ . All matter is energy. All energy is infinite. We are but raindrops falling to the ocean, a short time in this shape until we’re reunited with the expanse from which we came. Your delicate yet sturdy, resilient body is a temporary shelter of energy that has swam the universe eternally and will continue eternally. You are a sudden crystallization of the infinite. One must ask themself, therefore, why be bored? 9 3/4 . Choosing to live in the moment is courageous but becomes effortless once you begin...feeling obligated to survive in the past or future is dangerous and is difficult to continue. It’s one of the few risks I’d recommend not taking, right up there with trusting icons and shrugging off coincidences. 10. The Universe itself it not confusing, we humans just like it that way. Do frogs seem bewildered , butterflies befuddled and amoebas addled? Nope, just us, my child. So, whenever things just don’t make sense, just take a deep breath and laugh as best you can, because that’s what you get for choosing this goofy, unpredictable place called Earth to embody yourself upon. 0. If you find yourself wonderstruck, don’t forget to return the favor. 1. Always be of service to the whole and the Holy. You’ll find that the Holy will reciprocate by being of service to your becoming Whole. 2. You will be called upon to use your mind and your vision in ways I cannot possibly glimpse. Never turn down an offer to shine that light so uniquely yours to help others in their darkness, and you’ll find that when it’s your turn to be in the night that there’ll be someone along the way who happens to have a little glow to share . 3. The rewards of being true to yourself are infinite, even when outwardly your efforts are met with nothing. 4. You’ll also see that knowledge and wisdom will come from within yourself through your own struggle and curiosity... your loved ones may guide you to insight, but yours is the power to choose it. 5. You’ll find that some of your choices could’ve been better, or at times were downright stupid. That’s okay... I have a closet full of reckless decisions, but without making them I wouldn’t have the slightest idea of what a good one might feel like if I tried it on. 6. Your growth will be a mysterious, comic, ecstatic and sometimes scary ride, and I pray that you strive to savor each minute of it, even the most difficult or embarrassing minutes. Don’t count on second chances. 7. In those times when everything collapses around you, and what’s left won’t go right, don’t forget your chances of being alive in this solar system, in this galaxy, are a little on the slim side. So slim in fact that it could be called a miracle to breathe this air, drink this water, and have whet ever predicament you’re having no matter how you shake, rattle and roll it. So go with the cosmic flow and always choose something over nothing, while remembering that there’s a little of each one hidden in both. 8. Respond as best as you can with love to adversity rather than reacting with fear... Love, in any situation and being the primordial source and essence of ALL THIS STUFF, leaves / enters us with the most possible ways out / in. 9. Whatever you’re doing, celebrate the process of doing as much, if not more, than what you’ve got when you’re done. Magic lives in the action. 9 ½ . All matter is energy. All energy is infinite. We are but raindrops falling to the ocean, a short time in this shape until we’re reunited with the expanse from which we came. Your delicate yet sturdy, resilient body is a temporary shelter of energy that has swam the universe eternally and will continue eternally. You are a sudden crystallization of the infinite. One must ask themself, therefore, why be bored? 9 3/4 . Choosing to live in the moment is courageous but becomes effortless once you begin...feeling obligated to survive in the past or future is dangerous and is difficult to continue. It’s one of the few risks I’d recommend not taking, right up there with trusting icons and shrugging off coincidences. 10. The Universe itself it not confusing, we humans just like it that way. Do frogs seem bewildered , butterflies befuddled and amoebas addled? Nope, just us, my child. So, whenever things just don’t make sense, just take a deep breath and laugh as best you can, because that’s what you get for choosing this goofy, unpredictable place called Earth to embody yourself upon.

Monday, August 17, 2015 'Danger is minimal, my one. This pyramidal field is essentially out of time." He gently squeezes my hands. "I must tell you another sad reality, Sh’raka." Dhuroth and I gaze at each for long moments. I search his eyes, his soul. This is my lion man. Yet, he is different somehow. Am I different as well, having traveled here as I did? I sigh silently, and concern explodes like a bomb inside me. "Earth is in great turmoil. We cannot return to Earth or Mars. I also discovered, my love, while I battled the deathstars, we would be in grave danger if we returned to Mars. The invasion has begun." "Invasion? God!" I don't question Dhuroth now, because everything within me knows he speaks the truth. I burn and shiver with it. "Yes. It is likely this invasion will be upended. However, Mars is not safe from attack. Worse, my beloved Mars will be seized for a time by an occupying force." "Omygawd, no! What about your estate staff, our animals? Our friends?" My heart squeezes, as if a boa constrictor wraps around it. "Sh’raka, my one." Dhuroth embraces my hands between his great palms, and I feel his love for me. "Within our pyramid, I am building a bridge between rivers of time that will allow for travel from Mars." "Yet, not to Mars," I fill in the words Dhuroth does not say. "Our pyramid?" "Come, let me show you." We clasp hands, and with the strange horse following us, my lion man leads me toward an aurora-glistening pyramid. It is small compared to the pyramids on Mars, and I would guess it is a mere fifty feet high. At Dhuroth's encouragement, I walk beside him and we easily move through what looks like a solid black of granite. "Hologram," he informs, once we and the odd horse stand inside. By the furnishings, it is apparent my lion man has been living inside. He's also made the room comfortable for me, and I see favorite pieces of furniture. "How...?" I begin while a feeling of wonder fizzes through me like champagne. TO BE CONTINUED... ANGELIC FORECAST ~ The Death of Kingship Arrives As 2015 Ends ... Long Live the Individual Queen and King ... For, the People Will Reign In opposition, the 'dark-side powers that be' ... this is their sinister agenda: ARTICLE: "The program to erase the individual Jon Rappoport | England, Australia, Canada, USA: poof" On the magickal, mystical front, this week the 'Mages of Ages Lost' cut mightily through more of the Hydra cabal's sinister heads. In part, this will look like more piled on more of 'dirty-laundry' revelations. For, the dungeon-dark castles of corruption are blowing apart. Watch for it, this week will follow the lyric-words of John Fogerty from the *Eye Of The Zombie*: "Hoo! Oooooh! ... Twenty feet from the fire, the evil waits with zombie eyes. Chorus: Eye-eye-eye eye of the zombie!" On the personal front, Take most everything slow and easy this week. Don't run down any rabbit trails, or chase after disappearing rabbit-opportunities. For the most progress will likely be made after careful consideration. LOVE is central this week. That is, ways to show love toward yourself, and toward others who are in need. In this day and age, we could ALL use a little kindness and thoughtfulness from others. One caution: don't overwhelm anyone with expressions of love and affection. Some are so psychologically damaged, they simply can't cope. Be gentle and back off at the first sign uncomfortableness. This week, is also about moving forward in one key direction, or several directions. Take action, and step on out. On the paranormal front, Stargates, Opening and Closing Portals, Time Manipulation ... The World Is Not As Most of Us Imagined It To Be -- As We Were Taught ... Watch the Alternative News Sites For More Revelations ARTICLE: "Will The Large Hadron Collider Open Up A Portal To Another Dimension? Michael Snyder | What in the world is going on over at CERN?" On the *out-of-this and saving the world* front, ARTICLE: "'Peace-loving aliens tried to save America from nuclear war,' claims astronaut Edgar Mitchell ~ Thursday, August 13, 2015 Apollo veteran says UFOs came in peace on a mission to stop humanity destroying itself." — Mirror.co.uk On the *werewolf/dogman* front, ARTICLE: "Werewolf Photograph Has Brazilian City on Alert A photograph making the rounds is purported to be a werewolf caught by a security camera in Ceilândia, a city in east central Brazil. The creature was allegedly seen by numerous witnesses and the picture was accompanied with a warning to be careful because it might be a werewolf. Is it?" On the CRYPTID SKUNK APE front, ARTICLE: "Another Skunk Ape Spotted in Florida If you’re looking for something to do in Florida that’s cheaper and has shorter lines than Disney World, you might want to head to Alderman’s Ford park in Plant City where yet another Skunk Ape was spotted and recorded on video. This is the third sighting with a recording or a photograph in two years. Is something driving the Skunk Apes out of the Florida swamps?" On the UFO front, BLURB: "Unexplained Mysteries has posted an intriguing 4-minute video purportedly recorded by the US Department of Homeland Security showing a UFO over Puerto Rico. The thermal camera footage is believed to have been recorded by the crew of a DHC-8 Turboprop on April 25, 2013, at the Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla. The object in question can be seen making an entry and exit from the sea, as well as appearing to split in two." On the *time slip* front, ARTICLE: "Plane Said to Vanish, Reappear 10 Minutes Later: Time Slip?" ~ Friday, August 14, 2015 The clocks on the plane, including passengers’ watches, were all 10 minutes behind. On the PYRAMIDS front, ARTICLE: "Pyramids exist in Bosnia: Archaeologist :The 55-year-old claims that he has discovered the "biggest complex of pyramidal structures in the world" comprising five pyramids, all connected by underground tunnels." On the *past revealing itself* front, ARTICLE: "The Real Housewives of Ancient Egypt Had 8-Foot-Long Prenups ~ Thursday, August 13, 2015 The 2,480-year-old marital document, written in demotic script, was made to ensure that if the union didn’t work out, the wife would be adequately provided for. Married women could file for divorce, and they were even ensured alimony—provided they had a document like this one, which they could write up anytime before or during the relationship—at which point it would be more accurately described as a postnup. "Most people have no idea that women in ancient Egypt had the same legal rights as men," says Teeter. Egyptian women, no matter their marital status, could enter into contracts, sue and be sued, and serve on juries and as witnesses. They could acquire and own property (and fairly often, they did: a fragment of papyrus from 1147 B.C, denoting thousands of land holdings names women as the owners of about 10 percent of the properties listed)." ARTICLE: "Was Sardinia home to Atlantis? Comet triggered an enormous tidal wave that wiped out ancient civilisation, experts claim etween 9,000 and 20,000 of these mid Bronze Age structures have been registered over the past 20 years, including 20 on the plateau of Giara, which rises 1,968 feet (600 metres) above sea level, stretching over 16 square miles (42 square kilometres). The most complex is Su Nuraxi, at Barumini, which was discovered in 1950. The fortress, constructed from huge basalt blocks, is surrounded by a maze of circular walls – the remnants of a later hamlet. Its central tower is conical and covered with a dome dating from the 16th century BC, with four more turrets added in the 12th century BC. The turrets are connected by underground tunnels as well as a storage cavity used to keep food at a steady 12̊C throughout the year." ARTICLE: "'Sacred sinkhole' discovered under 1,000-year-old Mayan temple... and it may eventually destroy the pyramid Archaeologists have discovered the Temple of Kukulkan, which was built by the Maya around 1,000 years ago to worship a snake god, has a huge cenote, or sinkhole, beneath it. They believe it may have been built on top of the cavern deliberately as it may have had deep religious significance to the ancient civilisation..." On the land changes front, Again: Watch Out For Those Meteors and Fireballs... the Sun Will Perform In Peculiar Ways ... Extreme Weather Events Continue ... Meanwhile, Volcanoes Erupt Around the World and Earthquakes Will Likely Shake the West Coast During the Next Several Months On the earthquake front, HEADLINE: "4.2 Earthquake rocks San Francisco Bay Area" THIS FORECAST IS CONTINUED AT *TITLE MAGIC* ~titlemagic.blogspot.com~ Angelic blessings from Volcano & Sedona Warning!!! The global elite [New World Order] does not want *you* to read this book. See ~ Powerful Dreams at my Kougar Kisses blog. WHEN A GOOD ANGEL FALLS ~~~ Where angels fear to tread, 2012 Earth ~~~ World weary and worn out, the incarnated angel, Sedona, who believes she is merely human, has three choices after her old van breaks down. Let the Nazerazzi squad of the North American Union capture her and force her into a FEMA concentration camp. Walk out into the Arizona night desert, let the wildlife have a good meal with the hope her death will be quick. Or does she dare trust the mysterious stranger suddenly before her? Handsome as sin and all in black, he emerges out of the darkness. Sedona wonders if the stranger on a superspeed motorcycle is her savior from the brutal endtimes. Or, is he a roving cult member of the New World Order, hunting his next blood sacrifice? It’s only a few days before Winter Solstice, December 21, 2012 ~ The end of the Mayan Calendar. Sent from heaven to help Sedona save humanity, Zerr Dann knows the Divine is playing its last card on Earth. He also knows Sedona is about to find out Christmas miracles still exist. [Angelic Fantasy Erotic Romance] ~~~ EBOOK & IN PRINT ~~~ a former #1 on Siren-BookStrand’s bestseller list Author Discovery by BookStrand author, Lindsay Townsend. ~ HAVE A MAGICKAL WEEK ~ Kisses from Savanna Kougar... ~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~ Siren-BookStrand Author of ~ All Shades of Blue Paradise [World of the Blue Pearl Moon, Book 1] When a Good Angel Falls ~ In Print [Winter Solstice 2012, Book 1] Murder by Hair Spray in Gardenia, New Atlantis ~ In Print [New Atlantis Trilogy, Book 1] Her Insatiable Dark Heroes ~ In Print [Chrontropolis, Book 1] Stallion of Ash and Flame ~ In Print Branded by the Texans ~ IN PRINT ~ A Siren-BookStrand Bestseller! [Three Star Republic] Kandy Apple and Her Hellhounds ~ What happens when two of Hades’ most mission-accomplished Hellhounds find just the right witch for Halloween? ~ Ebook and In Print.

Ghoultown Frontman Lyle Blackburn Hunts For The Truth About Bigfoot With His First Book. For more than a decade, “Count Lyle” Blackburn has fronted the Dallas-based hellbilly outfit Ghoultown, releasing nine albums, writing the theme song for Elvira's Mistress of the Dark and embarking on several European tours in the process. For some time now, Blackburn has also been using his talents as a writer to pen more than just his band's spaghetti-western-meets-horror-flick lyrics, writing a regular column for horror magazine Rue Morgue on the subject of cryptids, a.k.a. those creatures whose existence has been suggested but never proven. Over the past couple of years, he's taken his passion for the subject to a new level, intensely researching tales of the Boggy Creek Monster — a sort of bigfoot-like creature — from Fouke, Arkansas, and compiling his findings into his first ever book, The Beast of Boggy Creek: The True Story of the Fouke Monster. When hearing Blackburn, who is also a member of the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy, talk about bigfoot, his absolute sincerity on the subject shines through. Next Tuesday night, Blackburn will be at La Grange in Deep Ellum signing copies of his new book, prior to a screening of the film Southern Fried Bigfoot. In advance of that appearance, we thought we'd ask the newly-minted author about writing his first book, his own encounters with bigfoot and his continuing hunt for the elusive creature. Why did you feel like the true story of the Boggy Creek Monster needed to be put into book form? I've always been a fan of the old movie The Legend of Boggy Creek ever since I was a kid. When I started writing for Rue Morgue, the horror magazine, I covered mostly topics that have to do with cryptozoology-type monsters because I've been interested in the bigfoot phenomenon in general. One of the things I started looking into was what exactly was true about The Legend of Boggy Creek thing and the movie, and I literally just started out going to the little town of Fouke and researching. I quickly discovered that there was a whole lot to the story, and that the sightings of the creature still go on today. There's never really been a book written that covers the whole thing, so I thought it would be a really cool topic for a book. That's how I got started. As it turned out, I had plenty of material and the book turned out great. You've been interested in cryptid-type creatures for a while now, but how did you become such an authority on these kinds of creatures? I was in the right place at the right time, I guess. Like I said, I had been interested in it and for some reason I wrote an article on the history of bigfoot in horror films. I knew the guys from Rue Morgue because they had covered our band [Ghoultown], and I happened to give them this article. They really liked the writing and the way I did, and that's how I got picked up covering stuff for Rue Morgue. From years of reading and researching and knowing a lot of people in that bigfoot community, and going out and doing my own research, I just kind of stumbled into being a writer on the subject. How much research went into this book? Quite a bit. I spent at least a solid year doing research and writing on it. That involved countless trips up to Fouke, which is close to Texarkana, just across the Texas state line, about three hours from Dallas-Fort Worth. I had to kind of gain the trust of the town that I was writing a serious book on the subject and that I wasn't going to make fun of them or anything like that, because I was truly interested in it and felt it had a great history. Once they kind of saw that I was doing a legitimate project, a lot of the locals and folks that had sightings and stories about the movie, or whose parents had seen the creature, started coming forward and telling me about their experiences. It took quite a long time. Is this the first major thing you've written that's in more of a journalistic style? I used to write for the Dallas-Fort Worth-based metal magazine Harder Beat years ago, and I covered music in that case. Then came the Rue Morgue stuff and some different writing projects. But this is my first book. In the last couple of years, I've really come into the journalistic-type writing. Why do you think people are so fascinated by the idea that there could be mysterious creatures out there hiding in the woods? I think that everybody loves a mystery. That, of course, applies to all those types of subjects, like UFOs and ghosts. All these things are very popular right now. Specifically for bigfoot, I think there is also an extra level of intrigue that this creature could possibly be similar to us in some ways, a primitive version of humans. It gives people a lot of things to imagine with regards to what this thing could really be. Is it human? Is it real or is it not? I think that kind of keeps people going. It's kind of like something that people are innately curious about and it's fun. For me, I like monsters, I like horror movies and I've always loved bigfoot. Really, whether it's real or not, it's still interesting to me. How cool is it that I can go up to the backwoods of Arkansas and hear people tell me that they saw a monster? That's totally cool. What's your opinion of shows like Finding Bigfoot? Do you think that they're presented in a way that maybe makes fun of that culture more than tries to tell their story? No, I don't see any of them making fun of it. In the case of Finding Bigfoot, people have to remember that it is TV and that it must be entertaining. You can't show actual bigfoot research because a lot of is very boring and nothing happens. Not a lot happens on the show sometimes. I know several of the cast members on Finding Bigfoot, and I was just at the filming they did in Oklahoma, and I can tell you for sure that the guys on the show are dedicated bigfoot researchers… I think, in general, that show and all the other documentaries they do on this stuff are quite well-done and very cool. Obviously, they're a hit with people because they keep churning these things out. Do you hope that somebody does find or capture a bigfoot-type creature someday? Or would that kind of ruin the whole thing? In this case, is it more about the thrill of the chase than the possible end result? It's hard to say. I've kind of pondered that question from time to time. I think, in some ways, people would go, “Wow, you were right! You wrote this book and this thing turned out to be real!” That would be cool, but of course science would kind of take things over and take things out of the hands of the amateur bigfooters. It could possibly put a stop to the way things are now. I think the interest would just be in a different facet of it, even if it is caught. People are still going to try to figure out, “Well, we caught this one in northern California, does that mean there's for sure some in Arkansas or Ohio or Oklahoma? What about those sightings?” There's still a lot for people to try and sort out and investigate. Now that the book is finished, do you still see yourself periodically keeping tabs on these people or joining them in hunting for bigfoot? Yeah, definitely. Even outside of the book research, I just enjoy bigfoot investigation. I didn't get into that just because I was writing a book. It made me kind of concentrate on a certain area, but I still am involved with a lot of other bigfoot research in Oklahoma and in Texas. I'm still going to continue to do those things. Quite possibly, I'll do a book in the same genre but on a different aspect. Do you have any personal stories of any sightings or anything that you've come across in any of your hunts? Unfortunately, I don't have anything that I've seen or heard that I could conclusively say is a bigfoot. I'd love to get a glimipse of the thing myself, but, regardless, my association in the field has put me face to face with so many people that have really really good sightings and that are really sincere about these. I have good friends that are very credible and that I definitely believe, and they have some pretty good sightings. So, even though I haven't seen one myself, it doesn't really take away from it. Do you think fans of your band or people who know you more from that arena will be surprised that you wrote a book? How do people react when they hear you've written a book? A lot of them have really gotten interested in the subject because of my involvement and my writing about this stuff. I've noticed that some of our fans that you'd see at shows are actually posting that they went to Fouke to check it out. They've even emailed me asking how to go about going on a bigfoot expedition. I think it has interested a lot of people. I have always stressed the quality of my lyrics in all the bands I've done, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch for people to imagine that I could write a book. I'm sure there are some that go, “Well, he's the singer in a band, how good could he really write?” But if you look at the reviews of the book, I think that I can compete with any authors out there.

View Weird Museums in a larger map Musical Wonderhouse, 16 High St., Wiscasset There are more than 5,000 chiming, singing mechanical music machines at the Musical Wonderhouse in Wiscasset — boxes, player pianos and organs, spring-powered phonographs, musical birds, porcelains, furniture, clocks, steins, whistlers, and a musical painting. It is housed in an opulent 19th century sea captain’s mansion, full of period decor, and it was founded by mechanical music mastermind Danilo Konvalinka. It’s now run by musicians and educators Joseph Villani and Paulo Carvalho. Starting Memorial Day weekend, the museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and noon-5 p.m. Sundays. There’s also an extensive collection of items for sale. Telephone Museum, 166 Winkumpaugh Road, Ellsworth Yes, teenagers: as recently as 15 years ago, your phone would have been plugged into a wall. It did not have a screen. It did not send text messages. The Telephone Museum in Ellsworth displays the history of the revolutionary technology in interactive form. From Strowger Automatic Systems, which were the gold standard switchboard from the 1880s, to a Crossbar model that was in use in Maine as recently as the 1980s — there’s lots of other hardware, as well as some cool antique telephones. The friendly staff also has lots of information to share. The museum is open by appointment (call 667-9491), and 1-4 p.m. on Saturdays, July through September. International Cryptozoology Museum, 11 Avon St., Portland While perusing the shops and restaurants of downtown Portland, any fan of the strange, the mysterious or unknown must visit the International Cryptozoology Museum, showcasing the works and collection of renowned cryptid expert Loren Coleman. From a full-sized Bigfoot replica to the jackalope; from yeti footprints to a fiberglass coelacanth; from cryptozoology-inspired art to Loch Ness Monster action figures, the ICM is wildly entertaining and informative. It recently moved to much larger digs, so there’s now even more room to explore. Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for kids; hours are 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, and 12-3:30 p.m. Sundays and Mondays. Fawcett’s Toy Museum, 3506 Atlantic Highway, Waldoboro The thousands of toys, books, paintings, film cells and pop culture ephemera that John Fawcett has collected over the decades isn’t a kid-centric showcase (though kids might like it) — it’s a loving, carefully curated tribute to the movies, radio, television and books from the pre-digital days of the 20th century. Where else can you see an original Mickey Mouse? A kid’s bedroom, complete with “Star Wars” bedding? A Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun? One of the world’s finest collections of “Lone Ranger” items? It would take hours to look at everything on display in Fawcett’s Toy Museum, which is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Monday, and noon to 4 p.m. on weekends, Memorial Day through Christmas. There is a small admission fee. The Stanley Museum, 40 School St., Kingfield There are transportation museums, such as those in Owls Head or Bangor’s Cole Museum in Bangor. Then there’s the Stanley Museum in Kingfield, which focuses on just one mode of transportation — the Stanley Steamer, a steam-powered car from the early 20th century. Though the cars were built in Massachusetts, they were invented by twin brothers F.E. and F.O. Stanley of Kingfield. The museum, established in 1981, has a showcase of Steamer cars for the antique auto enthusiast, but there’s also a collection of violins made by the Stanley twins, and an archive of photographs taken by the twin’s sister, Chansonetta Stanley. Starting in June, the museum is open 1-4 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. Umbrella Cover Museum, 62 Island Ave., Peaks Island Now here’s a true original: Peaks Island resident Nancy Hoffman holds the Guinness World Record for largest collection of umbrella covers, and she’s opened a museum showing off her finds, which she’s accumulated over the past 17 years. Umbrella covers — you know, the little sheath that covers a new umbrella — are, in Hoffman’s estimation, just as worthy of a museum as anything else. As she says on her website, her museum is about “the appreciation of the mundane in everyday life,” and “knowing that there is always a story behind the cover.” It’s open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, through Labor Day, as well as 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sundays and Mondays. Bryant Stove Shop & Museum, 27 Stovepipe Alley, Thorndike The phrase “all stoved up” is a Mainer-ism that means something’s messed up — though in the case of Bryant Stove in the Waldo County town of Thorndike, it can be taken literally. Joe Bryant, owner of the Bryant Stove Shop & Museum, sells antique wood and gas stoves, but also maintains a museum on site that showcases his collection of antique stoves, antique cars, toys, player pianos and music boxes. The museum is open year-round, though on the website it claims that Bryant might just sing for you while his player piano plays if you visit in the summer. Hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday-Saturday. Matthews Museum of Maine Heritage, Fairground Road, off Route 17, Union Chances are, if you’re a Mainer, you know a Moxie fanatic — even if you yourself don’t care for it. Take that Moxie lover to the Moxie Bottle House in Union, which holds what is billed as the world’s largest collection of Moxie memorabilia. There’s a 33-foot tall wooden Moxie bottle, along with countless other items. The bottle house is contained within the Matthews Museum of Maine Heritage, which houses over 10,000 artifacts covering lifestyles in the 18th century, including carriages, agricultural tools, musical instruments, books, photo prints and a research library. It’s open from noon to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays in July and August. Did we miss your favorite Maine museum with a slightly strange collection? Be sure to let us know by emailing [email protected].

Want it Wednesday is the Stigmata, a cyclocross frame Santa Cruz quietly introduced in 2009 then quietly discontinued at the end of 2010, making it about as rare to spot on the road as a yeti (the ape-like cryptid that inhabits the Himalayas, not the ARC-X cyclocross bike). The Stigmata doesn’t look special on paper, an aluminum frame with normal cyclocross geometry, but it is so gosh darn cool that it got me to sell my Kona Major One so I could buy one. Well, that and I decided I wanted gears. I used the single speed Kona on a trainer during the winter and it wasn’t ideal for following any type of structured workout. Plus Sue is now faster than me and I figured I needed 19 more gears to keep up, or a tandem. I've wanted a Yeti for a while (the ARC-X cyclocross bike, not the ape-like cryptid that inhabits the Himalayas). I bid on a few on ebay over the years but they always went for more than I am willing to spend on a bicycle. An ARC-X showed up on the MMBA classifieds recently, the very same month I didn’t bother to look. Part of my attraction to an ARC-X was because Yeti is a mountain bike company that decided to offer a cross frame, and I am a mountain biker who decided he wanted a cross bike. A pure road bike isn’t right for me because even on road rides I tend to gravitate towards dirt roads. And I have a fantasy of racing cyclocross; road racing is out of the question. Like Yeti, Santa Cruz is a mountain bike company that decided to sell a cross frame but a Stigmata lays more towards the road bike end of the spectrum than an ARC-X. Since I will be primarily using a cyclocross bike on the road, this appealed to me. A 54 cm Stigmata frame only weighs 2.85 lbs which is close to what a road frame weighs; 9 ounces lighter than a 54 cm Yeti. I am less of an irrational weight weenie now than I use to be but 9 ounces is nothing to sneeze at. Hum, apparently I am still an irrational weight weenie. Maybe I just have an irrational obsession with bicycles. I’m getting off point. The Stigmata has a lower, more road bike-like bottom bracket than an ARC-X. I imagine the Santa Cruz’s Easton EA6X butted and tapered aluminum would give a more forgiving ride on the road than the Yeti’s Pure Tube Set, but this is only a hunch. Another emotional reason why I chose the Stigmata is because it was made in America and, while some Yeti’s are still made in the States, the ARC-X is made in Taiwan. Look, I have nothing but admiration for the manufacturing capability around the Pacific Rim and I know frames made in Asia are every bit as good as the ones made here. I love my carbon fiber Tomac and it doesn’t bother me it was made in China. I understand how antiquated the “buy American” mentality is but still, I was sad to see Cannondale, Slingshot, and, well, basically every major American bicycle company ship their manufacturing overseas. I liked Nuke Proof and appreciated their decision to keep building frames in Ada Michigan right until that decision put them out of business, RIP. The fact that I even considered where my frame was made wasn’t rational. Buying a bicycle is emotional.

Posted by: Loren Coleman on July 19th, 2009 They exist out there. They are investigative vehicles speeding their way to the next Bigfoot, Champ, and other cryptid sightings. You’ve seen them on their journeys. You might even own one. Share yours and share your sightings. Some transports can be rather obviously labeled, as with this old truck, formerly owned by Matt the Tube Crowley. Driving around Oregon is this car, but no information about it is known. Perhaps that is as it should be? Thomas Steenburg is shown with his former investigative Land Rover, which assisted him in his Alberta research. Some folks use the side panel magnetic labeling method to let people know of, for example, their Sasquatch quest. Steenburg now lives in British Columbia and drives a different vehicle. Michael Esordi sends in a picture of Steenburg’s old Land Rover with the Bigfoot Surplus logo on it. Henry May took a photo of Tom Steenburg’s new transport, during the recent Yakima Bigfoot Roundup, and shares it here. Peter Byrne’s Bigfoot Research Project during the late 1980s also used the magnetic stick-on for the side of their vans. In the 1960s, a group of dedicated amateurs formed the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau to keep a constant vigil around Scotland’s Loch Ness. They had at least a couple vans with the painted identification indication of “Loch Ness Investigation” on their sides. A little over a year ago, Cryptomundo correspondent Maine Crypto ~ Bridget Morse ~ sent along a photo of herself with her new “Cryptid” plate. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Maine, one of the Ft. Knox speakers, Christopher Gardner, an investigator of sightings of local lions, mountain lions, black panthers and Forteana, has the above plates. All kinds of items can be seen being carried about in cryptomobiles. Photo by Allie Huyghe. One such Universal Studios-Orlando prop was the “Civil War Mystery Pterodactyl,” which took a trek via station wagon to a museum in New England. It is shown above in the original fake photo that was floated about the Internet. Courtesy of Gregg Hale (The Blair Witch Project, 1999), Executive Director, Haxan Productions, Florida. Video capture by Jenny Davis. Moments after my injury (see the pain in my face) at Lake Champlain on June 23rd, the photo (below) was taken by Mark Gould of the plate and bumper stickers on my hardworking 1996 station wagon. I said goodbye to this vehicle on July 13th, but, while not a Skoda Yeti, the new identity of my cryptomobile will remain occult for the time being. Only my plates, not bumper stickers nor window decals, will give me away for now. Please share your jpegs of cryptovehicles you have sighted, including your own. Michael Esordi of Bigfoot Surplus shares images of his vehicles, Here are more images from Dranginis, himself, of his own vehicles. The Bigfoot investigative mobile station, his equipment-filled van, is no longer in his possession. It is shown below, also, as an educational facility that would be taken to schools. Billy Willard, Director of Sasquatch Watch of Virginia passes along photos of his truck: Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

Menagerie by Rachel Vincent Book One of the Menagerie series Publisher: MIRA (Harlequin) Publication Date: September 29, 2015 Rating: 3 stars Source: eARC from NetGalley ***Warning: this is an adult book, and for the eyes of mature readers*** Summary (from Goodreads): From New York Times bestselling author Rachel Vincent comes a richly imagined, provocative new series set in the dark mythology of the Menagerie… When Delilah Marlow visits a famous traveling carnival, Metzger's Menagerie, she is an ordinary woman in a not-quite-ordinary world. But under the macabre circus black-top, she discovers a fierce, sharp-clawed creature lurking just beneath her human veneer. Captured and put on exhibition, Delilah in her black swan burlesque costume is stripped of her worldly possessions, including her own name, as she's forced to "perform" in town after town. But there is breathtaking beauty behind the seamy and grotesque reality of the carnival. Gallagher, her handler, is as kind as he is cryptic and strong. The other "attractions"—mermaids, minotaurs, gryphons and kelpies—are strange, yes, but they share a bond forged by the brutal realities of captivity. And as Delilah struggles for her freedom, and for her fellow menagerie, she'll discover a strength and a purpose she never knew existed. Renowned author Rachel Vincent weaves an intoxicating blend of carnival magic and startling humanity in this intricately woven and powerful tale. What I Liked: Super long review coming your way, people. No apologies. If you all were watching my Twitter and Goodreads feeds on Tursday (August 18th), you saw my slight meltdown/very strong reaction to what I had read so far at that point. At only a fourth into the book, I was horrified and disgusted, and very, very disturbed. I was on the verge of putting this one down for good (and I NEVER stop reading a book I start), putting a note on NetGalley explaining my failure to finish, and move on with my life. Obviously that wasn't the outcome with this book. I went one to read another 50%, and called it a night at 75%. I finished up this book on Wednesday at work. I've decided that I absolutely LOVED the second half of the book, but the first half really marred the book overall. So, three stars! This is my first Rachel Vincent novel (adult or YA), and while I didn't completely love it, I'm glad I stuck it out and muscled through this one. Delilah is a seemingly normal woman, with a boring boyfriend and great friends and a loving mom. When Delilah, her boyfriend, and two friends go to Metzger's Menagerie, the carnival of beasts, including a Minotaur, sirens, werewolves, etc. While there, she sees one of the handlers goading one a werewolf girl, and Delilah reacts. By sinking her claws into the handler. Claws? What claws? It turns out, Delilah is one of those creatures, though no one knows what kind. She is bought by Metzger's, and she is stripped of all human rights she used to enjoy. But Delilah starts to get to know the other "attractions" of the carnival, and she finds that she wants to help them, despite not being able to help herself. Delilah may be imprisoned, bruised, abused, but she discovers something about herself that she never knew, and will stop at nothing to get her freedom back and win the freedom of all the others. See my notes below on the first half of the book. It was ROUGH. However, once I got past the things that were disturbing and horrifying - human captivity, forced labor/slavery, sexual harassment, torture, abuse, etc. - I started to get into the story. I feel like a complete psycho for saying "once I got past _______" (i.e. horrible things), but at some point around the 50%, I guess I got desensitized? No, that's not true. At 75%, I was like, okay, things have gotten even more disturbing. But also really intriguing and slightly hopeful! The tone of this book is incredibly dark and hopeless, emphasis on the "hopeless" part for at least two-thirds of the book, maybe three-fourths. While I absolutely hated seeing Delilah tortured and abused the way she was, I have to say, Vincent did an incredible job of writing this tone and showing the brutality of this particular world. I felt just abut as enraged and panicked and filled with despair as Delilah, which shows how well Vincent dug into the character and the story! The world-building is incredible, though as I keep saying, it is disturbing. In this world, humans are afraid of surrogates, human-looking monsters. They're afraid of monsters and creatures in general. Delilah has no rights as whatever she is, not even to her clothes. One of the most disturbing scenes was when she had to strip in front of the handlers. Male handlers who were looking in more than one way - not just to see what she is. She is always chained, so any handler can do whatever he wants with her. You see what I'm saying about disturbing? I have to hand it to Vincent though, she really wrote this well. Disturbing, but the world-building is so exquisitely crafted. The carnival has all the mystique and appeal, but behind the scenes, it is a hopeless and cruel place. Again, the world-building is spot-on. Despite the fact that I struggled with how disturbing things were (see below), I have to say, the world-building was so well done. I couldn't have been so disturbed if the author had toned it down, right? I really like Delilah, so so much. She finds out she isn't human by sinking claws into his head, and then gets arrested, and then stripped, and then sold, and then has to do humiliating things like strip again, eat disgusting meat, live in a teeny tiny cage, hold her bladder for days. One handler takes every opportunity he can to abuse her in some way, and my heart broke every time. This is why I couldn't keep reading - I hated seeing Delilah suffer, her dignity lost, pride on its way. The thing is, Delilah kept struggling. She kept fighting. She never let them break her, though they hurt her over and over. Delilah is determined, even if she knows no way to escape. Her main handler is Gallagher, who was there when she was bought for Metzger's. He isn't cruel and abusive, and he goes out of his way to protect her and not to hurt her. Of course Delilah suspects the worst - how could she not? He wants something from her, right? Gallagher is actually a decent person. When you read this book, stay on his side and cheer him on! I lived for the scenes between him and Delilah. There is nothing romantic going on (yet???), no hints, but they seem to know each other without knowing, understand each other on some level. I love Gallagher and I love his role in this novel. He is critical to this story, don't underestimate him! The tone gets a little more hopeful as we slowly start to know Gallagher and his mind. I can't say too much, but I am happy with the direction of the plot after we finally figure out more and more about Gallagher - and Delilah. The two of them are a great pair, and I felt better about the story, knowing that they were on the same side. The ending is excellent! I am pleased with the ending, even if it ended a bit twisted. Maybe I really am a psychopath. In any case, the ending could have been much worse, so I appreciate that reprieve. I don't think my heart could have taken any more! What I Did Not Like: Clearly I liked a lot of things about this book. But it took me a looooong time to appreciate those things. The world-building? I HATED it initially. This book is disturbing on so many levels. I hated seeing Delilah go from average human to less than dirt. Suddenly, it doesn't matter if she's naked, or cold, or scared, or has a human appearance, or can speak. What matters is that she is a cryptid (creature), and once they figure out what she is, they can start breeding her (oh, yes). This part almost made me sick - but not to worry, this isn't a part of the story for Delilah. This is introduced with another character. There were so many disturbing scenes in this book. I wanted to shred Clyde (a handler) for abusing Delilah. She is always chained, and of course, it's really easy to do things to a person who is chained. Everyone treats Delilah like filth (with the exception of the other cryptids), so they think they can do anything with her. This broke my heart, over and over. You see why I was disturbed? One thing you don't need to worry about is rape, in terms of Delilah. Not ruling it out for other characters. There are mentions of forced breeding and rape, FYI. Also violence. Hence my adult warning at the beginning of the book. It's mostly because of the violence in this book. Still, like I previously said, Vincent did a great job with making this book so incredibly disturbing. But... it hurt. One of the secondary characters, Genni, is the absolute worst off. But if Vincent had made this book lighter on all the torture and abuse and captivity treatment and whatnot, it wouldn't have been as powerful a novel. One thing that I didn't understand was the newspaper articles and snippets, at the beginning of each perspective/chapter (by the way, there are many perspectives, all in third person, except's Delilah's, in first person). I don't know what they contribute to the story. They're about the scare with cryptids and surrogates that occurred years ago, but they don't seem to add to the plot. Perhaps foreshadowing? Or world-building? I'm not sure. I started to skip them after a while. So, once you "get used to" the disturbing stuff, you'll enjoy the story. The faster you can stomach it (and Vincent has it going for more than half the book), the easier the book gets to read. It was NOT an easy read, by any means. *clutches tatters of heart* Would I Recommend It: You know, despite my rating, it does seem like I enjoyed the book, right? I hope I can convince someone to read this one, and not dissuade (although, if you can't handle the disturbing stuff I mentioned above, definitely SKIP this book). I want you all to know my issues with this book, and while they marred the rating and enjoyment for me, I'm glad I picked up this novel. Vincent fans will probably like this one (how would I know, I've never read any of her other novels!), but anyone who doesn't mind dark, sinister, and disturbing fantasy set in a modern-day world will be intrigued and captured by this novel. ADULT BOOK, OKAY?! 3.5 stars -> rounded down to 3 stars. Definitely on the positive end of 3 stars. But I can't give this novel 4 stars, knowing just how much I struggled with it for about half the book, even a little more than that. It is my first Vincent novel and hopefully the sequel will be my next one. Although I am totally scared of the sequel... if it's anything as disturbing as this book, I might need therapy! Was this review helpful? Please let me know in the comments section!

Call of Duty: Ghosts Onslaught DLC Pack Now Available First on Xbox Live The first DLC for Call of Duty: Ghosts is now available, first on Xbox Live, for Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions. Fans Can Purchase the Onslaught DLC Pack Individually, or as Part of the Call of Duty: Ghosts DLC Season Pass. It features four New Maps, All-New Dual-Purpose Weapon, Iconic Horror Character Michael Myers, and the Initial Installment in Extinction's New, Four-Part Episodic Storyline for the Definitive Online Experience... The first of four massive, Downloadable Content (DLC) Packs for Call of Duty®: Ghosts, the definitive online experience, and #1 most played multiplayer title on Xbox Live for Xbox 360 kicks-off today. Launching first, exclusively on Xbox Live for both Xbox One and Xbox 360, Onslaught features four classically designed, smaller to medium sized Call of Duty® multiplayer maps delivering the fast-paced multiplayer experience fans love, the all-new "Maverick" dual-purpose Assault Rifle/Sniper Rifle, and "Episode 1: Nightfall," the first installment in Call of Duty: Ghosts Extinction's four-part episodic story that follows humankind's first contact with the Cryptids. "Onslaught delivers a ton of exciting, new content for Call of Duty: Ghosts fans to enjoy on next gen and current gen alike," said Daniel Suarez, Vice President of Production, Activision Publishing, Inc. "It begins with a diverse set of maps that personify that classic Call of Duty-style of fast, frantic and exhilarating action. It doesn't stop there, because Infinity Ward and Neversoft have taken it to another level; whether it's becoming Michael Myers from Halloween as you pursue your opponents, to creating the first dual-purpose weapon in Call of Duty history, or crafting a new chapter in Extinction that introduces new characters and even a three-story tall Cryptid alien boss, Onslaught has something for all Call of Duty players, and we're excited fans can finally get their hands on it." Onslaught is included as part of the Call of Duty: Ghosts DLC Season Pass, which gives fans access to four epic Call of Duty: Ghosts DLC Packs** planned for release this year - Onslaught, Devastation,Invasion and Nemesis - at the discounted* suggested retail price of $49.99. Additionally, Call of Duty Ghosts DLC Season Pass holders get instant access to the Team Leader Digital Pack, which comes with a unique multiplayer character head, weapon camo, reticle, player patch, card and background. Call of Duty: Ghosts Onslaught delivers a variety of new offerings for fans to dig their teeth into, starting with four new multiplayer maps. "Fog" is a chilling homage to classic horror films, set alongside the banks of a murky lake. Players skilled enough to pick up the map's unique Field Order can become the embodiment of terror by donning the mask of Michael Myers, one of cinema's most iconic horror characters of all-time, as the entire soundscape changes to the eerily familiar Halloween theme music. "BayView" is a coastal Californian boardwalk that offers players fast-paced run-and-gun gameplay amid a seaside town. Clever players will be able to climb onto the map's moving trolley to engage enemies, as well as call in devastating artillery strikes from the Naval Destroyer anchored offshore. "Containment" drops players into a raging battle amidst a war-torn Mexican village, where the action centers on the crippled remains of a small bridge holding a hi-jacked truck leaking radioactive material. Onslaught's fourth map, "Ignition," is a completely reimagined version of "Scrapyard" - the fan-favorite multiplayer map from Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare 2, placing players into a deserted space launch facility with frenetic action amongst abandoned warehouses, flame trenches, a massive transport crawler, and dynamic map elements that can take players out if they're not paying close attention. Call of Duty: Ghosts Onslaught also introduces the first installment in Extinction's new, four-part episodic narrative with "Episode 1: Nightfall." As the initial foray into this single, connected story that will be told across each DLC Pack launch throughout the year, "Episode 1: Nightfall" takes fans to a remote research facility hidden deep within the Alaskan wilderness, where a small recon team must infiltrate the facility to find out what happened to the mysterious Nightfall Program. This expanded Extinction storyline introduces new characters, plus two all-new alien species, and debuts an exclusive Venom-X weapon that pulverizes the Cryptids, as players delve deeper into the story of what happened following mankind's first contact with the Cryptids in Colorado. On top of the new maps and first episode of the Extinction narrative, Call of Duty: Ghosts Onslaught arms players with a new, dual-purpose addition to the multiplayer arsenal with the "Maverick." Outfitted with a lightweight wood stock, the "Maverick" can be selected in either the Assault or the Sniper Rifle class, depending on players' play style and preference. In celebration of today's Call of Duty: Ghosts Onslaught launch, Activision and Infinity Ward are pitting pro footballers Clay Matthews of the Green Bay Packers against Jamaal Charles of the Kansas City Chiefs in a Grudge Match for the ultimate Call of Duty bragging rights. Matthews and Charles will each captain a team comprised of members of the development team at Infinity Ward, online personalities and fans in an intense head-to-head battle. DLC Season Pass is based on the suggested retail price of $49.99, and four DLC Packs at a suggested retail price of $14.99 each. Downloadable content in the Season Pass may be sold separately. If you purchase the DLC Season Pass, do not also purchase these standalone DLC Packs, as you will be charged for them. DLC Season Pass and DLC Packs may not be available on all platforms or in all territories. Pricing and release dates may vary by platform. Call of Duty: Ghosts game required; sold separately.

In every region of America, there are legends of strange, unidentified creatures that stretch back for centuries. In the Northwest, many credible people swear to have sighted Bigfoot. Near Lake Champlain, locals have sworn up and down to seeing a strange, prehistoric-like creature in the water. And down south in the swamplands, it’s no different–some of the most deep-rooted and fearsome monster stories have endured. In the new original series Cryptid: The Swamp Beast, one of America’s oldest mysteries and bone-chilling legends comes to life through dramatizations, eyewitness accounts, real news reports and expert interviews. In a remote southern town, the past few years have brought a dramatic uptick in strange occurrences, but now, whatever has been lurking in the swamps is intruding into human territory. There have been a rash of cattle mutilations and pets being snatched away from backyards. With the attacks not matching up forensically with any known predators, suspicions have spread. Terrified residents claim to have seen signs of voodoo and are conjuring up old Cajun legends like the “Rougarou,” a mythical shape-shifter, as a possible culprit. Others swear they’ve seen a huge, bipedal creature locally known as a “skunk ape” lurking about at night. The series follows a small animal-control business that responds to various calls and sightings and a deputy sheriff who believes the real culprit is some twisted individual deep in the swamp. As the weeks pass, the sightings intensify and even the most skeptical people in town begin to wonder if its darkest legends, and their worst fears, have in fact come to life. Cryptid: The Swamp Beast mixes legends with eyewitness accounts and crafts them into an entertaining and scary fictional story that speaks to America’s macabre history of folklore. It features startling real interviews with those who believe the legends, and have seen strange things with their own eyes. Folklore experts, biologists and original news clips play throughout each episode as well to add further real-world context.

Bigfoot, sometimes known as Sasquatch, is a cryptid – an animal that has not been proven through science and physical evidence to exist. People have reported primarily seeing him in remote forests such as those in the Pacific Northwest area of the United States or in British Columbia, a province of Canada. But, creatures fitting the Bigfoot description – large, hairy ape-like creatures that walk upright – have been seen all over the world. In Wisconsin, the Lakota Indians have a legend of a creature named Chiye-tanka. In Tibet, the description of the Yeti closely resembles that of Bigfoot. In China, he is known as Yeren, while in Australia, the creature is called Yowie. DescriptionMost people describe Bigfoot as looking a bit like a gorilla, but he walks like a man. He has large eyes, a well-defined brow ridge, and a large Neanderthal forehead. He is covered from head to toe in dark brown or red hair, like a primate. People estimate that he stands between seven and ten feet tall. People who have been in close vicinity to Bigfoot have described him as having a smell that is foul, somewhat like a skunk or dead animal. SightingsThere have been many reports of people seeing Bigfoot, with one of the earliest recorded being by Reverend Elkanah Walker in 1840. He was a missionary who wrote about Native Americans speaking of a large animal that stole their salmon and had a strong smell. In 1924, Albert Ostman claimed he was in British Columbia when a family of Sasquatch kidnapped him and held him captive for several days. In 1941, Jeannie Chapman and her children fled their home when a Sasquatch over seven feet tall approached it. Construction workers Leslie Breazale and Ray Kerr reported seeing a female Sasquatch in Eureka, California in 1958. One of the latest reporting was by Rick Jacobs on September 15, 2007 while he was hunting in Ridgeway, Pennsylvania. He took a photo of what he said appeared to be a Bigfoot-like creature, but the Game Commission, after examining the photo, said that it looked like “a bear with a severe case of mange.” PhotosPerhaps the best-known footage of Bigfoot is the Patterson-Gimlin film that was taken in late 1967. This short movie (less than a minute), taken by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin, shows a Bigfoot walking. The two took the movie in Bluff Creek, California. Patterson died in 1972, but Gimlin has recently begun speaking publicly about the film. While he once was convinced the animal was real, he has now said in interviews that perhaps he could have been fooled by a man in an ape suit (the common sceptic explanation). The film has been analysed by countless people over the years, with sceptics saying it is fake and the believers swearing it is real footage of a Bigfoot. In 1995, a film crew from Waterland Productions was in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in northern California. They pulled off the road and through their headlights, saw and filmed what they claim was a Sasquatch. HoaxesFew have come forward to admit to being a part of a Bigfoot hoax. But, in 1958, Jerry Crew took a cast of a large footprint to the local newspaper. The cast was made from a footprint found at a construction site in Bluff Creek, California. The story was run by Associated Press with an accompanying photo. However, years later, the family of Ray Wallace, the brother of Wilbur Wallace, the supervisor of the construction site where Crew cast the footprint, said they wound wooden track makers in their father’s belongings and it was he who faked the footprints. It seems that until a Bigfoot is caught or a carcass is found, the debate over whether Bigfoot actually exists or not will continue.

5 Lesser Known Sea Monsters Nessie. Champ. Ogopogo. The monsters you know because they’ve been highly publicized over the years. But other sea monsters, the ones you don’t hear about everyday, tend to be way more terrifying, mysterious, fake… or all three. God blessed the rains down in Africa. With terror. The Digonek, also known as the “jungle walrus,” is reported to be anywhere from twelve to eighteen feet long, covered in scales with a back lined with dart-like spines, possesses razor sharp claws, a horn, a squarish head and a scorpion tail. Oh, and it has tusks, too. If you’re looking for the walrus connection, there you go. The Digonek makes its home in the lakes and rivers of Western Africa, feeding off hippos, crocodiles and people who are too foolish to realize that a scorpion-walrus-snake hybrid is something to avoid at all costs. Though there are regular sightings of the beast, there exist only two major records of the monster. One is a cave drawing in the Brackfontein Ridge that’s said to be a striking resemblance of the beast (as much as a cave drawing can be, anyway). The second is the account of explorer John Alfred Jordan. While traveling the Kenyan river Maggori in 1907 he claimed to have encountered and even shot at the beast. While many cryptids have been proven to be a hoax or at least can be tied to an actual living thing, the Digonek’s reign of terror continues unchallenged because it is literally a hodgepodge of what’s in Mother Nature’s junk drawer. An Irish monster, the Dobhar-chu is sometimes described as being a giant crocodile though has been described as having different features in the hundreds of years it’s been thought to exist. The name translates as “water hound,” playing off early descriptions that it was half dog and half fish. Other depictions show it as an otter. One thing is certain: Ireland needs to invest in a goddamned Lenscrafters. Sightings of Dobhar-chu are uncommon, with the most recent happening around 2003. However, the most popular account is also the most horrifying. In the 17th century a woman named Grainne was heard screaming as she did laundry at the Glenade lough. Her husband leaped into action, but he was too late. He discovered Grainne’s corpse being feasted upon by Dobhar-chu. In a moment that fuses a badass sense of justice with creepy romantic imagery, he stabbed the monster in the heart. And that would be a great place for the story to end, except that it isn’t. As the Dobhar-chu laid dying it let out a strange whistle, summoning a second Dobhar-chu to finish the job. A drawn out battle ensued with humans yet again trumping nature’s screwed-up design. The story relates to a gravestone known as the Kinlough Stone, the woman’s burial place. On the front of the stone is an etching of the Dobhar-chu. Unfortunately, the phrase “never forget” had yet to enter popular vernacular. There’s also a second stone with the same image. In 1955 a businessman traveling near Loveland, Ohio, spotted something strange underneath a bridge: a series of figures, three to four feet tall, that looked almost human. They apparently had no lips and wrinkled heads as well as lopsided chests. For some reason, no one seemed to give much of a damn about his story, and that was that. Some twenty-three years later there was another siting. A police officer driving along the Riverside Road came upon the creature lying in the street. When the officer shone his headlights, the creature brought itself upright in a crouching position before leaping over the guardrail and into the Miami River. The officer’s description matched the one from 1955, but added leathery skin to the mix because frog people alone simply aren’t frightening enough. Two weeks later Officer Mark Mathews had a similar encounter to that of the first officer, though he came to the conclusion that he should shoot the mystery creature because hey, why not? But he missed and the creature escaped. Though he never officially reported the incident, the story somehow was leaked to the media and used to support the first officer’s story. Mathews, however, contends that there is no frog man and that he had simply encountered a pet lizard that somehow got loose, which begs the question: why did he feel the need to fire live ammunition at someone’s pet? A part of Aboriginal Australian mythology, the name Bunyip roughly translates into “water spirit” or “water devil,” implying that it’s a bad dude. However, there are at least nine known variations of the Bunyip, meaning that there could be at least nine different bad dudes. What’s more troubling is that no one can actually determine what this thing is supposed to look like. Most attempts by researchers to uncover the origins of the Bunyip note the different descriptions and ascribe it to the different tribes being scared to the point that people either don’t remember or simply didn’t look. Wrap your mind around that for a second. Two noted descriptions vary in complexity. One is, apparently, just a giant starfish. Spooky! The other falls much closer to the Digonek theory of design: dark fur, a dog face, walrus tusks (what’s with the walruses, anyway?), flippers and a horse tail, though some accounts throw in horns for good measure. It’s said to lurk in major bodies of water as well as swamps, ensuring that no one is safe. Most written accounts of Bunyips relate stories of European explorers and settlers that encountered unfamiliar fossils. After they had become more familiar with local stories of the creature, unexplained sounds, tracks and animals, all became Bunyips. Because of this, tracking the creature’s origin is pretty much impossible. A leading theory suggests that locals may have confused Bunyips with seals, who were known to swim into the area, though somewhat rarely. Others have suggested that it may actually be a cultural memory of now extinct creatures. If that’s the case, it only proves what we already know for sure: Australia has always been a frightening place. Not wanting to be left out of the cryptid fun, Russia proudly presents the Bronsno dragon, a creature with a description even more ambiguous than the Bunyip. By most accounts it’s literally a dragon or dinosaur. Those lacking an imagination simply refer to it as a giant mouth. It makes its home in Lake Brosno and is said to be responsible for over-turned boats and missing people. There’s quite a few local legends about the creature, some of which date as far back as the 13th century. In one, an invading Mongol army made camp near the lake. When the horses ventured down to drink, the beast emerged with a horrible cry before promptly eating as many soldiers and horses as it could. The Mongols fled and did not return. In another story the creature uses a small island to lure people into the lake. Thieves seeking to hide their treasure until the heat dies down swim out to the island only to be devoured. But because the dragon knows a thing or two about crime scene forensics, it also eats the entire island. Sitings of the dragon continue to this day, and while there have been a few attempts to explain what the dragon is (rising gas or volcanic eruptions), few answer the question satisfactorily.

Friday, July 31, 2009 A big fat 0. That’s how many people visited this site according to Google Analytics during the period of July 13 to July 19, 2009. I don’t think so. I’ve never pulled in any tremendous amount of hits but to believe that NO ONE stopped by during that period is nonsense. I set the tracking NOT to ignore when I stop by. I know I checked out the site during that period. I think switching to a new template caused the problem. Goose egg reports started coming in after that. I deleted the old tracking code and re-installed it. The 0 visitors problem persists. Interesting when one considers that Google runs both Blogger and Anal-ytics. What’s the problem: one company has compatibility issues between its own services? Fed up with Google’s bullshit, I’ve added another tracker. This indicates the normal amount of numbers so far – or it’s just lying to me to make me happy. Sure, part of it is ego. But also I’d like to know if anyone is out there or I’m just typing in unreadable nonsense. Instead of blogging, I’ve been dealing with this tracking issue, screwing around with HTML code for each tracker. Computers save time. Posted by Ray Palm (Ray X) at 1:24 AM Sound Reasoning And The Lake Champlain Monster Ever read an article that leaves a bit of confusion lingering in your mind? I’m trying to get a handle on how bioacoustics researcher, Elizabeth von Muggenthaler, regards the existence of a lurking monster in Lake Champlain. For those who aren’t familiar with this region, up here in the North Country Lake Champlain divides New York State from Vermont. I’ve live on the NY side in Plattsburgh; it’s just a ten-minute to the lake from my door. On the east side is Burlington, Vermont. Burlington is home to an alternative weekly, Seven Days, that recently profiled von Muggenthaler in an article entitled “Making Sound Waves” in its July 15-22, 2009 edition. (Online version here.) Six years ago von Muggenthaler was hired by the Discovery Channel to do some bioacoustical research in Lake Champlain. She made recordings of an unknown critter or critters echolocating. She has ruled out sources such as beaver, otter, and other animals including man. The recordings are a puzzler. But when it comes to the existence of a cryptid in the water that has appeared on occasion, creating sensational reports, Muggenthaler comes across as a skeptic in the article. Here’s one excerpt: Let’s get something straight: Von Muggenthaler isn’t interested in “Champ,” the beast of Lake Champlain lore. She has no tolerance for the legends that have swirled over the years of a water-dwelling reptile/whale/dinosaur. She’s a serious scientist — a bioacoustician who studies animal communication and cognition — and serious scientists don’t trade in monsters or other figments of fanciful imaginations. Later it’s stated she isn’t interested in a “monster quest.” But in the article she talks about the areas where her recordings were made, places thriving with salmon, the same spots where Champ had been spotted. (After all, a big lake monster has to eat.) Von Muggenthaler thinks that whatever was echolocating was hunting food. Then there’s this statement: While locals indulge the legend of the monster, [von Muggenthaler] points out few scientists and skeptics consider that there could be a less camera-ready undiscovered animal or completely new species living in the lake. That sounds like something that hardly ever surfaces, an animal that stays hidden deep in the lake, implying that reports of Champ are cases of misidentification or even lies. But go to a Website operated by von Muggenthaler and her partners, Fauna Communications Research Institute, and on the page devoted to the Lake Champlain research, you’ll find this item: About the recent article in the Burlington Free Press 2 years ago we found echolocation in a fresh water lake. A very novel discovery. The research trip and all about the bi-sonar or echolocation we found is described below. Pete Bodette's video demonstrated much of what we found by listening, namely the size of it and the activity of the fish in the area. Because of Pete Bodette's video we felt it was vital for people to stop considering this a "monster", a "myth" or an intoxicated illusion of those that visit the lake. This creature is unique, possible severely endangered, and needs to be studied scientifically. Those that witness something strange on the lake, please don't be worried anymore about people thinking you are crazy, e-mail us. The statement was unsigned, so I don’t know if it was by von Muggenthaler or one of her partners. But unlike what I’ve cited in the Seven Days article, this seems to be a very pro-Champ view, especially when considering an unknown creature that pops up to the surface and is spotted by the locals. So how skeptical is von Muggnethaler about Champ? Is what she detected something akin to Champ? Like I said, a bit of confusion. I did email von Muggenthaler and maybe she will have the time to respond and clear up this matter. Posted by Ray Palm (Ray X) at 12:49 AM Wednesday, July 22, 2009 New Computer: Less Time Computers save time. Take wordprocessing. Instead of messing around with a typewriter and paper, you can correct and revise on the fly before printing out, producing an article in less time. Computers eat up time. Get a new computer and wordprocessing program and you’ll soon discover you have less time for writing. The learning curve cuts into your productivity. I’ve been sidetracked lately with a new notebook computer. It was the least expensive way to upgrade from what I had with my aging desktop unit. The notebook’s system interface is different from my old desktop. For example, it has two different files called DOCS and Documents, just to make things confusing. And then there’s learning to use a new software program. That cheap bastard Bill Gates installed on my notebook Windows Office 2007 for only 60 days. I just need a wordprocessing program, not all that other crap that comes with Office. Yes, I know about Open Office, but all I want to do is process words, not figure out my taxes. So I downloaded a couple of different freeware programs, Jarte and Abiword. Unlike the latest incarnation of Word, they offer simpler layouts, they’re more user friendly. I hate Word 2007 with its cluttered, confusing array of buttons and bars. All wordprocessing programs can provide the same functions but you have to how and where to activate them. Anyway, Jarte and Abiword are OK but learning is still involved. So my time saving computer consumes chunks of my spare time, meaning that I don’t post here as often as I would like. But one thing is sure: 2 GB of RAM sure beats 200 MB. Posted by Ray Palm (Ray X) at 6:29 AM Saturday, July 11, 2009 You, Too, Can Be A Self-Help Guru PBS is getting desperate. In the past the public TV network prided itself on science programs like Nova. But over the years it’s grown so needy to raise money that it showcases all sorts of characters during its fundraising stretches like Wayne Dyer. I always thought Dwyer was a bit much. My suspicions were confirmed with I caught him on Whitley Steiber’s radio program, Dreamland, going on about all sorts of New Age malarkey. When Dyer first appeared on the scene back in the 1970s, the original edition of his paperback bestseller, Your Erroneous Zones, featured a tightly cropped portrait of the author, mainly his face. This was obviously done to hide the fact he was bald as a cue ball, albeit a cue ball with some wispy long hair still attached to its sides. Dyer started the modern era of self-help books. If his first book had all the answers, why did he or anyone else have to write more? Sorry, I don’t have much respect for these pop psychology types who appear with the Universal Truth for anyone. I can see thorough the whole scam. Cash needy PBS needs emotionally needy people with too much money to feel lifted, enlightened, so happy that they’ll make that contribution. The strength – and weakness – of public television is that viewers have to chip in to keep it going. While for-profit mainstream networks pander to anyone, PBS at least has to keep up some sort of appearance of class. Enter Wayne Dyer. He brings in the bucks for PBS (and, of course, he gets his cut.) But there’s nothing magical about Dyer and his ilk. They just tell you want you want to hear but wrap it up in an entertaining presentation that seems to provide new insight into the human condition. Like the title of this post says, even you can become one of these feel-good idols. You need an angle, something simple that can be complex at the same time. Let’s take childhood. You can state the problem with adults is that they don’t embrace their inner child, that they become too sophisticated for a childlike view of the world that is better than the narrow POV of a close-minded adult. Now you got the angle, back it up with an anecdote. It doesn’t matter if the story is truth or fiction, an amusing incident reported in the news or just an outright urban legend. Try this one: A truck that was just one inch too high to pass under a bridge got stuck. People gathered, proposed all sorts of answers. Get a chain to pull it out. Maybe use heavy equipment to raise the bridge or just tear out the overpass to free the trapped truck. A little boy on the scene said: “Why don’t you let some air out of the truck’s tires and back it out?” At this point the suckers – I mean people – in the audience will be all smiles. To reinforce your pleasant persona, make sure the cameramen get lots of close-ups of audience members smiling and nodding in agreement. If you become successful by using my tips, don’t forget my cut. Posted by Ray Palm (Ray X) at 5:11 AM

Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 8th, 2009 Happy Birthday to Charles Darwin!! His biography is straightforward. His legacy is great. Two hundred years ago he was born. Amazingly, old Charlie was born the same day as Abraham Lincoln. It looks to be a busy few days, so I thought I’d get a headstart. Charles Robert Darwin was born on February 12, 1809, and died on April 19, 1882. Darwin, of course, is remembered as the English naturalist who realized, and first published in grand fashion, that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors through the process he called natural selection. You’d have to have lived under a rock to not have heard of On The Origin of the Species. But, I am not about to talk of evolution, creationism, dinos in the Congo, or any of the hot-button topics so often associated with Darwin. (That is not to say that should stop any of you from using the comments section below to talk about those items as much as you want this week!) I want to view Darwin through my Cryptomundo bifocals, purely cryptozoologically, around one species. Few in cryptozoology remember that Charles Darwin is quite directly linked and responsible for a species ~ Mylodon darwinii ~ that may be the source of an ongoing cryptid investigation of interest to many of us. Mylodon darwinii was named by Richard Owen on the basis of a nearly complete lower jaw with teeth (below), which was found by Charles Darwin. The species was found embedded in soft rock in a consolidated gravel cliff, at Punta Alta, Bahia Blanca, Argentina, by Charles Darwin during the survey expedition (“the Voyage”) of H.M.S. Beagle, 1832-36, commanded by Captain Robert Fitzroy (1805-1865), which was exploring southern South America. Mylodon darwinii is a meduim-sized ground sloth that is more closely related to the two-toed sloths than to the three-toed sloths of today (which has been discovered due to its very good, recent DNA). Mylodon (allegedly) became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene period, with its larger cousin, Megatherium, the giant ground sloth. Mylodon, all the standard reference tells us, is an extinct genus of giant ground sloth that lived in the Patagonia area of South America, until roughly 10,000 years ago. Mylodon weighed about 200 kilograms (440 lb) and stood up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) tall when raised up on its hind legs. Preserved dung has shown it was a herbivore. It had very thick hide and had osteoderms within its skin for added armor. Because of this armor and its own long and sharp claws, it’s unlikely Mylodon had any natural enemies other than humans, who would have still found the skin difficult to pierce with stone projectile points. Evidence of Darwin’s Cryptid? At several South American sites preserved pieces of dried skin and old dung of this species have been discovered. These items are in a state of conservation that made the people who first discovered them believe they belonged to a living animal instead of an extinct species. Maybe they did. Well-preserved samples of Mylodon remains have been discovered in the Cueva del Milodon site in Patagonia along the southern flank of Cerro Benitez in the year 1896. Associated with bones of other early Patagonian animals, these remains of Mylodon date from an era earlier than 10,000 BC. Mylodon populations are occasionally claimed to have survived into the modern era. The discovery of fresh-looking samples of skin and dung sparked a small wave of expeditions during the early 20th century to search for a living example of the animal. The samples have reportedly since been found to be around 10,000 years old, although they look fresh, allegedly because of the extreme cold and stable conditions in the caves in which they were found. “It is quite clear to me that the legend of the Mapinguary is based on human contact with the last of the ground sloths,” said David Oren, former director of research at the Goeldi institute in Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon River. While some cryptozoologists, such as David Oren (as per 2007′s The New York Times), relate the reports from the Amazon rainforest of Mapinguary to Mylodon, for myself and others, the reports alone of the evidence showing the possible late survival of Mylodon and other ground sloths are enough to spark our interest. The discovery of their subfossil remains in caverns associated with human occupation caused a few researchers to theorize that early humans built corrals when they could procure a young ground sloth, to then raise the animal to butchering size. Bernard Heuvelmans has discussed these matters, and others have reworked parts of his discourse online. In the 1890′s an Argentinean explorer, geographer and adventurer, Ramon Lista, was hunting in a portion of his country, known as Patagonia, when a large, unknown creature covered with long hair trotted past his party. To Lista, the creature looked like a gigantic armadillo. The party shot at the beast, but the bullets seemed to have no effect. Professor Florentino Ameghino, a paleontologist in Argentina, heard the Lista story and began to wonder if the strange beast was a giant sloth that had somehow survived till the present day. He might not have put much stock in the Lista story if it had not been for the legends he had collected from natives in the Patagonia region about hunting such a large creature in ancient times. The animal in the stories was nocturnal, and slept during the day in burrows it dug with its large claws. The natives also found it difficult to get their arrows to penetrate the animal’s skin. Ameghino, furthermore, had a piece of physical evidence: A small section of apparently fresh hide found by a rancher named Eberhardt on his property in a cave in 1895. The hide was studded with small, hard, calcium nodules and would have been impervious to the teeth of many predators. It seemed likely that it would have also resisted native arrows, along with Lista’s bullets. So sure was Ameghino this was the creature Lista had seen, he decided to name it after him: Nemoylodon listai, or “Lista’s new Mylodon.” Expeditions to Eberhardt’s cave and other caves soon recovered additional pieces of hide. With the development of the debated Carbon-14 dating method in the twentieth century, the age of the Mylodon remains in the Eberhardt’s cave was apparantly settled. In short, the skin was estimated to be roughly 5,000 years old. Conditions in the caves may have preserved the skin, making it look fresh to the eye and fooling Ameghino.Sources, a & b A similar situation may have occurred late into the Pleistocene in North America. The last ground sloths in North America belonging to Nothrotheriops died so recently that their discovered dung has remained undisturbed in some caves, as if it were just recently deposited. One of the skeletons, found in a lava tube (cave) at Aden Crater, adjacent to Kilbourne Hole, New Mexico, still had skin and hair preserved, and is now at the Yale Peabody Museum. The American Museum of Natural History in New York City has a sample of dung with a note attached to it that reads “deposited by Theodore Roosevelt”. The largest samples of Nothrotheriops dung can be found in the collections of the Smithsonian Museum. I wonder what Charles Darwin would have thought of modern cryptozoology and its interest in his Mylodon darwinii? How would he have fit Bigfoot into his theories?

Posted by: Loren Coleman on January 27th, 2008 This was passed along to me this morning. It raises many good questions: So you’ve seen a Sasquatch. Who are you going to call? The provincial wildlife branch’s 24-hour hotline, 1-800- 663-WILD (9453) is a possibility. Ever had any sasquatch reports? “I don’t believe we have,” the operator said. Actually, the hotline is for such sightings as cougars or bears being where they shouldn’t or injured goats along the Trans-Canada Highway, according to the operator. Nor does the wildlife branch bother with Sasquatch sightings or the hairy humanoids themselves, according to spokesman Don Gilmour. “We don’t track them,” said Gilmour, who refused to comment on their status as an endangered species. If anyone at the branch studies Sasquatch, apparently they don’t talk about it. And they’re doing it on their own time, he said. Just because the provincial government seemingly ignores Sasquatch, it hasn’t stopped people — and the media — from reporting sightings. Those that occur tend to be in the province’s coastal region. On the Island, the Port Alberni/Tofino corridor has had several provocative reports. In 2002, Graham Andrews of the Alberni Valley Times wrote about sightings, first in the woods and later on a darkened highway, by Arnold Frank and his nephew. “We just saw some real big orange eyes, real high off the ground,” Arnold is quoted as saying. Arnold is convinced it wasn’t a bear. “It was too big to be a bear. And bears don’t walk on two legs.” But the sighting garnering the most response allegedly occurred near Tofino in the summer of 2006. The jumpy video Strange Humanoid Encounter debuted last February on YouTube.com. By late last week, the clip had been viewed 1,146,627 times on YouTube. “My hypothesis is that this was a bear, although my memory deceives me,” writes the man identified only by his e-mail address in the preface to the video. “The animal was about seven feet tall, give or take a foot. It hunched over quite a bit.” The clip, however, is one of the more plausible of YouTube’s sasquatch or bigfoot videos. In many, the creature looks like an escapee from a costume party. While Sasquatch sightings tend to be sources of fun, the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club (www.bcscc.ca) takes them seriously. The club opposes the killing of any cryptid — creatures presumed extinct or known only anecdotally. If you think you have seen a Sasquatch, click on the “sightings” logo on the club website. Be prepared to give exact location and terrain, weather conditions, landmarks and witnesses, as well as the creature’s height, weight and body covering. A photograph or video helps. The website also offers Sasquatch-sighters souvenir clothing from T-shirts to barbecue aprons, along with mugs, mouse pads and a wall clock.Jim Gibson, Times Colonist, Victoria, British Columbia, “If You’ve Seen a Sasquatch, Please Call,” Sunday, January 27, 2008. Thanks to Patrik Zetterberg for this news item.

As a professional artist, teacher, writer and mother of two, Linda Godfrey has carved a niche for herself as one of the most respected authorities on anomalous animals and paranormal phenomenon in Wisconsin. As the acknowledged expert on the creature knows as “The Beast of Bray Road,” Godfrey has been interviewed on a plethora of television networks and programs that deal with bizarre creatures, such as Inside Edition, Sightings, Animal Planet, Discovery Kids and the Sci-Fi channel. Godfrey has also been featured on AMC’s expos’e of the realities behind the werewolf film “Underworld” entitled “Fang vs. Fiction” and has recently been working with an Australian team producing a show for the Discovery Channel. Godfrey has also made numerous appearances on Godfrey has also made numerous appearances on Coast to Coast AM. As a journalist, Godfrey was the first to break the chilling story of the horrific, werewolf-like monstrosity that is said to lurk in the shadow shrouded forests surrounding Elkhorn, Wisconsin’s Bray Road. Since then she has gone on to author three books, “The Beast of Bray Road, Tailing Wisconsin’s Werewolf,” “Hunting the American Werewolf and “Lake and Sea Monsters (Mysteries, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena).” Click to see more of Linda Godfrey’s published works. Godfrey has continued to pursue her interests in the unknown and has gone on to investigate an array of unusual animals allegedly lurking in her home state. Next on her slate is the forthcoming “Beyond Bray Road,” which will continue her chronicle of this nefarious creature’s exploits with numerous additional sightings and encounters as well as further exploration of possible explanations for the so-called “wolfman” phenomenon. INTERVIEW: LINDA S. GODFREY How long have you been interested in cryptozoological and paranormal phenomenon? What was the genesis for this interest? I can’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t fascinated with everything mysterious, starting with an imaginary fairy friend who bunked in the street lights when I was a little girl. We lived in a house that I believed was haunted and this sparked my interest in the paranormal at an early age. My dad was a science fiction fan and believed he had seen a UFO, so I grew up with all this roiling in my mind and it made me curious to learn more. I hadn’t done any special study of cryptozoology, however, until I wrote the first newspaper article about The Beast of Bray Road and became intrigued with the fact that people were seeing an animal that no one could identify. When and how did you become involved with the unusual events, which occurred near Elkhorn in the early 1990’s? I was working as a reporter, columnist and cartoonist for the Walworth County newspaper, The Week, when a woman tipped me off to the fact that people around Elkhorn were claiming to see what they described as a werewolf. I asked around and found out she was right, and pitched the story to the editor. I thought that if we had some strange, big animal lurking nearby, people had a right to know about it. What encouraged you to pursue these eyewitness accounts, when other reporters merely dismissed them out of hand? I think the other reporters who could have done the story were afraid of seeming less than professional by taking on such an “iffy” subject. I’ve never been too concerned with what people think, and the excitement of having such a mystery to solve far outweighed any fears for my reputation. Besides, I was already a cartoonist and it’s hard to get more disreputable (or more newsroom flak-worthy) than that. What was your initial reaction to the eyewitness testimony that you chronicled? Even though I was very interested in the story, I still wore my reporter hat and was at first skeptical of the people that I interviewed. But after I had talked to several of them and found that their descriptions of the creature tallied and that they were all still frightened by having seen it, I couldn’t find any reason not to believe that they really had seen something unusual. After all, they each had more to lose than gain by telling. Who coined the name: “The Beast of Bray Road”? That phrase was mine; I wasn’t happy with the term “werewolf” since it has connotations of Lon Chaney-type transformations, and we had no idea whether what these people were seeing had anything to do with silver bullets and full moons. I was really leaning toward the theory of a large hybrid dog at that point, and “beast” just seemed a more appropriately generic term. Plus, it went so well with Bray Road (which just happened to be the main site of that first reported sightings cluster). What is the most horrifying encounter that you’ve ever heard regarding this bizarre creature? It may be the story about a young girl who was sitting in a tree behind a barn on her farm on Hwy. 11 near Bray Road when the creature came out of the woods, spied her, and spent the better part of an hour trying to get up in the tree at her. She was able to stay high enough to avoid it, and later showed the claw marks it left on the tree bark to a woman I know. It finally gave up and she waited another hour before bolting to her house, but she was quite shaken. At least we now know it does not climb trees well. Has anyone actually claimed to have been physically attacked by the Beast? If so, has there been any evidence to support the claim? If not, why do you think the animal has not harmed anyone? Other than a few witnesses who said the Beast ran after their car and raked its claws over it as they departed, I haven’t had any reports that it has attacked people even when it had a good chance to do so. I don’t know what it would have done to the girl in the tree had it succeeded in reaching her, however. As to why it hasn’t attacked anyone, I believe from all reports that it is a scavenger and a hunter of small game, and is wary of humans. Most who see it say they have the feeling that it did not want to be seen, and that it escaped from their view as soon as possible. Eyewitness Lori Endrizzi believed that the creature in question was supernatural or “satanic” in origin, while others, like Doris Gipson categorized it as merely “a freak of nature” – where do you stand on the Beast’s origins? It’s hard to stand anywhere but firmly in the middle since I have no positive proof of either extreme. I do have to say that since the first book came out, I’ve had a number of sightings that seem to have a paranormal component such as sudden materialization, morphing shapes, or telepathic communication, which have compelled me to delve more deeply into explanations beyond the obvious flesh and bone possibilities. In your “opinion” is the Beast a genuine biological phenomenon or does it cross the line into the realm of the paranormal? Again, that is the question of the day and I think there are arguments for each. I’ve had at least one sighting in this state now where the witness saw two creatures, which implies that perhaps this could be a breeding population. On the other hand, there are those paranormal manifestations to contend with, and some Native American sources have told me they believe it is a spirit creature. Do you think that there is any chance that the Beast is an evolutionary offshoot? Some kind of Darwinian anomaly which could be classified, as you suggested in your book, as a “canid” (canine hominid)? That is my likeliest bet in the biological phenomenon camp. This thing just doesn’t act like a hybrid dog; hybrid dogs don’t walk around upright. We had many large carnivores on this continent at one time and certainly many of them had canine characteristics. Who is to say that one of them couldn’t have developed bipedalism in the natural selection process and somehow managed to exist all this time in the wild pockets of the state? After all, Wisconsin has only been settled by Europeans for less than two hundred years. Such creatures would have had millennia to exist and adapt. And there are many references among the indigenous peoples to creatures not in our known Wisconsin menagerie. Do you believe that there is any possibility, whatsoever, that a human being could physically transform into a predatory canine-like creature? I know there are people who believe that they do transform, but so far as I know not one of them has been willing to document this process on film. I do believe that there are people practicing shamanic religions who can form some type of etheric body or project an image of animals or strange creatures that seem to be able to romp about…whether these things truly exist or are mere impressions created on the minds of certain receptive people is debatable, but it’s a common belief among our native tribes nationally. There are also people who practice manifesting “magical” thought forms, similar to the tulpa figures created by Tibetan monks. Is this possible? A quick study of quantum mechanics will suffice to prove that the “real and solid” universe most of us believe we live in is anything but that, and I remain open to the possibility of mind over (or into) matter in some of these cases. Unfortunately, the demand to put this type of creature on camera doesn’t wash, since an etheric body or thought form probably would not register on film the same way it would be seen by the human eye in person. What are some of the other bizarre creatures you’ve investigated in your home state? What (besides Bray Road) are some of the most interesting cases you’ve ever been involved with? Well, first I have to make clear that the great bulk of creature sightings have not been on Bray Road but all over the state, though chiefly in the southeastern section. I’ve also had reports of the same creature in other states, especially Pennsylvania and New York. But in Wisconsin I’ve been investigating a creature around the Marathon County area people are calling the bearwolf that I first learned about from investigator Todd Roll in Wausau…it has the head of a wolf, similar to our Beast, but a thicker, shaggier body and is somewhat shorter. I’ve also had a report of two people seeing what they called a Lizard Man near the Wisconsin River in LaCrosse, and a bizarre, mini-version of the Beast near Oshkosh. Can you tell us a little about Highway 13’s flying reptile man or the Mauston Birdman, both of which were mentioned in Weird Wisconsin? The reptile man is interesting because it was first seen and reported by no less than a state Department of Natural Resources warden. These wardens are a notoriously skeptical lot when it comes to strange creature sightings. He described it as shiny, green-scaled, and man-shaped. A group of highway workers later saw the same thing, and in both cases the creature surprised its witnesses by snapping wings out from its back and sailing off into the trees. The Mauston birdman was another flying creature, this time six feet tall, yellow-feathered and beaked, but with human body shape. Sound like Big Bird? It was seen by an elderly grandmother, and the strange thing is that a few years earlier, a young girl in the family had told them that Big Bird came to visit her. They all thought she had just been watching too much Sesame Street. Of course we do have the tradition of the Native American thunderbird here in Wisconsin, but that is usually described as looking more like a pterodactyl than a Jim Henson creation. Have you ever participated in any field expeditions mounted for the purpose of finding the Beast or any of these other creatures, or do you consider yourself more a chronicler of the legends/evidence? For a long time I had to content myself with simply being a chronicler, because most of the time I would not receive sighting reports in time for the trail to be fresh, or they would have occurred on property that could not be accessed. I did once spend most of the night on Bray Road, with permission of the Sheriff’s Dept. and with a professional photographer in the car, watching some raw chicken we had set out for bait, to no avail. Recently, I had a sighting reported to me the day it happened in Rock County, and as fate would have it, I knew the nearby landowners. They permitted me to bring a professional paranormal team (getghostgear.com) for one night, and we set bait in numerous places and dispatched teams with walkie talkies and video cameras. We also placed motion detector cams in likely spots. We did not bring guns with silver bullets. The creature never showed, probably having detected us before we could detect it…if it was even still in the same area. But it’s really like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. To my knowledge, no one who has deliberately set out to try to see the creature has had any success. Of course I always have my eyes peeled when I’m driving at night. And by the way, it hasn’t been spotted on or near Bray Road for at least eight years. Almost anywhere else in southeastern Wisconsin is a more likely place these days. What is the best piece of evidence that your research has turned up regarding any of the zoological anomalies you have investigated? Several people have reported seeing footprints in the sightings areas, but no one has ever thought to take a cast or even a photo. One woman said the print seemed to be of some large animal, and she was able to place her size nine ladies moon boot inside it (the print was made in a freshly tilled field). Interestingly, none of the prints have been reported to look anything like a Bigfoot print, and most will say it reminded them of the print of a super-large dog or wolf. Two people have claimed they had fur on their car bumpers but lost it. Unfortunately, most of those who have sightings are not trained or even interested in cryptozoology so that it never occurs to them to save evidence, and they are also usually too rattled to think of anything but getting away. Still, that leaves us with around 50 eyewitness accounts for evidence… all from “regular” people, of every age, gender and walk of life. Who are some of the individuals who have most influenced your decision to continue pursue your investigations into unknown animals? Coming across the work of people like John Keel and Loren Coleman was very inspirational; to learn people had dedicated their whole lives to this sort of endeavor was a big shot in the arm. I also had a lot of local support from friends like Richard Hendricks, Wausau paranormal investigator Todd Roll, Eau Claire researchers Chad Lewis and Terry Fisk, and the guys at getghostgear.com. And of course the strong, continuing public interest and never-ending sightings have kept my crypto-adrenaline pumping. Beyond the Elkhorn encounters, what would you consider to be the most intriguing werewolf case you’ve ever come across? One of the most puzzling is one that was told me by a bookstore clerk in Madison, who saw something that resembled the Beast on a residential street in that city. It was under a streetlight early in the wee morning hours so he had a good view, and he actually witnessed it “morph” from a wolf-headed, human form into an ape-headed form. He swears he was not drinking and doesn’t do drugs. It certainly makes one think twice about shape-shifters. He was still obviously terrified when he told me about it a few weeks after it happened. You served as an expert on AMC’s “Fang vs. Fiction tie-in with the motion picture “Underworld” and have been featured on numerous other television shows. How did you become first become involved with television documentaries? I’ve never sought out any of the television shows; they all have contacted me. That’s probably because I broke the original story, wrote the book and have most of the sightings reports, having somehow become the unofficial Werewolf Central. And it is quite unusual to have so many sightings of a wolf-headed creature in one area in contemporary times. So when a producer wishes to create a werewolf documentary these days, Bray Road has become the place to go. I usually help them as best I can because I feel I owe it to the public as the accidental “keeper of the lore.” How has the exposure you’ve received being on so many nationally syndicated radio and television programs affected your life? Other than occasionally being stared at or recognized at airports or places like that, it’s affected it very little, really. Thank goodness! One good effect that it’s had is people who have had a sighting but never knew who to tell will see me and then usually contact me through my Web site, www.cnb-scene.com. I am able to collect many more stories that way. How do you sons feel about research? Are either of them interested in cryptozoological phenomenon? Neither of my sons is the slightest bit interested. They each are very busy with their own lives and work, and having grown up with “that nutty mom who researches werewolves” they would each rather do their own thing. And I think that’s great. Besides, they may come around some day. For the record, my husband has not caught werewolf fever from me, either. But he gets sort of a kick out of what I do. What inspired you to go beyond your series of articles and write a book about The Beast of Bray Road and other strange phenomenon? How many books have you written? It was mostly the sheer volume of material I’d collected, along with the growing realization that after ten years, people were still very hungry for information on the subject. I had already published my first non-fiction book, “The Poison Widow,” a true crime story about a Wisconsin woman who, with her boy-toy lover, killed her husband with strychnine in the 1920s and was the subject of a sensational, nationally reported murder trial. My publisher asked what else I had and I replied, would you believe werewolves? He believed, and “The Beast of Bray Road” leaped into print. My third book is just released, “Weird Wisconsin, Your Travel Guide to Wisconsin’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets,” co-authored with Richard Hendricks and published by Barnes & Noble. Happily, it has an entire monster chapter titled, “Bizarre Beasts.” I’m currently working on a follow-up book to “The Beast,” tentatively titled “Beyond Bray Road” to chronicle the many other sightings and new insights and possible theories. I’m also working on a Weird Michigan book for B&N, and another true crime biography. Richard and I have a couple of other projects in the works, too. How has the critical/fan response been to your published works? So far, most of what I’ve seen has been positive. I’ve received many great emails from people, and researchers such as Nick Redfern have written good reviews. But I wrote the first “Beast” book not as a standard cryptozoological tome but as an account of the entire phenomenon, including the sociological aspects, the media role, and associated sightings worldwide, as well as my best effort at reporting the sightings and trying to present some plausible (and implausible) explanations. It may not have been what everyone expected, but it was the only way I could write it, and I think it helps put the sightings in some kind of context. The next book will chronicle even more stories than did the first, and I am digging much deeper into the surrounding geography and other sightings histories of each location. It will also examine possible “supernatural” explanations more closely, since I’ve had more of those reported now. What are your personal opinions regarding the existence of the so-called “big three” monster mysteries: Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents and Hairy Hominids? Which group intrigues you most? Well, of course I’d have to say I’m most intrigued by the Hairy Hominids, although it’s not just because they happen to be my main subject. I’m fascinated by them in the same way I’m fascinated by all the great apes, because of their resemblance to man. We see ourselves in them, but our wild selves. That’s scary to contemplate , but offers a potentially huge source of insight on exactly what Homo Sapiens is really all about. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate the lake and sea monsters, as well. Lake Geneva has a great historical account of a serpent they had once nicknamed Jenny, but my story on it was inexplicably cut out of the Weird Wisconsin book (along with about half of what Richard and I sent them, but it’s still 272 pages). I’m also very interested in the Native American legends of the water panther, which was often represented in our state’s ancient animal effigy mounds. I’m writing more about that in Beyond Bray Road. I do believe all these groups exist or have existed in some way, whether it’s as an ancient population remnant or even, as some insist, denizens of several dimensions with one paw or flipper in each. What do you think is the most intriguing cryptid on Earth today? That’s a tough one. But at the moment, I’m extremely interested in finding other examples of lizard men. Bigfoot, Wolfmen… they are still mammals and somehow don’t seem that impossibly far away from us as humans. But a reptilian humanoid is so bizarre, so alien to our general frame of reference, that I’m extremely curious about them and hoping to uncover more examples. Besides, I have this great recurring image of “Creature from the Black Lagoon” in my mind. I would love to see life imitate art. What are your future plans? Writing… television? Television? Only as an evil necessity. I’m not planning anything like The Beast of Bray Road Show. Though I think he could be a great unreality show host. Writing, certainly, as long as I can keep getting publishers to print things. I also have a 300-page novel sitting in a drawer waiting for revisions, and three uncompleted YA fantasy books slouching and kicking their toes against the dirt in a computer file somewhere. I’m also an artist, I do cut paper/collage illustrations for books and magazines, and fine art pieces that I show occasionally. And then there are the monumental concrete monster sculptures I plan to cover my yard with someday… After all these years what drives you on your continued pursuit of this and other elusive animals? Mostly my flat out, wicked crazy curiosity. I want to know what it is these people are all seeing, and why they are the ones to get the glimpse. Are the sightings accidental, or are these people somehow chosen? I want to solve the puzzle, or at least keep laying the pieces out there until some sort of shape emerges from the shadows. It says in you bio that you reside in rural Elkhorn… Do you feel comfortable living so close to the creature? Absolutely comfortable. As discussed above, it has never hurt a human and sightings really still are extremely rare, when you consider the huge amount of territory and the seven-decade span they’ve occurred over. I’ve probably suffered much more damage to myself trying to shoo a woodchuck out of my flowerbed (I tripped, sprained an ankle and scraped up one leg very badly) than I will ever sustain from the local cryptid crowd. I surely would like to see the Beast just once, however. But I’m much more wary of reported mountain lions and bears in our area, and try to document them on cnb-scene. We even currently have an out-of-place bighorn ram in Walworth County that no one has been able to catch. There’s a whole world of critters hiding out there for our eternal mystification. Knowing that makes life so much more fun. For more information on the work of Linda S. Godfrey visit

Archive for the ‘synchronicity’ Category (Posted at my blog Mothman Flutterings.) I had the following experience the night of Japan’s earthquake; isn’t directly related to Mothman. Nor am I suggesting it was part of the Mothman energy; and yet, there is a bit of a Mothy vibe to this, and so I’m posting it here. I want to make it clear this winged visitor was not “evil,” or a negative energy in any way. My fearful response to it was due to my own anxieties and fears, not the intent of this bird like entity. I had an extremely unusual experience the night of Japan’s earthquake which involved a large, swooping-in-on-me bird-like figure, beeping sounds from deep within my head getting louder and louder, and a synchronicity the next day concerning tsunamis and Thunderbirds. As I posted on both The Orange Orb and Animal Forteana, this is what happened: I had a very strange experience last night. I spent much of the night sleeping little; listening mainly to Coast to Coast and the news coming in on the earthquake in Japan, and soon after, the tsunami warnings. Earliest reports were warnings for Hawaii and the Washington and Oregon coasts; later, California and Alaska. I was compelled to listen through the night because of the sheer tragedy and immensity of another overwhelming earth disaster, and also, because we had planned to drive to the coast that day (approximately fifty miles from our home) and spend the weekend there. I was also concerned about my mother and friends on the Oregon coast, as well as family living up and down the Pacific coast. I tried to sleep, managed to doze off for a while but kept waking up, turning the little transistor on again. Throughout Coast to Coast local tsunami warnings came through, announcing beach and school closures for the Oregon coast. At one point, a deep beeping sound woke me up. This beeping was deep within me; not from an external source, not an acoustic anomaly. It was inside of me. It became louder, and with it, I saw a large dark bird come flying towards me. All I could see was the shape, no details. Slowly flapping its huge wings as it came towards me, as the beeping got louder and louder. A glowing whitish-blue light or “halo” surrounded this bird. This bird vision was indie my head, not external, but it was definitely connected to the beeping sound. At first I thought the bird was an owl; and it might had been, but it seemed to be something else as well. What, I’m not sure. I had conflicting responses to this bird; one, that all this was pretty damn interesting but as the owl, or bird-creature, came closer, along with the light, I became a little scared and tried to shut it out. It sort of exploded when I did that, and I had the feeling this bird-like creature was both frustrated with me and disappointed that I chose to ignore it. Then, I heard, again from that same, deep-within place inside me, the sounds of voices talking on the radio. So I told myself it was the radio; I still had it on, the ear buds in my ears. But the radio and ear -buds were both on the night table, and the radio was off. I cannot describe how this was not a dream. It was not a dream that I awoke from, it was not a hypnogognic dream, it was not a dream then I awake to find I’m really still dreaming, … none of that. None of that. I was completely awake. The radio talk within continued; I tried very hard to listen to make sense out of it but the voices were indistinct. After I wrote this, I visited The Anomalist to find this link to a post from Loren Coleman at Cryptomundo: Tsunamis and Thunderbirds, which explores the stories of Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest and earthquakes: It is amazing what Thunderbird folklore may tell us about past tsunamis, says Ruth Ludwin, a University of Washington scientist. Her research has found that Thunderbird and other cryptid stories and traditions “could relate to a large Seattle fault earthquake around A.D. 900 and specific eyewitness accounts linked to a mammoth 1700 earthquake and tsunami in the Cascadia subduction zone.” “Along the way, I picked up a lot of stories about landslides,” she said. But she couldn’t find anything that seemed to match the 1700 event, until she took a closer look at the story of Thunderbird and Whale. “It’s a story of the underworld versus the over-world,” Ludwin said. The Whale was a monster, killing other whales and depriving the people of meat and oil. The Thunderbird, a benevolent supernatural being, saw from its home high in the mountains that the people were starving. The great bird soared out over the coastal waters, then plunged into the ocean and seized the Whale. A struggle ensued first in the water, the tribal tale says. “The waters receded and rose again. Many canoes came down in trees and were destroyed and numerous lives were lost.” The Thunderbird eventually succeeds in lifting the evil Whale out of the ocean, carrying it “high into the air (and then) dropping it to the land surface at Beaver prairie. Then at this place there was another great battle.” On the Coast After phone calls back and forth and following news reports we decided to drive to the coast, which turned out to be a beautiful drive. The tsunami warnings for this area have been lifted. As I’m typing this I’m looking out at the shore, listening to the ocean. I described the bird like visitor as possibly an owl, because that was the closet thing I could think of at the time. But it this “bird” or more appropriately, winged creature, had an intelligence about it, an awareness, that transcended mundane animals. (Including us humans.) It was a messenger from another realm, it was spirit. The wolf is my animal totem. Local event at the Lane county fairgrounds: Steve Martin’s Wild World of Wolves. I have strong feelings about wild animals in captivity and used for “entertainment” purposes. I don’t know anything about this outfit specifically; I assume the wolves are loved and treated well, but that is not the issue for me. My personal opinions aside, I find the wolf synchronicities lately to be interesting. (The Steve Martins Wild World of Wolves is one feature of Martin’s Working Wildlife of Frazier Park, California, where wild animals of many varieties are trained to work in film, TV, etc.) An acquaintance on one of my social networking sites posted about a wolf hybrid that attacked his chickens the other night. The following item appeared in today’s Register Guard on-line, even though the article is from December: Biologist’s take: Wolves not as big, bad as thought I found this juxtaposition an alarming one: a photo of a five year old boy with rifle “prepare [ing] to fire away at the quarry on a video screen at the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s electronic shooting gallery” and below, a photo of one of the three ‘wild wolves’ at the Boat and Sportsmen’s Show at the Lane County Fairgrounds. (Register Guard, Saturday February 4, 2011.) “The Owls are not what they seem.” ~ Twin Peaks And they keep appearing. On my blogs The Orange Orb, and Animal Forteana, I’ve been posting a lot lately about the many owl synchronicities in my life. From Animal Forteana, the post that seemed to have started it all, from September 12: The owl, as Forteans know, makes its appearance in various ways within UFO-alien abduction-high strangeness events and occult, para-political conspiracy themes. Sometimes the owl appears to a witness of the anomalous as what it is: a bird, but. . . is it? Behind the owl there seems to be something else; an alien, an entity. Is the alien pretending to be an owl, appearing as an owl, or using the owl as familiar? Is the image of the owl projected; beamed to the human, as a tool to lull the human into a hypnotic state? The owl, as a symbol, appears in conspiracies. The owl is on the dollar bill, and it figures strongly within the Bohemian Grove’s rites; in these contexts, the owl represents hidden knowledge available to the few — and privileged. In a reversal mode, the owl is also a symbol of high skepticism to the point of ridiculous debunkery. Uber skeptic Joe Nickell has used the owl to “prove” that Mothman, the Kelly Hopkinville entities, and the Flatwoods Monster were simply owls. At least three seperate articles have been written by Nickell, where he details his anyalises of these very different (as to content, time and location) events, yet offers up the same solution: owls. The television Twin Peaks (created by David Lynch) acknowledged the esoteric imagery of the owl in what is now a cult classic line: “The owls are not what they seem.” Currently, AMC is airing its new series Rubicon, which is about a spy type think tank. Not exactly CIA, NSA, etc. but a department housed in a funky, run down old building that analyzes and reports on global political doings and individuals. Recent accidental deaths and suicides of Rubicon department heads and power mongers are how the main character, brilliant but naive in many ways, ends up as the new boss of his team. He’s suspicious of the death of his boss, and begins looking into things. Soon, he’s also being messed with. A small figure of an owl, found among the deceased belongings, appeals to and he puts it on his desk. There it sits, as a symbol of the conspiracy (”Who do we work for?” he asks his boss, who is either a mentor, or an enemy — time will tell) swirling around him. Beyond the metaphoric meaning of the owl, this owl also serves a utilitarian purpose: within its base, someone has placed a bug in order to listen in to our hero in his office. The bug is discovered but is left within, later, he checks on it to find it’s gone during a FBI lock down, only to discover the bug has been put back when they leave. “I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.” ~ the Bible September 14: Owls Today In the movie Encounters of the Fourth Kind, the owl figures prominently, which isn’t surprising, since the movie is about alien abductions. I saw the movie for the first time Saturday night, which inspired me to write the post below on owls, posted Sunday. Today, I see in the morning paper that the owl appears in the cartoon jumble. At work, someone wearing an over sized T-shirt with a giant owl on it walks by me. I go to my desk to find owl stickers. Later, class divides into teams and decide on team names: one group chooses “the owls.” Love that owl synchronicity! Over at the Orange Orb, I continue with my meetings of owl synchronicities: Thursday, September 16, 2010 Another Owl Synchronicity Sure enough, in walks a body wearing an oversized tee shirt with a cartoon figure of a human but that’s morphing into an owl — a sort of human/hybrid owl figure. Just a reminder, I guess, :) [Note: a day or two before there were owl stickers on the work table in the room] Monday, September 20, 2010 More Owls. . . I ‘ve been posting lately about owl synchronities and imagery in media. The other day I posted about another owl synchronicity: at work, someone came in wearing a large tee-shirt with a large cartoonish human figure that was part owl. Mike Clelland commented that the post was “curiously cryptic,” — I didn’t mean to be esoteric, just noting the weird owl synchronicities in my life lately. Of course, Mike has his own long term synchrocratic relationship with owls! And so today found me in a room with a woman wearing large— really large– silver hoops, with some kind of figure inside the hoop. At first I thought they were some kind of flower, or leaf motif, but after awhile, I realized: yes, they were owls! Large silver colored owls, perched upon even larger hoops. Thursday, September 23, 2010 And . . . more owls Yes, more owls. Today in a room at work; the large bulletin board had . . . owls. Owl figures all over the place. All this owl synchronicity — in part, as I wrote earlier (see my owl posts below) it’s messages, signals, signs, along the lines of “they’re noticing you’re noticing them” kind of thing. I put the intent out, as to conscious recall of orange-orb and related encounters, including missing time, and this is what happens. Throw in my affinity and relationship with animals, and we’re off. But on a more mundane level, it’s possible that owls are a new fashionable/trend/fad image in the culture stream; nothing esoteric, although, it is esoteric. The young person wearing a tee shirt with a giant owl on it is just wearing something they think is cool or looks good, but I doubt they’re into esoteric-alien abduction-Illuminati symbolism. But “they” know. Heh. “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea/ In a beautiful pea-green boat,/ They took some honey, and plenty of money,/ Wrapped up in a five-pound note.” ~ Edward Lear In today’s local paper: the Register-Guard, this announcement appeared:</ Owls are focus of Nearby Nature Quest A Nearby Nature Quest, “Hooting in the Hollows,” will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Alton Baker Park Host Residence, located between the dog run and community gardens. Learn about owls on a family-paced walk through the woods, meet a costumed Olivia the Owl. Free for Nearby Nature members, $2 per person or $5 per family for non-members. Pre-registration suggested. ***-**** As well as this notice about the Cascades Raptor Center, a wild bird rescue organization ( a beautiful place, with beautiful people who volunteer their time to help injured birds of prey; they do a lot of education in the schools work, etc.) and the new movie Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole. “An Owl at the Movies” Cascades Raptor Center will present Dmitri, a Eurasian eagle owl, in conjunction with the film “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” “I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.” ~ the Bible At work today, I walk by a display board with an owl on it: something about a contest; I didn’t catch what the contest was about, but I noticed a black and white owl on the display by the text. (This is my latest Trickster’s Realm column for Tim Binnall’s BoA site.) An intriguing aspect of alien encounter stories is the shared experience element. There have been many times when I’ve heard a story that, no matter how unusual, how weird, and unbelievable someone’s account may seem, it often turns out that others have had similar, if not the same, kind of experience. I’ve had UFO experiences going back to childhood, but my sighting of an orange orb in Oregon in the 1980s is, for some reason yet to be discovered, the catalyst for my journey into the world of esoterica, I couldn’t find any references to similar sightings. No books on UFOs or aviation mentioned basket ball sized, glowing from within, seemingly sentient and telepathic orange orbs. Yet I saw one. Furthermore, I experienced missing time the day/night of the sighting. (Other weird events occurred around this sighting as well.) I’ve seen several UFOs since that sighting, but never anything like that orange orb. Although something odd did happen last year, as I wrote on UFO Magazine’s site: An Orange Orb Blip Something slightly odd and startling happened the other day. It was around 5:30 in the afternoon. I was relaxing on the sofa, not asleep but just in that semi-drowsy, pleasant light trance state. I had a short little dream — a dreamlet, you could call it — but I was awake on some level at the same time. I “dreamt” I had a strong urge to go outside and look at the sky full of stars. (this is something I do almost every evening) and I walk out onto the path to the sidewalk, and scan the dark sky. I hear a voice inside my head, or more like a telepathic nudge, to turn around and look towards the south. I do, and see, very high up, a bright orange light, which is rotating. As far away as it is, and as small as it is — like a large, bright star — I can tell it’s revolving. When I see this orange “star” I’m very scared, and I can feel my stomach drop with cold dread. I wake up abruptly, feeling very uneasy. With the sighting of the orange object I again am aware of a telepathic message; this one tells me that I know exactly what it is I saw years ago, and to stop playing games. I assume it meant stop playing games with myself, but I had a sense it might have meant with it as well, whatever “it” is. I’m not sure why I feel it’s important to keep track of episodes like this, but I’m sure one of the many purposes doing this serves is that is simply makes me feel better. No closer to any mystery but I don’t think that’s the point any more. Acknowledging these weird little moments and adding them to the collection of pieces gives the illusion of work, of study. It’s calming somehow. It’s also empowering; once you call it, reclaim the name of something, it’s power diminishes. And maybe, as has been said by Forteans and esoteric explorers, the Trickster or whatever you want to call it is alerted to our interest and responds. When we start noticing “it,” “it” starts to notice us back. Every time I come across an account of an orange UFO I get excited and am curious to discover if the sighting was anything like mine so many years ago. A few years ago, we began to see reports of orange orb or spheres; they’re still coming in. Most of these seem to be the lanterns used in celebrations that have become popular but as many researches have pointed out, this doesn’t explain much. The orange lantern explanation just doesn’t fit a lot of these sightings. There have been a lot of reports of orange colored lights in the sky; not the floating type lanterns, not the basket ball sized orb I saw, but star like, or like the lights of a plane. Interesting and sometimes they share some similarities to what I saw but, not the same thing. Until the “Dark Presence” episode of UFO Hunters. That episode had to do with orange UFOs. Not small, airplane type lights, stars, or lanterns, but like the orb I saw. Some of the orbs witnesses described were green or other colors, but orange seemed to be the main color. I responded to that episode, again on the UFO Magazine blog: There are many parallels to my orange orb sighting . . . and the ones discussed in the UFO Hunters episode. Many witnesses reported feelings of dread, of fear, though some had experienced feelings of elation, upon seeing these orbs. I had both: feelings of a happy intrigue when I first saw the orb, and a real goofy, almost psychedelic response right after seeing it. . . I also had the most terrifying dreams of my life right after seeing the orb. These dreams were always the same: I’m paralyzed inside a brilliant white beam of light that is so bright I can almost see through things. There is something huge above me, some kind of object. My husband is nearby but has been taken from me and I’m screaming for him, for “them” to return us to. . . or get us out of, wherever the hell we are. Finally, I had found others who described the same kind of object and events that I experienced, as I wrote: These orbs were described by witnesses as being basket ball sized, or even larger, like a beach ball. That’s exactly how I’ve been describing the size of the orb I saw for all these years. Witnesses also said they felt a premonition, or some kind of telepathic communication between the orb and themselves; I also had that experience when I first saw the orb. I had glanced up having noticed the orb, which I estimated to be about a mile away. I had the distinct feeling it was waiting for me, and as soon as I thought “What the hell is that thing?” it zoomed right to me, following us along the road. (Witnesses also reported they were followed by the orbs.) As we turned the corner to go home (our house was right around the corner) the orb stopped for a moment above a house across the road from us, then just sank down, “landing” in the backyard. Similar behavior was reported by witnesses on the UFO Hunters episode. Witnesses also described the orb as being lit from within, or at least giving that appearance. The orb I saw had the same effect; no lights around it, or on it, but it seemed to glow from inside. Witnesses also reported missing time. Strange to come across so many witnesses with such similar descriptions and so many years apart! Comments that followed to my piece on UFO Magazine’s blog were interesting. Like this one from “Susan” who saw a large orange orb in 1975, and Raechel from MRIPA (a paranormal investigative group that was featured in the UFO Hunters episode.) Raechel wrote: Jason and I did do an investigation with Indiana – MUFON back in July of this year. It was a woman and her family who live up in northern Indiana who witnessed one large red orb (basketball size) and a multitude of smaller white orbs (softball size) in the woods that surrounded her house. She too explained a feeling of “awe” at first and than fear. . . . she stated that the orb actually entered through her front door and left a sticky residue on her door. Her dog no longer likes to go out side at night, and when Jason and I were asking her questions, we both noticed that there was missing information that didn’t fit in sequence. When I say this, I do not mean that she was telling us false information, what she was telling us was the truth. Her story to this day still has not altered any. What I’m saying is the way she was talking and her actions fit into that of people that have experienced “missing time.” She couldn’t recall several hours of the 2 nights that she experienced seeing these orbs. The part about “missing information that didn’t fit…” parallels my own experience. To this day, my husband and I find we disagree, get confused, argue, and misremember parts of that experience. It’s like we have to retrace the same thing every time, and sometimes, new information seems to reveal itself as we try to work through what happened. This past year I’ve been trying to recall the missing parts of this experience through dreams, meditation, and intent. I don’t know if I’ll ever use hypnosis as a tool but I doubt it very much. I still don’t know what that orb was, why it was, or what really happened. It is — I don’t know if comforting is quite the word to use — but it is confirming to know that others have also experienced these orbs. UFO Hunters Dark Presence Episode post on UFO Magainze Blog Bob Welch is a columnist for the Register-Guard, Eugene-Springfield area’s local newspaper. It’s a mainstream column; Welch likes sports a whole lot, and writes about so-called human interest type stories in the area. He isn’t out there at all, (I remember a column he wrote some years ago where he made insipid fun of Bigfoot witnesses, yuck yuck) so it’s that kind of thing. He had an little moment of synchronicty the other day which inspired him to ask readers to share their interesting odd moments involving synchronicty.(Mysterious, magical or just weird? ) In his recent column Mysterious, eerie events remembered he shares some of those responses. My favorites: the story about feral cats in Hawaii, and the coach in Harrisburg who had a ghostly encounter with his mother. Not to pick on Welch (though I’m not a fan particularly) but in another column, as well as a very different kind of column, he writes about a wild game feast in Potluck’s food is, well, a little wild At no point during the article does he address the ethical issues; it’s simply a golly gee kind of piece about, in a surreal juxtaposition, a local country church’s annual game meat fest: The setting is beautiful, quintessential Americana, a white church steeple rising into the sky amid trees, fields and rolling hills about five miles northwest of Monroe. The dress is primarily, well, camouflage. And the décor is what I’d call country fish & game: guns, pelts, poles, antlers, traps, duck decoys and two giant elk mounts, including emcee Scott Ballard’s world-record “8 by 9” Roosevelt elk — eight points on one side of the rack, nine on the other. After the prayer, we head through the kitchen to go through the potluck line. The whole scene is bizarre; prayer, camouflage, dead animals on the walls as well as on plates, and the contrast between the country and the gun toting hunters. Among the food offered: bear, bison, wild cow soup, Nutria, elk, and lemon pepper cougar. And among the door prizes for the event: waterproof Bibles. My friend and I were at Borders today, and naturally I had to show off Nick Redfern’s new book Contactees: A History of Alien-Human Interaction; since he quotes my article on Dana Howard in the book. So there we are, generally having fun and delighted to find the book on the shelves. My friend insists on taking a picture of me holding the book open to the chapter on Dana Howard. I am not kidding, no more than two seconds after I held the book up, a sales clerk swoops down (she must have come down from the ceiling) and says we can’t take photos due to copyright laws. “No photos of books in any bookstore in the U.S.” she says. My friend said “But she’s the author” (in her excitement she meant I was mentioned in the book, not that I’m the author. I certainly am not!) and the sales clerk snaps “She’s not the author” with great authority. I had to laugh and couldn’t resist; I said “How do you know?” which of course elicited no response from her, as it should. I was being pretty flip. Giddy with my caffeine buzz gone and the crazy crowds of people all day. My friend said, laughing, “No, she’s not, but she’s in it,” which didn’t help matters. I thought we were going to be 86′d out of Borders. The woman walked away but hovered in the next aisle spying on us, like we were two naughty middle schoolers in the school library. We both thought the whole thing was funny; my friend kept whispering “Is she still there? She’s still there!” The chapter I’m referring to is I AM DIANE… I COME FROM VENUS, about female contactees, including Dana Howard. Diane means “divine” — a being from the heavens, something holy and purer than ourselves from the stars. My friend, whose name is Stella, (which means Star), turned to me and said “You know my middle name is Diane.” That’s right! I’d forgotten. So there we were, looking at Nick Redfern’s book on Contactees, and a chapter on Diane from the stars, with my friend Stella Diane.

|Talk About Cryptozoology:| The Shadowlands Message Board Would you like to add a link to your chat area or Note: new links are added to the bottom of this page Wikipedia Cryptozoology Article - a good source for all the main ideas and categories of cryptozoology. The "Strange Creatures" series of online ebook short story anthologies - this free online collection is edited by Chad Arment, the author of a nonfiction book titled Cryptozoology: Science and Speculation. The website contains about a dozen anthologies collecting stories of cryptids, many of them from famous authors of the ninteenth century and early twentieth century. Cryptozoology Emporium - is mainly a list of books, documentary films and other cryptozoology resources and products, including novels, movies and children's books. Centre for Fortean Zoology - a UK-based site with information about cryptozoology and monster hunting, from a European perspective The Cryptozoologist: Loren Coleman's Home Page - Loren Coleman is probably the author of more books about cryptozoology than any other single person. Cryptozoology - Searching for Hidden Animals: Taking a Hard Look at Cryptozoology by Ben S. Roesch. Cryptozoological Realms - a large site with information about many cryptids, cryptozoology-based philosophy and more. FarShores: Worldwide Anomaly Reporting - information on cryptozoology, the paranormal and mysteries, including articles, links and a discussion forum Cryptozoology.com - a huge site with the latest articles on current cryptozoology expeditions. Unexplained Mysteries: Your Gateway to the Paranormal - a site that contains a lot of material about cryptozoology, in addition to other topics that fit the label of "paranormal" much better. Creature Chronicles - edited by Ron Schaffner, it contains the complete out-of-print articles from this cryptozoology publication. So, You Don't Believe in Cryptozoology? - an article by Jordan P. Niednagel. The Lost World of Papua New Guinea - an article by Jordan P. Niednagel. American Monsters - guide to many cryptids, not just those reported from America. Cryptoworld.net - news articles about cryptozoology, new animal discoveries, and the unexplained. Joe's Cryptozoology Pages - an interesting site with few cryptids, it focuses on some of the lesser-known critters in detail. Dale Cozort's Cryptozoology Page What is Cryptozoology? The Cryptoweb Cryptozoology Picture Gallery The Museum of Unnatural Mystery - includes a number of cryptozoological subjects, such as giant lizards. Strange Ark - cryptozoology and other zoological oddities. Myth & Mystery - a large directory of links having to do with cryptozoology, aliens, pseudoscience and many other weird topics. Bizarre Creatures of Japan - short films supposed to show creatures of cryptozoology, mythology and the paranormal. William McDonald's Cryptozoology Art Gallery - also contains extensive cryptozoology theories and definitions. Para-Researchers of Ontario - covers many topics that are unusual, including cryptozoology. The People Behind Cryptozoology The Cryptids Category at Wikipedia - lots of articles about individual creatures of cryptozoology, arranged alphabetically. Cryptozoology - a neat list of creatures and websites. Weird Wisconsin: Creatures! - a cool website about lake monsters, hairy humanoids and all sorts of mythical animals from Wisconsin. Fairly Freaky Animals - animals that are really weird... but real! The Supernatural World - a large site with lots of articles about cryptozoology and other unexplained phenomena. Chupacabra: Dark Seas - a new horror movie about the chupacabra or goat-sucker of Puerto Rico. The White Moose - an animal that is known to exist, but is quite unusual. Institute for the Investigation of the Unknown Anomalies and Alternative Science Links - a really large directory that can lead to hours of browsing. Includes quite a number of cryptozoology links. Eric Penz Home Page - author of the novel Cryptid. Bigfoot Books and Videos Conspiracy City - a directory including subjects such as cryptozoology, monsters, the paranormal, alternative history, and lots of other weird topics. Cryptomundo - a collection of news and blogs about cryptozoology. Bloggers include Loren Coleman, John Kirk, Rick Noll and Craig Woolheater. Paranormal News - cryptozoology, crop circles, ghosts and more. Odd Wisconsin Archives: Animals Charlie Carlson's Strange Florida Obiwan's UFO-Free Paranormal Page - ghosts and other topics of the unexplained and fringe science. The Unexplained - a web ring about bigfoot, UFOs, aliens, ghosts, paranormal activities, unsolved mysteries, cryptozoology, myths and other similar topics. The Cryptozoology Web Ring Cryptozoologix - contains pages about nearly all the major cryptids. The Cryptodominion - home of hidden animals, focusing on biological information and theories. Kryptid's Keep - a large site with essays and definitions, about cryptozoology, religion and unexplained topics. GUST: Global Underwater Search Team - a large and professional site with lots of articles, mostly about water cryptids but including some land cryptids too. It is based in Sweden so sometimes the English is a bit odd, but this is hardly noticable. If you get the Swedish version, just click on the English link to get the language to switch. International Society of Cryptozoology - is the premiere organization devoted to cryptozoological researches. Most notable cryptozoologists are members or were members at one time. Note: this link has been dead recently, but I'm leaving it here in case it revives. Dr. Labush's Animal Links - a site about animals that linked to me. Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained - a website that contains information on cryptozoology, monsters and strange creatures plus other mysteries such as alternate history, the paranormal, and the afterlife. Giantology - a blog-style website dealing with archaelogical and folkloric evidence for giant humans and giant humanoids. The ThirdEye Concept - news and information about the world of weird beliefs, of which cryptozoology is generally a part. Cryptozoology Squared - a large website with an emphasis on essays exploring the theories and debunking some creatures, while keeping an open mind about others. Cryptid Carnivora - a cryptozoology site focusing on felines, canines, bears, seals and other meat-eating mammals. Legendary Sea Creatures - all about creatures that are reported in the world's oceans, but that officially don't exist. Unknown Creatures - according to this site, maybe some of the creatures of Cryptozoology are real, but they are spirtual creatures, not flesh and blood. This is why not one has been captured, killed or proven since the first sighting eons ago. The Supernatural Zone - a huge website on many topics, including strange creatures that are usually classed as part of cryptozoology. PsiPog - a site about weird topics of many sorts, arguing that many things discounted by mainstream science might be real. Farrell International Paranormal & Metaphysical Directory - a collection of sites about strange topics. The Dragon Stone - Dragons of Mythology and Fantasy - a very in-depth site on dragons in legends, mythology and other fields of interest. |Do you want your website linked here? Don't be afraid to email me. A return link to my site would also be appreciated as a courtesy.|

I had a theory that the basic Australian 'Pumas' were mostly introduced golden cats from Indonesia, perhaps of an unusually large size. Golden cats are a poorly-understood group and there are cryptid candidate golden cats for both the African and South Asian cats, which are medium-sized puma-like cats. Heuvelmans thinks the Mngwa is an unusually coloured giant variety of the African golden cat and I might submit some photo ref. for that idea some time. In this case, there is some genetic evidence for cats that were introduced into Australia from Indonesia at 6000 years ago approximately: one of my professors at IUPUI mentioned that he had done research that demonstrated that. (Incidentally, I have heard some good definitive reports of jaguarundis running loose in both Illinois and Indiana, but that is also another matter for another time) However, in the case of the Australian cats, something else is happening that is very unusual: some of the leopard-sized cats are being killed and then tested, and their DNA turns out to be ordinary house-cat-derived. It is thought that these Maine coon cats are related to the equally large and thick-furred Scandinavian skogskat, also known as the viking cat. I have done up a comparison for the big cat as compared to a more average one: actually the reports have them getting even bigger than I have shown, but showing the large size as big as reported makes it look too unreasonable. And it also seems that rumour has it that Americans allowed pet or mascot pumas to run loose in Australia, allegedly both in the late 1800s and in WWII. I would not be surprised if that was also the reason for 'Panther' reports in New Zealand, Fiji and Hawaii.

One could loose track of time in the glades… one minute you are on the hunt for old Skunky out in the middle of the tall grass, and next time you look at your watch four weeks have passed. Four weeks in Florida can change a man and it took news of a fucked up house pet eater who stalks the sweet shores of a Georgia river tickling the feet of swimmers to pull me away. It’s name was Altamaha-ha, and it was no laughing matter. The Altamaha-ha gets it’s name from the Altamaha River in southeastern Georgia. This squatch hunter did not see that coming usually locals are so creative with cryptid names. Well anyway Altie, as locals call it, has been described as like a 30ft long monster that swims like a seal and is a master of disguise so sightings are rare as shit. Altie or Mr. HaHa was first sighted by Native Americans so you know it’s real. Also by a boy scout troop in the 50’s. What the fuck is more wholesome than a boy scout troop from the 50’s?? If you don’t trust the Native Americans, you gotta trust the scouts. Even though their HQ is in Utah, and is mostly Mormon, the dudes wouldn’t lie. Oh and also this guy promises that he saw one come up for air once. The most stunning evidence comes from a rash of pet disappearances and foot ticklings in the late 1990’s. Over 3 pets were reported as ‘mysteriously missing’ as one local paper wrote. On top of the pet murders like 15 people reported feeling and seeing something strange when they were splashing around in the waters of the Altamaha. If Native Americans, Boy Scouts, and mother fucking tickle attacks can’t convince you than hopefully this photo evidence can. Antatomy of a HaHa volume one. Real because of scientific words #Contain #Resemblance #Horizontal. Altie poised and ready. #GetThoseFeet #ThatLooksSmallerThan30ft Ladies and Gentlemen… Altie. Nail in the coffin. #NowThatsWhatICallProof #GoodLordThatsALotOfEvidence Live and let squatch. The Squatch Watcher

Posted by: Loren Coleman on March 2nd, 2008 Wetzel’s “It” by Bill Rebsamen from Mysterious America (page 273). In 1970, John A. Keel’s book Strange Creatures from Time and Space was first published. I’d been corresponding with Keel for several years by then, and had been feeding him reports, cases, and sightings of reptilian creatures in North America. Keel turned my files into over a third of the foundation for his wonderful Chapter 10, “Creatures from the Black Lagoon.” For decades, I’d been gathering and analyzing accounts of these cryptids. I began to write about them in Fortean Times, and then in my books, honoring Keel’s terminology, by calling them “Creatures from the Black Lagoon,” in Chapter 6 of Curious Encounters (1985). I updated the collection in Chapter 5, “Lizardmen,” in my Mothman book, which came out in 2002. Between 1985 and 2002, despite my keen awareness that reptilian-styled creatures were reported in this country, I was not ready for how significant and sensationalized the whole topic would become with merely one case from South Carolina in 1988. The sighting of the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp (also known as The Lizard Man Of Lee County) was a major media event. First with one sighting and then others, it was said to be a humanoid cryptid, perhaps a merbeing, inhabiting areas of swampland in and around Lee County, South Carolina. The Lizard Man was described at the time as being quite tall, bipedal, and having what appeared to be scaly skin and glowing red eyes. In the popular media rendering, it was said to have three toes on each foot and three fingers on each hand that end in long black claw-like nails. The first reported sighting of the Scape Ore creature occurred on June 29, 1988, but was soon followed by others, including information that was revealed about an earlier sighting in 1987. Now, almost exactly twenty years after the initial media flap of the Scape Ore event, is the Lizard Man back? It appears something is afoot. Bishopville, S.C.- After a nasty surprise Thursday morning [Feb. 28, 2008] for one Bishopville resident, she’s wondering if the “Lizard Man” is back. Dixie Rawson of Bishopville sent WIS News 10 an e-mail about a big surprise she got at her home Thursday morning. “The whole front half of our van is chewed up. There are bite marks right through the front grill. Both sides of the van above the wheel wells were bitten and the metal is bent like a piece of paper.” It reminded Dixie of the local legend of the “Lizard Man” that stretches back for decades. Now some are wondering if the Lizard Man is back. The legend blows in with a brisk winter wind, sending chills through neighbors in Lee County. “I couldn’t believe it, I just couldn’t believe it,” says Bob Rawson. He looks down at the blood and claw marks on his van. “He literally bit, you can feel where he bit straight through here.” Who is “he”? It’s a point of renewed debate in the area. Some are sure they know the only creature capable of this kind of damage is the Lizard Man. If it is the Lizard Man, he’s back nearly two decades after first being spotted near Scape Ore swamp. No one’s ever been able to confirm the account of the seven-foot monster with green skin, three toes and a three clawed fingers. In addition to the car damage, the Rawsons didn’t find their cats in the boxes where they usually sleep. They did find the towels inside shredded, and the same story with the morning paper. Whatever did this, the Rawsons aren’t taking any chances. His Glock loaded, Mr. Rawson is ready to shoot what he feels is most likely a bear. Lee County Sheriff E.J. Melvin says it could be a coyote, but then again, “All the scratch marks, people are saying, ‘Sheriff, it’s Lizard Man.’ Don’t know. It’s hard to say.” Several of the Rawsons’ 20 plus cats have also disappeared. They’re hoping they were just scared away. “Lizard Man Returns?” by Dan Tordjman

New Mexico Pursuit It's the Alibi Trivia Challenge! Well, it's not so much a challenge. And you don't win anything ... except a sense of accomplishment at having acquired or relearned important information about the state in which you reside. Answers can be found at www.alibi.com. 1) What is New Mexico's population, rounded up to the nearest million? 2) New Mexico is the fifth-largest, yet most sparsely populated state. What percentage of its landmass is public? 3) New Mexico shares a border with old Mexico, but can you name the five states with which we share a border? 4) What is the ruthless moniker of New Mexico's state fish, a type of trout? 5) The official state insect is an even crueler wasp. What is it? 6) What is our state's boring-by-peak-standards high point (hint--it's in the Carson National Forest)? 7) Ancient Pueblo, or Anasazi, culture emerged in approximately 1200 B.C. and declined around 1200 A.D. It was also behind the creation of what stunning and mystifying northwest New Mexico site? 8) Which conquistador was the first to explore New Mexico a century before pilgrims made their way to New England, propelling other Spanish explorers to the area with stories of "Seven Cities of Gold"? 9) The ancient trading route that became known as El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro in the 16th century was a 2,000-mile royal road stretching to Santa Fe from what city? 10) Which controversial conquistador was responsible for the first Spanish settlement in New Mexico in 1598? 11) During the 17th century, the pueblo people reacted to religious and cultural oppression by the Spanish with what historical event? 12) When in the 18th century was El Bosque de Doña Luisa established as Villa de Albuquerque? 13) New Mexico became a state in 1912, making it the _____th state. 14) The state song is "__ ___ New Mexico," while the our city's song should be Jim Glaser's nasally 1985 hit, "__ ___ of Albuquerque." 15) With sightings in San Juan, Taos, Colfax and other counties, what hairy hominoid is the state's unofficial cryptid? 16) In 1947, either an alien craft or a top-secret balloon crashed on a ranch near Roswell. Which was it? 17) The production of potash is counted as a major industry in the state. What the hell is potash? 18) Before Truth or Consequences took its name on a game show in 1950, what was the spa town originally called? 19) U.S. Route 666, or "The Devil's Highway," is now known by what non-evil digits? 20) Everyone knows New Mexico is the "Land of Enchantment," but besides this and "The Land of the Delight Makers," what are some other state nicknames (feel free to come up with your own)?

Teen Book Club November 05, 2010 What is your favorite genre of book? Come and be a part of our Teen Book Club. Read one book per month, and then come and join us for lively discussions. Refreshments served. For November, we are reading: Cryptid Hunters by Roland Smith. Marty is a smart aleck, a fine athlete, and a wonderful cook. Grace, a genius, is afraid of her own shadow and has disturbing, possibly psychic dreams. When their parents are lost in a plane wreck in the Amazon, the twins are taken out of their boarding school in Switzerland and shipped off to Cryptos Island in Puget Sound, the home of their mysterious uncle, Dr. Wolfe. He is a super-scientist who specializes in the study of cryptids, creatures that cannot be proven to exist, like the yeti or the Loch Ness monster. Soon, Dr. Wolfe and his loyal team are on their way to the Congo, racing to find the last living Mokele-mbembe, a smaller cousin of the brontosaurus, which has been rumored to have survived in Africa for centuries. When their chief competitor, the fabulously wealthy and definitely evil scientist and television personality, Dr. Blackwood, sends a team of thugs to capture the dinosaur for his own nefarious purposes, things turn desperate. Grace and Marty manage to fall out of an airplane, and find themselves lost in the heart of the Congo with dangerous animals all around and Blackwood's thugs closing in. Copies of the novel are available at the library. Snacks are provided for the discussion.

Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 26th, 2008 I’ve written before about the mixing of Yeti expeditions and spy missions by Nazis, Tom Slick, Edmund Hillary, and as hidden in other links. If by land, such covert cover missions also happen in the water, as well. The Times of London revealed over the weekend that Bob Ballard has come forth to tell that he was really on a secret mission to find two American nuclear submarines when he told the media he was searching for the Titanic. “Dr. Ballard, an oceanographer, has admitted that he located and inspected the wrecks for the US Navy in top secret missions before he was allowed to search for the Titanic. Only once he had used his new underwater robot craft to map the submarine wreck sites was he able to use it to crisscross the North Atlantic seabed to pinpoint the last resting place of the luxury liner. It meant he had only 12 days to find the Titanic,” reported The Times. I couldn’t tell anybody. There was a lot of pressure on me. It was a secret mission. I felt it was a fair exchange for getting a chance to look for the Titanic. We handed the data to the experts. They never told us what they concluded – our job was to collect the data. I can only talk about it now because it has been declassified. Bob Ballard This instantly reminded me of what occurred in Lake Pend Oreille as mentioned in an article researched over a dozen years ago by science writer Patrick Huyghe. As North Idaho College Prof. James R. McLeod told Huyghe (“Deep Secrets,” The Anomalist 5, 1997), the Navy used reports of a Lake Monster, locally called Paddler, in Lake Pend Oreille for decades, as a cover story. In 1984, McLeod and his college-based cryptozoological research group conducted a much-publicized investigation, “Crypto Quest 84,” concluding that a majority of the sightings could have been of a huge, prehistoric-looking sturgeon — not native to the lake but possibly an occasional visitor. (McLeod kindly donated the expedition’s flag to the International Cryptozoology Museum, several years ago.) McLeod would learn, “Every once in a while we would get someone who also saw a submarine, and the word nuclear kept coming up. That started bothering me.” It bothered McLeod because no nuclear subs are ever supposed to be in an American lake. Idaho anthropologist Duke Snyder said, “I’m inclined to think that a lot of events that occurred on the lake are really the result of Navy activity of one kind or another…. If somebody begins a story about a monster in the lake, then that’s a pretty handy explanation for strange things that go on. Of course, that raises the question [of] what the heck is the Navy doing in the lake.” For years, the Navy denied it has ever used manned submarines or minisubs in the lake, but in the 1960s two Navy contractors, Vickers and the International Submarine Engineering (ISE) groups of Canada, did use a minisub, Pisces I, to train personnel in torpedo-recovery in some American lakes. The very deep Lake Pend Oreille appears to have been one of them. McLeod was able to confirm that the Pisces I was at Pend Oreille in 1965. Finally, the truth came out. In Spring 2001, the US Navy, in an article authored by one of their own personnel in Vol. 3, No. 3 of Undersea Warfare (“The Official Magazine of the U.S. Submarine Force”), made it clear that submarine models were being used in the lake. See the Navy’s article, now online at: “Small Subs Provide Big Payoffs For Submarine Stealth.” For more information on the reports of the cryptid Paddler, see the book I coauthored with Patrick Huyghe, The Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep (NY: Tarcher/Penguin, 2003).

Thursday, December 6, 2012 Cryptid Encounters Lon Strickler A collection of personal cryptid encounter reports submitted by regular people who felt compelled to find answers about their unexplained experience. I keep an open mind when reading and discussing witness accounts since I truly understand how they feel...because few people believed my extraordinary encounter either. Lycanthroids Robert Miles & Leslie Mitts LYCANDROID SUPER SOLDIERS ATTACK HUMANS, The Inhumanoids Barton Nunnelly Inhumanoids are creatures or entities that have some type of human characteristic but are not human at all. Even though they sometimes appear as 'less than human' they are quite beyond the normal sense of the word and possess a troubling array of supernatural powers to prove the point. Some are true 'bi-forms', curious anthropomorphic mixtures of human and animals, while others manifest themselves in guises that one might pass by on the street and never give a second glance. From the smallest fairy to the tallest giant and every form in between, these inhumanoid beings, in all their myriad forms, have been with us since the beginnings of recorded history and beyond. Every culture knows the inhumanoids quite well. Since the dawn of time man has encountered such creatures, which simply cannot be explained away using conventional zoological science. In fact, all that we 'know' of mainstream biology, zoology and anthropology scream in unison that creatures like 'The Spottsville Monster' cannot possibly exist at all. Yet people see these beings, and a host of others of the same bizarre ilk, much more frequently than many would suspect. In researching this book I was struck by the sheer number of alleged inhumanoid encounters reported to have taken place: thousands upon thousands. As a consequence of the sheer magnitude of such data, this work merely attempts to scratch the surface of that very old, long list. Real Wolfman: True Encounters in North America Linda Godfrey What’s hiding in the woods? Here is the definitive account of today’s nationwide sightings of upright, canine creatures – which resemble traditional werewolves – and a thorough exploration of the nature and possible origins of the mysterious beast. at 2:30 AM

The mokèlé-mbèmbé is the name given a large creature reported to live in the lakes and swamps of the Congo River basin, whose existence has long been disputed between mainstream scientists on one side, local Pygmies, creationists and cryptozoologists on the other. Fishermen who inhabit the area often run from waters and land near the water's edge in fear of the creature, describing its ability to kill humans. Mokèlé-mbèmbé means "one who stops the flow of rivers." Mokèlé-mbèmbé is generally described as a beast about as large as an elephant, with a long flexible neck and with a tail similar to an alligator's. The creature has often been likened to the Loch Ness Monster. Some cryptozoologists suppose that the creature might be a type of dinosaur that could have survived the mass extinction of the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago, which is believed to be possible due to the thickness of the Congo Rainforest. Mokèlé-mbèmbé's description is consistent with a sauropod. The tales of the mokèlé-mbèmbé are an apparently ancient component of the oral history of the Pygmy tribes. These peoples have an intimate relationship with the rainforest, which supplies all their needs. Mokèlé-mbèmbé are apparently herbivores although they have been reported to kill humans and hippopotamuses. It is interesting to note that there is a low population of hippos in the Likouala swamp, where Mokèlé-mbèmbé's are reported to live. There is a story that involved a killing of a mokèlé-mbèmbé. A group of people that lived near Lake Tele, in the Likouala swamp constructed a large wall to keep mokèlé-mbèmbé from interfering in their fishing. A mokèlé-mbèmbé managed to break through, and the natives killed the creature. They butchered and cooked the carcass, and ate it. However, everyone who ate it either became very ill or died soon afterward. So far, all investigations have failed to find evidence of a creature corresponding to the native legend, although casts of inexplicable footprints have reportedly been taken (which some say were made by the mokèlé-mbèmbé), and a controversial videotape was recently presented. The Congo Basin has wide expanses of marshland and swamps, including several large lakes, that have not been extensively explored by scientists. A recent megatransect into the wilderness of the Congo basin by the biologist and Africa explorer Michael Fay did not reveal any trace of the mokèlé-mbèmbé. One investigator, Roy Mackal, a professor of zoology at Chicago University, took teams to the Congo in 1980 and 1981 to search for the creature. Although they failed to encounter the beast, they collected important anecdotal evidence, including information on its primary food source, a type of vine. In 1985 and 1992 British explorer Bill Gibbons added further local reports to the dossier. Cryptozoologists believe the likelihood of its existence to be significantly higher than the Loch Ness monster because of the large amount of uncharted territory to which can be ascribed the inability to find a specimen. Other large creatures, such as elephants, exist in large open clearings in the rainforests, each called a bai, as well as in thicker wooded areas, so the existence of the mokèlé-mbèmbé appears to be a possibility when taking into account its native environment. However, it is often thought to be even bigger than an elephant. There is also a theory that the mokèlé-mbèmbé is a rhinoceros. Another not-so-cryptic explanation is that this phenomenon is nothing but a sighting of a group of male crocodiles following a female crocodile during the mating season. A fictional book was written about this creature called Cryptid Hunters by Roland Smith. Sightings of this creature are said to have occurred at Lake Tele.

November 2010 Alleged Skunk-Ape sighting. You be the judge...... What is hairy, 7' tall, weighs 300 pounds, and smells like rotten eggs, moldy cheese, and dung? People around the United States and the world call it Skunk Ape, Nape, Yeti (Dweller among the rocks), Sasquatch (Wild Man), or Bigfoot. They may be the same creature. The alleged skunk ape is considered a cryptid. It is thought by many to be related to Big Foot, but it is actually a Pongid, or Great Ape. They have also been called Napes. The skunk-ape supposedly hides in muddy, abandoned caves which is thought to create the awful "skunk like" smell. Over the years, there have been numerous sightings of these large mammals throughout the U.S. Reportedly, these "Skunk Apes" live in swamps, caves, forests, open grasslands, and at the edge of your backyard. Thought to be mostly vegetarian, there have been enough occurrences that one would believe they probably indulge in meat, too. The most famous such photographs were taken anonymously and mailed to the Sarasota Sheriff's Department in Florida in the year 2000. These photos are known as the Myakka Skunk-Ape photos. While these photos are arguably the most famous, there have been many more photos taken of the alleged SkunkApe. Some of these are posted on this site. We cannot attest to any of these alleged sightings but we have only been able to disprove one of them as can be seen on our Previous Sightings page of this site. Skunk Ape sightings tend to occur sporadically and in groups. In 2003, there were numerous sightings around LaFollette, TN. Spotters created a loud enough outcry that researchers from the University of Tennessee, volunteers, and news reporters raced there to search the area for evidence. Fecal and hair samples were collected, but DNA tests proved "inconclusive". It could not be determined exactly what type of animal the samples came from (see Related Articles Page in this site). Cryptozooligists (hunters of hidden animals) firmly believe in their existence. Austalian Wallabies live in remote England, although few Brits have seen them or believe they live on their island. Mountain lions roam from British Columbia to Patagonia, but few are seen or photographed. Another example is the snow leopard, which was discovered only a short while ago. In all these years, scientists had never found an unexplained patch of fur, any bones, or even a lost tooth from one. Finally, it was proven that the snow leopard does, indeed, exist. Throughout the centuries, there have been many stories about a man-beast. Whether you believe them or not, the legend continues. Non-believers become believers when they spot a man-ape. Friends become aloof and worry that you really might be crazy, but you know what you saw. One need not stretch their imaginations very far to know that reality really is ... stranger than fiction. Note: Partially found at A True Believer Click the Photo for More Helping Our Research with a Donation

| || || | Cryptozoology is one of the newest life sciences, and certainly one of the most thrilling. It is the study and pursuit of those animals which fall into one of three categories: 1) animals which have yet to be discovered and scientifically classified, 2) animals which are known, but thought to be extinct and 3) animals which are misidentified. * Instantly download, print, and share your CEU Certificate at course completion (additional shipping/handling charges apply for hard copy delivery). UniversalClass™ offers many wonderful learning tools including an online portfolio service that manages all your course completions and CEUs. | || | The field of cryptozoology is considered a true science by some and by others it ranks somewhere in between UFOlogy and paranormal research. Our goal with this course is to provide students with the most accurate and factual information available, presenting it in an unbiased format so that students can decide for themselves if each cryptid (a creature of cryptozoology) is real, a myth, a hoax or a misidentified animal. The course begins by introducing students to cryptozoology and examining the true definition of this interesting field of research. While many who are unfamiliar with the field may dismiss it as "ridiculous", there is a scientific basis for its merit, including the discovery and capture of animals that were once thought only to be of myth and legend, like the platypus, for instance. Section two of the course focuses on the most popular cryptid of all time: Bigfoot. This huge, hair-covered creature has mystified mankind for centuries. Students will be able to read intriguing stories of sightings, see still photographs of evidence and read what experts have to say about Bigfoot's identity. The third part of this course focuses on other famous cryptids, including the Loch Ness Monster, Chupacabras, Mokele-Mbembe or "living dinosaurs", and Thunderbird. Each has its own cult-like following of believers intent on proving that their beloved creature does indeed exist. The last part of the course deals with cryptids that are specific to one area but whose stories have been sensationalized all across the nation. Whether it's the catchy name, like "Dover Demon" or the twilight zone-like stories, these cryptids are known worldwide and most locals are proud to live in their made-famous-by-a-cryptid town. Request More Information Have a question? Contact us for more information. By successfully completing this course, students will be able to: - Define cryptozoology. - Summarize the origins of cryptozoology. - Summarize the famous cryptozoologists. - Summarize the existing species that were once cryptids. - Summarize which species were previously thought to be extinct. - Summarize what keeps unnamed species hidden. - Describe what bigfoot is and compare and contract various evidence of its existence. - Summarize the history of sightings and evidence of the Loch Ness Monster. - Summarize the history of sightings and evidence of the Chupacabra, Mokele-Mbembe, Thunderbird, Mothman, Jersey Devil, and Dover Demon, and - Demonstrate mastery of lesson content at levels of 70% or higher. Lesson 1: What is Cryptozoology?In this section, you will learn about cryptozoology, cryptids and the basis for their study. This will include learning about some of the many zoologically-recognized animals that were once cryptids. Lesson 2: The Foundations of CryptozoologyGiven past findings, cryptozoologists believe that the search for cryptids is not only meaningful, but is one of the most fruitful paths toward zoological discovery. Lesson 3: Famous CryptozoologistsHere is a condensed list of some of most highly-regarded and dedicated researchers in cryptozoology. Lesson 4: Existing Species That Were Once CryptidsHere is a list of animals now classified in zoology that were once thought to be just myths and legends. Lesson 5: Living Species Previously Thought to be ExtinctHere is a partial list of animals that prove that there may indeed be many more animals waiting to be brought out of "extinction". Lesson 6: What Keeps Unnamed Species Hidden?Many species may go unnoticed due to their environment and their biological makeup. Lesson 7: Understanding BigfootIn this section, you will learn about the origin of Bigfoot and hear the stories that began the sensationalism that surrounds this creature today. The amount of sightings and evidence is massive, however, for this course we chose to focus on the informati Lesson 8: Bigfoot EvidenceWhile no researcher has produced any skeletal remains of Bigfoot, there has been an incredible amount of evidence collected that points to the existence of Bigfoot. Lesson 9: Sightings: Tales or Truths?The following lesson is a list of the most famous of Bigfoot sightings. Lesson 10: Loch Ness Monster and Other Sea SerpentsThis section focuses on some of the most interesting, and equally mysterious, cryptids. For each creature, you'll find information on its origin, as well as theories, sightings and evidence to help prove or disprove its existence. Lesson 11: ChupacabrasThis lesson discusses blood-sucking creatures and the notorious Chupacabra. Lesson 12: Mokele-MbembeWhile these creatures are thought to spend most of their time underwater, they have been reportedly seen lifting their heads and necks up, crossing swamps and even tramping through the rainforests. Lesson 13: ThunderbirdWhile there have been sightings of huge birds in various countries throughout the world, Thunderbirds are native to the United States. Lesson 14: MothmanWhile it seems almost every region across the world has its own "local legend", this section focuses on those that have the biggest following and who have received the most amount of media attention. One thing is for sure, each makes for an interesting re Lesson 15: Jersey DevilThe Jersey Devil is most often described as having the head of a horse, a long neck, skinny legs with hooves, and large bat-like wings. Lesson 16: Dover DemonThree teenagers in Dover, Massachusetts claimed to each have a separate encounter with a creature that would later be dubbed the Dover Demon. Lesson 17: Cryptozoology WebsitesAdditional Resources: Websites |Course Title ||: ||Cryptozoology 101 | |Languages ||: ||English - United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and other English speaking countries | |Course Number ||: ||8900099 | |Course Type ||: ||Hobby/Enthusiast | |Course URL ||: || | |Course Rating ||: || | |Instructor ||: || | |Syllabus ||: || | |Grading Policy ||: || | Earn a final grade of 70% or higher to receive a CEU Certificate documenting CEUs earned |Assessment Method ||: || | Lesson assignments and review exams |Duration ||: ||Continuous: Enroll anytime! | |Requirements ||: ||View Technical Requirements | |Course Fee ||: || | Basic Course: $35.00 (no CEU Certificate) | || || | Choose from 5 Secured Payment Methods | ||Credit Card Online || ||Credit Card through FAX | | ||Check/Money Order through Mail || ||Credit Card over the Phone | | ||PayPal || | |To use any of these methods you must press the "Join this Course" button on this screen and go through the online registration process in order to generate the correct order form and correctly process your enrollment. 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Loch Ness monster The Loch Ness Monster (Nessiteras rhombopteryx) is a cryptid purportedly inhabiting Scotland's Loch Ness. Popular belief and interest in the animal has fluctuated over the years since it came to the world's attention in 1933. Local people, and later many around the world, have affectionately referred to the animal by the diminutive Nessie (Scottish Gaelic: Niseag) since the 1950s. Despite a few inconsistencies and variations, Nessie is usually described as a creature with two humps, a tail, a long, snake-like neck and a small head. A V-shaped was often mentioned, as well as a "gaping red mouth" and horns or antennae on the top of the creature's head. It is popularly believed to be female. The creature glides just under the surface for a time and then submerges back into the deep. The monster is reportedly 10 to 15 m (30 to 50 ft) long. History of reported sightings Evidence of Nessie's existence is largely anecdotal, with minimal, and much disputed, photographic material and sonar readings: there has not been any physical evidence (skeletal remains, capture of a live animal, definitive tissue samples or spoor) uncovered as of 2009. Sightings in recent times have declined from over ten per year in the 1990s to three in 2006. Saint Columba (565) The earliest known report is said to be found in the Life of St. Columba by Adamnan, written sometime during the 7th century. It describes how in 565 Columba saved the life of a Pict, who was being supposedly attacked by the monster. Adamnan describes the event as follows: "...(He) raised his holy hand, while all the rest, brethren as well as strangers, were stupefied with terror, and, invoking the name of God, formed the saving sign of the cross in the air, and commanded the ferocious monster, saying, "Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed." Then at the voice of the saint, the monster was terrified, and fled more quickly than if it had been pulled back with ropes, though it had just got so near to Lugne, as he swam, that there was not more than the length of a spear-staff between the man and the beast. Then the brethren seeing that the monster had gone back, and that their comrade Lugne returned to them in the boat safe and sound, were struck with admiration, and gave glory to God in the blessed man. And even the barbarous heathens, who were present, were forced by the greatness of this miracle, which they had seen, to magnify the God of the Christians". Many question the reliability of the Life of St. Columba as evidence for the Loch Ness Monster's existence, because it contains tales of other encounters between the Saint and other entities, natural and supernatural, which have no similar tradition building out from them to present-day occurrences. They also argue that the monster encounter occurred on the River Ness, not in the loch. Moreover, there are no other accounts of the Loch Ness monster attacking anyone, as the creature is normally portrayed as even being shy. Finally, they point to the necessity of miraculous events in general in writings of the lives of saints, often involving monstrous beasts unknown to science, and that this tale's setting near Loch Ness may have more to do with where Columba lived than any history of Loch Ness being inhabited by large animals, fearsome or not. Although an alleged sighting in October 1871 by a "D. Mackenzie", who supposedly described seeing something that moved slowly before moving off at a faster speed, has been repeated in several places, no original 1871 source for this report has been discovered, indicating that it may be an invention. Although sightings of the creature on land around the loch reputedly date back to the sixth century, modern interest in the monster was sparked by a 22 July 1933 sighting, when George Spicer and his wife saw 'a most extraordinary form of animal' cross the road in front of their car. They described the creature as having a large body (about 4 feet (1 m) high and 25 feet (8 m) long), and long, narrow neck, slightly thicker than an elephant's trunk and as long as the ten- to twelve-feet (3.0–3.7 m) width of the road; the neck had a number of undulations in it. They saw no limbs because of a dip in the road obscuring the animal's lower portion. It lurched across the road towards the loch 20 yards (20 m) away, leaving only a trail of broken undergrowth in its wake. In August 1933 a motorcyclist named Arthur Grant claimed to have nearly hit the creature while approaching Abriachan on the north-eastern shore, at about 1 am on a moonlit night. Grant saw a small head attached to a long neck; the creature saw him and crossed the road back into the loch. Grant dismounted and followed it to the loch, but only saw ripples. However some believe this was only a joke by a friend of Grant. In April 1933 Mr&Mrs Mackay were driving down the lochside from Inverness to their home in Drumnadrochit when Mrs Mackay saw a disturbance in the loch which she at first thought was ducks fighting but as she watched she saw a large beast in the middle of the loch rolling and plunging in the water causing a great disturbance.The sighting was reported to Alex Campbell, a local game keeper and a reporter for the Inverness Courier (Campbell claims to have seen the monster on no less than 18 occasions). The story appeared in the paperon 2nd of May 1933 and the Loch Ness monster as we know it today was born. In another 1933 sighting, a young maidservant named Margaret Munro supposedly observed the creature for about 20 minutes. It was about 6:30 am on 5 June, when she spotted it on shore from about 200 yards (180 m). She described it as having elephant-like skin, a long neck, a small head and two short forelegs or flippers. The sighting ended when the creature re-entered the water. Sporadic land sightings continued until 1963, when a poor-quality film of the creature was made from a distance of several miles. In May 1943, CB Farrel of the Royal Observer Corps was supposedly distracted from his duties by a Nessie sighting. He was about 250 yards (230 m) away from a large-eyed, 'finned' creature, which had a twenty- to thirty-foot (6–9 m) long body, and a neck that protruded about 4-5 feet (1.2-1.5 m) out of the water. In December 1954 a strange sonar contact was made by the fishing boat Rival III. The vessel's crew observed sonar readings of a large object keeping pace with the boat at a depth of 480 feet (146 m). It was detected travelling for half a mile (800 m) in this manner, before contact was lost, but then found again later. Photographs and films The 'Surgeon's Photograph' (1934) One of the most iconic images of Nessie is known as the 'Surgeon's Photograph', which many formerly considered to be good evidence of the monster. Its importance lies in the fact that it was the only photographic evidence of a “head and neck” – all the others are humps or disturbances. The image was revealed as a hoax in 1994. Supposedly taken by Mr Robert Kenneth Wilson, a London gynaecologist, it was published in the Daily Mail on 21 April 1934. The photo is often cropped to make the monster seem huge, while the original uncropped shot shows the other end of the loch and the monster in the centre. The ripples on the photo fit the size and circular pattern of small ripples as opposed to large waves when photographed up close. Analyses of the original uncropped image have fostered further doubt. A year before the hoax was revealed, the makers of Discovery Communications's documentary Loch Ness Discovered did an analysis of the uncropped image and found a white object evident in every version of the photo, implying that it was on the negative. "It seems to be the source of ripples in the water, almost as if the object was towed by something," the narrator said. "But science cannot rule out it was just a blemish on the negative," he continued. Additionally, analysis of the full photograph revealed the object to be quite small, only about 60 to 90 centimetres (two to three ft) long. In 1979 it was claimed to be a picture of an elephant (see below). Other sceptics in the 1980s argued the photo was that of an otter or a diving bird, but after Christian Spurling's confession most agree it was what Spurling claimed - a toy submarine with a sculpted head attached. The details of how it was done have been given in a book. Essentially, it was a toy submarine with a head and neck made of plastic wood, built by Christian Spurling, the son-in-law of Marmaduke Wetherell, a big game hunter who had been publicly ridiculed in the Daily Mail, the newspaper that employed him. Spurling claimed that to get revenge, Marmaduke Wetherell committed the hoax, with the help of Chris Spurling (a sculpture specialist), his son Ian Marmaduke, who bought the material for the fake Nessie, and Maurice Chambers (an insurance agent), who would call to ask surgeon Robert Kenneth Wilson to offer the pictures to the Daily Mail. The hoax story is disputed by Henry Bauer, who claims this debunking is evidence of bias, and asks why the perpetrators did not reveal their plot earlier to embarrass the newspaper. He also claimed that plastic wood did not exist in 1934, although it was a popular DIY and modelling material in the early 1930s. Alastair Boyd, one of the researchers who uncovered the hoax, argues the Loch Ness Monster is real, and that the hoaxed Surgeon's Photo is not cause enough to dismiss eyewitness reports and other evidence. The Taylor film (1938) In 1938, G.E. Taylor, a South African tourist, filmed something in the loch for three minutes on 16 mm colour film, which is now in the possession of Dr. Maurice Burton. However, Burton has refused to show the film to Loch Ness investigators (such as Peter Costello or the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau). A single frame was published in his book The Elusive Monster; before he retired. Dr. Roy P. Mackal, a biologist and cryptozoologist, declared the frame to be "positive evidence". Later, it was shown also to the National Institute of Oceanography, now known as the Southampton Oceanographic Centre. It was agreed by the experts that the film clearly showed an ordinary inanimate object floating in the Loch. The Dinsdale film (1960) In 1960, aeronautical engineer Tim Dinsdale filmed a hump crossing the water in a powerful wake unlike that of a boat. JARIC declared that the object was "probably animate". Others were sceptical, saying that the "hump" cannot be ruled out as being a boat, and claimed that when the contrast is increased a man can be clearly seen in a boat. In 1993 Discovery Communications made a documentary called Loch Ness Discovered that featured a digital enhancement of the Dinsdale film. A computer expert who enhanced the film noticed a shadow in the negative which was not very obvious in the positive. By enhancing and overlaying frames, he found what appeared to be the rear body, the rear flippers, and 1-2 additional humps of a plesiosaur-like body. He said that: "Before I saw the film, I thought the Loch Ness Monster was a load of rubbish. Having done the enhancement, I'm not so sure". Some have countered this finding by saying that the angle of the film from the horizontal along with sun's angle on that day made shadows underwater unlikely. Believers (and some nonbelievers) claim the shape could have been undisturbed water that was only coincidentally shaped like a plesiosaur's rear end. But the same source also says that there might be a smaller object (hump or head) in front of the hump causing this. Nonetheless, the enhancement did show a smaller second hump and possibly a third hump. The Holmes video (2007) On 26 May 2007, Gordon Holmes, a 55-year-old lab technician, captured video of what he said was "this jet black thing, about 45 feet (14 m) long, moving fairly fast in the water." Adrian Shine, a marine biologist at the Loch Ness 2000 centre in Drumnadrochit, has watched the video and plans to analyze it. Shine also described the footage as among "the best footage [he has] ever seen." Scotland broadcast the video on 29 May 2007. STV News' North Tonight aired the footage on 28 May 2007 and interviewed Holmes. In this feature, Adrian Shine of the Loch Ness Centre was also interviewed and suggested that the footage in fact showed an otter, seal or water bird. Holmes's credibility has been doubted by an article on the Cryptomundo website, which states that he has a history of reporting sightings of cryptozoological creatures, and sells a self-published book and DVD claiming evidence for fairies. His video also has no other objects by which to discern size. History of expeditions Sir Edward Mountain Expedition 1934 Having read the book by Gould, Sir Edward Mountain decided to finance a proper watch in which 20 men with binoculars and cameras were positioned around the Loch from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., starting 13 July 1934 for five weeks. Some 21 photographs were taken, though none was considered conclusive. Captain James Fraser was employed as a supervisor, and remained by the Loch afterwards, taking cine film (which is now lost) on 15 September 1934. When viewed by zoologists and professors of natural history it was concluded that it showed a seal, possibly a grey seal. Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau (1962-1972) The Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau (LNPIB) was a UK-based society formed in 1962 to study Loch Ness to identify the creature known as the Loch Ness Monster or determine the causes of reports of it. It later shortened the name to Loch Ness Investigation Bureau (LNIB). It closed in 1972. The society had an annual subscription which covered administration. Its main activity was for groups of self-funded volunteers to watch the loch from various vantage points, equipped with cine cameras with telescopic lenses. Its founders included MP David James and naturalist Peter Scott. From 1965 to 1972 it had a caravan camp and main watching platform at Achnahannet, and sent observers to other locations up and down the loch. According to the 1969 Annual Report of the Bureau, it had 1,030 members, of whom 588 were from the UK. Its directors were listed as Norman Collins (Chairman), Lord Craigmyle, Prof. Roy P. Mackal, Richard Fitter, David James, MP, and Peter Scott. The LNPIB sonar study (1967-1968) Professor DG Tucker, chairman of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Birmingham, England, volunteered his services as a sonar developer and expert at Loch Ness in 1968. The gesture was part of a larger effort helmed by the LNPIB from 1967-1968 and involved collaboration between volunteers and professionals in various fields. Tucker had chosen Loch Ness as the test site for a prototype sonar transducer with a maximum range of 800 metres (2600 ft). The device was fixed underwater at Temple Pier in Urquhart Bay and directed towards the opposite shore, effectively drawing an acoustic 'net' across the width of Ness through which no moving object could pass undetected. During the two-week trial in August, multiple animate targets six metres (20 ft) in length were identified ascending from and diving to the loch bottom. Analysis of diving profiles ruled out air-breathers because the targets never surfaced or moved shallower than midwater. A brief press release by LNPIB and associates touched on the sonar data and drew to a close the 1968 effort: "The answer to the question of whether or not unusual phenomena exist in Loch Ness, Scotland, and if so, what their nature might be, was advanced a step forward during 1968, as a result of sonar experiments conducted by a team of scientists under the direction of D. Gordon Tucker... Professor Tucker reported that his fixed beam sonar made contact with large moving objects sometimes reaching speeds of at least 10 knots (19 km/h). He concluded that the objects are clearly animals and ruled out the possibility that they could be ordinary fish. He stated: "The high rate of ascent and descent makes it seem very unlikely that they could be fish, and fishery biologists we have consulted cannot suggest what fish they might be. It is a temptation to suppose they might be the fabulous Loch Ness monsters, now observed for the first time in their underwater activities!" Andrew Carroll's sonar study (1969) In 1969 Andrew Carroll, field researcher for the New York Aquarium in New York City, proposed a mobile sonar scan operation at Loch Ness. The project was funded by the Griffis foundation (named for Nixon Griffis, then a director of the aquarium). This was the tail-end (and most successful portion) of the LNPIB's 1969 effort involving submersibles with biopsy harpoons. The trawling scan, in Carroll's research launch Rangitea, took place in October. One sweep of the loch made contact with a strong, animate echo for nearly three minutes just north of Foyers. The identity of the contact remains a mystery. Later analysis determined that the intensity of the returning echo was twice as great as that expected from a 10-foot (3 m) pilot whale. Calculations placed the contact's length at 20 feet (6 m). Earlier submersible work had yielded dismal results. Under the sponsorship of World Book Encyclopedia, pilot Dan Taylor deployed the Viperfish at Loch Ness on 1 June 1969. His dives were plagued by technical problems and produced no new data. The Deep Star III built by General Dynamics and an unnamed two-man submersible built by Westinghouse were scheduled to sail but never did. It was only when the Pisces arrived at Ness that the LNPIB obtained new data. Owned by Vickers, Ltd., the submersible had been rented out to produce a Sherlock Holmes film featuring a dummy Loch Ness Monster. When the dummy monster broke loose from the Pisces during filming and sank to the bottom of the loch, Vickers executives capitalized on the loss and 'monster fever' by allowing the sub to do a bit of exploring. During one of these excursions, the Pisces picked up a large moving object on sonar 200 feet (60 m) ahead and 50 feet (15 m) above the bottom of the loch. Slowly the pilot closed to half that distance but the echo moved rapidly out of sonar range and disappeared. The Big Expedition of 1970 During the so-called "Big Expedition" of 1970, Roy Mackal, a biologist who taught for 20 years at the University of Chicago, devised a system of hydrophones (underwater microphones) and deployed them at intervals throughout the loch. In early August a hydrophone assembly was lowered into Urquhart Bay and anchored in 700 feet (215 m) of water. Two hydrophones were secured at depths of 300 and 600 feet (180 m). After two nights of recording, the tape (sealed inside a 44 imperial gallon (55 US gal/200 L) steel drum along with the system's other sensitive components) was retrieved and played before an excited LNPIB. "Bird-like chirps" had been recorded, and the intensity of the chirps on the deep hydrophone suggested they had been produced at greater depth. In October "knocks" and "clicks" were recorded by another hydrophone in Urquhart Bay, indicative of echolocation. These sounds were followed by a "turbulent swishing" suggestive of the tail locomotion of a large aquatic animal. The knocks, clicks and resultant swishing were believed to be the sounds of an animal echo-locating prey before moving in for the kill. The noises stopped whenever craft passed along the surface of the loch near the hydrophone -- and resumed once the craft reached a safe distance. In previous experiments, it was observed that call intensities were greatest at depths less than 100 feet (30 m). Members of the LNPIB decided to attempt communication with the animals producing the calls by playing back previously recorded calls into the water and listening via hydrophone for results, which varied greatly. At times the calling patterns or intensities changed, but sometimes there was no change at all. Mackal noted that there was no similarity between the recordings and the hundreds of known sounds produced by aquatic animals. "More specifically," he said, "competent authorities state that none of the known forms of life in the loch has the anatomical capabilities of producing such calls." Robert Rines's studies (1972, 1975 and 2001) In the early 1970s, a group of people led by Robert H. Rines obtained some underwater photographs. Two were rather vague images, perhaps of a rhomboid flipper (though others have dismissed the image as air bubbles or a fish fin). The alleged flipper was photographed in different positions, indicating movement. On the basis of these photographs, British naturalist Peter Scott announced in 1975 that the scientific name of the monster would henceforth be Nessiteras rhombopteryx (Greek for "The Ness monster with diamond-shaped fin"). Scott intended that this would enable Nessie to be added to a British register of officially protected wildlife. Scottish politician Nicholas Fairbairn pointed out that the name was an anagram for "Monster hoax by Sir Peter S". The underwater photos were reportedly obtained by painstakingly examining the loch depths with sonar for unusual underwater activity. A submersible camera with an affixed, high-powered light (necessary for penetrating Loch Ness' notorious murk) was deployed to record images below the surface. Several of the photographs, despite their obviously murky quality, did indeed seem to show an animal resembling a plesiosaur in various positions and lightings. One photograph appeared to show the head, neck and upper torso of a plesiosaur-like animal. A rarely publicized photograph depicted two plesiosaur-like bodies. Another photo seemed to depict a horned "gargoyle head", consistent to that of several sightings of the monster. Some believe the latter to be a tree stump found during Operation Deepscan. A few close-ups of what is to be the creature's supposed diamond-shaped fin were taken in different positions, as though the creature was moving. But the "flipper photograph" has been highly retouched from the original image. The Museum of Hoaxes shows the original unenhanced photo. Charlie Wyckoff claimed that someone retouched the photo to superimpose the flipper, and that the original enhancement showed a much smaller flipper. No one is exactly sure how the original came to be enhanced in this way. In 2001, the Robert Rines' Academy of Applied Science videoed a powerful V-shaped wake traversing the still water on a calm day. The AAS also videotaped an object on the floor of the loch resembling a carcass, found marine clam-shells and a fungus not normally found in fresh water lakes, which they suggest gives some connection to the sea and a possible entry for Nessie. Discovery Loch Ness (1993) In 1993 Discovery Communications began to research the ecology of the loch. The study did not focus entirely on the monster, but on the loch's nematodes (of which a new species was discovered) and fish. Expecting to find a small fish population, the researchers caught twenty fish in one catch, increasing previous estimates of the loch's fish population about ninefold. Using sonar, the team encountered a kind of underwater disturbance (called a seiche) due to stored energy (such as from a wind) causing an imbalance between the loch's warmer and colder layers (known as the thermocline). While reviewing printouts of the event the next day, they found what appeared to be three sonar contacts, each followed by a powerful wake. These events were later shown on a program called Loch Ness Discovered, in conjunction with analyses and enhancements of the 1960 Dinsdale Film, the Surgeon's Photo, and the Rines Flipper Photo. GUST expedition (2001) A controversial expedition by the Global Underwater Search Team (GUST) was conducted with advanced sonar equipment to search for the creature. One night, a small sonar contact moved on the screen. On another occasion, a vague disturbance was captured on film. The expedition was shown on a program called Loch Ness Monster: Search for the Truth. Many explanations have been postulated over the years to explain the claims for the existence of a Loch Ness Monster. These may be categorized: (1) unknown species of large animals; (2) mystic or paranormal; (3) misidentification of known animals; (4) inanimate objects or effects; (5) hoaxes. Note that believers in (1) or (2) accept that some or even most sightings may be due to (3), (4), and (5). In particular note that most sightings are of a large shape in the water - very few have more details. In 1961 Dinsdale stated the principal existing animal theories to be (a) Giant Eel, (b) Hypothetical Long-Necked Seal (c) Hypothetical Long-Necked Newt, (d) Evolved Plesiosaur. Later biologist Roy Mackal listed and reviewed these candidates: (a) Pinnipedia (seal family) (b) Sirenia (manatee family) (c) (evolved) plesiosaur (d) amphibians (e) gastropods. In 1933 the suggestion was made that the monster "bears a striking resemblance to the supposedly-extinct plesiosaur", a long-necked aquatic reptile that is thought to have become extinct during the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event. At the time, this was a popular and plausible explanation. The following arguments have been put against it. Thus proponents such as Tim Dinsdale, Peter Scott and Roy Mackal postulate a marine creature which has become trapped and has evolved either from a plesiosaur or to the shape of a plesiosaur by convergent evolution. In 1934 the Sir Edward Mountain expedition analysed film taken the same year and concluded that the monster was a species of seal, which was reported in a national newspaper as "Loch Ness Riddle Solved - Official." This idea was advocated by Peter Costello for both Nessie and other reputed lake monsters. This theory would cover sightings of lake monsters on land, during which the creature supposedly waddled into the lake upon being startled, in the manner of seals. Against this, it has been argued that all known species of pinnipeds are usually visible on land during daylight hours to sunbathe, something that Nessie is not known to do. However seals have been observed and photographed in Loch Ness (see below: Misidentification of known animals) and the sightings are sufficiently infrequent to allow for occasional visiting animals rather than a permanent colony. A giant eel was actually one of the first suggestions made. Eels live in Loch Ness, and an unusually large eel would fit many sightings. This has been described as a conservative explanation. Eels are not known to protrude swanlike from the water and thus would not account for the head and neck sightings. Dinsdale dismissed the proposal because eels move in a side-to-side undulation. According to the Swedish naturalist and author Bengt Sjögren (1980), present day beliefs in lake monsters such as Nessie are associated with the old legends of kelpies. He claims that the accounts of loch monsters have changed over the ages, originally describing a horse appearance; they claimed that the "kelpie" would come out of the lake and turn into a horse. When a tired traveller would get on the back of the kelpie, it would gallop into the loch and devour its prey. This myth successfully kept children away from the loch, as was its purpose. Sjögren concludes that the kelpie legends have developed into more plausible descriptions of lake monsters, reflecting awareness of plesiosaurs. In other words, the kelpie of folklore has been transformed into a more "realistic" and "contemporary" notion of the creature. Believers counter that long-dead witnesses could only compare the creature to that with which they were familiar -- and they were not familiar with plesiosaurs. Specific mention of the kelpie as a water horse in Loch Ness was given in a Scottish newspaper in 1879, and was commemorated in the title of a book Project Water Horse by Tim Dinsdale. Misidentification of known animals When viewed through a telescope or binoculars with no outside reference, it is difficult to judge the size of an object in the water. Loch Ness has resident otters and pictures of them are given by Binns, which could be misinterpreted. Likewise he gives pictures of deer swimming in Loch Ness, and birds which could be taken as a "head and neck" sighting. Wind conditions can give a slightly choppy and thus matt appearance to the water, with occasional calm patches appearing as dark ovals (reflecting the mountains) from the shore, which can appear as humps to visitors unfamiliar with the lake. In 1979, Lehn showed that atmospheric refraction could distort the shape and size of objects and animals, and later showed a photograph of a rock mirage on Lake Winnipeg which could represent a head and neck. The Italian geologist Luigi Piccardi has proposed geological explanations for some ancient legends and myths. He pointed out that in the earliest recorded sighting of a creature, the Life of St. Columba, the creature's emergence was accompanied "cum ingenti fremitu" (with very loud roaring). The Loch Ness is located along the Great Glen Fault, and this could be a description of an earthquake. Furthermore, in many sightings, the report consists of nothing more than a large disturbance on the surface of the water. This could be caused by a release of gas from through the fault, although it could easily be mistaken for a large animal swimming just below the surface.

|Mapinguari The Bigfoot of Brazil| We checked our a/k/a Bigfoot World Map and noticed the Mapinguari was absent for out list of variants and decided to update our map with an entry for the South American Mapinguari.More than a quarter of Americans believe in Bigfoot, a recent poll found. They claim this legendary bipedal ape, a "long lost relative" of humans, evades detection in remote woodland areas. Although it may seem strange to think a 7-foot-tall land mammal could go unnoticed for so long, the notion is actually widespread.Along with that sizable minority of Americans, an Angus Reid Public Opinion poll found that 21 percent of Canadians also believe in an undiscovered hairy humanoid, which they prefer to call Sasquatch. In Russia, belief in a similar creature, called the Yeti, is so common that local branches of the Russian government have funded Yeti expeditions, and the country has even considered founding an entire institute devoted to the study of Yetis.The Yeti is also said to roam the Himalayas, sometimes going by the name of Meh-Teh, or the "Abominable Snowman." Not to be outdone, Australia has the Yowie, and South America, a mythical beast called Mapinguari. Malaysians, meanwhile, fear the orang minyak, or "oily man" monster. View AKA Bigfoot World Map in a larger map Wikipedia offers this brief description of the Mapinguari. The mapinguari or mapinguary (Spanish pronunciation: [mapiŋɡwaˈɾi]), also known as the Isnashi [isˈnaʃi], is a legendary cryptid said to resemble a ground sloth–like creature with red fur living in the Amazon rainforests of Brazil and Bolivia. The name is usually translated as “the roaring animal” or “the fetid beast”. According to native folklore the creature has a series of unnatural characteristics related to other fantastic beings of Brazilian mythology. These include the creature only having one eye, long claws, caiman skin, backward feet and a second mouth on its belly. In more recent eyewitness accounts it has consistently been described as resembling either an ape or giant ground-dwelling sloth and having long arms, powerful claws that could tear apart palm trees, a sloping back, reaching heights of 7 feet when standing on its hind legs and is covered in thick, matted fur.Back in 2005 Craig Woolheater of Cryptomundo wrote a post about the Mapinguari and brought our attention to a Discovery article's description of the Mapinguari. If you haven't visited the a/k/a Bigfoot World Map it is great way to get lost in the global Bigfoot phenomenon. Plus you get to learn rich details of the Bigfoot Variants from around the world. If you have any suggestion for us to add, pleas submit them to [email protected] a matter of fact, the descriptions of the creature in question sounded more like a bipedal primate than a giant ground sloth to me.“Covered in long red hair, standing more than 6 feet on its hind legs, emanating a stench so foul it disorients everyone in sniffing distance, the mapinguari is reputed to be the wildest, rarest, most mysterious and terrifying denizen of the rain forest..."

Donnie bent over and tapped the plaster cast with his pencil. To his satisfaction its matte grey surface did not crack or break, indicating the plaster had nearly set. He rose, wiping the dirt from his knees and gazed around the woods. It was in many ways a typical Midwestern forest in early autumn. Densely packed green broadleaf and coniferous trees stretched on for miles, the predominant green coloration interrupted only by the occasional birch or yellowing deciduous. It had been a dry spring so the soil was a bit on the crusty side, though not outright parched. It made his job easier, actually. He looked back at the foot wide cylinder of plaster of Paris sitting on the ground and glanced at his digital watch. “Better give it at least another five minutes,” he murmured to himself. He reached into his khaki jacket pocket, pulled out an electronic device about the size of a cell phone and raised it to his lips. “Audio log entry 23, time 4:26 PM,” he spoke into it. “I am in the Pinebrook Forest Preserve approximately six miles northwest of Pinebrook High School. I am about to retrieve specimen number seven. I discovered the prints nearly 24 hours ago during my preliminary reconnaissance of the area. The cast seems not to have been disturbed and given the quality of the prints and the consistency of the soil I am expecting a high quality impression. I still have five additional casts to collect before sundown. Hopefully, they will all be intact.” He cleared his throat and adjusted his sunglasses with his free hand. “As noted in previous entries, there have been multiple sightings of the ‘Pinebrook Beast’ in this area. Though I still need to compile a geographic profile based on my initial observations all encounters and physical evidence of the cryptid (or cryptids) seem to be concentrated around the high school within ten to fifteen miles. I will start geographical profiling tonight after I retrieve, clean, photograph and catalog all the specimens. End audio log entry.” Donnie slipped the device back in his pocket. He squatted down next to the plaster cast, reached around and retrieved a small metal spade hanging from his belt. He carefully loosened the soil around the cast and gingerly lifted the thing from the earth. He slowly rotated it in the air, examining the cast. “Beautiful,” he said softly. It was a paw-print – a very large paw-print from, presumably, a very large animal. It featured four clawed toes and a large central pad. The detail was admittedly quite good for a plaster cast; Donnie could even make out the leathery texture of the pads. He put it down hurriedly reached back into his pocket and brought out the recording device. “Audio log entry 23 addendum,” he said hoarsely. “Specimen exceeds all expectations. Clearly not a bear or large cat yet too big for any other known animal endemic to the area. Superficially resembles a wolf print, but again, larger than anything I’ve seen before.” He hesitated. “Admittedly I haven’t been able recover any hair, fur or any other trace evidence, which is odd. Still, it’s only a matter of time. These prints are the real deal. End audio log entry” After tucking the device back in his coat he unshouldered his backpack, opened it and pulled a large plastic ziplock bag out. He slipped the plaster cast inside the bag and then took a clipboard and pen out of the backpack. “Specimen date…location…” he muttered under his breath as he scribbled furiously. Suddenly, he froze. He slowly looked up. Two figures were standing about twenty feet ahead of him. One was a teenage boy and the other was a teenage girl. Both were wearing jeans, tennis shoes; the boy had a long-sleeve plaid shirt and the girl a green blouse and an off-white knitted wool jacket. They were staring intently at him. “Um, hello,” said Donnie, bemused, waving a hand. The pair looked at each other uncertainly. “Yeah, hi,” said the boy. “What, uh, what are you doing out here, man?” he said, gesturing vaguely around at the forest Donnie rose to his feet and clearly his throat. “I’m…uh, doing surveillance work,” he managed. “Taking samples, checking on…the wildlife, that kind of thing.” There was an awkward silence between the three. “Are you a park person or ranger or something?” inquired the girl, brushing back her short, messy blonde hair. “‘Cause we’ve never sme-….seen you around here before.” “N-nno, I’m not associated with the city government or United States Forest service,” said Donnie reluctantly. “You know this area is off-limits,” said the boy. “No camping, hunting, fishing, collecting. And you’re supposed to stay on the path.” Donnie bit his lower lip, glancing down at his feet. Then he looked back up at the pair and narrowed his eyes. “Well, what the hell are you kids doing out here?” he asked suspiciously. “Just…going on a walk,” said the girl. “A walk? We’re miles from the nearest trail and any road. And I know this isn’t exactly the Alaskan wilderness but…it is a little dangerous out here. You two look like you just walked out of the mall. Where did you come from?” The girl hesitated, but the boy quickly chimed in. “There’s a new trail back there,” he said, pointing backwards. “They just finished it last month. We heard someone out here talking and we wanted to check it out. So, again, what are you doing out here?” “Y’know, I think I’ve seen him before,” said the girl thoughtfully before Donnie had a chance to reply. “Donnie…Boiler? Boolar?” “Buellar,” sighed Donnie. “Hey yeah,” said the boy suddenly. “He’s that cryptozoologist dude who was on the…” the boy trailed off as though realizing something important. Despite himself Donnie beamed. He wasn’t used to being recognized. “OK, you’ve found me out,” he said, relaxing a little bit. “Yes, I’m Donald Buellar, professional cryptozoologist and author. I’m actually out here investigating the Pinebrook Beast. You’ve heard of it, right?” The girl nodded slowly. “Actually I think there be more than one cryptid, er, that’s what we in the business refer to as fauna or flora that are believed but not proven to be extant,” he explained, turning back to his clipboard. “I know it sounds silly, but cryptozoology is a real science…er, many people accept that it is,” he admitted as he wrote. “Coelacanths – that’s an ancient clade of fish that were kind of the missing link between aquatic and land-dwelling animals – were thought to be extinct until representative species were discovered in 1938 and again in 1998. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that large unclassified species of mammal could be dwelling out here – some ancient throwback, possibly related to the dire wolf.” He tore the sheet of paper from the pad, tucked it in the plastic bag and sealed it. “You, uh, you kids wouldn’t have happened to see anything unusual out here?” “Uh, besides you?” said the girl. “No.” “Heh, ah well,” said Donnie, grinning. “Hey, you two want to take a look at this? It’s pretty amazing.” “Whatcha got there?” said the boy. The two of them hadn’t moved since Donnie spotted them. “A plaster cast of some paw prints,” said Donnie proudly. “I’m…wow, I’m ninety percent sure this could be it,” he said more or less to himself. “The Pinebrook Beast,” shouted Donnie irritably. “The big break I’ve been waiting for! I’ll need to take these to a zoologist or some other expert but they’re like nothing I’ve ever seen before and this isn’t the only one. I’ve found around a dozen pawprints and even some deer corpses that look like they were taken down by a predator that’s way too big for the area. Even if those so-called scientists don’t believe me there’s more than enough evidence here to get those Monster Quest idiots up here. Only this time they’ll find the real thing! Hey! You kids want to-” he said looking up. They were gone. Donnie looked around wildly. “Hey, HEY!” he called. “Where did you go?” There was no sign of either teenager. The forest was thick but there weren’t too many trees wide enough to hide behind in the immediate area and there hadn’t been a sound. In fact, the woods had grown eerily quiet. Nervously licking his lips, Donnie brought out his recorder. “Audio log entry…24,” he said. “While recovering specimen number seven I encountered a pair of teenagers. Locals, I think. They claimed they were out on a walk but we’re far, far away from any trail and they did not look dressed for a nature hike. Not sure what their game is. Seemed to recognize me. Probably trying to spook me for fun. Still, there was something…off about them. I’m going to proceed with caution. End audio log entry.” After carefully packing the plaster cast away Donnie hefted his backpack over his shoulders, checked his map and continued onwards. * * * Donnie knew something was wrong the second he spied the cast sitting next to the fallen log. The grass around the paper cylinder containing the plaster had been disturbed and there were little flecks of dried grey material splattered on the log. He hurried over and gazed down at it. “Dammit,” he muttered in disgust. “Not again.” It looked like someone had smashed the top of the cast and scooped most of the nearly congealed plaster out of the mold. It lay scattered around the ground. The base of the print itself had been ground down leaving no trace whatsoever of the paw impression. Cursing again, Donnie kicked the flimsy paper tube out of the earth and reached for his audio recorder. “Audio log entry 32,” he growled. “Specimen number thirteen has also been vandalized and destroyed. Recently, by the looks of it. Though I don’t have any proof the kids I encountered while recovering specimen number seven are behind this I strongly suspect this is the case as nearly all of the specimens I’ve attempted to retrieve since speaking with them have been destroyed.” He paused. “That said I find it highly unlikely they were able to find all of them faster than I was able to recover them. Either they already knew where they were and only started destroying them after learning what they were or…something else is at work here,” he added fretfully. “If the two of them are behind this I don’t understand their motivation. The casts were scattered around the preserve, most miles apart, and it would take a coordinated effort to destroy that many in so short a time. Far more effort, I think, any teenager, however bored, would put into causing mischief.” He hesitated. “It would also suggest they are intimately familiar with the area, which is….” he trailed off “…not usually frequented by the public,” he said finally, choosing his words carefully. “All in all, I’m baffled. Need to keep moving, though. I only have one more specimen to check on and I’m losing daylight. End audio log entry.” He stopped briefly to recover the paper cylinder and stuff it in a plastic bag and then left the site, his expression stoic belying equal parts irritation and apprehension. He made his way down an incline into a wide creek bed and started following the trickling waters downstream. His worn yet serviceable hiking boots made little squelching sounds as he trod across the pebble-strewn bank of the stream. Donnie glanced up at the sky. The sun had just touched the horizon and was beginning to dip below it. He had removed his sunglasses hours ago and was now having trouble seeing again. He quickened his pace. The only sounds now were his footsteps, the burbling creek, and the muted whisper of the wind. Eventually, he climbed out of the shallow gully and made his way along a natural trail. As he walked he heard something small rustle in the bushes not far from him; he ignored it as best he could. The trail soon disappeared and Donnie waded into a small clearing full of tall grass and bramble. “Where the hell was it?” murmured Donnie, looking around. Realizing he was having trouble recognizing the area in the dim light he reached for his flashlight and flicked it on. It was one of the larger, more powerful varieties with a wide beam. Donnie scanned the clearing, the spotlight-like beam of light illuminating everything it touched. “OK,” he said softly. “I found the last prints near that dying elm…ah, there it is.” As he turned the flashlight towards the tree, Donnie did a double take. For a moment he thought he saw two tiny yellow slits staring at him through a clump of bushes on the left. He quickly swung the beam towards the bushes but saw nothing. After a few seconds, Donnie shrugged nervously and made his way to the elm. Sure enough, a small paper cylinder was sitting a couple of yards behind the leafless elm in a patch of bare soil. Donnie slowly walked up to it and shone his light down. To his surprise and delight the thing looked untouched. Furthermore, the plaster had turned a gritty light grey, indicating it had completely hardened. Donnie fumbled for his audio recorder with his free hand. “Audio log entry 33,” he whispered quickly. “I’ve found the last specimen – specimen 14 – and it appears not to have been disturbed. I’m going to recover it and get the hell out of here. End audio log entry.” The excited cryptozoologist kneeled and tapped the cast it with his knuckle, confirming that it was indeed quite solid. Not bothering to loosen the soil this time he put the flashlight on the ground beside him, gripped the paper cylinder with both hands and slowly lifted it out of the earth. After brushing away some dirt that had stubbornly clung to the impression, Donnie inverted the cast, put it back down on the ground, grabbed his flashlight and examined its surface. A perfectly-formed print negative could be seen much like the paw-print from before. It was slightly smaller than the others but bore the same pattern and proportions of heel, toes, and claws. “Let’s get this baby home,” said Donnie, unshouldering his backpack. He unzipped the main flap, reached inside and pulled out another plastic bag. He put the final cast inside and reached for his clipboard and pen. As he scribbled on the paper, he heard footsteps – footsteps from something distressingly large and close-by. Donnie broke out in a cold sweat. He slowly raised his head and, in the light of his torch, saw a pair of large furry feet standing no less than five feet away. They looked…exactly like the kind of feet that would leave the paw-prints Donnie had discovered. With a whimper of terror Donnie looked further upward. The feet belonged to a massive, muscular, bipedal creature with thick midnight black fur, large paws – or were they hands? – adorned with talons, a strange, vaguely lupine head with pointed tufted ears, a partial muzzle and glowing yellow eyes. But what it did next frightened Donnie to his core. The furry creature folded its arms and glared down at the skinny man. “Donald Buellar,” it intoned in a powerful yet unmistakably feminine voice. “You and I need to have a little chat.” * * * The article was one of the shorter ones tucked away in the middle of the newspaper with no accompanying picture. Its caption read ‘No Sign of Self-Proclaimed Crytozoologist for Over a Week.’ Melinda’s mother slid the page over to her daughter across the kitchen table. “Do you know anything about this, young lady?” she asked in a firm voice. Melinda stared down at the article, up at her mother, opened and shut her mouth, and then sighed. “Yeah,” she said unenthusiastically. “What, exactly, did you do to him?” “He’s fine, mom,” sighed Melinda. “We had to…put a stop to what he was up to. He’s really loud and he was getting too close to the truth. I…we convinced him to take a trip down to Mexico.” “Why would he do that when…if he was so close to uncovering the ‘Pinebrook Beast,’ why would he go, eh? Melinda, if you threatened or hurt the poor man I-” “We explained to him that what he was doing would disrupt a lot of lives,” interrupted Melinda quickly. “That and, uh, we may have told him we know EXACTLY where the legendary Chupacabra is and that, since it’s only a mindless beast, we wouldn’t mind him revealing its existence.” “So you lied to him?” “Well…maybe,” said Melinda, smiling wanly. “I mean, we don’t know it isn’t real and, well, we’re real, right?” “And what if he comes back?” “We convinced him to hand over all the evidence and I had Lily check his hotel room and car for anything he may have held back. If he does get any ideas, well, there isn’t much proof left and we’ll be ready for him if he returns to Pinebrook.” Melinda’s glared at her daughter. “Fine,” she sighed. “Just…next time…let me know in advance OK,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t like the idea you’re doing all this behind my back.” “Sure thing, mom.”

skeleto montate del Neanderthal. Le Homo neanderthalensis o simplemente le Neanderthal es un specie extincte del genere Homo. Le genere Homo pertine al Primates, le hominoideos differentiate in Asia e in Africa, de ubi surgeva le familia del que forma parte, le hominidos. Le unic supervivente del genere Homo es le esser human que pertine al specie Homo sapiens. |Wikibooks habe un libro supra le topico de| - Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology - Archaelogy Info - "Humans and Neanderthals interbred": Modern humans contain a little bit of Neanderthal, according to a new theory, because the two interbred and became one species. (Cosmos magazine, November 2006) - BBC.co.uk — 'Neanderthals "mated with modern humans": A hybrid skeleton showing features of both Neanderthal and early modern humans has been discovered, challenging the theory that our ancestors drove Neanderthals to extinction', BBC (April 21, 1999) - BBC.co.uk — 'Neanderthals "had hands like ours": The popular image of Neanderthals as clumsy, backward creatures has been dealt another blow', Helen Briggs, BBC (March 27, 2003) - GeoCities.com — 'The Neanderthal Sites at Veldwezelt-Hezerwater, Belgium' - IndState.edu — 'Neanderthals: A Cyber Perspective', Kharlena María Ramanan, Indiana State University (1997) - Krapina.com — 'Krapina: The World's Largest Neanderthal Finding Site' - Neanderthal.de — 'Neanderthal Museum' - Neanderthal DNA — 'Neanderthal DNA' Includes Neanderthal mtDNA sequences - The Cryptid Zoo — 'Neanderthals and Neanderthaloids in Cryptozoology' (modern sightings promoted by the pseudoscience of cryptozoology) - UniZH.ch — 'Comparing Neanderthals and modern humans: Neanderthals differ from anatomically modern Homo sapiens in a suite of cranial features' (cranio-facial reconstructions), Institut für Informatik der Universität Zürich - WebShots.com — 'IMG_6922 The Neandertal foot prints' (photo of ~25K years old fossilized footprints discovered in 1970 on volcanic layers near Demirkopru Dam Reservoir, Manisa, Turkey) - interactive database on the archaeology and anthropology of Neanderthals - Did free trade cause the extinction of Neanderthals? - Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA can show conflicting phylogenetic histories - Neanderthal manifactured pitch - Homo neanderthalensis reconstruction — Electronic articles published by the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History. - CBS article on latest scientific speculation about Neanderthals in Gibraltar. - Neanderthal bone gives DNA clues - Scientists decode Neanderthal genes - Scientists Build 'Frankenstein' Neanderthal Skeleton - A NEANDERTHAL'S DNA TALE - 'Bone and Stone' A digitally enhanced single frame philatelic exhibit dedicated to the Neanderthal. - How Neanderthal molar teeth grew - Mousterian Tools of Neanderthals From Europe — World Museum of Man - The Way We Are - Link to picture of the Neanderthal trace near Gediz River in Turkey - Link to Cross-Eyed stereoview of Neanderthal fossil cast in Chicago Field Museum

Not all animals are cute, and truth can be much more terrifying than fiction. What's the point of creating fictitious monsters and other things that go bump in the night when reality already has a healthy supply of bizarre creatures to populate our dreams? Here's a list of 12 weird and wild animals to grab your attention and possibly keep you up at night. Dolphins are popular animals because they’re both very cute and very intelligent. But that gray coloring is so drab! It doesn’t exactly catch the eye. Enter this specimen, a bright pink dolphin that apparently jumped off the front of a second-grader’s Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper and into the sea to bring some color and character to the pod. The dolphin pictured is pink due to albinism (a genetic mutation), but there are some species of dolphin -- the Amazon river dolphin and the Chinese white dolphin -- that are naturally and normally pink. SNAKE WITH A FOOT Way back in 2009, we reported a chilling story about a woman in China who awoke one night to find a snake crawling up the wall of her bedroom using its foot. Naturally, we were terrified, and proclaimed the snake with a foot to be a sign of the Apocalypse. Admittedly, that might have been an overreaction, as three years later we’re still here and no further reports of unipedal serpents have arisen. And yet no explanation for the legged snake was ever offered, and so we proceed into each new day with only cautious optimism that it won’t be the world’s last. THE MONTAUK MONSTER When this frightening-looking creature washed up on a Montauk, N.Y. beach in 2008, the photograph went viral and everyone freaked out trying to figure out what it was. Various theories regarding the identity of the Montauk Monster were that it was either some sort of sea creature like a turtle that lost its shell, the product of freaky experiments performed at the nearby Plum Island Animal Disease Center, or a space alien. Once experts weighed in, their best guess seemed to be that the monster is actually a dead raccoon, its body bloated and warped from being submerged in the water. But not everyone’s satisfied by that explanation, and no 100-percent-certain answer has yet been decided. Naturalist David Mizejewski posted this weirdo to Animal Planet’s “Animal Oddities” column admitting that although he normally is a whiz at identifying species, he was stymied by this specimen. It’s almost surely a bird, with most guesses pegging it as a chicken or a parrot that’s either wet, or that lost its feathers through molting, disease or something else. Or maybe those are just the lies we tell ourselves to avoid facing the fact that mutants and aliens walk among us. Animals born with extra heads aren’t as rare as you might think. There are lots of examples of snakes, turtles, lizards, pigs, cats and more with two heads or two faces or other unusual defects. Pictured here is a creepy-cute conjoined tortoise named Magdalena (one head is Magda and the other is Lena), but you can check out our “Animals With Extra Parts” gallery for more examples of critters with all kinds of different “bonus” features. The chupacabra -- aka the goat sucker -- has been a legend in Mexico for years. The beast still holds cryptid status, which means there’s not enough evidence to suggest that it actually even exists. But something must be attacking all those goats and drinking their blood, right? There are even photographs of strange-looking creatures said to be chupacabras. As in the case of the Montauk Monster, scientists have offered a few reasonable explanations for the existence of these mysterious beasts and the grisly carcasses they leave behind -- namely that they're mangy dogs or coyotes too young to finish a kill properly, for example -- but no definitive answer has yet been reached. Imagine a creature that looks like a cross between a piglet, a pinto horse and Stripe, the gremlin from “Gremlins.” The result is none of those things, but rather a Chinese Crested dog found chilling out in Xinxiang, China last month, where bystanders mistook it for some sort of mutant-pig lab escapee. Who could blame them? We’ve been looking at this thing for a month and still hardly believe it’s a canine, even though its breed takes the title of World’s Ugliest Dog almost every year. CAROLINA SEA MONSTER The depths of Earth’s oceans are a forbidding, mysterious, mostly unexplored realm. It’s sometimes said that we know less about what goes on in the sea than we do about outer space. So perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise when we encounter a bewildering or even terrifying creature like this massive thing that washed up on a North Carolina shore in March of this year. At first, locals thought it to be some previously unknown sea monster, but it was soon identified as just a particularly huge sturgeon. Kinda makes you wonder how big some fish can really get. Don’t expect to reel in one of these puppies with your dinky little rod and line. In 2007, young Jamison Stone’s family claimed that the 11-year-old boy hunted and killed a monstrous wild hog that came to be called Pigzilla. Most of the facts of the story turned out to be hoaxes, namely that the animal wasn’t wild at all, but an overfed domestic pig that the family purchased and killed in a canned hunt. Moreover, the photographs were doctored to make the 1,000-pound, 9-foot-long hog look even bigger than it actually was. And that’s a shame, because all the lies merely embellished the truth that this animal really was quite enormous, and would’ve impressed us all with its size even if it had been allowed to live. Albinos aren’t freaky or weird like some of the monsters in this collection of strange and unusual creatures, but what they lack in creepiness, they make up for in authenticity, since the naturally unpigmented animals are very real and not merely the products of Photoshop trickery, or a whispered legend in some backwoods community somewhere. And on a list of so-called “mutants,” these snow-white, pink-eyed animals can actually lay real claim to that designation, as their lack of melanin is the result of a genetic mutation. They truly are rare and wonderful. The platypus is so well known to people all over the world that sometimes it's easy to forget how weird these animals really are. It's as if Mother Nature put them on Earth just to remind us that she can do pretty much whatever she wants and defy all our expectations. Let’s do an inventory: the platypus looks like a beaver, but it has the feet of an otter, the ridiculous-looking bill of a duck, it lays eggs, and it's highly venomous and therefore very dangerous. There’s no reason an animal like that should exist. The next time you bring up the chupacabra or the Montauk Monster in casual conversation and someone you know says you’re talking nonsense, remind them that when the platypus was first discovered, everyone thought it was a hoax, even though no sane person who didn’t already know it existed could ever in a million years conceive of this bizarre animal. Next: See More Bizarre Creatures! Here’s another horror from the deep. There’s no mystery or question about what we’re looking at here; we know exactly what it is. This is a giant isopod, which are plentiful in the cold depths of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. But just because we know what a giant isopod is -- essentially an unspeakably large louse -- doesn’t mean it can’t still make for highly effective nightmare fuel. Were you pretty creeped out by that cockroach you spotted skittering across the kitchen floor that time? Imagine coming face-to-face with one of these creepy sea beasties and then decide how frightening a roach really is.

July 31st 2014 10:19 am PT Nemesis, the fourth and final DLC Pack for Call of Duty: Ghosts arrives first on Xbox Live next week. Take a look: Here’s more info on Nemesis, courtesy of Activision: Get the first look at Nemesis, the fourth and final DLC Pack for Call of Duty: Ghosts. Nemesis includes four Multiplayer maps: Goldrush, Subzero, Dynasty, and Showtime, a reimagined version of the fan-favorite Shipment from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The four-part Extinction saga concludes with Episode 4: Exodus. Explore the biggest Extinction level yet and take on nearly every Cryptid species from previous episodes. You will also contend with the Ancestors – a powerful new enemy with mind control and psionic attacks. Nemesis arrives first on Xbox LIVE on August 5th

Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 9th, 2012 The so-called “Woolly Mammoth” footage has created a great deal of interest, comments and reactions on Cryptomundo, Facebook, and across the Internet. Generally, three theories have issued forth as to the origins of the video: (1) it is of a cryptid, a possible surviving Woolly Mammoth, (2) it is of a brown bear with a salmon in its mouth, and/or (3) it is a generated hoax or fake. The enhancing of some frames of the footage have given firmer foundation to the “bear” hypothesis. See the following screen captures, as posted in The Daily Mail, shared by cryptocajun: But is it more than just a bear? Is it a bear that has been used in a created hoax? A new development has occurred due to some background checks on the alleged individual who is credited as the source of the video published in The Sun: Michael Cohen. According to past detective work done by Lee Speigel at Huffington Post, any material evidence produced by Michael Cohen is suspect. As Speigel related in his 2011 investigative piece on Cohen (see here), last October, the discussion was of a video supposedly showing an “extraterrestrial…seen in a Brazilian rainforest [that] arches its back conveniently right in front of a group of children being filmed.” Speigel wrote: “Well, we’ve seen stranger things, but this is just the latest in a series of videos all coincidentally presented on the Internet by Mike Cohen of All News Web, which bills itself as ‘the world’s only inter-galactic daily news service.'” Only trouble is, the ET in the jungle apparently was just an object placed in that surrounding. As to the flying cube/pyramid UFO that Cohen also presented in the past, well, that turned out to look to be computer-generated, much too clear compared to the rest of the video. What was the avenue by which Cohen got these to the general public? The publication was The Sun, exactly the same one used for the “Woolly Mammoth” video. Hoax? Fake? Spot on, it seems that this is certainly a Mammoth one, at that. Breaking Update : Since we posted the above, Lee Speigel has published the following, “Woolly Mammoth Video From Siberia Faces Credibility Issues.” Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013.

Superman does not kill. Ever. That is the Miracle Monday Rule. Miracle Monday was the second of two Superman novels, a follow-up to 1978's also-awesome...moreSuperman does not kill. Ever. That is the Miracle Monday Rule. Miracle Monday was the second of two Superman novels, a follow-up to 1978's also-awesome Superman: Last Son of Krypton -- that were released to capitalize on the popularity of the Superman movies. Though, despite the presence of 8 pages of black and white photos of Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder and Terence Stamp, Miracle Monday had nothing to do with the movies. Instead, it's a prose version of Superman at his Bronze Age best, and stands as one of the all-time best Superman stories ever printed in any medium. The plot focuses on a character named Kristen Wells, a historian from the 29th Century -- the year 2857, to be exact -- who travels back in time and goes undercover at the Daily Planet in order to discover the origins of Miracle Monday. Of course, in true comic book time travel fashion, Wells ends up becoming a critical part of the holiday herself. A demon named C.W. Saturn -- released by Lex Luthor when he dabbles in magic and acting on the orders of the Ruler of Hell -- possesses Wells and unleashes hellish power all across the world, pushing Superman to the limit with threats that are both outlandish and genuinely sinister...culminating in forcing Superman to physically stop a nuclear war, and then exposing his identity as Clark Kent to the world. His goal is to force Superman to stop him by killing Wells, taking an innocent life and destroying everything he stands for. But Superman is never for a second conflicted about whether or not he should take this action. The idea of Superman killing someone is, as the man himself says, nonsense. Superman does not take a life, even if it means he would have to spend the rest of his life battling Saturn. Superman explaining that he'll always be there to stop evil to a living embodiment of evil, and doing it like he's trying to break down the simplest fact for a child, is an amazing bit of writing. And of course, in the story, when faced with someone who is truly unshakable in his convictions and willing to to sacrifice his life to do nothing but wage that never-ending battle, Saturn's hold on Wells is broken, and Superman is granted a wish. He asks that everything that happened since Saturn's arrival be undone, and it is granted, with Saturn then being banished back to Hell. However, a lingering memory of the events remained within the souls of humanity, causing them to begin celebrating the day every year, on the third Monday of May, starting the Miracle Monday tradition. Everyone just remembers how relieved and happy they are on the third Monday in May, and they commemorate it every year. Kristin then returns to the future to reveal this fact to the public. It's an amazing character study of how Superman works, and it also introduces some great ideas into the larger mythos of the character -- like time traveling historians crowding into the woods, shushing each other and trying not to be seen when the Kents find the rocket from Krypton, which is hilarious and wonderful. The holiday itself was very rarely mentioned in the actual comics, it does show up as a celebration in the future in Superman #400.(less) A fun short story set before the adventures in Hounded and The Iron Druid Chronicles pentalogy. It was nice visiting a less harried Atticus O'Sullivan...moreA fun short story set before the adventures in Hounded and The Iron Druid Chronicles pentalogy. It was nice visiting a less harried Atticus O'Sullivan and Oberon, his faithful Irish Wolfhound. It was also a pleasant treat to briefly go back to Tempe, AZ and Third Eye Books and Herbs. I had missed it. (less) In Discount Armageddon (Three and a half stars rounded to four), the first book in the InCryptid series, the best of Seanan McGuire's talents are on d...moreIn Discount Armageddon (Three and a half stars rounded to four), the first book in the InCryptid series, the best of Seanan McGuire's talents are on display -- Great world-building, smart empowered female protagonist written with a witty and engaging voice touched by snark. In the second book, it's some of the worst bits of her talents on display -- Disorganized plot, monotone writing, ad nauseam repetition of jokes and background details, indulgent dialogue and way too much internal monologuing. I really enjoy this series. It's a breath of fresh air from her others. Verity Price is not a broken toy. She's bright, happy, mostly well adjusted and comes from a large extended family who give her unconditional love and support. There are also the Aeslin mice, who alone are worth the price of admission. I LOVE those little guys. I speed read. I learned in the first book to skip the chapter headers. I'm sure others do as well. Suddenly, at about the third quarter mark, for four chapters, the narrative voice switches from Verity to that of her adoptive cuckoo cousin, Sarah. I didn't even notice the switch in "voices" until I read Verity being discussed in the third person! Sarah's voice remained static and sounded identical to Verity. At a moment when most books should be building up the action to its conclusion, those four chapters froze me. They didn't do or mean anything. They even lead to the most annoying bit of hand waving I've ever done with a McGuire/Grant book. Really, "Uncle" Mike the professional cryptozoologist with 20+ years of experience doesn't understand how telepathy works? Really!? This feels like a placeholder book. A seventh or eighth book in a series, not the second. Nothing really happens. The big bads are talked up quite a bit but they never live up to it. There is a consequence for a secondary character, but apparently not to Verity or anyone else. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, but it just isn't what I expect from her books -- especially not from the nearly note perfect first book. That said -- A bad McGuire/Grant book is still better than 90% of the stuff being churned out. ALL HAIL THE AUTHOR WHO VERY RARELY DISAPPOINTS! (less) I was going to do a quick review but then I happened on one from Lavie Tidhar. It's much better than mine would have been. Cade, the President’s vampir ...moreI was going to do a quick review but then I happened on one from Lavie Tidhar. It's much better than mine would have been. Cade, the President’s vampire, must save the United States from an Al-Qaeda zombie attack. Perpetrated by Dr. Frankenstein. Who is an ex-Nazi. And the best part? The very best part? There’s a moment in the book when Cade has to get from somewhere back to Washington in time to save the President. From the zombies. Who are made of the body parts of dead US Servicemen. I am not making this up! But he can’t make it back in time. It’s a three hour flight by conventional airplane. So he rings up the US Air Force. And they send over a plane designed from alien technology recovered from the Roswell crash. The creatures known as cryptids are real, and have shared the earth with mankind since time immemorial. For centuries, a religious order known as The...moreThe creatures known as cryptids are real, and have shared the earth with mankind since time immemorial. For centuries, a religious order known as The Covenant of St. George has been defending and protecting unknowing humanity by slaying cryptids wherever they encounter them. But a schism occurred in the ranks, and one Covenant agent and his wife left the order, never to return. They and their descendants, now hunted by the Covenant, settled in Portland and dedicated their lives to studying cryptids, learning their ecological purpose, and only harming them when no other method of dealing with their presence would work. The Healy and Price families operate with the knowledge that the Covenant considers them traitors and wants them dead. The cryptid community knows that the families are no longer Covenant -- but they are not uniformly convinced that it isn't a trick. So the family must train to survive both the cryptids who don't trust them, and the Covenant who still think of them as filthy traitors. The youngest generation of the Price family consists of Alex, zookeeper; Antimony, still studying; and twenty one year-old Verity, who wants to forgo the family business and be a ballroom dancer. Verity, who sarcastically (but very aptly) describes herself as Batgirl, has decided to move to NYC to catalog its humanoid cryptids and to prove to the family she can survive on her own. She lives in an illegal sublet, rented to her by a Sasquatch. During the days, Verity dances semi-professionally under an alias and at night she waitress in a cryptid strip-club owned by a boogeyman and roams NYC leaping from rooftop to rooftop using her Olympic level gymnastic, dance and free run abilities. She is always well armed and is an expert in Krav Maga. Verity lives with talking mice who have been in a symbiotic/worshiping relationship with her family for 7 generations. Nearly every Price family pronouncement is worthy of a religious holiday for these little guys -- "Today is 'Don't put that in your mouth - really, drop it now!' Day! Hurrah!" This newest urban paranormal fantasy series from Seanan McGuire (who also writes as Mira Grant)is light, fun and diverting fantasy by an author I've grown to trust and enjoy. The second book in a new series released and set just a month after the first book. I enjoyed this one more than Hounded. I checked and saw that I gav...moreThe second book in a new series released and set just a month after the first book. I enjoyed this one more than Hounded. I checked and saw that I gave it four stars. Again, if GoodReads offered half-stars, Hounded would have received 3 and a half. Unless something in the book really annoys me, I'll generally round up. The four stars I give Hexed are completely without qualification.(less)

Anonymous said: I really disliked the way you mentioned speaking to a Schizophrenic like it's so unusual to talk to someone with an illness. Could you explain why you feel the need to talk about Schizophrenics like they're an alien race? I think I talk to them and about them like they are ordinary people. But let’s make it clear. What’s so unusual is not to talk with a mentally ill person, right now I actually talk to them more than I talk to “sane” people. What’s unusual is the topic of the conversation. 6:14 pm • 6 April 2012 • 20 notes Anonymous said: The Ningen, A Japanese Cryptid Is That True? Does That Thing Really Exist? It’s very unlikely. 5:15 pm • 4 April 2012 • 4 notes cinnamonzen said: One of the books I'm working on has lead me to begin delving into a possible communal significance of memory--as a group of people, a culture, a country, a world, a species, etc. Since I enjoy your blog and views on things psychological and scientific, I figured I'd ask if you have an opinion at all on the matter from either (or both!) standpoints? I don’t know much about communal memory and so I don’t have any informed opinions on the matter, but, don’t ask me why, your question made me think about Berger & Luckmann book: ‘The Social Construction of Reality’. I even picked up and browsed the book thinking: “maybe there’s something about memory that I don’t clearly remember”, but there isn’t. 12:25 pm • 1 April 2012 • 7 notes Anonymous said: I listen to hypnosis tracks every night to assist me with motivation and having a more positive outlook (I have suffered from depression in the past). I have noticed a difference in my thought process; before I was always negative and now I can see hope and am less judgemental in my assessment of myself. I have been concerned that once I stop listening to them the benefits will vanish. Is this why you do not like hypnosis, or for other reasons? Could you please expound a little? My concern is that hypnosis fosters a change that relies on an external authority that tells you how to feel or behave. The change is greater the grater is the power you give to this authority. This means that to change you rely on an external source of authority with whom you have a dependency relationship. 7:10 am • 18 March 2012 • 16 notes Anonymous said: I love you with all my heart. Be mine. Have my children. Oh, am I being immoderate? No, it’s ok. Except that I cannot have your children because I don’t have a uterus. 10:16 pm • 17 March 2012 • 23 notes Anonymous said: What do you think about hypnosis? In general terms, I just think that it’s nothing more than a form of suggestion. Also, I don’t like it. 10:06 pm • 17 March 2012 • 13 notes crownedrose said: If you could choose any time in Earth's history to go back, explore and document, where and when would you go? If we talk about human history, I’ve always been fascinated by classical Greece (c. 500 - 323 BC). Thinking about the whole history of the Earth I guess I’d like to go back to 4.5 billion years ago to see the collision between the Earth and Theia (a hypothesized Mars-sized protoplanet) from which was created the Moon. 9:59 pm • 17 March 2012 • 16 notes mac3438 said: Can a scanning electron microscope actually see the nucleus of an atom? No, it cannot. To see an atom we can use microscopes such as scanning tunneling microscopes, but the resolution we can reach is “limited” to 1Å (this article tells about a microscope that can achieve a resolution of 0.6Å). 1Å = 10−10 m = 105 fm, it is ok to see an atom, but the nucleus is much smaller, from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands times smaller, its diameter varies from 1.75 fm to 15 fm (it depends on the elements). 9:36 pm • 17 March 2012 • 20 notes Anonymous said: are we even close finding all the creatures on earth? Not even close. According to a 2011 research paper (How Many Species Are There on Earth and in the Ocean?) there are: ”[…] ~8.7 million (±1.3 million SE) eukaryotic species globally, of which ~2.2 million (±0.18 million SE) are marine. In spite of 250 years of taxonomic classification and over 1.2 million species already catalogued in a central database, our results suggest that some 86% of existing species on Earth and 91% of species in the ocean still await description.” 7:24 pm • 17 March 2012 • 49 notes Anonymous said: why do i eat dinner alone? Because you didn’t invite me. 7:12 pm • 17 March 2012 • 36 notes

Mon, 29 September 2014 Movie Meltdown - Episode 287 This episode we talk with Sid Haig and revisit an older interview we'd done with him years ago - that has never been aired on the show! So it's SID HAIG... what more do you need?!! Start listening... “I had to restart my career like four times… ‘cause I was just working too much and people got tired of looking at me. Well… studios got tired of looking at me.” Mon, 22 September 2014 Movie Meltdown - Episode 286 So what are the odds a show like ours, which spends the majority of it's time yammering on about movies or talking smack about celebrities, would ever get a legitimate paranormal investigator to come on the show and talk with us. Well, I'd say... there's a ghost of a chance. Regardless, this week in the middle of our coverage of ScareFest we talk with Kris Williams, former historical researcher/investigator of the Syfy channel show "Ghost Hunters", and former co-lead investigator of "Ghost Hunters International". Among other things we get her thoughts on ghost movies, the problems with paranomal TV and just what “equipment” you really need to look for ghosts. And while we are trying to find rational reasons for what is going on around us, we also talk about… how to clear an orb, digging the over-alls, Thailand, a rat in wall, being possessed by a demon, the black carpet, cops watching cop movies, as humans we’re not very good at not having answers, he’s bringing back the look, Dr. Badass, you are getting grabbed one way or another, our secret undisclosed recording area, a real slimer, so you don’t suck this time, Proxy, the static box, 4000 illegal torrent downloads, Michael Jackson dance-off, we could take you out… it’s a simple as that, a haunted firehouse, move along loser, too Feldman to even be Feldman, Ectoplasm… is that a real problem, calling bullshit, your dead Aunt so-and-so, a square chin, Catherine Hicks, being thrown about the house, I have no life apparently, I’m here to finish the job – with my battle mace, off in a segregated tent, little ghost tree houses, Sam from Trick ‘r Treat, please make something up for us, being a 14th colony, Straight Time, over-the-top, insane and crazy, John Zaffis, I’ve stalked his Facebook page, you’re gonna lose an appendage, stealing a piece of his soul, Fear Street, sparkl-dy outfits, upkeep on your spirit house, riding around on a golf cart, ghosts vs. AIDS, a different take on the zombie film, The Conjuring, a plethora of stalker pictures were taken, Three Tears On Bloodstained Flesh, maybe he managed to avoid all his dad’s creepy, The Amityville Horror, Corey Feldman and his Angel, a documentary about Reese's Pieces, Snake Plissken, Alex Vincent, a gal with a dream, not everything’s a ghost, Robert Mukes, Indiana Jones and the Eye of the Fates and double-braided pigtails. “And then uhh… we got kicked out of the haunted house.” Mon, 15 September 2014 Movie Meltdown - Episode 285 This week we do some more loitering around a convention, but along the way we also talk with Kristina Klebe about a couple of her latest movies. Plus we invite Kristina to co-host our Sofa Theater discussion, as we talk about Kai Wai Wong's film "In the Mood for Love". Plus as we clarify, that noise was just a chair moving, we also mention... frames to die for, William Sadler, a pig wearing lederhosen, cinematography, Chop Top goes to Arby's, shooting on-location, John Candy, sad but beautiful, Michael Berryman, a toughie, cornfields, the thermos, M.Night Shyamalan and AMEX, the sign of couplehood, Bill Moseley, The Wolfman's House of Pancakes, Richard Lynch, being in Indiana, every scene should be moving you forward, Count Floyd, James Remar, David Hess, an f-ed up chick, buying the handbags, Richard Scarry, Joe Flaherty, celebrity elevator stories, a relationship surrogate, running a half-marathon... for fun, the walk to the noodle stand, it makes me feel longing, Depeche Mode and sexy and sensual noodles. Spoiler Alert: Many spoilers are revealed for "In the Mood for Love", so watch it beforehand for spoiler-free listening. You have been warned! "The things you take away from a relationship maybe more important then the relationship itself." Tue, 9 September 2014 This week features "live" coverage of VinylFest featuring our interview with Steve Katz, founding member of Blood, Sweat and Tears, The Blues Project, American Flyer and The Even Dozen Jug Band. Not only an impressive musician and songwriter, Steve has also worked as a producer (producing three of Lou Reed's albums!) as well as working on the industry side of the business as East Coast Director of A&R and Vice President of Mercury Records. And along the way, we not only build our own eclectic soundtrack... but we also feature Steve's "Killer Five" of some of his favorite movie songs as well! And as we decide if we need to share our rock star/family/soap opera debate with the listeners, we also discuss... The Great Folk Scare, lots of similes, the new Zach Braff movie, I’ve seen you dressed as Adam Ant, so many levels of awful, singing in my underwear, Calypso, we hate the weird concessions of this movie, The Boomtown Rats, Hootenanny, Berkeley, cut out his vocal cords and sit them on a stool, writing a book, archiving flyers, owning a record store, Kate Hudson, being a sociopath, cassette tapes, The Tonight Show, The Electric Flag, the underground music archive, musical chairs at the theater, true love works in funny ways, Stefan Grossman, that man was clearly masturbating, casting yourself as a lead in a film, the first album with drums in stereo, technology and recording, Day-O, I was obviously about to be murdered, who was doing a lot of speed?, little RCA 45 machine, Dogs in Space, the bluegrass contingent, 140 band members, seeing it at the dollar theater, void of actual emotional impact, Ry Cooder, quasi-jazz arrangments, better equalization, Carter Burwell, Louisville is like a pizza, cassingles, The Kingston Trio, Elektra and I’m not a creeper lady! "I was supposed to do a paper on Yates and the Byzantium poems... I was having too good a time. It was a question of like, 'Here are the 60's - right in front of me. Do I do this or do Yates and the Byzantium poems?' So I said to Hell with Yates... I'm gonna be a musician." For more on Steve Katz, go to: http://stevekatzmusic.wordpress.com/ For more on VinylFest, go to: http://vinylfest.net/ For more on poster artist Jeff Gaither, go to: http://www.jeffgaither.com/ Fri, 29 August 2014 Attack of the Killer Soundtrack #15 - Attack of The Wans This we we’re back "live" from Forecastle 2014 as we bring you our continuing coverage including our segment with “The Wans”. And as we bask in the sun of the grassy knoll, we also discuss… reverberating through the ambionic fluid, who’s that lady, The Kinks, Physical Graffiti, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Beatles, Van Morrison, Richard Pryor, areas to throw Frisbees and take naps, sounding like Jack White, Zombies, Average White Band, The White Album, Antz, Guy Ritchie, a huge Hunter S. Thompson, Jackie Chan's First Strike, having a reward system, What About Bob?, Gene Wilder, scampering up a tree, with a VHS player, Finding Nemo, picking up litter, writing together, Neil Diamond, riding around in an awesome van, gin and tonic, The Specials, Homeward Bound, Dirty Dancing, The Grand Budapest Hotel, having a giant director’s chair, and questions you don’t want to ask about Milo and Otis. “I really wanted to figure out who that lady was…” “The Wans” new album comes out Sept. 9th, preorder yours now! - http://thewans.bandcamp.com/ Fri, 22 August 2014 Movie Meltdown - Episode 284 This week we are coming to you "live" from Fandomfest 2014 where we talk to actor George Wendt about his movie roles over the years. Plus we let our crew ramble on about the celebrities they saw that weekend... and their favorite specific body parts. Warning: This portion maybe inappropriate for children... or anyone who still has a little decency left in them. And as we gather around the haunted table, we also mention… Into the Woods, a 17-Carat Diamond Ring, raccoon butler, the tale of the angry watermelon, the aww shucks all-American boy, Mr. Falcon, The Hobbit, James Garner, Keith David David Keith, Chet got legit, there’s like one screw holding this thing up… and it’s bent, fist-bumping LeVar Burton, Michael Ritchie, out of 2714 shows, Benedict Cumberbatch, A Man Called Sledge, Amber Heard, Karl Urban’s bellybutton, Iron Man armor, chest merkin, Robert De Niro, a crooked mullet, Bryan Adams, Groot, I’d give Beth a piggyback ride, John Stamos, banana clip visors, improv vs. acting, being disemboweled by the big bad wolf, I’d tap that dwarf, fist bumping for Ebola, now I’m not saying I wanna put my mouth on it or anything, sleepy sexy, Christopher Walken, shirtless Reading Rainbow, a little weasely wolf, Sarah Wayne Callies, there’s obviously been hair removal done at some point, I was starting to feel like I was a little hot back then, Stuart Gordon, The Wheeler Dealers, I love me some Loki, celebrity ass update, Golden Palace, multitasking monkeys, did he make it explode, Second City, the John Cleese of drama, I just saw a bi-plane go by, Michael Fassbender, here just run into my fist with your face, a little soapy… a little weepy, Hour of the Gun, The Walking Dead, hoochie mom jeans, very pregnant and seemingly naked Mariah Carey, King of the Ants, taking photos with celebrities, mistral LaForge, unicorn butt plug, Re-Animator: The Musical, My Bodyguard, satirizing the Organic Theater Company, Dushku’s glorious hair, it wouldn’t be the first time you let a woodland creature live in your house, Buzzy's on TBS, he drives like he’s playing a video game, got damn no dog-havin’ heifer, you don’t have to go very far if you’re looking for trouble, CM PUNK, Somewhere in Time, yeah I been doing this on five continents… for forty-three years, so the guy from Nickel Creek is marrying Advil Lebean?, Norman Reedus’s bellybutton, Charlie Prince and by the way… there are no koalas in New Zealand. “It started to dawn on me… well I guess I’m an actor. You know, maybe I should… start… watching movies and seeing what people do, and how they act.” Direct download: George_Wendt_and_Random_Celebrity_Body_Parts_Ep_284_-_3000.mp3 Category:podcasts -- posted at: 4:31 AM Sat, 16 August 2014 Movie Meltdown - Episode 283 This week we welcome special guest co-host Greg Sestero, better known to many people as Mark from The Room. We discuss his early days getting into acting and how he met Tommy Wiseau and came to be involved in the making of his infamous film. Plus we hear about Greg documenting all these stories in his book - The Disaster Artist, about the making of The Room. Plus we gladly welcome Greg to sit-in for our Sofa Theater discussion on an arguably "bad" movie from a young Brad Pitt entitled - Johnny Suede. And as we discuss wild dogs running in the streets, we also mention… Ricky Nelson, Home Alone, Solarbabies, Drive, Ed Wood, Double Indemnity, instruments that grant wishes, Power Rangers, John Hughes, Bucharest, Romania, A streetcar Named Desire, Under the Skin, Javier Bardem, Breaking Bad, psychedelic lightning, Jami Gertz, very personal, Uncharted, The American Dream… Tommy’s journey… and this unlikely friendship, Spring Breakers, Richard Linklater, Guardians of the Galaxy, Stanley Kubrick, it’s the type of movie that laughs at itself, but then it takes itself seriously, an acting class in San Francisco, Boyhood, two robot women, Only God Forgives, Russian and French, a writer from Entertainment Weekly, Grizzly Adams, Miami Connection, Patton Oswalt, shooting films in the library,it was sort of like a sick fantasy… to have a packed house watch this movie, Sunset Boulevard, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Saga, the worst girlfriend you could ever ask for, 5 Second Films, I’ve learned my lesson… you never know what project you do that an audience is gonna respond to, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, kids begging on the streets, being a musicologist, So I just kind of… got on the roller coaster… and just accepted where it was going to go, Living in Oblivion, Ten degrees below zero, Cool World, a vanity project gone horribly wrong, Howard the Duck, The Killing, depressing and realistic, leave your stupid comments in your pocket, Andrew W.K., Volumes of Blood, James Franco, Billy Wilder, he kind of made the movie work, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Retro Puppet Master, obliterate every scene he was in and a VHS copy of Mazes and Monsters. Spoiler Alert: Minor spoilers for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Room and Johnny Suede. “I always felt like, the story behind it was even more amazing. More baffling.” For more on Greg and “The Disaster Artist” go to: http://www.thedisasterartistbook.com/ Direct download: Greg_Sestero_From_The_Room_to_Johnny_Suede_Ep_283_-_3000.mp3 Category:podcasts -- posted at: 3:50 PM Sun, 10 August 2014 Movie Meltdown - Episode 282 More coverage from our own "Cryptid Carnival" including our interview with Ron Schildknecht, the director of "The Legend of the Pope Lick Monster". But before that, we let Sterling loose with a microphone to harass carnival patrons. Along the way he gets involved in some amazing conversations that involve weighty topics like religion, drugs, fairies, aliens, and of course Cryptozoology. Then he and Bryan sit down to get a caricature "action shot" of them podcasting. Plus we hang out with the usual Meltdown Gang as we enjoy some live music and discuss this week's movie "The Legend of the Pope Lick Monster" along with our usual craziness. And as we make plans to start The First Church of Moth Man, we also mention... Soviets during the Cold War, the railroad's attorney, all original groovy tunes, missing lost wilderness, so God is a bigfoot on acid, every frame is money, so every frame is precious, cryptids are God, aliens in the fifties, an experiment gone wrong, podmooch, 16mm film, nipple monster, who doesn't imagine a day where they could just run down their hometown street... with a shovel in hand, and just beat the crap out of every face they run into, Richard Gere, religion is an addiction, what zombies represent in pop culture, three-cornered hats, yo mama sells popcorn on the street corner, I love a man in a frog mask, assumptions about the universe, individualism is a time bomb, when I was doing musicals in the Summer like all the cool kids, rear screen projection, the kitchen table, I've heard lots of stories of the sheepman over the years, darkness being spread by the Government and the media and major corporations, day for night cinematography, scrambling up dark hilltops and a really tall hairy guy to piggyback people. "...Cryptids are a problem?! Come on!! There you have it folks. America... uninterested, bored, and tragically uninformed." Special thanks to Nancy's Bagel Grounds: http://www.nancysbagels.com/ as well as caricatures by Kelly: http://www.kellytoon.com with live music by The Formalities: http://www.reverbnation.com/formalities and belly dancing by Ruric-Amari Dance: http://www.ruric-amari.com/ and an extra special thanks to Ron Schildknecht director of "The Legend of the Pope Lick Monster": http://www.ronschildknecht.com/ Direct download: The_Pope_Lick_Monster_goes_to_the_Carnival_Ep_282_-_3000.mp3 Category:podcasts -- posted at: 7:46 PM Tue, 5 August 2014 Movie Meltdown - Episode 281 This week, we are coming to you "live" from our own weird festival the Cryptid Carnival! Featuring a cryptid-themed, art show, live music, a dancing yeti, a homeless frogman, little furry creatures, artists, movie talk, belly dancers and so much more!! And as playful banter leads to amazing stories, we also discuss... devil tomato creatures, ballerinas or witches, a world class Grandma, Slint member run-ins, crack in a tub, Ethan Embry, cryptid architecture?, Razonblade Suitcase, Laura Vandervoort, Fantastic Mr. Fox, green apple ice cream, Incedent On and Off a Mountain Road, old fashioned lemonaid, a potential Adult Swim show, Action Grandma!, Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend, not getting your nap in, The Raid 2, Lost Girl, eating your wolf skin, Bill Murray doing his thing, being in cahoots together, Don Coscarelli, Werther's Originals, the yeti watching the band, Angus Scrimm, I spilled it all over myself, a Loch Ness monster tattoo, Spiderland, Newbie, the eccentric shut-in, bringing doom to small town bridges, P.J. Harvey, I like apes, strange symbolic attachments, interesting garbage, nonsense subtitles, Hemlock Grove, Yeti vs. Bigfoot, what is Princess Jasmine doing down here?, Woody Allen, dipthong, you can't answer a question about a questionable creature with a question, a devil puppet costume, Witches of East End, Bitten, yeti on the moon, Wes Anderson, How to Train your Dragon 2, extreme puppeteering camp, The Beasts of Bladenboro, Misfits, Livid, having bronchitis, Under the Skin, blue-haired moo moo, Steve Albini, you came on your pogo penis stick, waves a banana in my face, Umberto Eco, Repo Man, vampire ballerinas, Hex, build for inclement weather, 666 Park Avenue, Michael Fassbender, bullshit coma, free ice cream, Moth Man, Steven King and please don't get any lipstick on the mic sir. "Wow... I need to check out this town that's filled with such crazy and interesting people." Special thanks to Nancy's Bagel Grounds: http://www.nancysbagels.com/ Mon, 28 July 2014 Attack of the Killer Soundtrack #14 - Attack of Houndmouth This episode we are coming to you "live" from Forecastle fest 2014. And as we build our own group effort soundtrack, we also visit special guest Angryblue who designed this year’s Forecastle poster. Plus an extra special guest appearance by artist - Miss Happy Pink. Then we sit down with this week’s special guest co-hosts - Zak Appleby and Shane Cody from Houndmouth. We discuss how the band came together as well as their musical influences and how they spill over into movies. Plus we get some input from their manager Chris on how he helped them break into the music scene. And as we assess the aesthetics of our guest’s nipples, we also bring up… The Rolling Stones, The Band, skull dungeon, rude hosting experiences, Louisville vs. New Albany, loving sugar, being addicted to podcasts, luck and practice, leaky sausage patties, Seinfeld, Boomtown, speed skating in Florida, playing poker, doing all the moves, playing in the Ed Sullivan Theater, riding across America, a sad stomach, Parliament, dress warm, The War on Drugs, Sharknado, the sincerity of weird and awkward, stalking Salma Hayek, I’ll put mops on my feet, proverbial balls, dancing with cheesecake, bandana and piano… you can’t go wrong, South by Southwest, The Venture Brothers, Delta Spirits, lumpy nipples, Duets, there’s not enough boogie skating these days… that’s the problem, being on Letterman, The Sugar Hill Gang, where the wolverine attack happened, Lonesome Dove, four wheels and as fast as you can go…, being on Conan, Tara Reid, having multiple kids, being indecisive, the life of a speed skater and I’m castle freak… what’s up? “It’s funny how songs are related to scenes in movies… It’s like, well that’s the perfect f-ing song right there. There’s nothing else I wanna hear… at this point in time.”

Loch Ness Type Monster Sighted In Wisconsin Banksy like Street Art Must Be Removed ,Says Council The Department of Natural Resources in EAU CLAIRE Wisconsin are enraged at the appearance of a life scale 'street art' reproduction of the Loch Ness monster in the local Chippewa River. The sculpture in three pieces consisting of a long neck middle section and tail, mysteriously appeared this week and was rapidly embraced by the local community who would like the public sculpture to remain. The DNR wants the Loch Ness sculpture removed by the person who put it there because it’s an illegal obstruction to a navigable waterway. DNR spokesman Dan Baumann says the monster needs to be removed sooner rather than later because it’s a public safety concern. An artist claiming to be the creator emailed the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram a local newspaper and said the sculpture would be removed in the next 10 days. A local shop The Menards home improvement , is interested in purchasing the guerrilla art. The Eau Claire retailer says its retention ponds would be a good home for the Loch Ness monster. The Loch Ness Monster (Scottish Gaelic: Niseag) is a cryptid that is reputed to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next. Popular interest and belief in the animal has varied since it was brought to the world's attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with minimal and much-disputed photographic material and sonar readings. The most common speculation among believers is that the creature represents a line of long-surviving plesiosaurs. The scientific community regards the Loch Ness Monster as a modern-day myth, and explains sightings as a mix of hoaxes and wishful thinking. Despite this, it remains one of the most famous examples of cryptozoology. The legendary monster has been affectionately referred to by the nickname Nessie Scottish Gaelic: Niseag] since the 1950s.

I've mentioned before here that I grew up on the western edge of Wisconsin along the Mississippi -- a couple hours bike ride from where you searched for the Mothman, and a few blocks from where the Mothman report occurred at Brice Prairie.One thing I can say about alligators; they're not as uncommon as you might think. Barges go up the Mississippi from the New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and plenty of gators hitch rides on those. Every summer it seemed a new news report would come out about someone fishing off a bridge or at a spillway and snagging a small gator. (And small gators with no predators grow.)The Wisconsin River branches off the Mississippi in lower Wisconsin and goes all the way up to the north-eastern part of the state. It doesn't connect to the Rock River in Janesville, but it swings through Dane County, which is adjacent to Janesville's Rock County. Since commercial river transport is so big there, I wouldn't be surprised if some barge-hopping gators ended up on a container that a semi truck took through Dane and Rock Counties, and from there they found their way to water. There's marsh and swampland all over that area of the state -- it wouldn't be hard for a population of amphibious reptiles to make a good go of it, and with the freakishly warm winters Wisconsin's had for the past 20 years, that's even more possible. But there are other things worth considering: Elkhorn is the next county east of Rock County -- and that's Beast of Bray Road country. One thing I think Linda Godfrey has pointed out before is the strange connection between effigy mounds and cryptid sightings.Other states have effigy mounds, and I know Ohio is famous for the Serpent Mound, but there are only a handful of mounds in other states; there are 4,000 still extant in Wisconsin, and at one point there were tens of thousands more. Godfrey has reported that the native tribes there (Ho-Chunk, Ojibwe) claim the mounds were there when they arrived, and that they've had cryptid sightings near those mounds for eons. That part of the country is interesting; it's called the Driftless Area and it's old, older than most other landscape because it was largely untouched in the last glaciation period. (To me it kinda looks like Utah, but green.) There's a state park in that area called Aztalan that still has three massive mounds in it, but Devil's Lake state park also has mounds and something else -- a sunken pyramid at the bottom of 40-foot deep lake. It's not a typical pyramid; it's a long rectangular-shape, built with stacked stones that taper up to a peak. It's hard for divers to spot because it's so silty at the bottom, but it has been photographed and spotted with sonar. The problem is how the hell did a pyramid get there? Stone-age people most likely weren't diving 40 feet in the dark to build it, so it must have been built before the lake was a lake -- and here's where things get odd. That lake itself was created in the last glaciation, 12,000 years ago, but the glacier didn't really touch the surrounding area (the bluffs were once higher than the Rockies -- like I said, the area's old). So if the pyramid was built before the lake was there, that makes the pyramid older than Gobekli Tepe. If the same people who built the pyramid also played a role in the effigy mounds, that might explain why the Ho-Chunk say the mounds were already there when they arrived. For what it's worth, my pop had a big black cat sighting while fishing on the Mississippi, and that turned into kind of a thing with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. He was in a channel a little ways off an island, and thought he saw a black lab on the island's beach. But the way it moved was wrong, and he says then he noticed the tail, and said to himself "That's a damn cat!" He watched it for a while, and it roamed the treeline for a bit and then went back deeper into the island.He contacted the DNR because he was thinking there was an escaped cat someplace; cougars haven't been there in about a century, and this thing was black. The way he tells it, they started to interrogate him pretty forcefully, to make sure he wasn't drunk, a story-teller looking for attention, etc. They initially got some basic info, and then hung up. A short while later he was called back, and grilled over the phone for about 20 or 30 minutes. When they were satisfied he wasn't a nut, the officer told him that two evenings before they spotted a dead deer on that same part of that same island; it'd been attacked by something and killed. They tagged the deer and returned the next morning to collect the remains, but the carcass had been dragged to the middle of the island and completely picked over -- no organs left, and a lot of the meat gone. They weren't sure what could have done that, because there are no coyotes or wolves out there, but now here's my dad with a report of a giant black cat.If you ever do go back to Wisconsin, feel free to ask any questions you might have. I don't live there anymore, but if I don't have some info, I may know who to go to or where to look.Fun Fact: Orson Welles is from Wisconsin, and before he went to Europe, he wrote a play about hunters in northern Wisconsin being terrorized by a ghost in a cabin. It was discovered in the State Historical Society archives back in the early 1990's. M:Many thanks for the 2 comments. I have a similar story to the DNR one in my next book, this one from a few years ago on the east Coast.

||It has been suggested that this article be merged with Starchild skull. (Discuss) Proposed since December 2013.| Lloyd Anthony Pye Jr. (September 7, 1946 – December 9, 2013) was an American author and paranormal researcher best known for his promotion of the Starchild skull. He claimed it was the relic of a human-alien hybrid, although DNA testing showed it to be from a human male. He also promoted the ideas that cryptozoological creatures such as Bigfoot are real and that aliens intervened in human development. Pye's first book That Prosser Kid (1977), a fictional account of college football, was said to have "achieved considerable recognition" by the Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature, and was called "lively but unoriginal" by the Boston Globe. It received negative reviews in The New York Times Book Review and the Los Angeles Times. His 1988 book Mismatch was called a "novel that ought to go on your must read list" by Deseret News. Pye also gave lectures and made television appearances in support of his ideas on The Learning Channel, National Geographic Channel, Extra, Animal Planet, and Richard & Judy in the United Kingdom. Pye stated that he believed Bigfoot to exist, as well as the similar Mongolian cryptid the Almas. The Starchild skull In the late 1990s, Pye obtained a curiously shaped skull from a couple in El Paso, Texas that he believed was an alien-human hybrid. DNA tests show that the skull is from a human male. American clinical neurologist Steven Novella believes the skull belongs to a child who suffered from hydrocephalus. In 2009, Pye took a replica of the skull on a lecture tour of Europe, including an appearance at the Leeds Exopolitics Expo. Pye was born in Houma, Louisiana, to Lloyd A. Pye Sr., an optometrist (c.1922 - 2007), and Nina Jo Pye (née Boyles); Lloyd Pye had two brothers. He earned a football scholarship to Tulane University in New Orleans as a Running back/Punter from 1964–1968. He was the Tulane Green Wave football team's leading punter 1967-1968. He graduated in 1968 with a B.S. in psychology and joined the U.S. Army as a military intelligence specialist. He later lived in Pensacola.[not in citation given] - That Prosser Kid (fiction, Arbor House, 1977, ISBN 0877951659) about a redshirted college football player, republished as A Darker Shade of Red (2007, Bell Lap Books) - Mismatch, (fiction, Dell, 1988), about computer hacking and warfare. ISBN 9780595126149 - Everything You Know is Wrong – Book One: Human Evolution (Adamu, 1998) ISBN 9780966013412 - The Starchild Skull: Genetic Enigma or Human-Alien Hybrid? (Bell Lap Books, 2007) ISBN 0979388147 - Starchild Skull Essentials (ebook, 2011) - Intervention Theory Essentials (ebook, 2011) - Regal, Brian (2009). Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia. Greenwood. p. 88. ISBN 9780313355073. - "Alien skull' star attraction at Leeds extra-terrestrial conference". Yorkshire Evening Post. June 27, 2009. Retrieved 2011-08-13. - Feder, Kenneth L. (2010). "Starchild". Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology: From Atlantis to the Walam Olum. ABC-CLIO. pp. 246–8. ISBN 9780313379185. Retrieved 2011-03-17. - Novella, Steven (February 2006). "The Starchild Project". New England Skeptical Society. Retrieved 2011-03-17. - Calvert, Brian (August 31, 2006) [May 26, 2005]. "'I have no doubt they're out there'". KOMO News. Archived from the original on 2012-06-14. - Pye, Lloyd (2000). Everything You Know is Wrong: Book One: Human Origins (reprint ed.). Authors Choice Press. ISBN 9780595127498.[full citation needed] - Serafin, Steven R.; Bendixen, Alfred, eds. (2005). "Sports and Literature". The Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature. Continuum International Publishing. p. 1073. ISBN 0826417779. - Allen, Bruce (January 27, 1978). "Book review: A somewhat tasty piece of Pye". Boston Globe. - Freedman, Richard (February 5, 1978). "Worlds of men". The New York Times Book Review. New York Times. (subscription required (. )) - Paine, Jocelyn (November 20, 1977). "Small-time football is his game plan". Los Angeles Times. - "Novel offers a chilling look at havoc caused by `phreaker'". Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT). April 2, 1989. - Lloyd Pye at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2011-08-13. - Pye 2000,[full citation needed]. - "Lloyd A. Pye Jr. (1946 - 2013)". Northwest Florida Daily News. December 18, 2013. Retrieved 2014-05-23 – via Legacy.com. - "Dr. Lloyd Pye Sr., O.D.". Houma Today. September 19, 2007. Retrieved 2011-08-27. - "Lloyd (Anthony) Pye, (Jr.)". Contemporary Authors Online. Gale. 2001. (subscription required (. )) - "Miami tops Tulane". Deseret News. October 6, 1967. p. 6A. Retrieved 2011-08-27. - "Ms. Fitz Football Endowment Fund – Committee". Tulane Green Wave (website). Tulane University, CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2011-08-27. - "Punting Year-By-Year Leaders". Tulane Green Wave (website). Tulane University, CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2011-08-27. - Vilona, Bill (November 11, 2007). "South Alabama considers possibility of football program". Pensacola News Journal. - Lind, Angus (November 26, 2008). "Ms. Fitz's Boys". Tulane Green Wave (website). Tulane University, CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2011-08-27. - Pye, Lloyd (October 2007). "A Darker Shade of Red — A tale twice told". Independent Publisher Online (Jenkins Group). Retrieved 2011-08-27. - "Mismatch". West Coast Review of Books 14 (Rapport). 1988. p. 23. - Official website - Bibliography of Pye, Lloyd, isbndb.com

Now with 20% more Epicnote Top row: Ash, The Principal of Charablys High, Dusky. Middle: Cerise, Mel, Jacqui, The Mysterious Masked Acadamy Avenger. Bottom row: Sandi, Faith, Callista Magick Chicks is a Spin-Offwebcomic of the series Eerie Cuties. The series focuses on three witches known as the Hellrune Coven: Melissa Hellrune, Jacqui Brightmoon, and Cerise Darkshade, who are "volunteered" to transfer to a new high school after the three were caught using (or at least trying to use) a forbidden magic artifact (you can read the story arc from the start here).Once there, they find that 1) Its an all-girls school, 2) while they were queen bees at their old school, this new setting has its own ruling party in the form of the student council who're more than willing to show the three "the ropes," 3) it's led by a very powerful esper who practically has the whole student body wrapped around her finger, and 4) it's a school for monster hunters, and they consider 'witches'to be monsters.Say the least, trying to regain their popularity is the least of their worries.It's co-written by both Gisele Legace (who originally did the art) and Dave Zero1, with inks (and other inputs) by Shouri. As of February '12, the full art duties had been picked up by Cassandra Wedeking, who had worked on Evil Diva, but duties returned to Shouri in May '14, leaving Cassandra to work only on Dangerously Chloe.Updated Tuesdays and FridaysNow has a character page. Mostly averted with the Hellrune Coven, but Melissa herself has one. Later, after Mel finally saves the cat of the little girl who'd been after Mel about that...then told by the little girl as she vanishes, "Sorry, but that's not my kitty..That's your kitty!", she ends up with a second cat, which tries and fails to flirt with the first. Jacqui is shown to have taken in one of Cerise's magicked puppies. Alpha Bitch: Faith is introduced as Artemis Academy's Student Council President, the most powerful esper in its history, and the most popular girl on campus. Whereas Melissa begins as a former 'queen bee' from Charybdis Heights, who's determined to regain her old status, by overthrowing Faith. Ambiguously Bi: Jacqui and Cerise, based on comments from Eerie Cuties — boy-crazy Jacqui, after Layla kissed male Melissa just as she turned back, was obsessed with hearing how it felt to kiss another girl, and Cerise's first reaction to Melissa's plan to seduce Layla was "she's too stuck up for my tastes," and to finding out they were at an all-girls school, "we're gonna have to become lesbians!" Awesome McCoolname: The names of the girls in the Hellrune Coven, Melissa Hellrune, Jacqui Brightmoon and Cerise Darkshade. Justified because being a witch seems to be In the Blood, and thus it makes sense for families to take on "witchy" names. Bad Boss: The principal of Charydbis shows some signs of this, dismissing out of hand Mel's statements about Tiffany, and yelling at them in general if they seemed to question anything. Chapter 16 ("To the Spoiled Goes the Victory") has Cerise be one to Skye as Hekate hasn't formally made Cerise the new leader of the Coven (mainly because Mel's soul hadn't crossed the Styx—which meant Mel was dead). The Beard: Inverted with Cerise and Callie; Cerise is using Callie in order to pretend to be a lesbian, which is necessary to be popular in the Schoolgirl Lesbian-dominated Artemis Academy. Unfortunately, she didn't tell Callie this little detail...no one expects this to end well. Given Callie has a Heroic BSOD from finding out Cerise was a witch and Cerise teleported Callie, Faith, Jacqui, Tiffany and a few others in an attempt to Kill 'em All, that's now a given. The Bechdel Test: Used in universe as Callie complains about a movie failing it. Becoming the Mask: Cerise. Originally she hooks up with Callie to get popular. Then she starts getting...feelings. And Skye gets some about Cerise too—and has Cerise reply in kind. However, Cerise's more recent situations have shown that approach isn't without their own problems. Using Skye to get closer to Callie led to Skye becoming evil and nearly killing Callie by wolf proxy, and her recent attempt to dethrone Melissa backfired literally when Mel swatted Cerise's own fireball back at her. Tiffany pulls an even bigger one after Faith nearly gets herself killed in a fight she instigates with Layla! Tiffany saves Faith, but couldn't bring herself to stake Layla either. So she Takes a Third Option by taking the bullet for Faith in order to save both. Not only does she succeed, it causes Faith to fall in love with her! Melissa gets one of her own, by saving Faith and Tiffany from a pair of possessed students, during which, she's revealed to be a Magical Girl! Break the Haughty: The transfer was meant as a form of this. Considering Melissa meeting Faith, time will tell how this goes. Rain's defeat by Mel without magick use could be another one. Mel's recent Eerie Cuties appearance has her going through Training from Hell with Tiff again, and she's bemoaning that she hates the Wand, Tiff, and being at a school without boys (which she laments as she realizes how much she missed that part). Brought Down to Normal: Mel, Jacqui and Cerise used to being the queens of the school's social circle; unfortunately their new classmates didn't get the memo — and more unfortunately, they've completely forgotten how to earn their places as said queens, being used to everyone just giving them the respect and admiration they've taken for granted. Charles Atlas Superpower: By default, humans in the story verse are about as strong and tough as they are in the real world. But with training, it is possible for anyone to accomplish feats that would be super human for us. Cooldown Hug: Tiffany uses one to allow Layla to feed on her, to bring her out of her bloodlust. Crossover: One major crossover even with Eerie Cuties already, and characters from both appear in the other. Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: The Hellrune Coven may consist of stereotypical high school girls, but based on the spell Cerise fried Dusky with and the spell Mel cast that (accidentally) dropped Tiffany in one shot chances are good all three of them could handle themselves in a fight. Jacqui has proved her competence. She cast a spell that cause Sandi to see her greatest desire (Faith naked) to leave her indisposed then disguised herself as Sandi, and a tree as herself. The end result is her esper opponent flying head on into said tree and Sandi naked and dry humping a different tree. In tune with the core CMHB trope, Tiff might be a Cloudcuckoolander, but she seems to have some genuine skills and knowledge in there. The "moron" part of this word is debatable, but Cerise is a competent summoner. Too bad the fans are more concerned with her getting her Laser-Guided Karma to care right now. And finally we have Melissa who caused a level nine magical event, which has the Artemis staff a little on edge. News of it left their normally calm composed teacher at a near loss for words. Mel even took on Rain without using magick and won. Dakota when stabbing Anastasia in the back with a magical sword she was certain would kill her didn't. Shortly after it's Anastasia's turn when she gets distracted by Melissa, looks away, and looks back only to find herself staring down the barrel of Dakota's magically charged flintlock. She only has enough time to get out "Oh sh—" before Dakota shoots her in the face. Twice. At the start of the comic, Melissa has a dream helping a little girl get a cat out of a tree with her with her magic. She was horrified upon awakening. When she faces a similar situation on the way to her new school, she responds by making the tree grow. Cerise: Mel?! That was mean! Even for you! Melissa: I'll explain later. Driven to Suicide: When forcefully combined into one person and the resulting clash of moralities and personalities occured the only thing Dakota and Anastasia could agree on was to kill themselves. The thing that stopped them once they had the noose around their neck was noticing the early signs of, and confirming, their being pregnant with Melissa. Dynamic Entry: Tiffany enters and exits with a smoke bomb when she's doing the MMAA thing. Enemy Mine: Tandy and Sandi have more or less adopted this stance with regard to Mel being their new student council president, even though she's half witch. Because they need her in order to save Artemis from Cerise and Melissa can't save the school without their help. Giz: Fairly quick. We saw that there was an immediate interest in them when we posted the chapter break image for "See no evil." They hadn't even spoken, and the interest was there. Everyone Is Bi: At least to some degree. Or gay. It has been implied to be the result of Faith's subconscious connection to the school, remaking it in her image. Evil Costume Switch: When Brainwashed and Crazy by Cerise, the Artemis Academy students' uniforms are given an inverted color scheme, resulting in a mostly black outfit. When Melissa uses the Wand to restore one of them to normal, the color scheme also returns to normal. From Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we have Tiffany Winters (of Buffy Summers herself); time will tell if Dusky (Tiff's brother) is really an expy of Dawn (Buffy's sister), or just a minor character with a bit of a pun in his name. From Ranma ½, we have Ash, of Ranma himself. His sister is one of female Ranma. The first story arc includes the three having their skirts shot off. Ranmaexpy Ash getting his shirt 'cut' off helping give some balance. And then Faith tips the scale back for the male audience by seemingly projecting herself nudenote save for some strategically placed maple leaves, in commemoration of Canada Day onto the schoolyard, unnoticed by all except Sandi. Which turns out to be an illusion created by one of Jacqui's glamour spells, which causes whoever it's cast on to see their deepest desire. Averted by the use of Modesty Shorts by Rain in her duel with Mel, though as a physical combatant, it would make a lot of sense for her too. Faith is extraordinarily gifted, very powerful, extremely popular, and is so hot that even her enemies lust after her. As you can imagine, she's dangerously self-confident and has a pretty big ego. It eventually gets deflated. See the This Cannot Be! entry on her character sheet. Rain underestimates her opponents, like in Melissa's case, where she was certain she could defeat her so long as she didn't give her time to cast any spells. And wound up flat on her back, seconds later. She's also a Sore Loser, as evidenced when she makes a show of challenging Mel to a rematch in front of the entire school. Except that didn't work out for her either. Fish out of Water: The Hellrune Coven is accustomed to becoming popular by impressing boys. When they end up in an all girls school, they don't have a clue on how they are going to rise up the social ladder. Recent indications are that Cerise is bi (she was really, really into kissing Callie) and Callie is either straight or just finds the idea of having someone into her really awkward. Likewise, Skye didn't mind the short kiss Cerise gave her, either, so possibly Cerise might becoming more acceptable with being bi. This appears to be one of Faith's esper powers to some kind of extent based off how Tiff ended up having to very suddenly snap herself back to reality after Faith began to sweet talk her. She's obviously doing something to affect Tiff's train of thought and this would certainly explain Sandi's behavior. But it may be relevant to ask why Tiffany has "Les Yay tendencies". Did she behave the way she did with Layla because Faith has been conditioning her to behave that way when dealing with a powerful, attractive female? Mel seems just as susceptible to it when Faith really concentrates on her; Faith doesn't appear to have much difficulty removing a target's inhibitions to make it fairly easy to do what she wants with them. Layla likens being around Faith to being on a sugar buzz. Jerk Ass: Mel is still thinking like the Alpha Bitch, despite the new school, although she may grow out of this. Faith seems to be a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing variant of this, hazing all three girls on their first day for no readily apparent reason and smirking the whole time. Know When to Fold 'Em: Faith and Tiffany may be two of the toughest girls at Artemis Academy, but they still know when it's best to haul ass. Memory Gambit: The Hellrune coven was sent to Artemis Academy by the principal of Charybdis High school to spy on the monster hunters, not just to punish them. Part of their cover involved erasing their memories of their actual mission until it was time for them to report. The Mole: Subverted. There actually is a mole, but he's harmless. The real leak is Faith's habit of talking in her sleep. Not so subverted with Mel, Cerise, and Jacqui, who are all unwitting Charybdis High School sleeper agents. Melissa was loyal to you before you saw the wand, then what did you do? You went ballistic and shrank her down. It happened to be where pixie dust was, too. Well, it wasn't like turning Mel into a pixie would bypass the Power Incontinence problem she had that forced the wand to be separated from her, right? Or turn her into a Cute WitchMagical Girl, Right? It did Both AND put Mel's loyalties to you in jeopardy in the process too?!? Whoops... Not Himself: Skye after listening to a mysterious voice and going through a doorway. Before she was rather timid and gentle. But upon crashing a party thrown for Callista, she's voluptuous and threatening (if only in a playful way). Not-So-Harmless Villain: Jacqui had been shown using simple glamors and such until her duel (save only for one point apparently charging up an offensive spell). Then she goes and shows that illusions can be quite useful in combat. "Not Wearing Pants" Dream: Melissa has a dream where she's about to present a report in front of the class in her underwear. She does not mind though, until she changes into a Magical Girl outfit, which she finds really embarrassing. Obfuscating Stupidity: Jacqui is showing signs of this. The fact that no one (not even the fans) can really tell how true it is might just go to show you how good she is at it. Panty Shot: Considering the shortness of those skirts, not too surprising. Given that the main characters are a couple of years older than most of the EC cast, the artists may feel a bit more free to do this. Pet the Dog: Faith has generally been portrayed as a Smug Super with questionable moral boundaries When Melissa taps into the school's power and it goes out of control, however, Faith seems genuinely concerned for her well-being. Though she swipes the wand and forfeits the match to conceal the theft, once she's sure Mel is safe. When Mel wakes up in the infirmary, Jacqui and Cerise are there, and seem to be genuinely glad that she's better. Faith got another one by tending to Tiffany, following the Layla incident. The conversation afterward was rather candid for a manipulative young woman like Faith and seems to suggests her new found respect and attraction to Tiffany are genuine. Roof Hopping: Used by Tiff. And she got a Wand-controlled Mel to join her (though this is Tiff thinking Mel's good enough she's doing it in her sleep). Running Gag: The whole little girl and the cat in the tree, comes to a head when she winds up meeting her in real life. Mel decides to finally just get the cat down from the tree...only for the "girl" to fade away and leave her stuck with the cat. Scenery Censor: Onscreen nudity is kept to a minimum. In what few instances there are, the comic maintains its PG-13 rating by cleverly concealing all naughty bits with foreground objects, the characters hair, or speech balloons. Schoolgirl Lesbian: Cerise is convinced that this will be their fate in this all-girls school; given the wink one of the girls gives her while she says it, she might already have an admirer. Sandi has a galaxy-sized crush on Student Council President, Faith. The splash page for Chapter 5 shows that there seem to a large number of lesbian couples at the school. There seems to be very few actual lesbians, but a lot of bisexuality. Except for the coven lampshading it on their first arrival, this is treated as wholly unremarkable. Skye is hinted with potential to be one, especially after taking in excess Evil to save Cerise. Smooch of Victory: Played with as not only was Faith not the hero this time around, but she has to go fishing for it. Regardless, once she does Tiffany does so with no resistance. Cue the collective "D'aaaaaaaw" from the majority of the fans. Take a Third Option: Hekate believed Melissa would kill Cerise (and break the Wand's influence over her permanently) or Cerise would kill Melissa (and definitively prove she's the rightful successor to the Coven). The Ninja Club through Rain (disguised as Skye) decides to take Cerise out first with "Skye" doing a Back Stab on Cerise first, possibly leaving Melissa's hands clean of this. Take Off Your Clothes: Cerise asks Brooke for dating tips with girls (despite being straight; it's solely to get more popular at the all-girl school). Brooke thus drags Cerise to her bedroom and asks her to strip; Cerise obeys, despite being convinced that they'll end up having lesbian sex — but in truth, Brooke just wants her to model for some nude painting. Tempting Fate: While Melissa grouses about Cerise's Starscreaming, she takes comfort in the fact that being at an all-girls school means that Jacqui won't be distracted by boys. Cue (male) Hot Teacher. Also, in his initial appearance, Ash tries to taunt Faith with, "No one...can lay a hand on me." He only gets past "on" before Jacqui lays TWO hands on him—as well as two arms and a cheek as she GLOMPshim. Rain said she'd dye her hair before she loses to Mel (who couldn't tell the difference between judo and kung-fu). She goes a dark black hair and tries to be what Dark Skye wants in their latest appearance. Tiff: Looks it's up to I, Tiffany Winters, to save the day! Time for Plan B: What Faith resorts to after getting a earful of Jacqui's ditziness. Faith: Sandi! We're moving to Plan B! Sandi: Is-Isn't that dangerous? Faith: Life is dangerous, Sandi! Embrace Life! Too Dumb to Live: Faith might be The Ace of her school, but stumbled on the idea that left the main cloudcuckoolander of the series stunned with round eyes, flatly saying "You're Insane!" and then rephrasing it. She deliberately berserks a vampire and then attempts to engage her in hand-to-hand combat in a spur-of-the-moment decision. Which would have gotten her killed if Tiffany hadn't intervened to save her and calm Layla down. Two Beings, One Body: As a result of the rift Queen Obscuria and Musical Starlight were fighting in collapsing around them, it put them in a composite body with both minds going through Villainous Breakdown and Heroic BSOD as each felt what the other had at that point. Underestimating Badassery: Tiffany is largely treated as an incompetent buffoon by pretty much everyone who knows her. However, while she is a little overzealous and ditzy, she does show some signs of being a genuine threat. She's strong, athletic, has good supernatural senses, nearly beat Cerise in their combat training (only to get timed out), and even managed to calm down a berserk Layla. This doesn't go unnoticed by Melissa, who tries to tell the Principal of Charydbis. The Principal, however, dismisses her concerns and the matter is dropped. Time will tell if this will come back to bite her later. Unwitting Pawn: Callista and Skye to Cerise, who's using Skye's admiration of herto toy with Callista's affections for her, all so she can rise to the top of Artemis's social order. Only problem was, at Callie's birthday party, Skye returns to to challenge Callie for Skye. Skye trumps Cerise by stripping in front of everyone when told she can't be in rags, kisses Cerise with enough to leave her stunned and speaking incoherently, and finally using a chipmunk to chew through Callie's bow—to set Callie up to be eaten by a pack of wolves. Then to vanish on the back of one of them after Faith foils her. Making Cerise wonder just what Skye did to her back there. Urban Fantasy: The story is set in a modernish environment. There isn't a lot of Magitek, but magic in general is pretty common. Vain Sorceress: All three of the primary trio, and it turns out their goddess is pretty much the goddess of vain sorceresses; she gets paid tribute with beautiful designer dresses. The Vamp: A pseudo-example seems to be Faith's main ability. Melissa: Did you know they teach a class on hunting witches here? I never wanted to know my own burning point! Who's Laughing Now?: Cerise seems to be headed that way after drinking a bit of pure black magick (that was meant for Mel to break the Wand's hold on her)... though given how nonchalant Hekate is reacting to it... Cerise: I'll show NGG the world... ...Just how powerful a witch can be!!! Witch Species: Though the differences are not immediately visible, witches are dissimilar to other spell casters. The principal of Charybdis Heights describes them as having the same cursed, cryptid blood that other "monsters" such as the ones at her school possess and the Artemis monster hunters intend to kill.

The allghoi khorkhoy , more commonly known as the Mongolian Death Worm, is a desert cryptid said to be able to spit acid and generate a powerful electric current. These aggressive annelids burrow underground and attack from a distance, bringing down prey as large as camels and supposedly hunting humans as well. Theories attempting to explain it's existance are varied: it has been hypothesized to be either a carnivorous worm, an unknown species of cobra, or a giant member of the amphisbaenid family. I depicted mine as a segmented worm to keep with tradition. Personally, I don't think there's anything to this one. Sure, you could argue that there's no bodies or whatever because the desert would quickly swallow them all up. But you could just as easily argue that it's because there is no Death Worm and that the desert is just a convenient excuse to mask the fact that there's no physical evidence. Maybe I'd give it a chance if it were a more believable cryptid, but... a giant, man-eating worm that spits acid and generates blasts of electricity? Really?

Spent my Friday night in, my Saturday afternoon being productive, and now it’s time to turn up. #selfie #overweightkimkrealness#boobs #black #eyebrows #ethnic #latina It is a creature of Irish folklore, as well as a cryptid. Dobhar-chú is roughly translated into “water hound.” It is considered by some to be Ireland’s equivalent of the Loch Ness monster, the Dobhar-Chú is a lake beast said to roam since ancient times. It resembles both a… The way I pick up a penny in the street when I see someone cute.

Monday, August 17, 2009 Some of the stresses and strains were caused by events beyond anyone's control, but others were caused by the selfish behaviour of various people who really should have known better. Other members of the team, however, were remarkable, but I am only going to single out three of them: David, Max, and my darling wife Corinna. I could not have done what I have done without you. I also want to thank Roy and Kaye Braund-Phillips for their immense amount of help. I am sorry that this year's event has been such a strain on you, and I apologise unreservedly for the behaviour of some of my associates and crew. Other highlights were the gloriously surreal bar on the Thursday night run by my stepdaughter Olivia, her boyfriend Ivan, and their friends Jenny and Chris. All four of them were fantastic. Ronan C. who, despite health problems, flew from Ireland at his own expense to be with us, and Nick R. who did much the same from Dallas need to be congratulated, and I would like to thank everyone at The Farmers Arms and the Woolsery Community Centre for everything that they have done. There are going to be changes next year, but there will still be a next year, and the changes will not effect the essential character of the event. It will still be a three day event, there will still be a cocktail party, there will still be a gloriously surreal mix of art, science and stupidity, and on the third week in August 2010 there will be the eleventh Weird Weekend. The chemosit or Nandi bear was the terror of east Africa in the early part of the 20th century. Much feared by even the bravest hunter it was said to feed on the brains of its victims and be able to tear through the toughest barriers to get at livestock. Some tribespeople even took to wearing protective headgear in case of a nandi bear attack. As the name suggests the creature was bear-like in appearance, though there are no known bears in Africa since the extinction of the Atlas Mountains bear. It has been postulated that the nandi bear is a giant hyena, a monster baboon, an out of place chimpanzee or an outsized ratel. Indeed it may be a composite bogeyman based on all of these animals and more. Bernard Heuvalmans referred to it as the African proteus. But no one reports seeing it, being attacked by it, or losing livestock to it anymore. Another east African cryptid that seems to have vanished off the map is the mngwa or 'strange one'; a lion-sized, tabby-coloured cat. It is widespread in east African legend but beginning in the 1920s these legends became very real for the folks living in coastal villages around Lake Tanganyika when one of these ‘mythical’ beasts began to kill and eat people. From the descriptions by both western hunters and natives it seems that the mngwa may have been a melonotic leopard. This very rare colour mutation leads to a tabby like coat. Then again a leopard is not nearly so large as a lion. Once more the beast seems to have vanished, with no recent sightings. There could be several reasons for these African cryptids' disappearance. Perhaps as the century progressed the old tribal stories and beliefs died out. If the Nandi bear was nothing but a composite of various creatures then the people may have begun to see it for what it was and not blame attacks on people and livestock by rouge hyenas on the Nandi bear. Maybe the mngwa attacks in the 1920s were just one abnormally large melonotic leopard. Once the beast died the mngwa switch back to just being a creature from folktales. The lack of consistent reports for both these beasts argues against them being an unknown species and supports the idea of unusual individuals of a known species. But then again maybe the Nandi bear and the mngwa do still prowl the night, but the reports never leave the remote African villagers. Having recently been away in my dream world - a bird rescue centre - feeding and caring for various forms of avian life, and catching quite a few forms of bird parasite life (all gone now, luckily), I havent been able to blog. I apologise to my regular reader, whoever you are (if I have one) for slacking, but during my time at this bird rescue centre I was not slacking. How do I know this? Because from 10 pm to about 7.30 am I was out cold like a stone. This is very rare for me as I'm a teenager. We normally have nocturnal habits, creeping around dark, dank places, and waiting to pounce upon and frighten O.A.P s ... that's according to the newspapers anyway! But despite the change of my normal routine I have to say that I had a great time while I was staying there. I had the privilege of holding a cormarant, learning how to feed a gannet, and getting covered in bird mites. Plus I now have seven pigeons, including two racers and a young wood pigeon. I'm quite grateful for a few more birds as at the moment my barn owl Boedicia is moulting, and therefore I am unable to fly her. Also, shortly before I went away, I spotted an article about a strange, three-toed, cloven-hooved footprint in the local paper, which certainly does intrigue the mind. But more on that next week. But apart from that all has been very quiet; all I can say is I hope I've spoken too soon.... There is a lot of hard work done behind the scenes every Weird Weekend and in the months leading up to it that people don’t get to see and for the past few weeks nobody at the CFZ has been standing still and we really couldn’t have done it without help from other people in the village, right down to speakers and punters that have helped us out too. I’d like to take this opportunity to offer up my own thanks to everyone who has helped us out this weekend. Dr Dan deserves a huge thank you from me in particular. I look forward to seeing everyone who came at next year's event too and to meeting all the people reading the blog over the weekend that have finally been convinced to come to the Weird Weekend in 2010.

10 Legendary Monsters of North America: Part Two Legendary monsters live wherever there are people to tell the tales to -including North America, where there are many more than will fit into one post. This is part two of a list that began last week. And there are plenty more scary tales to tell! Ogopogo lives in Lake Okanagan in British Columbia. Several of Canada’s deep lakes have monsters, but Ogopogo is the best known. Native legends of N’ha-a-itk, meaning the lake monster, go way back. First Nations accounts pinpoint the home of the monster at a cave under Squally Point near Rattlesnake Island. A sighting by Mrs. John Allison in 1872 brought the legend into the modern era, and many people have reported sightings of “something” in the water since then. Ogopogo is described as 20-50 feet long, with a horse-shaped head and a serpentine body. Mysterious photographs have been taken of unidentified lake creatures. Whatever is down there, it is a protected species. Illustration by Crypto-Researcher at en.wikipedia. Mothman is the name given to a creature first seen in West Virginia in November of 1966. Several sightings were reported, in Clendenin, Point Pleasant, and Salem, of a flying creature that was six or seven feet tall and had eyes that glowed red in the dark. The press called the creature Mothman after a character on the Batman TV show. Within a year, over 100 sightings were reported in the area, and even more reports of just the red lights. Witnesses said the creature glided like a bat, but could elevate itself effortlessly. It could not talk, but screamed like an eagle. After 1967, the sightings grew less frequent and gradually died off. There are many possible explanations for the sightings, but nothing has been confirmed. Point Pleasant, West Virginia has a Mothman Festival every year. Illustration by Cathy Wilkins. 3. The Proctor Valley Monster The Proctor Valley Monster seems like a tale told around a campfire, just right for a Hollywood B-movie. A teenage couple go parking in the woods off Proctor Valley Road, in the southeast corner of San Diego County in California. The car won’t restart, or maybe they had a flat tire, and the boy gets out to investigate -but he doesn’t come back. The girl stays inside, terrified because she hears scratching on the outside of the car. Police find her the next day, still hiding in the car. The boyfriend? He’s dead, torn and bloody, dangling from a tree, while his hands brush the car, producing scratching noises. The story sometimes has mysterious huge footprints found nearby. The legend of the Proctor Valley Monster grew, and it is described as a 7-foot hair humanoid a la Bigfoot, or sometimes a cow-like animal with its body parts in the wrong place. The Proctor Valley Monster is assumed to be responsible for livestock mutilation that occurs every now and then. The Bonita Museum in Chula Vista has a casting of a strange footprint alleged to be that of the monster. Photograph by Uma Sanghvi/Unon-Tribune. Momo is short for Missouri Monster. The giant ape-like creature was reportedly seen in the area around Louisiana, Missouri since the 1940s, but sightings in the 1970s brought serious attention. On the afternoon of July 11, 1972, 8-year-old Terry Harrison and his 5-year-old brother, Wally, were playing in their backyard at the foot of Marzolf Hill on the outskirts of Louisiana. Their older sister, Doris, was inside the house. Doris heard her brothers scream. She looked out the bathroom window and saw a black, hairy manlike creature, standing by a tree. The thing appeared to be six or seven feet tall. Its head sat directly atop its shoulders, with no visible neck. The face was likewise invisible, completely covered by a mass of hair. And the creature had a dead dog in its arms. Several local residents had also seen the creature, and footprints were found, which led to a search of the woods by a couple of dozen hunters. Most assumed the creature was a bear, but no bear was found. However, the searchers found dog bones, a bed of leaves that may have been used as a nest (which smelled horrible), and more footprints. Other sightings were reported, further and further away from the Missouri town of Louisiana. Along the way, the creature was associated with the Bigfoot legend. However, Momo is described as having a peculiarly big head, no neck, and a horrible smell that sickens people who encounter it. A low-budget film about Momo is in production (and has been for several years). 5. Jersey Devil The Jersey Devil (also called the Leeds Devil) has a history going back 300 years in the Pine Barrens area of New Jersey. The legend says that in 1735, Mrs. Leeds cursed her 13th pregnancy, consigning her unwanted child to the devil. Then she forgot her actions, and gave birth to a boy who immediately after birth changed into a roaring demon! He grew quickly, sprouted wing, horns, and claws, and attacked and killed his mother and other family members. The demon escaped up the chimney and to the forest, where it was seen sporadically over the next couple of hundred years. Mostly, the reports told of horrible screams heard in the dark. When strange footprints were spotted in 1909, a panic ensued and schools were even closed due to low attendance. Many sightings were reported over the next week, including a woman who beat the creature with a broomstick as it attacked her dog. The Jersey Devil flies or runs away from these encounters. Sightings continue to this day, from people who find themselves in the spooky, mist-filled Pine Barrens at night. The creature is described as kangaroo-shaped, about four feet tall, with horns or antlers, claws on its forearms and hoofs on its back legs, and huge bat wings. 6. La Lechuza Stories are told in Texas and Mexico of La Lechuza, which means “owl,” but in this case refers to the “Witch Bird.” She was once a woman, albeit one who practiced black magic. After her witchcraft was discovered, she was killed by angry neighbors. But she came back in the form of an human-size owl -with a woman’s face! Her usual screams in the dark woods terrify people, but when she wants to lure someone to their doom, she will coo and cry like a baby. Then she’ll carry the victim off in her claws to her nest, where she will eat them at her leisure. In other versions of the story, La Lechuza is a woman during the day, but by witchcraft turns into an owl at night. Photograph by Flickr user Stuart Richards. Alternately spelled Windigo, as well as other variants, this monster come to us from Algonquin folklore of Canada and the northern part of the U.S. The Wendigo is a large furry beast that eats people, but it has a more supernatural story than, say, Sasquatch. Described as a bipedal creature with big eyes and a very skinny body, it is said to be forever hungry. The spirit of the Wendigo can possess people and induce then to cannibalism. Some tales say that the creatures were once humans that became possessed and turned into the monsters. And if a human were to ever practice cannibalism, the act itself invites possession by a Wendigo. Wendigo psychosis was a term used to explain some rare cases of cannibalism long ago among the Algonquin people, possibly stemming from the belief that one is possessed by a Wendigo. 8. The Donkey Lady The Donkey Lady is a legend in San Antonio, Texas. As the story goes, in the 1950s a woman was badly burned in a house fire. Her features were horribly disfigured and her fingers and toes burned off, leaving her hands and feet looking like hooves. Two of her children were killed in the fire, which drove the woman insane. She was banished from the town for her crazy rantings and went to live under a bridge, where she occasionally attacks and terrorizes passers-by. The old stone bridge where she lives (or haunts) is off Applewhite Road in south San Antonio. 9. Wampus Cat The legend of the Wampus Cat is still told in the mountains of East Tennessee and western North Carolina. A long time ago, it is said, a Cherokee woman spied on her husband and the men of the tribe as they were away on a hunting trip and told sacred tales around the campfire that women weren’t supposed to hear. She hid by wearing the skin of a wildcat, but was found by the tribesmen. The tribe’s medicine man cursed her to always wear the skin of the cat, essentially turning her into a cat monster. She was doomed to roam the mountains, wailing for her lost humanity. Those who wander the mountains at night are very likely to hear those screams. A few sightings of the Wampus Cat claim the animal resembles a cougar but walks upright, with red glowing eyes and fangs that put other cougars to shame. Photograph by Flickr user Natalie Manuel. Undoubtedly the most familiar North American cryptid is Sasquatch, also known as Bigfoot. The Sasquatch Information Society keeps track of reported sightings, which come in constantly from all over Canada and the United States, but center mainly in the Pacific Northwest. Bigfoot is described as having the face of a gorilla, but the posture of a human. It is seven to nine feet tall and covered with long hair. Like some other cryptid apes, Sasquatch has an awful odor. Native Americans have legends of local apelike creatures going back many generations. The name Bigfoot was coined after huge footprints were found in 1958. Although many claims of evidence have been exposed as hoaxes, many people believe that it’s possible for a species of giant ape or hominid to reside in the wilderness areas. There will be more monsters in this series, as I have a list of requested monsters to add. If there is one not yet covered you’d like to see, please let me know in the comments.

Cryptid Alert: Bigfoot Researcher Autumn Williams Gives Up Bigfoot Research Autumn Williams has had it. She’s done researching the yeti, and explains why here for ten minutes, then continues explaining why for another two videos on her Oregon Bigfoot Blog. I, for one, am deeply saddened that she won’t be howling and banging logs in the woods anymore. Here she is in happier times discussing the yeti, and here she is playing her favorite song. And here’s a different girl performing a song about the Georgia Bigfoot Hoax. And here is the band Sasquatch. Screen Talk at Jean Cocteau Cinema An evening of behind-the-scenes screenwriting stories, straight-talk advice and good humor with screenwriter and Santa Fe resident Kirk Ellis. The Link Between Animal Abuse and Human Violence at National Hispanic Cultural Center Whiskey Business Karaoke! at Blackbird BuvetteMore Recommented Events ››

October 1, 2013 | 17 What we don’t know is shaped by what we do. Whatever dark matter is, we will look for it assuming an accelerating, expanding universe. However cancer can be truly defeated, we will have to outsmart evolution to do so. And no matter what bizarre creatures are still to be discovered in our densest forest and deepest ocean depths, they are unlikely to ever be Bigfoot, Nessie, or the Chupacabra. We have found monsters before. As biology has gotten better at tracking down the beasts that elude us, unlikely legends are becoming real animals. Just recently, we finally obtained amazing footage of two very mysterious creatures—the giant squid and the oarfish. They didn’t appear from nowhere either. Over the years biologists and fisherman have found traces of their existence, from fins and tentacles to intact bodies. This is how we find rare creatures in huge areas—we follow the evidence. Cryptozoological creatures like Nessie and Bigfoot are both (supposedly) large animals living in large areas, and both have decades of “evidence” to suggest that we might film one someday—as we did the giant squid. But practicing biologists still consider these mythic animals’ existence to be highly unlikely. Why? In science, the kind of evidence matters; all unlikelihoods are not created equal. The methods of science lay out a continuum of knowing, from plain ignorance and necessary uncertainty, to likely truths, to facts so well established “that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent,” as Stephen Jay Gould famously said. For peer review, replication, and objectivity to make any headway on the continuum, for science to find the right answers to anything, there have to be wrong—or at least unlikely—answers. It’s how we know that vitamin C doesn’t cure the common cold and multi-vitamins are for the most part useless, for example. By blinding, replicating, and ultimately verifying experiments, science moves forward. It’s possible to move backwards on the continuum as well. The more personal data gets—the more the evidence is anecdotal and neither repeatable nor verifiable—the less likely a theory becomes. Anecdotal support like stories and sightings don’t determine impossibility, but frankly, a body is always better. That is something others can measure and touch; nobody can see exactly what you saw. The fallibility of anecdotal and eyewitness support is why it is very unlikely (if not impossible) that a large ape-human hybrid roams the world’s deep forests and that the Loch Ness is anything other than barren. If that is the true state of Nessie’s and Bigfoot’s biology, how can their existence be so commonsensical in our culture? Daniel Loxton, co-author with Donald Prothero of the fantastically thorough new book Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids [Amazon], contends that cryptozoologists don’t assess probability in the same way scientists do, and as a result they get their science backwards. In an email exchange he told me: A scientist generally starts with the conservative working assumption that proposed new ideas are not true or that hypothetical new entities do not exist, and then revises her probability estimate upwards only when the evidence forces her to do so. A pseudoscientist typically starts with the assumption that a novel proposal seems to be true, and then revises her probability downward as the evidence leaves her no choice—if she is willing to surrender the possibility to any degree at all. In fact, Loxton went on to tell me, he is unaware of any cryptid, such as Bigfoot or Nessie, or class of evidence that has been abandoned by the cryptozoological community altogether—despite the well-publicized hoaxes and incompatible ideas. Ultimately, whether an idea in any field of inquiry is unlikely or not depends on the standard of evidence. Here zoology and cryptozoology part ways. Science—psychology in particular—has shown time and again that human perception is easily distorted, and therefore plain eyewitness testimony in biology or zoology holds little weight. In contrast, pseudoscientific endeavors like the continued hunt for Bigfoot use each new eyewitness “sighting” to increase the likelihood just a little. Innumerable eyewitness reports amount to a “likely” conclusion in Bigfoot lore because the existence of Bigfoot was decided upon before it was seen. Anecdotal and eyewitness data have a fatal flaw—enough stories and sightings can actually make a mythical creature less likely to exist. Consider Bigfoot. It goes by many names—over 100 by some counts. It supposedly lives on every continent except for Antarctica…in sustaining populations. It should be everywhere. The ubiquity of Bigfoot sightings smashes up against the fact that we have never found any verifiable scat, bones, hair or body. We sometimes hook giant squid—a creature we apparently see far less often than Bigfoot that occupies a much larger area—but a hunter never shoots a Sasquatch. Paradoxically, Bigfoot has been reported too many times to actually exist. With a different perspective on what “unlikely” means, when science considers the existence of Bigfoot or Nessie or UFOs or psychic powers unlikely, it can be like the denial of “a rock solid established fact, like the existence of France,” to believers, Loxton says. And if you don’t know how the scientific continuum moves, then what “unlikely” means really can be foreign. It certainly feels foreign to value biological theories over “I know what I saw” narratives, says Loxton. “It’s the way we’re built.” Cryptids persist because “unlikely” means something else to their proponents—the same things that make Bigfoot scientifically unlikely are lauded as nail-in-the-coffin positive evidence for squatchers. Biologists and cryptozoologists interpret unlikelihoods differently enough that a deeply flawed study of “Bigfoot DNA” can be interpreted to say that Bigfoot is both scientifically unlikely and too likely not to exist at the same time. There are still monsters out there. Some are based on myth and word-of-mouth, others on body parts and dredged decompositions. As long as biology and cryptozoology keep talking past each other, each with their own language of unlikely, what kind of evidence do you think will help us find the next monster? 12 Digital Issues + 4 Years of Archive Access just $19.99X

Cryptid Alert! Bigfoot has been caught on video again! Thomas Byars of North Carolina filmed the snarling beast with his handy video camera. Notice how the yeti takes tiny steps, as though it's sharted its costume. Which would explain the horrid smell. The Best of Jethro Tull Performed by Ian Anderson at Kiva Auditorium The New Mexico Edit at South Broadway Cultural Center Corrales Growers' Market at Corrales Growers' MarketMore Recommented Events ››